#ruby gillis x fem!reader

[lovelywritten]

COMFORT

—pairing : Gilbert Blythe x fem!reader

—summary : An unfortunate accident has you inevitably stuck with Gilbert Blythe—which your father had absolutely no hand in.

—content : sfw, fluff, mutual pining, poetic gushing of reader completely lost in her mirage of defenseless affliction for Gilbert

—word count : 2k

Dark stains ranging from light grey to smokey black smeared all over the townspeople's crestfallen faces, a residue of the fire accident that had taken place at the Gillis' family home.

The remnants of the fire took over their house walls. If it weren't for Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, the Gillis' residence would've been left with nothing but ashes. The house structure and foundation were still intact. Its durability remained a wonder, however.

It was fortunate that no one was injured from the catastrophe. The only casualty was the concrete house itself which had layers of ashen smudges creeping up its scorched walls.

When the fire had been vanquished, the people went to the patriarch and matriarch of the Gillis' to share their concerns and somehow alleviate their distress over temporarily losing their home and refuge. Small talk, yet still laced with sincerity.

Avonlea was a small town with a limited number of residents occupying it. They may be awfully spiteful sometimes, especially when it comes to those who take pleasure in gossip, but they sure are compassionate and genuine, if not every one.

Your father made his way to approach Gilbert Blythe. ❝Gilbert, good lad. Might I trouble you for a favor?❞ His tone was inquisitive, yet the vague certainty and subdued confidence in his eyes did not go unnoticed by the younger male.

❝Of course, sir. May I ask what it's about?❞

❝Could you possibly escort my Y/n home? It seems that my daughter is set on offering comfort to her dear friend.❞ The facial expression he conveyed seemed to be dejected and hopeless. As hard as he tried to play it out, Gilbert could see through your father—at some point.

He did not want to interject, though. Nor dare to confront him about it. Gilbert did not seem too keen to expose him, instead he appreciated your father's not-so-well-hidden intentions to play match-maker.

Mr. L/n had his fingers on his temples with his brows slightly furrowed, no doubt expressing helplessness. ❝It's just that I promised my wife I would be back as soon as possible after things here have settled down...❞ He then laughs slightly, thinking back on what had happened before his departure towards the site of the regretful incident. ❝We almost couldn't leave the house when M/n became too panicked and worried for our safety, you see.❞

Your father shoots him a careful and hopeful look. His spirits seemed to be more lifted and assured when Gilbert nodded with a smile. ❝I'd be happy to walk Y/n home, sir.❞

❝Thank you, Gilbert. My wife and I appreciate it. I'll be off now then, good night.❞ He did not even wait for a reply from the younger male.

Gilbert watched the older man walking towards the path leading to his home—well, in long strides with graceful haste more like.

His gaze then falls over you. You appeared to be the image of serene and composed, yet the strands of your h/c curls frame your face with an ethereal unruliness in them, given the accident that occured at the Gillis' family house. Who would still look presentable after that? The people who stayed home, obviously. Everyone who wanted to help scurried over to offer their aid as soon as the news reached them. Including you and your father.

While your father took the buckets back with him, you were only carrying a cozy shawl sprawled over your shoulders to warm you up from the biting cold of the night.

You and the girls were formed in a small group. With a look of compassion and gentleness in your expression, you shared a conversation directed to Ruby as the recipient of your good intent. ❝I would be delighted to accommodate you and your family to our humble residence, Ruby…❞ You started with a soft smile, in a genuine benign manner towards your dear classmate.

Ruby was hell-bent on refusing to stay with Anne and wanted to be with you and even considered staying with Diana. She had a conflicted facial expression etched on her face with her brows furrowed. Her mouth opens in an attempt to refute.

But then, you spoke again with the same tenderness. ❝But I think you should accept Anne's offer and spend some time to get to know her better. It could do you good, the both of you.❞ The calm temperament you reasoned with seemed to be taking effect since you've made your serenity contagious to Ruby.

Diana was quick to put in more words for Ruby to agree, knowing where you were going with this. It would be beneficial for not only Anne and Ruby, but also to your other classmates who always seem to misunderstand Anne. Maybe spending time with Anne would change the perception of the girl into a more positive note if they get to know each other better and resolve past ill sentiments that Ruby once had for Anne.

