Gareth x male reader(stranger things)

Music

"Hey!_____! Yelled Gareth Form down the hall. "I got a new black sabbath tape and I was wondering if you wanted to listen to it with me later?" Gareth asked almost nervously. There was a slight flush on his cheeks. It was rather adorable you thought.

"Yeah of course I'd love to hear it."
You said whilst grabbing some books out of your locker. You turned to face gareth. He was fiddling with something in his hand. It looked like a badge. But why wasn't he wearing it then?

He noticed you staring at his hands. He panicked and quickly hid the badge in his pocket.

"What was that?"
"What was what?" He said clearly flustered as if you caught him doing something scandalous.
"That badge you had in your hands. What was it?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all! I've got to go to... uhm... English! Sorry! Speak to you later!"
He quickly speed off down the hallway.

That was weird you think. You try to remember what was on that badge that could of made him run away like that. You shrug it off as you head to your next class.

As the day passes on you forget about the badge and look foetid more and more to going to Gareth's house to listen to his new tape. In some small part of your head you wondered if this was anywhere near normal. Being in love with another man.

But then you thought of Gareth's smile and his laugh. God you loved seeing him happy. It felt like the room just lit up with his joy. Fuck anyone who thought otherwise.

He made everything and everyone else melt away. As if it was just you and him together in the world. Alone together.

You were pulled away from your thoughts as the bell rang for the end of class.

You quickly garb your bags and run to find Gareth. You stop at the school gates to try and look for him before you spot a familiar wad of curly hair running towards you.

"JESUS FUCK-! WATCH WHERE YOUR RUNNING FREAK"

Gareth had just run into Jason while running towards you.

You start laughing your ass off as Gareth flips him off and starts running again this time slightly more careful of the people all around him.

Your laughs have gone down to a playful chuckle as you saw this arm playfully.

"___ LETS GO BEFORE I MANGE TO PISS OFF JASON ANY MORE"
Gareth yells frantically before running past you.

You nearly fall over from laughter as he ran past you. You start to chase after him calling for him to wait up.

When you've finally caught up with him  the two of you are still giggling at how stupid Jason is. Making snide remarks about his hair and his wanna be scoobydoo gang.

you both fall into a comfortable silence. And you hands brush past each other.

You and Gareth look at each other before blushing and looking away.

You finally stop outside of his house and enter through the door way.

"Oh hi __! How are you? How's school?" His mums says as she spots you whilst in the kitchen"

"Oh I'm fine, schools great a little boring but great still" you say politely.

Gareth pulls on your sleeve and you both go up the stairs to his room.
(Here's what i imagine it would look like maybe a bit more cluttered)

"Come on! I haven't listened to it yet either so this exciting for both of us!"

He sounded so giddy almost like a kid in a candy store. It was so sweet.

Looking at his grinning face you just couldn't help but try and count all the freckles on his face and in doing so you looked at his lips.

You would love to kiss his lips and kiss his cheek, face, everywhere.

He was just so... perfect

You realise that he was also looking at your face. To be more specific. Your lips.

Without realising it the 2 of you were getting closer and closer until you were but a mere 2 or 3 inches away from his face.

You were so close to kissing him. All you had to do was just lean in and close that gap.
But you both jolted away from each other. Your faces beet red from nearly kissing each other.

Both of your feelings where so close to coming out into the light.

After a minute or two of an awkward tense silence he finally spoke up.

"Um- I'll get the tape now" he walked to his book shelf abruptly and pulled out a box full of cassette tapes.

He got them out and grabbed his Walkman cassette player.

You sat down onto his bed. It was slightly messy but that just added to the charm of his room.

He put the cassette into the Walkman before grabbing a pair of headphones.

He sat down on the bed next to you and put one side of the headphone in his ear. Then handed you the other side

You ignored the butterfly's in your stomach when your hands touched.

As the music played you steeled yourself and moved you hand closer to his.

Both of your hands where lying on the bed and your fingers where touching.

You could see a bright blush on his cheeks and you were sure your cheeks were also bright red as well.

After the song had finished you b it h looked at each and excitedly said which bits you loved and what you have done if you had played it.

After a while a comfortable silence passed over the two of you.

And then you remembered the badge he was hiding from you earlier in school.

"Hey Gareth... what was that badge earlier? I'm not going to judge you for whatever's on it I just want to know" you said sheepishly.

"Oh well... your not going to be mad at me right?" He said a worried look on his face.

"Of course not dude. I'm your friend whatever it is you can tell me" you said confidently. Whatever it was you would never be mad at him for it.

"Okay if you say so..." he hesitantly dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the badge from before.

He quickly handed it to you with shaking hands. He looked pale. Scared even.

What could possibly be so bad that he's scared to give me this badge you pondered before flipping it over and reading the text on it.

Stonewall riot
1969
Gay liberation

Then it clicked as to why Gareth was so scared to give you this badge.

You looked back up at him to see him with glassy eyes and balled up fists.

"It's fine if you don't want to know me anymore. After this I mean" his words sounded clumsy and he sounded close to crying.

You looked back at the badge and all of a sudden it clicked.

Gareth was gay.

Or atleast not straight. He could be bisexual for all you know.

Hell you didn't care so long as there was the possibility he might be into guys. He might be into you.

You pushed those thoughts out of your mind. You had to comfort Gareth because he was crying now.

"Hey look at me." You said. He looked up to make eye contact with you. His eyes where big and glassy.

"I could never hate you for being gay dude. I'm gay it would just be dumb and hypocritical"

Gareth looked up at you with a look of hope and joy. It was beautiful. He was beautiful.

He dove into you hugging you tightly like he never wanted to let you go.
"I love you ___"
He whispered under his breathe.

You could barely hear it but it was there.

"I love you too Gareth" you say almost silently. "more than you'll  ever realise"

BYEEEEEEEEEE