A Collection of Heartstopper Oneshots

the book of love - charlienick Part 1

Summary:

Charlie Spring has been working at Sleepy Cat Books for nine months now, and thus far, it's been nothing short of wonderful.

Working there has also been the most awful thing in his life for one singular reason: Mr. Nelson.

or, Charlie works at Sleepy Cat Books and Nick works at the school across the street; sparks fly, cats meow, and children love Mr. Nelson—Charlie knows what that's like.
Notes:

For charliesnelsons, bandteeshirts (ihavetoomuchfreetime), virgosun.
thank you to the beloved theotreeslina hive for fielding my insanity. thank you to theo and lina for betaing, they fixed the various products of said insanity. thank you for reading. there's very very little CWs OR TWs but like. slight mentions of charlie's various mental illnesses but mostly this is just a fluffy bookshop au. song on the tin is a song by the same name by the magnetic fields. the fic is fully written, the second half should drop in the next 10 days. i hope you like it! i love you. bye
(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: part i.

Chapter Text
Charlie Spring has been working at Sleepy Cat Books for nine months now, and thus far, it's been nothing short of wonderful.

He gets to zone out and organize (one of his favoured activities), and pet the stray cats that the owner of the shop, Mr. Ajayi, feeds and houses. The cats that wander in and out of aisles, going from cat tree to cat bed, are where the store got its nickname. Its name on the wooden sign above the door is Threelina Bookshop, but it's uncommon it gets called that. There's a little sign in the window Mr. Ajayi had Charlie make (that he enlisted the help of Elle with; Charlie may be smart as a whip but he's no artist) that reads: Sleepy Cat Books. All are welcome, including cats with a small pride flag sticker and a sticker that reads BLACK LIVES MATTER. Charlie never wants to leave. He's never been happier in his life.

Working there has also been the most awful thing in his life for one singular reason: Mr. Nelson.

Mr. Nelson is a primary school teacher from the school across the street. After school, kids in the upper years come in and hang out in the beanbag chairs and various little tables in the kids' section. He doesn't know how Mr. Nelson likes his tea or if he has any pets (though sometimes, Charlie wonders because of the little hairs on his darker button-downs—however, that could be because of some of the fluffier cats dwelling the aisles of the shop) or how he got into early education, if he likes it or slogs through it, or, God, if he likes men. He doesn't even know his first name. He doesn't know anything except one of Mr. Nelson's students, Mollie — not a -y at the end, Mr. Spring, -ie — Solokov's, love for him.

"—And then Mr. Nelson said I could bring Tippy the Turtle home for a week, even though it wasn't my turn, because when my kitty—" Mollie frowns briefly, "—well, I was sad, Mr. Spring. And Mr. Nelson talked to Louis and he said Louis can have Tippy next week because, like, he wants me to be as happy as I can be, and Tippy will keep me company, like, it was sosososo sweet. Laura has—" She lowers her voice to a whisper, "—a huge crush on Mr. Nelson, which I get because he's, like, so cute. Have you seen him, Mr. Spring? Isn't he, like, the cutest?"

And seen Mr. Nelson he has—and, yes, he is indeed the cutest.

Mr. Nelson does his marking at the little desk by the front door where he has full watch over Mollie as she waits for her mum to pick her up. Charlie's certain Mr. Nelson can hear Mollie gush about him to Charlie every Thursday—at least, Charlie can assume, based on the smiles he sometimes gets when he's looking down at his papers as Mollie prattles on about him. Charlie is acquainted with Mr. Nelson, as much as one can be acquainted with a person who is a regular at one's job can be. He usually has a coffee from the local coffee shop a few doors down, but Charlie's never gotten close enough to read what the name is on the paper cup. Charlie wants to know what his coffee order is, if it's his second or third cup, if his mouth tastes like caffeine. Charlie doesn't know. He probably never will.