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Nick and Chalie were lounging on Nick’s bed on Friday night, a random cooking show playing on his tv in the background. Charlie was lying on Nick’s chest while Nick ran his fingers through Charlie’s curls.
“Ugh.” Charlie groaned after a while. Nick tugged on his curls gently.
“What?” he mumbled, half asleep.
“Tao told me we’re just doing film night tomorrow and not getting dinner together, too. He said Elle’s going out of town on Sunday and they want some “alone time” before she has to get up early and leave for a week.” Charlie cringed, shuddering in Nick’s arms while he laughed.
“I mean… understandable.” Nick shrugged, only for Charlie to push himself slightly out of Nick’s embrace.
“I know that! But that doesn’t mean I want to hear about it.” Charlie huffed, flopping back down against Nick’s chest.
It’s been two weeks since Nick and Charlie’s first date. They’d barely spent a moment apart since they woke up beside each other for the first time. Normally, Charlie would think they were moving too fast. And with any other guy, he’d probably think that as well. But although he’d only met Nick for the first time nearly three months ago, he felt like he’d known him his whole life. Their lives seemed to slot into place perfectly.
Had they mentioned anything about a commitment yet? No. Had they still spent nearly every free moment together? Yes.
Okay, the truth is that Charlie was terrified to venture, “the boyfriend question” in fear of being ruthlessly shot down like the last guy he’d dated that wasn’t anywhere close to being ready to make a commitment and was too cowardly to tell Charlie. It was okay. He’d moved on. But he didn’t think he could come back from the same rejection by Nicholas Nelson.
“Charlie?” Nick asked, seemingly not for the first time, as Nick poked him gently in the side.
“Hmm?” he hummed questioningly, glancing up to meet Nick’s eyes.
“You okay? You went somewhere else for a while.” Nick mumbled, rubbing circles on Charlie’s back.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking.” he sighed, turning his head and resting his cheek on Nick’s chest.
“Uh oh.” he teased, chuckling and then leaning forward to kiss the top of Charlie’s head.
“Did you ask me something?” Charlie asked after giving Nick a hard nudge in the ribs.
“I was asking what I should wear tomorrow.” he said. Charlie said up and furrowed his brows at Nick.
“You don’t have to wear anything special. I usually wear jeans or sweats and a t-shirt.” Charlie shrugged, cocking his head to the side. “You don’t have to worry about it. It’s really casual.”
“I just wanna make a good impression on your friends.” he mumbled bashfully, turning his head to the side so he wouldn’t have to look at Charlie’s fond expression. He just made a soft noise, leaning forward to nuzzle kisses against his cheek.
“They’ll love you. You’re very easy to get along with.” Charlie reassured him, stroking his biceps gently.
“I just want them to like me.” Nick mumbled, Charlie’s heart nearly cracking open. Nick, who was always so confident and happy, now looked like someone had kicked his puppy.
“ Baby , I promise you’ll be okay. I’ll be there the whole time. I’ll even coach you on how to handle Tao.” he joked, finally making Nick laugh.
“I might actually take you up on that.” he rolled his eyes, shaking his head fondly.
“I was gonna ask you, too. I know we haven’t told people about… whatever this is yet, so I wanted to ask what you wanted me to introduce you as.” Charlie asked, not meeting Nick’s eyes. He sat in silence for a moment before turning Charlie’s head to meet his gaze.
“How about as your boyfriend?” he asked softly, fear in his eyes as Charlie’s eyes widened.
“You don’t think it’s too soon for that?” Charlie asked, before clapping his hands to his mouth.
“Maybe. But it just… feels right to me. If it’s too soon for you, we don’t have to.” he admitted, then backtracked. Which was usually Charlie’s area of expertise, so he took Nick’s face in both his hands and squished his cheeks slightly.
“ Hey , I didn’t say that. Actually, I was terrified to talk to you about the “B” word.” Charlie laughed, smiling when Nick sighed in relief.
“Oh, thank god.” Nick mumbled, smiling when Charlie leaned down to capture his mouth in a kiss.
“So, you’re my boyfriend?” Charlie asked against Nick’s mouth, breaking the kiss when Nick beamed.
“And you’re my boyfriend.” Nick affirmed, taking both of Charlie’s hands in his and lacing their fingers together.
“We’re boyfriends.” Charlie whispered against Nick’s cheek before they both started giggling. Nick nudged his nose against Charlie’s cheek, still grinning as he kissed Charlie, more teeth than lips, but neither of them could bring themselves to care.
And okay, they both probably knew it was too soon. But every step of how they got together seemed like fate. And maybe that was naive and crazy, but that was how they felt. So they were going to take it in stride and see what happened.
They also slept together on their first date mere minutes after finding out it was a date. Charlie chuckled at that thought, shaking his head as Nick kissed his cheek.
“What?” he asked softly, stroking Charlie’s cheek.
“Nothing. You’re just really cute.” he mumbled, smiling as Nick flushed down his neck.
“You know what, fast is good.” Charlie thought to himself as Nick tugged his shirt off over his head.