ミ★ there she goes ★彡
summary: rodrick's parents had just grounded him after finding out about the party him and his younger brother had thrown while they were away. and more importantly they had told him he wasn't allowed to be in the talent show with his band. and ever since then he hadn't come out of his room. his family was growing worried, so greg took it upon himself to do one thing right and call you. and of course you wanted nothing more than to be there for you boyfriend. pairing: rodrick heffley x fem!reader warnings: a little bit of angst, pretty much entirely fluff otherwise word count: 2.4k ao3 link playlist previous work
10 PM was when Rodrick usually called if the two of you hadn’t already seen each other that day. Or, obviously, if you happened to be with him. So when it was 10:10 and you received a call from the Heffley land line you had to assume it was Rodrick calling you. He hadn’t reached out for the past two days so you assumed he had to have been grounded. And when his parents grounded him they would usually take away his phone too. So in order to call you he would sneak the landline into his room in the attic.
But no, when you picked up the phone it wasn’t him calling you. It was his younger brother Greg.
“Greg? Why are you up so late? Don’t you go to bed at 7:30?” You were just trying to tease him, but he sounded genuinely offended by the suggestion.
“What– no, who told you that?”
“Rodrick.”
“Of course. That asshole. He’s—” He stopped himself, figuring you would probably tell Rodrick if he said anything mean towards his brother. You wouldn’t have, but Greg didn’t know that.
“Greg… why did you call me?”
“Sorry, I’m getting sidetracked. I’m calling because.. You need to come over right now?”
“Why?”
“Well, Rodrick hasn’t come out of room all day. And usually, I mean, I wouldn’t be too concerned. Frankly, I wouldn’t care at all. But, well yesterday, Dad found out about the party we threw, and as punishment he isn’t allowed to play in the talent show with Loded Diper.” That talent show meant the world to him. And ever since he had found out about it, it was all he would talk about. If he hadn’t been allowed to, it would crush him.
“Please don’t tell him it was me who called you. We’re not really on good terms right now. Oh, and before I forget you're probably gonna have to sneak in. He was also grounded.” I would have to sneak out as well. What would my parents think if I randomly left at 10 pm to go see my boyfriend. More likely than not they would assume the worst.
“Ok, I will be there Greg. Thanks for letting me know. Bye.” You hung up and placed your phone back on your desk.
You stood up from your desk and opened up your window as quietly as you could. However it was prone to squeaking from the lightest budge, so opening it as quietly as you could wasn’t very quiet at all.
Before you climbed out you grabbed your beat-up pair of converse and one of the hoodies you’d stolen from Rodrick. Tying your shoes up as you shut the window behind you.
There was a tree right outside your window that made sneaking out fairly easy. Not that you would do it often, but the few times you did the sturdy tree was a much appreciated bonus. You would lean your bike up against it since starting up your car always made for a lot more noise. And your bike was almost exclusively reserved for the purpose of a quiet exit.
You didn’t live that far from the Heffley’s. It took you about ten minutes to get there on your bike. The drive felt like almost nothing though. And before you knew you were pulling up to the Heffley family home. Pulling your bike up to the side of the house.
When you were stood underneath Rodrick’s windowsill, you took note of how there were no other lights on. Maybe his parents were asleep and you wouldn’t have to climb all the way up to his attic. You were already tired enough tonight.
You picked up some pebbles from the ground, throwing them at his window. One after the other. Until his light finally flicked on and he opened up the window.
“Why-?” He sounded exhausted.
“Are your parents up?”
“No… but,”
“Can you let me in?”
He looked away from you, staring off to the side. An aggressive sigh left his lips. “Fine.” He mumbled it softly and you could barely hear it. Once he left you walked back to the front of the house waiting for him to open the front door.
You understood why he was annoyed, but you didn’t really understand why he was annoyed with you. When he opened the door for you, and you entered the house, neither of you said a word to the other till you were upstairs.
You watched in silence as he sat down on his bed, and shut the window. Before he finally spoke up, “I don’t really feel like doing anything tonight, so I don’t know why you're here.”
