Synopsis: After the freshmen prank on you goes wrong, it sets off a series of events where Gareth finally shows you how he feels.
A/N: I have fully gone down the Gareth Emerson rabbit hole. I love him so much. Please let me know if you like it, it’s my first time writing for him. If you want to see more Gareth content from me- my requests are open! I also hate this title but we’re rolling with it cause I couldn’t think of something better 🤷♀️
When a glop of ketchup lands on your page with a splat, you look up from your notebook with daggers in your eyes. A hush falls across the table as you look at the culprit of painting your homework and the front of your Hellfire shirt red. Eyes wide in panic, one of the freshmen sitting across from you looks like they might melt from under your heavy stare.
“What the fuck was that, Henderson?” You snap, snatching napkins from Mike’s tray.
“Uh- um-”
“UH, UM,” you mock, tilting your head to match each syllable.
“It was just part of the initiation!” Mike interjects- trying to diffuse the tension before it goes too far. Your brow furrowed in confusion as the rest of the table erupts into a laughing fit.
“What initiation?” you question, skeptically. The two younger boys look even more startled.
“To join Hellfire…”
“There’s never been hazing to join Hellfire,” you point out, and you notice how Jeff and Grant can’t keep themselves from falling over in laughter. “We don’t have people trying to get in, why would you think we would need an initiation?”
“You dumbasses set them up to piss me off?” You ask, redirecting your glare to the boys seated further down the table.
“I’m just disappointed they couldn’t think of an actually good prank,” Grant scoffs.
“That was the best you could do, Henderson?” Jeff mocked. “That’s not even a prank.”
“You’re all assholes,” you mutter, shoving your bag over your shoulder. You need to go to the restroom and try to get the glaring stain off your clothes before they set. Maybe if you have time, you can salvage your homework too before next period.
You don’t even notice Gareth and Eddie as you rush past them, and you don’t hear Gareth call out to you as you head down the hallway. Eddie shrugs, but as the two approach the table, the aftermath of the situation is glaringly obvious. Your usual seat at the table looks like a set of a shoestring budget gore movie.
“I’m gonna go find her,” Gareth says, patting Eddie on the shoulder- opting to catch up with you then join the others at the table. He can hear Eddie interrogating those at the scene as he heads after you.
“Dude coming in!” Gareth announces, stepping into the girl’s room. You roll your eyes when you make eye contact with him in the mirror. “Not a perv! Just need to help a friend in crisis!”
“It’s just me,” you mutter, dabbing your shirt with cold water with wads of paper towel. Gareth moves to lock the door so you two can talk uninterrupted. Also, so he doesn’t get in trouble being in here with you.
“What happened?” Gareth asks, shrugging off his flannel and offering it to you.
“Thanks,” you smile weakly. “Um, it wasn’t a big deal… Dustin ‘Carrie’d’ me with a bottle of Heinz and I kind of freaked out on him. Jeff and Grant put him up to it.”
“That sounds… really fucking stupid,” he stiffles back a laugh. You shove his arm, playfully.
“They of course chose the day I wore my club shirt, and I was working on my short essay for Ms. O’Donnell,” you exhale, annoyed still.
“It’ll come out of the shirt,” Gareth tries to help. “And you and I can wipe that off and I can help you rewrite it. Lunch just started- we can probably type it up at the library if we hurry.”
“It’s gonna set,” you whine, frustrated that you just seem to be fruitlessly pushing ketchup everywhere.
“I will make you another shirt,” he promises gently. He holds up the flannel again and helps you shrug it on. “Good as new, yeah?” he smiles.
God, why does he have to be so sweet? You’ll let yourself bask in the fact that you’re wearing his shirt later. It smells like his cologne- the scent overwhelms you and you wish you could just sink into it.
“Thanks, Gare,” you smile. You look down and button up the shirt so it hides the stains a little better. “You’re the best.”
“I know- would you tell the guys that?” he jokes.
“I’ll work it into conversation,” you promise. You move to head towards the door, you still need to fix your paper for class.
“Hey,” Gareth says, and you turn back to him. Suddenly, his demeanor is more shy.
“Yeah, Gare?”
“Do you- I mean, would you ever…”
“Yeah?” you ask, encouraging him to continue.
“Nevermind,” he shakes his head. “Let’s go fix your paper, yeah?”
“You’re my hero,” you joke, turning back around to walk out of the bathroom. You miss the way his cheeks flush pink. You can hear Eddie’s voice booming down the hallway- you look over at Gareth skeptically.
“I think he’s pissed about Ketchup Gate,” Gareth guesses, “C’mon, let’s get out of here before we run out of time.” He takes your hand and the both of you scurry down to the library, the clock ticking on your deadline.
You’re so focused on the fact that he’s holding your hand, you can’t even care about your homework anymore.
The rest of the day went by in a blur- you couldn’t take your mind off Gareth, which was not an uncommon occurrence. You kept thinking about the shirt you were wearing, the way he helped you fix your homework, and the way he waited for you outside Ms. O’Donnell’s class to walk with you and see how it went. Your every thought was tied back to him it seemed.
You were off your game in Hellfire. You could maybe concentrate better if Gareth wasn’t sitting so close. You’d stop rolling horrific numbers and would be able to stop stuttering on all of your decisions if his eyes were looking anywhere else but on you. You had done such a good job hiding your crush over the past few years- and unfortunately, it’s gotten worse instead of faded as you had hoped with time.
After a devastating campaign for your character, you decide it’s best to just cut your losses and head home. Mike, Lucas and Dustin have somehow convinced Eddie to drive them to the arcade- how? You’ll never know. Jeff and Grant seem interested, and make a plan to meet them there- but Gareth lingers, waiting to see what you’re doing. The rest of the guys fall over themselves, piling out of the room towards the parking lot. You doubt they notice that you’re ducking out.
“Are you coming?” Gareth asks hopefully, dangling his mom’s car keys in the air like a trophy. “You can drive with me- my mom let me have the wagon tonight.”
“No, I’m kinda tired,” you lie and you hope he can’t tell. “I was just gonna go home- maybe just chill and watch TV. There’s a new episode of Growing Pains on tonight…”
“Are you sure? I mean, the arcade could be kinda fun,” he asks, and he tries his best to hide the disappointment. “Or, maybe I could keep you company? I could stomach Growing Pains, or maybe we could get a movie at Family Video?”
“No, you go ahead,” you try to insist. You don’t think you could manage being alone with him without making a complete fool of yourself. You’re surprised at how well you seem to be holding up now. “I kinda want to just have some time to myself.” Lie.
“Okay,” he nods, feeling the sting of rejection. He tries his best to not let it weigh him down. “Hey, um- if you change your mind, you can always call The Palace and I can pick you up.”
“Thanks, Gare,” you smile.
Gareth is annoying Keith about every 15 minutes from the second he gets there. He idles near the prize counter, waiting for Keith to be done helping someone before asking again if someone called for him.
“I’ll page on the intercom if you get a call,” Keith rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell people to call you here again.”
“It’s just that it’s really important, I can’t miss it if they call,” he insists. He walks back to join the rest of the group. Jeff and Grant can tell immediately something is up with him, they knew he’d been acting weirder than usual. Eddie picked up on it too, but he was a little preoccupied in intimidating the freshmen so none of them beat his high score that he just set in Dig Dug.
“What’s up with you, man? You’re walking around here like it’s a wake,” Grant asks Gareth. Both he and Jeff slid into the opposite side of the booth where they found Gareth sitting alone. He keeps glancing over at the counter, trying to tell if Keith would step away to check the phone.
“Nah, I’m good,” he says distractedly, “Just, um, she’s gonna call if she wants to come out. I said I’d come get her. I don’t want Keith to fuck it up, you know?”
“She’s not coming out tonight,” Jeff points out, “She said she wanted to stay in, you told us.”
“But if she changes her mind, I’d go get her,” Gareth corrects him. Jeff sighs.
“Whatever you say man,” Grant says, shaking his head.
“When are you going to ask her out?” Jeff asks, knowingly. Gareth’s eyes widened.
“It’s not like that!” he insists. Jeff and Grant exchange a look.
“It’s totally like that,” Grant scoffs, Jeff nodding in agreement.
“You’re whipped,” Jeff taunts.
“No, I’m not!” Gareth tries to dispute them. It’s pointless. They know him better than anyone. He’s completely smitten, and they know it.
“Mike told me that he heard her talking to Nancy and she told Nancy that she liked you,” Jeff says, stirring the pot, to get Gareth’s reaction.
“Shut up, she did not. You’re trying to fuck with me,” he scoffs, before glancing back over toward Keith.
“Ask him yourself, Emerson,” Jeff says, hands in surrender. “That’s what he told us.”
“Pricks,” Gareth mumbles under his breath, pushing up from the booth and making a beeline towards Wheeler- who was currently losing terribly to Eddie in air hockey. He stops next to Mike, shouting over the arcade’s music and the clanks of the air hockey table. He shouts your name and Mike looks puzzled.
“What about her?”
“Did you tell Jeff you heard her say she liked me?”
“Fuck,” Mike shouts, the distraction causing him to miss deflecting another shot from Eddie. He goes to grab the puck from the bottom of the machine. “He told you that?”
“Well, is it true?” He asks, impatiently.
“Yeah,” Mike says distractedly, lining up his next shot as the puck hovers around the table's surface. “She and Nancy were talking about whatever and your name came up.”
“You have to tell me what she said,” Gareth says, irritated. He takes the puck off the board to command Mike’s full attention.
“What the hell?” Eddie shouts with a laugh. Gareth rolls his eyes and just sticks the puck into Mike’s goal- the score was 6-1 anyways. Eddie was clearly going to win.
“You have to tell me what she said,” he reiterates. Mike looks like he’s holding back a temper tantrum, but he remains composed.
