Chapter Text
“Charles, I’m in love with you.”
For a moment, Charles thought he misheard Edwin. Somehow. But no… he, he really just said he loved Charles, didn’t he? It didn’t quite make sense in his mind—love? Him? Charles Rowland? Broken, angry, restless Charles Rowland?
He placed a hand on Edwin’s forehead. “Must be running a fever or something,” he muttered out. But Edwin didn’t feel particularly hot.
He was equal parts perplexed and annoyed at the gesture. “I’m being quite serious in case that wasn’t obvious.”
“I—uh…” Charles felt tongue-tied, quickly snatching his hand back. He felt incredibly dumb in retrospect. “S-sorry. I just—”
Edwin deflated. “You don’t have to feel the same way,” he closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled, “I just… needed you to know.” He started to move his head to be staring at the ceiling once more before Charles interjected, reflexively cupping a side of Edwin’s head to redirect his gaze once more to Charles.
“Wait, Edwin, I—” Charles was frustrated at himself, at his inability to sort out the mess in his mind and heart. His inability to articulate how he felt about Edwin (as if he even understood exactly what that was).
He was struck at the realization of how close their two faces were. If Charles wasn’t paralyzed by his own thoughts and just went for it, he’d only need to move his head only very slightly to be kissing Edwin. His gaze flicked down to Edwin’s lips for a tick before shooting back up, as if he was caught doing something naughty.
Charles opened his mouth in an attempt to give another go at a response: whether that was in the form of words or snogging, he still had no idea.
Though as Charles’s timing would have it, a series of loud knocks broke the intimate seclusion that had fallen over them. A bubble bursting, sending him careening back to reality.
“That must be Crystal,” Edwin said in a daze.
“Uh… yeah.” Charles still didn’t move from his position.
“I swear to god Charles, you better open this door right fucking now,” a grumpy Crystal called out from the other side.
With that verbal kick in the arse, Charles scrambled to the door, throwing it open to let her in. She looked utterly exhausted but seemed to perk up when she caught sight of Charles. Crushing him in a hug, she spoke with some measure of relief, “I’m so glad you two are alright.” She pulled out from the embrace, still keeping a grasp on Charles’s arms but peaking around to look at Edwin, “You are alright, right?”
“I doubt I will be running a marathon anytime soon,” Edwin remarked, “but I believe Charles’s medical prowess will ensure my hasty recovery.”
“Well… that’s… good, I think.” Crystal crossed the threshold of her apartment, closing the door and locking it behind her.
“Are we out of the woods yet?” Charles questioned, partially concerned.
“Both literally and metaphorically, yes,” she sighed. She lightly rested her forehead against the door, “at least for the moment.”
“For the moment?” Edwin chimed in, skeptically.
Crystal twirled around to face the duo. “Until I have to deal with the fallout from my parents,” she grimaced, scrubbing a hand across her face. “Now that they know where I am.”
“You didn’t have to—”
“Stop, Charles,” she raised a hand to him, “If it wasn’t this, it would’ve been another thing. I’d rather my reunion be for something, as opposed to my shit luck just catching up with me.”
Crystal walked over to her small kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. Leaning against the countertop, she continued, her voice more serious, “And I can’t think of any greater reason than not letting fucking David of all people get the last laugh.”
Something about his name being said sent a creeping feeling up Charles’s spine and a sick feeling in his stomach. He hated that he didn’t hate the fact that David was gone. That he was the one who did it. That he would probably get away with it.
It reminded him of his dad, and he hated that worst of all.
“You are a psychic,” Edwin commented dryly, “and yet you didn’t foresee David’s intentions?”
It sounded like an insult, but Edwin said it with such objectiveness that it lessened the blow… at least a tiny bit. Charles was about to remind him about not being so blunt with people when Crystal responded anyway.
“Oh, I knew,” she groaned out, “I just didn’t care.”
At the mixed reactions coming from Charles and Edwin, she elaborated (with partially gritted teeth), “I told you I wasn’t a good person before ending up here. Also didn’t help that he was an incubus.”
Edwin merely hummed in understanding. Charles moved his head back and forth between the two of them. “Okay for those of us in the apartment that are not read up on all things supernatural, what the bloody hell is an incubus?”
