Never Be The Same - A Charlie and Nick Story

Chapter 18 - Being Out

"Charlie, are you-" Elle says as she opens the door. Instead of climbing off me, Charlie moves his hands to the front of my shoulders. "Uh," she pauses to giggle. "Most of us are awake and wanted to see if you still wanted to get breakfast." She says, her tone full of happiness. Since I am on my back, and technically I am facing the wall, I lay flat and lean my head back to look at her upside down. "Sure, we will be out in a few." I say, a massive smile on my face. She smiles at us before shutting the door slightly, raising her eyebrows as she walks backwards behind him the door.

Charlie falls flat against my chest, his face pressing into my bare skin. "Nick. Oh my god. What did you do?" He says, slightly mumbled. I move my hand so I lift his chin to look at me. "I said I want you and I meant it." I whisper. He looks down at me, his smile growing across his lips. "I want you too Nick." He whispers before crashing his lips to mine. We make out for a few minutes until Charlie pulls away first. "We should really get ready to go." He says. I pull his lips to mine one last time, savoring his touch. He climbs off me, taking the jumper off to hand it to me. His bandages slightly pop out from under the sleeve of his t-shirt. My heart aches for a second so I change the focus.

"I think I am going to have to start bringing some clothes here if I spend the night more and more often." He giggles and kisses my cheek before going to the bathroom with a ball of clothes and shoes.

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Charlie and I walk down the corridor to the living room, hand in hand. When everyone sees us, they start being all chatty and gossipy and incredibly supportive. I knew they would be really nice and caring about it, but I didn't think they would be like "finally they together" type of vibe. "So, are we still doing breakfast and the costume shopping?" Charlie changes the topic. "We need to find the best couple's costume." Imogen says and shakes Sahar's arm in excitement. "I'll take Tao, Tara and Darcy. You got Isaac, Imogen, Sahar and Charlie?" Elle asks me and I nod my head.

We drive to the diner and walk inside to see Tori and Michael. Charlie runs over to his sister and hugs her tightly. The talk for a few moments before our group comes over. "Michael, this is kind of weird that you're here and not like... being a waiter." Darcy notes which makes him laugh. "Sometimes it's weird for me too but I love the pancakes so who can blame me." He giggles. "Do you want to join us?" I offer and Micheal immediately nods his head in excitement. We all shuffle our way to our back circle table and pull over another 2 chairs for them.

It's a really enjoyable time with everyone. Tori and Michael fit right in with us. "We are going to have to add you both to our group chat." Sahar says she pulls out her phone to immediately do that. All of our phones bing at the same time. I hold Charlie's hand the entire time we eat and our legs pressed together. He eats an entire stack of chocolate chip pancakes, smiling ear to ear while he does.

"Did you want to come Halloween costume shopping with us?" Elle asks. Tori looks at Michael whose smile slowly grows as he looks down at her. "I guess so." She says and immediately Michael hugs her tightly, even shaking her enthusiastically. We all talk for a little bit before we get up and head to the parking lot. "We drove here so we can meet you at the costume shop." Micheal says, as they walk towards a different part of the parking lot than us.

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"Ugh! I don't know what to be." Tao shouts dramatically as he holds a zookeeper costume. "It would be easier if I just flipped a coin." He adds, which makes Elle giggle. I yawn as I flip through some costumes. I turn around and see Charlie looking at a different rack, his back to me. I slowly walk up behind him and cover his eyes with my hands. He giggles and I feel the heat build on his cheeks. "Nick." He says and giggles. He turns around in my arms. My hands end up on his hips while his end up on my shoulders. "Hi." I whisper. He leans his forehead to mine before whispering "Hi" back. I lean back and raise my eyebrows at him. "Maybe we could do matching costumes?" I suggest and smile. He nods his head. "What were you thinking?" He asks me. I smile before moving to a rack, taking his hand in mine. I lift up a costume and he just rolls his eyes as he laughs. "Really a marvel character?"

