Call me Max

It was tiring. Having to repeat years of school with the very people you hated. It was to wake up, freshen up, clean up, and get to school. Just to be tormented to all hell. By the same motherfucker too. Jason Carver. What he had against you wasn't even clear to yourself. You existed. Even if it was by minimum standards. The immense amount of rage he stirred inside of you only caused you to be a bitch to everyone, but he who deserved it most. It started with choosing to take group work independently. Then ended with arguing and fighting over the fact you didn't want pity friends. You told yourself you didn't need anyone else. That this was your problem to sort out. Because that's what you had been taught, right? By your reliably great parents. If your family didn't give two fucks about your issues, why would anyone else?

That led to you (somehow) having this on and off relationship with one of the hellfire club's members; known as Gareth Emerson. The relationship never seemed to get anywhere romantic. It felt like an on and off pair of "should be divorced, but aren't" parents. You'd be okay with being near him one moment, the next you'd be at each other's throats over something stupid. Anything you two disagreed on you bickered over. Didn't matter what it happened to be either. Once you had over heard one of his friends joke about what you and Gareth had as, sexual tension. The glare you gave the poor kid shut him up for the rest of the school week.

Only did it take Jason poking fun at you again to get you so unbelievably emotional this day. Maybe your hair had been out of place, or your clothes hadn't been the cleanest, but his comments muffled together as you zoned out. Your eye visibly twitched when Jason walked off so calmly. He wasn't worth getting physical over though. You had enough common sense to know that.

Gareth gave you a scoff as he pushed past you to get to his locker next to you. Had I mentioned you had the pleasure of sharing adjacent lockers with your enemy #2? Yeah. "Don't give me that random ass attitude Emerson. Swear to whatever god is up there I'm not in the mood-" You opened up your locker to toss your science textbooks in it. "Well I don't give a fuck what mood you're in, you were in the way of my locker." Gareth spit back at you with a roll of his eyes. The only thing you could see of him was his curly hair from the blocked view of your locker's door. "I really wasn't in the way of your locker. I think you're just being a little shit about it." The locker door abruptly shut next to you, only making you shut your's in response. You met Gareth's gaze when he looked at you. The resting bitch face on this guy was insane. "You're such a fucking nuisance, you know that? Don't you have anyone else to bother?" Unbelievable. He started this, yet he was blaming you. "Excuse me?" "What? Can you not hear now? Something else messed up with you? Like actually what the hell goes through your mind sometimes?" It very quickly felt overwhelming when he kept speaking. Messed up. That's what you were to him. Just a mess up of a person. Why had it hurt you so badly? It certainly wasn't out of the ordinary for you two to have these disputes. Why couldn't you take those words this time?

You hadn't realized the tears working their way down your cheeks till Gareth's face dropped. Looking concerned for the first time ever. "Oh." You managed to get out, looking to your feet. The air was weak in your lungs, and it felt as if your body would collapse in on itself. The next period was lunch and you couldn't have been more glad. Gareth went to talk to you, but your body had moved to start walking away from the boy. Hopefully somewhere far, far away. Somewhere happened to be tucked away underneath the gym's bleachers. An empty gym had never been so comforting till now. Alone, and away from whatever the hell just happened. You didn't even want to think of what he said to you. Silent sobs forced through your body, making you shake in the thin jacket you wore. Maybe you didn't get good enough sleep last night, maybe you were just tired. People do get emotional when they're tired. Or were you just tired of arguing all the time? Had you not..enjoyed bickering with Gareth all the time? You swore you hated him, but you managed to find yourself smiling back on some of the more pointless arguments. Face red and puffy, yet you had the smallest of smiles on. Then you remembered why you were crying in the first place. Also because of Gareth. Stupid boys. Stupid feelings. Stupid life. Just a bunch of stupid shit you didn't want to deal with. Curse yourself for being a cry baby in front of Gareth too. Now he thinks you're even weirder. Definitely.

Did he even go that far today? Gareth wasn't sure, he could only think about how quickly your eyes had glossed over with tears at what he said. The fact he made you cry hurt in a way. Jason had made you cry once or twice, and he didn't feel bad then. (Or so he tells himself). But now that Gareth was the perpetrator, it practically killed him a little bit. He didn't give a second thought after you had left to go after you. An apology was needed here. It would eat this boy alive if he didn't give you something. Part of hellfire passed Gareth in his treck to find you, confusingly looking at him as he pushed open one of the doors to the gym.

