Chapter Text
“Oh my god, Charlie, it’s so amazing here! We have to come here together one day,” Nick says, for about the fortieth time since his trip started, smiling at Charlie through the video call.
Charlie’s been deluged with photos and videos of Nick’s Japan trip since basically the moment his best friend stepped out of the front door of their flat, having gotten a bit teary giving Charlie a goodbye hug.
“It’s just two weeks, Nick,” Charlie had laughed. “I know you’ve not travelled alone like this before, but you managed moving away from home solo just fine, and you’ve been to Menorca every year since you were a kid. And you’ll be with your rugby team and coaches the whole time.”
For Charlie, who’d travelled solo to visit his grandparents in Mojácar twice, as well as a school languages trip to Paris at the end of Year 10, it had all been pretty endearing. He’d hugged Nick for the third time and then pushed him out the front door, to where one of his teammates was waiting patiently to get them to the airport bus.
The first video had come through ten minutes later: Nick heaving his suitcase into the luggage compartment under the bus, the sound of his sweet voice saying ‘It’s really happening, Charlie!’ in the background.
Since then, Charlie’s seen photos of the JAL check-in desk, the plane through the window of the departure lounge, Nick’s seat, the in-flight meal, the in-flight movie, the first sight of Japan off the plane (a grey tarmac like every other tarmac) and the first sign written in Japanese (‘Exit this way’). Thankfully, these were followed by a more interesting swarm of videos and photos of Japan: various rugby players with funny kiosk signs, cafes with giant mascots outside, signs in garbled English, a delicious-looking wall of 7-11 meals, pedestrian crossings playing music, Tokyo station, the bullet train (outside and in), every single thing Nick ate, and eventually, a photo over some kind of hotplate barbecue dinner of them all with their host rugby team, the Kanazawa University Rugby Club.
Eventually, Nick had called him from his hotel room.
“Oh my god, Charlie, everything here is just so… different? Like, the restaurants all have plastic models of the food, so even though we couldn’t read the menu, we just dragged the waiter outside at lunch to point at stuff to order. And he couldn’t speak English, but he could read and write it perfectly? So he just wrote everything down? And everything’s kind of grey but it’s all so busy, every light pole has a million wires on it, like we’re in some cyberpunk sci-fi future, but then there’s just some girl dressed as a maid handing out tissues? She must have been freezing but she seemed fine? And I know we’re coming back via Tokyo but I just wanted to explore everything…”
And so Charlie finds himself getting hourly updates that start around midnight and carry on all night until Nick conks out shortly after lunch, Greenwich mean time, often on the phone to Charlie telling him about all the things he’d already sent photos of. Charlie’s had the blow-by-blow of the castle, the fancy gardens where every tree has a cone of string around it, the shrine, the cool old geisha district with wooden buildings. In fact, Charlie could be forgiven for thinking he’s on holiday in Japan, given how much of it he’s seen.
It’s unbearably cute.
But Charlie Spring’s had a lot of practice keeping a lid on his love for Nick Nelson – pretty much from the first day he’d clapped eyes on the beautiful ginger, on the first day of first year, when Nick had bailed him up at the UCL Welcome Fair. Charlie had been so dazed by the honey-brown eyes, bulging shirtsleeves and hopeful puppy-dog half-smile that he’d allowed himself to be dragged to a game of touch rugby that afternoon. After watching the game – steadfastly resisting all attempts to get him to join in, no matter how endearing – he’d found himself being carried off to the pub by a raft of excitable rugby lads, along with quite a few other equally bemused freshers, where they’d all proceeded to get tanked. Neither Nick, nor any of the other lads, had seemed to care one bit that he was small, weak and literally still wearing rainbow facepaint and a ‘Queers Are Here’ temporary tattoo from the LGBTQ+ Network. It was such a change from the toxic sports culture at Truham that it felt like he’d slipped through the cracks into a different universe.
At the end of the night, a very soused Nick had offered a truly soused Charlie a sofa at his place, only a block from the pub, and Charlie had been too drunk (and too smitten) to refuse. He'd woken up to a plate of perfectly scrambled eggs and hot tea. And that, as they say, had been the start of a beautiful friendship.
But Nick’s as straight as a ruler, no matter how snuggly he gets halfway through a movie on the sofa, or how many scones he bakes because they’re Charlie’s favourite safe food, or how he sometimes falls asleep in Charlie’s bed and they wake up tangled up like seaweed. Charlie’s resigned to a lifetime of watching the golden sun that is Nick Nelson shine through his window, never to bask in it the way his little gay heart yearns to.
It’s okay. It tanked his dating life for a while, but he’s used to it now.
Besides, a platonic friendship with Nick Nelson is still the most loving, caring relationship he's ever had. Nick spoils him on birthdays, snuggles up to him while they watch Marvel movies, loves to play Mario Kart even though Charlie beats him every time, buys Charlie's safe snacks, hypes him up for job interviews and Tinder dates. Well, maybe that last one isn't quite boyfriend material, but it still makes Charlie feel loved.
And maybe he’s not getting laid, but does that even really matter in the scheme of things? Charlie knows for sure, after his experiences in high school, that there are far worse fates than being Nick Nelson’s best friend.
…
Nick makes Charlie promise to go out on New Year’s Eve.
“You have to go somewhere fun,” he says, on their facetime call, the day before. “What are the LGBTQ+ Network doing? You could even go out clubbing!”
“Elle and Tao invited me to watch the fireworks from Elle’s friend’s apartment,” Charlie admits grudgingly. If he’s honest, he’d much rather stay home and watch the fireworks on TV with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book.
“Well, you have to make them promise to give you an extra hug from me, because I won’t be there to hug you at midnight myself,” Nick says. As usual, he sounds genuinely bereft. God, Charlie loves this man. “I’ll be stuck here, in the fyoooture—” he waggles his fingers dramatically, “—all alone, with no Charlie to hug.”
