Chapter Text
Crash! Boom! Clatter! The sounds no one wanted to hear while babysitting, especially not when followed by the immediate sound of distressed sobbing. Nick and Charlie had only stepped away for a minute– honest! Naturally, in that fleeting moment without supervision, Olly, the youngest of the Spring family, got himself into a colossal mess.
Charlie busted into his brother’s room, Nick followed close behind, his heart pounding out of his chest in fear that something truly awful happened.
There his little brother stood, covered head to toe in green and orange paint, looking like a modern art piece. The little boy sobbed, desperately wiping paint from his eyes as he sniffed through his wretched tears.
Charlie ran to him, not caring about any splashes or globs of color that transferred to his own clothes. He began helping to wipe away the mess from his brother’s eyes, asking him in a distraught voice, “What happened?”
Upon the arrival of his older brother’s presence, Olly’s guilt got the better of him, making him sob even louder.
Charlie turned over his shoulder, giving his boyfriend an exasperated look, “Get a towel, Nick, please. They’re down the corridor, in the cupboard next to Tori’s room.”
Nick turned on his heel, following his boyfriend’s instructions with speed and ferocity.
Charlie turned back to his brother, attempting to calm him, “It’s alright, Olly- it’s okay! We’ll get you all cleaned up, just tell me what happened.”
“Here,” Nick’s voice came from behind Charlie as he reentered the room. Crouching next to his boyfriend, he began cleaning Olly’s face with a pristine, white towel.
Finally able to fully open his eyes and calm slightly, Olly mustered his explanation, “I just wanted to get some paint down for my drawing while you two were gone. I wasn’t tall enough to get to the top shelf on my own so I climbed and slipped while I was bringing the paints down.”
Nick and Charlie felt guilty right away, they had left Olly alone in his room to draw while they went into Charlie’s room to…well… it doesn’t matter.
“Olly, you know you need to come and get someone when you want to paint, those are Mum and Dad’s rules. They put them on the top shelf for a reason,” Charlie reminded, keeping his voice in a nurturing tone in an attempt to not stir up any more emotions within his brother.
“I know, but I just wanted to do it on my own, Charlie. I just wanted to be grown up,” Olly expressed, his eyes welling up with tears again. Charlie’s heart sank, he brought his brother in tight, hugging him closely, paying no mind to the paint that moved from the small boy’s clothes onto his.
“You’ll be alright, love,” Charlie soothed, running his hand through the young boy’s hair in an attempt to pacify him and check for any cuts or marks on his head. Seeing none, Charlie pulled back, wiping the tears away from his brother’s eyes once more. “Let’s run you a bath then.”
“I don’t want a bath!” Olly cried, stomping his foot to expel his displeasure, “I’m not a baby, Charlie!”
“Okay! Well, we’ve got to clean you up one way or another, and this towel can’t get it all. Would you at least let me run you a shower? Can you manage that?” Charlie offered, getting off his knees and finally taking stock of the rest of the mess throughout the room. He thanked his lucky stars that Olly’s room had hardwood floors instead of carpet like he and Tori’s.
“I can shower just fine, and you won’t need to check on me or anything,” Olly prided, turning to Nick, he gleamed a half-toothless grin, “I showered last night and when I got out Dad wasn’t even standing outside the door.”
“Dad was watching the World Cup, Olly…” Charlie tried, seeing how determined his little brother already was at getting rid of their supervision once more, though Charlie wasn’t fond of the idea. However, with Olly in shower it would give him and Nick a chance to clean up the rest of the paint that was scattered about the room, of which there was an abundance.
“Fine,” Charlie caved, “I’ll start the running shower so Nick and I can clean all this up. But you’re straight into your pajamas after– and not a word of this to Mum and Dad!”
“Okay!” Olly pipped, his usual cheery disposition having returned with a course of action underway.
Charlie and Nick spent what felt like hours scrambling, attempting to clean up the mess of paint all over Olly’s floor, shelves and desk. The orange and green paint stained the white bath towels Charlie’s mother took pride in keeping white and mint– now besmirched with enough evidence fuel to get Charlie grounded for at least three weeks. Charlie figured a separate load of washing with some bleach ought to do the trick– at least he really hoped so.
Every few minutes, Charlie knocked on the door check on his brother, bringing him his pajamas on the second round of checks. Each time, Olly assured Charlie he was fine, though Charlie was positive they’d have to revisit some of the washing up as Olly would definitely miss more than a few visible spots with remaining stains.
