Fanfiction: Never Try To Outstubborn A Cat
Title: Never Try To Outstubborn A Cat
Author: me
Word Count: 5,596
Characters/Pairings: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland, Cat King & Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Cat King & Charles Rowland, Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Charles Rowland, Cat King
Warnings: Sexual Content, Kissing, Character Study, relationship dynamics, Co-Dependency, no beta we die like edwin and Charles, can be read as a standalone, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst
Summary: After everything that had happened, their falling out with the Cat King hadn't been resolved yet. Edwin desperately wants everything to get back in order and return to normal to regain that sense of control. Charles would do anything to ease even a few of Edwin's many worries. The Cat King wasn't thrilled about being pulled into the Dead Boy Detective's shenanigans, but he might be willing to listen if the right dead boy comes along and explains it.
Never Try To Outstubborn A Cat
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.” - Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
When it came to everything that had happened to them over the last year or so, Charles understood why Edwin wanted to get things back to the way they were before. Edwin liked order above all else; it was why their office was so organized. The reason that Edwin probably liked that order had something to do with the lack of control and disorder he experienced in hell. Or at least, that was what Charles thought could be going on. He wasn’t actually sure, but he did do plenty of reading about post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma responses once he realized that Edwin was so deep in denial about his own brain that he wouldn’t even put a name to it.
So Edwin liked control, and Port Townsend and everything following it was just a lot of Edwin losing control and needing to reset all of the small details in their lives to make room for new people. It was a big change to have Crystal and Niko around all the time, and when it felt like everything was getting settled, everything with Quentin started happening. Charles admitted to himself much later that he never considered the idea that someone might be unhappy with their work in helping people move on. Quentin very much had a problem with them and spent months systematically trying to destroy everything they both loved.
It didn’t work, and in the end, it forced Charles to confront his own feelings about Edwin and brought them together romantically. However, that was another change his partner needed to deal with. While the shift between them felt very natural, it was still a shift, so Charles let Edwin deal with it the best way he could. First, Edwin made sure Crystal and Niko were both safe and back in their home with as little fallout from the incident as possible.
The girls didn’t hold anything that happened against them, which made this easier, but they weren’t so lucky elsewhere. Johanna Constantine had set up a very impressive ward on Jenny’s shop, which seemed to be helping her adjust. She was the first one hurt by all of this, and she hadn’t forgiven them. However, not long after an incident with a demon that nearly took Johanna’s life and possibly both of their afterlives, Jenny was letting them come around again. Whatever Johanna did seemed to be helping, and she treated them as she had before all of this happened. As far as Charles was concerned, that was about the best they could probably hope for, considering the circumstances.
So they had figured out the new normal for the people they knew Before and the new normal for the people After they had to deal with Quentin aside from one. Charles wasn’t surprised that Edwn was bothered by the fact that the Cat King, Thomas, wasn’t replying to his letters. He’d been sending them since they were all but run out of town to absolutely no avail. Before, Charles would have been bothered by this and stewed in jealous silence that he refused to name as “jealous” and hid behind the idea of safety. He knew better now. He and Edwin were forever, and that was before Charles pulled his head out of his ass. No one would get in the way of that, so he really didn’t have any reason to worry.
Charles also trusted Edwin more than he trusted anyone else, so it was fine.
Edwin was still trying to get Thomas to reply to them, to him, but it wasn’t working. Charles wouldn’t tell him to stop, but he was thinking about it, not because of any jealousy or safety concerns, but more that he understood why Thomas reacted the way he did. Edwin didn’t take the “king” part of that title literally, but Charles very much did. A king’s job was to protect above anything else, and that was what Thomas was doing; he was protecting his people from threats. Charles wasn’t about to begrudge someone for that, and while he didn’t exactly get along with Thomas, their little fight seemed to have caught his attention, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“Hey Edwin,” Charles said as Edwin was working on yet another letter that he was trying to hide from Charles and doing a piss poor job of it. “I’m going to go for a walk around the city for a bit, want to come?” Edwin visibly tensed, and this was another thing that had changed in the After times. Not long ago, before Port Townsend, before Esther, before Quentin, they could spend some time apart, and it wouldn’t be a problem. Now, Charles knew they were hesitant to let the other out of their sight. However, they did need to take some alone time, or they would drive each other mad. It made Charles anxious, too, but Edwin suggested it the last time they did this, so it was his turn.
“No,” Edwin replied, though he hardly sounded confident about that decision. “I think I will stay here and do a little work. I do insist you bring your backpack with you, though.” Charles walked into Edwin’s space, all but looming over him. Edwin remained seated, but Charles was standing and smiling.
“Of course, love,” he replied. Charles loved doing little things he knew would drive Edwin just a little mad, and that tone of voice was one of them. That was how he found himself yanked down by his chain and kissed within an inch of his life. If Edwin’s goal was to distract him so he wouldn’t leave, he very nearly achieved it, and Charles gave himself a gold star for ending the kiss. Edwin shifted just enough to cup Charles’s face in his hands and gently kiss his forehead. That motion somehow left Charles even more breathless than the kiss two seconds ago.
“Be safe,” Edwin whispered into his skin. Charles smiled and walked out into the city.
+++
Like most old cities, London had quite a lot of the lingering dead running around. It was just how things were when dealing with something as old as this. The younger the city, the fewer deaths and the fewer members of the dead that would stay behind. Then there was everything else, and sometimes Charles had a hard time remembering what fact and fiction were because it all seemed so insane. Then, the most logical conversation of, “If X exists, it stands to reason that Y would too,” which was a whole other rabbit hole that Edwin was a lot better at dealing with than he was.
Charles liked to just walk the city and see what he saw wandering around. There were a few members of the dead that they kept in touch with regularly, and Charles liked checking in with them to see if they had any new gossip to share. The dead often had little to do but gossip, so if you wanted to know something, ask a ghost who would like to hang out nearby. They probably saw something and wanted to tell anyone about it.
So, if anyone asked, he was paying attention, but cats were quick, and he didn’t realize one of them had scratched him until it was over. Charles swore and looked down an alley where a cat sat very calmly.
“Did you have to do that?” Charles asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Yes,” the cat replied without hesitating. “I needed to get your attention so you would follow me.”
“Why would I follow you?” Charles asked if cats could shrug, and this cat shrugged.
