There was a cigarette burning, propped against an ashtray as Michael found himself sprawled out on the couch, his feet propped up on Jeremy’s lap as he shoved his hand into a bucket of popcorn that sat on the floor just by his arm. He found himself adjusting his shoulders, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in, having sunk into a crater on the old cushion that had been formed by him sitting exactly the same way for months.
The room was surprisingly dim, the only light coming from the television playing some shitty soap opera Michael was fond of and the indirect lighting from Charlie doing something or another in the kitchen. From the gentle clanking sounds of metal, he had to assume she was looking into something his father had made, which was a type of knowledge he lacked as he never cared too much to listen to his father when he was talking about the robots he had made. Well, he never cared all too much for the way those machines worked in general, he hated getting too close to them and they wanted him dead anyways so it was an understandable distaste.
Honestly, between all three of them, Charlie was the bravest when it came to those things. Jeremy was never too fond of them after the bite, either, so it really left her in charge of fiddling with the few scraps they could find of abandoned, or perhaps simply dormant, projects. She had made some decently useful breakthroughs about how the technology all worked despite working mostly alone when it came down to it. Michael was helpful, she could give him that, but all he could spare was inside knowledge on how his father worked as a person, and while that helped more than any of them liked admitting, it didn’t bring solutions to their problems.
Eventually, the sound of metal hitting against itself stopped, Charlie stumbling into the living room with the other two lounging about. Michael just gave a vague wave, seeing no reason to do anything more while Jeremy properly greeted the woman.
“Hey, Charlie, are things going alright?”
“Peachy,” she said flatly, picking up the cigarette in the ashtray and taking a drag before sitting squarely on Michael’s chest, making him wheeze and gently slap her thigh in a vain attempt to get her to move. All it got him was Charlie blowing smoke in his face.
“You’re crushing me,” he whined out, though that wasn’t true, she wasn’t heavy enough to. In return, his mouth was covered with her hand, just leaving him only able to glare up at her.
“Ah, progress is that slow?”
“Could be going slower. Could always be going slower,” she mused, watching Jeremy frown as he tried to come up with something to comfort her. Eventually, she simply sighed and put the cigarette out in the ashtray, patting his cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it under control.”
“If you say so.”
Finally, Charlie moved her hand from Mike’s mouth, earning a dramatic gasp from him as he scoffed.
“You tried to suffocate me!”
“I did not.”
“You did!” He shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth before holding the bucket up for Charlie to take some, which she declined by holding up a hand.
“Ew, no thanks, that stuff reeks worse than you,” she taunted with a grin, enjoying watching Michael’s expression contort into one of faux offense, placing the popcorn back on the floor.
“First you try to suffocate me then you insult me? What’s next?”
“I didn’t try to suffocate you,” she huffed. “So, you better drop it before I do.” She punctuated her words with a swift jab with her index finger to the middle of his forehead, earning a laugh from Jeremy before he bit his lip and averted his eyes from the two playfully bickering.
“Yeah, alright, fine,” he sighed, earning a playful praise of ‘good boy’ from Charlie as she slid off his chest and pressed a chaste kiss to his jaw, if only to earn a flustered expression from the man.
“Uh, and where’s my kiss?” Jeremy jokingly piped up, which got a giggle out of Charlie, forcing Michael’s legs off his lap and making him scoff indignantly watching her straddle their boyfriend and kiss him.
“You aren’t gonna succeed in making me jealous,” Mike grumbled.
“Well who said this was to make you jealous?” Jeremy teased as Charlie pulled away from the kiss.
“I- I don’t have to put up with this.” And with that, Michael turned up the volume to the television, Jeremy and Charlie both laughing at his reaction, a smile on his face despite his dramatic behavior.
Despite everything, it was nice to know the three of them could still laugh together, could still enjoy a night relaxing.