Charlie's grip on Burn's hand was so hard it was starting to hurt. "Are you sure about this, Doc?"

One would think they were standing in front of some nightmare realm rather than the perfectly ordinary door to Burn's perfectly lovely apartment.

"Of course I am, Charlie," Burn said soothingly. "I wouldn't be standing here if I wasn't."

"But-"

"We can always leave and try again another day," Burn interrupted. "If you don't think that you're ready."

Charlie looked down and swung their joined hands back and forth idly. "I mean, we are already kind of here. I don't want to, you know, have wasted the trip."

"Don't worry about that," Burn insisted, tugging their joint hands up and stopping Charlie's swinging in the process. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of Charlie's hand. "This is a big step. I don't want you to feel like you have to take it just because we're already here and you think it will make me happy."

Charlie blushed and looked away. "Won't it, though? Make you happy?"

"Only if it's what you want," Burn said. "Otherwise I'm being selfish and upsetting you and how could I be happy if I'm making you unhappy?"

Charlie smiled at him. "Doc, has anyone ever told you that you think too much?"

"Yes, you regularly tell me this," Burn said. "But it's not like I'm spending all my time ruminating on things, these are really just my first impressions. I couldn't turn my brain off if I tried and I'm not particularly interested in trying."

"I'm not, either," Charlie admitted. "A lot of the weird things you say…well, they're nice."

"I've got another one for you," Burn said, moving over slightly to bump his shoulders with Charlie.

"Oh really?" Charlie asked, intrigued.

"You have, thus far, consented to come to my apartment and we have gone most of the way there. But consent to do this, as well as consent to anything else you can think of, may be revoked at any time. It's okay to say yes at first then change your mind at any point during the proceedings."

"Okay, now you're just fucking with me," Charlie said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm really not," Burn said, "though I understand why you would think so. Society is not great at accepting when someone has changed their mind. It really is only kind to only consent when you believe you are sure and to announce you have changed your mind at the earlier opportunity but sometimes these things cannot be helped and if you don't know until the last minute that actually it's not okay then you don't know. I'm sure, for instance, if you had known you would have such misgivings about coming inside you would have said something before now."

"Dude, of course!" Charlie exclaimed. "I mean, maybe it'd have been a little awkward if I refuse to come but not this bad."

"And there are those in our society who feel misled or wronged when they are engaging in some form of consensually activity, in this case my showing you my apartment, and consent is revoked. It is understandable to feel disappointed or even frustrated but also important to respect the no and not make that into their problem," Burn said. "It's something I strive to do and I want you to please let me know if you feel I am in any way pressuring you into anything or making you feel uncomfortable."

Charlie looked suddenly amused. "Uh, sure thing, Doc, but I don't actually believe you're even capable of doing something like that."

"Oh, we all have the capacity," Burn said. "But I will take it as a good sign you haven't seen it."

"I mean," Charlie said, running his free hand roughly through his hair. "I really don't see what's so hard about this. I mean, it's not like I haven't been here before!" He winced at that. "Ah, shit I…"

Burn, who had had to conceal a similar wince, used his thumb to rub little circles on the back of Charlie's hand. "Well, that might be it, actually."

Charlie tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"You've never come here with permission before," Burn said. "That makes a difference. And last time you came, we had a horrible fight and didn't speak for a month and neither of us knew if our relationship was going to survive it. That's a lot of negative association to assign to a place. And we've been doing wonderfully since we decided to stay together but this is the first time we're returning to the place where it happened."

"You really think that has something to do with it?"

"Charlie, I've heard stories about some rather impressive physical feats you have performed, the way you rarely ever lose a fight even against unfair odds," Burn said. "And yet, what was it you said about stepping foot into your old high school again?"

Charlie shivered. "Yeah, that's a fair point."

"So what is the verdict to be?" Burn asked. "Do we go in or not? Do keep in mind that if we go in we don't have to stay. It's about what you're okay with."

"I…" Charlie trailed off, thinking. "Yeah, I really do think I want to go in. Even if it's, like, super weird and uncomfortable the first time I need to get past this one before we can move on to the second and the third and then there won't be anything weird about being in this place for me."

"That is sound logic," Burn said, smiling at him. He reluctantly let go of Charlie's hand so he could unlock his door.

Charlie's eyes were wide and fascinated as he stepped into the apartment behind Burn. "This is the nicest place I've ever seen in my life!"

Burn laughed. "I appreciate that and it is a rather nice apartment but weren't you telling me that the Reynolds had a mansion?"

Charlie shrugged. "Yeah but that place was…it was too big. Too empty. Kind of freaky, actually. This is better."

Charlie stepped slowly through it, looking around in awe. His hands reached out a few times and he quickly jerked them back, looking unsure if he were allowed to touch anything.

