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Charlie lays down on his couch, shirtless, a fat blunt between his fingers, filling the room with a thick smoke. He takes a drag, using it like an inhaler.
His mind totally blank, he decides it’s time for some food, anything sounds fucking delectable right now but he can’t cook for shit.
He’s about to open uber eats when he gets a phone call from Pim. He checks the time, it’s like 1 in the morning, Pims usually asleep by now.
Charlie raised the phone to his ear,
“Hello?” He speaks out, the first words he’s spoken in a bit, he coughs.
“Hey, Charlie. I was just wondering if I could- well, if it’s okay of course, if I could spend the night?” Pim’s voice sounded small, not as peppy.
Charlie sits up a bit, looking for his shirt, “Uh, yeah. Sure dude, yeah. W-Can I ask why so late? Like, you usually go to work on Saturdays right?”
“Yeah… Uhm.. The boss told me I could take the day off, I called him earlier- Well, it’s not like I NEED to go in on Saturdays, I just like too. It helps out with scheduling n’ stu-“
Charlie cuts him off, he started phasing out midway through, “Okay, well, I can’t drive right now… Are you able to get here?”
A couple of seconds goes by before Pim says anything again.
“Yeah, I can get an uber or something. I’m not too far from where you are, so I shouldn’t be long.”
The yellow critters eyes close for a second, or what feels like a second anyway.
“…Charlie?”
“H-uh? Wh-at?”
“You alright?”
“Ye-yeah, sorry man, I might’ve dozed off. Sorry. Yeah, come on over. Uh, just a warnin’ I have been smoking in here, I hope that doesn’t bother you.”
More silence… “No, it’s fine.” His voice small again.
“Well, okay dude, I’ll see you in a bit. I’m about to order some food, got any requests?”
“Nah, anythings good with me.”
“Okay.. see you soon, stay safe.”
“You too.” *beep*
Charlie flops back down, putting the joint in a the ashtray above him. He sighs, rolling over to grab his shirt off the floor, slipping it back over his head covering his cross necklace.
He grabs his phone again to order the food, he just decided pizza would be good, he already knows Pim’s favorite toppings.
He waits around a bit, attempting to make the place look nice but failing every time he tries to get off the couch, gravity taking him.
About 20 minutes go by when a knock is heard from the door, Charlie drags himself off the couch, stumbling his way to the door, almost slamming into it, unlocking it to be greeted by his friend.
The small pink critter looks up at Charlie, his scribbley eyes getting big and welling up with some tears. Charlie moves aside to let him in, almost closing the door before the pizza guy gets there.
He takes the pizza then turns around to Pim, who places a small bag next to the couch and hops onto Charlies couch.
“What’s up man? Did you just come to hang out?” Charlie says with a smile, trying to ease the mood.
PIm is quiet, the tears threatening to flow.
Charlie looks at him, uncomfortable about what to do. He moves towards the couch and sits next to Pim, not too close in case he wants space.
“You alright man?” He prods.
Pim shakes his head slightly.
“Wanna talk about it?”
He shakes his head again, a bit more this time.
“You… wanna just…” Charlie lets a puff of air blow through his mouth, unsure of what to do, “hang ooutt??”
Pim hesitates, then nods, scootching closer to Charlie, hugging him.
“Whoa, okay, yeah thats cool. Whatever you need dude.” He returns the hug, “I’ll be here for you man.”
It doesn’t take long to get Pim to start smiling, a few dumb jokes, a movie Pim picked out on his laptop and sharing the pizza. Pim was flattered Charlie got him his favorite type.
They sit for about an hour, Charlie’s high now at its peak, he’s basically become one with the couch. Pim doesn’t mind though, happy to be there with him.
He does get a bit curious though,
“Hey, whats that like?”
“Hm?”
“The- the smoking? Weed?”
“I mean, it’s nice, takes the edge off, yknow?”
“It’s not scary?”
“I mean, you’ve been high before, right?”
Pim shakes his head, then adds, “Well, not counting the ahm- alien drugs… I don’t think those are anything like this, right?”
