Wouldn't Dream Of It

Chapter 13

By the time he found Jason, Charlie was breathing hard for no apparent reason. Jason was sitting on one of the benches, shirtless, his elbows resting on his knees. Charlie's heart froze for a second, in relief or something else, he didn't know. If they hadn't taken Jason to the hospital, he mustn't have been too hurt.  

"Huh?", Charlie looked around confused at the almost empty locker room. He had expected the worst, something like a bloody leg or even a broken one. Knowing that Jason was okay enough to be sitting, relieved some of the pressure in his chest. 

A voice startled him from his daze, "Charlie?"

Charlie's eyes whipped down to meet familiar blue ones and he exhaled in relief. They didn't take him to the hospital, he was alright. Charlie wasn't worried now, no, he was fucking angry. Angry at Jason for scaring him, angry at himself for worrying.

"What the fuck was that?", he demanded, his voice sounding frantic and Jason's face twisted into surprise, Charlie couldn't  blame him, he rarely raised his voice, "You could've gotten seriously hurt!"

Charlie half expected Jason to get defensive or tell him to fuck off like he would've before they hooked up but instead he actually gave Charlie a weak smile, "You were worried?"

Not what he was expecting.

He started, "Pfft, what, me? No way, I was just...just, It doesn't matter"

Jason smirked wider at his rambling and he gave up, sighing.

"Come here", Jason said, and Charlie went to him without hesitation, standing between his open knees. Jason pointed to his knee, "I sprained it", he shrugged, "It'll take a couple of days to heal, give or take", and then he tugged on Charlie's jacket to pull him closer and looked up at him, blue eyes filled with sincerity, "I'm okay"

The two words made Charlie feel things. The affirmation meant so much more to him than Jason could ever realize. 

He stared at Jason for a long moment before his body sagged against his and Jason's strong arms went around him as he rested his head against Charlie's chest, sighing like he was breathing him in. It was nice to be held like this, especially by Jason. Charlie pulled away and bent down to kiss his cheek, but Jason chased his lips until Charlie's mouth was pressed against his own. Charlie sighed into the kiss as he kissed him back for one wonderful minute before a sound from somewhere near made him push Charlie away, wiping at his lips.

One look at his face and Charlie knew. Jason was still scared, he was still in the closet. Charlie tried to mask the hurt on his face, he really did but he was pretty sure Jason noticed by the way guilt filled his features. They were just fucking, that's all it was, hopefully Charlie's heart got the memo. 

He gave Jason a smile that even he knew seemed fake as hell, "You gonna be okay ,Pierce?"

"Yeah"

"Alright", Charlie said before exiting the locker room, the painful realization that he actually.....cared for Jason? Maybe.

Only when he exited the locker room did he remember how he just left Mia like that in the crowd. Shit, that was a total dick move. He found her talking to Harley and Liam so he headed over to them, trying to look casual.

"Hey"

All three of them turned to look at him and he winced when Mia glared at him.

Charlie gave her his best pout and wrapped his arms around her waist, "I'm so sorry, I just, I thought Harley got hurt and freaked out", Harley glanced at him, eyes wide and Charlie gave him an innocent look.

Mia looked up at him, "You thought, the muscular and way taller guy who went down was Harley?"

He rested his chin on her head with a sigh, "Mhm, my twin instincts tingled"

"Dork"

He caught Harley's gaze and he gave Charlie a small grin and jerked his head to the side, motioning Charlie to follow him. He did and once they were alone, Harley pointed to the locker room, "Twin instincts? You are way too much sometimes Charls"

"You know it"

He ran a hand through his dark hair, his helmet tucked under his other arm, "So you gonna tell me what's going on?"

"Pfft- ", Charlie spluttered, "What, nothing's going on"

Harley raised a skeptical brow at him, "You're kidding right, you just ran into the locker room like your ass was on fire", he gave a dry laugh, "And you also lied to your best friend saying you thought I got injured. You never lie to him"

Charlie sighed in defeat, "Fine okay, Jason and I have been hooking up, kind of"

"I know that you idiot", he groaned, and Charlie looked at him in surprise, "You did?"

"Of course I did, I knew the second I heard you fucking in the next room", Harley shuddered, looking almost traumatized, "The walls are not as soundproof as you think they are"

Charlie stared at his feet hoping he didn't appear as red as he felt, "Oh"

"So you have feelings for him?", his brother asked, wide eyed like the concept of Jason and him together was a foreign subject.

"Of course not!", Charlie protested, way too fast for it to be remotely believable, "No way"

Harley did not look convinced and he turned when Liam called his name and pointed to the football players, "Right I gotta go, see you at the after party", he said before patting him on the neck and jogging over to the others.

Blasting some music in his car, Charlie drove back home, alone. The clothes he wore were not party material and he had already given his jacket to Mia, so he planned to change into something different before heading over to Liam's place.