ghostpeblewrite

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical Master List

Thought I'd do this to make it easier to read :)

I'll do the same for Infirmity later on

~~~~~~

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 13

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When they got home, the team sort of collapsed and slept for a few hours. Toast and Ghost went to their room, Spooker and Colon just passing out in the living room.

Spooker is the first to wake up after a few hours. He wakes up Colon next, and the two goofing around in the living room eventually rouses Toast and Ghost from their slumber.

Ghost wakes first, his eyes fluttering open. The first thing he sees is Toast’s sleeping face. They had passed out cuddled up, facing each other. Ghost smiles a bit, leaning forward and planting a soft kiss on Toast’s nose, causing him to stir in his sleep. His eyes open slowly, looking at Ghost.

“Good morning sir…” Toast mumbles sleepily, smiling a bit.

“I don't think it’s mornin’ yet,” Ghost mumbles. “Spooker and Colon are awake though.”

“Mm,” Toast hums, closing his eyes again.

“You’re really tired, huh?” Ghost muses.

“My sleep was interrupted last time,” Toast mumbles, wrapping an arm around Ghost to pull him closer. Ghost chuckles softly.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Ghost says, closing his eyes as well.

“Wasn’t you, it was… Jimmy, I think,” Toast says.

“No it wasn’t,” Ghost sounds very sure of himself.

“Oh?” Toast opens his eyes a bit, looking at Ghost. “How are you so sure?”

“I had to get the gun from your bedside table,” Ghost mumbles, not opening his eyes.

“Why mine?” Toast asks. “You have your own.”

“I don’t know,” Ghost admits, opening his eyes a bit, “Just… Had to. Probably to make sure you woke up.”

Toast thinks for a moment, looking at him. “Sir… You still have yet to explain any of that to me.”

“I know,” Ghost says.

“Are you going to?”

“Eventually,” Ghost looks at him. “I promise you, eventually I will. But for right now I’d like to… Not think about it.”

“Alright sir,” Toast sighs. They can both hear a crash from the living room, followed by laughter. “Should we get up?”

“Yeah,” Ghost groans, sitting up. “Can’t let them destroy the place.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t destroy it,” Toast chuckles, pushing himself up. Ghost gives him a look.

“Trust me, Johnny, they would,” Ghost says, going to get out of bed. Toast grabs his arm, pulling him back for a second. He places his other hand on Ghost’s face, using it to pull him into a gentle kiss. When he pulls away, Ghost smiles. Toast has the urge to tell him something very important, but he doesn’t get the chance to. They hear another crash, which causes Ghost to pull away, getting out of bed.

“If those two broke something I swear to god…” He mumbles, the smile still on his face.

“Let’s hope it isn’t themselves, sir,” Toast comments, getting out of bed as well.

After making sure Spooker and Colon didn’t break anything, the team decides to go out for a group dinner. Spooker is the one who suggested it, and while Ghost was unsure at first, Toast chimed in that it was something they’d never done. Plus, they really deserved it after all they’d been through. That made Ghost give in.

The ride there was quiet. Not the awkward, tense quiet from before. A pleasant quiet. None of them needed to speak, no one had anything to say.

They get to the restaurant soon enough- Nothing too fancy, just a small place with good food. The team files in, Toast refusing to let go of Ghost’s hand. Ghost doesn’t pull away.

They get seated and read over the menus, ordering when the waitress comes by. While they wait for their food, Spooker starts up a conversation.

“So. Where do you think they are now?” Spooker asks.

“Who?” Ghost looks at him.

“Y'know- Maxwell, Gavin, and Jimmy,” Spooker looks at the other three, “We didn’t kill em. Where’d they go?”

“Oh, I have no idea,” Ghost shrugs.

“I’d bet Maxwell’s gone back to haunting the Acachallas,” Toast says with a smile.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Ghost nods.

“What about Jimmy and Gavin?”

“Probably committing crimes,” Colon jokes.

Ghost thinks for a moment, “Y’know, I would agree, but… Something tells me that’s just not it.”

“What do you mean, sir?” Toast looks at him.

“I dunno. Gavin’s smarter than that, and also injured. I mean, he hid Jimmy for a while before that,” Ghost says.

“That’s true,” Toast nods.

“So, where are they?” Colon asks.

“Dunno, probably lying low somewhere,” Ghost shrugs.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if they just ran away to, like, California or something?” Spooker jokes.

“Gavin? In California?” Toast chuckles. “Oh that’s a thought!”

“Jimmy would burn in the sun!” Ghost laughs as well.

Eventually, the food gets there. They all enjoy their meals, making smalltalk the entire time, before heading back home again. Toast drops Spooker and Colon off at their apartment before taking Ghost and himself back to their home. The two sit on the couch, Ghost leaning on Toast. It’s quiet for a bit, neither of them wanting to break the comfortable silence.

“…Johnny?” Ghost says after a bit, looking up at him.

“Yes, sir?” Toast mumbles, looking down at him.

“Do you really wanna know?” Ghost asks.

“Know what?” Toast raises an eyebrow.

“What happened,” Ghost says simply.

“I mean… I’d like to know, if you’d like to tell me,” Toast says.

“I don’t know…” Ghost says, sitting up. “I mean- What happened. To be honest, I’ve never heard of anything like that. Outside of movies, that is.”

“What do you mean, sir?” Toast sits up a bit more as well.

“Have you ever seen Groundhog Day, Johnny?” Ghost asks.

“Can’t say I have, no,” Toast says.

“Well, it’s like reliving the same day, over and over again. It’s a loop,” Ghost explains.

“Is that what you went through, sir?”

“Sort of, only it wasn’t a day, only that small amount of time. I would get restarted if I didn’t do it right. I… I can’t count how many times I went through it. I don’t know how long I was stuck. It’s hard to tell time when it keeps looping back on itself,” Ghost shrugs.

“Oh that’s… horrible, sir,” Toast says quietly.

“Yeah, it was. But… It helped me realize something,” Ghost says, looking at him.

“Oh? What’d you realize?” Toast asks.

Ghost smiles softly, reaching out and grabbing Toast’s face ever so gently. He pulls Toast into a kiss, breaking away too soon for Toast.

“That I love you, Johnny,” Ghost says, smiling a bit. Toast’s face grows warm.

“I… I love you too, Ghost,” Toast says softly, leaning back in to kiss him again.

Ghost never wants to pull away.

~~~

the end :)

