𐙚 Pairing: Dancer/Reader X Charlie Kelly
𐙚 Gender Neutral (Dennis is just a flirt)
𐙚 Summary: You are a dancer that recently moved out to Philadelphia they had decent dance programs that seemed to suit your needs. Artemis was dragging Dee to start taking ballet classes where you all connect and become “friends” when Dee drags you all to the bar where you meet the one and only, Charlie Kelly.
𐙚 Warnings: cussing, manipulation, stalking (referenced), alcohol usage, and awkward/uncomfortable situations
𐙚 Divider Creds!: @suupersonic
Philadelphia definitely is not where you had expected to see yourself living when you had imagined your mid-twenties as a teenager but here you were in your brand new cramped studio apartment with big windows that gave you the view of the grey bricked apartment complex that was across from yours. Its walls were made of red brick and it smelled strongly of the pumpkin and vanilla bath and body works scented candles. You surrounded your place with an attempt of covering up the original scent of "old lady" that saturated the entire building almost sending you into a coma every time you left your home.
It really wasn't much but you couldn't help but love every bit of it.
You had been here about a month now, but you were starting your new life intending to find some sort of independence you hadn't really had a chance to experience since the second you graduated high school you went off to a college that was only 30 minutes from your childhood home. That meant your whole life up until now at the ripe age of 25 you had lived with your parents. You can't say you minded it though because you loved your parents but you felt it was time to move on and get your life started and if that meant in the soggy state of Pennsylvania?
In all honesty, you loved everything about it so far besides having no friends you appreciated how perfect the weather was for your liking. It was always perfectly crisp, muggy and the clouds were always sad looking to perfection in your eyes.
If you were lucky on your day off it would rain all day giving you the perfect ambience to rot away in your bed letting jazz music, coffee, and pinterest consume your entire day.
But today was a new day, you had recently been hired as a receptionist for a random vacation magazine company called "Rushed" and as cool as it sounds it was honestly really anticlimactic all you really did was take phone calls and send emails all day.
However, it came with its perks like getting sponsored vacations once in a while from random companies but overall it was really boring and most of the reason you decided to move to Philadelphia wasn't only for the affordability but for the dance programs you wanted to immerse yourself with to have some piece of home with you.
Today after work, you were starting classes with a new studio called "Moves & Grooves" and all you really knew about it was it was an adult only company that was extremely laid back but was created for adults that still want to incorporate dance into their lives with nothing too serious. It was mostly there for people to keep embracing themselves through dance but not having to feel like they need to be competitive with one another or feel like they need to really dance professionally.
The Moves & Grooves motto was "dance like no ones watching" and that seemed absolutely perfect for you.
You still wanted to be able to dance and perform but not feel the pressure of having to be better than anyone or feeling like you had to reach a certain standard. You decided to sign up for a few ballet classes so that you could break your pointe shoes out a few times a week but still get to use your flats, as well as a contemporary, jazz, musical theater, lyrical and hiphop class.
You really didn't have a life outside of work so you really wanted to surround yourself with what you love to do.
After finishing up a couple emails that were to go out to your boss about meetings that need scheduling, you pack up your things and grab your rugged old mustard yellow kanken backpack and pull it over your shoulders as you take the elevator down to the first floor so you can exit your massive corporate building. It honestly felt like a childhood dream to be able to work in a skyscraper in a decently populated city.
There was a light drizzle that began to soak into your long sleeved black button up that you had paired with some pleated heather pants that quickly made you realize you forgot your umbrella today. Thankfully your apartment complex was just a couple blocks away and you needed to go home and change to get ready for dance anyways.
You didn't even bother trying to cover yourself up because your clothes were already slowly getting damp with every step you took, but you did quicken your steps as you approached your building and definitely left wet foot marks in the carpet of the lobby but you didn't even bother looking. You were cold and wanted to get out of your scratchy clothes anyways.
You abruptly unlock your door, step inside, and quickly dry your feet off by the door and untie your shoes before stripping out of your work clothes and change into some pink ballet tights, a black leo, and put a pair of your 10 year old black lululemon dance studio pants over your outfit before walking into your drab kitchen with worn cupboards and grey slated countertops then grabbing a cup of oikos vanilla greek yogurt and you mix in some granola and sit at a kitchen stool and scroll on your phone for a bit while eating, as the nerves of going to a new place for dance start to seep in.
You hadn't really given it much thought until now but you had only really been at one studio your whole life so dancing with a bunch of new people is going to feel so weird and wrong but hopefully you will get used to it after some time.
After about 15 minutes you made your way out to the bus stop and waited for a bus to come pick you up. The studio was about 15 minutes from where you lived but you decided when you moved out here to leave your car back with your parents at your old house which is sometimes a good decision that you made because now you get more steps in and you get more fresh air but right now you wish more than anything you had your own heated car but way too late for that now huh?
You waited for your bus next to an older homeless man with long knotted and greasy blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked as if half of his face was burned. He was missing multiple teeth and he smelled strongly of weed.
He had kindly asked you if you had any beer on you and you politely told him "no" before you slowly slid to the other side of the bus stop to slightly distance yourself from him. While you waited you had heard him singing some song to himself about a girl named "Deandra" but you kind of blocked him out after a little while because you were really starting to get used to these weirdos on the street even if you had only really been living in Philly for a month.
5 minutes pass and a rusty green bus that has very smelly exhaust pulls up to the bus stop and the second the bus opens its doors the homeless man does not waste anytime making his way onto the bus giving you even more of a smell you get to endure besides the gnarly fumes the bus was excreting but after you give it a few seconds to waft past, you make your way onto the bus completely forgetting you were gonna be within the same vicinity of the homeless man for god knows how long so the next 15 minutes on this bus were going to be very revolting.
