Heartstopper Future

Chapter 34: Talayotic Sites ... or not?

Date: Wednesday 7th August 2024

Charlie’s POV

I wake up feeling like shit. 

I feel nauseas, I have a back ache, and I'm still exhausted and feel like I need another 10 hours sleep – at least.

I have a few biscuits hoping they’ll help me out a little bit, but a few minutes later I realise, they won’t, as I'm running to the bathroom, making it to the toilet just in time. I must have woken Nick up, as a few seconds later, he comes into the bathroom and sits beside me, rubbing my back, while I continue to be sick.

Once I stopped being sick, I leaned my head on his chest and just started crying.

“I don't know how much more of this I can take, Nick.” I said, I between sobs.

“I know, but your strong, and you can do this. Hopefully it will get better soon anyway.”

“I know, but what if it doesn’t?”

“You’ll learn techniques to help you deal with it, and I’ll still be here for you. I’ll never not be here for you.”

“Can we stay here today? I really don't feel up to anything.”

“Of course, I’ll go talk to mum in a bit to let her know, but first I think we should get you cleaned up.”

“Ok, can you run me a bath, as I don't feel up for a shower, and hopefully the bath will help soothe my back ache.”

“Of course. You sit here, and I’ll go do it, then I’ll help you in.”

“Ok.”

He then gets up, gives me a kiss on the top of my head, then walks over to the bath and starts running it.

Once it’s run, he comes back over to me to help me undress, before helping me into the bath, then carefully starting to wash me, while I relax.

When I’m all cleaned up, he helps me out of the bath, before helping me dress and gets me into bed where I soon fall asleep.

Nicks POV

Charlie looked exhausted, after this morning’s events, so I ensured he was asleep before leaving him to go talk to mum, as he needed the rest. 

I found mum in the living room, on her phone doing who knows what.

“Mum,” I say as she looks up from her phone “Charlie’s not feeling great, and has had a bad morning, so he’s requested that me and him stay here today to get some rest. I just wanted to know if that’s ok with you?”

“Of course it is, a day to himself is probably just what he needs. You go back to him, and I’ll come check on you before we leave, ok?”

“Yes, thanks mum.” I say before getting up and returning to Charlie.

I sit on the bed beside him, and like he can subconsciously sense my presence, he moves towards me, rests his head on my chest, and wraps his arms round my abdomen. I then begin to play with his hair as he settles down again. 

We stay like this for about 20 minutes, before mum quietly comes in, as if she knows Charlie’s asleep, and whispers to me that they are about to leave, and she prepped us some lunch, and we just need to get it out of the fridge when we want it. I then thanked her, before she quietly left.

A few minutes later, I hear the front door lock, knowing that they’ve left, and we’ve now got the place to ourselves. So, knowing someone isn’t going to suddenly barge in, I lift up his shirt slightly, and start rubbing the bump, already knowing how much I love this child, despite it not even being born yet.

About an hour and a half later, Charlie begins to stir, and once he’s woken up properly I notice that there’s a lot more colour in his face, making him look a lot better than he did earlier.

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

“Better, but still not great. How long was I asleep for?”

“About 2 hours.”

“Does that mean they’ve all gone?”

“Yes, it’s just us. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

“Not really, but can you get me a hot water bottle, to see if it will ease my back pains?”

“Of course. Would you like to stay here, or go into the living room where we can watch a film on the TV?”

“Can we go into the living room? Might as well make the most of this time alone while we have it.”

“Absolutely. I’ll help you in there, then I’ll go get you a hot water bottle.”

“Ok.”

So I help Charlie into the living room, and get him settled on the sofa before passing him the remote and telling him to get something loaded up, so we can start when I get back. I then go into the kitchen and start boiling the kettle for the hot water bottle. 

Once the hot water bottle was filled with the water and had the cap screwed on, I went and sat next to Charlie on the sofa, then he snuggled up to me while I held the hot water bottle on his back, and he started the movie.

Once the movie was finished, we decided it was time for lunch, so we went into the kitchen and I got the food, that mum prepped for us, out of the fridge, and set it down on the table where Charlie was already sat. I then got him out a small bag of popcorn, hoping the baby will help him eat it, and sat down with him and we began eating.

Charlie was taking it slow at first, so I matched his speed, but he practically ate the popcorn whole, he ate it so fast. 

Once we had finished eating, he asked if we could go in the pool to see if it would help, which I obviously didn’t object to, so we went to our room, got changed into our swim stuff and headed out to the pool. 

We sat on the edge of the pool, with our feet dangling in, for half an hour to let the food settle before getting in. I see an instant look of relief as we got in the water, as the water would be supporting his and the baby’s weight, giving him a break.

We spent about an hour in the pool, and the only reason we ended up getting out, was that we wanted to be in dry clothes by the time everyone else got back, so they wouldn’t see anything. So, once out we went to our room and got dressed, and got back in the kitchen, just as everyone got back.

“How are you feeling Charlie?” mum asked, looking genuinely worried about him.

“Better thanks, Sarah. I think I just needed the break that today gave me.”

“Well I’m glad. We’re having pasta tonight if you are p for it.”

“Yeah, that sounds good, but can I have it plain, I don't want anything to extravagant.”

“Of course, darling.”, mum said, obviously knowing it was better that Charlie ate something he wanted, rather than not eating something he didn’t want.

Tilly and Leo then came in and started, very enthusiastically, telling me and Charlie about their day at the Talayotic sites, so I suggested we go into the living room, knowing Charlie would be more comfortable, and we’d be out of the way of mum, which they accepted so we followed them through to the living room and took a seat, while they continued telling us about everything.

Shortly after, we got called into the kitchen, where plates of pasta had been placed at the table so we went and sat down, beside our food and started eating.

After dinner, we decided to skip out on the board game of the evening, as I knew Charlie needed the rest if he was going to be in any fit state for tomorrow, so we said our goodnights and went to bed.

A/N: Apologies for such a long time between updates. I had planned to do them every other day, only I didn't get as many written over the weekend as I'd have liked, which meant I would have had to have written them throughout the week - which I wouldn't have minded - only I had parents evening on Wednesday and I didn't get home till late and I was exhausted after, so I didn't get round to it, then on Thursday I was suffering from burn out which I was still struggling with on Friday so it just didn't happen. But, I'm doing alright today and hopefully there will be updates ever other day from now on. Hope you're all doing well.