❝Y/n is completely right, Ruby. I've always had fun whenever I am with Anne. Please give her a chance as I have?❞ Diana casts a careful and cautious look over her sandy-blonde friend.

Eventually, Ruby nods her head—albeit hesitantly.

Diana wraps her arms around Anne as she bids her farewell. ❝I'll visit soon, all right?❞ Your brunette friend leaves the three of you with a wave of her hand and follows after her father who waited for his daughter by the tree.

Speaking of fathers, you don't seem to locate yours as you scanned around the area. At all.

Gilbert's tall stature does come to your line of sight, though.

You gulped lightly, as you seemed to struggle looking away from him. You forced yourself to focus your attention back to your friend. Pulling yourself together, you smile softly at her. ❝It's all right, Ruby. You're in good hands.❞ Being the good friend that you are, you tried to comfort her with the dulcet rubbing of your hand against her wool-clad arms. When her expression relaxes, only then did you talk again.

❝I shall take my leave now. I'll see you two tomorrow, yes?❞ Your eyes trained to Anne then to Ruby's.

Anne was more enthusiastic than Ruby to reply—which you can understand because Ruby had just lost her home and would be spending time with a girl she did not exactly want to associate herself with given what the others negatively perceived of Anne.

Before you knew it, someone fell into step with you. Looking up to your side, you came face to face with the one and only Gilbert Blythe. Your brows slightly shot up, surprised at the sight of him when his house was the other way around.

❝Gilbert, I—wha...❞

❝Your father requested that I accompany you.❞ He explains, appearing completely unbothered by the reason at all. If anything, he seemed relaxed. Delighted, maybe?

And then there was this slightly upturned smile playing on his lips that sent your mind in a frenzy as he looked at you with a certain intent—something that you couldn't quite decipher.

Quickly composing yourself, you replied with a steady voice. ❝I'm sorry to trouble you then, Gilbert. Father can be quite the worrywart when it comes to his only daughter. ❞

❝It's no trouble at all, Y/n. It's my pleasure to take you home. ❞ He grins so easily at you that his stare becomes quite difficult for you to maintain.

You stayed silent after that, simply looking ahead of you—trying to ignore the racing of your heart at his words. Maybe you were overthinking it. But the way he composed the structure of his words were ambiguous, you couldn't help it.

There were endless words to choose from. Like: walk you home. But, no. He just had to choose ❝take you home❞ did he? His implications were vague if he was actually referring to your house or—

Yeah, you were overthinking things.

It might not be as complex as you imagined.

It would only be a few hours until dawn arrives. So much for sleep. You were sure that your friends—who actually cared about Ruby sacrificed their sleep just to be with her earlier and lend a helping hand to her family.

You were pulled out of your thoughts when the sudden gush of cold wind passed, causing you to slightly shiver. You tightened your shawl around you. No doubt, even your fingers were icy cold.

Just then, you felt something heavy set upon your shoulders. Startled, your fingers came into contact with something warm—which you noticed were actually Gilbert's knuckles as you clutched the plaid material he draped over your shoulders.

Your eyes captured his ever mesmerizing, enigmatic, warm chestnut brown hazel eyes, softened with genuine concern. You weren't even aware you had both come to a standstill.

You cleared your throat slightly before you looked away, continuing to tread back home. With him.

When you glanced back at him, his eyes were sparkling in bliss with the corners of his mouth pulled up into a disarmingly boyish grin that had you utterly captivated.

You did not even realize you mirrored his smile with a shyer one. But you were far too late to be self-aware. Gilbert had already seen it. You could have playfully shoved him with the way you saw his smile widening teasingly. Instead, you scoff softly—in sheer amusement at the situation with a smile gracing your lips.

Finally you reached the plinth of your home. You paused, contemplating—not knowing what to do exactly.

Biting your lower lip lightly, you divert your attention from the door, turning around to face him. He has a calm and relaxed expression on, his body language was at ease as he returned your gaze with a hint of a smile playing at his lips.

❝Good night, Gilbert.❞

His mouth parted, stretching to a full-on winsome grin. ❝Definitely.❞

Your eyebrows slightly twitched at the cryptic implication of his reply. You felt yourself purse your lips together, feeling a warmth swarm up your face.

He took a few steps backward with his body still lingered towards your direction. ❝See you later.❞ When he saw you smile softly, he waves at you.

He stood there still. As if waiting for you to make your way inside the house first before he could set his mind at ease and depart.

