Chapter Text
Charlie looked out the window of the train as it powered through the London suburbs. The city looked grey and dim in the dull February light, at odds with the optimism he had inside. He hated interviews, but he had a good feeling about this one. He’d been able to articulate his suitability without too much hesitation. This job could be perfect for him, but more to the point, it would be something relevant to his research to do once his current job ended next month. He was ready to stop working contract to contract, but he supposed it was the life of a recently qualified academic. He was thankful he had a supportive husband with a steady income, in general, but also to prevent the anxiety taking hold.
BookBoy
Are you home this evening?
I have something I want to run past you and Elle
DrNelspring
Elle’s in town?
Yeah, you want to come for dinner?
Nick’s making his cottage pie
BookBoy
Her and Tao are down for an anniversary or something of Yans tomorrow.
And Yes I’ll come if Nick’s in the kitchen.
DrNelspring
What’s that supposed to mean?
I cook
BookBoy
But you don’t bake.
Tell Nick I like that orange and chocolate thing he made at movie night a couple of months back. :-D
See you around 6?
DrNelspring
Yeah.
DrNelspring
I hear you are in town tonight?
Isaac mentioned it. He wants to talk to us about something
MarvElleous
We are.
He’s invited us to yours.
DrNelspring
Nice of him.
Are you coming for dinner?
Isaac is, and is angling for Nick’s Jaffa self-saucing pudding
TheTaoXu
I will come and eat Jaffa pudding
MarvElleous
I
guess we’re coming to dinner. Time?
DrNelspring
Isaac is coming about 6.
Gay Nerd
Isaac, Elle, and Tao are coming to dinner.
Isaac has requested your Jaffa pudding.
X
Rugby Lad
I put my phone aside for one class and suddenly we’re hosting a dinner party?
Can you stop by the supermarket on the way back from the station?
We’re out of flour after Fleur wanted play dough last weekend
Gay Nerd
Isaac wants to talk to me and Elle about something. He didn’t say what
Send me a list.
X
Rugby Lad
I want to hear all about the interview.
Gotta go. I have another class.
Be ready to tell me all about it later
🔗 Shopping List
X
“Hello!” Isaac let himself in the front door.
“We’re in the living room.” Charlie called back. Isaac appeared a moment later, hugging Charlie, greeting Tao and Elle, before ducking into the kitchen.
“Oooo, is that the orangey chocolate thing?” Isaac peeked over Nick’s shoulder.
“As requested.” Nick finished pouring the batter into the baking dish and set it on top of the oven. “It won’t be ready for a bit. The cottage pie needs to come out of the oven before it can go in. Drink?”
Isaac nodded and accepted a glass of wine from Nick, then followed him through to the living room.
“...he apparently hid the ring in the sorbet. She nearly ate it!” Charlie was giggling as he relayed his story.
“Who did what now?” Isaac asked.
“Is this Imogen?” Nick picked up the thread of the conversation. “Felix proposed. Full on gourmet beach picnic proposal, to hear Immy tell the story.”
“It sounds like it, and in the middle of winter too! What was he thinking? Was he taking inspiration from romance novels?” Elle asked.
“She said yes, I take it?” Isaac angled for clarification.
“Yeah. The wedding will be in the summer during the school holidays.” Imogen taught at the local C of E primary, and Felix, the new fiance, taught at the Prep school across town. They had met on a professional development course a bit over a year ago and rapidly fallen in love. “I think he was thinking that he wanted to propose at the beach and he didn’t want to wait.” Nick grabbed a chip from the bowl on the coffee table and ducked back out to the kitchen.
“Dinner is ready. Someone set the table.” he called back through as pulled the pie out of the oven, before pouring water over the batter he’d prepared, stuffing it in the oven and setting the timer as the others shuffled through the kitchen and into the dining room. “Pudding will be ready in about 45 minutes. Let’s eat.”
After the table was cleared Elle, Isaac, and Charlie reconvened at the dining table. Tao had volunteered himself and Nick to do the dishes, gesturing to the two of them and stating, “We are adjacent to this discussion, but not central to it.” Charlie sat down with a teapot in one hand and a fist of mugs in the other.
Elle and Charlie looked at Isaac expectantly. “So… I have a wee confession to make, but I need to set the stage first.” He began.
