Description (May contain spoilers)

Part 3 of my Heartbreak and Home series, this story follows on from the events of Wings of an Angel and Meet my Boyfriend. If you haven’t read them already, I’d recommend you do before reading this.

It’s Boxing Day at Nick and Charlie’s house, and an unexpected visitor arrives.

Nick

“How long is he staying here?” Charlie whispers to me.

“I don’t know, but I could hardly turn him away, could I?”

“It’s very easy actually, Nicholas. You just say ‘sorry we haven’t got the room!’” Charlie demands while still trying to keep his voice down.

“But he gave me those sad puppy dog eyes.”

“Surely he could have stayed with someone else… anyone else .”

“He said Jay offered, but he didn’t want to put their relationship under pressure when it’s still so new.”

“Well, that’s sweet, but still… why us ?” Charlie sulking is far cuter than I think he intends, but I won’t tell him that.

“We’re the only ones who know the real him, Char. He’s not come out to anyone else yet, he needs people who understand at least some of what he’s going through,” I plead, hoping to win him round.

“Fine!” Charlie groans, “But we are not having sex while he is sleeping on the other side of our bedroom wall!”

“What!?”

“You heard me! I’m not having him high-fiving me the next morning for ‘giving it to you good ’ or whatever other bro phrase he might decide to use.”

I pout, hoping it might change his mind, it always works when he does it to me. “Nope, it’s not happening, Nicholas,” Charlie insists. Before I can beg him to change his mind, Harry is leaping over the back of the sofa and squeezing himself in between us.

“What’s not happening?” Harry asks.

“Oh, erm, my publishing house used to host a New Years brunch but they’ve cancelled it this year – something to do with budget cuts,” Charlie lied badly, I try to cover my smirk with my hand. If he’s choosing to deny me sex during sexy Christmas, he deserves a little awkwardness.

“Mate that sucks,” Harry replies earnestly, clearly oblivious to my boyfriend’s terrible lying abilities.

“ Or not ,” I mutter under my breath. If I’d known Charlie would cut me off, I’d have thought twice before agreeing to let Harry stay. I just have to wait Charlie out, he loves sex just as much as I do, he’ll have to cave at some point… right?

Charlie

It’s not that I don’t feel bad for Harry. My coming out was far from smooth, but I’ve always been grateful that at least my parents always accepted me for who I am. There was never any doubt about them sticking by me. It’s not even because he was one of my biggest tormentors when I was outed back at school after someone overheard Tao discussing it. It’s because this was supposed to be our time alone, just me and Nick.

Between Christmas and New Year, the school where Nick works is closed for the holidays, so I always take time off from my job at my publishing house so that we can be together. Once Christmas Day is over, usually alternating between the Nelson and Spring households each year, we’ve fulfilled all of our seasonal family obligations. So, from Boxing Day until New Year’s Eve, we get to shut out the outside world and just enjoy being us. Usually that involves a lot of sex – in every room of the house; but it seems thanks to Nick’s altruism this year, our tradition has been foiled.

🎄🎄🎄 Earlier that morning… 🎄🎄🎄

“Oh Nick, don’t stop,” I pant as Nick’s mouth surrounds my cock. I’m moaning as I grip onto his hair, gently pulling as he bobs up and down my shaft. “Nick, fuck! I’m so close.”

Lifting off for a moment, Nick gasps, “Let go baby, let me taste you,” returning quickly to my throbbing cock in front of him. The sight of my Rugby Lad between my legs after a stressful time at my parents place is all it takes before I’m thrusting up to meet Nick’s lips and spilling my seed deep into his throat. Once he swallows every drop, I let Nick gently suckle on my deflating member until it becomes too sensitive for him to carry on. Popping off my now flaccid dick, he crawls up my body, placing sweet kisses along the way until our lips touch.

The kiss is soft and gentle, our tongues lightly brushing against one another. Nick’s showing off the strength in his upper arms as he holds himself just above my body; I’ll forever be grateful for all his years of rugby training coming in handy in our bedroom. Between kisses, I reach down for Nick’s still-hard cock but he bats my hand away.

“You haven’t cum,” I protest.

“Later baby,” was all he replied before pressing his lips against mine more forcefully this time.

* Ding Dong *

The unexpected chime of the doorbell startles Nick, causing him to drop, his whole weight landing on top of me. The shock of his whole weight on top of me causes me to let out an involuntary groan. “Nick! You’re crushing me, you giant rugby idiot,” I pretend to protest. I’ve never minded feeling all of Nick’s naked body against me.

“Sorry,” Nick says, rushing to climb off the bed, “Who can that be?”

