Chapter Text
Charlie Spring was known for having issues sleeping, his brain was way too fogged with worries and anxiety, and when he could sleep he would have these dreams… dreams were he wasn’t enough, when his friends were just pretending to like him out of pity, where his boyfriend laughed at his body, where he wouldn’t wake up from his last relapse.
But sometimes, usually when his wonderful ginger, tall, strong arms, rugby lad but golden retriever boyfriend Nick spent the night with him wherever that was, he could have these dreams he most likely wouldn’t remember after the first 5 minutes of awakeness. In this dreams, things could go from magical, to funny and random, and sometimes, they were too real, too good for his self-called fucked up brain. Big landscapes of waterfalls, rainbows, big moons illuminating the night, calm music in the background, maybe a bark or two, easy food, a calm drive on a route to who knows where, always accompanied by his sweet boy, easy kisses, hugs, naps under the dim light of the stars, or under a warm day of spring, with the taste of the sea nearby. Charlie would find himself too deep in these dreams, and when he would woke up, a mess of legs and arms tangled up, a chest under his cheek or flushed against his back, (sometimes a little kiss on the back oh his neck would wake him up), he wouldn’t feel sad about not finishing the dream, because his life next to Nick was as good as those dreams, who says they can’t have that one day? Truly make their dreams come true, together.
–
Today, Charlie was supposed to take the train up to Leeds to visit Nick at Uni, but his alarm wasn’t enough to take him out of his best dream.
The sky was clear, the sun was beaming with what seemed to be happiness, his mind was at peace and his heart was running so fast with only love inside it. Charlie had never felt so sure of something, what was he so sure of?
Suddenly he noticed, he was wearing an all white suit, the only coloured thing was his tie, it was blue, Nick’s blue. He turned around, and what he found was enough to send his poor heart into a heart attack. Nick was standing next to him, in an all black suit, with a yellow tie, Charlie’s yellow. Why were they dressed like this? Where were they going?
A room appeared out of nowhere, Elle, Tao, Isaac, Tara and Darcy stood behind them next to Tori and Michael. In front of them stood someone whose face Charlie couldn’t decipher.
Nick grabbed his hand turning to face him, and it clicked, they were sloping today, no one but the people inside this room knew, no parent, cousin or any other relative. He was getting married today, to the man of his life, his soulmate, his perfect lover the universe had been kind enough to give him at the young age of 14.
Charles looked around, his sister crying, Tao and Elle were hugging from their spot, matching wedding rings decorated their fingers, he looked back at Nick. Nick, sweet, caring Nick, who loved him no matter what, who would always smile that lopsided smile of his, and only show his big toothy smile when he was around Charlie, as if no one else could make him happier than that, who would embrace every bit of sadness and fear Charlie had, who would bake for his friends, kiss his mom’s cheek goodbye, who gave everyone a second chance, even those who didn’t deserve it, who loved his job as a teacher because it meant he could help a young kid, to make a better society for the future little ones.
If Charlie’s heart was racing, now it was definitely out in space, getting further from eart with each breath he saw Nick take.
It was too good to be true.
“CHARLIE” Tori’s voice broke his slumber, shaking his shoulder and almost pouring an entire glass of water on top of him. “Jesus since when do you sleep so deeply, your alarm has been going for 15 minutes please get up and leave to see Nick.”
Charlie did not need to be told twice.
–
Laying in bed with Nick was probably one of his favorite things, no sound except for the sound of their breaths, the sunlight coming through Nick’s window, his fingers running through Nick’s ginger hair, it was perfect. Nick had moved into a single dorm at the beginning of his first year, so it had been calmed,quite cold now since it was december and the heater didn’t work quite well, but it still felt perfect for Charlie, the room was so Nick it scared him. Pictures of them on every wall, on his nightstand, on his desk, even on his bathroom mirror he had one, rugby merch around the floor and the little table he had there, Nellie pictures, a sweater his mum had knitted for him, some books, it screamed NICK.
But his mind wouldn’t leave that dream of his…
“I can sense you thinking you know… what’s up?”
