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It was a few days before Corbett was released from the hospital, and then a few days after that he was able to escape his parents’ house. Ed told himself that he wouldn’t be surprised if Corbett didn’t return to the headquarters - that he’d understand, that maybe it was the right idea, and Corbett should stay away from the Ghostfacers. He hoped that Corbett would keep in touch no matter what he decided.
Harry felt similarly, of course - mainly, he was dreading being the one to tell Corbett that after all that, those douchenozzles from Texas had erased their footage - and… well, everything else too - including all the research files that Corbett had indexed over the two months he’d been interning before Morton House. If Corbett never came back, Harry wouldn’t have to tell him - they’d all agreed when they’d drawn straws to determine who would get the task.
So, when a taxi pulled up to the house and Corbett got out, Ed wasn’t really surprised when Harry echoed Ed’s own fortifying deep breath, before they both pasted on smiles and greeted their newest full member. Because that was the deal, if Corbett returned, he’d be a real Ghostfacer.
He looked good - better. Ed supposed that wasn’t hard, given that last time he’d seen Corbett, the guy had a massive headwound, was partially burnt, and suffering from smoke inhalation. Now, he had a neat row of stitches up by his hairline, large bandages wrapped carefully around his hands, a bandaid high on his cheekbone by his temple that Ed knew hid another minor burn. Ed didn’t know if the burns would scar. He hoped not, but if they did, he thought that maybe Corbett could pull of the ruggedly handsome look - he had good bone structure.
“Hey,” Corbett greeted Ed, after he’d done bro-hugs with both Harry and Spruce, and Maggie had delicately given him a full embrace. Ed held out his arms just as Corbett went in for a handshake, so Ed quickly morphed the spread arms as an elaborate way to extend a hand. But then the left hand was just hanging there in the air, so Ed pulled Corbett in for a bro-hug and patted him probably a little too hard on the back, because Corbet coughed in Ed’s ear and then shuffled backwards apologetic. Right, tender lungs. Ed was perhaps the worst boss ever.
“Come on in man, we can catch up,” Harry said into the silence.
“Yeah,” Ed echoed. “It’s great to see you.”
Corbett followed them silently into the garage. Corbett was always kind of a silent guy, but he wasn’t smiling as much as usual, and Ed was a little worried. Maybe this wasn’t a return, maybe this was a goodbye - again. And if it was, Ed would understand, he’d make sure that the others didn’t give Corbett a hard time.
Ed knew Harry wanted to break the bad news first, but Maggie had already comendered the conversation - asking about Corbett’s health and what the doctors said. Ed put his hand on Harry’s arm to stop him from interrupting. It was only because Ed knew how mad Maggie got when she was interrupted.
Corbett told them about how he’s not allowed to drive right now, because of the headwound - apparently once the swelling in his brain goes down a bit, they’ll reassess him - but right now, he gets confused sometimes and forgets things. The confusion was apparently really worrying to the doctors. Ed was slightly more concerned about the forgetting things part, though he couldn’t say why. It was, after all, probably for the best if Corbett forgot what had happened to him.
“So, I got a bit of bad news, buddy,” Harry said, once they were all seated in the garage. “Those fuckers from East Texas erased all our computers - we lost all the footage from Morton House. I’m really sorry man, I know you… uh, gave a lot to the project.”
“Oh,” Corbett said, then his brow furrowed. “The guys from Texas… ? The ones that set fire to the house?”
“No, you set fire to the house,” Spruce said.
“Spruce-” Ed hissed, but Corbett cut him off.
“But I’ve never been to Texas.” Corbett looked like a confused puppy and it broke Ed’s heart a little.
“You… do you remember going to Morton House, Corbett?” Ed asked, suddenly realizing that maybe the forgetting-things thing was more of a thing than they even realized.
“Yeah, but - I mean, I thought those guys burned down that house in Texas,” Corbett said slowly. “Right, you told me that story - and you said they burned down the house to get rid of the ghost.”
Suddenly, a whole bunch of things made sense.
“Oooh…” Maggie exclaimed. “That’s why you burned down the house!!”
Corbett squinted at her, then looked down at the burn marks on his hands.
“Oh,” he said softly.
“Well, it worked, buddy!” Harry declared. “That ghost was so mad when you set fire to his creepy party room, that he charged right in there and went up in flames with it - the rest of us only suffered from minor smoke inhalation, and Ed just got a few minor burns before we could get out of there.”
“Yeah, that was good thinking, Corbett,” Ed agreed. “You really saved our asses back there.”
Corbett smiled and Ed felt something unclench in his chest a little.
