technicallyhellbound | for @convincingsmile - Nobody's dying today (probably)

for @convincingsmile - Nobody's dying today (probably)

Edwin knew as soon as he fell through the mirror that something was wrong, and not just a little bit wrong, but the kind of wrong that made the whole world tilt on its axis a little.

It wasn't a misdirected portal, not like the case that had ultimately led them to Crystal, not like many other failures of concentration when traversing mirror portals before, it was something else, and he couldn't place what it was. All he knew was that he'd simply passed through the mirror in question and had landed, hard on the floor on the other side of the room, hard enough that he actually skidded a couple of feet and that couldn't be right because that actually hurt, and hurt in the way he hadn't felt in... well, decades.

It was enough to tumble him against the far wall just from his own momentum, impacting hard enough to knock the breath out of his lungs, and that was definitely wrong, because he shouldn't have had breath or lungs. He could see, even through pain-hazed vision that the poltergeist he'd been baiting had, indeed, gotten caught in the trap he himself had leapt over when aiming for the mirror.

That was, however, the last thing he saw before the half-rotted-through loft floor gave way beneath his sudden and unexpected weight, sending him falling, flailing, scraped to ribbons on the broken slats, to the ground below, and he was reasonably sure he'd actually heard something snap on impact, ribs, if the sudden radiating pain was anything to go by, though his shoulder wasn't in good shape either, and that was an entirely different kind of pain, just layering on top of the feeling of the ragged scratches from the wood, and it occurred to him, dimly, that he'd forgotten how much he hated the feeling of blood on his skin.

It had been different in Hell, the pain, the sensations in general, all of it, it had been horrible, yes, but it was so much more visceral now, and even as his vision began to go hazy again, head swimming, his last thoughts were trying to remember how he'd somehow gotten separated from Charles, who had been barely a step behind him when he'd rounded the corner into the loft pursued by the poltergeist now trapped securely above him.

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Right, Charles knew Edwin had alcohol from a young age, and his cough syrup was something that was so illegal today, but very fun. And yet he didn't expect him to handle his drink so well. He drank last night, right? Bloody hell.

But, on the other hand, it was great to think that he was getting to know a side of Edwin he wouldn't otherwise. Not a new Edwin, but an alive Edwin... Though, Charles tried not to think about that fact too much.

"Mm, mo, mate-" Charles snapped, with his mouth stuffed with his eggs and bacon sandwich. Then he struggled to swallow it before he continued. "No, no, we can get a guide, yeah? It's something you wanted, maybe they gonna tell something you don't know, or, or, or you can correct them on something. Wouldn't you like that, yeah? Don't hold back because... because of current state of affairs." Charles just couldn't say 'because of me' out loud.

He smiled, reaching over to give Charles' hand a squeeze, "It's for my own sake as well, I don't trust myself not to correct someone with inaccurate information." A little shake of his head and a half-circular gesture with his fork, "General knowledge has advanced more than I realize, sometimes."

His brow creased, considering, just making a thoughtful sound, "I suppose we can decide when we get there, if there's a guided tour that's predominantly younger children I think I'd be more inclined to ask questions instead of stating facts that may no longer be true."

"Right, but then you'd learn in a fun way," Charles sighed, squeezing his hand back. "What, you wanna learn together with a bunch of little kids? That'd be cute. You'd be like their older brother or something," he chuckled, exchanging a look with Crystal. "So yeah, do as you want mate, I'll be there no matter what or how you wanna do it."

Though the thought of little children usually delighted him, now with the headache still lingering on the edge of his consciousness, he wasn't sure he had the patience for them... But it would be so fun. Children knew how to have fun!

"And for what it's worth I'd much rather be corrected by a six year old than a grown adult." He added with a shrug before returning to his breakfast.

Crystal had been puzzled by this turn of opinion, at least until that particular statement, which put it all into perspective and she nodded, "Kids that age like being smarter than anybody older than they are, but they won't be dicks about it. Most of the time."

"Precisely so." Edwin agreed with a nod, honestly glad that she understood what he was getting at, "So we'll take the more direct route to get there, see what the makeup of the upcoming guided tours is, possibly join one of those, or take the self-guided if not, stay for the bird educational segment, then take the long way back so we can stop for ice cream."

"Sounds like a plan," Charles grinned, risking another bigger bite from his food. He devoured it in two more bites, thanking Crystal over and over again. At least his stomach was getting better but he still felt sick and weak as they took off. He could have stayed in bed all day, but that wasn't an option. The living didn't know how good they had it... Though, ghosts never experience hangover due to them being... dead, so, fair exchange?

Either way, the beginning of the trip was like stepping out to World War 3, like all the light, the sounds, the... everything was almost too much. Everything Charles loved about being alive was now either annoyed him or made him sick.

