Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Twenty-nine-year-old Oliver Spring, forensic scientist, criminologist, PHD candidate and Heartbreak High fan fic connoisseur, stood in front of his childhood home cursing the name of his older brother. Olly usually only came back to Truham for Christmases, weddings and funerals.

But Charlie had to marry a bouncy Golden Retriever of a man, who became a fabulous teacher, who then returned to their old grammar school to mould the offspring of their previous school friends and foes into functioning humans.

Then the aforementioned Golden Retriever Charlie Spring was married to had the genius idea that to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Truham Grammar school, they would invite inspirational ex-pupils to give a series of lectures.

If Nick Nelson were not his brother-in-law, he would have told him to shove his lecture idea in an uncomfortable place, but well, it’s hard not to cave in to the Nelson-Springs when they're on FaceTime, giving you big puppy dog eyes, and angry-cat-who-is-about-to-swipe-your-favourite-mug-off-the-table vibes.

In hindsight, Olly should have stipulated that he would come, but with conditions. Specifically, that he got to stay in Nick and Charlie's spare room, and not his parents' house on Britannia Road. But one of Nick's rugby mates bagsied it first, and if Jane Spring found out that Olly had stayed in a hotel instead of his old bedroom, the situation would be more unbearable than actually staying at the house.

So here he was, suitcase in hand, wondering if he could invent a high-profile crime that he had to go and investigate. He would never wish for someone to be murdered, but a phone call asking him to come and wipe up blood with tiny cotton swabs would be brilliant right about now.

Before he could run back to his car and speed away, the door opened, and there stood his small but feisty sister Tori and her ridiculously tall and cheerful husband Michael.

Michael was also here for the lectures as a Silver medal-winning Olympic speed skater; he was fully qualified to give inspirational pep talks to teenagers.

Olly was also very used to giving lectures, but they were generally about trace evidence analysis and blood splatter patterns, and usually alongside people who had doctor or professor in front of their name. Olly would never diminish Michael's achievements; he knew the kids, parents and alumni who were visiting Truham for all the anniversary celebrations would lap up anything Michael had to say. Olly was more worried that, apart from a few geeky kids who were heavily into STEM subjects, he would not get half as good a reception as Sports stars like Michael, Nick's rugby-playing mate or award-winning film director Tao Xu.

Michael pulled Olly into a big hug, Tori gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and said, “Remember, you are a full-grown independent professional man.”

Olly laughed. If anyone can make a 29-year-old adult with multiple degrees who was used to dealing with horrific crime and criminals daily feel like an 8-year-old idiot who knew nothing about anything, it was Jane Elizabeth Spring. He gave it approximately 15 minutes before he regretted all his life choices, realised he had made a mistake and should have just married his high school girlfriend, settled down in Truham and become a data analyst or a lab tech at the local science institute. He and Molly could have churned out three depressed children exactly like himself and his siblings, and Jane could question all their decisions, too.

He did love his mum, and she loved him. She was, on the whole, a good mum; they had all the physical things they ever needed, they had love and affection, and she supported their chosen careers and partners – or lack thereof. She loved the grandchildren that Nick and Charlie provided them with, and was a good grandma. She just also managed to make her three successful kids worry that they had let not only themselves down, but her as well, in some way or other, on a semi-regular basis.

Jane and Julio Spring appeared behind Michael and Tori, and Olly struggled out of Michael's affectionate embrace to greet them.

Jane hugged her youngest son and then pulled back to get a good look at him. “You look pale; you should get out of that laboratory more.”

Before Olly could respond, his Dad was hugging him and saying, “You look great, it's wonderful to see you, son. Why don't you take your bag upstairs and freshen yourself up, and I'll put the kettle on.”

All praise, Julio Spring, king of tension deflectors. Olly thought as he climbed the stairs to his childhood bedroom.

Ten minutes later, when he had splashed water in his face and given himself a pep talk, he descended the stairs to the living room, where he was surprised to find his brother Charlie sitting on the sofa with Michael and Tori, their parents still in the kitchen.

“Everything ok?” Olly asked.

“Our house has become a Truham rugby team reunion, and I just needed a breather,” Charlie explained.

“You came here for a breather?” Olly said quietly. “Who are you and what have you done with Charles Spring?”

“Well, seeing you, Tori and Michael are here, I thought I'd come and share the angst.”

“Oh my God, Harry Greene isn't there, is he?” Olly enquired.

“God no, according to his Facebook, he is going to be in Dubai. Or in the real world, he wasn't asked to speak, so he decided he wasn't coming to any of the centenary events at all.”

“Even Harry can't think that the current students of Truham want to hear about his convenience store empire,” Tori said. “Just a minute, are you telling me you're friends with Harry on Facebook?”

“Nick is,” Charlie rolled his eyes.

“Well, at least that's one arsehole we don't have to worry about bumping into this week,” Olly said, at the exact time his Mum entered the room with a tray of drinks.

“Oliver, language,” she frowned.

“You had noticed that he is nearly thirty years old?” Tori said, earning herself a scowl to go with the frown.

“I just thought it would be nice for us all to be together,” Charlie said. “If you don't want me here, I can go to Yan’s. Tao should be arriving soon. Marvel have given him permission to show an exclusive clip of the movie.”

Olly manages to let out a cough that sounds very much like the word Hypocrite.

“Just be thankful you are talking on Thursday, not Friday. Somehow, Michael and Otis have got to engage a whole bunch of teenagers who just want to see a 30-second clip of Pedro Pascal and Tom Hiddleston,” Charlie sighed.

“At this point, I think Nick has helped organise this to up his cool credibility points with the students. Are there going to be any people he doesn't know?” Tori pointed out.

“He only knows six of the speakers,” Charlie said defensively.

“Six?” Tori said.

“Yes, us three, Tao, Otis and Christian,.” Charlie said. The final name made Olly's stomach churn with anticipation.

“Aww, he was your favourite when you were little, Olly,” their Dad said in that way parents do, as if you don't remember the events of your own life.

Olly gave Charlie a warning look, but he laughed and said, “Aw, Ol’ you were so cute. If we went anywhere with the rugby lads, you'd shadow him everywhere we went.” Suddenly, Olly felt like he was the eight-year-old who thought Christian McBride was so cool. Or the 12-year-old who realised that he definitely liked boys as well as girls, when Christian came back to Truham one summer during his time at University. Or the 16-year-old who hoped that now he was older, that the boy he liked, who was now a man, might notice him in more than a his mates little brother way. Or the 17-year-old who got drunk at his brother's wedding and kissed the man he'd had a crush on since he was eight years old, who gently pushed him away.

All those childish moments, the memories of the overwhelming crush. The memories of attraction, affection and rejection that Olly never quite got rid of from the back of his mind.

