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Charlie winced as the dishcloth that was wrapped tightly around the ice pack, courtesy of Micheal, sat gently against his rapidly bruising nose.
As soon as they arrived home, Nick helped him up the stairs so he was sitting on his bed before disappearing back downstairs; Micheal came up to bring him an ice pack before announcing that he had to head home, leaving Charlie to sit alone in his room with the dead silence.
Between Olly's rambunctious self and what felt like constant scolding on the part of his parents towards at least one of their three children, he had gotten used to noise echoing up into his room and that was before he pulled out his drumsticks to echo back towards them.
Charlie didn't know if Nick's lack of a return was due to the tears he had been able to make out clearly as they ran down Tori's cheeks or from the blood that was still slowly pooling out of his nose and onto his shirt.
Maybe that was why it was so hard for him to bring his eyes up to Nick's when he finally came into the room, kneeling down in front of his knees and gently grasping his free hand.
"Char, are you...can you look at me, please?"
Charlie's left hand was cold as ice, his right one almost too hot within Nick's gentle hold as he continue to avoid his gaze as the tears began to build involuntarily.
"Charlie, please just look at me," Nick begged again, his own tears evident in his voice that only became more apparent when he finally managed to look up into incredibly teary brown eyes, "Char, I'm so sorry."
"I-I though you banned the "s" word," Charlie tried to smile, to block out any thoughts of Ben or Tori and Nick crying or the fact that when he managed to grin half-halfheartedly, it made the bruising on his nose hurt even with the condinsating ice pack, "I'll be fine, Nick."
"Is this the first time he's spoken to you since he transferred?"
"Yes."
"Did he hit you when you two were…together?"
"Why does it matter?"
Nick stopped for a second, gently pulling Charlie's left hand away from his nose, squinting slightly with concentration before bringing it back to rest against his face.
"We, Tori, Micheal and I, are reporting that shit to Truham and Higgs on Monday. I don't know if Lucas will as well and I won't ask you too, but that…"
"Nick, I'm fine."
"I thought…" Charlie instinctively slid off the bed before puttting the ice pack on the bed and wrapping his arms tightly around Nick's shoulders, allowing him to shudder with tears against his chest, "I thought you were concussed, that he hurt you so badly that you needed to go to A&E."
"Nick…" Charlie trailed off, using his right hand to wipe the tears off of Nick's pink tinged cheeks, "Nick, you saved me. I'm fine."
"Your nose is-"
"Not broken," Charlie cut him off as he wiped the slowly dripping blood away from his face again, "that's what matters."
Nick pulled in a long sniff, looked away to wipe his tears away on his sleeve before looking up with a soft chuckle, "Tori sent me up here to help you feel better, she…she didn't want you to see her crying."
"Yeah, that checks out."
"Char…" Nick trailed off as he wiped some of the sticky tears away from his cheek with the calloused pad of his thumb, "Char, you have to promise me something, okay?"
"Okay…"
"It doesn't matter what is happening, what you are going through or what anyone else is going through. No one gets to treat you like…like that."
"I know, Nick."
"Promise me you won't let anyone treat like that ever again, as much as you can, okay? Please promise me."
Charlie's breath hitched for a moment as he processed just why Nick was asking him to make that promise as they sat on the blue circle rug. 'He won't always be there to shove Ben to the ground.'
"I promise," Charlie whispered as he pressed his forehead against Nick's, hovering just in front of his lips in case Nick pulled away, "okay? I promise."
When Nick gently rested his hands against Charlie's cheeks and kissed him, even with blood slowly dripping from his nose and the taste of copper still coating his tongue, he still found himself melting into the familiar bliss because he knew that it meant that he was going to be okay.
Even if it took awhile, they were going to be okay.
"Come on," Nick whispered when he finally pulled away and took Charlie's hand in his own, "we should get you cleaned up before your parents get home."
"Yeah, good idea."