Weird as it was, Royce was no stranger to intimacy. Not on the same level as one would have a boyfriend or a girlfriend but one would have with, say, their best friend. Or a sibling they had taken care of since they were little. He had kissed Rosemary plenty of times on the head. It was something he could do that would relay comfort when his words would fail him. And he had hugged Rosemary dozens upon dozens upon hundreds of times. She was his family as he was her's, A hug and a kiss for Rosemary was second nature but it was completely different from a hug and a kiss for Charlie.
That hug and kiss had been on a level far above mere friendship. It was fathoms (yeah, he knew what the hell a fathom was, check out his brain smarts) deeper than anything he had ever felt for anyone. Period. It was a dangerous line to cross, him being this intimate and close with a human but that was a line worth the crossing.
He kept a tight squeeze on her hand all the way back up the stairs. It wasn't going to be any fun thing pretending to get along with this fang but if he wanted this relationship to work as bad as he knew he did, he was going to have to start making some sacrifices. His pride was going to hate him for eternity but better his pride than Charlie.
When he reached the front door that would lead back into her tiny apartment and back into the gaze of that bloodsucker, Royce had to take a moment before entering to compose himself. His body tensed up and then slowly, but surely, began to relax. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his neck. Well, better get this over with. Just as he was about to go in, he felt Charlie jump behind him and turned his head to her. Thankfully before he could start worrying that someone had come up behind them, her lips on his put away all thoughts from his head.
Literally. He couldn't think for a second there. All that was going through his brain was lips. Soft, kissable lips that were gone before he could enjoy them. He stood there, blinking several times before he finally came to his senses. Clearing his throat, he looked away before she could see the blush on his face. "Oh, thanks." Damnit. How was he supposed to keep his gears in place when she jumped him like that?
He had been hanging around girls for too long because now he had to hold back a fit of giggles. Damnit.
Back inside, he went straight to the couch where the vampire was sitting. Part of Royce had hoped that thing would have taken off but nope, it was still there. Time to lay down the law. As ... nicely as possible. "Alright, so, you-" he caught a look from Charlie and was quick to correct himself. "Um, Noah. It's Noah, right? Alright, cool. I'm Royce." He used his other hand that wasn't still holding on to Charlie's to place on his chest, then flicked it over to Charlie. "Charlie, you already know." A moment for the vampire to process everything so far, which wasn't much. "I like her a lot. And she likes you apparently. So ... we're going to hang out. Nicely." I'm really telling you that if you so much as a show a tooth off, I'm gonna NICELY kick you out.
Royce turned back to Charlie, hoping he hadn't said anything wrong again. "Um, what's for dinner then?"