Chapter Text
The night of the Ball arrived too quickly for Charlie’s liking, sneaking up on him as he tried hard to forget about it and pretend the night would never actually come. He was heading over alone, planning to meet George outside the check-in table since they needed each other to get into the actual event.
Nick had been texting him all evening, complaining about every little thing, mostly that they couldn’t just go together. He probably didn’t mean it the way Charlie wanted him to, but it still made him feel fuzzy inside to know Nick wanted to spend this night with him.
With one last look in the mirror, Charlie blew out a raspberry and decided it was now or never. The Ball was being held in the ballroom of a dorm building two down from his, so at least he didn’t have a long commute.
He arrived just before 8:15, the music seeping out of the ballroom already loud and lots of people milling around the space. Charlie found a spot on the wall to lean against and wait next to a beautiful girl in a green dress, blonde ringlets cascading down her back. She smiled at him as he stopped next to her.
“Meeting your date here?” Her voice was soft and delicate, matching her doll-like appearance perfectly.
“Mhm. I’m not sure what he looks like so I’m hoping he just finds me somehow.” He shrugged, hoping she couldn’t sense how tense he was about this whole ordeal.
She nodded. “I’m meeting my date here too. But I know who he is so…”
Charlie nodded good-naturedly, happy to fill his time with some harmless conversation. “Have you guys hung out before tonight?”
“No. Well, I reached out to maybe make that happen, but he wanted to wait until tonight. But he’s — god, this is so embarrassing to admit. He’s the reason I signed up for this whole thing.” She laughed a bit self-consciously as though it were only a little strange to admit such a thing to a complete stranger.
“What do you mean?”
She turned to face Charlie fully and leaned in as though they were old friends gossiping. “Okay, so I’m on the field hockey team and at every athletics event, I keep trying to get the attention of this one guy, but he’s always with his mates or just super aloof. But I knew he was in the QSU so I figured I’d take the quiz in the hopes we’d get paired. We’re both athletes and want to work with children, so it seemed like I had a good chance.”
Charlie felt a sudden cold run through him. They had a good number of athletes in the QSU, but not many of them were also studying something related to children. “Are you, um, Sophie?”
“Yes…” She looked hesitant, as though all five foot ten inches of Charlie’s lanky and fragile frame were suddenly a potential threat.
“Nick’s my, uh, best friend.” It sounded so lame. It sounded so childish to say that to this gorgeous girl who would be spending all night with Nick and clearly liked him and would probably charm him off his feet.
Sophie’s face brightened “Oh! Wow—”
“Charlie, hey! George not here yet?” And there he was, radiant in a light blue dress shirt and tan pants, hair just a bit more under control than usual, cheeks flushed from the cold. Nick approached them quickly, glomming to Charlie’s side. “We probably should have tried to figure out what our dates looked like, eh?”
Charlie half-heartedly joined in with Nick’s laughter, watching Sophie out of the corner of his eye. She looked awestruck, as though she couldn’t believe Nick was actually there in front of her. And why wouldn’t she be? He was a sight to behold.
“Hi!” Sophie’s voice was an octave higher than it had been a moment ago.
Nick startled, seemingly just noticing the girl next to Charlie. “Oh, hi.”
“Nick, this is, uh, Sophie.” Charlie gestured towards her weakly, hating that he was directing Nick straight to someone else.
“Oh!” Nick’s eyebrows jumped to his hairline. “Hi.”
“Hi.” She smiled shyly, a pink blush colouring her cheeks, only serving to make her even prettier. “Do you wanna go in?”
Nick sputtered, looking towards Charlie. “I— I don’t—”
“It’s okay, go ahead.”
“No, Charlie—”
“Nick, I’ll be fine. Go in, I’ll see you in there.”
Sophie ducked her head and threaded her arm with Nick’s, guiding him towards the check-in table. Nick looked back over his shoulder at Charlie, face contorted in something that looked too much like pain. Charlie just gave him a weak thumbs-up.
“That her?”
Charlie jumped. “Shit, Darcy, you can’t just sneak up on me like that!”
Darcy was now at Charlie’s shoulder, eyes locked on Nick and Sophie. Tara stood next to her, sad smile on her face as she looked at Charlie.
“Sorry, I wasn’t sure how to best announce myself to you while you stood there pining.”
