#winston zeddemore x y/n

[sardonic-the-writer]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭

↳ warning: supernatural elements

↳ notes: requested by anonymous. was going to be headcanons but ended up turning into a one shot. enjoy

↳ song: ghostbusters—ray parker jr.

masterlist | commisions | carrd

This really wasn't supposed to happen.

It was supposed to be a simple job. One of the easier ones you all had gotten hired to do all month. That's what Ray had said to you as you zipped up the front of your uniform in the firehouse, and you believed him.

A customer had called in last week, sounding out of breath as they complained of a room in their house that always felt cold when they walked into it. You could practically smell the incense through the phone, and your suspicions were confirmed when you later stepped into their house.

After Peter had sarcastically made sure it wasn't just a problem with their AC unit, Janine penciled them in for an inspection a few days later, and that was that. You and the rest of the Ghostbusters went to the nearby Chinese restaurant that night and forgot all about it.

Now, you were hiding behind an overturned table as an apparition whizzed over your heads, shrieking in a language none of you could decipher.

"I thought you said this was a class one spook!" You shouted at Egon as he fumbled with a trap nearby. He shot you an irritated look through the rims of his glasses, as if to say 'what am I supposed to do', before going back to tinkering with the trap in his hand.

"Someone's gotta get out there and distract it!" Peter yelled over the noise of plates being smashes. You winced, imagining that the client wouldn't be too happy to hear that their kitchen was ransacked during the procedure. If you could even call it a procedure.

"Ray! You're up!" Winston called from his place next to you, shoving his coworker out of the hiding spot just a little.

"No way! It was my turn last time!" Ray griped. As he said that, a stray fork flew by his head, nearly missing the side of his face as he yelped and ducked further under the tables cover.

"I'll do it." You volunteered whilst reaching for the proton pack at your back. You were sure that if you looked over at that moment, you'd see Ray sending you the most grateful look you'd ever seen.

The others waited for Egon to finish preparing the trap, Peter mostly yelling at him to hurry up, as you rose from your place on the tiled kitchen floor.

The ghost turned to look at you as you let out a wolf whistle. It's hair floated wildly around its head like a crown of thorns, and you heard one of the guys from behind you gulp with difficulty.

"Hey Casper!" You grinned with what you hoped was a considerable amount of bravado. "Why don't you don't you pick on someone your own size?"

You wouldn't remember falling onto your back after the ghost charged straight at you. Nor would you remember how it slimed down into a fine mist, slipping into your mouth with a hissing noise. Bruises covering your spine would leave the evidence of a fall later on, but that was the only sign that anything had happened.

The boys watched as your eyes rolled back to reveal a milky white gaze. Peter nearly dropped the nozzle to his proton pack as you began to levitate; your chest rising and falling at a rapid rate. For a minute, it reminded him of when Gozer had possessed Dana. Although, you were his friend, not fiancé, and wearing a jumpsuit instead of a dress.

"Uh guys?"

"I'm seeing it, Winston." Ray replied without taking his eyes off of you. Wind began to pick up in the house, blowing his hair to the side as he watched you with wide eyes.

"Egon!" Peter yelled over the noise. "The trap??"

"Done!" He finally announced. "Someone hold them down!" The scientist shouted, forehead beaded with sweat as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He stood up with shaking hands, nearly dropping the trap as he stepped around the table and towards you.

Ray and Winston both grabbed your arms and legs, pulling you down from your spot in the air with a considerable amount of force. Peter attempted to push you by your chest, but was headbutted by the ghost and sent flying backwards. You, or rather the ghost occupying you, made a sound between a cackle and a scream.

"I've never wanted to punch a ghost more than I do now." Peter groaned from the floor as he hauled himself back up. He'd have to get Dana to check him for a concussion later.

"I need a stream, Venkman!" Egon stepped away from the Muon trap as if it was a live bomb. "Ray, Winston, on our count let go of them and duck!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Winston said as he avoided yet another kick from your boot.

The sound of an engine powering up filled the room as Peter and Egon switched on their packs, directing the end of their nozzles at you. The two men glanced at each other nervously and Egon's foot hovered over the traps pedal anxiously. You just continued to flail.

"You sure this won't hurt them?!" Ray yelled. He brought his head back a significant amount as the ghost inside of you attempted to bite at him.

"No idea!" Egon fumbled. His glasses were nearly flying off of his face with the wind, but he pushed on. "Now, Peter!"

Ray and Winston made a dive for it as two multicolored streams encased you in a bright light. The spirit inside howled with discomfort, kicking its legs in an attempt to escape.

Without warning, Egon stepped on the trap, releasing a beam that shot into the air and struck the ceiling. He knew from experience that there would be a faint singe mark left on it later, but that was the least of anyone's concerns. The client would just have to deal with it.

Taking careful measure not to bump your body into any stray debris, they guided the spirit closer and closer to the trap until its form began to separate from yours. The horrible sucking noise it made nearly coerced Egon to drop his gun to cover his ears.

One moment, you were floating in the air, speaking tongues and way too close to a piece of dangerous machinery. The next, you were laying in a pile of broken china plates as your eyes rolled back into place.

"Hey. Hey, bud, come back to us." Peter said, slapping your cheek slightly to bring you back down to earth. He had been the first to drop to the ground next to you, lifting your head up to make sure nothing had scraped it in the fall.

Ray came next from his hiding spot behind a now splintered chair, then Winston's wide eyed form, and finally Egon holding a smoking trap.

"Vitals appear to be steady." Ray said. He pulled his fingers away from the spot on your neck he had been checking, looking at the rest of them. He sighed like a ten pound weight had been lifted off his chest.

"You worry too much Stanz." Peter said, jesting. But his usual playful tone was dampened, and he didn't look up until you groaned.

"Did anyone catch the number of that bus that ran me over?" You hissed, shielding your eyes from a nonexistent bright light.

Silence.

Winston broke out into laughter first, with the rest following suit. Egon smiled as Peter giggled, and Ray was practically rolling on the floor.

"Trauma response." Egon said between baritone chuckles, only able to get one word out at a time. "Surprised this is the first time we're having one."

"Do I even have to ask what happened?" You said while pushing yourself up on your forearms. Winston just shook his head at you, and slapped you on the back.

"We'll tell you back at the firehouse, kid." He said with a shake of his head. You frowned at the nickname, but eventually let a smile crack.

The five of you sat in each other presence for a little bit, letting the laughter die down as the mood came to a stop.

"So—" Peter cleared his throat.

"—who wants to be the one that talks to the client?"

You were left sitting on the floor as they all scrambled to get out, surrounded by broken glass.

"Assholes."

[sporesmoldsfungus]

Safety Net | Egon Spengler x Reader

Hi Everyone! This is my first time writing for Egon and I would be lying If I said I did not thoroughly enjoy myself. Im still figuring out how to use Tumblr, so any tips would be well appreciated. Hope you enjoy :)

Word count: 3.1K

Side note: look how cute our man is in this gif, I cannot deal!!!

******

You grimace as you put your sleeve over your mouth, the smoke from the trap causing you to cough in reaction. 

“I Don’t think I will ever get used to that smell” You murmur to Ray as you pass him the trap. You were both currently out of town on a job for an old opera house. The job required you to stay at a hotel last night so you could catch the ghost in question early that morning. The ghost busters usually didn’t accept jobs from out of town, but when the owner of the opera house mentioned a large check, Peter could not say no. Of course, he had no intention of doing the job himself, which was why you and Ray were in the current situation. 

“Egon said it has something to do with the negative energy the ghost emit when captured” Ray explained, he also grimaced as he took the trap from you. He brought the trap over to Ecto-1 and threw it in the back before closing the door. “I cannot wait to get back and sleep in my own bed” He sighed. 

“Yeah, me too. Those hotel beds were horrible” you agreed as you made your way towards the driver’s side of the car. Ray had drove you both to the location, you thought you would return the favour by driving home. “I’ll make sure the invoice for those rooms go to Venkman, he’s the reason we had to do this job in the first place” You joke.

“Always the same, even in college he always got the best side of the deal” Ray agreed as he got into his side of the car, immediately putting the heaters on after he sat down.”

“Oh please don’t remind me of Peter’s Sorority years, I’ve had enough pain today to last me at least a week” You grumble as you gently rubbed your neck. The ghost you had been hired to capture had a little bit of a nasty streak. Just as you were about to capture it, it had thrown you back into a wall, your neck and shoulder hadn’t felt right since. 

Ray chuckled before asking in a concerned tone. “Are you alright to drive? I don’t mind switching”.

“I’ll be okay, an ice pack at home should do the trick” You smiled before turning the car on and starting your journey home. Ray’s selflessness was one of your favourite things about the scientist. No matter what the situation, Ray always offered to help. 

******

You firstly met Ray, Egon and Peter around eight years ago at Columbia University. As you walked through the door to your first lecture on parapsychology, you had noticed there was only one seat left available to sit in. Next to the free seat, sat the dorkiest man you had ever set eyes on. He had large round glasses that were definitely a decade out of fashion, but you couldn’t picture him wearing any other style. His slightly curly hair was neatly kept, and you couldn’t help but wonder what routine he used to tame it. The more you stared, the more you admired how beautiful this man was. From the way he had dressed himself in a suit just for a lecture, to the way his forehead was slightly creased due to the front on his face as he read over a book. 

You slowly made your way over to the empty seat, hesitating before sitting down. “Is this seat taken?” you asked softly, a small blush covered your cheeks and nose.

The man’s head rose to look up at you, his frown softening as he looked at you. It felt like he had been staring at you for an hour before he eventually cleared his throat. “uh, no this seat is free” he nodded before awkwardly going back to his book. 

You gave a small smile and sat down on the stool. As you brought your textbooks from your bag, you caught a glimpse of what the man next to you was reading. “you’re a fan of Joseph Rhine?”.

“Uhh, just a little bit of light reading” he replied hesitantly, as if he didn’t realise you were talking to him at first. 

You gave a small nod. “I’m more a fan of Arthur Doyle, myself”

“The sherlock Holmes author?” he asked sceptically.

You gave an enthusiastic nod “Yes, many people don’t know that he actually does research in telepathy and seances too”.  Just like every time you talked about anything on the lines of parapsychology, you could feel yourself becoming excited. Your family did everything in attempt to get you to choose a more ‘normal’ degree like English or Biology, but nothing could have possibly changed your mind. 

“interesting” he mumbled; his face looked as if it was deep in thought for a moment before he opened up a notebook, and scribbled down the author’s name. 

“My name is Y/N, by the way” you stuck your hand towards the man, a gentle smile on your lips. You were trying your best to follow your mother’s advice she had given you on the phone this morning. ‘Any day, is a successful day, if you meet a new friend’. 

The man returned a very small smile before gently taking your hand. “Egon Spengler”

“Lovely to meet you Egon”.

What you were unaware of that day, was why Egon had been sitting alone, when in fact his two best friends were sat directly behind him. Peter and Ray were well aware of Egon’s most important rule. ‘I forbid anybody to sit next to me in lectures, talking is a distraction of learning’.  Almost every day he had turned people down who were looking for a spare seat, earning his friends to cringe away in embarrassment each time. However, when he had looked at you, something changed. He realised that he, for some reason, would not mind being distracted by you. Of course, he later went home and tried to conduct a full study on why he felt this way, but it took him four years before he later came up with a reasonable conclusion. 

Later that day, you were introduced to Ray and Peter, through the expense of Egon being the centre of one of Peter’s jokes. After that day on, the four of you had been close friends ever since. 

******

After complaining about New York traffic for at least thirty minutes, you finally drove into the firehouse, sighing with content as you parked the car. “Home, sweet, home”. 

As you got out of the car, a floating green blob flew towards you, it’s stick like arms wrapping around your neck. 

“Awhh, I missed you too slimer” You chuckled as you hugged the ghost back. 

“How come he never slimes you; I swear he has full control of that stuff” Peter grumbled as he walked out his office and headed towards you. 

“Oh Peter, are you jealous that slimer loves me more? I’m sure he’d love to come and give you a cuddle too” You joked as you let go of the ghost, a mischievous smirk on your face. 

“Don’t you dare” He warned, his eyes narrowing as he spoke slowly. 

“Fine, you win this time. However, me and Ray have decided you are getting invoiced for those hotel rooms, after all, it was your call to take”. 

Peter struggled to find a reply for a moment before sighing in defeat. “Whatever, just give the papers to Janine, I’m too tired to debate this one out”. 

“What’s the matter? You’re not sick are you” You asked genuinely. If needed, Peter normally had the social skills to sell ice to someone who lived in the North pole. 

“No, I’m not sick. But considering I’m paying for the hotel rooms, I need to call in a favour from you too” He replied, leaning against the side of Ecto-1 as he spoke. 

You stopped unloading the equipment from the back to give him your full attention. “I’m not taking the blame again for you not closing the containment unit correctly”

“You forgot to close the containment unit again!” Ray rushed from behind the car, his face frantic as he looked between you and Peter. 

“No! The containment unit is fine! Gosh, what do you people take me for?” Peter replied quickly, finishing the sentence with a scoff.  “I’m calling in a favour because Spengz hasn’t left the lab since you went on that call”. He finally explained. 

Your heart sunk a little as Peter spoke. It was not unusually for Egon to spend hours at a time in the lab, but you and Ray had been gone for over twenty-four hours. Egon tended to go through stages where he become so fixated on science, his personal health was forgotten to him. He had the potential to go days without eating or sleeping, which often made him ill and even more stressed out for a few days. The boys did their best to encourage Egon to stop working, but it just resulting in them being thrown out of the lab. The boys sometimes called you their “secret weapon” which they would release when things got bad. 

You gave a sad sigh and nodded in understanding to Peter. “I’ll try my best” you muttered as you took a bag from ecto-1’s side door. You and Ray had picked up some snacks on the way home from your call that you were going to attempt to use. 

