i like to think we would find each other in any universe

i've missed you all this time i didn't know you (part one)

so, we meet again, eh?

how've you been? i, personally, have had an interesting week. working a lot, making appointments for doctors, finally getting into university. that's right. your girl got into uni. i am actually excited, i swear. mostly ready to be done with school, but still excited.

but, more important than that, another update! this one isn't a songfic (gasp! what?! isn't that all she knows how to do?!) no it isn't, thank you very much. if you need proof, head over to my mcu loki fanfic, when the prince ran away. it's actually quite good, if i do say so myself. it needs some love, my beauties. so help a girl out and take a peek at it. much appreciated.

but, i digress. this story is an idea that popped into my head. funny thing, too, is that the title came to me first and the story idea came from the title. so do with that what you will.

this story is a never-met-strangers-to-friends-to-lovers au where nick went to st. john's and never met charlie, but they have mutual friends through tara, darcy, and elle, so they know of each other. it's a bit of a keep-just-missing-each-other slow burn type story, so get comfortable. it's gonna be a long ride.

as always, TRIGGER WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF EATING DISORDERS

i know that heartstopper is meant to take place around 2010-2011, but i wanted to make it more present day like the show, so this starts in early 2021 and ends in late 2022. this just makes the story make more sense and has more relevant references.

also, darcy is nonbinary in this AND is nick's sibling, as in cinema. i love those headcannons so much, so i'm sticking with it forever.

alright, end of long introduction. enjoy, lovelies. <3

-

april / 2021 / kent, enland, uk

"happy birthday, charlie!" everyone is there to see charlie spring. mum and dad, tori and ollie, tao, elle, isaac, aled, tara, darcy, even michael (tori's boyfriend, whom she still denies as anything other than he's just michael) are all there to see him. everyone except...there's someone missing. charlie can feel it, but he can't think of who it is that makes him feel so empty. but he can't think about that now because -

"look at my big eighteen-year-old boy. so grown up." jane spring say as she hugs charlie to her, kissing his cheeks.

"mum, please." charlie says, giggling like a schoolboy. jane and charlie haven't always had the best relationship. in fact, it could be quite turbulent on a good day. it took charlie nearly dying of malnutrition on a school trip to paris when he was fifteen for them to finally be able to communicate at all, and even then most conversations ended in screaming. with charlie in and out of hospital for two years, he and jane had very little communication on the daily. this proved to actually be quite helpful for their relationship, even if the circumstances of separation were grim. charlie spent the majority of his year eleven and year twelve in a psychiatric hospital an hour away from home. at the start of his year thirteen, charlie was released from hospital for the last time, his therapist, geoff, believing his behaviour to be well enough to stay at home again. needless to say, life hasn't been easy for the last three years of charlie's life. but as he sits with his family on his eighteenth birthday, healthier and happier than he's been in years, he can finally say that everything feels okay.

when it's time for presents, everyone gathers in the living room, tara and darcy rushing in last minute.

"sorry, on the phone with dear old brother." darcy says. right. brother. charlie forgets that darcy has a brother sometimes because they're not quite that close anymore. charlie never met him regardless, but he knows both darcy and tara miss him lots. what was his name? nate? noah? rick? or - no. that's right. nick. and suddenly, charlie doesn't feel so empty anymore. strange. he shakes it off and moves to open a present, ignoring the warm feeling making its way through his chest.