#hournite fics

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

We’re Not Friends 17

Are They More?

“Leave her alone, Beth. She’s going through enough,” Rick said.

Beth glared at him and smiled, saying through her teeth, “I was just trying to be nice.”

“She asked you not to bother her and you did anyway. So, instead of trying to be nice, why don’t you try not to be annoying, for once?”

“Okay. I’m going. Enjoy your lunch. I’m sorry I bothered you and it will never happen again.”

Since when did Rick Harris take up for people? He never took up for her, and she’s been sitting next to him for a year! Did he LIKE Yolanda? And why did that matter? Did she care about Rick liking Yolanda? God, did she LIKE Rick??

When Rick finally realized that Yolanda was being bullied, he protected Yolanda from Beth’s prying, but he had also explained to Beth why she needed to back off… “People don’t like uninvited guests seeing their dirty laundry,” Rick had told her. 

At the time, Beth had realized that maybe Rick and Yolanda were more alike than she had known. Shortly after, she’d noticed Rick glaring at Henry on Yolanda’s behalf. Warding him away from the table with his threatening expression. All the while, choosing not to be friends with Beth. It had bothered her, even then. It was definitely bothering her now. She didn’t need an ally to be accepted onto the team, but she had gotten very comfortable with the idea of her team being her friends; Of Rick being her friend. Would she and Rick have a chance to be friends if he was into Yolanda? Of course, people could manage both, but she didn’t know if she believed Rick was emotionally evolved enough to do that… 

He noticed her staring! She turned her head back towards her book, but she could still feel his eyes on her. She looked at him again. He looked… pensive and slightly confused. She offered a smile. He didn’t return it, but he wasn’t glaring, at least. “What are you thinking about?” He asked. It wasn’t like him to wonder about such things, but their dynamic had been gradually changing. 

“Just… how sweet it is, how supportive of Yolanda you are. She really deserves it, and I’m glad that she has somebody like you in her corner. I tried to support her before and boy did she not want that.” She laughed awkwardly and returned her eyes to her book.

Rick furrowed his eyebrows, unsure if Beth was suggesting what it sounded like she was suggesting. Did… she think that he liked Yolanda? Should he correct her? Did it matter? “This is a little different. You were trying to get her to deal with feelings she wasn’t ready to face. I’m trying to keep a literal sexual predator away from my friends-”

Beth looked up, her face beaming, and her eyes wide. Rick froze, even though every part of him was warm, seeing her light up that way. He had never used the word “friend” for her before and she hadn’t even known if he truly considered her one. In fact, she was convinced that despite him being on this team and talking to them everyday that they still weren’t friends. Now, his eyes narrowed and she felt herself darken in his stare. He must’ve just realized that he’d made that mistake. “Henry doesn’t belong on this team, Beth.” He finalized. She sighed and nodded. They were in two completely different head spaces. 

But then again… Rick had been protective of Beth at times, too. It was sort of his thing, at the moment. Maybe, hopefully, Yolanda was just his current focus. She reminded herself that not too long ago, she was convinced that he had feelings for Courtney because of how upset he was about her being hurt. It didn’t help that she knew Courtney had followed him to West Farms trying to get him on the team either. What if they’d liked each other and she hadn’t known? But, it turned out that she was wrong about that. He’d been a little bit preoccupied with Beth being left alone, worried that she might get hurt, and that was when she knew that Rick simply was a protector. 

So, there was no reason for Beth to believe that the wall that he was creating for Yolanda wasn’t just Rick being the defender that they were discovering that he was.

It still made her feel bad to have to witness, and she was going to have to figure out why she was allowing Rick to make her feel this way, whether or not he meant to.

.

Rick had gotten pretty tired of all of it. Courtney and Beth seemed committed to the idea of letting Henry on the team. Yolanda was feeling so terrible that the two of them had been talking, instead of her and Courtney, and Beth was acting… he was frustrated with Beth. Trying to explain to everyone how everyone else was feeling was not supposed to be his role on this team, but he found himself doing just that. 

Mainly, he absolutely agreed with Yolanda and wanted the others to understand why. But, whenever he spoke with Yolanda and the subject came up, he accidentally became defensive, because he knew Beth didn’t realize how difficult this was and she was just trying to do what she thought was best for everyone. Courtney could be a lot, but she didn’t need anybody to defend her. Beth did, and he knew that Yolanda was more angry at Courtney than he was at Beth for supporting Courtney’s idea.

Last night, Yolanda had ended their call with, “I’m going to just go, before I say something unfriendly about your girl.” She had made a few comments about how he ‘always took up for Beth,’ which… IF ONLY that were true, he and Beth wouldn’t be having the issues that they were having right now, which were that she was trying to “liaison” for Courtney, on behalf of Henry and all she was doing was upsetting Yolanda and Yolanda was coming to him, because in her mind, Rick somehow could handle talking to Beth straight up “without hurting her feelings…” EVERYONE knew that just was NOT the truth. He was THE person with the record of saying the worst things to Beth, followed by Yolanda, who had started later and stopped sooner than he had.

Now, Beth was being weird about him and Yolanda, and Yolanda was not getting the support she needed, so Rick found himself having to be her emotional support roughneck, Courtney’s common sense fairy and Beth’s… Well… he would always be whatever to Beth what he was, because he just couldn’t help himself. She was soft and sweet and smart, but she needed sharper social skills sometimes, and he knew that he had them, so why not help her out?

With Henry now having superpowers, all three of them needed protection, and Rick felt like he was the only person who could supply it for them. 

.

Lunch Meeting. There was always a lunch meeting. It was the easiest place to have their talks. Whenever Beth sat down and Yolanda sat next to her, Beth and Rick exchanged glances before he sat next to Yolanda and Beth sighed. Rick was frustrated already when Courtney came to the table with Henry. Beth knew this would not go well. Henry had been living in Rick’s mind rent free ever since Courtney even had an inkling to bring him on board, and now, not only was he on board, but he appeared to know EVERYTHING. 

And Yolanda and Rick were no closer to acknowledging peaceful solutions.

Beth did her best to be the peacemaker. To push aside the sinking feeling she got when she saw Henry knock Rick onto his back, when she noted the unspoken understanding between Rick and Yolanda, all of the stress of all of this, to just… PLEASE; let them listen to me. 

“We need to do this. For Court…” Yolanda and Rick exchanged looks. A silent agreement. Beth and Rick had not had those since he became invested in being Yolanda’s protector. And now - Yolanda was cutting off her friendship with Courtney. Beth tried not to focus on how that might mean more Yolanda and Rick bonding, and if they all came out on the other side, Courtney had Henry (new family), to get to know. Court would have her family and she would have Henry become a part of that. Yolanda… would have Rick.. THAT WASN’T IMPORTANT! They were superheroes, and she didn’t need to make anything about her right now. They had a mission to accomplish.

.

Rick and Yolanda did NOT want to be there. They knew that they had to, but working with Henry was already a no go for them both and saving his dad was even less appealing. Add to that the fact that there was no cosmic staff, PLUS Chuck was out of order, and this mission was even more ill advised than the first one that they rushed into. At least Rick had acknowledged the fact that Chuck was useful, Beth thought… but then remembered that he had never thought that Chuck wasn’t useful. It was her that he seemed most unimpressed by. At least he didn’t groan whenever he was sent with her to do retcon. 

That didn’t mean that it went well. In fact, it went as bad as Beth could have even guessed. Now… Beth was no coward, but what she was, was smart. She was smart and she was self aware. She knew that certain things could be dangerous and that she could not do everything. She knew that while she had a duty to perform, that some things were outside of her skill set and that to be successful, she needed to focus on the problem at hand and handle it in the most safe and effective way possible. Rick was not that type of person. Of all the hallways that they could have wound up going down, they had to go down the one that led to the thing that killed Rick’s parents?

The point of being here? He didn’t care. The fact that Beth needed him to finish the assignment? He didn’t care. The fact that more than likely, that thing would probably KILL THEM BOTH? He didn’t care. He saw the one responsible for the worst thing to ever happen to him, and the one that he had even put this suit on to go after in the first place. Nothing else mattered in that moment but getting to Solomon Grundy and getting his revenge..

Beth couldn’t physically pull him away, but fortunately, he came to his senses when henchmen arrived. Everything after that was… So… so BAD. Beth didn’t want to even think about it. But, it was yet another death she had to witness and she never knew that being a hero would mean seeing people die this way. Seeing people her age, seeing people she cared about, people on her team… die. 

Yolanda curled into Rick, and he comforted her. It was easy to comfort her. She needed it, and he guessed he did too. He had been wrong about Henry. Henry had done something awful, sure. But, Henry had also just had to find out that his father killed his mother. Rick wasn’t sure if the guy was lucky that he didn’t have to live with that knowledge, but having his last moments in life being his father murdering him - that just felt wrong. Henry had protected his girls when he couldn’t, and had died to do so. For nothing else, Rick felt that he owed him a portion of respect. And for Yolanda’s benefit, he would never soil the kid’s memory. What Henry did before that, Rick wasn’t going to continue judging him for. Not even Yolanda was doing that at this point.

She was grieving. Rick was checking on her and making sure that she was okay. All of them trying to get to Henry, to genuinely save him, and being unable to, having to watch him be murdered, to watch him know and have his last moments be to leave a good mark on the world? Only heroes did that.

.

Beth hadn’t been able to relax. She did everything that she could. Brought out candles she had not lit yet, ordered some outfits, cooked herself comfort food and escaped in a book. Chuck gave her some ambient music to try to get her calm. Her mom and Henry’s dad worked together for years. Dr. Henry King had always been cordial to her and from what she knew, he was one of the best doctors that her mother had ever worked with. He’d treated Dr. Chapel with respect and never made her feel devalued, even when she was focused on being a mother, he had seemed to always know what to say and how to treat her, unlike some other doctors at work places she had been a part of. It endeared Beth to him for a while. Once she realized his superpower, it made sense. He knew that her mom was a good person and a good doctor, and as long as she did her job and didn’t make things difficult, it was probably easy to be a nice colleague to her, even though he was a bad man.

A very bad man. Poor Henry. All Beth wanted was more heroes in the world. More friends. More good people. The JSA had been murdered by the ISA, and not even the children were safe. Joey. Henry. She had a certain level of care for both of them, and she had seen both of them die. She texted Yolanda to check on her and knew that the “Don’t worry,” she sent back was simply because she didn’t feel like talking to her, not because she was fine. Beth texted Rick to check up on her and he replied that he and Yolanda were on the phone and he’d try to get back to her tonight, but not to worry… Great. “Don’t worry” seemed like such an empty phrase, and had the opposite reaction. 

.

“Isn’t she gonna be upset that you’re on the phone with me?” Yolanda asked. “Why would she be upset? She knows that you’re going through something,” Rick responded, then amended it with, “And, she’d have no right to be upset that you and I are friends.” Rick thought about earlier. He bent the bars open and made sure that Beth was out first. He owed her for almost getting her clobbered by henchmen in the tunnels while he let his vengeance fuel him at Solomon Grundy’s cell… and he also wanted her to be safe. 

“She’s been acting a little bit jealous, hasn’t she?” Yolanda asked and Rick wanted to immediately say no and deny that he saw anything whatsoever to indicate that, but he definitely had noticed it and didn’t want to address it. That would be too much like trying to sort through feelings and he didn’t have time for that.

“She doesn’t have a lot of friends. Any time there is a mild disagreement, she’ll probably be jealous. This week it’s this, next week, it’ll be one of you, probably.” 

Yolanda let out a joyless chuckle and sighed. “I’ll be sure to answer her inquiries, then.” Rick didn’t respond. “Are you there?” She heard a sharp intake of breath on the other line. “You’re falling asleep.”

“Sorry. I’m just…”

“Tired. Makes sense. Go get some rest, and… be nice to her. We never know how things will go and you don’t want to let the moments that you could have been nice to her become regrets that you weren’t.” 

Rick furrowed his eyebrows, “What are we talking about?”

“Beth. You care about her. I know it and you know it. I don’t know if she knows it. I just… feel like I needed more time with Henry, and I didn’t get it. You have time with Beth. Make sure it’s well spent.”

“Those are two very different stories.”

“Yeah. In your story, you have no reason not to be nice to her.”

“I… am not mean to her. Not like I used to be. I just.. I’m tired. I’m going to hang up now.”

“I’m not going to come along with you and Beth to The Pit Stop. I’ll text her in the morning to let her know.” 

“Oo.. kay. Is this your way of making us be alone?”

“No. But, that sounds like an added bonus.” He sucked his teeth and she explained, “I want to go to church. To… pray for Henry…” he heard a whimper and he almost offered to stay on the phone, but she managed to add, “Goodnight,” and hung up before he could protest. 

#We're Not Friends #Hournite #Hournite Fics #Stargirl Fanfiction #Beth Chapel #Rick Tyler #Nesha Hournite Fics #Nesha Fanfiction

[hournites]

for the best friends to lovers prompt- "did that kiss mean anything to you"

hope you are doing well!! i love your writing 🫶🏻

Soundless Spin

“You start.” 

Doja Cat blasted through Cindy’s speakers, fancy chandeliers overhead shaking from the noise as Rick eyed the offensive Bud Light in front of him. It pained him that Blue Valley, Nebraska couldn’t shake the 20th century out of its roots–Somehow, even amidst 2020 billboard charts, Jackbox games, and Tiktok trends, the only activity collectively agreed upon tonight was spin the bottle. 

“Do I have to?” 

“Yes,” said Cindy, already bored at how long he was taking. Why was she facilitating this nonsense–she hates half of the school. That said, Rick also didn’t understand how they scored invites to her party. Or why the girls wanted to go. They might have not been at each other’s throats anymore with the ISA discontinued, but it wasn’t exactly like they were close friends. Since the JSA recovered the true Sylvester’s pickle brain, Rick stopped applying logic in his life when he didn’t need to. Crowded between drunk teens sat in a seance approved circle, everyone waited on Rick to start the game he had assumed was a joke. 

“No, you don’t have to,” said Beth reassuringly from across the room, though Rick suspected the second it was her time she’ll nope out. She looked around the group of classmates, sober as a judge. “Please remember that kissing should always be consensual!” 

Cindy rolled her eyes. “It's not that serious, Dr. Chapel Jr.” She shrugged in that nonchalant way before she stirred the pot. “Rick might land on Cameron, for all we know.”

Yolanda facepalmed. “We’re supposed to be encouraging Rick, not giving him the ick.” 

Cameron shot Yolanda an icy look. She raised a brow in retaliation.  “I said what I said.”

Courtney, nestled beside him, placed an ineffective hand on his knee. To Rick, she chanted, “C’mon! Spin, spin, spin, spin!” 

Everyone joined in. 

“Spin! Spin! Spin!” 

“Fine. Fine!” he shouted loud enough to be heard, blowing hot air out of his mouth. “I get it!” He raised both hands in the air to get some of Cindy’s cheerleading friends to stop hollering, their enthusiasm giving him minor concern. “I’m doing it. I’m doing it.” 