Tara hit her arm. “Darcy!” She turned back to Charlie. “Ignore her, she’s already started drinking.”
Charlie sighed dejectedly. “Yeah, that’s her. She was telling me all about how she has a crush on Nick before he showed up. And of course she’s stunning. An athlete too.”
“Big deal! You’re Charlie, Nick’s favourite person! She’s got no chance.” Darcy ruffled his hair.
“She’s already got a better chance than me. She’s on a date with him right now.” Charlie patted down his hair, hoping Darcy’s fussing didn’t mess it up too much.
“Sure, but he wants to be on that date with you.”
He smiled sadly. “You don’t know that.”
“I know a lot more than you think, young Charles.” Darcy tapped her nose twice and winked at him.
Someone tapped Charlie’s shoulder as he was trying to decipher what that could mean. “Charlie?”
He turned to see a guy a couple inches shorter than himself with neat, dark hair and wire-frame glasses smiling at him. The guy was cute in a clean-cut way, like someone who’d help you find a book in the library and sneak their number onto the receipt. For a fleeting second, Charlie began to compare him to Nick before mentally scolding himself. No one should have to live up to the fantasy Charlie had built in his mind. He was cute, and it wasn’t his fault he wasn’t Nick Nelson.
“Um, yeah. George?”
“Yes, hi! Great to finally meet you. Shall we go in?”
Charlie turned to Tara and Darcy, both giving him encouraging smiles, which helped him feel better knowing he at least had their support.
“Sure. Lead the way.”
🍂
Once they entered the ballroom, George turned to Charlie, a small smile on his handsome face. Because he was handsome, that much Charlie could admit.
“Any preference on what to do first?” George gestured to the space, indicating the bar, food, dancefloor, and various other activities available to them.
“Oh, um—”
“Charlie! Over here!” Charlie turned to see Nick waving wildly from a table in the corner, Sophie sat next to him, still looking starstruck.
“That’s, uh, that’s Nick. He’s my… best friend. We said we’d try to sit together at this, just to be a bit more comfortable. If that’s okay.” He felt nervous even asking, as if he were inviting Nick to crash their date.
George’s smile faltered for a moment, but he recovered quickly and nodded. “Sure, let’s go.”
They made their way to Nick’s table, settling in as Nick beamed at Charlie. He could feel his face burning.
“Um, Nick, this is George. George, my best friend, Nick.”
Nick extended a hand to George, who clasped it, both gripping each other firmly and engaged in some kind of strange staredown. Charlie cleared his throat, effectively breaking them out of whatever was happening.
“I’m Sophie, Nick’s date!” Sophie emphasised date as if it needed to be acknowledged that she was the one here with Nick. Charlie may be his best friend, he may be the person he wanted to spend time with that night, but Sophie was Nick’s actual date.
Before things could get even more awkward, Tara and Darcy appeared, breaking a lot of the tension forming at the table. They were able to draw George and Sophie into conversation, making them hopefully feel at least somewhat included with the already established friend group.
After almost twenty minutes of awkward conversation and pointed looks with Tara and Darcy, Tara announced she needed a drink and roped Nick into coming with her to get them. Everyone gave them a drink order, and they scampered off, seemingly glad to leave behind the awkwardness for a moment.
Charlie figured this would be the time to get to know George a bit better, or at least figure out why they had gotten matched.
“So, George,” The man in question turned to face Charlie head-on, and Charlie registered how effective that move was, the brightness of his green eyes and radiance of his smile certainly adding an instant air of charm. “Tell me a bit about you. Why do you think we got paired together?”
“Oh wow, there’s so much to tell. I’m doing a literature course, second year. I play the bass in jazz band, which takes up much of my free time. I’m working on a novel in my limited free time. Sort of sci-fi with elements borrowed from fantasy and mystery, I think. It’s still in the early stages.”
So literature and music. Charlie was seeing just how basic the quiz seemed to be, pairing people based primarily, maybe even solely, on surface level interests. It was making sense why he wasn’t paired with Nick; they didn’t have many basic interests in common.
“That sounds really cool!” It kind of didn’t, but Charlie wasn’t going to outright insult George’s creative endeavours just because it wasn’t to his own taste. “I’m also doing literature, but I’m in my first year. I play drums. Not in any band or ensemble, though, just on my own. I like bowling and video games, but I’m only really good at the video games. And sometimes, I’ll put on a movie I know will be awful because those can be more fun than the movies that require a lot of mental and emotional investment.”
