Chapter Text
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come along?” Charles asked for what must have been the fiftieth time. He knew Edwin wasn’t going to change her mind, but he could still try.
“Charles, it is a girl’s night. Your attendance would defeat the purpose.” Edwin responded, “Additionally, you have not seen your cricket team outside of practice in months. If you do not go now, they might forget who you are.”
They walked in silence for a minute before Charles broke again.“But if anything goes wrong, you’ll text, yeah?”
“Nothing will ‘go wrong’ watching movies in Crystal’s flat.” Edwin sent Charles a tired look. He casts his gaze down. Edwin had needed his support ever since she came out, and Charles couldn’t seem to figure out how. After his initial failure enabled Simon and his friends to torment Edwin for months, Charles vowed never to leave his best mate vulnerable again. He had taken to walking Edwin to and from all of her classes; they were still roommates, so being there at night was already covered, and being together for meals and free time was nothing new for them. This girl’s night was the first time they would be explicitly apart for more than an hour and a half since the incident.
Charles was happy that others were accepting of Edwin’s gender identity. And he wasn’t even jealous that Edwin was hanging out with other people. Honest. He would have been content just sitting in the room with his music so loud he couldn’t make out a word the others were saying. He just wanted to be able to see her.
“Charles, I will call you if need be.” Edwin sent a half smile. Charles could work with that.
The rest of the walk to Crystal’s flat could have been called pleasant with the knowledge that Edwin would call if need be.
As soon as Crystal opened the door, her eyes locked onto Charles. “You’re not coming in.”
Charles’ mouth dropped at the accusation. “I wasn’t gonna, was I?” He glanced at Edwin. “I just came to walk her over.”
“Mmm, how chivalrous.” Crystal drawled. A flash of purple appeared as Niko entered the doorframe.
“Edwin!” The squeal Niko let out almost hurt Charles’s ears as she threw her arms around the other girl.
“Hello Niko,” Edwin laughed, “I like this shade of purple.”
“I have it in nail polish if you want.” It was then that Niko seemed to realize Charles was there as well. “You can’t stay for girls’ night, Charles.”
Charles rolled his eyes. “I don’t get why it would be so bad if I did.”
Niko slipped her hands into both of Edwin’s, locking eyes with the other girl over a mischievous smile. “Because we have things to talk about.”
Edwin’s cheeks turned red. Fuck. He’d been overbearing, hadn’t he? In all his efforts to make Edwin feel safe, he’d done the opposite and made her so uncomfortable that she had to make up a girls’ night to solicit their friends to help.
“Charles.” Edwin’s voice pulled him out of his spiral. She gave him a knowing smile, her head tilted with a certain sparkle in her eyes that Charles had noticed more often since she’d come out. Her hands were still linked with Niko’s. “I will text you.”
Niko let out a smaller, quieter squeal before she pulled Edwin inside by her hands. Charles watched as the two girls disappeared, almost forgetting about the third, who owned the flat.
“She’s fine here,” Crystal stated. There was no venom in her words, only understanding. Funnily enough, the biggest change since Edwin’s coming out had been Crystal being nicer to the pair.
“I know.” He replied. “I just… don’t like being away. Just in case, you know?”
“I know. But you both need space sometimes. You’re your own people, she’s going through a lot of self-discovery right now that you can’t keep her tucked away from.”
“Right.” Charles looked at his feet and willed himself not to be hurt by Crystal’s words.
“She’ll be running right back to you afterwards,” Crystal assured him, “Go have fun doing boy stuff and leave us alone.”
Crystal smiled at him before closing the door. Charles took a deep breath and headed to the bar where he was meeting his team. But not before turning his phone’s ringer on.
-
Charles didn’t hate his teammates, but if he were given the chance to leave this ‘bonding’ event, he would take it in an instant. The bar was overly loud and smelled of sweat mixed with stale liquor. He’d spent the better part of the night staring at his phone, waiting for a notification from Edwin.
“Come on, Charlie. First, you don’t wanna drink, and now you’re staring at your phone like it’s gonna disappear on you.” One of his teammates joked.
“Yeah. I guess.” Charles let out an uncomfortable laugh. Before anyone else could gang up on him, his phone dinged.
‘Which color do you like best?’
