In Another Universe

Saturday 9.09 Ja må du leva

The first thought that came to Charlie as he woke up was 'the bed is empty again'. The right side of the bed, Isaac's favourite side as he had come to learn, was covered by the blanket and the traces of head that used to rest on the pillow. But no one in sight. As far as he could tell, Isaac was already far gone, maybe already back in Brighton. Maybe he had a problem with waking up next to other people or something. But it made him sad for a second He could have just told him.

But as he turned to the left, ready to get up, a face appeared in front of him. Isaac, looking really worried, was squatting next to the bed. Charlie jumped, surprised.

"Were you watching me sleep... from the side of the bed? On the floor?"

Realising how it must have looked, Isaac marked a paused.

"No...?" And after waiting for a few seconds, he felt the need to explain himself. "I was waiting for you to wake up."

Straightening up, Charlie looked really confused. He passed a hand on his face in an attempt to wake up, but he was still zoning out a little. However, he had a seemingly very anxious Isaac on his hands and no idea why.

"What's wrong?"

"I need your help."

"Yeah I got that, but why?"

"Okay, so here's the situation." He stood up before sitting down next to Charlie. "I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and I met your friend... William, right? And he asked me if I could cook breakfast for all of you and then he went back to bed but like... I can't cook."

Charlie's sigh wasn't really appreciated by Isaac, but there it was. He just didn't understand Isaac's panic. It was breakfast, not a three-course meal. All he needed to do was what, crack some eggs, fry some bacon and boil some water, nothing magical.

"I know it's stupid but I'm going to burn something and then they're gonna hate me..."

"Calm down, bub. I'll do it."

He grabbed a shirt on the floor, put it on and stood up. Isaac followed him out of the room, catching his hand on the way. As Charlie got the food and the utensils out and started preparing breakfast for the whole house, Isaac put on the table. He also started the kettle for the tea. That he could do and he wasn't too anxious about messing up.

It was weird seeing Isaac this anxious for Charlie, but he understood the need to make a good first impression. Would his friends take a liking to him? Good question, but Charlie really hoped so. Things weren't perfect between them but they were trying to mend them, and he needed the support of his friends to do that. With the whole Emily thing, it could be somewhat hard but it didn't have to be. Especially after a nice breakfast.

"Hm... I'm not sure you'll make the cut, you know," he said while turning over the bacon as it sizzled in the pan.

"The cut?" asked Isaac who looked like he just had a mini heart attack.

"Yeah..." He turned to Isaac with a shrug and fakely sad and sorry expression. "Isn't 'can cook' on the list for the perfect man of your dreams?"

"Oh, but I made the cut until then?"

Charlie wasn't expecting that question. He blushed and found himself flustered. He had said that as a joke, the kind of things you would find on Twitter, probably as a trending hashtag. He didn't think of it as a commentary on their relationship... but maybe that said more about the latter than he thought.

"What if you did?"

"Hm... Then I guess I'll have to learn to cook. Or I'll just have to do all the other chores," he answered with a laugh.

"Fine by me."

Isaac broke the small distance between him and Charlie to be able to kiss him. A kiss which Charlie got really into until the sizzling of the bacon and the eggs forced him to let go. With a smile both really happy but also quite annoyed towards the food. Ron Swanson talked about the sadnesses cured by breakfast food but never mentioned the ones created by it.

"This food is definitely making more problems than it is worth," Charlie laughed, turning off the electric stove and putting the contents of the pan in plates.

Probably attracted by the smell of bacon, William got out of his room, quickly followed by Jack and Thomas. The three guys looked pretty tired, which made Charlie wondered what happened to them last night and when they got home. But at least, he didn't feel too bad for kicking them out of the house last night. They all sat down around the table.

"Thank for the breakfast, man," William said, looking at Isaac, who just smiled a little awkwardly.

"Hey, hesh yeah!" Jack exclaimed, his mouth already full of scrambled eggs. "That's hell of a first impression!"

And as they ate their breakfast, which Isaac felt bad about getting all the praise for its deliciousness, they started getting to know each other. Relieved, Charlie was so relieved. For the first time in weeks, everything was fine. He was with Isaac, finally, even if they kissed more than they talked about their future. Simultaneously, he was spending time with his friends and not pushing them away. Even better, those two worlds that seemed so far apart not so long ago were finally colliding and they were laughing. Maybe in a little while, Isaac would be part of his friends' group. After all, they sure seemed to be going that way. And Charlie sure was happy.

//Hello, sorry for the delay. There isn't exactly a lot of movement on here but I'll try to finish the fic. Maybe leave a comment if you like it.