Chapter Eighteen – The Truth please!
Previously on Nothing Changed:
"Chris!" Wyatt shouted crossing the road as Chris slowed down with a sigh.
"What you doing here?" Chris asked the hunk as Wyatt lightly shrugged.
"I just wanna apologise to you in person. I know I should've called you but I'm really sorry. I-I just wish that….yeah, I'm sorry that's what I wanted to say before I leave."
Pain like a rocket launcher smashed into him, causing the witch' vision to nearly black out as he stumbled back and fell into the patch of grass on the lawn behind him.
"I'm feeling his pain." Chris realised as he looked at Wyatt.
"My Gran just passed away." Wyatt repeated again, looking away from Chris as tears blurred his vision.
"I'm here for you Wy, for always whether as your friend or something more, I'm here for you." Chris said with a smile wiping away the line of tear Wyatt missed with his sleeves.
Wyatt leaned into Chris and pressed his lips with the brunette as the young one responded back with thrusting his own tongue back into the blonde's mouth. Slowly pushing the brunette body back down on the couch, Wyatt feverishly began to make out with him, seeking the comfort he knew he can get from Chris.
Wyatt pulled him close to his body before drifting off to sleep, making Chris grin like a Chester cat as he too followed the blonde into slumber land, a pink glow appeared at the end of the bed that took form of Penelope – whose eyes widened at the sight before her.
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~~Now~~
Chris snapped his eyes open at the sound of glass shattering at the foot of his table, hands ready to blow up the intruder – only; he was surprised to confront his panicked looking cousin, standing over the shattered pieces of glass – which he left in the dressing table in his forgetful nature.
"Penny?" Chris asked at the sight of his sheepish looking cousin - who eyed the sleeping hunk next to Chris, altering Chris immediately of Wyatt's presence on the bed as he forgotten in his tiredness. Quickly glancing towards the hunk, Chris found Wyatt dreaming away in his slumber land, with his face turned sideways – away from Chris - obscuring his face from the half cupid witch's view.
"I'm so sorry, I'll be outside." Penelope whispered in a panic as she hearted out of the room – only seconds later, sound of something smashing can be heard from the living room causing the young witch to lightly flinch at the noise. Feeling his heart drum away in his ears, the young witch swallowed hard as he turned to look at the sleeping Hunk once again – only this time, Chris saw the restlessness that ran through Wyatt, the witch could tell something was troubling the mortal in his sleep.
"Nana…no…" Wyatt whispered in his sleep, his face contorted in pain and fear. For a second, his fear of getting caught slipping his mind, he remembered the little poem his mother used to whisper to him when he was a small kid having nightmare – which he learned it to be a spell - the young witch leaned in and gently whispered it into Wyatt's ears.
"I'm singing you this lullabye,
So off you drift away, my sweet little guy,
Wonderful things awaits you in your sleep,
From blue skies to fairies that leap,
Nothing can harm you while you're in my care,
Sleep tight and I'll wash away your nightmare,
Guardian angel watches over you as I do,
So never fear my darling, this night we'll make it through."
As Chris watched, a soft glow washed over Wyatt's body as the blonde' face relaxed into content smile.
Smiling to himself, Chris turned his attention back to the door, only for the sense of dread and fear to settle down on him again. Fear striking his bones with every move he made, he grabbed the nearby t-shirt – unknowingly Wyatt's t-shirt – and made his way out to find his cousin – who, as he expected, found her standing in middle of the living room, with a sheepish look while the 99 cent vase lay shattered on the floor – clear indication that his cousin was nervous. Since Penelope only gets clumsy when she gets nervous or anxious - one of the traits she inherited from her mother, the middle charmed one.
The moment Chris reached the living room, both began speaking at once.
"Penny, it's not what you think it was, I can explain, just give me a chance…" Chris said fearful tone that's laced with nervousness while Penny gibbered…
"I'm sorry; I didn't know you had company. I thought you wouldn't since its middle of the day, I didn't know I'm so sorry" Penny apologised to her cousin, stopping when they realised that both of them were shouting at each other looking rather panicked.
