Chapter Text
Charlie gathered his phone and a messenger bag from underneath the front counter at the library. His shift had ended twenty minutes ago but he had been stuck in an unfortunate interaction with a visitor. He often had trouble putting his foot down when someone would take advantage of his time so he was essentially frozen until his supervisor came to save him.
“That’s the problem with you kids these days! The woke mob brainwashed you into following their weak, unpatriotic, bullshit. I just wanted The Art of the Deal but you propagandist demo- craps won’t even stock the damn thing!” The angry boomer who had been accosting Charlie had now moved on to lighting up his boss while he packed up and left.
Although he enjoyed working at the library most days, he would get the occasional old-fashioned visitor who would make life difficult for him. Their comments were usually directed toward the library itself so it was easy to take them with a grain of salt. Technically it was all part of the job but today was truly inconvenient.
Charlie had been doing his best to make new friends in his community. Saying that he was a homebody was an understatement. He spent way too much time in his basement bedroom and rarely ever left the house unless it was to go to work. It had gotten so bad that his parents had started making passive-aggressive digs at how he never went out or how he didn’t have any friends. Today he had specifically set something up to change that.
He slipped out from behind the front desk and headed deeper into the library. The book club that he had put out an ad for was supposed to start in 15 minutes and he hadn’t gotten the chance to set anything up yet. As he approached the back of the library he let out a relieved sigh.
Nobody was waiting outside of the study room he had booked for the meeting, meaning that he didn’t have to rush to get everything ready. He pushed open the glass door and headed inside, immediately placing his bag in the center of the round table so that he could retrieve all of the copies of the book they would be looking at. He meticulously placed each edition of Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica in front of each chair before setting his own copy down in the middle.
Charlie was ecstatic about finally starting this club. A place where he could finally meet like-minded people and bond over disturbing horror books was truly a dream come true, and if all went to plan he might even make some friends. He found it to be almost impossible to make friends after college, and the loneliness was starting to get to him. This was the solution. Or at least that’s what he told himself so he wouldn’t lose his mind.
At first, twenty minutes went by and he figured that some of the participants were just running a little late.
He kept his eye on the door, watching the rest of the library’s patrons through the glass and hoping that one of them would start to walk his way. As he was scanning, his attention was brought over to the seating area that was situated next to the theology & mythology sections.
Next to the shelves stood a tall man with mutton chops wearing an all-black outfit that was far from seasonal. He was thumbing through a book on Paganism; at least that’s what he wanted it to look like. In reality, it was clear that he was watching Charlie by the way his eyes kept darting back and forth between his direction and the pages. The thought of this being one of his book club members who may have been too shy to come and join him crossed Charlie’s mind.
Usually, he wouldn’t have the confidence to flag him over but the book club was too important to be stifled by any sort of social anxiety. He needed to be approachable and if he didn’t make a friend soon he feared it would further stunt his ability to do so in the future.
He waved at the strangely dressed man and signaled for him to come over. The man hesitantly pointed at himself for confirmation. Charlie nodded in return and beckoned him over once more. The visitor gently closed his book and slid it back onto the shelf before turning to approach the library study room. He opened the glass door and leaned on the threshold while staring at Charlie expectantly.
“Um, hi! You wouldn’t happen to be looking for the book club, would you?” the bespectacled man asked nervously, hoping his uncertainty didn’t come through in his voice.
“No.”
“Oh.” Despite his efforts, disappointment was etched into Charlie’s tone.
“This doesn’t look like much of a club,” the man added as he surveyed the empty room.
“Yeah. I’m not sure that anyone’s gonna show up.” Charlie lowered his voice to try and preserve his dignity, but the truth still hurt.
“I can stay but… I’m not fuckin’ reading this,” the man said while plucking one of the books from the table and turning it over in his hands.
“Okay! That’s fine! Did you have something you’d like to read instead?” Charlie asked, the heightened pitch of his voice betraying the deep relief he felt. “I’m Charlie, by the way.”
“You can call me Schlatt. Have you ever heard of Self-Determinism?” Schlatt asked while taking a seat at the table next to Charlie and pulling a small book out of his back pocket. It was bound in deep mahogany leather and was engraved with the title The Manifest.
“Is that, like, a religion?” Charlie began to flip through the pages of Schlatt’s book. There were diagrams and passages printed in a font that resembled cryptic calligraphy.
“Yeah, except this is real.”
“Alright… I’m not spiritual or anything but I’d be down to go through it with you. Should we start now?” Charlie asked while shifting happily in his seat.
“No. You’ve gotta go through it yourself first but I’ll give you my number and you can send me a text if you see anything that interests you,” Schlatt says while holding his hand out expectantly. The tone of his voice indicated that this was probably the end of their meeting. Charlie was once again filled with disappointment but he handed over his phone nonetheless. He may not have been getting a full meeting but at least he got the phone number of a potential friend. All he had to do was read the strange book and the rest of their relationship would fall into place.
After Schlatt handed back his phone he gave Charlie an apathetic glance before leaving the study room. When Charlie was alone once more, he let out a long sigh and began to collect the other books, preparing himself to make the trek home.
He usually walked home alone, but today’s journey left him feeling particularly pathetic. He came across several friend groups chatting and even more couples holding hands and laughing. Despite acquiring someone’s phone number earlier, he felt more lonely than ever.
The only thing he wanted almost as desperately as a friend was a romantic partner. A deep connection was what he craved, but intimacy wouldn’t hurt either. Getting a significant other was basically like having an automatic best friend that you kiss sometimes, and to Charlie, that seemed like a best-case scenario.
