My Best Friend the Drummer [Gareth Emerson x Fem!Reader]

6

"What about that game?" You asked, pointing at a booth filled with old fashioned looking milk bottles. Gareth looked over to where you were pointing and then looked back at you.

"That's the one where you have to knock down the milk bottles with a baseball, yeah?" He asked, receiving a nod back from you. "I'm not good at that one." He admitted, making you smile a bit.

"Perfect, easy win for me then!" You grabbed his hand and pulled him over towards the booth, stopping in front of it. The teenage girl working the booth looked at you both and smiled.

"Hello! Want to play?" She asked, receiving a nod from you as you handed her some money. She took the money and smiled, "perfect, both of you playing?"

"Please!" You replied, thanking her as she handed you three baseballs. She handed Gareth three as well and took a step back, giving you both full access to the milk bottles.

"Alright," she started, clapping her hands together. "You have three baseballs, the goal is to knock down the stacks of milk bottles with those baseballs. If you get three stacks down, you get a big prize." She gestured to the stuffed animals hanging above her. "If you get two stacks down you get a smaller prize." She added, gesturing to the smaller stuffed animals on the side of her. "And if you get one stack down you get a piece of candy," she held up a bucket of lollipops that was in the counter in front of her. "Who's starting?"

"I'll go first," Gareth replied, taking a deep breath as he focused in on the milk bottles. He stuck his tongue out in concentration, holding a baseball in one hand. He threw it, just barely missing a stack. He frowned and looked over at you, "I told you I'm not good at this game."

"Aim for the middle of the stack," you suggested, smiling slightly. "You can do it, honey." You encouraged, he smiled and nodded before looking back at the milk bottles. He took another deep breath and threw the baseball, aiming in the middle of the stack like you suggested. He knocked the stack down and jumped up and down in excitement.

"Yes! You were right princess!" He smiled and threw the last baseball, knocking down another stack. He threw his arms around you and pulled you into a big hug. You giggled and pushed him away slightly.

"Yeah, maybe you need to listen to me more often. Now it's my turn to beat you." You stepped away from and looked at the milk bottles, throwing your baseballs one at a time. You knocked over a stack every time and smiled, looking back at him. "That's two! One more game and I win."

"Sweet! Nice job guys," the teen working the booth said. "What prizes do we want?" You both scanned the prizes before deciding what you wanted. Gareth opted for a smaller stuffed dog and you chose a bigger blue teddy bear—to match his previous pink teddy bear.

You both walked away, holding your prizes in yours arms. "Thanks for the advice, (y/n)." Gareth spoke up, looking at you. "I appreciate the help, even if you did beat me." You smiled and looked at him.

"Come on, Gare, I'm always going to try to help you. Even if we are in a competition." You giggled. "Speaking of, what game did you want to play next?" You asked, he thought for a second before speaking.

"Actually, I want to take a break from games. How does the ferris wheel sound?"

"It sounds perfect, let's go!" You replied, running towards the line of people waiting to get on the ferris wheel. You stood there, looking back at Gareth who was walking towards you while chuckling. "Hurry up," you whined, looking at him.

The ferris wheel was your favorite part of the Hawkins Summer Fair, and it was always more fun with Gareth. Just the two of you, sitting side by side talking about life as you rose into the air together; it was a magical feeling.

Occasionally the breeze at the top would make you shiver, and that's when Gareth would wrap his arm around you and pull you closer to him, smiling to himself as you rested your head on his shoulder and continued the conversation about whatever you were talking about in that moment.

The number of times you both wanted to kiss each other but backed out because you didn't know how the other felt was astronomical. Secretly you wished that's where your first kiss with him would be—but you never actually knew if that would happen; that meant he had to have the same feelings for you that you had for him.

"I'm here, I'm here." He said, standing next to you. "You know I wouldn't miss a ferris wheel ride with you." He smiled, making you blush slightly and turn away from him so he wouldn't see your face turning pink. You looked at the people standing in front of you and smiled slightly, the line was moving decently quickly.

"You know, if you don't want to play anymore games that's fine. Just know that I won." You smiled, bumping your shoulder into Gareth's. He smiled and bumped your shoulder back before shaking his head.

"No, I seem to remember someone saying they could win three games, you only won two." He replied, moving up as the line moved.

"Right, well, I still won more games than you. Plus I have three stuff animals thanks to Adam so it's kind of like I won three games." You held the blue teddy bear you just won closer to your chest and looked at him.

"I don't really think that's how that works, princess. You know that. Plus you didn't win that third stuffed animal, it was weirdly given to you."

You gasped, and looked at him. "Weirdly? Are you saying I'm not pretty enough to have guys give me gifts?" You pouted your bottom lip out slightly.

He looked at you and sighed. "You know that's not what I meant, (y/n). It's just, did you even have any classes with Adam? Why was he so obsessed with giving you a gift?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I didn't really think much of it other than it's a cute teddy bear from Hawkins. I'll have it when I go out of state away from here, and away from you." You responded, looking back towards the line in front of you. "It was just a nice gesture from a friend, why do you care about it so much?"

"I don't care." He responded blankly.

But he did care, he cared an awful lot.