“You sense my thinking now?” He raised a brow and Nick raised his head from his chest and looked him in the eye, a smirk on his lips and his hand traveled to Charlie’s chest, right above his heart.
“Your breathing gets deeper when you think about something too much and with too much concentration, and your hands lose the steady rhythm they had while playing with my hair. So what 's up?
He didn’t even give time for Charlie to be amazed by that, how much time had they spent together for Nick to know him more than he knew himself?
“Nothing bad, just a dream I had. A good one” A smile made its way to his face, his heart remembering the beautiful dream. Nick nudged his body asking for more.
“We were older, I think, and we were eloping, only a few people there, no parents though. You were wearing an all black suit with a yellow tie, and I had an all white one with a blue tie, I remember the feeling, like nothing else could be more right in my life.” At this point, Charlie couldn’t help the dreamy look he was getting on his face, and Nick? Nick was as alive as a dead man could be. His heart running faster than lightspeed.
“You had a dream about our wedding?” Charlie could even hear the smile.
“I don’t think elopements count as weddings… but yeah. I think I’ve always wanted to get married someday, especially since we got together, I would marry you in an instant, but I also know I don’t need a wedding.”
To say that Nick was breathless was an understatement, he was a body full of nothing, speechless , motionless, breathless, mindless even. He always thought Charlie wasn’t the wedding kinda guy, not liking too much attention on himself and all that, but here he was proving him wrong. God, if Nick had daydreamed about that for ages now, even when they weren’t official he had spent hours writing little “CFS” around his papers, surrounded by hearts, and trying surname combinations, even ideas on how to propose.
“No! Yes! I mean, wait, yes. I wanna get married. To you. I always wanted it, so yes, if you want to we can I just don’t want you to feel pressured just because I have dreamt of this for so long but if you really want to do it then we can, with fewer people so you don’t have so many eyes on you ‘cause I know you don’t like it but-” He was rambling, and Charlie had one thing he cared about talking right now.
“Wait a second, first, I just said I want this. Second, have you actually dreamed about getting married to me?” Nick actually huffed.
“OF COURSE I HAVE, ever since I met you kinda. I liked you so so much when we weren’t even boyfriends, well, to you we weren’t , but yes, I have old journals filled with surname combinations, and dumb doodles of us getting married. I know you wonder why I never said anything and I just thought it wasn’t something you wanted. You never mentioned it and you don’t like too be the center of attention too much so I just assumed, and if I told you and you didn’t want it I was gonna look dumb thinking you could ever want that. So, yeah, I have.”
“You spend too much time with me and my anxiety brain babe. Although I have to say, you are a dork, but a considerate dork, and mine. You are right, I don’t enjoy too many eyes on me, but that’s what elopements are for right? To have very few eyes on you while you get married, we can find an in-between. “ Charlie finished with a big smile, dimples out, eyes black from his dilated pupils. And Nick, kinda like a caveman didn’t think before spitting out:
“Let’s do it then. Let’s get secretly married, now, no one has to know, we just need 4 witnesses?” Before Charlie could talk and before he lost all bravery he continued. “ I know we are young, but hell if we aren’t gonna be together forever, and in a few years we can say ‘Oh hey yes we got married young and secretly but here we are ten years later so you can’t be mad at us’ right? And we can get rings later on, or now, as you wish, I’m just saying why wait when we know we want each other and mhmm-”
“NICK, I wasn’t gonna say no baby. But there is an issue… I’m 17, so legally I would have to ask my parents for permission and that ends the secrecy part.”
Oh, Char was right.
But he was turning 18 in a couple months…
“Okay, so? You are turning 18 soon, we can do it then, what do you think?”
Charlie could see how much hope Nick had in his eyes, and happiness, and love.
“I say, let’s start seeing what we need and do it the second i’m 18.”
–
So here they were, a couple months later, with only Tori and Michael in a courtroom ( you only need two apparently ). They didn’t want friends because they were too many, and Tao would never approve, but they also couldn’t have them all as witnesses, so Tori and Michael, who had been an older brother for both of them.
They didn’t have the suits Charlie dreamed of, they were saving those for a couple of years in the future when they promised to have a wedding party, but they each had a blue and yellow tie, and matching Nellie socks for goodluck.
