Work Text:
Charlie's hands were hidden deep inside his pockets despite his warm gloves as they walked Daisy through the park. Nick held her lead as they stood, watching as she thoroughly sniffed and examined the tree. Nick always felt a little lost in winter, the cold weather meaning they walked side by side, instead of hand in hand.
"Are you sure you don't want to head back?" asked Nick, noticing Charlie's shivers. "I can manage."
"No, I need walkies as much as she does. I just wish it wasn't so damn cold," said Charlie. "But the sunshine and fresh air do help with seasonal depression." He looked up at the flat grey sky. "Well, fresh air at any rate."
"I just miss holding your hand," pouted Nick.
"You are such a sap," laughed Charlie. "I'm still right here."
"But how am I supposed to recharge if I don't get to touch you?" said Nick. "Besides, holding your hand is one of my favorite things to do. Always has been."
"I suppose we will just have to cuddle up on the couch for a while and watch a movie. Or maybe, if you need more skin to skin contact than that…" Charlie leaned against Nick, hands still firmly in his pockets, chin on Nick's broad shoulders, with a glint in his eyes that Nick knew well after all these years together.
"You menace," said Nick with a grin. "Just because my husband is unreasonably fit doesn't mean I want to jump him every second of the day."
"Are you sure about that? Because I also have an unreasonably fit husband and I definitely want to drag him into bed right now." Charlie bit his lower lip.
Daisy tugged at the lead, ready to continue onwards. "I think Daisy wants to finish her walk first," said Nick with a sigh.
"Aww, ok girl, let's keep walking," smiled Charlie.
They finished their lap of the park before walking back to their small house. Daisy waited patiently in the entry as Nick toweled off her muddy paws and he and Charlie stripped off their shoes and coats, and in Charlie's case, two layers of gloves, hat, scarf and extra thick socks. Nick held his still warm hands against Charlie's cold cheeks.
"How are your hands still so warm?" marveled Charlie.
"I've just always been a furnace," shrugged Nick. "I hardly ever get cold, even my hands."
Charlie pressed his cold nose against Nick's neck.
"Brrr!" said Nick, startled. "Do I need to make you a nose warmer?"
"I'm pretty sure a tiny nose hat would just make me look ridiculous," said Charlie. "But you are the knitter. I guess I should be glad you haven't made me anything truly ridiculous yet."
Nick laughed, but in the back of his mind, he was remembering a post he had seen on Instagram of a mitten designed to let people hold hands inside of it. If he made something like that out of a nice warm wool, he could still hold hands with Charlie and share his warmth, and protect Charlie's delicate fingers from the cold. And if he made matching mittens, then their other hands could be warm as well.
As they sat on the couch watching re-runs of Taskmaster, it wasn't too long before Charlie succumbed to the warmth of Nick and the soothing prattle of telly they had already watched a dozen times. As Charlie's breathing settled and slowed, Nick pulled out his phone and went over to Ravelry.
Hand holding mittens had a few results but nothing particularly cute. Nick was still a new enough knitter that he wasn't very confident about needing to alter patterns. Couple's mittens had disappointingly few hits.
Lover's mittens, on the other hand (Nick snickered quietly at the pun inside his own head), had some very pretty Nordic mittens. Even though he didn't like the black and white and red color scheme, that was just a matter of picking different yarn. But he had never tried color work before. He pulled open his messages to text Elle.
[Nick] are these mittens too hard for a first color work project? (Link)
[Nick] they're just so cute!
[Elle] I think you can do it!
[Elle] it doesn't look like there are any super long floats, so tension should be manageable.
[Nick] thanks! Do blue, yellow and red seem like they would work?
[Elle] that sounds super adorable!
[Elle] yarn shopping tomorrow?
[Nick] yes please! But you can't tell Charlie what I'm making! I want them to be a surprise
[Elle] my lips are sealed, I promise
[Elle] do you have double points?
[Nick] not in the right size. I'll have to check when I'm not being a human pillow
Charlie stirred against Nick's chest, blinking. "How long was I out?" he asked.
"Not very," said Nick.
"I'm sorry for trapping you."
"No apologies for sleepy cuddles. Besides, I had my phone."
"How is the internet?" asked Charlie.
"Still there," said Nick. "I was chatting with Elle. We're going to meet up at the yarn shop tomorrow."
"Sounds good. I should meet up with Tori for coffee."
Nick kissed the top of Charlie's head. "That sounds like an excellent idea."
Nick met Elle at Ewe Can Knits, the adorable queer friendly yarn store Charlie had discovered for their spinning date. Elle smiled and hugged Nick when he walked up.
"Did we both manage to go somewhere without our plus ones?" asked Elle.
"Charlie's meeting up with Tori for coffee. Where's Tao?" said Nick.
"He was in the middle of a marathon editing session for work, so he was more than happy to be left alone in the flat for awhile. So! Color work project!"
Nick nodded. "I kind of assumed that I shouldn't try to spin for this one, because I need super even yarns."
"Exactly. Your best bet is to try and find all three colors from the same brand. Even if two different skeins are labeled worsted, there can be a lot of variability. It's much easier to keep consistent tension if you have consistent yarn." Nick nodded along with Elle's words. "Do you know your meterage?"
"Yep. I have the pattern on my phone just in case. It calls for DK?"
