#I just want to wake up and be in Egon's arms so much

[selfshipper-xavier]

Every morning I wake up upset because I'm not in my f/os arms

Pro.ship/com.ship/neutral dni

[tuliptired]

hello! I don’t want to bother you but could you possibly right about old man Egon Spengler x fem reader?

Empty Pocket Waltz

Pairing: Old man!Egon Spengler/Fem!Reader

Not a bother at all! Firm believer that some pussy would've saved him

Better formatting on Ao3!!

You’ve been living in Summerville, Oklahoma for at least the last handful of decades. It was a cold and windy night when you loaded Callie into the backseat, before you and Egon left your lives in New York to save the world, supposedly. After starting from scratch in a gilded age farmhouse, sending a child off to college, meeting her children- it felt like more of a family dinner. Nevertheless, you were happy. And, despite the threat of constant doomsday for years on end, Egon seemed at a weird sort of peace. Every morning you wake up, you wonder what your future would’ve been like, if your daughter didn’t cry out in the middle of that argument. If he had never gone to hold her, and realize that this was a matter of your little family, as well as the planet.

That was then, in the confines of your miniscule apartment, paint peeling off the walls and water endlessly dripping out your taps. You took a long breath in, grateful for the abundance of fragrant house flora you had managed to keep alive. It was just you and the rolling farmland this morning, a silent little symphony as the sun beat down on your face. Not even the pan below you dared to make any noise.

Your moment alone was cut short by the gentle running of water, and later the creak of the floorboards that made up the steps. Egon had become a better sleeper in time. He used to insist on going in late, getting up early, taking care of Callie before you’d managed to open your eyes. But his old habits came crashing down after a while of falling asleep to gentle wind chimes, chirping crickets, pittering rain. And you found it adorable- his messy hair and soft pajamas seeing you off to your job in town every morning.

You felt a warm body at your side as you finished making breakfast. “Did you sleep well?” you asked, the question as familiar as he was. Egon didn’t answer, leaning his head on your shoulder while you carefully poured him coffee, one cream and four artificial sugars. Time may have altered his disposition, but never his tastes.

“Well,” you started, plating pancakes after he trudged over to the table, “I hope you eat as well as you sleep. We have a big day today.” you spoke excitedly.

Egon woke up a bit after a sip from his old and worn out mug. He puzzled over your proclamation, brow furrowed a bit. “We do?” he wondered, growing nervous in wake of your bright smile.

“Pruning day!” you announced, wrapping your arms around his neck from the back as he let out a soft groan. “And you’re gonna help out, because you promised your poor old wife with bad knees that you’d get it done. And because you love her.”

“Yes. And because I love her,” he said dryly.

You heard him sigh as you loosened your embrace around his shoulders. “The flowers aggravate my allergies and dirt gets stained into my clothes,” He paused. “Get me the shears from the mudroom, please?” A happy noise escaped you then before you buried your head into his hair. “Thank you, Egon.” Geez, did he always have this much hair? You could feel the white locks tickling your own scalp. “Ouf. Next item on the to-do list is a haircut.”

 Egon had been out there for some time when you emerged with a glass of lemonade. Watching your husband do physical labor under the sun was a fairly indulgent source of entertainment- but there’s just something about a man tending to a garden on his hands and knees that made your day a bit brighter.

“Since you’re working so hard,” you offered him the cup, a painted little thing that Callie had made in school, while you sip from your glassware. 

He didn’t seem to mind, shamelessly taking a drink. “Thank you.” He sat back on his haunches then, observing your mini yield. “You’ve got a lot this summer.”

“I know,” you marveled, taking a quick headcount of all your sprouts, shoots, and stalks. “It’s a pensioner’s dream.” 

If your grandson were here, and not up north- he’d undoubtedly be making fun of you both for your stereotypically geriatric source of entertainment. It had taken both you and Egon, the genius, ridiculously long to notice the acres upon acres of farmland at your disposal. Of course, this was after a sizable amount of stressing over what it took to adequately feed a growing child. So, you grew what you could for dinner, garden plot now confined to the side of your house as caring for it became hard.

You took refuge on a worn chair in the shade, legs crossed while your husband bent back down to work. You couldn’t help the pleased sound you made to yourself at the sight of him, pants hitching up to the midsection of his thighs and a bit closer to his skin than other bottoms you’d  seen him don outside. He’d gotten a little fuller over time, but you’d be a liar if you dared to say you minded. 

“Those shorts were a good decision, then?” you mused, low eyes still on his lower half. You nearly missed the look of offense he had as he looked over his shoulder. “Glad you’re bringing them back.”

“I have nothing else. We should put laundry on the list.” Egon stated. 

You rested the glass on your own thigh, condensation providing a little relief from the warmth permeating your spot in the shadows. “You have at least two pairs of sweatpants left. I checked,” you scoffed. You’d known him for so many years that you had no problem decoding his unvarnished nature, even if it was slightly annoyed. You knew he really wasn’t too upset at your ogling, or letting the chore slip your mind. And- he did wordlessly arch a bit further into the bush, a satisfied smile growing on your face.

After all his drudgery was done, you promised you’d find a way to repay him after a second shower. His hulking figure tracking soil around your hallways was enough for you to usher him into the bathroom and stay at the door until you heard the water run. 

He wasn’t very long, and you met back in your now-steamed-washroom to tackle his little salon treatment. “How’d this happen?” you murmured rhetorically, examining Egon from all angles while he dwarfed a stool. He always had refused to use the toilet for anything but its intended purpose, chastising you and your daughter whenever you dared to. In the rare times Callie looked to test his patience- Terrible Twos, she knew that a lesser loved doll or picture book could stand a swim in the porcelain, if it meant getting back at Daddy.

“I thought you liked my hair long?” Egon asked, covered by the fluffy towel you dried his damp hair with.

You brushed it back into its usual place. After a long time of being styled- probably since his final graduation, his hair seemed to compromise, curls finally growing in the way he had manipulated them to. “I do, but that was then,” you worked. “College-Egon was a different guy.”

He sulked a bit. “Elon’s wife lets him wear his hair long.” His uncharacteristic petulance was endearing to you, as you grabbed a pair of hairdressing scissors. These had saved Callie on many different occasions, most notably when you had come home to find her and her father locked inside the destroyed bathroom, trying every remedy in every cupboard and cabinet to remove something viscous and sticky that ended up on her from Egon’s lab. 

“Elon’s wife let him keep a family of foxes. She only put them out when they scuffed her china cabinet.” you laughed lightly, not yet removing anything from his head.

“I won’t take away too much. Just enough to not scratch me.”

He conceded. “You know best.”

“I know.”

You carefully clipped just shy of half an inch from the white that took over what once was brown. You had to admire its refusal to thin out, thick but light pieces littering the tile beneath you. Before he knew you, an old and apparently unkind barber down the street cut his hair. When the price of that looked too high for his parents, his father took up the job, and he wasn’t much of a step up. Once Egon was out on his own, people seldom touched his head, not even after his degrees were finished and he gave it a drastic cut. It always felt nice, being on the giving end of taking care of such a distinctive part of him. One he really never let anyone influence or alter, when given the choice.

A gentle snoring rumbling from him and the slight slump of his head drew you out of your focus when you took a step back to review your work. “You really are old,” you grinned, rousing him awake. You caught your reflections in the mirror. “Good?”

Egon gave you a nod of approval, sitting patiently as you brushed some of the stray white off his shoulders. “Good.”

You examined him once more, still not fully satisfied. Something was off. He still looked great- he always looked great. But you were skipping a step. Egon was nothing if not tolerant, waiting for you to finish your evaluation.

“I know,” you snapped. You didn’t give him much of a further explanation, dipping into the drawers of the sinkside cabinet and emerging with a razor. “Your beard.”

The very tall man nearly scooched off the stool. “I thought you liked it? You’ve never said anything before.”

You glanced down at the shaver in your hand. Shiny and electric- one of the first things you had ordered online, when that was a new thing. “Okay, maybe not these.” you placed them on the counter. “Come on, grandpa. Just a trim.”

You were lucky Egon trusted your judgment. So, you took the scissors and carved him back out, catching short strands with the equally as white towel.

“There you are,” you twinkled, proud of your cosmetology skills. You placed a loving kiss on his cheek, his own smile pulling at the muscle. In your little moment, he convinced you to let him paint your nails in thanks. Your husband. Egon was always handsome, before and after your pampering. But you reveled in the intimacy of routine maintenance with the one you loved.

“Darn it,” you closed the washer-dryer. Halfway through its cycle and it decided to start fussing again. “Egon?” you called, hoping he’d mess around with it again and finish drying your wet clothes.

And mess around he did. He turned knobs, moved pipes, plugged and unplugged things with increasing frustration. This didn’t show much but his stubbornness, but he really was a smart man. With a PhD. But this was one of his few intellectual weaknesses- “smart” appliances. It was one of the more newer things in the old house, an upgrade the handyman (Egon insisted he could fix the old one alone, nearly electrocuting himself before you put your foot down about it) who came from really far out of town to help you out had suggested. But, there was always something going on with it, whether that was your fault or otherwise. There was always a new fix, but not now.

Egon must’ve sensed your worry over the clothes still inside. “We can put these on the line to dry,” he reassured you, using some of his strength to push it forward and inspect whatever went on at its back.

“It’s gonna rain,” you troubled, peering outside at the graying sky. He was in his own, mechanical world, not hearing you as he assessed the faulty thing. 

“Egon?” You wrapped your arms around his middle. 

You could tell his ponderings didn’t stop at your touch. “Yes?”

“I know you can fix the car. And your proton pack. And my hair dryer.” He let out a noise of acknowledgment, which might have had a hint of pride.

“But maybe,” you cringed, “we should just cut our losses and take all this to the laundromat?”

He shot down your idea- because of course that was the wildest suggestion ever presented to him. “Why go all the way out there over something I can fix in an evening?” Egon reasoned.

“You know good and well it’ll take longer than an evening.” You had already started to sort soaked clothes into linen bags. “I’ll be lucky if I catch you leaving this room before the end of the week.”

“Then, by the end of the week you’ll have a working laundry room again.”

You placed one of your sodden delicates in his hands. “Everything’ll mold if we can’t get it to dry. And I won’t let you test any of it. We’re going.”

Egon grumbled, but followed suit, carrying the large bag of laundry to the car for you while you grabbed your mini bag of quarters. It was his silent compliance as he waited for you to buckle up that made you stroke his arm apologetically.

“I appreciate that you’re always trying to help. Remember what you did to Callie’s Furby?”

He nodded fondly. “The first to be able to talk back. She was terrified.”

“Well, she would fish it out the closet when she was mad. I never had to buy her a diary ever again.” you shrugged.

“Do you still like the jets I put in the bathtub?” he turned to you.

“Of course! You just never notice I have them on because you’re in there with me.”

The drive into town always took some time, bumpy dirt roads turning into proper asphalt after a while. Summerville was still a small town, so the laundromat was never as bustling as it could be. But your assumptions were proven wrong, as a dozen or so cars lined the curb. Either everyone’s washer or dryer started acting up, or the water company had a mass shut off.

Egon moved rigidly through the throng of people in the little space. These were the people, and some of their now-grown-children, who stared at him like he was an alien after moving his tiny family to a run down house all the way from Manhattan. You could somewhat understand their intrigue- the most exciting thing to happen around this place seemed to be community matters. But some of their rumors were outright laughable: you were on the run from the police (ironic if you considered how gossipy the town was), Callie was a monster he made in his lab (she played into that one when you went shopping), you were Soviet spies sent for espionage (fairly dangerous, considering the country was coming down from the Cold War and Egon was very visibly the child of two European immigrants). 

But, as years passed and no nukes were dropped and no infectious diseases spread from your daughter in school, Summerville learned you were here to stay. And they started to enjoy your presence, the few times you’d gone into town to run errands and with everything you did at work. You’d even gotten close to a family or two, evident in how a teenage girl sitting on one of the stand alone machines smiled at you.

“Hi, Mr and Mrs. Spengler,” Lucky waved. Her and Trevor had become close friends, at least the few summers he and his sister had spent while visiting. You had thought it wouldn’t stick- on account of the distance and the time it’s been since their last trip down here, but they managed to stay in contact. Very close contact, you’d been told.

“Hi, Lucky,” you returned, “how’s your mom?”

“She’s okay. She sent me here- ‘cause our washer won’t start.” 

“We’re in the same boat, then. Tell her: once ours works again, I’ll send Egon to check yours out, alright?”

Her grin grew, possibly at the sight of your husband's expression. He was used to you volunteering his skills in repair, though. It proved useful, in a town without any real mechanical service. Here, one just prayed they would never break down or lose power. But it was one of the ways you managed to clean up your reputation in time- Egon serving as an electrician, tow truck, or handyman whenever he wasn’t holed up in his makeshift lab. “Will do,” she nodded.

With that, her dad called her, and she was off. Not before complimenting your nails, though. You made quick work of loading your wet clothes, going through the motions. Halfway through, Egon stopped to pull something out of one of his wrinkled pockets.

It was one of your earrings, delicate and near tiny. “You fell asleep with it on.” he handed it to you.

Eventually, your laundry was done. And you didn’t even run through all your quarters. This called for a Coke from the vending machine- only a can, you both needed to watch your sugar.  The drive back was noticeably more jovial, you had clean and dry laundry, Egon had a new project to consume his time. He seemed to have multiple things on his mind, as he opened the passenger door for you.

“They’re calling today,” he said, almost anxiously. Callie had been calling you periodically ever since she went off to Ohio, of all places, for college. She had stopped after you came back from a visit once she had Trevor, and it wasn’t until after his father left that 1. You learned she had a whole other child not long before their split, and 2. He was an awful husband. After that, you made her promise to always check in with you, especially in the long stretches of time when driving up to Chicago just wasn’t an option. Egon’s been on top of her calls ever since, silently eager to see his daughter and his growing grandchildren. 

At some point, you found him in the living room, mulling around with the iPad you were given some time in the early 2010’s in order to actually see the people getting in contact with you. “You got it?” you asked, squeezing into your typical spot next to him.

He nodded, and soon your daughter was on the little screen. “Hey Mom, hey Dad.”

“Hi, Cal!” Egon had only waved, always a tad shy over the phone for the first few minutes. “How’s everything? How’s work?”

She seemed preoccupied with something offscreen. “Raining hard, here. Ceiling started to leak.”

You frowned. It was never fun to hear that your loved ones were struggling, even if they were small grievances like these. “Does your landlord know? It’ll only get worse as it gets warmer.”

“He won’t answer my calls,” she put her hands up, as if she was ridding herself of the problem, “we have buckets, it’s fine.”

“You know what we’re gonna tell you.”

“Do I?”

“Spend the summer here,” you urged, hearing her groan slightly over the phone. “It can’t hurt.”

“I can’t ask that of you guys. Again.” 

You gestured around the large, under-occupied house. “You lived here. You know how much space we have.”

Callie was silent, deep in thought as you continued. “We miss you. The other day I started wondering if Phoebe still needed Pampers.”

She sat back wherever she was sitting. “It hasn’t been that long.”

“It feels like it! When you’re as old as we are, a day feels like a year.”

“Today has been quite a year,” Egon affirms at your side.

You sat forward on the little couch. “Even Dad agrees. He’s too shy to say, but he always wants to ask you for pictures. But he’s scared you’ll find it annoying.” Egon didn’t seem to be embarrassed, wanting to see the rest of his family as much as you did.

Callie spoke up then, eyebrows high. “I’ll send you pictures, Dad. Mom, I’ll…I’ll think about it, ok?” You’d take that, for now. Soon, Trevor appeared, waving at you both. 

You left Egon to have his time with the teenager. From the other room, you got snippets about a car show, some new friends he’d been making, a cut he got from trying to shave his legs- which was a little interesting. You can remember the first time he had held Trevor. The newborn was just happy to be alive, so awake for only being a few hours old. He took interest in everything Egon had to say, eyeing the shiny buttons of his shirt, the reflective frames of his glasses. In the private of the hospital room Callie was fast asleep in, he revealed to you that he was excited to watch a little boy in his family grow up the opposite in which he did: being allowed to play, get dirty, make mistakes.

