Nick and Charlie One-Shots

The School Play

Charlie Spring didn't sign up for this.

In fact, it was Tao Xu who signed him up for this.

The last thing Charlie wanted was to spend his free time going over countless lines that were impossible to memorize for a play that made absolutely no sense. Charlie considered quitting many times, but he didn't want to disappoint Tao, and their friendship was already strained because of Nick.

Charlie sat on the ground with his back against his closet while Nick was lying on his bed. They were going over a set of lines, and Charlie kept messing up. Soon he got frustrated, and put his head in his hands.

"I'm so sick of this," he said, then stood up and sat next to Nick. "Can we make out instead?"

Nick's lips curled into a smile, but it vanished almost as soon as it formed. "But you need to study."

"We can do it later. Can't I just have a break?"

"You've been studying for like," Nick checked his watch, "15 minutes."

"Please?" Charlie begged, reaching out his hand and grabbing Nick's in an attempt to convince him.

Nick sighed, but Charlie could tell he was happy. They moved closer together, Nick putting his hand gently on to Charlie's cheek, and then they were kissing.

Their lips moved against each other effortlessly, like a perfectly memorized dance, each step with meaning and purpose.

When they pulled apart, Nick was all flustered, his cheeks pink and his eyes glazed over.

"You need to rehearse your lines!" Nick said, laying back down on the bed and pulling Charlie down so he was laying next to him.

"But I don't want to," Charlie replied, drawing out the 'o'.

"Bingley is a very important character in Pride and Prejudice."

"Honestly, his only personality trait is that he is in love with Jane Bennett and he will do literally anything for her."

"Who plays Jane again?"

Charlie sighed. "Some random Year 12 who thinks she's better than everyone else. I think her name is Stacy, or something to that effect."

"Have you practiced with her outside or school? I mean, to get your chemistry and stuff."

Charlie's eyes widened. "God no. I have no motivation for this stupid play."

"Come on, please? You need to learn these lines."

"Ugh fine. But I need make-out breaks at least every 10 minutes."

Nick smiled. "That sounds good to me."

___

The following month, the play was going to open on Friday, May 28th, at 19:00. They had done countless tech rehearsals, and Charlie had finally memorized all his lines (with Nick's help, of course).

Charlie thought his costume looked ridiculous. It was some frilly, white tuxedo button-up shirt, and it looked like something out of the Middle Ages, and not the 18th century. His hair had been slicked back, and in his opinion he looked like Harry if he was a Victorian London boy.

"Come on, Char, you look fine," Nick said, his hands on Charlie's shoulders.

"I look awful. This isn't fair."

"Don't worry about your costume, worry about your lines."

"Oh Jesus, don't even remind me of that." Charlie put his head in his hands, taking a deep breath. "What if I forget something?"

"It wouldn't be the first time that's happened in a play. Just look at me and I'll help you through it. I'm sitting in the front row, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie replied, his hands automatically going to his hair, but then dropping when he realized how confined it was. He looked back over at Nick, who had a concerned expression plastered on his face.

He smiled, and Nick smiled back. He jumped into his arms, squeezing him tightly, then pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Charlie, they need you backstage!" someone yelled from behind the curtain.

"I have to go," Charlie said.

"I love you, you'll do great!" Nick replied encouragingly.

Charlie just waved, and then travelled backstage to where he knew the rest of the cast was. Everyone was in costume, Tao looking the best in his actually good looking Mr. Darcy suit, and gelled down hair, the girls in pretty dresses, and other people wearing costumes to look like various set pieces.

"Charlie, thank god you're here," Tao said, grabbing him by his wrist and pulling him into the group.

"All right guys," started the teacher, Mrs. Chance, "just do exactly what we did in practice. You guys know what to do, you just have to do it." She paused, glancing at the clock on the wall. "We have five minutes until the curtain opens, so get in position."

There was a chorus of excitement from everyone in the group. Well, except for Charlie. His insides were twisted up, and his whole body felt hot with fear.

Tao came up from behind him, looking confident and ready to perform. Charlie wished he could feel like that right now.

"Are you ready?" he asked while touching his toes.

"No, I am positively terrified. I think I'm going to have a stroke."

"Charlie, you'll be absolutely fine. I remember I felt like that when I did my first play. Well, I was a tree, but it still scared me. I thought I was going to trip over."

Great, Charlie thought mindlessly. I'll add that to my list of bad things that could happen.

After a moment of silence, the opening music played, and the girls came on to the stage.

The play had begun, and the thumping in Charlie's chest just got more rapid. The seconds seemed to go fast—too fast for his liking. Suddenly, it was his time to go on stage, and Tao practically pushed him on to the stage.

He delivered his line a shaky but at least he said the right one. Stacy (Jane) replied smoothly, and Charlie spoke again, this time a little a little more clearly.

The show continued like that for a few more minutes, and then Charlie went offstage, just like they did in practice. Charlie let out a sigh of relief as soon as he went off, then he realized that he had a quick costume change, so he rushed to where he needed to be.

After a while, intermission rolled around, and Nick came backstage to see him.

"You're doing such a good job!" he said excitedly, grabbing his hands.

"Thank you," Charlie mumbled quietly. "I've messed up a lot of things, though."

"Don't worry about it. I didn't even notice."

"Okay... okay good."

Nick smiled, then kissed him quickly on the mouth. "Just try to enjoy yourself during the second half, all right?"

"Okay, I will."

Charlie grinned back and waved a quick goodbye to Nick before running back over to the rest of the group.

The second half went just as well as the first half, maybe even better.

"I don't even know what I was worried about!" Charlie said, after he had gotten out of his costume and his curls had escaped from the gel.

Nick smiled. "Now, wasn't all the studying worth it?"

Charlie sighed. "Yeah, I guess. But I'm still never doing that again—it was terrifying."

"I'm sure Tao will be okay with that," Nick replied. "You want to go get dinner or something?"

Charlie blushed. "Like a date?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay."

They were silent for a second, then Nick said, "I'm really proud of you, Charlie."

"Thank you."