3rd person POV

  "Nickie, we're here." A soft voice spoke in her ear.

  She yawned, still barely awake.

  ‘So fast?…’

  She stretched slightly in her seat.

  They stepped out.

  As the taxi drove away, Adam asked, “Want me to carry your bag?”

  She blinked at him sleepily, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips.

  "Can I get a piggyback ride?"

  Adam blinked, genuinely surprised, but didn’t hesitate.

  He crouched.

  "Climb up."

  Nickie clumsily climbed onto his back, chuckling as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

  As Adam stood, she instinctively tightened her grip.

  "WHOA! This is fun!!! Haha!"

  Her voice was muffled with drowsiness, every word delightfully unfiltered.

  Adam tightened his grip.

  “You’re really light.” He murmured.

  “I’m mostly caffeine and spite.”

  Adam chuckled.

  "Turn left here, please… wait, no- right. Just up these stairs. This is it."

  At the top, Adam crouched again, letting her slide off gently.

  Nickie slapped her cheeks lightly, trying to shake off the sleep. She dug out her keys and opened the door.

  "Mom! We're home!"

  Elanya stepped into the warm glow of the living room, still in her scrubs, hair slightly mussed.

  She was beautiful in that quietly powerful way.

  Graceful, warm, self-assured.

  The kind of woman who could disarm someone with a look and fix everything with one hand.

  Her smile was soft, but her eyes missed nothing.

  "Hello, my beautiful children! Hey, bunny," she said, enveloping Nickie in a hug.

  Adam stood up straighter, suddenly unsure of what to do with his hands.

  "Hi, Adam!" Elanya smiled warmly at him, but made no move to approach or touch him.

  Adam exhaled subtly, grateful.

  ‘She must’ve talked to Dave,’ he thought.

  "How was the concert, my lovelies?"

  "It was amazing!" Nickie said through a yawn wide enough to make her eyes water.

  "I’m glad you had a good time.” She gave Nickie a kiss on her head. “I’ve already made up the guest bed, Adam. Nickie, show him to the room? I’ll bring you some tea and snacks."

  "Um… That’s… that’s really kind of you… Um…"

  Adam always felt awkward when trying to be polite. It never quite landed the way he wanted it to.

  But Elanya only smiled brighter. "Call me Elanya. Thank you for making sure Nickie got home safe. That means a lot to me. I've heard so much about you!"

  Nickie turned pink and mumbled, “Mom.”

  “What?” Elanya said innocently.

  "Anyway," she said quickly, grabbing Adam’s sleeve, "C’mon, I’ll show you the room."

  ***

  No ghosts allowed

  Nickie pulled him into the guestroom by the sleeve like a gremlin with a mission, suddenly energetic.

  They sat on the floor beside the bed, sipping hot tea and eating snacks like they hadn’t eaten in a week.

  Nickie’s teasing came wrapped in warmth.

  “You look like a haunted doll someone forgot on a tour bus,” she said, poking at his eye bags.

  “Says the sleep-deprived bat who thought hummus counted as dessert.”

  “It does if you believe in yourself,” she declared, smearing some on a cracker and nearly missing her mouth and giggling.

  To Adam it sounded unfiltered, bright, almost musical… and it made the room feel warmer.

  They’d talked about music. About which bands were overrated. About nothing and everything.

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  Nickie’s eyes were sparkling, hair falling in her face.

  “New band rule: if David ever writes a six-minute solo, we replace him with a metronome.”

  “Upgrade,” Adam murmured, lips quirking. “At least the metronome won’t give me lectures about my posture.”

  That made her burst with more little giggles.

  Adam’s gaze lingered, fuzzy with sleep, on the way her smile bent her whole face into something mischievous and kind.

  “And don’t forget,” Nickie added between snickers, “The eyebrow thing. He raises one eyebrow every time he thinks he’s teaching us ‘discipline.’”

  Adam chuckled, his voice warm and low. “Or when he’s mad at me for eating cereal out of the mixing bowl.”

  Nickie gasped dramatically. “Criminal behavior. You deserve the eyebrow.”

  He smirked. “You’re just jealous you can’t do it as perfectly arched as him.”

  Nickie’s eyes narrowed with mock determination.

  She sat up straighter, put on her most serious face, and tried to lift one eyebrow.

  Instead, both of them shot up together like startled caterpillars.

