Music sounds better with you

Homophobic cow

The freshers' fayre kicks off after lunch. Charlie texts Polly and Kate to ask where they are, and he ends up meeting them outside the library so they can walk down together.

Once they get there, they're handed tote bags full of university swag and then directed through into the main corridor down towards the various stands, all sectioned off by type of society. They start by wandering through the tech societies and the gaming societies, but nothing really catches their fancy.

As the three of them wander into the sports section of the fayre, Charlie spots Nick at the rugby stand easily, his loud, boyish laugh echoing through the hall. It makes Charlie smile.

"Are either of you interested in sports?"
"Not really," Polly says dryly. "Kate?"
"Hell no," Kate shudders. "I want to join a book club, not a hockey team."
"Why are we over here then?" Charlie asks. "I want to see if there's somewhere I can go to play the drums. I think we need to be over there."
"I assumed we came over here so you could see lover boy," Polly says with a shrug. Charlie shakes his head.

"I'll see him later," he says. "Come on, let's..."
"Charlie!"
"Maybe not," he mutters, but he's smiling as he says it. "You guys can go on and I'll catch you up if you want."
"Nah, we'll come over and say hi," Polly says. "Come on."

Nick's waving him over like they've not seen each other in weeks, and Charlie finds himself ducking his head and blushing as he makes his way over. Some of the rugby lads wolf-whistle as he approaches the table, but they know him well enough by now to let Nick push past them and tangle their hands together.

"Hi," Charlie says, giving Nick's hand a squeeze. "Didn't I just say goodbye to you?"
"Yeah, but I'm a needy boy," Nick says, kissing him on the cheek before he waves at Kate and Polly with his free hand. "Hiya, ladies. How are you?"
"Out of place in the sports section of this fayre, that's for sure," Polly says dryly. "All I want to do is join the drama society."
"That's over there." Nick stands up on his tiptoes and gestures over to the room behind them. "But I figured you came in here to say hello to me, right?"
"Right, and not because we were lost in this huge maze of rooms," Charlie assures him dryly. "How's it going? Have you guys found any fresh meat for the team?"

"We've had some decent interest," Nick says, then waggles his eyebrows. "Fancy joining again, babe?"

" Absolutely not." Charlie shudders at the very idea. "I already bagged you, didn't I? I don't need to put myself through that again."
"I wouldn't let you anyway," Nick laughs. "It was hard enough being on the same team with you in secondary school, let alone now."

"You wouldn't let me? " Charlie presses a hand to his chest indignantly. "I'm sorry, are you my boyfriend or my keeper?" He turns to Kate and Polly. "You know, when he first asked me to join the team, this smooth operator called me small and weak."

Nick's mouth drops open. "I did not. You called yourself small and weak, you filthy liar."
Charlie sticks out his tongue and squeezes his hand. "You didn't disagree."
"This flirting is actively nauseating," Polly tells them. "Make it stop."

"This is pretty tame for both of us," Nick says, twirling Charlie under his arm so he's now pressed against his chest. "You've only known us a few days as well. It's only going to get worse."

"I don't doubt that," Kate says dryly. "I can't work out if I'm nauseated like Polly said, or jealous."
"You can be both," Charlie says with a grin.

"Hey, Nelson? Can I borrow you a second?"

Nick strokes his thumb over Charlie's knuckles before he steps back from him, heading back to the other side of the table to Johnny, his teammate who called him over. There's two freshers chatting to him and Nick joins them, then turns to show the two newbies the number on the back of his rugby shirt.