Work Text:
September 21, 20XX
Though true happiness could only be achieved in the presence of one Charlie Spring, Nick Nelson felt a measure of contentment settle over him. He quaffed his mug of ale, gasping and laughing and wiping his mouth with his sleeve after pulling it back. It was still only September, but he'd known these lads for close to two months now, and felt like a welcome member of the team. The 2nd XV team, to be exact, where he'd landed the starting fly-half position, even as a first-year. Starters and reserves from all of Leeds’ teams were out tonight, celebrating the start of the season.
It was a large pub - a favourite haunt of uni students, especially athletes. As Nick had realised the past few times he'd been out with the boys, this included eligible young ladies who were looking to bed strapping young men. He'd had to turn down several advances in the past few weeks, always letting them know that he had a boyfriend. Every girl was understanding upon receiving his explanation, which should have been reassuring, but always managed to irk him a bit. He always hurried to explain that he was bi, not gay, as people misidentifying his sexuality just didn't sit well with him. Most girls politely left him alone in pursuit of more available bachelors, but a few took the information of him being bisexual to mean “I have a boyfriend, but I'm open to girls on the side.” It was frustrating and demoralising, and as much as Nick loved talking to people about Charlie, he was already getting tired of having to explain himself over and over again to strangers.
Now that the term had begun, there were girls present in numbers far exceeding what Nick had seen thus far. While it made him a bit wary, he didn't let it distract him from having a good time.
Until it became unavoidable, however. A group of giggling, flirting girls was making its way through the throng of fit rugby men. Most of the lads loved it, but they all knew by now that Nick was sick of it. When a pretty blonde hit on him, he didn't even have a chance to rebuff her advances before Dillon, their team's scrum half, bellowed boisterously.
“Don't even bother with Nicky there! He's already got a Charlie and you won't be able to shut him up if you get him started!” The boys laughed and Nick smiled wryly.
“Yeah,” Johnny chimed in, “did you know that Charlie plays the drums and knows Latin?”
Pete really got going. “‘I miss Charlie so much, I can't stop thinking about those adorable dimples, those dark curls, those deep blue eyes and pouty lips!’” he exclaimed with a moony expression.
The boys around him were guffawing, bent over and slapping knees. Nick turned pink but he laughed with them, not at all ashamed of how in love with Charlie he was. He addressed the poor girl with tears of laughter in his eyes. “Sorry, but they're absolutely right. I am a complete simp for Charlie, and proud of it.”
The girl looked a bit embarrassed, but mostly amused. “Well, it sounds like she's a lucky girl,” she said graciously. She looked baffled when the lads within earshot burst into laughter.
Nick, who'd been in the middle of a drink, waved his hand at her. “Lucky boy ,” he corrected. “Charlie's my boyfriend. And before you assume I'm gay, you should know I'm bi, actually.” Nick said this with pride and without shame - it felt damn good.
“Oh!” she said in surprise. Her gaze turned calculating and Nick got a bad feeling in his gut. “Well, you know, I've got some things your boyfriend can't give you, if you're looking to play for the other side tonight,” she winked.
Nick, who was more than a little tipsy, felt anger and indignation boil up inside him.
“No. No, absolutely not,” he insisted, but couldn't leave it at that. “You don't understand. I would never cheat on Charlie. He is... the most kind, smart, amazing person in the world, and he deserves to be treated like a king !” Nick began to tear up, but he couldn't stop. “Charlie is the love of my life, and I'm going to marry him someday! I love him so much.” Nick's lip trembled and drunk laughter went up around him. “God, I miss him so much!” he cried, two tears slipping into his mug of beer.
Despite the fact that everyone was laughing at him, Nick also felt arms around his shoulders and hands patting his back comfortingly. “Thanks guys,” he said in a broken voice, drying his eyes. His heart swelled with happiness at how supported he felt by this group of lads. They rinsed the fuck out of him, and they did it with love.
The girl seemed to have disappeared. If, half an hour later, he immediately burst into tears when another girl hit on him, well... there were so many witnesses that it was just something he would have to live with.
🍂🍃🍂
Sunday afternoon found Nick entering his local Primark on a mission, heading for a section he'd never headed to before - men's jewellery.
Seeing as he was looking for something very specific, he found it right away. It was one of a five-pack of gold-coloured rings. The widest one had a distressed engraving around the band in the shape of fluttering leaves; he didn't know why, but it made him think of Charlie. He found a pack that fit his thick ring finger, and purchased it for five quid - what a steal!
Nick waited until the following weekend to wear it. He placed it on his left ring finger before heading to the usual pub. A couple of the lads picked up on it, and soon Nick was telling them his plan: he would wear a fake wedding ring to scare the ladies off - or at least to make their encounters much more brief.
His teammates cackled at that. “You may as well be married to that boy, Nelson, fucking hell!”
Whenever a lady approached the group, everyone seemed to wait with bated breath to see if she would hit on Nick. Finally, it happened, and Nick just held up his left hand.
“Sorry, taken!” he said with a satisfied grin. The woman backed off, and his friends laughed and hollered. With such a weird reaction, she gave the whole group a strange look and wandered back to her friends.
Nick turned to the guys triumphantly, beaming as he held his pint in his left hand and pointed to the ring with his right index finger. “It worked! It fucking worked!” he exclaimed giddily. Nights out just became a lot easier.
About half an hour later, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out, to see that Charlie was video calling him; his heart lifted. Nick stood up quickly, nearly knocking his chair over in his eagerness. “Charlie's calling me!” he yelled excitedly to no one in particular, not paying any attention to the response as he made his way outside.
