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It was 4:30 A.M. and Guiteau hadn’t fallen asleep after waking up around 2 hours ago. Nightmares refused to escape his mind and rampant thoughts refused to silence themselves. Everyone else in the carnival had probably gone to sleep hours ago, but every hope of falling back asleep was beginning to seem fruitless. He left his tent in search of a distraction, hoping that Moore was awake early.
At first glance, it appears as though there is nobody else outside, which really should not have been surprising considering the hour. At second glance, Charles notices that Zangara is not far from him on a set of bleachers, looking up at the sky. ‘That’s weird,’ He thought, before approaching the Italian.
Not noticing the presence until Charlie drew near, Zangara turned to see Guiteau; a man he, along with others, usually found draining. He didn’t really know how long Charlie had been standing there watching him. Charlie gave Zangara a little wave, to which Zangara replied with a sigh.
“You should be asleep, no? What are you doing watching me, Guiteau?”
Charles smiles at this. A conversation! How exciting. A good distraction to his so far
awful night has been provided, and God knows he was going to use it! (Also the slim chance of a friend!) “I’m just wondering,” Charlie began, taking a few steps closer “Why are you staring at the sky? Alone? It’s 4:30 A.M.”
Zangara stared at Charlie for a few seconds, taking note of the way his question was
very quickly dismissed, in favor of a stupider question. The man rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Well, If you must know, I’m stargazing.”
Guiteau never understood stargazing. What was it for? You just stare at the sky? He was never concerned with little things like that. He always had… Bigger plans. Charlie thought for a second, before speaking up once more. “What’s the point in that?”
More questions. Zangara was expecting this, there was seemingly no end to Guiteau’s infinite thought process. Though, this question did catch him a little bit off-guard. Had he really never been stargazing? Not even on such an important occasion as this?
…It couldn’t hurt to show the man a bit of the concept.
“I can… Show you?” He suggested, and immediately, he watched the man’s eyes light up. It was endearing to see how quickly the other had become interested in the activity, now that he was invited. Charlie walked over, excitedly, slightly bouncing with each step. The Italian could’ve sworn he saw just a bit of a pinkish tint covering the other’s cheeks and the tips of his ears.
Zangara had expected some sort of comment or question from the other, but he was instead met with an excited but curious gaze. For a moment, Zangara didn’t look away. It was only until a few moments later, when Charlie tilted his head with sort of a laugh, that he blushed and immediately turned his gaze to the sky.
“You can see maybe one or two planets, aside from the Moon, from Earth at night.” He began to explain, and whilst Zangara watched the sky, Charlie watched Zangara. “But tonight,” He said, “Tonight is special. Right now, there are five planets you can see. Bright planets. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.”
Charlie listened very intently. He turned his gaze to the sky, but couldn’t see much other than white dots. His confusion did not go unnoticed. Zangara laughed and shook his head. “I’ll show you.”
Zangara took the other’s hand and lifted it to point at the sky. He explained the order the planets were in, and helped Charlie follow along. But when he eventually put Charlie’s hand down, he noticed that the other’s hand didn’t move, and he chose not to comment on that.
As the rambling dragged on, there were pauses in which the silence between the two was enjoyed, before the Italian had found a new thing to say about stars, or planets. But as the night dragged on, he became a little more tired with each fact, and to his surprise, he had found that he began to lean on the other.
At first, his mind immediately began to look for excuses. He was only tired! It’s not that he trusted Charlie, or felt significantly safer around him. No, that's not the case. It wasn’t. Even if he was blushing.
Charlie was completely unaware of Zangara being reluctant to show any sort of affection. So he put an arm around the other’s shoulders, completely oblivious to the way Zangara became so flustered.
Soon enough, the Italian just seemed to relax. He leaned into the embrace. He could’ve sworn that Charlie had pulled him closer, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be bothered about that. Maybe the concept of trusting Charlie isn’t so bad.
And with that thought, he fell asleep.
It took Charlie less than 5 minutes to notice this. By now the time was around 5:30 A.M, and he knew that around 7 A.M, the first one up would probably be Booth to fulfill his pretentious act of being the most put-together person in the carnival, and he was sure that Booth was the last person Zangara would want to find him like this. And while Guiteau himself wouldn’t mind, he knew the latter would.
So, Charlie gently shook his shoulder until he woke up. Confusedly, Zangara sat up with Charlie’s arm still around his shoulders. He looked over to Charlie, who smiled, nervously.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to embarrass you.” He explained, blushing, and Zangara’s expression softened. Charlie was sweeter than he thought. He stared at Charles for a moment, before looking away, at a random spot on the ground.
“I think-” He began, looking over to his tent “I think I should go to bed.” He said, standing up once Charlie had pulled his arm back. “Goodnight.”
Zangara walked down the bleachers, and began to walk back to his tent.
Charlie was a better listener than he expected. He was also more considerate than he thought. He didn’t exactly know what about Charlie made him feel safe, let alone trust him.
But he did. And he wished he could explain that.
Turning around, he noticed Charlie was still standing there. He gave the Italian a small wave and a smile, and for a second, Zangara paused.
And prayed nobody was looking when he quickly walked back over and gave Charlie a hug.
Charlie was a little surprised, but he hugged back, with a smile. He heard Zangara mutter something along the lines of “Thank you, or whatever..” and Guiteau laughed.
“It was nice to listen.”