Work Text:
To give some context:
It’s mid-September.
Charlie, Tao and Isaac are in Y13 at school.
Nick has just started at Leeds university studying education.
Elle has just started at UCL studying fashion.
Darcy is working locally as a waitress while she’s figuring out what to do with her life.
Tara is attending a dance college in London, but commuting from home.
///
Monday
“Oh for the love of God, it’s been scientifically proven that obsessively staring at your phone does not make it ring!” cries out a somewhat exasperated Tao, lobbing his maths textbook at Charlie’s head and narrowly missing both Charlie and the glass of water on the bedside table he was resting up against.
“I wasn’t-”
“Charlie, you’ve literally done nothing but stare at it for the last 10 minutes.”
“But-”
“What time was Nick’s rugby friendly?”
“3pm.”
“How long is a rugby match?”
“Well normally they’re 40 minutes each side with a 15 minute half time break, but because this is just a practice warm-up ahead of the match on Saturday, it’s 25 minutes each side with a-”
Charlie glances up from his book and realises Tao has his resting ‘I know I asked a question but I don’t actually care about the answer’ face on.
“And what time is it now?”
“Quarter to 4.”
“So the likelihood of Nick ringing you for at least the next 15 minutes is less than zero right? Unless attempting to score a try while simultaneously calling your boyfriend is a new rugby move I wasn’t aware of.”
“All right, all right. I get it. He won’t call yet.”
“And anyway, I wasn’t staring at my phone,” he mutters under his breath.
A few moments pass in silence while they work on their maths questions.
“Oh, I know the answer to Question 24,” Tao exclaims suddenly. “What happens if you take Nicholas Luke Nelson and times him by Charles Francis Spring? Answer: We’re never going to get this stupid worksheet finished if you don’t concentrate.”
“I am concentrating,” Charlie says, through gritted teeth.
“Oh so that’s what you call doodling his name all over the piece of paper you’re meant to be showing your working out on… concentrating?!”
Charlie then says the only thing he can ever think of to say in circumstances such as this….
“Shut up.”
Tuesday
“You’re allowed to miss him, you know,” Elle says, smiling softly at Charlie from the screen of his laptop where they are chatting over FaceTime. It’s Tuesday evening and Elle had called for their weekly catch-up and to fill him in on what she’d been up to over the weekend.
“What… I’m not… I mean I know… I wasn’t…” Charlie stutters.
“You just look like you’re a million miles away. Well, 239 miles away specifically.”
“How do you-?”
“Hmmm, I wonder… I think you may have mentioned the number of miles between Rochester and Leeds on more than one occasion,” she chuckles.
“Oh…yeah…probably, sorry,” he sighs.
“Come on, talk to me, what’s going on in that head of yours? When I spoke to Tao yesterday, he said you’d been ‘even more sickening than usual’ when you were at his after school,” explained Elle, ensuring Charlie could see her use of air quotes to know these were Tao’s words not hers.
“I just…I just didn’t think it would be this hard,” he says finally. “I mean I knew I’d miss him, of course I did, we’ve gone from seeing each other practically every day for God knows how long… to this, and I know it’s only been three weeks, but not knowing when I’m going to see him again, it’s like this physical pain, here,” Charlie points at his chest. “God I know I’m being ridiculous, honestly, I’m fine, just ignore me. You were meant to be telling me about the fashion show you went to on Saturday.”
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not like we don’t all remember your months of intense pining back when you were crushing on him, it’s just going to be an adjustment that’s all. It’ll take a bit of time to get used to. But you know you’ll be okay don’t you? You’re Nick and Charlie.”
Wednesday
“So our trio of borderline outcasts seems to have become a duo of monosyllabic misfits,” chuckles Charlie as he sits down on the picnic bench opposite Issac. “Where’s Tao?”
“Hmmm?” says Issac as he raises his head out of a book on Greek mythology that he’s currently engrossed in. “Oh, I think he muttered something about being on library duty as we were leaving maths, I wasn’t really listening.”