The man kept singing to himself at the back of the bus but at that point you had put your headphones in and put some music on to kind of drown him out and maybe distract yourself from the violent smells your nose was enduring.
After what feels like an eternity you finally step off the bus where the homeless man thankfully didn't get off with you. From there you walk about a block to your new studio and you finally see the brick building with a sign in front that says "Moves & Grooves Dance Corp." and the sign has a funky pattern of squiggly lines surrounding the name with a bunch of neon retro flowers surrounding it as well. You immediately feel at ease just looking at the building because the vibes automatically seem very welcoming.
As you are about to make your way in you suddenly hear bickering coming from your right, you look over and you see 3 young ladies that looked to be around your age there was a very boney blonde lady in grey leggings with a thick pink band over a spaghetti strapped black leotard and a very over-the-top white workout headband on that made her ballerina bun almost invisible.
She had piercing blue eyes and almost an ostrich-like face and she was shouting at a shorter and plump lady with brown wavy hair and a very expressive outfit on. She was wearing a purple leo with pink tights and a neon orange tie skirt and she had neon green leg warmers on almost as if she were trying to match the company's logo. She had very precise cat eyeliner and a pretty lip color and you honestly couldn't help but really admire this strangers style but you were quickly taken out of your thoughts when you hear
"Goddamnit Artemis! Why are we even here? I'm already miserable, and there isn't even alcohol offered so what's the fun in even being at this place?"
The blonde said in a very squawky tone
"Because, were you not just telling us that you wanted to try ballet because maybe it would make Mac, Dennis, and Charlie stop thinking of you as such a manly woman?"
The very exotic dressed brunette said placing a single hand on her hip giving the blonde a glare
"Guys can we just go in? we're late."
The other lady you had barely even paid attention to who had a dirty blonde bob with soft curls impatiently cuts in.
You immediately realize you had been staring and snap yourself out of it before rushing yourself into the studio, the door swinging swiftly behind you causing a gust of cold air to brush straight down your spine Was it your nerves or the air? It didn't help that a few people had shown up early.
The attention was swiftly turned to you and you stood there awkwardly with a smile laced with humiliation as you brought your hand up to softly wave at the four unfamiliar faces looking back at you in a dimly lit marley-floored studio with fairy lights in every direction you looked. The atmosphere was all you could've asked for.
You snapped yourself out of it before awkwardly stepping further into the studio
"Um. Hi! Sorry I didn't realize the door would shu-"
You were cut off by the sound of the door opening behind you and the three women from the parking lot were all shoving each other to get inside and they all seemed to realize they had an audience before they shut themselves up.
"Hello! Hello! Welcome everyone, make yourself at home everybody welcome to our beginner ballet masterclass!"
A curly haired woman in a baby blue lululemon scuba and black leggings approached you and the trio from the parking lot, making space for you guys to settle yourselves in.
"Ah Artemis, are these the friends you mentioned?"
The lady smiled warmly at the three women and then you.
The bird-faced blonde chimes in
"Yes! Just not her, we're not with her."
She gestures to you and seems to have said it with good intentions. Or so it seemed, it came off slightly aggressive though but you brushed it off with a warm flush starting to spread throughout your whole face as the curly haired lady who seemed to be the teacher of this class approached you. She shook your hand and welcomed you to the studio and asked if you had any experience.
You nodded intently and told her you were a pointe dancer and the 3 women stared you down as if you were a show off. Now normally, this would bother you but these girls had an aura to them that you were definitely attracted to and you decided to embrace it and go on with your new class.
After 3 hours of lovely-yet-chaotic ballet classes with these complete strangers, you ended up creating a bond originally with the dirty blonde girl. You kind of only know her as the waitress now.
You didn't really catch her name but she was really nice to you and eventually you came to meet Artemis, the woman with the phenomenal style and Dee.
The psychotic blonde girl who came off as aggressive from the second you saw her and she still definitely was but she seemed to be warming up to you.
As you were leaving the new studio, Dee and Artemis came over to you and asked if you wanted to go to what they referred to as "Paddy's" But you had no idea what that was.
"Oh Paddy's is the bar I work at. My douchebag brother and his friends own the place. We were just going to catch up and grab a couple beers and Artemis noticed you were lonely. Wanna join? We have to drop the Waitress off because she doesn't wanna be near Charlie right now but we have an extra seat."
Not only did you not know who the fuck "Charlie" was, Dee said this in a slightly unenthusiastic tone you were starting to think was just how she spoke. But you noticed that she said "Artemis wants you to" not "we want you to" but again you kind of shake it off.
However, deep down you have a bad feeling. Yet you had no friends in Philly yet at all. This was your only hope and they were actually inviting you to do something with them so you politely accepted and brought your sweaty green duffle bag with you into the small red Ford Aspire.
You get cozy in the back seat next to the waitress that keeps on rambling about this "Charlie" guy and how this morning she woke up with a crack in her window, a rock on her bedroom floor with a piece of paper attached to it with some sort of love note.
'This guy sounds like a sociopath' you think to yourself
You drop the waitress off at her apartment and you all head to Paddy's pub in the small-overly scented car, with Victoria Secret perfume surrounding every particle of air you breathed in.
You approach the pub and Dee pulls the car up to the curb. If you would've walked by this place alone you would think to run away as soon as physically possible. It looked like a place where crackheads met up to have orgies and bang younger people.
You exit the car to see what was a rusty brick building with really rusted green doors and cracked windows and it reeked of dumpster from where you stood. This made sense because as you turned your head to see if the two women were behind you you saw loads of trash scattered across the street as if some racoon had been in there and dug everything out.
"God, Frank didn't even think to clean up our mess."
Artemis spoke looking at the scattered trash
You give her an alarmed look and look at her, then the ground, then back at her.
