The Next Step Oneshots

Alone

This is super angsty, but so is canon Pinn at the moment, so snap!
Set after the sneak peak. Also, your requests are coming soon, just needed to write this to get my feelings out.

"No." She replies, arching her brows. Lily gives him a glare as he returns to his seat. He slams back against it which causes her own chair to shift uncomfortably and she tries not to think about the fact that he's hurting. He deserved to, right?
"Enough with the attitude." Kenzie remarks, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, you messed up." Kingston rolls his eyes.
"Big time." Lily adds. She doesn't want to look at him, but it's an impulse. She notices him look up, and bite his lip. She looks at his hands. As she expected, his third fingers are pressed against his thumbs. She instantly feels guilty. Really guilty.
"Bozo." Ozzy smiles to himself. Piper thinks that's out of character, but he's probably just glad that he's not the focus of the comments anymore.
"Leave him alone." It's a whisper, but enough for Lily to turn to her confusedly. She watches as he leans even further back in his chair. "Leave him alone." She repeats, louder and clearer this time.
"What? Piper, he-"
"He's a loser." Finn stands up in an attempt to get away but the boys mock this as cowardice.
"Piper's too caring, she doesn't-" Kenzie says by way of explanation, but this isn't true.
"Stop it!" She doesn't intend to shout but it's getting to her. He walks down the steps as everyone falls silent, and heads out the door. She's furious at him, but she knows what's it's like to feel ganged up on.
"Piper, I get that you care about him, but-"
"Lily, I know his mannerisms. He was crying." She looks down as she picks her nails. They don't talk about him anymore. Richelle's solo is powerful, and Piper crosses her fingers for her. She makes it to the finale and she stands as she cheers. Richelle has been there for her, so she was okay with her going solo. More okay than most, she just didn't admit it, until now.
You know who else has always been there for you? She shuts down the thought. He ruined this for us, more so than Richelle. If he really cared, he wouldn't do this to me.

☆

"Pipes," He's following her as she walks to her hotel room. She doesn't stop to face him because she doesn't want to make eye contact.
"No." She speeds up her walking pace.
"Piper, I want to-"
"I do not."
"Please, could you-"
"I've already said no." Her pitch raises.
"I'm sorry, I just, I need-"
"I need to be away from you." She feels him stop behind her. That was mean. But, necessary.
"I don't think you get it."
"I think I do." She only responds in short sentences, a few words. Because she doesn't want to feel it.
"But I, Piper, I lo-"
"Don't say it." She cuts him off quickly. She cannot express how badly she doesn't want him to finish his sentence. Not like this, it wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be dreamy and magical and for some reason she'd always imagined it happening in nature. She could tell he was going to say it anyway, and it killed her.

"Don't! I don't want you to say it because, because I don't! I don't love you, anymore." She regrets it the second she says it. She needs to go back in time, swallow her words. Why did she do that? How could she do that to him? She follows his ritual and bites her lip, until she can taste the blood. The tears come anyway. She clasps her hands together. She doesn't recognise herself. The old her would have never said anything like that to anyone. Especially not someone she cared about that much. That was cruel. That was officially the worst thing she'd ever done. She's terrified, but she turns to look at him anyway.

He doesn't even attempt to control the fact that he's properly crying this time. His expression is still reeling from shock. He can't believe she said that. I mean, so what if it was true, you don't just…

She claps her hand over her mouth. She wants to fix this. Fix him. Wants to wipe the streams of tears from his cheeks, wants his blue eyes to revert from glassy to their usual charmed glint. But she has no idea what to do. Or say. That was irreversible. She reaches for his hand but he flinches and she feels awful for doing the same to him at competition.

"Finn," She says desperately, "You know I didn't-"
"Okay." He says shakily. He turns away and she wants to scream, what just happened?

☆

In that split second that every part of him is being ripped apart, he turns back to her.

"You know, I was fine." He says fiercely, "without this Studio. Sure, they called me weird kid and no one understood my love for fish or anything, but we danced. And, I didn't love a single one of them. Why did you let me love you? How could you let me?"

"I don't know." She shakes her head. "Finn, please-"

He walks away. Right into the arms that are waiting for him.

"I know." Emily whispers as he full on sobs. He's so ashamed. But as least he's hidden in the confines of her room. They'd become close after they'd talked all flight. "I know you want the world to end right now, but I promise you, you can do this." She lets go of him and sits on the opposite chair, looking him in the eye.

"I need her."
"You are perfect on your own." That's what Riley told her, when she found out Eldon had broken up with her after regionals.
"I don't want to be alone." He sniffs.
"Then, you need some space from each other. You both need to figure out what you want to say."
"Why are you on my side? You're like, Pipes' sister, why do you care about me?"

"Because I was you. And oh, it hurts to do this alone." The Studio Head gives a sad smile.

☆

"Piper?" Amy asks softly. Her best friend seems to be having a break down, in the corridor. She shelters her with an arm and starts guiding her towards their room. "What happened?"

"I need Finn." She manages between cries.
"Oh," Amy replies, confused. She'd assumed he was the reason she was this upset. "Shall I get him?"
"No," She cries even more and Amy worries, what had she said wrong? "I need old Finn. I need, I- I need my best friend F-Finn. But he doesn't exist anymore. The only Finn that exists is the person who I screamed at that I didn't love him!"

Amy stops mid-stride to take this in. This was bad. Bad for Piper, but also for the team. Finn was supposed to be performing in the resurrection round, tomorrow. He wouldn't do well if he was heartbroken. She needed to somehow mend this. But, her first priority was the brunette falling apart in her arms. She pushed into the room, key card inserted, and led Piper onto the bed.

"I'm going to kill him." Lily states at the sight of her friend. Amy shakes her head vigorously and makes an action of chopping off her head, but it's too late.
"No!" Piper throws herself, head first into her pillows.

It was going to be a long evening, Amy thinks to herself.

Hi,
I know that it can be sort of lonely when you care about fictional characters this much. But, it's not, currently, due to this beautiful fandom.

Today is international friendship day, so thank you with all my heart to all the friends, fellow stans, and people I've messaged once but have still been the sweetest, on here. And you, reading. Love you. And I hope you're doing okay. If you feel lonely about relating to fiction more than the real world sometimes, you're not alone, ok? You are not. I feel you, and I'm sending you virtual kisses.

💗💗