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 12

~~~~~~

Soon enough Ghost’s got everyone working on things. Spooker went off with Colon to prepare the secret plan, leaving him and Toast working on the main plan.

They’re currently taking stock on which weapons they can use.

“Is Gavin human?” Ghost asks, pulling a normal pistol out of their storage.

“What do you mean, sir?” Toast asks, glancing over at him.

“He…” Ghost pauses, looking up at him, “Wait, do you know what he can do?”

Toast raises an eyebrow, “No…? I mean, I know he has… Powers, but… Not what they are.”

“Forget I said it,” Ghost says, looking away.

“No- Sir, what do you mean,” Toast says, walking closer to him.

“Drop it, I can’t tell you,” Ghost says, putting the pistol into his bag.

“You keep saying things like that. What happened, sir?” Toast asks, turning Ghost to face him.

Ghost sighs, looking at him. Toast sees… exhaustion on his face. Sure, Ghost is usually tired, but this is on a whole other level. He looks like he’s been through hell and back, and all Toast wants to do is reach out and hold him, but he feels like that would scare Ghost off so he holds back.

“Johnny,” Ghost says, and then surprises Toast by reaching out to hold him, his hands going to either side of Toast’s face. “If I could tell you, I would. I promise. But I’ve probably already said too much already, and I can’t risk doing it again.”

Toast smiles sadly, looking into Ghost’s eyes. “Well, I’m at least glad you’re still alive, Sir…” he places a gentle hand over one of Ghost’s.

“Me too,” Ghost says, going to pull his hands away. Toast frowns at that.

“Sir, you’ve been a lot more… affectionate. What happened? Or is that another thing you don’t wish to talk about,” Toast asks.

“I uhm… Let’s just say I … I realized how much I cared for you, Johnny,” Ghost mumbles, turning away.

Toast’s heart hurts with recognition at the tone Ghost uses. The grief laced through it. Toast knows it all too well. He pushes down the feeling of Ghost being scared off, reaching out and pulling Ghost into a tight hug. Ghost tenses at first, but then to Toast’s relief he relaxes into it, his arms wrapping around Toast to return the hug. The two stay like that in silence for a bit before Ghost breaks away, looking up at Toast with a solemn smile.

“Thank you, Johnny,” He says quietly. “I needed that.”

“Of course, sir,” Toast says, “I… I lo-”

“Oh shit-!” Ghost cuts him off, glancing at the clock. “We gotta move.” He turns away from Toast.

“Oh- Um- R-Right! Of course, what’s, uh, the plan?” Toast asks quickly.

“Grab that, please,” Ghost says, pointing over to the shotgun that Toast’s been carrying around since he got locked in the house. Toast does so, feeling the familiar weight in his hands. Ghost heads for the door.

“You didn’t tell me the plan-” Toast says as he hurries to follow.

“Don’t need to! It’s your plan, Johnny,” Ghost says as he heads for the front door.

“Sir, wait-!” Toast grabs his shoulder. “We can’t go out there-”

“And why’s that?” Ghost raises an eyebrow, with a face that says he knows exactly why.

“There’s- There’s undead out there-” Toast says. Ghost smiles.

“Ohhhh, didn’t know that,” he says, grabbing Toast’s hand, “Guess we have to go out the other way then!” He pulls Toast towards the back door. Toast stumbles along, confused.

“Sir-?” Toast starts, but Ghost cuts him off.

“So glad you brought that up, so we’ll go out the backdoor now!” Ghost says, speaking louder than normal.

Toast is about to say something when he hears shuffling outside the back door. Ghost drags Toast to the door, letting go of his hand to hide next to the door, motioning for Toast to open it. Toast does.

Outside, he sees a gap in the undeads outside the barrier. A long, thin path, leading somewhere. Ghost peeks around the corner, then looks at Toast.

“Do we… Go?” Toast asks, looking at him.

“I can’t tell you, it’s your choice,” Ghost says. Toast studies him for a moment.

“Okay, then let's go,” he grabs Ghost’s hand again, walking out of the house. Ghost just goes along with him, not bothering to close the door behind the two.

They follow along the path, the undead watching them idly. Toast can’t fight the smile on his face.

He’s holding hands with Ghost, who’s been really affectionate with him. He even kissed him twice! Toast is still buzzing from that. He feels like he can take on anything with Ghost by his side.

And Ghost looks like he could take on anything. He has a determined look on his face, walking with Toast. He pulled his pistol out somewhere along the way, pointing it at the floor as the two walk. Toast can’t help but glance at him. He doesn’t even know how long he’s felt this way towards him. Getting cut off earlier hurt, but it almost felt intentional. Maybe Ghost doesn’t want to hear it.

Maybe he’s just putting off hearing it. Until he can bear it. Until he knows Toast isn’t going anywhere. The thought of that hurts Toast’s heart, and he wishes he could tell Ghost he’s not going anywhere, but he’s afraid that if he speaks the undead will attack. So he holds off, for now.

The two walk until they’re out of the horde, waiting a bit longer before one of them speaks.

“Where to now, sir?” Toast asks quietly, glancing back at the horde.

“I can’t say,” Ghost says, though it seems to pain him. “You gotta find it.”

Toast sighs, looking around. He doesn’t even know who they’re following, or why. Just that Ghost wanted to, and Ghost seems to know what’s gonna happen next. Toast then spots some blood on the ground.

“Huh,” Toast looks at it. It looks fresh, and it seems to form a trail further down the block. He glances at Ghost. Despite how hard he’s trying to let Toast take the lead, there are so many telltale signs Ghost gives away that lets Toast know he’s on the right track. Right now, it’s the small smile on his face. Toast smiles too, turning back towards the blood and beginning to walk. Neither one lets go of the other’s hand.

Ghost doesn’t often let Toast take the lead. That thought pops into Toast’s head as he walks. It makes sense though, Ghost takes control like it’s in his nature. He always has. And he doesn’t like taking suggestions. The last time Ghost let Toast take control was during Spooker and Colon’s training.

Ghost wanted to see what Toast could do. So he took a step back, giving Toast simple instructions. Toast kind of butchered it. Despite being smarter than Ghost, he’s much worse at holding his ground. He went along with every little thing Spooker and Colon suggested.

Eventually, Ghost had to step in and save their asses. It had gone too far, and it was starting to get dangerous. Ghost had cleaned up their mess, then turned to the three. Toast expected to get told off for being reckless but instead he turned to Spooker and Colon, yelling at them. Toast felt bad. It was his fault, he was supposed to be watching them.

He looks over at Ghost again as they walk. He looks a lot different now than he used to. He’s matured, even though it’s hard to believe. He’s mellowed out too, his age starting to get to him.

Toast wonders what the future holds for the two of them. They can’t do this forever, they know that. One day they’ll be too old to keep running around. He wonders if he could convince Ghost to retire with him, move out to some old farm, maybe get a few dozen dogs to accompany them on some old fix-me-up farm. He smiles to himself as he looks away, knowing Ghost would never agree to that willingly. Ghost will probably be doing this far into his older years, until he physically can’t anymore. It’s what he loves. Toast doesn’t blame him.

Eventually, the blood trails into a building. Toast stops outside the door, looking at Ghost again. The door was left open. Ghost is tense, reluctantly removing his hand from Toast’s as he readies his pistol, taking the lead again. He steps into the building. Toast follows quietly, also on edge.

The building is old, seemingly an old abandoned warehouse. It’s dark, and dirty. Neither of them thought to grab flashlights though.

Ghost walks down a dim hallway quietly, approaching a corner.

Toast is surprised by a figure suddenly coming around the corner, lunging at Ghost. Ghost stumbles back, managing to dodge the attack before grabbing the figure, smacking them across the face with his pistol. They fall to the floor. Toast moves closer. Only then does he recognize who it is.

There, on the floor, is Jimmy Casket. There’s blood dripping down his face from his nose, and a cut on his arm that seems to be bleeding a lot. He’s probably what led them there.

Toast looks up at Ghost, “Sir, how did that surprise you-??”

Ghost stares down at Jimmy, steadying his breath, “That’s never happened before.”

Toast sighs. That’s great, now there can be surprises, and they’re probably in the place where no surprises would be most useful.

“We need to keep moving,” Ghost says, looking up at him. Toast just nods, moving closer to him.

Ghost begins to walk again, turning the corner hesitantly.

The two continue down the dim hallway until they reach a door. Ghost turns back to Toast, blocking the door.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in here,” Ghost whispers, looking up at him.

“That’s alright, I don’t either,” Toast smiles a bit. Ghost frowns a bit.

“That’s not- I just, Toast,” Ghost puts a hand on Toast’s arm. “Whatever happens, just know… I’m sorry for being such a dick.”

Toast looks at him. He looks like he expects the worst, and that worries Toast. He puts on a reassuring smile anyway though. “Don’t worry, sir. It’s fine.”

Ghost just nods, looking up at him a moment more before turning away. He readies his pistol, looking back at Toast once more. Toast nods.

Ghost takes a deep breath, opening the door.

Through the door is a big room. There’s a ratty old couch and a dirty coffee table pushed against one wall.

On that couch is a man, and a dark figure.

The man has dark hair, and green eyes. He looks up upon seeing the door open, getting to his feet. The figure gets up as well. The two looked like they were having a conversation before they were interrupted.

The man looks at Toast, a smile breaking onto his face.

“Brother!” he smiles.

“Gavin,” Toast says harshly, raising his shotgun to point it at Gavin’s chest.

“Ah shit-” the dark figure mutters, looking at Toast and Ghost.

“We meet again, Maxwell Acachalla,” Ghost says, pointing the pistol at him.

“You know that won’t work on me, Johnny Ghost,” Maxwell says, tipping his hat at the pistol. Ghost grimaces.

“I’m aware,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Wow, Maxwell,” Gavin turns to look at him. “Here we were, thinking we’d have to go to them to kill them. They came to us!” he laughs.

“What idiots,” Maxwell growls, and the lights in the room begin to flicker.

Toast starts to feel nervous. He trusts Ghost, he does, but this is… It seems like a death wish. Facing off with two very strong people- They don’t even have the right weapons!

He glances over at Ghost warily. Ghost has a look of grim determination on his face.

“Sir,” Toast whispers, “Are you sure-?”

“Trust me,” Ghost says firmly, looking over at him. Toast can’t help but listen. He has to trust him. He doesn’t have any other choice.

“So!” Gavin says, “Let’s get this show on the road!”

And he certainly does so, starting with a very flamboyant show of lighting his hands up with green fire, and then throwing glowing orbs of pure flames at the two. Ghost and Toast split, getting out of the way as fast as possible. Toast turns back to face his brother quickly, trying to aim his shotgun at him. However, he’s suddenly overcome by the stench of decaying meat as something grabs him from behind. He spins around, instead aiming his shotgun at the undead behind him. He shoots, causing his ears to ring. The undead gets blasted back. Unlucky for Toast, there are more than a dozen more.

On the other hand, Ghost turned his attention to Maxwell, watching as the ghost flickered from sight. Ghost looks around frantically, trying to spot him. He doesn’t manage to find him in time, stumbling forward when something hits him in the back of the head. He turns around, pointing his pistol and firing. It goes straight through Maxwell, who laughs.

“You should know better than that, Ghost!” Maxwell laughs, advancing on Ghost.

Ghost curses, moving backwards. He trips on something, falling to the floor. Maxwell laughs more, grabbing him.

It’s over almost as soon as it started, Toast and Ghost thrown into a pile at Gavin’s feet. Maxwell grabs the guns from them as well, handing the pistol to Gavin.

“What do you say we do with them? Kill them slowly? One at a time? Both at once?” Maxwell asks as the undead form a tight semicircle around the two on the floor.

“I say one at a time,” Gavin says. One of the undead lifts Toast, another lifting Ghost, so they’re both on their knees. Toast looks up at Gavin.

“Gavin, please, listen to me,” Toast pleads. “We’re family-!”

Gavin glares at him. “We’ll start with him,” he says, pointing the gun to Toast’s forehead. Toast’s eyes widen, and Gavin smiles a bit. “It’ll be a nice show for his little boyfriend.”

Ghost just stares. He cannot count how many times he’s seen this, but it doesn’t get any easier. He reaches out before he’s even realized what he’s doing, taking Toast’s hand.

“It’ll be okay, Johnny,” Ghost says quietly. He knows he should believe it. He did everything right this time, it has to be right. He has to believe it.

But he finds himself doubting, letting the worry snake into his head, plant it's roots. He can’t watch this happen again. He looks down.

“Aw, look, how sweet!” Gavin laughs, pressing the gun more into Toast’s head. Toast squeezes Ghost’s hand. “Any last words, brother?”

Toast is about to say something, but never gets the chance, because at that moment the saviours of the day burst through the undead circle.

Colon whips out a water gun, aiming it at Gavin and Maxwell. He starts spraying.

Maxwell’s form flickers as he lets out a yell, his skin smoking.

“Back, you ghost!!” Colon yells, continuing to spray. Maxwell’s form flickers more, and then it vanishes altogether right as he goes to attack.

Gavin looks at him. “Really, salt water? Is that all you have??” he laughs, “That’s not gonna stop me from putting a bullet through his head.”

“No, but this is!” Spooker says from beside Colon. He then proceeds to pull out a pistol, shooting Gavin in the shoulder.

Gavin yells, dropping the gun to the ground. He turns to Spooker, infuriated. “YOU SHOT ME!” he roars.

“I shot you!!” Spooker repeats, smiling wide.

“Shoot him again!” Ghost yells. Gavin turns to him, planting a solid kick in Ghost’s stomach before getting shot again, in the leg.

This time, by Toast, who had picked the gun up off the ground.

“NO ONE hurts my husband and gets away with it!” Toast yells as he gets to his feet. He shoots again, hitting him in the leg once more.

“Johnny!” Ghost forces out a yell, “Stop!”

Toast looks down at Ghost just long enough for Gavin to make a limping break for the exit. Spooker and Colon watch him go as Toast drops the gun, kneeling next to Ghost.

“Oh- Goodness, sir, are you alright?!?” Toast cries, grabbing his arms.

“I’m fine,” Ghost wheezes, holding his stomach. “Just… Winded.”

“Thank god,” Toast says, then pulls him into a tight hug. “You- You lunatic! You could’ve gotten yourself killed-!”

Ghost lets out a light chuckle, patting Toast’s back, “Hey, it’s okay, Johnny. I told you to trust me.”

“And I did!” Toast says, pulling away from the hug a bit. “But I was about to lose it!”

Ghost just chuckles. Toast moves to stand up, helping Ghost up as well.

Once he’s on his feet, he turns to Colon and Spooker.

They tense up, looking at each other. But when they look back at Ghost, they’re both surprised to see a look of fiery pride on his face.

“Hey, you two did great,” he says, smiling a bit. He holds out a fist to Spooker, who excitedly bumps it. Colon does the same when it’s his turn. The two smile.

“It was great thinking on the salt water,” Ghost says, “and Spooker, those were some great shots, thought you could work on your gun safety. Did you just take the safety off when it was in your pocket?”

Toast watches as Ghost continues talking to the two. This is… new. Not unwelcome, just new. He gets the urge to plant a kiss on his forehead again.

This time, he doesn’t resist. He wraps an arm around Ghost’s shoulders to bring him closer, using his other hand to tilt his head towards him. He plants a soft kiss on Ghost’s forehead, pulling away smiling. Ghost smiles as well.

“Alright, let’s go home, yeah?” Ghost says, looking at the other two.

They nod.

The four start the slow walk home, picking off the few remaining undead that remain, that Gavin didn’t get rid of.

Toast doesn’t take his arm from Ghost’s shoulders once.

~~~

so anyway one last chapter after this one :)

