• I've been obsessed with this song lately •

It was with an impassive face that Charlie sat on the edge of his bed with my laptop on his thighs and me sitting nervously next to him. As the screen came alive, my heart dropped and I already dreaded what would appear, knowing full and well how awful it would be.

"Just know that no matter what," I said and put my hand on his arm which didn't even get a reaction from him as the film begun rolling. "You're still the same. It doesn't change anything, not unless you let it. I... just remember that they don't define you."

He didn't answer, but his lips pressed tightly together as he watched them run one experiment after the other on him. The only thing he did was blink. I figured he remembered all of it and he was just reliving the memories. His robotic façade was in perfect place, the same distant 'I'm-not-allowed-to-care' look just resting on his face.

Right until we came to the video I above everything didn't want him watching.

My stomach rolled over as the intro begun, the scientist presenting the experiment. There was a small twitch to Charlie's brows that only deepened as he with clear confusion now watched what they did. I could see it all there, the thoughts in his head showing on his face; 'I don't remember that... I don't recall that either... why is she sticking a needle in me there? What's happening?'

I then saw how his eyes widened when he witnessed the effect the drug had, and that wasn't even the bad part. I tried reaching for him, whispering his name, but he just jerked away and clutched the screen of the laptop. It was then I had to look away and cup my face when they reached for him and begun the experiment.

"No... no. They didn't..." His voice was broken, but he still kept watching. "Why are they... no... no, no, no... no."

"Charlie..." I tried reaching for him again.

"No!" He ripped away from me again and stood up, gripping the laptop tightly as the scientist now spoke the words right before I knew it would happen. Charlie's eyes were blazing, his whole body shaking with rage, and yet just like me, he couldn't look away from the screen.

Not until it happened.

"Charlie!" I stood up with tears in my eyes, already reaching for him when he smashed the laptop into the floor with a feral roar. "C-Charlie!"

I should've seen it coming. I knew I should, but I was such a mess, I didn't even hear the furniture clank or the trinkets on his countertops rattle. It was that exact reason I was unprepared when Charlie roared and clutched his head and then with a blast, threw everything away from him with an invisible force. Including me.

I was pushed back, but luckily since I had been standing in front of the bed, my back only slammed down onto the mattress and bounced, my head getting disoriented from the foreign power that hit me. Charlie was still shaking, clutching his whole self while violently rattling everything in the room.

"Charlie!"

"NO!" He shouted again, shaking his head. "What did they do to me?! They touched me! They fucking touched me like you've touched me and—"

"Charlie, please, I know this is difficult, but please try and calm down," I begged as I got up from the bed again and tried to carefully approach him. I'd learned from my first mistake, but I wasn't going to cower away from him, even though everything screamed dangerous around him right now. I felt that just the tiniest wrong step would make him explode, metaphorically or quite literally.

"They touched me!" He roared again and now started ripping at his hair. Pain laced through every one of his syllables. "They put me under and they fucking—"

"Charlie—"

"Why?! Why sedate me?! They could've run the experiment with me awake, but they didn't! They..." He was trembling too much for me to tell, but I swore I saw a tear in his eye, which would explain the gravel in his voice. "They touched me and they never told me anything. They never did with anything... but this..."

My heart crumbled as he broke down on the spot, crying. The thick anger around him felt almost impenetrable, but I was still going to try.

"I know," I whispered, crying as well. "T-they used you and I didn't tell you either, and I'm so s-sorry. I didn't know what to do, I was afraid you were going to... to..."

"What?" He suddenly jerked his head and glared at me. "What did you think I'd do? Kill you? Kill them? Am I that much of a monster in your eyes? Is that why you can't tell me you love me back?"

My mouth closed up. He was angry and that was the rage talking, I knew that, but the words still hurt. A lot. His belief of his monstrous side and my inability to tell him I loved him had nothing to do with each other, yet all he saw right now was the flaws of everything; C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S, the world, me. If I tried to tell him how I truly felt now, he wouldn't believe it for one second.

And I knew when I finally said the words, I wanted him to know they came from a place inside me that nobody else but him had been.

