It's better to burn than to fade away.

Henry hadn’t blamed Charlie for his initial response, after all he did just get soaked in his drink. He opened his mouth to apologize again when it seemed to register to Charlie who he was talking to, he just nodded in response and grabbed some napkins off the bar to help the other. “I really am sorry..I..I didn’t mean to dump that on you…”. He said once more, his hands shaking slightly as he tried to soak up some of the mess he made. What happened with Charlie had really hurt him and seeing him once again brought that all back.

"You didn’t mean to dump it on me?” Charlie scoffed lightly at Henry’s words. “Of all the people in this place, you just happened to spill your drink on the one person you don’t like?” he raised his brows, stopping Henry’s shaking hands as he tried to help clean him. “I got it--- I don’t need your help.” he set the damp napkins on the table he was at and sighed heavily at the stain on his shirt. Not to mention the fact that he now smelt like alcohol. “What are you doing here, Henry? Are you here by yourself?” the red head thought to ask.

Henry had a long day so he decided to go to the local bar and have a drink or two. Take the edge off some and relax. He was standing at the bar ordering his drink when he happened to turn to the side and his heart plummeted in to his stomach. Sitting right next to him was his ex Charlie. They had ended things because Henry wasn’t ready to come out. It had been awhile now, and they hadn’t spoken let alone see each other. He needed to get out of there. He grabbed his drink from the bar and hurriedly tried to rush away, but by doing so he accidentally spilled all over Charlie. He gasped “oh my gosh I’m so sorry” he exclaimed.

@ouchcharlxe

Charlie was minding his own business at the bar. He was only onto his second drink for the night and was going to head home after he’d finished it. The last thing he expected was to be covered in someone else’s drink. More specifically, his exes drink. “What the fuck, man!?” he shouted, the cold liquid soaking his shirt had shocked him, but he went quiet as soon as he realized who he was talking to. “Henry---” his initial thought was that Henry had deliberately spilled the drink on him, but the apology made him think otherwise. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just...a drink.” he sighed softly, grabbing a few napkins from the table to dab it on his shirt.

Bethany gave a short laugh, a wave of her head and a nod “yeah perfectly fine”. She responded. She wasn’t sure if that was the truth but this man didn’t need to know that nor did he probably care.

Charlie furrowed his brows when the woman spoke, leaning against the bar and facing her now. “You don’t seem fine at all....” he told her with a look of concern. “Tell me what’s wrong? Sometimes it’s good to vent to a total stranger...”

“Yeah, plenty of time” Isaac agreed, sometimes he wished he could read Charlie’s mind to know what the man was thinking but he knew that anything important he would always vocalise for him. Isaac stubbed out the cigarette so that he could stroke a hand down the side of the red head’s cheek. “If that is the case then you better never take it off” he grinned. “Hey, I had no idea I was going to actually ask you that night, but you were there for me and it just hit me and I needed to do it. Would you have honestly expected anything else from me?” he laughed, “Here we are, engaged” he smiled, kissing Charlie’s lips softly. Just at that moment the door opened and Even burst in, immediately jumping on the bed and giving his father a kiss before settling himself on Charlie’s lap, arms wrapped around the red head’s bare torso. “I love when Charlie stays the night with you Daddy, you always make better breakfast when he is here”

"I don’t think I’ll be taking it off anytime soon, Isaac.” Charlie laughed lightly. “Have you just been carrying this ring around with you where ever you go, waiting for the right moment to ask me?” the red head raised a brow and then smirked faintly, returning the kiss to his fiance’s lips and then turning his attention towards the door as the five year old boy ran into the room. When the child settled on Charlie’s lap, he raised his hand to gently brush his fingers through Even’s messed up hair. “Your hair is almost as wild as mine is, Ev---” he teased the child, looking back over at Isaac. “Maybe we should all make breakfast together this time? I bet it’ll taste a million times better than any breakfast you’ve ever had before.” Charlie suggested.

Carson gave Charlie’s arm a small squeeze as they walked up to the man’s mom’s house, “You are going to be okay yeah, she might be shocked but when she sees how happy you are it will all be okay, I bet”  @ouchcharlxe

Charlie stopped just outside the front door of his mom’s house. The same house Charlie had grown up in, his nerves getting the better of him. He began pacing, unsure of how his family were going to react to this news. He only had to tell his mom and his brother today, but they were the two most important people in Charlie’s life. “I don’t know, Car--- I mean, she hasn’t even met Isaac before and here I am getting engaged without her knowing...”