You headed downstairs and gently tapped on the lab door before entering. “Guess who’s back” you said cheerily, trying your best to act like you were unaware of Egon’s shenanigans. When you entered the lab, he was sat at his desk, microscope at hand. 

“Hey Sweetheart” he said softly, although you could hear the tired undertone in his voice. “How did the call go?”.

“It was just a class three, nothing we could not deal with. Although, it did get a little aggressive at the end” You explained as you came up and hugged him from behind. 

He gave a soft smile and rested one hand on your arms that were wrapped around him, his other hand continued to write down his notes from the microscope. “You must be tired from the drive home, why don’t you go and get some rest” He suggested. 

“Well, I was thinking perhaps me and you could get something to eat first?” you tried at your first attempt of dragging him from the lab. “We could order from your favourite Thai place.” You bribed. 

“That sounds great, but I really need to finish my work on this new slime sample.” Egon replied with a sigh as he continued to work with his microscope. “I really think I’m onto something with this sample, the electrochemical bond is unlike any other we’ve encountered”. 

“Oh, okay” you gave a small nod, thinking how this was going to be harder than you thought. “Well, I bought some snack on the way home from the call, we could share them in the meantime?” You suggested as you walked over to grab the bag you had put on the counter. 

“I would, but I really need to test the polarity of this sample” He abstained.

“Egon, you taking a five-minute break to eat sugary treats with me will not cause Gozer to raise from the dead.”

This time he finally looked up at you, a million thoughts seemed to be going through his head before he finally said. “Okay, but only a few minutes” He agreed, moving over to the other counter to sit next to you. 

‘Result!’ you thought. 

You gave him a bright smile and laid out the packets of food in front of you both. 

“So, did Peter behave himself whilst I was away?” You joked as you opened as packet of crisps. 

Egon hummed. “Peter behaved like Peter, if that answers your question.”  He also opened a box of twinkies as he spoke.  “I suppose it does” You agreed. “I also came up with a new theory” You announced. 

“And what would that be?” 

“Peter actually loves having slimer around. In fact, I think slimer is Peter’s favourite supernatural entity.”

Egon gave a low chuckle and you mentally ticked off another achievement box.

“Are you sure you’re not lacking sleep? That’s the most impossible theory you have conducted” Egon asked with a small smile. 

“Oh, I’m exhausted, those hotel beds should be burnt, they were horrible!” You exclaimed. You moved your neck side to side in order to relieve some of the tension. As you did so, your hair moved to the side, giving a plain sight to the side of your neck. 

Any humour that Egon had managed to gather instantly left his face at the sight of your neck. Right under your hairline, a purply black bruise began to form.

 Your neck and shoulders had been aching ever since the ghost had thrown you back into the wall. You had gotten your fair number of beatings when being on calls, but you always managed to just walk them off. You thought this was just like other times, but you were unaware of how much your neck was bruising. 

Egon slowly reached up and brushed the hair from the side of your neck, exposing more of the skin. You couldn’t help but wince a little from the pain. 

“What did this to you?” He whispered; his voice barely auditable.

You hesitated a little. “The ghost I said that got a little aggressive, he had a thing for throwing people too” You replied with an award chuckle, trying your best to lighten the mood. 

Egon clenched his jaw. “You need to ice this” he mumbled before going over to the lab freezer and pulling out an ice pack. Before he placed the ice pack on your neck, he very gently tied your hair back with the hair tie you conveniently had on your wrist. You tried your best not to wince which caused him to murmur a small “sorry”.

“I’m okay. Honestly, it doesn’t hurt that much” You reassured, taking his place of holding the icepack to the bruise. 

He sat back down next to you and gently took your free hand. “Y/N, you should really go and rest.” He told you softly, but with an authoritative undertone. “An injury like this is only going to heal with rest.”

Your eyes softened as you looked at him, really looked at him. The man before you looked exhausted. His eyes were dark but were still looking at you with pure love, His skin was slightly pale and his face had a slightly sad aura. Despite your friends attempts, nobody could persuade Egon to look after himself in the last twenty-four hours, but here he was, fully invested in your health and safety. Oh, the irony. 

“Are you in any pain?” He asked sadly, his eyes frowning a little as he noticed your eyes starting to glass over a little with tears. 

You slightly shook your head before leaning over and gently placing your lips to his. He seemed to relax at your touch, something that he had developed overtime. “I’ll make you a deal” You whispered as you pulled back to look at him, your face still quite close to his. 

He gently rubbed the back of your hand he was still holding with his thumb. He remained quiet, waiting for you to continue. 

“I will take a nap and rest my neck, but only if you come and keep me company” You bargained sweetly. 

Egon let out a sigh, he looked over his should at the slime sample before looking back to you. “Alright” He agreed. “But you’re keeping the icepack on” He added as he stood up, his hand remaining around yours as he led you upstairs and up to the bedrooms. You and Janine had your own bedroom with two double beds. Meanings that Janine hardly stayed at the firehouse, you and Egon had partly claimed the room for yourselves. 

“Now lovebirds, I don’t want to hear any noises coming from that room” Peter joked loudly as you and Egon got to the top floor. 

“Oh slimer! Peter said he wants a cuddle!” You yelled loudly with a huge smirk. The distant yelling of peter could be heard as Egon closed the bedroom door.

“I love that little ghost” You beamed as you got a set of pyjamas for you and Egon from the wardrobe. 

You both began to change into your pyjamas, Egon having to help you pull your t-shirt over your head due to the pain of your neck. As you got into bed, you gently took off Egon’s glasses and set them on the nightstand on your side of the bed, just in case he got any ideas about going back to the lab. You were a light sleeper and would wake up if he decided to slip out through the night. 

Egon wrapped his arms around you as you cuddled up to him, doing his best to avoid your neck at all costs. Just as you were about to drop off to sleep, he mumbled “I’m sorry”. You gave a small frown and opened your eyes again. “You have nothing to be sorry for” you said almost instantly. You repositioned yourself so you were resting on his chest but looking up at him. 

“I didn’t realise I was worrying people again” he said softly, looking down at you as he spoke. It had finally sunk in why you and his friends had been asking him to eat and rest a lot recently.

Your heart almost broke when you realised what he meant. “Oh Egon” You whispered sadly. You reached up and gently kissed his lips, his hand coming up to your cheek as you melted into each other’s grasp. “We all care about you so much” you told him sincerely. 

He gave a small nod before softly kissing you again. “Get some rest” he mumbled as he pulled away.  He gave the top of your head a small kiss as you repositioned yourself on his chest. 

Egon acknowledging why people were worried was the winning streak in your eyes. He was not somebody who needed to be told something many times, as soon as he acknowledged an issue, he would do his best to change things. 

“Goodnight, my love” “Goodnight, Sweetheart”

[spenglerssweetheart]

My Kind of Girl.

Winston Zeddemore x Musician!reader

In a case where Winston has to reject another for a chance with his kind of girl.

use of Y/n, rejection, secondhand embarrassment, slightly (barely) mean reader.

Takes place 1990, a couple of weeks after the events of vigo

Small note, I initially wanted this to be based off of New Editions ‘You’re not my kind of girl’ But as I wrote this, I’m listening to Cleo Sol and this woman is just wonderful so. Here’s what I’ve been listening to as I write, and I hope you enjoy it as you read!!

Being someone who sang, while being the partner of a ghostbuster, wasn’t as easy. But it wasn’t exactly hard. Tonight was hopefully one of her biggest gigs in a small jazz club, and Winston was hopefully going to be there to see her perform.

As the evening rolled around, Y/n could simply walk around the dress and rehearsal rooms, mostly singing to herself, nervous as she hadn’t met Winston’s friends and coworkers. She tried her best to calm herself down, sitting in front of her mirror, one of her bandmates coming up as she took in a few deep breaths.

“We’re on in 5” They said and she nodded, standing up and going over to grab her bass guitar and microphone. She and her bandmates alternated songs every other show, and she’d be opening this time. Y/n could hear the sound of ‘New edition’ playing in the meantime before they went up.

“Alright, so we’re starting off with Y/n’s two songs, and then Eliza’s and then Me and Willow’s songs” Vena’s Bandmate, Sage said as they gathered around her. Vena nodded twirling her mic in hand as she looked at everyone around her. “We’re gonna be here a while, but I believe in all of you, you’re all amazing and I love you all” Y/n grinned, giving them all high-fives and side hugs before they began going up on the small stage.

Gladly enough, Winston was right where Y/n could spot him. She gave him a small wink, before she placing her mic into its stand, making sure it was on before she started off. “First of all, I want to thank all of you, for coming out tonight, for coming to listen to all of the small bands and artists that have come to play for you. We all really appreciate it, We are love. We are Illusion” she said with a small smile before looking back at Willow who was on drums before giving her a nod.

Y/n could hear willow start off with a soft snare before she began with her bass, a simple melody, very calming. Eliza and Sage were handling some of the softer instruments before Y/n’s voice started out into the mic.

“Old wounds, old fights. Another day, goes by” she sang out “I’m not playing by the rules, they can’t take me for no fool” She continued, her eyes glancing over to Winston and his table, a small smile gracing her face. She had told him that she’d been writing a song meant for him, but she never showed him.

Winston on the other hand, couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. His head was silently nodding along to the music, the look of pure love in his eyes as he watched his girl sing. He couldn’t focus on anything else, only wanting to pay attention to her, and by the look in her eyes, he knew that, this was his song.

As he continued to listen, a girl went to sit at their table, noticeably next to Winston. When he took notice of this, he noticed the song was almost over, but the way Y/n’s vocals changed captured him once more, focusing his attention to his girl once again. Up on the stage, Y/n could see everything, keeping a straight face as they began to finish up her first song, and transition into the next.

As the next song began, Y/n focused her attention elsewhere, specifically spotting a different girl, much younger than she was and focused on her. As she sang, she put much more emotion into the way she did so. The feeling of jealousy was creeping up a little bit, but she knew she’d be alright.

“Young love, I want you to value your light. I see that you’re searching for peace of mind” She sang out, nodding out softly before the others continued with her. Winston could see her demeanor change and glanced over to the girl besides him. “I’m sorry, Do I know you?” He asked the girl as she looked up at him, shaking her head. “No but you could” She replied sweetly batting her eyes at him. “How about you get to know me sweetheart, I’m Peter-“ “Sorry, I was talking to him” The girl said sarcastically, giving him the eyes once again. Y/n watched, just as she had started to move, making way for Eliza, using quick and easy transitions between songs.

After all the songs were over, there was much applause for all of them, and each of them stood up and gave beaming smiles and took a bow, before stepping off. They were the last ones to play, and they were honestly kind of glad. Once they had finished putting their things away backstage, Y/n was quick to slightly push past everyone, desperately wanting to see Winston. As she walked up, she could see that the girl was definitely the one chatting her head off to him.

Winston was definitely keeping the conversation short, wanting to see Y/n with an urgency. He hadn’t realized that his girl was standing not too far from them, listening to every word the girl who was so desperately trying to hook arms with Winston. “So what’s your type? Y’know- your kind of girl?” The girl had asked, and Winston was quick to respond. “Not you. Sorry but you’re not my kind of girl” He said, scooting away slightly. “She is though” Winston said, a small grin painting his face as he spotted Y/n. She walked over, her face neutral as she did so.

Y/n acted as if she didn’t see the girl and walked over to Winston, smiling softly as he stood up and handed her flowers, anything but roses as she was allergic. Winston was quick to place a chaste kiss to her lips before his hand slipped around her waist, pulling her close. He gave her one last look over before Y/n began to introduce herself. “Hello, I’m Y/n, and I’m assuming that you guys are Winston’s co-workers?” She asked softly, unsure if she was doing alright. She held her hand out for them to shake, shaking Peter’s who gave the back of her hand a gentle kiss as if he had a chance, and Ray who gave her a firm shake. Egon was gentle, giving her a gentle nod as well, before she began to pull her hand back.

“I’m Peter, this is Ray, and that’s Egon with the glasses” Peter began, not noticing how Y/n began to wipe the back of her hand on her skirt. “It’s nice to meet you all. And who’s this?” She asked, acting clueless. She had put the girl on the spot, and she could tell at how she immediately turned red. The guys, including Winston all looked away, acting as if they didn’t know who she was. “Right. Exactly what I thought. Get up” Y/n said softly, but her voice stern. The girl had began to stand, giving Y/n a once over before Y/n began to lean in to whisper to her.

Once Y/n pulled away, she gave the now pale girl a fake smile and watched as she quickly walked away, glancing back at her before making her way completely out of the club. Y/n sat, content with herself and looked down at the flowers. “What did you tell her?” Peter asked, a chuckle leaving his lips as he sat back to sip from his beer. Y/n gave him a slight look. “Nothing but that I may or may not do something that would’ve gotten me in trouble back when the witch trials were a thing” she said, sort of tilting her head. “You’re a witch?” Ray asked, sort of in disbelief. His small quirk made Y/n smile softly, setting her drink down.

“I mean, yeah, mostly. Though it’s not what everyone makes it out to be y’know?” She said softly. “And no that doesn’t mean I can do spells right here” she said softly, giving him a small smile. It was clear that she had been joking, but was quick to throw in a small ' I'm joking' In case that anyone misunderstood. The girl was quick to look around, allowing the others to begin to talk amongst themselves. Winston Knew that Y/n wasn't a very social person so he allowed her to quickly introduce herself before mostly doing whatever it is she could do.

Egon could see that she was a somewhat reserved person like he was, not always taking the opportunity to talk about their interests or anything personal. Y/n could feel his gaze on her, and she glanced up at him, seeing the way that he was watching her every move like a hawk. She was quick to give him a small nod before getting up to grab another drink, whispering that into Winstons ear.

