Nick and Charlie life after high school one shots

Summer days drifting away (but oh those summer nights) part 3

don't understand why there's a yellow flag up, I think it's perfectly fine conditions for swimming," Darcy yelled as the group made their way out of the water.

"And that's why you're not a lifeguard my love," Tara said, pulling her partner by the wrist. Over the past hour, they had all had a swim, even Elle, who wasn't a huge fan of the water. Tao had gotten a game of Marco Polo going and they learned quite quickly why it was typically a pool game, as Nick had nearly wandered off into the larger ocean. By the time the lifeguard blew their whistle and ordered everyone out of the water, they were all tired, but in good spirits. Charlie in particular felt rather worn out. Since secondary school, his ability for prolonged physical activity had decreased majorly, thanks mostly to his eating disorder. But he was glad he hadn't had to sit out of the fun as he would have a few years ago. He reminded himself, as he rode on Nick's back to their umbrellas and beach towels, that things were looking up.

"What did you pack for lunch babe, I'm absolutely starving," Darcy said, plopping down on their towel in the shade.

"Peanut butter and Nutella, you helped me make it, remember?" Tara unlatched their cooler and started handing food to Darcy. Nick carefully set Charlie down and went to grab their cooler from behind their chairs. Charlie began wringing his hands together, trying not to show how nervous he was feeling about lunch. He reached down for his shirt and towel, hoping covering up would make him feel a bit better.

"Packed lunch, what do you mean?" Tao asked the group at large. "I thought we were going out to eat,"

"Don't be stupid" Elle hissed at him, clearly trying to be quiet enough that Charlie wouldn't hear. He did of course, but he tried to ignore it.

"Well I didn't pack anything," Tao said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"We packed extras, don't worry," Nick said, sliding up to Charlie with the little blue cooler. "What are you feeling love," Nick said right in Charlie's ear. The others looked away. Even Tao went to go sit over by Elle until the choosing part of what would surely be a lunch fiasco and as over. They knew how this went. How Nick and Charlie would disappear into their own little world for a while as Charlie tried to pick out a sandwich and Nick tried to coax it into his body. How Charlie would inevitably give up and get sad and how Nick would get worried and there would be no fixing it for a while. Charlie knew how this would go, and he hated every bit of it. He was just so fucking tired of being sick.

"The avocado toast sounds pretty good," Charlie lied. Nothing sounded good to him at the moment, but he just needed lunch to be over so they could all go back to their semi-pleasant day. He wished he could just have an ensure and not have to deal with the horrors of solid food, but then his friends would all know how bad things still were, and his therapist would tell him it wasn't a very recovery-oriented decision. So he would have to at least try.

He gave Nick a faint smile as he pulled out the container with the avocado toast. Nick saw straight through Charlie's attempt to pretend everything was fine, but he was proud of him for trying all the same. Nick was always so proud of Charlie.

"Here you go baby," he said, handing Charlie the toast. Charlie took a deep breath in, trying not to think about all the calories and the fat growing on his body and-

"Do you think you could manage some fruit too?" Nick asked, "I brought an apple and a banana"

"Apple please," Charlie whispered, "Apple and avocado begin with the same letter." Nick didn't question the strange logic, he just smiled gently and handed him the container with pre-cut apple slices. God, Nick's care for him made him want to cry, but then again, so did the food in front of him. As Charlie stared at his meal, swimming in numbers, Nick pulled his lunch out of the bag, which was noticeably larger than Charlie's, and not cut up into tiny pieces like you would do for a baby. Charlie hated that he couldn't just eat like a normal person, like his husband. It was times like this when he wished he knew how to eat at all.