Heartstopper oneshots/ requests

Elle's friends are worried about her

mati_A10 - I hope you like this. It's a little short, but I think the ending's cute. Lemme know what you think!!

"There's definitely something up" Tao said to the group while Elle had gone to the bathroom.

The usual suspects; Tao, Elle and Isaac were round Charlie's for a sleepover. Mainly after Tao had convinced them all that they were drifting apart and 'needed to do something to keep the friendship alive'.

"She's never normally this quiet" Tao continued, "She hasn't spoken about Higgs at all has she?"
"I'm sure she's fine" Charlie tried reassuring Tao, who just rolled his eyes, "But we'll ask her when she comes-hey!" Charlie quickly said as Elle came back into his room

"You were talking about me weren't you?" Elle let out a sigh as she sat back on the floor, "What were you saying?"
Isaac hesitated then said, "We just thought you've been a bit quiet"
Elle scoffed.
"We're just worried about you, sorry if that's a crime!" Tao said melodramatically in response to Elle's scoff

"Higgs is awful" Elle said after a second of silence, "And I didn't want to say anything because you all seem so happy without me and-"
"You know that's not true!" Tao interjected, crossing his arms.

Isaac had closed his book to listen properly and Charlie looked really worried.

"Well, you know what I mean" Elle pressed on, "I say it's awful, it's not that bad just-" She hesitated, "Some of the girls are a bit transphobic"
Tao gasped dramatically, "Are they bullying you?" He clenched his jaw, "I swear if they're bullying you I'll-"
"Tao!" Elle forced a laugh.

"What are they saying?" Charlie asked gently as if he was scared of the response.
"I don't know, it's not that bad-"
"Well, you've been quiet this whole evening and it's not like you to be quiet so something's bothering you" Charlie said matter of factly and he watched as Isaac nodded in agreement, "Maybe talking about it will help?"
Elle shook her head, "No, it's fine - honestly, let's watch a film"

"Elle!" Tao, who had just uncrossed his arms, crossed them again, "Tell us what they're saying"
"Augh" Elle sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine"

Elle proceeded to explain what had been going on at school. About how she hadn't made any friends yet because not only had she started the school over midway through, most people thought she was weird.

"I can just hear them talking about me during lessons, like, didn't he used to be a boy. It's so weird he thinks he's a girl, how was he even allowed to come here, this is an all girls school" Elle mocked their girlish voices
"That's awful, Elle" Charlie mumbled, genuinely sad that his friend wasn't being accepted in her new school.
"I mean, they're not beating me up or anything" Elle said so blarse and Tao let out a small cry.

"Tao!" Elle immediately threw her arms around him, feeling awful for making Tao feel bad for her.

Isaac and Charlie didn't say anything but they looked at each other. Communicating that they also thought this was bad and Elle was just dumbing it down.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you!" Elle said to the group slightly jokingly, "I'm fine I just-" She hesitated, "It gets to me a bit"

There was a moment of silence before Charlie started talking.

"Last year, when the bullying as really bad" He started and looked at each of them, they were all listening intently, "When it was happening, I didn't think it was that bad" He continued, "It happened everyday so I just thought it was part of the school experience" He laughed a little at himself, "But Mr Ajayi said it wasn't and I started like-" He hesitated, "I don't know, thinking about it more"

There was a pause as no one knew what to say.

"Thinking back, I get that it was really bad but I just didn't think about it at the time" He paused again, "And now I see how it's affected me like sometimes when I pass big groups I get this feeling of, like, panic. Like they're going to say something to me. They don't but I feel like they will and to have that every time you see a group like that just because of how some people treated you a year ago" Charlie trailed off, "I don't know, it's fucked up"

Charlie looked up from being deep in thought and didn't expect to see everyone looking at him so intently.

Everyone was too taken back to say anything so Charlie continued, "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that if you ever wanna talk about it, we will listen" He locked eyes with Elle who just leaned over to put her arms around Charlie.

The two of them hugged for a few seconds and when they pulled away, Elle was expecting to see Tao roll his eyes but he didn't.

"Right, can we play Monopoly now?" Tao said, trying to act annoyed but it only made Elle laugh
"Alright, we can play monopoly now" She laughed.

Elle knew deep down that Tao just didn't know what to say in situations like this and she accepted that about him. She was grateful for Charlie saying what he said. Which is why she hugged him so hard. He understood.