“So, we managed to save most of the equipment, but we lost some of our remote cams,” Harry continued, experitly steering the conversation away from the subject of the fire, and the missing footage, both things that Harry and Ed agreed that they didn’t want to discuss, though probably for different reasons. “Ed and I are going to pick up some more shifts at Kinkos until we can afford to replace them - in the meantime, we have to decide where we’re hitting next - obviously, if it hadn’t been for those damn Winchesters, Morton House would have given us our pilot. Our setup and procedures were strong, we just have to do a repeat but this time without interference.”
“Or anyone getting hurt,” Ed added.
“Right, yeah,” Harry said, staring at Ed before throwing a sympathetic look towards Corbett. “But those Losechesters did give us a few tips to help with that going forward - we know about the rock-salt bullets now, and the standing in the circle of salt thing that they had Maggie and I do while you were all trapped in the basement.” Harry looked over to Maggie with a fond smile, but Maggie wasn’t even looking at him, she had turned away as soon as he had said her name and was seemingly sorting through some random print-outs.
“Salt?” Corbett asked.
“Yeah, apparently ghosts don’t like salt - don’t know why,” Harry said. “Maybe they’ve all got high cholesterol.”
“Or they’re afraid of the sea?’ Spruce offered.
“All possibilities,” Ed concluded. “But let’s focus, people - this has all been great experience, but we need to figure out where to hit next.”
“Unfortunately, the other thing that those douchenozzles fried along with the footage on our harddrives was the database Corbett made of haunted places in America,” Harry said. “You wouldn’t happen to remember any of those, would you, Corbett?”
“Uh, n-not um… not from memory, but I, I have a backup on a usb stick,” Corbett said softly. “I d-didn’t bring it today though - sorry.”
“But you have it?!” Harry exclaimed. “That’s awesome! You have earned your full Ghostfacer-ship well - I’m so glad you didn’t die, buddy, and-”
“Good-” Ed started.
“-that Ed was able to keep you awake using the power of g-”
“-JOB, CORBETT!” Ed finished, perhaps a bit too loudly, judging by how Corbett jumped, but he continued just the same - that’s how you had to be with Harry, if you wanted to get a word in sometimes. “MAKE A NOTE: From now on, BACKUPS!”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Spruce said. “Uh, might have to add that to the equipment lists.”
“That’s a couple more shifts at Kinkos, buddy,” Ed said to Harry.
“Just as long as it doesn’t interfere with my social life,” Harry countered, with a look towards Maggie.
“Let’s start making the equipment lists,” Maggie said, without looking up from the papers she was reading.
Harry frowned, but Maggie easily drew Spruce into a conversation about what damage his handheld had taken in the basement.
Ed ignored them all - and instead drew Corbett aside, when he realized that Corbett might be feeling lost in the conversation. They already knew what damage Corbett’s equipment had taken - they had to remove it all before they took him to the hospital. Some of it had been melted, and Ed didn’t really want to think about that.
“Hey buddy,” Ed started. “I just wanted to - uh, check in… you know, first day back…”
“Thanks, Ed,” Corbett said, and then smiled stiffly, like he had only just remembered he should. “Sorry the- the Morton House d-didn’t work out like you wanted.”
“Ah, no, it’s… I mean, it sucks - but, more important things, right?”
“Right,” Corbett said.
Corbett looked okay, Ed thought. Just, a little off - and not… smiling like he used to. He used to smile a little bashfully when he stuttered like that. Maybe he was just tired. Yeah, that was probably it.
“Uh, d-did you need something?” Corbett asked.
“Oh.” Ed hadn’t realized he’d just been staring at Corbett awkwardly in silence. That was embarrassing. “No.”
“Uh, okay then, I-I’m gonna… “ Corbett pointed over his shoulder, either towards Spruce, Maggie, and Harry, or towards the door that led to the bathroom.
“Yeah,” Ed said, and took a step back. He pretended to read a newspaper article on the corkboard. It had been there for 6 months. When he turned around, Corbett was disappearing through the door into the house - and Ed felt only a little better.
*
Things were definitely weird, Corbett thought. At first, he had thought it was just him - the doctors had warned him, and he certainly felt weird, so that was normal. Or, weird. But normal weird? Expected. It was expected weird.
But the Ghostfacers were unexpected weird. The doctors had warned Corbett about PTSD. He had a pamphlet. In case he remembered, and then got PTSD. Corbett was pretty sure you needed to remember an event to experience trauma from it - but maybe you didn’t. Corbett had not read the pamphlet yet. He had put it on his desk at home, but then he had forgotten why he was in his room, and had gone to the kitchen - and then forgotten why he was in the kitchen, and had called a cab to go see the Ghostfacers. He should have read the pamphlet so that he’d know how to help his friends. Who were being weird.
Maggie and Harry didn’t seem to be talking to each other. Or, maybe it was that Maggie wasn’t talking to Harry - yeah, that seemed more accurate.
