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“Charlie.”
“Hm?” Looking over at his boyfriend - oops, fiancé, still new - Charlie realised he had zoned out, staring out the window of the car dealership. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was asking which one was your favourite.” While a less patient man may have gotten annoyed by him getting distracted, Charlie didn’t detect any frustration in Nick’s tone.
“Ah, the blue one.”
“You don’t remember what make or model it was by any chance? I think we saw two blue ones.”
“It was, um… No, I don’t. I just remember it was blue.”
Chuckling, Nick scratched his head. “Hopefully Christian remembers what blue cars he showed us.”
“Sor-” Nick shot him a stern look. “-casm. I was going to say sarcasm, obviously.”
Raising his eyebrows, Nick held back a smile. “Smooth, Char.”
“What was your favourite?”
“Well, I liked the Dacia Sandero the best, but the Nissan Leaf is electric, and it would be better for the environment. I think that one was blue too, so fifty-fifty chance we’re on the same page.”
“Dacia Sa… something?”
“The Renault.” Charlie blinked, waiting for Nick to remember who he was talking to. “The grey one.”
“Oh, I liked the grey one too! It had nice cup holders.”
Shaking his head, Nick started laughing. “You and I have very different priorities when it comes to vehicles, clearly.”
“Um, excuse me. I have never pretended to know anything about cars, and I don’t know why you were expecting anything different.”
“Fair point.” Thinking for a moment, Nick leaned toward Charlie from his seat. “Tell you what, let’s make a deal. I will stop expecting you to know anything about cars if you will stop making me look at fabric swatches for the wedding party.”
“Ok, but when we agreed on blue and yellow for our wedding colours, I specifically told you we had to be careful to pick the right shade of yellow. Too bright, and the ties will look like highlighters, too muted and it won’t have enough contrast against the white shirts and too much orange, and it will look, well, orange, but I don’t want that.”
“Well, it sounds like a very important decision, but I trust you completely.” Nick’s eyes danced as Charlie huffed and crossed his arms.
“I know you’re teasing me, Nicholas, but it is important. If we weren’t going to look back on these photos for the rest of our lives, I would have half a mind to stick you in a neon yellow tie. With your complexion, it would look horrendous.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” One hand over his chest, Nick was doing his best to appear offended, but the grin on his face revealed otherwise. Charlie couldn’t help but laugh at his fiancé’s terrible attempt at acting.
“Fine.” Charlie reached out a hand to Nick. “I’ll take you up on your trade.”
“Deal.” As they shook hands in agreement, Christian returned.
“Did I hear ‘deal’? Have we selected a car already? My, you two are easy.”
“Oh please, do spread that rumour around, won’t you Christian.” Charlie winked, drawing one raised eyebrow from Christian.
Nick started laughing, and after a moment the joke must have finally registered, and Christian joined him. “Were you always this clever?”
Shrugging, Charlie just gave him a small smirk. “Don’t look so surprised. I’m more than just a pretty face, you know.”
Christian let out a short chuckle, and Charlie took pleasure in catching him off guard. While Nick had kept in touch with his rugby friends over the years, they hadn’t seen Charlie much since graduation. During that time, thanks to countless hours of therapy and one ridiculously smitten boyfriend-turned-fiancé showering him with affection on a daily basis, Charlie had tapped into newfound confidence. He was certainly still an introvert, and it wasn’t like his anxiety magically disappeared, but eventually, Charlie found it easier to relax in social situations, especially when Nick was with him.
“I see why you finally popped the question, Nelson. He’s a keeper.”
“Finally?” Charlie turned to look at Nick, who was suspiciously pink in his cheeks. “What did he mean, finally?”
When Nick didn’t answer, Christian tried to jump in. “Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just that you two have been together a long time…” He trailed off, probably aware that it sounded weak and unconvincing.
Meeting Charlie’s eyes, Nick smiled sheepishly. “I may have bought the ring awhile back.”
“Define awhile back.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie could see that Christian was shuffling papers on his desk, trying to look busy.
“Um, well, let’s see…” Nick’s blush was spreading all the way to his ears at this point. “I think it was right after your twenty-third birthday?”
“WHAT?” Charlie’s jaw was hanging wide open. “Nick, that was…” Pausing, Charlie did quick maths in his head. “You had that ring for almost two years?”
“Closer to a year and a half… but yeah.”
“Nick…”
A loud thud from the desk made them both jump, and Christian fumbled to pick up the paperweight he had just dropped.
“Sorry.”
