#gareth emerson fanfic

[punkrockmlchael]

The Girl Next Door

Masterlist | Gareth Emerson Masterlist

Gareth Emerson x Fem Henderson!Reader

Modern AU; Best Friends to Lovers (Both Gareth and Reader are 18+)

Warnings: 18+ mdni, Best Friend Reader!, Underaged Drinking, Smut with Plot (kinda, mostly smut), Very whiney and needy Gareth, Reader has Nipple Piercings!, Very Submissive Gareth, Gareth has a Praise Kink, Accidental Confession, Smut: Making Out and Getting Handsy, Gareth makes a mess in his pants, Nipple Play, Riding Gareth, PinV, afab reader

Request: anon: I was wondering if you could write fluffy/smut with Gareth, maybe best friend to lovers. The reader is Dustin's older sister and he knows his sister’s crush, and Dustin makes it his personal mission to get The reader and Gareth together. Hi! Thanks for the request! I love me some Gareth, especially best friends to lovers and this was my first time writing for a Henderson! reader so I hope you enjoy :) for some reason this turned into whiney and needy Gareth bc I craved that and like ugh, I love this man ++ huge shoutout to @keeryhours for letting me yap my way through this with you!

Synopsis: Growing up next door to the Emerson's house was cool. Pool parties in their fancy in-ground pool anytime you wanted, playing video games in their basement anytime you wanted, knocking on Gareth's window anytime you wanted (and in return, he definitely knocked on your window). It was so cool, until you developed a crush on Gareth... You swear you've kept this crush to yourself so well, but your little brother, Dustin, noticed the looks you gave his older Hellfire mentor and neighbor. Dustin thinks it's cute; he's a total sap for love and romance and he definitely wants you and Gareth to be together.

Word Count: 4.1k

gareth: hey! you’re going to the hellfire party tonight, right?

you: gareth, it’s literally at my house

gareth: oh, duh. idk, maybe you had plans?

you: no, dustin would freak out if i didn’t show up to his little party. plus you guys are like, my only friends? lol, where else would i be on a friday night?

gareth: damn, well, need any help? i can come over early and help ya!

you: actually, yeah, we might. if you want. you free in 10 minutes?

gareth: be there asap!!

you: perfect, thanks! front door is unlocked

gareth: as if i don’t know where the spare key is, a fake rock is pretty obvious

You rolled your eyes at his response, smiling to yourself. Yeah, a fake rock was pretty obvious, but also not your choice. You had your mom to thank for that one.

You slid your phone in your jeans back pocket and straightened out your low-cut crop top before heading towards the kitchen. Once you arrived down the stairs, you saw your brother, Dustin, moving around the kitchen with his friend Mike.

"Are you sure your mom is okay with us like... actually drinking tonight?" Mike asked, organizing the various amounts of liquor and beer that Eddie had dropped off on the counter.

"Mike, my mom literally doesn't care. She's not like your mom," Dustin replied, placing out some snacks. "Besides, my sister will be here, and Eddie, and so many more seniors that will be responsible."

"Responsible?" You asked, walking towards the kitchen island. You took a seat and smiled at your brother and his friend. "You really think we're responsible?"

Mike looked up at you and blinked a few times, staring at your cleavage in the low-cut crop top. Dustin looked over at him and hit his arm, shaking his head. "Dude, that's my sister!" Dustin redirected his attention to you, raising an eyebrow gently. "Gareth coming tonight?" He asked, a suggestive tone in his voice.

"Yeah, he'll be here soon, why do you ask?" You replied, looking at Dustin with a confused look. "I mean, it's a Hellfire party, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah it is a Hellfire party. I just wasn't sure if he was stopping by," Dustin replied, a small smirk on his face as he turned back to what he was doing.

You gave him a look before responding, trying to read his look and understand what he was saying. "It's funny you ask that," you said, resting your arms on the counter and leaning over it a bit. "He just texted me and asked if I was coming to this party, as if it's not at my house."

"We both know Gareth isn't the sharpest tool in the drawer," Dustin replied, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet to put the chips in it.

"Hey, be nice," you warned, watching as he moved around the kitchen.

"Be nice?" Mike asked, looking back at you, seriously struggling to look at your face. "It's Gareth."

You gave Mike the same stern look you had given your brother moments before. He looked at you before he looked back at Dustin, cowering a little. "Dude, how is she so scary and hot?" Mike whispered to Dustin, looking back at you as he whispered.

"Dude, she's still my sister," Dustin groaned, shaking his head.

You raised an eyebrow, watching Dustin and Mike before you heard the front door open. You turned in your chair and smiled as Gareth walked into the kitchen, smiling at you.

"Hey," Gareth smiled, moving to stand next to you. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder and looked up at Dustin and Mike, smiling at them both. "Mike, Dustin. Do you guys need any help?" He asked, stepping closer to you, his hand rubbing against the exposed skin of your shoulder gently.

"Hey, Gareth," Mike said, looking at you and Gareth.

Dustin also looked up at you and Gareth, immediately noticing his hand placement. And the fact that you leaned into Gareth's touch instinctively and immediately. He redirected his attention to Gareth and shook his head, that same small smirk still on his face.

"No, I think we're good," Dustin nodded, placing the bowl of chips on the counter in front of you. "Besides, I think the others should be here soon," he added, placing out some more snacks.

"Hm, okay, if you say so," Gareth hummed, grabbing a chip from the bowl to munch on with his free hand. He popped it in his mouth and looked at you, smiling softly. "You want a drink?" He asked, looking back at the counter full of beer, liquor and mixers. "Because I need one," he said, walking towards the counter where Mike stood.

"Already?" You giggled, watching him move toward the alcohol. "You just got here," you added, standing up and walking towards him.

"Yeah, well, lucky for me I can just stumble next door tonight when I leave," he shrugged, grabbing a red solo cup before he poured in some coconut flavored rum. He topped it off with some Dr. Pepper and looked at you, smiling as you appeared next to him. "And, you know Eddie will be wasted tonight, we might as well join him." He teased, taking a sip of his drink.

You made a face, looking at his cup. "I'm sorry," you said, grabbing your own red solo cup, "did you really just mix coconut rum and Dr. Pepper?" You asked, pouring some vodka into your cup. You topped it off with some Coke, stirring it up gently before you took a sip of it, making a face at the taste of alcohol.

"Says the girl that just mixed vodka with Coke," he rolled his eyes, bumping his shoulder into yours.

"It's a classic," you argued, rolling your eyes right back at him.

"A classic my ass," he replied, walking towards the living room. You shook your head and followed him, leaving Dustin and Mike alone in the kitchen again.

"What, uh, what was that?" Miked asked, looking towards the living room before looking back at Dustin.

Dustin smirked and shrugged, grabbing himself a can of beer. "That," he said, opening the beer before he took a sip, "is what our goal is tonight. Getting the two of them together," he nodded, looking back at Mike as he sipped the beer.

"Huh?!" Mike asked, looking at Dustin with wide eyes. "Why?"

"Because, it's my mission."

"Come on," Dustin giggled, looking at you from across the room as he nursed the second beer he was drinking for the night. "Truth or dare?" He asked, leaning closer to you.

You shook your head, sitting on the arm of the chair Gareth was sitting on. Gareth's arm was around your waist protectively, ensuring that you didn't fall off in any way. "Dustin," you said, looking at him. "I don't want to play."

"Hey now, come on, girl Henderson," Eddie piped in, leaning towards you like your brother did. "Answer baby Henderson's question."

"Yeah, girl, we all did it." Jeff added, giggling a little as he was feeling the alcohol. You looked at Jeff and Eddie and raised your eyebrow, turning your attention back to your brother.

What harm could he do?

"Fine," you sighed, taking another sip from your drink. "Dare."

"Perfect," Dustin nodded, looking between you and Gareth. "I dare you to play 7 minutes in heaven with Gareth!"

You choked on your drink, looking up at Dustin. He wore a cheeky smirk back. Eddie and Jeff broke out into a chorus of oooh's and Mike stared at Dustin like he was crazy. You looked at Gareth, his face bright red as he looked at Dustin.

"Dustin, what, no! That's... that's crazy!" You said, shaking your head.

"You totally have to do it!" Eddie said as he gave Dustin a high five.

"You can't back down from a dare!" Jeff replied, nodding along with Eddie's words. You looked at the boys with a shocked expression before you looked back at Gareth, his red face looking at you.

"Well, uh, a dare is a dare," Gareth said softly, nodding as he looked up at you. You looked back at him with a shocked face; not because he was agreeing to do this but because he seemed... nervous? “Besides, it’s just kissing,” he added, looking at you.

"Fine, I guess," you mumbled, standing up. You walked towards the stairs and made your way to your room, Gareth following after you quietly.

"Nice job, baby Henderson," Eddie said, watching you and Gareth walked towards your room. "I thought they'd never fuck," he added, looking back at Dustin.

"Dude, I know right?" Dustin replied, taking a small sip of the now warm beer in his hands.

"You don't... you don't think they're actually going to do that... right?" Mike asked cautiously.

"If Gareth can actually make a move, yeah." Jeff nodded.

“Oh, Mike,” Eddie smirked, downing the rest of his beer. “This has been a long time coming.”

You walked towards your room with Gareth trailing after you. You walked inside first, closing the door after Gareth before you locked it.

You weren’t sure if it was the alcohol in your system, the looks the boys all gave you, or the way Gareth seemed fine with this. But, something definitely gave you the confidence to go through with this.

“Look, we-“ Gareth started, before you stepped towards him, pushing him against the back of the door. You leaned in and kissed him roughly, moving your arms to his biceps, holding onto them for balance.

He groaned into the kiss, his arms moving around your waist as they rested on your ass cheeks gently. He squeezed them a little, swallowing the moan you left in his mouth. You pulled away from the kiss, looking up at him. He looked down at you, sighing as he continued to squeeze your ass.

“Is this okay?” You asked softly. He nodded, breathlessly.

“Yes, fuck, please,” he begged softly, looking at you. “More than okay. Please kiss me again.” He breathed out. “And again, fuck,” he sighed. “God, I just, I need you.”

You sighed, relishing in the way he sounded, begging. For more. For you.

You leaned closer, kissing his lips again. A small whine escaped his lips as his hands moved to your hips, holding you tightly. Your hands moved to his neck, playing with the small curls at the base of his neck.

You tugged on his curls gently as your lips moved against his, his lips parting gently to let out a soft groan. Your tongue darted into his mouth, exploring it as he continued to gasp and groan, pulling your body closer to his.

His now rock hard cock rubbed against your thigh, causing you to groan as you tugged on his curls with a bit more force, another whine escaping his lips.

“Fuck, baby, please,” he whined, grinding his hips against your thigh. “You, ah, you have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he closed his eyes, resting his head against the door softly as he continued to grind against your thigh.

“Someone’s eager,” you teased, kissing down his jaw gently to his neck. You trailed kisses down to his neck, biting the skin gently as your dominant hand trailed down his chest and stomach, stopping directly over his hard on. You squeezed it gently, palming him through his pants.

He moaned loudly, bucking his hips towards your hand as you continued to palm him. “Ah, baby,” he breathed, closing his eyes as he continued to move against your palm. “Please,” he was cut off by a moan as you bit down on his neck a little rougher this time. You nibbled and sucked on the skin, creating a small purple mark. “Fuck, yeah, mark me up, make everyone know I’m yours, god. Wanna be yours.” He babbled on softly.

You left a few more marks on his neck, continuing to palm him through his jeans. He moaned more, moving his hips against your hand, craving some sort of release.

“God, fuck,” he whined. “I’m gonna cum, shit,” he warned, looking down at you.

“You’re gonna cum,” you moved your face closer to his, your lips ghosting his, “in your pants? From my hand?” You asked, looking at him.

He bit his lip and nodded, a bit embarrassed. “Yes,” he said shamefully. “I’m gonna cum in my pants from your hand,” he repeated, speeding up his movements against your hand.

He closed the gap between you two and kissed your lips, groaning into the kiss. You squeezed his cock gently, continuing to palm him. He pulled away from the kiss, the back of his head resting against the door as his hip movements turned sloppy.

“Please,” he begged, eyes shut tightly as he continued to grind into your palm. “Please, baby, please let me cum,” he pleaded, looking at you with lust blown eyes. “Please, I-I can’t take it, want to cum, need to cum.”

You looked up at him, taking in his appearance. He looked pathetic. He was pressed up against your bedroom door, fully clothed as he continued to grind against your hand. A whining, moaning, groaning mess as he begged for you to allow him to cum in his pants.

“You’re going to make a mess, Gare,” you said softly, kissing his neck gently.

“Don’t care,” he replied quickly, shaking his head. “Just, ah, just want to cum.”

“Then cum for me,” you whispered, speeding up your hand movements. He whined loudly, hips sputtering as he finally let go, releasing inside his underwear and pants. His hips continued to move against your hand slowly as he rode out his high. “Mm, good boy,” you mumbled.

You left soft kisses up and down his neck, keeping your hand where it was until he was done. He sighed again, leaning his head back against the door before he looked down at you, a bright red color creeping up his neck and to his cheeks.

“I… I’m sorry,” he said softly, looking down at you. He suddenly felt very embarrassed, very self aware and very sticky; it was quite the feeling for him.

“Hm? For?” You asked, kissing his lips softly.

“Please, don’t make me say it again,” he begged, looking at you. “I don’t need the reminder of what I just did.”

You giggled, moving your hands to his face gently. “Didn’t know you were so submissive,” you teased.

“God, you’re hot and I’ve had alcohol,” he sighed, “and now, I don’t think I can go back down there,” he added, looking down at the noticeable wet spot in his jeans.

“So, don’t,” you said, kissing him again. “Let’s have some more fun,” you suggested, looking up at him.

“You don’t… like, you don’t think I’m a loser for this?” He asked, looking down at you.

You shook your head, caressing his face gently. “Should I?” You asked, “because, I actually think it’s really hot and I want nothing more than to have you inside of me right now.” He sighed, leaning in to kiss you again.

“Please, how are you so incredibly hot, smart and sweet?” He mumbled against your lips. “I really should clean up, though.” He said, moving his legs as his pants felt stuck to him.

You giggled a little, leaving a soft kiss on his lips. “You know where my bathroom is,” you replied, motioning towards the bathroom attached to your room. He hummed and nodded, having been in the bathroom multiple times. He placed a soft kiss on your forehead before he waddled to the bathroom to clean himself up.

You shook your head and smiled a little, sitting on your bed.

A few moments later, Gareth walked back out of the bathroom and sat on the bed next to you, “god, that was the most I’ve ever had to clean up,” he sighed, looking at you.

“That’s both extremely gross and extremely hot,” you said, moving towards him. “Now, uh, sit down over there, against the headboard. I want to try something.” You looked at him, watching as he obeyed and did as you said.

“What are you, oh, oh I see,” he mumbled as you crawled onto his lap, straddling his waist. You kissed him, repositioning yourself as you did. You rubbed your clothed core against the wet spot that was still on his pants and his breath hitched, his hands finding your hips. “God,” he groaned into the kiss. “You might actually kill me tonight, and if so, I’m dying a happy, happy man.”

“You’re like, incredibly needy,” you teased him as you pulled away from the kiss, sliding your crop top up and off your body. “And, it’s like really fucking hot but I pictured you to be way more dominant when it came to this,” you added, sliding his shirt up and over his head, tossing it off to the side with yours.

“You’ve pictured sex with me?” He asked, his hands moving up to cup and squeeze your breasts through your bra.

You moaned softly, nodding as you rubbed against him again, sighing softly. “Yeah, don’t let it go to your head,” you said, kissing him again. He kissed you back, deepening the kiss as he continued to paw at your breasts, squeezing them harder this time.

“Don’t let it go to my head?” He asked and reached around and undid your bra, “you let me cum in my pants and didn’t make fun of me; if anything, you’re my dream girl.” He said, looking up at you.

You shook your head, sliding your bra off before you threw it on the floor. “If you want I can tell all the boys,” you replied, leaning in for a kiss as your bare chests touched.

He jumped slightly, feeling the cold metal against his skin. He looked down, eyes widening as he ran his fingers across your nipples gently. “Piercings?” He asked, looking up at you as he continued to rub over your nipples and play with the silver metal that sat in them. “You have nipple piercings?” He groaned out, squeezing your boobs again.

You moaned and sighed, biting your lip. “Yeah, so what?” You asked, looking at him.

“So what? So, that’s like so totally hot, my god you are just, fuck,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Just when I think you couldn’t get more perfect you pull out new surprises,” he mumbled, kissing your lips as he continued to squeeze your breasts. “Wait,” he breathed out as he pulled away from the kiss. “Can I kiss them?” He asked, looking down at your breasts.

You bit your lip and nodded, “yeah, of course,” you said softly. “You can do anything you want to me,” you added, letting out a small whine as he kissed down your neck and collarbones, kissing over your breasts. He kissed down your left breast, kissing over your nipple before he stopped and sucked on it gently, his tongue darting around the cool metal in his mouth. He closed his eyes, humming against your skin as he continued to suck and kiss your nipple.

You moaned again, rubbing against him subconsciously as you moved your hand to his hair, tugging on his curls gently. He groaned against you, moving his hips up to meet yours, rubbing against you in sync with you.

“Fuck,” you moaned again, tugging on his hair. “Is your plan to get me to cum in my pants too?” You asked, sighing as you closed your eyes.

He pulled away from your breast with a popping sound, kissing back up your neck and jaw. “No,” he replied, “I’d much rather see you cum on my cock,” he added, kissing your lips. “Please.”

You pulled away from the kiss and stood up, shedding your jeans and panties, now standing completely naked in front of him. He looked at you, groaning as he eyed you up and down, his hand moving down to palm his cock through his jeans. You smirked, watching him as you grabbed a condom from your bedside table.

“If you undress I’ll be able to be on your cock,” you said, watching continue to palm himself. “Unless, of course, you want to cum in your pants again,” you teased.

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” He sighed undoing his pants and boxers, kicking them off and onto the floor.

“Probably not, no,” you answered, crawling back to his lap. You opened the condom, reaching down to pump his cock a couple of times before you slid the condom on him. He groaned, his hips bucking as he thrusted into your hand. “Damn, dude, that’s just my hand,” you giggled as you repositioned yourself over him. You held his cock, gliding the tip through your wet folds, causing a louder moan to escape Gareth’s lips.

“Please,” he sighed, looking at you. “Please, need to be inside you, need to feel you around me, need to make you feel good,” he begged, moving his hips up as he tried to move inside of you.