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 11

~~~~~~

Toast doesn’t remember getting into bed, but he wakes up and finds himself there. He lays awake for a bit, unsure of what woke him. Could’ve just been his own mind. It feels so foggy and heavy.

He’s made aware of what woke him when it sounds again. A small shuffle out in the hallway. Weird…

By the looks of it, it’s late at night, so neither Spooker or Colon should be awake. He sighs, forcing himself to get out of bed. He tries his best to ignore how empty the bed feels, forcing himself to not think about… It.

He grabs a flashlight from his bedside table, not aware enough to grab a weapon too. He shuffles to the door, opening it lazily. He doesn’t wanna be doing this, but he feels he has to. He shuffles down the hallway quietly.

He gets to the end, where it opens up into the living room, before things start happening. To his left he hears something hit the ground, causing him to jump. He swings the flashlight beam that way, seeing a picture frame on the ground. He shuffles over to it quietly, bending over to pick it up before hearing a creak behind him. He turns around, swinging his flashlight beam over the room. He doesn’t see anything.

He’s a bit on edge, but pushes on. It’s… It’s probably just some stray or something… Yeah…

He moves towards where he heard the creak, only to feel something brush his back. He spins around.

There’s nothing there. He relaxes a bit. Probably just… imagining things.

A figure shifts at the edge of his light. Toast moves it onto the figure, only for the figure to dart out of view. He tenses.

There’s definitely something in the house with him. He starts backing down the hallway, only to run into something. Something that reaches around with a pale, scarred arm to snatch his flashlight. Toast tries to grab it back but it’s too late. It’s flicked off, and thrown somewhere.

Toast tries to lunge forward and grab the figure, but they back out of range. They scamper away, towards the room with the control panel in it. Toast scrambles after them.

He has no idea who it is, but he can’t let them turn the barrier off.

When he gets in the room, however, something hits him in the side of the face. He falls to the ground, pain exploding through his jaw. He sees the next moments through blurry vision, so at first he doesn’t even believe it.

In an instant, a new figure appears. A very familiar figure.

The new figure delivers a hard blow to the first one’s face, causing him to fall to the floor, limp. Then, the second figure rushes to Toast. As they get closer, they get clearer, dimly illuminated by the control panel.

Toast can make out the smile first, cut on one side by a scar. Light stubble. The scar across the nose bridge comes next.

Then the eyes. So warm, and full of love, yet also frustration. The dark, furrowed brows, the shaggy reddish brown hair-

“Ghost,” Toast says softly, barely letting himself believe it.

“Sorry I took so long,” he says quietly, then does something Toast was not expecting. He places his hands on either side of Toast’s face, pulling him into a gentle kiss.

Toast can feel so many things. Other than Ghost’s warm hands on his face. Mostly, his heart trying to beat out of his chest.

He pulls away too soon, beginning to talk way too fast for Toast, who is still processing what just happened.

“This is the last time, I swear to god,” Ghost says quickly, “If I have to go through this one more time I’m gonna lose it. I can’t do this again. This is the last time.”

“Wh- Sir-” Toast says, grabbing his hands, sitting up straighter. “Slow down- Did you just kiss me-?”

Ghost stares a moment before laughing, his face breaking into that wonderful, if rare, smile again. Toast wishes it weren’t so dark, so he could see it better.

“Right- Yes, I did, but I don’t have time to explain all that right now-” Ghost says.

“Sir!” Toast says, feeling a smile on his own face. “You… Kissed me!”

Ghost chuckles, though it sounds a bit strained, leaning in and planting a soft kiss on Toast’s nose, “Alright, Johnny, alright.” He stands, holding a hand out for Toast, who takes it with a stupid smile on his face.

“I need you to do something for me, okay? And then I promise I’ll explain,” Ghost says.

“I thought you were dead… And then you kissed me-” Toast says, sort of in a daze.

“Oh- Okay, Johnny,” Ghost grabs his arms, “Hey, listen to me, I need you to wake up Spooker and Colon, okay? Bring them to the living room.”

Toast nods, the smile not leaving. Ghost nods back, letting go of him. Toast heads off to where Spooker and Colon sleep.

Ghost looks down at the limp body on the floor. He hates what he has to do, but he knows by now what he has to do. He’s tired of restarting when he messes up. He’s doing it right this time, even if it kills him.

Soon enough, Toast has the other two in the living room, half awake. Toast’s still buzzing from what happened, but he’s a bit more in the moment.

Ghost rushes in, adjusting his gloves a bit, “Alright, team, listen up-”

“GHOST??!!” Spooker yells, jumping to his feet. Ghost’s eyes widen, and then he lets out a grunt as Spooker barrels into him, hugging him a bit too tight.

“Heyyyyyy, Spooks,” Ghost says, patting Spooker’s back a bit. Toast is shocked by that, usually Ghost would’ve shoved him off by now.

“You were gone for so long!!” Spooker says, pulling away, “We were worried!!”

“Yeah, what was with that?” Colon asks.

Seeing as the conversation has derailed so much, Toast expects Ghost to yell, but not for the first time that night he’s surprised.

“I uhm… It's a long story, you guys,” Ghost says, “One I don’t have time to tell.” He glances at the clock quietly.

“But you will later, right?” Spooker says.

“Yeah, of course,” Ghost says, reaching out to ruffle Spooker’s hair using that as a chance to shove him away a bit. “Sit back down.”

Spooker sits.

“Right, so, in about,” he glances at the clock, “A few minutes, the opposing side will attack. We have very little chance of surviving this, but as a team we can get through this, alright?”

“But- Sir, who even are they?” Toast pipes up.

Ghost eyes him, “You already know two- Gavin and Jimmy.”

“But- Jimmy’s dead,” Colon says.

Ghost cracks a small smile. He suddenly pulls a gun from his pocket- Isn’t that the gun Toast keeps in his bedside table??- pointing it at the hallway behind him, not even looking. “No he isn’t.”

There, at the edge of the hallway, is Jimmy, posed like he was about to lunge at Ghost. Ghost looks back at him. He takes a second to just… look at him, before nodding his head at the door. Jimmy stares at him. Ghost motions for him to move towards the door with the gun, and Jimmy starts moving slowly.

“Sir-!” Toast protests, “We can’t just let him go-!”

“We have to,” Ghost says through gritted teeth, watching Jimmy scamper out the front door. He pockets the gun again, staring at the door. He takes a deep breath.

“Right,” he turns back to them. “Now-”

“Wait, but I snapped his neck,” Colon says. “How was he alive???”

“He’s very bendy,” Ghost says simply, “Now, we need a gameplan. Toast??” He looks at Toast before he’s even moved.

“Oh- Uhm, I was thinking of one, yes,” Toast nods.

“What is it?” Ghost asks.

“I mean, we could surprise them, sir. They probably don’t know you’re… Alive, so if we could draw them out and then surprise attack them, that… Could work?” He shrugs.

Ghost smiles, grabbing his arm to pull him closer, pulling him into another quick kiss. “That’s exactly what you needed to say, Johnny!”

Toast stares at him, red faced. Yet another time he was not expecting that.

“Hey-!” Spooker jumps up again, “You can’t do that!”

Ghost looks at him, “And why is that, Spooker?” He sounds like he knows exactly what’s going to happen.

“Because Toast is married!!” Spooker cries, “To- To a child slave!!”

“Yeah!!” Colon says, standing as well.

Toast stares at them for a moment before Ghost nudges him in the ribs.

“I- Y- What-?” Toast sputters. “Child slave??”

“Yeah! We saw the marriage papers!” Spooker says, “‘Gregory Casket’, he was a missing child!!”

“Oh- You saw that and didn’t think to come ask me-??” Toast sighs, “Guys, no. Gregory Casket is Ghost’s legal name.”

“Wait-” Spooker looks between the two, “But- Ghost isn’t wearing a ring-!”

Before he’s even finished the sentence Ghost has started taking his glove off, holding his hand up. There’s a silver wedding band on his ring finger.

Spooker stares.

“So- What, you two just got married and didn’t tell us???” Colon asks.

“Tax benefits,” Ghost says quickly, glancing at the clock as he puts his glove back on. Toast nods, smiling a little.

“Right, now that that’s out of the way- Spooker, why don’t you come into the kitchen with me?” Ghost starts backing towards the kitchen.

“Okay!” Spooker smiles, following.

Toast watches the two go, unable to wipe the smile from his face. Ghost is… something, that’s for sure.

“Right, Spooker,” Ghost turns to them once they’re in the kitchen, out of earshot of the other two. “I have a super secret mission for you, okay?”

Spooker gasps, “Really?!”

“Yes, really!” Ghost nods. “I need you to come up with a super secret backup plan, in case Toast and I need help, okay?”

Spooker nods, “Okay!! Can I tell Colon though?”

“Yes, you can tell Colon,” Ghost says, “Just… remember what ghosts are weak to.”

Spooker looks away from him to think. Ghost nods, heading out of the kitchen.

Another thing checked off. Nearly halfway.

Ghost feels so tired. He’s been through this so many times, and he’s so tired of watching the people he loves die. He’s doing it right this time, no matter how much he hates it.

He’s learned his lesson.

~~~

O.O

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 10

~~~~~~

Ghost finds himself somewhere unfamiliar for the second time. This time he gets a good look at his surroundings. Doesn’t want to be surprised again.

He’s in a room, seemingly a bedroom. It’s rather messy, crumpled papers and opened books littering the floor. He makes a face, heading for the door.

It opens before he can reach it.

He comes face to face with… Himself? Only, it’s not a mirror. The other him looks fucking wild- His hair is a mess, dark circles under his eyes. He almost seems to… crackle with some sort of power.

Upon seeing Ghost, this new Ghost’s eyes widen. Before Ghost knows what’s hit him, he’s on the floor being yelled at.

“What are you?! A hallucination? Are you here to kill me?? Guess what, buddy, I’m killing you first!!! You can’t kill me!!” he yells, his voice cracking a bit.

“Heyheyhey-!” Ghost says quickly, trying to get the guy off him. “Chill!!” “What do you want?!?! I don’t have it!!” the guy yells, bringing a fist back. Ghost tries to use momentum to get him off, but he seems to have accounted for that, using his feet to shove Ghost up and back. Ghost stumbles, nearly falling on his ass.

Y’know, Ghost always knew it was a bad idea to meet an alternate version of himself. Didn’t expect he’d try to kill himself though. Ghost puts his hands up, ready to block any attack, but none come.

“He always told me this would happen,” the guy mumbles to himself, slow to get off the floor. “No, I told HIM! Right, I told him. I’m the smart one. He never knew anything.”

Ghost just stares. What the fuck did he just get himself into. The alternate him looks at him.

“Why are you here?” he demands.

“I don’t know! I just ended up here!!” Ghost cries.

“Liar!!! You know who I am, you came here for a reason!!” the guy yells, and the power seems to grow in strength. Ghost can’t see it, but he feels the hair on his arms stand up.

“I have no fucking clue who you are! Other than a crazy version of me!!” Ghost yells back.

“CRAZY?!” the guy shouts. “I’m not CRAZY!! I’m evil! I’m the big bad guy!! Everyone knows who I am!!!”

“Who are you?!?!” Ghost has no fuckin clue who he could be.

“Cranky!! Johnny Cranky!! Don’t act like you don’t know!!” the guy yells, his eye twitching a bit. A glow seems to emanate from under his skin. “Everyone knows who I am!!!”

“Obviously fucking not-” Ghost starts, but he gets cut off by a crackling ball of electricity hitting him in the chest. He hears something crack as he hits the wall behind him, falling to the floor limply. Breathing is suddenly a lot harder to do.

“Shut up!!” the Johnny Cranky guy yells. “I’m right!!! You’re wrong! He was wrong too- They’re all wrong!!”

Ghost just wheezes, unable to talk. He’s winded, desperately trying to gulp air into his lungs. Not for the first time, his big mouth has gotten him into more trouble than he can probably handle.

“He always said- I always told him,” Cranky rambles. “He kept trying to get to me- To get in my head! Always saying shit like,” he puts on a horrible fake British accent, “Oh, sirrrr, you’ve been to meannnn to spoookkerrr!!” he huffs, “Like I give a shit!!”

It’s then that Ghost realizes he’s talking about Toast.

What the fuck did this guy do.

“Spooker deserved it! He’s not me- I’m the smart one! I’m all-powerful!! Oh, if only he could see me now! He’d come crawling back!!”

Cranky suddenly turns to Ghost.

“You understand, don’t you? You’re me, you have to!! How annoying Spooker was, how incompetent Colon was- And Jo- T- Him!! He’s always trying to get into your head, isn’t he??” Cranky says, smiling wide.

Ghost just stares, trying not to breathe too deeply. Sure, Spooker and Colon can be annoying, but they’re still useful sometimes.

And Toast, all he’s ever done is try to be there for him. This morning, or whenever that was… Ghost regrets being that mean. He hadn’t meant to snap like that, he just didn’t have the words Toast wanted and he didn’t know how to say it. He’s just felt so off-balance since the incident, and it’s just been so frustrating to deal with. Ghost’s not exactly the best with words, especially when he needs to use words to describe his emotions.

Suddenly Cranky turns away. “You don’t understand- How could you? You’re not the best! I am, though!! I don’t need him.”

For a guy claiming to not need someone he sure talks about him a lot.

“You don’t understand, right?” He turns back, almost pleading.

Ghost stares at him a moment before croaking out, “No.”

He does, though. On some twisted level, he does.

Oh god, is he going to end up like this??? He doesn’t want to be that. Sure, Colon and Spooker are annoying and he’s been tempted, but he’d never actually kill him!

And then… Toast.

He was really shitty to him last they spoke. Toast was just… trying to help.

Is Toast going to leave him? Is he going to go insane?

He doesn’t want that.

He also doesn’t want to be here anymore. His chest burns. He can barely breathe. And that crazy Cranky guy is just ranting, already talking again. Ghost doesn’t care to listen to what. He just closes his eyes, willing the room away, willing for Cranky’s voice to face.

Eventually, it does.

~~~

short and sweet again. ghost is starting to learn stuff.

