In the finale, I really, really want Aziraphale to grab Crowley, startling our demon— because he thought they were just making up to be friends again and wasn’t gonna let himself hope for more— and then I want our angel to kiss the dickens out of him. Knock him backwards a bit, so he has to kind of grab onto those sturdy shoulders and hang on. I picture Aziraphale having quite the appetite to make up for their dismal first attempt, and Crowley catching up pretty quickly— fast on the uptake, our snek.
No one to kiss (on New Year's Eve) - Rabbot hurt/comfort - Finished
Relationship: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Jack Abbot, Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Doctor Walsh (minor) & Nurse Jesse van Horn (mentioned)
Wordcount Chapter 2(of 2): 4854
Total wordcount: 7717
Story summary:
Abbot invites Robby over on Christmas so neither has to be alone. They get drunk, and they end up flirting so much that kissing is inevitable. They will have to face their actions during the rest of the week of handovers. Robby, however, hit his head on the way home and doesn't remember. Abbot doesn't know that and avoids it all until New Year's Eve.
Link to Chapter 1 on AO3
Chapter 2 summary:
Robby refuses to tell Jack about his concussion. Jack refuses to explain why he's acting weird. Thank god for New Year's Eve.
Crowley basks in the warmth with greed as he stands at the edge of Berkeley Square.
The world is saved again.
But there is still one relationship he must fix.
--
Sometimes a First Kiss needs a second chance.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Better formatting on Ao3 but I put the unformatted version under the cut :)
This was my pinch hit for the @bylergiftexchange event, a gift for @the-kellephant. They wanted a sappy hospital scene so here it is! Kind of wild to think this is the last bit of season 5 Byler speculation I’ll partake in before laying my eyes on the new season. Definitely is a big reason I wanted to time this deadline!
Happy last sleep before s5, truly love this fandom and all it’s brought into my life ❤️🔥
“Another Door Opens” G | 2,460 words
He didn’t remember walking through the hospital doors. He barely remembers the car ride here. In honesty, all he remembers is Will.
Will’s pale face. His limp body in his arms, cold and drenched as he pulled him from Lover’s Lake. Will’s eyes closed, lashes resting on cheeks too white as they strapped him to the stretcher and pulled him into the waiting ambulance. They’re images he wishes he could forget, but they hold onto his bones with a vice grip, etching into him with every passing moment. Instead, he tries to hold onto a memory of what came before that, something briefly warm and intimate…
They said he’d be okay. The doctors, although not fully aware of the situation, knew enough to be convinced it was just a potent mix of exhaustion and shock…a toll of the physical and mental fight they’d both managed to pull through. However, Mike was never convinced. They’d said he’d be okay before, too. Only for Him to come back. To find new ways to latch onto Will’s body and mind. They all wanted to believe this was truly it —that Vecna and all his monsters had been banished for good. As much as it seemed that way, everyone in Hawkins had been through the wringer these past five years. It was clear to see, on the faces of some more than others. None had been punished as totally however as Will Byers.
The doctors said he might wake up in a few hours; there was only major cause for concern if he was still out by tomorrow morning. Jonathan and Hooper both stood with their backs against one of the hallways walls that housed a vending machine. An anxious Joyce paced here and there, the two monetarily stopping her at times in an attempt to provide comfort. Lucas and Dustin somehow found a way to fall asleep in the waiting room chairs. El tried to insist she stay out there with them, but considering how exhausted and beat she also was from the fight, Robin offered to stay in her room with her until El was given the okay. But Mike —Mike didn’t budge an inch. He sat in the same chair, his gaze focused on the same spot, unflinching, waiting in agony to hear any news that he was stirring. And the moment it came, he was out of his seat like a runner on a race track when the starting shot was fired. No one tried to stop him, not even Joyce. Her face washed with visible relief as she gave Mike a nod of approval, although her voice still had a nervous tremble as she approached the nurse who’d emerged to ask a million and one questions. Mike didn’t stick around to hear them. He followed the doctor down the winding halls to Will’s room. He paused after opening the door, letting the boy go inside before walking away. All of the staff was made aware by the demeanor of Will’s friends and family that they needed some space.
The first thing he noticed was the smell. Some kind of cleaner, antiseptic, sharp enough to sting his nose. Then the steady electronic beeping from somewhere behind the thin curtain, rhythmic like a heartbeat trying to prove it’s still there.
Mike did his best to find the strength to grab the cloth, hands trembling. The shadowy outline behind it called to him but also terrified him. He was afraid to see him in this state again. How many times…how many ways would he have to see the person he cared about most in pain? Injured? Struggling? It was almost too much to take. What was worse though, was the thought of Will enduring those things without him.
