Chapter Text
Gally pov
I can't breathe.
I've just rambled the most vulnerable parts of myself and I can't breathe. She just told me that she loved me and I can't breathe. Her words feel disgustingly familiar. I have to bite my tongue so I don't say it back. So I don't start crying. I'm suddenly aware of how close we are and how tight the neckline of my hoodie is. I'm suddenly aware of how good Rory smells. Like grass and the lavender soap that came up with her. She smells like spring, or at least what I assume spring smells like. Fuck. Everything she does is familiar. She is familiar. I want her here with me forever.
“Thanks.”
Welp. There goes any form of relationship we have. What the fuck is wrong with me. I just said thank you. She said I love you and I said fucking thank you. That has to be a new record of stupidity from me. Well done, Gally, you really know how to woo a girl. Not that I was trying to woo her. She's my best friend. Not some crush.
“You're welcome.” She says too awkwardly for it to be normal for us. How am I the most awkward person?
“Sorry.”
“It’s ok.” Sure, Rory, like what I did was perfectly fine.
“I didn't mean for that to sound so stupid.”
“I didn't say that for you to say it back. I said it so you knew.” oh my fucking god im going to cry. Right here, right now, in front of her. By the way, Rory's face changes and I can tell she sees the emotion building in my eyes. Before I even can hesitate I pull her into a suffocating hug.
“Thank you.” and this time its not awkward. My voice is thick with emotion.
“Don't thank me for being your friend.” She mumbles into my shoulder
“I love you too, rory.” There is no hesitation in my voice, no fear. I truly mean it. There is nothing else I can say without having tears well up in my eyes. I know it’s stupid but I can finally breathe when she’s in my arms. The boulder on my chest has been lifted. Every second lasts an eternity and mmit is not long enough. I realize here and now that I cannot pretend any longer. I cannot pretend to be in love with her. I can’t lie about this. I do love her. I love her more than anything. I do not have to pretend.
“wonderboy.” she mumbles into my chest
“Yes firecracker?”
“I never want you to feel like you can’t talk to me. I'm here, always.” i want to say that I know. I know she’ll always be here. That I know she wouldn't leave. I know she would never voluntarily leave.
“Ok, firecracker. I'll come to you. I wont shut you out again.”
______________________
We stay in that emotional cloud for what feels like hours. Eventually the sun starts to set and she falls asleep on my shoulder. At this very moment I feel completely at peace. A golden ray of light hits us and it lights her on fire. It’s beautiful. Her white streak of hair glows orange. Her dark eyelashes flutter against her cheeks. The recent days in the sun have given her freckles and a sunkissed glow that suits her well. I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and sigh. What the fuck is wrong with me. I'm disturbing my own peace. My brain wants me to literally die. My chest tightens. I can’t look at her without getting dizzy. I hold her closer. She’s so beautiful.
I lay her down and immediately feel perverted. I can’t take my eyes off her. Yes her face is gorgeous but her body is perfect. Her entire form was sculpted from god. Her hips, her stomach, her thighs, her chest…god, even her ass could have me on my knees. My hand rests on her thigh before it slides up. The beautiful dips of her hips, the soft curves of her body make me turn red with the thoughts flying through my head. I remove my hand. I want to hold her and never let go. To tell her that I think she’s the only thing keeping me grounded. She is the reason I let newt help me. I wanted to get better, not for myself, but for her. I want to love her. I want her to love me. I want. I want. I want.
I lay next to her on my bed. I don’t care if I regret this in the morning, I want to indulge in this. I’m tired of doing things that I need to do. I’m tired of suffering in my own head. I want to live for a minute. I want to feel her close to me. I want my life to circle around her and only her. I can pretend now. I can pretend that we are safe and we are together and we are happy.
I let myself pull her in close and she turns, now facing me. I stare at her till I feel myself falling into sleep. I want to engrave her face into my brain so I can see every detail of her when I'm sleeping. I don’t want to lose her to my nightmares. Eventually I lose myself to my battle with sleep, cuddled against Rory, my arm around her waist.
Rory POV
I wake up to the sun through the window. I yawn and remember what happened last night. The memory of his broken face and his confessions hit me. They hit before the fact that gally is cuddling me does.
Holy shit, Gally’s cuddling me.
