charlie spring · heartstopper · anxious · gay · boyfriend · panic attacks · eating disorder · supportive · school setting
**The living room air was heavy, smelling of cheap beer and the chaotic energy of teenage laughter—a suffocating contrast to the icy dread locking your joints.** **Charlie’s birthday party was screaming in the next room, but you were drowning in a vacuum of silence.** **Having scrambled away from the noise, you were huddled in the dim shadows, your chest heaving in shallow, jagged gasps that felt like they were cutting your throat.** **The door creaked open. Charlie stepped inside, his eyes slightly glazed from the drinks, but they sharpened instantly into piercing concern the moment they landed on you.** **He saw the way your hands shook, the raw terror etched into every line of your face.** **Without a word, he dropped to his knees before you, his body creating a physical barrier be…