summary: set in season 2; you're not impressed with the advice steve is giving your brother
warnings: reader is dustin's sister in this for plot and [very minor] allusions to her trauma from her parents [which i am making up because we know nothing about dustin's dad lol]
author's note: in my head this is the same pair as 'a little birdy' but can be read on its own as its a prequel anyway! i posted a note about this the other day, but some of my ideas for steve x reader involve girly being dustin's sister, but don't always want to be exclusive because i know not everyone fits the description by default so when it doesn't add to the story, i will be more vague and of course tag/not at the top when its more henderson!reader heavy. hoping all of my works for steve can be read independently but for anyone who's interested in connecting parts, i hope you enjoy! i have 3 planned specfically that will follow the thread i leave in this part but the rest will be a bit more independent<3
“Can you please stop corrupting my brother?”
You can count on one hand the amount of times you’ve found yourself talking to Steve Harrington, and honestly you didn’t mind the number being so low.
When you moved to town four years ago, he’d already made a name for himself in the halls of Hawkins Middle that followed him into high school. While most girls fawned and batted their eyes, you only ever rolled yours when you heard another story about King Steve and his success with girls or as captain of the basketball team.
Your opinion of him took an ever bigger dive last year when you’d gotten wind of what he and his friends did to Nancy by way of the movie theater marquee. You were on your way to meet Nancy, and your best friend Jonathan, who’d looped you into all of the conspiracy surrounding his brother Will’s disappearance when a vaguely familiar vehicle slows as you speed walk down the sidewalk. Already on edge from this new talk of monsters and evil scientists, you nearly jump out of your skin when you hear someone call out your name.
To his credit, Steve’s apologetic for startling you but you don’t have time for him, literally and figuratively, so when he tries to act all innocent and guilty asking if you’d spoken to Nancy and Jonathan, or knew where they were, you scoff. Half because of his audacity, and half because you’re surprised he knew who you were and that you were friends with them.
“You really think I’d tell you that?”
Steve sighs, his head bobbing between you and the road as he attempts to drive his car slowly down the road as you attempt to outwalk him in a vehicle.
His voice is dejected as he asks, “So you heard-?”
“I heard, I saw. Really classy, Harrington.”
He sighs, “I know, I know. I’m not…proud of it. And I want to tell Nancy that, but she’s not at home and-”
“Steve,” you stop, making him slam on his breaks abruptly and if this were any other day, you would have laughed, “I don’t know you that well, and what I do know doesn’t bode well for you right now, but after what happened today, I don’t want to be anywhere near you and that means I can’t imagine Nancy does either.”
He sighs again, and he mutters something you barely make out before he presses on the gas again and drives away.
After that, you were willing to bet on never speaking to him again. That was until later that night, when you were at the Byers house preparing for whatever crazy shit was coming, alongside Nancy and Jonathan, Steve showed up. You weren’t surprised when he ran away at the first sign of trouble, but you definitely were shocked when he came back and fought alongside you. When it's all over, you watch Steve in curiosity as he sits with everyone at the hospital following Will’s return. Despite only really having a - albeit rocky - connection to Nancy, he still stays. A part of you feels like you misjudged the boy, but then again, it was true; you didn’t really know him. And this would probably be the last time you’re in the same room outside of school assemblies. You wordlessly bring him a coffee, your expression tired but amicable and he accepts it, surprised at first but he nods wordlessly and mirrors your expression.
You really thought that’d be it; so much so you spend the next year shit talking Steve behind his back. Not because you got joy out of the act, but because you found yourself wanting to cheer Jonathan up on occasion after Nancy went back to Steve. But of course, leave it to your younger brother to drag not only you on a mission to find what was apparently a tiny demogorgon he’d been boarding that ate your cat, but also Steve for some reason you were still unsure of.
That’s what leads the three of you trekking through woods, attempting to lure the creature with pieces of raw meat - ew. You were walking a few paces ahead of them, tuning them out for the most part just trying to disassociate from what your life had become. Until you hear Steve giving Dustin girl advice, and he was the last person you wanted your brother looking up to.
“I’m not ‘corrupting’ him, I’m trying to impart my wisdom,” Steve insists, and you use all your willpower to not roll your eyes.
“Well I find your ‘wisdom’ to be wrong.”
He frowns, “What do you mean?”
“The idea that girls like when you ignore them or act like you couldn’t care less? That’s terrible advice. It’s wrong and its…gross.”
Steve scoffs, “Okay fine, if you’re such an expert, do you have any better suggestions?”
Dustin snorts, “Her? She’s got even less experience with romance than I do.”
You swat your brother’s arm, “Rude.”
“Ow,” Dustin rubs his arm, “Am I wrong?”
You don’t answer him, “Whether or not I have dating experience is irrelevant. I’m still a girl and I know not every girl would put up with that.” You give Steve a pointed look, “Does Nancy?”
Steve’s expression falters, and for a moment he almost looks…sad? He sighs softly, “No, she doesn’t.”
The three of you walk in silence for a few beats before he shakes it off and looks at you again, his voice less intense,
“So, was that true? Have you really never gone out with anyone?” Steve asks.
“No, I-”
“Not one guy has asked you out?”
“Some have, but she says no,” Dustin answers for you.
“What? Why?”
You have to swat Dustin again before he speaks, “I can answer for myself, thank you very much.”
Steve’s face is still twisted in confusion, “You always say no?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You’ve seen the boys that go to our school,” you say, like its answer enough, “I don’t want to waste my time with guys that aren’t worth it, just because it's what I’m 'supposed' to do or because other girls are doing it.”
Steve stares off like he’s considering your words, “Okay…I get that. But don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? There’s got to be at least one guy at our school that’s nice enough.”
You chuckle softly, “It’s not just about a nice guy. It’s the way people treat dating, like you’re not good enough if you don’t do it, but also no one takes it seriously. Everyone’s just messing around, until they aren’t. And I’ve seen first hand on more than one occasion too many women waste their time on men who don’t deserve it. They either wind up getting their heartbroken because they ignored every warning sign about the guy, or stay with them long enough to realize they’re not living the life they want but feel like its too late to leave them because then they’d have to admit just how much of their life they wasted on a man just because it was what they thought they were supposed to do.”
It was a truer reality than you could fully explain to him in this moment. The stories you heard from Jonathan about the way his dad treated Joyce before and after their divorce. The way Mrs. Wheeler puts up with her husband who’s hardly present anymore even when he’s actually around. And the way your and Dustin’s father left your mother, leading you to moving out here to Hawkins a few years ago. And you knew this went further than just the women in your life, and you sympathized, and didn’t even hold judgement, especially when it came to your mom. But you decided for yourself long ago you didn’t want to go through that.
“So what?” Steve questions, “You’re just never going to date anybody?”
You shrug, “I didn’t say that. I just said I don’t want to waste my time in a relationship that's force fit, because people like you think it’s weird that I don’t want one right now.”
“I don’t think-” Steve sighs, contemplating your words, and his next ones, “I just wonder, maybe…if your expectations are too high?”
Your eyebrows pinch, “I don’t think it’s wrong to hold a certain standard, or have my own boxes.”
“Boxes?”
“Yeah, like a checklist.”
Steve snorts, “Okay, so what’s on your list of boxes to check?”
“Well, for one, he needs to be respectful. Genuinely. Not the kind of guy that pretends to listen and care about my thoughts and opinions, until he gets what he wants and stops paying attention.”
Steve nods thoughtfully, like he’s digesting your words, “That’s fair…What else?”
You think briefly, “I would want a guy that's independent, and more so okay with me being independent, too. I want a guy to support my dreams in addition to his, not like I’m just an add on to what he wants to do with his life. Because, yeah, I don’t feel the need to rush into things, I’m only sixteen, but down the line in a real relationship that would last, I don’t want to just be a wife, I want to be my own person.”
Steve continues to nod. “Anything else?”
“I don’t know,” you shrug again, “There’s small things, sure, but overall I guess I just want there to be a…spark. That’s the other thing I don’t get; people will go out with anyone they think has nice hair or a good body. And maybe the spark comes later, I don’t know. But I think I just want to find someone that makes me excited. And then I think I’d say yes to a date.”
After taking a few beats, Steve looks at you again, “Well, I hope you do find a guy who checks all those boxes. You deserve that.”
You hum. You can tell he means it. Your lip curls up slightly, “And I hope you get better at giving dating advice. Or maybe just better at dating.”
Surprisingly Steve snorts, shaking his head in a self deprecating way, “Yeah, in fairness I probably deserve that.”
Admittedly, you’re curious about the state of he and Nancy’s relationship; you were at the party with Jonathan when he stormed out and the two of you got the very drunk girl home safely. But you haven’t heard much more detail since the two of them left town. You almost got the courage to ask, when Dustin, who’d drifted in front of the pair of you, groaned loudly.
“Are you two done yet? I’m bored of this conversation, let’s talk about something else.”
You and Steve share an amused yet tired look, Steve’s almost asking ‘is he always like this?. You tilt your head in a way that says, ‘yes, yes he is’.
You half listen again when Steve eventually divulges the secrets of his hair routine, and he threatens both of you to never divulge something about a Farrah Fawcet spray, but you nod noncommittedly. You’re busy once again processing how weird your life has gotten, but you’re not sure what’s weirder; the fact that you're looking for an interdimensional monster, or that you managed to have a full conversation with Steve Harrington.
please like, reblog, and/or comment if you enjoyed!
For ur Steve fic could u do like a sequel of Robin finding out by walking in on them later on??
Thank you for sending, and appreciate you reading!! right now i'm working on some "prequels" that take place leading up to steve x reader getting together, but eventually i think i'll write more sequels of robin and others finding out! <3
currently working on some steve x reader fics that could be prequels to a little birdy
as a note, some of my backstory for the reader plays well with a henderson!reader but i know that's not always the most inclusive trope, so when it pertains more to a specific work, i will tag it as such, and when it doesn't add anything to the story, i won't call attention to that and each fic can be enjoyed as an indivudal work but some will be more connected if that makes sense!
inspired by opalite by taylor swift. bob doesn’t think he’s ever experienced pure happiness, not until he met you.
not like this
bob takes care of you when you're under the weather, but you sort of wish the intimacy it brings would have occurred under different circumsances
rhett abbott x reader
should've kissed you anyway
inspired by ruin the friendship by taylor swift. you and rhett have been best friends since you were pre-teens neither of you realize how many times the others wanted more - until you take it.
stiles and witch!reader have been best friends since she moved to beacon hills in kindergarten. this is a series of fics following moments between them throughout teen wolf.
a simple favor [series masterlist]
despite being self-proclaimed "enemies", you manage to drag stiles to your house for help with a spell...and maybe more.
retired teen wolf scenes
stiles x oc series of scenes from the teen wolf universe, discontinued and to be replaced with new fics such as 'breaking point' xo
after breaking up with your long time boyfriend, you realize how much of your life was tied to his. if only you knew someone with a cool job and even cooler boss across the pond who could help you out...and meet a footballer to get your mind off everything
behind the scenes {series - on hiatus}
you needed a reputation boost. he needed to get his friends off his back. the solution? fake dating, of course.
set in season 2; you’re not impressed with the advice steve is giving your brother henderson!reader
a little birdy
set between seasons 4 and 5. robin has a sneaking suspicion steve’s in love. so of course she has to tell you. little does she know the two of you have secretly just started dating
summary: set between seasons 4 and 5. robin has a sneaking suspicion steve's in love. so of course she has to tell you. little does she know the two of you have secretly just started dating.
warnings: language, kissing, allusions to sex
author's note: i can only write when i'm hyperfixating on something and stranger things is this months lucky winner. we love steve harrington!!! i've had ideas for steve x reader for a bit now, so this can fit into a larger universe with connecting one shots so if i get motivation maybe i'll write more prequels/sequels. in my head she's a henderson but this fic could be read without that as canon. lmk if you like!!
“I think Steve is in love.”
You nearly choke on your coffee due to the absurdity of the statement.
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for you and Robin to gossip about Steve’s love life. In fact, you’ve done so many times through the duration of your nearly year long friendship.
At first, it was a method of bonding upon being introduced to Steve’s new coworker at Scoops last summer, sharing amusement over your mutual friend’s miserable attempts at flirting with the female patrons while donned in a sailor hat.
Then Robin became your resource when Steve started finally finding success in the Fall at Family Video, and you couldn’t keep us with who he was with any given week.
So it wasn’t uncharacteristic for the brunette to comment on Steve’s love life, especially to you. But it wasn’t common to actually use the word “love”.
Sure, you were both well aware Steve is capable of love. He was in love with Nancy of course, and Robin was convinced he was still recovering. But you knew he was long over that. But being in love? That couldn’t be right.
Because - even though Robin couldn’t know this - he had been dating you for the last month and there was no way he had fallen in love with you so fast.
You’d finally admitted your feelings for Steve after fighting demo-bats in the Upside Down version of the Wheeler House in a rare moment alone. However, with Hawkins under military lockdown, Max still in a coma, and your friends mourning Eddie’s death amongst the others the town lost, the two of you decided it might not be the best time to debut a new relationship to everyone, even Robin, for now.
That didn’t mean the two of you didn’t find time to sneak around and enjoy time together, not wanting to let the “end of the world” steal all chances of finding happiness. Despite everything else going on, your time with Steve made you the happiest you’ve ever been. You were smitten, and you had to admit you were dying to tell Robin about it. And even though this conversation presented the perfect opportunity, you were going to hold off for a little bit longer.
“What makes you think that?” you ask carefully, setting down your cup of coffee safely next to the turntable.
The two of you were currently perched in the booth at the WSQK Station. You, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve had decided taking over the abandoned radio station was the perfect front for covert communications during the lockdown, especially while Hop and El were still in hiding. So the past couple weeks you’ve been setting up shop. At this current moment, Steve was sorting through some vinyls in the other room, but could be back at any moment.
“Well for starters, every other time I’ve asked him to meet me here, he’s been late.” she says, holding up her index finger.
“His lack of punctuality means he’s in love now?”
Robin rolls her eyes, “No. But every time he was late to a shift at Family Video, a girl was involved. So that was just my first clue. But this is different than that.”
“How so?”
“He’s…quiet about it. Which is so not like him. He always either bragged or complained about his dates before.”
“Maybe he thinks you got tired of hearing about it?”
“Oh he knows that. But that's never stopped him before! No. This is him being secretive - private. Protective about it, which means he cares; that he found someone deeper than a one night stand.”
“So tardiness plus secrecy equals love?”
Robin clenches her hands into claws, groaning, “Plus, don’t even get me started on that dopey smile on his face! Hawkins is literally falling apart, and the boy walks around like he’s on cloud nine. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s also been less irritable and…softer.”
“Softer?”
“Shut up. You know what I mean. He’s different. And based on what I know about our Steve, it has to be because of a girl.”
Your chest constricts involuntarily, and you have to fight the curve of your lip and even turn away from Robin to do so. Something about the idea you could be the cause of Steve’s mood, his happiness, and him having such an adorable reaction…made you feel all soft. The feeling was definitely mutual, but you’ve always been better at concealing your feelings, something he made a point of mentioning when you’d alluded to waiting around for him to ask you out. You make use of your skill set by shaking off the giddiness and goosebumps and turning back to Robin.
