AN: Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for your support! I'm glad so man of you like my story, it will keep me motivated to update more :)
DamnYouPeopleWithCoolUserNames: Thank you! I love Mike/Violet too, there will definitely be a lot of them in this story.
VerucaBeyotch: I just added Mrs. B to make Charlie jealous and create drama. Don't worry, they won't end up together.
marcela: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you like my story! Here's a second chapter for you :)
Now on to the story :)
Charlie stood outside the room, staring in at Wonka. "Oh no - oh no," he gasped. "What do I do?!"
"Go in and talk to him," suggested Mike casually.
"No, I can't," Charlie moaned. "And when he sees me...when he sees me..."
"When he sees you, you guys can finally make up?" Mike finished eagerly.
"Is it too late to back out of this?" Charlie asked.
"I don't know," Mike said. "But do you really want to back out of a chance at a million dollars?"
Crap. He'd forgotten all about the money the instant he saw Wonka. "No," he sighed in defeat. "He's not ruining my chance at becoming a millionaire." Charlie pushed open the door and refused to make eye contact with Wonka, who looked surprised. Not that Charlie was staring at him, he could just see him out of the corner of his eye.
Unfortunately, the only seats left available at that point were beside Wonka. Mike took the seat behind him at once, and Charlie was left to - unwillingly - sit beside Wonka.
Charlie stole a nervous glance at Wonka and then quickly looked down when he saw Wonka staring back at him. "W - what are you looking at?" he stammered.
"Someone I haven't looked at in far too long," Wonka replied.
Charlie felt himself flushing at that and scoffed to hide his true feelings - sadness, regret, guilt...He was feeling so many mixed emotions right now. But this was too awkward; he couldn't even look at Wonka.
Their host - who was surprisingly Violet Beauregarde - walked in. Charlie barely recognized her after so many years. She introduced herself and then said, "Your challenges will be in a two-person team and will mostly be trust exercises and communication skills. But as with most game shows like this, there's a twist - you will not be competing with the person you signed up with."
"What?!" Charlie gasped, praying hard that it wouldn't be Wonka. "But you said we had to apply in teams-"
"Yes, well..." Violet read off the names of the teams and Charlie groaned, furious when he heard that he would indeed be partnering with Wonka. Fabulous.
He glanced over at the man, who seemed amused. "Think something's funny?" he snapped. Wonka's smile dropped and he looked away awkwardly.
"Your challenges will be spread out over this week," continued Violet. "Today's challenges will probably take a while, seeing as the first one will be in complete darkness." Charlie hadn't seen that one coming. "It will be an obstacle course that you will have to help each other through, but obviously you won't be able to see it, so you'll have to feel around the room for your obstacles."
Charlie sighed. Could his day get any worse? He was scared of the dark, and Wonka knew it. He looked over at the man, embarrassed. Wonka knew some of his deepest secrets. Before he'd left the factory, Charlie had confided in him a lot. They'd been extremely close.
Wonka smiled sadly. "I'll be there if you need me. Don't worry."
Well, Charlie hadn't been expecting that. He felt a pang as he made eye contact with Wonka for the first time, and then felt a fluttering in his stomach. He could smell Wonka's cologne, chocolate cologne...
"Teams, please follow me," Violet said.
Charlie blinked, that feeling gone, for now. He and Wonka got up and followed their host, where she dropped teams off separately down the hall and blindfolded them. Guards led them in to the dark room and then removed their blindfolds. Charlie gasped, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. "Wow, it's...it's really dark."
"You okay, there, Charlie?" Wonka asked him.
"F-fine..." Charlie went towards the sound of Wonka's voice until he bumped into something that said "Oof!" "Sorry!" Charlie exclaimed. "Do you mind if I..." He didn't finish, but he gripped Wonka's arm with his hand, not wanting to let him go. He needed a reminder he wasn't alone in this dark, unfamiliar place. They could very well be surrounded by tarantulas right now and Charlie would have no clue.
"I don't mind at all." Wonka pressed close to him as they walked forward in the dark. Both of them ran into the wall at once. "Whoops." Wonka's laugh made Charlie's stomach flutter. "I think this is a wall."
"Congratulations," Violet's voice said over the loudspeaker. "You're ahead of the other teams, just so you know. But now you have to find a way to get over the wall. There are objects all around the room and you have to find objects in the dark that could help you."
"We should probably split up, then, 'kay?" Wonka suggested. His gentle voice made Charlie feel bad for a second. They'd lost a whole year together. They were so close...Charlie gripped on tighter to Wonka's arm and wrapped him in a hug. "What's this for?"
"It's an apology," Charlie said. "I...I missed you."
"I missed you, too, my dear." He felt a pair of warm arms wrap around him and he felt like he was home.
Suddenly, Violet's voice came over the loudspeaker again. "The other teams are all ahead of you," she said. "You can kiss and make up later."
Charlie abruptly pulled back from their hug, now thankful for the dark so Wonka couldn't see him blushing. "We weren't kissing!" Although that doesn't sound like a bad idea, thought Charlie.
Wait, what?
"So...splitting up," Wonka said awkwardly.
"Right. I'll go left and you go right." This resulted in the two abruptly smacking into each other. They laughed and went the opposite directions.
After almost twenty minutes of blindly feeling around the room, Charlie called, "I found something! I found...a ladder!"
He followed the sound of Wonka's answering praise, dragging the ladder with him, until they were repositioned by the guards in front of the wall, the ladder leaning against it. "I'll help you up," Wonka said.
"How will you get up then?" asked Charlie, concerned.
"Don't worry about me," said Wonka. "Come here." Charlie stepped forward and he felt Wonka's strong arms lifting him onto the ladder. Charlie climbed up and then helped Wonka up.
They worked together for the next two hours in the dark. When they finally got past the obstacle course, they were the first team to get out. The light was blinding at first, and Charlie had to wait a few minutes before opening his eyes. When he was able to see again, he saw Wonka smiling at him. "What?" Charlie asked. "I haven't forgotten that night, you know."
"I know," Wonka said. "But this is a start. Did you see how well we worked together in there? We even beat the others!"
"Yeah...I suppose we did," said Charlie.
"You hugged me," Wonka murmured. "You still love me."
That was true, but Charlie was too shy at the moment to say it. Emotions were swirling around inside him, making it hard to tell exactly how he was feeling. Wonka's own eyes were filled with love as he stared at Charlie, and Charlie found it hard to stay mad at him. He reached over and put his hand on top of Wonka's, feeling the other chocolatier jump in surprise.
"Charlie? Wonka?" Mike was standing in front of them, and Charlie blushed and removed his hand. "This is Andrew."
"Nice to meet you," Charlie said, reaching out and shaking Andrew's hand. "Are you Mike's teammate?"
"Yeah," Andrew said. "It's so cool - Mike loves the same video games I do. And we go to the same college!"
"What a coincidence," said Wonka.
"Well you guys can study together-" Charlie started.
"And play video games, too," finished Mike.
"You two finish your sentences now?" Wonka looked jealous, and Charlie's eyes widened.
"No!" exclaimed Charlie. "We're not like that. We're just friends."
The four boys stared at each other, an awkward silence consuming them. Charlie was blushing. Mike and Andrew looked confused, and Wonka looked just as embarrassed as Charlie.
Luckily, Violet entered with the remaining teams, saving them from discussing anything else. It was time for their second challenge.