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Trevor followed Pete up the stairs, into an empty room, and watched as he pinched the bridge of his nose. This was not good.
No one else alive had luck quite this bad. Honestly, how Pete's ex wife managed to die and turn into a ghost on the same property as Pete was beyond Trevor.
"You okay?" he asked carefully.
Pete just gave him a look before starting to pace around the room. "This has to be some kind of sick cosmic joke. And it is not. Funny." That last statement was directed at the ceiling.
"Believe me, after what happened with my bros, I get it." Sure, it wasn't the exact same thing. After all, Ari thankfully hadn't bit the dust at Woodstone. But Trevor still understood the sharp sting of betrayal.
"Yeah, I guess." But Pete didn't really look like he was processing the words. He was frowning at the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. "Do you think I deserve this?"
"Okay, what? Where did that come from?"
Pete winced. "I don't know. There has to be a reason things like this keep happening to me, right? Otherwise what's the point?"
This was Halloween. The holiday of slutty costumes and drinking even more than usual. The last thing Trevor wanted to do right now was get existential.
But he hated the unsure look that started creeping across Pete's face as the silence went on.
"Of course you don't deserve this," he said firmly, putting a bracing hand on Pete's shoulder. "Sometimes bad things just happen to good people."
"Like with your friends," Pete said quietly.
Trevor froze. No one had said anything like that to him in a long time, not since Ari had come to the mansion.
Even though the others knew what had really happened, the truth sort of faded into the background. Now it was just an inconvenient fact that Trevor liked to use to prove his point when he knew he was right.
But here was Pete, probably the best person Trevor knew, basically saying that he was a good person.
Trevor wasn't sure what to say. Or what to do about the warm feeling flooding his chest like sunlight.
"Are you okay?" Pete asked slowly, brow furrowed. The expression looked out of place on his face considering how cheerful he usually was.
And before Trevor could think the better of it, he did something very stupid. He leaned in and kissed Pete.
It was good. Surprisingly good. Not that Trevor had spent much time before thinking about what kidding Pete would be like. But he could never have imagined the way it would feel, like fireworks lighting up the sky.
And Pete was kissing him back. Really kissing him back, cupping Trevor's face in his palm.
When he finally pulled back, out of breath, Pete was looking at him with wide eyes, like a deer by the side of the road.
"Don't freak out," Trevor heard himself say, holding a hand out in front of him. "This is fine."
"Did you - did you mean to do that?" A flush was spreading across Pete's face, lighting him up like a sunrise.
"I wanted it." And when the words left his mouth, Trevor realized that he did. He wanted to reach over and kiss Pete again until the frown slid off his face and melted into a smile.
"You're sure?" Pete asked, his voice urgent.
"Are you?" Trevor shot back. "Your ex wife just showed up as a ghost."
Then Pete met his eyes, something strained yet clear in his expression. "I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't sure," he said quietly. "You know that."
Trevor did. But before he could even open his mouth to apologize, the other ghosts barged into the room, their voices overlapping with questions. Pete sank into a chair, head in his hands.
Even though their conversation had gone unfinished, Trevor perched on the edge of Pete's chair, putting a hand on Pete's back. The least he could do was try to comfort him.
It took a while for the conversation to die down, but when it did, Pete finally looked back up. He turned and gave Trevor a small smile, an open door and a promise all at once.
And suddenly, Trevor knew that no matter what happened next, the two of them were going to be just fine.