Snowflakes tap gently against the windows. The crowns of the trees outside are their autumn shade of cappuccino brown, but slowly turning white as frost starts to glitter on the leaves. They’re pale enough that we can see their movements in the dark, from inside, with the window panes misty.

Even when it’s cold enough to snow, Aiden leaves at least one window open, but it doesn’t matter. He provides enough heat for the both of us. Kasey and Will, of course, don’t need it. When a gust of wind sends a few flakes swirling in, they drift right through Will, who doesn’t even notice. His eyes are firmly fixed on Kasey.

She's stretched out on Aiden's bed, on her back. Her head hanging over the side, her hair spilling down around her face.

“I’m just saying, you guys should be more grateful that Will and I aren’t like the ghosts in these movies,” she’s telling us. “We could be, like - speaking backwards, or luring you to your own deaths, so that you have to join us.”

“Is that why the zombie cat lured the child out onto the road?” Will asks, from where he’s sitting on the floor. “I - think I may have missed some key details, in the course of our viewing.”

“Don’t derail!” Kasey says, pointing at him. “We’re talking about how these guys should appreciate that we’re chill ghosts. We don’t get enough credit. Yes, that was a zombie cat in Pet Sematary, not a ghost cat, but you know what I mean.”

She tries to pull herself upright, probably to look at us while she makes her next point. Instead, she loses her balance and falls, tumbling backwards off of the bed.

Will moves with startling swiftness. In a fraction of a second, he snatches her out of the air, folding her into his burly arms before she can hit the ground.

Aiden gasps as Kasey’s impact into Will sends both of them falling directly through the floor.

“Oh, shit!” He bounces up onto his knees, staring at the place where they disappeared. “They probably just went crashing into Kent’s living room!”

“Dude, it’s not like they can break anything, they’re ghosts!” I laugh. “I’m sorry, is everyone forgetting what the situation is, here? They’re fine. Kasey, Will! Come back!”

They reappear sprawled on the ground, on the same spot where they fell through. Kasey's arms are wrapped around Will’s neck, and he’s got an arm locked protectively around her waist. They’re all tangled up together, disoriented, out of breath.

“Oh, Jesus!” Kasey gasps, as Will immediately releases his hold on her. She lets go of him, too, her fingers trailing through his blonde hair. “I tried to grab onto the bed, I forgot that I fucking can’t! It’s so confusing that I can sit on it, and lay on it, but I can’t just grab it, like - why?”

She bounds to her feet, leaving Will dazed and speechless on the floor.

"Watch this." She climbs up to stand on Aiden’s bed. “Okay, so I’m cool to use it as a surface to stand on, but then, if I go to touch it, or grab it-” She bends and tries to take a handful of the same bedding she’s standing on. Her fingers glide right through it. “See? Why does it work like that?”

She turns to stare at Aiden, who draws back, surprised.

“Wh-? Are you asking me?”

“Yes, obviously!”

“Well - I don’t know! You think I know how this shit works? You want to ask anyone, ask-”

Aiden stops abruptly, his eyes darting to Will.

We’re not sure if he knows that Ariana is the one who made him into a ghost. We haven’t shown him her letter yet. He’s already overwhelmed, generally speaking, and we decided to give him that particular piece of information when he’s better adjusted.

Aiden lowers his volume considerably, and speaks quietly to Kasey.

“It’s the Guardian Tree who decides how it works, not the Guardian. At least with unintentional magic. Like the kind that made you, and Will.”

Kasey clearly understands why Aiden broke off what he was saying so sharply. She glances over at Will, making sure he didn’t hear.

He’s sitting silently on the floor, yet unrecovered from what just happened.

This is not lost on Kasey, either.

She hops back down from the bed and drops to her knees before him, looking into his startled green eyes.

“Hi, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean for you to end up holding me like that. Although it’s partially your fault. Did you forget I can’t be hurt, you sweet thing? You didn’t have to grab me.”

Will clears his throat, and finally manages to get a word out. "Reflex."

Interest spreads all over Kasey’s face. “A reflex - from being on the beat crew?”

“Yes,” Will stammers. “Watch enough men go into the river, and you learn to move fast, to get to them before…”

He fades off, and we all know why. The conversation has accidentally come around to the topic of his death. For a second, it seemed like he forgot that he went into the river, and died there.

Will’s gaze drops to his lap. He fidgets with his suspenders. Kasey tips her head to the side, studying him, reading his expression.