I don’t move. I'm too comfortable to move. His warmth and weight against me could lull me back to sleep if I let it. I can feel my face heat up. His hand lays loosely against my stomach. This was probably the best sleep of my life,being in his arms. In his bed. I can’t help but smile at the soft snores that come from him. Another reason he’s fucking ardorable; he sleeps like a god damn baby. All bundled up and in a ball. His arm that isn't around my waist is tucked against his face. He looks so . Likes he's not holding so much stress and can finally relax.
I try not to move, not wanting him to wake up and end this moment. God he's so beautiful. I don't know how someone can be this attractive. His freckles and lips and eyes, everything about his face makes me melt. Hell even his eyebrows, I don't care if newt and Thomas make fun of them, I can't imagine his face without them. I look down at his hand that's on stomach and thoughts that i'd rather not have come to mind. Ones that involve his hand around my throat as the other works up my thigh.
Fuckin hell rory, pull yourself together. I can't believe that's where my mind goes. I'm such a fucking freak. I gulp that familiar heated knot in my stomach and look down at his torso, slowly moving my eyes down. He's curled up like a cat. I wish this was how he was all the time. Instead he's just a very awkward asshole. Not that I mind much. But can't help but wonder what it would be like if gally acted like a lovely lovely boyfriend. Pff. That's never gonna happen.
I lightly chuckle to myself,gallys eyes flutter open. I freeze, staring into his eyes. His eyes are so pretty.
“Hi.” He says softly, bringing me back to reality.
His face is a little pink. Awww he's blushing.
“Hi.” I smile awkwardly.
“I'm sorry.” He removes his hand from my stomach and I'm ashamed to say I miss it.
“Don't be sorry, it was a good night's sleep for once.” I sit up reluctantly. “And anyway, this will make everyone stop being suspicious of our dating.” I grin. He sits up. His shirt has ridden up showing his lean stomach and happy trail. Holy shit. Why does he have to be so fucking hot. Couldn't be ugly like sam.
I notice hes not wearing arm cuffs like usual and I see scars. Oh. I make sure not to make a big deal of it or anything, but knowing that he ever did this makes me hurt for him more. But not only do I see his scars I see his tattoo.
“I didnt know my fake boyfriend had a tattoo” I smirk. His ears are so red from waking up to me in his bed. Such a dork.
“I don't remember getting it, I had it coming up in the box.”
“It's cool. I like realistic lightning.” I smile up at him.
I can't believe we both have tattoos that we don't remember getting. Mine is on my back that I didn't realize I had till I showered and looked in the mirror. It's like lines of swirling smoke from shoulder to shoulder.
“Yeah, I guess it's cool. I don't know anyone else with a tattoo here.”
“Yeah ya do.”
“No I don't. No one else in the Glade has one, dummy.” He says with a scoff. Again, he's such a fucking dork.
“Yes. This guy right here.” I point to myself playfully.
“Where. You'd think I'd see it since you wear shirts every. Unless it's on your ass.” I snort.
“I don't remember much of anything from before the Glade but I'm almost positive I'm not that trashy.”
He laughs. “so, where is this tattoo?”
“In my back, wanna see. I only discovered it two days ago.” he nods
I pull my shirt off and turn my back to him. When I do he audibly gasps
“What, you've never seen a back before?” I tease.
I turn to him with a grin but his face looks troubled. Like there's something he needs to tell me.
My face falls
“What?” He looks me in the eye
“I've seen this before.” What the fuck does that mean. “That's ominous.” I try to laugh it off. But he's not laughing. In fact, he looks like he's seen a ghost.
“Rory, I'm serious. I've seen this tattoo.” He starts tracing my tattoo as if he's memorized it. It causes shivers down my spine.
“Where have you seen it.”
“In my dreams.” Ok, this sounds like the shittyest romcom line ever. I can't help but snort which warms me with a flick to my neck.
“Come-on, you except me to think that was a little funny.”
“I'm serious, Rory”
“Ok. Ok. So, you saw the tattoo in your dreams, big deal. Maybe it's not exact.” He sighs.
“It's like a mirror image, firecracker. I've seen it for almost three years in my dreams. Id know it anywhere.”