The empty beer bottle spun tightly around their sitting circle–Rick anticipated disaster, regretting his cave to peer pressure the second his hand lifted away. Anyone but Mahkent. Anyone but Mahkent, he nearly prayed in mounting desperation. It whirled around Yolanda on his right, Becky Sharpe, Cindy and the cheerleaders, tipped past Jenny Williams, slowed by Courtney, and crawled past Cameron until it hesitantly landed on Beth. 

Rick jerked his eyes up, meeting her gaze. His heart stopped for, like, a minute. He’d been so caught up in who would be the worst option, he hadn’t had enough time to think what would happen if the bottle landed on one of his friends.

What the hell should I do?  

Courtney covered her mouth to hide her giggles. “Wow! Must be fate.” 

“Girlie,” Yolanda whisper-mimed, shaking her head and zipping her lips. “Shut up.” 

It didn’t matter–Rick easily ignored Courtney cajoling them six ways to Sunday because he couldn’t hear her. The music distorted around them as he tried to pick up on Beth’s cues. 

He almost asked her, should I spin again? 

Then her lips lifted into a small cheeky smile. Of course, Beth wouldn’t have let herself play if she minded getting a few kisses from this game considering she was the one reminding everyone about consent. And, he came to realize, this would be his first kiss sober. It scratched an itch in his brain to think it would be with Beth. They could laugh it off later. 

“Well?” some dude huffed, impatient. “Are you kissing or not?”

Rick cleared his throat. “Beth, are you sure…?” 

But she was already making her way towards him, answering his question. 

Okay. Welp. We’re doing this. 

Instead of shuffling into the middle of the circle like a circus act, Rick let her come to him. Once she was in arm’s reach, he reached forward, hauling Beth into his lap to move her away from a sticky beer spill. It was easier, more comfortable—Less of a spectacle, this way. 

“Oof.” She laughed breathlessly as he rearranged their limbs. “Hi there. This is close.” 

“Sorry,” he said, embarrassed, ready to shove her off him if she didn’t like it. 

Beth touched his hand. “Don’t apologize.” She was right, this was so close. He could count every curly eyelash of hers behind those dark frames.  “Did you know this only had a 7% probability of happening?” 

Rick inwardly rolled his eyes at her math brain guzzling out computations at a time like this. Why wasn’t she nervous? “I did not. It’ll just be a peck, okay?”

Her brown eyes brightened in the dim party room and she nodded. “Sure!”

Rick cupped her jaw, cautious to be gentle, then tipped her chin up so he could lean down and kiss her.

She was ready for it. She closed her eyes and looped her arms around his neck, meeting his quick peck with another kiss before he could end it. It caught him off guard when Beth let out a tiny sigh. 

It felt good. Right. Rick couldn’t pull himself away. 

She pushed herself up in his lap and then there was more. Rick’s thumb pressed against her cheek. He hadn’t had anything to drink since they first walked in, but his mind went warm and fuzzy, like that first sip of alcohol down his throat. Everything slowed around them. He didn’t know what they were doing or cared where they were, he just wanted the soft way Beth’s body pretzeled against his, her hand now moving, exploring down his neck to rest over his chest. It wasn’t rushed, or unsure, Beth was taking and he was giving or maybe it was the other way around. She let out another hum, and then there was another long lazy kiss, hypnotic enough for Rick to nearly believe that he had a soul she could’ve kissed out. 

“Woah, okay! Ew? Too much.” Jenny W clapped her hands. “Time’s up! Spin again!” 

He blinked out of the trance. “What?” 

She gave him a shy smile. “That was nice.”  Beth slid herself out of his lap seemingly unaffected nor aware of how she had just turned his life upside down.

 Nice? That was—Okay. Apparently the most intimate moment in his 18 years was just “nice.” Rick was fucked. 

“Yeah,” he croaked out, scared that if he spoke further his voice would crack, the tension between them was still palpable. Say something. You have to say something.

He focused on forming a coherent sentence out of his mouth. They should leave. To do what? He had no idea (yes, he did–her lips, that touch, the perfume on her neck, he needed it memorized). He also needed to process what the hell just happened, and, not surprisingly, Beth was very good at analyzing weird shit that happens to them–but not usually to both of them at the same time. 

“You heard me, right? It’s your turn now.” Jenny W thrust the bottle into Beth’s hand, not giving Rick the option to get a word in. 

“Oh,” Beth said. “Sorry!” 

He watched in stunned silence as she returned to her spot and wordlessly spun again. It landed on a guy from Ms. Woods’ calculus support group and jealousy took a hold of him with an iron fist. 

He got up and left, announcing he needed a piss, though the terrible excuse was luckily drowned out by the latest remix. Unable to stomach Beth kissing someone else, the rest of the night blurred like watercolors on a canvas. 

Nothing except the bleeding dark pinks of her lips dripped into every corner of his mind, the browns of her soft eyed stare, haunting his sleep. He suffered through the blue phantom-pain of Beth in his lap. The way she moved in it and how boldly he pulled her to him without second-guessing what he was doing. 

What was he doing? 

~.~ 

“Assuming the calculations from the goggles are correct, we would have six hours in the pocket dimension.” Beth wrote notes to follow her thinking on the Pit Stop whiteboard with a green marker, her goggles projecting a diagram. “That’s one hour in our dimension, meaning hypothetically your hourglass won’t time out.

“Got it,” Rick agreed without understanding, miserably distracted by the fact this was his first moment alone with Beth since Spin the Bottle. Thick tension returned with a vengeance. He could taste how bad he wanted her to like him. Every time she caught his eye Rick was certain he’d need a fire extinguisher to douse his hot heart within him. He sat on the table, his fingers tapping anxiously against the wood surface, really wanting to kiss her again. 

She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head like she didn’t quite believe him. Rightly so. He didn’t believe him, and that posed a risk for the JSA tomorrow. “Any questions, then?” 

“I don’t think so.” 

Beth folded her arms. “Really?” 

“Fine. Yeah. One.” 

She looked relieved. “Let’s hear it.” She turned around and wrote QUESTIONS on the board and set out to underline it.  

“Did that kiss mean anything to you?” 

Beth’s impeccable marker line careened to a crooked left. Slowly, she turned around. “That has nothing to do with our pocket dimension trip.” 

“You asked if I had any questions.” 

“Yes, you did. Fair enough.” She sighed in a way Rick couldn’t tell was wistful or annoyed. “Our kiss, you mean?” 

“Yes, our kiss.” Even calling it a kiss, as he had in his brain the last few days, was very modest. There was not just one kiss. There were several kisses. It was an experience. 

“Of course it meant something to me,” she said primly. The marker cap pressed into her inner-palm. “That was my first kiss.”

“That’s it?” 

She glanced away, fixating on the antiquated mugshots of Per Degatron’s goonies, finally starting to look as nervous as Rick felt. “What more do you want me to say? It was nice.”

He almost winced—There she went again. It was nice. For a girl with her vocabulary, that wasn’t promising. 

“It was a nice kiss,” she continued in his stretched silence, “and I’m glad I had it with you. I didn’t think the bottle would ever land on me, or that I would want to play until they made you go first. I’m pretty sure I went into it wanting to watch.” 

He furrowed his brows, trying to read between the lines. If she didn’t want to play unless he went first, then why did she continue with her turn afterwards? She must’ve used him to boost her confidence and practice kissing, not realizing he’d read into it so much. Now Rick felt stupid. 

“You’re hurt,” she said. He was about to argue, but there really wasn’t any point. Not when his voice would probably crack as he denied it. He cursed the accuracy of the mood reader still embedded in her goggles. Sensing his lingering wariness at the object above her hair, she took the goggles off and laid them aside. An offering that she wouldn’t leverage her emotional advantages in this conversation. She used the stool to step up onto the table, taking a seat next to him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to tell you how you feel.” 

“It’s okay.” 

“It doesn’t have to be okay. Wasn’t it just a game?”

His hand inched closer to hers until their fingers brushed. She leaned against his side. He felt a strange catch in his breath as the warmth of her closeness untied some of the knots in his stomach. Beth was beautiful and sweet, and always bursting with compassion. How could he pretend he wasn’t falling for that? “It was supposed to be.” 

She looked up at him. 

“But..it wasn’t.” He met her stare and swallowed hard. “It wasn’t for me.” He dragged a hand over his forehead in disbelief he managed to say it out loud. He summoned the strength to keep going. “It wasn’t a game. It wasn’t just nice, it was…I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want it to stop. I felt like we clicked in that moment and I woke up from sleepwalking through feelings I have for you.”

Beth didn’t say anything, like his confession knocked the wind out of her. “You like me?”

He groaned softly. “It’s embarrassing, I know.” 

“No! No, no it’s not,” she objected, squeezing the hand nearest to hers, but Rick didn’t think he could handle her breaking his heart so softly. 

“Can you just tell me if I need to get over you?” 

“I’m not doing that.” Beth sat up straight. “I called the kiss nice because I didn’t know how else to explain how I felt. I was inexperienced and surprised at myself. I won’t lie, the thought of kissing you excited me, but I thought that was because I trust you, so it would’ve been an easy way to get my first kiss out of the way.” 

Rick started to smile, thinking back on what she said. “You calculated that 7% chance.” 

 “I did, and then that happened. I didn’t know if that’s how kissing always felt like or if it was because it was you. So I kept playing and I had a few more turns after you left, okay, but none of those kisses were like ours. But I knew you hated the game, left right after kissing me, and intended to only give me a peck,” she repeated the last fact with fake quotation marks. “I was the one that got carried away. I was the one that was embarrassed. It was easier if I pretended it didn’t happen so I wouldn’t make things weird.” 

It was such a relief to hear her say that they were on the same page. “So what do we do now?” 

“Well, first, we need to go over the pocket dimension because I know you were not paying attention, which I thought was because you were feeling uncomfortable but now I think it is because you were staring at my skirt.” 

“Holy shit.” Rick scratched behind his neck as heat crawled up his face. This was perilous and exhilarating new ground. He liked Beth and she knew it. He was attracted to her and she could feel it. “Uh, I plead the fifth?” 

Beth laughed and flashed him that same flirty grin from the party. “But as for right now?” Rick knew he was either in for trouble or a really, really good time. “I can think of a few ideas.”

She unearthed the green marker from her pocket and gave it a spin.

#stargirl #hn talks #hournite #dctv #ask #hn fic #fluff #rick x beth #I am so glad I can post this because I had that spin the bottle scene in my drafts since 2020 probably

[president-zebra]

Secret Santa!

Surprise! @cleonap I'm your secret santa! Enjoy!

#hournite secret santa #hournite fic #hournite #beth chapel #rick tyler

[pink-bird-30]

Hey guys, I finally posted another chapter.

As always,

Happy Reading!

(You  can also read my story on FF.Net)

“Should we really be talking about this in public?” Rick questions.  It was lunch time and Courtney was attempting to turn their lunch period into a team meeting. “If you claim that the children of these super bad people go to school with us, don’t you think it isn’t wise to have a team meeting here?” He slouches back in his chair raising a brow in Courtney’s direction.  From his right he can see Beth nodding in agreement with him and on his left Yolanda gives Courtney a ‘I told you so’ look.

Courtney huffs in frustration and stabs at her fruit salad.  “Fine.  What would you guys like to talk about?”

Everyone looks at one another trying to bring up a new conversation, but realistically, none of them really know each other.  Besides Rick and Beth, Courtney is still the new girl and Yolanda is a fallen popular kid.  What could they possibly talk about?

“Oh!” Beth looks excitedly up from her perfectly crafted lunch, “The Fall dance is coming up!”

Rick groans.  “Anything but that, Beth.”

Beth shrugs and takes a bite of her sandwich, “Well, I’m on the dance committee and we can use some volunteers.” She smiles in Rick’s direction.  Oh no. “I thought maybe you guys would like to help out.  Plus, Cindy is head of the committee, that would give us a chance to get close.”

Courtney perks up at the opportunity, “Yes!  Beth, you are a genius.”

Yolanda shrugs her shoulders, “Sorry, I can’t.  My parents only allow me to go from school to home.  No extracurricular activities for me.”

“Darn, what about you, Rick?” Beth looks at him hopefully.  “There is a lot of stuff that needs to be brought from the basement, and it's kinda heavy.”

Fuck.

Why did he have to get involved with these girls?  How is it possible that this bundle of sunshine is about to make him cave.  Mustering up whatever courage he could, Rick said, “No.”

“Oh.”  Beth looked down at her lunch sadly, and before turning back to Rick, she plasters a fake cheerful smile on her face.   “That’s okay, I think Cindy got Cameron Mahket to help us.”

His eyes narrowed hearing that jerk’s name.  No way was he going to let Cameron help Beth.  Over his dead body.

“Actually,” Rick spoke up, interrupting Courtney and Beth who were going over details of the dance.  “I’ll help out.”

Yolanda smirks, “Oh, really.  And why suddenly do you want to participate, Rick?”  Yolanda wasn’t stupid.  She’s sat across from Rick and Beth for months now, and it’s plain as day these two have bypassed whatever friendship they had and are on the cusp of something more.  But that also doesn’t mean she isn’t going to tease Rick about it.

Rick glares back, “No reason.”  He crosses his arms and leans back in his chair in nonchalance.  Although he seemed calm on the outside, Rick was annoyed that Beth would think Cameron could possibly do a better job than him carrying heavy objects.  

“Great!” Beth cuts in.  “Let’s all meet by my locker after last bell.”

Rick nods in agreement and scrolls on his phone for the rest of lunch.  Rita the lunch lady was on vacation this week, which means no free lunches for Rick.

“I’m heading to the library to get some studying in before my biology exam.”  Beth said to Rick.  He glances up from his phone long enough to notice Yolanda and Courtney have already left.

“Where did Court and Yolanda go?”

“They left a while ago, something about needing to get a head start on a history project?” Beth continued to pack up her lunch.  She still had an apple left over that she knew she wasn’t going to eat.  And it didn’t go unnoticed by Beth that Rick hasn’t had lunch in two days...

She places the apple in front of him and slides her backpack strap over her shoulder.  “I really don’t like apple.” she scrunches her nose.  “My mom insists I eat them, but I just can’t get past the texture of them.”

Rick looks at the apple in front of him and then up to Beth, “You sure?”

She nods her head, “Yeah, like I said, I don’t like apples.  I’ll see you later!”  As she walks past him, she affectionately touches his shoulder and heads out of the cafeteria.  It was a small gesture and a gentle touch, and he was sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

It was at this moment Rick knew he was screwed.

-----------------------------

It was well into the evening when Beth, Courtney, and Rick left school after the dance meeting.  Courtney was in a foul mood after Cindy shut down all her ideas for the dance.  But a bonus was Cameron trying to get her ideas heard, but also falling victim to Cindy’s death glare.  Beth was happily chattering excited for the next two weeks before the dance.  Then there was Rick.  He couldn’t stop re-playing what happened in the basement with Beth.  It doesn’t seem to faze her, but his mind had been going a mile a minute trying to understand what happened.

