Chapter Text
Charlie isn’t quite aware of when Tao and his bet initially became as competitive as it was today but all he is aware of is how evil Tao’s last trick had been.
The competition had begun innocently enough when Tao had decided to play a small trick on Charlie.
He had declared that his favourite movie of all time was Iron Man 2 after he had claimed that Nick had “Finally made him realise his previous stupidity in holding hatred to the Marvel Universe.” Charlie ignored why Tao had suddenly decided that he more than tolerated marvel and instead focused on the biggest shock of that sentence which was that Tao Xu was admitting that Nicholas Nelson was right about something.
After Charlie discovered the truth that, in fact, Nick had not performed said miracle, he declared war with Tao.
This is where it leads us today in which Tao’s recent trick had left Charlie crying in Nick’s arms, searching for his best friend's —who was coincidentally his crush— comfort.
Tao had decided to devote the past two weeks of his own life to building up to the moment where he would convince Charlie that he had suddenly fallen ill and had been admitted to the hospital.
On a rather uneventful Sunday afternoon, Charlie’s phone began to ring. The next few moments were the nervous exchange of information and a rush of emotions Charlie felt going straight to his heart which he believes he previously felt drop within his chest.
As soon as Charlie had hung up the phone with Tao’s mum who had called to inform Charlie of the unfortunate ‘reality’ with Tao, he wasted no time in slipping his converse on his feet without doing the laces and ran out of his front door. Simultaneously ignoring the calls of his concerned mother who had spotted the tears rolling down her son’s flushed cheeks he himself hadn’t even realised started to fall.
Charlie wasn’t quite aware of what or where he was running to until he was hit with the reality of Sarah Nelson opening the door after hearing repetitive pounding coming from the front of her house
The door swung just before Charlie could perform his next sequence of knocks, leaving his hand hovering in the air awkwardly before he brought it back to his side, still in a fist and digging the shape of crescent moons into his own palms due to his emotions taking over the logical side of his brain.
Her face appeared to be in slight shock and confusion at seeing Charlie at her door, paired with an expression she was desperately trying to read. Charlie observed this due to her scattering eyes trailing over his face.
She began speaking before Charlie even had time to ground his mind into understanding why he himself was even at Nick’s front door.
“Charlie? Nick said you weren't expected to be over until tomorrow after school.”
Her brows furrowed when Charlie’s face morphed from the surprise of seeing Nick’s mum open the door rather than his friend to a face of panic when he remembered why he was seeking out to see Nick anyway.
“Yeah…” He stood there awkwardly, scrambling to find the words in his head to make up a sentence. “Um… Is… Is Nick home? I need to see him.”
Sarah Nelson attempted to hide her surprise from, one, Charlie’s hesitation and wavering voice. And two, what he had spoken all together. She ignored her curiosity and instead offered the boy the answer he was seeking for.
“He’s upstairs in his room,” She slowly stepped aside to invite Charlie in. “Is everything okay dear?”
He hesitantly nodded slowly in response while entering the house and was thankful for the warmth that engulfed him. Despite the seasons changing to Spring, the air outside was just as cold as a few months previous, causing Charlie to silently curse himself for forgetting a coat.
Charlie rubbed his hands together to attempt to create a small amount of heat between them. Sarah Nelson observed this as she pieced the situation together in her head.
“Oh dear, you must be freezing! Would you like a cup of tea?” She said, fussing over Charlie as he slipped the unlaced shoes off with ease. “Yes please,” he said, but not without the hesitation that followed, “If it’s not too much bother.”
“Not at all! You know you’re always welcome here,” She smiled into her words. “You can go upstairs to Nick’s room if you’d like,” She explained, sensing his hesitation to do so without the invitation. “I’ll bring the tea up to you.”
While taking his first few steps up the stairs, Charlie speaks before she has a chance to walk off into the kitchen.
“Thank you, Mrs. Nelson.”
She smiles at his formality and swats her hand in dismissal, “Oh please, you can call me Sarah.”
Charlie does not reply and instead lets his response display in the way his lips slightly curl in an upward motion.
She walks toward the kitchen to prepare his tea and Charlie makes his way up the stairs. Before the boy can reach the final step, Sarah enters the hallway again and grabs Charlie’s attention by saying, “Oh, and Charlie?”
He makes it clear that she has his attention by turning his head toward her and standing still on the steps. She acknowledges this and continues speaking, “If you need anything else, you just say, okay?”
The comment squeezes Charlie’s heart and he almost feels the urge to cry.
“Yes, thank you again, Sarah.” She smiles and makes her way back to the kitchen and Charlie finally reaches the top of the staircase.
The next few moments happen in a hurry.
Charlie makes his way to Nick’s room and his knuckles softly make contact with the oak of his door three times. Nick’s response is muffled by the door but Charlie can clearly make out the words of, “Come in!”
Charlie’s hand moves from the door to the handle and his fingers curl around it. He pushes the door open and he and Nick do not immediately make eye contact.
Nick’s eyes are glued to his phone in concentration and the glow is apparent on his face due to the darkness that the room is covered in.
Charlie can just make out that Nick’s tongue is stuck out in concentration under the soft glow of his phone and the fairy lights strung up on his walls. Charlie’s mind would normally go to instantly think it was adorable but due to the silent panic attack going on inside his brain, it goes unthought.
Nick takes a few seconds to lift his eyes from his own phone due to his expectation of his mum coming to collect his washing or something of the sort.