Unlike his brother, who shrank and tried to disappear, Olly went the opposite way and entered what he now called his Bratty ho’ era. He earned an interesting reputation in his last year at Truham. When he left for UCL to start his degree, he went crazy and lived the full-on irresponsible freshers' life, and stuck his penis in any available orifice until he caught something itchy and had to take two courses of antibiotics to get rid of it.

After that, he became a little more discerning and a lot more strict about condoms and dental dams. He started on PrEP, got tested regularly, and entered his Bratty, yet responsible ho’ era.

Olly had had short-term girlfriends and boyfriends and one genderfluid partner, but no one made his insides go all mushy and his heart beat so hard he thought he might be having an infarction like Christian McBride. He fancied people; he often saw beautiful people he wanted to fuck. Rarely did he want to snuggle up with them and do domestic shit; Christian was the only person he could ever imagine doing something like going to a garden centre with, or brunch, and actually not thinking it was lame.

As far as all his closest friends were concerned, he was aromantic. He didn’t get the continuous crushes and flirtations, jumping from being in love with one person to another, hunting for the one. Maybe it was because he’d found his one, but in this case, one and one didn’t make two. It made one and another one. It was an inconsistent equation, and it didn't add up for Olly.

His brother's embarrassing crush on a presumably straight rugby lad had worked out well, but unfortunately, lightning doesn't strike twice.

Chapter Text

Nick Nelson, Otis Smith, Sai Verma and Christian McBride sat in the living room of the terrace house belonging to the Spring-Nelsons. Otis and Sai were currently battling it out on Rainbow Road. On the coffee table sat a decent amount of snack foods and a few empty beer cans.

This was the first time the high school rugby teammates have been together since Sai’s wedding to Amanda four years ago. Nick and Sai saw each other regularly; they both moved back to live in Truham after graduating from university and played in the same Saturday league rugby team. Sai ran his own accounting firm, and Nick was a French teacher and head of Year 7 at the now combined Truham and Higgs Grammar School.

Otis, however, had taken his rugby playing to another level and had played professionally for the Leeds Badgers RFC until he retired from the game aged 32. He was now a popular pundit for BBC Sport, not just talking about rugby, but also presenting Olympics coverage. Not to mention the one time he was a guest presenter for the BBC evening talk show The One Show, when he caused quite a stir by flirting heavily whilst interviewing Florence Pugh. His co-presenter, ex-footballer Alex Scott, had asked Florence about the movie director Tao Xu and his reputation for being strict and grumpy, and both Florence and Otis had laughed.

Florence said that Tao was a pussycat, and Otis had told a hilarious story about how Tao had directed him in a school play when they were 15. After the show, Otis received a strongly worded DM from Tao about how he was a serious filmmaker.

Then there was Christian, always the slightly odd one out from the Gang of Four, not built like a typical rugby player, and not as talkative or outgoing as his friends. He had expanded on his childhood obsession for building amazing things out of Lego by becoming an award-winning architect. He had designed eco-friendly homes and offices that were sympathetic to their surroundings, which ended up being built around the world. Alongside this, he gave lectures on the need for architecture to not only be environmentally friendly in a save-the-planet sense, but also in helping communities thrive. He was an advocate for the fact that architecture can make or break communities and how well-being is strongly linked to the buildings people live and work in.

But at this moment, they were just the same four boys they had been at sixteen, throwing friendly insults at one another over a computer game, talking about sports, and just being the lads.

“Where did Charlie go?” Sai asked, eventually noticing the absence of Nick's husband.

“He's gone to drop the kids at Mum's, then he's going to Britannia Road. Olly is getting in this afternoon, and he wanted to have some time with him and Tori,” Nick told them.

“Either that or he was fed up with us shouting at the telly,” Otis laughed.

“So is Olly speaking this week?” Christian asked, trying not to sound like he was fishing for information. He wasn’t fishing for information. Olly had been a cool kid; he’d grown up to be a cool adult, as far as Christian could tell from what he’d read and what he’d seen on social media, and the couple of times he'd seen him in the last ten years.

“Yeah, he has some fascinating forensic science stories to tell; he’s even agreed to do a workshop for some of the year 13’s,” Nick sounded proud of his brother-in-law.

Christian took a breath, “He’s done so well.”

“I do worry about him though,” Nick added. “I know not all people are
me and Charlie, but I worry that he’s lonely.”

“Do you worry that Chris and I are lonely?” Otis asked.

“Yes,” Nick said bluntly. “I know it’s probably a me thing, I can’t imagine being alone, but I guess that's because I never have been.”

“Well, I may be single, but I’m never lonely, so you can strike me off your worry list. I love my life,” Otis pointed out, “and I think Chris feels the same.”

The three men turned and looked at Christian.

“Oh, um, I’m fine,” was all he could manage to get out.

“Well, that was convincing,” Sai put down his switch controller.

“People are tricky,” Christian sighs, “and I am the trickiest of all. I'm not like you guys. I don't fall in love that easily, and I wouldn’t just jump into bed with Florence Pugh at the drop of a hat, even if given the opportunity.”

“I did not sleep with Flo, whatever the tabloids say, we’re just mates that bonded over the trauma of being directed by Tao,” Otis laughed.

Nick's face morphed into its serious I care look that made him such a good teacher, but made Christian want to run and hide at this moment in time. “ Do you think that maybe you’re on the ace spectrum?” He prompted.

“I'm not like Isaac, if that’s what you mean. I’ve liked people, I’ve dated, I find some people very attractive,” Christian says defensively.

“Yeah,” Sai said, “you remember the six months of why does Tara Jones have to be a lesbian? And the summer after Megan turned out to be a heartless bitch.”

“That’s why I said spectrum. Isaac is at one end of the ace spectrum. Have you heard of Demisexuality?”

“Is that where you are only attracted to people after you get to know them?” Sai asked. “That makes sense.”

“Is there a term for finding people sexy but not really wanting to follow through unless I get to know them?” Christian asked curiously.

“Probably,” Nick said. “Isaac would probably be able to tell you, we live in a minefield of micro-labels. But you don't have to label yourself if you don't want to. Some people find it useful, though.”

One part of Christians brain told him this would be a good time to tell his friends that he wasn't as straight as he and everyone else had thought he was. But another part of his brain told him it was unnecessary. He remembered Nick once saying that he didn't owe anybody an explanation of his sexuality, and that's really how he felt. It was nobody's business but his.

Christian had been nearly 25 years old before he even considered that he might not be completely straight. Before then, he had had his legendary –amongst his mates –crush on Tara Jones, and his three-month year 13 relationship with Erica Donaldson, during which they never got past chaste kisses. Then halfway through his first year at uni, he had met Megan, and he had thought that was it. He'd found his person. The Nick to his Charlie, the Tara to his Darcy. In hindsight, that was bollocks. He'd found someone who could put up with his eccentricities and didn't trigger him in any way, and she, well, he still wasn't sure what she had got out of it. He thought everything was fine and they would be together after graduation, but she didn’t think that at all and was surprised that he didn't already know. After final exams, she said thanks for the memories, moved to Australia, and married a guy called Wayne.

