Falling (a Heartstopper fanfiction)

Intervention

Charlie felt a bit strange being the only reserve on the rugby team, standing alone on the sidelines while everyone else played. It felt very conspicuous ... and a little bit ridiculous. Although it was nice to have a chance to just stand and watch Nick play rugby. It was so obvious that he loved it, and that this was what he truly poured himself into. It was a strange contrast with the gentle and thoughtful person Charlie was coming to know off the field, and made Nick all the more interesting in Charlie's eyes.

Tao came and joined him when the match was nearly over. "So. We're doing well?"

"Don't pretend you have any idea you know what's going on."

"Which end are we supposed to be getting the ball to?"

Charlie pointed. "That end. Nick scored most of the points." He couldn't help smiling.

"Well, he is the Rugby King."

"Yep."

"I wanted to talk to you about Nick, actually," Tao said.

"Yeah? Me, too."

"Did you?"

"Yeah." Charlie paused, and then said "Yeah" again, because he knew how what he was about to say was going to sound. "Well ... you know how I thought he was straight?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've kind of been feeling like maybe he isn't. Like he might like me back."

Tao reacted about the way Charlie had expected him to—with a worried look and a toneless "Oh."

"There's just been all these little moments over the past couple of weeks and during the half-term. Like, we've been hanging out nonstop, and he's been acting a little bit flirty sometimes. Obviously, like, I'm not getting my hopes up, but I just think maybe there's a chance." Tao looked distressed. "What?"

"Um ..."

"What?"

"Nick likes a girl."

Charlie was crestfallen. He'd been so sure of the signals. He turned away from Tao so his friend couldn't see how disappointed he was. "What?"

"Like, he's in love with a girl."

"Wha ... How do you know that?"

"Okay, I know how much you like him, and I just don't want you to get hurt. So I decided to do some digging over the half-term. I messaged Otis, since I sort of know him from doing the school play, and I know he's friends with Nick, and I just slyly asked if Nick was going out with anyone because I might have a friend who was interested. And he said that Nick's single, but he's super interested in this girl from the girls' school."

"What girl?"

"Her name's Tara Jones."

On the field, the match was over—Charlie thought they'd won, but he couldn't be sure. What he could be sure of was that Nick was trying to catch his eye, detaching himself from the rest of the lads and waving at him and calling his name, making Charlie's heart leap and then fall with a thud.

Charlie gave a half-hearted wave back. He'd been lying when he said he wasn't getting his hopes up. He had. He'd counted on being right about Nick ... or, at least, on not being proved wrong. And now all the colour seemed to have gone out of everything.

"That's it," Tao said. "Emergency intervention, my house, tonight. We'll call in Elle and Isaac, and we'll cure you of this Nick Nelson obsession once and for all."

"Great," Charlie said without enthusiasm. He was pretty sure that wasn't possible at this point.

Isaac and Charlie got to Tao's at the same time, and they all went up to Tao's room, where he pulled up a photo of Tara Jones on his phone for Charlie to look at. "As your token straight friend, it's my duty to remind you that sometimes people are straight. It's an unfortunate fact of life."

Charlie didn't deny that—but he'd spent so much time with Nick recently, and not only had this girl's name never come up, girls in general hadn't. Of course, maybe that was because Charlie was gay and Nick didn't want to talk about that kind of thing with him. Maybe, embarrassingly enough, it was because Charlie's crush on Nick was too obvious and Nick didn't want him round anymore but was too nice to say so.

Isaac looked over Charlie's shoulder at Tara Jones' Insta. "But we don't know if she actually likes Nick back."

"Isaac! I've already warned you about encouraging Charlie's crushes on straight boys."

Isaac smiled. "But I want to believe in romance!" Elle came in behind them as Isaac was speaking, and he turned to her. "Elle! So there's this girl at Higgs who apparently Nick's got a crush on?"

"We've heard from multiple sources," Tao added.

"But we don't know if they're actually a thing. So can you talk to her, because she's in your year at school?" Isaac asked.

"Charlie literally won't give up on this straight boy until we know for sure."

"Oh, my God, be quiet!" Elle had barely even gotten her coat off. She sat down on Tao's desk chair. "Okay. Slowly. What do you want?"

"Do you know a girl called Tara Jones?"

"Yeah."

"Can you ask her if she likes Nick Nelson?" Isaac asked eagerly.

"Nick Nelson?" Elle frowned at Charlie. "You might as well give up right now. He's the straightest person I have ever seen."

"Thank you!" Tao said with relief.

Elle added, "And I don't know Tara that well. I can't just go up to her and ask her who she fancies. And I'm too busy being the cool, mysterious new girl who everyone wants to hang out with."

Charlie had been silent this whole time, trying to come up with a way to give up his crush on Nick without giving up his friendship with Nick. He couldn't imagine how to do either, but he wasn't about to admit that to his friends. "I'm fine," he told them all. "It's honestly fine. I'm just being an idiot." He looked up at Elle, not entirely intending to plead with his eyes, but apparently he managed to do so quite effectively anyway.

She sighed. "Okay. Look, if and only if I get the chance, I'll ask her."

The smile came to his face without his meaning it to, and he got up to hug her. "Thank you!"

"I make no promises!"

Isaac got up and joined the hug, and all three of them looked at Tao, holding out their arms. And then it was like old times, all of them together, and for a little while, Charlie could forget about Nick and his doomed crush.

But his newfound resolve to see Nick as just a friend didn't even last through form the next morning. Nick came in, blazerless as usual, and took his seat, slinging his coat over the back of his chair and dropping his bag next to the table. "Hey."

Charlie turned to look at him, unable to keep himself from imagining how it would go if he asked, how Nick would say he was definitely straight and they should stop being friends because Charlie's crush was super embarrassing.

"Charlie."

Nick's voice broke the imaginary conversation and Charlie looked away from him. "What?"

"You just spaced out."

"Oh."

After a moment, Nick pulled his chair a little closer to Charlie's and ducked his head so he could look into Charlie's face. "What?" he asked softly. "What's up?"

Charlie turned to look into those brown eyes, taking a deep breath. "Do you—" But what could he ask? Do you like boys? Do you think you could ever like me? He couldn't ask those things, not right out, and certainly not here, in the middle of form, when the bell would ring any minute. "Do you want to come round my house?"

Nick laughed, with that lopsided smile that was too cute for words. "Yeah. This weekend?"

"Yeah."

"Good. That all?"

Charlie nodded. "Sorry. I'm a little out of it this morning."

"It happens. Nearly overslept myself."

The bell rang, and they went to class, leaving Charlie as deep in the throes of his crush as ever.