“We can argue about this, or we can skip all of that bollocks, and you can just follow me. I’m a bloody cat; I can’t hurt you beyond a scratch,” the cat said. Charles didn’t point out that the cat could be leading him to something that could hurt him, but he wasn’t in the mood to argue. He pulled out his cricket bat and raised an eyebrow at the cat when it stared at it. It wordlessly turned around and walked into the alley. Charles followed behind but kept his distance and kept his eye out for anything that wanted to jump out at him. There wasn’t anything hiding in the shadows and nothing on the ground that could catch him. It was just a normal alley.
Whatever he expected when he turned the corner, it certainly wasn’t a mirror. It was extremely old, and the frame was so rusted that it looked like it might break if you touched it. The glass, however, looked perfect, if a little dirty. The cat was sitting by the mirror, staring at him and waiting.
“I’m just the messenger,” the cat said. “I was told to find the ghost detective and tell him that he’s been asked to come to Port Townsend.”
“I think you got the wrong dead boy, mate, but I can go grab my partner, and we can sort this out,” Charles replied. It wasn’t surprising that Thomas wouldn’t just send another letter like a human would.
“Nope, I have the right one. The description was extremely specific, talking about your hair and clothes, and they even warned me to stay away from the bat you’re carrying,” the cat said.
“All right, then I need to go get my partner--”
“The invitation was for you and you alone, no one else,” the cat interrupted. This also sounded like something Thomas would do, considering the last time they interacted with him. Charles also knew that pissing him off was probably not the right move, and he had ways to get home or get word back to London if the worst should happen. He didn’t think Thomas would summon him to Port Townsend to do something bad, but weirder things have happened.
Charles also knew that Edwin was invested in this friendship with Thomas for reasons that he absolutely did not understand, and if this was a trick, Charles wanted to be the one to bear the brunt of it. Edwin didn’t even need to know it happened because it wasn’t just physical dangers Charles was willing to protect his partner from. If he told Edwin or the girls about this, they would either insist on coming or freak out, so the only option was to go alone, which was also the stupid option.
Charles liked to think he’d made it this far, making a lot of stupid decisions, so this one would probably going to turn out all right.
He narrowed his eyes at the cat but didn’t say anything. It took him a minute to figure out how to get the mirror to work. Edwin was always so much faster at it than he was, but before long, he was strolling through the mirror and back into the empty flat Crystal used to live in. It appeared renovations were still ongoing, and the cat waiting for him at the door indicated that he was expected.
Charles kept his bat in hand but followed the cat without saying a word. Even if Thomas invited him here, they didn’t end things on the best terms, so it was probably a good idea to play it safe. So he let a cat escort him across town to the docks, where they all scattered the moment he phased through the door, bat still in hand. Thomas was waiting on his wooden throne and grinned when he saw Charles walk in.
“Charlie-boy, I see you got my message,” Thomas said.
“I’ve said, more than once now, not to call me that,” Charles replied. “Yeah, I got your message, and nice little scratch on my ankle to prove it. Care to explain all of this?”
“I was just wondering why I’ve been getting all sorts of letters from Edwin and not a single one from you. I thought we were friends now.” Thomas had the height advantage due to the throne, which Charles did not like, and he used it to leer in a way that set Charles’s teeth on edge. He thought about all of the many responses he could give to that question ranging from “fuck off” to longwinded explanations. He decided to go with the one that made the most sense to him.
“I was respecting another protector's wishes to keep those around them safe,” Charles replied. Whatever Thomas was expecting him to say, it was not that, and Charles mentally patted himself on the back for getting one over on the Cat King of all people. He even managed to do it without using a single weapon. Thomas stared at him like he was seeing Charles for the first time.
“Yes, I suppose you would understand that,” Thomas whispered. He seemed to visibly pull himself together, but the creature sitting in front of him resembled the one that earnestly asked for their help and not the one that slithered into his space and something about snatching Edwin up. “Edwin’s been telling me bits and pieces about what happened from his perspective, but you know how he is. If you’re willing, I’d like to hear it from you,” Thomas said as Charles raised an eyebrow. “From one protector to another.”
“Fine,” Charles said a bit begrudgingly, but it could be worse if this was what it took to mend this final burnt bridge and help Edwin settle down. “Get me a chair, and let’s get this over with as fast as possible. I need to get back.”
+++
Edwin was doing his damnest not to panic because he knew, in the back of his mind, that panicking wouldn’t get him anywhere. Ever since Port Townsend and getting snatched back to hell, he was reluctant to leave Charles’s side. Somehow, it seemed safer to have him near, and maybe Edwin could protect Charles from everything that wanted to diminish him. It was bad after Port Townsend and worse after Quentin and his mad quest for revenge against the two of them, but the recent encounter with a demon had set Edwin nearly over the edge.
He always knew that people would try to use the two of them against each other. They both had glaring weak points, which anyone could exploit. For some reason, Edwin never considered that hell could try to use Charles against him until he encountered the demon. It was a Duke, and it was giddy when it told Edwin that all of hell knew about them and was looking forward to dragging them both down into the pit. He thought Charles was safe because he was never actually damned or claimed in any way, but they must have found a loophole, or the rules didn’t matter. Either way, hell had its sights set on both of them now, making Edwin feel sick even if he had no stomach.
Edwin also knew that he and Charles couldn’t be in each other’s pockets all the time, or they would start to fight. It didn’t matter how much he might love his partner; Edwin sometimes needed space, and Charles did too. So when Charles said he was taking a walk, something he always did, Edwin was nervous but forced himself to say “yes.” They couldn’t spend the rest of their time on Earth afraid of what might happen. Charles could take care of himself, and this was fine.
That was what Edwin told himself for the first hour and then the second. By hour three, he started panicking, and by hour four, he was somehow beyond panic.
It was early morning, so the girls would be sleeping, and the only person he could think of who was awake, could see him and knew his dynamic with Charles was Jenny. She was up early to prep and open the shop; it was that time, so Edwin hopped to the store and walked up to the door leading into Jenny’s back room. He was about to phase through when he remembered what Charles said about knocking and doing their version of it.
“Jenny, if you are awake, I would like to speak to you about something,” Edwin said. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she would open the door, but eventually, Jenny was staring at him with a deeply unimpressed look on her face.
“Edwin, do you have any idea what time it is? Do you even still have the concept of time?” she asked.
“Charles went for a walk four hours ago and has not returned. We are trying to spend some time apart because it is good for our dynamic, both working and romantically, and I need to know if I am breaking some sort of social faux pas and he’ll be cross with me if I start looking for him because I am worried,” Edwin blurted out, completely bypassing the time statement even if his first instinct was to correct her. Jenny blinked, and something in her features softened a little.