He finally whisked the fabric away, Will’s unmoving form revealed in the bed, IV taped to his arm, curls of brown hair still slightly damp against his forehead. For a moment, he can only stare. The air is knocked out of him until he feels his ears are ringing with the drone of fluorescent light. He eyes a hard unwelcoming looking chair against the wall, inspiring him to move. He lifts it with a quiet care and puts it down as close as he can get to Will’s head without nudging any of the hospital equipment. He sits, so close, but doesn’t dare to touch the bed. It takes Mike more effort than he anticipated to find his voice, pushing past a scratchy lump in his throat.
“Will…”
He leans forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped until his knuckles are white. “I’m right here,” he whispers, hoping that Will can hear him. “I’m not going anywhere.” It’s a vow, one he’s always intended to keep.
His eyes slip down to Will’s hand resting on the sheets. He wants to reach for it, but he hesitates. What if Will wakes and pulls away? What if this isn’t what he wants? What if it scares him? What if—
A soft sound. The tiniest shift against the sheets. Mike jolts upright.
Will’s fingers begin to twitch. His eyelashes flutter, and there’s movement behind his eyelids. He lets out a small, pained moan. Slowly, his eyes start to open.
“Will?” Mike breathes.
Will blinks as if pulling himself out of the deepest sleep. His watery gaze lands on Mike, looking far away and blurry at first, then all of a sudden focusing. “M…Mike?”
He breaks into a sob he didn’t know he was holding. Mike scoots the chair somehow even closer. “Yeah, I’m here,” he says quickly, voice shaking. “A-Are you in pain? Do I need to call for someone? Does anything hurt?”
Will’s brow furrows, confused but calm. “No…I’m okay,” he whispers, and his voice sounds so hoarse and small. “You’re a little loud.”
Mike chokes on a laugh-sniffle hybrid. “Sorry. I’m just…” His throat closes up again. There’s so many things he wants —needs to say. It’s impossible to put his thoughts in order. So as more tears slide down his cheek, he relinquishes any attempt to control them, instead accepting whatever flows out.
“I thought I lost you.”
Will studies him quietly, still coming to. “You didn’t,” he murmurs, even attempting a lopsided smile. “I’m right here.”
Mike can’t hold himself back. He reaches out to him, and Will’s fingers lift weakly to brush against his midair, granting the permission Mike so desperately needs. He takes Will’s hands in both of his, holding them as though they would disappear if he dared to let go.
“Can you help me sit up?” Will asks softly.
Mike nods, standing right away and releasing one hand so he can slip an arm behind Will’s back, helping to guide him until he’s propped up against the pillows. Will looks a little dizzy, and Mike does catch a few of his winces from the movement, but he settles in okay.
“…How long was I out?” Will asks, breaking the hush in the room.
“Almost seven hours,” Mike replies. “I think. I stopped checking my watch.”
Will looks away. “I’m sorry, everyone must be—”
“Don’t say that,” Mike says, grasping his hands again, tighter. “Yeah, they’re worried, but they’re okay. El’s in another room, she’s been awake. Everyone’s safe.” He catches Will’s eye again, and he smiles tearfully. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You saved us.”
Will continues to stare at him for a moment, something warm flickering in his eyes. “You didn’t have to stay the whole time.”
“Of course I did,” Mike says, letting it all come out so much easier than ever. “After all of that, I’m never leaving you again.”
Will blinks, and even though he looks tearful, his lips twitch up into a smile. “Why?”
The answer sits heavy in his chest, pounding against his ribs, begging to be spoken. Because I love you. Because I’d die for you, and you almost died for me. Because we really did it. We kissed as if nothing could fall and it didn’t. We actually fixed it. And the last gate knitted itself back together, closed for good beneath us and—
But once again he hesitates. How does he say all that, without knowing what Will actually remembers? Would he want to remember? Every molecule in him believes that Will does, but he errs on the side of caution. “Because, you’re my best friend.”
Will’s expression shifts, just barely, but enough for Mike to see the disappointment flicker through him.
“That’s not —I mean, you’re my best friend, but…” Mike stumbles over the words. His heart is racing so hard he thinks Will must be able to hear it. “It’s more than that.”
Will perks up again. “More?”
Mike’s cheeks are burning. He’s spent this last year doing his best to be so brave and yet, he’s still struggling to tell Will how he feels. He’s never been good at feelings. But after all of that, the unbelievable struggle ending with the most euphoric moment of his life, only for them to come crashing down and almost losing Will again….It’s all made one thing very clear: some things are too important to be left unsaid.
