The birds were singing loudly, which made Charlie wake up. She noticed she was in her robe and got a little confused until she remembered what happened.

She fell asleep on Alastor's couch. She heard him read the poems for her, until she… Didn't remember anything more. If she was in her robe, he probably put her there.

It made her blush a little. Even when she didn't expect it, Alastor was still a gentleman with her.

She got up, going to the kitchen to see if Alastor was there. Probably not, since it was way earlier than she expected it to be. Charlie realized how early it was due the kitchen's clock. She was about to head out to take a shower when she heard a water noise coming from the small door a few meters away from the small dining table.

Charlie walked towards the sound and opened the door. She saw Alastor's wide shoulders. He was… Washing clothes?

"Al?..." She leaned against the door frame. Alastor stopped whatever he was doing, it was like… He froze or something.

"Are you okay?" She tilted her head a little worried.

"I'm amazing, my dear!" He straightened his back and looked behind himself in her direction. He was cleaning some dirty clothes. "I made our breakfast. It's over the counter by the side of the sink. Would you mind setting the table for us?"

Charlie took a step back and looked at the clock. "It's very early… Did you sleep alright?" She blinked.

"Oh, I know, I woke up early to clean the clothes." He chuckled. "So I don't have to worry about it later." He explained. "I'm almost done and then I will eat breakfast with you." He had a wide smile on his face before returning his attention back to the dirty clothes.

Charlie nodded with a smile as she walked towards the kitchen. She was still a little concerned with Alastor but he seemed okay.

She sat on the table adjusting her robe. It was way earlier than she expected.

Alastor was finishing cleaning his clothes. He took them out from the tank and placed them in a basket. The water from the tank was reddish, all dirty in a dark red color. He took off the rubber drain stopper and the water slowly vanished.

He went out of the room and passed by Charlie. She gave a look at the man who avoided looking directly at the girl. He just went to his backyard so he could hang up the clothes outside.

It didn't take too long before he returned and had a seat.

Charlie was studying the man, he looked as if his mind wasn't there. It probably was the third time it happened that Charlie noticed. Maybe the man had stuff going on in his mind. She knew how it was due to her father. It was the same look when her father had to deal with a bunch of serious stuff.

Alastor started to eat his breakfast just to stop and laugh a bit.

"Oh, it's very cold… I can reheat it if you want dear."

"No, that's fine, Al. I'm okay with it." She smiled at the man, placing a lock of her hair behind her ear in a shy way.

"Okay, but if you desire, I can. I actually prefer colder food." He chuckled a bit due to a memory that hit him. Before Charlie could ask, his eyes got lost in his plate as he continued eating. "'How can you eat cold food like that? My mom asked me often. And truth be told, I never had a problem with it." He gave a bite in his breakfast, while Charlie's eyes were shining. For some reason, the blonde was mesmerizing the brunette talking about his past. It wasn't something very common for him to do, but she appreciated every little moment.

Alastor's hand went to grab something but he 'touched' only the air.

"I completely forgot to make coffee for us. Do you want coffee or do you prefer juice?" He put his hands over the table so he could push it to get a distance with his chair.

Alastor seemed energetic but at the same time hyperactive. Charlie put her hand over his, and his eyes followed her hand, confused and slightly disturbed.

"Al, you don't need to worry about me, ok? Everything is fine." She gave a warm and sweet smile to him. His eyes went to her smile. What a beautiful smile she had. "But if you want to make coffee, I could help you, or at least learn."

Alastor blinked a few times, processing what she said and mesmerizing her smile when he suddenly smiled too. "Of course, dear." He slowly took her hand into his and got up. Since it was earlier than usual, he got up and gently pulled her to get up too.

Charlie was smiling more with how gentle the man was. Alastor led the way and began to prepare the coffee.

The blonde was observing how he did it, very carefully and where everything was. She could try to make breakfast next time, since he was doing so much for her, she wanted to do something for him too.

As Alastor finished the coffee, he smiled and got a lemon. Charlie was kind of confused about it.

"I guess I woke up nostalgic, but it's one of my favorite types of coffee and I completely forgot its existence." Alastor chuckled and after serving two cups of coffee, he cut the lemon, taking off part of its peel and placing it inside the coffee. With a teaspoon, he mixed the coffee giving a lemon twist to his coffee.

"Here, try it. If you like, it's yours and I will do the other one." Alastor handed the cup of coffee to Charlie, who shyly grabbed it. She drank it slowly and her eyes widened. It was tasteful, needed more sugar, but besides that it was very good.

"That's delicious!" She looked at the coffee, the lemon peel was 'swimming' on it.

