Chapter Text
Over the past few days, Paul had learned a few things about Ted’s situation.
The first of which: Ted was sort of permanently floating. In a way. It was like zero gravity, that was how he had described it to Paul that Wednesday night in his bedroom.
“Or…Well I guess zero gravity isn’t really the right term.” He had described. “It’s like…I’m constantly floating…like I’m in water or something. But instead of just floating aimlessly, there’s something tying me down. Like an anchor.”
“Huh…so kind of like a helium balloon…” Paul added.
“Fuck that was a way better metaphor.” That had earned a quiet chuckle from Paul.
“I kind of like your water metaphor more, though.” He said with a small smile. “So…when you sit or lean on things like my counters, you’re not really touching it, you're just kind of floating above it?” Ted nodded.
“Yeah. I guess it is really like water. Like when you try to sit on something when you’re fully underwater but you end up just floating above it slightly.” A small victorious look spread over his face. “So I was right!”
Paul laughed again, a little bit louder this time. “I guess you were.”
He caught a glimpse of something in Ted’s expression. It was that same look he had every time he saw Paul smile, or whenever he would hesitate to say something, or whenever Paul would compliment him. He still couldn’t quite understand what the look was, or why it was there in the first place.
He chose not to explore that though, simply putting it on the back burner of his mind for him to look at later.
The second thing Paul had learned: Ted was physically unable to sleep. That one was on Thursday morning, right after Paul had woken up. Ted, as per usual, was perched on Paul’s counter. Though Paul noticed now that he was actually hovering slightly above the counter. As if he were floating.
He realized that he had noticed the same thing that first Saturday too, he had just been too distracted by Ted’s presence being there at all to question it.
“Morning sleepyhead!” Ted called out through a fake cheery voice that was clearly only there to annoy Paul. Unfortunately for Ted, Paul found it extremely endearing and a little bit adorable, so his attempts to annoy him had backfired.
“Good morning.” Paul grumbled out before yawning. Ted chuckled, and Paul found that his own frown slowly started to shift into a smile. Ted’s smile was a contagious thing.
“God damn, you really weren’t kidding when you said you weren’t a morning person.” He teased as Paul began to make his coffee.
“I don’t understand how you can be so awake at 7 in the morning.” He retorted with an eye roll, though the smile on his face couldn’t seem to disappear. “Nobody should be so energetic this early. Aren’t you exhausted?”
“No.” Ted responded with a smirk. “I don’t get tired. Perks of being a weird ghost thing.”
“You never get tired?” Paul said incredulously.
“Nope. It’s actually kind of miserable. I don’t get to sleep either.” He groaned. “Fuck, Reese Witherspoon made this whole ghost shit look a lot more appealing then it really is.”
“Wait…You can’t sleep?” Paul blinked, processing all of this slightly slower than usual. “Like…at all?” Ted nodded in response. “...What do you do during the middle of the night while we’re all sleeping?”
A smirk flashed on Ted’s face, and Paul immediately regretted the question. “That’s for me to know and you to find out, babe.” He teased with a smirk and a wink.
Paul decided to blame the warmth that rushed to his face on his tired brain instead of the pet name at the end of Ted’s statement.
“You’re so stupid.” He muttered under his breath, turning back to his coffee. He chose not to comment on the way he could feel Ted’s eyes staring at him as he did so. He also chose to blatantly ignore the way that the staring made his heart rate pick up slightly.
That was a problem for later Paul to deal with.
Anyways, the third and final thing he had learned: Nobody else could feel Ted’s presence. Paul had learned that when Ted would try to touch him, and when he would inevitably phase through, that Paul would get a numbing sensation in the part of his body that was touched.
“Does nobody else feel that?” He had brought this idea up to Ted later that Thursday night. Ted shrugged.
“Nobody else has reacted. I’ve tried to reach out to Pete a few times, but whenever I do he has no reactions.” He explained, a slightly sad look in his eyes.
“Weird…” Paul muttered to himself. “Is there anyone else who you’ve phased through?”