“Oh. Fair enough.” Charlie opens up his lunchbox and surveys his food; a sandwich, some grapes and a packet of Mini Cheddars. He picks up a grape before putting it down again and opening the Cheddars. “How’s the book?”
“Good,” Isaac sighs, recognising that his friend needs to talk and setting it down on the table.
“You know, Nick tried to read it once, not long after we got together, I think he was trying to impress me,” Charlie sighs, giggling slightly at the memory.
“That boy was trying to impress you for so long and you were utterly clueless. All this talk of how desperately pointless your straight boy crush was, when anyone with half a brain could see he was crushing on you just as badly right from the start.”
Charlie looks a bit taken aback at Isaac’s sudden verbose sentiment.
“I mean honestly, you just had to listen to him…
‘Do you want to join the rugby team?’
‘Oh you like dogs? This is Nellie’
‘Do you wanna come round my house?’
‘You look really cuddly like that’
‘You play the drums, that’s so cool’
‘Is your nose okay? Here let me wipe the mud off your face with a tissue.’
It was all just so very very obvious.”
“Oh,” is all Charlie manages to utter.
“All I’m saying is, however you are feeling right now, don’t be in any doubt that he is sat up in Leeds feeling exactly the same way. He loves you just as much as you love him.”
Thursday
“You know what you need, you need a plan,” Tara says from down the other end of the phone, while she’s on a break between dance classes and Charlie is walking to orchestra rehearsal.
“I need a what now?” Charlie asks.
“Well okay, maybe not a plan… more like a schedule. Have you and Nick talked about some kind of rota for you going to visit him up there and when he might be able to come back home for a weekend?”
“Oh, I see. No, not really. We both agreed that he needed time to find his feet, adjust to being more independent, and find his people up there.” Charlie winced slightly at that last statement.
“Hmmm, well I just think maybe it would help both of you to know when you’re going to see each other next,” she said in that all-knowing way that only Tara had.
Charlie took a sharp breath, “What do you mean both, have you spoken to him about this? Tara, what aren’t you telling me, is Nick okay? I mean he seemed okay when I spoke to him last night, maybe he was a bit quieter than usual but he said he’d had a full-on day with lectures…” Charlie is aware he’s totally spiralling.
“Charlie, wow, slow down, take a breath. He’s fine. Nick’s fine. I just think maybe you should talk to him about planning a visit. You’re not the only one missing his boyfriend you know.”
Friday
“Charlie! Do you want some help carrying those?” Darcy calls out as she jumps up from the bench and walks over to join Charlie at the milkshake van.
“Yes please, thanks Darcy. Right, er strawberry for Tara, banana for Elle, vanilla for Tao, and, really Darcy, bubblegum?? Have I not been ridiculously pining over Nick enough this week that you had to order his milkshake just so I’d miss him even more?” Charlie pretends to sob, while putting them on a tray for Darcy to carry over. “I’ll wait for mine and Isaac’s.”
“We couldn’t come here without getting our favourite golden retriever’s lurid blue abomination of a drink now could we?” she laughs, “and besides, you’re not the only one who misses him you know,” she adds softly. “With him and Elle gone and Tara doing long days commuting back and forth, it just feels like the Paris Squad is splitting up, you know. It makes me feel sad.”
“Oh Darcy, I know,” he says, as he bumps shoulders with her. For all her utter crazy chaoticness, Charlie sometimes forgets that, underneath, Darcy is just as vulnerable as he is. “At least Elle is only in London and able to come back fairly easily like today, and Nick, well everyone keeps telling me it’ll get easier, and I know it will.”
“I miss hanging out with Tara at school,” she says wistfully. “Maybe I need to look for work in London and then we can get a flat up there and she’ll stop having to spend so much time on the train.”
“Hey, you’ll figure it out,” Charlie says affectionately. “If Nick and I can do it, you guys can do it, I promise. We just need to all support each other, right...? Anyway, we’d better get these milkshakes back before there’s a mutiny at the bench!”
There’s a moment’s silence after Charlie and Darcy put the drinks down, and then all Charlie’s friends turn to him and start talking at once…
“So we’ve been meddling-”
“We’ve come up with this plan-”
“Don’t be cross but-”
“So we just couldn’t cope with see-”
Charlie laughs, “Okay, slow down, one at a time, or nominate someone to speak!”