“Because you’ve been avoiding me, and haven’t called. And I wanted to check on you, because I was told your parents found out about the party.”
“Because Greg doesn’t know how to shut the fuck up. And he never wiped the camera. I don’t why he was even taking pictures on our Dad’s camera in the first place. But it’s the fact that after that he didn’t even think to wipe it. The kid’s an idiot.”
You sat down next to him, resting a head on his shoulder, “Oh come on, weren’t you two just bonding the other day.”
“That doesn’t have to do with anything,” he paused for a moment thinking to himself, “Any bonding has been–fuck what’s the word, re-, re-, I don’t know you get what I’m trying to say.”
“Rescinded?”
“Yeah, that.” He looked down at you, moving to rest his arm on your shoulder. And pressing a light kiss to your hair. “Look, I’m sorry for ‘avoiding’ you. It’s not because of you. You didn’t do anything. You’re perfect. I’ve been avoiding everyone.”
“I get it.”
“My parents thought the best way to punish me for throwing the party was to ban me from doing the talent show. That was gonna be my big break. And tomorrow they're making me and Greg go visit our Grandpa’s retirement home for the weekend. And he’s like weird. He doesn’t let us watch anything except the security footage of the place’s lobby. Oh, and I’m grounded so you shouldn’t even really be here.”
“I’m sorry, Rod. There’s not really much I can do there.”
“I know, but you being here is enough.”Just then you left out a soft yawn. You could barely keep your eyes open anymore.
He sighed standing up briefly only so he could move to the floor in front of your legs. He started to untie your shoes as he had noticed that they were still on. “‘m sorry that I’m keeping you up. You can stay the night if you want.”
You leaned back on the palm of your hands as you looked down at him. He was carefully taking his time as he undid your shoes. “I shouldn’t. You’re grounded and my parents would be pissed if they found out I snuck out.”
With your shoes now off, Rodrick sat back down next to you. Brushing some of the stray strands of hair off your face. “Please. I’ll wake you up before anyone else would reasonably be up.” He gave you the kind of puppy-dog look you could never in a million years imagine he would give to anyone besides you. As you gazed into his eyes, you contemplated staying or not. You really wanted to. You wanted nothing more. But if anyone found out–
You interrupted your own thoughts to let out a quiet, “Sure.” Afterwards placing a kiss on his temple. You let another yawn escape from your lips before laying down on his bed.
He shifted so that he was right next. Grasping towards your hand, so that he could run his fingers against your knuckles. “This might sound kind of random, but how did you know my parents found out? You must be psychic or something.” Rodrick realized that you were drifting off and more likely than not you barely registered what he had just said.
“Greg called me.” It came out a little slurred and groggy. The tiredness was incredibly prominent in your voice as you spoke.
“Huh.” Maybe his little brother was actually good for something. He was going to add something else, but then he noticed how you’d already fallen asleep. Your soft snores like music to his ears. He could listen to them for hours on end. You had been laying down for barely even a minute. It was sweet. That you had come to see him so late even though you were this tired, just to comfort him. And listen to what he had to say. No one had ever made that much effort for him before.
And it was in that moment that he realized just how much he loved you. Even though you had been together for a little over a year now, neither of you had said it yet.
You of course had wanted to, but didn’t know if Rodrick was ready to say it back. However it was clear to anyone with common sense that he felt it deep down. Even if he was just too scared or didn’t truly understand what he was feeling. As he had never felt it before. But seeing you there, laying in his bed all wrapped up in his hoodie, everything just made sense to Rodrick. And so he couldn’t help it when the ‘I love you’ seemingly slipped out. But he meant it. Because he loved you more than he felt he had ever loved anyone before.
-
The next morning Rodrick heavily overestimated his ability to wake up at the ass crack of dawn. Which all things considered wasn’t all that surprising. As he normally slept through the weekends. Only waking up around 3 pm if he didn’t have plans with you, or his Mom didn’t drag him out of bed. It just so happened that that morning was going to be one of those days.