As he arrived at his house he let out a big sigh. He didn’t have a lot of faith in this Self-Determinism thing, but it might still be fun to try. At the very least it was a gateway to making his first friend in years.
“How was the book club? Did you finally make a friend?” His mother yelled out to him from the kitchen.
“The club was fine, Mom! I’m really tired though, so I’m just gonna go downstairs. I promise I’ll be back up for dinner!” He replied, purposely dodging her question. He didn’t wait for her response and made a beeline for his bedroom in the basement instead. He hopped precariously down the stairs, two at a time, landing hard on his feet when he eventually reached the bottom.
Once in the room, he took a moment to situate himself comfortably on one of his grey beanbag chairs before opening his new reading material. After procuring it from his bag he examined the front cover once again.
“The Manifest, Self-Determinism… ” he thought aloud. It sounded like a bunch of WitchTok nonsense to him, but alas this was the price he had to pay in order to find some decent company. He flipped through the first couple of pages before stumbling upon a disclaimer written in that same cryptic-ass font.
Any and all instructions found in this manifest could be infinitely powerful. The practitioner is advised to use caution when interacting with these texts and carrying out any rituals. When performing any one ritual, the practitioner must ensure that each ingredient is prepared before beginning. Once a ritual has commenced, it must be carried out in full lest the practitioner experience dangerous side effects.
“I’m sure people say the same shit about prayer and look how reliable that is…” Charlie scoffed after finishing the excerpt. He quickly grew tired of the spiritual babble and continued flipping through the pages, looking for ones that seemed interesting. There were pages having to do with money, materials, and fame but Charlie wasn’t interested in those things. He wanted to know more about the more nebulous concepts that it outlined. Power, revenge, success, and… companionship.
That header really grabbed Charlie’s attention. The thing that he wanted most in the world was clear. Money, power, and fame could wait. If he were to try anything from the book, it would be the companionship ritual.
“If a companion is what you desire, then it is a companion that you shall receive. To begin the ritual the practitioner requires a sealable mason jar, thirty milligrams of dark chocolate, pistachios, honey, and a sharpened knife. A trowel and an empty site of grass is also required,” Charlie read out loud. Coincidentally, his father had just gone shopping the other day and picked up pistachios so he had access to every single ingredient needed for this supposed ritual.
Worst case scenario: he was wasting time and food. There wasn’t much at stake, so he raced upstairs to grab everything he needed. Upon entry to the kitchen, he noticed his mother marinating something on the stove.
“So, how many people showed up?” She asked, referring to the club. Charlie sighed nervously as he mulled over whether or not to tell his mother the sad truth.
“Uh… only one person showed up. It’s fine though! I think we could be really good friends,” he replied while pulling the pistachios and honey down from the cupboard. He kneeled to reach under the counter, grabbing the wooden cutting board and his father’s state-of-the-art scale. He also retrieved a bar of Lindt dark chocolate from the back of the fridge. It had been in there since Easter so he was quite certain that no one was going to miss it. With that, he got to work on chopping up the chocolate and weighing it out.
“What are you making?” His mother asked with a curious smile.
“Homemade laxative. I’m not feeling too well,” Charlie thought of a cover story fast. He loaded the ingredients into a blue-tinted mason jar and poured the honey on top. After throwing his utensils in the sink, he slipped one of his mother’s new paring knives into his pockets.
“Feel better, honey. We can talk more about your new friend at dinner,” she responded. Charlie nodded wordlessly before bringing everything back down to the basement with him.
He settled back down in his beanbag chair and placed the mason jar on the ground next to his feet. He rested the paring knife carefully on top of its lid before picking up The Manifest again.
The second instruction was completely off-putting and filled Charlie with a sinking feeling. The ritual required him to use the knife to draw blood from any body part and add it to the mason jar. It didn’t specify how much blood so Charlie assumed that a drop would suffice. He hastily rose from the beanbag and grabbed the travel first-aid kit that he kept under his bed.
He took a deep breath as he picked up the paring knife before using it to prick the fleshiest part of his index finger. It didn’t hurt at all but it was still quite unsettling to watch his blood spring forth from the sliver. He squeezed his finger, watching intently as the drop of blood fell into the honey atop the other ingredients.
He turned back to the book. The next instruction told him to wipe the excess blood on the page.
“If I accidentally summon Satan, I’m gonna be so fuckin’ pissed,” Charlie muttered jokingly to himself while smudging any leftover blood onto the bottom of the page underneath the last instruction. Only a few small specs of the red liquid smeared into the thin, aged paper, but once again he figured it was good enough.
Charlie read the next step as he bandaged his finger. The passage ordered him to close up the mason jar and bring it outside, even going as far as to specify that he should leave The Manifest inside.
Charlie left the book open on the floor and sealed the mason jar. He sighed in frustration as he made his second trip back up the stairs and headed for the back door, taking a moment to rifle through his mother’s gardening supply cabinet before going outside. They didn’t have a lot going on in their backyard, so it wasn’t hard to find an unburdened spot to carry out the next instruction. He decided to bury the mason jar right under the kitchen window to avoid his parent’s prying eyes.
He dropped to his knees and tightened his grip on his shovel's handle before laboriously digging up a spot for the jar. Charlie had highly underestimated how hard it would be to dig a hole that was almost a foot deep. Television always made it look so easy.
By the time he was loading the jar into the hole, sweat was rolling down his temples. Regret started to creep into his psyche as his muscles started to ache, and he still had to bury the stupid thing.
“Jesus, fuck,” Charlie groaned while rising back to his feet and wiping the sweat from his brow. He was relieved that the hard part was over but mostly remained annoyed due to this clear waste of energy. The only thing left to do was to read the last instruction and sit back as absolutely nothing happened.
