Work Text:
Charlie has been in love with her for as long as they can remember.
They had been anticipating this moment ever since she closed her eyes for the last time in their first life. A time they had started to believe would never arrive.
Yet she’s here, right now, living and breathing. Beautiful as ever with her dark hair and deep brown eyes that one can easily get lost in. Her lips form an all-too familiar smile, like something from a long lost memory. Something stirs inside Charlie, one that they haven’t felt in several millennia.
“Hi,” she approaches Charlie, standing at the edge of their usual booth. “There’s no more other spot available, and I don’t want to squeeze in between sweaty guys and—”
“It’s all yours,” Charlie flashes her a dazzling smile, motioning towards the seat; an old thing with its red vinyl covering that was slowly peeling away which reveal its foam cushion underneath.
She settles down the booth with a relieved sigh, her back straightening and hands placed elegantly atop her lap. The pink blazer and leopard-print shirt she made her look out of place in the sea of people wearing leather and spikes.
“Thank you,” she replied, sounding genuinely grateful as she lowers her chin bashfully, her eyes firmly fixed on Charlie and giving them a small smile.
“You don’t seem to hang around these kinds of places,” Charlie states, flicking a inquisitive look briefly over to her.
Her gaze falls upon the tiny, dark stage, watching the current band playing an ear-splitting song, “My brother,” her red painted smile splitting wider. “He’s going to play tonight.”
Charlie hums at that, following her stare. “Tell me about him.”
Her eyes softens and it nearly sends Charlie back in time. The relaxed expression of Adrianna’s uncreased brows and parted mouth was engraved at the back of Charlie’s head, the memory creating an awful feeling of longing that settled deep inside them.
And yet she sits here across Charlie with the booth’s sticky table separating them. “He has a big heart. The type of person that just… lights the room up with his presence,” she intones, pale pink nails toying with the hem of her skirt.
“He sounds like a great guy,” Charlie comments before taking a swig of their rapidly warming beer.
“He really is,” She replied fondly, “I’d bet you two would get along."
“How so?”
“You just have this,” she gestures at Charlie’s jacket and fishnets, hazelnut-brown eyes comes up to meet Charlie's, “thing about you.”
“Thing ?” Charlie repeated, smirking at the woman.
She rolls her eyes with a ghost of a smile on her lips, “I get this laid-back vibe from you, like, you just seem really cool. I know this because you seem like someone I know from a long time ago.”
The world comes to an abrupt halt. The lights around them dimmed, the music faded into the background and everyone else just disappeared. Charlie doesn’t let her see it but their composure cracks open, like a dam breaking. Their insides scream for her, for the girl they lost.
Years passed and they still haven’t moved on. Adrianna. Charlie’s first love and first loss. They walked Earth, waiting for their lover to return while mourning her death. And it seems, that the universe rewarded their patience.
“I can’t put a finger on it, but I think I know you from somewhere.”
Oh, love, how I’ve missed you so much.
Charlie cracks a grin, tipping their head back with a short bark of laughter. “I guess I just have one of those faces.”