He didn’t include that the last three activities were things he did mostly with Nick, and that a big part of his enjoyment came from the company. George only needed to know how he spent his freetime, not who he spent it with.
“Hm, would you want to join a group? Our drummer has been busy with an internship this term so we’d probably have a spot for you.”
“Oh! Um, no, I don’t think so. I’m not really comfortable enough to perform just yet. I may audition next year.” Charlie had grown to like playing just for himself, getting to experiment and play around with music in a way he never had the freedom to do before. He wasn’t lying about possibly auditioning the next year, but it certainly wasn’t top of his list of priorities.
George squinted, considering him in a way that felt a bit odd, as if he were being scrutinized in a professional capacity as opposed to strictly social. “Okay, fine. But if you change your mind, let me know. We have a concert coming up that he’s not sure he’ll be able to attend, and we could use a backup.”
Charlie didn’t necessarily like the implication that he was only useful as a last minute backup, but he could appreciate George’s passion. Even though he was a bit more pushy than Charlie would have liked.
Before he could fumble around for a new topic, Nick and Tara returned with the drinks, and Charlie accepted his gin and tonic gratefully. He took a large swig, needing a bit of liquid courage to make it through the rest of the night.
“I don’t really drink. I find it impairs me in ways that are uncomfortable. But I guess it’s okay for you to drink.” George took a long sip of water, as if using that to emphasise his point.
Nick snorted into his drink, quickly covering it as a cough. Sophie immediately began fussing over him, but Charlie kicked him under the table. He shot a quick smirk and wink Charlie’s way.
“I’m not a big drinker, but tonight’s an open bar so I figure I may as well let loose a bit.”
George hummed into his glass, letting the conversation drop.
Sophie brought up the uni’s athletic program, complaining about the uneven treatment given to the girls’ and boys’ teams. That topic proved to be successful, as Tara and Darcy had a lot to say on the feminist aspect while Nick enjoyed getting to talk sport in some capacity. Charlie was more than happy to sit back and watch his friends passionately discuss the intricacies of collegiate athletic gender politics. George, on the other hand, seemed to immediately check out and began looking around the room.
After a few minutes of George’s intense indifference, Charlie tried to start a conversation with just him about modern sci-fi novels that seemed to understand how intrinsically feminism and queerness were tied to the genre. He had ranted about that very development to Nick earlier that week. While Nick hadn’t had all the background necessary to fully participate, having never actually read Frankenstein or engaged with any of the discussion of its themes and inception, he’d listened with rapt attention and asked numerous of questions.
George, however, did not seem to be as interested in having that discussion, instead launching into a diatribe about some dreadfully long series with little representation or nuance. Charlie grimaced his way through George’s explanation, knowing there was no chance he was going to look further into the series.
As he pretended to listen to George’s monologue, Charlie couldn’t help but notice how easily Sophie had blended in with their group. She was in full conversation with Nick, Tara, and Darcy, and all three seemed to actually care about what she had to say. Maybe when she and Nick began dating for real, the four of them would go on double dates all the time until Charlie was barely a member of the group anymore. The thought made bile rise in his throat.
The night carried on much the same, with Charlie having to engage George one-on-one only to be left listening to him blather on about some niche interest without giving Charlie any context or opportunity to contribute. And while Charlie was doing his best to make sure no one else had to endure George’s opinions, Sophie was creating space for herself in the group. She looked radiant as she laughed and joked, occasionally placing a hand on Nick’s arm to ‘steady herself.’
Charlie knew he’d inevitably feel jealous of her tonight, but he thought it would only be because she was there with Nick. But now, as he watched her out of the corner of his eye, he realised that she probably fit with their group better. She liked sports, which Nick desperately kept trying to force on them, and she could relate to all the complaints Tara and Darcy had about unequal gender treatment on campus. And she was stunning in a way the other three also were, making her a better fit aesthetically.
When Charlie had reached the end of his gin and tonic, he immediately stood up, taking the opportunity to break away for even a few minutes.
“Hey, wait up.” Nick smoothly fell into step next to Charlie. “I needed a second away. This is a bit overwhelming, huh?”
