Chapter Text
“Is this seat taken?”
Startled upon hearing the familiar language instead of the usual Swiss German, Charlie’s head snapped up. He felt his eyes grow wide and was happy that he was able to at least shake his head to answer the question. Because no, the seat next to him on the bus that would take them up to the start of the toboggan run was not taken and yes, this handsome stranger smiling at him so kindly was definitely more than welcome to sit next to him.
Charlie averted his eyes back to the phone in his hands as he felt a blush warm his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, I don’t speak Swiss German or German in general. Do you speak English by any chance?” the stranger asked after he had settled himself next to Charlie.
Charlie looked up again and was met with beautiful amber eyes that were sparkling from a sunbeam peeking through between trees. His heart skipped several delighted beats as he tried to make out all the different colours in those pools of liquid honey, completely lost for a moment. It took those eyes growing smaller with another smile for Charlie to realise he was staring and not answering the question he’d been asked.
He nodded as he breathed out his low “Yeah,” still unable to focus on the rest of the man sitting next to him. The stranger blinked several times and finally, Charlie was able to snap back into reality. He cleared his throat as he tried to fight off his blush.
“Sorry,” he muttered, “I do speak English.”
“Oh,” the other man exclaimed in obvious surprise, sounding pleased, “You’re from the UK, too?”
“Yeah,” Charlie said, smiling as the same realisation hit him. Nice.
“Do you know how this works?” The stranger asked him then, his head jerking towards the direction of the sledging run, “Do we take the same route down as the bus? My friends and I weren’t sure.”
Charlie nodded, “Yeah,” he said for the third time, inwardly rolling his eyes at his own lack of eloquence. Why did this stranger render his usually wordy brain into nothing?
He cleared his throat again.
“Yes, this is a unique toboggan run here in ‘Grindelwald’. Especially made for the lazy ones I guess,” Charlie giggled, a tiny bit surprised as he saw the stranger’s eyes widen as they zeroed in on his cheeks and an adorable pink hue colour his cheeks. Oh? Giving himself no time to dwell on that, Charlie rushed to say more.
“You don’t have to walk up the 800 metres difference in altitude. Once up the mountain, the bus will wait until we’re all on our sledges and going down the steep run. Also, the bus’ horns are really loud when driving up, prepare yourself.”
“That sounds great! And also, thanks for the warning,” the stranger said, smiling a gorgeous lopsided smile that instantly caused his long forgotten butterflies to erupt inside of him. Surprised by the unfamiliar feeling, Charlie's smile turned giddy.
“You’ve already done that then, I guess?” The other man asked after a moment of staring into each other’s eyes.
“Yeah, it’s great fun, I promise! Is it your first time on a sledge?” Charlie asked back, not wanting to end their conversation just yet, too captivated by this stranger’s presence.
The other man nodded, his smile turning shy. “I grew up with not that many hills around me and certainly no mountains. I’m slightly scared to be honest,” he admitted.
Charlie couldn’t stop his eyes from flickering over the stranger’s tall, muscular and broad-built physique. This hulk of a man was scared of riding a sledge? There was a strange ache in Charlie’s chest, bordering very much on fondness. He felt his smile grow soft.
The other man seemed to clock on to Charlie’s train of thought as he shrugged and blushed even more, this time in obvious embarrassment, running his hand through his auburn hair to scratch his neck, biting his lips. Charlie’s gaze followed the movement very closely, endeared by the way the strands of hair immediately fell back into the stranger’s eyes. He forced himself to look out of the window to regain his composure.
They sat in silence for a bit and as Charlie watched the people outside the bus store their sledges in the luggage compartment, he desperately tried to come up with something soothing or interesting or simply anything to keep them talking. Let’s go for helpful, his brain decided as he looked back at the man and started talking again.
“You can brake as much as you need by digging your feet into the snow. This way you can adjust your speed and also stir the sledge. You seem very strong, I’m sure you have the right strength in your muscular thighs,” tumbled out of Charlie’s mouth and immediately, he joined the other man with a matching blush. Fuck, did he just say that out loud? To make things even worse, his eyes unintentionally snapped down to the man’s impressive legs before he realised his mistake and averted his gaze quickly to his own legs bouncing nervously.
Charlie heard the man sitting next to him chuckle lowly and he dared to look up again, stunned to silence as he saw the kind expression on the stranger's face. They stared at each other, Charlie had no idea for how long, both smiling shyly before the other man cleared his throat and broke whatever that just had been.