“Sometimes I forget you’re just a pair of kids,” she said softly. Edwin was about to correct her, saying that he and Charles were technically older than she was, but Jenny didn’t give him the chance. “Look, Edwin, you and Charles have, well, I feel like saying ‘you’ve been through hell’ is somehow downplaying everything since you’ve literally been through hell. Charles won’t care about any social faux pas, and even if you are overstepping, he’ll just tell you and not make a big deal about it because he knows, more than anyone, why you’d be worried.”
“I believe you are correct, and I just needed to hear it from someone else,” Edwin replied after a beat of silence. “I will start looking for him. Thank you for your help, Jenny.” He turned to walk away to just leave, but Jenny called out his name.
“If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know,” she said. Edwin blinked because that was the first time Jenny had acknowledged that she might want to be involved in their “supernatural shenanigans,” as she often referred to them. Since she was hurt and her shop broke into because Quentin wanted revenge on them, Jenny wanted distance, and now she was offering help. This was one of those moments where Charles would know exactly what to say, but Edwin didn’t, so he just nodded and mirror-hopped back to the office.
Perhaps jumping right to a location spell was extreme, but Edwin was impatient and saw no reason to wander around London if he could avoid it. Charles left plenty of his things lying around, so it wasn’t hard to find one: the lantern from the night they met and the one Charles brought down to hell. It was an object they were both connected to, making it ideal for locating either of them depending on who was missing. Edwin was ready to finish this spell, grab Charles, and have all of this sorted by the time the girls showed up in the mid to late morning.
That was the plan until the locating spell didn’t work. Edwin continued to do his best not to panic and tried to extend the parameters of the spell as large as possible. Charles did like to wander to the far side of the city, but there was nothing. Plan A was not working, so it was time for Plan B. While the locating spell was one way of going about this, Edwin could just track Charles through the city until he found his location. Maybe there was a simple explanation for why the location spell wasn’t working.
While it had been hours since Charles had left, ghosts carried a unique energy signature, and under the right conditions, they left a trail that was easy enough to follow. They usually tried to avoid leaving trails like this, but Charles was on a walk, so there wasn’t any need to cover his spectral tracks. Edwin could follow the trail fairly easily, which made no sense. Charles seemed to be on a regular walk, so why was he missing? Things didn’t change until Charles made a sharp turn into an alleyway. Edwin frowned but followed the trail down until it went cold in front of a large, extremely rusted mirror.
“Oh, it’s the other one,” a voice said from behind him. Edwin turned around and saw a small cat sitting in a corner.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked.
“The other ghost. I was told about you, so I knew which one I was supposed to talk to,” the cat replied.
“My partner is missing, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could please explain what you mean,” Edwin said, trying to keep his voice even. He knew better than to try to mess with a cat.
“I’m just the messenger. I was told to tell the other dead boy to take the mirror to Port Townsend because the Cat King wanted an audience. He wanted to see that dead boy only.” The cat sounded bored, but Edwin was trying not to pass out. Thomas summoned Charles to Port Townsend. Edwin had spent weeks trying to explain everything that had happened to Thomas, and as far as he knew, Thomas hadn’t acknowledged a single letter he had sent. Thomas had forbidden them from coming to Port Townsend the last they heard.
He didn’t wait for the cat to explain anything else; he mirror-hopped and landed in the apartment Crystal used to live in. There wasn’t any time to waste because Thomas summoning Charles to Port Townsend alone, and Charles not coming back for hours was a recipe for disaster. Thomas was a trickster, and as Edwin sprinted down the street to the dock, all he could think about was that Charles was tricked into coming here, and Thomas would be furious that he was there at all. He hadn’t ever seen the two of them truly get along, and Thomas asking for Charles instead of him didn’t make any sense.
Edwin was panicking now and was more than willing to admit it. So when he all but ran through the door into the warehouse where Thomas liked to set up court, a spell on his lips, Edwin was ready to do whatever he needed to get Charles back. Whatever he was expecting wasn’t what was in front of him. Thomas was casually sitting on his throne like he didn’t have a care in the world; his feet kicked up on a crate. That was not surprising. What was surprising was that Charles was also sitting in a chair, his feet kicked up on the same crate, and he appeared perfectly fine. Thomas smirked when he ran in, but Charles turned around and frowned.
“Edwin?” he asked. That voice was enough to snap Edwin back to reality, and he maybe started to run to Charles. Whatever his partner saw on his face must have been worrying because Charles was on his feet in a second and met Edwin halfway, pulling him into a tight hug. He felt fine, and there wasn’t any on or around him that seemed to indicate that he was hurt or bound. Charles looked just as he did when he stepped out of the office for his walk. “Edwin, what happened? I just went for a walk; I’ve only been gone an hour.”
“You’ve been gone for five hours,” Edwin managed to say. He really didn’t care that he was showing Thomas just how vulnerable he was at this moment because he was so frazzled that his hands were shaking. Charles frowned and then turned to glare at Thomas.
“Did you do your weird little time manipulation thing?” Charles asked. Thomas grinned, did not look even a little sorry, and held up his hands in surrender.
“If I didn’t, you wouldn’t have stayed to tell me everything I needed to know,” Thomas replied. Charles glared but turned his attention back to Edwin.
“I’m sorry; I wanted to try and fix this for you,” Charles said softly. Edwin had finally managed to calm himself down, and he understood what Charles was trying to say. He was driving himself a little mad, trying to fix whatever was wrong between them and Thomas. He hated that this bridge was still burned even after everything, and Edwin could understand why Charles wanted to try to solve that for him. Edwin had no idea if Thomas knew they were romantically involved, but he didn’t care right now because his partner had mirror-hopped across the world and willingly spent time with someone he disliked just to ease some of Edwin’s worries.
Even Charles looked slightly surprised when Edwin closed the distance between them and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, right there in the open, in front of someone who wasn’t Niko or Crystal. While others might know they were together, they didn’t do this sort of public display of affection much, mostly because Edwin wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. Holding Charkes’s hand was one thing; this was something else, but he really didn’t care right now.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Edwin said softly. Charles looked a little speechless and let Edwin pull him back toward Thomas, who was watching the two of them with a strange expression on his face.
