Music sounds better with you

Chapter 5: My Good Luck Char

Nick plays rugby and there's plenty of celebrating.

Charlie's been in Leeds for just shy of a month when Nick has his first rugby game of the season.

It's a mild Saturday towards the middle of October and the match is nothing hugely significant to the fixtures for the year, a friendly game between Uni of Leeds and Leeds Beckett so the newbies from both sets of freshers can get a flavour of playing a real game at a university standard.

To get the fresh meat ready, Nick's been training with them four nights a week for long hours, so much so that Charlie doesn't get to see him much outside of rushed lunchtimes between seminars and sleepovers where Nick appears at Charlie's flat later into the evening than either of them would like.

Once the match is over, training will drop to two days a week – just Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings – and Charlie can't bloody wait. On occasion, his mother's words about not spending every waking moment with Nick ring through his head, but there's also quick to evaporate because there's so much going on around him that he doesn't notice it as much as he worried he might.

Now he's been in Leeds for almost a month, he's in a pretty comfortable routine, dividing his time easily and effortlessly between his flat and Nick's townhouse. Weekends are mostly spent running errands on Saturdays, doing the shitty adult things he forgot would become a part of his life, like laundry and food shopping and cleaning hair out of the shower drain.

Evenings are spent lazing around with bottles of wine and takeaways, either in his flat or at Nick's house, and sometimes they go out to their favourite gay club and dance the night away in each other's arms, snogging and grinding against one another and not caring who's looking on.

Sundays are usually lazy and slow. Oftentimes, one of Nick's housemates or Polly will cook a roast dinner, a welcome addition to Charlie's meal plan. In the evenings, Nick and Charlie watch films and fall asleep tangled together before they wake up on Monday mornings and then start their busy weeks side by side.

Some mornings, Charlie can't quite believe that this isn't a daydream anymore. It feels surreal that he's finally here and living this life, seeing Nick almost every day at long fucking last but also enjoying the time he's spending with his two new best friends.

It's better than he ever could have imagined.
He's actually really looking forward to Nick's first rugby match of the season. All of Nick's housemates are coming with him, as well as Caitlin, Pete's girlfriend, who is driving down from Preston for the game. Neither Nick nor Charlie have met her yet and he's quite excited to, because Pete talks about her like she's the best thing since sliced bread.

"Seriously," Nick says as they get dressed that day. It's early afternoon and they're only just getting out of bed, just the way Charlie likes it. "He talks about her like she hung the stars in the sky, so I think we're in for a treat." He smirks as Charlie raises his eyebrows at him. "And he gets this, like, smile on his face whenever he mentions her that makes everyone in the team boo at him."
"I wonder what that's like," Charlie says dryly. "Or do you just let it happen so it's not directed at you for a change?"
"Oh, shut your face." Nick pulls his t-shirt over his head and then leans forward, pulling Charlie close with an arm around his waist. Charlie goes easily, leaning against Nick's chest, and he hums happily as a wet kiss is pressed into the side of his neck.

"Are you starting something as a way to shut me up?" he teases. Nick nips at him, but it doesn't go any further than that, much to Charlie's disappointment.
"I wish," he sighs. "I'll have to go in a minute, I think. I've got..." He glances at his watch. "Twenty minutes, actually."

Charlie moves around so he can rest his hands coyly on Nick's chest. "Twenty minutes, eh?"
Nick raises an eyebrow. "Yes, and I know what you're going to say, you little nympho. But we can't ."
Charlie juts out his bottom lip and blinks up at his boyfriend in what he hopes comes across as a seductive manner. "Why not?"
"Because I need the pent up energy." Nick leans down and bites down on Charlie's pouting lip. "I'll play better if I'm a little bit..."

Charlie pushes himself up on his tiptoes and tugs Nick down for a deep but gentle kiss, licking into his mouth in a way that makes them both smile. It doesn't last long though, because they both know it can't go anywhere and Nick's stomach rumbles as he pulls Charlie closer, and their tummies bump together.

"Cockblocked by your incessant need to eat at any given opportunity," Charlie complains. He pats Nick on the bum. "Come on, I know you're a growing lad. Let's go and get you some fuel."
They head downstairs and Nick wolfs down a bowl of cornflakes and a banana before he kisses Charlie like they'll be separated for a lot longer than four hours and disappears out the door to catch his bus to campus.

To kill some time, Charlie cooks himself lunch and kicks around with Ben and Holly for a bit before Manrika and Harry get home from work, Manrika from her morning at a tea shop and Harry from the breakfast shift at McDonald's. They hurry upstairs to shower and change, then by the time Claire has gotten home from her new boyfriend's house, they're all ready to go.

They get the bus into campus for about an hour before the match, and they first head towards the student union where they're meeting Caitlin and Noel, Pete's girlfriend and flatmate respectively. Charlie spots them easily; Caitlin is short with bright red hair, not dissimilar in colour to Nick's, and she, like Charlie, is wearing her partner's rugby jersey. He's met Noel a handful of times before, so they share a quick wave before he pulls Caitlin into a welcoming embrace.

"So lovely to finally meet you," he titters happily. "It's so nice that you could finally make it down!"
"Tell me about it," she breathes out as they pull apart. "I can't believe it's taken me all this time. I've been driving poor Pete insane."
"But you're here now," Charlie says brightly. "Here, these are all Nick's housemates."

Introductions are made around the group and then, with linked arms, Charlie and Caitlin lead the group over to the rugby field. They grab a drink each and climb up into their usual seats in the stands, where there's plenty of room for them to stand up and yell as the game's happening but they're a little bit out of the way of the rest of the crowd. Nick knows to look for them there by now anyway, so it's a no-brainer to head there.

Pretty soon, the other team starts milling out onto the pitch. It's only a friendly game, but they're local so the Away stand is pretty well filled with spectators, and a friendly battle of rival cheers begins between the universities. Charlie and Harry, both of whom come to every game ( okay , Charlie's been to two, but he's learned them all in preparation) know every chant, so they quickly teach them to the rest of the group so they can all bellow them out.

As the umpire calls for the home team to come out onto the pitch, nobody is yelling louder than Charlie when the doors open. Nick jogs out first because he's the captain, and he's closely followed by the rest of the team, Pete and Johnny right behind him, then some of the younger players that Charlie's not quite memorised the names of are hot on their heels. The crowd begins to cheer, but as per usual, nobody is louder than Nick's crowd, at least not on their side of the stands.
Charlie isn't typically shy by any means, but there's something about Nick being on the pitch that turns him into an unabashed hooligan.

He yells his boyfriend's name at the top of his lungs, and pretty soon there's a stand-wide cheer of Leeds, Leeds, Uni of Leeds! going around.
From his starting position, Nick finds Charlie's gaze easily, and the smaller lad stops chanting for a second to blow him a kiss with both hands. Nick pretends to catch it in his hand and pulls his fist down to his heart, and Charlie feels like he's on fire with how unbelievably fucking proud he is to be Nick's boyfriend.

"That was pretty fucking gay," Harry notes. "Sorry if that's not politically correct to say, but it was."
"No, it was pretty fucking gay," Charlie agrees. He cups his hands over his mouth again and yells, "I love you, captain!"

Nick beams at him, and Charlie knows then and there that he's going to win the match.

The whistle blows, and they're off.