#<- warning

[ashes-writing]

stranger things ● the new girl pt 7 ● g.emerson

warning

heaaavy kissing / saliva shared. petnames (bunny, sweetheart, angel), PDA, a lil angsty but sweet, there is/will still be bullying, confrontations, smoking/ w**d / alch + parentless house parties cos teen drama/romance, total absence of sci fi plot and no deaths. 1 through 3 did not happen, either. Gareth is aged to 18 so.. season 4 = his senior year.

<- reader/you is female, with female parts, clothing/personality/hair/petnames and nicknames. this is self indulgent, when is it not with me, and i am.. not even a little sorry either.

word count

2762 exactly. for any missing context part 6 <- click to read.

summary

He pulls you onto his lap and you lock eyes, swallowing down a huge lump the second it starts to build in your throat. “Gareth?” you question, confused.. Because it hasn’t quite clicked for you.

taglist + shoutouts

-- taglist is here <- click to be taken to the doc and added. if you're here for eddie/steve or other characters and you don't want to be tagged in my Gareth writings, please lmk.

@tbmunson bestie. babes..babeeee. i love you sooooo much and i really hope you're having a good day today. also, this may be hella fluffy, oops rip. your daily reminder that you inspire me.

@littlestarfighter03

@nana90azevedo you are toooo sweet, omg. your comments had me giggling and kicking my feet and you don't know how much they mean to me, you really do not. thank you!

@allelitesmut

@chaoticcancer

@caravelofthesun

@dylanwritesgood

@eddiemuns0nl0ver

@just-a-blue-nerd

@slyisbehindyou

other links

masterlist ● gareth's masterlist ● about + rules

You’re settled in on the sofa with a stacked plate of grilled cheese and Sprite. Young and The Restless is just starting but you can’t pay attention, your mind won’t just shut down like you want it. You keep thinking about what happened at school this morning. And it’s not even the rumors -or Molly choosing something you told her, a traumatic time for you, to use against you and hurt you when it’s not even true.

It’s the fact that no thanks to these stupid rumors starting up all over again, you’re almost absolutely certain that by the time Gareth Emerson hears them, he’s going to write you off like so many others in the past.

And you don’t even blame him, it’s not like you were a thing. You wanted to be with him. Everything feels a little better when he’s around. But now, you think to yourself, that’s likely not going to happen.

You take a few shaky breaths and wipe your eyes. 

“I’ll get her back.” you mumble.

You’ve only just taken a bite of the sandwich and it’s like sandpaper in your mouth but you refuse to just not eat. You’ve just tossed the sandwich back onto the plate for now when you hear a vehicle door slam shut.

,, probably just the lady next door.” the thought comes and you turn your attention back to attempting to follow the storyline of the soap opera, sipping your Sprite. And you don’t even realize you’re crying again until you feel the warmth of tears slipping down your cheeks again.

The silence in the house is almost oppressive right now. It’s crushing.

A little too thick, a little too much. You’re overthinking everything. 

The door’s being knocked on and you jump a little at the burst of sound as it intrudes.

“Damn it, guys.” you mumble as you slip off the couch. You’re not even bothering with the formality of actual clothing because you’re at least 90 percent sure that it’s just Mari, Edie and Adi because they called earlier and even though you told them you were fine a thousand and one times, they said they’d come over later. After school.

So you’re not expecting to throw open the door to your parents house and find Gareth Emerson standing on the other side. Leaning in the doorway, filling up the frame. 

“G-gareth?”

His cheeks are on fire and he doesn’t have the first fucking clue what to say. But he knows you’ve been crying, from the looks of it, you’ve been crying since you walked out of school earlier. He steps up to you, pulling you closer by the hips. “ ‘S okay.. C’mere, bunny.” he’s quiet. Coaxing you right into his arms which he wraps around you. You break. And you’re crying all over again, soaking the white part of his Hellfire shirt in inky mascara tears. All he does is stand there and hold you, hands moving up and down your back to soothe you.

You’re choking up as you tell him everything, all of it. Including every single rumor that went around about you at your old school so he’d have context as to why you’re so upset right now. 

“Hey.. Shhh.” Gareth coaxes, gripping your jaw to make you look up at him because even though it’s killing him to see you this upset, he wants you to know that he doesn’t believe anything Molly’s been saying to anyone who will listen all day. He had a grand speech well-planned and rehearsed on his way over, but.. He’s in front of you right now and that’s all gone out the window.

,, She loves you, man. Do somethin’. Fix this.” the thought comes and it’s what prompts him to pick you up, step into the house as he’s holding you in his arms. You’re deposited on the couch and he goes back to your front door, shutting and locking it.

You’re still making an attempt to process why he’s even here to begin with, Hawkins is really, really small.. Surely he had to have heard everything Molly started up all over again -or some twisted and over the top version of it. He seats himself on the sofa again and pulls you close. Lets you lay your head on his shoulder. And for a long pause, minutes that drag out to hours it seems, you both sit there in total silence. You’ve calmed down just a little, he can hear and feel the way your breath has leveled out.

