Nick and Charlie are in the same year, same age in all of these chapters*

A week after prom, when Nick and Charlie had said they love each other for the first time, they found they had settled into a routine.

It was now summer holidays and they didn't have schoolwork to do or think about until they both started sixth form in September. Every morning Nick would walk Nellie to Charlie's house, and they'd go to the park for a walk with a coffee Charlie made for them. Nick had got a part time weekend job over the summer in a cafe that Sarah's friend ran, and with some of his first pay he bought them each a portable thermos mug with their initials on, it was all very domestic. Then they'd go back to Nick's house and watch a film or two while cuddling.

Sarah was at work most days, but trusted the boys enough to be safe and responsible, the most they got up to were some heavy make out sessions which resulted in doing some hand stuff and a load of washing before Sarah came home, if you catch my drift. If she noticed anything, she was nice enough to not say anything to the boys for fear of embarrassing them.

Today Charlie got to pick the film, and he chose a classic - one he knew Nick had never watched, but was a rite of passage. Titanic.

As the film progressed he knew Nick was enjoying this, as he tended to sit forwards slightly and have a certain look on his face when he was into a film. Nicks fingers started to trail up and down Charlie's arm once the ship hit the iceberg and Charlie heard an occasional sniff - not that he would say anything of course, when the lower deck passengers tried to escape through the gate, and the lifeboats left half empty Nick was practically shouting at the laptop.

Towards the end of the film Charlie sneaked a look at his boyfriend, who's attention was fully on the screen, tears rolling down his face as he was saying to himself 'there was room on the door!', then a bit later 'why did she throw the necklace away?!' 'Oh god he waited for her!'

When the credits rolled Nick was a blubbering mess, and he had curled up into Charlie's side, wiping his eyes on his sleeves. 'Good film babe?' Asked Charlie innocently, as nick looked up and went into a 20 minute teary rant about how it could have ended differently, and how much of an arse Cal was. All Charlie could do was nod, and he knew that once he left Nick would be researching the Titanic, after all Nick loved going down a research rabbit hole.

Sarah had gotten home and was preparing a cup of tea when Charlie was leaving to go home, and she stopped short when she saw Nick's face, blotchy and tear stained 'oh god are you ok sweetheart, what's wrong? Is it David again, I swear I'll have words if you want me to…'

Charlie was silently chuckling, and met Sarah's eyes while saying quietly 'he watched Titanic…' which tipped Sarah into a fit of adoring laughter at how gentle her boy was, and how much she loved Charlie as a second adopted son.

Nick grumbled 'It's not funny, there was room on the door mum!'

Charlie left while he still had air in his lungs from laughing with Sarah, of course after giving Nick a long slow kiss goodbye, on lips that had swollen up from crying. Next time he would have to find another tear jerker. Maybe The Notebook?