Chapter Text
“You’re here!”
Charlie jumps into Nick’s arms, bringing him into a kiss immediately. Nick holds him, kissing him back before he’s letting out a laugh and separating their lips.
“You knew I was coming, Char.”
“Yeah. But it’s real. You’re actually here!”
Nick’s eyes soften and Charlie feels a thrill rush through him when Nick pulls him back in, kissing him again. It’s been a few weeks since they’ve seen each other in person. Since they’re both in Uni now their schedules don’t always align.
“I’m here.”
Nick says as he pulls away from the kiss, holding Charlie at arms length and grinning down at him. Charlie was beaming up at Nick, unable to help it.
“How was the drive?”
“Traffic was horrible. I thought I’d never make it,” Nick rolled his eyes but he was still smiling down at Charlie, “But I listened to that playlist you sent me. Thank you, it was a good distraction.”
Charlie’s heart fluttered as Nick rubbed patterns on his hips and he moved his hands to thread through Nick’s hair.
“Get a room boys!”
Charlie turns, rolling his eyes fondly at Zack, one of his roommates. He was stood in the hallway, coat on and he was eyeing the door that Nick and Charlie were blocking. Charlie let out an embarrassed laugh before tugging Nick out of the way, shooting a playful glare towards him.
“Fuck off Zack, that’s homophobic.”
“You can’t say everything I do is homophobic just because I’m straight!”
Zack calls over his shoulder as he moves past them, out the door in seconds. Charlie hums, laughing as he looked back up at Nick. He pulls him towards his bedroom, their fingers intertwining.
“Come on. Before someone else comes out to harass us,”
Nick laughed, squeezing Charlie’s hand as they climbed the stairs towards Charlie’s room. It was tiny, the walls a bland shade of brown. But he had his favorite posters up, a pride flag hung on his wall, and pictures of him and Nick everywhere. Along with pictures of Charlie and his friends as well.
“Wanna watch movie?”
Nick perks up, wiggling his eyebrows at Charlie and pulling him towards his bed.
“The Avengers?”
“That’s your make out movie!”
“Yeah, Char. That’s the point.”
Charlie whacks him in the hear with a pillow but grabs his laptop and immediately pulls him Nick’s disney plus, letting out small giggles as Nick places small kisses across the back of his neck and shoulder.
Charlie tries not to notice that Nick’s phone keeps buzzing and that Nick keeps checking it, frowning and locking it again. Neither of them mention it and Charlie assumes that Nick doesn’t know that Charlie has even noticed. Charlie is relieved that even though Nick was clearly upset about something on his phone he wasn’t letting it dampen the mood.
They’ve been snuggled up for hours, Nick’s fingers threading through Charlie’s hair. He kept bending down to lay kisses across Charlie’s skin, wherever he reached first, never the same place twice. Charlie likes to believe he’s a very trusting partner. He’s never felt the urge to invade Nick’s privacy but when Nick leaves to go to use the restroom and his phone buzzes at least three more times Charlie finds himself reaching over and unlocking it quickly.
His stomach drops.
Lindsey: I really just wish u would talk to me about this
Lindsey: Instead of just ignoring me
Charlie feels his breaths coming in small gasps and he scrolls up to read more of the conversation, seeing that Nick had stopped replying to her two day ago, the first few messages make his skin crawl.
Lindsey: You’ve been avoiding me
Nick: I think it’s best if we don’t see each other.
Nick: Sorry.
Lindsey: Nick! It’s been months you dont think we can be friends
Nick: It was a mistake.
Nick: I was drunk.
Nick: Please don’t contact me anymore.
Charlie’s read enough but he feels frozen in place, his hands shaking so bad that the words blur in front of him.
It was a mistake.
Charlie hastily blinks back tears.
I was drunk.
The ocean of feelings before Charlie has the power to drown him if he lets it. He already feels the weight of it pressing into his chest, his blood racing in veins, his heart threatening to leap right out of his chest.
“Char?”
Charlie’s head snaps up quick, the phone falling from his grasp as he makes eye contact with Nick stood in the doorway of the room.
“You had sex with someone?”
Charlie’s voice is calm. Almost eerily quiet, even to himself. He doesn’t know how he could feel numb and heartbroken at the same time but he was managing it.
“We were broken up.”
Nick isn’t meeting Charlie’s eyes, his cheeks are flushed and he looked like he wanted to run right out of the room. Charlie feels the same but his feet suddenly aren’t responding to his brain. He feels trapped here, stuck on a tiny bed in a tiny room of the house he shared at Uni.
“You had sex with someone.”
It’s not a question but a fact. It happened. It was real.
“Charlie.. we- You were with Brad when it happened. I hadn’t even left Uni yet!”
Nick’s suddenly on the defensive, his arms crossing over his chest. He finally meets Charlie’s eyes but Charlie looks away quickly, blinking his eyes to stop the tears from welling up. He knew, deep down, that what Nick was saying made sense. That Charlie actually had no right to be upset about this. That he and Nick were broken up, for nearly a fucking year, and that Charlie did have a boyfriend of his own.
None of that, however, is rational to his heart. His heart is cracking open, splitting apart. Because Charlie had been with someone else. But Nick had been with someone else. He knows he has no right.. and yet he feels betrayed.
Brad and Charlie barely even went past kissing, some over the clothes brushes was as close to getting laid as Charlie had gotten for three months during this relationship.
But Nick.
Nick.