Team Ghost Office made some good progress last night.

We began plotting out the parameters for some of our experiments, debating the safest ways to test the ability of the ghosts to go beyond their invisible borders. We need to be very careful. The first and only time I nearly took Kasey out of Ketterbridge as a ghost was terrifying. She’d started to disappear right before my eyes.

We need time to plan, to figure out how this will all work. But we stopped planning at some point, because Aiden and I needed to fill Kasey and Will in on everything they missed. And we won't be working on it anymore tonight, either.

Aiden and I have plans, ones that we weren’t willing to cancel.

Raj and Noah were doing some electrical work near City Hall, so they picked up Aiden. Ripley and I beat them to Raj, Mel, and Noah’s house just in time to say hi to Mel and Niki on their way out.

I went directly out back to run an eye over the yard that I planted. I wanted to make sure that it’s doing well, which it is. It looks particularly lush in its spring radiance, although I can’t make out the finer details. Night has fallen, bringing with it sheets of fast-falling, slanted rain.

But the yard is loving it. It’s a rainforest, in its own way. I know that it’ll be all the more beautiful tomorrow, for this.

I stand under the covered area behind the house, breathing in deep, slow breaths of cold night air. 

The door opens, and Aiden steps outside. I had been staring out at the plants in silence, rubbing my elbow through my flannel, but I turn around and break into a smile when I hear him coming.

“Hi,” I begin, then stop, staring at Aiden curiously.

He’s already changed out of his work clothes. He seems oddly out of breath, and shy. His blue eyes don’t go to my face as he comes quickly over and stops in front of me, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Hi,” he rumbles. His ocean eyes are roaming over my head, blinking fast. “Sorry we’re late. We stopped by our house so I could change. And I - I noticed, um… did you - put the malachite plant in the garden?”

“Oh. Yeah, I planted it.” I stare up at Aiden, faintly alarmed. “That’s okay, right? You said that we could buy the house at the end of our lease, if that’s what we wanted, so I just thought-”

Aiden lets out a broken, helpless sound, then drops his face into his hands.

“Holy shit,” he groans, rubbing his eyes. “Stop it, Keane. I can’t deal with this much in one week, so could you please fucking stop?”

A smile turns up my lips again as I realize that he’s blushing deeply behind his hands.

“No,” I answer happily, and Aiden flashes me a scowl, like I can’t see the warmth shining right out through his eyes.

“You better, man.”

I spread my hands on his chest. “Oh, yeah? Or what?”

Aiden’s head suddenly lifts. He swiftly takes my jaw in one huge hand - not gently - and backs me up until my back is pressed against the wall. Before I can so much as gasp in a breath, Aiden parts my lips with his in a fierce, rough, intense kiss. His stubble scratches my cheeks, his tongue pushes into my mouth, and fire pours into my lungs. Melting warmth crashes through me so hard and fast that I would probably go down to my knees if Aiden wasn’t holding me up by my jaw.

He breaks off the kiss, but doesn’t let my face go. He stares down into my eyes, his blazing blue gaze white-hot.

He brushes one more kiss onto my mouth, then releases me. “Fuck around and find out, Keane.”

My knees still feel weak, and my hands instinctively fumble at the wall for support. Aiden catches it - goddamnit - and breaks into a tiny smirk, ruffles my hair. Laughs when I glare at him.

“Hey!” Noah calls through the open door. “Where my boys at? Aiden, Jamie! Quit making out in the rain and come get your Xbox controllers!”

“No,” I call back firmly, having regained enough composure to stand up and take two handfuls of Aiden’s henley.

“What - is that actually what you guys are doing?” Noah pokes his head out through the door, then laughs when he sees us. “Should’ve fucking known.”

I take a look at Noah as he leans outside, his long black hair hanging down over his shoulder, the moonlight catching on all of his many piercings.

I heard the thread of anxiety in his laughter, and now I can see it in his grey eyes. Aiden sees it, too. Right away, we can both tell.

Noah is clearly stressed out about how tonight will go. Maybe that’s why he wants us all together, right now.

“C’mon,” he says, tossing his head at the door. “Xbox is ready, game’s loaded up. I’m about to school you two losers.”

“I’m not playing,” Aiden informs him, even though he’s already on his way over. “And beating me at a video game is not a mark of any kind of talent, Noosh. Think we all know that by now.”

Noah laughs, but it sounds a little strained. Aiden stops beside him, silently tells him something with his eyes. Noah takes a breath, looking back at him. Aiden gives him a tiny nod, then slaps his back and goes inside.

Noah closes the door behind me when I follow Aiden into the house. “What about you, Jamie? How you feeling?”

“Well, Aiden was making out with me, and you put a stop to it, so. Homicidal?”

