Swipe Right to Love: Nick and Charlie Fanfic

Match

Nick

I had been living in London for about eighteen months, it was better for business and Imogen needed someone to split rent with. Becoming a personal trainer was never my plan, I had wanted to study sports science at Leeds university but I hated the idea of being so far away from home.

I decided to start my course on whim, just see how it went, and everything kind of fell into place. When I got my qualifications, I posted to social media and it took off really quickly from there.

Moving to London made sense, there was a much higher demand for personal trainers here, than there was in Kent. I rented out a garage, and soon I was having to put clients on a waiting list, or even sometimes turn them down because I was fully booked.

I posted more videos to social media to promote my business, and then that turned into a way of making extra money. The only issue was, sometimes it attracted the sort of people, women in particular, who would only want to book a session because they thought they'd get a different kind of work out with me.

I never obliged, I always remained professional. I had been single for over a year, dating in London actually seemed to be harder, and most of the people I was meeting were clients anyway.

Imogen moved in with her girlfriend about four months before I first spoke to Charlie, she met Lucy not long after I moved in. I got on well with her, and she quickly became my friend too. Imogen still has her keys, and she has a habit of turning up unannounced. I don't mind, I quite like the company.

Charlie

I was still in my first year at UCL, studying classics. I lived in university accommodation, which I hated. For the most part, I actually enjoyed the whole uni experience. I made some good friends, and had fun at the parties.

My confidence grew a lot, I was able to be myself, dress and act the way I wanted without being judged. I maybe had too much fun, a lot of drunken one night stands and sober casual hook ups.

I missed Tao, Elle and Issac a lot, but would speak to them daily. Elle was at an art college in Milan, Tao was studying filmography and Isaac was establishing himself as an author. We were all very busy, but still made time for each other whenever possible.

I met Gracie, Levi and Aspen in my first week at university. I instantly felt comfortable with them, Gracie and Levi are gay, and Aspen is non binary so we formed a queer gang like I had at home.

They made me not feel alone, a family that I needed when I was trying to figure out who I really was. Levi even encouraged me to get my tongue pierced, it was something I had wanted to do, but didn't know if it would suit me. It was also something that proved very popular with other queer men, which was a lot of fun.

Nick

It all started in early May, I had not long gotten home from work when I heard keys in the door.
"Nicholas." Imogen sang from the hallway.
"You know you don't still live here right?" I teased as I went to greet her.
"You miss me really." She giggled, hugging me.
"I don't miss your skin care products taking over the entire bathroom." I laughed, hugging her back.
"That's societies fault, not mine." She said as she pulled away.
"How's Lucy?" I asked, both of us making our way into the living room.
"Yeah she's good, I have something to show you." She said, sitting down on the sofa.
"Why don't I like the sound of that?" I chuckled as I sat next to her.

She took out her phone, excitement appearing in her big blue eyes.
"I've made you a Tinder profile!" She exclaimed, opening the app.
"Why?" I laughed, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Why do you think? You just need to verify it." She said, passing me her phone.
"Do I get a say in this?" I chuckled as I looked through the profile.
"You gave up that right when you put me in charge of your tragic love life." She giggled.
"Former school rugby captain turned bisexual personal trainer?" I asked, reading the bio then furrowing my brow at her.
"Well you are." She laughed.
"And I don't think I'm quite six foot one." I chuckled.
"Close enough, just verify it for god's sake." She said in an exasperated tone.
"Fine, and my love life isn't tragic." I laughed.
"You've been single for over a year, that's pretty tragic." She patronised, putting her hand on my forearm.
"Shut up." I giggled.