Chapter Text
I wanted to thank my three betas so much, who all worked so hard to make this work so much better than it was!! You three are so incredibly talented, and I'm so grateful for you all!! 😁
Chaotic_Mesh | Archive of Our Own
NightSkiesDark | Archive of Our Own
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As Charlie sipped on his vodka soda, standing in a way that he knew emphasised his small, but perky arse, he reflected on the past few months. He’d had the messiest breakup possible with Ben, and had come running home to Rochester to lick his wounds. Thankfully, Tori let him crash in her spare room until he found a flat of his own. She had insisted that he could stay with her for as long as he wanted, but he was 22 years old, and had never had a place to call his own. While he appreciated his sister’s offer to live with her and her partner, it was time to start writing his own story.
Charlie had dated Ben ever since his first year of uni. They met at a bar, and Charlie couldn’t believe that this attractive, suave man was interested in him — little old Charlie Spring. At the time, Charlie thought that Ben could’ve had anyone he wanted, and since he was bisexual, Ben had even more options. But he chose Charlie. Charlie Spring, the token Gay Nerd of Truham, whose only experiences with boys until that point had been stolen kisses in closets. The thought of essentially being pushed back into the closet almost made Charlie laugh as he sucked down the last of his vodka soda.
Charlie ordered another drink and felt himself blush as the bartender started to flirt with him, complimenting him on his outfit. Charlie had pulled on his tightest skinny jeans and a vintage Radiohead shirt that he had cropped just enough that, while exposing less than an inch of skin, it still showed the hint of abs that he had developed.
“I don’t remember seeing you before,” the bartender commented as he poured the contents of Charlie’s order into a shaker, glancing over at him every so often.
“I recently moved back to the area,” Charlie explained.
“What’s your name?” the hottie bartender asked.
Charlie grinned, hoping that his dimples were showing — it was one of his better features, and he knew it. “Charlie. Yours?”
As the bartender replied, “Ben,” Charlie’s smile faltered. Nope nope nope.
Charlie’s mind immediately flitted back to the last time he saw his Ben. He had put up with a lot from Ben during their relationship. Looking back on it, Charlie was almost ashamed of himself. Ben had used his poor self-esteem against him to make him feel small . Nothing Charlie ever did was good enough, and he had suspected Ben of cheating long before he actually caught him doing so. He’d never let Charlie have any say in the last two flats they’d shared together, which was the reason Charlie was so excited to have his own place now. It was only a studio, but it was his .
The final straw for Charlie was the day that Ben hit him. Before that, Charlie had started to become aware that Ben’s treatment of him was bordering on emotional and verbal abuse. He had already started to become more physical with Charlie — more than once leaving bruises on Charlie’s wrists, which Charlie tried to convince himself were an accident. But when Ben slapped him across the face on the day that Charlie had the audacity to come home early from work — that was no accident.
Charlie had replayed that day in his head so many times. He had originally planned on going out for drinks with some of his teacher friends, much needed as the summer term drew to a close, but two of them cancelled due to not feeling well, and the entire outing got rescheduled. Charlie didn’t mind. He was eager to spend an evening with his boyfriend and had rushed home as soon as his last class had been dismissed. But when he got into the flat that they shared, he heard high pitched moaning, and in their bedroom, he found Ben in their bed. Charlie had the unfortunate timing to walk into the bedroom that he shared with Ben at the exact moment that his boyfriend came inside a pretty blonde woman.
Charlie had started screaming at Ben, Ben had started screaming at Charlie, and the poor, oblivious woman threw on her clothes, apologised profusely to Charlie, and ran out the door. As soon as the door was shut, Ben had slapped Charlie across the face. “What the fuck, Charlie? What are you doing home so early?”
Charlie had seethed with anger as he glared at Ben. “What am I doing? What were you doing?”
He remembered Ben smirking at him, telling him that it was clear what he had been doing, and then he remembered Ben trying to call his bluff that he was leaving him. With his face still smarting from where Ben had hit him, Charlie had locked himself in the bedroom, packed his essentials and important documents, and as he left, told Ben that he’d be back for the rest.