“Well, I guess since you asked so nicely,” you replied, slowly sinking down on him with a gasp. “Fuck, Gare, you’re so big,” you breathed out, lowering yourself onto him completely. You sighed, letting yourself adjust to him as his hands moved to your hips, holding you in place. “God, you’re so big and fuck, you fill me up,” you said softly, leaving a soft kiss on his lips. He whined against your lips, his cock twitching inside of you. “You like that?” You asked, looking at him.

He nodded, closing his eyes as you slowly started moving your hips, “mhm,” he hummed, gripping your hips tighter. “Like being called good, like being praised,” he gasped as you moved more, slowly moving up before you moved back down on him completely.

"Yeah?" You asked, looking at him. He bit his lip and nodded, helping you move up and down on his cock with his hands.

"Yeah.." he sighed, his eyebrows furrowing as he helped you move; his movements going perfectly with yours.

"Well, you're such a good boy," you moaned out, your fingers tangling through his hair as you leaned in. You kissed his lips roughly, his lips moving against yours desperately as he moved his dominant hand down between your bodies. His thumb found your clit, rubbing tight circles over it as you continued to bounce on his cock. A loud moan escaped your lips, your kisses against his lips getting sloppier. "Fuck, Gare," you whined, moving your hips faster. "I'm gonna cum."

"Mhm," he mumbled, rubbing more circles as he moved his lips back to your nipples. He kissed and sucked again, groaning against your nipple as you clenched around his cock. "Please, cum for me," he mumbled. "Wanna see you cum on my cock, please," he begged.

You moaned again, the feeling all too much as you felt the familiar feeling in your stomach. Gareth's mouth on your nipple, his fingers rubbing circles on your clit and his cock stretching you out... it was all so much; but it felt so good.

You made a couple more movements before you moaned loudly, fingernails digging into Gareth's biceps to hold yourself upright as your orgasm ripped through you. You moaned his name and rode out your high, releasing around his cock. He groaned, looking up at you as he moved his hips up, whining against your nipple.

"Fuck, baby, I'm gonna cum," he groaned, the feeling of your nails digging into this skin driving him over the edge.

"Cum for me, fuck, be a good boy," you mumbled, moving your hips a little more. He whined, bucking his hips up as he released into the condom, moaning and groaning your name.

"Fuck, baby, god," he groaned, riding out his high. "God, I love you." He mumbled, his head falling back against the headboard. Your head whipped up, looking at him.

"You, what?" You asked, continuing to sit on his cock as you looked at him.

"Hmm?" He asked, looking at you with an exhausted expression. What he had said finally hit him before he looked at you with a red face. "I, uh, I love you." He said softly.

"I love you too," you responded immediately, leaning in for another kiss.

He smiled, kissing you back. "Be mine?" He mumbled against your lips.

"Always," you replied, smiling softly.

"That was more than 7 minutes, you know," he teased softly, looking at you as he pushed your hair back behind your ear gently.

"Yeah, whatever," you giggled.

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

Worst Case Scenario

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.

He couldn’t wait to get home.

[the-witty-pen-name]

Ketchup-gate

Gareth Emerson x F!Reader

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: fluff, mutual pining, friends to lovers, kissing, cursing, stupid pranks

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.

TAGLIST: @sunshinepeachx @downbear @fanlifeaamt @exploding-bonbon @losingmygrasponreality @andvys @djodirt @moonlightsolo @kyga01 @sheisjoeschateau @melaninjhs @v3lv3tf0x @purpleeyeswithgoldensparkles @sunshine-mrk @danymunsonharrington @mrsjellymunson @fanficfantik

[munson-blurbs]

Masterlist

Birdwatching (Eddie x Shy!Reader)

Renaissance Faire (Eddie x Historian!Reader)

Chorus practice (Robin x Singer!Reader)

Thrifting (Eddie x Quirky!Reader)

Playing piano (Steve x Musician!Reader)

Reading at the duck pond (Eddie x Bookworm!Reader)

Pet store (Eddie x Caring!Reader)

Surfer Boy Pizza (Argyle x Waitress!Reader)

Creative Writing class (Eddie x Introverted!Reader)

Beauty supply store (Steve x Salesgirl!Reader)

Art show (Eddie x Artist!Reader)

[tbmunson]

Escape - Gareth Emerson x Reader

Summary: You and Gareth get paired for the most important art project of the semester.

Warnings: Slow burn, idiots in love, caring for Gareth's sisters.

WC: 4,730

Notes: I'm in recovery for surgery, so updates will be slow. Shout out to @ashes-writing for being my absolute bestie and letting me bounce ideas.

1 / 2 / 3

PART 1

“Okay, class, you’ll work as partners for your final project.” Mr. Greely the art teacher stated, earning a cheer from the class. “I wouldn’t cheer so fast. I paired you up myself. This project is to make art based on what you learn about your partner, hence the little questionnaire at your tables. It can be a painting, drawing, or sculpture. Any audio recordings or mixed tapes will be given a zero. This is art, not band.

You rolled your eyes, but not because you wouldn’t be working with Tiffany, the only other cheerleader in the class, but because there was a chance you’d have to work with one of the meatheaded basketball players. You didn’t really want to work with her either, but that was a whole other can of worms.

Mr. Greely droned on, only catching your attention when he said your name. “You’ll be working with Emerson.”

Your eyes widened, which caught the attention of a few of your classmates who began to giggle. The panic was not from the boy himself, rather the fear you would accidentally fall harder for him if you got to really know him. Your focus was disrupted by shuffling next to you as Gareth settled into the desk paired with yours. “Hi.” You said softly, meek almost.

Gareth assumed this was due to disdain for him, presented a bit more politely. He did hear the giggles after all. “What’s up?” Not a question, just a simple acknowledgement to your greeting.

You studied his side profile, debating the different art forms you could use to relay the puffy haired metalhead next to you.

“You have a month to complete this project. Oh, and, your partner will be grading you on how well they think you relay them to the world. That does have an effect on the overall grade, so get to know each other.” Mr. Greely finished as the bell rang.

“So, I don’t know if you’re busy tonight with it being Friday and all, but my house is free tonight if you want to come do the questionnaire.” You offered sweetly as you packed your notebook into your bag.

“I, uh, have to watch my sisters tonight, but, if you want to, I mean, you can come to my place.” His nerves were apparent, which made you smile.

“Yeah, I’ll find you at lunch and finalize the details.” You gripped the strap to your backpack and turned to meet Tiffany at the door.

She sputtered out a laugh as she glanced over her shoulder to Gareth. “You really got paired with the freak, huh?”

You couldn’t stop the eye roll. “Tiff, I’ve known him since forever. He’s a sweet guy. Just because he listens to different music and doesn’t dress the same doesn’t make him a freak.” You replied, trying to keep your tone level so as to not snap at the head of the cheerleading team.

“He plays a fucking fantasy game, babe. It’s weird.” She chirps back as if it was common knowledge.

“It’s an escape. Everyone has an escape. You totally zone out when you cheer. That’s your escape.” You’re fully annoyed now, but not showing it, which is hard due to the fact that she just laughs, mumbling a “Whatever.” under her breath.

You break off into your math class and sit next to Eddie Munson. “Hey, Eddie.” You say, catching his attention.

He peeks around you, looking around.

“What are you doing?” You ask, furrowing your brows.

“Wondering why Hawkins High’s very own princess is trying to talk to me. Not that I’m complaining. Just curious.” He responded with an amused look.

You can’t help the small smile that spreads at his antics. “I’m talking to you because I’m a nice person and I let you cheat off of me. It’s time to repay the favor.”

“Ooh, princess wants something from the freak. Enlighten me.” He taps the tips of his fingers together in a way that would mook maniacal if it weren’t Eddie.

You roll your eyes at the dramatics. “I have an art project and I need-”

“I will not model naked for you if that’s what you’re asking.” He had a very serious look on his face, which meant he was totally joking, something you’d come to know sitting next to him in three different classes.

You smacked his arm and furrowed your brow. “No. I need the inside scoop on Gareth. He’s my partner and I have to get to know him, like really get to know him for this project.”

Eddie nods, resting his chin in his hand. “Okay. I can help you with that. As long as I keep copying your homework and cheating off of your tests.” He smirked, a wide grin plastering his face.

“In all honesty, I didn’t even think about using that as a threat.” You giggled, reaching over and scribbling your number onto a page with a scratched out doodle in his notebook. “Call me tomorrow. I’ll be at Gareth’s tonight.”

“Oh yeah, date night.” Eddie replied kind of like an off hand comment.

“It’s not a date, Eddie.” Your eyes were wide again like they had been in art class.

Eddie laughed and shook his head. “I mean his parents. He has to watch his sisters. Although I may be reading into that reaction a little too much, but I think you-”

“Not another word or the copying does stop.” Your face was hard, begging him not to speak the words you already knew were true. You would like to go on a date with him, but this, getting to really know him as part of a project, it’ll work too. Better, you convince yourself. Better because there’s no pressure to actually like him and if you don’t, well at least you'll know and you can stop this pitiful pining over him.

“Yes, your highness.” Eddie bows as much as he can while sitting before the teacher begins class.

Two class periods later you were headed to lunch. Once you made it to the cafeteria you headed right for the Hellfire table, leaving a very confused Stephanie in the doorway. As you approached a group of freshmen were settled at the table. “Hi, does Gareth sit here?” You knew he did, but striking up a conversation would be better than just claiming a seat that didn’t belong to you.

The curly haired one looked up, surprised a cheerleader was talking to him. “I, uh, yeah.” he sputtered, earning a glare from the dark haired one.

“Dude, you can’t just tell people like-” He cuts himself off, looking up at you and wondering if you’d tear him a new one.

You laughed and leaned against the table. “I know. People like me have a bad rap, and usually for good reason. I have an art project with Gareth and we need to go over some details. No malice. No ill intent. Pinky promise.” You held out your pinky, waiting for one of the group to make their move.

The smaller boy with a bowl cut reaches out, linking his pinky with yours. “He’ll be here in a few. He usually takes a smoke break before coming to lunch. That’s his seat,” He points to a chair on the edge of the opposite side of the table. “And Jeff isn’t here today, so the spot next to him is open if you want to sit.”

“Thank you.” You smile before rounding the table and sitting in the middle seat. “My name is Y/N, by the way.” You offer a hand over the table for any one of them to take.

The curly haired boy reaches over and shakes it, “I’m Dustin, this is Mike and Will.”

“It’s nice to meet you guys. So, how does Dungeons and Dragons work? I’ve never played but it seems interesting from what I’ve seen.” You can’t find it in yourself to regret the question as Dustin and Will go into an in depth explanation of the game. You were so drawn in that you didn’t notice Gareth walking up to the table, or the look of horror as the freshmen bombarded you with facts about a fantasy game, even if he loved that fantasy game more than most things.

“Alright you guys, I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear about DnD.” Gareth sighed as he sat, drawing the attention of the four of you.

You gave him a playful glare. “I asked, actually. It sounds like a lot of fun. Very creative.” You were smiling by the end.

Gareth nodded, unable to help the thought that you were only saying that to seem nice and use it against them later. He immediately felt bad because in all the years of classes together, you’d never been that way. “Okay, well, I’m sorry. You can continue, Dustin.”

“Actually, Dustin, as much as I want to hear the differences in characters, I really need to get some stuff settled with Gareth about this project. How about I come sit here on Monday and you and Will can finish telling me about it.” You offered, finding the kids incredibly charming and utterly adorable.

“Yeah!” Dustin replied, opening a book to keep track of what he’d filled you in on already.

Gareth chuckled and leaned over to whisper to you. “You really don’t have to let them torture you like this.” The way his voice rumbled in your ear mixed with the warmth of his breath cascading down your neck, you knew you were screwed.

“Gare, really, I want to know about it. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” You assured him, placing a hand on his forearm and giving it a small squeeze.

Gareth didn’t know what else to say, so he only offered a crooked smile instead.

“Good, it’s settled. Now to the main task at hand. What time do I need to come over?”

He shrugged and went over the schedule in his head. “I’m gonna do dinner at 5:30, give them a bath, and let them play. They’ll be out by 7:30.” He offered more as a question.

“Or, I can bring dinner from Benny’s around 6, help you give them a bath, and we can all watch a movie before they go to bed.” You twisted a curl around your finger as you waited for his response.

He nodded and smiled. “Yeah, they’d like that.”

You slid your notebook and a pen in front of him. “Write down your order and I’ll be over by six.”

“Do you even know where I live?” He quirked a brow as he scribbled down an order.

“Gareth Emerson, I have lived down the street from you my whole life. Of course I know where you live.” You reached out and gently smacked his shoulder.

Gareth laughed and held a hand up in surrender. “I’m just making sure. I’d hate for you to get lost and leave me starving.” He jokes, sliding the notebook across the table with the order, along with his number. “See you tonight?”

“For sure, but you’re going to see me sitting here for the rest of lunch, if that’s okay with you.” You looked up at him through your lashes.

“It’s totally fine!” Dustin said, grabbing your attention. You’d almost forgotten about the freshmen sitting across from you.

You laughed and nodded, knowing he wanted to continue his spill about the different kinds of characters.

The end of the day came and you were headed out to your car when you were stopped by Tiffany. “What in the hell were you doing at that table of freaks during lunch?”

Your jaw clenched, but you didn’t let your anger show. “I had to come up with a plan for this project. Gareth is my partner. Art is the only class we have together and I’d like to get it started sooner rather than later.”

Tiffany scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t let it happen again.”

“Actually, I’ll be there Monday too, and probably a few times throughout the next couple of weeks. I’ll sit with you guys on game days so no one sees me in my uniform at their table, but this project is important to me. Art is important to me. You know I want to be an artist. If getting to know him is what it takes to make a kickass piece, then I’m doing it.” Your tone wasn’t harsh, but it was firm, letting her know there would be no room for negotiation.

She didn’t say anything, just stomped away, which caught the attention of the older Hellfire members.

“I think she just stood up for us.” Grant said, eyebrows raised.

Gareth pressed his back against the brick wall and looked up at the tin of the sidewalk covers. “Fuck.” He shook his head as he breathed deeply.

“What, Emerson?” Eddie cocked a brow at Gareth’s pained expression.

“I don’t know. Like, this is going to be so hard. I’ve only been in love with her since kindergarten. Now she’s sitting at my lunch table, standing up for me and my friends, and she’s coming to my fucking house tonight. How am I supposed to do this?”

Eddie couldn’t help but to laugh at his friend's pained expression. “I usually don’t get in the middle of this crap, but, earlier I made a joke about it being date night. She got really defensive, and that’s fully a sign that she’s into you. Maybe just go for it?”

“You’re so full of shit, Munson. She’s just a nice person and didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” He replied, finally pushing himself off the wall. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow at practice. Gotta get home so my parents can head out.”

Eddie and Grant mumbled their goodbyes before making their way to Eddie’s van.

It was currently 5:50 and you’d just pulled into the Emerson’s driveway with a passenger seat full of food and shakes. You released a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding before cutting the engine and getting out of the car. You’d barely made it to the passenger door when the glossy red door to the house flung open.

“Lori, get back here!” Gareth’s exhausted yell came as he chased her down the steps, not yet realizing you’d arrived. He scooped her up as she giggled.

“I was trying to see your friend!” Lori‘s giggles quickly turned into a whine when she realized her brother had no plans to put her feet back on the ground.

Gareth finally looked up, making eye contact with you as you rested your elbow on the roof of the car. “Hey, uh, sorry. One sec.” He finally returned Lori’s feet to the ground but made her look at him. “Go back inside. I’m going to help Y/N bring the food in and you can see her in there, okay?”

She pouted but nodded before walking slowly to the house.

“Someone’s got the dad voice down.” You smiled, bending to grab the bags as Gareth made his way over to you in a pair of grey sweat pants and a faded Metallica shirt.

“Yeah, well, someone had to be when my dad split a few years ago. Rick is nice though.” He replied, reaching to take the bags out of your hands.

You nodded, smiling as his skin brushed yours. “I think you’re doing a great job considering she actually listened.” You offered before bending back down to get the drink tray with the shakes.

Gareth planned on replying, but he was silenced by the sight of you bent over and the amount of leg coming out of the old practice cheer shorts you’d changed into. He watched you stand and bump the door with your hip to close it.

“C’mon Gare, shakes are melting.” You said, taking a few steps towards his house.

He nodded and followed wordlessly. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

As you and his sisters settled into the table Gareth apologized again that his sisters threw a fit to both sit next to you.

“They’re fine, Gareth. Tell your brother to stop worrying so much, Lori.”

“Yeah, stop worrying that much.” She sassed, making you laugh and Gareth roll his eyes.

“I don’t know how Clara expects me to help her with her food all the way over there.” He gave the youngest girl a look as if to say ‘didn’t think of that, did you’.

“I’ve got it. It’s just chicken and fries. She’s safe in my care.” You assured him as you opened the small styrofoam container to start tearing the strips into more manageable pieces for a two year old

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to.” He replied sincerely.

You sighed and turned to look at him. “Gareth, it’s okay to let people do stuff for you. If I minded I wouldn’t be doing it. Do you trust that?”

He was at a loss for words, only nodding in response.

“Good. Now eat your burger before it gets cold.” You instructed as you finished tearing the chicken. “One at a time, Clara. Don’t put another in your mouth until the first one is all gone, okay?”

The small girl with white curly hair and bright blue doe eyes nodded, reaching for a piece of her chicken.

You popped a fry into your mouth, fully ready to dive into your burger when there was a tap on your shoulder. You turned to see Lori looking at you with a pout.

“Can you do my chicken too? Pretty please.” She looked like she was scared you would say no.

“Of course, baby doll! Let me see.” You pulled her plate over to you and started ripping the chicken into bits.

“Lori, you eat strips all the time.” Gareth stated after swallowing a bite of his burger.

“Gareth, eat your burger and let her be. She wants my attention and that’s okay.” You assured him, cutting your eyes over to look at him across the table without moving your head very much.

“But your food is going to get cold.” He urged as you took on the second strip.

“We’ll call it practice for being a real mom one day. Cold food, cold coffee, hot ice cream.”

“Ew! Hot ice cream!” Lori laughed as you pushed her plate back towards her.

You couldn’t help but join in. Her laugh is tinkly like a fairy, contagious.

“Okay, alright, I won’t say anything else.” He raised his hands in surrender before going back to his food.

The rest of the meal went by quietly, ending with you spooning the girls' shared shake into separate cups.

Once dessert was had, it was bath time, resulting in your cheer camp t-shirt getting soaking wet.

“I am so sorry. Let me get you a shirt.” Gareth was red from embarrassment.

You, however, were still smiling. “Okay, Gare. I’ll get them dried off and changed, then I’ll come find you about the shirt.”

He nodded and left the bathroom.

“Are you my brother’s girlfriend?” Lori asked once she was sure Gareth was gone.