“Fucking adorable,” Noah snickers, leading the way to the kitchen. “What’s the Jamie Keane version of a homicide? When you’re sent out to cap someone, and you end up snuggling them instead?”

“Pretty sure that’s a Rajicide, actually,” Ripley answers, speaking over his shoulder as he sets the pizza boxes down on the counter.

“Rajicide sounds like a weird chemical,” I point out. “Like a pesticide.”

“What - like a pesticide to keep Raj away?” Noah closes the fridge, holding a bottle of hot sauce and a few cold bottles of beer. “Who would ever buy that? If anything, people would want a chemical that would attract as many Rajs as possible.”

“There’s only one Raj, brothers,” Raj says dramatically, pressing a hand over his heart. “At least, only one of this Raj.”

“Yeah, and he’s claimed,” Noah adds, using his keys to pop open a bottle of beer, which he then hands to me. “Fuck off with your chemicals.”

“No one is trying to use chemical warfare to steal your man, dude,” Ripley tells Noah, but Aiden shrugs his broad shoulders.

“Dunno, I’d probably buy a bottle.”

Raj looks at Aiden, obviously flattered, his face full of surprise and delight. “What!”

“Okay,” I groan. “How did we even get here? We were talking about the new game you got, Noah.”

Noah sets the bottle of hot sauce down by the pizza boxes, and I realize it’s the same kind that Ralph gave Aiden as a birthday present. The bottle Noah has must be brand new, because it isn’t open yet. Did he get it just for this?

“Oh, dude.” Noah breaks into a wide grin. “Wait till you see my skills in this game. I’m so good, it’s sexy. Get excited, 'cause you’re all gonna be having spontaneous orgasms for weeks after this. Trust me.”

“Okay, why would we want that?” I ask, then stare in surprise as Aiden and Raj instantly follow Noah towards the living room. “What-? Are you two fucking serious, right now?”

“Doesn’t sound like the worst problem to have,” Aiden calls over his shoulder, and I toss my hands up in the air.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Ripley tells me, leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter. “Now that Noah bragged about his mad skills, I have a feeling the first thing that’s going to happen is that he’s gonna blow himself up.”

I drop my gaze to Ripley, about to laugh at what he said. But while he was joking, he's not laughing.

He’s the only one who isn’t trying to pretend that this is a normal night of us all hanging out together.

Ripley isn’t looking at me, but I can see just from his profile that his face is very serious. His eyes are already filled up with preemptive mistrust and dislike. I hesitate, watching him, nervously fidgeting with the sleeve of my flannel.

"You and Noah talked about this, right?” I ask haltingly, after a moment. “You’re gonna be able to-?”

“Yeah.” Ripley straightens up and tosses his green curls out of his eyes, his protective gaze on Noah. “I will. Noah explained, and I get it. I’ll put up with him, like Noah asked, but I don’t have to like him. Or be happy that he’s hanging out with us tonight.”

“That’s - true,” I answer slowly, folding my fingers around my beer. “But I think…”

I think you guys will like each other. If you can try to really do what Noah asked, and really give him a chance. That’s part of why Noah wanted you guys to meet each other before the wedding.

I bite my lip. There’s no point in saying any of that to Ripley. He’ll do what feels right to him. He really doesn’t let other people get in the way of that.

I nod at the living room. “Well, shall we?”

Ripley follows after me, and we both step into the living room just in time to watch Noah’s video game character explode like a bundle of dynamite.

GAME OVER, the screen announces in big red letters.

“Shit!” Noah yells, looking down at the controller. “I forgot which fucking button shoots the-”

“Oh, man, you were right, Noosh,” Aiden sighs, spreading his arms out behind himself on the couch. “That was so sexy.”

“It’s harder than it looks, dude! And why are you laughing, Jamie?”

“I’m just blown away by your sick skills, man. Think I feel a spontaneous orgasm coming on right now.”

“Okay, first of all - for fuck’s sake, don’t you start laughing, too, Raj! Like I said, it’s harder than it-”

Noah cuts himself off as the Xbox lets out the soft, chiming sound that indicates a rare achievement has been earned. We all lean forward to read the achievement notification as it pops up on the TV.

Short Stay - Die before escaping the Drop Pod.

“Holy shit,” Ripley laughs, as Noah throws his tattooed hands up in outrage. “A rare achievement, too. You accomplished something few people have, Noah. Died faster than anyone to come before you.”

“Ah, whatever.” Noah lounges back against the couch, breaking back into a grin. “A rare achievement is a rare achievement, you know? Still legendary, even if you explode yourself. Just like in real life.”

“Um,” I begin, half-laughing - then stop abruptly as something catches my eye.

