Nick's POV

Once Charlie falls asleep, I just hold him tightly while I rub small circles on his back. I can't fall asleep, I am too worried about him.

Am I supposed to bring this in the morning...

Am I supposed to ignore it....

You can't push him Nick, he needs to be comfortable enough to talk to you about this... if you don't ask, maybe it will happen again?

He does not deserve this at all. Charlie is such a caring person. He has such a big heart. He is probably the best person I know.

My thoughts race all night until the sun pops through the curtains of Charlie's window. The sun hits Charlie's face, the beam enhancing his facial features. His jawline. His nose. His lips. I can't help but look at this beautiful person in my arms. How did I get so lucky?

Charlie stirs slightly before opening his eyes. He gives a small smile before he covers his mouth to yawn. I kiss his forehead softly, followed by his cheek. "Hi." I whisper, tightening my grip around him. I don't ever want to let go. "Hi." He whispers back before stretching up to kiss my lips softly. "How did you sleep?" I ask, trying to hide my concern. He raises himself on one elbow, looking down at me. He moves his hand to rest against my cheek before he softly brushes his thumb over my cheekbone.

"Did you sleep at all Nick?" He asks. His hand makes its way to brush through my hair. I close my eyes, savoring his touch. I can't help but smile. When I open my eyes again, Charlie is smiling brightly down at me. "Hmm?" I hum as I get lost in how amazing he is looking in the sun. He completely sits up, his back resting against his headboard. He pulls his knees completely to his chest. I sit up, turning to face him. "Nick..." He pauses before resting his chin on his knees, looking at his bed instead of me. "You didn't sleep." He flatly states.

I wrap my hands around my bicep while nervously my index finger draws circles on my bare skin. "I just... Um. I needed.." I don't even know how or what I want to say. "You should have slept too, Nick. I don't want you to worry about me." He says, embarrassed. I reach for his hands that are holding his legs tightly, this causes his legs to straighten against mine. I hold his hands tightly, my thumbs rubbing over his knuckles. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, that's all." I settle on that.

He starts to shake his head, probably to apologize but I start speaking. "I just need you to know that I am here for you. In every possible. I want this. I want you. I want all of you. Char, no matter what." He just looks at me with this almost blank stare on his face. Maybe it's not a blank stare, maybe he just doesn't believe me? There is an awkward silence between us. Tears start to well up in my eyes and I feel like they are on the verge of escaping.

When I loosen my grip on his hands, intending to get out of bed, he tightens his grip. He quickly hops on his knees and pulls me into his arms. He's shaking slightly. I pull him down on top of me as I lay flat on my back, my hands accidentally lying on the bare skin of his lower back. He doesn't say anything so I slide my hands up under his shirt until I reach his shoulder blades. He leans back slightly, a small grin on his face. The first and second signs that I didn't over step...

We lay like this for over an hour. Him laying on my bare chest, me rubbing small circles on his back. Just enjoying the closeness. I don't want this to end.

"Nick and Charlie!" Its Elle.

Charlie jolts slightly before making eye contact with me. His eyes wide. He's about to climb off of me but I am so overwhelmed by him that I wrap my hand around the nape of his neck and crash his lips to mine. He doesn't pull away. Instead, his hand glides through my hair and a small moan escapes against my lips when I kiss him harder. I chuckle against his lips and then I feel him smile against my lips.

"Charlie, are you-" Elle starts to say 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 ceiling, I 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 one more time before shutting the door slightly as she winks.

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 to be with you and I meant it." I whisper. He looks down at me, his smile growing across his lips. "I want to be with 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 the 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 since I seem to 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 common 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 to their table. "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 as she pulls out her phone to immediately add them. All of our phones bing at the same time. I hold Charlie's hand the entire time we eat with 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 all at the costume shop." Michael 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 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. A brief moment later, I lean back and raise my eyebrows at him. "Maybe we could do matching costumes?" I suggest with 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 before laughing. "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 don't really like Marvel." He whines, adorably might I add. 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 on the ground. 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 goofy 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 the sentence 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 some of the guys on the Rugby team.

"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 but I grip his hand tighter, inaudibly saying 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 my boyfriend." I say confidently, I can feel Charlie's gaze burning on me. "We have to get back to our friends so I will see you on Monday for practice." I say before guiding Charlie with me.

It isn't until we are back in our friend group that I realize how sweaty my hands are. I let go of Charlie's hand to rub my palms on my pants before taking his hand again. Without letting go of my hands, Charlie walks in front of me. "Nick." He says quietly. "Yeah?" I ask. A smile grows on his face as we stand there, neither of us 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 cinema." Sai says. "Yeah, we should have said something." Christian agrees. "We really are sorry. We never wanted to make you uncomfortable." Otis adds. "It's fine." I say and shrug off their comments. I am still a little upset about the cinema 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 upset?" 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 us all to laugh. "Thanks mates." I say and fist bump all of them. "We will see you at home later?" Otis asks. "Yeah, I should be home tonight." I confrim while 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 just so proud of you." He whispers before planting a long, passionate kiss on my lips.