Chapter Text
Tim’s days starts as normal, getting dressed and ready for school. Grabbing a piece of toast before running out the door to get the bus to school. With his headphones in he feels someone put their hands on his shoulders and scare him. He jumps and turns around to see Angela, his best friend since high school started.
“Angela my god. Don’t do that.” He says taking his headphones out.
She doesn’t reply just laughs in his face and pushes him to sit by the window so she can sit down.
“You’re not funny.” Tim huffs out.
“Oh shut up you find me hilarious. I’m your bff for a reason.” She says pushing his arm, teasing him.
“Boys don’t have bffs Angela.” He replies looking out the window.
“Whatever Timothy.” She says. “So what did you do over the weekend?”
“I started building my new Lego Death Star.” He has a small smile forming on his face.
“You’re such a dork.” He glares at her laughing at him.
“No Star Wars is cool. What did you do?” He asks trying to shift the conversation.
“Not much but guess who messaged me!” She exclaims not giving him a minute to think. “Wesley! He asked me out!” She shakes Tim’s shoulders trying to get him as excited as she is.
“Wesley? The rich kid?” He pushes her off him gently.
“He’s not just some rich kid Tim. You’d like him if you actually got to know him. He’s sweet and funny.” She says grabbing her bag standing up ready to get off the bus.
Tim grabs him backpack and follows her out. They make their way through the gates and into the busy hallway. Stopping at their lockers.
“Just promise me you’ll give him a chance before you judge him too harshly?” Angela asks while putting her code into her locker.
“Okay fine I will. So what did you tell him about the date?” Tim says opening his locker as well.
“I said maybe. I am going to say yes 100% but I wanna keep him interested. Can’t give him too much too quick.” She winks taking some books out and shutting the locker door.
“When did you get so experienced in relationships? You’ve never had one let alone had a thing for a guy.” He says pulling a folder out and shutting his locker too.
“I have four brothers Timothy. It’s all they talk about. If I have to suffer I may as well learn something.” She shrugs and they start walking to their biology class.
In the busy hallway Tim realises he forgot his textbook and tells Angela to go on without him. Walking fast back to his locker he collides with someone knocking all of their books out of their arms and dropping his own folder.
“Shit, I’m so sorry I wasn’t looking.” He hears a female voice exclaim as he drops down to try and help pick the papers and books up.
“It’s okay I was rushing like an idiot.” He gathers the papers and hands them over, finally looking up his eyes meet hers. Lucy Chen. School loner. He finds himself staring for a second too long before she takes the papers and books saying a quick thank you before rushing off to class.
Tim takes a second before heading to his locker and grabbing his textbook and walks into biology. He sits down next to Angela and the teacher starts writing on the board.
“Cutting it close Timothy.” Angela whispers over to him, a smirk on her face.
He shakes her comment off and opens his book finding the correct page to what the teacher is writing.
“Can anyone tell me about mutagenic radiation?” Mr Grey says finishing what he was writing.
The class stays silent and he observes to see if anyone will raise their hand.
“Not surprising. Mutagenic radiation is any form of energy emission that alters an organisms DNA. By damaging or breaking the genetic code, it increases mutation rates above natural background levels.” My Grey continues on as the class writes down notes.
At the end of class the bell rings and they all pack up.
“Practice paper on Friday. Don’t forget!” My Grey adds as they funnel out of the door.
Tim and Angela return their books to their lockers and Tim feels a vibration in his pocket.
May: Please can you stop by the store to grab milk on your way home?🙂
He thumbs up the message and his school day continues. At lunch him and Angela are sat on their own corner tucked away into the corner as he sees Wesley approaching them.
“Hey Angela. How’s your day going?” He asks slightly nervously.
“Good thank you. What about you?” She replies with a smile on her face.
Their conversation carries on as Tim looks around the cafeteria, his eyes stopping on a pair looking back at him. Lucy. She quickly looks away and puts her pencil back to her notebook. He turns his attention back to Angela and Wesley.
Lunch ends and they go to their last class. English goes smoothly and the bell rings.
“See ya Tim!” Angela says as she heads out the school gates running to catch the bus.
Tim puts his headphones on and makes his way to the local shop. He walks to the door and sees a customer in line pointing a gun at the cashier forcing them to shove money into a bag. The gunman sees him and closes the bag before shoving him down and running down the street.
Tim doesn’t know what comes over him before he’s running after the man before he gets to an alley way. The man escapes by climbing on top of a large waste disposal. Tim goes to leave he feels a pinch on his neck before slapping his hand to the sensation. He pulls his hand back and sees a medium sized spider laying dead in his palm. He stares at the spider before shaking it off his hand and heading back to the store to check on the owner.
The police had arrived by then and Tim had to give his name and a short statement and explaining what happened after he ran after the gunman. He buys the milk while checking on the store owner, Smitty and is allowed to be on his way.
“May! I’m home!” He shouts as he unlocks the door and heads to the kitchen putting the milk in the fridge.
“Hey Timmy how was school?” May asks with a wide genuine smile on her face.
“Boring but the local store had a bit of a situation. Smitty was robbed. I had to give a statement and everything.” He explains taking his shoes off.
“My god that’s awful. Are you okay though? Did you get hurt?” May asks while pressing a gentle hand to his cheek examining his face for any marks.
He takes her hand carefully and pulls her wrist away.
“I’m okay May I promise.” He reassures her.
“Good, god I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.” She rubs his hand before letting go.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m careful.” He says before heading to his room.
“Thank you for getting the milk!” May shouts as he closes his door.
Tim does some homework before changing into pjs for bed.
His alarm blaring jolts him awake as he opens his eyes feeling too close to the ceiling. He feels the cold ceiling on his finger tips and his toes before falling back down.
He wakes up fully before trying to shake it off as a weird dream. Carrying on with his routine to get ready for school, feeling slightly light headed.
The days carries on as normal with classes. At lunch Tim seeing Lucy around more often. He wonders if he just hadn’t noticed her before if he suddenly could sense her around him. Everytime they make eye contact he offers a small smile, she never returns it and keeps her head down focused on her notebook.
