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Charlie Brown had always been different, slower than everyone else. Different in the way he acted, slow to understand, different in communication, slow to catch onto what people expect of him.
Now at the age of 24 he realized he was even slower at falling in love or rather admitting he already has.
His little friend group had already begun pairing off, drifting into relationships with ease.
Lucy and Schroeder hit it off at the end of high school and moved to New York together. Franklin met a girl from London and now split his time between two continents. Peppermint Patty and Marcie had been attached at the hip since childhood so it was pretty obvious the two would end up dating. Even Charlie's little sister Sally met a boy in her fashion school.
Charlie Brown watched it all happening from his small lonely apartment. Today he had a strange feeling settling in his chest like he was running a race he didn't know started, heck he didn't even know when a rock band started playing because he's never listened to rock.
Charlie Brown knew he could always have one constant in his life though, Linus van Pelt.
Linus, the one who carried softness about him that adulthood hadn't managed to scrape away. His hair was dark like his sisters and grown into a middle part. He wore round glasses that made him look like a librarian (which isn't too far off). He still had that quiet generous wisdom, but it came without a blue blanket.
They met together every Sunday morning at the same coffee shop just to talk even if they met up multiple times a week, it was a habit they picked up from college. Linus would always arrive earlier than Charlie.
and every time charlie brown stepped foot in the cafe his heartbeat stuttered when he saw Linus.
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One morning, as the first hints of autumn brushed the air, Linus slid into the seat across from him
“You look tired charlie brown”
“I stayed up thinking” charlie replied
“What about this time?”
Charlie hesitated. Honesty had always been easier with Linus, but this felt different like risking a friendship he’d spent a lifetime leaning on. He was praying Linus didn't think he was a stupid idiot
“Everyone's moving forward” he said “relationships, careers, big moments. I feel like I'm falling behind
Linus’s expression softened "you've always compared your life to everyone else's but life isn't a race”
“It feels like one” charlie said
Linus reached across the table "you're doing fine. Everything will come at the right moment”
The touch lingered a moment too long. Or maybe Charlie wished it did.
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Weeks passed and their rhythm continued, coffee, conversation. A kind of closeness that felt effortless
But the quiet ache in Charlie's chest swelled each time Linus laughed, each time he brushed shoulders with him during their walks home, each time Linus would make eye contact. Charlie Brown began to feel a crush beginning to swell and it sort of confused him. Before charlie brown fell in love with a red head girl (not like linus), she was sweet, friendly (kind of like Linus)
Though how did Charlie develop this crush on the man he's known his whole life and how would he be able to tell Linus, to speak up about it? But did Linus feel the same way and also doesn't know how to say it. God he wished he knew
One evening charlie and Linus were watching snow fall from Linus’s apartment, charlie brown found himself speaking without meaning too
“Do you ever feel like love is something that happens to everyone else first?” he asked softly
Linus hummed softly in response “Sometimes. but i also think it happens when we’re ready-not when the world says we should be”
Charlie swallowed “And if someone realized they might be ready late?”
“Then they're ready when they're ready,” Linus said, trying to make eye contact. Charlie turned away
“Even if they've loved someone for a long time and didn't notice, but when they did they were too afraid to ask”
Linus blinked, surprised. He stepped closer, the winter light from outside hitting his glasses
“Charlie Brown, you're talking about someone specific”
Charlie's cheeks began to redden “I…umm..”
“Are you talking about me?” Linus asked
Charlie's breath caught “i…yes. I think i am”
Linus smiled, it was small and warm- almost trembling
“I started to think you'd never say it”
“You…you knew?”
“No,” Linus admitted, “but I hoped,” he said, moving closer to Charlie.
He leaned in, then Linus, then a kiss. One soft and slow yet sort of comforting
The world felt like it exhaled around them, snow drifting like falling confessions.
At this moment, for the first time in his life, Charlie Brown thought it wasn't falling behind at all. He was moving forward.