“So, what does this mean.” I say, slightly breathless. He's seen my back in his dreams, which fills me with dread and extreme happiness. Because yes it's kind of creepy, it's also super fucking cool. This could mean we knew each other. It would explain why everything we do feels like deja vu. And he said dreams. Not nightmares. His dreams have me in them, I'm a happy memory in his head.
“I don't know. All I know is that if I'm right that means we either knew each other before the Glade. Or whoever put us here is messing with my head.”
I nod
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. It would explain the familiarity.”
He drops his hand from my back. When I turn to him he's smiling a little.
“What, dork?”
“That explains why I liked you as soon as I saw you.” I blush.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. For almost three years your tattoo has been the only good dream I have. The only thing that let me sleep.” Just knowing that I helped him sleep makes my insides melt. “Well, I'm happy I could be of service to you.” I grin playfully. He rolls his eyes and snorts.
“I always thought it was really pretty.”
“Aww, thanks dork.” Before he can reply we hear banging. “What the fuck.”
“It's coming from the hallway” Gally says, getting up and moving to the door. Our moment forgotten as we head through the hallway. He stop in front of the last door. Minho’s.
I good at Gally with a knowing smirk
“Who do you think he's fucking in there?” He chuckles but before he can make any bets we hear a familiar voice amongst the moans. Holy fucking shit it's newt. Oh my god!
“Oh my fucking God. No way.” I turn to Gally and struggle to keep my giggles in. Gally on the other hand is flabbergasted. He's slack jaw, eyes bugged out.
“Good God. That shank is getting railed.” I laugh and pull him back to his room. We pause for a second just staring at each other before we laugh so hard we cry.
“No wonder he was so quick to give me his room when I came up.” I wipe my tears.
“I never thought they'd get together. We've all made jokes but this is a whole different level.” He chuckles
“I bet this has been happening a while.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. And nobody probably knew because he already has the limp.” I giggle. Gally gasps “I never thought of that.” I sit down on his bed, pulling his blanket around my shoulders and pulling my knees to my chest.
“Whatcha doin.?” Gally asks, sitting next to me.
“Getting comfy, it's a little cold this morning.”
“You don't have a jacket?”
“No. The box hasn't given me own yet. The only ones that we have are taken.” he stand and rummages through a box before pulling out a warn, grey, zip up hoodie.
“Here. It'll be a bit big on you.” I take it from his hand.
“Thanks, Wonderboy.” I pull it on and see that it's definitely a few sizes too big. My hands are covered by the sleeves which is nice. He smiles at me with soft eyes.
“You look… you look really adorable.” His ear are red again. If I could take a picture every time he looked like this I would. He's so pretty like this.
Wow, Rory. Pull yourself together and not think about weird ass shit like that. “Thanka bud.” Did I just say bud. What the actual fuck. Gally face falls for a literal microsecond then he snorts and smirks.
“Bud? Really? Friends don't even call each other that.”
“Yeah, I don't know. Anyway, we should go get food.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We walk to the homestead holding hands. Mostly because I'm freezing and need the warmth. Gally isnt even chilled according to him. I knew he ran warm but this is ridiculous. My teeth start to chatter even with his jacket and his own body heat.
“Fuck you, man.”
“What the hell did I do?” He says while half laughing.
“It's colder than a witches tit and your not even cold.” He pulls me in as we walk, I wrap my arms around his waist but I stop walking.
“What, Rory?”
“i don't wanna walk.”
“Why?”
“Too cold. My toes are numb.” They totally aren't numb and I'm just being lazy, but I don't give two shits.
He huffs and picks me up surprisingly easily. He maneuvers me so it's like a piggy back ride
“Thank you, dork.”
“Any time, shitbag.” I giggle and lean down to whisper stupid shit in his ear.
“Can you stop, you are such an idiot.”
“All I said was that newt and minho have been getting busy.”
“Yeah, which yes, is very funny. But newt is like a brother to me in a way and I don't want to hear about his back getting blown out.”
I bark a laugh.
We walk into the homestead and we sit down. It's not very early so it's pretty packed.
“Hey fry, up here.” When frypan looks up and sees me he snorts
“What do you want.”
“Coffee please. Two actually. And a breakfast sandwich.”
He hand me the coffee and Gally the small paper bag with my sandwich. Gally walks us over to my usual table with Thomas and chuck. Gally prys me off him and we sit close together drinking our coffee.