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 9

~~~~~~

“We need a gameplan,” Toast says, addressing the two sat in front of them.

After the other two showered, he called them both into the living room for a meeting. Toast looks stressed, but he’s doing his best to stay calm.

“Can’t we just kill them?” Spooker asks.

“Spooker, you saw better than I did how many are out there. Do you honestly think we can take them all?” Toast asks, looking at him.

“No,” Spooker admits, looking down.

Toast sighs, looking at Colon, “Any ideas?”

“Nope,” Colon shakes his head.

“Great,” Toast mumbles. If Ghost were here, this wouldn’t even be an issue. He would’ve come up with some outlandish idea that probably would’ve gotten them killed but would’ve solved the problem. Yet here they are, the sun beginning to set, and they’re still stuck. Toast is trying his best to be hopeful but it’s hard to. They’re stuck.

Toast jumps when he hears a quiet knock at the back door. He grabs his trusty shotgun, motioning for Colon and Spooker to stay put. He heads for the back door, shotgun ready.

He takes a breath before opening the door a tiny bit.

Outside, he sees a figure. Shorter than him, pale complexion. They turn towards Toast, and Toast almost believes for a moment it’s Ghost.

And then he sees the dark hair, and he curses, going to close the door quickly.

“Wait-!” Jimmy hisses, shoving his hand between the door and the doorframe, almost like he’s asking to have his hand broken. “Wait- I’m not here to hurt you!”

“That’s a lie,” Toast says, pressing the door into Jimmy’s hand.

“No, please, I’m here to help!! I have information!!” Jimmy pleads.

“Why should I trust you?” Toast says, pushing the door more.

“OW- Okayokayokay please- They’re really mean to me!!! I wanna help you!!!” Jimmy frowns.

That catches Toast off guard. Jimmy never frowns, and he looks so much like Ghost when he does…

“Fine,” Toast huffs, opening the door. Jimmy smiles.

That’s when Toast lifts the shotgun, hitting Jimmy over the head with it.

“Colon, go grab rope!” Toast calls, setting his shotgun to the side as he drags Jimmy’s body into the house. It’s not hard to do, Jimmy is very light.

When Jimmy suggested this plan to Gavin and Maxwell, he didn’t expect it to work.

He didn’t expect to get knocked out and tied up either, but he’ll take what he can get.

When he wakes up, he’s in a dark room. It’s pretty small. He’s tied to a chair, like how Ghost was not too long ago. Only difference is, Jimmy can’t timeline hop.

��Heeellooooo?” he calls out. Doesn’t like being locked up alone. Reminds him too much of Before. He misses Gavin- Why’d he have to leave? This was a stupid idea. Why did Gavin let him do this. Stupid Gavin.

The door opens, and Jimmy hisses at the light, closing his eyes and turning away. So bright-

“So, Jimmy,” a certain brit says, turning the lights on before closing the door. “You said you have info?”

“Those are bright lights!” Jimmy says, squinting at him.

“Jimmy-” Toast sighs.

“What? That’s information!!” Jimmy smiles, his eyes adjusting a bit.

“I meant about the people who did… whatever’s outside,” Toast says.

“The zombies?” Jimmy asks, like there’s anything else outside.

“Yes, Jimmy. The zombies,” Toast says tersely, trying to keep his patience from leaving him.

“Oh, that was Gavin!” Jimmy says simply, smiling. “He’s so cool!!!”

Toast stares. “Gavin? As in, my brother, Gavin?”

“Noooo, Gavin from the gas station- Yes your brother!!!” Jimmy laughs.

Toast blinks. I mean, he knew Gavin had powers but… Toast didn’t know he was this powerful. How is he this powerful? It doesn’t even make sense. He turns away, opening the door again.

“Hey!! Turn the lights off at least!!” Jimmy calls to him, but to no avail. Toast just leaves.

Colon looks up at Toast when he walks into the room. Colon’s sitting on the couch alone, Spooker off in the other room seemingly on the phone.

“So? Is he useful?” Colon asks.

“Somewhat,” Toast sighs. “He’s… Incredibly stupid, apparently, but he did reveal to me who did that.” He motions vaguely outside.

“Oh? Who?” Colon asks, sitting up more.

“My brother,” Toast says. His eyes look far away.

Colon is about to ask something, but then Spooker comes back in.

“Toast, I got help!” He smiles, holding his phone away from his ear.

“Really?” Toast perks up. Spooker’s actually done something useful?

Spooker nods, putting his phone on speaker.

“Alright, lithen up, nerdth,” a familiar voice crackles over the phone speakers. “I don’t have the motht time in the world here.”

“Spencer!” Toast says, sounding pleasantly surprised.

“Yeah? Who elth? Thtupid… Anyway, I hear you guyth have a problem with undead?” Spencer says, sounding very focused on something else other than the conversation.

“Yes, they are… quite literally surrounding us, and there are… alot,” Toast says.

“I would athk if Ghoth ith there but I know he’th not, so Toath you need to lithen up,” Spencer says, not pausing again for input. “Hopefully you know by now that you can’t take all the undead on your own. If not, newth flath! You can’t. Tho, what now? Well, you have a few optionth; Wait for Ghoth, could take a few dayth, try to thin the herd, could be dangerouth, or try to take out the main man himthelf. Hopefully I don’t have to tell you thith but I’m thaying it anyway jutht in cathe, when dealing with powerful necromantherth, it’th better to take out the necromanther than to try and take out all the undead. Take out the creator, the creationth go with him.”

“Yes, Spencer, I know that,” Toast says, “But- What did you mean when you said we could wait-?”

“I don’t have time for thith!!” Spencer groans, “I helped you, I no longer owe Fred a favour, I’m going back to my gameth! Don’t bother me again, you abtholute nerdth!!”

Spencer hangs up. Toast sighs.

“That… Didn’t tell us anything new,” Toast says, turning away to think. “We can’t get out there… How are we supposed to take him out? We don’t even know where he is!!”

“Well, we have Jimmy?” Colon says. “Maybe we can use him to bait your brother out?”

“Wait, brother?” Spooker looks between them. “What? Are you guys keeping things from me???”

“No- I just found out,” Toast sighs, looking at him. “From Jimmy, actually.”

“What’s his name? Is he older than you? What’s he look like?? What’s he-” Spooker starts asking questions, and Toast holds a hand up to stop him.

“Okay, no more. His name is Gavin, and he’s my twin brother,” Toast says simply.

Spooker and Colon look at eachother, wide eyed. Spooker looks back at Toast.

“You have a twin brother?!?!?” Spooker cries out.

Toast sighs, rubbing his temples, “I’m going back to Jimmy. I have more questions. Don’t burn the house down.” He turns away, walking back to the room.

Toast opens the door slowly, making sure Jimmy’s still tied up. Upon seeing he is, he opens the door more, stepping in.

“I have more questions, Jimmy,” Toast says, leaning against the door behind him.

“I have answers!!” Jimmy says, smiling up at Toast. His dark shaggy hair hangs into his eyes.

Toast is still unnerved by how much he looks like Ghost. He supposes it makes sense, he did come from Ghost’s mind, but that doesn’t mean it looks normal.

“Alright,” Toast sighs, “Where is he? Gavin.”

Jimmy seems to study him for a second, which unnerves Toast further. It’s like a predator observing his prey, determining the best time to strike.

“Oh, y'know… There! Yknow, we had Ghost there for a bit. He’s gone now,” Jimmy smiles wider, the corners of his mouth twitching, pulling back further than they should be able to. It makes Toast feel nauseous.

“What? What do you mean? Gone?” Toast asks. Ghost can’t be gone. It’s just- It’s not possible.

“His blood was so red… I’d seen it before, but… It was so much better from a third person point of view! Red, red blood…” Jimmy mumbles, his smile never faltering.

Toast stares at him, the words forcing their way out of his mouth before he’s sure he wants the answer to them. “What did you do to him?”

“He’s gone, Toast,” Jimmy giggles.

“No- No, he isn’t,” Toast says firmly. Yet, he can’t shake the feeling that Jimmy is telling the truth. Ghost is no longer in this world. The thought settles on him like a thick blanket of snow, freezing him to the bone, smothering any other thought that dare try to cross it.

“You know he is,” Jimmy says in a low voice, sounding so much like Ghost that Toast can feel his heart twist.

“Shut up,” Toast says.

Jimmy begins to cackle, twisting Ghost’s face into horrific, inhuman shapes.

“Stop it!!” Toast yells, feeling his body begin to shake. He finds himself closer to Jimmy. He doesn’t remember moving. Jimmy continues to cackle.

Toast can feel someone shove past him, and sees the back of a blue beanie. He doesn’t hear what’s said, but he’s somewhat snapped back into reality when he sees Colon’s fist collide with Gh- Jimmy’s face. Jimmy’s head snaps back to an unnatural angle.

Toast can hear yelling. It takes him a second to realize it’s his own voice. He’s fighting against Colon, his eyes on the limp form of Jimmy in the chair. Colon’s dragging him out of the room.

The door closes, cutting off the body from Toast’s vision. The sound brings him back to his senses.

He can feel something wet on his face, his breathing coming way faster than it should. He feels hands on his arms, and then he registers the face in front of him.

Colon.

Colon just killed Jimmy. Toast saw his head snap back. Jimmy looks so much like Ghost.

Ghost.

He can’t be gone. Toast has known that man for 24 of his 32 years on this planet.

Ghost has always been there for him.

Always willing to talk him through scary situations. Always talking. Toast remembers his voice clearly.

Someone’s shaking him.

Ghost can’t be gone. It’s not possible.

He’s being led somewhere. He can’t focus. Ghost can’t be dead. It’s not possible. It’s not right.

Toast never got to tell him how much he cared.

It’s not fair.

He can’t be dead.

~~~

I'm not sorry for any emotional damage caused during this chapter.

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 8

~~~~~~

Ghost finds himself somewhere unfamiliar. He looks around confused, taking in his surroundings. It seems to be a small room, covered in a layer of dirt and grime. The windows are boarded up. It looks old.

The sound of a chair scraping against the ground behind him causes him to turn around, coming face to face with…

Toast?

“I- S- You-” Toast stutters, before whispering a quiet, “Ghost??”

Ghost stares, taking him in. His hair is much longer, tied back in a messy ponytail. His face is dirty, his beard overgrown. He really just looks like a total mess.

“Jeez…” Ghost mumbles, looking him up and down. “You look like shit. What happened?”

Toast’s eyes widen, but then he laughs. It’s a sad sound. “Oh- Right. Not my- Different timeline?”

Ghost nods slowly, “Yeah… What happened here?”

“What happened to you?” Toast asks, reaching out, gently running a thumb over the cuts on Ghost’s face. Ghost pushes his hand away.

“Nothing- For the third time, what the fuck happened?” Ghost huffs. A brief look of hurt passes Toast’s face, causing Ghost’s heart to hurt.

“Uhm- A war,” Toast says, looking away.

“Right. Duh,” Ghost sighs, looking around. “Makes sense. Where am I?”

“What?” Toast looks at him.

“Me, the me of this timeline. Where,” Ghost says.

Toast just stares.

“Hello??” Ghost raises an eyebrow at him. “Oh- Uhm… Sorry. You- Uhm… He’s… gone,” Toast says quietly, turning away.

“Oh, shit,” Ghost’s eyes widen. “I…” he looks at Toast, looks at the look of pain on his face. He… He feels bad. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Toast says, looking at the wall behind him. Ghost looks as well, his eyes widening.

It’s… I mean it looks crazy. It’s writing. Some on paper, some on or in the wall itself. Ghost goes to move forward, but Toast stops him.

“Don’t,” Toast says simply.

Ghost looks at him, “What… What is it?”

“It’s… Hard to explain,” Toast says, looking at him with such an expression Ghost can’t help but feel enveloped with love. Almost smothered by it.

“I’m gonna… Go-” Ghost says, starting to back towards the door. Toast grabs him.

“You can’t,” he says. “It’s not stable.”

“Not stable?” Ghost stares at him.

In front of him he sees a man. A man who went mad after losing his best friend, someone he loved deeply. Maybe more than a friend.

Ghost can’t help but think about his own Toast. The look he gave when Ghost snapped at him. I mean, the two have been separated before, but Toast ended up in jail, and Ghost… doesn’t remember.

What has this Toast done, with his Ghost dead?

What did he do to the world?

“I- It’s hard to explain,” Toast says, moving away from him.

“What did you do?” Ghost asks, his voice just above a whisper. Toast looks at him, a solemn smile on his face.

“I have to get him back,” Toast says. “No matter what. I have to save him.”

Ghost just stares.

He always had the sense that he and Toast could never be separated, but he always thought it was just because of Jimmy. He never even thought about how Toast would react.

He never thinks of Toast. How he feels.

Ghost… Never thinks of how what he does affects Toast, or anyone really. Looking at the Toast before him, gone mad, Ghost feels something inside of him twist.

Toast does so much for him. Toast is always there for him, always willing to do anything Ghost asks. Toast is the best friend a guy could want. Always there to calm him down, to get him out of the worst situations. Toast’s bailed Ghost out of more situations than he can count.

What has Ghost done in return?

Has he ever even thanked him? Sure, he’s thankful for him, but has he ever said that? Has he ever shown Toast how much he appreciates him?

Ghost’s eyes widen as he backs away from the Toast in front of him.

“I need to get home,” Ghost says.

“Wait, before you go,” Toast pulls something out of his pocket, handing it to Ghost. “Give that to your Toast. Please.”

Ghost looks down at the folded piece of paper in his hands, then back up at the Toast in front of him. He nods.

“Of course,” he says, shoving it in his pocket.

“Thank you,” Toast smiles solemnly.

Ghost takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. The stuffy room slowly fades away.

~~~

short chapter that time

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 7

~~~~~~

Toast is sitting in the living room, spacing out, when he feels the shift. The air in the room seems to get thicker with impending doom, the unsettling dread hitting him like an oncoming train. He sits up straighter, looking around.

He’s home alone. Spooker and Colon left a bit ago, and are yet to return. He hasn’t seen Ghost since yesterday, the thought of that alone wringing his heart out with sandpaper. The feeling doesn’t go away though, the dread.

A sound from the other room spurs him into motion. He walks slowly, grabbing his gun from the coffee table on his way. He doesn’t remember setting it there, but that’s where he found it.

He moves towards the room. Some part of his brain finds it unsettling, walking like he does on the job where there could be a dangerous entity around any corner, but in his own home, where he’s supposed to be safe. He brushes it off, approaching the door to the room quietly. He gets into position outside, hand on the handle. He counts himself down.

3…

2…

No time for 1, he turns the handle, bursting into the room with his gun up.

There’s no one there. The sound persists.

He takes a deep breath, slowly wandering further in, keeping his guard up. He knows better than to relax when you hear odd sounds. He quietly tracks down the source of the sound, tense the entire time.

Eventually, after poking around several things, he finds it. Buried in the corner with the other outdated equipment, is the wigglegraph. Toast stares in confusion, watching the little arm dance up and down, recording readings that should be impossible in this day and age. He doesn’t understand it.

He hears a noise outside the window. His head snaps in that direction, and he walks over.

What he sees is something that makes him question his sanity. That makes that sense of dread grip him tighter, preventing his breathing for a moment.

Outside his house, slowly shambling their way towards him, is a horde of undeads. It’s not a small one, either. There’s an impossible number of them out there, all shambling towards him. Slow and easy to pick off in small groups, but a large crowd like this can be devastating.

Toast panics. He can’t deal with this number of undeads on his own. So he does the only thing he knows will help him.

He runs for the control panel of the Emergency Security Systems, aptly named by Johnny Ghost. A few years ago, when Ghost was dealing with a lot of paranoia after a particularly bad job, he insisted that he and Toast put in a security system on the house. It took forever to set up, and later on Colon helped enchant it a bit more, but eventually it was made. It’s basically a giant forcefield that goes around the house, preventing any sort of paranormal entity from getting in. It’s the only thing Toast knows will help.

He rushes a bit in his panic to get to it, nearly falling on his ass as he turns a corner, but he does manage to get there in one piece. He fumbles with the controls, his palms already beginning to sweat. The many hours of Ghost forcing him to repeat the steps until he could do it perfectly several times over escape him for a brief moment. Muscle memory takes over, guiding his shaking hands through the steps.

The sound of the system coming to life, the green lights blaring, seem so distant. So far away. The sound is muffled as he falls to the floor, his hands pulling at his hair.

He has no idea how long it will hold, if it will at all.

He does know that if it fails, he’s dead. Toast is thankful for the umpteenth time in his life for Ghost. Sure, he can be a royal pain in the ass sometimes. He’s too stubborn for his own good, and sometimes he gets right on Toast’s nerves and makes Toast feel like pulling his own hair out, but he can also be genuinely wonderful at times.

Sometimes.

Those moments are rare, sure, but that just means they’re more special. They stick out more in Toast’s memory. He remembers fondly that time he and Ghost were younger, and Toast was walking across a room in an old second story when the floor gave out. Ghost freaked out so much, he didn’t stop to think what he was doing. Toast just remembers Ghost yelling his name and then both of them were lying on the splintered remains of the first story floor they just crashed through, the dust settling around them. Ghost had meant to pull Toast up, but had moved too quickly on the already weak wood, sending them both through it. Ghost started genuinely laughing at how absurd it all was, and the sound was one of the most beautiful ones Toast has ever heard. He rarely hears Ghost genuinely laugh, especially these days. Toast had laughed too, too caught up in Ghost’s laugh to worry about their wellbeing for a moment.

Toast flinches a bit as he hears the cries of the undead outside the barrier, upset they can’t get in. He covers his ears with his hands.

Another thing he appreciates Ghost for- His ability to distract Toast, even in the most painful or terrifying moments. Toast isn’t exactly the boldest of men. He finds it hard to talk to people, which is why he and Ghost work so well together. Ghost does all the talking.

Toast remembers one time when they were young adults, just starting out in the business, when he had broken his arm. It was his own fault, really, he wasn’t quite looking at where he was stepping in a particularly rickety house. Fell down a rather large hole that he later felt really stupid about missing. The pain was searing, but he can barely remember it now. All he remembers is Ghost running over to him, his face white with panic. As the two made their way back to Ghost’s old truck, Ghost would not stop talking. Not that Toast ever wanted him to.

He talked about anything and everything. Told Toast stories from his childhood- Though, Toast knew most of them already- and from the time they spent apart. Talked about people he’d met. Stupid things he’d done. He talked the whole way home, never running out of things to say. It helped Toast to forget the pain.

It’s one thing of many Ghost is good at. Talking endlessly, to the point that you could even forget your own pain, just clinging to every word he says.

Toast thinks it’s less about the subject of the stories, and more the way Ghost speaks. He speaks with a sort of importance, demanding your attention. He has a way of sounding like he knows exactly what he’s doing even when he hasn’t the slightest clue. He’s so sure of himself at all times. Toast wishes he knew how he did it. Especially when telling stories, the demand of attention always manages to have Toast holding onto every word he says, unable to tear his eyes away. Ghost could tell Toast the sky was green and Toast would just smile and nod along, unable to disagree simply because it was Ghost, and Ghost just knows how to talk.

Toast wishes Ghost were here right now, to talk to him. Help distract him from the horror outside. Not even Spooker and Colon are here.

He’s alone.

Endlessly alone.

