Work Text:
The doors to the van were shut. Everyone was panting, the gang had done a lot more running than they thought they would be doing. That ghost really didn’t like that they were there. Fortunately, the spirit was bound to the area it haunted and couldn’t follow them to the van.
There was a loud thump as Arthur fell against the back of the van’s seats, accompanied by another thud. Looks like the human members weren’t the only ones who were tired of running, as Mystery laid flat on his back, not even bothering to get into his bed.
“Whoo!” Vivi yelled, as hyped up as can be.
“Wasn’t that exciting!?”
“Exciting!? How could you call THAT exciting!? O-o-oh god ...why couldn’t the first g-ghost that we’d come across be a docile one?” Arthur babbled. He still looked frantic, trembling a little bit.
“Aw c’mon Artie!” Vivi climbed over the passenger seat and took the place next to Arthur.
“They were only a category 3 ghost! Now that we know what kind of ghost we’re dealing with, we can properly help them!”
“I don’t know what you guys are on about.” Lewis chimed in as he sat in the driver's seat, laying one of his arms on the seat.
“All I heard was some growling and then you 2 took off. Couldn’t of been more than an angry dog or other animal that was upset that we had gotten so close.”
Vivi shot Lewis a nonchalant look, while Arthur whipped his head back to stare at Lewis with an incredulous one.
“What!? Are you being serious right now? Did you n-not see the ghost that was chasing us!? Not even once !?”
“I was more concerned that you guys were pretty much ditching me at the time.” Lewis was pretty much messing with them at that point.
“But -!” Arthur was interrupted when Vivi put her hand on his shoulder.
“Aw don’t let it get to ya Art! Lew here is just the Velma Dinkley of our gang, it’s basically his job to dismiss what we saw.” Vivi said with a devious grin on her face.
“I’m nothing like Velma Dinkley….” Lewis pouted.
“You sure about that?”
Moving around Arthur to get behind where Lewis was, Vivi wrapped her arms around Lewis’s neck, squishing her face next to his. She giggled as Lewis moved his arm to wrap around her as if she were a part of the seat herself. He rolled his eyes as he chuckled, unbeknownst to Vivi, as his bangs prevented his eyes from being seen by others.
“Alright then, let’s go back out there and see if we can find that imaginary ghost of yours.”
Vivi moved away when Lewis removed his arm from her side, quickly throwing herself over the seat and back into the passenger's seat to get out. Vivi sighed and shook her head with a smile still plastered on her face, glancing at Lewis with her peripheral vision.
“What am I gonna do with you?”
The 2 opened their respective doors and were about to get out, when Vivi stopped and looked over to Arthur to ask if he was coming. To her dismay, Arthur hadn’t really budged from his place, still trying to calm himself down. The blue girl frowned, tapping Lewis’s shoulder to grab his attention and motioning towards Arthur. Lewis now shared her frown, Vivi and him sharing a look with each other for a second.
Vivi was the first to move, sitting herself next to Arthur once more with Lewis taking the other side of Arthur this time.
“Hey Artie, is everything alright?”
Vivi scooted closer to Arthur to the point they were gently touching shoulders. She knew this calmed Arthur some, so she always did it whenever he was upset. Arthur looked at Vivi as she did, bringing himself to smile a little.
“Uh, y-y-yeah, I’m fi - I’m ok…”
At some point Mystery had gotten up, moving over to the 3 and sitting close in front of Arthur in an attempt to comfort him. The blonde took notice of this, setting his hand on Mystery’s head and scratching it.
“Arthur, if you want to stay in here, you can, I can stay with you if you want.” This time Mystery was the one to speak up, Vivi and Lewis nodding their heads in agreement.
“No, no. It’s not that I want to stay behind! I want t-t-to come with you guys, I really do! I just…”
Arthur’s eyes trailed over to Lewis, as said man put his hand on his shoulder and gave a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
“Hey buddy, it’s ok. Nothing’s gonna happen to you as long as I’m around, and I’m sure Vivi, nor Mystery, would allow anything to happen to you either.”
“We’ve got your back, Art!” Vivi assured with a determined look in her eyes, Lewis and Mystery reaffirming her statement.
At this, Arthur’s smile grew even more.
“Thanks you guys.”
He happily wrapped his arms around Lewis and Vivi as Mystery leaned up against Arthur’s chest.
“I really appreciate it.”