The last lesson of the day approaches and Tim is sat in Math. He’s trying to focus on his work but all he can hear is everyone’s pens and pencils scratching onto the paper. The noise irritating his ears he tries to take some deep breathes to regain his focus and it works for a minute before hearing a particularly loud pencil. He turns his head to find the source of the noise and sees Lucy.
Her eyes are down focusing on her work with her bottom lip between her teeth. He takes a moment to appreciate her adorable expression before tearing his eyes away and back down to his work. After that the noise seems to drown out.
On the bus home something feels wrong. Everything is too loud even through his headphones. He tried making the music louder to block out the noise but nothing works. The hairs on his arm stick up straight, he looks around before pulling his hoodie sleeve down. A notification pulls his attention away.
angela.lopez i said yes to wesley!
tbradford98 Good.
angela.lopez u could act a little more interested🙄
He puts his phone back in his pocket and walked through the door.
“How was your day?” May asks seeing him come home.
“Same old. Want me to make dinner tonight?” He puts his bag down.
“That would be great Timmy, meatloaf?” May smiles up at him.
He starts preparing dinner trying to breathe from the day. His mind is drawn back to Lucy, her effortless beauty. Big brown eyes and light freckled features. The way she sits and observes people, the way she bites her bottom lip when she thinks no one is looking. His body seeming to relax at the thought. He finishes making dinner and makes conversation with May as they eat. He puts the dishes away and heads to shower.
As he’s washing over his body he feels a slight bump on the back of his neck, rubbing over it and trying to soothe it. He washes his hair and steps out wrapping a towel around his waist. He wasn’t skinny per say but he didn’t have a super athletic build like all the soccer players at his school.
At school he finds himself looking for Lucy more often, trying not to stare when he spots her. She’s sat on the field taking a bite of her sandwich while scribbling something down. She looks up and makes eye contact with him, this time she offers a small smile. Tim quickly looks around to check she wasn’t looking at anyone else then looks back and waves, she lets out a little chuckle before looking back down. He quickly snaps a photograph when she’s not looking.
After school he decides to check instagram for Lucy’s page. He finds it and requests to follow her before trying to sleep. Then a buzz pulls his attention.
_lucychen approved your follow request.
_lucychen requested to follow you.
Tim immediately approves it before clicking on her profile. There is three highlights and four posts. One highlight is some of her drawings of animals, specifically dogs. The next highlight is of her, none of her full face. Some outfits and one of her eyes showing a smokey eye and freckles showing. The last highlight is of her own dog.
The posts are of some beautiful views, a sunset over waves crashing into the beach. A field full of flowers. The city at night time. The sun shining through a busy area of trees. He accidentally likes it and releases it was posted two years ago. “Shit.” He locks his phone and tries to forget about it.
_lucychen stalking me irl and online bradford?
tbradford98 No idea what ur talking about Chen
_lucychen whatever loser😉
Tim feels his cheeks warming, he hearts the message before going to bed.
The next day at school he decides to actually talk to Lucy and see if he can dig himself out of the hole of being a stalker.
He spots her in the same place on the field and slowly makes his way over, keeping his eyes on his phone trying to calm his nerves.
“Hey stalker.” Tim sees her smiling up at him.
“I was not stalking you. If anything you’ve been stalking me at school. You are everywhere.” He says while putting his bag down on the grass and sits down next to her, not too close but not distant. He places his hands on his knees that are tucked upwards.
“You only just started noticing me, there’s a difference.” She takes a minute to take in his body language. “You are radiating anxiety bradford, I won’t bite.”
Tim lets a smile cross his face, he relaxes his body more straightening his legs. He takes his lunch out of his bag and starts on his sandwich.
“How come you decided to sit instead of stare today?” She asks putting her notebook down. Tim feels himself get slightly red feeling embarrassed she’d caught him staring so much.
“I don’t know. Why not? I can leave if you want to be alone. I’m sorry I didn’t even ask if you wanted company it’s just-“
“I like your company.” She cuts him off before he can ramble on. She offers a smile finding his panic adorable.
“Also I never meant to make you uncomfortable if I stared and made you think I was stalking you.” He fiddles with his hoodie sleeve.
“Bradford relax. I was messing with you. Plus I totally have been stalking you.” Lucy says pulling his hand away from his hoodie sleeve, gently rubbing her thumb over his before pulling away.
Tim feels himself go bright red, even more than before. He suddenly stands up and Lucy gives him a confused look almost concerned.
“I have to um… Angela is probably looking for me. See you later.” He puffs out grabbing his bag and leaving before she could even reply or process what happened.
Lucy looks around and spots Angela sitting with Wesley, she knows Tim is lying to her.
Lucy lays in bed after showering hovering over Tim’s name wondering whether to send a message to ask what happened or if he’s okay. She doesn’t know if he wants to hear from her considering how fast he ran out of there.
Tim is doing his daily shower distracted by Lucy. He freaked out over the slightly touch. He’s not the type to be panicked by that. Angela playfully pushes him all the time but he has never reacted like that before. His mind is away from him and he loses his footing, he slips over and reaches his arm out to try and catch himself. Tim panics but he never hits the ground, he looks up in confusion and sees a white string like substance in his hand. He looks closer and sees it’s coming from his wrist while being attached to the shower curtain railing.
He quickly grabs at it before washing it down the drain. What the fuck. He rushes to finish in the shower and stops to look at himself in the mirror, his abs are more defined and his arms are bigger. He tries to shake it off and gets ready for bed.
He sits down in his desk chair before opening google. “What does it mean if a white string like substance is coming out of my wrist?” He presses enter. 0 results, your search did not match any documents. Great.
_lucychen u okay stalker?
Tim smiles and is more than happy to be pulled away from his panic spiral.
tbradford98 Yes, are u Chen?
_lucychen yeah. did you think i was gonna bite you?
tbradford98 What are u talking about?
_lucychen tim you practically ran away from me, just wanted to check i didnt do something wrong :)
tbradford98 No no, not at all.
_lucychen so whyd u run off? i know it wasnt bc of angela.
He feels himself start to panic, how was he meant to tell her a single touch made his heart flutter. His thumbs dance over the keyboard trying to think of a believable excuse.
Lucy watches the three dots appear before disappearing then appearing again.
tbradford98 Needed the toilet, didn’t feel like u needed to know that.
