IT'S YOU - [ Ticci Toby X Reader ]

THREE

Note: This is a flashback!

[ AUTHOR POV ]

The sound of the school bell rang throughout the halls of the small, quaint building. It was a sound that made almost every child in the elementary exhilarated. The recess bell. Lines of young children began racing out of the back door that led to the playground. Soon enough, all that was heard was the sound of children's laughter and enjoyment.

This was every kids favourite time of day, but it wasn't as fun for [Y/N]. Since she didn't have any friends to play with, she spent a lot of time sat on an old wooden bench near the entrance; drawing, doing homework, or even just watching everyone else.

The young girl had brought all her coloured pencils with her so she could draw some pretty flowers she saw at the school garden that morning. As she began to sketch from her memory, she felt as if someone was watching her, and to her surprise, there was. She jumped a bit as she turned her head to see a small boy with messy brown hair looking at her drawing.

"I like your drawing! What kind of flowers are those?" He asked excitedly as his brown eyes locked with her [E/C] ones, a happy grin plastered on his face.

"Um..." The girl began, holding her sketchbook to her chest as she scooted a bit farther from him, feeling a little awkward. "I don't really know.." She spoke quietly, looking down at her feet out of shyness.

He took the opportunity to sit himself down next to her, his smile never seeming to fade. [Y/N] took notice that his arms would occasionally twitch or his neck would crack. She thought it was a bit odd but she tried not to stare, not wanting to be rude.

"I'm Toby!" He sang, quickly snapping her out of her thoughts. She let a small smile creep up on her lips as she showed him a little wave.

"I'm [Y/N].." The shy girl responded, loosening up and placing her sketchbook back down on her thighs, beginning to start colouring again.

"Hmm.. I'm gonna call you [N/N]! I like that name better." He let out a giggle, one that was quite contagious, as it caused the girl to begin to giggle as well.

"Nobody has ever given me a nickname before." She added, looking up for a quick moment to flash him a smile before reverting her attention back to her art.

"Well, you're special so I gave you a special name!" He replied with that sing-song voice of his. "So, do you wanna be friends, [N/N]?" He seemed so excited to ask that question, he was obviously waiting impatiently for the answer.

"Sure, we can be friends—" She was interrupted by the boys arms wrapping around her shoulders, giving her a warm hug from the side. She was taken aback by the sudden sign of affection which the boy quickly caught onto and returned his arms back to his side.

"S-Sorry.. I just get a bit ex-excited." He giggled a bit nervously, his smile surprisingly staying on his lips.

"It's okay, I'm excited too. I'm glad we are friends now." She responded with a reassuring grin, happy that she had finally found someone as sweet as Toby to call her friend.

6 YEARS LATER

The teenaged girl dragged her feet along the sidewalk on a cool, autumn morning. Looking at her feet as she walked, she hummed the tune that was playing quietly through her earbuds. Her black backpack hung off one of her shoulders, occasionally sliding down. She kept a hold on her iPod in the pocket of her green, hooded jacket.

She was making her way to the street on the way to her new high school to meet her best friend of six years halfway. She was quite nervous to start her first year of high school, but she knew everything was going to be okay with him by her side.

"[Y/N]!"

Her head shot up as she heard her name echo from the block ahead, and soon she noticed the boy standing next to the stop sign, waving her down with a wide grin. She beamed out of happiness as she raced towards him, not even bothering to look both ways when she crossed the street.

"Toby!" She spoke as she finally caught up to him, trying to steady her breaths. "I'm so excited, but nervous." She laughed as they began to walk down the sidewalk together.

"I am too." He chuckled along, looking over to the [H/C] haired girl. His heart felt so warm when he heard her laughter, he got a sense of safety just by being with her.

He admired how beautiful she was, all her features were absolutely perfect to him. The way her [E/C] eyes sparkled when she saw him, and the way her dimples formed on her [S/C] cheeks when she smiled. He had quite strong feelings for her, feelings he could never put into words. But, he could never admit it. Their friendship was more important to him, and he was okay with that.

TIME SKIP

The brown haired boy sat under a tall oak tree outside of the school, fiddling with his fingers and twitching occasionally as he watched the other students chat with one another.

The past few months hadn't been going so smoothly for Toby. Once the peer pressure of high school started kicking in, [Y/N] was starting to stray from him as she found herself in a clique full of kids from their old school who weren't the nicest people towards him.

His heart dropped as he spotted them all together, chatting about whatever. He figured they must've seen him too, as they kept glancing over at him then laughing. He just shrugged it off, trying to ignore it with his full ability.

At this time, he really needed his best friend by his side again. He would occasionally send her a text but she hardly ever replied, so he ended up just giving up. She was obviously uninterested in him now that she had found 'cooler' people. He just didn't want to be a nuisance.

His home life wasn't going so smoothly either, which made matters even worse. His father began drinking again and he was almost never home, and when he was, he was wasted; always yelling at everyone for every reason he could find. His mother was too busy with work to even notice a change in his behaviour and his sister was always out with friends.

The boy jumped as he was snapped out of his train of thoughts when the group of people were now in front of him, [Y/N] standing behind some guy. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact, which made Toby frown.

"Hey!" The tall, built, blonde haired guy in the front and center called out, kicking the smaller boy's backpack that had been setting in front of him to get his attention.

Toby ignored them, trying his hardest to contain twitches as he looked down at his feet.

The man seemed to get more hostile, as he grabbed onto the neck of the boy's black shirt, taking him by surprise. His heart began to beat faster and faster as he glanced around them. Nobody was there to witness this except him and the group.

"W-What—" Toby began, speaking quietly as his body began to shake out of fear before being interrupted by a familiar feminine voice.

"Liam stop.." [Y/N] spoke silently, coming from behind the man. He immediately let go, shoving the boy as he chuckled mockingly. A nervous expression appeared on the girls face but she didn't do anything about it.

"Hey twitchy, the hell's wrong with you?" He picked at him with a snicker, glaring into his eyes. That evil grin of his was enough to make Toby feel heated, but he knew he had nothing against him.

Liam threw a punch at his shoulder, which pushed him onto the ground. None of this bothered him physically, but mentally. The man laughed along with his friends as the boy struggled to get back up.

"You're lucky you can't feel it, aren't you?" He mocked him, stepping closer and closer to the other who was now on his feet. "Ticci Toby."

Toby's face went white when he heard that name. He hadn't heard that since middle school. His heart was beating even faster than before as he tried his hardest to hold back the hot tears in his eyes. She told them his secrets.

The man chuckled along with the group as they finally began to walk away, leaving the boy standing there all alone.

Why would she do that?