Just The Way You Are

Rating: R
Category: AU
Pairing(s): Nathan/Charles
Warnings: None I can think of
Summary: Nathan and Charles go for a walk
Notes: Picture by Animama

Murderface wandered into the main hall, where Nathan was spread out over the couch on his back, one foot on the floor, beer resting on his stomach, watching the Discovery Channel. Skwisgaar was obsessively playing his guitar, while Toki sat beside him, watching the show along with Nathan.

“Hey Nathan, I thought you and the robot were going for a walk,” said Murderface.

“Yeah I’m just waiting for him to get ready.”

Murderface spluttered. “He’sh been in the bathroom fer forty-five minutes!!”

Pickles was soaking in the hot tub, sipping something in a glass topped off with an umbrella. “It’s called personal hygiene, Murderface, you should look into it.”

Murderface gave Pickles an annoyed look which would likely translate at a later point into Pickles’ vodka being laced with saltpetre and laxatives. Moments later Charles himself walked into the main room, looking for Nathan. He was dressed in clothing suitable for a walk on a cold and rainy fall day; jeans, hiking boots, heavy jacket. It was a perfectly ordinary outfit. However when he walked into the room, he was immediately reminded of a nature show he had seen where one of the naturalists changed his clothes and the pack of meerkats he was observing didn’t recognize him any more. Certainly the reaction he got from his boys distinctly reminded him of those meerkats. He raised an eyebrow.

“Something the matter, is it?” he queried.

No matter what issues Charles had with his boys, he could not fault their ability to completely overreact in any given situation. Skwisgaar, Toki, Murderface and Pickles stared at him as if he was an alien life form, and Charles had to think if they had ever seen him without his grey suit. Well they had seen him in his bathrobe; they seemed just fine with that. But the robe was the same shade of grey as his suit. His current outfit was not grey. That seemed to be what was throwing them. Now to determine if they were playing or if they really had no clue who he was.

“You boys all right?”

Murderface squinted at him. “And jusht who might you be?”

“You know who I am. It’s me. Charles.”

“Dood, no way,” said Pickles. “You can’t possibly be Charles. OUR Charles does not dress in… in…”

“Autumnal?”

“I was gonna say oak tree puke but yeah.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “Oak tree puke?”

“Yeah, you know, like… those huge puddles of bright colours you find around oak trees?”

“You mean dead leaves.”

“Is that what those are?”

“Yes, Pickles.”

“I thought it was puke.”

“No, Pickles,” said Charles wearily. “Oak trees are incapable of throwing up.”

“They are?”

“Yes, Pickles, they are. Now if you will excuse me…”

“Wait a minute,” said Murderface. “We’re not letting you go anywhere with Nathan until you can prove you are who you shay you are! What’sh the pash word?”

“You know my mother wants me to settle down and have children. I told her I should bring her up to watch me work.”

The chaos was immediate. Murderface began running around in a feigned panic, shouting “IT MADE A JOKE! IT’SH NOT OFDENSHEN ‘CAUSE ROBOTSH DON’T JOKE!” Beside him was Toki in a similar state yelling “I NEEDS AN ADULTS! I NEEDS AN ADULTS!” Skwisgaar fled the room yelling something about going for back-up. Pickles, Nathan and Charles watched the ensuing idiocy. Pickles certainly wasn’t going to participate; he might spill his drink.

Nathan slowly rose from the couch, coming to stand before Charles, reaching up to touch his hair. “Ready to go?”

“I don’t know, should we be leaving them alone?”

“They’re fine,” said Nathan. “They’re just…. pulling your chain.”

“I seriously worry about them at times, you know,” said Charles.

Nathan slid an arm around Charles’ shoulders. “Yes, mother,” he said quietly, grinning.

Charles narrowed his eyes at Nathan as they strolled from the main room. “Admit it, if I were not here the five of you would drink bleach and stick your penises in light sockets.”

“Actually Charles we never found your presence to be that much of a deterrent.”

They strolled out of the castle, and made their way to the trees at the edge of the property. Soon they were in a world of gold and red and green, the sky supported by the trunks of mighty oak trees.

There was a strange snowfall of foliage fluttering down from the multihued canopy to the ground, which was softly blanketed in a deep covering of fallen leaves. Charles slid an arm around Nathan’s waist.

“It’s gorgeous out here. I didn’t even know this path existed.”