As he made his way back to the basement for the third time that day, he contemplated what he would say to Schlatt. His new acquaintance clearly believed in all of this stuff so how would Charlie go about telling him that it was basically all bullshit. Should he just be honest, so as to not start out their friendship with lies; or should he play along and pretend something actually happened as a result of this lunacy?
By the time he arrived back in front of the book, he was even more conflicted. Mentally, he decided he should table the topic for now and just get whatever this ritual was over with. He squinted to make out the last line of text.
“Once the ritual item is buried, the practitioner shall close the manifest and place it underneath their pillow or mattress before going on about their day. With this the ritual is… complete,” he read aloud. Before he could even finish reading the last line, he noticed something strange.
Charlie could have sworn that he had smeared his blood at the bottom of the page. He remembered that it had only been a few specks, but as he stared at the page now, there were none to be found. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he stood up and went to place the book under his mattress.
His neck hairs stood on end and he wrung his hands nervously on his way to sink back down in the beanbag chair. “What the fuck am I doing?“ Charlie asked himself out loud. Sense returned to him as he remembered every instance of religious fraud that he’d ever been witness to. Pastors touching people’s foreheads and making them faint, people throwing away their canes and claiming they don’t need them anymore after a particularly lively church service, speaking in tongues, and so on. All of these and more were gimmicks to try and convince people that what they were doing was actually having an effect, and this fuck-ass book was no different. There was no reason to be creeped out.
Charlie let out another relieved sigh and picked up his remote. It was time to relax and push this sensationalized garbage from his mind. He loaded up Netflix, decided on a movie called The Babadook, and turned off all the lights before settling in. He had heard tons of good things about it but had never actually gotten around to watching it himself.
He loved horror movies. The gut-wrenching feeling of suspense, the mysterious darkness, the jumpscares. He adored all of it. Most movies were hard-pressed to make him feel anything, but horror was a different story. That sentiment translated to his reading tastes as well, constantly leaving him to search for the next best disturbing page-turner.
Charlie ended up loving the movie. The message of grief was a little heavy-handed, but the scares were great and Charlie couldn’t get those ominous knocking sounds out of his head. By the time he went to bed several hours later, he found himself staring at the ceiling, listening out for any foreign sounds. It was becoming clear that the movie had scared him a little more than he would ever admit.
He had taken off his glasses, resulting in the dark shadows of his furniture becoming formless. The longer he stared, the more his vision would distort their shapes. It felt like a waking bout of sleep paralysis, each figure in the darkness drawing ever closer, ready to scare the bejesus out of him.
Charlie almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of his ceiling creaking. At this point, he was basically scaring himself. His mother was probably just walking through the kitchen to get some water as she did every night.
Charlie turned over on his side, trying not to focus on any one shape in the pitch darkness and eventually, he managed to doze off. His sleep was filled with happy visions of himself hanging out with a group of people he had never met. In this subconscious ethereal world, Charlie had longstanding friendships with each of these people. They talked and laughed, and for once he didn’t feel so lonely.
If the events of his waking life that day had no other purpose, at least they brought him pleasant dreams.
In the dream, his group of friends was just about to go out to a club instead of spending Friday night at home like he was used to. The feeling of excitement was almost lucid. Unfortunately, it was all cut short by the sound of Charlie’s real-life closet shutting. He shot up in bed with a gasp, scared half to death.
His eyes began to adjust to the darkness of his room again as he sat in dead silence, straining his ears for any sign of life. His heart rate had just started to return to normal when his worst fear came true. The floorboards across the room in front of his closet creaked.
“You should sleep with the light on if you’re so scared of the dark,” a relatively deep and unfamiliar male voice came from across the room.
Charlie was frozen in fear. He had seen enough movies to know that he stood no chance against a home intruder. He had no fighting skills and nothing he could use as a weapon nearby. If the man decided to get violent, it would be over. There was nothing he could do.
Although his panicked mind was racing a mile a minute, he remained stock-still in his place on the bed. Limitless anxiety threatened to squeeze the life out of each individual organ in his body, so it was getting hard to breathe.
“Ugh… I fuckin’ hate this part. If you promise to be cool, we can get through this real quick,” the man sighed while flipping on the overhead ceiling light. Now that Charlie could see his face, he noted that this intruder didn’t look like a burglar or serial killer, but his statements leaned toward the opposite conclusion. He was just a tall, relatively good-looking white guy with glasses, not unlike the ones you would witness by the hundreds while taking a walk through the city. Clad in a grey Nike sweater and ripped jeans, he looked unassuming at worst.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and slowly traversed the room, admiring all of Charlie’s decor as he went. He dragged his finger across the top of Charlie’s 55-inch SmartTV as he walked by it, examining the dust that it picked up afterward. “So, here’s the deal: I’m not here to kill you. I’m not here to steal from you and I’m not here to hurt you,” he said nonchalantly.
“Okay… well, you still shouldn’t be here… in my house,” Charlie responded, his voice barely above a squeak. He was able to loosen up his arm muscles just enough to reach for his phone on his bedside table.
“Where else would I be? We can only go where we’re summoned,” the man responded as if Charlie had just said the stupidest thing he had ever heard.
“If you don’t leave, I’m going to call the police,” Charlie threatened while opening up his phone’s keypad. He preemptively dialed 911 but hesitated to hit call. This man had mentioned being summoned, which set off a small chain reaction in Charlie’s brain. He could have been referring to the stupid book, meaning that this guy was just trying to convince him it was real. In reality, Charlie knew nothing about the other man who had given him the book in the first place, so he could’ve followed him for god knows how long and sent this guy in here to try and scare him into believing.
