I’m walking through the woods, looking up at the sky.

The sun is still poised close to the horizon, only just risen. Soft, rosy light tints the air, paints the underbellies of the thick white clouds overhead. The awakening forest around me is saturated with it.

Pale golden light spreads above the delicate pink in the sky, shading softly into it, promising a clear, bright day. A band of deep indigo blurs the horizon line.

I take deep breaths of the cold, early-morning air, take my time walking. I love how the forest looks in the spring, and since I've overcome my fear of being here alone, I’m slowing down to appreciate everything. The glimmering layer of dew that coats the grass beneath my feet. The soft blanket of white morning mist. The little wildflowers springing up from the forest floor.

It was dawn when I got here, the air that blue color it only becomes right before the sun rises. Still drizzling, at that point, which to my sleepy vision made everything look frosted and obscured, like the surface of still water when touched by a gentle rain.

Now I’m awake, seeing clearly, my fingers warm from working. I stretch my arms up over my head, savoring the view around me, the deep lungfuls of chilly air.

When I first see him through the fluttering leaves of the trees, I think I’m imagining things. But no, there he is, walking towards me, his blue eyes also wandering over the half-asleep forest.

His chestnut hair is messy beneath his snapback, his long strides making the morning mist swirl around his ankles. He's in his athletic clothes, which look almost frustratingly good on him. Based on his tousled hair and the faint rosy glow in his cheeks, he went for a long run. But he's walking now, and wearing the glasses.

He stops when he sees me, breaks into an intimate smile.

We move to meet each other, stepping around mossy boulders, unfolding ferns. We both reach out for each other at the same time, so that my hands slip right into his.

“Hi,” he murmurs, smiling down at me.

“Hi.” I tip my head to the side, confused, but smiling back at him. “What are you doing here? How'd you find me?”

“Woke up without you.” He twists two fingers into my hair. “Figured you might have gone to check on my Tree. Thought I’d take my run in this direction, come meet you there, but - looks like you’re already done?”

“Yeah, I am,” I say affectionately, taking two handfuls of his shirt. It feels nice, warm from his body heat. “But now we can go to Mugshot together.”

“Perfect.” Aiden bends to brush a kiss onto my mouth, then folds his hand around mine. “Is my Tree okay?”

“Mhm. Healing slowly, but definitely healing.”

Aiden lets out a breath, his relief obvious. “Cool.”

We walk together in comfortable silence for some time. Birds wake up around us, their cheeping calls echoing through the trees. We hear the movements of a distant creek, the sound of leaves whispering in the light wind.

I wince a little, and Aiden doesn’t miss it.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I wrinkle my nose at him. “I’m just breaking in my hiking boots. Think I might be getting some gnarly blisters. My ankles aren’t happy.”

Aiden comes to a stop.

“Want a ride?” he rumbles.

“What?” I ask, then blink in surprise when he pats his broad shoulders. “Oh. No, I - I’m fine.”

“Just get on, Keane.” Aiden turns around, bends his knees so that I can reach up for him. “You want to, I can tell.”

I hesitate, then loop my arms around his neck. Aiden catches me when I jump up. I lock my arms around him, and he tucks his arms beneath my knees, easily tosses me higher up on his back. He turns his head to smile at me, straightens up, and sets off walking again.

I settle my chest against his back, basking in his warmth.

“You really don't have to do this, you know.” I turn Aiden's snapback around, so the brim of it isn’t in my face. “I can handle two little scrapes on the back of my ankles. I get that you’re a Guardian, but it’s not exactly life-threatening stuff.”

“I don’t mind.” Aiden turns his head again, nuzzles his nose into mine. “Feels nice.”

“I’m not too heavy?”

“Um.” Aiden huffs out a laugh. “No, scrawny inhaler boy. You're not. Really doesn’t feel all that different from wearing my backpack.”

He laughs again when I briefly let go of him to swat his shoulder. I try to make a face at him like I’m annoyed, but I’m filled to overflowing with love for him, and it absolutely doesn’t work.

He snickers one more time, then turns his blue gaze ahead again.

“Had fun last night,” he murmurs, after a moment.

He smooths his thumb over my jeans where his hand is wrapped around my thigh, sinking in some pressure.

“Yeah, I could tell,” I laugh, my cheeks burning up. “I liked the light show.”

Aiden smiles, and I do, too, lapsing into the memory of it. God, it was beautiful. Like thousands of luminous celestial bodies, each the size of a speck of dust. I dreamt about it, swam through it in my sleep.

The memory of how Aiden looked in that light… it sparks this slow-moving fountain of warmth in me, one that does nothing to cool down my blushing face.

“Aiden... if you can do that, instead of exploding things," I say slowly, thinking as I talk, "Our new apartment might not get destroyed. Or like, not right away. It probably will eventually, but. You know.”

