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It was so easy to ask Charlie to come with him, anywhere. To ask Charlie over. To simply… want to spend time together. For Nick, being around the curly-haired brunette was as simple as breathing air. It didn’t make sense, really, if he thought about it too much. It should have been awkward or messy, or he should have at least felt some sense of disquietude about it, but Nick Nelson found that asking Charlie Spring around was the simplest thing in the world.
x.
The first time, his request had been as spontaneous as pulling out his phone to share pictures of Nellie. It wasn’t premeditated in any way, but it just made sense to articulate that he wanted to share more of his life. He wanted Charlie to meet his dog and maybe his mum. It was an honest, easy request borne of that same swelling feeling he got every morning when the brunette walked into Form and chirped a little ‘hi’ in his direction.
x.
The second time… he hadn’t actually managed to articulate himself because Imogen got into his head. Erasing the message and everything it might imply about getting together again this Saturday, the red-head frowned into his phone. Who cared whom Nick Nelson might or might not be chirpsing? And was he, really? Was that what he was doing, messaging back and forth with Charlie via DMs? Could you even really chirps with a friend and not a--
x.
The third time, he’d simply wanted the other there with him at Harry’s birthday party. Asking Charlie to come had sort of just… slipped out after having turned the idea over and over again in his mind. Nick couldn’t imagine a scenario in which he wanted to stand and pal around with the rugby lads and pretend he wasn’t wishing the brunette was there all evening and so… he’d simply… asked.
“Do you want to go to Harry’s party? With me.”
With me , being an instrumental portion of the request. With me, to chat and joke and laugh with, all night. To spend time with, to better get to know, to accidentally brush shoulders and--
Even the part where he’d leaned over and impressed upon the brunette to “ Please come, ” because he really did want Charlie to be there. It was the most honest thing Nick had admitted aloud to anyone in a long time. Charlie brought that honesty out in him; made him want and strive to be… to be genuine, maybe.
Yeah. Charlie made him want to be genuine.
x.
The last time, there wasn’t anything in the world Nick wanted more than to just blurt out his most honest sentiments and hope they were enough to convince Charlie to stay. He didn’t care if the whole school saw them holding hands, he didn’t care about the whispers that may or may not have followed them into the building. He didn’t even care that they were in the hallway, easily approached by anyone who dared run after such a display in the first place. All Nick Nelson cared about in that moment was--
“I don’t want to break up.”
He couldn’t even fathom what that… what that even looked like in the moment. It was all dark, cold, squiggly and shadowed and Charlie was sunshine and warmth. Charlie was everything good in his life that Nick radiated towards, that had made Nick bloom into this less selfish, brave person that he’d always wanted to be. He couldn’t lose that, he couldn’t lose--
“I need you to know that my life is way better because I met you.”
And… and he hated the discouraged look in blue eyes that told him so easily that Charlie didn’t believe him! Nick felt a wave of protective affection rise in his gut and one of his fists clenched by his side. He would stand here and proclaim himself over and over, like a Greek dramatist, until Charlie believed him. The other had to see how much better he’d made Nick’s life. How much of an impact he’d had and how honest , genuine, and open he’d made Nick Nelson realize he could be.
“I need you to believe me!”
I need it more than I’ve ever needed anything in my life.
x.
Charlie Spring was like a small green sproutling when you first looked at him. Cute, and growing, flourishing in his own light and trying to brave the harsh reality of the world around him. But Nick Nelson had been a seed. It wasn’t until Charlie showed him the way upwards, the way to a better life filled with warmth and sunlight, that Nick finally realized how easy it was to simply… be honest.