You walked back into the apartment while Egon continued scanning things and gathering information to base your case on to distract himself. Your eyes scanned his face, he had been the only one left in the room after all, Ray and Winston went to put the tech back in the Ecto-1. His features were hardened with stoic sadness, but under that you could detect a hint of something else that you couldn't quite put your finger on.
"Hey…" You paused as not to startle him from what he was doing, "Are you almost done? Ray and Winston are packing up."
He turned his head to your general direction while thumbing through some things that might have come in contact with the specter, "Yeah, I'm just gathering extra information in case there is anything missed." He sounded like he was trying to be vague to ignore you and his nagging self-discovery that he was still trying to understand.
"I...wanted to thank you, and the guys for deciding to help me." You sighed leaning on a nearby wall.
"You're welcome." He said very plainly while still not looking at you.
The silence grew stronger with each second that passed, but it wasn't really anyone's fault. Egon was trying to distance himself from you mentally and you weren't sure what to really say to him. All of a sudden Ray came up to the door and stood there watching this mime-act between you two, he silently puzzled on how to fix the atmosphere before finally coming up with something.
"Hey you two, we're ready to go when you are…" He cleared his throat somewhat loudly so it would ring out, "Oh and Egon, I wanted to remind you we have an invitation from the mayor to the city's annual Halloween-Costume party, if you're still gonna go again this year as yourself." He slyly mentioned this random fact not sure of how quickly it would catch, and with that he left as quickly and quietly as he came. (A/N: He's lingering outside in the hallway lol)
Egon turned around too slowly to even see Ray come and go, you managed to catch him though so you then looked at Egon in confusion,
"You guys get to go to the city's Halloween Party?" You asked with beaming curiosity.
"Yeah, ever since we saved the city...twice...the mayor always gives us tickets, usually 8." He adds.
"8?" You questioned with a tilt of your head.
"The 4 of us and our plus ones if we ever have any." He started to pack his supplies up and cart them towards the door.
"D-do you ever have a plus one?" You asked innocently.
"Ray usually scrounges up a date for the night...or he finds one at the party, Winston brings his wife, and Peter usually brings Dana while Louis and Janine watch Oscar...me I haven't had one since we started getting invited." He admitted dryly.
"So...what to you do with the tickets?" You looked at him with a hint of sadness.
"I kinda started to keep them in a box somewhere, I won't tell you where it is of course...but I have tickets from all parties that were held last year. (A/N: 1990 after GB2)" He stated.
"But the city has parties for almost every major holiday...that's…" You mentally counted about 2 years worth of holidays that nationally mattered and your jaw dropped…"That's...36 tickets!"
"That's not a lot...honestly." He said simply.
It may not be a lot to someone else, but from what you gathered about how Egon is in the romance district by how he mentioned how Ray, Peter, and Winston are…that was a lot. He gave you a raised eyebrow as you still stood there with your jaw open, he never really seemed to worry about what people (especially females) ever thought of him so you actually reacting kinda threw him for a loop.
Egon started walking out of your apartment, closing the door, then down the buildings stairs as you followed behind him and the awkward silence resurfaced as he loaded the stuff in the Ecto-1 and you got in the backseat, Ray just readjusted the rearview mirror to get a better look at you two before he turned the key in the ignition and pulled out. Ray was trying hard not to let you two slip, he was so determined to get Egon involved with someone like a secret wingman.
"So...Eggy(ee-gy)? What do you think about the party this year?" Ray broke the silence, Winston looks at him with a scolding look as if to say 'stay out of it, Ray'.
Egon looked at Ray through the reflection in the mirror with indignation, "I'll go as I usually do, as myself...I mean I am famous enough to be myself for Halloween aren't I?
You kinda chuckled at his attempt at such a basic joke, and he heard you and looked your way.
"I kinda got used to seeing little kids dress as me for Halloween when we do our trick-or-treat at the HQ...it's inaccurately flattering." Egon decided to reply to your chuckle.
"Well..it's kinda like what you said back at the HQ when I met you…'The others are imperfect copies.'" You jokingly mimicked his tone of voice followed by a chuckle.
He unwittingly cracked a smile that you never expected to see on his face, and it made you smile. Ray just mentally cheered himself on how well you could make Egon do what he usually pegged as impossible...making him smile. Ray pulled into the garage and him and Winston walked over to the lockers and stripped of their jumpsuits and then went upstairs once again leaving you and Egon to yourselves.
"So…" You broke the silence as you watched him do what Ray and Winston had done just seconds ago, "What will you do at the party?"
"I usually sit at our table, the bar, and just wait until it's over...or talk to anyone who has any questions about how our business has been since the Vigo attack on New Years of 1990." He said as he slipped out his work boots and into his normal shoes.
He started up the stairs and you followed him like a puppy, a nervous puppy, but nonetheless...a puppy. Intently listening to everything he was telling you about the parties the city threw almost every holiday.
"That's a lot of preparation for that many parties." You responded shockedly.
"Yeah, but they make a of money back from the rich people who pay their way in and put it back into the city...of course though the city still kinda sinks through the cracks but it's getting better." He says with a hint of sarcastic optimism.
You go to the bedroom and leave him to let him get back to tweaking his PKE meter, and sigh...you're kinda sad that you have to leave soon, but college is approaching and you can't stay with them forever, even if it seems like Egon is getting more comfortable with you around. You peak your head out the door and watch him focusingly fidget with the machine, he seems so simple but there's a hidden personality that even the most scientific of people wouldn't be able to pick up on...but something deep inside yourself can...for some unnatural reason, you can just feel a love deep in Egon that just needs the right kind of pull to bring it out.
