"Southsiders take care of each other" Sweet Pea x reader one shot

Southsiders take care of each other

It was late in the evening and I laid in my bed, unable to sleep. The bills on the table nearby being the obvious reason why. My landlord had been patient. He had postponed the date I was supposed to pay rent several times now.

It was the Southside after all, and people, at least good people, tried to look after each other. But my landlord, as any Southsider, struggled himself, and was now forced to find another tenant.I had tried to find some way to make enough money, but to no avail. So I sent a text to one of my oldest friends, asking him to come over. Not necessarily for advice, but for comfort.

I heard a soft knock on the door and I turned around to see Sweet Pea already standing in the doorway, his lips in a tight line and his eyes seemed worried. Usually, I was glad he felt so at home that he walked right in, but not today. I turned back to face the wall and continued my silent crying. I didn't really want him to see me like this, even though we'd been close for so long. Some things never change. Crying has never been anything but weakness here at the Southside, despite us Southsiders having more than enough things to cry about.

"Y/N," he said gently. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I whispered back.

He didn't say anything. I heard him move around the room, I could imagine him taking his shoes off and laying his jacket over the back of a chair. I heard his footsteps move closer. I felt the bed dip down behind me and I knew he had laid down, just inches from my own body.

"Y/N, you don't have to pretend with me." He put his hand over my hair and tried to comfort me by stroking it carefully.

I turned to face him and we were staring directly into each other's eyes. I scooted back to give him some more space to lay his head on my pillow. He did. I looked away from him and gazed into the nothingness above our heads.

"I'm going to lose the trailer," I finally said.

"What?" He said, I could hear him distancing himself from what I had just said. He probably couldn't believe it either.

"Yeah. Can't afford it anymore."

"I thought you had a part time job?"

"Yeah I do, but they can't afford to pay me right now. It's been a rough couple of months for the entire neighborhood, SP, you know that."

He pulled me into a hug and we laid there for a while, me and his arms, and I let my tears fall freely and quietly into his chest.

"You can stay with me, Y/N"

"No, SP..."

He cut me off. "Wait, just listen." He tried to think out his next sentence. "I honestly think you should just move in with me. One trailer, half the cost."

"What about, Josie?"

"Huh?"

"I thought you two were dating."

"We're not... we were never dating."

"Oh."

"I liked her. She didn't like me." He sighed.

"So if I were to move in with you, I wouldn't interrupt anything?"

"There's no way you'd be a bother to me, if that's what you're asking," he replied, chuckling lightly.

"Good," I answered him, "then I might just move in with you."

"Really?" He looked down at me and I smiled at him.

"Yeah," I chuckled, and dried my tears.

He never let go of me and he continued to talk with a low voice of how our new life together would be.

"... and we'll never find our keys, because all of our shit will be burrowed underneath all of the other's shit," he spoke tiredly, and I giggled. I wanted to tell him that I hadn't planned to move into a trashcan, but I didn't bother. He seemed happy. And tired. And I too was tired. So we finally fell asleep. And when I woke up around mid-day, to Sweet Pea making coffee for me in the kitchen, I realized that I had finally had a good night's sleep for the first time in months. And I remembered that Southsiders take care of each other, at least to their extent.