Child at Heart

The moment the child saw him, he began to scream.  The specter’s magenta eyes focused on the young blonde, before darting up to meet Vivi’s.  The girl sighed and pulled the little boy into her arms, gently patting his back. 

“I want… I want…” the child sobbed, tears dripping down his cheeks. Burying his face into Vivi’s shoulder, the boy began to plead, “I want Lewis!  Where’s Lewis!”

The bluenette gave her ghostly boyfriend a hard glare, even as she rubbed circles on Arthur’s trembling back.  “It’s okay, sweetie.  Lewis is coming.”

With a sigh, the specter drifted into the other room, and allowed his human form to flow over his dead bones.  Adjusting his purple tie, Lewis tried to push down the rage he normally had toward the other man.  Arthur had killed him, but he was just a child right now.  At least until Vivi figured out a counter-curse.  No hurting the child… even if it WAS Arthur. 

Stepping back into the room, Lewis attempted to smile invitingly, but he couldn’t quite get his arms to move from his sides.  “Hey… ahem.  Hello, Arthur.”

The child, who was now standing next to Vivi, looked up quickly at the sound of his voice.  A broad grin spread across his face as he raced across the room, and threw both arms around the purple-haired man’s legs.  “Lewis!  Lewis!  Lewis!”

Lewis didn’t quite know what to do with his hands, and finally settled for patting the boy awkwardly on the back with one of them.  This wasn’t just any child, it was Arthur.  The man who murdered him! 

“That’s so sweet.  Why don’t you play with him in the living-room while Mystery and I make dinner,” Vivi suggested, her eyes sparkling with amusement. 

Lewis soon found himself sitting on the couch with Arthur pressed against his side.  The little boy was giggling at the rerun of Scooby Doo on the television, but every once in a while he’d glance around as if looking for something.

“There was a ghost here -” Arthur suddenly announced, his brown eyes focused on the TV.  Lewis glanced down, waiting for him to continue.  “You must have scared him away.  You’re always making the scary things go away, and that’s why you’re my best friend.”

Small fingers entwined with his; the child seemly oblivious to the pretend human’s ice-cold skin.  Lewis was tempted to pull out his anchor and check to make sure it was working properly.  For some strange reason, the boy’s unquestioning trust made it ache in an odd way.

***

After dinner, in which more food seemed to end up on the child’s face then in his mouth, the group moved back to the living room for a movie.  Watching Arthur play happily with Mystery on the floor, Lewis turned to study his girlfriend as she took in the sight.  It made him happy to see her happy.  And now, for whatever reason, the sight of Arthur goofing around without a trace of fear was giving him a pleasant glow inside.   

“So, Arthur,” the bluenette commented as the credits began to roll.  “You love Lewis very much, don’t you?” The ghost gave her a hard look, but turned his attention back to the child as the boy surged to his feet.

“Uh huh!  Lewis is my bested-est best friend, and I’m gonna be his wife someday!” The boy was smiling ear to ear, the gap in his front teeth only furthering his expression of innocence. 

Lewis knew he’d lost control of his projection the moment the boy’s excited eyes widened in fear.   A quick flash back to his human form did nothing but distress the child further.  With a sob, the little boy ran out of the room, screaming at the top of his lungs.

 “Lewis,” Vivi hissed, turning her angry gaze on the ghost. 

“I…”

“Nevermind.  I’ve got to go comfort Arthur,” the bluenette hissed, stalking from the room with Mystery hot on her heels.  The spectacled dog stopped in the doorway, turning back to fix his attention on the magenta-haired spirit sitting on the sofa. 

“I’ve tried to encourage you kids to deal with your team issues, but perhaps I was wrong about things working themselves out.” Mystery glanced up the stairs where a single bedroom light was shining brightly, like a torch.  “You should really think long and hard about your relationship with Arthur.  This team isn’t going to work out if you’re at each others’ throats.”

“He killed me,” Lewis attempted to argue, but his heart just wasn’t into it.  In fact, his locket anchor continued to pulse painfully against his ribs.  It seemed to do that every time Arthur cried… even back when he was an adult. 

“You forget, I was there.  If you can’t trust his word, or Vivi’s, then at least try to consider my point of a view.  A demonic spirit was in the cave, it did possess Arthur’s arm, and it caused him to push you from the ledge.  I wasn’t fast enough to save you, but I was able to bite off the appendage before the creature could completely possess Arthur.  You could have all died that night if I hadn’t been there,” Mystery stated, though not in a superior tone.  He cared for them all, even if he rarely spoke aloud. 

Lewis looked away as the dog padded out of the room and up the stairs, clearly on his way to join Vivi in her attempts at calming young Arthur down.  He’d certainly given the specter a lot to think about.

***

Lewis didn’t realize he’d drifted into a meditative state until he felt little hands pulling on his pant legs.  The sky was dark outside the curtained window, and the clock on the wall ticked 5 minutes past two a.m.  Arthur continued to pull himself up onto the sofa, pointedly avoiding looking up at the skeleton. 

Lewis didn’t say a word, although he had a strange urge to hold his breath until the boy finally spoke. 

“I’m scared of ghosts,” Arthur began, his small hands trembling in his lap.

