Chapter Text
Oops.
Nick hadn’t meant to say that.
He hadn’t meant to drop that boyfriend bomb on Charlie, especially not in front of his mom.
Hell, he’d told Sam off for referring to Charlie as his boyfriend, and that was in French.
A language that Charlie didn’t even understand.
If he’d been worried about scaring Charlie off before he supposed that ship had sailed. Was there anything less casual than being introduced to a mum as the boyfriend when the topic had never even come up before?
But fuck had it felt good to say.
Well, too late now.
Nick was saved from immediate embarrassment as Sarah plowed ahead, crouching on the floor next to Nellie’s bed so she could stroke her dog's ears while continuing to speak to Charlie.
Charlie.
Nick’s boyfriend.
Charlie was Nick’s boyfriend, but the question remained: was Nick Charlie’s?
He had his eyes trained on Nellie, afraid to look into Charlie’s eyes when he didn’t know what he would see there.
Would it be anger?
Disgust?
Confusion?
Fear?
Nick wasn’t sure he’d survive if he looked up and saw any of those emotions on Charlie’s face.
Maybe Nick could play it off as nothing.
Just a 'Yeah, I introduced you to my mom as my boyfriend just to keep things simple, you know? Her generation doesn’t understand the whole just'seeing each other’ thing’.
Yeah, ok.
That could work.
Only it would be a big fat lie.
A total complete and utter lie because the truth was that Nick wasn’t 'just seeing Charlie’. He was falling for him. He had fallen for him. He was very close to accidentally using the ‘L’ word the way he had let the ‘B’ one slip out.
Ugh. What had Nick done?
He couldn’t avoid Charlie’s eyes any longer.
Nick just hoped that whatever he saw written on Charlie’s face wouldn’t be enough to break his heart.
Charlie was smiling as he chatted with Sarah, both of them lavishing Nellie with attention.
Nick didn’t see any tension on his face. His smile didn’t look forced, and his happiness didn’t seem fake. Charlie seemed at ease. He almost looked giddy.
“Nicky, would you be dear and put the kettle on? I’m still dead on my feet, I’m afraid.”
“Course. Char, tea?"
Charlie looked up at the question, meeting Nick’s eyes for the first time since the b-word bomb.
Charlie’s smile was radiant.
“Please”
“As lovely as dear Nellie’s bed is, shall we take this conversation to the sofa? I’ve got so many questions for you, Charlie.”
"Muuuum,” Nick whined from in the kitchen, where he had just flipped the kettle on.
“What?” Sarah responded with a false innocence as she got to her feet along with Charlie. Nellie remained in her bed, snoozing now that there was no one around to pet her.
“Please don’t be embarrassing." It was a fruitless request. Sarah was bound to say something that Nick would find mortifying but that she thought was perfectly reasonable conversation.
“Oh Nicky, I’m your mum; I would never. I just want to get to know Charlie better, is all. There are some people who would say it’s my job as your mother to embarrass you in front of your boyfriend, you know.”
Opp. There was that word again.
That brought the use of the word boyfriend up to two in so many minutes.
Nick glanced over at Charlie, nervous that that was the straw that might have broken the camel's back, but Charlie still looked unfazed.
“Just no baby pictures, please.”
“Oh no, I want to see the baby pictures,” Charlie pipped in.
“I won’t bring out the album, but if Charlie happens to notice the photos on the mantel... I mean, there’s no stopping that.”
Sarah and Charlie went off into the front room, both holding back giggles with Henry on their heels.
Nick let out a little huff as he went back to fixing their tea.
Well. That had just happened.
Charlie and Sarah had met for the first time.
Nick had called Charlie his boyfriend.
Sarah had called Charlie Nick’s boyfriend.
The house hadn’t burst into flames.
So far, a pretty good day.
………
Charlie’s heart hadn’t resumed its normal rhythm yet.
Ever since he’d heard the word ‘boyfriend’ leave Nick’s mouth in reference to him, Charlie’s heart had been pounding against his ribcage. It felt like any second it might just burst out of his chest and take off into the stratosphere.
Nick had called him his boyfriend.
Nick had called him Charlie Spring, his boyfriend.
Wow.
Wow.
Ok wow.
That had felt ridiculously good to hear.
Briefly, Charlie kicked himself that he hadn't clarified their relationship before now. He could have been feeling this sort of elation for weeks!
Or…
Fuck. There was always and or, or sometimes a but, that followed every happy occasion in Charlie’s life.
A prickling voice in his head muttered venom in his ear, poisoning the ground of the garden that Charlie had been planting with the positive seeds in his life.
Or what if Nick just introduced him to his mum that way because it was easier than explaining their strange ‘together’ but not like an ‘officially together’ relationship?
But it could have been an accident! Nick could have just had a slip of the tongue and said boyfriend when he only meant to say, friend.
Or what if Nick didn’t think that that word was a big deal? What if he tossed it out casually whenever he was hooking up with someone?
Before Charlie could spiral too hard into the salted dirt of his mind, he was distracted by Sarah, ushering him to his feet and leading him into the front room where Nick would deliver them their tea.
Charlie did feel a little foolish for how nervous he’d been to meet Nick’s mom.
