for: @yeehawwrites
who: daniel + charlie
verse: permanent marker au
timeline: Mid September
“You are going to shine a hole through your shoes.”
As much as the comment made Charlie want to chuck the boot at Sam’s head, the girl wasn’t wrong. The boots physically couldn’t get more shined. Charlie had been working on them for at least the last twenty minutes. Charlie finally slide them onto her feet before standing and looking over her uniform again.
For once every single item was perfectly in place. Her rank pin shined almost as much as her shoes and Charlie had pinned and unpins her name tag at least seven times trying to make sure it was in a perfectly straight line. She had to make sure everything was perfect. The slight singular hair out of place wouldn’t go unnoticed and Charlie needed to look exactly perfect.
The letter came from her father two weeks before he was set to come visit and Charlie had been anxious ever since. She could feel the tension in her neck as she stood looking over herself and clearly Sam could see it as well as the girl grabbed her shoulders and tried to give her a shake. Sam had seen her this way many times. Any time her father was set to visit her school Charlie would get the same way. Only relaxing then if she had a drink.
God she wished she had a drink.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited to see Richard. It’s not that Charlie was homesick as some of the other members of her squad were. Charlie was use to going months to years at a time without seeing her father. But she wanted to show off. She wanted her father to see her here. To see her doing well and actually proving she was able to do this. Charlie wanted her father to be proud of her.
“It’s going to be fine Char.” Sam tried to reassure her when she could see Charlie’s mind spinning.
“I know.”
She checked her watch again knowing the time her father told her to meet him. Charlie knew he got on the base much easier that day when she was still in PT. He wasn’t there just as a visit to her after all. Coming to check on the base and how everything was going. Richard made it clear that he would make time to have lunch with her in the mess hall but the rest of his day was booked.
Charlie was outside the mess hall almost fifteen minutes earlier then she needed to be. Wanting to show her father she could be there on time and in perfect shape. When she saw him approach her stomach dropped when she noticed who he was walking with. No, this was suppose to be her lunch with her father. Why was Daniel walking with her father.
She tried to keep her face blank as she shot into a perfect salute as they both approached and wished there was a way for it to be clear it was for her father and not as all for her Staff Sergeant, but there wasn’t and she knew if she didn’t greet her commanding officer as she greeted her father she would hear about it as the first words out of her fathers mouth.
“Master Sergeant Powell.” She tries not to change her tone as she looks over at Daniel. “Staff Sergeant.”
Her father gives her a small nod before giving her the order of “at ease” and Charlie relaxes.
“Your Staff Sergeant is going to be joining us for lunch.”
Charlie’s expression flickers to disappointment for a second as she looks down at her feet. Fuck, while she already knew it, she still had hoped he would dismiss himself after they walked up and Charlie could have just the lunch with only her father.
Charlie has to force the “yes sir” out and refuses to look at Daniel as she lets them answer the mess hall ahead of her.
for: @yeehawwrites
who: daniel (aged 27) + charlie (22)
verse: permanent marker
au timeline: Early August
Charlie was lectured a second time for the smallest of details being incorrect on her uniform. This time she kept a straight face, correcting what Miller yelled at her and Charlie kept her eyes straight forward, wanting anything other then have to drop to give more push ups in the sand. A comment was yelled out that Miller expected better considering her father and Charlie used every ounce of will power not to make a face.
There was two others in the line who were scrutinized as much as her for their uniforms and Charlie wanted to know why it really matter considering how everything was going to be impossible to keep clean in the same. Maybe she could ask her penpal later how he managed to keep the sand out of her socks.
Once everyone has been fully inspected Miller seems to back off slightly. Charlie watches as she approaches the other Sergeants, a smirk on his face and Charlie wonders if they are all as amused as he is with the show they are putting on. He turns back, finally telling them to be at ease and check board for their assignments and it takes a solid second for anyone to relax, as if they are worried they shouldn’t.
Charlie looks over the faces. Most are clearly fresh out of boot camp and Charlie doesn’t see many with the officer rankings her, Sam, and the one other have. Most of the crowd heads to the board and Charlie and Sam hang back, clearly both with the same mindset to wait until the crowd has cleared a bit to see theirs.
“So that’s your dad’s bestie?” Sam elbows her slightly in the side with a chuckle and Charlie shots a glare at her so fast the girl just laughs harder. Charlie’s eyes flash to Daniel again and she has to stop yet another eye roll.
“You mean his protégé?” Charlie says completely unamused. “I’m sure this was all Richard’s plan.” She watches Daniel. Charlie tries to make it not obvious but she can tell Sam knows what she is doing. He approaches a group who snap to attention as he approaches and Charlie tries study he mannerisms as he talks to the group before turning and approaching her and Sam next.
