Work Text:
Charlie quickly closed the book he was reading with a nervous glance around the shop. His heart was racing, his cheeks were warm and something had definitely started to stir in his lower regions. He shifted a little, pushed the book far away and started fiddling with the box of pens that sat on the counter.
Luckily it was nearly closing time, and as far as Charlie could make out the shop was practically empty. He’d heard the bell chime while he was still deep in the book, but the customer must have been around a corner, because when he looked up the shop was quiet.
No one cared if he pulled out a book during the quieter moments of his shift, it was a book store after all, but he hadn’t expected the story to take that turn quite so quickly, and even in a near empty shop it didn’t feel appropriate to read something quite so… raunchy, whilst still technically at work.
Charlie was too intent on setting all the biros the correct way up, trying not to daydream about being dragged into a room by a pissed off looking guy, pushed up against the door and kissed so thoroughly that removing clothes seemed like the only realistic option, that he didn’t notice when the customer approached the counter.
“Oh my god, Charlie Spring?! ”
Charlie jumped, almost toppling the now neatly organised display of pens over. Catching the pot just in time, he looked up at the person who had just addressed him. And then his grip on the pot faltered and all the pens went flying across the counter.
“Shit!” Charlie exclaimed.
He kept his head down as he began to gather the scattered pens. He didn’t dare look up. He didn’t know who was standing in front of him, didn’t know who had just placed a large stack of kids’ story books on the counter and was now helping him scoop pens back into the pot, but he knew it wasn’t who he thought he’d seen.
His mind was playing tricks on him; he’d been daydreaming about romance and it had been a long time since he’d seen any action himself, and so his brain had taken the opportunity to conjure up the guy he spent his teenage years fantasising about. Why it had chosen that person when he hadn’t seen or thought about him in years, he didn’t know. But that was the only explanation.
No way was Nick Nelson standing in this tiny little bookshop in the middle of nowhere, miles away from their hometown.
And no way did Nick Nelson know his name.
A large hand brushed against his as he picked up the last pen, and Charlie jerked away as if the touch had scalded him.
“Sorry,” a soft voice chuckled quietly in front of him. “That was weird of me… you’ve probably no idea who I am…”
Charlie looked up then and finally took in the boy… no, the man , standing in front of him.
“Nick Nelson,” Charlie breathed out, surprised and a little confused.
The man in front of him beamed back at him. “You do remember me!” Nick grinned.
And then to Charlie’s further confusion, Nick blushed and looked down. Charlie just stared, unsure what to say.
Nick looked back up with another chuckle. “Uh, so, hi?” He sounded hesitant.
“Hi?” Charlie echoed back.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw it was you! I thought you lived in London now?” Nick smiled at him shyly.
Charlie’s brain couldn’t keep up.
Nick Nelson was stood in his place of work.
Nick Nelson knew his name.
Nick Nelson knew he had lived in London .
What the fuck…
“Sorry, god, I must seem so… sorry.” Nick’s blush deepened and he started moving the stack of books so the spines all lined up. “We uh, I don’t know if you remember, but we used to have form together? At Truham? Hamlet house?” Nick looked up from the books shyly.
Charlie laughed, unable to stop himself. “Oh, I remember…” he confessed.
Nick’s eyes were the same hazel that Charlie remembered glancing at from a distance all those years ago, but up close he could see specks of gold in those irises, and tiny little crinkles at the edges as Nick smiled at him.
“What are you doing here!?” Nick asked, as if they were old friends having a long overdue catch up, and not two men who had probably only exchanged half a dozen words in their whole lives.
Charlie started scanning the books through the till, just to give himself something to do other than stare at Nick’s shoulders, which were definitely wider than they had been when he was a teenager.
“I uh, I work here? I mean… temporarily, I’m helping out a friend.” Charlie frowned as he scanned the fifth children’s book through the till. He didn’t know much about Nick Nelson, obviously , but he did know he was only a year older than Charlie, and he shouldn’t judge, but surely he couldn’t have a child old enough to be reading Percy Jackson and Tom Gates?
Nick laughed that soft laugh again and started placing the books Charlie had scanned into a canvas bag that appeared to be handmade; a badly drawn dog’s face took up most of the front, with the words ‘ You’re the best ’ scrawled in messy handwriting across the top. Stars, hearts and rainbows framed the dog-like drawing. “I meant in New Romney? You were living in London, right?”
