Get Up On This [Charlie/Fitz]

[CHARLIE IRVING]

Charlie’s face contorted into a look of disgust as his friend Marne stepped out of the dressing room sporting some hideous orange monstrosity that the vicious dragon of a shop assistant had attempted to convince them was a dress.

“Oh, honey” Charlie sighed. “Really, orange? I know things at Crawford Country Day may seem a little, how do I put this? Separated from the real world, but surely even there they teach you that orange is a big no-no, right?”

“Geez Charlie, no need to be such a bitch about it.” Marne sighed, heading back into the dressing room . Charlie threw the blue dress that he’d picked in after her. It wasn’t his fault that she’d made the mistake of thinking it was ok to go outside in orange! Honestly, some people just couldn’t handle the cold bitter truth. Charlie always made a point of letting people know he wasn’t a bitch, just honest. After all, honestly is the best policy. Just like when he told her that her legs should remain covered up at all times for the safety of others. Or when he had told that old lady she smelled like urine.

“I can’t wait to get home” he muttered to himself as he watched Marne pay for the blue dress. He’d spent the night at Marne’s house last night, and was due to get the bus back to Lima after they’d finished their shopping spree in Westerville’s pathetic mall. Still, it was an excuse to spend too much money in Starbucks and buy a new book.

“So, guess what I heard the other day.” Marne said as they walked through the mall, both cradling a frappucino.

“Amaze me.” Charlie replied dryly.

“Our cheerleading squad’s will be up against each other at sectionals!” Marne grinned.

“Oh?” Charlie asked, feigning interest. Upon his return to school, Sylvester had finally recognised Charlie’s right to be on the top spot and made him Head Cheerio. He would’ve been bothered if he didn’t already know that the Crawford Cougars, a squad in which Marne was somewhere down at the bottom of the pyramid, were almost as terrible as their all girls glee club. Yup, the Cheerios were going to recover from last year’s shambolic performance at regionals last year with a first place trophy at nationals under Charlie’s leadership.

“Well, good luck with that Marn. Now that I’m captaining the Cheerios, you’ll certainly have your work cut out for you.” Charlie spent the next half an hour trying to block out Marne’s wittering and gasping about his rise to power and attempts to gain information about his performance disguised as ‘advice on her routines’. He really needed someone to shut the girl up, or at least provide him with stimulating conversation!

[STONE FITZGERALD]

His first week in America, and Fitz was still trying to make new friends. For an outgoing guy, it wasn't too hard; he'd won over some boys at Dalton, and he'd joined the Warblers. But he still felt like he was missing out on meeting so much of the population, so he'd been wandering around Westerville, scouting out anyone and everyone to take up a conversation with. So far, the elderly were friendly enough, but not terribly exciting, so Fitz was looking out for people his own age. Back in Melbourne, he probably would've gone the beach to meet new mates, but there was no proper beach to speak of in Ohio, so he had to settle for the mall.

Within half an hour, he found Shoulders.

It wasn't a fetish, but there were a few certain features that Fitz looked for in others, and among those were... well, their shoulders. The perfect set of shoulders, in his mind, were lean, but strong, not beefy, but still toned. He had yet to find the perfect pair, but he saw some of the closest to perfect he'd ever seen that day in the mall. The rest of the guy wasn't as good - a little too boyish, maybe. Cared too much about how he dressed, probably. But, God, his shoulders. Fitz saw them outside of a clothing store and found himself following them around the mall for the rest of the day.

He was in the clothing racks. He was behind potted plants. He was in the bookshelves. He even sneaked behind a cash register at one point, though he was found out within a couple minutes. Wherever Shoulders was, Fitz was, though the most horrible stalker in the world. It would take a five-year-old to realize he was following them, and not even a paranoid one at that. Yet, Fitz didn't care; this wasn't about being secretive. This was about having fun. The teenage boy was bored in a mall, and this was how he decided to spend his time.

Orange is a big no-no. What? Since when? Fitz frowned from behind the island of girls' v-necks, staring at his own orange t-shirt. He happened to like the color orange, especially when he paired it with his neon orange high tops. He didn't normally care about clothes, but he did care about his shoes. That comment spiraled him into deep thought about his wardrobe choices.