“That’s not gonna work,” the man remarked in a sing-song voice. Charlie clicked the call button and held the phone to his ear. It was silent; the phone refused to ring. He checked his signal only to realize that he had full bars and the call definitely should have been going through. He hung up and immediately dialed again.
It didn’t even ring once. The line remained silent. “Imagine someone invites you over to their house and when you finally show up, they call the police. I mean, you show up in a timely manner, bearing gifts, and they treat you like you’re the problem. It doesn’t feel good,” the intruder mused while analyzing Charlie’s high school graduation photo.
“I didn’t invite you here. I don’t know you,” Charlie’s voice shook as he slowly slid out of bed. He needed to be prepared to defend himself if the situation called for it.
“Yeah, you did. Mason jar, chocolate, drops of blood… starting to ring a bell?” He asked sardonically.
“If this is a setup, it’s not fucking funny; you’re just trespassing!“
“You’re right. This is serious . You requested a service, and I can’t leave until I fulfill it.” The intruder plopped himself down in one of Charlie’s beanbags in front of the TV.
“Stop with that— supernatural bullshit! I’m not an idiot,” Charlie steeled himself for a fight. He could scream and alert his parents but he didn’t want to risk this man going up and hurting them. He’d never forgive himself if he was the reason they met an early grave.
“Wow! I was reading your profile the other day and it didn’t say anything about you being this fuckin’ rude,” the man said, the amusement he felt reading clearly on his face. “Wanna see some bullshit?” He asked with a cocky wink. The second Charlie‘s brain registered the gesture, all of his lights went out. The room was returned to its limitless darkness for only a second before the lights came back on and the intruder was back in front of the closet. The distance between the chairs and the closet wasn’t huge but there was no way it was humanly possible to get from point A to point B in the time that the lights had gone out.
The lights shut off and on again and the stranger was gone from in front of the closet. Charlie scanned the room cautiously, almost having a heart attack when he realized that the man was now reclined in his bed, less than four feet from where he was standing. He shrieked in fright, recoiling against the wall to get as far away from him as possible. “So, are you a top, bottom, or switch?”
“I’m losing my mind. Yeah! That’s it. I’m having a psychotic break and you’re not fucking real! I-I knew this was coming but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I figured I had at least a year of sanity left in me,” Charlie began muttering to himself. He pressed his back against his wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. “I’ve gotta call in sick to work. I can’t go in like this.”
“Dude, you don’t have to talk to yourself anymore. That’s the whole reason I’m here. Now, answer my question. Whether or not you take it up the ass is crucial information,” the man crossed one leg over the other as he shifted around in the bed.
“If this is at all legit, why would you need to know that?” Charlie asked after a particularly long exhale.
“I’m your companion. I thought that was clear,” he responded, rolling his eyes as if this was all fairly obvious.
“But I just wanted a friend,” Charlie whispered, mostly to himself.
“I can be your friend, but my first and foremost desire is to have sex with you. You can do the rituals with whatever intentions you want, but the universe reads your soul and gives you what you need,” he explained.
“The universe says I need to get fucked?” Charlie didn’t even bother to hide disbelief in his tone.
“Apparently. So, do you have any kinks I should know about or…” the mysterious man trailed off expectantly.
“I’m not telling you! I don’t have sex with people I don’t know. I’m not that type of guy, so you can just… go back to wherever you came from.” Charlie gestured to the basement stairs, hoping the man would take the hint.
“I can’t do that. I already told you I can’t leave until I complete the task I was summoned for. So if you want me to leave, we better start getting to know each other. Let’s start with names!” The man’s voice had become sarcastically cheery.
“Charlie. I’m… Charlie.” His heart was still pounding in fear but his options were limited. He figured that if he played along he might just be able to get rid of him for the time being and collect his thoughts.
“I know that. I just wanted to hear you say it,” the intruder chuckled. “Humans tend to butcher my name, so I just go by Ted when I’m here.”
“Okay, Ted . I’m exhausted, so I’d appreciate it if we could do this another time. I’ll walk you out,” Charlie sighed.
“If that’ll make you feel better, then fine,” Ted replied whilst finally getting up out of the bed. Charlie followed behind the taller man tentatively as he walked up the stairs and out of the basement. “You know this companion thing is inevitable. I’m not just something you can ignore until it goes away,” Ted warned.
“I’m not ignoring you. Now’s just not a good time. Do you have, like, a phone number or something?” He asked timidly while pulling his phone out.
“I do now,” the intruder responded smugly as he approached the front entrance. Charlie opened the door for him but Ted stood his ground in the threshold, waiting for Charlie to hand over his phone. Reluctantly, Charlie did and the mysterious man input his number.
“Perfect! I’ll see you… some other time, I guess,” Charlie’s voice still shook as he plucked his phone out of Ted’s hands. There was an awkward wave goodbye shared between them before the sharp sound of Charlie shutting the door echoed around the first floor. “Jesus Christ,” he sighed to himself, wiping away the nervous sweat that had collected on his brow. He triple-checked that he had locked the door before finally trusting himself enough to go to back to bed.
Charlie awoke with a start the next morning to the sound of his television turning on. His heart was back to pounding as it did last night when he realized it was Ted who had turned on the device. He was reclined in Charlie’s beanbag once again like he owned the place.
“How did you get back in here?!” Charlie exclaimed while bunching up all the blankets around him.
“Lust knows no bounds,” he responded jokingly. “In all seriousness, do you have short-term memory loss?”
“No! My memory’s fine, asshole,” Charlie huffed.
