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Nick had entered the competition one random Sunday as they exited Tesco after doing their weekly shop. The non descript stand had been manned by one very confident guy, not much younger than themselves. Charlie rolled his eyes as Nick slowed down to listen to the spiel – Nick was always a sucker for people selling tickets and raising money for a variety of causes. Charlie paused alongside Nick for a few seconds, before reaching over to take the shopping trolley, giving his boyfriend a fond stare and saying quietly “I’ll meet you back at the car.” He glanced back as he crossed the road, smiling as he could see both men in conversation and Nick reading the information that had been handed to him.
“Can you imagine if we win, Charlie? It was only ten pound for five tickets as well, so obviously I gave him twenty pounds and got ten tickets. All the money they raise is going to be split between the local dog and cat shelters. I would have given them more money for the dogs to be honest, but I’m glad the cats are getting some too. Probably the only way people will really support cats I guess given how grumpy and moody they can be.” Charlie didn’t even need to look to know that Nick had a smirk on his face and was enjoying trying to rile him up. Idiot. He smiled to himself as Nick continued.
“It’s for three nights accommodation in Carmarthenshire, the place is called “Cosmos Camping”, it looks amazing. Just field spots, not caravans or cabins. Usually you have to take your own tent, which we obviously do not have, but part of the winning prize is that they will supply a two person tent and have it all set up for us when we get there if we want them to. Oh, I’ve found their website now, Charlie, it looks so fucking good!! Even if we don’t win, I want to go there. Did you know it is certified as a Dark Skies reserve? I wonder what that is. Oh, wait, let me click this.”
Charlie continued to drive home, including a visit to a drive through for an iced coffee for him and an iced chocolate for Nick, a quick stop at Argos to pick up their new slow cooker (he was pretty sure Nick hadn’t even noticed he had left the car to be honest), the petrol station to top up the car for the week ahead and a detour around some roadworks before pulling into their driveway. Nick continued to talk about the wonders of the prize they hadn't won yet as they moved all the groceries from the car and unpacked them inside. He followed Charlie as the washing was moved from the washer to the airer they had set up in the small spare room because it got the full afternoon sun, the kitchen cupboards wiped down and the vegetables were pulled out for dinner. Nick then sat at the kitchen table - his research having moved from his phone to his laptop at this stage, calling out routes they could take to get there, whether they could find out in advance if anyone would have dogs with them when they were there, or maybe he could borrow one from the shelter perhaps. He mumbled thanks as Charlie passed him a cup of tea, and then stopped talking and looked up properly as he realised that Charlie was joining him at the table as well. Nick glanced around, seeing the clean kitchen, the slow cooker turned on and looking full of ingredients for their dinner that night, and his boyfriend sitting across from him with an amused look on his face.
“Oh, um, I guess I went down a hole and got a bit fixated,” he said sheepishly. "You should have stopped me, I could have helped with dinner and whatever else you’ve done while I’ve been going on about camping sites and stars. I don’t even know why I’m bothering to look up constellations when you know them all anyway, and it’s not like we are even going to win, I mean, what are the chances really? All for a good cause though I suppose……” he trailed off as he realised he had started again. His hand reached up to rub the back of his neck and his face warmed up and changed skin tone to one that resembled the Netflix logo.
“Nick, it’s fine, honestly. Rather cute actually watching you go on about the best types of grass to camp on and the necessity to get one of the outer camping spots because you are pretty confident there will be some nocturnal activities other than star gazing and looking for owls.” Charlie smirked as he took a sip of his tea. He took pride in how easily he could wind Nick up, and besides, what was the point in having a boyfriend like Nick, who shared every emotion so clearly on his face, if you couldn’t have fun with it now and then?
“Charliieee!” groaned Nick as he rubbed his hand across his face. “Don’t be mean to me. I’m sure you would enjoy this break as much as I would.”
“Oh, so you’d take me then? I wasn’t sure if it was going to be for the both of us or if you were going to go with one of one of the new online friends you've just made in the past few hours you've been researching this. Perhaps one of the stargazing friends you’ll no doubt make on that discord server you’ve just joined, or perhaps one of the enthusiastic dark reserve campers on the reddit thread I saw you scrolling through when I walked past to put the clean sheets on our bed.”
