heartstopper one shots

grounding

!!! spoilers up to the current published webtoon of heartstopper!!!
!!! tw! panic attack, mentions of e*ting d*sorder throughout!
take care of yourself :)

it's been nearly two months since charlie got out of inpatient treatment. he's been lying low, spending his days with his family and nick, and occasionally his friends come to see him. he never goes out anymore, though. he stays at his house or goes to nick's, but he's never in public for more than the ten minutes it takes for him to walk to nick's.

in the holiday break before the new year, the pair spend nearly every day together, making up for lost time. they hang out in their rooms, they talk to the other's families, they play with nellie and charlie's little brother, olly, and they play in the snow. just like that first day that they ever hung out outside of school, all those months ago, when nick felt himself falling quick and hard for the curly haired boy. there's always a tinge of sadness now, though, after charlie's hospital stay. every once in a while, nick will mention "going out" in passing. charlie can feel nick getting bored with their fairly mundane routine.

he obviously never pushes the idea. if fact, he rarely pushes anything with charlie. nick is so patient and strong, especially on days when charlie just can't make himself eat. "char, please try. it's just us," nick always says some variation of the phase, gesturing gently to whatever food is in front of the two. on particularly bad days, charlie will shake his head, refusing outright, and nick is, still, gentle, sweet, soft spoken, not like charlie's mum. she is easily frustrated on charlie's bad days and, even, on some of his good. even though charlie can see the breaking behind his brown eyes, nick is stable and nurturing with his boyfriend.

one uncharacteristically nice and sunny day for their town at the beginning of january, nick looks around at the sky from charlie's house's patio. "i'd be nice to go out tonight, char?" nick's eyes train on charlie's. charlie can see the glint of excitement behind his boyfriend's eyes. a glint that he usually tries to ignore, but, this time, he chooses not to. "we could, maybe, yeah," charlie's phrasing is much more noncommittal than he had planned but that doesn't faze nick. "you think?" nick's tone is hopeful, "are you sure you'd want to?" charlie swallows hard. is he sure he'd want to?

he can't bring himself to deny nick's request. instead, he nods, "yeah, i reckon that'd be nice?" "where would you want to go? somewhere small, i suppose?" nick laces his fingers with charlie's, rubbing the pads of his fingers over charlie's chipped nail polish. "yeah, definitely," charlie says, looking at their intertwined hands. "did you want to go to the cinema? or the beach? or- wait, it's much too cold for the beach," nick rambles, laughing to himself. he's not wrong. despite the sun, it is still only seven degrees celsius, and still very much winter.

with nick's excitement, charlie can't help but feeling himself getting a little bit giddy at the prospect. his boyfriend's emotions were contagious, that's another thing about nick. "maybe a restaurant? o-or a cafè?" charlie's voice is so quiet, he's almost sure nick couldn't hear him. of course, though, nick did hear him. he always does. "are you sure you're ready for that?" nick is concerned, grabbing charlie's other hand in his. "honestly?" charlie says, sheepishly, "i don't know. but i'd like to try?" "that's amazing! i'm so proud of you," nick's smile is wide. charlie loves nick's smile.

charlie honestly had no idea how to dress anymore. it's like he's forgotten how to be a person in his time away. he'd gotten so frustrated while trying to find something that he'd essentially just given up, leaving nick to pick something for him. "this looks like you," nick smiles sweetly, holding up an outfit that charlie had probably worn a hundred times before. "thank you," he said, grateful for his boyfriend's presence as he took the clothes to the restroom to change.

"if you feel uncomfortable at any point, please tell me," nick says, gently. they are walking into town, hand in hand. they decided to go to a small cafè that's never very busy, but especially not on a tuesday night. charlie and nick both thought somewhere small and quiet was a good first choice. charlie is caught up in his thoughts as they make their way to town. "it's going to be okay," nick says, suddenly pulling charlie from his thoughts and worries, "i promise." nick squeezes charlie's hand gently and charlie squeezes back.