Work Text:
“Hey, you’re not the old library lady.”
Charlie looked up from the computer screen. A small group of children entered the library, followed by their teacher. “No, I’m not. Mrs Barker retired, so I’m taking over Thursdays,” he explained. The kid shrugged and started browsing the library among the others, guided by their teacher. He must have been around Charlie’s age and donned a fuzzy jumper that contrasted nicely with his beard.
“Sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself.” The teacher turned towards Charlie, greeting him with a nice smile. “Mr Nelson. I teach year 5.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Charlie,” he said and typed ‘Nelson’ into the computer, letting the system know to which classroom the books would be checked out.
One of the kids tugged on Nick’s jumper, seeking approval of the book she chose.
“It might be a challenge, but I think you can do it. Why don't you take it Charlie to get it checked out.” Nick gestured towards him.
The girl placed her book on his desk. “This one, please.”
Charlie looked at the title. “Life Among the Witches That Find Soulmates,” he read out loud. “Interesting.”
“Yes, it is about this boy who lives with the witches who help people find their soulmates. They helped my parents because they are soulmates. Look, they can see it from their ball.” She pointed at the crystal ball on the cover, which displayed two people in love. A man and a woman, of course.
While listening to her, Charlie scanned the book and handed it back to the girl. Behind her was a boy, queuing up to check his own book out.
“Mr. Nelson? Have you found your soulmate yet?” The boy asked. Charlie reached over and gently took the book, which the boy had forgotten to give him.
“No,” Nick chuckled. “But don’t worry, I’ll find her one day.”
“You should date my mum. Then you can be my stepdad!” The boy cheered.
“Oh, no. I don’t date my kids’ parents. Teacher code.” Nick turned around and helped the other kids with finding a book.
“Mr Nelson?” Nick’s sleeve was tugged again. “Can you sign me up for SoulSearchers™? I also want to find my soulmate.”
Nick chuckled at the boy. “Maybe when you’re a bit older, then you can do it yourself.”
Charlie kept silent as he observed the child’s interest in spending money just to have your name written down in some system. When SoulSearchers™ popped up in his teens, it was the talk of the school. Left and right students were either bragging about signing up or complaining about not being allowed by their parents and having to wait until they were older. Or, like Charlie, they just ignored it, not wanting their love to be confirmed by some stupid program.
After Charlie had checked out the rest of the kids’ books, he watched as Nick guided them out of the library.
“Come, let’s go before the rest of the class breaks down the classroom.” Nick subtly smiled at Charlie before he left. Why did the nice ones always have to be straight?
The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. He checked in the books that were brought back and placed them on the shelves. A few groups of other kids came by, exchanged books, and left again. Near the end of the day, Charlie finally got the hang of the computer system, and he managed to check in a stack of returned books back without any troubles.
The rest of Nick’s day was also rather uneventful. The kids that he had left behind hadn’t broken the classroom down. On the contrary, most of them were actually reading their books.
Once all the kids had gone home, Nick packed his things to go home, taking the rest of his work to be done in the comfort of joggers.
As he passed by the library, he heard a child giggling. Did someone forget to pick up their kid?
Nick peeked in through the door and saw two kids trying to balance books on their heads. The younger boy was doing a great job, but the older girl was struggling to balance the book on the knot on top of her head.
They seemed to be enjoying themselves, but there was no adult to be seen. The younger of the two couldn’t be older than six; the pair definitely shouldn’t be wandering around the school alone after hours.
“Where are your parents? Who is picking you up?” Nick asked.
The girl pointed behind the bookshelf. “Uncle Charlie.”
Nick peered around the bookshelf and saw Charlie holding a stack of books, putting them away.
“Hi.” Charlie greeted.
“Hi.” Nick greeted back. “I was wondering who released them into the library.”
“Yeah, I wanted to get this done before we leave.”
Nick looked back at the kids, the girl had taken her top bun out and was now trying to flatten her curls for optimal book balancing.
“Do you like that your uncle is the new librarian?”
“Yeah.” The girl said. “Mrs Jones told me that he is doing great. I think he is a bit slow.”
Nick looked back at Charlie, who was staring at the bookshelf with a book in his hand.
“Learning a new skill takes time. So you’re in Mrs Jones class?” Nick asked. The girl nodded. “She’s a good friend of mine.”
“Charlie is not actually our uncle,” the boy blurted out. “He’s just friends with our parents, but he does take care of us on Thursdays.”