“Your date seems perfect.” They sidled up to the bar, leaning against it as they waited for the bartender to be free. “She’s fitting in quite well.”
Nick shrugged. “She’s personable, I guess. We all miss you, though. Any chance George may want to join our conversation at some point?”
Charlie sighed. “No idea. But he is my date, so I guess it makes sense that I give him some special attention.”
“Mhm.”
The bartender signalled to them, and they placed their drink orders, a heavy silence falling around them. They didn’t do silence, at least not this kind of silence. Charlie hated it.
When they received their drinks, neither made a move to head back to the table.
“I just… I don’t know.” Charlie twirled the straw in this drink. “What do you think of him?”
Nick laughed humorlessly, almost bitterly, and took a sip of his drink. “I’m not the right person to ask.”
Something churned within Charlie; Nick was the person he trusted most in the world. He was absolutely the right person to ask. “What do you mean?”
Nick sighed, still refusing to look at Charlie. “Can we drop it?”
“No, if you have a weird history with him or something, I want to know!” Charlie knew he was pushing, knew he was maybe asking more of Nick than he deserved.
“Charlie—“
“Because if you don’t like him or something, that matters to me. That makes a big difference.”
“Charlie—“
“You’re my best friend, Nick, and your opinion means the most to me.”
Finally, Nick turned to face him head-on. His eyes were glistening, his face flushing red. “Charlie. I am watching this guy go on a date with you and I have never been more jealous in my entire life. So no, I can’t give you an unbiased opinion.”
“What?”
“Charlie, I’m so into you, it aches sometimes. I was hoping the Valentine’s Ball would be the perfect opportunity for me to finally get the courage to ask you out. But then this dumb quiz thing happened, and I resolved myself to keep on pining. But you said you hated the quiz. After you said you were glad I was alive.” Nick looked pained as he spoke, as if he was having to pull each word out syllable by syllable. “I’m the one who talked to Lee. I ran into them at the coffee shop and tried to get them to relax on the rules. I wanted to be able to ask you.”
Charlie gaped at him. “It was you?”
“It was me.” Nick smiled sheepishly, shrugging as though it was no big deal. “They shot me down. I didn’t realise they’d send out a mass email about it.”
“Nick, I—”
“Nick! There you are! The photobooth line is short right now, we should take advantage.” Sophie appeared at Nick’s side, looping her arm through his elbow, smiling broadly at Charlie as she ushered Nick away.
And that was that. Charlie didn’t get good things like Nick. The Sophies of the world, the bubbly and beautiful It Girls, were Nick’s perfect match; Charlie was the best friend.
🍂
Nick had only been gone for about five minutes and already Charlie felt like he was crumbling at the seams. George had found him at the bar and began ranting about the merits of an upright bass, lamenting how underutilised they were in modern music. Charlie nodded along where he should, pretending to agree with whatever insane point George was trying to make. How could his supposed soulmate be so dull? Even when Nick would go on and on about rugby or his predictions for the future of the MCU, Charlie never found himself so bored.
“I get that maybe it’s impractical to lug around, but it’s just a crisper sound, ya know?”
“Mm,” Charlie hummed and knocked back the rest of his drink.
“Hey!” Charlie couldn’t help how much he perked up just hearing Nick’s voice. “George, mind if I steal him? He and I need to use the photo booth.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure. I’ll just be here.” George seemed a bit put out, but Charlie thought that had more to do with his rant getting interrupted than Charlie being taken away.
Nick loosely grabbed Charlie’s hand and pulled him along, weaving through the dancefloor to the photobooth in the back. The line was short, only two couples in front of them. Even after they stopped, Nick still held Charlie’s hand.
“About what I said—”
Charlie’s gaze remained straight ahead. “It’s fine, you’ve had some drinks, I’m not holding you to anything you’ve said tonight.”
“No, Charlie—”
“Were your photos with Sophie cute?”
“What? I don’t know, maybe. I was thinking about you the whole time.” Nick’s grip on his hand tightened. “She kept them.”
“I’m sure she can make copies so you can have them as well.”
Nick blew out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t want them.”
The couple ahead of them exited the booth, grabbing the photo strip and cooing over it. Nick lightly tugged Charlie forward and through the curtain.