Tori also wasn’t crying, she said it was too much of a privilege for only 3 people to see, which, fair.
Nick and Charlie, soon to be husbands , were next to the other, they just had finished signing the marriage license, and soon were out of the courthouse for a wedding ceremony-like date, they drove for a little bit until they reached their beach, where they became boyfriends, where Nick had told the universe they were finally together. And now, sitting on the sand, marriage license sitting in front of them, matching socks and ties, they reached their pockets, looking for some vows they had decided to exchange, the deeper kind of vows you don’t want to scream to the world.
Charlie went first.
“Dear husband.
Nicholas Nelson, one day Spring-Nelson, I cannot thank you enough. I wouldn’t be here without you, and with that I mean, I don’t know who I’d be if it weren’t because of you, because of how much you have taught me throughout these years… You taught me what real unconditional love is, and in that, you taught me to love myself, you helped me understand many things about myself, and you did that by cherishing all of those things.
I had been a scared kid back then, not so long ago, but now, even when my fears and doubts cloud my head, I know you are there, ready to pull me back, to kiss my fears away, to hold my hand, to love me, to make me love myself. I don’t fear those bad days anymore, because I have you by my side, even when you are kilometers away, you are there, with your big brown eyes, red hair and freckles that could create an entire universe on their own.
You stuck with me when I didn’t want to stick to life, when all I wished was to disappear, like Thanos did with so many of us back then ;) , you pulled me back Nick, and I cannot thank you enough, not only because I love were my life is going, nor because I still have amazing friends by my side, but because I get to still love you, to cherish you when you feel sad, to kiss you goodbye, to see you today after we got secretly married four days after my 18th birthday. We have some rough years ahead of us, different Uni’s, different careers and ages, but I can’t be more excited if I try. I would be scared about it, if it were with someone else, but with you? It makes all the sense in the world. I love you Nicholas Nelson, I can’t wait to wake up in your arms every day.”
At this, Charlie took the ring he had gotten Nick, a simple silver ring that could pass as a promise ring to those who weren Tori and Michael, and slid it on Nick's hand, his ring finger but on the right hand. Inside, you could read a little “N & C” with a tiny heart next to it.
He kissed his husband’s hand right above the ring and smile at Nick.
Shaking hands opened the paper the rugby lad had written his bows on.
“My Char, my sweet perfect drummer, lover boy.
I have dreamt about this day since we shared that first kiss in that empty room, ever since I have known I could never imagine a future in which you weren’t next to me, holding my hand and running to me every time I won a rugby game. You wrecked the world I used to live in, what I thought I was, but you did that to bring me into the life I wished for, the life I love, the life where I’m free, loved, cared for. You are too good for this world, and each day that goes by I wonder what heroic act I have done in a past life to deserve someone as amazing as you. I remember the first time you told me you loved me, while i was in the shower might I add, i remember the feeling of my heart growing a thousand times bigger, running much faster, and feeling so happy, because if you loved me, everything was right, I would be okay as long I you loved me, nothing else would matter, and it doesn’t, you have loved me for almost three years now, and nothing else in my life matters as much as the fact that you love me, choose me. I almost lost you last year, and those two weeks were the worst, and it proved that without your love, I’m nothing, I’m not the happy, bubbly Nick everyone knows, not the rugby lad some people admire, not the son my mom loves to watch movies with, not the Nick that I love to be, because the person I love being, is the person who gets to love you, to be loved by you. I might be possessive over you, but you can’t blame me after the amount of times guys and girls have hit on you at bars. My life wouldn’t be the same if you hadn't wrecked it years ago, because no other man is as perfect as you are to make me realize I’m bisexual, so without you I would most likely still be sad, locked in a life and persona I didn’t want to be. Thank you Charlie Spring, for helping me find myself. I love you in every universe.”
With both of them crying, Nick slid a ring onto Charlie's finger, a silver band with some leafs engraved in it, and inside Nick had engraved “Nick’s Char” on it
They couldn’t be happier if they tried, sharing a salty kiss broken by wide smiles, and a feeling that this, right here, was the most perfect thing they could have done…