bf!rodrick who swore he'd never in a million years fall for one of the plastics. if you asked him who he fancied last year, he'd shrug and say, "dunno.. someone who'd wanna tour with the band. oh, and they can't wear pink. löded diper policy."
bf!rodrick who'd see you strutting down the hall, heels clicking as you transformed the linoleum floors into a runway. he'd sneer from his locker and chuck a spitball at you, muttering a snarky, "chicks dig bad boys!" to his bandmates.
bf!rodrick who asked you to be his girlfriend on prom night. he stood outside your house in formal clothes (in his definition, formal means anything that isn't pajamas) holding up a handmade sign that said, "you löded my diper when no one else would. will you let me be your böyfriend?" in sharpie. you scoffed at the sight, because did he seriously think he'd have the chance with you? get real.
bf!rodrick who thought he'd blown it big time seeing your initial reaction. he switched off the speakers, turned around and was ready to chuck the sign into the back of his van. you waltzed over to him, whispering a sarcastic, "as if" before grabbing his face and pulling him into a long kiss. "i'll be your girlfriend if you promise not to be a jerk."
bf!rodrick who treats you like an absolute goddess. he'll drive you around, blowing off his bandmates during practice saying he needs, 'girlfriend time'. he's actually started cleaning out his van regularly now to accommodate you.. and also because he's learnt a new concept called hi-jean or something. whatever, there's too many letters.
bf!rodrick who's grown used to the inevitable bling you've brought into his life. your stuff is cluttered around his room, juicy couture taking over his closet and adding a burst of glitter into his monochrome life. at his house parties, he'll have you attached at the hip the entire time because he likes showing you off ♡
bf!rodrick who will write corny love songs for you even if you make fun of him. he gets most of his songwriting inspiration from your relationship. his first album titled, "löve is an open dore" featured your voice in the background for an artistic touch, he said. if he really can't get out of practice, he'll let you sit on his lap and try his best not to bang your head with a drumstick.
bf!rodrick who lets you do his makeup before going on stage. he'll giggle as you pat down a generous amount of foundation on his cheeks, saying, "mom's gonna kill me.." as he passes you a stick of cream eyeliner. "she likes me, don't worry," you smile, placing a chaste kiss on his face and staining his cheek with bright red lip gloss.
bf!rodrick who's parents have become incredibly fond of you. they'll invite you to family dinners, on christmas, easter, you name it. greg considers you part of the family now. they'll often joke and say, "we don't know what he'd do without you!" but there's a hint of sincerity in their words. they've never seen rodrick so happy.. and clean.
bf!rodrick who still wonders how he pulled you. one of the plastics dating a lanky drummer boy certainly wasn't on anyones bingo card this year, but here's the 4-1-1.. you and rodrick make such an oddly compatible couple that everyone else can only dream of a relationship like yours.
a/n "i'm not gonna write for any more fandoms" also me:
Summary: Greg's mother gets him and Manny a babysitter, because Rodrick is 'too busy' with Band practice, and she wants a reliable sitter while her and Frank go out. Though, Rodrick's plans change when he finds out who the babysitter is.
Pairings: Rodrick x Fem! Reader
[Since my Rodrick posts always tend to do well, here's another you Rodrick lovers!]
God this probably so dumb lol. So sorry if it's bad lol
"A babysitter?" Greg looked at his mother like she was crazy. He was 13, he didn't need a babysitter! Maybe Manny, but certainly not him. "Why do I need a babysitter?"
His mother, Susan, finishes drying off a plate, before turning towards him, "Well, Rodrick," She gestures to Rodrick who was sitting at the dining room table eating a bowl of cereal, "has a gig and I need someone reliable to watch you and Manny while me and your father are out."
"Doesn't Gramma usually watch Manny?" Rodrick asked, since they had never offered to pay HIM to watch the kids.
"She's busy."
"Why can't I watch Manny?"
Susan laughs, causing Greg to frown and roll his eyes.
"Oh, Greg. You have not shown me you are responsible enough to care for a goldfish, much less your little brother. Besides, she's supposed to be really good, her name is Y/n."
Rodrick almost spit out his food when he heard the name of Y/n and he was very quick to clarify, "Y/n? Like Y/n L/n, Y/n?"
Susan hums, before rubbing her chin and nodding, "Yes I believe so."
"She's going to be here?"
"Why do you care?" Greg quick asked, suspicious.
"I don't," Rodrick quickly justifies, trying to cover up his previous excitement. He quickly gets up and heads to his room, completely forgetting about the food.
Susan and Greg watched as he left, while the latter grew suspicious.
---
"Thank you so much for coming at such late notice," Susan hands you Manny, who wiggled in her grasp.
"It's really no problem, Mrs. Heffley. I hope you and your husband have a good night out."
"Me, too," She jokes, before shaking her head, "Our numbers are on the fridge and if we don't answer, there's the number of the restaurant...."
You nod your head, listening as she goes on and on about safety and such. When she finally left, you waved her off before carrying Manny into the living room. "So, what do you like to do, Manny?"
Before he could answer, Rodrick quickly rushes in, his guitar hanging off his back. He was covered in sweat and his hair was dismayed/a mess. He pushes his hand through his hair, before looking at you in feigned confusion.
"Oh, Y/n right? I didn't know you were going to be here."
"What are you talking about? Mom sai-"
Rodrick quickly got his shoe and threw it at Greg, hitting him smack in the face. He [Rodrick] pushes inbetween you and Manny, leaning on his hand, "Hey."
"Hi?" You looked past him, towards Manny, who was pushing on Rodrick's back.
"What.. uh, brings you around?"
"Um... What do you mean?"
He turns to face forward , leaning back on his hands, "Uh, you know, ummm...." He clicks his tongue, before looking back at you, "You like music, right?"
"Everyone likes music."
"Right!" He stands up pointing to you, Manny finally looking relieved that Rodrick had moved from his spot.
Manny gets down from the seat and pulls out a puzzle from under the table. You watch him closely as Rodrick still continues to talk.
"I'm in a band, you should come listen."
"Uhuh... Band?" You now looked at him when registering his words.
"Oh, yeah. We're called the Loaded Diaper [Löded Diper]."
"Loaded Diaper?"
"Yeah."
"When you hear them, you'll understand the name," Greg jokes, before hiding under the table when seeing Rodrick's glare.
You look at Greg, before humming and nodding, "I see. Ummm... What kind of music do you guys play?"
"Rock."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense... Um... Maybe I can come some time."
"Yeah, you should. Just let me know when you're free."
"Yeah, will do."
He walks away from the living room and out the front door, but not before fist bumping, thrilled to have a 'date' kind of.
Summary: you're sent off to be an exchange student in some american city you never heard of. Back home you were seen as quite odd so you try your best to hide your wilder side you prop up your nerdy tendencies. You managed to make your new family for this school year like you like their own daughter. Except for their eldest, a total emo boy, who isn't very fond of your nerdy side.
Warnings: typos and bad grammar (non english speaker here), non-american reader (european but can be from wherever), enemies/rivals to lovers, slowburn, maybe ooc rodrick (slightly meaner), spoilers for Rodrick rules
A/N: even though I said I rewrote the first chapter (aka this) I changed my mind again so this one is cannon, the other one... not. Sorry I just couldn't twist the rest of the story to fit the new first chapter 😅 please don't be mad 😭
The land below your airplane slowly morphed from grassy green to ocean blue and back to green again. There's no way back now. If your parents allowed you to choose a country on your continent you could still run away and back to your extended family and pretend you were attending a foreign school. But America? Over that big pond? How could you run away from there?
You couldn't, that's how. And that's also why your suitcase was 50% full of the most normal, nerdy looking clothes. It's only for a year and you can't afford your new temporary family see you as a weirdo. The other 50% of your packed wardrobe was reserved for the nights you planned to sneak out and be yourself. Truly yourself. Not that your book-loving, straight A nerdy girl facade wasn't your true self, it was one half of you. Divided just like your suitcase.
The music you were blasting through your headphones suddenly stopped and the loud mechanical humming of airplane woke you up from your little nap. You checked your mp3 player. Low battery. How else.
You rolled your eyes and put your little black box away. Only 30 more minutes and you'll land. It would be pretty pointless to stand up and jump over two utter stranges just to get to your backpack and fish out your plan B: a disman with your favourite burned CDs. So you just sat back and hypnotized the land below, imagining how your new family will look like. Both parents? Single parent? Will they have children? Hopefully no toddlers you'd have to babysit. Oh how you hope they have a pet. A dog? Good. A cat? Good as well. A reptile? You'd pull out adoption papers on the spot.
And with your hopes and daydreams you watched as the tiny land below got bigger and bigger and your plane gently kissed the ground.
*
It was the third time in the last twenty minutes that Mrs. Heffley combed through her youngest's hair. And it was the fourth time little Manny messed it up thinking he was playing some sort of a new game with his mom.
"Greg, could you hold him for a bit?" She picked up her little three year old and gave him to her twelve year old. Neither of them were happy.
"But mom, why are we doing all of this anyways?"
"We need to give out a nice first impression don't we?" She said and attempted to tame the little one's hair for the fourth and hopefully final time.