It wasn’t until Trevor wondered aloud where you were that you peeked your head around the corner. After switching out with Egon, you settled into his warm spot on the sofa, tea in hand.

“Hi, grandma!” 

“Hi, Trevor. I see the leak was in your room.”

“Yeah, it’s okay. We have buckets.”

You smiled at that, chatting about more things- the show you were watching together, a recipe he was demanding you try, drama in school, before you remembered something. “We saw Lucky today. When was the last time you talked?” you gently probed.

Trevor brightened, if not reddened. “Last night. School ends later for us here so,” he swallowed. “But we’ve been able to talk every night.”

Your eyebrows rose. “Everynight’s an improvement.”

He waved you off. “It’s not that big of a deal.” His expression grew far away. “Is it that big of a deal?”

“She’s been asking when you’ll be back. Maybe you won’t miss her birthday this year.”

Trevor sat up straighter, so fast he knocked his knees against the underside of his desk. He didn’t seem to notice, while you winced on the other end of the phone. You asked if he was alright, but he was too deep in his head to notice. “Oh man, really? I got her a gift. Or a couple of gifts. I was gonna send it in the mail.”

You smiled knowingly. “More reasons to come here. Actions speak louder than words.” Trevor looked doubtful, brow creased a bit.

“What if she doesn’t like it? Like: ‘ohhh thank you Trevor, but that’s super weird. I’m getting a car but I can put the stuffed bear in the backseat’.” He must’ve gotten his anxiety from Egon- he sounded exactly like him in the days leading up to you being asked out. Or so Ray tells you.

“No chance. Every girl would like a gift from her boyfriend.” you shook your head.

Trevor looked at least a bit hopeful. “But, we’re not dating-”

“Mom said to let me on.”

You let Egon have a minute with Phoebe. They always had a special connection- there was no need for anyone to say anything because it was so clear. Trevor gave them their space, and you did too, and it was all okay because he’d been your little guy since birth, literally attached to your leg whenever he had the chance to hang out with you. And Phoebe holed up with her grandfather in his makeshift lab, learning and talking about anything they each had to offer. They really were cut from the same cloth, it was only natural. You can remember her delivery, too. The entire day was hard- feverish three year old, busy hospital, unhelpful and soon to be ex husband. Callie had to pretty much bargain for medical attention in the sterile room as her contractions got worse, let alone to get an epidural. Such an angry start in the world. But when she came, she was so peaceful, not even crying when she was brought out into the cold air. Precious is what you regarded it as, weird was the word buzzed around between NICU nurses. 

For the second time, in the dark of a hospital room while Trevor slept in his shirt, Egon barely whispered that, “she’s already different.” You knew exactly what he meant- and it was nowhere near bad. She was like him.

Phoebe’s room was messy as ever, but it was an organized mess. “Hi, grandma,” she greeted.

“Hi, Phebes,” you saw something round and white in her hands, “what’s that?”

She lifted it to the camera, fairly nonchalantly. “Our ac. He switched it off so I’m trying to jailbreak it.” Ah.

“When can we come back?” she added, clearly having thought about visiting a lot more than usual.

“Any time. You just have to convince your mom. Chicago’s getting boring?” 

Her eyebrows twitched once, the way Egon always does. “In the summer. And, if something happens to our house while we’re gone, the landlord’s responsible. Not us.” she explained.

That’s your granddaughter. “Smart girl.” You paused, noticing something different about her but not being able to place it. “Did you…get new frames?”

Phoebe paused in turn, pushing them up. “Are they bad?” she asked, brows knitted slightly. “I didn’t want to change them, but Mom made me.”

You smiled, “They look great. But, uh, what’s the difference?”

“These hinges are silver. The old hinges were nickel.”

That was definitely your granddaughter. Eccentric, in her own, special way.

Soon, Callie needed her phone back. As you all said your goodbyes, something popped into your mind before you reminded Phoebe that you saw Podcast and he wants her to call him back so they can play their game.

Phoebe scowled over her brother’s shoulder. “I’m banned. Tell him we have to find something else.”

Every time your family called, Egon happened to remember that the iPad had a game or two on it, and he was occupied until it was time to chorale him into bed. You waited patiently as he put it to charge, ready to be forgotten about for a while, and nuzzled into his chest when he returned to you. His sleeping clothes were always worn, but they always filled you with the familiar scent of him which you were much too happy never washed out. 

“Did you have fun?” you asked into the fabric of his shirt. Sure, it was a long and hard battle to condition him out of a gown and sleeping cap in the early days of your relationship, but you’d take what he give you.

He hummed in response. “Level 2801 on Candy Crush today.”

“One higher than Winston.” you gazed in the darkness at a familiar spot by the door, cracked ajar. Callie would wait for you both, as soon as she could toddle out of her bed and needed someone with her when she used the bathroom, or to console her after a bad dream. As she got older, it’s where she brought you both coffee on special mornings, and bounced on her heels waiting for approval to take the car. Callie’s spot. Perfectly between both of your pillows, if you drew a straight line, run a little ragged by bare feet, sneakers, and slippers. “What else?”

“Peter took something from my farm, so I put him and his dogs underground.”

You shut your eyes, though still enjoying your sleepy conversation. “That’s not very good conflict resolution.” He was quiet, and you assumed he had dozed off, you in his arms, until there was a tugging at your earlobe.

“What?”

“Earrings.”

“Thank you, Egon.” Your old man. This was a much smaller life than Times Square, Central Park, Ghostbusters. But it was your small life, with your larger-than-life husband, and you really wouldn’t have it any other way.

[obwjam]

Hey Loved your ghostbusters fics!!! idk if you're still doing the prompts but can you do 20 with Egon?

“I’m not above sticking you in a jar.”

this one is so perfectly egon 😭 the scenario is a continuation of the fic where my oc and venkman get shrunk bc i think it's so perfect and i want to do more with it

from this post

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“Egon! Come on! I know you can hear me.”

It had been a few weeks since you and Peter Venkman had been shrunk by some mysterious red slime. Somehow, you had managed to adjust – mostly – to your strange new reality. No longer did you get dizzy every time you looked up at your giant friends, nor did you wake up every morning with a persistent feeling of dread and the urge to vomit everywhere. 

That didn’t mean it had gotten any easier.

A feeling you didn’t anticipate now dominated your days: helplessness. You were too busy being terrified of the possibility of dying that you didn’t stop to think about what everyday life would be like at this diminished height. You decided it was incredibly boring. Watching Egon work tirelessly to find a way to reverse your condition without being able to help was mind-numbingly agonizing.

“Spenglerrrrr… Spengler. Egon Spengler. Egon Spengler, is, ignoring me. He’s pretending I don’t exi-iiiist,” you sang, horribly off-key and with no discernable melody. You might as well have a little fun.  

“Del, please,” he said finally, giving a disgruntled sigh. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Can’t I help? You know I know what I’m doing.”

“I know.” You stared intently as he quickly jotted something down, though from your perspective, his arm seemed to move in slow motion. “But, no.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

A sigh. “I’ve told you a thousand times.”

“Tell me one thousand and one, then.”

“You don’t need me to. Maybe Ray doesn’t care as much, but I do. I don’t want anything happening to you that could be easily preventable.”

“Going over notes or sharing ideas isn’t going to kill me, you know!”

“You say that like it’s a certainty.”

You swallowed down the growing icky feeling. “If that were the case, I would have dropped dead weeks ago.”

Egon seemed to consider that, but he was clearly done having this conversation. He silently went back to work, but you didn’t even give him a few minutes before pushing him again. God, the boredom was consuming.

“Seriously, I could just brainstorm over there while you do the actual work! It’d be fine, I’ve taken plenty of naps today, I –”

Suddenly, he slammed his pen down. Well, it wasn’t really a slam, but to you, he might as well have shot it out of a cannon. “I’m not above sticking you in a jar.”

Shocked, you crossed your arms and frowned. You knew he was being playful in that deadpan Egon way of his, but a sick feeling entered your stomach when he said that. Oh, yeah, you thought. He could do anything to me without even thinking about it.

You were quiet for a while after that, but his comments made you too scared to even move, so you just sat there, stupidly, watching him continue on like nothing had happened. Thirty minutes or thirty hours could have gone by, you wouldn’t have noticed the difference. All you could think about was how long you'd be able to last with limited oxygen if you were sealed shut inside a clear airtight prison.

Egon had a feeling his joke didn’t go over well, and the ensuing stretch of silence filled him with unease. Venkman joked about it all the time, but that was just his coping mechanism. You didn’t like to do that so much, and sometimes, Egon forgot that.

Resigned, he put his pen down and turned to you, so helpless and small sitting on the table. You were very intentionally trying to ignore him.

“I’m sorry,” he offered. “I won’t actually stick you in a jar.”

“You sure about that?” you snapped, still refusing to look up. “You could do anything, and I couldn’t stop you.”

“Well, maybe you couldn’t, but Ray or Winston certainly could.” No response. “That was a joke.”

You grunted. “Not a very good one.”

Egon pinched the brim of his nose. He had really messed this one up, huh?

“You haven’t talked about it all that much.”

You looked at him out of sheer surprise. “What?”

“The psychological effects. Of your… circumstance.”

“What?” you repeated defensively. “Yes I…” you stopped. You’ve certainly thought about it every day, and you even vented to Venkman about it occasionally, but you thought it didn’t really need explaining.

“I mean, I just… assumed it was obvious.”

“Not necessarily,” Egon countered. “Venkman’s basically been the same.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a shitty example.”

For the first time today, you and Egon locked eyes. Even through the discomfort of staring at a human being that was as tall as a building, you could sense his genuine concern. He just didn’t quite know how to ask.

“Nothing is… wrong, per se. It’s not like the shrinking forced me to think a different way. It’s just been hard to… I can’t, I can’t do anything like this. You won’t even let me help figure out a way to fix myself! I–I’ve just… I’ve been noticing that you’ve…” You took a shaky breath. This was harder to say than you thought. “Well, you’re kind of treating me like a child.”

Egon raised his eyebrows, a little embarrassed by the observation. “A child?”

“Well, yeah. You’re ignoring me, getting frustrated when I try to get your attention, and despite always working by your side when I was normal human height, you suddenly act like I can’t contribute anything meaningful anymore. Like my intelligence is all gone, somehow.”

Egon felt his cheeks flush red. It was so obvious now that Del was pointing it out. He was babying them. Acting like any little movement would kill them. They already had enough on their plate – Egon acting like his mother only served to make matters worse.

“I’m… sorry, Del,” Egon said finally, his voice a little hoarse. “This is all so unprecedented, I didn’t want to do anything wrong, or hurt you without knowing.”

“If you were hurting me, I’d say something!”

“Sure,” Egon said, clearly not believing you. “But, truthfully… I’m getting nowhere, Del. I – I can’t even begin to describe how complex this all is.”

“Egon, I have a PhD and a Master’s. I’m smart too, you know.”

“I know, I know.” He shook his head. “But even after going over your test results and obsessing over this slime, I don’t even have a clue. How am I supposed to get you back to normal?”

You smirked. “Why are you acting like you have to do it alone?”

“Huh.” Egon huffed a laugh. “Checkmate, I suppose.”

“Just… let me help you on this. Please.” You padded over to his hand, which was resting comfortably next to his notebook. You placed your miniscule hand on his knuckle, forcing yourself to find the juxtaposition more endearing than terrifying. “Maybe you wouldn’t think I was so annoying if I actually had something productive to do.”

The giant snickered. “The less squeaking out of you, the better.”

He smiled warmly when you actually laughed at his joke. “Well, I don’t think I’m getting anywhere with this tonight.” He flipped his notes over and pushed the beaker of goo to the side. “How about a movie?”

“Really?” you perked up. “Can we have popcorn?”

“Well, I don’t think that…” he rolled his eyes when he saw the shit-eating grin on your face. “Sure, Del, I’ll make some popcorn.”

You climbed eagerly onto Egon’s hand. “And candy?”

“Let’s not push it.”

“But you don’t even know about Venkman’s secret stash.”

Egon couldn’t pretend he wasn’t curious. “What secret stash?”

“I’ll tell you… if you let me pick the movie.”

“Oh, good,” Egon deadpanned. “Another riveting romantic comedy, then?”

“Well, when you told me you’ve never seen When Harry Met Sally before…”

As the two of you fell back into normal banter, you felt as normal as you had since this whole thing occurred. Even if you were curled up in a small portion of a blanket that was bigger than an airport, and you could only eat three pieces of popcorn before getting full, you were still right where you wanted to be. 

For the first time in weeks, you didn’t feel so small.

[writer1]

I have a fic that I lost a partner for, so if anyone would like to do a real ghostbusters fic with me please dm me ☺️ here’s the first chapter!

Odd things had started happening at the firehouse lately, and no one could figure out exactly what was going on. It wasn’t anything big most of the time, Egon’s older inventions were dusted and shining, Peter would wake up from a nap to a steaming cup of coffee sat on his desk, Ray would come home from a call to find food sat out for him, usually a chocolate muffin, his favourite. When Winston is working on Ecto-1, his tools that he needs somehow appear right beside him before he can ask about it.

All in all, what's been happening has been very strange. But what takes the cake is what’s happening now. Egon had been going to get himself breakfast. He never usually did, but today was an odd day, what can he say? But as he walked into the kitchen, he froze to see a tray of muffins being pulled from the oven by some invisible force.

The tray is dropped almost immediately, the tray making a loud clatter and the muffins rolling across the floor, one hitting his foot. Egon blinks a couple times and stares at the muffin by his foot, unsure who exactly made the muffins. None of them can bake to save their lives apart from him, and he definitely didn’t make these.

“Everything okay in there?” Venkman and calls from the room next door.

Egon swiftly replies. “Uh, yeah, I just dropped some muffins I was baking.” A lie, but one the others would believe. If there’s a ghost in here, they must be more sophisticated than the usual ghosts they catch if they’re able to make muffins from scratch.

Egon slowly and carefully gathers up the muffins and places them back on the tray for now, placing it on the cooker and closing the oven door and switches it off. He looks around the room, looking for any sign of physical ghost activity. He can’t find any. “Is anyone here?” He asks quietly, not wanting the others to hear.

Suddenly the trash can is opened and a stray Muffin is put in it, before a pen is picked up and it writes on the sticky notes stuck to the fridge. No traps.

Ash will not be trapped like some filthy heathen of a ghost, she won’t risk it! So she will wait for him to assure her. She has been around too long to be fooled this easily.

Egon watches as the pen scribbles something on the sticky note, so he walks closer and reads it. So they can write pretty well too. He nods his head. “Alright, no traps. Could you show yourself?” Egon asks, hoping they might.

For a few moments, there's nothing as Ash debates. But then she shows herself, wearing the familiar ghostbusters uniform. On the name part all it says is Ash, and she crosses her arms as she eyes him. “As I said, no traps.” She floats there, just eyeing him with nervous eyes.

Egon is surprised to see quite a normal looking ghost, a glowing blue figure of a woman, her wavy hair shoulder length. She looks just shorter than he is if her feet were touching the ground. Feeling like this is not a ghost they have to contain, he relaxes, just comfortably eyeing her. Egon chuckles softly. “It’s a little ironic that you’re wearing a ghostbusters outfit.”

Ash blinks, that… was not what she had expected. “Well, it’s much more comfortable than my other outfit and as I am your resident ghost I figured that I should look the part…” She then pauses. “I also can only go between the two outfits or a woman made of fire.” She shrugs, uncrosses and then recrosses her arms nervously. “This is what I am comfortable in.”

“That is fair enough, I’m not judging.” Egon says in a polite tone. He assumes the fire is how she died, since ghosts usually take on characteristics from how they died. “How long have you been here for… Ash?” He reads the namepatch. “Is that your name?”

“You don’t need to know that.” Ash hums. “If you mean the firehouse, then about a month.” She says softly, she at first thought he meant since her death, but realizes he might have meant the firehouse… she’s a bit touchy, concerning her death. “And yes, that’s my name. Don’t judge, Egon.”

