Kaleidoscope (a Heartstopper fanfiction)

Hi

It was the first day of the new term. Nick Nelson wasn't quite sure he was ready for a new term, but that was the thing about school: It came round whether you were ready for it or not. Nick was rarely ready for it—all things considered, he'd have rather stayed home with his dog.

But rugby would be starting back, and that was always good. He liked rugby, and felt sure of himself on the pitch in a way he didn't so much in the classroom always. He was fine at lessons, solid, but nothing special. On the rugby pitch, he was good, and he knew it. It made a difference, made him feel like he knew where he was and where he belonged.

Nick found his way to his form, taking a seat by the window. They'd shuffled up for the new term, so he had a new seatmate. Some boy called Charlie in year 10. As Nick waited, mildly curious to see what this boy was like, the other tables filled up.

At last he looked up from his bored doodling to see a boy with wild curly dark hair coming toward his table. They looked at one another a moment, sizing each other up. It came to Nick that he knew who this boy was—he'd been infamous last year as the only openly gay boy in the school. Nick had never met anyone who was gay before, but Charlie looked pretty normal, so he didn't think much more about it. As he took his seat, Charlie said hi, Nick said hi in return, and that was that.

The day began and they went off to their classes and Nick didn't think too much more about Charlie. Didn't think about him at all, actually.

They banged into each other on their way in the next morning. Nick had been lost in his phone and hadn't looked where he was going until he found himself shoulder to shoulder with Charlie in a doorway not made for two. He wondered if he shouldn't say sorry, but Charlie didn't seem bothered, so they both said hi, instead, and went to their table.

Over the next few days Nick noticed Charlie in the hallway a lot, and made sure to say hi when they passed each other—might as well be friendly, and Charlie seemed nice enough.

He came out of a classroom toward early the next week just as Charlie was walking by and said the usual "hi", which Charlie returned.

"You going that way?" Nick asked, gesturing the way he was going.

"Yeah. Maths."

"Same." Nick smiled and displayed his homework. He balanced it on his arm and kept doing sums while they walked.

Charlie looked over his shoulder. "Are you literally doing your homework while walking to your lesson?"

"I ... might be."

"That's very chaotic."

Nick had never thought of himself as a chaotic person. More as a person who didn't like doing his homework and often forgot it entirely until the last minute, as he had today. "That makes me sound way cooler than I actually am."

"Do you want me to do that for you?"

"No, I'm good." Charlie was in year 10; Nick couldn't imagine how he could help.

But Charlie kept peering over his shoulder, studying the problem. "I can tell you the answer."

Well, that was how he could help, then. Apparently Charlie was good at maths. Still, though. "Then I won't learn."

"If you're stuck I can just ..." Charlie reached for the pen. "Let me just ..."

Nick turned toward the wall to put his shoulder in the way of Charlie's hand, moving the homework out of the way, still trying to fill in the answer, although he suspected from Charlie's vehemence that he was getting it wrong.

Still ... he wasn't about to lose a tussle to a year 10, even if said year 10 was proving to be surprisingly fun. Fighting to keep someone else from doing his homework in the middle of the corridor might be the most interesting thing that happened to Nick all day. "Get off!," he said, trying not to laugh. In the scuffle, his pen marked Charlie's hand.

"How dare you?" Charlie asked, pointing at the mark. His eyes were lit with humor, and Nick found himself smiling in return.

"Look." Nick took Charlie's hand back and added two dots above the ink line, forming a smiley face. "Better?"

"Maybe."

They resumed walking and Nick went back to his homework, which he really did have to finish. He was half tempted to get the answers from Charlie. Not today—but it was good to know he had a seatmate who could do year 11 maths. That could come in quite useful another day, when the lessons got harder.

As they walked, Charlie said a hesitant "Hey" to another boy walking down the hall. Nick looked up from the homework to recognize Ben, with whom he shared a friend group, more or less.

Ben was looking down his nose at Charlie. "What?"

"Uh ... Just ... Hi." All the humour had faded out of Charlie's face.

"Why are you talking to me? I don't know who you are," Ben said. As Charlie looked down, embarrassed, Ben met Nick's eyes. "All right, mate?"

"Yeah, all right," Nick answered, not sure what was going on here. Charlie clearly knew Ben, so Ben must be lying. But why would he? Whatever was going on, Nick didn't think he liked it.

"Yeah." Ben walked off.

Nick started to ask Charlie what that was all about, but Charlie beat him to it. "You're friends with Ben?"

"Uh, yeah." He felt vaguely bad saying it, like he shouldn't be. "He's in my year. We hang out sometimes." He looked at Charlie with concern, but Charlie kept walking, moving faster so they were no longer in step. Nick went back to his homework, but he wondered. Something had happened there, and it hadn't felt like a good thing.