Arete20
Fandoms
- Merlin (TV) (7)
- Heartstopper (TV) (3)
- Heartstopper (Webcomic) (3)
Recent works
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In Search of Sunnier Paths by Arete20
Fandoms: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic)
17 Aug 2025
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Summary
Nick opens his photo app and scrolls through the pictures from that afternoon he spent with Charlie in the snow.
Charlie is beautiful. He’s truly the most beautiful person he’s ever seen, and his smile — Charlie Spring smiling is the best thing in the universe. Nick thinks he would join the circus, go sky diving, cross the ocean to make Charlie smile the way he did that afternoon.
But Nick just went on a date with someone else on Charlie’s birthday.
Nick doesn’t stop himself from crying. He nuzzles his head into his pillow, trying to muffle the sound of his sobs, but if shoulders heave with it, the grief of hurting the best person he’s ever known.
It’s a grief, and a guilt, that weighs down on him, wraps around him like chains, and doesn’t let him go all night long.
Or, Nick does not overhear Tao and Charlie's conversation in the bathroom at Charlie's 15th birthday and goes on the date with Imogen. In the aftermath, Nick is confronted with his people pleasing tendencies, navigates his sexuality crisis, and searches for a way to bring Charlie Spring back to him.
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Last Valentine's Day by Arete20 for deceptive_serenade
Fandoms: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic)
03 Mar 2025
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Summary
Charlie hates Valentine's Day. it's a dumb, consumerist, utterly performative holiday. He hates the hearts, the way everything is pink and red, the way couples perform affection and fake happiness.
It might sound dramatic, but Charlie has a reason to be the Valentine's Day version of the Grinch. Last Valentine's Day, his whole world fell apart.
Still, when his best friend and long time unrequited crush Nick Nelson asks Charlie to be his platonic date to a Valentine's Day party, Charlie can't say no.
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As If You Were a Mythical Thing by Arete20
Fandoms: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic)
17 Nov 2024
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Summary
Charlie Spring thinks he’s well into recovery. He’s managing both his OCD and anorexia well, and thriving in university. He and Nick are going strong. His life is better than it has ever been — and he means that.
That is, except for the fatigue, brain fog, stomach pain, and the way Charlie is losing weight even though he’s eating consistently and following his meal plan. When a routine blood test threatens to upend his life, leading to new struggles with his health and his eating disorder, he decides to shoulder the burden alone and keep it secret from his family, friends, and his boyfriend.
He doesn’t really understand what coeliac disease is — but there’s no reason to bring Nick down with him. Not again.
***Nick Nelson knows that something is wrong with his boyfriend. If only he knew what.
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Summary
On Albion, the only space station in the Alliance of United Earth that welcomes open magic users, Merlin works as an assistant mechanic to Gaius. Though Merlin doesn’t hate his job, spending days repairing broken coffee machines and toasters can be tedious, but it's a small price to pay for being able to use his magic openly.
Then one day, a mysterious man called Arthur shows up with a broken droid and a barrage of questions. Arthur keeps coming back with more broken things, and as charmed as Merlin is, he knows Arthur knows more about Albion than he lets on, possibly even about the strange and suspicious incidents from a group of new crewmates. With the Alliance threatened by a brewing conspiracy, Merlin and Arthur find themselves putting differences aside to save both Albion and magic itself.
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Summary
Arthur Pendragon is known for being oblivious. But he always, always knows when Merlin isn't okay.
Recent bookmarks
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Summary
As a boy, Nick nearly drowned and was saved by someone who shouldn’t exist. Charlie is not human, a god bound by an ancient curse, and the two form a bond that defies explanation.
What follows is a story of reunion, reckoning, and the fragile, radiant possibility of love between the mortal and the eternal.Because loving a god has never been simple.
“A unique fic that you’re going to want to read.”
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 20,497
- Chapters:
- 12/12
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 381
- Kudos:
- 290
- Bookmarks:
- 70
- Hits:
- 5,425
Bookmarked by Arete20
24 Oct 2025
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The Butterfly Club by bordercollie111
Fandoms: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic)
13 Aug 2025
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Summary
A Regency AU Heartstopper fic with shades of Jane Austen and Bridgerton!
In the early 1800s, Nicholas Nelson and Charles Spring fall in love at Eton school and have to think creatively to find ways to be together while society expects them to fulfil their family duties.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 228,452
- Chapters:
- 42/42
- Comments:
- 683
- Kudos:
- 355
- Bookmarks:
- 88
- Hits:
- 19,204
Bookmarked by Arete20
23 Oct 2025
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Value For Money by bordercollie111 for Infinite_reads
Fandoms: Heartstopper (TV), Heartstopper (Webcomic)
08 Oct 2025
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Summary
After a bad breakup leaves accountant Charlie single and almost bankrupt, he leaves London for a fresh start in Leeds, and a new job at Oseman PLC. Teacher Nick is struggling to make ends meet after his divorce. There's instant attraction when they meet but can these two rom-com fans make a new relationship work with all their baggage and financial woes?
Series
- Part 1 of Value For Money
Bookmarked by Arete20
20 Oct 2025
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Summary
Charlie's future is set. He's going to go to Harvard, become a doctor like his father, marry a beautiful woman, have 2.5 kids... The usual. However, when his parents decide to drag their family to some resort out in the middle of nowhere in the Catskills the summer before he leaves for college, and he meets a handsome, cocky playboy dance instructor... Well, he might learn a few things about himself and what he really wants for his future...
(Loosely based on the movie, Dirty Dancing, but without the creepy 15/30 year old age gap and much more gay.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 101,506
- Chapters:
- 30/30
- Comments:
- 618
- Kudos:
- 362
- Bookmarks:
- 77
- Hits:
- 10,372
Bookmarked by Arete20
17 Oct 2025
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Summary
Charlie gets a call from Nick about an emergency. Nothing could have prepared Charlie for what he saw at Nick’s house.
Bookmarked by Arete20
13 Oct 2025