Kaleidoscope (a Heartstopper fanfiction)

Movie

Saturday afternoon Charlie came over to Nick's again. More privacy there, and Nick's mum liked Charlie a bit better than Charlie's parents seemed to like Nick. Charlie had told him they were like that anyway, and that they worried about him because of what had happened last year, so Nick didn't take it personally, but it wasn't quite as comfortable.

They went up to his room, where Nick grabbed the TV remote and clicked it on. "Movie?"

"Sure. What do you want to watch?"

"Well, if we're going to keep doing this, we're going to need to work on your cinematic education."

Charlie groaned. "Oh, no. You're going to make me watch The Avengers, aren't you?"

"What? No. No, of course not."

"Well, that's a relief."

Nick frowned at him. "What are you thinking? You can't just start with The Avengers. You have to build up to it. We're watching Iron Man."

"Great. That's so much better."

"Oh? And what do you watch?" Nick widened his eyes in mock horror. "Oh, God, it's musicals, isn't it? That's a thing, right? Wait—does this mean I have to watch musicals?"

Charlie bumped his shoulder, chuckling. "Don't be stereotypist. And I hate to break it to you, but you already watch musicals."

"I do not!"

"You told me you and your mum have seen Mamma Mia three times just this year."

"That's not a musical! That's ... ABBA."

"It's a musical. There's a stage play and everything."

Nick nudged Charlie with his shoulder, smiling. "Huh. Maybe I've been gay all along, then." He and Charlie both looked at each other, serious suddenly, realising what he'd just said.

"Have you—?" Charlie asked.

"No. Yes. I don't know." Nick shook his head and sighed. "No change."

"That's okay." Charlie took his hand. "Really, it is."

They were quiet for a moment before Nick went back to the original subject. "So if you don't watch musicals, then what do you watch? Highbrow serious movies that win Oscars?"

"No, that's my friend Tao. He organises these cinema nights where we watch all these depressing movies."

"Sounds like fun."

"Surprisingly, it is."

Nick was glad Charlie had such good friends—and a little bit jealous. Not of Charlie's friends and the time he spent with them, but of the fact that he had friends who did things like movie nights together. Nick's went out and made fun of people. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten together with his friends and actually had a good time.

Charlie reached for the remote, settling onto the bed next to Nick. "All right, let's watch this guy fly around in a metal suit."

"You know, you're going to love this movie, and then I'm going to get to say I told you so," Nick said to him.

"Uh-huh." Charlie sounded skeptical.

As the opening title sequence flashed onto the screen, Nick reached for Charlie's hand. They watched together for a while—or, rather, Charlie watched the movie, and Nick, who had seen it several times, kept sneaking glances at Charlie in order to watch Charlie watch the movie. Well, really, just to watch Charlie. He was so beautiful.

Eventually, Charlie scooted closer and rested his head against Nick's arm. Nick let go of Charlie's hand and lifted his arm. Charlie tucked his head against Nick's shoulder, and Nick put his arm round him, pulling him close. "There. That's nicer," he said. "That couldn't have been comfortable."

Charlie snuggled in a bit more. "It wasn't too bad. You have comfy arms."

"I have comfy arms?" Nick repeated, mocking him just a little. "You're ridiculous."

"Shut up!"

Chuckling, Nick wrapped the other arm around Charlie and rested his head against Charlie's curls, breathing in Charlie's soft, clean scent, and they sat that way for a long while. Charlie might have been watching the movie still—from this position, it was hard to tell—but Nick had lost track of what was happening on the screen a long time ago.

An explosion rocked the screen, the sound loud in the room, and Charlie jumped in Nick's arms.

"You okay?"

"What? Oh, fine."

Nick shifted so he could look Charlie in the face. "Did you fall asleep?"

Charlie ducked his head, blushing. "I told you you have comfy arms."

"Hm. Well, if you're not going to watch the movie, I can think of more interesting things to do than sleep."

Charlie's hands came up to grasp the front of Nick's jumper. "Can you?"

"Yeah." And he kissed him. He might have thought, if he'd ever considered it before, that something as simple as kissing might get boring after a while, but it definitely hadn't yet.

Another explosion startled them both, and they turned to look at the screen, both blinking as their eyes opened to the light. Then they looked back at each other and kissed again.

Eventually, Charlie nudged Nick's shoulder. "Nick."

"Hm?"

"The movie's over."

He turned and looked. The credits were rolling. Looking down at Charlie, who lay in the circle of his arms, he asked, "Did you like it?"

Charlie pretended to consider and said archly, "What I saw of it."

"If you hadn't fallen asleep ..."

"If you hadn't distracted me ..."

Nick smiled at him. God, he was cute. "Oh, that was just me, was it? Seems to me you were there the whole time."

"Shut up." Charlie tugged him down for another kiss. Across the room, Charlie's phone chimed, and he pulled away from Nick, reluctantly. "Time to go."

"If you have to." Nick got up and walked him downstairs. "You're going to your grandma's again tomorrow?"

"Yes, and you're finishing your homework."

Nick rolled his eyes. "You're worse than my teachers, I swear."

"See you Monday?"

"See you Monday. Text me when you get home?"

Charlie grinned at him. "Yes, Mum."

"Oi!" Nick frowned.

Finally Charlie turned to go. Nick stood in the doorway watching him until he had disappeared down the street, and then he went inside, for once supremely and uncomplicatedly happy.