_lucychen ur such a liar.
Tim just hearts the message, not knowing how to reply to that. She’s not going to believe anything but the truth and that is not an option.
The next school day Tim avoids Lucy like the plague. If he sees her, he turns around immediately and walks away even if he needs to go in the other direction. He only had to survive the day without running into her, then he can relax over the weekend.
After lunch he’s grabbing something from his locker and then shuts it closed.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Lucy is stood behind the locker door making Tim jump out of his skin. He looks around nervously tightening his grip on his book.
“I’m not, just a busy day.” He plays with the corner of the pages avoiding eye contact.
“Lying is not one of your skills stalker. What did I do?” She asks genuienly concerned. She places a gentle hand on his, pulling his fingers away from the book to stop him from fidgeting.
He looks down at their intertwined hands and then back at her face. He can’t quite read it but she’s looking at him with care and not judgment. A little relief fills him as she can feel her calm energy.
“You didn’t do anything Lucy, it’s me.” Tim slowly pulls his hand away, missing her touch immediately.
“That is so cliché Tim, you can tell me. No judgement.” She offers a light smile.
He believes her but he just can’t. He can’t be seen as pathetic for freaking out over one slight touch.
The bell rings out through the school. He lets out a sigh of relief. “Gotta get to class, see you later Lucy.” He smiles and then walks off towards his class.
Lucy is left confused stood next to his locker, she decides to leave it for now and make her way to class. In her class she’s sat at the back, textbook open but her attention is on her sketchbook. She’s drawing Tim from memory, just a simple sketch of his side profile. Focusing on his strong nose and fluffy hair. She spends time perfecting his jaw and adds details like bushy eyebrows and a scar on his forehead that meats his hairline. One you could only see up close.
She wasn’t sure what she did to make him quite literally run away from her. She was used to people not really hanging out with her but he had seemed different. He went up to her and sat with her but then changed his mind?
Class ends and she starts her walk home. Her house is not very far, it would be much quicker to take the bus but she prefers the exercise after being sat down all day. She walks through the door and is greeted with her mother holding her report card.
“Lucy. Your grades are slipping. You are wasting your time doing your silly little drawings. You’re not putting your focus on what’s actually important. I’m disappointed.” Her mother shoves the card in her face as she reads it.
The grades slipping she’s talking about it the 96% going to 93% in English and the 99% going to 95% in Biology.
“They aren’t silly mom, I enjoy drawing. I do all my work and homework.” Lucy pushes past her and makes her way to her room.
“Lucy-Jane Chen! I am not done talking to you! You do not walk away from your mother!” Her mother shouts up the stairs, Lucy shuts her door locking it before throwing herself onto her bed.
She had only recently started drawing this year, needing to find a distraction from her mind. She made a promise to herself to find more healthy coping skills that she had previously used. Of course she couldn’t explain that to her mother, the psychologist. She would go on about how she should just take a walk or have a bath. Lucy had tried all of the suggested ways but none seemed to work, apart from drawing.
She pulls her sketchbook and pencil case out of her bag and continues her drawing of Tim. Slowly adding shading and finishes the edges of his hoodie.
Tim lays in his bed after finishing his homework. He doesn’t know why Lucy makes him panic so much. Shes just a normal teen girl. Expect she’s not, not to Tim. She’s effortlessly beautiful, like the girl in movies but not the over sexualised character, the character who was smart and outcasted. Tim had never really paid attention to a girl before, all of the girls at his school seems to be fake, performatively nice when they aren’t, covering themselves in makeup to hide the insecurities running through them. Lucy was different, she didn’t hide her face, she didn’t do things for attention. She was herself and that was enough to send Tim spiralling in his head. He decided to quit being afraid and message her.
tbradford98 Hey🙂
_lucychen hey stalker.
_lucychen decided to stop avoiding me?
tbradford98 I wasn’t avoiding u Lucy.
_lucychen …
tbradford98 Ok maybe I was. I’m sorry Luce.
_lucychen dont apologise tim
_lucychen just wondering why?
tbradford98 If I tell u, can u promise u won’t laugh?
_lucychen yeah of course tim.
_lucychen i promise.
Tim takes a minute deciding whether saying the truth was a good idea of not.
tbraford98 Angela. Help.
angela.lopez what’s up timothy?
tbradford98 U know Lucy?
angela.lopez who?
tbradford98 Doesn’t matter. I think I might like her, u know like, like her like her.
angela.lopez okayyyy…? so tell her? what’s the big deal?
tbradford98 Angela I have never told anyone anything like this before, let alone felt this way. How am I even meant to say that?
angela.lopez u need to chill out first of all. do u think she feels the same way?
tbradford98 I have no idea.
‘_lucychen u there bradford?’
He sees the notification at the top of his phone and swipes it away.
angela.lopez u never know if u don’t ask
tbradford98 What the hell do I say???
angela.lopez if ur too scared maybe leave it a few weeks and see how it goes, then u can get a better idea of she feels the same way?
tbradford98 Good idea. Thank u for helping for once.
angela.lopez rude.
Tim lets a small chuckle out as he hearts the message and then goes back to his chat with Lucy. He decides just to ignore her messages, leaving her on read and go to sleep.
Over the weekend Lucy had sent one more message which was just a question mark, he didn’t open the chat and went on his weekly shop to the local market.
“Hey Smitty.” He says walking past and grabbing a basket. Looking at the list May had given him, he works through it and makes his way to the dairy isle. He grabs the milk and puts it in the basket.
“Now I know you’re stalking me.” He hears a voice from behind him. Shit. He turns around and meets her eyes.
“Just doing my weekly shop.” He replies and turns back to the milk cartons.
“So you’re back to pretending I don’t exist?” Lucy says with a slight hint of hurt in her voice. He noticed.
“Just focused on making sure I get everything so I don’t have to come back later.” He flashes her a tight smile while turning the piece of paper towards her to show proof of the list.
“Yeah okay.” She says grabbing almond milk and walking off. He watches as she goes back to an older woman who he assumes is her mother.
“Who was that Lucy?” Her mother asks as she puts the milk in the trolley. “Why didn’t you get normal milk?”