Giving him a peace of mind, you crossed the threshold and closed the door with a soft click. His face was the last thing you saw before it completely shut.

Oh, yes. It would definitely be a good night. You thought with a smile creeping up your lips as you made your way upstairs to your boudoir.

This interaction of yours with Gilbert barely even consisted beyond that of at least fifty words. Yet he had you on a chokehold, didn't he?

Those infuriatingly expressive, enchantingly mysterious, earth-shatteringly gorgeous empyrean hazel eyes. And that dangerously mind-blowing coy curl of the lips, and knee-numbing honeyed words were all to blame. How can someone deserve such power assigned so carelessly to a single being—destined to wield it without even being self-aware of his complete leverage over you?

Good God, you may be forsaken for all eternity for as long as Gilbert Blythe lives.

Maybe this was why Ruby was utterly infatuated with him for a long time. His charm was disarming. With no hope of breaking free from his reigns he so blissfully unaware he brought upon you.

You were not immune.

A/N : this was supposed to be a blurb, but as you can see I may have gotten carried away-- Also, I am aware that the setting for this scene was during early morning, however I just felt that night time would have been more fitting for this

[frost-queen]

Ruby Gillis x Fem!Reader

• Brave enough

•  Stand up for what is right

•  Secret letter

•  Paris of my heart

• Your smile

• Snow me?

•  Confessions

•  New start

•  Mutual

•  Overcome shyness

• Taken hostage (*Kidnapping)

[starrywatermelon]

Jealousy

Gilbert Blythe x Fem! Reader, Ruby Gillies x Fem! Reader (platonic)

Requests: here and here 

Authors note: These two requests are similar, so I decided to merge them together. This also steered a lot more to Ruby and Y/N’s friendship, so I kinda have a love hate feeling towards this fic. 

Warnings: Kinda obsessed Ruby? Jealousy (as the title suggests),slight bullying, not 100% true to plot

Word count: 1,471 

Y/N has always been close friends with the girls of Avonlea. All of them had practically grown up together, sharing secrets and talking about crushes. She had also always known that Ruby was in love with Gilbert Blythe. Ruby would be livid if anyone else had a crush on him, and everyone swore to not like him, no matter how handsome and kind he was. Y/N herself even promised Ruby that she would try to get the two together, only if she could be a bridesmaid. But what Ruby didn’t know, was that Y/N also liked Gilbert, but she had never mentioned it to anyone.

Years and years went by, but nothing had changed. A new girl named Anne even joined the school, and she too got the “Gilbert is off-limits” talk. Anne did seem a bit scared at first, but she also eventually got used to it.

“Did you all see Gilbert today?” Ruby exclaims as the girls take out their lunches.

“Yes, he goes to school with us and you're always talking about him!” Josie replies in frustration.

“No, I wasn’t going to speak about just him today. I was going to ask if you saw him this morning! He was talking to a girl.”

Y/N started to feel slightly nervous, but she kept listening to the conversation.

“A girl?”

“Yes, Tillie. A girl, about our age. I couldn’t see her face, but I wonder why he was talking to her.”

“I don’t think it's any of our business on why he was talking to her.” Diana retaliates.

“But what if he’s in love with her? What if she’s in love with him?” Ruby has tears in her eyes when she says this.

“Ruby, I don’t think that’s the case, if it was, we all would know. Right?”

“I hope that’s the case, Anne.I really do.”

She didn’t say anything else, none of the girls did. They all ate their lunch, everyone but Y/N tried to figure out who the mystery girl is.

The sky was orange and pink, clouds scattered everywhere. It was still fall, which made it convenient for Gilbert and Y/N to meet up. Today, she decided to go to his house and tell him about what happened. Not caring about her appearance to much, she ran to Gilbert’s house.

“Gil! Open up!”

A yawning Gilbert opened the door, and smiled.

“Hey! I didn’t expect you to come over today.”

“I didn’t expect to come over either, but something happened today that I wanted to tell you about.”

Gilbert’s smile drops, quickly letting her in. What the two didn’t know, was that a boy was watching, one that shouldn’t be trusted with secrets. That boy? Billy Andrews.

He was standing close by, and when Y/N entered the house, he went closer.

