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corbswrites-sometimes · 7 years

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Caffeinated Excuses

s/o to that one time @spacezeros told me there wasn’t a heartstopper fic on ao3 yet so i fucking came out of fic retirement back to Hell to write one i don’t? love it? but it’s alright. p short tho--2,468 words.

i even made an ao3 and sat on a waiting list for a week

wow heres that link in case the ‘keep reading’ doesn’t work for you mobile readers http://archiveofourown.org/works/11731188

who even am I

The first time Charlie had met Nick, it was oddly surreal, or, it was for Charlie at least. It was late August, and Charlie had picked up a part time job while he stayed in school to get his masters degree. When Nick walked up, almost immediately, Charlie couldn’t help but find him more attractive than he’d like to admit. He was about the same height as he was, but he looked a bit more built than Charlie was.

“Hello? Are you okay?” Charlie was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he saw the man on the other side of the counter looking at him, confused and a little bit concerned. Oh no. Had the man said something that he had missed?

“Yeah, I was just-erm- I just spaced out a bit.” Charlie forced out a small chuckle as he silently scolded himself for giving this stranger the most awkward first impression possible.

The man smiled back. “No, no, it’s alright, I get it,” he paused for a second as he made seemingly unbreakable eye contact with Charlie. Or at least, that’s what Charlie thought until the man broke away to look down at his shoes and continue, “Just a large iced caramel vanilla breve, please.”

“Coming right up! Can I get a name on that?”

“Nick.”

After that day, Nick showed up every morning monday through friday, always with a cheery ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ for Charlie. Charlie had grown used to seeing Nick show up in the mornings, at about 7:45, order his drink between friendly small talk with Charlie, give Charlie a too-generous tip, and be on his way. About two months into this routine, he had just finished bringing Nick’s drink to the pick-up counter, where he was patiently waiting, when he heard his coworker from behind him.

“Charlie, boss wants this new recruit to shadow me for a bit, go ahead and take a quick break,” he nodded, going to turn his head back to the counter.

He was surprised to see that Nick hadn’t left yet, and he was still standing on the other side of the counter.

“Looks like I made it here at the right time!” Nick said, a huge smile plastered to his face. Charlie could feel his stare linger at that smile for a bit too long. That being said, he didn’t understand what Nick’s comment was referencing. Had it been directed at someone else?

Nick seemed to spot his confusion and continued, “I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on my favorite barista.”

Almost immediately Charlie could feel a smile form on his face that probably mimicked Nick’s. Feeling an unusual spike of bravery from himself, Charlie found himself asking a question he had been curious about for a while.

“So, Nick, where do you work?” Charlie began taking off his apron as he walked around the counter for his break, “Sorry, that is--if you don’t mind me asking, sorry--”

Nick waved his hand in dismissal as he began to lead Charlie away from the counter, “No, no, it’s fine, I’m actually a primary school teacher.”

Charlie’s face lit up. “Really? Well that would explain why you would need so much coffee.” Nick broke into a deep laugh that Charlie couldn’t help but join in on.

“Precisely. They’re not always little monsters, though. Then again, I just really like kids, so maybe I’m a bit biased.” he gave a soft smile that Charlie once again couldn’t help but to stare at for just a little too long. “Care to take a seat?” Nick quickly managed to get out, motioning at the booth they were now standing at.

Charlie eagerly nodded as they sat, and Nick decided it was his turn for a question. “Are you in school?” Again, Charlie found himself only able to nod. “What for?”

“I’m actually getting my masters in Classical Civilizations!”

“Oh, that’s like Greek and Roman civilizations, right? That’s actually what we’re going over with my class right now.”

“Really? That’s awesome. I just, I think it’s so cool. The way they valued the arts and learning and how much discovery was during that time period. And then the way they perfected their architecture in such a clean cut way, and--ugh, I’m sorry, I’m totally rambling,” Bringing his focus back to Nick, he was surprised to see him simply watching him, with the same soft smile that he had on earlier.

“No, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind it at all.”

After that day, Charlie had found himself unable to get Nick off of his mind. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw those big brown eyes and a cheeky smile that could light up a room. Soon, he had even started making Nick’s drink before he walked in, timing it perfectly so that it had just barely finished when he entered through the door. Charlie couldn’t believe his own schoolboy-esque crush on a man that he barely even knew. He was probably straight, anyways. Nonetheless, the crush continued.