“It was no one and mom I’m lactose intolerant, you know this.” She replies looking down.
“Nonsense, you’re not. Just making it up for attention. Go back and get the normal milk.” Lucy nods and takes the milk back.
Tim watches the interaction before grabbing almond milk and moving to the next isle. He finishes up and goes to pay. Lucy is in the line ahead of him with one customer between them.
He watches them leave, pays and slowly walks behind them. He knows it may be creepy following a woman back to her home but he hopes she won’t see him. He walks for 10 minutes before they reach their home. He looks into the window that appears to be Lucy’s room. His theory is confirmed when he sees her walk into the room. Her window is on the second floor with a stair case on the side.
He slowly makes his way up the stair case and pulls the almond milk out from his bag, placing it outside her window and then walks back down. Tim grabs a few small rocks and starts to throw them at her window, after the sixth one he sees her look and open the window. Lucy spots the carton, picks it up before looking around. She doesn’t see anything and closes the window in confusion. She knows it was Tim but she can’t prove anything.
It’s late at night and Tim decides to bring his attention back to the weird things happening to his body. He thinks back to when the weird things started happening and what happened in the moment for the weirdness to occur. He slipped in the shower and tried to catch himself, then something shot from his wrist. Tim extends his wrist up, nothing happens. He pulls them back down and shoots it up much faster and puts more effort into it. Then the web shot from his wrist and attaches itself to the ceiling. He sits up and pulls on the webbing. It stretches to a certain point but doesn’t break, he pulls harder and it still doesn’t break. He hears a knock at his door.
“One sec May!” He shouts as he jumps onto his feet on the bed and pulls down the web and lays back down into bed.
“What’s all the noise Timmy?” She asks taking him in, his heavy breathing and covers pulled up to his shoulders. She raises an eyebrow.
“Nothing.” He says too quickly. She sits on the edge of his bed by his feet. Placing a hand on his foot.
“You know you’re growing up and you’re going to want to experiment and it’s normal-“
“What?! No May- I swear nothing is going on.” He nearly screams in her face, feeling himself go red.
“Okay okay relax Timmy. I just came to check on you.” She stands up and retreats back to the door.
“I’m okay, thank you May.” Tim looks up and smiles at her, trying his best to convince her. May gives one last curious look before nodding and closing the door behind her.
As soon as he hears the door click shut he lets out a breath he didn’t realise he wasn’t holding in. He pulls his hands out from the covers and looks at the webbing bunched up in his palm. Then looking back at his wrist, there is a scar that looks like a spider web. He shoots both out at the same time and then looks again. He sees the scars on his wrists that have webbing attached in the centre. He collects all of the webbing and puts it in the trash.
Sunday morning he wakes up pulling the covers off of him, standing up and feeling the material still on his hand. He shakes his hand and the material refusing to fall. He uses his other hand to try and pull it off which just causes both hands to Noe be stuck onto his bedding. Panicking he shakes his hands profusely after a minute the bedding finally drops onto the bed. The whole day he tries not to touch anything, this proves impossible while eating, going in his phone, doing school work. Objects continue to stick to his hands as he does his best to ignore the significant issue.
Monday morning he’s back on the bus sitting next to Angela talking about Wesley. “So how’s things with Lucy going?” She gives him a slight nudge.
“I’m not sure. I thought it was going alright but I may have messed up.” He says playing with the sleeve of his hoodie.
“How come? I thought you didn’t tell her how you felt.” He looks down and wonders how to explain how he felt.
“I’ve never felt this way before and when I talk to her it’s easy but then I get in my head and run away from her, quite literally. I think she thinks I’m weird.” Tim hears a giggle beside him.
“Look I’m sure if you explained all that to Lucy she would understand it. She can’t read your mind Timothy.” He looks over at Angela before nodding and getting ready to get off the bus. He walks through the hallway before he spots her, as soon as she sees him, she turns on her heel and walks off. Tim lets out a quiet huff then heads to his locker. He walks into Math and takes his seat. Halfway through the class he turns to the back of the class to look at Lucy. She’s looking back at him, Tim smiles at her. Lucy looks down at her book, ignoring him.
At lunch he can’t spot Lucy anywhere, not in the cafeteria, not in her usual field spot.
tbradford98 Now who’s ignoring who?
Lucy is sat in the art classroom avoiding Tim. She lets out a scoff seeing his text, unbelievable. She thinks about replying and confronting him about his mixed signals but she decides to leave him on read and goes back to drawing her dog.
tbradford98 U can’t ignore me forever Luce.
_lucychen i dont have anything to say to u.
tbradford98 How about ‘hey Tim how is ur day going?’
_lucychen ur kidding right?
_lucychen u ignore me for days and then suddenly decide u wanna talk to me again?
tbradford98 I’m sorry Lucy.
She turns her phone off and ignores him for the rest of the day. Feeling her phone buzz again she slides it into a pocket of her bag, then packets her stuff up for last lesson.
Tim sighs knowing he’s going to have to show her he’s sorry instead of words.
The next day he stops at Smitty’s store and grabs a bouquet of sunflowers, pays and then puts them in his bag. “You got a special lady Tim?”
“Yeah, she’s very special.” He replies and then walks to the bus stop.
He casually talks to Angela all the way to school and then tries to get through the day until lunch. He looks around trying to find her but can’t.
tbradford98 Where are u?
tbradford98 I would like to talk to u, please?
_lucychen art room.
Tim rushes over and takes a minute to breathe before opening the door. He smiles instantly when he sees her, her hair is pulled away from her face in a loose braid.
“Close your eyes.” He says stepping into the room.
“Why?” She replies not looking up from her notebook.
“Please just do it, it’ll be worth it.” She lets out a frustrated huff before closing her eyes, then putting her hands over her eyes.
Tim walks towards her, unzips his backpack before pulling the flowers out, the flowers had got slightly crushed in his bag. “Damnit.” She opens her eyes and they soften at the sight of Tim holding flowers.
“Did you buy me flowers Tim?” Lucy asks with a quiet voice.
“I swear they looked a lot better this morning, they must’ve got crushed in my bag.” He holds the flowers out to her. She slowly stands and walks to him, she gently places a hand over his and takes the flowers failing to hide the massive smile on her face.
