AN: Welp. Looks like i'm doing a fic for Ghostbusters. So you guys remember that episode of the Real Ghostbusters with the Boogieman and how Egon was apparently traumatised by him as a child? This is going to be about that. But, the way I'm going about this is that I'm going to mix elements from the movie and RGB. That's why this is in the movie category; don't judge me. But this is mostly a character study of Egon(mostly cause he happens to be my favourite Ghostbuster). This may also have a feel of a Neil Gaiman or Stephen King story. So feel free to R and R and tell me if you want more.

The sky was covered by grey clouds over the quiet suburbs of Cleveland Ohio. Across from a line of houses on the other side of the road, there was a small park with a decent number of trees and other plant life.

A young boy was walking through the miniature forest with a large book in his hands with the words 'your friend the fungus' written in bold on the front. The boy had a pair of black framed glasses to help him see with his coffee coloured eyes. His hair was a dark shade of brunette He was wearing a yellow rain coat over his skinny and lanky frame with a decent sized satchel hanging by his side, a grey shirt underneath, a pair of beige knee length shorts and black gumboots.

The boy stopped and looked down at the base of a tree he was passing. He raised a brow as he spotted an orange coloured substance growing against the bark. The boy opened his book and started going through the pages; looking for anything that was described as being orange. The closest thing he could find was orange jelly fungus. The boy made a rather intrigued sound as he looked at the substance. He opened his satchel; putting the book away and grabbing a pair of tongs and a small mason jar. He got down on his knees and proceeded to gently remove the fungus from the bark. He was in full focus as he did his hobby.

"Meow"

Until he heard a noise from behind him. The boy quickly turned around and saw a dark grey cat. It was at least two meters away from him, but it was staring right him as its tail slowly waved behind it.

"Do you want something or are you just going to watch?" The boy questioned.

The cat just responded by blinking and letting out a light purring sound. The boy just rolled his eyes.

"As if you could even reply." He whispered as he went back to what he was doing with the fungus.

The boy kept his focus as he carefully removed the fungus with a final and gentle pull; placing it in the jar and sealing it was the lid. He observed the specimen with a satisfied look on his face.

"Very interesting." He thought as he continued to observe the contents of the jar.

But just as he was about to put the jar in his satchel, a small round object flew right above his head; hitting the tree but bouncing right onto his forehead and knocking his glasses off. The boy let out a pained yelp as he fell onto his back. He lightly groaned as he felt a throbbing sensation where the object hit him.

"Uh oh."

The boy heard a voice coming from where the object came from. He opened his eyes, but all he could see without his glasses where blurry shapes. He rolled over and looked for his glasses; finding them just in front of him. He put them on to see what hit him. It was a baseball.

"Sorry about that."

He heard a voice above him that spoke in a nervous and embarrassed tone. He looked up to see another boy standing there with an expression of worry and embarrassment. He looked around the same age as the boy collecting fungus, but he looked a bit shorter in height. He was wearing a red baseball covering a short but messy haircut, a light blue t-shirt with dark blue denim shorts and white sneakers with noticeable dirt stains. The fungus collecting boy noticed the catcher's mitt on the other boys' hand. But he said nothing and picked up his jar.

"I didn't hurt you or anything did I?" The other boy asked rather nervously.

The fungus collecting boy just looked up at the other child for a second before standing up and wiping the dirt off his knees.

"I'm fine." He finally said.

The other boy let out an exhale with a relived smile and took off his hat to wipe his forehead of any sweat; showing his messy light brown hair.

"Oh thank god. I was worried I might have broke your brain when you weren't talking." He said with a quiet laugh.

The fungus collecting boy was about to say something when he heard a meow. He looked down to see the cat walking very close to his feet and rubbing itself against his gumboots.

"Is this feline yours?" He asked as the cat looked up at him.

The other boy just scratched his head as he thought of how to answer the question.

"Well, she's not technically my cat." He spoke with an uncertain tone. "She's my neighbours' cat. But she usually comes over to my house and I give her a can of tuna."

He bent down as the cat came up to him and rubbed against his legs as she purred. He gentle stroked the cats' fur with a small smile.

"Although there are times where she brings me other people's socks. But at least she doesn't bring me dead rats or anything." He said as he looked up at the boy with the glasses.

But the other boy began thinking as he looked at the fungus collecting boy.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?" He asked as he slightly tilted his head to the side.

"We may or may not go to the same school." The fungus collector said as he put the jar in his satchel.

The other boy then smiled when it came to him.

"I do know you. You're that kid who grew the big tomato for the science fair last month!" He remembered the prize winning project and the winner. "Uhhh, Ethan. No; Eddie. Wait no."

The boy with glasses just rolled his eyes the other way with a blank expression as the other boy kept guessing his name incorrectly.

