Music sounds better with you

"I dont want to leave"

It's not a long walk to the pub, maybe ten minutes, and they meander down there slowly, hands clasped and swinging between them. When they get to the pub, they find a large round table that they can all squeeze round, and within minutes of them sitting down, half the table are back up again to order drinks at the bar.

"I'll have a Diet Coke," Charlie mumbles in Nick's ear. "Because I'm a shit lightweight."
"You're not a shit lightweight," Nick chuckles. He kisses Charlie's cheek. "Do you want some food too?"
Charlie sighs and bites his lip. "Probably should, shouldn't I?"
"I'm going to get something," Nick says with a shrug. "Something we can share, maybe?"
Charlie nods, just once. "I'd like that. It's easier, like, in a group setting like this to share a plate with you."
"Okay." Nick beams at him, curling a hand under his chin to pull him in for a quick kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too," Charlie says. "Here, let me get us our drinks. What do you want?"

Nick elects to stick to fizzy pop too and orders a lemonade. He has a quick glance over the menu and mentally picks out a few things he knows Charlie will eat. By the time everyone's coming back with drinks, including Charlie, a waiter comes over and asks if they'll be eating.

Thankfully, everyone seems absolutely ravenous so everyone orders something, some going for roast dinners with all the trimmings and some going for a collection of starters and sides.
He holds Charlie's hand under the table and reels off their order easily, and Charlie gives him a subtle, grateful peck on the corner of the mouth when the waiter disappears off.

Nick hadn't realised it was pub quiz night, which is normally quite fun, but his general knowledge isn't the strongest at the best of times. Charlie's is, though, so he perks up at the thought of a quiz.
"I might be a shit lightweight, but I know a lot about stupid stuff," he says brightly, and everyone at the table laughs.
"Charlie, my boy, you were the funnest of all lightweights," Harry tells him, clapping him on the shoulder. "Everyone's a bloody lightweight at first."
"It's true," Holly says sardonically. "It's also a good thing. I go out with a tenner and come back with change some nights out."

"A toast," Ben says, raising his pint glass. "To Charlie Spring and his first clubbing experience. Long may he reign as shit lightweight and our clubbing companion."

Everyone raises their glasses and knocks them together. Even Charlie, who looks delightfully bemused by the whole thing, lifts his glass of coke, and Nick takes his free hand under the table, giving it a quick squeeze.

Their shared food arrives and Nick takes a point to take some first, putting some wedges and chicken strips on a plate for him and Charlie to pick at. They order another round of drinks on the app, and then the quizmaster comes round and takes payment for them to join the quiz.
Apparently the quiz team name Quiz on my Face remains the height of humour, so much so that they win the second prize of five additional points for their name. After that comes a music round that Charlie smashes, then a sports round that Nick does alright in, then a pop culture round that collectively the whole table excels in.
They end up coming third overall, which for a hungover group of university students doesn't feel too shabby.

It's a really nice evening, and seeing Charlie slot into the group of his housemates is so utterly delightful that Nick starts to wonder if he'll ever stop smiling. Charlie's been included in all the weekend's Instagram posts, they're all mutuals, and Manrika's even started tagging Charlie in memes about some TV show they've both binge-watched.

It's always worried him, perhaps unnecessarily, about combining his home life and uni life. Perhaps it's because at home his life is almost entirely Charlie, so if for some hideous reason, these two halves of his world didn't align then he didn't know what he'd do.

Maybe Manrika is right, maybe he does worry about Charlie way too much.
Because why wouldn't everyone love Charlie? Charlie is the easiest person in the world to love, a kind soul with an excellent sense of humour and a heart the size of Texas. He's so earnest and full of joy every time someone laughs at one of his jokes or pays him a compliment. He's the human embodiment of sunshine, and Nick can't get his head around the fact that someone who is so full of love and wonder chooses to direct his love towards him.