"You want to drink it?" Alastor tilted his head analyzing Charlie's reaction.

"Yes, I just need sugar." She giggled.

"Of course, I'm sorry, dear. I forgot you prefer sugary things." He smiled and got the sugar from one of the kitchen cabinets above them. He took another spoon and handed it to her.

While he was doing the same to his cup, minus the sugar part, he began to talk.

"It's called espresso romano; I've learned that from my father." He chuckled and looked at Charlie while mixing the lemon peel with his coffee. "I know the name makes you think it's an Italian drink, I'm not sure if it was… My father was French. Actually, he was the son of French parents. And his coffee was always like this; delightful." He smiled and took his cup to go back to their table and finish their breakfast.

Charlie was looking at Alastor all the time while following him. The way he talked about his parents was heart-melting. He seemed to love them very much.

"That was the best coffee I ever had!" She admitted with a smile right after she sipped it. "You've been teaching me so much lately, Alastor." She looked up at him, leaving her cup on the table so she could continue to eat her breakfast. "I want to do the same to you…" She whispered and looked away thoughtful until she had an idea.

"Have you ever tried to paint anything?" Charlie tilted her head, now looking at Alastor.

"Hm, as far as I remember, just when I was just a little boy." He sipped his coffee, crossing his legs under the table.

"Can… After your work, can I try to teach you?" She smiled with her eyes shining in hope.

"We can… Try." He sipped his coffee again, not sure about it.

"IT WILL BE AMAZING!" She leaned over the table with a big exciting smile over her face, almost crossing it to be even closer to him.

"Someone sounds excited." He put his cup of coffee onto the table and chuckled.

"Oh, well, yeah…" She sat back into her chair and giggled in a shy way. Her eyes went distant. "It's just… No one ever showed interest in anything I enjoy, even to try…" She gave a small laugh, but it was sadder and more concerning than ever. A silence filled the room for a moment.

"If you don't want to try, I understand. Sorry if I'm pushing you to do something you don't want to." She pursed her lips, remembering all the times people around her homeland said how pathetic she was for liking everything that she did. It was annoying. It was annoying to not be able to share anything with anyone…

Her left hand went to hold her right arm in a shy and insecure gesture.

Her thoughts were stuck on the memories of those people saying she was wasting her time; that she was dumb and childish for liking what she liked; even worst… But she 'woke up' from it when she felt a cold hand touch over hers.

Alastor carefully took her hand and brought it to him, caressing it with both of his hands.

"Dear, don't worry, I think it will be quite an experience and I'm willing to try." He wasn't really willing to try at first, but seeing Charlie's smile vanish, and the way she talked, made him willing to. After all, she was learning things he enjoys, and it would be fair for him to at least try to understand hers, right?

"Are you serious?" Her eyes still seemed full of insecurities.

"Yes, dead serious. Well, not dead, but you know." He chuckled and gave a small kiss over her hand.

As he kissed her hand, Charlie felt her heart jump. She bit her lips and gave a smile in the corner of her lips. For some reason, Alastor's heart jumped a beat. The way she was looking at him was something else. The way that she was smiling, even if it was tiny yet, made him happy was oddly satisfying.

He gave another kiss over her hand and her smile got bigger, which made his heart give another strong beat. He kissed again, now pulling her hand more towards him, and instead of kissing her hand's knuckles, he kissed the back of it.

She smiled even more. He was testing what was that strange and uncommon feeling. Why did he want to keep kissing her hand just to see her reaction?

Without thinking further, he kissed one more time, this time over her wrist. He was almost doing a path of kisses without noticing.

Charlie's smile started to fade as her heart was jumping against her chest. She was hoping it didn't stop, and she was looking between his mouth against her skin and his eyes. Even her breath changed a little bit as she was waiting and hoping for his next move.

Alastor then released her hand, feeling his heart speeding up as he realized he was going too far.

"After work, we'll come back here and you can teach me how to paint." He abruptly cut the situation, getting his cup of coffee once again after getting the last bite of his breakfast.

"Oh, yes, sure!" She giggled, feeling her cheeks growing warm. She went back to her breakfast.

After breakfast, they spent the remaining hours talking before they had to go to his work.

As soon as they arrived, Irene left the newspaper she was holding above her table to pay attention to the couple who just arrived. Yesterday, Alastor went alone to work, and people were already talking that he 'broke up' with the blondie. But now, seeing her again at the station made Irene's jaw open a bit.

Not only was Charlie the very first person Alastor brought to the station, she was also the only one who he brought twice now… Irene wondered if they were dating.