"I-I'm sorry? You said this is your mess? How did you manage that?"
You ask with nothing but terror and an uncomfortable grin on your face.
"Well you see, Frank and I love some really fun and exotic-"
"No one wans to hear about you and Frank's repulsive ass food fetishes! You dirty whore"
Dee shouts at Artemis and she just smirks as you all enter Paddy's
You just look at the two concerned but just laugh it off. Maybe they will end up being fun people. Maybe you misjudged them. You look around the place, the entire interior is surrounded in dirt and water and the booths throughout the bar were torn and i t smelled like gasoline and comet (yes the toilet cleaner) and... oh my god... is that vinegar? You think to yourself, scrunching your nose at the putrid aura that graced your nostrils
A masculine sounding voice approaches the area from a dark corner. and he makes eye contact with Dee. The man has slicked back dark hair, brown eyes and he is relatively bulky, he had a towel that looked like it was covered in car oil draped over his shoulder as he spoke.
"Oh... It's just you. Charlie and Frank we're supposed to be back with the supplies like 20 minutes ago"
He says and glances at Artemis, and then you.
You immediately feel unease at just the name "Charlie" because of what you heard in the car but you politely wave at the man with big pretty brown eyes.
Honestly, none of them seemed to be questioning the smell.. So maybe you were just crazy but you politely introduce yourself and the man gives an awkward toothless smile.
"Hey... I'm Mac cool to meet ya. Are you new around here? No one with a kind attitude from around here would ever be caught dead with Dee."
He says and Dee watches this whole conversation, just rolling her eyes waiting for this to be over.
You shrug and smile at him softly
"I am new-ish! Been here for about a month. These girls were very kind to me at our dance studio and were nice enough to invite me here for beers so I'm just trying to make new friends in the area."
You notice you are rambling so you get a bit flushed in the cheeks before Dee cuts in
"We're just here for beer so go back to your bullshit"
Dee stops your conversation midway and just waves him off with her hand.
Mac just rolls his eyes and disappears into a random room that looked like it had stairs that maybe led to a basement? Who knows. It wasn't your business, there were just a lot of new things being introduced to your senses, smell wise and visually so you couldn't help but notice a lot. You also noticed the snarkiness in Dee's tone that kind of intimidated you. But based off of the people you have seen in Philly so far, these girls seem to be as normal as it gets so you were just thankful to have created some sort of bond.
Artemis sits at a barstool and you find a seat next to her as Dee goes behind the bar to crack open some Coors beer bottles and opens hers before sliding the other two over to you guys.
"Are the guys still doing that smelling salts thing?"
Artemis asked, and you assume and hope she was bringing it up because of that malevolent smell that was making you nauseous by the second.
"I stopped paying attention to them a long time ago. Anytime they speak to me it just goes in one ear and out the other."
Dee says as she chugs down one beer and cracks open another one.
You just watch her with a blank expression and you see Artemis and Dee glance at each other.
"Soo, Dee and I were wondering... Could you maybe help us clean up the place? We have been really struggling to keep up with it and our jobs are kind of on the line if we don't get it done..."
You look at them with kind eyes. Again, you were genuinely just thankful to have made friends so you were willing to do anything really to keep some connections with real humans outside of your job. And you did just get a free beer.
"Oh my god, yeah of course! I'd be happy to help you guys. What do you need to start with first?"
You see glances between Dee and Artemis. This time they just seemed pleasantly surprised as the two asked if you could start the counters and floors while they did some of the harder stuff that was in the office. They gave you cleaning supplies and closed themselves into the office after kindly thanking you for help countless times.
You got yourself in the zone and made the pub spotless and after what felt like hours the girls came out of the office covered in sweat and dirt and you smiled at them as they looked around shocked.
"Wow! You like... actually cleaned. I'm impressed!"
Artemis smiles at you and pulls you and Dee into a group hug.
"Thanks so much for doing that for us! That office stuff has had us booked and busy for weeks now. So much has happened in there to make it that messy you don't even want to know."
Dee smiles brightly and checks her watch.
"Man, it's getting late."
You look at the clock and see that it says 8pm.
"Oh! Yes it is, I should probably get home. This has been great you guys. Thanks for the beer and having me over. I'm so glad I was able to help."
Suddenly there are multiple sets of footsteps approaching from what must be the basement (which you are still positive is where the smell is coming from). A rugged man with a dark beard and pretty eyes with really dirty clothes and a baseball bat with nails sticking out from it steps in with a short balding man, Mac, and another handsome man with light brown hair and striking blue eyes, following him into the now-spotless bar.
They all are covered in must and truly look like they stepped out of the dump. That is most definitely where the smell is from.
You have tears forming in your eyes from how awful it smells but you look at them and give them a kind smile as you notice their dumbfounded expressions.
Dee and Artemis seem urged to get you out the door as soon as possible.
Artemis whispers to try and get you out as soon as possible.
You thought this was just her trying to be kind because it truly smelt awful. Maybe she was trying to save your sanity at least a little bit, but before you could leave, you heard an unfamiliar voice speak.
"Deandra, there is no way in hell you did this all by yourselves."
The balding man with the scratchy low voice of a new smoker spoke looking at Dee and Artemis.
You figured by "yourselves" he meant the three of you, even though he had barely even acknowledged your existence so you didn't say a word. Dee and Artemis still seemed very urgent about getting you out as soon as possible trying to cut the guys off and get you out. You had also just made that connection with that name Deandra. That weirdo from the train station. You thought to yourself.
Another unfamiliar voice spoke
"Hang on Frank, I see what's happening here."
The light brown haired man spoke lightly, pushing the other three men aside so he was now standing in front of you (you were standing in front of the other two girls) and looking you up and down.
