Chapter Text
Charlie could hear Nick’s footsteps above him as the other boy puttered around the kitchen. They’d been in the basement for an hour or so, lazily enjoying each other's company and rutting against each other, exchanging hot breaths between each other as their mouths met and retreated with soft moans and gentle panting.
At some point Charlie’s stomach must have grumbled, which had spurred Nick’s memory that they hadn’t actually gotten around to having breakfast when Sarah had arrived.
“I keep forgetting to feed you. I’m the world's worst boyfriend,” Nick grumbled, starting to get up from the sofa. Charlie latched his arms around Nick’s middle and hauled him back.
“I’d like to rebuke that statement,” Charlie insisted, keeping his arms locked around Nick’s middle and pressing hot kisses to the skin behind Nick’s ear.
"Char,” Nick warned as Charlie ran his nose down the column of Nick’s neck and nuzzled gently into the skin.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Charlie faked innocence, subtly pressing his hips forward, brushing against Nick’s back.
"Charlie,” Nick groaned, extracting Charlie’s arms from around him and finally getting to his feet.
Jutting out his lower lip in an exaggerated pout, Charlie pulled the blanket around him, glaring up at Nick, who was shaking his head at him with a stupidly fond expression.
“Don’t give me that look. I’m going to get us food. Not going to war.”
Charlie let out a huff.
“I’m going to remember this the next time you try to get me to skip class in the morning to stay in bed with you,” Charlie called out in warning as Nick headed back in the direction of the staircase.
Listening to Nick’s soft footsteps, Charlie closed his eyes and leaned back into the soft leather of the sectional.
Fuck Charlie felt so fucking happy.
It was sort of unnatural how happy he felt.
Had he ever felt like this before?
Could it last?
Maybe Charlie was living in the afterglow of Nick and him confirming their relationship.
Confirming that that was what it was, a relationship.
They were boyfriends.
They weren’t ‘talking’ or ' seeing each other’ or ‘hanging out'; they were in a relationship.
They were boyfriends.
BOYFRIENDS.
This was only the second boyfriend that Charlie had ever had in his life.
If Charlie made a van diagram of his relationship with Nick and his relationship with Ben, the circles would only overlap with the label ‘boyfriend’.
Nothing about the way that he had been with Ben and the way he was with Nick felt the same.
Now that Charlie could look back at his time with Ben with the benefit of hindsight, he realized just what the reality of their relationship had been.
He’d had to fight for Ben’s attention, for his time and his affection.
He’d had to prove himself worthy of those things, and most of the time he came up short of Ben’s expectations.
How many condescending comments had Charlie written off as sweet?
How many put-downs had Charlie twisted to look like Ben looking out for him?
How many times had Charlie woken up alone or slunk out of bed because his'snoring’ was too much for Ben to handle?
What else had Ben lied to him about?
Charlie didn’t even want to know.
He didn’t care.
Suddenly he understood why all his friends would grimace when Charlie brought up Ben’s name. He understood why his sister had been so against him.
He finally saw what everyone else did. What he never had before.
He saw the truth.
But he didn’t care about Ben anymore.
It didn’t hurt to think about him. Not really.
In a way, Charlie was grateful that Ben had been so intent on them taking a break while Charlie went away to Essex. If he hadn’t, Charlie would have gone away to America with the weight of a long-distance boyfriend on his shoulder.
Ben would no doubt cheat on him, and Charlie might have missed out on his chance to be with Nick.
Maybe they would have just been friends, and Charlie would have torn himself up inside over what a horrible person he was for falling for Nick when he had Ben back home.
Because boyfriend or not, Charlie was sure he would have fallen for Nick anyway.
It felt inevitable.
There was no way that Charlie could know Nick and not fall in love with him.
Woop.
There was that word.
Love.
Fuck.
He was in love.
He was in fucking love with Nick Nelson.
He was in fucking love with his boyfriend, Nick Nelson.
Christ.
This is not what Charlie had come to Vermont expecting to find.
But there it was.
Love.
Right there waiting for him.
Instead of spiralling about it being too soon or worrying that Nick didn’t feel the same, Charlie decided he was going to give himself a day to enjoy it.
He was going to enjoy being in love with his boyfriend, even if said boyfriend didn’t know it.
Charlie wasn’t going to be able to hide it long.
It wasn’t something that he could put off the way he had with the conversation about defining their relationship.
It was bound to slip out.
He’d end up saying it by accident.
He’d end up saying it without thinking when they were saying goodbye on the phone or at the door.