Charlie had finally put all the books away. “I met their parents in my teens. They helped me a lot, and I’m more than happy to help them.”
“You’re not a parent here?” Nick asked.
“No, I guess I’m the volunteer uncle.” Charlie placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “She even suggested it, because I like books, and I don’t have anything better to do on Thursdays. Her words. But it has been nice so far. Most kids are enthusiastic, and it’s nice to meet new people.” Charlie smiled at Nick, revealing the most adorable dimples.
Nick thought of his ‘no dating parents rule’. Would it also count for uncles? Not that that mattered of course, as Nick never dated men
He smiled back at Charlie until he looked away. Nick followed Charlie’s eyeline and saw that the boy was standing at the doorpost, clearly waiting to go.
“Yes, I’m taking you two home now. Say ‘bye Mr Nelson.’”
“Bye Mr Nelson,” the kids both said, and then all three of them trundled out the door.
Nick stayed in the library, processing the moment. Although he would miss sweet old Mrs Barker, he was glad that Charlie was the new librarian. It was always nice to meet someone around your age.
Nick glanced out the window, spotting Charlie and the two kids in the schoolyard. Only after the trio had passed by the mothers who were still chatting and ignoring the kids tugging on their coats did Nick take his stuff and head home.
Nick opened the door to his flat and sat down on the sofa. Children were tiring. He looked at the mail that he had picked up on his way up. Advertisements, a bill he didn’t want to pay but had to, the local newspaper, more advertisements. And an unlabelled envelope, only reading his name and address.
Nick ripped the envelope open and removed the letter.
Congratulations
You have found your soulmate
- SoulSearchers™
Heart-shaped confetti fell on Nick’s lap. He had thought about this moment a lot, especially when he was younger. Back in university, every time he met a nice woman, he kept an eye on his mailbox, hoping to find the letter. Over time, he had nearly forgotten about it, not letting the universe control his dating life. But here it was. The universe had responded. Not having a clue who it was, he promised himself that he would try. Even if the soulmate thing sounded too good to be true, he would try.
Your soulmate is:
Charles Francis Spring
The cogs in Nick’s brain started turning. Charles… Charles… Charlie?! The lovely librarian? The only other Charlie he knew was a 10-year-old he had taught the previous year. And his last name was Hodgson, not Spring.
Nick fetched his phone and googled ‘Charlie Spring’. The first thing that showed up was a LinkedIn page. His eyes skimmed over the text. Charlie Spring … editor at … University of Kent …. Nick clicked the link, his phone automatically logged in and there he was. Charlie’s profile picture was greeting him. He looked younger, but with the same head of curls and a slight smile, hinting at his dimples. There he was, his soulmate.
Nick clicked on the chat option and typed in: ‘Hey, you forgot to update that you are also a librarian at a very prestigious establishment now’, but quickly deleted it and closed the tab. What was he thinking? You don’t chat with a colleague you just met. Especially not on LinkedIn.
In his confusion, Nick hadn’t even considered one very important detail: he had never taken an interest in men, and Charlie was most certainly a man. Nick picked the letter back up and read it properly. Other than some legal stuff, there wasn’t much on it. So was that it? Did this letter somehow mean he was gay now?
Nick stayed on the couch for a while, staring at the wall. He remembered when he had signed up for the service back when he was a teen. Harry had offered it, wanting to prove that he was right about Nick and Tara being soulmates. So Nick filled in his info, Harry used his father’s credit card, and then they waited. But no letter came. Nick stayed optimistic, and in the end he valued his friendship with Tara way more than being potential soulmates.
Something that had never hit Nick until that moment was how weird it was to be matched with someone one had just met. We hope you made a good first impression because your souls are linked. Creepy.
Nick smiled at Charlie once (actually it was at least four times, but Nick wasn’t going to admit that yet) and now his future is laid out with him. His gay future to be exact.
Charlie stayed on Nick’s mind. After he had put some leftovers in the microwave, he decided to head back to Google
Google search: Same sex soulmate straight
The first result he got was a Reddit post, from the title it seemed similar to his, so he clicked on it.
r/SoulSearchers™ Posted by u/[ZebraSocks75] 4 years ago
My [23F] soulmate is a woman but I’m straight?
Last week, a friend of mine introduced me to a woman about my age. She was really sweet and she complimented my hair (it’s pink).