I walk up to him where I am just a few inches from him. "Yes really. It's Captain America. He's one of my favorites!" I defend before grinning at him. "How am I supposed to match that... I do not really like Marvel." He whines, adorably. I lean back and raise my finger. "No, you like the new Spider-Man!" I justify. "You are right..." He lifts his hand to his chin and looks up at the ceiling, making a thinking face. "I guess I can be Spider-Man." I immediately lift him up in my arms and spin him around. "Thank you!" I shout as he giggles. "Nick put me down." He says as he laughs. "You are going to look so good in Spandex." I say before placing him down. When I lean back, his eyes are wide. I realize what I just said and my eyes widen. "I-uh-I didn't-" I stutter. He steps up to me and lays a kiss on your cheek. "I know what you meant." He says, smiling.

I grab the Captain America outfit and make my way to another rack to find a Spider-Man costume. When I find one, I hand it to him with a super big smile on my face. "I've never had matching costumes before." I say when I look at the costumes in our hands. "Me neither." He says, genuinely smiling. We make our way back to the group where almost everyone has a costume. "Where's your costume?" Charlie asks Tori. "I don't do costumes-" She says and Michael finishes with "But she is getting cat ears just to fit in when we go to the bars." This causes Charlie to laugh.

I hold Charlie's hand, our fingers interlacing as we walk to the checkout counter. We buy our costumes and we walk back to the group, hand in hand. When we almost are all the way in the back with the group I hear my name being called. I turn around and see my flatmates and the rugby squad.

"Nick, where you been mate?" Harry says as he walks closer to Charlie and I. When he is right in front of us, Charlie loosens his grip on my hand. He is about to let go of my hands but I grip his hand tighter to say "Don't let go." My flatmates look from me to our hands and to Charlie. "I've been busy." I say flatly and I am about to turn around when Harry grabs my shoulder. "Hanging out with him?" He asks. This homophobic ass. "Yeah, hanging out with him. My boyfriend." I say confidently, I can feel Charlie's gaze on me. "We have to get back to our friends so I will see you on Monday for rugby." I say before tugging Charlie with me.

It isn't until we are back in our group that I realize how sweaty my hands are. I let go of Charlie's hand to rub my own hands on my pants before taking his hand again. Without letting go, Charlie walks in front of me. "Nick." He says quietly. "Yeah?" I ask. A smile grows on his face as we stand there, no one saying anything for a brief moment. "You just came out to a group of people." He whispers, his eyebrows raising. "Yes, yes I did." I say laughing. "I am really proud of you." He says. He moves his free hand to the nape of my neck and pulls his lips to mine, planting a soft kiss against my lips.

We smile at each other before Sahar breaks us up. "You two ready already?" She jokes. Charlie looks at me before tugging me along to our group.

"Nick." I turn around and see Sai, Otis and Christian, their hands in their pockets. I let go of Charlie's hand and turn to face them. "What's up?" I ask as I cross my arms across my chest, my hands clenching on my biceps. "We are sorry for not sticking up for you at the theater." Sai says. "Yeah, we should have said something." Christian says. "We really are sorry. We never wanted to make you uncomfortable." Otis says. "It's fine." I say and shrug off their comments. I am still a little upset about the theater situation.

"And we are sorry if we made you so uncomfortable that you couldn't tell us about your boyfriend." Sai says. "We've known you for so long so we are sorry that we didn't make the situation easier for you to tell us." I blink a few times. "You're not mad?" I ask, shocked. "We would never be mad, mate. You're our best friend, dude." Otis says. "Yeah, and Charlie can come over anytime you want. I'm cool with it. As long as you're good if I bring a girl over at anytime." Christian says which causes our group to laugh. "Thanks guys." I say and fist bump all of them. "We will see you at home later?" Otis asks. "Yeah, I should be home tonight." I say laughing. They wave back to me as they walk out of the costume shop.

I turn back to see Charlie smiling. "What?" I giggle. "I'm really proud of you." He whispers before planting a long, passionate kiss on my lips.