Chapter Text
“So, let me guess: This has never happened to you before and if I ever tell anyone you’re going to end me?”
“Oh, fuck off!”
Three weeks earlier
“Oi! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The child, who seemed to be 4 to five years old, was screaming at the top of its lungs by now. Charlie was aggravated and confused and just felt so, so guilty. Behind those feelings he noticed the oncoming headache threatening to engulf him.
“Sorry, I just...help?”
The next thing he noticed was a giant of a man scooting down to the five-year-old, speaking in a soothing, calm, melodious voice.
“You’re clearly not the one who needs help,” the gentle giant scoffed back at him.
Charlie’s headache was getting worse.
“There, there now, everything’s going to be okay. Where are your parents?” the gentle giant asked the little girl, laying one of his massive hands on her shoulder.
The wails became a bit less intense.
“I’m really, really sorry. She asked me for help, telling me she’d lost her parents...”
“And the best thing you could think of was to make her cry???” The giant, who was not so gentle Charlie now realised, had got up in a flash, eyes glaring furiously at Charlie.
“I...I...I didn’t...” Charlie was lost for words as he noticed those eyes – those utterly gorgeous eyes – shoot daggers at him.
The little girl had stopped sobbing now, insistently tugging at the giant’s trousers.
“Can you help me find mummy?” she asked earnestly, sounding hopeful.
After glaring a little more at Charlie, the giant scooped down again.
“Of course I can, sweetie,” he said in a soft voice. “Do you know mummy’s name?”
The girl smiled at him.
“Mummy!”
Charlie scoffed. The giant didn’t grace him by turning his gorgeous eyes away from the girl, but Charlie could see his shoulders stiffen in anger.
“Yes, I know, sweetie. But what does your daddy call her?”
The girl looked at him unsure.
“Pumpkin?”
This time, Charlie tried with all his might to suppress the snort that was trying to escape him and turned it into a cough.
The giant changed tactics.
“That’s a nice name. What’s yours, sweetie?”
How can such a giant sound so sweet? Charlie wondered.
The girl’s face lit up. “Clara!” she announced proudly.
“Nice to meet you, Clara! I’m Nick,” the giant said earnestly, holding out his right hand. Clara took it and shook it enthusiastically.
Lucky bloody child! Charlie thought.
“Clara, I have an idea how we can find your mummy,” the giant said.
Pumpkin, you mean . This time, Charlie didn’t catch his giggle in time.
“Who’s he?” Clara asked, staring at Charlie. “I don’t like him!”
The giant, now known as Nick, slowly got up with just the slightest hint of pain on his face. When he came face to face with Charlie, he said in a saccharine tone which thinly veiled the murderous intention beneath: “I know what you mean, Clara, I don’t like him either.”
Charlie was pissed . And the slightest bit turned on. Which annoyed him even more.
He glared at Nick.
Nick scoffed and turned his attention back to Clara.
“Come on, let’s go to the information desk. I’m sure they can let your mummy know over speaker that you’re waiting for her.” As his gaze travelled over the room packed with tourists, he asked, “Is it okay if I carry you?”
“Like a baby?” She wrinkled her nose in disgust at that thought.
“More like riding a bull in the arena,” Charlie threw in. Nick, once again, glared at him.
“People ride bulls?” Clara asked Charlie with interest.
“Actually they do. In rodeo the cowboys have to show their skill by staying on for at least eight seconds.”
Clara’s eyes sparkled.
“Is it dangerous?”
“Oh, very! Only the most courageous dare to try and it takes a lot of skill and strength to stay on.”
Clara flashed him a brilliant smile. Then she turned to Nick, who was now staring at Charlie with an unreadable expression on his face.
Charlie stared back.
He was annoyed. And gleeful.
What he didn’t expect was for Nick to lean into it.
“In fact, I’m a very large, dangerous bull. Dare to try if you can stay on?” His eyes found Charlie again. “Only the most skilled cowboys have managed so far.”
Charlie gulped.
Damn, he’s good.
And infuriating.
And hot.
And annoying.
“Well, I guess that’s that sorted,” Charlie sighed when they watched Clara walk away with her parents into the crowd after giving both of them goodbye hugs. A rather hesitant one, in Charlie’s case.
“Still here?” Nick snarled and turned to leave.
Charlie had had enough.
“Well, I wasn’t sure if the dangerous bull would be able to handle a five year-old!!” he hissed.
Nick swooped around and took two quick steps towards Charlie, which almost brought them nose-to-nose.