So when his Mom came to wake him up, so they could leave for the retirement home, she saw the two of you curled up together under his sheets, both properly clothed which she approved of, she hesitated before beginning to stir Rodrick. She liked you, and thought you were a good influence on Rodrick even if you weren’t the perfect poster child of your school. And she could tell that you had been there to comfort Rodrick. She had started to grow worried about the harshness of his punishment after Rodrick fell back into a slump. And to be honest she had been planning on reaching out to you herself in a hopes to cheer Rodrick up.
When she finally moved to nudge Rodrick’s shoulder, he blinked himself out of a tired daze into consciousness. After noticing it was his Mom standing beside him, waking him up, he tried his best to cover you. Even though it was extremely obvious that you were asleep next to him.
Susan starting speaking in a hushed tone, “I’m not mad. Just make sure she’s gone before we leave. So preferably in the next fifteen-ish minutes. Also I’ve already changed my mind. I'm a little mad. But I understand. Ok?”
He half-nodded, running a lazy hand across his face. Trying to wake himself up further, so he didn’t just immediately drift off after his Mom left the room.
She had hoped for a further response from Rodrick. Maybe even an apology of some sorts, but it didn’t seem like that would be happening today. So she just gave a neutral smile before heading back downstairs. Leaving Rodrick to wake you up and get ready before their family left.
“Hey, come on, you've got to leave now,” He trailed a hand through your hair, trying to stir you, “We’ve gotta go.”
A groan and mumble left you, it was unrecognizable and he could hardly hear you. Let alone understand you. “Please, wake up. C’mon.”
“Rod, what–” You opened your eyes the tiniest bit. Enough to see Rodrick and only Rodrick.
“Sorry, but you’ve got to go. ‘m leaving soon, and my Mom told me to make sure you get home.”
“I’m not surprised we ended up sleeping in,” you said with a laugh, leaning in towards Rodrick’s shoulder. Taking in his comforting scent, to help ground you. Bringing you back to reality after some of the best sleep you had gotten in what felt like forever.
He liked this moment. And he wished it didn’t have to end so soon, “Are you good to ride your bike home? I can maybe convince my Mom to drop you off if not.”
You appreciated how much he cared, but you knew once you got out of bed the drowsy state would wear off and you would be good to get home yourself. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about if my parents are awake and have figured out I’m not home.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” You moved to stand up, even though you really didn’t want to. When you got up and stood over him, you leaned forward for a brief kiss. “Bye Rodrick. Don’t miss me too much while you’re gone.”
“Oh, I won’t.” That made you scoff, as you picked up your shoes from the ground, stepping into them.
When you lifted up the window, and began to climb out you really wished you had the courage to say I love you, to him. It was the perfect moment to say that sort of thing to him.
But you were shocked when he beat you to it, “I love you, babe.’ Your heart felt like it had stopped, and you turned back to look at him with pure awe on your face. You swore you were ten seconds away from crying.
Rodrick had shocked himself a bit with that one. Sure this wasn’t the first time he had said it out loud. But it was the first time he had said it when you were awake. He didn’t know what your reaction would be. Honestly he thought it would be bad for some stupid reason. So he was even more shocked when you said it back. Just as simple as that.
“Woah.”
You smiled at him again as you continued backing up out the window. “Call me, Heffley.”
“Uh, yeah. Of course.”
He was so glad you had entered into his life. And he still didn’t know how he had managed to make you fall in love with him. But he did know that never wanted this to end. Because he loved you too. And that would never stop.
author's note: surprise, a rodrick/reader. i rewatched all the diary of a wimpy kid movies and was inspired. don't expect any more of these though, as i'm sure this is gonna be a one time thing. also to clarify i am in the age range where it's not illegal for me to be writing this. so yeah. and i'm sorry if the opening scene was lowkey ass i didn't really know where i was going with this until halfway through, so i tried my best. anyways hope ya'll enjoyed :)