"Charlie..." I therefore weakly started. He turned his head away from me, as if he couldn't even look at me. It hurt worse than any curse he could've thrown at me. "Charlie, you are not a monster. That's not the reason I kept it from you. I have no excuses, I... I should've shown you the videos and I didn't and... I'm just so sorry."

"They never taught us the word 'sorry', you know," He said, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes. "They never taught us, but I heard them say it a few times whenever they accidentally bumped into each other or misspoke. Eventually I learned the meaning and realized why they never said the word to us; it does absolute nothing," He growled and clenched his fists, slowly glaring up at me like a predator. "Sorry means nothing, does nothing whatsoever. You've said it, I've said it myself, I've tried to see the difference it makes, but it doesn't do anything. Actions speak our apologies, not words, so don't fucking say that you're sorry."

I swallowed and nodded silently. He was right. Even in his anger, he somehow managed to make sense. And I was left speechless. Or so I thought.

"You're right." I voiced, feeling the pain twist in my heart like a coiled knot. "My apologies won't mean anything unless I back them up with proof. I can't take the blame for what they did to you, but I am to blame for hiding it from you," I acknowledged and slowly walked up to him, seeing his jaw clench tighter with each step I advanced. "I lied to you by omission and I shouldn't have, but one thing I never lied about was you being a monster. Because you're not," I said and looked strongly up at him, despite the heartache in my chest. "You're a man, Charlie. A man who's been hurt and through hell, but hell didn't make you a monster. It made you a survivor."

He turned towards me, still quaking from anger, but slowly cupped my head. His hand coiled around my neck and gripped my hair. He drew me closer and I obliged, stepped into his zone of rage.

"I don't want to be a monster..." He breathed. His other fist touched my chin, then trailed down to my neck, giving it a light squeeze, just enough to get my pulse rising. "But right now... I feel like I could be."

I gulped, feeling my nerves wind together. "Charlie—"

"I'm so... angry, Carly. So angry, I want to hurt something. I can't... I can't—"

I looked up into his eyes and recognized the look. I'd seen it before, felt it before, and even though my body trembled at the mere thought, I still stepped closer and twisted my hands around his shoulders. "Then hurt me. Right now. Let your frustrations out. You need this right now and I..." I needed him.

Charlie's eyes sobered for exactly one second. "No," He said, squeezing my neck tighter, furrowing his brows in discontent. "I can't hurt you. I won't."

"It's okay," I whispered. "Please." Maybe I needed this more than him.

I saw the conflict in his eyes, the anger and betrayal mixing up with what now developed into the thing I saw beneath it all; If he didn't get his frustration out somehow, he was going to explode.

'And this emotion... did it go away again? Is that when you came back?'

'No. It was when I kissed you. That's when it went away.'

A kiss wasn't going to be enough this time.

His eyes flashed, but then he picked me up like I was weightless and threw me backwards on the bed. For the second time I hit the mattress, but this time I didn't get a chance to recuperate as Charlie prowled in over me, quivering with fury. I could tell in his eyes there was nothing holding him back anymore. Something within him had snapped and he couldn't control it.  Didn't want to.

My world was turned upside down when he ruthlessly flipped me over and then ripped my leggings and underwear clean off without a care. Following with no hesitation, he yanked my hips up and forced me on my knees, my hands scrambling for stability. My heart was racing in my ribcage and my pulse was lodged in my throat, but I didn't fight him as his hands preyed on me and found what they wanted.

His mouth met my flesh without warning.

I screamed as his tongue plowed between my wet folds and sought out the reaction he craved. My world skyrocketed and my hips undulated; Nothing in my body responded to my brain as Charlie possessed me and took over. This was it.

In that moment, he embraced what everyone treated him as; A monster. A dangerous Creature capable of lethal harm and destruction with just the flick of his finger.

I couldn't lie still on the mattress as he ravaged me with no conscience. I sobbed his name, clawed at the covers, screamed as he pushed me over the edge, then pushed me over again without giving me time to recover. And then, just as my flesh was at it's most sensitive, he pulled back and allowed me to breathe.