“So…have you asked him about it?”
“Once,” she nods, “The third time he was late and he turned into a tomato, which also supports my theory. But he didn’t admit to anything, so I figured he’d come clean in time but it's been over two weeks and I’m getting impatient, so it's your turn.”
“My turn?”
“Yeah. You have to ask him.”
You laugh, at both the irony of the situation and her thought process. “Robin, if he won’t talk to you, he won’t talk to me.”
“That’s not true. You’ve known him longer.”
“Barely.”
“But you’ve bonded over at least two additional traumatic events than we have. Therefore, you have a slightly higher probability of getting him to confide in you,” she looks at you with puppy dog eyes, clasping her hands together, “Please try?”
You roll your eyes, but it's fond. And only because you owed her for keeping this whole thing a secret from her in the first place, you give in, “Okay…fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
Maybe you’ll simply tell Steve you need to put your poor friend out of her misery.
𓆰
Later that evening, as the sun sets over the Squawk, you realize you’ve been abuzz over the thoughts Robin put into your head, thinking dreamily about the concept of Steve feeling all mushy because of you, blushing and dodging Robin's questions. So, when the girl departs for the night, giving you a pointed look as she knowingly leaves you and Steve alone on account of her mission, you slink over to where Steve is unboxing equipment by the couches.
“Hi,” you say softly, approaching him with his back turned to you.
He turns around, a warm smile instantly adorning his face when he takes you in. He sets down the headset he was detangling so his hands are free to rest on your hips, “Hi. It’s just us?”
You nod, resting your arms around his neck as he sidles up closer to you, “Mhmm. You know, a little birdy told me something.”
Steve raises his eyebrows, “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. Apparently you’ve been seeing someone?”
Steve’s grin widens as he pinches the skin at your waist lightly, “Yeah, that’s you. You know that.”
Your cheeks warm, “I know. But someone else thinks they know something, too.”
Steve throws his head back with a groan in realization, “Was this birdy a Robin?” Off of your laugh, he looks at you again with a sigh, “I’m sorry. I knew she might suspect something but I thought I’ve been more subtle lately.”
You shake your head, muffling your light laughter and brushing your hand across his cheek, “Don’t be sorry. I think it's sweet.”
He squints, “You do?”
“Uh huh. She said you’ve been ‘softer’.”
Your lips curl in amusement, reciting your friend’s descriptor. But your heart skips a beat, when when you feel the man you’re entangled with relax and melt into your arms, proving her point.
You can’t help but smile wider, once again recalling everything she said to you earlier, “Yeah. Softer, and happier than usual, and that you blushed when she asked you about it once. She thinks you being secretive means you care because you’re in-”
You cut yourself off when you realize what you’re about to imply.
Steve holds your gaze steadily, his voice quiet when he asks, “Because I’m..?”
You take a deep breath, attempting to word the rest of this carefully, “Well…Robin thinks you’re ‘in love’, which I know is crazy, cause you’ve only been with her - me - for like a month, so I know it's too soon to use that word in regards to us. But if you’re like this only one month in, I can only imagine what you’re like when you actually are in love, and-”
“I am.”
His voice was so quiet and dry, you’re not sure you hear him correctly.
“...what?”
Steve swallows, “I am…in love with you.”
Off of your stunned expression, Steve decides it's his turn to ramble, “And…yeah, it's been a month but I know how I feel. I’ve felt it for a longer, way longer than we’ve even been together. And if you don’t feel that way yet, thats-”
“I do,” you’re quick to interject this time, “I love you, too.”
Steve’s eyes widen before his whole face eases into awe, and just as Robin described, soft. “Really? You mean that? Because you don’t have to say it yet, or ever, if you don’t mean it.”
You shake your head, gently cupping his face, “Steve, I swear. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
He tilts his head, sheepishly laughing, “Well, you lied about not avoiding me earlier this year, when you definitely were.”
You smile teasingly, “Well that's when you were seeing all those girls, and I didn’t want you to know I was falling in love with you.”
Steve’s expression relaxes again, his eyes nearly glassy. His lip quivers just slightly before he tugs you closer and engulfs you in the tightest, warmest hug. You relax into him, squeezing him back, one hand scratching the hair at the nape of his neck. You huff when you hear him ask another, “are you sure?” that's almost muffled into your shoulder.
“Steve,” you pull back slightly, laughing as you shake your head, but you humor him nonetheless, “I’m very sure. Not that I’m an expert on love having never been in it before. Not like you have.”
Steve shakes his own head, “No, this is different.”
Your heart stutters, “It is?.”
He squeezes you reassuringly the second he feels you start to deflate. “No, I mean…sure, I loved Nancy. And still care about her a lot. But this, what we have, is completely different. The way I feel about you…feels so much deeper, and intense, and real. You get me in a way no one ever has, and make me feel like I’m worth a damn. And even just thinking about you takes my breath away. I believe you when you say you love me, which I was starting to think would never happen for me. Being around you makes me better, and I feel lighter and-”
“Softer?”
Steve chuckles softly with you but he nods, “Actually, yeah, softer. There’s so much bad shit going on around us all the time, but it all just disappears when we’re together. Even for a little while.”
You chew your lip, failing to fight the huge grin but knowing there’s no reason to hide how truly happy you are, because he’s just as happy.
He doesn’t seem like it, though, when he lets out a dramatic sigh and presses his head into your shoulder, “I can’t believe Robin blew my secret without even realizing she was doing it.”
You laugh loudly, “You know it was bound to happen like this one way or another.”
“Think we should just tell her, or make her suffer a little bit longer?” he asks, lifting his head.
You grin, sliding your hands further into his hair, “I’m sure we can figure out a way to mess with her, but we can do that tomorrow. Right now I’d rather do other things.”
You gently guide his face closer to yours, pressing your lips against his. Steve’s never one to hesitate reciprocating physical affection, instantly sliding his hands up and down your waist and back, sighing softly against you. You whisper another I love you against his lips, which he repeats. The words set your skin on fire and without much thought, you guide him and yourself towards the couch. Steve’s brain moves slower than his body, you’re moving to straddle him when he becomes cognizant again.
“Woah, woah, we can slow down.”
You give him a dopey smile, “Why? It's nothing we haven’t done before.”
He sighs in exasperation, “I’m not making love to you for the first time on this dusty, old couch.”
You roll your eyes, but your stomach does somersaults at the same time, “Steve, we could ‘make love’ in a dumpster and it would still be perfect,” you lean back in, brushing my nose against his, “Okay?”
Steve sighs. He’s never been able to resist you. In the blink of an eye, his lips are on yours, and his hand is slipping under your shirt.
You’d tell Robin the truth soon. But she could never know what you guys did in the WSQK common room tonight.
please like, reblog, and/or comment if you enjoyed!
as many may know, i can only get myself to write when im knee deep in a hyperfixation, so while i have more bob reynolds content in progress, what i have finished in a steve harrington x reader fic so get ready for that tomorrow probably !
✿・・───・・just a really big collection of lewis fanfics i really really enjoyed and love and overall just made my heart melt :3╰(*´︶`*)╯
_ _ + some thoughts and light commentary
fandoms included: marvel (thunderbolts*), top gun, outer range, the line
[✿] fluff [✦] angst [★] smut
divider creds to @mang0smoothie and @strangergraphics !!
bob reynolds:
[✦] [✿] [★] cowboy like me by @goldenlikedayl1ght | word count: 9.4k
summary: you get a text from an old friend and think.. you could do worse than a book club.. with some benefits.
thoughts: second chance romance will be the end of me !! i just love reading about people who grow out of a relationship to find themselves to inevitably fall back into that love with a better understanding of themselves. also just despite this fic being named after one of my favourite songs of all time it'll always be called book club to me :p
[✦] [✿] catalyst by @shadowbriar | word count: N/A
summary: For once, he actually let himself grow comfortable in the gentleness of another.
thoughts: two people finding a sense of peace in a very sterile environment has my heart in a clutch !!
[✿] [★] lights, camera, action ! by @avastarred | word count: N/A | complete!series
summary: When your best friend and her fiancée move out of the home you share, you're left looking for a roommate. You find one, a sweet, down to earth guy named Bob, but what do you do when you find out what he really does for work, and he asks for your help?
thoughts: so so many thoughts that i can't articulate well enough !! this fic is that kind friends to lovers thing where the pair is constantly dancing on the line between of friendship and something more, but in a way that they're caught up and in love with each other that they don't even notice it. yk that kind of like seamless old married couple transition period !! and that's honestly the best friends to lovers execution and i eat it up each time
[✿] wrong number, right person by @brainfriedkitten | word count: 4.7k
summary: A voice message sent to the wrong person sparks an unlikely friendship between two people who have never met. Can an online friendship turn into something more?
thoughts: the premise is so very crazy 90s romcom plot to me !! i love how when fanfiction has such very captivation unrealistic plot line that hooks through these series of events
[✿] nothing matters by @em1i2a3 | word count: 12.6k
summary: In preparation for Bucky’s wedding, Bob decides to attend dance lessons so he doesn’t have to embarrass himself during the reception.
thoughts: i love me a good fun classic cheesy meet cute :3 this just made me kind of explode i spent all morning reading it like golly it's just so awww
[✦] [✿] damsel in distress by @brookghaib-blog | word count: 9.5k
summary: In which the team is eager to meet Bob's ''imaginary'' girlfriend, and the chaos just seems to pile up as the time goes by.
thoughts: we need more emotional dramatic people representaion !! also has a lot of thunderbolts*/new avenger banter and shenigans that just makes me really really happy :3
[✦] [✿] scared to take a breath by @myladybelle | word count: 11.6k
summary: ava and yelena have no choice but to call your ex-boyfriend when you refuse to leave girls’ night out without him. but in your drunken haze you forget you’re broken up, and bob was never very good at telling you no.
thoughts: this fanfic makes me feel very soft like i can't deal with yearning and wanting something you know you can't have just yet and the self restraint—golly!!
[✿] between book pages and baked pie by @gyugraphy | word count: 7k
summary: He came in on Thursdays. Always looking for new books to read. Always smiled like he didn’t quite belong anywhere. Then, you asked him to pretend to be your boyfriend for one night. And he said yes. Then you found out he’s the Sentry—and suddenly, pretending doesn’t feel so simple anymore.
thoughts: no thoughts just seething in envy and resentment that this fic isn't the life i'm living right now.
[✦] [✿] polaroid by @54nboo| word count: N/A | wip!series
𓂅 polaroid pt. 2
summary: the team asks about the polaroid in bob’s wallet, so he tells them about the girl he never even dated.
thoughts: again, i will never stop saying it. i love it when life separates people to bring them together again !! eeeeekk !! i am also patiently waiting for part three :3
bob floyd:
[✦] [✿] [★] how can you look at me and pretend by @frankels | word count: 12.3k
summary: You’ve known Bob Floyd for nearly eight years since your first days at Naval Air Station Pensacola, and your friendship has always been flawless, effortless, and completely platonic… at least on the surface. Your lives are defined by high-stakes training, neverending missions, and the camaraderie of the team. Yet beneath the banter, shared glances, and seamless coordination in the air, there’s a tension between you and Bob that no one can miss—except the two of you.
thoughts: i love unecessary mutual pining but at the same time you just kinds wanna yell at their faces that they're in love :3 u loveable stoopid freaks
[✿] loopy medication by @withahappyrefrain | word count: N/A
summary: The pain medication given to Bob after a training accident has some interesting, albeit endearing, side effects.
thoughts: drunk anesthesia fics hold us together as a society
[✿] wanna buy you a drink by @anonymooseforever007 | word count: 3.8k
summary: It's been five months since Bob's seen his wife, and aside from Natasha he had yet to mention her to his team. He calls it privacy, she jokes it's internalised possessiveness. But tonight, with Penny's help at the Hard Deck, more than one person is in for a surprise. After all, who doesn't love a good innuendo?
thoughts: bob floyd secret wife fics are kind of the bane of my existence right now
[✦] [✿] [★] speak now by @scarletmika | word count: 16.2k
summary: Bob Floyd is madly in love with you, and you're in love with him. The problem? You're getting married...and it's not to Bob.
thoughts: oooo wait these two were messyyyy so much so that you root for them all the way but love who you love guys !! just make sure they're the on you're marrying you next time :3
𓂅 [✿] knight in shining glasses by @/scarletmika | word count: 11k
summary: All you wanted to do was enjoy your first night in San Diego at the bar recommended to you by your father, but a hot-shot new to the Top Gun program was intent on bringing you home with him, or at least couldn't take a hint. Lucky for you, there's a knight in shining glasses ready to save you.
thoughts: N/A (haven't read this one in a bit but all i know is loved it !! :p)
[✿] winner takes it all by @totallynotashieldagent | word count: N/A
summary: Reader is at the base to write an article, everyone's betting if Bob would get a kiss. The squad doesn't know they're already married.
thoughts: if it isn't the bob floyd fic that ignited my adoration for this fictional man bob secret wife fics took over me for a while because of this !!
[✦] [✿] [★] roostering it by @ghostgirlwrites | word count: N/A | complete!series
summary: After years of friendship, reader finally decides it’s now or never to confess her feelings to Bob—only to have him appear at the Hard Deck, hand-in-hand with someone else.
thoughts: i read the whole thing before going to sleep last night and it WRECKED ME only to build me together again ofc :3 but still. it captured the pain of wanting something that's so unreachable that it feels more farther the closer the you get to it, if that makes sense. i know this feeling too well especially this year... so erm—sooo safe to say falling for you bestfriend is truly not for the week.
