Charlie and Nick: A Heartstopper FanFic

Star Club

Charlie's eyelids were getting heavy as he watched the trees fly past the window. The plush golden retriever sat snugly in his arms, the only real comfort he could find at the moment. The van Jeff had procured through his cousin, Vinny was cramped and sweltering in the heat. The air conditioning was broken, but the open window offered a nice reprieve.

They had been in Hamburg, Germany for the last week. It didn’t take long for Charlie to realize that this was less of a tour and more of a shot in the dark. Last night, they had played at an open mic night.

Tara was justifiably angry. She felt mislead by Jeff, who had arranged the “tour" with his cousin.

“I'm so sorry, Charlie,” Tara had said to him the day before as they explored the streets of Hamburg. “I really mucked this up, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have dragged you here.”

Charlie had clicked his tongue as they stood in front of an old, special building. “Honestly, I’m glad you did.”

She had looked around the cobbled street. “Is this it?”

Charlie had nodded. The place looked so normal and inconspicuous. It would have been easy to confuse the flashy venue across the road as the place they were looking for. The Große Freiheit 36, or Great Freedom 36 in English, sported dozens of signatures from music royalty on its sign. Charlie wished he and Tara could play there, but they were amateurs compared to the likes of David Bowie and Prince.

The original club on their side of the road burned down before either of them were born. The remodeled skeleton would have to do. The Star Club, where The Beatles recorded an epic live album in 1962, was the true find. It somehow made all the chaos worth it.

Now, Hamburg was fading into the distance behind them as they started their five-hour journey to their next destination.

Charlie was exhausted after the performance earlier that night. As soon as they cleared the stage, the band and Vinny piled into their beat-up van so they could reach Amsterdam before sunup.

Vinny hadn’t made any sleeping arrangements for them, so the group had been forced to live out of the cramped van thus far. He hadn’t really arranged anything aside from a show they had signed a contract to play the following night.

Luckily, Charlie had a connection to some warm beds in Amsterdam.

Slumped in the backseat next to Charlie, Tara tossed her phone into her bag in defeat. “Officially out of bars.”

“Don’t you have data?” Vinny asked her.

“I can’t get a Wi-Fi signal either,” she told him before muttering under her breath, “idiot.”

Charlie felt it was safe to say that Tara didn’t care much for Vinny. He couldn’t blame her, Vinny had lied to them, saying he had a tour bus and a personal relationship with various promoters around Hamburg. They were now aware that Vinny had been full of shit since before they met in person.

Tara turned to Charlie, who now rested his eyes and let the sway of the van lull him to sleep, still holding the plush dog. “I was just texting with Darcy,” she told him, her voice pulling him back into the waking world. “She said she’s round yours with Nick.”

“Ooh,” Vinny teased. “You reckon they're shaggin’?”

Jeff smacked his cousin in the arm as he drove.

“No,” Tara chuckled. “It seems unlikely, considering my fiancé is a lesbian.”

“Give it up,” Vinny insisted. “People experiment. I give it one more day before your fiancé jumps on that dick.”

“Darcy doesn’t jump on dicks,” Tara said matter-of-factly, doing her best to laugh off her discomfort.

“She will. She'll miss you. Nick'll comfort her. She’ll jump on that dick, you'll see.”

Vinny's words made Charlie's skin crawl. “Would you stop?” he snapped, surprising even himself. “You just met us and you’re joking about her fiancé cheating with my partner. Could you just shut up, leave Tara be, and stop talking about my boyfriend’s dick? I think we’ve all had enough.”

Where did that come from? Charlie asked himself.

Tara snickered.

Vinny turned back in his seat so he could glare at Charlie. “You say somethin', bruv?”

“Shut. Up,” Charlie reiterated, holding his plush toy close to his chest. He was about to close his eyes again when the golden retriever lit up with a purple glow.

Nick.