Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Nick’s car rolls up in front of his mum’s house, the door opens, and a worried-looking Sarah Nelson stands in the doorway. As soon as Nick approaches her, she opens her arms.

“Come here, Nicky,” and immediately he’s engulfed in the motherly warmth of a Nelson hug™️.

They stand like that for a full minute before Sarah releases her son and says, “Come in, I’ve already flicked on the kettle.”

“How did you know I was coming?”

“Motherly instinct,” she chuckles.

“Mum, seriously?”

She sighs. “Darcy texted me, they were concerned. Said, something’s going on in your mind, but you wouldn’t want to talk about it.”

“Can’t a man just think about his own things in peace before he’s pestered?” Nick groans.

Nick loves that Darcy and his mum still have such a good relationship. When they were teens, Darcy had no support from their own family. Sarah seamlessly slipped into the mother role for them, too, providing tons of Nelson hugs™️, motherly advice, and, most importantly, a safe space to find out about themselves. 

But sometimes it’s really annoying that they have their own little text chain and talk about him behind his back.

“Not a chance. Come on, let’s get that tea, and then we can talk, if you want,” she smirks and closes the door.

She shoves her son into a kitchen chair, puts two cups of tea on the table and flops down opposite him.

“Now talk.”

Nick anxiously looks at his mum. What would she say about this mess they’ve gotten themselves into? Then he remembers, ever since he came out as bisexual to her, she was there for him with a cup of tea and some wise words, never judging, always on his side. Whenever he made mistakes in the past, she never let him down. He decides to just jump into the cold water and let her catch him.

“I think Heather and I are going to break up.”

If she’s surprised, she doesn’t show.

“And why is that?”

He explains what happened in the last two days. Gosh, was it really just two days? Not even! He talks about the discontent he felt in his relationship without realising, about Heather’s suggestion to sign up for a dating app to match each other, about Charlie and their non-date, and finally about the short talk he had with Heather the night before.

When he’s finished, he looks at his mother, anxious about her reaction.

“Well, that was an amazingly stupid idea, I must say,” she finally says. “What were you two thinking?”

He can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, thanks mum, I know. And she does, too. But what do I do about it? Should I really throw away a relationship of four years for a man I’ve seen once?”

She puts her hand on his, before she answers.

“Look, baby, the way I see it, you wouldn’t be throwing away a relationship for this man. You’d be ending a relationship that doesn’t seem right anymore. And maybe you’ve found someone who’s right for you instead. But it’s two different things, and you need to look at them separately.”

“But what if Charlie doesn’t even want to be with me?”

“Then he doesn’t, and you will come back moping. And I will make you tea again. But it shouldn’t influence your decision about Heather.”

“Hm.”

“So, do you still love Heather?”

“Of course I do! She’s one of my best friends!”

“Do you love her differently than Tara or Darcy?”

His instinct tells him to affirm this as fast as the previous statement, but he forces himself to think about it.

He remembers Heather‘s words from last night, and how right they felt. It just shifted to a different kind of love.

He remembers watching movies together, laughing, joking, but how often are they even still kissing?

He remembers slipping under the duvet in the evenings, feeling cosy and content, but with no desire for more. He always blamed his job or stress. But was that really the reason?

And then he remembers Charlie, standing at the sidelines during his rugby match, throwing him shy little waves, smirks and smiles, causing butterflies to erupt in his stomach. He remembers him sitting in the pub really close, their thighs pressing against each other. He remembers Charlie licking his lips, causing …

Nope, certainly not, he’s still sitting in his mother’s kitchen, for fuck’s sake!

He doesn’t remember when he stopped feeling those things for Heather. It just slowly faded away, right in front of his eyes. So slowly that he hadn’t even noticed until now. Until Heather brought up that stupid experiment that was supposed to show how well they fit together.

Turns out, it did show how well they fit together after all …

“Huh,” he says out loud. “I guess not.” 

“You should take a moment and think about it. And then you should talk to her.” His mother smiles at him and leans forward. “And now show me that guy! I wanna see my future son-in-law!”

“Mum!” Nick groans. “Let me break up with my girlfriend first before you marry me to someone else!”

“Chop chop!” she insists, tapping with her fingers on the table top.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket, and when he sees the notification of a message from Charlie, his mouth transforms into a big grin.

“Nicky! Show me the cute man!”

“When did you get so impatient?”

“When I turned 50. Hurry up, I won’t live forever!”

He pulls up a selfie he took in the pub, shortly after the waiter had tried to flirt with Charlie. Their eyes were still glistening with tears from their laughter, their faces relaxed and happy.

His mother snatches his phone out of his hands.

“Oi!”

“Nicky! He looks like that actress you had a massive crush on! You know, the one with the luscious curls and those blue eyes? What was her name again? Zooey Béchamel?”

“It’s Zooey Deschanel, mum, and he does not look like her!”

She raises her eyebrows. “He looks exactly like her. No wonder you like him so much, he’s completely your type!”

He lets his head fall down on the table and groans again. What did he do to deserve not only his best friends ribbing the shit out of him, but his own mum, too?

She quickly types something on her own phone, before setting it aside and taking his hands again, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

“Look, I’m sorry, let your old mum have a bit of fun. You know I’ll support you, whatever you decide. But you have to decide for yourself; I can’t take that decision from you. All I can say is that you sometimes have to let go of things that no longer feel right. It doesn’t mean that they didn’t have their place in your life, and it doesn’t lower the worth that they had.”

“Thanks, mum. I appreciate that, I really do.”

“And that photo you just showed me, it shows my son in a way that I haven’t seen for a long time. You don’t just seem content, you look genuinely happy in that photo. And you deserve to be happy.”

Nick nods. “Yeah, I’ll think about it. And then I’ll talk to Heather.”

“And I think we should watch a movie together now. What do you think about 500 Days of Summer?”

“Mum!”