“Yes, I meant here at the firehouse.” Egon confirms, then smiles. “Again, no judgement, just curious. I’ve never talked like this to a ghost before. You’re different from others.” He’s intrigued, then realises how that might have sounded, getting slightly flustered. “I-I mean, a good different.” Well this is going smoothly.

Ash snorts. “That is because I haven’t lost myself yet, or been pulled into the ghost demension.” She hums. “Or hell, as we ghosts like to call it.” She flickers a bit just thinking about it.

Egon gently pushes up his glasses as he listens to Ash. “I’ve done a fair amount of research about your dimension and how ghosts work and exist, finding out everything I can about it, but I haven’t discovered everything yet. Being stuck in this realm makes it nearly impossible to know everything.”

Ash hums. “I’ve never been there, but once a ghost goes in… they lose everything. Everything that made us human, our memories, our soul… all gone in a blink of an eye.” She says. “It takes a lot, to last as long as I have and not be pulled in. But let me tell you this, Egon. You find yourself getting pulled into there, dead or alive… you run the other way. Because answers don’t matter when you become a monster. Even Gozer was once human, it doesn’t end well.”

That makes Egon feel uneasy, but he doesn’t show it. “Understood. Maybe not knowing all the answers is safer that way then.” He half heartedly chuckles.

“Much safer.” Ash hums.

Egon smiles softly, thinking about how strange yet wonderful this interaction is—

“Egon look out!” Suddenly there’s a ghost trap under her feet, and Ash becomes a woman of blue fire, as she’s pulled into the trap.

Egon’s eyes go wide, staring at the ghost trap before spinning around to see Ray. Egon is furious, it's an emotion he doesn’t feel often. “Why did you do that?!” He yells.

Ray frowns. “I… ghost!” He says. “That’s what ifs for!”

The others come in, and Peter frowns. “What’s going on in here?” He asks, before seeing a ghost trap. “In our own home? Seriously?” He growls.

“It was only a matter of time, what monster this time?” Winston laughs.

“She was doing nothing wrong! You didn’t need to intervene, you shouldn’t have…” Egon growls and huffs, looking at the trap again. He takes a deep breath to level his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And she wasn’t a monster. If only you guys would think for once before you act.”

“Egon-“ Ray starts, but a glare shuts him up fast. “Sorry, we’ve never seen a good ghost. But we all trust your judgement.”

“Unless it comes to slime.” Peter mutters.

“Anyway, I’ll let her out.” Ray goes to pick up the trap, but suddenly Egon grabs it.

Egon handles the trap with care. “No, she asked for no traps. I promised her that. I’ll handle this by myself, like I was.” With that, Egon goes upstairs and to his room, making sure the door is locked. Egon places the trap on the floor just a few steps away from where he sits down on his bed, the organised mess of books and paper around him making it difficult to sit anywhere else. After a moment, he presses the release to open the trap.

Suddenly a ghost flies out, stretched and in a womanly shape of fire with glowing eyes. It should look menacing, but the fear in those eyes shows that she isn’t. Not at all. The room gets cold as she shrinks, going back to her look before as Ash looks terrified.

The heat for a few moments was immense, Egon almost finding it too much, but he’s relieved when it’s cool again. He doesn’t like how scared she looks. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe.” He attempts in soothing her.

“You promised!” Ash yells. “How could you!” She looks so betrayed before she flies off in a blast of heat. And she’s gone.

Egon's heart shatters, and he sighs.

xxx

Hours later, all the ghostbusters are in a meeting. “So… a lady who’s not old or ugly? Interesting.” Peter hums. “Don’t get many of those ghosts.”

“I need to apologize.” Ray frowns.

Egon sighs. “Well I don’t know where she is. She got really upset and disappeared.” He feels really sad for some reason. He liked Ash’s company.

“Welp.” Ray stands up. “I am sorry, Ash. I shouldn’t have trapped you. Please forgive me.”

“And date Egon!” Peter jokes, getting a slap to the back of the head from Winston.

Egon turns red, sighing. He hopes she hasn’t left.

[rg-realgb-fanfic]

POTS and Anemia Universe: Dairy Farm Pre-Visit

A short rambling

“A vacation would be nice but where would we go? We can’t go too far from New York incase something big happens.”

“Ray, I think they can deal without us for a weekend.” Winston groaned as he laid back on his bed exhausted. “We’ve done way too much work without any rest…”

“I keep telling you guys we need rest and relaxation..” Peter mutters as he stands up to put his pajamas on. He stands up too fast and has to stand still so his body can catch up. He could feel the other three watching him to see if he was going to pass out or not. “But no one ever listens to me.” Once he was sure he was ok he started to unzip his jumpsuit and get out of it. For once he took slow movements not wanting to wind up on the floor but even still he was unsteady on his feet.

Egon had started to stand not liking how unsteady his friend was. He got to his side just in time to catch him as he stumbled. “I’ve told you before.. try and get dressed sitting down. The up and down motion is what causes your blood pressure drop.” It was the first time he noticed how tired Peter looked. He had just ignored it originally because they all were exhausted but being this close – the green eyes weren’t as bright as they normally were.. dark circles were under his eyes. “…We’re taking a vacation, effective tomorrow.”

“As much as I’m so grateful for this,” Peter starts panting as he sits on the edge of his bed, his vision swirling. His hand gripped Egon’s arm tighter not wanting him to pull away. His friend was the only thing keeping him stable and upright. “…don’t we have two big p-paying jobs tomorrow..?”

“In your state? Peter, you can barely changed clothes. You nearly passed out on me just now.” The blonde shakes his head, “There is no way we’re doing those jobs tomorrow. Money or not you need rest and someone has to supervise.”

“….y-you three go out and do it then… Jeanine c-can babysit.” Peter offered.

“No way.. when you’re this bad off we all need to be on hand.”

“We’ll just reschedule for Monday.” Ray smiles. “Don’t worry Peter, I’ll help you pack.”

*~*

“You forgot to mention how car sick he gets…” Winston muttered half annoyed half worried. It was their fourth time pulling over in the past hour.

“He usually doesn’t.”

“You think it’s the POTS or whatever it is?”

“Most likely that and/or anemia.” Ray watches worried as Peter got sick again on the side of the road.

“Or we just dragged him out on 5 hour car ride on one of his bad days.” Winston sighed.

“Well once we get there he can relax.”

“If he gets there. He can barely get comfortable before it hits again.”

“I’m sure Egon has something that can help. Peter was quiet the first leg of the trip after all.” Ray shrugged before wincing at hearing the heavy wretching. “…or we just need to knock him out until we get there.”

Out on the side of the road, Egon eased Peter to the ground keeping him up right. He could tell his friend was fighting to stay awake. “Peter if you need to pass out go ahead. Fighting it will only make it worse. We’ll stay here until you wake up. I doubt it’ll take longer than a few minutes.”

“N-No way… l-last time…i-it took 15 minutes..” His voice sounded unsteady as he kept going in and out.

The blonde sighed realizing what he had to do to force it. He stood up quickly pulling Peter with him. The other man struggled for a few seconds before sagging against him. Once he was out, Egon lowered him back to the ground where he placed two fingers against the pale neck feeling for a pulse. “Sorry, Peter.. it had to be done.”

A few minutes later Peter started to wake up. He groaned groggily as he hunched over not entirely coherent yet. His 5 senses started to come back one after another.. until he could hear Egon calling his name. “’m wake…”

“You have to start listening to your bodies cues, Peter. Fighting the urge to pass out is only going to make all of the symptoms worse. If you’re already in the motion, you need to catch yourself, sit down or lean against something and let it happen if possible.”

“…y-you forced me to pass out…” Peter accuses weakly. “you did it on purpose.”

“I had too. You weren’t doing that great. Now your pulse is almost back to normal.”

[spenglerssweetheart]

Can I have an Egon x Fem reader where they shower together seeing reader's scars and kisses them? (Or just domestic fluff of showering if your not comfortable with scars) thank you!

Of course, but there might be a little ooc Egon. I tend to make things longer than they should be so I apologize in advance. I hope you enjoy

————————————————————

Scars and kisses.

Pairing. Egon Spengler x Fem!reader.

Warnings/ Triggering topics: Mentions of self harm (past tense), mentions of scars, mentions of suicidal thoughts.

Description: as above in request.

Small note- I hope every single one of you out there is doing okay, I want you to know you are loved and cared for. I love you.

It was a long day for the ghostbusters, doing several busts in a day with no break, they were all exhausted, taking a bigger toll on Y/n. She hadn’t slept for about a day, almost two trying to complete an experiment she had.

Much like Egon, she didn’t leave what she had going until she was satisfied with her results. Most of the reason why they got along so well. With the ride home, all of them covered in dirt and slime, a yawn had escaped from Y/n lips, causing the others around her to yawn as well. “Geez L/n when was the last time you slept or even had a nap?” Winston had asked out of sheer curiosity, not expecting the response he got.

“Like..two days ago…?” All other ghostbusters looked at her with wide eyes, making her laugh quietly to herself. “Look I’m just gonna shower and I’ll sleep when I get to the firehouse” she mumbled as she scooted Into Egon’s side who only smiled at the girl below him.

-

Once they reached the firehouse/Headquarters, the others had all agreed to shower first, making sure Egon stayed with Y/n while she had a quick nap before her shower. Watching the girl sleep, he watched and waited as everyone else was quick to enter and leave the shower, Egon asking Ray if there had been any hit water left for the two of them, Egon feeling the need to stay with the girl in case she decided to fall asleep halfway through her shower.

Gently waking her, Egon began to mumble the girls name. “Y/n, Y/n sweetheart, you need to wake up for your shower” Upon hearing his voice, she began to sit up, opening her eyes with a yawn. “Showers free, the guys have already showered it’s just your turn.” He told her as She nodded, glancing at him before slightly frowning.

“But you haven’t.” She huffed as she began to stand. Egon didn’t care, he’d rather have her shower and get to sleep before anything else. “I can wait” “shower with me” She mumbled beginning to turn away, but Egon being Egon, didn’t hear what she had said. “What was that?” “Shower with me, we’ll be fast, save hot water since I apparently take forever” She responded, making her way up the stairs where she could grab some fresh clothes and a towel to bathe .Egon was left in a daze, before he quickly made his way to follow her up, his cheeks tinted a very light pink, but his ears burning red.

Once she had made her way into the bathroom, Egon followed suit, his eyes anywhere but on Y/n. With still half hooded eyes, she turned her back to Egon and began removing her jumpsuit, quickly removing the long sleeved shirt she had worn underneath. “Shit” she quietly muttered as she glanced down at her arms before holding them closer to her stomach. Egon didn’t catch it only turning his back to her, undressing himself as she began to get the water situated.

Once she had the water warm enough, she quickly removed whatever clothing she had left before quickly getting into the shower, sighing once she felt the warm water hit her skin. “I’m in, you can come in too” Y/n said softly but loud enough for Egon to hear her over the water. With gentle movements, Egon stepped into the shower removing his glasses before stepping behind Y/n, her back facing his chest as she began to rinse her hair.

Deciding to switch, Y/n carefully moved behind Egon, who was beginning to rinse his hair, watching as Y/n had grabbed her shampoo to put in her hair. Not paying attention to Egon, she quickly lathered it into her hair, the half faded scars on her arm were now facing upwards to where he could see. Glancing over at the girl, he saw the scars, thinking it was just dirt but he simply offered to help her wash her hair. She nodded softly, taking a moment to think to herself.

Automatically she kept her arms to her stomach, careful to not lift them so much, before she began relaxing into Egon’s touch as he washed her hair. While he washed her hair, she got lost in thought, not realizing until Egon had begun rinsing her hair, pulling her closer to the water until she felt it on her back once more.

“You seem more relaxed, you alright?” He asked, his hands trailing down to her waist as she nodded softly. “Just thinking, sorry.” She muttered and Egon smiled softly, seeing how she turned to him. She gave him a slight smile, slightly pulling away to wash her body. “You should start washing your hair egie, you’ll never get clean” she said using the soap, lathering up , her back turning to him once more. Egon let out a quiet sigh as he turned to wash his hair.

After they’ve finished showering and getting dressed, Y/n automatically made her way to the lab upstairs. She put her lab coat on over her pajamas as she moved whatever she needed out of the way so she could continue on her research. Egon didn’t realize she wasn’t in the room they had shared. He went to look for the others, they were all sitting in the dining area, eating whatever they had ordered.

“Have you guys seen Y/n anywhere” Egon asked the guys as they had all turned to him. “No, she wasn’t in bed after her shower?” Winston asked as he began to wipe his hands, Egon only shaking his head, before Ray had piped up. “Have you checked the lab, that seems to be the only place we can find her when we need her”

“I haven’t, thank you Ray, Winston.” He said before rushing towards the lab. Peter looked back at the two he was sitting with “What, am I no help.” “He’s still upset with you about what you said about Y/n” there was a few moments of silence before Peter spoke up. “Your serious.. It was a joke, I was joking” “sure Pete” Winston nodded as he stood to throw his plate away.

-

Finding Y/n, Egon quietly stepped into the lab, not bothering to put on his lab coat like he usually would’ve. Y/n was quiet, it was too quiet in the lab other than the little clink of her trinkets hitting against things. “Y/n?” He called out as she stopped for a moment before she continued to work, often looking into the microscope and writing something down, sometimes changing things around.

“Y/n could you just talk to me for a moment?” Egon asked, causing Y/n stop once more, now sitting up from her slouching position as she set her things down. Beginning to turn to him, she let out a deep breath as she finally faced him, a calm expression on her face. She usually never had that kind of face as she was always worried about something.

“Did I do something wrong?” Egon asked, stepping closer to Y/n who only seemed to tug at the sleeves of her shirt and coat. “No.. you didn’t” she replied as she shook her head, Egon now reaching for her hands. “Well then what is it? Did I take too long to get into bed or did I say something wrong?” He asked, worrying as she just looked down at him with that calmly blank stare.

“You didn’t do any of those, I just…” she hesitated before continuing. “What did you see?… in the shower?” Y/n asked, now looking him in the eyes, the familiar furrow of her brows now apparent. Egon was confused, giving her the same look back. “What are you talking about?” “In the shower, for one you looked confused, or almost… afraid” she mumbled the last part, now looking down at their interlocked hands. “I thought I had seen something was all, why? Was I mistaken.. or is it something else?” “Could you please just tell me what it was?” She insisted.

Egon looked at her features before looking down at her hands with a small sigh. “I thought it was dirt at first, but I remembered you kept your arms covered unlike the guys… please don’t tell me they’re scars..” he hesitated, the last part being almost whispered as he looked back up at her. Y/n could only nod, tears threatening to fall as so much had flooded back at once.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to talk about it” he reassured her, lifting her hands towards his lips, leaving small kisses along the back of her hand before turning them over, now leaving small kisses along her palms. Soon her small sniffles had stopped as she felt Egon kissing at her hands, only leading up to her covered arms. “W-What are you doing?..” Y/n asked curiously, Egon simply smiled at her before leading up to leave a kiss to her lips.

“I know you didn’t want me to know, and that’s totally fine, but I just need you to know that I’m absolutely here for you. All the time. I seriously need you to know that I love you. You are loved, okay?” Egon had said, leaving Y/n to nod as more tears fell. He began to take off her lab coat, carefully as if she was the most fragile thing in the world.

Egon had kneeled in front of her once again, slowly lifting the sleeves of her pajama shirt. (Long sleeve white tee) and left a kiss on each arm. “Egon… if I told you about-.. everything… would you still look at me like I was the sun?..” The girl asked as she looked at him, now wiping her face. He simply nodded, telling her that he was listening.

It took her a moment to compose herself but Egon promised she could take all the time she needed. They even moved out of the chair she was in and onto the sofa they had. “So this started back when I was still in college.. before I met you, and the guys. I was just starting out so just imagine. A young woman finally on her own. It was hard on me, my mom wanted nothing to do with me, my friends had turned their backs to me, I lost my job and I was trying my best to get it all under control. And I guess it was too much. I didn’t want to be here anymore, so I tried to uhm-”

“You don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to” He interrupted, allowing her to skip over that part. She nodded knowing that he got an idea of what she meant. “I didn’t go through with it, but this..” she held her arms out “felt like the only way, I could let off steam” she murmured, beginning to pick at her arms. A habit Egon noticed she had when she would get nervous. Egon pulled her hands away from each other, now holding them.

