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Charlie sighs as he stares out of the window, the only sight in front of him that of wet, grey asphalt and the remains of icy slurry filling potholes like slushy landmines. The comically large glasses that hang out in front to advertise the optician’s sway in the cold wind.
So, it’s going to be one of those days at work then. One of those days where there is nothing really for him to do anymore past 10am. With the weather being what it is, spontaneous walk-ins are also rather unlikely.
He only has one appointment in the afternoon, with a certain N. Nelson – a new customer – but it's a long time until then.
A couple of hours later, when the shop bell finally tinkles, Charlie wonders how exactly he passed the time. He isn’t quite sure, but it was definitely not in a way that would please his employer.
Charlie looks up to see who’s come in, and that’s the moment his body starts to tingle, from the tips of his curls to the tips of his toes, as every molecule of oxygen leaves his body, together with a tiny bit of his soul. Before him stands a man. No, not a man, the man.
If Charlie were to commission a statue of the man of his dreams, he would probably have looked a lot like the one standing right in front of him now. Tall, broad and muscular, with big hands that brush through a windswept shock of auburn hair falling over eyes that look around a little nervously.
Charlie is only able to stare at the man with a slightly dumb expression, until he notices that the potential new customer is looking at him in a very weird way. Oh right, it’s rather unusual to just get stared at once you enter a store.
Scraping together what little is left of his composure, Charlie manages to clear his throat and address the handsome hunk who has started to approach him.
“Erh-hm, sorry, hi, welcome, how can I h-help you today?” Oh god, he’s getting more and more gorgeous the closer he comes, Charlie panics internally.
In quick succession, many things he would like to help the man with start to flit through Charlie’s mind, but he shakes himself surreptitiously and the thoughts out of his brain. He’s at work after all.
“Er, hi. So, I’ve never had glasses before, and I never felt like I needed them so far.” The man’s voice is just as gorgeous as his looks. A timbre reminiscent of liquid caramel, with a layer of endearing shyness woven through it and just a hint of roughness. “I’m a teacher, and I’ve recently started teaching older students, which means I have to grade far more papers than before. I also have to fill out so many spreadsheets and my eyes really start to burn after a while and I get these intense headaches. And I thought that maybe glasses could help?”
Gorgeous man, endearing job, oh Christ. Charlie nods as he takes a couple of notes while listening to his customer.
“So, Mr Nelson…” Charlie starts.
“Oh, please call me Nick,” the other man interrupts him gently.
“Alright then, Nick.” Charlie starts again with a private smile. Nick Nelson, what an absolutely perfect name. Because of course this man, straight out of Charlie’s wildest fantasies, would also have a perfect name.
“I’m going to ask you a couple of questions if that’s alright. Don’t worry, these are just questions to narrow down what could be the origin of your issues and to be able to find the best possible solution for you and your eyes.”
“Yeah that sounds… reasonable.” Nick squints at Charlie’s nametag and adds with a shy smile. “C. Spring…”
“It’s Charlie, just call me Charlie.”
“Okay then, Charlie, that sounds reasonable. Go ahead, what would you like to know?”
Several thoughts rush through Charlie’s mind at those words.
How do you take your tea? Do you have a favourite side of the bed to sleep on? Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? Have you ever joined up the freckles on your face to see if an image appears? How far down do those go anyway? What’s your favourite season and can it please be Spring? Can you squash watermelons with those thighs?
For some reason, those questions are not written down on the form in front of him. Charlie shakes himself a little and manages to go through the actual catalogue of questions and meticulously writes down Nick’s answers.
When they have covered every point, it suddenly hits Charlie that the next part of the appointment is coming up. Which means he will have to get very close to Nick. Very close.
It’s not something he really thinks about much in his day to day life. It’s just what it is. You get quite close to your customers and hope that they’ve recently showered and brushed their teeth.
And while the idea of getting up close and personal with Nick is absolutely thrilling to Charlie, it also makes him sweat a little. He really hopes he can keep his composure and professionalism intact.
They walk over to the eye test room, and he shows Nick where to take a seat.