“That’s actually very useful, thank you!” he said, his smile ever so bright. “Are you here alone?” he then asked, a lilt to his voice Charlie couldn’t quite place.
He shook his head, “No, I’m here with two friends, they’re still outside. I got on the bus first as I get cold easily,” Charlie explained, hoping he hadn’t overshared.
“You?” Charlie asked back to divert the other man’s attention as quickly as possible.
“Same,” he said, before he shook his head, a low giggle escaping him, “Well, not really. Don’t know why I said that. I mean, my friends are also still outside, but only because they were in a snow fight and I didn’t have it in me to get my trousers wet already,” he continued, gesturing to his jeans-clad legs, “Also, I never get cold. I’m the opposite, I always run hot.”
Charlie’s cheeks started to heat up. You sure are hot.
“What?”
Charlie’s eyes widened in shock, he did not say that out loud, right? Please, for the love of any deity favouring gays, let me come up with something, anything.
“I said that comes in handy,” Charlie heard himself say. This did most definitely not sound like “You sure are hot” and if the other man’s slighty amused frown was anything to go by, he didn’t believe Charlie either. But thankfully, he didn’t press on and instead followed Charlie's lead.
“It really does,” he simply stated, a small smirk playing on his lips.
“Hey Nickyboy, why didn’t you save us seats?” Charlie heard someone say, only slowly able to tear his gaze from the other man’s lips to a woman standing in the aisle next to their seats.
Nickyboy’s head snapped to her so fast, Charlie was sure it must have caused him whiplash. He tried to bite down a smile but to no avail.
“Darce! Stop sneaking up on me!” he exclaimed, clutching the fabric in front of his chest.
“I did not sneak up on you, not my fault you’ve been severely distracted, you bisexual disaster!” the woman - Darce?- snickered.
Bisexual? Charlie inwardly cheered. He’d felt like there had been something between them, on both sides. So it felt nice to have confirmation of possible maybes.
“Hi, we’re Nick’s friends, I’m Darcy and this is my girlfriend Tara,” the blonde woman said, now directed at Charlie, her thumb pointing to the woman standing next to her before she leaned in, her arm outstretched. She turned her head towards her friend - Nick! -, winking at him as her smile turned into a smirk for the split of a second. Huh?
“Charlie,” he replied after a distracted beat, accepting her hand to shake it, “Nice to meet you!”
“Charlie,” she repeated, nudging Nick with her elbow, “Have you heard that, Nick?”
Nick just groaned and buried his head in his hands.
“Darcy,” Tara hissed through her teeth, obviously less menacing than her girlfriend despite her own grin, pulling her back, “Leave Nick alone.”
Charlie saw Darcy roll her eyes in mock-offence, a fond smile on her face, now that she was looking back at her girlfriend.
Tara turned to Nick, bending down slightly, “We’ll look for seats in the back, see you later,” she whispered loud enough for Charlie to hear into Nick’s ear before she grabbed her girlfriend’s arm and pulled her along the aisle, away from them.
“I’m so sorry,” Nick muttered, muffled by his palms still covering his face.
“Nick,” Charlie said, only barely holding back from breaking into laughter, his voice shaky, “It’s all good, don’t worry! My friends love to embarrass me too.”
Nick groaned once more and Charlie was done. Laughter bubbled out of his chest, escaping through the thin line of his pressed lips, turning the sound into a very unattractive mixture of a snort, gasp and hiccup that sounded too much like a burp.
At least it caused Nick to take his hands from his face and break into a full belly laugh now too, one that had a greater effect on Charlie’s heart than Charlie wanted to admit.
I would embarrass myself anytime and forever if only I could hear that laugh again, he thought and blushed immediately. Anytime and forever? What?
His fingers found a stray thread on the plushy seat he was sitting on and to have something to do with his hands, he began fiddling with it in an attempt to calm himself. But Nick’s laugh was so contagious and their encounter so wonderfully comfortable, he was unable to actually stop his laughter.
“Charlie? Who’s that? And why’re you giggling so much?” Charlie heard his friend Tao exclaim bristly from somewhere in front of him and now it was his turn to hide his face in his hands and groan.
Luckily for him, he was saved by the starting motor of the bus and his friend Elle’s hissing, “Tao, stop harassing Charlie. Let’s sit down!”