Spruce was making fun of everyone somehow, because he was always chuckling in that way that told Corbett that he was delighting in other people’s misery. Shaden-something, he had called it. Corbett didn’t know why everyone else was miserable except for Spruce - well, and Corbett. But Corbett assumed that he was okay because he couldn’t remember. Spruce, though, had also been in the basement with Ed and Corbett, and the Texans.
Ed kept looking at Corbett and then looking away, and Corbett wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because Corbett took too long in the bathroom - but that was only because when he’d gone into the house, he’d forgotten why he left the garage - he had stood in the kitchen a while, looking out the window at the yard, before he had wandered into the living room where he saw Ed’s dad who said ‘y’all hanging out in the garage? You come in for the bathroom? You walked past it” and then Corbett had remembered.
There wasn’t much for Corbett to do, and he kept forgetting what he was doing when they did give him something to do. Also he was tired, and everything was weird.
“Hey Ed?” Corbett said, and Ed immediately topped talking to Spruce, and stood up.
“Yes, Corbett?” Ed said.
“Uh, c-can you… can you wait with me outside for a cab? I think I want to go home,” Corbett said, feeling everyone’s eyes on him - this was probably embarrassing. He’d probably feel embarrassed about this later, but right now he was trying to keep ‘call cab, go home’ in his head. He wanted to see if he could remember without Ed having to remind him once they were outside.
“I’ll drive you,” Ed declared. “Harry, I’m taking your car.”
“Uh, okay, don’t forget to put the bungee cord around the passenger door, and you gotta double tap the gas before you-” Harry replied.
“Nevermind, I’ll call you a cab,” Ed said. “Come on.”
Once they were outside, Corbett looked at the tree, and then Ed. They were waiting for something. A cab. No, first he had to call the cab.
“Do you want me to-” Ed started.
“I got it,” Corbett replied, annoyed that he hadn’t done it right away. He called and told them the address. He was at least still good on addresses. He just wasn’t good at remembering what he was doing from one moment to the next.
He hung up. Ed was standing next to him. Ed was nice. He wouldn’t chuckle at Corbett like Spruce might, if Corbett asked a stupid question.
“Are Maggie and Harry fighting?” Corbett asked. “Sh-should I already know what’s up with them?”
“Ah, you noticed that?” Ed asked. Corbett just looked at him. Because he had asked, so yes - right? Yes. He had noticed.
“They made out at Morton House,” Ed groused.
Corbett tried to remember. He remembered most of the evening, things just got really fuzzy right after he was dragged down a hallway by a ghost.
“It happened after you went missing,” Ed jumped in. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to remember. You didn’t know.”
“Oh,” Corbett said. “They made out when I was missing?”
He hadn’t thought Maggie and Harry had particularly liked each other.
“It wasn’t- it wasn’t like they weren’t looking for you!” Ed exclaimed. “They were - that was the- that was why they made out.”
“...what?”
“We were all looking for you, and Maggie got scared, and Harry… uh, it was like a comfort thing? Maggie said it was the adrenaline? LIke, sometimes when you’re scared you do things that you don’t mean-”
“Oh,” Corbett was sad for them, it must be hard on the friendship to have accidentally made out. “So, they didn’t actually mean it?”
“I mean, sometimes adrenaline makes you do or say things you mean too!” Ed sounded a little panicked for some reason. Corbett heard the door opened behind him. Ed looked over Corbett’s shoulder and cringed. “Only, sometimes you don’t. You know? Adrenaline can… do a lot, right? It’s.. uh. It’s a hell of a drug?”
“Should I not have come outside?” Maggie asked from behind Corbett.
“No,”
“Hi Maggie, it’s fine,” Corbett answered at the same time. “Ed was just explaining why-”
“Oh look, you cab is here!” Ed exclaimed. Corbett turned his head to look down the driveway, but there was nothing there. “Oh, sorry, thought I saw it at the end of the street.”
“I just wanted to give you this note,” Maggie said, handing Corbett a piece of paper. “Spruce says you might need a written reminder until your concussion clears.”
Corbett opened the piece of paper and read: Bring Back-Up Haunt Database to next Ghostfacer meeting.
“Thank you,” Corbett said, and carefully tucked it into his phone case so that he’d see the corner next time he called a cab.
“I’ll uh, leave you guys alone now… sorry, Ed,” Maggie said, and disappeared back into the house.
“Why is she sorry?” Corbett asked.
“Uh… she um, she… she’s sorry she… messed up with Harry,” Ed replied. “I guess she… she felt she lead him on, right? That’s… that’s not a nice thing to do to a person.”
“Oh,” Corbett said. “I guess it wasn’t just adrenaline for Harry then?”
“I think… I think Harry’s confused,” Ed replied. “Yeah, I think Harry is just really really confused.”
