Chapter Text
In hindsight, I should’ve kept my distance from Nick Nelson. Everything was just going to hit hard when it came to our future; the fact that I wouldn’t age like him, because I’m dead, and that he was one day going to die and get his lights like all of the other souls I’ve had to take since the life of a grim reaper was thrust upon me after my suicide.
But Youssef never specified a rule about not forming a relationship with mortals so, really, this is on him.
Nick’s flat smells like coffee and bacon when I wake in his bed on a dreary Tuesday in November morning. I can’t help my smile, as the familiarity of my situation settles in my bones. My phone lights up on the table next to me and I let out a tired sigh, groaning as I reach for the device. I rub my eyes and look down at the screen to see a text notification from Tao that’s blocking the picture of me and Nick that I have as my phone background. I tap on it to open our text thread so I can read it properly.
God, doesn’t this guy ever take a holiday? Surely, organising this shit and making sure people are at their death appointments gets rather tedious after all these years. Darcy and I often pair up together if our appointments allow it so we can still have a bit of fun amongst the morbidity of our duty as grim reapers. Even if we’re way past the point of being squeamish. It’s still a shit job.
Although, in some ways, it worked out for me because Nick’s made me feel more loved in the last two years than anyone in the twenty-five years of my before life.
I let out another sigh and type out a response so Tao knows I’ve acknowledged him.
Not waiting for a text back, I stand from the bed, lifting my arms over my head to stretch, and groan again before grabbing one of Nick’s oversized hoodies. The smell of coffee finally tempts me enough to step outside of the bedroom, pulling Nick’s green hoodie over my bare chest, and I smile at the sight of my boyfriend standing by the hob with a frying pan of bacon sizzling in front of him. Daisy, his one-and-a-half year old golden retriever, sits at his feet, looking rather hopeful for any ‘accidental’ droppings, and it makes me chuckle. Two sets of big brown eyes fall onto me and I laugh more at the way both Nick and Daisy smile widely at my entrance. Daisy beats Nick in approaching me and I readily welcome the golden retriever with a wide smile as she jumps up with her front paws on my chest, quickly telling her ‘no’ when she tries to lick across my face.
“Your papa might be a pushover and let you do that but I will never let you do that to me, Miss Daisy.”
She just stares up at me with her huge brown eyes and lolling tongue. Nick chuckles behind her, burying both hands in her fur to stroke her.
“How can you say no to that sweet face, Char?”
“Just like I can say no to your sweet face,” I tease and smile brightly at his pout, lifting up on my tiptoes to kiss it away. “Good morning, Nick.”
“Good morning, Char,” he whispers and I rest my hands on the front of his blue shirt. “Did you sleep well?”
I roll my eyes fondly. “You know I always sleep well in your bed, Nicholas.”
“Well, then there’s another point for you to move in with me,” he says and winks, clearly emphasising that he’s mostly joking.
I roll my eyes again but dread fills my body. On our two-year anniversary a couple of months ago, Nick asked me to move in with him and while there’s no real rule of not dating mortals, at least to my knowledge anyway, I’m sure living with one would be a big no-no. I do know that Youssef would be very disappointed in me if he found out. For some reason, the old grump has a soft spot for me. Mercifully, Nick didn’t completely shut down when I said no. He was sad, of course, but when I explained my incredibly traumatic past with living with previous boyfriends, which wasn’t a total lie, he understood and said that the offer was there if and when I was ready.
It breaks my heart to know that there’ll never be an if or a when.
“I made breakfast,” he says, nodding his head in the direction of the bacon. “Do you have time?”
Ordinarily, I would. Whenever I stay overnight at Nick’s, I’m usually the one to see him off to his teaching job. I stand in the doorway with his hoodie and my boxers on, Daisy at my feet and a mug of coffee in my hands, and send him off to his car with a kiss or three, promising to see him when he gets back. Youssef usually meets us at Tara’s Café between nine and nine-thirty for coffee and appointment assigning, and to make sure I do eat, but there are times, like today, where one of us has an early appointment and he has no choice but to tell us to meet early. I hope it’s my turn to have the early appointment. This job is a lot easier if I can get my turn out of the way instead of waiting around like some kind of death omen.
I frown. “I wish but I have to meet someone at eight. I should actually get ready, I don’t want to be late.”
He pouts, making me giggle. “And I was here, thinking I could have some extra time with my boy because I have a later start at work.”
“Next time,” I say, reaching up to kiss him again. “I promise.”
He smiles and nods. “Can I at least make you a coffee to go?”
“I thought you were a teacher, not a barista,” I joke, walking back into the bedroom.
“For you, Char, I contain multitudes.”
I laugh before closing the bedroom door and exhale, running a hand through my curls to fix them before reaching for a fresh pair of jeans from my pile of clothes in Nick’s wardrobe that Nick insists I keep here. I ignore the nagging thought in my head that this won’t last and swiftly change my underwear and slide my jeans on, crouching down to put my Converse on.
Nick’s humming a Christmas tune from the play he’s producing for his class as he fixes my Thermos of coffee when I walk back into the main area of his flat after brushing my teeth. I smile as I step towards him, wrapping my arms around his waist, and kiss his shoulder when I feel him melt against my touch.
