No one was really sure what to think about the Ghost Hunting Trio.
There was Jack Fenton - A brilliant technician, Enthusiastic about any new idea that came to him, and a creative spark that made those ideas both frequent and outlandish.
There was Maddie Walker - An expert in chemical reactions, and a master of both multitasking and pinpoint precision.
There was Vlad Masters - Methodological in his work and a brilliant engineer in his own right.
If you were to ask them 'What kind of personal relationship did they have?' the layperson might be a tad confused.
By any means of the term, Jack and Maddie were certainly In Love. The man tended to proclaim his affections loudly any time the redhead did something brilliant, while she showed it less overtly, in small gifts of food and subtle compliments that brightened his day.
Depending on who you asked, Vlad and Maddie must have been the married couple. They bickered occasionally, but held hands and one would call the other on the way to the grocery to see if the house needed more milk or eggs or an extra twenty feet of clear vinyl tubing for their latest experiment.
Some of the neighbors hypothesized they were having some sort of affair, but that couldn't be right, could it? After all, Vlad and Jack were obviously best friends, calling each other silly nicknames and being completely comfortable even when Maddie was around and giving each of them attention. If there was a tryst going on, there would be some sign of stress, right?
Of course, no one really knew about the moments at home, when the three of them would gather together on the couch to watch a movie. Vlad usually tucked himself under Jack's arm, piling the thickest blanket he could find around him.
Maddie would sprawl on Jack's other side, her long legs draped over both her boy's laps, her own thighs supporting a laptop as she diverted attention between the film and whatever report she was writing up.
Fenton would man the remote, teaming up with Masters to make excited (or in Vlad's case, incredulous) comments about the characters' actions.
About halfway through the film, Maddie would close her laptop, pulling her legs out from under their arms and slinking off the couch to burrow into Vlad's blankets. After that, the comments would quiet down, two pairs of blue eyes sneaking peeks and whispered voices placing bets as to when exactly she'd fall asleep.
(Jack usually won those bets. He was better at reading body language)
When the movie ended, one would gather up their female partner and carry her up to their shared room, while the other turned off the lights and made sure none of the blankets ended up on the floor.
There were also no neighbors around to see them in the morning, three sleepy pairs of eyes and two bodies either pressing close or edging away from Vlad's perpetually warm core. (depending on the season)
No one was around to observe them calling across the house for the location of a certain object, or the last sighting of a report. Someone always made sure to fill up the latest vase of cut flowers (forget-me-not's this week) on the kitchen table.
A green-handled brush passed from an auburn head to a silver head, and Vlad's voice saying,
"For the thousandth time, Jack, you may not braid my hair."
"But V-man, it's to practice fine motor control for wires and soldering! You don't want me getting rusty, do you?"
There was definitely no one around when Masters let him do it anyway, with the stipulation that they came out before he left the house.