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English
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Published:
2024-02-13
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1,184
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I've never known anybody like you

Summary:

Inspired by "Dandelions" by Ruth B

Nick takes a walk with Nellie and makes some important realisations about who he is.

Notes:

For Zitronenhai, who is one of the first people I ever talked to within the HS fandom back when the FB page was young and before the discord server connected us again. You are my favourite S word. Thank you for being brave, for being kind, for always believing in those around you. But mostly thank you for believing in yourself and being brave to be who you are, even when the winds push back on you, and you feel like giving up. Because of that we get to share the joy of knowing you, even when we know only a little of you. You are so special to so many of us. Keep being you, no one does it better. Don't forget to take some time to feel the joy for yourself.

I'd apologise for not writing you the angst I know you love but I've heard we can't use that particular S word around here. I tried to keep the fluff short though so it wouldn't traumatise you too much.

❤️🍂❤️

Work Text:

Nick was not much of a gardener; he had never been interested in the contents of anyone’s garden outside of the occasional thought of how exactly nature made flowers that colour when he passed the local florist. He had never wanted to be a farmer when he was younger and outside of helping his mum weed the garden when she asked, he had even less interest in soil quality than he did in the local soccer team. Quite simply, flowers were not his thing.

Which is why he was more than a little bit shocked to find himself taking a detour on his walk with Nellie to the field on the other side of the park, he had known it was there for as long as he could remember coming to the park. He had even seen the different colours that popped up there now and then, but he had never gone there. He had never even wanted to go there. Why would he when the park provided more than enough space for him to run around with Nellie and the reserve at the back of his house had more than enough nature for him to quell any desire he had at all for interacting with trees beyond climbing them as a younger boy.

But here he was, headphones in as he listened to a playlist his friend Charlie had sent him, casually strolling towards the field, drawn in by the yellow and the white that had caught his attention as the afternoon sun sparkled in the sky. This was the second playlist Charlie had sent him, the first one had been full of songs Nick had never heard of but listened to anyway. He had told Charlie he had enjoyed them all, but then also embarrassingly confessed he was more of a dad when it came to his music tastes. He had also told Charlie that he liked listening to quieter songs when he was walking Nellie as it gave him time to process his day and get his thoughts in order before returning home to get his homework done. So, Charlie had made him another playlist, telling him to listen to this one when he next took Nellie out for a walk. Nick hadn’t really been paying attention to who the singers were, but he had been listening to the music, enjoying how calm it made him feel. He had been about to message Charlie to say thank you when he decided to walk to the field instead.

He let Nellie off her lead as they entered the field, she looked at him briefly before running off into the flowers. Yellow and white particles flying everywhere as she flew through them. Nick laughed as he bent down to pick up one of the white flowers, remembering how years ago he used to pick them up in the playground at school and make wishes as he blew the fragments into the world, carried away by the wind. He wondered when that had stopped being a fun thing to do. As he took a deep breath and the stems broke apart and separated, he smiled to himself, feeling a little joy in his heart from doing something so childlike. He immediately imagined himself here with Charlie, both of them making wishes and enjoying being so carefree. Much like they had been that day in the snow. Nick had never had a friend like Charlie before, someone that he felt he could relax with, someone he felt seen by. He smiled to himself as he picked another flower, this time a yellow one with the petals intact. He tucked it behind his ear as he called for Nellie to come back to him.

He took out his phone and took some pictures before deciding to lay down amongst the flowers and look at the clouds for a while, something else he did often as a child. He sighed slightly as he wondered yet again why he had stopped doing things that made him happy. Sure, rugby made him happy, his friends made him happy, his life was good. But did growing up really mean leaving those small joys behind as well? Maybe he didn’t need to, there was no one around him now and he was definitely feeing happy now as well. He opened his phone to send a photo of the field to Charlie. And then he paused. Why did he feel the need to send this to Charlie, what was it about this place that made him want to share it with Charlie, his friend Charlie. Probably his best friend if he was honest. There was something within him making him want to share this remembrance of childhood joy with Charlie, something he couldn’t name.

Nick didn’t send the message. Instead, he reached out to rub Nellie’s ears and scratched her back as she stretched alongside him. “Nellie, I think I want to be more than friends with Charlie.” Nellie licked his hand in response and Nick returned to rubbing her ears. The music was still playing through his head phones, just one ear in now as he had taken the other one out when he had laid down. He took a deep breath, thinking about the words he had just shared with Nellie. His feelings were both surprising and not surprising to himself, it’s not like he hadn’t felt different with Charlie before, but he had also been very good at shoving down any possible romantic thoughts, surely this is just what it felt like to have a best friend?

It wasn’t though, was it? This was more than that and as Nick lay there surrounded by dandelions, both yellow and white, he realised that he was okay with wanting more, he realised it wasn’t as scary as it should be, he realised that he liked his best friend in a romantic way, not just a friend way. The scary part would be telling Charlie, but even that Nick knew would be okay. Even if Charlie did not feel the same Nick knew that Charlie would be kind and support him as he figured out this new part of his life.

Nick took out his phone again and sent off the photo “Char, Nellie and I found this field of dandelions and it made me think of you. Maybe you can come with us next time.”

Nick stood up and reattached Nellie’s lead, ready to head home. He couldn’t resist one last wish though, pulling a white flower towards his mouth as he inhaled, ready to release his true thoughts into the world and hoping that whatever happened would lead him to happiness, and hopefully that would include Charlie. As he exhaled and watched the seeds spread out across the field he smiled, briefly closed his eyes and sent his wish into the world.

“Charlie, I wish for you to be mine.”

And if the wind happened to ripple enough for one of those seeds to land on the windowsill of one Charlie Spring then that was between Nick and the Universe.