Oh, and there it was again. Nick’s face lit up like Rudolph’s nose as it guided the sleigh through the fog. Charlie giggled and reached out to take hold of Nick’s hand. “I love you. I love your random fixations. I love that you buy raffle tickets from just about everyone you see; I love that you told the conservative youth party to choke on their tickets and made them watch as you handed the outwardly queer kid twenty pounds and told them to go and be gay with it. I love that you research things so thoroughly, especially those things that I directly benefit from.” Charlie wiggled his eyebrows and laughed as Nick’s fading red cheeks lit right up again. “I love how excited you get when you discover new things and new adventures, and I really love that you want to include me in all those adventures.”
“Well, it’s not like mum would enjoy three days camping in the middle of nowhere and Darcy would be way too loud, so I’ve not got much choice but to take you really, do I?” Nick fired back with a smirk, his bantering skills snapping into action far quicker than Charlie had expected.
Charlie raised his eyebrows as he stood and stepped around to where Nick was sitting. “I’d be your third choice then? Wow, Nicholas. I’m surprised you hadn’t considered calling Tao up so you could sit in a tent and bond over different flavours of crisps, and he could lull you to sleep with stories of movies with stars, or why the mountain just didn’t work where it was placed and how he would shift it if he was directing a film out there. Or maybe you could take Otis, and you could test out your thighs on the surrounding hills and pretend you’re all as fit as you were back in highschool. Oh, maybe you could take my dad, make it a proper get-to-know-each-other holiday even though we’ve been together for over ten years now – Oh! Would you use that time to see if you can convince him to let me marry you, to tell him about your riches and what you’ll bring to the family, to promise to protect my reputation and never allow me to share my bare shoulders with anyone but yourself?”
Charlie squeaked as he was pulled into Nick’s lap, a hand placed across his mouth as Nick’s other arm held him close. He could feel Nick laughing as well, both of their bodies shaking as the amusement of the conversation had gotten the better of both of them. He squealed as Nick both removed his hand from his mouth and stood up with him still in his arms, holding Charlie off the ground and maneuvering him so he could tip him over his shoulder.
“Nick, you giant oaf, put me down!” he laughed and shouted as he reached and smacked Nick’s arse to try and make his point. Charlie knew that one day Nick wouldn’t be able to do this anymore, hopefully a long time from now, and while he pretended to hate it they both knew that he quite enjoyed it when Nick picked him up and carried him about with ease. Charlie knew where Nick was headed and was more than happy to be along for the ride. He laughed as Nick flipped him back up and dropped him on their bed, flopping down on top of him.
“That mouth of yours continues to get you in trouble, Mr Spring!” Nick said as he looked down at the only person he had ever truly loved. “I’ll have you know that I have already had words with your father and he has said you can show your shoulders to whomever you want, but that he will grant me your hand in marriage as long as I keep showing up with baked goods at various family functions, especially the ones where I drop them off the day before and let everyone think that your dad made them himself.” They both laughed, knowing that while Julio liked to pretend he had made the odd cake, there was absolutely no one who believed him and everyone still came up to Nick and said thanks and commented on how good he was at baking.
“Oh, I’m being traded for baked goods, am I? Surely I’m worth at least two goats!” Charlie said indignantly as he pushed Nick off him and they both turned to face each other as they lay on their sides, only centimetres between them.
“You’re worth all the goats and all the baked goods” Nick said as he reached out and cupped Charlie’s face, closing the gap and kissing him gently. “And, you are the only person I want to take camping, or travelling, or share any type of overnight experience with for the record. You will always be my first choice.” Nick leaned in again as he finished speaking, both of them laying there together swapping kisses and smiles and promises to share everything together forever.
Eventually the sun moved lower in the sky and they both knew they had things to do. Charlie stood up first, pulling Nick up as he said “I’d love to go camping with you if you win, and if you don’t then it sounds like a good place to go one day anyway, especially once we have a dog.”
They held hands as they walked out of their room, the bed not quite as neat as it had been when Charlie had made it a couple of hours before. As they entered the kitchen they went to different sides – Nick reaching up to get the bowls and glasses down, Charlie taking the slotted spoon from where it was resting to start serving. They had done this dance countless times before, it had been an effortless choreography between them, both of them just knowing what needed to be done. Charlie scooped out the rice and placed some in their bowls before removing the lid from the slow cooker to add a serving of chicken and vegetables for both of them. Nick smiled at him as he moved the glasses to the table, both full of the Raspberry beer cooler drink one of Nick’s colleagues had taught them how to make after a visit to Germany. As they started to eat Charlie noticed Nick look over to the bench, his face showing a look of confusion. Charlie rolled his eyes internally and waited for the inevitable question that he knew was coming.
“Char, when did we get a new slow cooker?”