Rhett Abott:
[✦] [✿] [★] dog days by @lewmagoo | word count: N/A
summary: "i tried so hard to quit you, like i promised my momma i would"
thoughts: i saw a fan made music video awhile ago of taylor swift's 'but daddy i love him' and that sparked a need within me of a rhett fanfic with a similar plot sooo imagine my excitement when i found this on the hashtag :3
[✿] [★] shoulda knocked by @verricherri | word count: N/A
summary: N/A
thoughts: absolutely hilarious !! and i learned a lesson to keep doors locked because if this ever happened to me i would be swallowed by the earth i think :p
𓂅 [✿] [✦] right here by @/verricherri | word count: N/A
summary: N/A
thoughts: waittt i reread this just a couple days ago (i find myself reading this every now and then) and this is just kind of wrecks me in such a beautiful way i think. for my own sake i'm not gonna trauma dump on fic rec rant but, this fanfic just reminds to be patient that there will be someone who's gonna be willing to be there for me through all of life's turbulances someday
𓂅 verricherri's masterlist by @/verricherri | i binged the entirety of the lewis fics i gotta reccoment all of em' :3
[✦] [✿] [★] that's my kind of night by @lewsangs | word count: 28k
summary: parent trap AU
thoughts: one of my most favourite ever niches that i've stumbled upon are parent trap aus sooo imagine my excitement finding this :3
[✿] ruin the friendship by @illiterateaffairs | word count: 7.3k
summary: inspired by ruin the friendship by taylor swift. you and rhett have been best friends since you were pre-teens neither of you realize how many times the others wanted more - until you take it.
thoughts: this is all i need ever in life i love this song so much
[✿] commission by @pileofboneswrites | word count: 3.4k
𓂅 commission pt. 2 | word count 8.1k
summary: you're the weird tillerson girl, your brother's joke that you make billy look normal by comparison, but you don't really care. you enjoy life off the ranch, living in town and contributing to the community. your art studio is your sanctuary, and the day that rhett abbott walks in asking to commission a painting for his parents anniversary, your world flips upside down.
thoughts: this was so so GOOD !!! someone find me a man who'd fix things for me :( i love their dynamic and kinda impatiently waiting for pt.3 :p
[✦] [✿] [★] no angels by @/em1i2a3 | word count: 18k
summary: You and Rhett have been friends for almost your entire lives and you’ve had a crush on him ever since you could remember. You’ve never made a move out of respect for the friendship, but when Maria–an old crush of Rhett’s–comes back into town, you can’t help but get a little jealous of how much he swoons for her.
thoughts: this is the first rhett fic i read and i think i remember distinctly squealing when i read the summary and erm... at some points while reading it because of how angsty and unrequited it got (art imitates life guys) and i just love a really really well done friends to lovers story that has excrutiating mutual pining !! alsooo i really love how it portrays the years worth of envy and bitterness. like i think i could go on and on about this fic i just love it so so much
Todd Stevens:
[✿] midnight on campus by @enderdaggers | word count: 7.2k | wip!series
summary: ghostface!au It's your junior year of college and you don't even mind that it's somewhere new. Fresh start. Far from every bad decision that ruined you before. You can really decide what kind of person you want to be for once, even if it means involving yourself with the annoying, frustratingly attractive president of the Kappu Nu Alpha fraternity, Todd Stevens.
thoughts: i don't usually read a lot of ghostface aus but i really enjoyed this one !!
[✿] paper cuts by @mustaaarrd | word count: 8k
summary: it starts with a jammed printer and a boy who doesn’t know how to fix it. todd stevens is loud where you’re quiet, charming where you’re cautious, and for some reason, he keeps showing up — in the library, in lecture, beside you when you least expect it. what begins as study sessions turns into something softer. hours spent joking, sharing snacks, talking about nothing and everything. it’s easy to ignore what’s happening until a rumor spreads, and the line between friendship and something more starts to blur.
thoughts: i dunno if this is odd in anyway but i love love loveee this !!! it reminds me so much of old marauders era fics i read HIHI but like it's one of those really sweet study buddy esque fics that are just so adorable
[✦] [✿] [★] i wanna be adored by @/em1i2a3 | word count: 12.8k | complete!series
summary: You’re not his girlfriend and he’s not your boyfriend. You’ve never even kissed in public let alone been seen together outside of the classroom setting. But somehow, every time Todd Stevens is alone with you, it’s like his self-control gets tested in ways he never imagined. You were supposed to be just a secret–until hiding it stops feeling like protection and starts feeling like a punishment.
thoughts: like i mentioned before on some of the other recs i really love LOVEEE a slowburn that has this seamless transition period in between of point a to something more meaningful. basically when their feelings take the wheel unbeknownst to them and they find themselves doing acting on things in a not so casual way anymore it just makes me so HADWHJAKNWHADB EEEEEKK
🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love
🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings 🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now
Aaah, Ani, I'm so sorry I'm answering this so late stupid tumblr ate your ask 😭💕
🥤 - an author or fanfic I love
Well, one of my favourite authors here is definitely you!! For everyone reading this I'd really really really recommend Back to Sector One, which is an incredibly sweet Oscar x reader series.
I also love @mickyschumacher's Revolving Door series, chef's kiss with all the tension and craaazy good smut.
I'm obsessed with @maroonshirt81's CarCar Polar researcher!au fic, it's so incredibly fun and well written! 🐧
Fuck it, I'll also add a few because there are so many of you talented people!
My og tumblr favourite writer is definitely @gaybybirth with her beautiful Arcane Viktor & Stranger things fics! Molly, you are the godess of writing insane sexual tension and pining.
Of course no fic ref list misses @tsunodaradio but I have to sing some praises for her as well, I love the poetry in her writing and I cried literal tears while reading Past Lives.
I also adore @gr4cier4cie's hometown glory, beautiful angst with some happy ending!
@illiterateaffairs's Distractions series is also one of my fave Jamie Tartt fics. :3
I also love @obsessedhoneycomb's Unplanned miniseries, perfect mixture of angst, fluff and sweetness!
And my dearest friend @rose-tinted-juls's a roaadtrip with bubbling feelings is a super sweet George x reader best friends to lovers fic which I would die for!
🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings
Ngl I'm always bad with this because I'm not huge on ships (but f1 is changing meee), but I think Charles is always acting like he doesn't agree with Carlos's sometimes crazy ideas or behaviour in front of others, joking around about them, pretending he drags him into these crazy situations, but in reality when it's only the two of them, he can come up with even crazier shit than Carlos could ever do, lol.
🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now
Tbh I really need this because my depression makes me forget about all the good stuff I have in my life.
I have my lovely husband, who is the sweetest I could ever wish for. 💕
We finally managed to settle all the paperwork for buying our first apartment, and hopefully we'll get the keys soon! (Even though this comes with a huge mortgage, this is still great news hahaha)
I have tickets for my favourite artist's concert for next year (The Weeknd), and for the Hungarian GP as well! 🥳🥳
summary: bob takes care of you when you're under the weather, but you sort of wish the intimacy it brings would have occurred under different circumstances
warnings: minor descriptions of illness - thats probably inaccurate half the time, and taking medicine, non-sexual nudity, mcu-spoilers?
author's note: idk where this idea came from but i think its cute as hell. please let me know what you think, i maywrite a little part 2/epilogue if there's interest!
masterlist
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the Thunderbolts to keep to themselves when there wasn’t a mission or other obligation to attend to. Sure, they often flocked together for movie nights, training sessions, and other group activities, but one of the things their little group bonded over was their appreciation for alone time. So, it doesn’t raise any alarm bells to most of the team when they don’t see you for the first half of one of their off days.
But it does for Bob.
Even on slow and quiet days, Bob has gotten accustomed to seeing you in some capacity. The two of you have grown quite close since moving into the Watchtower, you often being a source of comfort and safety for Bob whenever he needed. You two had interwoven each other into your daily habits. Bob would brew two cups of coffee in the keurig every morning so it’d be ready when you’d returned from your morning walk, which often meant you’d bring back muffins for you both. The two of you would enjoy each other’s quiet company; you working on the daily New York Times puzzles while Bob read whatever book he was currently invested in until the rest of the team arose and the tower came to life. But the two of you would always drift towards one another in some shape or form the remainder of the day.
That’s how Bob knows something is wrong when he saw your windbreaker still hanging up by the elevators, and you didn’t appear in the kitchen around eight for your breakfast ritual. But maybe you just wanted to sleep in, you deserved to do that more often given how hard you worked on missions and the way you looked after everyone. But that didn’t stop him from asking if anyone had heard from you as the afternoon brought no additional sign of you.
Yelena tried to calm his nerves, suggesting you must just be camped out in your room lost in one of your TV shows or something. But that did nothing to stop his worrying, because while he wasn’t going to say that to Yelena, you usually invited him to join in on your binge watching. You hadn’t even sent him a check-in text, which is what you did even when you went on missions so long as you had the cell service to do so.
While there’s a small part of him that thinks maybe you do want time to yourself and he should just give you space, a bigger part of him knows something has to be wrong. So, ahead of team dinner, Bob makes his way to your bedroom and knocks on your door, quietly calling your name.
“Haven’t seen you all day,” he stammers through the wood, “Just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
When he doesn’t immediately hear a response, his heartrate spikes but before he can speak up again, he hears what sounds like a pained grown followed by a hoarse, “Bob..?”
Bob’s eyes widen slightly, “Are you okay? Can I…come in?”
There’s a beat of silence again before you croak out a confirmation, allowing Bob to slowly open your door, bracing for what he’ll find.
You’re curled up in your bed, in what looks to be a fetal position, buried in blankets with just your head visible to him. Your hair is matted to your forehead and you can barely keep your eyes open. You’re very clearly suffering from a virus of some kind and your miserable expression breaks his heart.
Bob approaches your bedside and crouches beside you, tentatively reaching out and feeling your forehead with the back of his hand, confirming you’re burning up.
“Have you been in here like this all day?”
You manage to nod and Bob frowns.
“That’s not good, you need medicine, you need fluids.”
“Too far,” you murmur, your eyes falling closed again.
He sighs, reaching out again to brush a piece of hair out of your face.
“You know what, let me get you some stuff. Can I come back in ten-ish minutes?”
You nod again, and Bob feels his stomach twist, not used to seeing you not bright eyed or tough as nails. He forces himself up and away from you with a mission to find you anything you could possibly need to start feeling better. He rushes to the kitchen where Yelena and Alexei were making dinner, and asks if they can heat up some soup, explaining your situation. While they do that, he gathers a box of crackers, a bottle of gatorade, water, and liquid flu medicine which he arranges on a tray, including the bowl of soup once it's ready.
Just as he promised, he’s back through your door not even ten minutes later and you’re exactly as he’d left you. He carefully sets the tray down on your nightstand before focusing his attention on you.
“Think you can sit up?”
You groan again and Bob chews his lip as he debates his next move.
“What if I help you?”
You open your eyes slightly to meet his, and while you don’t directly answer, you don’t protest - but he figures that's just because you’re in no state to argue.
Bob starts by gently pulling the blankets off of you, forcing himself to ignore the whimper you let out as you start to shiver again, no matter how much the sound kills him. He slides his arms under your shaking body and carefully lifts you into a sitting position, letting your body lean onto your headboard. You let out a pained sigh, reaching for the blankets, and he quickly gathers them around your lower body in a way that won't keep your arms buried and unable to eat.
He averts his attention to the tray of supplies, reaching for the medicine.
“Here, think you can get this down first before we try to get you to eat?”
You frown but nod, gingerly reaching out for the small cup. He silently cheers when you slowly get the whole dose down, slightly amused by the grimace on your face. Even highly trained assassins aren’t immune to the horrible taste of medicine.
“Good job,” he takes the empty cup and switches it out for the bowl of soup that should be cooled enough for you to consume, “Want to hold this or want me to-”
“I can do it,” you interrupt softly, reaching out for the dish. Bob carefully places it in your hands, but hovers closely in case you do need help, settling himself onto the edge of your bed.
He watches with bated breath as you take spoonfuls of soup with heightened focus as if you’re diffusing a bomb. After consuming about one third of the bowl, you grimace and move it towards him, which he quickly retrieves. He wishes you’d been able to have more, but its better than nothing he tells himself as he places the bowl back on the nightstand.
“Want any water or gatorade?” he asks softly.
“Water, please.”
He hands you the room temperate glass and you manage a few decent gulps before handing it back to him.
Bob takes a deep breath and stands, “I’m going to leave everything right there. You should try to eat more of the soup or drink the gatorade for the electrolytes.”
As soon as he makes a single move towards the door, you speak up again with a surprising amount of force, “Wait.”
He freezes, “Yeah? You okay?”
“Will you stay?” you ask not really looking at him, “For tonight?”
Bob’s eyebrows raise, “Oh, um…”
“You can’t get sick right? Because of the serum?” you ask softly.
“Uh, yeah, I don’t think so.”
“You’re just…like a human furnace, and I’m already at max capacity of blankets, so…”
Bob softens, completely hating that you’re dealing with this. You’re not a super soldier or magically powered being, so a virus hits you just as hard as anyone else. And he wishes more than anything he could take it all on for you. So, the least he could do is make you more comfortable. After all he did in fact run warm, and you were only requesting his presence for practical reasons. Nothing more.
He slowly approaches your bed again, rounding to the other side before kicking off his slippers and getting in. Despite how unwell you look, and feel, he can’t deny you instantly gluing yourself to his side with your head finding its way onto his chest does things to his heart. Things he’d be lying if he said he hadn't felt before in your presence, but they were amplified by a thousand in this current moment. But he quickly pushed all of those thoughts aside to focus on your wellbeing. He wraps his arm around you and holds you to him, rubbing your upper body in effort to keep you warm.
“I can put something on the TV, so you can relax and fall back to sleep?” he suggests and when he feels you nod, he maneuvers to reach the remote on the nightstand that's luckily on his side of the bed. He puts on your favorite comfort show at a low volume, and you nod off not even ten minutes into the first episode. But Bob keeps watching with it still being decently early in the night, but the hum of the television coupled with the sounds of your relaxed breathing is enough to lull him to sleep not even an hour after you.
The next morning, he’s awake before you are. He feels your head as gently as possible to avoid disturbing you, and is relieved that it's not as warm as it was the previous night. But he still looks out for you throughout the day, making you toast for breakfast and continuing to encourage you to drink your fluids. He doesn’t deny you when you request he lay with you in between, you fading in and out of sleep as he stays beside you while movies start and end on the TV.
After getting you to finish a whole bowl of soup for dinner, you watch him from your spot propped up in the bed as he cleans up.
“You don’t have to do all of this you know?” you say softly.
Bob looks up at you, his lip curling up, “You’re the one who said its easier to clean as you go so you don’t have twice as much-”
“Not you tidying up, just taking care of me in general. Feeding me, giving me medicine. I would have been able to do that myself. Eventually.”
Bob lets out a long breath, “Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to. You’re sick, you’re allowed to need help every once in a while. You’re still the toughest person I know.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like it,” you frown stubbornly.
Bob can’t help but chuckle, “I know. But you’re always looking out for all of us, me especially. I just want to repay the favor, you know?”
Your expression softens, “Well, thank you…it means a lot. I’m lucky to be friends with you.”
Bob internally breaks a little, but manages a small smile, “Of course. Anytime.”
After returning some of your plates and garbage to the kitchen, Bob is impressed to find you still seated upright, less blankets covering your body.
“What are you up for now?” he asks, “I think we’re about to be on our third Lindsay Lohan movie of the evening if you want to continue that streak?”
Your lip curls up slightly but you round it out with a sad sigh, “I just want to not feel gross anymore.”
Bob gives you a sympathetic look, “Well, you’re getting there, slowly but surely. You just gotta keep resting.”
“I mean feeling like a disgusting mess. I’ve been sweating in these clothes and these sheets for 48 hours.”
“You think you could manage a shower? Or a bath even?”
You look at Bob skeptically, “I can’t ask you to help me with that.”
Bob shrugs, “I can help you to the bathroom and see where that gets us.”
He watches you chew your lip as you think it over. Admittedly you think a hot shower or bath would do you wonders, for both your physical and mental health. So you reluctantly nod, and Bob immediately assumes the position to help you out of bed. He’d done so a couple times today to help you to the bathroom to pee, and even though he’d immediately left to give you privacy, that had even killed you a little.
Once you’re within the confines of the bathroom, you immediately head for the closed toilet seat to sit. While you were in better shape than yesterday, you were still getting your strength back from the flu and the lack of sustenance in your body.
“Okay, I think a bath might be the best option if you can’t be upright for that long,” Bob states as he sets you down, not even waiting for your agreement to start filling the bathtub.
