Chapter Text
Nick Nelson was the Rugby King of Truham so to say his absence was noticed would be an understatement. In the past few months Charlie had gotten tired of hearing the other boy’s name. They’d never even said a passing hello but even his little group of friends couldn’t avoid hearing about the ‘golden boy’ on a daily basis.
The speculations had gone from relatively rational to downright ridiculous. It started out with the normal, ‘oh I hope he’s alright, he’s been gone for a few days’ to ‘he must be really sick I haven’t even heard from him in over a week’ to ‘maybe he secretly transferred schools to get himself a better rugby team’ and finally to ‘I bet he got some girl pregnant and is too embarrassed to show his face here, I heard from Jake that he was messing with half the Higgs girls’ and ‘I heard from Harry that he’s in rehab after getting caught with drugs.’
Charlie couldn’t decide if he wanted to scream or laugh. Regardless of why he wasn’t in school anymore it was no one else’s business. Kids could be cruel though, and there was no stopping the rumor mill once it got started. He worried for Nick, even though he didn’t know the other boy he still had a heart and he knows that when he’d disappeared from school last year it wasn’t for shits and giggles. His stay in the hospital hadn’t been fun in the slightest and his recovery after less so.
Once a week he still had to go in to see his therapist and go to physical therapy. Therapy sucked but he would still rather that PT. Charlie hated exercise on the best of days and even now, almost a year later his body was still messed up enough from his malnutrition that he needed the extra help training his muscles to properly do the things they were meant to do.
It was Wednesday, which meant that he would be going to the hospital after school for his weekly torture and he was in a foul state. He had done his best to choke down his lunch, taking the tiniest bites in order to not throw it back up right there on the quad and had finally managed to swallow half of it before giving up and calling it a win.
His mum usually drove him to and from the hospital but the universe had seemed fit to bless him today and had her working late. Therefore, Tori was up to bat and seeing as she was his favorite person, it made the afternoon just a little less unbearable. She was the one person that Charlie never felt judged by, she just took everything as it came and never treated him as if he was an invalid, like everyone else that knew what he’d suffered from did.
“How was your meeting, Charlie?” She asked in that calm voice of hers as he walked out of Geoff’s office. “Share anything juicy?”
He gave a laugh, “As if, my life is not interesting enough.”
“That’s true.”
“Tori!” He swatted at her shoulder as they stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor. “Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you have to agree.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, would you rather I lie?” She turned and looked up at him with her big eyes, “Charlie, you are without a doubt the most fantastically interesting boy I have ever encountered in my entire life.”
“I think that might actually be worse, but thanks.”
They’re still laughing as they walk down the hall when suddenly the door next to them opens and the thin wheel of a wheelchair runs directly across his left foot. Charlie gives a very loud, very undignified screech and stops to grab at it, hopping on one foot and letting out a string of ‘ow ow ow’.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry, I’m still getting used to this chair,” The voice is frantic but kind, “Did I hurt you, are you okay?”
“It’s okay I-” Charlie looks up and his voice falls away, “Nick?”
The boy in question, the topic of nearly every Truham conversation, the Rugby King himself, is sitting in the wheelchair in front of him. The worry on Nick’s face drops quickly and suddenly he thinks that the blonde haired boy might actually throw up.
“Oh, hi.” He shifts himself in the chair, “Charlie, right?”
“Yeah, I- hi, how are you?” Charlie curses himself in his head, “I mean we’re in a hospital so probably not great but like…I’m glad you’re not dead?”
There’s a strained moment of silence and Tori places a hand on his arm as if to move him along but Nick’s chair is still stopped directly before them. He’s stunned, this is the last place he’d ever expect to see anyone from school, let alone Nick Nelson. It was even stranger to see him sitting in a wheelchair.
Nick’s knees were both knocked to one side, twisted awkwardly away from his body, and Charlie feels a wave of utter sadness. One of his distant cousins had been in a bad car accident when they were kids and had been paralyzed from the waist down and that was exactly the way her legs would fold when she’d roll around in her chair. Knees together, twisted limply to the side. He’d never wanted to give a stranger a hug so badly.
“Please don’t tell anyone.” Nick broke the silence first, once again frantic.
“It’s not our business to tell.” Tori’s calm voice seemed to have the same effect on Nick that it always had on Charlie as he watched the other boys' shoulders slump from their tense position.
“I know what it’s like to have secrets, I won’t tell anyone.”
Nick’s head ducks a little and he’s clearly remembering last year when Charlie had been outed as gay to the entire school. A bunch of year twelve rugby lads had bullied him into an attempted suicide but Nick had never said one bad thing about him. As a rule, Charlie stayed far away from jocks but even though they had never spoken, Nick had never seemed the same as the rest.
His eyes were kind.
“Right.” The other boy put his hands back on the wheels and turned the chair awkwardly away from the sibling pair, “Well, I’d better just-I’m a bit late so-”
Then he jerks his head and starts to roll down the hall, the same way they were headed. Charlie felt strange walking behind him, not wanting the blonde boy to feel as if he were being followed, but it couldn’t be helped. The three of them traveled in silence until they reached the glass doors that led to the large physical therapy gym.
“Charlie, do you want me to go? I can find the cafe or something.” Tori rubbed a comforting hand on his upper arm and raised her eyebrows slightly.
“Actually, can you stay with me? Mum never does but, I dunno, maybe it’ll help to have someone supportive.” He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling like he was inconveniencing his sister even though he knew, logically, that she would more than happily join him in the gym. “Sorry.”
“Stop apologizing for asking for things you want.” Tori poked his nose, “You’re allowed to ask for things, Charlie.”
And with that they headed inside. Tori cheered him on (in her flat voiced Tori way) and made ridiculous jokes when he was getting visibly frustrated. His mum never even bothered to ask if he’d want company during his PT but he doubts that she would be anywhere near as loving as Tori during his sessions, so maybe it was for the best. Tori, on the other hand, was amazing as always.
Across the gym there was a loud thud and then a scream. Charlie’s head whipped up to Tori and the two made eye contact, there were only two other people in the room and the voice for sure didn’t belong to the eighty year old woman to his right.
The thud had been loud but the scream had been one of anger, not pain. Charlie knew that anger, he’d felt it his entire life. That was the scream of someone who felt defeated and hopeless and frustrated and just so so angry. Once again Charlie had an overwhelming urge to walk over and hug Nick Nelson. Instead, he respected and comorted the other boy the way he knew he would want other people to if the situation was reversed.
He resolutely ignored Nick and continued his own exercises until the hour was up.
Then he left.