“What happened today Y/N/N?” he hears Gilbert, who sounds worried

“Today, Ruby was talking about how she saw you with a girl. She saw us, Gilbert. Thankfully she didn’t see who the ‘girl’ was but I just can’t stop thinking about if she finds out. Our friendship will be ruined forever and-“

She was quickly cut off by his arms around her, pulling her into a hug, and then giving her a small kiss on the forehead.

“It’s ok. Ruby won’t find out... And if she did, I’m sure she wouldn’t be too mad.”

“I hope that’s the case, I really do.”

Sure, Ruby hadn’t found out, but Billy certainly did.

Days went on, and nothing too interesting happened. Ruby continued to gush about Gilbert, the other girls continued to pretend that they were interested, Mr. Phillips continued to give the students a very hard time, and Y/N and Gilbert kept meeting up.

What was different, was the fact that Billy had kept spying on Y/N and Gilbert. He kept collecting small bits of information from their conversations, just waiting to use them against the two. After all, he never liked them anyway.

However, on this particular day, the class had decided to stay behind to play a game. The class sat in a circle after Mr. Phillips had left, waiting for Josie to explain.

“Whomever the bottle points to, you are permitted to kiss.” she made sure to look at everyone as she said this. “It needs to be boy-girl, boy-girl.”

“Where does that leave Cole?” Billy sneered

The class laughed, but Y/N wished she could punch him.

“Jane, go sit next to your dumb brother. Tilly, you're over there... and Anne, switch places with Charlie.”

Gilbert sat quietly in the circle, the one day he had decided to stay behind, they were playing spin the bottle. With Y/N and Ruby there. But, if Y/N and him kissed, Ruby couldn’t get mad.. right?

The first round, Diana and Moody kissed, and then Anne and Cole, and before he knew it, it was Gilbert’s turn.

Gilbert took a deep breath and slowly spun the bottle, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with the h/c girl he so very loved... However, the odds weren’t on his side today. As he slowly looked up to see who the bottle landed on, he met Y/N’s eyes. Both of them immediately froze in place, Gilbert seeming more nervous than the other.

“What’s wrong, Blythe? Are you too scared to kiss your girlfriend in front of us? You embarrassed for having to date her? C’mon, don’t be too scared, she's not as bad as carrots.”

The whole class gasped, and Ruby looked over at Y/N.

“What he’s saying.. Isn’t true, right?”

“No, of course, it’s not true Ruby, you know I’d never hurt you-”

“She's lying,” Billy replies. “I saw them, meeting up, for weeks. They so desperately tried to hide from you.”

The short blonde girl’s eyes filled with tears. Never in a million years would she think that her best friend would betray her. Without thinking twice, Ruby ran out of the room.

After a moment of hesitation, Y/N runs after her, quickly catching up to Ruby, whos standing outside of the small school.

“Ruby...”

“Shut it Y/N! I can’t believe you were seeing Gilbert behind my back. All this time, I trusted you. I trusted that you wouldn’t talk to Gilbert, but you did. You knew that I liked him, yet you still went and stabbed me! Right in the back.”

She couldn’t even deny what Ruby was saying, because it was all true, and she felt terrible. Ruby and Y/N have been best friends since day 1, and when Ruby told the girls about her crush, Y/N wasn’t sure on what to say, because she knew she like Gilbert too. Seeing her best friend standing there, tear-stained cheeks, it killed her.

“Ruby. Please, let me explain.”

Ruby didn’t reply, as she tended to do when she was upset, but slightly looked over at the other girl, which was all she needed to start.

“I’ve always liked Gilbert, ever since I saw him. And I’ve always liked you. You were my first friend, and we’re the closest two friends in the group. So, when you told us that you liked Gilbert, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to be a good friend, so I tried convincing myself that I hated him. I tried not to think of him, or talk to him, or even look at him! But it turns out he liked me too, he had liked me for a while. So, I tried to meet up with him secretly, so I wouldn’t hurt you. I know I probably should have told you, and I know you probably don’t forgive me, which is perfectly fine, but I hope we can still be friends.” Y/N finished, almost breathless.

“Your right. I don’t know if I can forgive you this very moment. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to stop being your friend, but I really, really wish you told me sooner.” A small smile forms from Ruby’s lips after this statement, like she's about to say something else.

“What? what is it?”

“Is Gilbert a good kisser? I mean, I’m still mad but-”

The two burst out laughing.

“Honestly Y/N, I don’t think I could ever hate you, but it’ll take me time to stop being mad at you... I should go back inside though, everyone’s probably stopped the game.”