But they made it, and the fresh air did help, but he would have died again without coffee.

Edwin, for his part, was thankful for sunglasses, mostly because he'd very nearly forgotten just how bright the daytime world usually was. Certainly they'd been out in it before, but it was different as a ghost, less distracting.

There wasn't a school group, it was too early in the day for that, apparently, but there was a local senior citizens begonia fanciers group, and as far as Edwin was concerned that was just as good because one thing he knew was that the two groups of people who were the most delightfully opinionated were young children and the elderly, something that was only reinforced when one of the ladies -wearing a frankly ridiculously oversized straw hat- gave the three of them a knowing wink and an approving nod and Edwin couldn't even be sure what it was she thought she was seeing, but not about to argue it, either, keeping his hold of Charles' hand

Crystal also noticed, giving the woman a brilliant smile as she looped her arm a little more securely through Charles', keeping him sandwiched between herself and Edwin.

Charles was honestly a little out of it by the time they got there. He was holding onto Edwin's hand for dear life. He only noticed something was about when Crystal also linked her arm with his tighter. Charles looked around, spotting the look on the woman too. He would lie if he said a cold dread didn't run down his spine, but it passed a moment later. There was no judgement but more amusement in her look. So it relaxed Charles a bit.

"Everything good, mate?" Charles checked in. Though it was probably for himself too. He knows he kissed Edwin at the concert too, and definitely showed others that they were together. But that was a safer place for it...

Once Edwin had realized that her look was some sort of wry approval he'd relaxed as well, just nodding at Charles' question, "Yes, quite." There was no hesitation in using his free hand to brush Charles' hair away from his brow with his fingertips, testing his temperature as he did, "And you? If you need to sit down for a moment we certainly can."

Crystal found that she was actually enjoying the tour guide, which she hadn't expected, "And you and I can find somewhere in the shade to sit and watch while Edwin gets used as a parakeet perch." A little shrug, "Unless you were into that, too."

Charles closed his eyes as he felt the cool touch of Edwin's fingers on his forehead. He stifled a groan, leaning into the touch, seeking more. Oh he could get used to this...

"I'll be fine, yeah?" he smiled, squeezing Edwin's hand in return.

Then he gave another pained groan.

"I wanna be a parakeet perch too..." he sighed. He definitely was suffering but these were parakeets! When could he feel little birdie feet on his shoulders if not now?

"Sure, then I'll sit it out and take pictures." Crystal replied, amused.

Edwin just nodded, giving Charles' hand another squeeze, "We'll have a sit down in the shade before then, though, wouldn't do to have you feeling woozy while covered in birds." It was only as the tour continued that he started to notice some interesting dynamics in the rest of the group, but it wasn't anything he could fully focus on while also paying attention to the guide.

He was amused by the packet of wildflower seeds they were each given for completing the tour, just tucking it away in a pocket before steering Charles gently towards a bench in the shade, "We've a few minutes until the next bird encounter, and it's only across the way." A nod towards the small stage with permanent perches installed on it.

Charles nodded, letting himself be steered and guided at this point. Though he admitted sitting in the shade did revigorate him a little. He had so forgotten just how nice it was to be out in the sun, then seeking shelter under some trees. The more he noticed these little things, the more he dreaded for it all to end.

When they sat down, he was silent for a bit. Then looked up, frowning.

"So, anyone noticed the old folk being proper weird or 's just me?" he asked.

"They most certainly were." Edwin replied with a nod, "Though I couldn't make heads or tails of it."

Crystal looked from Edwin to Charles and back, "Yeah, you didn't see the pineapples?"
Edwin's brow furrowed, "I fail to see what their choice in accessories means, of course they've got a symbol, they're a botany club?"

Crystal sighed in a way Edwin had come to recognize as some part exasperation and some part steeling herself for an explanation, "They're swingers. That's what the upside down pineapple means."

Edwin was sure he'd heard the term before, but didn't have his notebook on him to be able to leaf through to one of his updated vocabulary pages to be sure, "I'm going to assume you don't mean swing dancers."

"Pineapples?" Charles frowned, trying to think what the hell a fruit had to do with anything...? But then Crystal explained and Charles felt his headache coming back full force. "How what?! They were eying us all the way, mate!" he said, looking both at Crystal and Edwin. "They- do you think they were, like, seriously interested?" he asked Crystal with wide eyes.

Then he paused for a second before he laughed out loud, despite the headache.

"I kept thinking if they could see if I'm sick or somethin'".

Crystal shrugged at Charles' question, though she couldn't help but smile at the combination of indignation and curiosity, "Don't know. I mean, we're definitely not in the club, no insignia, but maybe they thought we were new and didn't know about it."

Edwin shook his head, still puzzled, not sure if what he was assuming was correct, "I'm afraid I still don't."

