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It was your classic haunted house gig: chasing after a dark shadowy ghost in a two story manor.
Eduardo and Garrett had taken the first floor, searching every room until they had finally come face to face with the ghost. But they were unprepared for the sudden gust of force the ghost swept at them. It knocked them both over onto their backs. Another gust of force pushed their bodies across the concrete floor, Garrett being separated from his chair.
A constant wind-like force kept them stuck to the ground, as if they were on a looping rollercoaster and couldn’t keep their heads up.
The floor around them disintegrated, creating a sizable hole.
Both men grunted in pain as they landed on their backs. The ghostly figure looked down at them for less than a moment, and then sealed the floor, burying the two like it was a casket.
“No!” Garrett yelled. On his right, Eduardo immediately started punching and kicking at the floor above them, but it was solid concrete.
“Well, we’re dead.” Eduardo sighed.
Garrett couldn’t speak, he was too busy trying to control his breathing.
They only had a few inches of space between them and the floor/ceiling that trapped them underground. Concrete surrounded them on all sides. The only light they had was from their digital watches and the small glowing components from their equipment. Eduardo was right, they might as well be dead.
It was like a nightmare come true for Garrett. It was mostly easy to ignore his claustrophobia, realistically it wasn’t like he was going to be put in confined spaces everyday. But with this job, a situation like this was bound to happen. Garrett struggled to control his breathing, he was borderline panting.
“Woah, cool it with the breathing Garrett, you’re hogging all the oxygen.” Said Eduardo.
The comment only freaked out Garrett more, causing him to gasp as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
Eduardo’s eyes adjusted better to the darkness, and he was able to see how panicked Garrett was on his left, “Oh jeez, I didn’t mean to scare you, man.” Eduardo cleared his throat, despite his own anxieties about their predicament, he knew he had to be the brave one right now. “I’m sure we can get out of here. Kylie and Roland will find us, there’s no way they would leave without searching every inch.”
Garrett nodded, his breathing starting to shake as he struggled not to cry.
Eduardo tried to think of other ways to comfort him. He noticed they both still had their packs on and how uncomfortable it was to lay on them.
He had enough space to his right side to maneuver the pack off his shoulders. So he pushed it against the wall to give himself more room. He was able to turn onto his left side and face Garret.
He had his eyes shut, his breathing was quieter now, but still erratic. A few tears streaked his cheeks.
Eduardo’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle, “Garrett, can you look at me?”
Garrett hesitated, but he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at him.
Eduardo smiled, “Good. Listen, if you take off your pack and push it aside, you’ll get a bit more space. Do you think you can do that?”
Garret swallowed and nodded. He slipped his arms out from the pack’s straps and tried to push himself away from the pack. However, the action brought him closer to the ceiling. It made him more aware of just how little space he had, and he let out a whimper. Quickly though, he was able to get the pack off, and his back hit the ground. He shoved the pack as far as he could and was distressed that it didn’t go too far.
Eduardo looked at him concerned, “Did that help?”
Garrett looked up, the ceiling was a few inches further now, but still nowhere near far enough, “Yeah, a little.”
Eduardo sighed, relieved that he was at least talking now.
They sat in silence catching their breaths, although Garrett could never seem to fully catch his.
Eduardo broke the silence, “Maybe we could blast through with our packs.”
“And blow ourselves up? Great idea.”
“Well sorr-y, just trying to brainstorm. I don’t see you coming up with any ideas. You’re too busy freaking panicking to do anything”
Garrett looked over in anger, “Hey shut up, man! I can’t control my fears.”
“Oh so now you have fears? I thought you said you weren’t scared of anything.”
“Yeah, well, I lied! Big surprise.” Garrett sighed, “I’m…a little claustrophobic.”
“A little?”
Garrett glared at him, “Maybe a lot.”
Eduardo hummed in agreement. He had been annoyed at Garrett’s lack of action, but he was realizing how much this must suck for him.