“Char!” Nick said, probably too loudly, but he didn't care. “How are you? I miss you so much!” Nick felt his eyes welling up again. Charlie was so beautiful, with his messy curls and sparkling eyes and secret little smile.
“I'm good, you sap. You're drunk, I see,” he teased.
“Tipsy. Buzzed. Not drunk,” Nick insisted.
Charlie chuckled. “Whatever you say, darling.”
Nick's already rosy face flushed even more. He loved when Charlie used pet names on him.
“So, why are you here?” Nick asked blearily. “Not that I'm complaining!” he hastened to add. “I love you so much! Please don't go!”
Charlie giggled at Nick's mercurial inebriation. “Well, I saw a certain picture of you on Insta, and I'm wondering if there's something you need to tell me.”
Nick's jaw dropped. “What?! I've been a perfect gentleman, I swear! Whatever it is, it must be doctored. Here, let me see.”
Charlie was laughing at him, but Nick was dead serious as he opened up Instagram on his phone. “Which one is it?”
“The one with you holding a beer and pointing at what appears to be a wedding ring. You didn't go off and elope without me, did you?” Charlie teased.
Nick's mouth fell open again. “I can explain! See, there was this girl at the pub–”
Charlie's expression turned from amused to ashen, and Nick scrambled upon realising how that sounded.
“No! No! Not like that! See, there have been lots of girls–”
Charlie's eyes widened.
“No! I–” Nick interrupted himself with laughter at how he kept mucking it up. “I love you Charlie, so much!” Nick poured all the drunk love he could muster into his gaze, and Charlie seemed to relax.
“Good, good. So, whenever I go to the pub with my mates, I always get hit on by girls. And I have to say ‘Sorry, I have a boyfriend,’ and then they're like relieved and they say, ‘Oh, you're gay !’ and I'm like,’Well, I'm bi actually,’ and I'm just trying to be honest because I don't want them to erase my bisexuality, but some of the girls take that as ‘I'm bi, so I can have one of each actually,’ and then I have to explain that ‘No, I will not be cheating on my boyfriend, thank you very much, he is kind and beautiful and the only one I'll ever love,’ and then I tell them about you for as long as they'll listen.”
Nick took a breath. “And, you know, I love talking about you, so I really don't mind that part so much, but it takes so many stupid steps to get there, and I can talk to anyone about you, not just girls that hit on me, so what's the point in going through all that?”
Nick paused for a moment. “Um, what was my point…?” he asked himself. He finally took a break to really look at Charlie, who had a beautiful smile on his face, and whose eyes seemed to be glistening.
“The ring,” Charlie reminded him.
“Oh! Right, so I had this brilliant idea to go buy a cheap ring that could pass as a wedding ring and wear it when I go out. I just show it off and now I don't have to deal with people anymore, it's working like a charm!” Nick said with a grin.
Charlie snickered, and he totally wasn't wiping at his eyes. “So, basically you're telling people that you're already married - to me, presumably?”
Nick looked scandalised. “Of course to you! Not that anyone actually asks once they see I'm married, but that's definitely my headcanon.”
“So… is this your proposal, Nicholas?” Charlie asked gleefully.
Nick blanched. “God no! That would be the worst proposal ever!”
“I don't know, it's certainly memorable. I would say yes if I were me,” Charlie giggled. “But, I wouldn't forgive you for asking me at a time when I couldn't hug and kiss you and... do other things to you.” Charlie leered through the phone, but Nick was just staring at him with those golden retriever puppy dog eyes. “What?” Charlie chuckled.
“You... you'd say yes if I asked you to marry me? Right now?” Nick's voice was on the verge of breaking.
“Oh, Nick….” Charlie looked at him like he hung the moon and the stars. “You could ask me to marry you while I'm in the shower and I would say yes. You're the one and only love of my life.”
Nick's lip trembled as tears fell down his cheeks. “Char… I love you so much. I want to kiss you so bad right now.”
Charlie gave him a sweet smile. “Me too, baby. I miss you so much.”
“I don't want this to be my proposal, but… Charles Frances Spring, would you do me the honour of one day allowing me to propose to you properly?”
Charlie gave a wet laugh, wiping at his eyes. “Yes, Nick, of course.” Nick beamed at him. “There is one condition, however,” Charlie said.
Nick turned comically serious and nodded for Charlie to go on.
“You can propose to me... but only if I haven't proposed first.”
Nick laughed. “Okay, Char, but you're going to have some stiff competition!” Charlie's lips twisted into a naughty smirk and Nick gave him a lascivious grin in return. “God, I love you so much.”
“I love you too so much,” Charlie replied. “I should let you get back to your lads’ night.”
“I suppose. I just don't wanna let you go now.”
Charlie’s smile was beatific. “You'll be okay, sweetheart. Just look at your ring and think of me. And give me a call tomorrow, okay?”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, okay. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you so much.” Nick laughed self-consciously, hand on the back of his neck. “Sorry, I know I keep saying it.”
“Never use the s-word for how ridiculously in love with me you are.” Charlie winked at him. “I love you too, Nicholas Luke Nelson.”
Nick beamed at him brightly. “Bye, Char.”
“Bye, baby.”
Nick let Charlie disconnect the call, happily sighing, “He called me baby .” He couldn't keep the lovesick grin off his face as he headed back inside. He was overcome with emotion at the knowledge that Charlie would marry him someday. Wiping tears from his eyes, Nick approached his mates.
“He said yes!” Nick exclaimed, his voice breaking. After three moments of dead silence, cheers went up all around him.
🍂🍃🍂
Char 💞: Nicholas?
Yes, love of my life?
Char 💞: Why are your Leeds mates congratulating us on our engagement?
………
Oops? 😅