Nick and Charlie life after high school one shots

Lemongrass and sleep

One day in late February, Charlie woke to his head pounding. He was deeply perturbed by the fact that the painful pulses were not maintaining a consistent tempo. He instinctively lifted his fingers to tap on his thigh, just a simple 8 count, to get his body back into rhythm, but found the movement surprisingly painful.

Everything hurt. He didn't feel quite like he had a fever; his body wasn't tender enough for that. It almost felt like he had slept with every single muscle tensed and joints locked into place.

He could barely remember the night before, which he knew was a bad sign.  It likely meant his brain was trying to protect him from something, what he didn't know. It could have been something entirely mundane, or something absolutely catastrophic. Through the power of context clues, aka the hoarse throat and stiff limbs, Charlie guessed that he had a nightmare, but really he was none the wiser. He would have to ask Nick.

Deciding he needed to prioritize receiving comfort over the pain in his bones, Charlie rolled over and reached for his husband. His eyes flew open when his hands hit the empty bed. Sun was streaming through the window to the right of their bed, more than there should have been for the early hours. The clock read 9:42 AM, nearly two hours after he was meant to have left for work. And Nick's side of the bed was barren. The sheets were still messed up and his pillow still smelled like him, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Nick!" Charlie called out, trying not to panic. But how could he not? Nick was gone. This was what his brain had been perfecting him from. Nick was fucking gone. He had left him all alone and let him sleep through his alarm and now he was late for work so he was going to lose his job and then not only would he lose his husband but he would lose his house and his dogs and his visits with his siblings and everything would be terrible and nothing would ever be okay again.

"Nick!" Charlie yelled. His voice was filled with desperation, as he crawled off the bed and stumbled onto the floor. It was painful to stand but he fought through it. The physical pain was nothing compared to the thought that Nick was gone. He couldn't even imagine living with the reality of it. That would be too much. Too much.

"Nick! Where are you!" It was more of a scream this time, even though he felt more hopeless by the second. He tried to make his way to the door but he slipped on the hardwood floor and fell onto his ass. The fall was his final straw. It was God or Something humbling him, proving that Nick was gone. Really truly gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

There, on the floor, he let himself crumple. He curled into a ball on the floor and balled his fists over his eyes. He sobbed. He screamed. He threw a really proper fit, befitting of the storm raging inside of him. Nick was gone. He thought he heard footsteps thundering up the stairs, but he knew it was just his brain playing tricks on him. He had hallucinations before. He was too familiar with them these days. Maybe that was why Nick had left. He finally got too crazy for him to handle.

"Shit, baby I'm so sorry, I meant to be here when you woke up." It was Nick's voice, but it could not be Nick, because Nick was gone. Charlie knew this now. He did not lift his head from his hands, nor did he stop crying at the sound.

"I'm here Charlie. I'm right here." Charlie didn't let himself even consider it really could be Nick, didn't even let himself open his eyes, until Nick's arms had slid under him and he felt himself being hoisted up off the floor. A hallucination couldn't do that, he didn't think. He took the chance and looked up. And sure enough, there was Nick, standing above him, holding him, carrying him into safety. He buried himself in Nick's chest, filling his nose with his smell , their smell really. Marriage does funny things like that.

Safe in his husband's arms, Charlie's tears dried up quickly, but his mind was still reeling. When they got to the bed, Nick sat him down, but didn't get into bed with him. Charlie grabbed into his arm tight and started shaking his head. His eyes saying everything his mouth could not.