Ben had smacked him hard enough, and in just the right spot, that he had a slight black eye. When Tori saw it, she swore that she was going to murder Ben. In fact, her exact words were “I’m going to end him”. Charlie had talked her down, saying that instead, she could terrorise Ben while he got the rest of the stuff out of the flat that he’d lived in with Ben. When the Spring siblings and Michael came to get Charlie’s belongings Tori did just as she had promised. Charlie took a sick sense of satisfaction from Ben cowering in the corner of his own flat.
Charlie hadn’t realised how little he had in the flat until it was time to move out. All he had were some clothes and books. Ben had never allowed him to bring his drum kit here, or to even bring all of his books. In less than an hour, Charlie had all of his belongings packed up, and as he left, he told Ben that he never wanted to see him again. Every few weeks, Ben would reach out to him on Instagram with a new burner account, and each time, Charlie would delete the message and block him. Charlie hoped that eventually, he’d get the hint and leave him alone.
“You alright, mate?” Charlie snapped out of his memory with Ben, the hot bartender, looking at him with concern.
Charlie nodded slowly. “Yeah, fine.” He ordered a shot to go with his second drink, and after sucking them both down, he headed out to the dance floor, leaving Ben the bartender behind without another word.
Charlie had never been out dancing by himself before; he’d always had friends to go out with. He honestly wasn’t even sure why he was out right now; he should be at home, in his pyjamas, cuddling with his new cat Beastly. As soon as Charlie had moved into his new flat, he had gone directly to the local rescue centre to adopt a cat. Growing up, his parents had never allowed him to have a pet, and neither had Ben. Leave it to Charlie to fall in love with the one-eyed black cat that had apparently spent almost its entire life there. When Charlie saw on their website that Beastly had been there for nearly two years, he knew he had to meet him. Within minutes, Beastly had curled up on Charlie’s lap and fallen asleep, and Charlie knew that he had found the one.
But instead of being cuddled up with his new furry friend, Charlie was moving his lithe body in time with the thumping beats of the only gay bar in his tiny hometown. He certainly never thought that he’d willingly move back here. At first, it had been purely financial. He supposed he was fortunate that he and Ben had broken up in the summer, since it gave Charlie time to figure out what he was going to do in the next year. Charlie wasn’t too excited to be starting out his teaching career back at the secondary school that held so many bad memories for him.
He had been quite looking forward to how the posh private school in London he was meant to be teaching at would have looked on his CV. But he supposed that getting a job at Truham was for the best. Elle and Tao had just moved out of London anyway, and Isaac had been in Scotland since they had all graduated from uni. It made sense to be near family when the rest of his friends had all scattered to the wind. Besides, maybe he could become friends with Mr. Ajayi. The art teacher was one of the only reasons Charlie had made it out of secondary school alive.
In theory, the other school would have paid more than Truham, but the cost of living was far higher in London, so Charlie was going to just about break even when he factored in having to pay all of the bills on his own. He was toying with the idea of applying to work part-time at the one independent bookstore in town; he had gone there a lot growing up, and was on a first name basis with Mark, the owner. Charlie just needed to see how busy he’d be — he’d hate to start working there and then find he couldn’t hack it.
When he’d talked to Tori about potentially picking up a job at the bookstore, she had been against the idea. “Charlie, you’ll be absolutely knackered. Being a teacher is going to be exhausting enough. Plus, you are just starting out.”
“And that’s why I’m going to wait!” he’d huffed at her. “I won’t have a ton of free time, but I’m worried I’ll be bored. It’s not like I have a lot of friends close by anymore. Besides, it’s a bookstore! That’s like, the dream outside of teaching for me.” Tori had just rolled her eyes at him before changing the subject to discussing how their mum was somehow so much nicer to their little brother, Olly.
As Charlie’s thoughts were drawn back to the present, he was suddenly aware of an extremely attractive man across the room, watching him dance. The man was probably a good three inches taller than himself, delightfully muscular, and it was hard to tell in this lighting, but he was either a blonde or a ginger. Charlie secretly hoped for him to be a ginger; there was something about the amount of freckles that redheads usually had that Charlie found incredibly attractive. Charlie decided to tease him and started swinging his hips just a tad more, throwing his arms around his head as he danced, aware that it would lift up his shirt slightly and show off more of his toned stomach. Charlie could swear that the man gulped as he drank in the little show that Charlie was putting on, just for him.