You giggled a bit and shook your head as you pulled her nightgown over her head. “No, baby doll, I’m not. We go to school together. He’s my friend.”

She nodded and her face twisted in thought. “Will you be his girlfriend?”

You gave her a soft smile. “Yeah, I hope so one day.” You winked at her before turning to help Clara into her nightgown. “Why don’t you girls go down stairs to the couch while I go find Gareth and change, hm?”

Lori nodded and took Clara’s hand to lead her away.

You sighed and pushed yourself from the floor.

It didn’t take much to figure out which door belonged to Gareth. He had various band stickers and drawings on the door. You knocked twice.

“Come in!” He called as he snagged his favorite Motley Crue shirt from the hanger. It may or may not have been for a fantasy he had not too long ago.

You opened the door and stepped in. “Hey, I sent the girls downstairs to get settled. Just came to grab the shirt. It’s starting to get a little chilly.” You chuckled at the end, leaning against the wall.

“Okay, great. Um, you can change here if you want. I can go get the movie ready.”

You nodded and stepped further into the room. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll be down in just a second.” You said taking the worn material from his hands. Once the door clicked closed you pulled your shirt over your head and unhooked your bra which was soaked through. You hoped the shirt would be big enough that the lack of bra wouldn’t be noticeable. What you didn’t think about though, was leaving the pile of damp clothes at the foot of the bed before walking out of the room and down stairs.

“Can I sit with you!” Lori yelled as she saw you finally descend the stairs.

“Of course, baby doll.” You smiled, glancing over at Gareth who managed to go a deep shade of red.

Maybe putting you into that shirt was one of his less than stellar ideas. His mind wandered back to the dream he had the other night of you, in the shirt, on top of him- He stopped his thoughts immediately before they became too much.

You settled next to him and let Lori climb into your lap as Gareth hit play on the Care Bears movie. You ran your fingers through the six year olds hair, eventually braiding it into a nice french braid before she fell asleep. You looked over to Clara who was dead asleep in Gareth’s lap.

He looked over at you and then up the stairs. “They won’t wake. They sleep pretty hard. Wanna take them up and get started?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” You smiled as you got a better grip on Lori. You followed Gareth up the stairs and pushed open Lori’s bedroom door. You laid her down gently in her princess bed sheets and covered her up before heading back to the hall to meet Gareth.

“You’re really good with them, you know.” He said, leading you back down the stairs and turning the light on.

“If I don’t go into art, I want to teach little ones.” You said, tucking a hair behind your ear.

“You could be the art teacher for the little ones.” Gareth offered. “Best of both worlds.”

“You’re so smart, you know that? That never crossed my mind.” You laughed a little, not believing you’d not thought of it before.

Gareth smiles as he bumped your shoulder. “Thanks. And when you do become an art teacher for little ones, make sure you credit me.” He winked before sitting on the floor at the coffee table.

You sat across from him, rolling your eyes at his joke. “I’ll put your name on the degree.” You said sarcastically as you pulled the questionnaire sheet from the spiral notebook.

Both of you took a second to look over the sheet before you spoke again.

“These are bullshit questions.” You said passively as you looked up from the bullet point asking ‘What is your partner’s favorite color.’

“Why do you say that?” He asked, putting his sheet down on the table.

You sighed and tapped your pen on your lip and you thought. “If I’m supposed to make an art piece based on you, what good is knowing your favorite food and color? I mean do I just draw a red cheeseburger? It’s so basic. Art is supposed to make you think. Make you feel something.” You emphasized before laying back on the floor.

Gareth laughed and scooted around to your side of the table to lay next to you. “You have a point, but how do you know my favorite color is red? I never told you.”

You turned your head to look at him rather than the ceiling. “I’ve lived 50 yards from you my whole life, we went to the same daycare, elementary, middle, and high school. Red is one of the few colors in your color palette. People don’t wear colors they don’t like.” You studied his face, taking in every freckle, every developing laugh line, every shade of blue and green in his eyes for the hundredth time, only this time you were much closer. It had much more of an effect on you.

“You’re very observant, you know.” His mouth ticked up into a lopsided smile as his eyes darted around your face.

“Which is you telling me that I’m right.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He laughed this time, making you smile. “You’re not as oblivious as you present yourself as. Why do you do that?” His brows furrowed as he questioned you.

You shrugged, debating your answer for a moment. “I do what I have to in order to make it where I want to go. You present yourself as a dark, twisty guy who doesn’t care about anything, yet you’ve got smile lines and you’re amazingly sweet with your sisters. Why do you do that?” You challenged with a playful smile.

“Self preservation. I’m a weird kid and if I come off as someone who’s easy to mess with, life would be a whole lot worse. So I keep myself far away from the people who don’t deserve to know me.” He explained, his eyes holding a look that you couldn’t quite place.

Before you could stop yourself you asked, “Do I deserve to know you?”

His eyes that held your gaze flickered down to your lips and back up. “Yeah. Do I deserve to know you?”

You nodded, unable to resist the urge to reach over and rest your hand on the side of his face.

The moment was quiet, intimate, and gone far too quickly as his mom and stepdad came into the house.

“Gareth, whose car is in the drive-“ his mothers voice cut off as she walked in on the innocent scene because she could feel the tension between her son and the girl laying on the floor.

You snatched your hand away quickly and looked at the woman in the doorway, praying she wouldn’t berate you for being there.

“Mom. Hey. I told you Y/N was coming by for the art project.” He was red, not from a blush but from panic. His heartbeat was thundering in his ears so loud he thought it must have been audible.

She nodded and smirked. “Alright, well, carry on then.” She turned and walked into the kitchen where her husband was digging around in the pantry. “They’re going to get married. I’m calling it now.”

“Gwen, you can’t be serious. You haven’t even spoken to the girl.” He turned to look at her before glancing through the doorway to see the girl in question gathering her things.

“A mother knows.” She patted his chest and gave him the look. The look that said you-know-I’m-right.

Gareth walked with you out the door and to your car. “I’ll see you on Monday. Be careful.” He opened your door for you and watched you get in.

“If I wreck going three houses down the street, I probably don’t need a license.” You joked as you looked up at him, taking in the way the moonlight bounced off of the high points of his face.

“Be careful.” His tone was a bit more authoritative than before, making your insides turn.

“I will be.” You promised before smirking. “Do you want me to call you when I get there so you know I got in okay?” You teased lightly, making him roll his eyes.

“Just for that, I sure do. If my phone’s not ringing in 5 minutes I’m coming down there.” He was smiling, laughing at the way you scrunched up your nose at him before sticking your tongue out.

“Maybe I won’t call then.”

“Are you testing me?”

“I guess you’ll find out.”

“I guess I will.” He winked and closed the door to your car before walking towards the door. He stood there, watching you back out of the driveway thinking about how easy it was with you. It was easy to be himself. He finally went inside to wait for your call.

[petersbaby]

I’m kinda fucked up rn, I’m posting this anyways because I know my Gareth girlies are out there and I love you guys

7 minutes to forever - Gareth Emerson x Reader

HE IS AGED UP TO 18

Warnings: Gareth is a virgin, boner talk, male masturbation, smut, first time sex, mutual pining, awkwardness, I don’t like talking about condoms they gross me out but I tried to use one for once

-

It was a small party of sorts at Steve’s house, and of course Eddie was going to be there because that’s his boyfriend.

Eddie tried to invite all the people from the club, so his friends can meet Steve and Steve’s friends, hoping everyone could kind of merge and coexist but you and Gareth were the only two to show up out of the group.

The rest were just a few of Steve and Eddie’s mutual friends, including Robin. Lately, Eddie’s been on your ass about a certain something and he sees it as some sort of sign that you and Gareth both came.

“It’s been way too long. Just go fucking tell him.” Eddie begs you.

“Tell him fucking what, exactly??”

“That you literally want to fuck him. Have you seen this dude? Zero chance he’ll reject you. He’s such a virgin he’d probably cream his pants just from you speaking to him.”

“Eddie, EW.”

“I’m just saying.”

“That’s just it, I don’t wanna like… fucking corrupt him.”

“He wants you to corrupt him.”

“What??”

“Yep.” He shrugs. “He wants you too, it’s so PAINFULLY obvious to everyone except you guys. We’re all tired of hearing about it.” He gestures to the rest of your shared friends.

“No, I- I don’t believe you. He doesn’t like me, that’s why I haven’t fucking said anything.” You whisper, now.

“Alright.” Eddie announces a little louder than he needs to be, and gets up. He grabs your wrist and starts pulling you.

“No, no, no. Eddie, stop, I’m so serious.”

And now you were standing in front of him.

“Gareth, here. Talk to her.”

You start to try and run the other way, away from this confrontational situation, but Eddie catches you.

“Jesus Christ, it’s like taking care of literal children. If you won’t say it, I will. Y/N, Gareth has a huge crush on you. Gareth, Y/N is practically obsessed with you, won’t shut up about how cute you are.”

You put your head in your hands.

“There, I said it, now be normal human beings.” He says, patting you both on the shoulder and walking away, leaving just the two of you standing near the kitchen while everyone else was in the living room, in another world.

“I’m sorry. About him, uh, yeah. I don’t know why he did that.” You say quietly, looking at the ground.

“Was that true?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s a relief. I don’t think either of us were gonna say something.”

“Yeah, probably not.” You laugh.

-

“Okay, so we’re locked in here.” You sigh.

“Yeah..” he agrees.

Eddie basically shoved you two into a hall closet, yelling about “seven minutes in heaven,” which was a stupid game thing you thought only middle schoolers did. You protested, but he was very insistent, and you gave up. He was just fucking with you two, being extra mischievous tonight for some reason.

“You know you don’t have to listen to him, right? You don’t need to do anything, you know, sexually. It’s perfectly fine to not want to.”

“I- well, I want to.”

“Why don’t you then?”

“Don’t know. Nervous, I guess. Just really nervous.”

“Would it help if I made the first move?”

He nods.

You lean in quickly after that to press your lips against his. Even though he knew it was coming, it still shocked him, enough to jump a little a draw back.

“No? It’s okay.” You try to reassure him despite all the mixed signals you were getting from this boy.

“Yes. Please. I’m sorry about that.”

“You do it then. I know you can.” You smile.

This time he leans in, despite his anxiety screaming in his brain. It’s sweet, so sweet, and his lips are soft and gentle. You reach up to rest your hand on the side of his face, lightly rubbing your thumb against his cheek while you kiss him.

His hands find your waist and rest there while you try to let him lead so you don’t overwhelm him. But soon, he suddenly pushes you against the wall. Not too rough but not as gentle as he had been, but you liked it either way, draping your arms over his shoulders.

This was something you’d always wanted, to kiss him, and you never thought it would happen in a million years. You thought he probably thought of you as just one of the guys, but apparently he didn’t. He adored you, but he’d never say that to you out loud.

You make out with him to the point you almost can’t breathe but couldn’t bare breaking the kiss to get air. You fingers tangled in his soft, curly hair, accidentally pulling it a little forgetting that to some people that just hurts. He didn’t say anything, though, and you just continued running your fingers through his locks at the back of his head.

“Seven minutes are up!!” Eddie calls, walking towards the closet to free you.

“Shit, um..” Gareth looks down, which was a mistake because it made you look down too.

“Oh.”

He got a boner just from kissing you, but now that your time is up, he doesn’t know what to do.

“Sorry.” You whispered.

“It’s not your fault.” He laughed a little.

“So, what’d you two get up to in here?” Eddie asks, after swinging the door open. Gareth moves quickly past him and into the bathroom as swiftly as he can.

“You can’t just put people in closets, Eddie.”

“I did, though, so yeah. I can. Please tell me you at least kissed.”

“That is SO none of your business.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Finally.” He exclaims the last word. You walk back with him to where everyone was gathered in the living room and once you sat down, you started daydreaming about what Gareth’s doing in there. You know what he’s doing, realistically, but you couldn’t stop imagining it.

In the bathroom, he stands in front of the sink with his dick in his hand, desperately fucking his fist just needing to get this out of his system. Instead of having to see his reflection in the mirror in front of him, he shut his eyes and thought of you.

God, all the things he wanted to do with you, to do to you. But just then, the way you kissed him deep, the way your fingers tangled in and pulled on his hair, the way he had you up against the wall. He finishes quickly thanks to these thoughts and mental images, release spurting out into the sink and the last bit of it dripping onto his hand.

He tries to catch his breath, washing his hands and cleaning up his mess, then looked at himself. He fixed his hair to look as normal as possible, cooled off, and went back to join everyone.

“Where the hell have you been?” Steve asks, only just noticing the boy’s absence.

“I had to use the bathroom, okay?” He answers defensively.

“Okay, jeez.” Steve said, raising his hands.

Gareth finds that his previous seat had been taken, and looks around nervously. You lock eyes with him and pat the place beside you on the couch. He smiles shyly and comes to sit.

As you all watched the movie, and no one was paying attention, you grabbed his hand and held it in yours, scooting closer. You leaned your head to rest on his shoulder, and he smiled secretly.

He made you feel all warm and happy on the inside, just like the perfect boy. That night really solidified your feelings for him, and you hope it did to him too. You thought about him a lot. Were you on his mind too?

-

Well, maybe tonight you could find out. DND was done and a couple of people were going back to Eddie’s for some beers or whatever alcohol his uncle had around. It was a Friday, after all.

When you got dropped off, it looked like everyone was already there. That meant he was too. He didn’t have a car, so he had to have ridden with somebody. Why did you have butterflies in your stomach at the thought of going into Eddie’s trailer? Since when is that a big deal?

You pushed it aside, the nervousness, and stepped in anyway.

“HEY, look who’s here. Thought you weren’t coming for a while there.” Eddie says.

“Sorry, I had to go home and change and everything, you know..”

“Alright, so… drinks. We’ve got two options. You ready?”

“So excited.” You say sarcastically.

“Beer or vodka.”

“Oh, god. Terrible. They’re both terrible. A beer, I guess.”

He laughs and gets you one. You head into the living room again where everyone is, taking a sip of the shitty and not very cold beer.

The couch is full so you take a seat on the floor, it looked like they were all passing a joint around. When it comes to you, you decline, giving it to the next person. The next person was Gareth, who also declined.

“You guys are total losers.” Eddie said, calling you out for not participating.

“I’m not a loser, I just don’t wanna be high.” Gareth says defensively.

“Yeah, me neither. Realistically, I don’t even want this beer. It’s gross, Eddie.”

“Well when none of us are 21 yet, you take what you can get.”

-

“I’m tired of sitting on the floor. Can me and Gare go hang out in your room?”

“Go have fun, you crazy kids. We’ll be in here, watching TV and talking VERY loudly.” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows at you.

“Whatever.” You roll your eyes, walking back to Eddie’s bedroom while Gareth follows and shuts the door behind him.

“Listen, I’m not trying to push anything on you. I didn’t want time alone to do that stuff, I just wanted to spend time with you.” You say, sitting down on the bed.

“Yeah, okay. I wanna spend time with you too.” He laughs. So cute.

“Cuddle?”

He laughs, blushing a little. “Sure.”

You lay down together, becoming intertwined, resting your head on his chest. You stay that way for a while, you could’ve stayed that way forever.

“Hey,” he says after about 15 minutes, and you lift up, resting on your elbow.

“Hm?”

“Can I kiss you again?”

“Of course.”

His lips come to meet yours and they melt together, and suddenly so do your bodies. They press against each other, radiating heat and warmth. He wants more, he wants more so bad, but he doesn’t want to push it and he also just doesn’t know how to ask. His hand is on your waist again, hovering slightly.

“Could I- would it be okay if-“ he starts.

“Gareth?”

“Yeah?” He asks anxiously.

“You can do literally whatever you want to me.” You assure him.

“Jesus Christ.”

Immediately hard as a rock, immediately entranced. It was true, in your defense, you liked him *so* much,

“I mean it.” You whisper.

His hand starts to move, ending up on your ass, squeezing tightly. It also pulled you impossibly closer to him, bodies pressed together. You put your hand on his face again, holding it sweetly but firmly while you kiss.

Your tongues explored each other’s mouths again, more familiar this time, and his hand moves up to squeeze one of your tits while the other arm props him up on his side. He needed more than this, he needed to feel your skin.

He slipped his hand into your sweater from the bottom, moving up until he felt your bare breast which he wasn’t fully expecting. He thought you were wearing something, anything underneath but you weren’t.

His cool fingers run over your hard nipples, making you gasp a bit, and so he goes farther and pinches one of them which makes you squeak in surprise. He just continued to feel your torso, hands running all over your stomach and chest and hips and tits.

You reached for the bottom hem of the sweater and pulled it off over your head, letting him be able to see what he’s doing, and his eyes grew wide as saucers. His eyes wandered shamelessly, curiously, all over, nearly burning a hole in you.

“You… you like them?” You ask, giggling a little bit. He was so beyond fascinated and you could see that.

“Yes, holy shit, yes.” He responds almost under his breath.

“Gare?”

“Hm?”

You take some of his soft locks in your hand and guide him down, wanting him to try sucking on or licking your nipples. He does, latching on quickly, expertly.

You start to melt now, holding onto his hair while you moan quietly. He climbs on top of you and brings his mouth to the other nipple, giving it the same attention. He gets the idea to move up to your neck, and starts kissing there.

This is where you totally fall apart, your weakness. Your noises encourage him to kiss your neck with more passion and fervor and you can feel his erection pressed against your thigh.

You reach down to grab onto it, palm it, and he sucks a particularly harsh mark onto your neck in the sweet spot when you do. You’ll definitely have a bruise, but you don’t mind at all.

“Fuck,” he breathes into your shoulder, stopped for a moment.

“You okay?” You check in, pushing him up so you can look him in the eyes.

“Think I’m just… god, I’m nervous. That’s so embarrassing.”

“No, that’s okay.” You reassure. “What do you want?”

He burns red. He’s not gonna be able to say it out loud himself.

“Do you want to have sex? Be honest.”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I do too. But Gare, we can stop at any moment. Just tell me, okay?”

“Okay.” He breathes.

You reach down to untie the strings on the waistband of your sweatpants and pull them off your body, leaving you in pink panties in front of him.

You feel him staring again, at the sight of you anxiously squeezing your legs together and waiting for him to make the next move.

You were so turned on it was unbelievable, with him have not even touched you there yet. You were sure you were soaking. He fumbles with his button and zipper, looking behind him.

“Yes, the door’s locked.”

“Oh. Good.” He half-laughed, because that is indeed what he was checking for. He takes his pants off and climbs back on top of you, only in his t shirt and boxers now.

He slots himself between your legs after you happily spread them for him. You could feel his cock so much better now, rock solid and a really nice size. He ruts his hips up against you, only the barriers of your respective underwear blocking the way.