He’d end up getting caught up in the moment when they were in bed together, and instead of saying ‘I love the way you feel inside me’ he would say ‘I love you. ”.
That wouldn’t be awkward at all.
"Ok, I’ve got toast, coffee, juice, some fruit; I can make eggs or bacon or something later, but I don’t think I've got the mental capacity to operate a stove right now.”
Charlie startled slightly.
He’d been so caught up thinking about being in love with Nick that he hadn’t even noticed the actual guy walking back into the room.
As soon as Nick set the tray down and sat back down on the sofa, Charlie threw the blanket off him and crawled into Nick’s lap, squeezing his thighs against Nick’s hips and leaning in to kiss him softly.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that? Something got you distracted?” Charlie made his voice as sweet as possible as he murmured against Nick’s lips before leaning forward to deepen their kiss, his tongue pressing out to meet Nick’s.
Nick moaned slightly as his hands came up to Charlie’s side, his hands sliding up Charlie’s hips and then under the heam of his sweatshirt, coming to rest at the base of his hips.
Charlie’s breathing hitched slightly as he felt Nick’s fingers press against his hip bones.
Fuck, he loved this.
He loved this moment.
He loved this man.
He loved—Charlie couldn’t complete the thought because he found himself falling sideways as Nick twisted and sent them both diving flat onto the sofa, Charlie’s back landing on the cushions and Nick’s on top of him.
“I see what you’re doing,” he accused, letting his lips ghost away from Charlie’s lips and down his neck.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?" Charlie’s eyes had drifted closed, and he wouldn’t be shocked if his body started levitating.
“You’re trying to seduce me to put off eating breakfast.”
Charlie giggled, his eyes still closed.
“I don’t care about eating breakfast. I would like to finish what we started before your mum gets up from her nap, though.”
Nick scoffed.
“She won’t be able to hear us if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Charlie shoved it against Nick’s shoulder.
“We have to go back upstairs once your mum is up. It would be rude to hide out down here.”
Charlie reached up and moved the fringe that had fallen into Nick’s eyes.
“You came here to see her, not to get off with me all day. We can do that at school.”
"Ugh, but getting off together is so fun." Nick groaned, dropping his face into the crook of Charlie’s neck.
“There there,” Charlie teased, stroking the back of Nick’s head.
“It’ll be ok. You can survive four days.”
Nick made a sound of discontent, lifting up his head so he could look at Charlie’s face.
“Four days?"
Charlie flushed a shade of crimson.
“I mean, yesterday was one thing, but now that your mum is home, isn’t she going to be like, weird about me staying in your room? I figured we’d be digging out the sleeping bag for me to kip on the floor or something.”
Nick’s look of confusion vanished as he fixed Charlie with a grin.
“Char, do you really think my mom cares if you sleep in my bed or not? It’s not like she doesn’t already assume that we’re having sex.”
Charlie blanched.
“And she’s just like, ok with that?”
“Yes! I mean, she’s a doctor; fuck, I think she might have even been the one to write my first girlfriend a prescription for birth control. Not that we were together at the time.”
“Being aware that kids have sex and being ok with your kids having sex isn’t the same thing,” Charlie defended.
Nick continued to try to stifle his laughter as Charlie’s embarrassment grew.
“I guess Mum has always just been really realistic about it. I think there’s been condoms and lube under the bathroom sink since my brother turned fifteen.”
"Wow,” Charlie murmured, running his hand through Nick’s hair absentmindedly.
“That’s just so foreign to me. My parents like to pretend that sex doesn’t even exist when it comes to their kids. They don’t even say a word, for god sake. When my sister started going out with her partner, my dad made it very clear that there was to be no 'hanky-panky" under his roof.
Nick spluttered out another laugh.
“Hanky panky?"
“Oh god, it sounds even worse when you say it,” Charlie groaned.
Nick pressed a quick kiss to Charlie’s lips.
“So what I'm hearing is that come Christmas break we need to sleep around mine?”
Christmas.
He and Nick together at Christmas.
Nick wanted to see him over Christmas!
Charlie shouldn’t have felt so giddy over that.
Nick was his boyfriend, for fuck sake.
Wanting to be together during the holiday shouldn’t feel like a wild thing, but hell, Ben hadn’t wanted to be with Charlie on a Tuesday, let alone a major holiday.
The whole thing felt…special. It felt right.
There was a part of Charlie that was fucking terrified of Christmas.
Christmas had historically been a difficult time for him.
Normal depression meets seasonal depression meets overbearing difficult family meets a holiday focused on foods equalled an overstimulated and emotionally fragile Charlie.
