A Lifetime Later: A Heartstopper AU Fanfic

Chapter Ten: Friends

It was nearly nine o'clock by the time Charlie made it back to his flat, but he knew Elle and Tao would be awake. He hung his coat by the door, poured himself a glass of water, and shuffled into the bedroom. Propping two pillows against the head of the bed, he sat down and stretched his legs. As he waited for the call to connect, Charlie examined his own appearance on the screen. His forehead was plastered with sweaty black curls and his cheeks were still pink from the run. He needed a shower, but he needed to speak to his friends more.

After a moment, Elle's face filled the display. "Charlie, thank god," she said. "Tao is making us watch this terrible, surrealist art film from the 1920s. Please tell me whatever you're calling about is interesting enough to get me out of watching the rest of this."

"Hey!," said Tao behind her, feigning disbelief. "This is classic cinema!"

"Yes, love. I know," she said, reaching behind her and patting Tao gently on the head. He scoffed and sat back on their couch, appearing to resume the film.

Elle turned her face back toward the phone screen. "Sorry about him. You know how he is." She smiled. "So what's up, Charlie? Is everything okay?"

"Er... yes. And also, no."

Tao reappeared on the screen, this time next to Elle, nudging her to the left.

Charlie cleared his throat. "So, um. There are two things you should know. One is that Thomas has been promoted, and he's moving to Scotland, and he wants me to go with him."

Elle's eyes widened and Tao opened his mouth to respond, but Charlie kept talking. He needed to get the whole story out before hearing their feedback.

"The second is that... well — I never told either of you this, but — Nick did eventually show up at my office. Three weeks ago. And since then, we've been hanging out and messaging loads."

Now Tao was clearly aching to interrupt. To his credit, he held back as Charlie continued.

"For some reason, when Thomas called me today and pitched the move, the first person I wanted to tell was Nick. So I went to his flat... and we got into a fight."

"A fight? Oh, Charlie," Elle replied, sounding genuinely concerned. Tao's face was unreadable.

He sighed. "I can't really blame Nick for getting upset with me. I don't know why I went to him in the first place, talking about moving to a different country with some other guy."

"Yeah," said Elle, wincing slightly. "That's pretty bad."

"Why is that bad?," Tao interjected. "It's the truth." Elle glared at him.

"All I knew is that I trusted his opinion," said Charlie, before letting out an exasperated groan. "I feel so stupid. I don't know what I was thinking."

Elle paused. "What are you thinking?," she asked. "About the move, I mean."

Charlie felt his mind go blank. He couldn't picture it, moving to Edinburgh with Thomas. It just wasn't something his brain could wrap itself around. Thomas' flat had been familiar, at least. Nothing else in his world had to change by moving there. But uprooting his entire life...

"Charlie, we can still talk all the time. Just like we're doing now," Elle said. "You and me and Tao and Isaac. We'll make it work. You already talk long-distance all the time with Tori."

"I guess."

"And your counseling practice? Well, that's something only you can really decide," she continued.

"Yeah. I guess." Charlie was looking down now, holding his phone in one hand while using the other to fiddle with his watch.

There was silence for a moment.

Elle spoke again, her tone gentle and yet intent enough to make Charlie raise his eyes to the screen. "Charlie. What is this really about?"

He felt the tears coming. It occurred to him that six weeks ago, before the gig with Sahar's band, before the middle-of-the-night run, before landing in the emergency department — he probably would have moved to Scotland. He probably would have gone straight to Thomas' office as soon as he got his phone call and they would have celebrated together. It would have been bittersweet to refer all of his clients to other area counselors, but he probably would have done it anyway. Right now, he probably would have been packing more of his personal items into boxes, rather than laying on his bed, sticky with sweat, an electric pressure in his chest, about to start sobbing on a video call with his oldest friends.

One tear, and then another, splashed onto his phone screen. He felt stupid, a grown man crying to his friends about having had a fight with someone he loved, but he couldn't help it.

Elle smiled and shook her head. "You should make things right with Nick."

Tao closed his eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but she's right. After all... you're Nick and Charlie."