“You’re missing lunch, Gareth.” you mumble quietly. He glances down at you and shrugs. “It’s not a big deal. They were having that congealed whatever anyway.”

“O-oh.” you stammer around the O and take a shaky breath or two. And you can’t take it anymore, you have to ask the question.

“You uh.. You’re here. And still talkin’ to me.” you go quiet, the question you were about to ask falling flat because you got halfway there and you realized that maybe you don’t want the answer after all. 

It clicks for him then. The one thing you were most afraid of. Probably a big reason you left school walking after you got out of the principals office earlier. And normally, he wouldn’t even let himself have the teeniest sliver of hope but he heard you say everything you did out of your own mouth this morning. 

You’re in love with him.

And he’s in love with you too.

It’s something he’s still trying to get his head around, even now as he sits here in your living room.

He pulls you onto his lap and you lock eyes, swallowing down a huge lump the second it starts to build in your throat. “Gareth?” you question, confused.. Because it hasn’t quite clicked for you.

His hand raises, rests against the column of your neck. The pad of his thumb rolls over your cheek. “I didn’t believe her.”

You blink. “You..” you go quiet. The relief washes over you in waves and you’re shifting around in his lap. Trying to get comfortable without  invading his personal space too much because you’re just so afraid to do anything that might mess everything up right now. Gareth’s hand lowers and both arms wrap around your body, pulling you against him completely. He keeps his arms around you and you lean your head against his shoulder, your nose nuzzled into the side of his neck.

You don’t mean to blurt it out when you do but it comes out anyway. “The worst part about all of this was that I was afraid you would believe her and I…” you go quiet because you stop yourself when you realize you’re probably just about to say too much. Your face hidden in his neck, you can feel the way his pulse is beating strong and steady and you focus on that. Calming yourself down.

“You what, bunny?” Gareth asks after a second or two of trying -and failing, to pull himself together because the way you’re melted against him while sitting on his lap is definitely having an effect right now and the last thing he wants is to make things weird or awkward. “C’mon. You can tell me anything, okay?I-I mean it.”

You nod. Sit up a little and now you’re staring down at the way your bodies connect as you sit in his lap. “I didn’t wanna lose you.. Because of this. I’m..” your breath catches in your throat before you can get anything else out and Gareth raises a hand, gripping your jaw so you have to look at him. “You’re..” he prompts quietly, “Just say it.. Please?”

“ I’m in love with you.” you mumble, swallowing hard as you say it. “You don’t.. Like.. you don’t have to feel the same way, it’s okay if you don’t, really, I–” your words are cut off because he leans in, his mouth collides with your mouth, a thick pink tongue splitting your lips to massage alongside your own after he’s ran it over your teeth. One of his hands leaves your hips and tangles up in the thick mess of hair on your head, tugging your mouth  deeper until you’re breathless and he’s panting, trying to catch his breath without breaking the kiss because right now, it’s the last thing he wants to do. “What if I wanna, bunny? What if I feel that way too, huh?”

“You.. you do?” your words are swallowed by the slow and steady deepening of the kiss and as the shock starts to wear off, you both pull apart to breathe and stare at each other. Wild eyed and breathless. You raise a hand, settling it against the column of his neck as you continue to try and process what he’s just said.

It changes everything.

Unless he doesn’t want it to, you think to yourself, the thought makes you frown just a little and he picks right up on the little frown, leaning forward, into you. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothin, it’s just I..” you laugh at yourself. ,, do not push this. Just let it happen. Stop trying to push for more. “ 

You shove the thought out.

“C’mon.” he coaxes, “Talk to me, beautiful girl.”

And he’s doing it again, he’s making you look him in the eyes. And it’s him, you can’t keep anything from him, it’s nearly driven you crazy to keep your feelings hidden the past few weeks. You swallow hard. “I wanna be.” you trail off because it’s so hard to blurt it out right now. “Your girl.” you finish softer, voice barely a whisper. But he hears it and he shifts the way he’s sitting because he’s trying not to have a raging boner in the middle of a very delicate situation because he wants all his focus to be on you and what you need right now.

“You..” he’s trying to process. He feels like he could fly, what you’ve just said is everything he wants too. His hands slide up and down your sides before settling on your face. His forehead meets yours and he chuckles quietly, cheeks burning hot, a feverish blush covering his entire body. “ You wanna be my girl? All mine?”

You nod. You can feel your skin burning. You shift in his lap because you’re trying to get closer, you’re trying to get ready to hide your face in the side of his neck again. But then he’s guiding your mouth back to his own, greedy. Hungry. A kiss filled with teeth as they nip your lips and tug until you feel aching, bruises raise to the surface of your soft pout. As the kiss breaks, he pulls away and he’s just staring at you. Quiet. Trying to process everything because today has been a whirlwind.