“She slept over like a few weeks ago,” Mike rolls his eyes. “They were talking about boys- Nancy was talking about Jonathan, something gross like them kissing or whatever. I was trying not to hear it- anyways, I distinctly heard her say that she wanted you to kiss her like that or whatever. Made me wanna vomit.”
“I gotta go,” Gareth says, rushing out the door. He completely ignores the questions from his friends and a confused Keith.
You’re in your room, playing your records loud- enjoying the fact your parents are out. You don’t have someone bugging you to turn them down. You’re in bed, flipping through a magazine. You’re wearing your most comfortable pajama shorts and Gareth’s flannel shirt he let you borrow. You should probably have given it back after Hellfire- but he didn’t ask for it, so you kept it.
Gareth tries banging on the front door for a few minutes to no avail. He can practically feel your music vibrating the whole house. He’s shocked one of your neighbors hasn’t called in a noise complaint. He walks around to the side of the house. Your mother has trellis with growing vines that runs up the side of the house, leading right up to your bedroom window. Fuck, he mutters to himself. Of course, he’s going to climb up.
You’re gonna think he’s a creep, he thinks to himself pessimistically as he drudges up the side of the house. He hopes to god that you’ll hear him pound on the window before he falls to his death. He makes it to the top, but he almost falls backwards when he sees you- in bed with his flannel. Taking a few steadying breaths first, he knocks on the window.
“Gareth?” You shout, scared shitless. You rush over to the window and open it up. You immediately grab his arms and help pull him through the window. He ends up landing directly on top of you with an umph. He pushes his body up, his hands resting on either side of your head so he’s gazing down at you.
“Mike told me you liked me,” he pants, catching his breath. Shit, you think.
“He did?” you ask, reluctantly, mortified. Oblivious to the fact that he obviously reciprocates your feelings. He nods, biting his lip nervously.
“I’m gonna kill him- I told Nancy that in confidence-” Oh.
Gareth kisses you and it’s like time stops. You forget about the blaring music, or that you're directly under an open window that’s letting in the night’s cold air. You forget that you were just absolving to get over him- too scared to ruin your friendship. None of it matters when he’s kissing you like this.
Warnings: This is literally just fluff because I just.. needed this, No like literally buckle up for the fluffiest fluff, big bad and scary Gareth is actually a huge and sweet teddy bear when you get to know him, Secret Admirer!Gareth, Cheerleader!Reader, Best Friend!Chrissy, Kind of mean girl cheerleader friends, Gareth has a little sister, Gareth has a cat
Synopsis: Random love letters continue to find their way into your locker at school, it felt like each and every day there was a new one. As time goes on your friends are constantly guessing who they think your "Secret Admirer" actually is. But, they couldn't have been more wrong. This has been giving me trouble because I wanted it to be the best it could be and I continued to come back to it. It has nothing to do with Valentine's Day but I made it a goal to finish it before then and this, uh, this turned out pretty long... So, to anyone that was waiting I'm sorry for the delay but I hope you enjoy how this turned out! Thanks for reading! + once again thank you to the loves of my life @keeryhours + @the-witty-pen-name
Word Count: 7k
Notes.
Love notes?
No, just notes… right?
That’s how it all started… with some small and subtle handwritten notes. Sweet little anonymous notes that always seemed to brighten your day and compliment you when you needed them the most. They came so often you were starting to wonder how you never noticed them being placed inside your locker… they must’ve been stuffed through the gaps but whoever was placing them definitely had to be quick and cunning if you never noticed them before, right?
It felt like every single day when you opened your locker a new handwritten note would fall to the ground and land at your feet. Each and every note seemed to have come from the same person—the consistent handwriting didn’t hide that, it actually only accentuated the fact that all these notes were from one person. But, alas, you never were able to find out who was sending them…
The scribbly and slightly slanted handwriting was a stark contrast to the nice and neat little square the paper was always folded into. It was funny, really, there was so much detail put into the folding of the paper but the handwriting was borderline unreadable unless you squinted and tilted your head to just the right angle. These notes were also never addressed with any name, any initials, anything; never even a clue as to who this person was, they never seemed to slip up and give away their identity. Which left you constantly playing the guessing game of who this person was and why they chose you to supply letters to.
Each time a new note fell to the ground you’d look around, trying to spot if there was anyone lurking in the shadows and watching you. But, you never found anyone, at least, you never seemed to find someone who was actively watching you and your moves… if they were watching you they were doing it so discreetly that you never once thought anything of it. They were good at concealing their identity, really.
Every little love note from your secret admirer, as Chrissy had called it, made its way into your folder. It brought a smile to your face every time the folder was opened, but you still wished you knew who exactly was writing the letters that put a huge smile on your face.
And more importantly… did they know they were putting these smiles on your face? Or, was all of this just a trick someone was playing on you? There’s no way you could have a secret admirer… right?
You sighed, yawning softly as you put the combination into your locker on autopilot. You had a late night; a pep rally was directly after school and the championship basketball game followed soon after. So, that meant that you cheered your little butt off for the entire school during said pep rally and for the entire town that had decided to come out to the championship game. All the while the band played in the background to help keep everyone interacted with obnoxious sounds of basketball coming from the court. (You know, the dribbling, the squeaks of sneakers, the shouts from players and the crowd; yeah, all of that.)
Fortunately, Hawkins had won the championship game; the first big win in years. Unfortunately, that meant that you were stuck being dragged to a party after the game with your best friends and fellow cheerleaders, Chrissy and Kate. Apparently despite being a school night, the win still needed to be celebrated. But, really, what was the point? The game was already done, the win already secured by Jason Carver as he made the game winning shot at the buzzer.
God, what more was there to celebrate? You wanted to celebrate your bed. But, no. Instead you were dragged out of the gym and to the biggest party you’d ever been to. Chrissy and Kate assured you that you’d be back home by 9 o’clock at night, but once 11 o’clock hit your body was finally resting in your bed comfortably, only to lie awake for ages. The clock showing 1:25 in the morning was the last thing you remembered before finally falling asleep.
You felt like you were running on empty as you yawned yet again, desperately craving an overly sweet iced coffee flavored with caramel syrup with extra whipped cream on top and maybe some extra caramel drizzle on top of that light and fluffy whipped cream. Yeah… that sounded like heaven right now. Caffeine buzz… sugar buzz… honestly, either sounded like they would help at this point in time. After struggling with your locker combination a couple of times, you finally succeeded and opened your locker to grab your English textbook. As you flung the door open, a small folded piece of paper landed at your feet.
You raised an eyebrow and looked down at the paper by your feet before looking around the hall to see if there was anyone watching you. When you didn’t see anyone actively paying attention to you, you shrugged, bending down to reach for the paper.
You held the small, perfectly folded paper in your hands before you opened it carefully, reading the contents to yourself.
You looked really pretty at the school pep rally yesterday.
You blushed to yourself, folding the paper back up quickly. You stuffed it in your pocket and grabbed your English textbook, closing your locker. You turned when you heard your name, looking at Kate as she walked towards you with a big grin on her face. Clearly, she was not affected by the late night like you were. She was looking as peppy and chipper as ever… damn, how did she do it? Did she already down that sugary and caffeine filled coffee of your dreams without you?
“Hey, girl,” Kate smiled, bumping your shoulder with her own gently. “How’d you sleep?” She giggled, taking in your tired and disheveled looking appearance. “I texted you, you didn’t respond. I had thought maybe you didn’t wake up in time for school this morning!”
Looking at Kate, you rolled your eyes as a small scoff left your mouth. “I saw your text, I just didn’t have the brain power to reply. And as for sleeping? I slept like hell, thanks,” you muttered, making the short walk to your English class. Kate walked alongside you, smiling at you.
“Sorry, girl, I thought maybe you could survive off of a few hours of sleep.” She teased, walking into the classroom with you. You sighed, sinking into your seat.
“I can’t,” you replied softly, grabbing your folder out of your backpack. You grabbed the tiny piece of paper from your pants pocket and slid it in the folder discreetly for safe keeping. “And, I think you know that I can’t. I’m going to be honest, I think the only solution at this point is an iced coffee with too much caramel and too much whipped cream.”
“Damn. Well, you better wake up quick,” she smirked, watching you rest your head in your hands. “Don’t think you want detention with the freaks today.” She added, motioning towards the boys of the Hellfire club. Eddie and Jeff stood around Gareth’s desk, talking far too loud for only being 7 o’clock in the morning. They continued to laugh and talk amongst each other, something about camping? No, a campaign? What the hell was a campaign? You really weren’t sure what they were going on about this early in the morning… it seemed like a foreign language to you and the other students that heard their conversation.
“Kate, don’t call them that,” you yawned again, watching the three boys continue to laugh until the bell rang. “They’re not freaks,” you mumbled, smiling softly when you saw Gareth look at you and smile.
“They are totally freaks, though.” Kate muttered back, looking at the board in the front of the room.
But you didn’t hear her. You just yawned again, giving Gareth one last smile before looking at the board as well. You were clinging to the hope that you could at least make it to lunch in order to get a nap in… who needed to eat anyways?
You sat in study hall, reading The Great Gatsby to yourself as others around you mumbled and talked amongst themselves about various topics. No one else was doing any homework, and you didn’t really blame them. No one ever actually did homework in study hall… it was the class that students took to tell their parents they would be getting ahead of their schoolwork, but, really, it was just a free for all social hour. Even the teacher that watched study hall didn’t really care, she used this free time to pretend she was grading papers for her class but she was really just swiping through her latest dating app matches trying to find Mr. Right on her phone under the desk. And, it was kind of funny watching her sit and mumble to herself when she didn’t get a match she wanted but, also, this was Hawkins… not many suitors for a teacher at the local high school in her mid 30s.