Charlie starts with some preliminary tests, before getting to the cover/uncover test. He briefly explains what is about to happen to Nick and why he is doing it. It always puts customers at ease to know what is coming, especially as many do not expect to have a sort of salad spoon held in front of their face.
Charlie’s first observations are… huh, that’s weird. This isn’t even something he looks for during this test, it’s not what it’s meant for.
He repeats the test, but the results are the same. He doesn’t let Nick know any of his thoughts, no need to make a problem out of something that is probably nothing.
He does the second version of the test, which again, yields the same, quite unexpected result that has nothing to do with the actual examination. Why do Nick’s pupils dilate whenever I remove the occluder? It should be the other way round.
“Huh…” eventually escapes him, against his will.
Nick recoils a little from the spoon, the back of his head hitting the chair.
“What? What’s up?” he asks, a worried crease developing between his brows. Charlie wants to kiss it away.
“Oh no, all’s fine,” Charlie assures him with a little head shake. He doesn’t want to worry Nick when it’s probably nothing at all. “But please don’t look at me while we’re doing the test, try to look through me.”
“Huh, well that’s very easy for you to say,” Nick says with an adorable lopsided smile, which immediately falters as he adds, “Oh, sorry… I just... I meant…”
“Nick, it’s fine, I know what you meant.” Charlie smiles weakly at him. “It’s hard to just look through someone when they’re sitting right in front of you.”
Nick hums. “Hmm yeah, that’s what I meant.”
Charlie gives up getting a good result with the cover/uncover test and gets started on the real meat of the appointment, the actual eye test.
It’s been a long time since he’s had to fight with himself so hard to stay present with what he’s doing. It’s a struggle to not get lost in how the light catches on Nick’s auburn hair and to resist stroking a finger over those freckled cheekbones as Charlie changes a lens in the trial frame.
It’s a tough battle, but in the end, Charlie is victorious. It’s a good thing that most customers don’t really know what you’re doing as you’re doing it, so Nick doesn’t notice when Charlie is once again distracted by another feature of his perfect face or by the way his thighs are far too deliciously thick for the chair he’s sitting on and thus, has to perform certain steps of the exam two or three times more often than would normally be necessary. Charlie is also very proud of himself that he resisted just climbing into Nick’s lap.
He diagnoses Nick with a slight astigmatism. Charlie explains that getting glasses with that prescription should help with the issues Nick described to him. He also gives him a couple of ideas on how to relax his eyes when he has to look at a screen for a long time.
He leads Nick out of the small side room, back into the store proper.
“But also, there was something I noticed when we did the test with the occluder.” Nick looks at him blankly. “Sorry, with the… spoon. I would recommend that you see an ophthalmologist to get your pupillary reaction checked out. Just to be safe, I really don’t want to worry you. It’s probably nothing, but I would feel terrible if I were to just ignore it, you know? It’s just that they were widening as light hit them again and it should be the other way round.”
“Oh, uh, okay then.” Nick looks at Charlie a little concerned, which is fair enough, considering what Charlie just told him.
“Is it okay if I wait until after that appointment to choose my glasses?” Nick asks, obviously a little shaken by the news.
“Yes, of course,” Charlie assures him immediately. “I’ll just keep the results for you, and you can come back to pick your frame whenever you feel like it.”
Nick sends Charlie a grateful smile.
“You could even bring a friend or a… partner to choose them. That often helps, especially if you’ve not had glasses before,” Charlie adds, totally not fishing for information.
“Thanks Charlie, that’s all very helpful to know.” Charlie’s knees buckle slightly, as that gorgeous lopsided smile makes another appearance.
Nick opens and closes his mouth a few times, as if he’s about to say something, but seemingly stops himself each time.
“What is it?” Charlie enquires with a smile.
Nick shakes his head and breathes out a little laugh. “Hmm, never mind… I… thanks Charlie, I’ll see you soon.”
And just like that, Nick opens the door, leaves the store and there stands a befuddled Charlie, who for the first time in his career, really hopes that a customer will come back.