Crystal laughed, shaking her head, "Swingers are couples who trade partners, Edwin. So they probably all thought a lot of things about the three of us." She reached over to rest the back of her hand against Charles' brow, "Including that you're clearly unwell. No fever, though, not clammy, this is just good old-fashioned hangover."

Edwin just shook his head, kneading at the bridge of his nose, "That's... well, that will be a story to add to our adventures, won't it?" It wasn't an objection, it wasn't even really any sort of distaste, it was a sort of half-grudging acceptance, mostly that the world really had changed from what he knew.

"Good ol' fashioned hangover," Charles repeated in a groan, as he pressed his forehead against her cool fingers. Then he chuckled, looking at Edwin. "At least they were half right, yeah? About us," he grinned. "And I'm always happy to be mistaken as your boyfriend, or uh, night companion, Crystal," he said with a wider grin.

Soon, the bird encounter started, and it was as magical as that sounded. Charles was actually surprised that it was much more exciting than the plants. Alright, no offense to plants, but birds are cuter. Edwin is cuter than anything, though, but when it comes to birds and plants, it's birds. It was loud, and lively and Charles battled with his renewing headache, but he was glad they didn't miss this.

Birds handled them in a different way when they approached them as living humans. They were more... natural? When they were approached by ghosts, birds were just a little different, not entirely like cats, but different.

And it was always a treat to see Edwin happy.

Crystal snorted, "I'm no homewrecker, and if I was I could definitely do better." There was no real heat to the jab, and she pressed a quick kiss to his temple immediately afterward, to take any tension out of the exchange.

Edwin was delighted by the birds, especially the one that kept side-stepping along Charles' arm to get at his earring, regardless of where the handlers moved the bird to, whether it was Charles' other shoulder or Edwin's, just inching its way across Edwin's shoulders and down his arm until it could catch at Charles' arm again to make its way back up to his ear.

Once Crystal had realized it was going to keep trying, she'd swapped the polaroid for her phone so she could get video, something that Edwin didn't even notice, too enamored of the pink cockatoo currently perched on his outstretched arm, eying him like it was trying to determine if he was a sucker or a threat as the handler explained their usual habitat, diet and gave Edwin a pistachio to hand over before once again rescuing Charles' from the attempted earring-thievery.

Edwin was still smiling when they rejoined Crystal, more at ease than he had been even just on the tour.

Charles laughed out loud at Crystal's remark, nodding as she kissed his temples.

Trying to guard his shiny earring from the parakeet, he could barely contain his laughter too. He kept ducking away, or even tried to reason with the bird. In the end he just resolved to be rescued by the handlers every time one of the birds got close to their prize. He learned nothing about the birds that day, but he could watch Edwin smile and even laugh a little made everything thousand times better.

"That was fun, eh?" Charles exclaimed once they joined Crystal again. He couldn't stop smiling, but he also could not take his eyes off Edwin either. It was always a rare treat to see him like this. And he was alive. God, Charles felt himself falling in love again. He was ready to reach for Edwin's hand but then he spotted someone nearby. Someone familiar. The Night Nurse... and Charles honestly thought he was just too tired.

She definitely wasn't a too-tired hallucination, because Edwin spotted her as well, the ease that had settled over him evaporating just as quickly, practically falling away as his shoulders drew up square and ready, something that brought him to his full height, it was something that made him a little imposing even without his usual choice of outfit that made it a more severe impression.

It was also something that didn't cow the woman at all, not that he was really trying to, and before he could ask what was happening, she just regarded each of them in turn and Edwin was pretty sure she could somehow tell exactly where they'd been and what they'd been doing since she'd last seen them, especially when her tone was -in his opinion- particularly snippy, "A case has come into the Agency's purview that requires your particular skills. I'll leave the information in the office so you can formulate a plan, and will check back in with you in the morning when you'll both be more capable of assisting. It is time-sensitive, but not yet critical."

That said, she was gone, and Crystal arched a brow, tone dry, "Nice to know I'm not needed, I guess." She shook her head, slinging an arm across Charles' shoulders and catching Edwin's elbow gently, since she knew how he was about contact, "I say we still get ice cream on the way back, don't think that case is going to go critical after an extra few minutes."

Edwin had just shaken his head at the Night Nurse's departure, "The absolute gall of her to just expect we'll be able to help." Another head-shake, though it was more to clear his mind -and his attitude- rather than to negate what Crystal had said, especially as his next statement was, "I rather think we should, yes."

Watching Edwin just going almost darker, more square was something Charles never wanted to see again. The contrast between his laughter and then the face he put on after it was told they had to go was... crushing. Charles knew the Night Nurse wouldn't have asked them if there were any other way to do it. They were helping someone, someone who was in need and quickly needed it... So it was a good thing, but... but they were alive for only a short time. So Crystal's touch and her reassurance that they could take this easy, that they could get ice cream before it all... went back to work.

