Chapter Text
Charlie looked up at the comically large house Luke had taken him to. He didn’t want to go to a party, he had studying to do, papers to write and exams to stress over. He didn’t want to go to a party but he’ll admit that it didn’t take much convincing from his roommate Luke to get himself dressed and ready for a party.
Maybe it was partly because he wanted to procrastinate, or maybe it was the fact that he was in college and he still hadn’t gone to a single party and the almost paralysing fear of growing old with regret because he didn’t go to a fucking frat party and even though Charlie was on the college football team and 99% of them were part of the college frat he still held a deep dislike to any sort of fraternities, so he didn’t particularly want to be around the entire frat.
His friends had already made their way towards the open door of the house but Charlie hesitated, slightly overwhelmed already by the amount of people there. Charlie wasn’t an anxious person. He was confident and outgoing, always trying to make friends with the people around him and making them feel welcome. So the small thrum of anxiety coursing through his body was an unknown and unwelcome feeling.
“St. George, hurry up! You’re taking a shot the second we walk through this door!” Luke called over to him, a shit-eating grin painted on his face as he looked back over his shoulder. Charlie glared at him, but still hurried over to catch up with them.
Luke hadn’t lied when he said as soon as. The second Charlie walked up to the door he was promptly faced with a hand in front of him holding out a shot. Charlie wasn’t necessarily a lightweight, he just didn’t drink very often, not particularly liking the effects that too many drinks gave him so even when he did decide to have alcohol he didn’t have very much of it. So it was safe to say that within a few minutes Charlie was floating between the line of sober and tipsy and he knew it was only a matter of time before he was well past the line of tipsy.
He spent the first 30 minutes of the party smiling and greeting the people he did recognise. Most of the football team, a few girls from his chemistry class, the guy that he sometimes sees stressing over his textbooks in the library. He said ‘Hi!’ to a lot of people and received drinks from other people and he was just leaning against the kitchen counter feeling pleasantly buzzed as Luke and Diego made their way over to him.
“Hey man.” Luke greeted, a sly smirk on his face and Diego also had a wolfish grin on his face and Charlie’s eyes widened as he realised what was going on.
“No-no-no-no.” He shook his head vehemently looking almost similar to a child throwing a tantrum. “No.”
“Don’t be a prude, St. George.” Diego laughed. “We’ll cut you a deal. This time we will give you $50 to kiss someone here.” He took a crisp bill from his wallet, waving it enticingly in Charlie’s face.
“You’re paying me to make out with some random boy at a party?” Charlie asked almost in disbelief.
“It’s an incentive.” Luke supplied, unhelpfully.
“So, you’re bribing me to make out with some random boy at a party.” Charlie said, this time with less disbelief and more annoyed.
“Not some random boy.” Luke rolled his eyes in fake annoyance. “Alex Standall.” His hand clapped against Charlie’s shoulder, the action and his words causing Charlie to stumble forwards slightly and choke on his spit because he was not about to make out with Alex Standall.
Alex Standall. A boy that Charlie shares an English class with and always manages to hold all of his attention and distract him from the class. The Alex Standall that Charlie had an embarrassingly huge crush on the smaller boy from his English class. The crush which apparently, judging by their grins, Luke and Diego both knew about. The crush that had just walked into the large kitchen and was looking along the counter for some sort of drink.
Charlie would be lying if he said he didn’t want to kiss Alex. He had spent a lot of his English classes thinking about what it would be like to be in a relationship with Alex. To be able to call him his boyfriend, share class notes and stress over their large workload but also to be able to cuddle with him and fall asleep after long study sessions. He wanted to kiss Alex quite a lot. The $50 was just an added bonus along with being able to get Luke and Diego off his back because while yes he didn’t exactly have a whole lot of luck in the hooking up department he didn’t want them to take over his love life, or rather, lack thereof.
Luke and Diego shared a look, seeming to agree to something before they each clapped a hand on Charlie’s shoulders and pushed him over towards where Alex was standing and pouring himself a drink. Charlie had pretty much reverted back to being sober, so he was glad to see that there was a half empty bottle of vodka and some soda to use as a mixer in front of Alex, along with at least 15 bottles of beer but Charlie needed something stronger than beer to even think about talking to Alex right now.
He took a few steps over to where Alex was standing, now mixing himself a drink but he looked up when Charlie got closer. Alex looked very bored, as if he was completely over the juvenile activities that college students get up to and he would much rather be absolutely anywhere else in the world than here. Charlie could empathise with that, he would give almost anything to just be at home watching movies in the dark but alas, there he was.
“Um, H-hey,” Charlie stuttered, blushing immediately because damn it, why couldn’t you just speak normally. He had only just walked up to the other boy and he was already embarrassing himself.
“Hey.” The boy said, raising an eyebrow in question. He looked Charlie up and down as if to stake him out before sipping his drink.
Charlie gave him a small smile, reaching over to pick up a plastic cup and he started to carefully pour himself a drink. He might have sobered up slightly but he still didn’t trust his hand-eye coordination enough to be confident that he won’t make a mess on the counter. He could feel Alex’s gaze on him, quietly expectant and curious to see where this was going.
