Music sounds better with you

"God i love tipsy charlie "

Saturday morning is deliciously slow. Nick wakes up with Charlie curled up on his chest, snuffling away in his sleep. It isn't very often this happens, where Charlie sleeps longer than Nick, so he takes the time to relish it, trailing light fingers down his arm and over his jaw, playing with his curls, taking in how peaceful he looks in sleep.

All too soon, Charlie wakes up and yawns right in his face, which is just lovely. Nick pulls a face but immediately pulls him in for a soft, sleepy cuddle.
No parents, no siblings, no dogs, no responsibilities to kick them out of bed. He could get very used to this.

Since they're going out that evening, they have a very lazy day, much like the day before.

They laze around watching Instagram reels and TikToks until Charlie begs for a coffee, so they get up and hang around in the kitchen instead. Saturdays are the days that their gigantic Sainsbury's order of all their pasta and jars of pesto and jumbo bottles of vodka arrive, but Nick lets the others put it all away while he stays with Charlie on the sofa as they share another oven pizza.

Nobody else has any plans apparently, because they all just end up piled on the sofa together watching random episodes of Friends until it's time to get ready. They don't really watch the show so much as chat over all of it, talking about which of them would be each member of the cast and laughing until their ribs hurt at Harry's truly terrible impression of Ross Geller.

Nick orders them a KFC on Uber Eats for their dinner and they eat it in the kitchen as everyone makes their own dinners, lining their stomachs for their night out. After they've finished, someone puts the music channel on the telly at full volume, then everyone heads back to their rooms and props the doors open so the girls can do their makeup and everyone can get ready together.

Charlie gathers his clothes up and sheepishly disappears into the bathroom to change. Nick, who is comfortable enough around these people to change in front of them, swaps his hoodie and shorts for a pair of jeans and a tight fitting white t-shirt that clings to his arms just so , which he knows Charlie loves.
He puts a necklace and some rings on, spritzes himself with some aftershave, and is just pulling his shoes on when Charlie emerges.

He's wearing a plain long-sleeved black shirt and grey skinny jeans, his hair tousled so his curls are pulled to the front, sitting styled on his forehead. His socked feet shuffle across the bedroom floor towards his bag, but Nick stops him before he gets there and cups his face, giving him a greedy once-over at arms length.

Charlie blushes. "What?"
"You look stunning." Nick teases the curls at the front of Charlie's hair, biting his lip. "You really do. I love your hair like this."
"Shut up," Charlie huffs. "I look the same as I always do." His eyes trail up and down Nick's body. "But you look..."
"I look the same as I always do," Nick echoes, then kisses the protests right off Charlie's lips. "Take the compliment, my darling. You look unreal."

Charlie still looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn't. His cheeks are flaming red as he kisses Nick one more time and then busies himself with sorting out his bag. Nick sits on the edge of his bed and messes around on his phone for a bit, occasionally chiming in with the conversation going on in the rest of the flat, then once Charlie is ready, they head down to the kitchen to get some drinks.

Harry's already in the kitchen, drinking a beer on the sofa. "Hey," he greets, leaping to his feet. "What are you boys drinking?"
"I'll have a beer too. Char?"
"I've got a bottle of Lambrini because I'm cheap."
Harry bursts out laughing. "Oh my god, Lambrini. As if I couldn't already love you more, Charlie-boy."

They make easy chatter as a trio as Harry pours their drinks and they wait for the rest of the flat to arrive. Apparently, a few people from the flat next door might pop over and come out with them; Nick likes them well enough, but he couldn't really give a shit who he sees tonight other than Charlie and his core group. He trusts these guys to make his boyfriend's first clubbing experience the best ever, and that shows when the girls come charging in, all dressed up to the nines, and immediately drag Charlie into a photo shoot for Instagram.