Chapter Text
“Mummy, why do I have to go to school with Uncle Charlie?”
“Because Uncle Charlie’s new job is right near your school, spud. He’ll be dropping you off for the next three months at least, and Daddy will pick you up.” Tori Holden-Spring strongly emphasises one particular part of that sentence while staring at her brother a few feet away. She smooths down the wayward chunk of hair on the top of her young son’s head, resembling an evil genius stroking their cat while plotting the ultimate crime.
“But our car’s better …” Finn whines, spooning some more cereal in the general direction of his mouth and almost successfully hitting it on the first try. The comic book lying open next to his bowl is clearly very distracting.
“Sorry, Finn. I’ll try to have a better car by tomorrow for you,” Charlie chuckles softly, standing up from the table and disposing of what’s left of his own, half-eaten breakfast.
The five-year-old looks up with bright, wide eyes. “Will you?”
“Aw, no, not really.” The brunette shakes his head, watching his nephew seem to deflate in front of his eyes. “But I would if I could.”
“Don’t they pay you enough?”
“Finlay Holden-Spring, we don’t ask people things like that.” Michael’s voice chimes in from the hallway. He doesn’t sound annoyed though, more amused than anything. It’s hard not to be impressed when a small child manages to point out what everyone in the room is thinking, without even trying.
Charlie catches the eye of his older sister a few feet away, and they share a look. He’s nervous as hell, always that way on his first day at a new office. He knew that finding a decent job straight out of university was going to be hard, especially as he didn’t have a specific career in mind. Temping isn’t ideal long-term, but he’s fallen into a comfortable pattern of spending three to six months at an office anywhere north of the M2 motorway, then moving on without having grown in any way attached to the place. It’s been earning him enough money to survive, and he can do the mundane admin work with his eyes shut. What also helps is the low rent that his relatives charge for him to stay in their spare room in leafy central Kent. He knows he should move out, but he actually feels really settled here most of the time. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful to be able to keep an eye on his sister, and knows she likes to return the favour. Plus, he’s a live-in babysitter, and who doesn’t want one of those under their roof? One day he’ll have to make a few more decisions about his life though, because he does feel like an intruder in this house sometimes, and every ‘fresh start’ at work is that little bit harder on his already frayed nerves.
"This could all be very short-lived, you know," Charlie says under his breath to Tori. "If I hate the place, I'm not staying."
"You've said that about every office you’ve worked in so far, and I’ve yet to get the text confirming you’ve made a run for it.”
“It’ll happen. You know it will.”
“You’re braver than you think, Charles,” murmurs Tori.
Charlie smirks. “And you’re a lot more kind-hearted than you used to be, Victoria.”
“Tell anyone, and I’ll smother you in your sleep.”
Shaking his head of dark, messy curls, Charlie watches his sister slink away, eyes still narrowed in a silent warning. She’s all talk, of course, but her harsh wit is one of the things he’s always loved the most about Tori. She never fails to make him laugh when he needs to, and today is no exception.
“Come on then, young man, time to make another dent in the universe.” Michael Holden breezes into the room and ruffles his son’s hair, messing up his wife’s earlier efforts to tame it.
“When did I do that?!” The little boy is wide-eyed again, seeming to take his father’s words literally. He glances up at Charlie when he gets no response from Michael. His uncle shrugs back at him, feigning ignorance. Trying to explain a saying like that to a five-year-old is something Charlie has chosen to for-go many times so far, and he hasn’t regretted it once.
“You do it every day without even trying, spud,” says Tori, appearing out of nowhere like she so often does. Finn still looks deeply confused by the statement, but as he slides off his chair and is helped into his school jacket, his lips curl into a smile. He’s a clever one, this kid. It’s hardly surprising, with parents like his. He may have come along slightly unexpectedly, but the thought of Finn Holden-Spring not being around now seems unimaginable.
Charlie picks up his pale green backpack, plus his nephew’s much gaudier Paw Patrol number. It’s a little beaten-up now, about to be used in its third term of the school year, but the youngster is very attached to it. Charlie makes a mental note to avoid getting the two mixed up at the school gates; walking through the doors on his first day at a new job with that on his back would not make a good impression. He’d be remembered, surely, but for all the wrong reasons.
“Okay guys, are we all set?” Michael asks through a mouthful of toast, planting a buttery kiss to his son’s cheek. Tori takes Finn’s hand and leads him towards the front door, deftly cleaning his face as they go. Charlie follows behind, taking a shaky breath.
“As we’ll ever be, I guess …”
“You’ll be fine,” Tori urges in more hushed tones, then leans down to give her boy a hug and a kiss. “Be good, listen to the teachers, try to eat all your lunch, and most of all …”
“Have fun!” Finn loudly parrots in unison with his mother, offering her a big toothy grin. She whispers something into his ear and he giggles, skipping off down the driveway towards Charlie’s car.