“He told me everything,” Thomas said as he gestured to Charles. “Everything about your little stalker friend to how he targeted everyone and how I got mixed up in all of it. I have to say, it was a little flattering that someone thought I was worthy enough to target when targeting both of you.”
“Then we’re forgiven?” Edwin asked.
“Between your letters and what he said, you’re forgiven,” Thomas said, but he suddenly looked extremely serious. “I feel like I must forewarn you, boys, about something.” Edwin glanced at Charles, who looked just as confused as Edwin was by this sudden change in Thomas's demeanor. “Charles mentioned that you got to have a little one-on-one conversation with Death and Dream helped you deal with your stalker friend. He wasn’t specific, but it also seemed to allude that you’ve met a third member of the Endless and had a run-in with a Duke of hell. As a creature of Desire and a cat, I’ve run in the circles of multiple members of the Endless. You both also have seen that when the Endless have issues with each other, everyone else tends to suffer the repercussions.
“The Endless call themselves siblings, but what they see as petty squabbles can be apocalyptic to the rest of us,” Thomas continued. “You’re running around with those who can end entire eras of humanity on a whim, and you’re on the radar of hell in more than one way. I find myself quite fond of both of you, and I’d hate to see you become collateral damage in a fight between the Endless.”
Vaguely, Edwin could feel Charles’s hand in his own, and it was so tight that if they had bones to break, they would break. Something about Thomas’s expression made Edwin realize just how serious he was. This was not the trickster or flirt they had met; this was a powerful being forewarning others of the consequences of getting too close to the Endless.
“Thank you, Thomas, we’ll be careful,” Edwin managed to say. Thomas nodded to him and then looked at Charles.
“From one protector to another.”
+++
Charles did his best to maintain his composure as he walked through Port Townsend with Edwin. He was annoyed that Thomas had manipulated things and made Edwin worry like that, but how he looked at them and explained why they should be worried about their connections to the Endless wouldn’t get out of his head. On some level, he knew that they were all essentially gods, but it was another thing to hear someone say it and point out just how badly everyone else could suffer if they decided to start fighting. Dream missing from his realm caused the Sleepy Sickness, and that killed countless people for over 100 years; what else could happen if someone decided that Death should no longer collect souls?
“I’m sorry,” Charles said apropos of nothing, and Edwin raised an eyebrow. They weren’t holding hands, but they were walking close enough that their arms and hands were brushing together. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I really thought I’d be back here for a tick and then come back to London without you even knowing.”
“Thomas did something similar to you when we first met him if my memory serves correctly,” Edwin replied, and he didn’t sound mad. The manic energy he had when he first burst into the warehouse was also gone. “So evening the score does sound like something he would do. And I know you wouldn’t ever do something to worry me purposely. I know you were trying to fix something you could see was bothering me.”
“Of course, I would,” Charles said like there was any other possible option. They finally got to a mirror that could take them back to the office. Charles dropped his bag off and was about to ask Edwin what the plan was for today when he heard the seldomly used deadbolt on the door lock. When Charles turned around to ask Edwin why he was locking the door when the girls would be arriving in a couple of hours, Edwin was in his space and kissing the non-existent breath from his lungs.
He was struck a little dumb for half a second until his brain managed to reboot, but Edwin had a plan by the time Charles had caught up. One second, he was being kissed, and the next, Charles was being shoved down onto their couch. He was about to ask Edwin what brought all of this on when Charles saw that desperate look in his partner’s eye. It seemed that the time he spent worrying that Charles was lost still affected him, but Edwin wouldn’t talk about it just yet. He needed a different kind of reminder that Charles was here, whole, fine, and his.
Edwin climbed into Charles’s lap and kissed him hard enough that if they were alive, it would have left their lips bruised. It was easy to sit back and let Edwin take what he needed to feel better, which seemed to include the two of them having as little space between them as possible. It was hard to remove any clothing because they both seemed reluctant to stop kissing for any reason, but they managed to shed everything but their pants. Charles wasn’t sure who was more distracted by all of the skin on display, but it was enough to make everything slow down just enough.
Even though they had been together for quite a while now, they hadn’t taken their physical relationship to that final step just yet. As far as Charles was concerned, they had all the time in the world to get to everything, and he wasn’t in a rush. Edwin was clearly bothered by the events of tonight, and Charles didn’t think right now was the best time. The first time they kissed, the first time they touched each other, all of them were under less-than-ideal circumstances, and he wanted some aspect of this to be special without any other emotions tainting the moment.
“Love,” Charles whispered against Edwin’s lips as they slowly rolled their hips, “what do you need?”
“You,” Edwin said like that answer didn’t break Charles’s brain a little to this day. Crystal and Niko liked to say they could almost read each other’s minds so Charles wasn’t that surprised when they both began to undo the other’s trousers. They had done this before, but Charles still gasped when Edwin touched him. Edwin’s hands were stupidly talented and distracting, but Charles managed to get his hand inside Edwin’s trousers.
From there, it was a little more frantic and desperate than any previous time they had touched each other. Their foreheads were pressed together and they weren’t really kissing anymore, just occasionally brushing their lips against each other. It seemed that Edwin was not the only one on edge because all it took was one well-timed bite to Charles’s lower lip, and he was crying out. That seemed to be the tipping point for Edwin as well. Charles knew neither of them needed to breathe, but in moments like this, their bodies forgot, and they gasped for air as if they had just run a marathon.
“I love you,” Edwin said softly, “I love you, and I need you safe.”
“I love you too,” Charles replied, “and I need you protected.” There was a lot to unpack with those statements, and Charles knew they were both still damaged and more than a little broken by recent and past events, but they had each other, and that was enough. Charles rolled the two of them over so they were lying side by side on the couch, with no space between them, so they could each look and touch to their hearts' content. They had gotten dressed and cleaned up enough, but neither of them said a word when the girls tried to open the door, found it locked and loudly vowed to come back after lunch.
Charles thought they would be okay by lunch, but for now, he knew neither was inclined to move.
Part 4 of More Than Endless Repetition
Notes: Hello everyone, and welcome to another one-shot in this series. I had a hard time actually starting this one after loudly proclaiming to Discord how short this fic was going to be. Yes, my clown makeup is on point, thank you for asking. Anyway, if you're new here, I will do my best to explain the events of previous stories in this series as best I can so you can read this as a standalone. I still have more one-shot ideas and maybe an idea for a longer fic if I decide I like the idea. Comments and kudos mean the world, and then some, to me, so thank you in advance. I'm over on Tumblr and do try to share previews when I'm working on fics. Also open to prompts.