“I know I kinda sprung the whole proposal thing on you out of nowhere, so like, if you need to talk about anything we can…logistics and what not, there’s no rush though” Isaac said as he watched his fiancee stand up and open the window. Little things like that were what Isaac loved, the way Charlie was always thinking ahead. “Well I know you can handle me, right from the first time we hooked up, but you were like a man possessed last night” he teased, taking the cigarette back and pulling Charlie back down and into his arms. “I still can’t believe you said yes” 

“We’ve got plenty of time to discuss all of that, Isaac.” Charlie waved it off with a small smile. He still had to tell his mother and little brother about the engagement. And then also his father if he showed up in the city again. “I don’t know, babe. Maybe this ring gives me like....magical sex powers?” he laughed at his words, laying back down on the bed with the other man. “And I still can’t believe you thought handing me a ring box was a nice way to propose.” the red head teased, turning slightly so he was facing Isaac now. “But here we are...”

“I can just imagine it now, he’d get distracted by something and it would take hours to actually get through it” Isaac smirked back, offering his cigarette to his fiancee to take a drag as they lay in bed the morning after the proposal. “Also, where did you get the strength from last night? You were like a wild animal.” he teased.

"True, but it’d be cute.” Charlie smirked, taking the cigarette from Isaac and having a drag from it. He released the smoke into the air above them and then got out of bed to go open up a window so the smell of smoke wouldn’t linger in the room. “You think just because you’re older than me that I’m not as strong as you are? I can handle you, Isaac. Never forget that.” he playfully winked, taking another drag from the cigarette before handing it back to him.

“If you can provide the weed then i’ll provide the alcohol.”

"I can definitely provide the weed. Where are we doing this?”

Bethany looked over to the other man when she saw him talking out of the corner of her eye. She squinted a bit to try to make out what he was saying. Since she was deaf, she had to rely on lip reading. This guy probably only wanted in to her pants, like so many before him. But it was part of the job. Sort of. “Bethany”. She responded simply as she took in the stranger.

Charlie furrowed his brows when the woman squinted at him, but easily brushed it off. “Are you okay, Bethany?” he thought to ask, realizing that the woman looked a little tired, maybe?

“Yeah, just a little nervous to tell my family.”

“Yes?”

“Guess I should start thinking about wedding plans? Pretty sure my five year old is going to want to officiate it though” Isaac laughed, an unusual aura of happiness around him.

"Maybe you should let him officiate it.” Charlie raised his brows and smirked.

“You can be in charge of the photos I’ll be in charge of the book, I’ll write down everything we do and say. Then we can put it all together in a giant scrap book.” Carson grinned eagerly at the idea, he loved trips and he loved his roommate, so this was a winning combination. “Are you serious? He asked you to marry him?” Carson was flabbergasted but also immensely happy for his best friend. “And you said yes! Oh my god, this is amazing, I’m so happy for you Charlie! When is the wedding? Do you have a best man yet? How did he propose? Who else knows? Does this mean you are going to be a dad too? How do you feel about that? Can I hug you right now?”

"Okay then, I’ll be the photographer.” Charlie nodded his head at the idea. “I am serious. Just yesterday, actually.” he confirmed with a smile, watching Carson’s reaction to the news. He was the first person he’d told. “Thanks. I don’t know when the wedding will be, I kinda wanna finish up with school before I think about that anyway. I don’t have a best man yet.” he paused. “He just kinda showed me the ring and asked me if I wanted it, and then said some super cute stuff to me, and then I made him go out into the cold and propose to me properly.” Charlie laughed as he answered Carson’s questions as best as he could. He’d gotten good at keeping up with his housemate’s interrogating. “You’re the first person I’ve told, um....I don’t know about the dad thing? I guess that’s up to Even, I’m still Charlie to him, I don’t think he’ll be calling me dad anytime soon--- being a dad is a huge responsibility and I’m not exactly role model material so it’s scary, I’ll admit. And yes, you better fucking hug me right this second!”

“Yes, I have been looking for an adventure, and I couldn’t ask for a better adventure buddy than you” Carson nodded, it had honestly been a while since he had done anything this exciting. “That’s cute, that he bought you something pretty.” Carson smiled not putting two and two together for a moment until he lifted Charlie’s hand to look at it. “Wait, your boyfriend gave you a ring…as in, did he know that’s what you do when you want to marry someone?” he frowned slightly. “Hang on…are you engaged?”

"The adventures of Charlie and Carson. We’ll have to write a book about all these adventures we go on. And take a shitload of photos too.” Charlie laughed lightly. Road trips were rare for the red head, but he loved them. “Yeah, it’s really shiny, huh?” he smiled to himself, wondering how long it’d take Carson to figure things out. He was a smart man. Charlie had always known that. When it finally clicked in his housemate’s head, Charlie nodded slightly. “I am. I was going to tell you yesterday, but I wanted to see if you’d notice it on your own.”

“I know it ain’t the most expensive thing, but my love for you is worth so much more than a ring”