Charlie('s) Hope(less)

Offer your heart like a drug, we'll open it up, twist it up with a shrug.

Tw/// charlie and nick talk abt how ben is a piece of shit btw the continutiy is absolutely fucked teeher

Mr. Nelson must've been alerted to the commotion, because when Charlie looked back over at the paintings he noticed that Mr. Nelson was standing in front of him. He sat down beside Charlie, "Is she okay?" He gestured to Isabelle, who was half-asleep in Charlie's arms. Charlie glanced at Mr. Nelson. "Ben didn't take it well." He muttered. "Ben?" Nick tilted his head. "Oh- um. Her dad. My husband." Charlie gestured to himself. Mr. Nelson nodded, "Oh, yeah. Duh." He facepalmed. "Sorry, my brain just files all the parents by their last name." He chuckled. "So in my brain, he's just the second Mr. Hope."

Charlie laughed to himself. "Technically he would be the first one." Charlie moved a stray curl away from his eye, clearing his vision. He could hear Isabelle softly snoring as he adjusted how she was sitting so she didn't fall. "Formal names are dumb anyway." Mr. Nelson spoke. "Oh yeah?" Charlie smirked. "Why's that?" He challenged. "Because it can get so- confusing! When you have two people with the same last name. Like, if at school, you had two teachers both called Mr. Dunn or something, it'd get so confusing when you talk about them." He grinned.

Mr. Nelson seemed to smile a lot, Charlie didn't expect that from a primary school teacher, especially not one who teaches kids as young as Isabelle. Then he frowned. "Do you know why he didn't take her coming out that well?"

Charlie looked up. "I don't know, actually." He took a deep breath. "I mean, I didn't really hear what he said. But all I know is it really upset her." He looked at Isabelle's sleeping face. She seemed so tiny, just like she did when she was a baby. "I mean, she has always been a sensitive girl, yeah, but... it was a bit more extreme than other times." He brushed her hair gently. "But it is a difficult topic, I understand why even something that seems really small can hurt a lot more than usual." He brushed her hair in a way to make it seem a bit longer, hoping maybe it would help her feel better when she awoke.

Charlie looked back over at Mr. Nelson. "Well, yeah, but... Why would he react badly? Y'know... Given that she's his daughter and really, really young." He tilted his head, "I mean, I would expect that if he was like, straight or something, but- he's married to you. A guy." Charlie nodded. "He's always struggled a bit with those topics. Like how when I was pregnant with Isabelle he kind of..." He glanced over at the paintings. "Forgot."

"Forgot what?" Charlie took a deep breath. "To correct people. I was pretty tired as it was the whole time and didn't have a good grip on where I was or what was happening, so... I kind of needed him to help in that regard." He twirled a curl around his finger, letting it spring back into place when he released it. He tilted his head. "I mean, I know it's a lot to ask of him, given that it was just as hard on him-" Charlie began, but was cut off by Mr. Nelson. "What? No- It's not a lot at all!" He grabbed Charlie's hand. "I mean- He's literally your husband! He should've corrected them either way!" He seemed really passionate.

"And it's not just as hard, I mean... You were literally growing an entire human being inside of you and pretty much always sick or in pain." He rubbed his thumb over the back of Charlie's hand. "Not to mention how you had to go through labor, which is ranked as the second most painful thing someone can go through." Charlie bit the inside of his cheek. Even though he had a lot of scarring from constantly biting it, it was a habit he couldn't seem to get rid of.

"I mean, true, but it was pretty stressful on him. Since he was trying to handle both working overtime and making sure I didn't randomly drop dead." Charlie noticed Mr. Nelson seemed concerned. "Not like that! My health wasn't super good at the time, Isabelle took a lot out of me. Pre-existing health conditions and all. That and conceiving her wasn't easy... He was terrified that going off of testosterone when trying to conceive would kill me or something or that I'd be infertile." He scratched Isabelle's head. "Not like that would be a bad thing, I mean... It'd suck, but... Y'know. It just would probably make things a bit harder. I don't regret it at all, I think it was all worth it."