Sam snapped to attention again next to her and Charlie couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she bite her tongue to stop from calling her a suck up.
“Boulder.” Charlie greeted him with an innocent look on her face.
for: @yeehawwrites
who: daniel (aged 26) + charlie (21)
verse: permanent marker au
timeline: Early January
Maybe Charlie shouldn’t have gotten so drunk last night.
She nursed the hangover for most of the day. Pretending it was just a migraine and she hadn’t been out far to late with people she had went to high school with who either still lived in town or were also back for the break. Her mother looked a her knowingly more then once but luckily kept the comments to herself.
Charlie was sure her father had figured it out and everything else that had happened that day was her punishment for what he would deem was childish behavior.
Currently she sat at the small booth at the restaurant, dark sunglasses over her eyes and Charlie wanted to throw up from all the smells around her.
“Glasses off inside Charlie.”
She looked at her mother pleadingly behind the frames and wished she could come up with a reason to keep them on. She slipped the off and closed her eyes for a second trying to let the room stop spinning, opening them slowly to get use to the light in the building.
This lunch was going to suck.
Charlie loved her parents. Her father was her idol. Everything Charlie did was to get his attention, good or bad. It made the lunch even worse that he hadn’t stopped the whole ride to there talking about someone he knew in the army.
Staff Sergeant Daniel Cox.
Her father had a hand in his most recent promotion you know? Charlie sure did. Charlie was told she had met him once at a West Point event for her father and she did vaguely remember the guy who tried to lecture her on drinking at the event when she was clearly underage still.
It wasn’t enough of an impression back then for Charlie to really feel one way or another for him but Charlie was known to always be a bit jealous of a person. Especially when it came to her father. Even more so when it was someone who father seemed to respect and talk so highly about when all she wanted was for him to speak of her the same way.
She ordered a burger when the waitress came around. Something about the grease Charlie hoped with absorb anymore booze that was still in her system and make the day a bit easier. She took a minute while her mom and Richard ordered to pull out the pen she had shoved in her pocket and pushed her sleeve up.
for: @yeehawwrites
who: daniel (aged 26) + charlie (21)
verse: permanent marker au
timeline: Mid October
Charlie was up far to early. She nearly kicked Sam repeatedly when the girl’s alarm clock went off at five am. It didn’t matter how early Charlie had to be up during the week, she would still never be use to it or a morning person.
Normally Charlie would be able to sleep in today. A wonderful Saturday to spend sleeping until at least noon. Sadly it wasn’t like it this weekend. She still isn’t sure how Sam convinced her to volunteer with the events for parents weekend. While the weekend was for anyone parents it filled the college with first years parents and Charlie tried to avoid it at all cost. Instead she finds herself without a single piece of her uniform out of place, thanks to Sam, with her third cup of coffee in hand standing on the same said as a welcome sign up table with Sam.
She shot the girl her fourth glare in the last five minutes.
“Keep drinking Chars. It will get better.”
“It will not get better.” Charlie kept glaring until she heard the sound of someone approaching and instantly changed to as welcoming of a smile as she could as she gathered all the papers listing the events for the weekend and Sam offically checked them in.
The whole process took at least an hour with people filtering from just a few at the time to large waves. She could kiss who ever brought her a fourth cup of coffee, the mixture of it and getting use to being awake being enough to make Charlie a bit less crabby over all.
They had an hour almost after the check in was complete while the parents sat in the admission building being welcome and briefed and Charlie refused to move until Sam came back with a breakfast sandwich for her since she was over all doing this as a favor to her. Then they had to give a historical tour of the campus and she was not looking forward to that.
Why do mornings exist on weekends?
Charlie laid back on the now empty check in table, pulling a pair of completely out of dress code glasses down over her eyes. Maybe she could get a small nap before Sam returned with food.
for: @yeehawwrites
who: daniel (aged 21) + charlie (16)
verse: permanent marker au
timeline: early March, three weeks before Charlie’s seventeen birthday.
Charlie should have known something was wrong when her father insisted she didn’t go over to a friends house after school and had to be at dinner with him and her mother. She should have known right then exactly what he was going to tell her. But Charlie is a firm believer in ignorance truly being bliss.
Charlie tuned out halfway through her fathers sentence at the dinner table. She saw his lips still moving but heard nothing and Charlie instantly jumped in to fight what he was saying. Telling him he couldn’t leave out in two weeks. That he had to be here for her birthday. That he said he would be. That his newest promotion should give him the chance to say no, that he needed to be there with them.
Even if she knew that wasn’t how it worked at all.
“But that isn’t fair!” Charlie couldn’t help the stomp of her foot that she did after the words, like it would get her point across more when all it did was come across even more childish.
“Life isn’t fair Charlotte.”