They did a funny pose for the first two photos, neither necessarily feeling goofy, but both buying into the fun of it. Nick rested his forehead on Charlie’s temple in the next shot, and Charlie could see his face flush bright red. Charlie turned to Nick before the last one, their faces so close. Just as he began to lean in, the camera flashed, jolting him up and out of the booth.
“Charlie—” Nick had scrambled out after him.
“No, no, it’s fine. I’m sorry, it’s fine. You wanted to do a fun friend thing, and I almost ruined that.” Charlie stumbled away and noticed Nick quickly grab the photo strip, which gave him just enough time to get a lead on him.
He’d made it across the room, the crowd suddenly feeling so suffocating. Maybe he could find Tara and Darcy. Or maybe he should just go home and begin planning his escape off the grid so he never had to see Nick again and deal with the aftermath of this night.
“Charlie!” Nick’s voice was loud, ringing out across the ballroom. “Charlie!”
He jogged over, but Charlie stayed rooted to the spot, so dejected and broken from the night that he couldn’t make himself move closer to a broken heart.
Nick crashed into him, knocking them both backwards slightly as he clung to Charlie, fisting his hands in the back of his jacket. Surely people around them were watching, Nick had been so loud that everyone was aware of them, but Charlie finally felt like he could breathe for the first time that night, and nothing else mattered.
“Charlie,” Nick sighed into his ear. “You’re my soulmate. I don’t care about some stupid quiz or what other people think. You’re the only one I want. I mean it completely when I say I’m so in love with you.”
A soft sob broke free from Charlie’s throat, which quickly morphed into a disbelieving laugh. He just felt so exhausted from this night and all the months of having to tamp down his feelings; he didn’t want to fight anymore. “Nick. Please, please kiss me.”
Nick shifted his head, pulling back slightly to give more room, and nosed his way across Charlie’s cheek, skimming against his nose, causing goosebumps to erupt on the back of Charlie’s neck. His honey eyes were so close, so soft and sparkling as they held Charlie’s gaze. Their lips were only a hair’s breadth apart, so close that Charlie wondered how they could possibly still be separate.
Finally, finally Nick closed the distance, their lips meeting for the first time. And suddenly, Charlie felt alive in a way he never had before. Months of denying his feelings and pining and stressing and wondering how he could be someone Nick would want seemed to wash away as Nick pushed deeper into the kiss.
Charlie brought a hand up to thread through Nick’s hair, finding it as soft and wonderful as he always imagined. He scratched lightly at Nick’s scalp, eliciting a quiet moan, which he kissed away.
Neither boy had that much experience, but both knew each other well enough to tell what was and wasn’t working. After their noses collided, Charlie tilted his head just a bit more, finding that perfect angle.
Slowly, Nick pulled back, immediately resting his forehead on Charlie’s. “Shit, that was even better than I imagined. And I’ve imagined it a lot.”
Charlie giggled. “I’m also in love with you. Just so we’re clear.” Nick pulled his head back to make eye contact, surprise written all over his face.
“You are?”
“Of course I am. Did you think it was only you?”
“I just… I never thought you could feel that way about me, at least not yet. I thought I was this clingy guy who’d somehow tricked you into spending time with me. I hoped maybe you felt something for me, but I didn't want to get my hopes up about love.” Nick sounded awed.
“I thought I was the one with unrequited feelings. God, Nick, I’ve been pining for you for what feels like forever.” Charlie giggled again and bumped his nose against Nick’s, drawing a giggle from him as well.
“Do you wanna get out of here?” Nick breathed out, eyes closed in bliss.
“I— I’m not— I obviously— eventually—“
“Charlie, I want to go back to your room, snuggle with you on purpose, and watch TV. I want to fall asleep holding you close after I’ve told you how much I love every feature on your perfect face. And someday, when we’re both ready, I want to make you come undone and feel as wonderful as you deserve to feel.” Nick dragged his nose across Charlie’s blush-hot cheeks. “But tonight, I just want to be in love with you out in the open.”
Charlie gasped out a broken “Nick,” and kissed him again. Because he wanted to and because he could.
“What do you say?” Nick whispered as they parted.
“You’re stupidly good at that,” Charlie sighed out.
Nick’s chuckle vibrated through Charlie, making him wonder where he ended and Nick began. “I meant about leaving.”
