#pocket!ghost

After less than two minutes of swiping at just air you stop, pride too hurt to keep watching them move out of your grip just last minute while being shorter than a standard pencil is.

With more resignation that you’d like to admit, you run a hand through your hair and stand back up. “Okay, well. I’m going to get ready for bed, do whatever you want but stay on the table.”

The compromise seems good enough, given that you get four little salutes your way. Resigned to cleaning up a mess after, you get a change of clothes and head into the bathroom to shower.

However, the relaxation ritual gets cut short when you hear a clatter, followed by little voices that seemed to have fallen into a panic. Barely having dried yourself, you tug a pair of standard issued sweats and tshirt before going back out, hair still dripping.

You’re greeted with the sight of three panicking members, all yelling different instructions to Kyle, who’s clinging to the lamp’s cable for dear life. You don’t have to be a professional investigator to realise what had happened, the mug and pens having toppled over and pushed him over the edge.

With a sigh you reach over, hand gentle as you pick him up. Your plan had been to set him back on the desk with the rest of them, but judging by the way he’s clinging to your thumb and how fast he feels his heart beat, you don’t think it’ll work.

Still holding Kyle in your hand, you look around, momentarily ignoring the waving and complaining from the other three while trying to figure out a solution. It feels like a lightbulb goes off when you spot and old beanie, feeling the fabric for a second with your free hand before snatching it and quickly placing the four of them inside.

“We all stay in here now, understood” this time it grants you a wave of little nods, “lights are going out so, bed time.”

It doesn’t take long for them to settle down after that. Forming a cuddle pile —and keeping Kyle at the center of it in hopes of getting any of the residual adrenaline off— they easily drift off, all snug in the beanie that now lays beside you in bed.

Kyle Gaz Garrick

I think he’s the next one in the scale on how easy they are to wrangle. I feel like as long as you have an explanation as to why you need to pick him up and carry him around, he’ll be up to it. Even if it’s something like not wanting to make the trip to the laundry room and back alone.

Alternatively, if you’re in a rush or he decides your words aren’t enough for him to cooperate, he’ll also fold with some bribery. In his case it’s mostly food, just offer him a crumb of cupcake or perhaps the corner of the sandwich you plan on making and he’s sold on it.

Sometimes he comes to you out of his own volition, tucking himself in your sleeve if whatever you’re busy with can be done one handed. Kyle’s also clingiest when it starts to get later in the day, he’ll sneak in a few minutes of skin-to-skin contact before happily falling asleep. His favourite is poking out of the collar of whatever shirt you’ve worn to bed, watching a movie with you or listening to the book you’re reading for them before letting his eyes close.

He mostly wants to feel included, like you need him in whatever activity rather than just being taken along because he can be made to. So with words or food, just be convincing and he’ll hangout on your shoulder for as long as you want.

Simon Ghost Riley

He’s not actually hard to convince, he’s just a fucking asshole about it. Simon just loves acting like a grumpy cat, one of those that loves attention only when it’s in their very strict terms and in the worse time possible. He’s learned how to weaponise his tiny form and you better believe he’ll exploit it for as long as he can.

Best tactic to have him come to you is straight up ignoring him. You just have to look busy, act like you really need to use your hands; filling up forms, replying to emails, organising drill sessions— stirring your coffee even has worked a couple times.

All you need to do is prove that you’re preoccupied with something, and pretend you’re not aware of the beady little eyes that stare at you from behind the base of your desk lamp. In less than five minutes he’s running over, sprinting down the length of your desk as if it were a suicidal mission through an active fire, jumping onto you arm and simply clinging to you.

He just needs a couple minutes before he’s knocked out, tiny little hands holding onto the fabric of your sleeve to avoid any possibilities of being put down. You’ve got to be warned though, if he wakes up and you’re not still holding him, he will hold a grudge.

Captain John Price

He is the hardest to figure out, definitely the one that enjoys any way of manhandling the least. He’s used to being the bigger fish in the pond, figurative and literally. He hasn’t let anyone tug him, much less carry him, around since his Private days and that happened a long time ago.

So he avoids it as much as possible. Sure, maybe the other ones make it quicker to bed when you gently swipe them up and onto the fluffy pillow they’ve claimed as their mattress. He’s still climbing the window’s ledge, running the whole length and doing a free fall to your awaiting duvet every night, before letting you treat him like a little rag doll.

Still, he understands safety requirements and urgency, so if the carrying comes as a necessity rather than choice he’s the first one to approach you and willingly be tucked into whatever spot will be best suited for them.

Now if it’s for something like holding him for a while, just so he keeps you company for a bit? Turns out you’ve got to enter an undisclosed staring contest with him, and only if he considers you the winner of the battle of wills, does he give in and let you carry him around for a bit.

a/n: hi, i have seen at least a couple people ask about a tag list. i don't really do them because i'm not reliable at all when i comes to posting lol. still, if there's a bunch of people that want it, i'll do my best to remember to tag you in future posts.