Chapter Text
It was late afternoon and less than twenty minutes from the rugby match that would determine the rest of the season, and potentially lead to a university scholarship. Nick leaned over to tie his cleats in the dim blue locker room, when Charlie walked in to finish getting ready. No one on the team knew about Nick and Charlie’s relationship, and Nick wanted to keep it that way, at least until after the championship if they win. He rationalized with himself that he did not want to distract any of the teammates with impertinent news, when in reality, he was afraid how they would react. Harry and his friends have been quite cruel to Charlie, and Nick didn't think he could handle that kind of attention, especially since he had only just realized himself that he was bi. He admired Charlie, and his quiet strength in being true to who he is.
“Hi,” Charlie said.
“... Hi” Nick responded, still entrapped in his thoughts.
“Sorry, I– I didn't mean to interrupt–”
“No, you didn’t interrupt., I’m just a bit nervous,” Nick said, rubbing his hands together.
“Nick, you are going to be amazing,” Charlie looked into Nick’s eyes and smiled and Nick’s heart melted a little. He gave Charlie a tightlipped smile and took a deep breath and reached for Charlie’s hand. Before they could touch, they heard Coach Singh’s whistle calling the team to begin to stretch.
Charlie had absolute faith in Nick, but there was something about the day that seemed off. It wasn’t Nick, or Tao or even himself. Something felt … odd, but no matter how off he felt, he wouldn’t dare tell Nick about it; not during the semi finals of the season.
Their opponent was St. Josephine’s Preparatory School, a formidable team. St. Josephine’s is one of the only schools in the area who recruits students to play and offers a full scholarship and a stipend to the recruited students’ families. It was looked down upon, but it was not technically against the rules, so they let them play. Easy to say, St Josephines always made it to finals. While the St Josephine’s players weren't particularly larger than Truham’s team, they were certainly more athletic… and more aggressive. The two teams took the field and the match began.
The Truham team was doing surprisingly well. Truham was down about five points, nothing that could not be recuperated with a solid try. It had rained just before the match began, which made the field slick and dirtied the players up quickly. Charlie stayed to the side, secretly hoping that the ball would never come his way. Nick, on the other hand, was at the center of all the action. He dodged tackle after tackle and scored the team a few points. It was slightly after half time and both teams were starting to lose some steam, Truham more so than St Josephine.
In a last-ditch attempt to score more points, Nick barreled through the other team’s offense. Tired and dirty, he pushed himself through the fatigue like his entire future depended on it. Razor focused on the path ahead, Nick never saw the Josephine player coming in from his left side until it was too late. The red pennied boy charged at Nick and threw his entire weight into his ribs. The force of the tackle made Nick lose his balance, and he fell to the ground violently with a sickening crack that could be heard by any one within 3 meters of him … including Charlie.
White hot pain immediately ripped through Nick’s leg and he let out an involuntary scream. Charlie immediately ran to Nick and cradled him in his arms. Charlie couldn’t take it, forget pretending to be friends, Charlie was Nick’s boyfriend, and he was going to care for him like a boyfriend does. Nick scrunched his face and looked up to the sky trying to cope with the absolute agony he was experiencing. He didn’t care what he looked like, he couldn’t care about anything at that moment. Players from both teams began to crowd around Nick and Charlie. Coach Singh pushed her way through. She took one look at Nick and her eyes went wide.
“Someone call an ambulance please!’” She ordered anxiety filtering through her authoritative voice.
“I am so sorry, mate.” The red pennied player's voice quivered.
Charlie was so busy watching Nick’s face, that he hadn’t taken a proper look at Nick’s injury. He scanned Nick’s body and his stomach turned to a block of ice. In front of him, the love of his life’s knee was pushed out of its socket. A dislocated knee was painful, but nothing like what was below. Nick’s shin was laying at a 120 degree angle to the side, the bone protruding outside of his body through a slice. Blood oozed and dripped onto the muddy field. It reminded Charlie of the zombie movies he and Tao used to watch… only this was real, and the blood wasn't coming from some zombie… it was coming from Nick.
“Nick, don’t look.” Charlie said evenly. What a stupid thing to say, of course he was going to look. Nick's eyes moved from the sky to his mangled leg and he paled immediately.
“Oh my God!” Nick screamed in a total panic. Charlie could feel Nick's body tense up and Nick began to hyperventilate. The pain and shock began to consume him completely.
