#the ssttitd writers did ramon dirty tho omg

[ssttitdramon]

Ready To Hear It?

Ramón Morales x Stella Nicholls

Request: Ramón x Stella thing where Ramón comes back from the war and Stella confesses her feelings to him and idk what else to put

Word Count: 2,769

Note: Sorry that I posted this later than promised. You might’ve just wanted a Ramón x Stella moment, but the thought of the three in college, letters from Ramón in Vietnam, and Ramón’s family was something stuck in my head so I included all of that too. If you’d like to send in a request, take a look at the rules.

Also: The random u.s. state generator gave me Texas so that’s where he’s from in this fic (M.G. is actually from there btw!) and I made up family members because the ssttitd writers really didn’t give us much on Ramón’s backstory.

Warning: Brief mentions of the Vietnam war, including an injury/surgery (left hand + broken ribs)

Stella riffled through her backpack once again, checking that she had everything she needed before leaving to Texas. Two years after Ramón left for Vietnam, he came back on a stretcher with three broken ribs and on the verge of losing his left hand. 

According to his sister, Elizabeth, he was finally home from the hospital a week and a half later, recovering from a broken hand and lower rib removal surgery. 

When Stella received the first phone call from Elizabeth, she and Auggie were in the middle of flipping through flashcards for an upcoming major government test. The knocking on her door woke up Chuck, who was passed out on the floor and tried to reach for it.

Stella beat him to it first, opening the dorm door to the bossy redheaded RA, “Yeah?" 

"There’s an Elizabeth on the phone for you down there.” she scrunched her face at the sight of Auggie and Chuck in the room.

Stella turned to look at them, both shrugging. The boys still followed Stella downstairs and stood close by, trying to figure out who the mysterious Elizabeth was.

“Hello?”

“Ah hi, Stella Nicholls?” answered the quiet voice from the other end.

“Yes, this is she. May I ask, who are you?” Stella asked, looking over to the two boys in confusion.

“Oh, I’m Ramón’s sister. He gave me your number some months ago, but I wanted to let you and your friends know that Ramón is back home now and-” her voice cracks and she sniffs, “I’m sorry. He’s injured, but he’s okay.” she manages.

Stella was stunned, “Ramón is back…” she said softly, trying out the words in her own mouth. Stella was afraid saying it any louder would somehow make it false.

“What?” Auggie and Chuck snap in unison, getting closer to the girl.

“Ramón is back.” Stella declared, bringing her hand up to her mouth. “Wait, so he’s injured? Have you seen him?" 

"No, he came in four days ago and is held up at the hospital. They won’t tell us more, but we’ll get to see him tonight.” Elizabeth answered her, voice shaking and on the verge of tears. She couldn’t help but to think about her older brother, she lost him and can hardly handle the thought of losing another brother too.

Stella quickly thanked her for thinking of them and asked to be called for any more news on his recovery. When she hung up, the three were all silently staring at the phone, no one knew how to react. 

“So Ramón’s back? How is he?” Auggie broke the silence, eyeing his friend carefully.

As Stella started to explain the call, she didn’t realize she was tearing up until Chuck wiped her cheek with his sleeve. She pulled the boys in for a hug, the three letting themselves wallow in a pit of emotions. 

Now, while she was packing up to visit him, she couldn’t stop the onslaught of questions she’s already mulled over since the first call. 

How much has the war changed him? How is his family dealing with his return? How different could he be now since he last wrote? Is he in a lot of pain? What if he doesn’t want to see us? 

She frowned at the last one, she couldn’t think like that now. Not when the three were practically invited by his family with his consent. Plus, Chuck finally convinced his roommate to let the trio borrow his car and make the 20+ hour drive to Houston, Texas.  

As Stella walked over to her shelf to grab her journal, the metal tin box containing all of Ramón’s letters caught her eye. Her heart jolted, she opened it up and peered inside, feeling warmth at the sight of the boy’s slanted, tall handwriting. On the nights when Stella had panic attacks, she would open the box and read over bits and pieces of Ramón’s day, finding comfort in his letters.

Stella flipped through some of the trifolded letters, catching random sentences from the top of the papers,

“My mom finally wrote back and she’s not mad at all, I forgot how much I missed her worrying over me…” 

“You’re not much of a flower girl, are you? Here’s this neat flower I pressed, the villagers around here call it Hoa Dao-“

“Sorry it’s been so long, the sky’s been pouring buckets on us in the past month and we’ve only…" 

"Tell Chuck I won’t be able to write him back until next week, but tell him I said congratulations for winning…”

“but I might go to Japan for R&R in a few months,”

“My dad’s still learning English and he’s practicing some on his letters. It’s the best thing seeing chiquillo next to ‘today I took your sister to the tienda y ya ni la hacen aquí, mijo-’” 

“I’m telling you, you’ll be a famous writer. You’ll be selling out all over the world, just wait.”