"Egon."

The other boy went quiet for a second as he quickly remembered.

"Egon; that's right! Egon Spengler!" He recalled as he took off his catchers' mitt and held out his hand. "I'm Danny. Danny Aykker."

Egon hesitated for a moment before reaching out and shaking Dannys' hand.

"I think I've seen you around the playground." He recalled as he shook the other boys hand.

"Well, you won't be seeing me or anyone at school for a while. Not while they're taking care of the rat problem." Danny spoke with a joking tone.

Egon nodded in agreement. He was quite disappointed that the school he was currently attending was being temporarily shut down due to an infestation of rats. Other kids would have jumped and cheered, but he enjoyed the process of learning and did not really have anything else to occupy himself or keep his mind stimulated for the next few weeks. He let go of Dannys' hand and adjusted his glasses before grabbing the baseball that could have gave him a concussion.

"I believe this is yours." Egon spoke in rather dry tone as he held up the ball.

"Oh yeah. Sorry about hitting your head. Hope I didn't hurt your brain." Danny apologised as he took the ball back.

"I doubt it. But my mother will be concerned when bruising begins to show."

Danny just shrugged as he turned the other way. But he quickly turned back to face Egon again.

"Hey, if you're really interested in mushrooms and stuff, you should check out the old well over there." He began to advise as he pointed in another direction. "It's a big hole in the ground with a mushroom ring around it. Just be careful not to fall in or anything."

Egon watched as the boy called the cat to follow him and walked away. Egon looked into the direction Danny was pointing into. With motivated interest, he decided to have a look. Only after a few seconds of walking through some trees, he found exactly what Danny was talking about. A hole in the ground. But said hole was covered by wooden boards; probably for safety reasons. But Egon managed to spot the ring of Agaricus arvensis; otherwise known as horse mushroom.

Egon quickly grabbed the tongs and another mason jar; eager to collect the common specimen. But as he just got it loose from the soil, he heard a faint thunderclap from above his head. As he looked up, he felt light sprinkling raindrops on his face and could see them on his glasses.

"I should go home before I get soaked." Egon thought as he finished pulling out the mushroom; placing it in the jar and sealing it up.

Egon quickly got up off the ground and put his things back in his satchel. Then he quickly ran in the direction of home as the rain got heavier by the minute. He made it to the road that separated the park and the houses across; one of them being where he lived with his parents. Egon made sure there were no cars coming and ran across as the rain began to pour.

Egon ran to the small house in the middle and ran undercover; taking a breather from all the running. He was not what would come to mind when people would talk about athletic children; giving that he never played any sports. But he could run a fair distance if motivated or under certain circumstances.

Egon looked through the windows to see if his mother was close by; hoping to avoid her seeing him all drenched from the pouring rain. He quietly opened the wooden door and took off his muddy boots and left them outside to avoid bringing in any mud; even though the carpet was a dark colour and would not be noticeable at first glance. Egon stepped through and silently shut the door; thinking he was in the clear. But a lump in the rug caught him by surprise and nearly tripped him over; making him let out a loud squeak.

"Is that you, Spookums?"

Egon went pale when he heard his mothers' voice from the kitchen; knowing what was coming next. A woman poked her head through the doorway to the dining room. She looked at least somewhere in her mid or late thirties. She had a few features that were similar to her son, like hair colour; but there were notable differences. Her hair was tied in a bun with a couple of strands hanging over the sides of her face. She had a pair of round glasses with red framing that contrasted with her light blue eyes.

Egon made a rather nervous face as Mrs Spengler came into the living room with a tea towel coincidentally already in hand.

"Oh, Egon; did you get too far from the house again?" She asked as she approached. "I keep telling you not to wonder too far when it's going to rain. Your hair's all drenched."

"It's that bad, mother." Egon tried to stop her from what she was about to do with the towel. "It's just water-"

Egon was cut short when Mrs Spengler placed the towel over his head and began to dry his hair rather roughly.

"You keep saying that and last time you said it, you got the flu and missed a week of school." She recalled as she dried her sons hair.

Egon felt like his hair was being tugged and pulled against the towel; making him bite his lower lip in discomfort. When Mrs Spengler finished drying his hair, Egon suddenly found himself blind as his mother took his glasses off him and cleaned them with the apron she had on over her light blue dress.

"I need those to see." Egon stated rather bluntly.

Mrs Spengler just rolled her eyes the other way as she finished cleaning her sons' eyewear and put them back on his face.

"Doesn't that feel better, Spookums?" She asked with a motherly smile.

Egon wanted to say something rather critical of the way his mother reacted to his appearance from exposure to the pouring rain; making his hair a complete mess compared to what it was before and taking his glasses without asking. But he knew she was only doing it out of love.