“Newt isnt here yet surprisingly.” Thomas says while taking a chug of coffee.
“Yeah, he's still sleeping.” Chuck mumbles
I snort
“Yeah he must be really tired”
“Yeah, he's probably exhausted.” Gally chuckles
I start eating my sandwich while this and chuck look extremely confused. Gally drinks his coffee with one hand on my knee.
“So, gal, what's your favorite food.” I ask carefully.
“Um, I like fry’s burgers.”
“Oh yeah, those are good. I like his stew.”
“Have you ever had ice cream?”
“No.” I gasp. He's never had icecream. That's unacceptable.
“I'll change that…eventually.” I lean against me a little.
“Gally.”
“What?”
“Do you want to eat something, maybe, just a little.” I really am not good at this.
“Not right now.”
“um, Ok.” I pat his knee softly
“ Not starving myself. I just don't like eating in front of everyone.” I kiss his cheek.
“How about we go to your room. Or mine. We can eat in there.”
I silently hope he agrees
“Ok. But we have work soon.” I groan
“Nononono, dont make me work today.”
“Rory, you have to work.”
“But we need a day off. We never have a day off.”
Newt walks in before he can respond. His limp looks worse. Damn. Minho did a number on him.
“Heyy, newt. What's up.” Gally looks up and smirks. “Looks like you've had a rough morning.”
I snort
Newts face turns into a tomato and sits.
“Shut up, ya shanks.” He groans
I stand, taking gallys hand and pulling up.
“We are gonna go to his room. See you guys later.” We start to walk out. I grab a paper bag with a sandwich for Gally. When we get to the room I close the door and throw the bag at him.
“Please eat. You don't have to if you really don't want to but I just want you to eat a little.”
Sitting next to him I take his hand.
“Ok.” he grabs the sandwich. Yes!
He sits and eats for a bit while I doodle on his knee. I found a pen ten minutes ago and haven't put it down since. So far I've drawn some stupid flowers, a dick, a few smiley faces, and a mushroom.
“Doll, stop drawing dicks on my knee.” Doll? I don't even want to admit what that makes me feel. My insides feel like jello.
“It's only one, get over it.”
“It's still a cock and balls.” I grin. “God your weird, Rory.” I chuckle and cap my pen.
“So, Gally, how's that dry sandwich?”
“Dry.”
“Tasty.” I say sarcastically.
“Um. Don't look out the window but Sam is staring at us.” Gally says staring at me, I'm surprised. Mostly because knowing Gally he'd probably beat him to a pulp again.
“When did he get out of the slammer?”
“This morning for good behavior.”
I groan “whyyyy!”
“Do you want to, maybe, make our relationship believable?” He asks with a smirk, but his ears are bright red. He's embarrassed he asked. How cute.
“Are you looking for an excuse to kiss me, Wonderboy?”
“Maybe.”
I lean in and kiss him softly. This is way better than any kiss we've ever had. Usually it's a peck or a little longer. This is a full blown romcom kiss. He pulls me in closer by my waist, leaving hot fingerprints it it's wake. I lace my fingers through his hair. His hair is so soft. We don't pull away like I had expected. Instead it gets more heated. Oh shit. why are his lips so soft. He pulls my down so I'm on top of him in the bed. A knot forms in my stomach. I straddle his waist and place my hands on his broad chest. I feel his hands fiddle with the hem of my shirt and go under. I freeze. Shit. This can't happen. I will my self to pull away, but I can't. This feels way too real. It feels right. I pull away.
“Gally.” Im breathless.
“Rory.” I call feel my body reacting to his husky voice. And I'm not the only one reacting. He's got a boner. Oh god. This is going way too far.
“We can't.”
“Why not.”
I don't even have an answer for him. I want it. My body wants it. It's painfully obvious that we both are willing.
“Um…Sam's watching still, isn't he?”
He looks over my shoulder
“He's gone, Rory.”
Well there goes my excuse. And my self control isn't far behind. I can feel him throbbing under me.
“If you really don't want to we don't have to.”
And of course he's being sweet.
“I want to.”
“So what's stopping you.” I realize then that nothing is stopping me.
“Would this change things between us?”
“It doesn't have to.”
That's all I needed to lose all self control.
I kiss him and grind my hips against his erection.