“Nah man, nothing like that. I’m not sure where they got that shi’ from, but thats nothing like weed man.” Charlie slurs a bit.
Pim looks at the half smoked joint in the bowl, “It’s not like, dangerous right? Other than for your lungs?”
“No way, I use this stuff all the time. I- well, not all the time, I use it on like weekends.”
Pim goes silent for a couple moments before speaking up again, “Could I try it?”
Charlies taken aback for a second, but after thinking it over for 0.2 seconds, he picked up the blunt and handed it to Pim.
Pim put it up to his lips like a cigarette getting a chuckle out of Charlie. “Dude, it’s not- alright, here,” Charlie puts it in Pims hands correctly, “now take a deep breath, inhale and just let it out.”
Pim does as instructed, inhaling and then coughing, receiving more laughter from his yellow friend. Determined, he goes for a second puff, this time choking back the urge to cough and wheeze. He takes a long puff and holds it in-
“Dude, no, don’t hold it in, it doesn’t do anything. Just puff and release.”
He releases all the smoke from in him and coughs, the taste making him feel sick.
“Eugh, do you ser-iosslyy, do thhhs-“
It hits Pim, *HARD.* He kinda flops sideways onto the couch, dropping the blunt and giggling.
“D-dude you alright?” Charlie says, trying to hold back his own laughter. Pim looks up at him, giggling softly rolling from side to side.
“Thhissss is so ffffnnnnn- I feelll like im floatinnn!” He says, dreamily, outstretching his arms in a bird like way.
Charlie reaches down and takes his own puff, then places it back in the ashtray. “Yeah, man, that’s why I do it!” He pats Pims head a little, in a playful manner.
The two spend some time talking about Pims first experience and then move on to the pizza, devouring every bite. Charlie gets the idea to pop in a movie Pim likes.
“Okay, I’m gonna put on the uhmm… its the ring lord movies…” Charlie looks at Pim, who is standing now (well, trying too, he’s rather wobbly and sort of top heavy), Pim nods, totally getting what he meant,
“Mm, Im gonnna go pissssssshhhhhhhh”
Pim continues to emphasize the ‘S’ in the word as he stumbles his way to the bathroom, closing the door only a little.
Charlie sits on the couch, torrenting the movie trilogy… Then he gets up and gets a drink… then he changes into different clothes… How long is he gonna pee for? Charlie decides to go up to the bathroom himself,
“Hey man, it’s been like 40 somethin’ minutes, the movies ready if you wanna-“
He stops, hearing something different, it sounds like.. crying?
Charlie pushes the door open a little more to see Pim, curled up on the floor in a sobbing little ball.
“Whoa, whoa dude are you alright? did you hurt yourself? I- we can’t drive and I’m pretty sure the buses aren’t open this late-“
Pim chokes on his tears, trying to lift his head that feels so heavy up to look at Charlie, making whatever he was saying before irrelevant.
“I-it’s okay dude, what’s wrong?”
Charlie reaches down but stops himself, he doesn’t wanna make anything worse if he was in pain.
“I-Im a faillurre Char-lie!” Pim sobbed, “I cant do nythin’ right.”
Charlie was taken aback by the string of words that just fell out of his best friend’s mouth. Pim? A failure?
“C-cmon, thats not true, Pim! You’re great at lots of stuff!”
Pim shook his head, rubbing his face, tears and snot all over Charlies bathroom rug.
“Nno! I didnn do nothin’ right, he saidso.” He slurred.
Who said so? Charlie wasn’t sure who, but he understood that whoever it was, was going to be absolutely pummeled once he found out.
“Who said that, Pim?”
Pim shook his head more, basically nuzzling into the rug. Charlie realized he probably shouldn’t let Pim touch that with his face, considering thats where his toenail clippings fly.
“Pim, can I pick you up? I jus’ wanna move you to somewhere softer..” Charlie says in the nicest tone he can, trying not to scare his vulnerable friend.
He gets a nod of approval and without a second hesitation, he scoops Pim up, almost dropping him, mainly cause he’s high as balls, but also cause Pim has some weight to him.