The potent smell of freshly polished floors made his nose scrunch up upon entering the gym. His shoes squeaked along the wood as he looked around for you. Nearly missing the figure tucked into themselves with how shaded the spot had been. Gareth sighed, how would he approach you in this state? Luckily, or unluckily, he hadn't been the most quiet with his walking. Your head shot up from the place in your arms, hands going to wipe your own tears when realizing it was Gareth staring at you. Through a groggy voice you managed a few words. "And what could you possibly want, Emerson? To say some unwarranted shit again?" It was your turn to roll your puffy eyes, looking straight forward instead of at him. Anything but him right now.

He dragged out a long groan as he continued to maneuver under the bleachers to sit next to you. "No actually- if you gave me a second to talk you'd know what I'm here to do." Gareth talking in a genuine tone was unheard of when it came to you. Yet here he was. Doing just that. "Well?" You hadn't pushed him completely away yet, and he took it as a plus. "I'm..sorry. Whatever I said back there must've been a little over the line." Has it always been so difficult to apologize to people? Or was he just that nervous around you? Gareth looked to the ground next to you, trying to gauge what your response would be.

To you this was even more shocking than the fact you had cried today. An apology. A sincere apology from Gareth, over what you could blame on just being stupid. You could argue with him that his apology was half assed, but you really didn't want to. For once. "I wouldn't worry about it. I think Jason just had me extra riled up or some shit today." Your right hand fiddled with the string on your jacket. Hopefully what you said made sense. "Right. Jason's an asshole. He always has some shit to say, huh?" Gareth smirked when your expression turned into the tiniest of smiles. That's something you could both agree on. Jason was an asshole alright. "He just can't shut up sometimes, can he?" Once again you found yourself enjoying the moments where you spent time with this man. You really enjoyed when you two weren't actually arguing, and rather you two were regularly talking. Like right now. Within this close distance between you two as well. Talking to some people is fine, you dubbed. "I don't want to totally excuse my behavior with Jason though." You state with a slow exhale. "We could've been better acquaintances a lot earlier in time if I wasn't such a bitch. So while we're still apologizing for things, I'm sorry for all of that." That brought you two to look at one another. Instead of his gaze being the one you once cried at, it felt nice. Refreshing in the fact that he was listening to you. No anger behind his oddly pretty eyes. You wouldn't admit it yet, but you always found Gareth to be such a pretty person. "Well I say I accept your apology. Glad I could get one too, even if I didn't expect it now." He shrugged. Still not moving from your side, close enough that you could smell what cologne he had picked that morning. Close enough that your knees were touching. You were touching. Your face blushed a soft pink when you took notice. It seemed Gareth had also taken notice of contact. His freckled face was a bright red in contrast to yours, even if the residue color from crying was still as present as ever. "I like this." His eyebrow raised at your short spoken sentence. "Like what about this?" Comfortably, you leaned on the wall behind you. "I like everything about it. I like that you and I can have a real conversation." Your head turned to the side of where Gareth sat. "And I especially like you. I've come to terms with the fact I always have." He nearly choked when you finished speaking. If it was possible to get an even brighter shade of red, Gareth would be it right now. All of his snarky charm was gone. You were straightforward about it too, he really liked that. No bullshit anymore. "Thanks? No- Yes, thank you. But in the way I wasn't going to say anything first, and I'm glad you did." Internally he was cringing from his poor execution of wording things. When you gave a short laugh he felt better about it, relaxing a bit more. "You're so kissable sometimes, y'know that?" He didn't know you could get even more straightforward, but without a heartbeat passing he nodded. "So kiss me. Please?"

The two of you stayed against the wall underneath the bleachers, kissing the other with even more force than the last. You could've been in hell, and you wouldn't have noticed. Gareth's lips were incredibly soft against yours. Your hands instinctively grabbed the back of his hair as he deepened the kiss with a tilt of his head. How was he such a fantastic kisser? Euphoria from it all wasn't something that needed to end. If anything it needed to keep going. You needed it, Gareth needed it. You two needed each other, clearly. Right as you two had breaked for air, preparing for something more, the ring for the next period had rang. No more stupid feelings, but a stupid and oddly inconvenient bell.

Tag list is still open!:

1-I think the entire Gareth community agrees this man is very cuddly/touchy.

2-He always finds himself comfortable being with you, regardless of the situation.

3-Has the highest score on Galaga at the arcade.

4-His shampoo makes his hair smell like coconut.