Sooner or later, everyone decided to depart from each other, small good nights shared amongst bodies. Y/n And Winston were the last ones to leave the bar, hand in hand as they walked through the streets. "So, who was that girl?" Y/n asked softly, looking up at her boyfriend, a teasing smile playing on her lips. "Not my kind of girl that's for sure" He chuckled before gently pulling her in for a deep kiss, thankful that the sidewalk was empty.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

So my loves. I said I'd be gone, I was and Now I'm partly back. There's still a lot going on, I just completed a couple of things for school, but I'm not finished completely. You guys will be getting surprise fics like this one, because I find that if I tell you guys, I dont get it complete. (October for example) So moving in silence is my best option. I love you guy's so very much, I hope you enjoyed, and have a great time where ever you are. Love you bunches, xox

[egons-twinkie]

CH. 02: Settling in [Spengler Classics 101]

taglist: @boneless07 @egonspenglersweetie @lunadensmidnightprowl @twinkiethievery

When you first became aware of the insides of your eyelids the following morning (you assume), you had forgotten everything. Well, not forgot–it registered as a very strange pipe dream, nothing more. But when you breathed in that same unfamiliar scent, felt the slight starchy stiffness of the sheets covering your form and the heat of the light streaming in from the now-uncovered window, your whole body seemed to stiffen. You didn’t want to open your eyes and confirm it, but eventually you had to. 

  “Morning, sunshine,” chirped a dulcet male voice from nearby.

Once you’d rubbed the sleep from them and opened your bleary eyes, you eventually focused on the form of Ray, whom was still clad in the gray sweatpants and white undershirt he had apparently worn to sleep; he was sitting on his bed, wearing his reading glasses, hair still tousled heavily from his rest.

  “Hey, Ray,” you mumbled, sitting up.

You didn’t catch the way he grinned when you said his name, or how his heart skipped. You stretched and yawned.

  “Whatcha doin’ in bed still? What time is it?” you asked.

  “Only ten thirty,” he replied; it was then that you noticed the stack of books sitting on his night stand, scattered across his bed, all laying open. Different novels and tomes, old and new.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on you, and researching what I can on interdimensional rips and rifts in spacetime. Egie and I agreed it’d be best to kill two birds with one stone and just read up here. He, Winston and Pete are out on a bust. How was dinner, speaking of?”

The memory of the evening came rushing back to you, and you felt an unfamiliar warmth in your core: a fluttering, something akin to butterflies but calmer. Fondness, perhaps, for the recollections of the night before. You looked at the wilted chrysanthemums on the nightstand beside you.

  “I don’t remember the name of the place, but the garlic bread was orgasmic,” you informed him.

He nodded sagely.

  “Sounds like Panucci’s. Nice place. Great food,” he surmised, running a hand through his wild hair, taming it only slightly.

For a moment, as you often liked to do, you simply took in the world around you. The air was warm but not unpleasantly so. It was bright inside the room. Due to the pipe that Ray had been smoking on occasion during his perusal, a shroud of smoke lingered in the room, tinging the air with motes of light and the scent of burnt tobacco. Sweet and spicy and earthy. Ray looked good, you admitted to yourself, sitting there with his legs crossed, perusing the library he’d collected around him. For you, no less. He did look a mess, but managed to make it seem endearing. He just looked…well, snuggly. The films didn’t do him justice, you think to yourself. Being around him made you feel warm, and safe; it was hard to explain, like a calming aura exuded from him. Something that could only be felt when he was nearby. You got lost for a moment, fantasizing spooning the scientist before you, or perhaps being spooned by him. You bet he's warm as a furnace.

  “Did he pull any cheap moves on you or did he behave?” he frowned.

He immediately looked like he felt regret at his question, but lightened slightly when you laughed, grateful to be shaken from your trance.

  “Well, it’s Peter. What do you think?”

   “I should have known,” he groaned, “I’m sorry for leaving you alone with him. He can’t help himself around beautiful women--”

He looked caught all of a sudden, and clamped his mouth shut, burying his nose in a copy of Spates Catalog. Maybe, he seemed to think, if he didn’t blather on to correct his misstep, you wouldn’t point it out. Heat rose to your cheeks nonetheless, only half as red as he was in that instant.

  “Ho-how are you feeling?” he stuttered out, forcing casual tones, clearing his throat, never lowering the book for a moment.

You kicked your legs over the edge of the bed, feet not touching the floor. You leaned forward and reached for your toes, reveling in the release as your spine popped and crackled in reply.

  “I feel okay,” you grunted, “better than yesterday. This is still wild to me, don’t get me wrong, but I wanna make the best of it all while I'm here.”

It was then that the book came down some, revealing a grin that could put the sun itself to shame in terms of warmth.

  “That’s what I want to hear!” he exclaimed, delighted at your perceived optimism. 

You couldn’t help but smile back as you laid crossways on the width of the bed, letting your legs dangle still as you stretched your back in the other direction. More crackling caressed your ears as the endorphins flooded your brain; you barely registered the groan of contentment that escaped you very quietly, but Ray certainly took note.

  “I’ll bet Egon will want you in the lab later on when they get back, if he doesn’t crash on sight of his bed. Are you hungry in the meantime? I’m real good at scrambled eggs and toast. That’s about the only thing, and none of the toasters since '89 have made it longer than a month without getting blown up or used for an experiment, so it'd be coat hanger toast, but that's my specialty, I’ve been making it since...college...heh…” he trailed off with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm, Ray,” you smiled serenely at him, earning a big, boyish grin in return, “but I don’t wanna put any more on you than I have to. I can feed myself.”

You stood then, taking the hair tie off of your wrist that you forgot was there; a ring of indented flesh, angry and red, throbbed in response to newfound oxygen flow. You ran your fingers through your hair in an effort to work out the knots that had formed in your sleep. Ray’s eyes didn’t leave you as you arched backward to secure your hair. He seemed entranced for a moment, until your eyes found his own mismatched irises, focused on you yet glazed over serenely; he looked away quickly, bashful all of a sudden at being caught.

You wandered over and sat on Egon’s still-unoccupied bed, directly beside Ray’s own.

  “I want to earn my keep, too,” you told him, “anything you guys need help with, I’ll do it. Doesn’t matter what. I’m not great at cleaning and I don’t do toilets, but I can for sure cook for you on whatever budget you provide, and I mean whatever. And don’t tell me no,” you warned him mid-sales pitch, catching him as his mouth came open to rebut your offer, which quickly snapped shut again; “I want to do it. I’m not just gonna show up in your universe and bum off of you. I respect y’all too much for that. Plus, all that takeout’ll put you into an early grave and then you’ll be experiencing the job from the other side of the particle beam.”

A sly smile tugged at the corners of his lips; you narrowed your eyes at him.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Y’all,” he quoted, snickering. “You don’t hear that much ‘round these parts.”

  “I don’t like your tone,” you narrowed your eyes at him; he immediately took on the appearance of a punished puppy and apologized quickly. You softened like butter on a hot plate.

  “I’m sorry,” he uttered, “I just think it’s kind of cute is all.”

Once again he took on an expression of immediate regret. You reached across the gap between the beds and nudged his arm gently.

  “It’s okay,” you smiled reassuringly at him, “I think you’re cute, so it all works out. Kinda.”

His eyes shot wide open with surprise and what you hoped was delight; it paired nicely with the grin that spread from ear to ear across his rounded face. He really was adorable.

  “You do? I mean, I am? I mean, you think so?”

You couldn’t help but laugh.

  “‘Course, Ray,” you nodded, “you’re the heart of the Ghostbusters, after all, and it’s a title well earned. You’ve got passion."

He couldn’t stop grinning. Something was palpable in the air, though you couldn’t tell what; it was a sort of tension you couldn’t describe, and it didn’t even really feel like tension. It just felt easy, talking to him. Just maybe a little too easy if anything. You didn’t want to stop.

  “I guess so,” he agreed with a slight nod of the head, and he reached for the mug of coffee on the nightstand beside him.

  “So,” you said after a moment, “is there anything you want me to do right now? I, uh…I need some things, I think. But I don’t want to just ask for money to go get them.”

His mind seemed to run away for a moment, and his eyes glazed over in thought briefly before his head shook just a little, and his gaze found yours again.

  “Well, we’ll figure something out, I’m sure. I’ll bring it up to the others when they get back. But in the meantime, we’ll take care of you. What kind of things do you need?”

He set his book down and focused fully on you then, folding his hands politely. You suddenly felt sheepish for some reason.

  “Oh, just…basic stuff. Clothes, hygienic personals, that kind of thing. Essentials,” you nodded, only partly to affirm to yourself that you could not simply wear the same pajamas for the indefinite period of time you faced here.

Ray scoffed, giving you a crooked grin.

  “Oh, that’s no worry at all. We could go to Macy’s if you want. Or anywhere. You name it, we’ll go,” he assured.

You stood.

  “Can I cook you breakfast or anything first? Y’all–-you guys–had a hard night last night, I’m sure,” you corrected yourself, and his face fell slightly; maybe he wasn’t poking fun after all, but after a lifetime of being teased for even the slightest of your twangy mannerisms, you were always wary.

  “Nah, unless you’re hungry–I had some Eggos,” he shook his head, figuring his response sufficed, “I’m good for a while.”

He picked up the pipe that sat by the coffee and the pack of matches it sat with, setting a spark to the tobacco stuffed into the bowl and taking a few puffs. He exhaled through his nose and mouth at the same time; smoke poured from him from what seemed to be every facial orifice. It looked kind of neat. He looked up at you. The scattered light caught his eyes, illuminating the blue and golden aspects of them, the depth of the tones; one was like whiskey and one was like the ocean, flecked with green and gold…none of the films, any of them, did those eyes justice. You could have easily gotten lost in those eyes and never found your way back; honestly, you wouldn’t mind.

  “Do you want to go now, or later?” he asked, interrupting your focus.

  “Anytime is fine,” you shrugged dismissively.

  “I know that answer,” Ray said pointedly, shaking the wooden pipe in his hand at you for emphasis, “you don’t have to be coy with me, okay? Speak your mind. It’s 1990. We’re there now.”

You laughed then, earning a smile from him; if only he knew. But hey, a solid timeline has been set: 31 years back, and at least one dimension over.

  “Do you want to borrow some clothes to wear out?” He asked, changing the subject; “I have some clean stuff if you wanna…if you don’t mind, I mean…if you wanna–”

  “Thanks, Ray, I’d appreciate that a lot,” you interrupted the near-set loop he got close to stuck in, and he nodded, scrambling off the bed, careful not to toss the books.

He got into the dresser on the other side of the bed and dug out a shirt and a pair of pants.

  “I, uh…I don’t share underwear,” he informed you, trying to be serious.

  “I understand completely. I normally forget 'em, anyway,” you responded plainly, earning an unintentional stare from the man beside you.

Before he could reply, you accepted the clothes from his hands and made your way to the bathroom without instruction or direction. He didn’t respond or call after you, even to be helpful in locating your target... You stunned him. Something about that filled you with an ancient-feeling sort of pride. Powerful.

You quickly changed from your own shirt and pajama pants into Ray’s clothes, a plain white long sleeved undershirt and black sweatpants. They were baggy, but you didn’t mind; you took a moment for yourself to take in the essence of Dr. Ray Stantz. Tobacco, of course, and some simple clean soap, and that same weird electrical smell that haunted Peter’s sheets, but something else too; books. Old books. You took a sobering breath in before emerging back into the bedroom, tightening the strings that cinched the waist of the pants until they sat comfortably snug high on your waist so the pant legs didn’t drag under your feet too much. You already had to roll them up a fair way besides, given the height difference. You'd also taken your hair back down and used the elastic tie to knot the baggy shirt at the waist, tucking it up underneath itself into a crop top style, letting just a little bit of skin peek out between the pants and the shirt. Ray’s face reddened again as his eyes darted over your form in his clothing. You saw him swallow hard, and got the notion you weren't the only one who was feeling that nervous fluttering in their guts. It felt weird to be on the other end of it though–not in a bad way by any means, it just added to the aforementioned sense of accomplishment, but still–it was your turn to be sheepish. You wrung your hands together out of nervous habit.

  “Do I look okay?” you asked, not looking at him.

  “You look great, I mean, wow, you make sweats look incredible,” he answered genuinely; something you loved about him already is that whatever he may have been feeling, he wore it on his sleeve, in his tone, on his face. You could hear the admiration in his voice. It was just like how he spoke about ghosts. You couldn’t help but feel kind of special to earn that sort of response from the man.

You tucked your hair behind your ear and made your way toward the main room of the upper floor; he followed suit, not bothering to swap his sweats for jeans as he normally would, far too eager to show you his city. 

It didn’t take long to get what you needed; you, raised to be frugal, insisted you only go to drug stores and the cheaper of the department stores that he insisted on taking you to. You'd managed to procure a decent bra, a few sets of underwear, a coat, some shirts and pants, shoes, and one nice dress (which he insisted on as well, citing the possibility of a formal event taking place—- “you’d be an honored guest of the Ghostbusters, don’t doubt it for a second!” he’d urged, trying on a pair of black sunglasses and a black trilby hat in a mirror as he’d spoken) as well as the usual hygienic needs, such as deodorant and a toothbrush and such; you were en route back to the firehouse by noon.

Ray had done the same thing Pete had done, eagerly pointing out numerous bust sites and favorite haunts, if you’ll excuse the play on words. You'd continued your escapades in documenting your journey, snagging pictures as you were able. During the shopping trip you managed to procure a disposable camera, and switched to it as soon as you could for the sake of blending in. It served you well already, and Ray was more than happy to pose for pictures, alone, together, whether or not a silly hat was involved–but there was always more goofy enthusiasm when there was a hat. You felt like a classic tourist.