"So between sport and worsted. Kind of a light worsted." Elle led them over to the correct shelving section. "Real wool, I assume?"
"I just want to hold Charlie's hand when we're walking the dog. But he's always so cold that he keeps his hands in his pockets."
"You are such a sap, Mr. Nelson-Spring. Wool is probably the best choice, then."
"Though knowing Charlie, he'll still wear a glove underneath the other mitten."
"We can't all be human heaters," said Elle with a shrug.
They surveyed the wall of yarn. "What about this one?" asked Elle, holding up a skein.
"Too pale of a yellow. I want a yellow that makes me think of warmth and sunshine, not butter. What about this one?" Nick picked up a skein that was a beautiful golden rod with a soft halo.
"Color work with mohair will make you hate yourself," said Elle. "If you want to frog back a mistake with mohair, you have to put it in the freezer."
"But it's so soft and fluffy!"
"Put down the mohair, it is an evil temptress. What about this one?" Elle held up a ball of sunshine yellow that had been hiding behind white.
"Oh, that's perfect! And there's a great blue as well," said Nick, reaching next to Elle.
"How much do you need again?"
"Looks like two balls of yellow, three of blue, and one of red, since they're 50 gram balls."
"Let's grab an extra of each, and then you can make him a hat or something," suggested Elle.
"So I want to keep it a surprise, but I mostly knit when he's awake. Do you have any ideas?"
"Well, the big surprise is really the shared mitten, right? So maybe you can work on that when he's napping, and do the other two when he's awake and just pretend they're for your mum?"
"Elle, you are brilliant!" Nick hugged her suddenly, making her giggle. "I'll have to buy an extra set of double points, but that's easy enough."
Mission completed, they proceeded to browse the yarn store, Elle picking up a soft tan alpaca yarn to make a new beanie for Tao, and Nick finding a blue, purple and pink yarn to make himself a new cowl. After purchasing their finds, they headed their respective ways, wooly acquisitions in hand.
Nick opened the door to their house, greeted by a wet nose and wagging tail, and kisses from both of his beloveds.
"How was yarn shopping with Elle?" asked Charlie.
"Good! How was coffee with Tori?"
"Not bad. Apparently Tori has taken up a woolen hobby of her own."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, apparently she's gotten into needle felting."
Nick laughed. "That is a very Tori hobby."
"The mimeing of vigorous stabbing was a bit much," said Charlie. "I think she scared the people at the next table."
"That must have made her happy."
"Of course!" laughed Charlie.
After dinner, they took up their usual positions on the couch, Charlie reading a book with his feet in Nick's lap, and Nick knitting around the obstacle of Charlie's toes. The beginning of the mittens was easy enough, a 1x1 rib, occasionally trading colors for a row to make stripes. But as he reached the body of the mittens, Nick found himself frowning in concentration as he tried to make sure he was properly counting stitches. Was he supposed to read the chart right to left, or left to right? He supposed as long as he was consistent, he'd eventually wind up with one right and one left mitten, and the double mitten was mirrored. When Charlie's book settled on to his chest, Nick shuffled his yarn in his project bag, switching to the shared mitten. When Charlie's feet twitched, he put away the whole project, and followed his sleepy but not too sleepy husband to bed.
Nick was amazed by how much faster he got as he progressed through the first mitten. Instead of having to very carefully switch colors, he figured out how to carry both strands along in a way he could switch freely with only a minimum of twist accumulating between them. And when Charlie had to work late a few nights in a row to meet a proposal deadline, Nick was able to fly along the sharing mitten. He might actually have them done in time for Valentine's!
When February 11th rolled around and he was finishing off the last single mitten, Nick was giddy.
[Nick] Elle! Look!
He sent her a photo of the completed mittens.
[Elle] he's going to love them!
[Nick] I just hope they're warm enough!
[Elle] with the bonus Nick heat, I'm sure they will be
On Valentine's Day, they were getting ready to take Daisy on her walk before going out to dinner. As Charlie pulled on his gloves and hat, Nick held up a finger. "Wait just a minute!"
He went over to his side of the couch, grabbing the bag where he had hidden the mittens. "Open it," said Nick.
"I thought we weren't doing gifts?" said Charlie, opening the bag. "I thought these were for your mum?"
Nick took out the double mitten. "Now why would I make my mum a special mitten so that I could hold her hand without her hand getting cold?"
Charlie started to tear up. "You ridiculous, delightful sap. You really miss holding my hand that much in winter?"
"I really do miss it that much. And we each have a matching mitten for our other hand, even if I know you will still shove that hand in your pocket, and I'll probably take it off because it's too warm."
Charlie grabbed the lapels of Nick's coat and pulled him into a deep kiss. "I love you so much. How the hell does this work?"
"Well, I usually have Daisy in my right hand, so I'll stick my left hand in and you stick your right hand in, and then we make a silly little train out the door and go for our walk?" said Nick.
"We can give it a try," said Charlie.
There was a little bit of awkwardness as they both got their hand into the mitten for the first time, but Nick melted as he felt Charlie's fingers entwined with him. Even when they were old and grey, he didn't think there was anything he would love more than just getting to hold Charlie's hand. From the first tentative hovering to careful pinkie touches, Nick had always adored it. He looked at Charlie, knowing his eyes were showing just how in love he was with his husband at this moment. "Come on, love, let's take Daisy for her walk."