"Why bother," her eldest came down the stairs yawning as if he just rolled out of bed, which he most likely did. Messy mop of black hair sticking to every possible direction and a crumpled black shirt only supported his mom's theory. "The little nerd will have to live here for the rest of the year and I'm more than sure none of us can keep this up for that long," he gestured at the rest of his family standing neatly in their sunday church clothes his mom ironed to damn near perfection last night.
"Why did you have to volunteer to take him in anyways?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, three boys isn't enough?" Rodrick teased.
"Because," Mrs. Heffley said as she made her way to the top of the stairs to where Rodrick stood, "someone from another country can teach us quite a lot. Maybe he can even teach you two," she glanced down at Greg still holding his squirming brother whose hair is messed up again, "to get along. I read people from Europe have better relationships with their siblings."
"So in other words you want him to colonize us?"
"Stop it Rodrick," she took his arm and lead him back to his attic turned bedroom, "no joking like that once he arrives! Now come along. Let's make you look decent before your dad comes back with him."
*
If only you could've had your phone on you instead on the bottom of your backpack. As soon as you walked out to the hall you saw a man no older than your dad holding a carboard with a name of your classmate written on it in big bold letters. The poor man's confused face was comedy gold once you walked up to him with the most polite smile you could muster and explained the situation.
Right now you sat comfortably in a car right next to Mr. Heffley, or Frank as he told you to call him. You could sense he wasn't very talkative, neither were you and you liked silence. But for some reason Mr. Heffley kept on trying to make smalltalk with you and couldn't take a hint even after your millionth one word answer.
His car came to a stop in a small neighbourhood you recognised from old American movies you watched back home. Not this specific neighboorhood, rather the layout. Road for cars. Sidewalks. Lawns without fences. Two-story houses eerily similair to one another.
As a true father he helped you with your bags, even offered to take your backpack from your shoulders but you didnxt want to look like you were taking advantage of him in front of his family.
"So, here we are," he announced once the two of you made it across the lawn to the front door. "Your new home. For the next year at least."
"It looks... nice."
"Yeah, from the outside, but I have to warn you," he leaned in to whisper in your ear, "some of the inhabitants can be a bit... well... you'll see. Me and my wife instructed them to be nice but they tend to get a bit wild."
"It's okay Mr. Heffley, I'm sure I've dealt with worse," you reassured him. Honestly his words intrigued you more than scare you. Maybe the polite 50% could stay in your bags for your entire stay.
"It's Frank, please," he said as he reached for the handle, "and who knows, maybe they'll be on their best-" he opened the door and sounds of utter chaos reached both of you, "-behaviour."
A toddler sat on the bottom of a staircase ruffling his hair as if it was a sport and he desperately wanted to win. A woman's voice was calling out for two boys to stop fighting. Said two boys were chasing eachother, the younger running away from the older one who had a box of what looked like hair gel in his hand yelling at the top of his lungs "WHEN I HAVE TO LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT SO WILL YOU!" The older one, whose hair had so much gel he looked like a wet rat, finally caught his younger brother and smeared a handful of the clear goo into his hair much to the young boy's protest. He desperately tried to twist himself out of the bigger one's grasp but could only mess up his white shirt. You swore you could hear a tear of the fabric.
"HEY!" Mr. Heffley yelled and the whole house went still. The poor man rubbed the bridge of his nose as he stepped infront of you, as if hiding his family members could erase the awkwardness of the situation.
"Honey, you're back already?" The woman asked with an awkward laugh.
"Yes, the plane arrived earlier."
"Well," her voice got a bit louder indicating she stepped closer to you. You also heard some shuffling, maybe she shooed her two sons away to clean up before meeting you. "Let's meet the new guy. Hopefully we didn't scare him away," another awkward giggle.
"Yeah," Mr. Heffley said in defeat as he stepped aside revealing you, "I hope so too."
The woman blinked behind her glasses, confusion very much evident in her eyes despite the polite smile she put on. "Oh. Hello dear."
You nodded and politely folded your arms. "Hello Mrs. Heffley. I'm sorry for the confusion. My classmate and me switched countries last minute."
"That explains a lot," she smiled and picked up the little boy from the ground. "We also need to apologize for the way you met us. We wanted to give you the best first impression of us but," she glanced behind herself, "we had some issues with hygiene. You know how two teen boys can be."
You nodded.
"Mom, stop telling everyone I'm a teenager," the older guy apeared again, this time his black hair truly wet from washing the gel out and his dress shirt exchanged for a black t-shirt with a medusa on it. You bit your lips to not smile. No doubt this guy was emo. You bet his hair is fluffy and soft when soft and how how hot would his black eyes look with dark eyeliner. "I'll be turning 18 this month, remember?"
"Of course," his mother nodded. She looked back to you. "I guess introductions are in order. This little angel is Manny," the emo snorted at the word angel and Manny just waved at you, "this is my oldest Rodrick," you looked up at him and he finally noticed your existence. He eyed you from head to toe and took in every detail. From neatly braided hair, to no make up face, to a white t-shirt beneath your denim jacket, to your pink skirt and finally to your white sneakers. The longer he looked at you the more your cheeks heated up.
The he scoffed. "So they sent us a barbie doll instead? How wonderful."
"Rodrick!"
"What? I bet you're the bookish type. Straight As, follows curfew to a T. Am I wrong?"
Your cheeks heat up even more but from embarassment. You shook your head.
Rodrick turned to his mom with a triumphant smile. "See? It isn't mean since it's true. Right egghead?"
"My name's y/n."
"Egghead it is."
You glower.
"And this is Greg," Mrs. Heffley finally finished introducing her family once the middleschooler, Greg, emerged from the bathroom as well, water drippin from his short dark hair. "You two look roughly the same age, right?"
"Aaw, do you hear it little bro?" Rodrick hooked his arm around Greg's neck and leaned down to him, "you can finally get yourself a girlfriend!" He patted him and then stared up at his mom. "I won't have to babysit her as well, do I?"
You smirked. Oh how wonderful will his next expression be. "I'm older than you."
His head snapped back to you and yup, his expression was even funnier then his parents'. "What did you say kid?"
"I should be the one calling you a kid," you smirked and held your chin up high, "I celebrated my 18th birthday couple weeks before I left home."
Both boys gaped at you while their mother hugged you. "Oh sweetheart, happy birthday! But wow, you look like way younger than your real age! You could pass for a middle schooler."
"Must be the chubby cheeks," Rodrick mumbled and folded his arms while looking away.
With all your might you resisted the urge to glare his way and thanked Mrs. Heffley for her wishes.
The rest of the day was a blur. Rodrick thankfully disappeared somewhere upstairs, Manny played with some disgusting looking blue fabric while munching on a cookie bigger than his head and the two Heffley adults showed you to your new room while Greg talked your ear off about being way more mature than his older brother. It was evident Rodrick was slowly going on everyone's nerves. Even though once you found out he's in a band you were concidering starting anew with him, even try to bond with him through bands. But then you actually heard them practice in garage and you quickly understood why the Heffley family isn't very fond of Rodrick's hobby. You never heard such a void of rhythm and good lyricism. You and your band back home could never.
"Thank you, you're really kind but I think I can unpack on my own."
"Nonsense dear, you must be exhausted after such a trip," Mrs. Heffley insisted as she put one of your suitcases on top of the freshly made bed and tried to unzip it.
You quickly stopped her from seeing your rebellious 50%. "Really, it's fine. I'm not even that tired. I slept through most of the flight anyways."
"Okay then, we'll give you some space. Greg," Mrs. Heffley called out after the young boy who gave you his best toothy smile and both of them disappeared behind closed doors.
With a sigh you dropped your body like a dead weight into your new bed. The covers smelled freshly washed and you couldn't help yourself from burrying your nose in them to take a good deep sniff. You kicked the bag Mrs. Heffley wanted to unzip down and hid it underneath the bed. With how much they wish their oldest was different you didn't see a point in provoking them with your own weirdness. The rest of your "normal" clothes quickly found their way into your new wardrobe right across the room. Your backpack also got emptied and the table in the corner was now hidden beneath your laptop, notebooks, novels, mp3 player, discman and at least 20 burned CDs.
With all of that unpacked you fell onto the bed again and stared at the white ceiling of the guest room. Mr. and Mrs. Heffley seemed nice, way nicer than most parents you've met but then again all parents are kinder to the kids that aren't theirs anyways.
Manny looked adorable but you've met enough toddlers to know they have a devilish side waiting just beneath the surface. Hopefully Mrs. Heffley won't give him to you just because you're a girl. You've had enough of babysitting others's kids on family gatherings where you were the only girl out of the older kids.
Greg also seemed cute but in that boyish I-want-to-become-adult-as-soon-as-possible-so-treat-me-as-one-please way. Though it was very obvious he was starting to crush on you and you dreaded the moment when you'll have to inevitably break his heart. For now you'll have to play the oblivious game.
And then there was Rodrick. The handsome devil himself. Looks wise he was your type. But personality wise? He repulsed you. The way he though himself better than you just because your clothes were nice and clean and you liked to read annoyed you beyond belief, not to mention how arrogant he was. And apparantly not being able to take criticism either. Even a deaf person would have more rhythm than him.
