Michael Afton x Reader

dreaming 2

On the ride to your date he points out all the interesting places you drive by to let you know more about the town, but you're only focusing on him. After about 15 minutes the two of you arrive at the part of town you walked to earlier in the day, but with the sun setting it feels like a completely different place. you barely even realized you were holding his hand the entire night, as you only let go during dinner. For dinner he takes you to a quaint little Italian restaurant near the end of the block. the two of you spoke about anything and everything through the meal- the conversations just flowed so easily with him. you weren't worried about embarrassing yourself or saying the wrong thing, you just had fun. you spent a lot of time just sitting in the restaurant, but finally, the two of you split the bill and walked around the rest of the square.

"I'd love to own a little shop like one of these." you tell him as the two of you go into a jewelry store.

He smiles at that remark. "what would you sell?"

"I dunno. flowers." you say with a giggle.

"I like that idea." he replies, and pulls some floral earrings off a shelf. "What do you think?"

"they're beautiful, the details are amazing." you respond. "Are your ears pierced?"

"yeah, my sister did them when they were kids." he told you as he grabbed a matching pair of earrings.

"she sounds amazing- did she teach you those makeup skills too?" you ask. his smile falters for just a moment.

"oh, no... she died when she was 10." he responded quietly.

"I'm so sorry..." you reply, feeling stupid for bringing it up. Michael looks back up at you with that smile of his and squeezes your hand."

"It's alright, it was a long time ago. hey. I still have one more thing to show you your surprise." he said with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Alright, but first-" you take one of the pairs of earrings he picked up and pay for it, then put the other pair back on the shelf. you put one earring in your ear and give him the other. "it'll look better like this." he looks at you in a way he hasn't before, like he finally feels safe and loved. It looks like it's been a long time since he's felt that wanted. What do you know? shut up and enjoy the moment.

Michael puts in the earring and takes your hand again, leading you out of the store and past the rest of the buildings. The two of you end up on a hill, hidden between the square and some houses in the distance. He gets down on the soft grass and pats the ground next to him, so you lie down.

"Oh!" Only as you lie on the grass do you look up to see the stars- thousands upon thousands like you could never see before because of the light pollution in your hometown. looking up at them, you feel so tiny and yet infinite. you feel immortal, like one of the stars themselves. After a long stretch of staring up at the night sky, you remember that the world exists. you begin to realize the cold, so you instinctively scoot closer to Michael. when you look over at him, he's looking right back at you.

"sorry." you say, feeling bad for moving so close to him. 

"you never have to apologize." he replies in a whispery voice, so quiet you wouldn't have heard if the world weren't completely silent at that moment. He cups your face in his hand and you move your head towards his hand. You think it's been too long since either of you had felt this way, so you return the gesture by gently playing with his hair. He closes his eyes and sighs softly, and he seems truly at peace. the two of you stay like that in silence for what could've been mere seconds or millenia, it doesn't matter. you must've drifted off to sleep, because the next thing you know Michael is gently shaking your shoulder.

"hm?" you mumble drowsily, not wanting to get up.

"sorry- I'm sorry, we both kinda fell asleep. uh, it's 2 in the morning and really, really cold. I meant to take you home earlier, I'm sorry-" he explains to you.

"no, it's ok, don't apologize." you mumble in response, still only half awake. your senses slowly return to you and you realize just how fucking cold it is. for the middle of July temperatures really drop at night here. Michael helps you stand up and you lean on him as you walk back to his car.

"y/n, you're colder than a corpse." Michael comments, sounding worried.

with a tired smile, you reply, "I'll be fine, I'm always cold." Still, he puts his jacket over your shoulders and wraps his arm around you to try and stop you from shivering. Once you get to his car, he opens the door for you and immediately turns the heat on.

"I don't have any blankets or anything..." he says apologetically, but you shake your head. "Seriously, I'll be fine!" thank god he gave me his jacket I feel like a fucking popsicle. he turns on his headlights and drives you home with the heater on full blast and quiet music playing from his radio. It reminds you of elevator music, but with more drums. bongos, maybe? The two of you are usually never quiet next to each other, but now you both sit in comfortable silence on the drive to your apartment.

Unfortunately, the drive is short and you soon arrive at the building. when the car stops, you look over to him. "Do you want to come inside?" you ask quietly. He nods in response, and you both find the stairs and go up to your room. you fumble with the keys for a minute, but he waits patiently as you open the door. When you get inside, he walks to the old stool from earlier and sits down. you grab an extra blanket from your still packed moving boxes, and then sit on your mattress. "Do you want to stay the night?" you ask again, slow and quiet, as if afraid speaking too much will break the bond you've made with him. He nods again, seeming unsure how to answer. "You can sleep under the blankets if you want, I trust you." you tell him as you can't help but drift off to sleep. He hesitates, but then walks over to your bed and lies down on top of the blankets anyway. Still, you feel him put his arm around you as you finally fall asleep. no nightmares haunt your mind tonight, and you feel completely at home for the first time since moving here.

a/n: prepare for some angst soon y'all ;)

word count: 1144