Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Oh, come on!” Elle shouted. 

“I think we might need to retreat,” Tara admitted. Tao just laughed from behind his screen.  

“We should go down fighting!” Darcy countered. 

“I really don’t want to lose Bemzek,” Charlie said, “he’s been through so much!” 

“We’ve all been through so much!” Darcy argued, “That’s why we need to keep fighting.” 

“I’m with Darcy, but I think we should vote.” Elle said, always the voice of reason. 

“I vote we fight till the end.” Darcy said. 

“We know!” Tara groaned, “I vote we retreat and regroup.” 

“Me too!” Charlie chimed in. 

“Elle, you decide it,” Tao said, trying and failing to hide the fact that he really wanted the group to stay and fight his monsters. 

“I want to stay but I know it’ll be a TPK any minute. We’re leaving.” 

Darcy moaned in protest, but the result was clear. 

“The Chimera roars, but seems to think you lot aren’t worth the trouble it would take to chase you,” Tao narrates, causing the rest of the party to breathe a sigh of relief, “you really did a number on those flying snakes.”

“Why did you have so many of them?” Elle asked 

“There must have been a million tiny snakes trying to bite us!” Darcy ranted, “That’s why we couldn’t get to the chimera!” 

“We couldn’t get to the chimera because Isaac isn’t here,” Charlie argued gently, “We had to waste like half our turns healing ourselves. 

“I was healing you guys!” Tara said. 

“We really need two people with healing spells,” Charlie said. 

“Someone who doesn’t always heal Darcy first, even after she rushed in without a plan,” Elle added. 

Tara might have argued, but Elle was right. She couldn’t help being protective of Rezielle - Rez - in-game any more than she could help being protective of Darcy in real life. They had been a two player party within a party since their characters had kissed in session two. 

“Tao, maybe you should write it a little easier?” Charlie suggested, “Since Isaac is in the musical?” 

“I have the whole campaign already outlined!” Tao protested, “I can’t just change it now! What if we just make Isaac quit the musical?” 

“We are not making Isaac quit the musical!” Elle pushed back, “We just need another player.” 

“What if I don’t want another player?” Tao huffed. 

“Whatever!” Darcy said, “It’s nearly 10, I’ve got to go, my mum will be wanting me home soon. We can figure it out before school tomorrow.” 

The group packed up, Charlie and Elle helping Tao pile dice, books, maps, and his DM screen into his bag. 

“I don’t know why we don’t play at your house,” Elle laughed as she passed Tao a stack of papers. 

“Charlie’s house is headquarters. Always has been,” Tao replied. 

Charlie couldn’t argue with that. Even if there were other changes to their group, like the additions of Tara and Darcy, like Isaac saying he had too much going on with the musical and had to quit weekly Dungeons and Dragons until school let out for the term, Charlie’s house was headquarters. They played D and D at Charlie’s house. They watched movies at Tao’s, they did homework at Elle’s. 

Maybe Tao’s right, Charlie thought while he got ready for bed. Maybe their group didn’t need anything else to change. They didn’t need to add anyone to the group, even if that meant a TPK in their near future. 

“Hi,” Nick said as Charlie sat down next to him in form. 

“Hi,” Charlie hadn’t meant it to come out as a sigh, but it did. 

“Everything alright?” Nick’s easy smile fell away to a hint of concern. 

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Charlie said, making Nick relax a little, “My friends and I had a row about something stupid by the gate.” 

“That’s some bollocks. I’ll bet you were right.” 

“I was barely rowing,” Charlie laughed without a smile, “Tao and Darcy have all sorts of opinions. It was just a long morning.” 

“You know what’ll make it better?” Nick asked

“Do you?” Charlie asked.

“‘Course I do,” Nick smirked, “we’ve got to get bashed for talking during role again.” 

Charlie laughed with Nick. He had been a little nervous about sitting next to him at first, but it really wasn’t bad. Nick wasn’t just a rugby arsehole. He was smart and funny. He wanted to make Charlie smile when he was having a bad day. Nick wasn’t a bad seatmate at all.  

Charlie was walking back from the loo when he heard it. 

“ Make the Moor thank me, love me and reward me 

For making him egregiously an ass

And practising upon his peace and quiet 

Even to madness. 

’Tis here, but yet confused: 

Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used.”

He recognized the ending lines of the monologue, his mum had watched Othello on the BBC last month, and he had found himself sitting with her, enamored with the play. 

Nick was reading for Iago and putting as much drama behind it as he could. Charlie almost laughed. The rest of his class, from what Charlie could see, looked bored. But Nick was having as much fun as you could in a year eleven literature class. He poured himself into the role of the villain. 

“Thank you, Nicholas,” his teacher said as Nick and the others finished their scene, “for putting your all into Iago today. The rest of you could learn something about Shakespeare from mister Nelson.”  

“Yeah,” Nick said, looking down at his feet. He was still smiling. Charlie could tell. 

As he walked back to class, the gears turned in Charlie’s head.

Chapter Text

Nick Nelson was having an excellent term. He didn’t know it was possible to have such an excellent term. He had never had one like it before. He knew exactly why. Charlie was exactly why. No matter what how his day started off, Nick could count on Charlie to make it better. He could count on Charlie to laugh with him when something ridiculous happened. 

“You’re gonna be blue forever!” Charlie had joked. He teased Nick and Nick liked it. 

“ You’ve just got to carry the two here,” Charlie had reminded him. He never looked down on Nick for being bad at maths. Or for always doing his homework in form instead of at home. 

Nick Nelson’s term got better every day. On this particular day, he was trying to cram another jumper into his locker. There were already three in there. It had just been the March weather. He needed the jumper on his way to school, but would sweat buckets if he tried to wear it in the afternoon. He really should just bring them all home, even if his mum would definitely scold him for bringing four jumpers in the car in one day. “Nobody could possibly need four jumpers,” Nick could just hear her say it. 

Just as Nick thought he had it stable enough to take his hand away and close the door, Charlie walked up to him, startling him in such a way that his locker practically exploded. 

“Hey,” He said, as if he hadn’t caused a jumper avalanche. 

“Hey,” Nick said, smiling as Charlie handed him his Crystal Palace jumper from the floor. 

“You’re a Crystal Palace fan?” Charlie asked. Charlie didn’t care about football. At least, Nick didn’t think Charlie cared about football. 

“Yeah,” Nick said, “My brother and I would go to a couple matches every year before he left for university.” 

“That’s so cool,” Charlie said. He said it like it was actually cool. Maybe it was. Maybe he meant it. No he didn’t. Nobody thought going to a couple of football matches for Crystal Palace was cool. 

“Thanks,” Nick said. He wasn’t panicking. Why was he panicking? 

“So, um,” Charlie started, “I had something I wanted to ask you.” 

“I know why you’ve been so confused. And so happy. I get it. I know you’re scared. You’ve never thought about it before. But we could think about it together.” The hallway glowed a warm gold around the Charlie in Nick’s head. 

“Do you want to join my Dungeons and Dragons party?” The real Charlie snapped Nick back into the moment. He was grinning. 

“What?” Nick asked, stupidly. 

“We’ve got enough players, but we haven’t got enough healers since Isaac got too busy, and everyone’s too attached to their own character to switch and balance the party.” Nick didn’t understand about half of the words coming out of Charlie’s mouth, but he tried to keep up. “And I heard a bit of you reading Iago in literature the other day. You know how to play a character, so I thought you might be interested.”

How was Nick to go about saying that he was about to learn everything he could about this game to be able to spend time with Charlie and his friends? How was he going to explain why he wanted to be able to spend time with Charlie and his friends? He couldn’t even explain it to himself. 

“I don’t really know how to play,” he said. 

“That’s fine!” Charlie grinned, “I can teach you.”

“Aren’t I a bit of, well…” Nick paused. He didn’t want to say something that sounded like an insult to Charlie. He just really wasn’t sure he was cut out for the ultimate game of brainy, clever people. “I don’t actually know how to act.” 

“It’s not acting. It’s role playing.” 

“That sounds like the same thing!” Nick didn’t know why he was arguing, so he stopped. 

“So, do you want to?” Charlie asked. Nick could swear his eyes were sparkling. 

“Yeah, I’ll give it a go.” 

That’s how, the next Wednesday night, Nick ended up at Charlie’s house. Mr. Spring let him in. 

“Call me Julio!” he said. Nick would try. “The others are already upstairs.” 

“Alright, then,” Nick said as he slid off his trainers and started up the stairs. He had brought a tray of chocolate biscuits he had baked with his mum the previous afternoon. Did you bring biscuits to these things? His mum said you did. His instincts said he would look very silly. He listened to his mum. 

Nick was about to open the door when he heard a familiar voice.

“He’s late for his first session,” Tau said.

“Does he even know how to make his own character?” a girl Nick didn’t recognize chimed in. 

“I’m glad we’re getting another healer, but it won’t help that much if he has no clue what he’s doing,” he heard Tara Jones say. Him and Tara used to be mates. 

“Does he even like RPGs?” another girl asked, “I know he’s a ‘rugby lad.’”

Nick opened the door. 

“Hi,” Charlie said. 

“Hi,” Nick replied. 

“Hi Nick,” Tao said. Nick wasn’t sure they had ever actually spoken to each other before. “Since Nick is new to the party, and to the whole game, I guess, I figured you lot could introduce yourselves in character. Nick could see the general vibe and experience some improv. Then I’ll run this one-shot I wrote with Elle, Tara, and Darcy while Charlie helps Nick get his character set up.”

Nick looked around the room. The group sat on the floor in a large circle. Tao was surrounded by books, notebooks, stacks of pages, and a wooden privacy folder painted with a massive dragon. The rest of them had at least one notebook, a small stack of paper, and a heap of dice. Nick had…

“I brought biscuits!” 

“Brilliant!” One of them called, and stood up to take the tin out of Nick’s hands. 

Nick sat down. At least everyone was enjoying the biscuits. Even Tao seemed to enjoy the biscuits.  

“I’ll start,” Charlie said, and Nick settled with his back against Charlie’s bed. He wasn’t prepared for Charlie to start talking. “I’m Bemzek!” He chirped in a voice much higher than his own. He somehow managed to get two voice cracks into the three syllables. “I’m a firbolg, so I came from the forest of Gammtire. I had never talked to anyone before, but I still thought I could be the greatest musician of all time!” 

Nick laughed. All of them laughed at Charlie’s ridiculous voice for Bemzek, even though Nick was sure the rest of them had heard it many times before. Charlie kept going: “And I was! I performed all over the kingdom! I was about to perform for the king himself when these hooligans -” Charlie was cut off by a fit of laughter from the blonde girl. He gave her a wicked bit of side eye before carrying on, “These hooligans interrupted my show and disgraced me in front of the court! Now I’m on the run with them.” 

Tara and the girl were falling into each other with laughter. Nick was chuckling along with Tao, who was doing his best to keep his composure. 

“Nick, do you even know half of us?” The girl with glasses asked. 

“I know Charlie,” Nick stated the obvious, “I knew Tara when we were younger, and I at least recognize Tao.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I’m Darcy,” Darcy said between splits of laughter, “Apparently I’m a hooligan!”