"It's alright, you know," Burn said gently. "This isn't a museum."

Charlie nodded slowly but he stopped. "Could you maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Burn prompted.

"Maybe show me?" Charlie asked hopefully.

It took Burn a moment to understand what he meant but when he did his whole face lit up. "Certainly. I picked out much of this myself, you know, and I would be glad to show it to you."

Together, they slowly made their way through the apartment.

The first place they stopped was the balcony, which was right off the gallery close to the foyer.

"Oh, we're so high up!" Charlie exclaimed excitedly. "I can see for-for miles or something!"

Burn smiled at him. "I think we really can. It's peaceful up here at night. I'm not much for sitting out here during the day. There's just a very different vibe to it and, I don't know, it doesn't feel as special."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I get what you mean. I mean, I think it'd be awesome to be up here during the day as well! We could throw like rocks at people or something."

"We can't throw rocks at people," Burn protested. "They could get hurt or even killed!"

"Well, like, small rocks," Charlie amended.

"Those could still kill people," Burn said apologetically.

"Really?" Charlie asked incredulously. "But, well, I guess if too-thin lime wedges could kill people then so can tiny rocks. It's something about death from above, right? Like it just hits you really hard really fast. Like how meteors make huge holes when they land from space but if you just threw a rock at the ground that's the same size it wouldn't do that."

"Yes," Burn agreed. Technically, he wasn't actually sure if pebbles thrown at passersby would kill them. He seemed to remember a MythBusters episode talking about how a penny dropped from a skyscraper wouldn't do much damage to a person. But that was a penny not a rock and even if it didn't do much damage, he certainly wasn't going to go around encouraging Charlie to throw rocks at people from his balcony. And he didn't know one way or the other anyway.

"Well, I wouldn't want to kill anyone," Charlie reasoned. "But hey, it must be great to like watch parades up here! And fireworks!"

"I don't usually watch fireworks up here," Burn said. "Sometimes I suppose but usually fireworks are for the Fourth of July and that's not a holiday I am particularly invested in."

"Oh, right," Charlie said as if that made perfect sense. "Because you're British and it's a celebration of America kicking Britain's ass."

Burn snorted. "That's not how I'd describe it."

"But it's true, though. Independence Day. Independence from Britain. You know, there was this one story I actually remember from history, right? I don't know if it's true but for some things it doesn't even matter. There was this guy after the Revolutionary War, right? Some American guy who was visiting people in Britain and, like, this was before they had indoor plumbing so they just went in some smelly building out back. And the British people put up a picture of George Washington in the outdoor bathroom. They were hoping the American dude would say something but he didn't and so when they finally asked him about it he said that it was a great place to put it because nothing made a British guy shit faster than the sight of George Washington!"

Burn laughed at that. "Well if I were to encounter his ghost or zombie form or his being a vampire or even just a time traveler, I would probably react quite strongly as well! I'm not sure how accurate that story is but it is quite the comeback to such an insult."

Charlie grinned proudly.

"I do go to Fourth of July parties," Burn explained. "More for the camaraderie than out of any sort of patriotism. You are quite correct, I enjoy many things about this country but I would not consider myself one of you and neither would my passport."

Charlie frowned suddenly. "You're not a citizen? Does that mean you'll get deported?"

"It's theoretically possible," Burn replied. "But I do hold a prestigious job and stay on top of my paperwork so I believe I will be fine. There's no guarantee, though, that one day my application for an extension will be denied. But I have months left before I even need to start thinking about that."

Charlie chewed on his lip, looking worried.

Burn grabbed his hand. "Charlie. It will be fine."

Charlie looked at him and managed a half-hearted grin. "Yeah. Yeah, it'll be fine."

"I do watch parades from up here," Burn said, mostly to change the subject. "I don't like being in the thick of it but I do like watching all the celebrations and I have a nice view here."

"Oh?" Charlie asked, allowing the subject change. "Why don't you like parades?"

"The same reason I don't like mosh pits, I suppose."

Charlie just blinked at him.

"I don't like crowds," Burn explained. "The parades are fine but trying to leave…it's a disaster. You try to go but there's choke points. There's only so much room for people to go and too many people trying to fit through the limited amount of exits. You're stopped for long periods of time pressed up against other people. And to make matters worse, the people behind you don't seem to appreciate that you haven't just stopped for your health and push at you trying to make you move when you can't and the last time I went to one it left me shaken that even just being alone in my car in a traffic jam was enough to send me into a near panic for weeks afterwards and-"

Abruptly, Burn felt Charlie's hands on his back. "Doc. Breathe."

Burn did as he was told, realizing belatedly that he'd been getting quite worked up. He closed his eyes and took a few deep steadying breaths. When his heartrate had returned to normal, he smiled at Charlie. "Thank you. As I said, I do not enjoy parades."