🍂👓🍂👓🍂
The days pass, and Charlie thinks about Nick often. Whenever there’s a lull in his work day. And while he’s food shopping. And while he’s cleaning. And while he’s in the shower. Often when he’s in the shower. He thought about him once while cooking but got so lost in his fantasies that he burned his pasta while he was sitting next to the pot, so thoughts of Nick were now banished from the kitchen.
He spends a lot of time thinking about those pretty apricot freckles and where else apart from that rosy face they could be. And how those thighs were straining against fabric that seemed to hold on for dear life, the threads desperately clinging to each other as the muscles bulged over the seat of the exam chair. But most of his thoughts revolve around those infinitely gorgeous chocolate eyes. Charlie really hopes that Nick comes back, just so he can capture those stunning irises with the special camera they have, so he can spend his days drowning himself in the dreamy woolly jumper structures in glorious magnified 4K.
🍂👓🍂👓🍂
It’s a week later, Charlie is cleaning frames as Nick comes into the store, a stunning woman with beautifully braided hair at his side. Because of course.
“So I haven’t had my appointment yet,” Nick explains. “But Tara only had time today, so I thought we might still be able to look at some frames?”
Charlie nods. “Yes, of course. Would you like my help or do you prefer to have a look by yourself first?”
Charlie doesn’t quite understand why, but Nick seems a little nervous as he asks, “Uhm, can we look for ourselves first and come to you if we have questions?”
“Yes, of course.” Charlie nods and shows them where they can start looking.
He busies himself a bit away from the pair, but obviously in eavesdropping-distance. Charlie wishes he hadn’t, as he clearly hears the woman who has shot Charlie a number of looks he could not parse, call Nick names like ‘sweetie’ or ‘Nickypoo’ as she judges the variation of frames Nick is trying on.
Charlie feels his heart fall out of his chest and not in the good way. Of course. Of course he’s straight and not available. What was Charlie even thinking? Back to despondent daydreaming it is then.
But he manages to keep a professional face as he walks over to the pair and addresses Nick, “While you’re looking, would you or your girlfriend like a cup of coffee or some water?”
Something like panic flits over Nick’s face for a second. Oh no, what did Charlie say? He did not just inadvertently confess his crush, did he?
“Uhm, thanks Charlie, but… I think we’re good.” Nick looks away from him, tugging at Tara’s sleeve to take her aside and then he’s whispering urgently into her ear. Tara starts to smile at whatever Nick is telling her, and her smile gets wider the longer he keeps talking.
Could they please stop flirting right in front of Charlie? How rude!
Suddenly, Tara steps away from Nick and stalks over to the shop door, waving her phone at Nick.
“So sorry to leave you hanging, but I just remembered that I have to call my girlfriend!” She loudly emphasises the last two words as she closes the shop door behind her.
Huh, that was weird, Charlie thinks to himself. So not his girlfriend then. Probably still straight though.
Nick places two frames in front of Charlie.
“Could… could you keep these aside for me until I’ve seen the eye doctor?” Nick asks. “I just can’t quite decide yet and unfortunately my styling assistant seems to have gone missing now,” he adds with a chuckle.
Charlie assures him that this isn’t a problem at all, especially as that means that he’ll most likely see him again. He does not say the last part out loud.
🍂👓🍂👓🍂
Another week passes before Charlie sees Nick again. Unlike the two other times, he doesn’t see him as he walks in through the door. No, Charlie spots him on the other side of the street, pacing up and down. Charlie surreptitiously observes Nick as he appears to be talking to himself, gesticulating as he walks.
Charlie jumps away from the shop window as Nick unexpectedly turns towards his shop, a determined look on his face.
Nick enters the optician’s, smiling as he notices Charlie.
“Charlie, hi!” Nick breathes out and beams at him. Charlie wonders why his face is like that.
“So…” Nick continues. “So the doctor couldn’t find anything related to what you were talking about, everything is completely normal apparently.”
“Huh, weird. So it’s not like I don’t trust the ophthalmologist, not at all,” Charlie muses. “But would it be okay if we did the test one more time, with a camera attached, so I can show you what I saw?”
