As Never Was

Chapter 16

Discussion for further chapters, include: 

As may have been hinted in the previous chapter, I'm thinking of adding elements of adult. As mentioned in several previous chapters, I have included the elements of alcohol addiction. I'm also considering other elements that are generally unsafe for children below the age of 12 and what I'm saying is, I'm not gonna write smut, not really, but know that that kind of relationship may be included, with no explicit detail, which means that dirty talk (mild), kissing (varying forms), casual relationships (which is so very adult, no?) as well as depictions of mental illness (never getting tired of this one). There will also be murder, suicide attempts, assassinations, because why not. 

Just a little warning though, the previous stories I wrote are all pretty vanilla in terms of their relationships because they are in fact, minors. I am no longer a minor, and neither are my characters in all sense except the physical one. Hence, they can talk about getting wasted at inappropriate times of day with inappropriate amounts of alcohol just fine. 

Do not be too shocked. 

Have a great day! 

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"So.... I'll say this again," Charles swallowed, "Hi." 

Shao Long visibly froze, the fingers that were holding the arils stopped in his mouth, and the remaining berries on his tongue laid there, unmoving. A few seconds passed with the silence stretching between them, until the only sound that could be heard was that of the AC filling the room, and perhaps Charles' own racing heart. 

Of course Shao Long would understand, he was smart. Charles knew he was smart. If he didn't, then he would have to spell it out, and that would take hours, because they stopped talking like that more than a decade ago. Stopped talking to each other like one of them was the dumbest creature to have ever been born. Shao Long was smart. He gets nuances. Charles didn't need to spell it out. 

There was no use pretending. 

And it did seem like Shao Long was about to pretend. Pretend he didn't understand, pretend he had no idea what Marriott Fucking Marquis Washington had anything to do with their conversation, pretended that neither of them were from the future, but it was all too late, because Shao Long had reacted and there was no way Shao Long could convince him otherwise. 

And Shao Long knew that too, from the way his eyes hardened. Charles had to watch as the Chinese slowly, ever so slowly, spit out the seeds of the pomegranates from his mouth and into his hands. A show of stalling, he thought to himself. Maybe even a show of dominance. Something to show that he wasn't afraid. They do this often, and while it was completely confusing and one-sided, Shao Long remained afraid of him sometimes, for reasons Charles did not fully understand. Like yeah, sure, he could be intimidating sometimes, and he kinda fucked Shao Long's life a couple times over, scratch that, he fucked his life up plenty enough times for it to not be personal, and yeah, they go way back. They had no valid reason to trust or not hate each other, and that by itself, should warrant some fear. But this level of fear? This level of hostility?

It was illogical, because only prey was afraid of predators. Neither Shao Long nor Charles was a prey, and they both know it. There was nothing Charles could do in his power to physically remove Shao Long from his life's equation, meaning he wasn't more powerful than the Chinese. Hadn't been for a very long time. Probably since this Academy. At most, they'd hate each other and the level of hostility they expressed would not be more than a warning to back off, that was more like a suggestion rather than an actual warning. Charles didn't mind his presence much, as annoying as it was. Shao Long had looked pretty cozy too, at least until their last fight.