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Feelings have been... strange, since Edwin died. Physically, he doesn't feel, but he also does, in some, distant, disconnected way- mentally, he feels a lot, feelings that are both new and old and strange.
It was all rather confusing.
After escaping Hell, a new feeling had appeared. A feeling he still doesn't have a name for, even after 30 years.
"How you doing, mate?" Charles asks. Edwin doesn't have an answer. Instead, he rests his head on Charles's shoulder. It feels warm, kind of. It's a far away sort of warm, but it's still there.
The other ghost smiles. He still didn't understand this side of Edwin, not on a technical level. He liked it, though. Getting to see the professional, uptight ghost relax a little. It was a welcome break from cases, and it let him turn his brain off for a while. Just him and Edwin.
This Edwin is very easily entertained, Charles had realized. Currently, he was playing with the hem of Charles's jacket, and he seemed perfectly content. He was kicking his feet off the side of the ledge like a child as he did. It was absolutely adorable.
"Nope, nuh-uh." Charles scolds, gently swatting Edwin's sleeve away from his mouth. "None of that."
Edwin whines.
"Sorry mate." Charles apologized. He was still looking for a solution to that, the chewing- he's suggested teething toys in the past, but Edwin had completely rejected the idea- it's embarrassing, he had said. It shouldn't be encouraged.
Charles was working on that, too. Getting him to accept it.
He wishes he knew what it was.
Neither of them notice Niko until she's next to them, swinging her leg over the concrete barrier.
"Crystal's asleep." she says, breaking the silence. Charles nods.
Edwin sits up a bit. He likes Niko. The two of them had become fast friends, to Charles's surprise. He was glad Edwin had someone else.
Niko looks at Edwin. Edwin looks at Niko. He looks like a baby seal, with big eyes that have absolutely no thoughts behind them.
"He's- he's a bit.. different, right now. He's fine, though, brils, just a little.." Charles tries to explain. Niko accepts this awkward explanation, and gives Edwin a little boop on the nose, causing him to go cross eyed for a second.
"Awww, cute!" she giggles. If Edwin had blood, he would be blushing. He hides his face in Charles's chest regardless.
"Oh, don't be embarrassed, little guy.." Niko coos. Edwin looks at her, a bit unsure about being called a "little guy".
"Here, you can play with this."
Niko rummages through her pocket and pulls out a little pink infinity cube, handing it to the ghost. He folds it a few times, seeming to enjoy the motion of folding and unfolding it. "There." Niko says, sounding very proud of herself. With Edwin thoroughly distracted, she turns her attention to Charles.
"Does he regress a lot?" she asks. Charles cocks his head.
"Oh... You don't know what that means, do you?"
"Can't say that I do."
Niko pulls out her phone, looks something up, and hands it to him, seeming excited, before going back to baby talking at Edwin. Alright then.
As he reads the article- an explanation of age regression by what he assumes to be a medical journal, given the logo at the top of the page- a lot of things begin to pop into place. That’s why Edwin acted like that. That’s why he does that.
“Well then.” he remarks, setting Niko’s phone on the ledge. Niko looks away from Edwin for a second. “It’s cute, right? He definitely deserves it.”
“Yeah.” Charles says. If there’s one thing Edwin needs, it’s a decent coping mechanism, and it seems he’s found it, though unintentionally. They definitely needed to talk about it, it seems there’s so much more he could be doing for him.
But for now, Niko promised to watch more Scooby Doo with him, and Charles isn’t going to keep him from it.
They can talk tomorrow.