...For exactly two seconds, before the blunt of his cock set my world on fire and thrust into me, burying all eleven inches of himself inside me in one merciless thrust.

The pain was indescribable, but so was the pleasure. I was stretched in a fashion I had never been stretched before; Submitted in a way I never thought I'd allow a man to dominate me.

And yet, here I was; Wet, willing, and a trembling mess as Charlie drilled into me, cursing into the ceiling as he did.

He held my hips firmly in his grip and forced them backwards with each deep thrust. My whole body was his toy, a fragile little toy he couldn't give a damn if he broke in that moment. He gave it all to me; He hurt me, I took it. He pleasured me, I broke trying to take it.

My legs were giving out, my spine was aching and my lungs were ceasing their respirations. The plunge of Charlie's cock continued and I cried through it, pressing my eyelids shut and letting him have this one. I could feel my climax building, but I wouldn't let it erupt. Refused to...

Charlie gave a primal roar and then suddenly shifted, pushing me flat down on the bed. He slipped into me like that, sliding between my thighs and hitting a spot that had me frantically gripping at empty air for mercy. He captured my wrists and pinned them to the mattress, locked me down as he with deep, hard plunges thrust into me. I cried out and tried to hold back my ōrgasm that only intensified. He was striking directly against my spot, torturing it.

I couldn't breathe.

As his speed increased, his thrusts grew harder, shorter. I was lost in brain-wrecking pleasure and pain all at once, when finally, with a last roar, he slammed himself inside me and stayed. Warm spurts filled me up and made me quiver as the rush took effect. My own ōrgasm rolled over me, much against my own will, and I screamed.

I wasn't supposed to come. This had been for him, but I just couldn't stop. As he filled me and started spilling out of me, my core clenched around him and forced more out of him. I could feel him jutting inside me, felt his breath right near my ear, groaning out incoherent words.

My body then collapsed like a doll, but Charlie stayed still above me. Long seconds passed where all that was heard was our labored breaths and the sound of my sweat tickling off my skin.

Until his voice brokenly spoke.

"Never again," He whispered. He slowly let go of my sore wrists, my soft whimpers causing his hands to shake before he pressed them against the mattress, still hovering above me. "Never again, Carly."

"I'm sorry..." I croaked. This time, I could mean it.

Charlie only shook his head, rejected it again. "No... no, I'm sorry. This was wrong, I shouldn't have... I'm so sorry, Carly."

He climbed off of me, slowly and carefully turning me over and taking in the damage he had done. In truth there was nothing but the strong ache between my legs and the bruises around my wrists, but Charlie still shook his head, regret lighting up in his eyes. I pressed my lips tightly together and reached for his face. "It's okay, Charlie. You didn't hurt me. This is what we both needed."

"No," He shook his head again and with a torn expression parted my legs, brushing a hand over my tender flesh. I winced slightly at the contact. His hand came back streaked with red and white remnants, a sight that only worsened his internal pain. "I hurt you. I-I made you bleed. I can sense your pain, I can feel it—"

"Charlie," I placed my hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes, trying to control his emotions. "It's okay. I'm okay."

He just shook his head. Silently, he then got up from the bed and walked into his bathroom, the sound of water running filling up the silence. Moments later, he came back with a wet towel and knelt down between my legs, tenderly wiping away our mess. Afterwards, he then washed it again and came back with a damp and slightly more cold cloth, and placed it over my throbbing flesh, the coolness a nice dulling. He gently kissed the inside of my thighs before then getting up and stripping out of his sweaty clothes, sinking into the bed besides me once all was taken care off.

And then we just laid there.

I didn't know what he was thinking, but I knew what I was. "This is such a mess, Charlie."

He let a few seconds pass, but then sighed and wrapped his arm over my stomach, pulling me towards his chest. "I know."

"This thing is going to end badly. I just know it."

"I know..." He quietly kissed my forehead, then breathed in my scent. "When you told me the world was complicated, I never thought it would be this bad."

"I'm so sorry I kept that video from you," I whispered, finding the courage to look up and meet his eyes. His purple orbs looked back at me. "It wasn't mine to hide, I don't know why—"

He lifted his finger and placed it over my lips. "You were protecting me like you always have. I love you for that."