“You are going to be ok, the ambulance is on its way.” Charlie said quickly, trying to calm his boyfriend, but to no avail. He ran his hands through Nick's dirty hair trying to sooth him, trying to take some of the pain away, to do something! But he felt utterly powerless. Nick’s leg continued to ooze dark blood and the bone was still very visible. Charlie had never seen Nick so absolutely out of control. He is always gentle and collected, it's the thing that makes Charlie feel so safe. To see him like this, breaks a part of his heart that he didn’t know he even had. He was helpless, they both were. Nick’s heart was beating out of his chest, and he was beginning to sweat more than he was already. He was beyond talking to, beyond consoling. Nick’s mom ran up to the field and knelt beside him.
“Oh darling,” She cried. Nick looked at her and tears ran down his face. He was choking on his sobs and holding onto both Charlie and his mom for dear life. Sirens began to ring and slowly got louder and the ambulance approached. Nick’s breaths began to deepen and his body began to relax and tremble.
“Charlie, I think I’m about to faint,” Nick said breathlessly, panicked by what was about to happen. Charlie leaned over to see Nick’s eyes roll upward as his head tipped forward and he felt his boyfriend turn into a dead weight. Nick began to shake slightly.
“Nick? NICK??!” Charlie called to him frantically. Nick didn’t respond. He was completely unconscious.
“I need everyone to clear the area,” the paramedic commanded as he and his partner ran up to the scene, and everyone cleared except for Coach Singh, Charlie, and Nick’s mom. “How long has he been unconscious?”
“He fainted about a minute ago... he wasn’t knocked out, if that is what you mean,” Charlie cried.
“Alright, we are going to immobilize his leg and transport him to hospital straight away”. Charlie climbed out from underneath Nick so the paramedics could get to Nick. “Normally, we would set a dislocation here, but given that he’s also got a compound fracture, it's best to do it there. We are going to load him in now.” He and his partner transferred him to the stretcher, which made Charlie almost glad Nick was unaware, since that ordeal would have been agonizing. Charlie watched as Nick was carted away. He looked so frail and delicate, as if he would shatter if he was even touched lightly. He was so focused on Nick that he hadn’t registered that the paramedic had asked him a question.
“What?” Charlie responded.
“What is your relationship to the patient?”
“I’m his —”
“He’s family,” Nick’s mother interrupted. Charlie looked at Nick’s mum and smiled. Charlie had only spoken to her a few times but she hadn’t even hesitated to respond in that way. Maybe Nick talks about Charlie when he isn’t there. Maybe… he actually likes him too.
“Very well, he can ride too then,” the medic said. The three of them climbed into the ambulance and rode to the hospital.
`
An hour passed and Nick began to come to. He was first aware of the bright lights, and he knew that he was in hospital. He remembered what had happened but he couldn’t bear to check what his leg looked like. He would remember that forever. The next thing he was aware of was someone holding his hand. He turned slightly to face this person and noticed that it was Charlie, napping at his bedside. Charlie, who had dozed off, also began to stir when he felt Nick’s hand move. Nick squinted his eyes while he was adjusting to the light.
“Hi Charlie,” Nick croaked.
“How do you feel,” Charlie asked anxiously.
“I don’t know.. Kind of spaced out,” Nick replied. He didn’t know. His leg hurt, but not as bad as before. Mainly, now the thing that was bothering him the most was the fact that he couldn’t think. Everything felt like a dream.
“You are on a lot of pain medication dear, the doctors said that it's normal to feel a little out of sorts.” his mother explained.
“How long have I been here?” Nick asked numbly.
“About an hour,” his mother replied.
“Oh.” Nick furrowed his brow and stared at the wall ahead of him.
“I’ll leave you two alone for a little while” Nick’s mom said “I have to speak to the doctor.”
“Is it bad?” Nick asked Charlie, gesturing to his leg with his eyes.
“Um… yeah, it was so scary,” Charlie replied, the mental image of Nick’s mangled leg invading his mind.
“I’m sorry…” Nick said, his voice thickening.
“For what?”
“For scaring you,” Nick's voice trembled, the corners of his mouth turning downward as he tried not to cry.
“Nick, I thought that we said we weren’t going to say that anymore. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m just glad that you are here and you're going to be okay,” Charlie took his boyfriend's hand and pressed it to his cheek. “I’m here for you, no matter what.” and he meant it.