Elijah had always wanted a relationship where the other person knew exactly what he was thinking, and could finish his sentences for him. Someone who knew how he took his coffee, and tea, and which beer he favored. Someone who knew how he felt about them without having to hear it thirty times a day. Someone like Charlie.

Charlie even knew how Elijah liked his eggs; strangely enough, Elijah didn�t remember ever telling him.

The morning sun was shining brightly through the window which didn�t exactly cheer Elijah up any. It was far too early to be up, and what idiot opened the curtains at the crack of dawn?

He rolled over to the other side of the huge bed, groaning loudly.

�Morning.�

Elijah�s eyes fluttered open and a smile spread across his lips even though he tried to stop it. He was smiling a lot these days. Sometimes he�d be on the subway (or the �underground� as Charlie called it) and he�d find himself smiling off into oblivion so much that his face would start to hurt. Then he�d notice that the person across from him was giving him strange looks. He�d go back to his book or whatever and try to stop the smile from spreading his cheeks wide, but often he couldn�t.

It was crazy, and it was unheard of, and it was so fucking scary sometimes he couldn�t sleep at night, but it seemed that Elijah Wood had fallen in love. With a bloody rock star. And a heroin addict to boot.

When he found out about Charlie�s addiction, he certainly wasn�t surprised. Upset, maybe. Sad, yes. But not surprised. Elijah wasn�t stupid, after all, and he�d known Charlie long enough to know that when he �nipped to the loos� and was gone twenty minutes every couple of hours, there was something going on.

This didn�t put a damper on Elijah�s feelings, however. Quite the opposite. The mere fact that Charlie was lost and out of control seemed to make Elijah want him even more.

Elijah saw something in Charlie he�d never seen before. And he felt something he�d never felt before. Crazy though it was, Elijah wanted to take care of him. He wanted to get him help and keep him safe and make sure no one ever hurt him again.

Charlie didn�t always accept this; he didn�t like being �babied� or treated like a �bloody addict.� He wasn�t used to being cared about; not like this, anyway. Liam was all he had, up until a year or so ago; that hadn�t turned out all that great, so Charlie wasn�t prone to trusting very easily. All the people in his life had either been groupies who only stuck around for the wild parties and then disappeared with one of his favorite shirts or a brother who had led him astray and then dropped him.

This was new. He felt something for Elijah. It was hard to tell what, exactly, it was that he felt. It was certainly friendship at its deepest level; maybe more. Charlie�s mind was always so cluttered these days, it was extra hard to decipher his feelings. Mostly he concentrated on his music and he let Elijah take care of him. It felt good to be wanted. It felt good to be around someone who wasn�t every kind of fake there was.

The withdrawals, however, were not so fun. He�d wake up sweating in the middle of the night (if he ever got to sleep at all) and he�d be shaking so badly he�d have to get up and walk around, playing with a lighter in his hand just so he didn�t grab for that little plastic bag.

He was trying, really hard, to quit. For Elijah, but also for himself. It just wasn�t that easy.

Elijah hated seeing him like that, unable to sit still and looking like death. He could tell when Charlie had been using. Elijah had no idea where he was getting the money for drugs, but Elijah also didn�t know where Charlie disappeared to most nights. He crept into Elijah�s place around three am, smelling strongly of alcohol and cigarette smoke.

For the most part, they lived like an old married couple. Sunday mornings they had coffee and read the paper while eating a fry-up (usually prepared by Charlie). They both liked it that way. Simple, easy. Comfortable.

�Morning,� Elijah muttered, rubbing at his eyes and yawning.

Charlie was humming a few bars of a Beatles song and tapping his fingers against his jean-clad legs to the beat.

�Did you sleep?� Elijah asked, sitting up and resting his head against the headboard.

Charlie shook his head, biting at the chipped black nail polish he wore on his fingernails. He started singing �Hey Jude� under his breath.

Elijah smiled softly and ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier than it was before. �How long has it been?� He asked, avoiding Charlie�s gaze, which had suddenly landed on him.

He coughed. �A couple of hours,� Charlie responded, clearing his throat and jumping out of bed. �Let�s do something,� he said, heading for the door. �I wanna do something.�

Tossing the covers off the bed, Elijah slid his feet to the floor and slowly went over to his dresser, yawning as he shuffled through his sock drawer.