After meeting at Beth’s locker, the trio made their way to the auditorium where the dance committee would be meeting for the afternoon.  At first, the meeting was civil and normal, but then Cindy took notice of the two new volunteers in the room.

“Wow, the newbie and the town psycho volunteering for the Fall dance, I must be dreaming.” Courtney rolls her eyes and ignores the comment.  Rick on the other hand lazily flips Cindy off and crosses his arms.  It wasn’t the first, nor the last time someone would call him that.  He wasn’t sure why but nevertheless he could truly not give a single fuck what Cindy Burman had to say about him.

But Beth did.

“Cindy, I would appreciate it if you did not call my friends names.” Rick’s eyebrows rose hearing the sharpness in Beth’s voice, eliciting amusement from him.  He grins seeing the taken aback look on Cindy’s face.

Cindy flips her hair over her should and mutters, “Whatever” and moves on to the next topic.  

Eventually everyone is split into teams, Courtney and Cameron, Cindy and Henry, Beth and Rick.  Rick and Beth were tasked with retrieving the decoration from last year from the creepy basement.  To Rick’s amusement, he learned that Beth was deathly afraid of spiders.  While shuffling through old boxes in the basement, a small black spider crawled out behind one of the dustier boxes and Beth nearly had a heart attack.  She ran behind Rick and pointed her finger at the small creature.

“You have to kill it, Rick!!!” She clutched the back of his yellow hoodie in fear and peered around his side.  “There is absolutely no way I will stay down here knowing that thing is still alive.”

Rick laughed so hard that he had to take a moment to collect himself.  He looked behind him to see Beth pouting.

“Fine, but I’m never letting you live this down.” Rick goes to move away from Beth but finds that she has his hoodie in a death grip.  “Uh, Beth?” he looks down to her hand holding him hostage and she lets go muttering, “Sorry.”

He steps on the spider and uses a tissue to wipe away the evidence and tosses it into the trash can. As he turned around Beth threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Before Rick could react, she pulled away, brushed a soft kiss across his cheek and stepped back.  She looked up to him with this sparkle in her eye that he didn’t understand.  But that look made him feel things he couldn’t explain.  It was a type of warmth that he could only compare to being piled under blankets during the winter.  Comforting and safe.  But overall encapsulating.

After that, Rick stayed silent as Beth moved on to more boxes and finally found what they were looking for.  She continued to chatter as usual, but Rick was lost to his thoughts and his confusing feelings.

Still lost in thought, he didn’t hear Courtney bid him and Beth goodnight, and jogs over to her mother’s car.  He and Beth continue to walk in silence to his mustang.  He opens the passenger side door for her without thought.  Beth gives him a small smile and says, “Thanks” before sliding in. He shuts the door and walks around the back of his car and tosses his backpack into the trunk before making his way to the driver’s side door.

The entire ride to Beth’s house was silent.  Beth didn’t try to fill chatter with Rick, she could tell there was something going on with him.  She noticed it after they made their way back to Courtney and Cameron.  He didn’t have his usual snark towards the other boy, and that is when Beth became concerned over his silence.

When Rick finally pulled up to her house, she noticed all the lights were off and the driveway was empty.  Rick frowned taking note of this as well, pulling him from his thoughts.  It was well past nine in the evening, and it seemed odd that Beth’s parents were not home yet.

“Are your parents usually not home?” Rick asks.  “You really shouldn’t be by yourself with everything going on right now.”

Beth starts to respond but then shuts her mouth.  How does she explain that her parents are workaholics and never want to be around her or each other?

Putting on her typical cheery persona, Beth opens that car door and steps out.  “It’s probably just a late night for both of them.  I’ll be okay.”

Rick doesn’t feel convinced by her fake attitude.  He knows her too well to ignore the fact that she is upset and should not be alone.  “Are you sure?”

Hiking her backpack high on her shoulder she gives him a small smile, “Yeah.  I’m fine, Rick.”

Before he could reason with her, she says, “Goodnight” and shuts the car door.  He watches her walk up the driveway to her front door and waits for her to open it and walk inside.  He sits there for a few minutes contemplating what he should do next.  He knew what he really wanted to do, and that thought scared him.  The part of him that wants to shut off his car and walk up to her front door and then…and then what?  Ask her to come inside so she doesn’t feel as alone as he feels?  That they can be alone together?  His grip on the steering wheel tightens trying to sort out all of these

confusing feelings inside him.  Before he lets his emotions get the best of him, Rick pulls away from the curb and takes the long drive back to the farm.

------------------------------------

The next morning, Rick woke up to missed calls from Courtney and about 20 messages in the JSA group chat Courtney insisted they create to keep in contact with one another.  Rick rubs sleep from his eyes and reads the time on his alarm clock.

8:30AM

He rolls his eyes and reads the messages in the chat.

Courtney: Meet at the garage at 9AM for team training!

Yolanda: This is the one day I can sleep in, are you crazy?!

Beth: Okay, see you guys there!

Courtney: RICKKKKKKKK, WAKE UPPPPPPPP

If there was a way to throw something at Courtney through his phone, he would have done it by now.  He sends a quick text that he’ll be there soon and lets his head fall back against his pillow.  As he was slowly drifting off his phone started to ring again.

He groans into his pillow and swipes to answer the call, “Courtney, I swear to God— “

“Oh, no. It’s Beth.  Good morning!” her cheerful voice filled his ear.  He’d be lying if the sound of hearing her voice didn’t make his heartbeat a little faster.

“Hey,” his voice filled with sleep.  “Sorry, I thought you were Courtney again.  She already blew up my phone ten times today.”

Beth lets out a chuckle, “Yeah, she called me at seven, but she was lucky I was already up, or I would have responded just like Yolanda.”  Rick chuckles.

“Well, as you could tell, I am not a morning person.  Sorry about that, didn’t mean to yell at you.”

Beth brushes it off, “No worries.  But I did want to ask you if you wouldn’t mind picking me up on the way to the garage?” she asks hopefully.  “My bike has a flat tire, and I haven’t had the time to get it fixed.”

Rick sits up in bed and checks the time.

8:45AM

“If you’re okay with being late, then yeah.  I can pick you up.”

“Great!” Rick had to pull the phone away from his ear, Beth’s energy at eight in the morning was something he was not used to.

“I’ll be there in 10.”

--------------------------

By the time Rick and Beth made it to the garage, Courtney was standing in the middle of a room full of gym mats thrown everywhere, imitation villains that sort of looked like the ISA, and Pat shaking his head in disapproval.

“This is a bad idea, Court.”

“Oh, c’mon, Pat. You even said so yourself, we hardly know how to use our powers and need to practice for a real mission.  And according to you,” she points an accusing finger at him, “we should be prepared at all times if the ISA is to attack.”

Pat throws his hands in the air and glances at the two late arrivals, “Glad you two could join us.”

“Hi!” Beth smiles and waves, completely ready to tackle whatever it is that Courtney has concocted.  

“There you two are!”  Courtney walks up to them and grabs them by the arms and hauls them over to where Yolanda was sitting cross-legged on a blue gym mat.  She motioned for them to sit down.

“Alright, welcome to our very first training session!” Courtney cheered.  Rick rolled his eyes.  “Pat is going to teach us some basic hand-to-hand combat and other ways we can fight back.”

Courtney motioned for Pat to step forward as she moved to sit next to Yolanda.

“Alright,” Pat sighed.  “Each of you has a unique power that needs to be understood and used properly.”

Rick leans over and whispers to Beth, “Is he about to give us the Uncle Ben speech?”

Beth tries not to laugh as Pat continues to drone on about how each of their suits and accessories work.

“With great power comes great responsibility, as they say.” Beth and Rick did their best to hold in their giggles.  But Pat overheard their snickering and glared at the pair.  “Am I interrupting something?” They both shake their heads and have the decency to look somewhat embarrassed.  Pat continued his speech and eventually moved on to teaching basic self-defense, hand-to-hand combat, and other ways their powers can assist them in any situation.

Pat eventually finished his lecture and they moved to stand across from one another on the mats.  “What we are going to do now is some basic ways in which you can protect yourselves in the event that your powers do not work.”

“Mr. Dugan,” Beth interrupts.  “From my understanding is that Chuck is mostly a research component of the team, how am I supposed to use that to defend myself if it is more of a mental and not a physical aspect to my persona?”

“Beth has a point.”  Yolanda buts in.  “Beth’s abilities are more on the intellectual side of things and not so physical interaction.”

“Even so, it is important that you learn how to fight.”  Pat explains.  “Charles knew how to fight just as well as Starman, even without Cosmo.  No one gets excluded. Got it?”  Everyone nods in agreement.  Beth was glad she asked.  Although the thought of physically fighting someone frightened her, she was glad that someone else thought it was important for her to retain these skills just in case.

--------------------------------

After training was over, and oh boy was that an experience, Beth changed back into her normal clothes.  A long sleeve floral top, a corduroy skirt, and her favorite black ankle boots.  As she walked back out to the main part of the garage, Beth couldn’t help but think back to the last two hours.

Courtney was a natural when it came to learning how to defend herself.  Yolanda too, probably because she knows how to box.  And Rick seemed to get the hang of things quickly.  As for Beth…let’s just say her hand eye coordination could use a bit of improvement.  But overall, not too bad for the first day.  They all agreed that after school they would meet twice a week to train.  

Beth walked over to where Rick was sitting at Pat’s work bench, tinkering with some type of car part and listening to Pat go over where he can improve his form for next time.

“-Otherwise, I think you’re do well, Rick.”  Pat patted him on the shoulder and turned to Beth.  “Beth, I just wanted to let you know you were really doing your best today.  Next time, I think we should work on a few basic things before moving on to more complex defensive moves, okay?”  Beth’s heart sank, she thought she did better, but she does agree she is not at the same level of fighting Rick, Courtney, and Yolanda are at, but is hopeful that maybe she will be someday.

“Yeah, that would be great, Mr. Dugan.”  She grips her backpack strap, starting to feel the soreness in her shoulders and arms.

“Well, I gotta get a move on.”  Pat walked over to a pile of boxes filled with books.  “I have to get through these boxes to try and figure out that map you guys found.”  Piqued with curiosity, Beth walked over to Pat and investigated the boxes he was referring to.  She picks up one of the texts and brushes away some dust.  “‘Local History of Blue Valley’ why are you searching the town’s local history, Mr. Dugan?”

Pat takes the book from Beth’s hands and opens it to a page showing different blueprints of Blue Valley.  “The map you found means something important and I think it has to do with Blue Valley.  But all the most recent history doesn’t seem to hold the right information we need.  I thought looking in the past would dig up something important.”  He shuts the book and tosses it onto the table with the rest of the books he will be shuffling through for the next few hours.

Beth eyes brighten in excitement at the possibility of a new lead.  She spent hours with Chuck trying to decipher what the map could possibly be.  And Pat may have found the break they needed.  She needed to get her hands on those books.  

“You were going to go through all of this on your own, Mr. Dugan?”

Pat shrugs his shoulders, “Sure, someone must do the research on this team.  Might as well make myself useful.”

From where Rick was watching the exchange, he had this dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach that Beth was about to say something he wasn’t going to like.

“Maybe we can help.”  No. Nonononono.  Rick wills Beth not to look at him because he knows a single look from her will break him, and he does not, under any circumstances, wants to spend his Saturday shuffling through local history.

But it gives you an excuse to hang out with her...

“Right, Rick?” She looked over at him expectantly and he knew he was about to spend his Saturday elbow deep in local history.

She’s giving him that look.  The same look that she used to get him out of trouble a few weeks ago in the cafeteria.  The same look she gave him when she asked him to join the dance committee.  And now her gorgeous brown eyes and how they seem to twinkle whenever she looks at him are once more sucking him into whatever is going on.

Internally groaning Rick nods his head and walks over to Beth and Pat. Pat seems surprised at Rick volunteering to help.  Rick wishes he could explain how and why, but that still remains a mystery to him.  

All he knows is that Beth Chapel will be his undoing.

-------------------------

“Do we need to keep reading these?” Rick doesn’t whine often but the old, faded handwriting starts to blur together the longer he stares at the worn pages.  It’s been hours since Pat handed Rick and Beth the box of worn books of Blue Valley. It was Beth who started to read the books and eventually dragged Rick into it.  Although his inability to say no to Beth was ever present, he held out opening a single book until about an hour after Pat handed them a box and they settled in the loft.

For the first hour, it was mostly Rick replaying the day before over and over again.  How has the person next to him made such an impact on his life in such a short period of time.  He spent years ignoring her, but the second he let her in, that was it.  There was no going back.  And that alone scared Rick.  Especially now that they made up two fourths of a newly resurrected superhero team.  What if something happened to one of them, what if they got hurt…what if someone dies?  These were the endless thoughts that ended Rick’s refusal to help, but instead, forced him to get out of his own mind and think of something less depressing and anxiety inducing.

But it did not help that from time to time his mind would drift and his eyes would wander to the girl sitting next to him.  In the last 24 hours, Beth has managed to make him a part of a school club, seriously, Rick Tyler is on the dance committee, and got him to help with research when he could be working on his car or sleeping.  He wishes he could explain how she managed to do this but, in all honesty, all it takes is a single look from her big brown eyes and he’s done for.  It’s been like this ever since the night of Cindy’s party.

The hug.

A hug changed something within him, and he can’t explain it.  Ever since then, he felt softer whenever Beth was around.  He doesn’t feel like he must be Rick Harris, the troubled kid with the drunk uncle, but Rick Tyler, the son of a superhero.

He feels like he can do better for once.

Because of her.

Because of Beth Chapel.  The girl he’s sat next to for years, never giving her a chance.

And now he’s feeling slight regret making her a friend because now he can’t stop being near her all the time.  Like today.  He would have said no to researching through these ancient books, but somehow Beth convinced him otherwise.  But Rick also knows deep down there are other reasons why he didn’t say no to Beth.  Reasons he still wasn’t quite sure of but was on the cusp of figuring them out.

The hours move along, eventually they stop around three to go to Richie’s and grab some burgers and shakes.  Rick learns that Beth hates whipped cream on her milkshakes and that he was more than happy to scoop away the delicious fluff and add it to his own strawberry shake.  They talked about random things, things that Rick didn’t even know he wanted to know about Beth, like how her favorite movie is Tangled, her favorite flowers are Sunflowers (which he was not surprised by this), and how she always wanted a dog, but her dad is allergic, so she’s only ever had pet fish growing up.

After they finished their lunch, they made their way back to the garage and dove back into the large pile of books.  Time passed but neither teen seemed to notice as they continued to research.  Eventually, Beth looks over at Rick sprawled out next to her on the couch.  Her goggles glowed as she took in his tired expression.  She lifts the goggles to her forehead and pulls out her phone.

11:30PM.

“Oh no.” her eyes widen not realizing how much time has passed.  “I was supposed to be home hours ago!”  Beth bookmarks the page she’s on and rests the book on the table littered with the books they’ve already read through.  Rick watches her panic trying to find her glasses.  He smirks knowing she handed him her glasses so she wouldn’t lose them.