“Same goes for you, mister,” Charlie’s much shorter sibling gives his arm a quick rub and heads back towards the kitchen. He stands motionless for a few seconds, perhaps slightly paralysed. Finn’s loud shout from somewhere near the car reminds him he needs to get moving, if only to be a responsible guardian for his nephew. Finn can lecture anyone on road safety, but if a dog were to appear on the other side of the road, Charlie knows he might still be tempted to wander off to say hello.
“Right then. Here goes nothing.”
*****
“Uncle Charlie? When’s your birthday again?”
The embarrassment that Charlie feels as his nephew asks such an innocent question is unnecessary, but probably inevitable. He hates having any attention drawn to himself, and even surrounded by strangers, he feels awkward as hell at the thought of them listening in on this conversation. He’s already feeling on edge, having parked in one of the visitor spots at his new workplace and then wandering away like he has no intention of visiting at all. Maybe he doesn’t need to be assigned a space in the main car-park at all, but he doesn’t know that yet so he’s just erring on the side of caution. And it’ll only take five minutes to walk down the road and drop his nephew at the school gates. No need to panic. Nope, none at all.
“Um … just over two weeks away. Why d’you ask?”
“Just wondered,” the young lad mumbles while chewing on his fingernail. That’s probably code for ‘ I’m going to make you a present in art class and it’s going to be awesome ’, and for that Charlie can’t help but feel ludicrously proud. Either that, or Finn is counting down the days until the next time he can eat birthday cake. Charlie chooses to believe it’s the former option until proven otherwise.
“Do you think being twenty-five will suit me?”
There’s a long pause.
“Not sure what you mean?” Finn replies eventually, looking up with a furrowed brow and almost tripping over his own feet.
“No,” says Charlie, frowning a little too. “Sorry, it was a bit of a weird thing to say. Ignore me.”
Finn responds with a nonchalant shrug. “M’kay.”
Very regularly, Charlie finds himself envying his young nephew and wanting to switch places with him. He’s a great kid, so much more confident than his uncle at that age, but with just as much intelligence hidden away inside that cute little head of his. Charlie often finds himself praying that nothing will ever happen to Finn to break his spirit. He’s going to be fine. He has to be.
“Look! They’re cleaning one of the fire engines!”
Finn’s excitable voice drags Charlie from his daydream, and before he can protest, he’s being pulled along the pavement towards a set of tall metal railings. The little boy peers through them, letting out an awed sigh. Charlie wasn’t aware that his new workplace, or indeed the primary school, were in such close proximity to a fire station. It’s sort-of exciting in a way. Without meaning to, Charlie finds himself searching a bit too eagerly for a handsome fireman or two. It goes without saying that there’s bound to be some. Sadly though, they seem to be in short supply this morning. Only a girl of around his age and a middle-aged man are in view at the moment, busy scrubbing a headlamp each with big soapy sponges.
“Hey, that’s Tara. She’s my friend,” Finn beams, trying in vain to rattle the railings even though they’re completely immovable. “Tara! Over here!”
Charlie cringes at the loudness of the boy’s voice, wanting to hide when a passing parent shakes her head at him. Finn is completely undeterred though, and is rewarded with a wave from the female firefighter, who jogs over to see them.
“Morning, Finn! I missed our little chats while you were on your Easter hols. Did you have fun?” The girl has an extremely infectious smile, all warm and bubbly. She must be around Tori’s age, and she looks up from Finn to his companion, giving a friendly nod.
“It was okay. Didn’t do much.”
“Erm, not true actually. We went to the park almost every day. And that petting zoo was pretty cool …?” Charlie probably sounds a bit desperate for approval, but he doesn’t want Finn’s buddy to think he doesn’t try to entertain his nephew. The girl just nods again, this time with a knowing smile.
“I bet I know the one you mean. I could watch those meerkats messing around all day.”
“Yes!” Charlie gestures a little too enthusiastically, but Finn isn’t half as demonstrative. If anything, he looks like he’s trying to act really casual all of a sudden, and then it hits Charlie - his rosy-cheeked nephew has a crush on Tara. That’s slightly adorable.
“If I could choose, I reckon a meerkat would be the ultimate animal to be reincarnated as,” says Tara, folding her arms matter-of-factly.
Charlie pauses to think, pleased that Tara is so easy to talk to. He smirks just as knowingly. “Hm, see, I’m not sure. Cats seem to have the easiest time of it. Especially the really pampered ones. Think I’d have to go for one of those.”
Finn screws up his face in confusion. “What are you two going on about?”
“Just silly stuff, little man,” Tara grins, sharing a look with Charlie when the youngster glances down at his feet shyly. A second or so later his attention has gone elsewhere, squinting towards the fire engine again and pointing his tiny index finger.