Normally you’d be sitting with Chrissy giggling with each other while watching the teacher as she aggressively swiped on her phone, mumbling to herself more. Then you’d move on to giggling about your latest cheer practice, then you’d be discussing the latest shade of nail polish you bought, then you’d go back to giggling about the latest funny video you saw online before finally discussing the newest skirt you had picked up at the mall. But, not today. Today you were just unlucky as Chrissy was sick which left you all alone in study hall. So, you might as well work on some homework… right?
While reading, you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, pouting to yourself when it moved over your ear again. You ran your fingers through your locks, sighing when you realized how short your hair actually was now. It framed your face perfectly—like you had wanted—but now it was too short to pull back into a ponytail, to place in a bun and apparently too short to even push back behind your ears to get it out of your face.
Damn haircut.
You continued to attempt to push the strands of hair behind your ears before sighing to yourself, setting the book down on the table. You leaned back in your seat, crossing your arms over your chest as you looked out the window, watching the wind blow the dry and brittle leaves around the field gently.
The sounds of the people talking around you started to become muffled as you continued to look out the window, watching the leaves dance through the air without a care in the world. There was a big gust of wind, the leaves flying through the wind freely, tauntingly almost, as you sat and watched. Your copy of The Great Gatsby sat long forgotten in front of you as your eyes followed the leaves outside the window.
You glanced over to the table in front of the window, watching as the Hellfire boys sat around in a circle having a very intense discussion. How do these boys always seem to be so in the zone and have the most intense conversations no matter the time of day? It kind of made you envious of the fact that they all enjoyed each other’s company and didn’t care what others around them thought—literally, they were so loud. They were polar opposites of so many others; most people in high school were so caught up in wanting to be popular and needing to fall into a specific category that they would do anything for it. But not these boys; no, these boys were different.
You watched as the boys continued to joke around with each other before Gareth stood up. He nodded at the others and walked past your table, smiling at you a little as he walked towards the door. You smiled at him before you glanced back at your book, picking it up again to attempt to dive back into the story you needed to desperately finish for English class.
After a few minutes you were finally able to get back into your book. You became so engrossed in the story telling of Nick Carraway that you didn’t notice Gareth slip back into the room and back into his seat at the table with his Hellfire friends. They all went back to talking and joking with each other during the remainder of study hall.
The annoying ring of the bell and the sound of your classmates packing their belongings up in a hurry was what finally pulled you out of your book. You sighed, marking the page you were on before you stuffed the book in your backpack and stood up, making your way out the door and down the hall to your locker.
You put your combination in gracefully, opening the door to grab the correct books for your homework. A small piece of paper fell to your feet, landing on top of your converse shoes. You picked it up and unfolded it, reading the note to yourself.
You got a haircut; I like it. It looks good on you.
You blushed softly, reading the words on the paper before you glanced around you. There weren't many people roaming the hall at this time; it seemed like everyone was already out the door or on their way to practices and clubs. The only person walking towards you was your locker neighbor—Gareth. He smiled at you softly before he stopped next to you, putting the combination in his locker. You smiled back, holding the paper to your chest before you attempted to tuck the short strands of hair behind your ear again.
You grabbed your folder from your locker, placing the note inside carefully before shutting the door quietly. You glanced at Gareth, watching as he went through his less than tidy locker. Papers were scattered about the inside, crumpled and ripped and continuing to move with each movement he made.
“Shit,” he mumbled to himself, eyes stuck in his locker. He glanced at you and smiled a little. “Hey, uh, what’re the odds you know the homework we’re supposed to do for English tonight?”
You smiled, looking at him with a slight nod. “Yeah, uh, here,” you replied, grabbing your planner from your bag. You turned it to the correct day before you handed it to him. Gareth smiled as he took his cellphone out of his pocket, snapping a picture of the homework you had written down.
“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver… I swear I had it written down but can’t find it.” He stopped for a second, looking up at you. “Did you get a haircut?” He asked softly, his smile growing more.
You nodded, running your fingers through your now short hair. “Uh, yeah. I’m not a huge fan of it…”
“Well, I think it looks good on you,” Gareth replied, closing his locker. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” He asked, looking at you. You smiled, a pink tint covering your cheeks.
“Yeah… see you tomorrow, Gareth…” Gareth nodded at your response, smiling again as he turned away and walked towards the theater room, catching up with his friends Jeff and Eddie. You stood there for a second, watching him leave and begin laughing again with his friends.
“Hey?” Kate called your name, walking towards you. “You okay? What are you looking at?” She asked, stopping next to you. You hummed, turning towards her.
“Huh? Oh, uh, nothing. Sorry, I was kind of zoning out…”
“Right, well, ready for practice?” She asked, looking at you.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry.” You replied, turning to walk towards the locker room.
“What were you looking at?” Kate asked, walking alongside you. You shrugged, not wanting to admit to her that you were watching one of the freaks as she called him.
“Oh, nothing. I thought I heard something… you know?”
Kate raised an eyebrow, not believing you. “Yeah, sure.”
“Stupid fucking glasses,” you muttered to yourself, squinting as you looked at the board in your World History class. You tried to move a bit closer, leaning over your desk as you scribbled some notes sloppily in your notebook. When you realized that even moving closer to the board wasn’t helping, you sighed to yourself. You sat back in your seat as your teacher continued to speak to the entire class, making more and more notes on the white board about the latest World History Lesson.
You took your glasses off and squinted again, trying to keep up with the notes that were being written on the board. A small groan escaped your lips as you gave up on reading the board, instead taking notes based on what your teacher was speaking aloud.
Gareth glanced up at you as he took his own notes, noticing how you seemed to be struggling with seeing the board. He raised an eyebrow as you put your new glasses back on, eyes directly on your notebook now as you wrote down everything you heard. You attempted to keep up with the notes, struggling slightly as your pen moved across the paper in hasty scribbles, it would be a miracle if you could even reread these notes later.
Once the bell rang you stood up and moved towards the front of the room, looking at the board once again only this time from a closer view. You quickly wrote down any of the notes you had missed, comparing your notebook to the board a few times before gathering your belongings. You snapped a quick picture of the notes on the board with your phone to compare later before you walked to your locker, smiling at Gareth slightly as he stood at his own locker.
He smiled at you, nodding at you slightly. “Hey,” he said softly, grabbing his textbook for his next class. “New glasses?” He asked, motioning to his own face.
“Hey, uh, yeah… I, uh, I got them yesterday after school,” you replied, putting the combination into your locker.
“Nice, well, they look good on you.” Gareth replied, closing his locker. “I really like the black frames on you, they really make your eyes pop.”
“Thanks,” you smiled, blushing softly. You opened your locker and watched a folded piece of paper fall to your feet. You bent down to grab it, opening it slightly to read the contents to yourself. Your eyes skimmed over the note, squinting slightly as you took in the words that were written on the paper.
You got new glasses, huh? The black frames look totally badass on you.
You blushed a bit, reading over the note again. Someone else had actually noticed your new glasses and thought they looked good? And, they even went out of their way to compliment you on your new glasses, putting this note in your locker for you to find? You smiled a little, thinking to yourself. You thought these new glasses were terrible… they were just too big and bulky. Not to mention, they kind of gave you a bit of a headache, and they made it difficult to see the board in class right now. You pushed your glasses up higher on the bridge of your nose, examining the note in greater detail.
God, whose handwriting was that? Who did you know that could write in such a sloppy, slanted manner? And, why—no, how—was the paper always folded up so perfectly?
You folded the note back up and stuffed it into your pocket. Glancing up, you noticed Gareth was gone and was probably off to his next class by now.
“Hey!” You jumped at the sound of Chrissy walking towards you, giggling to herself. “Woah, you good girl?” She asked, looking at you with a smile.
“Huh? Yeah, sorry, just… have a headache,” you mumbled, grabbing your notebook from your locker before shutting it quickly.
“Yeah, I’ve heard new glasses can do that to you.” She said softly with a small frown. “But, at least you can see, right?”
“Something like that,” you replied, nodding as you looked at her. “Ready for class?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Chrissy nodded, walking with you towards your next class. Your right hand made its way into your pocket, playing with the folded note gently.
God, who was leaving these notes?
“Oh my god, this is so weird,” you smiled from your seat at the cheerleader lunch table. You were sitting next to Chrissy and across from Kate, a wide smile on your face as you looked at both of them.
“What?” Kate asked, smiling at you.
“Yeah, what’re you going on about, girlie?” Chrissy smiled, taking a bite of her salad.
“This is like my first lunch without braces in god knows how long.” You smiled brightly, showing off your perfectly straight and shiny teeth. “There’s so many foods I can eat now like… I can have gum again, I can have potato chips, I can have popcorn. My god, I am so excited to eat all the food I haven’t been able to lately.”
“How many selfies have you taken so far?” Chrissy giggled, looking at you with a smile. “I have to think you’ve at least taken a couple of selfies already to show off your brand new smile.”
You giggled, taking a bite of one of your baby carrots. “Maybe just a few… you know, just had to take some pictures and test out some new angles,” you smiled more, running your tongue over your teeth. It felt weird. It was smooth, and there were no more braces.
“I have to admit, you look good without the braces,” Kate smiled, looking at you. “Don’t get me wrong, you were always beautiful but you look so happy without them on.”
“Yeah, your smile is so contagious.” Chrissy smiled as well, agreeing with Kate. You smiled at them both, continuing to munch on your baby carrots with ranch.
“You’re both going to make me blush,” you giggled. You finished your lunch while joking with your friends before the bell rang.
“Shit, I forgot I have a math test,” Kate said, standing up.
“Damn, that means I have a math test,” Chrissy groaned, standing up as well. They both looked at you and smiled, “see you after school, girl.”
“Yep! See you at cheer practice,” you smiled, rising from your seat. You grabbed your items and made your way to your locker. You put your combination in and opened the door, watching yet again as a small piece of folded paper fell to your feet. This one was a little different, your name was on the outside of the paper with a small smiley face drawn next to it.
You bent down and picked up the paper, reading your name on the outside before you opened it, looking at the contents within.