“I said your character is a hooligan,” countered Charlie, “And I didn’t say it, Bemzek did.” 

“I’m Elle,” Said the girl with glasses, “I was in your year before I transferred to Higgs.” Nick recognized her now. She was always getting in trouble for her hair. “Sorry we didn’t do that before losing it over the Bemmy voice.” 

“I don’t know how it doesn’t hurt your throat,” Nick admitted, his face still flushed with laughter. 

“I don’t know how they still think it’s funny!” Charlie said, laughing a little himself, “it’s been two years.” 

“Okay, okay,” Tao recentered the party, “introductions, or we’ll never get to the one-shot!” 

“Fine!” Darcy feigned annoyance, “I’m Resielle.” She spoke with a thick Scottish accent which was less silly, but no less fantastic than Charlie’s ridiculous character voice. “I’m a dragonborn barbarian, which I think is important to mention.”

“Sorry!” Charlie said in character, “I’m a bard!” 

“Whatever. I was a palace guard until I understood what they were lockin’ people up for. A mage stole bread for her brothers. It was a thing to see. So I broke ‘er out, and I’ll protect her with all my fire for the rest of my life.” 

Tara smiled at Darcy. “Rez, darling, I’m an elvish sorceress, not a mage.” Her voice was soft and delicate. Like Tara’s and not like Tara’s all at once. “I’m Alasie. I grew up on my own, doing my best to feed my brothers, but it was never enough in the mountains where I was born. So I went to train as a sorceress. Even though it was dangerous, the masters fed us. Now that my training is complete, I do what I can, but I was forced to resort to theft again when the king banned ice magic like mine.” 

“Ugh, that king will be the death of all of us!” Elle spat in a rough, low voice, “I’m Michia. You can call me Michie. Tabaxi rogue, and I’ve seen the evils the man has done. I’ll do whatever it takes to take back the kingdom!” 

“So that’s the party,” Charlie said with an eager smile. “Isaac was a half-orc cleric named Urmug. He thought the king was wronging the gods, and that one day they would get their revenge.” 

“And he may just have been right!” Tao said, a wicked light in his eyes, “but he disappeared at the last camp and no one knows how or why.” 

“I know why!” Elle shouted, still in character, “He was silenced by the king!” 

Tao, Darcy, and Tara all started to respond at once, but Charlie stood up to sit on the bed and gestured for Nick to join him. In sitting on Charlie’s bed. With Charlie. On Charlie’s bed. Nick didn’t know why the thought wouldn’t stop bouncing around his head. 

“Sorry it’s a lot,” Charlie said. 

“I think it’s brilliant,” Nick promised, “but I have no idea what’s going on.” 

Charlie handed him a small stack of papers and a composition notebook. “You’ll need these. And a pencil?” 

“I’ve got a pencil. Do I need dice? You all have a lot of dice.” 

“We do!” Charlie giggled, “You can share mine.” 

Nick listened intently as Charlie explained the many different races, classes, and backgrounds available to him. “We really need a cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger. Someone who has healing spells. I guess you’d be better off as a half caster.”

“Half caster?” Nick asked. 

“Someone who uses spells sometimes, but can do other stuff too. Full casters are complicated, and we already have two. Two is really plenty.” 

“Tara, no, Alasie,” Nick started, “is a sorceress. So she’s a full caster because all her attacks are magic,” he clarified. 

“Exactly!” Charlie beamed, “So let’s look at the… Tao, I need a PHB!”

“Here,” Tao said, passing a book over Tara’s head. 

“You should read the summaries, I guess, for paladins and rangers then. Maybe not a cleric.” 

Nick took the book from Charlie. Player’s Handbook was written in blazing red text over a fantastic picture of a dragon. The pages were filled with intricate, detailed illustrations. Nick found the appropriate page numbers for the classes Charlie suggested. 

“Rangers get a pet, then?” He asked after reading both of the summaries. 

“Yeah, basically whatever you want, as long as it’s not too massive.” 

“ Brilliant,” Nick breathed out. 

“If you were a druid, there’s a thing you can pick where you can turn into loads of animals. Maybe in your second campaign when you know a bit of how to play.” 

Nick could feel his eyes going wide as Charlie laughed. “I want to be a ranger, then.” 

“Alright, read all the races, it doesn’t really matter what you are,” Charlie said, then corrected, “Tao would probably be happy if you weren’t the same thing as someone else. We’ve got a dragonborn and an elf, but Elle and me are from different books, so anything else in here ought to be good.”

Nick poured over the books, asking Charlie as many questions as popped into his head about what exactly darkvision meant and if it was a bad thing for your character to be short. He eventually settled on being a half elf. 

“I’m a half elf half caster. Half and half.” Charlie grinned at him. 

“Now we’ve just got the fun bits left. Who are they and what can they do? We’ve got to get you to this random kingdom we’re all in so you’re not just off on your own, but you can come from anywhere.” 

After a significant amount of discussion with Charlie, Nick determined that his half elf was once a folk hero who saved all the livestock in his village from a massive fire. It had been incredible, but had lost his trusted dog in the ado. Since then, he had planned to move to another village, if just to get away from the memories of his beloved pet’s tragic death. On his way through the woods, he had formed a bond with a wolf which he was now fiercely protective of. They developed a reputation for guarding sheep and other grazing animals with a fierceness which was rarely rivaled.

Charlie helped Nick to roll what felt like a million dice to give him what Charlie promised were perfectly good base statistics. They chose spells and a “ranger archetype” that let Nick interact even more with his animal of choice. 

“Now just a name,” Charlie said when they had finished everything else. 

“How am I supposed to name him?” Nick asked, “I’m no good with names.”

“Didn’t you name Nellie?” 

“I was seven, and she’s a dog.” 

“There are generators online, if you want to look at that.”

Nick’s character was eventually named Roger, after Steve Rogers. Charlie made him promise not to tell Tao that, because Tao would definitely ban him from the party if he found out there were references to the Avengers being made. Roger’s wolf was named Ophelia. 

“Ophelia? Like in Hamlet?” 

“Why not? I like Hamlet.” 

“Who are you?” Charlie asked, and Nick just laughed.

“Are ‘rugby lads’ not supposed to like Shakespeare?”

“I don’t think they are,” Charlie admitted. 

“Well then, I guess I’m quite the rebel.” Nick was quiet for a minute. “Do I have to do a voice?” 

“Not if you don’t want to. Tara barely does one.” 

“Alright. I think we’re good then.” 

Charlie grinned at Nick. He kept doing that. Nick ignored the fact that Charlie’s grin felt like walking out in the sun after a week of rain and smiled back. They moved together from the bed to the floor. 

“Are you done?” Tao asked. 

“I think so,” Nick said with a half smile. He’d never admit it. Not to his year eleven friends, not to Charlie, not to anyone, but Tao properly scared him. 

“Alright then, let’s play a bit. We’ve still got time and Charlie can teach you the rules. Then I won’t have to worry about you meeting everyone next session.” 

Nick nodded, and Charlie passed him a small, felt covered tray containing four sets of dice: one a deep red, another a clear sky blue, and two with red and blue swirled together in different ways. 

“Are these the Crystal palace colors?” Nick asked. 

“Thought you’d like them. I don’t know your favorite color.” 

“It’s blue, now you know. I don’t know yours.” 

“I like yellow,” Charlie said, “but only if it’s good yellow.”

“What’s good yellow?” 

“Well, some yellows look like sick. Not those.” 

Nick laughed softly before realizing Tao was staring at them. 

“Can we get started?” He asked. Tao took a deep breath, then put on a voice that wasn’t quite his own. It was Tao’s voice when he was narrating an audiobook for Lord of the Rings. 

“You all find yourself, as you often do after a busy day in the kingdom, at Holzer’s Bane. Nick, that’s the pub. You crowd around a small table, and Madame Holzer herself comes to take your order.”

“A round of your finest ales, please,” Darcy said. 

“She eyes you suspiciously,” Tao replied, “‘do you have the coin for ales?’” He added in the barkeep’s voice. 

“We did just stop some bandits like two buildings away,” Darcy argued. 

“No coin, no ale.” 

“Is there music playing in the pub?” Charlie asked. 

“No,” Tao sayid, “It’s near dead quiet.” 

“I’d like to stand up on the table and play my mandolin, for tips.”

“Good idea, Charlie!” Tara said, “Before she can think better of it, Alasie takes Rez’s hands and pulls her into a dance.”

“What are you doing?” Rez asked. 

“Maybe we could make a little more coin if we add something visual,” Alasie replied. 

“Michie is just going to watch,” Elle added.

“Okay, roll a performance check, all three of you. Charlie you get advantage because I like that you decided to stand on the table you’re about to eat at.” 

The three of them rolled the largest of their dice. “Twenty-four,” Charlie said. 

“That’s with your advantage?” Tao asked. Charlie nodded. 

“Fourteen,” Tara said. 

“Six,” Darcy whined. 

Tao rolled a handful of dice. “Between the three of you, you manage to collect seventeen silver pieces.” 

“Seven for Charlie, five for each of us,” Tara said before Darcy could start to argue. 

“What now?” Tao asked. 

“We order a round of Madame Holzer’s finest ales, of course!” Darcy said gleefully. 

“She comes back with your order and hands you each a frothy mug. Anything else before she goes to do other pub stuff?” 

“Yes,” Asalie said, “Anything interesting happen in this part of town since we’ve been here?” 

“Actually, there’s something I think you lot would be quite interested in,” Madame Holzer sayd, “there’s been a young lad with a bloody grown wolf wandering ‘round. I think the constable is going to pick him up tonight, for scaring the locals.”

“What’s so scary about him?” Bemzek asked. 

“Has he done anything wrong?” Michie accused. 

“He has got a giant wolf in a city.” Alasie pointed out. 

“She never said it was giant,” Rez argued, “just that it was full grown.” 

“I’m not to know the constable’s reasons,” Madame Holzer cut in, “but they’re planning to get him at Little Bell tonight.”

“We’ve got to stop him!” Rez cried. 

“The constable is right in the King’s pocket,” Michie added. 

“We go to Little Bell,” Charlie said, and the others nodded.  

Tao turned to Nick. “You spent the day exploring the kingdom. Growing up in the village of Amfenore, you’ve never seen somewhere this busy. You’ve finally gotten checked in to the Little Bell Inn and you’re ready to tuck in to the meal you’ve ordered and get some rest. Then the door to the inn’s common room bursts open and these four come in. 

“Did I pick the name of the village?” Nick asked. 

“No,” Tao said, “I made it up. You can change it if you want.” 

“No, it’s good.”

“‘Which one of you has a giant wolf?’ Rez gets right to it, you know?” Darcy says. 

“I thought you said it wasn’t a giant wolf, just full grown,” Michie rolls her eyes. 

“Can I roll a melee attack against Michie?” Darcy asks. 

“ NO!” The rest of the group says all at once. 

“Nick, they’re asking about you, what do you do?” 

“I suppose I stand up. Ophelia is a little suspicious, she’ll cling close to my side.” 

“Who are you?” Alasie asked. 

“I’m Roger.” 

“You,” Tao said with a dramatic pause, “named your half elf Roger?” 

“Yeah,” Nick said, more confident than he felt.

“Alright.” Tao said. 

