The day passed by, they had dinner together, Charlie helped Alastor make the meal for them, and now and then she gave him little kisses. She wanted Alastor to get used to it without making him uncomfortable.
At first Alastor seemed flustered and even tried to clear his throat a few times. But when they finished their meal, Alastor got the plates and stole a kiss from her, which made both of them stop and look at each other. Alastor was doing what his father used to do with his mother.
Every time his father got the dirty tableware, his father gave his wife a kiss. Alastor blushed and walked towards the sink. Charlie bit her lip, placing her fingers over her lips. She was enjoying it so much.
As they went to the corridor Alastor was going to go directly to his room when Charlie stopped in front of hers.
"Hey Al?" She looked at him who turned back to her.
"Yes, dear?"
Without any warning, Charlie held the collar from his shirt and pulled him against her to steal another and final kiss. The way she did that, made Alastor's glasses jump and be a little messy, almost falling from his nose and face.
"Thank you for today. I really appreciate it." She said in a whisper, adjusting his glasses for him and then kissing his cheek. "Have a goodnight."
"Goodnight… Charlie." He remained in the middle of the corridor, with his eyes widened and looking at her as she entered her room. Before she closed the door, she looked at Alastor while biting her own lip with a smirk on her face. She closed the door and Alastor took a little while to take a breath and place his hand over his forehead.
He placed his other hand over his neck, he felt he was sweating a bit, why was he so nervous? He turned to his room and entered. Usually he went to change his clothes and then lay down on his bed, but this time he just threw himself onto the bed to stare at the ceiling.
He frowned and moved his hair from his eyes, more precisely, his bangs. 'Why?' That's all he could ask himself. Why was he nervous, why was it enjoyable? He always find this kind of action gross, and always ignores it when he sees this on the street… Now, look at him. He was kissing a girl who was engaged once, he almost hurt her when he tried to bite her in the kiss and it bothered him… Alastor, who enjoyed it, was bothered.
What has she done to him?
In the other room, Charlie changed to her pajamas and fell over her bed. She got the pillow and hugged it, gushing against it and giggling. She looked like a teenager again, which made her giggle even more. How ridiculous was she?
'I- I actually don't care, I'm having the best day of my life.' She thought, biting her lips and turning her body to lay down facing the door. Alastor was a very charming man, and… At this point she knew she liked him. She liked him so much that she didn't care how ridiculous she seemed right now. She was happy and excited with the new step she took with him.
Next day Charlie woke up humming a song and took a bath. She didn't even check if Alastor was awake.
In fact, Alastor was already awake and in a good mood. He was preparing their breakfast trying to not think much about yesterday, because every time he did, he felt nervous and his heart would act up.
Charlie got out of the bathroom with her hair all wet. It was a warm day so it would dry in no time. When she saw he was cooking on the stove, she walked till him and slowly kissed his shoulder, placing her arms around him. Should she do this? Probably not, but she was so happy that she didn't even notice.
Alastor raised his arms a little bit in surprise with his eyebrows.
"Good morning, Al." Charlie kissed his shoulder one more time.
"Morning, Charlie." He gave a shy smile and adjusted his glasses.
"Do you need help?" She placed her cheek against his shoulder. He was tall enough for her not to be able to reach his shoulder with her chin.
"I – Could you just bring the juice to the table?" He was panicking a little bit, because he was actually enjoying that hug and it bothered him.
"Of course!" She smiled, letting him go and going after the juice in the refrigerator. As she did that, she took her seat, following Alastor with her eyes.
Alastor stepped away from the stove and served the plates that he previously put over the table. Before he sat, without thinking he did it again, he stole a kiss from Charlie and right after widened his eyes. Charlie bit her own lip and held his face just to pull him again and give a longer kiss.
Alastor blushed as she broke the kiss and had his lips pouting, blinking a few times. He didn't expect her to pull him again, and he didn't even expect himself to do such a thing, naturally. He slowly took his seat and quietly started eating his breakfast.
Charlie was excited to go to his work with him, she knew how the girls looked at her because of Alastor and now they had all the rights to. It made her giggle, but quickly she stopped. She would have to wait and test to see if Alastor was comfortable doing such a thing with her in public.
