Work Text:
Charlie could have lived without his soulmate words being “Hi.”
Of course he didn’t expect to get something totally unique like they show in the movies, but come on now.
Of all things, why did his soulmate words become the most generic phrase in human history?
The first thing he’s ever said to over half the people he’s ever met has been hi.
Tao’s was “hi”.
Elle’s was “hi”.
And even Aled’s, although spiced up by starting with a confident “um”, ended with a “hi”, too.
“I’ll be alone forever,” Charlie moans into his hands.
“You’ll find him someday,” Tao says, slapping Charlie’s back.
“You think so?”
“I know so! Who could look at this face and not want it as their soulmate?” Tao says grinning, and leans over to smush Charlie’s cheeks in between his hands.
Charlie pushes his hands away, but the exchange already has him feeling better. “You, for one.”
“Sorry for being straight,” Tao says solemnly, and puts a hand over his chest.
Charlie rolls his eyes, and he lets his worries calm. “Whatever. Did you still need help with your homework?”
-
When he’s in Year 9, the entire school finds out he’s gay.
Charlie doesn’t know how they found this out, considering Charlie was closeted to everyone but his tight friend group, but that’s the least of his problems.
He gets pushed into the lockers, taunted, and called slurs to his face. There’s worse, but he tries hard to pretend like he’s somewhere else when those happen.
For one whole year, Charlie wishes he didn’t exist.
No one says hi to him at all anymore, because no one can stand to look at his fucking face.
-
Ben Hope approaches Charlie first. Even before they start their relationship, Charlie knows that he isn’t his soulmate.
He has his words covered up with a wristband, just like everyone in their school does as per their uniform, and just like everyone outside their school does when they have words they aren’t ready to share, and he’s careful to not let it slip even when they're making out against the wall. Charlie doesn’t have to be a genius at context clues to know that their marks aren’t for each other.
Ben’s first words to him weren’t ‘Hi’, anyways.
("Charlie, right?" A voice comes from behind him. Charlie turns around and sees a boy standing there.)
So, anyways. He and Ben... probably aren’t going to be together forever.
Charlie’s come to terms with it by now. But he still wishes Ben would want to hold hands sometimes. That Ben would want to come over sometime and just hang out in his room.
Ben very adamantly refuses on both accounts, and Charlie does his best to not let it bother him.
He’s the only gay guy in their year, in their school. So it’s not like he’s drowning in options at the moment.
And Ben is... nice, when they’re alone at least. He’ll say nice things that make Charlie blush and smile, and Charlie is happy with that.
With him.
-
After Ben finds out about his words, through an unfortunate slip-up resulting in his band tearing off and in need of a replacement, he stops greeting him at all.
Charlie comes to terms with that too.
-
And then he meets Nick Nelson.
-
Mr. Lange only takes a glance at Charlie before looking back down. “You’re over there, next to Nicholas Nelson.”
Charlie doesn’t actually know a lot about Nicholas Nelson. He knows he goes by Nick usually. Plays rugby. Quite well known for rugby, at that. A Year 11, next to Charlie’s Year 10. In the same form group as him. And... stupidly hot, from the looks of it.
Which is about where the list ends.
And because this is where the list ends, Charlie makes the following calculations, because he just so happens to be pretty good at maths:
Charlie + Rugby boy = Usually bad;
Nick = Rugby Boy;
Any other rugby boys + Charlie = Most likely... bad;
And so,
Nick + Charlie = ...Absolutely not a good idea.
Charlie tightens his hand on his backpack straps. Ignoring Nick Nelson is a-go, then.
He sets his resolve, but he barely sets his notebook on his desk when he sees Nick turning to him out of his peripheral—
“Hi,” Nick says.
Charlie snaps his head up, his heart skipping a beat. Don’t do it Charlie, he reminds himself. Don’t give yourself false hope. A half-second later, he thinks, Even Nick Nelson’s voice is nice.
