Nick and Charlie life after high school one shots

Christmas..

As a child, Charlie had always loved Christmas. Obviously, most children do. It seemed though, with every passing year, as he entered his adolescence, it held less and less magic. He felt less enamored by it, more anxious. The chaos of Christmas had increased after Ollie came along. Ollie, whom Charlie obviously loved and adored. But it seemed mum got more and more stressed each year. She tried to make Christmas nice, but her anxiety was often palpable, it changed the atmosphere, made the air sticky and uncomfortable. Charlie wasn't sure if Tori and Ollie felt it, but he did. If he didn't act the way mum wanted, it was always clear to him that there would be consequences.

Now, as an adult, and with Ollie being a teenager, things were so so different. He no longer looked forward to Christmas with his family in any capacity. Though he loved seeing Ollie and Tori, he hardly needed a holiday as an excuse to visit them. It was often hard to breathe on Christmas day, the memories of so many failed Christmas past swirling in his head. Mom was so tense, Charlie feared she may snap on him, it felt like anything could happen, in the worst way possible. But as an adult, Charlie was generally able to 'suck it up'. And he would do so this year. He found himself looking forward to Christmas with Nick's family, more so than his own, for all of these reasons. There was a lot of happiness in the Nelson home around Christmas. It was something the Spring family tried desperately to enact in their own home, but somehow they were unable to do so, they didn't know how. It came easy to Nick's family, in a way that Charlie still could not quite understand or explain, even after all these years.

Since moving out of their parents' homes, Nick and Charlie had kept the same schedule each Christmas. Christmas eve with the Nelsons and Christmas day with the Springs. However, plans were changing this year.

Nick had always struggled with his relationship with his dad. His father not present physically, and down right fucking neglectful emotionally. Charlie always felt for Nick in this regard, and experienced absolute anger toward Nick's father. He never voiced this to Nick, it wasn't his place. But how could he have someone as amazing as Nick for a son and not want to spend every moment of every day with him? Charlie supposes he's biased, but still. Nick was an incredible human being, and seeing him hurt because his dad never showed up for him, it was rage inducing. Nick deserved so much better.

So, when Nick's father called the week before Christmas, wanting to see him and David Christmas day at Sarah's house, Nick was actually rather excited. He had told Charlie enthusiastically after work that day, explaining the change in plans. Charlie was happy for Nick to get to spend time with his whole family on Christmas. But as he thought about it later, he felt nervous for himself. He was going to have to call his mum with the change in plans. Jane Spring wasn't known for her flexibility. She was going to be fucking pissed. Charlie sighed going over the potential reactions she may have in his head.

The next day, Charlie went ahead and called his mom. Which he was honestly proud of himself for, his anxiety had wanted him to avoid it and put it off; but he knew regardless of the outcome, he would feel better once it was handled. He supposes he was wrong though. He knew she would be upset, but was not prepared for how upset she got. As soon as he brought up the topic, his mother was screaming at him, sobbing, calling him names. What the fuck?

"Mom, stop! I'm too fucking old for this! Can we please just act like adults about this? I'm just asking if would could see you Christmas eve instead of Christmas Day,"

"we always get the shit end of the stick! Ever since you've been with Nick. You don't care about us at all anymore! And poor Ollie, not having you there on Christmas will be so hard for him. You're fucking selfish Charlie You only think of yourself and I'm sick of it!"