My ToastedGhost Headcanon Masterlist
Upon further inspection, technically Spooker ‘won’ the poll where I promised a masterpost by losing, but I have a lot more thoughts on Spooker and would prefer to write that when I’m not still dealing with finals, so... Here's the one I said I'd do :D
Absolutely the most popular ship in the fandom with minimal competition if any, ToastedGhost is a childhood friends-to-lovers kind of relationship between two people who trust each other above all else in the world. There are lots of ways to read the relationship, from unrequited to codependent to healthily married to… possibly even divorced!… Though I’ve never seen anyone take it that way. Even beyond the relationship, Toast has been widowed and Ghost canonically has no interest in women, so there’s no worry about breaking up another ship for this one to thrive.
Because the ship is as fluid as most other unconfirmed things in this fandom, I’m going to share my thoughts on how Multiple verses of the ship could work, from fluff to angst.
Solid History HC
Since a relationship between two people can be incredibly fluid based on the story told and the logic of the story, I wanted to open with ideas about how these two connect that I don't change unless I'm specifically making an AU where that aspect is changed. Consider these the base stats.
Johnny Ghost and Johnny Toast first met as children attending the same school in North Carolina, USA. Ghost has no recollection of it, but he's already dealt with Cardboard Friend by this point. Toast, on the other hand, has just experienced whatever traumatic event goes here, most of the time also being the same thing that gave Gavin his powers.
They meet through a shared love of learning about the supernatural, with Ghost being so excited he never shuts up about it and Toast actually listening and knowing how to respond.
The duo had two shared friends: Katrina and Ronnie Boast. Aside from that, Ghost was close with Dark Pit (cause they're cousins) and the whole group adopted a stray dog they couldn't agree on a name for.
Ghost is possessed by Casket for the first time while the pair know each other, but Casket doesn't become overtly active until Toast leaves. Because Ghost was first possessed on Halloween (in my hc), Toast was busy with other things at the time. The friend group had a whole conversation about it earlier in the day, and knew Ghost would be alone that night.
When Toast had to go back to the UK for high school, they kept contact over the phone before they figured out how to use a long-distance radio, meaning Ghost hogged his house's landline a lot in his freshman year. Toast first heard Casket over the phone when Ghost forgot to hang up once.
The first time the two saw each other in person again after Toast went back to the UK was to meet for Katrina's funeral. Ghost can't remember it at all, but they had some really soft moments together. There's also a chance Ghost admitted to possibly killing her while the memory was still vaguely fresh in his head.
Toast first met Mary while in University, and didn't actually fall in love with her immediately. Ghost encouraged Toast to talk to her about it, but didn't expect them to get married... or for Toast to accidentally kill her.
Toast moved back to the states after Mary died, if not already split from his family then splitting now. The two worked for awhile to try to fund PIE, which was struggling, while living in the same apartment. After struggling to hold a job outside of PIE freelance and writing his book, Toast reached back out to his family in order to fund PIE. He never told Ghost why he reached back out to them.
Even if not IN love, they adore each other and nothing can ever change that.
Relationship Possibilities
As much as I love Toastedghost, both as a ship and a friendship, this does keep the door open for variety in specifically how their relationship is defined. They can be somewhat toxic/codependent depending on what aspects about their relationship is explored.
Good Friends, Practically Brothers
Even though I’ve had some moments saying you can’t explain their relationship without romance, it is possible to have a friendship like theirs without underlying feelings on either side, and that’s beautiful. Ghost and Toast are incredibly close and that doesn’t require them to kiss when no one’s looking, and I say that with love. They are incredibly tight, and both have actively killed and died for each other, and even though Toast exasperates Ghost sometimes, and Toast has to be the responsible one when Ghost gets violent, they’ve found a way to make it work without falling into a relationship.
Because of their relationship as children, they may see each other as siblings, meaning any love between them is not only completely platonic, but it’s uncomfortable to think about it in any other way in this specific scenario. If someone sees them as brotherly love, they are just as valid as someone who sees them as in romantic love.
One-Sided/Mutual Pining
I don’t thin I’ve ever seen anyone read their relationship like this before, at least not in the long-term— I think Ghost is anticipated to have done some pining as a child— but this is a viable option for their relationship as well. Especially since Toast is coming into the work at PIE out of a marriage, one that left him widowed. If Ghost had feelings for him, the awkwardness of having feelings so soon after Mary died might be enough to make him shove his feelings back down. If Toast had feelings for Ghost, whether he already had them or developed them while living with him, it might feel too soon to try again, and eventually just never come up.
If you intend on using this one I would like to beg for some resolution someday, just because too many shows draw out the ‘one side is pining for the other’ thing for the entire duration of the series and it can exhausting when people look for any excuse to keep the couple seperate.
Dating Without Saying “Dating”
These two are so close that everyone is under the assumption that they’re dating, but they’ve never actually taken the time to define it. Largely because they never thought to. I do think it’d be funny if ghosts try threatening Ghost or Toast’s “husband” or “boyfriend” with other people around, and they’re the only one to not know who they’re talking about. I think part of the story here is them realizing that these feelings they’ve always had are teetering on romance.
I can see Ghost visiting his dad for a holiday with Toast and getting the “so, when are you two planning on tying the knot?” Question.