“oh and there’s this guy here who laughs just like Auggie.”

“This one will be short, the Sgt just got back and already complaining about one grain of sand too many inches to the right- the boys here call him Ol’ Knuckles,”

“Also, remind Chuck to add 5th platoon to my address,”

“but the package that my sister sent me lasted a good two days because-”

“and he had to tackle this stupid scrawny kid to the ground as soon as the dirt started kicking up,” 

“the team did lose two men before we got there though, they left a rosary behind and I didn’t even notice there was a-”

What if I tell him?

That’s a question she’s been avoiding, but it still managed to pop up out of nowhere. Stella never really figured out when she started to have strong feelings for Ramón. Maybe it was when they were running around Mill Valley together trying to figure out the Bellows girl. Maybe it was in the midst of writing back and forth, finding ease in his words. Stella felt silly, she knew she liked him the minute she barged into his car at that drive-in, but she did not expect for the small crush to stick around for that long.

Stella felt conflicted with the idea of confessing to her first real crush. What if he could only see the two as friends while she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him for the past two years? Plus, Ramón just came back from Vietnam and if she considered the stories of those who have come back, would he even care about something like this right now?

She felt her heart twitch at the thought of Ramón’s head still stuck on the other side of the Pacific.

The knock on her door snapped Stella out of her thoughts. Putting the box back on the shelf, she grabbed her journal and went out to Chuck. He flashed her a goofy smile and dangled his roommate’s car keys by the fingers, “I’m driving first, already argued with Auggie about it and it’s settled.” 

The drive to Texas was a long one, the three would switch between driving, reading off from the map and sleeping in the backseat. The first time Auggie was on the wheel, they accidentally veered off course because Chuck apparently doesn’t know how to hold a map. The pair argued in hushed voices, but Auggie’s frustration still woke up Stella. She groggily pushed her way up front and looked over the map, commenting on Chuck’s great sense of direction. Immediately, she pointed her finger at the new route they found themselves in and flopped back down.

In a small town where they stopped to get gas, a couple of middle school students were playing baseball in a nearby field and nearly missed the car’s windshield by an inch. In a split second, Stella was having to hold Chuck back from freaking out on them and had Auggie throw the ball back to the apologetic kids. 

Later that night at a lonely rest stop’s restroom, the boys rushed out of there swearing up and down the men’s room was haunted. “Stella, I’m telling you, the only flickering light was the one in the last stall. We were washing our hands and we suddenly heard shaky humming from there, with no one inside.” Chuck widened his eyes and wiggled his fingers at Stella. 

The tall grass that surrounded the rest stop waved about from the light wind, seeming to make waves towards the woods. As the three looked beyond the pasture, following the waves into the trees, they could barely make out several tall, slender figures in the moonlight at the edge of the woods.

“Those are just tree trunks right?” Auggie asked quietly, until one of the “tree trunks” seemed to let itself glide back like a blade of grass from the wind.

“Alright, I believe you.” Stella admitted as the three rushed into the car, she began to pull out of the parking lot, “I’m so not dealing with this shit again.” 

They drove a few towns over before agreeing to stop at another rest stop that wasn’t completely abandoned and slept in the car for a few hours.

Once they reached the Louisiana-Texas border, Auggie and Stella kept their eyes peeled as they drove an hour into Houston. They managed to find Ramón’s house after passing by it twice and knocked on his door.

Elizabeth welcomed them in, “Hey, my parents are out right now, but Ramón’s awake upstairs.” she noted, closing the door behind them.

Chuck and Auggie immediately noticed the wall of family pictures by the entrance. Elizabeth was quick to point out Ramón’s baby pictures and mentioned the charming resemblance between him and their older brother. Stella looked closer at the image of Ramón and his siblings at a pool before following Elizabeth upstairs.

They stopped at the first white door to the right and lightly knocked, “Ramón, your friends are here.” 

After hearing his “come in”, she opened the door to see Ramón sitting on his bed, occupied with his younger brother. The toddler was too distracted with his plastic dinosaurs to notice the visitors, only looking up when Ramón stopped playing with him and finally noticed everyone at the door.

“Vente,” Elizabeth held her arms out to the small boy, “en un rato juegas con Món.”

The toddler hesitated with leaving Ramón, but after getting his older brother’s go-ahead he walked over to Elizabeth’s arms. The two disappearing into the hallway.  

“Món?” Chuck asked cheekily as Ramón carefully got up.

“Mateo can only pronounce Món and it stuck,” Ramón smirked, “also, I can’t hug you entirely, so you’ll have to do with my right side.” he informed, getting closer to the three.

Stella was the first to hug him, careful with his left side as she buried her face into his shoulder, “If either of you start crying, I’ll start crying too.” Ramón jokingly warned, hand stroking her hair. 