As they finished their meals, Charlie adjusted her makeup in the restroom before she left to go towards Alastor, hugging his arm. This was a little different today, because she intertwined their fingers while she was hugging his arm.
Alastor didn't seem uncomfortable with it, actually he enjoyed how warm her hand was compared to his. They looked like a couple already, now that they were 'together' it looked even more.
They didn't set up their boundaries, but in Charlie's mind it was already walking for them to be a couple. As they arrived, Irene was in the reception as always and she looked at the couple.
Charlie got the card as always and clocked it in the machine. She put it on the card holder with a smile and spun towards Alastor who chuckled at how happy she looked. Irene was drinking her coffee looking at how annoying they looked together.
Charlie stayed close to the man. "Thank you." She said before being on the tip of her toes to steal a kiss from his lips. Alastor blushed instantly and looked at the girl as he was trying to understand why she did it in public. Irene spit her coffee and widened her eyes. Alastor and Charlie looked back to the girl behind the counter who was trying to grab everything she could to clean the mess she made.
"Are you alright, Irene?" Alastor gave a smile, tilting his head.
"Y-Yes! It was just too hot." She lied and kept trying to clean.
"Take care next time, dear." Alastor nodded and Charlie hugged his arm. She looked worried for the woman.
"Do you need any help?" Charlie offered and Irene just shook her head.
"Everything is fine." She gave a nervous smile.
The couple proceeded to go upstairs to the studio. As they vanished from there, Irene got her phone as quickly as she could and waited.
"GIRL YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!" She was almost screaming at it.
As they entered the office, people, as usual, looked at the couple but no one said anything, besides a 'good morning' now and then. Alastor and Charlie proceeded to enter the live room where Roger was setting up the machines on his desk.
"Morning Roger!" Charlie said with a big smile.
"Morning, Alastor and Charlie. How are you today?" The man finished the set up and turned his chair towards the couple.
"Good, and how about you?" Alastor replied to the man and Charlie nodded agreeing that she was just fine as well.
"Good, Marie will be here soon to give you the news, if you want to set up or grab a coffee, feel free you have time." He informed, crossing his arms after adjusting his headphones.
"I will grab a coffee for me, do you want anything?" Alastor turned his face to Charlie and she smiled at him.
"A cup of water, if it's not much trouble."
"It is not, I will bring it to you." Alastor was releasing his arm from Charlie's hold when she gave a pulse up and stole a kiss from his lips.
"Thank you." She rubbed her nose against his and Alastor widened his eyes. He wasn't used to it yet... Now they would do it now and then?! It was normal?
He nodded before heading out. When Charlie looked at Roger, the man had his jaw dropped and a confused and shocked expression on his face.
"Wha—" he placed a hand over his face itching his beard. "What?"
"What what?" Charlie giggled and tilted her head.
"Are you two...?!" Roger blinked.
"Together?" Charlie completed and the man nodded positively. "I don't know, but... He is trying something new, I guess." She blushed, placing a hand over her cheek and biting her lip.
"I- Never pictured Alastor kissing someone, I never imagined it would be possible, because he is too reserved and- " Roger chuckled and shook his head. "You did it, Charlie. Wow."
Charlie blushed, she felt oddly good about it. On the other hand, Roger was happy for the couple. The untouchable and unreachable Alastor was now letting a woman give him smooches in front of others. Who would think it would happen someday? Even though Roger did notice, Alastor seemed uncomfortable with it. The man didn't complain or step back, which meant he was enjoying right?
As Alastor came back, he brought Charlie her glass of water, his cup of coffee he had already drank in the break room. Roger warned the time remaining for Alastor and the brunette nodded, proceeding to go to his room and desk. Charlie couldn't look away from Alastor, and always with a silly smile on her face.
Marie entered the room, the way she started at Charlie was different. She looked annoyed more than ever at the blondie. Charlie tried to not care about it as she kept her eyes on Al. The brunette gladly took the papers from Marie and started to note down some stuff, leaning against it. Charlie was paying attention more than ever to how careful Alastor was, noting things down, as well as reading it. Maybe it was the kisses they started to share, but he was twice as handsome as before.
Alastor's eyes went up and saw Charlie waving at him which made him slightly smile. Alastor was quite confused yet with everything that happened between them and his own feelings. He soon started the show, which was a relief for him since he could focus on something else.