The next morning, I got a letter from SoulSearchers™ stating that she was my soulmate. (I checked with our mutual friend, the name checks out) But I have never taken an interest in women before? I kissed a girl when I was 13, to try it, but I didn’t like it. I have only dated men, and I just broke up with my bf a month ago.
I want to tell her that she has a straight soulmate, but I don’t know how?
Edit: Our mutual friend brought her to our movie night, and she joked that she only came to see me but I kinda wish it was true?
Edit 2: I told her and we went on a date and she is my gf now. Also I’m pan :) (And apparently kissing can just suck when you are 13.)
Edit 3: It has been 3 years since I made this post and we are getting married in June.
Nick smiled reading the post. Would that also be the case for him and Charlie? Did they just need some time?
He navigated towards the subreddit. A seemingly endless scroll of happy couples showed up, occasionally broken up by someone showing that they got their letter. ‘I can’t believe he is my soulmate!’ It seemed like the subreddit was closely connected to SoulSearchers™ since the first rule was that statements including disbelief in the system were not allowed. Everything on the subreddit was also disgustingly happy, as if the bad stuff had been removed to make it the perfect advertisement.
Nick chucked his phone on the kitchen counter, wishing he hadn’t looked at the subreddit. It made the post feel so… fabricated. Like a perfect happy story to sell a service. Don’t worry friends, you will have your happy ever after, no matter what happens.
But what about the confusion? What about the doubt? What if he was being led on by the letter and ended up taking Charlie down with him while trying to figure everything out? What about the sleepless nights that he knew would follow, during which Nick would wonder what he should think of Charlie, having nothing but a few minutes together to replay in his head? Why was no one talking about that?
That week was a weird week for Nick. Charlie had been on Nick’s mind a lot, especially at night. He even checked with his colleagues to confirm that Charlie did, in fact, only work on Thursdays. All Nick wanted was to see him again. To get to know him better and see how it would make him feel. And to tell him. Charlie deserved to know. If the universe had tied them together, Charlie deserved to know that he was part of the knot.
Charlie arrived at the school early. Fortunately, the classrooms of his niblings were already open, so he could drop them off and head to the library early to boot up the ancient computer and wait until it finally logged in. He heard knocking on the doorframe. It was Nick.
“Come in,” Charlie smiled.
Nick walked in, closed the door behind him, and peeked behind the bookshelves before he sat down at Charlie’s desk.
“Can I help you?” Charlie asked, confused about Nick’s unexpected visit, especially as the he was holding a paper and acting very hush hush.
“Is your middle name Francis?” Nick asked.
Charlie’s confusion level rose. “Yes…?” How did Nick know that?
Nick smacked his lips. “Alright. I just thought you should know.” What? That his second name was Francis? “I got this in the mail.”
Charlie looked at the letter that was placed on his desk. He was Nick’s soulmate? Charlie reached a level of confusion the didn’t know he could reach. Was this a prank? “Whut?” was the only thing Charlie’s mouth could produce.
“Trust me. I’m just as confused as you are,” Nick said. “I didn’t even know I was gay,” he whispered.
Charlie nodded. “Yeah… you’re not gay just because a stupid system decided that.”
“Stupid is not a nice word,” Nick said, automatically slipping into teacher mode. “But yeah…” he hesitated. “We’re soulmates??” He felt a tingle of enthusiasm, but his voice was laced with confusion.
Charlie shrugged. Nick would soon figure out that it was a scam and get over it; it wasn’t worth the hassle. “I see.”
“I don’t want to pressure you, but I would like to get know you better. If that is alright.”
“Of course, my library is always open. Well, on Thursdays.” Charlie didn’t mind hanging out with Nick, he was a friendly lad after all.
“Great. Better see if Tara wants to trade lunch duties then,” Nick said. He wasn’t taking this lightly, was he?
Charlie never signed up for SoulSearchers™ because he didn’t want to spend way too much money to be told that his soul belonged to a woman who thought men shouldn’t have emotions or something equally ridiculous. No thanks. But apparently, they did pair men with men. Even the straight men it seemed.
“But I should get going before parents start yelling at me. See you at lunch!” Nick walked towards the door.
“Nick!” Charlie yelled. Nick turned around. “Bisexual people exist.” If Nick wanted to spend both their time on this, at least he didn’t have to do it like a total idiot.
Nick smiled at him and continued on his way out, hurrying to his classroom.