“Yeah well, I’m the only person who comes down here,” said Nathan. “I was walking around one day and found the… sorta… like… the… bottom of a building?”

“You mean an old foundation?”

“Yeah! And it was really old. There was… sort of a fire pit… and… stuff. So… I had it restored. I don’t know what it is, or who used to live there. When we bought this island they said no one had ever lived here, but I guess somebody did at one point. Anyway I go there when I can’t think. It’s where I wrote the Viking songs.”

“I had no idea there was any sort of a settlement here,” said Charles. “I can’t wait to see it.”

“It’s not far.”

They strolled down the path, eventually reaching the little dwelling with its stone foundation. It looked like one of the houses the Vikings made, but with a few variations, as if it had been rebuilt by different people over the centuries. Together Nathan and Charles strolled into the remains of a tiny village, which was bedecked in autumn leaves. Charles gasped quietly, looking around.

“Nathan this is amazing!! Has this been here the whole time?”

“Yeah,” said Nathan. “The…. archaeology guys said… they thought since this coast of our island is so close to ancient shipping lanes that… what happened was some Vikings got shipwrecked and stayed here until they fixed their boat, then left. Then… after them came other sailors. They would wreck on the reefs, make their way into this little valley where it’s sheltered, and either make repairs or wait to be rescued.”

Nathan led Charles over to the largest of the four tiny houses, pointing out the stonework. “See here? That was left by the Vikings, like a marker, letting everyone know this was a good place. The next guys came along about a hundred years later. There were Vikings, Celts, Romans, Normans… all these different people come into our valley, and all made repairs to this house, and left signs in the rock. So… the people who came to do the restorations set the stones back into the wall, the way it used to be. And then, they made one extra rock.”

Nathan searched for the carved stone he sought, finding it after a minute, and pointing it out. Charles laughed.

“It’s the Dethklok logo!”

“Well yeah. I mean… we came to the valley and made changes too. Why shouldn’t we be included?”

“No reason at all,” said Charles, smiling. He raised one hand to lightly trace his fingers over the graven images. “So much history here. I guess that’s why the houses all look sort of… misshapen.”

“Yeah,” said Nathan. “So… wanna go inside?”

“Sure.”

They walked around to the small door, having to duck to get inside, and stood within the odd little house, remade over the millennia so that only the most knowledgeable historians would be able to name the all hands that made it. The Vikings however had clearly been the first, and there was no mistaking the design. The floor had been dug several feet down, so that the house was much larger inside than out. The fire pit was in the middle of the room, vented through a hole in the turf roof. The wood within that made up the supports and doorframe was oak, and the notches in the stone showed where the benches for sleeping had been, at least until someone moved the sleeping area to the far end of the little rectangular room. The floor was flagstone, and the simple furnishings were draped in deerskin and bear hide. The air was fragrant with apple wood and spices.

Nathan it seemed had been busy.

“Didn’t want you to get cold,” he said, and handed Charles a hot mug of glühwein drawn from a small kettle set near the fire. Outside the autumn sky darkened as Charles and Nathan settled together on the rugs, watching the flames as they sipped their wine.

“It’s really nice here,” said Charles.

“Yeah,” said Nathan. “I was hoping to use it as a sort of hunting lodge when my dad came up but…” He shrugged.

“You don’t think your dad will come visit?”

“We have a really complicated relationship,” said Nathan. “I mean… usually we get along, but… every now and then he looks at me and remembers that I ruined his life. He and mom had a brilliant love affair and I screwed it up.”

“What do you mean?” asked Charles.

“Oh they met at some military base at some exotic location. He was just transferred in from who knows where, and mom was the daughter of some high-raking officer, visiting for the summer before starting college. He was handsome, she was beautiful, it was supposed to be a torrid and tearful romance, ended by fate at the end of summer. Except two weeks after she left for college she realized she was pregnant with me. So she had to quit college and he had to marry her because… that’s what people did. Their lives were fucked and it was all my fault.”

Charles stroked the long black hair. “Nathan that’s not true. They chose to have sex and they chose to keep you. They had no right to make what happened your responsibility.”

Nathan just shrugged, sipping his wine. “Yeah well, I’m not sure they see it that way.” He glanced at Charles. “What about you?”

