Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Getting benched sucks. Having your mother yell at you sucks. The mayor sucks. Just everything sucks, and well…

Having an ‘everything sucks’ mindset gets really tiring after a while, Phoebe would never admit this but she finds solace in the park when its late at night.

So she finds herself at a small table with a laminate chess board printed on it, the pieces scatter across the surface before she places them delicately in the correct spots.

She loiters for a moment, her fingers hovering over the pawn before she makes her move, and sure, it’s a little depressing that a fifteen year old girl is playing chess with herself, but that doesn’t stop her from reaching over to the other side to move a different piece.

What does stop her is the arm reaching over her shoulder, plucking a different piece off the board and moving it forward two squares.

Phoebe stares as a blonde girl, with a messy bun and a pretty green slip sits across from her.

“Boo”

The girl is grinning. Phoebe thinks its really pretty.

“Oh um- hey”

She makes another move

“Are you not scared?”

The girl counters her move without looking at the board.

“Should i be?”

Another pawn, forward one square.

“Its just, usually people run by now”

The girl takes phoebes pawn.

“Oh, i can- i can leave if you want-“

“No no, i wasn’t saying-“

“You can sneak up again and i can act scared if-“

“No! Youre fine, its just- weird”

The girl chuckles, countering phoebes last move with her bishop, they play in silence for a moment, trading pieces back and forth until the blonde wins.

The mystery girl sets up a new game wordlessly.

“You got a name?”

“Phoebe”

The blonde smiles at her and reaches a bandaged hand across the table.

“Im melody”

Phoebe shakes her hand, she doesn’t cringe at the contact like she usually would. Weird.

“Cool name” she deadpans

“Thanks, it was my grandmothers”

The girl- melody, grins at her, phoebe feels the inexplicable urge to tease her.

“I was being sarcastic.”

Melody laughs, a pretty sound- one that rivals the music phoebe listens to. She’d probably listen to melody’s laugh instead of music honestly.

“I like you, you’re funny”

“I barely try”

“Okay weirdo. Checkmate.”

Phoebe looks down at the board in shock, sure enough, melody’s knight has her king in a checkmate.

When she looks back up, melody is gone, leaving the brunette even more confused than she was.

Despite that, she smiles. And her mind stays on her and melody’s interaction the whole night, she falls asleep hoping they would meet again.

——

Sure enough, Wednesday evening, she gets a call.

Callie and gary are out on a different alarm, they took Trevor with them, so phoebe is left to answer this one.

Theres a ghost at a diner on 8th, not hostile, just creepy, so she gathers her gear, podcast insisting that he comes along as they makes their way down the street.

The diner is quaint and the door jingles when they push through it, the lady at the counter points towards the jukebox at the back of the room, a ghost with a purple glow is dancing to the song that’s playing. Phoebe fires the proton pack, lucky not to hit anything other than the spectre.

They’re both about to leave, the ghost securely trapped, when phoebe’s eyes meet a familiar blue.

“A ghostbuster huh?”

Melody.

“Uh yeah, is that- is that a problem?” Phoebe’s voice is weirdly tentative

“Oh no, in fact, i think its doing it for me” melody winks, a sly grin spreading across her face

Phoebe is about to respond before podcast clears his throat, breaking the little moment between the two.

“Pheebs, we gotta go get this back to the station.” He hold up the trap to emphasise his point, giving the two girls a skeptical look.

Melody looks at him, then back at phoebe.

“Who’s the third wheel?”

“Oh uh-“ “im podcast! Phoebes best friend.”

He strains the last two words, clearly jealous. Phoebe’s face heats up.

Melody stands, she’s wearing a white collared short and mini cargo shorts, wiping her hands on an apron that reads melody diner .

“Well stay, the least we can do is offer you some fries, not to brag but i make them pretty good”

Phoebe doesn’t get a chance to speak once again before her fiend cuts in from beside her, declining the offer.

To be honest, the brunette is a little upset. She wanted to stay, spend more time around the blonde girl who hadn’t left her mind since 2 nights ago.

But she relents, walking out the door again with a weak goodbye.

Melody just offers her a smile and a wave when they make eye contact through the window.

Phoebe’s face flushes.

——

She’s only just hiding her proton pack and changing out of the ‘company supplied’ jumpsuit when a knock sounds at her window.

She startles a little at the sight of the blonde she saw a mere hour ago, stood on the fire escape and waving at her confidently on the other side of the glass.

Phoebe looks around aimlessly, wondering if she’s hallucinating or something before she steps forward and lift the window frame, she’s lucky podcast went home after putting the ghost in the chamber.

“Uhm- hey?”

“Hey spengler”

“Do you make a habit of stalking people? Or am i special?”

To be completely transparent, phoebe has no idea where this confidence is coming from, but it falls naturally off her tongue when she sees melody sheepishly smile at the ground.

“Thought I’d come pay my knight in shining armour some thanks.”

Phoebe flushes again at the nickname, some of that previous confidence drained from her as she speaks again,

“Oh um well- do you- do you wanna hang ouuut??”

The last word comes out scratchy and unsure as she rubs the back of her neck, Melody smirks at her.