Charles felt his headache more as they started walking and he wasn't sure if it was because of the sudden shift or if it truly got worse. But ice cream was good, and it did take the edge of their newest case. Though, it also raised the question how fast would they need to solve the case...

"Do you think it's really that urgent?" Charles asked.

Having said their goodbyes to Crystal on the front steps, with a promise to call if they needed her help, all Edwin had to say as he took a moment to actually unlock and open the door to the office, waving Charles through before following, closing the door behind them, was: "I suppose we're going to find out."

There was one of the Agency's manila folders on the desk, the ones that weren't technically manila as they were darker, the color of good waxed paper, and were somehow heavier than a traditional manila folder, it was something Edwin had been trying to work out for ages, as he'd never seen folders like it. Edwin just stared at it for a moment as if it might solve itself if he glowered hard enough, but his expression smoothed a moment later, settling into his usual seat and flipping the thing open.

Somehow, Edwin being alive and holding a folder like that made Charles's heart pretty heavy. He couldn't explain it. But there was something sad and heavy about it. To distract himself from that he smiled and walked behind Edwin to see what was so bloody important...

When Charles thought about it, it was almost hilarious that working on a case while being alive wasn't all that different. Only that he sometimes ran into walls when he was in a hurry, forgetting he couldn't just walk through them. They also needed to ask Crystal for her powers at one point. But in the end, they could solve the case in record time. And yes, it was pretty time sensitive. Ghosts in houses that were about to be demolished, or near old graves that were about to be destroyed due to construction were needed to be addressed fast so they could move on to their afterlife and not get stuck in eternal darkness.

But that also meant that they had to spend their night and the majority of their last day alive working on the case and making sure the ghost moved on. It was early night already when they stumbled back to the office again, and Charles's head was still buzzing, just like when they finished a case.

"Right so, it goes on the finished wall, yeah?"

"Yes." The single-word reply was a far cry from Edwin's usual, shedding the windbreaker he'd been wearing, hanging it on the coat rack.

They had finished the case, yes, and in record time he was reasonably sure, but it had been full of too many reminders as to why they shouldn't be doing cases while living, including Charles slamming right into a wall and Edwin having barked his knee, and badly, against a gravestone. It hadn't been enough to leave him limping except for the first few minutes after the initial impact, but it was still tender -likely from having been running on it instead of tending to it- and it was a painful reminder of how fragile they actually were.

More than that, he was tired, rubbing a hand up over his face with a quiet, "Should write up the case notes. But for once I don't actually want to." As much as he'd wanted to return to their normal state, he also hadn't wanted to squander their short time alive, either. He didn't regret helping another ghost pass on, he didn't think he ever could, but at the same time it felt like a waste of a day. In short, it was a complicated tangle of emotions that he didn't think he was going to be able to sort through anytime soon.

Charles nodded and went to the wall to move the case. It was to do something with this nervous energies too. His breath still came a little shirt after that slam, and his ear was still ringing. But they did it.

He turned to look at Edwin, seeing him taking off the jacket. He looked knackered, in the wrong way too. Almost like that first night they got their lives back. A hint of guilt gripped Charles about it, as always when he saw Edwin hurting.

"Then don't write them, yeah?" Charles said, rubbing his shoulder without him even noticing. "Go and rest. Lay down," he said, walking to him. "I'll..." he started but he trailed off. He suddenly wondered how long they had in these bodies. "When... when does the spell end?"

It was reflex, really, that had him reaching to clasp a hand at Charles' side when he moved close, basking in the warmth of him as he so often did even before all this, but it was a warmth that was somehow more solid now, more visceral in a way.

"Midnight." He replied, glancing up at the clock, "We've another four, not quite five hours." His brow furrowed, then, studying Charles' face for a moment, "It doesn't seem like enough time, does it?"

He shook his head, then, "And I'll go to bed, but only if you come too. I don't... well, I don't really want to let you out of my sight." Some tangle of nervous fear that when the spell wore off they'd just be gone even despite knowing that wasn't how it was designed.

Charles squeezed Edwin's hand, nodding. His gaze flickered to the only working clock, glaring at the numbers of it.

"Yeah, 's not," Charles agreed in a hoarse voice. He suddenly wasn't even sure what he even wanted to do before they had a case to attend to. "Right, yeah, yes, I... I'll come," he smiled, mostly to hide his nerves about it too. He died before, he knew what was gonna happen... but it didn't make him less nervous. "Let's go, an' to bloody hell with all this," he said, motioning around. He raised Edwin's hand to his lips, kissing his fingers. "Come."

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