Corbett could relate. Why were they even standing outside? It was cold.
A cab pulled up. Oh.
“We’ll be meeting again next week,” Ed said. “You’ll… be there, right?”
“Yeah, text me the time? I’ll try not to forget,” Corbett really hoped he wouldn’t forget. “Bye, Ed.”
“Bye Corbett. It was good to see you - uh, yeah, it was good to see you.”
Corbett nodded. It was always good to see Ed.
After the cab pulled away, Corbett realized he probably should have told Ed that… and remembered to smile. Ever since Morton House, his mother was constantly trying to get Corbett to remember to smile when he talked.
*
Corbett obviously hated him. Ed had blown it.
At least he still wanted to be in the group - that had to count for something. If only Corbett had given him more time to explain - or if Maggie hadn’t interrupted them - or if Ed could figure out why the hell he was so unhappy with the idea that Corbett didn’t like him anymore. Wasn’t that what he wanted?
He thought Corbett hadn’t remembered, but obviously he had - and he also knew Ed hadn’t meant it, and now hated Ed, and probably resented him for taking them to Morton House in the first place, and getting him concussed - and Ed was a terrible leader and a terrible friend, and obviously didn’t deserve Corbett’s friendship, let alone anything else - not that there was anything else - except Ghostfacer loyalty, and Ed still had that at least.
Yeah, maybe Ed just had to prove that he was a good leader - could keep Corbett safe, and then Corbett would start to trust him again, and maybe… maybe he’d consider being Ed’s friend again.
So, mission number one was to keep Corbett safe. Mission number two was to stop having nightmares about Corbett burning alive in Morton House, or getting killed by the ghost, or burning up LIKE a ghost.
Ed always dreamt of that damned basement. The door had shut right behind him when he had followed Dean and Spruce down the stairs. Dean had found the hidden bomb shelter immediately, and Sam and Corbett had been inside. Corbett was unconscious - Sam told Ed to try to wake him up - it was dangerous to sleep with a head wound that bad.
Sometimes, in Ed’s dreams, Corbett dies there. Still tied to the chair.
He’d untied him though - had pulled the chair back and knelt in front of him - had called his name. Corbett had immediately opened his eyes and looked around desperately.
Out in the other room, something was happening - it sounded violent. Ed helped Corbett towards the exit anyway. Sometimes, in Ed’s dreams, he walks Corbett directly into a wall of fire.
“We gotta figure out how to stop him! Permanently! The salt rounds aren’t cutting it!” one of those douchebags had shouted, and that’s when Corbett did something weird. As soon as they got to the door, Corbett broke away from Ed and grabbed an old gas can from the basement floor. Ed had been distracted by the fact that Dean was being thrown through a small shelving unit, and Spruce was cowering in the far corner with his camera raised like it would save him. They had to get to the exit. Sometimes, in Ed’s dreams, Corbett breaks away in order to jump into a pit of flames.
But in reality, Corbett had grabbed the gas can and dragged it back into the bombshelter - ignoring Ed’s questions about what he was doing. Ed watched as Corbett poured it over everything, Ed tried to pull Corbett away from the splashback, but Corbett’s sleeves were already soaked, and Ed’s hands slipped.
When Ed wakes up from his nightmares, he sometimes sits there and picks the dead skin off his blisters. He blames Sam, who didn’t seem to stop and notice that Corbett’s clothes were splattered with gasoline before he handed over his lighter - having been thrown into the wall by the entryway. When Corbett lit the fire - which must have been some plan between him and Sam, Corbett’s sleeves and pant legs went up in flames too. Ed had screamed, and so had the ghost, but Corbett had come easily then, staggering back from the flames and through the door, just missing the ghost running past them… Corbett’s clothes were on fire, and Ed tried to put them out, but it wasn’t working, and Corbett was burning, and...most times, in Ed’s nightmares, it ends there, with Corbett burning to death in Ed’s arms.
But in reality, Dean had run over and helped Ed put Corbett out. Sam had closed the bombshelter. Spruce had run up the stairs and broken open the basement door - and they’d all coughed their way to daylight, with Dean helping Ed carry Corbett.
Harry and Maggie had saved the equipment, while Sam yelled at them the whole time to let it burn. The whole house was going down.
Dean told Ed to keep Corbett awake, but nothing was working, until Harry ran out with a laptop and told Ed what to say to Corbett… really, it was Harry’s fault.
Ed wasn’t sure how he can fix things with Corbett - if it even needs to be fixed. He still came to the meetings, and, once he was given the okay to drive, he started bringing them coffees again - but he didn’t talk to Ed as much. Ed kept waiting for him to say something - to blame him, to tell Ed just how much he messed up - but Corbett never brought it up. He just quietly went about whatever tasks they gave him. He still laughed at their jokes, and Ed took that as a win whenever it happened - but it didn’t seem to happen nearly as much as it used to.