Great, now Eduardo felt guilty.
He could easily see how stressed out Garrett was. His muscles were tense, his arms straight at his sides. His chest rose up and down quickly, and his eyes were shut yet again.
Eduardo wasn’t sure what came over him at that moment, perhaps it was just seeing his friend, someone he cared about, in pain that did it. But Eduardo reached a hand out and gently grabbed Garrett’s clenched fist.
Garrett lightly flinched, but didn’t move his hand away.
Eduardo made his voice gentle again, “I know this must suck for you right now, but I promise we are gonna get out of here.”
Garrett let out a shaky sigh, “How can you be sure?”
“Because we always do, we’re Ghostbusters.” He smiled, “Besides you can trust me, I’m a scientist.”
Garrett smiled a little, and Eduardo felt something flutter in his chest.
Garrett’s fist unclenched, and he let himself hold the other man’s hand. Even though he had initiated it, Eduardo felt his face heat up at the contact. It was all so…intimate. And the scariest part was that he kind of enjoyed it. Even if they were stuck underground.
In a hushed voice, Garrett said, “I wish I could move around in here, that’s one of the worst parts about confined spaces for me.” He opened his eyes and looked at Eduardo, “It’s worse when I don’t have my chair. Feels like I’m even more…”
“Trapped?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright Eddie, it’s not your fault.”
Eduardo squeezed his hand a little, and Garrett squeezed back.
Then, Eduardo had an idea, “Would turning on your side help you? I feel less stressed just looking at you instead of the ceiling.”
Garrett felt something move in his chest at that comment, although it seems Eduardo didn’t realize how else his words could be interpreted.
“I could try that.”
Garrett leveraged his arms to help himself turn onto his side. He mirrored Eduardo’s position and tucked his arm under his head so he didn’t have to lay it on the hard ground. Now both men were face-to-face in the darkness. Despite being barely able to see each other, they couldn’t help but feel exposed.
Eduardo mentally debated whether he should reach for Garrett’s hand again. But before he could decide, Garrett went ahead and grabbed his hand.
Like always, Eduardo felt the need to make some sort of snarky comment. But his mouth didn’t move. He had a myriad of taunts to throw, number one being, ‘this is kinda gay.’
But he couldn’t say it. Not when Garrett’s finally looked somewhat calmer, with his eyes closed and his breathing audibly slower.
Eduardo wouldn’t admit it outloud, but he was admiring the man in front of him. He traced the shape of Garrett’s far with his eyes, following down from his thick brows to his round nose then his soft lips that contrasted his strong chin. Like many parts of Garrett, his face was a mix of contrasts, parts that wouldn’t make much sense on paper but fit together perfectly on him–a smart jock, a disabled Ghostbuster. It seemed like every day, he did something that surprised Eduardo. It impressed him, almost to a point of enamoration.
Garrett’s eyes opened, meeting Eduardo’s gaze. Despite everything, this is what embarrassed Eduardo—caught and interrupted in his own feelings.
Garrett looked down to avoid eye contact, but only saw their interconnected hands. His voice was almost inaudible, “Thank you, by the way.”
“Uh, yeah, no problem, man.”
“No I- like really, thank you.” Garrett fidgeted with the other man’s hand, “This is- It’s almost bearable, like this.”
It felt like the space had gotten a few degrees warmer.
“Well, that’s good.” Eduardo felt something in his chest tug, “Y’know I…feel the same way, too. Like- it’s not as bad as it could be.”
Garrett huffed out in amusement, “What would make it worse for you?”
Eduardo half-shrugged, “I think being trapped here with Egon might be borderline torture.”
Garrett laughed, Eduardo could feel the movement through their hands. He replied, “Do you think Egon would hold my hand?”
The verbal acknowledgement of the hand-holding made Eduardo’s face heat up for no reason. But he still laughed, “Dude, he probably wouldn’t even hold Janine’s hand.”
That made Garrett laugh harder, his hand instinctively tightening his hold on Eduardo’s.