He buries his face between your shoulder and neck, kissing on it again, and his hard cock continually presses against your cunt. You accidentally moan, a moan too loud for the situation, but you just have to hope no one heard it because you couldn’t help it.

“Shh,” he soothes, covering your mouth with his.

“Sorry,” you whisper, into the kiss, smiling. You can feel him smiling too.

“Should- can- what should we…”

“It’s up to you, remember? Whatever you want, however you wanna do it.” You remind him, trying to give him some confidence.

“Right. Can I take these off, then?” He asks, slipping his finger into the waistband of your panties.

“Yes, please do.”

You didn’t want to come off as desperate and impatient, but you were growing to be. It wasn’t his fault, though, you had to remind yourself he’s never done this before. He does, pulling the fabric down your legs and leaving you bare. Quickly after that, he pulls his own underwear off.

“I’m really wet, so whenever you’re ready, I’m ready.”

“Oh, shit, okay. Wait, don’t we need a condom?”

“Eddie should have some, if you want.”

You didn’t need one, being on birth control, but you wanted to do whatever made him more comfortable. He digs around in the nightstand and quickly finds some, taking one and putting it on.

“Okay.” He repeats, finally ready. You smile as if to tell him ‘go ahead’. You immediately learn that he isn’t familiar with easing into it, as he fills you up completely right away. This made you gasp, but luckily not too loud.

“Ohh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He groans.

“So good, you feel so good. Start moving, baby boy.”

That slipped out. That did slip out but he did not seem to mind the pet name at all, only listening to what you said and starting to thrust in and out.

You bite down on your bottom lip to keep quiet, only letting whimpers and soft moans out every now and then. You looked him in the eyes longingly, even though he was right there, and you felt yourself starting to love him in that moment.

He lets his dominant hand roam up to your throat, only to rest there. Thinking. You nod, reading his mind, answering his silent question and he squeezes gently. Soft but intoxicating. He continues to choke you with his big hand wrapped around your neck and leans down to kiss you again.

He finds a rhythm he likes, and starts to fuck you with more confidence. He wasn’t the biggest you’d ever had, but he still stretched you out and reached pretty deep inside.

Amazingly full of him, you still keep your noises quiet as much as you can. You couldn’t believe it, Gareth, you and Gareth were having sex. If the you from a month ago heard that, she would say “no fucking way.” But here you were. He wasn’t being super vocal, so you only hoped he felt good too. Damn, it would be nice to hear him though.

“Still okay?” You ask.

“The best.” He replies, and you smile.

He moves his hand from your throat back to fondling your breast, other one holding up his body weight over you.

He ends up getting quite aggressive while chasing his high, slamming into you quickly and filling the room with the sounds of sex. You think back to what Eddie said about watching TV and talking loudly and you stop worrying about that.

You were close, walls fluttering around him, but you knew you most likely wouldn’t get to finish. You’d just do it yourself later when you got home. The memory of this will be more than enough to masturbate to for a really long time, you think.

Coincidentally, he starts getting sloppy, thrusting haphazardly and clearly searching for something. Determined, he soon found it, cock twitching inside of you as he filled the condom and let out a long string of curse words and groans when he came.

He once again leant forward, resting his head on your shoulder for a moment. Neither of you wanted to move, and the pressure of him on top of you was so comforting, but eventually he had to.

-

Once all was done, you lay together, just as you had started out.

“Do you… like, actually like me?” He asks, head turning to you.

“No shit, Gareth. Yes, I like you.” You say sarcastically. You hope it didn’t come out mean. Thankfully it didn’t, because he laughed.

“So, you can totally tell me to fuck off if this is stupid, but… do you want to be together? You and me? Or is that stupid-“

You shut him up with a kiss, because he would’ve rambled on forever and you already had the answer.

“Yes. I’d like that.” You smile.

“Oh, okay. Cool, cool.” He laughs, feeling a huge weight off his shoulders. You melt into his arms, but you get interrupted when he suddenly realizes something.

“Oh, shit. I’m terrible.” He says, out of nowhere.

“You are not. Why?”

“You were supposed to… finish….too. You didn’t- I did something wrong.” He says, covering his face with his hands.

“I don’t care about that. It’s okay, I promise. If it bothers you that much, you can next time. I’ll help you.”

“Next time…” he repeats idly.

“Yeah? I just kinda assumed there’d be a next time..”

“Yes. No, you’re right, there will be. I just liked the sound of that.”

[hellishchrissy]

i wrote my first gareth/eleven fic (or the first chapter anyway) ❤️ do check it out if you have an interest because i loved writing it.

you'll find it here

sidenote i promise gareth will become a softie later on

[sammeth]

LOOK WHAT FREAKIN HAPPENED FOR MY BIRTHDAY??????? IN LOVE W HIM

[ghosttotheparty]

love me softly (ds1)

love me softly (deleted scenes)

Gareth never thought Steve Harrington would approach him at school. But here he is, walking right up to Gareth, with none of the easy confidence Gareth’s seen in him before.

He looks shy, nervous, holding the straps of his backpack. And he looks distraught.

His cheeks and nose are rosy, his eyes a little reddened, his lashes dark and clumped like he’s been crying all morning.

“Hey,” Gareth says lightly when he gets closer, closing his book with his finger between the pages, giving Steve his attention. “You okay?”

Steve pauses, blinking at him.

“Uhm.” He sniffs. Glances away. “Yeah, uhm. I’m alright.” Gareth doesn’t believe him, but he nods anyway. “Do you know where— where Eddie is?”

His voice cracks a little bit like he’s about to burst into tears, and Gareth’s chest aches for him. He kind of wants to pull him into a hug.

“He went to see Miller about an assignment,” he says, keeping his voice quiet to match Steve’s, avoiding drawing attention. “He should be back soon if you wanna wait for him.”

“Uhm.” Steve looks away again, blinking his glassy eyes, clearing his throat. “I think I, uhm.”

Gareth waits patiently, looking up at him.

“Can you— Can you tell him to meet me in the bathroom?” he asks weakly. “He’ll know which one.”

“Yeah, ‘course.”

“Okay.” Steve exhales, one of his hands reaching to rub his cheek anxiously for a moment. “Sorry, uhm, Gareth, right?”

“Yeah,” Gareth says lightly, smiling.

“Eddie talks about you a lot.”

Gareth grimaces.

“Can’t tell if that’s good or bad.”

Steve laughs softly, finally cracking a weak smile.

“‘S good,” he says. “You’re cool.”

Gareth grins.

“He won’t shut up about you either,” he says.

Steve’s smile softens, turns realer.

“I’ll see you ‘round,” he says lightly, turning away a little bit, and Gareth nods, giving him a reassuring smile.

When he tells Eddie that Steve is waiting for him, he can practically see the ground fall out under his feet. He can see the way his eyes reflect the start of panic behind them, and Gareth knows already that Steve Harrington is going to turn his world inside out. He doesn’t mind.

Especially not when he asks Eddie later that morning if Steve is okay, and Eddie gives him this smile that Gareth’s never seen before, this soft, lovesick smile that says Yes, he’s okay.

Gareth obviously doesn’t love Steve the way Eddie does. (Eddie doesn’t have to say it. Gareth can tell just by the way his eyes shine when Steve comes up.) But he thinks he does love him at least a little bit, if the pit in his stomach that appeared when he saw how distraught Steve was this morning says anything. It’s not bad, loving Steve. Not when Eddie is so lovesick Gareth can almost live vicariously through him.

[bookshelf-dust]

another request for Gareth! what if artist!reader asks Gareth if they can draw him and he gets all panicky and blushy🥺🥺

(don't you dare worry if I'll like it or not, I know your work is going to be amazing as always and the important people is that you enjoy writing it!)

bane of my existence

gareth emerson x gn!reader

word count: 622

warnings: swearing, fluff

a/n: hi lovely! this was fun to write. the art kid in me enjoyed it. i hope you like this too!! <333 love you!

————

You set down the piece of charcoal you’ve been using, start playing with your eraser. You stretch the putty out, trying to get some of the dust off of your fingertips.

“Gare?” You ask, something coming to mind. You’re sick of charcoal for today.

“Hm?” He’s sitting on your bed, raiding your comic book stash.

“Can I draw you?”

Gareth’s fingers freeze where they flip through an issue of Captain America, one with Sam in your favorite red outfit on the cover. The boy feels his face go red. He’s panicking.

Drawing him would mean you’re looking at him intensely for however long—long enough for you to pick on all his flaws.

“Are you sure you wanna do that?”

You nod, patting the eraser over the edge of your desk. There really is charcoal everywhere.

“Yes. You’re the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen. I think you should be documented.”

Gareth shuts the comic and sets it on the bed before running his hands down his face. He’s trying to hide the blush before you see it.

You look up at him. “I have a new pen I want to try too,” you say, but your voice softens even more when you notice his state. “Gareth,” you coo. “Don’t go all shy on me please.”

He puts his hands down and you grin at his reddened cheeks.

“I’m gonna hide again if you don’t stop looking at me like that.”

“I don’t have to if you’re really not okay with it, Gare.”

He finally makes eye contact with you. “No! No, it’s okay. Do I need to do anything?”

You grin again. “Nope. Just forget I’m here.”

He rolls his eyes. “That’s impossible.”

Now you’re the one blushing.

————

True to your request, Gareth does his best to relax and go about his business of sorting through your belongings. Your comic book collection is much more extensive than his, and frankly, he’s kind of jealous.

You sit in your desk chair, one knee propped up with your sketchbook resting on it.

You started off using a pencil, sketching the prettiest parts of him—which proved difficult since they’re all the prettiest parts. You decided this would be more fun than a portrait or anything. Portraits stress you out.

Now your page is full of different Gareth features. His nose, his mouth. You’re working on the eyes now, the ink from your pen spreading over the paper to give him the long and unfair lashes he has.

You’ve used the pen to hatch some shadows in the areas that need them, and even if it’s a little messy—and by no means perfect—you’ve had fun drawing him.

You stand, capping your pen. You hand the notebook to Gareth, who looks over it so intently that it makes you nervous.

“Damn,” he says.

“Good ‘damn’ or bad?” You ask tentatively.

“Very good. Although I can tell you spent a little more time on my eyelashes than probably necessary.”

Your face splits in a grin and you take his in your hands. “Your eyelashes are the bane of my existence, Gareth Emerson.”

He laughs heartily. “And your nose,” you start. “And your mouth. And your freckles. Your everything.”

You tilt your head back, mock swooning. Gareth is bright pink, and you soothe your thumbs over the apples of his cheeks. “You really like them though?” You ask, needing reassurance.

His eyes dart to the page in your sketchbook again. You really are talented. Everything is so simple, the lines practiced though messy. “I love them,” he says.

Gareth pauses, looking you over.

“You have charcoal on the side of your neck, honey.”

“Dammit!” You exclaim, releasing him from your hold to examine the crime scene in the mirror.

————

please let me know if you liked this! feedback is always appreciated!! comments and reblogs mean more than you know. <33

[punkrockmlchael]

Heartbreak Girl

Masterlist | Gareth Emerson Masterlist

Gareth Emerson x Fem!Reader

Modern AU; Best Friends to Lovers (Both Gareth and Reader are 18+)

Warnings: 18+ mdni, Simp Gareth!, Best Friend Reader!, Smut with Plot, Lots of background and filler because it's cute and needed, Blunt and Brutally Honest Gareth because he loves you for crying out loud!, Confession of mutual feelings, Smut: Fingering, Unprotected Sex, PinV, Virgin!Reader, super sweet and fluffy Gareth with aftercare!, afab reader

Request: hi! i love that you write for gareth! i'd love to request some gareth x female reader smut that's best friends to lovers with lots of pining 👀❤️ hi! Thanks for the request! I put a spin on it that I hope you enjoy

Synopsis: You never go for ‘good guys,’ at least, that’s what your best friend Gareth always tells you. You’re always calling him crying about your latest heartbreak and he’s stuck listening and reassuring you (despite being head over heels for you). Tonight is no different. Jason Carver, star basketball player, called it off with you after going back to Chrissy Cunningham and the first thing you do is call up Gareth.

Based off of the song Heartbreak Girl by 5 Seconds of Summer. Look I’m not sure if this is what you wanted but… here hehe

Word Count: 3.8k

I dedicate this song to you

The one who never sees the truth

That I can take away your hurt

Heartbreak girl

Hold you tight straight through the daylight

I'm right here, when you gonna realize

That I'm your cure?

Heartbreak girl

You and Gareth have been best friends since, well, ever. It's the cliche of your moms being best friends; they grew up together, got pregnant around the same time, and decided they had to raise their kids together. They even secretly hope that their kids end up together, because, come on, how cute would that be?

And, as much as Gareth hates to admit it, he secretly hopes it happens, too. You are his soulmate, his other half and all that other lovey-dovey bullshit. You just.. don’t know it yet.

Gareth knows you like the back of his hand.

All your quirks.

All your pet-peeves.

All your pros.

All your cons.

The list goes on.

He might actually know you better than you know yourself. Scratch that, he definitely knows you better than you know yourself.

And, Gareth would do anything and everything for you. Literally. From helping you with homework because you're not as good at Calculus as he is; to coming over when you need a shoulder to cry on; to dropping anything and everything when you call.

The Hellfire boys call him a simp when you’re not around, and that’s probably the best word to describe him.

When he sees your name light up his phone screen with a call, a text, a video you thought was funny that reminded you of him… oh, god, his heart skips a beat… sometimes multiple beats.

When you smile at him and sit next to him at the lunch table? God, he wants to hold your hand under the table; to pull you close and wrap his arm around your waist to protect you from all the boys around the table and all the boys in life.

When you call his name? God, that makes him want to die. Especially when you look at him and use his nickname, Gare, or, the one you’ve called him since you were younger: Bubba.

Fuck, when you use the nickname Bubba he is putty in your hands. He knows it, the boys know it, you know it. God, everyone knows it.

Gareth wants to look you in the eyes, grab your hands and pull you into a passionate kiss, holding your hips tightly; your body forming against his as your arms wrap around his neck, playing with the small curls at the base of his neck.

He wants to take you out on dates, and show you off to everyone around him. A museum date, a bowling alley date, a movie date, a Taco Bell date where you sit and giggle at him for making a mess on his lap in the car because, come on, those hardshell tacos never stay together.

He wants to bring you flowers, specifically your favorite, in a pretty bouquet. Not because you’re having a bad day, but because he loves you and wants to remind you how much he loves you.

He wants to hold your hand and walk through the park, laughing and joking with each other while you talk about your future and what month you want to get married and how many kids you want to have together.

Yeah, it’s bad, he knows that.

And, he continuously curses at himself and kicks himself because of that, too.

He is head over heels for you, his best friend. And he’s so sick of being friend zoned and second choice, all the damn time. And every time you call him, upset and crying, it just kills him. Because, if you saw him how he saw you, this would be so much easier. But, being easy apparently isn’t in either of your vocabularies.

Gareth’s cell phone rang, pulling him out of the intense Call of Duty match he was playing with Jeff and Eddie. He missed an opponent because of the distraction and got shot, dying instantly.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, grabbing his phone.

“Gareth, what the hell man, you good?” Jeff asked through the headset.

“Yeah, man, what happened?” Eddie asked.

Gareth looked down at his phone and saw your name, his heart fluttering slightly before he remembered: you were supposed to have a date with Jason Carver tonight. A call at this time cannot be good.

“Yeah, sorry guys, I got to go.” He replied, looking at his phone. He quickly turned his headset off and the game off before Jeff or Eddie could even argue.

He sat up in his bed and answered your call, putting the phone to his ear.

“Hey, sweetheart, what’s up?” He asked into the phone, instantly hearing your sniffles and tears.

“Gare,” you said softly, sniffling as tears slowly fell down your cheeks. “Are you busy?”

He looked up at the television screen that was now black before directing his attention to the headset and Xbox controller that sat beside him on his bed.

“Not anymore,” he sighed. “Why, what’s up?”

“Jason, he went back to Chrissy,” you added, sighing at yourself for feeling so stupid to actually think you had a chance with Jason. “He ditched me tonight and then sent me a picture of him and Chrissy at the movies.”

“Oh, wow,” Gareth replied, not really knowing what else to say. “Do you want me to come over?” He asked, already knowing he shouldn’t. But he wanted to. He had to. You were sitting there on your bed, alone, crying for fucks sake.

“Please,” you sniffled, sitting back down on your bed. “If you’re not busy.”

“I’m never too busy for you,” he said, standing up as he grabbed a bag and stuffed some clothes in it before he picked up his wallet and keys. “I’ll be there in 10.”

“You’re the best,” you mumbled, “I’ll see you soon, bubba.” You added, he sighed.

“Yeah, see you soon.” He hung up the phone and made his way to his car, starting the short journey to your house.

When he arrived to your house he found you on your bed, cuddling the stuffed teddy bear he had gotten you for your 18th birthday a few months prior.

The black, fuzzy teddy bear that he made for you at Build-a-Bear. The one that he dressed up in jeans and a red plaid flannel with a cute customized Hellfire tee-shirt on. He went so far as to make sure the jeans looked distressed and ripped and he handmade the Hellfire shirt. Gareth never hand makes anything; he hates arts and crafts, unless, of course, it’s designing D&D characters.

Did I mention Gareth Emerson is fucking whipped over you?

You looked up at him, blinking away the tears as you watched him walk into your room, closing the door behind him before he threw his bag down gently. He shrugged his jacket off, laying it on the chair by your desk before he looked at you.

You held the teddy bear tighter to your chest and rested your chin the on top of it, looking up at Gareth.

You looked pitiful.

Literally.

Tears falling down your cheeks, mascara clumping your lashes together, the sparkly eyeshadow you had on was smeared and you just had glitter all over your face.

You looked like a mess. A literal mess. Crying over Jason Carver. And somehow, Gareth was so far up your ass, so head over heels for you, so whipped over you, that still, even when you looked like this, he still found you attractive. He still wanted to call you his. He wanted to drop to his knees right then and there and beg you to be his.

He could fix you. He could help you. He could take away your hurt. He could take away your heartbreak. He could hold you tight. He could be your cure.

But, when were you going to realize?

You sniffled again, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked at you and just sighed, not wanting to start an argument with you, but knowing he has to say something. You'll never learn if he doesn't. But, how is he supposed to give you tough love without breaking your heart more.

"Hi," you said softly, sitting up in your bed.

"I told you so," Gareth said, not even realizing he said it. He froze, looking at you after he heard the words that came out of his mouth.

No, no, no, no. You said hi and he replied with I told you so? God, he was such an idiot.

"Wow, thanks," you scoffed, wiping your eyes with your sweater sleeve.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"No, you're right." You replied, nodding. "You're definitely right. But, you don't have to be a dick about it."