Sometimes, in Ed’s dreams…
*
They decided on the Roosevelt Asylum - it wasn’t far, just a day’s drive into Illinois. It was a notorious haunted spot and fenced, but only sporadically patrolled. It took them a month to replace enough of the equipment that they could have personal coverage on film, and one remote cam at basecamp, so the person manning the control centre could be hands free. It wasn’t ideal, given the size of the asylum, but they wouldn’t have had enough equipment to cover the whole thing anyway, even if they hadn’t lost their remote cames at Morton House.
Ed went to rent them two motel rooms - he could bunk in with Maggie, leaving Harry, Corbett, and Spruce to argue over who would share or if they’d get a cot in. Corbett followed him into the office though and booked a motel room under his own name.
“I was going to put you with Harry and Spruce…” Ed started to say.
“I’d prefer my own space,” Corbett said, and turned his back to Ed to focus on the motel clerk.
Ed wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. He thought Corbett was just mad at him - but maybe he was mad at Harry and Spruce too?
“Do you want to stay with Maggie?” Ed asked.
Corbett glanced back at Ed, as though he were surprised that Ed was still there, let along speaking to him. He shook his head.
“Okay, uh, regroup in room 5 at 1900 hours?” Ed tried not to make it a question, but he couldn’t help it. Corbett nodded, so Ed took the keys out to pass around to the others.
Maggie and Ed dropped their stuff in room five, leaving Harry and Spruce room six. Ed didn’t see what room Corbett went into. He wondered if it was on the other side of the building - as far away from Ed as possible.
“Uh, hey, Ed?” Maggie said once they were alone in the room. “How are things with you and Corbett?”
Ed couldn’t help the groan that escaped him. He was thinking about this so much, the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it.
“We’re fine, Maggie,” he answered, though he knew she wouldn’t believe him.
“Are you? So… how’d he take it when you turned him down? I mean, I guess he’s still here, so… it must have gone okay, but-”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ed interrupted. Had Ed turned him down? Is that what had happened? Or was it the other way around, because Ed couldn’t keep Corbett safe enough not to end up with burns on his forearms, and that damned sexy scar on his temple.
“You did… did you not…”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Maggie!” Ed repeated, maybe a little too loudly.
“Okay, okay,” Maggie said.
The silence that followed was more than a little awkward. Ed decided to use it to flop down on the bed and put his arms over his face, so that his nose was pressed into the soft bits of his elbow. It felt nice.
“Ed?”
“What, Maggie?”
“...you know I love you, yeah?”
“That’s gross, Maggie, you’re my sister,” Ed replied.
“Adopted sister,” Maggie said.
Ed raised his arm enough that he could turn his head and raise an eyebrow at Maggie. She was already smiling, but couldn’t stop herself from bursting out laughing.
“So gross,” Ed repeated, but he couldn’t help smiling.
Ed reburied his face in his arms. He had twenty minutes until the group descended on his and Maggie’s room for pizza and pregame huddle, and Ed thought maybe he’d just spend it laying on his back with his face hidden, contemplating the misery that was his life.
“Thanks, Maggie,” Ed murmured.
*
Two minutes after the rest of the Ghostfacers disappeared into the Asylum, leaving Corbett out in the cold “on watch” - Corbett concluded that Ed must be mad at him. They’d insisted that they didn’t blame him for the fire that lost the equipment - Corbett barely remembered setting it, except that sometimes he had nightmares about his hands burning and Ed yelling at him - but Ed and Harry barely let him do anything since the accident. Or maybe it was just Ed. He used to be the one to load the equipment into the van, but now Spruce did that.
Corbett had replaced his night-vision head-cam himself, thinking that might mend the trust - he didn’t actually know what happened to his last head-cam, but Ed had snapped at him to forget about it when he had asked, and Harry had looked a little wide-eyed between them and then just shook his head.
But it obviously wasn’t just the equipment loss that Ed was mad about. It had to be something else - because now Corbett found himself standing outside an abandoned Asylum while the others set-up basecamp. Supposedly, he was supposed to be making sure the police didn’t come and the doors didn’t seal shut behind the others - but Corbett knew it was a pointless task, since the plan was that once basecamp was set-up, Corbett would go inside and man the control center while the rest of them split-up to go exploring.
“Can I come in yet? It’s cold out here? Over.” Corbett asked into his walkie.
“You should have brought a warmer jacket,” Ed replied, quickly followed by Harry saying, “Yeah, man, come on in. Ed why-” before the sound cut off.
Corbett sighed. He liked Ed. He really liked Ed. He wished he knew how to fix this - he’d been trying to give Ed some space, hoping maybe he wouldn’t hold the grudge for long, but that didn’t seem to be working.
