Music sounds better with you

What do you say, mate? Do you want to run off together and elope?"

The kiss doesn't last long, not by their standards anyway, and eventually they pull their sad, aching bodies out of bed.

Charlie showers first while Nick goes downstairs and fetches them both pint glasses full of water. He's not feeling too steady on his feet so his shower doesn't last nearly as long as usual, and when he emerges from the bathroom in just a towel, Nick has returned.

He's perched on the edge of the bed with his own drink in hand, running his finger around the rim rather than drinking it.

"Your drink is on the desk," he mumbles, and he sounds dejected all of a sudden. Charlie frowns.
"Babe?" Nick doesn't answer, so he repeats himself a little louder this time. "Babe?"
"Huh?"
"All I said was babe." Charlie tuts and perches next to him, tucking the towel around his waist in a little tighter. "What's wrong? Are you going to be sick again?"
Nick shakes his head. "I don't... I don't know what's wrong." He leans into Charlie's space. "Manrika's annoyed at me but I don't know why. I tried to talk to her downstairs but she told me to piss off and she stalked out of the room."

Charlie's frown deepens. He's never known the two of them to even have a disagreement, let alone fall out.

"What? What happened?"

"I have no idea," Nick says sullenly, and he looks so forlorn that Charlie pulls him into a tight, damp embrace. "I can't bloody remember. And I don't want to, like, admit to that in case that somehow makes it worse."
"Oh, baby." Charlie presses a lingering kiss to his temple, and Nick sinks deeper into him. "I'm sure it's nothing. If it was that bad, you would remember it."
"But that's the problem," Nick harrumphs. "I can't remember anything."
"That's okay," Charlie reassures him. "We'll figure it out. I can't imagine she'll stay mad at you for long. She's your best mate."
Nick stiffens. "Oh my god."
"What?"
"Oh my god ." He buries his head in his hands. "I fucked up."

Stilling his fingers from where they're soothing over Nick's thigh, Charlie waits for Nick to continue. After a couple of minutes of silence, he gives Nick's leg a squeeze.

"Nick."

Nick looks at him with such an intense fear in his eyes that Charlie's rather taken aback for a second.
"Jesus, Nick, what's going on?"
"You're my best friend," Nick says, his voice fierce. Charlie opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again. "You're my honest to god best friend as well as being my boyfriend, you know that, right?"
"I..." Charlie nods along. "Yeah, yeah, I'd probably say you're my best friend too."
Nick's face drops. "You'd... probably ?"
"Well, yeah?" Charlie doesn't really know what he's supposed to say. "I suppose you're my best friend and my boyfriend, but I think Tao would have something to say if I called anyone other than him my best friend."
"Okay, but it's still me, right?" Nick sounds uncharacteristically desperate. "If you really had to pick, it would be me?"
"I mean, you're my favourite person in the world," Charlie promises him. "I suppose I don't see you as my friend because you're my boyfriend, aren't you? And I suppose we're more, like, intensely in a relationship than a lot of our friends? Does that even make sense?"
"Dammit, Charlie," Nick snaps, hitting a fist against the mattress. "You're not doing a very good job at proving my side of the argument."

Charlie flinches back.
"What the fuck is going on, Nick? I don't know what you want me to say!"

Nick jumps to his feet and begins to pace. "I'm pretty sure that the reason Manrika is pissed off with me is because she called me her best friend last night and I corrected her and said that actually, it's you who is my best friend." He fists a hand in his hair. "But what I'm learning is that you don't even think we're best friends, so what's the fucking point?"

Despite his better judgement, Charlie bursts out laughing. He's quick to slap a hand over his mouth to try and stifle it, but the damage is sort of done; Nick looks so offended that Charlie wonders for a second if he's about to bloody cry.