"Y/n! Dinner is ready! Come eat!"
You sighed and lifted your tired body off of the soft bed. How come you're tired even though you sat for 70% of your day? You quickly changed into some comfortable sweats and a plain shirt and walked into the kitchen. Four out kf the five Heffleys were already sat at the lomg table with two chairs empty. One for you and one for-
"Oh, so you're still here," Rodrick said from behind you and before you could turn to him and glare he quickly made his way to his seat which was, unfortunately, right across from yours.
"And she'll stay here Rodrick. Be a little nicer."
You took a seat. "Yeah, respect your elders."
He frowned at you but said nothing. Only filled his plate with rice and meat.
You followed suit and put some vegetable on your plate as well.
You glanced around the table, confused. "Ehm, yeah? Shouldn't I?"
She chuckled. "No, that's not it. I've been trying to teach these two the values of eating healthy, but..."
"Ewy," the smallest Heffley stuck out his tongue.
"You said it little man," Rodrick pointed a fingur gun at the toddler who clapped his hands in excitement.
"Well, my parents usually didn't let me leave the table without eating everything they put on my plate so I guess it stuck..." you admited with a bit of embarassment. Would they think of your family as abusive?
Instead Mrs. Heffley clasped her hands with a huge smile. "That's a good parenting technique! A bit stricter than what I'd use but apparently it worked on you."
Poor Greg stared at his mom in pure horror, no doubt fearing his mother taking inspiration from your family and with shaking hands putting small spoonful of veggies on his plate. Rodrick on the other hand glared daggers into you for giving his mom inspiration.
Summary: you're sent off to be an exchange student in some american city you never heard of. Back home you were seen as quite odd so you try your best to hide your wilder side you prop up your nerdy tendencies. You managed to make your new family for this school year like you like their own daughter. Except for their eldest, a total emo boy, who isn't very fond of your nerdy side.
Warnings: non-american reader (european but can be from wherever), enemies/rivals to lovers, slowburn, maybe ooc rodrick (slightly meaner), spoilers for Rodrick Rules
It is rare for the Heffley household to be quiet. Either the ground vibrates from Rodrick's band or the living room rumbles like a wizard's cave from Greg's videogame or in extreme cases Manny tests out the range of his vocal cords. Today is no different, it's just filled with a different, a new kind of sound.
You and Rodrick were growling and barking like rabid dogs.
"This is useless," Rodrick caughed, "when will we get to the screaming part?"
"I already told you. After you learn how to properly growl. Your vocal cords need to get used to you using them in this way. Otherwise you might damage your voice."
Rodrick rolled his eyes and fell onto his bean bag. "I already told you I'll be fine. I mean I bet I used to scream a lot as a toddler and look," he sang few notes a bit too highpitched than you expected, "my voice is perfect!"
"And if you want to keep it that way you should learn the proper techniques. Come on!" You clapped your hands to coax him out of the bean bag.
He refused to budge and sank even deeper, pouting in protest.
"Come on Rodrick, this was your idea, remember?"
"That was when I didn't know we'll play dogs! What if someone came home while we were... barking? What would they think? They would never let me live it down!" He whined.
You shook your head and chuckled. "Well sorry I don't have a better way of learning it."
"You also barked like a lunatic?"
"No, I growled at my grandma's dog to see his reaction and after a whole summer of doing it I randomly screamed and," you gave him one of the metal screams, "that happened," you pointed at your throat.
Rodrick stared at you in an almost lovestruck way, or at least you'd like it to be lovestruck. A little bit. Not really. Maybe.
Then he quickly came back to his senses and the arogant look was back. "You mean to tell me it took a whole summer to learn that? How long is it gonna take me then?"
"Even longer when you whine like this."
He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted once more.
Without any remarks coming from him you shrugged and started walking towards the door. "Okay, if you're unwilling to cooperate I'm going to teach your lead vocalist instead. I bet he'll be more appreciative than-" you let out a yelp from surprise as Rodrick caught you by your hips and pulled you back into the room, both of you falling into the bean bag. Because of its small size and Rodrick being behind you when he grabbed you, you found yourself sitting on Rodrick's lap moreso than the bean bag. Your heartbeat accelarated violently but Rodrick seemed more than fine.
"Uhm, Rodrick?"
He hummed and tightened his grip around your waist.
"What are you doing?"
He rested his chin on your shoulder and you felt him shrug. "Idunno. Just didn't want you to go teach others. I'm the leader. I'm the founder."
"And you're selfish as well, aren't you?" You chuckled and ruffled his hair. He nuzzled you as you scratched his scalp and you swore if he had a tail he'd be happily wagging it like the dog he was complaining about playing couple minutes ago.
"Nope, not selfish. Just fair."
"How is it fair?"
"You're my girl, not theirs. You should teach only me," he whispered into your shoulder, probably trying to muffle his words out of embarassment from being seen like this. All lovey-dovey and cuddly and pathetic in his eyes.
But the way his voice dropped, how his breath warmed your skin under your clothes, and how he called you his girl... it was doing things to you. Things you weren't exactly sure if you were happy about or not.
Though one thing stung: he called you his girl. Not girlfriend or a friend. With either of the two you'd know where you stood, either he was into you or just wanted to fool around with nothing serious coming out of it. But he called you just girl. His girl.
You kept replaying and overthinking those two words while you shifted to find a better sitting postion. Thankfully Rodrick's arms went a bit loose around you to allow you some movement. You butt ended up between his legs, your own legs swung against his thigh and your head laying on his upperchest, with your ear right over his heart. You sighed in content and closed your eyes.
Rodrick held you a bit closer to his body and relaxed as well, you could tell by the way his heart and breathing slowed down. You'll figure out what you are to him later. As long as you can bicker with him and then cuddle him like this you don't really care what the two of you are.
You lost track of time. Maybe you sat there for hours. With Rodrick finally being quiet and running his fingertips gently along your arm, you wouldn't be surprised if you actually took a nap in his embrace and slept through the entire day.
Then somewhere below you a door got angrily slammed, letting the two of you know you're no longer alone. Some days ago the two of you would probably jump up and pretend none of this ever happened again but today was different. You two were a bit more awake for sure, but none of you were scrambling to even change your seating postitions.
"Who do you think it was?" You broke the comfortable silence.
"Probably Greg. Mom and dad don't slam doors."
"Oh, right," you blushed in embarassement. You could've figured that much out on your own. Is your brain cell count dropping while with him?
Rodrick sat up a bit straighter and pulled your body along with him. "But Greg also rarely slams doors."
"Something must've happened at school," you said and tried to stand up to go talk to him.
Rodrick pulled you down. "Don't go, let him deal with it on his own," he whined.
You wanted to talk back with 'what if he's troubled and needs someone consoling him?' when you remembered what he told you back at the bridge. He didn't want to lose another person's attention to Greg again. And even though your empathy for Greg was big, it was ultimately not enough to overpower whatever you felt for the guy who's lap you were sitting on.
"Though maaaaybe we could have a little bathroom break before we continue," he chuckled nervously.
You giggled and slipped from his lap to let him go to the bathroom downstairs. His body heated up the bean bag quite nicely, it still felt like you were being embraced by his. You heard the sound of toilet being flushed and expected Rodrick to be up here with you any second now.
But he wasn't coming. Instead you heard some more noises from downstairs. Rodrick's voice, obviously, and a younger one.
You walked down to see Rodrick standing in Greg's open door and chatting with him. "Hey Greggy," you greeted and stood next to Rodrick, "how is it going?"
Greg pouted and refused to answer.
Rodrick sighed. "A girl he likes thinks he's some other loser from his grade." You nudged him in his ribs softly. "Not that you're a loser or something, Greg. It's just... uuuh... I mean... It was just horribly worded okay?"
Greg fell on his bed and showed both of you his back. "Just leave me alone you two."
Your heart twisted at how broken he looked, you only ever knew him as the cheerful young guy who just tried to look cool infront of everyone. You respected his wishes and was ready to leave when Rodrick stepped forward. You didn't even have time to grab him by the arm and stop him from potentionally making his younger brother even more mad.
"Get up," Rodrick sad and threw a random hoodie at his bed.
"What?"
"Come on, get up. I'm taking you out."
Greg was putting the hoodie on in excitement while you just smiled knowingly at Rodrick. His ears burned red and refused to look into your eyes. He only muttered a soft "shut up" as both brothers walked past you and out the door.
"Wait, Y/n isn't coming with us?" Greg asked on the last step.
"Coming where?" All three of you jumped at the voice of Mr. Heffley coming from the kitchen. So you did fall asleep at some point? How else would you overhear both adults of this household and two other adults coming home?
All three of you nodded and greeted the new people while Mrs. Heffley introduced them as the editors of the paper she writes for.
"Oh, Greg's just feeling down so I'm taking him out."
"How nice brotherly bond you two have," one of the adults, a man, praised. "My older son doesn't want to even hear about my younger."
"Susan," the woman turned towards Mrs. Heffley, "I didn't know you allowed your son's girlfriend to spend so much time. Without supervision."