“You’re in a spot of trouble, Roger,” Michie said. 

“Charlie, you said Tabaxi are cat people, right?” 

Charlie nodded. 

“I think Ophelia probably doesn’t like Michie that much. Sorry, Elle.” 

Elle laughed. “You were right, Charlie, he is pretty good at this!” 

“Alright, what am I in trouble for?” Roger asked. Nick tried to lower his voice just enough for Roger to be distinctive. 

“The constable will come up with something,” Bemzek promised. 

“He hates everything that’s even a bit out of the ordinary,” Alasie added. 

“The door slams open, and it’s Constable Drar himself,” Tao said, “‘Where’s the man with the beast!?’ he yells.”

“All of us are kind of tall,” Charlie said, “let’s try to hide him.” 

Tao looks at the rest of them, who nod. “He comes up to you,” he says, then rolls a dice, “But he doesn’t see Roger or Ophelia. He hates you though, so he says ‘what are you all doin’ here?’” Tao used an appalling impersonation of a scottish accent for the constable, and Nick almost laughed. He found himself oddly nervous of being discovered, for something that wasn’t really happening. 

“We’re just here for a drink!” Rez smiles. 

“You being here for a drink always turns into trouble. And you don’t have drinks!” Constable Drar says. “Everyone roll deception, except Nick, you roll stealth,” Tao instructs. 

The deception rolls all go well, with Charlie’s twelve being the worst of the lot. Nick followed Tao’s instructions for ability checks, and rolled his d20, the swirling red and blue one with hints of white which he had already decided was his favorite, added his bonus, and got a…

“Six,” He said, and Tara hung her head. 

“That’s the dice for you!” Elle laughed.

“Nick, don’t you have a good stealth bonus?” 

“Charlie, I rolled a three.” 

Tao smiled wickedly. “Let’s bring him in, boys,” Tao said in the constable’s voice, then in his own, “Six goblins come into the common room. Everyone else runs off to their rooms or back onto the street. It’s just you lot and the goblins left. Everybody roll initiative.”

Chapter Text

“Elle, aren’t you going to try to persuade them that the constable is just using them?” Tara teased. 

“No,” Elle sulked, “I finally asked Tao what the DC is and even Charlie couldn’t make it, not even if he could speak goblin.” 

“Charlie, didn’t we make goblin one of my ‘favored enemies?’” Nick asked. 

“Charlie, did you tell him!?” Tao nearly shouted. 

“I just mentioned that goblins are pretty common enemies!” Charlie protested, “Nothing about the police goblins!” 

“Fine!” Tao groaned. Charlie smirked. He had said just enough to ensure that Tao’s obnoxious, and seemingly endless, goblin police force was slightly less effective. “At least it doesn’t give you an attack bonus. Two of the goblins are the first two, and they’re going to try to flank you, Resielle.” 

“They can try!” Darcy grinned. 

Charlie usually got a little bored during combat, but that day he found himself as engaged in every turn as Nick was. Nick was enraptured. 

Elle yelled at all of them to only deal non-lethal damage. Michie was sure that they could start a goblin revolution if they proved they were the better side, and that the police and palace guard wouldn’t care if they died. She was wrong, but there was no harm in just messing them up a little. 

Darcy used her high initiative to go into a rage and knock out the goblins on either side of her. Elle trapped one under a well thrown table. Charlie used his turn to cast ‘vicious mockery.’

“Even Harry Greene is nicer than you!” He yelled in Bemzek’s voice. 

“How does Bemzek know who Harry Greene is?” Tao asked. 

“He’s just that awful. He transcends dimension,” Charlie explained, then looked over to Nick. Nick was looking down at his dice tray, rolling a red, blue, and white d20 between his fingers. 

“Sorry,” Charlie said once Tao moved on to the next goblin, who was trying to get out from under Elle’s table. 

“Sorry for what?” 

“I know you and Harry are mates.”

“He’s on the team, we’re not mates .” 

“Still, I shouldn’t be rude to your teammates.” 

“You can be rude to Harry,” Nick said, “He’s awful to you.” 

“Yeah, but-” Charlie started. 

“No,” Nick cut him off, “You don’t get to be sorry. It was a good spell, right? You took out the goblin?” 

“He passed out from how insulted he was.”

“Brilliant. You should tell them all they’re worse than Harry.” Nick nudged Charlie’s shoulder with his own, and Charlie couldn’t help but smile. 

“Nick?” Tao asked, when they got to the bottom of the initiative list. The dice really were putting him through the ringer. 

“How do I let Ophelia do something?” He asked. Charlie had nearly forgotten Nick had never played before. 

“That’s a free action. So you can do something and have her do something,” Tao explained.

“Do I get to pick the order?” 

“Yeah, she can do something first.” 

“Okay,” Nick said, then thought for a long moment. Charlie could see Tao rolling his eyes at the time. “I want Ophelia to jump up on one of them and try to knock it over.”

“Roll a dex check for Ophelia,” Tao instructed. Ophelia passed the check with flying colors and knocked the goblin to the ground. 

“Now I’m going to hit him with the hilt of my sword. So it’ll knock him unconscious?” 

“Non-lethal damage!” Elle cheered. 

Nick rolled a 16 against the goblin’s weak armor class (of course the corrupt kingdom didn’t provide its soldiers with appropriate armor) and knocked it out. 

“Your attack lands,” Tao said dryly, but Nick looked like he had just single handedly taken out a beholder. His smile was sunshine. Charlie didn’t hear the rest of the combat session. The energy radiating from Nick’s soft joy drowned out everything else. 

“You know we’re never going to get taken out by goblins, right?” Elle asked Tao when the combat came to its close. The constable had fled, but they couldn’t fight him anyways. The shaky truce they currently held would shatter after a single blow. 

“Two weeks ago you would have said you’d never get taken out by flying snakes,” Tao countered, and Darcy threw a die at him. “We should role-play a little more before you start complaining about my campaign.” 

“What am I going to do now?” Nick asked in his Roger voice, which was just a slightly higher version of his own. 

“What do you mean?” Michie asked in return. 

“I really need to rest a bit before clearing out of town,” Roger replied, “but I can’t exactly stay here.” 

“We’ve got a place,” Bemzek offered. 

“We can’t just trust him, just like that!” Alasie argued, “We can’t bring him back to headquarters after we just met!” 

“You trusted me,” Bemzek said. 

“We owed you,” Rez corrected, “the king would have had you executed if we had left you.” 

“And what’ll happen to Roger if we leave him here?” 

“I’m right here, you know,” Roger interrupted. Charlie was blown away by how comfortable Nick already was with improvising. 

“Alright, then,” Michie said as Elle leveled a stare at Nick, “Why should we trust you, Roger?” 

“Because we clearly have a common enemy. You lot don’t seem to be fans of the constable, and he’s certainly not a fan of me.” 

“That’s good enough for me,” Michie said. 

“I miss having a pet, since Urmug left,” Bemzek added. 

“I’ll trust your instinct, love,” Alasie said, “it’s up to you.” 

“Fine!” Resielle breathed out, “He can come back. Just make sure the beast doesn’t do anything to Michie. She’s been giving her hungry eyes.” 

“Roger breathes a huge sigh of relief, considering he has no idea why he’s in it with the police the literal day he got to the city,” Nick said. 

“Then let’s go home.” Bemzek said, and Nick still laughed at the voice Charlie had worked so hard on. 

“Home,” Tao said, directing his gaze to Nick, “is a secret room above the local library. There are piles of blankets and pillows everywhere. Roger, you see a chest labeled for each member of the party. Wait. Can we just say you all introduced yourselves on the walk here?” The party nods. “Good. I didn’t want to do it again. There’s one name you don’t recognize, Urmug. The writing used to paint it onto the top is messier than everyone else’s. There’s also an empty one, if you want to put anything in it.” 

“You’ll be safe here,” Resielle said, “unless you’re secretly a spy.” 

“We won’t tolerate betrayal,” Michie added. 

“No betrayal, I promise,” Roger said, and Charlie caught his heart swelling. Nick was a member of the party.  

“I think that’s as good a spot to stop as any,” said Tao. 

“It’s still so early!” Darcy said. Charlie looked up at his clock. Only 7:00. They usually played until nine or ten. 

“We could order a pizza,” Charlie suggested. 

“Or two!” Elle joked. 

“Nick, would you like to stay for pizza?” Charlie asked. 

“If you leave, you can’t take these biscuits with you,” Darcy said, holding the tin close to her chest. 

“I’d love to stay.” Nick radiated warmth. Nick had freckles. Nick played a half elf with an American name from the 1930s. Nick was a rugby player but watched professional football just as much as his own sport. Maybe Nick would want to watch football together. Charlie had never cared before, but he could imagine himself being a Crystal Palace fan. 

Once the pizzas arrived, all five of them tried to squish onto Charlie's sofa to watch a film. This, of course, was absolutely nonsensical. 

“We can take up less room,” Darcy said, and promptly pulled Tara onto her lap. 

“We need to take up less room?” Elle asked, a laugh sitting just under her voice. Tao shouted as she fell onto him. 

Nick looked up at Charlie. “Should we help everyone fit?” he asked with a sparkle in his eyes. 

“What?” Charlie barely had time to ask the question before Nick pulled him onto his lap. 

Time froze. 

Electricity surged through Charlie’s body, a new shockwave starting at every point of contact with Nick. Every point of contact, of course, included Charlie’s entire back, which was pressed against Nick’s chest. Charlie’s arms, held by Nick’s strong hands. Charlie’s legs, falling over Nick’s as they fell into each other. 

“Is this okay?” Nick quietly asked. 

“Yeah,” Charlie said, having no idea how to explain exactly how okay it was. As he said it, he felt a surge of guilt. Nick was just being his totally platonic, definitely not feeling sparks, completely straight friend. Nick would hate him if he ever found out, he was sure of it. 

That didn’t stop him from staying on Nick’s lap as Guiermo del Toro’s Pinochio played on the screen. After all, Elle was on Tao’s lap and Charlie was sure they didn’t have any feelings for each other. 

Charlie didn’t know if Pinochio was his favorite movie of all time or if every movie would just be better sitting on Nick’s lap. He could feel Nick’s laughter shake through him at each funny moment. He could feel Nick tense at each instance of stress or peril. He could feel the whole movie through Nick. 

Charlie flopped onto his bed, hands flapping with joy after everyone left. He could have screamed. He could have cried. He just might have done both, if Tori wasn’t standing in his doorway. 

“Dungeons and Dragons seemed fun today,” she said, her voice layered with implications that Charlie didn’t dare think about. 

“It was fun. It’s always fun.”

“It seemed extra fun today,” Tori said, taking a sip of her lemonade. 

“Shut up!” 

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re totally thinking something,” 

“I’m allowed to think whatever I’d like, Charlie.”

“Stop thinking about Nick!” 

“I didn’t say anything about Nick,” Tori smiled, “But thank you for confirming my suspicions.” 

“Tori!” Charlie groaned. He stood up and closed his door in front of her. He could hear the small smile on her face as she slurped her lemonade.

Chapter Text

Nick stared at his laptop. “am i gay?” was sitting in the search bar. Nick had been staring at the words for about five minutes. How was it this difficult to hit enter? It wasn’t like Google would actually tell him the answer. He deleted the text. 