“Hey, who’s that? I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
Everyone looks across the yard at the tall male with dark-blonde hair who just appeared through the station doors with a clipboard in his hand. He’s chatting with the older guy from earlier and … well … yup, even from this distance, it’s clear that Charlie just found his hot fireman.
“Oh, that’s Nick. He’s our new rookie.”
“What’s a rookie?” Finn frowns again. He’s doing that a lot today.
“It means that he’s the newest member of our squad, and he’s just learning how to fit in here at the station.”
“So, he doesn’t know how to put out fires yet?”
“No, thankfully he does. He did most of his training at a college before coming here. Tell you what though, why don’t you ask him more about it yourself?” The young woman turns around, raising her arm to wave for this Nick guy’s attention.
“No!” Charlie shouts before he can stop himself, and absolutely everyone in the vicinity turns to look at him. That includes the rather bemused blonde, and Charlie gulps before he can find the words to explain himself to Tara. “I mean, he looks sort-of busy, and we’re going to be late if we don’t get to school in a minute.”
Finn couldn’t look less interested in his education at the moment, but a swift glance towards the building has him spotting a friend, and then his attention quickly shifts for what feels like the tenth time in as many minutes. “There’s Mason! Gotta go. Bye, Tara.”
“Yeah, see you later, kiddo.” Tara chuckles again, sending a brief wave Charlie’s way. “Nice to meet you. Have a good one.”
“You too,” Charlie smiles weakly, only realising as they’re leaving that he didn’t even introduce himself to the girl. She and Finn seem thick as thieves though, so she probably knows at least a little bit about the kid’s relatives and isn’t suspicious of this new person bringing him to school. Or maybe she’s just good at hiding it …
Charlie’s just glad he managed to avoid having to talk to that other guy; he finds it hard enough trying to converse with a completely unthreatening girl like Tara, but a super-hot fireman with muscles on his muscles? That doesn’t even bear thinking about.
*****
“So how was school today, spud? Did you learn anything cool?”
Finn pauses mid-jab, determined to pierce as many of the peas on his plate as he can with his fork. Most of them are landing on the table instead. He looks up at his father and purses his lips like he’s deep in thought. The whole room has his full attention.
“I wrote a song and drew a dog.”
“Really? Go on then, how does the song go?” Michael’s enthusiasm is endearing, but Charlie and Tori give each other the ‘brace yourself’ look. Thankfully the youngster seems to have already forgotten the tune, so the subject is quickly changed.
“How about you, Charlie? What’s the new office like?”
“Oh, uh …” Charlie shrinks under the weight of his brother-in-law’s quizzical gaze, even though it’s paired with a smile. He knows that Michael means well, but he still doesn’t enjoy the scrutiny, especially while he’s trying his best to eat something. They all have an understanding to try to keep the conversation as light as possible at the dinner table when they’re able to enjoy a meal together, but sometimes even the simplest of questions can send Charlie spiralling without any real explanation. He hates the way his brain works.
“Me and Uncle Charlie met a new fireman,” says Finn through a mouthful of fish-finger. Unfortunately he imparts this revelation at the exact moment that Charlie takes a sip of water, and the messy-haired brunette almost chokes on it.
“Yeah?” Tori’s tiny smirk is discreet but annoyingly obvious to Charlie. “And what was he like?”
“We didn’t meet him. He was just standing in the yard while we were there this morning,” Charlie insists in a slightly croaky voice, glancing at his nephew and feeling ashamed by the question that pushes its way out of his mouth. “I mean, unless you spoke to him later on, Finn?”
“Nope,” the young boy shakes his head, leaning back in his seat. He commands a surprising amount of attention for such a small human being. “I did see him having a push-up competition with someone in the yard at lunchtime though.”
Charlie’s jaw hangs open for a fraction too long. A derisive snort comes from Tori’s direction.
“Who won, kiddo?” Michael asks, completely oblivious to what’s going on at the other end of the table.
“Not sure, had to go inside,” Finn replies with a shrug, his uncle visibly deflating next to him. “But I bet it was Nick. He was really good at them.”
Charlie’s face feels like it must be close to bursting into flames. He daren’t look at his sister, sure he’ll want to take a cherry tomato from his plate and launch it at her. Thankfully Michael seems to have sensed his discomfort this time, and ushers his son away from the table now that they’ve both finished their meals.
“So … Nick, was it?”
Charlie puts his head in his hands and groans. “Shut up, Tori.”
“Oh, come on, I’m just curious.” the diminutive brunette pushes aside her own empty plate.
“There’s nothing to tell, though. I was in the general vicinity of a handsome man for a very short time earlier today, and managed not to throw up or run away screaming.”