Charlie’s efforts paid off, as the man started slowly walking over to Charlie, and within moments, he was towering over him. Charlie, feeling suddenly breathless, looked up and managed to say, “Hi.”
A small smile appeared on the man’s face; it was slightly lopsided and something about how adorable it made him look, made him even more attractive. Unfairly so. “Hi.”
The man’s large hands were on Charlie’s waist within seconds, and then their hips were swaying together, getting closer and closer. Charlie was vaguely aware of the world around them, but was so focused on the feeling of the man’s body pressing ever nearer to his own, that everything else seemed to fall away. Charlie was transfixed by the man’s eyes; they looked dark and inviting. He was also entranced by the man’s muscles; he had on a sleeveless shirt and Charlie couldn’t help but run his long, slender fingers over the insane biceps that the man had. As he did, Charlie was aware of the man’s thumbs starting to rub his hip bones in small circles as he slotted his leg in between Charlie’s, drawing him even closer. They were no longer dancing at this point; the only possible word for what they were doing was grinding. Hell, they were practically dry-humping on the dance floor, and as Charlie’s fingers trailed further up the man’s arms, reaching a spot behind his neck, the man bent down and whispered in his ear, “Can I kiss you?”
Charlie looked up at him, slightly dazed from the mix of alcohol and lust flooding his body and nodded. Then he was lost in the man’s lips, soft yet firm, and he was adrift on the feeling of the man’s tongue in his mouth. Charlie was well-aware that he was stiffening in his jeans, and decided to throw caution to the wind. “Do you want to come back to mine?”
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Nick hadn’t gone out with the intention of hooking up with someone. That had, in theory, never seemed appealing to him. But as a newly-out bisexual, he had been interested in finally having a proper gay bar experience. His friends Tara and Darcy, who happened to be a lesbian couple, had come out with him, but had already called it a night when Darcy couldn't stop eating Tara’s face in the middle of the dance floor. Nick was lucky that he didn’t have a curfew that he needed to honour. Not only was his mum amazing about things like that, but she was also working until midnight.
Nick was about to call it a night himself when he spotted a slender man at the bar. His dark curly hair caught Nick’s eye first, and then the man’s arse stole all of his attention. The way that the man stood, waiting for a drink at the bar, it was perfectly highlighted in the tightest jeans Nick had ever seen. It was small, but perfectly round. If Nick had to guess, he’d say that the man was a runner or a swimmer, but he didn’t have the broad shoulders of a swimmer, so he must be a runner.
As Nick watched, the man turned around with an odd look on his face, and Nick practically gasped when he saw how beautiful he was. The curls framed his face perfectly. Even from a distance, he could tell that the man’s jawline could practically cut glass. Nick practically drooled as he watched the man throw back a shot; his arm movements made his shirt ride up just a tad. The shirt had been slightly cropped, so the movement was enough to show Nick that the man’s stomach was lean and sinewy, and he was positive that he saw the outline of abs. Nick licked his lips as he watched the man bounce over to the dance floor, and he was transfixed as the curly-haired man let loose by himself under the neon lights of the club.
After a couple of songs, Nick realised that the man had caught him staring, but instead of looking weirded out, he smiled at Nick and started dancing in an even more sultry manner. Gathering courage, Nick willed himself to go over and see if the dark haired beauty wanted to dance with him; once the guy smiled at him, all bets were off. Nick got lost in his dimples and before he knew it, his large hands were on that perfect little waist, his muscular thigh was rubbing between those runner legs, and his tongue was in the most alluring mouth he had ever seen. For a baby bisexual disaster, Nick was having one hell of a first gay club experience, and it got even better when the man asked him back to his place.