“ what does it mean when you let another guy sit on your lap for two hours?” Delete. 

“ is it gay to think your best friend is really pretty?” Delete. 

“ am i gay?” Nick hit enter. 

The barrage of information nearly overwhelmed him. Millions and millions of results all in less than a second. Nick had never really noticed how many results came up before. Maybe he had never cared so much. 

Nick scrolled through article after article, none of which were particularly useful. Of course Nick felt a little warmer whenever Charlie was in the room. Of course Nick kept looking at the pictures they took together when they hung out. Charlie was his friend. Friends did that, right? 

It was nearly two in the morning. Nick laid down in bed and opened Instagram. He couldn’t exactly talk to his rugby mates. Or Charlie’s other friends. What if they told Charlie? He definitely couldn’t talk to his family. Nick closed Instagram. Back to the beanbag, back to his laptop. He opened his email account. 

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: May I ask you something? 

Hello Mr. Ajayi, 

I hope this email finds you well. I’m going through something very confusing and I think it could help to talk to you. Thank you for your time.

Nicholas Nelson

Year 11 

Nick closed his laptop and went to bed. 

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: re: May I ask you something?

Of course. Feel free to come to my room anytime. 

Sent from my iphone

Nick found his way to Mr. Ajayi’s room at lunch. He knew it would be empty now since Charlie sometimes ate lunch there during this period.

“Nick Nelson,” Mr. Ajayi said when he entered, “I haven’t seen you in years!” 

“I kind of stopped taking art after year seven,” Nick said, a little sheepish. 

“So what brings you here today? Come to return to the studio?” 

“No!” Nick said, trying to joke but coming off a bit sharp. It was the nerves. “Charlie says you were always a really good person to talk to. About important stuff when he felt like he couldn’t talk to anyone else.”

Mr. Ajayi quickly became more serious. “What’s going on?” 

“I think I have a crush on someone.”

Mr. Ajayi relaxed again, rolling his eyes. “Don’t you have ‘mates’ to talk to about that?” 

“My friends…” Nick trailed off, “My friends wouldn’t get it.”

“Why not?” Mr. Ajayi asked, “What’s she like?” 

Nick took a deep breath. This was, after all, what he came here to talk about. He could do this. “Well, it’s Charlie.” 

Nick could have laughed at how shocked the art teacher looked if he hadn’t been so out of his mind. “I didn’t think you were…” Mr. Ajayi started. 

“Well, I guess that’s what I wanted to talk to you about? I didn’t think I was either. But yesterday a bunch of things happened and I’m…” Nick trailed off for what felt like the millionth time, even if it was only the second. “I’m just really confused.” 

“Well, what made you think you were straight?” Mr. Ajayi asked. 

Nick thought for a long moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it before.” 

“So think about it now. Do you like him? You might be not straight.” 

Nick sat on one of the art room stools and did exactly that. He really hadn’t thought about being straight. He just assumed he was. But now, he couldn’t stop thinking about pulling Charlie into his lap, practically hugging for an entire movie. He couldn’t stop Charlie’s laughter from playing on a constant loop in his brain. 

“I might not be straight.” Nick had thought it would be more painful to say. That it would feel wrong or uncomfortable. It just felt right. “I think I’m probably not straight.” 

Mr. Ajayi breathed out a small laugh. “Good for you. I know it’s hard to come out, even to yourself. Now are you going to talk to Charlie about any of this?” 

Nick paused for a moment. “Absolutely not.”

“We’ve got to help him!” Charlie argued, completely in character as Bemzek. 

“We don’t have to do anything for him. If anything, we should be glad he’s a goner,” Elle fought back, her voice somewhere between her own and Michie’s. 

“I’m sorry I’ve missed so much,” Nick said, trying to find Roger’s voice anew, “who exactly is this Aklok?” 

“He’s a piece of goblin garbage,” Resielle spat, “I’m with Michie he doesn’t deserve our help.” 

“He’s the go-between for Constable Drar and the goblins. He’s the reason there’s a goblin militia helping out the palace guard,” Alasie added. Tara took a breath, as she always did when she knew her character was about to start a fight, “But he’s still a creature who can feel pain and he lives in a society that should not punish the innocent, Rez!”

“Exactly!” Bemzek said, “We’re the kind of people who help others, even when they’re terrible.” 

“ You might be,” Michie fought. 

Nick pondered the situation. As far as he understood, Aklok was the leader of all the goblins in the central city, and had been convicted of stealing the Skybreaker, a powerfully enchanted sword, from the palace. The rest of his friends were certain that Constable Drar had used framed Aklok so the king wouldn’t blame the theft on the way the guard was run. It was an actual fact that Aklok hadn’t stolen the thing, since Michie had taken it for Resielle to use a few sessions before Nick joined.  

“Rez,” Roger spoke up. 

“I’m not sure you get to call me Rez yet, half elf,” Rez replied. 

“Resielle,” Roger started again, “I don’t think it’s right that the king gets to be the one to punish Aklok. And Michie, letting him die like this would be giving him credit for your excellent thievery.”  

“Darling, you have always wanted to kill the little cretin yourself,” Alasie said. Nick could tell that Tara saw exactly what he was trying to do. Now they just had to convince Elle. 

Charlie was already on top of it. “Michie, any time the king executes someone, even if it’s someone we want executed, it’s saying it’s okay for him to have that power. He wanted to use that power on you not too long ago if I’m not mistaken.”

“Fine!” Michie growled, “You’re right, Bemzek. We need to help him. Not for him, for the kingdom.” 

“Won’t the dungeons be doubly armed tomorrow?” Rez asked, “because of the execution?” 

“It’s just some stealth checks,” Elle argued.

“Easy for you to say, miss plus eight!” Charlie laughed. 

“ Eight?” Nick asked. Nothing on his sheet went above a plus five, and Charlie had told him those were great modifiers. 

“What can I say?” Elle grinned, “it pays to be a rogue.”

“So you’re going to go home, long rest, then try a rescue in the morning?” Tao clarified. 

“Yeah,” Charlie said, beaming. 

“What’s a long rest?” Nick asked. 

“You sleep. It brings you back to full health and recharges all your once a day abilities,” Tao explained. 

“Roger’ll pull Ophelia on top of him, like a blanket,” Nick described. 

“Aww that’s adorable,” Charlie said, his head tilted to the side, “She’s just like Nellie.”

Nick amended his earlier statement in his head. He was definitely not straight. Charlie calling him, well, Roger and Ophelia, but it felt like him, adorable made Nick feel like he was going to melt into the carpet. It made him want to melt into Charlie. It made him want Charlie’s arms around him. Was Charlie’s sweater as soft as it looked? Was Charlie’s hair as fluffy as Nick imagined? 

It turned out that a long rest involved no rest for the players. Only their characters got a second of sleep. Then it was off to the dungeons. 

“It would probably be best if we didn’t immediately charge into combat,” Tara said. 

“So how are we going to find Aklok?” Charlie asked. 

“Disguises?” Elle suggested, “We could sneak into the armory and be guards!” 

“Rez still has her uniform in her chest!” Darcy said excitedly, “I could pretend to be bringing you all in as prisoners!” 

“Wouldn’t they recognize Rez?” Tara asked. 

“Not if I wear the helmet and mess with my voice!” Darcy answered. 

“I’m not really sure if I’m comfortable with Resielle handcuffing me. It seems like she doesn’t trust me, so why should I trust her?” Roger said. Nick worried a little that he was being a bother, but the smiles of the group were encouraging. “And what about Ophelia?” 

“You two just make it more believable!” Resielle said, “Drar was after you yesterday! We can bring Ophelia with us!” 

“I understand why you’re not sure about it,” Bemzek said, “It took me a long time to trust everyone after they dragged me into this.” 

“We don’t need real restraints, though!” Alasie said, “I’ll cast minor illusion so it’ll look like Rez’s got everyone tied up. We just have to do well with keeping our hands in front of us.” 

“I can manage that,” Roger said. This felt better than having the dragonborn restrain him. 

“Okay,” said Tao, “are you done planning?” 

“Yes!” Charlie said. 

“You walk through the village to the palace. Resielle keeps her helmet on, even though it gets very smoky when she wears it. You all feel the eyes of the townspeople on you, especially you, Michie. You’re well known here for the trouble you’ve caused in the past. Everyone roll a constitution saving throw.  

“Natural twenty!” Darcy yelled, “That’s a twenty four!”

“You rolled a natural twenty on a con save while walking down the street,” Elle said, rolling her eyes. 

“What did you get?” Darcy countered. 

Elle was quiet for a long moment. “Three.” 

Even Nick laughed before asking “What’s the difference between a natural twenty and a regular one?” 

“When you get a twenty on the dice, that’s a natural twenty. No modifiers or bonuses,” Tao explained. 

“It gets you neat stuff sometimes, like extra information,” Charlie added, “or double damage if it’s on an attack roll.” 

“It’s when all the conditions in the world align for your character to be a badass,” Darcy explained, “a nat twenty is perfect.” 

“Darcy used one on the walk to the palace rather than any time it could have been even a little helpful,” Tara smirked. 

“Well, it means that I’ll only mark you one suspicion point,” Tao said. 

“What’s a suspicion point?” Nick and Charlie asked at the same time. 

“Oh, not something the rest of you know then,” Nick said, just loud enough for Charlie to hear. 

“Oh no!” Elle laughed, “Tao’s trying to homebrew again!” 

“I write excellent homebrew, thank you very much!” Tao chided, “Every time you interact with someone, you’ll roll a check or a save. If you don’t make it, you’ll get a point. Ten points, the palace guard finds you out and you’re in combat.” Tao seemed to be done, but his eyes lit up a moment later. “Unless ten comes too quickly, then I’ll change it.” 

Nick laughed. He wasn’t sure he was supposed to laugh, but the rest of the group laughed right along with them. 

“It wouldn’t be your homebrew if you were confident it would work,” Charlie giggled. 

“Just keep going. You’re approaching the palace now. Everyone roll a deception check.” 

The party passed without an additional ‘suspicion point.’ 

“You come to the end of a short hallway. Everyone roll a survival check, Darcy, you have advantage.” Nick rolled an eight, but that seemed to be fine considering that Darcy rolled an eighteen with her two chances. “Resielle, you remember from your time as a guard that the armory and stockrooms with the uniform items you need is to the left and the dungeons are down a staircase that you can only access by going right.”

“Crap,” Darcy said, “there’s no reason for me to bring you that way. If anyone finds us we’ll have to make something up that’s really good.” 

“Or we could just try for stealth and not get found,” Elle suggested. 

“I supposed we’ve got to try,” Nick said.

“We go left,” Charlie told Tao. 

“There are enclaves along the hallway so it can be lit by torches. As soon as you turn, you see two guards in palace armor coming towards you.” 

“Ophelia hides in one of the enclaves,” Nick said, “Can we both fit in one?” 

“Alasie also hides,” Tara said. Elle and Charlie nodded their agreement. 

“Tao, do I know what else is down this hall?” Darcy asked. 

“Roll history.” 

“Twelve?” 