~~~

“Well, that sucked,” Spooker sighs as they walk back to the car.

“It always works in cop shows!” Colon frowns, bummed out.

“Maybe we couldn’t see the records because we’re not cops?” Spooker suggests.

“Maybe, but still, I’m sure it’s gotta be a storage unit. A house just doesn’t sound right to me,” Colon says as he unlocks the car for them both, getting in.

“Maybe we should come back in cop uniforms?” Spooker shrugs, getting in as well.

“That’s illegal, Spooks,” Colon says with a smile, starting the car.

“It’s only illegal if you get caught,” Spooker reminds him, also smiling.

“True,” Colon nods, starting to drive.

The two continue to talk about nonsense on their way back to the house, only stopping when Colon doesn’t respond to Spooker’s last quip.

“Colon-?” Spooker asks as the car comes to a sudden halt.

“Spooks, look,” Colon says quietly, staring dead ahead. Spooker looks, his eyes widening in fear.

All down the road are undead. All around the HQ, too. They’re everywhere.

It’s an impossible number. The few closest to them turn towards the car lazily. Colon throws it in reverse.

“Colon- Wait!” Spooker yells as Colon turns, starting to get the fuck out of there. “What about Toast?!”

“Oh- Dang!” Colon puts the brakes on again, now a lot further. “Call him??”

Spooker nods, pulling his phone out, dialing up Toast.

Toast jumps at the sound of his phone ringing, yanking him out of his pleasant memories. He fishes it out of his pocket quietly. Upon seeing the name SPOOKER displayed, he picks up.

“Spooker?! Where are you, are you okay??” Toast asks. Without Ghost around, all Toast’s worry is being directed at other people.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Spooker’s voice answers. “What about you??? There are… So many zombies!!”

“Yes, I’m aware,” Toast says, trying to put his calm persona back on. It’s hard though, considering the situation he’s in.

“They’re all down the street- It's terrifying!” Spooker re-emphasizes.

Toast sighs. “Spooker, please- Just- Get as far away as possible, okay? Go find help.”

“Help? We don’t need help, we’re PIE!” Spooker says proudly.

Toast wishes he had the same confidence. “Spooker, please. Go. Get. Help. Do you understand me?”

“Of course, Toast!” Spooker says.

“Great! Please do hurry though, I don’t know how long this will hold,” Toast says, allowing a tiny bit of worry to slip through.

“We will!” Spooker says, hanging up. He looks at Colon.

“So, what did he say?”

“Doesn’t matter, I have an idea on how to get in there,” Spooker says, smiling.

“What’s the plan?” Colon asks.

“Well- You know how in all those movies they act like zombies?” Spooker says.

The first part of the plan was pretty unpleasant. They had to smother themselves in unscenely things. To mask their ‘human smell’, Spooker said. ‘They always do it in the movies!’

Now smelling like literal garbage, they rough themselves up a bit in dirt and mud before slowly approaching the crowd. The undeads barely acknowledge them.

They continue moving through the crowd painfully slowly, doing their best not to disturb the undeads around them. One of them actually turns to look at them as they approach, but they just stop in their tracks until it turns back around.

It’s kind of eerie, all these undead just stood calmly around the HQ. Part of Spooker thinks they should be doing something at least, but he’s glad they’re not.

Eventually the pair make it to the barrier. They went around back, in case anyone was watching the front. They can be smart sometimes.

They reach the door, opening it and rushing inside. Once the door is closed behind them, they allow themselves to celebrate quietly. The house is dark.

Their celebration is cut short by the sound of someone cocking a shotgun.

“Turn around,” a very angry brit sounds. “Slowly.”

Spooker and Colon turn ever so slowly, shaken with fear.

When Toast sees their faces, his anger dissipates. It’s replaced with utter disbelief.

“Spooker?? Colon?” Toast says, pointing the shotgun down.

“Hi,” Spooker says quietly.

Toast is suddenly full of anger again. “Oh- God da- Can’t you two listen for ONCE in your lives?!?!? I told you to go get help!! Why do you NEVER listen?!!” He yells, his calm persona cracking a bit under the pressure.

Spooker shrinks a bit out of fear. Colon takes a step back. Toast never yells, unless it’s to be heard across a large distance.

“I… I thought we’d be stronger together…” Spooker says quietly, trying a small smile, “Y’know… PIE…” “Spooker-!” Toast yells, but then stops himself. He closes his eyes, balling his free hand into a tight fist. The anger seems to melt away, and he takes a deep breath. “Spooker. That’s… Sweet, honestly, it is, but I told you to get help. Now we’re just all stuck in here.”

“Oh…” Spooker says quietly. “I uhm… Didn’t think this through.”

“I didn’t think you did,” Toast mutters, turning away. “Go shower, you two smell horrid.”

Spooker looks at Colon, the two scampering off to the bathroom. ~~~ this is probably bad but ooh welll

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 6

~~~~~~

On the other hand, the good news just keeps coming for the evil trio.

First, Jimmy managed to complete a vital piece of their plan- All on his own!!

Gavin was in the main room of their home base, studying a big black tome, when Jimmy burst through the front door. Gavin would say he’d never seen Jimmy beam that bright before, but the little maniac is almost always smiling, so that would be a lie. That’s when Gavin noticed what he was carrying.

Gavin clearly remembers setting the tome down as he stood up, remarking something along the lines of, “Well well well, look what the cat dragged in!” which caused Jimmy to cackle loudly, dumping the body he was holding on the floor.

That’s when the body started to move. Which did surprise Gavin. Jimmy never leaves his victims alive. Sure, he’s stupid, but he’s smart at killing.

Gavin moved closer to the body, and then he recognized it. He was suddenly full of an emotion, later identified as being Proud.

On the floor, unconscious, was Johnny Ghost.

He had rewarded Jimmy handsomely for that, after making sure Ghost was securely tied up in a different room.

Gavin remembers it fondly now as he lays on the ratty couch in the main room of the homebase, smiling at the memory of Ghost’s face when he saw Jimmy.

Speaking of Jimmy, the little maniac was currently lying on top of Gavin, his face buried into Gavin’s neck. That’s the main reason Gavin hasn’t gotten up in about an hour. Jimmy had finally crashed after over 42 hours of being awake, and Gavin was not about to wake him up. That was basically a death sentence.

Not that Jimmy could actually kill Gavin, but Gavin doesn’t want to see what would happen if he tried.

The only thing that brings Jimmy’s cat nap to a sudden stop is a certain dark figure walking into the base.

Only, he’s not a dark figure at first. When he first walks in, he looks like an average guy. Hispanic descent, maybe.

“I’m telling you, Gavin,” he says with a Spanish accent, his form flickering back to a dark silhouette wearing a cowboy hat, “We went too hard on the clothing. I looked like a try hard.”

“Welcome back, Maxwell,” Gavin greets. Jimmy begins to groan a bit, waking from his cat nap. He’s a light sleeper.

“Yeah yeah, anyway,” Maxwell says, sitting in one of the chairs next to the couch, “while you two were here sleepin’, I actually found out some useful information.”

Jimmy lifts his head up, about to say something, but Gavin shushes him. So instead, Jimmy just grumbles sleepily, putting his head back down, watching Maxwell.

“So, what is it?” Gavin prods.

“They’re fast actin’,” Maxwell says. “Toast was the only one who did anythin’ though- Took a crossbow out ‘n shot ‘em all. Only took one to two shots too.”

“Hm,” Gavin hums, but before he can say anything, Jimmy beats him to it.

“We didn’t just sit here lying around!!” he huffs, sitting up.

“Oh really?” Maxwell asks. “Do tell me what y’all did then.”

“I got Ghost!!!” Jimmy squeals, an inhuman smile splitting his face.

“Oi, quiet down,” Gavin says, ruffling Jimmy’s hair before scooting out from under Jimmy, sitting up as well.

“Wait- Is he serious?” Maxwell turns to Gavin. Can’t blame him, really. Hard to tell when Jimmy’s joking.

“Yes, he is,” Gavin says, stretching a bit. Jimmy stretches as well, probably just copying Gavin. His body makes a lot of horrible noises when he does. Gavin makes a small disgusted face at them.

“Do you wanna come see???” Jimmy asks, already on his feet before Maxwell answers. Gavin doesn’t know how he does it. Jimmy barely got an hour of sleep, and he’s just woken up. Where is he storing all this extra energy? Up his ass?

Gavin can’t say he’s too surprised though. Jimmy’s been bouncing off the walls since he woke up that day. Sure, Gavin kind of intended that- He couldn’t imagine Jimmy any other way- but it still confuses him.

“I er- I guess?” Maxwell shrugs, standing up as well.

“Great!!” Jimmy says, giggling to himself a bit as he grabs Maxwell’s arm, leading him towards the room where they keep Ghost.

Another thing he does that Gavin doesn’t quite understand. Maxwell isn’t… I mean, he’s not exactly solid. He’s a ghost. Gavin can’t even do that. Gavin just sighs, following after the two. Best not to question it.

Jimmy drags Maxwell into the room, where Ghost seems to be unconscious. Maxwell looks at him, letting out a low whistle.

“Well I’ll be damned, Jimmy! You weren’t lyin’!” Maxwell says, sounding pleasantly surprised.

That’s when Ghost raises his head a bit, eyeing the three figures in front of him.

Since he got there, he’s gained a few cuts and bruises that weren’t there before. Mainly from Jimmy when he got bored. Ghost’s eyes widen upon seeing Maxwell.

“Maxwell-?!” He cries. First Gavin, then Jimmy, and now Maxwell? This makes no sense. It’s such an unlikely trio.

“Pleasure seein’ you again, Johnny Ghost,” Maxwell greets, tipping his hat at him.

“Well, now that we’re all here,” Gavin says, looking at the other two. “We need to decide what we’re going to do with him.”

“Kill him!” Jimmy says instantly, smiling wide. Gavin chuckles, ruffling his hair again.

“We’ll uhm… Put that idea on the backburner there, Jims,” Gavin says, smiling at him. Jimmy smiles even wider back. Somehow. It grosses Gavin out how he does that. Gavin didn’t make him able to do that. He just… did that himself. It’s gross.

“Actually, wait,” Maxwell says, looking at Gavin, “That might be our only option.”

“What do you mean?” Gavin asks, looking back at Maxwell.

“I mean- He’s strong. If he gets out of here, our entire plan is ruined,” Maxwell elaborates.

Gavin nods. “You’re right… Plus, it saves us from doing it later down the line.”

“Yay!! Let’s kill him!!!” Jimmy shrieks, following it up with a cackle that sends shivers down Gavin’s spine.

Ghost just stares at the three in front of him. He knows them, he knows what they’re capable of, and they are capable of murder. Especially Jimmy, and Maxwell. Gavin’s more of a theft kind of criminal, but he will kill if he needs to.

Ghost also can’t risk dying. Usually, if he’s in a Safe Zone, he’d just go along with it. Dying can reset your position to a more desirable one. But since the wipe out, Safe Zones have been a lot rarer. That’s why, for a couple years, Toast and Ghost worked on mapping out local Safe Zones, and memorizing where they are.

The only issue is. Ghost has no idea where he is. He could be miles out of town, he could be somewhere nearby. He has no idea if he’s in a safe zone. It’s hard to know if you’re in one without seeing something else die first, and he very much doubts he’s gonna see that.

He’s looked around this room several times. There’s nothing here he can use to escape. He thinks he’s screwed.

That is, until he remembers something. Several years ago, when he and Toast were first figuring out different timelines and dimensions, they learned how to timeline hop. It was fun, but very dangerous. They’re lucky they ever even made it back to their own timeline. But looking at the three in front of him, arguing over who gets to kill him- Jimmy really wants to be the one, but so does Maxwell- he figures that getting lost in a different timeline would be a lot less dangerous than being in this room.

Only issue is remembering how to do it. Ghost closes his eyes, focusing on remembering.

The talking dies out.

“Gavin,” Maxwell butts in. Gavin glares.

“Don’t interrupt me, Maxwell,” Gavin says, then turns back to Jimmy. “As I was saying-”

“Gavin!” Maxwell says again.

“Not right now, Maxwell!” Gavin huffs.

“God damnit, Gavin!! Listen for once in your pathetic life!!” Maxwell yells, pushing Gavin’s shoulder so he’s turned towards the seat where Ghost is tied up.

Only, Ghost isn’t there. The ropes have gone limp. Not cut, or unties at all, just limp.

“What the fuck-?” Gavin says, walking over. He didn’t just go invisible did he?? “What happened?!” he yells, turning to Maxwell.

“How am I supposed to know???” Maxwell cries out. He jabs a thumb at Jimmy, who’s giggling, “Ask the freak!!”

Gavin takes a breath to calm down- He’s learned the hard way that you can’t yell at Jimmy. Doesn’t work well. “Jimmy… Do you know something?”

“Oh, yeah!” he giggles more.

“Care to share?” Gavin asks, forcing his smile.

“Ghost isn’t here anymore!!” Jimmy laughs.

Gavin takes a deep breath. “No shit, Jims.” “No, you don’t get it!!” Jimmy says, smiling wider, “He’s gone!”

“We can see that, freak!!” Maxwell yells. Gavin shoots him a glare before approaching Jimmy.

“Jims, what do you mean?”

“I mean he’s not in this universe!” Jimmy cackles. “He’s gone!!!”

Gavin looks confused. “What? How can he do that-?”

“I have no idea!!” Jimmy says, really cracking himself up. Gavin sighs.

“Well, at least he’s… out of the way?” Maxwell shrugs.

“That’s true…” Gavin nods slowly. “Maxwell, go check on PIE HQ, we need to know if we can attack yet.”

“What? Why can’t the freak do something for once? It’s just a camera!” Maxwell growls.

Gavin glares, putting an arm around Jimmy’s shoulders, “He can’t read, asshole.”

Maxwell huffs, heading out the door. Gavin moves away from Jimmy, moving about cleaning up the room.

Maxwell finds Gavin and Jimmy back on the couch next. Jimmy is sitting upside down, Gavin sitting normally beside him, reading again.

“Great news,” Maxwell says, approaching the two.

“What?” Gavin looks up at him.

“It’s just Johnny Toast there,” Maxwell says. “The other two idiots just left.”

“How is that good news?” Gavin huffs, “We want them all dead, don’t we?”

“It’s good news, because they’re weaker when they’re separated!” Maxwell says, his tone obviously irritated.

Gavin nods. “Right… So we get rid of my brother first, and then the other two?”

“Exactly!” Maxwell says. “The other two can’t do shit without the Johnnys.”

“Great!” Gavin smiles, standing up with the black tome in hand. “What are we waiting for then?!”

“Dinner,” Jimmy says solemnly, looking up at him.

Gavin sighs, “Later, Jimmy.”

Jimmy smiles.