Attached was a photo of four nail polish colors. A jet black, a purple matching the shade Nika has been wearing, and two shades of red. He was immediately drawn to the brighter red. Thinking of the way it would glow against Edwin’s pale skin, drawing attention to her long and slender fingers. She wore mostly dull clothing, which was a shame. Not because she looked bad in it, but because Charles liked her in bright clothes. Especially when she was wearing his favorite shade of red.
“Damn, she’s really got you wrapped around her finger, huh?” His teammate's talk startled him from his reply.
“Yeah, man. I thought after everything she’s been doing, you guys would drift apart, but I swear you’ve gotten worse.” He emphasized the ‘she’. Charles had blown up at all of the guys enough times for misgendering Edwin that they don’t even try to get away with it anymore.
“Shut up.” It sounded weak, even to Charles’ own ears.
“Nah, dude, it’s true.” He laughed. “Be honest, you hitting that?”
“Fuck you,” Charles laughed too, but there wasn’t any joy within it. So maybe part of the reason he didn’t want to hang out with his team. They were already dicks about his and Edwin’s friendship, but it had only gotten worse since she’d come out. He wished he could cut out anyone who spoke a bad word about Edwin, but it just wasn’t probable. Edwin would also hate it if he did. She was always pushing Charles to talk to other people, even if he didn’t want to.
Charles took so long to form a proper response that the conversation had moved on. He thought again about how he should cut these guys off, but they’d made some changes. He could change their minds about Edwin, right?
-
A text from Edwin, stating the girls were awake and wanted breakfast, woke him up the next morning. It wasn’t all that surprising. Crystal never slept well after drinking, Edwin was always an early riser, and Niko would do anything in the name of brunch. Though the time would argue it’s breakfast, Niko would always say it was brunch.
He walked fast towards their favorite brunch spot. Charles was still a bit wired from the night before. Not being around Edwin made him feel sick. It would start with trouble focusing and eventually develop into a stomachache that felt like it was being carved out with a rusty spoon. Crystal would call it codependency, but Charles knew that Edwin was the most important person in his life and nothing else really mattered.
The three girls were already seated at a table outside the restaurant when he arrived. An umbrella sat doing little to block anyone but Crystal from the morning sun, while all three also wore sunglasses. Niko’s outfit was a muted blue, Crystal was in a black tank top and jeans, and Edwin was in a black denim skirt that must have been Crystal’s and a white shirt with a heart cut-out that he recognized as Niko’s. The outfit seemed so un-Edwin-like that it made him laugh.
“Well, don’t you look nice.” It was an open statement, but he made sure to look Edwin in the eye when she said it. She gave him a small pout in response. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Niko stick out her tongue. “Didn’t know you were planning on drinking so much.”
“We weren’t, but there was a sudden change in plans,” Crystal said before running her hands down her face and letting out a groan.
“We came up with a really fun drinking game.” Niko somehow still had it within her to look joyful.
“Yeah, and I realized my tolerance is fucked. I’ve been out of it for too long.” Crystal responded.
“There is no need to get back in ‘it’.” He should’ve expected that the thing to finally get Edwin to speak would be criticizing Crystal. She was staring off even as she spoke, which caused something in Charles’ stomach to turn again. He watched as she grabbed her glass of orange juice when his eyes caught on the bright red of her nails. He realized he was right about how well it would contrast against her skin.
“You went with the bright red.” Edwin almost choked on her drink at the question. So small no one would have noticed, but Charles always did. This finally got Edwin to look at him, even if it was only for a second.
“Yes. Well, you never responded.” Edwin, once again, everted her eyes.
“Fuck.” Crystal winced at how loud he said it. In a softer voice, he leaned into Edwin and continued. “I really meant to respond.
“You can’t leave your girl on read, Charles.” Niko tisked.
“It is fine, Charles, truly.” It still didn’t feel fine to Charles. He sank back into his seat and studied Edwin’s expression. She had her usual schooled expression. When their eyes met, she tried to smile at him, but her eyes didn’t sell it.
“It looks really good on you.” Charles kept studying Edwin, looking for any small change. He got it when her cheeks flushed red, and a new smile spread onto her face, this time reaching her eyes. She tried to hide it by turning away.
“I thought you’d like it.” Edwin had resolved to have a soft smile decorate her face. Hearing those words sent a jolt up Charles’ spine, giving him a matching smile.