“Uh, yeah?” Charlie cleared his throat and tried to shake off the nervous energy thrumming through his veins, willing himself to channel confident adult Charlie, and not the Charlie from Year 10, who would stare pathetically across his form room at Rugby King Nick Nelson like a love sick fool.
“Yes,” he said with more conviction this time. “I went to uni in London, and worked there for a little while. But,” he shrugged as he scanned the final book, “I didn’t love working there so… here I am.”
Nick nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I can’t imagine living somewhere as busy as London. Leeds was great, but to be honest I missed home, you know?”
“So you’re living back in Canterbury?” he asked; if Nick Nelson was going to strike up a conversation with Charlie as if they were friends, Charlie was willing to reciprocate.
Nick placed his bag on the counter and shoved his hands deep into his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his feet, a gesture that almost made him look nervous. “Oh, no. I live here! But it’s still Kent, and I can be back at Mum’s in less than an hour. It still feels like home? Plus, beach!”
“Oh, cool. Yeah… being near the beach is pretty awesome."
Nick continued to smile shyly at him, and apparently this still short circuited Charlie’s brain, because instead of simply doing his job and telling Nick the frankly extortionate total of his purchases, he blurted out, “And you have… kids?” as he gestured towards the bag sat on the counter, overflowing with books.
Nick’s shy smile turned into a wide grin, and he let out a little laugh. “Thirty of them!”
Charlie felt himself physically recoil and his mouth drop open. “Thir-thirty? Thirty kids ?” he spluttered.
Nick laughed loudly as he lifted the bag up and turned it over. “I’m a teacher,” he chuckled. “At St Nicholas’s? The primary school?” He gestured at the otherside of the bag, which had the words ‘ Mr Nelson! World’s Best Teacher! Class 3N 2022’ in the same messy scrawl in the centre, with the rest of the fabric covered in a rainbow of kids' names, all written in different handwriting.
Charlie stared down at the bag for a moment, trying to dampen down the butterflies that had started to flutter into existence in his stomach. When he looked back up, Nick was still smiling down at him and the twinkle in his eye did nothing to calm the fluttering wings.
“A teacher?” Charlie asked dumbly.
Nick nodded. “Year 5 this year!” he said proudly. “Only I realised that most of the books in my reading corner were more suited for 7 and 8 year olds still, so I thought I’d walk into town and restock. I’ve been teaching year 3 for the last couple of years,” he added, probably because Charlie was still staring at him like a gormless idiot.
Charlie gave his head a little shake. “Well… that’s great. Really lovely. Um… congratulations? On becoming a teacher I mean, that’s… that’s really cool. Last I heard you were off to play professional rugby, or something.”
Charlie felt himself blush as he finally admitted to knowing something about Nick’s post Truham days. To his surprise, Nick threw his head back and laughed even louder.
He had a nice laugh. A really nice laugh. Even though Charlie could feel his cheeks growing warmer under Nick’s gaze, nothing about his warm eyes and soft laugh made Charlie feel like he was being laughed at .
“Oh god, that stupid rumour! I played rugby for Leeds Uni , but that was all! Just for fun.”
“Oh,” Charlie nodded, unsure what to say.
“What about you, are you still in that band? What was it called… We’re Queerly There ?”
Charlie gaped at Nick, again. “You… you know I was in a band?!”
Nick raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck, which had turned a faint pink. “I mean, yeah! You were like… fuck, you were so good ! On the drums and just… yeah…”
Charlie wondered when he’d slipped into this alternative universe where Nick Nelson knew his name, knew where he went to uni, knew he had been in a silly high school band.
“Sorry, I’m being too much aren’t I?” Nick chuckled nervously. “I just… you were so cool and-”
“No, sorry… I’m just… I didn’t think you would even know my name?!” Charlie interrupted him.
Nick’s laugh sounded forced for the first time. “Not know your name?! I mean… we were in form together? And I know we sat at opposite ends of the room, but… well, you’re Charlie Spring !”
He said this as if being ‘ Charlie Spring ’ meant something.
Charlie continued to stare at him blankly.
