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“Darce! I swear to God!” Nick knows he sounds the wrong side of pathetic, but his arms do really hurt after standing in the same position for over an hour, no matter how many muscles try to help support his core strength. He’s regretting every life choice that led to him being roped into this situation, posing for his friend in their shared living room.
“Stop moaning,” Darcy mutters under their breath, “I told you to choose a pose that’s less cocky and more comfortable.”
“I posed like this as a joke! Who knew you would already start chiselling the stone the moment I took off my shirt.” Nick juts out his lower lip, fully aware that it makes him look like a toddler seconds before a tantrum. And honestly, lying on the floor like a starfish and crying about nothing in particular does sound really tempting right now. He shakes his head. Focus, Nelson, you agreed to this, now don’t make a fuss about it.
“I’ve told you, I only need your torso, you could’ve just let your arms hang by your side. I never said you should pose like a fucking bodybuilder taking cheeky thirst traps!”
“I don’t-,” Nick trails off, feeling called out while also knowing that his friend probably has got a point. He sighs excessively which apparently does something to his posture that displeases Darcy because the next words he hears are painted with a slightly scolding colour.
“Don’t move that much! Keep your muscles tense!” Darcy exclaims, blowing one of their light blue strands out of their face with a puff of air that somehow sounds exasperated before they continue, “Or I won’t be able to do your biteable pecs justice.” They peek around the stone they’re trying to turn into Nick and wiggle their brows which, combined with their slouched posture and the teasing grin, makes them look like some sort of manic gnome.
Nick snorts and feels heat wander from his cheeks down his neck and spreading on said muscles. “I don’t need you to do them justice,” he mumbles, “I just-.” He stops himself before he gives his friend even more ammunition to relentlessly tease him and just rolls his eyes in further reply.
“Nick. I saw that. But fiiiine, I'll be done in a minute, I just need to get this last bit right and then I’ll be able to do the rest with my usual artistic freedom. This will turn out so well, I swear!” They giggle before they take back a step to admire their creation. “I should call it ‘bisexual disaster looking for a partner’ and add your number scribbled on the back. I bet people will be standing in front of it drooling at the exhibition next month.”
“Lovely, Darce. You don’t sound vain at all.”
“I’m just saying! All this working out for rugby’s really paying off, and I say that as an absolute lesbian! And adding my art to your genes, it just screams success.”
Nick shakes his head slowly, biting back his laugh. “I only hope it will get you good grades for your course. I don’t want to find a partner over this.” Nick says, briefly pondering his next words - which he probably wouldn't even mention to anyone else, but with Darcy, he knows he has to play it safe. “Please don’t call it ‘bisexual disaster’ and please, don’t add my number.”
His friend looks up at this, now sporting a pout themselves. “But...”
“No.”
“But Nick, it would be-”
“No.”
They roll their eyes highlighted by blue eyeliner that makes them even more expressive than usual. “Fine,” they finally relent.
“Thanks.”
“Spoilsport.”
“Meddler.”
“Coward.”
“Wannabe cupid.”
“Celibate.”
Nick scoffs and scrambles his brain for a decent comeback when he’s saved by an inhale that is as long as it is loud.
“Nick! Darcy!”
Both their heads spin around to where Tara, their third roommate and Darcy’s girlfriend, is standing with her hands propped on her hips, giving her the air of an annoyed mum - which is probably fair, considering how she found them.
“I swear, I can't leave you alone for two minutes and you two start bickering!”
“Sorry,” Nick and Darcy mumble in unison and Nick knows Darcy is fighting just as hard to swallow down the urge to explain why exactly the other is at fault. Yay to growing up and holding back on toddlerisms.
They both turn back sheepishly after a beat of silence, Nick to properly face Darcy again and his friend to continue working on their current project for their sculpture class.
“That is the position you chose to display?” Tara asks between bubbles of laughter, seemingly only now taking in the full situation in front of her.
“Right?” Darcy agrees from behind the piece of stone taking shape in Nick’s form, their smile audible in their voice, “I told him to choose wisely but then he took off his t-shirt and posed like he’s desperate on tinder and well, I can’t lie, it accentuates his muscles nicely so I started right away.”
“I didn’t pose like I’m desperate-,” Nick starts but trails off when he sees himself in the mirror in the hallway from the corner of his eyes. Darcy does have a point and he knows he looks ridiculous. Hot, but ridiculous. He rolls his eyes for good measure at no one in particular as Darcy’s focus is fully on the stone in front of them and Tara’s already on her way to the kitchen to stash away the groceries.
