Music sounds better with you

I am a little bit obsessed with him

Tuesday morning is pretty hectic for Charlie; he starts with his library induction at 10am, followed by sorting his student ID and bus pass.

Once those are all sorted, he trundles back to his flat and finds Polly cooking Kate some pancakes, so he joins them in the kitchen for a bit. He manages a whole pancake with a little drizzle of maple syrup, and it's really rather delicious.

"I'm an excellent chef," Polly announces proudly. "If you guys want me to cook for you at any point then I'm more than happy to."

Charlie wants to say yes, he really does, and he hopes his vague nod is good enough given that Kate seems absolutely delighted by the prospect.

"Please," she exclaims excitedly. "I'm a fucking terrible cook. I'd burn cereal if I wasn't careful."
Charlie snorts. "Burn cereal?"
"I have in the past," she says somberly. "I thought hot milk would be nice on it once so I tried to heat it in the microwave and it kind of exploded everywhere?"
"Oh my fucking god." Polly sounds outraged. "Okay, well, that's not happening in this flat, okay?"
"Never again," Kate shudders. "I'll leave the cooking to you and you can help me out, yeah?"
"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Polly asks. "Do you guys like Chinese food?"

Chinese food is heavy on the carbs, but usually fairly high in veggies and protein. Charlie hurries to weigh up the pros and cons in his head and he doesn't realise he hasn't said anything until Polly waves her hand in front of his face.

"Charlie?"
"Sorry," he stammers out. "I was just thinking about what time I've got to leave here to go and meet Nick again."
"Ah, lover boy," Polly pretends to swoon. "Show us a picture of him, will you?"

Charlie blushes and rummages to pull his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and moving to his camera roll. He scrolls up to a picture of the two of them from the summer; they're at the beach and Nick has an arm slung over Charlie's shoulders, his smile wide and beautiful as he looks over at his smaller boyfriend, while Charlie has one arm wrapped around Nick's middle and the other hand thrown up in a peace sign.

Nick doesn't understand the peace sign thing, which is terribly un-bisexual of him, but he always laughs when Charlie makes a point to do it now.

"Holy fuck," Polly says. "Look at the two of you. For a start, he's fit."
Charlie blushes even deeper. "Thanks?"
"He's gorgeous," Kate agrees. "Fuck, what I wouldn't give for someone to smile at me the way he's smiling at you."
"He does smile at me a lot like that," Charlie mumbles, feeling his entire body heat up. "Sorry."
"Why would you say sorry for being so clearly happy?" Kate pretends to smack him upside the head. "It's really sweet. I love seeing queer people thrive."
"Me too," Polly says. "My ex never smiled at me like that once. All I got was repeatedly told I'm too much and annoying ."
Charlie pouts. "That's not fair. I'm sorry."
"You say sorry a lot," Polly says, then reaches forward and taps him on the nose. "Show me more pics of Sir Nicholas, come on."

The trio eventually migrate to Kate's room, where they all show each other important pictures of loved ones and people from back home. It's a really lovely bonding experience and Charlie feels like he learns a lot about his two new friends, personal information that he feels honoured to know. He feels lovely and safe around these people, and he's actually quite excited for their night out together tonight.

"I think Nick is meeting us out, if you'd care to meet him?"
"Um, obviously," Polly says. "Wait, isn't he in the LGBTQ+ society too?"
Charlie nods. "Yeah, but he's captain of the rugby team, so he kind of has to be at the rugby socials to, like, induct all the newbies. He reckons they'll end up at the same bar as us though, or at least, he'll make a point to."

He watches as Kate starts to worry her bottom lip between her teeth. "Is he going to bring a bunch of rugby lads to a gay club?"
"Oh, god no." Charlie looks horrified by the very idea. "No, he never would. From what I understand, there's a particular bar the sports teams like only a street or so away from the club we're going to, so once they're all settled there he'll come and find us. He might bring one or two of the lads if they want to come."
That seems to placate her. "Okay, good," she says, smiling. "Sorry. I just, like, don't have the best track record with rugby lads."
"Me neither," Charlie says. "Well, no. Nick's the only lad I've ever dated, but we were on the same rugby team back in sixth form. It was an experience."
Kate whistles. "Fucking hell. That's brave of you."
Charlie shrugs. "Brave, maybe. Stupid, probably."
"Cute though," Polly chimes in. "I mean, no offence, but I can't imagine you playing rugby that voluntarily, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and wonder if you joined the team for Nick?"
Charlie points a finger gun at her. "Got it in one."
"Do we get to hear your love story before we meet the guy?"
"Sure," Charlie says. He could talk about Nick for days. "If you're still happy to paint my nails for me, I'll tell you now."
"Always," Polly says, jumping to her feet. "Two mins, I'll get my stuff."