“If I remember correctly, you were the one who made her cry in the first place!!”
“She was looking for her mum! You show me a child that age who gets separated from her parents in a place like this, and doesn’t cry!”
“I’m sure you made it worse!” Nick whisper-shouted. Then he turned away for the second time.
“Look, nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I screwed up, okay? I didn’t know how to handle it. I’m not good with kids like you!”
Nick stopped but didn’t turn around. “What’s your name?”
“Charlie.”
“Well, Charlie. Apology accepted, even if it was a crappy one. Let’s just never see each other again, yeah?” And with that, Nick walked away.
“Nick? Principal Sacky wants to see you in his office!”
Great, another lunch break down the drain before he had to hoard his year fours back inside the classroom.
And why the fuck doesn’t this guy change his name already???
Nick let out a deep sigh. “Thank you, Tara. Heading there right now.”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!!
“Mr. Nelson, glad you could join us on such short notice!” The principal stood up, holding out his hand to indicate the second chair in front of the desk where he was sitting.
The other was already occupied by...
“Let me introduce Charlie Spring. Mr. Spring is a junior editor for one of the country's publishing houses for teaching materials, EdRead..”
Nick sank into the indicated chair, explicitly not looking at Charlie.
“We’ve met,” he said curtly.
“Brilliant!” the principal exclaimed, sitting back down with a fake smile, I assume you working together won’t be a problem.”
White hot anger coursed through Nick.
“Wait – WHAT???” he bellowed.
Charlie scoffed.
“No need for that kind of attitude, Mr. Nelson. As I’ve already told you, EdRead is very interested in publishing your paper. They love the idea of new ideas for inclusion and support of LGBTQ children in schools. They only requested that you work with one of their editors who knows the process and will be able to help you achieve your goal. Which, as you well know, is very close to my heart.”
Now it was Nick’s turn to scoff as he saw Sacky’s fake smile directed at Charlie. The younger man merely nodded.
After the principal dismissed them, Nick was seething as he walked a little in front of Charlie to his classroom.
They needed to discuss how to work together.
Bloody fantastic.
Reaching his destination, Nick flung the door open and stomped right over to his desk, letting Charlie look for somewhere to sit.
Nick glared at Charlie, who had silently settled in one of the small student chairs in front of Nick’s desk, despite having to fold his limbs gracefully to fit.
Nick felt a blush coming up.
It made him angry.
“Do they know that you’re actually crap with kids?” he shot at Charlie.
The younger man stared back with burning eyes.
“What’s that supposed to be, a staring contest? Nick scoffed. “Are you twelve?”
“No, but I thought you might be,” Charlie shot back. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do, but there’s nothing we can do about it, is there? So I suggest we just get on with it and try to be professionals. Think you can do that?”
“Fine,” Nick fumed. “Lessons start again in about 30 minutes, and as I would appreciate you not making my students cry I think you should leave.”
Asshole!
“I thought we were gonna be professional about this,” Charlie challenged.
“Tomorrow, 4 p.m, in the field behind the school. Don’t be late.” With that Nick took out his lesson plan for the afternoon and started to read.
The small student chair scraped as Charlie stood up. Before he left, however, he hissed: “If you tell anyone about Clara I’m going to end you.” Then he stormed off.
“Hey, Charlie!”
“Tara???” Charlie was more than surprised to see one of Elle’s friends when he finally made his way to the field where he was supposed to meet Nick.
“What are you doing here?”
Tara gave him a bright smile. “As it happens I work here!”
“I didn’t know you were a teacher. Elle never said!”
When he reached her she gave him a warm embrace. Then she turned towards the field, where a couple of kids were trying to play rugby. And amongst them...
Holey moly, why does that arrogant prick have to be so fit?? Charlie was once more convinced that the universe hated him.
“I’m here with a message for Nick. Just waiting til he’s done.”
Charlie’s eyes were still glued to the man on the field, who was now hunching down to comfort a crying kid who’d suffered a hard tackle.
“How well do you know Nick?” Charlie asked, trying to sound casual. Judging by Tara’s smirk he failed miserably.
“Pretty well, I’d say, though he’s closer with Darcy. His mum took Darcy in when they were kicked out, so they’re basically siblings.”
Charlie turned to her in surprise with raised eyebrows. “Darcy and Nick? Very unlikely pairing, isn’t it?”
“At first glance, sure. But if you see them together you totally get it.”
“Hmm,” Charlie uttered sceptically and turned back towards the game which was apparently finished. With a weird feeling in his stomach he saw a smiling Nick jog towards them.
