Work Text:
Charlie had been waiting for this moment for so long. When Nick had invited him to his annual Menorca holiday, he had started dreaming about sleeping for an entire week next to the boy he loved. He had fantasised so much about being alone with his best friend at night and the things that could happen in the comfortable darkness.
But that’s the problem with idealising people, they are only human. And humans can be cute –like Nick was every time he encountered a dog at the beach this morning and reached to pet them–, humans can be funny –like Nick when he tried to speak Spanish, making exaggerated gestures that had nothing to do with what he was trying to say–, and they can be strong –like Nick, when he put those big arms in use, carrying the cooler to the beach like it weighed nothing. But it turns out that humans can also be annoyingly loud and keep you awake in the middle of the night with the most disturbing noise coming out of their noses.
Charlie had shared sleepovers with Nick and he had stayed at his house a good amount of times, but he didn’t remember Nick snoring this loud. Maybe he had fallen asleep before Nick those other times? But… No. He remembered looking at Nick’s beautiful face illuminated by the street light sneaking through the curtains. He also remembered that time Nick had mumbled something incoherent that woke Charlie up, and how Nick had kept sleeping with a weird heavy breathing, but it had never been something unbearable like this relentless sound.
Charlie tossed and turned in the bed trying to sleep, but the noise made it impossible. So instead, he thought of strategies to make Nick stop; throw him a pillow, turn him to one side, make a loud noise to disturb him, kiss him. It wasn’t the first time the idea of kissing Nick invaded his mind; they had even been close once, but they were interrupted and they had never talked about it again. Charlie still doubted if he had actually imagined it. But if he kissed Nick now, his mouth would be blocked and he wouldn’t be able to snore. Fuck, he was being silly, he couldn’t kiss his best friend in his sleep.
When morning light started creeping through the window, Charlie decided to get up. Maybe he could take a nap on the sofa. His plans were foiled when, on his way to the living room, he found Sarah in the kitchen making breakfast.
“Oh”, Charlie uttered, surprised that someone else was awake at this hour. “You’re up early”. He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
“You’re one to say”, Sarah giggled. “Diane and I always have a run to one of the miradores around 5 in the morning to get back just in time to enjoy the sunrise at the beach. The sun rises from the other side of the island, but it’s still absolutely beautiful here, and since it changes every day, depending on the clouds, we like to see it as much as we can when we’re here”, she said with a big smile that resembled so much to Nick’s smile. Then she asked: “What’s your excuse?”
“Erm… I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d rather be up than laying in bed wide awake”, Charlie replied nervously. He didn’t want to tell Sarah Nick’s snoring had kept him up all night, it felt ungrateful. He was a guest on this holiday and he didn’t want to bother anyone.
But Sarah knew him well and, of course, she knew Nick better. “Is Nick snoring, love?”
“Gosh, yes! He’s so loud, how can he be so loud?” Charlie whined. “I’ve never heard him snoring, and we have slept together many times”.
Sarah raised her eyebrows in surprise at Charlie’s words. And Charlie blushed furiously.
“I mean, we have slept in the same room before”, Charlie stuttered to correct himself.
“I know what you meant, dear”, Sarah said with a tone that hinted that she didn’t believe him. “He snores when he is exhausted and it was a long busy day, with all the travelling, and the swimming, and running after dogs, and playing ball. You had worn him out”.
This was so embarrassing. Did Sarah actually think there was something going on between him and Nick? Wait! Why did Sarah think that? Did she know something that Charlie didn’t? Fuck, Charlie’s sleepy brain wasn’t thinking properly.
“Will it be like this every night we’re here?” Charlie whined.
“It might be. You know how he is, he has the energy of a golden retriever. He can’t stay quiet for a second, less on holidays when there’re so many exciting things to do. And he has you here this holiday. He has already told me all the things he wants to do with you and the places he wants to show you”.
“But I won’t have the energy for any of that if I can’t sleep, Sarah. How would I survive?”
“Okay. I’ll share a secret with you. Please don’t tell Nick I have told you this or he would be embarrassed and won’t speak to me ever again”. Sarah gave Charlie a pointed look that meant she was being dead serious.
“Nick would never stop talking to you”, Charlie replied and then added matching Sarah’s serious tone: “But I promise I won’t tell him!”
“When Nick was a kid and shared the room with David his snoring was a big issue. So I tried to find some strategies that could help and I found out that caressing Nick’s arm or back for a minute or so helped even out his breathing without waking him up. It worked wonders”.
“Sarah…” Charlie gulped before he could keep going. “I can’t caress him while he’s asleep, that would be totally wrong”.
“Well, that’s the only tip I can give you, dear”, Sarah said, while she whisked some eggs. “Maybe talk to him and see if you can come up with some solution. Holidays are for resting, you can’t spend all your nights awake”.