"You guys hired a cleaner to cheat out of not doing Charlie work!"
Mac shouts abruptly, catching everyone off guard including you as he points a lecturing finger at the three of you guys.
"Oh no no no, Dee and Artemis just needed an extra pair of hands I offered to help them because they had so much office work to do"
You smile at the guys softly hoping that they understand and this conversation could be over as soon as possible because your eyes and nose were BURNING.
Dee and Artemis smile at her for a second and you just see both of their smiles drop at your mention of "office work"
All three of the guys say collectively squinting their eyes and the two girls.
The rugged looking man with the dirtiest clothes and the baseball bat squeezes past you and opens the office door. The whole place was a disaster, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years and everything was slowly starting to click after many moments of confusion. You have been used.
You looked at Dee and Artemis
"Were you guys just using me as a cleaning slave?"
"You didn't even pay this bitch?!"
You can tell this whole situation doesn't involve him at all; he is just finding an immense amount of entertainment in it.
"No! No of course not, we were organizing files and stuff before we cleaned the rest! She was just helping because she is nice!"
Artemis nervously says looking at you with a very convincing smile obviously completely ignoring Mac's shouted statement.
"Charlie? How's it lookin in there?"
You still haven't been able to put a name to his face but you were still trying to keep along with the chaos that was unfolding before you. Not only that, but THAT was Charlie. The messy bearded guy was THE Charlie you had been hearing all about. You hadn't expected him to look like that but to be honest, you weren't even surprised. He was carrying a bat with nails. That should've said everything you needed to know.
You look and see Charlie rummaging through files and sniffing them even before looking at everyone.
"Dee and Artemis. You guys are full of shit. This whole room is messy as shit."
He says still rummaging around through things. It looked like he checked multiple places more than once too... You subconsciously thought to yourself maybe that was a behavioral thing. That was the least of your worries though.
"Dennis, go get some drinks... It's gonna be a long night"
Mac says to the handsome man you hadn't known his name up until now.
You looked at the women with such betrayal in your eyes and looked down before just walking over to your things, sniffles started but you couldn't bear to cry in front of these complete strangers. You grabbed your things and didn't even bother to look at anyone but before you could completely leave, who you now know as Dennis called out.
"Hey! Hey! Wait up! It's pretty dark out there. I'll walk you to the bus stop"
He had been eyeing you all night and you suddenly heard a bunch of collective sighs from behind you, as if this kind of thing happens frequently. You kind of just look at him as Charlie suddenly passes by the both of you holding what looks like five full garbage bags and Dennis holds the door as you start to leave the pub.
You are positive the other four were just staring you down like crazy but you honestly couldn't even be bothered to care. Dennis walks behind you as Charlie walks his separate way towards the dumpster when all of a sudden he trips and the garbage gets everywhere.
You and Dennis turn and he says
Charlie groans as he pulls the trash off of himself and looks around at the disaster surrounding him. Dennis wrapped his arm around you to try and get you to follow him to the bus stop and you were too nice to say anything about feeling weird about the whole thing. You kind of just let him do his thing for now but you see Charlie struggling to clean up and you shrug Dennis's hand away so you can go help the poor guy and you reach your hand out to help him up and Charlie just stares at your hand for a moment before meeting his dirty, sweaty, calloused hand with yours as you lift him from the ground. You clean up the trash that had fallen down and put them back in their bags.
"Yeah, I'm okay! Thanks for coming back to help me."
He gives you an awkward smile. He's holding his sleeves Ariana Grande style which you honestly couldn't help but find sort of adorable.
You guys were now close enough to where you could analyze his face and could see how genuinely handsome he was. He had a really nice and scruffy beard, pretty teeth, pretty eyes, and some of the most mesmerizing freckles you had ever seen.
You had just realized you may have been staring for more than a second before you noticed Dennis.
He was just standing a fair distance from you guys with his hands on his hips before he bit his lip as if he was very focused on something and heard him hum under his breath before you watched him just nod his head at you and Charlie and he walked right back into the bar.
You look at the door confused and back at Charlie before speaking
"Sorry I didn't offer to help you carry the trash I was just trying to get home."
You say in a genuinely apologetic tone.
"No no its okay, wouldn't watch you touching the rodent run or anything."
You look at him curiously and furrow your brows.
"Yeah! Rodent Run! The guys and I invented a chemical mixture that melts the rodents down to slop and they just have to be mopped up."
You just look at him wide eyed and nod
"Oh... That's nice... Is that what the smell in there was?"
You wrinkle your nose a bit.
"Smell? Oh yeah. I think I just got used to it and didn't notice... Sorry about that."
He looks at you and scratches his head
"No no it's fine, I guess I probably shouldn't have been there anyway... Nice to meet you Charlie."
You gave him a soft smile and were honestly about as humiliated as a person can get and you were so ready to leave but before you can, he stops you quickly.
"Wait, what's your name? I don't think I caught it."
He had just been brushing off the extra dirt that was on him and he was awfully fidgety with his hands as you introduced yourself to him.
"Well, have a goodnight..."
You awkwardly mumble and wave as he waves you off and you find your bus stop.
After about 30 minutes of holding back tears on the bus, you finally make it home to where you scrubbed yourself spotless to get the scent of the bar off of you and the trash you had helped to pick up.
You boiled a pot of water and made some raspberry mint tea to help bring you some comfort. You honestly never thought that you would ever appreciate the smell of "old lady." But you were now in your safe space that you were now able to call home, and that was just a part of your living situation now and you can't even complain.
Right before you got in bed and cried yourself to sleep, you think about how you had finally made friends but it was too good to be true. You had only been here for 1 month though, so you still had time...or at least you hoped.
