Hands To Fall Into (manxboy)

#2- The Meeting

(Well this took me long enough, I do sincerely apologise for the long wait)

~*~ A year later ~*~

Edmund fidgeted in his tuxedo. "Dad, can I wear something else please?" Edmund asked. The fabric of his dress shirt made him want to rip his skin off and the tie was making him nervous, it felt too tight but if he loosened it it would probably come apart and he'd have to re-tie it. Edmund only knew how to tie a bow tie, but not a normal one. Regular ties always made him feel uncomfortable. Father sighed. "Alright, but please make it look formal." Father answered. Edmund ran to his room as fast as he could and took the clothes of with lightning speed. He didn't care about the cold, he was just happy to not have those uncomfortable garments on him.
"Edmund, please anything but that sweater." Father pleaded. "No." Edmund said for the hundredth time. "It's either I get to wear the sweater or I don't come." Edmund answered. Father sighed, they were running out of time. "Alright, the sweater can come." Father agreed. Edmund smiled lightly and they got into the car. Edmund took out his phone and started listening to music. He wasn't too nervous in cars anymore but he still needed something to distract him. So he listened to a playlist of slow songs which eased him up.
They soon arrived and went to the hotel. Edmund closed his eyes, the yellowish tint in the white walls bothering him. Why couldn't the walls be blue or grey? Edmund sighed and put his small suitcase down and walked over to Father's room. The walls were a calming shade of grey. I need this room. Edmund thought. "Dad can we change rooms, please?" Edmund asked, stuffing his hands into his sweater pockets. Father glanced around the room. "If you want to." He answered and Edmund nodded. Father quickly threw everything back into his suitcase and went over to Edmund's room. "The walls bothering you?" Father asked as he saw the room. Edmund nodded, even though Father wouldn't see him as he was in front of Edmund. Edmund pulled his suitcase over to the other room and could finally look at the walls. He started unpacking, meticulously organising everything.
There was a knock on the door. "Ed, the dinner will be held in a few minutes." Father said and Edmund put away his book, Harry Potter. "Do I have to go? I'm just on one of my favourite parts." Edmund glanced up from the book for a second, then went back to reading. "Edmund, I brought you along so you could meet my colleagues. You can't stay cooped up in the room." Father stated. Edmund sighed and put the bookmark between the pages and closed his book. "But I won't talk to anyone for longer than I feel necessary." Edmund said quickly then swiftly walked out of the room before Father could make any counterarguments. Father sighed, and followed Edmund to the lift. "You know, they'll expect you to converse." Father stated as they stepped into the lift. "Yup." Edmund nodded. "... and will you?" Father looked at Edmund. Edmund seemed to be deep in thought. "Perhaps." Edmund answered. Father nodded, as long as the answer wasn't 'no' he was fine.
Edmund stared boredly at his plate. The food was almost completely untouched, he didn't eat meat and he had a plate of chicken in front of him. He tried to muster down a bit of the side dish, rice and some weird type of salad. It was horrible, the salad was slimy and made Edmund want to cry in discomfort as it slid down his throat and the rice was coarse . Edmund stabbed at the chicken with his fork, wondering how anyone else had managed. He glanced around and everyone else was done, or almost done, and chatting. Edmund sighed, he'd have to join a conversation soon. He really didn't want to talk, not now anyway.
"Edmund, come there's someone I'd like you to meet," Father called and ushered Edmund to the bar.

