Moments Of Discovery (Heartstopper, Nathan Ajayi)

[lighthousegirl]

OK, so I know Heartstopper is supposed to be all about the kids, but as a teacher myself I'm a bit in love with the dynamic between Mr Ajayi and Mr Farouk. I'm also crushing heavily on the adorkableness of Fisayo Akinade in this role. 

No real spoilers, just a slight reimagining of one of the scenes during the Paris episodes. If you haven't seen the show, Nathan and Youssef are basically 2 chalk and cheese teachers leading a school trip and discovering a mutual attraction at the same time. ❤️ 

 

Ok, enough rambling, here we go!

 

It all started with Nathan sitting bolt upright one morning in their hotel room in Paris. Youssef turned over and raised his head off the pillow, looking at the other man through bleary eyes. "Nathan? You OK?"
Nathan didn't respond, just continued to gaze into space. Youssef wondered for a second if the other man was having some sort of waking dream when Nathan suddenly snapped forward with a forceful "isshu!"  into his cupped hands. Given how he seemed to have been waiting for it the sneeze had an odd tone of surprise to it.
"Phew!" Nathan said with relieved laugh. "Felt that coming on for a while but I didn't expect it to be quite so strong."
"Oh... well, bless you," said Youssef after a slight pause, feeling a little awkward.
"Thanks. Sorry... did I wake you?"
"Kind of. But it's alright... it's nearly breakfast time anyway." Youssef got up and made his way to the bathroom in his usual abrupt way. Nathan just smiled to himself. Youssef could be quite unintentionally funny at times.

It wasn't until Nathan had sneezed another 5 times before they got to the breakfast hall and started gearing up for a sixth as they reached the door that Youssef began to become concerned. He stood waiting as he saw the now familiar faraway look in Nathan's eyes crumple as he twisted to the side and sneezed into his elbow. "Isshhuu! Oh man." He shook his head as if to clear the tickles.
"Bless you. Are you sure you're alright?" asked Youssef, his genuine worry masked by his usual brusque, almost accusatory tone.
"Not sure t-to be honest. Think it might be my allergies playing up. They're nowhere near this bad usually but maybe the pollen count is higher over here or something?" Nathan sniffled and Youssef detected some itchy redness developing in his eyes.
"Shit, sorry. I shouldn't have left the window open last night."
"It's o...ok... it was w-way too hot t-to close... iiit... iisshuu!"  Sniff, sniff.
"Bless you. Here," said Youssef, quickly reaching into his pocket and pulling out a clean folded handkerchief.
"Oh I can't take that Youssef..."
"Please. I've got plenty more stashed away."
"Ever prepared," said Nathan with a grin as he gratefully took the soft square of fabric.
"At least one of us is. Don't you have any allergy meds with you?"
"I might have forgotten them," said Nathan sheepishly, giving his nose a soft blow. Youssef rolled his eyes.
"Worse than the kids you are," he said gruffly. But he gave Nathan a rare smile and shook his head fondly at him, which made the art teacher suddenly feel quite warm and fuzzy inside.

In the usual chaos of breakfast and herding 40 rowdy teenagers on to a bus, Youssef was distracted from his friend's predicament. But once they reached the Eiffel Tower it soon became apparent again. Addressing the kids, Nathan reminded them of the point of the trip and announced that they'd be using today's excursion to practise their French skills. He was rewarded with loud groans to his and Youssef's amusement. Undaunted he continued, "Now we'll be... b-be... 'scuse me... hih... iishhu!... putting you into pairs a-and... and... iishhu!... g-giving you some... some... hih... isschhu! Phew, bless me, sorry!"
"Bless you Mr Ajayi!" chorused some of the kids.
"Thank you - Mr Farouk, maybe you wouldn't m-mind t-taking... over a sec?" Hurriedly Nathan handed his folder to Youssef and walked a few paces away with his back to the group. Desperately trying to focus on his job first and foremost, Youssef briskly got the kids sorted out into pairs and gave them the vocabulary to translate together, taking no nonsense from the complainers. Once they were settled into the task he strode over to Nathan who was in the throes of a sneezing fit.
"Isshu! Hih... isschu! Isshhuu! Hih... hihschuh! Hischuh! ISSCHU! Oh man." He blew his nose, took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes wearily, then looked up at Youssef with a watery smile. "Sorry. I'm being a bit useless aren't I?"
"Bless you. It's not your fault." Sympathetic as he was, Youssef also couldn't help but find the other man quite endearing in that moment. After every sneeze he seemed to have a surprised look, as if he hadn't known it was coming. It gave him a vulnerability which spoke straight to Youssef's usually well-hidden nurturing side.

Youssef looked around him quickly and his eyes alighted on something. "Think you can hold the fort for a minute? I'm just gonna see about something."
He jogged away towards the road while Nathan watched over the group, endeavouring to help them with their words while still sneezing sporadically, earning him more blessings and even some "are you ok"s from the kids. He just laughed it off, knowing that that was the best way to avoid embarrassment or mocking from this bunch.

Youssef soon returned and stood next to him. He said nothing, didn't even look at him but silently proffered a couple of items - a bottle of water and a packet of what looked like the French version of something like Claritin. Nathan looked at them with relief and gratitude, the warm feeling spreading through him again as he realised Youssef had run off just to get him these. He fixed the other teacher with such a tender look that it made him feel quite weak at the knees for a second and he was forced to go and shout at a couple of kids who were mucking about in order to maintain his decorum.

Later, when he bemoaned to his colleague his lack of youthful moments of discovery, Youssef couldn't help but feel it wasn't strictly true. There was definitely one thing he had discovered: Nathan Ajayi had an extremely cute sneeze.

[AntheaHolmes]

Oh this is a wonderful story. I love the chemistry between them while watching Heartstopper. 

This story is also very cute and Youssef is very caring indeed. Cutie Pie. 

[metroreality]

How wonderful!! I also loved these characters from the show and you wrote them so beautifully