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You had woken up bright and early to the sound of the pouring rain hitting your glass windows, and your obnoxious alien invasion sounding alarm that startled you awake every. single. morning.
You rolled out of bed and numbly zoned out whilst you brushed your teeth, washed your face, put on the most boring corporate outfit you could think of, and headed out the door. You had recently found a new coffee shop called the “Philadelphia Java Company” and you decided since you had a little extra time to spare before work, you would grab a drink.
You pull out your umbrella as you exit your apartment complex's elevator and you open it up as rain stomps all over the damn thing. You walk about a half mile to the store and quickly you shake the rain off your umbrella and fold it up before you slowly enter the place, wipe your feet on the welcome mat, and are blessed with the welcoming scent of mahogany and espresso and you take a quick deep breath in. Maybe everything will be okay.
“Hi! Welcome in- oh hey, It’s you!” A familiar voice speaks and you quickly turn your head and see… The Waitress?
You look at her with betrayal behind your eyes. Maybe she wasn’t even involved in what happened but you were still upset nonetheless.
“Oh… Hi! I didn’t know you worked here.” You are still kind of caught off guard so you don’t seem enthusiastic about seeing her. “You aren’t going to use me too are you?”.
You ask genuinely with a soft and sarcastic like tone, before walking up to the ordering counter as The Waitress rests her arms on the glass pastry display case and she looks at you with furrowed brows giving you a look of not just concern but curiosity.
“Those white bitches didn’t screw you did they?” She asks with a slight grin as if she knew this was going to happen.
You look at her slightly wide eyed and ask “You knew?”.
She laughs at you almost but not in a “jokes on you” way but like an “I should’ve known” way and she rolls her eyes.
“Oh no this is their thing. They don’t care about anyone other than themselves.They screw me all the time but Dee told me if I took the ballet class with her and Artemis she would take my house key away from Charlie. I did end up loving the class and staying. Though I should’ve warned you, I really needed to stay out of the Charlie zone.” She says with a shudder.
You look at her baffled at the “housekey” mention and wonder if you guys were even talking about the same Charlie. “He has access to your HOUSE? I met the same Charlie I think you are talking about yesterday, and he sounds like the complete opposite of what you are describing!”
The waitress starts wiping counters down and the room starts feeling like it’s getting smaller and she just laughs to herself. “He seems sweet, but he’s a stalker and won’t leave me alone. I don’t understand why he even finds me so interesting in the first place. He just won’t leave me alone when I ask him to. It’s like he has attachment issues or something.“ She scoffs and rolls her eyes.
You just look at her baffled and shake your head “I’m so sorry he does that to you, have you ever asked him why he does it?”
“Yeah, he never gives me a straight answer. I wonder if he is just always so drunk out of his mind that my boring life is all he can use as some sort of escape, I don't know. You can take him off my hands. I could care less.” She continues wiping the counters down.
You immediately look at her alarmed “Oh no no, that wasn’t what I was implying at all! I was just saying he seems nicer than you make him seem. I don’t like him or anything like that, we just talked once last night.” You think to yourself that you need to stop creating assumptions of people based on your first impressions. That ended badly just yesterday.
The waitress just shrugs and smiles at you “Well I hope Philly gets better for you… but also, it's Philly so may god be with you.” She laughs. “Did you want to order anything?” She asks you, going up to the register and typing in some things.
You end up just ordering a latte and you thanked The Waitress. Tipped her $10 even. You had made your way outside when all of a sudden a sudden familiar fume hit your nostrils. It was the stupid “rodent run” Charlie mentioned yesterday. You were now face to face with him. He was wearing a green jacket that had a grey hood, mid rise dark jeans that were the perfect amount of baggy and his hair looked disheveled. He definitely pulled it off though.
“Oh, hey! I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” He says putting his hands in his pockets, you were outside the shop holding your umbrella by your side because the rain had died down by now.
“I did.” you giggled “I’ve heard about you, you should really leave her be.” you look up at him and squint slightly and grin
He looks down and fidgets a bit like you noticed him doing yesterday. “Yeah, about that. Not that you asked but the gang intervened on me and now I have to give her stuff back. I've done some thinking myself and I think they're right.” he looks at you then into space awkwardly like he feels guilty for even being within your presence.
You look sort of shocked “Wow. Good for you, that's great.” you smile and check your watch. “Shit. I’m gonna be late for work, I'm so sorry! um..” you stop nervously and Charlie just stands there, eyebrows furrowed noticing you have more to say. “Wanna go for a walk sometime?” You ask a red flush coming up to your face and spreading down your neck realizing how stupid you sound especially after just hearing about what The Waitress just told you. You couldn’t help but wanna see the other side of the story and maybe get to know this guy more. You think back to the night before when Dennis was showing interest and the second you and Charlie started talking; he let you be. You barely knew these people. What the fuck are you even thinking? You think to yourself you need to stop coming off so strong.
You are about to tell Charlie to forget about it before he cuts in
“Really? With me? You’re so pretty tho- I mean yeah! I'd appreciate that I thought you just said you heard about me and the waitress..”
He shrugs off what he just said and just looks at you with his beautiful green eyes and just has the most innocent face ever.
A part of you melted a little, even you gotta admit he is insanely handsome. Even if he still smells like “rodent run”.
You look at him and shake your head “I’m sorry I just realized how dumb that sounded we just met- “
You shake your head embarrassedly and realize how late you're gonna be.
“See you around!” You walk off flustered and embarrassed.
“Hey wait!” He shouts. “Meet me at Fairmount Park tomorrow at 6pm, yeah?”
He is like 20 feet from you now and you just give him a thumbs up and nod as you run off to catch the bus. Charlie was left behind you and you saw a glimpse of his short figure entering the coffee shop. You could not only sense but you KNEW that his friends were crazy. But they were doing good by intervening on Charlie. Maybe the guys weren't so bad. Dee definitely was. But maybe not the others.
