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In life, Edwin had never allowed himself much time for relaxation. There was always something new to learn or something productive that could be done. If Edwin wasn’t sleeping, he was trying to accomplish something.
In Hell, and later as a ghost, sleep was unnecessary, so even that respite was sacrificed to the altar of productivity. Busy was good. Busy meant there was less time to dwell on all the things that had happened to Edwin in Hell, or even before. It meant less time dwelling on the moral and spiritual repercussions of his existence as a ghost. It meant less time dwelling on all the horrific things he had seen over the years.
Charles, on the other hand, was a proud believer in the power of a break. It had been a source of tension early on in the agency’s history. Charles would attempt to get Edwin to relax and just exist for a while and Edwin would grow impatient and testy at Charles’ seeming inability to keep at a thing until it was done.
Eventually, they settled into a compromise. Relaxation activities were alright if they were also learning opportunities. Cluedo sharpened detective skills, dancing honed the reflexes, exposing Edwin to more modern music meant that he was prepared when they encountered its like on a case.
Crystal’s addition to the agency completely upended that precarious balance. She produced studies from her internet that showed, in scientific terms, that breaks actually enhanced the brain’s ability to function.
Edwin tried to argue that these studies only included living people, but he was quickly overruled. Movie nights and “rest breaks” (“because even if you can’t sleep, you should get to chill out for a bit”) became mandatory for all detectives. Edwin did not approve.
More than once, Charles caught him reading arcane books when he was supposedly resting his mind.
“Come on, mate, just give it a go. Ten minutes. What’s the harm?”
The harm was that Edwin felt like every moment he sat alone with his own thoughts was an hour. Every minute he spent just sitting filled him with the same anxiety he felt in hell, trying to be silent, trying not to attract the monsters’ notice.
Then something changed. Then Charles began kissing him. The first kiss had been in the heated relief-filled aftermath of a case where Edwin had narrowly evaded being trapped by an angry and powerful wizard. They’d successfully sealed the man’s power and Edwin was feeling fairly pleased, knowing they could now pass him off to the people in London who dealt with off-their-rocker wizards. But Charles interrupted Edwin saying so by grabbing his lapels and smashing their lips together.
It was perhaps not the most elegant first kiss, but Edwin had felt like he was flying. And the subsequent ones… those had been even better.
And once Charles started kissing Edwin, he seemed uninclined to stop—not that Edwin was complaining.
Charles kissed him on rooftops and on couches, in rainstorms and on bright, sunny days. Edwin found it very difficult to predict when Charles would choose to kiss him, but his research was somewhat hindered by the fact that Edwin’s brain turned to mush every time Charles’ tongue got involved in the proceedings.
So perhaps he could be excused for not noticing that he’d been more or less tricked into extra relaxation time. Charles had all but laid on top of Edwin as they both splayed out over the chaise lounge in their office. Charles’ mouth was rich and warm and there was nothing in the world that felt as good as this— Charles kissing him.
Charles also seemed to enjoy paying particular attention to Edwin’s neck, with licks and kisses and feather-soft brushes of teeth that made Edwin gasp. Then one night, Charles checked his watch, which somewhat ruined the effect.
“That’s thirty minutes, you know,” Charles said with a winning grin that was almost enough to distract Edwin, but not quite.
“I wasn’t aware we were being timed,” Edwin said dryly, trying to work up to being truly annoyed at the implication rather than mildly peeved that the kissing had paused.
“You’ve been relaxing for half an hour and the world hasn’t come crashing down around our ears,” Charles continued.
Ah, so that’s what this was about.
Edwin sighed and let his head thump back against the couch arm.
“It’s not the relaxing I object to,” Edwin said, staring at the ceiling.
It looked like there might be water damage up there. They ought to take a look sometime. Not now. Now he was pinned under Charles’ warm weight and there was very little that would incentivise Edwin to move.
“I just— if I don’t keep my mind busy, it— it sends me places I do not wish to revisit,” Edwin attempted to explain.
Charles made a little wounded noise.
“Like hell,” he supplied.
“Yes,” Edwin admitted, “And no. St. Hilarion's was difficult for me as well, and my family home holds as many bad memories for me as good.”
Charles nuzzled his face up under Edwin’s jaw and laid a light kiss there.
“I wish I could just fix it for you,” he murmured. “Take away the pain and the hurt.”
“In a way, you do,” Edwin explained, adjusting their positions so they could look each other in the eye again. “When we’re out on cases, when we’re busy with helping people, or when we’re… being intimate—”
Charles laughed, “You mean kissing?”
“Yes that,” Edwin agreed even as he felt the flush rising. “All that is distracting. It’s interesting and exciting enough that my thoughts stay here, in the present time and circumstances. They don’t have the opportunity to wander back.”
“I’m fairly certain Crystal would say that’s unhealthy,” Charles pointed out. “But I also get it. I mean, I kind of do the same thing. But I— I like kissing you for other reasons, not just to get out of my own head.”
“As do I,” Edwin agreed easily, allowing one hand to come up and cradle the back of Charles’ skull.
“Also, just a suggestion, maybe just say we’re kissing if anyone else asks,” Charles said with a broad grin. “Being intimate kind of… implies some other stuff that might make you more uncomfortable…”
Between the subsequent explanation and the kisses required to convince Edwin that he wasn’t about to spontaneously combust, their relaxing time easily stretched out until morning.