Charlie looked at the computer screen. Wow, it had already finished logging in. What a weird day.
Nick went to the lunchroom to pick up his lunch and then headed to the library. Charlie did not seem as excited about this as Nick hoped he would be, but that was alright, these things took time and he didn’t want to pressure Charlie. Nick had had nearly a week to warm up to it after all.
“Hi.” Nick walked into the library. Charlie was eating while he browsed through a picture book.
“Hi.” Charlie looked up. “Spending your lunch here?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Nah. The books are great listeners, but they don’t really reply when I talk.”
Nick sat down on the chair across Charlie’s desk. He intended to treat it like a sort of first date. But without the scary part of wondering if they were right for each other, and instead with the scary part that he could lose his soulmate if he messed up. So that balanced it out nicely.
Nick told Charlie about his mother and her dogs–he showed off pictures of the latter (Charlie didn’t seem that interested in the looks of a middle-aged woman)–how he had played rugby since he was young, and his love for Marvel.
Charlie told him about his siblings and his editing job, while Nick pretended to not already know that. It was very first date like, but it was nice. Nick liked spending time with Charlie, so when it was time to get back to work, he wished he didn’t have to.
Nick softly grunted as the last kid had finally gone home. He rushed to the library, but Charlie wasn’t there. However, his bag was, so Nick sat down, waiting for Charlie to come back and hoping that he still had a stack of books hidden somewhere to be put back.
After about a minute or so, Charlie arrived, accompanied by his niblings.
“Nick,” he smiled. “Hi.”
“It’s Mr Nelson,” Charlie’s niece corrected him.
Nick smiled back at him. “Hi. I saw that your bag was still here.”
“I didn’t want to drag it around the school picking these two up.” Charlie picked the bag up, ready to go.
A silence fell. Nick wanted to drop by to say hi, but since Charlie didn’t have any work left to do his plan of staring at Charlie had gotten a bit more awkward, as Charlie was staring back at him instead of at the bookshelves.
“I just wanted to wish you a nice weekend,” Nick said.
“Thank you. You too. Everything is sorted, so I’m going to take these two home.”
“Of course. See you later.”
As expected, Nick’s news kept wandering Charlie’s mind for the rest of the day. Near the end of the day, Charlie had come up with a few possible reasons why Nick had gotten the letter :
1) It was prank. One of the chatty mothers saw them smiling at each other, drew their conclusions and wanted to make them sweat. Nothing was funnier than picking on the new guy gay and putting the straight guy in a gay situation. Haha really mature.
2) It was a well-programmed scam. It was a matchmaking AI, but instead of questions, his data has been harvested and cross referenced with Nick’s and the AI had spit out that they were a match. This made him wonder what Nick did online to make him be flagged as queer.
3) And the least likely option: it was witchcraft (as SoulSearchers™ stated).
On top of that, Charlie also had no idea when and how to tell Nick that he didn’t believe in soulmates. Charlie didn’t want to pop his bubble, because somehow Nick seemed more excited than scared at the prospect of being gay. And he also liked having someone to spend lunch with.
When Charlie accepted the position as school librarian, he was looking forward to getting to help the local youth find books that sparked their interest. While he waited for kids to drop by, he spent his time searching for new books, and, to his delight, the school was going to buy them, agreeing with his goal of diversifying the library. But despite his enjoyment of the job, Elle’s gratitude for helping her children’s school, and the time he got to spend with his niblings, Charlie had to admit to himself that his favourite part of it all was getting to spend his lunch breaks with Nick.
Nick kept coming in every Thursday and together they ate their lunches, chatted about work and dogs and whatever happened in their lives. At their second lunch together, Nick asked for Charlie’s number, just to send him a funny video that wasn’t appropriate to show on school grounds. After that, they kept sending photos and videos that they found online to each other, along with photos of Nick’s fresh baked goods and reheated leftovers.
They had known each other a for few weeks when Nick started to vent about his father. Charlie wasn’t sure what started it, but he was happy to listen. Somehow it felt natural to add his own things, trusting Nick with the story of his childhood. Soon, Nick had become a trusted friend. But Nick hadn’t talked about the soulmate thing in weeks, and as Charlie valued their friendship, he made his heart stop longing for more, not letting his feelings get in the way of what they had.
“Good morning,” Charlie joked as Nick entered the library loudly yawning.
“Good afternoon.” Nick dropped down on the chair across Charlie’s desk.