“Before you ask, last time was months ago, I haven’t felt the impulse to recently, and I’m kinda glad” she hummed, looking at her wrists and then at Egon’s hands. She got quiet for a bit, Egon only gliding his thumb over the back of her hands, before he kissed them once more.

“Promise me, anytime you feel overwhelmed over worked or need to just let off some steam, please tell me. I want to be here as best as I can, as your friend and as your partner ” Egon told her, now standing up with a slight groan still holding her hands. “I promise” she replied with a gentle smile, relaxation taking over her face, her expression now soft as she continued to look up at Egon.

“We should get to bed, it’s getting late.” Egon mumbled as he pulled Y/n closer to him. “Could we order a pizza first?” She asked softly, as they began to head upstairs. “Uh sure, Chicago?” “Of course” she laughed before intertwining their hands, feeling at peace for now.

[eebydeebyderby]

Headcanons for the Ghostbusters comforting their s/o after a nightmare? I really liked your media attention hcs 💖

Hey, nonnie! Thanks for the compliment! I’m glad you liked it. I actually have a ficlet in-progress with a very similar premise, but an extra serving in the meantime won’t hurt :)

Egon Spengler

When you stumble into the lab at two in the morning, half-asleep and tears streaming down your face, Egon drops everything and immediately rushes over to you. Egon is no stranger to nightmares and he reads your face in an instant: this was a bad one. He pulls you into his arms and holds you tightly against his chest, tucks your head under his chin and pets your hair, encouraging you to breathe deeply and slowly as you soil the front of his lab coat with a mess of tears.

Feeling the soft, muted thrum of his strong heartbeat, the rhythmic, gentle rise and fall of his steady breathing, the rumble in his chest when he speaks, you gradually start to calm down. He asks if you want to talk about it, but doesn’t prod if you remain quiet. He’ll hold you for as long as you like, experimental time sensitivity be damned. Experiments can be replicated. You’re much, much more important.

You have the options of staying in the lab with Egon or going back to bed, and he never pushes you towards one or the other. If you want to stay in the lab, he’ll keep you cozy and curled up in his lap as he sits at his desk and jot down notes until you inevitably grow drowsy and fall asleep. When Peter enters the lab for his everyday morning ‘bug Egon until he gives me a snack’ routine, he teases Egon, saying the two of you look like a pair of mother-and-child bats.

If you want to go back to bed, Egon will carry you to the bedroom upstairs and lay with you until you’re sleeping peacefully in his arms. He’ll remain with you for hours and enjoy the feeling of you in his arms, even if he’s wide awake. Eventually, he’ll fall asleep with you.

Ray Stanz

Ray seems to have a sixth sense that Something’s Wrong™ before it even happens. He’ll enter the bedroom to investigate his weird feeling just seconds before you bolt awake in a fit of tears. He instantly pulls you into a hug and repeatedly assures you that everything is okay, that everyone is safe. He absentmindedly sways a bit back and forth as he shushes you, something his parents did when he awakened from nightmares in his early childhood. It’s almost hypnotic, how soothing he is.

He’ll cradle your face in his hands and shower you with light kisses as he wipes away the tears on your face. He loves you, he loves you, and nothing bad will happen on his watch, or on any of the boys’ watches, for that matter. You mean a lot to all of the boys, but Ray especially would do anything to keep you safe and happy.

He has to put in a great deal of willpower to not show how troubled he gets when he sees you so upset. He finds solace in the fact that he’s successfully calming you down, but it really bothers him that something can cause you such a great amount of distress. Later, when you’re well-rested and more settled, he’ll ask about it and see how he can help. But, for now, he just holds you tightly in his arms, his cheek resting against the top of your head.

No matter the time of day, Ray will not let the chance of cuddling in bed pass him by. Once you’re nice and relaxed, tear-free and ready to go back to sleep, he’ll hop into bed, practically wrap himself around you like a starfish, and fall asleep in mere minutes.

Winston Zeddemore

Winston always has an ear out for you, even when he’s dead asleep in the middle of the night. You can wake up without a sound, tears flooding silently down the side of your face, and he’ll still somehow hear your distress. He’ll sit up, still mostly asleep, and lightly stroke your cheek with his thumb, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear and asking you what’s wrong. His tender voice is warm and soothing against your face.

Winston will bring you anything that you want in that moment—tissues, an extra blanket, your water on the nightstand. Want to watch a movie until you fall back asleep? Want to cuddle and stay up for a bit? Want to head to the kitchen for some hot chocolate? Want to steal Ecto-1’s keys from the front office and go for a bit of a drive? He’ll indulge any of your whims for the chance of making you feel better.

He’ll pick you up as if you were weightless and cradle you in his arms, gently planting whiskery kisses on your brow. He’ll keep the two of you bundled up in a blanket, almost making himself look like a vampire draping his cape over you, with only your heads visible. He’ll tell you small stories about his time in the Marines, funny little moments to pull your mind towards something more light-hearted, away from the horrible thoughts reeling in your head.

He doesn’t want your sleep schedule to get thrown off-kilter and is pretty tired himself, so he eases the two of you into a lying position, still wrapped in the bundle of blankets. Sleep comes back easily to both of you.

Peter Venkman

Peter often isn’t tired when you head to bed, but he’s never one to pass up a cuddle session. Once you’re asleep on his chest, he tucks in nicely with a book stolen from Ray’s Occult. You jerk yourself awake suddenly and loudly, making him yelp and fling his book into the wall. He initially finds it amusing that you managed to spook him, but his mood does a 180 when he sees the alarm on your face, the tears burning in your eyes.

His tone immediately softens and he tilts your chin up, concern etched on his face, and asks you if everything is okay. Regardless of whether he gets an answer or not, he’ll hold you close to his chest, lightly tracing his fingers along your jaw and muttering that he loves you as your tears soak through the front of his shirt.

He pulls you both up into a sitting position so he can get a better grip on you and get access to kiss your face. He brings up the time when he had a nightmare and how comforting your presence was for him the next morning despite not knowing it, before anything was explicitly romantic between the two of you. He thinks aloud that he realized then how he felt about you—that he was in love with you.

Once the tears stop, Peter whispers silly sweet-nothings in an attempt to lighten your mood, getting more and more absurd until he can get you to crack a smile. He grins triumphantly and plants a heavy kiss on the bridge of your nose, telling you how much he loves seeing you smile again. He’ll repeatedly kiss your face and call you a different pet name each time. “Darling.” Smooch. “Sweetheart.” Smooch. “My love.” Smooch. “Precious.” Smooch. “Sunshine.” Smooch. “Pumpkin.” Smooch. He’ll keep going until you finally stop him so the two of you can get some sleep.

[idontticwhen-i-bustghosts]

You Work Too Much

Summary: This is just a short fic about something that I think would happen if you were Egon’s s/o. I was imagining the reader as a woman when writing this, but I think it’s pretty gender-neutral. 

Author’s Note: I’ve never really written something like this before, so please let me know what you think! I had more fun writing this than I thought I would, and I would really appreciate any constructive criticism so that I can improve. Thank you so much for reading 💜💜💜

Word Count: ~750

     It’s been a long day, and you’re more tired than usual. You wish your boyfriend Egon was here, but he often works late into the night. The two of you don’t officially live together, but it isn’t uncommon for you to fall asleep alone, and wake up with his arms wrapped around you. You know how hard he’s been working, so you make a mental note to visit him in the morning.

     Just as you’re falling asleep, you hear the phone ring. You wonder who would be calling you this late, but run to pick it up anyways. “Hello?” you say, in probably not the friendliest tone you could have used.

     You quickly get answered in an equally tired and unhappy voice, “Hey (y/n), it’s Peter. I was just wondering if you might be able to swing by and pick up your man.”

     “What’s going on? Is he okay?” you question as all sorts of crazy possibilities race through your tired mind.

     “He hasn’t left the lab in god knows how long, and Ray seems to think that we should do something about it. Anyways, he isn’t listening to us, and I would love to be able to sleep tonight.”

     As you look longingly at your warm bed, wanting nothing more than to wrap yourself up in the blankets, you answer, “I’ll be there soon.” Even though he doesn’t like to show it, you know that Peter wouldn’t be calling you unless he was actually worried about Egon. 

     The second the phone hangs up, you start to put on your coat and shoes over your pajamas, hoping that no one will notice that you aren’t actually dressed. Luckily you don’t live too far from the fire station, so it's not a very long walk, but you would still prefer to not be outside in this cold weather. 

     Once you get there, you give a quick wave to your friends before silently walking to the lab. Egon is standing with his back turned to you, and he seems to be too focused on his work to notice you entering the room. You can’t help but smile when you hear him muttering to himself about whatever he’s working on, and you decide to sneak up quietly and give him a hug from behind. He startles slightly, but settles into the hug when he realizes it’s you.

     “Oh, hi (y/n). What are you doing here?” he asks as he turns around to hug you back. You take a minute to just enjoy his warmth and the way that he feels in your arms. When you finally pull away to look at him, you can see how tired and disheveled he truly looks. It’s pretty normal to see Egon with bags under his eyes, so it’s his usually perfect hair that you notice. Instead of standing up nicely how he likes it, his hair is sticking out in weird directions and just starting to form back into its natural curl pattern. He has a habit of pulling on his hair when he’s stressed, so you know that he must be stuck on something. 

     “I came to check on you. You work too much, and I think you should get some rest.” As expected, he begins to protest, but you quickly interrupt him by bringing your hand up to his face to make him look at you. Your relationship with Egon is nothing new, but he still manages to give you butterflies in your stomach when he automatically leans into your touch. You look into his dark, chocolate brown eyes and tell him, “I know that you’re super smart, but I’m sure that you’ll be even smarter when you aren’t so tired. Will you please come home with me?”

     Egon lets out a deep sigh before saying “You may be right, but if I leave now I’ll have to come back early tomorrow morning to finish this up.” You roll your eyes at his words, but smile softly when you hear him chuckle at you. He plants a small, but meaningful kiss on the top of your head before you grab his hand and begin to lead him to the door.

     Just as you’re leaving, you can see Peter mouth a ‘thank you’ in your direction. You give him a quick smile in return as you begin your walk home, and this time you have someone to keep you company.

[ghostbustersreborn]

Chapter 4.

❙. tara woke up the next day feeling more drained than ever. she put it as being hungover, though she had never drank an ounce of alcohol in her life.

"tara, here take this." egon told her, giving her an aspirin and a bottle of water.

she took the bottle of water and the pill.

after she took the aspirin, she looked to egon who looked at her with concern.

"what's going on with me, egon?" tara asked him. "i feel like i'm dying."

egon sighed. "i don't know yet. i wish i did but i don't." he answered truthfully.

she looked down, feeling like she was going to cry.

"will it ever get better?" she asked him.

egon didn't have the answers. usually he did, but this time he didn't.

tara sniffled.

"can i just have a hug?" she requested.

egon stepped forward and kneeled down at her bedside. he pulled her into his arms, giving her a hug.

pulling out from his embrace, she laid back down.

it was only two days since she started feeling like this, she just wondered how long this was going to last..

*

two weeks went by and tara's health only got worse.

egon and the boys were so busy with work, that egon didn't have time to run any more tests or try anything new to figure out the problem with tara.

tara pretty much lived at the firehouse now with ray and egon. the only time egon ran tests was to track her sleep. her sleeping patterns were out of whack which made tara even more sick than she was.

in her nightmares now, she'd been hearing a strange voice calling out to her. calling her the watch dog and that they needed her.

each night, she'd wake up covered in blood from her nose bleeding. she didn't know how she was still alive after all the blood loss coming from her nose.

egon sat in her room one evening, checking her temperature.

egon took it out once it started beeping. glancing at it, he looked to tara and went; "your fever is a 103 F-."

"that's bad." tara said, sounding nervous.

"yes, it is." he agreed with her, while wiping off the temperature stick before putting the cap back on.

tara sighed, she ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair.

"where's dad?" she asked him.

"out." he replied.

tara had barely seen her father since their work had gone up in customers.

it was like peter was ashamed of seeing his daughter, since the sicker tara had gotten.

"just tell him to come up here, when you see him next." she asked of him.

"i'll try." egon promised.

he stood up from his kneeled position on the floor, he told her he'd be down in his lab if she needed anything and now she was all by herself in her room.

she reached over to her nightstand and opened it up. nothing was in there, expect for a folded picture that had the year "1976" written on the back.

tara took it out, unfolding it revealing the photograph.

it was a picture of her and peter. it was halloween and four year old tara wanted to go trick or treating in the university instead of out in the city. so, there was peter holding baby tara dressed as dorothy holding a basket full of candy which egon and ray provided her with.

she couldn't help but tear up at the memory.

"i miss you dad, the old you." she said to herself.

she folded the photo back over. she picked up her pillow and set the photograph underneath it.

she laid down, closing her eyes hoping to get some sleep. at least some sleep without any nightmares that is.

*

in this nightmare, she was surrounded by black and green smoke.

she coughed. trying to make her way through it.

once, she was out of the fog she was back on the rooftop of a building. the same building she had seen before in her reoccurring nightmares.

a woman with short brown hair and wearing a skin tight body suit appeared before her.

"you are the watch dog, you belong to us." she said in a dark and sinister voice.

"no, no i don't!" she refused. "i don't belong to anyone."

"yes, you do." the woman said before grabbing a hold of her.

*

tara woke up with a jolt. she let out a sigh of relief, once realizing none of it was real. it was all just a bad dream.

"hey, you needed me?" tara gasped, not expecting to see her dad stood in her doorway.

peter chuckled. "sorry. forgot how jumpy you've been lately." he moved further into her room, going to her bedside.

tara huffed.

peter sat down next to her on the bed.

he was still dressed in his uniform from work hours ago.

"why are you still in your uniform?" she asked.

"well, we never know when we're going to catch a ghost again, that's why." he explained. "so, what did you want?"

tara took out the photograph from underneath her pillow. she showed it to her father.

"what? you still kept this!" he exclaimed, taking it from her. "this was taken in what? 1976. i can't believe you still have this."

tara smiled. "of course, i kept it. it was one of my fondest memories of us together." she commented.

"that was only two months after we (egon and ray) got the job at the university." peter reminisced.

tara nodded. just two months. only two months before she lost him.

it was a happy yet sad memory..

"dad.." tara began. "i miss you."

"how can you miss me, when i'm right here?" he questioned, clearly not catching onto what she was trying to say.

"no, dad. the real you." she corrected him.

peter moved over to face her. "what kind of drugs is egon putting in your IV?" he asked, tapping the hand which had the IV in gently.

tara moved her hand away from him. "dad. i'm serious."

"and i'm concerned." he shot back.

"dad." she sighed. "you weren't always like this. you weren't always obsessed with work and you most certainly weren't as obsessed with women like you are now. you loved me, you put me first and you actually took the time to take care of me. from what i remember, i only got that version of you for a few months until you got your first raise and that was when ray and egon took over the roles of being my dad and you took over the role of acting like a friend more than a father to me." she ranted.

peter stayed quiet. processing everything he was hearing from his daughter.

deep inside, he knew what she was saying was true. work truly did take over his life and girls took up most of it too. he had no time for his daughter, all they ever did was fight and to tell you the truth he didn't know anything about tara besides the fact that they were related.

instead of admitting to tara how right she was, he instead got up and walked out.

tara bursted into tears. she really thought what she said would strike a nerve in peter and cause him to realize all the things he's done to her for the last nine years was wrong. tara began to believe this would be how he'd always be for the rest of her life.

at least, she still had egon and ray as back up parents.

*

two days passed since the incident. tara was stuck in bed being sick of being in bed.

when ray walked by her room that afternoon, she called him in.

"hey, uh, ray can you help take my IV out?" she politely asked him.

"hun, i don't know if that's the right thing to do." ray answered.

"i need to walk around and not just around my room. please, ray! please." she begged.

she gave him the puppy dog eyes.

ray closed his eyes and let out a breath.