He listens to the steady clicking of Darcy’s carving tool against stone, concentrates on anything but his straining muscles and instead thinks about the course work he has to finish as soon as Darcy lets him leave his position. Until a yelled, “Yes!” pulls him out of his musing and his focus snaps back to Darcy and their fist raised in victory.
“Can we call it quits now?” Nick asks, already slowly releasing the tight grip of his fists and tentatively lowering his arms when he sees Darcy nod. Oh, he’ll definitely regret this position for the next few days. He rolls his shoulders and feels aches in muscles he didn’t even know existed and can’t help the pain twisting his face.
Darcy narrows their eyes at him. “Regrets?”
Nick nods. “Many,” he adds, flailing his arms carefully to get rid of the last traces of taut tendons.
Darcy just grins in response before they disappear in their and Tara’s room. Nick’s attempt to put on his t-shirt is accompanied by as many curse-words he can remember in a feeble attempt to divert himself from the pain he’s feeling and Darcy’s suddenly appearing teasing chuckle doesn't make it any better.
He glares at them as soon as he frees his head and is surprised to find a piece of paper shoved into his face.
“Here, for your help. Thank you, Nicky. I already thought you might need that but after the last couple of hours, I’m a hundred percent sure you do.”
“Thanks?” Nick says before he takes the card into his own hands to see what Darcy’s talking about.
It’s a voucher for a Thai back massage. He looks up at his friend in a mixture of pleasant and alarmed surprise, knowing how much the couple love to go to that place and how painful a Thai massage actually can be.
“Thanks,” Nick repeats cautiously and curls his arm around Darcy in a sideways hug, already pulling out his phone out of his pocket to make an appointment as soon as possible while bravely swallowing down his fear.
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“Jesus, look at him!” Nick hears someone say as he comes closer to Darcy’s artwork in the open gallery. He’s sipping on the blue concoction Darcy convinced him to choose as a drink and can’t help but wince as the tangy, citrusy harmony of vodka, lemonade and something hits his taste buds. Instinctively, he lowers it as far away from his mouth as possible, wishing for water to dilute the flavour. He stops about two metres behind two men, both lean and tall with one of them sporting a beanie and the other a mop of beautiful black curls who are inspecting Darcy’s interpretation of Nick in charged silence. They’re both wearing dark shirts but it’s the combination of jeans so tight they hug the curly haired man’s backside just right in every place of contact that captures Nick’s attention instantly. And well, all he can do is stare, too, which puts them in a strange staring contest against each other where only one of them does it knowingly as the other man's only looking at the stone version of Nick.
The slightly shorter man is the first to speak. “I mean, we know from Elle that the artists had to use a real model for this but fuck me, this just has to be one of these ancient Greek statues. No way there’s someone looking like this-” the curly haired man gestures to the whole of statue-Nick’s upper body, “in real life. It looks like all of my crushes and wet dreams came to life at once.”
Nick blushes and Beanie man groans, “Too much information, Charlie, for fuck’s sake! You really need to get laid soon or I-”
“Tao!” the other man - Charlie - hisses, “Shut up! Somebody could hear you!” Charlie looks left and right but thankfully not behind him and sighs in false relief when he thinks that they’re the only ones standing in front of Darcy’s piece. Nick can’t help but smirk a bit, even though he absolutely registers that this Charlie person’s side profile is as stunning as his backside with its delicate jaw, high cheekbone and expressive eyebrow.
“So what?” Tao looks down at Charlie and from his position behind them, Nick sees his eyebrows disappear underneath the fabric of his hat challengingly. “You could put your number on the torso so your Adonis could call you if he’s single, too.”
Charlie giggles and the sound has no right to shoot directly to Nick’s heart the way it does.
“Wow,” the man says a moment later when he’s calmed again, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Are you really trying to set me up with a piece of stone?”
Nick bites his lips to not burst into laughter.
“Desperate times-,” Tao replies without missing a beat which earns him a stab in his side that looks rather painful and causes him to hiss a loud, “Ouch!”
“Okay, I’ll stop. But you started it with pining over a piece of stone. Besides, there’s no way that person isn’t straight. He looks like a ginormous heterosexual!”
What? Nick’s about to say something but Charlie’s faster.
“Tao! Are you now seriously stereotyping art?”
“I mean,” Tao starts and at least has the decency to sound a tiny bit sheepish, “He looks like a thirst trap sent straight from a gym.”
“God, Tao. You do know that gays also use gyms for that exact reason, right? Besides, bisexual people exist.”