“Richie ran through me one time.” Ted said with a slightly annoyed expression, causing Paul to burst out laughing.
“I assume he didn’t feel anything either?” He said through slight giggles.
“Not that I could tell.” Ted was clearly trying to maintain his annoyed expression, but there was a small smile fighting to take over his features. A part of Paul felt proud of himself for causing that reaction. A part of him felt confused, because why would he feel proud of making Ted smile?
All of Paul’s weird feelings aside, he hadn’t really learned much about what was going on at all. All of the information could be summarized to Paul learning that since Ted didn’t have any form of physical body, he couldn’t touch anything at all, and along with this, he doesn’t need any of the necessities that regular people do like food or sleep because his physical body is getting all of those things in the hospital bed where it resides.
That new information wasn’t very helpful in the long run. It just brought them back to a point that they already knew. Ted was somehow separated from his body. They still didn’t know what that meant, or what Ted was in the first place. All they knew was that he was some non-physical form of himself.
Paul felt lost and a little bit frustrated about this. He was hoping that they would be able to figure this out soon, as their first month together was coming to a close, which meant their time was quickly dwindling.
He vented these frustrations at work on Friday, typing on his keyboard so much louder and with much less care than he ever had before. He was just trying to get the words out quickly, because the longer he kept it to himself, the longer the stress would build, and the more stressed he was, the worse things would get for him, and then he would start panicking and nobody wants to see him panic because he’s not the most stable person ever so panicking just leads him to have mental breakdowns and mental breakdowns just lead to him hating himself more and he really didn’t need that right now with everything that was going on and-
He didn’t realize he had finished typing until Ted began to respond.
“Wow. You’ve been stockpiling information about me?” He teased, and Paul immediately felt himself relax. He appreciated the lighter tone more than Ted could possibly understand. “Has Google helped you at all?”
𝙉𝙤. 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠’𝙨 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 “𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜” 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙞𝙙 “𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣” 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚.
“That’s what that movie's called!” Ted exclaimed, which earned him a fond eyeroll from Paul. “Maybe I’m a ghost.”
𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙.
“Maybe I’m an alive ghost. Like…a spirit. That’s a thing, right?” Ted narrowed his eyes, looking as if he were thinking hard about this. The expression was so silly that it made Paul want to laugh. “Did Google have anything to say about spirits?”
𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙍𝙚𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙣, 𝙣𝙤.
“Maybe I just need the hulk to come and fall in love with me.” He sighed dramatically, making Paul actually laugh. After a quick moment, he covered his hand over his mouth to stop the laughter. He was at work, a public space where nobody but him could see Ted. He couldn’t be loud, people would think he was going crazy.
Speaking of people thinking he was going crazy, Bill leaned into his cubicle a few moments later. “You doing okay, Paul?” He asked, his expression extremely questioning.
Paul immediately put on his best blank face. “Yeah, I’m great- good. Fine. I’m fine.” He tried each of the phrases, trying to sound as normal as possible. Bill looked unconvinced, but let it slide anyways.
“Whatever you say…” He said, slowly moving back to his own desk. Paul let him for a moment before calling out.
“Wait, Bill?” His friend immediately popped his head back into space. “I actually have a question…”
“You do?” He heard both Bill and Ted ask at the same time. Only Bill continued. “Okay, shoot.”
“Do you know anything about…um…the paranormal?” He didn’t make eye contact as he spoke. He hated eye contact, but he especially hated it when he was asking awkward questions like this.
“No, not really.” Bill’s voice sounded a little confused. “Do you mind if I ask why?”
Now, Paul had never been a good liar. He could conveniently leave out details when having a conversation, but he had never been great at making a full blown fabrication. But the truth sounded more made up than any lie that he could conjure, and he had to say something.
“Richie…recently watched some movie…and now he’s been…obsessing over ghosts and stuff?” He spoke really slowly, trying to make up the lie as he spoke. He could hear Ted snort out a laugh, and it took everything in him not to glare at the man.
“Oh! Alice is the same way.” Bill began, shocking both Paul and Ted. “I would recommend taking him to Miss Retro’s diner sometime. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but the owner lady is super good at making stuff like that up. I took Alice a few weeks ago and she absolutely loved it.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Thanks Bill.”
