Chapter Text
Pims body felt cold and numb. Nothing like it was just a few moments ago.
One second, he was in the comfort of his beloved, the next, it felt like his very soul was being unwound like a knit blanket.
He tried to hold on, he felt himself slipping away from everything he held dear, but he watched as his vision grew darker, Charlie dissolved into the shadows with no concern for Pim’s safety. He was launched from the inside out.
Pim’s body was cold and unmoving.
Charlie rushed towards him, cradling his small body in his arms, “PIM! Pim, hey, can you hear me? P-Pim?” He shook the critter gently.
Pim didn’t make a sound.
“Pim, please, don’t- You- you can’t-“ Charlie was stumbling on every word that wasn’t Pim’s name. “Please, Pim, fuck.”
Tears began welling up in Charlie’s eyes, normally, he would have been annoyed or tried to hide them, but he couldn’t help it. He held his friend’s body close, looking at the wizard now,
“What the fuck did you do to him? H-he’s-“ Charlie didn’t want to say the word, he didn’t want to will it into existence.
“He isn’t dead.” The wizard interjected, waving his hand, “His body will just need time to readjust, it won’t take long since he had only been inside the orb for a day.”
He walks towards Charlie, “You can speak with him when he wakes, for now…”
He grabs Charlie’s arm, reaching for some shackles that were hanging up on his wall.
“What the- no, get the hell away from me!” Charlie smacks the wizard then reaches for his sword. “He needs medical attention dude, I’m not leaving his side.”
“Ow! You little prick!” The wizard rubs the spot on his face where Charlie slapped him. “He can lay on my bed, you-“ He points at Charlie, shackles in hand, “must get to reading. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a spell that can heal him.” He says, mockingly.
Before Charlie can protest, heavy metal was slapped onto his wrist. He drags, tries to at least, Charlie towards a support beam and wraps the chain around it, attaching the other cuff.
The wizard then carelessly tossed Pim’s body onto his bed, rearranging him to have his head on the pillow.
“Okay, I’m going to go make some lunch, I skipped breakfast and it’s like… it’s noon- well, 11:37 so basically noon.”
Before he leaves the room, he hands Charlie a book from his shelf, “Get to reading, slave.” and walks out.
Charlie immediately kicked the book to the side. He starts saying something in a hushed tone, “Pim, please, wake up man. We’re in a bad spot, if you wake up, w-we can just get out of here.”
Silence.
Charlie bangs the back of his head lightly on the beam, closing his eyes, “Pim, I need you. T-to wake up. I just need to know that you’re okay.”
Pim doesn’t even stir. He looks so peaceful.
Charlie could only wonder what was going on in his head. His mind starts to wander too, ‘Is that gonna happen to me if I don’t get out of this place?’ he shifts uncomfortably where he sits.
“Fuck… Fuck!” He yells, quietly at first.
He puts his head in his hands, wishing for all of this to be a dream. After a minute or two, closing his eyes felt nice after everything that had happened, Charlie tries to use his foot to pull the sword closer to him. Maybe he could try to break the chains with it?
He struggles with this when he hears a quiet groan, he looks up to see Pim moving his head ever so slightly.
“Pim! Oh my god, Pim, you’re alive.” He sighs, releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He keeps reaching for the sword, more determined than ever.
____________________
Pim felt like he was swimming through cobwebs, slow and sticky. He pushed through them, seeing a light at the end of the darkness. He heard someone calling his name… Pim. That was his name. He kept swimming, the light growing brighter, he recoiled for a moment, the light becoming a little too much for his eyes.
His eyes. He needed to open his eyes. But, his eyes were open?
No. He needed to open his eyes.
Pim used every bit of strength he had in him, straining every muscle, every breath, everything. It felt like a searing hot fire was burning in his body. It hurt like hell. He wanted to stop, to let the darkness take him and sink back into the slow and warm water. But he had to fight. He had to wake up.
He reached out towards the light, it blinding him, he closed his eyes but found himself still being able to see. He tore through the piece of the sky he had found and-
Pim’s eyes fly open as he takes a sharp exhale, his back bending. His ears ring as if someone had shot a bullet through his head. He tries to cover his ears, but it’s no use.
“Pim!” He hears through the warbled air, his eyes dart around, stinging with tears he didn’t know were pouring out, the fresh air hitting them like knives.
Pim tries to say something, anything, but his mouth feels slow, so it ends up being a garbled mess, “Chrl- wh… c-oldn’ dar-k…”
He hears his name being called out again, he blinks a rapidly, trying to stop the feeling of being blinded. He tried again to speak, this time slower, trying not to slur his words.
“Cha-lie, where are you-“ He reached his hands out.
“Pim! Pim, you’re okay! You’re alright! Oh my god.” Charlie had the sword maneuvered with his legs and was trying to saw off the chains holding him by sliding them up and down against the blade.
“Ch-Charlie? Whats- Augh, my head.” A small hand goes to his forehead, pressing against it trying to stop the pain that was coming in waves.
“Listen man, the wizard dude is gone, he wants to put me in that orb you were in-“ Charlie almost forgot to ask, “The orb! Are- you’re okay right?”
“What orb, Charlie? I-I don’t know what you’re saying.” Pim responds, rubbing his eyes, moving to swing his legs off the bed.
“What? The- the orb. The one we came here to get. Your quest?”
“What quest? Where are we?” Pim says, a little more coherent.
Charlie stops trying to saw off the chains for a moment, “The- you don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
Charlie’s heart sinks a little. Did being in there do something to his head? Was he going to forget more things?
“Do you- you know who I am, right?” Charlie hesitantly asks.
