A Collection of Heartstopper Oneshots

Three Times Nick Has to Defend his Sexuality (plus once he doesn't have to)

Author: 7ate9

—————————————————————————————————

Summary:

Exactly what it says on the tin!

3+1: Nick having to defend his bisexuality, and once someone does it for him
Notes:

For all my bisexual friends, both are good 🩷💜💙
(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:
1

Nick tried to feel another way, but he couldn't. He hated his older brother.

David was a good brother when they were little. Nick had distinct memories of the good times they'd had as children. He remembered when David would play horse and let Nick ride around on his back. When Nick was young, he'd dropped his ice cream on the ground, and David had immediately handed his cone over to his little brother. His mum told him sometimes about how David was so hands-on when Nick was a baby, getting her diapers and offering solutions to his cries. She told him that she'd wake to find David gone from his bed, only to check on Nick and find her elder son camped out beside his crib. David had held his hand on the first day of kindergarten, he'd yelled at the boys who'd laughed when Nick cried at recess, he'd convinced their dad to do things for him when they were still one family.

Truthfully, David only became a complete knob once he'd started at Truham. He was eleven. Nick was seven. He could distinctly remember asking David to play, and his older brother had laughed in his face and shoved him out of his room, then slammed the door shut. Nick could mark that as the first time he realised that David wasn't his brother anymore, not the one he knew.

That torment continued. Long gone were the days of playing horsey in the garden or sleeping on the floor to protect his baby brother. Instead, Nick was dealt a shitty older brother who took pleasure from cruelty. He did anything he could to make Nick cry.

Sometimes, Nick thought it was a miracle that he'd turned out the way he did and didn't just become another David. He'd spent the weeks before starting at Truham staying awake at night, terrified that he'd turn into his older brother. And Nick understood why it happened, to an extent. He saw a bunch of Davids every day.

Nick didn't want to become another David. He wanted to stay Nick.

One of Nick's two bowls of ice cream was snatched out from under him. He turned a glare on his brother. "What is wrong with you?"

David grinned that stupid grin that Nick had very quickly learned to despise. "You're so easy, you know that?"

"Give that back," Nick demanded.

Just then, Charlie appeared behind David, looking hesitantly between them. God, Nick wished he'd just stayed upstairs. He hated whenever David and Charlie were in the same room. He hated having to expose his boyfriend to his older brother.

But it was too late. David turned around and grinned. "Ah! The boy who turned my brother gay!"

Nick clenched his jaw so hard he heard his teeth squeak. "I'm bi, David. And Charlie didn't do anything to me."

David turned his vicious smirk back on Nick. Better than being aimed at Charlie, he supposed. "What? No, I'm thrilled my brother is gay!"

"Bisexual," Nick snapped. He glared at his brother, but he knew it just went in one ear and out the other. It was humiliating and, more than that, just exhausting.

"Whatever, homo," David muttered with a scoff. He left with the ice cream, shouldering past Charlie.

Nick could cry. Charlie got them another bowl of ice cream and took them back upstairs. They curled up together in bed, both of them stirring the ice cream around more than eating it.