Author: me
Word Count: 5,596
Characters/Pairings: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland, Cat King & Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Cat King & Charles Rowland, Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Charles Rowland, Cat King
Warnings: Sexual Content, Kissing, Character Study, relationship dynamics, Co-Dependency, no beta we die like edwin and Charles, can be read as a standalone, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst
Summary: After everything that had happened, their falling out with the Cat King hadn't been resolved yet. Edwin desperately wants everything to get back in order and return to normal to regain that sense of control. Charles would do anything to ease even a few of Edwin's many worries. The Cat King wasn't thrilled about being pulled into the Dead Boy Detective's shenanigans, but he might be willing to listen if the right dead boy comes along and explains it.
Never Try To Outstubborn A Cat
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.” - Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
When it came to everything that had happened to them over the last year or so, Charles understood why Edwin wanted to get things back to the way they were before. Edwin liked order above all else; it was why their office was so organized. The reason that Edwin probably liked that order had something to do with the lack of control and disorder he experienced in hell. Or at least, that was what Charles thought could be going on. He wasn’t actually sure, but he did do plenty of reading about post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma responses once he realized that Edwin was so deep in denial about his own brain that he wouldn’t even put a name to it.
So Edwin liked control, and Port Townsend and everything following it was just a lot of Edwin losing control and needing to reset all of the small details in their lives to make room for new people. It was a big change to have Crystal and Niko around all the time, and when it felt like everything was getting settled, everything with Quentin started happening. Charles admitted to himself much later that he never considered the idea that someone might be unhappy with their work in helping people move on. Quentin very much had a problem with them and spent months systematically trying to destroy everything they both loved.
It didn’t work, and in the end, it forced Charles to confront his own feelings about Edwin and brought them together romantically. However, that was another change his partner needed to deal with. While the shift between them felt very natural, it was still a shift, so Charles let Edwin deal with it the best way he could. First, Edwin made sure Crystal and Niko were both safe and back in their home with as little fallout from the incident as possible.
The girls didn’t hold anything that happened against them, which made this easier, but they weren’t so lucky elsewhere. Johanna Constantine had set up a very impressive ward on Jenny’s shop, which seemed to be helping her adjust. She was the first one hurt by all of this, and she hadn’t forgiven them. However, not long after an incident with a demon that nearly took Johanna’s life and possibly both of their afterlives, Jenny was letting them come around again. Whatever Johanna did seemed to be helping, and she treated them as she had before all of this happened. As far as Charles was concerned, that was about the best they could probably hope for, considering the circumstances.
So they had figured out the new normal for the people they knew Before and the new normal for the people After they had to deal with Quentin aside from one. Charles wasn’t surprised that Edwn was bothered by the fact that the Cat King, Thomas, wasn’t replying to his letters. He’d been sending them since they were all but run out of town to absolutely no avail. Before, Charles would have been bothered by this and stewed in jealous silence that he refused to name as “jealous” and hid behind the idea of safety. He knew better now. He and Edwin were forever, and that was before Charles pulled his head out of his ass. No one would get in the way of that, so he really didn’t have any reason to worry.
Charles also trusted Edwin more than he trusted anyone else, so it was fine.
Edwin was still trying to get Thomas to reply to them, to him, but it wasn’t working. Charles wouldn’t tell him to stop, but he was thinking about it, not because of any jealousy or safety concerns, but more that he understood why Thomas reacted the way he did. Edwin didn’t take the “king” part of that title literally, but Charles very much did. A king’s job was to protect above anything else, and that was what Thomas was doing; he was protecting his people from threats. Charles wasn’t about to begrudge someone for that, and while he didn’t exactly get along with Thomas, their little fight seemed to have caught his attention, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“Hey Edwin,” Charles said as Edwin was working on yet another letter that he was trying to hide from Charles and doing a piss poor job of it. “I’m going to go for a walk around the city for a bit, want to come?” Edwin visibly tensed, and this was another thing that had changed in the After times. Not long ago, before Port Townsend, before Esther, before Quentin, they could spend some time apart, and it wouldn’t be a problem. Now, Charles knew they were hesitant to let the other out of their sight. However, they did need to take some alone time, or they would drive each other mad. It made Charles anxious, too, but Edwin suggested it the last time they did this, so it was his turn.
“No,” Edwin replied, though he hardly sounded confident about that decision. “I think I will stay here and do a little work. I do insist you bring your backpack with you, though.” Charles walked into Edwin’s space, all but looming over him. Edwin remained seated, but Charles was standing and smiling.
“Of course, love,” he replied. Charles loved doing little things he knew would drive Edwin just a little mad, and that tone of voice was one of them. That was how he found himself yanked down by his chain and kissed within an inch of his life. If Edwin’s goal was to distract him so he wouldn’t leave, he very nearly achieved it, and Charles gave himself a gold star for ending the kiss. Edwin shifted just enough to cup Charles’s face in his hands and gently kiss his forehead. That motion somehow left Charles even more breathless than the kiss two seconds ago.
“Be safe,” Edwin whispered into his skin. Charles smiled and walked out into the city.
+++
Like most old cities, London had quite a lot of the lingering dead running around. It was just how things were when dealing with something as old as this. The younger the city, the fewer deaths and the fewer members of the dead that would stay behind. Then there was everything else, and sometimes Charles had a hard time remembering what fact and fiction were because it all seemed so insane. Then, the most logical conversation of, “If X exists, it stands to reason that Y would too,” which was a whole other rabbit hole that Edwin was a lot better at dealing with than he was.
Charles liked to just walk the city and see what he saw wandering around. There were a few members of the dead that they kept in touch with regularly, and Charles liked checking in with them to see if they had any new gossip to share. The dead often had little to do but gossip, so if you wanted to know something, ask a ghost who would like to hang out nearby. They probably saw something and wanted to tell anyone about it.
So, if anyone asked, he was paying attention, but cats were quick, and he didn’t realize one of them had scratched him until it was over. Charles swore and looked down an alley where a cat sat very calmly.
“Did you have to do that?” Charles asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Yes,” the cat replied without hesitating. “I needed to get your attention so you would follow me.”
“Why would I follow you?” Charles asked if cats could shrug, and this cat shrugged.
