Salubrious part 25

Pim and Glep were talking about what movie they saw recently in theaters, as Charlie was on his phone just doom scrolling. Allan was making coffee for Charlie.

He texted Allan:

Ur always so domestically smart. I love how u made breakfast in my kitchen this morning without even asking me where all my shit was

Allan noticed the text, responding:

Ur kitchen was so messy Charlie you need to clean it. And ur welcome ☺️

Charlie responded:

It was so sweet. That breakfast was delicious 🤤 😉⚠️🫠

Allan smiled, texting as he poured the coffee:

It was only eggs Charlie don’t have a orgasm over it

Charlie burst out laughing, making Glep and Pim notice.

“Oh what’s so funny Charlie? I’d love to laugh.” Pim asked.

Charlie blushed, realizing even though it was their second day officially being a couple, they haven’t said anything about it to his friends at work.

“Oh I just told Charlie not to have an orgasm over the eggs I cooked this morning,” Allan said in a calm voice.

“Allan! What the heck?” Charlie exclaimed. Pim gave them a peculiar look. Glep looked amused.

Allan laughed, going over to the table to hand Charlie the coffee.

“I’m just messing around, obviously,” Allan winked at Charlie.

Charlie shook his head. “It’s too early for this shit,” he mumbled, drinking his coffee.

“Now that was an off-color joke if I ever heard one,” Pim teased, jabbing at Charlie’s arm jokingly.

Glep nodded muttering in a gibberish deadpan voice, “I’m calling HR next time to rat on Allan.”

“Fuck, and what will they do? That number the boss gave us for HR is just his old ass landline,” Charlie joked along, making Pim laugh.

“You know I heard something about landlines..” Pim started talking as the group’s dynamics shifted into normality.

Allan drank his coffee as they all continued chatting, thinking about how safe Charlie made him feel after the ptsd he had from the dinner date last night.

Allan had automatically gotten up at six in the morning, kissed Charlie on the forehead. “Good morning, Charlie.”

Charlie smiled sleepily, “Dude, good morning,” he leaned in and they kissed on the mouth.

“I thought you said we’re past dude,” Allan teased. “Do you have eggs? Coffee?”

Charlie nodded. “Hopefully.”

Allan scrunched his nose, “How do you not know?”

Charlie shrugged. “I gotta piss.”

Allan grimaced at the state of Charlie’s apartment, but he went to the kitchen, looking for supplies. He decided to just whip up some breakfast, starting coffee but having to clean out the filter first.

“Eww. God, Charlie, you’re a slob!” He said as he cleaned up some trash and dishes.

He made a impromptu breakfast with some leftover rice and eggs, coffee and some bacon.

Charlie got out of bathroom, looking impressed.

“You made all that while I was in the bathroom?”

Allan frowned, “You were in there awhile.”

Charlie shrugged. “Looks good!” He smiled.

Sitting down, Allan decided to try and explain everything that happened the night before.

“Hey before we get into that, you really don’t need to worry or explain if you don’t want to. I was really only concerned if I did something wrong or hurt you on accident when we were… on the beach…” Charlie said, taking bites of the food. “When we kissed.”

“Oh well, um, it wasn’t you. You were great. It was… the date honestly reminded me of my terrible landlord. When he tried..” Allan started.

“Oh you mean the time your landlord disguised himself as a beautiful woman in order to hang out with you? Yeah I remembered that. That was the day I hit my uncle for being an ass. And the beach, damnit. I should’ve remembered when I saw you on the beach,” Charlie recalled, sticking out his fork and gesturing as he spoke.

Allan blinked. “You knew?”

“No, no. I just had an inkling. You kept looking at me like I was the imposter.”

“I just… that night I thought I had actually made a real connection with her, uh.. I mean him. And then your uncle’s dog attacked her, and it’s just… I was freaking out. I almost suspected you were the landlord!” Allan exclaimed as he wiped his forehead like there was sweat there. “And you said things that mirrored stuff she said. About how the color red was sexy.”

Charlie frowned. “That’s just weird. I don’t know man maybe our life is just one preconceived idea that is like an episodic reality where nothing is real and resets after each day.”

Allan nodded, looking stressed. “I get that feeling too.”

“But I meant that. You know, that red is sexy,” Charlie said, licking the fork suggestively. “And you’re red, Allan.”