5-Has 4 pillows on his bed, spoons two of them subconsciously.

6-Gareth has poor coordination, trips over air, just very clumsy.

7-Draws in the sidelines and headers of all his papers.

8-Falls asleep in class too easily.

9-Jason would and could rock his shit, but it wouldn’t stop Gareth from trying to protect you from him if you truly needed it.

10-Favorite class is English, especially when he gets creative freedom on essays.

11-Also the biggest lover boy out of all of hellfire.

12-Favorite colors are green and purple, but people always assume it’s red because of his flannel.

13-Hellfire definitely teases him about you all the time, constantly pointing out when he’s staring at you from across a room.

14-Has Hawaiian shirts.

15-Wears sweatpants solely around the house.

16-He LOVES Bob Marley, despite Gareth’s music taste mainly being rock.

17-His favorite soda is Dr.pepper.

18-You would have to kill the bugs in the relationship, because he acts tough about them, but chickens out when it comes to being near them.

19-This man isn’t a dog or a cat person, he is a goldfish person.

20-Likes making patches to put on his school bags, or jackets, and would be over the MOON if you asked him to make one for you.

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Tag list is open for Gareth Emerson related posts! Let me know if you’d like to be added 💕

Gareth was sitting with hellfire at lunch, as he normally does. His laugh was contagious as Eddie went on about the basketball players. Something about their sport only being ‘balls getting tossed into laundry baskets’. Stupid shit, but it was priceless to see the pissed off look Jason gave Eddie from across the cafeteria. Yet,,, something was missing, or rather someone was. You. Where were you? Now that he thought about it, he had only seen you in the class periods before lunch; and so far, not at lunch. His face fell to a neutral state. Gareth glanced at Eddie before speaking. “As much as I don’t want to interrupt your commentary, Eddie, where the hell is your sibling?” And that’s what finally caught the attention of Mr.Munson. Where the fuck was his sibling? You could take care of yourself, obviously, but it was strange for you not to show up, nevertheless without telling anyone anything either. It caught the attention of the other table members. Ah shit. This was seriously unusual for you. It’s not like you would be in the office for anything, unlike Eddie, you kept to yourself. You were far from being one of the troublemakers in the group. Tension with the basketball team had been high recently, what if Jason had some shit to do with this?

You on the other hand had been stuck inside an unused room for the last half hour. Jason was seemingly innocent acting when he had asked for your help, leading you astray from the path you had meant to take. Y’know. To the cafeteria to eat lunch with everyone? Your hand jiggled the door knob one last time, a sigh fell from your lips. You didn’t deserve this, did you? You had never even wasted a breath talking to Jason, that was until today. You had yelled a fuck you towards him when the initial realization of being trapped set in. Okay. Now what? How would you get out without breaking the door, or even a window? Your hands went up to your face to wipe it, brushing your hair back out of nervousness. What made you touch your hair again was the fact you felt a bobby pin. God knows when you last put bobby pins in your hair, but also thank god. A bobby pin could pick the door’s lock if you were careful enough.

A finally click in the mechanism of the lock, and you were out. The sudden rush of the cool air from the school’s hallways was welcoming. Why the hell did Jason always have to do some unnecessary shit? What was the reason for locking you in there? To get you pissed, like to draw a negative reaction from you? Well congratulations to him! You were in fact pissed. Anyone would be in that situation. Carefully making your way to the double doors of the cafeteria, you glanced through the small window in them. Every clique, or club, were in their ‘assigned’ seats. As you had expected. Though your attention had been grabbed by Jason and his posse of ball throwers. He was so smug, acting like he hadn’t just attempted to banish you in a dark, dusty, and old room. 

The slow creak of the cafeteria doors got the attention of a few people, but they looked away after. Not thinking much of it. Jason was one of those people, but instead of looking away, he put down his lunch, and slowly got up from his seat. Meeting you halfway from the distance of the doors, and his table. There was a look in his eyes. Not the kind look you might’ve gotten from Gareth, or the bewildered look you would’ve gotten from Eddie. This look was dark. Malicious intent backed behind it, like you weren’t supposed to try and successfully escape. What kind of bullshit was his brain?

 It was clear from even your limited view that the collective of hellfire was staring in your direction. Eddie looked ready to pounce any second. What was Jason doing? What did he have in all of this? Should he get up from his seat? He mentally dared Jason to lay a single hand on you, to see what shit he would have coming his way.