“Twelve is good. There’s the laundry for the royals and a back entrance to the stables.” 

Darcy nodded. “Everyone else, roll a stealth check. Roger you’re at disadvantage because you and Ophelia just barely fit in one enclave.” 

Even with disadvantage, Nick rolled a thirteen. Elle rolled a nine but still logged a seventeen with all the bonuses she had. Tara got a perfectly satisfactory twelve. 

“Four,” Charlie said, looking defeated.

“Charlie, did you roll a two?” Tao asked, grinning wickedly. 

“Yes!”

“If it was a one you’d be in combat, but  you just fall out of the enclave in front of the guards.” Tao said, then changed his voice to one that supposedly suited a guard, “‘What’s this one doing out of the dungeon?’ Resielle, he’s asking you.” 

“Ummm,” Darcy hummed before switching to Rez’s voice, “I was told to bring him to the laundry. One of the girls is sick today and they needed more hands. He’s harmless, but I was told to cuff him when moving about the palace.” Nick was impressed. Darcy seemed to have planned for this, getting the exact information she needed to get them out of this.

“Roll deception against their insight.”

“Fourteen,” Darcy said. Tao rolled his two dice. 

“You’ve convinced the one you talked to, he completely believes you. The other one isn’t quite ready to let you go yet. ‘Who’s ill? ’ She wants to make sure you’re doing what you should.”

“I don’t recall the name,” Rez answered.

“Roll deception.” 

“Eleven,” Darcy said. She looked concerned. Nick held his breath while Tao rolled his other dice. 

Tao let out a sigh. “‘Is it Adaline?’ This guard is properly freaking out.”

“It’s not Adaline, Adaline’s fine,” It was funny to hear the gruff, Scottish accent attempt to be comforting. “I don’t remember the name but I know that doesn’t sound right.” 

“Is the guard a lesbian?” Tara asked. 

“What do you think?” Tao wiggled his eyebrows. Charlie was properly laughing, and Nick was on the edge of it. 

“If I had known I wouldn’t be bothering with all this deception! I’d kiss her!” Darcy groaned. That was enough. Nick lost it. “Wait, would she have liked it?” Darcy asked. 

Tao rolled a dice. “No.” At that, the whole group burst into laughter. Charlie leaned into Nick’s shoulder as his whole body shook with it. 

The game was forgotten. There was Charlie, warm and joyful and soft and right there. Nick was going to explode. 

“Darcy, roll deception again.” 

“Eleven.”

“The female guard nods to the other one and they leave you be and carry on down the hall.” 

“We keep going,” Elle said. 

“Everyone roll stealth.” 

The party made it down the rest of the hallway without incident. Tao explained that the armory and the uniform room were across the hall from one another, and the group divided up: Resielle would raid the armory for any interesting weapons while the rest of them got dressed. 

They rolled investigation and stealth checks. Darcy found uniform swords for all of them. Tao reviewed who was now encumbered because they weren’t proficient in armor. 

“I don’t think I’d be able to pull off armor in real life,” Tara said. 

“You could!” Darcy argued. 

“You would probably look alright in armor,” Charlie said, leaning in so only Nick could hear him, “You’ve got the shoulders for it.” 

Nick short circuited. His brain flooded with the warmth that always came from Charlie complimenting him and a million mental pictures of Charlie in gleaming plate armor. Charlie holding a sword so the blade rested across his armored shoulders. Charlie riding a horse into battle. 

“Yeah, sure,” Nick said, and tried to turn his focus to the fact that Roger was not at all able to function in medium armor. It did not work. Nick tuned out half a dozen checks and saves and dice rolls, reading numbers out without remembering them. Was Charlie thinking about what he would look like in armor? Was it creepy to be thinking about Charlie as some sort of fantastical medieval hero? Was Charlie thinking about his shoulders? What else had Charlie noticed about his appearance? 

“You’ve made it to the dungeon. You’ll still have your suspicion points to worry about, but now you also need to think about finding Aklok,” Tao explained, revealing part of a map on the floor, “Rez, you worked in the general section of the dungeon, which is straight ahead of you when you make it down the stairs. You’ve never really been down the halls to your left and right.”

“Do we know which way Aklok would be?” Elle asked. 

“Not even a little bit,” Tao said. He didn’t even let them roll anything. “To find him, you’ll be turning over cards in each wing you visit. I’ll tell you that there are five of them: general in front and two wings down each hall. Each card has something on it, and you’ll have to deal with it. It might be basic combat, it might be roll play, it might be items you can look for. You’ll have to look until you find him, so hopefully you’ll see a lot of rooms.” 

“I can’t believe it,” Darcy said, entirely straight faced. 

“What?” Nick asked

“Tao’s homebrew is actually cool!” Darcy grinned, making Tao groan and Elle and Charlie look to him sympathetically. 

“We should split up,” Elle said, “We can cover more ground.” 

“We can’t all be in pairs, who’s going to go alone?” Tara asked. 

“Me,” Elle said, clearly in her Michie voice, “I can sneak through a lot of rooms you might not be able to. I can avoid taking damage, so I’m the best to be on my own.” 

“You don’t need to convince me,” Rez said, “I’ll happily take Alasie ‘round the halls where we first met.” 

“I guess that leaves us,” Roger said to Bemzek. 

“We’ll go left,” Bemzek smiled. 

“Michie, you should take the general wing,” Alasie said, “It’ll probably be less dangerous and there’s only one place to look.”

“But baaaabe,” Rez said, exaggerating her scottish accent even more than usual, “We met in the general wing.” 

“We can’t make all of our decisions based on love,” Alasie said, and Darcy pouted, “We’ll go right, see what we find.” 

“Everyone roll a d20,” Tao instructed, “I need to know what order to go in.” 

Nick listened contentedly as Rez and Alasie found a cell with nothing but a chair in it, only to have the chair turn around and attack.

“There are a lot of these, Tao,” Tara said, “Are they all going to be this hard?” 

“You got unlucky,” Tao laughed, “I think that’s the worst monster in the wing.”

Darcy groaned, but Elle was already choosing her card, which led to a cell containing a bandit, whom she talked to through the bars. 

Charlie drew the first card for himself and Nick, and they found a palace cook who had failed in his duties. Nick rolled poorly, but Charlie scored highly enough on his charisma check that the man said that he remembered a goblin being brought in the previous day and taken down the hall on the left. That was plenty of searching to do on its own, even without the other half of the wing. 

The turns flew by. Nick played enough to be enraptured but got enough breaks that the long session wasn’t tiring. Tao really had written something quite spectacular if he had come up with this on his own. 

After a few cells, Tara and Darcy had determined that they were in a wing meant to contain dangerous animals, and they would find neither Aklok nor information about him there. They took a couple of their turns to investigate the various hallways, hoping to find the additional wing beyond. 

Nick and Charlie made their way down the hallway to the left, taking each of their turns to meet a new prisoner. On the third cycle, while talking to an ex-maid who stole jewelry, Nick had a realization. 

“Did everyone in this wing work in the palace once?” He asked. 

“Indeed,” Tao said in the maid’s voice, “it is the traitor’s wing, after all.” 

“I never realized there were so many,” Bemzek said, and Nick felt Charlie press a little closer, “ All of these people worked for the king and stepped out of line.”

“But that’s not what Aklok did,” Roger said, “We’ve got to get to the next wing.” 

Their characters sprinted down the winding halls, using extra actions and athletics checks to get down the halls faster as their turns went on. Michie kept finding contraband in the cells she searched, and was excited to be adding a hefty stack of gold to their funds when they met up again. Alasie and Rez had finally found the entrance to their second wing. 

“Tara, roll a constitution check,” Tao said. 

“Not me?” Darcy asked. 

“Just Tara.” 

Tara rolled a seven, and Tao smirked. “You feel a wave of dread wash over you as you step over the threshold. It’s pitch black in the hallway.” 

“I cast light on my staff so it’s like a torch,” Tara said. She had used this maneuver before.

“Nothing happens,” Tao said. 

“It’s a cantrip, and I have full slots anyway!” Tara said. 

“You’re still in a pitch black corridor,” Tao said. 

“Are there torches?” Darcy asked. 

“Yes, next to the door,” Tao said. 

“I take one and light it with my fire breath,” Darcy said. 

“It lights easily,” Tao said, “and you can see a single corridor lined with cells.” 

“I don’t like this,” Alasie whispered. 

As Tao shifted to Elle’s search, Nick contemplated how stressful he found the idea of Alasie’s magic not working. These people weren’t real, but he felt like he was on a battlefield every time they played. He also somehow managed, without fail, to forget the rush of adrenaline between sessions. Maybe it was because he couldn’t stop thinking about the much bigger rush of adrenaline that came from Charlie’s leg pressing against his when they all crowded around a map. 

“Alright, Nick, it’s your turn to pull a cell,” Tao said. Nick did as he was bid. Tao beamed when he was handed the card and checked his notes to see which of the dozens of events it corresponded to. 

Nick looked to Charlie to find that the other boy was already looking at him, his eyes alight with worry. 

“Just as you enter the death row wing, two guards come around a corner. There’s nowhere to hide, they see you immediately. You each gain a suspicion point for the group.”

“That puts us at nine!” Elle exclaimed. 

“You notice that their armor,” Tao continued as if Elle hadn’t interrupted, “is marked by dark black plates on the shoulders, with a single red stripe across them. It’s impossible to miss, and you can tell that they are very aware of the fact that your armor lacks that marking.”

“We haven’t even found Aklok yet!” Darcy complained. 

She was right to, Nick thought. They would be attacked with little backup if this was how they got the tenth point. 

“I want to send Ophelia to get Rez and Alasie,” Nick said, before Tao could delve further into their doom. 

“Roll animal handling.” 

“Twenty-two!” Charlie practically yelled as Nick’s dice hit the tray. 

“Alright,” said Tao, holding his hands up in a gesture of innocence, “I’ll do Ophelia and them next. This interaction first. I was really, really hoping someone would pull the death row guards.” He rolled his shoulders back and put on a northern accent that he had clearly practiced. “What are you doing here?” 

Nick looked to Charlie, ready for him to take the roleplay, but Charlie appeared to have no idea what to say. 

“Come on then,” The guard said, “Your rank shouldn’t be here.” 

Charlie took a deep breath. “We thought we’d look around, imagine what it’ll be like when we’re promoted.” His Bemzek voice was cracking more than usual. 

“Roll persuasion.” 

The dice rolled in slow motion. Nick did the math just as quickly as Charlie did. They were in trouble. 

“Seven,” Charlie announced, and Tao’s smile got impossibly wider. 

“I don’t believe that for a second,” the guard said, “You, half elf, what are you really doing here in death row.” 

Nick thought about Roger and how well he knew the elf’s personality. He was silly, impulsive, and a hopeless romantic. Just like Nick. But Roger was brave. 

“We were having a tryst!” Roger blurted out, surprising everyone. Charlie’s eyes widened and Tara and Darcy practically fell over each other with laughter. Even Nick hadn’t been entirely sure what he was going to say until the words had already left his mouth. 

“Roll persuasion.” The look on Tao’s face seemed to say that this was going better than he ever could have hoped. 