Nick almost said no. Truth be told, he was a virgin. It was a fact that he was incredibly uncomfortable with. He knew he shouldn’t be ashamed, but it was extremely rare to get to his age, looking like he did, and still be a virgin. Unfortunately for Nick, the kinds of people he found attractive (read, nerds) never seemed to be into him, the sporty “Rugby King”. Nick had come to loathe that nickname . He played rugby as an outlet for his emotions, not to pull dates, a fact that that wanker Harry Greene never let him forget. Everyone assumed that Nick and one of his best friends, Imogen, had slept together back in Year 11, and Nick had just let people believe it, with Imogen’s blessing. She didn’t care about the rumours, and she knew how uncomfortable it all made Nick to have to constantly tell people that they were wrong.
And so that’s how it went; people would assume things about Nick, and he’d just let them, because the alternative was to admit that the people he wanted to sleep with, never wanted him. But now, he had this really hot guy asking him back to his place, and Nick decided to say “fuck it”. If he got there and they only kissed some more, then there was nothing wrong with that. Now, if he found out this guy was also nerdy, well, then he’d be a goner.
The amount of alcohol that Nick had drunk crept up on him in the Uber on the way to this guy’s place; he wanted to ask a bunch of questions, but the man practically being in his lap, as much as their seatbelts would allow, while they fought for who got to kiss whose jawline may have distracted him. He was suddenly spilling out of the car, and then the man’s slender fingers interlocked with his own, pulling him up the stairs. He pushed Nick up against his door as soon as it was shut and promptly put his tongue back in Nick’s mouth.
Nick took the opportunity when they came up for air to finally say, “So, I’m Nick.”
The curly-haired guy smiled at him, almost looking shy all of a sudden as his dimples popped out. “Charlie. I guess we should know each other’s names, that might be nice.”
“Charlie,” he hummed out, “it suits you.” Nick couldn’t stop staring at Charlie, and his adorable dimples.
“Is that a good thing?” Charlie asked, sounding as if he was teasing Nick.
Before he could respond, Nick was startled by something touching his leg and yelped before jumping to the side. At that, Charlie started giggling; it was quite possibly the best noise in the entire world. As Nick looked down, he saw a large black cat with only one eye rubbing against Charlie’s legs. “Meet Beastly.” Charlie said in between giggles. Nick bent down to let the cat sniff his hand, and after the cat bopped its head against his hand, he gave it a small scratch under its chin before standing up and looking around.
As Nick took in the flat, he knew that Charlie was someone he would definitely like, in any scenario. There were framed posters on his wall of famous works of literature, and he saw a huge wall of books over by the bed. Tucked in one corner, he also spied a drum set, and his face lit up. “You play the drums? That’s so cool!”
Charlie giggled again. “Um, yeah. Since I was 8.”
“Seriously, that is so cool. I have, like, no musical ability whatsoever.”
Charlie smiled at him slightly, leaning against the door with his legs crossed. His posture made one of his hip bones pop out while he watched Nick observe his surroundings. The way that he was looking at Nick made Nick remember why he was here. He walked over to Charlie, and after putting his hands on the man’s slim waist, bent down and started kissing him again.
For such a slender man, Charlie was quite strong, and he was quickly pushing Nick over to his bed; when the back of Nick’s legs hit the mattress he let himself fall back. As he took in Charlie standing over him, Charlie removed his top, and Nick sucked in a breath as he caught his first glimpse of the man’s pierced nipples. I’m in danger , Nick thought to himself as he admired the scene before him. When Charlie started to unbutton his jeans, Nick realised that he thought he’d be nervous by this point, but he was just excited; in more ways than one.
Nick took off his shirt and threw it to one side, enjoying the look on Charlie's face as he raked his eyes over Nick’s muscular chest, and shivered as Charlie’s fingertips lightly trailed over his shoulders and down to his nipples. While he watched Charlie look at him, he finished what Charlie had started, and Charlie’s jeans were off of him as quickly as one could get skinny jeans off. He then pushed Nick back and undid his jeans, and Nick lifted up to let Charlie take them off, enjoying the gasp that escaped Charlie when he saw the blue jockstrap that he had decided to wear that day.
Nick’s breathing got shaky as Charlie took off his briefs; seeing another man’s cock outside of the locker room or porn was a new thing for him, and nothing could have prepared him for it. It was long and slender, curved slightly, and hard . Nick felt himself lick his lips as the man then took off Nick’s jock strap, seeing the glint in Charlie's eyes as Nick’s cock slapped against his stomach.
