Jon was left just looking at the back of Charlotte’s head, not aware if Hector had given him some awesome burden, or if he was there for some minor supportive role for Charlotte. She at least seemed to not be taking any more sips from her cup.

“Oh, God, Jon,” Charlotte wiped her forehead. “Hector takes forever to wash dishes. He just stands there and scrapes them for hours on end, making sure every little spec is gone.”

That sounded like Hector. Jon would take an overachiever over someone who left pieces of food on the plate before putting it away.

Someone like my father…

Charlotte glanced over her shoulder and noticed Jons’ bemused expression.

“I apologize, Jon,” Charlotte explained, putting a shy hand to her forehead. “I… I have a weird temperament… I… my mood… My mood determines how strong the alcohol affects my body or not.”

Jon wasn’t sure how normal this was. He just kept listening.

“My body has a very finicky metabolism rate. Sometimes, my body is running on full cylinders, and I burn everything. And sometimes… I barely eat at all, and my body becomes super susceptible to anything. I don’t always know how to control it, but…”

She waved her hand. “Sometimes, when I get really sad, and I’m drinking, it… it reacts to my feelings. Like, I want to get drunk, and then it happens. But by the time it comes, it’s already too late.”

She looked inside the cup, shook it around, and then placed it on the table. Jon was relieved that she seemed to be finished drinking. She then suddenly lifted an entire bottle with her other hand and took a swig from it.

“I’m sorry, that was rude of me,” she said as soon as she finished her gulp. “I… I should offer some.”

Jon pushed his cup forward.

“But you have a mission tomorrow…. So, I shouldn’t…”

Jon pulled his cup back closer to his plate.

“Oh, whatever.” She grabbed his cup and filled it full of red liquid before placing it back in front of Jon.

Jon grabbed it and took a sip of it. It reminded him of the drink that he had with Graves, except different in a way he couldn’t put his finger on. Not as harsh, but still incredibly intense in a subtle approach.

He took another sip as he started to listen to Charlotte's story.

“My job… My old life at the castle… it was quite stressful… and when I got back here, I thought that I could leave it all behind. That I was finally back home, where I was understood and I understood everybody.”

She made a toothy smile that was still sad, and Jon took another swig. “And then, the first thing that happens is that I hear of how much havoc Hector has caused from father… hell of an argument that was… and then Hector… but Hector has always been a bit of a meany… and he doesn’t mean anything by it. But Macy… I already knew she was like that. And for some stupid reason… I had hoped that it would be different… but then it wasn’t...”

Jon understood that being attached to Macy could be stressful. He was almost glad that he wasn’t related to Macy so that he didn't have to feel the full brunt of it all, but thinking about it still made him want to take another sip, and so he did. He felf his arms shutter.

She wiped her face. “I thought at home, I would be my best self… but now, I’m just as much of a screw up here as I am anywhere… I…”

Jon could definitely tell she was feeling sad in alone. Words didn’t seem like they would help in this situation.

He took his hand and placed it on her back, hoping to let her know that she wasn’t alone.

“Oh, Jon… you’re so kind…”

She stood up. Jon was prepared to stand up as well, but then she moved backward and sat in his lap.

Jon wasn’t prepared. He tried not to react. He had a million worries fly through his head.

He reminded himself that he trusted Charlotte and that she was capable of taking care of herself, and so she relaxed as Charlotte leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Jon… Do you want to head back to my room?”

Jon’s body shivered, and so he stiffened up, trying to regain control. He then overlooked at the table of leftover food.

“Ah… yes… how silly of me?” Charlotte stood up. “The plates. We can take care of our own, and leave some for the others. I’m sure they will come back out to eat when everyone’s gone.”

Jon nodded.

“Would you… like to help me? She asked.

Jon nodded quickly again. They stood up and collected the plates before moving to the sink.

Charlotte pulled open the tap and waited until the sink was full of water.

She then tightened it and they took turns passing each other dishes and scrubbing at the plates.

The sink eventually filled with suds. Charlotte took some of the bubbles and flicked it in Jon’s face.

He had dealt with the same situation with his mother. He simply blew some of the bubbles back into Charlotte’s face.

She laughed hard. “Jon… you fool.”

Jon appreciated being able to make someone laugh on purpose. He also appreciated doing housework with somebody else, a feeling he didn’t even know he missed.