  Adam burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking. “That’s not it. That’s just… pure panic.”

  “Shut up,” she muttered, already contorting her face again.

  This time she scrunched her nose, widened one eye, and pursed her lips like she was about to sneeze.

  The eyebrow barely twitched.

  Adam wheezed, covering his mouth with his sleeve. “You look like a confused ferret.”

  Nickie dissolved into laughter but wasn’t giving up.

  She pulled her mouth to one side, her face twisting so much it looked cartoonish, and then… her ears wiggled.

  Adam froze.

  ‘Wait. Did her ears just…? Is that… legal?’

  The absurdity of it hit him in waves: her ridiculous determination, the wild contortion of her whole face just to move one stubborn eyebrow, and then, like some secret party trick, her ears twitching along for the ride… Adorably.

  ‘I’m hallucinating. That’s it. I’m too tired. Humans don’t do that. She’s not human. She’s… some kind of cursed bat-gremlin.’

  The thought barely finished before the laugh ripped out of him: loud, raw, unstoppable.

  He doubled over, clutching his stomach, his laugh cracking so hard it startled even him.

  "Is that... better?" She said with considerable effort, still focused on the mission at hand.

  He wiped at his eyes, still gasping for air between laughs.

  “I think you’re getting closer. Try it again.” he managed, his voice wrecked from laughing.

  “Oh my god, you liar! you big… you… giggle-ghoul!”

  “Giggle ghoul?”

  Adam blinked at her, then snorted so hard he nearly choked. “That’s the best you’ve got? What am I supposed to do, haunt people with knock-knock jokes?”

  Nickie cackled, rolling onto her side. “Exactly. You float through walls and go, boohoo, my punchline died.”

  Adam buried his face in his sleeve, shaking with laughter all over again. “Nickie, that’s… that’s tragic. You made me the saddest ghost in history.”

  “How ‘bout you try it, then?”

  Adam sighed, stretched his neck, then lifted one eyebrow with effortless precision.

  The angle was perfect, sharp, calm, and so David it almost felt uncanny.

  Then, in a dead-on impression of his brother’s dry, lecturing tone, Adam said:

  “Posture, Nickie. You’re slouching like a gargoyle.”

  Nickie clapped a hand over her mouth, her laughter breaking into snorts. “Dear satan, it’s him! You summoned him!”

  Adam grinned, pleased with himself. “Years of trauma. Comes with perks.”

  “But,” Nickie mentioned, “He’ll also make sure you’ve got your finger sleeves and I got water.”

  “Kind of makes him impossible to roast properly.” Adam said and yawned till his eyes were teary.

  For a moment, the silence that followed wasn’t sleepy or silly.

  It was comfortable, weighty, like something truer than either of them could say out loud.

  Then Nickie grinned crookedly, rescuing the mood. “Fine. But if he ever writes a song called Eyebrow Discipline, I’m quitting.”

  Adam laughed, low and tired, until another yawn overtook him.

  “You’re fading,” she said. “Get in before you collapse and I have to carry you like a tragic victorian bride.”

  He let her tuck him in.

  Half because he was too tired to argue, and half because… it felt good.

  Her laughter as she fluffed the pillow and yanked the blanket up to his chin was like sunlight through curtains.

  “There,” she said, hands on her hips like she’d conquered a mountain.

  “Tucked and sealed. No ghosts allowed.”

  Then, just before she turned to leave, she reached over to the corner lamp and clicked on a dim night light: soft, golden, barely there.

  She didn’t say anything about it.

  Didn’t ask if he needed it.

  She just knew.

  And that, more than anything, made his chest ache in the gentlest way.

  “Good night, Bass Boy,” she said, and something about the way she whispered it made the silence afterward feel like a hug.

  Then the door clicked softly shut.

  He laid there, staring at the ceiling, the echo of her giggle still playing in his ears.

  He thought,

  ‘If I fall asleep now… I won’t be haunted. Not tonight.’

  His phone buzzed.

  David.

  "Hey," he answered.

  "Just checking in. You got there alright?"

  "Yeah."

  "Good. How’re you feeling?"

  Adam was quiet for a second, searching himself.

  ‘It’s warm. I’m safe. Nickie’s right next door.’

  “I think I’ll be okay,” he said.

  David’s voice was warm. "Alright. Night, baby bro. Love you."

  "Love you too… Night."

  He hung up, his eyes drifting shut.