“I told you guys I had that promotion a few months back, yeah?” Charlie and Elle nodded. “My new position gives me the ability to suggest stuff for publication. Properly suggest, not just ‘put-it-across-my-boss’s-desk-and-hope-they-like-it-enough-to-pass-it-on’ suggest.”
“With you so far.” Elle encouraged.
“OK. So you’re each in different parts of this story, so bear with. Charlie, remember at your graduation party how Elle was drawing with Fleur until David took her to get ready for bed, then you and Nick went up to say goodnight.”
“Yeah. She wanted us because that’s what she’s used to when she goes to sleep here, even though Phe and David were here.” Charlie elaborated.
“Phe came down with the baby monitor, I guess Pip must have been asleep already, then David came down, but we could hear you two saying goodnight.” Charlie was still trying to figure out where the story was going. “We heard you make up a bedtime story for her. We all listened in. We probably should have told you, but then you and Nick uh… took a while to come back downstairs… after she was asleep.”
Charlie couldn’t help blushing, just a little. If he wanted to make out with his very proud husband in the darkened upstairs of his own home, he had every right to do so and he would not be embarrassed but it seemed his cheeks missed the memo.
“Anyway, Elle had been drawing with Fleur and was still sitting with the paper and pencils. As you told the story she started sketching the scenes.”
“Yeah, but the papers disappeared. I couldn’t find them when I packed the pencils away.”
“Umm. That’s kind of where the confession starts.” Isaac grinned apologetically at her, then turned back to address Charlie.
“When you started telling the story I slipped my phone next to the baby monitor to record it.”
Elle and Charlie looked at Isaac a bit dumbfounded. “Nick had said how sweet the stories you made up for her were. I wanted to hear it, I didn’t know at the time everyone was going to listen to the whole thing. I figured I’d listen for my own curiosity later, then delete it.” Isaac justified.
“Anyway, he continued. “Nick was right, the story was sweet, but then I saw you drawing the scenes and had an idea. I took the pictures and turned them into a slide show with the recording, then pitched it at the last New Talent meeting for the children’s division.”
“You what?” Elle gasped.
“But it was just a silly story I made up on the spur of the moment.” Charlie tried to make sense of what he was hearing.
“I know I should have asked you both first. Sorry about that. The thing is… the team like it. They want to publish it. Charlie’s Story. With Elle’s illustrations.”
Elle and Charlie were both silent for a moment.
“You want to take pictures I drew to keep my hands busy, and a story Charlie made up to get his niece to go to sleep, print them in a book and sell them. To regular people? In shops?”
Isaac nodded.
“And we’d get paid for this?”
Isaac nodded.
“What’s the catch?” Charlie asked.
“Umm. Not really any for you, but I went behind your back to float it,… if it gets back to work I didn’t have your permission, there would be…repercussions.”
“And if we agree to be published and don’t tell them about your sneakiness?” Charlie asked, sides of his mouth turning up.
“You get money you otherwise didn’t expect and I get kudos at work. Depending on the negotiations and sales, there would be opportunities for more.”
“More? I don’t know how to write a book. I just made up a story for bedtime. It wasn’t meant to be heard by anyone other than Fleur!”
“Is that a no?” Isaac asked innocently.
“It’s a ‘Don’t push your luck’.” Elle responded dryly.
Nick joined them at the table, plonking a biscuit tin down in front of him.
“We heard bits and pieces of your conversation.” Tao said as he sat down. “Did we get this right? You took Charlie’s bedtime story and Elle’s drawings to work and they want to publish it?”
Isaac nodded again. “I brought the standard contracts for new authors and illustrators for you to look at. Technically I’m meant to represent the company's best interests, but you know I wouldn’t let them take advantage, so I also brought an amended copy of what I think you should ask for.” He got up and pulled some papers out of his bag.
“And I have the card of an agent I think would fit you. So you can negotiate properly. If you want to.” Isaac separated the large envelopes, tucked a business card into the open seal flap of each and pushed them across the table towards Elle and Charlie. “Think about it. I’ll be at my parents' place for the weekend. I’ll see myself out. Thanks for the pudding Nick.”