“At the lake, I was loosing you,” Mike says, his voice breaking as he mentally recounts the details. “You were slipping away from me and —it was the worst thing I’ve ever felt. I would’ve traded places with you in a second if it meant you were safe, done anything to make it okay.” He stops, breath trembling. He pulls Will’s hands towards him, holding them against his chest, rubbing his thumbs against them so that hopefully Will feels his sincerity when he says this. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
Will stares at him, eyes shining and full of light and God if it isn’t the most wonderful thing. “Mike—“
“I know I suck,” Mike blurts out in a rush, “and I’m messy and confusing. And maybe you don’t feel the same way and that’s okay, I swear it’s okay. But I couldn’t stand the thought of you lying in here thinking I don’t care about you like that. Because I do, I— I really, really do.”
The words tumble out of him, unstoppable now, like the dam is breaking. “I love you, Will.”
The machines keep beeping, steady and insistent as the room otherwise goes quiet. Will’s eyes are fully welled with tears now, even if his face seems otherwise blank —in shock. His lips part. “Say it again.”
Mike moves closer until he’s practically leaning over top of him. He brings their joined hands up to his face, holding them against his trembling lips. “I love you.” Will exhales shakily, tears spilling over onto his cheeks and his hospital gown. The smile on his face is the purest Mike has ever seen him wear.
“I love you, too.”
The room seems to spin around Mike, and he feels weightless, like he did at the lake but lighter this time despite his feet being on solid ground. “You do?” he whispers, stunned.
Will nods, and he breaks one of his hands out of Mike’s grasp so he can rest it against his cheek. “I have for a long time.”
Mike lets out a breathless laugh that sounds like relief and disbelief all at once. He leaves his seat, presses his forehead gently to Will’s, careful of his head as he tries to avoid touching any of his tender injuries. “Then I’m gonna make sure you never scare me like that again,” Mike mutters in a matter of fact way.
“No promises,” Will teases weakly.
“You’re impossible.”
“Still love me?”
“Yeah,” Mike says, brushing his thumb across Will’s cheek. “More than anything.” He’s shaking, struggling to let himself lean in closer in fear of crossing that boundary again, afraid Will might be in too much pain, but that worry is quickly laid to rest as Will closes the distance, their tender kiss breaking apart only to come back together again. Let this never end, Mike thinks, let me be like this forever, always in his presence, always chasing after his breath as if it were my own, always holding him this close, closer until—
The door handle turns, and the two pull apart at speeds previously incalculable. But thank God, the nurse who’s been sent to check on him is Nancy and she’s not the least bit surprised to find Will and Mike practically glued together. He imagines his sister volunteered to be the one to care for Will for this exact reason, because she knows her brother well enough to know he’s just as foolish in love as he is in everything else. She only holds back on the sibling heckling a little as she checks Will’s vitals, not wanting to lay into him too hard after what they’ve all been through, but does remind them to be careful. “Not everyone who walks through that door will be as cool as your big sister,” she says with a wink before getting Will a glass of water and leaving to share the good news.
As soon as the door clicks shut, Will snuggles deeper into the blankets and looks up at Mike shyly.
“Can you…stay?” he asks, though his tone suggests he already knows the answer. He grins, and Mike pushes the chair away as he carefully climbs onto the edge of the bed, mindful of the wires and tubes, settling next to Will without touching him until Will gives a tiny nod.
“Screw what Nance said.” Mike wraps an arm around him, gentle but steady. Will rests his head against Mike’s shoulder, fitting there like he was made for it. He presses a small kiss to Will’s hair. “I know she’s going to go get your mom and everyone to come back here, and I don’t care what they say.” They lay that way in silence for a moment, Mike rubbing a gentle hand against Will’s shoulder, acknowledging in his head that what’s unfolding right now is something he never thought he’d get to do. He’s beyond grateful that he can.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you.” The words slip out as he pushes another small kiss against the side of his head.
“You didn’t,” Will hums, eyes fluttering shut as he leans into him. He exhales big, satisfied. “You found me just in time, right when you needed to.” Mike smiles, and for the first time in a long time, Will looks like he feels safe. He is safe, and that makes Mike feel whole. The future finally feels a little less terrifying. Because he knows they’ll face it together.
Battle of Hogwarts anniversary so why not a Romione to celebrate their first kiss 🥰
Black velvet sky, muted lamplight. Their second kiss is unhurried, lying on top of a scarlet patchwork quilt.
Ron’s fingertips trail the back of her neck, as Hermione presses her lips to the salt-wet skin of his cheek. The deep rumble of plans, of what comes next, echo up the stairs. With a flick of wand the door is shut, and Hermione draws the blanket over his shivers.
“Try to sleep,” she whispers.
Bone weary, battle tired. They lay all night, slumber just out of reach.
