Charlies face lit up quite pleasantly at the sight of the layers of clothes that the man held out to him in offering. He gladly took them and shook his head quietly at the others remark, “No… no this is beyond perfect, thank you so much,” he murmured, pulling on the t-shirt first and then the long-sleeved shirt over it. “I can’t tell you the last time I’ve worn something that was new,” he commented softly, running his hands over his torso slowly to feel the fabric beneath his fingers. The clothes that Val had offered him were, in truth, nowhere near new, but they were of considerably better quality than all of the other clothes he owned, and they were completely clean which was the thing that really made them feel exceptional to him. Seeing as the shirts that the other had offered were more or less dresses on Charlie, he didn’t feel self-conscious about kicking off the sweats her wore and tugging on the pair that he’d been given. They were also quite massive, but he didn’t particularly care. He tugged them up and pulled the drawstring tight, tying them off easily before nodding contentedly whilst stooping down to gather up all of the things he’d deposited onto the ground whilst he was changing.<br/><br/>He expected that to be the end of things, the man had been generous enough, and so he opened his mouth to that him once more as he stood, when he noticed him sifting through his bags once again. He furrowed his brow curiously as he watched, and he almost immediately began salivating as he saw what he had to offer. Food, and water, the two things he really needed most at the moment. He shook his head vigorously as the man handed them over whilst offering a half apology, and he grabbed the bundle and held it close to his chest. “No, no this is amazing. I’ve not eaten in three days, anything is welcome at this point,” he said eagerly, glancing around almost anxiously as though to make sure there was nobody around that would wrench this meal from him. Charlie than turned back to Valentin, a warm smile taking over his features. “I cannot thank you enough, Sir, you’ve certainly saved my ass tonight,” he said softly, nodding his head politely to the other. “Oh… I don’t believe I ever got your name, though? Mine is Charlie, in-case you were curious,” he commented, tipping his head to the side ever so slightly as he stared up at the other male. He nodded slowly when he received his name, finishing the entire interaction with a soft, “Well thank you again, I truly appreciate all of this,” and then he slowly turned and moved on back to his spot without any more words to his savior. He walked with a slight limp over to his corner and he settled in for the night, not wasting any time in beginning to nibble at the energy bars and sip at a water bottle as he huddled down.<br/><br/>The next few months were more or less uneventful, though as the weather grew colder Charlie’s struggle clearly increased. The man from Halloween, Valentin, slowly became a frequent character in Charlie’s life. He saw the man at least once a week, and more often than not he brought him things to help him remain afloat as he struggled; occasionally he’d be gifted a few dollars, but more often than not it was simply things he needed to survive. Small bits of food, water, and even a rather nice hooded sweatshirt once the days began to drastically shorten and a bitter cold gripped the city. He certainly became a sort of crutch to Charlie in the winter months, and the young man even began to look forward to his company, which wasn’t something he’d ever felt before. They never shared more than a few brief words, and yet there was something about Valentin’s presence that comforted him, and dare he say made him quite happy. As the winter months wore on, however, things started to go wrong for Charlie bit by bit. The city started coming by and questioning him, though he had full rights to stay here, apparently in the recent months there had been more complaints about him than usual, and they were going to have to look into relocating him. Charlie wasn’t sure how exactly they planned to do that, but after a handful of visits they stopped bothering him so he figured that the issue had been dropped.<br/><br/>Oh how wrong the poor boy had been.<br/><br/>The conditions were horrifically cold in that midnight hour of January the fifteenth, and anybody with their wits about them was either inside a heated building, or at least attempting to take cover from the bitter temperatures. But one soul was out, stumbling along eleventh street whilst being buffeted about by the shockingly strong winds that whipped down the lanes. Charlie struggled to breathe as he moved along at a slow pace, the frigid air making his lungs ache terribly with each intake of breath. The storm had taken him by surprise, as it did anybody who didn't have access to the daily weather report, or who simply hadn't bothered to tune in to the conversation around them closely enough.<br/><br/>As he stumbled along towards the spot where his belongings were settled, he began to notice his body was stiffening considerably. He was shaking uncontrollably as he body attempted to warm itself even just the slightest bit, his body temperature approaching the point of being dangerously low. He moved up to the familiar little corner of his, and he was shocked to find that this place he had marked as his own over the past couple of years was barren. Every single possession he’d ever owned, aside from the clothes presently upon his back, had been settled down here against the wall, perfectly well organized and packed into as tight a space as possible. He didn’t think that the city, or the companies at either side of him, would ever actually back up their words with action when they’d threatened to “relocate” him, especially not in the dead of winter.<br/><br/>But now the boy was faced with the reality of the situation. He gawked at the empty space and pondered what he could possibly do to make it better; somehow, he wasn’t able to come up with anything. He lifted his eyes and looked around slowly, struggling to remain fully upright as his frail body was buffeted by the wind. Not a soul was to be seen anywhere around him, and he let out a low groan of submission, slowly staggering forwards and collapsing into his little corner. In this position he was at least partially shielded from the wind, and he curled in on himself to try and minimize the amount of the gusts he would have to take full on. He could attempt to push forward, to try and find a more sheltered area somewhere along the way, but he simply didn’t have the strength to do so.<br/><br/>His body continued to shiver violently as he hugged himself tightly and held his eyes closed. Beneath the three reasonably heavy layers he wore (all of which had been given to him by Val) his skin was burning, though the parts of it that were exposed were rapidly growing numb. His hands were turning a pale, bluish color along with his face and any other bits of flesh that were bared to the icy winds. He began murmuring to himself, a prayer of sorts, as he sat there against the brick wall, trying his best to keep himself as warm as possible in the current predicament. He sat like this for hours constantly murmuring to himself in a desperate attempt to stay awake, as he was fully aware that if he fell asleep he may never wake up due to the very high potential for hypothermia in the current conditions. It was three AM now, and the any hopes of making it through the remainder of the night were beginning to wane. The storm hadn’t settled at all, in fact, it had only gotten worse with snow now falling at a rapid pace and covering up the streets and everything on and around them, including the little homeless boy settled against the cold stone buildings.<br/><br/>Just then he could have sworn he heard approaching footsteps, but no, that couldn’t have been so, nobody would have been out at this time of night in this sort of weather, would they? He lifted his eyes upwards slowly, struggling quite a bit as his muscles were locked up considerably at this point. As he did so, the deceivingly soft white powder that had settled over him was dispersed and he blinked slowly against the harsh cold his eyes were again exposed to. He was beyond surprised, and beyond thrilled to see a figure approaching him through the blistering cold. He didn’t even care who it was, he didn’t care if they had good intentions or bad, he only cared about the fact that whoever it was could possibly take him from this horrific cold. “E-E-Excuse me? Sir?” he called out in as strong a voice as he could muster, which was still incredibly soft and weak. He didn’t know, of course, that the male figure that approached was somebody he’d grown to know reasonably well, somebody who had saved him from predicaments in the past. Valentin.