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Charlie is about to lose his mind.
When Nick moved into Charlie’s flat in London after graduating from Leeds, Charlie made him promise that he would leave his maximalist habits at the front door. That lasted for all of three weeks before Nick’s hyper-fixations got the best of him. It started with little things; rocks he found while walking their puppy, Daisy, stamps (which he ultimately found to be very boring), and Mini-Brands tiny books that he kept on a tiny bookshelf. All of which stayed within the confines of Nick’s desk in the office, which Charlie decided was okay. Out of sight and out of mind.
That is no longer the case.
“Nick, why is there a croissant on the back of the toilet?”
All week Charlie had been discovering Nick’s new thing, a large assortment of Jellycats. When he arrived home from a very grueling exam on Monday, he plopped down onto the bed to find a lump under his pillow which ended up being a grumpy green frog. Tuesday, before leaving for work at the cafe, he found a yellow, smiling sun looking back at him from the shelf where they hang their keys by the door. During his late night revision session on Wednesday, he found a little blue teapot tucked up in the cupboard they keep the tea in. Thursday, he and Nick tumbled into the bedroom after a night out at the pub and when he reached towards the bedside drawer, he made eye contact with a tennis ball. It only got worse from there, a penguin on the bookshelf, a whale on the window sill, an egg wearing a top hat on the kitchen counter, and big purple octopus perched up on the edge of the TV.
Tonight, when Charlie took a break from his very tedious term paper to use the toilet, he looked up to make eye contact with a croissant smiling back at him from the tank of the toilet.
Enough is enough.
Nick’s eyes pull away from his laptop to find Charlie standing in the entryway to the living room. Fists balled up at his sides and a blank stare on his face. He shifted nervously on the couch.
“Well, I got him at the shop the other day and I thought that was the perfect place for him.”
“Why would the top of our toilet be the perfect place for a croissant?”
“Fine, I’ll move him somewhere else.” Nick says sharply, standing up and walking past Charlie towards the bathroom. Charlie followed behind.
Nick swipes the croissant off the back of the toilet and turns to walk out of the bathroom but Charlie blocks the doorway.
“Nick, there are croissants in the bathroom and frogs in our bed and fucking eggs wearing hats in our kitchen.”
“They are cute! I thought you would like them!”
“One or two of them is cute Nick!” Charlie waves his hands “Our flat has been overrun by Jellycats!”
Nick huffs and gently pushes past Charlie and starts collecting the Jellycats from various places around the flat. When he has all of them tucked into his arms, he plops back down on the couch, Jellycats spilling over his lap. When Charlie walks into the room, he shakes his head in disbelief, but also feels a pull on his heartstrings as Nick looks sadly down at his collection.
“I’ll take them all back to the shop tomorrow.” Nick whispers, Daisy coming into the room to curl up at his feet.
“For fucks sake.” Charlie whispers under his breath before walking over to Nick and grabbing two of the Jellycats out of his lap.
“Charlie! What are you-” Nick exclaims, but stops short when Charlie tucks the egg and the octopus onto the bookshelf.
He walks back over grabbing a couple more, tucking them into places around the room. Nick watches in silence, a small smile forming on his lips as Charlie sets the final Jellycat, the grumpy frog, onto the lounge chair in the corner of the room. When he’s finished, he walks over and stands in front of Nick.
“Does this mean I can keep them?” Nick says, looking up at Charlie. His eyes full of child-like wonder melting Charlie’s heart, despite the ridiculous notion of a twenty-four year old man asking his boyfriend if he can keep his stuffies.
“You can keep them.” Charlie says reluctantly.
Nick quickly reaches out to Charlie, pulling him down into his lap and peppering his face with kisses. Charlie attempts to fight him off, but ultimately knows that Nick’s lap is his favorite place to be. He grabs either side of Nick’s face, holding him off to look up at him.
“But you can’t buy any more and they aren’t allowed in the bedroom, their eyes freak me out when we’re y’know.”
“Understood.” Nick nods before pulling Charlie up.
Charlie puts his legs on either side of Nick’s thighs and pulls him into a kiss. Nick’s hands wrap around Charlie’s back and pull him towards himself until their chests are pressed together. Nick’s lips trail across Charlie’s jaw, down his neck and up behind his ear.
“So I should cancel my online order then?” He whispers.
Charlie breaks into laughter and pushes off Nick’s lap, standing in front of him. Nick looks up at him expectantly, but Charlie just holds out a hand.
“You can do that later, I need you in our Jellycat-free bedroom. Now.”
“Yep, yes, of course, let’s go.” Nick nods, takes his hand and the two run off into their now Jellycat-free bedroom.
In the following hours they y'know in the bedroom, Nick cancels his Jellycat online order (besides the little cat Charlie said he kinda wanted) and Charlie comes to terms with the fact that there is absolutely nothing he can do to keep his little collector from, well, collecting. He just hopes that next time he chooses something that doesn’t take over the entire flat.