I Can Hear Your Strength (A Heartstopper FanFic -- BOOK 3)

9. Empty

On Saturday, Charlie slept a lot.

And during the moments he was awake, he wouldn't get out of bed.

All morning, Jane and Julio hovered around Charlie's room, in the doorway, in the hall -- until Tori told them to stop. Meanwhile, Nick stayed sat up in bed beside him, switching between watching him sleep and staring into space, wondering... worrying...

More to ground himself than anything, he kept a hand in Charlie's hair. He wasn't sure whether Charlie was even conscious of it.

Charlie's cold was still persisting, causing him to snore more than usual. It was cute. But it also made Nick really sad.

At around mid-day, Jane returned from the shops with a plethora of brands of meal replacement drinks in several flavours. Nick was relieved Charlie was asleep when she entered with all of them on a tray.

Without thinking, Nick shot up from his spot on the bed and began to buffett her back out of the room. It took all he had to keep his tone polite.

"What on earth?"

"Look, I'm sorry Mrs Spring but I don't think --"

"Excuse me!"

"All of these -- it's too much," said Nick. "I know you're trying to help but this --" He waved a hand at the selection of brightly coloured bottles. "This is only going to stress him out more."

Jane's shoulders slumped. "I thought it'd be nice for him to have a selection to choose from."

Nick took a deep, steadying breath. "It... it's a nice thought but... bombarding him with a food-based choice won't help him right now."

"I wasn't bombarding..."

"I know, I know." Nick surveyed the bottles, thinking. "Do you have any crackers?"

"Yes, but that's not going to be enough."

"And water. Please?" Nick chewed at his lip, shifting awkwardly. "I'm sorry for overstepping. I can go if you --"

"No." Jane closed her eyes for a second and exhaled. "No. Stay. Please. Thank you for being here, Nick. Just... thank you."

When Nick went back into the room, he found Charlie was awake, looking blankly across at him as he shut the door. "Hey," he said softly. "Sorry I had to leave for a sec. Your mum's gone to get you some crackers."

Charlie merely opened his arms and Nick took the hint to climb back into bed and snuggle his boyfriend.

After Jane returned, Nick managed to get Charlie to drink some water.

By the end of Saturday, Charlie had sat up in bed and ate two and a half dry crackers.

Nick stayed the night again. He was exhausted, too.

When he woke up on Sunday morning, Nick felt disoriented at first. His eyes took several long moments to blink away the bleariness. As he shifted in the narrow, single bed, he realised he had been resting with his head on Charlie's chest, his body almost covering Charlie completely.

Nick resettled himself, trapped between his boyfriend and the wall but pleased to see him sleeping peacefully. At least, it looked that way. Charlie's features were entirely relaxed, his chest rising and falling unencumbered. It didn't seem to matter how long he had slept for yesterday, he was out cold again now.

Nick didn't know how long he sat there, watching every adorable little movement Charlie made in his sleep, but when Julio knocked on the door, the sun had fully risen.

"How's he doing?" Julio whispered.

"He's still asleep."

"Let him. Come and get some breakfast."