But having Nick’s house to run away to? That could make things easier.
Usually, Charlie would ‘go for a walk’ at some point during Christmas dinner, an excuse long used by smokers or those who needed a hit of a joint to make it through dinner, but for Charlie, it was just a chance to walk around in the cold and clear his mind.
“Yeah, I guess we will,” Charlie agreed, ignoring the fact that Jane and Julio would probably blow a gasket when Charlie tried to leave for the night. That was something he could worry about later.
They stayed in the basement a while longer, eventually getting around to eating their breakfast when they were finally able to pull apart from one another.
When they heard Sarah moving upstairs, they finally peeled themselves off of the sofa and made their way upstairs, their arms still wound around one another.
Despite their messed hair and wrinkled clothes giving away exactly what they had been doing, Sarah made no comment, instead just offered another cup of tea and asked Nick if he needed any help getting started on the pies.
“I ask him every year, but he always says no." Sarah confided in Charlie when Nick headed off for the kitchen.
“He is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to his baking. He gets it from his grandmother. I can’t make anything more complicated than a chocolate chip cookie.”
Sarah looped her arm through Charlie’s as they followed Nick to the kitchen.
“Our assignment is to sit at the breakfast bar, drink our wine, taste test when required, and tease Nicky until his head catches fire.”
“I think I can manage that.”
Charlie and Sarah settled into their seats at the counter, Sarah serving them each generous pour of wine as Nick tied an apron that read ‘Scrum and get it’ with a rugby ball stitched underneath it.
Charlie would very much like to scrum and get it.
Jesus he was sitting next to Nick’s mother; he needed to get his head out of the gutter. They’d literally just gotten each other off the hour before, and yet Charlie was drooling over Nick’s forearms as he worked the pastry dough.
My boyfriend is so fucking fit, he thought to himself, resting the rim of his wine glass between his teeth.
Nick hadn’t been kidding about making three pies, and they spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen, Charlie and Sarah giggling at Nick’s flour-smudged face and savouring the bites of brown butter pecan or creamy pumpkin.
Sarah was just as lovely as Nick had described, even more so.
Charlie was having a great time sitting next to her at the counter, clinking their wine glasses, and making jokes at Nick’s expense.
“I couldn’t believe it when Nicky told you that your family is from Maidstone as well! What a coincidence! It works out rather well, though, doesn’t it? Makes Christmas visits rather easier. You’ll have to come round to ours for a bit on Christmas Day. The Nelson clan has been known to throw quite the party, as I’m sure Nick has told you. My sister Diane is hosting. You’ll love her. She’s such a doll.”
Charlie grinned as he imagined a Christmas day that didn’t involve his grandad badgering him about his weight but instead was filled with the Nelsons and Nick’s hands around him.
The fridge was stuffed to the brim with food for the next day's celebration, so Sarah made the unilateral decision that they should order takeout for dinner that night.
They ate their dinner in the living room in front of the massive flatscreen television that was showing a hallmark Christmas movie that was about some small-town bakery or something like that.
At half past eight Sarah started to yawn.
“I’m off to bed, my boys. I’ve got to be up bright and early tomorrow morning to get the bird in.”
She stood and stretched before scooping up little Henry.
“Your brother is getting here tomorrow morning, Nicky, so if I were you, I would lock your door tonight, hmm?”
She blew them a kiss before disappearing up the stairs.
Charlie, who had been tucked under Nick’s arm, looked up at him, his eyebrows knitting together.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nick cleared his throat.
“David has never been very good with, um, boundaries. He has the habit of sort of barging into rooms.”
Charlie couldn’t help himself from snorting at the idea of Nick’s brother barging into Nick’s room and finding him and Nick ass naked in bed together.
The idea of scaring David Nelson forever was sort of amusing to Charlie, but at the same time he didn’t want his alone time with Nick interrupted.
“Yes. Best lock the door then.”
…..
Charlie’s eyes drifted open slowly on Thursday morning.
A warm yellow light was sneaking in between the cracks of the curtains, casting a beam across Nick’s face, setting off his freckles in a golden glow.
Charlie’s cheek was pressed against Nick’s shoulder, his arm draped over his stomach. He could feel Nick’s hand on his shoulder, holding Charlie close even in his sleep.
Staring up at his boyfriend's face, which was so relaxed and gentle in sleep, Charle felt his heart swell in his chest.
He was so in love with this man.
He was in love with Nick.
And he was going to tell him.
Today.