"Eh…" Chris started as both fell into a mutual silence for few seconds before Penelope spoke up. "I called you three times and when I've got your voicemail, I had to drop by to make sure you're alright. I'm sorry I didn't know you had company."
"Oh…okay…" Chris said little confused as he listened to his cousin' apology rather than what he envisioned from her – which was her looking rather shocked, stunned & taken back, worse… disgusted and repulsed by him instead….Penelope smiles at Chris.
For a second, Chris was confused…did she not see who was in bed with him? Was she partially blind? After all Wyatt has a body that can't be passed off as a woman, even a short sided blind guy can easily pinpoint Wyatt as a guy, with his six pack, pecks and his nice big biceps with that tribal tattoo…Chris blinked to snap himself out of the vision of Wyatt trailing kisses down his body, instead he focused on his cousin.
"He looks familiar, have I met him?" Penelope asked her cousin, whose eyes widened and his mouth lightly dropped open at the question but nevertheless Chris nodded lightly.
"P-p-p-p3." Chris stammered looking at his cousin with a dumbstruck look on his face, while Penelope nodded as she realised where she had seen the blonde hunk.
"Wait, is that the new Bartender?" Penelope asked as Chris once again nodded with each blink. "Oh, I knew I saw that hunk somewhere, he's hot." Penelope said with a wink, as Chris looked like he had been smacked by Penelope, in response Penelope only giggled. "Anyways the reason I popped in like this, is because we have a little problem back home and I …" but Chris interrupted her.
"Hold on a sec." Chris said stopping his cousin, whose eyes widened at the action in confusion. "You just saw a guy in my bed and that's all you have got to say? You're not going to be repulsed or be sick by me?"
"Of course not, you're my little cousin Chris! Who am I to judge you?" Penelope said as Chris looked little nervous.
"Err…My eldest cousin?"
"Yeah!" Penelope chuckled at the comment. "But we always knew you swing both ways."
"WHAT?" Chris blurted out as Penelope chuckled.
"Yeah, it wasn't hard to know who you're attracted to and it was only a matter of time before you did something about it. I for one, I'm glad that you listened to your true feelings than following David's macho figure, he's got going." Penelope said smiling widely under her breath as Chris' empathy kicked in.
"Hang on; what are you hiding from me?" Chris asked his Cousin, who looked alarmed at the question, while Chris gave his mother's glare that often cripples everyone. "Don't make me beat it out of you." Chris said in a same tone that his mother uses when she gives warning – and since Penelope is like her mother, she caved in.
"It was the twins' idea, they made a bet that you are never going to date a guy and we made a bet that you will, so you see they lost and now they owe us thousand dollars. How cool is that."
"The twins? ….w-w-wait…we?" Chris said looking as if he has been run over by a truck and smashed twice in the face with it. "Whose we?"
"Bri and Ashley and Henry Jnr…" Penelope said counting off her fingers as Chris blinked in an unbelievable manner, as if they were surreal – this must all be a dream; he is going to wake up any minute with Wyatt next to him or possibly on his own.
"You're kidding right?" Chris asked, his breath turning into shallow harsh breaths as if his air supply was being slowly squeezed shut. "H-H-how?" He squeaked.
"Come on Chris, you do know who you're talking to right?" Penelope asked as Chris raised an eyebrow. "I'm half Cupid, we knew the moment we got our powers that you're attracted to guys as well as girls, but when you shoved those feelings away and pretended everything is normal, we felt that's what you wanted, so that's why we didn't say anything to you because we wanted to respect your wishes being in the closet and not to say anything about it, until you're ready."
"Wait, wait…this bet…?"
"Oh, the twins made the bet with us. We had nothing to do with it, honest…well except for the fact that they owe us thousand dollars." Penelope said as Chris's thoughts ran a mile per second.
