heartstopper oneshots 🍂💗

food shopping

TW!! sexual assault, mention of ed

charlies pov:

I just got home from work around 5 minutes ago to find an empty house. Nick is normally home by now. I dial his number as I walk into the kitchen to finish off some work I hadn't finished earlier. I set my phone on speaker and got out all my things as I waited for him to answer me call.

~on the phone

n: hey baby, you okay?

c: hi! yeah I'm fine just wondering where you are.

n: oh did I not tell you earlier? I have a huge business meeting, there's tons of inspectors and CEO's coming.

c: ohh so that's why you were so stressed this morning. okay well that's fine, I just wanted to make sure you were okay that's all.

n: oh yeah also would you mind doing the shopping for me? we have literally nothing left in the fridge for dinner.

c: yeah sure. I was gonna do some work but to be honest I was looking for an excuse not to do it. okay well ill go now. anything in particular you want me to get?

n: I was gonna maybe make lasagne? is that okay with you?

c: of course I love your lasagne! send me over a list of what I need to get.

n: i'll send it to you now.

c: okay, byeee love you.

n: you you more.

~call ends.

As soon as I get the list I head out the door and to my car. Food shopping isn't always my favourite thing to do, but nick's lasagne is the best thing in the world. I get into my car, buckling my seatbelt and turning on my playlist. after 5 minutes I finally arrive. I park my car grab all my things and head into the shop. I walk over to where all the trolleys are neatly stored and grab one. I put all my things in the little basket at the front and head towards the food aisles. I unlock my phone and look at all the ingredients I need to buy. I go down the list on my phone one by one getting all the ingredients nick needs. the last thing I have to get is tomato sauce. I walk down the aisle scanning for tomato sauce. Im way too distracted by the tomato sauce that I don't even realised I bumped into someone. "sorry!" I say immediately as I bumped into them. I heard a huff from the person as they turned around. my jaw fell open as I saw who it was.

ben. I froze. out of everyone that I could have bumped into, why did it have to be ben? "Charlie." he says. "um, I- um, sorry I didn't, um, mean to bump into you." I stammer out. "I haven't saw you in ages. how are you?" he asks. it was strange how nice he was being. I wasn't buying it at all. "fine." I say dryly. "you and nick still together?" he questions. "yeah." I reply. I don't wanna tell him too much so I decide to keep it brief. "why are u still dating him? I'm so much better than him." he says. of course. classic ben. he wasn't trying to be nice, he wants to try and get back with me. "okay ben, nice seeing you." I say as I turn around and walk away. I feel him grab my arm and pull me back. "ben! let go!" I say. "Charlie, we would be so good together! you're just blinded by nick. we was the perfect couple until nick came along and stole you from me!" "no, ben let go of me now!" I say louder this time. "Charlie I know you still like me, you just forgot. let me remind you how much I like you." he says as he pulls me closer to him. "NO! BEN STOP!" I shout as he leans in to kiss me. all of my trauma hit me all at once. I tried pushing him away from me, I tried getting out of his grasp, but he still had hold of me. I was pushing his face away from me with my hands. but he still didn't stop. "HELP!" I shout, praying that someone would help me.

suddenly, two security guards come running over and pull ben away from me, escorting him out of the shop. tears stained my face as I tried to process what just happened. i was still really shaky as the security guard tried to calm me down. she asked me if I wanted to call someone. but the person I wanted to call was in a huge business meeting. "no- no, it f-fine, I'll just um, leave him a text." I say shakily grabbing my phone out of my pocket. I text nick really fast asking him how long was left of his meeting and that something happened at the store. I decide to grab my tomato sauce and pay for my stuff getting out of there immediately. when I was leaving the store, the security guards told me that they would contact the police since they had him on cctv. I thanked them for helping me and went to my car. I tossed the bags on the seat next to me, looking at myself in the mirror. I look at myself, my cheeks stained with tears. I just makes me want to cry more. I stop myself from crying because ifs did my vision would go blurry and I would be able to drive home.

~30 mins later

I'm sitting on the sofa watching tv waiting for nick to come home from his meeting. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and made myself a cup of tea. the house was quiet, so the sound of nicks car pulling up on the path was quite loud. I hear him slam the door shut and fumble with his keys. as soon as he unlocks the door it flings open and nick immediately started shouting me.

"CHARLIE? WHERE ARE YOU?" he shouted through the house. "living room." I respond, he then comes rushing in to the living room and throws his arms around me. "Charlie what happened? are you okay?" he asks. "when I went to the shops," I hesitate a little bit. the memory of what happened filling my thoughts. nick looks at me concerned, waiting for my response. "I bumped into ben." I said. "what? did he do something? I swear to god, IF HES FUCKING DONE SOMETHING I WIL-" "nick," I cut him off, "he did it again." I say as my eyes begin to fill with tears. nick immediately wraps him arms around me tight. he keeps asking me over and over again if I'm okay, if I need anything and stuff like that. "your all I need." I manage out through sobs. I lean back a little bit to finish telling him what happened. "nick I tried. I tried to push him off me, he had hold of me so tight, I couldn't get away from him" I say, still crying. "then the security guards pulled him off me." at this point nick was raging. he looked so angry I didn't know what to do. I calmed him down before it got worse and he did something bad. he held hold of me so tight. After talking to him for some time, he said he wanted to make me his lasagna. His lasagna is normally something I will always eat, but today I didn't feel like it. I wanted to tell him, but I didn't want to upset him since he looks exited about it. I tried to push the feeling aside and get on with it, but it weighed on my shoulders.

Around 45 minutes later Nick calls me into the kitchen. I free myself from all the blankets Nick buried me in and made my way to the kitchen. The lasagne smelt so good. When I walked into the kitchen i sat down at the table where Nick had set out the meal. I wanted to eat it, but I just couldn't. I just stared down at my plate. The thought of Ben, and what happened made me feel like shit. I just thinking about the whole situation over and over again. Until I heard Nick, "Charlie?" He says concerned. "Oh, um, yeah?" I reply.
"Baby, talk to me." He says. "It just keeps replaying in my mind. The way he grabbed me and held me," I hesitate "it, it dosen't matter. It sounds silly." I say.
"No, tell me. It's okay."
"I just feel like it's never going to end. He makes me feel like I deserve what he's doing to me. I don't know it sounds dumb, but Nick sometimes I'm afraid to leave the house." I say as I feel fresh tears starting to form in my eyes. "Oh Char, nobody deserves to be treated like that, especially when you have done nothing wrong in the first place. I promise you I will never let anything like that happen to you again. I mean it." He sounds really serious when he said that last part. "What do you mean?" I ask curiously. "Don't worry about it. Just know it wont happened again," he says coldly, "now baby please try and eat something, I understand you may not want to but you need to eat baby." He says in a softer tone. "m'kay." I reply picking at my food. But I can't but wonder what did he mean he 'will never let that happen again'.......