"okay, fine but don't get upset if egon carries you back up here." he told her.

tara nodded. knowing egon all too well.

after ray took out her IV, she quickly jumped out of bed in which she quickly came to regret when she started to feel lightheaded.

"you and your father are two of the most stubborn people i've come to know in my entire life." ray stated.

"don't mention him. i'm still mad at him." she requested.

ray and egon were there to comfort her after peter left her room abruptly two nights ago.

"right. sorry." he apologized.

*

A little while later

when tara went downstairs, she saw a man being interviewed by janine.

he had dark skin and looked to be around the same age as the guys.

"do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full-trance mediums, the loch ness monster, and the theory of atlantis?" janine listed off, with boredom hinted in her tone.

"that's a mouthful." tara pointed out.

janine made eye contact with her "it is. and i hate it." she stated. she turned back to the man sitting before her. "so, do you?"

"uh, if there's a steady paycheck in it, i'll believe anything you say." replied the man.

"good one." tara complimented him. "i'm tara. welcome to the ghostbusters." she held her hand out towards him.

he shook her hand and went; "i'm winston and um thank you."

the boys were just coming back from another job. they were covered in guck and looked exhausted.

"oh, i gotta get some sleep." ray said.

"i'm dying." peter added.

"this is winston zeddmore. he's here about the job." janine said, introducing him to ray and peter.

peter locked eyes with his daughter for a split second, before she looked away giving him the side eye.

"beautiful. you're hired." ray told him. "ray stantz. pete venkman. and i'm sure you've already met his daughter, tara over there. congratulations."

winston quickly shook hands with them.

"can you help me, please?" ray asked, as he handed him over the steaming trapper.

winston took it carefully.

"welcome aboard." he welcomed.

*

"are you sure you're not cheating?" winston asked as tara yet again rolled a six in the game trouble.

"no." tara laughed. "can you even cheat at trouble?" she questioned.

"just checking 'cuz you've won three times in a row." winston told her as he pushed the button for his turn.

right away, winston and tara hit it off quite well. she wasn't surprised they would.

"so, about your father.." he started.

tara groaned, knowing he would bring him up somehow someway.

"what is it you want to know about.. him?" tara asked.

"you two aren't very close, are you?" winston questioned.

"isn't that a little personal, winston?" tara asked as she took her turn.

winston chuckled. "i'm sorry. i can always tell when something is off." he admitted.

"okay." she sighed. "well, let's start at the beginning shall we?" she cracked her fingers to add to the dramatics. "my dad fell in love with a girl, they had a baby, she left barely a month after having said baby. egon and ray took care of me, well they've been doing that anyways since i was born. he gets a job at the university, i only had him for a couple of months until he became obsessed with his work and women. leaving ray and egon to take care of me, while he could care less about my existence whatsoever. so, there's that. also, i won. good game." she put her pieces away and left the kitchen going off to search for ray or egon.

*

tara was out in the garage, examining the bruise left on her hand from the IV.

today was a relatively okay day for her and the pain. she didn't feel as bad, but still didn't feel as normal. so, she put it as a win-win in that case.

tara was still angry with her dad. he could never take full responsibility for his actions, she wished he did at least for her.

the door to the garage creaked open, expecting to see her father instead she saw a man in a suit who resembled a weasel.

he walked past tara, giving her a look before making his way inside the firehouse.

tara flipped him off before heading inside herself.

"i need to see peter venkman." ordered the man.

"well, he isn't here right now but you can hang out in his office until he gets here." janine suggested.

the man nodded and did what she told him to.

once he was out of the room, tara went over to janine's desk.

"who the hell was he?" asked tara.

right as janine was about to respond, peter walked in with a cigarette in his mouth.

tara scoffed at him before moving away from janine's desk.

"there's a man from the EPA here to see you, he's waiting in your office." janine informed venkman.

"EPA? what's he want?" peter questioned.

"i don't know." janine responded. "all i do know is that i've been working two weeks without a break, and you promised me you'd hire more help."

"well, you've got tara." peter pointed to her.

"someone that isn't sick and not a child." janine corrected him.

the phone began to go off in the middle of their conversation.

peter sighed. "janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job | he started to make his way to his office. | in either the food service or the housekeeping industries."

he then stopped at the gate and went; "are you gonna answer that?"

"i've quit better jobs than this." janine grumbled, before picking up the phone.

tara took it upon herself to snoop on her father's conversation with the EPA guy. she went over and took a seat at egon's desk, she looked over in peter and the rude EPA guy's direction.

"can i help you?" peter politely asked the man.

"i'm walter peck." the guy introduced himself. "i represent the environmental protection agency in the third district."

"great. how's it going down there?" venkman asked him as he went over to his desk, to put it out his cigarette.

"are you.. peter venkman?" asked walter.

"who else do you think he is, god?" tara sassed.

apparently her comment did not fall on deaf ears.

peter and walter both looked in her direction.

"someone's not hooked up to their IV!" peter shouted.

the door to egon's lab

swung open. he sped walked over to tara who was staring her father down with looks that could kill if it were possible to.

tara pretended to act confused. "wha-how am i how am i down here??"

egon didn't buy it.

"upstairs." he ordered.

she tried giving him the puppy dog eyes. this time, those did not work on him.

egon picked her up, putting her over his shoulder.

as the pair walked away. tara flipped peter off.

*

"please, stay in bed." egon said, sounding exasperated.

"it's hard, egon. i hate being on bed rest." tara admitted.

egon sighed. "i know. but until i've can figure out what's going on with you, you need to stay here and have this (he pointed to the IV) hooked up." he placed the IV into her hand and taped it back up so it would stay.

he went to the other side of her bed to make sure the IV was working.

"i hate being mad at my dad." tara confessed.

egon turned to her, waiting for her to go on.

"i don't like it. i never did and i probably never will. even though he deserves it, but i love him and i just wished he'd step up and show me he loved me too." she vented.

she looked down, feeling bad for putting all her problems out on ray and egon. they were the only people who would listen.

"i'm sorry." she said, quietly.

egon sat down on the bed next to her.

"don't be." he told her.

tara nodded. she moved herself down and laid her head on egon's lap.

*

thunder rumbled in the sky. tara was back on the rooftop again.

"not this again!" she groaned.

standing on the second block was a dog statue with red beaming eyes staring right at her.

the red beams shot out at her like lasers, going into her own eyes causing her to wake up from her nightmare.

she sat up in bed, feeling blood drip from her nose.

"what the heck is going on?" she wondered.

*

[aliypop]

To The One Before

word count:  1,697

Warning: Mentions of panic attack

A/N : Heres a bit of backstory to my character I hope you guys Enjoy it!

"Family isn't who you're born with: it's who you'd die for."   Alexandra Morgan was 13 when she first heard that phrase from her best friend, Ray Stantz, "My family is like a tornado, Ray..." she sighed, taking a bite of Ray's Hershey bar. Ray knew what it was like to have parents who were perfectionists, after all: he was the product of a housewife and a doctor. "One day, I'm going to leave that house, and I'll never come back!" she laughed standing, on top of the hood. 

 "You don't mean that do you?"

"With my whole heart..." she smiled, sitting back down with him. Ray smiled back, saddened by the fact that she would say such a thing. "But what about me.. And.. and our ghost club!" he asked as Alexandra kept ranting on about her plan to leave home. 

"I couldn't forget my best friend." she took him by the hand and squeezed it,

 "Beside's, who's gonna protect you from Carl.." her thick glasses-covered eyes looked at him, 

"Well, promise me this, Alexandra..." he handed her a stay puft marshmallow. "That we'll always be friends even in college." 

"Why college?" she examined the marshmallow poking at the sugary treat. "Because... why not!"

"No talking to boys or looking at them, and if you do- " Dennis, Alexandra's, father was as nervous as most dads were when dropping their daughters off to college, but he wasn't as nervous as her mother, 

" If you get homesick, you can always call, and you know we're only 45 minutes away, and I got you one of those calculator things and!" 

"JEAN, you're scaring the girl! Dennis sighed, "What we're trying to say is strive for perfection ... anything less and.." 

"You'll pull me right out of this science jazz..." she sighed: ever since Alexandra had been little, her father never understood her passion for physics and doing experiments. He always knew that women got their brains from the pantry, not books, but Alexandra was different. When most girls played with easy bake ovens, she made nuclear reactors using antennas from their old tv set and jumper cables. Her inspiration came from some kid in Ohio who made one using chicken dung. "That's my girl... and remember.." 

"No boys," she sighed pushing, her glasses up, "As if any will ever like me.." she sassed. 

"That's not true, sweetheart," Jean said, lifting her daughter's chin. 

"Mother, must I remind you I went to prom with Ray!"

"And you two were a lovely pair." 

 Alexandra sat in her dorm, isolated from the rest of the world, which was how she liked it. A book in her hand and a pencil in another, she was ready to finish the first semester of work. As she listened to the radio, she began singing along with the Jackson 5. Ray, however, was wandering around with his new best friend, Peter Venkman, a Missouri native with the charm of a con man. Both Ray and Peter had been walking by the dorms in which the two had been talking about Atlantis. 

"It was just my imagination, running away with me. " a voice sang as the two were slowly approaching the women's dormitory.

  "Alexandra..." Ray gasped, running towards the sound of her voice. 

"Ray?!" she poked her head out from the door: as she saw the two men standing there, she couldn't take her eyes off of "This is Peter Venkman he's my.." 

"Friend replacing me already, aren't cha." she joked as she invited the two inside. There had already been notes on her wall as well as books on her floor. "I see you got busy..." Peter remarked, looking at the way her eyes sparkled through her glasses and how her lips curled. "Didn't class just start.." he thought to himself as Ray read behind her theories of time travel. 

" Because I know you didn't mean that in an innocuous way, I'll respond with Yes," she turned to look at him as her heart nearly skipped a beat, 

"Nerd much?" Peter whispered as Ray turned around in shock, he knew that that was a phrase that Alex never enjoyed hearing.

"I prefer to say an intellectual, but perhaps you wouldn't understand." she scoffed. "I beg to differ."Peter walked towards Alexandra, as he got closer towards her,

 "You're just a know it all.." he smirked, "Or a narcissist .." he said in a whisper, looking down at her lips. Alexandra laughed, noticing how close they were. She had never in her life been this close to anyone, especially a man such as Venkman. 

 "My father warned me to stay away from boys, you know.." 

" Well, I don't see your old man around..." he pulled her close to him as the heat from her face radiated fog from her glasses.

 " I'll pick you up, say 8 pm." 

"Should I bring my books?" 

"Sure, but I doubt you'll need them." he winked. 

As years passed and Ray and Peter grew closer as friends, so did Alexandra and Peter. It was a cold New York December morning, and sitting by the window wearing one of Peters shirts was Alexandra. Hot tears streamed down her face as she held her term papers in hand. In all her academic life, she had never gotten a D: her world was crumbling, "Hey, it's three in the morning.." Peter then looked at the half-empty bottle of brandy that he and Ray usually would split. 

"Do I need to wake Ray..."  

Alexandra shook her head, unresponsive to his question. "Wanna tell me about it.." he then asked, sitting in front of her. "I'm going to fail.." she repeated in heavy breaths, her hands nearly pulling at her thick curls. Peter had semi-studied this behavior before but to see it happen in person terrified him. "Breathe." he held her hand, Alexandra nodded, as she only breathed faster, nearly hyperventilating. "That's not what I meant, but breathing is breathing..." he mumbled. As the sun began to shine, the two were eating pizza and talking about their families. 

 "Try having a father who is not even proud about his son going to college. 

"Try being a music prodigy by age six and science prodigy at 9." she laughed, "I have so many expectations set on me and..." she looked at Peter, who gave her a look she knew too well. Peter, although now a part of the parapsychology world he still was great in psychology. "You did it again.." 

"I don't know what you mean.." he smirked. 

"Oh, I could just!" she stood up, falling into his arms. "Kiss me.." he suggested, kissing her lips ever so sweetly. There were days when Peter was a gentleman, sweet and caring, but there were days when Alexandra would throw curses his way and wish she'd never see him again, days where she'd cry in Ray's arms, and all he could say was " Peter didn't mean it this time did he..." he asked watching her stuff her face with pizza and ice cream. "We broke up again.." she cried, "Because I got offered to teach at the university.."  

"That's good!" Ray smiled, "I mean, it's what you've always wanted, right?" he then stopped talking. It was true that Alexandra wanted to teach quantum physics and engineering, but to see Peter move on so fast when she told him the news only made it worse. 

 As time went on and Alexandra had gotten adjusted to her new life as a professor, her date life only sunk worse. 

"Alright, class, I'm Dr. Morgan today we'll be talking about the theory of Relativity.." Alexandra turned towards her class in which she heard the protest of groans. The year was 1984, Alexandra: was 31 years old and living in Manhattan. " I assume you took Dr. Spengler's theory class, or else you wouldn't be in mine." she glared at a few students over her glasses. To say that Alexandra's quantum physics and engineering classes were easy was an understatement.

 From her labs to her assignments, there was nothing easy about her not since, "Can I help you, Dr. Venkman.." she glared at him, nearly wanting to set him on fire. "Just looking for a few students who'd want to do a few paid experiments," he smirked. When paid was involved, it meant Venkman rather than the students. "Make it quick, Venkman.. " she rolled her eyes. As her lecture progressed, she noticed a pair of eyes staring at her, they were stern, a bit cynical, and they were listening to her rant about the theory of being in a paradox. 

"So if you were to see yourself uh.. " she kept looking at him as her mind went blank, and her heart nearly pounding. "You could ruin the structure of the world." the voice in the back responded.

Sitting at her desk as her students left, Alexandra took it upon herself to stay behind and work on her UPC or more so known as an ecto camera. As she heard heavy footsteps run past her classroom, she knew that it was

 " Ray?" 

"We got one!" he shouted, ushering her to follow him.

"Is it a 1 or 5?" she asked him, following him around to their lab. 

"She wasn't very friendly..." 

"So a five it i-" she stood in front of their door, watching as the dean removed their gear from their lab space. "Well, that's unfortunate ..." she whispered under her breath, looking up at the man who was in her class earlier. 

"What am I supposed to tell my mother.." he mumbled. 

"What are we going to do now!" 

" I say drill a hole through Peter's head.." Alexandra said under her breath as Egon smiled, "So you're a fan of trepanation too." he asked as both Peter and Ray tried to get her to switch the subject. "I always say that if done right, could cure a disease if done wrong, a lobotomy or death. " she shrugged her shoulders, "Although I wouldn't advise it on a hamster," she added. 

"Why's that?" 

"Makes them go crazy..." she laughed, looking at him, "I'm Dr. Alexandra Morgan." 

"Dr. Egon Spengler."

[bowieandqueen11]

1986 Ulrich Nielsen Headcanons

Request: Hi i saw that you write for dark ( the netflix show ) and just wanted to say that every single piece is so good😍😍😍😍 I was also wondering if i can request headcanons for dating Ulrich , the 1986 one , because i just love him . Thank you in advance ❤️ 

I’m so glad to see the Dark fandom hasn’t completely disappeared! <3

Comments are much much appreciated!

Surprising him during weekend walks through the Winden forest with your polaroid camera. The two of you are strolling through the budding flowers and grass that wets your trousers by brushing them with dew, just letting your hands swing together by your sides. He’s laughing as he bumps into you, talking about something one of his classmates had done during physics the other day, and you take the moment to reach into your bag and snap a photo of him.

At first he tells you to stop, but as time goes on and you keep doing it, he starts to warm up to the idea and you leave him with a light blush every time you do it.

It really leaves him feeling giddy when he sees all the photos of him, and the two of you together, slowly covering your bedroom wall. 

You constantly steal his jacket after nights spent together at his place. When he wakes up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and leaning his hands back on his pillow, he nearly laughs to see you sitting on his bed frame, wearing nothing else. He lets the duvet pull to the floor as he pulls you by the waist into his chest, and presses a few sloppy kisses against your neck.

Being constantly worried when you pop round after school and see his front door lying wide open again.

