Nick couldn’t believe he was going to be marrying Charlie Spring tomorrow. He still got butterflies in his stomach every time he thought that he was going to get to spend the rest of his life with his Charlie. They’d been together for so long now, and everyone always told him they were ‘End Game’ but Nick never completely believed it. But it was finally dawning on him that tomorrow would be the start of their forever, their happily ever after.

If Nick made it through tonight that is, he had no idea what his friends had planned for him but Sai, Christian and Otis told him to ‘dress nice’. Nick had made all three of them his best men because he couldn’t pick just one of them, not without worrying about hurting the others. They were all his oldest friends; he’d known them all since primary school. When Charlie had seen his fiancé struggling, he simply said, “Why not pick all of them?” Relieving Nick of the nightmare of his impossible decision that he’d been agonising over for weeks.

Now Nick found himself back in his childhood bedroom, getting ready for a mysterious night out with his best friends. Although he and Charlie had been living together for years, they decided it would be romantic to spend the night before their wedding apart. Well, Charlie thought it would be romantic, Nick was already missing having Charlie by his side. They’d barely been apart since Nick finished Uni and Nick hoped this would be the last time they ever would be again.

Just as Nick was putting on his favourite after shave, the one he knew Charlie loved the most, the doorbell chimed downstairs. He heard his Mum answer the door, and after one final check in the mirror, Nick headed down to meet his friends who were chatting with Sarah in the hall.

“Take it easy tonight and don’t forget to eat something before going drinking boys, we can’t have the groom missing his own wedding because he’s too hungover,” Sarah gently warned the boys with a smile on her face.

“We will Mrs Nelson,” Christian replied.

“How many times have I told you Christian? Call me Sarah,” she reminded him, giggling at the fact that the boy had been calling her Mrs Nelson since he was 6 years old, despite always reminding him to call her Sarah.

Nick grabbed his shoes from the pile by the door to slip on. When he was ready to leave he hugged his Mum goodbye, telling her, “Don’t wait up Mum, love you.”

Sarah hugged him back, “Love you too Nicky,” dropping a kiss to his forehead before letting him leave with his friends.

“Is it just us?” Nick asked as they were walking to the cab waiting outside.

“Yeah, we thought it would be best to keep it a little low key, since someone decided they wanted it literally the night before their wedding,” Sai told him sarcastically. Another tradition that Charlie had wanted to observe, Nick really would agree to anything that he asked for.

The group of boys didn’t tell Nick what they had planned for the night, it was a miracle really that even Christian had managed to keep the plans a secret, though Nick suspected that perhaps Sai and Otis had kept him in the dark too. So, when they arrived at Frankie & Benny’s as their first destination, Nick was confused as he was expecting them to go to a pub or a club.

“Erm, are we at the right place guys?” Nick asked as they were climbing out of the taxi.

Otis explained, “This was the first proper place we came to for Sai’s birthday back when we were 7,”

“We thought it would be a nice way to end this chapter of your life, at a place where our friendship began,” Sai continued.

“Technically it began at primary school, but they don’t exactly do food,” Christian added, “or booze!”

“Aww, guys,” Nick cooed before wrapping his arms around his best friends. If they continued like this Nick thought he was going to be a blubbering mess by the end of the night.

The four of them had a nice meal together to line their stomachs, filled with lots of joking about childhood memories. Every time Nick got all misty eyed over Charlie, the boys would tease him mercilessly. Nick could tell it was all in jest, the boys loved Charlie almost as much as he did.

After they’d all stuffed their faces, and got the first few drinks under their belts, they got another cab to their next stop of the night. Apparently, it was Christian’s idea to go to The Stag pub for drinks, but when they arrived there was a sign outside the entrance saying,

‘NO STAG PARTIES’

“Bro, didn’t you think to check first?” Sai asked Christian, playfully hitting him in the arm.

“I thought it was like made for stag dos,” Christian said earnestly.

Nick found this hilarious, and guessed the owners didn’t appreciate the irony of their pubs name as much as they did. The boys took a selfie of their group in front of both the pub sign, and the sign, to post to Insta before they decided to find somewhere else that would let them in.

Rather than the expense of another cab to take them somewhere else, the boys grabbed a couple of a beers from a nearby off-licence to drink while they walked to a couple of pubs near the River Medway. Their walk was full of joking, teasing, and reminiscing about old times they’d spent together. It was so good that Nick didn’t mind the cock up with the pub. As they approached the river, they came to a pub called ‘The Ship Inn’ that looked nice. Nick had his hand on the door, about to push it open when Otis called out, “Wait, stop!”

Nick turned to his friend, “What?”

“We can’t go in there!”

Confused Nick asked, “Why not?”

Pausing briefly to consider what to say, Otis rushed out, “Because you can’t see your groom before the wedding!”

“Oh, OH…you mean,” Nick turned to look at the door, “My Charlie’s in there?” he felt like if anyone were to look at him right now, they’d see little hearts floating around his head, just like an emoji.

“Yes, your Charlie is in there,” Otis chuckled as he rolled his eyes, “Now come on, let’s find somewhere else.”

