A Heartstopper Fanfic

Chapter 20: Baby Steps

Walking into the arcade, the colorful dots against the navy blue carpet stick out like a sore thumb, even with everything going on around me. As the gang, Nick, and I head towards the register to reserve a bowling alley, the buttery smell of freshly made popcorn lingers in the air, along with the sound of kids happily screaming.

For nostalgia's sake, we decided to go to an arcade as a group. My fifteenth birthday...now that was some time ago, but it feels like just yesterday Nick gifted me a framed photo of him and me with the caption 'snow day'. He had even decorated the frame himself! I may or may not still have it..and it may or may not be sitting on my nightstand beside a mini jar of sand that I had collected when we went to the beach, labeled 'beach day with Nick'. God, I love him.

I'm cringy. Wait- no, scratch that, sometimes we're a cringy couple. I don't care though. We're unapologetically ourselves.

Take that homophobes! Okay, I'm done now.

Five fingers slide themselves between my own, causing our hands to interlock. I look up at Nick and smile before once again looking ahead of me, energetic butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. A couple of days ago was Halloween, so November just began. Anyways, earlier today I had a virtual therapy session with Geoff. On Sundays, I don't work, so I get to do whatever I wanted to as Nick sleeps in. Spoiler alert, I chose to journal for a bit, and then I started a show that Nick is currently obsessed with so that I can talk about it with him. It's so cute when he talks about his passions.

At ten, I had to hop onto a call with my therapist. Clearly, I'm an early riser. What can I say? I'm a morning person, (probably because I love to nap.) As for Nick, he had therapy in person at twelve. The only reason that my session was virtual today is because the building that Geoff operates out of is being worked on, so he's working from home at the moment. I am not going to his house! It's just weird to cry at a person's house when I'm there for the first time, especially my therapist's. "Oh hey, sorry for venting all over your nice pillows, now they're tear-stained." From what I know, both Nick and I's sessions went well. Overall, today is off to a great start!

Out of the blue, Tao speeds up, eventually catching up so that he's beside me, and then nudges me, weirdly wiggling his eyebrows as he does so. Nick chooses to escape while he can, happily walking over to Darcy and Tara saying, "hi". I stop dead in my tracks, the carpet muffling the sound of me doing so. My arms are sassily crossed as I look my best friend in the eyes, mentally preparing myself for whatever might leave his mouth. Elle, Tao's lover, and my good friend, stares at him from afar, her facial expression screaming "don't make me come over there and drag you away by the ear." Personally, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that, so Tao better watch out.

The raven-haired boy excitedly props himself up and onto his heels, "soooo...why did you text me at one am the other night saying 'SOS! I want to marry Nick, how does one get on one knee and pop the biggest question?!'" I feel like my text makes perfect sense since it's self-explanatory. I might've been delusional since I rarely ever stay up, (I haven't since Nick and I got a place together because I was no longer deprived of him for days on end, so we didn't need to chat until ungodly hours in the morning), but my thoughts were clear. He comes back down to my level, stupidly grinning at me. My lips fold into a straight line. I may be desperate to have this conversation with him AND ELLE, but I'd rather not run the risk and instead talk later when we're far away from the others..., especially Nick. "I have a migraine now." Is all that I say in response before making a mad dash to one of those rigged claw machines with tons of tokens shoved into my pocket. I'm more than prepared to spend major money today, (Nick helped me out with that by splurging and buying us way too many tokens to play games.) Looks like Lily will be getting a million new stuffed animals to play with.