“You played the drums , like… insanely well. You looked so… you were so cool? And you were really smart, your name was all over the school! Oh, and you ran super fast, seriously, I considered asking you to join the rugby team at one point! You’d have made a great winger, but I was too nervous to talk to you. And then, in my Year 13, you became Head Boy and that was like… fuck, you were brilliant. Just so… confident and unashamedly yourself, and kind too! So, yeah… uh… I knew who you were. At school.”
Nick finished his long speech with a tiny cough, his cheeks flushed as he rubbed the back of his neck again and shuffled from foot to foot.
“Excuse me? Are you going to be long, it’s just-”
Both Nick and Charlie jumped as a third voice entered their conversation.
“Shit, sorry! I mean, oops! I’m really… sorry.” Nick looked over his shoulder at a woman and young girl, who Charlie realised had entered the shop, chosen a book and were waiting to pay, all while Charlie floundered his way through a conversation with Nick Nelson .
“Here, I’ll just…” Nick pulled his card out of his pocket and held it over the payment machine as Charlie read out the total.
“Sorry,” Charlie mumbled, whether to Nick or the lady he wasn’t sure.
The lady smiled tightly as she tapped her foot impatiently.
As Charlie printed off his receipt, Nick slung his bag over his shoulder.
“Thanks,” Nick said quietly to his hands as he took the receipt. Their fingers brushed and Charlie swallowed as he tried to act like electricity hadn’t sparked at the contact.
He tried to smile confidently. “Well, it was great seeing you… I hope your class enjoy the books.”
Nick nodded, and then he turned without another word towards the door.
Charlie couldn’t help the sigh that escaped his lips as he watched Nick leave. He gave himself a little shake, and then turned to give his full attention to his next customer, offering her another apology for keeping her waiting.
Or he tried to give her his full attention, but as he placed her purchase into a paper bag and held the card reader out to her, all he could think about was the fact that Nick Nelson had known who he was. Nick had recognised him. And that Nick apparently lived in the same small town that he’d just moved to, 30 miles away from Truham.
The lady paid and left, and the shop fell quiet again.
Charlie glanced at the clock; almost 5pm, nearly closing time.
Usually he was in no hurry to leave work; he was grateful for Marcus, his friend from uni, letting Charlie stay with him after he had decided to leave London and start a fresh near the sea, but he didn’t love living in the cramped flat above the shop with Marcus and his boyfriend, he always felt like a third wheel, underfoot and in the way. But tonight he found himself eager to lock up so he could take a long walk and try to process what the hell had just happened.
The bell to the shop rang a moment later and Charlie had to bite down a groan of frustration realising he wouldn't be locking up at 5pm after all.
Looking up to see who had decided to wait until 5 minutes from closing time to do some shopping, he had to bite down a different noise altogether as Nick shuffled back into the shop.
“Uh, hey again?” Nick gave a little half wave.
Charlie returned the wave without thinking, internally cringing at how dorky he must look.
Nick slowly crossed the small bookshop until he was standing in front of the counter again.
“Hey,” Charlie breathed out. “Is everything OK?” he asked, wondering why Nick was back so soon, his mind automatically going to how he could have messed up the purchase: had he charged him too much? Too little? Was a book damaged?
Nick blushed but didn’t speak.
After a moment Charlie cocked his head to one side, looking back at the man in confusion. “Nick?”
Nick cleared his throat. “Uh, so… feel free to say no… but… did you maybe… I just wondered… would it be weird… I really enjoyed talking to you just now? I know we didn’t really talk much at school—”
And that was an understatement if Charlie had ever heard one. He remembered vividly the few words he and Nick had exchanged at Truham. Most of the time it had simply been Nick mumbling a ‘ Morning’ if they arrived at form at the same time. One time Nick changed his greeting from ‘ Morning’ to ‘Good job last night ’, after a school concert, and another time Nick had told Charlie he liked his (battered) Converses when they’d been allowed to come in wearing their own clothes. That was, to Charlie’s excellent memory, the extent of their conversations at Truham.
Nick took a shaky breath and seemed to pull himself to his full height. “I wondered if you wanted to meet up sometime? Go out? Get to know each other properly?”
Charlie’s heart started to race so fast he felt dizzy, but he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. “Yeah? I mean, that might be nice?”