“Thanks, I’ll think about it”, Charlie replied. Though there was not even a chance he would tell Nick that he had spent the night awake because of his snoring.
For the second night, Charlie had made a plan: to convince Nick to shower after dinner, so Charlie would have time to fall asleep before Nick started snoring. And it had worked… for a bit, because Charlie was wide awake again. A loud sound from Nick’s throat had startled Charlie out of his sleep. He didn’t dare to look at the time, he didn’t want to know how many hours of sleep he had been deprived of.
Instead, he stared at the ceiling and replayed the whole day in his mind. Sarah had been right, Nick had a whole list of places to show Charlie and things he wanted to do together. So even though Charlie had tried to convince Nick to spend the day chilling at the beach, Nick had insisted on following his plan.
That’s how they had ended up walking under the scorching sun across a beautiful stony path, their hands brushing more than once, giving Charlie that electric tingling spark that he had grown accustomed to.
Once they had got to the Ciutadella, they went straight for an ice-cream shop, where Charlie put his little knowledge of Spanish to use, ordering “Dos cucuruchos, por favor”. He had looked at Nick to confirm which flavours he wanted. “Uno de chocolate y vainilla, para mi aburrido amigo. El otro de dulce de leche y maracuyá para mí. Gracias”. Now, wide awake in bed, he hoped he was remembering correctly, that he hadn’t imagined Nick’s flustered face as he placed the order in a foreign language –like Charlie did every time Nick spoke in French.
Tossing and turning, Charlie tried to grasp every bit of the memories of the day. Like when Nick grabbed his hand, excited to guide him up the Sant Nicolau Castle –which wasn’t actually a castle, but an old vigilance tower. “I love it because it has my name”, he had stated once they had got to the entrance, and he had let go of Charlie’s hand, rubbing his neck in that characteristic way he did it when he was embarrassed. Charlie definitely hadn’t imagined that. Or the little moment they had shared sitting on the rocks at the Canteres de Sa Cetària, when Nick had laid his head on Charlie’s shoulder and looking up to him he had whispered, “It’s beautiful here with you”. Charlie could almost feel Nick’s warm breath still lingering on his neck.
Charlie looked at the loud mass of a human on the bed next to his. He wondered again how Nick could be so cute during the day and so annoying during the night. Maybe it was time to try Sarah’s strategy.
He got up and stealthily approached Nick’s bed. He gathered all the courage he could muster and lightly brushed Nick’s arm. Nothing changed with the first touch, and Charlie almost backed out, but decided it was better to give it a second try and caressed Nick’s arm in a more constant feather-like touch. A few seconds later, Nick drew a breath –that almost made Charlie jump– and his breathing started to even out.
The relief Charlie felt when the snoring stopped mixed up with the sudden realisation that he was touching his crush. Since the mission had been accomplished, it was time to take his hand away. With a bit of reluctance, Charlie got back to his bed, closed his eyes firmly and tried to ignore the tingling on his fingers.
The silence didn’t last long enough for Charlie to fall asleep. The snoring came back full force and much as Charlie pressed his pillow on his ears, it was impossible to ignore. He wouldn’t survive a week without sleep, so he needed drastic measures.
Taking a deep breath, Charlie got into Nick’s bed, and laid next to him, trying his best to keep his distance and not curl up against his friend. He reached out to Nick’s arm and caressed it until the exhaustion took hold of him and, finally, he fell asleep.
Some stirring on the bed woke Charlie up as the sun was already shining through the windows. He turned on the bed and suddenly his foggy brain became aware of the situation. He was in Nick’s bed! Sleep-deprived Charlie hadn’t thought what would happen in the morning.
Charlie opened his eyes and before he could start a panicked rant of excuses, Nick greeted him with a fond smile.
“Good morning! Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up”.
Nick was apologising and Charlie couldn’t feel more embarrassed. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have got in your bed…”
“It’s okay. What happened?”
“Ermmm… I had a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep”, Charlie lied through his teeth. “Sorry”, he added for good measure.
“It’s truly okay, Char”, Nick replied sincerely. “I’m going to make some breakfast. I think mum has already left with aunt Diane. Maybe we can have a lazy morning here and join them on the beach later”.
“Okay”, was all Charlie could say, baffled by Nick’s non-reaction.
They had a quiet day, playing board games in the morning and spending some time at the beach with Sarah, her sister Diane and her family. Nick’s cousins loved Nick, and Charlie enjoyed watching him play with them while he pretended to read his book.
The lazy day meant that Nick wasn’t as tired at night, so he didn’t snore as much. And instead of feeling relieved, Charlie regretted not having the excuse to fall back asleep next to him.
When the snoring got back the next night, Charlie didn’t doubt for a second; he wouldn’t spend another sleep deprived night. He approached Nick’s bed, and since his friend was sleeping on his side, he curled behind his back, trying to make himself as small as he could to prevent any contact, except for his hand. He reached out to Nick’s arm and started caressing it fondly. When Nick’s breathing evened out, Charlie let the sleep take hold of him.
