i've been in love with her for ages and I can't seem to get it right i fell in love with her in stages my whole life - me & you together song, the 1975
pairing: stanford!art x friend!reader, slight patrick x tashi
in which: art’s been in love with you for ages, and he can’t seem to muster the courage to tell you.
warnings: patrick and tashi are dating in this, art being an absolute loser and dork, severe pining
note: i just really like writing friends to lovers okay???
“seriously man?”
patrick snap his fingers in front of art’s face. “i come back from tour, just to visit you and you can’t even look at me because you’re busy— what, busy starin’ at a chick?”
“she’s not just some chick—“ art snaps his attention back to his best friend.
“no, she’s the girl of your dreams—“ the other boy mocks in a dreamy tone. “you’ve been doing this since the tennis academy days. since you saw her on the fuckin’ court when we were twelve.”
“shutup- shutup-“
“no! i will not shut up, donaldson.” patrick rolls his eyes. “you’ve been doing this for forever, and we’re in college now. ask her out, it’s not hard to—“
“shut up— PATRICK.” art says loudly. he clears his throat and he turns his head to you approaching. his cheeks flushing up from the sight of you. “hey.”
“hey.” patrick snorts casually.
“hi.” you smile politely. “um, art. do you know when practice starts today? i lost my schedule.”
“um. yeah- it’s- uh— it’s at- at- two.”
“oh okay, thanks, art.” you smile and wave before turning away and joining your friends at their table.
“it’s— uh— uh— uh— at— at— t-t-two,“ patrick teases with a smirk. art slaps his chest with a scoff.
“whatever man.”
“let me be your wingman!”
“no.” art says stiffly.
“oh come on, why not?” patrick groans as if he’s in physical pain.
“the last time you offered to be my wingman, you told her—“ he looks around and lowers his voice, “—that i have an intense boner.” art hisses, his pale skin turning red at the memory.
“what? was i wrong? no!” patrick cackles then slowly stops as he catches his friend’s glare, “besides, she laughed! she thought it was a joke. girls love a funny guy-“
“she didn’t laugh because it was funny, patrick. she laughed because she was mortified.” art says stiffly.
“whatever you say man.” patrick chuckles to himself, wearing that stupid, condescending grin. “i’m just saying— if you don’t ask her out, you’ll be pining after her until you’re forty-fucking-five.”
art’s mouth shifts in a thin line, because for once, what patrick’s saying is true.
at practice, art rallies the ball back to his hitting partner. his grip’s loose, his footwork’s sloppy, but he’s barely paying attention to that because you’re right there.
you laugh at something one of your friends said, the way your face shifts, perfecting that smile. the way your ponytail blows in the gentle wind, the way—
“donaldson! come on, this is the third time!” his hitting partner yells as the missed ball slams the fence behind him with a thwack.
“fuck— fuck- yeah, i’m sorry.” art says quickly, he snaps back to attention and turns around to pick up the ball. but when he bends over to reach it, another hand is already picking it up for him.
he looks up and his cheeks redden again.
“here.” you smile gently, like an angel— no— no- a goddess, and hands the ball to him.
for a moment, art stares, his mouth agape, speechless. his eyes never leaving your eyes, he freezes in place.
you furrow your eyebrows together in mild confusion and you laugh slightly to break the awkward silence. “art?”
“oh— yeah— yeah, sorry- zoned out.” art says frantically, standing up and taking the ball. as your fingers brush— just for a second—his heart stutters. “th— thanks.”
as he turns to toss the ball back to his partner, the coach yells— “ok, five minute water break! good work.” his partner groans and throws his hands up in the air.
art stares longingly at you from a distance as you tip your bottle back. he wishes he was the bottle. fuck— what is wrong with him?
from the bleachers, patrick catches the look in his friends eyes, and scoffs. he whistles. when art looks, gestures lazily in your direction. he then mimes drinking from an invisible cup. ‘ask her out for drinks,’ he mouths, just for good measure.
art mouths back— ‘how?’
but patrick’s already distracted— his hand finds tashi’s waist as he whispers something in her ear. she scoffs showing him off as he kisses her cheek. some wingman, art thinks to himself with an eye roll.
for once, art musters l the courage to talk to you. he takes a few heavy steps, scrambling for the right words. ‘hi, i’ve been in love with you for the past seven years.’ too strong. ‘how are you?’ too vague.
he decides on a ‘hey. are you free tonight? do you want to go get drinks? i know a good spot.’
yet, as he reaches where you are and has you staring at him expecting him to say something— he squeaks out a “drinks?”
you blink, “drinks?”