“Jason, just the poor fucker I wanted to see.” Your face felt numb, and your words had a derisive undertone to them. Jason still had that irritated look about him. His hands at his sides balled into tight fists, no one seemed to take notice of you two. Except of course, the basketball team, and Hellfire. The air in the room was stiff. Tense. Anything like that. You had a bitter taste in your mouth. “Turn around, and leave. Go back and don’t step foot near me again (Y/n) Munson.” Who did he think he was? If anything, he was the one who walked to you. The one who lured you and trapped you in a room. And only God knows what intent he had to do with you after, or later. Would it have been a hostage situation? To get back at her brother for something? Jason was full of surprises, and they weren’t pleasant ones. “Fuck. You. Jason Carver. You piece of shit. I’m so fucking tired of you,” Your tone was mocking him, as when he said your first and last name together. “and your bastard friends.” Next thing your mind registered was when Jason’s fist collided with your nose. You didn’t fall, but instead stumbled back a bit. The warm, tingly feeling in your nose was odd. Your heartbeat quickened with the faint sight of hot, red blood trickling down your lips and chin. A metallic taste coated your tongue. Every pair of eyes in Hawkins Highschool were on you two, some shouting for you to swing back at Jason, and some were rooting for Jason (albeit it was mainly his basketball team backing him up). Something in you finally caved. The steady build up of all the anger you buried was finally releasing, after all these years of remaining quiet and turning the other way, you had your chance. And by god, you were going to take it. 

You gave Jason a bloodied, toothy smile, before absolutely throwing your fist at his face. Where this strength had come from, you had not a clue. Though, it was exhilarating. Seeing Jason lose his footing, and trip backwards was everything to you. To give this pathetic excuse of a man a taste of his own medicine was fan-fucking-tastic. Blinded by a new found rage, you dropped to your knees over Jason. Throwing a punch to the left of his face, then to the right. Everything he had ever done to you, and Hellfire, he was finally paying for now. Seeing him trying to push you off, or even reach for your eyes was down-right sad. His face was a blur of red and purple. Both of you looked like total shit, and if it weren’t for people pulling you physically off of Jason, you would’ve continued till his face was unrecognizable. You only came to your senses when you were shoved roughly in a chair. The blinding lights in the ceiling told you that you were in the office of the school. Two officers had their arms crossed. One of which you recognized to be Jim Hopper. Only then were you able to look at your hands. Your knuckles appeared to be bruised, and also bleeding. The nurse of the school gave a small gasp as she made her way to the seat next to you, opening up a little med kit to patch up what she could of your face and hands. Hopper sighed. It was one of those long, disappointed father sighs. Like he expected better of you. “So. Are you going to explain to me what exactly happened? Or am I going to have to go to Jason first about,” He made a weird gesture with his hand at you. His face kind of scrunched up. “-all of this?” As much as you would want to tell Hopper exactly what happened, it wasn’t as simple as that. It never was. 

The tightness in your throat was overwhelming. Your eyes seemed to catch the light in the room as tears began to well up, threatening to cascade down your messed up face. “I want too…Sheriff Hopper. I do want to tell you what happened.” He seemed to raise an eye at your words. “So tell me? Kid, I can’t help your situation if I don’t know what the hell happened.” You let out a shaky breath, closing your eyes. The tears were blinked back, luckily in your case. Adrenaline was finally wearing off, leaving you and your mind to go through what you had just experienced. “Jason. Jason Carver is a fucking prick. That’s what happened. He gets away with tormenting kids in this school, he gets away with everything he does wrong. And today, I cracked. I had enough.” A huffed laugh left Hopper. The other officer went off somewhere, presumably to question Jason about the matter. “Cracked is definitely one way to put this. You absolutely destroyed that boy, Munson.”