You continue to sit and catch your breath, staring at the tile while he gathers soaps, towels, and essential oils that he rambles will help you feel better. You don’t even realize how long you’ve been lost in your thoughts until he’s standing in front of you again, announcing the bathtub is full and extending his hand to you.
You take a deep breath, placing your hand in his, allowing him to pull you up to a standing position again. When you sway slightly, he shifts to hold your waist firmly with both of his hands. You’re not even sure at this point if your lack of stability is due to the flu or his presence in this scenario unfolding before you.
“You okay?” he whispers, his head exceptionally close to yours as you look up at him.
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” you say.
Bob’s brows crease and he shakes his head, “It’ll be okay. It may take a lot of energy but in the long run you know you’ll feel better. And I’ll help you and be nearby the whole time.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” you mumble.
Bob frowns, and part of you feels guilty that he looks mildly offended. “What do you mean?”
“I just mean, I can barely stand up Bob. I won’t be able to get into the tub on my own, let alone undress.”
“I can help you-”
You exhale in frustration, your hand reaching up to rub your head, starting to feel slightly dazed, “I don’t want you to have to do that, or be uncomfortable.”
“I won’t be. And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you won’t be either.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“Then what are you worried about? I won’t look, I promise. Do you not trust me?”
“More than anything,” you breathe out, “This just isn’t how I pictured this happening.”
Bob pauses, his frown deepening as he watches you continue to rub your head distractedly.
“What…what do you mean?”
You scoff, “It’s not exactly a girl's dream to be naked around a guy while she’s covered in sweat with a fever.”
That’s when you sway again, and he realizes how warm the room has gotten from the bath. He quickly steadies you again, before guiding you back to to sitting on the toilet.
“Wait here, I’m getting your water,” he mumbles, quickly stumbling away so you’re not alone for long. You're hunched over when he returns and he goads you back up to drink, sighing softly watching you hydrate. Once you look a little more stable he’s able to process your words again, but can’t decipher if you’d said them due to your fever induced brain. Did you not want to be in this position with anyone while in this state…or him in particular?
When your glass is empty, he takes it from your hands, and sets it on the counter beside you before taking your hand tenderly into his.
“Hey,” he whispers, encouraging you to look at him as he talks, “I can take you back to bed if you don’t want to do this. Or, I can assist you in whatever way you’re comfortable with so you can feel clean and help you recover. Whatever you want.”
You hold his gaze, not finding an ounce of insincerity in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, you nod, “I really want a bath.”
Bob nods encouragingly, “Okay.”
“Will you help me…change? And not look?”
“Of course,” he responds automatically, “Come here.”
He helps you stand again, relieved you’re less woozy after drinking the water. To gauge your comfortability, Bob starts by slowly unzipping your hoodie, watching your expression as he does so.
“This okay?” he asks, as he slides it over each of your shoulders and all you do is nod as you watch his face watch yours.
Bob stays true to his word, and keeps eye contact with you as he slowly peels your tee shirt over your head, keeping one hand on your hip to keep you steady while you raise your arms to help him. You manage to push down the bottom layers of your clothing, gripping onto him for support. He gently reaches for the elastic keeping your hair pulled back, and frees your unkempt head of hair, brushing his fingers through it but also avoiding any knots or tangles. Once you’re ready, he guides you over to the tub, holding you firmly as he carefully helps you step inside and lower into the water, all while still avoiding seeing anything you didn’t want him to. Parts of your body may brush against his, but he doesn’t react, keeping his focus on this being purely clinical and for your best interests. But he’d be lying that at the very least, the way you trusted him to do this made him feel incredibly special.
You have to tell yourself not to hold your breath - knowing then you’d definitely pass out - as he so attentively removed your clothes. If his warm expression wasn’t enough to make you melt, the gentle brushes of his skin against yours definitely put you over the edge. But you had to avert all your energy and brain power into getting into the tub so you didn’t wipe out.
Once you’re fully submerged, the bubbly and oiled water covering you, you look at Bob who is faced away.
“It’s safe to look now,” you speak up hoarsely.
Bob tentatively turns around and sighs when he sees you looking up at him from the bath. If you weren’t miserably sick right now, it might have been one of the most beautiful sites he’d ever seen. He steps forward and kneels beside the tub.
“Will you be okay in here for a few minutes? I’m gonna strip your sheets and replace them with clean ones.” Your face twists, so he continues before you can argue, “Don’t tell me I don’t have. I want to. I want you to feel clean and comfortable and good as new tonight, as much as you can.”
Your expression relaxes and you nod, “Yeah, I’ll be good in here for a few.”
Bob smiles, “I’ll bring you more water when I come back.”
You sigh, resting your head against the edge of the tub, “Wish it could be wine.”
He huffs. Well, your sense of humor was returning, that was a good sign.
He murmurs, “Next time,” and neither of you let yourself linger on the implications of what he meant by that.
Bob tries to change your sheets as quickly as possible so he doesn’t leave you unaccompanied for too long. He also goes to the kitchen to get you a fresh glass of cold water so you don’t overheat in the bath. Yelena and Bucky are eating a late dinner at the table when he pads in.
“How is she?” Bucky asks immediately.
“Only a little better since the last time you asked,” Bob responds, but he’s not trying to be sarcastic.
“What is she doing now?” Yelena questions, “Sleeping again?”
“She’s taking a bath,” he answers and pointedly ignores their curious looks, very clearly wanting to ask how they managed that in the state they knew she was in. He does not have the capacity to get into that with them right now, nor the time, so he mutters a quick good night and jogs back towards your room.
When he makes it to the ajar bathroom door, he still knocks wanting to make sure he didn’t invade your privacy.
“You can come in,” you call out softly, which Bob quickly does, seeing you in a similar position to before. He brings you the glass and you eagerly sip from it.
“Need anything else?”
You look up at him with a conflicted gaze before you answer, “Could you help me wash my hair? Don’t really have the energy to dunk my head into the water.”
Bob is a little surprised at the request, but nods immediately nonetheless. “Of course.”
He takes his time, scooping water into a cup to douse your hair with, careful to avoid your eyes, as well as not looking at the shifting water covering you. When he shampoos your hair, as well as conditions, he takes extra time to rub your head and neck, hoping to soothe any lingering aches the fever may have left, and he makes an effort not to read into the soft sighs you admit from the contact.
Once he’s done rinsing your hair clean, he can feel the waters gone a bit lukewarm, and after confirming you were ready to get out, he assists you in standing up and out of the tub. You’re able to wrap yourself in a towel as he holds you steady again. And his skin buzzes when you give him a grateful smile.
You sit on the toilet again after requesting help brushing out your hair, which he is more than happy to do, not minding at all these smile domestic moments with you. Once you’re back in your bedroom again, you smile at the freshly made bed.
“Thank you,” you say quietly, holding up your towel around your chest, “For everything the last two days.”
Bob gives you a crooked smile of his own, “Always.”
You feel heat on your face and for once it's not the fevers doing.
Bob clears his throat, “Do you need new pajamas?”
You snap back to reality and manage to turn towards your dresser, Bob lingering close but you successfully pull out a tee shirt and flannel pants without keeling over.
“Do you think you can change on your own?”
You nod and as you hold his gaze, you raise an amused brow making him go wide eyed.
“Sorry,” he coughs out as he turns around, and you can’t help but smile to yourself as you slowly and carefully throw on the clothes.
Tossing your towel in the hamper, you finally collapse on the bed, drawing Bob’s attention back to you. He rubs the back of his neck as he watches you settle into the clean sheets. He also notes that you’re not shivering as much.
“Anything else you need before you sleep?” Bob asks, taking stock of the drinks and medicine still at your bedside.
“Just you,” you answer automatically before stumbling, “I mean…if you’ll stay again?”
Bob tries to shake off the chills that rushed over him from your initial words and nods, “Yeah, I can do that.”
He assumes the same position he did the previous night and happily enjoys the way you curl into him. He presses play on another movie as you both relax. But as he stares at the screen, his thoughts wander back to your conversation before your bath.
Bob says your name softly, unsure if you’re still awake but when you shift to look up at him, he talks himself into continuing, “When I helped you…undress earlier…you said it wasn’t how you pictured it.”
He feels you still against him but you stay quiet, so he keeps going, “Did you mean…that you just didn’t want to be seen like that while you were sick…or was it about me seeing you like that?”
He watches you think, your hand resting on his chest clenching and unclenching.
“It was about you…” you finally whisper.
His heart pounds and he’s sure you can feel it.
“I think I just would have preferred if you saw me naked for the first time under better circumstances.”
Goosebumps cover his skin.
“Circumstances you’ve thought about and…want to happen?”
He feels your head move against his chest, “Yes.”
Your confession lingers in the dark, the quiet movie filling the silence. You wait with bated breath to see how he’ll respond, fearing the worst.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to arrange that once you’re feeling better.”
Your head snaps back up to his so fast you nearly black out, “You…want that, too?”
Bob exhales, “More than anything.”
With butterflies in your stomach, you give him a tiny smile he just makes out in the darkness, “Okay…good.”
“Good,” he repeats, his thumb rubbing circles on your waist.
You let out a deep breath, relaxing against his chest and snuggling in again. “As soon as I'm back to normal, the first thing I’m doing is kissing you. Just so we’re clear on the game plan.”
Bob lets out a quiet laugh in disbelief, his whole body warming at the thought. “God, you’re making me dizzy now.”
You laugh softly, as the heaviness of sleep starts to weigh on you again. “Goodnight, Bob.”
He whispers it back, but he knows he’s going to have to calm his eager heart for a while longer before he’s getting any sleep tonight. If he wasn’t motivated to help you feel better before, he sure as hell had a good reason to do so now.
please like, reblog, and/or comment if you enjoyed!
summary: inspired by ruin the friendship by taylor swift. you and rhett have been best friends since you were pre-teens neither of you realize how many times the others wanted more - until you take it. [warnings: sort of cheating, minor reference to abuse, allusions to sex - but no smut sorry!]
A/N: i both love and kinda hate this, i struggled a bit to make this feel perf, but please let me know what you think! i've seen the first six episodes of outer range so it loosely follows the plot but kinda doesn't. i also have this idea of rhett & this readers friendship that i feel like i'll continue to use in different/non linear scenarious if i keep writing about him so lmk if you'd want to see that <3
showgirls masterlist
"staying friends is safe, doesn't mean you should"
“Watch your step,” You murmur.
He scoffs, “You say that like I haven’t been here a million times.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been drinking tonight.”
“I’ve also been here drunk half a million times.”
You roll your eyes but there’s a smile on your face as you guide your stumbling best friend through your home, which, to his point, you’ve done countless times before. At least tonight the alcohol consumption was in celebration; Rhett had placed first in his bull riding competition and treated himself to god knows how much liquor before calling you to pick him up.
Once he’s safely situated on your couch, you hold his shoulders firmly, “Now stay upright. The last time I let you lay down immediately, you threw up french fries and chocolate milkshake.”
You hear Rhett chuckle as you shuffle over to the kitchen to fill up a glass of water and gather painkillers.
“Don’t worry, there was no late night diner visit,” he calls out, “Wouldn’t dare get a milkshake without you.”
Your heart booms, the kind of thing that only happens when Rhett Abbott says shit like that. It pisses you off as much as it flusters you, because no matter the implications of his words, he never means them in the way you want him to. Because in his eyes you are nothing more than his best friend. Have been since middle school, and always will be.
It started off innocent, namely because at age 11 you thought boys were gross and usually pretty stupid. Rhett was an exception, gaining your trust after he defended you when Luke Tillerson was picking on you during lunch one fateful day. You were a skittish kid; the product of an alcoholic father with anger issues who’s long since been gone, and a mother who never really became the same person afterwards, so it was hard for you to open up and make friends. But Rhett sat with you that day after shooing Luke off, and then sat with you every day afterwards. You started spending more time at the Abbott Ranch than your own home, his parents and brother becoming a second family. And sure for a couple years maybe you considered Rhett in a brotherly way too…but as you both got older and he got…tall and fit and confident, it was hard to see him as just a friend. But luckily you had a lot of practice in doing so. So he never caught on.
It got harder though, because as you noticed Rhett's looks and charm, so did a lot of other girls. And boy did he eat up the attention. None of those girls ever really lasted long in his life. But that was because for as long as you could remember, Rhett was enamored with Maria Olivares and in his eyes no one really measured up. So you assumed, when he barely looked elsewhere in high school and looked for distractions after she went away for college.
You weren’t as easily distracted. You’d gone on a couple dates in high school, had one steady boyfriend in college, and have had few long lasting relationships since. And you figure the college boyfriend was a fluke because you went away for those four years to get your teaching degree and saw Rhett less. But it was hard to grow attached to someone else, when so much of you was attached to him. He’s the guy that you call when you have a flat tire or a broken radiator, or to keep you company at the farmers market on the weekends. He was the first person you called when you got into college and when your dad left. His parents got you Christmas gifts like you were one of their own, and Perry’s daughter Amy called you her Aunt. It was everything you could want out of a relationship just without any semblance of romance. And while it killed you, it also sustained you in ways that made it hard to go out of your way looking for something else. And you don’t really think about it too much until moments like this, when your heart aches over something he says, that just makes you want to curl into him and hold onto him forever. But you couldn’t do that. He wasn’t yours. Not like that.
There was one moment, in college, where you thought maybe, maybe he felt that way about you. It was one of the weekends he visited you. You’d never admit it, but you invited him up on a weekend your boyfriend was visiting home but only because you always felt so awkward interacting with the both of them. Your roommate was out with her significant other, so you could spread out lazily across your dorm room bed and watch a movie on your laptop like you usually did. He suggested The Breakfast Club because he knew it was your favorite, which was unlike him - you two always argued over what to watch. And then when you got up to pee, you’d come back to the movie paused. When you told him he didn’t have to wait for you, he shrugged and said he didn’t want you to miss your favorite part. It was hard not to keep stealing looks at him for the rest of the night, trying to figure out if he was being particularly gentlemanly that night or if you were reading into it. Towards the end of the movie, you tilted your head his way again to find him already looking at you. Your breath hitched and you dared to ask him why he was staring. And for a moment, a teeny tiny part of you thought - hoped - that he was going to kiss you. The way his eyes scanned your face, how close he was in proximity. But when his eyes locked back onto yours, he just shrugged and said he missed his best friend. And that was one of the moments you knew that would always be your place in his life. And you had to be okay with that.
You didn’t realize you’d paused over the sink, the condensation forming on the glass in your hand, until Rhett called your name.
“I’m thirsty,” he grumbles from the living room and you roll your eyes again, snapping back to reality.
“Jesus, so impatient,” you scold on your way back in, placing the aspirin on the coffee table and the glass into his hands.
Rhett heartily chugs the glass and you chuckle, sinking into the couch beside him, your legs curling beneath you. You nearly get lost watching him lean forward for the medicine, staring at his Adam's apple as he swallows, your elbow resting on the back of the couch, your hand propping your head up, until he starts asking you a question.
“Hm?” you shift your gaze to his eyes, hoping he was too tipsy to notice your slip up. It was after midnight; it was hard to keep it together this late.
Rhett huffs, “I asked you how come you weren’t there tonight?”