He gently sets Pim on his bed, putting a blanket on him, then rushes to get him some water.
“Its gonna be alright man, just take some sips of water, you’re gonna be fine.”
Pim takes the cup, hands small and shaking, putting the glass to his lips and slowly drinking.
“C-harl-lie?” Pim stuttered, “Y-you don’ think imm uselessh right?” He looks at his friend with big wet, admittedly very red, eyes.
Charlie almost feels offended for a moment before he remembers who he’s talking with, “No way man, you are- I am like, so lucky to be your friend, yknow what I mean?”
Pim tilts his head, then takes another sip of water, cottonmouth hitting harder than it should.
“Y-youuu are like, the kindess, most carin’ man on the planet. If you’re useless, then Id have to be Patrick freaking star. A freaking idiot.”
He continues, not really sure if that made sense, but it gets a small laugh out of Pim, so he considers it a win.
“But, youvvvve gotta admit, im kinda annoyinn’ right?” Pim says, meekly.
Charlie won’t lie, sometimes his happy go lucky attitude isn’t always his favorite thing in the world, especially when he’s hungover, but he knows now isn’t the time to bring that up.
He shakes his head, “No, man. I usually look forward to seein’ you everyday. Hanging out with you is like, my favorite part of the week, and I get paid for it.”
Pim looks at Charlie as if he proposed, he was so moved, he started sobbing again, flopping over on his side, letting gravity take him and sink into the bed.
“WHOA! Pim? S-shit sorry! Did I say something wrong?” Charlie reaches out to touch his shoulder.
“Charlie, my fa-milly hates me-“ He choked out in a quaking voice, “Th-ey hate me and they w-wanna disown m-mmeee-“ He tries to keep a coherent sentence but he just ends up burying his face in a pillow and slurring.
The yellow critter is utterly stunned. Nothing could have prepared him for that. He thinks for a second, moving his hand from Pims shoulder to his back, gently rubbing it.
What the hell should he say? He’d only been to his families house once and it wasn’t exactly an ideal living condition. He hopes to god that they didn’t try to hurt Pim, he would literally go over there and-
“Who needs them?” He found himself saying, not sure how or when, “I-I mean, like, they’re a bunch of assholes anyway. They did everything trying to get under your skin, a-and look at you! You’re still standin’ Pim!”
Pim slowly stops crying, trying to hold it back, only letting a few stay sobs out.
“Just breathe man, you aren’t there. You’re here, in my shitty apartment, with me.”
Pim tries to breathe through shakey breaths, turning his head away from the pillow so he can breathe better.
“There we go, you’re alright Pim. You’re alright and you- you’re with me.” Charlie wanted to say something else, but he finished the sentence with the obvious.
Pim breathes a big breath, “I luuvvbb you Cha-rlie..” he says, closing his eyes.
Charlie hesitates for a moment, an orange blush spreading across his face.
“I-I love you too, man…” He wasn’t sure if that was Pim being his usual happy self or if that was a genuine declaration.
“Just- try to get some sleep, okay?” He whispers, slowly getting up when he feels a small hand reach out for him,
“Don’t go… please don’t go?”
Charlie looks down at Pim, eyes wide.
“I-I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick and then I’ll come right back, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Charlie hurries to the bathroom, taking a leak that he felt like he had been holding since the dawn of time, rinses his hands with water and then dries them off on his sweats.
Rushing back to Pim, who was huddled in the sheets, waiting for Charlie to come back.
“I’m here, I’m right here Pim.” He puffs, crawling over the smaller critter to get to the other side of the bed, leaving some distance between the two.
Pim quickly filled that space, scooting close and putting his head near Charlies rapidly increasing heart.
“Fuck man, my pacemaker…” he whispers.
“Hmmm?” Pim mumbles “youuokyycharrrl-“ He can barely finish his incoherent sentence before his eyes slam shut.
Charlie moves the blanket over, covering both of them, kisses Pim goodnight and goes to sleep himself, assuring himself that he’s gonna beat the SHIT out of the Pimling household the second he’s sober enough to drive.