Work Text:
-Two of hearts
Two hearts that beat as one
Two of hearts
I need you, I need you..-
It was a relatively humid morning back in the spring of 1985. I know Hurricane was known for its odd weather but nonetheless. The street’s were pretty quiet like usual
I remember being at Freddy’s, Pops made me come because somebody had to watch over Annabelle. As much as I love my sister, she sure is a handful. Probably cause she now has a new favorite word which I’m pretty sure Theodore taught her. I think it was like 7:00am when we got to the building. Annabelle was already bouncing around and I was holding her by her collar to keep her from running too far away. Ever since the incident with Mikey, I promised to keep my eye on younger kids so they won’t get hurt around here.
After we got our wristbands on, I sat down at a table near the stage where the animtronic’s usually performed. I started to play with the wristband, it was a nice red color, like a honey crisp apple. I wonder if Charlie would like one… her favorite color is red after all.
I sighed, why did everything remind me of Charlotte lately? Whenever I saw rainbows, I remembered how Charlie always had a bow that matched her outfit which I always thought was cool. The smell of freshly baked biscuits? Reminded me of how Charlie loved eating those fluffy things. I didn’t like them very much until Charlie and I baked some together for fun. Now I find them pretty tasty, not as good as baked potatoes though. Even small things like seeing homemade blankets, Charlie was a sucker for making stuff using her bare hands. Very soft bare hands, whenever we high five it feels like I’m touching a cloud. Charlie in general is soft.. her soft black hair, her rosy cheeks, and her eyes look soft. I even wonder if her lips are soft too..
I slam my hand down on the table. What the hell am I thinking? Charlie is my best friend! She’d probably make fun of me if I told her I wanted to touch her lips! I am not gonna ruin our friendship because of a dumb crush. Maybe I’m just dehydrated! I don’t have I crush on my best friend since kindergarten! Right? Right..?
I turn my head around and see Annabelle staring at me, flashing her creepy smile appearing. I jumped out of my chair and started pacing around the table, like I always did when I’m flustered.
“Oooo! Fritz! Do you have a crush on Miss Charlie?” Annabelle announced, before I glared at her.
“No! That would be ridiculous! And no, I don’t have a crush on anybody! It’s a waste of time to be pining over someone who doesn’t care about you romantically back!” I blurted out before Annabelle rolled her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a maybe. You definitely have a crush on Charlie. It’s because she has boobs isn’t it?” Annabelle chuckled and I was fuming.
“SHUT UP! I don’t have a crush on Charlie! What is wrong with you Annabelle?! Ugh.. can you please just leave me alone?!” I’m pretty sure my face was pinker then an episode of that dumb magic horse show.
“Well you didn’t say no about the liking boobs part.” Annabelle shrugged and started laughing. I was about to punch her in the face before I heard a familiar voice.
“Hey Fritzy! Hey Annabelle!” It was Charlie. I recognize that squeaky yet elegant voice.
I turned my head around to look at Charlie and she’s holding her little brother, Sammy in one arm and a bag with frog embroidery on it in the other. I looked her up and down a bit, she was wearing a red overall dress with a blue shirt underneath. She and Sammy were also wearing matching green security bracelets. Man Charlie always manages to look fashionable.
“Uh.. I.. uh.. Hey Charlotte.” I said, probably coming out deeper than I wanted it to be.
I mentally strangled myself. Why can’t I talk to Charlie properly anymore?! She’s so cool and casual about everything! I’m supposed to be mature, not like a kicked puppy!
“So we’re both babysitting our siblings, huh? My dad told me he was busy fixing up Freddy since his music box broke. Poor Sammy wanted to see him perform.” Charlie shrugs as Sammy squirms in her arms.
“Me want Freddy!!” Sammy shouted before biting Charlie in the arm. This caused her to scream out in pain and dropped Sammy.
“OW! Sammy! What the-“ Charlie turned around and saw the toddler run off into their dad’s work office. Charlie ran after him and scooped him up before placing him at the table next to Annabelle.
“Henry Samual Emily Jr! You know better than to bite people and acting like a jerk!” Charlie scowls before sighing.
“But I wanna see Freddy!” Sammy said sadly. The little guy gave his biggest “don’t punish me I’m actually innocent trust me!” look. Charlie looked like she was about to fold under Sammy’s puppy dog eyes so I decided to step in.