His friends all look at each other, then Elle who is sat opposite him slides an envelope across the table towards him.
“Charlie-bear, we all know the last few weeks have been really tough for you, this week especially, and we wanted to do something to cheer you up. So, well, it was Darcy’s idea, here. Open it up.”
Charlie didn’t really know what to make of all this, but opened the envelope as instructed and then sat there utterly dumbfounded when he saw what was inside.
A return train ticket to Leeds. Leaving first thing tomorrow morning, returning on Sunday evening.
He immediately felt tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to spill down his face. For a moment he didn’t trust himself to say anything.
“How...?” he said finally, his voice catching.
“Well like Elle says, it was Darcy’s idea,” Tara spoke up as she leaned around her girlfriend who was sat next to Charlie. “She came up with it while I was talking to Lauren on the phone the other night, you know Nick’s flatmate who’s doing the same course as him.”
Charlie still didn’t really have any words, but instead looked somewhat perplexed at Tara as if to say ‘you talked to Nick’s flatmate?’
“So yeah, I rang Nick to see how he was doing as Tao and Elle both told me about the chats they’d had with you and how sad you were, and Lauren answered Nick’s phone as they’d been studying in their lounge and Nick had gone off to have a shower. Anyway, she just kind of clued me in as to how much Nick has been missing you, talks about you all the time, wishes he knew when he was going to see you-”
“Which is when I came up with my genius plan,” interrupted Darcy.
“Interrupting me just like that in fact!” Tara laughed.
Charlie honestly felt a bit like his brain was going to explode, but tried really hard to keep a grip on what was going on.
“Basically the pining needs to end!” announces Tao loudly, playfully slamming his fist down on the table so everyone stops for a moment and then starts laughing.
“So we all chipped in a tenner and Tao and I went to the station yesterday and bought you a ticket,” pipes up Isaac from behind his book.
“Lauren is going to meet you at the station tomorrow afternoon and take you straight to Nick’s match,” explained Tara. “He has no idea you’re coming! Lauren reckons he’s going to absolutely combust when he sees you,” she says excitedly.
Charlie just sits there. He really doesn’t know what to say. He’s completely overwhelmed by his amazing bunch of friends. His people. His found family. “Guys, I… honestly, I don’t know what to say.” He can feel the tears welling up in his eyes again.
Elle reaches over and gently takes his hand. “Charlie, you don’t have to say anything. We just love you. Now get your butt up to Leeds and go see your man!”
Saturday
Charlie can’t quite believe he’s sat on a train about to pull into Leeds station. It’s 2pm on Saturday afternoon and Nick’s rugby match starts at 2.45pm. Lauren had given Tara her number the evening they’d spoken on the phone, so Charlie has been able to text her and he knows that 45 minutes is plenty of time to make the 25 minute walk to rugby grounds.
“Charlie!” He hears someone calling his name and before he has a chance to think, a small, excitable looking girl with long blonde hair comes running over to him and envelops him in a massive hug.
“Er, hi, Lauren?” Admittedly Charlie doubts it’s anyone else at this point, but still feels he should probably check.
“God, yes, sorry, hi, call me Loz, everyone does! I just feel like I know you already. Honestly, Nick talks about you all the time and the wall in his room above his desk, well you’ll see later, but it’s virtually a shrine to the two of you it's covered in so many photos. We have been known to take the piss out of him a bit for it, I have to admit.”
Charlie just stands there. Hearing her talk about how much Nick misses him too has his stomach doing little somersaults.
“He is going to be absolutely beside himself when he sees you. He’s totally clueless, has no idea that you’re here. I cannot wait to see his face!!”
They start walking towards the rugby grounds and Lauren asks if he needs to stop for anything to eat, but Charlie tells her that he ate his lunch on the train, so they decide instead to just grab a coffee from a cafe that they pass.