“you— do you— you want— do you want drinks?”
you tilt your head with a half smile, “n-no?”
“i mean— fuck, uh.” he clears his throat, twice. “do you— do you want, do you want to go out with drinks with me? tonight? if you’re free- if you- have time.”
“as friends?” you smile slightly as you brush a strand of hair behind your ear.
fuck. fuck. abort mission. his brain screams at him to run, but his feet won’t move. okay, so you want to go as friends? sure— he can do that.
“well, duhhhhh—“ he says, way too loud. “um— yeah— as— um— the bestest friends. yes. from mark rebellato’s tennis academy. friends.”
everyone on the stanford tennis team is staring at him at this point. even patrick lets out an exaggerated sigh from the bleachers.
“…oooookay then, is seven good?” you ask gently
“yup. amazing. so good.” he grins— way too wide with his teeth clenched— and bolts.
he drops down next to tashi and patrick, exhaling like he’s just run a 100 miles. “i did it.” he lets out a breathless laugh, almost in disbelief. “i asked her out.”
patrick snorts. “you call that asking someone out?”
“i mean— technically, yeah?”
“did you actually— or-?” tashi raises her eyebrow.
“our big man did it, tash.” patrick laughs. “he’s going out for drinks with her. as the ‘bestest friends from mark rebellato’s tennis academy,’ of course.”
“shut up,“ art groans, holding his head in his hands.
“no- because, you weren’t even ‘bestest friends’— you were barely friends with her at the academy.” patrick points out. “you barely spoke to her, all you did was pine after her and jerk o—“
art’s cheeks flush up and covers patrick’s mouth, looking around frantically. “OKAY— okay, patrick. we get it.”
tashi sighs, patting her boyfriend’s arm. “just don’t be weird and scare her off.”
patrick grins, “like that’s possible.”
“patrick,” tashi gives him a look. patrick rolls his eyes, then turns to art, squeezing his cheeks.
“fine, good luck. just remember, you can’t fuck up more than you already have,” he pauses, “probably.”
for the past half hour, art’s been gripping on his drink like his life depends on it.
you’ve been going on and on about tennis practice, this girl who borrowed your lip gloss and lost it, and that time you fell on your face during a junior league.
but he’s completely distracted because at the moment, he doesn’t know whether he’s looking at you too much— or not enough. if his outfit says ‘causal friend hangout’ or ‘please love me and run off with me to a cabin where we can live happily for the rest of our lives.’
so he just laughs when you laugh. nod at the right times. says “yeah” when it seems appropriate.
and he prays that you don’t notice how he’s completely freaking out about this.
“art.”
he snaps out of it instantly.
“…mm yeah?” he mumbles like complete, fucking idiot.
“are you even listening to me?” you smirk, laughing slightly.
“of course, i am.” he tries to put on a winning smile but it comes out strained.
you raise your eyebrow, taking a slow sip from your glass. art, desperate to seem composed, mirrors you and drinks from his.
as you set your drink down, you casually mention, “y’know, i used to have the biggest crush on you?”
art chokes.
“what?” he coughs.
“yeah. back at the academy. i really, really liked you,” you laugh.
his heart practically leaps out of his chest and he swears his cheeks are probably heating up and shifting to some shade of pink.
but he plays it cool— or at least, he tries to.
"you said you used to? so- so, not anymore?" he stammers.