It was easy to find basecamp, he just followed the sound of chatter down the hall and into what obviously used to be a reception area for the asylum. Also, someone had left little electric faux tea-light candles every few meters to light the way, and also outlined a narrow pathway in salt.
“It’s not much warmer in here,” Ed said when Corbett reached them. Ed was laying down a circle of salt around the portable table holding the computers.
“It’s out of the wind,” Corbett argued. He hadn’t actually been cold, just anxious. He needed to prove himself on this mission, and he couldn’t do that by being stuck outside.
“Get inside the circle,” Ed ordered. “It will keep you safe.”
Corbett was already technically in the circle - it was connected the outlined pathway, but he dutifully stepped forward to be in the centre of it by basecamp. It wasn’t that big of an area and he wanted to explore, not stay stuck inside a circle of salt all night. He wasn’t sure how he could prove that he could be trusted, if he wasn’t allowed to show that he wouldn’t get kidnapped and beat-up by a ghost if he went off on his own.
“I have the head-cam though, shouldn’t I-”
“We went over this,” Ed interrupted. “We’re doing teams of two. Spruce is with Maggie and I’m with Harry. You’re the odd one-”
“I don’t mind-” Spruce started.
“I think I should be teamed with Maggie,” Harry said. “You know, split up our two experts and pair us with novices, so we can-”
“I’m fine with Spruce, thanks, or Corbett could-” Maggie said, rolling her eyes.
“He does have the best head-cam and I-” Spruce tried to say.
“WE’VE ALREADY DECIDED!” Ed yelled, then said, more calmly. “Okay, camera checks and then move out.”
Everyone ran through their camera checks while eyeing Ed as though he might yell again if they did it wrong. Corbett felt bad. Obviously just him being around annoyed Ed. This was the worst.
Corbett checked the live-feeds, making sure that his own head-cam was also sending and recording properly, and then he gave them a nod that they were good. Harry and Ed disappeared to the west wing and Maggie and Spruce disappeared to the east.
After that, it was just a matter of manning the radio, while everyone did their check-ins, talked about the EMF readings they were getting - which Corbett wrote down in the rough blueprint they’d been able to find of the building in the city archive.
“You’re checking for EVP on our communications, right, Corbett, over?” Ed’s voice came in.
“Roger,” Corbett said, trying to hide his sigh. He had a mic feeding it into a computer program, but besides basic radio static, there didn’t seem to be any spikes of unusual interference.
Spruce called in with another EMF reading, though soon discovered it was because he was holding the sensor up to broken wall outlet. Corbett noted it anyway. He looked at how much ground the two parties had covered and the size of the building and frowned. At the rate they were going, they’d be there until dawn just to walk the whole area - and Corbett would be stuck looking at camera feeds and this mindless busywork that Ed had given him. Corbett’s full memory of Morton House may not have returned, but he remembered enough of when they had first arrived to remember that the EMF readings were only present when the ghosts were - and the ghosts moved around. Corbett definitely remembered the ghost that took him moving pretty damn fast at least.
Turning over the map, he stared at the outline of the basement - it was mostly boiler room, and a couple of storage areas. They’d put it on the lowest priority, because any ghosts should be in the old wards, where they kept the patients - not near the furnace.
Corbett picked up the radio, adjusted his head-cam, and stepped over the salt-line.
*
“So things are awkward between you and Corbett, still, huh?” Harry said as they walked down the hall.
“Yeah,” Ed said, and hoped that would be enough. “You getting anything on EMF?”
“Nah,” Harry said. “Ghosts are shy tonight… newcomers in their domain - they’re probably watching us from the shadows, sussing us out. We’re friendlies, guys… and ladies!” Harry raised his voice. “We just want to talk!” He spun around quickly, and shone his flashlight back the way they had come. Ed didn’t have to turn around, he could tell by Harry’s disappointed face there was nothing there. Ed told himself the relief was because Harry had been distracted, not because Ed didn’t want any ghosts behind them - that’s the direction Corbett was in.
“I was worried about this,” Harry said.
“You don’t think we’ll find anything?” Ed asked, surprised - there were enough stories about Roosevelt that it was pretty much a lock for creepy activity. Missing persons. Disturbing history. It had it all.
“No, I mean, I was worried that things would get awkward when you turned Corbett down,” Harry continued. “Division among the ranks is not good for a crack Ghostfacer team.”
“What?” Ed asked.
“You should never mix romance and work, if Corbett had been smart, he would never have signed up,” Harry continued. “Poor guy - I mean, we all saw it coming, but still.”
“What about you and Maggie?”
“Heat of the moment thing,” Harry declared. “I mean, I thought - you know, maybe… but no, Maggie’s right, it’s not professional. Anyway, we’re talking about Corbett - I hope you at least let him down easy.”