~~~

was this bad? probably. i was very tired.

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 5

~~~~~~

Ghost knew deep down that walking out on Toast right then was a bad idea. However, he didn’t know how bad of an idea it actually was.

Only now he realizes that, his head pounding and his wrists tied behind his back. As he comes to his senses more, he realizes he has a blindfold over his eyes. He’s also tied to a chair.

And he can also hear sound in the room he’s in. Quiet whispering to his left. The voices almost sound familiar to him. Hey, maybe if he knows them, they won’t kill him!

“Hello?” he groans. Maybe he can talk his way out of this.

He can hear a gasp followed by a quick, shrill, “He’s awake!!” Two sets of footsteps approach him. One stops to his left, the other directly in front of him.

“Oh, please let me take his blindfold off!!” the shrill voice says, sounding almost like a begging kid.

“I’m not letting you do it,” a deep voice says. It has a weird accent, almost like a mix of southern and British- Wait a fucking minute.

“Oh, you mother FUCKER!” Ghost exclaims. He’d know that fucking voice anywhere. “Gavin you piece of shit!”

The man, correctly identified as Gavin, chuckles. The shrill voice laughs as well, a disturbing cackle that chills Ghost to his bones. “Long time no see, Ghostie.”

Ghost’s blindfold is taken off his head, and he’s face to face with the twin brother of his best friend.

Despite being identical twins, many things help differentiate the two brothers. First of all, Gavin doesn’t have the same baby blue eyes as Toast. His eyes are instead an abnormally vibrant green colour.

Another thing is the scar on the left side of Gavin’s face, stretching from his jaw up to the corner of his eyebrow. Gavin also has a few face piercings, one of them being on his eyebrow, another on his lip. He also does his hair differently than his brother’s.

The easiest way to tell though, is Gavin is a total dickhead, and Toast isn’t.

“What was even the point of the blindfold??” Ghost huffs, glaring at him.

“So you didn’t see him,” Gavin says, backing away from Ghost as he motions to the other guy in the room, presumably the owner of the shrill voice. Ghost freezes when he sees him.

The man looks a lot like Ghost, like he could be his brother or something. However, the man has shaggy nearly black hair that hangs into his face, red eyes, and more scars than a tortured war hostage. The guy’s face splits into an eerie smile, his cracked and scarred lips twisting, forming into something almost inhuman. He has sharp canines.

Everything about the man unsettles Ghost, and he hates to say he knows exactly why.

“We meet again, Ghost!!” The guy says, then lets out a chilling cackle, the effort from it shaking his entire body.

Ghost squeezes his eyes shut. He thought he was finally rid of this parasite, but his cackle drives its way deep into his brain again. He hasn’t seen him since the incident. He never wanted to see him again.

Yet there he stood, in front of him. His parasite. The thing he got ripped from his skull.

Jimmy Casket.

---

“Good morning,” Toast greets. His voice is tense, and he looks like a complete mess.

Spooker, who had just woken up after staying the night at the HQ by accident, blinks in surprise at Toast’s appearance. Toast never looks like this.

“Hi…” Spooker says slowly, “did you sleep?”

“Er, no,” Toast admits, seeming to shake a bit as he goes to grab his mug off the table. “But it’s fine. Have you seen Ghost?”

“Not since yesterday morning. Why?” Spooker raises an eyebrow. “Is he not here?”

“No. He’s not. And he didn’t bring his phone with him. And this isn’t like him,” Toast says quickly, shaking a bit as he takes a sip of whatever’s in his mug.

“Well, I’m sure he’s alright!” Spooker says, putting a hand on Toast’s shoulder. Toast just sighs.

“I don’t know. What with all this … Paranormal stuff going on, I’m worried. This isn’t like him! He always comes back- It’s been 24 hours maybe I should report him as missing?”

“Cmon, Toast! He’s a 30-year-old man, he can spend 24 hours on his own, right?” Spooker says, smiling at him. Toast thinks about that.

“I… I suppose you’re right,” Toast sighs, looking down.

“Yeah!” Spooker nods. “Anyway, Colon and I are gonna go somewhere today. You’ll be okay alone, right?”

Toast looks at him, in such a state that he is most definitely not good to be alone. He nods. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You two have fun.”

“We will!!” Spooker says as the two head out the door.

Toast watches them go quietly. As soon as the door closes, he feels the weight of being alone settle on him. He can’t stand being alone. It reminds him too much of that dark time of his life.

He can barely remember any of it, really. Just the feelings he had. He remembered the apartment he and … she used to share, once a bright place full of laughter and love, turned to a dark blur in Toast’s memory. He still hasn’t quite forgiven himself for it, but he’s moved past it with Ghost’s help.

Ghost.

His childhood best friend. The memory of Ghost is the only thing that pulled him out of that place. Lead him all the way back to America. All the way to Ghost’s front door. He barely even remembers the first few weeks with Ghost. Ghost doesn’t bring them up either. All Toast can remember is a few blurs of the bottom of the bottle, an overall feeling of shit, and Ghost’s face when he found Toast unconscious on the floor of the kitchen. He had slapped Toast awake, and the face Toast saw when coming to consciousness was one of fear. Sure, he’d seen Ghost afraid before, but nothing like that. It was pure panic, fear from worry. It hurts Toast’s heart to think about.

He remembers Ghost yelling, but none of what he said. He was too captivated by him. Ghost was his own guardian angel back then, always there for Toast whenever he needed him. Toast was there for Ghost too. They sort of relied on each other, both coming out of dark times in their lives.

But now, remembering Ghost’s face the last time he saw him, the anger there. Toast sighs, looking down at his mug of coffee. He hates coffee, he could never understand how Ghost drinks it. He thinks he can understand now.

Part of him thinks he is overreacting. Ghost is a grown man. He can do what he wants, he doesn’t have to stay with Toast. It’s just odd. They’ve always been there for each other, always right nearby. It’s not like Ghost to be gone for so long.

Toast thinks about Ghost’s incident next. It’s barely been a month since it happened, and it’s been a relatively smooth road. Sure there are moments like these where Ghost would get irritable for no reason, but Toast just brushed it off as him adjusting. Maybe he shouldn’t have.

He can still remember the day he found Ghost. He’d been missing for a whole day before Toast finally tracked him down. He had found him in an old warehouse where Gavin resided, a place off the grid and abandoned, but big enough for all of Gavin’s needs. Gavin had stopped him near the entrance, trying to hold him back, saying how Ghost needed time to adjust. Toast had no idea what had happened, or how Gavin was involved. He just knew he needed to get Ghost out of there.

Toast had pushed past Gavin, into a room where there were two cots laid out, a body on each. Both looked similar to the other, with similar body types and faces. However, Ghost had redder hair. That’s how Toast recognized him.

Not to mention, the other guy had way too many scars to be Ghost.

Ghost later explained to Toast what had happened. How Gavin had contacted him, told him he had a way to solve his problem. Toast knew his brother could use magic, but he still does not know to what extent. Apparently, it was enough to extract Jimmy from Ghost’s head though.

Toast shudders at the memory. Knowing that the body on the other cot was Jimmy. He’s done his best to memorize that face, in case he ever sees him again. But he hasn’t seen him since. What’s shocking though is the fact that despite keeping an eye on murders in the area, Toast’s seen no change. Knowing Gavin, he’s probably got Jimmy locked up somewhere so he can’t draw attention to himself.

Toast goes to take a sip of his coffee, gagging a bit when he realizes it’s cold. How long has he been sitting there?

He sighs, standing up to go pour the coffee out. He’s probably had too much anyway.