Going in anyway, and seeing his mum lying asleep on the sofa. Creeping up the stairs quietly, you enter his room and see him sitting at his desk playing video games, his heavy rock music blaring from his stereo.

You sneak up behind him and place your hands over his eyes, making him jump a mile, although he tries to play it off when he turns around and sees you smiling sadly at him.

The two of you spend the rest of the afternoon lying on his bed, him fiddling with your hand as you share the headphones of his Walkman. It’s so peaceful, for once, and he revels in the feel of your fingertips brushing against his skin as he runs over your fingers.

Buying him new records for his birthday. Since it’s one of the only presents he gets, his smile is so bright and great, but it also makes your heart ache.

The two of you share cigarettes underneath the dim bus stop light during cold, rainy winter nights. He shuffles off his coat and places it around your shoulders, only after he stole the cigarette from your lips and placed it between his own with a smirk. The look of thanks you gave him was reflected on his own face, as you shuffle along the seat and place your head on his shoulder. With a sigh, he places his own on top of yours.

You get constantly knocked out of the way by Hannah in the school corridors when you stop to kiss Ulrich, embarrassing him by giggling against his mouth.

Making her jealousy worse when the two of you arrive arm in arm at the school dance. He actually makes an effort, wearing a black suit and tie, and matching corsage. The look he keeps on giving you through the night, when he brings you punch, when you’re talking with your friends, when the two of you slow dance together, just the look of absolute contentment is enough to make Hannah’s blood boil.

When his parents, and Egon, and just the whole thing with Mads becomes too much for him, the two of you sneak out to that weird tree house place on the outskirts of town and just cuddle up together, watching the stars and wishing you could escape into them.

The two of you just lie there, talking about getting married and running away from this town, maybe starting a band, or maybe just getting a car and driving off to anywhere and everywhere.

[wo-wann-was-wer]

WHAT I WAS THINKING: DARK SEASON 3 EDITION

EPISODE 1:

Who are these dudes with the harelip and what do they want

Why did she just take him to a cave and leave that’s kinda rude

So everything in this universe is just gonna be backwards. Love it

Ugh I’ve said this a million times but this show has such Fringe energy and I can’t wait to get a tattoo for this too

This is super freaking me out, i dont like that everyone’s in everyone else’s house.

Ooooh Katharina with glasses yes girl you better work.

I like Michael and this hat he’s rocking

Super into the fact that magnus and fransizka are involved in this universe too

There’s nothing cuter than sex before school. Ahhh the nostalgia

Ten bucks says that Hannah gets out of this bed and is pregnant

Fucking YEP

I am loving Martha in this Jonas journey

I know that all they did was flip the lens of the camera but my brain is breaking at this flipped Winden

Who the fuck is this random dude Martha is with

You know what he kind of looks like Jonas. I wonder if that's relevant or if I'm just grasping at straws

Bartosz looks like he's going to his first grade violin recital

I straight up just did not recognize Charlotte with makeup. She looks hot

There's got to be another person in that picture other than Ulrich because that's a lot of space to rip out for one person

okay hold up Woller looks so good and then when I saw that he was missing an arm I almost lost my fucking mind

Oh shit okay Hannah is living in Katharina's house.

Oh my God are Ulrich and Charlotte having an affair

Is it normal in Germany for kids to just walk into classes that aren't there’s and just sit down

follow up he has a clear noose mark on his neck

Aleksander looks so hot with this beard. universe B is the fucking glow up universe

It's weirding me out that the whole school is black and gray instead of light brown

The look of satisfaction on katharina's face

Wow honestly Louis just broke my heart with his facial expression when he realized his mom didn't know who he was

he looks so scared

Yes yes do it afffffffffair

Oh no you done got found out!!!

Oh the theme of the play here is red and set of gold

Fransizka looks so cute in this little outfit

Oh my God she's deaf!!!!

What the fuck. the fact that this actress can talk is blowing my mind

RIP to Regina a real queen

Peter's a fucking priest

All the fucking weird-ass freaky motherfucking trio is back

The dopplers have the same house That's cool

excuse me sir I think your child is broken

these guys are so creepy What the fuck

I definitely don't like the piano wire

oh this motherfucker is the one who gets lost

I feel like winden in this universe is just a little bit fancier

Well Charlotte and Ulrich just be fucking like crazy

Bartosz is the Jonas of this group and I love it

who was that??????

I cannot get over Aleksander in this beard

I like that things are opposite but they also have things that are different enough.

Like I'm so into the fact that they all went down into the bunker

who in the unholy fuck is that. who is that

Oh shit old Martha

What the fuck is this Tannhaus’ factory we're at

hold up Martha's in 1888

What the fuck. why is Jonas in 1888 and looking SO good

EPISODE 2:

casually sitting over your bed watching you sleep

he's look so good though

yo what the fuck everybody else is there too

Oh no things got really ugly at Mads’ wake

Not for nothing but Tronte is a dick

I kind of don't understand why Claudia would want Regina to live in such pain in this type of universe

Peter is such a good boy

lurking is the freaking national past time of this place

Oh shit we got some spin-off timeline stuff good

who is This is blind guy

I love Katharina so fucking much

I know what she's thinking and it's the same thing I'm thinking which is can I kill a child

why does this picture of Tronte make him look like Jimmy Smits

Katharina looks amazing in this jacket

Also I definitely did not just start yelling GO GET YOUR MAN KATHARINA

Regina just gets more and more badass as time goes on. Also all of the women of the tiedemann family are so fucking badass

I am so excited to watch this fucking relationship develop. they're both too cute

awwww he's using signs!

oh they're writing back and forth

DAMNIT PETER

I always feel like little Noah should do fuckboy sign offs when he leaves rooms because he's so smooth

yesterday Laurel said that this was back to the future but serious and just now Bartosz said it's not super easy to get nuclear fuel in 1888 and now I think that Laurel's right

I will never get over how good he looks JONAAAASSSSSSS

This guy feels like the OG inventor of sic mundus right

Katerina why are you even trying to check in at the front desk bitch Go and get your man

Is this Katarina's mom why does she just recognize that woman's name

everyone on the show is so talented.I spend the whole damn time being like oh my god the performances on the show and it's like yeah we know

Katerina get your man

I literally love them so much look at the look on her face She is a mama bear She is not going to let anybody take her man or her children and I love her

Not a huge fan of people who quote Shakespeare right before they kill other people or am I an enormous fan of people who use Shakespeare right before they kill other people

using a garotte to kill someone is ugly as fuck

I feel so bad for Jana

see this is one of the reasons why I'm like why would you bring Regina back to this world.

wowwwww TRONTE what's up dude

YO WHAT

Oh so how did Charlotte get back there but Elizabeth's still there too. didn't they switch places?

oh the head bump

Not excited for the mother daughter abuse stuff that's about to happen

I love these split sequences that they do at the end

anytime somebody stands and stairs for a lonely at a spot on the ground I assume to somebody died there

Oh shit that guy is a tannhausokkkk I see you

a religious images we love to see it.

This show is a whole series of pause that frame.

No I ruined something for myself!!!!

EPISODE 3

got to love those through and through Ariadne references

okay so Charlotte's great great grandfather has her watch?

who are these horrible traveler human beings

they look like less sexy Francis dolarhydes

I can't get over the fact that wollers missing an arm here I swear

we ARE the glitch BITCH

alternate universe Ulrich is a better person than standard Ulrich

what's this new like zoom-y thing they're doing

I was attracted to Magnus at this jump of the show but he looks better with dark hair

How did they not all die of fucking flu

eternally repeating deja vu

I looked at the production stills and I was like what the fuck is this hair do that Moritz has but he looks amazing

Also everyone on this show deserves an acting award

and Magnus is wearing a skeleton sweater

Hannah does that deep dive detective work any bitch knows the Nose doesn't lie

why doesn't anybody want to fuck wöller

omgggg eat the RICH

also he has that x tattoo on his hand that represents the no future thing

oh the light is rectangular and not circular ooooooh fancy

The show is also a lot of people catching each other's wrists as they walk away

I knew we couldn't trust this bitch

What did he give her

I love the parallels and characters behaviors between universe a and universe b

I want to know how Noah factored into all of this on this side

Martha has a type and her type is iconically Aryan

Oh Aleksander's back with that beard he's back

Hannah is such a snake

Omg that's her!!!!! I thought she was a trans actress.. hm. not super happy bout that :/

What is Helge talking about Ulrich did what??? omg

I would be like SIR DO WE NEED TO FIGHT STOP FOLLOWING ME

I stopped taking notes for the last half of that episode cuz I was really sucked in haha

EPISODE 4

FIRST OF ALL I'D LIKE TO GO ON RECORD THAT I DON'T CARE FOR THESE GENTLEMEN AT ALL

second of all why is this guy being like oh I took your name

why does he have Agnes's bracelet I don't like that

I don't like anything about this guy That's the end of the story

Also hold up a red hot second is Agnes dead cuz if so that's a hate crime

see what did I say

I knew that Hannah was going to get involved with Egon

from the second she walked in that office I was like that bitch has her eye on him and as she should he's handsome as fuck

Also he spoils her so much more than any other man she's ever been with AKA is Egon the only man she ever deserved

Is Hannah going to develop a heart cuz I'm not sure how I feel about that

Also what happens if Hannah gets pregnant

why is Ines a bitch I thought she was mad cool the beginning and now I feel fucking deceived

Also it's such a sweet gig that The kids who are playing kids can now play teenagers

poor Doris. Also he was shitty to her but he was far nicer than I would have been

Doris is so beautiful it's bullshit

older Magnus is so handsome

All I wanted was middle-aged Martha

bitch you have been having unprotected sex with him why do you think that pregnancy was not on the tabl

I'm like who's this guy in the church if it's not Noah I bet it's that little bitch

yeah I fucking knew it

Is this the dude that was married to Agnes I feel like this guy isn't real or something

I'm not surprised he let her go but I don't know why I'm not surprised. I feel like she's important to his timeline and I'm not sure why

look at these relationships forming between these sweet little bab

Hannah looks good in this red. Hannah looks good in all of these styles. 

who is this child

I like that already as a child Bernd had his eye on Claudia as someone who was smart and had a ton of potential

 I keep forgetting that I'm taking notes because I get so invested in episodes

Also I realize the zoomi thing which is going back and forth between the universes

Is Agnes Silja’s mom And if so with whom 

he gave her Agnes’ bracelet that dope All right Tronte

Wow Claudia needs to back off her man

Claudia force him into a relationship with her

I fucking hate Hannah but sometimes she speaks so much sense

ooh I don't need anyone Yes girl that's true You don't need anyone You needing people was what made you act fucking crazy You don't need anybody

This was always my big problem with Hannah was that I initially identified with her because she was such a survivor but then she did such horrible reprehensible things I just couldn't let it go and I absolutely couldn't identify with her anymore

Oh here's my daddy Noah looking so good

I mean okay so I have been in this position before where I was cheating and then my man cheated on me and I was like how dare you but also you cannot be mad if your partner cheats on you when you cheated too. You both fucked up

Is Hannah going to have a redemption arc cuz that's a lot

Oh my God she's not going to get rid of this child is she

Oh my great God I cannot believe that she gave Helene that necklace. 

I knew she was fucking connected to Katharina in the older generation I knew it

Louis and Lisa are a super cute couple and I know that they're not dating in real life but I think that they're very cute together

Oh everybody fucking

yeah they created the Apocalypse yeah

Oh no they have a child outside of worlds that's a mess How does that work so they had they gave birth to that ugly fuck

honestly I hate that he's their child for the most part just because he's ugly as fuck and neither of them are ugly as fuck so it makes me mad.

[touchingoldmagic]

Day 26 - Nightmare Fuel

Day 26 of the 30 Day Ghostbusters Challenge!

Author's Note: Somehow this turned into Peter/Ray fluff by the end. Oops.

Peter decided if he never had to dust off the ole' psychology skills during another bust, that would be just peachy. He wouldn't even complain (much) when there were a lot of stairs. He'd be perfectly happy if the ghosts just stayed easy and boring from now on. It was better than dealing with this.

"Hey buddy, why don't you take a breath--sorry, too soon? Whatever it is you do to calm down, then. You don't wanna do something you regret."

The ghost was mostly human-looking, but soft around the edges. Not insubstantial, but rather like its ectoplasmic skin was the consistency of putty and was starting to run. One eye drooped, giving its face an asymmetrical look, and its hair was plastered down on its head like it had been standing out in the rain. Its entire body gave off a phosphorescent blue glow.

So did the noose around Ray's neck.

The bust had gone bad from the start. The ghost's cat and mouse tactics were more calculated than their usual fare, seeming to take great delight in drawing them out to various rooms in the old bed and breakfast, only to disappear just when they thought they had it cornered. Eventually the four of them had split up to try to pin it down with streams coming from opposite directions, but even their usual pincer tactics weren't working.

They had reconvened in the lobby and Peter hadn't had a sinking feeling until he saw they were down a man. Before they could even radio to find out what was keeping Ray, the ghost announced its presence with a rattling screech of sound that was wordless yet still conveyed its aggravation with them.

The bed and breakfast was in the middle of renovations before opening to the public, but quite a bit of money had gone into the foyer already. It was a good twenty feet across, all nice carpeting, cheery oak desk and heavy drapes, with a stairwell on the left that led up to the second story hallway. A thin and delicately carved wooden railing was all that separated the second floor landing from a fall to the foyer below.

The screech came from the landing above them, the sudden proximity of the spook sending the PKE meter wailing. Their eyes were dragged upward to find the ghost hovering in the air. It had dragged Ray up onto the railing to balance precariously, holding the Ghostbuster's hands behind his back. That hold--and the noose--were the only things keeping Ray from taking a plunge over the side to the floor below.

Despite the fact that the tail end of the rope floated in the air behind Ray's head on its own like a demented kite, Ray's expression made it very clear how tight it was. His lips moved as he struggled to speak to them, but no sound emerged.

Peter pushed forward to address the aggravated spirit.

"All right. Let's all keep calm here. Look, I'm putting my thrower away." He slid it into its home over his shoulder, holding up his hands.

The ghost glared down at them. Despite being slightly smaller than Ray, its form didn't waver or budge as Ray struggled to pull free of its tight grip. Peter gave a brief hand gesture to tell him to stop moving around, though he wasn't sure how well he could see them from his forced vantage point above.

"So what's the big message, buddy?" Peter asked the spirit lightly. His tone was betrayed by the intensity on his face. "You got something you want to say? Cuz we're listening."

The ghost opened its mouth, but the only thing that emerged was a choking rattle, angry and sharp.

Peter frowned. "Well can't say I know that one. Maybe if you hum a few bars, I can fake it."

The ghost garbled a reply that sounded like a breathless shout and it shoved Ray forward, into open air. For a moment his arms flailed and reached for his neck, expression panicked, before he dropped like a stone.

"Dah!" Peter bolted forward. He was under the falling form in two steps, hands raised above his head, desperate to catch him before the noose snapped taut. He got his hands awkwardly under Ray's boots and pushed upward, taking the full brunt of the weight of his teammate and partner. Peter's knees almost buckled before he locked them, grunting with the effort, arms and shoulders shaking.

"Winston!" Egon barked urgently, taking aim at the spirit. "Trap the ghost. Quickly!"

"But--" Winston's gaze went to Peter and his struggling grip, instincts telling him to go help.

"NOW. It can't materialize extraneous manifestations in the trap."

Winston's eyes widened and he nodded, the plan now clear.

If the ghost resumed the tactics it had been applying all morning, it would have been able to evade two streams. But it was too set on watching its victim writhe like a worm on the end of a hook. A pair of streams shot out simultaneously and the two Ghostbusters were able to snare the specter while it was distracted.

It raged when it was caught, the mostly human features melting further into something more monstrous, with bulging eyes and an elongated chin. Winston held the bucking, snarling thing while Egon threw the trap, and the foyer lit up with a cone of white light.

As soon as the trap snapped shut there was a loud thump. Winston and Egon shot over to help the others, who were now in a pile on the carpeted floor.