Allan gave him a wide eyed look. “That’s what she did too! She seductively lapped at the red wine in the glass like you licked the fork.”

“Don’t freak me out, man. Maybe you just bring out this obvious sensuousness in people. Like seriously, I’m freaking out here,” Charlie gulped. “And that psycho landlord is still in jail right?”

Allan nodded. “I believe so.”

“Well, then we shouldn’t worry. I’ll protect you, anyway,” Charlie said.

“Can you please do your dishes before we leave to work? Your apartment is making me itch,” Allan asked.

Charlie nodded, laughing. “Since you made breakfast, yes. But I usually wait till the sink is overflowing to the bedroom.”

Allan rolled his eyes. “I somehow think you’re not exaggerating and that makes me want to punish you for being a dirty boy.”

Charlie felt a hot blush hit his neck. “Oh, what was that? Please, don’t mess with me today, Allan. I need to focus.”

Charlie started washing the dishes as Allan came behind him, slapping him on the butt.

“Damn! Let me wash the dishes in peace!” He teased.

Allan growled, “Not a chance.”

Allan was taken out of the memory as he heard Charlie talking.

“You know speaking of that, like one time, I dated this girl in high school and she made me watch that dumb movie about the rich dude falling in love with the hooker, Julia Roberts?” Charlie started recalling.

Pim laughed, “No Charlie, that’s the actress’s name she wasn’t a real hooker.”

“Dude I know that. Of course I fucking knew that. It was her character, she played one and then..” Charlie rambled.

“What are we supposed to be talking about?” Allan asked, annoyed.

“Oh, movies that girlfriends make us go see, I was just saying my wife forces me to see rom-coms for our dates,” Glep explained in a matter of fact gibberish.

“Oh yeah. So boring. Usually those movies are so formulaic,” Allan said.

“Well this one was so stupidly romantic in a ridiculous way. But, that one part when she was coming out in that red dress. It was dumb but the whole opera motif thing got to me. Those movies are so manipulative,” Charlie explained. Allan perked up at this, thinking of the scene innocently at first, then really thinking about it seriously. He liked how that movie accidentally affected Charlie, it made him look at his new partner in a way that he never did before.

“Manipulative? That’s media as a whole,” Glep responded in a muttering gibberish.

Pim nodded. “But there’s something so sweet about it all. Like we act so tough but it still hits our soul in like a million different ways.”

Charlie laughed, “Yeah. So fucking life changing. I think I’ll go cry into my pillow now like how Pretty Woman wanted me to.”

Allan gave Charlie a long look that felt intimate, making Charlie blush but realize something as the boss came in to say hello to everyone. Charlie’s eyes asked, “Now?”

Allan just nodded, making Charlie gulp.

“Hey everyone, we gotta say something,” Allan stated. Charlie got up, walking over to Allan.

“Yeah. So just to let you know, Allan is.. we are.. well, so to speak, in a very short definition, it’s like…” Charlie bumbled, sounding incoherent and nervous.

“Charlie’s dating me,” Allan said plainly.

Everyone exclaimed, giving well wishes and congratulations.

“We are exclusive, though. So don’t get any ideas, Mr. Boss,” Allan said, making Charlie look confused.

“Oh I knew it, I’m so so so happy!” Pim stated, hugging and kissing his friends on the cheek.

“That’s so good for our company morale to have two of my boys tie the knot!” Mr. Boss ignored Allan, giving them a thumbs up.

“We’re not getting married yet, calm down,” Charlie explained.

“Yet?” Allan said quietly, smiling.

“Um, this calls for a celebration! Why don’t we all hang out tonight for a few drinks and dinner on me!” Mr. Boss said.

Charlie nodded. “Okay,” he said, going back to his phone, feeling relieved it was over, for now. He made a mental note to ask Allan about the weird comment but tried to not let it bother him.

Allan nodded as Pim and Glep said they would be able to make it.

Charlie thought about last night again, thinking that things were still going well considering the beginning was so rocky. He felt that even as the intimacy between Allan with him was being strained by trauma and old wounds, he would be patient, paving the road to safety and comfort before anything physical.

It was worth it to him, and he realized that it was not like they weren’t affectionate to each other in different ways.

It was a serious leap for Charlie who jumped into sex very easily with his past girlfriends. But Allan was different. And it meant something to Charlie to give them something that wasn’t expected but trusted into light.