Once, in late November, the first snowstorm of the year hit. It started about half an hour after Charlie had gotten to work from out of nowhere, and Charlie immediately groaned in regret of not dressing warmer.

The topic came up again as Charlie brought Nick his drink. “Awfully cold today! Did’ya remember a coat?” Nick asked cheerfully, gesturing vaguely to Charlie’s tee-shirt.

He shook his head, “I got here at six, the storm hadn’t shown any sign of existing yet.” Nick let in a loud, clearly overdramatic gasp that made Charlie’s lips curl up into a smile.

“What time do you leave work?”

“Well, it’s Tuesday, which means that I have a class I have to leave to walk to at 8:30.” Nick gasped a little too loud again, but this time Charlie could tell he wasn’t being purposefully dramatic.

“You have to walk? No. Absolutely not. I refuse to let my favorite barista catch a cold.” Before he had even finished talking, Nick had set down his breve and began pulling his jumper off over his head, offering it to Charlie.

“Take it,” Charlie hesitated. “Please.” With that and one of his smiles that made Charlie melt, he reached out and took the jumper.

“Thanks, but--but what about you?”

“All I have to do is jump in and out of a cab. I’ll be fine, I swear.”

That next day, Charlie had tried to return the jumper back to Nick, but Nick refused, telling him profusely to keep it. Eventually Charlie complied, and even though he feigned upset, he had put the jumper back on the second Nick had left, taking a second to bury his face in the fabric.

One day, as Charlie brought Nick his drink, his nickname made another recurrence. “And a tip for my favorite barista.”

“Y’know, now that I think about it, aren’t I really your only barista?” Charlie replied playfully, taking the money that Nick had held out.

“Actually, I’ll have you know that I’ve probably had every barista here that works on saturdays or sundays.”

Charlie could help but feel a twinge at his heart, as stupid as it was, he kind of hoped that he was Nick’s only barista. “I thought you only got coffee for work. Why stop in on the weekend?”

Nick’s smiled faded a bit, and he diverted his eyes to his feet, and Charlie suddenly got scared that he had said something wrong. Nick opened his mouth to speak, but closed it quickly again. Charlie felt himself wince. Oh no. He had definitely messed up. Before he got his chance to begin apologizing profusely for whatever he had said, Nick finally spoke up.

“You don’t work on saturdays or sundays, right?” Charlie slowly nodded, confused of where this was going. “That took me a couple months to figure out. Over those weeks I came at a bunch of different times to try and find your shift. “ Charlie felt a blush overtake his entire face as Nick finished talking.Once Nick had regained his soft smile, he slowly looked back up to Charlie, who saw that Nick’s face was just as blushed as his own. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Charlie.”

On valentine’s day, Charlie was relieved to have the perfect excuse. “So how’s your valentine’s day Nick? Do you have someone special?” He asked, all too casual, as he handed Nick his drink.

“Nah, my last date was with a man who never called me back, and even that was quite awhile ago.” Oh. Oh. Charlie did his best not to get too excited. “How about you, Charlie?”

“Nope, it’s been awhile for me too. I actually don’t think I’ve ever had a boyfriend for more than a few months.” Nick smiled a smile that Charlie believed was telling, but even if it wasn’t, he smiled right along with him.

“Hello! I’ll have my usual, please.” The voice echoed through Charlie’s mind one day as he questioned who it could have belonged to. He really hoped it wasn’t some customer that he had forgotten about, his mind just simply wasn’t in the right place today. The only ‘usual’ he knew about was Nick-- oh. He looked up to see the bright smile staring at him.

“Oh, oh no, I’m-- I’m sorry I guess I just didn’t realize what time it was and it’s not ready yet today, I’m really sorry Nick, it will be just a second.”

Before Charlie could turn to get to work, he felt a hand grab his wrist lightly, surprising him so much he almost flinched.

“Hey. Don’t worry about it. Are you--are you okay? You look tired?” Charlie quickly took his hand that wasn’t in Nick’s and brought it up to his face.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, my mind’s just having a rough day. It happens sometimes, I think.” Nick’s face immediately went into a pensive look, and Charlie almost wondered if he had said too much.

