Protective Tao

A/N: I wanted to write a one-short more on Tao & Nick's friendship and how he's protective of Charlie. It's going to be a long one, like a short story!! I got this idea from the picture above.

Hope you guys like it! Most of the dialogue is credited to Alice!

Thank you guys so much for all the support on my story!! ❤️‍🩹

Charlie kicked the ball to Tao as they were in P.E. class. He didn't feel the cold air with everything on his mind. Well, the someone that was on his mind was Nick Nelson. Why was Nick being so friendly to him? Why did Nick say hi to him every morning? Why did Nick even take time out of his day to talk to him? It had to be some prank.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tao's loud voice, "Nick Nelson? I thought you didn't have a crush on him!!" Tao asked with big eyes as he kicked the ball back to Charlie. "Please don't say it so loud..." Charlie pleaded; he didn't want anyone to hear Tao and spread it around like he got out.

He didn't want Nick to get involved in his mess at this school; he didn't deserve to be teased like he was; Nick was too kind.

"Well, you've been all over him for like a month! Texting?? You've even started to eat lunch together!? And don't get me STARTED on rugby..." Tao sighed. He didn't mean to be harsh, but he was trying to get his best friend to see that Nick wasn't worth the trouble of getting hurt. "Charlie!" He shook Charlie as he zoned out a bit to get his attention again, "I'm not being funny, like, you got to get it into your head that he's straight. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Just look at him. He's as straight as they come." Tao held the ball, looking at Charlie with sorry eyes. He felt so bad for his best friend; why did he have to fall for every guy who was nice to him?

"You're causing yourself pain!"

"I KNOW!" Charlie snapped; he was starting to get overwhelmed. He knew Tao was being his protective self and was trying to help, but all he was doing was making his thoughts worse. His mind was loud, his thoughts swarming like a swarm of bees.

Nick didn't like him...

Nick didn't like him...

Nobody was ever going to like him.

Ben was right.

"Tao and Charlie! Stop chattering and start kicking that ball! And Tao, take that bloody hat off!" Their gym teacher instructed, tired of hearing their ramble.

"But, sir! It's freezing!" Tao protested, "It's England, not Antarctica, deal with it." Their gym teacher sighed. Once their gym teacher walked off, Tao took off his hat and looked at Charlie, who was looking down.

"Charlie, you need to give up on him."

"I can't..."

Charlie walked into form; his mood was shit now. He felt like crap; his head spun with thoughts as he sat down.

Why am I like this?

Charlie set his bag down and rubbed his face; Nick wasn't in form yet. He laid his head on the table with a sigh.

Maybe he was being dramatic; Tao was right after all. He had to get over Nick.

"Hi!" Nick chirped as he plopped beside Charlie, setting his bag next to Charlie's.

Charlie looked up at his desk mate, and he felt himself smile, the Nick Nelson effect. Nick had the vibe of a Golden Retriever; he was perky and outgoing. He never wanted Nick to stop smiling. "Hi," Charlie said softly, he had a headache from all his fucking thoughts.

Nick settled in at his spot and looked at Charlie; he noticed something was off immediately. He tilted his head like a confused puppy, "You alright?" He wondered.

"I just got a headache." Charlie smiled at the fact that Nick cared enough about him to ask what was wrong.

"Oh!" Nick suddenly realized, causing Charlie to jump a bit in surprise as Nick grabbed his bag and pulled out a bottle of Advil, "I always carry this around in case I get sore from rugby practice." Nick offered it to Charlie with big eyes.

Charlie took the dose and couldn't help but smile, "Thank you, rugby lad." he chuckled and sipped his water.

"No problem." Nick smiled, "Oh! I wanted to show you something I baked this weekend." He rambled and pulled out his phone since they had some time before form started.

Charlie stared at Nick in shock, "You bake?" He would have never imagined that someone like Nick would bake in his spare time; it was adorable. "Yup! It took me so long, but my grandma loves cheesecake, so it was worth it! I think I got a picture." Nick chirped; he was so thrilled to show this to Charlie. He tried to show this to Sai, Otis, and Christian, but they said it was lame; it made him feel bad. But now he has Charlie to show this kind of stuff, too. As Nick was scrolling through his camera roll, he ended up on a picture of Nellie; it made Charlie's face light up. Nick thought it was so cute.

"Oh my god, you have a dog!? I wish I had a dog, but my parents don't like animals."

"Yup! Her name is Nellie. She's pretty old, but I still love her." Nick smiled at the mention of his dog. He loved how happy it made Charlie; his rugby guys didn't care. Then, he got an idea. "Hey, are you free on Saturday? You can come over and meet her!!" Charlie froze in surprise, "yes, I'm free." He stammered shyly. Nick wants me to come over to his house to hang out. He thought to himself as Nick took a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote down his address.

Charlie couldn't help but blush deeply; I'm going to Nick Nelson's house on Saturday. "See you Saturday!" Nick chirped as he walked out of form when the bell went off.

Charlie smiled as he grabbed the paper and folded it up, putting it in his pocket. He couldn't believe this was happening; he needed to tell someone and fangirl them about it. He left the classroom and went straight to Tao, who was at his locker. "Tao! You won't believe this!!"

"What's up?" Tao asked curiously; he had never seen Charlie this enthusiastic about something during school. "Nick Nelson invited me over to his house on Saturday!" Charlie had big, happy eyes.

Tao looked at Charlie. Yes, he was happy that his friend got invited over by his crush, but he forgot his plans with him, his best friend. "But we're hanging out at my house on Saturday!" He reminds.

Charlie's face fell; he can't believe he forgot his pans with Tao. He felt like a terrible friend. "Oh, shit right, I'm so sorry, Tao. I'll cancel my plans with Nick and come over." He rambled.

As if on cue, Isaac came over, "Oh my

God, you have plans with the Nicholas Nelson?" He fangirled. This caused Charlie to smile, "Yeah, but I got to cancel since it's Saturday..."

"Come on, Tao, give him a pass on this one. We can all find a different time for the four of us to hang out." Isaac tried.

"Fine," Tao said with a deep sigh.

Charlie nodded and walked to the art room, rubbing his head. His headache was throbbing at this point. He needed to sit down and process what just happened....Nick Nelson invited him to his house, and Tao got mad at him. Today was getting too much. Yes, it was exciting, but his mind got loud with worry about how it was going to go or if it was going to be a prank.

Why did Nick want to hang out with him anyway?

Maybe he should go to Tao's house on Saturday...

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A/N: hey guys, I hope you like the more extended one-shot! I'm starting to look into writing a new story!

Would you guys be interested if I wrote a story about Tao and Charlie's friendship? I love how close they are, and the clip Alice included of them when they met was so cute when they were little, which is how I got the idea, so just let me know in the comments. Thank you!! Xx

Also, would you like a part 2?