You chew your lip. You were hoping he wouldn’t ask you that. You rarely missed the rodeo when he rides, unless there was a rare work related function. But that wasn’t the case tonight. You had known Maria would be there, having been back in town for a couple weeks. Rhett had told you all about how they’d reconnected and he’d finally gotten his shit together to ask her out. He was all nervous about messing up tonight, wanting to make sure he impressed her, and wanting to be able to take her out to celebrate afterwards. And that’s when you decided you’d wanted to spare yourself from a night of torture.
Taking a deep breath, you finally answer, “I just had a long week. We’ve started prepping for the science fair next week so I’ve been staying late for a few days.”
Rhett sighs but seems to accept your answer. “And yet you still came to pick me up at this hour?”
You tilt your head with a half smile, “Well I couldn’t let you drive home under the influence.”
Rhett rolls his head on to the back of the couch to face you, “I would have found another way home.”
“Yeah, yeah, well I trust myself more than most of the people in this town to make sure you get home safe.”
“Yeah,” he murmurs, “You’re good at that.”
His soft gaze in the lamplit room makes my heart squeeze again.
“I’m surprised you didn’t get a ride with Maria,” you say suddenly, anxious to fill the silence in the most self-sabotaging way I could possibly muster.
Rhett’s expression shifts before he breathes out a tiny laugh, “Well, uh, she left a couple hours before I did.”
You raise an eyebrow, “Did it…go well?”
The corner of his lip tugs up, his face tinting red, “I kissed her goodnight. If I remember correctly.”
This time your heart constricts in a bad way.
“And…” you hear yourself ask because apparently you hate yourself.
“And…” he takes a deep breath before releasing it, “I just can’t believe she’s giving me the time of day.”
You’re fairly relieved he doesn’t give you anymore details but the awe in his voice cuts deep.
Still, you force a smile on your face, “I’m happy for you.”
Rhett’s own smile softens again as he looks at you. “Thanks.”
Once again, you feel the urge to get far, far away from him and his pretty face so you throw yourself off the couch.
“Well, it is past my bedtime so I think I’m going to head to my room. Do you need anything else before I turn in?”
Rhett, having been startled into an upright position again from your sudden movement shakes his head, “Nope. Pretty sure I’ll pass out as soon as you turn the light off.”
You nod and give him one last small smile, “Goodnight, Rhett.”
He repeats it back to you with another smile of his own, and you tear yourself away again, switching off the lamp on your way out.
Once you’re in the safety of your own bedroom, you lean against the door and sigh. Now more than ever you are positive you need to let go of any and all feelings you harbor for Rhett Abbott, especially if things keep progressing for him and Maria. Otherwise you were going to do something very stupid.
𐚁
Rhett is no stranger to waking up with sore muscles and a dull ache behind his eyes the morning after a successful (or unsuccessful) bull ride. He’s even used to coming-to on your old couch in your cozy little living room. What he isn’t used to is the silence that fills the air as he sits up and stretches.
Normally, when Rhett wakes up at your place after a bender the first thing he notices is the smell of blueberry pancakes and the sounds of you humming some 80’s song in the kitchen. But there’s no sign of you there when Rhett drags himself through the doorway. The occurrence is so odd he even drags himself to your room to make sure you’re not suffocating under your sheets or something. He’s both relieved and even more confused when he finds your bedroom door ajar and the room empty. When he paces back to the living room, he finally notices a note left on the coffee table and quickly reads it.
Had to run some errands so walked into town - left you the car if you want to get yours at the bar. Can walk there when I’m done! xo
Sure enough, Rhett clocks your car keys beside the paper and sighs.
It wasn’t that he expected or needed you to make breakfast for him every time he crashed on your couch and woke up hungover. In fact, the many times this happened, he insisted you not go to the trouble. But you insisted you liked cooking big breakfasts and his presence gave you the excuse to make your favorite meal. And he couldn’t lie, it became one of his favorite rituals - minus the hangover symptoms.
So when you weren’t sliding around your kitchen in flannel pajama pants and one of his old sweatshirts, something stirred inside him uncomfortably. Because it wasn’t like you. Neither was not showing up to one of his competitions. When he hadn’t seen you in the stands beside his family last night, he felt that same pain in the pit of his stomach. But he had to quickly shake it off and focus on his ride. And thankfully it had gone well, unbelievably well, and normally you were the first person he looked for afterwards, good or bad results. But instead he distracted himself with the proud looks from his family and the grin on Maria’s face.
But now it was hard to ignore your absence. It was glaring since your presence was normally so consistent in his life. You were his rock, his safe place. Despite you becoming a fixture in his family, you were something that was still just his. Someone who understood his complicated relationship with his father, his hardships with his brother. You patched him up when he got tossed off a bull, or out of a bar, and while you chastised his recklessness, you never judged him or turned him away. Any pressure or tension he held in his body for any and all reasons just completely melted away when he was with you. And even though it was just one or maybe two odd things, he still hated the idea of you slipping away, even just a little.
So, he puts on his shoes, grabs your keys, finds his discarded hat by the door, and heads into town.
Rhett finds you exactly where he thinks you’ll be; at the farmers market browsing the flowers. He always teases you for the amount of time you spend pursuing without buying them, but you just sigh and implore you don’t have a reason to buy grand bouquets for yourself. He parks your car safely on the side of the road before approaching the stands, but he stops short when a man he doesn’t recognize approaches you, and it catches him off guard when you greet him with a hug.
Something in him stirs again. It’s a familiar feeling, a rare one, but Rhett can recall every time he’s felt it before.
The first was in high school. You, Rhett, and a couple friends went to your junior prom as a group, and while Rhett was in the corner with one of his buddies, sneaking sips out of a flask in the corner, trying not to stare at Maria and her date, he catches a glimpse of you. You’re not where he’d left you at the table you’d been camped out at. No, you were swaying with a boy he vaguely recognized on the football team. And when you smiled shyly up at him, your hands delicately placed around his neck, Rhett’s stomach dropped. At the time he thought it was the vodka he’d snuck in making him feel sick, but it was you looking at a boy that wasn't him.
He’d felt the same way when he’d called you your sophomore year of college. He’d gotten into a screaming match with his dad over reasons that didn’t matter an hour later but all he wanted to do was see you, but you were away at school. So after driving around for a while, he pulls over and dials your number. The way you said his name when you answered immediately put him on edge - more than he already was. You usually answered quickly after one ring, your voice high pitched like you were excited to hear from him, but now you sounded confused and almost nervous.
Moments later he’d find out why when you timidly admit that you were out on a date. And not even a first date. Your fourth with a guy you’d never mentioned before and it was going well. And while he should have been happy you found someone you liked after struggling with duds all throughout high school, the idea made Rhett want to throw up. It was enough to completely erase how upset he’d been with his dad and sent him straight back to the ranch.
Rhett always rationalized his feelings as not wanting to be replaced. You were his best friend, and another man coming into your life was always a threat to that. You denied it, but he could tell your college boyfriend couldn’t stand him. And he couldn’t blame the guy; a girl having a guy best friend was always complicated. He’d never do anything to jeopardize your happiness, but the thought of taking a step back from your life to make another man comfortable made him die a little inside.
Once the man continues on his way and you’re alone again, Rhett takes a deep breath and glides over to you.
“Funny running into you here,” he speaks up softly from behind you, his voice slightly hoarse.
You turn around, startled, your eyes widening briefly with half an amused smile, “Rhett, what are you doing here?”
He can’t help but smile back, “Well, I was left starving back at your place so I had to find some place to scrounge up breakfast.”
Rhett smirks when you roll your eyes in that affectionate way you do. He’s told you more than once they’re gonna get stuck like that one day. And you’d retorted that would only happen if you’d kept hanging around him, but you had a smile on your face when you said it and he was so sure at the time you were never going anywhere.
“So sorry, your personal chef needed a day off,” you tease.
He chuckles, “I suppose she deserves it.”
Her smile is so soft he’s almost sorry he has to ruin the moment by asking a dumb question.
“So, who was that?”
“Who was who?”
“That guy you were just talking to?”
“Oh,” her expression shifts and she focuses on the flower display in front of them instead of his curious gaze, “His name is Andrew. He just started working at the school; a fellow second grade teacher. I told you Appleby retired right?”
Rhett hums, remembering the very teacher they’d both had for second grade. “Right…he seems much younger.”
You snort, “Yeah, he's only a couple years older than us.”
“You two…spend a lot of time together?”
You turn your head back to him sharply, “What?”
Rhett shrugs his shoulders tensely, defensively, “What? You guys just looked friendly’s all.”
You narrow your eyes, “Well we are. Friendly- friends.”
Rhett hesitates, a moment of silence passing between them before he for some reason asks, “Do you want to be more than friends? With him?”
He watches your expression shift in ways he can’t quite analyze. As your eye contact drifts, you appear to be thinking really hard before you answer, “Maybe…we’ll see.”
He immediately regrets asking, like somehow you only considered it because he brought up the idea.
Shaking off the uneasiness in his chest, he clears his throat and offers to keep her company while she finishes her errands so they can just drive to the bar for his truck and he can go home from there. She tries to protest but he never lets her win these things.
It’s not until after they finish up at the farmers market, pick things up at the library and drop something off at the post office, that they’re pulling into the now desolate bar parking lot and he turns to you to ask the one thing that's been on his mind all morning.
“Are we okay?”
You narrow your eyes at him, “What do you mean?”
“Just that…it kinda bummed me out that you weren’t there last night, and waking up without you there this morning also felt…wrong. So I just wanted to check if everything was okay.”
He watches you stare off, thinking again and he decides he hates that look on your face.
“I’m sorry for not coming, I shouldn’ve at least told you I wasn’t up for it,” you say after a few moments of excruciating silence, “I was just tired, and this morning I wanted to get things done that I wasn’t able to accomplish this week. We’re okay. Promise.”
Rhett is mostly relieved and accepting of her apology, but a pang of anxiety lingers, “Okay. Good. Promise you’ll try to be at the next one?”
You nod emphatically, “Of course, I can’t miss the reigning champion.”
That draws a small smile to his lips, that quickly turns smug, “Damn right.”
You chuckle softly and that easy look on your face quells the last of his worries, able to bid you an honest goodbye before forcing himself out of your car, and orbit, to drag himself home.
Yeah. You guys were good. You’d always be good.
𐚁
You decide it would be hard to distance yourself from Rhett. The one or two times you tried to do it, he clocked it immediately. There would be no clean way to try to step back and truly let yourself move on, without point blank telling him you needed the space. And as much as he cared about you, he wouldn’t take no explanation as a good enough reason.
So you carry on as you normally do and let your lives do the work. You still show up to his competitions, but let Maria be the one to take him out. You come by the ranch for dinners with his parents, or to tutor Amy and check on Perry. But half the time he’s out training or with the woman he’s now been calling his girlfriend. And you accept invites out with colleagues for happy hours or coffee, all the while still making time for Rhett but keeping your heart protected in the small ways you can. Never close enough for small touches or lingering looks. And it worked for a couple weeks. Until he invites you out for drinks, just the two of you, because it's “been too long”.
But you go, because you didn’t have a good enough reason not to. At least one that you could say aloud; one that wasn’t: I’m in love with you and can’t be alone with you without breaking my own heart.
It’s nice, though. Of course it is. Having Rhett all to yourself for the first time since that morning at the farmers market, the weekend you decided to move on once and for all. And after your first glass of wine you convince yourself maybe you can find a way to keep your friendship just the way you like it without sacrificing your feelings.
He’s lighter than he has been in a while, cracking jokes and telling an animated story about some other bull rider that makes you laugh louder than you have in a long time. He also listens so attentively when you talk about the school play you’re helping with that all the fifth graders put on before the holidays, asking all the right questions and remembering the names of the kids and teachers you mention. And the way he smiles as you ramble about something related to building sets and the art teacher you have a love/hate relationship with makes you forget what you’re even complaining about in the first place.
He brings up Andrew after ordering his third beer and you stare into your own second glass of wine. “What about him?”
He shrugs one shoulder, “He helping with the play, too?”
You nod, “He is.” You look back up at him when you say the next part, unsure as to why, “His girlfriend is a seamstress and offered to make the costumes.”
You don’t miss the way his eyebrows quirk at the word girlfriend and the way he smiles as he processes what that means. It makes your skin burn.
Another glass of wine and a misguided game of darts later, and you’re nearly forgetting your plan to move on all together. Especially when he lingers closer to you to help you throw the dart straighter, despite there being no use when you’re this under the influence. The way he smells, the low register of his voice, the softness of his hands when he guides you out of the bar after the two of you decide there’s no use in continuing the game when it was going so poorly.
“We should go somewhere with karaoke!” you proclaim once the two of you stumble into the cool outside air.
Rhett practically guffaws, “You could not pay me any amount of money to sing in front of a crowd.”
“Come on, Rhett,” You chastise, taking a hold of his arm so he’ll face you while you mock-pout, “You won’t even do it for me? Your best friend in the whole wide world.”
Rhett tilts his head with an amused smile, “Well, when you say it like that.”
I grin, “So you’ll do it?”
“Maybe another night,” he laughs when you immediately start to argue, placing his hands on your shoulders to calm you down, “Tell you what, if I win that championship in a couple weeks, I’ll let you drag me to karaoke after to celebrate.”
“Really?” You ask with a hopeful smile.
“Yeah,” he shrugs, “If you’re there…you never come out to celebrate with me anymore.”
“Sorry,” you mumble, “I’m kind of a grandma these days. The children are aging me.”
He chuckles, “But you’ll be at the competition right?”
You nod, “Of course.”
“Good,” he murmurs, his voice growing softer and softer as he holds your gaze, “Feel like I ride better when you’re there.”
Suddenly the feeling of his hands on your shoulder feels heavier from the weight of his words. And you are very, very aware of how close his face is to yours. And before you can stop yourself, you’re pressing your lips against his.
The kiss is as soft as it is tentative and brief, neither of you fully able to process it or even react before you’re pulled apart by the buzzing in his pocket.
As Rhett steps back, reaching for his phone, you pull yourself away too, covering your mouth.
Then the moment is completely shattered by Rhett’s next words.
“It’s Maria…she’s out of town visiting some college friends. I should-”
“You should take it,” You finish for him, suddenly feeling sobered up. But not an idiot. “I can call a cab. It’s late anyway.”
Rhett’s face twists as he takes a hesitant step closer to you again, “Hey, wait, we should-”
You shake your head because you can not talk about this right now. “It's okay. I just wanna go home.”
He sighs, “At least let me come with you. Make sure you get home safe.”
You try to argue but Rhett’s already got his phone out, clearly not answering his girlfriend, and pulling up the number for a cab company.
God, his girlfriend. You kissed him, and he had a girlfriend.
You pace away from him towards where his truck is parked as he orders the cab. He follows you after to tell you a driver would be out here in about ten minutes and you nod, leaning against his car with a sigh.
After a moment, he says your name again quietly, his voice rough and anxious and guilty.
“Rhett, don’t,” you whisper, closing your eyes, “It’s okay, we’re drunk, I got caught up. It was a dumb mistake, so we can just forget about it, okay? Please let's just forget about it?”