He had stubbornly insisted on carrying the bulk of the bags, though you'd fought him and managed to keep hold of a few. It was almost comical, how stereotypical you looked, exiting the cab at the curb by the firehouse–Ray weighed down by shopping bags, you carrying just a few, albeit very clearly miffed about it. He didn’t want to hear it though, and raced you inside, winning only by quite actually bowling you out of the way of the door. When I say the man dropped everything when he heard you yelp in surprise and come rushing to you, I mean it–the look of guilt and concern riddling his face made you feel bad, for godsakes.

  “Are you okay?” he wheedled urgently, helping you up and dusting you off, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

You could no longer resist your most primal urges, and snaked your arms around his torso, gripping him tightly. For a moment his whole body tensed but as soon as he realized what was happening, he eagerly gripped you back, almost popping your spine all over again with sheer strength and enthusiasm. You felt your feet lift inches off the ground. Ray loves hugs. Lesson learned.

  “What was that for?” he asked, once he set you back down.

  “Just being you,” you responded simply, shaking your head with a smile, “you’re a delight and a treasure to be around, and I sincerely hope you’re aware of that.”

That cute, boyish grin returned, coupled with a rapidly-becoming-familiar pinkish tinge in his cheeks, and he scratched his ear.

  “Aw, shucks,” he tittered shyly.

You took a step back, entering the firehouse then. He chased after you, still glowing.

  “Oh, hey, Janine,” he noticed the redheaded woman sitting behind her desk, filing her nails.

  “Good morning, Dr. Stantz,” she replied in her trademark flat Queensite tone, glancing up briefly once before taking a second look at you beside him, in his clothes. One perfectly manicured eyebrow shot up, curious.

  “Good morning, Dr. Stantz’s friend,” her tone carried a hint of mischief now, but her face didn’t really change, save for that quirked brow; she blew a gum bubble and popped it with her teeth, setting the emery board file down then.

You set your bags down by the door and wandered over to where she sat, trying to stay calm. 

  “Hiya, Janine,” you greeted, unable to fight your smile, “it’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Y/N.”

She stared uneasily at your extended hand, and glanced back at Ray, who nodded behind you; she accepted it then and gave a light shake.

  “Enchante,” she replied flippantly.

Ray cleared his throat and stepped forth.

  “Janine, Y/N is living, walking, talking evidence of a parallel universe to ours,” he said, poorly containing the excitement in his tone, “she literally materialized in the firehouse last night! Right here on our home turf! Isn’t that neat?!”

Janine offered a smile, picking up her nail file again.

  “That’s really fascinating, Dr. Stantz,” her tone was slightly blasé; he didn’t seem to notice nor care, simply happy to be heard, and carried on upstairs. 

You remained behind and continued to look at Janine.

Her hair was sideswept and voluminous, falling slightly past her ears now though still remaining that trademark coppery auburn red, and she had traded her bulky reading glasses for a sleeker pair of red cat-eye specs. Her keen and unique sense of fashion hadn’t changed beyond that; today she wore a black and white houndstooth peplum business suit with her signature red stockings and a set of black kitten pumps.

  “You’re even more fabulous in person,” you gushed to her.

The smile she gave now felt more genuine; almost embarrassed. It was cute on her.

  “Thank you,” she cooed. “Will you be sticking around for a while? It’d be nice to have a fresh face around here.”

You nodded.

  “I think so,” you sighed softly, “Ray was serious. I’m, uh, not from here, or from…now. But they’re working on it. We’ll get it figured out.”

  “I’m sure,” she agreed, “you've got the best of the best on it... Are those Dr. Stantz’s pants?”

You glanced down, only remembering just then that you were indeed wearing borrowed clothing, and shrugged.

  “Yeah. Shirt, too. Kinda goes with the whole interdimensional time/space rift thing. Didn’t exactly have time to pack a bag.”

She actually laughed then, a real laugh; it was like music. Janine Melnitz was an absolutely enchanting woman, and if Egon didn’t shoot his shot with her soon, you were liable to try. 

  “You know,” she spoke, “I’m usually very psychic, you see. I think Dr. Stantz likes you.”

You blushed at her words, but waved a dismissive hand.

  “I’m sure he’d give anyone in the Five Boroughs the clothes off his back if they asked nicely enough, let’s be honest,” you refuted, “he’s just bein’ nice like Pete was last night too.”

  “Oh? What did Dr. Venkman do for you?” She crossed her arms over her chest, raising that eyebrow sky high once again; her tone had inflected that same suspicion everyone seemed to get when Venkman was brought up.

  “He took me to, uh…Panucci’s? I think that’s what Ray said he thought it was…?”

  “With the garlic bread?” She gasped.

  “The best,” you confirmed.

Both eyebrows were raised now in shock.

  “I heard my name,” Peter popped up like a prairie dog over the top of the filing cabinets and wooden partition that separated his ‘office’ from Janine’s, and moments later he hopped the swinging wooden gate in one fell hurdle, stabilizing about ten inches from your side.

  “Morning, Pete,” you smiled at him, “how’d you sleep?”

  “Like shit,” he replied simply, “I think next time we really ought to just take one for the team and spoon like the good Lord intended. How ‘bout you, doll? Have a good roll in my sheets?”

Janine stared between you and him and said nothing. You could tell she was living for this.

  “Oh, I slept like a rock. I woke up thinking maybe all this was a dream, you know,” you answered; something about Peter despite all his flippancy and mischief just made you feel like you could tell him anything and he would guard it under pain of death.

He nodded, stroking his chin, looking thoughtful.

  “Mhm. Would you like a pinch, perhaps, to confirm or dispel this fascinating theory?”

You swatted at him playfully and he dodged like a gazelle narrowly missing the deadly paw swipe of a lion. He really was quite agile when he wanted to be. It was then he noticed the shopping bags on the hood of the Ecto-1 where you'd left them. Ray had disappeared upstairs, probably to try and find a place to store the things you had purchased. Peter began to dig through the contents of the plastic, and lifted the black unlined lace bra you'd found for a steal on sale in just your size with a low, husky whistle, holding it up to his chest, modeling it.

  “This for anyone special?” He asked, looking back at you with a twinkle of mischief in those hooded eyes again; a grin played at the corners of his cherub-like mouth.

  “Maybe so, maybe no,” you replied, snatching it from him and stuffing it back into the bag, “it’s no business of yours anyhow.”

He grinned at you. It was then that you registered the volcanic heat radiating from your face; that’s what he was so damn smug about.

  “We’ll see,” he simply answered with an innocent smile, "I could wiggle my way into your heart yet—you never know, sunshine."

You rolled your eyes at him fondly and absconded upstairs with your new belongings. Thankfully he didn’t chase after you, but you found yourself colliding directly into Ray’s chest as he was about to venture down the stairs. You stumbled and almost fell backward, but his arms wrapped tightly around you, stabilizing both of you in an instant; he hesitated to release you but did after a brief moment to make sure you were alright and stable. There were a lot of stairs to fall down. He didn't want you hurt.

  “Sorry,” you breathed, “Peter caught me and started flirting again.”

  “Want me to hit him? I will,” he urged, furrowing his unkempt brows.

You shook your head.

  “No, not yet,” you laughed, and the tension in his shoulders slacked; "I'll let you know though."

  “Damn,” he hissed, ever so softly. You caught it though, and laughed; the irritation on his face softened as he glanced down at you.

  “So, uh, where do you want me to...set up shop?” you asked, changing the subject; he looked at you curiously for a moment before piecing two and two together.

  “Oh, uh, we had an extra bed disassembled in the basement. Egon uses it sometimes but he’s always got his actual bed up here when he decides he wants it. The bedroom can technically fit up to six beds, we just never needed the extras...well, ‘til now. He was setting it up in there for you, matter of fact,” he answered, pointing a thumb back toward the bedroom area.

You nodded and wandered in there; Ray continued downstairs to do whatever he’d set out to do. Egon sat on the floor of the bedroom, hunched over a pile of loose materials. A mattress leaned against the wall nearby; he had rearranged the beds and accompanying furniture to accommodate a fifth set, and was in the process of assembling the final bed structure when you entered. The radio was on, playing softly, simply background noise against the silence. He didn’t even notice you walk in, or creep up beside him; you didn’t mean to scare him, but...

  “Hey, Dr. Spengler,” you greeted; he jumped two feet in the air easily.

Once he whirled around to see it was just you, he still seemed slightly wary; or, rather, just his usual amount of tension.

  “Hello,” he robotically responded.

  “How you holding up? Did you sleep?” you inquired.

  “Oh, no,” he dismissed, “I’m not allotting myself time to sleep until tomorrow at 4:43AM until 5:12 for the purpose of a study I’ve been running.”

You frowned at him, noting the deep set bags under his dark brown eyes, which seemed to bore holes into you through his round wire framed spectacles. Even sitting down he seemed to loom over all before him.

  “That’s not healthy,” you informed him softly, “trust me, there are lots of studies that go to show it. They learn a lot about it between now and the 2020s.”

He made a slight face of doubt, but didn’t rebut your statements.

  “How are you feeling?” He asked, flipping the script onto you now.

You frowned slightly.

  “Well, I’m okay right now. Just wondering, still…lots of questions.”

  “That makes two of us,” he replied, picking up a hex key and bolting a few pieces together; you knelt beside him and silently offered your assistance.

  “When I’ve finished here, I’d like you to come with me to the lab. There are tests I’d like to run. Physical, mental, emotional and parapsychic. It may take a while, so I hope your schedule for today is clear.”

Something you loved all your life about Egon was the way he was funny without being obvious about it: he was a very subtle man in many ways, but the look he shot you, that slow spread of a devious half-grin, the nostril flare, the eyebrow quirk: it was all very Spengler Classic. You snorted a little in response.

  “For you, Dr. Spengler, my schedule is always clear, whenever you want it to be,” you informed him.

Another Spengler Classic presented then; a faint bashful smile, an aversion of those dark brown eyes.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” he uttered softly, returning, still slightly smiling, to screwing the bed together.

You remained seated beside him.

  “I appreciate it. And I told Ray earlier, but I wanted to let you know too, I’m willing to do whatever I can to help y’all out. Whatever you need, picking up shifts for Janine so she can get a break, though I’ll admit I have no idea how to be a secretary…or a lab assistant, but I’m willing to learn whatever I can to be as little of an inconvenience to y’all as possible.”

Egon didn’t look up, but looked over briefly at the toolbox beside you; you noted the shape of the heads of the screw he was employing, and provided him with the appropriate driver for the job.

This earned one raised eyebrow, for a brief moment, and a silent ‘thank you’ nod. His long, nimble fingers made quick work of the bolts in question. It was the last leg on the bed frame, and between the two of you, flipping it upright was a breeze. He himself placed the mattress upon the frame, and placed the folded set of sheets he’d apparently had at the ready upon the barren fabric. He took a step back to inspect his work, and after a moment of self-appraisal, he turned to you.

  “Thank you for the offer. If Ray didn’t already say it, welcome to the team. We likely won’t have you go on any busts, currently, but I’m sure Janine will be delighted to hear we finally got some relief for her,” he offered a small smile to you and began to gather up the loose tools scattered around into the box, and once that was done, he snapped it shut.

Even the toolbox was white with the No Ghost insignia on the lid. How precious are they, y’all?

You nodded to him and stood, eclipsed by him even at your full height by at least a head and shoulders. The smile he had faded then and his brow furrowed slightly.

  “Are those Ray’s clothes?”

You faltered.

  “Yeah…Better than nothing, right?” You tittered nervously, but that seemed to quell him decently enough; he shrugged lightly and adjusted his glasses.

  “I suppose. Are you ready for the testing? I hope you haven’t eaten anything in the last 12 hours,” he added offhandedly.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be, doc,” You sighed; he nodded and you exited together. 

You'd left your bags on your bed.

My very own bed in the Ghostbusters firehouse. Holy shit.

It was all you could think about and you practically floated down the steps behind Egon; he seemed not to notice, too focused on the calculator he’d produced from a pocket somewhere and tapped away at with fervor. Janine watched as you followed him around to the set of stairs that led down.

  “Janine, please clear my schedule for the day,” he called simply.

  “What for?” She inquired.

  “I have a battery of tests to run on Y/N,” he replied, already a few steps down the stairwell, voice fading as he went; you hesitated and looked at Janine with doubt, but nodded to confirm his reasoning.

  “If I see you again in one piece, it’ll be a miracle,” Janine told you, looking at you over the tops of her glasses with a mixture of warning and concern.

You swallowed hard and descended below with hesitance.

The basement was merely the basement; there was a wooden desk, yes, Egon’s usual workspace, but the main purpose of the room seemed to be storage and containment–specifically, ghost containment. The ginormous canvas that once housed the spirit of Vigo the Scourge of Carpathia and now held a romantic renaissance style portrait of the Ghostbusters half-cloaked in colorful silks in artful poses, surrounding baby Oscar on a cloud, now leaned against the wall. The ‘Fettuccine Edition’, some called it. You admired the ghostly brushstrokes that, as far as this universe was concerned, no human hand ever painted. But there was a masterful capturing of lighting and color, even if perhaps the rippling musculature on the men was a bit exaggerated…

You turned from the painting, meaning to come study it further later on, and wandered to the Ecto-Containment Unit. It was so much bigger and more beautiful in person.

  “A whole other world in there,” you uttered, wandering up close to it; Egon flinched slightly when you raised a hand to touch it, likely still traumatized from Walter Peck’s poor decisions and the resulting attempted murder Egon nearly committed that fateful day in 1984. 

You stroked the cold red-painted metal surface of the ECU and stared at the blinking lights and switches. The green light shone overhead, and you stared up at it with sheer wonder. You couldn’t imagine ever designing something like this.

  “I’m no scientist, but…wow, she’s gorgeous,” you sighed dreamily.