“Hi,” he whispers.
“Hi.”
I stay there for a few seconds, needing to soak up as much of Nick’s love and comfort via osmosis as possible so I can face this day of death, before stepping back and letting Nick kiss me. I eagerly kiss him back before he pulls away, his dark eyes gazing into my own blue ones, and I smile widely, tugging at the hem of the green hoodie I’m wearing.
“Mind if I borrow this?” I ask unnecessarily, knowing he’s gonna say yes either way.
“As long as you don’t steal it like the last three you ‘borrowed’, I actually quite like that one.”
I scoff. “I didn’t steal them, I just… forgot to give them back.”
“You forgot to give them back?” he mocks and chuckles with me.
I beam up at him, my cheeks pinking up a little when he presses a kiss to my forehead, before taking the Thermos from him and leaving a kiss on his cheek.
“I should go,” I tell him mournfully.
He nods. “Okay. You still joining me for dinner at my mum’s?”
I smile. “Yeah. I’ll meet you at the school. You finish at half-five today, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, cool,” I say and kiss him again before stepping back to grab my bag and wrapping my big coat around me. “Have a great day, love.”
“You too. Good luck at whatever meeting you have.”
I smile again, quickly fussing Daisy as she rushes up to stop me from leaving, and swing my backpack onto my shoulder as I open the front door. I send Nick one last smile before disappearing into his flat building hallway, sighing heavily, and quickly switch my phone background to something that doesn’t expose my relationship with Nick.
I hate lying to him about this. But telling him that I’m actually dead, have been for nearly twenty years, and that I take souls for a living would be even worse for me. Well, not for a living, us grim reapers don’t get shit for the work we do but… you know.
Despite being buried in my duvet of a coat, the bite of the November morning chill still sinks into my bones and I find myself practically downing the coffee Nick made for me to keep me warm. The only issue with that is that, by the time I get to Tara’s Café, I’m almost vibrating and there’s barely any left in the Thermos. Youssef, always the first to arrive at the café no matter what, raises an eyebrow at me when I sit in the booth he’s commandeered.
“You okay there, big man?” he asks and I nod way too much.
“Yeah, sorry, just had too much coffee just now.”
He stares at me and rolls his eyes before raising his hand to get Tara’s attention. Tara, a pretty, dark-skinned woman with black braids, smiles as she sees us, readying her small notepad and pen when she walks over to us.
“Good morning, boys!” she trills. “What can I get for you?”
“Good morning, Tara,” Youssef replies, giving her a small smile. “Can we get something heavy enough to soak up the coffee Charlie’s just subjected himself to? And I’ll have your traditional English breakfast and… an Earl Grey.”
“Can I have some water too?” I quickly chime in.
“Of course! Will it just be the two of you today?”
“Nah, the others are on their way.”
She nods and scurries away. I start pulling my coat off because Tara keeps her café as warm as she can in the winter and exhale, pulling the sleeves of Nick’s hoodie over my hands as an instinct. Youssef starts fussing with his little book that he keeps all of our dreaded death appointments in and gets out his trusted stack of yellow post-it notes, already starting to scrawl out names, addresses and estimated times of deaths, or E.T.Ds as we call them. I spy him curiously.
“So,” I start conversationally. “Who’s got the early shift?”
“Nope,” he says, not even looking up as he scans the book. “You know the rules, Charlie. Everyone gets their assignments at the same time.”
I frown. Worth a shot.
By the time mine and Youssef’s food arrives, the rest of the group are sitting around us. Tao sits beside me as Priya sits next to Youssef and Darcy sits backwards on a chair at the end of the table. I look around at the people I’m forced to spend time with until I or one of them fill their quota and, honestly, I could be forced around worse. I don’t know how any of them died and they don’t really know how I died. Well, except Youssef and Darcy who were there when my soul was rescued from the pain throwing myself in front of a train would’ve caused. I was the last one to be chosen out of this group and, given my extreme anxiety surrounding change, I’m very glad of that. As much as I say I’m forced to spend time with these four, we are like a very weird mismatched family.
As we all finish up our varying breakfasts, we watch in amusement as Darcy tries to flirt with Tara. Youssef outwardly rolls his eyes but he can’t hide his small smile from me. I send him a knowing glance but he just ignores me, setting his mug of tea down.
“Okay, assignment time,” he says, causing everyone to look at him, and starts plucking the post-it notes from where he’s stuck them on the table. “Priya.”
Priya shrugs on her hoodie, embellished with ‘Coach Singh’, as she takes the yellow square off him and sighs.
“Thank you. Exactly what I wish to do on my lunch break.”
“Par to the course, Priya, you know that by now,” Youssef replies before handing one to Tao. “Tao.”
Tao frowns. “Is this the place ne--”
“No, it’s the other place. One day, you’ll get it right.”
“Goddamn, a lot of deaths happen at those places,” Tao says and I chuckle.
“Charlie.”
I reach out to take the yellow post-it note from Youssef, smiling up at both Tao and Priya as they get up, before looking down at it. At an instant, all of the blood drains from my face as I read the words written in Youssef’s neat handwriting.
N. L. NELSON
TRUHAM HIGH STREET
E.T.D 5:38PM