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Boxes were all strewn around Charlie’s apartment, you two were bringing in the last of them as you only had rented the moving truck for a few hours and your time was quickly running out. You and Charlie, after months and months of back-and-forth discussions, decided to bite the bullet and finally move in together. Your lease was almost up anyway, so the best decision was to move into his place by the end of the month. You both had moved the last of the boxes into the small space, crashing down on his couch as you both leaned against each other on the lumpy cushion, your chests heaving as shitty timing decided you moved in during the hottest point in summer. Your mind wandered as Charlie breathed heavily next to you, his eyes half-lidded while sweat poured down his face onto his white shirt, leaving a thick wet ring around his neck. Damn, he must really love you if he’s willing to do all this work to help move you into his place. Charlie was known for doing the bare minimum at work, home, basically anywhere so to see him go through this much effort for you made your chest fill up with butterflies, daring to make you nauseous. He really wanted you there with him and showed it to you, even if he didn’t mention it…
Your mind wandered further, thinking about the moving truck. You reached out for your phone on the coffee table, your screen reading 3;40 pm. Shit, you needed to have the moving truck back by 4, or else there would be an extra fee. Sighing, you were preparing to get up and moving only to have an out-of-breath Charlie pull you back down onto the couch with him.“Not now.” He swallowed hard as he spoke, ”Ugh- You need to rest.” You raised your brow, pointing to the window, “But the truck is-” “Those stuck-up assholes can wait, I don’t want you getting heatstroke.” He was right, you were already sweating your ass off in your shirt and sweatpants, if you went out in the sun right now, you would pass out right in the middle of the road. But there was no point in sitting there and doing nothing, you wanted to get this done before bed tonight and the boxes won't unpack themselves. Getting up off the couch, you walked over to a leaning pile of small boxes and ripped the tape off of one of them with your bare fingers.
“H- Hold on.” Using the bottom hem of his shirt, he wiped the sweat off the top of his forehead with it. “Gimme a minute and I’ll help you with that.” He’d been getting better at doing things on his own accord and not having to be asked, you took note of that. You smiled at him and turned your attention back to the contents of the boxes, small trinkets and necessities filled this one, stuff you needed Charlie’s help to find a place for. Right on cue, he walked over and pulled out things one at a time. It was stuff that was all mixed about, as you didn’t really have time to organize shit. Well, you kinda did but procrastination can be a bitch, y’know? But it got a laugh out of Charlie, which in turn made you laugh. “Babe, what is a PEPPER GRINDER doing in a box with your bathroom shit? How in the hell did you do that?” Your boyfriend laughed his ass off as you tried to explain yourself, “I was in a hurry!” “My ass, what did you do? Bring the pepper grinder into the bathroom as you were making dinner?” It was like that for most of that box as you worked on emptying another, until he got to the bottom where he pulled back the newspaper to see a degree displayed in a very nice frame.
“Oh shit, this is a master’s degree.” You were pulled from your thoughts as you looked over, seeing Charlie holding the frame, his eyes slightly wide as he looked back at you. “You didn’t tell me you went to college, let alone you graduated.” Snatching it away from him, you held the frame to your chest, “I didn’t think it was that important.” You started to sweat again, this time not from the sweltering heat. “Babe, that’s like- super impressive and important. Do you know how many people actually finish college and graduate?” Your face flushed as your chest tightened, he was making a big deal out of this when it really wasn’t. You didn’t feel like bringing it up so you didn’t! “I just figured you didn’t wanna hear about it, it’s no big deal.” You looked away from him, going back to emptying the boxes. Only problem? You couldn’t focus at all and kept picking up the same two things, staring at them as Charlie continued.
“What do you mean I ‘wouldn’t wanna hear about it’? What would make you think that, honestly?” Shit. You didn’t want to think about him ever again, but Charlie’s question really made you think. Think to the point you dug up old memories you hoped would be locked away in the void pit of your brain forever and ever. You took a breath, despite the large lump in your throat making it hard to do so, and faced him. “You remember that ex I had right before I met you?” Charlie’s expression softened as he sat down, “Yeah? What about him?” “Well, he had all these things hanging up on his wall that he proudly displayed-guitars, records, family pictures.” Your breath hitched as you continued. “Well, when I first moved in with him, he told me he… Had no room for my degree and I had to put it away. Said ‘It wasn’t that important anyways.’ So I did, haven’t hung it up since.”
Charlie’s expression turned to one of frustration, his lip slightly quivered in anger. Balling up his fists, he spoke rather loudly, “With all due respect-nah scratch that, fuck that asshole. With NO due respect, that’s bullshit!” He took the frame out of your hands and stomped over to the junk drawer of your now-shared kitchen, pulling out nails and a hammer. “Charlie, what are you…?” His knuckles were turning white from how tight he was holding the hammer, lining up a nail to the kitchen wall as he hammered one in. “I’m showing you, this is something that needs to be proudly displayed!” He hung your degree on the wall, taking a step back to look at it with you. “Does it look crooked? I-I can’t really tell.” “No, it looks fine Charlie but why did you do all that? I mean, it’s just a damn piece of paper.” Charlie pointed at you as he continued, “See? That’s why I did it, right there. If you really believe that, I’m never taking that ‘damn piece of paper’ down.” That feeling in your chest came back, not the one where it felt like your heart broke into pieces but the one where it felt like your heart was in a chokehold, in a good way of course. Charlie wrapped an arm around you as you both stared at your master’s degree. Yeah, you should feel proud, all those years of studying and tests were damn worth it right that second.
Your proud moment was short-lived however when Charlie looked at his phone and mumbled “Oh shit. We gotta get the truck back now, it’s thirty minutes overdue.”