Alastor got closer to the clocking on the machine and saw how Charlie was observing him. He smiled and gave the card to her.

She looked up to the card he was offering for her. She frowned her eyebrows and looked at him, as if she asked 'Can I?' without even saying anything.

He nodded at her, still holding the card for her.

She smiled at him and happily got the card to put in the clocking-in machine, all giggly and excited. Alastor was right behind her, once again that feeling caught him off guard. He felt the same heart pounding fast. He felt happy to see her happy. It never happened before as far as he remembered, so this feeling was very odd for him.

Charlie marked the card in the machine all happy and turned to Alastor with a big smile, walking towards the card holder to leave it there.

"Thank you." She whispered to him. She bowed her head a bit to him and he chuckled.

"No problem, dear." He offered his arm for her and she gladly hugged it, squeezing her cheek against it.

Alastor smiled at the girl while they were walking to get upstairs.

The day at Alastor's work was pretty much the same as the first time she went there.

The women at the office were looking weirdly at her. Ruth and Michael didn't say anything to them, but the way they looked at the couple were; uncomfortable. And Roger being a very nice guy to Charlie, without looking at her differently or treating her as the others.

Charlie was especially excited to get to Alastor's home and prepare things to teach him how to paint.

As soon as they got there, Alastor said he would prepare the lunch and Charlie asked if she could prepare the stuff so they could paint; Alastor agreed without hesitation.

As Alastor finished the lunch, he walked towards Charlie's room and knocked.

She opened the door and everything was set up. Alastor had his sleeves folded and a kitchen's cloth over his shoulder.

"Do you want to have lunch before or try to paint now?" Charlie asked with her arms behind her back.

"It depends, are you hungry?" He adjusted his glasses.

"Not much. I'm more excited to see you trying this, if I can be honest." She giggled, placing her hand over her lips in a shy gesture.

"If that's the case, we can try to paint now." He smiled and leaned a bit to watch her reaction.

"Let's begin, then!" She gave a little jump, putting her hands together with a big smile. She turned towards the easel and brought it closer. She separated a pencil and a small canvas.

"First, you can draw something on the canvas just to know what you want to paint… For example, hm…" She looked around. "Objects, food, animals, a scenario, basically whatever you desire!" She offered him the pencil.

He looked down at her hand and then blinked.

"I have no idea what to paint, dear." He chuckled, frowning his eyebrows.

"Hm, let's start with something easy. How about—" She put her index finger over her cheek, tapping it while thinking. "How about an apple? Something easy…" It also reminded her of her home and specifically her father.

"Alright, an apple it is." He smiled and sat over the stool.

It has been so long since he drew anything. The last time he could remember, he was still by the company of his dear mother.

He adjusted his wrist over the canvas and started to draw slowly.

To Charlie's surprise his lines were steady and confident. He drew the apple kind of fast, as if it was easy for him, he was a natural.

Charlie was impressed.

"This is… Very good. Are you sure you don't draw often?" She blinked and looked at him, tilting her head.

"I'm sure." Alastor chuckled and adjusted his glasses once again. "It has been years since I've drawn anything." Alastor gave the pencil to Charlie and she smiled.

"I think you are a natural. If you practiced, you would be very good. I mean, you already are." She put the pencil away and got a painting godet and put a little bit of red, yellow, white, and black on it.

"Let's begin to paint, then!" Charlie had separated a cloth with few brushes.

Alastor looked at Charlie's hand, seeing a few brushes and raising his eyebrow. Which one should he take? Was there a right one?

Charlie grabbed one of the brushes. "Here, let me help you." She smiled, she got a medium brush and a slightly smaller one.

She placed the medium one over his hand and held his hand.

"This one, you can get the red paint because it will be the base color for it, and then you add yellow to create the lights." Charlie was holding his hand still and got the red painting bringing it closer to the canvas.

She made him touch the canvas slowly and carefully making slow 'x' movements. "You can paint like this, with this movement because it's better for the canvas to absorb the paint." She explained to him. "Or circular movements." She began to make circular movements with his hand.

He was paying attention to Charlie's hand over his, guiding him. What neither of them noticed was that Charlie was basically leaning over his back and her face was basically touching his by its side.

"Try it." She released his hand, and he kept it there with her eyes glued to the canvas.

As she guided him, he began to paint with small 'x's' movements. It felt comfortable at first.

"Can I use both movements, just for variety?" He asked while carefully painting it.

"Yes, you can!" She smiled and looked at him. Just then she realized how close she was to him and felt flustered at first. But then, she noticed he wasn't paying attention to it, or seemed bothered. She would take advantage and enjoy how close they were.

