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Honestly, when he first agreed to go along with Johnny Ghost, Chris didn't expect himself to get so into paranormal investigation.
He's done this before, with a lot of his interests. Tried something out for the first time after learning as much as he can about it, doing it well, and then dropping the thing shortly after. Because it gets boring, knowing he's already good. Once he understands something well enough to predict it, he loses all thrill and searches for a different interest that will consume him whole for a few months at a time.
This is different. One, because he at least has competition now. Ghost is, admittedly, pretty adept at what he does, even though Chris has fun taking little jabs at him here and there, just to see him get all huffy. Two, because... he's not actually as good at it as he could be? Like, of course he's competent, but anyone would have trouble thinking clearly while being chased. Not that he's not looking to fix that.
It's after his second case that he visits their headquarters for the first time. It's honestly not a bad place, for what he expected. Even being used to the overly-spacious places he used to live, it's not cramped. Actually, for a building on the main street of an otherwise tiny town, it's pretty large.
It's not polished, but most of the stuff in these rural places he's been introduced to are the same. With cracking paint at the baseboards, and mismatched desk chairs, it feels pleasantly unfamiliar. Way more lived-in than any space his family occupied.
The front desk catches his eye as they walk past it, with a bulky, old-looking computer at the desk, a tiny, stuffed bear leaning against it. There's no one sitting there at the moment, though.
It's about a week and a half later he meets the person the desk belongs to. Ghost had informed Chris that since Johnny Toast was back, he'd be working more with 'Spooker', and that they'd be doing more lower stakes work.
Colon had asked Ghost what Spooker was like, only to get the word "Annoying," in response.
Which, by Ghost standards, could mean anything.
Regardless, Chris is pretty sure he can handle himself. Well enough that he could do the same type of jobs Ghost does. Probably more competently, but that's neither here nor there. He's sure that no matter the type of person his partner is, he'll be able to prove himself.
When Ghost comes back with the guy, he has to stop and do a double-take.
... Oh my god?
The person in front of him is somehow even taller than his 186cm ass. Not to mention, super built. He's not exactly unfamiliar with people being bigger than him, since he's (in all honesty) kind of thin for his height and athletic abilities, but like, it gets to a point. C'mon.
They have a baby face, too. And really big almond eyes, with messy, unbrushed ginger curls that fall into their eyes (can they even see properly, like that?), and a pink hat pulled over the rest of their head. It really doesn't match their body at all.
"Hi." They raise their hand, half-attempting a wave.
"Heyy," Chris drags the word out, trying to get a grasp on how to even interact with this guy. His appearance is just so... contradictory.
Like, he's obviously muscular, but he's wearing pink and bright patterned clothes. The outfit seems like it'd take effort, but he looks simultaneously unkempt. It's seriously taking effort for Chris to not point that out. Not because he dislikes it, but he just wants to know the reasoning behind it.
Like, who goes through the effort to put on that many layers and then doesn't even fix their hair? It almost makes him want to put some conditioner in it, just to separate the curls properly and fix the parts that look like they got matted from sleep at some point.
"So you're my partner now, then?" Chris asks.
Ghost nods. "Colon, this is Spooker. Spooker, meet Colon."
"Hi," Spooker (apparently) says again. "... I already said that."
Ghost immediately frowns. Chris still has no idea how to interpret the guy, so he's not sure where the reaction is coming from.
In... any case, he should proceed as normal.
"It's nice to meet you," Chris says, offering a hand.
Spooker looks down at the hand like he has no idea what Chris is even holding it out for. "Oh, um. You, too?" He says. A hand goes up to scratch the back of his neck.
Chris lets his hand drop, trying not to laugh. He's pretty sure this guy is really awkward, or maybe just missing a couple screws. "... What kind of experience do you have?" He asks.
"Experience?" Spooker asks, tilting his head to the side.
Chris raises an eyebrow, moving one hand onto his hip. "Like, I've been studying forensics for the past 3 years, so that's what I'm experienced in. Though I have a lot of other applicable skills."
"Ohh. Uh. I've been. Alive for 26 years."
Chris can't hold back a snort at that. Okay, yeah, that's funny. Probably not on-purpose funny, but still.
Spooker puts a hand on the back of his neck, looking off to the side. His neutral expression falls into pout that reminds Chris of a baby seal, especially with the way he just... stares.
Which is super unfair, by the way. Given the fact that he could probably carry him with one arm. And Ghost in the other, if we're being honest.
"I've also been dead before. So I have the whole spectrum of experience covered," Spooker adds.
Chris snickers before he can catch it. The entirely genuine delivery of a sentence nobody has ever thought of saying before is getting to him. He wants to ask so many questions, but he can hold that back for now.
"That's not what I meant," Chris says, poking Spooker in the shoulder. He doesn't react to it at all. "I mean, how long have you been doing this sort of thing?"
Spooker blinks, looking back at Chris again. "Oh." He drops his arm to his side. "Um. Like, a year and a half? But I'm still an intern, since I'm still learning."
That seemed like a long time for an internship. Maybe Chris was biased because he picked things up quicker than most, though.
"A year and a half is a pretty long internship," Chris notes.
Ghost scoffs. "It'd be shorter if he actually did anything correctly for more than 3 seconds."
Spooker's pout deepens. "I think I've made it to at least 8."
"I don't think you can count that high," Ghost snarks back.
Chris expects Spooker to argue, but he just keeps pouting. This guy just keeps defying any attempts to read him, huh?
Ghost is already an anomaly of the social norms that have been drilled into him all his life, but Spooker seems to be the same way, in a completely different direction. Every member of this team he meets is stranger than the last.
But Spooker is a different case entirely. One Chris can't help wanting to learn more about.
Working with him... might actually stay interesting.