“You inviting me in?”

“Yeah, i mean sure”

Melody clambers through her window a lot less gracefully than expected, landing on the floor with a loud thud and a groan, phoebe winces and offers her hand to help her up.

“Nice digs”

“Thanks..”

Melody’s eyes scan the room, stopping to read a few of the CD’s and vynil records along her shelves, the blonde walks over to her desk and shuffles through the designs and equations she drew up for a handheld proton pack, making little sounds when she reads something particularly interesting.

Phoebe shuffles from foot to foot awkwardly behind her, tying and retying the sleeves of her jumpsuit around her waist.

“Is the rest of this place as cool as your room?”

Melody turns around and scans phoebe up and down for a second before locking eyes with her, and phoebe suddenly feels very exposed in her tank top and jumpsuit half on.

“You want a tour?”

Melody lights up and nods emphatically at the brunette, listening intently and staring in wonder, Phoebe clumsily explaining what does what as they make their way through the firehouse.

“This is where we put ghosts once we like, y’know, trap them”

She gestures to the red box protruding from the cracked basement wall. Melody runs her hands over the freezing bricks and shivers.

“What happened?”

“Im not really sure.. we were just lounging when the building shook, gray came to check what it was and he found” phoebe waves her hand at the wall “this”

Melody opens her mouth to speak, but she doesn’t get the words out before callie’s voice booms from upstairs, phoebe panics and scramble over to melody, pushing her against the wall and covering her mouth with her palm before responding.

Her mother opens the basement door, but doesn’t come down the stairs, phoebe scrunches her eyes shut as she listens to her mum speak.

“Don’t stay up too late.”

“I wont!”

Callies hums in acknowledgment before closing the basement door again. They wait for her footsteps to grow quiet before phoebe sighs and looks at melody.

Melody who is raising and eyebrow at her, face red and smirking beneath the palm still on her face.

Thats when phoebe realises her mistake, one hand is pinning melody to the wall by her shoulder and their bodies are almost flush together.

The brunette scurries back, muttering apologies as her whole body is coated in a deep blush.

“Um..” she starts

Melody smiles gently at her and boldly reaches a hand up to cup the side of Phoebe’s face, the brunette tenses a little as her stomach erupts in butterflies.

“I should go. Thanks for the tour pheebs, it was nice seeing ya!”

The blonde shoots a wink in her direction before she disappears up the stairs, phoebe stands frozen in place, her cheek and hands tingling from the contact.

“Oh fuck”

——

Its only been a day since Melody showed up outside her window, yet phoebe finds herself craving for the other girls presence.

Its kind of scary how much space the blonde takes up in phoebe’s head yet she cant bring herself to mind it, she enjoys being around her, and her face still pleasantly tingles when she remembers the way Melody’s -really warm- hands cupped her cheek.

Thats probably why she finds herself sat at the same table in the park, a chess game set up in front of her, waiting.

But she’s not gonna admit that she’s waiting so she decides to act like she’s deep in thought, not the best idea as phoebe ends up sat staring blankly at the little figures on the board for a little too long, her eyes close and her head dips, she had no idea she was this tired.

Around the fourth rime she starts drifting into sleep in her chair, she feels a pair of warm arms wrap around her shoulders, crossing over each other on her chest.

Phoebe tips her head back and locks eyes with melody, the blonde smiles down at her and utters a quiet “boo”

Phoebe breaks out in a grin when melody walks around to lean against the table.

“Wanna go for a walk?”

God phoebe’s missed melody’s voice.

It’s actually tragic considering she saw her barely 30 hours ago but, let a girl live.

They find themselves walking down the New York streets, talking about everything and nothing, Phoebe feels like she’s died and gone to heaven whenever Melody’s gaze is fixated on her.

Which is a lot, Melody is the kind of person to constantly maintain eye contact during a conversation. Its kind of intimidating but also hot. Like, seriously hot.

“Every time i feel like im doing something right, they come down on like im screwing everything up”

“Thats ridiculous”

“I know!”

“Family can suck” melody starts “a week ago, i almost accidentally burnt down my house, like, full on near death experience. I have a bunch of scars on my back and arms to prove it.” Melody stretches her hand out, picking at the bandage there.

“My dad is being a total dick about it. He still wont talk to me even though he’s the one that left the gas stove on.” Melody’s voice grows quiet as she speaks, her eyes are sad and phoebe feels the urge to cheer her up.

So she ends up doing something she would never usually do, try and impress her.

“Wanna see something cool?”

Melody looks at her skeptically but nods her head slowly, “uh hell yeah.”

The building the lab is in is old, and their are way to many stairs in phoebe’s opinion. They’re out of breath by the time they reach the top yet they still keep their conversation strong.

The duo reach the main door, phoebe isn’t looking when she open it, but straight away she’s blasted with a gust of cold air, the butterflies in her stomach are replaced with an all encompassing dread once she turns around.

There on the floor, are pieces of the brass orb which contained a literal demon, scattered about like lego.

