A Midsummer's Nightmare

Chapter 03

The next morning was cooler and then the next. Everyday, the temperature dropped in the early days and picked up steadily. Todd fell into the fall season with the same shitty mental health that he held at the beginning of summer. It had been months since Charlie tried to get Todd to go through with the plans. Thankfully for the boy, they were already very understanding about why he didn't want to get out much. Even then, Charlie was eventually able to talk him into it. They had agreed to meet at noon at the park Todd wandered into months ago in order to clear his head. The shower was quick and the clothes were even more lazy. It's not that he wasn't looking forward to seeing Charlie, but the idea of it caused anxiety to build up, starting with bouncing of the knee to churning in the stomach. "Todd, jacket. It's cold and supposed to be windy later on today. We wouldn't want you to get sick or anything of that sort." Todd, on the other hand, couldn't find it in him to care about whether or not he got sick. He felt nauseous enough as is.
The walk to the park was almost enough for Todd to want to turn right back around for his house. The wind whipped at him with a striking hostility as if he had personally offended it. He definitely should've bundled up just a little bit more before stepping out of his house. Instead he wore just an immensely thin sweater and a jacket lazily pulled over it. By the time he was at the one of many entrances into the park, he was shivering enough that he was positive his bones underneath would actually be shaking too. He hated the cold.
"Jeez, Toddsie, trying to become an icicle out here?" Charlie, actually dressed for the weather, looked painstakingly more mature than they had at the beginning of senior year at Welton. Their hair had grown past the tips of their ears. It looked inefficiently pushed off to the side, a careless effort to keep it out of Charlie's eyes. The small remnants of a leaf stuck to their sweatshirt. Charlie was always so beautiful in such a leisurely way. They didn't need to try, they simply just were. It's why Neil loved them. Seeing them again in person might've been a bad idea. Todd knew that he was already fucked before getting a single word out, instead his mouth was just left agape. "Flies are gonna get in, better be careful."
This exact scenario always played through Todd's head and he'd even practiced a few times what he would say to Charlie given the chance. All of that went right out of his head. "Charlie.." He was completely and utterly fucked. He could pretend he wasn't dreadfully lonely without Charlie when he was just texting and calling them. It rampaged over him now and left his heart banging against his rib cage. It would be too painful to handle if it wasn't for Charlie wrapping their arms around Todd's slim frame. "My god, you're freezing. You need some thicker clothes." They were stripping themselves of the sweatshirt and pulling it over Todd's head before finishing their sentence. Todd Anderson was fucked. He knew it and he welcomed it. He did more than welcome it, a part of him wanted to encourage it even further. He was surrounded with Charlie Dalton. Their smell, their touch, their smile. The hug ended much to Todd's dismay.
"You look-" "Hot? Sexy? Irresistible?" Todd couldn't hide the smile on his face even if he wanted to. Good old Charlie. It was nice to see someone kept some form of similarity in themselves after everything went down. It brought Todd a comfort he'd yearned after for long, severing painfully months. "I was going to say you look old. I actually think I see a gray hair or two."
The laughter surrounding him was enough to light up not just one room, but at least two. Charlie's laugh matched with their hand messing up Todd's hair could light a million lightbulbs. For now, it brought a glowing warmth stretching across Todd's entire body, settling in his cheeks. "Come on, let's find some entertainment that's inside. It's freezing out here." He remained rooted to the spot for just a few seconds before trailing behind Charlie, hands stuffed delicately inside of their sweatshirt.
Todd Anderson was completely, utterly, totally, entirely, and wholly fucked. The thought brought the slightest pain, though he couldn't help but smile. If he was doomed, at least he was doomed to Charlie Dalton. The pair took off in the direction of a museum.