“No problem. Happy to help.” He smiled, returning back to his own desk. Paul let out a quiet sigh, dropping the blank expression to show one of pure relief. He had just realized that his screen had been open that entire time, but Bill didn’t seem to notice, so everything was okay.
“...You really thought Bill would know anything?” Ted piped up from where he was sitting, sounding annoyed. Paul sent him a slightly annoyed look himself as he moved back to his computer. Bill may not have been the nicest person to Ted, but he was still one of Paul’s friends. Probably Paul’s best friend, if he were being honest. He didn’t appreciate the rude talk about him, even if he did think Ted was valid for feeling that way.
𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙨?
Ted stayed silent for a moment.
𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧.
He closed out the tab he had been using to talk to Ted, going back to his regular work. When he glanced over at Ted, the man had that blank look again. It took everything in Paul not to ask.
***
They arrived at Miss Retro’s Diner at 6:30 pm, just the two of them. Paul would have brought Richie and Pete, but he felt it would be odd to have any attempt at a conversation about Pete’s comatose brother who was somehow a ghost that only he could see in front of them.
If he were being honest, he felt it would be odd to have that conversation in front of anybody.
But here he was, standing in the foyer of a restaurant, ready for this conversation. To his delight, there seemed to be no business currently. He and Ted were the only people here. He found that odd, since it was a Friday night and this restaurant wasn’t exactly unheard of… But he pushed those thoughts aside as a woman with red hair walked into the foyer.
She stared at him for a moment before smiling.
“Table for 1?” Something about the way that she was looking at him unsettled Paul, though he couldn’t quite put a finger on it.
He followed closely as she led him to the bar seats, taking her place behind the counter. “What can I get started for you?”
“Well, actually…” He hesitated, sighing before he continued. “I’m mostly just here for some conversation.”
She sent him a knowing look. “How about some pie first?”
He ended up with a small slice of apple pie in front of him, Ted sitting in the stool beside him, and the woman with red hair leaning against the counter.
“So,” She started. “What brings you in?”
“I was wondering if you possibly knew anything about…” He shot a brief glance at Ted, who looked slightly confused at him. He looked back at the woman. “...Ghosts?”
She chuckled. “Oh, I know plenty about ghosts. But I think the term you’re looking for is spirits. Unless we’re not talking about your friend over here.” She gestured to where Ted was sitting.
“...What the fuck…” Ted muttered, eyes wide. Paul knew that his own expression couldn’t have been much different. To say he was surprised was an understatement.
“...You can see him?” He asked, staring in utter bewilderment.
“Not exactly.” She shook her head. “Spirits aren’t exactly a common thing to come across, but I know how to spot one.”
That didn’t help ease Paul’s confusion at all. It actually made it worse, if he were being honest. “So…why is he here?”
She smiled at him. That smile that made him feel uneasy. “Well, that can vary from spirit to spirit. But I might be able to help. Where is his physical body currently?”
“In the hospital. He’s in a coma.” Paul answered slowly. “He got into a car accident a little over a month ago and has been in a coma ever since. But his…spirit, I guess, has been with me for about 4 weeks.”
“Ah, I see.” She nodded, a look of understanding washing over her features. As if anything that Paul had just said made perfect sense to her. “In an instance such as this one, the reason his spirit is here is most likely an attachment. There's something tying his soul to the ground, keeping him from passing on.”
Paul blinked, slowly understanding. “...Like an anchor…” He repeated Ted’s words from Wednesday. He looked over at the man to find him already staring at him, eyes even wider than before.
“Like an anchor.” She affirmed, nodding. “That anchor, so to speak, could be any person, place, or thing. But whatever it is will have a tell, a special reaction to his presence.” She explained. “Since he’s in a coma, it should be safe to say that the anchor is keeping him alive. But only temporarily. The anchor most likely relates directly back to his cause of death. Or well…cause of coma, I suppose. It is something that would have prevented his death, something that still can prevent his death now.”