You awkwardly shuffled in your place while ignoring Rodrick's gaze studying your reaction.
"Oh no, you got it all wrong," Mrs. Heffley chuckled. "Y/n is an exchange student and I volunteered us to be her hosting family."
You sighed in relief. You don't even know what you'd say, how you'd explain yourself, if you had to tell them who you are and what relationship you had with the family. Calling yourself Rodrick's friend would do you no good in his eyes and calling yourself "Rodrick's girl" would defintely be worse in his parents' eyes. You thanked Mrs. Heffley for not forcing you to be in this situation.
"Aaw, how lovely," the woman said and turned towards you, "where are you from sweetheart?"
You recited your answer the way you always did whenever someone asked you and watched as both boys agreed to be back by 9pm and disappeared behind front door. While both adults gushed about your good english and some nonsense 'facts' they read about your culture on internet you just kept smiling to yourself. Rodrick was showing his true self more and more around you, and you finally made peace with the fact that you really, really liked that emo dork.
*
After filling their bellies with stuff that would make their mom faint with how 'unhealthy' it is and pranking some poor souls in parking lot with good old fake vomit, the two brothers settled behind a bush of an empty parking lot, waiting for their next victim.
"So, do you know the girl I told you about? The one I sent the letter to?"
Rodrick ate a potato chip. "Yeah."
"What should I do?" It must really hurt Greg's ego to ask his older brother an advice. But seeing how close he has gotten with you, the coolest girl he has seen, it made Rodrick seem more adewuate to ask a lady advice.
"Don't stress too much about it," Rodrick said in an uncharacteristicaly gentle tone, "girls act like they're not into you when they really are. Some of them just don't know about it. Trust me," he ate another chip.
"Yeah," Greg took a potato chip of his own, "maybe Holly is like Y/n a bit."
Rodrick coughed at that. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, at the begining she hated you and now the two of you are together. Aren't you?"
Rodrick nodded furiosly. "Oh, that. Yeah, of course! I mean who could resist me, right?" He dug around in his potato chip bag a little bit, suddenly losing apetite. "It just would be nice if she knew it too."
"So you aren't together?" Greg asked surprised. "I thought-"
"Let it be bro," Rodrick cut him off, clearly not wanting to open up. But something inside him was telling him there probably won't be a better and more peaceful time between him and his little brother and he shouldn't spoil it by building his walls up again.
"You heard what mom said about her? Y/n didn't even try to correct her and say 'Excuse me Mrs. Heffley but I'm his girlfriend as well'. She just left it at exchange student. Damn," he pinshed the bridge of his nose, "being called a friend would sting less."
"Maybe you need to tell her," Greg tried to be as much of an emotional support as his older brother was to him.
"I already called her my girl. I can't be more open about it than that!"
"And when was this? Maybe she just forgot."
"This noon."
"Well damn," Greg sighed and leaned against the bush.
"I need to be more direct with her, huh?"
"Seems like you got no choice... Try being a romantic. Write her a letter! That might work!"
"Oh yeah genius? The same way it worked for you?" He ruffled Greg's already messy hair, teasing him.
"It would've worked if it wasn't for Chirag!"
"Who the hell is-?"
Greg shushed him as another car pulled up infront of the store. They waited for the guy to walk away before Greg sprinted with the plastic vomit, placed it neatly in the center of the car's windshield, and ran back into his hiding spot.
Both brothers were choking on laughter when the man finally returned and threw a tantrum worthy of competing with Manny. Their laughter died down once the man pulled down his hood and both recoginsed the man as the worst PE teacher they ever experienced during middleschool.
*
The adrenalin wasn't dying down even after both of them were safely driving away from the little cardio their teacher forced them to have. Both brothers were laughing and reminiscing about their shared fun that night. "This was the best night ever!" Greg laughed.
"Oh you think this was good? Wait till you get older!"
Both walked up the stairs and into the house, greeting their parents, the visitors and Y/n, who moved from kitchen to the living room. Y/n waved back at Rodrick and his heart skipped a beat.
"You're five minutes early," their mom checked the clock, "did you have a good time?"
"The best!" Greg answered and Rodrick ruffled his hair again.
"I can't believe how well you two get along," the man praised again.
"Well Larry," their dad said while he messed around with some Tv cables, "we give them firm boundaries, rules, curfews... but now let me show you some photos from the civil war reconstruction," and he pushed some more buttons on the camera he was holding.
"What did you do, guys?" You asked.
"Oh, you know," Rodrick smirked and you knew it was basically his way of saying 'naughty stuff parents shouldn't know about'.
But before you could say anything you caught Greg's horrified expression. You looked at the Tv screen and felt your heart drop somewhere to the bottom of your stomach.
On Tv screen were pictures from the party you had. What idiot took pictures in the first place?
The dad angrily punched the 'forward' button again and again, flipping through the undeniable proof of all of their lies while his and his wife's angry questions grew in volume. But the whole room went deadly quiet at the last picture of this unfortunate slideshow. It was just a closeup of two people, both in dark clothes and equally dark messy eyeliners. With lips locked in a kiss that was too far from decent.
Summary: you're sent off to be an exchange student in some american city you never heard of. Back home you were seen as quite odd so you try your best to hide your wilder side you prop up your nerdy tendencies. You managed to make your new family for this school year like you like their own daughter. Except for their eldest, a total emo boy, who isn't very fond of your nerdy side.
Warnings: non-american reader (european but can be from wherever), enemies/rivals to lovers, slowburn, angst, maybe ooc rodrick (slightly meaner), spoilers for Rodrick Rules
A/N: I completely forgot about the talent show sideplot and didn't write a single mention of it in the whole story 😭 well, could you wonderful readers please pretend everytime I mentioned band rehearsal it was actually a practice for the talent show? Thanks, I'm off to bury myself out of embarassment from forgetting it....
You blinked once, twice, ten times but the face of the girl on the TV screen wasn't changing. It was you, the real you, the you that was on a strict lockdown to appear as a wellbehaved trustworthy girl infront of people in charge. You propped yourself up in the eyes of Heffleys and their guests the entire evening, your tongue nearly bled from how often you had to bite down on it. All that effort only to get it all ruined by a single photo of drunk you and Rodrick making out.
The Heffleys probably were telling you something, maybe asking for explanation, but you couldn't care less. Without moving your head you slowly glanced at Rodrick, his pale face a sharp contrast against his violently blushing ears. His eyes staring down at you in pure horror. Your whole face burned and all you wanted was to find even a mouse hole, climb inside and never come out. Without any explanation or care in the world you sprinted to your bedroom and locked yourself. You slid down the door and hugged your knees as you listened to loud voices, through your distress you couldn't make out what they were saying but surely it wasn't something pleasant. The front door opened and closed, the visitors were leaving. You desperately wanted to do the same. The window above your bed looked extremely tempting...
The next thing you knew you were clutching your chest in an attempt to slow down your heart after running for god knows how long, as far away as you could from the house. Your lungs and throat burned from breathing in such generous amounts of cold october air. It wasn't freezing or anything but the difference between a heated up house and the outside world at around 10pm was still noticable. You came to a stop to calm down and looked around. You've seen this part of the town before, but you couldn't put your finger on where or when. Can't be from walking to school, or Rodrick driving you as he insisted on doing so in the last week, since you ran the opposite direction. Your legs began moving and despite not knowing where they'd take you, you let them.
You walked for maybe an hour. Everything was quiet, no people nor cars disturbed your silent stroll. It gave your mind some well deserved time to think. Back then during Rodrick's party you did have couple of drinks to get into the mood, but you were sure it wasn't enough to make you forget certain things, right?
"Come on, remember," you massaged your temples. Things were slowly coming to you, some in blurs, some very vague. You remember how you set a vodka shot on fire and drank it ("That's how we do it back home!" You remember yelling and you had to close your eyes in pure embarassment). A memory of hyping up some guys in throwing the peanut buttered toasts onto the ceiling bubbled to the surface, as well as a sight of Rodrick taking two tiny action figures from his dad's basement and making them kiss. There was something about pulling some girl back by her hair when you noticed her trying to kiss Rodrick but it was so hazy you couldn't tell if it was real or not. Nothing about the kiss tho...
Then there was how Rodrick reacted. He blushed, which was a good thing, right? But his eyes. They were opened so wide you could see them almost pop out of their sockets and they didn't look shocked at all. They looked terrified. Repulsed. Maybe even disgusted. Definitelly a reaction a girl doesn't want to see on a boy who she has been low-key flirting/bickering with for the past few weeks. And cuddling. And bonding. You could scream out of frustration.
He looked like he wanted to crawl out of his skin. Is it because he kissed you? Did he really regret it that much? Did he really find the idea of you two kissing so terrible?
And as for your feelings you'd rather tear your heart out and bury it. The first time you saw the picture you had to admit, you were kind of happy. Instead of nervous butterflies your stomach gained a nice comfortable warmth for a second. Then it quickly changed once your mind realized the severity of the whole situation. You could deal with your secret side being outed to your host family, it would take lots of time and explaining but time heals everything. But Rodrick's face... that you couldn't deal with.
