#plot device mike

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Word Count: 3K

A/N: So, in listening to Electric Blue for that chapter, I discovered this song also by Icehouse and became obsessed and here we are. Cue yet another anachronistic songfic! *air horns* (Also, Matt is back. And I just...I love him so much).

Synopsis: Brian still doesn’t really ‘get’ why reader is with him or chose him, but he likes it anyway. Directly follows Good Boy.

CW: Self-doubt, mild put downs, some sexuality (talking about the previous chapter), swearing, another 80s songfic

Brian could not wrap his head around it, obviously. Yesterday, he was sure he lost her, that she had realized that she could have anyone she wanted, that she didn’t have to settle for him. And it just seemed crazy to him that the anyone she wanted would mean...well, him. They weren’t opposites, per se. Not in the way that Claire and Bender were. But he felt like he didn’t have as much to offer, other than knowledge in math, which she hated anyway. She was the absolute nicest person he had ever met and while he hated confrontation and tried to make peace between parties all the time, he was prone to dark thoughts.

I've got a pocket full of holes

Head in the clouds the king of fools

You've got a ribbon of rainbows

The sun in your eyes burning through

Y/N hadn’t exactly yelled ‘fuck you’ at Claire Standish, anyway. ‘She did punch Mike in the face though,’ Brian thought with pride, ‘and she did it for you.’ He smirked at the thought of it, especially since they were now approaching the Shop class door. Y/N had insisted on walking with him to this class today, knowing Mike would be there. Brian leaned against the wall to the left of the doorframe, looking down at Y/N while he talked to her, her hand still in his. He saw Mike approaching from the hallway behind them and was semi-surprised that he didn’t just turn tail and walk away after the shit he pulled yesterday. It wasn’t like he was a stranger to skipping class anyway. But maybe he wanted to make a statement in the same way that Brian and Y/N wanted to. Brian squeezed Y/N’s hand to indicate to her that Mike was there and she immediately dropped her sentence and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Brian’s lips in front of him. Their makeout session had reassured Brian yesterday, but she explained that she wanted to drive home to Mike that he had not succeeded; that she and Brian were still happily together. His eyes fluttered closed; she’d never kissed him at school before. They weren’t hugely into public displays of affection and mostly just held hands or hugged, not wanting an adult to write them up to spend another Saturday with Vernon. ‘Might not be so bad though, to have a whole day with just her in the library…’ His mind drifted off in the pleasant thought as he wrapped his arms around her waist and heard Mike huff past them. They had definitely succeeded in their mission, but he didn’t really care that Mike was there or had seen them; this was good enough. He pulled back and looked in her eyes, lips twitching up into a smile.

“What?” She asked innocently.

Could be I'm happy and sad

Could be I'm losing my head over you

“Nothing. Just...admiring you.” He said, earnestly, but she laughed and blushed in response.

“You’re a goof.” She said, playfully tapping his shoulder and pulling away. “Now, get to class.”

“Yes ma’am,” he joked, “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“You’d better.” She looked at him mischievously.

Well, you've gotta be crazy, baby

To want a guy like me

Brian felt emboldened by their exchange in the hallway and reasoned ‘I’m doing this for her sake,’ as he took a seat directly in Mike’s line of sight. He could feel the fixed glare on him, knowing Mike hated that his nasty little scheme didn’t work; he couldn’t steal Y/N away from Brian, and the little cut in his lip was proof. Brian, however, had his own proof and subtly adjusted the collar on his button-down shirt, making it even looser by undoing the second button. He pretended to be listening to the instructor attentively but waited to feel Mike’s eyes on him again. He knew it was bound to happen. He caught him in his periphery looking over at him, and he definitely wasn’t zoning out because there were daggers in his eyes, so Brian pretended to scratch his shoulder, revealing the hickey that Y/N left on his neck yesterday afternoon. She’d made her brand upon him so that everyone could know that he belonged to her and vice versa. Who better to start with than Mike? He turned slightly towards him as his eyes bugged in realization and he gave Mike a smug smirk. The dark-haired boy’s expression darkened and his face became red before he looked away. No, Brian didn’t ‘get it’ that Y/N chose him and wanted to be with him, but he sure enjoyed it.

Yeah, you've gotta be out of your mind, crazy

Well, there must be some kind of mistake

To give your heart away

“Oh, I was pretty sure his head was going to explode,” Brian was regaling Y/N about today’s shop class as she drove him home. She had, of course, taken Bender to work first and they had saved this conversation for the time just between them. John was still incensed that Mike did something so stupid and would probably love a revenge plot against him, but Brian and Y/N both knew better that Bender would not want to hear about the mark that had driven Mike so crazy. Nor did they really need his taunts or questions about it, either. That would be a nightmare.