In total, it took about an hour to clean up what took Olly only seconds to knock over, Charlie having to do two loads of laundry by the time got all the clothes and towels taken care of. Nick had taken care of Olly after his shower by checking that all his paint stains were really all gone. Then it was onto entertainment with Nick putting the frozen pizza in the oven and giving Olly the TV remote to start flicking through movie options while Charlie kept cleaning.
“How about, Encanto!” Olly squeaked, his stomach flush with the carpet as his face peered just under the TV screen.
“Again?” Nick called from the kitchen, clamoring with cupboards to find where the Springs kept their pizza pan, “Didn’t we watch that the last time I was over?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Olly lied, hoping that Nick would let him have his way, per usual.
“Mmmm, no, I think so…” Nick pushed, a cadence of playfulness in his voice.
“Please, Nick,” the boy pleaded half-heartedly, thinking of ways to win Charlie over with his movie selection if Nick’s rejection was authentic.
“Well, alright,” Nick replied, perhaps a bit overzealous as he celebrated the victory of finding the Spring family’s pizza pan. “But not a word about Bruno, right?”
“Right!”
A few minutes later, Charlie reemerged, in a huff, coming down the stairs carrying a mop and bucket from the direction of Olly’s room. The last of the paint mess had been cleaned up, save finishing off the laundry, and everything was set right. Charlie tossed the bucket water down the sink and placed everything back into the supply cupboard. Taking a deep breath, he strolled into the lounge where Nick and Olly watched the opening credits of the Disney film.
“Hey,” Nick greeted Charlie’s sight instantly, opening his arms invitingly to encourage Charlie to join him on the couch– which the smaller boy did with ease, greatly needing the rest. “Dinner is in the oven and I set a timer on my phone. You can just relax now, everything is fine.”
Nick pressed a kiss to Charlie’s forehead, he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch helplessly, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Nick whispered into Charlie’s ear, sending a chill down his spine. The pair locked eyes and shared a knowing smile before locking lips in a soft, warm kiss.
“Ew, Charlie!” Olly’s voice broke through the sweet moment, forcing the pair to end their lip lock just as soon as it began. “Why are you two kissing? You’re supposed to watch the movie!”
Charlie rolled his eyes and directed his attention to Olly, noticing for the first time how close the child was to the screen. “We are, Nick was just… telling me something. And back away from the telly, Oliver, you’ll hurt your eyes. Come sit on the sofa with us.”
The small boy groaned, shuffling onto his feet and making his way over to the sofa with a slight sulk. He had no qualms plopping himself in between Nick and Charlie, squeezing in tight and resting his head on Charlie’s chest and he continued watching the movie.
Charlie shook his head, amused with how comfortable his brother was to put space between him and Nick, and glad to see everything was back to normal as far as the incident from earlier in the day.
Charlie wrapped an arm around Olly in turn, “Thank you.”
“The view’s no good from back here,” Olly replied nonchalantly, “You’re no fun.”
Nick couldn’t help but laugh, earning an offended gasp from Charlie. “Rude!” he reprimanded, “I am quite fun.”
“No, you’re not…” Olly continued to tease, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, really?” Charlie questioned, looking Olly in the face catching his growing smile.
Both teen boys’ ears began to perk with the sound of Olly’s sweet laughter as he got out between giggles, “Really.”
“That so?” Charlie mused, “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to… prove you wrong!” And with that, Charlie began aimlessly tickling Olly, causing the young boys giggles to turn into wild, bombing laughter. Charlie couldn’t help but laugh along, the sweet sound invoking a mirrored response as he pulled his brother closer to tickle him more. Nick looked on sweetly, finding the brotherly bonding moment delightful; glad that Charlie and Olly’s brother relationship was far better than he and David’s ever would be.
“No more, Charlie… no more,” Olly laughed through gasps of air. Upon hearing the request, Charlie ceased, respecting his brother’s boundary and allowing them both to settle. “Alright, you’re fun.”
“Thank you, now let’s watch the movie,” Charlie praised, looking over at Nick again who met him with a warm, adoring smile and a tightened hold around his shoulder. Charlie returned with his own beaming grin before resting his head in the crook of Nick’s neck.
The movie went by quick, pizza out of the oven and mostly consumed, though Charlie had some trouble, before Surface Pressure . And even though he had insisted on watching it, Olly had fallen asleep, stretched across both Nick and Charlie’s laps long before the end of the movie.
Towards the end of the movie, when the family sang about acceptance and rebuilt their home with their village, Charlie heard a soft sniff come Nick, who was still all wrapped up around him. Charlie peered his head up to observe his boyfriend’s face, and was met with the sight of Nick defenselessly sniffling away a few tears. “Darling, are you crying?”
