So love me and touch me
Or you can just say nothin’
I’ll read your mind, yeah I’m so high
Lost in your eyes when we’re fuckin’

I don’t usually have full playlists for my books, but I do tend to have one or two songs that I associate with each project. This is one that I listened to while working on Fairytale and First Aid, and it makes me think of Charis and Mouse, specifically.

It’s a sweet, sexy song, and I think they have a sweet, sexy relationship. I have tender feelings about them. Something I’d always wanted to explore a little more is that Charis is ace-coded, and Mouse is aro-coded.

Maybe i want to get a little bit into spoilers, so spoilers below the cut:

Musings About Charis and Mouse’s Relationship

When I first started writing Fairytale, actually, I intended for Charis to end up with Soohyun. idk if that comes across or not. Soohyun was literally designed to be perfect for Charis—the caring, charismatic leader.

But I always like when my characters run away from me, and Charis was no exception. He gravitated toward Mouse, and in retrospect, that’s not so surprising. I think Mouse has also always been there for him, but more importantly for Charis… Mouse doesn’t need anything from him. Mouse is good on his own.

I think there are some parallels to Nice from Fragile Tender, actually, although Charis and Nice seem to exist on polar opposite sides of the sexual spectrum. In the end, they both end up with the person who’s better for them—the person who just lets them be, without pinning the weight of their hopes and expectations onto them.