The Lunch Lady hummed to herself as she put mustard on bread. Behind her, Box Lunch cooed happily as she floated upside down. "Chicken or Fish dear?" She called to her partner.

"Whatever you prefer!" The Box Ghost floated in, scooping up his daughter and tickled her. The baby squealed in delight, putting a smile on both ghosts' faces. "I'm going to miss you a bunch today," he said lovingly to the young ghost, who looked up at him with round red eyes.

The Lunch Lady smiled. "We'll miss you too," she answered back as four sandwiches neatly flew into a green lunch box. "Can't believe you actually got a job - a proper job."

Her partner beamed. "I know. It doesn't feel real. To think, I can now pave the way up to running a place of boxes! With all these minions below me."

The Lunch Lady chuckled, taking Box Lunch from him and handing him the lunch box. "Yes," she agreed absently. "Make sure you thank that young Phantom boy too - I can make him cookies for the next time you see him." Her eyes darkened and her aura flared. "And if he doesn't take it, make him."

The Box Ghost chuckled. "He'd never refuse your cooking. Else he'd feel your wrath." He nodded to them both. "I'll be seeing you."

"Take care Boxy."

:-=-:

"Baby face, you alright there?"

Carl scrunched his nose up at Shirley's insult. "Oh come onnnnnnn, I've been working here for five years. I have to have grown out of the baby nicknames by now!"

The stocky woman laughed. "Nah, you'll still the baby round the night crew Carl." She flicked her curly hair back with a flick of annoyance. "We need new young blood before you outgrow this Carly-poo."

Carl crossed his arms as he sulked, eying the older woman. "Just watch where you leave your lunch Shirle."

She chuckled, punching him in the arm. "And you watch who prank kiddo. I can have you working the dust run all next week."

The two waited near the conveyor belt, frowning at the lack of work being down. It was 7:30pm - shift had started half an hour ago.

"You hear that Ernie hired a newbie?" Shirley said.

Carl whipped his head over. "Really?! I wonder who'd be stupid enough to work this shift." A larger man walked in, giving them a small wave in welcome. "Ey Jacob! You hear that we got someone new? What d'you think they'll be like."

Jacob's brown eyes looked at Carl's lips as he spoke, forehead creasing slightly. He paused with a frown, before he replied with a shrug. "Work is work."

"Well I for one hope it's not one of those young assholes from the high school."

Shirley turned with a admonishing look. "Jimbo, you really need to clean up your vocab."

Jim Boesman scowled at the woman. "What? You've seen them around down with their loitering and protests and this ghost bullshit. I don't have time for it. Drop outs can find jobs that isn't just manual labour."

"Mom, don't make Uncle Jim angry," Carl goaded with eyes sparkling, earning him two hits to the shoulder.

"Right on time crew."

Ernie gave them a nervous smile, hands in his overalls as he walked down from the office. The four workers grew more at ease as he walked over. "We got another team member for the graveyard."

"And where'd they at? Late?" Jim grumbled.

Ernie glanced up at the office before chuckling a bit. "They'll be here soon I think. Told them 8pm. Wanted to have a chat with you all first."

Shirley frowned. "You didn't want to chat when Jacob joined."

Ernie stuck his hands in his pockets, looking up at the ceiling. "Well Jacob is 6ft, quiet and just learning the language. Our new coworker is… a little eccentric."

Jim groaned. "Eccentric how?"

Carl's eyes lit up. "Did you do what I think you did?" he asked gleefully. When Ernie tilted his head in confusion he elaborated further. "With Phantom's request?"

That drew their attention. Jim swore loudly and Shirley's eyes were as round as saucers.

Ernie swore under his breath in Spanish. "Not quite Carl but it does have to do with Phantom's request. Kind of." He sighed deeply, dreading the next exchange deeply. "How'd you all feel if I hired a ghost?"

"YesyesyesyesYES!"

"You're out of your fucking mind."

Carl and Jim glared at each other at their interaction.

Ernie sighed again. "It's not Phantom, he was the ghost's reference." Ernie glanced at the office again. "It's-"

"BEWARE!"

The Box Ghost materialized in the space in front of them. The humans all jumped backwards with various degrees of shock and alarm as the ghost floated, blinking at their reaction.

Ernie sighed. "This is the Box Ghost. Box Ghost, meet the team."

The silence between them was deafening.

Carl was the first to recover. "Wait… this is the new hire?" he asked questioningly. "What about -"

"Reference," Ernie replied with a roll of his eyes. "Phantom asked me about it. I considered it."

"I'm on …" The Box Ghost looked over at Ernie hesitantly. "What am I on?"

"Probation," Ernie supplied with an apprehensive glance to Shirley. "It means you have to prove that you can do the job before you actually have the job."

Shirley crossed her arms with a frown. "Aren't you the one who scared the post office staff into quitting during the Ghost King situation three years ago?"

The Box Ghost frowned in thought. "Oh! Where I acquired the Bubble Wrap of Death!" he exclaimed. Shirley blinked back. "Yes, that's me."

"Ern… you sure-"

"Box Ghost here is working for cash, as it's just on call for right now," he assured. "Besides, Phantom vouched for him and we're coming up to busy season anyway." He clapped the Box Ghost in the back, causing the ghost in question to falter in the air slightly. "You never know, he may help with the 3am ghost attacks. He starts today."

"Who's gonna train him?" Jim grumbled, eyes narrowing as he sized the ghost up.

Ernie turned to him sheepishly, his lips curving upward into a smile. "Well -"

"Absolutely fucking not," Jim cut through, gesturing to himself. "I am not training this thing."

"Jimbo…" Shirley admonished with a frown.

