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Thankfully, Charlie’s self-conscious nature was that of those in the first days of Eden.
Ashamed and nervous about being so bare, he’d quickly slipped the shirt on like it was the most natural thing after the towel dropped, but Lucky struggled to compose himself even more when he saw the priest in his shirt.
It was so slutty, yet way too innocent! All of it was immensely unfair!
The prince was royally fucked. Every inch of Charlie Wickham had him captivated.
“Sir!” Charlie gasped when he realized he wasn’t alone.
“Y-you scared me, Charlie,” Lucky said with a shaky tone.
“I-I’m sorry?”
“I couldn’t find you. I-I brought you some groceries, and some clothes… and you weren’t in bed.”
“Oh, thank you! That was nice of you. I’m sorry for touching your things—”
“No, no…” Lucky swallowed hard. “It’s fine. Just… not that shirt, that costs more than your rent and I have a weird thing about humans touching my stuff.”
Lucky set the grocery bags down and walked into the closet.
He leaned over so he could look the blushing Charlie in the eye.
The clergyman’s hair had, once again, fallen back to the way it was when he’d died, but Lucky could smell the notes of his signature shampoo in the golden curls.
He rubbed his chin for a second before he turned to his clothes.
He walked to a dresser that was purposely hidden behind a row of sweaters and opened the top drawer.
After some digging, he found a few nice silk button ups.
One was a soft blue and the other a baby pink.
The shirts were old, he’d bought them for times he needed to head to Earth and look less like a harbinger of death.
He hardly wore them, they didn’t compliment his skin tone well, but Charlie?
“Yeah…” the prince mused to himself as he approached. He held the blue garment to Charlie’s chest and shook his head before swapping it out for the pink one. “You’re definitely a summer.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Charlie admitted.
“Cool tones make you look sickly.”
“I’m dead, I’m pretty sure ‘sickly’ is normal.”
Lucky cut his eyes to Charlie. He wanted to tell him to not be a smart ass, but he also couldn’t argue.
Still, Charlie had a soft pink flush to his cheeks that matched the color of the garment.
Gentle, sweet. It reminded Lucky of Valentine’s Day, of springtime and flowers blooming in Eden. He handed the shirt to Charlie.
“Wear this…” Lucky paused. “Wait, where are your clothes?”
“In the washing machine, they were covered in hellhound hair and smelled sulfuric,” Charlie replied. “Can I wear this?”
“Yeah, you can. I also bought you more garments to wear that are human-sized, but I don’t… I don’t mind… if you wear that for a while,” Lucky said with an embarrassed pout. “I need to make lunch then we can knock out more paperwork.”
“What did you bring me? Will you take it out of my pay? How much do I owe you?”
“N-nothing. I figured you probably weren’t comfortable in the same old boring priestly garb and those hand-me-downs I brought you. I get that it was part of the gig, but your new job doesn’t require such a drab dress code so you might as well be comfortable.”
Lucky noticed Charlie seemed… saddened by the comment.
“You good?” Lucky asked as he walked back to the bags he’d set down.
“Yes…”
“Don’t lie, I know you well enough to tell when you’re upset.”
“I guess I’m a little sad that I spent all of that time working toward becoming a priest and didn’t get to do much. Feels like it was a waste, I guess. Like it was all for nothing.”
Lucky stopped and turned back at Charlie. He noticed that golden, pure glimmer had dimmed some. Charlie shook as he wrapped his arms around his upper body. His knobby knees knocked together as he tried to make himself small.
“Chuck—”
“I dedicated my whole life to God and I still ended up—” he sniffled— “here…”
“H-hey, hey, Charlie. Look at me,” Lucky said as he walked back toward the priest. “You did nothing wrong to end up here. It was a mistake, it was my fault, and I’m doing everything I can to fix it.
You’re the most dedicated, kind, pure human I’ve ever met.
You did so much charity work, you took on several part time jobs between classes and delayed your dreams to manage the whims and demands of clergymen who took advantage of you.
Don’t take my mistake as your failure, alright? ”
“Why do you… know all of that?”
“I saw your file, and it’s just a hunch but I think once we get you back on track you’ll be God’s favorite little nerd in no time. With a golden halo and everything. Don’t be sad, I hate it when you get sad. You lose your shine when you do…”
Lucky watched Charlie’s watery eyes warble. They looked like dewy skies without his glasses. Without thinking, the devil wiped the tears away with a soft touch.
“Do you mean it?” Charlie whispered.
“Every word. Don’t lose your shine, Charlie Wickham,” Lucky said, just as quietly. “Get changed, I’ll make you another sandwich.”
“Okay…”
Lucky winked and bumped Charlie’s cheek with his knuckle before he left the room. He snatched up the grocery bags and headed to the kitchen, hoping he could quiet the racing of his heart before it exploded in his chest.