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Sai thought this was the funniest thing they could have come up with. Their plans swiftly changed when they saw insta stories of the party they were meant to be heading to already crammed full of people before they were even ready to leave the flat. The three of them decided they were not in the mood. They decided to watch a film instead, opting for horror since Nick was out for the evening and he always protested the genre.
The wind and rain were whipping against the windows as the murderer took their next victim on the screen.
“Man, Nick would be freaking out right now,” Christian laughed as he shoved another handful of popcorn into his mouth.
“Tell me about it,” Otis agreed, “I wonder how he’s getting on, it’s not like him to be out this late.”
Sai hummed in agreement. They had been ribbing Nick since he admitted he couldn’t come to the party with them as he had a date. Nick never had a date, and with the way he had nervously dressed up earlier that evening, the boys couldn’t help themselves, offering possibly the worst first date advice given in the history of forever. Nick was a smart boy so Sai knew he would ignore it all, except possibly Christian's advice about walking on the outside of the pavement, which was something Sai himself had never considered and seemed easily romantic enough. He had stored it away for his next date (however far in the future that might be). Nick was also gentlemanly enough not to bring a first date home.
“Let’s freak him out.”
So that’s how Sai found himself crammed next to Otis under Nick’s bed, giggling like little children. They could hear Christian giggling from his position in the wardrobe. They were just finishing their 5th round of shushing each other when they heard a key in the door. Game time.
Nick seemed to be taking his time in the hallway, when finally, from his position under the bed, Sai saw the door swing open and Nick’s vans pad across the carpet. Followed by a pair of Converse. Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck!!!
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay?” That was not a girl’s voice. Double, triple fuck. This was something Nick hadn’t mentioned when talking about his date, or ever. In the two years since they had all become friends, this was something that had never been mentioned. It was fine, obviously. What was not fine was the fact that the three of them were now intruding on a very private, secret moment.
“It’s fine Charlie, the lads won’t check on me when they get home and I’m going to tell them about you in the morning anyway. This way I can introduce you too.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am. One hundred percent. I’m ready to tell them.”
Sai watched as the two pairs of shoes stepped closer to each other and Charlie went on his tip toes. They were kissing. Shit. This was the worst possible situation to be in. Otis had a vice-like grip on his wrist, he turned his head.
“What are we going to do?” Otis barely whispered. Sai shrugged. The two standing boys separated.
“They were all so pleased about me going on a date. Giving me all these tips to ease my first date nerves. I was just thinking to myself, “you guys will freak when you find out it’s actually our three month anniversary”.”
Three months. Now Sai felt like a really shit friend for not noticing something was going on.
“But they think it’s a girl you’re with?” Charlie sounded unsure.
“Well, that’s on them for assuming. Our vice-captain has a boyfriend. The lads might be idiots sometimes but they’re not ignorant, they know queer people exist. You seem more nervous than me.”
“I just don’t have the best experience with rugby boys, you know that. But if you trust them, then so do I.”
“I trust them. They’ll be jealous they’re still single.” The feet moved closer again, a hug this time since all heels stayed on the floor.
Otis tapped his hand, when he turned he saw Otis had drafted a message to the flat group chat.
Nick!!!!!!! Emergency! We’re under the bed. Sorry mate. We’ll explain later.
The two seconds it took for Sai to nod his head and for Otis to press send were two seconds too long.
“I’m freezing and this jumper is damp from the rain.”
“Shit, Charlie, you should have said. Take one from the wardrobe.”
Sai watched as Charlie turned and opened Nick’s wardrobe. His heart stopped.
“What the fuck!?” Charlie jumped back.
“Christian mate! What the fuck?”
Christian cleared his throat. “Sorry.” His feet joined the ones on the floor. “We were going to scare you.”
“We?” Nick sounded short of breath. Come on Christian, act like an adult here.
“Otis and Sai are under the bed.” Or not.
The indignity of shuffling out from under the bed while Nick, Charlie, and Christian watched was something that would keep Sai awake well into his sixties, he was sure of it.
As soon as the five of them were standing Otis started rambling, a nervous habit.
“So, we were meant to be at this party, right, but we saw on insta that it was rammed so we didn’t fancy it in the end. So we decided to watch a scary film, you know, with the bad weather to add to the atmosphere. Anyway, Nick hates scary movies, maybe you know that or not, anyway. We were talking about how he hates them, and then how he was getting on, he had been so excited for this date you see, well you probably were too, maybe, we thought it was a first date. And Nick never brings people home after first dates. Shit, not that he has many, any, even. But you probably worked that out. So we had literally just text him to warn him when you needed a ju-”
“Otis, stop.” Christian put his hand on Otis’s shoulder.
Sai surveyed the group. Christian and Otis were looking as sheepish as he felt, Nick was staring blankly at the wall over his shoulder and Charlie – Charlie looked like he wanted to laugh. What?
He didn’t manage to hold it for much longer.
“Sorry,” he gasped through laughter, “You all look so scared. I’ve never seen a prank backfire so spectacularly.” He seemed to remember who was with him and calmed himself down to turn to Nick. “Are you okay?” the softness of his tone and the tenderness in his eyes immediately made Sai jealous, just like Nick had said. Lucky Nick, if this turned out well, Nick was one lucky man.
The question seemed to shake Nick out of his silence, he looked each of his flatmates in the eye, and seemingly satisfied with what he saw, huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. I’m great. Guys, this is Charlie,” he put his arm around Charlie’s shoulder, “my boyfriend.” He was beaming.
The admission shook the rest of them out of their silence, introducing themselves to Charlie.
“I mean, at least you know he’s not a liar,” Sai willed Otis to shut up. “We heard him tell you we were idiots, and now we’ve proved it.”
This set Charlie into peals of laughter again, “Sorry! I just realised that Nick’s coming out was foiled by finding one of you, literally, in the closet!”
This set Nick off, and the rest of the boys joined in. As Christian and Otis took Charlie by the shoulders and herded him to the kitchen with the promise of tea and embarrassing Nick stories, Sai stopped Nick with a hand on his shoulder.
“Mate, I’m so sorry.”
“Nah, you’re good. I genuinely was going to tell you all in the morning. Like, walk into the kitchen holding his hand, like “tah-dah.” This was fine. Don’t stress about it. He found it very funny, and I love hearing him laugh.” He trailed off, going pink.
“Ah, I see, lovesick Nick is here. He seems cool.”
“He is, way too cool for me.”
“But hey, three months is saying something. And if that shitshow we just put you through doesn’t scare him off, can’t imagine what will.”
“Yeah, I want him around for a long time.”
“Sickening.” Sai said as he clapped him on the shoulder and pushed him towards the kitchen where he could hear Otis on a ramble, again.