"Yeah, I can see why after all that. It's never been something I really minded but, well, we're very different people," Charlie said.

They spent a few more minutes out on the balcony before going to look at the rest of the apartment.

Burn took Charlie through the living area, the kitchen, and the den.

When Charlie saw the dragon picture he beamed so big it looked almost painful. "It's beautiful! They look so happy! A nice little happy dragon family off to go eat some gold together and go swimming."

Burn had never heard of dragons swimming before but he would never claim to be an expert on such things. "It made me think of you."

Charlie turned wide eyes to face him. "Really?"

Burn smiled at him. "Yeah. It did."

"Doc, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Ever. In my life. I am not even exaggerating."

Burn raised an eyebrow, amused. "Charlie, I have literally told you I am in love with you."

"Well, yeah," Charlie said, shrugging. "And that's great! And I am so glad! So so glad you have no idea. But while that's nice it's not 'dragons make me think of you' nice."

"Just so we're clear."

"Open communication is important," Charlie said, maintaining a solemn expression for about ten seconds before bursting out laughing.

What else could Burn do besides start laughing as well?

When they had stopped laughing, Burn realized there was only one place he had left to show Charlie.

There were two bedrooms. Showing Charlie the guest room was easy. It was nice and cozy but it felt less like it belonged to Burn than the rest of the apartment.

Then came his bedroom.

Burn stilled right outside of his room.

"Doc…it's okay, you know," Charlie said softly.

Burn's head shot up. "Pardon?"

"You don't have to take me in to see your bedroom," Charlie said. "I mean, I kind of already saw it. In the dark, yeah, and you weren't awake for that and that's why you're struggling now but…like, I know nothing would happen right now if we did go in. But you don't have to. I saw the rest of it. It's fine."

"I want to be over what happened," Burn said quietly.

Charlie smiled sadly at that. "Doc, you're more over it than I ever thought was possible. And you'll get all the way over it eventually. If-if we're still together," he suddenly looked down at his shoes, "then in like fifty years you won't still be thinking about that. It's fine if you can't today. And like you keep telling me, I don't want it if you don't want it. Consent, yeah?"

The warmth that flooded through Burn at Charlie's words was impossible to describe and he barely even noticed his hand reaching out and grabbing the door handle and throwing the door open.

Charlie's eyes shot up to Burn's and stayed there. "Are you sure?"

Burn didn't have to think about it. "Yes."

Charlie's smile was small but happy. He followed Burn into his bedroom.

"I, uh, would have expected the bed to be made," Charlie admitted.

Burn leveled a challenging look at him. "Do you make your bed?"

"I have never in my life made a bed and at this point I'm afraid to ask how," Charlie replied. "Why?"

"Well I just have never seen the point," Burn admitted. "Of course I keep the bed in the guest bedroom all made up because I don't want anyone staying there to feel I haven't washed the linens. And if I'm expecting gentleman company I don't want them to form a poor opinion of me over something so trivial. But otherwise? I don't care how many articles I read about starting your morning off right or focusing your mind or whatnot, I simply cannot be bothered to place everything neatly back on the bed every day. It only gets rumpled again when I go to sleep."

Charlie grinned at him. "Wow, Doc, it's almost like my entire mental image of you is shifting."

"For the better, I hope," Burn said, laughing.

Charlie's grin turned teasing. "I'll have to get back to you on that one." He blinked as something seemed to occur to him. "But, uh, Doc?"

"Yes, Charlie?"

"You knew we were coming here today," Charlie said. "We've been talking about it for like a week. Trying to make it less awkward because of, well, you know. The whole stalking thing."

"I remember."

"And you did try to come here. You stopped but you wanted to…you were thinking about…letting me in," Charlie said slowly. "Did you think you weren't going to then changed your mind?"

"No, I…Well I thought I'd be able to. I knew there was a possibility I might not. But it was definitely part of my plan," Burn replied.

Charlie looked up at him through his eyelashes. "Okay, so then I have to ask…the bed."

Burn tilted his head. "What about it?"

"You didn't make it."

"Doesn't look like it."

"You knew I was coming. And while I'm not expecting anything after the last time I was here – and with you 'expecting' things could go badly if I do it wrong – I am gentlemen company. More or less."

Burn took a step closer to Charlie. "That makes sense to me."

Charlie moved closer to Burn. "So then why, exactly, does it look like you weren't expecting anyone."

"Well, I thought that perhaps you weren't just any old gentleman come to the door. I rather thought I wouldn't scare you off with a little mess."

Another step forward.

Burn could feel Charlie's laugh against his chest.

"You? Scare me off? Oh, Doc, the things you say."

The look in Charlie's eyes dared Burn to make the first move.

So he did.