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For the second game, Charlie put everything out of his mind but how much fun it was to be hanging out with his friends, and with Nick. Elle and Nick seemed to get along well, and Nick and Isaac actually spent some time talking about Isaac's current book. Tao refused to look at Nick, but he was his usual self otherwise.

Elle won the second game, jumping up and down at her final strike. "I win! I win!"

"Why am I so bad?" Tao exclaimed dramatically, looking up at the scoreboard. He had lost, again, by a lot.

"Well, your arms are basically twigs," Elle told him.

"Ah! How dare you? I am a very muscular individual." He tried to make a muscle, but it wasn't happening.

"You wish."

Charlie turned to Elle. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know."

"You're really good at it."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I think I just got in the rhythm, you know?"

"Yeah, I pretty much failed at that." Charlie shook his head.

"Maybe next time."

"Maybe." If there was a next time. He hoped there would be.

Isaac came up with tokens, handing them out to Elle and Charlie.

"What are you going to start with? Oh, my God, what about the dance machine?"

"I'm so scared of it," Charlie said. "I can't dance. Like, at all."

"Well, what do you want to play?"

"I don't know."

They all headed for the arcade together, but Isaac quickly moved ahead, going off by himself, as he did. Tao grabbed Elle's hand and pulled her off to the dance machine, bumping his way between Nick and Charlie in the process.

This left Nick and Charlie alone together, which neither of them were unhappy about. Nick ended up in a battle royal with a claw game. Having lost once, he seemed determined to prove he could do it. Since Charlie didn't care what he did as long as he was with Nick, he was fine with standing there and laughing as Nick proved completely incapable of manipulating the game.

Failing for at least the fifth time, Nick turned to Charlie. "Okay, I'm almost out of money now."

"Don't look at me," Charlie told him. "I'm not giving you more just so you can lose again."

Nick looked at him in exaggerated disappointment. "Fine. I see how it is."

Charlie laughed.

Leaving the claw machine to its undisturbed glory, both of them turned round and leaned back against it. After a moment, Nick said, "So, I, um … I kind of overheard you and Tao in the bathroom earlier."

Well, that explained the hug. "Oh."

"I wanted to say sorry. About the date with Imogen thing."

Charlie looked at him in hurt surprise. He hadn't really believed that was something Nick would do, not without telling him, and to find out it was … "You actually went on a date with her?"

"No! No. She just … asked me out, and I was so surprised, and all our mates were watching and expecting me to say 'yes' and … I was such an idiot, I just blurted out 'yes' because I didn't know how to say 'no' without embarrassing her and confusing all our mates. And then her dog died. And I felt really bad for her and …"

He wanted to be okay with it. The whole story the way Nick told it made sense—Charlie could imagine the big deal Harry and the others would make of that situation, and Nick was the kind of guy who wouldn't want Imogen to be made to feel bad, not in front of all of them, and her dog dying did make it harder. But it still hurt Charlie that all of this had happened and Nick hadn't told him about any of it.

But that was his problem, not Nick's. Nick was doing the right thing now. Charlie would get past this.

"I'm so sorry," Nick finished.

"Isn't that what you always tell me not to say?"

"Yeah, but … I've actually done something bad."

"Well, it's not like we're … you know … officially dating, or anything." He looked up into Nick's eyes, wanting him to offer, to say something, anything, that would make them official.

Nick held his gaze for a moment, then looked away, and Charlie couldn't help being disappointed. He was willing to wait as long as it took for Nick to be ready, but God, how nice it would be to be able to be open about his feelings for once, to be able to say that they were together.

"I'm going to make it right with Imogen," Nick said at last. "I'm going to … tell her I don't like her like that."

"Okay." It was something, at least.

Nick leaned his head against the machine, saying wistfully, "I wish I'd met you when I was younger."

Charlie mirrored the movement. "Yeah?"

"Mm. I wish I'd … known then what I know now."

Under most circumstances, Charlie would have prized this moment where Nick was able to be open, and vulnerable. Mostly, he kept what he was thinking, how he was working through his questions about his sexuality, to himself, and Charlie understood. That kind of thing was hard to talk about, and particularly difficult with the person who had launched the questions to begin with.

But today was Charlie's birthday, and Nick was here with him and with his friends, and he wanted to put the whole Imogen thing behind them and just enjoy the rest of the time together. He leaned forward, looking up and into Nick's eyes. "No being sad on my birthday."

Nick laughed at that. He bent down and picked up the gift bag at his feet. "So, are you going to open my present, then?"

"Yeah. As long as you don't mind."

"Well, I kind of want to see your reaction."

Charlie opened the bag and took out the present, tearing off the paper.

"I genuinely didn't have time to go out and buy you something, so … sorry it's a bit handmade." Nick sounded nervous that Charlie wouldn't like it.

It was a photo of the two of them with Nellie, on the first day they hung out, in the snow, and Nick had decorated the frame with stickers. Charlie smiled, remembering that day.

Nick had chosen a picture, printed it out, decorated the frame by hand—and Nick wasn't crafty, not at all—and wrapped it, all while thinking of Charlie. That meant … everything.

"That was just one of my favourite days ever, so …" Nick's voice trailed off. Lifting his head, Charlie looked into Nick's eyes. He didn't have words for how he felt right now … but Nick found some. "I really like you."

Charlie had known, of course he had, but this was the first time either of them had said it out loud, and it sounded so—real. "You like me?" he repeated, breathlessly.

"Wasn't that obvious?" Nick gave him that lovely lopsided smile, and they both laughed. "Do you like me?"

He would never have imagined Nick would have to ask, and it was kind of endearing that he had. "Yes! Obviously."

Both of them laughed again, awkwardly, and Nick asked, "Why are we like this?"

He was so beautiful, and he made Charlie so happy, and he'd said he liked him, said it out loud. Charlie wished so much that they were alone. He wanted … "I want to kiss you so bad right now." The words were out before he could stop them.

Nick dropped his head, the moment broken, and Charlie thought he probably should take the words back. But it was the truth, and it was his birthday, and … that was what he wanted. Nick was looking round them. He turned back to Charlie, taking a deep breath, and said, "Okay."

Okay? Charlie wasn't sure he had heard right over the sudden pounding of his heart. "You don't have to."

"I want to."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Still not certain this was really happening, Charlie stepped forward, lifting his mouth to Nick's. It was slow and soft at first, then Nick's hand cupped the back of Charlie's neck, deepening the kiss, and Charlie put his arm round Nick, clinging to his jumper. Before he could forget where they were—always a danger when he kissed Nick—Charlie pulled away, smiling.

Nick appeared startled that the kiss had ended, his eyes hazy, trying to catch his breath. It was such an attractive look that Charlie wished he could kiss him again. He looked away deliberately, both of them checking to make sure they hadn't been seen.

"Come on," he said, smiling. "We need to find a basketball machine."

They made their way through the rest of the arcade. Basketball—which Nick won—and MarioKart, which he lost badly, as always, loudly protesting that he should be able to win at least once. Slushies, catching up with the others again at the slushie machine, and the five of them ending the day at a table together.

It was the best birthday Charlie had ever had.