“Yeah.. we should.”

They head back into the back room, where everyone is staring at the door, waiting for them to come back in.

“Is your argument over already? Well, good. We’re still playing, and Gilbert still needs to kiss Y/N before we move on.”

“Well, what do you say Y/N?”

“I say we get it over with before Josie bursts into flames.”

Gilbert smiles and then puts his lips against hers, and to answer Ruby’s question, Gilbert Blythe is a good kisser.

[quirkytwinkles]

Safe Now - G.B

Pairing: Gilbert Blythe x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2,443

Warnings: None. 

Release Date: 17/01/2020

Summary: The reader lives in Avonlea with the Cuthberts. One day she has a panic attack when something triggers her PTSD, luckily Gilbert is there to help. 

A/N: Heyo, this is my first imagine. I know it’s not the best, it was honestly a spur of the moment thing and written quite quickly. I decided to stop overthinking it and just post it, if there’s any mistakes my bad. I promise they will get better as I get more used to this whole ‘x reader’ thing. 

Please don’t plagarize my work. 

!!The gif isn’t mine!!

--

You had been Anne's best, and only, friend at the orphanage and when she was adopted, you felt completely and utterly alone. Almost a year after her adoption, the Cuthberts decided to adopt yet another child... you. They had been begged by Anne for months and months to go back and get you, and after a while of refusing, they couldn't refuse any longer. 

You were ecstatic, yet worried and confused when you saw Anne walk through the doors of the orphanage again. You were happy because you got to see your best friend after almost a year apart. Still, you were worried because you thought she had been thrown out of her house, but then you watched as two adults walked in behind her; you assumed they were her adoptive parents. Your smile widened as you saw her with her new family; you were so happy for her. 

A couple of days later you were settled into your new home with your new... and hopefully forever family. You had been to many other families before, but you had always been sent back to the orphanage. In some cases, they used you like you were their slave, in other's you were like their punching bag and in other's you were loved but only for a short amount of time. Being an orphan is a cruel thing, and being taken in and out of families is even harsher; you get a taste of the life you could have only to get it ripped out from under you. You were honestly worried about that happening again; what if Marilla and Matthew got sick of you after a few days, or weeks, or months and sent you back to that horrid orphanage?

Before you knew it, Monday had arrived, and you were starting at your new school. Marilla had sewn you a beautiful dress that you were so excited to wear. You were worried about starting at a new school, but at the same time, the mere thought of it excited you. You were worried that the other kids would think you dumb, as you hadn't had much of an education, but then again, you were excited to learn. 

You woke up that beautiful Monday morning, a huge grin on your face as you heard the birds outside your window chirp their morning tune. You let out a yawn as you sat up, immediately throwing the blanket off you and quickly changing into the exquisite dress Marilla had sewn; you then brushed your hair, putting it into one side bride, leaving a few loose bits out so they could flow in the breeze. You then walked downstairs where you could smell some sort of fantastic food; something you weren't yet used to. It honestly felt like you were in a dream, and you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't. 

The walk to the school was better than you could have dreamed of, you and Anne chattered about the most random things as you walked through the woods towards the school; you met up with her friend Diana, and the two of you became instant friends. You all finally reached the school, and you walked through the doors and straight into where the desks were. As you started heading over to an empty desk, you ran straight into someone; you began to fall backwards, but before you could land, you were caught. Mortified, you stared up at the boy with wide eyes; you admired his blond hair and quickly cleared your throat. 

"I am so sorry; I didn't mean to run into yo-" 

"It's quite alright. You really did fall for me, didn't you?" 

You frowned at the boy, shaking your head slightly. You opened your mouth to respond but before any words came out someone interrupted; 

"Billy, leave the poor girl alone. You'll scare her and make her cry."

 You turned around to see one of his friends, you assumed, snickering at the boy as he clearly joked around. The blond kid, who's name you'd learnt was Billy, let out a chuckle as he shook his head; 

"Right, I'll see you around gorgeous." He smirked at you, looking you up and down before walking away. You felt sick to your stomach at the interaction, your eyebrows still furrowed together as you sat down. 

"Don't mind him, Billy isn't the friendliest." Diana smiled sympathetically as she sat at the desk in front of you. You shrug; 

"I'm used to it, it doesn't worry me anymore." 