“Had a long day?”
“Long story short, I fell into the trap of taking a nap and then couldn’t sleep properly at night.”
“Don’t you visit your mother on Wednesdays?” Charlie tilted his head, hoping his mum didn’t make him take naps anymore.
Nick nodded. “Wait, let me just you show what happened.” Nick fetched his phone and showed Charlie a picture of him sleeping on the couch underneath two equally sleepy dogs.
“Awh… that is so cute.” Charlie feels his heart slowly melting. Nick had put a fuzzy blanket over himself and he looked so soft and peaceful.
And the dogs were also cute. How about just focussing on that.
“Thank you. I make sure to remind them occasionally how cute they were.”
“And you weren’t exaggerating when you said you were trapped. Although, I wouldn’t mind being trapped by someone so cuddly.” Charlie said, making a mental note to get some more cuddles with Elle and Tao’s dog, Bean.
Apparently, Nick had interpreted the comment somewhat differently than Charlie intended, because after letting out a chuckle, he said, “I mean, these rugby arms are great for holding people lovingly.”
Charlie repeated the sentence in his head, making sure that Nick actually said what he said. But yes, he had. He had stated that he was a great cuddler, which Charlie definitely believed, but now Nick thought that Charlie wanted to cuddle with him. Which was true, but way too far into the flirting zone.
“Nick… I meant cuddling with your dogs.” Charlie looked away, hiding his blush.
“Oh, yeah of course. Makes sense.”
Nick tried to laugh the awkwardness away. Somehow his brain thought that Charlie was flirting with him. Or his brain hoped that he was flirting? Nick didn’t want to admit that he was disappointed that Charlie didn’t mean that he wanted to cuddle with Nick. Not yet.
But then, he started to imagine it. Charlie lying in his arms, Nick’s hand brushing through his curls, while Charlie buried his face is the crook of his neck. Or Nick in Charlie’s, giving him the perfect opportunity to graze his lips over Charlie’s skin.
Focus Nick!
Nick shook his head, trying to reset his brain and listen to Charlie him how Bean always wanted to duck underneath the blankets.
But getting rid of those thoughts had become quite difficult. Because Charlie had unlocked a part of his brain, and he had clearly settled there. Every time Nick tried to get one thought out of his brain, a new one popped up. His lips look so kissable. No! Bad brain. I could drown in those blue eyes. Please remember to breathe Nick. What would Charlie sound like in bed? You are not referring to snoring, are you Nick? Imagine waking up next to him. Alright, Nick had become absolutely hopeless.
With Nick’s brain producing nothing but non-platonic thoughts, he decided that it would be better to just head out soon before he did something stupid and crossed a boundary.
“I have to go.” Nick got up. “I just remembered that I still need to prepare something for later today. Sorry.”
“You don’t need to feel bad, I forget things sometimes too.”
But Nick did feel bad; he couldn’t be around Charlie all of a sudden and he had to lie to get out. Poor Charlie; Nick always looked forwards to their lunch ‘dates’, and he would be upset if Charlie were the one to break it short.
Nick walked back to his classroom and sat down in his chair. What had Charlie done to him? His hair wasn’t more curly or bouncy than usual, his dimples were also not new, and Nick highly doubted that Charlie’s eyes had gotten bluer.
Nick sighed as he dropped his head on his desk, feeling like a lost cause. After a few more sighs, Nick tried to regroup. While Charlie was his soulmate, he never stated that he was not into him, on the contrary, Charlie told him that looked forward to their lunches. So maybe this was the moment where Nick caught feelings for his soulmate. Would Charlie already have them?
During the week, Nick even freed up time for what he called Charlie-research. His YouTube history started to fill up with many different videos about sexuality, and his online history would have filled up with another type of video if it wasn’t for incognito mode. By the end of the week, he was ready. Ready to talk to Charlie.
Nick took a deep breath before he entered the library. “You got this,” he whispered to himself. “Hi Charlie.” He closed the door behind him.
Charlie looked up. “Everything alright?” Normally they left the door open, as sometimes pupils came by during lunch to exchange their books, which wasn’t a problem as they were just having a platonic chat chatting.
“Are we alone?” Nick looked around. No children to be seen. He didn’t want to make Charlie more confused than he was already getting. “I’m just gonna say it. Well… uhm… I watched gay porn the other day,” Nick whispered. “And I really enjoyed it.”
Charlie just hummed.
