Oliver is struggling

chapter 1

Jane and Julio have a hard time caring for Ollie sometimes because he needs a lot of support. So Oliver stays at Nick's house from Sunday evening, sometimes Mondays, until Wednesday evening. The beginning of the week is hard for Oliver and Jane and Julio both have to work so they decided that beginning of the weeks he'll be at Nick's. Tori doesn't live at home anymore and Charlie basically lives with Nick.

~ Nick's POV ~
It is a Sunday evening again and the door bell rings which means Ollie is here again. I open the door and Julio is there with Ollie. Normally Oliver runs straight in my arms to give me a hug but he just stands there looking to the floor, i already know something is up but maybe he's just overstimulated. "hi buddy it's good to see you" i say when we all walked inside. Oliver says a hesitant "h-hi" and then head straight to his room. I stand there a little bit confused knowing there's something going on.

Julio turns to me and says "he hasn't been talking much since he came back from school on Friday, i don't know what's up with him."

Jane and Julio are good parents don't get me wrong, but you don't know what's up with him? seriously? Your son has autism and goes non-verbal probably because something happened at school and Julio responds to that with 'i don't know what's up with him.' that sentence makes me annoyed but i try to shake it off and say "oh that's not a good sign, hasn't he been talking at all or just not much?"

"barely anything" Julio responds.
"oh we will keep an eye on him and try figure out why he is overwhelmed" i say to that.
Julio smiles slightly and says "that would be great, thanks. See you Wednesday night again, bye Nick" i just say "yeah bye" and walk Julio out.

When i close the door i take a deep breath and at the same moment Charlie walks in the hallway. "what's wrong baby?" he asks me, probably because he heard me breathing so intens. "there's something wrong with Ollie" i say.

Charlie's face immediately turns into a worried look "what? why do you think that?"
"he's going non-verbal again, Julio said he had been barely talking since he came back from school Friday, i think something happened" Charlie nods "oh should we talk to him?"

"we can try but i don't want to overwhelm him" i say, worried that having this talk right now without a warning will be too much for Ollie. I think Charlie sees my worry because he takes my hand and reassures me "we'll leave him alone if it gets too much, let's at least try and figure out what's wrong"

~ Charlie's POV ~
Nick and i go upstairs to Ollie's room but it's locked, that is worrying me because i have too much experiences with locking a door. "Ollie, can Nick and i come in please?"

Nick and i hear stuff moving around and i look at Nick with a concerned face, this is worrying me. But then the door unlocks.

"hi buddy" Nick says with the cutest little smile, gosh i love that smile.

"we wanted to ask how you were doing and if you're okay, you're not talking much and that's completely fine but maybe you can write it down for us?" i say. Writing things down always helps me, it's so much better and less overwhelming than saying your thoughts and feelings out loud.

Ollie shakes his head no, but after a few seconds still grabs a pen and paper. he writes: "i'm overstimulated and not quite ready to talk about anything going on right now"

Nick replies "that's totally okay buddy, we will talk later okay?" Oliver just nods and we leave him alone.

I feel uneasy and anxiety rising in my body, Nick definitely notices because he grabs my hands and says "we'll try again later tonight or tomorrow, let's give him space first, he needs it"

And i agree he needs a little space first, but it's my little brother, i just want to know what's wrong. I manage to get out a shaky "y-yeah" and Nick squeezes my hands "it's going to be okay char" he says while placing a kiss on my forehead.

"y-yeah i know i just hope we can help him, i-i feel so powerless sometimes and knowing this is something he has to deal with his whole life, must be so hard." i tell Nick.

"yeah i know i feel powerless sometimes too, i can't imagine how hard it must be for Ollie. But we will always support him and that's all he needs" Nick tells me and i hug him.

We cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. A little bit more than an hour later Nick and i's phones both ring at the same time with 2 notifications from Ollie:

'Ollie🏎️🩶'
9:12pm: please help
9:12pm: i'm going crazy

Nick and i look at each other and both have a concerned look on our face and then we jump up and immediately run upstairs.