#futurewriterwannabe

[bethchapelsbonnet]

Whoa Nelly! 😅 @futurewriterwannebe

Chemistry wasn't... Necessarily easy for Rick. It wasn't like there was a "chemistry gene," and his father hadn't ever had the kinds of moments with him that Beth had with her parents her whole life. So... While he was "just as brilliant" (Beth's words, NOT Rick's) as his dad; he was not "perfect the hourglass" brilliant.

That wasn't always a bad thing. It made for Beth to try to help him out frequently. They were officially "science bros," according to her. She had began hashtagging them like that and everything. He hadn't yet decided whether he found it cute or annoying yet.

As was his typical dilemma with Beth. He adored her, for sure. But, they also had a history of her poking and prodding his nerves. That was something that he could never say to Beth this day in age, ever. They were friends now And he knew better than anyone else that most of her more irritating habits were unintentional and uncontrollable.

She was who she was and he loved that person. Even if she made him uncomfortable with her frequency in confirming that they were only friends.

That wasn't her intent. To rub it in his face that he hadn't had the courage to ask her out, although he was pretty sure that she was smart enough to know by now that he wanted her. Mostly, she seemed to be confirming it for herself. Then again... She did that same thing with Chuck, so it was possible that she simply followed his advice to pretend that he was Chuck one day and ran with it like her life depended on it.

She was on the phone when he got distracted while trying to work on his current strain of formula, and whenever she noticed that there was steam, she headed out of the makeshift garage lab, saying as she did, "I'm just going to step out. No. Not you," she giggled, "I was letting my best buddy, Rick, you know, my science bro, know that I'm stepping out of our lab..."

Rick narrowed his eyes and continued working. He began to weigh out measurements, as well as his little balance of "Cute or Annoying," as he was prone to do whenever she did things that moved him in multiple parts of his body, and then POOF! He jumped when the formula made a small popping noise and turned into a small mushroom cloud, but nothing else seemed wrong..

Certainly, that in and of itself was very wrong, because what the heck had he done? Now, he was SUPER annoyed, because he had messed up AND where was Beth? Still on her phone? Who was she talking to? He needed a break. He was starting to feel amped up.

She was giggling whenever he stepped outside. "Cute," he decided. Her giggle was cute. Never annoying. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him, confused. There was a look in his eyes that she wasn't used to. One that he didn't have earlier when she had left. "Really.. really cute," Rick slurred. He tilted his head and stared at her.

"I'm gonna have to cut our chat short. I think my best, best chum needs me."

"Annoying!" Rick snapped and stood up straight, though he bounced in place, nervously.

Beth put her phone away and kept her distance as she asked, "What's annoying? Did something happen with this run of the formula?"

"Why are you way over there?" He asked, and before she could reply, he was upon her, hovering over her with his hands out like he wanted to reach out and touch her, but they were shaking and he didn't proceed to touch her.

She laughed uneasily. "Rick. You are actually kind of worrying me. What happened?"

"You're so pretty, Beth," he said, breathing hard, she almost would have said that he sounded winded, but the fact that he could hardly keep still made her know he had plenty of energy. "You're..." He finally allowed his hands to land on her shoulders, steadying himself but almost pulling her down.

"Whoa, Nelly!" Beth said, with a giggle, catching hold of his arms to steady them both.

"Cute," Rick determined.

"You said that when you came out. What's cute, Rick? Can you please tell me what you're thinking?" She looked like she wasn't quite to the point of fear, but because she was too confused and also, very trusting of Rick, even though she had to admit that his behavior was bizarre...

He let his head crash on top of hers with a a thud that she was sure would've been harder if he hadn't landed cheek to afro. "Rick, Buddy... Pal..."

He groaned into her hair, "I'm not your friend, Beth!" She gasped. "I mean. No. That's stupid. I am your friend, but dammit, you don't have to keep saying it all the time. THAT is what's annoying." She was silent as he moved his arms to wrap around her, "Why are you so eager to just be my friend?"

