Heartstopper oneshots/ requests

The New Kid P4

Sorry it took me so long to upload!!

Tw: crying and grief :(

Nick opened the door and walked through the hallway, but seemed a little hesitant.

"Keep going, through to the kitchen" I told him, still stealing glances at the casserole in my hands.

Nick did as I said and I put the casserole on the dining table which was full of clutter.

"Joe!" The girls said in unison, tumbling down the stairs in their excitement.

I couldn't blame them really, it must be lonely coming home on your own at their age and sitting in a quiet house until I got in.

"Hello! My two favourite girls" I said, kneeling down to pick them up. I could hold them both easily - one in each arm. Even though Fizz was almost 12 and Alissa was 9.

"This is Nick" I said, turning slightly to face Nick, the girls turned too to see him
"Hi Nick!" They said, again in unison and Alissa put her arms out for Nick to take her
"Oh I don't think-"
"It's okay" Nick beamed, taking Alissa from me, "It's nice to meet you - are you Fizz or Alissa?"
"Alissa" Alissa giggled, "That's Fizz" She said, pointing to Fizz still in my arms
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Alissa" Nick said, bowing his head slightly which made me laugh

"Right, get down you two - me and Nick are going to go and do some rugby practice in the garden"

I knelt down so Fizz could get down from me. I know they're too old for all this now, but it was sweet and made me feel like the adult. Which I really didn't feel like most of the time.

"Can we join?!" Alissa shouted, jumping up and down at me
"Maybe in a bit, you two go and watch TV - I think Adventure Time's on" I tell them which they respond well to and both go bounding off to the living room down the hall.

"Sorry about them" I say, laughing slightly
"No, they're cute" Nick said, "So, shall we practise defending?"
"Yeah, through here"

I take Nick outside into the garden. It wasn't a huge space but it was all grass and was enough for us.

"It's a bit small but-"
"It's perfect. Right, so-" Nick looked around, taking in the space, "I'll go over here. So you're a really good at running with the ball an dodging, but you need to be ready for an opponent to try to take it off you"
"It just scares me a bit"
"It does at first, but I think you'd be good at it - you're not the smallest guy on the team"

Nick had a point, if I could get the hang of defending then I would become an even better asset to the team.

So we practised for a while. Nick showed me the main ways people try to take it off you and how you can move yourself away from them.

"Don't worry, you won't hurt me - you just need to really commit to the twist" Nick explained, "So if I came at you from this angle, you would need to shove me away from you - look, give me that ball"
Which I did.
"So if I'm here, like this" Nick said, turning himself to the side, "And you come at me from that direction, I need to turn away from you. Always aim to have your back to your opponent"
"Yeah that makes sense"
"So you come at me now and try to get the ball"

So I did, although not as hard as I would in an actual match and Nick twisted to keep the ball from me.

"You see? And when you're running, you need to be looking ahead to the goal but also aware of what's going on in your peripheral vision so you know where people are going to attack you from"
"What if there's two people coming at both sides?"
"Then you do what I just did but twice - one way then the other - quickly enough to shove them off"