Christian kind of resented the time he felt he had wasted with her, more than the fact that she had left. He thought it was something it was not. No one really can explain what love is, and he now knows he totally misunderstood.

Otis and Sai had always talked about the girls they had dated at uni, and all the places they went. Christian thought he was going to be more like Nick, finding young love and being together forever, when actually neither of them wanted to be alone, and the other person was the least objectionable person around.

Maybe he should thank Megan. Maybe if he had been single throughout university, he might not have graduated at the top of his class and walked into a job at Asher, Murphy and Steele.

He hadn't stayed with the company long, but he had learned a lot there about how the industry worked, and how the older architects had very little care for the environment, or the principled woke ideas of the young and recently qualified. He learned how not to do it, then moved on to do his MA, and took that experience into his future practice.

It was at this point, just before he started his MA, on a sunny evening in September, that Christian first kissed a boy. Or, more accurately, the first time a boy kissed him.

Nick and Charlie didn’t want to choose a best man from their friends, so Sai, Otis, Christian and Tara stood on Nick's side of the aisle and Tao, Elle, Isaac and Darcy on Charlie's. Tao made a speech on behalf of all their best people, with extra special gay heckling by Darcy, and tears from Isaac and Elle.

It had been a lovely day until the moment that Oliver Spring made Christian doubt his heterosexuality by kissing him.

Christian had always been a little protective of Charlie's younger brother. Being a younger sibling himself, he was hyper aware of the young boy trailing around after them, and tried to include him whenever he was amongst the older lads. So he naturally noticed that Olly, who was seventeen years old at the time, had had more than a few glasses of wine with dinner, and a few extra sneaky drinks bought for him by Sai and Nick's older brother David.

So when Christian spotted the teenager sitting outside, slumped on a bench, looking tipsy and sad, he approached and sat next to him and asked if he was ok.

Olly had just hummed in response.

“Celebrated a bit too much?” Chris asked.

“Do you think I'll ever have what Nick and Charlie have?” Olly asked him.

“You're a bit young to be maudlin about marriage,” Chris said, patting Olly on the shoulder. "Very few people are lucky enough to find whatever it is Nick and Charlie have, but you'll find your own thing. I thought you had a girlfriend?”

“We broke up. There's someone I like quite a lot, and it kind of seemed pointless and unfair to her,” Olly confessed.

“Well done for realising that,” Christian affirmed Olly's decision. “So why don't you go for it with the person you like?”

“Um – well.”

“You'll never know if you don't try,” Christian reassured the young man and the next thing he knew Olly's hands were on his face, and he was being kissed.

Initially, it was a shock; it was so unexpected. No one had ever kissed him; he had always been the one doing the kissing. That was the first thought. Then, he is only seventeen, he's my friend's kid brother. Then, this is a boy, I'm kissing a boy.

He had gently pushed Olly back with his hands on his arms. He can't really remember exactly what it was he said. He does know that the words "I'm sorry” were in there.

Olly had said, “You were right, now I know,” and stood up and went back into the wedding.

Chapter Text

Christian sat on the bench for an unknown amount of time, a million thoughts exploding in his already full brain. Olly had a crush on him. Olly had kissed him. But Olly was Charlie‘s brother. He’d known him since he was a little kid. Olly was still just a kid; he was a kid with a crush. Like the one Christian himself had had on Tara. Poor Olly, crushes suck.

What should Christian do? Should he tell Nick and Charlie so they can comfort Olly through his unrequited crush? Then he remembered how much ribbing he had gotten from the lads over his crush on Tara. Maybe he should leave it be.

Olly was young; he would get over it, he would find his way.

He was a boy, Christian touched his lips, a boy had kissed him. Olly had kissed him. What would Nick and Charlie say if they found out about the kiss? Would they think he had taken advantage of the situation? Olly was so young. He was only a kid.

He was a boy.

Christian sat stewing over all the implications, all the thoughts he could possibly think. All the thoughts everyone else could possibly think. He sat until Nick came and sat next to him and asked him if he was alright.

Christian just hummed, like an echo of Olly when Christian had asked a similar question not that long ago.

“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” Nick said.

“Are you not enjoying it?” Christian turned to his friend with concern.

“It’s the second-best day of my life.” Nick beamed the biggest smile Christian had ever seen on anyone’s face, “but it’s still a fucking lot. My advice is that when you get married, invite twenty people to a register office and then go to the pub.”

“You say that as if you know I will get married one day.”

“Do you think you won’t?”

“At this exact moment, I have no idea what I think of anything,” Christian told his friend honestly. “I don’t think I’ll ever have what you and Charlie have, but I don’t think many people do. I hope you realise how rare it is, what you have found.”

“I do know how lucky I am.”

Christian gave himself a little shake, “Oh my god, this is meant to be a celebration.”

“Yeah, how dare you be introspective at my wedding!” Nick nudged his shoulder against Christian’s shoulder.

Christian stood up, “Let’s go back inside and find your husband.” He smiled at Nick. “Fucking hell, Nick, you’re someone’s husband.”

💜💜💜

The next time Christian saw Olly was three years later at Tara and Darcy's wedding. It was a much less formal affair than Nick and Charlie's big day. No sit-down meal, just food trucks and a DJ. Everyone was dressed smartly, but no ties, just casual suits and summer dresses.

Christian almost cried when he saw the first girl he thought he had loved, standing at the front of the room in a pale pink dress with roses intertwined in her braided hair. She was so beautiful. Darcy stood opposite her in a white suit with Nick by their side as best man. The look on both of their faces made his heart hurt.

Love was just an amazing thing.

Christian’s heart gave another swooping ache when he glanced across the aisle as Michael shifted back in his chair; Olly was there. His hair was longer than it ever had been. He looked like the student life was treating him well.

As the ceremony came to a close, they all headed for the bar to congratulate the Happy Couple.

As he stepped out onto the grass, he turned to see if he could see Otis, and Olly was just standing there behind him, looking a little befuddled.

“Hiya, Ol’ “ Christian said.

“Hi,” Olly replied cautiously.

They stood and just stared for a moment, both of them thinking that the last time they saw each other, they had touched lips, they had kissed. Olly had kissed him.

Christian finally found his voice, “So you might know this, what's a non-binary bride or groom called?”

Olly looked relieved. “Good question,” he said. “I don't think there is one.”

“So who are we going to toast to when they do the speeches?”

“Maybe just Newlyweds,” Olly suggested.

“That's a bit boring for Darcy. I thought they'd have some cheeky hip enby nickname, an amalgamation of Bride and Groom or something.”

“What, like Gride or Broom?” Olly let out a laugh, and Christian saw the younger man's shoulders relax a bit.

“OK, yes, that would be ridiculous.” Christian shook his head.