"I'm not being a dick." He argued defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm, just," he sighed, pacing around your room for a bit as he gathered his thoughts. He stopped pacing and looked at you, "I'm just, so fucking sick and tired of watching you get hurt. You never fucking listen to me, no matter how many times I tell you. You, literally, do not listen to anything I say and it's getting so fucking annoying! I'm so sick of running after you, of picking up the pieces of your broken heart, only to have you break it again in a week!" He said, raising his voice slightly. "God, will you ever learn?" He asked, causing more tears to form in your eyes.

"You're totally being a dick!" You yelled, throwing the teddy bear at him. He caught it in his hands and looked at you, glaring at you.

"I'm not! I'm simply trying to tell you something!" He yelled back.

"Yeah? And what's that?" You asked through tears. "That my taste in guys sucks? That I'll never find someone? That I'll be alone forever?"

"No, you idiot!" He yelled, stepping closer to you. "I'm trying to tell you that I love you!" He looked at you, throwing the teddy bear on your bed before crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm so fucking in love with you! I have been since freshman year of high school! And it's so hard watching you get your heart broken over and over and over again. It's so fucking hard watching you run after all these guys that don't give you what you deserve! I'm so sick of always being the one that helps you, and never getting anything back from you. It's just, god, you're just, a fucking idiot," he sighed, shaking his head.

You sniffled again, pausing to let him finish his little rant. You tilted your head to the side, listening to his confession. Taking his confession in. It replayed in your mind, along with all the things he's done for you over the last couple of years. And all the things you've neglected to do for him.

"You know what, I'm going to go," Gareth said, grabbing his jacket.

"You love me?" You asked softly, looking up at him. He stopped and turned back around, looking at you. "Like, you love me?" You asked, standing up. You wiped your eyes again, looking him up and down.

"Of course I fucking do." He replied, looking at you. "Why wouldn't I? You're.. like, perfect. You're so funny, you're so sweet, you're so gorgeous, you're literally.. perfect." He added softly.

You stood there, staring at him for a brief second before you walked towards him. "I'm such a fucking idiot," you repeated, looking up at him.

"Well, yeah—you kind of are," Gareth said, "but, look-" you cut him off when you wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing his lips softly. He stood there shocked for a moment before he kissed you back, his left hand meeting your waist to pull you closer to him. His right hand moved up and caressed your face gently, holding it softly.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked down at you, holding you so carefully like he was afraid he was going to break you. He blinked a couple of times, just staring at you.

He was unsure what this meant, unsure of what to do and unsure of what to say.

“You love me?” You asked again, looking up at him. He rubbed his thumb over your cheek gently and shook his head.

“No, I hate you,” he teased. “Of course I love you,” he chuckled softly. “And, god, it’s just.. been so hard watching you get hurt. I just, never knew what to say or how to say it and I always feared you only saw me as your best friend,” he admitted, looking over your face. “Like, come on, you’re so out of my league.” You scoffed and shook your head, looking up at him.

“Please, I know I look like a fucking mess right now, if anything I’m definitely out of your league.” He shook his head, looking at you.

“No, baby, you’re gorgeous.” He replied, making your heart flutter and your insides melt. “You’re always gorgeous. Even when you got that ridiculously messed up hair cut over the summer, or when you fell off your skateboard a couple years ago and had that wicked bruise up your left thigh, or when you—.”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” you replied softly, cringing at the embarrassing memories he was bringing up.

He rubbed his thumb over your lips, leaning in again for another kiss. “You’re so perfect, so beautiful, so gorgeous and I.. I love you so much.” Gareth said softly before he kissed your lips again.

You sighed into the kiss and melted, turning into putty in his hands. Deepening the kiss, your fingers played with the curls on his neck, pulling them gently. Gareth groaned softly into the kiss, pulling you towards him more, his now rock hard erection hitting your thigh.

You moaned softly, pulling on his curls tighter. He sighed, pushing you back towards your bed, breaking the kiss to gently place you on the bed. He crawled on top of you and kissed you again, rubbing his erection against your thigh, groaning into the kiss.

You groaned loudly, your hands finding their way to the hem of his shirt. You tugged at his shirt before he pulled away, looking down at you.

“Woah, woah,” he said, catching his breath. “Baby, we don’t have to do anything, I know you’re a virgin and you’re waiting for the right moment with the right person,” he said sweetly, peppering your neck with soft kisses.

“Mhm,” you hummed, biting your lip. “I found the right person and the right moment,” you replied, squirming under his kisses.

“Is that so?” He asked, smiling sweetly as he looked down at you. You looked up at him and met his eyes, nodding slightly.

“Yeah,” you replied, playing with the hem of his shirt again. “Now, uh, fuck me?” You asked softly. “Please?”

Gareth laughed at your words, pulling away to slide his shirt off. He slid the simple black Metallica shirt up and over his head, throwing it to the side. You looked up at him, running your hands over his chest and stomach gently before you leaned in and kissed him again.

His tongue ran over your bottom lip, causing you to gasp into the kiss. He took this opportunity to explore your mouth with his tongue, his right hand playing with the bottom of your sweater.

You pulled away and gasped for air, reaching down to the hem of your sweater. You lifted it up, arching your back slightly to get the sweater off of your body. Pulling it up and over your head, you threw it with Gareth's shirt before you laid back down, looking up at him.

"What?" You asked as he looked down at you, his eyes exploring your now bare torso to him.

"No bra, huh?" He asked, his fingertips grazing down your side gently. You shivered and bit your lip, shaking your head.

"Nah, don't like them," you replied, looking up at him. He nodded, his fingertips continuing to move up and down your side.

"You're, wow," he said, leaning down to kiss your neck. He peppered kisses from your neck, down to your collarbone and upper chest, leaving sloppy kisses over both of your breasts. He kissed over your left breast, biting on the skin above your nipple gently. He nibbled the skin softly before blowing on it, creating a small, purple mark.

You moaned loudly, biting your lip as your right hand moved to his hair, pulling on his curls again.

"Fuck, baby, you gotta stop pulling my hair," he said, looking up at you.

"S-Sorry," you replied, releasing your grip on his hair gently. He smirked a little, kissing down your stomach softly.

"I guess I can forgive you," he mumbled against your skin, playing with the hem of your leggings. "Can I take these off?" He asked, looking at you. You nodded, closing your eyes gently. He repositioned himself and slowly slid your leggings off, pulling them down your legs.

As soon as they were off, your thighs moved together, suddenly feeling very vulnerable underneath Gareth in only your panties. He noticed and smiled at you, moving your thighs apart gently.

"Awe, baby," he said, smiling at you. "You're so pretty," he added. He left soft kisses up and down your thighs, leaving a gentle kiss on your core through your panties.

You squirmed and whined again, looking down at him. "Gare," you whined, moving your hand to his hair again. "This isn't fair," you added, bucking your hips up in search of some friction.

"I think it's perfectly fair," he replied, standing up. You looked at him and pouted.

"What're you doing?" You asked, he chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, I kind of need my pants off if you want to have sex," he responded, undoing his belt.

"Oh," you nodded, laying your head back on the pillows. “Right,” you said, looking at him. You watched as he undid his belt and jeans and stepped out of them, before he slid his boxers down, now standing completely naked in front of you. Your eyes widened slightly as you looked him up and down, gulping slightly. “Damn,” you mumbled.

"Hm?" Gareth asked, looking up at you. You shook your head and looked back at his face, pretending you didn't say anything.

"You're, uh, you're really hot," you said softly, a bit embarrassed to be in this situation and not know what to do.

"I think that's you," he corrected, sliding your panties down gently. He kneeled in between your thighs and looked up at you. "Now, you're sure you want this, right? Because I can stop; we can stop," Gareth asked, looking at you.

"I'm so sure, please," you begged. He smiled softly and leaned down to kiss your lips. His dominant hand met your core and rubbed up and down your folds softly, causing you to moan against his lips.

He opened your folds gently with his fingers before he pumped his middle finger and in and out a couple of times. He pulled away from the kiss and looked down at you, your eyes closed as soft moans were escaping your lips.

"God, you're so pretty when you look like that," he breathed, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. He pulled his hand away and you whined at the loss of feeling, looking up at him.

"Why'd you stop?" You asked. He smiled, rubbing the tip of his cock up and down your folds gently, moving with ease with your slick. You groaned, sighing softly. "Oh, that makes sense," you nodded.

"I'm going to go slow," Gareth said, slowly sliding into you a little bit. "Tell me to stop at any point if you feel uncomfortable or if you want me to stop, okay?" You nodded again, gasping at the feeling of him inside you. His finger felt good but it was nothing like this.

You sighed, your head resting on the pillow. After a few seconds Gareth moved further into you, and again, until he was fully inside of your warmth. He groaned, resting his forehead against yours as he waited for your signal to keep going. He looked down at your face, placing a soft and sweet kiss on your lips gently.

"Hm," you hummed against his lips. "I, uh, I think you can move now." You said, looking up at him. He nodded slightly and slowly started to thrust in and out of you. You gasped at the feeling, screwing your eyes shut. "Hm, you're so big," you groaned out.

Gareth moaned softly, kissing your neck gently as he continued to thrust in and out of you slowly. "God, baby, you feel so good," Gareth mumbled into your neck. You moaned again, your hand moving to his curls yet again. You ran your fingers through his curls, tugging on them gently as you closed your eyes.

He continued to thrust in and out of you slowly, moving his dominant hand down to your clit, rubbing circles on it gently.

You gasped softly, tugging on his curls harder at the feeling. His gentle and deep thrusts, his fingers moving against your clit, it was all too much. You moaned loudly, clenching around him. Gareth groaned against your neck again, continuing to thrust slowly, helping you ride out your high.

He made a couple more thrusts before he pulled out of you and finished on your stomach, groaning loudly.

"Fuck," he mumbled, leaning down to kiss your head. He stood up and walked to your dresser, grabbing some tissues to help you clean up. He walked back to you lying on your bed and wiped your stomach clean, throwing the tissue away.

Gareth slid his boxers back on before he grabbed your panties and his shirt, handing them to you. You smiled softly at him and put your panties back on and slid his shirt on, humming to yourself as you laid back in your bed.

He moved towards you and laid down next to you, you smiled and moved towards him, resting your head on his chest. You sighed and draped your arm over his stomach, nuzzling your head into his chest. He smiled and kissed the top of your head gently, wrapping his arm around your waist as he pulled you closer to him.

"I love you, baby," Gareth mumbled softly into your hair. You smiled, leaving soft kisses on his chest.

"I love you too, bubba," you replied, closing your eyes.

"Still upset about Jason?" He asked, rubbing circles on your hip with his fingers.

"Who?" You asked, looking up at him with a smile.

"That's what I thought," he smirked, leaning down to kiss your lips again.

God, the Hellfire boys definitely won't believe him if he tells them about this.

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

I LOVE GARETH (he's so adorable)

How about the reader goes over to his house and he isn't there so they wait in his room for him. When he gets back, he sees the reader wearing his plaid jacket asleep in his bed...

A/N- This was so cute 🥹 i know i’m not taking fic requests rn but this was too fun to not want to make a fic out of 😍

Cozy

Genre-Fluff

Warnings- None :)

Tag List- @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @munsonology @aidansloth @esme-viridian @toomanyfandomsimfanvergent

(tag list is always open, let me know if you’d like to be added 🖤)

Word Count- 2.6k

You sighed and tapped your foot as you waited at his door, checking the watch on your wrist again just to see how long it’s been since you last rang the doorbell.

It wasn’t a rare occurrence for you to show up at Gareths place unannounced, it happened a lot more frequently than some may think. After living next door to each other all your lives you knew you were both welcome in each others homes whenever you liked. But for some reason this had been the only time where no one was home.

He knew you were coming over at this time. Hell, he’s the one that invited you over, so it was strange for him not to be there.

His car was still in the driveway, and after taking a quick peek into the garage you saw that his parents cars were no where to be found. Probably out with his sisters.

You groaned and rang the doorbell again, crossing your arms over your chest and turning to look down either end of the street, just checking to see if he had maybe gotten a ride from someone else. You knew he wouldn’t forget. He never did.

Every single time you came over, without a doubt you knew he would be fully prepared to see you. Whatever it was the two of you had planned, he always had some extras to keep you around longer.

Watching a new movie together? He would grab an extra one for the two of you to watch just in case you wanted to.

Listening to a new tape he got? It just so happens that he’s got a few new tapes, and you’re always down for a chill night.

Checking out a new spot in town? He just so happens to know about a few other local places for the two of you to go together.

He always loved spending time with you, and of course you loved spending time with him too.

With one final groan and a roll of the eyes, you were done with waiting. You walked over to the decorative plants on the porch and moved them aside, picking up the house key you knew they kept stored under there and using it to let yourself right in.

“Gare?!” You shouted out, hoping he had just been asleep in his room or occupied in the basement.

You slipped your shoes off at the door and shrugged when the only response you got was silence. Oh, well. He would be back any minute from wherever he was, you were sure of it.

As you climbed up the stairs you looked at all the family pictures plastered on the wall on the way up. Old school portraits, framed family drawings, a few professional shots of the whole family taken when Macy was still just a baby. At the very top step was your favorite.

One of the very first pictures of you and Gareth ever taken.

No more than maybe five or six years old, the both of you smiling with dirt and grass stains all over your clothes, each of you holding a little green frog in your hands. You remember how slimy they were. A quiet giggle left your lips seeing his adorable gap toothed smile. He lost two of his teeth that year. He was such a cute kid.

You finished your slow walk up the stairs and passed the other doors down to Gareths room, and surprisingly the door was still closed.

“Gare?” You said from behind the door, hoping he had just fallen asleep. After a moment of silence you shrugged and turned the handle, struggling to open his bedroom door.

You groaned as you shoved the door open with your shoulder, sneaking through the small space you managed to make between the door and the wall. His room was messier than you’ve ever seen it.

Clothes all over the floor, his bed was unmade and the blanket was tossed about and laying half on the floor, VHS tapes were littered in front of the TV and a few magazines were fallen over and spilling out of the box he kept under his bed. Boys were so gross.

You shut the door once more and kicked the piles of clothes around, trying to make yourself a clear path on his floor. There was no way he was planning on having you over with his room in this state, maybe he just lost track of time with whatever it was he was doing?

Either way, there was no way you were going to wait for him in this filth.

You started grabbing up piles of clothes in your arms and burying them into his hamper, making a little bit of space on his floor for you to walk around. You were able to make your way over to his stereo and looked through his tapes, searching for one to put on for some background noise while you picked up his mess. You smiled as you saw he was listening to one of the tapes you made for him and pressed rewind to start it over, pushing the play button and turning up the volume a bit.

No one would mind if no one was home.

You didn’t deep clean his room, you barely deep cleaned your own room at home, but just enough to where it wasn’t a pig sty. You didn’t know how he could function in a mess like this.

It was exhausting.

You had no idea how long it had been since you started putting away his tapes and laundry, but you eventually found your way over to cleaning off his bed, picking up a few shirts and tossing them towards the hamper like you had done with all the rest on his floor. You stopped when your hand felt the familiar flannel fabric under his blanket.

A smile spread across your lips when you pulled his vest out from under the blanket, a little wrinkled but otherwise in perfect condition. If he left it here that must mean he ran off the night before in a hurry to get to Eddie’s for a last minute sesh. He always overslept on those nights. As much as it needed a good wash, you saw nothing wrong with it.

A few wrinkles here and there, but no stains or tears, and it seemed to smell fine, thank god.

You had never once seen him without it within the last few months, it was almost like a security blanket for him. How was he possibly managing without it?

You went to go toss it into the hamper along with the other clothes, but as you saw it in your hand in your reflection of his standing mirror, you wondered what the big deal was.

He was obsessed with always keeping it in perfect condition, making sure nothing was out of place and every patch and pin on it had been in its spot for a reason.

You looked at it in your hands for a moment and glanced up at the mirror, taking a step towards it. How great could this vest really be?

You put your arms through the sleeves and adjusted it onto your body, smiling seeing it was a few sizes too big on your frame. It was comfortable, it was warm, and the fabric was so soft.

You took a deep breath, ready to pull it off of your body and toss it into the hamper, but there was something stopping you.

It felt so cozy, and though his room wasn’t freezing it was keeping you nice and warm. The fact that it smelled like him didn’t help much either. You were never able to notice how nice it was until now.

The mixture of his cologne on the front and the scent of his shampoo on the collar, mixed with his natural pheromones it was something so strange to you. Refreshing. Like a wave of calm washed over your body. It’s like he was there with you now, and you smiled at yourself in the mirror remembering his laugh.

You looked down at the red flannel on you, moving your hands up the seams and bringing in the collar to take a deep inhale. You missed him.

You lived next door to him all your life, and whenever he wasn’t there you missed him. Even now, standing in his bedroom that you’ve been in hundreds of times before, wearing the same vest you’ve seen him in for days on end, you were missing him. Hopefully he’d be home soon.

Another glance around his room from the reflection in the mirror made you remember the stereo. The tape you had playing had stopped at some point and you didn’t even notice. You went back to the stereo and flipped the tape to play the other side, sighing as you turned down the volume. It was now a comfortable background noise, and with the combination of his warm vest and the soft music, his bed was looking so much more comfortable than it ever had before…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m going to fucking murder you if you ever make me this late back to my own house ever again.” Gareth said to Eddie from the passenger seat of his van, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Easy,” Eddie replied back with a chuckle, “it’s only been an hour, you’ll be fine.”

“I won’t be fine!” Gareth shouted, “I told you i had this planned and i’ve never been this late to something, (y/n) might think i was kidnapped or something, my car is still in the driveway and no one else is home, my room is a fucking mess and i don’t want to come home and find police cars all over the place-“

“Calm down.” Eddie said to him sternly. He’d never seen Gareth so overwhelmed. “It’s no big deal, i’ll tell her it was my fault you were late. I’m fine with her thinking i’m the bad guy.”

Gareth rolled his eyes and looked out the window of the van, hoping they’d be home soon.

What was supposed to be another last minute band practice turned into an overnighter for him and the rest of the guys at Eddie’s place. Smoking, watching movies, listening to music, all the same stuff they’d normally do. Unfortunately, they managed to stay up until at least four in the morning and lost track of time when they went out for ‘breakfast’ at noon.

Gareth was supposed to be at his place nearly an hour ago and he was so upset with himself for being late. He just hoped you weren’t upset with him too.

He hated making you upset, all he wanted to do was be able to spend time with you and have fun with you, other than being with the guys it was his absolute favorite pastime.

You had always been so sweet and kind to him, you would play together as kids and were nearly joined at the hip every summer, and as the years went on he figured that every guy got the same feelings about their girl friends.

Every guy started wishing that their girl friends always held their hand whenever they walked together.

