Nuzzle
Fandom: Heartstopper
Characters: Nick/Charlie
Anonymous said: i just have this very cute mental image of charlie using nick’s tummy as a pillow when they cuddle!! and it’s normally a completely innocent gesture but i can imagine charlie being like extra snuggly/sleepy and sort of nuzzling up to nick and nick giggling bc it tickles and suddenly charlie is Much More Awake and curious
Words: 1k
The first time he did it by accident, both sun drunk, sprawled on Charlie’s bed after a full day on the beach, technically too early for sleep but energy levels low enough that they could do nothing but lay there, as if encaptured. Charlie felt himself drift in and out of sleep, his body twisting back and forth as had been his habit since childhood before he was able to fully relax. Tori used to say he was dangerous to sleep next to. “You get violent,” she would say, and her words would always float in the back of his mind each time he woke up with his covers on the floor.
His pillow was moving when he came to again, curiously, but he felt too out of it to check why.
“You comfy?”
Nick’s voice came from above, but somehow rumbling right into his ear at the same time. Charlie opened his eyes, realizing he wasn’t lying on a pillow at all but on Nick’s tummy, just brushing against his ribcage. He might’ve been embarrassed had it not felt so good. “Very much, thank you.”
Nick laughed, his body vibrating beneath Charlie’s head, but it didn’t bother him. In fact he adored it, how tangible his joy was.
He would do it on purpose after that, usually during naps or cuddle sessions, and Nick never protested or questioned him. It became routine. Over the covers, arms wrapped around Nick’s midriff, cheek pressed to the soft flesh as Nick spoke to him or hummed, fingertips in Charlie’s hair, sometimes traveling down to the nape of his neck, brushing against his shoulders. “Let’s cuddle,” Charlie would say and Nick would laugh. “You only want me to pet you,” he would say, but he would do it anyway.
Charlie was having a particularly emotional day, feeling the need to hold Nick so tightly that they became one. Nick hadn’t said anything about it, but he could probably sense it, and so he was petting the nape of Charlie’s neck with one hand while stroking Charlie’s knuckles with the other. It wasn’t sadness per se, but pure neediness combined with fear of one day losing him. It turned him into his most clingy version. He’d been afraid this side of him would scare Nick away, but Nick being Nick simply gave him what he needed.
Charlie sighed and turned his head, rubbing his nose into Nick’s abdomen. He didn’t immediately notice him squirming, but as he nuzzled his belly one more time it came again, the movement he’d initially felt but not paid full attention to. He craned his neck to look at him. “Sorry. Am I annoying you?”
“No, no, of course not.” Nick’s voice was higher in pitch than normal. Charlie blinked. He was blushing. That was unusual as Charlie was usually the blusher.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Just tell me if you want me to move or something.”
“I never want you to move,” he said, but he sounded distracted.
Charlie returned to his previous position, sighing again and going back to nuzzling his belly, the smell of his t-shirt bringing him comfort. Something citrusy from the wash, something earthy and sweet from Nick.
This time he did notice the squirming, but was more focused on how the grip on his neck and hand altered, becoming tighter, not aimed to hurt but as if to keep holding. Oh god, was Charlie hurting him?
“I’m fine, you’re fine,” Nick said, as if sensing his sudden anxiety. “You’re just tickling me when you do that and I’m trying not to push you off.”
“Oh.” Oh. “Wait, pause that. Why are you trying not to push me off if it tickles?”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“Cute. Okay, second.” He dragged the word out, looking up to grin at him. “Ticklish, huh?”
Nick rolled his eyes, but he was still blushing and Charlie doubted it was residual flushing from before. “Oh, shut up, you’re much worse.”
“That’s exactly it, though. How did I not know about this?”
“You’re unobservant.”
“I am not.” Charlie sat up, twisting his body to face him. “You’ve been hiding it from me.”
“Well, Char, usually people don’t put it on display.”
“Hm. You know I’m gonna have to try it out now, don’t you?”
“And you know I’m stronger and you’re much more ticklish.”
“I can’t protest the first part, but I don’t know the second one, do I?” His grin grew as Nick’s blush deepend. How fucking adorable was he. “Since I now know about your belly it’s only right I go for it first, right?”
Nick covered his stomach. “Please don’t.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“Actually I can.”
“Not if I’m first- hey!” Nick had reached out to poke him, but Charlie took advantage of it and went for the spot he’d uncovered, earning a delicious squeal which he would tease Nick about for days. “See?”
“Charlie, wait, please-”
But Charlie had tasted the rare taste of tickle power and couldn’t be stopped, going for his ribs next and watching his boyfriend lose his composure entirely. It didn’t help that Nick’s giggles were adorable. It didn’t help at all.
“This is gold,” he said, managing to evade his flailing hands and slowly crawling up his ribcage, in turn turning the giggles more and more panicked as he went. “I’m so mad that you’ve kept this from me.”
“Char-lie!” He broke up his name in two, laughing once, twice in between the word, and many times around it. Whatever exhaustion Charlie had felt before had evaporated, along with his slight sadness. Left was something playful, something giggly and excited. Something about to explode from giddiness at seeing Nick’s scrunched up, smiling face.
“You’re so cute.”
“I’m nohohot-”
“Liar. See?” The experimental curl beneath Nick’s chin seemed to be a success, as Nick instantly clamped his chin down with a shriek and something that was akin to a curse. He didn’t technically say much during it, not compared to how rambly Charlie always got.
A hand managed to hold onto his leg, pulling at it weakly. “Char, please-”
Charlie looked down at it. Well, it was true that he’d not tried his knees yet…
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Skektember 10 : the one they care for
And we finish this short yet long journey with the one prompt I instantly knew I would draw as soon as I read it. SkekNa the Slave Master and the only person on whole Thra he has a genuine affection, the paternal kind, SkekEi the Chatelaine. Picked from the streets of the Skeksis capital as a preteen orphan by some servants, she was brought to the scary Slave Master who was looking for a trainee/assistant for his tortures and emprisonment. It first started with quite... hostility hil not being tender at all on that street rat and she once fear passed resenting his guts for always be so demanding and loud, but little by little a connection formed, the same as Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins little by little. They brought the best out each other, she who always needed parents and he who was used to live alone as the feared and cruel Slave Master and had grown to like that but realizing he needed tenderness too, both of them realizing they were feeling alone all along, they needes each other. With now another goal in his life other than his job, Na adopted her as his daughter officially later, hid from her they enslaved UrSkeks too (who, in the Natives AU, are Skeksis and UrRu hybrids seen as nature mistakes that deserve no right, but he knows that the fact they are half Skeksis would tick her off) for trines, made her a courtirr threatening anyone with his hook and torture device anyone lacking respect to his daughter and calling her what he used to call her, and she loving her dad and not minding the nature of his job she assisted him with after all (Skeksis superiority propaganda does that even to kids) although calling him by his name and sometimes thinking he can be extreme. Nowadays as an adult, he got her a post as the Chatelaine of the castle, she has a mate and he is a grandfather. And they are as close as ever
I thank you all for having followed that journey and having been patient enough for me to release them all at last ! Hoping I will finally break free from that block... hopefully for Drawtober too
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