“But then Darcy is quite ridiculous. So don't rule it out,” Olly laughed again.

Christian was about to ask Olly about university or some other lame thing to fill the silence when the younger man just blurted out, “I’m sorry about what happened at Nick and Charlie's wedding.”

“You don't have to be sorry. I'm sorry. I was just surprised, I didn't know that you–. I'm not the sort of person people usually–” Chris sighed, ” it's fine, don't worry about it. How's uni?”

“Oh, ok. Uni is fine. How is it being a working stiff?”

“More money, less time. I'm working with a team designing a new sports science building for Leeds University.”

“Are you going to call it the Nick Nelson Building?” Olly suggested, “After their most famous student.”

Christian laughed, feeling the tension release. He hadn't realised that he had been worried about Olly all this time until he felt the relief of knowing he was ok. Until he'd heard him laugh and seen him smile.

💜💜💜

After Tara's mum did a speech that made everyone cry, followed by Darcy making everyone laugh, and Nick making everyone cry again, all the rugby lads, plus Charlie, Olly and Sai's new girlfriend Amanda, found themselves seated at a picnic table with a huge amount of pizza and a couple of pitchers of worryingly brightly coloured alcoholic beverages as requested by Darcy.

Otis kept everyone laughing, telling tales of life touring with The Badgers. The focus of his stories mostly centred around his extravagant Aussie teammate, Danny Turner, and the shenanigans they got up to on and off the rugby pitch.

Nick also entertained them with amusing stories from his first year back at Truham-Higgs. Christian found it bizarre to think of his friend walking those halls as anything other than a teenager in a uniform trying to do his maths homework in the corridor on the way to class.

After a while Chris found himself oddly aware of Olly sat opposite him, laughing at the older friend groups antics, occasionally chipping in with his own university experiences, the things his housemates Oscar and Bailey got up to, and commenting on how if Oscar, Darcy and Danny Turner were ever in the same place at the same time, it would probably break the space time continuum.

Christian tried to tell himself that he had always been hyper-aware of the now 20-year-old's presence. Always making sure he was being taken care of and not left behind. But now it somehow felt different; he found his mind drifting to the memory of Olly’s soft lips connecting with his own. Christian tried to tell himself that this was because he felt guilty for how he had handled the then teenagers' crush on him, but even that didn’t ring true, if he was completely honest with himself. But he wasn’t going to be completely honest with himself about this. Not now.

And not for the next few weeks when he found his thoughts drifting to the sparkle in the young man’s warm brown eyes or the shape of his hands as he pushed his long hair out of his eyes.

And he definitely never thought about the way Oliver Spring looked later that night, his slender body moving to the music as he twirled Tara on the dance floor. The feeling Christian had at that point was almost definitely the residual effects of his old crush on Tara Jones, not anything at all to do with Charlie Springs' younger brother.

💜💜💜

Olly had seriously thought he was over it. He had screwed his way around UCL and totally got the idea of ever being with Christian McBride out of his system.

However, as soon as he saw the neatly parted light brown hair his heart rate increased, his stomach did a little flip, and he considered just legging it out of the beautiful orangery they were currently sat in, even if they were in the middle of a beautiful wedding ceremony.

Then Christian turned and spotted him. He had been attempting to sneak away but had been caught in the act and was now faced with having to make polite conversation. This was made all the worse by the older man looking better than ever.

Christian had filled out a little; he still wasn't rugby-player-shaped like Nick or Otis, but Olly would bet money that underneath the blue button-down shirt, Christian had gained some rather attractive definition.

He had been on the verge of drooling at that thought when Christian had broken the silence. It had felt weirdly normal. Olly's crush was still kind and funny, and the younger man was still completely and utterly gone.

They had gone to the bar and Christian had bought him a pint. Otis joined them and they watched all the other guests crowd around the newlyweds congratulating them, deciding to hold back and give the young couple a small amount of space. For the first time with any of Charlie's friends, Olly had felt more like a grown up, and not a little boy.

He felt a glimmer of hope as Christian smiled at him, which he had to stamp down hard on. They may be on a more equal footing now, but Christian would always be eight years older. He would always be Nick and Charlie's friend, not his, and he will always be straight.

Straight men were so disappointing. If this were any other group of people Olly would have considered putting on his brattiest attitude and tried to make the straight guys blush.

It had got him into trouble once or twice, but it had also gotten him experimentally laid a couple of times too; but however gay this wedding was, this was not the time or the place.

Olly was actually quite proud of the way he was holding it together after the flood of emotions that had come back to him. He was still holding on to a shit load of embarrassment, and he knew that Christian was just being his usual attentive, kind and friendly self. Olly drank enough of Darcy's brightly coloured cocktails to lose some of his inhibitions, but not enough to do anything embarrassing like at Nick and Charlie's wedding. After the newlyweds had had a few dances, he saw his escape route and had cut in and swing danced with Tara, until their new spouse had started to frown at him for hogging their bride and he had to let her go.

Early in their dancing he had spotted Christian leaning at the bar watching. Olly had tried not to keep looking, but every time he swung Tara round, there he was smiling at them.

Olly guessed it was inevitable they would have an audience. He and Tara were putting on a show after all. Everyone knew Christian had had a huge crush on Tara when they had been at school, so he was probably standing there contemplating what might have been – had Tara not been a complete lesbian that is.

After the wedding Olly had gone back to UCL and thrown himself into his studies like never before. Getting drunk and fucking strangers hadn’t helped, so maybe filling his brain with crime statistics and forensic processes would.

Chapter Text

Just after his 30th birthday, Christian had been invited to help design a building in Chicago. It was very exciting for a boy from Truham, even if most of the work had been done in his home office, which doubled up as a guest room in Manchester.

Chris’ old line manager from Asher, Murphy and Steele was lead on the project and had remembered Christian's enthusiasm for environmental buildings, and had called him in to consult. None of them thought he would ever step foot anywhere near Chicago, but the client had loved Chris’ plans so much that he had flown him out for a couple of months at the start of construction to supervise some elements, and make sure all the materials met the best environmental and ethical standards.

Chicago was where Christian met Evan Riley. Riley was the project manager on the build, ten years older than Christian but very young at heart. After a couple of weeks Riley had started inviting Christian out with his friend group. After a couple more weeks Riley had made it very clear that he thought Christian was hot – he wasn’t coy about it. He came straight out with it, they had been walking between the site and a bar one Friday evening and Riley had just casually said.

“I know you’re probably straight, and will be going back to the UK when your contract ends, but I think yore really hot and was wondering if at some point while you're re in town you’d like to fuck me.”

Christian's brain froze for a minute, mostly because the first answer that had jumped into his head was “ok.”

He stopped walking and looked at the man next to him. Riley had stopped too, the look on his face saying shit. I can’t believe I just said that out loud.

Christian’s surprise in himself increased further when the word that came out of his mouth was “When?”