School dealt Charlie a lousy hand of cards, but it also brought them together. Charlie has often said that he wouldn't change their school experience for anything because they wouldn't have met were it not for them being in form together, but Nick doesn't necessarily agree. He thinks they'd have found each other eventually, and even though selfishly he's thrilled they found each other at such a young age, there's a part of him that thinks he'd be happy to wait if it meant that Charlie didn't have such a horrendous time otherwise.
He loves Charlie so damn much that it feels almost comical, but fuck, does he not feel like the luckiest guy in all the world?

Which makes it even shittier that Charlie is leaving tomorrow. The idea of a month apart is gut-wrenching, even though they've done longer. It's just, now Nick's had a taste of what it's like when Charlie will be here full time, for them to live proper adult lives without relying on parents or school hours or anything like that, he doesn't want to give that up for anything.

When they get into bed that night, he doesn't waste any time in pulling Charlie straight into his arms, unwilling to be apart for any of the precious minutes they have left together. Charlie cuddles him back, and Nick doesn't need to be looking at him to know he's pouting.

"I don't want to go," Charlie whispers.
"I don't want you to go either," Nick murmurs, hooking his chin over Charlie's shoulder. He quite likes having to sleep with Charlie up around him like this, even though there really isn't enough space for the both of them. "God, I'll miss you so much."
"How long until you're home?" Charlie asks, hands sliding under Nick's sleep shirt. "I need the date so I have something to look forward to."
"July 9th," Nick breathes out. "Mum is coming up to help me move out. I don't get the keys to the new place until September so I'll be home all summer."
"Thank god ." Charlie groans with relief. "We've been apart longer so I can do that, I think."
"Me too," Nick mumbles, tightening his grip around Charlie's middle. "God, Char. I don't know what I'd do without you. You're the best thing ever and I really, really don't want you to go."
"I don't want to leave," Charlie says again.

He pulls back and presses their lips together frantically. "It's like, now I'm up here I can't stop thinking about our future together next year. Being together loads and sleeping together loads..."
"I knew you only wanted me for my body," Nick laughs, then giggles even louder when Charlie covers his mouth with his hand. "I knew it, I knew it."
"You're awful," Charlie tells him with a shake of his head.
"And yet you love me very much." Nick coaxes Charlie's hand down and moves back in for another kiss, a slower one, teasing. "So much that we get to live in the same city again. Fuck, I can't wait."

"I do love you very much," Charlie says, his smile wide and brilliant. When he's tired like this, he gets all giggly and smiley and goofy, unabashedly so, and it might be Nick's favourite Charlie. "I can't wait, Nick. I can't bloody wait to be here with you."
"Neither can I." Nick shuffles as close as physically possible, nudging their noses together. "God, just picture it. Us together, same city, working out our schedules around each other. You enjoying freshers week, but letting me come round and cuddle you and make you coffee in the mornings when you drink too much."
"Nick," Charlie giggles, shaking his head so their noses rub together. "You don't need to come around every day."
"I will if you need me to," Nick says, and he means it. "You're coming to every single one of my rugby games too. My little lucky Char."
"As long as I don't have to play it."
"Never again." Nick pulls a face. "Every match up here is like that fucking St. John's match. Some of the lads from other teams are so big that even I feel intimidated."

"Poor Nick Nelson," Charlie drawls, giggling again as Nick nips at his lip. "Do I get a rugby jumper with your name and number on it?"
"You can have as many as you like." Nick strokes a thumb over Charlie's jaw. "It'll just be so fun, won't it? Our own little life for ourselves up here without any bloody parents or older siblings or the threat of people walking in."
"Just got to get the grades for it first," Charlie huffs. "Which, I mean, I think I will." He winces. "I hope I will."
"You're going to get in," Nick assures him, voice soft and sure. "I mean it when I say you're the smartest person I know."
"You're a liar, but I appreciate it." Charlie snuggles deeper into his hold, stifling a yawn. "

"God, I'm going to miss you but I really want to sleep."
"I know, me too." Nick kisses him chastely, then reaches behind him and flicks the lamp off so they plunge into darkness.

They share a few more sleepy kisses before Nick finds himself drifting off, Charlie's hands clutched tightly in his.