“Yeah, I had the same thought," he agrees. "I think I can do that, but, um. Maybe not always. Things still might break, sometimes. If I'm being honest.”

I'm secretly happy to hear that. Somehow things wouldn’t be the same without an explosion every now and then.

“And it might take some practice," Aiden pins on, catching my eye, a devious little smile on his face.

I bite my lip, then shrug my shoulders, trying to look casual. "Okay. Whatever."

We stare at each other, then both laugh softly before he turns to face the forest again. I press myself closer up against him, loving the way his laughter vibrates through me when he’s holding me like this.

“Speaking of our new place,” Aiden rumbles, “I don’t know if you saw yet, but one of the real estate agents emailed us back this morning. About the apartment we want to go see.”

I had put my cheek against his shoulder, but now my head snaps up. “What - really?”

“Mhm.” Aiden glances back at me again. “Really.”

Oh, my god. It’s really happening. We’re actually gonna go look at a place together. I kind of can’t believe it.

The fountain of warmth in my chest grows even bigger. A burst of nervous, happy flutters moves through me.

“Holy shit,” I mumble.

“Yeah,” Aiden says, suddenly sounding a little dazed. “Holy shit.”

I press my lips into a line, but my smile breaks right through it. I bury my nose into Aiden’s shoulder, and know that he’s smiling, too.

“We should email them back, right?”

“Yeah, I thought we could do it when you’re done with Ellen’s science class tonight. Unless - did you still want to go to the Ghost Office?”

“Mmm. I really think we should, honestly. We haven’t heard from Kasey or Will since they shut themselves up in there. I’m starting to worry.”

“I mean.” Aiden looks back at me, confused. “They're ghosts. They can’t really be in danger.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’m concerned about Will.”

“Will, why?”

“Because - you haven’t seen what Kasey gets like when she knows she’s close to solving something. Especially if it’s something complex and academic that she’s been trying to sort out for a while. Somehow she knows she’s almost there, and then she gets all - um - how do I describe-?”

I cut myself off, and Aiden comes to a sudden stop. Kasey has just materialized before us, only a few yards up ahead.

Aiden lets me down from his back, and we both set off towards her.

“Hey, Kasey!” Aiden calls, pushing the glasses further up his nose. “How’s the…?”

He trails off as we get a better look at her.

Her short black hair is tied up with her shoelace, but so swiftly and badly that strands of it poke out in every direction, sticking upright at sharp, wild angles. A stand escapes from it to fall beside her face, and from the slight curl in it, I can see that she’s been twisting it around her finger over and over again.

She’s taken off her button-up shirt and knotted it around her waist, which means she’s down to her bralette. She’s also torn the legs off of her maroon pants, thereby turning them into homemade high-waisted shorts.

Her black eyes are huge, and there’s a slightly crazed, unhinged look about them.

“Guys!” she shouts, bounding the rest of the way over to us. “Guys!”

“Kasey,” Aiden sputters, his eyes filled with alarm. “What - what the fuck-?”

She staggers to a stop before us. She tries to grab both of our arms, but her fingers sail right through Aiden’s stomach and my chest.

“Told you,” I say to Aiden, looking at Kasey affectionately.

Aiden is still looking at her with obvious concern.

“What happened to your clothes?” he asks, and she looks down, like she forgot she’d changed them. “Why did you tear your-?”

“Got too hot,” she says impatiently.

“Too hot? You’re a ghost, you can’t get hot.”

"Brain hot," I mutter.

“Brain hot,” Kasey says at the same time, tapping a fingertip on her temple.

Aiden stares at her, baffled. “Wh-?”

“Look, don’t worry about my pants! They’ll grow back!”

“Very weird sentence,” I put in, and Kasey flaps a translucent hand at me.

“You know what I mean! None of this matters, anyways - listen, Will and I cracked the fucking code!”

Aiden and I stare at her, matching grins slowly spreading across our faces. She absolutely beams at us, her black eyes shining.

“Holy shit!” Aiden sputters.

“Yeah, holy shit! Kase-face! You’re fucking amazing!”

She lets out a bright, thrilled laugh, tries to give my shoulder a shove, and sticks her hand right through me again.

“Oops! Sorry, got a little excited-”

“A little,” Aiden laughs.

I turn to exchange a grin with him, then blink in surprise when I look back at Kasey. Suddenly she’s in her jacket, button-up, and floor-length pants, her hair loose around her shoulders.

“Shit!” she says, realizing. “I reset again! Goddamnit, I can’t focus long enough to keep my clothes how I want them for more than like, an hour-” She rips her jacket off and flings it haphazardly into the forest, then bends down and immediately begins tearing one leg of her pants. “I need all my focus on the code - are you guys gonna come with me, or what? We need you to translate, write it down!”