But she looks too cute freaking out trying to find them.

The smirk on his face drops after the thought.

Since when do I think Beth Chapel is cute?!

Panic started to rise in his chest at the revelation.  That was it, that was the feeling he couldn’t describe.

I like Beth.

“Rick?” Beth says his name, waving her hand in his face. “Are you there?”

“Uh,” he glances down at the messy table before him and reaches for her glasses.  “Sorry, you gave them to me, remember?”

She smiles at him and takes her glasses dangling from his fingers.  As she takes them their fingers brush and Rick feels a spark at the contact.  He retracts his hand as if she burned him and sits up straight looking away from her.

“I’ll um, go start the car.  See you downstairs.”  He tosses the last book he was reading onto the table and leaves without looking at her.

Beth watches him go, curious as to why he was acting so strangely.

If only she knew…

#hournite #beth x rick #hourman #dr midnite #beth chapel #rick tyler #dc stargirl #hournite fic

[sssssssim]

Sim's Christmas Pie 2023: Christmas Lights

What do you do when your crush texts you Help! and you find them tangled up in fairy lights? You help them.

💡 Beth and Rick 💡 Bucky and Steve 💡 Caitlin and Cisco 💡 Carol and Daryl 💡 Crowley and Aziraphale 💡 Effie and Haymitch 💡 Geralt and Jaskier 💡 Kate and Clint 💡 Katy and Shang-Chi 💡 Nico and Will 💡 Rey and Poe 💡 Stiles and Derek 💡

#fanfic #christmas fic #stucky #hournite #killervibe #caryl #innefable husbands #hayffie #geraskier #hawkeye squared #katy x shang chi #solangelo #damerey #sterek

[granolabird]

I Always Knew, it’s You

My final after-Stargirl hournite fic. It feels weird saying that. Still, this one is my favourite yet, maybe because it’s the first canon-complacent fic I can write where Hournite is ACTUALLY canon. But who’s to say? To everyone who loves my fics fear not, there are more to come, this is most certainly not the last <3

Title is from I Always Knew by The Vaccines :)

.

After the dinner at the Whitmore-Dugan house, Beth’s parents insist that Rick goes home with them. Between his intermittent withdrawal symptoms and his lack of parental support at home they are adamant that he stay in their guest room, even if it’s for only one night. He wants to refuse, he’s not used to this sort of kindness, but he knows they’re right. It’s safer for him to stay somewhere with other people, at least until he’s feeling one hundred percent. He fed Grundy (Who was very hungry after months of being buried) before the dinner, so he really had no reason to go back to Matt’s old house anyway. That’s something his mind latches on to for a moment. The way he’s never stopped thinking of that place as Matt’s old house, even after Matt left. Too many memories of Matt’s drunken rages, insults thrown that never quite faded from the back of his mind, and bloodstains that never quite faded from the floorboards. It was never a home, with or without Matt.

So, Rick resigns to his fate of sitting in the back of the Chapel’s SUV, listening to Beth’s father rattle on about all his new ideas for Beth’s costume. Beth seems completely embarrassed, but Rick can’t help but smile. It’s nice to see how much her parents care for her, and apparently him as well, as shown by her father’s ideas for his own new costume design. Yet throughout it all he’s entirely too aware of the way Beth’s hand is placed in the middle of the seat, resting just between them as they weave their way down the road towards Beth’s house. He keeps wondering if he should take it, hold her hand for the rest of the ride home, but he doesn’t. He already wonders if he pushed his boundaries with his whole spur of the moment hand-on-Beth’s-back decision during her earlier conversation with her parents. It’s all got him on edge. 

He likes Beth. A lot. But he’s also terribly bad at showing it. As a friend, he always knows what to say to Beth, he always knows what to do. But as soon as his brain tells him he’s trying to romance her, it’s like he’s turned into Bambi on ice, limbs uncoordinated and heart uncontrollable. So he leaves her hand, playing the unaware card, barely even glancing Beth’s way for fear of the way it might make him implode entirely. Yet he still doesn’t miss the disappointed glance Beth sends his way when they pull into the driveway, ringing her hands together in a way that sends his mind into a further spiral.

The guest room is already made for him, and it’s ten o'clock when they arrive home so Beth’s parents immediately begin to get ready to go to bed. They both have an early shift in the morning, yet even when they emerge from their room in their pyjamas, they don’t stop chattering

“So Rick, what did you think of our costume ideas?” Her mother asks, voice full of excitement.

“I, uh, think they’re pretty good. I’d need a visual to get a full idea, but I think it sounds cool.” He agrees, trying his best to sound enthusiastic enough to match their energy.

“I definitely need to start drawing mockups on my break. I’m thinking shoulder pads!” Her dad chimes in, pointing at Rick’s shoulders for emphasis.

Rick shakes his head, but upon seeing the disappointed look on Beth’s parent’s faces, he immediately explains, “I don’t wanna change my costume too much. It is my dad’s originally, I have to keep the legacy.”

Beth’s father nods, suddenly very understanding. “Oh yes, of course! I suppose we’ve never asked. What was your father like, anyway?”

Rick feels his stomach sink. His memories of his father are vague and hazy but all good. Yet with everything that’s happened in the past few days, and tonight, somehow the memory of his father feels so much more raw. The hourglass and its limiter, Sylvester… He takes a breath.

“He was… incredible. What I remember of him, at least. Way better to me than Matt ever was. I miss him. My mom too. I miss them more than anything.” He explains, trying to steady himself.

“Well, we’re here for you Rick. If you ever need a parent to talk to, you have us, okay?” Beth’s mom assures him, resting her hand on his shoulder.

Rick blinks away tears, smiling softly. “Yeah. Yeah, thanks.”

Mrs. Chapel offers him a hug which he gladly accepts. It’s been so long since any adult has been this kind to him, much less the parents of the girl he’s not-so-subtly in love with. It’s a lot to process. He’s not sure what to say next, finding himself swaying awkwardly in the hallway, when as if sent from above Beth comes up the stairs. She looks between him and her parents, but if she notices the tears still welling in his eyes she doesn’t say a word.

“You two should be in bed! Don’t you have to be up at five?” Beth chides, crossing her arms sternly as her parents glance at each other, before sighing and nodding in sync.

“Yes I suppose you’re right.” Her father huffs, already heading into the room.

Her mother begins to follow, but pauses in the doorway, turning to Rick.

“You know sometimes I think this girl is more of a parent to us then we are to her. You have to watch out for this one Rick, if you’re not careful she’ll be setting your bedtimes and making you breakfast within the week.”

That makes Rick laugh, even more so when Beth halfheartedly bats them away, herding them into their room. They all say their goodnights, going their separate ways, but as they walk past Beth’s room, she stops him.

“Hey do you wanna… talk?”

That could mean a lot of things. Rick and Beth talk a lot, that’s nothing out of the ordinary. He’s spent too many nights to count holed up in the Pit Stop, pouring over books, talking about the day to day nothings of highschool life. That’s normal. But the hesitancy in her voice, the quiet waver that only Rick could pick up, makes him think this is different. That Beth has something important to say. So, he nods and follows her in. He’s been in her room before but it never gets any less exciting for him, walking into her space. The walls covered in drawings, and polaroids, and sticky notes faded with time. She gestures for him to sit on her bed so he does, his hands coming together automatically so that he can twiddle his thumbs to try and rid himself of some of his anxiety.

“So? What’s up?” He asks, trying to not sound as unsure as he’s feeling.

“It’s just… I… hmph!” Beth makes a sound of frustration as she paces in front of him, clearly searching for her words.

“You… hmph?” Rick asks, trying his best to mimic the noise Beth had just made.

“Rick! I’m trying to be serious here!”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” He raises his hands in feigned innocence, which only seems to fluster Beth more.

She seems to debate what to say next before she sighs and walks over to her desk. Beth picks up a photo, running her fingers over it as she stares at it. Rick waits a moment before he stands, peering over her shoulder to see what she’s looking at. It takes him a moment to register what he’s looking at, but as soon as he recognises the photo, he speaks.

“Hey, I remember that one.”

Beth jumps, whirling around to face him so that they’re practically chest-to-chest. She backs up as far as she can, leaning against her desk.

“Don’t scare me like that!” She yelps, her grip tight on the photo as she recovers from the scare he’s just given her.

“It’s not my fault you were too busy gazing longingly at a photo of us bowling to hear me coming.”

“Rick!” She waves the photo at him in a feeble attempt to dispel him.

He laughs, gesturing for her to hand him the photo. She does, and he takes it carefully, eyes tracing over its laminated surface. It’s him and Beth, from over the summer. He’d driven them out to a bowling alley for a day trip, while Courtney was still out camping. Beth had a great time, while Rick had never felt so angry at a stupid game in his life. He wouldn’t doubt it if someone told him he hadn’t hit one pin. Apparently bowling was not his forte. The photo is a happy one, though, with Beth leaning into him as they stand in front of their scoreboard. They’d had some woman take the photo, she’d been taking her son to the arcade. She’d told them they’d made a cute couple and they’d both vehemently protested they were just friends. The memory floods back as if it were just yesterday and not months ago. Rick can’t help but smile softly, handing the photo back to Beth.

“Why are you looking at that photo, Beth?”

Beth pauses, still staring at the photo.

“Because… Do you remember what that lady said after she took the photo of us?”

Rick nods, “That we’d be a cute couple.”

“Right.”

“And?” He pries, mind already racing, thinking of where this conversation might be going.

“And, after everything, with you all alone, and my family being so welcoming… I don’t know.”

“Are you trying to ask me if I’d date you, Beth?”

Beth immediately begins to backtrack, “If you don’t want to, it’s fine! You’re my best friend, and I’d never want to ruin that, it’s just-”

Rick takes a step forward so that he’s right in front of Beth, carefully raising his hand to her cheek.

“Oh.” Is all she can utter, staring up at him wide eyed.

Rick takes a breath, making sure he’s sure about what he’s about to say.

“Beth, I’ve been in love with you since the day you helped me find out what happened to my parents. I’ve never wanted anything more than to date you.” Rick reassures her quietly, eyes searching her own, hoping somehow he can tell if she feels the same.

Finally Beth speaks, her voice filled with excitement, “Well then why didn’t you say anything! We could’ve been together ages ago!”

Rick finally allows himself to feel relieved, nearly beginning to cry again.

“I just wasn’t sure, I didn’t know if you felt the same way.” He admits.

Beth laughs, unbridled full laughter that causes her to bend over, burying her face into his shirt. Rick doesn’t know how to respond, so he simply puts a hand on her back, trying to keep the confusion off of his face.

“What’s so funny?” Rick finally asks, once Beth has caught her breath, his hand still snug around her, not quite ready to let go.

“It’s just that, I thought the exact same thing. I didn’t want to be the one to ask you, because I didn’t know if you felt the same, when the reality was we both felt that way all along. We’re hopeless.”

Now it’s Rick’s turn to laugh, though not nearly as much as Beth, as he takes her hand and leads her to her bed, before sitting beside her. He feels giddy, like his heart is about to burst from his chest from joy, and fear, and excitement, and nerves, and everything in between. He wishes he had Beth’s polaroid camera now, so that he could capture the look on her face forever. Her eyes bright, staring at him as if this was the first time she’d ever seen him, and he was the most beautiful thing in the world. He can only assume he's looking at her the same way.

“So, now what?” She asks, hand still gripping his tightly.

“Well, I think after everything we’ve been through, I should take my lovely girlfriend out to lunch tomorrow, and then maybe we can figure out who we’re gonna tell. Because I know as soon as your parents know, I’m never going to hear the end of it.”

“Girlfriend?” Beth asks, her face etched with complete disbelief.

“Uh… yeah, is that not what just happened? I thought-” Rick tries to amend, but Beth nods her head, silencing him.

“Yes! Yes, yeah, no please call me your girlfriend.”

They both lean forward, pressing their foreheads together, as they both giggle at their own romantic confusion.

“We really are hopeless.” Rick affirms, squeezing Beth’s hand with another huff of laughter.

When he finally opens his eyes, he sees her looking back at him. Their noses are touching, faces close together so that all he can see is Beth. Everything seems to go silent, as if they’re the only thing left in the world. Rick thinks he likes it this way. If he could stay in this moment forever, he would. Beth is the first to break the silence, her voice quiet, as if her speaking would break whatever moment they’re having.

“Rick?”

“Yeah?” He says, more as a confirmation than a question, letting his eyes trail down her face, towards her lips.

“Yeah.” She affirms.

And then they’re kissing. It’s everything that Rick’s ever imagined and more. He would be lying if he hadn’t thought about him and Beth kissing before. He’s thought about asking her on a date and kissing at Richie’s, or in his car, or at the park, a million times. But here, now, when it’s actually happening? Nothing can compare. It’s slow, and sweet, and Beth’s hand is threading into his hair in a way that makes him melt into her touch entirely.

He is Beth’s in all entirety.

He always has been.

They stay like that for a long time, kissing and giggling and holding hands, until the clock ticks past midnight and Beth can’t stop yawning

“I should probably go. We’ve had a long day, we need to get some rest.” Rick stands up to leave, but Beth catches his arm, her face pleading.

“Don’t go, please.”

“Beth-”

“Please?”

Rick sighs, but sits back down beside Beth. She doesn’t say anything else, just stands, gathering some photos, pens and a book, placing them down on the end of her bed in a messy fashion.

“Are we… scrapbooking?” He asks, picking up a pen and twirling it around his fingers.

“What? No! No, this is so that if you fall asleep here, my parents don’t get the wrong idea. We were scrapbooking, didn’t notice the time and both fell asleep. See?” She gestures to the mess she’s made with a self-satisfied grin.

“Beth Chapel, is my ‘town bad boy’ status rubbing off on you?” He teases, bumping her with his shoulder, which makes her start laughing again, burying her head into the crook of his neck.

“Only just a little.”

Then they’re kissing again, hands entwined, holding each other close.

When Beth falls asleep against Rick somewhere around halfway into him telling her stories from when he was a kid, he doesn’t dare move. Instead he lets his arm wrap around her and grabs a pillow for himself, letting himself fall into the most peaceful sleep he’s had in years. He thinks of Matt’s house again, during that nondescript haze when his brain is just on the verge of sleep. He thinks about it not being the place for him. But here, with Beth by his side, and a family that cares for him so deeply, a warm feeling settles in his chest.

A feeling that says he’s finally home.

When Beth’s parents awake in the morning to go to work, they peek into Beth’s room. They don’t say a word, just share a quiet smile. Rick and Beth are sound asleep, snuggled close to one another, still in the clothes they wore to the dinner.

Mrs. and Mr. Chapel don’t mind.

They always wanted a son.