“I mean… It seemed more useful than online quizzes,” Nick continued. “‘How would you react if your soulmate were to be of the same gender’? So confused that I’m taking a silly quiz is apparently a not possible answer.” He raised his hands in frustration.
Charlie took a deep breath, giving himself time to think. “May I ask why you, well… went exploring?”
“Well…” Nick placed his hands flat on the table. “I really like spending time with you, and, correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like you were a bit flirty last week?”
“No… Yes? Maybe I accidentally flirted,” Charlie admitted. “Would that be bad?”
“No, no.” Nick shook his head. “Because I’m interested in you, Charlie. In a romantic way, not just a friend way.”
“Romantic…” Charlie echoed, mainly to process it himself.
“Yes. I mean… also some sexual, but let’s take this one step at a time. Don’t worry, I also watched actual educational videos.”
Charlie exhaled. “I was already starting to worry.”
“But… with that all said. I was wondering, would you like to go on a date with me?”
“A date?”
“Yes, we can just do something simple. Maybe grab some tea, or… I could cook for you?” Nick looked at Charlie, who took a few seconds to respond, but the seconds felt like minutes.
“You cooking for me sounds great.” Charlie finally responded. “How about Friday?”
“Yes, perfect. I can’t wait.”
After discussing the details of the date, Charlie strategically changed the subject so he could get his mind off the topic. But as expected, after Nick left to go back to teaching, his brain couldn’t focus on anything but Nick. When he played solitaire because all the books were already put back, when he finally drove home from watching the kids, and when he mindlessly scrolled on his phone.
The entire time, Charlie kept wondering if it was a prank. Although he didn’t have the feeling that the was being watched, he had gotten a few questions at the coffee machine, asking why he hung out with Nick during lunch. But it couldn’t hurt to be friends. Charlie felt like they had hit it off when they first met; maybe it would have happened without being supposed soulmates. But on the other hand, now that they were actually going on a date, Charlie started doubting if he should even go. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nick actually liked him or if he had just fallen for the trap of having been told they were soulmates and believing it. It felt awful, because Charlie knew that he shouldn’t doubt Nick, but it just all seemed too good to be true.
He picked up his phone, staring at the chat he had with Nick. The last message was Nick sending his address. Charlie groaned, wondering what he should say. Should he express his concerns?
Fuck it. Charlie was going on that date. If Nick said that he liked him, he would believe that (or at least try to), because Charlie really did hope it was all true and that they were made for each other or some make-believe shit.
But there was one thing he could check. He opened his laptop and navigated towards the SoulSearchers™ website. The site plastered in hearts greeted him.
He went to the sign-up page and entered his personal info, but he hesitated when he went to the payment part. Could it be real? Could it really not be a prank? Was it worth it?
The payment went through, and an animation popped up. Welcome to SoulSearchers™, appears on the screen. A new line to text came through.
We have already found your soulmate, click below to find out who it is!
Charlie noticed his hands shaking as he dragged his finger over the trackpad, bringing the cursor to the button. Would it actually be Nick?
Your soulmate is:
Nicholas Luke Nelson
He selected the words, just to make sure that they were really there. Nick was his soulmate. Or at least, according to this service.
Before Charlie rang the doorbell of Nick’s flat, he took a deep breath and reminded himself to be careful. He felt he was playing with fire. Nick was really hot, but if he didn’t watch out, they could get hurt badly.
Carefully he rang Nick’s bell and soon after, the door opened. Nick was standing there, hiding his cuddly jumper underneath a frilly apron.
“Come in,” he smiled.
Charlie smiled back at him. The moment was there. He was on a date with Nick, who looked so cute and domestic in his frilly apron. This was going to be an interesting evening. Charlie tried to read Nick’s face, but he had just his usual smile, inviting Charlie to come further into his flat.
“Smells good in here,” Charlie said.
Nick smiled. “Thank you. I hope it will taste good too.”
“Sorry for being early.”
“It’s fine. I was just about to put it in the oven.” Nick picked up the pasta dish, and Charlie opened the oven for him.
“And now, I have all of my attention for you.” Nick turned towards Charlie.
Nick led Charlie towards the living area, and they both took seats at opposite ends of the sofa. Something felt different. Charlie always felt a little awkward in a new place, but there was more. Nick was still smiling at him, but any attempt at conversation failed. Was he regretting this and just smiling out of politeness? Was he waiting for the right time to tell Charlie he was wrong about his feelings?