"What does Marie do?" Charlie looked at Roger for a moment, raising her eyebrow.
"Huh?" He was caught off guard with the sudden question.
"What's her job here?" Charlie giggled when she noticed she wasn't specific enough.
"Oh. Well, she works in the office and she is the editor of the news, basically after writing all the news the journalists gave her, she makes a small copy for Alastor." Roger tried his best to explain to Charlie who was nodding at his explanation.
"I see... " She crossed her arms over her lap and looked back at him. "Would you think Marie would mind if, the next time she enters here, I give the next paper for Al?" Charlie's eyes were lost for a second on Alastor's gestures.
"I do, yes." Once Roger replied, Charlie looked surprised at him. "But it doesn't mean you shouldn't try it anyway." He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.
Charlie blushed a little. "Maybe you could... You know." She giggled.
"I can ask her, yes." Roger gave a sweet smile at Charlie who nodded with a little smirk over her lips.
"Thank you." Charlie bit her lip and placed her hands at the end of her dress, fixing it nervously.
After a few minutes of giving the news, the music entered to give a very small break to Alastor. He looked up to Charlie who was staring at him. The way she was looking at him was different, had a different shine on her eyes and her smile was brighter than ever. It made the brunette swallow dry once he felt his heart jumping inside his chest.
He looked away for a moment, back to the pages he already had noted down. Was it appropriate for them to be looking at each other like this in public? Marie appeared with the papers and a glass of water. Charlie looked at her, nervously. She was about to cross the room when Roger called her out.
"Hey, Marie, could I take a look at the text?" Roger turned his chair towards the woman.
"Huh? Oh, well of course." She handed the papers to Roger who was actually giving them a read.
For a moment, Alastor turned his eyes towards the three people outside. Roger was checking a bunch of papers, it was unusual. Was there a problem?
"Alright, everything seems fine." He said and Marie reached for the paper. "But I was thinking, hey Charlie, why don't you hand it over to Alastor." Roger offered the paper to Charlie and Marie frowned in a disgusting surprise.
"I- I would love to." Charlie took the papers and smiled at Roger. She would say she was worried about Marie not liking it, but she truly wasn't worrying about it.
"Oh wait," Roger got the glass of water from Marie's hand. "Excuse me." He said and then gave it to Charlie. "He will need this too."
She got up and shyly walked to the door that she opened. Marie had her arms crossed looking at the blonde through the glass. Charlie placed the papers and glass of water over the desk and leaned a little over it.
Alastor turned his head towards her, noticing how close she was. As Charlie turned her head to him, their noses touched. Alastor was nervous with the sudden lack of distance between them two. Charlie rubbed her nose against his and cracked a big smile.
"Good luck." Charlie poked out her lips and kissed Alastor. She placed her hand over his face, caressing it quickly. Alastor at first raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes.
But slowly he closed them and placed his hand over Charlie's wrist. The sensation of his heart jumping inside his chest made him feel alive, truly alive. The warmth of her lips made him relax and enjoy it for a moment as well. As their lips separated Charlie rubbed her nose against his.
"Thank you, dear." Alastor had his voice in a whisper.
Charlie smiled once again and let him go, going back to Roger's side. Marie had a very surprised face, shocked and almost horrified before she frowned and left. Irene had told her on the telephone but seeing it actually happening was way worse.
As she sat by Roger's side, she looked at the glass, Alastor was all reddish and flustered once he noticed they were being watched. Roger chuckled and Charlie giggled at Alastor, but the brunette didn't see it, he was busy trying to focus back at the new text he received and he was having a hard time with it.
"He's adorable." Charlie bit her lip.
"So, you two are really dating, huh?" Roger smiled at the brunette while seeing how he was trying his best to go back to normal.
"I- I'm not sure." She grabbed the end of her dress. "I want to." She looked away for a moment.
Roger smiled and looked at Alastor. He had a good feeling about those two.
—
As the day ended, while Alastor and Charlie were getting out of the station, the coworkers were looking at them. The gossip from Marie and Irene flew over the whole place. The couple tried to ignore all the stares on them as they left to go to their home. Once they entered the house, Alastor closed the door behind them and fixed his voice.
"Hm, Charlie, can I ask you something?" He left his keys on the key holder.
