(lmao Thank you… I just feel like my writing here is just shittier for some reason)
Charles slowly stirred from his odd sleeping position in the recliner chair. Something smelled really good to his half-asleep mind. He groaned and slowly pushed his way out of the chair, his blonde hair a complete, floofy mess and his button-up shirt was halfway open from how much he tossed and turned. He carefully made his way into the kitchen, following the wonderful food scents with a salivating mouth. Did Miss Ludwig wake up to make me breakfast…??
(idk fam, I like it tho)
Erro was humming faintly to himself, occasionally murmuring the words to a song in a strange language. He was cooking everything at once, hands made of that strange blue-green glow helping him cook, a set busy making coffee. He was still shirtless, as he had forgotten about Charles giving him one for the time being, so his multiple tattoos were visible and some lines were glowing while the rest had stayed solid black
"Mm… Miss Ludwig…?" Charles gently called out, leaning against the wall and rubbing his tired eyes with his hands. He had apparently left his glasses behind on the coffee table in the living room, so couple that with a dazed mind and tired eyes, Charles really couldn't make out much of anything besides a bright-ish figure cooking in his kitchen. "Thank you…" he moaned out, stumbling over to the island bar, took a seat on a stool and resting his head down on the countertop.
(eh… i don't like it quite much. it feels like there's something missing that I usually have so it's just fucking shitty idek why)
"You're welcome," Erro responded, not mentioning that Charles thought he was someone else. A ghostly hand retrieved Charles' glasses, gently slipping them on him before dissipating. Erro's previous half-singing had quieted to more of a humming, his tail flicking idly here and there. Another hand brought Charles a cup of coffee, setting the creamer and a spoon next to it
"Woah you're super fast… and absolutely the best," Charles purred happily as he received both his glasses and his coffee rather quickly after sitting down. Of which, he almost immediately started drinking from his cup, he liked his coffee bitter, it woke him up faster. Speaking of, he finally realized it was the stranger from the night before standing in front of his kitchen stove and definitely not Miss Ludwig. "Wait… what? Why are you making breakfast…?"
"Because it is customary to be polite to your host. And seeing as how you found yourself asleep in the chair, I figured you would be tired. Therefore, I made you breakfast," Erro answered as if it were the most logical thing in the world for the random stranger you let into your house to make you breakfast in return. He finished the food, taking the bagel he had made himself out of the toaster and setting it on the plate, putting some of the food on that for himself and the rest on another for Charles, which he floated over to him
"Um, uh, thank you… You really didn't have to, it's okay… uh, I don't think I caught your name?" Charles got out, trying to gather his thoughts together as he began to come out of his sleep-daze. "And you shouldn't really be walking around and doing this sort of stuff with your injuries," his doctor instincts came back to him with the more coffee he drank. He was just about to get up and walk over to the guy to check his wounds.
"My name is Erro Dormin, also known as the hero Colossus. And don't worry, the worst of it, that gash has already halfway healed. I did mention to you my advanced healing abilities, didn't I?" Erro asked, busying himself with utilizing his toasted bagel to make a sandwich out of the various things he had cooked. He was starving, especially with his body working to heal him, so he was eating quite a bit
"Erro… that is a nice name. Yes, I believe you did… but I wasn't entirely sure if you were telling the truth or not…" Charles admitted, slightly embarrassed as he attempted to start eating the food his new 'friend' had made for him.
Erro simply hummed in acknowledgement, helping himself to hopping up on the counter and taking a few bites of his first assembled bagel sandwich. His tail flicked idly, and a few ghostly hands had begun to make himself coffee as well
Charles watched Erro intently, his eyes glued to taking in all the details of this inhuman being sitting on his kitchen counter. He followed the multiple hands with a curious fascination, and he was tempted to reach out and touch one. "How…" his whispered question was lost in the thousands of other swirling about in his head.
"Magic. I take my power from my link with my patron," Erro answered, pointing to the intricate tattoo on his back as he twisted so Charles could see it. It appeared to be the skull of a raven, with ram horns curling out from it. "My service is to the god of death, Dekah. Though I'm not certain where he's gone now," he said before taking a sip of his coffee once he had finished mixing some creamer into it
"Woah. That sounds… uh, interesting," Charles searched for the right words to say in response, unsure of himself. With his attention drawn back to the hands again, he couldn't help but reach out and finally touch one of them. A distant echo of a door shutting from downstairs indicated that Miss Ludwig was up and about.