Just as they were catching their breath, there was a loud booming sound somewhere above them. It shook the floor and walls around them, bits of concrete and dust falling on them.
“Shit!” Eduardo hissed.
Both men retreated their hands to cover their heads.
The rumbling quickly stopped. The only sound remaining was their respective panting.
Eduardo uncovered his head and looked at Garrett. He was still cowering, his arms tightly pressed around his head.
“Garrett? You alright?”
He managed to speak, his voice cracking, “We’re gonna die in here, Eddie.”
Eduardo’s stomach sank, “Hey, hey, don’t talk like that-“
“We’re gonna die in here and no one’s gonna find us, we’re in our own fucking graves…” Garrett’s breathing was shaky, his shoulders shuddering.
“Garrett, you need to chill out. Just try to breathe slower.”
He was borderline sobbing into his own arms, completely lost to the world. Eduardo, helpless and desperate, reached his hand out and placed it on the other man’s shoulder. Garrett barely noticed it.
He gripped his shoulder instead, he spoke firmly, “Garrett, can you look at me?”
For a few seconds, there was no reaction. Eduardo almost spoke again, but then Garrett slowly moved an arm away from his head. His cheeks were red and puffy, tears still streaming across his face. Eduardo felt sad for him, but more so angry at the specter that put them in here. When they got out of here, he was going to personally make sure that spirit would never see the light of day again.
Eduardo took a deep breath, clearing the unconscious scowl off his face for a gentle smile, “Hey man, it’s nice to see you again.”
Garrett made a pained noise in his throat, a mix between a laugh and a constrained sob.
He continued, “That scared the crap out of me, too. But I still believe we are going to get out of here. Because we are Ghostbusters and we can get through anything, right?”
Garrett let out a shaky sigh, “Right…”
“Right.” His smile grew, and he patted Garrett on the shoulder a few times. Then he offered his hand to Garrett again. He wordlessly grabbed it.
Garrett sniffled, his breathing was much better now, even as a few stray tears stained his face.
Faintly, they heard yelling.
Both men held their breath as they strained to hear.
“Garrett?!”
“Eduardo?! Where are you guys?!”
Their eyes widened, it was Kylie and Roland.
Immediately both men started yelling,
“KYLIE, ROLAND!!”
“GET US OUT OF HERE! HELP!”
Eduardo kicked and punched the concrete above them. Garrett yelled so loud that Eduardo’s ears rang.
They heard footsteps above them, then Kylie’s voice, “Are you guys in the floor?!”
Both men yelled out, “Yes!”
After a painful 20 minutes, they were able to unbury the men from the floor with some weirdly specialized tools that Roland had stored in the Ecto.
Both men coughed and gasped as they finally breathed in fresh-not-dusty air.
Roland and Eduardo helped Garrett to his chair. With a loud sigh, Garrett settled in, his hands caressing the wheels, “God how I have missed you…”
They returned to the Firehouse without much fuss. Kylie and Roland had managed to capture the specter on their own, much to Eduardo’s disappointment at a lack of revenge.
After much needed showers and a change of clothes, Garrett and Eduardo were settled in on the couch. They sat in silence, just reveling in the open air and the soft cushioning on their backs.
Garrett sighed, “It is so nice to not be dead right now.”
“Yeah, told you we’d be fine, scaredy-pants.” Garrett lightly punched Eduardo at that, but both of them were slightly giggling.
Garrett’s hand fell to the space between them, landing on the other’s hand. He almost moved his hand away, but Eduardo rotated his own hand palm-up and intertwined their fingers.
Garrett’s eyes widened, sparing a glance towards Eduardo. He shrugged, still facing forward, “It’s comforting.”
Garrett hummed in agreement. He grabbed the remote with his other hand and turned on the TV.
They watched TV for a few hours, laughing, making fun of commercials, arguing over what to watch. It was like normal, except with a newly found comfort in their hands.