"i mean, i could like you, if you like me back," you tease. "but we're here as friends? right?"
he screams internally. fuck him. fuck his idiocy and not being able to ask the girl he loves on a real date. "...right." he looks down at the beer swirling in his cup.
you pause slightly, scanning the expression on his face. "do you like me?"
art raises his head, looking you in the eyes. this is his chance, whoever's up above has given him an opportunity. he cannot fuck this up.
"ye— i mean— pff, no."
fuck.
fuck.
patrick's voice rings in his head, 'just remember, you can’t fuck up more than you already have,' and look what he's done.
why, why would he say that? what is wrong with him? so many questions swarm his head and he has the urge to slap himself.
your eyebrows furrow in mild confusion and you look almost... disappointed? but you shrug anyways, "oh, okay then."
for a moment there is silence, before you clear your throat, "should we get another round of drinks?"
"yeah— sure." art murmurs, nodding slightly.
art donaldson is a fucking loser.
he repeats this in his head as he walks you back to your dorm. he opens his mouth several times to scream out about how much he loves you. about how he needs you. about how he wants to be with you for the rest of his life, despite it being only the first technical date.
but he can't.
he turns his head to look at you, because you're so pretty. and amazing. and perfect. he sighs and looks straight ahead.
he fucked it up.
patrick's right, he'll be pining after you until he's forty-five. actually, no, he'll be pining after you until he dies.
art's convinced he might explode because both of you haven't said a single word. he wants to rip his skin off or get on his knees and cling to you like a toddler.
after another two minutes of silence, he stops walking and bursts.
"i really like you."
he scans your face for a reaction but you stare at him.
"like— i really, really like you. i'm in love with you, i mean— who wouldn't be? you're so amazing— you're good at tennis, you're smart, you're nice, you're gorgeous— fuck- i should really shut up." he rambles, "i've just- i've just liked you since we were fucking twelve because you let me borrow your tennis ball after i hit mine over the fence. i thought you were really thoughtful— i mean, you still are—"
"art." you laugh, grabbing his shoulder.
"no- no- i know what you're going to say- like- we're friends. we're not even friends actually, i don't- i don't talk to you- at all—"
"art."
"-and i don't care if you don't like me back- i just wanted to get this out-"
"art!" you finally yell. you roll your eyes. "i know."
art stops talking.
"i know," you say again with a shrug. you brush a blonde hair out of his face.
art suddenly notices how close you are. "y-you know?"
you smirk, "i'm not an idiot. i have eyes."
is it just him or have you gotten closer? his cheeks are probably red again. like they always are around you.
"huh." his teeth worry into his lip in thought, he tries hard not to stare at your lips but ends up glancing at them.
you giggle softly, catching his glance, “i think you’re cute.”
“cute?” he squeaks.
“yeah, cute,” you grab his face a gently press your lips against his.
a few minutes later, art is running back to his dorm. his steps light and fast, he smiles like an idiot. his heart flutters so fast, he thinks it must be pounding out of his chest. he’s dizzy. he thinks he might faint.
but he stops, pulling his blackberry out of his pocket to type a message with shaky hands.
ART DONALDSON: you will not believe what just happened
he stares at the message with a grin, finger hovering over the send button, then presses it.
PATRICK ZWEIG: ?
PATRICK ZWEIG: dude
PATRICK ZWEIG: dude???
PATRICK ZWEIG: art??
PATRICK ZWEIG: hello?????
art laughs to himself still in disbelief.
ART DONALDSON: i dont even know what to say
ART DONALDSON: but it’s all happening
he leans back against the wall, laughing out loud again. he lets out a breath, grin never fading—
he’s definitely still an idiot, but maybe now— he’s a lucky one.
-
tags: @hyuneskkami for the divider
𖤐 about me: stella, 18, korean-american, she/her, wannabe writer, theatre kid art's controversially young girlfriend, patrick's babygirl, tashi's wife, rafe's princess music: the 1975, the beatles, oasis, blur, beabadoobee, and role model
i write for art, tashi, and patrick masterlist - requests are open!
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