There were small stone bits on the hands, and when Charles touched the hand the only part he could really touch was the stone. Erro had finished munching his bagel, taking a swig of his coffee before moving onto the second. He watched Charles amusedly, thinking it was funny how stunned he seemed
Charles gasped and slowly brought his hand back, trying to process how fucking rad that hand was. He chanced a glance over to Erro, his childlike wonder evident on his face. "So cool…" he barely breathed out, obviously awestruck at just everything.
Meanwhile, Miss Ludwig had begun to move around quite a lot downstairs, probably doing some morning cleaning before her regular visit up to his flat. "So um…" Charles broke off from his curiosity, another thought coming to play in his head. "What am I to tell my landlady, Miss Ludwig?"
"Well, do you feel it would be best to tell her the truth or not? My status is no secret, though I am aware that in some parts of the world people are still surprised or frightened by creatures such as myself. You can choose," Erro answered, tail flicking as he bit into his bagel sandwich again, a long sip of coffee following afterwards. The ghostly hands flickered and faded away, their powers unneeded at the moment
"Hmm… Miss Ludwig is rather unpredictable for a woman of her age. Last night was a bit much for her to handle… But perhaps if she's told upfront of what you are, without the blood and gaping wounds, she'd be a bit more receptive," Charles thought out loud as he worked on finishing his breakfast before his 62-year-old German landlady arrived to say 'good moring' to him and a arandom man perched on his countertop.
"As you wish. Should I leave, or no?" Erro asked, finishing the last of his bagel sandwich in one bite. He sipped the remainder of his coffee slowly, not feeling like making more should he run out. His tail flicked slightly, and one hand reached up to run a hand through his still messy hair, the fluffy strands sticking up in odd directions from falling asleep earlier
(Why do I feel like these two would make a great slow-burn)
"You can stay. It's fine. Besides, I still need to monitor you. Fast regenerative abilities or no, you need to make sure to rest and heal properly," Charles sighed with a slight chuckle as he finished his plate off and stood up to place his dish in the sink to wash it off. Charles was trying his damnedest not to stare at Erro anymore. Dammit Charles, stop being a creep already, he cursed himself.
Based on heavy-set footsteps, old Miss Ludwig seemed to finally be making her way up to his apartment, stopping just short of the doorway to knock and announce her presence before stepping in.
(they probably would tbh)
Erro plucked the plate from Charles's fingers with a floating hand, using the appendages to wash the plate as he continued to sip his coffee. He usually had to have relatively large amounts of caffeine to really wake up, but he figured he would be fine with just this. He had a few more hands rinse the coffee pot out, tossing the used grounds before returning the pot to its rightful place
"It's okay… You don't have to do that…" Charles coughed to give himself an excuse not to look directly at Erro again for now. Miss Ludwig made her entrance, heading towards the noise in the kitchen to find a red-faced Charles and a rather handsome young man sitting on his kitchen counter with the cutest messy hair.
"Oh, Charles! I see you found someone to keep ya company last night, eh?" She joked in her thick German accent, nudging Charles with her elbow as she passed him and approached Erro. "What a sweet lil' dearie ya are, bein' cute and doing tha dishes. I wish I could find myself a man like you, but alas, ya seem to already been taken, hmm?" Miss Ludwig ruffled Erro's hair in a playful mood, no longer freaking out about markings or horns or blood and gore nonsense.
Erro squeezed his eyes shut when his hair was ruffled, a little disgruntled at first before a little smile spread across his face. "It's no problem, ma'am. I may as well be of some assistance while I'm here," he said, not bothering to fix his even floofier hair now. He finished with the dishes, the floating hands taking care of things before dissolving once again, the previously glowing lines of tattoos on his body flickering and returning to their prior dark state
"So, tell me darling. Since you don't seem to be dead from that whole bloody mess last night, what exactly are ya?" Miss Ludwig questioned, getting a kick out of poking and prodding at Erro in a teasing manner. "Surely you seem to be someone who can handle himself, considering you spent the night with Mister Doctor over there?"
"Miss Ludwig, I'm right here."
Erro couldn't help but giggle at that, curling up in his spot atop the counter with his tail wrapped around his legs. "I'm a gate guardian, ma'am. Champion to the god of death Dekah," he told Miss Ludwig, as if he had said it a thousand times before. He looked over at Charles, giving him a sympathetic grin as he drew his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms comfortably around them
