Invisible String

Follow Through

Conversation came easily to the two men. Even in Charlie's vulnerable state, he began to open up as he and Nick sat on the couch, watching trash television and cuddling. He didn't necessarily open up too much emotionally, but rather socially. That smile that drove Nick crazy made more frequent appearances and he was even able to elicit a couple of giggles from the younger man. The sound of Charlie laughing rivaled all other sounds, in Nick's opinion.

"No, no, that one is Kelsey! She's the one who stole Olivia's boyfriend, and they used to be best friends!" Nick exclaimed as he explained the current drama in some reality TV show. 

Charlie laughed gently at Nick's enthusiasm and shook his head in disapproval, "That's diabolical, truly. At least it's all fake."

At this comment, Nick whipped his head to the side to make eye contact with Charlie, his mouth agape. "It's fake? No way, how could they make this up?! No, nope, I refuse to believe it. It's reality TV, it has the word real in the name!"

Charlie laughed again, the hardest he had laughed all day, and likely the hardest he had laughed in years. It still wasn't a truly carefree expression, but he was getting there, slowly but surely.

"Please don't tell me you actually thought that it was real! Nick, it's so obviously scripted. Entertaining? Sure. Genuine? Absolutely not."

Nick put on a fake pout and squeezed Charlie gently, his arm wrapped around the boy's frame as Charlie's head was positioned by his shoulder and his body was leaning against Nick's. 

"You could've just let me live in ignorance," Nick grumbled playfully.

His tone, however, was lost on Charlie. He immediately pulled back from Nick, sitting up and facing Nick but not looking at him, instead looking at his hands set in his lap.

"I'm so sorry," Charlie began. Nick didn't understand what happened, he looked at Charlie with concern and confusion written all over his face. "I shouldn't have- I ruined it- I'm so sorry!" Charlie whisper yelled as tears began to fall from his eyes. 

"Hey, hey, no..." Nick said softly as he reached for Charlie. His first instinct was to scoop Charlie up in his arms, to hold him close and never let him go again. Reality hit him like a truck when Charlie reacted by flinching, pulling himself even farther away from Nick.

'Right,' Nick thought grimly. 'That was their situation, Charlie wasn't Nick's... whatever... he was hurting and Nick needed to help him.'

He retracted his arms and turned his body to face Charlie, keeping his hands in his lap. "I wouldn't hurt you, Charlie. I'm not going to, ever." His voice sounded earnest to Charlie but the tears wouldn't stop flowing. He couldn't stop hearing Ben's voice: "You're nothing! You're nothing without me, whore! I'll be back- I'll be fucking back for you!" It was beginning to drown out everything- he was not safe. 

He isn't sure how long the two are sat across from each other, one panicking and one desperately trying to calm the other- "A few minutes," Nick would say later on when Charlie asked- but he is sure of what broke him out of his spiral.

A small thunk. "Charlie? I've just re-locked the door- did you hear it?"

Charlie turned to Nick, eyes wide and wet, and nodded slowly. Nick breaks out into the biggest smile that Charlie has seen him display yet and begins walking slowly back over to the couch.

"Hey, Char, how are you feelin'?" Nick asked gently as he sat back down across from the smaller boy. 

Charlie shrugged and scooted an inch or two forward, closer to Nick.

"Do you... I can hold you if you want, Char," Nick whispered.

Charlie nodded frantically then and all but lunged into Nick's lap, curling up like a scared kitten.

"I'm sorry..." Charlie whispered. "I didn't mean to like, freak out."

"Char... you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who should be sorry, I shouldn't have used that tone and I shouldn't have tried to touch you, I scared you, I... triggered you. And I'm sorry."

At this apology, a true expression of guilt on Nick's part- Charlie laughed. It wasn't like when he had been laughing as they watched TV, it was hollow and sounded sometimes like a sob. Nick watched him, confused and concerned. He was noticing that he felt those things a lot around the smaller man. Charlie's laughing subsided to tears in a few moments, him clinging tightly to the fabric of Nick's plaid pajama pants.

"No one's- no one's ever-" his voice was choked up and he stutter-sobbed his words, "Apologized to me... not- not like that."

He turns to look up at Nick, eyes full of something that Nick can't quite place. He doesn't realize that he began holding his breath as he locks a gaze with Charlie. "Earnest," Charlie said simply before taking a deep breath and his tears began to slow, "You're earnest."

Nick sucked in a breath, his stomach gently expanding against Charlie's chest, causing the younger to reposition, facing Nick now, and wrapping his arms around Nick's midsection.

Nick didn't know what to say. Charlie was like a pearl, Nick was the clam, protecting the most precious beauty the world could create. With this in mind, Nick proposed something to Charlie.

"Char.. what if we- I think it would be a good idea if we went to the police."

Charlie tensed, froze, and now it was his turn to hold his breath. He began shaking and shook his head furiously against Nick's stomach, having retreated his face to the soft fabric of Nick's grey sleep shirt. 

"I know it'll be scary," Nick began carefully, "But I heard what he said before he left. He really might try to come back. And I want to keep you safe, I do, but neither of us can stay in here for the rest of our lives, y'know?" Nick spoke softly, gently explaining his thought process.

"We can't," Charlie croaked, his tears soaking the side of Nick's shirt, "He'll be so cross... He said- he said he'd kill me..." Charlie's voice was now barely audible but those words hit Nick like a truck. He wrapped his arms tighter around Charlie and rubbed his back, going silent as he tried to think of an alternate plan. After a few minutes of thinking, he had what seemed like a pretty good idea.

He would have to check with Elle and Tao, of course, but he reckoned they would both be perfectly fine with taking Charlie in if he explained their situation. Charlie needed to be someplace that Ben couldn't find him, and Nick could handle Ben if he dared to show up again. It was pretty much a perfect plan. He just had to present it to Charlie.