“Me? Oh, well. I was a frail, nervous, and imaginative child, fond of dressing my action figures in Barbie gowns and choreographing dance numbers. I was… extremely sensitive, cried at the drop of a hat and was… entirely too emotional.” Charles looked down into his wine. “They sure took care of that.”

Nathan gently ran the back of his hand over Charles’ face. “I can’t believe they would do that to you.”

“Well some parents find it very disconcerting when their child is not who they planned him to be. I’m sure Toki knows all about that. In some ways I suspect he and I had very similar upbringings.”

“It’s rotten,” said Nathan. “I like you just the way you are. Mostly because you like me just the way I are. Am.”

Charles smiled. “What’s not to like?”

“Oh let’s see. The drinking, the dumb ideas, the overall lack of……………………… something. Comprehension. Yeah. And the… unarticulation.”

Charles laughed. “Nathan I think you’re just perfect. All right, perhaps you are not the sharpest crayon in the box, but… with all your difficulties you read books and write songs. Do you know how many people would have just given up? You should be damned proud of yourself.”

“I am,” said Nathan. “Look what I hooked up with.”

“A robot in a grey suit?”

“Oh come on. You were all I ever wanted. It just… took me a while to get brave enough to say so.” He leaned close and nuzzled Charles. “First time I saw you, I thought you were the cutest thing I’d ever seen.”

Charles gave him a brief kiss. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Nathan returned the kiss. “What did you think when you saw me?”

“Honestly?”

“Yeah.”

“Well considering that you were piss drunk, covered in corpse paint and stage blood and biting the head off a rubber chicken, I… I can’t lie. I thought you were a complete jackass.”

Nathan laughed. “Right first time.” He kissed him. “Wanna do dirty things to each other on the floor?”

“Sure.”

Nathan pushed Charles’ jacket off, setting it aside, then drew him close, kissing him firmly, feeling Charles’ hands tugging at his black t-shirt. He managed to get it off Nathan, tossing it out of the way, then allowed himself to be pushed to the floor, lying back on the mats and furs.

“I love you,” Charles said quietly.

“Why?” asked Nathan.

Charles sighed. “I really wish you would not say ‘why?’ when I tell you I love you.”

“Well you’re just so cute when you’re annoyed.”

Charles sighed again, more loudly this time. “And that’s when I killed him, your honour.”

Nathan chuckled, then kissed him passionately. “I love you, too.”

“Why?” asked Charles, brown eyes shining with mischief.

“Because you’ve got the cutest little ass I’ve ever seen. Seriously. I’d like to do things to it in public just to share how great it is with the less fortunate.”

Charles brought one hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, wincing. “Thank you, Nathan, that is exactly the mental picture I wished to have in my head right now.”

“Hey, you asked.”

“And I certainly will not make that mistake again.”

Nathan wrapped his massive paw around Charles’ much smaller hand, drawing it away from his face so he could kiss him. Slowly they undressed each other, stripping away their clothes, pricey high-end autumn wear mixing on a Viking-era chair with old jeans and a plain black cotton t-shirt.

“Did you ever think it’s strange that… like… gays and lesbians have sex?” said Nathan, trailing a hand over Charles’ fine strong body, dipping his head to kiss his flat stomach.

“How do you mean?” asked Charles.

“Well… the point of sex is to make babies, right?”

“Well… yes I suppose so.”

Nathan grinned. “Well you and me are not gonna make a baby.”

“I should be very surprised if we did, yes.”

“So… why do I still wanna have sex with you?”

“Because we’re not slugs. We’re higher life forms. Sex is fundamentally about reproduction, yes, but it is also about love and communication.” Charles ran a hand over Nathan’s collarbone. “It’s about reaffirming bonds, and… it’s fun.”

“It would be awesome to have sex if we were slugs.”

Charles looked puzzled. “Why?”

“Because they’re hermaphrodites, they can like… screw each other simultaneously.”

“Another image I wanted in my head.”

“You’re welcome.”

“That was sarcasm, Nathan.”

“I don’t care who said it.”

Charles grinned, laughing quietly as Nathan moved over top of him, pushing deep inside of him. Charles sighed quietly, relaxing as Nathan began to move inside him.

“Never change, Nathan.”

Nathan kissed him. “Not if you don’t want me to.”

Charles wrapped his arms around Nathan’s powerful neck, closing his eyes as he drew his legs up to wrap around him, moaning quietly as Nathan thrust slow and hard, making love in the perfect fall peace.