Soon enough...(Toppat!Henry x Charles)

Chapter 3

The Toppat chuckled, "long time no see Charles," his smirk stayed on his face.

Charles felt both rage and dismay in him, "Let me go!" He repeated as he tried to kick the leader again.

Henry hummed with his eyebrows raised, "that's some impressive upper body strength Charlie"

Charles' face showed pure anger, "don't call me that,"  the pilot stopped eventually and looked at the remote, wondering if he could free himself with it.

The leader tracked his gaze to the control and said in a calm tone, "don't even bother, all it does is open your cuffs and the hatch underneath you. Even if you do manage to reach it and kick it," he looked Charles up and down, implying that he considers the pilot short, "you're only going to get blasted into space and die," 

Charles looked down and sighed in defeat. Then suddenly he found the leader right in front of him, their faces only 5 cm apart. He felt his face heat up, he tried to kick him but for some reason, he just couldn't. The pilot snapped at Henry, "what do you want from me?!"

"well..." Henry moved closer, almost closing the gap between the two, "I have a deal. I will let you go," Charles' eyes lit up with hope, "but in return, you will have to become a Toppat member," the light immediately turned off like a switch.

"Never!" He spat.

Henry shrugged, "expected that," he moved away and Charles let out a sigh of relief. The toppat went to the screen and picked up the controller. He pressed a few buttons then after a few seconds, the word "release" appeared on the screen. Charles let out a small yelp as he suddenly fell to the ground with a thunk. He groaned and stood up, ignoring Henry's outstretched hand. The pilot stood still uncomfortably as the other looked him up and down while walking around him as if he's examining Charles. Henry disappointingly sighed and mumbled, "7 bruises, they couldn't have treated you any more rough and damage your perfect body," Charles felt his face heat up again.

Is he really saying these things in front of him?

Then he remembered and asked, "what about my da- the general?! What did you do to him?!" 

Henry raised an eyebrow at Charles' attempt to cover the fact that he sees Hubert as a father figure but ignored it. He thought for a moment and spoke into a microphone that was attached to a little earpiece, "Sven can you schedule a call with the general in 10 minutes please?" He was silent for a few seconds and then smiled, "Thanks bud," the toppat took Charles' hand, who fought the urge to slap his hand away, and opened the door with the remote.

As they went through the hallways, Henry continued to have a strong grip on Charles' hand. A few other toppats passed them in the halls and each of them would always at least stare for 3 seconds. The pilot felt embarrassed and shoved his other hand into his pocket, keeping his gaze on the floor as they continued. 

Finally, they made it to the communication center, where a few toppats, including Burt, were working. Everyone turned their heads and watched their leader take a prisoner by the hand to Burt. Henry quickly death glared at the people that we're watching and turned back to the Head of communications. 

When Charles looked back up, he saw an all too familiar face. The other looked back seemingly unbothered, "Burt?!" Charles exclaimed, "so that's why you ran away from us? To join this sick organization?!"

The mentioned toppat let out a long sigh before standing up to face the other, "no, I joined because dad only ever cared about you. He never even looked at me whenever I accomplished something just because he was too busy praising you for crashing his prized remote-controlled helicopter into the river," he jabbed his finger into Charles' chest, " all because I'm 7 years younger than you. But then I met Reginald, who actually acknowledged my existence and treated me better than you or dad even could," as Burt sat back down, he added " And honestly, I'm glad he died in that accident," gasps were heard all over the center. Guilt and despair flooded Charles like a tsunami. Honestly, he was intimidated by his younger brother. Despite having such a large age gap between them, Burt was surprisingly a lot taller and his voice was deeper too. His personality on the other hand stayed the same, as a child he was also quiet and barely showed any emotion. Charles' friends occasionally called Burt "Depressed Charles" and every time, he would leak a tear before running away. Charles looked away as the leader talked to his brother.

"Go take a break kid, you'll need it," Henry added with a smile and led Charles to another room. 

As they walked away, Charles listened to Burt mumbled into his headset, "Sven, can we go to my room right now, please. Mhm. Thanks " His heart shattered watching Burt hastily leave. He could have sworn he saw a tear fall down his brother's face.

He was taken to a room where there was a large screen and a few buttons attached to a controller on a table. After letting go of Charles' hand, Henry lifted up his sleeve to reveal a watch and said, "1 more minute," 

"Can't we just call him now?" Charles asked.

"no we can't, we scheduled for exactly 10 minutes, we're keeping it that way," Henry replied. The pilot questioned it even more but let it be.

As they waited, Charles occasionally noticed Henry sneaking glances at him, seemingly checking him out. He fidgeted with his jacket sleeve uncomfortably, making this one of the longest 60 seconds he ever experienced.  

Henry checked his watch one last time and pressed a green button. After 10 seconds, the screen turned on and showed a man's face.

"Dad?! What did they do to you?!" Charles cried. He ran forward to get closer to the screen.

General was laying in a hospital bed, his head was bandaged and he looked exhausted. Beeping from his heart monitor was heard in the background.

"Hm, it seems like he tried to fight the toppats off during the raid," Henry said with an interested tone. 

The pilot ignored him, "dad please answer me!" He felt tears in the corner of his eyes.

Fortunately, the general did wake up. He slowly opened his eyes to reveal his tired grey eyes. 

"Dad I'm here! Are you okay?" Charles yelled.

"I'm fine Charlie, some toppats shot at me when I tried to get rid of them, " Hubert whispered with a small smile, "what about you? Did the toppats harm you in any way?" 

Charles shook his head, smiling back. He was just glad that his "dad" was okay. 

Then Henry stepped forward beside Charles, too close for the other's comfort, "why" I would never harm your beautiful pilot," he grabbed Charles by the waist and pulled him close. The shorter yelped and froze in place, not being able to push Henry away.

General growled at the interaction and snapped, "what do you want from him you monster?!"

"It's simple. I just want him," he paused for a second, "to join the toppats!"

Henry did want Charles though.

Charles finally gained enough strength to push himself away from Henry and stood next to Hrny at a more comfortable distance.

"He would never! He's loyal to the government, " Hubert's eyes were clearly on Henry, even though it's barely noticeable. He stared at the toppat with pure rage in his eyes.

"I can change that," Henry replied with a wink at Charles. Who in return stuck his tongue out in disgust.

The general looked back at Charles, this time his eyes showed kindness and nervousness, "Charlie, please promise me that you will never join them,"

Charles gave a salute with a reassuring smile, "I promise. And don't worry dad, I'll find a way out of this space station soon,"

Henry clearly didn't like that answer and he disconnected from the call. Before Charles reacted, the toppat grabbed him by the waist and pulled him closer, "you are never leaving this station, and you should know that,"

Charles squirmed around, "ugh! Let me go!"

Henry watched Charles struggle in his grip, and replied calmly, "stop yelling you're causing a ruckus,"

The pilot continued his attempt, "what if I don't?"

Henry raised an eyebrow at Charles. He smirked and watched as Charles froze in place, eyes wide.

Holy shit this was a long ass chapter, 1422 words-