“We can argue about this, or we can skip all of that bollocks, and you can just follow me. I’m a bloody cat; I can’t hurt you beyond a scratch,” the cat said. Charles didn’t point out that the cat could be leading him to something that could hurt him, but he wasn’t in the mood to argue. He pulled out his cricket bat and raised an eyebrow at the cat when it stared at it. It wordlessly turned around and walked into the alley. Charles followed behind but kept his distance and kept his eye out for anything that wanted to jump out at him. There wasn’t anything hiding in the shadows and nothing on the ground that could catch him. It was just a normal alley.
Whatever he expected when he turned the corner, it certainly wasn’t a mirror. It was extremely old, and the frame was so rusted that it looked like it might break if you touched it. The glass, however, looked perfect, if a little dirty. The cat was sitting by the mirror, staring at him and waiting.
“I’m just the messenger,” the cat said. “I was told to find the ghost detective and tell him that he’s been asked to come to Port Townsend.”
“I think you got the wrong dead boy, mate, but I can go grab my partner, and we can sort this out,” Charles replied. It wasn’t surprising that Thomas wouldn’t just send another letter like a human would.
“Nope, I have the right one. The description was extremely specific, talking about your hair and clothes, and they even warned me to stay away from the bat you’re carrying,” the cat said.
“All right, then I need to go get my partner--”
“The invitation was for you and you alone, no one else,” the cat interrupted. This also sounded like something Thomas would do, considering the last time they interacted with him. Charles also knew that pissing him off was probably not the right move, and he had ways to get home or get word back to London if the worst should happen. He didn’t think Thomas would summon him to Port Townsend to do something bad, but weirder things have happened.
Charles also knew that Edwin was invested in this friendship with Thomas for reasons that he absolutely did not understand, and if this was a trick, Charles wanted to be the one to bear the brunt of it. Edwin didn’t even need to know it happened because it wasn’t just physical dangers Charles was willing to protect his partner from. If he told Edwin or the girls about this, they would either insist on coming or freak out, so the only option was to go alone, which was also the stupid option.
Charles liked to think he’d made it this far, making a lot of stupid decisions, so this one would probably going to turn out all right.
He narrowed his eyes at the cat but didn’t say anything. It took him a minute to figure out how to get the mirror to work. Edwin was always so much faster at it than he was, but before long, he was strolling through the mirror and back into the empty flat Crystal used to live in. It appeared renovations were still ongoing, and the cat waiting for him at the door indicated that he was expected.
Charles kept his bat in hand but followed the cat without saying a word. Even if Thomas invited him here, they didn’t end things on the best terms, so it was probably a good idea to play it safe. So he let a cat escort him across town to the docks, where they all scattered the moment he phased through the door, bat still in hand. Thomas was waiting on his wooden throne and grinned when he saw Charles walk in.
“Charlie-boy, I see you got my message,” Thomas said.
“I’ve said, more than once now, not to call me that,” Charles replied. “Yeah, I got your message, and nice little scratch on my ankle to prove it. Care to explain all of this?”
“I was just wondering why I’ve been getting all sorts of letters from Edwin and not a single one from you. I thought we were friends now.” Thomas had the height advantage due to the throne, which Charles did not like, and he used it to leer in a way that set Charles’s teeth on edge. He thought about all of the many responses he could give to that question ranging from “fuck off” to longwinded explanations. He decided to go with the one that made the most sense to him.
“I was respecting another protector's wishes to keep those around them safe,” Charles replied. Whatever Thomas was expecting him to say, it was not that, and Charles mentally patted himself on the back for getting one over on the Cat King of all people. He even managed to do it without using a single weapon. Thomas stared at him like he was seeing Charles for the first time.
“Yes, I suppose you would understand that,” Thomas whispered. He seemed to visibly pull himself together, but the creature sitting in front of him resembled the one that earnestly asked for their help and not the one that slithered into his space and something about snatching Edwin up. “Edwin’s been telling me bits and pieces about what happened from his perspective, but you know how he is. If you’re willing, I’d like to hear it from you,” Thomas said as Charles raised an eyebrow. “From one protector to another.”
“Fine,” Charles said a bit begrudgingly, but it could be worse if this was what it took to mend this final burnt bridge and help Edwin settle down. “Get me a chair, and let’s get this over with as fast as possible. I need to get back.”
+++
Edwin was doing his damnest not to panic because he knew, in the back of his mind, that panicking wouldn’t get him anywhere. Ever since Port Townsend and getting snatched back to hell, he was reluctant to leave Charles’s side. Somehow, it seemed safer to have him near, and maybe Edwin could protect Charles from everything that wanted to diminish him. It was bad after Port Townsend and worse after Quentin and his mad quest for revenge against the two of them, but the recent encounter with a demon had set Edwin nearly over the edge.
He always knew that people would try to use the two of them against each other. They both had glaring weak points, which anyone could exploit. For some reason, Edwin never considered that hell could try to use Charles against him until he encountered the demon. It was a Duke, and it was giddy when it told Edwin that all of hell knew about them and was looking forward to dragging them both down into the pit. He thought Charles was safe because he was never actually damned or claimed in any way, but they must have found a loophole, or the rules didn’t matter. Either way, hell had its sights set on both of them now, making Edwin feel sick even if he had no stomach.
Edwin also knew that he and Charles couldn’t be in each other’s pockets all the time, or they would start to fight. It didn’t matter how much he might love his partner; Edwin sometimes needed space, and Charles did too. So when Charles said he was taking a walk, something he always did, Edwin was nervous but forced himself to say “yes.” They couldn’t spend the rest of their time on Earth afraid of what might happen. Charles could take care of himself, and this was fine.
That was what Edwin told himself for the first hour and then the second. By hour three, he started panicking, and by hour four, he was somehow beyond panic.
It was early morning, so the girls would be sleeping, and the only person he could think of who was awake, could see him and knew his dynamic with Charles was Jenny. She was up early to prep and open the shop; it was that time, so Edwin hopped to the store and walked up to the door leading into Jenny’s back room. He was about to phase through when he remembered what Charles said about knocking and doing their version of it.
“Jenny, if you are awake, I would like to speak to you about something,” Edwin said. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she would open the door, but eventually, Jenny was staring at him with a deeply unimpressed look on her face.
“Edwin, do you have any idea what time it is? Do you even still have the concept of time?” she asked.
“Charles went for a walk four hours ago and has not returned. We are trying to spend some time apart because it is good for our dynamic, both working and romantically, and I need to know if I am breaking some sort of social faux pas and he’ll be cross with me if I start looking for him because I am worried,” Edwin blurted out, completely bypassing the time statement even if his first instinct was to correct her. Jenny blinked, and something in her features softened a little.