"Yes. Thank you, mom." Egon said as he loosened and removed his raincoat.

"Good to hear." Mrs Spengler replied as she took the dripping coat. "Did you find any mushrooms while you were out, sweetie?"

"I managed to find something that I suspect is a form of jelly fungus." Egon explained as he fixed up his hair with his fingers. "But I'll have to look through my books to determine what it is exactly."

Mrs Spengler smiled warmly at her son as he talked about his hobby. She was glad he was doing something he found enjoyable. He was a bit disappointed when he was told he was unable to attend school for the next few weeks. Not as disappointed as Mr Spengler was when he heard the news.

"Your father's working late tonight, so it'll just be the two of us having roast chicken and vegetables." Mrs Spengler brought up Egons' father. "Maybe we can invite Mr and Mrs Polanski over to have dinner with us. They usually like to have a chat with us."

Egon stopped in place as his mother mentioned his father. Egon felt a knot form in his stomach as he remembered an incident from a few days ago. Mr Spengler got rather angry with him after he made a mess of the backyard with an experiment involving large quantities of liquid foam and food colouring that went south very quickly.

"Why don't you ever think of the consequences!? This will take too long to clean up!"

Egon recalled all the times his father would get mad over such trivial things. The infuriated tone in his father's voice always made it hard to handle and always made his insides cold. His mother reassured him that he was just having a bad day and did not know how to handle it. But Egon remembered how Mr Spengler looked at him this morning when he was leaving for work. A blank yet somehow disappointed stare through round wire framed glasses. Egon hesitated as he looked up to his mother with a nervous look.

"Mother? Is father still upset over my liquid foam experiment?" The boy genius asked as he held his right wrist with his left hand.

Mrs Spengler blinked in confusion at the question. But then she remembered.

"Oh, Spookums. He didn't mean snap at you like that." She tried to reassure him. "He was tired and worn out from work that day."

"Like that other day where I didn't even do anything at all and he was still mad about nothing?" Egon recalled another incident involving his fathers' temper.

Mrs Spengler sighed and kneeled down to her sons' level; even though he was a bit tall for his age.

"I don't like it when he gets like that with you, Egon. I tell him that whenever he says something to you. But he's being working extra hard lately and he doesn't really know how to handle his feelings." She explained as sincerely as she could. "Like how you don't real know how to handle yours."

"I know how to handle my feelings." Egon crossed his arms and looked away.

"That's what your father always says." Mrs Spengler. "Look, I know he can be a bit much, but it's not going last too long. He'll get a chance to calm down by the end of next week and maybe he'll even help you with your experiments."

Egon glanced at his mother for a brief moment before thinking. He knew his father was not the best parent at times. But more often than not, he would do things for his wife and son to make up for it or when he would spend a rather large amount of time at his lab. Egon recalled one time when his father had a day off and took him to see a showing of Frankenstein at a local theatre in town. Both of them were passionate about science, so afterward they discussed the scientific aspects of the black and white monster feature on the way home. Egon always enjoyed discussing his interests with his father; but the man had become so distant over the past few years after being promoted. Nowadays, he only had his Uncle Cyrus to look up to when he came to visit. The boy just looked up at his mother with a rather saddened look.

"I just wish he wouldn't be so mad all the time." Egon confessed as he looked away again.

Mrs Spengler knew her son was hard to convince. But that would not stop her from trying. She gently placed her hand on the bottom of his chin and turned his head to face her. Egon did not put up any fight or struggle as she did so.

"Egon. I want you to remember something important." Mrs Spengler spoke in a firm yet gentle tone. "I know your father gets angry sometimes. But it's never because of you or something you did. It's either because of his lab work or something else entirely. He loves and cares about you and I want you to remember that."

Egon felt his face turning red as his mother smiled at him and put her hand on his cheek.

"Can you do that for me, Spookums?" She asked as she still smiled.

Egon fought the urge to smile or show feeling as his eyes went another way.

"Yes." He said quietly.

Mrs Spengler shook her head and pulled him into a tight hug; trapping him in a playful manner as she nuzzled his cheek; making him squirm and struggle.

"C'mon; say it with a smile." She teased as she held him tightly and nuzzled him.

Egon failed to fight it and broke into a giggling and smiling fit at his mother's mercy.

"Yes! Please put me down! Please!" He began to beg through laughs.

Mrs Spengler finally let go; letting her son take a breather as he got the last few giggles out.

"Okay. I'm gonna go ask Mr and Mrs Polanski if they want to come over." Mrs Spengler said as she walked towards the door before turning to her son. "I won't be long, but make sure the food doesn't burn."

"Yes, mom." Egon said as he regained his composure.

With that, Mrs Spengler went next door to invite the neighbours over to have dinner with the mother and son; to which they gladly said yes.