You can feel his stare on you even with your eyes still closed, knowing he’s carrying that moment from before heavily on his shoulders, with a voicemail from Maria surely burning his hand.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” you add, your voice even quieter, “It was my fault for drinking too much. It didn’t mean anything.”
You know you say it out loud for both his sake and yours and you hope to God one day you’ll believe all the words you said.
Eventually you hear Rhett let out a long breath before leaning against the truck himself. “...Okay.”
Your shoulders slump in relief, your head buzzing with nerves and alcohol and regret, and all you can do is hope and pray Rhett never brings this up again after tonight and truly chalks it up to your drunken stupidity.
Neither of you speak as you await the cab, and then in th subsequent ride home. Not until you’re sliding out of the car and Rhett grabs your hand before you can get out completely and shut the door, leaving the night behind you.
“Hey,” he whispers, “Are we good?”
You feel your heart crack a little, “Yeah. Of course we’re good. We’ll always be good.”
Rhett smiles slightly but it doesn’t meet his eyes, “Okay, good.”
You mumble quiet goodnights before you exit the cab completely, shutting the door and jogging up your porch steps. Once you’re inside and you’re sure Rhett is already a mile away you feel it all sink in and for the first time in your friendship with Rhett, you’re not sure you will always be good.
𐚁
Rhett knew it wasn’t just you who messed up that night. But it was easier to pretend like that’s what happened, especially when you said things like dumb, mistake, didn’t mean anything. It was easier to pretend like he agreed and like you saying that didn’t gut him - that it was the alcohol making him feel sick to his stomach.
When he didn’t hear from you the rest of the weekend, he thought maybe you needed some space and obeyed your wish to just forget it; or at least act like he could. Tale as old as time, he didn’t want to lose your friendship so he swallowed any confusing feelings and decided to be patient. He was willing to wait for it all to blow over so the two of you could go back to normal.
But patience turned into a week without you, Maria’s return, and growing tensions with his family. When you didn’t turn up to the rodeo the following week, he couldn’t keep pretending it all wasn’t bothering him, which led to the poorest ride of his life, resulting in a lost championship and a busted up arm. And even after that, you still didn’t call, didn’t come by. But he knew you’d heard about all of it the second a bouquet of flowers showed up in the kitchen one day, an assortment of the ones you stare at every weekend.
And despite the kind gesture, he’s furious.
How could you be the one to decide kissing him was a mistake you wanted to move on from but then still completely shut him out? He knows he could have gone to see you, it's a two way street, but he thought he was doing you a favor and that eventually you’d come around.
And it gets worse. After a month of not seeing you, he learns you’ve still been seeing his family. One evening during dinner, Perry lets it slip that he's been helping you construct sets for the play and eventually admits Amy’s been spending a couple nights at your place after school. And shortly after that his mom confesses she’s seen her in town a handful of times and Royal had even dropped off supplies from the ranch once or twice. It feels like a betrayal like no other, from all of you. Instead of getting into a heated argument with them like he normally would have, Rhett just quietly leaves the dinner table and walks out the front door. And that scares his family more than if he'd just yelled at them.
Rhett drives around for about thirty or so minutes before he ultimately ends up in your driveway, where he sits silently for another ten minutes until he gathers the nerve to knock on your door. His heart is thumping against his chest, while his teeth grind tensely in his mouth. But any and all anger he had been feeling instantly dissolves once he sees your face for the first time weeks.
Your eyes are wide, and you cross your arms anxiously over your hoodie-clad chest.
“What are you doing here?”
He lets out a choked breath, some of the heat returning to his gaze, “You’re really asking that? Hell, I should have been here weeks ago.”
You avert eye contact, “Rhett-”
“Don’t Rhett, me,” He interrupts firmly, “I figured you wanted space, but not this much that I don’t hear from you or see you in a month. And then I hear from my brother you’ll talk to anyone else except for me?”
There’s no use masking the hurt in his voice, it comes out clear as day, and you practically flinch.
“We shouldn’t do this out here, come inside,” you murmur quietly before turning to the foyer, and he doesn’t hesitate to follow, passing you as you shut the door, bounding into the living room.
His own arms are crossed now as you slowly approach him. Instead of addressing the issue, your eyes lock onto the brace on his arm.
“How bad was it?” you ask quietly.
Rhett scoffs, “Well, you would know if you’d bothered to show up.
Your face crumbles, your eyes falling closed as you sigh, “I know.”
“You know? I’m glad you’re aware of how shitty of a friend you’ve been, it makes me feel so much better.”
You flinch again, before opening up your mouth to say something, anything in your own defense but he beats you to the punch again.
“I have been going crazy not seeing you the last few weeks. At first, it sucked, but I dealt with it because I thought it was what you needed to feel better about that night. Hell, I probably needed a few days to recover, too. But after a week it felt like you had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Do you know how it feels to hear my brother and my parents have gotten to see you and I haven’t? My own best friend? God, it has killed me to be away from you these past few weeks. All because of that kiss?”
“I get it, Rhett!” you finally exclaim, your voice erupting out of your body, “I know I messed up, and I should have called or come to see you and I know, I shouldn’t have kissed you-”
“No, but I should’ve!” he spits out, making your heart nearly stop, “Long before that night, I should have kissed you years ago.”
Rhett inhales deeply, knowing he’s definitely saying too much, but there’s no sense in stopping now, even as you stare back at him with eyes wide as saucers.
“I could never admit it but I’ve wanted to kiss you so many times. All the nights you helped me study so I could just barely graduate high school and you watched me with that infuriatingly proud look on your face when I got a decent grade on a test. Or Junior prom before that dumb jock could put his hands on you and that night we watched The Breakfast Club in your dorm, even though you had a boyfriend. Every single night you’ve let me stay on your couch even though you had every right to leave me stranded on the streets for how much of an idiot I always am. And probably a million more times because just watching you exist makes me want to kiss you and never stop. I just thought I never had any right. But I should’ve. Then maybe I wouldn’t have had to go a month without you in my life.”
Rhett’s confession hangs in the air for a few moments, both of you processing what he said, and the fact that he’d said it at all.
Your voice is almost dry when you finally speak up again, “Wait, so are you mad at me because I kissed you…or mad at yourself for not…”
Rhett sighs, “…The second one.”
“Then kiss me now,” you state, no hint of hesitancy in your voice.
His breath catches in his throat, “What?”
You drop your shoulders with a sigh, “Rhett, just kiss me.”
He clenches his good fist, “You won’t take it back? Won’t regret it?”
“Rhett, I only regretted the kiss because I thought you did.”
“I only regretted letting you pull away,” Rhett murmurs before crossing the distance between the two of you and pulling you into his arms, kissing you deeply and desperately the way he’s always wanted to.
His whole body lights on fire the second you kiss him back, the feeling of your hands caressing his face making him shiver in contrast. Everything practically goes numb, with no thoughts in his head outside of how happy he is and how much he wants you.
As soon as Rhett’s hands start to slide beneath the fabric of your sweatshirt, you reluctantly pull yourself away from him, gingerly reaching for his injured arm.
“Rhett,” you sigh, pressing your forehead to his, “We shouldn’t do anything tonight.”
He frowns, disappointed, “You don’t want to?”
You shake your head, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“The only thing that would hurt me would be not touching you for the rest of the night.”
You sigh, goosebumps forming across your skin. It was hard to argue with that. So you kiss him again instead. His hands eagerly resume their path beneath your shirt and you wordlessly guide him backwards towards your bedroom as he works to discard the outer layers of your clothes.
There was still a lot Rhett wanted to say, to hear from you but all reasonability is thrown out the window as soon as he presses his bare body to yours. All thoughts are drowned out by his ragged breaths and your soft moans as he trails kisses down your neck, your collarbone, and he fully forgets everything outside of you the moment his lips coast over your breasts.
He could be concerned with what this all meant in the morning.
𐚁
You’re surprised to see the clock on your nightstand read 10:44 AM when you wake up the next morning, having always been an early riser for as long as you’ve remembered, never usually sleeping past nine even on weekends.
You’re even more surprised you wake up alone, without the weight of the reason for your long nights rest pressed against you.
But when you look around, you can confirm it is in fact nearly almost eleven o’ clock and Rhett Abbott is nowhere to be found.
Your stomach twists. Last night had been a whirlwind of emotions. The last month had been quite frankly, since you’d drunkenly kissed Rhett and had no idea how to cope or talk to him about it without admitting your feelings for the last decade. But based on last night, it didn’t seem like you had to worry about that anymore.
But waking up alone had you thinking maybe that was the wrong assumption.
Did he regret kissing you and all of the not so innocent things that followed? For multiple rounds. Did he trick himself into thinking the way he felt about you was more than platonic and after last night realize he still just saw you as a friend?
God, the thought made you sick. Even so, you manage to drag yourself out of bed and throw on your sweatshirt and shorts from last night, before shuffling out to your kitchen to grab water. You stop in your tracks when the knob of your front door starts to turn. You briefly enter fight or flight before Rhett’s face comes back into view, and you’re both relieved and anxious again to see him.
Rhett seems startled by your presence, despite it being your house he’s letting himself into. And he awkwardly makes a show of walking through the doorway and shutting it without turning away from you. That's when you realize he’s hiding something behind his back, rubbing your eyes to try to get the rest of sleep out of your system.
“Hey,” he says softly, slowly walking closer to you.
“Hi,” you whisper, your voice slightly hoarse still, “Where did you go?”
Rhett clears his throat before a nervous, half smile forms on his face, “Well, uh, I woke up way too early this morning. At like seven. And while I was content to watch you sleep, when you didn’t wake up after an hour and a half, I decided to get up and maybe make you breakfast. Then I remembered I’m a shitty cook so I went out but then my thoughts started swirling and I started second guessing every choice I’ve ever made and went around town for a while before I ended up accomplishing what I left for in the first place which was getting you these.”
You’d been so enamored with his anxious rambling, you almost jumped when his hands moved from behind his back and extended in front of you revealing a box of pastries and a bouquet of flowers; daisies from the farmers market.
You practically melt, and any insecurities you were feeling about him changing his mind went out the window. You smile softly as you accept the gifts, smelling the flowers.
“My favorite,” you murmur. “They’re beautiful.”
When you look up at him, there’s a faint blush painting his cheeks, making you grin wider. You take in the pastry box again.
“Are these scones?”
He nods, shifting under your gaze, “Yeah. They’re blueberry. Figure you can give me your pancake recipe another time.”
Your lip wobbles, and you turn to walk towards your kitchen to catch a brief break from his gorgeous face, and he follows you like you’d hoped he would. You gently set the bouquet as well as the pastries onto the counter before turning back to him.
“There were two things I should have made more clear last night, before we…did any of that.”
Rhett’s eyebrows raise and he’s anxious again. “Oh? And what would those be?”
“One…I don’t want to keep doing anything if you have a girlfriend. I shouldn’t’ve done that at the bar a few weeks ago and I shouldn’t have done it last night.”
Rhett shakes his head quickly, “Maria and I haven’t been…in a good place. And actually this morning, I stopped by her place to formally…break things off. But they haven’t really been on for weeks.
Despite still feeling a bit guilty, you have to admit you’re relieved to hear that, “Oh. Good. Well not good, but…you know.”
Rhett nods, holding his breath for a second before asking, “What’s the other thing?”
You inhale deeply before taking a step closer, your voice soft, “I should have told you that I’ve wanted to kiss you for years, too. Practically all the years I’ve known you.”
You watch Rhett visibly relax and the shy smile returns to his face, taking his own step closer, “Sweetheart, I think you made that plenty clear last night.”
It’s your turn to feel your face heat up but it doesn’t stop the smile that grows across your face, or the way your skin tingles from the endearment.
“But I wanted to say it,” you murmur, stepping even closer, “I like you, I want you, I need you.”
“You have me,” Rhett breathes out before kissing you. You instantly sink into him again and breakfast gets postponed to lunch after he doesn’t waste any time carrying you back to your bedroom. As he undresses you again, you find yourself wishing your mind didn’t trick you into believing admitting this years ago would have ruined things, because if the last day was any indication, your friendship was about to get so much better.
please like, reblog, and/or comment if you enjoyed!
summary: inspired by ruin the friendship by taylor swift. you and rhett have been best friends since you were pre-teens neither of you realize how many times the others wanted more - until you take it. [warnings: sort of cheating, minor reference to abuse, allusions to sex - but no smut sorry!]
A/N: i both love and kinda hate this, i struggled a bit to make this feel perf, but please let me know what you think! i've seen the first six episodes of outer range so it loosely follows the plot but kinda doesn't. i also have this idea of rhett & this readers friendship that i feel like i'll continue to use in different/non linear scenarious if i keep writing about him so lmk if you'd want to see that <3
showgirls masterlist
"staying friends is safe, doesn't mean you should"
“Watch your step,” You murmur.
He scoffs, “You say that like I haven’t been here a million times.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been drinking tonight.”
“I’ve also been here drunk half a million times.”
You roll your eyes but there’s a smile on your face as you guide your stumbling best friend through your home, which, to his point, you’ve done countless times before. At least tonight the alcohol consumption was in celebration; Rhett had placed first in his bull riding competition and treated himself to god knows how much liquor before calling you to pick him up.
Once he’s safely situated on your couch, you hold his shoulders firmly, “Now stay upright. The last time I let you lay down immediately, you threw up french fries and chocolate milkshake.”
You hear Rhett chuckle as you shuffle over to the kitchen to fill up a glass of water and gather painkillers.
“Don’t worry, there was no late night diner visit,” he calls out, “Wouldn’t dare get a milkshake without you.”
Your heart booms, the kind of thing that only happens when Rhett Abbott says shit like that. It pisses you off as much as it flusters you, because no matter the implications of his words, he never means them in the way you want him to. Because in his eyes you are nothing more than his best friend. Have been since middle school, and always will be.
It started off innocent, namely because at age 11 you thought boys were gross and usually pretty stupid. Rhett was an exception, gaining your trust after he defended you when Luke Tillerson was picking on you during lunch one fateful day. You were a skittish kid; the product of an alcoholic father with anger issues who’s long since been gone, and a mother who never really became the same person afterwards, so it was hard for you to open up and make friends. But Rhett sat with you that day after shooing Luke off, and then sat with you every day afterwards. You started spending more time at the Abbott Ranch than your own home, his parents and brother becoming a second family. And sure for a couple years maybe you considered Rhett in a brotherly way too…but as you both got older and he got…tall and fit and confident, it was hard to see him as just a friend. But luckily you had a lot of practice in doing so. So he never caught on.
It got harder though, because as you noticed Rhett's looks and charm, so did a lot of other girls. And boy did he eat up the attention. None of those girls ever really lasted long in his life. But that was because for as long as you could remember, Rhett was enamored with Maria Olivares and in his eyes no one really measured up. So you assumed, when he barely looked elsewhere in high school and looked for distractions after she went away for college.