“Sometimes I forget you’re just a pair of kids,” she said softly. Edwin was about to correct her, saying that he and Charles were technically older than she was, but Jenny didn’t give him the chance. “Look, Edwin, you and Charles have, well, I feel like saying ‘you’ve been through hell’ is somehow downplaying everything since you’ve literally been through hell. Charles won’t care about any social faux pas, and even if you are overstepping, he’ll just tell you and not make a big deal about it because he knows, more than anyone, why you’d be worried.”
“I believe you are correct, and I just needed to hear it from someone else,” Edwin replied after a beat of silence. “I will start looking for him. Thank you for your help, Jenny.” He turned to walk away to just leave, but Jenny called out his name.
“If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know,” she said. Edwin blinked because that was the first time Jenny had acknowledged that she might want to be involved in their “supernatural shenanigans,” as she often referred to them. Since she was hurt and her shop broke into because Quentin wanted revenge on them, Jenny wanted distance, and now she was offering help. This was one of those moments where Charles would know exactly what to say, but Edwin didn’t, so he just nodded and mirror-hopped back to the office.
Perhaps jumping right to a location spell was extreme, but Edwin was impatient and saw no reason to wander around London if he could avoid it. Charles left plenty of his things lying around, so it wasn’t hard to find one: the lantern from the night they met and the one Charles brought down to hell. It was an object they were both connected to, making it ideal for locating either of them depending on who was missing. Edwin was ready to finish this spell, grab Charles, and have all of this sorted by the time the girls showed up in the mid to late morning.
That was the plan until the locating spell didn’t work. Edwin continued to do his best not to panic and tried to extend the parameters of the spell as large as possible. Charles did like to wander to the far side of the city, but there was nothing. Plan A was not working, so it was time for Plan B. While the locating spell was one way of going about this, Edwin could just track Charles through the city until he found his location. Maybe there was a simple explanation for why the location spell wasn’t working.
While it had been hours since Charles had left, ghosts carried a unique energy signature, and under the right conditions, they left a trail that was easy enough to follow. They usually tried to avoid leaving trails like this, but Charles was on a walk, so there wasn’t any need to cover his spectral tracks. Edwin could follow the trail fairly easily, which made no sense. Charles seemed to be on a regular walk, so why was he missing? Things didn’t change until Charles made a sharp turn into an alleyway. Edwin frowned but followed the trail down until it went cold in front of a large, extremely rusted mirror.
“Oh, it’s the other one,” a voice said from behind him. Edwin turned around and saw a small cat sitting in a corner.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked.
“The other ghost. I was told about you, so I knew which one I was supposed to talk to,” the cat replied.
“My partner is missing, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could please explain what you mean,” Edwin said, trying to keep his voice even. He knew better than to try to mess with a cat.
“I’m just the messenger. I was told to tell the other dead boy to take the mirror to Port Townsend because the Cat King wanted an audience. He wanted to see that dead boy only.” The cat sounded bored, but Edwin was trying not to pass out. Thomas summoned Charles to Port Townsend. Edwin had spent weeks trying to explain everything that had happened to Thomas, and as far as he knew, Thomas hadn’t acknowledged a single letter he had sent. Thomas had forbidden them from coming to Port Townsend the last they heard.
He didn’t wait for the cat to explain anything else; he mirror-hopped and landed in the apartment Crystal used to live in. There wasn’t any time to waste because Thomas summoning Charles to Port Townsend alone, and Charles not coming back for hours was a recipe for disaster. Thomas was a trickster, and as Edwin sprinted down the street to the dock, all he could think about was that Charles was tricked into coming here, and Thomas would be furious that he was there at all. He hadn’t ever seen the two of them truly get along, and Thomas asking for Charles instead of him didn’t make any sense.
Edwin was panicking now and was more than willing to admit it. So when he all but ran through the door into the warehouse where Thomas liked to set up court, a spell on his lips, Edwin was ready to do whatever he needed to get Charles back. Whatever he was expecting wasn’t what was in front of him. Thomas was casually sitting on his throne like he didn’t have a care in the world; his feet kicked up on a crate. That was not surprising. What was surprising was that Charles was also sitting in a chair, his feet kicked up on the same crate, and he appeared perfectly fine. Thomas smirked when he ran in, but Charles turned around and frowned.
“Edwin?” he asked. That voice was enough to snap Edwin back to reality, and he maybe started to run to Charles. Whatever his partner saw on his face must have been worrying because Charles was on his feet in a second and met Edwin halfway, pulling him into a tight hug. He felt fine, and there wasn’t any on or around him that seemed to indicate that he was hurt or bound. Charles looked just as he did when he stepped out of the office for his walk. “Edwin, what happened? I just went for a walk; I’ve only been gone an hour.”
“You’ve been gone for five hours,” Edwin managed to say. He really didn’t care that he was showing Thomas just how vulnerable he was at this moment because he was so frazzled that his hands were shaking. Charles frowned and then turned to glare at Thomas.
“Did you do your weird little time manipulation thing?” Charles asked. Thomas grinned, did not look even a little sorry, and held up his hands in surrender.
“If I didn’t, you wouldn’t have stayed to tell me everything I needed to know,” Thomas replied. Charles glared but turned his attention back to Edwin.
“I’m sorry; I wanted to try and fix this for you,” Charles said softly. Edwin had finally managed to calm himself down, and he understood what Charles was trying to say. He was driving himself a little mad, trying to fix whatever was wrong between them and Thomas. He hated that this bridge was still burned even after everything, and Edwin could understand why Charles wanted to try to solve that for him. Edwin had no idea if Thomas knew they were romantically involved, but he didn’t care right now because his partner had mirror-hopped across the world and willingly spent time with someone he disliked just to ease some of Edwin’s worries.
Even Charles looked slightly surprised when Edwin closed the distance between them and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, right there in the open, in front of someone who wasn’t Niko or Crystal. While others might know they were together, they didn’t do this sort of public display of affection much, mostly because Edwin wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. Holding Charkes’s hand was one thing; this was something else, but he really didn’t care right now.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Edwin said softly. Charles looked a little speechless and let Edwin pull him back toward Thomas, who was watching the two of them with a strange expression on his face.
“He told me everything,” Thomas said as he gestured to Charles. “Everything about your little stalker friend to how he targeted everyone and how I got mixed up in all of it. I have to say, it was a little flattering that someone thought I was worthy enough to target when targeting both of you.”
