Morning in the Firehouse

by Rosepixie

A series of very short stories about characters from Ghostbusters in the morning. There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these into longer stories, but may continue to add more of them over time.

1. Egon

Egon bent over the device he was tinkering with on the lab table, squinting as he carefully fitted a teeny, tiny wire through an almost equally teeny, tiny hole in the casing. By the time the wire slid into place, he was biting his lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood. The new device would be very useful, but making it was slightly nerve-wracking. He wanted a working ghostbusting net to make difficult captures a little easier, but he didn't want to blow up the firehouse (and probably half of the surrounding blocks) in the process of making it.

He lifted his hands off the now stabilized device and pulled off the headlamp he had been using to aid his work, rubbing the place on his forehead where the light had rested.

"Good morning, Egon," said a voice from the doorway.

Egon turned to the familiar sound in surprise and found their receptionist, Janine, making her way towards him with a smile.

"Morning?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yes, Egon," she replied with a laugh, "morning. I came to see if you wanted some breakfast before taking a nap. Can't have you falling asleep mid-capture later because you stayed up all night."

Janine was standing casually and smiling, but there was a firmness to her words that left no room for arguing with them.

"Breakfast might be nice," he agreed sheepishly, wiping his hand across his forehead again.

Janine laughed and reached over to the lab sink to wet a clean washcloth.

"Hold still or you'll just keep making it worse," she instructed with a smile as she stood up on her tip-toes to bring the wet cloth to his forehead.

Egon held very still as she braced herself with a hand on his chest and carefully cleaned the grease off of his forehead. She was so close that the scent of her apple shampoo flooded his senses and his eyes were glued to a bit of her lower lip held between her teeth as she focused on her task. He knew that while he needed some sleep, he probably wouldn't get any after having her this close to him. In fact, a cold shower might be a better idea.

Janine stepped back and smiled at his now clean face, her hand still absently resting on his chest.

"Much better," she murmured quietly.

Oh yeah, Egon thought, a very long, very cold shower.