But he was only halfway through this existential crisis when he noticed that Shoulders and his friend had exited the store, so he quickly slipped out through a rack of dresses and went after them in a quick pace once he caught up. As he'd done for most of the day, Fitz continued to follow the pair, pausing behind fake plants and concrete pillars, imagining himself some sort of suave secret spy.

Their conversation was very dull; Fitz couldn't follow it half the time, usually just getting lost in Shoulders'... shoulders. Finally, he'd had enough of all this nonsense, and he leaped out from behind a garbage can and wedged himself inbetween the two of them. "How ya goin! I'm Fitz, and how beautiful are your shoulders!" he complimented, grinning over at the object of all of his stalking. Despite the hours it had taken him to do this, Fitz was still a very forward person. "I've seen some nice shoulders before, love, but yours are up there." He then glanced over at the girl still to his right, and gave her a wink.

He didn't think there was anything odd at all about this.

[CHARLIE IRVING]

Charlie eyed up the intruder. Damn, that was one fine piece of ass. What was that he was complimenting him on? His shoulders? Alright, sort of creepy, but at least it wasn’t a foot fetish. Still, a pretty face didn’t get this close to the merchandise just like that.

“Personal bubble!” Charlie said, waving his hand around himself and taking a few steps back. He waved Marne away, telling her to go and stare at wall or something else that he couldn’t care less about. It was then that he took in the boy’s outfit.

“Alright, let me explain something to you.” Charlie said to the taller boy. Damn, he liked taller boys. “You might have this scrawny, roguish good-looks thing going on, but you’re dressed like a stretched out Satsuma. Now, how about we start this introduction again, Tangerine? My name is Charlie, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Charlie extended a hand to shake.

“Well, I’ve been complimented about quite a few things, but my shoulders is something new. You get points for originality, Cheeto. I suppose the compliment is...sweet, of you? I’m not sure how to reply to a shoulder compliment. Maybe you should try something else?” Charlie suggested with a wink, his cool and flirtatious demeanour remaining the perfect mask over the clenching in his stomach. His one weakness was a tall cutie. He did he best to take a seductive suck from the straw of his frappucino, but to his horror a sloppy, gurgling sound came from the clear plastic cup as he (unknowingly) slurped on the very dregs of the drink.

“So, uhm, do you go to school around here?” Charlie asked, attempting to recover teh situation and beginning to walk, doing his best to lead Sunny D away from Marne, who was making hand signals behind him and excited faces. Sweet lord, that girl needed a leesh or something.

[STONE FITZGERALD]

Fitz blinked at Shoulders when he backed away, yelling something about a bubble. What bubble? He couldn't see any bubbles around here. Fitz had no idea what he was talking about, so he just kept grinning, watching the way those shoulders moved away from him. He just wanted to touch them. Just a little bit. Then he could be satisfied.

A dreamy glaze had washed over Fitz's eyes as he was imagining what those strong muscles would feel like in his arms, and he only refocused as he heard the good-looks thing going on part of the rant. Was that a compliment? It sounded like a compliment, so Fitz grinned a little wider. Then his brow furrowed at the stretched out Satsuma comment. He was fairly certain he didn't know what that was. But Tangerine sounded like a good thing, so he went back to grinning and nodding and gave the other boy a good handshake. "Pleased to meet you too! I'm Fitz." Had he already said that? He wasn't sure.

Wait, what was his name again? Chad? Chester? Chance? Charlie? Whatever it was, Fitz wasn't going to be able to remember it. He could remember the twenty different Lord of the Rings related names that belonged to his parents' cats, but he could never remember a normal person name. Sometimes, he forgot his own name.

Had he just called him Cheeto? How sweet. They already had cute nicknames for each other! "I dunno. Shoulders is a pretty high compliment. But, uh... You must have a very nice wardrobe full of clothes! And are your eyes are very big. And green," he said with a wide smile, proud of himself for coming up with those two on the spot, and totally not noticing Charlie's failed attempt at seductively drinking a frappucino. "I could buy you another drink?" he offered.

Shoulders started walking, and Fitz followed, taking occasional sneak glances at his most amazing asset (the one he was named for, obviously). "Yeah! I just started going to Dalton about a week ago. I haven't seen you there... Where do you go to school?"

[CHARLIE IRVING]

“Okay, just for the clothes comment, your attire for today is forgiven, Prince of Orange.” Charlie said, wondering if the other boy would get the reference to the title of a Dutch heir apparent.