The air was still muggy just the way you liked it but it smelled of how you now know Philly. Bus Exhaust. You just barely caught your bus and made it to work just on time and you were driven to your corporate office at Rushed, where you worked from 9-5 and had a lot of phone calls and emails to make to sort out an incident a dumbass co-worker had caused on their latest vacation to Barcelona.
This idiot within your business had given a 1 star review on the blog and got it published somehow. And it was through a place that had sponsored your company. How did they do that without knowing they were your sponsors? You had no idea but it was definitely a very busy day. After everything was seemingly sorted out you were finally able to go home after being there 2 hours later than normal. With it now being 7pm and super dark you cautiously head back to the bus station. You waited a few minutes before getting picked up and dropped off by your apartment complex 20 minutes later.
After settling in at home you ended up getting ready for bed and going straight to bed after that long long day. You did have one thing to look forward to at least. A walk with Charlie. God you really needed this walk to go well, you need friends so bad. Maybe it would go well and you would finally actually have a friend in Philadelphia. A stalker, creep friend but at least he was nice… it will all work out, you think to yourself.
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You had gotten to work a couple minutes early even after walking up slightly later than normal. Turns out, none of what had been sorted out yesterday actually worked and your company was in a bit of jeopardy. Companies were reaching out and calling Rushed a shit show. Since you were an assistant for your boss, you had to deal with all of the phone calls and before you knew it, it was 6:30. “Fuck Fuck Fuck” you whisper to yourself as you realize the time. You make sure everything is completely settled and you hustle out of your building.
You had conviently caught a ride to the park right as you exited your work building and made it to Fairmount park at around 7pm. You hustle into the park and look around and see that Charlie wasn’t there
. “Shit” you say out loud and keep looking around and realize you just fucked up your chance of having any real friends.
It was also getting really dark outside. You thought about just going home but ended up deciding going to Paddy’s may not be the worst idea ever. So you end up making the walk down the street to Paddy’s because it wasn’t a crazy walk from the park.
You walk into the Irish pub and all the sudden there are 5 pairs of eyes on you. Dennis, Dee, The old man, the gay one and thank god, Charlie. You lowkey look so exhausted and you hear a “welp” from Dennis and Dee is just staring at you with a blank expression as if they were just talking about you and you don’t even care. You just want to talk to Charlie
“Hey Charlie can we talk outside for a second?” you look at him with a genuinely sorry expression.
Charlie stares for a second looking kind of shocked that you even showed up. “Um.. yeah yeah”
He puts his jacket on and you two step outside and you immediately explain yourself.
“I am so sorry it seems like I stood you up. I forgot to get your number yesterday and since I didn’t have it I couldn’t tell you work kept me late because of an incident at work. I am so sorry Charlie I didn’t mean to leave you hanging, can we still hang out?” you say so genuinely apologetic.
Charlie kind of stares at you in shock. Nobody had ever genuinely apologized to him that way before. He starts to laugh in your face.
“No probably not, I know Frank has been trying to hire people to hang out with me recently so I don't need this pity hangout, thanks though.”
You lowkey choke up a little bit and look at him like you lost your breath completely and like you have just been hit with multiple bricks.
“Charlie… I really did want to hang out with you. Besides, have you even met your friends? I would like to be as far the fuck away from them as possible. I mean I understand if you don’t want to hang out anymore, just know I really am sorry.”
Your tone was too genuine for him that he genuinely did not believe a single word you were saying. It had started to rain lightly as Charlie just stared at you. You decided to just look down and walk away and cover your head, as it slowly starts to rain heavily.
You had no jacket, no nothing because you rushed to the bar so quickly and it was so sunny this morning you hadn’t even prepared for rain.
You heard the paddy’s door close and turn to see that Charlie had gone inside the bar. “These people were so mean” you think to yourself as you start to just walk home and tears start to flood your eyes because you genuinely meant no harm.
A few seconds pass and you hear the door close again but think it may just be someone taking the trash out or something but then you suddenly hear something running towards you. You turn around to see Charlie holding an umbrella , running towards you. You quickly wipe your eyes realizing how big of a baby you must look. Charlie puts the umbrella over the both of you and looks at you as you are still wiping your face.
“W-whats this?” You ask, looking him in the eye.
“Let me walk you home, it’s dark outside.” He nudges his head to the left with a blank expression.
“No, no it’s okay I have it under control you don’t have to do that.” You say with a certain tone.
Charlie just shakes his head no and starts walking straight down the sidewalk you were already walking on, forcing you to follow him.
“So how come you stayed at work so late today?” Charlie says as if pretending the last few minutes didn’t just happen.
“I- well I mean there was just an incident. A coworker of mine made a mistake and it took me a little bit to cover it up. But listen, I swear Frank didn’t hire me.” You let out a soft laugh with a mix of sniffles from the recent tears and from the cold air surrounding you.
Charlie laughs a little bit “That would be a first then. You’re the first person to ever willingly want to hang out with me because you know I concoct things like fight milk and rodent run, and people think it’s weird but they are useful solutions to major problems!” He says in a matter-of-fact tone as if this was common knowledge.
You had absolutely no idea what fight milk was and you did not even want to know but you can’t help but laugh at how passionate he is about the potions he makes.
“Mmm yeah because dissolving rats is the way to go compared to having mouse traps.” You laugh a little bit and the conversation slowly becomes more comfortable.
After around twenty minutes of just talking about why Charlie is so passionate about getting rid of rats and making sure the lighting fixtures in the bar are perfect at all times, you arrive at your apartment complex with Charlie.