“Hey,” she says gently. “If this is too much for you, you don’t have to stay. You already got through a whole movie with us, and we’ve been hanging out for a while - if you need a break, you can say so. It’s totally fine.”

Will looks up at her with grateful eyes, then glances at Aiden.

“I - do not wish to offend your hospitality, Aiden, departing early.”

“Oh, you’re all good, bro.” Aiden waves a hand at him. “Seriously, if you need to bounce, feel free.”

“Yeah, we’ll catch you later, man,” I add.

Will lets out a relieved breath, then gets to his feet. He extends a hand to Kasey, who accepts, and lets him pull her up. They both hold still for a second, staring down at their interlaced fingers, shared wonder in their eyes.

Will bends to brush a kiss onto her knuckles, one lock of blonde hair falling into his face.

“Goodnight, Miss Lavoe.”

Kasey tips forward and says something very quietly into his ear. He bends closer, listening, then draws back sharply, his eyes perfectly round.

Kasey grins deviously as Will lets out a startled, almost indignant laugh. He opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, he loses grasp on his form. He disappears.

Kasey stands there for a moment, her hand still held out.

“I can’t believe that Will was really just here,” I say, and I mean it. “After all this time going off of nothing but historical documents, to actually hear something about his life directly from him, it’s-”

“Tell me about it!” Kasey shouts, so suddenly that Aiden and I both jump. She lets out a bright, wild laugh, then leaps up onto the bed. Beaming, she throws herself down between us. “God! And you really fucking forget how many like - textures, people have? I don’t know how to explain it, but - his hands are calloused, sort of rough-feeling, but then his hair is super soft, and-”

She stops, her cheeks turning pink. There's a brief silence, and then Aiden and I both burst out laughing.

Kasey groans loudly, tries to bury her face in a pillow, and swears violently when her head goes right through it.

“Shut up already!” she complains, her head buried in the mattress.

“Dude, we’re laughing because we’re happy for you,” Aiden tells her. "We're happy for you. That's it."

He took the words right out of my mouth.

~~~~

I wake up in the middle of the night, in the dark, vaguely aware that something is off in Aiden’s bedroom.

Concerned that he’s having a nightmare, I roll over to check on him. I find him peacefully asleep, stretched out on his side, his arm tucked beneath his head. I sit up, groggily rubbing my eyes, and suddenly realize what’s wrong.

I know that Kasey fell asleep here with us, but she's not in the bed.

The snow on Aiden’s windowsill is glimmering in the moonlight, casting enough of a glow for me to discern that Kasey most definitely isn’t in the room.

Befuddled and half-awake, I stumble out of bed. It’s possible that Kasey left to go sleep at my apartment. My bed is unoccupied, and therefore has more room. But something tells me that she’s still here. I track down and pull on my t-shirt, then step out into the living room.

Kasey is curled up on Aiden’s couch, where she'd been sitting with Will. She’s looking out through the sliding glass doors, watching the snow come down. Her chin propped on her palm, her eyes thoughtful.

She turns when she hears me. I make my way towards her through the darkness, and proceed to immediately stub my toe on the coffee table.

“Shit!” I whisper, cringing. “Oh, literally fuck everything - don’t laugh, you jerk!”

“Sorry,” Kasey whispers back, scooching over. I drop to sit next to her on the couch, an accusatory expression on my face. “It’s just - it feels like old times, when we would have our sneak-overs.”

“Oh, my god. You’re so right. Seriously, how did we never get caught?” I start laughing, too, and press my hand over my mouth to smother it. I don’t want to wake up Aiden. “You slept over so much, and we were never sly about it,” I tell Kasey. “Not one time.”

“I know,” she giggles.

“You know what Aiden and I were just talking about, by the way? That time you wanted to read every book in the library.”

“Oh, no. Poor Mary!” Kasey drops her head back, letting out a pained groan. “I always meant to pay her back for all those fucking fines!”

I laugh again, then reach for a blanket. I shouldn’t have worn just my boxers and a t-shirt. I almost forgot how cold it gets when Aiden isn’t by my side.

“So,” I whisper, pulling the blanket over myself. “You’re up thinking about Will, aren’t you?”

Kasey turns to sit facing me, pulling her legs up onto the couch. She takes in a quiet breath, her eyes shining as she gathers her thoughts together.

“To tell you the truth... after Milo and I split up, I had serious doubts that I would ever find somebody else I could love as much as I had loved him. Now, with Will, it’s like - we’re only just getting to know each other, but it feels so - possible. I don’t know how to describe it.”

I match her smile, my heart glowing for her.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to describe it, Kase-face. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I mean, I definitely wouldn’t have, before Aiden. But now… yeah. Believe me, I get it.”

For a moment, Kasey just looks at me, wide-eyed. She shakes her head, then lets out a disbelieving laugh.

“Jamie! It’s so weird to hear you say heavy shit like that so unflinchingly! What the fuck? Who even are you? You’re freaking me out!”

I sit back, offended.

“I can say stuff, okay? I’m not a total spazz! And you’re freaking me out!”

We stare at each other, then burst into hushed laughter.

“I guess I haven’t actually asked Will how he feels,” Kasey murmurs, when we calm down. “But, I mean. He’s into me. We all agree on that?”

“Um, yes. In fact, I get the impression that he was into you way before he was ever corporeal. Actually, what kind of question - are you kidding me?” I make a skeptical face at Kasey. “And you’re always calling me relationship dense! Are you really gonna sit here and pretend you can’t tell how much Will likes you?”

I’m half-laughing, but Kasey actually looks serious.

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean that I want him to like me because I’m me. Not because I’m one of two ghosts in the world, and he’s the other.”

“Oh. Now I follow.” I lean my cheek against the back of the couch, and Kasey does the same. We tip our foreheads together. We used to talk like this under the covers when we were kids, during our sneak-overs. “I sincerely think you shouldn’t waste time worrying about that, because it’s so not a thing. It’s so stupid obvious that he’s crazy about you, Kase-face. You, specifically.”

Kasey pinches her lip between her teeth, unable to hold back her smile.

We both laugh softly again, but Kasey quickly grows serious, sinking back into her thoughts.

“Jamie… if Aiden hadn’t made me a ghost, that would have been it for me. But he did, and now I have a whole new kind of life to live. I even have someone to live it with.”

“Yeah, you know what?” I whisper. “I know we panicked when we first got the news, but I’m starting to think it might actually be a good thing that Aiden moved back to Ketterbridge.”

Once again, Kasey’s bright, happy laughter. I’ve gotten to hear so much of it, recently. And she’s right, as always. My Companion Plant is directly responsible for the abundance of this perfect sound.

We couldn't have done any of this without him.