Every guy wanted to be able to comfort their girl friends and hold them close during all the scariest parts of horror movies.

Every guy would make countless amounts of mixtapes of all the songs that reminded them of their girl friends.

Every guy got jealous when their girl friends would go out on dates or get asked to dances by other guys.

Every guy would lay in bed every night just wishing their their girl friends could be laying beside them to snuggle and keep warm.

God, he could feel his palms get sweaty just thinking about you.

He quickly wiped them on his jeans, doing his best to get you off of his mind and get back to the matter at hand. He was trying his best to think of an excuse to give you as to why he was late but he knew you wouldn’t believe anything he told you. You knew him too well.

The best thing to do was to just deal with whatever you had coming to him.

Eddie quickly turned the corner and Gareth perked up as soon as he saw his house, getting himself ready to nearly jump out of Eddie’s van as he pulled up on the curb.

“I’ll tell her what happened, don’t worry about sticking around.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door.

“You sure?” Eddie called out after him, shrugging as he watched Gareth run up his front yard to his door, fumbling with the keys in his pocket as he put one into the lock and stepped inside.

Gareth shut the front door behind him, looking around the living room and kitchen for any sign of you. He knew his parents were taking his sisters over to their friends for a playdate, giving the two of you free rein of the house for almost the entire day. He was just hoping he had enough time to clean a little before rushing over to your place and apologizing like his life depended on it.

He quickly ran up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom, and noticed that the door was slightly cracked open, he could hear one of his tapes being played from behind it.

He slowly opened his bedroom door, knowing that it had been completely closed when he left and stopped in his tracks when he saw you.

The lower half of your body was covered by his comforter, your top half was covered by his vest to keep you warm, your head resting peacefully on his pillow as the music played softly in the background. He looked around his room and saw that you had been nice enough to pick up a little for him, and he smiled as he quietly stepped inside. He made sure to be careful as the door creaked while he shut it, carefully stepping around on his hardwood floor in order not to wake you.

As strange as it was, all he could do was look at you.

You looked so serene, so peaceful. You used to have sleepovers when you were little but since the time has passed, you figured you were just too old for it. Not to mention your parents finding it inappropriate for two teenagers to be having sleepovers when they see each other constantly. But still, it was nice to see you like this again.

He could remember bits and pieces of your sleepovers when you were little but he always remembered how nice it was when you were sleeping. He always thought you looked beautiful, even when you were kids.

Gareth slowly walked over to the other side of the bed, carefully climbing in next to you and moving his body close to yours. He snuggled in, his arm carefully wrapping around your torso as the other pulled his comforter over your bodies. A smile slowly crept across his lips as he felt you gently back into him.

He held you close, keeping you warm beneath the blankets as he slowly closed his eyes.

You were never really able to relax like this.

Every time you saw each other there was always something planned, life gets in the way sometimes and it’s difficult to be able to enjoy doing nothing with someone you don’t see as often as you would like. And Gareth knows that too.

As much as he would love to be able to sit and talk with you, spend time with you, share fun memories with you, things like this were just as important.

He smiled when he felt your hand move over his as he held you.

Nothing was more important than this.

[munson-blurbs]

Meet-cute (noun): an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them.

I can't believe it's been almost two years since I started this blog.

On October 9, 2022, I decided to try my hand at writing fanfic. Just a little fluff piece about Eddie asking Reader on a date. It was how I had imagined he'd be: a bit awkward and shy, needing encouragement from the other Hellfire Club members, and head over heels for a bookworm.

As a thank you to the fandom that has supported me these last two years, I'd like to make your meet-cute ideas come true. Well, as true as they can be for fictional characters.

Until September 30, 2024, I will be taking meet-cute requests to turn into blurbs (500-750 words). In your request, please include the following:

The character you'd like to be paired with (For this event, I'll write for Eddie, Steve, Argyle, Robin, Nancy, and Gareth)

A few words to describe yourself (e.g., shy, outgoing, funny, ambitious)

1-2 of your hobbies or interests

Your pronouns

Any other important details you'd like me to include

Meet-cutes will be posted throughout the month of October. I will write as many as I can. Any meet-cutes not written will be kept in my inbox and potentially used in future requests!

Yours till the hell fires, Bug

[tbmunson]

Escape - Gareth Emerson x Reader pt.2

Summary: You attend Corroded Coffin's practice and feelings are confessed.

Warnings: Talks about diet, talks about absentee parents... A little steam but not much, yet.

Word Count: 5,619

Notes: Honestly this is less slow burn than I intended, but we're not there yet. Thank you guys for your patience in my writing. I'm a perfectionist and I like to make sure everything is done right

Taglist: @depressedacidtest @nana90azevedo @alanamarie @lizzziekatt and of course @ashes-writing Bestie you are the love of my life. Thank you so much for always being there and helping me. You're amazing.

1 / 2 / 3

Once you’d gotten up to your room last night you did as you promised and called Gareth. Though it had been a short conversation, you learned a little more about him, like he actually enjoyed watching his sisters and he volunteers to watch them on Friday’s because, and you quote, “I’m their best friend, they don’t need some random teen that doesn’t know or care about them to watch them.” That line made you smile a little.

Gareth picked up on how much you enjoyed watching his sisters too and that made it harder to convince himself that you were too opposite and it would never work. Once he hung the phone up by the kitchen door he went up to his room to get ready for bed. His eyes went immediately to the pile of clothes at the end of his bed. More specifically, the pale pink bra. He stood frozen in the doorway of the room, just looking at it. Many thoughts raced through his head, the most prominent being you’d been in his shirt without a bra on for the last hour and a half, as if his previous fantasy needed anymore fuel. He let out a shaky breath and stepped over to the heap, debating on what to do with it. The perv in his brain told him to pick it up, keep it, and never give it back. You left it after all. The rational part told him to fold your shirt, put it in his chair, and hide the bra under it so he wasn’t tempted to let the perv part win.

He went with the second option, although the feeling of the silk and lace between his fingers had the perv side going insane. He still put the bra into the folded cotton and went to bed.

Gareth was woken by the sound of knocking on his bedroom door. He knew his parents took his sisters to Lori’s gymnastics competition in Indianapolis so he wasn’t sure who it could be. “Yeah?” He called out, which was answered by the door swinging open and a smug looking Eddie walking in.

“How was your date, Emerson?” He quirked a brow as he walked across the room to sit in the chair.

“Whoa! Don’t sit there!” Gareth jumped up and made it over to the chair to move your clothes from it.

“I sit on your clothes all the time in that chair.” Eddie rolled his eyes at his friend and finally sat down.

Gareth settled at the end of his bed and held the neatly folded fabric up. “Not mine.”

Eddie’s brows raised but what dropped his jaw was the bra falling out of the cotton. “Dude! Did you guys..?”

Gareth scrambled and grabbed the item in question before shoving it under his comforter. “No! No, we didn’t. She uh, she helped give the girls a bath and got splashed. I gave her one of my shirts.” And he knew he shouldn’t have said it because as soon as the words left his mouth Eddie’s face split into the biggest grin Gareth had ever seen.

“You gave her the Crue shirt, didn’t you?”

Gareth turned so red that he was practically glowing like the neon signs around town.

“Didn’t you?” Eddie prodded, leaning closer with the most shit-eating grin he’d ever had.

“Stop talking, Ed.”

“I knew it!” Eddie yelled as he pointed and pushed himself back into the chair excitedly, his boot clad feet stomping the floor repeatedly.

“Fuck off. Where are Jeff and Grant? Aren’t we supposed to be practicing?” Gareth stood and walked over to his closet.

“We’re supposed to be practicing at 12. It’s 11.” Eddie pointed to the alarm clock on his side table.

Gareth groaned and flopped back onto the bed. “Then why are you here?”

“Gareth, I'm nosy. And more than that, I like to prove I’m right. I told a certain someone we were practicing today and that she should come by.”

As if on cue the doorbell rang, signaling someone’s arrival.

“I hate you.” Gareth grumbled, getting out of bed again. He opened the door and just about had to pick his jaw up from the floor.

You stood there in the shirt he’d given you last night, only now there was a knot tied in it just above your belly button. You’d paired it with a pair of jean shorts that were cut dangerously high and a pair of white sneakers. What caught his attention the most was the red plaid bandana wrapped around your head to keep the baby hairs that fell out of your bun at bay. It was the same red plaid of his battle vest. “Morning, sleepy head.” You smiled, lightly glossed lips shining in the sun.

“Morning.” He replied almost breathlessly.

Eddie came up behind him and smirked. “Nice shirt, short stuff.”

You beamed and looked down. “Thanks. Gareth let me borrow it. My mom won’t let me have one because Crue is ‘unholy’ or some shit.”

Gareth couldn’t see your eyes roll due to the sunglasses on your face, but he knew they had by the tone in your voice. “You actually listen to them?” He was surprised to say the least.

“There’s a lot that you don’t know about me. I’m more than short skirts and pom poms.” You reached out and patted his chest as you stepped into the house, brushing your body with his as you did so.

Gareth tried, he really did, to keep himself at bay. He was unsuccessful. “I need to go shower. Eddie, entertain, please.” He was pleading, which gave Eddie an ungodly amount of satisfaction.

“Yeah, of course.” Eddie’s face was taken over by a shit-eating grin.

Gareth groaned and walked away. He regretted giving you the shirt and even more so, asking Eddie to hang out with you because who knew what he was going to say.

“Eddie, what am I doing here so early? He obviously just woke up.” You asked as you settled onto the sofa.

Eddie shrugged, sprawling himself over the recliner. “Figured I’d give you two some extra time together. Get to know each other more, for the project, of course.”

You knew he was lying, or at least not telling you the full truth. You thought about calling him out on it, but you also didn’t want to be wrong, let alone have Gareth hear that you liked him. “Thanks, buddy.” You replied sarcastically, rolling your eyes.

The two of you sat silent for no more than a minute before you spoke again.

“Can we smoke later?”

“The Princess of Hawkins partakes in the devil’s tobacco?” Eddie raised a brow at you, honestly stunned at the request.

You laughed and shook your head. “Never have, but I think it’ll be fun. I hear it lets your true self out and I kind of want a reason to get some heavy shit off of my chest.”

“Gonna let your secrets spill, Princess?”

“I don’t have secrets, just things not everyone knows.” You replied, picking at your nails before looking up to Eddie’s smirking face. “Grow up Munson. You’re not right about everything, okay?”

“But I’m right about this.” He replied, pushing himself to stand so he could walk into the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink?”

You rolled your eyes and got up to follow him. “You’re smug, you know that?”

He laughed as he grabbed two cups from the cabinet. “I can afford to be smug, Sweetheart.”

“Just don’t say anything else about it.” You rested your elbows on the counter and watched Eddie scoop the ice into the cups.

“So, I’m right and I can’t say anything about it.” He pretended to think hard about it before speaking again. “Fine, but you're both stupid and blind.”

“You really know how to make a woman swoon, don’t you Munson.” You pushed off of the counter and grabbed one of the cups. “It’ll happen if and when it’s supposed to. Don’t meddle in it.”

“I won’t, but it’s so obvious, just so you know.”

“What’s obvious?” Gareth walked into the kitchen scrubbing his head with a faded blue towel.

Eddie glanced at you before looking at Gareth. “The Princess's crush.”

“Munson.” You glared at him, eyes squinted in a way that dared him to say another word.

Gareth nodded and walked through to drop the towel in the laundry room, leaving you to glare at Eddie until he returned. “Well, that’s her business.”

“See!” You more or less yelled, glad Gareth wasn’t going to press for details.

Eddie rolled his eyes and jumped up on the counter as he mumbled something about “blind and delusional” under his breath.

It was your turn, again, to roll your eyes.

Gareth walked back out and rested against the counter as he looked between the two of you. “Well it looks like you two had a great time. Scowling is usually a good sign right?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, frown turning up into a smile and eyes lighting up. “Yeah, absolutely. He just thinks he’s right all the time.”

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean, Doll.” Gareth chuckled, sending you a smile that made you melt.

Before anything else could be said the front door swung open and the two other members of Hawkins most metal band walked in.

“My men! We ready to get started?” Eddie asked, drawing all of the attention to himself.

Grant and Jeff share a confused look which made you laugh a little. It was obvious that they hadn’t expected you to be sitting on the kitchen island with Gareth leaning next to you.

Gareth, who gained bravery by his friends' presence, pushed himself up and rested his hand on your thigh. “Ready?” He asked, giving it a quick squeeze.

You swallowed down the whimper you wanted to let out and nodded.

Gareth gave you another squeeze before offering you a hand to help you down, which you took before mumbling a small “Thank you” to him. He rested his hand on the small of your back to lead you to the detached garage where their practice was held. “There’s a couch if you wanna sit.” He nodded to the old floral couch that had no doubt been in the house previously.

“Thanks, Gare.” You smiled as you stepped away from him. You settled onto the couch as he and the boys took their places to start practice. You watched Gareth twirl the drumstick in his hand and subconsciously squeezed your thighs together, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Eddie.

“So I think we can start with the cover of Live Wire. Yeah?” Eddie looked around as the boys nodded in response.

You loved that song, it was the one you played and danced to alone every time your parents were out. You bobbed your head and mouthed the words along with Eddie but your eyes stayed on Gareth, watching the sweat glisten off of his cheeks and nose and how his hair bounced as he headbanged along.

Gareth felt your eyes on him the whole time which encouraged him to do his best to impress you, making this one of the best practices they’d had in a while.

Once practice was over and they started packing up Eddie watched Gareth walk over to the couch, pick your feet up and sit with your feet in his lap. Gareth rested his hand on your shin, rubbing his thumb over the smooth skin. “I think you’re our good luck charm, Princess. These fools haven’t made it through a practice without a fuck up in weeks.” Eddie smirked, carefully carrying his guitar case out of the garage.

“I’d be happy to watch you guys anytime.” You replied before turning your attention to Gareth. “You were amazing, Gare. Watching you is fun, the way you get so into it. Like nothing else matters. That’s passion.” You wanted to tell him how attractive it was, but you held off on that for the moment.

“Thanks. I love it. It gets the emotions I don’t know how to express out in the open somehow.” He squeezed your leg, something you could get used to for sure.

You giggled and sat up to scoot closer with your legs still over his lap. “That’s really deep. I’m glad you have a way to express everything on the inside. It gives me an idea for our project.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” He reached over with his other hand and tucked a loose hair behind your ear.

“Well, I think most people are going to just do something that shows the other person. I think we should do ours to show we’re the same, but we present differently. Like on the outside you’re this scary metal head that’s into the dark and scary stuff and doesn’t care about anything but on the inside you’re sweet and funny and caring. And I’m the opposite. On the outside I’m all sunshine and rainbows and happiness but on the inside I like all the same dark and scary stuff you do. So I propose that we do paintings. Mine for you would be dark around the edges and as it fades into the middle it gets lighter and happier. And yours for me is the opposite. I’ll be all dark on the inside but it gets lighter and brighter as you go out.” You explained, waving your hands and changing your face in ways that Gareth thought was absolutely adorable.

“That sounds really great. We could do actual rainbows for the color and fade it all into each other and use the whole scale from lighter pastel shades to the darker ones.” He replied, hand resting on the side of your thigh close to your knee, far enough down to be respectful.

You squealed and threw your arms around him. “That’s genius. I was thinking we would just use our favorite colors but that gives it so much more depth! Like every color provokes an emotion and no one feels the same all the time. I just know ours is going to be the best.” You hadn’t even realized that in the process of hugging him you had drug yourself more into his lap, in turn making his hand slide up your thigh. When you did realize it, you made no move to separate or create any kind of distance.

Gareth didn’t either, he instead looped his free arm around your back to keep you close. “You’re the genius, Doll. You came up with the idea, I just built on it.”

You looked up at him and smiled before resting your head on his shoulder. “Stop it. I’m not good at taking compliments.” You mumbled before hiding your face in his neck.

He chuckled and rested his head on yours. “Hey, the truth is the truth.” It’s all he could think to say that wasn’t over stepping any imaginary boundaries that might be set.

The two of you were so wrapped up in each other that you didn’t notice Natalie’s car driving by or the way she was watching you cuddle up to Gareth. But Eddie noticed. And he watched her drive by, flipping her off when she noticed him. 

“Well, Princess, looks like your cheer buddies are gonna hate you on Monday.” He stated as he walked into the garage, seeing what Natalie must have seen to cause the twisted look on her face.

You lifted your head and dragged one of your arms from around Gareth’s neck. “Fuck ‘em. There’s five weeks left in the school year and I’ll never see those uppity bitches again.” You replied with yet another roll of your eyes. It was one of the habits you’d picked up from the cheer team and the only one you didn’t mind. Attitude could be a great asset.

“Whoa, Princess, those are some really mean words. Didn’t know you were so angry.” Eddie teased lightly.

“I’m just sick of being told what I can and can’t do. Who I can and can’t hang out with.” You sighed, resting your head once again on Gareth’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be, Doll.” He pulled you the rest of the way into his lap and held you as the other two members joined you in the garage.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Jeff asked, stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

“My parents will be getting home with the girls soon. They’re gonna throw a fit to show me the routines so I’m stuck here. You guys are welcome to stay and hang though.” Gareth said, resting his chin on your head. The scent of your shampoo was intoxicating to him.

Grant and Jeff shared a look. 

“Yeah I think we’ll go hit up the mall for a little bit and come back later. You coming, Ed?” Grant asked as Jeff fished the car keys from his pocket.

“Yeah, but we’ll come back for Princess’s first smoke sesh tonight.” Eddie said as he reached out to flip the hoop in your ear.

You raised your hand and flipped him off, which caused Gareth to laugh a little.

“Sounds good.” Gareth then looked down at you. “You staying or going?”

“I’ll stay. I’d love to see the girls and we can start on the project since we have an idea.” You replied with a smile before turning your attention to the other guys. “You guys are really great, by the way. Like I know the people I hang out with are assholes to you so I’m thankful you didn’t just write me off with them.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. You stopped them from coming after us more times than we can count. We knew you weren’t like them.” Jeff said, twirling the keys around his finger.

“Yeah, you hung with who you did for survival. It’s not like you were the one chasing the freshmen down in your car.” Grant stated, which caught your attention.

“I’m sorry, what? Who chased them down in their car?”

The guys shared a look, one that said he probably shouldn’t have said that. “Jason, Andy, and I think Tiffany and Natalie were in Jason’s Jeep last week and the freshmen were biking home.”

You nodded, deep in thought about what exactly you would say come Monday morning practice. None of it was pretty.

“I think on that note, we’re gonna head out.” Eddie clapped his hand over Grant’s shoulder and the three of them walked off towards Jeff’s car.

“You didn’t tell me about that.” You said softly, turning to look at Gareth.