She wanted to adjust to look at him, but his weight was on her in such a way, that she worried they might both crash onto the ground. "And why do you always smell like dessert? You're too scrumptious looking to be smelling yummy too. How am I expected to not wanna just.." he stood up, still holding her, now looking her over, hungrily. He moaned, pulled her closer and leaned down like he was going to kiss her.

Beth lifted her hand and offered it, like a genteel lady in one of those old stories and fortunately, Rick smiled and accepted it to kiss instead of her mouth. Which. She was trying to wrap her head around the things he was saying and whatever the heck was happening now. He kissed her hand a little more than necessary and whenever he licked it, she jerked it away and backed up to assess him.

"Are you stoned?"

"Does it matter?"

She threw on her goggles and said, "What is wrong with my..." She noticed his eyes narrow, "...Rick?" She completed the question. He seemed pleased with that, smiling softly at her. She heard him whisper "cute," as the goggles explained the chemical compound in Rick's system, what it was doing to him currently and when it would likely wear off.

"Rick, good news, my guy... You ARE stoned, but it isn't fatal. Let me get you home."

"What?" He laughed and shook his head, "No no no no... I'm not stoned. I don't do drugs. You know that."

"You must've inhaled something in the lab."

He was going to refute that, but vaguely and foggily remembered the little gust that his formula became when he was thinking about Beth. "Oh! Oh, the poof!" He made a hand gesture and a "poof" noise. "I've been exposed to something! Beth!"

"You're okay, Rick. You're okay. I've already checked you out."

He giggled now, "Oh, you checked me out?" He reached for her and she went into his pocket to look for his keys. "Oooh, Beth. We haven't even said what we are yet." She found his keys right when he tried to kiss her again and shook them to get his attention.

"Rick. You can't drive. But, do you trust me to drive your car, or should I call Pat?"

"What? Nooooooo, Beth. You can't call anybody. Nobody can see me like this! Just you. Please."

"Okay. That means I have to drive your car, and I don't know if you're even coherent enough to agree to that. After all, you've said some things tonight and you even tried to kiss me."

He scoffed, "I did that on purpose. I know what I'm doing, I just can't seem to stop myself. Let's go home, like you said." She helped him into the backseat and he buckled himself up. Whenever she began driving, he asked, in a soft voice, "Beth?"

"Yeah, Rick?"

"Whenever you said "my Rick," did you mean that?"

Her entire body had been warm from the moment he began flirting with her and still her face managed to heat up more. "Yes."

"And what did you mean by that?"

She cleared her throat and announced, "Well... You're in no condition right now to make any big decisions. But, I don't mind letting you know that you were wrong about one thing tonight." She looked into the rearview and they made eye contact. "I'm not at all eager to just be your friend."

[bethchapelsbonnet]

I Dont remember if it Was on you're Ways to Tell ILY Prompt list but might I suggest a "I Choose you" Hournite One shot?

I didn't see you interact with the original submission I answered, so I included it here

I Choose You

All of the fuss that Beth went through to try to compile each and every piece of evidence that someone may need in order to get Rick the heck out of that place was simply... Well - it was actually exhausting, but she never realized until she was at the end of her days.

The database was always excellent and as the official Dr. Mid-Nite, she had access to even more information.

Not what she truly needed - to be able to actually speak to Rick. To assess how he was doing. To at least hold his hand, which.. she was conflicted about that one in particular. She didn't understand why that idea kept coming to her when she and Rick never actually really touched each other that way.

Casually - pats on the back or holding each other back in a fight, but nothing so intimate as hand holding. Maybe it was her renewed self confidence. She had chosen herself. And now, she was choosing Rick. 

They didn't allow any of them to see him. He was currently being held at a juvenile center, assigned a caseworker and a child advocate attorney, with an ongoing investigation about his uncle and his home life. But, Beth found out the names of everyone involved in his case and she was sending them documents, school reports, and everything that she could scrape up to prove that Rick was in a dangerous household and had been abused and mistreated. 

It was her hope that they would all see it was self defense and go easy on him. Courtney and Pat had tried to explain to her that Eclipso was controlling him. It wasn't self defense. It was just a terrible mind game.

