common sense • rini/jolivia one shots

coming back to you (j•o)

the sequel to "i know we weren't perfect" but can be read as a stand alone!!!

her heart pounds as she walks around the ground floor of the D23 Expo. it's been years since she'd been to one of these, almost six years.

HSMTMTS had been over for quite a while now, having gotten the six seasons that Tim wanted, wrapping the show up nicely. the fan base was pretty large, that's why the company asked her to come to the expo to do a panel on the show, letting fans ask questions.

Olivia was nervous. for more than one reason. she hadn't kept up with all her cast members over the years and there was bound to be some awkwardness.

she was 21 when the show ended so as soon as they wrapped on the series finale, she flew to NYC to start going to school full time at Columbia. it was a dream. she had somewhat of a normal college experience. she partied and hooked up with different guys, she studied hard and was on the Deans list every semester, she had lots of friends and was involved in a lot of student activities. of course, people wanted pictures and autographs and wanted her to sing her songs or talk about her previous relationship.

a lot had gone down with that previous relationship. after she and Josh broke up, they remained professional at work but didn't really talk unless it was necessary. he started officially dating Sabrina and she focused on her music career. she released her debut song and it blew up. ultimately, everyone knew that it was about the two of them but they never officially confirmed anything so it was still technically up in the air.

that didn't mean she wasn't nervous to see him. she hadn't seen him in six years, the last time being them playing opposite on tv. it was weird. some part of her wanted to see him again.

"Olivia! glad you could make it! we're gonna start soon but we'll call you out and you'll just sit at your assigned panel seat." the stage manager said as she entered the backstage area.

she could hear voices all around her, some of them belonging to her old cast mates. suddenly the crowd began to roar.

"welcome to the D23 Expo! we're happy to present you with a panel with the cast and creator of High School Musical The Musical The Series! please help me welcome the creator, Tim Federle!"

the audience cheered as he entered the stage and sat down.

"now, you know him as snarky sweetheart Ricky Bowen, Joshua Bassett!"

Liv freezes as she hears his name, the crowd going absolutely wild.

"shes the ever lovable Nini Salazar-Roberts, Olivia Rodrigo!"

she takes a deep breath before walking out onto the stage. the audience is going crazy, cheering for her. she smiles and waves before taking a seat. shes sat next to Josh and for a moment, she meets his gaze and he gives her a soft smile.

eventually the full cast is reunited on stage and everyone is talking about their characters backgrounds when the show ended.

"obviously, everybody loves Rini. we were all very happy about their ending. Josh and Olivia, can you talk about that a little?" the host asked.

Josh nods, "yeah. we knew from about season four onward that Ricky and Nini were going to get married. we had a conversation, Olivia, Tim and i about how that was going to happen. having Ricky propose while they were still in college was a very characteristic thing for him to do. he knew he loved her and wanted to be with her."

Olivia takes over after he looks at her, "oh um, yeah i always had a feeling they'd get married in the end so having that reassurance was nice. i think that ending the show with a sort of flash forward kind of thing where the fans got to see them get married and have a family was super cute. the two kids who played our children were adorable so that was a plus."