Work Text:
“Jitterbug [snap snap]
Jitterbug [snap snap]
Jitterbug [snap snap]
Jitterbug [snap snap]”
As the tape in the boombox transitions smoothly to the next song, Charlie smiles and pushes his headband back up, wiping the sweat on his forehead as it goes.
“You put the boom-boom into my heart
You send my soul sky-high
When your lovin' starts
Jitterbug into my brain
Goes a bang-bang-bang
'Til my feet do the same”
His eyes train back on his incredibly fit Jazzercise instructor at the front of the studio, and his limbs attempt to keep up, imitating the motions of the hunky man in those two-tone short shorts he appreciates very much.
“But something's bugging me
Something ain't right
My best friend told me
What you did last night
You left me sleeping in my bed
I was dreaming
But I should've been with you instead”
Sway left, shimmy right, arms up, kick. The song had come out last year and Charlie thought of it as the perfect summer anthem. This class, this view, this great song with its classic 4/4 beat driving everyone through their paces. He’s in his happy place.
“Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't wanna miss it when you hit that high”
Bend, left left, knee, snap. He can hear Gloria whooping it up from the other side of the room and he laughs breathlessly. What a delightful change this program is from how they’d been taught callisthenics back in secondary.
“Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not planning on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go
Take me dancing toniiiiiiight
I wanna hit that HIIIIIIIIIIGH, yeah yeah”
Clap clap, jump to the right, kick, spin. Being at the back of the room is helpful as he struggles a bit with the choreography, but it also highlights how many other students are having the same physical reaction he does to the teacher. It’s hard not to ogle the man. Right in the front row, Jennifer is shaking her shoulders up at him on his stage, and Charlie smiles to himself. She has been hardcore flirting with Nick since she started coming in the spring.
Way off to his left, he can see the side of Connor’s face and he recognizes the desire written there. He knows most people might mock the other student for his hopes, but Charlie’s smile just deepens. Between the pink Choose Life sweatshirt and the gold hoop earrings, he thinks Nick’s signaling fruitiness pretty clearly.
For that matter, so is George Michael, and Charlie lets his mind drift to the glow of the singer’s teeth in the video for this song on MTV, which Charlie happily pays twenty quid a month to enjoy… even though his parents criticize the extra expense of cable telly. Good thing he’s a grown up now and can ignore them for the most part.
“You take the grey skies outta my way
You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day”
At the mention of the blonde every-girl-next-door actress in the lyrics, Charlie’s mood shifts as he remembers the small article in the paper the other day, the one about her frequent celluloid love interest Rock Hudson having AIDS. No, they’d said he was “cured” of AIDS. A hard lump of emotion in his chest, Charlie nonetheless snorts softly at that thought. Yeah, right. Nobody survives it. He swallows and tries to get his mind back on his feet.
Despite his best efforts, memories surge up as his body moves without him. Being young enough to still want to spend time with his mum, going to the cinema with her to see Send Me No Flowers. Watching Pillow Talk with her one Boxing Day after Julio bought them a new-fangled VCR and a stack of videos for Christmas, the year he was… 20 maybe… no, 22 because it had snowed all over Kent that visit, yes.
Despite Hudson’s career nosediving as he grew up, thirty-year-old Charlie still has a soft spot for the movie star, and he believes the rumors traded through the whisper network of his gay friends.
It’s heartbreaking and terrifying, watching that friend circle shrink the last few years as Thatcher and Reagan in the States ignore the “gay plague” completely. He feels a familiar rage starting to boil in his guts, and he cuts it off before it can ruin his whole day. Charlie sighs, reminds himself how lucky he is and resolves again to pour this energy into his volunteer hours with the Terry Higgins Trust.
He glances back up to the front, realising he’s lost the thread of the song even though it probably looks like he’s doing everything he should.
As the song moves into its tender bridge, Nick lets his eyes scan the class again. He sees something… maybe wistful on the face of his favourite student and he’s glad the session is almost over. That raggedy neckline where the curly-haired man obviously took scissors to his yellow top à la Flashdance is doing something to Nick’s insides as he catches a glimpse of delicate collarbones.
“Jitterbug
Jitterbug
Cuddle up, baby
Move in tight
We'll go dancing tomorrow night
It's cold out there
But it's warm in bed
They can dance
We'll stay home instead”
He nods at Gloria and Connor as the group follows him into the last sequence. This Saturday class is one of the best parts of his week, adult students a marked contrast to the eight-year-olds he spends all week with at his main job. But it does come with some challenges too. He hopes he can slip through Jennifer’s clutches once again today.
