Charlie Spring was on his way home from a book fair in Edinburgh when his train lurched to a halt outside Leeds station. It was a warm day and the aircon on board was broken, making Charlie curse that he hadn’t flown back to London with his colleagues.

As they were waiting for the train to move, the train guard made an announcement over the on board tannoy, “Attention please ladies and gents, first of all let me apologise for the delay. We are currently stuck behind a broken down train in the platform at Leeds station. Hopefully it won’t be too long before they get this moved out of the way and once it is, we’ll be on the move.” 

“ Oh great ,” Charlie muttered to himself. He hated to fly and thought it would be a lot less stressful to travel in comfort on the train than to have to queue through airport security, wait anxiously in the lounge, and then go through the nerves he often felt during the actual flight itself.

They were sitting, unmoving, with no further updates from the guard for at least 25 minutes. Charlie was starting to feel a headache coming on from the stress of it all.

Charlie had spent the last few days chatting with aspiring authors, book publishers and other literary figures. His social battery, which was low at the best of times, was completely drained and he just wanted to get home and curl up on his sofa for a few days until he had to be social again.

Eventually the guard’s voice came through the muffled speakers again. After repeating his earlier apologies he added, “Unfortunately this means we will be picking up a train load of extra passengers on our arrival at Leeds, so please make sure all spare seats are clear of luggage so that they can all squeeze on board.”

Charlie groaned, he’d managed to nab himself a small table for two in First Class, and had laid out his suit bag and laptop case on the seat opposite him. He didn’t want anyone sitting opposite him, knowing his luck he’d end up with someone who wanted to make inane conversation all the way back to London.

With a jolt, the train shuddered forward when it eventually continued its approach into the station. Looking at his watch, Charlie saw they were now 45 minutes late into Leeds, having got later and later since they departed Scotland.

The guard wasn’t lying when he said they should expect a train load to be waiting at the station. As they pulled into the platform, Charlie saw it was heaving with passengers. He thought that It seemed like it could even be two trains worth with how deeply they filled the platform.

As the train came to a stop, Charlie closed his eyes, hoping that if people thought he was asleep, they wouldn’t ask him to move his things from the vacant seat. Once the doors opened he heard the passengers filing past him, rushing to grab any available seat. The already warm carriage, getting warmer as it filled with all the extra bodies.

When Charlie heard the sound of beeping to warn people that the doors were closing, Charlie thought he might get away with not having to give up the spare seat. Just in case there was anyone still looking, he kept his eyes closed a little longer. But when the train jerked back to life, Charlie’s fake sleep was broken by a sudden, heavy weight landing in his lap.

Opening his eyes, Charlie saw the most beautiful man in the world had literally landed in his lap. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” said the strawberry-blonde as he stumbled to get back to his feet, his hands and arms flailing about. As he did he asked Charlie, “Are you ok? I didn’t hurt you did I?”

“I’m fine, it’s fine,” Charlie assured him.

“Are you sure? I’m so sorry,” the man apologised again.

Charlie giggled, “You say sorry a lot.”

“So-,”

“Don’t say it,” Charlie laughed again. He didn’t think he had the energy to laugh, but there was something about this clumsy Adonis that Charlie found quite endearing.

Looking around for somewhere to sit, the stranger glanced at the space opposite Charlie. “Is anyone sitting there?” He pointed.

Despite his earlier reluctance, Charlie quickly replied, “No! No, it’s free. Here pass me the bags,” holding out his hands. Accepting his laptop case first, Charlie squeezed it between his legs, before taking his suit bag and hooking it up behind his head, blocking out the view from the window beside him.

As Charlie looks back, the tall stranger is sitting down. Now he’s eye level with Charlie, he says, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Charlie smiled back.

“I’m Nick.”

“Charlie.”

“Nice to meet you Charlie,” Nick smiled, “Do you go all the way?”.

“Excuse me?” Charlie replied pretending to be offended.

“To London! I mean, not. Oh my god,” Nick buried his face in his hands.