Egon smiled that Spengler Classic cocky smirk, but alas, you missed it.

  “Thank you. The ECU was a joint effort between Dr. Stantz and myself.”

  “Did you have to use special metals for paranormal conduction and psychokinetic resonance properties?”

You had always wondered, and now seemed like a good time to ask.

Egon blinked at you for a moment, and you turned to look at him; he seemed rather surprised.

  “Yes, actually. But the metallurgy has always been more Ray’s area of expertise. I have a layman’s grasp on it but his notes and research on it are stellar. I mainly handled the nuclear and molecular aspects of the prototypes and resulting equipment.”

  “Fuckin’ radical,” you gushed, grinning at him. 

His ears began to turn pink; his nostrils flared, and that smirk crept across half his face again.

  “Thank you,” he said, clasping his hands behind his back.

After a brief moment of awkward tension, he cleared his throat and began to gather items he needed.

  “We’ll need to go back upstairs, all my equipment is up there. I just needed my measuring tape and Geiger counter.”

You nodded and pulled away from the ECU, following his long legs up the stairs. You couldn’t help but stare after him for a moment, eyes flickering back to the Fettuccine; you smirked and began treading up the steps.

So far the hardest part of this whole journey has been the amount of stairs you face now. You lived on ground level back home, in a valley. You're gonna have buns of steel by the time you leave. 

Hours later, you were laid out across the upstairs dinner table/laboratory desk like a frog set to be dissected, arms crossed burial style over your torso, covered (and I mean covered) in telemetry sticky pads and wires and probes. Your heartbeat sang to you over the monitor beside the desk, and your brainwaves blinked on the monitor below it. In the last 7.5 hours you'd seen a scan of your own brain and bones, witnessed the back of your eyeballs, had blood drawn, done fatigue, stress and standard cognition tests, and so much more. So many questions. So few answers.

Egon placed a hand on your thigh to steady himself as he waved the PKE meter over your body. Neither of you verbally acknowledged the spike in your heart rate when he’d done so, but you're sure he noticed; that ghost of a smirk returned to the corner of his mouth though he seemed to fight it.

  “Dr. Spengler,” you blurted out, “I think I need a break.”

  “Good idea,” he nodded, and began to gently pull the suction cups and sticky pads off your skin, which was much more exposed than you'd cared for it to be.

His fingers brushed your neck as they'd removed the sticky pads from the top of your ribcage, just below your collarbone, and headed up for the ones on your face, and you shuddered below his touch. It wasn’t necessarily the fact that you'd wanted Egon Spengler since you could recall, though never truly thinking he’d be touching you physically in person ever in your life; your neck was also generally just very sensitive to touch. You hated contact with your neck, mostly. You tended not to wear necklaces or turtlenecks or anything of the sort, you feel like you can’t breathe when you do, but this was perturbing for other much less negative reasons. Okay, it was partly touch starvation. You tried not to look him in the eye.

Once you were fully disengaged from the laboratory equipment, you scooted off the surface of the desk and pulled the hem of your shirt back down where it belonged. It was baggy on you, of course, but you needed your hair tie for, well, your hair. You had been hot and flustered for more than a while.

  “Did we learn anything?” you asked, trying very hard to keep your breathing steady; you felt dizzy, standing up for the first time in hours, but steadied yourself with a hand on the table until the  passed.

  “Nothing conclusive,” Egon sighed, frowning at the clipboard in his hands; “I’d hoped we could find some physical anomaly but you seem perfectly fit, if not a bit hot to the touch.”

Too hot to handle, too cold to hold.

 “You’re harboring a lot of psychokinetic energy, though. It’s like you exist on a slightly different frequency from the rest of the world. That’s not surprising, given the course of events so far, but it also tells us nothing about what or who caused this, or how to fix it."

You sighed heavily, and ran your hands through your hair. The crinkling of cellophane tickled your ears, and you looked up; before you was a hand outstretched, offering an individually wrapped Hostess Twinkie. Egon Spengler did not share snacks, save for very particular occasions; now, it seemed to be for consolatory purposes.

  “Don’t worry,” he said softly, “we’ll figure this out. I give you my word."

You pouted slightly but accepted the sweet, nibbling the end off to tongue the cream out. You had eaten them like that since the start of forever, it was just your preferred method; like licking the cream off an Oreo and eating the cookies after.

Egon watched you like you grew a second head. He averted his eyes when yours flickered to meet them. You proceeded with the disappearance of the remaining sponge cake and once the object in question had been removed from the equation, Egon returned to Earth.

  “Thank you.” A nod. “Are you hungry yet?” you asked.

Over the course of the last two hours or so at least, Ray and Peter had wandered in to ask about food a few times each; Egon kept shooing Peter away so he could focus, though he didn’t so heavily object to Ray’s presence, who had often made a point to ask about how you were holding up or suggest a theory.

There was one point he ran out just as suddenly as he had entered; Egon had seen a lot of you today. A lot more than you'd expected so soon. But science was what it was, and in this instance, science was intimate and impersonal at the same time. He made no comments one way or the other, though he’d been red in the face the whole time you had to be partially naked, and there at at one point while your arms were up above your head for one of the spectral scans on the battery of tests to be done, Ray had entered with an enthusiastic “hey, guys, how’s it going” before his eyes landed on yours, then darted downward instinctively, and then immediately he turned and left, beet-red, apologizing repeatedly until he simply could not be heard.

You had laughed at that. Ray was so cute. You were sure he was starving by now.

Winston had gone home earlier; every now and again they’d each get to go to their actual places of living, sleep in their own beds, that sort of thing. You found out he’s married! While you can’t lie, you were rather disappointed to know he was spoken for already (as if you'd ever have the balls to ask him out or make a move or flirt) but it made you very happy to know he was loved by someone. Her name was Tiyah–Tiyah Zeddemore. It had a nice ring to it. They were going to see an opera tonight. Winston was beaming all day before he left, so excited.

Man, it must be nice to have someone love you that hard…

  “I could eat,” Egon drew you back from your thoughts, and you looked at him.

  “Anything in particular?” you replied, still a little dazed.

He paused to think.

  “Do you have a specialty?”

  “A few,” you nodded. “Is there anything you don’t like, though?”

He shook his head.

  “I’m not picky, for the most part. Though I should tell you, I have an affinity for–”

  “--mushrooms, yeah, I know,” you nodded, and he looked puzzled only for an instant, “as a matter of fact, you’ll love the future: you were right. Mushrooms become a huge source of alternative protein and open many, many culinary gateways that were previously shut tight to vegetarian and vegan people, as well as expanding the fields of medicine, nutrition, psychology, and tons of other fascinating aspects. It’s really phenomenal, I think. All that being said…philly cheesesteak or meatball sub?”

He looked delighted, in his own Egon way; his expression changed only slightly, his nostrils flared some, and his eyes twinkled; he smiled, even. 

  “I’ll never say no to a cheesesteak. Peter and Ray have been waiting longer, though. They’ll probably want a say.”

Not long after, maybe thirty minutes, you and Ray returned from the marketplace around the corner with a large brown paper bag full of the necessary components for the unanimously-chosen Philly cheesesteak.

  “I can’t believe Winston’s gonna miss this,” he chattered excitedly, “I can’t wait to see your technique! I wonder how much has changed? Is it even the same sandwich?”

 “I think it’s the same, Ray,” Peter chimed in skeptically, watching the pair of you tread upstairs to the kitchenette.

Ray turned only to glower at the man momentarily before scampering up behind you; you hadn’t stopped to listen to them bicker. Once upstairs, you found Egon still in the laboratory section of the living area, but he stopped what he was doing when he heard you approach.

  “Oh, good, you’re here,” he greeted in a Spengler Classic fashion, still as monotone as ever; he immediately came forth and took the paper bag from your arms, making quick work of depositing the food on the counter and dragging you and Ray over to his desk.

   “I found a similar case in Albin’s Compendium of an instance in 1842 in Pennsylvania. There were remains discovered in a blown-up mining town, and fragments of a bomb that shouldn’t have existed at the time embedded in the bedrock around, and in, the corpses. The negative energy has continued to manifest in the town and the fires in the coal mines below still burn to this day.”

Another Spengler Classic was the strong undercurrents of excitement when he was talking about something horribly morbid. Death, plague, disease, murder, all aspects dark and deadly seemed to bring a mad eagerness forth, whether he realized it or not you were never sure. But he was doing it then; he fought a smile the whole time he spoke and his eyes glimmered with a sick delight. To be fair, the more he talked, the wilder it (and he) got.

  “To make matters stranger, once the remains that seemed to be the deliverer of the bomb were pieced together, by evidence of uniform scraps—buttons and such, and equipment alike, it appeared to be a Nazi footsoldier. There’s no plausible explanation as to how this took place, or why, of course.”

You and Ray peered at the open book on the table your body had previously occupied; the yellowing pages showed a sepia-toned old picture of the artifacts mentioned, among fragments of the bomb that indicated its design. It was all definitely World War II era materials, and the swastika-bearing eagle on the warped metal badge in the photograph was unmistakable. Ray and Egon exchanged a meaningful, wordless glance, and then looked at you.

  “This is huge,” Ray spoke, his tone low and conspiratorial but he was sheerly elated at the find, “we’re on the right track now, I feel it, Spengler!”

It was then that Peter tapped his way up the stairs. You took that as a good break point to start cooking.

Ray and Egon chattered amongst themselves about his discovery; Peter sat in a chair and watched you sauté the beef, peppers, mushrooms and onions; Ray and Peter didn’t want mushrooms, so you gave the extra to Egon. By the time the provolone cheese, cut thick, had melted on the top, they’d all gathered around to watch it bubble as if it were something magic. It didn’t take ten minutes for them to devour the sandwiches, as well as the potato chips you'd gotten. Another ten minutes did in the cheesecake, and then, all were laid back in overstuffed bliss.

  “Cancel the tests,” Peter grunted, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied expression as he looked at you, “destroy the evidence, we’re keeping you here forever.”

  “If only,” Ray commiserated with a forlorn, wistful look at you as well.

Egon was still savoring the last bites of his cheesecake, and so said nothing, but gave a concurring mumble and a nod in your direction; you figured there was a compliment somewhere in there.

  “I’ve never been loved like this,” Peter continued, gazing at you lovingly.

You giggled, which surprised even you. Peter looked quite pleased at that.

  “Well, get used to it,” you replied pridefully with a wink, and stood, clearing the table.

Thankfully, the guys were fans of disposable tableware; it cut down on dishes, and so all you had to actually wash were the dishes from the cooking. A cutting board, a knife, a sheet pan, a skillet, and a spatula. You had it done in five minutes’ time, and by then, the table had been overtaken once more by books and equipment as it was before the great feast. Stantz and Spengler sat arm-to-arm at the table, sipping cold beers, Ray smoking, sussing out what they could find about that Centralia Crossrip, as they called it. Peter had sat still long enough to smoke a cigarette and drink half a Pabst Blue Ribbon himself before calling it a night. It wasn’t super late, to be honest, but it’d been a while since he’d had a meal that big, or that good.

Once everything was taken care of, you decided a shower was in order. You shambled into the sleeping quarters and to your still unmade bed, past Peter, who was perched upon his own bed, perusing a magazine he’d presumably purloined from Ms. Melnitz. You felt his eyes on you as you gathered up your pajamas, towels, and your bag of hygiene products…you tried not to mind him, but you did glance at him a few brief times; each time, you just barely caught his eyes flickering back to the magazine in his hands. He’d clear his throat, and mumble something about something or other, incoherent. You rolled your eyes and wandered into the showers.

You turned the taps on the farthest shower in the corner of the room, trying to feel out the right temperature. Once it was hot enough for your taste, you stripped to your birthday suit and decided it was worth the battery expenditure to play music on your phone for a short while. Once you were satisfied with the selection (“Higher and Higher” performed by the ineffable Jackie Wilson) you took a deep breath and stepped into the streaming water.

Even this experience felt different. You felt very small, and not just because the shower was huge. You let the water hit your skin, breathed in the steam, began your ritual. You could only hope your skin didn't disagree with the water hardness or having to completely change your entire lineup of soaps and scrubs; you kept as close as you could, save for a few scent choices. Honey vanilla will be your signature scent here. You sang as you scrubbed, enjoying yourself well enough. The next track to play was “New Invention” by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME–exactly like that, yes–and with it the mood changed slightly. You loved this song. It felt very sensual, kind of spooky, generally it tickled your brain in all the right ways. By the time that track ended, you had just rinsed the last of the conditioner out of your hair, and gave your face one last quick scrub with just your hands and the water. You shut off the taps and collected your towel, doing the flip-and-twist wrap technique to secure it atop your head. You made your way to the sink and mirror, wrapping your body in another towel, still dripping wet; steam rolled off the exposed parts of your skin. You suppose you may have run it a little hot. Oops.

You brushed your teeth and toned and moisturized your face to “Flip City” by Glenn Frey.

  “Wake me when it’s over, tell me I’m alright,

  Tell me it was just a dream, a dream I had last night–

  I can hear the spirits now, moving underground

  I can feel them closing in, about to drag me down–"

You sang along, drying yourself off more thoroughly now that everything from the neck up was taken care of. As always, the natural moisture retention of the skin made it slightly difficult to pull the black tank top you had chosen for a night shirt over your chest, and it stuck to your back, rolling up on itself instead of simply scooting down like it should have. Lazy and now quite sleepy after a hot shower and all that food, you simply left it half rolled down your midriff; the important bits were covered, you figured. You wore those same comfortable red buffalo plaid pajama pants from your own realm. A comfort from home. Once you were dressed, you turned your phone off and took a brief moment to inspect yourself in the slightly steamy mirror. You looked tame enough. You wandered back into the dormitory, and found Ray and Egon had joined Peter there; they were still discussing findings in scientific dialogue neither you or Pete could keep up with if you tried, but when you walked in, all eyes fell on you. You glanced quickly between the three of them; they all seemed focused, at least for the brief moment your eyes were on them, on your exposed stomach. You crossed your arms over yourself and frowned.