“You are, bunny.” he mumbles at last, leaning into you all over again. His forehead against yours and big blue eyes fixed intently on you. Your hand raises, fingers clutch against the front of his Hellfire shirt, gripping to pull him in even closer, his mouth deepening the kiss, his tongue massaging yours lazily. You’re giggling quietly through the last of your tears. 

“I think everybody ganged up on Molly. She left cryin.” Gareth mutters against the crown of your head when the kiss breaks for a while and you settle in against him. You look up, nodding. “I should’ve just punched her this morning.” 

“But it’ll be okay now, alright? I mean that.”

You take a few shaky breaths and you nod because you know. He isn’t lying. He does mean it.

He’s probably the only person you actually feel like you can trust.

“Gare?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?” he’s staring down at you, a pounding heart and the only thought in his brain is that he’s the definition of a lucky bastard. He caresses your cheek and you open your mouth only to close it several times. You’re frustrated with yourself, he can tell. Your cheeks are pink. He leans down to press a kiss against your hairline. “Just say it, ‘s okay.”

“C-can I come with you? You know… to your Hellfire thing? Don’t wanna be..” you start to say you don’t want to be alone but it’s still very much ingrained deep in you that you’re pathetic if you need someone, a holdover from all the times you’ve had to tell yourself that just to keep from trying to reach out, trying to let people in.

“Course, bunny.” he answers and you smile up at him. The two of you settle in, the television becomes mostly background noise until Gareth leans forward, reaching out for the remote you’ve sat on the low table in front of the sectional, bringing you with him as he leans. You give a weak laugh and he kisses the bridge of your nose. “How d’ you even watch this crap, angel?”

You shrug. “General Hospital is better but Helena, that bitch was on today and she annoys me so..” you laugh softly, the laughter dying away as soon as you realize blue eyes are locked on your lips and he’s leaning in all over again.

“I’m never gunna be able t’ stop doing this.” he says it as if he’s apologizing as his mouth meets yours and you sigh into the kiss, your mouth falling open to accommodate his tongue’s invasion easily. “I’m never gonna want you to stop.” you admit, breathless.

–

The door to the drama classroom opens and Eddie chuckles to himself. “You finally make it, Emerson?”

“What the hell happened?” Mike Wheeler asks, fuming to himself about having to wait to start the campaign as Gareth flips him off and takes his usual seat at the table after he’s dragged up a chair so you can sit beside him.

“Everything okay?” Eddie asks, gazing at you in concern. You smile and nod. Just the slightest hint of color creeps into your cheeks. Doe eyes settle on a few telling marks on both your neck and Gareth’s neck and he locks eyes with Gareth to mouth, “Finally?”

You’re toying with the necklace he slipped onto your neck and Eddie catches sight of light glinting off of the silver skull, nearly choking. 

He nods to Gareth, calls his name when he realizes Gareth isn’t actually paying attention. “Emerson, hey.. C’mere, man.”

Gareth wanders over to the side of the classroom Eddie’s standing on, staring out the window.

“What?”

“She’s wearing your necklace. Wanna explain? Did you fuck? What happened?”

“Later, man. But no. No, we  didn’t, okay? But..” Gareth chuckles quietly. “She is my girl. Mine. So none of that stupid flirty shit, alright?”

Eddie chuckles, and he’s snickering until he sees the stern warning look in his best friends blue eyes. “Her little friend the future librarian.. Uh.. she’s more my speed, dude.”

Gareth nearly chokes at this and he’s gaping. “Since when?”

Eddie blows out an exasperated breath and he’s stammering, he’s grumbling and he’s tugging at his hair. “We uh.. We may or may not have had words earlier… I-In the hall. She was goin’ t’ go into the bathroom and kick in the stall door on Molly before she left. Maybe I calmed her  down. Either way, I physically prevented Molly’s murder and Edie, she uh.. She was not happy about it. How’s somethin’ so cute so goddamned murdery, dude?”

Gareth’s doubled over laughing by now because of all of the group, Eddie Munson is the last person one would think gets flustered easily, but here he is. Face all flushed, stammering over his words. Frustrated beyond belief. “Oh, it’s bad bad.” Gareth says it as he stops laughing.

“Fuck you, Emerson.”

“Can we start the damn campaign now?” Mike Wheeler is frustrated.

“Keep your goddamn pants on, kid.” Eddie replies, giving the black haired boy a stern look. Gareth sinks down into the chair beside the one he dragged over for you to sit in and you lean in against his side, resting your head on his shoulder as you sit in on the beginning of a new DnD campaign.

And from what you’re seeing, it definitely looks like a fun game. You’re just not entirely sure you’d ever be able to come close to grasping the complex rules and the thought of an entire character you’d have to come up with, well.. You know you couldn’t do that.

But it’s fun to watch your boyfriend.

At the thought, your heart’s fluttery all over again.

Gareth Emerson is your boyfriend.

This is.. Not how you saw the day ending, not at all.