You felt stupid. You should've known it would end like this eventually. This whole thing probably meant absolutely nothing for him. You were just a cuddle buddy in his eyes with nothing serious ever happening or even planing on happening. The kiss must've been a huge mistake in his eyes. Your naive nature must've been convinient for him too. Barely any girl ever showed interest in him or any of his bandmates in school, so now that you let him cuddle you he must've been using it to get his fill of intimacy he never got. Hell, did he lie about his family not giving a crap about him just so you would get closer to him? In the back of your mind you knew he probably wasn't smart enough or hardworking enough to be this manipulative and scheming but when your brain was in overthinking mode everything was possible.
You didn't even register how far you've walked till you realized you were engulfed in a complete darkness. You've walked out of the town, with nothing but fields and wild tress around the old road you were standing on. "I should probably get back," you said to yourself but you didn't move from your place. You should really get back, who knows what could happen to you out here. You glanced over your shoulder at the town, then you pulled your hood over your head and continued walking away. Anywhere would be safer than in the Heffley house.
You finally realized why did that street seem so familiar. Rodrick drove through it when he showed you his safe place. You currently stood right where his van parked those days ago when he first took you here. It had a whole new vibe when in night, the trees prevented you from seeing the stars but the moon light reflected from the small creak beneath the bridge made up for it in a way. You walked towards a railing and sat on it, watching the water beneath you. The constant movement and soft ruffling of the leaves above calmed you down a bit, though your heart still ached. You closed your eyes and wondered how did the kiss happen. Did you start or did he? Did it start with a small peck first and then evolved into... that, or were the two of you eating the other one's face from the get go? You'd like it if it was the former. How Rodrick would smile down at you, you'd smile up at him, he would pull you in by your waist, your hands would hold onto his shoulders, his lips would be soft and warm.
A tear rolled down your cheek and you opened your eyes, ending your little daydream. Smiling sadly, you wiped it away, but a new one joined. And another and another.
Soon enough you were sitting on a rusty bridge railing mourning what could've been.
*
Rodrick felt awful. All of them could've gotten away with everything if only they remembered the stupid camera! Which idiot took those pictures anyways? When they appeared on the screen he swore he would find that asshole and beat him up for doing something so irresponsible!
He chuckled. Since when did he care about responsibility? Your nerdy nature must've rubbed off on him.
He fidgeted under his blanket. You ran away so fast his parents barely had time to tell you how disappointed in you they are. They said other things you absolutely didn't deserve, then it was his and Greg's turn to get scolded. Greg hung his head in shame, not being used to such trouble. Rodrick let those words one ear in and the other out, all he could think about was you. He pictured you either balled up under your blanket trying to shut the world out or sitting by your door and hugging your knees to your chest. Either way he wished he could go and comfort you, but moving during his mom's scolding would be worse than a death sentence.
Finally they recieved their punishments, Greg no videogames for two weeks. As for him-
"You can only drive to and from school for the next month. As the ring leader you're also grounded for a month."
So far so good, he could deal with it. More time at home with you at least.
"And to make sure you'll never do it again, we're also not allowing you to preform at the talent show."
He felt his knees buckle beneath him, his heart stopped for the second time that night. "What? No. No, you can't do that! Ground me for a whole year, I don't care! But you-" he felt tears burning in his eyes but he blinked them away, "you have to let me play in that show. It's gonna be my big break!"
Even though he saw the sadness on his parents eyes they wouldn't budge. Their decision is final.
The memory of his mom telling him the worst news in his life made tears sting his eyes again but this time he let them fall. No one was there to see anyways. Not the only person he'd let see him like this anyways.
Once he was sure his parents were too asleep to hear him, he sneaked off downstairs. He stood infront of your door for a while, contemplating whether to knock or to just enter. He knew you would still be up, he saw you stress about homework and get bloodshot eyes from not being able to fall asleep as a result, this situation isn't much different. To avoid making any noise he reached for the doorknob but the door wouldn't move. He wrestled a bit with it before he let it be. Locked. Of course you'd lock yourself.
"Y/n?" He called out as quietly as he could but still hopefully loud enough for you to hear. No response.
"I get it, you're not in the mood for talking. But hey, look at it from the brighter side, we both got a month. We can spend it togerher," he let out a sad excuse of a fake chuckle. Still no response.
He leaned his forhead against the door. "Look, it wasn't your fault. None of us knew someone was taking pictures. I bet you'd think of taking the memory card out or something. You're smart enough for that."
Still no response. Not to humor nor the praise. Soothing maybe?
"You were probably never scolded and grounded before. Don't take their words too seriously, they didn't mean that. Whenever I got in trouble they yelled much worse words in my face and were completely fine the next week. They're like fourty, their memory is just short like that. And grounding isn't bad either. We just won't be able to hang out outside. You already do that."
Silence.
Then Rodrick thought that maybe you're not mad about the grounding.
He sighed. "Listen, if you want nothing could change between us. I-it actually meant nothing to me. The kiss and then all the cuddling and all that," he lied through the lump in his throat. "Let's just be friends, okay? Nothing but friends. I swear I won't be nice to you if- wait no, I didn't mean it like that! I-I just... I promise everything will be like before."
That's the furthest from what he actually wanted. But based on your horified expression and what you were doing right now it was evident you'd never want the same as him. He must've been nothing but a cuddle buddy, a kindred spirit in a world so foreign to you. He didn't care what he was to you or how lowly you thought of him at the end of the day, as long as he could still be around you.
"Y/n, could you please just open?" He slid down to his knees, tears now freely falling from his eyes. "I-I... I can't preform at the talent show. My band won't get its breakthrough. We'll be forgotten in this shithole of a town forever. Please Y/n, I-" he closed his eyes and planted his palm against the door. "I need you."
Nothing. Not a peep from your side of the door. He waited and waited, his knees began to hurt from the hard wooden floor. He listened for anything, for ruffling of your bed sheets, for your feet softly walking up to him to open the door and hug him and tell him everything will be alright. That you'll still teach him to scream like a banshee. That there will be other opportunities for his band in the future. He needed to hold you, or for you to hold him more accurately. He needed to hear your voice, to feel your warmth. To smell your scent he still couldn't figure out if it was soap, parfume or your natural fragrance.
He waited and waited, hoped you'd come to his rescue, like you did in the past. But your sheets didn't ruffle. No soft steps made their way towards him. The doorknob didn't jiggle, the door didn't open.
You left him suffer alone. Just like he hoped you never would.
Summary: you're sent off to be an exchange student in some american city you never heard of. Back home you were seen as quite odd so you try your best to hide your wilder side you prop up your nerdy tendencies. You managed to make your new family for this school year like you like their own daughter. Except for their eldest, a total emo boy, who isn't very fond of your nerdy side.
Warnings: non-american reader (european but can be from wherever), enemies/rivals to lovers, slowburn, maybe ooc rodrick (slightly meaner), spoilers for Rodrick Rules
"We're here," Rodrick said before the van could even fully stop. He didn't take you to anything spectacular like an abandoned psychiatry or a creepy playground overgrown by plants and giving a ghost town vibe. No, he just took you to an ordinary bridge. The road looked relatively new, maybe because of how few vehicles it passed. If only the railing was a tad bit rusty or if it was at least set high but nope, all pretty normal. If you jumped down you wouldn't even get butterflies in your stomach from the fall, barely two meters were between you and the sorry excuse of a creek beneath you. And yet something about how it was all hidden under tall trees and the quietness of the whole scenery made you think of this bridge as something almost magical.
Rodrick picked a nearby leaf and threw it over the railing. The leaf floated from his side of the bridge to where you were looking over the railing on the other side. "Why did you take me here?" You said finally once the little leaf boat made it too far for you to distinguish.
Rodrick shrugged and picked another leaf. "Just felt like it," he twirled it between his fingers before he let it fall into the creek again. "It's quiet here, you know?"
You walked over to where he was leaning on the railing. "Quiet? Is that the only reason?"
"What else would there be?"
"I'm sorry but, you? A quiet type?"
He opened his mouth but quickly closed it and stared off into the distance. "If you lived with my family you'd understand."
"I do live with them genius."
"Yes but," he looked for the right words but gave up with a groan. "You just don't get it."
Seeing him this... frustrated was new. You waited for him to tease or elaborate but no qords were coming from him. "Well, explain it then," you tried gently and put your hand over his forearm, "I'll listen."
He stared at your hand on his for a while before he tried to word his thoughts again. "Before Greg was born everything was fine. I don't remember much but I do know I was happy then. But then Greg came and it all went to shit. Dad was barely home, mom doted and the new toddler in the house and I was forcefully moved out of my normal bed into the creepiest diy shit my could've ever come up with. And I guess I got used to it and it was fine again, I bribed parents to live in the attic while greg got my room all to himself. And then Manny came. Dad's still out of the house and mom is all over him now but unlike me Greg just refuses to move on," you bit your tongue before you could note on him stroking his ego during which was meant to be a touching moment.