  “Y’all act like you’ve never seen a gut before,” you grunted, slinking over to your bed, which was across from Peter’s, placing Ray’s clothes and your wet towels in the laundry bag you had procured. It was undoubted you were flushed red from the heat of the water, yes, but now it was for all sorts of reasons other than that. Particularly the way Egon smirked at you. Well, not at you, necessarily, but while looking at you; when you spoke, however, they all averted their gaze…except Peter, unsurprisingly.

  “It’s been longer for some of us than others,” he quipped, amused.

Egon shrunk slightly. Ray blushed a dark pink.

  “That's not a crime, you know,” you chuckled at them, tugging the bottom of the shirt down where it would normally have been.

They looked at you normally then. Except for Peter. Of course.

  “Say, Y/N, do you have a better half back at home?” Venkman asked innocently enough, sitting up and setting his magazine aside to give you his full attention.

You went to start on making up your bed and found it was already made up neatly. The corners were tucked in and everything. The pillow had even been fluffed. A stuffed toy black bear sat upon the sheets.

  “Aw, thanks, guys,” you cooed, beaming at them, “who did this?”

Ray gave a sheepish smile.

  “I figured it was the least I could do,” he shrugged, “you know. Hospitality.”

You wandered over and placed a delicate kiss on his forehead. He tensed a little, going red again and grinning widely, only more so when you giggled at his response to the gesture of thanks. You returned to your own bed and sat on the wrinkle-free covers, brushing your hair.

  “What did you say, Peter? I’m sorry,” you looked at Venkman passively, who seemed a bit miffed now, if only very minutely; you figure people didn’t ignore him often. They probably didn’t get the choice.

  “I asked if there was someone special back home. No ring?” He raised an eyebrow, wiggling his left ring finger in your direction for a moment in emphasis.

Egon stuck his nose deeper into the old suspiciously skin-toned patchwork leather bound compendium he was reading as his ears burned, but Ray made no real effort to hide his interest in your answer. You faltered.

  “Oh, well…no,” you frowned, “there was someone but…things didn’t work out.”

Peter scoffed. At first you were offended, but he jumped to his feet with purpose.

  “Who,” he demanded, striding the three strides it took to reach your bedside and dropping to one knee before grabbing your hand, “and I mean who in their right mind would give you up? I’ll wait the damn thirty years to punch his lights out myself. Or laugh at him. Up to you, really, dealer’s choice. We could make him go away–”

  “Peter, please,” you interrupted, bristling so hard that you all but yanked your hand away, “it’s a sore subject. It’s been a long time but…please. I don’t want to talk about it further. Take the no and run wherever you’ll go with it.”

He frowned, and the room was suddenly rather tense.

  “Understood. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Peter said softly, giving your knee a gentle, apologetic pat, standing up.

You grabbed his hand as he turned, and he looked back at you.

  “Sorry,” you mumbled, “I just…sorry.”

  “Hey, it’s no skin off my nose,” Peter replied, smiling softly at you; he didn’t seem upset in the least, “I shouldn’t have pried. But I mean what I said. Whoever you end up with one day is one lucky bastard and if they don’t know it by the time they’ve seen you for the very first time, I’ll tell them myself.”

You chuckled; you only realized then that you almost started to cry. You tried not to draw attention to the lump in your throat. Peter ruffled your still-wet hair, gagged dramatically at the wet and cold sensation, wiped his hands all over the back of your shirt. You knocked him over, and he tumbled back onto Winston’s unoccupied bed. You descended into a fit of giggles.

  “Give the rest of us a chance, Pete,” Ray pouted from his bed.

Peter looked at him and gave him an expression of a man who knew he was too blessed to exist, but didn’t plan on looking a gift horse in the mouth, if you get his drift. You found yourself rather red in the face.

  “I’d fight someone for you,” Ray told you, nodding with conviction, “And I find out anyone hurts you while you’re here and they’ll deal with not just me, but all of us, right, Egie?”

Egon, startled at his being dragged into the conversation, looked up frightfully, but seemed to concur.

  “Yo,” he declared deeply, raising a fist partway into the air in solidarity.

You burst into another fit of giggles, fixing your hair and setting your brush under the bed for the time being. You sat cross-legged and looked at the men surrounding you.

  “Thanks, guys. I appreciate that more than you know.”

They all mumbled their affirmations. You wanted to hug them each very tightly for a very long time, but boundaries are a thing, so you settled for slipping under your blankets.

  “It really took no time at all to grow attached to you,” Egon finally spoke, surprising everyone in the room to some degree or another; “in a way it’s very similar to naming a stray animal you started feeding regularly and the resulting increase of trust and happiness in all parties."

  “Except this animal feeds you, Spengie,” Venkman rebutted.

Egon faltered.

  “Yes. Quite well. Thank you again.”

You nodded and couldn’t help but laugh. He looked so serious sitting there stick-straight in his bed, in his colorful polka dot pajamas, reading his Necronomicon, you assumed. He returned to his book and, with one hand, managed to open and unwrap a Twinkie, popping it in his mouth in mere moments. Swift fingers, you guessed, all that delicate engineering and whatnot. You try not to think about that for too long.

  “What’s on the itinerary for tomorrow?” you asked, looking between the men.

  “Well,” Ray considered, “Winston comes back at 6 in the morning for another 48-hour run. Pete’s got his day off starting then too.”

  “I’ll be around, though, just for pleasure, not business,” Peter winked.

Ray frowned at him.

  “That just means he’s sleeping in and won't go home,” he explained flatly. “Spengler’s going to head to the library to see what else he can dig up. I’ve got to check in on The Occult.”

  “Your shop?” you tilted your head involuntarily, like a curious puppy.

Ray grinned at you.

  “Yeah. Shouldn’t be surprised you knew. Wanna come?”

You nodded; that sunshiny grin got wider. You couldn’t help but smile back at him. Now it was Peter who looked a little pouty. It’s kind of funny to you; it was probably mutual, the amount of attention being received from the opposite sex skyrocketing for all parties save for maybe Peter and Winston in the last 48 hours compared to the last several months, you figure, at least. It had been quite a while for you anyway.

You pursed your lips and watched Ray light up a cigarette, offering the pack to Peter, who accepted; he then reached across and offered it to you.

  “Oh, no thanks, I don’t smoke cigarettes. I prefer my herb a little greener,” you mumbled the last bit, politely declining.

Egon perked up like a dog that caught the scent of a sizzling ribeye steak. He didn’t say anything, but you made eye contact, he raised an eyebrow, you nodded a minuscule nod, and that Spengler Classic half-smirk made a brief comeback. You believe you have just made plans to get baked together. There’s no telling till it happens, but you're looking forward to it. Ray and Peter exchanged a look.

  “I haven’t done that stuff since college,” Ray thought for a moment, furrowing his brow; “last time, I ate a whole pound of peanut butter fudge and passed out watching Saturday Night Live.”

  “Been there, my guy,” you nodded sagely.

  “Last time for me was a few months ago with this really gorgeous hippie girl I met on a bust. She remembered me from Columbia. We watched Evil Dead, but I don’t remember any of it.” Peter got a lopsided grin on his face at the thought.

  “Last time for me was Tuesday,” Egon chimed in quietly.

The others looked at him with surprise. He averted his gaze bashfully, probably regretting his admission.

  “Yesterday, technically,” you sighed.

They all looked at you; Egon’s stare was much less surprised than the other’s.

You stuck your tongue out at Venkman, who looked the most incredulous, and he raised his eyebrows even further.

  “Don’t threaten me,” he warned quietly, “I’ll come over there.”

Ray batted Venkman’s head with the Mr. Stay Puft. Pete winced.

—------

THERE IT IS,,, CHAPTER TWOOOO,,, AAAA

i hope y’all enjoy ;w; chapter 3 has not begun yet so there will probably b more time between this and that but i have ~plot ideas~ so this has a track to run on which is more than i can normally say for my brain lmfao

reply if you want on the tag list for ch 3! <3

[crow-lex]

Y/N: Hey! Why did everything get so big? Hello, put me down Egon... Your hand smells like oil, yuck.

Egon: *touches her face with his index finger* You've shrunk...

Y/n:...

Egon:...

*awkward silence*

...

Egon: You're so cute...

[thisbuildingshouldbecondemned]

The Exception: Chapter 6

tags: [#the exception on my blog] egon spengler x reader / slowburn / ghostbusters / fluff / angst / paranormal romance / fem reader

tw: shouting, arguing

word count: 1178 | ~5min read

It had been a week since Egon and y/n had spoken to one another, and not just because of the unexpectedly intimate moment they had shared, but also because the Ghostbusters had been extremely busy lately. A resurgence of paranormal activity had the city gripped with fear and excitement, and the Ghostbusters worked to the bone with not so much as an hour or two to themselves.

The doctors were so overwhelmed in fact, that they had hired a new recruit to accompany them on duty, named Winston Zeddemore. Unlike the original three, Winston was not a professor, or doctor of anything. Funnily enough, he seemed to be the most level headed of the group. Winston was a genuine man, and arguably had the most common sense out of all of them. He wasn’t very interested in the pursuit of knowledge, or the action and fame that came along being a Ghostbuster. Like Janine, he clocked in, did the work and clocked out. Or Rather he would clock out, if there was ever a moment of peace.

And still, even with the extra help, there was hardly a good time for y/n to seek out Egon. When the boys weren’t in the field, they were busy enough repairing and cleaning their equipment, or getting what little rest they could.

After what felt like ages, even to a hundred year old ghost, there came a relatively quiet Wednesday night, during which Egon was working alone in his lab. Y/N mustered up her courage, and headed to the lab.

By himself, Egon sat at a wide table filled with scraps of metal, wires, and various tools. He appeared to be working on an advancement for the PKE meters, which was a project he had told the others he was working on for the past few nights. In reality, he had been screwing and unscrewing the same screw for nearly twenty minutes. His mind was overflowing with thoughts about his spectral companion.

Egon had fallen for her, and he had fallen hard. He thought she was breathtakingly beautiful, and although she wasn’t well versed in modern technology and concepts, she was still very intelligent, and had a strong willingness to learn. She had a smart sense of humour and the two of them could make conversation for hours. Aside from being dead, she was perfect.

Which is why Egon felt he should become uninvolved as soon as possible. Eventually she would pass on, and if not she would continue to reside in the firehall. Either way, Egon could only see pain and disappointment related to departure in his future if he pursued his romantic interests.

If she was still interested in finding her murderer, then he would be glad to help, but Egon came to the decision that the relationship could not continue down the path it was headed, for the benefit of both parties.

To his surprise, he felt a twinge at the back of his neck as the hairs there arose once again, indicating a supernatural presence. He had forgotten the feeling, which had once been welcome, when y/n would visit every night. At this moment, it sent a wash of dread over him.

Before he could even turn his head, an irritated voice called out to him.

“Doctor Spengler!” y/n shouted. Egon whipped his head around and stood up stiff as a board, the look on his face matching that of someone who had just accidentally shattered an expensive vase.

“Y-Y/N! Hello…” Egon attempted to greet her. He knew he had made a mistake that night, perhaps several. And now Y/N was going to avenge herself, at his expense.

Y/N marched straight through the tables and appliances blocking her way, which was something she usually avoided. Typically, she thought it was rude. But y/n was too cross to waste time walking around objects that were not even obstacles for her.

Devices and meters whirred to life as she passed, beeping and blinking as they detected an emotionally charged spiritual entity, and just as suddenly powered down as she neared her target. As concerned as he was, Egon couldn’t help but find this fascinating. She stopped right in front of Egon, and glared up at him, her eyes watery with emotion.

“I was kind enough to wait until you and your friends had an ounce of downtime seeing as you’ve been so busy, and I would count yourself lucky for that, Doctor.” she paused, gathering her thoughts. Egon waited, not wanting to interrupt and dig a deeper hole for himself.

“I would just like to know what on Earth was running through your mind that night, Egon. Were you planning on breaking my heart, or was it a spur of the moment idea?” She paused again, which Egon inferred was a moment to speak. He was half right.

“Y/N, I apologize. Truly, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-” he began, and was promptly cut off once again by y/n, which wasn’t necessarily unwelcomed, as he didn’t really have any excuses prepared.

“Didn’t mean to what? Kiss me? Leave me? Hurt me? Toy with my emotions?” she attacked. Now tears had begun to escape, and she turned around, not wanting Egon to see that the temporary hard shell she had put on was beginning to crack.

“I am more than your test subject, Dr. Spengler.”

Egon’s heart sank. All of the different ways this confrontation could have been avoided raced through his mind, crowding it. I shouldn’t have kissed her, he thought. I shouldn’t have tried to take it back, I should have stayed for another minute to make sure she was okay. If I had stayed for just one damn minute, he argued with himself. Now his mind was grasping for ways to fix everything.

“Yes.” he answered, after thinking for a few seconds. “Yes to all of those. I should have communicated with you about … romantic feelings…” he said sheepishly. “And I shouldn’t have left without making sure you were alright. You were hurting, and I made it worse. I-” he outstretched his hand and rested it on her shoulder, and she turned around to meet his gaze.

“I’m sorry, y/n. Will you forgive me?”. Egon’s voice was low and sincere. There was no defensive or pleading tone. Y/N knew he was serious. She needed a moment to collect her thoughts, but she was willing to give him a second chance.

Before she could say anything the sound of a glass shattering echoed through the lab. Egon and Y/N turned on dimes to see what the source of the noise was and to their horror, Winston was standing at the edge of the staircase, a shocked expression on his face and broken glass and water at his feet.