“Why?” She looks up at him, meeting his eyes.
“To apologise to you.” He looks down in shame.
“You already did Tim.”
“I’m more of a show you kind of guy. I’m not great with words.” He zips his bag back up.
“Yeah I noticed. Thank you Tim, this is really sweet. No one has ever bought me flowers before, even if they are a little crushed.” Tim can’t help but smile at the look on her face, in that moment he decides he’s going to try and make her smile as much as he can.
“You’re beautiful.” The words come out of his mouth before he can even stop himself. He sees her freeze and he starts to panic and is about to try to ramble his way out of it. Lucy presses a soft hand to his cheek and kisses the other cheek before leaning back. He’s frozen in place and can barely register what just happened. Lucy just kissed his cheek. He feels himself blushing and looks down messing with his sleeve. Then he feels a hand pulling him down to sit next to her.
“Stay for lunch?” He nods and pulls his lunch out, glancing over to her notebook and sees a sketch of a dog.
“You’re really good at drawing you know?” She smiles at his words then lets go of his hand.
“Can I just ask why you did ignore me? It’s been bothering me.”
Tim takes a deep breath, “I got scared and ran away from my feelings.”
“Your feelings?” She looks up at him.
“Yeah, I’ve never really noticed anyone like I notice you. I’m not really sure how to explain it.” He says as his hand goes back to his sleeve. Her hand meets his before he gets there, she rubs her thumb over his hand.
“I know what you mean Tim.” He looks up in relief.
“You do?”
“Yeah, because I feel the same.” They both take a second just smiling at each other.
Tim takes hold of her hand properly and brings it towards him, he places a gentle kiss to the back of her hand then returning it to the table. He hears her let out a small giggle and sees her cheeks flush red.
“Lucy…” He takes another deep breath, “Would you maybe want to grab dinner sometime? Or a movie or whatever you want to do? Like just us?”
“Obviously you idiot.” She says as she tries to pull her hand away to get back to her drawing, but she can’t. Tim’s hand is stuck to hers, he slowly realises and tries to play it off, pulling her hand back towards him and softly smiling at him. Trying to ignore the anxiety rushing through him. “Careful you’re about to take my hand off.” She jokes at him.
The bell rings and they stand packing their things away with one hand each, Lucy eyes him finding it slightly strange but sweet. He walks her to her class and prays his hand has unstuck. He successfully pulls his hand back. “See you later stalker.” She says as she walks into the class.
tbradford98 I asked Lucy to dinner. She said yes.
angela.lopez aww his first date ever!
tbradford98 U are so irritating.
_lucychen thank u for my flowers tim, theyre beautiful.
tbradford98 Of course Lucy and for the record so are u🙂
_lucychen i have no clue what u were talking about ur great with words.
tbradford98 U make it easy when u look like THAT.
Lucy finds herself smiling at his messages as she walks through her front door. Taking her shoes off before heading to her room. She pulls her even more crushed flowers out and grabs a heavy book and paper. She takes the stems off and lays each one carefully on the paper between the book pages. She closes the book and puts it under an old trophy to add extra weight.
_lucychen sooooo whens our date? ;)
tbradford98 Are u free this Friday at 7?
_lucychen i suppose i could squeeze u into my busy schedule
tbradford98 Wow how generous of u. How could I ever repay u?
_lucychen hmm i do love ice cream🤷🏻♀️
tbradford98 Consider it done. I can’t wait.
_lucychen ur adorable
tbradford98 Lucy… boys aren’t adorable.
_lucychen dont make me hurt u.
tbradford98 Okay okay, thank u.
_lucychen thats what i thought
tbradford98 Night Lucy
_lucychen goodnight tim.
He turns his phone and goes to bed happy, thinking of Lucy.
The next few days Lucy returns to her spot on the field and Tim joins her for lunch every single day, they sit and talk about their days and Lucy makes conversation about random facts. He doesn’t really care or know anything about the things she’s saying but he loves staring at her smile while she’s explaining things she finds interesting.
“You’re staring Bradford.” He feels warmth growing on his cheeks. “You’re so cute.” She says rubbing his hand.
“You’re just very beautiful.” She smiles at him, leaning in and kissing his cheek. Lucy sees him go bright red and cant help but giggle.
“Tim Bradford you are such a flirt.” She starts to pluck daisies from the field and uses her nails to punch gaps into the stems, connecting a bunch in a row and connects the two ends.
She rises to her knees and places the daisy crown on his head. Her chest directly in his eye line, Tim looks anywhere else that he can. She retreats back to sitting. “Can I take a picture of you?”
‘Luce…”
“Oh come on stalker. Please? For me?” She says looking at him with her best puppy eyes.
He rolls his eyes and pulls his camera out, “Only you.” Lucy blushes at his words and takes the picture.
Thursday night, Tim is sat on the roof of his building, swinging his legs over the edge. He has a hoodie pulled all the way over his head and the sleeves rolled up. Trying to test out his wrists, he shoots one from each wrist aiming at the building across from him. They reach and stick, he pulls on them testing the strength. He jumps to his feet, contemplating if this is a stupid idea. He had never really been afraid of dying but never made any attempts for it to happen. He takes one last deep breathe before jumping off of the roof, the webs catch him as he’s swinging, he hadn’t thought it through and swings directly into the side of the building, his face smacking against the brick. “Ow.” He climbs up the building pulling on the webs and half crawling. The web slips through his hands and feels himself falling but his feet and stuck to the building.
His body is horizontal to the city he takes in the view of the city, the lights at night. Lucy would love this. He takes a picture then puts his phone away, then continues to climb on the wall not needing webs with his limps sticking.
He reaches the roof and shoots webs across to his building and jumps back over. His heart is racing and he’s never felt that kind of adrenaline before. He swings from building to building experimenting with different things. Then returns home and showers and messages Lucy goodnight.
Friday lunch they are in their usual routine sat on the field away from everyone else. Lucy is showing pictures of her dog and explaining the story behind each one. He loves the way her eyes light up and look at him, she looks at him different to other people.
“Can I show you a picture from last night?” He pulls his phone as she nods.
“Oh wow, that’s really pretty Tim. Where is that?” She takes his phone from him, taking a closer look.
