I do not own Glee/CP Coulter's characters, just the story.

It's night-time and Charlie is staring up at the stars while Justin talks about his French assignment. They're lying in the grass behind the sports center – no one ever strays too far from the dorms at that time of night and it gives the prefects privacy they almost never have. Charlie thinks maybe he should be happier about the isolation than he is.

They haven't had the opportunity to hang out like this since Charlie's been back. The fair gave Charlie something to occupy his thoughts –and his time - and now that it's over, Charlie is afraid he won't be able to convince Justin that he's okay. Justin always makes him think of his dreams and Justin always reads Charlie like a book.

"What are you thinking?" Justin leans over to look at his best friend.

"Huh?"

"You're not listening to me," Justin laughs. "So what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking…" Charlie pauses like he's waiting to know the answer himself. He continues without looking at Justin, "…that I remember kissing you beneath these stars. We were back at Beja, but it was just after Medjez el Bab, so we were all on edge. We couldn't sleep. It was freezing like it always was at night, but we were sitting outside your tent anyway."

Justin wants to stay focused on the beginning of that rant, but it's all so unnerving. "Charlie… none of that happened."

Now Charlie turns to look at Justin. He studies his face. "Maybe if I kiss you now, it'll take me back to then."

"Charlie what-"

Charlie leans forward to do as he promised and his lips meet Justin's softly. Justin doesn't get the chance to finish his thought and – despite his best efforts – Charlie doesn't get his wish of travelling back to Tunisia. It makes him angrier than it should. Until Charlie pulls away and speaks, Justin is too preoccupied with the sensation on his lips to notice.

"All the times I couldn't stop it and now that I want to go back, I'm stuck here?"

"I'm really tempted to go back to the part where you're kissing me, but seriously Chaz, I can't ignore the fact that you sound mental! Where are you trying to go back to? That memory that never happened?"

"Tunisia. It's where I'm supposed-"

"Tunisia like North Africa?"

"Yea, Justin, that's where Tunisia is."

"North Africa like that time at the football game? Charlie, what's going on?" Justin's not sure if consistency to his best friend's delusions is something to be thankful for.

Charlie frowns. "Justin, I'm supposed to be back then. In the Second World War. North Africa."

It doesn't seem to matter to Justin that he feels lost in this conversation and he responds immediately. "You're supposed to be here, Chaz. With me."

"I'm with you there, Justin." Charlie says it desperately and Justin can't help but stare. "You need me there more than you need me here. I've got to get back before-"

"Before what, Chaz?"

"Before they attack. Before someone gets hurt and I'm not there to stop it. Or – fuck! – before anything! - before they surrender and we all ship off and go home and I never see any of you again."

"Any of us. The people you're here with now? The people you see every day?"

"I told you, Justin," Charlie practically growls. "I'm with you there and you need me more there. What am I doing here? Interrupting love triangles? Dodging foam darts? You could be dying! You could be dead! Justin, I need to be there."

Justin can't see anything but genuine concern in Charlie's eyes. He doesn't think his best friend is crazy, but Charlie's certainly not doing anything to help keep Justin set in that belief.

Playing along with your friend's hallucinations has got to be a terrible idea, but for now it's all Justin has. "World War 2. North Africa. Are you at El Alamein?"

Charlie can't respond at first; he's too surprised that Justin is trying to believe him.

"No, you wouldn't be. You're American, right?" Justin smirks as he says it. "So this is after Torch? I don't – I don't remember enough of this part of history. We never study it here."

Charlie considers this. Justin is right – there's not even a section on the North African Campaign in his American history book. He wants to hold the knowledge up like it's proof that he must belong there.

"Wait," Justin gestures like he's realized something important. "What date is it? We were out of Africa in early 1943. Maybe it's almost over-"

"With my questionable sanity, you think I remember the date?"

"Okay, yea, bad idea. What about battles? Or cities? Where do you last remember being?"

He stands up, presumably to go find a computer, but Charlie stays on the ground. "I don't know; they're all out of order."

Justin looks down at Charlie, refusing to give up his mission. "Okay, but you said some cities. You said-" he stops suddenly, but continues hesitantly and quietly, "You said we kissed under the stars at…"

"Beja," Charlie says thoughtfully. "Back at Beja."

Justin is excited by this revelation and Charlie can't help but be annoyed.

"Why does it matter where or when it is, Justin?" he frowns. "Figuring out where in the war I am won't help me go back there. Wherever I am, whatever I'm missing, I'm missing it and knowing won't help."

Charlie has to reassure himself that he meant it to be harsh because Justin looks wounded. "I just thought…Wouldn't it help to know?"

"It would help," Charlie insists callously, "to know whether I'm supposed to be here or there."

With an appraisal, Justin seems to concede. "Okay, so what's easier to remember? Your childhood here or your childhood there?"

For a moment Charlie doesn't think he can remember either. But he can. He can remember swinging on a swing set with his cousin. Sometimes the set is shiny chrome and other times it's wooden, but both times his black Chuck Taylors scrape the dirt and kick up loose rocks. Sometimes his mom reads him bedtime stories from a big brown book and sometimes he swears she must be making them up, but her hair always curls tightly to her head.

He only begins to feel overwhelmed when he realizes that these are the first old memories that aren't clouded in dust. They're just as colorful as the new ones. He wonders which ones are made up and how he ever got such a goddamned impressive imagination.

"I – I can see both," Charlie stutters eventually.

"Are you…are you older?"

Charlie's not sure what kind of path Justin's mind is on, because his questions hardly seem connected. Maybe they aren't supposed to be. Maybe Justin's just saying things as they come to him.

"Am I older?"

"You're in the army. Are you older than you are here?"

Charlie's memories are all visions and sounds and feelings. He can't remember seeing or hearing or feeling his age.

"I don't know."

"What about me?"

There goes Justin's trail again.

"Are you older?"

Justin laughs. "No. Sure. Tell me anything about me."

"I don't know how old you are," Charlie smiles faintly. "I don't think…I don't think I'd known you for long, but you're always there. In every flash of memory. You're an officer. A lieutenant."

Justin looks impressed at his other self. "And you?"

"Nah," Charlie looks down and Justin can't figure out why he looks so embarrassed. "Technician Fourth Grade."

"What's that?"

"Like a Sergeant. Enlisted."

"What part of the army were you in?"

"1st Armored," Charlie says quietly, deciding Justin wouldn't know what to do with more detail.

"Armored. Like tanks?"

"Yea. I drove one." There's a long pause before he corrects himself. "I drive one."

"And this kissing me. Is that a regular thing?"

Charlie looks over at Justin to see his friend smiling sheepishly. "Not really, no," he frowns. "It's too hard to get the opportunity. Someone's always watching. But sometimes it just happens."

Charlie's grin is sweet and genuine, and Justin thinks it's a damn shame any version of him has something as great as Charlie but has to hide it.

"What if it became a regular thing here?"

Despite being the one to initiate their earlier kiss, Charlie blushes foolishly at the suggestion. "I – I guess I better enjoy it while I have the chance?"

Justin laughs and crouches down to press his lips to Charlie's. It's longer than their last kiss, and Justin ends up lying on top of his best friend before it ends. With a pleased sigh, he rolls to Charlie's side and looks up at the stars.

"They're nice," he chuckles. "Don't you think?"

"What, the stars?"

"Yea. The stars we kiss under," he whispers, borrowing Charlie's earlier phrase.

Charlie smiles and an hour later, the boys are napping under their stars.