Taking one last look at the door, Nick turned and walked away with his mates to find the third pub of their evening, hopefully one they could actually make it inside. A couple of roads away they found ‘The Pier Bar’ to settle into for the night. The foursome spent a few hours drinking, never letting Nick buy a single drink, and all getting nicely buzzed. Someone made sure to get them all some water along with their drinks, to try and fight back against the almost inevitable hangover in the morning, but at this point Nick wasn’t exactly sure who.

They were squeezed into a booth together, Nick in the middle with the other boys rotating as they each took turns to buy drinks. When it was Christian’s turn to be next to Nick, he was slightly the worse for wear. Slinging his arm over Nick’s shoulder, Christian slurred, “Nick, Nick, Nicccckk, I’m sorry weee didn’t get you a strip-, a strip-, stripper,”

“What?” Nick giggled, himself more than a little tipsy.

“We was gonna get you a stripper, you know…” Christian continued before attempting to stage-whisper, “for your stag?” Nick was still giggling at his friend who added, “But we couldn’t decide if you’d want a man or a woman.” He quickly added, “We’d have been cool if you’d wanted a man! It’s your stag and all, but we couldn’t decide. Sorrrry.”.

From the other side of him, Otis added, “I think it’s time we got you home mate,” talking across Nick to their clearly drunk friend. Otis had stopped drinking a few hours ago to be the responsible one and make sure that Nick and the others got home safe. When Nick had drunkenly asked him why, Otis simply said, “Because Tori would kill us if you weren’t there to marry her brother tomorrow, and she’s scary man.”

Nick chuckled, “Yeah she would.”

Otis ordered them a cab, first dropping off Sai & Christian at Christian’s parents’ house, since neither of the boys lived that close to home anymore. Otis continued with Nick to Sarah’s house, where Otis was going to spend the night in David’s old bedroom, ready to help Nick in the morning.

All efforts to try and keep the noise down at the late time were for nothing as Otis was helping Nick inside. Nick was loudly slurring, “Charlie is soooo beautiful isn’t he? I love his eyes, I love his smile, I love his dimples. Isn’t he beautiful Otis?”

Giggling at his drunk, loved-up friend Otis replied, “Yeah mate, he’s beautiful,” smiling back at Nick.

“What if he doesn’t come tomorrow? What if he’s changed his mind? I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t show?” Nick was getting a little weepy now.

“Of course he’s going to show up, you literally both proposed to each other on the same night. There is nothing and no-one that will stop him getting to marry you tomorrow, Nick,” Otis tried to reassure his friend who was clearly going through an emotional rollercoaster right now thanks to all the drinks he’d consumed.

Hearing the commotion, Sarah stepped out from the living room where she’d been reading to see Nick draped over Otis’s shoulder, supporting his friend. She walked over to lift Nick’s other arm and take some of the weight of her youngest son, “Oh Otis, you are a good boy,” she praised.

“Hi Mum,” Nick cooed now she was by his side.

“Hi baby,” Sarah laughed.

Between them Otis and Sarah managed to get Nick up to his room, leaving him on top of the bed to sleep things off before his big day.

Charlie was getting ready for his stag night in the house he shared with Nick and their dog Daisy. Every day he expected to wake up and find out that this had been all a dream, that really, he was still just a nerdy little year 10 being bullied by the rugby lads for being the only gay boy at Truham. Not that he wanted to wake up; if this was a dream, he’d happily stay asleep forever.

His friends were coming to collect him at any minute and as usual Charlie was fussing over his curls, trying to get them to sit just right. A few years ago, he’d considered straightening his hair or just cutting it short to save all the time he spent each day obsessing over it, but when he’d casually mentioned this idea to Nick, he’d spent the next 20 minutes being given all the very compelling arguments for keeping his hair just as it was. Those arguments involved a lot of kissing and Nick’s fingers alternating between running through his curls and tugging on them. Charlie was sure it was for Nick’s benefit more than his, but he couldn’t deny that it felt amazing.

When the doorbell rang, Charlie gave up his hopeless mission to tame his unruly hair. Putting on his favourite cardigan, because Elle had specifically forbidden him from wearing one of Nick’s hoodies like he normally would, before he headed down to greet his friends.

“Charlieeeee,” Elle screeched as she pulled him into a hug the second the door was open.

“Hi,” Charlie giggled.

“Erm, where’s our hugs?” Tao asked from behind Elle where he was stood with Isaac.

“You snooze, you lose,” Elle teased before releasing Charlie from her embrace. Charlie laughed at the easy banter between his best friends as he hugged each of them in turn.

He chatted with his friends in the kitchen as he got Daisy settled for the night, just casual banter about their lives. It could have been any other get together with his friends, but being able to spend time with all of them together these days was such a rarity that it made it extra special. Sure, they talked all the time through their group chats, but adult life got in the way for all of them, so it just wasn’t always possible to get all four of them to be free in the same place, at the same time.