“The roof of my building, you could join me sometime.” He smiles at her.
“I’d love to stalker.” She passes his phone back.
At the end of lunch he walks her to her class and she kisses his cheek again. “Pick me up at 7?”
“I’ll be there.” He walks off to his class.
When he arrives home he showers and tries to decide what to wear.
tbradford98 Angela
tbradford98 Angela.
tbradford98 Angela!
angela.lopez what???
tbradford98 What do I wear for my date with Lucy?
angela.lopez seriously dude. u spammed me for that?
angela.lopez she’s not gonna to care just do jeans and a polo or something
tbradford98 Okay, thank u.
He tries on three different shirts before picking one then moving onto shoes.
Lucy gets home and showers as well, then doing her natural hair, it’s not super curly but it’s in between waves and curls. She diffuses it and then moves onto makeup. Keeping it light with mascara on her top lashes and some blush on her cheeks and the bottom of her nose. She goes through her closet trying on five different dresses then moves to jeans and a cute top. She finally decides on blue jeans and a yellow flower babydoll top. She looks at the time 6:55pm, she grabs her jacket and puts her shoes on waiting on the bottom step for Tim.
Tim leaves at 6:35, it takes 15 minutes to walk to Lucys and also have time to pick up some flowers. As he’s walking to her building holding the flowers he hears a scream and turns to see an older woman trying to run after a man holding a baby. No one around them is seeming to do much of anything so he puts the flowers in his bag and runs after the man. He chases him until he sees the man run into an alleyway.
He slowly approaches having slight deja vu. He sees the man putting the baby down and takes the chance, he pushes the man into the wall, hitting his head. The man takes a moment and turns around to face Tim. Fear filling him as the man lunges at him, throwing a punch to Tim’s jaw.
Tim fights back throwing his own fists before he’s thrown into the wall and the man runs off, Tim’s eyes fall to the baby crying on the floor. He gently lifts the baby and walks back trying to find the mother. The woman sees him walking towards her and runs closing the distance. “Thank you so much. Oh my god! Thank you.” The woman exclaims and she takes the baby from Tim’s arms. The police were there and he had to give a description of the man and get his jaw and back looked at by a medic, then he was free to go.
Lucy. He looks at his phone 7:53pm.
6:58pm
_lucychen i cant wait.
7:10pm
_lucychen hey are u on ur way?
7:30pm
_lucychen did u forget?
Lucy had gone back up to her room and changed into pjs, removed her makeup and braided her hair. She was sat working on her biology homework. Accepting the fact Tim forgot.
tbradford98 Lucy I’m so sorry.
tbradford98 I swear I didn’t forget, I was on my way and then something happened.
tbradford98 Please believe me.
She’s not sure how to feel and doesn’t quite believe him yet. She decides to just ignore him and go back to her work until she hears the familiar tapping on her window. She stands up from her bed and looks down to see Tim standing with crushed flowers.
Tim sees her look down at him, hurt written on her face. She opens her window and crosses her arms over her chest.
“I’m sorry Lucy.” He says raising his arm to show the flowers. He definitely should’ve bought new ones after the fight but wanted to get to her house as quickly as he could. She doesn’t say anything but her faces changes into concern when she looks at his face, a bruise forming on his jaw.
“Come up.” She says and leaves her window open as he begins to climb the stairs. He brushes down his clothes before climbing through the window. She comes closer to him and turns his head and looks at his bruise. “What happened? Does it hurt? Are you okay?”
“Luce I’m okay, I promise.” He takes her hand in his.
She lightly slaps his chest, “You’re late.”
“I know I’m sorry. You look so beautiful though.” He places the flowers in her hand.
“I looked better earlier, you would know if you turned up.” She says taking the flowers. “When are you going to learn about putting flowers in your bag.” He chuckled at her and looks into her eyes, he can see that she’s still upset.
“I promise I didn’t forget. I left at 6:35 and then got flowers and the way to you, a woman’s baby was stolen and I got it back. After I was allowed to leave I came straight here.” He looks at her trying to see if she believed him.
“I believe you Tim.” She gently caresses his jaw and places a kiss on the bruise. “Wait how did you get the baby back?”
“Ran after him and had a small fight. He ran off and left the baby behind.” He takes her hand and kisses it.
“So you’re officially a hero?” She says with a smirk. He chuckles.
“I know it’s late but I’d still like to take you out?”
“Absolutely not.” He looks down in defeat, “I look awful but I will give you a chance for a redo?” She replies smiling up at him.
“I would love that, thank you Lucy.” She nods. “And for the record you could never look awful.” She blushes.
“Did you get hurt anywhere else?” She asks as he pulls his jacket off and lifts his shirt as he turns around. He hears a gasp behind him. She pulls his shirt up more and traces the bruising with her fingers. Then he feels gentle kisses along his spine. His whole body reacting to the feeling. Tim turns around and Lucy’s eyes fall to his abs.
“My eyes are up here Chen.” She looks away in embarrassment.
“Sorry…” He lifts her chin to brings her eyes to his.
“Don’t be, I don’t mind.” She smirks at his reply, “Luce… Can I kiss you?” She smiles and nods her head. He slowly leans forward, closing his eyes and pushes his lips to hers. Her lips are soft and he feels a hand on his neck, pulling him closer.
They pull apart and rest their foreheads against each other. “Was that okay?” He asks feeling slightly worried.
“More than okay.” She reassures him and holds his hand.
“So I’m allowed to do it again?” She nods and pulls him down to her by the neck of his shirt. Connecting their lips, she deepens it and feels hands placed on her waist. She moves a hand to his shirt and rubs the skin of his back.
Tim feels his body getting hot and pulls away before his reaction can travel south. “I should probably get out of here before your parents come up.”
“Yeah but remember you still owe me a redo.” She says letting go of his shirt.
“How could I forget, it’s what gave me the will to live.” She pushes his chest rolling her eyes.
“In my mind I’m hitting you right now.”
“Wowww, I see how it is.” He pulls her hand to bring her back to him. Placing a kiss on her forehead. “Can I see you tomorrow for our redo?”
“If you’re late I’m going to get a witch to put a curse on you.” She says with an innocent smile.