It was clear the apology was not just about the noise, and Nick waved him off “It’s ok, Christian. It wasn’t a secret or anything, it just hadn’t come up yet.”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Really.” Clearing his throat, Charlie decided to drop the conversation out of pity for Christian. “So, Nick and I were discussing our top choices.”
Relaxing his shoulders, Christian smiled, clearly relieved at the change in subject. “Alright, what did you like?”
—
One hour and a hefty stack of paperwork later, Nick and Charlie drove home in their new car. Nick kept glancing over at Charlie from the driver’s seat, but Charlie pretended not to notice, enjoying watching him sweat. “I’m glad we went with the blue one.”
A tight-lipped smile was Charlie’s only response to Nick’s gentle teasing. It turned out they had actually looked at three blue cars, but thankfully Christian figured out which one Charlie meant when he said, “the really cute one.”
“Yes, I’m happy with our 2018 Nissan Leaf SV Hatchback too.”
Nick raised his eyebrows. “I’m impressed you remembered.”
Waving a sheet of paper dramatically, Charlie scoffed. “I’m literally holding a copy of the paperwork. It says it right at the top.”
“Well, I still think it's sexy when you talk about cars.”
“Sexy, huh?” Moving his hand to rest on Nick’s knee, Charlie gave him a gentle squeeze. “Does it rev your engine?”
Smirking, Nick kept staring straight ahead. “Oh, come on, you can do better than that.”
Challenge accepted.
“I could have done better if we hadn’t gone with an automatic transmission.” As Charlie trailed his hand slowly up his thigh, he watched Nick’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Otherwise, I would’ve let you show me how to use the stick shift.” Charlie’s hand moved firmly to Nick’s upper thigh, suddenly feeling a slight pull in Nick’s slacks. With one more devious squeeze, Charlie pulled his hand back and clasped his hands together in his lap. “How was that? Better?” he asked, raising the pitch of his voice slightly, feigning innocence.
Clearing his throat, Nick peeked over at Charlie. “You’re evil. You know that, right?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Nicholas. Oh, looks like you’ve got something right-” Reaching over quickly, Charlie brushed his fingertips quickly but firmly along the zipper of Nick’s pants. “There.”
“Charlie, I’m driving!” Clearly flustered, Nick readjusted his grip on the steering wheel and sat up slightly.
“Don’t worry. I got it.” Satisfied with his ability to rile up Nick with minimal effort, Charlie smirked victoriously. “Payback is fun.”
“Payback? For what?”
Huffing, Charlie shot Nick an annoyed glare. “For letting me find out from Christian of all people that you sat on an engagement ring for almost two years.”
“Closer to a year and a half.”
“Still a long time.”
“Is it really that big of a deal?” Nick was running his hand through his hair, something Charlie often saw him do when he was flustered.
“I’m just curious why you waited so long.” Hesitating, Charlie decided to ask the question he was scared to know the answer to. “Did you second guess it, or something? Like, did you buy it and then get cold feet? You’ve always seemed so sure about us, but if you had concerns at one point, I think we should at least talk about it.”
After a moment of silence, Nick looked over his shoulder and silently pulled the car to the side of the road. “Nick, what are y-” As soon as the car was in park, Nick cut Charlie off, turning and cupping his face in his hands.
“Charlie Spring, I have not doubted for a second that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Under the intensity of Nick’s gaze, Charlie felt his breath hitch. “In fact, I knew years before I bought that ring.”
“You did?” It was barely a whisper. “Then why…”
“I knew you weren’t ready. I knew you still had fears, those voices in your head telling you that you weren’t good enough, that I was going to leave you.” As his eyes started to glisten, Nick blinked back tears. “So I decided if you ever questioned me again, if you ever started spiralling, I wanted to be ready. I would be able to whip that ring out of my pocket on a moment’s notice and prove to you that I had every intention of staying.”
As Nick stroked his cheek with his thumb, Charlie was vaguely aware of the tears starting to well up in his eyes. “But that didn’t work, because either you didn’t tell me when you were panicking, or what I hope is the case, you actually started to believe me. After about a year, I figured I should plan a proposal rather than keep waiting for an opportunity to present itself.”
A tear had made its way down Charlie’s cheek, and Nick brushed it aside. “Does that answer your question?” All Charlie could do was nod before leaning forward and pressing his lips onto Nick’s. His stomach fluttered, and Charlie marvelled at how the butterflies had never faded after all these years. When they broke apart, Nick brushed the curls from Charlie’s forehead, the corners of his lips turning up slightly. “Should we head home then?”
“Yeah, probably should.” Charlie returned Nick’s smile.
Turning the car back on, Nick looked over at Charlie once again, a gleam in his eye. “When we get home, I’d still like to show you how to use the stick shift.”