Heartstopper one shots

Protective Tao

A/N: I wanted to write a one-short more on Tao & Nick's friendship and how he's protective of Charlie. It's going to be a long one, like a short story!! I got this idea from the picture above.

Hope you guys like it! Most of the dialogue is credited to Alice!

Thank you guys so much for all the support on my story!! ❤️‍🩹

Charlie kicked the ball to Tao as they were in P.E. class. He didn't feel the cold air with everything on his mind. Well, the someone that was on his mind was Nick Nelson. Why was Nick being so friendly to him? Why did Nick say hi to him every morning? Why did Nick even take time out of his day to talk to him? It had to be some prank.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tao's loud voice, "Nick Nelson? I thought you didn't have a crush on him!!" Tao asked with big eyes as he kicked the ball back to Charlie. "Please don't say it so loud..." Charlie pleaded; he didn't want anyone to hear Tao and spread it around like he got out.

He didn't want Nick to get involved in his mess at this school; he didn't deserve to be teased like he was; Nick was too kind.

"Well, you've been all over him for like a month! Texting?? You've even started to eat lunch together!? And don't get me STARTED on rugby..." Tao sighed. He didn't mean to be harsh, but he was trying to get his best friend to see that Nick wasn't worth the trouble of getting hurt. "Charlie!" He shook Charlie as he zoned out a bit to get his attention again, "I'm not being funny, like, you got to get it into your head that he's straight. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Just look at him. He's as straight as they come." Tao held the ball, looking at Charlie with sorry eyes. He felt so bad for his best friend; why did he have to fall for every guy who was nice to him?

"You're causing yourself pain!"

"I KNOW!" Charlie snapped; he was starting to get overwhelmed. He knew Tao was being his protective self and was trying to help, but all he was doing was making his thoughts worse. His mind was loud, his thoughts swarming like a swarm of bees.

Nick didn't like him...

Nick didn't like him...

Nobody was ever going to like him.

Ben was right.

"Tao and Charlie! Stop chattering and start kicking that ball! And Tao, take that bloody hat off!" Their gym teacher instructed, tired of hearing their ramble.

"But, sir! It's freezing!" Tao protested, "It's England, not Antarctica, deal with it." Their gym teacher sighed. Once their gym teacher walked off, Tao took off his hat and looked at Charlie, who was looking down.

"Charlie, you need to give up on him."

"I can't..."

Charlie walked into form; his mood was shit now. He felt like crap; his head spun with thoughts as he sat down.

Why am I like this?

Charlie set his bag down and rubbed his face; Nick wasn't in form yet. He laid his head on the table with a sigh.

Maybe he was being dramatic; Tao was right after all. He had to get over Nick.