“How busy is it usually around this time?”

Charlie hesitated for a second, thinking about the question. “It seems like the 7am rush ended rather quickly since both my coworkers left, so I’d say that the next customer walks in anywhere from ten to thirty minutes from now.”

“Thirty minutes sounds like the perfect length for a power nap.” Charlie almost gave a chuckle before he realized how serious Nick was being.

“Here? What if someone comes in earlier than expected? How will I know when to wake up? Plus, it’s a coffee shop, maybe I won’t even get comfortable enough to fall asleep.”

Nick just smiled. “I’ll wake you up if someone walks in. And look, you can use the booth as a mattress, your apron as a blanket, and my lap as a pillow. It will work perfectly.” Nick looked down as he finished talking, and Charlie hoped it was because his face was also rapidly turning pink at his suggestion.

“No no, I couldn’t--I don’t want to make you stay longer than you want to.”

“Trust me Charlie, if I could, I would stay here for as long as possible.” Despite those words causing Charlie’s blush to grow even bigger, he still stayed planted where he was.

“Fine then. I guess, I’ll just sit here doing absolutely nothing for absolutely no reason for half an hour.” Nick teased, giving Charlie his famous cheeky grin.

“You little--” Charlie mumbled as he slowly shuffled his way over to Nick’s booth. He sat, but right before he had laid all the way down, he stopped.

“Are you sure that… this is okay.” All Nick had to do was nod and after a moment of hesitation, Charlie finally laid his head down. In no time flat, he felt himself drifting off. And it was definitely just his half-asleep instinct to nuzzle into Nick’s leg when he felt something playing with his hair.

It was a day early in June when Nick came in looking a bit… off, and Charlie hated it. “What’s up Nick, are you okay?” he asked, probably trying hard to make it seem casual as he gave Nick his drink.

“Yeah, I’m good it’s just that it’s the last day of the school year.”

“Oh, that’s a bummer. Are you gonna miss your kids this year?”

“Definitely,” Nick paused, and looked towards his feet like he tends to do, “Plus, now I have to come up with a new excuse to come here everyday.”

Again, Charlie felt the blush on his face as he tried to come up with a response. Before he could, Nick grabbed his coffee and turned to leave.

“It’s an important day, don’t want to be late, seeya Charlie.” he mumbled, trying to quickly speedwalk his way out the door.

Later, at the end of his shift, Charlie began closing up shop, when someone burst through the door. As Charlie turned, he saw a familiar brown-eyed face.

“Nick, I was actually just closing up shop, we always close up super early on fridays, but I can probably still whip something together for you.”

Nick had a puzzled look on his face for a second. “Oh--oh no, I’m not here for a drink, I’m--I’m here for you.” Charlie felt his face heat up as Nick kept eye contact.

“How--how did you know I’d still be here?”

“Oh I uh--I didn’t, to be honest. I just know that you told me that you worked a lot longer than usual on fridays since you don’t have classes on them. I wasn’t sure how late you stayed though, so I rushed over here the second school got out.” Nick stepped closer, so that they were an arms-width apart, and Charlie couldn’t help but look to the ground.

“Oh, well, what’s up? Why do you need me then?”

“Can I-- can I ask you a question?” Charlie simply gulped and nodded. He felt a cool, comforting hand on his chin that pulled his head up so that he was looking Nick in the eyes again. Instead of pulling his hand away, though, Nick let it rest on the side of Charlie’s head. Charlie did his best to avoid nuzzling into it.

Nick took a deep breath. “I’m… I’m not… imagining it am I?”

Nick hoped that he wouldn’t have to explain what “it” was, he hoped that Charlie would understand. And he did. Immediately Charlie looked Nick dead in the eyes. “No, at least I don’t think so but if you aren't sure th--”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Nick took his other hand and wrapped it around Charlie’s waist, and pulled him into a kiss that Charlie had felt like he had been waiting his whole life for.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to find Nick a new excuse afterall.

#fanfic #narlie #nick nelson/charlie spring #my writing #NOT my characters #alice oseman #heartstopper #heartstopper webcomic #nick nelson #charlie spring #coffee shop au #older meet au #caffeinated excuse

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