Nick looked at Charlie as he ate. He looked so good. Nick wondered if he had spent extra time on his hair or if he had just never noticed how springy the dark curls were.
But that was only one of the reasons Nick was having such a hard time talking. It was nearly impossible when the words ‘Charlie’, ‘cute’, ‘dimples’, and ‘curls’ kept repeating in his head, and he figured that the moment he used any of the latter three words, he wouldn’t be able to stop and would come on way too strong.
Nick gently brushed his foot against Charlie’s leg. Was he planning to make his move this early in the night? No, but he considered it an emergency. It was bold, but it the most subtle move he had at the moment as he needed both his hands to eat. Charlie seemed to like it, as the main word echoing through Nick’s brain became ‘dimples’ and not without reason. How had Nick ever been able to be near Charlie and actually keep up a conversation?
The moment Nick’s foot brushed against Charlie’s shin, his heart melted, only to be brought back to reality by his brain. But Charlie’s heart won, getting the grand prize of getting to play footsie back with Nick.
Although the rest of the dinner was rather silent, Charlie definitely enjoyed the flirting–Nick even reached over to wipe some (probably non-existent) pasta sauce from his face–but it was also very confusing. Did Nick like him or not?
He wondered if it was just the first date jitters. Charlie had experienced them before. He remembered one date with a guy he met when he still dated online; the entire date he was so nervous because the guy had seemed so perfect. And he was, until they went on a second date, where Charlie felt relaxed enough to talk a bit more about hobbies, causing his date to talk non-stop about cryptocurrency for the rest of the date (which wasn’t actually that long, as Charlie left the moment the man had reached for Charlie’s phone, insisting that he joined).
Fortunately Nick had never forced him to play rugby, although he can still talk about it for a while.
Maybe that could be the solution to the lack of conversation. “How are things going with rugby?” Charlie asked as Nick joined him on the couch after loading the dishwasher.
“Good. We won a match against a rather strong team the other day, so that always gives us a boost.”
Charlie nodded along. “Good to hear.”
“Definitely, winning is always great. Although, recently we lost a match, but…” Nick continued rambling about something that happened recently, exactly as Charlie had planned.
Charlie looked at Nick. He loved seeing him talk about rugby, he got that passionate glow in his eyes.
“What are you looking at?” Nick had caught him staring.
“You. Is that not allowed?” Charlie boldly admitted. “But go on, you were just talking about the… thing.” As much as he loved listening to Nick talk, he still absolutely sucked at rugby terms.
“I’m boring you, aren’t I?” The glow left Nick’s eyes.
“No, you’re not. I like watching you talk.”
“You’re not smiling and nodding along out of politeness then?”
“I wasn’t smiling,” Charlie lied as he realised that he was in fact smiling the entire time.
“Yes, you were. You get those adorable dimples. Just the cutest little spots on your cheeks reserved for happy moments.” Nick moved over towards Charlie and poked his left dimple.
Charlie’s brain short-circuited. This man was obsessed with his dimples? “They are just… dimples.”
“No, they are an important feature of your face,” Nick disagreed. “Just like your hair. Your curls are just so… curly.” Nick reached his hand out but stopped himself. “Can I touch them?”
Although Charlie spent longer on his hair than he was willing to admit, he did want to feel Nick’s hands stroke through them. “Yeah, go ahead.” He leaned slightly forwards, expecting Nick to pet the top, but instead, he reached under, cupping his head from the nape up.
Charlie looked up, meeting Nick’s eyes.
“Your eyes. They are so blue.”
“You can’t touch them.”
“I know. I’ll just drown in them instead.” Nick moved his face even closer. Charlie’s heart was on a rollercoaster. Something had happened to Nick, and all of a sudden he was not only talking, but also swooning over Charlie like he’d never seen before.
“Nick” Charlie whispered, since their faces were so close together.
“Charlie,” Nick whispered back. “Is this the moment where we kiss?”
“If you want it to be.”
“I do.” Nick leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to Charlie’s. They were so soft and warm and… gone. Nick had already parted.
Charlie leaned back so he could read Nick’s face, but before he could perform his calculations to see whether Nick liked it or not, his brain got distracted by the gentle pressure on the back of his head from Nick’s hand, inviting him in for a second kiss. The invitation was accepted. Nick moved his hands down, over Charlie’s back. Charlie responded by grabbing Nick’s collar, pulling him closer. He felt Nick’s tongue brush over his lips and Charlie opened his mouth to let him deepen the kiss. More please.