Riley’s facial expression quickly changed from concern to the brightest smile Chris had ever seen. It made the architect's stomach swoop. Then he also pulled the I can’t believe I said that out loud face and spluttered out “but– I never have– not before – not with a man – I kissed a boy once, well he kissed me–“

As Christian continued to ramble, Riley’s smile continued to grow. Christian saw him glance around them, and then Riley stepped forward and put his hands on Christians face in exactly the same way Olly had five or so years earlier. He said “I can’t believe how cute you are,” and placed a kiss on the younger man’s lips.

Christian closed his eyes and leant into the kiss, he could feel his heart thudding louder than he thought it ever had. When Riley pulled away he stood for a moment, eyes closed until he was snapped back to reality when the other man let out a chuckle. “Let’s go for that drink.” Riley said. He touched Christian’s hand with his but didn’t take hold of it, they just walked side by side, the backs of their hands occasionally brushing, until they reached the bar where Riley’s friends were waiting for them.

Riley bought them both drinks, even though Christian argued that he could buy his own. They knew where Riley’s friends were before they saw them. They heard the loud Bostonian accent of Riley’s best friend, Margot. They were in the middle of a story about the time they had gone on a creepy cruise when they had first moved to the city and how their then girlfriend had been scared and they had been trapped with a crying woman on a boat for an hour and a half.

As they sat at the table, Christian was suddenly struck by how much Margot reminded him of Darcy, in fact the whole group reminded him quite heavily of the Paris squad. A bunch of borderline outcasts as he knew Tao referred to them, like the gang from back home they were mostly creatives, mostly queer and totally supportive of the whole friend groups individual quirks, differences and idiosyncrasies .

They all welcomed him like he had been their friend for a significantly longer time, asking him about work and if he had heard spoken to his friends and family back home. They were all completely enamoured by what they called his British accent, each of them guaranteed at some point in the evening to try and impersonate it, with differing degrees of success.

After a while Margot and her girlfriend Hannah suggested that they go across to a bar they like in Northalsted. Riley leant in and explained to Christian about the bustling LGBTQ+ neighbourhood, and said it was fine if Christian didn’t want to go somewhere quite that gay.

Christian looked into the hopeful green eyes. He wasn’t sure if they were hopeful that he would say yes let’s go Gay it up, or no let’s skip it and go back to his apartment. He finally decided to say “What would you like to do? I’m totally up for more drinking but–“

They were interrupted by Margot bounding over “Come on Christian. Come dance with us, we’ll show you the gayest thing your little straight British boy heart has ever seen.”

Riley raised his eyebrows questioningly at him.

“I dunno, my friend Darcy held a Lady Gaga Karaoke extravaganza after Rochester Pride one year. That got very gay. My best mate Nick got talked into wearing tiny glittery hot pants, and all the rugby lads sang a rather raucous rendition of Bad Romance.” Christian watched their faces change as he spoke.

“Oh my god. I may have misjudged you.” Margot squealed then turned to Riley “Maybe I was wrong, you might get your man after all.”

Riley gave Christian a wink as he stood up, “Come on McBride.” He nodded his head towards the door. “Let’s go dancing”

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Christian had expected Northalsted on a Friday night to be crazy and it was, but fortunately being attached to a group of older queers meant that had the experience to lead him through the streets to a bar that suited their slightly more mature temperaments.

The bar may have been relatively calm but the walk through the streets from the “L” had made Darcy’s Lady Gaga party seem very tame and kind of heterosexual. On the walk Christian kept pausing to take photos of the architecture, the rainbow pylons and multiple sequin dressed drag queens. That was until his new friends started calling him a tourist and dragging him away.

When they got to the bar, Riley went up to the bar with Margot while Christian took his phone back out and sent half the photos he had taken to Darcy, even though he hadn’t spoken to them or Tara in months.

Darcy
Where the fuck are you and why am I not there with you?

Was the very predictable response.

Christian
In Chicago - thought I’d get myself some new gays while I was out here, my old ones were getting stale.

Christian got the Chicago squad to pose for a photo for him to send, holding the ridiculous cocktails Margo had bought them all, the colours of which even Darcy would never have imagined.

Darcy
New Gays!!!!?
A gay is for life not just for high school McBride. You can’t just trade us in for younger models.

Christian
Older models actually.
Literally Darce, my first thought when we got off the L and I saw all the rainbows was you. It's like your spiritual home.
I shall fly you out one day.

Darcy
I find it hard to believe that you’re hanging out in the windy city and only thinking of me.

ps. James says if he was sat next to the hotty in blue like that he would happily never think of me again.

Christian contemplated doing something else weirdly out of character by replying with a message telling James to fuck off and get his own hot builder or just a blunt he wants me to fuck him later. He could clearly imagine Darcy’s squeal of gay joy. He would probably hear it from the other side of the Atlantic.

But one kiss two kisses with men does not make someone gay.

Does it?

If he went home with Riley, would that make him gay? Then he thought of Nick and silently apologised to his friend for the bisexual erasure.

Bisexual.

That was probably more like it.

If he went home with Riley would that make him bisexual?

He remembered Isaac once saying that sexuality was about attraction not action.

Was he sexually attracted to Riley?

He had to be didn’t he? Why else would he have stumbled over his words and then agreed to some kind of fucking in the near future. His body had definitely responded to the idea.

He had felt such a rush when Riley had held his face and kissed him, his heart had beat faster, his pants felt a little tighter, the blood had rushed to his face and other extremities and made him feel a little squirly. The only other time he had felt like that had been when he had been sat on the bench at Nick and Charlie’s wedding. But that hadn't been attraction, that had been surprise, embarrassment and guilt.

He searched his thoughts, was that what he was feeling now? He supposed he had been surprised, maybe a little embarrassed at having to say that he had never been with a man before, but he didn’t feel guilty now. The guilt had been because of who Olly was, not because he was a man.

“Are you still with us?” Riley interrupted his thoughts, placing a large gentle hand on Christian's knee.

“Oh god, yeah, sorry I got lost in my own thoughts for a moment,” Christian instinctively moved closer to the larger man’s side “I’m back now.”

“This isn’t because of what I proposed, is it? Because there is no pressure. I like being just your friend. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I'm not usually the sort of person who proposes stuff like that out of the blue, but I'm kind of aware there is a time limit on you being here so I kind of went for it,and now I'm doubting myself.”

Christian placed his hand over the one on his knee. “I’m not freaking out. I am having a lot of thoughts, but I'm not questioning my response to your proposal. It’s something I really think we should do.”

Riley visibly relaxed. “What are your plans for tomorrow?”

Christian looked down at the brightly coloured cocktail in his hand. “Probably being hungover.”

“How about a hangover-curing brunch followed by an adventure?” Riley proposed.

“Are you asking me on a date?” Christian responded with surprise.