Charlie peeked through his fingers at her, hoping to convey his gratefulness to his friend with his gaze. She winked at him before she turned around and dropped into a free seat near the front of the bus.
“Friends, huh? A close call between hate and endless love,” Nick said gently, nudging Charlie’s shoulder with his.
Charlie snorted as his hands fell back into his lap. He nodded in deep agreement, still smiling as he looked up at Nick.
They sat in silence for a while but this time, it wasn’t awkward at all. Charlie felt completely at ease and struggled slightly with comprehending that sentiment. With every steep curve the bus had to take, they had to lean heavily into each other’s side and it was a very close call for Charlie to not simply lean his head onto the strong shoulder brushing against his own every few seconds. With almost every turn the bus took, the bus sounded the horn in its signature pattern, causing Nick to jump every. single. time. It was just too adorable for Charlie to take and he soon resorted to teasing the other man in order to deal with it. To his delight, Nick didn’t take offence and just played along, teasing back whenever Charlie wasn’t able to hold his balance. Nick didn’t have to know that it wasn’t really Charlie’s incapability of sitting straight that made him sway but very much his desire to be as close to the other man as possible.
“Wow! This view is stunning!” Nick exclaimed suddenly, sounding as excited as a child on Christmas Eve, leaning even more into Charlie’s side to gain a better view of their surroundings. Charlie turned his head towards the window too even though he knew the sight by now, having gone up and down this mountain almost all day, it still managed to take his breath away. As they were now almost all the way up to the 'Bussalp', the nearby Swiss Alps presented themselves in the most captivating way, stoic and beautiful, decorated with many layers of snow, glistening in the sun so bright it was blinding. Charlie put on his sunglasses and Nick did the same, slowly pulling back again to properly sit on his own seat, making Charlie instantly mourn the loss of his warmth.
When the bus came to a halt, Nick didn’t seem to be in a hurry, he just sat there, letting everyone go past them, including his friends who nudged him teasingly as they walked by.
Nick turned his head towards Charlie, a small smile on his face.
“Maybe it's way too forward, and I'm sorry if it is, but I wanted to ask if I could get your-” Nick said but was interrupted by Tao’s voice.
“Charlie, you coming? We want to go down as soon as possible so we don’t have to be so considerate of the other sledgers.”
“Tao, I’ll be out as soon as possible, just give me a second!” Charlie said, hoping that Nick wouldn’t catch on to his annoyance with his friend. He turned back to look at Nick, “What were you about to say?”
“I-,” Nick started but seemed to change his mind as he shook his head soon after. Charlie could’ve killed Tao. “Nothing,” Nick murmured, “Let’s go, your friends are waiting.”
With one last smile into Charlie’s direction, Nick got up and made his way towards the exit to jump out of the bus. Charlie needed a minute to gather his thoughts; what had Nick wanted to ask him? What had this been about? For fuck’s sake, Tao!
He slowly got up and made his way towards the exit himself. As he left the bus, he saw Nick standing with his friends from afar, a sledge in his hand, glancing at Tao who was frowning back at him.
It took Charlie a while to gather his own sledge as there was a commotion about which sledges belonged to whom and when he finally turned around again, Nick was nowhere to be seen. He whipped his head in every direction, turning around himself to have a better view, but Charlie couldn’t see him anywhere. He tried to find the colourful mop of hair of Nick’s friend Darcy but still came up with nothing. Dread crept into his chest and painfully tightened the ribcage around his rapidly beating heart.
Charlie almost ran to Tao and Elle, wanting to get down the hill as fast as possible to hopefully catch Nick somewhere on the road.
“Who was that, Charlie?” Tao asked, “He seemed a tad too friendly with you, do you know of his intentions with you?”
Charlie rolled his eyes at his overly caring friend; knowing it came from a good place didn’t always help him to temper down his reaction.
“He’s great, Tao, everything about him was great, perfect almost,” he snapped, “Now let’s go, I need to find him again.”
And with that, he grabbed his sledge and made his way to the start of the slope, his friends trailing behind him closely, most likely exchanging exasperated glances.
Charlie hadn’t been able to enjoy the tobogganing this time as he had checked every person they passed on their way down, looking for shiny reddish hair and a well-built shape. But none of them had been Nick. His last hope had been to find him at the bus station again but when they finally made their way down , he couldn’t spot him. Not at the end of the run, not at the benches, not near the waiting buses and not inside one of them.
No. He wasn’t there. He had lost him.