They made it to the small Starbucks in the mall and Fitz went to the barrista, Charlie sitting down at a small booth. The Dalton student soon returned with Charlie’s chocolate frappucino and his own drink, getting himself Charlie’s best attempt at a cute, winning smile and a thank you.

“You haven’t see me because I’m McKinley till I die” Charlie grinned. “I live in Lima, but originally from England. I’m the Head Cheerio and in the glee club there. My family owns the Lemon and Lima, maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s like, THE hottest place to be these days.” He rested his chin in his hand as he leaned slightly over the table, absently playing with one of his curls as he clutched his drink with his free hand as he listened to the other boy talk.

It was then that it occurred to Charlie that Kurt had attended Dalton last year and been a part of their glee club, the Garglers or something. Could this tall, sexy piece of man meat possibly be a rival at sectionals? Because, if so, Charlie would be totally down with singing a raunchy Rihanna or Enrique number if he knew Fitz would be watching.

“I don’t suppose you’re in the Garglers, are you? Because I’d hate to be thought of as spying on the competition” Charlie chuckled gently, taking a sip of his drink.

[STONE FITZGERALD]

The Prince of Orange meant nothing to Fitz, other than another clever name having to do with orange (he finally picked up on that trend). He wasn't someone who cared much about royalty or knew anything about it, so he just grinned and shrugged, accompanying the other boy to the Starbucks. Luckily, Fitz actually had some American money in his pocket, so he could buy Shoulders his frappucino and get himself some plain hot coffee.

Fitz leaned back in the booth, watching Charlie while he sipped at his drink, waiting for it to cool. He tried to listen and piece together what Charlie was saying. He vaguely remembered that McKinley was a high school in Lima, which was a town also in Ohio. He wasn't sure what Head Cheerio meant, but he knew about glee clubs! "No, I haven't heard of that. What is it?" he asked, head tilted. He wasn't quite sure what one would do at a place called the Lemon and Lima. Buy fruit?

The Garglers? What were the Garglers? Confusion washed over Fitz’s face, before his eyes widened with realization. “Oh, you mean the Warblers? Yeah, I am! They’re exciting. But I don’t see how this could be thought of as spying,” he said with a somewhat suggestive grin. “What’s the glee club at McKinley called?” he asked. He was sure someone had told him, but he’d obviously forgotten by now. “And what’s a Head Cheerio?” he asked, vaguely remembering the phrase from Charlie’s introduction monologue.

Taking a big gulp of his coffee, Fitz leaned his elbow against the table, placing his head in his hand as he watched Shoulders from across the table. “You know, your nose is kind of fun too.” Fitz had a funny way of looking at people – it was rarely simply ‘he’s hot’ or ‘she’s gorgeous.’ He picked out little traits and strange adjectives. And he had a difficult time with keeping his thoughts to himself.

[CHARLIE IRVING]

“The Lemon and Lima is a smoothie bar my family owns” Charlie sighed. Sweet lord, this boy reminded Charlie of Brittany. Except where Charlie wanted to take Brittany home, give her ice cream and read her The Gruffalo before bed, he wanted to take Fitz home, give him vodka and take his clothes off with his teeth before bed.
“You’d be surprised with some of the stories my fellow New Directions members have told me. So dramatic” Charlie grinned, taking another sip of his drink. He could hear I Want Your Bite by Chris Crocker being played on the shop’s radio in the background and couldn’t help but tap his foot.

Oh to hell with it Charlie thought to himself, leaping out of his seat and singing along with the song. Customers and baristas alike danced into place behind Charlie, singing his backup vocals and mimicking his dance moves as he danced around the booth, stepping up on to the table and unleashing some famous Cheerio style movies. He grinned down at Fitz, who was staring up at him with a both shocked and hungry expression. With a swift turn, Charlie gave a tantalising shake of his backside before leaping off of the table and joining the dancing customers, when suddenly-

BAM! Charlie swiftly caught the drink he had almost knocked over in his daydream, just as Fitz asked him what a Head Cheerio was.
“Oh, Head Cheerio is the name of the captain of the cheerleading squad, the Cheerios, at our school.” Charlie smiled. “Wait, a cute nose? I suppose that’s slightly more flirty than shoulders” Charlie laughed, his foot gliding across the floor beneath the table and gentle touching Fitz’s.