Sarah really was lovely.
He knew he had a big fat I told you so coming from Nick at some point.
Sarah was warm, welcoming, and funny.
She asked questions without being probing or seeming like they were an obligation.
Her humour was teasing without being cruel, and every word she spoke felt so genuine.
It was such a stark difference to how Jane was around new people.
His mother was stiff and awkward, standoffish and unapproachable. Charlie knew logically that his mother was high-strung from her anxiety and didn’t mean to come off as cold or cruel. But never the less, she often did.
Nick had brought them their teas, handing out the cups before sliding onto the sofa next to Charlie, slinging his arm casually over Charlie’s shoulders.
Instinctually Charlie leaned into Nick’s side, the cup of tea warming his hands, but Nick’s body pressed against the side of his, providing the rest of his warmth.
Sarah watched them over her teacup, a fond expression on her face as she watched her son curl up with his partner.
“I’m afraid I'm still rather beat from last night. Would you think it would be terribly rude if I left you to your own devices so I could go take a nap?”
“Course Mum! I’m tired just looking at you. Sarah scooped up all their empty mugs.
“Charlie, I'm sorry to be such a lame host. We’ll chat more over dinner tonight before the craziness begins tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about me; please go to sleep. I’ve got Nick to keep me entertained.”
Oh. Charlie hadn’t meant for that to have such a sexual undertone.
Or maybe it only sounded that way to him because he was desperate to get Nick’s clothes off.
Hearing Nick call him his boyfriend had done something for Charlie.
Even if Nick was about to retract the sentiment, Charlie wanted to ride the wave of euphoria while it was still alive.
Sarah didn’t seem to think anything of it, as she bid them farewell before climbing the stairs up to her bedroom.
“Don’t suppose I could interest you in a nap as well?” Nick squeezed Charlie’s side, and the soft press against his flesh drove through him like a bullet.
“We literally just got up,” Charlie teased, undermining his point by leaning closer to Nick.
“You can’t possibly be tired.”
“I’m not,” Nick admitted, his face gravitating closer to Charlie’s.
They were only a breath apart, their lips almost grazing.
The sound of Sarah's bedroom door closing upstairs startled them both.
“We could always go down to the basement and watch a movie. It’s very cozy down there.”
Charlie agreed almost embarrassingly eagerly.
“Hmm. Right. Let’s go"
Nick grinned at him, getting up from the sofa and pulling Charlie with him. He kept Charlie’s hand clasped in his and led him back toward the kitchen and then down the basement stairs.
“Laundry room is to the left there, half bath right here, and then this is the rec room.”
The end of the hallway opened up into a large room, with an electric fireplace on one wall and a massive TV mounted above it.
A squashy black leather sectional faced the TV, a basket of blankets on the side.
Nick flipped the switch that set the fire roaring.
With no natural light in the room, the fireplace set the entire place in a soft orange glow.
“You’re right. Every cozy,” Charlie noted as Nick settled on the sectional, a big blanket shaken out across him. Nick opened his arms, beaconing Charlie to join him.
Charlie went more than willingly.
He crawled into Nick’s lap, letting himself be wrapped up in both the blanket and the strength of Nick’s arms.
Nick clicked on the TV and started a movie at random.
Pressing his nose into the side of Nick’s neck, Charlie took in a gentle breath.
He felt Nick’s arms tense around him, bringing him impossibly closer.
Charlie hummed in contentment, closing his eyes, not caring about whatever Nick had just put on the TV.
“Did you want another cup of tea, coffee, or anything?”
Charlie shook his head, pulling the blanket more snuggly around the two of them.
“Breakfast or-"
"Shh,” Charlie wanted to hold onto the contentment he felt. He wasn’t ready for the day to continue, for time to press forward. He didn’t want to have the conversation that was now completely unavoidable.
Nick had used the word boyfriend in reference to him. Charlie Spring.
Now that those syllables had hit the air, there was no way that Charlie could leave it unacknowledged.
But for a few more minutes Charlie was going to enjoy a dark, warm room, wrapped in the arms of the one boy who had ever really held his heart.
That was an inescapable fact now.
The second that that word had left Nick’s lips, Charlie had known once and for all that he was totally and completely gone for Nick.
The way he felt now, he’d never even come close to feeling when he’d been in a relationship with Ben.
Charlie had been with Ben quadruple if not more the amount of time that he’d even known Nick.
Yet his feelings bloomed so much brighter and stronger for Nick than they ever had for his old flame back in London.
Was that the benefit of hindsight talking?
It wasn’t as if Charlie could really look back at what he had with Ben and be objective. Not now that he knew that Ben had lied to him the entire time that they’d been together. Not when he now knew that Ben left him alone every night because he didn’t want to stay with him, not because he couldn’t.
Still, even without the haze of deception clouding his memories, this thing with Nick was different.
Charlie and Ben didn’t have the same connection that he had with Nick.
He and Ben had never had the same ease, the same comfort when they were together.
Charlie hadn’t craved Ben’s company when he wasn’t around.
Ben hadn’t even asked if Charlie wanted to ‘go on a break’ while he was in the States; he’d just decided. Charlie hadn’t even fought him on it. He’d just accepted it.