Nick exhaled and smiled widely back at Charlie. “Yeah? Brilliant! I mean, that’s great! What are you doing after work? You close soon, right?”
“Now?!” Charlie asked, his voice higher than he would have liked. “You want to—”
Nick cringed. “Sorry, I’m being overly eager! Of course you’re probably busy now! It’s just… I can’t believe you’re here ! I really thought when I left for uni… and then I heard you were in London… so I’m just a bit… like you’re here ?! And I just thought, if you weren’t busy—”
“I’m not busy!” Charlie blurted out, partly because it was true, and partly because Nick seemed (adorably) flustered and it was doing things to Charlie’s insides that he’d rather not face right at that moment.
Nick smiled again. “You’re not?! OK, amazing! So we could… I mean, I have my dog outside. So I would need to walk him home first… or I was going to take him for a walk down to Greatstone, the beach? Maybe grab some chips for dinner? There’s a great little pub down by the dunes that’s dog friendly, The Jolly Fisherman, do you know it? We could get a pint or something? Or just eat there if you prefer? Or stay in Romney and… whatever you want?”
“You have a dog?!” Charlie was vaguely aware that this fumbling man was nothing like the cool Rugby King he thought he’d known at high school, but all his mind could latch onto was the word ‘ dog’ .
Nick grinned and nodded. “Yeah, Henry. He lived with my mum until last year, but… well, to be honest I think mum was worried about me.” He rubbed the back of his neck again and when he laughed, it sounded stilted. “You know, being lonely or… sorry I’m rambling again! Anyway, yeah. He’s a pug—”
“A pug!?” Charlie exclaimed excitedly.
Nick let out a hesitant chuckle. “Is that a yes then?”
“Yes it’s a yes!”
Nick laughed again, his eyes crinkling at the edges as he seemed to relax a little. “Can I assume that you’ve only said yes to meet my dog, and not because you actually want to go out with me then?”
Charlie grinned and shrugged as he started shutting down the till. “Maybe.” He looked up at Nick from under his curls, pleased when he saw the other man beaming back at him.
Then his brain caught up to the wording Nick had used; go out with me. Did he mean… he couldn’t mean go out go out, right?
Nick was straight, right?
Charlie thought back to Truham and Nick’s dating life… or lack of one. There had always been a gaggle of girls from Higgs around the rugby team, but as far as Charlie knew, Nick had never dated any of them.
“I just need to grab my coat and lock up, then we can go?” Charlie asked, feeling suddenly shy again.
Shy but excited.
He’d moved to New Romney less than a month ago on a whim, knowing no one but Marcus, and by extension his boyfriend. And now Nick Nelson was stood in front of him, asking him out? Maybe asking him out? Blushing and rambling and wanting to spend time with him?
Nick nodded. “I’ll wait outside with Henry? But I’ll see you in a minute, yeah?”
“Yeah…”
“Excellent!” Nick beamed, hiked his heavy bag of books higher, and then turned around, throwing Charlie a smile over his shoulder before he left the shop.
Charlie shook his head in disbelief and then quickly went through the end of day procedures, grabbed his coat, and practically jogged towards the door.
He half expected Nick to be nowhere in sight when he exited the shop, their earlier encounter a figment of his imagination, but there he was, dog lead in hand, shuffling from foot to foot, and then smiling widely when he spotted Charlie. He lifted his hand in a small wave, and Charlie rushed over to him, dropping to his knees without a word to let the adorable tan pug at Nick’s feet sniff his hand.
“You must be Henry?!” he cooed.
Henry barrelled into his outstretched hand, demanding to be petted, as Nick chuckled above him.
“And there I was hoping you were joking and you might actually want to spend the evening with me, and not my dog.”
Charlie smiled up at Nick, giving Henry one last scratch behind the ears before pushing up to standing, suddenly feeling self conscious kneeling at the other man’s feet. He felt himself blush as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I like dogs.”
Nick just smiled back at him, and with only a nod of his head, they set off down the street towards Greatstone without saying a word.
Charlie was too nervous to talk, his brain repeating Nick’s ‘ go out with me’ over and over, wondering if there was any chance that Nick had meant it like that.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity but in reality was probably only a minute or two, Charlie couldn’t take the quiet, or the uncertainty, anymore.