“What are you doing for New Year?” Charlie swiftly changes the subject.
“Oh! Yeah! I’m super excited about that! Apparently New Year here is like Christmas, a big family celebration, so we’re splitting up and doing homestays with different members of the team! One of the Kanazawa Uni lads, Jun, is taking me to his grandmother’s place. It’s so nice of them to host me. Didn’t I tell you? I even bought them a bunch of treats from home. Fancy tea, a tin of shortbreads, chocolate truffles…”
Nick had, in fact, told Charlie. Charlie had helped Nick fill half his little suitcase with gifts for his hosts in Japan. But Charlie doesn’t say anything; he just listens to Nick earnestly wondering if they’ll like the Terry’s Chocolate Oranges while trying to keep his eyes in a regular oval, non-heart-shaped format.
“Anyway, we’re going up there tonight – Jun’s driving – so we can go to the big morning market they have there, and then we’ll come back in the evening on New Year’s Day.”
“What kind of market is it? Like… a fish market?”
“I don’t know. I guess they might have fish?” Nick says.
“Make sure you bring me back, like, a really big fish,” Charlie says.
“Chaaaaaaarliiiiiiiiiie,” Nick whines. It’s one of Charlie’s favourite sounds on earth.
…
Charlie sleeps in on New Year’s Day. He’s not working, thank fuck; the Costa where he slogs away most days is closed today.
Elle’s friend’s party had been… fine. Elle and Tao had graciously not snuck off to snog in a corner at midnight, and Charlie had dutifully popped a party popper, drunk a couple of glasses of champers, then around one in the morning, yawned theatrically and air-kissed his way out.
Really, the best part of the day had been the calls from Nick: at the end of Charlie’s shift, shortly after midnight in Japan, where they’d yelled ‘Happy future New Year!’ at each other, and Jun had cheered something in Japanese in the background, and then he’d explained it meant ‘Happy new year’ and then they’d made Charlie learn it so they could all yell it together. Then again after Charlie got home, where they’d yelled ‘Happy past New Year!’ and squealed some more, and then Charlie had passed out while Nick gave him a house tour and showed him Jun’s grandma’s small fluffy dog.
He wakes up lazily sometime around nine, and as usual, opens his thread with Nick before he’s even rubbed the crusty corners off his eyes.
The slew of pictures is, also as usual, delightful. Yesterday’s photos – the market (and the truly enormous fish Nick threatened to buy Charlie and bring home), Jun and his grandma and the dog, them all posed outside her insanely charming old wooden Japanese house, complete with sliding doors and a manicured tree that looks like a giant bonsai, squeezed between two other charming wooden houses – have been supplanted.
Now, there’s a bunch of photos of Nick doing Japanese new year things: Nick trying to eat with chopsticks (to Jun and his grandma’s amusement), a big box of fancy food, everyone smiling and laughing, loads of photos of their beautiful old Japanese house with its tile roof and sliding doors. There’s a video of Nick at a Japanese shrine, ringing a bell and clapping, then another of him and Jun holding up little wooden plaques with calligraphy horses.
“What did you wish for?” an older Japanese-accented voice says in slow, careful English, presumably Jun’s grandmother.
“Championship cup!” Jun says, flipping his plaque to reveal a little brushed ink message and drawing of a trophy. Nick just laughs, before hanging his little horse on the rack next to them, with a thousand other wish plaques.
The last text just says ‘I love you’.
Charlie’s heart swells.
He knows they love each other, in that friend way, but they’ve never said that to each other. And sure, Charlie might wish it meant more than it does, but even just in that friend way is enough to fill Charlie’s cup to where it runneth over.
Love you too, Nick, he types, and stares at the screen, vaguely hoping for a reaction from Nick, until he realises Nick’s probably already on the drive back to Kanazawa with Jun.
Then he moves on to the morning’s slew of texts from his mother.
She’s been slowly improving since Charlie moved out for the first time, but she does still struggle to keep her parental hovering and general anxiety to manageable levels. Last time, it was a panic about raw milk. The time before, it was a scaremongering chain letter about needles in petrol pumps, even though Charlie doesn’t own a car.
He cracks open the thread.
Charlie didn’t you say your friend Nicholas was going to Japan? I do hope he’s not near where this happened!
There’s a link to a BBC World article.
Japan earthquake: Powerful tremors destroy buildings and trigger evacuations
A powerful earthquake has struck Japan, causing large waves and damage to buildings.
The 7.6-magnitude quake took place in Noto province on Honshu island at 4:10pm today local time, with officials urging people in coastal areas to move to higher ground.
Although the full extent of the damage is still unknown, dozens of buildings have collapsed in several towns, trapping a number of people under the rubble.
Thousands of people are expected to spend the night in evacuation centres, with the Japanese military preparing to hand out food, water and blankets to those forced to leave their homes.
A major tsunami warning was issued, but was later downgraded to a warning, and then an "advisory".
Charlie doesn’t really process what he’s seeing until thirty seconds into the video. He’s too busy trying to remember where Nick said Jun’s family lived. Noto. Was that near Kanazawa?
Frantically, he pulls up Google Maps and types in ‘Kanazawa to Noto’.
Two hours and three minutes.
He pulls up Nick’s thread to search for the exact location of Jun’s grandmother’s family home, and then he doesn’t make it any further than the last two messages.
I love you, from Nick. 7:11am.✅✅
Love you too, Nick. 10:08am. ✔️
That message didn’t go through to Nick’s phone.
Charlie stares at the messages. Then he checks the BBC for the time the earthquake hit.
4:11pm local time. With the time difference, that’s…
7:11am.
I love you