Would Charlie fight for Nick if it came down to it?
If Nick decided that come the end of the school year, that was it for them, would Charlie try to change his mind?
“You’re thinking awfully hard there,” Nick teased, poking one of Charlie’s dimples.
"Sorry"
“Ah ah, no s word, Char.”
"Whatever"
There was a beat of silence where the only sound in the room was the hum of the electric fireplace and the buzz of the TV.
“Is it—is it what I said?”
Charlie stiffened.
This was it, wasn’t it?
This was the moment when they’d put all their cards on the table.
Charlie didn’t know if he was ready.
He wanted to hold on to this contentment just a little while longer.
But nothing good could last forever.
Finally, Charlie got the words out.
“You called me your boyfriend.”
He could hear Nick’s breath hitch.
“Yeah. I did.”
Charlie’s breath rushed out of his chest in turn, forcing himself to continue.
“Do you, do you think of me as your boyfriend?”
When Nick didn’t respond the split second that Charlie got the words out, he pushed forward.
“It’s ok if you don’t. Or if you said it by accident or just for your mum or whatever, I just, um, I guess I've been wondering what we are, and I've kind of been meaning to ask, but I keep chickening out because I've been so happy and I don’t want to ruin it and-”
Charlie’s spiral was cut off by Nick leaning forward and melding their lips together. Charlie sighed into the kiss, his body reacting naturally as one hand snaked up into Nick’s hair and the other grabbed at the side of his sweatshirt.
"Sorry,” Nick murmured, their lips still connected.
“I couldn’t think of another way to shut you up.”
Charlie pulled back a bit, gazing into Nick’s eyes and trying to gauge what was happening in his mind.
“Do you think of me as your boyfriend?” Nick brushed his thumb across Charlie’s cheek.
"I asked first," Charlie countered, that teasing ease coming back to him. Nick shook his head at Charlie’s bratishness; that affectionate smile that Charlie loved so much stretched across his face.
“Of course I do. Fuck. Char, I just—I like you so much.”
“You do?”
Nick let out a huff.
“Was that not like completely obvious?”
Charlie wanted to blame his flush on the heat of the fire and Nick’s body intertwined with his, but he knew that wasn’t the truth of the matter.
“I don’t know. Maybe?"
Nick grinned at him, diving forward again and bringing their lips back together in a heated kiss.
Charlie fell backwards onto the sofa, his back hitting the soft leather as Nick’s body came to rest over his, Nick’s knee sliding between his legs, his hands moving over his body, one in his hair and the other slipping under his jumper, his palm warm on the caress of Charlie’s lower back.
Nick was everywhere. His lips on Chalries, his hands on his skin, his body pressed against him. He was all that Charlie could smell, all he could feel, all he could hear.
It was all Charlie had ever wanted, all he’d ever need.
Charlie would be content, thrilled even to live out the rest of his days in a warm, dark basement in rural Vermont, surrounded by everything that was Nick Nelson.
He let out a small giggle of disbelief that reverberated against Nick’s lips.
“What’s so funny?” Nick questioned, moving his hand further up Charlie’s side, his fingers grazing his ribs, as his lips moved down Charlie’s neck.
“I just never thought that this would happen to me.”
“Char” Nick’s lips tingled against the skin of his throat. “Me either.”.
Charlie was completely lost to all that was Nick Nelson. He was surrounded by him, enveloped by him. Consumed. He never wanted to come back from it.
“Just to be clear, I am your boyfriend, right?”
Charlie let a laugh escape him, his lungs not fully able to expand from Nick’s weight on top of him.
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re my boyfriend, and I'm your boyfriend.”
Nick beamed.
“I like that. A lot. Sort of an embarrassing amount, actually.”
“Jesus that pair of us. If I were anyone else, we’d make me sick to my stomach.”
Nick shook his head, letting out a chuckle before leaning back down to resume kissing his boyfriend.
“How soundproof is this basement?” Charlie asked, gasping quietly as Nick rolled his hips into him.
“Fairly, but we’ve got the whole main floor between us and Mum, so...”
"So…"
Charlie hauled Nick’s shirt up over his head, his jaw slacking slightly at the sight it revealed. No matter how many times he saw Nick without a shirt, it still caused awe.
“Nick, you are so-”
"shh"
“Let me compliment my boyfriend!”
God Charlie liked the way that word tasted on his tongue.
“You can compliment me later, right now,” Nick knocked the breath out of Charlie when he rolled his hips once again.
“Is about you”
"Fuck,” Charlie mewled, letting his hand drop back to the seat of the sofa.
“Nick”
“Char?” he teased softly, nipping at his lower lip.
“Something wrong?”
Charlie still had a thousand questions swirling around in his head, a million tiny little doubts that he needed to address. For now, he decided to ignore all that and just be where he was.
In a warm, dark room, illuminated by a fire, with Nick Nelson wrapped around him.
Nick Nelson. His boyfriend.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing".
Charlie wasn’t thinking about April or end dates or what their future looked like.
He was only thinking about Nick.
He and Nick together, and just how good that felt.
The rest could wait.