Having Charlotte next to him doing dishes made him feel warm. Having her lightly shove him to the side and teased him also made him feel warm. He didn’t feel like he was lost being around her. He felt like he was right there with her like they were sharing the same experience being in each other’s company. He knew that she liked doing something he did.

After some more laughing from her and a small toothy grin from him, they finished the dishes, leaving them to dry on the counter to the side. She then dragged him back to the couch.

Jon was partially hoping she would sit on his lap again, not that he was more prepared. She ended up sitting next to him and throwing her legs over his. He was fine with being closer to her however she could.

“You really like my cooking?” Charlotte said, leaning over towards him and tapping his nose.

Jon felt embarrassed.

“Yes… it’s good…”

“That’s good to hear…” She leaned back. “You know, people always say my cooking is good, and I work hard at it… but I never feel like I’m trying to make it good, you know? It’s like I’m trying to make it right. Like there’s only one answer. And even if it’s the wrong answer, it’s the one I have to go for anyway.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Jon felt the same feeling with his shooting. He was glad someone put it into words.

“Like, it didn’t matter how much anyone else could cook,” she continued. “It’s like, only I care about how I cook. How much I do until I make things… perfect.”

Jon nodded, his hands resting on her leg. He was listening intently.

“But then, how do you know what perfect is if you’re not trying to achieve perfection!” She threw her hands up in the air.

“And then, if you-”

She suddenly made a sharp giggle and her cheeks turned red. “Jon, honey?”

“Hm?” Jon hadn’t realized that he had started caressing the part of Charlotte’s leg over his leg without noticing.

Oh. He pulled away, embarrassed.

“I didn’t anything about it,” she added after, still giggling. “I just… I think you just made me feel a way that you weren’t trying to make you feel.”

Jon didn’t respond with a nod or the shake of the head. His lips tightened.

Charlotte looked curiously. “Did you mean to make me feel a certain way?”

Jon didn’t know. He didn’t know what he was trying to make her feel, let alone what he actually made her feel in the moment.

Jon and Charlotte stopped talking for a while. Not avoiding each other, but content with just looking away. Jon still felt like he had to have some sort of answer for her.

“I'm gonna ruin you, Jon,” she finally said, looking back at him.

Jon felt a funny feeling in his chest.

“Do you… want me… to ruin you?”

Jon waited an extra moment before nodding. “Yeah…”

He didn’t know why. Only that he wanted to know why he would want to be ruined.

Charlotte sat up and leaned over closer to Jon. She was within his headspace now.

She pulled herself closer to Jon, enough so that Jon could wrap his hands around her body.

Now, her red hair was close to his face. Closer than he had wanted anybody’s hair to be close to his before.

He didn’t know what it was. There was something about her that was intoxicating him. He felt connected to her in a sort of ethereal sense of the word. He didn’t know if it was due to mana, but it was definitely making him feel a little loopy.

They waited, his mouth close to her ear for what felt like forever.

Jon didn’t know why Hector was so afraid of Charlotte when she was like this. As far as he was aware, she was still in control. She was just looser.

“Jon… I…” She opened her mouth, but it was hard for her to keep speaking.

Jon opened and closed his mouth in response.

The more she hesitated, the more anxious he started to get. His heart seemed to be beating faster and faster in his chest.

The thumping in his chest suddenly stopped. He looked away just before Charlotte lifted her head to meet his eyes.

“What are we doing here, Jon?” She asked. “We’re supposed to be the responsible ones, right?”

Jon grimaced.

“No. That’s Mallory’s job. Mallory’s responsible. We… don’t have to worry about anyone. No Hector… No Macy… No father…”

She began to stroke his chin. “Just us… we could forget about everything just for tonight… when you set you set out on your journey.”

Jon didn’t know why, but he also pondered forgetting about everything. Just staying with Charlotte for however long he could. Abandoning everything.

She gave him a wet kiss on the cheek, before leaning back down on the cushion.

“Why even go back into my room, Jon?” she asked. “Everyone else won’t even come out of their rooms.”

Jon didn't respond. Instead, he thought about what the others might have been doing.

Once he got out of his train of thought, he looked down and saw that Charlotte was asleep.

Damn. Jon had failed in his job. She was asleep on the couch.

He shook his head in disappointment to himself. He had begun thinking so much about Charlotte, he had forgotten to take care of her.

He looked back at her, now being able to hear a small snore.

Am I supposed to take care of her?