"Wait, no, that's not what I meant…I-I-I meant for the bet, so you guys," Chris swallowed, all of the sudden as if the words were stuck in-between his throat that he can neither spit it out nor swallow. "Did you make Wyatt fall…" Chris began but Penelope cut him off.
"Oh no! That was all your doing. We as cupids did not interfere in your love business." Penelope said holding her hand up in an oath fashion, causing the young witch to exhale deeply. "Besides David had us under power oath, so we couldn't interfere even if we wanted to…"
"Wait, WHAT?" Chris shouted at his brother's name, while Penelope smiled in a 'Oops, did I say something I shouldn't have said' "Are you telling me, my brother….wait, does…do...I mean…does David and Prue know about this?" Chris asked as Penelope looked back with another sheepish smile. "They KNOW?" Chris almost hollered but stopped himself when he remembered the blonde sleeping in the next room. "They know... how can they know…" Chris hissed as he looked at his cousin, who shrugged.
"We didn't tell them, I swear." Penelope said holding her hand up in defence. "They figured it out when that Santaic Demon attacked." At this Chris groaned, dropping himself into the couch as he buried his face in his palms.
Santaic demons were high level demons that can trap their victims in their own mind with their inhibitions; where that would eventually kill them. This attacked happened four years ago. "Great!" Chris thought to himself before looking up at his cousin, who still stood before him, looking rather nervous.
"This is soooo messed up!" Chris groaned as Penelope looked like a mouse trapped in a corner. "How about mom and dad?"
"I…." Penelope trailed off once again as Chris looked up to give a death glare, in response, Penelope giggled nervously like a school girl. "Dad, kinda know, him being a cupid and all."
"I meant my folks, but yours know too!" Chris said banging his head on the coffee table. "Can this get any worse?" At this, Penelope looked up at the ceiling, twirling her hair, pretending to act as if she knows nothing else. "Apparently it can…" Chris spoke to himself as Penelope smiled sheepishly. "Go on, who else knows this BIG secret of mine?" Chris hissed as Penelope eyed the door nearby before looking down at her cousin.
"Pretty much everyone, including Aunt Billie." Penelope said with a light shrug as Chris growled in anger. Although Chris knew he should be relieved about this new revelation, for some reason, he felt quite angry. In fact he wanted to blow someone up. After all these years, they knew about him, how he really feels and didn't say anything about it? How can they all pretend to act as if there is nothing wrong, when clearly he was struggling with this deep inside? The fear of them finding out alone put him through so much emotional trauma, now he finds out not only they knew but they don't give a crap.
"Is it because they don't care about me?" Chris questioned himself ignoring the little voice in his head – since the young witch wanted everyone to make a big deal out of his sexuality, he wanted people to talk about it, create a chaos, something….not just easily accept him the way he was…
"If it makes you better, Aunt Billie wants to throw you a massive party when you officially come out." Penelope said with a small nervous smile as Chris shot her a look.
"Not helping." Chris snapped as Penelope nodded, taking a small step back from the growling witch on the couch.
"Got it!" Penelope said with a nod.
"So what is the problem we have at home?" Chris hissed through his teeth, wanting to change the subject as Penelope exhaled deeply.
"Have you been displaying any new powers lately?" Penelope asked as Chris looked confused at the question but shook his head with a frown.
"No, why?" Chris asked as Penelope frowned in response.
"So you've got all your powers?" Penelope asked as Chris nodded dumbly. "You sure?" in response, Chris rolled his eyes before waving his left hand towards the fire mantle nearby – causing one of the nearby mantel piece to soar across the living room - but with an immediate flick of his right hand, he froze the flying piece.
"Happy?" Chris asked as Penelope nodded with another frown.
"Try combusting it." Penelope said as Chris rolled his eyes.
"What? Why?" Chris asked as Penelope raised an eyebrow.
"Just do it." Penelope asked as Chris shook his head.
