Ghostbusters In Love

6. Love Grows Like Spores in a Petri Dish

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This work is a 13 chapter novella, best started at the beginning. Rated Mature.

CHAPTER CONTENT WARNING: Nothing too ghostly, gruesome or sad in this one, other than some nerdy pining and a brief nightmare. But I do discuss safe foods, eating habit rigidity, sensory avoidant eating behavior, sensory seeking eating behavior, and Egon shows some signs of ARFID. So, food sensitive readers, heads up.

* New York City, Autumn 1984, Ghostbuster's Headquarters *

After Peter forces them to make the silly tv commercial which runs late night on local channels, the phone never stops ringing. It all starts to feel like real work. It is messy and hands on, nothing like the sanitized and cerebral realm of academic discourse. They love it.
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*Egon's Notebook:
Subject on call, out of Headquarters today. Noted decrease in Observer's mood. Is this what missing someone feels like? Emotional data unclear.
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Egon decides to break his touch barrier. He wants to experiment with making physical contact with Raymond. Ray is always paling around with Venkman and Janine. He's a hugger with them, but not Egon. Though they've been best friends forever, they don't touch much. This is because Egon does not like to be touched. He moves through the world as though he's inside a bubble and becomes visibly uncomfortable when anyone breeches his imaginary forcefield. Egon wasn't even much of a toucher with his previous lovers, never wanted to cuddle after his clinical attempts at copulation. Egon has very little practice with touching and being touched but he's finally ready to try.

"If this is romantic love, then there may be a physical element to it. I need to know how my body reacts to contact with Raymond," Egon thinks. "I have to touch Ray. For science."

Egon makes up his mind. Next time he has the opportunity, he's going to touch Ray.

The next day, Dana Barrett comes to the station and Egon gets his chance. While she tells them about Zuul haunting her refrigerator, Ray takes the center seat on the lounge sofa. After he takes some readings of Dana, it's simple for Egon to not-quite-casually move over and sit down next to Ray.

And then, the side of Ray's strong, rounded thigh is brushing against Egon's slim leg. He finds he doesn't mind having Ray inside his bubble. At all. In fact, Egon likes it so much, it's quickly overwhelming his nervous system. He grabs for some crackers off the side table. Ray leans even closer, sticks his hand inside the cracker box. He smiles at Egon from way too close. Egon could kiss him from here. Ray smells like cheeze-its, beer, cigarettes, and diesel gasoline. It shouldn't smell good, but it does. Ray shifts during the conversation and his leg comes into firmer contact with Egon's. The warm plump pressure of it makes wiring short circuit inside Egon's brain.

Experiment over.

Egon stands up and heads to the lab to check his blood pressure and heart rate. If he had the equipment, he'd probably do a full brain scan.
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*Egon's Notebook:
Contact experiment complete. Noted response in Observer's blood flow.

(scrawled footnote added later)
Four hours have elapsed and I still feel the phantom imprint of Subject's leg against mine. Can't sleep.
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The hotel haunting comes in and the guys get the chance to test out their proton packs and ghost traps on the glowing green glob guy who slimed Peter. They actually work! It is a noteworthy breakthrough. Something else happens that feels noteworthy to Ray; Egon hugged him. So did Venkman, but Ray didn't feel quite so...tingly...about Peter's hug.