“Oh my God. Spare no detail. Tell me exactly how he looked.” Y/N was almost giddy about the prospect, “I almost wish I was there.”

“It was pretty great,” Brian flashed her a smile, one she returned warmly, “So I was all nonchalant about it but like, of course I knew he could see it.”

“Right.”

“But then I kind of turned more towards him and his eyes got huge, like they were going to pop out of his skull.”

“Amazing,” she laughed, “what else?”

“Then he just kind of...glared at me. Like he was hoping I’d burst into flames. And his face got all red and veiny. I swear he was gonna blow a gasket.”

“Utterly beautiful,” she remarked and Brian took a moment to think that it was a funny thing to say; it’s how he would describe her, not Mike’s pissed-off expression.

So if I'm dreaming don't wake me tonight

If this is all wrong I don't want it right

“Thank you for filling me in,” she said as she pulled up against the curb in front of his house.

“No problem, My pleasure, really,” he joked.

“I know it isn’t exactly...like you to do that, y’know? Like you don’t go around starting things or causing trouble.”

“Hey, I cause trouble,” he mused, smiling, “you met me in detention, you knew I was a bad boy.” She laughed in response; he loved that.

“Yeah, okay,” she replied sarcastically and giggled, “but, my point is...I’m glad you did it. Like, I’m proud of you for not backing down. He deserves for things to be awkward, to have it thrown in his face.”

“Oh, for sure. Any time. It’s not like I minded the method or anything…” He playfully raised an eyebrow at her, and she giggled in response but also blushed anyway. It was still a slightly embarrassing topic, given that it was a new chapter for them and they were still kind of figuring things out together. He realized he was lost in a gaze and cleared his throat to snap out of it. “Do you want to come in for a bit?” He gestured back towards his house. He didn’t mean to imply anything untoward, but realized that’s how it could come across, so he quickly sputtered out, “I mean, uh, my mom’s probably home but maybe we could just hang out for a while?”

“Yeah. I’d like that,” she responded and they both headed inside. She had only been at Brian’s house a handful of times, and definitely only in communal spaces; she had never seen his room. While Y/N lived with her mom and Bender, things at her house were usually quieter...more deserted. Brian’s house always had someone else in it, it seemed. He was right about this afternoon, his mother was indeed home. Brian and Y/N settled on the couch, not too close together or touching. While his family was supportive of him having a girlfriend and adored Y/N, it was still horribly uncomfortable to imply any sort of closeness or affection around them. Maybe at some point, they would outgrow that, but for now, it was frightening just to think about his parents witnessing even a touch to the hand, let alone a kiss or something.

Unfortunately, their time together didn’t last too long. Brian’s mom popped in to let them know she would be headed out soon to pick up Mary from school and gave them a look that implied she did not want them to be alone in the house together. He felt his neck prickle in embarrassment, but Y/N just nodded and told Mrs. Johnson, “I should probably get home soon to start dinner anyway.”

Before she left the room, however, his mother casually tossed out, “While I’m gone, Brian, get started on your homework, please. I noticed your grade in Shop is slipping again.” He clenched his jaw in response. He hated that she felt the need to say anything to him about it, but particularly in front of his girlfriend. She left, but the tension of her words remained in the air and Y/N caught Brian’s uneasy expression.

“Honey, you know that you are so much more than your grades, right?” She asked him, reassuringly taking his hand. He wasn’t sure how much his conscious or unconscious minds really knew that, but her believing that was enough in this moment. He looked up at her and met her eye.

“Thank you,” he replied, grateful for the reminder.

'Cause you're the one sure thing

When I get lost in the game once again

To him, she was perfect. Which just made it difficult to believe she saw him in a similar light. She was supportive and reminded him what mattered, brought up his good qualities. And her list extended longer than his own of ‘can make spaghetti,’ it was filled with attributes he didn’t even see that he had. He felt like it was sheer luck that she was with him. He supposed part of it was; it was fate for both of them to have detention that day after not really seeing each other at all this school year. He remembered the odd feeling of devastation he felt the first day of each semester, realizing she wasn’t in any of his classes. He had forgotten about her a bit over the summer, to be truthful, but when he started thinking of school again, she was the first thing that came to mind and he was hoping he would see her again. But he was wholly disappointed making it through that first day back with no sign of her. He even thought that maybe she had moved away, that she was only meant to be a quick glimmer in his otherwise dull life and that he’d have to move on. He was delighted and relieved when he saw her in one of the hallways a few days later, although he wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t imagining it until he saw her around a few more times. Then, he looked hopefully towards the semester change of classes in January...just to be disappointed again. He assumed that she had forgotten all about him, if she had ever noticed him at all.