“Oh, that actually sounds really cool. Yeah, I’d like that Charlie,” Nick says, nearly turning Charlie into a puddle again with that adorable smile.
They walk into the exam room and, as Nick sits down, his jacket shifts a little and what Charlie sees then has him suppressing a yelp just in time. That gorgeous hunk of a man is wearing a bi-pride pin on his jumper! Mustering up all the chill Charlie never knew he possessed, he takes a deep breath before finding his professional state of mind again.
He instals the mini-camera in front of Nick’s face, checks on the screen that those stunning eyes are in perfect focus, hits record and grabs the occluder.
A few moments later, Charlie stops the recording and groans.
“I’m so sorry Nick, I don’t know what’s going on, but you definitely have an abnormal pupillary reaction whenever I do this test with you.” Charlie is at a loss. “Wait, I’ll show you the video, so you don’t think I’m a total weirdo!”
“Charlie, I would never…” Nick starts but is interrupted by Charlie loudly closing the blinds in front of the window.
He shows Nick the recording and it’s definitely there, Nick’s pupils dilate at regular intervals when they should actually become smaller as light hits them during the uncovering.
They sit in silence in the slightly darkened room as the video plays on a loop.
“So Charlie,” Nick starts tentatively. “You don’t know this about me, but I’m like… a chronic Googler. If I don’t know or understand something, I will Google it.”
Charlie does wonder where he is going with this.
“Then, I probably don’t have to explain to you what things would provoke a pupil reaction like the one I’m clearly having on that video,” he continues. “And no, I am not on drugs, or drunk and I didn’t take belladonna either… and even the doctor said nothing is wrong.”
“Okayyy,” Charlie answers, still unsure of what is actually happening right now.
“Charlie, you’re the professional here.” Nick cocks his head a little and smirks. “What else does that leave as an explanation?”
“Oh. Oh. Oh?” The sudden realisation makes Charlie blush, he hopes the room is dark enough that it isn’t too noticeable.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry, Charlie. This is your workplace, this is totally inappropriate from me.”
Charlie feels the panic emanating from Nick and so he stands up and lays a calming hand on Nick’s shoulder.
“Hey now,” Charlie attempts to calm Nick down and stands up. “Let me show you something.”
Nick looks at him, a big question mark etched over his face.
“Indulge me, switch seats with me, please?”
Nick nods, with a slightly dazed look on his face, as if he is really unsure of what’s about to happen.
Charlie instals himself behind the camera as Nick sits down on the stool that is usually Charlie’s.
“Okay, so do you remember how I sometimes came into and then left your field of vision while we did the test with the… spoon?” Charlie asks.
Nick simply nods.
“Brilliant! Just do that… without the spoon, and just look at the video feed while you're doing it,” Charlie instructs.
Charlie hits record and really hopes that his plan will work out. He feels and then sees Nick getting closer and closer to his face. He doesn’t dare move much, as he fears it would blur the video. Nick is so close, he can smell his delectable scent so intensely Charlie can almost taste it.
Suddenly, he hears Nick gasp loudly and move away from Charlie.
“You… your pupils!” Nick exclaims. “They’re doing the same as mine did on the video… oh.”
Charlie groans as he pushes the camera tray away from him, he is pleased to see that Nick is definitely blushing now.
“It really is unfair that I’m at work, you know.” Charlie leans forward, closer towards Nick.
“Oh yes? And why’s that?” Nick asks him, a little smirk playing over his still flushed face.
“‘Cause now I kind of want to do things with you that would be highly inappropriate in a workplace setting… if that’s quite alright with you, of course.” Charlie smiles at Nick, feeling his blush intensifying even more.
Nick lays a finger on his plump red lips, as if pondering something. “Hmm, so when do you get off work then?”
“Uh, in about three hours, why?” Charlie asks, sending a little prayer out to the universe.
“Well because, if you don’t terribly mind, I would also like to do things with you that would be highly inappropriate in a store…”
Charlie fears his dimples have popped out so much he’s not sure they’ll ever leave again. “Oh, do you now?”
“Yeah, and three hours is just about the time I need to make sure it’s going to be spec-tacular.”