“Why do you sound more shocked at that than when I asked you to fuck me?” Riley leaned in and said quietly, so his friends were less likely to hear.

“What sort of adventure?” Christian asked with a curious tone.

“One that ends at my place.”

Chapter Text

At the same time Christian was building relationships and actual buildings in Chicago, Olly was graduating. His first class BSc in Criminology and Forensic Sciences had earned him a place on a Masters course at Kings College London. He, Oscar and Bailey had already moved into a rather questionable looking flat with tiny bedrooms in Lambeth in preparation for his academic future, Bailey's new job and Oscar's pending unemployment.

Olly's Mum, Dad, siblings and their significant others all came into London to see him graduate, the whole family stayed in the city that night and took Olly out for a slap up meal at one of their favourite Spanish restaurants.

To everyone’s surprise - probably even her own- Jane had been on her best behaviour, actually so proud of her youngest son's achievements that she couldn’t find anything to be critical about.

After dinner, Jane and Julio went back to their hotel and left the Nelson-Springs and the Holdens to join Olly and his friends at a nice pub they had found close to their new home,

Oscar and Bailey were regaling everyone with a story from their first year living in the halls of residence, where Olly had gone on a misguided alcohol fuelled adventure in one of the chemistry labs dressed in full drag. Oscar was convinced that the only reason Olly got to finish his degree is that no one figured out that the glamorous yet tipsy Honey Velvetaire was actually Olly Spring.

The story had made Nick and Michael guffaw loudly, and Tori and Charlie exchange side glances that they would both be horrified to know were reminiscent of their mother.

“Oh my god, that reminds me,” Nick said, as he had scrabbled for his phone. He scrolled through the device and, after a period of suspense and hope that whatever he was going to show them was worth the wait, he passed the phone to Olly, who had to stop himself from dropping it when he saw that he was looking at Christian's Instagram.

There he is Christian McBride, his Christian, a huge beaming smile on his face. He is with two drag queens, one sitting on each of his knees with one of them planting a big smacker of a kiss on his cheek.

Tori leans over and inspects the image too. “What on earth…?!” she exclaimed, verbalising Olly's thoughts exactly.

“Apparently he is enjoying Chicago.” Nick laughed.

“I’m less confused by the multiple drag queens than I am by the fact that he doesn’t look at all uncomfortable,” Charlie pointed out. “In my experience Christian has looked continuously uncomfortable in one way or another for the past fifteen years, so why is he suddenly glowing with confidence thousands of miles from home with Batty Davis and Judith Priest sat on his knees?”

“He has to be getting shagged,” Oscar said loudly. “I don't know him, but generally when awkward people get confident it’s because they’re getting fucked by someone who knows what they are doing.”

Everyone who does know Christian laughed awkwardly at the thought of that. They had all witnessed Christian's long embarrassing crush on Tara and his pointless relationship with Megan. Everyone laughed, except Olly that is. He wasn’t laughing. His heart had dropped heavily into his stomach, making him regret every mouthful of tapas and every swig of beer that he had had that day.

He had always known he didn’t stand a chance, at least since the ill thought out kiss at his brother's wedding. But Olly had kept holding on to a stupid glimmer of hope. While Christian stayed single he could kid himself in to– He honestly didn’t know what he had kidded himself into. Olly had learned every facial expression that face could give over the years, and the one in the photo was happiness.

He took Nick's phone and scrolled back through the Instagram account.

Christian giving off sexy architect leaning over some plans.

Christian wearing a hard hat and a suit on a building site.

Christian on the same building site laughing with a group of buff-looking builders.

Christian stood outside a building pointing at it with a face full of nerdy joy

Christian in another bar in the middle of a big group hug with a collection of cool looking people holding up a rainbow of cocktails.

In every photo Olly's crush had a twinkle in his eyes that none of them had witnessed before. He tried to be nonchalant as he handed Nick's phone back. “I think Oscar is right. Chris is sowing his wild oats in the Windy City,” He laughed a laugh that he hoped sounded light, even though he felt like his body was weighed down with lead.

He kept his forced smile until the conversation moved on, then Olly made an excuse to go to the bathroom. He went into the cubicle, locked the door, sat on the closed lid of the toilet, put his head in his hands and produced deep sobs of disappointment.

He didn’t know how long it had been until he heard the bathroom door open and Bailey’s voice say his name.

“I’m okay,” Olly responded, scrubbing at his face with the sleeves of his jumper, “Just one beer too many, I’ll be out in a minute.”

He heard his friend sigh “The drag queen guy is the high school unrequited love guy, isn’t he?”

Olly didn’t ask how Bailey knew, even though he had never been told. He just stood up and unlocked the cubicle door. He knew he must look like a pitiful sight, with his eyes all red and his hair all disheveled.

Bailey opened his arms and Olly stepped forward and fell into his friend.

🫂🫂🫂

3979 miles away as predicted by Oscar Zhang, Christian McBride was getting shagged, or to be more accurate he was doing the shagging.

The morning after their first trip to the bars of Northalsted, Christian answered the door to a beautiful green eyed man on his doorstep with a smile and a large cup of coffee. He had been whisked away to brunch and then pushed onto a train to Oak Park.

Riley had totally wooed him. He had taken in everything Christian had said to him and the overwhelmed British lad had found himself on a tour of the home and studio of one of his architect heroes – Frank Lloyd Wright. He found himself chatting without any self-consciousness to Riley about the sloping roofs, horizontal lines, geometric stained glass windows and strong connections with nature that he found so inspiring.

He had gone full on architecture nerd and Riley had just listened with an interested smile and asked all the right questions until they had found themselves on the Green line train towards where Riley lived in West Loop.

They had got off at Morgan and took a walk, neither of them verbalised the plan, but Riley had given him plenty of opportunities to back out and go back to his own lodgings.

Christian didn’t want to go back. He really wanted to find out what it was like to be held by this man. To be kissed by him. He then had a slight panic that he didn’t really know what came next. Well he did, he wasn’t stupid. There were hands and mouths and touching.

Riley had said he wanted Christian to fuck him. Did he mean that literally? Did he want Christian to bend him over and….

“You’re blushing.” Riley’s words interrupted his spiral.

Christian blushed a little bit more.

“What were you thinking?”

“Are we going back to yours?”

“If that’s still what you want.”

“It is.”

“Well can your face save some blood for other parts of your body, that might need it” Riley laughed.

“Oh for fucks sake.” Christian gasped, going a shade of red that was usually only reserved for people with Nick Nelson's colouring.

“Exactly!“ Riley responded, stopping outside a red brick building. “This is me,” he added.

As with all buildings, Christian had given it a good inspection. It had obviously once been an industrial structure, it had beautifully large windows and he couldn’t wait to see the light that came in when he got inside.

“Should I be worried that you seemed to be turned on by the building more than me?”

“It’s a sexy building.”