~*~

"Charlie!" Father greeted as he approached a man in a tuxedo. Edmund was staring at his drink, some random non-alcoholic drink that he didn't bother to remember. "Ah, Will. It's been too long," The man answered. Edmund still didn't look up from his drink. "Can't believe it had been almost 20 years since we graduated, seems like yesterday," Father said. 'Charlie' laughed a little, Edmund looked up. The sound was delightful, he wanted to hear more of it right now. "This is my son Edmund, you haven't officially met," Father said. 'Charlie' turned to Edmund and extended a hand. Edmund looked at it questioningly, not sure what to do. "Oh sorry, Edmund isn't that good with social things and he doesn't really do handshakes," Father stepped in. "Sorry," Edmund murmured. 'Charlie' put his hand into his pockets, "It's alright, don't worry about it." Edmund's growing nervousness washed away, as he heard 'Charlie' speak. The voice was so soothing to him, it was deep with a calm tone. "I'm Charles Ryder, nice to meet you," Charles introduced himself with a smile. "Edmund Quentin Lockwood," Edmund answered. His mind was empty of anything that wasn't Charles. His hair looks really fluffy... almost like a cloud. I wonder how often he has to cut it. Is it black or dark brown... probably dark brown. If I ask him if I can touch his hair is that weird? Edmund was mad at himself for not being able to socialize. "So Edmund, I've heard a bit about you. You found the sequence to prime numbers? I have to say that's quite impressive for your age," Charles noted. Edmund shrugged, "It wasn't too hard." Charles smiled, Edmund's heart skipped a beat. What was going on? "Mr Lockwood!" Another man in a suit walked over. "Ah, Mr Bennet!" Father answered with a smile. The two walked off talking. "Edmund hasn't your father told you that staring is rude?" Charles asked as he noticed the boy's eyes on him. Edmund flushed a bright red, he opted to look at his drink instead of Charles. "Sorry, you're just aesthetically pleasing." Edmund blurted out. "Sorry, what?" Charles asked back. Edmund cursed at himself mentally, "... you just..." Edmund had no idea what to say. Charles raised his eyebrows, and had an amused grin on his face. "Can we talk about maths? I'd rather talk about maths," Edmund diverted the subject. Charles kept up his grin, Edmund was certainly amusing to him. "If that's what you'd like, although I was never good at it," Charles answered with a small shrug and sat down next to Edmund.
Edmund did quite enjoy talking with Charles, it made him feel things. Edmund couldn't exactly place those things as exact emotions, and he made a mental note to do some research later on. "Edmund, you're staring again," Charles snapped Edmund out of his thoughts. Edmund flushed a bright red, he could feel his cheeks heat up. "S-sorry, I just... yeah," Edmund attempted to make up an excuse, keyword: attempted. Charles grinned, showing his perfectly aligned teeth. "It's OK, it's flattering if anything," Charles answered. Edmund smiled faintly, he wasn't sure what was going on. But he was sure that he wanted to spend his life talking with Charles. Edmund couldn't exactly put a reason behind, which scared him, his literal job was to find the reason for things; but he was sure that's what he wanted. "Ah, Eddie there you are," Father greeted as he returned.

Charles was fascinated with Edmund, his intelligence was captivating. Charles felt bad for finding him so adorable, after all he was probably like 12. But Charles couldn't stop himself from gushing over him, the way Edmund fidgeted with the sleeve of his sweater and the way he would trip over his words when he got excited about something and the way he would blush like a schoolgirl when Charles caught him staring just made Charles want to scream into a pillow. Charles was well acquainted with twinks, he was quite a men's... man after all, but no one else was this captivating. Charles knew that his feelings were wrong because: a; Edmund was super young and b; Edmund was William's, his best friend's, son. "So, how old are you again?" Charles asked, wanting to place his exact level of creepiness on a chart. "I'm 18," Edmund answered, Charles was incredibly relieved; so he wasn't such a creep after all. "And you never asked my age," Edmund added. Charles smiled, "Might've mixed up our talk and an interview I saw." Edmund smiled, Charles wanted Edmund to smile more. Charles knew how cheesy this must sound, but when Edmund smiled he seemed to light up. Edmund's whiskey coloured eyes, sunshine going through a glass of whiskey colour to be exact; had this spark in them when he smiled. Charles couldn't take it, he wanted to see that happen more often. "Charlie! There you are, been searching for you everywhere!" Summer turned up. "Oh, you have company," she teased and wiggled her eyebrows. "Shut up," Charles rolled his eyes. Edmund just sat there awkwardly not knowing what to do. "What do you need?" Charles asked. "Right, you're current case's court thing has been moved to be a week early," Summer answered. "What?!" Charles stared at her wide eyed. "Crap, we have like 3 more days then!" Charles got to his feet. "So sorry Edmund to leave in a rush, but this is really important," Charles apologised. Edmund looked discouraged and his warming smile was gone, Charles hated the sight of that. "It's OK," Edmund answered with a shrug. "Hey, look. Here's my number, we can text and schedule something later, OK?" Charles quickly etched down his personal number on a business card and gave it Edmund. "I do hope we'll see each other again soon," Charles said and was vastly delighted to see Edmund's smile (and blush) return. "Me too," Edmund answered shyly and took the card.