#hournite #I am obsessed with my own fic oops #stargirl #stargirl spoilers #rick x beth #Rick Tyler #Beth Chapel #Dr Mid-Nite #Hourman #James Chapel #bridget chapel #stargirl fic #hournite fic #Never the end

[staroflightning]

Three Times Beth Chapel Almost Confessed, And One Time She Did

[this is for @theozmachronicles !! I was your secret santa, I hope you enjoy it!]

~~~

1.

The first time Beth almost said those three special words was on February 14th, 2021.

Rick was missing from the cafeteria table, and none of them knew if he was absent or ditching. There had been no new threats since the defeat of the ISA, which gave the young superheroes a chance to revert back to their normal teenage lives. That particular day happened to be Courtney’s first Valentine’s Day spent at Blue Valley High, so Yolanda explained the school’s tradition to her. 

“They’re asking for two dollars just to send notes to each other?” 

“Five dollars if you want to add chocolates. Or ten for a stuffed animal.” Beth supplied.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Valentine’s Day,” Courtney said. “But this does feel a little… capitalist. Way to leave out the students that don’t have a partner.”

“Yeah, it’s stupid.” Yolanda said. “But of course Blue Valley High is looking to make extra money. Go Prairie Dogs,” she sarcastically mimicked a cheer by pumping her fist into the air.

“But I guess it is a good way for people to confess their crushes.” Courtney said. “Like a secret admirer! That would be cute.”

“Aww,” Beth agreed. “That would be kinda cute.”

“What, you have a secret crush you want to confess to?” There seemed to be something odd about Yolanda’s tone as she asked, but she hid it well. 

“I didn’t mean for me,” Courtney said, completely dodging Yolanda’s question. “I just meant in general. Young love blossoming in Blue Valley.”

“A moment ago you called it capitalist.”

“Sometimes love can form even in the most evil conditions.”

Yolanda chuckled a little, despite herself. 

Courtney turned back to Beth. “So? What about you? Anyone you’ve got your eye on?”

The question caught Beth off-guard, which caused her to stammer a little. “Wait, me? Uh, no. No one in particular. Why?”

“Just curious.” Courtney shrugged and dropped it, clearly just as bad at detecting lies as she is at telling them. 

The subject changed, and Beth felt an inner sigh of relief at being out of the spotlight. The girls talked until the bell rang. Yolanda was the first to gather her bag, then Courtney followed suit seconds after. Beth stalled on purpose, pretending to fiddle with her lunchbox and wishing to scarf down the last few bites of her meal before she packed up. 

“Don’t wait on me, your class is on the third floor.” Beth waved her hand, lightheartedly urging her friends to go on. “My class is nearby. I’ll see you after school!”

“Alright, see you!” Courtney said.

Yolanda waved goodbye, then walked next to Courtney, the two of them making their way to their class and already involved in an animated conversation. 

Once they were gone, Beth quickly packed up her things and reached into the smallest pocket of her backpack. She pulled out a piece of paper folded up as many times as she could have folded it. 

She remembered writing it the night before. After all, how could she not? It took her countless attempts to get the perfect copy, and the poor trash can in her bedroom was now full of crumpled up paper. 

However, memory wasn’t enough. She unfolded the paper and her eyes skimmed her neat handwriting. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, as well as a burning feeling of embarrassment, as each word processed in her mind. 

What really did it, however, were the last five words.

“I love you, Rick Tyler.”

She reached back into the pocket and pulled out the five dollar bill she had brought to school with the intent of buying a gram to go with her note. 

Then she looked at Rick’s empty cafeteria seat. 

She could have given it to him the next day, or even called or texted him asking to meet up. Yet, the more she entertained the idea, the more fear and anxiety welled up inside her, making her feel sick. 

Beth sighed, stuffed the money back into her backpack pocket, crumpled up the note and tossed it into the nearest trash can. 

Ignoring her feelings, she picked up her backpack and walked to class.

2. 

A few months later, Blue Valley High started the school week off by announcing that school year’s prom. 

“Blue Valley allows all grades in their prom?”

“It’s a small town, Court. How else would they sell enough tickets?” Yolanda said.

“Especially since the decorating committee likes to go all out,” Beth said. “There’s a space theme this year! I’m sure it’ll look beautiful.”

“Well, I’m definitely going. Prom seemed like it was so fun at my old school but I couldn’t go cause I was a freshman.” Courtney turned to Rick. “What about you, Rick? Are you going?”

“It’s just some lame school dance. It’s music so loud you can’t hear yourself, bad dancing, and some kids sharing a flask behind the school.”

“C’mon, you have to go! It’ll be fun!”

Rick shrugged. “I don’t have a date.”

“You don’t need a date! We’ll all go together, as friends. The four of us.” Courtney said. 

Rick looked around the table, but his eyes landed on Beth. Beth met his gaze and innocently blinked, unsure of why he was looking at her. Rick broke the brief eye contact and turned back to Courtney. 

“Fine,” he said in his usual gruff manner, as if he was bitter about being persuaded into it, but the girls could tell that there was no real annoyance in his tone. 

Courtney grinned. “You won’t regret it!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Rick said. The school bell rang mere seconds after he spoke those words, and after the few seconds it took to pack his things, he turned to Beth. “You ready?” 

Beth nodded. 

“Ready for what?” Yolanda asked, her eyes darting back and forth between Rick and Beth. 

“Class?” Rick responded like it was obvious. “You and Courtney walk to class together all the time.”

For some reason, Courtney seemed a little embarrassed by Rick pointing that out. 

“Yolanda, isn’t your class the floor above Courtney’s?”

“But it’s on the same side of the school.” Yolanda said. “It’s easier to walk with Courtney until her class, then go up a floor for mine.”

“Right.” Rick didn’t sound convinced.

He turned to Beth and silently asked his question again, and she nodded, placing her backpack strings over her shoulders. Rick waited for her before walking off. 

Courtney and Yolanda watched, shared a look, then left down the same path they take each day. 

When the school bell came that day, Beth met with Courtney so they could sit next to each other on the bus. Yolanda had a shift at Richie’s after school so she couldn’t join them, so they said their goodbyes for the day standing in the schoolyard. 

Courtney watched Yolanda as she left wearing a smile that Beth only ever saw on Courtney when Yolanda was in the picture. If Yolanda had turned around, she would have seen something that conveyed a thousand words, but she didn’t. 

“Are you going to tell her?”

Courtney snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Beth. “Uhm, yeah, someday! I just… haven’t had the right time.”

“You’ve said that before,” Beth said as she walked towards the bus. “It’s starting to sound like excuses.”

“I’m not making excuses!” Courtney said. “Here, I’ll prove it. I’ll tell her soon.”

“Soon?”

“Yeah, soon- WAIT!” Courtney cut herself off with a new thought. “Prom is coming up! I should ask her to prom!”

Beth found an empty seat on the bus and sat next to the window, leaving the aisle seat for Courtney. “I thought we weren’t doing dates? We’re going as friends, remember? It was your idea.”

Courtney sat down, placing her backpack on her legs. “It’ll still be the four of us!” 

“Yeah, but Rick and I don’t want to third wheel your date.”

“Then go with Rick!”

“What?” Beth’s eyes widened. 

“You like him, don’t you?”

Beth stammered. “I can’t just- ask him to prom!”

“Why not?” Courtney asked. “C’mon, it’ll be fun! We can double date!”

Beth started to protest, but the things running through her head she didn’t want to vocalize. What if he says no? What if he never wants to speak to me again?

Courtney ignored Beth’s nonsense stammers and spoke in a sing-songy tone, “I’ll buy you a milkshake if you do.”

Beth sighed and looked out the window, choosing not to argue anymore. “We’ll see.”

“I’ll take it!” Courtney said, and the conversation was over. 

A few days later on that following Saturday, Beth once again found herself alone with Rick in Pat Dugan’s Pit Stop. The building was silent except for the sound of their pencils against paper as they each worked on homework, until the moment Rick spoke up.

“So.” 

Beth looked up at him.

“Courtney and Yolanda are going to prom together?” 

“Apparently,” Beth continued writing math equations on her paper. “Courtney had been waiting to ask Yolanda out for a while, this was her opportunity.” 

“She talked me into going to prom just so you and I can third-wheel their date?” 

Beth shrugged. “It might not be so bad.”

“I guess.”

Beth glanced up at Rick, then immediately dropped her gaze back to her homework. “I do wish I had a date, but what can you do?” 

“You do?” Rick asked, then elaborated in an awkward tone that wasn’t much like him. “Uh, want a date, I mean.” 

“I mean, who doesn’t?” She ignored the way her heartbeat sped up.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.” 

A beat passed before Beth found herself blurting out, “do you want a date?” 

Rick’s eyes widened. “Uhm. I mean, yeah, I guess so.” 

“You guess?” She couldn’t tell if this was a good sign or a bad sign. 

“Yes. I do… want one. I mean, uh, who doesn’t? Like you said.” 

In that moment, Beth was overcome with a surge of bravery, and she spoke words that she never thought would come out of her mouth. 

“We could go together.” 

Rick looked at her, stunned, unable to speak. His expression was unreadable. 

Beth’s initial confidence immediately faded and was replaced with fear. Her heart pounded, her mind raced, and she stammered as she came up with a way to save it. To save herself, to save her and Rick’s friendship. “Uh, as friends! I meant.” 

“Oh.” Was that… disappointment in Rick’s tone? No, surely, it couldn’t be.

“...Oh?” Beth echoed the word, hoping her anxiety wasn’t showing.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Yes, I’ll go with you.” 

A million thoughts ran through Beth’s head faster than the speed of light, both good and bad, everything from exhilaration to nervousness to despair to rejoicing. All she found it in her to do was nod and say, “okay, cool!”

A few minutes passed before either one of them said anything else. 

“So, uhm…” Rick tapped his foot against the floor. “Want me to pick you up? I can pick you up.” 

Beth ignored the way her heart fluttered. “Yeah. That sounds nice.”

Rick nodded. 

“Do you know what you’re going to wear yet?” 

Rick blinked. “Am I… supposed to?”

“We should match!” Beth’s usual sunshine came back to her in the form of a grin. “I have this yellow dress I was thinking I’d wear. Since the theme is space, I thought I’d be the sun.”

“That… would fit you.” Rick said, the genuine fondness in his eyes cementing the compliment.

Beth smiled a bit sheepishly.

“So you want me to match that? Like, get a yellow suit?”

“Or you could go as the moon.” Beth suggested.

“Alright.” Rick nodded. “I’ll be the moon.”

The day prom came, Rick showed up in a silver suit that looked stunning next to the beautiful yellow of Beth’s dress and the matching clip in her hair. She was wearing sun earrings and a sun necklace, and on a recent mall trip with Rick she had found a moon bracelet that he now wore. 

Courtney, decorated head-to-toe in star-related adornments, found them and waved with the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Yolanda’s. Yolanda had on a black dress with planet earrings. 

“You both look amazing!” Courtney beamed. “Who knew you two look so good together?”

Beth knew what she was doing, and looked embarrassed. Thankfully, Courtney noticed and dropped it. Beth glanced at Rick, whose expression was unreadable.

As the night went on, Courtney and Yolanda got lost in dancing and each other. Beth and Rick tried their hand at the dance floor, but Rick struggled to quite get the hang of it, and stopped when he accidentally stepped on Beth’s foot. He apologized a bit too much, and excused himself to get ice before Beth could tell him she didn’t need it. 

That led to the two of them sitting in the empty high school hallway, their backs against some lockers and a bag of ice on Beth’s foot.

Rick’s eyes drifted to it. “How’s your foot?”

“Cold.”

Rick chuckled. 

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. I told you, I’m really fine.” 

“Do you have your goggles? Y’know, to check it?”

“Rick,” Beth couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “It’s really not that bad.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” 

“Okay,” Rick dropped it.

“But, if you want peace of mind,” Beth reached into the small purse she brought with her and pulled out her goggles. “I did come prepared.”

She took off her glasses, and Rick held them for her without her saying a word. She slipped her goggles over her eyes, and turned to her foot. 

“See? The readings say it’s fine.” Beth pulled the goggles off, took her glasses back from Rick, and placed her goggles back into her bag. “You don’t have to feel bad, Rick.”

“I don’t.”

“Then why’d you ask me to check it with my goggles?”

“I was just…” Rick sighed, looked away, and muttered a word Beth almost didn’t catch. “Worried.”

“Worried?” Beth repeated, unsure if she heard it wrong. 

“We’re friends, is that really so surprising?” Rick’s tone was bit too defensive, but his usual anger was nowhere to be seen. 

Beth thought about how she doubted Courtney or Yolanda would be quite that protective, and how she couldn’t remember Rick showing the same worry for Courtney or Yolanda, but she stopped herself from voicing this. 

“I guess not,” was what she said instead.

The hallway was silent for a few moments after that. 

Out of nowhere, Beth broke it. “Thanks for coming with me, Rick.”

“You asked me, didn’t you?”

“You said yes.”

“Like I would say no.” The words came out before Rick realized what he was implying. 

“Oh. Uhm,” Beth searched for the right response. “Thanks for being… supportive, then.”

“Supportive?”

“Coming with me when I didn’t have a date.”

“Right,” Rick said. “Sorry you didn’t have a date.”

“You too.”

“Yeah.”

“But out of the people I could have gone with… I’m glad it was you.”

Rick’s eyes lifted from the spot on the floor he had been looking at just a second ago, and he turned his head until he was staring at Beth with disbelief in his gaze. He didn’t say a word, nor did he take his eyes off of her. 

Beth got embarrassed and broke the eye contact. She turned her head, hoping he wouldn’t see her expression. 

She wasn’t looking at Rick when she heard him say, “I’m glad it was you too.”

Thank goodness for that, because Rick didn’t see the way she beamed. Beth’s smiles usually carry enough sunlight to brighten any room, but that one in particular reflected every ounce of love for Rick Tyler she held in her heart. 

She turned back to Rick and got caught in his eyes, returning the same gaze she was getting from him. 

All of a sudden, those three magic words formed. They were on the tip of her tongue.

“I-”

As soon as she heard her own voice, the awareness of reality hit her, and her fear stopped her from saying the rest. 

“Uhm,” She fumbled for a quick save. “I think we should go back now. Courtney and Yolanda might be wondering where we are.”

Rick checked his phone. His screen was void of notifications. “If they were, they would have texted. They’re too caught up in their date.”

Beth checked her own phone as well to see the same thing. 

“They won’t miss us.” Rick stood up and extended a hand to help Beth up. “Feel like milkshakes from Richie’s?”

Her eyes lit up at the idea, but then she hesitated. “These shoes aren’t the best for walking.”

“I’ll drive.”

She smiled. “Then you’ve got yourself a deal.”

They didn’t step foot in the school again for the rest of the night, and yet that was the best prom Beth ever attended.

3.

Christmas at the Whitmore-Dugan household was something you never wanted to miss. Pat’s cooking, the frosted sugar cookies meant to resemble snowmen and stockings and reindeer, the masterfully decorated tree, the radio playing the Christmas carols they loved to sing along to. 

This year, the holiday celebration included something else. A few leaves of mistletoe hung from every doorway. Barbara offhandedly mentioned that the idea had been Courtney’s, to which Beth fought the urge to mutter “of course it was”.

“C’mon, this is a great opportunity!” Courtney had told Beth when confronted about it. “I’m with Yolanda now, so it’s only a matter of time that you and Rick get together. Imagine all the double dates we can go on!”

“Like you forced us into a double date for prom?”

“You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

“… Well, yes, but that’s not the point.”

As the party went on and everybody got caught up in the spirit of the holiday, Beth forgot about the mistletoe altogether. 