“Are you sure? Because I could’ve sworn you watched me teleport across the room several times this morning. It works through walls too, you know. Weird of you to assume it wouldn’t,” Ted remarked condescendingly.
“I’ve gotta go to work. Y-you can’t stay here,” Charlie protested.
“Oh, I have no plans of staying here. I’m coming with you.”
“What? No!” Charlie couldn’t believe how stubborn this person was. If he was a supernatural being like he claimed he was, there were a million things that he could be doing that were cooler than following Charlie around all day.
Ted got up from the beanbag and approached the bed where Charlie still sat frozen. He leaned forward, looming over Charlie while planting his hands on either side of the mattress next to his knees. The condescending smile reappeared on his face while he briefly pulled his bottom lip between his teeth to cure it of its dryness.
“There’s only one way to make sure that I don’t follow you to work,” he said, lowering his gaze in the process. Charlie recoiled and hugged the blanket closer to his body.
“I don’t care what you say, I’m not letting you bang me,” Charlie huffed angrily.
“You don’t have to. I’d love to have you fuck me instead. I just didn’t volunteer earlier because I figured if you were into that you would’ve been a bit more assertive last night,” Ted explained.
“We’re not having sex at all! I’d rather have you just… follow me to work,” Charlie finally conceded.
“Suit yourself, but if you’re gonna start getting ready I suggest you start by brushing your teeth. The morning breath is… a lot.” With that, Ted finally backed off. Charlie immediately covered his mouth with his hand. The fact that his cheeks burned only made him feel more embarrassed. Why should he care what this guy thinks anyway?
He slowly made his way out of bed and sidled past Ted. As he walked by, he was able to pick up the delicious scent of vanilla and freshly bloomed spring flowers. It was clearly coming from Ted so Charlie was ashamed that the smell actually started to calm his nerves.
Charlie tried to snap himself out of it. Anything he was feeling was probably a result of some magic nonsense Ted was pulling. He couldn’t trust his own senses anymore so he had to keep his guard up.
He spent the rest of his time at home trying to follow his routine without bumping into his unwanted visitor and when the time to leave came, he hurried out of the house, hoping that his parents wouldn’t notice the random tall stranger coming out of his bedroom. The potential questions he could receive were far too awkward, so it was best to fly under the radar.
While walking to work, Charlie took on a much faster pace than he usually did but Ted’s long legs easily met his stride. “So, what type of books do you like to read?” Ted asked, breaking the awkward silence between them as they sped down the sidewalk. Charlie simply rolled his eyes and didn’t respond. “You know, I’m starting to think you want me to follow you around forever.”
“Why would you think that?” Charlie asked, hoping that he could fix whatever was making him give off that impression.
“Because, the quicker you get comfortable with me being around, the quicker I’ll leave you alone. Getting to know each other is in your best interest,” Ted explained. Charlie mulled over this idea in silence. Technically, Ted was right. Shutting him down wasn’t going to get him anywhere and maybe if Charlie opened up a little bit he might be able to figure out a way to get rid of him without having to give up the ghost.
“Fine…” he sighed while slowing down. Clearly this was the wrong decision as Ted took the change in pace as an excuse to walk uncomfortably close to him. “Before I tell you anything, I need to know something. What… are you?”
“I’m a companion,” Ted deadpanned.
“Right. Okay… fuck this,” Charlie huffed while speeding off again. This frustrated Charlie. If Ted wasn’t going to cooperate then what was the point of stressing that they should get closer?
“No, I’m kidding! Come on,” Ted protested while grabbing Charlie’s hand. As soon as their palms touched, Charlie felt a strange spark radiate through his fingers. He was so taken aback by this foreign feeling that he didn’t realize that Ted had pulled them even closer together. “I come from a place that exists between life and death. Hope and despair. Aid and harm. It’s pretty appropriately named ' The Center'. I’m one of many companions who help mortals get what they need. Or at least the ones who are smart enough to go after what they want,” he explained.
“Sounds heavy, man,” Charlie responded, while unwittingly relaxing his extremely tense shoulders. He had only ever read books about worlds like that when he was younger, so the fact that they actually existed was difficult to fathom.
“I could take you to see it… if you’re curious.”
“You can do that?” Charlie asked, his voice coming off far more desperate than he intended it to.
“Yeah! I can bring you down for, like, a couple of hours. The only thing that might put you off about going is that the entry fee is a blowjob.” His tone was almost serious. Charlie ripped his hand away from Ted’s and the tension instantly re-entered his body. “Don’t worry, if you’re not into getting your dick sucked! They accept a ton of other acts like rim jobs and stuff like that,” Ted mused.
“You’re fucking insufferable,” Charlie grunted while pulling ahead once more.
“And you’re cute when you’re frustrated.”
The rest of the walk to work was pretty silent after that. Luckily during the first half of Charlie’s shift, it stayed that way. Ted had resigned himself to a study table near the front desk where Charlie was usually stationed, ensuring that he was always in his line of sight. He continuously scrolled through his phone, occasionally looking up and shooting Charlie a wink if they made eye contact.
He was relieved that he was still able to work despite basically being stalked by some sort of unhinged incubus. Things continued to go smoothly for Charlie until he was minutes away from his lunch break. He was in the middle of scanning the dropbox returns back into the system when Ted approached the desk for the first time since they had arrived.
“You get this really adorable look on your face when you’re concentrating, you know that?” Ted remarked while leaning over the desk to try and enter Charlie’s peripheral vision. Although Charlie groaned, deep down he couldn’t help but feel flustered. Nobody had ever complimented him this much in a 24-hour period and it was kind of… nice. Ted let out a soft yet playful gasp. “Oh! Do you like the compliments? I’ve got more where those came from,” he assured Charlie playfully.