Charlie shifted his weight, trying to rotate his body to get as close to Nick as possible.
“Do you want to move to my lap?” Nick asked.
The question made it feel intense, as if sitting on someone’s lap was a huge deal. But heck yes, Charlie wanted that.
With ease, he slung his leg over Nick’s lap and sat down. Nick readjusted his arms and they were back to that wonderful feeling of their mouths smushed together, but soon after, Charlie felt another feeling. A feeling of growth.
Gently he grinded his crotch towards Nick’s, rewarding him with a sweet moan from Nick.
Nick placed his hand on Charlie’s thigh, feeling the warmth through the fabric of his jeans. “Can we take it slow? I mean… not go any further than this just yet?” Nick asked.
Charlie felt a bit startled. “Yeah, sure.” He hoped that he didn’t make Nick uncomfortable.
“Thanks. I do really like this though. You can still kiss me senseless,” Nick smiled.
“Good. I’ll try to.” Charlie traded his smile for puckered lips and placed them back where they belonged–on Nick’s.
Nick’s hands moved up over Charlie’s shoulders and pulled him tight, as he leaned to the side and lay down, taking Charlie with him.
After their lips broke apart, Charlie didn’t plant them back on. Instead he snuggled up against Nick’s chest, feeling it move as Nick caught his breath while he noticed the scratchy prickles from Nick’s beard on his chin.
They lay there for a while, enjoying each other’s company. But after a while, Charlie’s mind started to race. First, Nick was acting weird, reaching both ends of the chatty spectrum, and then the amazing make-out session. Charlie internally groaned as he realised that this needed to be solved by talking about it. Ugh, communication.
“Nick,” Charlie whispered, not wanting to startle the man. Nick opened his eyes and responded with a hum. Oh, shit, he had to actually talk now. “What uhm… happened just there.”
“The kissing?”
“Before that.”
“The part where I was awkwardly quiet because I was too distracted by you to talk properly or the part where I talked your ear off about rugby and… you know.?”
Charlie sat up so he could look at Nick. “You were too distracted by me?”
“I mean…” Nick looked back at Charlie “Your curls look extra—Yes.” Look at him, starting to get his focus back.
“So you do like me and you’re not extremely uncomfortable with dating me?”
Nick chuckled. “Was that not established when we made out moments ago?”
Was it moments? Charlie looked at the clock that hung on Nick’s wall. He has been aware of how oddly time moved while cuddling, as it was already past ten o’clock. “It’s more like a few hours ago.”
“It’s not— oh it is,” Nick said as he also looked at the clock. “Want to sleep over?” He asked before Charlie could even bring up going home. “Like, literally sleeping, nothing more.” Charlie didn’t know what to say. A full night, potentially cuddling with Nick? “You don’t have to. If you don’t want to.”
“I would love to. After all, I’m your soulmate.” Charlie said. “And you’re my soulmate.”
“We’re soulmates,” Nick smiled and scooped Charlie up in his arms.
“Nick!” Charlie yelled from the surprise of being lifted into the air. “It’s not that late yet.”
“Too late to start watching a movie,” Nick argued. “And cuddles are more comfortable in bed.”
Charlie couldn’t argue with that, and so he let himself be carried to the bedroom.
“Do you really believe in soulmates?” Charlie asked as he tightened the drawstring on the comically large joggers Nick let him borrow.
“I guess I did.” Nick stepped in the bed, inviting Charlie to join them. “And then I wasn’t sure anymore, because I was matched with you, but then, now that I know what I know…— Do you believe?”
“I also don’t know anymore.” Charlie crawled next to Nick. “At first I didn’t, but now…”
“I don’t think it matters whether it’s real or not. We like each other, and for me, this, us, feels right.” Nick gave Charlie a kiss.
“It does.” Charlie said. “And we still can brag about it to other people if you like.”
“My brother. Is it bad if I want to use our soulmateship as revenge?”
“Is he a knob?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have my blessing.” Charlie sealed it with a kiss on Nick’s forehead. “And look at you. You have formed multiple sentences without gushing about me.”
“Of course I can,” Nick smiled.
“Maybe because it’s dark in here.”
“I can talk to you even when it’s light.”
“We’ll see about that tomorrow.”
--The end--