“Hi,” Charlie replies, maybe a bit too awkwardly to sound natural.
They stare at each other. There’s something hesitant between them Charlie can’t quite make out, but when he opens his mouth to figure out what it is —
“All right, then,” Mr. Lange says, and the conversation stops before it’s even begun.
-
Once Charlie and Nick start saying hi to each other, it’s like they never stop.
Whether it’s when they pass by each other in the hallways, or sitting next to each other at form, or anywhere else where they manage to make eye contact, Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson are apparently destined to greet each other with Charlie’s soulmate words. Word.
“Aren’t you being a bit too dramatic?” Tao asks.
Charlie frowns. “Soulmates are practically destiny in the first place. I think I’m being perfectly normal.”
Tao raises an eyebrow. “You don’t even know that your words match his.”
“They could.”
“Whatever you say.”
-
Charlie joins the rugby team.
Because of course he does.
In his defense, getting asked while you’re in the middle of fantasizing being asked out would be disorienting for anyone.
-
His thing with Ben is over.
Charlie would rather not talk about it.
-
“He’s the straight person I have ever seen.” Elle stands over them, and as her word is law as per their friend group code, Charlie can only groan into his hands.
“Thank you,” Tao says, and turns his head to Charlie. “Listen, I know that he said your words, but just... be careful, yeah? I don’t want to see you get hurt over him if it doesn’t work out.”
Charlie sighs. “Yeah I know, I just—”
“Have a crush on him?” Tao finishes dryly.
Charlie just sighs again, and leans back against the bed.
-
The Soulmates Thing (“Capitalized S and T, by the way,” Charlie says, while Tao rolls his eyes) doesn’t come up until a few weeks in.
Charlie can’t really pinpoint how they got there, but suddenly they’re talking about when they think is the ideal age to meet their potential soulmate.
“As soon as possible,” Nick says. “I’ve already waited sixteen years for it, you know?”
“Same,” Charlie agrees. “I think it would be nice to know someone’s out there for me.”
Nick smiles at him, warm and inviting.
It’s moments like these that Charlie, who has settled somewhere into himself that Nick is Straight, also with a capital S, starts to suspect something different.
Charlie starts again, “But uh, my words are really stupid. Like, so dumb. I don’t think I’ll ever find them anytime soon. Not even when I’m like, twenty-five or something.”
“Don’t say that. And besides,” Nick replies. “They can’t be as dumb as mine.”
Charlie swallows, and he only lets the silence between them sit for a minute. “Do you—”
Only, it seems Nick had the same idea. “Are your—”
The two of them stop, and laugh sheepishly.
Charlie makes a gesture with his hands. “You first.”
Nick clears his throat. “Right. Okay, so um. This might sound a bit weird, but uh— And don’t laugh.”
“I won’t,” Charlie promises.
“Right. So uh, would you believe me if I said that my soulmate words was actually only one word? One that was really, really stupid?”
Charlie freezes. “W- What?”
Nick looks at him nervously. “Yeah. Just one, and actually, you’ve said it already. The first time we met. Which is just, so crazy and weird that I waited so long to bring it up, and —”
“Nick.”
“And I know the likelihood of us being, I don’t know, soulmates or something is like, so low and it might not even be you, and that’s totally fine, really. I just—”
“Nick?”
Nick breaks off. “Yeah?”
Charlie feels like he might have a heart attack. “Can I see your soulmate mark?”
Nick nods quickly. “Yeah—um, yeah.”
Nick carefully pulls at his wristband until it’s fully off his wrist, and written in dark ink right under: ‘Hi’.
“No way,” is all Charlie can say, before pulling off his own wristband and showing Nick.
Nick gapes. “No way.”
Charlie meets his eyes, letting all the hope he’s tried to repress completely take him over. “Does this mean we could be soulmates?”
“Yeah,” Nick says, nodding slowly, as if he can’t quite believe it himself. “Yeah. We could be.”
“Except you’re... straight, right?”
