Once in A Millennium Stanford Pines X Reader

Applause

TW: Mugging, Knife
Your hands shook as you practiced your conducting back stage.

It wasn't every day a sophomore music education major would be asked to conduct the symphony band. There was no denying your talents however, with how you were progressing, you were set to graduate at the end of next year. It was extremely exciting for you, and the adrenaline calmed your nerves. A booming voice brought your thoughts back to reality,
"The Backupsmore Symphony band will be led by student conductor Y/N. Y/N is a music education major, they are a member of Tau Beta Sigma. They are also the principal pianist in our top band, Backupsmore Wind Ensemble. Please welcome them to the stage."
You strode confidently across the stage. The band began to warm up as you stood there, smiling at them. You brought your hands up to quiet them. This concert was one you had spent the last 3 weeks preparing for, but now, now you were ready. You lifted your hands, and the symphony began.
The four pieces you chose were extremely challenging, but you directed them with ease, you demanded their attention on the podium. In your grasp, you weaved the brightness of the brass, to the darkness of the reeds. This was what you loved, what you were passionate about. The band played its final chord, resolving the piece perfectly.
There's nothing quite like the silence right after a successful performance. In that moment before applause, you could feel the audience holding their breath, wondering if there was more. Just as soon as the silence began, it was shattered by an uproar of applause. You smiled, gestured to the band, and took your bow. Even though it wasn't Berkeley, you couldn't be prouder of the concert you had.
As you entered the auditorium lobby, all the attention turned to you. Professors, people you barely met were coming up, congratulating you on your performance. It was overwhelming, all the people around you seemed to gravitate towards you.
"You did a lovely job Y/N"
"You're going to do amazing things one day"
"That concert was the best I've seen in years!"
You had to make your escape. You smiled at the people around you,
"Thank you guys so much, but I really must get back to my-"
"Who could've thought a Berkeley reject could actually manage to pull off an average sub par concert." You whipped around, trying to see who spoke. Whoever it was, they had seemingly disappeared into the crowd. Your ears began to ring.
Who knew average cut so deep?
There was one thing you knew for certain, no matter how well you did here, it would never be your dream school. It would never be Berkeley.
Your eyes shot toward the quickest way out and made your escape. You pulled out your water bottle and took a long hard sip. The icy cool of the water shocked your nerves back into reality.
The concert hall wasn't on campus, so you were in for quite a walk.
The night sky was dark and clouded, little peaks of the moon barely illuminated it. Familiar buildings guided your path back to the dorms you called home. It wasn't the safest area, but you weren't about to wait for an Uber.

"Help, somebody help!" cries filled with terror pierced your ears. You quickly ran over to where you heard the noise. It was a dark alley between two buildings littered with miscellaneous pieces of trash. You were shocked to see nobody there. It was almost like you made the call up entirely in your head, still, if someone was in danger, you had to help,
"Hello?" You heard nothing but your own voice. You turned around, leaving well enough alone when you felt a sudden tug at your hair, causing you to lose your balance. Before you could catch a breath, a set of hands wrapped around your neck, dragging you to the cold, frosty ground.
You had been a fool, and now you were trapped. There was nothing you could do but accept your fate. You attempted to scream, but even breathing proved to be difficult.
"Hey!"
Your heart skipped a beat. The voice was familiar, perhaps this wasn't truly the end. It was a man's voice, if only you could see who it was.
You tried to lift your head up when suddenly it was pushed back down.
"MOVE AGAIN AND I'LL STAB YOU"
You felt a rough pair of hands put pressure on your neck, restricting your airflow. You closed your eyes and counted to ten. Seconds later, you felt the hands leave your neck. You gasped for air, moving your arms in front of your face to protect from your attackers final blow. Instead, you heard a voice, riddled with concern,
"Are you okay?" You removed your arms and  locked eyes with your rescuer. It was the man from the coffee shop, S. Pines. You couldn't help but be defensive.
Even in the darkness of night you could see the concerned look on his face. This significantly quelled your anxieties. He spoke softly, clearly seeing your distressed expression,
"Do you think you can sit up?"
"Y-yeah I think so." You attempted to sit up on your own, and immediately fell hard back towards the ground. He placed a hand underneath your head, cushioning your fall You flinched, pulling away at the touch. In return he removed his hand respectfully and asked,
"Is it alright if I help you sit up? You endured quite a lot of trauma to your hyoid bone and it could-" you looked at him fearfully once again and he changed his tone of voice, "I am not going to hurt you, I promise, I just want to help." You nodded nervously, giving him permission to assist you.
He sat you up, and gingerly set your back against the stone wall. He turned around, rifling in his bag for something. He pulled out a water bottle and offered it to you. You shrunk
away from him,
"Y/N, I know you're hurt and certainly scared but I need you to trust me on this." You took the water from him and took a nice long sip. The water seemed to soothe the pain in your throat a little bit. You looked over and saw your attacker knocked out cold on the ground,
"Is he gonna-"
"Don't worry, I texted my lab partner who knows a couple police officers." He looked at you, " you're safe now I promise."
"I'm sorry about this."
"Y/N I assure you there's nothing you should be sorry for." He offered you a hand and helped you up.
"Where are you headed?" he asked, not wanting to part ways just yet.
"Up this way," You said, pointing in the direction of the dorm right outside of campus. It was only a few minutes away. Still, you couldn't help but feel vulnerable to another attack,
"Could you walk with me?"
"Of course, I was about to offer actually" a bit slower than anticipated, you begin to walk with him the man hummed to himself as you guys walked. You broke the silence,
"You're S. Pines right? From the coffee shop the other night?" He chuckled,
"Yes, but please, call me Ford,"
"Okay, Ford so what brought you to Backupsmore?"
The man begin to tell you about his major. How he fell in love with science, and his goal of graduating as early as possible. He went on about his thesis, his ideas, and how he wanted to change the world. You smiled and listened intently, chiming in occasionally. You adored seeing someone so passionate.
"Anyway, I was at the library when I saw a poster for the symphony band concert," he scratched the back of his head, "I recognized your name from the coffee shop, and that you were conducting. I knew I had to come." You stopped,
"Wait you were there??? That explains why you were walking so late at night." He shuffled on his heels,
"I wanted to catch you after and congratulate you. I guess half the audience had the same idea, and I didn't want be a bother," he glanced over at you with a gentle smile, "you were truly magnificent up there." you felt your face redden,
"You know, Backupsmore wasn't my first choice either." He chuckled,
"Is it anybody's?"
"Well, my path to enrollment here started the day of my audition."
You told him your story. How your audition and interview into Berkeley was a massive failure because one of the band members at your high school sabotaged your chances, giving you the wrong piece to perform on purpose. Conversation seemed to ebb and flow perfectly between you two. Before you knew it you were at your dorm. He scratched his arm,
"I am so sorry we had to meet like this. I assure you this was not what I meant when I said, I wanted to see you again." You smiled, confidence, running through your veins,
"I enjoyed the walk. I'm free Sunday, do you want to go get lunch?"
"I think that would be lovely. If you need me before, then, pretty much all of my spare time is spent in the library."
"We'll meet there then. 12 work for you?"
"Perfect! Good night Y/N. I look forward to seeing you again."
You waved goodbye and continued into the building smiling.
You had to a good feeling about this.

Agh!!! Another chapter finished! This chapter is pretty close to how long each one is going to be, so I hope you guys enjoyed! My best friend actually wrote me a love story with two of my OCs where one got attacked and the other one beat up the assailant. She doesn't have a Wattpad, but they're super talented! AnyWho, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I promise to try to update as much as I possibly can!
High Six
Cara :P