abyss ↣ joe sugg au

forty five

[Trigger Warning: mentions of depression/suicide]

im not really happy with these chapters but i need to tie up some loose ends in order to further the story line. sorry

Joe and Charlotte had finally given up on pulling Troye and Tyler out of bed, so they decided to wake up the other four and hand them cooking equipment to bang together as they stormed back into the bedroom. 

It took some time, but the pair finally evacuated the bedroom and took to locking themselves into the bathroom instead, refusing to come out until they used the pots and pans to cook them breakfast. 

"We'll flush your tooth brushes down the toilet!" Troye threatened through the keyhole and Charlotte and Joe's eyes widened comically before they gathered up the utensils and took them back into the kitchen. 

Caspar, Bethany, Zoe and Alfie all took seats at the dining table whilst  Joe and Charlotte attempted to make food in the kitchen, shortly followed by Troye and Tyler. 

After they'd all had a slightly burnt breakfast, Charlotte and Joe shooed everyone out their apartment and Charlotte sat straight down on the computer to research good destinations to get married as Tyler and Troye had said "we want to go abroad for the wedding". 

Joe brought an old art folder of his to hold all of her research in, and then draped himself over her back. She had to insist he go though, as he kept taking control of the mouse and clicking on ridiculous destinations.

He pouted but stripped off the bed anyhow, drinking his coffee through a straw and refusing to let Charlotte share. 

It was when Charlotte went to go make her own coffee that Joe jumped up onto the counter and prized the question. 

"Char, have you ever thought about, you know -- selling the flat?" 

Charlotte nearly dropped her freshly made coffee. Not because she was against the idea, she thought it was a very good idea in fact - but the whole concept of having to deal with her old flat made her stomach do somersaults. 

"Uhm." Was all she could muster. 

"I mean, you don't have too but like -- this is a sure thing yeah? Me and you." Joe shrugged and slurped the remains of his coffee. 

She pushed his legs open and settled between them, sighing deeply into his chest. It led to a lengthy conversation and the final decision to gather some boxes and head over to her old flat early afternoon.

#

As soon as Charlotte stepped into her flat she felt cold. She stopped so Joe nudged into her back and she intertwined their fingers on instinct. 

"You tidied." She observed, finally advancing into the space of the kitchen. 

"Only a little." Joe shrugged, eyes spanning the area of the flat until they settled upon the crumpled mess of paper on the floor. 

He stopped breathing for a moment.

Charlotte went into the bedroom, said there was a few things under the bed there and Joe stood with his feet planted to the same spot for what seemed like forever. Eventually though, the cruel magnetic force that sat in between himself and the newspaper forced him into picking it up and smoothing out the crumples on the table.

He could see the photo. He could feel the paper beneath his fingers. But his mind was blank. Just an endless expanse of white until he felt light fingertips on his biceps.

He looked over his shoulder to see Charlotte with worry tracing her expression.

"We should probably do something about this." Joe shrugged, finger tip tracing the line in which it was ripped.