“You know you can find something else to do, right? You don’t have to hang around here all day,” Charlie remarked while rolling his eyes.
“If I didn’t hang around here all day, I wouldn’t have gotten to see you use your sexy-ass muscles to deadlift those boxes,” Ted shrugged.
“You can go on your break now,” Phoebe, his supervisor cut in while walking behind the front desk to cover Charlie’s lunch.
“Great, thanks,” Charlie replied while placing his last book on the counter for her to pick up where he left off. He thought he played it off pretty well, but in actuality, all he could do was hope that she didn’t hear what Ted said.
Unsurprisingly, Ted followed Charlie all the way to the back of the building on his way to lunch. He usually tended to sit in the corner of their break room alone to eat, but for some reason, he felt bad. He didn’t want to leave Ted to stand outside the break room for an hour so he grabbed his lunch bag from his locker and made his way out of the library.
Behind the building was a small wooded area with a beautiful bench that faced a nearby tennis court.
The two men sat down and Charlie proceeded to eat his lunch in silence. Ted watched him intently, which made him start to feel guilty all over again. The shorter man rolled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time before ripping his ham and cheese sandwich in half and intentionally offering Ted the smaller piece.
“I don’t know if you even eat, so…” he trailed off while averting his gaze. The mysterious man smiled softly at him while taking the food.
“Not this, but it’s the thought that counts.” Ted took a bite of the sandwich and nodded in approval at the taste. “You can be really nice when you wanna be.”
“I’m usually a really nice guy. It’s just that this situation is overwhelming as shit, and the fact that I don’t know you very well doesn’t help,” Charlie explained while pulling his legs up onto the bench.
“Well, what do you wanna know?”
“What’s The Center like? Is it like an office building, or a convention center or something?” Charlie asked.
“I like to think of it as college campus. We’ve got admin buildings, living quarters, quads, and even stores,” Ted explained. “You know, in all the time I’ve been doing this job, nobody’s ever asked about where I’m from.”
“That’s hard to believe. It’s the most interesting part about this whole thing!” Charlie said with a mouth full of sandwich.
“If you think so, ask whatever you want,” Ted encouraged. And Charlie did. He spent the next 45 minutes asking Ted about his home; where he slept, what he ate, where he was trained for this “ job, ” what his life was like growing up, and every other question he could think of. So many things were racing through his brain, he couldn’t even get through a quarter of the things he wanted to know.
By the end of his lunch, Charlie was mesmerized by tales of Ted’s life outside of his occupation. He was fascinated to the point where he didn’t even want to go back to his own job. If Ted could introduce him to a world that was so similar yet so entrenched in the supernatural, maybe it was worth getting to know him.
Over the next few days, Charlie’s routine was the same. He woke up and got ready alongside Ted (who had agreed to make himself scarce at night but was really just crashing on the couch upstairs), walked to work, ate lunch, and walked home. During his walks and lunches, he bombarded Ted with every question he could think of. To make up for the intensity of his interrogations, he started packing lunches for Ted as well.
By Friday he was desperate to see The Center. It had taken over his waking and subconscious thoughts. Even though Ted claimed it was similar, Charlie couldn’t help but feel that it was leagues better than the life he had here on Earth.
There was just one problem. He still couldn’t figure out how to get Ted to take him there without compromising himself. He hadn’t asked again since his first walk to work with the mysterious man because he was worried that the whole thing about the entrance fee wasn’t a joke.
Today, he had vowed to swallow his pride and ask again. With any luck, his pride would be the only thing he had to swallow to explore this strange new world.
Charlie walked up through the center of the library, pushing a cart of books in front of him to return to the shelves. The last set of books he had to put away were slated to go to the theology & mythology section, so he rolled the cart into the second last aisle. Before he could even start unloading the books, his arm was grabbed and he was pulled around the corner between the last shelf and the study rooms.
At first, he was alarmed but quickly calmed down once he realized it was only Ted. Charlie sighed and leaned back against the shelf as Ted got entirely too close. Ted’s blatant disregard for personal space was starting to become a habit, but for some reason, Charlie just couldn’t bring himself to complain about it anymore.
The taller man rested his hand on a shelf above Charlie’s head and used his other to hold a book up between them.
“I loved this. You’ve gotta give me more of your recs,” Ted demanded while pushing a copy of Tender is the Flesh against the human’s chest.
“You really liked it?”
“Yeah! I liked the last one you gave me too. So… what’s my next read, baby?” Ted asked. Charlie’s cheeks burned at the implication of his impeccable taste. The fact that Ted had casually started to call him “ baby ” also contributed to the blush that plagued him. If he ignored the exact situation that brought Ted here, it almost felt like he was in a relationship. Ted was surprisingly easy to get along with and seemed to be interested in a lot of the same things that Charlie was. Then again, there was no way to tell if he was being genuine.
“Well, Aron Beauregard’s stuff is generally hit or miss but I think you’ll like The Slob. It’s a little more intense than Tender is the Flesh but I bet you can get through it, no problem,” Charlie proposed.
“I’ve got a strong stomach, you don’t have to worry about me,” Ted whispered in response.
“How am I supposed to stop myself from worrying about you? You’re always fifteen feet away. Now, can I get back to work? You’ll have plenty of time to invade my boundaries when we go for lunch,” Charlie chuckled while walking back into the other aisle to resume putting away the books.
He managed to put away three from the pile before he was interrupted once again.