“Winston, I need you to remain calm, please do not-” Egon tried to explain. Winston blinked at the pair, and started backing up the stairs.

“Raaayyy!” he called out. “You’re gonna want to see this!”

Tags:

@bambiswriting

[sardonic-the-writer]

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞

↳ warnings: none

↳ notes: forgot how good this movie series was. going to be thinking about it quite a bit these few coming days. especially egon! favorite character by far, with winston in next place

↳ song: main title theme (ghostbusters)—elmer bernstein

masterlist | commisions | carrd

• When a flyer for a job downtown mysteriously appeared in your mailbox slot, your first thought was to throw it away

• It looked scrappy. Par on course with the rest of the junk mail companies normally delt out to catch your eye

• Still. Three days later you were standing outside a mildly reevaluated looking firehouse with the paper clutched loosely in your hand, and your best clothes on

• As you’d walked towards the doors, a man came up from behind you, uttering an apology as he nearly bumped into you

• “Hey,” He had paused, allowing you to catch a glance of his tan suit and kinky black hair. “You here for an interview, too?” He asked, walking through the large off-green door as you held it open for him

• “Sure am.”

• “Well, may the best one win. Or get the job, I suppose.” He chuckled with a lopsided grin

• "I dont think they’ll mind hiring the both of us." You eventually responded, looking up at the way the ceiling sagged with old age

• Following your line of sight, the man beside you nodded deeply, and the both of you made your way up to a reception desk with a very annoyed looking lady behind it

• That was the day both you, and who you later learned to be Winston, got the job as the newest pair of Ghostbusters

• “Meet back here tomorrow at noon.” The snappy lady with glasses had said monotonly as she thrust a set of papers at you. You were still looking in the direction that two yelping men in jumpsuits had just gone holding a machine, that it took you a second to notice

• “With the way this job is looking? No way I’m missing tomorrow.”

• Meeting your employers slash coworkers for the first time— technically second if you counted the way two of them crashed your interview mid hiring —was certainly an experience

• Only one had been prepared for both you and Winston’s first days with a handshake and slightly unbuttoned lab coat

• He had introduced himself as doctor Egon Spengler, and shook your hand with a certain rigidness to it. Still, you caught him looking at the both of you with curiosity, so you tossed him an easy upward twitch of you lips. He seemed to relax a little after that

• The other two, however, had proved to be more difficult upon meeting

• Ray Stanz and Peter Venkman were certainly a pair, with the latter sure to be the cause of later headaches, but seemed friendly anyways—if the way they slapped you on the back said anything

• “Welcome to the nerd squad.” Peter has smiled teasingly at you, immediately wrapping an arm around your shoulders and bringing you close as if he was about to tell you a secret. “Stick with me, and you’ll be kicking it with the cool kids!”

• “Is he always like this?” You asked while pushing him away

• “Regrettably.” Egon responded in a flat tone as he moved back to statistics on a chart. “Try being roommates with him in college for six years.”

• “No thanks. I think I’d rather get possessed by one of those ghosts you guys hunt.”

• “Hey, still here!”

• You fell right into place with them pretty quickly after that. Something about getting slimed by a poltergeist in Central Park really brings a group of people together. Especially if they happen to get a really good meal of Thai right after

• In the days weeks and months following your hiring, you get to learn a lot about the little team you’d been squished into

• Winston was probably the first one you befriended. Maybe because the both of you had showed up around the same time, but you found him one of the easiest to just sit down and talk to after a mission without being interrupted every two sentences. The other guys were great, but he seemed to appreciate a little peace and quiet more than what you got in the headquarters

• “Seriously— do we have to call it the headquarters?” You interrupted Peter in the middle of his rant. Sipping on a cup of coffee, you took a moment before speaking more. It really was too early for this. “I mean, come on. It makes us sound like bizzaro superhero’s. More than we already do, anyway.”

• “Personally I wouldn’t mind playing a little Bruce Wayne every now and then.” Peter grinned back suggestively. From beside you, Ego let out his equivalent of an annoyed sigh as he tinkered with stray machinery. Apparently someone else felt it was too early for Peters antics, too

• “Gag me with a spoon.” You deadpanned while swirling your mug around moodily

• “Fine fine. We can call it home base. Happy, sunshine?”

• You grumbled at his sickeningly sweet tone before delving back into your coffee, missing the way Ray and Winston shared slight smiles at the exchange

• “Now that you four are done, mind helping me with our actual jobs?”

• “Oops. Yeah. Sorry Egon.”

• “Sigh.”

[spenglerssweetheart]

Lovin’ Mama

Pairing: Winston Zeddemore x Fem! Reader.

Description: Being married to a ghostbuster is one thing, Though, having another person ruin your surprise is a whole ‘nother. Maybe it’s not so bad after all.

Warnings: Slight language, pregnant reader, Peter being a major ass, slight ooc characters. (If I miss anything let me know)

“Janine!?” Y/n yelled out from upstairs, asking for the redhead who stood rather quickly to go help her friend. “I’m sorry Janine, but are the guys back yet?” She asked as Janine had began to help her down the stairs. “No Y/n, they haven’t gotten back yet, did you need anything?” “Well Egon is out of sweets and that’s the only things these two want” She said pointing at her large belly. Before realizing what she had said, she covered her mouth as Janine had stared with wide eyes. “Oh Y/n Your having twins! That’s amazing!” Janine exclaimed as Louis came walking into the main area where the two were.

“Who’s having Twins?” He asked as he looked through other papers he had in his hands. Janine quickly realized her mistake before she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “Did I say someone was having twins?” Janine asked with a huff as Y/n laughed to herself quietly. “Oh hi Y/n, I didn’t see you there” Louis greeted with a wave before turning back to Janine. I just wanted to know if we were good for lunch again is all?” He asked the red head who nodded with a gentle smile on her face.

Before Y/n could continue to tease Janine, the main doors were being pulled open by Egon and Ray, Winston having been driving. As he pulled the car in and parked, he took out a cigarette and lit it before stepping out of the ecto-1. “Looks like they’re here” Janine mumbled as she went back behind the small desk she was always at.

As the guys came out, Y/n stood and watched, her hand on her lower back to support herself as she held onto the railing of the staircase. As Peter walked passed he grinned at Y/n, only to begin to say something. “Keep walking Venkman.” Y/n hummed, waiting for Winston to finish up what he was doing.

As Winston Quickly helped way with the traps, as he passed Y/n he pecked her cheek before going down to clean them, coming back up rather quickly. Coming up behind Y/n, his hands trailed around her belly as he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Leaning into it, she smiled before pulling away to face him. “We need to talk, but you need to shower.” She grinned as he looked down at her, before she pulled away to go back up the stairs where she could rest once more. Winston was quick to help her back up the stairs, seeing how she was already having trouble walking. And by that, she was waddling.

Once they both made it up the stairs, Winston was quick to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Go shower, your gonna get slime all over me” Y/n urged as she turned away from him. With a roll of his eyes, Winston uttered a small Fine before he headed to the showers.

As Y/n watched him walk off, she went to the kitchen where she knew she would find Egon either making a cup of coffee or smacking something sweet. Entering, she found him there, waiting for his coffee before greeting Y/n with a small hello. “Egon, you’re out of sweets…But do you think you could hold on at least until tomorrow?” Y/n had said as she leant against the table, before deciding to move to the couch to sit, Egon helping her move each time.

“I should, I don’t see why not?” He responded, his eyebrow raising in curiosity as he wondered what Y/n had up her sleeve. “How are you and the baby?” Egon asked, Y/n only looking back at him with a happy smile before replying. “We’re great, though I hate how I am now waddling” She laughed softly, as she looked down at her stomach before sighing.

With a snort, Peter came up in clean clothes and damp hair. Y/n laid down on the couch so that Peter wouldn’t bother her and Egon simply turned back to his coffee. “Venkman whatever bullshit you have today, can it wait for a day that I am not with child” “you mean children” he corrected quickly, having heard the news from Janine. Sitting up as quick as she could, which wasn’t really quick, she looked at him with wide eyes.

“How do you know that?” She asked as he leant against the wall, a smug smirk on his face. “Janine spilled, she’s not so great under pressure” He boasted as Y/n closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, Egon taking that as his cue to leave. Muttering something under her breath, Y/n put her head in her hands as Peter watched smugly. “I’m sorry what was that sweetheart”

“Peter Elizabeth Venkman, you are very lucky I will not murder you in your sleep with your own proton pack” Y/n shouted, a glare on her face as she watched him stand, crossing his arms in fake hurt. “You want to hurt me? I’m wounded Y/n, so very wounded.” Shortly after he quieted down, Winston and Ray came up, seeing that Y/n was standing once more, slipping her shoes on as she kept her glare on Peter. “What did you do?” Winston asked as Y/n put her face in her hands in frustration, knowing Peter was going to tell.

In all honesty, she had wanted it to be a surprise, she wanted to bake all kinds of things for them, but now that was about to be ruined. “Oh I just found out from Janine that a certain someone is having twins” Peter repeated, Ray becoming happier at the news while Winston stared at Y/n in shock. The room became silent, Making Y/n more nervous, so nervous, small sobs were heard coming from her.

The three became surprised at her reaction to this, leading to Ray pulling Peter out of the room by his arm, who was very shocked at how she was being. Winston watched the two leave with a nod before pulling Y/n back to the couch, pulling her close as he rubbed her arms. Winston wasn’t upset or anything, he was just confused as to why she didn’t tell any sooner.

“Y/n sweetheart, I’m not upset, Just- Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Winston asked as he rubbed her arm comfortingly. “I just- I found out today, and I wanted to surprise- you guys tomorrow” She explained through broken sobs. “That’s literally- why I wanted to talk to you” She added, leaning into him some more. He nodded against her head as he kissed her head gently.

After a bit, Y/n had calmed down, sort of just staring into space as she sat against her husband who was running his fingers over hers, specifically her ring finger. “You Know I didn’t think I would be ready to have kids after the whole ordeal with Vigo” Winston started, Looking down at Y/n who had now turned to face him. “Yeah? You seemed really eager when you found out I was pregnant” Y/n said softly, Winston only grinning at his wife. “I never thought I would have gotten married to such an outstanding woman, who is also going to have my boys” “ah ah, Girls”

“They’ll look just like you” Winston grinned as he pecked her forehead. “And they’ll have a lovin’ mama there to take care of em’” Winston added, now pecking her lips, making her grin. Y/n leant up to peck his lips once more before she stood once more, Winston helping her. “Where are you going now?” “To go strangle Peter and his loud mouth” “May I join you Mrs. Zeddemore?” “You may” She smiled softly as Winston quickly got up to join her, holding her hand and belly in the process.

I did it!! I got something else out!!. I hope you lovelies enjoyed this as much as I did, I originally wanted this to be a cute and cuddly thing but switched it the moment I realized I could add some drama. I honestly would’ve hated if someone went and ruined my surprise like that, but we all have different ways of dealing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful morning/afternoon or evening whenever you see this. I love you! <3

[spenglerssweetheart]

Not So Happy Halloween.

Egon Spengler x Fem!Zeddemore!Reader

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of arguments and following, Ooc Egon, definitely a stalker, gross comments, I’m so sorry.

proofread!

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It was quiet at headquarters, the only thing being heard was the scribbling of Janine’s pen against the paperwork she had to do. It was Halloween and Janine and the guys except Peter, we’re giving out candy before they had to go on a bust, Janine only running out of candy shortly afterwards. Stopping to get up for a stretch, she heard the doors open, looking over she saw Y/n come in. Y/n being Winston’s little sister, she hung out with them so much, sometimes even filling in for someone.

Tonight, She had just finished leaving Dana’s place because she had taken Oscar trick or treating, dressing herself up as a witch. Looking over, Y/n had walked over to Janine’s desk, leaning on it just a bit. “Hey Janine, do you want some candy? Dana gave me too much of Oscar’s and I know I won’t finish it all” She huffed out, removing the witch hat from her head. Her witch costume consisted of a long black, partly backless dress. It hugged her body and made her look stunning. Janine nodded, smiling softly as she moved to grab the bag of candy from Y/n. “Anything I can get you z? You look like you had a long night” Janine started, grabbing a few candies to put in her drawer for later. “I don’t think so nin' but thank you, uhm I’m gonna be upstairs for a coffee if you wanna come up with me, I think they’re playing all of these horror movies tonight as well” “I should be up in a moment for some coffee, I just wanna finish this paperwork” Janine smiled as she sat up, watching as Y/n nodded and made her way up the stairs.

With a small huff, Y/n set the candy bag down onto the sofa they had there before walking over to the counter to make her coffee. As she put the water in the machine, a yawn left her lips, only allowing her body to stretch just a small bit. Careful to not spill, she carefully placed it down before moving over and adding sugar to her mug. With another yawn, she rested against the counter a bit, simply waiting for the coffee to finish.

Once it was ready, she carefully poured it into her mug before reaching into the refrigerator, where she grabbed the milk (or creamer). When she had her coffee the way she liked it, she turned on the small tv mainly for ambience before resting her head on her arm. She had a long night, only wanting to think about what she could have done to avoid it. Not realizing it, she had begun to doze off, Janine coming in shortly after she had fallen asleep with her barely drunken mug of coffee. With a small but hearty sigh, Janine smiled to herself before moving the mug back to the counter before lowering the tv’s volume.

Janine grabbed a bottled water from the fridge before making her way back downstairs just to see that the guys have arrived, with Ray taking a few traps out of the back, and Egon making sure the proton packs were alright, Winston could only watch. “Hey Janine, how did everything go?” Winston asked after seeing Janine had just come down the stairs. “Oh, everything was alright, I ran out of candy shortly after you guys left, so I got a head start on some of the paperwork”

Winston nodded as Egon began to make his way up the stairs to go to the lab. “Is Y/n back yet?” Ray asked as he handed Janine the used traps to take downstairs, who only grimaced after the smell caught her nose. “Ah, she should be, I think she went upstairs” She said before rushing down to get the traps cleaned.