“Yeah, just let us-”

“Great, let’s go!” Kasey says, and disappears.

There’s a brief silence.

“She’ll realize in a second,” I tell Aiden.

Another silence, and then Kasey rematerializes in front of us, slightly out of breath.

“Fuck! I forgot that you two can’t travel like that!”

“We’ll be right there, Kasey,” Aiden promises, suppressing a laugh. “Jamie and I just need to get back to the car and get some coffee.”

Kasey finishes tearing the other leg off of her pants, then straightens up. She folds up one of the torn pieces of red fabric, wraps it around her hair like a headband, and knots it in place.

“Right, yeah yeah yeah, life stuff, okay. You guys go do that, I’m gonna go sit in silence so I don’t lose my train of - or, no, you know what, I’ll say it all out loud to Will again. But hurry up! Manager’s orders!”

“We’re on our way,” I assure her.

“Sweet, see you there!”

She’s gone before either of us can say anything else. Aiden looks at me, wide-eyed, and we both dissolve into laughter as we start walking again.

“Wow. You weren’t kidding, Keane.”

“It’s actually better, now that she’s a ghost. Used to be that things in my apartment would get broken when she went into this mode.”

Aiden huffs out another laugh. “Good thing that’s no longer an issue for you, huh? Things in your apartment getting broken?”

I laugh, too, then weave my fingers through his and squeeze his hand.

“Maybe not so much at our new place. If you can get down that light thing you did. The - firefly dust.”

He gives me that devious smirk again. “Like I said, just need practice.”

I try to give him a shove, but I don’t budge him, and I end up stumbling a little, myself. Aiden laughs, catches my elbow, and sets me back on my feet. He wraps an arm around my shoulders, and we walk in cozy silence the rest of the way.

When we reach the road, Aiden heads for the driver’s side of my car, holds up a hand for me to toss him the keys. I’d been planning to drive, but I oblige, arching a questioning eyebrow.

“Thought maybe I’ll drive, and you can respond to the person showing us the apartment?” he asks, unlocking the car. “Just - I know the Ghost Office business is important, but I don’t want to wait on this.”

“Oh, really?" I tilt my head to the side, surprised. "Did you super like that apartment? We’ve only seen pictures, bear in mind.”

Aiden shakes his head, rests his elbows on the roof of my car. “Nah, I don’t mean that particular apartment. I mean moving in with you.”

I stare at him, then quickly turn away, my cheeks burning again.

“Be quiet, please,” I stammer weakly, running a hand through my hair. “I fully can’t handle you.”

Aiden smiles silently, drops into my car, and puts the driver’s seat all the way back. Even with it flattened against the backseat, his long legs barely fit.

I drop into the passenger’s seat, my heart stumbling wildly. I can barely lift my head to look at him. I think my heart might pop.

Instead I unlock my phone, open up my email.

“Oh, look! Two more agents emailed us back since you checked.”

“Yeah?” Aiden fixes me with a smile, sticks the keys in the ignition. “Hm. Sounds like we’ll have to make a day of it.”

I think that sounds nice, so I let out a sputter of indignation when Aiden adds: “Sounds lame.”

I smack his arm, and he grins at me, rolling down the windows of my car.

“Wow. Okay.” I try my best to scowl at him. “Maybe we should’ve just taken that pipsqueak apartment above Mugshot, then! The one we toured when you first came back to town.”

“Oh, my god.” A deep blush rises in Aiden’s cheeks. He lets out a helpless laugh, adjusting his snapback. “That was - I was dying, during that. You have no fucking idea.”

I laugh, too, reaching over to squeeze his thigh.

We both go on laughing stupidly, looking into each other’s eyes, until we gradually fade into silence.

Aiden stares at me, his lip pinched between his teeth, one wrist resting on the wheel. He takes my jaw in one hand, brings my face to his, and pushes a long, slow kiss onto my mouth. Then he turns away, smiling to himself, and turns on the car.

I tear my eyes away from him, stare out of the windshield for a second. I still can’t believe that we’re moving in together.

But I’m happy, so happy. I hope that Aiden knows that.

I could tell him, but I’m still recovering from that kiss. I’ll let him know later, when I remember how to breathe.

“So. Um.” I clear my throat. “I’ll just email back the real estate agents, and then we can go translate the Stasi code the ghosts cracked for us.”

“Very weird sentences all around, today,” Aiden rumbles, and I make a little noise of agreement.

He pulls us out onto the road, the breeze from the open windows sifting through his chestnut hair.

“Mugshot?” he asks, blue eyes flitting to my face.

I smile at him, my heart warm enough to melt.

“Yeah. Mugshot.”