“Shit.” She turns to melody with fear in her eyes. “We need to call lucky”

Even if melody doesn’t know whats going on, she can tell its bad, like, really bad, so all she does is nods in agreement as phoebe pulls out her phone and dials the older girls number with shaky hands.

——

Okay. So….

There is currently a 17 foot tall ice demon in their garage, trying to kill them.

It happens way to quick but phoebe finds herself on the front lines, struggling to keep trap Garaka with her now brass plated proton pack.

Despite the cold, there is sweat running down her neck from the exertion, she doesn’t know how long she cant keep going, but she pushes through, with the help of the original ghostbusters she manages to keep Garaka in place long enough for Melody to fish out a lighter.

Nadeem takes over for the ghostbusters using the flame Melody provided, effectively nerfing the demon long enough for the other to re-prime the spirit chamber and lock Garaka away forever.

It goes silent once the demons horns clatter to the floor.

Phoebe is breathing heavily, stood still from the shock. Her hair is a mess and she’s sweaty as hell, yet she pays it now mind as she stares at the cavern in the floor Garaka got sucked into.

She snaps back into her body suddenly, sheds off her proton pack and crashes into Melody, grinning into her shoulder once the blonde returns the embrace.

“YOU DID IT!” She laughs

Melody laughs with her, mostly out of disbelief, “ we did it pheebs” her voice is soft and comforting, a very welcome change of pace compared to what just happened.

Phoebe’s hands are still on her waist, Melody’s still on her shoulders, and they’re just looking at each other, grinning from ear to ear at their victory.

Melody’s hands moves up to cup phoebes face again, a mirror of 2 days ago, and there’s suddenly very little space between them.

However they are startled apart by the cheers of her family behind them and the whooping of the crowd formed outside the firehouse.

They walk out as a group, and if anyone sees the way Phoebe’s hand is interlocked with Melody’s, they don’t say anything.

Chapter Text

Its been a week since the whole, end of the world thing, and stuff is pretty much back to normal.

As normal as it can be with Melody’s head lying on Phoebe’s lap, whilst they watch a movie, in a dark room, with just them.

Neither of them actually know what movie is currently playing on Phoebes crusty old laptop, as they’ve talked throughout pretty much the whole thing, more focused on each other rhan they are screen.

And phoebe cannot physically take it anymore.

She stands up abruptly, causing melody to gasp at the fast change in position before the blonde sits up on the bed, legs crossed, watching as her friend shuffles on her spot on the floor uncomfortably.

Phoebe takes a deep breath

“Melody, i think im in love with you.”

She holds her breath, refusing to meet Melody’s now wide eyes.

“Im- im sorry, that was weird, forget it-“

Phoebe keeps rambling out apologies as she looks at the floor, not seeing the way Melody tentatively steps off the bed and walks closer to her, the blondes hands stretch out and takes Phoebe’s face, holding the still rambling girl in place.

“Im sor-

The brunettes words are cut off by soft lips crashing into her own.

Her brain doesn’t process whats happening quick enough because before she can respond to the kiss, Melody is pulling back and smiling down at her.

“I think i love you too..”

Their lips meet again and Phoebe responds instantly this time, melting into Melody’s embrace with a quiet sigh, electricity runs through her synapses and travels down her nerves like some kind of beautiful storm.

They pull away again for air before instantly crashing back together, this time the kiss is deeper and more frantic, more needing. Phoebe never knew needing something could feel this good.

Melody pulls phoebe back onto the bed without braking the kiss, Phoebe’s knees bracket the older girls thighs, resting in Melody’s lap as they continue to make out.

They only pull away again once their lungs burn and their cheeks are flushed a healthy shade of pink.

Melody’s thumbs trace Phoebes hips as she grins up at the brunette straddling her.

“That- that was my first kiss”

Melody giggles, because who wouldn’t at such an embarrassing revelation as phoebe flushes darker and sighs in regret for her words, she probably just killed the mood.

“Was it.. good?”

Phoebe leans in again, breath ghosting over Melody’s face as she sighs out a breathy “yeah..”

They meet again, and phoebe cant help but think she can never get enough of melody.

The blonde squeezes phoebes hips in question, and she responds by opening in her mouth a little more, allowing Melody’s tongue to explore, phoebe groans and presses forward, wanting- no- needing more, Melody is more than happy to give her that.

Then Phoebe’s door swings open, and they pull their faces back in panic, eyes landing on a startled callie, stood halfway in the door, hand still on the handle and mouth agape at the sight of her daughter on her ‘friends’ lap.

“I uh..” callie starts,before closing her mouth and inhaling, the two girls are just staring in shock, completely silent, “dinners ready. Uhm, congrats?” Oh god, when did she become such a lame mum.

Before either of them can speak Callie retreats, shutting the door firmly behind her before leaning her back against it and breathing out heavily.

Inside the room phoebe and Melody look at each other before braking out into laughter.

Tears prick at Phoebes eyes as she tries to reign it in a little.

“Oh god, thats mortifying”

More giggles

“Im sorry your mum had to see that”

Phoebe hums, calmed down a little now and places a sweet kiss on Melody’s lips

“Hungry?”

“Yeah”