“Yeah,” Nick admitted, a light blush creeping over his cheeks as he wiped his tears. “Sorry, Disney films always get me in the end.”
“Me too,” Charlie confessed, removing his hand from Olly’s back to interlace his fingers with Nick’s free hand, “Olly’s just watched this one to death, so it doesn’t really get me anymore. But put on Coco or Inside Out and I am completely ruined.”
“Oh god, same,” Nick laughed, using his thumb to stroke the back of Charlie’s hand, “Don’t even bring up Coco , just thinking about it’ll make me tear up.”
“I guess this means we’re Disney gays then,” Charlie joked, earning a cute shrug from Nick.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“There are worse things.”
“That’s true. I guess we’ll have to go to Disneyland Paris one day together,” Nick stated, semi-sarcastically, semi-seriously.
“And attend all the premieres for the new films when they arrive in theaters, if we must,” Charlie played, loving that the two of them could just talk heads like this for hours.
“And we’ll have to show our kids all our favorite movies as well,” Nick suggested, his statement bringing Charlie back into reality.
“Our kids?”
“Yeah,” Nick clarified, a bit panicked, “I mean, you do want kids someday right? You’re really great with them. Like, you’re incredible with Oliver.”
Charlie smirked, appreciative of his boyfriend’s panicked and flattering rambling, “Well, thank you,” he remarked. “And yes, I do want kids one day. Just very, very far into the future.”
“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Nick agreed. The redheaded boy held his hand tighter still around Charlie’s, “But, kids?”
“Yeah,” Charlie confirmed, his dimples deepening with his widened smile, “Kids.”
It wasn’t long before the movie ended and Nick carried Olly up to his room with Charlie in tow. Nick looked on with adoration as he watched Charlie tuck Olly in with diligence and care, unafraid to show his brother affection– even though they came from a family that really didn’t.
Nick and Charlie found themselves in the lounge again, waiting on the sofa for Tori and Charlie’s parents to return home.
“You really are so good with Oliver,” Nick complimented, running a hand through Charlie’s dark curls.
“He’s my brother,” Charlie shrugged, keeping himself pressed close to Nick as he sat on his lap.
“Yeah, but David was never that kind to me, and you’re just great with children in general, Charlie. Like, every time I’ve seen you interact with a child, it’s been, like, so wholesome and sweet; it’s incredible to watch.”
“Shut up, you’re making me blush.”
“You know it’s true! I’m serious, Char, you’ll be a great dad one day, if you want to be,” Nick endorsed, pressing a kiss to Charlie’s blushing cheek.
“Well, you’re amazing with kids too. Olly drives me mad sometimes but you keep a really level head with him, you’re just so patient. You’ll be a great dad too,” Charlie returned, placing a kiss at the tip of Nick’s nose, earning a smitten look from the taller boy.
Just then, the sound of keys fumbling at the front door alerted the pair. Charlie practically shot out of Nick’s lap just in time for the door to open and the missing Spring family members– Jane, Julio and Tori– walked inside.
Charlie jumped up and met his parents and sister in the foyer, Nick trailing close behind. “How was the uni visit?”
“Well, your father and I enjoyed it but your sister didn’t seem quite as thrilled,” Jane answered, sleep in her eyes as she sported that classic, exhausted Spring look.
“I quite liked it actually,” Julio commented, holding tight to the information packet and free tote bag that Charlie assumed was dealt out from the tour. “I think your sister should apply as soon as possible.”
“There’s no way I’m attending the University of Eastbourne, Dad,” Tori asserted, already headed towards the kitchen to pour a glass of diet lemonade.
Julio followed her out, prattling on about how he still believed she should look into it, but it was clear it was falling onto deaf ears.
“Well, it was worth a shot,” Jane debriefed, sighing as she draped her jacket on the open rack. “Did Olly go down alright?”
“Oh, yeah,” Charlie confirmed, “All good.”
“Perfect, thank you for watching him, Charlie. The pair of you are so good with him,” Jane regarded, giving them a warm semi-smile, before following her husband out of the room.
Once she was gone, Nick turned to Charlie, “It’s late, I should go.”
“Thanks for sticking around so long, I really appreciate all your help today,” Charlie thanked, wanting to drag out this goodbye as long as he could.
“Yeah, of course,” Nick assured, “See you tomorrow?”
“Always.”
The pair shared a sweet, short kiss– signaling the end of a long night.