I grab hold of Nick’s arm to stop him leaving, “Maybe if we ignore it, they’ll go away.”

* Ding Dong *

“It doesn’t sound like they’re going away, Char,” Nick says, always pointing out the obvious. He pulls his arm away and reaches for a pair of tracksuit bottoms that he discarded on a chair in the corner of the room. “You stay here and I’ll go see who it is,” Nick said, opening the bedroom door.

Sighing, I say, “Get rid of them and hurry back.”

Nick

I rush down the stairs as the doorbell chimes again, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I call, though they probably can’t hear me through the double glazing.

Opening the front door, I’m surprised to find Harry standing on the doorstep, his clothes wet from the snow that’s falling. “Harry? What are you doing here? Come inside from the snow.”

“Thanks mate,” Harry says as he walks in, shaking off what little snow he can from his coat so that it doesn’t all end up on our hallway carpet.

I close the door and look my friend up and down, “You’re soaked through, you’ll catch your death, let me get you a cup of tea?”

“Urm, yeah, thanks,” Harry says, uncharacteristically shyly.

He follows me into the kitchen and takes a seat at our small kitchen table while I put the kettle on. Leaning back against the kitchen counter while the kettle boils, I ask, “So, not that it’s not great to see you but… we weren’t expecting to see you today, were we?”

“No mate, I just… didn’t know where else to go,” Harry says softly; this is a side of him that I’ve never seen before. He’s so much more subdued than normal.

Placing the cup of tea in front of our unexpected guest, I get myself settled into the seat next to him before asking, “What happened Harry?”

Taking a sip of his tea, which must be far too hot to drink, Harry starts, “I walked here.”

Confused, I ask, “From your parents place?”

“No, from Jay’s,” Harry replies, not looking at me. “He doesn’t know I left.”

“What happened? Did you two have a fight?” I ask, concerned for my friend and his first proper relationship.

“No, mate, nothing like that,” Harry pauses and takes a breath before continuing, “We spent Christmas at my folks’ place yesterday.”

Harry stops talking and as much as I don’t want to push, it’s obvious that Harry is having an unusually hard time finding his words right now. I know I need to let Harry set the pace, years of therapy sessions proved to me that sometimes you just need to sit and let the words come at their own pace.

After a few more sips of his tea, Harry sounds so dejected when he says, “I told them.”

“You… oh ,” I reach out and place a hand on Harry’s, trying to reassure him that I’m not going anywhere, and that I’m here for him.

I hope when Harry looks up he can see my genuine desire to be whatever he needs right now. “I’m so sorry Nick, for the way I treated you and Charlie, especially Charlie, all those years ago,” Harry breaks down in tears, his head falling to his hands. I stand up beside him and pull him in for a hug while he’s still sitting down, letting the man sob against my bare chest as I hold him tight.

“Hey, it was a long time ago, you’ve apologised to us both before, we’ve forgiven you.”

As his breathing gradually gets under control again, I release him and move back into the seat beside him. “I was such an awful prick, I never realised how bad I was, until…. fuck, and Jay was there too. He had to see that, why did I do that,” Harry berates himself.

“Take a step back a minute, forget the past with me and Charlie. What happened yesterday?”

Sighing again, Harry starts from the beginning, “I’d invited Jay over to Christmas lunch with my parents, his family disowned him and he didn’t have anywhere else to go. He was fine with us just being mates in front of my parents, and I don’t know if I was going to let them think that or tell them the truth but then my Dad started calling you some… not very nice names…and I told him to stop… but then,” Harry pauses again, clearly pained reliving the memory.

“Then, when Jay was explaining how he worked for the Royal Ballet company, I felt so proud of him, but my Dad… he called him a… a… fairy , and I just lost it.”

“What did you do?” I ask, fearing what he might say next.

Looking down at the table, fingering the grain of wood on the surface, he continues, “I punched him. I told him that I wouldn’t stand for anyone saying anything bad about Jay. I told him that we’re together and that I love him.”

“You love him?” I don’t mean to just blurt it out, but I’m shocked at how deep Harry is in with Jay when they only just met a few months ago.

“I do,” Harry smiles for the first time since he arrived. The smile quickly fades as he continues, “It’s all a bit of a blur after that, my father threw us out and then I was back at Jay’s, I spent the night there. But you know it’s all so new between us, and I know he told me he loved me too, but I didn’t want to put that pressure on us when it’s really too soon for us to think about living together, so I left him a note and just started walking. I didn’t know where to go and then I found myself here.”

“Wait, hold up,” I say, holding up my hands to stop him talking, “You left your boyfriend a note!”

