Archive of Our Own ^beta

Being the god of death (or the underworld, depending where you're from) was something that Charlie did not take for as a joke. 

In fact, he took it with a grain of salt.

Mainly because he had to watch millions and millions of humans die over the centuries from things that should be possible to survive from. Like a bee sting. You will no doubt survive a bee sting right? unless you are allergic. Charlie thought allergies were an overrated way to die, didn't see the point in them. 

Why would you create something that will no doubt kill these silly creatures one day? Humans were the worst for dying, he got plenty animals however he felt more terrible for them than humans. Half the time it was a human's own fault they died. Whether that be from allergies or something more... sinister.

Charlie didn't invent dying oh no of course not, he was simply the messenger, or the post-man if the post-man collected dead people instead of parcels. His job was simple, meet them in the afterlife, tell them what happened, provide some context, and take them to a secluded paradise his partner made up. 

Ah, yes. 

His partner. 

To counter all the dying that Charlie was in charge of, humans also had to grow and populate in order to survive, or else he would eventually have no one to collect. This was where his partner in crime came in. 

Nicholas. 

Nicholas was quite literally the total opposite of him, after all, he was the god of life and all things light and cheery. With gingery hair and a soft glow orbiting around him constantly, it was extremely hard to ignore his presence, with all his goody two shoes charisma and disgustingly handsome charm, Charlie found himself hating the man despite knowing him for... well forever, I suppose. 

Charlie didn't look anything like him, another way in which they were opposites was their attire.

Charlie's was such a vastly intimidating midnight you could barely see him sometimes, with a sleek, frilly undershirt that looked suspiciously medieval era paired with a velvety blazer on top that shaped his skeletal figure well. On his bottom half were a plain pair of black trousers and some docs, what can he say? he was a sucker for timeless fashion.

His hair was the best part of it all though, as his perfectly styled curls kept afloat a rather impressive pitch black crown that was made entirely out of metal, a dash of porcelain and a whole lot of magic. 

Nick, on the other hand, was a little less Gothic, since he was the embodiment of sunshine and all things good in the world, his look was a lot more inviting. With a cottony white shirt and lush, cream coloured trousers that Charlie wanted to occasionally rip off from time to time. His crown was stunning, as much as he hates to admit it. A complimenting gold colour that was in the shape of many flowers and natural elements, surrounding a couple pearls here and there.

Did he mention the fact that his hair was literally ginger. 

Maybe blonde under some lights but mostly ginger. 

His personality fitted too. A ray of absolute sunshine and happiness, an ombre glow of delight, a shining star that will no doubt be the good guy in this situation. If Nick was the good guy, there always had to be a bad guy too right? That, for most individuals out there, was Charlie. He was their bad cop, their villain, their obstacle that they had to face alone, nobody else would die with them, only they would meet him. 

But Charlie wasn't the bad guy.

He was just as deserving to be watching over this earth as Nick was, but Nick's reason and his reason were two entirely different things. Nick brought life to humanity, and Charlie took it away just as much, that's how it worked and will forever continue to work. But it was incredibly frustrating to try and work with someone who was hopeful about every single situation. Charlie supposed that was what he was here to do, give hope to the people they watched over.

After all, life is the greatest gift of all, is it not? 

The irony that Charlie resented Nick for giving people life was almost laughable, to say the least. After all, without Nick, he'd have no one to take from earth in the first place.

Nick quite literally provided him his job, and he hated it.

What's even worse was that, you'd think with all this power Nicholas would gloat or boast about it in some way to him but no. He had to go and be modest about it. Maybe it's a good thing Charlie hates attention, or else he'd rub it in Nick's face all day long if he had that kind of power. 

Currently, the duo were residing on a cloud. Yes, a cloud, because they were gods and they can do that. Down below then was what seemed to be a public execution, one of the last in England, to be exact, as Charlie watched in an uncomfortable delight he glanced over to Nick who had shielded his eyes for the entire thing so far. 

Charlie, ever the dramatic soul, rolled his eyes and gently shoved Nick with his shoulder "Come on, Nicholas, stop being a wimp. This is fun, is it not?" the sunshine boy shook his head in a dignified disagreement "no. It's not. It's fun for you because you actually get something out of it by the end. The public bit is just for the hilarity."

Charlie smirked "indeed it is, humans were so clever for inventing these, watching someone's head get chopped off? or watch their neck snap in an instant? Brilliant piece of work, I tell you" As if on cue, the person's head in question was severed with a clean slice, almost as if you were cutting bread or a block of butter. Charlie sat up and clapped, grinning from ear to ear "Great job people! I shall take that person now but your donation is highly commended!"

Nick spared him a glance before making the obvious mistake of looking down when he is unbelievably squeamish. 

"Oh my god - His neck is squirting! blood! How outrageous is that? why humans watch this I will never know." 

Charlie grinned, wide enough to rival that of the Cheshire cat "Oh Nicholas, get your act together. Someone will probably be born soon enough for you to greet them. Just let me do my job, okay? Cool." and he hoped off their sky pedestal, floating down like a feather someone dropped accidentally. Nick watched closely as his colleague sifted and surfed through the crowd, everyone else unknowingly creating his path to the next member of the afterlife. 

The golden boy stared at Charlie, he really was good at his job, wasn't he? 

Obviously, he could see things that humans cannot, like the unfortunate soul's spirit rising above it's physical body that trapped it as Charlie explained to him the situation. The man seemed quite alright with it in fact. Usually, with this, spirits go slightly insane with learning that there is an afterlife. 

Charlie found it quite funny; but then again, he must be slightly insane himself, witnessing the amount of deaths that he does on a daily basis. Nick didn't know how he did it. Constantly managing everyone who died on the daily as his job? That must be so tiring having all that negativity around him.

Nick's thoughts were out-shined by a small giggle, Charlie's giggle. 

He's so cute, thought Nick, how can someone like him do such a hard job?

Despite his job being incredibly taxing, Charlie was especially good at it. He somehow always managed to convince everyone he met that they were in the afterlife. Did he have a speech prepared? was his voice just that charming? Nick decided on the latter, as he agreed with it. 

Because Charlie was charming. 

Charming, and lovely, and so, so sweet.

To everyone apart from Nick himself, to which he doesn't understand why. Nick has always been an incredibly nice being, so why is Charlie such a prick to him at times? It didn't make any sense. Nick had to admit, Charlie was a very stubborn entity, what he wanted he got and it was very hard to argue with him as his opinion was right even if it was completely wrong. 

Nick looked down again at his partner, Charlie waved the man towards him and they started to walk. Sometimes Nick wished that was him, walking with Charlie, possibly holding his hand or wrapping his arms around his shoulder, maybe even his waist -

Wait. 

What was Nick even saying right now?

Did he have a crush on Charlie? There was no way, right? How can he have a crush on someone who's rarely ever nice to him for reasons he doesn't even know? Nick knew he couldn't date anyone, because nobody knew who he was, or what he looked like, or where he came from.

They couldn't see him. Humans cannot see him. But Charlie can. Charlie can because they are on equal playing fields. They are stuck together for eternity. The two might be opposites but they are still Nick and Charlie. They are still the rulers of the natural cycle, no matter how far apart they go, they still always came back to each other. 

Nick guessed that was the beauty of it, they were intertwined forever and always.