Chapter Text
At Smiling Friends, Mr. Boss didn’t offer the greatest health insurance. He loved his boys, of course; it wasn’t for lack of caring, but it hadn’t occurred to him and he frankly couldn’t be bothered with the paperwork. It wasn’t even offered at all until Allan asked in his interview, and Allan had done most of the legwork to secure it. Pim was grateful; being an immigrant, he didn’t qualify for a lot of affordable plans, and Alan just wanted something before he was kicked off of his parents’ insurance. Glep’s opinion seemed.. nebulous.
All that to say, it wasn’t enough for Charlie and his health issues. Under Mr. Frog’s regime, the state of Pennsylvania had a surprisingly robust public healthcare system, so he was able to take a solid week off of work to get some scar tissue fixed in his nasal cavity (thanks, James!) without worrying too much about the cost. When he did get back to work, however, there was a bit of a pit in his stomach that he couldn’t quite identify.
During his recovery, Charlie had missed some texts from Pim. He didn’t mean to not respond, but he was exhausted and doped up on painkillers, and it just slipped his mind. As he entered the office, a little earlier than normal so he would have a chance to check his emails, he was relieved that Allan was the only one there.
“Hey Charlie. How’s your no-suh?” Allan asked, leaned against the counter in the break room with a mug of coffee in his hand.
“Hey Allan.” Charlie responded, taking a seat at the table and opening his laptop. “A lot better man, a lot better. It’s still kinda sore and stuff but I mean, it was surgery, that’s to be expected.” He shrugged. “How’s it been here?”
“We’ve been fine. I’m sure Pim will be pleeeased to have you back.” Allan said flatly as he sipped his coffee. “And I am happy to stop going on jobs.” Customer service was not his forte.
“Yeah, for sure, for sure… man, you know, I’m looking forward to seeing him and all, but like, he’s so touchy.” Charlie hummed, typing in his password and sighing. “I really don’t mind it but like, I’ve been gone a whole week and I kinda ignored everybody and just slept, so I just don’t have it in me to get tackled today.”
“I don’t blame you.” Allan said dryly, looking over when the break room door opened.
“Good morning Allan!” Pim said cheerfully, the room seeming to brighten slightly as he walked in. Or maybe that was just him flicking on the second overhead light so he could actually see. “And Charlie~! Welcome back! Are you feeling any better?”
Charlie braced for impact- a hug, a kiss, squeezing his arm, anything- but it never came. He watched Pim simply take his own seat at the break room table, take out his laptop, and pause to look at Charlie expectantly for an answer.
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m doing a lot better. I can actually like, breathe and stuff. Sorry about not getting back to you, painkillers make me really sleepy, I was in bed like all week and by the time I realized, I thought it was too late and it might be awkward or something like that, I don’t know…” Charlie gulped nervously, looking at his keyboard to avoid both Pim’s eyes and Allan’s gaze, the latter of whom he had a feeling was enjoying this.
“It’s fine Charlie, I don’t mind,” Pim smiled, seeming blissfully ignorant to Charlie’s anxiety. “I figured you were resting. You had surgery after all, that would wear anybody out.” He typed away for a moment, before glancing down at the table. “Oh, I forgot my mouse… maybe there’s another in the supply cupboard, I’ll be right back.”
As Pim excused himself, Charlie looked entirely dumbfounded. Allan peered over his coffee cup, at least having the decency to wait until Pim had left the room. “I thought you said he–”
“Shut up, shut the fuck up,” Charlie said urgently, staring for a moment out the door Pim left through, before looking at Allan. “What the hell was that? Has he been like that all week??”
“I don’t know…” Allan blinked. “He’s been normal with me. He seems fine.”
“No, no no, something is definitely up. He’s like, pissed at me or something, I can tell.”
“I suppose you would know better…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pim came back and the day carried on as usual. Mr. Boss gave them a fairly simple job for the day; or it should have been, as always. Helping a group of Amish folks whose buggies had begun mysteriously falling apart should have been a quaint and cheerful hunt for termites or pests; it was not. Turns out Bliblies had smaller, wood-eating counterparts in the rural parts of the state called Biblies. They were pious and god-fearing like their brethren, but had tiny beards and hats, and could largely only be handled with fire.
While their clients held disdain for Charlie’s phone and the company’s shitbox car, they did indeed succeed in making the townsfolk smile and received a fair bounty of snacks for the long journey home. Sourdough, jams, candies, pickles, and a hearty “thank you very much, please don’t come back”.
“Nice of them to send us off with food,” Pim said cheerfully, getting behind the wheel for his turn to drive once they were finished. He and Charlie had matching ash stains on their clothing, and the late afternoon sun was behind them as he started driving. “Maybe we can have some sandwiches when we get back to the office!”
“Uh, yeah probably, that sounds good,” Charlie agreed, crunching on a piece of peanut brittle. He was happy to be finished for the day, but something was nagging in the back of his mind… The entire time, Pim had hardly touched him all day. Not when they were running away from violent, fuzzy little micro-pests, not when Pim pointed out various quaint sights around them, not even when he’d given Charlie praise for finding matches and kerosene. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask… are you like, mad at me or anything?”
“What? What would give you that idea?” Pim asked, genuinely caught off guard and glancing over at Charlie.
He didn’t say no, and that made Charlie even more nervous. “I-it’s stupid..” he gulped, turning his head to stare out the window, tracing the cornfields that passed by. “Since I got back, I uh…” What was that article he read? Something something, using ‘I statements’ make you sound like less of a jackass? “I feel like you’re… I dunno, acting different? Kinda distant?”
“Distant?” Pim furrowed his brow in confusion. “We’ve been talking all day, what are you talking about?”
“No, no I mean…” Oh god, he had to spell it out, didn’t he? Poor avoidant Charlie had to be forthcoming with his feelings. “You’re normally just like, really touchy. Which is fine, whatever, I don’t like, hate it or anything, but you haven’t really touched me all day and that’s just not like you so I just wanna make sure we’re cool.” Charlie kept his eyes fixed out the window, his left hand pawing at his crucifix necklace nervously.
The car swerved over to the side of the road, and Charlie’s attention was pulled away from the cornfields. Pim still hadn’t said anything, so his heart slammed away in his chest and his anxiety spiked as he forced his head towards the driver’s seat. “What the hell, why are we stopped?”
Before he spoke, Pim unbuckled his seatbelt and moved across the center console, wrapping his arms around Charlie’s neck to hug him. It was a weird angle and his knee was against the side of the console, but he missed the affection himself. “I didn’t mean to make you feel neglected, Charlie,” he said gently, feeling the larger yellow man relax under him. “You’re recovering, I just thought you’d want space to heal more! That’s all.”
Charlie’s face went dark with an orangey-red flush, and his heart pounded harder. Still… the anxiety melted and he felt his brain quiet down as Pim snuggled up against his neck. Goddamn, was he really that touch-starved? “I-it’s fine, man. I just wanted to check…”
Despite playing it cool, Charlie held on to Pim’s waist. It was a long, quiet, comfortable moment of their shared breathing, the only other sound being the breeze that blew the corn beside the car. The yellow man’s heart leapt anxiously as he felt Pim’s hand move down… into his hoodie pocket. Stealing a piece of peanut brittle before he got settled back into the driver’s side.
“So! Do you feel better?” Pim asked with a playfully triumphant grin, popping his prize into his mouth.
Charlie, still red in the face, couldn’t help the laugh that fell from his mouth as Pim buckled up and got back onto the road. “Yeah... I’m doing a lot better.”