As the song ends, he leads the group into clapping and cheering for each other and themselves. The boombox shuts itself off with a loud click after the mix tape runs out of nearly silent hiss. He picks it up and grabs his towel to move by the door. Setting the boombox back down just in front of his feet, he creates a narrowed space for everyone to exit through, hoping to encourage most people to hurry out and avoid a bottleneck.
He sees Jennifer dawdling with her water bottle, and his stomach sinks. He considers the risks again of just telling her he’s not interested, unavailable, probably someone she would find socially unacceptable if she knew he was bisexual…
Then he sees Charlie swoop in and chat her up. Nick pulls in his lips before he can give the game away with a smirk and turns to say goodbye to someone else as pleasantly as he can. The duo are now walking towards the door; they’re definitely going to be the last ones here.
“Yeah so it’s like bloopers but then, at the very end, he just stands there! You should totally check it out. I’ll bring the cable guy’s business card next week so you can call him.” Jennifer’s eyes are bright and her smile is real as she looks up at Charlie while he makes that promise. Nick sees one tan arm come up behind the woman and the dark head lean in conspiratorially. “The cable installer, Otis… he’s like… really hot too,” he murmurs into the side of her face and she’s giggling. He guides her ahead of him, like a gentleman, and just as she crosses the threshold of the doorframe, he pulls up short… next to Nick.
“Oh hey, I have to ask you about renewing my gym membership,” he says with a straight face to the blonde before glancing back at his erstwhile companion. “I’ll catch you up on Otis later, ok?!” She nods and waves and walks out the door, which gently falls shut behind her.
The blue eyes are sparkling, as they often do, and gorgeous, as they’ve always been. Nick breathes deeply, more than satisfied with this outcome.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Nick had wrapped the towel around his neck. Now he’s grateful it’s there for him to fiddle with. He can feel the residual heat radiating off his body and almost see the tendrils of it wafting towards the other man.
“Come here often?” He lets himself leer a tiny bit as Charlie snorts loudly. Suddenly the corner of a blue towel in the lean hands is snapping at his thighs. “OY! Lay off, mate!”
The handsome face scowls at him, dark eyebrows furrowed and beautiful mouth turned down at both ends. “Do. Not. Call. Me. Mate.” Nick grins and steps forward.
“Don’t be mad,” he murmurs into the side of the sable curls. Charlie sways slightly and Nick can hear his breath catch. His own adrenaline shoots up.
He steps back again, fingers clenching the end of his purple towel still wrapped around his neck, he makes eye contact and dips his knees slightly, trying to read what’s going on inside the other man’s brain. Charlie looks up at him, lips slightly parted, and he feels a little wobbly as a rush of tingles ripple across his abs.
Then there’s a hand on the back of Nick’s head and those lips are on his. Soft and fierce and delicious. Nick moans softly into it. Long before he’s ready for it to be over, Charlie’s mouth is gone just as fast as it had appeared.
He blinks and watches a cheeky, adorable grin bloom on Charlie’s face. He tries to remember to breathe as he stands there, still damp and steaming from the workout.
“Okay. Bye.” The slender man is spinning on one heel, making for the exit.
Nick lunges after him. “BYE?! Wait!”
They both look down at where his hand has landed on Charlie’s wiry bicep. The younger man smirks and leans away, not twisting to escape but tugging to invite.
“We only have a few minutes before the next class starts to come in, Mr. Nelson.” One lush eyebrow is cocked now.
Nick swallows. What this man does to him should be illegal.
Come to think of it… it had been. All the way up until his teenage years when, one winter morning, he’d met the man in front of him now, the man who was his husband in all but name. Nick winces internally. An old pain but still there. He holds no hope of the laws ever making room for their love to be that public.
“Then we best be home soon,” he drawls in a low, rough voice. He’s gratified to see a wave of lust wash over Charlie’s features. “For what I want to do with you, Mr. Spring.”
Matching grins now, they nod slightly at each other. “Shower there then?” Nick grunts an affirmative answer as he bends to pick up the rest of his stuff and turns, ready to follow Charlie out the door. He is the luckiest man he knows, safely ensconced in a bubble of love and relative safety from the disease ravaging their community, floating through life with his childhood sweetheart at his side. He only wishes everyone could be so fortunate.