"Yes!" She spun in the middle of the room to face the brunette.
"Why did you kiss me in the station?" Alastor didn't change his neutral expression, he kept looking at Charlie.
"I-" What was she supposed to say? "I thought we... I mean." She blushed looking away for a moment. "I thought you wouldn't mind, if I knew it could upset or bother you I would never-" before she could finish, Alastor took a step forward and sealed their lips. This made Charlie's heart jump.
"I just... I'm not used to it and it's a new thing for me." He held her cheek and made her look at him.
"I can go slower, I don't want you to feel pressured." She admitted as she was staring at him, changing her focus between his lips and his eyes.
"Thank you, I really appreciate it, darling." He smiled at her and leaned for another shy kiss, but Charlie jumped into it.
She hugged him by his neck, pressing their lips against each other. At first, Alastor's arms were opened in surprise, but then he slowly hugged her waist. Charlie hugged his neck, she so desired to deepen the kiss but she didn't want to scare him.
Slowly she separated their lips and kissed his chin, which made him look at her, a bit confused. As Charlie carefully lowered her kisses, Alastor felt his cheeks getting warmer. The brunette swallowed dry as he felt a few shivers around his neck. What was she doing?
Charlie got to his collar and pulled a bit to the side, biting it slightly. Alastor's first reaction was to step back a bit which made Charlie stop touching his neck. She wanted to see if he would push her away and if he did, she would understand, but he kept there without moving.
Deep inside, Alastor was curious to know what would happen, even if he was flustered. Charlie slowly kept going, pulling his collar a bit more to reveal his neck, with slow and patient kisses she opened her lips to bite his neck carefully.
He flinched at first but then he felt a warm feeling inside his body. That was new, that was definitely new. Charlie separated her lips from his neck and quickly kissed his lips again. He was tense she could feel when she touched his shoulders.
Alastor raised his eyebrows and kissed her back with all the flustered feelings he had. Almost like a clumsy and innocent kids' kiss while closing their eyes strongly to try to hide from each other. It was adorable, a grown man being shy to kiss like that. Charlie put her hands over his face and separated their lips.
"I will go slower with you. Just let me know if I ever make you uncomfortable." She warned, giving a kiss over his face.
"Sure." His lips were red and slightly puffed. It showed how nervous and flustered he was.
Charlie's hand caressed Alastor's face and she kissed the tip of his nose which made him smile a bit. It was adorable and he wasn't expecting it after being so flustered. It made him shake his head a bit and clear his throat.
"I should start making our lunch." He said letting her go and walking to the kitchen. She followed him with her eyes and bit her lip. Oh, she was loving that man way more than she wanted and she didn't even regret it.
Charlie walked after him until she stopped at the counter. "I'm here to help and to learn as well!" She looked excited which made Alastor chuckle.
"Alright, so let's begin." Slowly he was relaxing again around the girl. While they were making the meal, there was not much contact between the two; at least in the beginning-
"No, you need to cut it into small round pieces darling." He said as he was watching Charlie cut a carrot.
"Like this?" Charlie was no angel, or at least, part of her wasn't. She was cutting it wrongly so Alastor could teach her. She loved hearing him teach, and watching it. And now, she wanted to try stuff with him in a different way.
"No, no, here." He unconsciously went behind her, just like his mom used to do when she was teaching him to cook. He grabbed her hands and guided her. "You go easy and steady." He held her hand with the knife and started to cut slowly so she could understand the movements.
"Like-this." She slowly cut as he was teaching.
"Exactly." He smiled and when he was to back off, Charlie let go of the knife and carrot.
"Wait." She said, getting his hands and slowly bringing him to hug her from behind. "Here, can you stay like this?" She asked with a soft voice.
Alastor's cheeks blushed again. Why did she want him to be like that?
"Hm, why dear?"
"It feels good. I mean, if it's bad for you, I understand." She didn't look up to him. She was ready for him to let go of her but he stayed. She went back to cut the carrots, slowly, as if any rapid movement she did he would back off.
In fact, Alastor was trying to understand why she was liking it. For him, it would be terrible to have to concentrate on something with someone that close to him; or at least it was what he thought.
The more time he spent that way, the less tense he felt and he started to pay attention to how small Charlie felt in his arms. He started to wonder why it was good for him and why he was actually enjoying it to the point he let his chin touch the top of her hair. Her soft and shiny hair.
