It wasn't long after Amina got her job back at the museum. Griffin really was happy for her and Murray, but deep down he was sad and conflicted. He and Crystal had been together for around two years and he really wanted to propose, since he didn't want to lose her. Especially since he was sure that he'd never find anyone else. But at the same time he was terrified of the idea of marriage, due to being more of a free spirit, and was worried about the fact that he and Crystal hadn't zinged yet.
He had no idea why. He really did love her more than anything and they had looked into each other's eyes often, so how come they hadn't zinged? Were they simply not ready to zing, or did they just not qualify as monsters enough to zing? Or - this idea nearly broke Griffin's heart - were they just not meant to be zings at all?
He wish he could talk to his friends about this, but it was hard talking to them about emotional stuff. Especially after all the pranks and teasing he had done to them over the centuries.
So one day, when his friends were asleep, he decided to go into the library and see if he could find any books on zinging. Even if there were any they were probably outdated anyway, but maybe he could find something useful despite that.
"Griffin?"
Griffin let out a startled yelp and 'hid' the book on zinging he found behind his back.
"Johnny!" Griffin said with annoyance and relief; at least Johnny wasn't likely to tease him about what he was doing. "What are you doing here?"
"Still not used to sleeping during the day, so I thought a book could help." Johnny shrugged. "I'd ask you the same thing, but the title of the book you're holding pretty much answers my question."
"What book-oh." Griffin deadpanned upon realizing that he forgot about his invisibility again.
"Hey it's cool, if you don't want anyone to know I can keep a secret." Johnny smiled before looking sympathetic. "Worried about you and Crystal huh?"
"Yeah...we hadn't zinged yet and...and I just don't know why." Griffin sat in a nearby chair sadly. "I mean we used to be humans so maybe-"
"Uh, I was human and I zinged. Same with Ericka." Johnny pointed out.
"Yeah, with monsters so that could be an exception." Griffin pointed out.
"Oh yeah..." Johnny winced, remembering that he hadn't even heard of zinging before he met Dracula and Mavis. "Well...maybe it's just your invisibility. I mean we can't see anything other than your glasses..."
"Invisible people can see each other." Griffin deadpanned. "Including their eyes."
"Oh...well then..." Johnny groaned, frustrated that he couldn't help. "I got nothing. I honestly know less about zinging than you guys."
"It's okay...at least you care enough to help." Griffin sighed. "Drac and the others would've just teased me."
"About zinging? Aw come on, you know they'd never tease anyone about something like that." Johnny smiled reassuringly.
"Well..." Griffin sighed again. "Maybe you're right. Either way I just wish Crystal and I would zing so that I'll know that I'll never lose her."
"Hmmm...do you love her enough to want to marry her?" Johnny asked.
"Well yeah...except for the fact that I'm too much of a bachelor at heart which makes me terrified of marriage in general."
"So...you're terrified of marriage yet want to marry Crystal." Johnny repeated with interest, and a bit of confusion. "That's quite a contradiction there."
"I can't understand it either." Griffin deadpanned.
There was a silence.
"Why do you want to marry Crystal?" Johnny asked.
"Because she's kind, fun, smarter than she sounds, and we enjoy doing the same activities." Griffin shrugged. "Plus...like me she's been alone for a long time. I was shunned by society after my invisibility experiment became permanent, and she suffered the same fate trying to replicate the experiment. We just ended up on opposite paths until she finally learned about the hotel around two years ago. I don't want her to be alone anymore, and I don't want to be alone anymore either."
"Well, that sounds like true love to me, zing or no zing." Johnny smiled.
"You really think so?" Griffin sounded hopeful.
"Sure, you really care about her, even more than yourself. Maybe you should just let go of your fear of marriage and talk to her."
"I guess so..."
"At least think about it. As for me I'm finally feeling sleepy so I'm heading back to bed." Johnny stretched. "It'd be awkward if housekeeping found me in here snoozing."
"Yeah, but it would make an amusing photo." Griffin chuckled.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm not in the mood to pose for that kind of picture." Johnny smirked.
A.N. Even though Johnny was a vampire now he had been human, so he still had a reflection and showed up in photos.
"Ah well, maybe later. Good night Johnny."
"Good night Griffin."
A little later Griffin headed for bed as well. He didn't blame Johnny for not wanting housekeeping to catch him sleeping outside his room, since they preferred making sure the hotel was ready for guests each evening and didn't like guests coming downstairs before they were finished.
The next day Griffin took Crystal into the woods, which was one of the few locations where they could be alone.
"Is something wrong Griffin?" Crystal asked concernedly.
"Not wrong-wrong, just something I've been conflicted about." Griffin said. "You know how we hadn't zinged yet?"
"Yes, but I've been hoping we will one day." Crystal said. "Like, I honestly want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Y-you do..." Griffin was honestly a bit choked up, since he had been secretly worried that Crystal didn't really feel the same way as him. "I do to, it's just...I've been terrified of the idea of marriage for so long..."
"Then we don't have to rush into marrying." Crystal said reassuringly. "You can propose whenever you're ready, I can wait as long as we're together."
Griffin nearly sobbed.
"I never thought I'd feel this much love before..." He confessed. "Even my family ditched me after my experiment became permanent..."
"Yeah, my family wasn't cool about it either when it happened to me." Crystal shook her head with disgust. "It was a shame that the experiment backfired twice, like, I thought your theory could've been beneficial for mankind. But at least it benefitted both of us in the long run."
"I know...I really wanted to help good people hide from their enemies. But you're right, we might not have met if we hadn't experimented with invisibility."
"And I'm really glad I met you too." Crystal looked at him lovingly. "I have to confess, some of the other girls did ask me what I saw in you since they see you as immature and a bit of a jerk at times. I told them that you're not a jerk, you're just someone who's been alone for a long time and been hurt enough to desire any kind of attention from his loved ones out of insecurity. I should know, I feel the same way sometimes."
"Maybe...maybe we should both stop feeling this way. After all we have great friends and each other...maybe it's time we stopped trying to get so much attention." Griffin said hesitantly.
"I think you're right. I don't need attention from a crowd now that I've found you." Crystal leaned in a bit. "Like, I already knew you had a big heart because of your desire to help people, but I never thought I'd be lucky enough to be with you. And even if we never zing I'll always want to be with you."
With that, Crystal kissed Griffin. Griffin returned the kiss, and they both felt so much love that they thought that maybe they had zinged after all. Maybe they just didn't realize it before because they fell in love before they zinged, so the zing didn't feel any different than the love they were already feeling.
Despite this Griffin decided not to propose yet. He mostly wanted to propose because he was terrified of losing Crystal, but now he knew that he never will. And it's not like he didn't want to spend the rest of his life with her and live with her under the same roof, he just simply wasn't ready for the responsibility yet. He could pass on the whole stress of preparing a wedding, and he honestly wasn't ready to have kids yet. If he and Crystal could even have kids, the whole invisibility thing might make it impossible.
He was a little concerned about that, what if Crystal wanted biological children and they couldn't? He just couldn't bear to see Crystal's reaction if that happened. And adopting children might be out, after all it'd be difficult to raise a visible child when they couldn't see you.
So Griffin decided that he'll propose to Crystal when he's ready to deal with the stress of a wedding, and when he's ready to discuss having kids with her. And it wasn't like they were on a deadline, they still had at least centuries more to live if not thousands of years. That was another accidental benefit of the invisibility potion: it somehow had also worked as an immortality potion and age-slower.
And Griffin's insecurity finally went away. He now knew that he didn't need constant attention to be important, and at least he would always have his friends - who had become like a family to him - and Crystal.