"But—"

"No buts," He cut me short and then closed his eyes. "If you want the truth... I'm not mad at them for doing that to me. Not in that sense, anyway."

"What... what do you mean?"

He sighed again and then slowly opened his eyes, finding mine. "Before I met you, I probably wouldn't have cared. They've done so much to me, I couldn't even be bothered to find a care. I lived for the science, for the experiments... I didn't know love or intimacy. Not until you."

He paused, and I gave him the moment he needed when I could tell he wasn't done. There was more, but for some reason it hurt to say.

"I'm not mad they touched me," He finally said, swallowing, then clenching his jaw. "I'm mad you're not the only one who's touched me. I thought you were my first—I wanted that to be my... first. You. This. Us." He pulled me closer, but gritted his teeth a little. "I'm angry they touched me before you did, angry that I'm no longer just yours. That was just one video, who's to say there aren't more? They could've done more to me, more of the stuff you've done and—"

"Stop, please," I begged in a whisper. He did and exhaled shakily when his anger started building up again. "Come here."

"No." When I tried to pull him on top of me, he refused, pulling back. "You're hurt, I'm not touching you again—"

"You need to look into my eyes, Charlie," I said and steeled him with them, making him meet my green irises. "Look at me and tell me what you see."

His face melted and he softly cupped my cheek. "I see the woman I love."

I nodded and powered through the lump that formed in my throat. "Exactly. And this woman needs you," I whispered, pulling him on top of me once again, this time meeting no resistance. Charlie carefully climbed on top of me while I pulled away the wet cloth between my legs, reaching for his member instead. He grew at my touch and groaned softly; looked pleadingly down at me.

"I don't want to hurt you again," He begged as I stroked his length, feeling him throb in my hand. His head rolled back and I wrapped my other hand around his neck, pulling him down to my lips.

"You won't. You can't."

And with that, I brought him to my entrance and felt as he slowly slid inside me. Both of us shuddered, Charlie twisting the bedsheets tightly in his fists as he settled. He begun a slow rhythm, a rhythm without rush and without another purpose besides just letting me feel he was there. It was perfect.

I moaned softly and threaded my fingers through his hair; pulled a purr from his lips as he leaned down and kissed me. Slow and tentatively, his tongue slid against mine and caressed the seams of my lips. We moved slowly, unhurriedly, fixed ourselves with our love making.

Until he broke me apart again with the words I couldn't bear coming from his lips.

"I love you so much."

"Please," I whispered, silent tears welling up in my eyes. "Please stop saying that."

"Why?" He frowned, pinning me with his glowing moons.

"Because," I looked up at him through blurry eyes. "Because you don't know any better. There are women out there who are better than me... women who can give you things I can't."

"Nobody can give me what you give me, Carly."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you—"

"Nobody in the entire world could ever give me what you have already given me," He steeled me with his purple eyes and upped my chin with his finger, then cupped my face and forced me to look at him. "You were the first person to ever walk into a room and greet me with my real name, Carly. You are the only one who's ever protected me rather than hurt me. You've given me what I always dreamt about having while I was in that lab; A choice. I choose you, Carly. I don't want to be a free man, I want to be yours; Not C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S's; yours."

"Char... Charlie..." I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't... anything.

"I don't want to be inside anyone else. I don't want to hold another woman in my arms. I don't want to hear her moan my name like you do." He continued. "Nobody but you. Nobody can ever make the sounds you do, nobody will ever feel like you, nobody will ever be you."

"Charlie..."

"And even if they could, I don't want to know. I reject that knowledge."

His words replayed in my mind and made me fall apart all over again.

Rejected. He rejected the knowledge or wisdom of ever finding out if there was someone like me out there; refused to learn.

Created and tortured to accept that learning was his only purpose as a Creature, he rejected learning about anything beyond me.

He stopped at me.

My bottom lip quivered. New tears welled up as I reached up and touched his face to make sure he was really real and these past three months hadn't just been a long coma. Maybe I had been in an accident as I had been driving up to the facility that day. Maybe I had dreamt this whole thing up and Charlie was a figment of my imagination.