~~~~

Kasey decides to spend the rest of the night at my apartment. When she disappears, I go back into Aiden’s room. I shed my clothes, slip under the covers, and curl my body around his.

I put my lips to his bronze skin, brushing featherlight kisses all over his face and neck. Each kiss lands gently and silently, like the snowflakes drifting down outside. I don't want to disturb his sleep.

“I love you,” I whisper. “I love you so much.”

“Love you, too, Keane,” he mumbles, his words half-formed, all melting together.

I pull back and blink down at him, surprised.

“Oh - did I wake you up?” I ask softly, but he doesn’t answer. “Aiden?”

No, he’s still deeply asleep. I can tell by his breathing.

I stroke his hair affectionately, warmth unfolding in my chest. I didn’t know that he sleep-talks even outside of his nightmares.

And apparently he's dreaming about me. Did he feel my kisses somehow, on some subconscious level?

I bend closer, and murmur in his ear:

“Do they shower down on you in your bed, do you smile in your sleep when they find you…”

I fade off, wondering what the hell I’m doing.

There’s a silence, and then Aiden’s low, sleeping rumble comes again.

“Thousands of kisses…” he sighs. “Send... from my dreams…”

I freeze, staring down at him, my heart overcome.

Suddenly I'm no longer worried about accidentally disrupting his sleep. Actually, I really need him to wake up. Like, right now.

I kiss the tender curve of his neck again, but this time more lingeringly, not so light, not so gentle. Aiden stirs in his sleep, and I press my body closer against his, gripping his hip with one hand to hold him in place.

His eyes flutter open. He turns his head to look at me. I catch his lips with my own before he can say a word.

He’s barely awake, and caught completely by surprise, but only a second or so goes by before he starts kissing me back just as enthusiastically as I'm kissing him.

He rolls over in the dark and presses me down into the bed, his avid mouth on mine. It’s insane, how I can wake him from a deep sleep and have him like this less than a minute later. His body is so untiringly responsive to my touch, just as mine is to his.

Already, pleasure is running over and under my skin, flowing from every place our bodies come together.

Already, Aiden's blue eyes are smoldering, dilated.

That spark between us grows into a wildfire.

Aiden has no idea that I woke him up because I was overtaken by an all-consuming burst of love for him. I want to tell him so, but I’m finding it hard to speak.

It’s fine, though. Not a problem.

I have other ways of telling him. No words necessary.