***

School had been dismissed for a while now, the evening sky casted an orange overlay on the town. Eddie happened to be the one that picked you up from the sheriff’s office, concerned and silent as he watched you hop in the passenger side of his van. He couldn’t help but stare at the cast on your nose. You gazed over to him with a meek grin. “It’s really not as bad as it looks. Just a fracture that’ll be healed in a month.” There was a moment's silence before Eddie took the van off the break, driving off at a decent pace. “I’m glad you aren’t as fucked as Jason, (Y/n). It was pretty metal to see you dish those punches to him, not gonna lie to you, but the only reason I’m not exactly mad is that the school decided Jason was at fault. Multiple witnesses claimed he threw the first punch.” Which he did. It was obvious to everyone in that lunch room that Jason was the first assaulter. “He had it coming, Eds. There’s more to it than just what happened in the lunchroom.” He chuckled, sucking his teeth with a smirk. “Obviously there’s more to it. Why would the younger Munson sibling cause any trouble? You’re supposed to be the good one of the two of us.” It helped that his tone was nice. Eddie had always been great at comforting you, especially in stressful times like this. Your continued silence didn’t go unnoticed. Eddie spoke up again. “Y’know, Gareth was worried the most about you. The shithead wouldn’t stop asking about you, even for a minute. He was going up to the receptionist practically every class period, just trying to know how you were. If you were in trouble. Sappy stuff like that.” Now that piqued your interest. Gareth, your Gareth had been worried. God. If you two were together, that would’ve been where you said you loved him. But you weren't. Your head simply buried into your hands. A groan was muffled through your fingers. “Hey, if you two do ever get around to dating or whatever, I’m glad it would be him out of everyone in this town. He seems to really like you, I hope you realize that.” It was weird. You wanted to deny the fact he likes you romantically, as you like him romantically as well. Yet you didn’t, even to you, now it was obvious that the curly headed boy did like you. He was worried. Someone besides your own blood cared for you. That meant everything. “That’s good to know at least. The best thing about today, actually.” Your back rested against the seat you were in, your head thumped on the headrest. It felt like a damn near fever dream with how much had happened that day. All within a few hours too. “Look at it this way, It’s a Friday too. You won’t have to see Jason till Monday.” Okay that worried you a bit. Back down to the level of ‘oh fuck’ you were. “Not helping, Eddie.” He awkwardly smiled, now relaxing in his seat. Eddie was driving like it was any other evening, though within a solid minute or two he let out a loud ‘Oh shit-’ He had meant to tell you something else that was decently important. “Back on the topic of Gareth actually, he asked me to ask you if you wanted to go over to his place? I’ll tell our lovely uncle that you’re seeing a friend. Which I mean, you are. If you do, go over.” It was strange to see him so okay with the fact you might be going over to a boy’s house. Nevertheless, someone he knew you had feelings for. “I’d like that. I assume you’d drop me off?” You questioned Eddie, looking at him as he neared another neighborhood. “No. I’m going to kick you out of the car right now, leave you to fend for yourself.” “What.” “Of fucking course I’ll drive you. I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you just walk around at night.” He slowed down the speed of the car, maneuvering to park in Gareth’s driveway. Thankful Eddie was simply joking with you about his ‘threat’, you took a deep breath, reaching over to hug him. He patted you on your back, letting you pull away when you were ready. “Be safe, you little asskicker.” You nodded at his words. “You be safe as well, Eds.” With that finishing thought, you climbed out of the van.

The only noise you heard for a while was the engine of Eddie's van, but soon even that faded out into the background. You figured by that point you should let Gareth know you’re here by now. With a raised fist, you went to knock on the front door. Only for it to be unlocked and swung open before you could even get the first knock in. Gareth was standing there. His mouth hung agape from the surprise of the fact you actually showed up. His outfit could’ve been neater, only a worn out band shirt and sweatpants accompanied him. But to be frank, you yourself weren’t a much better case. Though it didn’t matter what Gareth wore. He always managed to look so pretty in even the most raggedy of clothes. “(Y/n)..you’re here? Like. You..really showed up to be here?” He seemed to not believe the fact you were quite literally in front of him, on your own terms. “I mean, obviously I’m here. I heard you invited me over, and I didn’t want to waste that chance. Eddie drove me.” Gareth let you in after the whole small talk, carefully closing the door shut and locking it afterwards. He had this nervousness painted all over his face and body. It was only you. Why did this feel like when he had first met you all over again? You on the other hand couldn’t help but notice his family wasn’t in the house, nor any of their cars were in the driveway. “Where are your parents? I thought they stayed in on Fridays..” You tilted your head to the side in interest, seeing the cogs turn in Gareth’s mind as he tried to find the right words to answer you. “They’re out for the weekend, some honeymoon shit I rather not be a part of.” You couldn’t help but snicker at Gareth’s attitude, walking behind him as the two of you went up the stairs to his bedroom. 