Ray had landed on top of Peter, immediately exploding into a coughing fit and clutching at his throat. Peter had him in a death grip, but he released him when he saw Egon bend over to check on him. The physicist helped Ray roll off of Peter and sat him down on the carpet, examining him while Ray struggled to regain his breath.

"You okay, man?" Winston asked, helping Peter to his feet.

"Uh huh. Nice shooting," muttered Peter, but his eyes were on Ray.

Winston patted the psychologist's shoulder after he made sure he was steady on his feet. It was clear where Peter's attention was. "He's okay, guy's got a head harder than yours," Winston said, with a purely relieved grin.

--

That night Ray rolled over in bed, paused a moment, then carefully shifted to a different position, trying to get comfortable. He debated getting a bag of peas from the freezer but realized he'd probably doze off and wake up in a puddle of defrosted pea juice.

The bruising was pretty colorful. He hoped it would look a bit better by morning, otherwise he was going to be reduced to wearing turtlenecks for the next couple days. And he looked really bad in a turtleneck.

The phone rang. He sat up and reached for it on the nightstand, relieved to have something to do. The cord was permanently stretched out from him dragging it around the room each time he took a call; he was never good at sitting still during a conversation.

"Stantz," he said into the receiver, deciding offhand that his voice didn't sound too bad. Most people would probably think he was getting over a cold.

"Hey," a voice said shortly.

A smile grew on Ray's face. "Hey," he said in return, leaning back on his pillows and getting comfortable.

"That was pretty quick, I dunno if that was even one whole ring," Peter teased.

Ray didn't want to say he had been expecting Peter to call, though he had. He got cranky if he thought he was getting predictable. "Phone's right next to the bed," Ray said nonchalantly, instead.

"Uh huh. And you usually answer the phone at night when you can barely talk?"

"I'm fine. It sounds worse than it feels," he reassured his partner. "What're you still doing up?"

"Oh, you know, night time is when I do my best thinking."

"Yeah, I can't sleep either," Ray said, translating the Peter-speak out of habit.

Most people might avoid talking about a recent traumatic experience, but most people were not Ray Stantz. He launched into a detailed recount of how he had been attempting to draw the spirit into a conversation when he had been grabbed (though he had already gone over it with the team after the bust). His working theory was that the ghost was infuriated that it could no longer communicate as it did when it was alive, so talking to it only riled it up. Peter let Ray talk himself out, but noted that it took less time than normal.

"From now on you leave the negotiations to me. That's what I get paid for," he said sternly.

"Sure thing, Pete," Ray meekly agreed, knowing Peter blamed himself.

Peter sighed. He didn't believe him for a moment.

There was silence on the phone for a moment. Peter cleared his throat. "I was thinking maybe I could come over. It's late, but..." He made a sound that translated to a shrug. "If you could put up with seeing me, anyway."

The uncharacteristic uncertainty made Ray's smile widen. "You can come over whenever you want, Peter," he said honestly. "I always want to see you."

There was a strangled sound in the receiver and Ray almost laughed. Whenever he said something particularly sappy, Peter got an expression on his face that was equal parts exasperated and touched, and Ray knew he was making it now. "Right, see you soon." He hung up so quick in embarrassment that Ray didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.

[spookbusters]

Daddy’s Little Ghoul

Summary: Ray takes your daughter to the station for take your child to work day!

Pairing: Ray Stantz x Reader // Word Count: 1.7k // Warnings: None!

A/N: Sorry this took forever to get out! Should be getting back to work on some of my other requests soon :)

"Daddy, daddy, wake up! Wake up!"

Note to Y/N Stantz from Y/N Stantz, just get rid of your alarm clock. Your daughter has got this handled.

A sleepy groan hums in the back of your husband’s throat as he stirs. Your little girl was apparently loud enough to register with him, but not loud enough to actually get him up. "Elodie, honey,” you murmur, fully awakened by your child’s excited tone, "It’s before seven, you should still be in bed." Your five-year-old bounces over to your side of the bed and throws herself into your lap, knocking a bit of the wind out of you. She looks up at you with smiling eyes like those of the man you love. Her hair was frizzy from sleep; distinctly inherited from you, you knew the color and texture all too well. "But, mommy, it’s take your child to work day, remember? I’m gonna go with daddy!" The sentence makes you smile as best you can in your sleepy haze. She took after her father in many ways, and had been looking forward to this for days. "Yes, sweetie, I remember. You know I have something special planned for you." Elodie wraps her small arms around you in a tight hug, "I didn’t forget, I promise." You give your daughter a squeeze, and kiss her forehead. "Go ahead and brush your teeth and get dressed, I’ll get your surprise ready." She lets out an excited squeal, then jumps off the bed and runs to her room on the other side of the apartment. A massive, exhausted huff leaves your lips before you collapse back down on your pillow. Ray is still snoring lightly beside you.

God, you wished you could sleep as heavily as him. You prop yourself on an elbow and admire him for just a moment before you have to get him up. He’s a mess. His face is smashed against the pillowcase, and his hair is stuck to his forehead. It’s adorable, and you remind yourself how blessed you are to have him. Ray only wakes up after a full minute of you peppering kisses all over his face, and once he hears you giggle at the way he wriggles his nose sleepily, he knows he can’t waste any more time snoozing. You're greeted by a gentle hand reaching up to smooth out your hair and, before you know it, you're being pulled down for a loving kiss. A small noise of contentment seeps from your being at the feel of your husband. When the need for air rears its head, you pull away and press your forehead against his. "Elodie woke me up this morning," is the first thing you tell him. "Did she?" "She's beyond excited to go to the firehouse with you. Speaking of which, you need to get up, mister." Ray groans, muttering something about how he hasn’t even left bed, but he already misses it. One sleepy stretch later you’re out of bed, brushing your teeth and throwing some curlers in your hair. You go about your morning routine, getting dressed in your usual outfit of jeans, sneakers, and a button-down from your husband’s drawer. The routine continues with you setting out Ray’s uniform, then going to whip up a quick breakfast. You pull off all those morning responsibilities with perfected efficiency, and you’re finally able to unveil the surprise you had planned for your daughter. “Ok, Ellie, you’re gonna have to close your eyes for this one,” Ray explains, knowing full well what you’ve got behind your back. She seems to vibrate from all the excitement she has to contain, covering her eyes with her hands. Once you think the suspense has gotten to her enough, you unfurl the outfit and hold it in front of you. “Alright, sweetie,” you say, “Open!” 

The moment she gets sight of the jumpsuit, just her size, she lets out something like a screech and jumps out of her chair to inspect it. “It’s got your name on it and everything,” you explain, pointing to the new patch you’d been embroidering the past couple days. It looked just like the ones you had made for the original suits. 

It doesn’t take much effort to get the suit on over her leggings, and when she zips it up the middle you marvel at how much she looks like her dad. “I love it, mommy,” she chimes, “Thank you!” The way she hugs you tightly makes all the time you spent working on it so worth it. “You’re so welcome, honey.” You take a second to look at the watch on your wrist and it’s not until then that you realize what the time is. “I gotta head to work,” you gasp, “I’ll be late for opening!” You grab your purse and the keys to the car, which you toss to your husband. “Lunch for you two is in the fridge, don’t forget it before you leave,” you mention, walking up to Ray and readjust his constantly unruly hair. “We won’t,” he assures. With a kiss for him and your daughter, you’re off to manage Ray’s Occult Books, like you do every day. “C’mon, daddy, we gotta go too,” Elodie urges, lightly tugging on her father’s sleeve. Ray grabs the lunch from the fridge, handing his daughter the Slimer lunchbox she insisted on having for school. Truth be told, he was just as excited for take your child to work day as his daughter! He loved the fact she was so interested in the business and, deep down, he hoped Elodie would take it over one day. The drive to the firehouse was as it would be every morning. Except instead of having some typical pop songs fueling the journey, the cabin of Ecto-1 was filled by Elodie and Ray’s singing.

They had brought her favorite cassette along; Ellie’s little voice would take the lead and her dad would fill in what she couldn’t yet remember. Whenever he did those deep, caricature-like voices, she would giggle loudly. They had to be the two happiest people on the streets of Manhattan. Elodie had just finished a rather lovely rendition of the Unbirthday Song when they pulled into the garage of the firehouse. It took some genuine effort to prevent the young Stantz from launching herself from her car booster seat and taking off into Ghostbuster HQ. But Ray was successful in getting her in without her forgetting anything or getting ahead of herself. At least he knew if the guys needed to take the car for a case, none of her important stuff would get left in there. But when she got inside, it was a totally different story. There was nearly no way he’d be able to manage that much enthusiasm. He was borderline overwhelmed by the sheer will and exhilaration of his five-year-old. As soon as the rest of the guys heard Janine’s playful comment of, “I didn’t know there was a new Ghostbuster on the team,” followed by a small laugh, they knew exactly who had just arrived. “Guess who,” Ray said, the biggest smile on his face as he walked into the lab, Elodie right behind him. “In case you couldn’t guess, it’s my dad and me,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Hey, it’s the Stantz clan,” Peter said, dropping the file he was reading onto the lab table with a genuine smile. Egon glances over his shoulder for a moment before returning his attention to the odd contraption that sat like a helmet on Winston, “You brought my niece with you. Rather unusual.” Elodie skipped around the room saying 'hi' to all her ‘unca’s, managing to tell all three of them separately that it was take your child to work day and that she was spending it with her dad. It wasn’t completely atypical for there to be a child in the firehouse, as Peter had Oscar over plenty of times. But Oscar took after his mother who tended to be rather quiet, unlike Elodie who took after both her parents’ extroversion. So, it was always a learning experience for both her and the team when there was a kid around who was actually interested in what they were doing. Ray couldn’t have been prouder of her. He could see throughout the day’s activities that she was having tons of fun, learning a lot, and really putting the smarts he knew she had to work. She would end up having a lot to tell you when she got home. Like, how Winston would explain to her how to clean a trap once a ghost was caught in it. “This is how your dad taught me how to do it. Ok, so, after you’ve caught the ghost-.” “How do you catch the ghost?” How Venkman taught her how to negotiate when working with a customer. “Ok, so if you just caught the ghost in my house and I want to give you four pieces of candy, what would you think?” “Sorry ‘unca Venkman, but I’ll need five pieces of candy, because, uh... ghosts are expensive?” Or how Egon would explain total protonic reversal to her. “So, Elodie, when two or more particle beams meet, what happens?” “All the nearby molecules stop at the same time and blow up real fast!” For a five-year-old, she sure had a good grasp of that. “I’m really glad she came with me today, Y/N,” Ray told you that night. He sat on the island in your kitchen in his old, faded sweatpants. You were prepping Ellie’s lunch for school tomorrow. “She was so... invested in the things she was learning.” “Well,” you look up from the bag of baby carrots you were zipping up, “She’s been interested in it from the day she could walk.” Your husband kicks his feet a little, looking up to the ceiling with a hint of a proud smile on his lips. “She’s a genius, I think.” The refrigerator door creaks as you place the Slimer lunchbox in its usual spot. “I’m talking Spengler-levels of intelligence.” It’s your turn to grin as you turn to Ray and place your hands on the counter, nestling yourself between his knees. “That’s because she’s got one hell of a dad to take after,” you praise. Ray pushes some of the hair from your forehead, pressing a kiss to your warm skin. “She’s got some smarts from her dad maybe, but she’s really brilliant and beautiful like her mother.” You giggle and place your hand on top of his; the whole moment makes you feel cozy. “We made one great kid, didn’t we Stantz?”

 “You know what, Stantz,” he mimics your playful tone, “I think you’re right.”

[tomeandflickcorner]

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream

We’ve already established the Boogeyman is real.  So what’s one more fabled nightly being?

It’s apparently a really nice sunny day outside, and that triggers a bit of a disagreement in a New York apartment that’s occupied by a random married couple.  The wife is exasperated with her husband, who is choosing to spend the day inside reading his collection of comic books rather than go out and play tennis with her. Now, I realize that we’re supposed to be siding with the wife here.  After all, you’re pretty much supposed to want to go outside when the weather is nice, as staying inside would be considered a waste of a day.  And if they were going out for a walk in the park or something, I’d agree with that sentiment.  However, the wife is all but nagging him to go with her to a tennis court somewhere. If someone gave me the option between going out and playing tennis or staying home to read?  Yeah, the reading will win hands down, every time.  Why would I want to go play tennis and get all hot, sweaty and sticky when I could spend that time reading?  And no, the fact that the husband is reading comic books doesn’t make his desire any less reasonable.  Contrary to popular belief, comic books are not inherently bad/childish/whatever.  They’re just another type of literary medium that can be just as mentally stimulating as the books you’d find on the New York Times’ Bestsellers list.  (Yes, there are some pretty crappy comic books out there.  But the same could be said of so-called ‘classic’ novels.)

Anyway, the wife soon gives up, declaring that she’s going to the tennis courts with or without her husband.  But just when she’s starting to head out, some eerie looking pink smoke starts seeping through a nearby vent in the floor.  We don’t see what the smoke forms into, but the husband looks up in confusion only to hit with a wave of sparkles.  The moment the sparkles hit him, he falls asleep.  And the wife, upon hearing a noise behind her, turns around and sees something that causes her to scream.

We then cut over to the Firehouse, where Peter is just now waking up and joining Ray, Egon and Winston for breakfast.  It’s made clear rather quickly that the others were up long before Peter, and that Peter is still quite tired. He proceeds to vent about having a restless night, as he kept dreaming about a clocked figure with glowing eyes.  This prompts Ray to share a little bit of wisdom that his Aunt Lois once gave him- as long as you know that you’re dreaming, you can control the dream. Before more could be said about the matter, Janine activates the alarm bell, alerting the Ghostbusters that they’ve gotten a call. At first, Peter refuses to leave the table with his fellow Ghostbusters, stating he won’t budge before he’s had breakfast.  But Slimer takes care of that when he eats Peter’s doughnut, thereby leaving him no say in the matter.

The Ghostbusters head out to the apartment that was specified in the phone call they received, but are momentarily confused.  Even though Egon is clearly getting a reading on the PKE meter, there’s no indication of a disturbance.  There are no frightened people running out of the building or even the sounds of screaming.  Peter, taking the initiative, knocks on the apartment door and immediately gets pulled inside by a tentacle.  When the others hurry inside to help, they find Peter in the clutches of this strange tentacled robot thing.  Though the creature kinda explodes when the Ghostbusters hit it with their Proton Packs. Once that is dealt with, the Ghostbusters are free to look around, enabling them, and us, to see it’s the same apartment from the start of the episode, and the husband and wife are both sound asleep.  While floating in the air.  That’s when Winston comes across a comic book lying on the ground.  He’s quick to recognize the same tentacle robot they’d just faced emblazoned on the comic’s cover.  And when Ray looks out the window, he sees some other strange things. Like a flying Viking ship and a jet-packed tortoise racing a hare.  This seems to be enough for Egon to figure out what they’re dealing with- a Sandman.

Of course, the others are still a bit skeptical of this. Until they encounter the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man stomping down the street.  Followed by a little boy asleep in a nearby alleyway, with a bag of Stay-Puft marshmallows in his grasp.  That provides them with the definite proof that a Sandman is indeed putting the people of NYC to sleep, with whatever the sleeping person is dreaming about physically manifesting itself into the waking world.  And on that note, the Sandman in question appears before them.  Here, it’s stated that there are actually many Sandman in existence.  But this particular rouge Sandman has come to believe that mankind has grown to be too violent and warmongering.  So, to put an end to the countless wars and ensure a time of peace, the Sandman has decided to put everyone to sleep for 500 years.  Okay, that is a really cool motivation for the episode’s Big Bad. He’s not just doing all this to be a jerk or because he wants to take over the world.  The Sandman is actually trying to do what he thinks is best for the world.  It’s just that his methodology is skewed.

And to make it somewhat worse, the Sandman also apparently has major insecurity issues, because he then accuses the Ghostbusters of laughing at him (even though we’re given no visual indication that they’re even cracking a smile).  To get back at the Ghostbusters for the perceived insult, the Sandman uses his powers to transform the dream creatures into nightmares, which proceed to chase after them.  (Random cool moment: around this point in the episode, they actually have a Spielberg name drop when the Sandman goes after some radio talk-show host.  Don’t know why that stuck out to me.)