Nick didn’t use the set of dice that Charlie had put aside for him. He chose a swirling blue and gold one that Charlie swore on his drumset was lucky. He closed his eyes when he rolled the dice. He almost couldn’t bear to see it. 

He opened them when he heard the subtle sound of resin in motion cease. He looked down at the dice. 

“Natural twenty!”

Chapter Text

Charlie stared at the dice. Tao was trying to cover his laughter. Darcy and Elle weren’t. Their giggles echoed through the room as Charlie tried to decide what to do with the insane circumstances he was presented with. 

He was having a tryst with Nick Nelson . Well, Bemzek was having a tryst with Roger. That was completely different. He could handle two fictional people pretending to want to kiss each other. They didn’t even actually want to kiss each other. Nick was just very smart and creative and quick on his feet and came up with a good lie to explain what they were doing in a wing of the dungeons far beyond their security clearance. Roger didn’t have feelings for Bemzek, and Nick didn’t have feelings for Charlie. It was as simple as that. 

“This is amazing,” Tao said, “both of you need to roll deception.”

Charlie had a terrible idea. It wasn’t really a terrible idea. He wouldn’t hesitate if he were yes-anded into this position by Isaac or Elle. It would virtually assure him safety and success if it worked. He took a deep breath. “I - Bemzek kisses Roger on the cheek. Advantage?” 

Darcy practically fell over laughing. Tao just said “yes.”

Charlie rolled his two d20s and quickly realized that he hadn’t needed the advantage. Seventeen and nineteen. With his high deception score, it totaled a twenty-three. The dice seemed to be in favor of the event. Nick’s eighteen was turned into a nineteen by his bonus.

Nick beamed, and Charlie felt heat in his cheeks as he noticed the hint of pink on Nick’s face. 

Tao rolled a handful of dice behind his screen. “One of the guards looks annoyed, but it seems like he’s not going to say anything. The other looks like he’s about to burst from excitement. He says ‘you’ve got to be more careful! You have your keys, right?’”

“Yeah, of course we’ve got our keys,” Roger said. Charlie thought he was right to. They didn’t want to be at any risk of getting into trouble as guards. 

“He practically explodes. He pushes you into an empty cell, then closes the door. You hear it lock with an ominous click.”

“What?!” Charlie exclaimed. 

Tao explained in the guard’s voice, which appeared to be his best impersonation of Isaac, “no one will bother you if you’re not in a corridor! And you’ve got your keys, you can let yourself out whenever you’d like!” 

Darcy looked as if she was having trouble breathing. Tara and Elle fell into each other with giggles. 

“With that,” Tao said, “let’s move back to Alasie and Rez.” Darcy was still solidly in the midst of her laughing fit, but she sat up as Tara pulled their next event. Tao read over the card, then began. “You look into the next cell and see a figure hunched over in the far corner. You can hear him muttering to himself.” 

“Aklok?” Rez said in a loud whisper. 

“But Aklok is in our wing,” Nick said, “Why don’t you just turn around?”

“They don’t know that yet, remember?” Charlie whispered to him as Tao described the man getting up from his corner and approaching the two girls, “Tara and Darcy do, but it wouldn’t make any sense for their characters to turn around, Ophelia hasn’t gotten to them yet.” 

Nick nodded in understanding. Charlie had known since he first met Nick how smart and creative he was, but he would never have guessed how quickly and easily his friend would take to Dungeons and Dragons. He did what Roger would do, even if it was something Nicholas Nelson wouldn’t dream of doing. Like proposing a fake secret relationship with another boy. 

The hunched over figure revealed itself to be a dangerous looking man with only one eye. Prisoners were usually fairly friendly to the likes of rebels, so Resielle took a risk. “We’re not really guards,” She said in an urgent whisper, “and we’re trying to save our… someone’s life! Have you seen a goblin brought through?”

“It would have been yesterday morning,” Alasie added. Tao rolled a dice. 

“Lotsa goblins,” Tao said in a menacing rasp, “and I don’ know when mornings is. Barrier wouldn’t work the same if there was windows.” 

“Barrier?” Alasie asked. 

Tao rolled another dice. “He doesn’t say anything else, just goes back to his corner. Darcy, roll a history check.” Darcy did, and got a natural one. “Alright, you barely remember your name, let alone anything interesting.” Tara snickered. “Nick, what’s Ophelia’s speed?” 

“Forty,” Nick provided. 

“She’ll get there next turn,” Tao said, and shifted to Elle once again. 

She had to deal with a cell containing three goblin police grunts that the party had found running a smuggling ring back when Isaac was still playing. Michie took care of them quickly with the hilt of her shortsword, but still grumbled about the accursed goblin police force as Tao shifted back to Nick and Charlie, smirking as he asked “So?” 

“Are the guards still there?” Nick asked. This made sense. They wouldn’t actually… 

“No, you heard the door close as they went into the traitor’s wing.”

“I don’t have lockpicks,” Bemzek said. For some reason, Charlie found himself really wanting to stay in character.  

“Neither do I,” Charlie recognized the subtle difference between Roger’s voice and Nick’s. 

“Can we smash the door?” 

“Are you strong enough to do that?” 

Charlie glanced down at his character sheet. “No.” 

“What do we do with this turn, if we can’t pull a card?” Nick asked Tao. 

“One of you roll a d20,” Tao instructed. 

Nick rolled Charlie’s lucky dice, but it didn’t prove lucky. “Four.” 

“You hear footsteps from deeper in the wing. Both of you roll perception.” 

“Thirteen,” Charlie said. 

“Seven,” Nick frowned, glaring at Charlie’s favorite dice. Did he remember that Charlie had said it was lucky? Was his expression to ask the dice why it wasn’t doing him the same service? Surely not. Nick wouldn’t remember that. It didn’t matter. It certainly wouldn’t matter to Nick. 

“Charlie, you can hear the conversation happening between the two guards.” Tao took a deep breath to prepare for the different voices. 

“Make sure you check the identities of the inmates, don’t just look to see if someone’s there.” The first voice was clearly male, deep and warm. 

“Why, sir?” Tao tried to make the other voice female, or at least much younger than the first.

“What if someone escapes and traps a guard in their stead?” 

“I guess that’s why you’re training me!”  

“You’re learning.” 

“What if a guard goes into a cell on purpose, though?” 

“Why would that ever happen?” 

“Remember when we saw Gaile and Michael in a cell-” 

“You needn’t remind me. I suppose if they appear occupied in the cell, they probably weren’t put there by a prisoner.” 

Charlie and Nick looked at each other, eyes wide.

“We could just let ourselves be caught,” Charlie suggested, “We can’t be that far from Aklok, it wouldn’t be too terrible to start combat now.” 

Charlie watched as Nick closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened them to reveal a steely gaze. “No,” he said, “We’re not going down that easily.” 

“What are you talking about? I don’t see a way out.” 

“I see a way out!” Darcy said, earning a fit of giggles from Tara and Elle and an all too knowing smile from Tao. 

Nick nodded to himself, almost imperceptibly. Charlie wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t been paying very close attention. “Bemzek,” he said in his Roger voice, which was easier than usual to distinguish from Nick’s own, “can I kiss you?”

Charlie didn’t know how long he sat in silence, staring at Nick. He was embarrassed when Tao cleared his throat. 

“Just for the check, right?” Charlie asked. 

Nick’s mouth twitched, but he said, “yeah.” 

“How does Roger want to do this?” Tao asked. He usually saved the line for the killing blow of a significant enemy, but Elle was grinning and Tao appeared to be committed to treating this like a big deal. 

Nick closed his eyes a bit too tight, and only began to talk once they were open. He stared at a spot on the wall somewhere behind Tara’s head, deliberately avoiding Charlie’s eyes. “Roger closes the space between him and Bemzek and leans in. He pulls Bemzek down so he can reach, and presses his lips gently to Bemzeks.” 

Charlie nearly melted. He wasn’t imagining a firbolg and a half elf, he was imagining himself and a year eleven rugby player. The first one would be that gentle. The girls were all watching him for his reaction. “Bemzek rotates them so he’s blocking Roger from the door, so anyone who walks by can’t see that we’re not really kissing.” 

“Why wouldn’t you just really kiss?” Darcy asked. 

“I’m not sure Roger would be ready for that yet,” Nick explained. 

Tao asked them to roll their performance checks, and Charlie followed instructions and passed his check without a thought. Yet. Nick had said Yet.  

Ophelia found Alasie and Resielle, who split up. Rez ran straight towards death row while Alasie followed Ophelia to find Michie. Nick had said yet like this wasn’t just for the check. It wasn’t just to avoid the suspicion point. 

Nick rolled to see if they would deal with more guards before they got out of the cell. Luckily, they didn’t, as Charlie was still entirely in his own head. Would it be weird between him and Nick to talk about a romance between their characters? He hadn’t seen a couple in-game that wasn’t played by a couple in real life. It would probably be weird. 

“Do I really have to roll?” Elle’s exaggerated whining brought him back to the game. 

“I don’t care what the bonus is,” Tao said, “what if you get a one?” 

“Fine!” Elle said and rolled her dice. “Twenty five.” 

“See, it doesn’t do any harm to roll. The lock clicks and Bemzek and Roger can leave. Ophelia jumps to try to lick Roger’s face.”

“It hasn’t been that long, girl,” Roger said, “but I missed you too.” 

Charlie resisted the urge to mention how adorable Bemzek would undoubtedly find Roger’s interaction with Ophelia, and the party set off down the hall, rolling dice after dice until Tara got a fifteen, which was apparently the magic number. Tao nodded. 

“I’ve got him!” Alasie called, and the rest of the players gathered around to watch Michie make quick work of another lock. 

“Tao, is a lot about to happen?” Darcy asked. 

“What do you think?” Tao replied, rolling his eyes. 

“Well, I need the loo if lots of things are about to happen,” Darcy said, and stood up to leave. 

“Me too!” Tara said, “I’ll make the walk downstairs and use that one.” 

“I’m going to get some more crisps,” Charlie said, “Anyone want anything else?” 

“I’ll take another coke,” Nick said, “I can come get it.” 

“I plan on standing up when you make me leave, but you lot have fun,” Elle said, and Tao breathed out a small laugh. 

Well, Charlie’s plan of getting away from Nick for a moment to clear his head was out the window, but that would be alright. More time with Nick would always be alright.

“Are you okay?” Nick asked the second they were out of earshot. 

“What?” Charlie asked.

“You’ve been quiet ever since…” Nick trailed off. 

“I’m so sorry,” Charlie filled the silence, “Bemzek shouldn’t have kissed Roger. He should have said no. We could have fought.”

“What?” It was Nick’s turn to ask and he looked absolutely bewildered. “Roger initiated it! And…” Nick trailed off again, but this time took a deep breath, “Roger started liking Bemzek when they first met.” 

Charlie was taken aback. “That was two sessions ago.”

“I’ve been thinking about him, sometimes, when we’re not playing. What he’s like. And he really values loyalty and adventure. There was no one like Bemzek when Roger was growing up. Everyone was just a farmer and most of them were human. You’re- Bemzek’s different. And he stuck up for Roger when Rez and Michie didn’t want to bring him back to base.”

“So Roger has had a crush on Bemzek the entire time we’ve been playing?” Charlie couldn’t believe it.