“You can see him later. Right now you need to sit your ass down and I don’t know, talk to Annabelle.” I said, putting my hand on Charlie’s shoulder.
Sammy pouted and Annabelle giggled. Making a silly face to try and cheer Sammy up. Sammy was still pissed off, who knew a 4 year old would have such intense anger issues. Meanwhile Charlie is smiling and that’s enough to make my chest hurt in a good way. Like my heart was gonna burst out my chest and confess his feelings. But what those feelings?
Is Charlie a friend to me? A crush? A secret in between third thing?? Even if she did like me back, would things really be the same? Or is it a friends who sometimes kiss kind of thing? I’m not really sure. Before I can open my mouth however, Annabelle decided to cause pandemonium.
“Hey Miss Charlie! Guess what? Fritz said he has a crush on you!!”
Annabelle said overconfidently. I froze and slowly looked over at Charlie who was staring at me. I half expected her to bite my head off but instead she laughed. I always loved her laugh, it was like a stomach laugh and sounded like a mouse was being tickled. It was adorable..
“Hm really? Well I’ll go talk to your brother about that privately then, little lady!” Charlie pats Annabelle’s head and turns over to look at my direction. She gently grabs my hand and leads me over to the arcade. I don’t protest knowing she’s probably going to tell me how it is.
Either she does or doesn’t have a crush on me, all will be revealed next to the Frogger arcade machine.
I stood right in front of Charlie as she played with her hands. She always scratched her hands in the groves of those blotches on her skin. I never asked her much on why she had lighter patches of skin on her face and arms, but I think it’s called vitiligo. Mr. Emily and Sammy have it too. Must run in the family.
“So… you have a crush on me?” Charlie asked, her tone less confident than before. She was slightly slouched and I felt bad.
“Well there’s not point in lying. Charlotte Lisa Emily. I do in fact have a crush on you and I know you’re going to reject m-“
“I like you too Fritzy. It’s really embarrassing but I’ve liked you for about a year at this point and I haven’t had the heart to say anything. But uh.. yeah!” Charlie blurted out before staring into my eyes hoping for an answer.
My face probably turned crimson red when I looked at Charlie. I was flabbergasted to say the least. Charlie L. Emily likes me. She likes the weird Japanese boy from Huston, Texas who owns 16 pet chickens. As if this day couldn’t get anymore weirder she gave me that look. That look in those stupid romance movies where the love interest was about to kiss the protagonist.
“Can I kiss you?” She said, standing up a little taller and calmly smiling.
This is probably gonna be the most awkward first kiss EVER. Cause who in their right mind would want to kiss at Freddy’s, especially since it’s not really known for its.. romantic aspect. Probably from all the lawsuits of child endangerment but that's a different story for another time. Right now this is about me and Charlie!
Well I kind of also gave Charlie the look because what’s a boy to do? She smiled and put her hand on my cheek. Her very soft cloud like hands. I looked at her and she looked at me. I guess the kiss just happened. Charlie’s lips were as soft as I thought they would be and I gripped her shoulders as she did mine. I closed my eyes and all my worries about our relationship disappeared.
Though the second we locked lips the power went out, like magic. Turns out there was a power outage around town. It was just a coincidence but it was beautiful one in my opinion. Since nobody saw us kiss but it sure was awkward that we kissed in the middle of a pizzeria arcade. Then again I think it was pretty romantic for two thirteen year olds in the 80’s standards.
Our wristbands glowed due to it being one of those new features of wristbands after the incident with Mikey. When we pulled away we stood next to each other awkwardly. Of course since this is a pizzeria so there was a bunch of kids yelling regarding the blackout. I couldn’t see Charlie very well but her glowing green bracelet made it easier to see her. I wonder what was happening in her brain. I grabbed her hand and gently smiled before the lights turned back on. I know Charlie never liked the dark. She said it reminded her of “being alone” which she hates.
For a while we stood in comfortable silence. Just us, and a bunch of yelling kids in a pizzeria. Small hums of music came from the music box a ways away. I remember Charlie recommended the music box music to comfort people and it was really soothing. Even though nothing bad happened it kind of felt like reassurance. I felt like I was going to fall asleep from the softness of the moment.
Just a nice quiet moment between Charlie and me…