�I have to work,� Elijah said through another yawn; he looked at his watch. �Shit; I�m gonna be late.�

Charlie went out into the kitchen, preparing to pour Elijah a cup of coffee while he got ready. Elijah had been working a lot lately, filming some movie Charlie didn�t know much about. Sometimes Charlie wanted a normal life, a nine to five job like the rest of the world. Then he�d remind himself that what he wanted more than anything in the world was to be something. Someone.

He poured the coffee, set it on the counter; he went into the living room and picked up his acoustic guitar, tenderly strumming the strings.

�A bloke rang from a record company the other day,� Charlie announced when Elijah had come out of the bedroom, fully dressed.

Elijah put the coffee to his lips, but didn�t drink. �Really?� His voice was hoarse, and his throat was killing him; he didn�t know why, but his heartbeat had suddenly sped up considerably.

�Yeah,� Charlie replied, nodding his head as he set his guitar down on the couch and got up. �I�ve gotta go talk to Liam.�

Elijah set his mug down. �Liam lives in Australia.�

Charlie smirked at him and stepped closer, reaching out and running his fingers through his hair, fixing it so he looked presentable and not like he�d just gotten out of bed. �I know,� he said quietly. �I�m gonna get a plane ticket today.�

�Oh,� Elijah replied, sounding hurt. He attempted a cheery disposition; it was important that Charlie was happy and he�d have to keep reminding himself of that fact. Despite their very close relationship, Charlie wasn�t his and he couldn�t hold him back from something he wanted so badly. �Great.�

�Yeah.� He nodded and stepped back. �You�re gonna be late,� he motioned to the door, tipping his head to the side and smiling.

Elijah cursed and headed for the door before realizing he didn�t have any shoes on. After some more cursing and a burnt tongue from trying to chug down his coffee, he got to the door. �Don�t leave today, okay?�

Charlie looked up from a magazine he�d been studying closely, looking distracted. �Huh? No, I won�t.�

He smiled. �I want to say goodbye. Properly.�

Another nod. �Sure, yeah.�

*

They always seemed to end up in a pub. Whether it be for a birthday, or a new job celebration, or a Wednesday night. Neither minded, though. They were both comfortable in pubs; Elijah noticed Charlie could fit in anywhere. He could make friends with a fly on the wall, for God�s sake. He was charismatic, and friendly to everyone. Elijah envied him that; more so, he envied the people who received Charlie�s smiles. They were few and far between lately.

�You�re leaving tomorrow?� Elijah set his drink down, it was too heavy to hold; he felt the weight of the last few months settling down on his shoulders and he was afraid he�d stop breathing. He didn�t want Charlie to go. Why, he didn�t know. Charlie often went off for weekends and returned bright and more cheerful than he�d been when he left. Elijah was glad of this. It seemed Elijah alone could no longer make Charlie happy. Elijah didn�t take it personally; he knew it was to do with the drugs.

�I�ve gotta see Liam,� Charlie replied quietly, leaning his head toward Elijah. �This could be our chance to really make it big.� His eyes were shining brightly; Elijah felt his heart tug, but ignored it.

�Are you sure he�ll say yes?� Elijah asked cautiously. Charlie had spoken to Liam about three times since Liam moved to Australia. Each conversation had been clipped, cold and short. �He�s got a life now; a daughter.�

Charlie sat back in his seat, looking annoyed. �This is the life he�s always wanted. Touring all over the bloody place, living out of a suitcase. He�ll say yes. Driveshaft was�is�too important to him.�

Elijah nodded, but he wasn�t convinced. The last thing he wanted was for Charlie to be angry at him before he left.

�Let�s get out of here,� Charlie said, jutting his chin toward the exit. Elijah was all too pleased to oblige.

Once back at the dark and quiet apartment, Charlie kicked his sneakers off and started throwing things into a bag, muttering to himself as he did so. Elijah sat quietly on the sofa and flicked on the television.

A suitcase was placed next to Charlie�s guitar case a half hour later. Charlie plopped down on the sofa beside Elijah.

�I love you, Elijah; you know that.� This was said so out of the blue and so sincerely that Elijah wanted to both cry and throw his arms around Charlie�s neck, or simply fall off the couch in shock.

He settled for a strangled, �I love you too.�

Charlie kissed his temple, smoothing his hair back off his forehead. �I�ll miss you.�

Elijah smiled wider than he had in days. �I�ll miss you too. It�ll be weird here without you.�

�Yeah,� Charlie laughed. �No one to scream at you �get out of the bloody bathroom!��

�I like having you here,� Elijah said forcefully, turning to Charlie.

Charlie leaned his head back, his lips curved into a huge smile. �I know.