That is, until she was aiming to get to the kitchen just as Rick was leaving it, and all of a sudden they were passing by each other under the doorway and they heard Courtney’s voice sing “oooooh!”.

They both looked up.

And there it was.

That goddamn mistletoe.

Beth looked up at the mistletoe, then at Rick. Rick’s beautiful, beautiful brown eyes. Her eyes darted back to the mistletoe before she got lost in them. 

“You know the tradition! C’mon, kiss!” Courtney teased, only taking her eyes off of them for a second in order to lean over the kitchen counter and grab a sugar cookie to stuff in her mouth. 

Rick could barely muster any words other than an awkward “uh”. Beth wasn’t much better herself.

Beth looked at Rick. She took in every little detail of his face. She saw everything she loved about him. 

She saw everything she’d lose if he didn’t feel the same way. 

Friends. It was safer to stay friends. 

She kissed his cheek, and walked off before anybody could say anything. Not once did she look back.

That, of course, meant that she missed the pinkness in the very cheek her lips had just touched, and the lovestruck gaze in Rick’s eyes as he watched her leave.

4. 

The only light came from the full moon, a few nearby flickering street lamps, and Courtney’s staff. Beth’s goggles had led them to the Royal Flush Gang, but it seems their arrival had been expected. 

Yolanda’s agility allowed her to sneak up on the gang which gave them an advantage, but it was short-lived. Beth activated her goggles’ combat mode, and the faint red glow stood out against the dark. The golden light faded over the sand in Rick’s hourglass as it passed over his body, imbuing him with strength. Beth gave him a worried glance, but with a silent nod, he assured her that he was okay. 

Courtney maneuvered the staff with the expertise she had learned from the years of being a superhero, her and Cosmo moving perfectly in-sync. She deflected every attack that came her way from a member of the Royal Flush Gang. 

The ten of clubs member of the group stepped up, but before he could throw a punch at Yolanda, Cosmo flew against his chest and under his arms, picking him up and carrying him far away, unable to hurt her. When the man fell to the ground, not seriously injured but winded enough to require a few moments for recovery, Cosmo returned to Courtney’s side. 

Yolanda turned to Courtney with a smile. “Thanks.” 

“I got your back,” Courtney promised. She returned Yolanda’s smile, but not without using her staff to blast another member of the group back as she did so. Yolanda leaped, covering several feet of ground as she did so, and fought off a gang member who had his sights on Courtney. 

“And I’ve got yours.” 

Across the battlefield, Beth followed her goggles’ every command and dodged every attack that came her way. She was learning how to punch and kick with maximum effectiveness, and what moves throw a person off-balance. In seconds, she had knocked him onto the ground.

As Rick watched, a mixture of pride and astonishment formed in his eyes, matched with a soft smile. Beth turned to him. 

“You’re a badass, you know.” He said. 

She smiled.

As another gang member ran up to Rick with a bat, Rick grabbed the bat and snapped it in half. He held a half of the bat in each hand and used them to defend himself against the man. Rick’s opponent ran off the moment he realized he wasn’t going to win. At the same time, a different member rushed to Beth and she aimed to throw him off balance, but he didn’t budge. He was too strong. 

Before she processed what was happening, he grabbed onto her, and held her tightly despite her efforts to squirm out of his grasp. 

Then, suddenly, his grip relaxed and her feet landed on the ground. She turned to see the man reeling from a blow to the chest from Rick, who hadn’t given up and was still fighting the man. Beth watched in anticipation, while surveying the situation with her goggles for any way Rick may need assistance. Rick’s strength overpowered the man’s, and the fight was over in no time. 

Rick turned to Beth, his chest rising and falling with each breath. “You okay?”

“I love you.” The words left her mouth before she realized she had spoken.

Rick’s eyes widened. “What?”

“I love you!” 

Saying it back was the most natural thing in the world to him. “I love you too.”

Despite being in the middle of a battle, time seemed to stop completely. Everything around them ceased to exist, and in that moment, it was just Beth and Rick as if they were the only ones in the world. Without a single thought running through her head, Beth grabbed Rick and pulled him into a kiss. 

His surprise melted away as he leaned into and returned the kiss. The kiss lingered until Beth’s goggles alerted her of danger, to which she broke the kiss just enough to pull her and Rick out of harm’s way, then she kissed him again.

“Hey, we’re in the middle of a battle here!” Yolanda shouted.

The two of them pulled apart and continued fighting the opponents around them, but they managed to make fleeting eye contact with each glance and fit in a smile at the other as they did so. 

After the battle was over, Courtney leaned against the railing of the Pit Stop’s upper floor and pressed an ice pack to her forehead. “I’m happy for you two, but you have got to get better at timing.”

#stargirl #hournite #beth chapel #rick tyler #hournite secret santa #hournite discord #man i havent posted a fic to tumblr in ages #also i am so bad at writing fight scenes but i tried my best LOL

[shrinkthisviolet]

🐛🦋🦗

🐛: Recommend a great WIP / unfinished chapter fic everyone should leave a comment on!

Definitely flawless by @irishseeeker! It’s a retelling wherein Kate is named the diamond and Sophie Beckett is Kate and Edwina’s sort-of sister, and I just!! I love it to pieces!! Go read and comment!!

🦋: Recommend one or three of your own fics! Some love for a few underrated gems:

how dare you march (into my heart), a Peddie fic in which they have to fake-date for the masquerade ball in s2!

i just wanna see you (be brave), a Jyn & Leia friendship fic written years ago (posted a couple years ago, but it’s an old fic 😂). Canon-compliant…so have tissues ready

would it really kill you (if we kissed)?, an Hournite fic for Stargirl! They’re adorable…and if you haven’t watched Stargirl, I can’t recommend it enough. Not just for them, but they add to the experience imo

🦗: Recommend any fic, wild card!

Asylum by the amazing @linearao3! Spoilers for Andor, so don’t read this if you haven’t seen it, but…this is a great character study of Leida, and a great exploration of the complex relationship between her and Mon

fic rec ask game!

#bridgerton #kate sharma #kathony #house of anubis #patricia williamson #eddie miller #peddie #star wars #rogue one #leia organa #jyn erso #stargirl #rick tyler #beth chapel #hournite #andor series #leida mothma #mon mothma #fic rec ask game #lavi’s fic recs

[katesrambeau]

sneaking around and getting caught- an hournite fic

a little fic inspired by a conversation me and reena had the other day! my first fic lol be nice :)

It'd been a month. A whole month of sneaking around with the boy she's had a crush on for years. Rick Tyler was her boyfriend. She broke out in a smile just thinking about him. Beth had never felt this way about someone, especially someone like Rick. If someone told her two years ago that she'd be with Blue Valley's "bad boy" she would've dismissed it easily. But it was the truth. And she couldn't be happier.

Rick was the happiest he'd been in a long time. Ten years, to be exact. His dirtbag uncle left town, he carried on his Father's legacy as Hourman, and he called the smartest girl in Blue Valley his girlfriend. They had opted to not tell the team they were together, due to all the drama with Courtney and Cameron. Also, Rick didn't like having everyone in his business. He's always preferred it that way. And he admits, sneaking around after school to make out was fun. All those secret meetings at the Pit stop and drives to school were always the highlight of his day.

Courtney had texted them all to meet at the Pit Stop at 4:30 for some important JSA stuff. She did not elaborate what the meeting was for, but the team agreed to come nonetheless. Rick texted Beth and asked if she wanted to go early to hang out. Sure. She knew they'd do more than just "hang out". She texted back "Yes :)" and soon enough she saw his yellow '66 mustang pull in her driveway. "You sure got here fast!" Beth exclaimed as she walked out of her house and into his car. Rick answered, "I wanted to see you." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She let out a giggle and her cheeks turned pink.

"Any idea what Court wanted us to come in for?" Beth asked. Rick shrugged. "I don't know. I hope its about her finally breaking up with Mahkent." "Rick!" Her and Rick had different opinions about Courtney's relationship. "Don't say that!"

"Why not? I don't get what she sees in him anyway. And he knows about us! About the JSA. I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised if he went all Icicle Jr. on her at some point." A look of disappointment crossed Beth's face. "He doesn't have to be this bad guy you paint him out to be. You guys are not that different, you know." Rick felt slightly offended by this statement. Him and Cameron have never gotten along. It had just always been like that. They just didn't like each other. Rick was envious over his rich family and seemingly perfect life, although he would rather jump off a bridge before letting anyone know that.

"We are not the same." Rick tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Beth gave him a look. "I never said that! But come on, both of your dads were in the JSA and ISA, you're carrying on their legacies, you both fell for a girl in the JSA, you have anger iss-"

"I'll stop you there." Rick turned his eyes to look at her. Beth couldn't help but let out a tiny giggle. "Sorry. I may have gone a bit overboard." Her cheeks went red with embarrassment. Rick's did too. "No, don't be. I should be the one apologizing, sorry." They took a moment to stare at each other, eyes lingering at each other's lips before Rick had to pull himself away when he remembered he was driving. "It's okay, Rick. I know." Beth said softly. That was one of the things he loved about Beth. She just got him, in a way that no one else did.

Soon enough they arrived at the Pit stop. Just as they'd hoped, they were the first ones there. "Lead the way, Hourman." Beth smiled as Rick took her hand and they walked into Pat's garage. He did indeed lead the way, pulling her into their usual meeting place and into his arms. Beth cupped his face and pulled him close into her warm, sweet embrace.

The world just seemed to disappear when she kissed him. All his problems seemed to melt away at the touch of her lips. Rick just wanted to hold Beth close and never let her go.

Then the door opens behind them, and Courtney walks in with Cameron. Courtney is carrying conversation with him, walking in backwards seemingly lost in his trance. "Okay, so here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna-" "Court." Cameron interrupted her mid-sentence. "What?" She turns around to see Beth in Rick's arms, her glasses ajar, both clearly startled by their presence. "OH MY GOD!!" Courtney yells as she jumps up and down ecstatically. "Since when were you two a thing?!?"

"Oh, we, um-" Rick let go of Beth as she adjusted her glasses. He stood awkwardly, hands slipping into his pockets. Stumbled over his words, he was trying to find something to say that won't embarrass him in front of Cameron. Lost for words, he turns to Beth, who also seems speechless. Then somebody else joins the conversation.

"You owe me $20, Courtney!" a voice says from the loft. Yolanda walks into the light where the team below can see her. "Yolanda?" Beth asked, "Have you been here the whole time?" She was a little freaked out by this. Yolanda makes her way down the the group. "Yup. Heard everything. Maria let me off my shift early. I've been up in the loft reading old JSA mission logs for like, an hour." Rick was startled. "Why didn't you say something when we walked in?" Yolanda smirked. "Why would I ever interrupt you two? You guys didn't even actually check if you were alone, anyway. Plus, I wanted to see if Courtney would soon owe me $20. And she does. Pay up Court." Courtney rolled her eyes as she reluctantly reached in her pocket to grab the money and hand it to her friend.

Beth was slightly offended. "Why are you making bets on us?" Yolanda shrugged. "Why not? It was obvious that you guys liked each other, we were just waiting for you two to finally see it." Rick let out a scoff. "Well no more need for that, we're together okay?"

Of course Courtney wanted to pry for more information. "So how long have you guys been together exactly?" Rick rolled his eyes. "Why are you so interested in my love life?" he asked. Beth blushed when he called it that. She looked up at him with a smile and answered, "About a month I think!"

Courtney's jaw dropped. "A WHOLE ENTIRE MONTH?!?" She stepped forward and hugged Beth. "How did we not notice?" Yolanda replied with a laugh, telling her, "Just because you're bad at hiding your relationship doesn't mean other people are." Courtney's jaw dropped. "Hey!" she said, facing Yolanda. "That was mean." She looked embarrassed. Cameron, finally joined the conversation, having been eerily silent the whole time, agreed with Courtney. "Yeah I don't think you of all people should be talking about their friend's love lives."

That wiped the smile right off Yolanda's face. "Really Cameron? That's low." Courtney gave Cameron a look. He started to give a somewhat crappy excuse, but before that could happen Rick stepped up, staring right at Cameron. "Don't talk about her or anyone else here like that." He took it upon himself to the so-called "protector" of the group, even outside of JSA missions.

Cameron had that icy look in his eye. Him and Rick were face to face and if looks could kill, they'd both be on the floor. Yolanda side eyed Courtney and she turned to Beth, all knowing what was gonna happen if they didn't step in. "Okay why don't we continue this meeting another day" said Courtney, pulling at Cameron's sleeves and breaking him out of the trance. Beth followed suit, saying "Yeah, Rick, let's get out of here okay?" Rick softened his body and stepped back, only because Beth was there. He was sure he could continue this another day, but not in front of her. He grabbed his bag angrily and headed for the door. Cameron's eyes lingered on Rick's figure before turning in the other direction, leaving as well.

Courtney scrambled to follow Cameron, hastily waving goodbyes while Yolanda turned to Beth. "So" she starts, "You and Rick?" Beth chuckles lightly. "Yeah. I really do like him. A lot." Yolanda smiled. "That's good. I'm happy for you guys. Rick seems better than he ever has. I'm sure he likes you as much as you like him." Beth sits for a moment, soaking up what Yolanda had just said before remembering that her boyfriend had just stormed out in anger. She knew she had to calm him before he punched a hole in a wall somewhere. It was her job, she felt like. She balanced him. "Yeah" she answered, "I should probably go check up on him." She started to head in the way Rick left in, saying goodbye to Yolanda and leaving.

"Rick?" Beth calls, as she walks out into the sunlight. She turns to find him sulking against the side of his car. "Come on" he says, "I'll drive you home." His tone had changed significantly. "No." Beth knew what she had to say. "Not until you explain whatever just happened in there." Rick lifted himself off of his car and scoffed. "What is there to explain? I don't like Cameron. End of story." This would be harder than Beth had thought. "I know you guys don't like each other. That is so blatantly obvious. But Courtney really likes Cameron, and he's working hard to be a good guy. For her. He's been through a lot. He's lost both his parents. I know you know what that's like." Rick didn't know what to say. Before he could answer, Beth continued. "If you could just try to trust him, and just give him a chance, I'm sure you guys could be really great friends." Rick, still speechless, opened the car door. "I don't want to talk about it right now." Beth was trying her hardest, but the last thing she wanted was to make him even more angry than he already was. "Fine," she says, "But promise me we'll talk about it at some point." She walks around to the passenger side and opens the door.

As soon as she gets in, he nods his head in agreement and starts the car. "Don't take me home." Beth startles Rick. He looks up at her, and with confusion in his face, asks, "Why?" Beth smiles. "My parents are home. I told them I'd be gone for a while. So I don't need to be home right away."

"Then where do you wanna go?" he asks, the corners of his lips turning upwards. Beth is glad she could make him smile. "You decide. Lead the way, Hourman."

yay first fic hope you enjoyed!! i did write this before 3x05 came out but i was too lazy to post it, and i kept changing it because i didn't like how it was written 😭 writing is not my strong suit but i was inspired so here you go!

#dc stargirl #stargirl #hournite #hournite fic #beth chapel #beth chapel x rick tyler #rick tyler #courtney whitmore #cameron mahkent #yolanda montez

[its-like-looking-in-3d]

HAPPY HOURNITE SECRET SANTA @rinasred!!