Not too long ago, they were pressing her to accept murdering a bad guy… but suddenly, when it's THIS bad guy… who didn't even DIE, they were willing to accept Rick turning himself in and being put away? "It's what Rick wanted, to be held accountable.."

"He didn't DO it! It was Eclipso!" Beth had snapped at Courtney. Courtney's eyes went wide and she got quiet. Of course she knew that and she didn't deserve Beth being rude with her, either, but Beth was too frustrated to tell herself that at the moment and Rick wasn't around…

She called him anyway, as she stormed out. 

"Rick!" She took a deep breath, "You don't deserve to be held responsible for something that you didn't do wrong!" She noticed Courtney in the corner of her eye and whispered, "There's nothing you need to be held accountable for and I'm working on helping you get out. Just… I hope you aren't too hard on yourself." She hung up and looked at Courtney.

"I watched him run around, hallucinating, breaking down as he was attacked by something that we couldn't see… it was like with Yolanda, only someone did get hurt. I didn't want to have to see that again and it wasn't easy to let Rick confess, but what else could we do? What would you have done differently?"

Beth wanted to say that she wouldn't have let him out of her sight, that she would have talked to him until he was back down to Earth..  but as a firm believer in herself, some part of her knew that Courtney didn't have that type of power. Beth was the one who could stop Rick in his tracks and make him think for a moment. 

"What about when you see a dead 10 year old girl? Would you have been able to use your head in that moment and stop him from reacting?"

Beth sniffled and wiped her face, "If I was here, I know that I could have fixed this. I know that I could have talked him down. He listens to me. It's different with us. And with Eclipso… it's personal now."

.

Rick heard about an "adorable but incredibly annoying" girl who spoonfed a lot of information to his case worker and his advocate. They didn't have to describe her. He did initially automatically think Courtney, since that was who saw him last on the outside and that's who annoyed him more than any girl he knew…

But when they spoke about legal documents, school incidents and cases and studies of similar cases..  He knew that they meant Beth. A lot of her findings needed to be double checked by the proper authorities and his advocate would need to speak with a judge, but it was looking like Rick may be entitled to psychological treatment from years of abuse that resulted in him finally lashing back.

He wanted to argue with that, but in a way.. that felt like some type of hope and he couldn't say there wasn't truth in it. Whatever Beth had done, he finally felt some peace of mind, since coming here…

.

The court order to grant him a placement took shorter than he thought, even though it still felt super long. The Chapels weren't foster parents, but thanks to some… creative documentation on Beth's part, they were able to be listed as family friends to whom custody could be signed over.

He would be trying for emancipation, but in the meantime, he had a place to sleep and eat and stuff… and Beth was there.

"How did you manage to pull this off?" Rick wondered, more confused than grateful, but she didn't take it to heart. She smiled and tapped her goggles. "Of course…" he stared at his bags on the floor. "Did you get the full story?"

"I got Courtney and Pat's side of it. You don't have to tell me, but in your own time, if you want to, you can." She handed him some mail, "I filled out your paperwork and sent it in. You've gotten at least one response."

"My paperwork?"

She winced, "I totally trespassed into your car and home, scanning everything and looking for something to help me. I traced punched in walls, I took an inventory of the alcohol in there, you name it. I also found the forms that you had for college and financial aid. I took them with me, but also wondered what they were doing there. So I checked on cell phone records and saw that Miss Woods-" she rolled her eyes when she said her name. (She wasn't fond of how cruelly that woman had treated Rick, and she didn't mind saying so), "Had been there. I figured she was the one who gave those to you, went to pay her a visit and questioned her until she told me about what happened earlier. She had seen your uncle and he was belligerent and drinking. I told her that I would speak to your advocate in order to see if that was usable information. It was. She made for a very dependable character reference."

Rick looked stunned. He didn't know what to say, but eventually landed on, "Why am I at your house and not at Pat's? I don't even know your parents and they probably aren't pleased about what happened." 

