Nick and Charlie life after high school one shots

Summer days drifting away (but oh those summer nights) part 2

Tara and Darcy arrived about half an hour later, cooler in tow. Tao was off sulking in the water somewhere while Charlie and Elle built a sand castle, sending Nick back and forth to get buckets full of water.

"I think we need to do the turrets on the corner. Then they'll make the castle more structurally sound," Elle said to Charlie, packing a bucket full of sand.

"Yeah, but if we put them slightly inwards, then it'll look more realistic," Charlie responded.

"Charles it's a sandcastle, it's not going to look realistic," Elle said, taking the bucket and dumping it into the center of the mound of wet sand that would eventually resemble a building if they figured out what they wanted to do.

"Okay, fair enough," Charlie said, "Sides it is." He began sculpting the square shape as Nick walked back up to them.

"Please tell me this is all the water you need," Nick sighed as he sat the buckets down and slumped onto the sand.

"For now," Charlie said with a devilish grin. He leaned over the slowly forming castle to kiss his husband. Charlie relished the kiss and smiled into him until they were interrupted by the voice of a child a couple sets of blankets down.

"Mummy, why are those boys kissing?" Nick and Charlie broke apart quickly to see a young boy in truck trunks and swim shorts pointing at them.

"Look away darling, you don't need to be seeing that." Charlie looked down, but Nick refused to look away from the mother who was staring them down like they had broken the law. Eventually, she turned around and Nick brought his gaze back to Charlie. He took Charlie's hand and began to fiddle with his painfully empty ring finger. Charlie smiled at him, and for a moment they retreated into NickAndCharlie land where absolutely nothing could touch them.

"Earth to boys," Elle said, waiving her hands in front of the couple "Tara and Darcy are here." She pointed behind her and moved to the side so Nick and Charlie could see the couple approaching. Tara was still dressed in street clothes, save for a big floppy sun hat, while Darcy, laden with all their beach accoutrements was already in their board shorts and sports bra as if they'd didn't want to waste any time before getting in the water.

"Hi, guys!" Darcy hollered as they approached their umbrella. Darcy ignored the chorus of hi's coming from Nick, Charlie, and Elle, and instead dumped all the beach bags right onto the sand, and took off running towards the water. "Bye guys, see you in a minute!" The remaining crew couldn't help but laugh as they watched their friend splash around like a child.

"So sorry we're so late," Tara said when she reached their spot, significantly behind her partner. "We forgot we had a meeting with the wedding planner, so we got stuck in London for a bit longer than expected." Tara dropped the cooler handle she was dragging behind her and began making her rounds with hugs.

"What was it today, flowers or dresses?" Elle asked, embracing her friend.

"Fucking table setting," Tara sighed, "Who knew something as simple as a table could be so complicated." Tara moved onto Charie who squeezed her hard. When he let go, she took him by the shoulders. "Charlie you've got to promise me that when you and Nick get married, you wont to do this to yourself and just have a simple little gathering." Charlie chuckled, not knowing how to respond.

"I don't think we'll have a problem with that," Nick said for him, pulling Tara in for a hug. He gave Charlie a quick wink over her shoulder. Tara and Darcy were the whole reason Nick and Charlie got married in secret. Nick had been planning for months to propose to Charlie on the anniversary of the day they first met, but as it turned out, Darcy had been planning to propose on Christmas Eve, upstaging them by just a few weeks.