Winston nodded to himself as he followed shortly behind Egon, stopping to see what he was looking at before realizing they were looking at his little sister who had fallen asleep at the table. Egon was struck, the amount of times the girl had surprised him, she never failed to surprise him even more than the times before. He’s never seen her this tired, and this was coming from someone who got 14 minutes of sleep.

“Poor thing didn’t even get her shoes off” Winston mumbled as he moved past Egon to go pick up his little sister, being ever so careful with her as if she was the most fragile thing. Egon watched the scene play out in front of him, sort of wishing he would’ve made the initiative to move her to the couch.

Over the past few months, Egon had grown a small crush on Y/n but Egon being Egon, he was probably able to hide it so well no one could tell, or maybe they did but chose not to say anything. He went with the latter most of the time and simply watched this moment. He hasn’t even removed his suit and watched as Winston made way to go and be the most careful anyone has ever seen him, just for his sister.

Not realizing that Winston had been calling him, he snapped out of his daze and looked over, slightly embarrassed that he’d been staring, a bit of red tainting his cheeks as he listened to what Winston wanted. “Egie, could you move the bag of candy for me please and get me a blanket for her please?” Winston asked kindly and Egon jumped up to go and move the bag of candy, placing it on the counter, making a small reminder to look through the candy for any sweets he could take. Once he got the candy out of the way, he walked into the bedroom where all the other beds were, grabbing his blanket off of the bed before taking it back to Winston to place over Y/n.

“Sorry could you also help me get her shoes off, I just know she’s going to complain tomorrow that her feet hurt” Winston chuckled, moving over to her feet to untie the boots she had worn. “Am not…” A groggy Y/n spoke as she began to sit up herself. “Egie, you are awfully quiet tonight, you catch a spooky one for me?..” Y/n said quietly, waking herself up as she looked over with sleepy eyes to Egon who was untying her boot to remove it from her foot. “I did, shame you weren’t there to see it” He said, almost chuckling knowing that she had been talking about the bust.

“I feel like Cinderella” Y/n grinned in a hushed tone, wiping her eyes before she sat up completely. “Thank you gentlemen for removing my shoes, Winston I swear you need to be more like Egon when you talk, you’re so loud. Hi Ray!” Y/n trailed with a sleepy smile, definitely more awake than she was a few moments ago. Winston only laughed and shook his head at his little sister, ruffling her straightened hair, who only smacked his hands away.

Both men stood up to move away, Egon unzipping his suit to reveal the simple cardigan and dress pants he always wore. Ray began to move over to the bag of candy after greeting y/n. “How did the trick or treating go Y/n?” Ray asked, opening up a 3 musketeers candy as he leant against the counter. With a sigh, Y/n leant back against the couch, closing her eyes before looking over at Ray.

“That bad huh?” Y/n only nodding before starting. “We got kinda lost downtown, dumb I know. I got into a slight argument and I feel bad because Oscar had to witness it, the guy just wouldn’t stop following me, oh my god” She huffed as she closed her eyes once more. “The good thing is we got to so many houses, they loved Oscar’s outfit.” She smiled, remembering how happy Oscar would get when they complimented his little cowboy outfit. “Oh Y/n, I’m sorry. One of us should’ve gone with you” Ray replied, Y/n only waving her hand. “Thank you Ray but I’m a big girl, I can handle some guy” She grinned, almost laughing to herself before sitting up once more. “Have you guys eaten anything? I can make something?” Y/n offered, getting up as if she wasn’t tired a few minutes ago. Winston came back down sitting his sister down as he and Ray looked at each other.

“You think the Chinese place is still open?” “They don’t close till twelve right?” Ray responded, Winston nodding before looking to Y/n “Same as usual?” He asked, still kneeling in front of her before she got up to grab her purse, taking money out of her wallet. “Ray, you paid last time so it’s all I can do” She huffed, passing the money to Winston. “Thank you gentlemen, be safe” She grinned as Ray and Winston began to walk downstairs, asking Janine what she’d like.

While y/n was upstairs, Janine and Egon had been downstairs talking about random things before a man walked into the building, catching Janine’s attention first. “Good evening, is there a woman who was in a witch costume here? I thought I saw her come in here…” the guy questioned himself as he looked between Janine and Egon, looking around as well. Egon didn’t feel right about this man, and neither did Janine. With a gentle step forward, the guy looked down at Janine. “Sweetheart, I know you heard me, so could you just answer my question?” He said a little louder, making Egon step in front of her a bit.

Despite being upstairs, Y/n was hearing everything. She didn’t come fully down the steps, but the fact that they were old didn’t help. With a creak, they all turned towards the stairs and Y/n gave up and came down all the way. “Why is he here?” She muttered loud enough for all of them to hear.

“I’m here cause I wanted to see you sweetheart, we got off on a bad foot, you know” The guy said sheepishly, moving closer to Y/n, making her move quickly towards Egon. “Don’t be such a priss babe, I only wanna talk to ya” He grinned, making the two women in front of him grimace, leaving Egon to feel bad. “You need to leave” Egon said sternly, stepping up, Y/n’s grip on him tightening just a little bit. “Or what, you gonna make me into your little science experiment?” The guy laughed, looking over to Y/n from behind Egon, who only held a stone face, like if she was holding back on her anger.

“You’re so lucky they’re here, cause I could be so much worse” He chuckled, pointing his nasty finger at her, implying gross things that would make anyone sick. “Just leave” Y/n murmured, biting her tongue to stop herself from saying anything else. The guy laughed once more, and it just seemed to anger Y/n more. She was upset, that not only had her Halloween night had been ruined, but that she had been followed and tried being humiliated by someone who was trying way too hard. She knew better, but she couldn’t help, letting Egon go and standing right behind him to breathe. Clenching her hands, she was basically digging moon shapes into her palm, allowing Egon to speak for her, Janine keeping a close eye on her.

The guy only kept making gross comments, and Egon tried his best to get him out without doing anything rational. A soft sigh left Y/n’s lips and she looked at Janine, giving her a nod that she was alright before she came from behind Egon, patting his arm to let it go. “Get out” Y/n said, keeping herself steady, trying her hardest to breathe. ‘In and out’ “or what, you gonna make me princess? You shouldn’t dress like that if you don’t want the attention, slu-” Before he could finish that last word, Y/n smacked him square in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. “Didn’t hear you…” she whispered before shaking her hand out, taking a deep breath in before letting it out.

Janine had her hands over her mouth, and Egon had a slack jaw and wide eyes, watching as Y/n had slowly turned to look at them both. The way they were looking at her, instantly guilt pooled in her stomach and she looked between the guy on the floor and the two of them. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She rushed repeatedly, panic once again rising as she stepped away. She felt horrible, the way Egon and Janine were looking at her, made her feel like she was the enemy. Janine was the first to step up and comfort Y/n, taking her in for a hug, making her sit in the chair Janine was usually in. With a shudder, the tears came and a sob left Y/n’s lips as Janine held her.

“Egon, call the police so they could get him out of here, please” Janine said quietly as Egon nodded, going behind to be Venkman’s office and calling them there. While Y/n let everything out, Janine listened and comforted her through all of the apologies and how she’s never acted out like that before. Egon waited for the police, them coming a bit after the call. Egon explained everything that happened, from Y/n telling them that she had gotten into an argument with someone while trick or treating to the moment she knocked him out. The police took the man who was finally awaking when they were handcuffing him.

“Oh ho up, guys you got the wrong one, this bitch punched me, she put her hands on me” the guy started exclaiming, as they were taking him away. “This isn’t the last of me sweetheart” he shouted before being completely out of sight. A shaky sigh racked y/n’s body as she clung to Janine. She began to apologize once more before Janine shushed her. “You don’t need to apologize hun, he deserved it, you honestly caught me by surprise” Janine muttered, grinning at the end as she replayed the moment in her head all over again.

“Uh, why don’t we go back upstairs, get you another coffee, since you left yours cold earlier” Egon offered, quite awkwardly, holding his hand out. Taking his hand, Y/n stood slowly, taking in a shaky breath as she gently held onto his hand. His heart fluttered as if it would be the first time she’s ever touched him. Janine decided it would be best if she stayed downstairs, still shaken up about everything and thought being alone would be better for her.

With a quiet trip up the stairs, Egon carefully looked down at Y/n’s hand that was becoming bruised from the punch. “We should get some ice for that right hook, you did hit him pretty hard” he chuckled, pulling the seat out for her to sit in. She gave him a half smile as she looked down at her hand, running a finger over her knuckles before looking back up to Egon, who had just finished wrapping a bag of ice for her hand. Passing it over to her, she gave him a thankful smile, mumbling a small thank you to him. He began to reheat her coffee in the microwave as he made his. It was quiet and it was awkward, Egon shuffling around in his spot as Y/n played with the ice pack on her hand. Neither of them knew what to do but they kept quiet. Usually they enjoyed it, but Y/n felt like she was suffocating in the awkward air. “I never said thank you” Y/n started, moving over to the couch once more as she got her coffee. “It’s not a problem” Egon responded as he began pouring his coffee into his mug. With a small sigh, Y/n carefully thought out her words before she turned over to look at Egon who began making his way to sit next to her.

“I know tonight was rough, and very difficult, but I just wanna say thank you. You know for sticking up for me, and all that other stuff. Uhm, I wanted to say something but I don’t know how to say it.” Y/n hesitated after a few moments, Egon trying his hardest to read Y/n’s emotions like he always did. “Do you know when you like someone, and you wanna tell them, but every time you try, it gets a lot harder to breathe and like everything is closing in?” Y/n questioned, almost to herself but the glance at Egon gave away that she was speaking to him. He thought, remembering how he wasn’t ever one to get asked out, or be the one who does the asking out. “Well, no not really” He responded, Y/n smiling a bit before continuing. “What I’m trying to say is, every time I’m near this specific person, my heart goes absolutely crazy, and I feel like I’m literally going crazy. I want to be around him all the time, and the little touches here and there make me feel like I’m special and I’m the only one. He does these little things that are so unique to who he is, and I can’t help but fall for him more and more every time.” “Who is it y/n?..That you like Of course” He questioned, now feeling doubtful that he wasn’t the one she liked, again. He was prepared for his feelings to get hurt, but he knew how to get over it. He found a way to ignore his feelings but he wanted to listen to her, hear her voice that he loved hearing so much. “It’s you…” she whispered, looking down at her hands, a habit of hers really. “I’m sorry?” He said, unsure of what she had said.

“It’s you Egon. It’s always been you” She said, finally looking back up at him, feeling anxious once again. What if he didn’t feel the same way, what if everything they’ve done meant nothing, again, she knew how to handle rejection after a good amount of time. “I don’t usually voice things out like this, because it’s awkward… but I like you too, I just find it so hard because being the outcast and the geek everywhere you went, made it difficult to do so. To be honest, I thought you were going to say someone completely different.” Egon responded, chuckling to himself after a bit.

“My my, Spengler, didn’t know you felt that way about me” Y/n laughed for what seemed like the first time tonight, an actual genuine laugh. Egon grinned, pulling Y/n closer to him, remembering seeing how tired she looked after everything that happened literally minutes ago. “Funny how after everything, we’re getting together” Egon whispered low enough for Y/n to hear. “You wanna be together?..” she asked softly, almost in a whispered tone as well. Egon nodded, a grin appearing on his face as Y/n began to smile to herself. “But we can’t tell anyone… not even Winston” she said childishly, a laugh escaping her lips shortly after.

While they talked, Y/n got comfortable, Laying her head on Egon’s lap, generously placing a pillow there so that his legs wouldn’t fall asleep. He had began running her fingers through her hair while she talked to him about her day and how much Winston was a shy guy in high school and university. She eventually ended up falling asleep after moments of silence. Egon couldn’t move, he didn’t want to move, he was right where he always wanted to be. Just as he was getting comfortable himself, he leant his head back, Winston and Ray come up the stairs with the Chinese food in their arms, looking at the two questionably. “She just feel back to sleep. Rough night” Egon whispered in a low voice, Ray trying his best to be quiet, while Winston rolled his eyes.

“Need some help?” Winston asked as he set the food down carefully on the table as Egon nodded, pursing his lips once Winston made his way over to gently lift his sisters head, careful as to not wake her. Once Egon was standing, he stretched, a yawn escaping his lips. “How do you do it without waking her” Ray questioned, watching everything play out. “Years of practice, she’s always been a heavy sleeper except for when I move her. So I had take matters into my own hands when she would fall asleep the exact same way she was now” He chuckled, covering Y/n with a blanket, and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Egon smiled softly, ready to sit down and eat with the others. “So Spengs, why did my sister curl up on you, Instead of Janine?” Winston asked after a while, Egon coughing on his food a bit as if he was caught in bed with someone else. “Long night, some guy was following Y/n and she ended up knocking him out. Janine got shaken up and wanted to be alone and she asked me to come up with her for a coffee” Egon explained rapidly before stuffing his mouth once more to avoid Winston’s questioning, knowing he’d have to explain everything in detail to him afterwards. After finishing their food, Winston put Y/n’a food away for her and Ray muttered a happy Halloween to everyone before he decided to crash from his food coma. Once Winston and Ray went to bed, Egon made sure Y/n was comfortable and warm enough, getting her an extra blanket in case before kneeling down to leave a small kiss on her cheek. “Happy Halloween, dear”

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Thank you for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed this. I literally had so many different endings planned, but went with this one. I know this isn’t the Halloween imagine you were expecting but surprise!! I’m kidding, but seriously, I appreciate you guys so much and I love you, I hope you’re having a good day/night/afternoon and have a great read. Love you sweetheart <3