@mssr-monagato, forgive me. I didn't mean to hurt everyone so badly. In my heart they always had a happy ending.
The apartment Charles finds to rent claims to be a one-bedroom, but it's really a studio. Which is...fine on the days where it's fine.
But, it's small when it's on a day when things are not fine - on days where Pierre has anger that he turns on himself, quiet and brooding and hard.
Charles doesn't know what to do on those days so he gives him space - he goes to study with some friends and he calls Alex and George and listens to them talk about their new jobs and they talk circles around the thing they aren't talking about.
But, he never calls home on the bad days.
Because it seems unfair to him that he still has parents who love him and support him and Pierre has...Charles.
Well, Charles and the friends he's made at the restaurant he's working at.
Charles likes them enough - he likes to go in on Tuesday night when it's slow and sit at the bar and pretend to study while he watches Pierre work and feels his cheeks heat up when Pierre says my boyfriend, Charles.
It never fails to make him feel like it's all worth it.
The tears and the hard days and the way Pierre's eyes dart to his phone in panic every time it rings...Pierre leans over the bar and he puts his chin in his hand and he asks, you any smarter today, baby? and it's all worth it.
They had woken up late - Charles hadn't even made it out of bed yet and he is sure it's at least noon and Pierre is humming to himself while he makes them eggs in their tiny kitchen. Charles can see him from his place on the bed, sprawled out and naked.
"I thought we could go to the -" Pierre starts to say, but he's cut off by his phone ringing - loud and echoing from the bedside table and Charles' eyes dart over to Pierre.
He holds his breath and waits - waits for Pierre to shut down - waits to scramble and patch him up, but Pierre twists to look at him, nose scrunched up and points the spatula at him. "If that is Thomas, tell him to fuck off, I'm not working today."
Charles squirms over, answers the phone and says, "He says he's not working today, Thomas."
Pierre starts to laugh and Thomas is grumbling in Charles' ear about being short staffed and how he'll pay Pierre overtime pay, but then Pierre moves the pan off the heat, darting for the bed and wrapping his fingers around Charles' ankle to yank him down the bed. "Sorry, Thomas!" Pierre shouts, "I've got to feed Charles now and then I'm going to eat -"
Charles shouts and covers Pierre's mouth with both his hands, abandoning the phone somewhere in the blankets to keep him from finishing that sentence to Pierre's kind-of boss.
They're in bed long enough that Pierre has to remake their eggs and Charles tells him that if he doesn't have water in the next ten minutes, he might actually die, but it's a good day.
He doesn't realize until that night - when they're walking home hand in hand that Pierre hadn't flinched when his phone rang.
