Charlie’s thoughts (TBO-era), fluff
When did it start?
When did she start catching his eye?
Charlie stares after her, relishing the feeling of her skin against him, admiring the severity of her expression. She works hard and he… just watches.
Was it when she tried to bring him back to do that obstacle course? She fell backwards, and he was caught off guard by the squeak, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Her face, her pouting good humor! Even after rejecting everything from before, he was compelled to at least help her up.
He had done well to hide his disgust at touch to begin with, but being forced into close and constant contact with the party was awful. And aside from Thandi, the few contacts between his and others were violent and awful and… then he had been made a fool… Charlie grimaces.
Maybe not then.
Was it when Sylvanus laughed at him, broke him down in front of her, as if he knew that Charlie would be weak for her? Put them… so close…?
Was it just… how she treated him? Trying to guide him so gently away from what he now was learning was… less than stellar behavior?
Or was it the moment when she fell and he couldn’t just let her hit the ground?
When she hugged him?
When she fixed his hair?
When she didn’t laugh as his composure shattered?
Charlie feels his cheeks heat, the bracelet tightening on Thandi’s wrist as she works. She pauses and runs her fingers along it, comforting it, and him. It’s a reassurance. It’s a relief. He closes his eyes and decides not to ponder it. As long as it’s her, he needs it.
He… wants it.
A flower buds on her wrist and she smiles to herself, giving it a kiss. Her lips on him are a treasure.