“So, a bit of a win, then.” Tori gives a small shrug. Charlie knows he’s not being mocked, but he still finds it hard to talk about things like this, even with one of his closest confidants.
“Can we talk about something else, please?”
“Alright, but you might not like the alternative,” states Tori coolly. “How’s the new job?”
“I’ve already been asked that.”
“I know. You avoided it once, but we both know I’m just going to keep pestering until I get something out of you.”
Charlie eats one last chip in a vain attempt to distract himself and then sighs heavily. “It was fine. Normal. The usual.”
“You sound less mature than my five-year-old right now, Charlie.”
“Well, maybe I’m not feeling very mature tonight,” Charlie grumbles petulantly.
Tori tilts her head. “And why’s that?”
“Dunno.”
“Jesus, Charlie, you could at least try not to make me want to give you a dead arm.”
“And you could get off my back.”
“Oi!” Tori raises her voice unexpectedly and Charlie flinches. He has the decency to look suitably chastised. “Thank you . Now can you tell me what’s bugging you? Or did I just hit a nerve with the fireman jokes?”
Charlie slumps and shakes his head slowly. “I’m just tired.”
“Is doing admin at a cake factory that exhausting?”
“Not that kind of tired,” sighs Charlie, “… although yes, it was a bit.”
The older sibling shrugs. “Okay, so what else are you tired of?”
“I dunno …”
“Yes, you do.” Tori’s stubbornness when her brother gets like this is legendary, and she’s probably the only person who even attempts to push past his defences when he raises them this high. “Please tell me?”
Charlie always knows he’s truly beaten when his sister asks for something nicely. “I just … I suppose I’m just …”
Tori shuffles her chair closer to Charlie and puts her hand on his shoulder. He rests his head against her delicate fingers and sighs again. “Are you doing that thing where you feel like you need a boyfriend again?”
A watery laugh escapes the male’s lips. As usual, his sister has read between the lines with pinpoint accuracy. He nods and smiles weakly. “Pretty sad, wouldn’t you say? Finding someone attractive is apparently the best way of determining what a loner I am.”
"You're hardly a loner," Tori urges, sipping from the trademark straw in her glass. It somehow always keeps a conversation from feeling too heavy on her brother's shoulders, especially when they begin out of nowhere like this one seemed to. "You've got some really good friends, and you'll always have us."
Charlie stares down at the table, cheeks tinged with a pink glow. "So I've got the family and the friends. It’s just the third 'F' I’m a bit desperate for at the moment."
Tori grimaces. "Okay, so I actually hate you for making me reassure you on this," she utters in annoyance, "but you're not exactly ugly. Hardly incapable of getting any, anyway."
"It's been quite a while."
"Yeah. That's definitely TMI."
Charlie lets out a quiet laugh. "Sorry."
"Liar. But anyway, you know that there are places you can go to solve this problem pretty easily, right? You just haven't done that in a while, either."
“Haven’t been feeling very social.”
“Hm. Fair enough.” It’s Tori’s turn to focus on the table, lip curling at the corner. “Suppose there’s always Grindr …”
“Nope,” Charlie asserts, shaking his head. “Never again.”
Tori’s head snaps up and her eyes widen in horror, her usual apathetic response to a situation having very much deserted her. She then appears to remember that it’s quite a while since her brother was a naïve teenager in need of watching over. She exhales, long and slow. “Right then. Good to hear.”
“Not everyone on there is dodgy.”
“No?”
“No.” Charlie chuckles softly. “You’re sweet to worry though.”
Tori shrugs. The coolness is back. “Who says I was worried?”
“Erm, your face did. It’s like you were possessed by Mum for a second.”
Rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest, Charlie’s sister huffs, then eyes him carefully. “I bet you’d be on there like a shot if you knew the fireman was too."
“That’s … I’m not even gonna …” Charlie falters, wagging a finger but then losing the will to argue, because Tori couldn’t be more right with her assumption. Such a shame Nick’s surely as straight as anyone can get. “He’s probably married with kids.”
“All the best people are.”
“Yes, well, we can’t all be that lucky, can we?” Charlie deflects his sister’s sarcastic humour.
Tori sips her drink again. “It’s not easy, Charlie. Definitely not recommended for everyone.”
The brunette frowns and purses his lips. “Are you saying I couldn’t handle domestic bliss?”
“Oh, you could do it with your eyes shut. Just not sure you’d want to.”
“Eh, maybe one day.” Charlie shrugs nonchalantly, rising from his chair and picking up both dinner plates, then moving towards the door. Perhaps if he doesn’t look too hopeful, it’ll seem as if he’s not bothered about that kind of stuff.
“Hmm.” Tori’s low grumble says it all. She doesn’t believe a word of it, and deep down, neither does Charlie.
*****