“You hear that, Chucks?” Auggie nudged Chuck’s arm before hugging Ramón.

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll start bawling for our guy here any minute now.” Chuck quipped before turning serious, “No really, we missed you dude.” 

“Me too Chucks, even when your letters would keep on ending up miles away from me.” Ramón pulled Chuck in. 

The four settled on his bed, catching up with him for hours into the afternoon. Chuck even took the liberty of drawing on his small arm cast, “Does your hand hurt?” he asked, doodling himself onto the white. 

“Right now it doesn’t, mostly numb thanks to the pills. I still don’t know when I’ll be able to move it and use it.” Ramón noted as Stella grabbed another marker and started to draw a dragon onto his cast.

When Ramón’s parents came home, they invited the three to stay for dinner. Despite the awkward communication and Auggie’s choppy Spanish, they were all comfortable at the table. Most of all, Stella felt content with Ramón sitting next to her and seeing him with his family. Even considered confessing her heart out later that night, but she was still anxious about his reaction. 

After hearing that the trio planned on staying at a hotel for the night, Mr. and Mrs. Morales did not like the idea. “En un hotel? No, como crees. Diles que por lo menos se queden aquí esta noche y ya ven si se van a un hotel mañana.” Mrs. Morales told her daughter, eyes darting between the three. 

“Mija, deja que se duerman en tu cuarto, tú te vas con Ramón.” Mr. Morales added.

Elizabeth smiled, “My parents want the three of you to consider staying here at least for tonight. You guys can sleep in my room, there are two beds there.” she translated. 

Chuck’s eyebrows shot up, “Really? There’s no trouble?” he asked.

“Nah, you guys are fine. My other sister, Ana, is out of town this week and Elizabeth will sleep in my room.” Ramón assured. 

The three thanked Mr. and Mrs. Morales with an awkward, but genuine “gracias”. Chuck and Auggie even got up to help Mrs. Morales gather and take the dishes to the kitchen, much to Ramón’s amusement. Left alone at the table, Ramón and Stella decided to go back upstairs with Mateo on her hip. 

Ramón went into the restroom, took out a bottle of pills from behind the mirror and started to brush his teeth, “Ever since the surgery I’ve been getting tired easily and these pills knock me out.” he explained. “Won’t be able to stay up with you.”

“It’s no problem, we need some sleep too.” Stella let Mateo down once he nudged at her arm to get down. 

I should tell him now.

There it was again, she pondered over confessing as she followed him into his room. For a while, the two were deep in conversation on his bed until he started to drift off, “Sorry if I just fall asleep on you.” he apologized with a small smile.

“Ramón, I…” Stella hesitated, biting her lip. Ramón’s eyes fluttered open a bit, trying to listen to anything else she had to say.

As Ramón’s eyes grew heavy, Stella tried again. “I think I…” she began, hands fidgeting on her lap. “I think I’m in love with you.” she whispered, it was finally out but Ramón was already asleep. 

The next morning as everyone went downstairs for breakfast, Ramón winked at Stella and pulled her close for a hug, “Good morning, how did you sleep?” he asked with a raspy voice.

“Alright, you?” she chirped, the idea of him having heard her last night racing through her head.

“I actually slept pretty well, no nightmares. Think it helps that you’re all here.” Ramón smiled, not knowing what he was doing to the poor girl’s heart. “Tonight, you, Auggie and Chuck should stay in my room to keep the jungle away for another night.” he added.

After breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Morales rushed to work, promising everyone they’d come home early. Everyone settled to watch TV in the living room except Elizabeth, who had already secured plans with her friends. 

“Mateo’s fine with four babysitters today, huh?” Elizabeth commented, carrying the toddler over to Chuck and Auggie’s place on the couch. The two kept the smaller boy laughing by mocking the voices of characters from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on screen. On the other couch, Ramón and Stella sat close with his right arm over her shoulders, hand mindlessly playing with her hair. 

Once the three boys tired themselves out from imitating random noises from the TV, they fell asleep with Mateo sprawled out over the older boys. Stella took the opportunity to tell Ramón how she felt, again.

“Ramón, last night in your room.” she recalled, feeling his gaze on her. “I told you something I don’t think you heard.” 

“I heard you, Stella.” Ramón nodded, “I can tell it’s hard for you, but I know what you said last night.” he kissed her temple reassuringly.

“Yeah, it’s hard but I feel like I need to make myself clear.” Stella explained, finally turning to look at him.

Ramón shook his head, “That’s okay, every time I got your letters it would become more and more clear. I feel like I’m the one who hasn’t made myself clear,” he cooed. Hearing that, Stella felt her heart at ease.

“Ready to hear it?” he asked with a knowing smile. 

Before he continued, Stella spontaneously began to pepper kisses all over his face, drawing out a soft giggle from Ramón.

*Feedback is always welcome!*