You weren’t as easily distracted. You’d gone on a couple dates in high school, had one steady boyfriend in college, and have had few long lasting relationships since. And you figure the college boyfriend was a fluke because you went away for those four years to get your teaching degree and saw Rhett less. But it was hard to grow attached to someone else, when so much of you was attached to him. He’s the guy that you call when you have a flat tire or a broken radiator, or to keep you company at the farmers market on the weekends. He was the first person you called when you got into college and when your dad left. His parents got you Christmas gifts like you were one of their own, and Perry’s daughter Amy called you her Aunt. It was everything you could want out of a relationship just without any semblance of romance. And while it killed you, it also sustained you in ways that made it hard to go out of your way looking for something else. And you don’t really think about it too much until moments like this, when your heart aches over something he says, that just makes you want to curl into him and hold onto him forever. But you couldn’t do that. He wasn’t yours. Not like that.
There was one moment, in college, where you thought maybe, maybe he felt that way about you. It was one of the weekends he visited you. You’d never admit it, but you invited him up on a weekend your boyfriend was visiting home but only because you always felt so awkward interacting with the both of them. Your roommate was out with her significant other, so you could spread out lazily across your dorm room bed and watch a movie on your laptop like you usually did. He suggested The Breakfast Club because he knew it was your favorite, which was unlike him - you two always argued over what to watch. And then when you got up to pee, you’d come back to the movie paused. When you told him he didn’t have to wait for you, he shrugged and said he didn’t want you to miss your favorite part. It was hard not to keep stealing looks at him for the rest of the night, trying to figure out if he was being particularly gentlemanly that night or if you were reading into it. Towards the end of the movie, you tilted your head his way again to find him already looking at you. Your breath hitched and you dared to ask him why he was staring. And for a moment, a teeny tiny part of you thought - hoped - that he was going to kiss you. The way his eyes scanned your face, how close he was in proximity. But when his eyes locked back onto yours, he just shrugged and said he missed his best friend. And that was one of the moments you knew that would always be your place in his life. And you had to be okay with that.
You didn’t realize you’d paused over the sink, the condensation forming on the glass in your hand, until Rhett called your name.
“I’m thirsty,” he grumbles from the living room and you roll your eyes again, snapping back to reality.
“Jesus, so impatient,” you scold on your way back in, placing the aspirin on the coffee table and the glass into his hands.
Rhett heartily chugs the glass and you chuckle, sinking into the couch beside him, your legs curling beneath you. You nearly get lost watching him lean forward for the medicine, staring at his Adam's apple as he swallows, your elbow resting on the back of the couch, your hand propping your head up, until he starts asking you a question.
“Hm?” you shift your gaze to his eyes, hoping he was too tipsy to notice your slip up. It was after midnight; it was hard to keep it together this late.
Rhett huffs, “I asked you how come you weren’t there tonight?”
You chew your lip. You were hoping he wouldn’t ask you that. You rarely missed the rodeo when he rides, unless there was a rare work related function. But that wasn’t the case tonight. You had known Maria would be there, having been back in town for a couple weeks. Rhett had told you all about how they’d reconnected and he’d finally gotten his shit together to ask her out. He was all nervous about messing up tonight, wanting to make sure he impressed her, and wanting to be able to take her out to celebrate afterwards. And that’s when you decided you’d wanted to spare yourself from a night of torture.
Taking a deep breath, you finally answer, “I just had a long week. We’ve started prepping for the science fair next week so I’ve been staying late for a few days.”
Rhett sighs but seems to accept your answer. “And yet you still came to pick me up at this hour?”
You tilt your head with a half smile, “Well I couldn’t let you drive home under the influence.”
Rhett rolls his head on to the back of the couch to face you, “I would have found another way home.”
“Yeah, yeah, well I trust myself more than most of the people in this town to make sure you get home safe.”
“Yeah,” he murmurs, “You’re good at that.”
His soft gaze in the lamplit room makes my heart squeeze again.
“I’m surprised you didn’t get a ride with Maria,” you say suddenly, anxious to fill the silence in the most self-sabotaging way I could possibly muster.
Rhett’s expression shifts before he breathes out a tiny laugh, “Well, uh, she left a couple hours before I did.”
You raise an eyebrow, “Did it…go well?”
The corner of his lip tugs up, his face tinting red, “I kissed her goodnight. If I remember correctly.”
This time your heart constricts in a bad way.
“And…” you hear yourself ask because apparently you hate yourself.
“And…” he takes a deep breath before releasing it, “I just can’t believe she’s giving me the time of day.”
You’re fairly relieved he doesn’t give you anymore details but the awe in his voice cuts deep.
Still, you force a smile on your face, “I’m happy for you.”
Rhett’s own smile softens again as he looks at you. “Thanks.”
Once again, you feel the urge to get far, far away from him and his pretty face so you throw yourself off the couch.
“Well, it is past my bedtime so I think I’m going to head to my room. Do you need anything else before I turn in?”
Rhett, having been startled into an upright position again from your sudden movement shakes his head, “Nope. Pretty sure I’ll pass out as soon as you turn the light off.”
You nod and give him one last small smile, “Goodnight, Rhett.”
He repeats it back to you with another smile of his own, and you tear yourself away again, switching off the lamp on your way out.
Once you’re in the safety of your own bedroom, you lean against the door and sigh. Now more than ever you are positive you need to let go of any and all feelings you harbor for Rhett Abbott, especially if things keep progressing for him and Maria. Otherwise you were going to do something very stupid.
𐚁
Rhett is no stranger to waking up with sore muscles and a dull ache behind his eyes the morning after a successful (or unsuccessful) bull ride. He’s even used to coming-to on your old couch in your cozy little living room. What he isn’t used to is the silence that fills the air as he sits up and stretches.
Normally, when Rhett wakes up at your place after a bender the first thing he notices is the smell of blueberry pancakes and the sounds of you humming some 80’s song in the kitchen. But there’s no sign of you there when Rhett drags himself through the doorway. The occurrence is so odd he even drags himself to your room to make sure you’re not suffocating under your sheets or something. He’s both relieved and even more confused when he finds your bedroom door ajar and the room empty. When he paces back to the living room, he finally notices a note left on the coffee table and quickly reads it.
Had to run some errands so walked into town - left you the car if you want to get yours at the bar. Can walk there when I’m done! xo
Sure enough, Rhett clocks your car keys beside the paper and sighs.
It wasn’t that he expected or needed you to make breakfast for him every time he crashed on your couch and woke up hungover. In fact, the many times this happened, he insisted you not go to the trouble. But you insisted you liked cooking big breakfasts and his presence gave you the excuse to make your favorite meal. And he couldn’t lie, it became one of his favorite rituals - minus the hangover symptoms.
So when you weren’t sliding around your kitchen in flannel pajama pants and one of his old sweatshirts, something stirred inside him uncomfortably. Because it wasn’t like you. Neither was not showing up to one of his competitions. When he hadn’t seen you in the stands beside his family last night, he felt that same pain in the pit of his stomach. But he had to quickly shake it off and focus on his ride. And thankfully it had gone well, unbelievably well, and normally you were the first person he looked for afterwards, good or bad results. But instead he distracted himself with the proud looks from his family and the grin on Maria’s face.
But now it was hard to ignore your absence. It was glaring since your presence was normally so consistent in his life. You were his rock, his safe place. Despite you becoming a fixture in his family, you were something that was still just his. Someone who understood his complicated relationship with his father, his hardships with his brother. You patched him up when he got tossed off a bull, or out of a bar, and while you chastised his recklessness, you never judged him or turned him away. Any pressure or tension he held in his body for any and all reasons just completely melted away when he was with you. And even though it was just one or maybe two odd things, he still hated the idea of you slipping away, even just a little.
So, he puts on his shoes, grabs your keys, finds his discarded hat by the door, and heads into town.
Rhett finds you exactly where he thinks you’ll be; at the farmers market browsing the flowers. He always teases you for the amount of time you spend pursuing without buying them, but you just sigh and implore you don’t have a reason to buy grand bouquets for yourself. He parks your car safely on the side of the road before approaching the stands, but he stops short when a man he doesn’t recognize approaches you, and it catches him off guard when you greet him with a hug.
Something in him stirs again. It’s a familiar feeling, a rare one, but Rhett can recall every time he’s felt it before.
The first was in high school. You, Rhett, and a couple friends went to your junior prom as a group, and while Rhett was in the corner with one of his buddies, sneaking sips out of a flask in the corner, trying not to stare at Maria and her date, he catches a glimpse of you. You’re not where he’d left you at the table you’d been camped out at. No, you were swaying with a boy he vaguely recognized on the football team. And when you smiled shyly up at him, your hands delicately placed around his neck, Rhett’s stomach dropped. At the time he thought it was the vodka he’d snuck in making him feel sick, but it was you looking at a boy that wasn't him.
He’d felt the same way when he’d called you your sophomore year of college. He’d gotten into a screaming match with his dad over reasons that didn’t matter an hour later but all he wanted to do was see you, but you were away at school. So after driving around for a while, he pulls over and dials your number. The way you said his name when you answered immediately put him on edge - more than he already was. You usually answered quickly after one ring, your voice high pitched like you were excited to hear from him, but now you sounded confused and almost nervous.
Moments later he’d find out why when you timidly admit that you were out on a date. And not even a first date. Your fourth with a guy you’d never mentioned before and it was going well. And while he should have been happy you found someone you liked after struggling with duds all throughout high school, the idea made Rhett want to throw up. It was enough to completely erase how upset he’d been with his dad and sent him straight back to the ranch.
Rhett always rationalized his feelings as not wanting to be replaced. You were his best friend, and another man coming into your life was always a threat to that. You denied it, but he could tell your college boyfriend couldn’t stand him. And he couldn’t blame the guy; a girl having a guy best friend was always complicated. He’d never do anything to jeopardize your happiness, but the thought of taking a step back from your life to make another man comfortable made him die a little inside.
Once the man continues on his way and you’re alone again, Rhett takes a deep breath and glides over to you.
“Funny running into you here,” he speaks up softly from behind you, his voice slightly hoarse.
You turn around, startled, your eyes widening briefly with half an amused smile, “Rhett, what are you doing here?”
He can’t help but smile back, “Well, I was left starving back at your place so I had to find some place to scrounge up breakfast.”
Rhett smirks when you roll your eyes in that affectionate way you do. He’s told you more than once they’re gonna get stuck like that one day. And you’d retorted that would only happen if you’d kept hanging around him, but you had a smile on your face when you said it and he was so sure at the time you were never going anywhere.
“So sorry, your personal chef needed a day off,” you tease.
He chuckles, “I suppose she deserves it.”
Her smile is so soft he’s almost sorry he has to ruin the moment by asking a dumb question.
“So, who was that?”
“Who was who?”
“That guy you were just talking to?”
“Oh,” her expression shifts and she focuses on the flower display in front of them instead of his curious gaze, “His name is Andrew. He just started working at the school; a fellow second grade teacher. I told you Appleby retired right?”
Rhett hums, remembering the very teacher they’d both had for second grade. “Right…he seems much younger.”
You snort, “Yeah, he's only a couple years older than us.”
“You two…spend a lot of time together?”
You turn your head back to him sharply, “What?”
Rhett shrugs his shoulders tensely, defensively, “What? You guys just looked friendly’s all.”
You narrow your eyes, “Well we are. Friendly- friends.”
Rhett hesitates, a moment of silence passing between them before he for some reason asks, “Do you want to be more than friends? With him?”
He watches your expression shift in ways he can’t quite analyze. As your eye contact drifts, you appear to be thinking really hard before you answer, “Maybe…we’ll see.”
He immediately regrets asking, like somehow you only considered it because he brought up the idea.
Shaking off the uneasiness in his chest, he clears his throat and offers to keep her company while she finishes her errands so they can just drive to the bar for his truck and he can go home from there. She tries to protest but he never lets her win these things.
It’s not until after they finish up at the farmers market, pick things up at the library and drop something off at the post office, that they’re pulling into the now desolate bar parking lot and he turns to you to ask the one thing that's been on his mind all morning.
“Are we okay?”
You narrow your eyes at him, “What do you mean?”
“Just that…it kinda bummed me out that you weren’t there last night, and waking up without you there this morning also felt…wrong. So I just wanted to check if everything was okay.”
He watches you stare off, thinking again and he decides he hates that look on your face.
“I’m sorry for not coming, I shouldn’ve at least told you I wasn’t up for it,” you say after a few moments of excruciating silence, “I was just tired, and this morning I wanted to get things done that I wasn’t able to accomplish this week. We’re okay. Promise.”
Rhett is mostly relieved and accepting of her apology, but a pang of anxiety lingers, “Okay. Good. Promise you’ll try to be at the next one?”
You nod emphatically, “Of course, I can’t miss the reigning champion.”
That draws a small smile to his lips, that quickly turns smug, “Damn right.”
You chuckle softly and that easy look on your face quells the last of his worries, able to bid you an honest goodbye before forcing himself out of your car, and orbit, to drag himself home.
Yeah. You guys were good. You’d always be good.
𐚁
You decide it would be hard to distance yourself from Rhett. The one or two times you tried to do it, he clocked it immediately. There would be no clean way to try to step back and truly let yourself move on, without point blank telling him you needed the space. And as much as he cared about you, he wouldn’t take no explanation as a good enough reason.
So you carry on as you normally do and let your lives do the work. You still show up to his competitions, but let Maria be the one to take him out. You come by the ranch for dinners with his parents, or to tutor Amy and check on Perry. But half the time he’s out training or with the woman he’s now been calling his girlfriend. And you accept invites out with colleagues for happy hours or coffee, all the while still making time for Rhett but keeping your heart protected in the small ways you can. Never close enough for small touches or lingering looks. And it worked for a couple weeks. Until he invites you out for drinks, just the two of you, because it's “been too long”.
But you go, because you didn’t have a good enough reason not to. At least one that you could say aloud; one that wasn’t: I’m in love with you and can’t be alone with you without breaking my own heart.
It’s nice, though. Of course it is. Having Rhett all to yourself for the first time since that morning at the farmers market, the weekend you decided to move on once and for all. And after your first glass of wine you convince yourself maybe you can find a way to keep your friendship just the way you like it without sacrificing your feelings.
He’s lighter than he has been in a while, cracking jokes and telling an animated story about some other bull rider that makes you laugh louder than you have in a long time. He also listens so attentively when you talk about the school play you’re helping with that all the fifth graders put on before the holidays, asking all the right questions and remembering the names of the kids and teachers you mention. And the way he smiles as you ramble about something related to building sets and the art teacher you have a love/hate relationship with makes you forget what you’re even complaining about in the first place.
He brings up Andrew after ordering his third beer and you stare into your own second glass of wine. “What about him?”
He shrugs one shoulder, “He helping with the play, too?”
You nod, “He is.” You look back up at him when you say the next part, unsure as to why, “His girlfriend is a seamstress and offered to make the costumes.”
You don’t miss the way his eyebrows quirk at the word girlfriend and the way he smiles as he processes what that means. It makes your skin burn.
Another glass of wine and a misguided game of darts later, and you’re nearly forgetting your plan to move on all together. Especially when he lingers closer to you to help you throw the dart straighter, despite there being no use when you’re this under the influence. The way he smells, the low register of his voice, the softness of his hands when he guides you out of the bar after the two of you decide there’s no use in continuing the game when it was going so poorly.
“We should go somewhere with karaoke!” you proclaim once the two of you stumble into the cool outside air.
Rhett practically guffaws, “You could not pay me any amount of money to sing in front of a crowd.”