“Oh yeah. Okay, we can do that.” Charlie would have probably agreed to murder in that moment. “Do we need to… tell our dates?”
Nick winced. “I really don’t want to deal with that right now. They can probably see us, right?”
“Nick!”
“What?! She’s nice, I don’t want to hurt her feelings just because she’s not you.”
“I guess we could email them?”
Nick laughed. “A breakup over email. That’s cold, Spring. But as long as you don’t do the same for me in future, I guess that’s fine.”
Charlie brought up a hand to stroke along Nick’s cheekbone. “You’re stuck with me forever now. I’m hoping this email is my last breakup ever.”
It should have felt too soon, too honest. But Charlie had been holding back for so long at this point, that he just wanted to lay it all out there. Nick was it for him; he knew that deep inside, in the part of him that held all of his convictions.
Nick released a broken breath, warmth fanning over Charlie’s face. “Forever‘s a good start.”
🍂
The next QSU meeting saw Nick and Charlie back in the position they had been when the godforsaken quiz had been announced, but this time, it was fully on purpose.
Darcy pretended to gag, causing Tara to swat her shoulder. “Leave them be, they’re in the honeymoon phase.”
“Why do I feel like their entire relationship will be just one long honeymoon phase?”
“Shush, he’s so cute, let me hold him close.” Nick tightened his arms around Charlie, pulling him even closer to his chest.
Charlie giggled. “I’m not going anywhere, love.”
“Mm, that’s not the motivation.” Nick dropped a smacking kiss to the side of Charlie’s head.
“All right, let’s get started.” Lee stood in front of the group, wringing their hands nervously. “I guess first order of business is to… address the quiz.”
Kai stood, smiling sheepishly. “So I realised maybe the quiz wasn’t as successful as we would have hoped. The algorithm matched based upon similarities, which apparently is not always a benchmark for success.”
“And while some romance did bloom that night,” Lee looked pointedly over at Nick and Charlie, “we do acknowledge that none of our pairings actually seemed to… work out. So, as an apology, we will be holding another ball at the end of the month, and you are all welcome to bring a date of your choice.”
Cheers erupted around the room, the excitement of a new ball rippling throughout the group.
“Hm, I wonder who I’ll bring.” Nick propped his chin on Charlie’s shoulder.
“Nick—“
He sighed, far more dramatically than necessary. “There’s so many cool people here, how will I choose?”
“Nick—“
Suddenly, Nick smushed a finger against Charlie’s lips to silence him. “Charlie, please, I’m trying to locate my soulmate amongst all these captivating options.”
Charlie lightly bit at Nick’s finger, causing him to withdraw it with a chuckle. “Fine, guess I’ll just email George.”
“You’re not funny!”
“Neither are you!”
Nick pushed his head into Charlie’s neck. “I love you.”
Charlie leaned his cheek on Nick’s head. “And I love you.”
“Crazy how we did find our soulmate in this club, just not using the literal soulmate quiz.” Nick mumbled it into Charlie’s neck, so casually and offhandedly; certainly not the way Charlie imagined such a confession being made.
“You actually do think we’re soulmates?” Charlie croaked out.
Nick smiled into Charlie’s neck. “You don’t?”
“I— of course I do,” Charlie whispered, only for Nick to hear. “Nick, of course I do.”
“Cool.” Nick pressed a small kiss to Charlie’s neck. “So do I.”
God, what had Charlie’s life even become. Here he was, a mere four days after what he thought would be the night Nick would move on from him and leave Charlie to pine forever while Nick enjoyed a new, perfect relationship. Instead, Nick had told him he loved him that night.
And sure, Charlie had known Nick was it for him for a while, but he wasn’t going to dilute himself into thinking Nick felt the same. No, he was going to live in the bliss of being Nick’s partner for as long as possible, maybe even working some kind of magic to make Nick want to stay forever.
Technically, they had brought up the idea of forever that night, but Charlie wasn’t going to hold Nick to that, not after the emotional rollercoaster they’d been on. And they’d been a bit drunk on both alcohol and kissing that night, so Charlie didn’t want to assume Nick had reached the same conclusion based solely on that interaction.
But Nick was already there, apparently. Charlie didn’t have to convince him or trap him or trick him because he had apparently been there this whole time.
They were soulmates, and no quiz or algorithm could tell them otherwise.