Five's a Crowd | Stucky / Marvel Polyamorous LGBT Romance

Chapter 2: Charlie

TW: Panic attack, coronavirus and related pandemic stress, anxiety, and fear.

"I know, kitten. I know the news is crazy... believe me, I know, and in less than an hour we're going to be one of those companies making the same announcement...I know...No, I don't know what's going to happen either...Okay...okay let me know if you hear from the others. I can't keep track of the group chat right now. I'm sorry...okay, yes I'll probably be home late but we'll speak more then...I love you too, Nicholas. More than I have time to say right now... Everything's going to be okay."

Charlie quickly hung up his phone and dropped it onto his desk as he grabbed a stack of papers and a mess of files. As a last snatch at sanity, he managed to slide his pinky into the handle of his coffee mug as he sped out of his office. People approached him in the halls as he walked at a breakneck pace to the conference room.

The air was charged in the office. People were anxious and scared, but there was also another current passing through the halls. It was almost like the feeling Charlie had always had in grade school during a tornado drill or when they were released from school early because of impending snow. It was a sense of lawlessness and the unknown.

That morning, three more mega corporations had announced they were going fully remote due to "the pandemic." The CDC had declared the COVID-19 virus a pandemic the week before and they had started initiating the emergency protocols Charlie had been working night and day on for weeks. The protocols didn't include this though. This was unprecedented for the United States, a country that worshiped the 9-5, with its in-office surveillance based management.

His company encouraged travel and getting out into the community to market, but even they didn't have any staff working fully remote. At most, some staff worked a day or two from home, but never five days a week. There was no standard for this. They were just going to have to figure it out as they went.

He stormed into the conference room, causing everyone in it to fall silent. Usually he resented the forced deference of office culture, and encouraged his employees to be frank with him, not relying on platitudes and unearned respect. Today, though, he almost appreciated it.

They only had the rest of today to finalize, announce, and orchestrate the transition of their entire workforce to fully remote work. He and his team were in charge of operations for all of the offices across the country that would be rolling out this protocol today. They had memos to draft, briefings to give, and coffee to chug. There was no time to waste on idle chatter, but for just a moment Charlie flashed back to a conversation he had had with Bucky, what felt like years ago but was, in reality, only several months before.

Charlie had been told from a young age that he was going to be successful, so he had never really believed there was any other potential for his life. He was always going to become a doctor, a lawyer, or a very successful businessman. His father had been a powerful industry man back in India. He brought the company to the US before Charlie was born, and it thrived here too. Charlie had spent his childhood attending large philanthropic events, charity balls, and galas. He had seen his father be incredibly harsh to clients and sometimes he brought that same harshness home. He had instilled in Charlie the need to always strive for more at whatever the cost.

Charlie had completed college in just two years and started in an industry that had nothing to do with his father's company, wanting to forge his own path. Charlie hadn't just forged, he had blazed a path of ruthless social climbing, ascending to a powerful role by age 22. He became a household name at his large corporation, and soon he was being flown out to meet with the corporate bigwigs.

Charlie had a keen eye for acquisition and mergers, and that was what finally tipped him into the big leagues. That was how he ended up leading the purchase and merger between his company and Nicky's company over five years earlier. It had been brutal and he was glad Nicky had gotten out when he did, because Charlie had been the one to make the final call to liquidate his entire former department, costing dozens of people their jobs.