"Well, he's a bit selfcentered and still tries to get the attention he once had. I gave up now. The only attention I ever got was once I got into trouble and even then it was one punishment after the other. One day when it was simply too much I ran away, like every fifteenyear old tried. And then I found this," he gestured around with his free hand. "I waited for couple hours to see if this place was really abandoned and yeah, not even hobos or narcs come here. Ever since then when mom is worshipping Manny or when Greg is fooling around and the guys can't come for band practice I come here. I don't even know why I wanted to show you this to be honest," he chuckled and without tearing his eyes from the creek below he placed his free hand over yours, "I just felt like I could trust you with it."
His hand was surprisingly warm despite how chilly the air around you became with the setting sun. The skin contact nearly made you stop listening to his words, which were probably the most honest thing you ever heard him say. "Rodrick, I- I don't even know what to say."
"It's fine," he patted your hand and pulled away from your touch entirely to turn around and lean his back against the railing. "I mean it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. Didn't really expect you to pull up a whole speech. I just wanted to show you this, that's all."
You smiled. "Well, I like it here. It's really calm. Clashes with your badass rocker type," you nudged him softly.
"Whaaat? No way," he said sarcastically to which you giggled.
The sun has almost set. The air around you became too cold for you to bear and your body started shivering. Rodrick noticed and hugged your body to his side, his hand rubbing your shivering shoulder to warm it up. "Come on, let's go home. There's not much for us to do here anyways," he said and lead both of you back to his van. You'd much more appreciated if he gave you his hoodie to warm you up, the guy is literally a walking heater so he definitely wouldn't mind bit of a nightly chill, but then you'd expect too much of him. This was a nice enough start.
He pulled up to the house just in time for you to see Rowley's back disappearing behind front door. Guess he came to hangout.
You wouldn't think much of it, but Rodrick nearly lost his mind next to you. "Shit!" He exclaimed before he sprinted out of the van and into the house, leaving you alone freezing and confused.
"So I guess locking the car is a foreign concept, huh?" You talked with yourself while walking up to the warmth of the house. "Rodrick, you didn't lock the-"
Rowley, Greg and Rodrick turned to you with wide eyes, Rowley looked scared out of his mind. "Uhm, what's going on?"
Rodrick waved his hand. "Nothing, we just told him to not say a thing about the P-A-R-T-I."
"Y"
"What do you mean why? So we don't get in trouble! I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, nerd!"
You opened your mouth to talk back but right at that moment mr. Heffley walked past. "Oh, you two are back. We were starting to get worried. Oh, hey Rowley, how is it going?"
The poor little guy could only let out a high pitched wheeze which weirded Rodrick's dad out and made him leave, to the realief of all four of you.
"What are you doing?" Greg scolded his friend.
"I'm sorry, I panicked. I've never had to hold secrets from adults! I don't think I can do this anymore. I'm leaving."
He turned arouns to leave but after hearing Mrs. Heffley calling everyone for dinner he quickly changed his mind.
After the meal the two youngsters disappeared upstairs to do whatever leaving you and Rodrick alone again. Well, semi alone.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go to tutor Rodrick from chemistry. Thank you for the meal," you stood up, hoping Rodrick would catch what you mean.
"You wha-? Oh! Right! This soon? Can't it wait though?" His acting voice needed a bit of practice but it would do for now.
"Go on Rodrick, a bit of extra school work won't hurt you," his mother encouraged him as he stood up as well.
Mr. Heffley turned around to semi-whisper to you: "Don't be gentle with him."
And that's how the two of you ended up in his attic bedroom. It was your first time being in this part of the house and it was exactly like you imagined. Messy, with dark metal themes here and there, somewhat homey and comfortable. Rodrick-like is what you'd describe it in short.
"So, miss teacher, what are we going to do?" He threw himself into his bean back and stuck his finger out in a warning. "You pull up any chemistry term and I'll kick you down the stairs."
You scoffed and fell onto his bed with no intentions of asking for his permition. "You're being awfuly nice again I see. And here I thought we were starting to have something special."
"We were?" Rodrick asked with genuine confusion instead of some snappy remark, which made you lose your teasing mood as well.
"I mean, only if you want to..."
He cleared his throat and let his eyes roam around the room, anywhere but at you, as his ears turned crimson. "Maybe."
You sat back up on his bed and just looked at him. Maybe it was the low lighting in his room or his sudden change in demeanor and posture, but in your eyes he became incredibly adorable. With his fluffy black hair, smooth cheeks dusted with the faintest hue of pink and deep brown eyes which have momentarily lost all teenage cockiness and almost resembled a baby deer.
It was nice, staring into his eyes. But the rising heat in your chest and all through out your face became too irritating for you. Instead of waiting for the old sarcastic Rodrick, that had the unique talent to ruin almost all cute moments, to return you stood up from his bed, walked up to him and quickly pecked him on the cheek.
"That's for today's field trip," you whispered and ran down the stairs to lock yourself in your own room, throw yourself face down on your bed and kick your feet in excitement.
Little did you know Rodrick did just about the same thing as soon as he was certain no one could see him.
so I was wondering if you could make a random little Rodrick rant for me bc I'm scared to ask others and like I think ur the only one who I follow that does Rodrick stuff so..
I was thinking and i thunk and like...
What would Rodrick be like as a soon-to-be dad? How would that go? Utter chaos? Collected cherishment? I need more people one this thought 😭
-💿
Oooooo a dad!Rodrick 😮 that is something I've never thought of before, I had to think for a while 😂
Well, he seems like Peter Pan as in 'i'm gonna stay young forever'. Having a band, touring the world, having fun like all other rockers he's admired his whole teenagehood.
When his gf/wife tell him he's pregnant I think he would react with silence first (a looong one), then nervous laugh ("no you're not"/"you're joking"), lots of pacing and scratching his neck. He'd be hit with fear, he'd think he's too young to be a dad (even when he's way over his mid twenties) and I guess he'd be lowkey hit with an identity crisis over that too. And since he's Rodrick he'd say something stupid out of panic and then immediatelly regret it (something like "is it reversable?", I'm sorry he just doesn't seem like a type that'd adapt to a change as huge as another person living with him and calling him dad for the rest of his life)
However he'll hit his turning point once it all becomes real, tangible. Once he holds the first picture from the ultrasound, once he feels the baby kick for the first time, once he sees his gf/wife struggle a bit (morning sickness, odd cravings at odd hours, belly growth, etc.). That when he switches from avoidant to commited. He doesn't make any grant speeches or promises about loyality to you and the baby till his last breath, he just does things.
He'd observe, a lot. And he'd be awkwardly peotective as well? I mean, that kind of protective when he doesn't even know what's going on but he's still trying his best to do the right thing. Like as soon as he sees a shape vaguely similair to human on the new ultrasound photo he's even scared to hug you in case he squishes your belly too much and kills his baby. When the two of you are on a walk and someone who's at least a kilometer away (i'm european, i don't do feet or miles, sorry 😅) he'd whip out a facemask for you and force you to wear it until he can't smell the cigarette anymore. When it comes to alcohol it's even worse. Every single milestone the baby hits (first heartbeat, first kick, etc) gets a celebration that starts privately with you at home and then gets a bit out of hand once his bandmates come and drag him to a bar. When he comes home he doesn't even want to sleep next to you because he's affraid the smell of liquor on him would affect you and the baby.
His dilemma with overprotectivness would come when you're in any type of pain. Some painkillers could be harmfull to babies (ahem, thalidomid, ahem) and he'd be so torn on wanting to help you and give you the med but also not give it to you out of fear it would hurt the child you both started to love so much despite it not being even here yet. At moments like this he'd just fold and call his mom.
And while we're speaking about the soon to be grandparents I don't think he'd ask his dad for any advices. I'm a strong believer of Manny growing up to be a psychopath thanks to Susan's coddling and Greg... well he's either a sociopath, a narcisist or simply peaked in highschool and loser later in life. Rodrick wouldn've wanted to be a better dad than his was (I mean, if I remember right he was pretty distant in the books and not very close with Rod in movies...)
But back to pregnancy, he'd try to help out. He'd learn to cook one very specific meal you craved once and then he'd repeat it obsessively. And when you tell him you don't really crave it anymore he'd borderline emotionally shut down for a while, feeling like he has failed you in a way. He'd be so dramatic 😂 His late nights have turned to researching anything and everything. 'Is xyz normal during pregnancy?' kind of research. And he wouldn't even admit it when you question him in the morning about the google history being wiped clean. He wants to seem like he doesn't care when in reality he cares too much. So much in fact he has memorised your appointments better than you and even scolds you when you forget.
And when you grow too big for your liking (which is normal but still, emotions are a mess...) and you'd have a minor mental breakdown about everything, whether it is the reality of the two of you having a baby or just weather outside being shitty he always looks around awkwardly looking for a trustworthy adult. Then he remembers that right, he is an adult and that's his girl with his baby, he should be the responsible trustworthy one. He then hugs you and just mutters "Hey, no crying. No. No, it's okay. Just... let's stay like this until you're better." No flowery words, just grounding.
Throughout this all he would be so affraid. He has been seen as this failure of a kid, screwed up first attempt of his parents, someone that kept trying and trying and yet he still failed. He feels like everyone expects him to fail even now so he overcompensates (aforementioned late night research, overprotectiveness, memorisation of the appointments, etc). However his overcompensation would sometimes even turn to self sabotage.