Here, we get a rather confusing transition, as the action cuts to Winston and Ray running from the Nightmares.  And just when you’re wondering where Peter and Egon went, they suddenly reappear in time to pull Ray and Winston into an alley where they were hiding out.  (I guess there was supposed to be a bit of a time skip here, but it was still a bit off-putting.  After a bit of brainstorming, they decide their best bet is to head back to the Ecto-1. The only problem is, their way is blocked by one of the Nightmares.  This particular Nightmare has taken the shape of the Easter Bunny, armed with a giant carrot-club.  Because of their earlier encounter with the Tentacle Robot, the Ghostbusters know that they can just zap the Nightmares with their Proton Packs to make them disappear in a puff of smoke.  Although, Ray is clearly reluctant to do so with the Easter Bunny Nightmare.  Because he’s Ray, and he’s the most child-like of the team.  And he doesn’t want to hurt the Easter Bunny!  It takes Peter instructing Ray to keep reminding himself that this is not the REAL Easter Bunny for him to get over his reluctance.  Unfortunately, once they’re back in the Ecto-1, they find that the car is not starting.  So Ray goes to check under the hood of the car.  Only to find the Sandman is waiting for him there.  Before Ray could react, the Sandman hits him with his Dream Dust, causing Ray to fall asleep instantly.  And seconds later, a giant pizza falls from the sky, landing right on top of the Ecto-1.  Because that’s what Ray is dreaming about.  (Odd, I would have thought Slimer would be the one with the food-based dream.)

So now Ray is out for the count, leaving Peter, Winston and Egon to continue searching the city for the Sandman.  Because obviously, he has to be stopped if they want to find a way to wake everyone up again.  At the same time, they realize they should try to avoid zapping any more Nightmares, as doing so would enable the Sandman to figure out where they are.  Since they’re trying to get the jump on him, they’d rather avoid doing that.  As such, they attempt to sneak past a sleeping Nightmare Dragon.  Though their efforts are in vain, as the dragon wakes up before they could enter the nearby building.  So they have to zap the Nightmare Dragon out of existence and risk giving away their location.  With that out of the way, the three remaining Ghostbusters began to search through the building to try and locate the Sandman.  But because they end up splitting up, Peter winds up investigating one of the rooms on his own, which results in the Sandman getting him, too. Peter’s dream ends up being of him winning the Nobel Peace Prize, a Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar.  As well as driving a solid gold Rolls Royce.  So basically, Peter’s dream is all about him getting fame and attention.  Which really does fit his character.

Now it’s down to Egon and Winston.  And at that moment, Egon gets an idea.  He begins to tell Winston that Ray had the answer all along. But before he could fully explain that to Winston, the Sandman manages to put Egon to sleep as well.  (And of course, he would dream about Albert Einstein.)

This leaves Winston to be the last man standing. Understandably, he feels a bit overwhelmed by this, since he’s not a scientist or a deep-thinker like the others. But that’s when Dream Einstein gives him a bit of a pep-talk, reminding Winston that he doesn’t need to be a scientist to solve a problem.  And eventually, those words hold true, as Winston figures out what Egon had been trying to tell him before getting hit with the Sandman’s Dream Dust.  As Ray said earlier, if you know you’re dreaming, then you can take control of your dream.  Right away, he begins to make his way back to the Firehouse, which has clearly not been visited by the Sandman just yet, as Janine and Slimer are still awake.

Upon arriving at the Firehouse, Winston fills Janine and Slimer in on his plan.  To put the plan into action, Winston entrusts a spare Proton Pack to Janine.  And when the Sandman shows up, they attempt to zap him. But to no avail, as the Sandman keeps avoiding the proton streams.  Despite their best efforts at keeping the Sandman from getting the jump on them, Janine ultimately falls prey to the Sandman’s Dream Dust and falls asleep. The Sandman, now believing that Janine is no longer a threat, proceeds to direct his attention solely on Winston, who tries to reason with the Sandman about how putting people to sleep for 500 years is not the best solution.  Of course, the Sandman doesn’t show any consideration to Winston’s arguments.

But at that moment, the trap Winston laid for the Sandman is sprung.  This whole time, the sleeping Janine was reminding herself that she was only dreaming. As a result, she was able to take control of her dream.  And as such, an image of Janine as a Ghostbuster materializes in the Firehouse.  Dream Janine is able to ambush the Sandman, which allows her and Winston to team up to trap the Sandman in a Ghost Trap, with Slimer (who had been hiding in a drawer), activating the trap.  Once the Sandman is effectively caught, all of his victims are freed, with everyone waking up throughout the city.

In the aftermath of the successful capture and defeat of the Sandman, Janine fills Peter, Ray and Egon in on how Winston’s plan worked.  Of course, Winston isn’t around to participate in their celebration of his victory, as he’s currently asleep in the other room.  Because, as Janine points out, he was the only one who didn’t get any sleep.

As someone who likes and appreciates Winston’s character, I really enjoyed this episode, as it really gave him a chance to shine.  While it could be argued that he and Janine should have equal shares of the credit for saving the day, I suppose it could also be argued that the plan had been Winston’s to begin with, so it makes sense that he’d be the one to get the praise.  It’s also worth noting that this episode is the first time where Janine gets to wield a Proton Pack.  (Though it won’t be the last.)  However, there is one thing that stood out in this episode, though it was never really addressed.  In the beginning, Peter is talking about dreaming of a guy in a cloak with glowing eyes. This description seems to match up with the appearance of the Sandman.  The question remains.  Did Peter, while half-asleep, catch a glimpse of one of the non-aggressive Sandman the episode alluded to?  Was he having a precognitive dream about the enemy they were about to face?  If it was the latter, that would have been an interesting development.  Does Peter have some sort of clairvoyant ability he’s not fully aware of?  The world may never know.

(Click here to read more Ghostbusters reviews)

[idontticwhen-i-bustghosts]

I’ll Be Okay

Summary: The reader has a miscarriage. Major TW for miscarriages, don’t read if you don’t think you can handle it.

Author’s Note: This is completely based on my own experiences, so this won’t be accurate for everyone. Only about a third of this has been edited, but I’ve been working on it for almost a month and it’s getting really hard for me to keep thinking about this. I really hope that someone out there enjoys this, and maybe even finds comfort in it.

Word Count: ~2,300

     It’s been about a month since you and Egon found out that you’re pregnant. It was a big surprise to both of you when you went to the doctor thinking you had the flu, and came back expecting a baby. You never would have expected Egon to be happy about an accidental pregnancy, but he is absolutely ecstatic. While you’re happy too, you’re also a bit nervous because the two of you aren’t married or anything. Egon keeps telling you that it doesn’t matter what other people think, so you shouldn’t worry about it. You know that he’s right, but it’s hard to remember it sometimes.

     Even though you’re still waiting to let anyone know about the baby, you and Egon have both agreed that your brother Ray should be the first person to find out. Even though he’s only a few years older than you, Ray has always felt like he needs to take care of you. It unsurprisingly took him a long time to warm up to the idea of you dating his best friend, but you know that he just wants you to be happy. You only hope that Ray will see this pregnancy as the gift that it is in your eyes.

     For as long as you’ve been together Egon has never been a big fan of PDA, instead preferring to show his love in a more private setting. However, since finding out that you’re pregnant he’s becoming very protective and seems to always have his arms around you. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the other ghostbusters who have been teasing him about the sudden increase in affection, but he brushes them off pretty easily. He’s made sure to let you know that he’ll stop if you want him to, he just feels better having you close to him. The only times that Egon stays away from you is when he’s on a bust or he has to get some work done in the lab. Recently, the only times that you’ve been down to the lab are when Egon decides to run some minor tests to make sure that you’re healthy enough by his own standards. He’s extremely cautious about you coming into contact with something potentially harmful, but he still likes for you to stay within shouting distance in case you need anything.

     Today is one of the many days that Egon usually goes to do work in the lab. Normally you would go to the fire station with Egon and hang out with Janine for a while, but today the thought of leaving the apartment is absolutely exhausting. You weren’t able to get a lot of sleep last night, and you really just want to sleep all day.

     “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” Egon asks for the fifth time this morning. “You can sleep in my bed and I’ll make sure that no one bothers you.” He looks at you with pleading eyes before adding, “I would feel a lot better if you were with me.”

     “Egon, I appreciate how much you care, but I just want to sleep in my own bed right now,” you tell him before giving him a sweet kiss on the lips. “I’ll be okay.” 

     He reaches down to gently place his hand on your stomach and closes his eyes as if he’s thinking it through. Egon sighs before opening his eyes and saying, “okay, but call if you need anything.” The two of you exchange goodbyes and Egon promises to be back as soon as he can. He kisses your forehead and flashes a quick smile before leaving.

     You aren’t sure how long it took for you to fall asleep, but you wake up with a sharp pain in your stomach. Your mind still filled with sleep, you begin to slowly make your way towards the bathroom. It isn’t until you get into the bathroom that you notice the blood that’s soaked through your pants. Still half asleep, you feel a bit annoyed with yourself for forgetting your period, but it doesn’t take too long for you to remember. A cold sweat covers your body and your head starts to spin. 

     You aren’t able to think clearly and you can’t quite wrap your head around what’s happening, but you don’t want to be alone. As quickly as you can make yourself move, you walk to the phone and dial the number for the fire station. You plan to tell Egon to come home, but as the phone rings, you panic and convince yourself not to. What if he’s mad? What if he was only staying with you for the baby? What if he leaves? As you’re lost in your thoughts, someone picks up the phone.

     “Ghostbusters, how can we help you?” You recognize Peter’s voice, and can help but sigh in relief. Out of everyone in the fire station, Peter is probably the least likely person to ask a lot of questions. “Hello?” You hear him talk again and realize that you’ve been completely quiet for almost a minute.

     “Peter,” you answer in a soft and shaky voice, “it’s (y/n).”

     “Oh, I can go get Spengler for you,” he says, and you can hear him starting to pull away from the phone.

     “No!” you shout, more forcefully than intended. You take a deep breath and try to speak normally, “I want Ray. Can you please get me Ray?”

     “Yeah, sure,” Peter answers sounding very confused. “I’ll go get him.” 

     It takes a few minutes for Ray to get to the phone, but eventually you hear his movement. “Hey, (y/n). What’s up?” As soon as you hear his voice, the tears that you didn’t realize you were holding back start to come out in loud uncontrollable sobs. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he asks, worry clear in his voice.

     “Come,” is the only thing you can manage to say through your tears.

     “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he answers, “will you be alright until I get there?” Instead of an answer, he only hears your sobs become louder. “I’m on my way,” he says quickly before hanging up. As soon as the phone hangs up, you feel an overwhelming amount of nausea and just manage to run back to the bathroom before throwing up. 

     Thankfully, it only takes Ray about ten minutes to get to your apartment. He quickly sorts through his keys until finding the one that will open your door. As soon as he walks in, Ray can hear you crying and begins to follow the sound. When he enters your room, his eyes are immediately drawn to the blood on your sheets and his worry changes to panic. It doesn’t take him very long to find you laying on the bathroom floor.

     You are an absolute mess covered in your own blood and vomit, but Ray doesn’t think twice before getting down on the floor himself, and pulling you into him. “What happened? Are you hurt?” he asks in the calmest voice he can manage right now.

     “No,” is all you can say to him before another wave of sobs wrack through your body and you hold onto him tighter. Ray begins to slowly rock you back and forth. It’s the same way that he’s comforted you ever since you were little, and he doesn’t know what else he can do. Ray has been there for you for your entire life, but he’s never seen you like this before. The two of you stay here, rocking back and forth for what feels like hours.  

     Eventually, you calm down enough to talk. “I’m pregnant,” you tell Ray, and his eyes go wide. “Or at least I was. I don’t think I am anymore,” you choke out. 

     “I’m so sorry (y/n), I had no idea,” he says sympathetically. “How long has it been?”

     “I don’t know,” you reply, “only around eight weeks probably. That’s why we hadn’t told anyone yet.” You can feel more tears building up, but you try to blink them away so that you can see your brother clearly. “I was going to tell you first, Ray. It was so hard not to tell you,” you say, and a sad smile crosses his lips.

     Before you can continue your conversation, you’re interrupted by the sound of the apartment door opening and a deep voice calling out, “(y/n)?” Egon rushes in. Peter must have told him that you called anyways. When he sees you on the floor, all of the color drains from his face as he realizes that his fears have come true.

     “I’ll give you two some privacy,” Ray says, seeing the pain in his friend’s eyes. “I’ll be in the other room if you need me,” he adds before leaving you and Egon to be alone.

     Once Ray is gone, Egon quietly kneels beside you, staring at the floor. “I shouldn’t have left,” you hear him mumble to himself. Of course he thinks this is his fault, he always does. He takes a deep breath before speaking a bit louder, “why didn’t you call me?”

     “It happened so quickly,” you tell him, “and I didn’t want you to be upset with me.” The tears you were holding back finally fall from your eyes as you admit to both him and yourself why you asked for Ray instead of Egon. “I’m just so tired,” you say, barely louder than a whisper.

     Egon gently rests his head on top of yours and tries to steady his breathing. Even though he feels like his world is falling apart right now, he really wants to be strong for you. “I would never be upset with you. None of this is your fault,” he assures you. “You must be so exhausted. Do you want me to take you back to bed?” 

     You quietly nod in response, and Egon carefully picks you up as if you’re the most fragile thing in the world. You bury your face into the crook of Egon’s neck as he carries you back to bed. When you get there, you find that Ray has put fresh sheets on for you and laid out a fresh set of clothes. He really is the sweetest brother anyone could ask for, and you hope he knows it. 

     Egon lays you down on your side and sits down next to you so that he can pet your head. You’re so exhausted from crying that it only takes him a few minutes to lull you to sleep. Once he’s completely sure that you’re fast asleep, Egon begins to let his own tears fall. As much as he would like to stay in bed and cuddle into you for his own comfort, he doesn’t want to wake you up. He settles for gently kissing your forehead before getting up to move to the living room.

     Wrapped up in his grief, Egon completely forgets about his friend who’s already sitting on the couch. “Hey,” Ray says quietly, startling Egon and causing him to jump. Once Egon has adjusted to his surroundings, he gives Ray a small nod to continue, “I’m so sorry, Egon.” 

     “It’s fine,” Egon says before sitting down, trying to avoid eye contact. Ray starts to say something else, but Egon quickly interrupts him, “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

     “Is she sleeping?” Ray asks and Egon nods in response. “You don’t think you should get some rest too?” 

     “I don’t want to wake her up,” Egon mumbles, hoping that Ray won’t notice that he’s once again crying. Unfortunately, he has no such luck and can feel his friend's eyes piercing into him with worry. He understands, he knows it’s unusual for most people to see him showing so much emotion.

     “Maybe you should take some time off work, Egon. If not for yourself, for her. She needs you right now.” 

     “You’re right,” Egon says, “I shouldn’t have left in the first place.”

     “Don’t blame yourself, you take good care of her,” Ray assured him, “there’s no one that I would rather my little sister be with.” 

     Egon lets out a deep sigh before saying, “thanks, Ray. And thank you for coming over today. I think (y/n) will probably be asleep for a while, so it’s fine if you want to leave.”

     Ray gets the hint that Egon wants to be alone, so he stands up and says, “well, I should let the others know that you’re going to take some time off. Tell (y/n) that I’ll come check on her tomorrow.” Just before Egon can close the door, Ray adds, “you can call me anytime. If you ever need anything.” Egon doesn’t reply, but he gives a weak smile that Ray takes as a response. Ray nods and is on his way. As much as Egon loves Ray, he can’t help but feel relieved as soon as the door closes. He doesn’t like being vulnerable in front of other people, and he just wants to be alone with you right now. 

     As soon as Egon feels like he can control himself not to cry all over you, he decides to go back into your bedroom. When he sees that you’re still fast asleep, he carefully climbs into bed next to you. He wraps his arms around you and holds you as close to his body as he can. Things will definitely be difficult for a while, but at least neither of you will have to go through this alone.

Written for my baby 💜