Jon figured that Charlotte could take care of herself. If she wanted to sleep on the couch, it was probably fine.

But Hector considered taking care of her by making her do something that she didn’t want to do. And wasn’t that part of taking care of someone as well?

Jon didn’t understand the answer. He just knew that his best answer, for now, was taking care of people the best way he could. With his gun.

He sat up slowly, making sure that Charlotte’s legs didn’t fall over and drag herself off the couch.

As he moved away, her hand subconsciously moved towards him. He caught it and placed it back down on her waist.

He moved Charlotte’s legs into the cushion, where they folded in and Charlotte turned over, cradling herself with her arms and continuing to sleep.

When Jon was assured she was tucked in properly, he walked over to the hallway, ready to turn in for the night.

Macy’s door suddenly flew open. It was Mallory.

“Hey!” Mallory said, poking his head out.

“Hi,” Jon said.

“I heard footsteps, and…” he looked side to side. “Anyways, how is everyone?”

“Charlotte’s asleep on the couch,” Jon explained.

“Ah.” Mallory nodded. “Yeah. She does that. More than she sleeps in her room. Should’ve warned you. Drinking?”

Jon nodded.

“Should have warned you about that too, though it’s fine. She’s actually pretty good at holding her liquor, all things considered.”

He made a small chuckle at Jon’s worried face.

“Don't worry,” he told him. “I’m in the same situation here.”

He peaked inside the room behind him, then he opened the door fully.

Macy was laying down in her bed, the covers drawn over her shoulders, and clearly asleep. She was still wearing her bulky armor underneath everything.

“Her Dad had tried to tie her down for the week,” Mallory explained, “but she fought him to the tooth and nail. They wanted to wait until I got back.”

Mallory chuckled. “Crazy, right?”

Jon nodded, grasping the irony of the situation.

“I, uh…” Mallory crept out of the door before pulling it slightly closed behind him, but not fully. “I don’t know if you realize it, but this is the most overworked family on this side of the mountain.”

Jon agreed. In fact, he thought Mallory was a part of it all as well. He was clearly a part of the family in more ways than one.

“Good thing is that they work so hard, they go to sleep a the drop of a hat. But, it’s not always good, because you have to make sure they’re in working order before they go to sleep.”

His eyebrows raised. “You take a wash yet?”

Jon shook his head.

“Alright. I’ll set you up.” He looked back into the room. “I have to wake her back up soon and check on her, but that can happen later. I’m starving.”

Mallory led Jon to the back of the home, past the training circle, and into one of the smaller doors in the corner.

The size of the door wasn’t relative to the size of the other room behind it, however. The ceiling in this room was just as high, and the space here seemed to be even wider than the room before.

There were several large bookcases spread across the room. Jon saw that they were mostly empty, however.

They passed a long table and went to the other end of the large space to a new door, this one closed.

“Here you go.” Mallory opened it. “You should get some privacy here since everyone’s probably asleep now. If you want more privacy, there's bathrooms upstairs. Almost no one uses those.”

“Thanks,” Jon said.

Mallory gave a small smirk before leaving his friend behind, doing his trademark shuffle across the floor.

Jon used the time to wash up, just turning on the shower, and letting himself relax to the warm water showering over his head. He was surprised at how fast it was warming up. It was almost instant, but Jon felt that was expected at this point.

After using one of the nearby towels to dry, he got dressed again, leaving the bathroom just slightly damp. It felt good to wash away what felt like the dirt of all of his past experiences.

He had a flash of Mercy’s hair in his mind as he walked back to the hallway, thinking back to her incredible strength and guile. One day, he would hopefully be able to aid her on the battlefield as an equal. Then all of her family would accept him, and they could spend more time together.

Still, Jon had to admit, even if it never happened, he was at least happy for the opportunity to be able to fight beside her.

Once back in the hallway, he noticed that Charlotte and Hector were sitting next to each other on the couch. They were facing towards the front door, so all Jon saw was their red hair.

Mallory could be barely seen off to the side in the kitchen, doing something.

Jon gave a small smile before walking inside his own room to turn in, making sure to not be a burden for tomorrow's departure.

Inside, he saw his gun sitting next to the table.

He reminded himself that he was testing himself without the gun. It was intriguing, but Jon still felt like he needed to feel whole for the moment.

He took off what clothes he could, climbed into the covers, and went to sleep soundly.