No more braces, huh? God, your smile is breathtaking.
You blushed a bright red, unable to hide the wide smile that was forming on your face. Who is the one person that keeps noticing these small little changes about you? And, follow up question, why do they feel the need to tell you through these notes? Are they seeing the smile that forms on your face after you read the notes? Are they doing it as a joke?
Reading over the note again, you smiled as you looked into your locker, reaching for your textbook. You grabbed your folder as well, placing the note inside before you closed the locker door and made your way towards your next class wearing the same smile you had when you first read the note—a huge, bright and contagious smile, as Chrissy called it.
“Have you figured out who your secret admirer is yet?” Kate, asked as you walked towards your lockers together after cheer practice was finally over. The halls were dim and empty, the three of you the only ones around for the time being.
“It’s Steve! No, it’s Andy! Wait, maybe it’s Tommy,” Chrissy squealed, naming off all of the popular boys in your grade.
“Chrissy, come on, you’re just throwing names out left and right at this point,” Kate commented, shaking her head. You shrugged, walking towards your locker.
“I think you are both too invested in this,” you said, stopping at your locker. “I mean, they’re just little letters and I don’t even know who they’re from!” You said, putting your locker combination in. “It’s not a big deal.”
“They’re love letters,” Kate corrected, looking at you. “That is, like, so totally a big deal!”
“Yeah! This could be your future boyfriend! Your future husband, the father of your children,” Chrissy gushed, watching as you opened your locker.
“You two are just so—” you started, cutting yourself off as you looked into your locker. You raised your eyebrow, looking at the girls before redirecting your attention back to the locker.
“We’re so what?” Chrissy asked, giggling.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Kate asked, moving to get a better look in your locker.
You picked up the single red rose that was sitting in your locker, holding it up. You lifted it to your nose, sniffing it gently before you noticed the piece of paper attached to it. You quickly unfolded it, reading the contents as a smile appeared on your face.
You’re the most beautiful girl in the world ♡
You looked up at Kate and Chrissy, smiles forming on their faces as well. “Still think it’s not a big deal?” Kate asked, taking a peek at the love note. “Someone is like, in love with you!”
“Oh, my god,” Chrissy squealed again, jumping up and down. “This is so perfect, oh my god, what if he’s planning on asking you to Prom?”
“Chrissy, I still don’t even know who he is,” you reminded her, looking down the hall to see if you could find anyone. Then again, it was after school and clubs… not too many people were still here willingly. No, just a few teachers and the janitors tended to linger around the building at this time.
“Come on, it has to be Steve, he’s always watching you while we’re cheering!” Chrissy smiled, looking at you.
“Oh, my god, picture it,” Kate smiled, joining in on Chrissy’s excitement. “Prom; Chrissy and Jason, me and Billy, and you and Steve!”
“Isn’t he with Nancy?” You asked, sniffing the rose again. Kate shook her head rapidly.
“No! They broke up!”
“Yeah, she’s with Jonathan now,” Chrissy added, looking at you. “Oh, god, I hope it’s Steve!”
You rolled your eyes, shaking your head at your two friends and their speculations. You grabbed your things and smiled at them, closing your locker. “You guys are crazy,” you said, looking at them. “But, I have to go. I have to go work on a World History project with my partner.”
“Partner?” Chrissy asked, gasping slightly. “Wait, is it Steve?”
“Or Andy? Or Tommy?” Kate asked, giggling with Chrissy. You shook your head and looked at them.
“No, it’s Gareth.”
“The freak?” Chrissy asked. You shook your head slightly and looked at her.
“Don’t call him that, he’s actually pretty nice… I think,” you replied, shrugging slightly.
“Oh, god, don’t tell me you have a crush on one of the freaks,” Kate said softly, rolling her eyes.
“Look, I have to go. I’m already late, I texted him and told him I’d be there around five and it’s almost five thirty!” You panicked, grabbing your phone to send Gareth a text. “I’ll see you tomorrow, bye!” You added, running towards the door as you typed out a text to Gareth.
You made it to your car and started the short drive to Gareth’s house from the high school. He had sent you a text back that you read once you pulled up to his house, a text back that just said ‘it’s fine, no biggie,’ but to you it felt like a biggie, in fact, it felt like a big biggie. You hated being late and even more, you hated blowing people off. You grabbed your bag and hopped out of the car, walking towards the front door; taking a deep breath, you knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer.
After a minute or so a cute little girl opened the door. She was probably around seven or so and looked just like Gareth—she had blue eyes, fluffy hair with little curls thrown about and an adorable smile with a tooth missing in the front. She held a small baby blue teddy bear under her arm and smiled up at you.
“Hi! I’m Gracie,” she beamed, looking at you.
“Hi, Gracie,” you smiled at her. “Is Gareth home?”
She nodded and giggled, turning around. “Gare! Your girlfriend is here!” She turned back to you and smiled, “you’re pretty.”
You blushed softly as she called you her brother’s girlfriend, smiling a little. “Why, thank you, Gracie.” After a minute Gareth came walking to the front door, looking at Gracie.
“Why are you yelling at me?” He asked, noticing you at the door. He smiled at you slightly before looking back at Gracie.
“I said your girlfriend is here,” Gracie said, pointing to you. “She’s pretty, Gare, are you going to kiss her?”
You stifled a laugh, biting your lip as you looked at her with a small smile. Gareth turned a bright shade of red before he shook his head, pointing towards the living room. “Okay, that’s enough. Don’t you have a tea party to get back to?” Gracie gasped and nodded, looking at Gareth.
“You’re right! Mr. Fluffy is waiting for me!” And with that Gracie was running back to her tea party, forgetting you were even at the door. Gareth shook his head and looked up at you, still a bit pink as he stepped to the side and motioned for you to come in.
“Hey, uh, sorry about… her,” he said softly, closing the door behind you as you walked in. “She’s got… quite the imagination,” Gareth trailed off, looking into the living room as he watched his sister go back to her tea party with her stuffed animals. “We can go to my room,” he said, directing his attention back to you with a small smile.
“That sounds good,” you nodded, smiling as you followed him into the house and up the stairs. Along the way, you took note of all the decorations in the house. There were so many family pictures on the walls along with various other pictures. You lingered on one slightly, smiling at what appeared to be Gareth when he was younger with his parents. He was standing in front of their house in between his mom and dad with a toothless grin on his face, his hair was a mess, a fluffy mop on his head. You smiled softly, eyes flickering from the picture back to the boy in front of you.
He stopped in front of a door that had a Metallica poster on the back and opened it, motioning for you to go first. You smiled at him, stepping into his room as you looked around. There were metal posters everywhere as well as pictures of him and his friends hanging on the wall. His dresser had a ton of little dragon figurines on it with a book that said Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook.
“Sorry, it’s kind of messy,” Gareth apologized, moving some of his clothes off of his bed. “I’m actually so terrible at putting my clothes away… very toxic trait of mine,” he mumbled, walking towards his closet. You giggled softly, watching him walk past you.
“Oh, mine too, it’s okay,” you smiled, watching him throw the clothes in his closet.
“You can take a seat on my bed, get comfy or whatever, we might be here for a bit.” He said, looking back at you. You glanced at his bed, taking note of the dark colored bedspread and blankets. You walked towards it, sitting gently. You grabbed your textbook and notebook from your bag, placing them on the bed in front of you as you grabbed a pen. You placed your bag down beside you and jumped when you felt the bed move, looking back to see a black cat staring at you curiously.
“Oh, hi,” you said softly, reaching out to pet the cat gently. Gareth closed his closet door and grabbed his notebook and textbook as well, looking back at his bed with a smile.
“Oh yeah, sorry, I probably should have warned you about him. You’re not like allergic or anything are you?” He asked, sitting next to you on his bed. You shook your head, scratching the cat behind his ears as he started purring, nuzzling against your leg. “Well, that’s Ozzy.” He smiled, “he’s kind of an attention whore.”
“Well, hi Ozzy,” you smiled, scratching his head more. “You are so cute, Gareth didn’t tell me he had such a cute little kitty friend at home.” Gareth smiled a little, watching you interact with Ozzy.
“I kind of forgot you’ve never been to my house, otherwise I would have warned you about Gracie too.” He said, opening his notebook to his most recent notes.
“Yeah, I didn’t know you had a sister either,” you nodded, looking at him with a small smile. “She’s cute, though. She looks just like you.”
“Yeah, I get that alot.” Gareth replied, setting his notebook down as he tapped his thighs for Ozzy. Ozzy meowed and walked towards him, jumping into his lap before he curled up in a ball, purring more. “She is definitely the cuter sibling.”
You giggled to yourself, looking at your notebook in front of you. You smiled as you glanced at his notebook and stopped in your tracks when you saw his notes on the page. More specifically, when you saw his handwriting on the notebook page. That consistent scribbly, slanted handwriting was staring at you, teasing you; taunting you and calling out to you.
Why? Because you know you’ve seen it before.
In fact, you’ve seen that handwriting so often recently. And it was currently sitting in your folder on numerous pieces of paper as well as sitting in your car with a bright red rose.
You glanced up at him, watching as he continued to pet Ozzy on his lap.
Holy shit.
Gareth Emerson was your secret admirer.
You walked through the gym in your red ball gown, weaving through the groups of people. While you had come to this dance with Chrissy and Kate, they were off now dancing with their boyfriends. Which was fine, it just meant that you were now alone for the time being.
You made your way towards the punch table, grabbing yourself a cup before you took in your surroundings. You glanced around the room, sipping on the punch. Your eyes landed on the one person you were looking for–Gareth Emerson. He was sitting alone at a table in the corner, messing with his tie.
It had been about a month since you had realized that Gareth was the one supplying the letters in your locker. And, since that day, his letters haven't stopped… in fact, they have actually increased to coming daily. Sometimes even twice a day. You wondered if he knew that you knew who he was… if he did know that you knew, he was doing an amazing job at hiding it. If he didn’t know then… well, he was just crazy.