"Fine but you're helping me cleaning it up." Chris said with a plastered smile as he waved his hand to blow the frozen dog piece – only to his surprise, nothing happened. "Ookay…" Chris said flicking his left hand, when nothing happened; he began to flick his wrist like a mad man, trying to blow up the marble piece up – in essence, he looked like a girl flicking water droplets off his fingers – well at least that's how he looked in Penelope's eyes. Bad, Penny.
"Just what I thought." Penelope said to her cousin, who looked confused.
"What? What happened to my firepower?" Chris panicked as Penelope shook her head.
"Don't worry, it should be around somewhere." Penelope said as Chris raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean, it should be around somewhere?" Chris asked as Penelope shrugged.
"Someone must've got it, don't worry." Penelope said to her cousin, who shook his head in refusal.
"Who?" Chris asked like a child – who lost his favourite teddy bear and ready to burst into tears.
"I don't know." Penelope said with another shrug as Chris looked taken back by the comment. "It could be anyone; I don't know who got it."
"What do you mean; you don't know who got it? No one should have it, it mine and I want it back." Chris whined like a kid as Penelope sat down on the couch's arm.
"Don't worry; you're not the only one on that boat." Penelope replied back to her cousin. "Everyone is missing part of their powers, only they switched places with someone else in our family."
"What? How?"
"The twins' personal gain Spell backfired." Penelope said as Chris groaned out. "They tried to gain new power; well advancement to their given power, only their spell backfired switching everyone's powers to someone else."
"Great, so that kinda explains why I'm feeling people's emotions all of the sudden." Chris said as Penelope raised an eyebrow at the comment.
"Hey, you got mom's power." Penelope said with a smile. "I bet she'll be pleased to know that."
"Yeah, so who is doing what to sort this out?" Chris asked as Penelope shrugged.
"Mom and Aunts are working on the spell that will return everyone's power back to their rightful owner," Penelope said as Chris nodded. "But meanwhile Aunt Piper wanted everyone back in the Manor, where it's safe while we sort this out, since without our powers we can't actually do anything if demons were to attack us now."
"That's impossible; you guys have enough power to send a demon reeling into the underworld." Chris replied back as Penelope shook her head.
"Not really. I've lost my power to control over earth, Brianna lost her ability to Heart, Ashley can't do anything with water, Aunt Piper lost her freezing power, Mom lost her empathy and the list goes on, but what's worse, Uncle Leo and Henry also got some of the powers."
"Wait, my dad got powers?" Chris asked in shock as Penelope nodded.
"Yup, he got half of David's power, since for some reason the spell transferred most of David's power to Uncle Leo and Henry Jnr." Penelope said with a frown as Chris rolled his eyes. "Anyways, with everyone powers switched, we don't know how to control them, so if a demon attacks, we can use our other powers because the new powers are interfering with our old ones."
"Whose power you got?" Chris asked his cousin.
"Trust me, you don't want to know, every time I sneeze I set something on fire." Penelope said as Chris chuckled at the comment.
"But once again, I've ended up with a passive power, Empathy." Chris said with a sulking tone.
"Technically No! In fact we have got to get that power out of you ASAP." Penelope said as Chris looked confused.
"What? Why?"
"Have you forgotten the stories my mom told about Aunt Prue receiving her empathy power? Empathy is quite destructive if you're not meant to have it."
"Yeah…now I see the point." Chris said realising what his cousin was telling him. If a witch was to receive a power that's not meant for them, then that said power could destroy them.
"So we need to get you home." Penelope said standing up as Chris stood up with a hesitant look, glancing back towards the bedroom door.
"Can't…I mean, not that I wanna miss the chaotic household where everyone's blowing something up, but I've got to stay with Wyatt here. I can't leave him alone right now." Chris said to his cousin who opened her mouth to protest but Chris cut her off. "He just lost the only family he ever had and he needs me right now here Pen. I'll be fine here. Please…" At this Penelope caved in.