Dated as Kids, Never Actually Separated but Haven’t Talked About It
This is a whole AU concept idea that I literally just came up with, but I think it almost sounds cute and would love to see someone work with it. Especially since Ghost doesn’t remember his childhood very well, but Toast does. There’s a chance Toast thinks Ghost forgot but he didn’t, or Ghost did forget and Toast is trying to find a way to bring it up to him… idk, it’s cute.
They Started by Fake-Dating, but it Became Real
They get married for tax purposes and make it a joke for about a year, until it stops being a joke and starts being actual chemistry. It could have also been to get Toast’s family to leave him alone about marrying.
They Got Married!
Somewhere, sometime, off-screen, there was a Toastedghost wedding, and it was probably just as chaotic as it sounds. This could happen any time— before the events of the series, after the Puppet arc, after the Retirement arc, sometime after the channel ended, whatever works! Imagine Toast got them rings made of silver, iron, and salt to keep ghosts and other spirits away from them, and having to wear it around his neck during the Werewolf arc, or wearing both his and Ghost’s during the Puppet arc and identifying him by it in the Billion Year War. There is so much story you can tell with rings.
They Eloped as Soon as Mary Died
WOAH THAT FEELS A LITTLE MUCH— like I’ve seen headcanons that Mary and Toast were not actually that close, that Toast was engaged to her by his family and barely knew her when she ended up dying. Even then, and even with Toast leaving his family, it feels incredibly… shallow? Rude? And I would argue that this relationship is one of the more unhealthy ones, because it shows a serious sense of disregard for other people’s life and lack of empathy. I don’t know how people headcanon Mary, and maybe the only people who want them to get together like this see her character as the world thing on the planet and not someone Toast would miss that much, but I don’t say that this feels heartless as a criticism. I say it because I think it’s something fresh to explore that none of these other prompts have right out the gate.
Think about it, a Toastedghost story where they take ‘us against the world’ to the extreme, actually hurting people around them in the name of each other. Even if this isn’t toxic between the duo, it is genuinely harmful for other people in their lives, and would be something interesting to explore. This could include Toast letting Casket kill other members of PIE to keep Ghost safe, or Ghost choosing to do things he would otherwise consider bad because he needs to break Toast out of prison again.
It Doesn’t Matter How They Label, They Are Codependent
This is its own label, I’m not saying all Toastedghost is toxic and unhealthy.
Though it is cute that Ghost went from dimension to dimension looking for Toast, and Toast basically put his life on pause to get Ghost back, this was basically foreshadowing for what would happen if they were separated by choice. The moment that Ghost turned his back on Toast, Toast crumpled like a house of cards and I promise you that if it were the other way around, Ghost would have fallen to pieces too. It’s cute that they rely on each other, but emotionally they can’t get through the day alone and that means that if they have problems communicating ever, someone is going to get hurt.
Rapid Fire HCs
Ghost is likely projecting when he says everyone is in love with Johnny Toast because HE is in love with Toast and can't imagine a person who doesn't immediately adore him.
There was a period of time where Ghost planned to move to Europe to support Toast after Mary passed, but Toast beat him to the punch and seemingly immigrated to the states.
Both Ghost and Toast can cook, but while living together in their first apartment, Ghost had primary dominion of the kitchen because Toast wasn’t used to cleaning up after himself and Ghost found it annoying that he kept leaving dishes lying around.
Toast does the taxes for the household, not just because Ghost can’t read, but because he doesn’t want Ghost to know how much he’s bringing in or spending in a year. Between support from his family, the macaroni dealing, and PIE, Toast can probably afford to replace multiple cars a year.
Both Ghost and Toast prefer Ghost’s family to Toast and tend to stay in the states for holidays and avoid Toast family events. However, Toast did go to his sister’s wedding.
Because they’ve been close since they were young, Toast knows Ghost’s dad well, better then Ghost knows Gavin.
Songs and Why
- Curses by the Crane Wives
“🎶 Ashes ashes, dust to dust | The Devil’s after both of us 🎶”
From what I’ve seen, what this song is about is up for debate, but the explanations I’ve seen ranges from a murderer is in love, to it being about a person who is overwhelmed by their emotions. Honestly, I think without the context of what it “must” be about, it works well to just consider it for them. They are two people who are likely in love in a world that does not love them much back, both have seen their fair shares of trouble and now rely on the other, using them as a lighthouse. This song could be from either or both of their perspectives, especially considering Ghost has experiences with evil houses and murder, and Toast seems to be very reliant on Ghost emotionally.
A lot of Crane Wife songs are more about relationships with problems, which is funny when I saw Curses for Toastedghost is characterizes one of the healthiest versions of their relationship.
- Bernadette by IMAX
“🎶 Family and friends becoming ghosts to dream of… 🎶”
One of my favorite songs in middle school, it is really easy to see this one as a kind of codependent relationship, and this works for them best in very possessive scenarios. It’s also a good song to point out how much they’ve lost, even if they still have each other. In all honesty, I used to see this as Only a CBF and Ghost song, but now I save CBF only for the very beginning. I think it’s important to show how Toast is affected by their relationship too, and how neither Johnny alone is the problem when any problem exists.