“I told Tara and Elle about it when we were walking home last week. But it’s just a character. I could make him different if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“NO!” Charlie startled himself with how forcefully he said it, “Maybe we could plan it out? An in game romance?” 

“Will Tao hate it?”

“Not as long as we give it more build up than Rez and Alasie did.” 

Nick laughed, “I’m sure Darcy gave it a little less than none?” 

Charlie laughed too, and smiled broadly at Nick. Nick seemed to decide something, then before Charlie could process what was happening, Nick was giving him the best hug of his life. Nick made the rest of the world melt away. Nick smelled like barbecue crisps because they had all eaten approximately a million barbecue crisps, but now Charlie would never be able to think about a barbecue crisp without turning red. 

“Okay, we should probably head back upstairs,” Nick said as he let go. Charlie had to shake himself back into reality. 

“What about your coke?” 

“I just needed a reason to make sure you were okay.” 

Charlie tried to ignore the heat in his face as he followed Nick back up the stairs. 

“Shhhh!” Elle said as Charlie and Nick approached Charlie’s room. 

“You don’t want him to know?” Tao teased. 

“No I don’t! I can’t believe she got you to agree to it!” 

“Agree to what?” Charlie asked as he and Nick resumed their positions on the floor. 

“Just something Darcy wants to do in a couple sessions,” Tao explained, earning him a squint.

“My mum just texted,” Tara said once everyone was in their seats, “I have to be home right on time tonight, how long is it going to be for the next bit?” 

Tao looked at his own phone, “Probably too long,” He frowned. 

“Jackbox?” Elle asked. The rest of the group nodded, and they all started cleaning up. When they were ready to move into the sitting room and play games on the television, Charlie pulled Elle aside. Their friends continued downstairs. Tao had been there more than often enough to know how to set up the game. 

“What’s going on?” Charlie asked, “You and Tao are being weird.” 

“Tao’s always being weird,” Elle tried to play it off. 

“This is different weird.”

“Darcy had this idea, and you’ll think it’s terrible but it’s actually good, so we didn’t want to tell you yet.” 

“Tell me anyways?” Elle looked sideways, searching for an answer in Charlie’s drum set. “ Actually tell me, Elle.”

“Darcy thought it might be fun to nudge Bemmy and Roger together. So I talked to Tao, and he added the possibility of the two of you getting locked in together, and then he just kind of improvised making it so you got caught, I think because Darcy has been bothering him since Nick joined. We shouldn’t have meddled, I know.” 

“I thought there was something actually bad happening!” 

“As long as you’re not meddling in my relationships, I think you’re be fine.”

Elle gave Charlie a quick but tight hug. “Before we go downstairs, let me show you what I’m working on!” She picked up her sketchpad from her pile of things and turned it around to reveal the line art for a picture of Bemzek with Roger raised up on his shoulders. It was adorable. 

“Elle that’s amazing!” 

“I’m going to color it at home, I’ll send it to the group chat with the others when it’s done.” 

“You’re the best!” They went downstairs. 

“How are you so good at this?” Nick turned to ask Tara. Nick, Charlie, and Darcy were sitting on the floor while the others actually had enough space on the couch. 

“I’m just funnier than you,” Tara joked. She had won three straight games of Quiplash without real competition. 

“Don’t forget the tradition!” Darcy said, “We can’t miss it tonight!” 

“Charlie, pass me the controller,” Tao said, and navigated to a different game, “Nick have you ever played Fibbage?”

“Don’t say it so loud!” Charlie scolded in a harsh whisper, “Tori might come in.” 

As if he had summoned her, Tori swooped into the room. “Did I hear that you lot are playing fibbage?” 

“Fibbage get to know you!” Elle said, “You can’t beat us all again!” 

“One of you has to beat me one day. I’ll let you be for now.” 

“It’s tradition, whenever we have someone new we play it.” Tara explained. 

“And we should play the version Isaac made up, with our characters!” Darcy said. 

“I hate that version!” Tao complained, “I don’t know who to play!” 

Charlie threw himself into the game, like maybe it would make him stop noticing Nick’s arm brushing against his. Maybe it would make him stop hearing the word yet rattling around his brain in circle after circle. 

It didn’t. 

“Hi.” 

“Hi,” Nick smiled at Charlie as he sat down in form. 

“Did you see what Elle sent in the group chat yesterday?” 

“Yeah!” Nick grinned, “How did she know exactly how I picture him?”

“She always knows. Can you see the older stuff?

“Just what she’s sent since you added me,” 

“Let me show you the others!” Charlie tried to pay attention to the character sketches and comic outlines that Elle had created for their campaign, but all he could look at was Nick’s reactions. That was normal. That was totally normal. He wanted to see Nick’s reactions. He could explain that away if he needed to. 

“We’ve better be careful with the romantic arc, Elle will end up drawing it when they kiss again.” 

“That’d be great,” Nick said, cocking his head as if to ask what was wrong. 

“Are you sure it’s not weird?” 

“Not weird at all,” Nick promised. 

It was so weird. Nick saw this as gameplay. It was a logical arc for his character. Charlie felt like he was going to explode. He could separate himself from Bemzek. He was sure of it. Bemzek and Roger meant nothing for his relationship with Nick. He could manage that. 

Charlie was ahead on the notes in his maths class, so he spent the hour writing a bulleted list of ideas for Bemzek’s soon to be romance with Roger: 

• Bemzek writes Roger a song and is shy to play it for him
• Bemzek really wants to win Ophelia’s approval
• Bemzek wants to be the little spoon even though it doesn’t really work
• Roger puts flowers in Bemzek’s hair
• They take Ophelia on walks together
• Nick Roger gets playfully annoyed when Nellie Ophelia stops them from walking too close together 
• Roger tries to teach Bemzek how to shoot a bow and arrow. Bemzek tries to teach Nick Roger the drums. They’re both bad at it. 
• Bemzek tries to carve something for Roger but it looks like a blob. Roger keeps it anyway. 
• Nick Roger is a surprisingly good singer and he sings me Bemzek to sleep. 

“How’s the campaign going without me?” Isaac whispered when they were given a few minutes to work independently. 

“We miss you,” Charlie said. 

“Doesn’t look like it,” Isaac smirked, glancing down at Charlie’s notebook. 

“Shut up!” Charlie whispered a little too loudly. 

“Charlie, Isaac, Tao, stay on task please,” their instructor reprimanded. 

Tao gestured in frustration, as if to make sure everyone knew that he had been staying on task. 

“You’re sure you’re not projecting anything onto Bemmy right now?” Isaac asked, his voice ever gentle and quiet. 

“I am not projecting even a little bit.” Charlie said, attempting to give it an air of finality. 

“That’s just ridiculous,” Tao whispered, finally earning his reprimand. 

“I’m not projecting! My character likes his character. People do this all the time, like on Critical Roll. They’re not projecting.” 

“They’re not you,” Isaac smirked. 

“Yeah, Charlie,” Tao added, “you are projecting.” 

Charlie buried his head in his notebook, where he was rewriting his list without accidentally writing Nick’s name over and over again. He wanted to talk to Nick about it later, and he couldn’t have the other boy seeing through his scribbling out. 

Charlie went to Nick’s house for dinner on Friday. He loved dinner at Nick’s. It meant more time with Nick, first of all. Second, it meant hearing dozens of stories about little Nick from his mum. Before dinner, they sat in Nick’s room, pet Nellie, and rambled about their characters. Charlie had to convince himself that Nick wasn’t flirting. He definitely wasn’t, but Roger was just so sweet. 

“Let’s do a one shot, right here,” Charlie said, looking into Nick’s eyes for his reaction. 

“Don’t we need Tao for that?” 

“No, we’ll set it after we rescue Aklok, and Roger can take Bemzek on a date.”

“Thanks for giving me barely any time to plan a date,” Nick laughed. 

“They can just go for a walk,” Charlie said, “you don’t have to plan anything.” 

“Alright,” Nick closed his eyes, just like he did every time he had to think about his character’s voice, “Bemzek, would you like to take Ophelia for a walk around town with me?” 

Charlie had to stop the glow from surrounding Nick. All he wanted was to let his brain filter out all the words and make them real, make them Nick asking him the question he wanted nothing more than to say yes to.

“I’d love to,” Bemzek said, and both Nick and Charlie laughed at the voice being extra cracky. Only Charlie knew it was because of the nerves. 

“Ophelia is very excited to go out, so she runs ahead of us.” 

“So, about the other day, in the dungeon,” Bemzek started.

“It was nice,” Roger replied and Nick grinned.

“But it was the only way-”

“I had wanted to before.” 

“You had wanted to?”

“I want to do it again. If you want to.” 

“What will we tell the others?” Bemzek asked, trying to both put off and hurry along another kiss.

“Whatever we want. Everything. Nothing. Maybe it would make them trust me more.”

“Or it would make them think you’re using me,”

“I’m only using you for kisses.” 

“We’ve only kissed once!” 

“Then do it again!” 

“Bemzek kisses Roger this time,” Charlie narrated. 

“Roger stands up on his toes to reach better.”

“Bemzek slides his arms under Roger’s”

“Even though he’s taller?” Nick asked

“This way, Bemzek can hold him even tighter.” 

“That’s cute. Roger hugs him back.” 

Their characters found the similarities in their backstories: the isolation, the longing for something different. Roger lamented the loss he felt when he lost his dog and Bemzek mourned his family, who he didn’t know if he’d ever see again. They connected. It was easy, just like it was when Nick and Charlie talked. 

“Boys, dinner’s ready!” Ms. Nelson called up the stairs. 

The three of them chatted over chicken marsala. Ms. Nelson asked after Charlie’s parents and Tori, and Charlie jabbered on until Nick graciously changed the subject. 

“What film are you on tonight?” Ms. Nelson asked, “Is it one of the good ones?”

“Captain America,” Nick said, and, turning to Charlie, “I think you’re really going to like this one.” 

“So it’ll be better than Thor?” Charlie asked. Thor had dragged on for what felt like ages. At least the Iron Man movies had been funny.

“They’re all better than Thor, Nicky,” Ms. Nelson laughed. 

“First of all, Thor: Dark World is far worse than Thor. Second of all, Thor has Natalie Portman!” 

“And Chris Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth makes it worth it.”

“See,” Nick argued, “Charlie didn’t think it was bad!” 

“I thought it was worth it!” Charlie corrected, “That’s very different from not thinking it was bad.”

“Captain America was alright, Nicky did always love that Peggy Carter.”

“Mum!” Nick blushed, “We’re watching the movie now, goodbye!” 

“Who’s this Peggy Carter, Nicky?” Charlie asked as they sat down.

“You know what? Maybe I won’t show you my favorite film of all time and the inspiration for my character’s name.” 

“I’m shutting up, I’m shutting up!” Charlie held his hands up in a protest of innocence. 

“I really think you’ll like this one,” Nick said, flopping down on the sofa. 

“Promise me that you won’t tell Tao if I do.”

“I feel like I’m talking you into a film affair once every few weeks!”

“Tao would agree!” The two boys laughed as the Marvel theme played in the background. 

It was a good movie. Steve Rogers was, unlike Tony Stark and Thor, likable to a fault, sweet, and brave. He was a hero without his strength. He was cute rather than hot, but he was very hot all the same. 