"Fine I understand, but I'm cloaking this place until we reverse the spell." Penelope said as Chris nodded. After all, like Whitelighters, Cupids can magically shield their charges from magical harm but only they can see and sense the place once they are cloaked – and if anyone tries to teleport to them or to the place that's cloaked, then they are likely to be slammed into a magical barrier.
"How are you going to manage my mom…I-I don't want them to know about Wyatt…not just yet." Chris said as Penelope once again nodded with smile.
"You tell them when you're ready," Penelope said with a smile as Chris nodded with a gratitude smile. "But Ashley is going to be crushed though." Penelope said as Chris looked taken back.
"I'll call her tomorrow…" Chris trailed off as Penelope shook her head.
"No, she's going to be crushed because she had been lusting after your hottie for quite some time." Penelope said as Chris did a 'O' face.
"Yeah, she's going to kill me, isn't she?" Chris asked trailing off at the smile Penelope gave him. "Great, that's just great."
"Hey, don't worry about it. You know her, she will probably tease you about this but she'll be excited about you two. Trust me." Penelope said with a wink as Chris nodded.
"Yeah, after she makes me suffer for stealing her eye candy." Chris said with a smile as Penelope chuckled.
"Okay give me a second to cloak this place." Penelope said to her cousin as she raised her hand only for Chris to stop her.
"Wait, wouldn't the neighbours notice if you cloak this place?" Chris asked as Penelope raised an eyebrow. "I mean, come on it's not that hard to notice a missing apartment that stood to your left or right for years."
"Oh, those know the location of this place, will be aware of it, they can see and all, but they won't able to enter your flat until you invite them in." Penelope said as Chris nodded.
"Then Cloak away." Chris said as Penelope closed her eyes, placing her right hand on Chris' chest – Pink light emanated from her hand, which soon engulfed Chris and the rest of the apartment like a blanket of velvet sheet and faded away into nothing.
"There you go." Penelope said with a smile. "I better get back but if you want anything call me, since neither David nor Prue can Orb at the moment."
"Damn, how I wish I can be there to make fun of this moment." Chris said with a regretful tone, while Penelope shook her head with a smile.
"You be good now." Penelope said with a wink, as Chris nodded.
"You too." Chris said to his cousin as she nodded.
"Ooooh god, I'm so excited!" Penelope squealed all of the sudden, grabbing Chris in a bone crushing hug. "Catch you later." With that she hearted out, leaving Chris to exhale a deep breath in relief.
"Phew." Chris mumbled under his breath as he made his way back to the room, to take a quick peek – where he found Wyatt still sleeping away like a baby, with his upper body exposed while the white linen clung on cover the rest of his body, from his torso downwards. A grin forming in his face, Chris made his way to make dinner, knowing Wyatt probably be hungry when he awakes up, and with the dinner time approaching, this is a perfect chance for him to display his culinary skills to the hot blonde.
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Fifteen minutes into his cooking was when the trouble started. It first started off as buzzing noise, like bees, which soon escalated into ghostly whispers which freaked the witch out but before he can do anything else, those whispers turned into a full blown voices and screams. Emotions of all kind attacked him from all direction that they were more painful than Wyatt's emotions.
Chris didn't know what was happening but he wanted everything in his head to stop, he felt like a human receptacle for others emotions and pain….the pain, the anger…. It was so intense, he wanted to scream, kick, cry – in response to his out of control emotions, everything around him began to vibrate and hum in their place as if they were caught in a mini-earthquake.
"No….no, no, no," Chris cried crashing into the corner of the kitchen between the cupboards as emotions from the whole block filtered through his empathy power. "Stop, stop…" Chris hissed clawing his head as tears blurred his vision from pain. "Mom…." Chris groaned just as gold lights swirled around the young witch, relinquishing the pain from his head. For a second Chris looked confused and taken back as every object returned to their serene state.