In the middle of the night, a loud sound startled Charlie awake. Nick had turned in his sleep and Charlie’s arm had fallen in between their bodies, which resulted in Nick’s annoying throat back on full volume. But what made it worse, it was that Nick was now facing Charlie.
Charlie lifted his hand to try to caress Nick’s arm again, but they were too close, so Charlie had to keep his arm up in an uncomfortable position to prevent his elbow from falling into Nick’s body. He definitely wouldn’t be able to go back asleep like this.
Charlie studied Nick’s face. He was so gone for this boy that even with his mouth slightly open and the persistent sound coming out of it, Charlie thought Nick looked beautiful. Not as beautiful as he had looked earlier that day, in the sunset light in Pont d'en Gil.
Nick had taken Charlie to this beautiful cliff to watch the sunset. It was the most romantic place Charlie had ever seen. They should’ve kissed there, sitting on the rocks, hands almost brushing. But they just didn’t.
Charlie was tired of missed opportunities, maybe he should kill two birds with one stone, kiss Nick now and make the snoring stop. Charlie moved his face closer to Nick’s and stopped when he felt their breaths starting to mingle. This was so wrong, he didn’t want to do this while Nick was asleep.
Focused on his doubts, Charlie didn’t notice the noise stopping until the silence was broken by Nick’s voice whispering: “Were you going to kiss me?”
“I was thinking of it”, Charlie replied softly.
“Would you kiss me, Char?”
Charlie closed the little distance that separated them and their lips finally met in the softest kiss.
After a brief moment, they drew apart and shared a warm smile. Feeling bold, Charlie placed a hand on Nick’s cheek and brought him close to his lips again.
The kiss deepened and they got lost in the moment. Nick threaded his fingers in Charlie’s curls, and that brought him back to reality. He let out a shaky breath as their lips parted again and said “I’ve been wanting to do that for so long”.
“Me too”, Nick admitted.
“And then why haven’t we been doing this the whole time?” Charlie laughed.
Instead of replying, Nick kissed Charlie again.
They ended up cuddled to sleep, which proved to be the most effective technique to prevent the snoring.
After that first kiss, they kissed every chance they got, so it didn’t take it long for Sarah to catch them. They were in the kitchen preparing breakfast, Charlie was reaching out for a cup on the highest shelf, when Nick approached from behind to help him. Nick put the mug down on the counter and turned Charlie around to kiss him. At that precise moment Sarah got back from her morning walk. Which they only realised had happened when she loudly coughed to call for their attention.
“Good morning, boys!” she greeted them with a smile. “Didn’t mean to interrupt you”.
Embarrassed, they pulled apart. Charlie wanted to hide under a rock and Nick was just goofily smiling. He grabbed Charlie’s hand and said to his mum: “I guess there’s no better time than now to tell you we’re together”.
Sarah extended her arms to hug them at the same time as she exclaimed: “Aww! I’m so happy for you boys! Thanks for finally telling me”.
“Mum… What do you mean by finally?” Nick asked.
“Well, you have been giving heart eyes to each other for a long time, I thought you were waiting to be ready to tell me”.
“Ermm… No, this is recent”, Charlie said, trying not to give away too much.
“So the snoring didn’t discourage you from kissing my boy”, Sarah smiled cheekily.
“Oh my god!” Charlie hid his face behind his hands.
Nick looked baffled between Charlie and his mum.
“I’m just glad someone loves him with his good and bad traits”.
“Mum! Stop it!” Nick said embarrassed and then the penny dropped. “Wait… I’ve been snoring?”
At that, Sarah laughed and left the room to give them some space.
Nick hugged Charlie and whined on his shoulder: “Charrrrr! Why didn’t you tell me I was snoring!”
“Because I didn’t want to make things awkward”, Charlie replied and then added through a laugh: “Instead, I tried to kiss you to shut you up”.
“No, you were not!” Nick complained, tickling Charlie on his side.
“Yes, I was. But it worked out well in the end”, he pointed out with a peck on Nick’s lips. “And I do love you no matter what, but maybe you should see a doctor about the snoring”.
“You love me?” Nick stared at Charlie.
When he got out of his stupor, Nick let go of Charlie and crossed his arms. “You didn’t just say you love me while complaining about my snoring!”
“It was so loud I couldn’t sleep!” Charlie said with a big goofy smile, then grabbed Nick’s face with both hands to tell him: “I do love you”.
Nick let out a big breath, grabbed Charlie’s hips to pull him closer and said: “I love you too, so much!”
They kissed for the thousandth time in a few days, and when they broke apart Charlie insisted with a wink: “I still think you should make a doctor’s appointment when we get back”.