As he finished painting the red parts, he looked at the red on the canvas. Some parts of the red were getting out of the line he drew at first and he pursed his lips.

"I think I crossed a little bit of the guideline."

Charlie smiled at him, and placed her left hand over his shoulder.

"It's fine. We are using oil paints, they take a while to dry, and we can adjust it as much as we want. Don't pay attention to it now, let's go for the shadows." She slowly put her hand over his again, bringing to get a little bit of the black paint, mixing over the godet in one of the empty spaces.

"Now, imagine where you want the light to come from? Left, right, front…?" She glued her face against his so he could look up to the painting.

"Hm…" He thought a little bit and then said, "Top right."

"Okay!" Charlie smiled and then guided his hand towards the bottom left of the apple. "So, if the light is coming from the top right, the shadow will be stronger on the bottom left." She started to make him paint slowly. "It will create a very nice gradient." She slightly rubbed her face against his. She could feel his beard slowly growing over his face, but nothing that hurt her skin yet. It was still kind of soft and so short that she barely could feel it.

"Okay." He was so concentrated on the painting that he didn't notice how close they were.

As he began to do the shadows, Charlie noticed something. He started to chew something, she had no idea what it was.

"What are you eating?" She asked after a few minutes in silence while he was painting.

"Huh?" He asked, oblivious and without looking away from the painting.

"You are chewing something, aren't you?" She unglued her face from his to have a better look.

"Oh," He widened his eyes and laughed, taking off the brush from the canvas. "I'm chewing my own tongue… It's a thing I do unconsciously when I'm focusing on something." He chuckled and put his hand over his hair, taking off the falling bangs from his eyes.

"I have done that since I was a kid, but it's rare when it happens." He chuckled and shook his head. "I apologize if it annoyed you, dear."

That was very peculiar. She never saw anyone doing that before but somehow, she wasn't annoyed by it. "No, it's adorable… It shows you are really trying." She smiled and pressed her hand over his shoulder.

"I guess so, yeah. It's quite interesting to paint." He gave another chuckle before he turned his attention again to the canvas and touched it with the brush.

"I'm glad you are enjoying it, at least." She slowly hugged him by his neck. She was so happy he was really trying to do something she enjoyed. Suddenly, the same desire to give him a kiss on his cheek that she had before started to appear for her.

She so desired she could tell him that, without making this awkward… But at the same time, what if he didn't like it? What if they act awkward with each other once again?

Charlie slowly went back to the position, where she touched her cheek against his while observing him painting.

Alastor was a fast learner so, without asking Charlie, he got more of the black paint to continue to work on the shadows.

As they got quiet, Charlie couldn't stop thinking about how good it was, to just… Hug him like that and how good it was to have her skin against his. Should she try to risk it again? This time slower, maybe?

She knows she shouldn't, but… It was getting hard to control, and she didn't want to release him either.

"Al?" She whispered, feeling her cheeks growing warmer.

"Huh?" He continued to paint without even stopping or looking away.

"Thank you for trying it to me. It's very nice of you." She said in a whisper and the brunette smiled.

"You are welcome, dear."

She slowly kissed his cheek and she noticed he stopped to paint for a moment.

The silence filled the room for a few moments until he began to paint again. They were good? He didn't get bothered by it?

Her heart was pounding fast as she glued her cheek against his once again to rub slowly.

Once again, Alastor stopped moving the brush but Charlie kept caressing his cheek with hers.

He would say if he was bothered, wouldn't he?

She bit her lip and kissed his cheek once again.

He was just there with his arm standing in the air and the brush without moving over the canvas.

The feeling of continuing because she desired it started to grow on Charlie, and she slowly continued to kiss his face, very softly.

He remained quiet, and she continued to make a path of kisses going down to his neck. At this point, she just wanted to test his limits. What Ruth told her, echoed in her mind.

Charlie kissed his neck slowly and she could feel his skin shivering.

Alastor turned his head a bit in her direction, but Charlie didn't notice. She was still kissing his neck and now going up slowly towards the corner of his lips.

As she kissed its corner, he turned his head a bit more, and she touched his lips, slowly placing her other hand over his cheek.

For her surprise, she was touching his lips once again, and she so desired to be retributed in it.

Her heart jumped inside her chest once she felt Alastor's lips moving. Finally, he was reciprocating her?!

She smiled and held his face better so she could deepen the kiss. But she heard his voice.

"I need you to stop." He whispered.

Beta Readers:

Angel: angie_bun
Sierra: user/iced_coffee_11