Because you had been wanting to say something to him ever since the eventful day when you first recognized his handwriting and found out who he was. You just never found the right time. At least, until tonight—prom night. For some reason, tonight seemed like the perfect time to tell him, to show him, to confess your mutual feelings that had been growing towards him since you started spending time with him one on one.
It was prom after all, wasn’t tonight about love and relationships and all that other cheesy shit?
You smiled to yourself and grabbed another cup of punch carefully. You made your way towards the table Gareth was sitting at, taking a seat next to him. He looked up at you and smiled, “hey, you, uh, you look great,” Gareth said, taking in your appearance. He smiled softly as he watched the red lace fabric hug your upper body and curves before it flowed into a poofy ball gown skirt at your hips. Damn, you looked too good in that, and red was always his favorite color. Curse you for picking up on that and for wearing it specifically for him.
“Thanks,” you smiled, setting both cups of punch down on the table. “You clean up pretty well too, you know.” You giggled, looking at him. “I have to admit, I’m pretty surprised you’re here. School dances don’t seem like your kind of thing. But, I brought you some punch.”
Gareth blushed softly, shrugging as his fingers continued to play with the end of his red tie. “Thanks. And, I had to wear this suit somewhere, you know?” He replied, looking up at you. “Are you… uh, all alone tonight?” He asked, his right hand moving towards the cup of punch you placed in front of him.
“Kind of,” you responded, looking at him with a smile. “I came with Kate and Chrissy but they’re with Jason and Billy.” You motioned towards your friends who were dancing with their boyfriends. You hung your purse on the edge of your chair before resting your arms on the table. You looked at Gareth with a smile on your face, “what about you?”
Gareth smiled, looking at you. “What about me?” He asked, taking a drink of the overly sweet punch you had brought him.
“I mean,” you smiled, “where are your friends? Or are you also all alone tonight?”
“Ah,” he smiled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Kind of? Eddie is flirting with girls, trying to get someone to dance with him and, honestly, I’m not too sure where Jeff and Grant ended up…”
“And you’re not asking any girls to dance?” You asked, looking at Gareth. He looked up at you and shook his head.
“Oh, no, I don’t think any girl would want to dance with me anyways…”
“That’s not true,” you replied, “I bet there are plenty of girls that would like to dance with you.”
“Yeah, right,” Gareth shook his head. “Like who?”
You shrugged, smiling at him. “Good question.” You reached for your purse, pulling out a small piece of folded paper. You handed it to him and giggled softly.
He looked at you and raised an eyebrow, looking down at the folded piece of paper in his hand. He unfolded it carefully, looking at the contents carefully.
Will you dance with me, my secret admirer? ♡
Gareth read the paper and looked up at you, turning a bright red. “How, uh… how did you know it was… me?” He asked softly, folding the paper back up. He tucked it into his jacket pocket gently, eyes on you again as he looked you up and down subtly.
“Well, your handwriting during our History project kind of gave it away for me,” you giggled. “So, will you dance with me?” You asked, standing up. You placed your hand out for Gareth to grab, smiling when he stood up and placed his hand in yours.
“Of course I’ll dance with you,” he said softly, pulling you towards the dance floor just in time for a slow song. “Though, I must admit, I am terrible at dancing.”
“Yeah, me too,” you replied, wrapping your arms around his neck gently. Gareth smiled softly, placing his hands on your hips gently.
“You’re not like… I don’t know… weirded out by me placing those notes and stuff in your locker, are you?” He asked softly, pulling you closer to his body gently.
“No, not really… should I be?” You asked, smiling up at him. “If we’re being honest with each other, I have always had a tiny bit of a crush on you and I was secretly hoping you were the one planting all the letters for me…”
“Really?” Gareth asked softly, swaying with you to the music. “Well, if we’re being honest with each other… the truth is I’ve had a crush on you for quite a while, and, I guess I was just… nervous that you wouldn't like a freak like me,” Gareth admitted softly, leaning closer to you.
“What do you mean?” You asked, moving your face closer to his.
“Well, you’re a cheerleader, I’m a freak… we just, don’t really go together, you know?”
“Why are you calling yourself a freak?” You frowned.
“Because, well, that’s kind of what I am? You’re popular and I’m just, well, a freak.”
“No,” you argued, shaking your head. “You’re really cool and really sweet and to be honest… being popular doesn’t mean anything. I like you for you, and truth is; I’d love to get to know the real you more.”
“Really?” Gareth asked, smiling softly.
“Really.”
“Well, uh, in that case,” Gareth said, leaning closer. “Can I… uh, can I kiss you?” He asked softly.
“Please,” you replied.
Gareth smiled and leaned in closer, placing his lips against yours softly. You smiled, kissing him back as your fingers played with his hair on the back of his neck gently. Gareth’s right hand moved up to your face, caressing your cheek softly as he pulled you closer to him with his left hand that was still placed in your hip.
He pulled away slightly, resting his forehead against yours. “Would you, maybe, uh, want to go out with me sometime?” He stuttered out softly, looking at you.
“Absolutely.” You replied, leaving another soft kiss on his lips.
gareth tag list: wanna be added? comment + let me know! @keeryhours ; @darkyuffie-blog ; @luveediary ; @the-witty-pen-name ; @bastardstevie ; @pupwrites ; @swiftieintheupsidedown ; @hawkinsmafia ; @the-unforgivenn ; @corrodedcorpses ; @potatoesenpaii ; @cowboylikemunson
Summary- Gareth wants the chance to talk to you so badly, but seeing how you react to other guys approaching you only makes him more and more nervous…
Genre- Fluff
Warnings- None c:
Tag List- @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @munsonology @aidansloth @esme-viridian @morganwrites12672
(tag list is always open, please let me know if you’d like to be added 💋)
Word Count- 3.7k
“Just go up and ask!” Jeff urged Gareth as the four of them sat at a table a few rows in front of you at the library.
“I can’t!” Gareth whispered, “What if she says no?”
“What if she says yes?” Grant said, trying to push Gareth into finally being able to ask you out.
It had been months since he gained this little crush on you, and it was growing to the point of agony for him. Sneaking glances at you from across the classroom, tripping himself up in the halls from watching you walk past, and your sweet demeanor definitely wasn’t helping much.
You were so smart, so kind, and though you had barely spoken to one another aside from an occasional ‘hi’ in the halls he could tell that you were someone genuine. But seeing all the other guys get rejected day after day didn’t make him feel any better about his crush on you.
He’d seen guys approach you in class, in the halls, during lunch. At least one guy a week had the balls to ask you out on a date, and though you had always appreciated their offers, you turned down every single one. And Gareth knew he would probably just be another one of those guys you rejected.
“Stop overthinking it.” Eddie said, “If she says yes, good. If she says no, then you have your answer. Simple as that.”
Gareth knew Eddie was right. He shouldn’t pry you with things like this, and he knew that if he got another rejection he could take it well. Sure, it may hurt at first, but he’s been through it before and he can do it again. He was about to stand up and finally do it, but he stopped as he watched one of the seniors approach your table.
The boys kept themselves quiet, trying their best to hear the interaction that was about to take place. And it seemed like a few of the boys at the tables around you were doing the same thing.
Daniel McNeal was a senior, decently attractive, smart, and was quite gifted when it came to managing a schedule filled with work, school, sports, and a handful of extracurriculars to really spice up his college applications. Gareth knew now he wouldn’t stand a chance after him.
He and the boys sat back and carefully watched your interaction.
As Daniel approached your table, your head tilted up from your notebook and gave him a polite smile as he looked down to you, moving your attention quickly back into your notes.
“Hey.” He said with a smile, getting your attention once more.
You looked up once again and gave him another smile,
“Hi.”
“You’re (y/n), right?”
“Yep.” You’re went back to scribbling down a few points from your textbook, “That’s me. Why?”
“You know, i always saw glances of you in the halls,” He helped himself to the seat across from you at your table, “I just never expected you to be this pretty up close.”
You kept a kind smile on your face and let out a slow sigh, knowing exactly what was about to play out. It’s happened too many times before. You set your pencil down onto your notebook and closed it, folding your arms over it and looking up to him,
“Go on.” What you were saying would normally sound so shallow, and yet there was something about the way you said it that made it sound so syrupy sweet. No matter how humiliated all those rejected boys felt beforehand, you never made them feel bad for asking.
Daniel shot you a strange look,
“What do you mean?”
“Ask me out. I assume that’s what you came over here to talk to me about, but if it’s not then i apologize. I think i’ve been in this situation so many times things like this just come natural to me.” You giggled, making him smile.
“Pretty and smart. You’re the whole package, aren’t you?”
“I suppose so.” You shrugged.
Daniel leaned forward into the table, talking softly to you with a cocky smile on his face, thinking he’s already got you wrapped around his finger,
“Well, what do you say? You, me, saturday night, i was thinking the drive in but if that’s not your style i’d be happy to take you to dinner.”
“No thanks.” You smiled still, pulling your arms away from over your notebook before opening it back up and moving your attention back to your textbook.
Daniel gave you another confused look,
“What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I mean ‘no’ as in, ‘no, i don’t want to go out with you’. But i appreciate the offer!”
Your sweet demeanor was confusing given your answer, and Daniel was at a loss for words. He had never been rejected by a girl before, and he certainly didn’t expect you to be the first to do it. He figured with his good looks and charm he would be the one to finally break your streak of rejections, but you proved him wrong.
He watched as you happily went back to your notes, and leaned across the table to get a bit closer to you, talking in a whisper,
“Did i do something wrong?” He asked with a nervous chuckle.
“No.” You looked up to him from your notes, “It’s nothing you did. I’m not denying that you’re an attractive guy, and you seem very nice, but i’m just not interested.” You flashed him a smile and looked down back to your notes, scribbling away and leaving Daniel confused as he sat across from you.
