TW: mentions of self harm. nobody does it in this chapter but there is mentions of it.
A/N: shoutout to StephanieCruzado9
For the Peanuts Marathon Idea for the last chapter!
Also, yall should check out
sleepypubby 's story! It's an adorable ageregression story!!! It has Goblins and a cute racoon uwu I think you guys would love it!❤
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"Boys! Time for dinner!" Mia shouted from the kitchen. Charlie stired awake. When his eyes fluttered open he saw that he was in Alex's arms. He quickly realised that his thumb was in his mouth. He gasped and pulled it away, wiping it off on his hoodie. His cheecks burned with embarassment.
"Hey" Alex whispered to him. "If it makes you feel any better... I'm terrified of the dark still". Charlie looked up at him. Alex? Scared of the dark? "You don't have anything to worry about Charlie. I don't judge. Now come on, I'm starving".
Charlie gave him a small smile and they got up from the couch.
"There you are" Mia chuckled as they walked into the kitchen. "We were worried you got lost" she joked. "Hope you guys are hungry".
"Very!" Alex said having a seat. Charlie giggled and sat in his seat next to Alex.
Once everyone was seated, they all dug in.
"So Alex" Mia said looking over to the boy who was in the process of shoveling in a spoonfull. "Your mother tells me you have a job at a coffee shop. How's that going for you?"
"Pretty good" Alex said after swallowing. "My co-workers are nice, It's quiet most of the time, and every now and then I get to experiment with different coffee flavors".
"Good!" Mia said smiling "It's good you found a job you like".
"Yup!" Alex beamed. "And I owe it all to Charlie". Charlie looked up from his plate and blushed. "He gave me the extra push I needed when I got nervous". The blonde added. He looked over to Charlie. "Thanks for that". Charlie smiled and waved his hand at him as if to say 'It was nothing'.
"Nah, really" Alex continued "If it weren't for you I'd probably would have bailed the second I heard the word Interview"
"Ah don't feel bad hun" Heather said. "I was a reck with my first ever job interview. I stumbled over almost every word and I was probably sweating more than a sprinkler. Didn't get hired, although looking back on it now I'm kinda glad I didn't. The place ended up going out of buisness just two months afterwards due to health vialations. So much for having another pizza place" She laughed.
"Speaking of jobs" Alex started. "Mom, since I've picked up a job now, that means you won't be working overtime so much right?"
Heather's smile faded. "Oh, honey...Is that why you got a job?...because of me?"
"I did it for you mom" Alex replied.
"Alex...you didn't have to do that".
"Yes I did. You work too hard mom. I don't want you getting sick again" Alex said concerned. "Besides, I really like my job so I'd hardly call it work".
Heather's eyes suddenly became shiny with tears. "Oh, Alex...what did I ever do to diserve such an amazing son like you?"
Alex smiled sweetly at her. "I love you ma"
"I love you too dear" Heather replied. "Darn, this is ganna cause a mascara overflow" She laughed through her tears. She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the corners of her eyes.
"You have an amazing son" Mia said to her. Heather nodded in agreement while whiping her tears away.
The rest of dinner was occupied with conversations, laughter, and even a card game after desert (Chocolate pie) was served.
When it became dark out, Heather said they should be getting back.
Alex, not wanting to leave, leaned over to Charlie and whispered "Would it be okay with you if i spent the night?". Charlie gasped in excitement and nearly squeeled at the idea. He hopped up and down and nodded. "Awsome!" Alex cheered. He then went over to his mom who was getting her coat. "Um, mom? Mia?" He asked. "Would it be alright if I spent the night here?"
"Well" His mom started. "If it's okay with Mia then I don't see why not". Alex looked over to Mia. Charlie did the same and rubbed the bottom of his Teddy's feet, something he did for good luck.
"Ofcourse you can Alex!" Mia replied happily.
"Yes!" Alex shouted throwing his hands in the air. Charlie smiled and bounced on his toes. "Thanks Mom, thanks Mia".
"No problem hun, we'll enjoy your company" Mia replied. "You boys can stay here, I'm ganna drive Heather home".
"Okay" Alex said. He walked up to his mom and gave her a hug. "Bye mom, thanks again".
"Bye sweetie" Heather said before kissing him on the forehead.
"And no parties while we're gone!" Mia joked as they walked out the door.
"No promises" Alex said back as he closed the door behind them. He then turned to face Charlie with a huge smile. He ran up to him and hugged him tight. Charlie giggled and they hopped up and down together in excitement.
"So" Alex said pulling away from the hug. "What do you wanna do first?" Charlie put a finger up to his chin as he thought. His eyes lit up and he gasped when a brilliant idea came to him. "What is it?" Alex asked smiling. Charlie giggled and motioned for Alex to follow him up the stairs. Alex shrugged and climbed up the steps right behind him. Charlie lead him to his room. Alex waits by the door while Charlie goes over to his desk and starts to drag it closer to his bed. Then he goes over to his night stand and carefully unplugs the lava lamp and placing it on the floor before dragging the night stand closer to the chair. After Charlie starts to drag the blanket over the chair, Alex finally catches on. "Ohhhh, you wanna build a pillow fort!" Alex said walking over to help him. Charlie grins and nods his head. Together they drag the blanket over the chair and night stand, leaving some of it on the bed still. Alex goes over to the closet to see if he can find anything to hold the blanket down in place. Meanwhile, Charlie grabs all four pillows off his bed and places them inside the fort.