“Of course, Charlie. You know I could never forget you- ah!” His head pangs again, a sharp stabbing in his brain.
“Dude! Uh, okay, listen. There’s not really much time to explain. We need to-“
Footsteps from down the stairs could be heard echoing. Charlie looks towards Pim and mouths the words “Lie down! Sleep!”
Pim does so, gladly. His head hurts like hell and he’s confused, but if Charlie is this worried, it’s probably for a good reason. He shuts his eyes.
“I heard a lot of yelling. Are you-“ The wizard looks at the sword between Charlies legs, “Trying to escape? That wasn’t very wise of you.”
He bends down to take the sword and Charlie moves to kick him.
“You little shit!” The wizard pulls back, then kicks the sword far from Charlies reach, kicking his legs off in the process.
“F-GOD.” Charlie yelps, “THIS IS WHY I HATE THIS FUCKING PLACE.”
The wizard got to his eye level, keeping some distance so Charlie couldn’t hit him again, “Well, the sooner you finish the books, the sooner you go into the orb, the sooner you can leave!”
He throws the book at Charlies feet, “Read it.”
“And what happens if I refuse, huh?”
“Well, I could just put your friend back in the orb. But I feel like that wouldn’t stop you, no.” The wizard shakes his head. “Your little friend will go free, sure, but I’ll make sure you never get to see him again. You won’t just be in the orb until I find its new host, you will be here for the rest of your life.”
“I-I mean I could just leave.”
“I will literally chop your legs off.”
“Whoa, whoa, that’s just gross. Don’t do that.”
“Yeah, well. Don’t try to leave.”
Theres an awkward silence for some time before an alarm is heard from upstairs, “Thats my stew, get to reading if you know what’s good for you.”
The wizard taunts before heading up the stairs.
Charlie cranes his neck to make sure the coast is clear, “Okay dude, you alright?”
“Charlie, who was that? Were we kidnapped?” Pim whispers, looking at Charlie with wide, scared eyes.
“That was the wizard dude, are you seriously telling me you don’t remember anything?”
Pim shakes his head, trying to wrack his brain as to what happened.
“I-I don’t think so, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine man, as long as you’re okay. Can you find some way to get me out of here?”
Pim nods, hopping off the bed and running towards Charlie to give him a hug, checking the chains afterwards.
“Did you see if he put keys anywhere?” Pim asks, looking around.
“Uhm… No? I don’t think so. Look around dude. I don’t wanna have to chop my hands off.”
“We aren’t going to do that, hang on!” Pim runs around the room, opening drawers and tossing things around until he finds a keyring with a few key’s jingling on it.
“Let’s try these!” Pim exclaims, rushing over and trying each key out as quickly and quietly as he can.
On the 4th key, the shackles drop off of Charlies wrists, Charlie gives a huge smile and picks up Pim, hugging him. “Pim! Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re alright. Well, like, close to alright.”
He sets Pim down. “Okay man, head down these stairs, I’m gonna go kill that guy.”
“What?! Charlie no, I-I’m not sure what he did, but you can’t just kill him!” Pim says in horror.
“Listen man, he did a fucked up thing to you, whether you remember it or not. Unless you have a better idea, I’m gonna go dunk his head into that soup.”
Pim looked around, stuck looking at one thing, Charlie quizzically followed his gaze and smiled mischievously.
__________________
Pim and Charlie finally left the enchanted forest that day. Charlie telling Pim about all the wacky shit he had to go through to get to him. When he was done, he turned to Pim.
“So, do you remember what it was like in this thing?” Charlie asked, holding up the orb.
“Uhm, kind of. It’s all a bit fuzzy. You were there and it was so warm. We were cuddling and-“
“Wait- we were?”
Pim nods, a smile on his face. “Yeah! It was really nice. You told me you-“ his face suddenly went red, realizing it wasn’t actually Charlie in the orb.
He looked at his coworker just with his eyes, Charlies face was a dark orange hue.
“Di- ahh… Did you like cuddling me?” Charlie stumbles.
Pim nods again, wordlessly.
They walked in silence, before they knew it, they were at Pim’s apartment.
“H-have a good night, man.” Charlie said in a quiet voice.
“Mhm… Hey, Charlie?”
Charlie stops in his tracks.
“Do you- only if you want to, um… Would you like to stay the night?”
Charlie slowly nods his head, following Pim to his apartment room.
They bumble about a bit, exchanging red faced glances at each other, trying to talk about literally anything else before they get settled for bed, Charlie on the couch, Pim slowly walking to his bedroom.
“Hey Pim-“
“Charlie, woul- oh-“
“You go first!” They say in unison.
They look at each other for a minute, then burst out laughing.
“Today has been fucking weird, man. Could- uhm. Could I sleep in your bed?”
Pim agrees, hands on his knees, “Y-yeah, I wanted to ask! Please?”
They make their way to Pims bed, getting comfortable under the sheets, bodies next to each other.
Pim kisses Charlie’s neck, “Hey, I love you- alright? Thank you for saving me.”
Charlie returns the favor, kissing Pim on the mouth, “No problem. I’d do it again if you asked.”
They were about to go to bed before Pim received a phone call- it was their boss.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Pim! I just saw Charlie’s message. Is everything okay?”
“Um- yeah! We’re good!”
Charlie spoke over the phone as well, “Mr. Boss, it’s been hours dude, where were you?”
“Oh, I saw those winged rats trying to get on my property and I shot them dead! I only just realized they were holding a note when Allan came over to share some cookies!” He giggles.
Pim and Charlie eye each other for a moment,
“Uhm. Alright, well, I guess we’ll see you tomorrow Mr. Boss.” Pim says before hanging up.
“Fuckin’ weirdo man.”