“Oh, did I mess up again?” Harry asks, earnestly.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, it’s clear he wasn’t thinking clearly when he did it, but a note… really? “Call him, Harry, call him and explain. I think I get why you felt you had to leave, but you need to talk to him, so he knows that you’ve left his place and not him .”

“Yeah, ok,” Harry agrees, “Cheers, mate.”

“Niiccckk, sweetheart, are you coming back to bed?” Charlie coos as he walks into the kitchen wearing nothing but a cheeky smile.

“Fuck, Harry! I didn’t know you were here,” Charlie screams, covering himself up and quickly rushing back up the stairs as I collapse with laughter at the table.

🎄🎄🎄 Back on the sofa… 🎄🎄🎄

Charlie

“So, how did it go with Jay?” I ask, trying to move the subject away from my terrible lie.

“Oh right, yeah, he understands – and he agreed with Nick that I was an idiot for just leaving a note and not talking to him. I mean, guys, I honestly was not thinking straight this morning. He’d literally blown my brains out of my cock last night and I don’t think I’d quite come back to earth when I left his place.”

“Dude!” Nick says, not needing to know that level of detail of Harry’s sex life. I can’t help but chuckle at how embarrassed he gets hearing about anyone else’s sex lives. He was the same when Darcy decided to overshare about their love life with Tara.

“What?” Harry shrugs, smirking at us, “It’s not like you two don’t have sex all the time! We’ve all heard you at house parties!”

Harry holds his hand up to high-five Nick, but when Nick doesn’t take the bait, he turns to me. I happily oblige, because we have come out to more than our fair share of wolf-whistles after sneaking away to be alone at our friends’ parties, making Nick groan again.

“He’s not wrong?” I tease.

“So what’s the plan now then?” Nick asks, probably hoping Harry would have things all worked out and would be gone within the hour so that we can get back to our post-Christmas traditions.

“Not sure mate, but you’re cool if I crash here for a bit right?” Harry says, slinging his arm over Nick’s shoulder like they’ve been the closest of mates for years.

“Er, yeah, course,” Nick replies automatically, never able to say no to anyone in need. I’m sure one day I’ll come home from work to half a dozen random animals all over the place just because Nick felt bad that they didn’t have a home. It’s a good thing school’s here don’t have class pets, or we would also most certainly end up taking in the school hamster after it had been tormented by year 4.

“I’ve set up the spare room for you, it’s pretty comfortable as Nick’s mum picked out all the soft furnishings,” I tell him, secretly wishing it wasn’t as comfortable now we might face the prospect of a long-term house guest.

“Awesome, mate, cheers,” Harry hesitates before continuing, “There’s one other problem.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, so, I kinda left my folks place in a bit of a rush and… well this is all I have,” Harry blushes, gesturing to the clothes he is sitting in.

“Ohhh,” I coo as I understand what he’s saying, “Well Nick’s clothes will be a bit big even on you, but I’m sure we can find something you can wear until we figure out how to get your own stuff.”

“How kind of you to offer my clothes, Char,” Nick teases.

“Well he’s hardly going to fit in mine, is he, Nicholas?”

Harry

I smile at the easy banter between Nick and Charlie, maybe one day I’ll have that too. I know it’s early days for me and Jay, and I’m not stupid, I know first love doesn’t always last – but seeing the two of them, their true love, their first love, it gives me hope for the future.

🎄🎄🎄 After Dinner 🎄🎄🎄

“So, I’ve been thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Nick interrupts, although I can tell there’s no menace in his voice.

“Oi,” I prod him, causing us all to laugh. “I was thinking about when we could go get my stuff.”

“We?” Nick and Charlie ask in unison.

“Well it’ll be easier with three, especially if we want to be in and out quickly.” I explain. “You see, tomorrow my Dad should be back at work, and my Mum, well I’m hoping she’ll be out at her weekly coffee morning at the church.”

“Tomorrow! That’s so fast,” Charlie exclaims.

“I know, it’s just, I wouldn’t put it past my dad to throw away all my stuff just to prove a point,” I say it quietly while looking down at my hands. I’m embarrassed to call him my dad and to admit that I could really picture him doing that, if he hasn’t already.

Nick seems deep in thought for a moment, before jumping out of his seat to reply, “Okay, well we’ve got a couple of suitcases in the loft. We can take them with us, along with a load of other bags so you can throw everything inside and then sort through it once we get back here, sound good?”

“Sounds great,” I readily agree. I really hope we don’t have to face either of my parents after what happened yesterday, but especially not my dad.