Alex comes back with a few books to hold the fort down, along with a blanket and more pillows for the floor. Within a few minutes, they have a pretty cozy fort to hang out in. They stand back to admire their work, double checking to see if was sturdy enough as well.
"Looks pretty good I'd say" Alex said.
"Mm-hm!" Charlie hummed in agreement.
They both crawled inside and sat criss-cross next to eachother. Alex reached over to his right and revealed a book, Alice in wonderland.
Charlie let out a small gasp and smiled. He patted his pockets, eagerly looking for his notepad and pencil. He fished them out of his front pocket and scribbled down a note speedy quick.
'That was my Mom's favorite!' He wrote.
"Aw really?" Alex said smiling. "It's one of my favorites too, under The Hobbit and all the Harry Potter books that is..." He trailed off and seemed to go off into his own little world. "I like a lot of fantasy books really, especially if they have dragons!" Alex continued. Charlie giggled, he could tell Alex had a passion for Dragons. He remembers seeing all the little dragon figurines on his bookshelf at his place. Alex pulled himself back to reality and looked over to Charlie. "What about you? Do you have a favorite book?" He asked.
Charlie looked down at his notepad and tapped the pencil on his lap while he gave it some thought. He hadn't really read any books in a while. He thought back to when his Mom used to read to him. He remembered a particular summer where she read Whinnie The Pooh books to him. She would read to him in bed, and sometimes during the day while they sat in the backyard. Charlie would lay down in the grass and relax under the sun's warmth while picturing Pooh's adventures in his head. Sometimes he would pretend his teddy was Pooh Bear herself and would act out the scenes as his Mother read. A smile appeared on his face and he wrote down his answer.
"Whinnie The Pooh huh?" Alex said. "I've never read those books but I've read enough quotes from it to know its good. Maybe I'll give it a try some time". Charlie smiled and nodded, knowing he would like it. "Anyway" Alex said looking down at the book in his hand. "I was gann read this, if you want I could read it out loud?" Charlie's heart fluttered. He nodded and scootched closer to Alex. "Okay.." Alex said, and began reading Chapter one. Charlie looked down at the book, looking at the illustrated pictures as he listened.
By the time Alex got to Chapter two, Charlie started to notice himself regressing again. He kind of enjoyed it this time though. He felt all warm and fuzzy, like he was on a cloud. It was almost like the first time he regressed while he was playing with his trains. He smiled to himself and started to sway back and forth a little. He was a little worried that Alex would notice his change in behaviour, but he felt so happy he almost didn't care.
As the minutes passed, Charlie grew more and more comfortable falling into little space.
Before he knew it, his thumb was in his mouth again. He used his other hand to play with the socks on his feet.
After the fith chapter, Alex decided to take a break from reading and closed the book. Charlie, who was too busy with playing with his feet, didn't notice Alex looking at him right away. The blonde watched as Charlie acted like a baby. He had to admit that it was a little strange as he had never seen anything like it before. But at the same time it was kinda cute too. Plus he picked up on the idea that it was used as a sort of coping mechanism for Charlie, and if it helped him, then he had no judgement. It was like how he drew in his sketchbook to cope with depression instead of turning to slef harm. Alex put a hand up to his arm which was covered by his sleeve. He hadn't self harmed for a while now, and he had Charlie to thank for that. Charlie was the one who threw away his razor, the very first time they met. He still has the urge to self harm every now and then, but he does his best to hold back.
Just then however, his old scars started to ache. This sort of feeling always brought Alex back into a dark headspace. The pain he felt in his scars were a burning reminder of how pathetic he was. Alex became very still as his mind began to shut down. His mind started to flood with dark thoughts.
'why are you so useless?'
'no-one likes you. your just a burden to them'
'You should jsut do what you always do and just c-'
His thoughts were inturupted by a pair of arms wrapping around him. He looked over to see Charlie hugging him, his head resting on his shoulder. Charlie, who was still in little space, had saw that his friend was upset and wanted to comfort him. Alex wasn't used to this. Every time he was depressed he was hidden away in his room or in a bathroom at school. He was always alone, forced to face his thoughts that would slowly tear him apart little by little. But now, having someone by his side...having someone hold him...all the numb feelings seemed to wash away. Alex was overcome with emotions and started to cry. Charlie felt Alex shaking and looked up. His heart dropped when he saw tears poring down Alex's cheecks. He sat himself up and pulled Alex in closer, allowing Alex to cry into his arms.
After almost seven minutes, Alex calms himself down. "I'm sorry" He sniffled. He stayed in Charlies arms, resting his head on his chest. "I'm just...a mess sometimes...thank you for being here for me". He looked up at Charlie and found himself looking deep into those soft blue eyes of his. When he realised that he had been staring he blushed and looked away. "Anyway uh..." He sat himself up and whiped the tears off his cheecks. He was going to continue his sentence but couldn't think of what to say. A few moments passed beofore Charlie got an idea. He crawled out of the fort and quickly headed down the stairs.
When he came back he had his Teddy bear in his arms. He crawled back under the fort and placed the bear in Alex's lap. Alex looked down at the bear and smiled a little. He picked it up and held it close to his chest. Charlie smiled and layed down, resting his head on Alex's lap.
Alex looked down at Charlie and placed a hand on the brunette's soft hair.
In a soft tone he said, "Thanks for all you do, Charlie".