Ghosts don't sleep. They don't even really get tired. At least, not tired in the way sleep would fix. When Charles first dies, he attempts to sleep, but he never can manage it. No matter how many nights he tries. Eventually he gives up.
But he never gives up asking Edwin to read to him at night. Edwin's voice as he reads is warm and steady. Comforting, even. Charles may be dead at sixteen, but he isn't alone. He thinks his best chance at falling asleep is if Edwin is there to read him a bedtime story.
It's probably silly. But Edwin doesn't seem to mind.
Edwin reads him mostly detective stories at first. Sherlock Holmes, anything by Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, of course—which is where they get the idea for the agency in the first place. But Edwin loves books of all sorts, so it isn't long before he's branching out into other genres.
Usually it's old books. Books from before Edwin was even alive. Books Charles would've avoid reading in school. Pride and Prejudice. Frankenstein. Jane Eyre. Oliver Twist. Somehow hearing them in Edwin's voice makes them much more tolerable.
And some are fun. Treasure Island is one Charles finds himself requesting over and over again. He always liked pirates. Lord of the Rings is another favorite, although maybe Charles is just excited that Edwin finally found a book that was published after he died.
Niko introduces Edwin to much newer literature. Teen romance novels with bright covers and cutesy, wordplay titles. Edwin even reads some of the books about boys kissing boys. An adorable, pink blush creeps across his cheeks every time still, but he's getting more comfortable.
Ghosts don't sleep, or even get tired. But Charles thinks he almost gets drowsy sometimes, late at night, when their living friends are sleeping, and he is curled safely and comfortably into Edwin, listening to him read.
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The Fight
Tommy calmed himself before he walked into the station. Closed his eyes and did the breathing technique he'd learned in therapy years ago.
They needed to talk about this. He couldn't handle it if something happened during Buck's shift and the last words they had spoken to each other were in anger.
He spotted Buck fairly quickly. He was in the middle of a workout, sitting on a bench and lifting weights. Although it looked like he was mostly talking to Eddie.
Eddie, who was standing in front of him, nodding his head as Buck spoke.
Eddie eyed Tommy first. “Buck,” he said in the middle of Buck's rant.
“-and I- I don't think that's fair, Eddie. It's not fair of him to- to treat me like I'm a child-”
“Buck,” Eddie repeated, louder this time.
Buck groaned. “What?”
Eddie pointed behind him. “Tommy.”
Buck froze, then slowly turned to see Tommy standing behind him, staring at him. After a brief glance, Buck cast his eyes downward.
“Hey, man,” Eddie greeted. Buck rolled his eyes.
“Hey, Eddie,” Tommy replied. “Mind if I talk to Evan for a second?”
“Nope. I'll be upstairs.”
Tommy watched as Eddie headed upstairs, waiting until he was out of earshot to turn back to Buck. “What are you doing here, Evan?” he asked.
Buck placed the weights he had resting on his thighs down on the ground. “Working.”
“Your shift doesn't even start for another twelve hours.”
Buck got up and began placing weight plates on the barbell. “I asked Bobby if I could do a twenty-four instead. He said yes.”
“You literally told me two days ago that they weren't allowing overtime right now.”
“Did you really come all the way here to keep fighting with me?”
“First of all, I'm not the one who started the fight,” Tommy said, stepping closer, “and I'm not the one who can't look their boyfriend in the eyes.”
Buck stopped messing with the barbell and glared up at Tommy. His eyes were red, although Tommy couldn't tell if it was from crying or rage. “Better?” he asked bitingly.
“Yeah, actually, it is. It's a great improvement from you walking out on me this morning.”
Buck crossed his arms defensively. “There wasn't anything left to say.”
“I strongly disagree. We've both talked about this before, Evan. How you don't like the feeling of people walking out on you. How it scares you, makes you worry. Did you forget I told you the same thing? How it reminds me of what my dad did to my mom and me over and over again?”
Tommy swore he could see a twinge of guilt flash through Buck's eyes, but it was quickly replaced with more anger.
He moved closer to Tommy. “I wasn't going to sit at your place and be berated for however long you decided to yell at me-”
“I was not yelling.”
“-for doing my job.”
Now it was Tommy's turn to fill with a new wave of rage. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it back, pursing his lips as he thought over his words. “You were not doing your job, Evan,” Tommy spoke slowly, carefully. “You made a bad decision that could have gotten you killed.”
Buck scoffed. “Danger is part of the job, Tommy. I thought you of all people would understand that.”
Tommy felt like pulling his hair out. They'd had this whole argument a few hours earlier. No matter what he said, he couldn't seem to get through to Buck. “You ran into a burning building without your gear, Evan! There were other firefighters there, but you just ran in! You could have died!”
“But I didn't! God, Tommy, you're acting like I'm a baby! I've been doing this for years; I know what I'm capable of!”
Tommy brought a hand to his forehead, pressing against his temple. This was pointless. “I don't even know why I came here,” he said with a shrug. He gave Buck one last glance before turning to leave.
“Still don't know why you're angry at me for saving someone's life!” Buck called out to him as he headed for the door.
The words made Tommy turn on his heels. “You really don't know why I'm angry with you?!” he asked. The question came out harsher than he intended.
Buck stood his ground. “No, I don't!”
“Unbelievable!” Tommy let out a humorless laugh. “Because I love you, Evan!” he exclaimed. “I love you so damn much! So, yeah, it makes me a little angry when I see that you aren't in this as much as I am. That you don't love yourself enough to care if you come back home!”
Buck felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. It took him a second to find his voice again. “You... You love me?”
“Of course I do, Evan.” Tommy spoke as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Have for quite a while now.”
Buck moved closer to him. “You don't think I- I'm in it as much as you?”
Tommy let out a deep breath. “I didn't mean it like that,” he said, his voice calmer now. “I just meant... I always try my damndest to make it back to you, every shift. Every call I go on, you're in the front of my mind. Be safe for Evan, stay focused for Evan, make it home because Evan will be there waiting. And I don't expect you to love me back or anything like that, but it would be nice to know that you try to make it home to me too.”
“I do,” Buck replied earnestly. “I do try, Tommy. I- I, when I was on that call, I ran back in because of you.”
Any anger left in Tommy's body was replaced with confusion. “What?”
“The guy I went in for, his- his boyfriend was yelling for him. He was panicked, like he- he would go insane if something had happened to him. All I could think about was you. How I'd go crazy if you were in a burning building and I- I couldn't get to you. I couldn't think of doing this life without you, Tommy. So, I ran in. And, I mean, you can ask Bobby, I'm not careless like that anymore, not like I used to be. And I do love you, Tommy. I love you so much it scares me. I promise I'm in this with yo-”
Before Buck could even process it, Tommy had cleared the space between them. He brought his hands to Buck's face pulled him in for a kiss.
Buck couldn't help the surprised moan that escaped him as Tommy pressed himself even closer. Buck grabbed onto Tommy's shirt, tugging on it like he was desperate for more.
It wasn't until tongues got involved that there was the sound of a throat being cleared behind them.
They stopped, both breathing heavily, then turned back to see the rest of the team watching them from upstairs.
“I knew you two lovebirds would work it out," Eddie said with a smirk on his face.
Chimney sniffed, earning him looks from the others. “I'm a sucker for romance,” he explained.
“I tried to get them to back off,” Hen defended. “I mean, not very hard, but I did try.”
Bobby simply smiled down at them. “Buck, your shift doesn't start until tonight. Go home.”
And well, they weren't gonna argue with that.
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