“A demon, Charles,” Edwin responded while monitoring Crystal, who was purposefully drinking her glass of water to avoid talking. “While common knowledge portrays an incubus as a male demon who merely sexually preys on women, my research seemed to describe them more accurately as male demons who feed on the romantic attention and obsession of women, rather than something purely physical.”
“Bingo,” Crystal added, frowning, “and when David found out I was psychic… he just made it harder to leave. He had fed on my energy and powers so much that I didn’t realize what he was until it was almost too late.”
“That sounds incredibly foolish, Crystal.”
“I thought it was love!” she snapped back at Edwin’s judgement, “I knew he was a demon but… I didn’t know he would be like this.”
“Yet you still wished to have relations with a demon—"
“Oi! Let’s all just relax, okay?” Charles interjected to mediate, “Been a long day. And we’ve all done stupid shit, haven’t we? So, let’s just”—he did an exaggerated inhale and exhale—“take a deep cleansing breath and calm down.”
They both followed suit with the meditative exercise.
“I am sorry Crystal,” Edwin conceded after a terse moment of silence, “I understand how difficult it is to be saddled with something you desperately want to be rid of but are unable to do anything about.”
“Yeah, well, thanks to you two… he’s finally gone, and I have my full powers back. So… thanks for that.”
“See, aces all around,” Charles added with a sickeningly cheerful intonation to keep spirits up, “Should be enough time, Edwin. Let me see if the bleeding has stopped yet.” He moved to wash his hands and put on another set of disposable gloves.
“Yes,” Edwin said, resigned yet with some glimmer of relief, “and perhaps we can then go back to our room.”
Charles murmured as he unraveled the bandage and gauze, “Sorry to say, mate, but I think we might be crashing at Crystal’s for a few days—” he pivoted to Crystal, “if that’s cool with you, course. Don’t mean to impose or nothin’.”
“No, yeah,” she agreed, “we should all stay low key for a few days. Luckily you two are on holiday break so…”
“Marvelous…” Edwin groaned out, letting his head dip over the edge of the armrest.
“It’ll be like a big sleepover, won’t it?” Charles grinned as he continued the task at hand.
“Charles, we’ve slept together every night for the past several months—”
“W-word choice, mate!” Charles sputtered, his cheeks heating up, He shot a glance towards Crystal who had a sly smirk but no other major reaction. “We sleep in the same room, not the same bed.” He felt the need to clarify to Crystal… or himself.
“Yes, fine, whatever,” Edwin relented, “I am too exhausted to think about the particular discrepancies of our living arrangement…”
“And yet you are awake enough to use the phrase ‘discrepancies of our living arrangement,’” Crystal commented under her breath, heading to a series of nearby closets to fetch bedding for the two boys and simultaneously avoid Edwin’s vocal ire.
“Good news or bad news first?” Charles offered as he finished examining the injuries.
“Might as well the bad news first,” Edwin grumbled, still positioned such that Charles could only really see Edwin’s Adam’s Apple bob as he talked and nostrils flare with his irritation.
“Was kinda hopin’ you would pick the good news first…” Charles trailed off, innocently.
Edwin finally raised his head up to shoot an incredulous look at his friend. “Then why offer me the choice?!—Fine, good news first.”
“Looks like the bleeding has stopped on your gashes.”
“The bad news?”
“Gonna have to stitch one of them up,” Charles apologetically offered, “buuuuuut the others just seem to need only butterfly bandages!”
“…Wasn’t that another piece of good news?” Edwin questioned.
“Well, yeah,” Charles shrugged, feeling a bit cheeky, “kinda just… sandwiched the bad news with two pieces of good news, didn’t I? Pretty brills, really.”
“I am starting to think you don’t understand the concept of asking someone good news or bad news…”
“Holy shit, you two are ridiculous,” Crystal chuckled out with her arms full of pillows and blankets. She proceeded to dump them unceremoniously on the floor.
Seemingly ignoring their two comments, Charles pondered, “You think Jenny would have better suturing material?”
“Fuck me…” Edwin bemoaned.
It was going to be a long day.