Charlie started humming, she was happy, being with Alastor made her feel safe and comfy. And his touches were always so gentle. Alastor heard Charlie's humming and closed his eyes. He was feeling his body relaxing and his heart pounding slowly. He was getting slightly sleepy with how cozy this felt.
For a moment, he had a flashback, it was almost like he was dreaming while standing. The flashback was of his parents, he looking at his parents while his mother was cooking and his father hugging his love from behind.
Just like he was doing with Charlie, which made him open his eyes and slowly let her go. It made his heart jump and he became flustered. They... They were acting like their parents, why was he ok with that?
"Something's wrong?" Charlie looked over her shoulder to him, who turned his back to her and walked to the fridge.
"No, I am just going to prepare the table." He said, almost shoving his face against the fridge.
"Okay." She smiled and kept cutting some carrots more.
Alastor got a jar of juice and put it over the dining table. He placed his hand over his forehead, putting his bangs up for a moment while he was thinking.
They were going too fast, right? They just kissed and now they were basically his parents. Why didn't it bother him right away?! What were they now? They weren't dating, because to date, he would need to like her which he didn't, did he?
"Al?" Charlie called him.
"Yes?!" He looked up to her with his hand lifting his bangs up yet.
"What do I do now?" She needed to finish the meal but wanted his help.
"Oh yes, that." He released his bangs, pointing at the meal with his index finger and then he walked towards her.
He helped to finish their meal and serve the table properly. They had a meal just talking which released a little of the weight over Alastor's shoulder. Just a talk, a normal, no kissing, talk was enough for him. When they finished, as always Charlie helped him to clean things up. A thing that he noticed was that he was more tired than he used to be. Maybe the meal was too heavy for his stomach and now his eyes were heavy too.
He slowly walked towards the couch and Charlie happily followed him. She thought he would model for her and she was already getting her seat in front of her easel.
"Charlie, would you mind if I take a quick nap?" He removed his shoes by the fireplace that wasn't lightened up and slowly sat over the couch.
"Oh that's ok! It's okay if I keep painting you and put on low volume music?" She smiled a little worried with him, since it was the first time she would see the man napping.
"That's fine dear. As long as it doesn't bother you. I need to rest just a little bit. I can also nap in my room." He was going to suggest she could read his books when she raised her hand.
"No need! Feel comfortable please!" She smiled as she was getting up to put a record on the gramophone.
"Alright, thank you dear. If you need anything don't hesitate to wake me up ok?" He adjusted his body and closed his eyes.
Charlie began to paint. Since his position wasn't the best in the world to continue her portrayal of him, she had to improvise. She was starting with the background, carefully, watching and trying to paint by memory what she remembers from his previous modeling.
As time passed, she started to wonder, when would she be able to try further with him? Even nap with the man. Even though it sounds silly, she was really wondering how it felt to be into his hold.
At the beginning of her relationship with Seviathan, she remembers they were kind of fast in everything even with sleeping together. Even though she usually didn't sleep with him anymore, in the beginning it was more frequent.
She kind of missed that... Charlie looked away from the canvas, one hour or one and a half should have passed by now.
Alastor looked peaceful and he had a small smile on his face, and it made her wonder what he was dreaming about and if he was dreaming at all... Humans also dream when sleeping right?
Charlie bit her lip when she had an idea, it probably was a terrible idea but she wanted to try.
She slowly got up and walked towards Alastor. She removed her shoes carefully and slowly got up on the couch.
Every time she made a bigger movement she stopped and held her breath. He didn't have any reaction, so she continued. She slowly started to lay over him, always checking if he was waking up or not.
Charlie slowly adjusted her to lay her head over his chest when he moved abruptly.
She closed her eyes, shrinking her shoulders in place. He soon touched her with his arm, placing it around her back and making her glue her body even more against his.
He was hugging her while sleeping which made her blush but smile at the same time. It was so good, and cozy. Even if she wasn't 100% comfortable because he didn't adjust himself for her, she was happy to be able to feel his embrace like that. It felt right for her.
Slowly she closed her eyes to hear his heart. This particular sound made her feel sleepy and soon fell asleep in his arms.
Beta Reader:
Angel: angie_bun