heartbreaker || a heartstopper fanfiction.

1 - [ where did you get this? ]

no matter what, nicholas nelson always thought she had the prettiest eyes. nobody could beat her eyes. except for one boy, but that boy was no longer here.

it didnt matter. she was here. thats all that mattered.

she. she. she! florence nelson. nobody could beat her.

she was only fourteen, but nick thought she was the brightest girl he'd ever met. they shared the same round face and blotchy freckles that were fainter than rain drops. but other than that, fleur was much prettier than nick. she was chubby in a cute way, rosy lips and doe eyes. her hair was red-really red, not ginger, but dyed cherry soda red. it complimented her eyes, the prettiest eyes! green, green, green like leaves, like matcha, like emeralds. dollops of mud embrodiered within each orbe. swatches of shades-hazel, juniper,- mingling on their own. 

nick was literally double her age, but he couldnt stop the warmth in his chest, the naive swirl he got when he looked at her. she was the little sister he never got. the partner in crime-quite literally. his best friend. he'd never gotten someone like that. 

except once. but that once was a long time ago.

nick wished that fleur would always hold those beautiful eyes, along with her naive heart and kind soul. 

over the years of his career nick nelson had started feeling very, very lonely. it had swallowed him up--wake, rugby, sleep--the light in his life, if there ever was one, had blown out. but then fleur had came, bubbly and quirky, obsessed with a new fandom each week and spitting out whatever slang was in trend that hour. she had moved in with him after her parents had to work oversees for three years. along with her sparkly aura she had brought tapestries and band posters, thousands of books and comics, fabric paint and lego figurines, led lights and throw pillows. nick's once bland and spare apartment had become a crafty junkyard full of fleur's things. 

secretly, he didnt mind. 

he liked the company. and fleur liked him.

often florence nelson would get gifts and letters from relatives, mainly her mother and father. the gifts-she was an appreciative girl and pretended to enjoy everything-were all scattered across rooms and rooms. but fleur's cousin, luckily, was also very observant. he memorized every spot, every package. everything fleur had brought with her to his home, and everything else people gave her. so when nick was pouring soup into the girls bowl one evening during dinner, he was surprised to see in her hands, an unfamiliar thick book.

a book like that, why nick would have noticed it a long time ago. the cover itself was chunky and full on splattered colors and blurs of people. it declared a magnificent sunset--watercolor printed splashes of lilac, yellow, pink, and a beach with lines of coral, behind a carnival, or a fair, perhaps. the shadow of a ferris wheel was visible, a food cart with a man selling treats, dangling cotton candy and hot dogs, squealing children, a photobooth, a race car ride...but on the sand there were two figures itwerwined-cuddling, nearling, and above them danced the words "heartbreaker". such a sad word, nick thought, for such a happy cover.

nick cleared his throat. "is that from the library?"

fleur looked up. she seemed so tiny, big eyes unfocused and lips twisted in amusement, as if something in the book had made her giggle. "no. i bought it from the book mobile downtown."

"it looks expensive."

"it was," fleur chirped, looking away and back into the sea of pages in her fingers. "but not because of how it looks, its because its in demand. good story, good author-lotta readers, ya'know?"

nick nodded, as if he did know. "where'd you get the money?"

"nicked it." she grinned, closing the book and setting it on the table.

"you think thats funny?"

"come on, nicholas. it was. nick? nicked it?"

nick crossed his arms. "did you really?"

"no!" fleur gasped dramatically, a hand crawling up to her throat in mocked shock. "i cant believe you think i would!"

nick smiled.

"i used my lunch money." fleur picked up the book, running her neon painted fingers down the spine. "they were selling double decker roast beef sandwiches for an entire two weeks! can you believe it?" fleur spat out the "roast beef" with much intensity, spraying spit into her soup. 

" thats lovely florence." nick said automatically-with no emotion at all. he put down his ladle. " is the book good?"

"yes, of course its good. i wouldnt get it if it wasnt good."

nick decided not to respond to the stubborn girl. she had a will of steel. 

he changed the topic. "if they keep giving out roast beef, d'you want me to pack you something?"

"only if its not horrid." fleur shuttered, placing the book back down and hoping off her seat. "i'll go look up the lunch menu for tomorrow."

nick watched the girl bounce away, her scarlet mane flying behind her. once fleur was out of sight, he plucked up the book. something about it, the familiarity of the cover, it was nagging his mind. it wouldnt hurt, reading a page or so. he flipped through, stopping just in time for chapter one. his eyes scurried over the words, almost hungrily--though he wasnt sure why he was so desperate.

"a love story is set in a world, particularly a happy one. often times these worlds tend to seep far from reality-eventully emerging into dragons and magic and potions, and of course a witch and a wizard kissing under stairwells. in other cases our worlds are too close to real life, too close and too vivid, so much where i stop and wonder if society really is this cruel (the answer is always yes). but whatever the universe, there  will always be that bubbly, joyful feeling of flutters and wispy sighs. grammar school, form class. that is my happy world...that is where my prince was too."

nick slammed the book closed so tight he caught his fingers between the pages. head spinning with a bittersweet sort of deja vu-or maybe just veritgo, and hand aching, he could barely make out the authors name in gold capital letters.

charles spring.

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