Chris didn't dare move from his place, in fear of the emotions, voices and every other painful feeling attacking him again - but after several minutes of silence, except the distance traffic and the silent tick-toking from the clock's, he heard nothing – his head was silent just like the rest of the apartment.
"Okay…." Chris whispered as he listened hard before finally realising that his mom and aunts must've reversed the spell, however just to clarify the theory, he flicked his wrist in the direction of kitchen towel and at once, it exploded to spark into fire. "Nice!" Chris whispered in pleasure, right before realising that he got a set of towels on fire. Bolting to his feet, the Witchlighter threw the towel into the sink and waved his hand as the Tap opened to extinguish the flames with water.
"Okay, finish cooking, shower then wake Wyatt up." Chris mentally thought to himself, pleased to be the only one in his head, than bunch of random people.
By the time Chris finished his shower and made his way back to the room, Wyatt was already stirring from his sleep.
"Wake up sleepy head." Chris called out as he changed while Wyatt smiled, stretched and sat up against the bed headboard, watching Chris with a grin. "Come on, I've made dinner, hit the showers so we can munch."
"You cooked?" Wyatt asked taken back by surprise as Chris nodded with a prideful smile.
"Yup, I've learned it from the very best." Chris said with a nod as Wyatt arched his eyebrows for answers. "My Mom!"
"Oh…" Wyatt said with a nod, as his heart gave a small pang at the thought of his mother – the one he never got the chance to knew - he always wondered how things would've been if she was alive. Everything he learned about his mother was from his grandmother, from the things she likes to do, such as how she loves to paint, sing, bake, the smell, the scent she uses – which smells of jasmines and lavender - her favourite colours - yellow and emerald green - and everything he ever wanted to know, he found out through his grandmother but they were only information, they can never be the real thing.
"Wyatt?" Chris said sitting down by his side, at the faraway gaze. "Hey!" Chris snapped his fingers, snapping the blonde back to reality. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Wyatt nodded with a tight smile. Despite knowing that Wyatt was clearly lying, Chris pushed the topic aside.
"Come on, have a shower I've made you your favourite dish." Chris said thanking the gods that he still remembered Wyatt's favourite dish – which was seafood.
"Really?" Wyatt asked with another surprised look as Chris nodded.
"Yup, so come on, move that fine ass of yours into the shower." Chris said trying not to get an erection as he trailed Wyatt's naked body with his eyes.
"Care to join me?" Wyatt asked as Chris shook his head and opened his mouth to say no, but Wyatt lightly stretched his body – and that was the downfall.
"Okay." Chris said as Wyatt chuckled.
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Hey Guys, Thank you all so much for that lovely review, Hope You All enjoyed this Chapter…sorry took me a while to update this Chapter but I was kinda busy, so excuse me, lool – Aww look at those two, aren't they sweet. I wonder what is going to happen next… *wink, wink* - lol, Do I see a shower scene coming….maybe, maybe not. Lool – And sorry to disappoint those who believed Chris got a new power, lool – you didn't see that one coming did you? Hehehe.
As Always thanks goes to my awesome readers and Reviewers: Zephyr Hb, Revan25, FanFicsForever, GGT. Lover1, Question Mark, Drumline, Nocturnal Rose, CelticWolfster, Wesdrewlover, I-Love-Trunks1, Random, KIT, Unknown, Steven &
Wragziez - Yup Fanfiction made everyone suffer, no one could log in or review, it was rather annoying lol but now they sorted it out – fingers crossed it don't happen again. ^^)
Itachi-nii – Hopefully you enjoyed this longer chapter, hehe ^_^ and enjoyed this little romance they had going and don't worry, there is more to come. ^_^
Redzik – Hehe, hopefully the power thing is cleared up in this chapter, so basically Phoebe's empath switched places with Chris. Lucky for Wyatt eh? Lool. (^_~)
You all know what to do….I wonder what is going to happen next…..seriously I don't know since I need motivation to write it down, lol, so send those to motivate me…