im your secret santa,, i hope you like it!!

(i realised i had the opportunity to title it with that song yea ngl sjfjskf)

#hournite #hournite server #hournite server secret santa #my fics #sorry i rarely post my fics on tumblr idk what im doing i dont have a system for this sjfnsjf #beth chapel #rick tyler

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

We’re Not Friends 18

I Guess We’re Friends Now

Note: I absolutely didn't expect to be able to finish another chapter this soon, but I was already partially into it, because I cut off the beginning of this one from the end of the previous one. So, I wound up being able to pop out another with a quickness. :)

Beth woke up wondering how she could feel so refreshed, after everything that had happened. Scratch that. Beth woke up refreshed, and happy to have gotten some rest, then looked at her phone and saw Yolanda’s message about going to church to pray for Henry… THEN, she wondered how she was so refreshed after everything that had happened. At any rate, she needed to get ready for school. 

She contemplated a while on whether or not her leftovers from last night would be appropriate for lunch today. She would likely get sleepy if she ate it and didn’t need to feel lethargic at school. Maybe a salad might be more appropriate… She heard the doorbell and went to open the door for Rick. He didn’t look prepared to come inside, but after she let him know that she needed to pack her lunch, he stepped into the house.

“Do you want anything?” She asked. He shook his head, seemingly uncomfortable with being inside of the house alone with her. Fortunately, she talked while she did what she was doing. It took pressure off of him to say or do anything. 

She had stopped preparing lunch for her parents, but there was plenty of food in the fridge, and some of it was teetering on needing to be removed. “I’m just gonna pack you some of these leftovers, before they expire,” she said. Rick knew that she knew that he often didn’t have a good lunch, so he didn’t fight her on it, especially if it was because the food would likely go to waste if he didn’t accept it. “I even have brown paper bags, so it looks like you packed it yourself,” she said, smiling. And he couldn’t help but to smile back.

He was kinda glad that she was in a good mood. When they finally began to head out, he finally spoke, “Listen…” She paused from locking the door behind them and looked at him. He paused. For some reason, he expected her to just listen and not give him this undivided attention, but then again, that was Beth’s style. “Umm..” He pressed his lips together trying to remember what he was going to say. Her eyes had thrown him off, despite the fact that he had thought about this the entire walk to hers. “Um, I just wanted to acknowledge that I know that it was not a good idea for me to change the plan and try to go after the thing that killed my parents.” He clenched his fists and released them several times. “I didn’t know what I would do if I was ever in the position to actually get to face this, and when it happened, I did exactly what I said I was going to do.” He shut his eyes tightly and stared at the ground, “And I let down the team. I could’ve gotten you hurt. We didn’t gain anything from me doing that. All I did was reroute us, put you in harm’s way and waste our time. Maybe, if I hadn’t wasted that time, we could’ve gotten out sooner with the staff, and… and with…” He took a deep breath. “With Henry.” 

He felt Beth’s hand on his balled fist and he looked at it, loosening to her touch for her to grab both of his hands. He blinked and looked up at her sympathetic face. “I was right next to Joey when he died. It was… a shock to my system. It haunts me on most nights. I had nothing to do with it, but I saw it and it haunts me and as far as I know, it may always haunt me. Whenever Chuck showed us what happened to your parents, it haunted me. The image of what happened to them. Seeing what happened to Henry will haunt me too. But, when these things happen… I’ve started trying to learn how to take my upset and turn it into solutions, for the future, to prevent however much harm I can from coming to other people. To… lessen the amount of haunting images that I have to face. What happened to Henry might have happened no matter what, and I can tell you from experience, it would still haunt you. Because you’re human and you’re a good person.” She squeezed his hands and he squeezed hers back before she let go of him and jerked her head towards the street. 

Rick fell into step with her. He would never put her in harm’s way again. If anything, he was going to protect her. She stepped into his bubble and quickly moved out of it, like she sometimes did when he gave her a look and she surmised that she was too close. Rick casually filled the space between them and she looked up at him, curiously. He responded with a soft smile and quickly let his gaze drop to the ground. Beth, in turn, had an opposite reaction, smiling much wider and lifting her head high as they continued walking. 

.

Take my upset and turn it into solutions for the future… Prevent however much harm I can from coming to other people… Rick let those words repeat in his mind the entire walk. Whenever he set his bag down, he pulled out the journal. Beth noted that he was about to get started on that and she got out of his way. 

He propped himself up on the table and glanced at her, wondering what she was doing as she got into a car. She didn’t know how to drive, but she understood the functions and she enjoyed the feeling of sitting in a car. She walked most of the places that she went, so sitting in a car was usually a nice change of pace. Sitting behind the wheel was like a dream. 

Whenever Pat came in, spilling the beans about Courtney’s dad and how he wasn’t Starman, both of them were confused, but barely had a chance to register this new information before the janitor came in. 

Now… Nobody could have guessed that the day might start out the way that the day started out, but the shock value went up tenfold when he began to swing the sword. She could barely make her thoughts reach her mouth and called out, “Bad guy! Bad guy!” like a small child identifying Stranger Danger. Rick was trying to rush to protect. Pat was trying to neutralize the situation. In a way, she and Rick were having their own little team adventure, but she was definitely glad that it ended soon. That he was disarmed and that they were safe again. 

Rick was relieved, too. After the fear had faded away, he was able to allow himself a bit of excitement about the sword. It was a pretty damn cool sword. It was real. Could have caused significant damage if he had struck any of them. He was not in any type of headspace to suffer another loss. The janitor had always been a nice guy to him, but if he had hurt Pat or Beth, Rick would have flipped the hourglass and torn him apart. Beth quickly recovered. 

She was very interested in the story about Justin and Pat’s former team, and curious as to why Chuck had not told her about this, but she supposed that it would not have been within his scope of information if a different superhero team had their own secrets.

There was a lot that needed to be done, but whenever the two kids headed to school, Beth couldn’t decide WHICH thing she needed to discuss, so she decided on listing them all and if Rick wanted to talk, he would steer the conversation. “I can’t believe that happened this morning. First off, the fact that Starman isn’t Courtney’s dad was enough to blow my mind all day, but then Janitor Justin came in with Excalibur! He used to work for King Arthur! He was chosen to be a superhero!! AND, he’s from the past? How did he time travel? WHO has access and control of something that can travel time? Or, is he an immortal? Has he simply lived all this time?? Is he gonna be part of the team, now? I just…” She made a sound effect for an explosion and gestured like one was coming from her head. 

“I guess in a world where somebody can make themselves have super strength for an hour a day and pass that on to their kid, somebody must be smart enough to make time travel.” 

That reminded her that she hadn’t mentioned the journal. “Yeah. That’s wild. I have always thought it was theoretical. I NEED to know more about it. As soon as you finish cracking the code on that journal, you want to investigate time travel?” She asked, smiling up at him. She kept her gaze held as he went on a face journey. “No pressure,” she said, then waved a hand, “You’ll probably want to get back to your regular life or whatever, after you handle Solomon Grundy.”

“My regular life might be this shit, now,” he said with a shrug, holding his hourglass. “I mean, I don’t know if I want to investigate time travel, but even after Grundy is dead, I think I should probably stick around to keep you out of trouble.” 

She nodded, “The three of us,” she presumed.

“No. Just you. Yolanda doesn’t need help keeping out of trouble and I couldn’t stop Courtney from running straight towards it and diving into it, even if I had super strength 24-7.”

“I should ask Chuck if this is insulting or complimentary,” Beth said, thoughtfully.

“It is what it is,” Rick answered. That wasn’t an answer, but he moved on, anyway. “I’m getting really good at chemistry, too. I don’t know what that has to do with the team, but I guess it’s yet another thing that I think will be part of my regular life that wasn’t before. Maybe I don’t want to go back to it, is what I’m getting at.”

“Gotcha.” She said, with a nod. “You also smile more.” Now he blushed and grimaced, “I meant that to be complimentary. You look like a completely different person when you smile. Younger and more… tolerant of me.” She laughed uncomfortably. “Not that you aren’t more tolerant of me when you aren’t smiling! I mean, definitely more tolerant of me than you were when you flat out told me that we weren’t friends.” Her face was now scrunched up in a thoughtful, troubled expression. She felt herself unable to stop talking, unable to stop thinking about how they used to be, and unable to pretend that neither of these things were bothering her.

“This is going downhill,” he grumbled. “Nowhere in kids’ programming do they ever really explain how awkward and unsettling trying to be friends with people is.” 

Beth’s excitement bubbled over, much in the same way that it had whenever she realized that she would be getting a costume, as she confirmed, “Are we friends?” Rick let out a deep, heavy sigh, but she could tell that he wasn’t tired because of her. 

“What would we be, at this point in all of this, but friends?” 

“Teammates. None of the people in the academic decathlon are my friends, yet we compete together, on a team. Allies. They go to war with each other and may not necessarily be considered friends. A collective! We sat at the singles table all that time and weren’t friends…” she realized that he had stopped walking and was looking at the sky, like he was waiting on lightning to strike him down or something. “But, I guess we’re friends, now. I mean, that’s what you said.” He looked at her, “And I agree!” she quickly added, with a bright smile. Rick smiled back, but it was an uncomfortable smile, laced with shyness and uncertainty. 

“I’m not one to mince words, either.” 

.

Courtney was having a hard time with a swarm of things that were happening in her life. From finding out who her father was, to the staff not working… She had JUST gotten the staff back, and now it wasn’t working, and Henry was dead, and she felt like everyone’s death was her fault. 

Yolanda… wanted to comfort her, but she was still so… well, she was going through things too. Henry’s death had been toughest on her, more than any of them. Him dying like that, in front of his friends, at the hands of his father… having to leave him down there. Knowing that his father could get away with it, if they didn’t stop him. Plus, she had never gotten the chance to forgive him. She had never gotten the chance to heal from what he’d done, either. But. Right now, what he’d done was a buried pain. What had happened to him piled on top of that pain like the rocks that sealed his doom. 

She mostly observed as Beth and Rick tried to console Courtney. She wasn’t sour about the fact that Courtney had Beth’s support, when she couldn’t get it for the Henry situation, but she also tried not to harp on it. She was still upset about that situation, but she was more upset about literally everything else that looked like it was going wrong. 

Thankfully, nobody was harassing her through this all. Cindy was gone and the kids that might have still bothered her were more preoccupied with Henry’s untimely death. It mattered more to remember him than to target her, she supposed, and she was grateful, even though she would have taken another day of abuse, if it meant that she wasn’t going through this grief that was Henry being killed.

Rick sauntered into the assembly and found a seat before the girls got in. It wasn’t that he was in a rush, but he was glad not to have to choose a seat and possibly make someone feel bad about it. It was silly, and never would have crossed his mind before recently, but now it did. He left 3 seats empty to his right and got comfortable. Oddly enough, whenever the girls showed up together, he had a bit of anxiety about how they might choose to sit. Courtney looked like she was going to slide in, but she glanced at Yolanda, about to offer the chance to her, when Beth zipped by them both and sat down next to Rick. 

A small smirk formed on Yolanda’s lips, despite the rest of her face being in agony, as she watched Beth happily greet Rick and him nod at her, then them. Courtney sat down, oblivious to their energy, and Yolanda sat at the end. The moment faded quickly. As everyone remembered why they were here. Henry died. And unlike the rest of the people gathered in this space, these four knew how. They had actually had to witness it. 

Whenever Dr. Henry King stepped onto that stage, Rick felt himself grow anxious. It wasn’t like this guy would try anything in this crowded room, but what if he waited for just the moment that they were outside of everyone’s view to attack? Courtney didn’t have the usage of the stupid staff. Beth didn’t have fighting skills - not that those even mattered with this guy. Hell, if he wanted to, he could very well, right now, mentally attack and likely kill the others. He… worried. He clenched his fists, simply hoping that his worries weren’t being stolen right from his mind, or worse, that he wasn’t giving this creep ideas.

Beth felt every hair on her body stand up. Somebody that she had known for many years and was previously friendly with… she had found out was a monster, and even worse than that, there he stood, pretending to be affected by the terrible thing that he himself had done. It disgusted her. It was appalling and so very unsettling. She… panicked. She looked around at her friends, whose faces showed that they were just as upset, but what could they even do? What could any of them do?

Courtney was afraid too. She had been worried, sure, but whenever he stepped into her mind, blaming her, like he likely knew that she also did (blame herself); she felt a level of fear that surpassed the previous version. It was her fault, as far as she was concerned, but that meant that it was also her responsibility… and the staff wasn’t helping her! She tried to catch her breath. Tried to compose herself, even as she knew that she HAD to somehow get the staff to communicate with her again. She had to, if she was going to stop Brainwave and make right everything that she felt like she had caused when she initially took up the staff!

Yolanda was faced with a feeling that she was unaware if she ever felt before. Sure, she was protective of her friends. She, herself, had threatened Henry for their sake, sure that he meant them harm and she was serious whenever she did so. But, she wasn’t sure if she ever would have actually been able to go through with it. At her core, she still very much was a church girl. She prayed for Henry, for her own forgiveness in the hate that she had carried for him. Her hurt and anger were justified, but she didn’t know if her hatred was anymore. 

But, the feeling that she felt when she saw Brainwave’s face. Yolanda hated him. This hate was something indescribable. She couldn’t even figure out how there was room in her body for it and desperately wanted to unleash it. She was reminded of the time whenever Rick asked, “Do you know what it's like to be so filled up with anger that you feel like you’re poisoning yourself?” Of how much pain he was in when he admitted that he hated feeling that way. She was feeling it now. Whenever Rick deliberately told them that he would join them, for revenge. I want revenge, Yolanda thought, willing herself not to cry. Revenge. 

As they walked out of the assembly, Courtney told the others that she needed to get home, right away. She didn’t have time to try to figure out some type of plan, like Beth wanted to do, or to stick together, since she didn’t have her weapon, like Rick was suggesting. She needed to go! Yolanda pulled Beth and Rick, each by an arm and told them, “Let her do whatever she needs to right now…” Beth bit her lip and Rick took a deep, frustrated breath. “If she doesn’t get the staff working…” she looked at Rick, “It’ll be up to the two of us.” 