“So then…all we need to do is figure out what that anchor is?” Paul questioned, earning a small shake of the head from the woman.
“I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that.” Her smile had faded by this point. “Once he has identified the anchor, he also needs to identify how that could have prevented his situation. Then, that prevention needs to become a reality.” She sighed when Paul looked confused. “You said he got in a car crash? Say the reason is because he was drunk driving. The anchor wouldn’t be the alcohol, it would be the cause for why he felt the need to get drunk. And then, to solve this, he would need to resolve that issue. Does that make sense?”
“I guess so…” He looked over at Ted, who was staring at the counter with a look that Paul could only describe as being lost in thought. He looked back at the woman. “Wait, but why can I see him? And why am I the only one who can?”
She chuckled softly. “That isn’t my place to say. That would be a question you need to ask him.” She glanced at Ted’s stool. Paul followed her gaze, noticing that Ted’s face lit up with a look of understanding. A look that was immediately followed by pure horror.
“Ted?” Paul asked. He had never seen Ted look that scared before. It was gone in a flash, however, as he immediately put his blank expression on, as if he were trying to pretend he had never looked afraid at all.
“...I don’t know.” He responded, voice steady. But that blank expression only meant one thing.
Ted was lying. He did know why Paul was the one able to see him. But why wasn’t he telling him? Why was he hiding it?
“What happens if it doesn’t get resolved? Does he just stay here forever?” Paul knew that even if Ted were meant to stay here forever, he most likely would die at the end of these 3 months anyways. That didn’t stop the panic that rose in him at the response, however.
“He will die. Or worse…” The woman looked serious now. “You are on a time limit. There is an external force slowly taking more and more of your time. Use the little time you have left wisely. There will be consequences if you don’t.”
Paul’s eyes trailed back to Ted, who remained staring at the counter with that blank expression. Paul knew right then and there. This wasn’t up to him.
This was all up to Ted.
***
They sat in the car outside of Miss Retro’s Diner for a few moments in silence. A few moments being more like 5 minutes, both of them slowly processing the information they had just learned. Paul turned to look at Ted, who was bearing that blank expression again.
“...Looks like you really were right with your anchor metaphor.” He tried to joke. Ted didn’t react, he just continued to stare blankly out of the window. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just…processing.” He spoke in a voice that was only slightly above the volume of a whisper. His face showed no signs of emotion, but Paul knew that there was a lot going on underneath all of that. He only had that face when he was feeling vulnerable.
“Do you have any ideas about what that anchor might be?” He questioned, even though he knew the answer. Paul knew that Ted was fully aware of what that anchor was, and yet…
“...Not yet.” Ted refused to look over at him, staring out the window instead. Paul didn’t understand why he wasn’t talking about it. What could possibly be keeping him from sharing.
Was it fear? Was he afraid of how Paul might react? Was he afraid of confronting the issue? Was it shame? Was he ashamed of his anchor, and that’s why he couldn’t talk about it?
Did he not understand that this was a literal life and death situation? If he didn’t do this, he would surely die. Was it so bad that he was willing to die over it?
“You know I won’t judge you for whatever it is, right?” He spoke, his voice the softest that it had ever been. “I’m here for you, Ted. We’re in this together.”
This wasn’t an issue that could be solved together. Paul knew that. This was an issue that only Ted could resolve. But Paul would be there by his side through all of it, no matter what.
“I know we are.” Ted’s words carried a certain weight to them, one that suggested he meant more than just the surface level. A weight that Paul couldn’t wrap his head around. He waited expectantly for further explanation, but Ted was done speaking.
He sighed. “Well then, we can start looking into it tomorrow?” He suggested, and with a hint of hesitation, Ted nodded.
Paul felt as though he were drifting away from Ted. They had just built up this trust, hadn’t they? Did Paul do something wrong? He felt like he had ruined their trust. Like Ted didn’t trust him enough to tell him about this, even in this life or death situation. That feeling scared him more than anything. As he stared at Ted’s carefully blank expression, he felt that fear settle deep within his chest.
Things would only spiral from there.
***