Heartstopper Future

Chapter 21 - Rosanna's Birthday

A/N: Apologies if I am missing any characters or some of their information is wrong, I went and reread some bits of this winter to check everything, but I might have missed something out, but hopefully it’s all correct.

  

Date: Tuesday 23rd July 2024

Charlie’s POV

Nick has just picked me up, after our last day before the summer holidays. Admittedly it took a while as I had another load of files from the primary school to ship home, but at least that’s all of them now.

In about an hour, we are going to my Aunt Jules and Uncle Ant’s house for my cousin, Rosanna’s, 17th birthday, so when we get back (after unloading the car) we go upstairs to get ready.

As my day consisted purely of group sessions, as I thought it would be nice for the students, we did a lot of messy activities. Towards the start of the morning I did baking with years 3-6, and later on, sand and water play with reception – year 2. As a result, I am now covered in flour, and I have sand everywhere – it really does get everywhere. So, I ensure that I have a shower before spending too much time elsewhere in the house to make sure I don’t bring mess everywhere I go. 

After my shower, I find Nick, already changed, lying down on our bed, on his phone probably scrolling through some form of social media. I get dressed and leave him to it. Once I'm changed I ask him “You are sure you want to come, aren’t you?” 

“Yes, why wouldn’t I?” he responds.

“Well, you haven’t met most of my family yet, and I'm not entirely sure who’s coming, so my Abuelo and nan might be there and they can be a bit homophobic.”

“Look, I’ll be fine. And I want to be there to make sure the baby is ok.”

I give him a stern look.

“And you, of course.” He says quickly.

“Ok, but can we leave early and just blame it on your rugby. I know it’s not until a lot later, but can we just say it’s at 5 or something so we don't have to be there for longer than 2 and a half hours.”

“Of course.”

Nick’s POV

On the drive over, I notice Charlie becoming more and more anxious the closer we get to theirs. They live reasonably far away – about 45 minutes – yet we spend the whole journey in silence, unsure what the other wants to hear to be comforted.

When we arrive, Charlie immediately gets out of the car and goes straight to the front door and rings the doorbell. He gets greeted by a man and just as he gets invited in, I arrive beside him. This then means we are at the doorstep for at least another 5 minutes doing introductions – and that was just one person, I dread to think how long this is going to take – especially as he seems rather chatty.

Once we make it into the hall, it takes us at least 30 minutes to get into another room, as there seems to be a rule here that introductions must happen before you properly enter the house.

When we finally make it in, Charlie gets roped into some random conversation, leaving me a little unsure what to do. That is until, I spot a little human, sat on the floor in the corner playing with some dinosaurs and cars, being completely ignored by everyone else, so I decide to go meet him.

When I reach him, I crouch down so I'm at his level and say “Hi little man, what’s your name?”

“Kai,” he responds.

“Are you one of Charlie’s cousins?”

“Yes, who are you?”

“I’m Nick, Charlie’s boyfriend.”

“Nick, that’s a cool name.”

“Thanks, I think you have a pretty cool name too.”

“Thank you. Do you want to play with my dinosaurs and cars with me?”

“Ok, then.” I say, while sitting down in a more comfortable position.

We spend about 15 minutes playing multiple things, e.g. what can be stacked higher cars or dinos, can you place a dino on a car and send the car speeding and it not fall of (by the way you can’t, we really tried), that sort of thing, then Charlie comes along, sits next to me and rests his head on my shoulder.

“Are you ok?” I ask.

“Yes, they’re all just being nosy pricks,”

“Well you can stay with us if you like, we’re about to see if you can balance 3 cars on one dino.” 

“Well, anything is better than over there.”

After another 5 minutes, there is a knock at the door and Ant goes to answer it. After 10 minutes, he comes back, with Julio following. Everyone says hello but us 3, although I think Kai only didn’t say hello because he didn’t notice. However, someone then asks where Jane is, to which Julio just says she’s busy with work which mildly infuriates me. I mean what’s he going to do when she doesn’t show up for Christmases or he own birthday? However, when the question gets asked, as Julio answers Charlie says under his breath “Prison.” but loud enough for me, and unfortunately Kai, to hear, as he then asks, louder than he thought, “Why did you say your mums in prison?”

As everyone hears this, the room turns to face us. 

“Because that’s where she is.” Charlie answers, making sure everyone could hear, “She got arrested on her birthday for child abuse, amongst a few other things as well. It’s why Tori, Oliver and Michael aren’t here, they’re preparing their court case against her.” The way he says it is kind of funny – to me – as he says it like it's the most casual and normal thing in the world, yet with just enough smugness to piss off Julio. 

He then turns back, to the dinosaurs and cars, and continues playing with Kai, so I do the same. We then hear a few awkward conversations behind us. 

This continues for a few minutes, until there is another knock at there door. Julio announces “I’ll get it,” but I'm pretty sure that’s just to avoid the awkwardness for a bit.

When he returns, I see an older couple following. When Charlie sees who it is, he whispers “Oh no. It’s my grandparents.”

They then start making their way round the room saying hello to everyone, and Charlie keeps his back to them hoping they wont notice him, so I do the same.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work, as about 10 minutes after their arrival, they come over to us. They say hello to Charlie and Kai, before the woman asks who I am. However, Charlie gets in before me and answers “This is Nick … my boyfriend.”

“You’re what?”

“My boyfriend.”

“What do you mean you're ‘boyfriend’? Where is your girlfriend?”

“I don't have one, I have a Boyfriend.” He replies calmly, “Now, you can either accept this and move on, or don't accept it and never hear from me again.”

That shuts them up, and they end up just going back to the large gathering.

At about 4 o'clock, I can tell Charlie’s had enough, so I stand up, and get him to stand up as well, and I say “We’re off, but it was lovely meeting you all.”

Jules then asks “Do you have to leave so soon?”

“Yes, I have rugby training in about an hour, so we really need to get going.” Even though I don't have rugby till 7 (3 hours).

“Ok, well it was lovely meeting you.”

“You too, bye.”

“Bye.”

We leave, then get in the car and start the drive back home.

“Well that could have gone worse.” I say.

“Agreed.”