Diana frowned, she's saddened that you're used to it. No one should be used to guys being pigs. Before you know it, all the chatter has quietened, and school has begun. You intently listen to everything the teacher says, even though he is a bit nasty; at least you're actually learning something. You try to soak up as much of the information as you can; you want to learn as much as possible. 

Soon enough the school day has ended, and you're about to walk out of the school when someone stops you;

"Miss, miss!" You hear someone calling out. With a frown you turn around, were they talking to you? You watch as a raven-haired boy walks up to, holding an object in his hand; "you left your pen behind." He smiles. 

"Oh... thank you." You smile as you gently take the pen; thank gosh he gave it back to you, you don't know how you'd survive without it. Sure, it's just a pen, but the real treasure lies in what you can do with it. As long as you have a pen, you can be unstoppable... well, unstoppable in writing ways. 

"No problem. I'm Gilbert, by the way. Gilbert Blythe." 

"Y/N." 

"You're Anne's friend? The one from the orphanage that she never shuts up about?" 

"Yeah." You nod, smiling. It feels nice to know that Anne spoke about you. 

"So, did the Cuthberts adopt you too?" 

"Well... the adoption hasn't been finalised, but hopefully they're going to." 

"I'm sure they will." He smiles. 

You go to ask him a question but before you can a hand has wrapped itself around your wrist, and you're being pulled away; 

"Come on, Y/N, we have to get home." You frown as you're pulled along by Anne. You send an apologetic look to Gilbert, mouthing a 'sorry' before turning and willingly walking with Anne; 

"I was talking to Gilbert..." 

"I know, that's the problem." 

"Why? Is he like Billy?" 

"No... he's nothing like Billy." 

"Then what's the problem?" 

"Ruby has dibs." 

"Dibs?" 

"Dibs on Gilbert." 

"What do you mean 'dibs'?" You frown as Anne stops walking; 

"Ruby likes Gilbert, she's liked him for three years, and she has dibs on him," Anne explains causing you to frown. 

"How can someone have dibs on a person? Besides, I don't like Gilbert, not like that. I don't even know him!" 

"It doesn't matter, you're not allowed to talk to him from now on... you could become a threat, and then you'd make an enemy of Ruby."

"You don't get a say in who I talk to, Anne." 

Needless to say, you ignored Anne's warning and continued talking to Gilbert. Slowly it started becoming your favourite part of the day; you waited for school to end and then talked to Gilbert before walking home with Anne, who wasn't happy with you, she had been frustrated with you since your little "argument" after your first day of school. Not only were you talking to the guy that Ruby had dibs on, but you were talking to her mortal enemy; of course they're not actually mortal enemies, but Anne doesn't realise that. 

One day after school you were talking to Gilbert about the most random of things;

"And you just kind of weave the stem of the flower through the split stem of the other flower. It sounds more complicated than it is." 

"And Mrs Morrow taught you that?" 

"Yeah... she was one of the only nice foster parents I had." 

"She seems like a lovely woman." 

"She was... and I would've loved to have stayed with her." 

"So why didn't you?" 

"She fell ill, and within the week she'd passed away..." You mutter sadly as you look down to the flower crown you had been making. 

"Y/N/N... I'm so sorry." He frowned. 

"It's fine." You shrugged; you'd mostly gotten over it by now. "Here." You smiled as you placed the flower crown on his head, letting out a quiet giggle. "You look pretty now." 

"I don't always look pretty?" He feigned a frown. 

"Nope." You grinned cheesily. 

He mocked offence, dramatically putting his hand over his heart. You hear a slam and jump, turning around to; the school door had been slammed shut by an upset Ruby Gillis, who was storming towards you. You stood up with a frown, and she instantly grabbed your wrist, pulling you with her. 

"What is it?" You asked worriedly. Had something terrible happened?

"Gilbert is mine." She hissed when you were far enough away from the raven-haired boy who was still sitting on the ground, flower crown on his head and a confused frown on his face. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"I have dibs on Gilbert, didn't Anne tell you?" 

"Yes, she did. I have no interest in Gilbert." 

"Don't lie to me." 

"I- I'm not." 

"You're so selfish, Y/N!" Ruby exclaimed as a tear spilled from her eye and down her cheek. 

"But, I-" 

"Just stop. Have Gilbert for yourself if you must." 

"Ruby, I don't like Gilbert like that. He's my friend." 

