Chapter Text
Charlie woke up in an unfamiliar room, on an unfamiliar bed. He blinked blearily a few times before unfurling from the covers, stretching his arms out over his head. He smacked his lips together, then slowly sat up, looking around the room as his mind played catch-up.
It played catch-up rather fast.
He felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he remembered the previous night. Nick had been a romantic lover — sweet and kind and gentle — and Charlie had come undone in his arms.
Despite his slight embarrassment with the memory of the night, he still smiled to himself, bringing his knees up to his chest and hiding his grin. Waking up in Nick’s bed after spending the night together was making him happier than he could ever imagine.
He looked beside him. Nick’s spot was devoid of human life, though upon inspection it was still warm. Nick had left recently, and Charlie, head-over-heels in love, was determined to find him again.
The sound of pots and pans scratching across a stovetop from someplace else in the flat was a good indication as to Nick’s location, and Charlie scrambled out of bed to go find his boyfriend.
Sure enough, in the kitchen was Nick, wearing only baggy sweatpants and putting together what looked to be an intricate breakfast. His back was to Charlie, and so Charlie watched him for a few minutes before blurting out, “It smells good.”
Nick jumped a little and glanced behind him. When he saw Charlie, his entire face lit up. Charlie marvelled at the fact that he was making Nick so happy, that he was the reason Nick was smiling so much.
“Morning, darling!” Nick greeted. He gestured for Charlie to come close, and Charlie obeyed those orders with no qualms at all. “Did you sleep alright?” Nick asked, wrapping his arm around Charlie’s waist.
“Very well,” Charlie replied, leaning into Nick’s embrace. He felt Nick kiss his forehead and he closed his eyes briefly, trying to soak up such a wonderful feeling. “I think I slept even better with you by my side.”
Nick scoffed at such sweet words, and Charlie lightly punched his shoulder. “Don’t get all cheesy, Charles. That’s my thing.”
“Fine, then. How did you sleep?”
“Like I was sleeping in heaven,” Nick responded brightly, grinning over at Charlie. “Like a chorus of angels had wrapped me up and delivered me to the light of my life. Like I finally knew how to be content, how to be happy, how to be loved. Like I could—”
“Wow.” Charlie drew away from Nick’s hug and snatched the spatula out of his other hand. “If you keep going, I’ll hit you with this.”
Nick gave a faux pout as he took his cooking utensil back from Charlie. “Such violence,” he moaned, acting as if Charlie had committed some grievous crime. “I will always wonder where he gets it from.”
“Maybe from my boyfriend,” Charlie shot back. “Who’s a, you know, supervillain.”
“I prefer the term anti-hero,” was Nick’s retort. He moved back to his stove, stirring at his rice.
Charlie regarded him curiously. “Are you giving up your villain ways, then? Will you keep working alongside Tara and Tao?”
Nick shrugged his shoulders. He added more things in the pan and said, “I wouldn’t say I’m working with them. We just have mutual desires to protect people we love — they love the entire city, and I love you.”
“You’re being gross again.”
“I apologise.” Nick seasoned the food he was cooking, then continued, “In any case, it will be a little difficult to continue working as a supervillain when word has already gotten around that I’ve been assisting a super hero. Villains don’t like that. Doesn’t help that I’ve been supplying Tara with information about them and now she knows the location of many villains.”
“Sounds like a lot of enemies.”
Nick nodded his head, then turned to look at Charlie. His expression was serious. “You need to be extremely careful until things die down. Don’t follow anyone suspicious. Don’t talk to anyone suspicious. Put me on speed dial and keep your phone with you at all times. If possible, work from home.”
Charlie raised his eyebrows. “A bank teller who works from home?”
“I don’t know, Charlie, I’m just… coming up with ideas for you. For us. I want to be sure that you’ll be safe.”
Despite Nick’s obvious concerns, he was so cute, so attractive. His chest was exposed and his eyes were bright and when he looked so serious, Charlie found him undeniably hot. He said as much. “You’re hot.” He leaned in and kissed Nick’s cheek. “If you put on an apron, you’ll be even hotter.”
“I’m not joking, and I’m not trying to be hot.” Nick frowned and pushed Charlie back one step. “Charlie, I don’t want to see you dangling from another building again. Ever. I can’t do it.”
Realising his boyfriend was in real distress, Charlie nodded his head. He ruffled Nick’s messy bed-head and asked, “Would you relax if I promised to do all you said — minus working from home — and if I took up some sort of self-defence class?”
“Really? You’ll do self-defence?”
“Sure, if it calms you down. Besides, it would be nice to defend myself. And I’m sure self-defence courses will help me at least be a little fit. I don’t really like what I see in the mirror often.” He patted his stomach as if to prove his point, but Nick just cooed at him.
“I happen to think you’re incredibly hot, sweetheart.”
“Don’t you want a man who has even a little bit of love handles?”
“No, since I think last night went amazing even without me having something to grab onto.”
Nick’s statement effectively ruined Charlie’s cocky mood. He blushed, ducking his head into his chest, and Nick laughed at him. The tides had turned; now Charlie was the one pouting, and Nick was the one looking far too confident for a sleepy, shirtless man with eggs and rice in hand.
“Thanks, though, for agreeing to self-defence. I really don’t want to be a bother to you, but I just… I’d feel safer, and you’d feel safer.”
“What about Tara’s cute, annoying girlfriend?” Charlie asked, helping Nick set the table with their breakfast meal. “Is she taking self-defence courses?”
“I asked Tara about that, and she says that her cute, annoying girlfriend is just carrying mace with her at all times. I’m not sure how legal it is, but if it isn’t legal, I applaud her for breaking the law. She sounds like good villain material.”
Charlie rolled his eyes, huffed, and plopped down in one of the seats.
Nick giggled. He hugged Charlie, who chose not to react to the embrace. “Aww, I love you, not anyone else.” He planted a messy kiss to the side of Charlie’s head, then added, “You’re so attractive when you’re angry or sulking.”
“Don’t talk to me.”
Once more, Nick laughed. He sat at his seat, right beside Charlie, trying to hide his snorts and chuckles as he divided up the food among them.
Charlie felt so content. Even if Nick was a moronic boyfriend, even if he probably deserved the silent treatment for the one minute Charlie was able to keep up, he was perfect. He was nothing but beautiful and kind and sweet and wonderful. Charlie could hardly stop staring, could hardly stop smiling.
“Nick,” he murmured.
Nick glanced over at him, cheeks stuffed full of food. “What?” he asked. Crumbs fell from his mouth.
Charlie didn’t mind. He just said, “I want to go on so many adventures with you.”
“Is this a euphemism?”
“Oh my god, seriously —”
“I’m joking!” Nick swallowed and grinned widely, grabbing onto Charlie’s hand. “Let’s do it! I know somewhere close by that might be an adventure. It’s rock-climbing, and I have clothes you can wear, and—”
“I didn’t mean today,” Charlie told Nick. “I have to go feed my cats. My babies miss me.”
He got a sweet smile from his boyfriend in response.
“Besides, I happen to think we got all the time in the world for every adventure there is.”
Charlie was a normal bank teller with little demon cats and a supervillain boyfriend.
He was so content with that.