God, those freckles look good on him!
Charlie was no stranger to being annoyed by his own brain. But this was a whole new level of annoyance.
“Hey, Tara, what’s up?” Nick sounded cheerful and as soon as he reached them he enveloped Tara in a bear hug.
“Nick!” Tara squealed, playfully hammering on his shoulders. “Gross, you’re all sweaty!”
Can I have one of those, please? Sweat and all??
Urgh, brain, shut it!
The smile vanished from the freckled face as soon as Nick turned to Charlie.
“Oh, you’re here,” he said as if he had just laid eyes on something disgusting.
“Well, you told me to be, didn’t you?” Charlie shot back, trying to match Nick’s tone.
“You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who does what he’s told,” Nick retaliated.
Tara looked from one to the other.
“Oooookay,” she disrupted their exchange. She grabbed Nick’s arm to get his attention. Nick’s smile reappeared as he turned towards her.
Why can’t he smile at me like that? Charlie thought annoyed.
Why on earth would you want that prick to smile at you? he challenged his brain.
Deafening silence.
“So, Nick, Darcy mentioned you have a game on Saturday. Pub after?”
Nick chuckled. “Sure thing! Do you think you might be able to tame that demon of yours this time? They got a bit carried away last time.”
Tara laughed. “I’ll try my best! But you know Darcy, they’re a force of nature!”
“Game?” Charlie asked stiffly, suddenly on high alert.
“Yeah, our Nick is quite popular on the rugby pitch,” Tara explained, studying Charlie’s now stony face.
Brilliant, just brilliant! I might have known that prick was a rugby lad.
“I have to go, I forgot I have an appointment. Tara, nice seeing you. Give my best to Darcy.” Without waiting for a reaction he turned and walked away briskly.
Nick looked after him.
“Well, good riddance,” he muttered angrily.
Tara was startled by this reaction from her otherwise so sweet tempered friend.
“You and Charlie not getting along, then?” she asked cautiously.
Nick snorted.
“Understatement of the century. Arrogant prick!”
“Hmmm,” Tara went.
Nick looked at her. “What?”
“Nothing, just – doesn’t sound like you, that’s all.”
“Well, Charlie Spring has the tendency to bring out the worst in me,” Nick sighed exasperatedly.
“Aren’t you supposed to work together on this book of yours?” Tara ventured on.
“Can’t see that happening! He’s probably just another one of those arrogant, condescending straight guys who wants to jump on the LGBT bandwagon because it’s trendy or something.”
Tara was baffled.
“You think he’s straight?” she probed.
“Oh, most definitely! Trying to hide his homophobia by inserting his ass into a queer project to further his career!”
“Nick...”
“Let’s not talk about Charlie Spring anymore, okay? The guy is giving me a headache,” Nick pleaded.
“Just...”
Nick threw his arms into the air and looked at her.
“What? Just because you happen to know him doesn’t make him a saint!”
“I think you should talk to him. Soon,” Tara stated.
“So he can give me another taste of his asshollery? No, thank you!”
“Just saying, though. You might find out that his motives for being on this project are not what you think.”
Nick snorted, looked at her as if she had gone mad and gestured towards the changing rooms.
“Going to grab that shower.” With that he trotted off.
Tara looked after him.
“Oh dear,” she sighed and took out her phone.
“Wait, Nick thinks Charlie’s straight?!?!”
“Apparently so...”
“Oh boy...” Darcy sniggered.
“Nelson!” The principal shouted angrily across the corridor where Nick had just left his classroom, eager to get home.
“My office! Now!!” With that Sacky turned and reentered his office.
Great
Nick sighed and followed.
Once he had entered the principal’s office the tirade began.
“I just got off the phone with Mr. Spring. Apparently he doesn’t want to work with you. Care to explain yourself?!?”
“Why is this my fault? He could have a lot of reasons!”
Sacky scoffed and pointed at Nick.
“I don’t care what you do but you’re going to fix this. You’re going to work with Spring, whether you like it or not! This project hangs on a thread and if you mess it up there’ll be consequences, so help me god! Don’t forget how good this will be for the reputation of our school!”
Nick was seething.
“You mean your reputation? Don’t think I’ve forgotten how supportive you were when I proposed this book,” Nick threw at him, his voice full of sarcasm.
Sacky glared at him.
“That will be enough, Nelson. I expect you to fix this mess and you better not screw up again!”
Nick turned around and slammed the door shut behind him.