"Friends don't make flower crowns for each other." 

"Actually... yes, they do." Ruby rolls her eyes at you; "stop overreacting, Ruby. Guys and girls can be friends without being in love!" 

The blonde girl scoffs; "overreacting?" 

"Ruby-" 

"Save it. I'll take my overreacting self over to someone who's not selfish and who actually cares for me." She glares up at you; "and stop lying to me, and to yourself. You mustn't tell lies, it's impolite." 

Those words... those six simple words. They shouldn't have an impact on you, but they do. 

"You mustn't tell lies, it's impolite." Said the man you had been in foster care with since March. He grabs your hair, slapping you across the face. "I know you stole my wife's necklace. Now, where is it?" 

"I don't know..." You muttered through your tears. Another slap. "Please, I swear to you, I don't know where it is." 

Tears filled your eyes as you stared at Ruby, who's face had turned to one of concern as she went to walk towards you. 

"No, stay away from me. Please." You muttered as you started to walk back towards the school, your chest feeling as if it was on fire, tears uncontrollably rolling down your cheeks. 

"Y/N?" Gilbert questioned as he noticed the tears rolling down your cheeks. You walked past him, completely ignoring his presence as you tried to calm your racing heart and get your breathing back to normal. It felt like something was pressed down on your chest, stopping you from being able to breathe; you fell to the ground, crying as you stayed there, staring at the ground, frozen. 

"Y/N? What's wrong?" Gilbert asked gently as he crouched next to you, placing a hand on your back. You flinch, causing him to instantly take his hand away; 

"Please don't h- hurt me. I'm s- sorry" you muttered quietly, your voice cracking as you cried softly. 

As Gilbert heard those words, it felt like his heart had been torn in half. His frown faded as he worked out what the panic attack was about. He gently pulled you into his arms, hugging you; you tried to get away, fearing that you would get hurt. You knew it was Gilbert, that he wouldn't hurt you, but you were still scared... what if everything was your imagination and you were somehow back in that awful house. 

"Please don't hurt me, please... I'm sorry, I'm sorry." You muttered. You kept muttering 'I'm sorry' over and over as Gilbert stayed hugging you, despite your struggling. 

"Shh, it's okay, Y/N/N. I'm not going to hurt you." 

"I'm sorry..." You muttered, your face buried in the crook of his neck. 

"You're safe now, from whoever you're scared of. No one's going to hurt you, you're safe. I promise." 

After a few minutes, your breathing slowly started returning to normal, and the tears stopped running from your eyes. Every now and then you'd shake, but most of the shaking had stopped. You slowly looked up from Gilbert's shoulder, a sheepish look on your face as you saw his worried eyes stare into yours. 

"Are you okay?" He asked. 

You slowly nodded; "I am now..." you gave a small smile as you wrapped your arms around his neck and hugged him properly, your chin resting on his shoulder. "I'm sorry..." you whispered, feeling bad for worrying him, and feeling embarrassed about the panic attack. 

"Don't apologise, Y/N." 

"Sorry-" 

He shook his head, chuckling as you apologised for apologising. You looked over to Ruby, who was staring at you worriedly. With a sigh, you regrettably pulled away from the hug and stood up, your legs still shaky from the attack. You walked over to the blonde girl, whose big blue eyes were wide and tear-filled. 

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make you panic-" 

"It's okay, Ruby. It wasn't your fault." You smiled gently as you hugged her, reassuring her that it was okay. 

"I'm sorry for overreacting... it's just... I really like Gilbert-" 

"It's fine. There's nothing between Gilbert and me other than friendship." 

"Promise?" 

"Promise." You nodded, a smile on your face.

 After pulling away from the hug, you looked back to Gilbert, a small smile on your face. He smiled again, giving you a look that asked if you were okay. You gave a little nod and mouthed a "thank you" to him, you were so grateful that he helped you. The flower crown you had made was still on his head, a little lopsided now, but it didn't matter. 

"I have to head home... I'm sorry again." Ruby muttered, a small smile on her face. 

"It's okay. See you tomorrow." 

"Yeah, see you!" She waved as she walked away. You returned the wave before turning to Gilbert again; 

"I should get going too, Anne will be waiting, and Marilla will be worrying." 

"Mind if I walk with you?" 

"Not at all."  

You were screwed... you'd lied to your friend, you'd made a promise you knew was fake. You did like Gilbert.