Riley took Christian’s hand and pulled him in close. “Come inside, you can admire the palladian window in my living room whilst I suck you off.”

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

After that Christian really only went back to his Airbnb to pick up clean underwear. He spent the remainder of his time in Chicago sleeping in the ridiculously large bed in Riley’s loft apartment, moaning about the illogical top sheet situation. Coming home from work together of an evening and sitting in the open plan living space staring out the sexy palladian window – that if Christian was honest really did turn him on quite a lot, and not just because of the spectacular blow job he had received the first time he had seen it.

Suddenly he really understood why his mates were always on about sex, it was great. Riley had steered him in all the right directions. They spent so much time just lazing around touching one another, they had laughed so much. It was like having a best friend and then something even better than that.

It made Christian really realise how naive he had been about his relationship with Megan. Sex had been so serious, he was a little worried now that she had just done it because she thought that was what you are meant to do because to be honest he now thought that was why he had done it too.

The other thing he had thought about was Oliver Spring. A picture of Olly had shown up on Charlie’s Instagram, all grown up in a suit and his graduation robes, a big proud, cheese eating grin plastered across his angular face.

Christian had been sitting on the sofa wearing nothing but Riley’s huge bathrobe, waiting for the bathroom to be free and scrolling on his phone when the photo came up on his feed. A bolt of some unexplainable feeling shot through Christian's body. It wasn’t pain, it wasn’t anxiety or nausea but it was akin to all of them.

What was that? Was he still feeling shame about the kiss?

No. He had been through that over and over.

Olly looked good.

He absentmindedly ran his thumb over the image.

“Bathrooms free,” Riley leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed the top of Christians head. “Oh, who’s that? He’s cute," he asked, as he spotted the image.

“Oh, just my mate's kid brother graduating. God that makes me feel old.”

He had held out for the whole day, his mind drifting back to the image but he got on with his work, then after a day on site he and Riley had met Margot and Hannah for dinner at The Girl and Goat. But when he got back to the loft and was boiling the kettle he’d bought for tea, he found himself going to Charlie’s Instagram and following the tag through to Olly’s account.

There were lots more photos of the graduation. Olly had got a first. Christian felt a burst of pride at that news. There were photos of Olly with Nick and Charlie, with Tori and Michael and with the smiling Spring parents in a restaurant. Then what was obviously a messy evening of beers afterwards. Olly looked emotional and a bit red eyed in a few of them.

Christian hoped that it was just end of an era, graduation day emotion. He hoped the younger man was as happy as he looked in the photos from earlier in the day.

Riley’s arms encircled his waist and Christian felt soft full lips touch his neck. He had to hold back from quickly shutting his phone in a suspicious manner as if he was doing something wrong. He didn’t have time to inspect that impulse until later though, because large hands were turning him around and pushing him against the kitchen counter and his phone was placed face down next to the boiling kettle.

✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️

Leaving Chicago was hard. Christian loved the city, he loved his new friends, he loved the life he had been living there and he loved Riley. The two months he had lived in the loft with the other man made him feel freer to be himself than he ever had.

A week before Christian was due to fly back to the UK they had sat curled up together on the large sectional sofa in front of the sexy palladian window, and had talked late into the night about their feelings. About the last couple of months, about their time together. About being nearly four thousand miles from home. About Christian's sexuality and how he wasn't sure he was ready to label himself.

They both had enjoyed the last two months so much, but eventually with a sense of relief from both of them they came to the agreement that they loved each other but we’re not in love with each other, however much fun it had been this was not what either of them wanted to do forever.

So on the second of September Riley went with him to O’Hare international Airport and they stood in a tight embrace until the very last moment, before the younger man had to embark on his journey.

“Thank you.” Christian whispered into his friend's neck. “Thank you for helping me find myself.”

“You weren’t lost.” Riley said as he pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “You just weren’t paying attention to where you were going.”

The larger man placed a firm kiss on Christians lips, said, “see ya McBride,” then turned and walked away.

Christian knew going home was right but he boarded the flight with tears in his eyes and by the time the plane took off they were rolling down his cheeks with abandon.

Chapter Text

Darcy Olsson was in an ADHD induced baking nightmare. They had decided that because Nick made a cake for everyone else’s birthday, that he deserved one in return. Unfortunately – unlike Nick – Darcy was not a seasoned baker and their brain was not focused at all, so the kitchen was upside down, covered in ingredients and the resulting soggy bottomed cake.

They were trying to remove the second sponge from the pan it was stuck in, contemplating how much Tara was going to either laugh or shout at them when she got home from work and saw the crime scene kitchen, when the doorbell went.

They wiped their hands on their Gayosaurus apron as they walked down the hall to the front door, and were more than just a little surprised to find Christian McBride standing on the other side.

“Hey,” he said, looking more than a little bit bedraggled.

“My guy! When did you get back from Chicago?”

“About two hours ago.” he said, and then burst into tears.

“Shit. Dude, are you ok? Fuck,” Darcy opened their arms and Christian fell into them, not caring about the flour covering most of Darcy’s clothes.

🫂🫂🫂

Christian' original plan had been to stay overnight at Heathrow, then hire a car to drive back to Manchester the following day. He had been asleep when the plane landed and was still feeling discombobulated as he passed through customs. He stood feeling numb as he waited for his luggage, as he stood there he changed his mind, went straight to Hertz, hired a Kia Ceed, downed a large coffee and drove to Truham.

He needed to talk to someone, he initially thought he was going to Nick, but something was still holding him back from that. He knew Nick would welcome him with open arms. He would be so proud if he came out to him, but there was some unseen barrier there that Christian could not identify.

As he drove into Truham he headed the opposite direction around the ring road and pulled the Kia up outside a small terraced house that he had only been to once before. He didn’t know if anyone would be home, but he could hear music playing as he rang the doorbell and a minute later Darcy was standing in front of him, wearing a dinosaur apron covered in flour.

“Hey,” was all he could think of saying.

Darcy had asked him something, he honestly didn’t really know what he had said as an answer but he had said something and then he had fallen into the arms of his friend sobbing.

He and Darcy had never been that close, they were both Nick’s friends and never spent any one on one time before but if you were going to have a full on gay crisis Darcy was your Fairy GayParent - they even had a t-shirt that said they were.

They had pulled Christian into their chaotic kitchen, forced proper British tea into him and listened to him tell the tale of his time in Chicago.

It worked out well for both of them, because Christian had a bit of baking knowledge and he helped them sort out the kitchen disaster as they talked.

“Are you regretting leaving?” they finally asked him.

“No, well maybe a little, but only because I felt so free there. I never held back on anything. I could be it all, architecture nerd, Star Wars geek, rugby player…”

“Queer?” Darcy added.

“and no one pointed out the contradictions at all, no one mentioned that nerds don't do sports, that I'm not stacked enough to be a rugby player or that lads don't fancy other men. I felt like he saw me. All of them saw me.” Christian pulled out a chair at Tara and Darcy's kitchen table, dusted the flour off it and sat down.