It is still pouring rain and you and Charlie had genuinely had a good conversation and the two of you clicked almost immediately, the both of you had laughed almost the whole time.
“Thank you so much for walking me home. Do you want me to order you an Uber so you don’t have to walk all the way back?” You ask him.
Charlie looks down for a second and then looks back up at you. “Do you actually think I could come in?”
Your eyes widened in genuine surprise at his question “Um yeah yeah of course.”
You open the apartment complex's door and hold it for Charlie so he can shake the umbrella off a little bit. You had noticed earlier on your walk that he was wearing a black jacket with red stripes and a tiger on the left side of his chest with a grey beanie on which suited him really well. It was genuinely hard to take your eyes off of him.
“Can I take your jacket for you?”
You offer as Charlie starts to step inside and take a glance around at your studio and you suddenly get embarrassed because he seems to be looking very deeply as he snaps out of it
“Oh no thanks, I’m still a bit cold”
His cheeks form thin lines as he chuckles a bit, squinting his eyes. Charlie tended to scrunch his nose when he smiled or laughed, it was something you were just starting to notice and your stomach couldn’t help but flip at the sight.
He states as he looks at you
“Thank you! I really tried my best”
You smile and laugh as you gesture for him to come in
“Can I get you a beer or anything?”
You offer as he steps inside with muddy shoes and he only notices after he had gotten halfway to the kitchen
“Oh shit- fuck I’m sorry! Yes beer sounds great”
He immediately takes the jacket he just refused to remove off and starts wiping the muddy floor before you can even stop him.
“Charlie, no no it’s okay I can clean it up later seriously don’t worry about it”
You say as he takes his shoes off and neatly puts them at the front door. He silently shrugged off your statement and tossed his now dirty jacket on top of his shoes after cleaning the footprints before walking over the damp floor in socks meeting you in the kitchen.
Now you may have just met Charlie, but based on what you have seen of him thus far, him cleaning up after himself seemed a little unusual, but you appreciated the gesture nonetheless even though it was his mess.
“Thank you for doing that”
You say as you open your refrigerator door and grab two Coors Light’s and you hand one to him as he approaches you with another kind grin on his face, taking the Coors.
“Sorry bout that and thank you, my favorite!”
Charlie chuckles and scratches the back of his head messy hair becoming even more disheveled, looking at the ground as you go and sit on your couch that layed next to your giant windows with a beautiful view of the city and he follows sitting only about a foot and a half away from you as the two of you crack open your beer and take a sip.
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After three full hours of talking, it was now around 10:30pm. You had told Charlie all about why you moved out to Philadelphia and you had both talked about your job, cats, weird food Charlie eats regularly, and you guys had both opened up to each other about the type of people the two of you are.
As you told Charlie about yourself he quickly became comfortable with you and he listened to every single word you said. He looked at you with wide and lit eyes and maybe it was the four beers each the two of you had downed but he really seemed like he was in awe of you.
His voice had started to soften with you as the hours passed and he surely didn’t hold back on telling you all about the concoctions he makes and the little dumpster and sewer treasures he collects. And while he was a really weird guy, and you could see what The Waitress was saying about him, there was just something about Charlie having no shame in doing what makes him, him that was just so admirable.
Charlie was the first person in years to show genuine interest in you and it was genuinely making you begin to feel seen and you really hoped you were making him feel as heard as he was making you feel.
Eventually, the two of you had started to get drowsy and Charlie had stepped out to call Dennis and had come in a bit later to tell you Dennis was coming to pick him up because it was late and he didn’t want you spending money on him for an Uber so he insisted Dennis come get him.
To be honest, you weren’t too comfortable with the fact that Dennis the weird flirt from a couple nights ago was going to know where you lived but you just shrugged it off.
“Thanks for the drinks, It’s been so nice to talk to someone different then the stupid motherfuckers I live and deal with every single minute of everyday”
Charlie says in a grateful tone but groaning towards the end of his sentence.
You laugh at him and smile widely
“Yeah no of course, I had a blast! Can we maybe do this again sometime? Maybe this time we will actually do Fairmount park at 6pm?”
You say with a soft grin with nothing but hope in your eyes and Charlie forms his lip into a line
“Uh I dunno if I can trust you dude…”
Charlie says while laughing and hums for a second.
You bite your lip nervously while also trying to bite back the smile forcing on your face. God he looks so good you think to yourself as he finally speaks
“Nope! I don’t work weekends actually”
You fidget with the sleeves of your shirt as you respond to him trying not to get too flustered in front of him.
“How's tomorrow morning at 11 work for ya?”
He asks, and you notice he is also being fidgety with his hands as he speaks
“Sounds perfect.”
You say with a content smile.
Twenty minutes later there was a knock at your door and you and Charlie walked to the door and sure enough it was Dennis- The Creep- Reynolds.
The second you opened the door the brown haired man was leaning against the door frame with a grin. He was wearing a periwinkle colored button down shirt that had suspiciously been almost entirely unbuttoned and his bare chest was out and he was clearly checking you out and started to speak. Charlie immediately gave you a small nervous smile and just glared at him and started shoving him out of the door shouting at him to get a move on as the two left and started to bicker loudly all the way down the hall about Dennis just embarrassed him
God that poor man needed better friends. At least Dennis was nice enough to pick Charlie up but “Jesus Christ” you thought to yourself “What a Fucking Weirdo”
You rub your eyes and start recounting the good conversations you and Charlie had and how the two of you just clicked so quickly. You finally made a friend. A really funny friend who genuinely seemed interested in pursuing the friendship and didn’t seem to have intentions of using you.
However, you couldn’t deny that you weren’t catching feelings for Charlie. Yes it had only been three hours of conversing with each other but you two had gotten deep with each other and it was just so genuine. He just seemed so perfect, so weird, yet so hilarious and ridiculously handsome.