“So uh… My name’s Charlie.” He said once he had finished, realising it’s unnecessary because they share the same English class but he hadn’t spoken to Alex before so he obviously wouldn’t know.
“I know.” Alex replied, smiling teasingly when Charlie gave him a confused look.
“You’re the college football team ‘Golden Boy’ quarterback. Of course I know your name.” Alex rolled his eyes as he spoke and Charlie was hit with a stab of disappointment. Of course Alex held a disdain towards the football team.
“Oh, uh yeah.” Charlie muttered, taking a large gulp of his drink and wondering how to play this out. He didn’t know Alex very well, but he was pretty positive that Alex isn’t the type to just make out with people at parties so he knew he just had to run with being completely honest. He took in a breath.
“Look, my friends want me to kiss someone. You, specifically.” Alex’s eyes widened slightly at that admission. “And they’re giving me $50 and we can just split the money, $25 each?”
Charlie realised how weird that sounded. The first time he speaks to this boy and he’s offering him money to make out with him and that sounded a lot like prostitution which he was pretty sure was illegal. He was about to open his mouth and apologise to Alex, wanted to explain more but the other boy cut him off.
“That’s pretty fucked up, Charlie.” Alex said, his tone serious and very matter-of-fact. Charlie was too busy spiralling into an even bigger panic that he didn’t catch the tug of a smirk on Alex’s lips. “I mean, it doesn’t really sound fair.”
“I-well, it’s a fifty-fifty split…” Charlie’s words trailed off, his cheeks heating up with a blush and he mentally cursed his friends for dragging him to a party, “R-right?”
Alex let out a small laugh, deciding to help the taller boy in front of him and stepping forward. He placed a gentle hand on Charlie’s shoulder, his thumb rubbing small, almost unnoticeable, circles onto his shirt. Alex looked up at Charlie, his ocean-blue eyes lidded slightly. His long, dark eyelashes caused them to look brighter and Charlie would be lying if he said he didn’t fall in love with the way Alex looked right now.
“It’s fifty-fifty financially, but kissing me seems like it gets you out of a lot of trouble with your friends. Who, by the way, haven’t stopped looking at us since you came over here.” Alex smiled up at Charlie, moving his hand from Charlie’s shoulder up to his cheek when he noticed Charlie about to look over at his friends. “Maybe we should give them something to look at?”
Charlie wasn’t sure if he was excited or terrified and he was starting to think that those two were scarily similar in the way they made his entire body simultaneously tense and vibrate with nerves. He placed a hand under Alex’s waist, his thumb pressing against Alex’s hipbone. Alex’s thumb ran gently along Charlie’s cheekbone, the soothing caress causing Charlie’s eyes to flutter shut and subconsciously lean into the touch.
“What do you wanna do?” Charlie asked, hesitant and respectful of any boundaries Alex has.
“What you’re paid to do.” Alex spoke teasingly against Charlie’s lips, he could almost feel the way Alex’s lip quirked up into a quick smirk. “You should know, if you kiss me I’m expecting to be taken out on a nice date tomorrow.”
At that permission Charlie closed the distance between them, lips falling against Alex’s as he cupped a hand over his jaw to tilt him up slightly. Alex almost immediately parted his lips, biting down lightly on Charlie’s bottom lip in a silent tease. Charlie gasped at the light sting, quietly moaning when Alex’s tongue slid into his mouth. Alex took charge of the kiss which Charlie was more than okay with, especially when the smaller boys fingers made their way to the belt loops of Charlie’s jeans, pulling their bodies closer and Charlie had to pull away because he was not about to get a boner at a frat party with his friends watching.
“I’ll meet you outside the coffee shop, down the street from campus.” Alex said as soon as they pulled away from each other, his lips a soft red and his eyes clearly hazed with lust and Charlie was sure he couldn’t form a coherent response so he just dumbly nodded. “Does six sound good for you, Golden Boy?”
“Y-yeah. Six sounds great.” Charlie choked out, all too aware of each point of contact he had with Alex. The strong hand he still had pressed against the smaller boy's hip, the way Alex’s thumb had once again started to trail a short path up and down Charlie’s cheek.
“Perfect.” Alex leaned forward, placing a quick kiss on Charlie’s other cheek and another on his lips. He pulled away completely and Charlie mourned the loss of how his hand felt against his cheek. “I’ll see you then.”
Alex turned and walked away, Charlie frozen in place watching him make his way to a girl with curly hair and grabbing her arm to drag her away. She let out a laugh as she took in Alex’s ruffled appearance, throwing her head back and laughing harder when Alex just glared at her. Charlie didn’t even notice when Luke and Diego had joined his side, laughing heartily at the shocked and disbelieving look on Charlie’s face.
“Damn, Standall must be a fucking great kisser. You’re speechless, St. George!” Diego said through his loud laughs, slinging his arm around Charlie’s shoulders. Charlie snapped out of his shock, glaring at Diego before reaching forward and snatching the $50 from his hand.
“I’m gonna use this to pay for my date with Alex.” Charlie announced, relishing in the surprised and almost proud looks his teammates gave him. He should probably feel somewhat offended that they had so little faith in Charlie’s success but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He had just kissed and scored a date with his crush and he got $25 out of it.