Love Burns (Charlie Weasley X Reader)

Chapter 3: Emotionally Challenged

I know that the picture says do not repost, but the artist who made it said that it can be shared or posted with credit. I absolutely love this rendering of Charlie and I hope it can give some of you a visual. I write that he has brown eyes and I typically write him as having a longer beard, but this picture is just HOT AF. This is an edited photo of Charlie Weasley by Giblimort on tumblr!

Chapter 3: Emotionally Challenged

"Dammit, Charlie!" I exclaimed from the ground.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"You pushed me off the fucking bed," I said and pushed myself off the ground.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, still half asleep. "I didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to," I repeated humorlessly and rolled my eyes.

"You were probably snoring or something," he said and settled back on the bed, sighing contentedly as his head sunk into the pillow.

"Not a chance, lover boy," I scoffed and climbed on top of him to straddle his hips. "If I have to be awake, we're both going to be awake."

"I want to sleep," he whined and squinted up at me.

"I did too," I said and looked down at him. "And then you decided to be an aggressor."

"I didn't mean to push you off the bed," he said and grabbed my hands. "I wouldn't do that."

"I could have been asleep right now if it weren't for you," I said and tried to pin his arms down on the bed.

"I don't want to have to do this, angel," he said warningly, his hand resting on my thigh.

"You can't hurt me any worse than you already have," I said dramatically.

Charlie grunted and pushed me off of him. I tumbled onto the ground with a thump.

"Bitch," I muttered.

"Quiet," he said and flipped onto his stomach to sleep.

I huffed and stood. From the looks of it, the loveable git was already asleep again. I adjusted the blankets so that he was completely covered before lying down in the other bed.

"Hey," he said softly and flipped onto his back.

"Hm?" I hummed.

"Come here," he beckoned. I obliged and he pulled me to sprawl on top of him, then pulled the blankets on top of us.

***

I woke up to Charlie trying to push me off of him.

"Where're you going?" I asked and rolled off of him as he sat on the edge of the bed and stretched his arms over his head.

"Bathroom," he answered. "I tried to let you sleep."

"Do I have to work today?" I asked and squinted against the sunlight that was leaking through the windows.

"No, not until tomorrow," he said and stood, stretching his arms over his head again.

"Sweet," I commented and rolled over to cuddle into the blankets, which were still warm from Charlie's body. I watched as he left the room and felt myself begin to fall back asleep, only to be awoken when the door reopened.

"What time do you want to go back home?" he asked over his shoulder as he changed into a fresh pair of clothes. "We don't have to go until late tonight if you'd like to stay."

He sat down on the edge of the bed to pull on a pair of socks. I sat up and scooted closer to him. I scratched his back gently as I thought, pressing my cheek against his shoulder blade. He hummed softly and leaned back into me.

"Maybe a bit earlier," I said, "but I think you should spend a little time with your mother first."

"Even after what she did to my hair?" he asked.

"Even after what she did to your hair," I confirmed. "I can grow it back for you as soon as we get home but you know that if we do it while we're here, she'll fuss over it again. Besides, it looks good."

"You like it short?" he asked.

"It looks nice," I said and shrugged.

"Yeah, but there's barely anything for you to pull on," he said.

I laughed as my cheeks grew hot.

"Honestly, Charlie-"

Someone knocked on the door.

"It's open," Charlie called and grinned over his shoulder at me. I placed my hands on my heated cheeks and watched as Mrs. Weasley poked her head in the door.

"Breakfast is ready," she said as her eyes swept over the room.

"Don't worry, mum. We behaved ourselves," he said and stood from the bed.

"I don't care," she said and waved her hand through the air. "I want grandchildren."

"Merlin, Mrs. Weasley," I said and buried my face in my hands.

"Molly," she corrected. "Come on, now. Everyone's waiting for you two."

We ate breakfast in near silence, and when Mrs. Weasley began to clean, I nudged Charlie. He took the hint to help his mother.

"So, you're leaving today then?" Sirius asked as he finished his cup of tea.

"Yeah. I've got to get back to work," I said and stood up. "I'll be coming back again in June to see Harry after he finishes school."

"It was nice having you here," he said and nodded shortly to himself. "I hope for everyone's sake that you won't be called back here for an emergency but... well, it was nice to see some new faces."

"If you ever need company, just reach out and I can Floo, at least for a little while."

Sirius nodded and bit back a smile before he grabbed my empty cup and brought it, along with his own, into the kitchen. I used my wand to clean the table and pushed in all of the chairs before venturing upstairs to pack.

***

"It is good to be home," Charlie said and sighed out loud as we apparated into our cabin. "I love mum, don't get me wrong, but I get so uncomfortable when she cries. I just never know what to do, you know?"

"I get it," I said and nodded as I dropped my luggage on the ground, "but she's going through a lot. She needs to get it out sometimes."

"I wish I could be better with feelings," he said and absently stroked his fingers over his beard as he stared ahead.

"Charlie," I consoled and placed my hand on his cheek. "You're perfect just the way you are, even if you are a little emotionally challenged."

"You're so sweet," he said sarcastically and shook his head. "Well, my love, I'll help you unpack."

"I'm being serious, Charlie. Well, not really. But you are fine the way you are. Your mother knows that you're not great with consolation, and she appreciates that you were there at all," I said.

I'm really sorry about the short chapter. I didn't want to load a bunch of unrelated shit into a chapter but I also didn't want to make the whole story really intense.