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“Wait, you need what now?” Theo asked, adjusting the bags in his arms. He had finally gotten Ghost out of his lab and even the guild! It was a huge feat that he was very proud of himself for getting Ghost to leave. And he even got him out to go shopping for things. Another very proud moment for himself! Until he found out that Ghost wanted him to carry things that he needed to either pick up from a supplier or buy for his experiments. Not exactly what he was hoping to do by getting the other out but he would deal with it for the moment.
“Gunpowder.” Ghost said absently, looking down at the book he always carried around. Theo had only peeked into it once and had found some VERY interesting notes in there once and hadn’t touched it since.
“Right. I did hear you correctly the first time.” Sighing, Theo shot a confused look over at his partner and waited until the other looked up at him with a questioning noise. “Why the hell do you need gunpowder?”
“It’s part of an experiment I’m working on.”
“I figured as much. If it was anyone else asking me to help them get this stuff, I’d be concerned. Actually, I should probably still be very concerned even if it is just you. You concern me with some of your plans, Ghost.” He heard the barest hint of a chuckle leave the other and he smiled, adding that to the scoreboard for the day of things he’s gotten Ghost to do. “But seriously...gunpowder? Is that even allowed inside the building?”
“Only if it’s me with it. No one else is allowed with it in the building.”
“And why is that?” Theo asked, shifting another bag in his arms as he watched Ghost start walking off in another direction with a small sigh as he started walking after him.
“You know that scorch mark in the mess hall?” Ghost asked, looking back at him with a sly smile. Theo just nodded in response and his smile grew. “I didn’t cause that but someone else got ahold of some explosives that I had made and tried to work with them without telling me.” He lifted a hand up and a small fire lit within his palm before he quickly extinguished it. “Boom.” He murmured, looking ahead again when he heard Theo start to laugh. “It wasn’t fun to try and explain THAT to the guild master. They were technically MY explosives but I didn’t cause the problem. People were just looking for a way to get me out.”
“Not very smart of them. They’d lose a valuable member.” Theo said easily, grinning when he caught the way Ghost seemed to stumble a bit at his words before moving along faster. “Your supplies in the back alleys or something?”
“No, she’s outside the stores. Wouldn’t be very smart to have that much explosive material hanging around in town.” Ghost slipped through the streets with Theo tailing him before coming across a shop on the very edge of everything and waved a hand at Theo to stop him. “I’ll just be a moment.” Before he disappeared inside the building.
Theo raised an eyebrow but stayed put, setting the bags down to give his arms a small break and was surprised to hear the door opening and closing yet again, Ghost reappearing in front of him shortly after. “That really was just a moment.” He teased, grinning at the other who was carefully slipping something into one of the bags. “Ready to head back then?” He got a hum in reply and was mildly surprised to find the other picking up a few of the bags up himself before starting off again back down the roads. Quick to scoop up the rest of Ghost’s things, Theo took off after the other.
***
The sound wasn’t as scary as it really should have been. It was the confusion and yelling in the distance that made Theo thoroughly scared.
“Dammit. Did that idiot really blow up his laboratory?” He muttered as he took off running towards Ghost’s lab. Not surprised to find a few people gathered around outside, he pushed past them all to get to the door. As soon as his hand touched the knob, the door flung open and he jumped back just in time to watch Ghost come stumbling out, coughing loudly. “Ghost!” He quickly reached out and grabbed the other to steady him, pulling him gently away from the still smoldering room. “What the fuck happened? I thought you said you knew what you were doing?”
“I-” Ghost started before the coughing started up again violently, causing him to fall into Theo’s chest. Sucking a breath, he blew it out and tried to straighten himself up but was obviously still disoriented and swayed a bit as he did so. “Whoa.” He rasped, resting a hand against Theo’s arm as he tried to steady himself. “Okay that didn’t go so well.” He admitted, looking up at the other with a dazed smile.
“No shit! Sunshine, what the fuck did you do?!” Theo tried getting him to answer again, watching his eyes carefully as they tried to focus but couldn’t. “C’mon, Ghost. Stay with me. What did you do?” He heard a few people muttering around them and he quickly shooed them away. “Get lost. He’s fine. I’ll clean up the mess. Quick gawking.”
Ghost just blinked a few times before grinning at him. “I fucked up. I really fucked up.”
Shocked to hear the other swear, Theo stared at him before carefully peering into the laboratory. “Fucked up...how? Is it safe to go in there?”
“It’s fine. The fire died down already.” Ghost cleared his throat, wincing slightly. A waterskin was shoved into his hands and he quickly drank from it, sighing after the water washed away the rest of the ash in his throat. “Thank you.” Handing back the waterskin to Theo, he gently slipped out of his grasp and back into the room. Stepping over a few things, he let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Oh thank the gods nothing is really that bad off.”
Theo had followed behind him quickly and stopped halfway into the room. “Your desk is nearly gone!” His eyebrows shot up seeing the state of the other’s desk. His pride and joy.
“It’s fine. Just a little singed.”
“A little singed? Ghost it’s like burnt up.” Theo was baffled how calm Ghost was being right now and he walked over to the other as he picked up a rag and started wiping it down. “Wait, what?”
“It’s just a little singed.” Ghost repeated, looking up at the other with a small smile. “You honestly think I don’t cast some sort of protection on my things? Why do you think this desk has never had a single blemish on it?” Rolling his eyes, he went back to wiping it down before he froze and started laughing.
Startled yet again, Theo looked at Ghost before following where the other’s finger was pointing. Staring at the scorch mark, Theo couldn’t help but start to laugh as well. “Okay, you mystify me. How the fuck did you manage to get it on the fucking walls?” Snatching up another rag, he walked over to the opposite side of the room and started wiping off the walls carefully. “Ghost, it is EVERYWHERE over here.”
Finally looking over at Theo, Ghost sighed and went over to where he was. “Okay yes it is everywhere. I see that. I don’t know how it got over here.”
“Okay, sassy. You don’t have to talk to me like that.” Theo teased, dipping down to press a quick kiss to the top of the other’s head. “But I really want to know how this happened.”
“Honestly, so do I.” Ghost sighed, stepping back slightly to look at it in totality. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I don’t think.” Running a hand through his hair, he jumped as his wrist was snatched away from his face quickly. “What?”
“You have soot all over your hands.” Theo said gently, using another rag to gently wipe off the other’s hand. “There.” He pressed a kiss to the back of his hand and smiled against it when he heard Ghost sigh heavily. “I can go get a bucket of clean water to help out?”
“I’d appreciate it.” Ghost said, amusement clear in his tone. “Thank you.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to Theo’s cheek before pulling away fully to go back to cleaning up the mess. He heard Theo do a little cheer before dashing out of the room. Looking up at the wall again, his eyes drifted up and he started laughing again. He heard Theo dashing back in and skid to a stop only to start laughing as well.
“You sure are something else, Ghost.” Theo chuckled.