It was the use of her full name from her father that told her the conversation was over. There was nothing she could say anymore that could change anything and she needed to just suck it up.
Charlie wasn’t one to just suck it up. Instead she turned on her heels, slamming the door closed behind her and turning music up far to loud to drown out anything around her. She sulked on her floor for a few seconds before grabbing for a pen.
It become something of a joke. Charlie drawing on herself to get his attention. At first she tried to act as if she always did it on accident. Carelessly forgetting that anything she did would show up on him. But after the first few times she was sure he didn’t believe her anymore and if he did believe she didn’t do it on purpose after years of talking to her, well she would worry about him being far to naive then.
Charlie isn’t sure she remembers when she started drawing things to show the moods she was in. A sun with a happy face if she was happy. Picture of a melted ice cream cone once when she was upset. A shaky cup of coffee when she had far to much coffee and was about to jump out of her skin.
Today she draw a cloud, filling it in to look dark and grumpy just like she was feeling. And in case that wasn’t clear enough she drew a lightning bolt coming out of the bottom of it as well and a puddle with a sad face on it.
for: @yeehawwrites
who: daniel and charlie
verse: permanent marker au
timeline: six months after first writing
Charlie just had to make it through Spanish and she would be done for the day. Just another hour and she would be free for the weekend. She dropped into the desk with a sigh. Not that Charlie didn’t want to learn Spanish, but it still was her second least favorite class to science. The teacher had an awful Alabama accent that didn’t match well with the Spanish he was trying to teach and Charlie wondered if what she was learning was even correct.
She twisted the pen between her fingers absentmindedly will she pretended to be taking notes when the teacher would turn to look around while explaining what he was writing on the board.
Charlie doesn’t even remember when she started doodling. A habit she always had when bored. The margins of her paper were filled more then the center was with actual notes. She certainly didn’t remember running out of room and moving the pen to her arm without a second thought.
Her father hated her writing on her skin. So in mind school she started drawing on her jeans and that got an even worse response. So she went back to her arms and always just made sure to wash everything off before she got on the bus to return home incase he was home before her, even if that was rare these days.
The teacher calling on her snapped Charlie’s attention back to the class room. She had no clue what the teacher had been talking about or what the question posed to her even was and Charlie just gave a shrug and the teacher give her a disappointed look and told her to keep her attention on the bored. Charlie nodded mutter an insincere apology and tried to focus on the topic. It lasted a few seconds before Charlie looked down at the underside of her arm.
The doodles started at her write and went over halfway to her elbow. She looked over her craftsmanship. There was a small ufo, a few planets and stars that started at her wrist. She quickly remembered getting bored with that and the doodles changed to flowers and a sun and then a rain cloud. There were a mixture of random items and doodles thrown in-between everything, a smiley face, a peace sign, a lightning bolt and more. Between most of the empty space was squiggly lines where Charlie clearly wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that she was still drawing on her arm.
It took a second for it to fully register with Charlie that everything on showed up on her arm was going to show up on his was well.
“Shit.”
She muttered under her breathe before looking up at the clock quickly. There was about 30 minutes left in the class and there was no way her Spanish teacher was going to let her leave class again to go to the restroom to try to wash the ink from her arm.
Instead she just looked at her arm again and hoped that maybe he wouldn’t notice until she could run to wash it off before getting on the bus.
for: @yeehawwrites
what: solo para
who: daniel (aged 27) + charlie (22)
verse: permanent marker
au timeline: Late May, Mid June, Early July, & Early August
LATE MAY
Charlie and Sam were far from sober.
They were both laying in the middle of their dorm room floor. They should be packing. They hadn’t been for the last two hours though. Instead they laid side by side in a fit of laughter that had caused them to collapse. Charlie smacked her wrist as she fell, wincing before starting to laughter again. The fresh tattoo of a star had been done just two nights before and Sam’s matching on sat on her wrist in the same place as Charlies.
The photo they had just found that caused the fit of giggles this time was from their second year. The two of them were standing on a beach in Florida with a larger group of friends on spring break.
How all six of them managed to share a two queen bed hotel room for the whole week still surprises Charlie. They are clearly wasted in the photo. Charlie had insisted they try to do the type of photo where they all jump in the air at the same time. But between being wasted and most of them not listening even a little bit, it was a mess.
It was one of many items that had distracted the two girls from packing up their room. That and the amount they had spent drinking. But they were celebrating. Classes were finished a few days ago and now faced with the last night in their dorm both of them seemed filled with nerves on what exactly this meant. Both of them had spent the last four years waiting for this day, but now with it here, facing what was to happen next seemed a bit terrifying.
They weren’t drunk enough yet to admit or talk about that though.
