Chris Evans Imagines

First Anniversary - Part 5: First 'I Love You'

Trigger warnings: being held at gunpoint

Author's Note: Lines from Boy Meets World and Grey's Anatomy were used in this chapter. For copyright reasons, they do not belong to me.

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Y/N slowly drives her car up a familiar driveway, the same one she left this morning. It's been a long yet exciting afternoon of driving around gathering love letters and reminiscing down memory lane, but pulling up in front of her house to get her final letter only makes it bittersweet.

Walking towards the front entrance she sees a letter taped above the door handle and suddenly anxiety floods in with each closer step towards the letter. Looking down at the previous letters in her hand she remembers her last clue in the latest letter. "I love you." Those three words did not scare her one bit, not even when he said them first after just a few months of dating because she knew from the moment he hit her head with the locker, it was love at first hit. It's not how he said it, it's not where he said it, it's more of the nightmare involved that led to why he said it that makes her shudder.

She removes the letter from the door. Before opening it she realizes she wants to savor this moment before walking into whatever is behind that wooden door. She lets out a deep breath as she sits down at the top of the steps and opens the letter.

Babe,

As you can tell, this is your final letter and I'm going to tell you a story I've never told you before. It was the morning after we said I love you.

I went to the kitchen while you got in the shower to make us some PB&Js, and while I was walking down the stairs I ran into your dad. I thought he was going to kill me because clearly we had been caught that you had a boy in your room.

Instead he wanted to talk to me about something else, about love. He told me the story about him and your mom. Two kids who shouldn't have ever fallen in love, not because they were too young, but because of their different lifestyles. They were a modern day Romeo and Juliet love story.

As he was explaining this, I knew where this conversation was headed; I was about to have one of those 'the father talking to the daughter's boyfriend' talks. I was so nervous not knowing what kinds of questions your dad would ask, or what threats he would tell me, but instead he took me by surprise when he asked, "What do you think love means, Chris?"

I didn't hesitate to answer.

"Love isn't about what her favorite color is, green, or favorite food, PB&Js. It's not that high school puppy love stuff where you can't eat or sleep, or passing little check boxes notes in classes. It's about finding the person who can understand you just by looking into your eyes, who tears down the walls you've built up, to bring you up when you're down, who makes you feel more alive each day, and changes you for the better because she knows you're a good person despite your mistakes. I was in a dark place when I met her, and she was like coming up for fresh air. I was drowning and she saved me. So that's what I think is love. When I'm better because she's here."

Y/N's vision gets blurry as tears fill her eyes and fall down her cheeks. She folds the letter in half and takes a deep breath as she remembers that night.

Tears begin to fall down Y/N's cheek, "Please..." she says with a shaky breath.

She had just walked into the gas station for a couple of sodas and junk food to take to Chris's house for their movie date night. She never expected someone to walk into the gas station with the intention of robbing the place as she was about to pay.