Nick clears his throat, and there’s a beat where he doesn’t answer. Charlie doesn’t read too much into it.
He doesn’t.
Except he absolutely does, and he feels like fireworks are going off in his gut.
“I guess so,” Nick finally says with a smile. “Right. You’re right. But like, soulmates can be platonic too. Or romantic. You know? So you may have just found yourself a new best friend.”
Charlie smiles, too. He didn’t think talking to Nick Nelson would ever be so easy, no matter the conversation topic. “Are you trying to tell me I’m not already?”
“You? Charlie Spring? You think you’re my best friend? My bestest friend ever?”
“Shut it,” Charlie says, reading the teasing tone in Nick’s voice. “You know I am.”
“Are you?” Nick exaggerates his motions, pressing a finger to his chin and pretending to think.
“I am. And just to make sure no one ever takes my place, I’ll make you swear I am.”
“Yeah?”
“Yep. Repeat after me: I, Nick Nelson.”
Nick raises his hand in mock allegiance. “I, Nick Nelson.”
“Am the bestest ever friend of one Charlie Spring, who could be my soulmate.”
“Am the bestest ever friend of one Charlie Spring, who could be my soulmate.”
“Said Charlie Spring is extremely good at Mario Kart.”
Nick repeats, amusement growing in his tone, “Said Charlie Spring is extremely good at Mario Kart.”
“And is better, taller, and smarter than me.”
“And is better— Hey!”
The both of them look at each other and burst out into laughter.
Charlie pretends like his heart doesn’t race at the sight of Nick, face red and hand clutching his stomach.
And even though they could be platonic soulmates, or they could not be soulmates at all, it feels different. It really does this time.
-
Until Charlie messes it all up.
Nick invites him to a party, and Charlie has to go and push him into a kiss.
Fuck.
He just has to go and ruin everything, doesn’t he?
Even with his potential soulmate.
He wonders if it might actually be possible to suffocate himself with the pillow.
-
But the next day, barely twelve hours later, Charlie wants to stuff his face into his pillow for a completely different reason.
His blush is never going away. Jesus.
The second he thinks he might be calming down, he remembers it again:
Nick’s lips on his, the way he reaches up on his toes to keep from parting, and the way Nick looks at him when they break off.
And then Nick holding an umbrella, the sound of rain nearly drowning out everything else:
“Hi,” Nick says, eyes wide.
“Hi,” Charlie says.
“...Did I forget something?”
“Yeah,” Charlie says breathlessly, and kisses him.
The fireworks are back, and just as strong as ever.
“Okay,” Charlie says when they part, “Bye, my maybe-soulmate.”
Then, he turns around and runs back home before Nick can react.
-
They’re not dating, but Charlie has hope for this.
Maybe a bit too much. But he doesn’t care. Nick is maybe, probably, bisexual, and he’s still figuring things out, and Charlie just likes him so much.
He reassured Nick multiple times that this was nothing like the situation with Ben, and he still stands by that. They kiss whenever they can, and they talk and text all the time.
Case in point:
charlie: u kno.... we are kinda cringe
Nick: Did you just realize?
charlie: nah
charlie: thinking about it deeply at the moment though
Nick: I think it’s okay to be cringe with the person you like
Nick: And also the person who could like 99% be your soulmate
Nick: Just a personal opinion
Nick: Thoughts??
charlie: u make a compelling argument, mister nelson
charlie: and 99% ?????
charlie: you seem so sure of yourself :P
Nick: But you do agree with it don’t you mister spring?
charlie: gross
charlie: sounds like your talking about my dad
charlie: (but yes i agree)
Nick: But I’m talking to YOU Mr. Spring
Nick: Mr. Spriiiinggggg
Nick: (HA)
charlie: please
charlie: go back to char at the very least
charlie: i beg of you
charlie: (i can’t keep track of two conversations we have to kill this one dead)
Nick: I could be convinced....... with a kiss
Nick: (Sure, Mr. Spring)
charlie: and just like that
charlie: we are back to being cringe
charlie: (UGH)
-
Months pass like this, and even with the hiccup that’s the whole, Nick getting into a fight with Harry Greene thing, things are good.
