Heartstopper Inktober 2K24

21 - Rhinoceros (Tarzan!AU)

Charlie had never seen another person before.

Granted, he knew that once upon a time, he'd had something called a "mother" and a "father", as well as a "sister" and a "brother", but he had non people ones of those as well. He had Kala, Kerchak, Terk and Tantor and that was good enough for a while.

Of course, he knew he looked different, sounded different and was treated differently to all the other gorillas - he didn't know however, that he was a person. That he was a "son", a "brother" and something called a "friend".

That was until he met Nick.

A person.

A human.

Someone like him.

There had been rumblings through the jungle of something happening off the western shore and several animals filtered through news of strange creatures that had set up nests that looked strange and were quite noisy despite not being occupied at all hours. The nests would also glow in the dark, but not in the day, which really intrigued Charlie as only fireflies could do that.

So, without telling the other gorillas where he's going, he sneaks off into the night to the coast, where some bright lights capture his attention and he finds that the "nests" are something wondrous. They are covered in fireflies on the outside, unmoving ones that don't fly away when Charlie gets closer and made of leaves that seem to be more brightly coloured than some of the flowers that grow on his side of the island. That's all he sees before there is movement and he disappears into the night again, undetected.

He returns three more times, mostly at night, before he notices something wrong in the day when he's out playing with Terk and he sees something on the horizon.

There's smoke. Smoke means fire. Fire is not good.

Without thinking, he dives toward the trees to investigate and finds the nests on the sand he's been watching, half destroyed. He jumps down to intake a closer look and wonders if the strange creatures who built them did this, but it takes hearing footsteps to realise he's definitely not alone here. It also turns out it's not a "something" like he first thinks - but a "someone". Someone who is running really fast underneath him.

Looking under the branches, Charlie catches a brief glimpse of some red spilling through the leaves before it's followed by a far more recognisable grey.

Rhinoceros. Bad.

Without pausing, Charlie catches up with the blur and somehow manages to grab hold of it, pulling it to safety as the rhino bulldozes through the thick grasses and disappears into wherever it was wanting to go, before he turns around and meets starstruck blue eyes.

As well as a third eye that's round and square at the same time that hurts his by shooting a firefly at him, which makes him blink rapidly. "Ow."

"Oh my god." The voice and strange language that comes out of the animal doesn't help Charlie's confusion, as he just gapes at him for a long while before he finally says. "Who are you?"

"Cha-Le." He just simply says, trying to remember how it looked on that piece of paper that Kala showed him with people on it, which gave him pause. This strange creature looked like a people and Charlie was people, so were they a people? "You...pee-pole?"

"People? Yes, people. I'm a person." The creature sat up, looking at him still with wide eyes, like a tiger would. It made Charlie scramble back, weary. "Yes, uh, oh Christ, um..." He gestured toward himself. "Me...Nick."

"Nix?" Charlie parroted back, cocking his head. "Nix."

"Yeah, close enough." Nick nodded. "Me Nick, you...?"

"You, Nick-" He gestured at himself. "Me, Cha-Le."

"Char-lie? Char- Oh, Charlie." Nick's eyes lit up even more if that was possible. "Your name is Charlie."

"Char-lie?" Charlie spoke the strange word in his mouth, shaking his head. "Charlie."

"Me, Nick, you, Charlie." Nick nodded, before taking something out of his pocket that looked like a rock with a stick poking out of it. "Mum, come in Mum-" He looked at Charlie as he stared on, cloth around his waist and unkept wild curls. "You have got to see this."