“So, wait, what if Maggie was into it? Would you date her?” Ed asked.
“In a heartbeat,” Harry replied. “Look man,” Harry continued, seemingly in response to whatever look Ed had just given him. “I get that she’s your sister - but you gotta face the fact that your sister is hot, and I would definitely not pass up a chance to get with that, you know what I mean?”
“Ugh, Harry!” Ed exclaimed.
“I’m just saying-”
“I thought you just said it was unprofessional!” Ed interrupted.
“Well, yeah,” Harry shrugged. “But I really like Maggie, screw professionalism.”
Ed took a deep breath.
“Fine, I uh… I’m sorry Maggie turned you down, man,” Ed said. “I know how… um, I mean, it sucks when people don’t… um, feel the same way you do. So, yeah…”
Ed paused outside of a room, reading his camera, and then kicked the door open swiftly, shining the flashlight inside. He got a cool shot of some cockroaches scattering.
“Gross,” Harry said with a smile from behind him. Ed felt some of his anxiousness lift a little.
They called into Corbett with their latest readings and continued down the hall. Harry opened the next door really slowly - there was a broken window and a dead pigeon. They got a couple of cool shots of the moonlight through the broken dirty glass.
There was a little excitement after that when Spruce called in with a high reading - even Corbett, who had mostly sounded annoyed every time Ed called in, sounded a little more chipper - like his usual self. It soon turned out to be a bust though - just a broken outlet. Still, Ed was glad that Corbett was still getting along with the rest of the crew, maybe eventually, he’d warm back up to Ed too.
“So, how did he take it?” Harry asked.
“What?” Ed ignored how his heartbeat jumped. It was the spooky asylum, that was all.
“Corbett - when you turned him down. Maggie said she walked in on you, but… I mean, Corbett’s still around, so must not have gone too bad.”
“Can we not talk about this on camera?”
“We do everything on camera,” Harry stared at Ed, dumbfounded. “It’s about authenticity, man, you said that - people will never believe us if we aren’t completely honest with the- Is it about the feeds? The feeds don’t have sound, man, Corbett can’t hear us.”
“He’ll see it on the-”
“Why would it matter anyway, it’s not like he doesn’t know what happened and- WAIT, wait, Ed… did you… did you not turn him down yet? Oh shit.” Harry finally lowered his camera. Now he just stared at Ed with his jaw hanging open. Ed debated lowering his own camera, but Harry had a point about authenticity. Also, Corbett would know something was up if both their feeds suddenly pointed at the floor, and he’d radio in, and they’d have to come up with some lie-
“Ed, man, it’s not cool to string someone along like-”
“I’m not-” Ed cut himself off. His heart was pounding. “Can we just… just…” Ed fumbled for his meter and looked at the numbers. Then opened the channel on his radio.
“Uh, I’m reading a 4.5 in the… in the north-west hallway, by the exit stairwell, Corbett, over,” Ed said.
“Uh, y-yeah, r-roger that,” Corbett’s voice came through.
Ed wondered why Corbett seemed off. Then he looked to see Harry still had his camera lowered while he furrowed his brow at Ed.
“Pick up your camera, Harry,” Ed demanded. “He’s probably confused as to why you’re filming the floor.”
“Oh,” Harry lifted the camera, surprised. “I actually turned it off like you asked, we need to-”
“Harry!” Ed exclaimed. “Turn it back on, oh my god!”
Ed lifted his radio again, and opened the channel to Corbett.
“Hey, Corbett,” Ed made his voice as pleasant as possible, making sure none of his annoyance at Harry was accidentally directed at Corbett. “Harry accidentally turned off his camera - we’re going to turn it back on, can you let me know if the feed is still there or if we’ve got to do some trouble-shooting… over.”
“Uh, no?” Corbett replied. “I’m… I’m not currently at basecamp… over.”
Ed felt like a lead weight had been dropped into his stomach. “Say again?”
“I-I’m not currently at basecamp,” Corbett repeated over the line. “I’m in the basement. Something is weird down here - it smells like… a birthday party? No… uh, dead bodies. Yeah, dead bodies. And… fire.”
“Get out of the basement, Corbett!” Ed felt sick. He was already turning and running back towards the staircase.
“It’s fine-” Corbett’s tiny voice came over the line.
“What is with that guy and basements,” Harry said between breaths as he ran after Ed. Ed didn’t bother replying. He heard Harry say “everyone to the basement, I guess” into the open radio channel. Ed was already down the first flight of stairs.
*
The basement was strange. It looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer, or maybe a battering ram, to one of the walls. There was this strange lingering smell - Corbett hadn’t been lying when he told Ed that the first thing it made him think about was a birthday party. He had a flash of a memory, and realized it was from being strapped to a chair at a table in the basement of Morton House, beside a corpse.