Nick followed Isaac out, it didn’t matter how good a friend Isaac was, guests did not see themselves out without his inner Sarah Nelson telling him off. Only Olly was able to see himself out without his mothers voice telling him to mind his manners.
“I really don’t think there’s any downside to this for Elle and Charlie. Just make sure they check the clauses about writing follow ups and make sure they’re aware of them.” Isaac said to Nick as he ducked out the front door.
Nick nodded. “I think they’re just still in shock. It’s a bit out of the blue. Take this.” He pressed a container into Isaac’s hands. “Leftover Jaffa pudding.” He smirked at the way Isaac’s eyes lit up.
“I do like Jaffa pudding. See ya.”
Nick closed the door and returned to the dining room. Tao was intently reading one of the contracts Isaac had left behind. “What’s the verdict?”
“So far so good. They will take what Isaac showed them. Elle might need to do a couple more drawings, depending on how they break up the text.” Tao didn’t even look up from his reading. “Oooo, now it’s getting interesting.”
“Hmmm?” Charlie looked up from a mockup of the book Isaac had left behind he and Elle were reading together.”
“They want to lock in rates for any subsequent books you two produce. By the wording, I don’t think Isaac has told them quite how accidentally this came about.”
Elle and Charlie looked at each other, Charlie looking a bit dazed, mouthing “More books?”, Elle looking a bit more sanguine at the prospect.
“Is that the standard contract or the one Isaac …doctored?” Nick asked.
Tao flipped back to look at the cover page, then at the other contract sitting in front of him. “The standard one.”
“As he left he said to check the clauses on follow up books. Maybe he changed it?”
Tao shoved the doctored contract at Nick. “You check. I don’t want to conflate what the two versions say.”
Nick left it on the table. “I think we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Charlie, Elle. All the nitty gritty aside. Would you like to be published?” They looked at each other thoughtfully.
“I guess I do?” Charlie responded after a very long moment. “At this point it’s basically free money, which would help with the mortgage. There’s not much in the way of further expectations for this book. For me anyway. Elle?”
“I don't mind doing a few more drawings, and frankly it could be a way into illustrating other books.” Elle pondered. I love my job, but having a back up wouldn’t go amiss. '' Elle worked as a costume designer and theatre seamstress, and as much as she did indeed love her job, it could be a bit sporadic depending on the season.
“So we’re doing it?” Charlie grinned at Elle. She nodded back grinning.
Charlie was brushing his teeth when there were arms around his waist and a head on his shoulder. “Dr. Charlie Spring, Published Author.” Nick whispered in his ear, before kissing his neck.
Charlie spat out the toothpaste before swivelling in Nick’s arms and chuckling. “You’re always so proud of me. In fact, this can be attributed to you too. If you hadn’t surprised me with the party after capping, this would never have happened.”
Nick blinked, then shook the surprise away. “Isaac would probably have heard your stories at some point. He said he’d been wanting to.” He released Charlie and reached for his own toothbrush. “We haven’t talked about your interview. How did it go?”
“Really well. I think it would be a good fit for me.” Charlie splashed water on his face and reached for a towel. “I think I’ve got a good chance too, ‘cause half the collections they want to digitise are the ones I’m already familiar with. That’s got to help my chances, right?”
Nick spat his toothpaste out. “Probably. You might even be one of the experts in the country on them. Weren’t you the first person to do academic study on those Cirencester coins for like decades?.”
“Yeah, but….it just feels weird to think that. I’m only twenty six. I don’t feel old enough to be an expert on anything.” Charlie paused. “Anyway, One day a week I would be working with the scanning team in London, the rest of the time I’d be writing and formatting the entries to send to the Digital people, so I’d be able to work from home most of the week.”
“Daisy would like that.” Nick interjected with a grin. Daisy looked up from where she was sprawled on the floor of the bedroom at the sound of her name, dropping her head back down when no treats or pats were forthcoming. “When will you hear back?”
“By the end of next week.” Charlie pulled back the covers, turned on the bedside lamp and climbed into bed. Nick turning off the room light and following him, cuddling up with his head tucked under Charlies chin his beard tickling at Charlie’s collarbone causing him to giggle. Charlie brought his hand up to idly play with Nick’s hair. Nick closed his eyes and tilted his head a little further into Charlie’s caress, his whole body relaxing and succumbing quickly to sleep.