“They saw you because you showed them you. You can show us you too.”

Christian’s response was interrupted by Tara standing at the kitchen door with a bewildered expression on her face. “Do I even want to know?”

“Nicky’s birthday cake.” Darcy stood aside to show their wife the slightly wonkily decorated masterpiece.

“Are those boobs?” Tara pointed at the cake.

Darcy frowned “They’re rugby balls.”

“I think you may need to rethink the colour” Tara laughed. “And possibly the shape.”

“At least it distracted her from the state of the kitchen.” Christian pantomime whispered to Darcy.

“Not that I'm not happy to see you Chris but aren’t you supposed to be in Chicago?” Tara said pointedly ignoring the comment and the mess.

“He got back today and had missed me so much he popped by to say hi.” Darcy smirked.

Tara just looked at them suspiciously. Darcy gave Christian a look as if to say it’s not my place to tell her.

He nodded.

“We found another one!” Darcy exclaimed.

“Another?” Tara Questioned.

“Christian had a North American hotty influenced gay awakening so he came to me for queer wisdom.” Darcy showed their amazing talent for making a long story short.

Tara looked around the wreckage of her kitchen and raised an eyebrow at Christian. “You came to this for wisdom?”

Christian glanced around. “I really am not sure why I came. It just seemed like the place I wanted to be.”

Tara and Darcy were both unusually speechless for a moment, then both engulfed him in the middle of a big hug.

The Green Dragon Pub on Truham High street was a right of passage for most people who grew up in the surrounding area. Nearly every past student of Truham and Higgs had a blurry memory associated with a misspent evening, watching a local band on the tiny stage in the corner, or a summer afternoon in the beer garden where they gave in to peer pressure and had one drink too many.

This was the reason that Olly was drifting between reminiscing and flashbacks of nausea, as he helped Charlie set up his drum kit for a one night only reunion of three quarters of Queer Intentions.

Olly didn’t quite understand why they were going all out for Nick's thirty-first birthday like it was super special. Last year when he had hit the big three-oh they had just gone into Rochester for a slap up meal, but here they were a year later with Elle and Isaac stringing pink, blue and purple bunting from the ceiling, while Tao sat in the corner curating the perfect Nick Nelson birthday playlist for after the band had played.

Charlie had packed Nick off with Sai to do some laddish stuff, and sequestered Olly in to do the heavy lifting usually done by the famous rugby arms. It wasn’t a surprise but the whole Paris squad had made sure that Nick didn’t have to put any work in for his own party, but somehow that meant that Olly was now the muscle.

He was in no way muscular but looking around him at his brother's best friends, he was the fittest of a rather unsporty bunch.

“You had to send two people we know with any strength away.” he moaned at his big brother, as he carried the bass drum in from Charlie’s car. “Where are Tara and Darcy when the heavy lifting is going on?”

“Stop being a bitch, it’s not even that heavy.” Charlie said, taking the drum from his arms. “Go and get the amp.”

Olly slouched his way out of the building, channeling out-of-date teenage angst that still seemed to strike him when either of his older siblings told him what to do. He threw open the boot of Charlie’s car and lifted the heavy amplifier out, grumbling as he did.

He turned and nearly dropped it when Darcy bounced into view, only the amp didn’t fall to the ground because a hand shot out to steady it.

Olly nearly dropped it again when he saw that the hand belonged to Christian.

“Hi,” Christian smiled at him.

“Hi,” Olly replied, wishing his brain had something better to say.

“Did you need a hand?”

God yes!

“No, it’s okay, I’ve got it, um can you shut the boot though?” Olly stammered.

Christian obliged as Olly carried the heavy equipment down the path to the front door, praying that his muscles would make it as far as the stage without having to take a rest.

Christian jogged in front of Olly and Darcy to hold the door for them and Tara, who was carrying platters of food they had picked up from the caterer.

“Oh thank god.” Charlie said, taking one of the platters from her, “I was beginning to think we would be foodless.” Then he turned and did a double take at Christian standing in the doorway.

“We found a stray.” Darcy said by way of explanation, putting down the cake box on a table.

Olly took the amp over to the stage, placing it where he thought he’d seen Sahar have it before, trying to keep his breath calm and not over think the fact that Christian was here.

Fuck. Why wasn’t he over this?

He looked good. His hair was a little longer, his jaw a little stronger, getting older suited him.

How is even hotter than he used to be?

Olly suddenly found inspiration to do all the jobs, he helped Tara lay out the food, and went up the ladder for Elle to put up a banner she and Felix had made. When Sahar and Aleena arrived he carried yet another amp in from another car, and assisted them with a full sound check. Being busy seemed like a great idea.

He overheard a few snippets of conversation as they all worked. Christian had got back from Chicago just yesterday. He was only here until Monday. Yes, the drag queen thing was brilliant. No, the building wasn’t finished. Yes he would probably go back and see it when it was.

Olly tried to think of how excited the birthday boy would be to see his friend. He had been disappointed when he had found out that Otis was away with The Badgers playing a pre-season friendly in France, so the surprise of Christian being here when they thought he was still going to be stateside would be great.

Olly himself wanted to be happy to see him but he couldn’t help thinking about the conversation from graduation night.

Had Christian really met someone in Chicago?

Would he see her again when he went back?

He managed to keep himself occupied until the pub started to fill up with Nick and Charlie’s friends and their families.

Olly hugged Nick’s mum as she arrived and was surprised when she was followed by his annoyingly attractive but dickish brother and his current partner who, after a few minutes of conversation, Olly realised was very much an upgrade intellectually from any woman he had seen David with before. David was a lot more personable than usual, and apparently it was Nick himself who had invited the man Olly had grown up knowing as That biphobic twat hammock, so maybe things were getting better with the Nelson brothers.

Olly’s own siblings showed their contrasting mental health issues, Charlie ran in circles trying to make everything perfect whilst Tori had dragged Michael off to hide in a corner with a pint glass of diet lemonade each.

Their parents showed a social face but Olly knew that as soon as any Happy Birthday Nick formalities were over they would make their excuses and head off. He lost sight of Christian for a while but his mind was constantly returning to him throughout all the conversations he was having, very much still being treated like Charlie’s kid brother by most of the people in the room.

When Nick and Sai entered there were big cheers for the birthday boy. Nick teared up a bit when he saw Christian and pulled his friend into a full-on Nick Nelson hug, unusually Olly thought he saw Christian tear up too. After they broke apart and Nick's attention was drawn back to Charlie, Olly watched as Darcy and Tara engulfed Christian. Olly had never thought Christian and the lesbians were that close before but they now seemed to be everywhere Olly’s crush went. If they weren’t such committed lovers of each other he might have even been a bit jealous.

Who was he kidding, they were getting to spend quality time with his man, he was really fucking jealous.