And that meant that the other smell over top of that was burning bodies, because that caused a flash of a memory to resurface - a memory of Ed yelling at him, while hitting him in the arm, as Corbett watched bodies burn behind him. Dead bodies burning.
“I think someone got here before us,” Corbett said, when Ed and Harry burst into the room only a few seconds later.
“Why the hell aren’t you at basecamp!” Ed yelled. “Fucking hell, Corbett! I’m trying-”
Corbett lost his patience.
“Listen! I know you don’t trust me anymore, but I just wanted-”
“Trust you! Of course I trust you, I’m trying to-”
“You certainly have a weird way of showing it! You’re constantly hovering over everything I do - you won’t let me do anything unless I’m standing in a circle of salt and-”
Corbett head Maggie and Spruce arrive in the hallway behind him.
“I’m trying to keep you SAFE!” Ed yelled back. “You almost DIED and I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU.”
“Whoa,” Spruce said.
“Holy shit” Harry muttered.
Maggie just whispered, “Oh, Ed.”
Corbett stared at him, because now he could remember something else - there was the smell of dead bodies, of fire, of burning and burnt dead bodies and hair and flesh - and there was Ed yelling at him.
*
“You have to stay awake, Corbett - stay with us,” Ed had said, once they’d practically carried him up and out of the burning house and laid him down on the lawn. Everyone was coughing. Corbett was exhausted. “Corbett!”
“Tell him you love him!” Harry said from over Ed’s shoulder. “He’s in love with you man - that’ll keep him focused - you gotta be gay for that poor dying intern.”
Harry turned and ran back towards the house, passing Maggie on the way who had an armful of laptops and monitors. Ed looked desperately at Corbett. Corbett wasn’t sure what was going on.
*
“Ed…” Harry said. “You’re… why didn’t you tell me you… wait, were you ever attracted to me?!”
“God, Harry, don’t be gross!” Ed yelled at him. “You’re my brother!”
Harry’s hand flew to his heart, and he his eyes got watery.
“You’re my brother too, Ed,” Harry declared in a watery voice, then opened his arms. “Come here!”
Ed turned and he and Harry embraced.
“I love you, brother,” Ed muttered softly into the hug. “Thanks for being cool.”
*
“Corbett,” Ed said, softening his voice. “Please, I love you - stay awake and I’ll… I’ll take you on a date, okay? We’ll go out? See how it goes? Where would you want to go - tell me where to take you on a date, Corbett!”
“Uh, movie?” Corbett managed to say, speaking caused the tickle in his throat to get worse, and triggered a coughing fit. Corbett’s head hurt and he was so tired.
“Shit, shit - movie, okay, which movie, Corbett - Corbett, which movie?”
*
“Ghostbusters,” Corbett said into the awkward silence. Ed and Harry immediately broke apart. “You owe me Ghostbusters and dinner at the italian place next to Kinkos.”
“Yeah?” Ed smiled cautiously at him. “You… you remember?”
“Some of it,” Corbett answered.
“I thought you were mad at me,” Ed said, his smile falling as he walked back over to stand in front of Corbett.
“I wasn’t,” Corbett said. He could hardly believe this was happening. “I-I mean, I was, just-just now. But, we can… can talk about it.”
“Yeah?” Ed smiled again. “Over… over dinner and Ghostbusters?”
“Yeah,” Corbett answered. “Well, not over-”
“Not over Ghostbusters,” Ed finished for him. “That’s disre-”
“-spectful, yeah” Corbett said, smiling.
When Ed leaned in and kissed him, his scruff tickled Corbett’s face, and Corbett couldn’t help the giggle that escaped him. Then they broke the kiss because Ed was smiling too wide.
“I missed your laugh,” Ed whispered.
Corbett kissed him again.
“Awww,” the others chorused.
“Get it, bro!” Maggie exclaimed.
“Romance is in the air-”
“No, it’s not, step back, Harry.”
“Roger that.”
“Pretty sure human ashes are what’s actually in the air, this place smells.”
Harry coughed loudly. “Uh, maybe… maybe we should get back to work, guys?”
Corbett blushed and forced himself to step away from Ed, who he discovered was also blushing.
There would be time later, to explain how a lot of what Ed thought was Corbett being angry, was just Corbett being quietly confused while he had a concussion… and there would be time later to negotiate just how much danger they’d be willing to put themselves or each other in… and there would be time later for both Corbett and Ed to be really thankful that Corbett had gotten his own motel room, even if it was originally because he was embarrassed that he sometimes suffered from nightmares. And there would be time later to discover that he didn’t have as many nightmares if he slept cuddled up to someone.
They had plenty of time.
For now, they raised their cameras again - they had a dead body to find and a mystery to solve.
