"What else am I supposed to think?" Charlie asked. "You don't want to get married, and you're out shagging anyone you can find, it looks like you're the one ending things." It didn't make sense, Callum said he would have done anything to make this work and yet his actions said the opposite. "I'm not asking you to ruin your reputation, I wouldn't ask you to do that, not for me - I just... I need you here, I need this to work."
He didn't understand why they couldn't be more, what had changed so much from Hogwarts to here that things had shifted so drastically. He couldn't make sense of it, not of the changes or of Callum insisting he had to leave. "You can't leave, Callum." Charlie said, moving now, maybe it was a mistake, but he couldn't just stand there and watch Callum trying to say what he needed to, he needed to touch him again - it had been too long.
He reached a hand out and curled his fingers against the back of Callum's neck. There was more he wanted, but he settled himself for this for the moment. "I love you, and I need you to stay."