“So, how long have you lived in New Romney?”
“Just over two years now, this is my third year teaching at St Nicholas’s. And yes, before you ask, I did only move here because of the school’s name.” Nick rolled his eyes as he grinned sideways at Charlie.
Charlie chuckled softly, but his mind was still too focused on the one thing he really wanted to ask.
“And you live with Henry? Anyone else?” His cheeks flushed as he asked such an obvious question, but boldness he hadn’t felt since uni had suddenly gripped him, and he was going to go with it.
Nick shook his head. “Nope, just me and Henry.”
“No girlfriend then?”
Nick gave him a funny look before he faced forward again. “No, no girlfriend. Or boyfriend.”
Charlie knew his face was on fire, but he couldn’t stop the huge grin that broke across his face.
“Cool.” He tried to sound completely unaffected by this news, but he didn’t think he did a good job.
Or boyfriend.
“What about you?” Nick asked a moment later.
“Me?”
Nick coughed. “Yeah, I mean… are you seeing anyone?”
Charlie let out a loud laugh. “God no! I broke up with my last boyfriend in uni ! I tried dating a bit last year, but it was just a disaster. I quickly realised those apps aren’t really for me, you know? But work didn’t leave much time to meet a guy in real life so… yeah.”
Nick threw him a sideways smile. “Cool. I mean… not cool that you haven’t… I just mean… yeah, me too. You know, like apps and… I’d rather meet someone in real life I think, and… yeah.”
Charlie laughed and nudged Nick’s shoulder with his own.
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
Charlie had taken the bus to Greatstone but had never thought to walk there. Nick seemed to know his way though, and he led them down picturesque side streets and narrow overgrown footpaths, chatting away as easily as if they'd known each other - really known each other - all their lives.
They talked about their experiences of uni, and then Nick told Charlie how he had decided to become a teacher after spending a summer working at the local sports centre holiday camp. Charlie told Nick about landing a job at a publishing house in London straight out of UCL, but how he’d soon realised that working 12 hour days and fighting the daily commute wasn’t what he wanted in life, and how that had led him to freelance work, needing somewhere to live, and Marcus’s need for help over the summer months at his parent’s bookshop.
Charlie found both talking to and listening to Nick so engaging that before he knew it, they’d made the half an hour walk and were emerging onto the parade at Greatstone, with grass covered sand dunes stretching out as far as Charlie could see, and the late summer sun reflecting off sea in the distance.
“And this,” Charlie inhaled, letting the sea breeze and salty air wash over him, “is why when Marcus offered, I couldn’t say no. London, or this? No comparison.”
He turned to smile at Nick, expecting to see the same relaxed expression he knew was on his face reflected in the other mans.
Instead, Nick was stood still, almost stiff, watching Charlie with an odd expression on his face.
“Nick?”
“I’m bisexual!” Nick suddenly declared, loud enough for several people walking dogs or pushing prams along the road to turn and look at him. Nick groaned and brought his free hand up to cover his face.
Charlie stared at him for a second, and then burst out laughing. “I’m gay.” He spread his arms wide and only laughed louder as those same people, who had just started walking again, turned back to look at Charlie, uncertain smiles on their faces.
Nick blushed, but he laughed as he started walking again, heading towards the beach. “I know you’re gay Charlie. Why do you think I’ve been so… You were my bi awakening… well, you and Orlando Bloom. I had the biggest crush on you at school.”
“You did?!”
Nick’s blush deepened.
“Me too,” Charlie confessed quietly.
“You… you had a crush on me ?!” Nick spluttered.
Charlie shrugged, stepping just the tiniest bit closer to Nick as they started climbing the sand dunes, sliding backwards every so often.
“So, uh… wanna go on a date? With me, I mean?” Nick asked shyly as he made it to the top.
Charlie grinned up at him, and then slid back as the sand under his feet gave way. A warm hand grasped hold of his, pulling him up until they were stood side by side on top of the dunes, surrounded by sand and sea, and sun.
“Yeah, a date sounds good.” Charlie beamed as he threaded his fingers through Nick’s and gently squeezed.
Nick beamed back, and hand in hand they laughed and stumbled their way back down the other side of the dunes, Henry pulling them forward so he could chase the gulls on the beach, the waves lapping at their feet.
///