Charles Rowland Edwin Payne (Entelechy)
As soon as their eyes met, they were reaching for each other. Edwin held out his arms as Charles crossed the floor in a matter of strides, hauling him into a ferocious embrace that would have squeezed the breath out of him had he been alive. The enormity of finally being free from Hell was so overpowering that he could scarcely take it in, his face splitting in a delighted grin that was so wide it almost hurt. Charles was clutching him as though he was afraid he would fall apart without his touch, as though he was the only thing holding Edwin together, his hands tight on Edwin’s shoulders and his fingers digging into him, one thumb stroking over him in a soothing, grounding motion. Edwin felt enveloped, protected, wrapped up and cared for and entirely surrounded by the one he loved best in the world. A steam train and eleven carriages could have ploughed straight through the office and he would not have cared so long as he had Charles to cling to, the only person in the world that he could truly feel, or ever wanted to. Secure in Charles’s arms, so strong and yet so careful, his exhausted, hopeless feeling began to lift.
When they broke apart, it was gentle, gradual, and Charles’s hands lingered on Edwin’s shoulder and waist, mirroring Edwin’s grip on him. As they shared their jubilation, Edwin thought how easy it would be to lean forward and kiss Charles, to press his lips to the smile that was so, so dear to him. He did not, of course – to do so would have been to take advantage of Charles’s proximity in the most unforgivable way – but as they parted and Charles dragged his hand across Edwin’s chest, Edwin could not help taking hold of his fingers for an extra couple of seconds, prolonging the contact for as long as he could.
He felt a little more like himself afterwards, as though a tiny, inextinguishable flame was burning where his heart should have been, shielding him from all harm. Not even Charles’s rabbiting about the new members of the Agency could dampen his good humour. They were safe, they would remain together, and Edwin was never going back to Hell. Whatever else the world could throw at them, he was sure, would be nothing in the face of that.
It did not last, of course.
For my eleventh big bang moodboard, we have this wonderfully emotionally raw fic by @ms-zilia! There is some absolutely lovely capturing of the emotions of Charles and Edwin both in this fic and how the premise affects them, plus the usage of the ghost orbs (one of my favorite tropes in this fandom!)
