ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴏᴠᴇʀ >> ʙᴇʀᴛʜᴏʟᴅᴛ ʜᴏᴏᴠᴇʀ

chapter 1 : the beach

It was the end of the summer. The beginning of you're senior year, and the beginning of what would be quite an eventful last year at Trost High.

Many of your friends had invited you to end of summer parties, out at their houses where they would play loud music and put god knows what in their bodies. And while ending the summer getting blacked out didn't sound like a bad idea, plans for you had already been made.

Bertholdt Hoover had always been a shy boy. He was never one to stir up any drama or make foes. If anything, he just wanted to lay low and get along with everyone. The two of you had met freshman year when your two families were sharing a cabin in the mountains. Your dads had grown up neighbors, so you had known him for a while but had only ever heard mentions of his son.

Those two weeks together were memories you cherished. Your families would go hiking together everyday in the cool mountain air and spend all day out in nature. At night, your parents would sit out by the fire and have a drink together. And while you and Bertholdt sat out with them the first few nights, their adult conversations quickly bored the two of you. You would leave them and go into the cabin with Bertholdt and spend your late nights there together. It took him a while to open up, but the two of your quickly found each other telling things you had never said out loud before to the other. It was nice to find comfort in someone else, even if you barely new him. It was the summer before freshman year, so you and him were both extremely scared for high school and what was to come. 

Night after night, you would pour your heart out to him and he would do the same. Even if it was only two weeks, something about that cabin made the two of you become extremely close. In your childish ways, Bertholdt and you had made friendship bracelets to commemorate the trip and said that would be friends forever. The last night in the cabin, you feel asleep next to Bertholdt on the couch and he had done the same, tired from the vigorous activities of the trip. You look back and think of the warmth the boy provided you that night when sharing a blanket, and how his head had fallen on yours when you were talking. You felt as if you had found a new best friend and snuggled up to him, feeling as if you were destined to meet.

The next morning, these juvenile hopes were gone.

On the way home, your parents had informed you that Bertholdt was actually attending a different high school than you were since they lived in a different district. And while you should have expected this since y'all didn't go to the same middle school, it still felt very earth shattering to you at that young age.

That didn't mean you didn't get to see the tall boy now and again.

Since your parents were friends, Bertholdt would come to all of your birthday parties and you his. You would always give each other small presents, but aside from those two weeks in the mountains y'all knew nothing else about each other. As the two of you grew, it was harder and harder to find something he would like as your personalities were changing.

He was also the manager of his school's football team. Whenever they would come play at your school, he would always manage to come over before the game and waves at you from the stands. Whether this was just him paying courtesy for his dad or him actually wanting to see you, you never knew. Your friends quickly caught onto it though and would always tease you when the boy would be seen awkwardly making his way across the field. Comments such as, "Who is that y/n?" Or "Look here comes your nervous boyfriend" were common in his appearances.

Flash forward to this fateful night.

Your parents had let you know that Bertholdt was actually moving to your high school this year as he was now in your district. They encouraged you to be his friend as they knew how shy he was and would have a hard time fitting in as it was his first year going to your school. You waved them off and promised you would, but you had no idea what to even say to him now.