There was just no way he could be this perfect in reality. Reality just didn't make creatures like him...

Except... they did.

My beautiful Creature.

"I read somewhere that people claim they always want what they can't have," He quietly said, leaning his forehead against mine and closing his eyes when I didn't speak. "...I always wanted to be human."

I tried to swallow, but I couldn't even do that. What was he doing to me?

"I never thought that my wish would come true, but then I met you. I feel human when I'm inside you," He told and right then slid deep, deep inside me, making me take every inch of him. I garbled out a moan. "I feel human when you look at me, when you smile at me, when you breathe in my direction. When I'm like this and you're with me, I feel like an actual living, breathing human. I feel like a man."

My eyes rolled back into my head when he kept pumping in and out of me, striking deeper and deeper with each word and thrust. "Charlie..."

"No more talking," He kissed my lips briefly before he shifted onto his elbows and brushed my hair away from my face. "I just want to hold you tonight until you tell me to let go."

A tear finally escaped my eye. "I don't want you to let go, ever."

His purple eyes glowed softly and then his lips gently tugged upwards as he wiped my tear away with his thumb. "Then I won't."

And it was like that that I felt myself dissolve in his embrace. He made sweet love to me, kissed me everywhere and combed his fingers through my hair with deep groans. He inhaled me and I inhaled him, his musky, yet earthly scent that slowly transferred onto me as he ground against me. My body trembled and quivered, but I felt so hot I thought I was going to melt and become one with him.

But I already felt that way; With him inside me, we were one, clinging to each other, breathing the same air and aligning the beats of our hearts. I had always hated sappy novels that spoke like that, but here in his arms, I felt it. The look on his face as he showered me and pleasured me with his love was enough to make me not care about how cheesy my thoughts were. He made me love being loved.

Our moans blurred together. Our hips were grinding against each other's, our bodies sweating, the heat growing hotter. I struggled to breathe. Charlie was panting against my lips as well, moving in and out of me in a pace that gained speed as he neared his momentum. I was right behind him.

"Carly," He called my name almost desperately, yet possessively, yearning for my response that was a breathy moan.

"Charlie..."

His hips undulated. With a throaty sound, he thrust deep inside me and stayed. My hips arched up to accept him as he with shudders came apart with a strangled groan, triggering my own ōrgasm; We came together in a perfect symphony.

I cried his name and clawed down his back while we both spiraled out of control together. His ōrgasm fueled mine; mine fueled his. I didn't think it would ever end until Charlie with a guttural exhale fell down and dropped his head into the crook of my neck, panting for air. I myself slowly hailed down, but my body still felt aflame with him.

"I love you," He panted, kissing my neck longingly, exhaling softly once he begun gathering his breath. "So much."

I swallowed and cupped the back of his head, pulling him up so I could meet his eyes. They were hazy and blurred with post-orgasmic bliss, but they still shone down at me and exuded pure love.

"I love you, too."

The words passed my lips, and like fireworks, his eyes widened and a million small starbursts exploded inside them. The flicks of gold and silver danced together and he stared at me in shock, almost panic. Like he thought that I'd never actually say them back.

His look only further twisted my stomach around until the anxiety crept into my heart. "C-Charlie? Please say something."

"Carly..." He whispered, something happening inside his eyes. Panic evolved to sadness and sadness evolved to... fear? "Please forgive me."

And not even a second after he had spoken the words, he let out a holler and threw his head back as something happened. His whole body went rigid and started shaking spastically; he went into a seizure of some sort.

And then a lot of things happened all at once;

My scream pierced the silence as the door to his bedroom suddenly burst open and an endless stream of men in masks with guns poured in, pointing them at Charlie who tipped over and rolled onto the floor, still convulsing. His eyes rolled back into his skull and foam was coming from his mouth, and in the madness, I had missed the fact that someone was shouting out orders.

"Don't move! Target secured! Creature 6402-C down!"

– It was over.

• • •

*cue dramatic music*

The End

... of chapter 25, lmao.