Fair and Square
Hey guys I'm back :)) This is heavily inspired by the most recent chapter of my fic I'll Follow You Anywhere (hellyeahheistbooks if you're curious) because I wanted to include this there but I had different plans already. So here it shall go :D I'm just a big fan of Charles crumbling and Edwin looking at him as though his smile is the most beautiful thing in the world okay?????????????
I hope y'all enjoy!! <3
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“Shit!” Edwin tugs him further along as spectral bullets whizz through the air around them, close enough to add another shaved stripe to Charles’ hair.
Edwin glances back at his shout, eyebrows furrowing as Charles lags behind, “Good God, Charles! Move your legs. I promise you that it is not that difficult!”
It takes Charles a moment to formulate a response through his desperate intake of unnecessary breath between each step. “I’m trying! Not everyone has a fucking infinite endurance like you—look out!”
Charles throws himself at Edwin, sending them both crashing into an alleyway and away from the fucking iron grenade that was just thrown at them.
The alley is bathed in an orange glow as an explosion roars behind them, shrapnel and pieces of debris rain down on them like divine fury and they quickly scramble their way out.
Edwin pulls Charles to his feet and he finds himself in a small alcove, surrounded by crates and abandoned furniture. More sounds of general destruction rang out from where they were, but because of everything blocking them from view and the disorganized state of the spirit, Charles was pretty sure that they were in the clear.
That didn’t stop Edwin from placing his hand over Charles’ mouth and raising an eyebrow when he opened his mouth to speak. Or from pushing him more firmly against the wall when he tried to move.
Alright, so this is how it’s going to be.
Charles just barely refrains from licking Edwin’s hand, and instead settles in to wait until they’re in the clear.
It doesn’t take very long for the spirit to move elsewhere, either to continue searching for them or because it forgot what it was doing entirely didn’t matter much to Charles as he tried once more to move past Edwin and out into the open.
He’s halted by a firm hand on his shoulders and a whispered, “It may still be out there. We should stay here for a few more minutes, just to be safe.”
And, you see, Charles would normally agree that it’s better to be safe than sorry in these situations, but Edwin’s thumbs have started brushing back and forth against the base of his neck and Charles has a feeling that Edwin knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Ed—” He’s cut off by the swipe of fingers just under his jaw, and he purses his lips together to keep from making any loud noises.
Edwin grins at him, the curl of his lips is all mischief and playfulness as he says, “You may want to remain quiet, Charles. We wouldn’t want to alert anyone to our position.”
Alright. Charles knows this game. He’s got this.
A light graze on the shell of his ear has him immediately reconsidering that thought.
He tries to bury that ear against his shoulder, but that only exposes the other one to Edwin’s careful ministrations. And, surprise surprise, when he goes to hide the other ear, Edwin just moves back to the original one.
Charles can tell that Edwin’s very amused at the little dance that he’s created, but can’t say anything about it due to his ever-widening grin and the stream of giggles that are just itching to burst out.
Edwin grows bored after a few rounds of this and switches to drawing barely-there patterns against Charles’ ribs, lighting up his nerves despite the layers of clothing that should be blocking out the sensation. This almost gets Charles to crack, the lightness of the touch making him want to crawl out of his skin.
He’d almost prefer it if Edwin just dug in and forced him to lose his tenuous grasp on his control. But that wasn’t part of the game, so Charles stuck it out by offering meager defenses that Edwin easily thwarted.
It was like his strength was completely sapped in moments like these. Honestly, he was surprised that his knees were still holding him up with how desperately he wanted to curl up into a ball to protect himself.
Instead, after a particularly evil curl of fingers under his chin, Charles made the fatal mistake of burying his face in Edwin’s shoulder.
Exposing his back.
Fingers immediately started tracing up Charles’ spine as he did his best to stifle the silent laughter that was shaking his shoulders and muffle his grin against Edwin’s jacket. Edwin simply placed his chin atop Charles' head and lazily drew his trailing fingers upwards, ignoring Charles grabbing desperate fistfuls of fabric in an attempt to steady himself.
Charles had lost the moment the game began, but he really lost when Edwin reached the space between his shoulder blades, and began slowly dragging his fingers in and out.
It started with a squeak, one so quiet that you wouldn’t hear it unless you were listening for it. Then came the trickle of smothered giggles, Charles still trying to stay quiet despite already being defeated.
Then, out of fucking nowhere, Edwin switched tactics and scribbled his fingers in that spot, drawing out a half-snort, half-squeal and sending Charles crashing to his knees in an attempt to get away.
He only got about halfway down before running out of room, but Edwin pulled away to allow him to recover.
When Charles looked up again, he was greeted by Edwin’s smug smile, one that was softened by the fond light in his eyes as he gazed down at Charles.
His grin only widened as he caught Charles’ eye, and Charles just knew that he was about to say—
“I win.”
Yeah, that.
“Like hell! You totally cheated!” Not really, but Charles will be damned if he goes down without a fight, “You know that my back is unfair!”
There was a shift in the air, and Charles straightened up only to be backed further against the wall as Edwin moved forward once more. “You take that back, Charles Rowland. I am no cheater, I won fair and square.”
And, well, there’s a reason that Charles isn’t called the brains in this agency. “I will not. You, Edwin Payne, cheated.”
Edwin lets out a sigh filled with false remorse and says, “Well, I did give you a chance. But what must be done must be done, I suppose.”
Charles really does hope that the spirit is long gone by now, because he would be leading it right to them.
They don’t get back to the office for a while, but, when they do, one thing’s for certain.
Edwin Payne is not a cheater.
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