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Nick was so excited to be able to visit Charlie’s house again. It’s been a few weeks since his boyfriend came back from the clinic and they did their best to spend every possible second together ever since. But when Nick knocked, he heard an excited “I’ll get it, I’ll get it!” and saw Olly’s sparkling eyes and toothy grin when the door opened.
“Nick! Come play Mario Kart with me!” Charlie’s little brother yelled and jumped right into Nick’s arms.
“Ol, Nick came here to see me!” Charlie pointed out, running down the stairs. He was wearing Nick’s favourite green hoodie and his curls were wild - he looked exceptionally cuddly like that.
“Oh…” Olly’s face fell. “Just one race? Please? You promised last time,” he pouted and did his best Puss in Boots eyes impression.
As if Nick could ever resist that. “Okay, but only one, alright?” he asked, putting Olly on his feet and ruffling his hair.
“Yes!” the boy pumped his fist in the air, took Nick’s hand and pulled him to the living room with surprising force; Nick barely had a second to take off his shoes and give Charlie a quick peck.
Charlie shook his head fondly and smiled before he entered the kitchen, probably to make tea in the meantime. Nick knew Charlie had a soft spot for his little brother and would forgive him everything, even stealing some of his cuddling-Nick-time.
In the short time they walked from the front door to the sofa, Olly told Nick about a million different things, including: what he had for breakfast that morning (chocolate cereal), the colour of his new tractor (yellow), his favourite Bluey episode (‘Keepy Uppy’) and what happened in the library yesterday (Katie told Max that she likes him, but Max has a secret crush on Alice, which Olly doesn’t get because eww, girls). Olly was talking faster than a machine gun and Nick could swear he didn’t take a single breath between sentences.
Oh, how he adored this little sunshine-y boy.
“Let’s go!” Olly exclaimed and gave Nick one of the controllers. From the corner of his eye he saw Charlie’s head peeking into the room. “One game,” he mouthed cheekily. Nick nodded eagerly and blew him a kiss before Charlie’s head disappeared again.
“I’m feeling pretty confident today, you know?” Nick said, sitting cross-legged in front of tv. “I think I can finally beat you,”
“No. Way.” Olly stated, turning on the game and sitting next to him. “I’ll end you,” he said, suddenly deadpan after all his excited chatter just a few seconds before, and started the race before Nick could even blink twice.
Olly was right, of course - Nick couldn’t get close to his race car even for a second. Olly’s little hands held the controller tightly, eyes focused on the screen and his tongue poked out adorably.
Nick decided it was time for plan B: distraction. He carefully moved his left hand and started tickling Olly’s dinosaur-socked feet.
“Niiick!” Olly cried. “I see what you’re doing!” He burst into giggles and fell on Nick’s lap without taking his eyes off of screen.
“Argh, my plan’s been foiled,” Nick rolled his eyes playfully. It hadn’t helped anyway - even though Olly was laughing and tipped over, Nick still stood no chance against him. He groaned and pretended to be annoyed when Olly crossed the finish line first.
Olly jumped to his feet and ran straight to the kitchen. “I won, I won, I WON!” He shouted. “Charlie, I beat Nick again!”
“That’s shocking! I’m shocked!” he heard Charlie laughing. And, well… that’s fair, Nick thought. The truth was, he didn’t mind losing one bit - not if it made his (second) favourite Spring so happy.
Olly came back to the living room a second later and hugged Nick from behind, climbing on his back and throwing his arms around Nick’s neck.
“One more race? Pleeease,” he asked hopefully.
Nick chuckled. “Sorry, buddy, I want to spend some time with Charlie. But we can play again next time I’m here, okay? I promise.”
Olly thought about it deeply for a moment. “Okay,” he agreed reluctantly. “I understand, I missed Charlie too when he was away.”
“I know you did,” Nick said, suddenly very emotional. Olly might be young, but he had already been through a lot and Nick knew this little guy observed more than his parents gave him credit for. “Those were a tough couple of weeks, right?” He asked and turned his head to look into Olly's eyes. The boy was pensive and quiet for once, which didn’t happen that often.
“Yeah,” he replied quietly. “It was scary, Charlie was so sad all the time… I don’t like it when he’s sad. I wanted to help him, but I didn’t know how. I made him some funny drawings, but I don’t think they helped. But he’s better now, right?”
Nick wished it was that simple. He had struggled himself to understand Charlie’s illness, it must’ve been even more confusing to an eight-year-old. “Charlie loved your pictures, buddy,” he smiled. “I think he’s a lot better now.”
“Good, that's good,” Olly said and hugged Nick tighter. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?” Nick asked, surprised.
“I know you helped him a lot. I don’t know why Charlie was so sad, but he always smiles when you’re around.”
Nick was suddenly overwhelmed. All he’d ever hoped for the past few difficult months was to make Charlie smile; the fact that Olly had noticed Nick made his big brother happier felt unexpectedly affirming. His heart swelled for the boy hugging him. “You don’t have to thank me, Ol. I’d do anything for Charlie.”
“I know,” Olly said and let go of Nick’s neck, apparently deciding their emotional conversation was done.
Charlie walked into the living room with two steaming mugs in his hands and looked at Nick. “Ready?”
“Can I go with you guys? Please please please!” Olly begged.
“Sure you can!” Nick replied cheerfully, standing up and putting his arm around a surprised Charlie. “You can watch us hug and tell each other how much we lov–“
“Eww! No, thanks! Byeee!” Olly shouted and sprinted out of the room.
Charlie smirked. “Well done, love,” he said and kissed Nick softly.
“My pleasure,” Nick replied, cupping Charlie’s face in his hands and kissing him again. They had a lot to catch on.