After a few moments of silence, Daniel stood up from the chair across from you, and as he stepped away from the table you gave him one last smile before moving back to your notes. The boys were sat at their table, slack jawed after watching that scene unfold in front of them and the handful of other students sat at the tables around you.
“So she’s never going to say yes to me.” Gareth shrugged, giving up any attempts he had thought of to try and get your attention, but after watching you reject yet another guy he had no intentions of letting himself risk getting rejected.
“Stop being a pussy!” Jeff whispered through his teeth.
“Enough with that!” Gareth whispered back, quickly glancing back at you once more, watching as you continued on with your note taking, looking so peaceful as you did so, “I’ll ask… I just don’t know if i should do it now.”
“Fine then, that means she’s up for grabs.” Eddie shrugged as he sat back in his seat.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you can’t get all pissy if some other guy asks her out and she says yes. Just rip the bandaid off and do it!”
Gareth put his head in his hands and sighed, knowing that Eddie was right,
“You’re right. Fuck it.”
Gareth took one last deep breath and glanced over his shoulder at you, deeply focused on your textbook, tapping the eraser at the end of your pencil on the pages of your notebook. It was now or never.
Without another word he stood up and slowly stepped toward your table, his palms already feeling damp just from taking a few steps closer to you. He kept his breathing slow, the constant reminder in the back of his head telling himself that the worst thing that could come of this would be you saying ‘no’. Rejection wouldn’t be anything new for him, so why did it feel so different with you.
When you glanced up and met his gaze with a little smile his heart stopped, along with his feet.
You quickly looked him over, a smile still on your lips as you noticed he stopped before you,
“Hi?” You said with a little giggle.
“Hi.” Gareth said as he snapped out of his little trance, still doing his best to stay calm. But you could see that he was still a bit nervous.
“Your name’s Gareth, right?” You asked him as he stood before you, holding back a little giggle as he nodded, still standing before you. “Do you want to sit down?” You asked him, motioning your pencil to the chair across from you.
“Yeah,” He laughed to himself, clearing his throat and pulling out the chair across from you, “thanks.”
You kept a sweet smile on your lips as you went back to your notes, Gareth watching you happily scribble along the pale blue lines in your notebook. He couldn’t just sit across from you in silence.
“What class is that for?” He asked as he tried to glance into the textbook you were writing from.
“History.” You set your pencil down onto your notebook and closed it, your arms crossed over the notebook as you looked at Gareth with bright eyes, “I’ve never been that great at History so i always like to study up on it a bit more.”
“Makes sense,” Gareth smiled and shrugged, “I’m the same way with Algebra, i just can’t get that stuff down.”
You giggled as you saw him smile, and you noticed a little bit of pink on his cheeks as he heard it. It was quite cute.
“So what brought you over here to me? Aren’t you sitting over there with your friends?” You asked him, making him blush deeper with embarrassment, not knowing you had noticed he and the guys had been sitting there.
“I was.” He started, clearing his throat and doing his best to not make direct eye contact. He knew that would only make him blush worse.
“But, i saw you were sitting alone and thought maybe you’d like some company? I know you’re probably studying or something but I’m pretty good at history, i’d be glad to help if you need any.”
“You know, now that you mentioned it,” You smiled, sliding the textbook you were reading from over between the two of you, “I am having a little trouble remembering some of these dates, do you think you can help me?”
Gareth looked up with bright eyes, a smirk tugging at his lips,
“Yeah!” He quickly hushed himself, clearing his throat as he remembered you were sitting in the library, “Which ones did you need help with?”
“Um, the ones on…” You sat up slightly flipping a few pages back to find the timeline, “this page. I don’t know why, i just can’t seem to get all these dates correctly, i think because everything happened so quickly in World War 1 that i can’t seem to remember which event happened on which day.”
Gareth nodded as you explained your trouble to him, but he tended up once more as he saw you shift in your seat.
“Here, i think it’ll be easier if i came over there.”
You slid the book over to him and stood up from your chair, walking around behind him and sitting in the seat next to his. You could still see a little pink on his cheeks as you smiled to him, moving your chair a bit closer to his.
The boys tried to keep their glances over at the two of you hidden, but as soon as they saw you move closer to Gareth they couldn’t help but stare.
“She got closer to him…” Jeff whispered.
“No, i can see that, but why?” Grant whispered back.
“I can’t tell what they’re talking about,” Eddie started, watching the two of you from across the room, seeing your eyes light up a little as Gareth was pointing out something on the pages of the textbook you’d been reading from, “I mean it looks like they’re just talking about school stuff but who knows…”
They saw a few giggles from you and a nervous laugh from Gareth and only got more excited for him. Giggles were always a good sign.
“You really make all this seem so easy.” You said to Gareth as you looked up from the textbook.
“Really? I don’t know, i guess this stuff always just made sense to me.” He flashed a smile as he looked to you too, and he has finally felt himself comfortable enough to ask you what he’d been dying to ask all this time.
Unfortunately he didn’t plan for the bell to ring as soon as he parted his lips to speak.
“I should get to class,” You said apologetically, carefully shutting the text book in front of you, standing up from your chair, “I want to make sure all that stuff stays fresh in my brain for this quiz. Thanks again for your help,” You placed your hand onto his forearm and gave it a little squeeze, “i really do appreciate it. Now i know exactly who to come to when i’m having a little trouble with history.”
Gareth couldn’t help but smile as he stood with you, mustering out a quiet, “No Problem, anytime.” As he saw you walk to the other side of the table and pack up your backpack.
He glanced back at the guys, who were urging him to grow a pair and ask, not even noticing that you had stepped around him to make your way to your class.
“(y/n).” He said suddenly, even catching himself off guard as you turned back to him.
“Yeah?” You asked, a sweet smile on your lips as you took a few steps back towards him.
“Um…” He cleared his throat, not sure how to start as his eyes darted all over the room, “You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to, but i think you’re a really interesting person, and if you weren’t doing anything this weekend i wanted to know if maybe you’d like to do something with me?”
“You mean like a date?”
He felt a blush rise to his cheeks again as he nodded.
“I’d love to!”
His eyes went wide, and he could tell that the other students around you turned in shock.
Out of everyone that had asked to take you out in school you had never taken anyone up on their offer, no matter who was asking or where they were taking you. Just to see that Gareth was the one who had somehow gotten you to say yes was a shock to everyone around you, including himself. This would no doubt be the gossip that ran through all the cliques at school for the next week.
“Really?” He asked quietly, still in shock.
You giggled and nodded,
“Really. It sounds like fun! Here,” You reached into your bag, grabbing a piece of stray paper and a pen from the side pocket, scribbling your name and number down onto it for him with a little heart in the corner, “call me later tonight and we’ll plan something.”
He was speechless.
He stood there for a moment, looking down at the little piece of paper in his hands, and he was hoping to god that this wasn’t just some joke. He snapped from his trance as he felt a hand slap down onto his shoulder, and as he looked up he saw the guys in front of him, wide eyed and just as shocked as he was.
“Is that her number?” Jeff asked him, snatching the piece of paper from Gareths hands as he continued watching you slowly step away.
“It is!” Grant exclaimed as he saw your handwriting, “Damn, i think this is the only time i’ve heard of her giving anyone her number, let alone say ‘yes’ to a date with anyone.”
“Yeah, and that ‘anyone’ is you!” Eddie smiled and patted him on the shoulder, “Good for you bud.”
Gareth felt like he should’ve been basking in his glory. He was the only guy that had ever gotten further than just a conversation and then a rejection with you. Out of every other guy that had tried their chance with you, soccer and basketball players, some of the smartest guys in school, even the class president tried his hand at you at one point or another and yet you chose him. He needed to know why.
Without saying a word to the guys he pushed past them, following behind you to try and catch you before you had made it to your next class. Thank god he could see your hair swaying behind you in the halls. He picked up his pace, dodging past the other students making their way to their classes before finally catching up and giving you a quick tap on the arm. You turned to him with a smile and a confused look,
“Hey, is everything ok?”
“Why did you say yes?” Gareth asked quickly as he tried to catch his breath, his nerves had left him entirely and were replaced with confusion.
“What do you mean?” You asked, quickly moving yourselves against the lockers to keep out of the way of the traffic of the other students.
“I’ve seen guys come up to you and ask you out countless times, not once have you ever said yes to any of them. But you said yes to me when i asked you.”
“I did.” You confirmed for him with a giggle, “So what’s all the confusion about?”
“I just…” He sighed and looked at the tile floor between the two of you, trying hard to not let himself get embarrassed and red faced again, “I’ve seen the kind of guys that have approached you before. You know, the smart guys and the popular guys, people that actually seem to mean something to the other people that go to this school. Im a nobody…”
Your lips curled into a sweet smile once again and you placed your hand to his cheek, gently guiding his eyes back to look into yours,
“You’re not a nobody. Just because you’re not super smart or popular doesn’t mean you’re a nobody. I think you’re a really cool person actually.”
Gareths eyes lit up and a small smile was brought to his lips.
“I think you’re very sweet, and you’re smart, and funny, and i think compared to most of the other guys that’ve asked me out you’re the one with the most personality.”
You shared a chuckle with him and saw a light pink on his cheeks once again as he tried to look away.
“You really want to know why i said yes?”
Gareth nodded slowly.
You giggled again and did your best to hide your own blush,
“Because you were nervous to talk to me. All the other guys had this arrogance to them, and i know the only reason most of them asked me was so they could add on another thing to their list of trophies. They asked me just because they wanted to see if i would actually say yes, but you asked me because you liked me. i could tell that you liked me.”
The other students had started to disappear from the halls into their classes, leaving the two of you almost entirely alone.
“Really?” He asked you quietly, “I thought girls didn’t like guys that got nervous like that.”