“I know, but the kids didn’t want anyone to know. It hasn’t happened again, and if it had I promise I would have told you. The kids were embarrassed, I think.”

You nodded and moved to stand, only Gareth’s grip on your hips tightened and he pulled you back down, making you giggle a bit. ”Gare, we gotta go get the painting stuff.”

His arms wrapped around you, keeping you pressed to him. “I know, but this is really comfortable.”

You couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, Eddie had been right. Maybe Gareth did like you. Maybe it would be okay that you liked him. You laughed when he buried his face into your neck and relaxed into him.

The two of you stayed like that for a moment, thoughts buzzing around your heads about the other.

You ran your hand down his arm before you slipped your fingers through his. “You know once the girls get here we aren’t going to be able to go.” You hummed into his ear as you squeezed his hand in yours.

“I know. They’re gonna take you away from me.” He mumbled into your neck. He felt the way your lips morphed into a smile against his ear. “But I bet you like them more, huh? It’s not like you cut up my food for me last night.” He teased, snuggling into you a bit more.

His voice vibrated against the sensitive part of your neck causing you to sucks in a fast breath, which he didn’t miss. “I would have fed it to you if you'd have asked.” You moved so your lips were against his ear. “I’d do anything if you asked.” You smiled, hoping more now than ever that Eddie was right and not just saying it.

Gareth picked his head up and looked down at you. “All I have to do is ask, hm?”

You nodded and opened your mouth to reply, only to be cut off by the sound of a car coming into the driveway. “Well, looks like we missed our opportunity for a quick escape.” You chuckled, moving just enough to get off of his lap and settle next to him. You didn’t miss the pout on his face when you moved.

He laughed at the joke and watched the girls run from the car, yelling about how Lori’s team won their division and showing off her sash.

“Ooh! You look fancy with that, girly. Why don’t you show me your favorite trick!” You beamed at them.

Lori took her sash off and handed it to you before showing you back walkover.

“Wow! That was perfect, baby doll! What about you, lil bit? Are you in gymnastics?”

Clara perked up at her new nickname and nodded before she did a cartwheel.

“You guys are so good. You’re way better than I was at that age.” You smiled as they climbed onto the couch.

Gareth watched you with pure adoration.

“Can you do tricks?” Clara asked, looking up from her spot on your leg.

You smiled and tucked a loose hair behind her ear. “I actually can. I do gymnastics on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. It helps with cheerleading.” You replied, watching the girls' faces light up.

“Can you show us something? Please!” Lori asked, latching onto your hand.

As much as you would have loved to, the jean shorts you were wearing were so tight, you thought you wouldn’t be able to move properly. “I can’t right now because I’m not wearing the right clothes, baby doll. But when Gareth and I get back from the supply store, I’ll show you a few things. I promise.” You held up your pinky to her.

She wrapped hers around yours and smiled. “Okay!”

Gareth slipped his hand behind your back and rubbed his thumb up and down the exposed skin between the shirt and your shorts. “Why don’t you guys let us go ahead and go so we can come back faster? Huh?”

“Okay bubby!” Clara said, sliding down from your lap and reaching out for her sister's hand, which Lori took.

“We’ll see you guys in a little bit!” You called after the girls as they made their way inside.

Gareth, against his better judgment, wrapped his arms around you and settled his chin onto your shoulder. “You’re so great with them. They love you.” He said in a low voice that sent chills down your body, which he noticed and smirked at.

“I love them too. They’re the sweetest kids.” You replied, resting your hand on his.

“I love them, but I can’t wait to have my own, you know?” His hand subconsciously rested on your stomach for a moment as he pulled his hands back.

You watched him stand up, lost for words for a moment as images of Gareth and your kids playing in the yard swam through your head. “You want a big family?” You asked, taking his hand that was waiting.

He nodded, letting you pull yourself up. “Yeah, four or five, maybe more. There’s just something about taking care of another person, showing them how to be people that gets me.” He looked down at you, a soft smile on his face. “What about you?”

You nodded, resting your hands on his shoulders to keep yourself up. “Yeah, I want a huge family and a job so I’ll always be around. My parents are always gone on business and I never get to see them.” You explain, with a bit of a somber look.

“You’re going to be an amazing mother one day. Any kid would be lucky to have you, Doll.” Gareth instinctively wrapped his arms around your body and rocked you a bit.

You buried your face into his neck and fought the urge to kiss the skin under your lips. “Thanks, Gare.” You slowly pulled away from him and smiled. “You ready to go?” You asked as you gripped his hand in yours.

“Yeah, Doll. Let’s go.”

***

Once the two of you finished gathering the supplies you decided to go back to your place to paint since it would be quiet.

“So, the spare office is my studio. Upstairs, end of the hall to the left.” You said as you opened the door. “I’ll grab us some snacks and bring them up.” You smiled as he looked around.

“I’ll go get set up. See you in a bit.” He almost stepped up to kiss the top of your head, but he caught himself. He went up the stairs and into the room you’d directed him to. Paintings and drawings hung around the room. He took time looking at each one, stopping on a pencil drawing of him. He smiled, knowing that you’d looked at him long enough to draw him.

You made your way into the room with a tray of small sandwiches, grapes, and a sleeve of Oreos. “It’s probably not the best combo, but it makes my brain work.” You followed his eyes and blushed. “Oh, um…”

Gareth turned and smiled at you. “It’s really good. When did you do it?” He reached out and took the tray for you.

“Last year, chemistry. I finished an exam early and the way the light was hitting you was perfect. I’m sorry if that’s creepy.” You cringed a bit, clutching the Oreos tighter.

“It looks great. You got my good angle.” He said, looking over at you.

“Thank you.” Your voice was small, timid.

“What’s wrong?” He stepped over and put his hands on your upper arms.

You scanned the floor and shrugged. “I guess I’m just not used to people telling me my art looks good. When I was a kid I’d show my parents and their response was usually ‘That’s nice honey.’ and then they would go back to whatever they were doing. It’s just different I guess?” You explained, bringing your eyes to finally meet his. “Plus, I don’t want you to think I’m some weirdo for drawing you.”

Gareth couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped at your last comment. “I’m flattered you decided to draw me. You have a real talent for this stuff, Doll. You just have to find the right people to appreciate it.”

You smiled up at him and wrapped your arms around his neck. “Thank you.” Everything inside of you was telling you to kiss him, but you stopped yourself.

“Any time, sweet thing.” He couldn’t have stayed like that for hours, your body pressed against his, your scent lingering around him.

“C’mon, let's get started on these canvases.” You smiled as you hesitantly pulled back.

He nodded and let go of you to empty the bags filled with tubes of paint, brushes, and palettes.

“Do you mind if I put on some music? It helps me focus.” You looked over at him from next to the small stereo.

“Yeah, go ahead.” He was organizing the tubes so that it matched the color wheel, making it easier to grab what was needed. He was a little shocked when Quiet Riot started playing through the speaker. “She just keeps getting better and better.” He mumbled as he watched you bob your head to the beat as you began setting up the canvases on easels.

“Come on, feel the noise. Girls, rock your boys. We’ll get wild wild wild.” You sang under your breath as you measured the canvas, looking for the exact middle. When you marked it, you worked your way around making lines that lead from the middle to the edge, to make sure the brush stroked wouldn’t look wonky and crooked. When the lines were done you grabbed an Oreo and marked where the colors would fade into one another and transition from darker to lighter.

Gareth sat back and watched you, deciding that he would marry you on the spot if you would have asked. The focus on your face, the attention to detail, the mumbling of one of his favorite bands, even the Oreo that was between your lips and you figured your next mark, it was all driving him crazy in the best way.

“Do you want me to mark yours too?” You asked, peering over at him to see him leaned against the desk with his arms folded over his chest, eyes on you.

“Uh, yeah, if you want. It’ll probably be better, like if we want them the same, you know?” He was nervous that you’d just caught him staring, you didn’t seem to mind as you agreed and went to work on the second canvas, following the marks from your own.

Once you’d finished you walked over to the desk and grabbed one of the sandwiches. “Lunch break, then we’ll get started.

Gareth chucked and grabbed one of his own. “Good, I thought you were just going to have Oreo’s for lunch.”

You laughed and shrugged. “Wouldn’t have been the first time. My diet isn’t the best.” You replied with a smile.

“Mine either. Honestly, last night was going to be pizza, not that Benny’s is any healthier, but that’s on you.” He joked, making you roll your eyes.

“Fine, next time I’ll bring salad and water.” You replied with a teasing smile.

Next time. You wanted there to be a next time. “You can bring whatever you want as long as you come back.” He replied before popping a grape into his mouth.

“I’ll come back anytime you want me to.” You don’t know what made you brave enough to say it. Maybe it was the fact that it was just the two of you, or maybe it was because you were tired of keeping your feelings at bay and you just wanted to know how he felt.

“You could live there if you wanted to, I wouldn’t mind. I know the girls wouldn’t either.” He reached over and grabbed your hand, which you took and let him pull you close.

“You mean that?”

“Yeah, Doll. Can I be honest with you?”

You nodded and looked up at him.

“I like you. A lot. I have for a really long time. I’m sorry if that makes this weird.”  He looked down at your hands that were intertwined with his.

You smiled and let go of his hands, which scared him until he felt your hands on the side of his face. “Thank god. I was gonna go crazy if you didn’t feel the same way.”

His eyes darted up, looking at you, trying to figure out if this was some joke. “Are you serious?”

You rolled your eyes and pulled him to you. “I’m serious.” You whispered, your lips brushing over his.

He grabbed your hips and pressed his lips to yours, savoring the feeling of the kiss along with your hands slipping down his neck and around him, bringing him closer to you.

You felt his tongue lick across your bottom lip, prompting you to open your mouth at the same time his hands slid around your hips and settled into the back pockets of your jean shorts. You whined into his mouth when he squeezed the fat of your ass.

He pressed kisses down your jaw and onto your neck before latching on at the base and leaving a mark that wouldn’t be easily hidden.

“What are you doing?” You asked, words coming out in a rushed breath.

“Making sure everyone knows your mine.” He answered as he pulled back to examine the mark.

You reached up and smiled when your fingers slid over the tinder part. “I thought they would get it when they saw me kissing you in the halls, but I can go for this too.” You giggled, letting that hang drop down to his chest, the other arm was still hooked behind his neck.

“Yeah? So you wanna be my girl, officially?” His hands migrated from your pockets to your sides, thumb running over the exposed skin. 

You nodded and moved to stand on your tiptoes to give his nose a kiss. “Yeah, I do. I always have.” You replied.

“Honestly, I didn’t think that I’d thank Mr. Greely for anything, but I think he deserves a gift or something.” Gareth stated, taking your hand from his chest and slipping his fingers between yours.

“Yeah, I think he does.” You smiled, laughing as Gareth used his hold on your hand to spin you around. “What are you doing?”

“Just seeing what my girl looks like all the way around.” He answered, scanning over you with a satisfied smile.

“Your girl. I like the way that sounds.” Your hand rested on his hip and your eyes flickered between him and your hand. “We would get started, yeah?”

Gareth nodded, mouth gaping open. He was shocked when you pulled away and walked over to the canvas. “Oh, right. Yeah. Let’s do… that.” He took a few deep breaths and followed you to his so you could explain your vision for the pieces.

[petersbaby]

Hey guys. I had a little bit of an attempt several days ago so I’m still down and trying to get to feeling better, on new meds now. I know it isn’t that deep but I LOVE this account and all the people who are so nice to me here, so I feel really sad and guilty that I haven’t felt like being on this app lately. I’ll be back.

Right now I’m posting the story I have sitting in my notes :)

I’m not sure what to call this, it was inspired by this ask and i accidentally turned it into a cute lil Gareth love story. Let me know if you wanna be tagged for credits, I wasn’t sure <3

Warnings: TW SA

-

“I’ll see you later. Be out in the parking lot on time or I’m not taking you home with me.”

“W-why are you always trying to leave me at school?” You ask defensively as you shut the passenger side door after getting out.

“*i* don’t try to do anything. You’re just slow sometimes and I don’t have the patience.” He scoffs and you both go into the school, parting ways to your respective classes.

Once it was lunchtime, you headed to the cafeteria. You had some friends here and there, but no one you specifically say with. You just kind of went where there was room.

As you got in line for food, you heard a bunch of laughter and comments from behind you, and you knew that the presence you felt was a group of basketball guys. You tried to ignore them, but it became clear soon that they were talking about you.

“Jesus Christ, that skirt’s short. She knows what she’s doing.” One boy commented.

“Yeah, dude, like I could just-“

You feel a hand on your ass, taking a generous handful and groping.

You gasp, turning around immediately. It was Jason. He just had a stupid fucking grin on his face, his friends were laughing. Your face turned red with embarrassment and a little bit of fear.

You turn back around, pulling your skirt down lower, and finish getting your food. Immediately after you pay, your desperate eyes scan the whole room full of people. You search for the Hellfire Club table, and find it quickly knowing the general vicinity of where it’s at. Eddie didn’t ever want you sitting there, said it was just a guy thing.

It was new, and a little scary, but you had to go to someone who cared about you. Yes, your step brother is an asshole, but you know he loves you. He’s drunkenly admitted it many times, and you always said you loved him too.

You head straight for him, where he was in the middle of a conversation with Mike. They were so engaged that they didn’t notice you standing there holding your tray at first, Gareth had to tell Eddie to look up.

“What do you want?” He asks.

“I- Eddie, I need to tell you something.”

“Can’t it wait? We’re talking about important shit right now here.” He gestures to his friends.

Your eyes filled with tears, you felt them stinging as one fell and your lip started to quiver. You just stand there.

“Shit. Wheeler, get up. Let her sit.”

You plop down in the now free seat beside him.

“What happened? Someone bully you?”

You did get bullied. He knew that. He just figured some bitchy girl hurt your feelings or smacked the books out of your hands or something.

“Yeah.. well… maybe no. I don’t know. It was Jason, he- he grabbed me. In the line. He grabbed my butt and all of them laughed.”

A few more tears fell as you let your shoulders relax a little now. There was an expression on his face that you had never seen before. He was thinking, thinking hard about something, and he was angry, pissed. The other guys look panicked, waiting for how Eddie was gonna handle that information. They knew it wouldn’t be pretty.

“Eds?” You ask, quietly, concerned.

He slams his hand down on the table and stands up quickly. He locks his eyes onto where the group of boys had sat down and were eating and barreled straight towards them.

He goes and grabs Jason by the collar of his jacket, yanking him down into the floor. Everything seemed to go a little quieter when everyone heard the impact of his body on the hard laminate flooring. His friends get up, starting to try and help Jason up and get Eddie away, but he doesn’t allow it.

“Stay the FUCK back. You fuckin’ pussies.” He yells at them.

“What the hell is your problem, freak?” Jason asks, scrambling back up to his feet.

He doesn’t get an answer, only a hard blow to the face. He immediate grabs his nose, feeling blood start to spill out of it.

“You wanna touch girls? You wanna touch my little fucking sister?”

Another punch. One after another. Jason’s friends once again try to intervene, but Eddie fights them back. He ends up on top of Jason in the floor, beating the shit out of him and cursing him out until staff came in and forcibly removed him from the other boy.

You and all the other guys at the table with you watch with wide eyes and slack jaws. Holy shit.

You can’t hear what the staff members told him, you can just see them holding him by the arms and taking him out of the room. Jason’s friends are finally able to help him, one of them runs to get the nurse because he’s bleeding all over himself.

“Holy shit.” Mike comments, echoing exactly what you were thinking.

“I’m so sorry, y/n, that guy’s a real piece of shit. He got what he deserved.” Gareth tries his best to soothe you, taking your shaking hand in his from across the table and squeezing it.

“It’s okay. What, uh, what’s gonna happen? To Eddie?”

“They’ll just suspend him. Probably a couple of weeks.” He shrugs, as if that’s normal.

“Two weeks?? They’re gonna do something worse to me now, knowing he’s gone and no one will protect me. To get revenge.”

“Fuck that. I’ll protect you. It’s what Eddie would want.” Gareth responds.

“Wha- really?” You ask quietly, almost in disbelief and also blushing at his kindness. You never knew he was so sweet.

“Yes, really. I’ll walk you to your classes, and you’ll sit with us at lunch for the next couple weeks til Eddie’s back. Right, guys?”

Everyone nods.

“Thank you guys. I’m sorry, uh, about all this. I didn’t know he’d do that, now you don’t have your dungeon master.”

“Wait, you know about D&D?” Gareth seems shocked, and you laugh shyly.

“Of course I do. He is my brother, after all.”

“Don’t worry about that.” He pauses to think. You both start to say something at the same time, but you let him go first.

“We’ll just play somewhere else than school.”

“I was just about to say that.” You laugh. “You could do it at my-our.. Eddie’s house.” You stumble over the words.

-

When the bell rings at the end of the day, you go outside and step into the fresh air. Shit, you forgot Eddie got sent home. You start to panic, thinking of who could give you a ride home, but you hear the rumbling of that shitty van pulling into the parking lot. You look up, and he pulls up right in front of you, motioning you to get in.

“Eds, you’re not supposed to be here, are you? They said you’re probably suspended.”

“I am. But I just can’t go into the school. I had to come back for you, you really think I’d leave you here?”

“You kinda imply that, like, a lot.”

“Well I don’t fuckin mean it, okay?”

“Sorry.” Your eyes sting again. You just wanted to go home and never leave your bed again.

He takes a deep breath.

“No, y/n, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I’m really fucking mad, but not at you.”

“Oh. Okay.” You say, quietly.

At home, you go straight to the bathroom, mind fixed on washing Jason’s touch off of your body. You take a hot shower and scrub hard, crying softly so that you are not heard.

When you get out, on your way to your room, you hear Eddie talking to his uncle downstairs. You were worried he’d be in trouble, but Wayne didn’t sound mad. You catch the sound of him saying “I understand” before retreating to your room. You put on new clothes and just went to sleep. When you wake up, it’s dark out. You look at the clock. 11PM.

“Hey. I just wanted to check on you.” Eddie says softly, entering your room. He sits down at the foot of your bed.

“Hmm- I’m okay. Are you?”

“You’re sweet for caring but don’t ask me. I’m asking you. You didn’t deserve what happened to you today.”

“Well… I took a long shower, that made me feel a little better. But still just a little shocked.”

“Well listen, I’m gonna tell my friends to watch over you until I’m back, okay? You don’t have to worry.”

“Oh, yeah, they already told me. That’s really nice. You guys were really nice to me today.”

It had really meant the world. He saw that, but tried to brush it off. Too sweet for him to even deal with, you were.

“Okay, good. That’s good. You can get back to sleep, I just wanted to check on you before I went to bed.”