“Yeah, true. But I bet this one is straight.” Tao insists before he bends down to read the tag next to the statue. “We could go and see if Elle knows this Darcy person and ask them if ‘Cocky’ here is straight.”
Nick hears Charlie inhale in what is probably a new attempt to unwittingly defend Nick but it’s too good of an opening to not use it.
“Or you could ask me directly,” he says, loud enough for the two men to hear him. They turn around so fast that Nick’s sure they must’ve at least feel a little bit dizzy from the force.
They both stare at Nick, wearing expressions displaying everything in between surprise and embarrassment mixed with slight awe. And fuck, was Nick not prepared for the full frontal of everything Charlie. His curls frame his face in such a beautifully lush way, Nick has to fight the urge to reach out and brush at least a handful behind Charlie’s ear. His eyes sparkle even in the artificially dim lightning and are of such a deep blue, it draws in Nick completely and for a few beats, he’s unable to tear his gaze away. He watches Charlie’s eyes flicker all over Nick’s body and sees a smile grow on Charlie’s plump lips that makes Nick almost gasp when it reveals a set of dimples. Christ on a bike. Trying to shake himself out of it, Nick distracts himself by letting his gaze wander lower, over a cropped dark red top previously hidden by his shirt that is so short, Nick even sees a glimpse of black hair disappearing underneath the fabric of his sinfully tight jeans and yes, this revelation doesn’t help at all. He’s never seen anyone as gorgeous as Charlie and when they finally lock eyes again, he has to try really hard to not show that on his whole face. He’s not sure he succeeds but when he sees the mirrored, barely hidden hunger briefly rear in blue eyes, he doesn’t care all that much and instead feels a promise for more shiver down his spine.
“Are you Darcy?” Tao asks then and Nick needs slightly too long to register that they aren’t alone - and what Tao’s actually talking about.
“No,” Charlie breathes, “You’re cocky, right?”
Nick snorts in laughter because where the name-giving pose he chose all these weeks ago in their living room might’ve been cocky, he certainly is not. Charlie must register his own words a moment later because his features instantly colour an adorable pink and his expression grows again into one of embarrassment.
But it’s the last thing Nick wants this gorgeous man to feel so he clears his throat and says, “I’m Nick. And I’m bi, actually. Oh, and I’m single, too.”
Tao huffs out an incredulous laugh and mutters something under his breath that Nick’s not able to decipher as his focus is almost entirely on Charlie and his blindingly bright smile.
“See, Tao,” Charlie says without breaking eye contact, his smile growing impossibly wider, “Bisexual people exist.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m very happy for you that they do. Now if you excuse me, I’ll go find Elle.”
“Okay bye,” Charlie agrees absentmindedly, his gaze still not moving an inch off Nick’s.
“Christ, an Adonis and ancient Greek nerd reunited, match made in heaven,” Tao mutters as he walks off and Nick feels his cheeks warm while he watches Charlie’s eartips grow pink.
“So,” Nick starts, suddenly feeling a bit bold, “I take it you liked my friend Darcy’s work then?”
Charlie’s blush wanders to his cheeks but he holds their gaze. “Definitely, they're very talented.”
Nick’s eyes flicker quickly to his stone pendant that is painted in bright pink and covered with all kinds of dicks but does indeed do the original material justice in some way. “They are” he agrees and doesn’t miss Charlie’s eyes roaming his chest and arms and face and chest.
“You wanted to pin your number on the statue?” Nick asks.
Charlie’s smile grows shy. “Did you hear all of that?”
Nick grins, nods and adds, “Most of it.”
Charlie bites his lips, clearly embarrassed and like before, Nick doesn’t want him to feel like that. So he’s quick to assure him, “You know, I would’ve definitely called you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, totally.”
“Well, in that case, can I put my number on your torso then?”
Nick’s “Yes please!” mingles with Charlie's last words and comes out way too breathy. But Nick doesn’t care, not when Charlie tears off a piece from the handout they got at the entrance of the exhibition and pulls out a pen from his back pocket; not when he feels hot breath caress his throat because Charlie is using Nick’s chest as his pad; not when he watches Charlie fold the piece of paper in half and stick it into Nick’s collar, his fingers brushing Nick’s skin so lightly it tingles right down his chest; not when Charlie raises on his tip-toes to press a tender kiss on Nick’s cheek with lips lingering until he almost loses his balance and giggles in shy giddiness.
Yeah, he really needs to thank Darcy, even though he has no idea how they pulled off meddling by using a stone.