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The four of them looked at each other in the hall. Nick didn't know about Charlie, but he had no further interest in going back to the party. He wanted to be alone together.

Tao was looking in Elle's eyes. "What if I stay in your room tonight?"

"What if I let you." She smiled, at Tao and then at Charlie. "We'll talk to Isaac, too, if you want."

"You think he's okay?" Charlie asked. "He seemed …"

"I know. He did. We'll talk to him," Tao promised.

"While we're convincing him to stay in our room," Elle added.

Charlie grinned at both of them. "Thank you. Um … good-night, then."

"Good-night."

They walked off, hand in hand, and Charlie turned to Nick. "Shall we?"

"Oh, I think so." Alone with Charlie, their room all to themselves all night? He had been dreaming of this.

They walked slowly together back toward their room, bumping shoulders and smiling at each other and unable to take their eyes off one another. Nick stopped Charlie entirely, pulling him close, holding on. There was no one in the world like Charlie.

"All right," he said at last.

"What are you doing?" Charlie demanded, as Nick ducked down and lifted him by the waist, throwing him over his shoulder. He liked being able to carry his boyfriend around.

He was holding Charlie mostly by the back of his knees, promising he wasn't going to drop him. But it was an awkward angle, so he shifted him in midair until Charlie was clinging to his back instead. "Is that comfy? There we go. That's better. All right. Now. Can you remember where we're meant to be going?" They had come to a corridor, which looked pretty much like all the corridors.

"We are going that way." Charlie pointed.

"That way?"

"That way."

"I'm sure it was that way," Nick objected, looking in the opposite direction.

"No, it's definitely that way," Charlie said, laughing.

And he was right, because Charlie Spring was good at everything, including finding his way around Paris hotels. They found their room, closing the door behind them, alone at last.

"You came out to a room full of people." Charlie pushed him back against the wall, smiling up at him.

"Yeah. Yes, I did. Do you think it's going to get passed around, like— Do you think everyone in school's going to know about it?" God, he'd really thought he'd got past this panicky feeling, but here it was again.

Charlie kissed him on the cheek. "Yeah. Probably." He pulled Nick's jumper off over his head.

Considering it for a moment, Nick felt the panicky feeling subside a little. "I think I'm okay with that. Nervous, but … we'll be okay."

"Yeah."

They hugged again. Really, everything always felt better if he could hug Charlie.

Standing there holding each other, they looked toward the beds. "Since Tao and Isaac are staying in the girls' room tonight, I could … sleep in here?" Charlie fell back onto Nick's bed. "With you?"

Just what he'd hoped for. "Well … in that case, I think you're going to have to move over, 'cause that's my side of the bed."

"Well, I got here first, so …"

"Did you now?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm," Nick said thoughtfully. "Okay." And he launched himself on top of Charlie.

"Nick! You're crushing me!"

"What are you going to do? It's my side!"

"Tickle you. Absolutely yes."

"Don't you dare!"

"Tickle you!"

"We're going to have to fight," Nick declared.

"Okay, we can fight."

So they rolled around on the bed, wrestling and laughing, hitting each other with the pillows, until Charlie pinned Nick's hands to the mattress, leaning over him.

"Do I win?"

"I guess so."

Nick sat up, holding his boyfriend close, and they kissed, lost in the moment.

Then Charlie whispered "Payback" and started kissing Nick's neck.

It felt good. So good. Maybe too good. Nick started to panic a little, remembering the hickey, and realising that they were in bed together, alone, all night, and they had never talked about going further, and he didn't know what Charlie wanted and he wasn't sure he was ready, or if he knew what he wanted …

He could feel himself tensing up, and Charlie must have felt it, too, because he pulled back. "Is this okay?"

"Uh ... yeah."

"That didn't sound very sure."

Nick's first response was to keep his thoughts to himself until he was certain of them, but they had promised to tell each other things just yesterday, so he tried to put at least some of what he was thinking into words. "Sorry, um ... I-I do like it, it's just, um ... I'm ... I'm not sure I'm ready to do anything more than kissing."

"No, I ..." Charlie looked as uncomfortable as Nick felt. "I didn't think we'd do … that right now."

"Oh." Relief filled him, that he hadn't misjudged the situation as far as he'd been afraid he might have.

Charlie climbed off his lap and they lay down on separate pillows.

"I do … I do want to," Nick said, staring up at the ceiling.

"Yeah. Me, too. Eventually."

"Yeah. Same."

Charlie sat up. "And … I'd only want to do it if you did, and if you didn't ever want to do it, then I wouldn't either." Then he shook his head. "That sounded really cheesy."

Nick laughed. It really had.

Crashing face first into the pillow, Charlie groaned. "Oh, I'm so embarrassing!"

Rolling over onto his side, facing Charlie, Nick smiled. "I think we both are, to be honest."

"Why are we like this?"

"I have no idea."

Charlie turned to face him again. "Kissing's still okay, though?"

For answer, Nick cupped Charlie's cheek and leaned forward, kissing him softly.

"I want to stay up all night," Charlie whispered.

"Me, too."

They talked about Charlie slamming the door in Harry's face, and how awesome that had been. They snuggled and laughed about silly things that Nellie did and how much they both missed her. They told each other embarrassing stories about when they were little. Slowly, the laughing faded and the conversation slowed until they were just holding each other, so warm and so comfortable.

Nick woke at some point, holding Charlie in his arms, wondering if he should wake him up so they could really stay up all night, but it was so nice, just like he had dreamed it would be, with Charlie's curls tickling his cheek.

Next time he woke, they had changed places, and Charlie's arm rested lightly on his. And the third time, he was sprawled across Charlie's chest, listening to the steady beat of Charlie's heart beneath his ear.

Morning found them facing each other, arms round one another. Nick smiled as Charlie's eyes opened. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Best night ever?"

"God, yes."

Nick kissed him lightly. Then it was time to get up, and pack, and get ready for Isaac and Tao to come back—but they kept exchanging smiles, unable to let go of what a lovely night that had been.

They went to breakfast hand-in-hand, and Nick didn't even look to see what Ben or Harry or anyone else might think. He was with Charlie, and he was the luckiest person in the world, and he didn't care what anyone thought about it. He posted to Instagram again, the two of them in front of the Arc de Triomphe, with a heart emoji, and he didn't care what anyone thought of that, either.

This time, they sat together on the coach, and Nick slept on Charlie's shoulder half the way home. And if anyone commented on it, he didn't hear them.