So overall, he'd be fiercly loyal and protective but very clumsy. He'd start opening up over time, not instantly. His most vulnerable time with you would be at night, when he thinks no one can see him in such an embarassing position. He'd even turn the lamp off so you wouldn't see how he caresses and cuddles your baby bump (as if you won't feel it 😂).
Holy shit this is long, let's end it here before I write a thousand more words 😂 hopefully this is what you were hoping to read. Thanks for requesting <3
Summary: you're sent off to be an exchange student in some american city you never heard of. Back home you were seen as quite odd so you try your best to hide your wilder side you prop up your nerdy tendencies. You managed to make your new family for this school year like you like their own daughter. Except for their eldest, a total emo boy, who isn't very fond of your nerdy side.
Warnings: typos, grammar mistakes, non-american reader (european but can be from wherever), enemies/rivals to lovers, slowburn, angst, maybe ooc rodrick (slightly meaner), spoilers for Rodrick Rules
A/N: I played around with the timeline a bit, I'm sorry (it's really difficult as hell to deduce the canon timeline from the movies since it seems to be fall all the damn time...). The talent show will happen in early March, it's currently October/November.
Morning rays of sun tickled your freeze kissed cheeks on your way back. You couldn't call that house home in your head anymore. You weren't a morning person but now you could see the appeal of being up before the rest of the world. Birds softly chirped here and there, the morning fog mixed with peoplelessness gave the empty street a nice mysterious look, despite the whole scenery getting brighter and brighter with the rising sun. It would be nice if it was night again, you'd have more time to yourself.
But you knew very well it didn't matter how angry or disappointed the Heffley parents were, they would still worry for you. Either because they were legaly responsible over you or because they genuenly cared for you a little bit, despite not being theirs. Either way, you felt a need to be at the house before they wake up.
Climbing back through the window was fairly easy, your numb limbs warmed up while walking and regained their strength. The whole room seemed a lot colder than when you last left it. A strange feeling. But that wasn't enough to stop you from falling into the bed like a sack of potatoes. Closing your burning eyes felt extremely blissful, even for a while. It was schoolday, you knew you had to be up and functioning in less than an hour from now.
Someone walked down the stairs. Soft short steps. Mrs. Heffley. She's usually the first one up on any given day but this is soon even for her. She stopped by your door for a second but then quickly continued in her way to the kitchen. Weird.
You wanted to get up and join her but your body felt too heavy. Besides, you didn't know if you had the mental strength to be alone with her in the kitchen.
Heavy long steps followed in couple minutes with shorter fast ones. Greg and his dad. Leaving only...
Long lazy steps dragged themselves down for what seemed like forever. He's up sooner than usual which went against your plans. You wanted to give yourself few more blissful minutes of laying down, then go to the kitchen, pack something for lunch as fast as possible and leave before Rodrick even shows up. Theoretically you could wait until he leaves but he exits the house only couple minutes before school starts and you'd be extremely late.
There's nothing else that could be done, just face him and hope for the best.
Your heart abused your ribcage like never before and anxiety made you want to throw up more than ever. Even getting up from bed was challenging thanks to your weak shaking knees. Eventually you made it towards your bedroom door and with sweaty shaking palms you managed to unlock and open it.
The whole kitchen was quiet, except for the sounds of cutlery and Mr. Heffley's newspaper's rustling. No one greeted anyone with 'goodmorning'. Even Manny was quiet, maybe sensing the tension in his family plus you. With your head down you manuevered your body around everyone being extra careful to not touch anyone, grabbed something small to eat from the cabinet, filled your bottle with water and left. In matter of five minutes you changed your clothes and were on your way out of the house. Twenty minutes too early even for you.
Before you left you glanced quickly in the kitchen way, hoping to get a glimpse of Rodrick. The thought of him still hurt you but there was still a need to look at him. Strangely his dorky face brought you comfort.
But his body was unnaturally twisted fully away from you so he couldn't catch a glimpse of you even by an accident.
With a heavy heart you left for school.
*
'She looks like shit,' was the first thing Rodrick thought when you stumbled into the kitchen. But then again he saw his own face in the mirror that morning and if the situation was different he would be happy to match with you. But not today.
Thankfully he didn't have to stomach your presence for too long since you only took some stuff and left. He hypnotised your door until it opened. How he wished to see it open for him last night. He knelt on the floor infront of it until the damn birds started chirping outside.
The front door closed and Rodrick could relax. Or rather mentally prepare himself to be around you at school the whole day. He proped his head and lazily mixed the cereals in his milk bowl.
"Pack up when you come home. I'm taking you to grandpa's after school," his mom said.
"Wonderful," Rodrick mumbled. He loved his relatives in a way but as long as they are far away from him. He did want to ask if Y/n will have to come as well or not but currently he couldn't bring himself to utter your name outloud. Chances are you'll stay here since you aren't family.
"What about Y/n? Will she come with us?" Greg asked and Rodrick surpressed the urge to kick him under the table.
His mom and dad exchanged a look, that adult look that seemed to be more than words. Then his mom said: "It would be a nice lesson for her as well."
Rodrick scoffed. A lesson. What kind of lesson can be learned in a moldy, boring retirement community?!
He threw his uneaten cereal into the sink, completely ignored his mom's scolding and went up to his room to catch at least some sleep before school. He unvoluntarily woke up ten minutes earlier than he used to drive to school. After he started driving you to school you made him leave ten minutes earlier because you liked being in school sooner.
"On time is late in my dictionary," you once said.
"Your dictionary needs editing," he teased and you stuck your tongue out at him. He still took you every single day ten minutes earlier.
Even today he turned his keys and pulled from the driveway ten minutes early. The silence in his van made his skin crawl. The vehicle was always full of either his band's music from CDs they recorded or the band members and him making jokes and having a grand time. Or lately you and your laughter. Silence felt foreign. Even the sight of the empty passanger seat felt weird.
The time from parking to the begining of the first class felt like a dream. Rodrick couldn't remember shit and the substitute teacher calling his name in attendace felt like a very rude alarm clock waking him from the autopilot mode. Only then did he start to notice the world around him again. More precisly he noticed you and how far away from him you sat. It made him want to tune out and switch to autopilot even more.
However the substitute teacher, who also happened to be the science teacher, had other ideas.
"As most of you know, our school voluntered our auditorium for an upcoming Plainview talent show," Rodrick's stomach twisted, "and since the preparations would clash with the science fair the headmaster decided to push the date to late January instead of the usual March. Hope all your projects will be ready to present by then! As always if you guys have any questions you can address the to me or other colleagues from science department."
Rodrick couldn't care less about some stupid science fair, but, maybe out of habit, he still glanced your way. It wasn't because of him still caring for you. Not after how coldheartedly you ignored him last night. He just wanted to see your reaction to this change of plans. That's all.
His heart stopped. You looked panicked. With four of your fingers held up he deduced your project won't be ready that soon. The teacher kept talking but all Rodrick could think about was you and how desperately he wanted to comfort you. And how much he hated his heart for still caring about you. You didn't care about him! You left him broken and alone last night! He should be as indifferent to you as you were to him!
By the time he could win or lose his inner fight with his own messy emotions the bell rang and his classmates packed their bags. As usual you stayed behind while the rest of the class pushed over eachother to get out through the narrow doors. He stayed at his desk as well.
Both of you walked up towards the door at the same time. You stopped and looked up at him for the first time that day. Your eyes were bloodshot, even more than when you used to sing with that band all night at the bar. He stared into your pained eyes, there were so many things he wanted to say and do. It looked like you had the same inner battle as him. But then you looked down and slipped past him, Rodrick swore he could even hear you sniffle. Sniffle?! What reason to cry did you have?!
"Everything alright, Rodrick?" The teacher asked and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which Rodrick promptly shook off.
"Just perfect..."
The teacher looked briefly at him, then out the door at your back getting lost among the rest of the students. "Did something happen to Y/n?"
"How should I know?" He snapped and tried to get out but the techer was relentless.
"You live in the same house." When Rodrick answered with silence the teacher continued. "Listen, if anything happened between the two of you-"
"Don't worry teach', the project will be done on time."
"I'm not talking about the project."
Rodrick studied his least favourite teacher for any sign of deception. But for the first time in his highschool life he saw a human being and not the rigid teacher.
"You can tell me anything, Rodrick."
It was the first kind thing an adult told him in a while, and in his wrecked stayed Rodrick felt like crying and telling him everything that was wrong with his life. But he only wanted to admit what bothered him the most for now. "I don't think Y/n will want to be paired with me anymore. The project is all hers. She's a hardworker, it will be done on time. I got nothing. You can fail me if you'd like. My life is ruined anyways."
"And why would she not want you on her team anymore?"
"Because she hates me now. Certain... stuff happened and... I don't know! I thought we had something but then I needed her and she just ignored me! She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore and neither want I but I still... UGH!" Rodrick threw his hands up in frustration. Why was wording his feelings so difficult? And why is he giving all of this word vomit to his science teacher?!