“Okay.”

-

The next day, you get home from school with your mom. She was going to take you and pick you up now, since Eddie wasn’t going for the time being and you couldn’t possibly ask him to do that. He already did enough for you as it was.

You head straight for Eddie’s room, wanting to see how he is. He’s just laying in his bed, playing guitar. His friends already missed him, and you missed him.

“Hi, eds.” You softly open his door.

“Hey.” He responds simply.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Huh? For what?” He looks confused.

“Getting you kicked out of school. I’m really really sorry.”

“Nope, not at all. And you’re not the one that got me kicked out, I did it myself.”

“You did it…. For me, though.”

“Stop it. It’s not your fault and I’m not mad. Seriously.”

“Well.. tomorrow’s the day. I thought you guys could play here, you know, instead of school. We all thought it was a good compromise.”

“‘We’, huh? You talking to my friends? I’m proud of you.”

“Wha-“

“I know you’re shy and timid, so it’s good to hear you’re talking to them and getting along so well. They only want the best for you, so do I.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I care about you, you know.”

“Oh. Thank you. I care about you too.”

He doesn’t want to continue this, talking about mushy feelings, so he just tells you to go do your homework. You feel it, the love.

-

“Hi eddddsss. I’m home.” You say before dropping your bag off in your room. He gets up and comes to see you.

“I see. Oh, shit, I’ve got to get ready fast. I lost track of time.” He realizes his friends will be there soon, also having just gotten out of school.

“What were you doing, sleeping all day?” You joke. He doesn’t answer, and you know that it was actually true now.

“That’s okay. You deserve it. The rest.” You add.

He smiles, he fucking smiles, and you just move without thinking. You go to wrap your arms around him in a hug, and he stays stuff for a moment but soon gives in, letting you melt into his chest.

When you pull away, you smile at him, and he smiles again. You weren’t sure if you crossed a boundary or if he wanted a hug, but he got one anyways. You were just grateful for him.

“You saved me.”

“You’re so dramatic. I did what I had to do for you.” He concludes, heading down to the living room to set up.

-

You were excited for tonight, the whole group together again. You decided you wanted to join in, just as a spectator.

That included the setup too, you just sat and watched while Eddie prepared the space. When you heard a knock at the door, you’d get up to let them in.

Soon, the boys were all here, gathered around your living room table. You went back and forth getting them drinks, they basically drained your entire supply of soda.

You always settles back down onto the couch, though, and this time you look down, looking at Gareth. It’s almost as if he instantly feels your gaze, because his eyes flick up and meet yours, wide and blown out pupils.

You smile at him, he smiles back, and you both blush. He shakes it off, trying to focus and stop thinking about you, but he knows you’re watching his every move. You soon stop, feeling like you’re making him nervous, and just payed attention to everyone in general.

“More Coke, eds?” You ask the boy at the end of the table.

“Uhh, fuck it, can I get a beer?”

“Mhm.” You nod.

He gets comments about how he better not turn into an alcoholic and never come back to school. He tells them to shut up.

-

At school, you’re doing your routine walk to and from classes with Gareth. The day is almost over, it’s the second-to-last period. He’s waiting outside the door of your classroom as soon as you walk out.

“Hey.” He says.

“Hi.” You smile.

You walk closely together, you’d seemed to have gotten closer every day to the point where now, your hands nearly touch. You feel yours brush up against his, but you don’t know if he notices it. You just try to let it go, don’t think about it so much, it’s normal. You had to walk close, the halls were packed. Right?

No, there really weren’t that many people. They brush again and suddenly his big cold hand is on yours and his fingers are intertwined with yours. He just looks straight ahead, trying to fight a smile but still showing a dimple.

You look down at your feet as you walked hand in hand, trying not to smile just like he was. You’re secretly so sad that you have to let go once you arrive at the door. You don’t say anything, just go inside. He walks to his own class, wondering what you were thinking.

What you were thinking was that you didn’t quite realize it til then that you actually liked him. A little bit of it was always there, from the moment he held your shaking hand that day in the cafeteria to comfort you. It had really worked.

You were thinking about his eyes, the way he looked at you last night. It was a fleeting glance, but it felt like something. Like it had something behind it. About his smile, about how he was just about as shy as you were. And so sweet.

He was thinking about how close he feels he’s grown to you in just a few days, and how important his job to protect you was. He realized he would do anything for you not to be hurt again.

He thought about how the other guys just looked at you as Eddie’s sister, someone who was just hanging around for the time being. He saw you. He didn’t even think of Eddie when he saw you, only how beautiful you really were now that he’d been getting closer to you.

You try not to think too much about it, but ended up writing a “G” with a heart next to it in your notebook anyway. You quickly scribbled it out. Weird.

-

The week passes, and now it was only a few days til Eddie could come back to school. It was also time for Hellfire again. You had gotten so used to being stuck to Gareth’s side that you weren’t sure how you’d adjust.

Eddie would take his place and protect you then. That’s all Gareth was doing, so why are you falling for him? He’s just watching over you, like he said he would. But all week, you’d been doing the same thing, holding hands walking to class and sharing looks over the lunch table. You weren’t sure what was happening or if there even was anything happening.

“Dude, I saw you two in the hall. You like her, I knew it.” Mike says, looking grossed out at the fact before you get to the table with them.

“Shut up.” Gareth whispers.

“You talking about him and y/n? I see it too.” Jeff adds.

“Dude.” Gareth whisper-yells again. “I like her. But you’re not going to say shit to Eddie tonight. I’m not ready to face him like that, I don’t know what he’s gonna do.”

He finishes his sentence right before you approach the table. They all smile at you.

“Hey, you okay? Sorry I didn’t stand in line with you, I didn’t want any food today. Shit’s gross.” He gestures to everyone’s trays full of mystery meat and peas.

“It’s okay.” You laugh, poking it with your fork. “Yeah, I don’t think I do either, now that you mention it.” You laugh, pushing it away from you.

The bell rings, and it’s time to go back to class. School drags on and you zone out the rest of the day, just sort of excited for it to be over, and for Gareth to be over. Granted it’ll just be you guys staring at each other, it was still something you looked forward to. Any chance to see him.

Later that evening, you make sure to freshen yourself up this time. You fix and reapply your makeup and change into a different outfit. Your mascara was extra dark and your lips were extra glossy. When you get downstairs, Eddie notices.

“What’d you get all ready for? Trying to impress the group of nerds and losers coming over?”

“No…” you trail off, not having anything to retort back with. It was true, but not the group, just one of them.

“Uh-huh.” He says, sarcastically, not believing you. Your blush gave it away. He just rolled his eyes and finished setting up.

An hour later, everyone was here.

“Are you excited for Monday?” Jess jokingly asks.

“Wha- oh shit.” Eddie realizes that he’s gonna have to go back to school very soon. “No, I’m not.”

They all ask him about what he’s been doing with all this free time, he tells them he sleeps a lot, and isn’t going to be able to cope with going back to waking up at 7AM. You sit in there with them, watching them again.

The game was complicated and confusing, but you were trying to feel like you understood what was happening. It kinda all sounded like a different language. You ended up with your eyes on the fluffy-curly-haired boy, seeing all the expressions he makes and listening to all the things he says.

Seeing his eyes light up or his eyebrows furrow, the dimples that form on his cheeks. His gaze eventually meets yours when there’s a lull in action, and it lingers, just looking at each other for a few moments.

One of the other guys punched him in the shoulder to get his attention back on the game, and he jumped a little which made you laugh. He noticed you giggling and smiled, shaking his head.

-

At the end of the day on Friday, you’re at your locker. When you open it, a piece of paper falls out and you pick it up. It’s folded and a little tattered with boyish handwriting.

“Do you feel it too?

- G”

You look around, but he’s nowhere to be seen. You only knew one G, and he’s not here.

You put the piece of paper in your pocket and smile to yourself. You pull out a sheet of paper and quickly write:

“I do.”

You fold it up small and run to sneak it into his locker, then head out to where your mom was waiting to pick you up.

-

The next morning, he’s waiting for you at your locker, clutching your note in his hand.

“Hi, Gareth.” You smile, entering your combination.

“Can we talk?”

Your heart drops. You didn’t want to, not out loud, you felt like you’d make it awkward.

“S-sure, about what?” You turn around

“About, uh…” he’s too nervous to speak. “fuck it.”

He leans in quickly and swiftly, pressing his lips onto yours. You’re surprised, but also really, really happy. You smile so much that you have to break the kiss because it’s no longer possible.

“Eddie’s gonna be so pissed at me.” Reality sets back in for him.

“No he’s not. We can tell him on Monday. Right now, can you just… kiss me again?”

-

You and Eddie arrive at school on the following Monday. He’s grumpy because he had to wake up early, and that he had to come back to this place.

He also didn’t want to see Jason’s stupid face, but was excited to see his friends. When he walks into the cafeteria for breakfast, everyone turns to stare.

People murmur about how he’s back, and about how he went crazy on the basketball team seemingly for no reason. You walk with him to the table, but don’t sit beside him this time, beside Gareth instead.

“Why’re you not sitting by me, do you think I have germs or something?” Eddie asks, a little offended.

“Eds.”

“What?”

You and Gareth were holding hands under the table, and you brought them both up to where he could see your fingers interlocked.

“Oh, shit.” He looks confused and is visibly trying to register in his brain.

“Are you mad?” You ask, a little worried that he would be. “Because if you are, be mad at me. Not him.”

“No, I’m not mad. Just surprised, that’s all.”

The topic seemingly closes just like that, and it isn’t mentioned again til the bell rings and you’re walking to class. Everyone leaves but he keeps Gareth at the table.

“Dude, I’m sorry.” He apologizes, thinking he was about to let loose on him.

“I said I’m not mad, chill. She can do what she wants. But I need you to know something, Emerson. You remember what I did to Jason? The way he was bleeding on the floor and crying for his fucking mommy?”

He nods, slowly.

“You hurt her and that will be you. Got it? She’s a special girl. I love her, man, I care about her, so just don’t hurt her. If you don’t, all is okay.”

“O-okay.” He stutters, surprised. Eddie pats him on the back, getting up to leave the cafeteria.

[hellishchrissy]

thoughts on gareth’s reaction to el wearing something of his? like she wears his hellfire shirt or flannel. or maybe he gives her his skull necklace or something.

Gareth's fingers fumble with the crappy lock of his locker, muttering a litany of curses through clenched teeth, his voice barely audible under the cacophony of the hallway. Laughter, slamming locker doors, and the unending buzz of half-baked conversations swirl around him like static, grating his nerves raw. All he wants to do is get his fucking stuff and get the fuck out of this place, but alas, the piece of shit lock has other plans.

Finally, with a mocking click, the lock gives way, and Gareth lets out a frustrated sigh. He yanks the door open with far more force than is necessary, the clang of the metal louder than he intended. Gareth starts shoving his worn-down books into the depths of his locker, tapping an inconsistent rhythm with his right foot. There’s an odd beat in his head, has been all day, and it bothers him; the drumsticks in the back pocket of his black jeans are burning, tempting him.  

Go on. Ditch the rest of the day. What’s one more absence?

Gareth’s pretty sure he hasn’t learned a damn thing today – not that he’s even tried. The entire morning has gone by in a blur, a fog veil of useless classes and mind-numbing assignments he couldn’t care less about at the moment. It’s all just noise—teachers droning on, and Gareth tuning them out without a second thought.

He slams his locker shut with a loud bang, moving to lean against it. As hard as he tries, he cannot really string together anything even remotely resembling a coherent thought: all that keeps surfacing in his head is last Saturday, the night he had spent at the Hopper-Byers house with the guys. They’d been crammed onto worn-down couches in the basement, watching some shitty sci-fi movie Will and Lucas had insisted was “bitchin’”, one that Gareth couldn’t even recall anymore.

Though in the name of honesty, it’s not like Gareth had been paying attention to the movie. As hard as he had tried focusing on whatever scene the guys had been hollering over, Gareth’s eyes had kept slipping across the room. El had been tucked into the corner of the couch, her eyes on the movie but not particularly present, her silent presence drawing Gareth’s attention like a fucking magnet. And every time he glanced at her, the whole world fell into static around him. He’d see her slender fingers playing with the edge of a pillow, hear the soft burst of her laugher, and it was like nothing else existed. Not the movie, not his friends – just her.

It’s so fucking stupid. The girl is barely out of her breakup with Mike, and Gareth feels like the biggest fucking asshole on the planet for even thinking about her this way. He feels like he’s constantly walking on a tightrope, afraid of taking a step too far or a step in the wrong direction whenever he speaks to El.

And it’s not like Gareth hasn’t had crushes before, and it’s not like he hasn’t been with girls before. He’s taken girls under the bleachers, traded messy kisses that tasted like cigarettes and cherry lip gloss. He’s had some rushed, messy hookups in the back of his beat-up car, irrelevant connections that left him feeling more bored than satisfied. Maybe he had even hoped that one of them would stick, that one of them would mean something. But they never did. They were passing distractions, temporary fixes for his restless mind. Easy enough to enjoy, but easier to forget.

There’s something about El that digs under Gareth’s skin. She lingers on him, like a beat he can’t get out of his head, playing on a loop in the background wherever he goes. It’s a feeling Gareth doesn’t particularly enjoy, because it’s so fucking foreign: it tugs at him at the most inconvenient moments and leaves him restless and torn. Like he’s balancing on the edge of something that is always, permanently out of his reach.  Like Gareth himself is always on the edge of saying something he shouldn’t, doing something they’d both regret.

And fuck, he doesn’t want to be the dipshit pining after his friend’s ex! He’d do anything to make her go away, to finally give him some fucking peace. But every time El looks at her, every time her laugh echoes around him, it’s like she’s pulling at some string in his chest, unravelling parts of Gareth he thought were stitched up tight.

He hates it. He fucking hates it.

And like the universe is making mockery of his torment, the noise around Gareth seems to dissolve into a single, soft voice: “Hi, Gareth.”  

The voice pulls him sharply back to reality, and his gaze jolts upwards, and there she is. Standing a few feet away, her brown eyes steady and curious and yet oddly piercing. Gareth’s name is not followed up absent-minded small-talk, which he has gotten used to – El doesn’t do small talk, and somehow that always makes her presence that much more genuine and profound.

Gareth’s mouth is dry. Fuck. “Hopper,” he replies, trying to force a carefree smirk on his face. “What’s up?”

Without saying a word, El’s hand reaches up to touch something at her neck, and Gareth has to be extremely careful with his gaze as it follows her hand down, landing at her throat where her fingers are touching a necklace that dangles between her collarbones.

Gareth’s skull necklace. His heart quickens, taking extra beats and missing some and then throwing in a couple of cartwheels for good measure. Fuck. He’d figure the necklace had gone missing, but seeing it around her neck, knowing she’s been wearing it, throws him balance with violence.

“So that’s where it went,” he murmurs, almost solely to himself.

“You left it at our house,” El explains, her fingers gentle as they move to the back of her neck. Gareth’s gazes follow her movements, his eyes tracking the subtle play of her fingers as she unfastens the clasp.

As El tugs the chain free, Gareth’s eyes are drawn to the way the necklace slides down her neck, the way it grazes her skin. The gentle curve of her throat exposed, and for a moment Gareth’s focus shifts from the necklace to the smooth line of her collarbone. His mouth goes dry when the necklace slips through El’s fingers with grace, his mind a complete fucking blank as he looks at her with thoughts that should not be as lewd as they are.

And then she lifts the chain, offering it to him. The necklace dangles from her slender fingers, swaying slightly as if to taunt him. Right there, but somehow still a bit out of reach.

“You didn’t—uh, why did you wear it?” Gareth asks, his voice low and rough. There’s no sign of his usual nonchalant bravado, like he’s been stripped of all of his usual armour.

 “I wore it so I would remember to give it back to you,” El she says, her voice carrying an odd, almost hesitant tone Gareth doesn’t quite grasp. He grabs the necklace from her, his fingers closing around the chain. It’s still warm from her touch.

For a moment, he rolls the necklace between his fingers. Restless. He looks at it, then back at El standing in front of her. Take the necklace back, dipshit. Thank her. Move the fuck on. The voice of reason in Gareth’s head is disturbed by the image of El with the necklace dangling at her throat, flashes of her soft skin and the curve of her neck—

“You know what?” His voice is low, slowly gaining back its usual spark of mischief. “I think it looks better on you.”

El’s lips part slightly, like she’s about to say something. Question him, maybe. A flash of hesitance is visible in her warm eyes, like she’s pondering on what Gareth is offering. Then she tilts her head. “Are you sure?”

Fuck yes, he’s sure.

Gareth steps closer, painfully aware of the faint scent of her shampoo as he breathes her in. “Let me.” It’s more of a challenge, almost a command more than a question, though there is a tremor to his voice. Like he’s testing the waters, the boundaries, the thin ice underneath him cracking—

Gareth drapes the chain over her neck, his fingers brushing against her warm skin at the back of her neck when he fastens the clasp. Fuck, feeling her is almost electrifying, sparking something in Gareth’s veins that’s almost uncontainable. A shiver runs down his spine when he hears Ele’s breath hitch.

Gareth’s ring-clad fingers linger on her skin longer than they should, tracing the delicate line of the girl’s collarbone half on accident and half-hell-yes-on-purpose. His gaze trails the path of his touch, and he knows he’s crossing every possible line in existence with what he’s doing.

It’s kind of fun.

“There,” he says, his voice rough like gravel. His fingers drop from El’s skin like they never even were there. “Told you. Looks better on you.”

El’s fingers – are they shaking? – touch the necklace, resting on the skull pendant. For a heartbeat Gareth’s thoughts spiral into places they definitely shouldn’t as he looks at her, follows the soft movement of her fingers when she explores the necklace with her touch.

“What should I say if people ask why I’m wearing your necklace?” El’s voice is quiet, steady. There’s a flicker of something behind her eyes – curiosity, yes, but something weirder. Gareth’s heart kicks up again, pounding an erratic rhythm.

The smirk that tugs at his lips is shaky, a weak attempt at his usual bravado. “Tell ‘em whatever you want,” he says, voice low and far too fucking daring. “Tell ‘em you stole it. Or tell ‘em it’s mine. Hell, tell ‘em it’s none of their fucking business.”

A quick laugh rolls off El’s lips, her gaze lingering on him in a way that makes Gareth feel exposed.  Like she’s reading him and doing it better than anyone else – it’s weird, it’s scary. Like she’s reading a language Gareth doesn’t even know how to speak yet.

But then El’s lips curve into a small, knowing smile, one that feels warm and like something more – a possibility Gareth is not fully sure that is really there, but for a flicker of a moment he could swear it is.

“Okay."

// im sorry anon, i had to write a whole thing because it was tooo goood