Charlie turns fifteen, they go to the beach, they kiss a lot.
They’re boyfriends now, and if that isn’t the craziest thing to ever happen in Charlie’s life, he doesn’t know what is.
He’s never been so happy.
-
There’s just... one thing.
-
He ends up bringing it up when the two of them are lying together in bed. Not doing anything specific, really. Nick is lying on his back, phone held up in front of his face as he scrolls through Instagram. The phone’s already dropped on his face twice, both of which made Charlie laugh so hard there were tears coming out of his eyes, but Nick refuses to change positions. Charlie is sitting with his feet under him, so that Nick’s head can rest comfortably on his thighs.
Charlie runs his hands through Nick’s hair. “Hey, Nick?”
Nick makes a noncommittal noise, still engrossed in whatever he’s commenting on now.
“Niiick.”
Nick peers up from over the top of his phone. “Alright, you have me. What’s up?”
“Do you think that there might be a chance that, well...”
Nick’s brows furrow. “Well?”
“That, you know... our words,” Charlie finishes quietly.
Nick frowns. He tosses his phone to the side of the bet and sits up, looking Charlie in the eye. “What about them?”
“I know technically we have each other’s... but do you ever think about it we don't— if— I don’t know. If we could have already passed by someone else that’s supposed to be our real soulmate?”
Nick gives him a contemplative look. “Do you worry about that a lot?” He asks, voice soft.
“You don’t?”
“I mean, sometimes, sure. But I like you,” Nick says, as if the answer is simple. “I don’t think it’s wrong for us to like each other. And like you said. Technically, we have the same words.”
Charlie runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, you’re right. And you know I like you. So much. I just... I wonder if there’s someone out there better for you.”
“Charlie, there is no one out there better for me than you. And besides,” Nick says with a smile. He leans right into Charlie’s personal space like he belongs there. “We’re boyfriends. We’re already loads closer than some soulmates out there.”
“Right,” Charlie says. Nick just says things like this so easily, Charlie feels helpless to do anything but believe him.
“I like you,” Nick says. “I told you before too, but I love liking you.”
Charlie huffs. “You’re so cheesy.”
Nick gasps, leaning back. “What? Say that to my face, Charlie Spring!”
“Where have you been, Nick Nelson?” Charlie says. “I said it to your face the first time.”
“Woooow, is this really the game you want to play when I’m about to kiss you?”
“Oh, is that what you were doing?”
Nick scoffs. “What do you think someone who leans that close to you is going to do?”
Charlie shrugs, but the smile on his face is getting harder and harder to keep down. “I don’t know, smell me?”
“Smell you?” Nick laughs incredulously and leans back in. “You’re ridiculous. You’ve left me with no other options, Char. Now I have no choice but to show you what I was really planning on doing.”
He puts his hands on either side of Charlie’s face. Instinctively— because they’ve made out enough times by now that Charlie has instincts in response to this— Charlie’s hands go to clutch the back of Nick’s shirt.
“I guess you don’t,” Charlie agrees.
“I hope you’re ready for this.”
“Born ready, you dork.” Their noses are practically touching. “We’re boyfriends,” Charlie says then. Just a statement of fact. One that can’t be disputed by anyone.
“We’re boyfriends,” Nick confirms, and his eyes drop down to Charlie’s mouth.
Charlie’s cheeks hurt from grinning.
And right then, just as Nick starts to lean in and his eyes fall closed, Charlie decides that he could care less whether or not their first words mean that they’re soulmates.
Because Charlie likes Nick, and he’s ten thousand percent those feelings are more than returned. Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson. Boyfriends. And maybe one day, they can be a lot more than that.
Charlie closes his own eyes.
When they kiss, it just feels right.
They feel right.
And that’s all that really matters to him.