After Daisy had been let out in the garden one last time, the foursome was ready to head out for the evening. Isaac had volunteered to drive them as he didn’t drink, so they all climbed into his car and drove to the pub where they would be spending the evening. Charlie had been very clear that he didn’t want the traditional, laddish, boozy stag do – he just wanted a nice night, with his closest friends and that’s exactly what he thought they had planned.

Having checked that the menu at The Ship had a few options that Charlie would eat, it seemed a nice enough place to spend his last night of freedom. Once it had been decided, Tao had tipped off Otis so that he could make sure Nick wouldn’t accidentally stumble across them. Although he himself thought it was silly, he knew his oldest friend didn’t want to see his fiancé until their wedding.

When they arrived around 7pm they were guided to a small booth near the window that looked out over the river. The pub was really cosy, with a little open fire which Charlie thought must be amazing to sit next to on a winter’s afternoon. It made him think of lazy afternoon’s curled up with his fiancé in front of the fire at home, after the school where Nick worked broke up for the Christmas holidays.

They were all reading their menus trying to decide what to have when the waitress came over to take their order. Charlie and Elle ordered cocktails, and after much debating with himself Tao ordered the same with Isaac sticking to a coke. Knowing Charlie still had some struggles with food from time to time, none of the group ordered starters and they went straight for their main courses.

The food was so good, not a single plate wasn’t left clean, even Charlie’s. When it came time to order dessert a man that looked oddly familiar came over to their table. He was kinda tall, with dark hair, blue eyes and sort of a sexy professor look. It was then that Charlie clicked, this guy looked exactly like Henry Maddox, his favourite tv history presenter.

“Charlie Spring?” the sexy man asked when he reached the table with a gruff but posh accident that could almost be mistaken for the real Henry Maddox.

“Y-y-yes” Charlie stammered, stunned by the sexy professor he’d been thirsting over since school standing in front of him.

“I’m Professor Madcocks, and I’m here to teach you a lesson,” he spoke with a sexy authority.

Whispering to Elle, Charlie asked, “Was this you?”

“Not me,” Elle replied nodding in Tao’s direction.

“You’ve thirsted over him for as long as I’ve known you were gay,” Tao said low in a flat tone that reminded Charlie of Tori.

Some music started playing, the Henry Maddox look-a-like reached for Charlie’s hand to guide him up out their booth, to sit in a chair in front of their table instead. Charlie blushed as the man started to dance seductively right in front of him.

The dancer was alternating between moving just in front of Charlie to actually grinding against his lap. Before long, he started to undress, unbuttoning the pink shirt that was underneath his purple waistcoat and pulling it off without releasing a single button on the outer garment. Charlie thought this was so hot, and really played to the sexy professor image that he had spent many teenage nights stroking his cock over, when he wasn’t picturing Nick that is.

When he stood up, still dancing, the stripper tugged on his trousers releasing a series of hidden snaps down the sides to leave him standing in just his waistcoat, tight purple boxer-briefs and his shoes and socks which were held up with a pair of sock suspenders. The professor picked up Charlie’s hands and placed them on his now boxer-brief clad ass, as he flipped upside down to do a handstand in Charlie’s face. Charlie took the hint and playfully spanked the sexy ass in front of him as the man was wiggling his ass.

If Charlie hadn’t been due to marry the love of his life tomorrow, he could easily picture doing very naughty things with this look-a-like of his long-time celebrity crush. Although Charlie was picking up some ideas for seducing his future husband from this evenings unexpected entertainment.

When the performer righted himself again, he slowly and seductively unbuttoned his waistcoat and slipped it off to join the rest of his clothes on the floor. As he did, he pulled out a large white silk flag from the pocket. He wrapped the material around himself and Charlie, giving the young man a private view of what was to happen next.

While holding the flag in place, he encouraged Charlie to pull down his boxers. Slightly tipsy from the drink, and the intoxicating effect of the show taking place in front of him that had caused the blood to rush south from his head to his cock, Charlie did as he was told and tugged the boxers down so that they pooled around the man’s feet.

Now freed from its confines, Henry’s cock sprung upright sticking straight out from his body at full mast and was bouncing about as he continued to dance to the music right in front of Charlie’s face. From out of nowhere, the stripper produced a can of squirty cream while he continued to hold onto the material with one hand.

Squirting a liberal amount along the length of his rock-hard cock, he invited Charlie to lick it off. Blushing hard, Charlie wasn’t sure if he could really do it. He’d never been this close to a cock that wasn’t Nick’s before, it was all so different. He could hear Elle cheering him on from behind, and in a moment of madness Charlie leaned forward and licked the cream straight off the stripper’s warm length.

As the music came to an end, the stripper wrapped the white sheet around himself, took a bow towards Charlie and his friends and then turned and took another, exposing his ass to the group as he did, before grabbing his clothes and heading to a back room to dress.

Charlie returned to sit with his friends and found Isaac was sitting reading his book as Elle embraced him with a massive hug. The group continued drinking and laughing until closing time. Isaac made sure everyone got home safely, leaving Charlie alone to drift off to sleep and dream of both Nick and his celebrity crush.