Finally after many minutes of being lost in your thoughts about tomorrow you throw on a matching flannel pj set and get ready for bed before crashing.
Good things we’re coming, things are starting to sort themselves out, it was just a matter of time.
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You had awoken the next morning around 8:30 am and had done everything you could to get ready for the day, putting in a little more effort than normal to look good.
By 10:30am you fully left your house and locked up and walked out into the streets of Philadelphia taking a giant breath of musty air, noticing the sun was out and shining today as you walked to Fairmount park. It was a very normal and perfect temperature for once, it was honestly the prettiest you have seen Philly in your few months of living here.
Finally you make it to the park and you just sit and stare at the trees and beautiful scenery surrounding you finding yourself slipping into a trance and before you knew it time had passed and you checked your watch
You mumble to yourself, convincing yourself that your watch for some reason said 10:18 am even though you had left your house after that, completely forgetting you and Charlie said 11am.
A few more minutes pass before you realize Charlie is really late.
You put your head in your hands and start shaking your head like you should’ve known better
As you start fighting tears that are forming in your eyes you begin to grab your bag and start getting ready to head out as a man covered in dirt, looking like he’s been through the trenches starts running towards you holding two objects in his hand and a grocery bag on his shoulder. It took your brain a second to even process it was Charlie.
As he got closer you smelled straight up dirt and realized that what he was holding were two takeout coffee cups and you still couldn’t tell what was in the bag. Your body relaxes at the sight of him, feeling thankful he actually showed up as he starts speaking.
“Im so sorry I’ve been out since this morning and lost track of time”
Charlie says, shaking his head, sitting on the bench where you were just sitting. His face was also dirty and his eyes looked so genuine and apologetic as he spoke to you
“Please don’t leave, look i brought you coffee I asked The Waitress what you like to order-”
He says handing you a warm latte and you look down at it. It was from the Philadelphia Java Company.
You look down at the coffee and sniffle a bit from the tears that had threatened to fall moments earlier and smile at the sweet gesture. Not only did he get you coffee but he put in the effort to get you something you liked but from The Waitress? You were surprised he even got his hands on it considering Charlie is practically banned from the cafe.
You look up at him with a pout and a soft smile
“Thank you so much Charlie. Thank you that was so sweet of you…”
You say and take the time to look him up and down and smell the dirt on him. You had honestly never hated the smell of dirt so you honestly didn’t mind it
“Charlie what the fuck happened to you?”
You chuckle at him a bit before sitting next to him on the bench, gazing into his kind eyes as his face turns a little bit red under all that dry dirt covering his face
“I found a meadow close to the bridge Frank and I like to hang out under and I found these…”
He pulls out a very handmade and crumpled arranged bouquet of daisies, pink and yellow poppies, some dandelions (yes even the fuzzy ones) and some random leaves that were wrapped in some twine rope that was shaped like what seemed to be a bow.
Charlie hands you the crumpled flowers with a proud and unapologetic smile on his face
You take them and look at them as if they’re the most precious thing in the world, the corners of your mouth lifting in awe with a slight pout of disbelief.
“Holy shit you picked these yourself? Charlie these are beautiful”
You look at him and then back at the flowers
“This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me thank you so much”
You keep looking back at him in awe feeling your heart warm at these sweet gestures, and you notice that even when covered in dirt Charlie really was so handsome and the dirt was just making him look even more rugged and sexy.
He started to say after being quiet for a few moments
Charlie seemed to not be able to keep his eyes off of you either though. His eyes kept raking over your body and your hands and was looking at you like you were a beautiful painting in an art museum.
“Would you say we’re even now?”
You ask him in a gentle but confident tone as you keep hold of the freshly picked messed up flowers you had just received, holding them as if they were something sacred
“Mmm not quite, you didn’t get me anything when you were late you know…”
He says giving you a soft grin looking at you with a captivated gaze as the two of you find yourself sitting closer to each other.
You suddenly notice your breathing had started to get heavier and your heart started to pound and Charlie’s face started to inch toward yours, getting close enough to the point where you could feel his warm breath on your face. Time seems to have just stopped at this moment.
Your eyes meet his and before you can even think about what is happening in this exact moment, your face starts moving closer towards him like it has a mind of its own. The two of you slowly move closer and closer on the wooden bench before Charlie’s hand meets your waist and the gap between your lips is suddenly shut.
Your hands softly move up to cup his jaw softly as you start to kiss him feeling his tender lips on yours and your noses press against one another.
Neither of you deepen the kiss, you just let the kiss linger so the both of you can be in the moment and not feel like there is any rush. You let the moment stretch for a few seconds before not wanting to pull away but wanting to look at Charlie for some form of acknowledgement you pull yourself back slowly, resting your forehead on his dirty one for a moment and your hands still hold Charlie's face softly, feeling the nice comfortable breeze on your faces Charlie pulls back ever so slightly to get a good look at you.
The two of you just look at each other with so much softness behind your eyes before both you break into soft flushed smiles and you don’t care one bit about the dirt on his face because the story of how it even got there made this moment even better than it was.
“Would you say we’re even now?”
You ask slowly wrapping your arms around his shoulders not even concerned about your surroundings or worrying if people happen to be watching
“I think we’ve settled it”
Charlie chuckles softly, now putting both of his hands on your waist and leans his smudged face in to lay yet another gentle kiss on your lips.
𐙚 A/N: Thank you so much for reading if you made it this far! This is my first ever fully completed fic so I hope y'all enjoy! Soft Charlie Kelly fics are so so so rare to find nowadays so I made my own and I really enjoyed making this one and would love to make some more Charlie x Reader fluff fics in the future, so if people like this lemme know!!!!