“Please tell me I’m bottoming.” Charlie said huskily as he stared at Nick’s cock.
“I’ll do whatever you want.” Nick answered, not even embarrassed in the slightest that it was true.
Charlie smirked at him and said, “You, up at the top of the bed.” Nick felt his cock twitch at the bossy tone and he eagerly crawled up the bed as Charlie went to his bedside table. Nick watched him take something out of the drawer: a bottle of lube and a condom.
Remembering his Google searches that he had inevitably made as he got curious about anal sex, he asked, “Can I prep you?”
Charlie grinned at him. “You’re sweet. But no, just give me a moment.” Nick looked on with wide eyes as Charlie quickly worked himself open. He got even harder as Charlie worked up to three lubed fingers in there, and then before he knew it, Charlie was putting a condom on him, slicking him up with lube, and lowering himself onto Nick.
“Fuck, so tight,” Nick huffed.
Charlie giggled, making his body vibrate all around Nick. “It’s been a while.”
For some reason, that made Nick feel better. Hearing that Charlie didn’t routinely pull guys at the club and bring them back to his flat gave Nick hope that maybe Charlie would be interested in something beyond tonight. Because he was only one hour into interacting with him and he already knew he wanted more . He just hoped the way they were starting out wouldn’t ruin that possibility for him. He wanted to ask so many questions; was he in uni? Living in such a small flat, he was probably in uni, right? What did he study? What did he like to do for fun? Did he want to date Nick and be together forever?
Nick realised he was holding his breath as Charlie fully seated himself onto him, and felt like he could barely breathe as Charlie started riding him. He was a vision, curls flying, muscles tensing, as his tight, hot hole enveloped Nick perfectly. When he realised Charlie was tiring, he asked if he could be on top, and once Charlie eagerly agreed, Nick grinned, telling Charlie to hang on. He took delight in Charlie’s squeak as Nick moved Charlie onto his back in one smooth motion, never pulling out, and was quickly thrusting in and out of him while trying to kiss his perfectly pouty lips as often as possible.
He felt the tell-tale buildup and started stroking Charlie, trying not to come too quickly. Charlie’s breathy moans weren’t making it any easier. “Fuck, I’m gonna, I’m-” Nick started pulsing into the condom as he saw stars, only vaguely aware of Charlie crying out and spilling into his hand. Once they both caught their breath, Charlie moved to get out from under Nick, and ran to another room before coming back with a washcloth for each of them.
Nick tried not to be hurt when Charlie subtly made it clear he was ready for Nick to leave. Before he left, he turned around and stammered out, “Could I get your number?”
Charlie looked surprised. “Oh, um. You want to do this again?”
Nick grinned. “I mean, sure. But I’d also like to take you on a date, properly, if you’d be interested?”
Charlie’s face lit up in a smile, showing off his dimples, as if he weren’t used to people wanting to date him. “Okay!”
Nick pulled up a new contact page, and then handed his phone over to Charlie. With a smile, he typed in his number before handing Nick back the phone. “Thanks. Let me just text you really quick, so you have my number too.”
“Okay,” Charlie replied with a giggle. God, that giggle . He couldn’t believe how Charlie was both so sexy and so adorable, all at the same time.
Nick made his way home, realising that it was only about a fifteen-minute walk from Charlie’s, toying with all the dates he could take Charlie out on. He wanted to know everything about the man; he was smitten already.
A few days later, Nick was buttoning up his shirt, thinking over the fact that he had a date with Charlie lined up for Saturday afternoon. They had exchanged a lot of texts since the night that they had met; banter with Charlie had just come so easily. Nick hoped that they still had stuff to talk about on the date, because it felt like they’d been talking nonstop since they parted ways. Now he just had to get through the first week of term!
As he made his way to his classroom, Nick shuffled his bag to the back of his body to avoid running into anyone, and then ducked into the classroom. Once there, his eyes made their way to the front of the room, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Charlie was standing at the front of the room, behind the large desk set up in front of the white board, looking at Nick curiously. Nick felt like he was going to be sick. This couldn’t be happening, could it? But the pale face staring at him confirmed it: Charlie was his new English teacher.