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Charlie swallowed thickly as he watched the dark haired boy drink from a flask. He was surprised that none of the other dragon keepers had questioned who the newcomer was or where he had come from. It had been weeks now, with Zuko having no idea how he got here, much less how he was going to her he and while Charlie didn't want his new friend to think that he was a burden, he was slao starting to worry that Zuko might never get home.
"Must you stare?" Zuko asked without bothering to look around, fixing the stopper back in the flask before he tossed it aside.
At times Charlie was intrigued by the mannerisms of Zuko - he could be so formal, so standoffish and so utterly proper that Charlie hadn't even thought that he would cope living in a campsite, but then he did things like that where he cast things aside so carelessly or he would say something that made Charlie wonder if he hadn't had to live rough before. Not that this was really living rough when they had all their food delivered and their tents had actual beds - he'd seen how muggles camped and he got a sore back just thinking about lying on the ground with nothing but a thin piece of material. He was certainly spoilt as a wizard, there was no doubt about that.
"I'm not staring." Charlie defended himself, coughing to clear his throat as he straightened up, hoping that he wouldn't look as awkward as he felt in that moment. He had been staring, after all and he had a feeling that Zuko didn't believe him when he said that he hadn't been.Zuko gave a grunt, one that Charlie was going to translate as "fine" but could in actuality mean a number of different things. Charlie made a point of looking away, of turning his attention to his own flask and meal. He hadn't intended to make Zuko feel uncomfortable, he just found him intriguing. Charlie had met many fascinating people in his time at the dragon reserve, not to mention those he had met through his father's job, but he still had never met someone like Zuko.
"Is it my scar?" Zuko asked slowly and Charlie could hear the slight tone of hurt that the boy was no doubt trying to keep out of his voice. He wasn't one to show his emotions much, which Charlie respected. They were still strangers despite how mong they had spent here together.
"No." Charlie said honestly. Scars weren't really all that big a deal to him. He'd seen much worse than the one that Zuko sported, but he had a feeling that this particular one hadn't been caused by a dragon and for that his heart ached for the boy. The circumstances around a scar that big couldn't be happy ones. "I wasn't staring, I was just watching." He tried to explain, hoping that he wouldn't sound too much like a creep. He knew that he wouldn't have particularly liked it if someone was watching him after all.
"Right." Zuko muttered and Charlie knew that he didn't believe him. With a soft sigh he stood and moved to.sit closer to Zuko, hoping to somehow reassure him that it was nothing to do with the scar that covered the left side of his face.
"Right." Charlie said softly, his hand gently squeezing Zuko's shoulder before he dropped his hands back to his lap. He decided just to be straight with Zuko, it was the only way that he could think of that might help to ease his newfound friend's anxieties. "Listen - you fascinate me. I don't know where you came from or how you got here, and neither do you. And I like you."
Zuko blinked a couple of times, his head turning towards Charlie as if he were trying to figure him out, though that wasn't at all an easy task. Charlie was similar to Zuko in that he tried to keep his emotions close to his chest. He didn't want to bare his soul to just anyone and risk getting hurt. He trusted Zuko, however, even though they hadn't known each other all that long and he didn't even know if Zuko was going to be here all that long.
"Pardon?" Zuko asked when Charlie didn't take the hint and elaborate on what he had meant but Charlie was still trying to straighten out his thoughts. He hadn't realised that he had feelings for Zuko until he had voiced it out loud - it was funny how the mind worked, wasn't it?
"I like you, that's why I was watching you. There's something about you that draws me in, that makes me want to know more about you. I..." Charlie began slowly, chewing on his lip slightly as he realised just how intense this was for him to even consider, let alone talk about before he truly even understood what was going on on himself. He also knew that this was a big deal for him, he knew that he had never had feelings for anyone before, that he had ever liked anyone this way before and while he didn't want to pile the pressure on Zuko by confessing this, he knew that he still had to make sure that he was heard in this moment.
Zuko stared at him for what Charlie felt was a moment too long but he tried to keep his breathing even as he let his words process in Zuko's mind. He didn't even know if men liked other men where Zuko came from - and after a couple of letters back and forth with Hermione, Charlie was starting to suspect that the stranger wasn't from this universe.
"Oh," was all that Zuko said when he finally spoke and Charlie tried to ignore the pang in his chest when his confession wasn't immediately met with a confession of Zuko's own. He was very aware that he couldn't force how he felt upon anyone; he knew that from experience more than anything. There were plenty of girls - and some boys - who had sought after Charlie during his Hogwarts days and even know some of those who had tried to catch his eye had in fact been friends of his, he hadn't been able to make himself fall for them.
He guessed that the answer to that was not to force himself to have feelings for anyone and to just let them happen naturally; that did seem like the obvious answer now that he was sat here developing feelings for someone that he had never expected to have feelings for.He gave a slight nod and forced a smile onto his face before he scooted away from Zuko. He was all too aware that he had now made this situation awkward, that Zuko literally had nowhere else to go, that he needed to stay here with Charlie because they still hadn't managed to figure out how to send him home, but he knew that it would have been just as awkward - or maybe even more so - if he had kept quiet and continued to allow this to build then it would no doubt have created an atmosphere between them.
Zuko grabbed his wrist before Charlie had the chance to turn away from him. "That wasn't code for 'I don't like you'." He said softly as he touched a hand to Charlie's chin and gently turned his head to meet his eyes. Charlie hadn't realised just how deep into the soul those eyes could see until their eyes were locked. "It was code for 'no-one's ever told me that before'."
Charlie found that hard to believe - Zuko was beautiful after all with his midnight black hair and golden eyes. Charlie knew that he had never seen this combination on a person before, and he doubted that he would ever see such a combination again. He figured that it might not have been as rare a combination wherever Zuko was from, but not everyone could have those cheekbones, no-one else could have those shoulders.
"Well that's lucky for me there." He said soflty as he allowed for a smile to play across his lips. He wouldn't deny that he was glad that he didn't have to share Zuko with anyone, not even his coworkers currently as some where home visiting their families and others were on shift. It was just Charlie and Zuko at the base, meaning that they could lounge around all afternoon and enjoy each other's company, and that was really all that Charlie wanted to do.
He hadn't expected anything to happen when he confessed his feelings, but that was probably the best way to be, to have no expectations and to allow for the world to pass him by and for life to take him on whatever journey it needed to. He was there for the ride, he had always been there for the ride and that wasn't going to change any time soon.
He could just hope that Zuko was along for the ride as well and that he wasn't going to have to endure whatever this was, whatever this crush meant for him, for them, alone. He wasn't used to feeling this way, and if what Zuko said was true then Zuko wasn't used to having anyone feel like this about him, but that didn't mean that it had to be scary, that didn't mean that it had to be bad. They could experience this together - at least until Charlie figured out how to send Zuko home.