“I know,” the specter acknowledged, trying to make his voice as light as possible.  He didn’t dare throw on his human guise for fear that the sudden change might scare the child. 

“I’m scared of a lot of things, but you’re Lewis, and Lewis is the safest-ed person I know, so you can’t be scary,” Arthur seemed to decide, turning his orange eyes up to stare at the skeleton. 

“Is that so?” Lewis felt his anchor give a pulse of contentment as the child stared at him without fear.

“Uh huh.  And the pretty blue lady said I could be your wife when I grew up,” the boy announced, puckering out his cheeks as if daring the ghost to refuse. 

~So cute!  Wait, did I really just think that?~

“Did she?” Lewis managed to answer, already planning out his future conversation with her in his mind.

“Yep.  As long as I’m her wife, too,” Arthur smiled, throwing his arms around the specter’s thin waist.  A bony arm embraced the boy in return, Lewis’ eye sockets crinkling with happiness.  It wasn’t long before the boy was fast asleep, his head nestled in the ghost’s lap. 

***

“So, how do we get him back to normal?” Lewis kept his voice low to avoid waking the child now sprawled on top of him. 

Vivi studied the pair on the couch, before smirking at her magenta-haired boyfriend.  “True love’s kiss wouldn’t hurt.”

“… he’s a child, V.”

“It doesn’t have to be on the lips.”

Lewis allowed his human projection to sweep over his skeletal body.  I hope this works, he thought, even as he pressed cold lips to the boy’s soft cheek. 

“Awww… I really thought that would work,” Vivi commented.  With a sigh, she leaned over the couch and pressed her own kiss to the spot Lewis’ lips had just left.  Twirling a strand of blue hair around her finger, the girl whispered, “I’ll search through my spell books and see if there’s another way to break the curse,” before leaving the pair to snuggle on the couch. 

Eyeing the boy who was still sound asleep, and drooling slightly onto his shirt, Lewis leaned back and relaxed his powers, letting the human guise slip away.  Even if Arthur did wake up, he wouldn’t be too startled to see the specter in his natural state.

As his glowing violet eyes dimmed, the ghost failed to notice the blue and purple lip-print shimmering on the little boy’s cheek. 

***

A movement against his chest drew Lewis’ attention back to the real world.  Tilting his bony skull forward, the spirit froze when he came nose to nose with a sleepy ADULT Arthur.  His friend had boosted himself up on his single arm, and was now leaning in close to the specter’s rather startled face.

~Arthur looks good when he’s all tired and confused. Definitely kissable.~

Lewis watched as Arthur fully woke up, his orange eyes widening in fear.  The mechanic’s sudden attempt to push himself away only tipped him off-balance.  The specter was quick to steady him with his own gloved hands, marveling at how light the other boy was. 

Arthur’s eyes crunched shut, clearly waiting for Lewis to yell at him or push him off.  Leaning in close, the ghost felt a surge of sympathy, along with an undercurrent of guilt, toward the young man.  “Breathe, Arthur,” Lewis commanded.  The living boy took an involuntary breath, his eyes still closed tightly.

“I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’ll get off you now.” Arthur tried to push against the solid specter beneath him, but Lewis’ arm was still glued to his hip.

“Don’t,” the magenta-haired ghost stated.  The mechanic froze in fear.  Lewis felt his eye sockets softening at the sight.  Poor Arthur.  “Please, stay.  There is something I need to speak with you about.”

“And I need to be in your lap for this conversation?” the blonde asked, cringing at his own words.

Lewis laughed at the boy’s spunk, before commenting, “No, but I’m quite comfortable with you there.”

Arthur’s cheeks turned a rosy red, prompting the specter to slip on his human guise.  Without another thought, Lewis pressed his chilled lips to the other man’s trembling ones.  Arthur nearly jerked away, but the ghost held him fast, one gloved hand reaching around to rub comforting circles on the human’s t-shirt clad back. 

When he finally pulled back, Lewis noticed that his friend – and hopefully future lover – was staring at him with a dazed expression.  Luckily, the specter was saved from explaining when a familiar spectacled girl trotted through the door with a spellbook in hand, and Mystery at her heels.

“I found a way to – oh, Arthur’s back to normal.  I guess true love’s kiss did work,” Vivi announced, throwing her arms around Arthur while he continued to perch in Lewis’ lap. 

“True love’s kiss?  Did something happen?  I remember that sorceress throwing a spell at me, and a bright flash of green light -” The mechanic gazed between his two… friends, clearly confused. 

“You were turned into a child, Arthur.  I’m not surprised you don’t remember.  But it looks like Lewis’ kiss worked, and now the spell is broken!”

“Wait, what?  What kiss?” the blond demanded, though he looked more panicked than upset by the news.

“You kissed him, too, Vivi,” Lewis reminded her, his gloved hands returning to their comfortable perch on Arthur’s hips. 

“Maybe it took both our kisses to break the spell.  Arthur is going to be our wife, after all.”  The girl smiled brightly, and whipped out her cell phone. 

“Wait – WIFE?!  But I’m… and you’re both… and…”

“Aw, you were so cute as a kid, Arthur.  I have soooo many pictures!”