illicit affairs | Charlie Barber x Reader

chapter twenty four: the only soul worth getting to know

A late IA update is still an IA update right??

I missed you guys and I hope you enjoy Christmas in April, -dal----------------

To Charlie, there was nothing more beautiful than spending Christmas at home. It certainly helped that it was his favorite holiday.

While the snow collected on the ground, he could hum Christmas music in his sleep. It gave him a reason to wear pajamas all day, spending the day with the people he cared the most about. And although he didn't get what he originally wanted, spending the day with Henry, he got the next best thing.

You.

It was still early, though, Charlie sitting up in bed while you soundlessly slept. There was a part of him that wanted to wake you up, wanting to spend as many moments with you as he could. Even if you two sat in silence, he wanted to take advantage of you before you two ran out of time.

While he sat there trying to decide, he watched you sleep. His eyes fell over your chest, following your slow breaths. It soothed him, not knowing what else could relax him more than this.

It almost made him want to go back to sleep, letting you curl up to him. He could dip his nose into your hair, inhaling your scent while he drifted off...

It was tempting. But before he could decide, he heard his phone buzzing against the nightstand beside him.

There was a split second where he was scared to take his eyes off of you, thinking he might miss out on something. But as his phone continued to vibrate, he watched you shift underneath the covers.

He was scared to disturb you, seeing how peaceful you looked. So, that ultimately motivated him to grab his phone and look down at his screen.

It was Nicole video calling him.

Licking his lips, he took one last glance at you before swiping his screen.

"Dad!!!" Henry's voice bombarded him causing his eyes to shoot wide open.

Charlie cleared his throat, quickly turning down the volume on his phone. By the lack of scurrying beside him, he figured you were still sleeping. He was too scared to glance over, not wanting to make it obvious someone was in bed with him. For all Charlie knew, Nicole was over his shoulder.

"Hi, sweetheart." Charlie's lips curled into a smile when he saw how happy his son looked. It was distracting, forgetting about everything else in the world.

"Were you sleeping?" Henry's voice was much calmer now as his hand pushed his hair to the side. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Oh, don't worry, I was awake." Charlie watched as his son smiled towards him on the screen. "What's up? What are you doing?"

"I just opened my gifts and I wanted to talk to you."

With the cards they were dealt with, it was all worth it to see Henry like this. As Charlie looked at his son through his screen, he could see a certain sparkle in his eye. It was something he's seen before but lately, it's been missing.

Except for now.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Charlie was almost taken aback by it, not used to this kind of attention from him.

"Yeah." Henry nodded his head before the view on his screen moved. It seemed like Henry was trying to get comfortable, leaning the phone down against something.

"I got a lot of gifts this year." Henry wiped his nose as the new location gave him a perfect view of him.

"Oh, yeah?" Charlie wet his lips. "Did Santa bring you something good?"