"Too long," Charlie agreed nodding. "This isn't easy, my brother says anything worth anything isn't easy, but he's an anal prat so there's not telling if that's the truth or not, he always did like making things harder on himself than necessary."
Charlie turned his hand under Callum's to feel his palm against his own for a moment, he missed touching him - something he always realized whenever he got the chance to do it again. "You don't have to say anything, I just need you to know that I want this." He told him. As much as Charlie wanted the kind of romantic response to all of this that wasn't really what either of them were. "I'm not asking you all of this because I'm miserable, though if you agreed it'd probably do wonders for my mood these days, I want to marry you because I love you, no other reason than that." He told him. "We have time to fix this, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it whole again."
"Hey," Charlie said quietly when Callum closed his eyes. "Don't say that, you have friends, and yes, this isn't the league, and working as a keeper is hardly the glamorous job that playing for the league is, but you're not alone."