The teacher in question just nodded. "Have you tried talking to her?"
"Why? So she could tell me to my face she hates me?"
"Maybe she doesn't hate you at all. You'll never know unless the two of you talk."
Rodrick crossed his arms but said nothing. He waited a bit in case the teacher wanted to give him another stupid advice but once he heard nothing he just thanked him, told him he'll see what he can do and left for his next class.
Thankfully he could slip into the autopilot for the rest of the day. Until an unexpected rain knocked him out of it again. People ran from school to their respective vehicles or to the waiting bus but most kids stayed under the roof to wait the sudden shower out. Rodrick wanted to run to his own van as well when he noticed you. With a hood pulled over your head you strolled down the sidewalk as if it wasn't raining cats and dogs.
A thought sprouted in his head: take her home, shield her from the rain, talk in the van. It would be so easy. But Rodrick shook his head and found an easier solution to the problem: avoid the problem completely. And thus he got into his van and drove home, alone and once again in the deafening silence.
*
You came home drenched like a mouse, despite the rain lasting only around ten minutes. You didn't mind since the rain could hide your tears. The whole day you spent catching glimpses of Rodrick when you were certain he couldn't see you. Everytime you looked at him his stare was blank, his movements slow. And that one long minute you spent looking into eachothers' eyes after the morning class... Maybe he was suffering just as much as you were.
The two of you need to talk, you knew that. But not yet. You needed more time alone to sort your thoughts and feelings out.
Turns out your host family will gladly ruin your alone time with a mandatory visit to the retirement community for a weekend. The entire time you packed you prayed their gradfather wasn't one of the senile ones who'll forget you everytime he sees you.
To make the matters even worse the three of you had to squeeze into the back of the car. Meaning you and Rodrick will be extremely close to eachother. Greg sitting between you wasn't helping.
It was the longest and most awkward drive of your life.
Finally the Heffleys unloaded you infront of a big building. You first thought it was some hotel or something since nursing homes look vastly different back in your home, but the crowds of old graying people everywhere corrected you.
"Rodrick my boy! You're finally acting like a true Heffley!" His grandfather hugged the air out of poor Rodrick.
"Wha-??"
"And you," he turned towards you and gave you the same treatment. "Welcome to the family my dear!"
It took some time and some very uncomfortable explanation (mainly from Greg since neither you nor Rodrick were good with words at the moment) for the poor old man to understand you and his eldest grandson weren't dating.
That didn't change the fact the old man was treating you like his grand daughter. He held out his elbow for you to hold onto like an oldfashioned gentleman while he not-so-subtly nudged his real grandsons to take notes on how to treat a lady. It warmed your heart and made you forget about your struggles for a while. What do you know, old people can be adorable sometimes.
A sudden cough ruined a very cute moment of the oldest Heffley presenting you to his chess buddies as his grand daughter for the school year. "Are you alright sweetheart?" He asked and rubbed your hand wrapped around his elbow.
"Yeah, just a soar throat."
"I know a good remedy," another old man stood up and took his cane, "just sit down and I'll fetch you some tea with sliced ginger. That will heal you right up!"
"No, that's okay, really. I guess I'll just go to bed."
"Are you sure?"
You nodded.
"Alright then. You know where the room is. If anything just call, alright?" He caressed your cheek in a way that almost made you feel loved. "And to give you some peace and quiet," he turned around to his real grandsons, "we'll go to the games room."
Both boys groaned. Greg looked bored but Rodrick. Yeah, the gaze he threw at you was beyond pissed. 'Perfect little nerd's throat hurts and us peasants need to accomodate her.' Before you could apologize another coughing fit forced itself out from you and you really needed to lie down.
Thankfully grandpa Heffley's room was closer than it seemed and soon enough you were snuggled under the big fluffy covers. Maybe the walk in the rain wasn't such a good idea. Even though... now that you think about it you did feel a bit groggy after you came back from the bridge, but you reasoned it was from the lack of sleep. It didn't matter. You'll take a nap, drink some tea and you'll be okay again.
Before you could drift away someone's phone rang. Groaning you pulled the blanket off your head to look for the phone so you could turn it off and sleep. The only phone around was a black flip-phone. Rodrick's. And if the colour wasn't an idicator the name of the caller was: Ben.
Against your better judgement you picked up. Maybe it was something important.
"Hey Rod! We stopped by to practice but your mom told us the situation. We're so sorry man. I don't even know what to say. But the band must stick together right? Where are you? We could come and cheer you up? Hold on- WHAT? OH! And Bill could buy some beer too, right Bill? Aaw come on man! It's our Rod! We need to-"
"Hey," you said and the hoarseness in your voice surprised even you. Twenty minutes of no speaking and you already sound like an old with ready to lure children into your cottage on chicken legs. Just great. "We're at Rodrick's gradfather's for a weekend, probably as a punishment for throwing that party. Did something happen?"
"Oh, hey Y/n," he greeted you, then whispered something with the rest of the bandmates, then put the phone back to his face. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Rodrick's mom forbid him from attending the show."
"What?!" You yelped and nearly coughed your lungs out. This won't pass as quickly as you thought. "But he can't! He- you guys were practicing like crazy for that! His mom can't do that! He doesn't deserve it!"
"Yeah, we know. Are you okay by the way? You sound-"
"I'm fine! But- can't you guys change Mrs. Heffley's mind? Once she sees he is needed she must change her mind. This is a chance for you to go big!"
"God is she dumb?" Someone further from the phone said. "We've already tried that."
"Ben," you said terrifyingly calmly, "give me the adult one."
"You mean Bill?"
"Whatever just give him the phone," after a while you heard an annoyed deep voice asking you what did you want. "Try to persuade her harder. Rodrick's your leader! He's the drummer! The rhythm setter! Basically the most important part of the band!"
"Exactly!" Bill surprisingly agreed with you. But his next words proved you can never cheer too soon. "That's why we need to find a new drummer as soon as possible."
"WHAT?!" You stood up out of pure anger. "You can't be serious!"
"I am! Wasting time persuading someone who already made up their mind will do nothing for us. Rodrick's out. Time to find someone new."
"If it wasn't for him you'd be rotting off behind some supermaket counter you ungreatful fucker!" You coughed. "Go back in there and persuade Susan. Now!" You growled and made sure to put enough of your metal growl in it as well, even though it felt like deepthroating razorblades. This was about Rodrick. You're okay with the pain.
Bill didn't budge. "No. We're already looking for someone else. That's rock'n'roll baby," and he hung up.
You squeezed the poor phone so hard you were affraid you'd break it. That backstabbing asshole! Out of frustration and pure anger you yelled into the silent phone and threw it on the couch before you collapsed to the floor in a coughing fit. You held your burning throat in an attempt to calm it down but nothing was helping.
Suddenly someone pulled a blanket over your crouching form. You looked up and locked eyes with someone.
Rodrick was kneeling infront of you, dark brown eyes full of concern, his hands still holding edges of the white blanket over your shoulders.
"I-I..." he looked everywhere but at you.
"Yes?" You whispered, the only volume your hurting vocal cords allowed.
He pointed at his phone. "Who...?"
You shook your head. Your eyes burned and your throat desperately needed some warm liquid.
"I heard everything," he said. You must've looked very panicked since he put up his hands to reassure you. "Not everything! Just like... last half maybe?"
Your face burned out of embarassment and you turned away from him. You had no right picking up someone else's phone call, you wouldn't blame him if he was even more mad at you.
"It sounded like... were you standing up for me to someone?"
You nodded.
A hint of smile passed through his lips but he wuickly turned them neutral. "Thank you, but... but why? I-I thought you hated me? And to who?"
You opened your mouth to explain but all you managed to produce were coughs and hoarseness.
"Oh, right. Your throat. Hold on," he went to the small bathroom and brought back a glass of water. "I'll go down to the kitchen to steal a tea bag later."
"Thank you," you whispered and drank. You were never a fan of warm tapwater but desperate situations call for desperate solutions.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault you're like this."
You looked up at him quizickly. What is he talking about?
"I could've driven you back home from school. But now you've gotten a stupid cold from that stupid rain..."
You shook your head.
"Oh don't turn into a bobble head now. I'm trying to sincerely apologize here," he said in a bit light hearted tone. A tone you thought you'd never hear from him again.
You shook your head again. "I should be the one to say sorry," you said a bit louder than a whisper, the warm water helping your sick throat. "The guys from the band just told me what happened. I'm so sorry Rodrick. We'll come home and persuade your mom somehow. The guys, they have no right to-"
"What do you mean they just told you?" Rodrick interrupted you.
"They called?" You pointed at the phone on the couch. "Ben just found out and called to cheer you up."
"But...but you already knew. I told you! And then-then you ignored me!"
"Told me? When?"
"Last night!" His voice kept getting more desperate, as if he was explaining basics to an absolute idiot.
"Rod," you said slowly, "I wasn't home last night."
The two of you just stared at eachother. Then after couple minutes Rodrick stuck out his forefinger in your direction. "We need to talk," he said with a serious face.
And even though butterflies occupied your stomach again from how close his face was to yours, you also felt this conversation won't be pleasant.
