"I'm used to being seen through but it feels so bad when it happens with you." // OxO // CLOSED! (Stalkers get ravioli)

Prepared to head out, he stood up straight with a soft exhale. “Well I’m sorry you have to deal with her. I’m sure you could buy her silence somehow.” In Beckett’s own experiences, she typically calmed down whenever affection or treats were involved. Typical cat behavior.

Glancing at the time displayed on his phone, however, it was about time for him to get going. He’d need to head out if he wanted to avoid driving there. “I should be going,” he decided with a light smile.

“Alriiiight,” Simon said. “I think it’s noce that she’s sad when you leave.”

Beckett continued shuffling closer to the door as he spoke, not wanting to get too distracted by the conversation. “She’s clingy,” he agreed with an amused smile. “I’ll be back in- ah, right. You already know when, probably.” He glanced back to the door, undoing the lock and swinging it open. “Treats are on the top left shelf!” And with that, he was out the door.

When Beckett had left, Simon looked at Zelda. “Not even a goodbye kiss. How tragic.” The cat hopped down and began howling at the door. “Oh, sweet Jesus.”

Checking the time on his phone as soon as he was out the door, Beckett cracked a small smile. He actually wasn’t running too late. Speed-walking the rest of the way to the shop was relatively easy as well, and he even arrived a few minutes early. He made a beeline for the spiritual section of the shop, dropping to the carpet and scouring the titles until his shift officially started.

“ZELDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.” Simon pulled a pillow over his head and buried his face in the couch. “If I weren’t already dead this would be the cause of it.”

Beckett skimmed the spiritual section for the first ten or so minutes of his shift, picking out a few titles that caught his eye and bringing them up front. He switched places with the man before him, bidding him a friendly goodbye and taking his seat behind the front desk. He helped the few customers with questions, otherwise content to sit and skim the books he’d picked out. By the time his shift had ended, he’d taken pictures of a few promising entries, locked up, and headed home.

“When Beckett comes home, I’m ratting you out.” Simon rolled over onto his back and glared at the ceiling. “Even worse than that, you’re so cute I can’t even really be mad at you.”

Beckett arrived home in relatively good time, sure it was due in part to how quickly he was walking. It was dark now and he was anxious to be walking home not only alone, but down a relatively unpopulated road. He quickly unlocked his front door, slipping inside and locking it behind him. Zelda bounded up to him almost immediately, nearly like a dog as she excitedly wound between his feet. He chuckled, reaching down and petting her for a moment before heading further into the house.

“Zelda was yelling at me again. And before you ask, I did not give her treats because that sort of behavior,” he began, sitting up to look at Zelda, “should not be rewarded.”

Beckett chuckled, making a beeline to the kitchen to feed Zelda. “She might’ve just been hungry. It’s about her dinnertime, anyway.” He fell into his nightly routine almost surprisingly easily, filling the bowl on the floor with cat food before turning to Simon.

“Did you find any books?” Simon said. “I doubt they had a very wide selection.”

“Mm, a few entries that seemed like a decent bet. I could try the internet too, though the chances of it being reliable information are slimmer.” Beckett settled onto the opposite side of the couch on instinct, crossing his legs and getting comfortable.

"Lemme see." Simon inched closer to Beckett, excited. "I hope this is helpful."

(skfjsfks im so sorry that i disappeared again oh my god. shit Went Down in my personal life, and that with school starting back up just put a bit more of a workload on me. i should be back in action now, though :’))

He glanced up at Simon for a second with a small smile, opening his photos gallery on his phone. “Okay, uh. No promises that any of this is reliable.” He felt strangely awkward showing Simon his finds, as if it was something personal that he had come up with himself instead of a few words he found in an old book. Nevertheless, he began sifting through his camera roll.

(don’t apologize! im glad ur okay and i hope ur not as stressed now /gen)
Simon scowled. “Well, I know that. I doubt if anyone else had contact with a ghost and they said something about it, they’d believe them.”
He peered at the pictures, curious.

(awh, thanks-)

“…Yeah, all right. That- that’s fair.” Skimming through the photos, he selected the first one. It was taken from a small, paperback copy of some witchcraft book Beckett had uncovered. The page talked about spirits and how to ‘unbind them’ from the place of their death. He’d snapped a picture thinking that maybe if everything else failed, he could at least try and figure out how to let Simon go wherever he wanted.

(ofc)
“Do you think this would work?” Simon asked. “Like, do you think the book is reliable?” He bent his head, squinting to read the words.

"I mean, there's always a chance? It's definitely the easiest to comprehend out of all of these." He had snapped a few pictures of various subtopics, ranging from this simple page to a whole resurrection that he highly doubted was real. But what did he know, really? So, of course, he snapped that too. "You can just, uh. Look through if you want?" Beckett offered his phone to Simon somewhat awkwardly, offering a sheepish smile.

Simon took the phone, reading the pictures with interest. "I don't see how we'd be able to perform these here. I mean, we could give it a shot. I don't know."

Beckett fiddled mindlessly as Simon looked over his finds. “If any of them seem like they might work, there’s no reason to not try them, right? It’s just a matter of which ones seem good to you. Both in, uh. Reliability and the general purpose.” At the end of the day, Beckett was clueless in this department. He was, of course, enthusiastically on board to help out wherever he could, but that wasn’t to say that he knew what he was doing.

Simon glanced at Beckett, smiling. “That’s true. Thank you, by the way.” He handed Beckett’s phone to him.

“Yeah, of course!” He took his phone back and glanced over the pages one more time before pocketing it. “It’s the least I can do, really.”

“I still appreciate it, love,” Simon said truthfully. “Hey, and now that you’re home, you can give Zelda all the attention she wants,” he said, directing the sentence at the cat.

‘Love.’ Beckett smiled softly. “Thanks,” he hummed, looking over at Zelda over in the kitchen. “Ah, yeah. She’s.. clingy.” He laughed softly as said cat looked over at them. She made no move to approach, instead turning back to her food bowl.

“Oh, but now she couldn’t care less. Finicky little girl.” Simon glared at the cat. “How rude.”

Beckett laughed, shaking his head affectionately. “She’s just hungry. I’m sure she’ll be back once she’s finished eating.”

“Then you give me attention, how about that?” Simon kissed Beckett’s cheek. “How was your day?”

Beckett couldn’t help the smile that snuck onto his face, rolling his eyes playfully as he leaned into the slight show of affection. “Good. Work was quiet, like always. It was nice.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it,” Simon said. “So nothing interesting happened? Not even a creepy customer?”