Charlie’s laughing again, placing his hand on Nick’s, “Nick, I know what you meant, I’m only teasing.” Nick moves his hand slightly from in front of his eyes to assess Charlie’s expression. Seeing Charlie looking back with a smile, Nick slowly comes out of his self-imposed cocoon, giving a shy smile back.

Before Nick or Charlie could say anything else to each other, they were interrupted by screams from further down in the carriage. “Oh my god, it’s you,” gushed two girls rushing up to their table. “You’re Nick Nelson, aren’t you. Can we have your autograph?”

Blushing from the attention, Nick quickly signed autographs for the two fans.

“You were so good in last week’s game,” they cooed.

“Thanks, it was a team effort,” Nick added curtly, not wanting to encourage them to stay and talk too long. Thankfully, after making polite small talk with them for a few more minutes, the pair rushed away to try and find somewhere to sit.

Turning his attention back to Charlie, he saw the cute brunette had a shocked expression across face on the other side of the table.

“What was that?” Charlie asked.

“Sorry about that, sometimes the fans can be a bit much,” Nick responded, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Fans? Are you some big shot celeb then?”

“Ha,” Nick barked out, “I wouldn’t know about that. I just play for this rugby club in Leeds.”

“Like a professional rugby club?” Charlie asked.

Laughing again, “Yeah, something like that.”

“Well I guess that explains the strong rugby arms then,” Charlie blurted out, causing Nick to laugh. “I can’t believe I just said that outloud.”

“Do you like my strong rugby arms, Charlie?” Nick said while teasingly flexing one of his biceps.

“Oh my god, shut-up,” Charlie groaned into his hands.

“I think you do,” Nick continued to tease, causing Charlie to blush hard.

“They’re ok, I guess,” Charlie tries, but fails, to sound like he isn’t flustered.

Giving Charlie a break from his turn to be embarrassed, Nick asks, “So what brings you to our little sweatbox today?”

“Work really,” Charlie sighed, “I’ve been away at a literary fair in Edinburgh for a week and now I’m finally heading back home.”

“So are you some big fancy author then, should I be asking for your autograph?” Nick teased, not really knowing anything about the world of fiction.

“Hardly,” Charlie scoffed, “I’m an editor. I take other writers’ work and,” Charlie searched for the best phrase to describe what he does for a living, “improve upon it.”

“Wow, so you’re both beautiful and a nerd,” Nick blurted out, his cheeks going crimson when he’d realised what he’d just said.

“I’m sorry, what?” Charlie asked, not believing he heard correctly.

“Erm, nothing,” Nick stumbled over his words, “just forget I said anything.”

“You…you think I’m beautiful?” Charlie questioned shyly.

Nick had his head in his hands again, “Urgh, I’m so embarrassing.”

“No more embarrassing than me,” Charlie said, tilting his head down so that Nick could see the sincerity in his eyes from his lowered position.

“Why are we like this?” Nick groaned causing Charlie to laugh.

“Well as you pointed out, I’m a big gay nerd. But I know what your excuse is.”

“I never called you a big gay nerd,” Nick rushed to clarify before he noticed the playful grin across Charlie’s face causing his dimples to pop. “I guess, I’m the result of combining a dumb jock with a bisexual disaster,” Nick laughed self-consciously.

“I happen to like dumb jocks,” Charlie said, trying his best to sound seductive.

“Well I …happen to like big gay nerds,” Nick flirted back.

The pair spent the rest of the trip flirting and chatting about their lives, neither one noticing when the train arrived into London’s King’s Cross station. As the guard walked through the train he saw the pair and barked, “End of the line folks, this train’s now out of service.”

Looking round the now empty carriage, Nick and Charlie spoke in unison, “Oh,” causing them both to laugh again.

As they got off the train and walked side by side down the platform Nick asked, “So, where are you heading now?”

“I’m actually heading to my parents, my Mum insisted I go visit the second I got back,” Charlie sighed.

“I’m off to see my Mum actually too, she lives in Rochester,” Nick replied. Noticing Charlie’s mouth drop, he asked, “What?”

“My parents live in Rochester too,” Charlie smiled and the pair headed off together.