The rain is spilling down in waves outside, but the street is drenched with moonlight. And through the window, I just saw something briefly blot it out. A shadow moving beyond the door.

There’s a soft knock, and then the door opens.

Ralph steps in out of the rain, pushing his hood back from his blonde hair. He stops in the doorway, his face speckled with raindrops, his sage green eyes traveling over all of us.

The talk and laughter in the living room stop dead. Instant silence falls as everyone freezes at once.

Ralph stops still. His fingers, which were still resting on the door, close around the edge of it, holding onto it tightly. He had been opening his mouth to say something, but he stops right away and stands there quietly.

I wince a little, my fingers tightening around the bottle in my hand. Oh, no.

Despite the attitude he used to give off, Ralph is actually extremely sensitive to feeling unwanted. From what Aiden told me, Ralph was even sure that his brotherhood with Noah and Aiden had a short shelf-life and an inevitable expiration date, which would come faster if Ralph didn’t constantly fight hard to keep his place. Because he thought that nobody actually wanted him there, in the first place.

And that’s the real, vulnerable Ralph standing in the doorway. The pain and humiliation of not being wanted would definitely hit him way harder, right now.

So for this to be the response to Ralph showing up - that’s bad. So bad. I half expect him to turn around and leave.

Ralph stands motionless for a moment. He doesn’t leave, but he doesn’t come in, either. It’s like he’s fighting to hold himself in place. The muscles of his jaw are flexed, his hand still holding tight to the door, his eyes blinking very fast. I get the sense that he’s hanging on by a thread.

Noah gives himself a shake, then bounds to his feet and crosses to Ralph. “Hey, dude!”

He holds out his inked-up hand as he reaches Ralph. Ralph gives it a slap, an automatic, second-nature response that seems to bring him back to himself a little bit.

“Hey,” he says uneasily, then nods at the rain. “Sorry, wasn’t sure if you’d hear me knocking over that.”

“S’okay.” Noah pushes the door out of Ralph’s hand and closes it behind him. “Come in.”

“Are you sure, man?” Ralph asks Noah, so softly that I’m the only one who overhears it. “I can go, it’s fine-”

Noah takes Ralph by the sleeve of his jacket and drags him further inside. Caught off-guard, Ralph stumbles into the entryway, deeper into the cozy atmosphere of the house.

“What’s good, Ralph?” Aiden calls, his deep voice warm with genuine affection. “You missed getting to watch Noah blow himself up.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ralph glances at Noah with nothing resembling surprise on his face. “I’m sure I’ll have plenty of other opportunities.”

Aiden lets out a huff of laughter, and I reach out to quickly brace Ralph’s arm.

“Hey, man.” I speak quietly, smiling warmly at him. “Really glad you showed.”

Ralph looks at me and Aiden with something like relief in his eyes.

Raj gets to his feet, uneasily messing with his dark hair, adjusting his Rip Curl tank top. He comes over to stand behind Noah, spreads a protective hand on his back.

“Howzit, bruh?” he asks, giving Ralph a cautious nod of greeting.

“This is Raj, one of my fiancés,” Noah tells Ralph, leaning back against Raj. “And Raj, this is-”

“Yeah, I know.” Raj looks over Noah’s shoulder at Ralph, speaking much more stiffly than he normally does. “We met, sort of. At the movie theater.”

Ralph winces and slightly lowers his head, sending a damp strand of blonde falling over his eye.

“Any chance we could - not count that one?” He twists his fingers around his leather wristbands. “Would love to try again. Can definitely do better this time, although I recognize that’s an exceptionally low bar to set.”

Raj hesitates, then slowly offers Ralph his hand.

Ralph blinks in surprise, then gives it a slap, looking at Raj with mingled gratitude and relief on his face. Raj looks back at him with that warmth that comes so naturally to his deep brown eyes, and some of the tension in the room eases up.

Then Ralph lifts his dark green gaze and looks past Raj.

I realize abruptly that Ripley has gone back to the kitchen. He’s watching Ralph over the counter that faces the living room. His elbows are folded on it, his paint-stained hands loosely clasped together.

He meets Ralph’s gaze when it finds him, but he doesn’t smile.

Noah hastily starts telling Ralph about the game we’re gonna play. Ralph listens, slowly taking off his jacket and his steel-toed boots, but his eyes keep going back to Ripley, who still hasn’t moved or said anything.

Ralph doesn’t look surprised. Noah must have warned him that Ripley wasn’t completely sold on this.

I expect Ralph to leave Ripley be, but I should have known better. Ralph - much like Ripley - isn’t one to run from a challenge. Even when he has every reason to.

Ralph hangs up his jacket, smooths out his threadbare black shirt, and strides directly across the living room.

Heading right for Ripley.