Falling (a Heartstopper fanfiction)

Lovely

Charlie woke up from that lovely dream determined to make it happen sometime. Their friend group needed to have regular movie nights in addition to the traditional ones with Tao and Isaac and Elle ... and now hopefully Nick. And he could only hope that when he did tell his parents about Nick, they would be as supportive as their dream versions had been.

He was still smiling, looking up at the pictures of them from the beach, already tacked up on his wall, when his phone chimed. It was a text from Nick, of course. And it said "Hi". Of course.

Charlie bounded out of bed. It was remarkable how easy it was to get dressed while holding a phone in one hand, typing. "Hi" in return, of course. And then "does being boyfriends mean we do good morning texts now"

He misbuttoned his shirt and had to put the phone down briefly to rebutton.

"Does that technically qualify as a 'good morning text'," came from Nick, followed by "Because technically all I said was 'hi'."

Two 'technically's in two different texts. Charlie considered teasing him about it even as he was typing, "it was first thing in the morning so I think it qualifies". And then "good morning boyfriend" with their favorite red heart emoji.

He was Nick's boyfriend. Nick Nelson's boyfriend. After all the time wishing, after all the time wondering, after all the time worrying. Nick was his boyfriend. They were boyfriends together.

Charlie laughed in delight, refusing to put his phone down even to finish his tie and put on his sweater. He did put it down long enough to fix his hair, though. Some things required both hands and his full attention.

Distracted by the ongoing text thread, he didn't even think about the bowl of cornflakes as he poured them. He even managed a few bites—maybe more than a few, he forgot to count—as he texted with one hand and held the bowl in the other. It wasn't clear how he'd done that. Maybe it didn't matter.

Nick was asking what was in the fine print of the boyfriend contract. Charlie could think of a few things, but the most important was the one he typed first: "kissing me many times per day". To think that a few months ago he hadn't known what it was like to kiss Nick Nelson, and now he knew every detail of the way it felt, from the soft touch of Nick's lips on his to the way he smelled to the feel of Nick's hands in his hair. He would never have imagined he'd like having someone touch, and mess up, his hair, but when it was Nick? Perfectly okay. More than okay, really.

The lovely text string continued all the way into school, Charlie sitting beside Tori, who watched his rapidly typing fingers with her usual mix of bored teenager and supportive sister.

Stowing his phone, Charlie walked into school, not even looking at the table by the gate. Nick wouldn't be there this morning. He'd be in form, at their table, waiting for Charlie.

It was absolutely impossible not to smile like an idiot. And Charlie didn't care at all.

He walked into form, his eyes going immediately to their table, and his heart sank when Nick wasn't there.

But only for a moment, because then two warm and familiar hands were placed over his eyes. He laughed. "Nick."

The hands were removed and there was Nick, standing in front of him, smiling. Maybe a little taller than he'd been yesterday. Or maybe that was just Charlie being foolish. They smiled at each other.

"Hi."

"Hi."

God, he was so beautiful. It wasn't exactly that Charlie forgot when they weren't together, but the fresh shock of seeing Nick and recognizing how incredibly hot he was and then the electric jolt of the way he looked at Charlie always seemed new.

Then Nick grabbed Charlie's wrist and pulled him out of the classroom.

"Where are we going?"

Nick tugged Charlie into the supply closet, shutting the door behind them. As they stood there facing each other, he said, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I came out to my mum last night."

Charlie was thrilled to hear it. And nervous that Nick's mum might not be supportive. He liked her, and he would hate to think that she wasn't happy they were together. "Oh, my God. How did it go?"

"Really well. She was completely fine with it."

Relief flooded Charlie, to match the relief on Nick's face. He launched himself into Nick's arms, feeling those arms wrap around him instantly in return, his feet lifting off the ground as Nick held onto him tightly, laughing and turning them around.

As Nick set him down, still holding him, Charlie said into his ear, "Want a 'well done' kiss?"

Nick pulled away, dropping his bag to the floor, and nodded. "Yeah."

Charlie kissed him, his hands cupping Nick's face. It was so lovely, he almost forgot where they were, until Nick pulled back. "Kissing at school is a terrible idea."

He was absolutely right. And he was absolutely still kissing Charlie.

It kept being a terrible idea all the way up until the bell ring, and they giggled at each other while straightening their clothes and hair before hurrying off to form.

Completely worth it, in Charlie's view.