Stand By Me Preferences and Imagines

You Comfort Him

Chris:
Chris had a major competition for mock trial the next day, and he was freaking out. He was in your room, pacing back and forth. You let him do this for a little while, hoping that it would help him calm down. Once you realized that the pacing wasn't helping, you stood up from your bed and gently grabbed Chris's hands.

"Chris, just breathe," you said, "You're going to do amazing. I know you are."

Chris shook his head frantically, "No y/n, you don't understand. I need to do well tomorrow. I need to. If I don't then everyone's going to think they were right about me. Everyone's going to say, 'there's that Chambers kid messing everything up all over again'. And my dad will just..."

The whole time Chris was speaking, tears started forming in his eyes. As soon as he mentioned his dad, he completely broke down. You quickly wrapped your arms around him and led him to your bed so he could sit down. He was shaking. The thing with Chris's dad was that he wasn't just physically abusive, he was emotionally abusive as well. He would always tell Chris that he was worthlessly, that he wouldn't amount to anything, that he was no good. On top of that, it seemed like all his teachers were against him from the start. They made school exceptionally more difficult for Chris. It wasn't any wonder why he broke down like this.

You didn't say anything for a long time, just let him sit there and cry as you gently rubbed his back. It broke your heart to see Chris like this, but you knew that crying would help him get his emotions out. Once Chris had calmed down a little, you pulled away from the hug and started to wipe his tears away.

"Chris, everything's going to be fine, I promise you," you said, "When you're out there tomorrow, don't worry about your dad. Don't worry about anyone else. Just focus on doing the best for you, for Chris Chambers, no one else."

You then held his hands in yours and said, "You know, when I was little and I would get nervous about something, my mom would do this breathing thing with me to help me calm down. Do you want to try it with me?"

Chris nodded, his hand still in yours.

You started to explain the breathing exercise to Chris, "So basically, you're going to take three deep breaths, and each time you take a deep breath, you're going to think about something that makes you happy, okay?"

Chris nodded once again before closing his eyes; you did the same. You two started the exercise.

Breathe in, breathe out; breathe in, breathe out; breathe in, breathe out.

After the final breath, you opened your eyes to see Chris looking a lot calmer. His tears had completely stopped, and he had stopped shaking. Chris opened his eyes, and smiled slightly at you.

"You feel better?" You asked him.

Chris nodded, "A lot better."

He kissed you softly and said, "Thank you, y/n."

"Anytime Chris," you told him, "I love you."

"I love you too," he responded.

He pulled you back into a hug. You were happy to see that Chris had calmed down, and hoped that the breathing exercise would help him tomorrow.

Gordie:
You were having dinner at Gordie's house with his parents, and it was awkward to say the least. No one was talking, everyone was just sitting there in silence. Mr. Lachance would barely even look at anyone. He just stared at his plate the whole time. You had met the Lachance's briefly before, and Gordie had warned you about how detached from reality his parents were, but nothing could have prepared you for how uncomfortable the dinner was.