Another quick giggle left your lips,
“Well, i like guys that get nervous around me.” You leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss to his cheek, “Remember to call me later, ok? And tell your friends i said ‘hi’.” You motioned behind him and started to step away, and as Gareth turned he could see the guys standing slack jawed behind him.
He turned back but saw that you had already began your walk to class, giving him a little wave as you entered your classroom.
The boys quickly caught up to Gareth and did their best to walk through the halls to get to their own classes, but what they just witnessed would be on their minds for the rest of the day.
“What was that?” Grant asked him as they made their way down the opposite end of the hall, “Did she just kiss you?”
“On the cheek.” Gareth shrugged.
“So she did?” Jeff smiled, “Do you know what this means for you?”
“No?…” He thought to himself for a moment, “Should i?”
“It means that you hold more power than any other guy here. You not only got (y/n) to go out with you but you also got her number-“
“Oh yeah,” Gareth remembered leaving before grabbing that little slip of paper they took from him, “which one of you still has that?”
Grant reached into his jacket pocket and handed it over to Gareth,
“We didn’t copy it down or anything, this is all yours. We wouldn’t want to ruin your chances or anything.”
“Thanks.” Gareth looked down at the little scribble of your name and number on the little piece of paper in his hands, “And i didn’t make her do anything.” He said to Jeff, “I guess things just worked out right and she decided to say yes.”
“Well, how do you feel? You just got the most sought after girl in school to go out with you, you don’t seem too excited about it.” Eddie asked him with a chuckle.
“Good!” Gareth said with a big smile on his face, “Trust me, i’m over the moon about this, it just feels… strange? But i don’t know if that’s the right word.”
The class bell rung through the halls, and the boys said their quick goodbyes before running off to their classes.
“Tell us how it goes later!” Grant said as he ran down the opposite end of the hall.
“Don’t fuck this up!” Jeff laughed as he quickly stepped down the hall.
“Good job Romeo, but he’s right, don’t fuck this up.” Eddie gave him one last pat on the shoulder before slowly moving down the hall, and as Gareth watched the guys slowly disappear down the halls, he took one last look at the piece of paper in his hand.
He smiled to himself as he neatly folded the paper and carefully slipped it into his pocket, strolling slowly towards his classroom.
He didn’t care if he was late or not. Knowing that him just being him was enough for you to like him made him feel like nothing else that day could drag him down.
i’d looooovve to request something with Gareth based off of Alkaline by Sleep Token if possible 🫣🖤
Perfectly Misaligned | Gareth Emerson x Cheerleader! Reader
Notes: This just felt perfect for my favourite couple to write! I hope you enjoy 🤍
Words: 244
Warnings: None
Nobody understood how you and Gareth worked. He was a freak, you were a cheerleader.
He played DnD in his free time, you did gymnastics.
He listened to Metallica, you listened to Madonna.
His favourite colour was black, yours was pink.
Nothing made sense. Realistically, you two shared no common interest. Yet, whenever either of your friend groups spotted you in the hallway, all other couples were ourshined by the way you two looked at each other. When the basketball team saw you two getting snacks at the store, even they had to admit the pure love between you two. Everyone could see it.
It just didn't make sense.
To nobody but you two.
To Gareth, you were so calming. Before you, he was impatient, impulsive and overreacted easily. It's like something was missing in his heart.
That something was someone, and it was you. His safe haven, his light in the dark, his everything. Gareth didn't feel alive until the day he met you during freshmen orientation.
To you, it felt like a switch flipped inside you. Your shyness, the hushed voice, the insecurities were washed away with the first kiss you two shared. He was your anchor, the person who kept you grounded when everything was getting too much.
No, it didn't make sense how you matched so perfectly. But it didn't have to. Nobody had to understand except you two.
You two were perfectly misaligned, and that's how you liked it.
summary: You and Gareth have a picnic and you find that it's the perfect moment to tell him that you love him.
word count: 2k
This is in collaboration with the very lovely and talented @glassbxttless! Please go check her out if you haven't already!
The sun shines through the trees of the park that’s actually pretty crowded since it’s such a nice day. It hasn’t been very sunny in Hawkins for a while so you dragged Gareth here as soon as you saw that the temperature was going to be above fifty degrees.
It’s a nice seventy-five and you’re having a picnic as Gareth lays on your lap, sunglasses shielding his eyes as you read aloud from your book. He’s not even particularly interested in the story, but he just likes to hear your voice.
This is his first real relationship and he’s a bit embarrassed by how fast he’s falling for you. Because he’s been bullied basically his whole life, he doesn’t have much experience in the romance department. And you’re so gentle with him because of it.
There are some days where he thinks it’s all too good to be true. That he’ll wake up and it will have all been some sort of surreal dream. Your beautiful laugh echoes in his head and you’re never laughing because of him, but rather at him. And it’s all weird and distorted and somehow Eddie is always there, joining in.
And when he sits up and sees you sleeping next to him, he relaxes. It was all in his head, just like always. He just can’t believe that he got so lucky-that you’d want to be with a guy like him. You’re way out of his league and he’s honestly just waiting for you to realize and move on. He doesn’t think he deserves you, especially because of his insecurity. And he wonders how obvious he is about it because you assure him that you want him way too often.
But the thing about Gareth is that he’s never been able to hide how he feels. His face says it all. You can always tell if he doesn’t like the food he’s eating because of the little grimace at the corners of his mouth. He’s either thinking or focusing when his eyebrows furrow as he stares down at a menu or has his nose stuck in a book. And you feel like he’s always thinking way too hard when he’s around you.
You don’t know how you can convince him that he’s it for you. That there’s no one else you’d rather be with because he’s always been your first option. You love him. And you think you have for a while but there just hasn’t been a good time to say it. There always seems to be something that interrupts you anytime that word ever bubbles up close to the surface— whether that be someone walking into the room or Gareth just cracking a joke— the moment always slips away before you can even begin to catch it.
Right now, though? He looks about as far from worried as a person can get.
He’s stretched out across your blanket now, like a cat who’s decided that this was the best patch of sunlight to bask in for the day. One ankle is hooked loosely over the other as his head settles in more comfortably against your lap.
You’re leaning back against that old Oak tree that stands in the middle of the park, the trunk wide and sun warmed behind you. The bark even digs in at the fabric of your dress slightly. Your paperback is still opened wide in your hand, pages fluttering each time a gust of wind surrounds you and wanders through the branches overhead. Your fingers slide through his hair. It’s softer today than it has been in a while, freshly washed. It slips between your fingers when you rake your fingernails lightly across his scalp. Every now and again, you’ll let your fingers travel and scratch lightly as the base of his neck and each time you do, it feels like he sinks deeper and deeper into you.
“— and the knight crossed the valley at dawn,” you continue reading quietly, your voice soft and even more even than he remembers it starting out as. “His armor catching in the first light of the sun—”
You pause just long enough to turn the page.
Gareth doesn’t move, other than the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathes beneath the faded Metallica t-shirt he’s wearing. The sunlight catches on the edge of his sunglasses and reflects off of them. There’s a little dusting of freckles settled across his nose and cheeks. You smile as you scratch your fingers along his scalp again and keep reading.
“— though he knew the road was dangerous—”
A tiny, almost imperceptible sigh leaves his lips. You smile faintly.
The truth is, Gareth hasn’t really been listening to a single word you’ve uttered in the last fifteen minutes. Not really, at least. He caught maybe the first few sentences as you began reading, before your voice started doing that thing. The thing where you must feel all soft and relaxed and safe. The thing you use with him. And then your fingers started to move in his hair again and he really was done for.
So now he’s just… existing.
His eyes are half-opened under those dark sunglasses, just watching you. You must not notice him. Hell, from your perspective he probably looks dead asleep, silent and unmoved. But, unbeknownst to you, he is very much awake.
Your voice drifts down to him while he studies the shape of your face above him. The sunlight is filtering between the big Oak leaves, dappling your cheek and the pages of your book, illuminating you in a soft golden halo. Every time the wind moves the branches, the light shifts across your skin, dancing just for him.
He watches the way your lips move while you read. He watches the way that little crease between your eyebrows becomes more prominent when you hit a sentence you don’t care for. He watches your eyes, never leaving the page, as your fingers drag gently through his hair again with your nails grazing his scalp.
God, that feels good.
Gareth lets his eyes flutter closed behind the sunglasses and almost groans at the feeling, but catches himself just in time.
Don’t ruin it.
If you think he’s asleep, you won’t stop. You’ll keep petting at him just like a sunbathing cat. So he stays still.
Your thumb traces little absent circles near his temple while you read the next paragraph printed on the page. Gareth can feel something warm blooming even more and settling in his chest then. Love. That pesky little thing that keeps him so fearful of your intentions.
Your voice keeps going, “— and though he was afraid—”
Gareth opens his eyes again and looks up at you through the dark plastic.
You’re still leaning back against the tree with one leg bent at the knee slightly under him. You’ve got the book resting on your thigh that wasn’t occupied by him. Your hair has fallen forward a little, catching in the sunlight. You keep lifting your hand away from his head to tuck the same strand back behind your ear before replacing it to his hair, every few minutes.
You look beautiful and so peaceful. He’s pretty sure he could stay here in this moment for the rest of his life and die a happy man.
Your fingers scratch lightly behind his ear again and his lips almost twitch up into a small smile.
God. You’re going to kill him with that.
You reach the end of the chapter and close the book, looking down at Gareth with an amused smile. He’s finally been caught and puts on a sheepish smile, leaning into your touch when you don’t pull away.
“You’re staring.” His eyes widen and that pretty laugh falls from your lips as you scratch his head again. “You’re cute, Emerson.”
“But-“
“Your sunglasses aren’t as tinted as you think.” He furrows his brows as he takes them off, staring at the lenses to see that they are in fact not nearly as tinted as he initially thought.