"Don't 'Jimbo' me Shirle! We're humans, he's a ghost! You've seen what they do to the town. I am not going to waste my shift training him. I'd rather train Jack Fenton than a ghost."

The Box Ghost frowned at the strong words, floating back behind Ernie at the outburst. Ernie frowned sympathetically to his newest employee before rounding on Jim. "You really don't have a choice Jim. You're the one who knows the ins and outs of this place and both Shirle and me have inventory. He needs a mentor." He glanced at Carl and Jacob. "Besides, you want the job done right, right? Imagine if Carl trained him."

"Hey!"

Jim grumbled under his breath before sighing deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose with a shake of his head. "Fine."

Ernie smiled, even as his team smiled back apprehensively. "Great, let's get going. Got another Pussycat shipment coming in around 2 and we have to prep all the deliveries for 6."

With a chorus of agreement, the crew left to their stations, leaving Ernie, the Box Ghost and Jim standing together. The Box Ghost's eyes turned to toward the plant, taking in the layout of the warehouse as he floated out from behind Ernie. "Where do I go now?" he asked tentatively.

Ernie nodded to Jim, who let out another exasperated sigh. "With Jim here; he'll go through some of the jobs that you can help with."

"Do they involve boxes?"

Jim and Ernie looked at each other warily before Jim answered. "Not yet - we'll start you on the smaller stuff first. Work your way up to the Boxes." Jim waved him forward and together they moved further into the warehouse.

Ernie sighed, shivering slightly as the air around him warmed up. "Only in Amity," he muttered, turning to the window with a sigh. He watched the streetlights go on before nodding to himself and heading back up to the office.

:-=-:

Red eyes widened as he floated behind the glowering man, taking in the sights of the plant.

The large warehouse was mostly empty, save for a large machine in the middle of it. All around, there were shelves of boxes lined from floor to ceiling, all in various shapes and sizes.

It was like heaven.

"There are a few main stations," Jim told him gruffly. "Dust run is making sure everything is kept clean. It helps us avoid injuries and the like. Guaranteed you'll be cleaning up from some debris at some point." The man pointed to the push brooms on the side. "It's usually a couple of us depending on the night." Jim jerked his head forward, nodding to the office. "Shirley and Ernie are up in the bird's nest most of the time. Shirley handles the paperwork and shipping side of things while Ernie can help us out on the floor at times. You need anything, find Ernie up there."

The Box Ghost nodded absently, staring up at the boxes above him.

Jim continued onward, not realizing the ghost had stopped. "Then there's the dock - we unload or load up items depending on the day. Most of our shipments come in on Thursdays and Sundays. Last, it's pack line. You put together the skids and then off it goes. Any questions?"

Jim turned and groaned, watching as the new employee completely ignored his spiel. "Of course," he muttered angrily. "Oi! Ghost! You listening?"

The Box Ghost broke out of his stupor, frowning at the tone as his eyes drifted back to the man in question. "You give away boxes?"

Jim groaned again. "And receive 'em," he said as if he was speaking to a small child. "How the fuck do you expect to work here if you can't even pay attention."

The ghost's frown deepened. "I pay attention," he muttered absently. "Just don't know why you'd give these beautiful boxes away."

Jim sighed deeply. "What else should we put them in?" Jim rubbed his face tiredly. "Look, I'm not thrilled about working with you, but I'm willing to give it a go if you work hard."

The Box Ghost's head tilted slightly. "Why?"

Jim shrugged. "Come on, let's start on the dust run." He walked over to the brooms, throwing one to the ghost. The Box Ghost fumbled with it slightly before he caught it. "Now, first thing's -"

He trailed off as the Box Ghost zoomed forward with a loud 'BEWARE' pushing the broom in front of him.

:-=-:

It was near dawn when Ernie realized something was off.

He frowned at his desk, rolling the pen in his hand as the office grew colder. Faintly below, he heard Carl laughing hard and a low grumble of curses from someone. Probably Jim.

He sighed, this time his breath frosting in front of him. His frown deepened, this time turning to the window in the upper part of his office. It was a cool night but not particularly cold. Certainly not the damp cold that's chilled him to the core. The only time he's felt like this was when the town was oversh-

Oh.

Oh.

The pen clattered to the desk as he scanned the room. Shirley was on break, Jacob was unloading at the dock and the Box Ghost was…

Where was the Box Ghost? He glanced at the new schedule. Ah. Also a break.

Ernie sighed again. "I know you're there," he said evenly. "Come out."

The room was quiet for a few moments before a figure popped into existence.

Phantom looked a little sheepish, rubbing the back of his head nervously like a child caught in the cookie jar. "How'd you know it was me?"

Ernie rubbed his arms tiredly. "I didn't," he replied. "Figured someone was there when the temperature kept dropping over the last hour."

The teen let out a soft chuckle. "Ah right - ice core. My bad." Green eyes drifted to the warehouse with feign interest. "I'd thought I'd check in on Box Ghost. He doing okay?"

Ernie gave him a skeptical look. "What are you his mother?"

Phantom's look of disgust was comical. "What- no! Gross. I was just being nice geez!" Phantom fidgeted, floating toward the warehouse slowly. "Seriously though - any issues?"

Ernie sighed. "Kid, it's his first day," he said patiently. "If he makes a mistake, then he'll adapt and fix it. No one's perfect."

"Fuckin' Hell!"

The loud swear made both Phantom and Ernie turn. Ernie rushed over from his desk to see Jim laying into the Box Ghost, packing peanuts and bits of plush toy stuffing spewed everywhere.

Green eyes found brown. Ernie sighed. "He'll be fine," he reassured.

"You believe that?" Phantom asked sardonically.

Ernie sighed again. "Maybe."