“Yes ma’am. I’ll see you at 7 on the dot.” He says moving towards the window letting go of her hand.
“Wait.” She pulls him back and leans up to kiss him. “Okay now you can go.” He knows he has the biggest grin of his face.
He climbs down and looks up seeing her waving at him, he waves back and walks back home.
“Timmy?” May runs up to him as he walks through the door. “Where the hell have you been? I was worried sick.”
“I’m oka-“
“What happened to your face?” She scans his body to see if she can spot anymore injuries.
“May, I went out to go see a friend and then there was a situation with a woman and her baby, but I’m okay. I promise.” She raises an eyebrow at him.
“A friend huh? Was this a date?” He can feel himself getting embarrassed.
“Maybe…” May’s face lights up and hugs him.
“Tell me all about her. What’s her name? Does she go to your school? Is she pretty?” May pulls him to sit down on the couch.
“Her name is Lucy, yes she goes to my school and yes she’s really pretty.” He keeps his eyes on the floor.
“Aww Timmy, did it go well?” She’s trying to pry more information out of him.
“Well the date never happened because of the baby situation. I was an hour late after everything got sorted out. But I went to her house with flowers and explained everything and she forgave me. We have a redo tomorrow.” May squeals out of excitement after listening to him.
They sit and eat dinner while Tim talks about Lucy and he gets ready for bed.
_lucychen how is ur back feeling?
tbradford98 A lot better after ur kisses🙂
_lucychen such a sweet talker
tbradford98 It’s easy to talk to u.
_lucychen good thing i like talking to u
tbradford98 Thank god.
_lucychen im excited for tomorrow
tbradford98 I’m gonna leave an hour early to make sure I’m on time
_lucychen how about i come to u instead?
tbradford98 That might be safer.
_lucychen good
_lucychen see u tomorrow tim
tbradford98 See u tomorrow Lucy
The whole of Saturday Tim stays home getting ready, not doing anything that might turn into him being late. He focuses on his homework as there was no risk with that.
tbradford98 I’m already ready for our redo
_lucychen tim its 2pm…
tbradford98 Well I’m not letting anything happen so I’m ready now just incase
_lucychen ur so cute.
_lucychen so where are u taking me?
tbradford98 That’s a surprise
_lucychen i hate surprises
tbradford98 You are a lying liar who lies.
_lucychen okay fine i love surprises
tbradford98 I knew it.
It gets to 6:00pm and he starts frantically cleaning his room. Making the bed, putting his books in neat piles, emptying his trash and even organising his draws even though she won’t see them. He hears the doorbell ring and runs to the stairs.
“I’ve got it May!” He shouts rushing down the stairs.
“Nonsense!” She gets to the door first and opens it. “You must be Lucy, I’m Tim’s Aunt. Call me May.” She reaches out an arm to shake Lucy’s hand.
“May stop please, she just got here.” He takes her hand and pulls her through the door.
“Tim it’s fine, be nice.” She shoots him a smile. “Hi May, I’m Lucy. It’s really nice to meet you.” She offers her hand to May, May shakes her hand and pulls her into a hug.
“Gosh Tim you weren’t kidding when you said she was really pretty.” May says looking at her face properly.
“May! Lucy do you want a tour?” He holds her hand.
“Sure!” She lets him pull her upstairs.
As they walk up the stairs she looks at the pictures hanging on the walls, stopping when she sees one with Tim and what she assumes is his parents. He looks young like 6 years old. A bright gappy smile plastered on his face. There is only a few with his parents, most of them with May. Tim gently tugs on her arm to bring her to his room.
“This is my room.” He says opening the door. She walks in and looks at the walls, covered in posters of bands and films. One of Albert Einstein and a few of his own photographs. His bed neatly made and desk organised.
“It’s cute, did you tidy for me stalker?” She smirks at him, taking a seat on the edge of his bed.
“Maybe I wanted to impress you.” He replied joining her on his bed.
She smiles at him and leans in to kiss him. He kisses her back immediately placing one hand on the back of her head tangling in her hair and the other on her waist. He pulls her waist closer to him as she lifts a leg over his, straddling his lap not breaking the kiss. His hands travel down to her hips as hers pulls at the hairs on the back of his neck. He lets out a groan and then freezes. She feels his body stop.
“You okay?” She pulls away and looks at him.
“Yeah sorry um we should get going.” She climbs off of him and watches him stand up and heading for the door. She follows him out and down the stairs.
“We’re going now May! Be back soon.” He shouts halfway out the door and shuts the door behind Lucy.
They walk in silence for a few minutes, she keeps looking at him but he keeps his eyes on the ground with his hands tight in his pockets. He feels a small hand wrap around his bicep and her body pressing into his side.
“What’s wrong Tim?” She asks and he looks up at her.
“Nothing.” He looks back down.
“You wanna try that again?” He lets a small smile cover his face.
“I just get nervous sometimes.” She pulls a hand out of his pocket and holds it, rubbing her thumb softly against his rough skin.
“It’s okay. I get nervous too… but I feel better because it’s you.” He feels a sense of relief washing over him as she understands him.
“I’m sorry I freaked out again.”
“What do you mean again?” She looks over and sees him getting embarrassed. She pulls his hand towards her and kisses the back.
“You know when we sat on the field for the first time and then I ran off?” She nods at him, “Yeah I freaked out then too.”
“How come?”
“It’s embarrassing Luce.”
“Hey no, no it’s not. Your feelings will never be embarrassing.” Hearing her words he squeezed her hand three times. He feels her squeeze back, three times.
“I freaked out because-“ He takes a deep breath before deciding to just spit it out, “Because you touched my hand and it just I don’t know, you know in those stupid romance films where they talk about some spark and that’s what it felt like. Then I panicked and just ran. I’m sorry.”
“Tim.” She stops walking. “Tim look at me.” She puts her hand under his chin and lifts it up. She pulls him down to kiss her. “You don’t ever have to apologise for panicking, I think it’s adorable. There’s no pressure between us, we can go at your pace. I promise.”
He pulls her back to his lips and then rests his forehead on hers. “Has anyone ever told you how incredible you are?” She smiles at his words.