He sits up next to you and you scoot closer, seeing the bright pink dusting his cheeks. You reach up and rest a hand on one of them, forcing him to look you in the eye. The sun is now shining on top of his head, making his hair look more golden. He looks so…pretty in this light. And it almost seems like the perfect time to-
“I love you.” The words are filled with so much adoration and Gareth can’t help but smile, grinning from ear to ear. He’s ecstatic hearing that, feeling all of the nervousness from before falling off of him.
“I love you too,” he smiles back and you’re both leaning in for a kiss. It’s soft and sweet but so much different from the ones you’ve shared before.
When you’ve pulled away, you pull the sunglasses from his face and put them on your own. You strike a pose, putting your hands on your hips as you tilt your face up towards the sun.
“How do I look?” Much better than he did when he put them on in the mirror this morning. Those are his favorite-his lucky pair-but he might just let you have them.
“Beautiful,” he replies, almost in awe. God, he must look pathetic, but he can’t help it. He’s so in love with you that it makes his heart ache.
You reach out and tuck one of those unruly curls away from his face, although the breeze makes it impossible for it to stay there for more than a few seconds. “You’re blushing again.” You whisper to him.
“I am not.”
“You are.” You grin, eyes flicking down from his to his cheeks and back up again.
“That’s just… sunburn.” He insists, but he’s not putting up much of a fight about it.
You laugh under your breath, bumping his shoulder with yours. Gareth hesitates for just a moment before he scoots just a bit closer to you, one arm sliding around your waist behind you to pull you closer to him and the other slides across the knit blanket until he can loop his fingers loosely around yours.
The park around you is still bustling with families and couples. There’s even a man about Gareth’s age tossing a frisbee to his dog just a few yards away. The wind blows again, moving gust after gust through the trees. It feels like the leaves are whispering a song just for you two in the crowd.
Gareth squeezes your hand once, then he glances over at you. You’re still wearing his sunglasses, your face still tipped upwards, but you aren’t posing any longer. You’re letting what little sunlight that filters through the tree leaves hit your face and warm your body from the outside. He thinks you belong right here in this moment.
“Hey?” His voice sounds slightly quizzical.
You turn your head towards him, smiling, “yeah?”
His smile softens, but he doesn’t meet your eyes, “say it again.”
Your heart gives a little jump and then you roll your eyes. “You are such a dork.” You mumble, although there is no bite to it at all.
“Yeah.” He smiles, thumb brushing across your knuckles on the hand he’s holding. “But I’m your dork.”
Your arms wrap around his neck, pulling him for another kiss and he can’t help but smile into it. God, he really does love you. And now he can tell you any time he wants.
“I love you,” you murmur against his lips and now he’s full-on grinning.
“I love you too,” he responds, slotting his lips between yours as he pulls you into his lap. He reaches for the camera that you brought, snapping a photo before you pull away. It prints out from the top and Gareth sets it aside as you turn to face the camera and you both smile widely, the camera flashing again as you both stare into the lens.
The photo prints and you lean over him, watching them develop. You pick up the first one that’s fully developed now and smile down at it before sticking it in your purse, wanting to keep it as a physical reminder of this very special day.
When your crush on your best friend’s brother is outed, and said crush decides to let you down “gently” - but who knows? Maybe there is someone else out there for you.
Do I wanna know?
(If this feeling flows both ways?) Part 1
-hurt/no comfort angst- Gareth X Reader(f)
Maybe I just wanna be yours-
(I wanna be yours) Part 2
-angst/fluff- Eddie X Reader (f)
All I wanna ever say is,
(Are you mine?) Part 3
-angst/fluff/smut- Eddie X Reader (f)
To my message you reply,
(Why’d you only call me when you’re high?) Part 4.1 Part 4.2(end)
-angst/fluff/smut- Eddie X Reader (f) Gareth X Morgan (oc)
So sad this is over. I know I just posted the last part yesterday, but I’m so proud of this fic. I’m so glad so many people enjoyed it - I hope to write more, if I can get creative enough. I even made it to 90 followers!!
But I wanted to just make an appreciate post for this, my first ever fic, first ever completed fic.
All parts are linked above.
Special thanks to my besties who got me into writing, don’t think I would’ve even tried to accomplish a whole series without you all! I love you!! @the-unforgivenn @fizzing-imagines @punkrockmlchael @the-witty-pen-name @keeryhours
And those even wanting to be on my taglist 😭 ily all so much: @the-unforgivenn @keeryhours @the-witty-pen-name @littlemissholy @ali-r3n @moompie @hannahmarie1997 @kellsck @punkrockmlchael @viktor-enjoyer @eddiesguitarskills
would love love love to request a first crush!Gareth and first crush! reader
so cute and awkward
RAWR OMG THANK U 😭 THIS IS SO CUTESY OF COURSE I love him sm I’m keeping him in my pocket 😋
First Crushes
You are absolutely right when you would assume that being Gareths first crush would be so awkward
Id say you both start off as friends, or maybe you got paired up together in class, or he’ll maybe you’re friends with someone else and met through there
It takes time for the crush to develop, and so when it does you both already have your flow
But my god when the feelings kick in it’s noticeable to everyone else around you BUT yourselves
He probably wants to be liked back by you so bad, and he does things for you without thinking a lot of the time
Maybe he saves you the seat next to him in hellfire, or give you his jacket when it’s cold, make stupid jokes to get you to laugh, or bring you a small snack along with his when he sees you
He noticed the small things like what snack you always grab before Hellfire, or what you prefer to eat before lunch, if you enjoy a certain genre of books instead of another genre
He stores all this information in his brain but he cannot fathom what to do with it
Due to him and his friends being dubbed “Freaks” he probably thinks here no chance in hell that you like him back, even if you do
People have probably done that fake crush stuff on him or the “my friend likes you!” Just for it to be a joke, cause Yknow, kids are assholes, especially to people they deem different to them
So he doesn’t have the most confidence in himself that he’s able to pull off you liking him back
But it’s just so natural for him to like you that he cannot stop it 😭
You probably do the same things back that he does for you, but you notice the things about himself or maybe you wanna make yourself be more in a way that has a more chance of him liking you back
It’s so awkward too at times, like when your hands accidentally touch or you or him says something a little too close to being seen as feelings, the stuttering is getting to everyone in Hellfire
It’s so obvious the two of you like each other and you just don’t get it
You guys probably don’t tell one another you like each other for a long, long time
But when you do, oh my god the relief this guy feels but there’s also this feeling of kind of nervousness and dread
Like what if it’s a joke? And he panics
It takes a lot of reassurance for him to know that hey, you INDEED like him back 😭
After another grueling campaign of Eddie kicking everyone’s ass, as usual, it was time for the clean up.
And coincidentally, everyone but you and Gareth fiddles out an excuse to need to leave for the specific amount of time it takes to put everything away.
So, that leaves you and Gareth to clean up duty. For a couple minutes, it’s a little silent with little jokes and the faint sounds of the miniature figures fiddling into boxes, and books being put away.
You wanna talk to Gareth, but sometimes it’s just so hard to. Especially after Hellfire, when you’d spend the last few hours right up against his side, making jokes and turning at the wrong moment.
Just to get your nose barely inches from him, and having to pull back before you could fuck anything up.
Unbeknownst to you, Gareth was going through the same turmoil. He was sweeping crumbs away off the ground, and finding any pieces that had been knocked off the table.
For the past five minutes he’s been trying to work up the courage to make a move, or he’ll, say anything.
He stopped for a moment, tapping his fingers against the brooms handle before steeling himself, and clearing his throat for your attention.
You looked up, hand paused midair over the table where you were collecting figurines. You saw him glancing at you a couple times, averting his gaze again and again as he fiddles for a moment.
“Hey, um- we were gonna go to the diner once everything’s cleaned up.” Gareth started off, pursing his lips and trying to keep his voice nonchalant and almost smooth.
You looked over him for a moment before a smile came to your lips, wondering what he was hinting at.
“And I was gonna ask if you wanted to…Yknow- come?” Gareth suggested, peeking at you for a moment as he held the broom still.
At your silence- only a millisecond but it felt like forever to him, he kept babbling.
“It’s late and all- but I can totally give you a ride home!” He threw out there, hoping you’d take it with every fiber of his being.
He saw your lips quirk up, and he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a breathy sigh before he kept going.
“I just thought that, “Hey, she might wanna tag along!” But you can say no. It’s not- like forcefully.” Gareth waved his hand for a moment, trying to make the motion almost like he was whiny it off.
“So just- you can come. If… you want. Cause I’d be kinda happy if you did.” He said before he could stop himself. Gareth almost cursed himself out.
To him, he sounded so pathetic and like he was begging. But God knows he was. He was begging every higher being he didn’t even know were listening that you’d say yes.
You watched his mind work overtime; and felt your heart flutter again and again in your chest before you decided to put the poor guy out of his misery.
“Yeah, I’d like that.” You smiled, this ever so soft look on your face. Your eyes crinkled at the corners, lip turning up in the most perfect way he’s ever seen and the Emerson boy feels like he can’t breathe.
Gareth nodded, heart beating out his chest as he returned the smile before turning his head, nodding over and over like he couldn’t control it. He couldn’t, his heart was working overtime just from your pretty smile.
“Okay, okay- cool. Nice. Thanks.” Gareth finally got out, stuttering and cursing himself in his head but did he really care? Not at all.
Cause a moment later he heard you laugh, an airy sound that played over and over. He snuck another glance at you, and tried not to melt right then and there.
You were smiling to yourself, thinking he wasn’t looking and putting away the D&D equipment for next time.
The thought of actually making a move- well, sort of move, and actually succeeding, was unfathomable to Gareth. His heart beats out of his chest, and he lets go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
Seeing you smile was the best thing he’s ever seen, and he gets to see it EVERYTIME he cracks a joke, or brings you a snack, or opens a door for you, or gives you the work in class.
He just watched for a second, admiring you and having to whip his head back and hide the look on his face when you caught him.
