Music sounds better with you

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Thankfully, Nick wakes up bright-eyed and bushy tailed the following morning and they head into campus together, Nick for a meeting with his rugby coach and Charlie so he can go back to his flat, get some new clothes and see his flatmates. It's the freshers fayre later that afternoon and they've made plans to meet and attend as a three while Nick mans the stand for the rugby team.

They have a bit of time when they get to campus to grab a coffee and breakfast from one of the bakeries, which Charlie is grateful for because he's not quite established his eating pattern going between his and Nick's place. He picks at his soft pretzel while Nick wolfs down a breakfast sandwich at breakneck speed. Charlie watches him with wide eyes.

"You'll choke if you're not careful," he tells him, nudging him under the table with his foot. "Didn't you just eat a bowl of cornflakes?"
"I'm a growing boy," Nick pouts. He has a smear of brown sauce on his chin, and Charlie reaches over and rubs it off with his thumb. "A messy, growing boy."

Charlie grins and opens his mouth to respond, but a call from across the cafe cuts him off.
"Oi, Nelson! Long time no see."

Nick spins and waves the guy over. He's got a lacrosse hoodie and shorts on, a gym bag slung over his shoulder. He toddles over and claps Nick on the shoulder.
"Alright, lad? How was your summer?"
"Alright, cheers, how was yours?"
"Really good," Nick says, then takes Charlie's hand over the table. "This is my boyfriend, Charlie."
"The famous Charlie," the lad says, his eyes flicking up and down. Charlie waves at him stupidly. "Heard loads about you, mate."
"Yeah," Charlie says for lack of anything else to say. "All good, I hope?"
"Of course," the lad says with a waggle of his eyebrows. "This one's always getting soppy about you on Instagram, right?"

Charlie laughs nervously. "Right."

"Anyway, I've got to run. I've got practice." The guy readjusts his bag on his shoulder. "Nice to meet you, Charlie."
Then he disappears before he can even introduce himself. Charlie frowns.
"Who was that?"
Nick snorts. "That was Aaron. He's on my course."
"And you talk about me?" Charlie waggles his eyebrows. "What, like you fancy me or something?"
"Baby, sometimes I wonder if you truly understand how much you're, like, an extension of me," Nick chuckles. "Plus it's pretty common for you to swap social media with people early on here, and you're all over both my Instagram and Facebook. Did you know you're in my Facebook profile picture?"

Charlie pulls a face. "I can't remember the last time I even opened Facebook."
"Well, we're listed as in a relationship there too."
"I had no fucking idea," Charlie answers honestly. "Do we... Does anyone use Facebook anymore? I've no idea."
"We are Facebook official," Nick says, not looking up from his sandwich. "We didn't become Facebook official until sixth form, but we are."
"I haven't used Facebook since before sixth form, I swear. I don't think we're Facebook official."
"We are," Nick insists.
"That sounds fake. I didn't think we wanted to be, like, on each other's social media."

Nick sets down his sandwich and eyes Charlie warily. "What? We're all over each other's socials."
"In pictures and stuff," Charlie says. "Not, like, in relationships on Facebook or in each other's Insta bios."
"I don't know what you're on about," Nick says, sounding genuinely baffled. "You're in my Insta bio."

"What?" Charlie says incredulously. "No, I'm not."
Nick snorts. "You've been in my Insta bio for, like, two years."

Heat prickles up the back of Charlie's neck. There's no way he didn't notice that. "That's not true. And anyway, your Insta is locked."

Nick's already halfway to the app, tapping on his profile and thrusting his phone screen in Charlie's face. "See?"

Charlie blinks so he can focus on it. He reads
Nick's name, his pronouns, glances over the bisexual flag and the rugby ball and dog emojis on the second line...
Then there it is on the third line:
CFS <3

"Are those my initials?" he asks stupidly, and Nick bursts out laughing.
"No," he deadpans. "That's me telling everyone I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I heart it."
Charlie slaps him on the top of his arm. "Shut the fuck up."

Nick's still chuckling as he pulls Charlie into his side. "For someone so smart, you can be a real idiot sometimes."
"I didn't know ," Charlie pouts. "You don't post that much outside of stories so I don't make a habit of going on your actual profile." He glances up at Nick carefully. "You're not in my bio."
Nick sighs dramatically. "I guess that means you don't love me then."
"I don't," Charlie says weakly. "I can't believe this is how you've found out."
"And to think, you've got three whole more years at this university that you followed me to," Nick says wistfully. "What a pity."

Charlie waits for a couple of moments before he asks, "Do you want me to add you to my Insta bio?"
"Do you want to add me to your Insta bio?" Nick shoots back. "It's not my Insta bio."
Charlie huffs at him. " Nick."
"Look," Nick says, smiling that brilliant smile that makes Charlie feel so loved, "I don't care. Both our Instas are private for a reason, but I know that, like, I get a decent amount of follow requests because I'm the rugby captain or whatever. So I wouldn't be surprised if you also got a few follow requests by extension." He presses a kiss into Charlie's temple. "It's fine if you don't want to, because I know you don't really accept anyone on your Insta that you don't know."
"But I want people to know that you're mine," Charlie says. He bites his lip. "Do you really think I'll get a load of follow requests?"
"I think people are nosey," Nick says pragmatically. "And I do talk about you a lot. Obviously, you can ask me about anyone you don't recognise."

After a moment of thought, Charlie digs into his pocket for his own phone and he opens up Instagram, tapping into his setting so he can amend his bio. His bio has remained unchanged for years now, just a leaf emoji for whatever reason, but he presses return so it moves down a line and he taps out a line of text.

Yes I am Nick Nelson's boyfriend and no I will not accept your follow request unless I know you :)

Nick howls with laughter.
" Wow, Char. Possessive, much?"

Charlie buries his face into Nick's neck. "It's not my fault I'm in a relationship with a celebrity."
"I am very famous," Nick drawls. He manoeuvres them around so he can kiss him properly. "It's nice to have my WAG so closely by my side these days."

"Shut up," Charlie whispers, but it gets drowned out by Nick pressing their lips together again.
"I love you," he tells him very seriously once they've pulled apart again. "I love you and I want the world to know that you're mine."
Charlie squirms under his gaze. "Same. I don't want to, like, unlock my Insta or anything though."

"No, me neither." They'd both made the decisions to keep their profiles private when they were in Sixth Form, mostly so Nick wasn't subjected to any homophobic bullying from rival rugby teams. He's still got over a thousand carefully vetted followers, but Charlie has under two hundred, preferring to keep his profile for friends only.

"But this is a good start."
"Agreed."

Nick slings an arm over Charlie's shoulders and picks his bag back up. "Come on, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Let me walk you home."

"Oh my god, shut the fuck up."