“Come on, Rhett,” You chastise, taking a hold of his arm so he’ll face you while you mock-pout, “You won’t even do it for me? Your best friend in the whole wide world.”
Rhett tilts his head with an amused smile, “Well, when you say it like that.”
I grin, “So you’ll do it?”
“Maybe another night,” he laughs when you immediately start to argue, placing his hands on your shoulders to calm you down, “Tell you what, if I win that championship in a couple weeks, I’ll let you drag me to karaoke after to celebrate.”
“Really?” You ask with a hopeful smile.
“Yeah,” he shrugs, “If you’re there…you never come out to celebrate with me anymore.”
“Sorry,” you mumble, “I’m kind of a grandma these days. The children are aging me.”
He chuckles, “But you’ll be at the competition right?”
You nod, “Of course.”
“Good,” he murmurs, his voice growing softer and softer as he holds your gaze, “Feel like I ride better when you’re there.”
Suddenly the feeling of his hands on your shoulder feels heavier from the weight of his words. And you are very, very aware of how close his face is to yours. And before you can stop yourself, you’re pressing your lips against his.
The kiss is as soft as it is tentative and brief, neither of you fully able to process it or even react before you’re pulled apart by the buzzing in his pocket.
As Rhett steps back, reaching for his phone, you pull yourself away too, covering your mouth.
Then the moment is completely shattered by Rhett’s next words.
“It’s Maria…she’s out of town visiting some college friends. I should-”
“You should take it,” You finish for him, suddenly feeling sobered up. But not an idiot. “I can call a cab. It’s late anyway.”
Rhett’s face twists as he takes a hesitant step closer to you again, “Hey, wait, we should-”
You shake your head because you can not talk about this right now. “It's okay. I just wanna go home.”
He sighs, “At least let me come with you. Make sure you get home safe.”
You try to argue but Rhett’s already got his phone out, clearly not answering his girlfriend, and pulling up the number for a cab company.
God, his girlfriend. You kissed him, and he had a girlfriend.
You pace away from him towards where his truck is parked as he orders the cab. He follows you after to tell you a driver would be out here in about ten minutes and you nod, leaning against his car with a sigh.
After a moment, he says your name again quietly, his voice rough and anxious and guilty.
“Rhett, don’t,” you whisper, closing your eyes, “It’s okay, we’re drunk, I got caught up. It was a dumb mistake, so we can just forget about it, okay? Please let's just forget about it?”
You can feel his stare on you even with your eyes still closed, knowing he’s carrying that moment from before heavily on his shoulders, with a voicemail from Maria surely burning his hand.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” you add, your voice even quieter, “It was my fault for drinking too much. It didn’t mean anything.”
You know you say it out loud for both his sake and yours and you hope to God one day you’ll believe all the words you said.
Eventually you hear Rhett let out a long breath before leaning against the truck himself. “...Okay.”
Your shoulders slump in relief, your head buzzing with nerves and alcohol and regret, and all you can do is hope and pray Rhett never brings this up again after tonight and truly chalks it up to your drunken stupidity.
Neither of you speak as you await the cab, and then in th subsequent ride home. Not until you’re sliding out of the car and Rhett grabs your hand before you can get out completely and shut the door, leaving the night behind you.
“Hey,” he whispers, “Are we good?”
You feel your heart crack a little, “Yeah. Of course we’re good. We’ll always be good.”
Rhett smiles slightly but it doesn’t meet his eyes, “Okay, good.”
You mumble quiet goodnights before you exit the cab completely, shutting the door and jogging up your porch steps. Once you’re inside and you’re sure Rhett is already a mile away you feel it all sink in and for the first time in your friendship with Rhett, you’re not sure you will always be good.
𐚁
Rhett knew it wasn’t just you who messed up that night. But it was easier to pretend like that’s what happened, especially when you said things like dumb, mistake, didn’t mean anything. It was easier to pretend like he agreed and like you saying that didn’t gut him - that it was the alcohol making him feel sick to his stomach.
When he didn’t hear from you the rest of the weekend, he thought maybe you needed some space and obeyed your wish to just forget it; or at least act like he could. Tale as old as time, he didn’t want to lose your friendship so he swallowed any confusing feelings and decided to be patient. He was willing to wait for it all to blow over so the two of you could go back to normal.
But patience turned into a week without you, Maria’s return, and growing tensions with his family. When you didn’t turn up to the rodeo the following week, he couldn’t keep pretending it all wasn’t bothering him, which led to the poorest ride of his life, resulting in a lost championship and a busted up arm. And even after that, you still didn’t call, didn’t come by. But he knew you’d heard about all of it the second a bouquet of flowers showed up in the kitchen one day, an assortment of the ones you stare at every weekend.
And despite the kind gesture, he’s furious.
How could you be the one to decide kissing him was a mistake you wanted to move on from but then still completely shut him out? He knows he could have gone to see you, it's a two way street, but he thought he was doing you a favor and that eventually you’d come around.
And it gets worse. After a month of not seeing you, he learns you’ve still been seeing his family. One evening during dinner, Perry lets it slip that he's been helping you construct sets for the play and eventually admits Amy’s been spending a couple nights at your place after school. And shortly after that his mom confesses she’s seen her in town a handful of times and Royal had even dropped off supplies from the ranch once or twice. It feels like a betrayal like no other, from all of you. Instead of getting into a heated argument with them like he normally would have, Rhett just quietly leaves the dinner table and walks out the front door. And that scares his family more than if he'd just yelled at them.
Rhett drives around for about thirty or so minutes before he ultimately ends up in your driveway, where he sits silently for another ten minutes until he gathers the nerve to knock on your door. His heart is thumping against his chest, while his teeth grind tensely in his mouth. But any and all anger he had been feeling instantly dissolves once he sees your face for the first time weeks.
Your eyes are wide, and you cross your arms anxiously over your hoodie-clad chest.
“What are you doing here?”
He lets out a choked breath, some of the heat returning to his gaze, “You’re really asking that? Hell, I should have been here weeks ago.”
You avert eye contact, “Rhett-”
“Don’t Rhett, me,” He interrupts firmly, “I figured you wanted space, but not this much that I don’t hear from you or see you in a month. And then I hear from my brother you’ll talk to anyone else except for me?”
There’s no use masking the hurt in his voice, it comes out clear as day, and you practically flinch.
“We shouldn’t do this out here, come inside,” you murmur quietly before turning to the foyer, and he doesn’t hesitate to follow, passing you as you shut the door, bounding into the living room.
His own arms are crossed now as you slowly approach him. Instead of addressing the issue, your eyes lock onto the brace on his arm.
“How bad was it?” you ask quietly.
Rhett scoffs, “Well, you would know if you’d bothered to show up.
Your face crumbles, your eyes falling closed as you sigh, “I know.”
“You know? I’m glad you’re aware of how shitty of a friend you’ve been, it makes me feel so much better.”
You flinch again, before opening up your mouth to say something, anything in your own defense but he beats you to the punch again.
“I have been going crazy not seeing you the last few weeks. At first, it sucked, but I dealt with it because I thought it was what you needed to feel better about that night. Hell, I probably needed a few days to recover, too. But after a week it felt like you had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Do you know how it feels to hear my brother and my parents have gotten to see you and I haven’t? My own best friend? God, it has killed me to be away from you these past few weeks. All because of that kiss?”
“I get it, Rhett!” you finally exclaim, your voice erupting out of your body, “I know I messed up, and I should have called or come to see you and I know, I shouldn’t have kissed you-”
“No, but I should’ve!” he spits out, making your heart nearly stop, “Long before that night, I should have kissed you years ago.”
Rhett inhales deeply, knowing he’s definitely saying too much, but there’s no sense in stopping now, even as you stare back at him with eyes wide as saucers.
“I could never admit it but I’ve wanted to kiss you so many times. All the nights you helped me study so I could just barely graduate high school and you watched me with that infuriatingly proud look on your face when I got a decent grade on a test. Or Junior prom before that dumb jock could put his hands on you and that night we watched The Breakfast Club in your dorm, even though you had a boyfriend. Every single night you’ve let me stay on your couch even though you had every right to leave me stranded on the streets for how much of an idiot I always am. And probably a million more times because just watching you exist makes me want to kiss you and never stop. I just thought I never had any right. But I should’ve. Then maybe I wouldn’t have had to go a month without you in my life.”
Rhett’s confession hangs in the air for a few moments, both of you processing what he said, and the fact that he’d said it at all.
Your voice is almost dry when you finally speak up again, “Wait, so are you mad at me because I kissed you…or mad at yourself for not…”
Rhett sighs, “…The second one.”
“Then kiss me now,” you state, no hint of hesitancy in your voice.
His breath catches in his throat, “What?”
You drop your shoulders with a sigh, “Rhett, just kiss me.”
He clenches his good fist, “You won’t take it back? Won’t regret it?”
“Rhett, I only regretted the kiss because I thought you did.”
“I only regretted letting you pull away,” Rhett murmurs before crossing the distance between the two of you and pulling you into his arms, kissing you deeply and desperately the way he’s always wanted to.
His whole body lights on fire the second you kiss him back, the feeling of your hands caressing his face making him shiver in contrast. Everything practically goes numb, with no thoughts in his head outside of how happy he is and how much he wants you.
As soon as Rhett’s hands start to slide beneath the fabric of your sweatshirt, you reluctantly pull yourself away from him, gingerly reaching for his injured arm.
“Rhett,” you sigh, pressing your forehead to his, “We shouldn’t do anything tonight.”
He frowns, disappointed, “You don’t want to?”
You shake your head, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“The only thing that would hurt me would be not touching you for the rest of the night.”
You sigh, goosebumps forming across your skin. It was hard to argue with that. So you kiss him again instead. His hands eagerly resume their path beneath your shirt and you wordlessly guide him backwards towards your bedroom as he works to discard the outer layers of your clothes.
There was still a lot Rhett wanted to say, to hear from you but all reasonability is thrown out the window as soon as he presses his bare body to yours. All thoughts are drowned out by his ragged breaths and your soft moans as he trails kisses down your neck, your collarbone, and he fully forgets everything outside of you the moment his lips coast over your breasts.
He could be concerned with what this all meant in the morning.
𐚁
You’re surprised to see the clock on your nightstand read 10:44 AM when you wake up the next morning, having always been an early riser for as long as you’ve remembered, never usually sleeping past nine even on weekends.
You’re even more surprised you wake up alone, without the weight of the reason for your long nights rest pressed against you.
But when you look around, you can confirm it is in fact nearly almost eleven o’ clock and Rhett Abbott is nowhere to be found.
Your stomach twists. Last night had been a whirlwind of emotions. The last month had been quite frankly, since you’d drunkenly kissed Rhett and had no idea how to cope or talk to him about it without admitting your feelings for the last decade. But based on last night, it didn’t seem like you had to worry about that anymore.
But waking up alone had you thinking maybe that was the wrong assumption.
Did he regret kissing you and all of the not so innocent things that followed? For multiple rounds. Did he trick himself into thinking the way he felt about you was more than platonic and after last night realize he still just saw you as a friend?
God, the thought made you sick. Even so, you manage to drag yourself out of bed and throw on your sweatshirt and shorts from last night, before shuffling out to your kitchen to grab water. You stop in your tracks when the knob of your front door starts to turn. You briefly enter fight or flight before Rhett’s face comes back into view, and you’re both relieved and anxious again to see him.
Rhett seems startled by your presence, despite it being your house he’s letting himself into. And he awkwardly makes a show of walking through the doorway and shutting it without turning away from you. That's when you realize he’s hiding something behind his back, rubbing your eyes to try to get the rest of sleep out of your system.
“Hey,” he says softly, slowly walking closer to you.
“Hi,” you whisper, your voice slightly hoarse still, “Where did you go?”
Rhett clears his throat before a nervous, half smile forms on his face, “Well, uh, I woke up way too early this morning. At like seven. And while I was content to watch you sleep, when you didn’t wake up after an hour and a half, I decided to get up and maybe make you breakfast. Then I remembered I’m a shitty cook so I went out but then my thoughts started swirling and I started second guessing every choice I’ve ever made and went around town for a while before I ended up accomplishing what I left for in the first place which was getting you these.”
You’d been so enamored with his anxious rambling, you almost jumped when his hands moved from behind his back and extended in front of you revealing a box of pastries and a bouquet of flowers; daisies from the farmers market.
You practically melt, and any insecurities you were feeling about him changing his mind went out the window. You smile softly as you accept the gifts, smelling the flowers.
“My favorite,” you murmur. “They’re beautiful.”
When you look up at him, there’s a faint blush painting his cheeks, making you grin wider. You take in the pastry box again.
“Are these scones?”
He nods, shifting under your gaze, “Yeah. They’re blueberry. Figure you can give me your pancake recipe another time.”
Your lip wobbles, and you turn to walk towards your kitchen to catch a brief break from his gorgeous face, and he follows you like you’d hoped he would. You gently set the bouquet as well as the pastries onto the counter before turning back to him.
“There were two things I should have made more clear last night, before we…did any of that.”
Rhett’s eyebrows raise and he’s anxious again. “Oh? And what would those be?”
“One…I don’t want to keep doing anything if you have a girlfriend. I shouldn’t’ve done that at the bar a few weeks ago and I shouldn’t have done it last night.”
Rhett shakes his head quickly, “Maria and I haven’t been…in a good place. And actually this morning, I stopped by her place to formally…break things off. But they haven’t really been on for weeks.
Despite still feeling a bit guilty, you have to admit you’re relieved to hear that, “Oh. Good. Well not good, but…you know.”
Rhett nods, holding his breath for a second before asking, “What’s the other thing?”
You inhale deeply before taking a step closer, your voice soft, “I should have told you that I’ve wanted to kiss you for years, too. Practically all the years I’ve known you.”
You watch Rhett visibly relax and the shy smile returns to his face, taking his own step closer, “Sweetheart, I think you made that plenty clear last night.”
It’s your turn to feel your face heat up but it doesn’t stop the smile that grows across your face, or the way your skin tingles from the endearment.
“But I wanted to say it,” you murmur, stepping even closer, “I like you, I want you, I need you.”
“You have me,” Rhett breathes out before kissing you. You instantly sink into him again and breakfast gets postponed to lunch after he doesn’t waste any time carrying you back to your bedroom. As he undresses you again, you find yourself wishing your mind didn’t trick you into believing admitting this years ago would have ruined things, because if the last day was any indication, your friendship was about to get so much better.
please like, reblog, and/or comment if you enjoyed!
ideally would love to have installment 3 of my showgirls series out wednesday night and the last one saturday but they both may have to come this weekend. but which would people like to see first? my motivation for one may outweigh the other but maybe this will also motivate me!!
WHICH FIRST?
rhett abbott x reader inspired by ruin the friendship
stiles stilinski x reader based on it’s actually romantic
ideally would love to have installment 3 of my showgirls series out wednesday night and the last one saturday but they both may have to come this weekend. but which would people like to see first? my motivation for one may outweigh the other but maybe this will also motivate me!!
WHICH FIRST?
rhett abbott x reader inspired by ruin the friendship
stiles stilinski x reader based on it’s actually romantic