He opened his door, letting you in first to close the door behind you. Gareth had this thing, doors had to be closed. Otherwise it felt wrong. You had never minded it. Why would you? It was his room after all. He walked over to his bed, remaking himself comfortable on top of the comforter. You slid your shoes off near his bedroom door, your socks had certainly seen better days, but it didn’t matter. Not at that moment. Gareth watched you walk over to the other side of bed, seemingly unable to take his eyes off you. What captivated him so much? Your hair has always been a nice length, the texture perfect at all times. Your eyes were always a pleasant shade of color. The details in your face, those he could stare at for hours. Even with the nasty looking bruises on your nose and under your eyes, Gareth could confidently say you still looked hot. Truly nothing could make you appear in a negative way in his mind. He hadn’t realized you had asked a question till you were staring at him, you had an eyebrow raised. He felt his cheeks heat up, almost embarrassed by the fact he didn’t hear what you were saying because he was so infatuated with your presence. “Sorry..could you ask that again?” You gave a small chuckle, the corners of your lips upturned into a small smile. “I said, did you have any plans for tonight? Watching t.v? Playing a game? Or is this just an excuse to hang out with the most awesome Munson sibling alive?” The fact you had asked that almost made him want to not know the question at all. The other fact is that you were joking with him wanting to just hang out with you, but that really is what he wanted. Gareth hadn’t exactly planned this far, half expecting you not to show up at all. “Would it be bad if I said I just wanted to hang out with you?” He looked at you with that same nervousness from earlier. What if this was wrong? Gareth had pretty much been a loser for all his life, never regularly inviting anyone over. Not even the few friends he had. Was it a crime to want to spend time with someone else? Especially someone that was as flawless as you? He began panicking in the back of his mind at your lack of a response. In reality you had just been stunned. 

Fuck. Fuck. You weren’t used to actually being surprised like this. He not only cared for you, but wanted you there to hangout. Just you. Nothing else. No intents to belittle you, mess with you, but to be with you. Next to you. “Look, I’m sorry, that was straight forward (Y/n)-” “No. Please don’t be sorry. I don’t think you know how much I wanted to hear that.” You took a breath, attempting to calm your nerves now before speaking again. “When I said it originally, I meant it in a joke way. Not in a bad way- but the fact I..I don’t know. You saying that was nice to hear.” Gareth let out a breath he didn’t even remember holding, letting his smirk creep up on his lips. His smile lines were more and more evident with each passing second. He couldn’t help but feel like a giddy little schoolgirl. Having a crush was the best feeling. “You know something else?” Gareth prompted you, in which you let out a small hum; signaling for him to go on. “I like you. A fucking lot. So much that I couldn’t stop worrying about you the second Jason hit you. I wanted to go over there and give Jason a piece of his goddamn mind, but you seemed to take care of yourself just fine.” He looked forward, staring at the dull paint on his bedroom walls. The random boost of confidence was soon a tiny flame in the back of Gareth’s mind. He said those words without thinking. He probably just ruined whatever relationship the two of you had, but he spoke up once more before you. “But I mean..hey. You’ve always been able to take care of yourself, haven’t you? You’re (Y/n) Munson for Christ's sake. Only the most awesome person in the entire universe.” He bit his tongue, the once happy smile on his face was almost bittersweet. “Gareth, my god you’re too good for me. You sweet piece of shit. I like you too. Might even love you if you give me the chance.” Your words had to soak into the boy next to you. He almost didn’t hear you, again. He looked at you with a bit of a shocked expression, both eyebrows raised at what you just said. “You’re fucking with me. Right?” You smiled as you uttered, “No, I’m not Emerson.” If you focused, and looked close enough, you could practically see Gareth’s heart beating out his chest. His face was the most obvious red you had seen in a while. You didn’t know when you had gotten closer to Gareth on the bed, but there was only a moment's distance between the two of your faces. He kept glancing at your eyes, then to your lips. He always wondered how soft they’d be to kiss. “May..I?” You didn’t have to ask about what he wanted. You nodded quickly, letting Gareth cup the sides of your face to give you a loving kiss. The gasp that left you when you two had to pull away for air was astonishing. Nothing was better than this. Nothing could be better than this, ever. This time it was your hands that cupped the cheeks of him, pulling him in close to your body to give him a sloppy, but meaningful kiss. This was way better than trying to imagine what kissing was like. Everything felt natural, meant to be in a way. Your hands instinctively ran through Gareth’s curls, tangling into the hair with a slight pull. And Gareth made the most pleasant noise you had ever heard. Such a sickly sweet sound. It was addicting. The two of you stayed like that for a while, in one another’s arms. Holding each other closely as if nothing else existed in that moment.