“You’re disgusting,” a familiar voice spat quietly from the end of the aisle. Charlie turned to see the boomer from Monday, standing there staring at him angrily. He was clad in an American flag t-shirt and a bright red Make America Great Again hat. If this interaction was going to be anything like their last, Charlie had to take a deep breath before answering.
“Hello sir, is there something I can help you with today?” He asked, doing his best to remain professional.
“Kids come to this place. They don’t need to see your perverted lifestyle. If you’re determined to go to hell, so be it but don’t advertise your sin to impressionable youths. We don’t need any more people like you around!” The man began to raise his voice. Charlie was used to the occasional insult about the library’s practices or his generation in general but this was the first time he had encountered a personal attack.
He tried to steel himself but he couldn’t deny the fact that it hurt. He longed to be elsewhere and he could have bet money that those who worked at The Center didn’t even have a practical example of homophobia in their society.
He gulped dryly as the bigoted man began to approach him. Charlie quickly grabbed the handle of his cart and pulled it back out of the aisle. He made his way back to the front desk, but the man continued to follow him, hurling an endless wave of slurs and insults.
Charlie was relieved as his supervisor came into view at the front desk. He desperately needed backup as he was starting to get overwhelmed.
“I can’t believe people like you get a whole month to celebrate sin and perversion, while veterans like me only get a day. This country is run by fucking clowns!” The man shouted. The fact that the man was still bearing down on him was terrifying. He was bigger and probably weighed twice as much, meaning that Charlie was justified in fearing for his own safety.
“Hey Phoebe, can you—“ he began to call out to his boss, but was cut off by a hardcover book careening into the back of his head. Charlie’s hands shot to the area, trying to protect his head from further attacks. Phoebe, although short in stature, carried a very threatening aura and immediately jumped into action, speeding over to de-escalate the situation.
“Sir, we do not tolerate hate speech towards our employees. The library is a safe space for everyone and I must ask you to leave. If you do not do so in a timely fashion, I’ll have no choice but to call security and they will drag you out of here,” she said sternly. The man continued on his rampage and chucked another heavy book, this time aiming it at her legs. “Take an early lunch, I’ll deal with this,” she whispered to Charlie before taking a few warning steps toward the man.
Charlie didn’t wait to be asked twice before removing himself from the situation. He took a different route to the back of the library and busted into the break room. His breathing had sped up almost to the point of hyperventilation as he finally let the tears fall.
“Some humans are so fucking braindead, it’s— hey! Are you alright?” Ted asked after instantly transmitting himself behind Charlie. He pulled the human in for a comforting hug when he didn’t receive a response, but as soon as they made contact, Charlie’s anxiety began to fade away. It was replaced with that weird spark from before, giving him the confidence to wrap his arms around Ted’s midsection and bury his face in the crook of his neck.
Despite the rocky start to their relationship, Charlie couldn’t be more grateful to have someone during his time of need. Hugging Ted made him feel so warm inside it was as if every atom of his being was vibrating with contentment.
“I want you to take me to see The Center,” Charlie mumbled against Ted’s shoulder. He took a deep breath in, letting the scent of lilies and baked goods calm him even further before he continued. “Do you have to, like, blow me or something?” He asked while slightly pulling away from their embrace to read Ted’s expression.
“Technically a blowjob just needs to happen. My level of clearance is tied to sexual energy… I’m sorry. I know you’re not up for stuff like that yet, so yeah… I wish I could help more.” Ted casts his eyes downward, seeming like he was truly at a loss for what to do.
“You can!” Charlie said before dropping to his knees in front of him. He immediately went to pull down the zipper of Ted’s pants and undo the button.
“Woah! You don’t want to try kissing or something first?” Ted was clearly taken by surprise, to the point where he needed to lean back against the wooden lunch table.
“No time,” Charlie responds, pulling Ted’s dark brown pants down to his thighs, revealing a pair of tangerine orange boxer briefs that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
It had been a long time since Charlie had seen a dick other than his own, but he was fairly certain that Ted’s was larger than average. The only reason he could tell was because Ted was already hard. Charlie forwent asking about it and assumed that it was just an ability he had in order to make his job easier.
He pulled Ted’s boxers down into his pants, stifling a gasp that was on its way out as Ted’s cock sprung up in his face.
“Is it okay? I can make it bigger… o-or smaller, if you want,” Ted suddenly seemed flustered. “Sorry, nobody’s ever done this for me before.”
It was kind of fascinating that a magical being that’s been doing stuff like this for god knows how long had never met a human willing to reciprocate sexual favors for him. It said a lot about the types of people he usually encountered.
Instead of answering, Charlie grabbed the base of Ted’s cock and held it to be level with his mouth. He licked the tip expecting it to have a vaguely salty flavor, as skin often did, but it tasted different. There was a hint of sweetness to it. As Charlie let Ted’s tip penetrate his lips, the warm tingling feeling returned to his body.
He found himself letting out a satisfied moan as he took Ted deeper into his mouth. The mysterious being shuddered and leaned his head back as a result. He rested his hands on the table behind him for stability. He was unusually nervous, standing as still as he could, save for the occasional involuntary shiver, as the mortal went down on him. It was as if he was hesitant to interact with Charlie in any specific way.
Charlie shut his eyes as he began to bob his head up and down on Ted’s cock, earning several stifled moans from the taller man. He hadn’t expected this to ever happen, let alone be this enjoyable so he graciously took every inch that Ted had to give him until the tip hit the back of his throat.
“Fuck! I don’t—“ Ted cut himself off with a raspy moan.
