Chapter Text
When the day everything changed started, nobody had the slightest idea that anything out of the ordinary was going to happen.
Of course, out of the ordinary was quite a loose definition for the Ghostbusters, simply because of their line of work. For them, ordinary was hunting and trapping ghosts, studying them, little to medium (and sometimes even big) poofs coming from the upstairs lab where Holtzmann did her work, usually followed by the engineer calling down “I’m okay!”, sometimes followed by the hiss of a fire extinguisher – which usually led to one of them going up and checking that only material was burning, and not Holtzmann herself – and going to the bar or having takeout together after another successful bust.
Ordinary was, for Erin, coming back from a bust covered in slime – the stuff was after her personally, she was so sure of that by now. Ordinary was sending reports about those busts to the mayor’s office (by now, she didn’t even mention anymore when she got covered in slime, figuring that the mayor had noticed the trend after it had been part of every single report for a month or so). Ordinary was trying to teach Kevin how to handle the phone and e-mail when they were not out busting ghosts, or testing new equipment Holtzmann had whipped up in her lab.
Ordinary was also to pay a lot more attention to what the engineer was doing than it probably was suitable for a friend. She couldn’t help herself though; fascinated by the work the blonde did, the gadgets she came up with, and how she made them function so perfectly (most of the time). It was also somewhat ordinary to have them do things she’d never intended, but at least she never let them test anything when she wasn’t completely sure it wouldn’t harm them.
And ordinary was for her to blush at the things Holtzmann said to her, at the flirty remarks and the pet names (“hot stuff” being a favourite, closely followed by various sweets, usually “cupcake” or “muffin”). She was blushing with such regularity, in fact, that she wondered if it could turn into some sort of health hazard.
What wasn’t ordinary - was in fact far from ordinary - was Phil showing up that certain day out of the blue and standing there somewhat awkwardly, fiddling with his tie as Erin’s three science friends, as she had called them – he hadn’t bothered to learn their names, even though they all were somewhat famous now – were staring at him.
“You want to what”, Erin said, distracting him from the way her friends were looking at him, sounding a bit confused, as if he hadn’t spoken quite clearly. He cleared his throat, unnerved especially by the blonde’s – Holdsmar? Holdsmack? Something – stare, forcing himself to focus on Erin as he repeated himself.
“I want to take you out”, Phil said, smiling at the physicist, “on a date. Things ended so badly between us, and, to be honest, you kinda walked out on me at the last talk we had. So I figure, you at least owe me one dinner to talk about all of it?”
Holtzmann raised an eyebrow at that. Owe him? She doubted Erin owed that man anything. But Erin stood with her back to her, and didn’t see the blonde’s reaction. And thanks to that, the engineer, in turn, missed the doubtful look on her face, the redhead’s mind racing a mile a minute as she tried to come up with an answer to his question.
She didn’t feel much like going out with him. Their initial relationship had been awkward at best, after all, but she figured that he was right. Their last talk hadn’t ended on civil terms, what with her walking away to join her friends on a bust. She had just left him there. Which, in hindsight, Erin supposed was awfully rude of her.
(As she thought this, she was unaware of how she acted just like he had expected her to. Phil knew her well and he knew what to say to push the right buttons).
And so, to the surprise of everyone else in the room, she found herself nodding, and even smiled a bit at the way his face lit up at the agreement.
“Great”, he said, “I’ll pick you up at eight. Wear something elegant.”
“Um, yeah, at eight”, Erin agreed, and now Holtzmann was glad that the redhead still had her back to her, because she was unable to hold back the shock and even pain from showing on her face there. It only showed for a few moments, though, the engineer quickly getting her features under control again. By the time Phil had taken his leave and Erin was returning to them, her face looked perfectly natural again. Holtz was grateful for the years of crushing on straight girls that had taught her this trick.
“Wow”, Abby commented the moment he was out the door. “That was unexpected. And not just him showing up. You sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s just one dinner”, Erin replied with a shrug, “and he was kinda right, our last talk did end on a sour note. After all the time we were together, he deserves better.”
He doesn’t , Holtzmann thought to herself. None of this showing through her features though, not this time. He deserved even less than that for how he spoke to you. He doesn’t deserve you.
“I still think he’s a sexy dancer”, Patty recalled their previous talk about the man, making Abby roll her eyes while Erin looked mostly confused, “Erin, if you hook up with him again, take him dancing with us some time so Abby can see that he’s good at it.”
“Oh, he doesn’t dance.” Erin replied casually. “He thinks it’s a waste of time.” And that didn’t surprise Holtzmann at all. Of course that guy didn’t dance, and of course he would think it was a waste of time. Erin loved to dance though, she knew that much. She supposed the physicist must really like him if she was willing to cut down on her dancing time, not even making a big deal out of it.
It appeared Erin was done talking about the subject of Phil, though, and turned her attention back to Holtzmann again. “Okay so, where were we?”
“Proton machine gun”, Holtzmann replied, managing to sound cheerful and like her usual self; as if the fact that Erin had agreed to go out with this guy again hadn’t broken her heart in roughly a million pieces. “It’s almost ready for the test phase. It’s gonna kick some serious ghost butt.”
Erin looked quite excited at that and nodded, and somehow, Holtzmann managed to smile back. The rest of the evening, until Erin had to leave to get ready for her date, the engineer kept up the façade, only allowing her dismay to show on her face when she was back up in her lab, frowning at her project as she worked.
She didn’t know Phil much, so she told herself that it wasn’t fair to judge him when she had so little information. She told herself that the important thing was that Erin was happy, and if Erin was happy, Holtzmann could try to be happy for her.
Still, she found herself unable to shake the feeling that this was a bad idea, that Erin never should have said yes to that date.
… And she didn’t have the slightest idea how right she was.