Chapter Text
The first time Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson met, they were 3 and 4 years old respectively.
The Nelsons had just moved in next door and were settling in, when Sarah Nelson had been called to an unexpected interview for a new job and tentatively asked the lovely neighbour's family if they could possibly watch her "Nicky" for a few hours. Her older boy was already in school, but finding someone to watch the youngest on short notice had been a futile endeavour.
This one request ended up being the beginning of a truly remarkable friendship.
The boys took to each other instantly over their shared love of wooden train tracks, tower building (and destroying) and playing catch.
Bright blue eyes tracked amber ones across the room, mischief sparkling from them, dimples and giggles making an appearance whenever he caught up to the slightly older boy with the sweepy blonde hair.
They spent their first few hours together becoming the best of friends, as you can only do when you're a toddler whose entire world does not contain much more than your own house and family. They played, they laughed and they paired up against Charlie's older sister Victoria when it came to snack time, to ensure they'd get the biggest haul imaginable. They hid underneath a giant blanket in Charlie’s room, thinking nobody could see them once they were engulfed by it, trembling with silent chuckles while Charlie's dad was *looking* for them without success.
When Sarah came back to pick up Nick, they wailed and cried, they protested against being separated and held onto each other so tightly, it took 3 adults to get them apart.
And once Nick had finally been rugby carried over the threshold of the house and into his own next door, Charlie's bright and shiny blue eyes had filled with tears, his bottom lip trembled and snotty sobs followed.
From then on, the Spring's and Nelson's lives became entwined. The boys would beg their parents to see each other as often as possible, easily falling into a rhythm of spending time at either house.
What started off as playdates for two toddlers soon blossomed into a friendship neither family expected to see of kids so young. They weren’t just playing, they were genuinely caring for each other, looking out for one another and learning together.
Nick, who was growing up bilingual due to his French father, had soon taught Charlie a few simple words and sentences, which surprised no one more than the raven-haired boy’s father, who’d unsuccessfully tried to instil some Spanish in him.
The first year of being neighbours they spent an especially large amount of time together, as neither boys were in school yet and the families had decided to take on childcare duties for the other kid once a week, to save on nursery fees.
It soon felt as if Nick and Charlie were an extension of each other, black curly hair running round the Nelson’s house just as often as blonde strands would flash across the Spring’s back garden. They were joined at the hip.