So they laughed at memories while haphazardly packing well until the middle of the night before they fell asleep on the floor, being woken by an alarm at nine am reminding them they had to leave today and rushing, far to hungover, to finish the task they hadn’t the night before.
MID JUNE
Charlie couldn’t stop smiling. The whole day went by in a rush. From the morning, getting ready and trying to rush her parents to do the same had caused them to get to the West Point campus far earlier then Charlie has even been to anything in her life.
It also felt like the first time Charlie had ever checked her uniform multiple times to make sure there wasn’t a single item out of place or even a single piece of lint anywhere on her.
The graduation it’s self, despite the actual length being rather long, went by far to fast and before she knew it Charlie was through her cap with the rest of her class in a fit of screams that seemed out a place for a group in full ceremonial uniforms.
The only part of the day that didn’t seem to go fast was the dinner with her and Sam’s parents as the girls kept checking their phones wanting to get to the blow out party they had helped plan. A group of them rented a air bnb since none of them really had their own place large enough for such a party.
The party Charlie only remembers about half of before she had so much to drink that the rest became a blur. She woke the next morning to both her arms being filled with words and drawings. The right arm worse then the left consider she drunkenly tried to write with her left hand when it seemed like she ran out of room on the other arm.
Charlie once again had to admit that he was right so many times before that he really was going to have his hands full with her.
EARLY JULY
The envelope was bitter sweet. Charlie’s first reaction to the piece of mail she had seen so many times in the past was pure excitement. Because this time unlike the last the name wasn’t Rank plus Richard Powell but instead Second Lieutenant Charlotte Powell. She screamed, jumped up and down, and grabbed her mother in a hug as she tore it open and read the letter multiple times and wished her father was there to show him.
Her second reaction was the write on her arm. That’s when it all came crashing to her. Their plans to meet again having to be cancelled and this time it was purely her fault. Rose saw the realization on Charlie’s face as she sobered a bit and gave her a knowing hand on her shoulder.
Charlie waited to tell him and once she did he told her how his tour was being extended anyways and Charlie had a ping of hope that maybe they would be in the same place overseas. But the likelihood wasn’t high and she couldn’t bring herself to actually finally ask for the details of his platoon and station so she could know if he would be there.
Charlie only grew excited again when Sam called her screaming about getting the same letter and the two of them knew they would at least still be together.
EARLY AUGUST
The first time Charlie wanted to do when she stepped onto the base was write on her arm and comment on the fucking awful as sand.
But she couldn’t admit on the very first day that all of his past complaints had been valid. Charlie was determined to keep telling him he was just full of it and it wasn’t that bad, even if it was in fact much worse then he ever could have made it out to be.
They line up and Charlie stays as close to Sam as she can. The girls refusing to be separated until they absolutely need to considering their different fields. Charlie actually recognized one other person from their graduating class who also stayed near them, even if they hadn’t been close in school. It seemed safe, comforting, to have a familiar face of any kind.
The familiar face that wasn’t comforting was one of the three who stood in front of her with a female who looked far to stuck up and a shorter male that Charlie was sure had to have been a drill sergeant before once the first words left his mouth.
Charlie couldn’t stop the eye roll at the nickname for the one she recognized. It isn’t a far jump for Charlie to assume she was sent here, to this exact base per her fathers wishes because he was here. She feels like she is being baby sat and it sits poorly in her stomach as they all shot to attention the second Sergeant Miller starts yelling.
Charlie is the first to get called out about her uniform and the smirk she gives is enough to get told to drop and give another set of pushups. Sam can’t hold in a snicker and is beside her on the ground in a matter of seconds and Charlie wants to curse the sand under her hands that she is sure isn’t going to fully come off.
“This here is Sergeant Wright. She will be your Sergeant if you are assigned to base mechanical operations. If you are a stock monkey, you will be assigned to Sergeant Greene.” Ashley Greene is one of Daniel’s newest promotions, and he likes her, a lot. She gets along with him and Renee famously. She rolls her eyes at Miller’s antics. “If you are a combat engineer, you will be with the Staff Sergeant for now. After that, you will be assigned to Sergeant Yelvington in Infantry assistance or Sergeant Motley in active operations. PT will be at 0500 tomorrow morning. See the board for your assignments. Your first check starts now. Your uniforms better be spotless. You have five minutes.”
Charlie rolls her eyes again at the mention of Staff Sergeant Cox. She has a list of ways to make fun of his name or his nickname on the tip of her tongue already and Charlie holds in more resentment as Miller keeps on.
She is glaring at Daniel. She can’t help it, well she probably could but Charlie has always had a shit poker face. Then he is looking at her and Charlie almost wishes she could hide her scowl as she keeps eye contact with him.
All she can think is how this is going to be interesting.