Then came that Saturday in March. He was so stunned to see her walk in. Detention, of all places. A place neither of them would typically be, but it was just a right-time-right-place situation. He thanked whatever powers that be that she got caught freeing those frogs and that the flare gun blew up his locker. Otherwise, he might not have had this second chance, this opportunity. When he was alone and reflected on it, he had to admit that he almost let that opportunity pass him by, too. She had asked him for help in math and given him her phone number. She really initiated it. He realized now, that she was chasing him the whole time.

Hey, I'm a lucky guy

Without a reason and I don't understand

Well, you've gotta be crazy, baby

To want a guy like me

“Shh..shh. Let me process this and picture it first. Okay, proceed.”

“You know, I’m not so sure I want to be telling you things about my girlfriend so you can fantasize about her later.” Brian scoffed at Matt as they both huddled in a booth at Gino’s. He was excited to tell him the deal with making Mike mad and the thrilling story of just how he had received that hickey...but Matt savoring the details was now making him regret it.

“It’s not so much that.” Matt replied, and when Brian gave him a stare as if to say, ‘Really?’ he continued, “Okay, yeah. I have eyeballs and these glasses to help them so I know your girlfriend is hot but...I don’t think of her that way, honestly, man.”

“You’re still being weird about it.”

“I’ve told you, it’s vicarious,” Matt shrugged, “It’s like...like seeing Kirk and Uhura kiss. I don’t want to kiss her but you still kind of imagine a similar situation where you get to be the brave captain, y’know? It’s like reading a romance novel. Or, apparently, in your case, a letter to Penthouse.” He waggled his eyebrows and Brian swiped at him, but Matt dodged it.

“It is not a letter to Penthouse. Jesus, Matt.” Brian grumbled in response.

“There’s no use in fantasizing about your girlfriend, anyway. She clearly only has eyes for you. You should see the way she looks at you, it’s almost sickening.”

“Get outta here,” Brian dismissed him.

“No, man. I don’t think other guys exist to her. Not like...in an attractive capacity anyway. I don’t think she knows there’s anybody but you.” Matt told him and Brian tried to hide his smile, even though propping his elbow on the table and covering his mouth with his hand was probably obvious. “Honestly, I think that’s what I’m most jealous of,” Matt said, seriously.

“What?” Brian asked and Matt rolled his eyes at his obliviousness.

“That she’s in love with you, dude. That’s not an everyday thing. Like, a guy kissing a hot girl? Sure. Even making out and getting a hickey, why not? But having someone who looks at you like you’re the only person in the whole world, the only thing that matters? That shit is rare, my friend.”

“She’s not--she doesn’t...we haven’t been dating that long, Matt.” Brian cleared his throat. Matt always told it to him straight, but he found this hard to believe.

“Like that matters? I’ve seen the way you look at her too, moron. You’re going to tell me, honestly, that you’re not in love with her?” Matt looked at him blankly and Brian didn’t answer; he didn’t lie to Matt either. He had known for a while that it wasn’t just some crush, or even a mutual liking of each other. He knew his feelings for her were more than that. He’d do anything for her, to make her happy. When he sat in silence and didn’t defend himself, Matt followed up with a simple, “Exactly. That’s what I thought.”

Yeah, you've gotta be out of your mind, crazy

Well, there must be some kind of mistake

To fall in love with me

Yeah, you've gotta be out of your mind, crazy

Friday night, he was over at Y/N’s house, just the two of them. They were nestled together on her pink couch in her living room, he was leaned back against the arm, with his right leg on the couch and his left on the ground supporting their collective weight. She was laying against him, her back against his chest, with both of her feet up on the couch and his arms wrapped around her waist. Even entangled like this, he felt like he would never be close enough. His heart was humming at the realization that this was indeed real, that he had all he dreamed of for years. When he was here with her like this, it didn’t matter that Shop wasn’t going great, or that he had an argument with his mom, or that Mary broke one of his trophies, or that people thought he was a geek. He was just...happy. He couldn’t remember being more content.

“Brian?” Y/N asked and he snapped out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“I asked you a question and you didn’t answer,” she turned slightly and gave him an uneasy smile, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I was just---just thinking.”

“About what?” She looked at him with puzzlement.

“I- Okay, don’t laugh or think I’m weird or wrong or whatever but… I just. Don’t really understand how we got here, to this point. But I’m just very, very happy about it.” She sat up and turned, feet now on the floor so she could see him. Her eyes raked his face for some kind of understanding of what he meant.

“I don’t...I don’t know what you mean.”

“Like,” he shifted, a little uncomfortable under her gaze, “I mean, I was there but I still don’t really get it. Like, why me? You’d have to be crazy to choose a guy like me.”

“Funny, it feels like the most logical and rational thing I’ve ever done,” she teased him and leaned forward against his chest. “But I guess I get it; I feel the same way about you. And, I’m also just happy it worked out,” she leaned up and kissed his lips, which he was all too happy to return.

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