~~~

haha evil men

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 4

~~~~~~

Toast nudges the door to the bedroom open quietly, careful to not spill the hot cup of tea in his hand as he walks in. He smiles at the sight of Ghost, lying on his side on the bed. He quietly makes his way over, setting the mug down on the bedside table, sitting next to Ghost.

“Are you awake, sir?” Toast whispers, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

“I am now,” Ghost mumbles, not opening his eyes.

Toast chuckles. “Sorry about that, sir. I brought you tea if you want it.”

Ghost sighs, stretching a bit before he sits up, not looking at Toast. He sits against the headboard, bringing his knees up to his chest before he grabs the tea, just holding it in his hands for now. Toast smiles, scooting a bit so he’s sat next to Ghost.

“Are you feeling better now, sir?” Toast asks quietly, looking at him.

“A bit,” Ghost mumbles, before finally taking a sip of the tea. That relaxes Toast some.

“That’s good, sir,” Toast says happily. Ghost leans on Toast a bit.

A comfortable silence falls over the two. Toast closes his eyes, humming happily. Ghost just sips the tea, allowing himself to be relaxed.

After a bit, Ghost breaks the silence, mumbling a quiet, “Are Colon and Spooker here?”

“No, sir,” Toast answers quietly. “They had somewhere to be.”

“Good,” Ghost sighs.

Toast chuckles, “Is it, sir?”

“Yeah,” Ghost leans on Toast more. Toast wraps an arm around him. “I like it better when it’s just us two.”

“And why’s that?” Toast asks.

“It’s like the old days,” Ghost mumbles, taking a sip of tea.

Toast nods, humming a bit in thought. “Yeah, I suppose it is, sir.”

Ghost just turns a bit, burying his face into Toast’s chest, causing the brit to chuckle more. He puts a gentle hand on Ghost’s head, ruffling his hair a bit.

“You okay there, sir?” Toast asks, his smile obvious in his voice.

“Warm…” Ghost mumbles, the sound muffled by Toast’s shirt. Toast chuckles more.

“Alright sir,” He says, smiling as he messes with Ghost’s hair. Despite looking like a total mess all the time, it’s surprisingly soft. Toast doesn’t get to do this often. He enjoys it every time.

After a bit more silence, Toast finally bites the bullet, saying a quiet, “Sir, speaking of Spooker and Colon, I do think we need to look into the thing Spooker-”

“No,” Ghost cuts him off, pulling away from him. Toast has to fight off a sigh.

“Sir, please. This could be serious! It’s at least worth looking into? Better safe than sorry?” his eyebrows furrow together, his tone almost pleading. “I said no, Johnny,” Ghost says, setting his mug of tea down on the bedside table. “Leave it.”

“Sir, please,” Toast repeats.

“Johnny. No.”

“Sir, what is with you??” Toast sighs. “Ever since your incident, you’ve refused to listen to anything-”

“Oh don’t start with that again, Johnny!” Ghost groans, moving away from him. Toast grabs his arm to keep him from leaving.

“I’m not trying to start anything, Sir, I just-”

“You just what?” Ghost snaps, glaring at him.

“I just wish you would talk to me, Ghost!” Toast stresses, the worry evident in his face and his tone. Ghost studies him for a bit, before pulling his arm away roughly.

“I’m going for a walk,” he says simply, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Toast can only watch in silent defeat as Ghost gets his shoes on and walks out the door.

By the time Spooker and Colon return, Toast has already worked himself into a funk. He doesn’t like arguing with Ghost. It makes him feel all icky.

Spooker and Colon find him sitting at the table, staring down at an empty teacup. He’s sworn off drinking alcohol, so he now instead stress drinks tea. He couldn’t say how many cups he’s had since Ghost walked out. He’d call Ghost, but he left his phone here. So, Toast just gets to wait in anguish for Ghost to come back. He almost thinks Spooker and Colon are him, but he hears the car and remembers Ghost doesn’t drive.

Upon seeing Toast, Spooker glances over at Colon, who shrugs back at him.

“Hey, Toast…” Spooker says slowly, walking up to him.

“Hi,” Toast says, forcing a small smile as he looks up at the two.

“Everything okay?” Spooker asks.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Toast nods, “How was your uhm… thing?”

The two glance at each other.

“It was fine,” Colon says.

Toast is about to respond, but he gets cut off by his phone ringing. He jumps a bit, pulling it out of his pocket. He picks it up, putting it to his ear.

“Hello, Johnny Toast uh- from PIE, Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire,” he says. His intro is different from Ghost’s, but also not exactly as solid, Ghost made sure of it all those years ago. “How can I help you?”

Spooker grabs Colon’s arm, dragging him to the other room.

“Do we bring it up-?” Spooker asks.

“No- It’s too early,” Colon says, shaking his head. “We still need to find out more if we can.”

“Alright,” Spooker nods, glancing in Toast’s general direction. “He just… doesn’t seem the type, does he?”

“Not at all,” Colon says, “but we know better now.”

“Spooker, Colon!” Toast calls from the other room, drawing the other two back into that room.

“Grab your stuff,” Toast says, putting his phone back in his pocket, “We have an urgent job.”

“Alright, Toast,” Colon nods. Spooker’s already on the way to the extra room where he and Colon are allowed to keep their stuff.

The three are on the road soon enough. Even though Ghost isn’t there, Spooker and Colon still sit in the back, leaving Toast up front on his own.

“So, Toast, what did you mean when you said it was urgent?” Colon asks after a bit of silence.

“Oh, right-” Toast forgot to fill the other two in. Usually, he just fills Ghost in, and Ghost fills them in. He’s a bit thrown off with Ghost not here, but he couldn’t exactly get a hold of Ghost, and they needed to go at that moment. “According to the caller, there’s a horde of undead entities in a local park.”

“What?” Spooker’s surprised by that, glancing over at an equally surprised Colon. That doesn’t happen often, random zombies.

“I’m as surprised as you two,” Toast says, glancing in the rearview mirror at them. “This is totally out of the blue.”

Colon nudges Spooker. Spooker’s eyes widen, “What if it’s not out of the blue?”

“What do you mean?” Toast asks, though he already knows.

“The spikes on the graph!” Spooker exclaims. “They could be related!!”

“That could be so,” Toast nods, thinking about it. It would make sense. Spikes don’t happen for no reason. Something’s up, and he has a feeling a small horde of paranormal entities isn’t the end of it.

They reach the park soon enough. Luckily, it seems most people have run away, leaving no casualties. There does seem to be a few people around, watching to make sure the zombies don’t wander off. Toast approaches one of these people as Spooker and Colon get the equipment from the back.

“Eh, hello, sir,” Toast greets. “Were you the one who called?”

“No, I wasn’t, but I saw that guy leave,” the guy says, not looking over at Toast. He speaks weirdly, as if trying to cover up an accent. He also seems oddly familiar to Toast, but Toast is sure he’s just seen him around town. I mean, it’s not like he’s special looking. Looks to be of Hispanic heritage, medium-length brown hair pulled back into a man bun. He wears what any generic guy would wear. It almost gives off the impression that he’s trying hard to fit in, but Toast brushes it off. Some people are like that.

“Ah, alright,” Toast nods, mentally sighing at that, “I’m Johnny Toast from PIE, Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire.” He offers the man his hand for a handshake, but the guy just looks at it, then back up to Toast.

“Are you gonna fix this problem or what?” The guy asks.

“I- Well,” Toast falters, putting his hand down awkwardly. He clears his throat. “Of course, that is what we do! However, I would like some background information. Do you know what happened here?”

“Yeah, everything was normal, and then those fuckers shambled out of the woods and started attacking people!”

“Oh dear,” Toast sighs, glancing at the horde, which is less a horde and more a small group. “Do you know if anyone got bit?”

“I’m not here to do your job for you!” The guy huffs.

“Well, no, of course not,” Toast says, “I mean, that would be ridiculous! But I wasn’t here when this happened, and presumably, you were. Did you see anyone get bit?”

“No!” The guy says, sounding fed up with Toast. “Can you just do your fuckin job?”

Toast recoils a bit at the man’s harshness, but nods nonetheless, “Of course, sir. Thank you for your time.” He turns on his heel, heading back to the car. Spooker and Colon stand there waiting for him.

“So, what’s the sitch?” Colon asks when Toast is close enough.

“Apparently, they just showed up,” Toast sighs, grabbing a few things, one of them being a crossbow. “Came out of the woods.” His tone is tense.

“Is something wrong?” Spooker asks, watching him.

“Well- Not really? It’s just… Odd. Undead entities don’t just show up. There are only two ways undead are made. Either a necromancer raises the dead, or an undead makes another undead by infecting a live person.”

“So what you’re saying is there’s a necromancer on the loose,” Colon says.

“Sort of,” Toast nods, “the only thing with that is how rare necromancers are these days. When Ghost and I were young, there was a mass wipeout of paranormal power. That’s why you don’t see people running around doing the things they used to anymore. Necromancy was especially affected because of how much power is needed for it. I… I can only think of a few people strong enough to amass that much power.”

“Who?” Spooker asks.

“Well, people like… The toilet toucher! Though he obviously isn’t, because… Toilets. But you get the point,” Toast says, checking to make sure his crossbow still works. He doesn’t get to use it much anymore, and he doesn’t want to have a defective weapon against these things. He’s been one before. Ghost nearly killed himself stressing over finding the cure. Of course, now they have a huge stock of it just in case, but still. It’s an unpleasant experience.

Once Toast is sure the crossbow works, he instructs the other two to stay near the car and heads out to deal with the problem. Zombies are notorious for getting back up right when you think they’re dead, but are easy to kill if you know where to shoot.

The guy Toast talked to watches from the perimeter of the park quietly. By the time Toast is done, the guy is gone.

~~~

Toast bein good at his job pog

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 3

~~~~~~

Toast’s eyes flutter open. The morning light filters through the dark curtains, filling the room with a dim glow. He groans as he sits up, a hand going down to his side. He expects his arm to brush up against the sleeping form of Ghost, seeing as they share a room so they could have an office, and he’s surprised when he doesn’t feel anything. He looks down through bleary eyes.

Ghost isn’t there.

Toast grunts, confused at that. He swings his legs over the side of the bed, his bare feet making contact with the cold floor with soft thuds. He stands, stretching his arms out in an attempt to get all the sleep out. He yawns as he makes his way out of the room slowly, the weight of sleep dragging behind him.

As he passes the couch, he spots a sleeping form. He leans over, squinting in the dim early morning light. He makes out the shape of Ghost’s face and lets out a quiet sigh. He turns away, walking to the kitchen. There he finds the same mug he set out yesterday untouched, still full of tea. He frowns at that. Mostly because it was a waste of perfectly good tea and also because it’s unusual for Ghost not to accept tea. He’s always taken it eventually. Toast frowns more as he pours the tea out in the sink, washing the mug out.

As he does so, he can hear sounds from the living room. Ghost groans softly, beginning to wake up as well. Toast quietly sets about making some fresh tea as Ghost quietly sits up, rubbing at his face. Toast doesn’t look up as he hears Ghost shuffle into the kitchen.

“Tea, sir?” Toast asks quietly, as he does every morning. He waits for a response, frowning when none comes. He looks over at Ghost. “Sir-?”

“What?” Ghost snaps, not looking at Toast as he opens the fridge. Toast’s eyes widen at that, the shock seeming to wake him up more. He makes a quiet noise of disbelief, pursing his lips a bit.

“Someone’s in a mood this morning,” Toast mutters in a joking tone, getting back to what he’s doing.

“Can you not?” Ghost huffs, grabbing milk from the fridge.

“Maybe if you didn’t sleep on the couch last night-” Toast starts.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a smart ass, I wouldn’t have,” Ghost huffs, cutting him off. Toast stops dead in his tracks, looking at him with his mouth open in shock.

“Excuse you?” is all Toast can say.

“Oh don’t start,” Ghost glares at him.

“No, repeat that,” Toast says calmly, fully turning to him, crossing his arms.

“I said you were a smart ass,” Ghost says simply, setting the milk on the counter next to him. Toast scoffs.

“Really, sir?? What did I do?”

“You know what you did!” Ghost cries, raising his voice a bit.

“No, please, do elaborate,” Toast says, keeping his calm.

“You-” Ghost stops, “No. No, actually, you can figure it out for yourself.” He turns, storming out of the kitchen. Toast just lets him go, knowing better than to follow Ghost when he’s like this.

On the way out of the kitchen, Ghost passes by Colon and Spooker on their way in. Spooker watches him pass before looking back at Colon, who just shrugs. The two make their way into the kitchen, finding a very upset Toast pouring water into a mug.

“Hey, Toast,” Colon says, a bit nervous. Toast is never upset. This is weird. However, Toast just forces a small smile, looking up at him.

“Hm?” Toast hums.

“Uhm,” Colon glances at Spooker. “Spooks and I are gonna… head out for a bit. We have plans.”

The prospect of being home alone with Ghost doesn’t sound the best to Toast, but he can’t stop Colon and Spooker. He nods. “Alright, have fun. And do keep your phones on! Never know when there’s a job.”

Colon nods back, “Right, of course. See you later then, Toast.”

Colon glances at Spooker again before the two turn and leave, quiet.

Once the two are outside of the house, Spooker looks over at Colon. “Wonder what happened?”

“I have no idea,” Colon says, glancing back at the house. “Just glad we got out of there when we did. I feel like those two could use some privacy.”

Spooker nods, “Me too. So uhm, where to first?”

“I was thinking of a cafe,” Colon suggests. “I have my laptop in my car. We can get coffee, and we can be like actual investigators! Doing our important research in a public place!”

“Ooohhh, that sounds smart! Let’s do that!” Spooker smiles. The two get into Colon’s car, driving towards the nearest Cafe to do some serious investigating.

“You got anything yet?” Spooker asks, glancing over at Colon’s laptop screen. Colon shakes his head.

“Nope. It’s almost like Gregory Casket just… Doesn’t exist!” Colon sighs and is about to close his laptop before Spooker stops him.

“Wait!” Spooker grabs the laptop. He leans close, opening a link.

“What is it?” Colon asks, leaning in to see as well.

“Look- It’s like… a snippet of an old newspaper,” Spooker says, turning the laptop a bit so they can both read it.

“A missing kid-?” Colon says, confused. “That’s the only thing we can find on this Gregory Casket guy???”

“It’s from a while ago though,” Spooker says, pointing to the date.

“Oh wow, yeah! That’s… Wow, that’s almost as old as Toast!” Colon jokes.

Spooker pauses, looking at him. Colon raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“Colon- Oh I don’t even want to say it!” Spooker turns away dramatically.

“Say it!” Colon says, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“What if,” Spooker says quietly, leaning in, “What if Toast’s family took this Gregory guy as a kid? And raised him to be the perfect match for Toast!!”

Colon gasps. “I- I mean, they’re rich enough!”

“Yeah!! Oh jeez, that would explain why we’ve never seen him before!!” Spooker exclaims, wide-eyed.

“We’ve gotta save him!” Colon cries, “This is horrible!!”

Spooker stands up suddenly, “We have to figure out where he is, Colon!”

“Right now?” Colon asks, standing up as well.

Spooker thinks for a moment. “No, right now I wanna go back to HQ. But later!” he smiles.

“Later!” Colon repeats, closing his laptop.

