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Charlie wasn’t sure how he’d managed to never spend Valentine’s Day with a boyfriend, as a kid it was obvious he’d be single but once puberty hit and his interests became evident, once the novelty of the only gay kid at school had died down and he’d finally been left alone, he thought things would take what he assumed was normal course. He’d started dating Ben in September of year 10, had even gone through the trouble of getting a small Christmas present for him (even though he never got one back) but by the time February came, he’d seen the wanker kissing some girl by the school gate, Valentine’s had been spent alone in his room eating and puking the box of chocolate he’d gotten him before the prices skyrocketed.
He'd had other boyfriends after that, John, who had been terribly nice until he’d asked to open the relationship after only three months of dating. Ed, who’d lasted all of two months before ghosting him, and even Felipe, whom he’d dated on and off for about a year before he’d decided to bugger off back to Argentina and never come back. None of them had lasted enough to spend Valentine’s Day together, always ending things right before, leaving Charlie to dread the day like the rest of the single population of the world.
With time, he’d refused to even acknowledge it as a holiday, he didn’t want to become bitter, he wouldn’t, there were simply too many people in the world who despised the celebration to add one more to the mix, but he would take it just as any other day. Yes, Tao would ask him to leave the flat for a few hours, or would, on one occasion, take a trip himself when Valentine’s struck on a Friday. Yes, there would be an obnoxious amount of pink everywhere, and he would still get heart shaped cards from Elle, Tao and Isaac, and he’d send some back himself for the only people who mattered, even Tori would send him electronic cards with stupid corny messages for him to read first thing in the morning, but nothing else, no date, no boyfriend, no nothing.
It was February the 14th once again, the 28th Valentines Day he’d ever lived and, as per usual, it was spent alone, he’d gotten early to his workplace that day to avoid the multitude of greetings his coworkers would offer, usually asking if he had any plans for the day. He had immersed himself in the manuscript he’d been reading, putting as much effort as possible into making it work, he was invested in the story and was desperate for the company to publish it, but he needed to make it shine before that happened, today, with everyone distracted with plans and dates and gifts, he’d polish each chapter, determined to get it through.
By the time he was free to go back home, he felt accomplished in his task, the manuscript shone brightly on his bosses desk, and he hoped with all his heart that his girlfriend said yes to his proposal, so that his happy mood would translate into an acceptance letter for the author of the story.
At 5:30 PM the tube was chaos, everyone was desperate to get back to their homes, change into prettier clothes and go to the dates they’d been planning for today, and though Charlie wasn’t one of them, he too wanted to get home soon, so he took his chance in one of the less crowded cars, put his headphones on and prepared to spend the next 30 minutes fully immersed in his own thoughts.
Not even two stops in, he felt a warm breath and a wet tongue lick one side of his face from chin to forehead, next to him, safely enclosed in a dog carrier backpack was a pup, blonde, round and smiling cutely at him from its spot on its owner’s side.
“oh my god I’m so sorry” the man next to him said, moving the doggie to his front, away from Charlie and closer to his own face “baby girl, you can’t go kissing people in the tube without their consent! Where are your manners?” he asked to the pup, as if expecting her to understand what he was saying.
Charlie looked at the man in amusement, his auburn hair shone in the artificial light of the tube and his button nose was covered in freckles, he had a cute boyish charm in him, looking adoringly at his pup.
“it’s fine, she’s adorable” Charlie said, petting the pup’s paw closest to him.
“her name is Daisy” the man said, turning as much as possible to look at him, Charlie smiled brightly at Daisy, unaware of the comically gobsmacked expression in her human’s face “and I’m Nick” the man said, extending a hand to Charlie, risking a fall in the overly crowded train.
“Charlie” the curly man said, taking the hand, he’d been offered and blushing lightly at the man’s intense gaze.
“on your way to a date Charlie?” the man asked gulping loudly “I mean, sorry, none of my business” Nick was cute Charlie though, doing his best not to laugh at his fluttered face.
“No, I don’t have a date” he answered before Nick could continue with his incessant apologies.
“oh” he replied, gulping again, seemingly unable to keep his eyes from Charlie’s face “good” he whispered.
Charlie laughed at that last statement, startled at the apparent boldness of the man on his side.
“I mean, not good… I” Charlie laughed harder at Nick’s mortified expression, some of the people around them sending them disapproving looks at being so loud in a crowded train “sorry… I don’t have a date either” Nick says, turning away, face flushed and completely mortified.
Charlie smiled to himself, the man had been flustered since the beginning of their interaction and it was cute that he kept stumbling over his words, completely oblivious of how adorable he sounded.
For the next three stops they just glanced at the other from time to time, eyes occasionally meeting unintentionally. Fifteen minutes in and after catching the other’s eye for the fifth time in a row, they just smiled at each other and moved as close as the crowd allowed.
“how old is she?” Charlie asked, pointing at the pup now comfortably dozing, head resting crookedly on her human’s cradling arms.
“Ten weeks, she’d my baby girl” Nick’s eyes brightened at the opportunity to talk about his pup, and he started telling him about her little adventure, Daisy being in charge of delivering valentine cards to the kids in the primary school he worked at.
Charlie was amused at Nick’s genuinely excited expression, reacting appropriately at every part of the story and cooing at the picture of Daisy in a heart headband Nick had shown him halfway through his story.
“She’s exhausted cause she was the most popular girl at school today” Nick stroked the sleepy puppy’s chin, baby girl still lost to the world.
The rest of the trip they talked about what the other did for a living, Nick asking questions about the books Charlie had helped publish, taking note of the names and adding them to his TBR list, Charlie in turn asking about the hardships of being a primary school teacher and how he managed to keep thirty 8 year olds engaged when most parents just gave them uninterrupted screen time and gave up.
By the time Charlie’s stop was approaching, they had swapped so many stories it almost felt like they were friends.
“my stop is the next one, thanks for making this trip bearable” Charlie said in lieu of a good bye, debating himself on asking for Nick’s number or Instagram handle.
“oh! Next one is my stop too” Nick replied before Charlie got the courage to ask.
As they exited the train and slowly made their way upstairs, Charlie felt a hand tentatively reaching for his arm.
“hey” Nick said, waiting for Charlie to turn around “if this is creepy, please ignore me but, it’s not every day my dog kisses a cute stranger on the tube and I was wondering… if you’d like to grab some coffee with me” Nick’s face was flushed and he was nervously biting his lips, eyes searching for signs of discomfort on Charlie’s face.
Charlie smiled at him and pushed his phone onto Nick’s hands “is 7 alright? I’d like to go home and change first” he said, stomach fluttering at Nick’s reaction.
“yeah… 7 is great, though, I don’t think I’ll survive if you look any cuter so please have mercy” Nick said, entering his Instagram handle and giving it a follow from Charlie’s account.
The curly man flushed, smiling at Nick for what felt like the hundredth time in barely 30 minutes.
They parted ways when they made it outside, walking in opposite directions after agreeing on a location halfway between their flats. As Charlie walked home, he looked up Nick’s Insta, seeing a recently uploaded story, in it, Daisy was on his back, already awake, tongue out in her puppy grin, Nick’s smile was as bright as before, looking directly at the camera, his bright honeyed eyes shining. Under the photo, a small caption “best wing girl ever”.
Charlie reacted to the pic with a heart, hopefully Nick being his first ever date on a Valentine’s Day was a sign for the ones to come.