“Oh yeah everyday.” He rolls his eyes.
“Let’s go eat.” He starts walking again and they arrive at some food trucks, a few tables and string lights hung in the trees. “I know it’s not much but it’s quiet and the food is really nice.”
“Tim, it’s perfect.” She takes his hand and looks at the menus.
“What are you getting?”
“Veggie burger, wanna share some fries?”
“Sure Luce.” He steps up to speak to the worker.
“Hey Tim, what can I get for you?”
“A veggie burger, cheeseburger, a portion of fries and two waters please. Thank you.” He pays and they sit down to wait.
“Are you here a lot then?”
“Yeah, it’s nice to just relax here.”
Their food comes and Tim tells her to pose then takes a photograph of the food and Lucy with the fairy lights behind her.
Tim opens his burger and takes the pickles out and puts them on the side and then closes it. “Not a fan of pickles?”
“No but it’s just easier to pick them out then request a modification.”
“Tim you know you’re not a bother, you’re here all the time. I bet if you tell them once they will remember each time you’re here.”
“I guess so, I’ll try next time.”
“Or… you could just give me your pickles.” He raises an eyebrow at her before placing the pickles on her tray. “Thank you!”
Tim can’t help but smile at her expression. “What?” She asks seeing him stare.
“Nothing you’re just cute.” He places a hand on her knee and the other on her cheek, pulling her closer to him connecting their lips.
He pulls away and they finish their food and start walking through the city. “Wanna get ice cream?” She looks over to him.
“Tim where is going to be open right now?” He takes her hand again and pulls her in the direction of Smitty’s store.
“I promise when I get a job I will take you somewhere nicer for both dinner and dessert.”
“No. I don’t need fancy. I just need you.” She jumps up to her tiptoes and pulls his head down, kissing his forehead. Tim feels his cheeks warmth, blushing at her gesture.
“Adorable.” She reaches for his hand, “Hey can I take a picture of us on your camera?”
He nods and pulls his camera back out, she pauses walking and turns the lens towards them. Just before she takes the picture he kisses her cheek making her smile brighter, snapping the picture.
“That’s gonna be the cutest picture ever. You have to make me a copy. Pleaseeeeeeeee.”
“Of course Luce, next lunch time I’ll develop them, you could come with if you wanted?”
“I’d love to, thank you.” She hands the camera back and he puts it in his bag. “Now I believe I was promised ice cream.”
They finish their walk to Smitty’s store and pick out an ice cream each from the freezer, she pays before he can even blink. “Hey no-“
“Just say thank you.”
“Thank you.” They walk back to Lucy’s making conversation while finishing their ice creams.
“Thank you for walking me home. If you couldn’t tell, I had a lot of fun tonight.”
“I did too. I can’t wait to see you Monday and develop our picture.” He lets go of her hand and starts to turn to walk away.
“Hey wait! No kiss goodnight?” He smiles at her comment, closing the gap between them and pecks her lips. “I’m sorry, is that is?”
“If you’re gonna criticise me the-“ She cuts him off grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling him down to her. He places his hands on her waist as one of hers plays with his hair. She pulls away after a second.
“See much better.” Then she walks to her door, “Bye Tim.”
He waves goodbye and walks himself home.
“Who was that Lucy?” A voice behind her makes her jump.
“Just a friend from school dad.”
“A friend who you kiss?” Her jaw drops.
“What! No!” He quirks an eyebrow at him. “Okay fine, but he’s not my boyfriend.”
“Don’t worry I won’t tell your mother. Is he nice to you?”
“Yeah he’s really nice, he treats me well.” She can’t stop herself from smiling.
“Then that’s all I need to know.”
She makes her way up to her room and calls Tim. It rings once before he picks up.
“Hi beautiful. Miss me already?” His voice coming through the phone.
“Oh shut up. Just was worried about you walking home in the dark on your own.”
“Well how sweet of you. Is this your way of saying you care about me?” She rolls her eyes.
“Obviously I care about you Tim.” His heart warms.
“Hey I’m home now, I gotta go but I’ll message you later yeah? Promise.”
“You better stalker.” She hears him chuckle before hanging up.
“Soooo how was it?” May asks letting him come through the door.
“It was perfect. She’s perfect.”
“Tim I’m so happy for you. She seems lovely. She seems exactly what you need.”
“You’re right. Well goodnight May.” He heads up the stairs hearing her say night back.
tbradford98 Keeping my promise.
_lucychen good. i had so much fun tim
tbradford98 Me too. I really like u Lucy.
_lucychen i really like u too tim
tbradford98 So have I earned another date?
_lucychen u know we can just hang out? u dont have to take me on a bunch of dates :)
tbradford98 But u deserve the absolute best.
_lucychen ur sweet but sometimes its just nice to just relax, i wont think any less of u.
tbradford98 Noted. So hang out at my house friday night?
_lucychen wouldnt miss it for the world
_lucychen night tim :)
tbradford98 Goodnight Lucy.
On Monday they head to the dark room at lunch. Switching the bright white lights to the red lights. He pulls him camera out and takes the negatives out. Placing them into the enlarger and putting the photograph paper under it. Then turning it on letting it shine onto the paper for 18 seconds. Then placing it into the developing chemical and lifting one edge to create a rocking motion. He shows Lucy how to do it gently as he starts on the next negative. Then using prongs to move it to the stop bath for 10 seconds, letting Lucy do the rocking motion. Then moving it to the fixer for 3 minutes. Then putting it in the clean water for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes he places them on the drying rack.
He repeats the process on the next few negatives and lets Lucy do one of her own and she picks the technique up pretty quickly. They eat their lunch while the photographs dry and then have a look at them spread out.
“When did you take this one?” She asks pointing to one of her sat on the field.
“Um I can’t remember.” He says snatching the picture and putting it in his pocket.
The next few days of school are perfect. They sit in the field or in the art classroom. Talking all lunch and giggling together. Talking about May and her dad. Tim never talks about his parents and Lucy never talks about her mom, both for different reasons.
Friday after school he’s getting ready for Lucy to come over. His phone ringing pulls his attention.
“Hey Luce. You on your way?” He hears a shaky breathe. “Lucy? Are you okay?”
“Tim help me.”