“There’s nothing going on. Jamie’s staying in the guest room. The two of you are adults and what you do is up to you. But,” headds, irritation giving way to something angrier, “he’s just come off a bad breakup, and he deserves a hell of a lot better than he’s gotten from anyone he’s ever dated. If you do get involved with him, the bar is pitifully low but please try to clear it.”
By the end he’s whispering so nobody at any nearby tables will be able to make any inferences about Charlie’s personal life. He doesn’t realize exactly how far he’s leaned in until Charlie turns his head and Simon has to practically lunge backward. He’s still close enough to see the tiny crinkles starting to form at the edges of Charlie’s eyes. It’s unreal that nobody has ever told this man to wear sunblock.
“I wasn’t going to date your friend,” Charlie says, looking Simon dead in the eye, “or fuck him or do anything other thanbrieflyflirt with him and occasionally ask him for book recommendations.”
Hearingfuckfrom Charlie’s mouth, low and at close range, isn’t healthy for Simon’s peace of mind.
“He has terrible taste in books, so good luck with that.” Simon doesn’t mean it as a joke, but Charlie laughs anyway. “What about that waiter at Lian’s? You two aren’t...”
“I wasn’t just, like, making out with the waiter.”
“You were definitely making out with the waiter.”
“No, I mean we met on, you know...” Charlie taps his phone.
“The apps.”
“Right. So when I saw him at Lian’s and he seemed to want to go for it, I didn’t want to act like I was too good for him. Like, there I am, semi-famous with my semi-famous friends, and there he is, washing Lian’s dishes. I didn’t want to be rude.”
“You realize that fucking someone once doesn’t mean they have a permanent subscription.”
“I know!”
“It isn’t like tenure.”
“Oh my God, Simon, shut up.”
“Would you have gone home with him, just to be polite?”
Charlie hesitates in a way that makes Simon pretty sure he would have done exactly that. “I mean, I wouldn’t have been complaining.”
Simon’s face heats for no reason whatsoever. He takes a sip of his water.
When the check comes, Simon reaches for it, because paying for Charlie’s lunch is easier than whatever math will be involved in sorting out who got what. He waves away Charlie’s credit card.
“That’s nice of you,” Charlie says, sounding exactly as dubious as anybody should while calling Simon nice.
On the way out, they get stopped by two people. One of them is wearing anOut ThereT-shirt. Well—not technicallyOut There, but the symbol the space anarchists on the show use to identify one another. They don’t even need to ask for a selfie before Charlie’s offering one.
Simon rarely gets approached by fans. This is Los Angeles: people are used to minor celebrities. But Charlie’s handling it with a practiced ease that suggests it does happen to him, and fairly often. It isn’t like Simon’s jealous—most of the time he doesn’t want to be approached even by people he knows—but he kind of can’t stand to watch Charlie handle it so smoothly, so happily, and in a way that will leave these fans feeling good about it. Simon’s never managed that, not once, and Charlie’s ability to do it effortlessly is just another annoying thing about him.
“I can’t believe we saw both of you together,” one of the strangerssays, her hands clasped in front of her, like this has been a transcendent experience. And Simon’s been a fan of things. He understands.
Simon smiles and leans in for a picture, trying not to think about Charlie’s hand on his shoulder. Charlie signs some random piece of paper using a sharpie that he produces out of thin air, then hands it to Simon so he can sign too. Then Charlie compliments the girl’s tattoos, follows her on Instagram, and follows her tattoo artist on Instagram, while Simon tries to remember where he’s supposed to put his hands, what a normal facial expression feels like, how to cosplay as a functional person.
“You couldn’t havesaidsomething?” Charlie asks when they’re alone. “They’ll think I’m holding you hostage.”
“That is literally the best I can do,” Simon says, and maybe he snaps a little, because when Charlie looks at him his eyes are narrowed. But something must be showing on Simon’s face, because Charlie lets it drop.
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From anOut Therefan Discord
HowlsMovingSpaceship:So have Out There’s producers or showrunners or whoever decided that “it’s hot” is enough of a justification for whatever wild shit they decide to put on air?
HowlsMovingSpaceship:Because that’s a tattoo of the Pegasus Coalition insignia on Charlie Blake’s bicep. Needless to say, canonically it would be QUITE a plot twist if Luke West were affiliated with space communists
[image fromOut Thereshowing Charlie in character as Luke West with a ripped sleeve barely covering a tattoo]