~~~

ghost bein mean smh

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 2

~~~~~~

“Let’s go!!” Ghost’s voice booms through the house. He’s stood next to the front door, fidgeting with his gloves while he waits for the rest of the team. Toast is already outside, starting the car, and Spooker and Colon are lagging behind. They come running into the living room at the sound of his shout. Ghost motions them out the door, following behind so he can lock it. Pretty soon, the 4 of them are on the road.

“What’s the job again, Johnny?” Ghost asks, looking over at his partner.

“Seems to be just a routine haunting, Sir,” Toast says, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Seems to be?” Ghost repeats, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, you never know, sir,” Toast says, glancing at him for a second. Ghost nods in agreement.

“That’s fair,” Ghost says, looking out one of the windows.

It’s quiet for a bit before Spooker speaks up, “Hey uhm… Ghost?” Ghost turns to look back at him from the passenger seat. “There’s something I forgot to say before.”

“Well spit it out, Spooker.”

Spooker nods, “Right, uh. Well, remember when you told Colon and I to clean some of the devices this morning?”

“I swear to god if you two idiots broke something-!” Ghost starts, but Toast stops him by placing a gentle hand on his arm.

“Let him finish, sir,” Toast says calmly, glancing in the rearview mirror at the two in the back seats. “What happened, Spooker?”

“Well uhm, the computer in the room was left on, and Colon and I saw some unusual readings??” Spooker says, sounding worried.

“How do you know what unusual readings look like?” Ghost asks.

“Well, I guess I don’t know, really, but they uhm… they were really high?”

“Look, Spooker,” Ghost glares back at him, “Until you actually know how to read those graphs, don’t tell me what unusual readings are.”

Spooker pouts a bit at that, sitting back in his seat as Ghost turns back around to face the front. Toast casts a glance at Ghost, but he ignores it. Maybe he was being too mean, but Ghost has enough to worry about; he doesn’t need to get all worried about something that could be, and probably is, nothing.

The rest of the car ride is filled with awkward silence, no one wanting to upset Ghost further.

Eventually, they reach their destination. The client lives in a normal suburban home. Perfect green lawn, clean house, the type primarily filled with slightly racist white folk. The team gets out of the car, Ghost and Toast going to the back to get the equipment.

As they’re back there, Toast leans towards Ghost a bit, whispering, “Sir, not to be rude, but I do think you were a bit harsh on Spooker back there.”

“I’m not going to worry myself over something that’s probably nothing,” Ghost shoots back. Toast sighs.

“I understand that sir, but what if he-”

“I don’t work on ifs, Johnny,” Ghost says, cutting him off. He slings his bag back on his shoulder, looking at him. “You of all people should know that by now.”

Toast can only watch in disbelief as he walks off, towards the house. Maybe that incident didn’t change him for the better.

The job comes and goes as normal. The car ride home is quiet. Not even Toast dares to break the tension in the car.

When they’re back home, however, he does. He grabs Ghost’s arm, dragging the reluctant male into his office. He closes the door behind them before turning to look at Ghost quietly. He regards him, arms crossed and giving Toast an annoyed look, before sighing.

“Sir-” he starts.

“Don’t Sir me. What do you want?” Ghost glares at him.

Toast blinks. “I- … You’ve been really upset today, s-... Are you alright?”

“Is that all you wanted to ask me, Johnny?” Ghost asks, clearly irritated.

Toast bristles a bit but keeps his cool. “Sir please, I’m worried about you!”

“Well don’t be! I’m fine, Johnny! Now that that parasite is out of my head, I can finally think clearly!! I’m doing better than I have in years!!” Ghost cries out, an incredulous smile on his face, “I can finally focus on what’s important!”

“And what is that, sir?” Toast asks, crossing his arms.

“The job, Johnny!” Ghost says, almost offended Toast had to even ask.

“Is that all?” Toast raises an eyebrow at him.

“I- Well,” Ghost falters a bit, seeming to just now catch on that Toast is upset. “Well- Other things are important, but when it comes to the job, it takes priority.”

“Right,” Toast nods, “And tell me, Sir, what are these other things that are important?”

Ghost blinks. “Well- You? Obviously…”

Toast sighs, shaking his head, “I’m going to go make some tea, sir. You can come to get some when you’ve decided to take your head out of your arse.”

“What-? Johnny!” Ghost tries to follow after him as Toast turns and leaves. “That’s not fair!!”

Toast isn’t listening though, just shutting the door in Ghost’s face. He expects Ghost to open that door right back up, so he’s left in stunned silence when he doesn’t. After a second, Toast turns on his heel, heading for the kitchen. He could use some tea right about now. He finds Spooker and Colon awkwardly standing in the kitchen. They look up when he enters, wide-eyed. It’s understandable, moments like that don’t happen often.

“Hello,” he says quietly, giving them both a small nod as he heads for the kettle. They just look at him, then glance at each other. An awkward silence falls over the room.

Toast just sets about filling the kettle with water so he can make some tea. Usually, he doesn’t mind silence, but for some reason, this silence irks him. He can feel an unpleasant feeling building in his neck, so he clears his throat before saying, “So, Spooker. You said something about seeing weird readings?”

“Oh-! Uhm, yeah,” Spooker nods awkwardly.

Toast looks over at him. “Well? What did they look like?”

“It was like uhm- Well, y’know how the graph is normally pretty level? A few spikes here and there, a few dead spots and stuff?”

“I made the machine, you don’t have to explain it to me,” Toast says calmly, rifling through the tea cabinet.

“Right-! Sorry,” Spooker says awkwardly.

“It’s alright,” Toast says, frowning a bit as he pulls an empty box out of the cabinet, setting it on the counter. “So what were they like?”

“They were uhm- Huge spikes, basically. It would level out like normal, and then there’d just be times of huge spikes in activity,” Spooker explains.

Toast nods slowly, “Alright. How big were the spikes?”

“Uhm-” Spooker glances at Colon for help.

“Really big,” Colon chimes in, “Like, double the size of the normal ones?” Spooker nods.

“Hm,” Toast hums, staring at the kettle. “That might be worth checking out… Last time we saw big spikes in activity, Sir’s… incident occurred.”

“What was the incident?” Colon asks, ignoring the look he gets from Spooker. The first, and last, time the two asked, Ghost exploded on them. They’d avoided it ever since.

Toast glances back at him, eyeing him for a moment before finally saying, “It’s not really my place to say.”

Colon sighs. Not exactly the answer he was hoping for. It’s the only one he’s gonna get though, so he doesn’t push it further.

Toast hums to himself as he waits for the water to boil. He’s set two mugs out, as though he’s already assumed Ghost’s going to want some. Eventually, the water is boiling. He pours it into the two mugs, setting one aside for Ghost.

~~~

man these were short in the beginning. whoops.

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Chapter 1

~~~~~~

Ghost is affronted with a whirlwind of movement as soon as he steps out of his room. He knew when he agreed to let Toast use their house as the HQ for PIE that he was going to regret it, but Toast just started talking about finances and Ghost just said yes to shut him up. He’s wishing he hadn't now. Woken up by the loud chatter in the living room, he went to investigate and now is stood in the doorway watching Spooker and Colon act out some dumb nerd bullshit while Toast sits on the couch, an amused expression on his face. When Toast notices Ghost standing in the doorway, he waves him over. Ghost’s legs just start moving before he’s even realized what’s going on, his brain on autopilot. Toast pats the couch and Ghost sits, looking at him with a tired expression. Toast chuckles.

“Good morning, Sir,” he says, glancing back over at the other two, who are currently in a very intense air sword fight. They’re not allowed actual swords, Ghost 100% believes they’d break something. Maybe themselves. Ghost stares at the two with a blank expression.

“Johnny,” Ghost says, turning back to him, “it is way too fucking early for this.”

“It’s noon, Sir,” Toast says, a bemused grin on his face.

“Exactly. Too early,” Ghost mumbles, rubbing at his face. “Is there coffee?”

“Of course, Sir, though it might be a bit cold.”

“That’s what microwaves are for,” Ghost says, standing up. Toast chuckles.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay and watch the show?” Toast says, the joke clear by his tone. Ghost just gives him a look, disappearing into the kitchen. Toast watches him go, the smile stuck on his face. He knows Ghost isn’t a morning person, but it’s also very much not morning anymore. He told Spooker and Colon to hold off until at least noon, so they did, and Toast is very proud of them for that! They can be a bit thick in the skull department, but they have their moments when they listen.

After a bit longer of watching the two struggle with their little make-believe game, Toast stands up, heading into the kitchen. It’s a bit calmer there.

Ghost is leaning against the counter, spacing out a bit. His reddish-brown hair is an absolute mess, bringing a small smile to Toast’s face. Ghost’s wearing his signature grey hoodie but has swapped out his normal pants for comfy, dark grey sweats.

Ever since that…incident, a while ago, Toast has noticed that Ghost’s seemed to be a lot healthier. His eye bags aren’t as noticeable, his features more rounded out as he’s been eating more. His skin looks healthier. He’s been less irritable- Still irritable because that’s just how Ghost is, but less so.

“So, how are you feeling this morning, sir?” Toast asks quietly, leaning against the counter next to him. Ghost just sighs, taking a long sip of his coffee, which causes Toast to chuckle, “That bad, huh?”

“I regret agreeing to this,” Ghost mumbles, motioning vaguely towards the living room.

“I knew you would, Sir, but we really can’t afford-” Toast starts, but Ghost cuts him off by waving his hand at him.

“I get that, I get that. I’m not tryna go back on myself here, Johnny. I’m just saying,” Ghost mumbles, setting his coffee on the counter beside him. Toast can’t help but smile. Some part of this reminds him of the sleepy mornings of his past, and he has to physically stop himself from reaching out and planting a gentle kiss on Ghost’s forehead. He instead looks away, fidgeting with the wedding ring on his finger.

“So, any plans for today?” Ghost asks after a bit, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between the two.

“Uhm, not really, sir,” Toast says, trying to remember if they had anywhere to be today. Nothing comes to mind.

Ghost sighs, “Great.”

“Spooks, are you sure we should be doing this-?” Colon’s nervous whisper comes from behind. Spooker shakes his head.

“I’m never sure I should be doing anything!” Spooker says, picking up a random paper. Colon sighs.

The two had gotten bored of their games and decided that going through Toast’s office was the next best idea to fight off boredom. Of course, it isn’t, but they don’t care.

Spooker is currently looking through random papers on Toast’s desk. Colon’s stood near a bookshelf, looking at the books. A bunch of different titles, all presumably having to do with the paranormal. One particularly well-worn copy on werewolves catches his attention. He reaches out to grab it but stops when Spooker gasps. He looks over.

“Come look at this!!” Spooker says, his eyes wide as he looks at a certain paper. Colon walks over, looking over his shoulder.

In Spooker’s hands is a marriage certificate.

“This certifies that Jonathan Toast jr and Gregory Casket were united in marriage…” Spooker reads, “Toast is married?!?”

“This is from two years ago,” Colon comments, looking at the date. “Who’s Gregory Casket??”

“Yeah! Why have we never met him?” Spooker asks, sounding offended. Then an idea hits him, and his eyes widen, “What if we found out??”

“What, by asking Toast?” Colon asks.

“No! What if we followed him and tried to find out who Gregory is? If they’re married, they must spend a lot of time together!” Spooker says. Colon stares at him for a second.

“... That sounds like a great idea, Spooks!” Colon says, smiling.

“Thanks, I’m smart,” Spooker says, putting the certificate back down on the desk.

~~~

ahaha why am I anxious to actually be posting this

[ghostpeblewrite]

Paradoxical - Prologue

~~~~~~

Rain cascades down the cracked windows of the warehouse, illuminated only by the cheap flashlight the man holds. His black hair is pulled back into a messy man bun, a few strands falling into his face. His face is drawn tight as he looks around, the scar on one side of his face pulling it even tighter. He’s on edge, his green eyes glancing around cautiously. Suddenly, his flashlight beam catches on a dark figure, seemingly wearing a cowboy hat. The man jumps but quickly relaxes. The man knows the figure. They greet each other with quiet words, neither of them noticing the second man. That is, until he comes up behind the first man, causing him to jump when he slaps his ass. The first man seems to curse at him, the second man laughing quietly.

Thus, the first meeting of darkness starts. The beginning of the end.

~~~

Just thought I'd finally get around to posting some of this! It's not the best thing in the world, but it IS fun to write. More updates soon :)