Peggy Carter was smart as a whip, funny as all heck, and more competent than anyone else in the room. Charlie could understand Nick’s crush on her. It was the perfect reminder that, although Roger was queer, Nick wasn’t. It was a lot harder to project when Nick was locked onto the screen, watching a woman be everything Charlie couldn’t be.

Chapter Text

Nick’s eyes flickered between Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter. Peggy had that smile, like she could conquer the world and you’d have no choice but to thank her for it. Steve wore a t-shirt like no one else ever had or ever would. Nick wanted to hear her tell him he could do anything. Nick wanted to feel his arms wrapped around him. 

Then there was Charlie. Charlie who seemed to have convinced himself that all his little glances Nick’s way were completely unnoticeable. Nick noticed every single one. That wasn’t how friends looked at each other, right? Maybe it was, but Nick had never paid this much attention to what his friends were doing while watching a movie before. Nick could play this off as being excited to show Charlie his favorite film, but Charlie couldn’t. He was looking at Nick because… Because… Nick couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. He couldn’t bring himself to risk being wrong. 

Charlie fell asleep when the credits started, like he hadn’t learned anything from the last three movies they had watched together. No matter. Nick could wake him up once the end credits scene started. Then Charlie’s head fell onto Nick’s shoulder. 

At first, Nick was afraid to move. It was like having the honor of an exceptionally standoffish cat choosing to sit on your lap. One wrong move and he could ruin it. A minute later, Nick risked slowly, carefully, wriggling his phone out of his pocket. 

“How to tell your best friend you like them” 

Did he want to hit search? Could he hit search, even if he wanted to? 

He glanced at Charlie, who was breathing gently as he slept, his whole body pressed against Nick’s side. A memory pushed itself to the forefront of his mind:

- 

At Harry Greene’s fourteenth birthday party, Imogen Heaney chose dare in a rather intense game. “I dare you to tell your crush you fancy him,” one of the other girls, whose name Nick couldn’t remember to save his life, instructed.

“No!” Imogen said, laughing. 

“You want to lose truth or dare in the first round?” The girl challenged 

“Fine!” Imogen huffed. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to Nick. “Nicholas. We’ve known each other for three years now,” Nick froze in place. He was panicking properly. “And I really like you. Now can we move on to Christian’s turn?!” 

The others in the circle leered and laughed and looked expectantly between Imogen and Nick. Nick didn’t say a word for the rest of the game, and left the circle to get a soda or something. 

Imogen was his friend. He’d go as far as to call her a good friend. He was going to have to break her heart. He couldn’t break someone’s heart! He would be sad when Imogen never spoke to him again. He’d be hurt when she badmouthed him to her other friends.  

He wandered around the party, half engaging in chatter, for half an hour. He was ready to go home. He really thought about calling his mum. Then Imogen found him and pulled him by the wrist into the relatively quiet kitchen.  

“Hi, Nicholas,” she said, not meeting his eyes. 

“Hey, Imogen,” Nick said, “I-”

“No, let me go first,” Imogen interrupted, “I’m really sorry. I lied in truth or dare. I don’t… I don’t like you like that. Harriet kept asking me who I liked, and I just picked someone who I thought maybe I could like because I couldn’t just keep on not liking anyone forever, but you’re just my friend. I want to like you like that. Like all my friends think we’d be good together and you probably think we’d be good together, but really, I said I liked you ages ago and just kept going along with it.” She stopped, but still couldn’t look at Nick. “I’m really, really sorry, Nicholas.” 

“You’re the only one who calls me Nicholas,” Nick said the only thing he could think of, “Not even my mum.” 

“Do you want me to call you Nick, like everyone else?” Imogen finally looked at him. 

“No, I don’t think I do,” Nick smiled, “it’s very you.” 

“Alright. Are you going to respond to any of what I just said?” 

“Yeah, it’s just a lot to process. I didn’t know you liked me until today, now you don’t like me. I don’t know what to respond to!”

Imogen laughed. “I think, maybe, I don’t know, I might like girls.” 

“Oh,” Nick said, “well, congratulations?” 

“You’re okay?” 

“I was trying to figure out how to tell you I don’t like you like that.” 

“If I do like girls, I’m going to gossip with you,” Imogen promised, nudging his shoulder. 

“Won’t your mates be upset about that?” Nick asked. 

“They’ll be alright. They’ll probably still think I like you, honestly.” 

“So are you going to keep pretending to fancy me, then?” 

“Yeah, if it’s alright with you.” 

“It’s alright with me,” Nick smiled. 

“Good,” Imogen said, almost to herself, then threw herself around Nick. “Thank you for being the kind of friend I can be serious with,” she said when she finally let go. 

“Yeah,” Nick said, and they both went off to find their other friends. 

- 

Nick closed out his search bar and opened his Instagram messages. 

Nick: Are you free tomorrow afternoon?

Imogen: I have a history report due on monday that i haven’t even started

Imogen: Im more than free i dont want to do it

Nick: Can we be serious? 

Imogen: Can we be serious and get ice cream?

Nick:  Ice cream sounds good! Are you sure you don’t need to do your report?

Imogen: Yes

Nick and Imogen had been using the shorthand every time they needed to talk without the rest of their, honestly annoying, friend group around. Imogen had used the time to come out to him approximately a dozen different ways, while Nick had ranted about his brother and his dad. It didn’t always resolve something. Imogen was still questioning her sexuality and Nick still had messy, complicated relationships with his family, but it always made them feel better. 

Plan made, Nick returned to the very pressing matter at hand. Charlie’s head was still on his shoulder. Nick shrugged a little, just enough to push Charlie towards being awake. 

“Did I miss anything?” He asked in a daze. 

You missed the most stressful moment of my life despite the fact that you were causing it.

“You woke up just in time. This might be the most important one,” Nick said. 

They watched Steve Rogers discover what year it was, then Charlie had to go home. 

Nick stood with him at the door, taking every second he could to be with Charlie. They always took ages to say goodbye. 

“I actually like them, you know?” Charlie said

“What?” 

“The Marvel movies, they’re actually good.” 

“I was really worried you’d hate them,” Nick confessed.

“They’re different, I think, from what me and Tao watch.”

“Would he actually hate them?”

“Absolutely!”

“We should do more with our characters, just us,” Nick suggested. 

“You had fun?” 

“I really did.” 

“And it’s not weird?” 

It’s so weird. It’s making me feel things I didn’t know I could feel. 

“It’s not weird at all.” Nick stopped himself halfway to hugging Charlie, then clapped him twice on the shoulder. It was the most awkward thing he had ever done. 

Charlie smiled up at him, then wrapped his arms gently around Nick. Well, if Charlie was going to give him the opportunity… Nick hugged Charlie back with everything in him. Charlie was so, so soft. His curls were so soft. His sweater was the softest thing Nick had ever felt. Hugging Charlie was like hugging a favorite toy as a child: safe and right. So, so right. He forced himself to let go. 

“I’ll see you on Monday, yeah?” He said. 

“See you Monday,” Charlie said, then left, smiling back at Nick all the way down the front walk. 

“Is everything alright, Nick?” Imogen asked before she had even sat down. She only used the nickname when she was worried about him. 

“Yeah, I just need to talk to you about someone.” 

“Nicholas!” Imogen’s face of concern fell away to reveal a wide grin, “You fancy someone! Let’s get our ice cream, then you have to tell me everything about her.” Nick smiled. He knew Imogen would tire herself out in a minute or two, and her excitement was a more than welcome distraction from his own inner turmoil. “And what are we going to do about it? Have you talked to her? Have you asked her out? Are you getting any good indications? Does she like you back?”

“Ice cream?” Nick answered. 

“Oh, I suppose,” Imogen smirked. 

Nick got a waffle cone filled with two scoops of cotton candy flavor, while Imogen opted for a cup of white chocolate raspberry swirl. Nick inquired about Imogen’s history report, which she still hadn’t started, but had officially chosen a topic for. It was nice to take a break, even for just a moment. 

“Okay,” Imogen said when they returned to their table, “I need all the details.” 

Nick briefly considered standing up and leaving. This was Imogen. He could tell her anything. “Well, I started playing dungeons and dragons.” 

“With Tara and Darcy?” Imogen asked, “They talk about playing all the time.” 

“Tara and Darcy and a few others. It’s really fun, actually,” Nick said. 

“Did you call me here to be serious so you could come out as a massive nerd?”

“Yes I did,” Nick grinned, “But really, Charlie asked me to play with them. Do you know Charlie Spring?” Imogen shook her head. For how much she talked, she knew when to give Nick the space to talk something through without interruption. “He’s in year ten, I sit next to him in form. We talk every day, about nothing, about everything, and it’s all so easy. He makes me laugh and he’s the best friend I’ve ever had. 

“He heard me reading Iago in English, and thought I was good or something? And he asked me to play with them, and it’s so much fun. And our characters are dating, I think.”

“You think.” Imogen leveled a stare at him that nearly melted his ice cream cone. 

“Well they’ve kissed a couple times, and we’ve been playing outside of the game,” Nick explained. 

“Nicholas. That sounds like dating.” 

“It’s not weird, is it?” 

“The only people who ask if something is weird are people who know that it’s weird,” Imogen teased, “It wouldn’t be weird if you didn’t have feelings about it.”

“I think I like Charlie.” Nick spit it out, rushing the words together as if saying it quickly would be easier. 

“You’ve been talking about him for ages, I knew you liked Charlie,” Imogen said, as if that was something she could say casually.

“ You knew?” Nick blustered

“You’re not exactly subtle. I think you and Charlie are the only ones who don’t know. Maybe some of our mates, but they’re proper idiots. You smile when you say his name.” 

“I don’t understand how I like him. I mean, I know all the things I like about him, but, I don’t know how I didn’t know I was gay. How did you know?” 

“Know what?” Imogen said, looking at Nick like he had just said something hilarious.

“You’ve come out six times now, haven’t you? How did you know ?”

“I’m pretty sure the fact I’ve come out to you as six different things proves I don’t know anything! I’m just trying on labels. Why do you think I don’t say anything to my other friends?” Nick just stared for a moment, so Imogen kept talking, “And I don’t think you’re gay. Not just gay. Bisexual people exist, Nicholas.”

“Bisexual people exist.” Nick said it to himself, just to taste the word in his mouth. 

“And you can just like him, you know,” Imogen added, “you don’t have to know anything other than that.” 

Nick smiled. “I don’t have to have a proper full-on gay crisis to like him, then?” he joked. 

“Nicholas! My entire life has been a proper crisis and I find that incredibly insensitive.” Imogen managed to hold the glare she was giving Nick for all of four seconds, then burst into laughter. Nick joined in. It was easy to just spend time with his friend. That was all he had really needed. 

Nick liked Charlie. He really liked Charlie. He was so confused about so many things, but he knew that with every fiber of his being. 

“So we’ve got to plan it out, right?” Imogen asked as they finished their ice cream. 

“Plan what out?” Nick asked, “Your unwritten history report?”

“You asking him out, of course!”

“Absolutely not!” Nick had just recovered from one crisis, he wasn’t going to start another just yet.