"Well, I believe that I've managed to do quite the PR campaign for you when I was making my rounds to see if anybody had recollection of witnessing your uncle be unkind to you. A lot of people have been quiet about things that they should have spoken up about… myself included.." she lowered her head, "I noticed bruises on you sometimes at lunch when we weren't friends and I guessed that they weren't from some school fight, otherwise, the school would know." She looked up at him and her eyes were brimming with tears, "All of us made choices to mind our business and just leave you to fend for yourself. Everybody's been feeling pretty guilty that it came to… that.."

She cleared her throat, "There's enough going on at Courtney's house, and Yolanda's isn't an option. I couldn't let you wind up at the group home. Artemis is there. The last time you two saw each other, you almost killed one another. I thought my home was the best choice. It's safe, there's just me here. My parents believed me when I vouched for you, so they would be acting like wardens or anything, and I just… I feel better knowing that if something happens, I'll be there."

He sat down on the guest bed and twiddled his thumbs, "That's just it. If something happens, I… I no longer have the hourglass. I won't be able to protect you fully."

"I can protect myself," she said, sitting next to him. "Just wait until you hear my Eclipso story."

"Your what?"

"He attacked me the same time that he attacked you…" Rick looked terrified as he checked her over for damages. "It's a long story, but I'm fine. It went very differently for me than it did for you." She looked sad for a moment. I think he must've known."

He was confused. Beth looked him in the eyes through her goggles, "That we protect each other. That you fight for me and I fight for you. I felt so victorious when I was able to take my goggles back from me and solidify my place on the team… the. I found out he had gotten to my Rick…" 

His heart jumped in his chest and he stared at her. He reached for her goggles but she shook her head and he withdrew his hands. "It wasn't anything to do with you."

"No, but had I been there…"

"Then you could have gotten hurt or had to see me become the very kind of monster that I hate!" 

She furrowed her eyebrows and she grabbed his hand, harder than she meant to, but that demanded his attention and he stared at her face, "If I had been there, you would've had the extra strength you needed to see through him. I wouldn't have let you fight. Please believe me when I say that I'm sure I could have talked some sense into you. I could have saved you from thinking that you're a monster. Because you aren't a monster, Rick. You're a kid who was in a situation that most of us can't fathom, and when you needed me, I wasn't there." He started crying and shook his head. "I'll understand if you want to stay with Mr. Dugan instead…"

"No. No.."He had told Grundy that day that he just needed someone to care about him, to be kind to him, and he could be alright. Rick was so caught up in the stress of his uncle, he hadn't thought about how he did have someone like that. He had his friends, the Dugans, and he had Beth. She had done all of this, because she felt like she'd failed him. Like she was supposed to protect him. She wasn't obligated to do that, but the fact that she wanted to, that she tried to. 

Hell, she was even correct about being able to talk him down. He didn't know if she could have that night, but as much as she meant to him… he couldn't rule out that what if. He collected her hand to his heart and said extremely softly, "I choose you." 

@futurewriterwannebe

[bethchapelsbonnet]

I Dont remember if it Was on you're Ways to Tell ILY Prompt list but might i sugest a "I Choice you" Hournite One shot?

Can Be Angst with fluff in it

I Knew you will write somethibg great if you Do end up writing this😁 I Also Fell like this could be a future canon Hournite moment on the Show BUT who knews

Also very importent

I am Sincerly Sorry for the last Prompt from me. I Went a bit overboard with it.

Also Sorry for my Lack in grammaticel correctness! English isnt my first language

If you end up writing this Prompt I hope you enjoy writi g it,as much as all of us Reading it

Okay, Beloved... I want to clarify first and foremost, English grammar or proper English really isn't that important to me. My first language is AAVE, and standardized English is basically just forced assimilation in progress, so you don't have to ever feel like apologizing for that. I've always suspected that English wasn't your first language and try to respond accordingly. And I don't ever want that to seem like it's a reason for contention here, because it's not.

I do appreciate you taking a step back and allowing the writer to express things in their own way. Idk your age, but I generally presume most of the fandom folk are younger than I am and if they don't seem to mean any harm, I try to be gracious. I'm actually going to save this prompt and work on it later, but I felt like this post and that one should be separate, so I'll simply tag you whenever I get around to finishing it.

We'll find our way through the communication barriers. 😉