When he opened his eyes he could see that Ted was lost in ecstasy. His hands were hovering around Charlie’s head like he didn’t know what to do with them, so the mortal took initiative and grabbed them without stopping what he was doing. He guided Ted’s palms to rest on his head and slowly helped him tangle his fingers in his hair. Ted got the hint and seemed to hold onto the mortal’s hair for dear life.
Although Charlie had decided from their first meeting that he did not want to go this far with Ted, his feelings were rapidly changing. An interaction that he thought would disgust him was turning out to be pretty hot. It almost felt as if he was becoming addicted to Ted’s moans and long strings of mumbled curses, meaning that he was ready to do anything to coerce more out of him. “Oh my god!” Ted moaned breathlessly as Charlie pulled back to lick down his shaft.
Charlie ran his tongue along each vein, basking happily in the loud groans that followed from his partner. He flicked his tongue further down Ted’s cock until he reached the base of his shaft. He rested his own hands on the table behind his partner, trapping Ted between his arms as he moved to the underside of his dick.
He decidedly went the extra mile and moved on to Ted’s balls, putting his lips over the right one and sucking at it carefully. Charlie’s nose pressed against Ted’s thigh, making his own panting even more audible.
As he looked up at Ted to analyze his reaction, he noticed that the room around them had started to change. On either side of Ted’s euphoric expression, Charlie’s view started to shake. His heart skipped a beat as he wondered if this could be how they transitioned to The Center.
Ted’s sounds of passion raised in pitch, showing that he was getting closer to his orgasm. Charlie took Ted’s cock back into his mouth and increased the suction while swirling his tongue around it dextrously. The shaking of his vision intensified to the point where it felt like his eyes themselves were pulsating.
He groaned excitedly as Ted’s slightly sweet precum leaked over his tongue. He could feel his partner’s legs shaking, so he responded by leaning into his touch, indulging in the sensation of Ted’s hands in his hair as he directed Charlie to bob even faster on his cock.
Charlie usually considered himself to be pretty good at giving head, but even he was at the mercy of his gag reflex sometimes. The tip of Ted’s dick thrust against his uvula so hard that the sloppy sounds of it reverberated around the room but, surprisingly, he felt as if the urge to gag would never come.
If Ted’s reactions were any indication of Charlie’s progress so far, he would soon be transported to their destination. When Charlie first dropped to his knees, he had decided that he wouldn’t swallow Ted’s load if he even managed to reach orgasm, but the faint sugary flavor of precum changed his mind. If its predecessor was this palatable, his cum would probably taste even better which only increased his excitement levels.
The undulation of his vision was quickly becoming overwhelming. He tried his best to focus on Ted whose usually brown eyes had started to turn gold and glow brightly in their sockets, creating quite the shocking display. “I’m gonna fucking cum,” his deep voice shook as it unnaturally filled Charlie’s ears, worming its way deep into his brain.
Charlie brought one of his hands down to massage Ted’s balls while taking his cock as deep as it would go. The tip reached the back of his throat right as Ted’s climax began. Several shots of hot, thick liquid shot deep into Charlie’s throat, providing a cooling feeling as he swallowed around the shaft in his mouth. He moaned contentedly as he kept sucking, eager to receive more of the worryingly delectable seed.
Ted thrust uncontrollably against his face, clearly determined to get the most out of his only human blowjob. The amount of cum he produced took Charlie by surprise as it bordered on being labeled an explosion.
Charlie could feel his heart beating in his eyes as his vision started to blur. For a few brief moments, he was overcome with a feeling akin to holding your breath too long underwater before his vision went entirely white.
The last thing Charlie felt before going numb was the thud of his body hitting the floor. He couldn’t see, hear, or smell anymore. His entire existence had been reduced to an expansive white void. Even his brain was reduced to its most basic function of reminding him to blink as it became unable to form a single coherent thought. It felt as if all the air had been sucked from his lungs and for a split second, he truly thought that he might die.
Eventually, the brightness of the void began to dim, revealing a blurry vision of Ted leaning over him. The companion was clearly speaking but his voice was muffled. Only when he reached down to caress Charlie’s jaw, did his words finally come into focus.
“Charlie! Charlie, are you okay?” Ted asked frantically. As the human’s eyes started to focus he noticed that the ceiling of the break room was instead replaced with a milky pink sky.
“I’m okay,” he finally responded while taking in the fantastical scenery peeking out from behind Ted’s head.
“Good. You had me worried for a second…” Ted said while rubbing the pad of his thumb against Charlie’s cheek. The gesture had a strange quality of sentimentality, that he never would have expected from Ted, attached to it. “You’ve got a little bit of my… you know, on your lip,” he added.
Ted raised his thumb to wipe it away but before he could, Charlie pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, making a point to lick the last of the cum off. He flashed Ted a devious smile before pulling himself to his feet. The gesture seemed to fluster Ted, causing Charlie to chuckle to himself.
As he was finally able to take in the world he had heard so much about, he kept laughing, this time with excitement. The break room had fully given way to a ground that was shrouded in seafoam-colored fog. The Center was just as Ted had described.
It looked like a college campus but all the buildings were white and reflected the colors of the sky and the ground between them. The tallest building, which was covered in oblong mirrored windows, resided in the middle of the campus and had several humanoid beings flying around its spire roof. The people seemed to be entering different doors, likely returning to their offices or living quarters.
“Hey,” Ted spoke softly while reaching out to caress Charlie’s jaw again. He pulled the human to look at him, snapping him out of his trance.
“Show me… EVERYTHING!” Charlie exclaimed while pulling Ted’s hand down from his face. He intertwined his fingers with those of his companion before dragging him off toward The Center, ready to leave the stress of his own reality behind and embark on the biggest adventure of his life.