Beth opened her mouth to remind her that she and Courtney would still be a part of the team, but Yolanda silenced her with a simple gesture of placing her hand on her shoulder, gently. “We’ll keep you safe so that you can keep us informed.” Beth nodded her head, still looking worried, but relieved for the clarification that Yolanda knew her worth on the team, even in the light of impending danger. They gave each other a hug that both of them needed, then Beth looked at Yolanda, then Rick and started walking away.

Rick was set to follow, but Yolanda grabbed his hand to make him pause. “I finally understand,” she told him. “I understand why some people have to die. We can’t let monsters like Grundy and Brainwave… any of them… just.. Keep doing what they’re doing to people and to the world..” Rick looked into her eyes, seeing that she was serious and nodded his head once. To show her that he agreed. That he knew that he wasn’t alone in his rage and vengeance anymore. 

They both looked at Beth, watching them curiously. Yolanda let go of his hand, forced a smile and caught up with Beth. Rick took up the rear, walking behind them as Yolanda now took Beth’s hand and promised, “It’s going to be okay.” 

#We're Not Friends #Hournite #Hournite Fics #Stargirl Fanfiction #Beth Chapel #Rick Tyler #Nesha Hournite Fics #Nesha Fanfiction

[hournites]

I wrote a fic about Jennie and Courtney freaking the f out over the status of Rick and Beth's relationship because I am @canary-warrior secret santa!!!!

#tkv fic #hournites fic #hournite #rick x beth #secret santa 2023 #or is it 2024 #abbott elementary references sdajkfgl;

[president-zebra]

daffodils

#hournite #beth chapel #hournite fic

[pink-bird-30]

Welp, it is finally here...

I was so motived to get this done that I finally figured out how to post on Ao3!

You can also read my story on my FF.Net 

Summary:

Sometimes love doesn't happen over night. Sometimes it happened slowly, building over months, maybe even years. And then it happens. The one moment that changes two lives forever...but what if that love was only meant for two souls and no one else? A retelling of all three seasons of Stargirl and Rick and Beth have a secret they only know about...

As always, Happy Reading!

-----

It was another boring lunch period.

Rick tosses his brown bagged lunch onto the stained cafeteria table and drapes his bag on the same faded busted yellow chair he’s sat in since freshman year.  The cafeteria was overcrowded with almost every student, the loud gossip coming from the popular table where he could clearly see Cindy Burman and her clan.  The jocks cheering at whatever Artemis Crock was saying about last night’s football game…and then there was Beth.

Rick shakes his head as he listens to Beth talk to her parents while she eats her expensive looking salad.  He side-eyes her, seeing she’s wearing her favorite yellow cardigan and sunflower top with black jeans.  Rick wishes he didn’t recognize this as her favorite outfit, but he’s been sitting next to her for as long as he could remember.  The only new addition to their table was Yolanda Montez.  But she’s even quieter than Rick is when it comes to Beth’s animated conversation with her clearly uninterested parents.

“Mr. Deisinger said my art is really improving!”  Beth says excitedly.  “He says I did a great job making strawberries look very realistic.”  She takes a bit of her salad.  “How have your day’s been?”

Rick zones out like he usually does when Beth’s parents start to talk back to her.  Their typical tones sound tired and forced.  Part of him feels bad hearing the bland replies.  He chances a glance in her direction, seeing her eyes dim ever so lightly, losing their excitement.  It’s always made Rick angry how hard Beth tries to have a relationship with her parents and they don’t even take the time to appreciate her.

If his parents were still around, he wouldn’t take it for granted either.

As lunch drones, Beth finally hangs up with her parents and pulls out a thick textbook and starts to read.  Rick looks up from his phone when he hears the thick text hit the table.  He watches as she highlights and scribbles notes down in her notebook ferociously, like she was in a whole different world.  

Unknowingly, Rick smirks to himself at her attention to detail and glances back down at his phone, not realizing the third member of the table witnessing the moment.

Rick Tyler likes Beth Chapel?

Yolanda was glad for the distraction and tucked away the information for future use.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Lunch continued the same for the first part of the fall semester until a new student named Courtney Whitmore joins their table in mid-October.

Right away Rick was not happy.  But if Rick wasn’t happy about something, it meant Beth was definitely all for it.

He isn’t one to accept change easily and having this new bubbly California energy joining their ‘loser table’, as Cindy put it, was not going well for him.

“Hi!  I’m Courtney.”

“Hi!  I’m Beth!”  Beth’s annoyingly sweet voice sang.  “This is Rick Harris and Yolanda Montez.”

Rick glares at Beth wondering why she would even bother introducing him.  It’s not like they are friends...Rick wasn’t sure what they were, but regardless, he didn’t want to know Courtney.

“Oh, are you all friends?”  Courtney asks as she sets her tray on the table and pulls out the seat closest to Yolanda.

“No.” Rick’s gruff voice mumbles.

Courtney pokes at her fruit salad.  “Then why do you sit here?”

“Oh!”  Beth puts her sandwich down and wipes her hands on her napkin.  “This is the ‘loser’ table.  As Cindy Burman says.”

Yolanda scoffs as she pushes away from the table, leaving her lunch behind, and storms from the cafeteria.

“Beth…”  Rick rolls his eyes at her blunt response and grabs his bag.  “What Cindy says is crap, don’t listen to her.”  He walks past Beth, his shoulders tense and angry as he pushes past a group of jocks and out of the cafeteria.

Beth watches him leave and Courtney takes note of the sad look clouding her face.

“Rick and you seem like friends…” Courtney mumbles.  “He seems to be a loss less ‘grrr’ around you.”

Beth shrugs and takes another bite of her ham and cheese sandwich.  “I’ve known Rick since elementary school.  We’re not friends but were also not not friends either.”

The blond stares at her in confusion.  “What do you mean?”

Beth sighs.  “Look, Rick is complicated for many reasons, but we’ve been sitting together for as long as I can remember.”  Courtney can tell Beth is nervous talking about Rick almost as if she—

Almost as if she has a crush on him…

Courtney tucks away that piece of information for later…

“But you’ve never hung out or anything?  There must be something fun to do around this place!”  Courtney whines.  “I mean, c’mon this town is so dull.”

Beth gives her a sad smile, “I’m not the best person to ask what is ‘fun’ to do around here.  I’m not exactly popular.”

Courtney gathered as much but there was a reason why she sat at this table today.  There had to be.

Beth and Courtney sit in silence for the rest of lunch and go their separate ways once the bell rings.

As Beth walks down the hallway to math, she passes Rick leaning against his locker reading a book.  She chances a glance in his direction, not knowing why she did, and he happens to look up at the same time.  Beth gives him a small smile and continues down the hallway to math.

Not knowing why, Rick pushes away from his locker and walks to catch up with Beth.

“Beth, wait.”  he catches her before she entered her classroom.  She looks up at him in surprise.  Why was he speaking to her outside of the cafeteria?  “I- um,” it dawns on him that he’s never actually spoken to Beth before.  “Sorry, I was a jerk before.”

Beth pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and smiles, “It’s okay!”

“Cool.” The warning bell rings.  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” he says before walking away.  For some reason, he could feel his heart racing long after he’s sitting in English class listening to the teacher drone on about Of Mice and Men.

#Hournite #beth chapel #rick tyler #beth x rick #dc stargirl #friends to lovers #secret relationship #hournite fic

[bluevalleybreakingnews]

As I mentioned earlier this month, every day this week I’m releasing a fic in lieu of an episode coming out on Wednesday! The idea was for these all to be finished at the time of publication, but I spontaneously decided for this ending to be different than the one I originally had planned. As a result, I’ll likely post the final chapter next week, technically when the “Starvest” is over. Pretend like I didn’t fail my own challenge right out of the gate.

#cam writes #thanksgiving starvest #hournite #stargirl #dc Stargirl #if these fics fill up the tag i am so so sorry

[granolabird]

A Promise for the Future

My 3x12 fic. Not as long as my usual fics, mostly bc I’m kinda hitting writing burnout. Too many essays for school and podcast scripts due 😪 But Stargirl is my everything and I will not miss out on writing fics for the final few episodes!!

.

When he showed up to the door, Beth wasn’t exactly sure what she was expecting. Last she’d seen Rick he was yelling, telling off her and her parents for trying to get him to take off the hourglass. When she sees him at the door, however, she knows that’s not the state he’s in. Not anymore. Standing there, arms wrapped around himself, he looks so… sad. 

He can’t make eye contact, staring at the floor as he hesitates in the doorway, as if he doesn't know if he’s welcome here anymore. As if the JSA weren’t still his family. Beth takes it upon herself to grab his hand and leads him inside, all the way to the couch. He doesn’t say much, not until they get him seated. Then he can’t stop apologising, shaking, fiddling with the hourglass but never taking it off. He can’t. He says as much, describing in detail what happened when he took it off before he came here. Beth has to stop herself from crying. The fact that he went through so much pain alone breaks her heart. 

“I called you Rick, why didn’t you answer?” She finally asks, and Rick looks away.

“I… I couldn’t. I saw you calling, but before I never wanted to answer. I wanted to be left alone. But that time I did. I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t. I just…” He takes a shuddering breath, blinking away tears.

“It’s okay, Rick. You’re here now.” Yolanda offers, but Rick still doesn’t look up, eyes glued to the floor.

“I guess.”

The conversation drags on, with everyone asking Rick questions and reassuring him interchangeably. Things only pause when Rick mentions Sylvester. Then the pieces begin to fall together. Sylvester should’ve known about the limiter, he’d helped Rick’s father. A quick glance between Courtney and Yolanda confirms Beth’s fears. They’re all thinking the same thing. 

Sylvester had set Rick up. 

The feeling of unease that settles over the group is palpable, nobody quite sure what to say. Barbara and Courtney leave the room to try and get ahold of Pat. Yolanda sticks around for a while, but when it becomes clear there’s nothing she can do to help, she heads out too. That left Rick and Beth. Rick is quiet, almost curled into himself. This entire time he hasn’t spoken unless he’s being spoken to, and now is no different. He’s in his own world. Beth takes a deep breath, grabbing her goggles and sitting down beside Rick, close enough that they’re shoulder to shoulder. He needs human contact at this point, she knows that. There’s a moment of quiet, just them sitting together, leaning close. 

“Hey, Rick? I’d like to check your vitals with my goggles. Just to see what’s wrong. If that’s alright?”

Rick doesn’t say anything, he just nods. Beth moves slowly, carefully, as if moving too fast would scare Rick. Once her goggles are on, she scans him over. The prognosis is… less than stellar. His heart rate and blood pressure are up and he shows signs of a wide variety of other issues. His broken ribs from the fight with Cameron are still healing, but the good news is they are healing. It’s a start, as least. 

“When Barbara and Courtney come back, I’ll get them to get you some pain killers, okay? And I’ll call my mom in as soon as possible. She’ll know how to help. Then we’ll get that hourglass off of you. I promise.” Beth assures him, leaning forward to squeeze his hand reassuringly.

“That bad, huh?” Rick huffs with a small chuckle. He doesn’t look at Beth but rather places his head on her shoulder. 

Beth sighs, and leans her head against Ricks. “It could be worse. You’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

She feels Rick shuffling beside her, and it takes her a minute to recognise that he’s crying. He’s trying to keep quiet, Beth knows he doesn’t want her to see him like this but she doesn’t care. She loves him. Even when he’s going through hell, she’ll love him still. She knows that. She just needs him to know that. She lets go of his hand and moves her arm so it’s around his back, letting her hand run through his hair idly in any attempt to calm him down. She just wants him to know he’s safe now, to let them know she doesn’t care. Even if he’s spent weeks ignoring her, it doesn’t matter. It’s Rick. She’ll stay by his side no matter what.

Her arm around him seems to be enough signal for Rick that it’s okay to let go. He almost collapses onto her, throwing his arms around Beth with a sob. He keeps holding her like a lifeline. She thinks he’s saying sorry, but his face is buried in the knitted down of her vest. She just keeps her arm around him, keeps holding him close, keeps telling him it’s okay. He’ll be okay. They stay like that for a while, listening to the wind howling outside and the quiet conversation in the kitchen. Beth can tell by the tones of voice that Courtney and Barbara are beginning to panic. 

That doesn’t bode well. 

She just keeps reassuring Rick, tries to keep him busy, but she knows there’s only so long she can keep this up before things get worse. Barbara and Courtney could come in with bad news and just exacerbate the situation. If Rick knows that someone he cares about is in danger he’ll never take off the hourglass, not if he knows that it can help. As much as Beth knows Rick’s help in battle is needed, it’s not what he needs to hear right now. Right now he needs to know it’s okay to take off the hourglass and just decompress. Otherwise, she fears he might never take it off and then… She doesn’t want to think about that.

“How about we head outside for a minute, I think you need fresh air.” Beth offers. Rick doesn’t let go of her, but she feels his best attempt at a nod from where his head is resting against her shoulder.

Getting Rick up is easier than she expected. Nobody seems to notice her leading him outside, their hands entwined. Rick is clinging to her hand, following behind her like a lost child, almost stepping on her heels. Courtney and Barbara don’t notice them, too busy huddled around their phones. Beth isn’t sure if she’s grateful for that or not. She wants them to help Rick, to get this hourglass off of him as soon as possible, but she also understands their concern towards Pat. She just wishes things were easier, that she could just help Rick now, and then worry about everything superhero related later. 

She grabs her coat from the coat hanger by the door, and grabs one of Pat’s coats for Rick, and then leads him outside. It’s not snowing yet, but the bitter chill to the whipping wind tells of the coming winter. If Rick is cold, he doesn’t indicate it. His stare is blank as he gazes off of the porch into the street, the yellow glow of the street lamps reflecting in his eyes as he lets go of Beth’s hand and leans against the porch railing.

“This is my fault.”

“Rick-”

“No, it is. I should have never taken off the limiter. Then maybe things would be better. I could’ve helped with Jordan, I could’ve… I could’ve helped.”

“You still can help, Rick. You just need to take care of yourself first. Please. For me.” She moves to stand beside him, trying to gauge what he’s feeling.

Rick looks over to her, and it’s not something she’s ever seen in him before. He looks scared, but he also looks… she can’t pinpoint it exactly. The closest word she could think of was awe. He was looking at her as if she held the very world in her hands. She doesn’t of course, but that doesn’t make the way he’s looking at her make any more sense. 

“Rick, are you okay?”

“Yeah… Yeah. I was just thinking. That’s all.” He assures her, but he keeps ringing his hands together nervously. 

Beth takes it upon herself to take his hands in her own. To keep them still, she tells herself. And to keep them warm. Rick smiles at that, if only a little. She catches it, just a small tug at the edge of his lips but to her it’s enough. It’s progress. She knows then, that he’ll be alright. They both will be. Once this is all over, they’ll be okay. She’s not reassuring herself, this time. Not like all the days she spent searching for Rick, telling herself it would probably be fine, that everything would probably be okay. No, this time it’s a promise. A promise that everything will turn out.

#hournite #I am not ready for the finale next week #I will be fighting for James Gunn to save this show for them #Stargirl #Stargirl Spoilers #Beth Chapel #Rick Tyler #dr. mid nite #hourman #beth chapel x rick tyler #Hournite fic #Chandra needs a nap and maybe some hot chocolate