Chapter Text
Bad habit, I know, but I'm needing you right now. Can you help me out? Can I lean on you?
If it wasn’t bad enough that Charlie had spent the majority of last year being bullied by the older kids in school, now he had to sit next to one of the rugby lads. Great, another year of hell he thought as he was told that he was going to be sitting next to rugby king Nick Nelson all year. Sure he wasn’t going to stereotype him just because he was a rugby lad but there had to be someone else that he could have been sat by.
Charlie couldn’t say that he had spent a particularly large amount of time watching any sort of sports if he could help it, especially at school anyway. He had his small friendship group and that was all he needed. He could get through form all year without having to say anything to the boy he was sitting next to.
“Hi.” Or maybe he couldn’t. The last thing Charlie had expected was for Nick to speak to him. He even smiled and regrettably the younger boy melted a little. He was not going to let himself fall for a straight rugby lad just because he said ‘hi’ and smiled at him. You’re not that pathetic, Charlie, he told himself.
He pulled out his chair and sat down with as little eye contact as possible, turning to the ginger haired boy returning a small, nervous smile, “Hi.”
—
Days passed and each morning and afternoon after lunch Nick would smile and say hi, proceeding to ask Charlie how his day had been. This whole not talking to him was working out great so far even if it was just small talk. It didn’t help that Charlie found Nick extremely attractive and found it almost impossible to ignore the way that he would swipe his hand through his hair to move it away from his face. The way that Nick didn’t seem to mind being seen with Charlie, or care about his sexuality as if he hadn’t heard all of the gossip going around school last year. There was something about this boy.
“What the…?” Charlie could barely hold back a laugh seeing Nick walk towards him
Nick and Charlie had been form buddies for the best part of a month, and up until now their conversation had mainly revolved around what they did the night before, plans for the weekend and Nick complaining at how hard his maths homework was while refusing Charlie’s help.
“Charlie! It’s not funny, it is not coming off!” Nick complained, looking down at his hands which were covered in blue ink. “I need help. Please.”
The smirk that was growing on Charlie’s face was a clear indication of how funny he thought it was, even if he was trying to hide it to spare Nick’s feelings, “Oh, so now you want help?” he teased, but still stood from his chair, “Come on, smurf.”
“Oi!” Nick shot back, this time not able to stop himself from laughing. A sound that sounded like music to Charlie’s ears.
—
“You know, maybe you should stop using fountain pens if they’re just going to turn you into an avatar?” Charlie leant against the wall in the bathroom as he watched the other boy scrubbing his hands, attempting and failing to get the ink off. Nick had asked for help, when in reality he was just the door man so he didn’t get ink everywhere, now they were here all he was doing was watching. Not that Charlie was going to complain.
“You’re being really helpful right now.” Nick turned his head to look at Charlie, despite his words he was grinning and his tone helped the younger boy to know that he was only joking, but it still made him feel like he was a little out of place. “Maybe I’ll just be blue forever.” The laugh that Charlie huffed out made Nick look over to him again, “What?”
Charlie shrugged, blushing slightly. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, “I just never expected the king of rugby to be so dramatic.” he commented, enjoying seeing this whole new side to Nick. “I thought all rugby lads were meant to…” he trailed off as he read the message.
He didn’t know how long they had been standing in silence until he heard Nick’s voice, “Charlie?” he asked, “Are you okay?” Coming to the conclusion that he was just going to have to wait for the ink to fade or completely scrub his hands red raw, Nick had given up paying attention to his hands, drying them off, his attention fully on Charlie.
“Y..yeah..” The curly hair boy stuttered, “Are… erm… Are your hands okay?” He asked, “I should be going…” Charlie really didn’t want to have to leave this space with Nick. The joking, the quick glances, the fact that Nick had asked Charlie to help him. Everything about this felt better than what he knew he was about to walk into.
Nick just nodded, “I’m fine.” Something about Charlie’s reaction didn’t sit well with Nick. His entire mood seemed to change with just one message and he wished he’d known what the message said, or who it was from. Who had the power to be able to flip a switch in him like that. “I should be going too anyway. I’ll see you after lunch.”
—
It was since that day that Nick had really started to notice a change in Charlie. He was last in and first out of form without much of any type of conversation with Nick. His evenings were always ‘okay’ and he wouldn’t elaborate and it made the older boy uneasy. It was almost as though Nick had done something wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The last time things seemed normal they were joking about Nick being blue.
It was that text.
Something about that message changed Charlie’s whole persona and Nick didn’t like it. He also didn’t feel like he knew Charlie well enough to push him to tell him anything. It wasn’t until Charlie didn’t show up for school the following week that Nick really started to worry.
Nick - 17:03
Hope you’re feeling okay
Just the doubt of knowing whether Charlie wanted him to talk to him made Nick type out and delete different variations of the message over and over again before settling on the one that he sent. He didn’t know what to expect the response to be, if anything. He’d been off school of course he wasn’t okay but he wasn’t about to go in with ‘You’ve been acting weird for the last week. What’s up?’ even if he wanted to. He didn’t even know if Charlie thought they were friends.
Charlie - 17:21
i’m okay.
Charlie - 17:21
ill try and be back tomorrow.
Nick - 17:22
Okay good. Youve been missed.
Charlie - 17:22
did you turn yourself blue again?
Nick - 17:22
No!
Charlie - 17:23
did you get all your maths homework wrong because you left it to the last minute?
Nick - 17:23
No!
Nick - 17:23
Is trying to do my maths homework the only reason you talk to me?
Nick - 17:24
Nerd.
When Charlie stopped replying Nick didn’t know if he had taken it too far. Charlie being a nerd was something they always joked about, so he wasn’t quite sure what he’d said. Thankfully though, not too much later his phone buzzed again.
Charlie - 18:01
thank you.
Nick - 18:01
For calling you a nerd?
Charlie - 18:02
for seeing if i was okay.
Nick - 18:03
Of course.
Nick - 18:03
If you ever need to talk about anything. You can talk to me.
Nick - 18:03
I’m your friend and I do care
Charlie - 18:05
thank you.
Charlie - 18:05
theres just a lot to unpack. i wouldnt want to bore you.
Nick - 18:07
I dont care. And youre not going to bore me, Charlie
Nick - 18:07
Image attached
Maybe Nellie can cheer you up a bit?
Charlie - 18:08
OMG <3
Nick - 18:09
Ill take that as a yes.
Nick - 18:09
Maybe you should come around my house and meet her?
Charlie - 18:10
I wouldn’t want to intrude.
Nick - 18:10
You wont be. How about this weekend? You can meet nellie and unload anything you want on me? Or nellie, shes a great listener!
Nick - 18:10
She just barked in agreement.
Charlie - 18:11
Only if youre sure you dont mind?
Nick - 18:11
Of course I don’t
Nick - 18:11
In fact. I want you to. x
There was no doubt that Charlie was feeling better after his conversation with Nick. Why did he have to be so nice. He had no idea what he was letting himself in for letting Charlie offload everything on him. Charlie didn’t even know if he wanted to tell Nick anything all he knew was that if Nick wanted to spend time with him, there was no way that he was going to say no.
Charlie - 18:30
Ugh… HELP!!!!
I hate to say that I need you. I hate to say that I want you. But it’s true.