Approaching the grounds, Charlie starts to feel nervous. He has no idea why. He knows without a doubt that Nick will be pleased to see him. It’s just the actually seeing him part. What if he’s changed? What if he smells different? What if he- God that’s ridiculous, he knows, it’s only been three weeks.
“Right,” said Lauren. “I’ve got my man on the inside, Josh, he’s on the team. I’m going to text him that we’re here and he’s going to sneak Nick out quickly before the match starts. We’ve got about 15 minutes until kick-off,” she says as she’s tapping away on her phone. “Here, you go wait round the side there, and I can shout for you.”
Charlie does as he’s told and goes and waits round the end of the stands. Moments later he can hear two voices coming out of the tunnel to the changing rooms, one he doesn’t recognise and one that makes his heart stop… “Tell me why we’re out here again mate, ‘cos Loz wished me luck before I left the flat earlier.”
“I know I did,” Charlie hears Lauren say, “but I didn’t get to give you a hug then did I? First match of the season and all that, you need a good luck hug. But also, well, we all kind of reckoned that really there was probably someone else that maybe you’d prefer to get a good luck hug from so…”
And with that Charlie takes a deep breath, and steps out from behind the end of the stands.
“Hi,” he says, totally unable to keep the enormous smile off his face at setting eyes on Nick for the first time in 21 days.
“Char!” Nick stands there completely stunned before launching himself at Charlie, picking him up, and spinning him around. They both look at each other like they are about to burst into tears, “How...?” he says, staring deeply into wet blue eyes, before planting a warm soft kiss on his boyfriend’s lips that make Charlie’s knees go weak.
“Ha! It’s a really long story, but suffice to say it has something to do with our favourite meddling gays! But for right now, you’ve got a rugby match to go and smash,” he says pointing a finger into Nick’s chest, “and we’re going to go and find our seats so I can cheer very loudly for my amazing boyfriend!”
“God, I don’t know how I’m supposed to concentrate on the game knowing that you’re here! I don’t want to play the match at all now, I just want to whisk you back to the flat and… do things to you!”
“Save it for later Nelson,” Josh interrupts laughing, “we need your head in the game, not your head in-”
“Oi shut it,… and hold on, I need a good luck kiss from my gorgeous boyfriend first, and I’ll even forgive your coffee breath… this once!”
Charlie, blushing furiously and rolling his eyes, puts his hands up to Nick’s face and places one last gentle kiss on his lips, before squeezing his hand three times, and being dragged off into the stands by Lauren.
///
Later that evening, when rugby has been played (and won), celebratory drinks have been bought (and drunk) and a group video call to the Paris Squad has been made (to much cheering, whooping and, on Nick and Charlie’s part, snogging), they arrive back at Nick’s flat. His flatmates have gone on to a club and Nick knows it’s to give them some privacy, for which he’ll be sure to thank them tomorrow. He unlocks his door and Charlie gets to see his boyfriend’s new space for the first time. It’s still so inherently Nick, with his fairy lights strung up over his bed, the wall of photos of the two of them, just as Lauren had said, and the little bi flag on a stand that Charlie had given him as a “room warming” present the morning Nick left, sitting in pride of place on his desk.
“God I’ve missed you so much,” Nick says, closing the door and coming up behind him, wrapping his arms tightly around Charlie’s waist and nuzzling softly into his neck.
“Don’t tell me, recharging,” Charlie chuckles, placing his arms over Nick’s and gently rubbing his hands over his boyfriend’s freckled skin.
“Of course.” And Charlie can tell Nick’s smiling as he hears him let out a happy sigh.
They stand there for a moment, arms wrapped around each other, swaying softly, never happier or more at peace than when they are able to just be close to one another.
“I still can’t believe I’m actually here,” Charlie whispers quietly.
“Neither can I, but I’m so happy that you are. We have some pretty amazing friends don’t we?”
“Yeah, the absolute best of the best.”
They both know they need to talk properly about sorting out some kind of visiting schedule, because the not knowing when they were going to see each other has killed both of them, but that can wait until tomorrow, because right now, Charlie has something else on his mind.
“So Nelson, tell me about these things you said you wanted to do to me earlier”
“Oh Char, I can do so much better than telling you…”