“Then we’re forgiven?” Edwin asked.
“Between your letters and what he said, you’re forgiven,” Thomas said, but he suddenly looked extremely serious. “I feel like I must forewarn you, boys, about something.” Edwin glanced at Charles, who looked just as confused as Edwin was by this sudden change in Thomas's demeanor. “Charles mentioned that you got to have a little one-on-one conversation with Death and Dream helped you deal with your stalker friend. He wasn’t specific, but it also seemed to allude that you’ve met a third member of the Endless and had a run-in with a Duke of hell. As a creature of Desire and a cat, I’ve run in the circles of multiple members of the Endless. You both also have seen that when the Endless have issues with each other, everyone else tends to suffer the repercussions.
“The Endless call themselves siblings, but what they see as petty squabbles can be apocalyptic to the rest of us,” Thomas continued. “You’re running around with those who can end entire eras of humanity on a whim, and you’re on the radar of hell in more than one way. I find myself quite fond of both of you, and I’d hate to see you become collateral damage in a fight between the Endless.”
Vaguely, Edwin could feel Charles’s hand in his own, and it was so tight that if they had bones to break, they would break. Something about Thomas’s expression made Edwin realize just how serious he was. This was not the trickster or flirt they had met; this was a powerful being forewarning others of the consequences of getting too close to the Endless.
“Thank you, Thomas, we’ll be careful,” Edwin managed to say. Thomas nodded to him and then looked at Charles.
“From one protector to another.”
+++
Charles did his best to maintain his composure as he walked through Port Townsend with Edwin. He was annoyed that Thomas had manipulated things and made Edwin worry like that, but how he looked at them and explained why they should be worried about their connections to the Endless wouldn’t get out of his head. On some level, he knew that they were all essentially gods, but it was another thing to hear someone say it and point out just how badly everyone else could suffer if they decided to start fighting. Dream missing from his realm caused the Sleepy Sickness, and that killed countless people for over 100 years; what else could happen if someone decided that Death should no longer collect souls?
“I’m sorry,” Charles said apropos of nothing, and Edwin raised an eyebrow. They weren’t holding hands, but they were walking close enough that their arms and hands were brushing together. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I really thought I’d be back here for a tick and then come back to London without you even knowing.”
“Thomas did something similar to you when we first met him if my memory serves correctly,” Edwin replied, and he didn’t sound mad. The manic energy he had when he first burst into the warehouse was also gone. “So evening the score does sound like something he would do. And I know you wouldn’t ever do something to worry me purposely. I know you were trying to fix something you could see was bothering me.”
“Of course, I would,” Charles said like there was any other possible option. They finally got to a mirror that could take them back to the office. Charles dropped his bag off and was about to ask Edwin what the plan was for today when he heard the seldomly used deadbolt on the door lock. When Charles turned around to ask Edwin why he was locking the door when the girls would be arriving in a couple of hours, Edwin was in his space and kissing the non-existent breath from his lungs.
He was struck a little dumb for half a second until his brain managed to reboot, but Edwin had a plan by the time Charles had caught up. One second, he was being kissed, and the next, Charles was being shoved down onto their couch. He was about to ask Edwin what brought all of this on when Charles saw that desperate look in his partner’s eye. It seemed that the time he spent worrying that Charles was lost still affected him, but Edwin wouldn’t talk about it just yet. He needed a different kind of reminder that Charles was here, whole, fine, and his.
Edwin climbed into Charles’s lap and kissed him hard enough that if they were alive, it would have left their lips bruised. It was easy to sit back and let Edwin take what he needed to feel better, which seemed to include the two of them having as little space between them as possible. It was hard to remove any clothing because they both seemed reluctant to stop kissing for any reason, but they managed to shed everything but their pants. Charles wasn’t sure who was more distracted by all of the skin on display, but it was enough to make everything slow down just enough.
Even though they had been together for quite a while now, they hadn’t taken their physical relationship to that final step just yet. As far as Charles was concerned, they had all the time in the world to get to everything, and he wasn’t in a rush. Edwin was clearly bothered by the events of tonight, and Charles didn’t think right now was the best time. The first time they kissed, the first time they touched each other, all of them were under less-than-ideal circumstances, and he wanted some aspect of this to be special without any other emotions tainting the moment.
“Love,” Charles whispered against Edwin’s lips as they slowly rolled their hips, “what do you need?”
“You,” Edwin said like that answer didn’t break Charles’s brain a little to this day. Crystal and Niko liked to say they could almost read each other’s minds so Charles wasn’t that surprised when they both began to undo the other’s trousers. They had done this before, but Charles still gasped when Edwin touched him. Edwin’s hands were stupidly talented and distracting, but Charles managed to get his hand inside Edwin’s trousers.
From there, it was a little more frantic and desperate than any previous time they had touched each other. Their foreheads were pressed together and they weren’t really kissing anymore, just occasionally brushing their lips against each other. It seemed that Edwin was not the only one on edge because all it took was one well-timed bite to Charles’s lower lip, and he was crying out. That seemed to be the tipping point for Edwin as well. Charles knew neither of them needed to breathe, but in moments like this, their bodies forgot, and they gasped for air as if they had just run a marathon.
“I love you,” Edwin said softly, “I love you, and I need you safe.”
“I love you too,” Charles replied, “and I need you protected.” There was a lot to unpack with those statements, and Charles knew they were both still damaged and more than a little broken by recent and past events, but they had each other, and that was enough. Charles rolled the two of them over so they were lying side by side on the couch, with no space between them, so they could each look and touch to their hearts' content. They had gotten dressed and cleaned up enough, but neither of them said a word when the girls tried to open the door, found it locked and loudly vowed to come back after lunch.
Charles thought they would be okay by lunch, but for now, he knew neither was inclined to move.
Part 4 of More Than Endless Repetition
Notes: Hello everyone, and welcome to another one-shot in this series. I had a hard time actually starting this one after loudly proclaiming to Discord how short this fic was going to be. Yes, my clown makeup is on point, thank you for asking. Anyway, if you're new here, I will do my best to explain the events of previous stories in this series as best I can so you can read this as a standalone. I still have more one-shot ideas and maybe an idea for a longer fic if I decide I like the idea. Comments and kudos mean the world, and then some, to me, so thank you in advance. I'm over on Tumblr and do try to share previews when I'm working on fics. Also open to prompts.