When his eyes finally do lift from the object in his hand, he instantly becomes surprised by the sight of Charlie standing awkwardly in his doorway.
It takes another few seconds for Nick to notice that there is definitely something bothering Charlie because what other explanation would there be for him showing up at his house at 8:30 PM on a school night?
Before Nick can speak the words to ask Charlie if everything’s alright, he studies his expression and comes to the conclusion that he is clearly not.
Nick pulls the duvet that covers his legs off and places his feet on the floor. He instantly makes his way over to Charlie but before he can, Charlie beats him to it and follows this by burying his head within Nick’s chest.
A few short moments later, Nick hears the sounds of Charlie breaking down.
The sound of horrendous sobs fills the room and all Nick can really do is hold him. He follows this by whispering sounds of comfort into Charlie’s ears in a desperate attempt to calm him down though words do not reach Charlie’s ears at that moment. All that fills his head are the things he had heard on the phone previous, over and over again.
Charlie doesn’t really remember what happened between that moment and now but all he can really recognise is that he is lying on Nick’s chest and a full cup of tea lays untouched on his bedside table. The cries that had previously consumed the room had died down and they lay in comfortable silence.
Charlie continues to lay there while Nick slowly caresses his arm in an attempt to show him comfort.
More time passes without any exchanges before Charlie breaks the silence.
“Tao’s mum called me,” He pauses, still trying to process this himself. “She said Tao’s in the hospital.”
Clearly, saying this out loud hits Charlie with a sense of realisation because he begins soaking Nick’s jumper with tears once again, adding to the ones from before.
“What?” Nick speaks in a hushed whisper, desperately trying to not draw attention to his distress to avoid Charlie spiralling into a further panic.
“I- I don’t really know what happened,” He sucks in a short breath between speaking but still continues to hyperventilate. “His…His mum said that he j-just got really i-ill”
Nick notices that Charlie’s distress is not seeming to subside so he takes it into his own hands to attempt to calm his friend's breathing.
“Char, If you keep breathing like that you’re going to pass out.”
He continues to lie in Nick’s chest, hands grasping either sides of his jumper in an attempt to ground him back to reality but still, his breathing does not diminish.
“I-I can’t…”
“Yes, you can. Copy my breathing okay?”
Charlie responds in a short nod, though is limited by Nick’s chest being beneath his head.
For the next few minutes, they lie there, breathing together. Initially, Charlie’s intake of breaths were shallow and quick, but he steadies them by copying Nick’s chest movements. Eventually, he calms.
Charlie deems himself in a calm enough state that he attempts to speak of the situation again.
“I knew he was getting sick but I just,” He pauses as if he’s scrambling in his brain to come up with a coherent sentence, “I just didn't think it was that bad.”
Charlie snuggles further into Nick’s chest, seeking his warmth and comfort. Nick responds to this with a small smile.
“I wish I had done something earlier to stop it from ending up like… like,” There's a brief moment of silence in the air, Nick does nothing to break it, “this.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Nick repeats, Charlie repositions himself so he can make eye contact with him as he speaks. “Don’t blame yourself for this. Everything’s going to turn out okay.”
Charlie just blankly responds with, “I hope so.”
Charlie ends up going home shortly after that due to the request of his mother, much to his own displeasure.
They make their way downstairs together when Charlie’s mum calls to say that she's outside. Nick says a few comforting words while he edges his way toward the front door, ending his small speech with something like, “Make sure to get some sleep,”
Charlie knows he’s right in saying this but once he follows his night with his normal routine and gets into bed, there's still that dull feeling that consumes his chest. There’s something about all of this that makes him feel a sense of guilt.
Charlie had noticed Tao’s declining health over the past two weeks but failed to do enough to help him. He hadn’t thought to notify anyone of his friend's state because Charlie didn’t think it was bad enough to land him in hospital!
He fails to get sleep that night, constantly tossing and turning due to his restlessness and pestering guilt telling him that he should have done more.
As Charlie walks into form the next day, Nick instantly knows that he didn’t sleep last night. The thought of Tao’s condition consumes his thoughts completely and he fails to speak to Nick. This doesn’t go unnoticed by his friend and his eyebrows furrow in distress at Charlie’s own condition.
Whilst the register is being called, Charlie pulls out his phone and opens it to his and Tao’s chat. The last message is viewed to be before Charlie had shown up at Nick’s house with the news and Nick’s brows furrow at the thought of Charlie failing to have any contact with Tao.
It’s that moment when Nick himself becomes increasingly concerned too.
The first two lessons were tuned out by Charlie because he couldn’t even think of anything in those moments. His lack of sleep began to have a toll on him and this caused a ripple effect on the rest of his actions.
Charlie wanted nothing else than to go home, lie in bed and cry. Not even the thought of being in Nick Nelson's arms would help this feeling right now, and Charlie thought that was the cure for all of his problems.
He makes his way over to the usual picnic table where Tao and he would usually eat lunch and Charlie is so consumed by his own thoughts that it takes a while for him to register that Tao Xu who is supposed to be in a hospital bed right now is instead sitting in school, unharmed and giving Charlie the most shit-eating grin he has ever seen plastered on Tao’s face.
It’s in that moment when Charlie realises what’s going on.
He strides over to Tao, sits down opposite him, and gives him a death glare while declaring his hatred for him.
Charlie has never seen Tao looking so smug in his entire life, and that look makes him decide that he needs to get revenge.
“Oh it is on.”