They're So Adorable It Hurts My Soul - Tumblr Posts

I know it's super blurry, but like, ThAt LiL sMiLe.

I know in the scene he's being kinda passive aggressive. But I'll take whatever I can get.

Paper Airplanes and Face Masks (Hournite)

Summary: Beth has Rick over for the night and is determined to get him in a face mask.

Warnings: Mild allusions to abusive gardian.

Category: Fluff

Note: this is my first attempt at fanfiction, please leave your thought about it below:)

Training lasted longer than usual that day. By the time it was over, the sun was already saying goodbye and slowly receded to the west. Pat had tried his best to make the obstacles more difficult in an effort to mirror what he believed was to come in the battles ahead.

The new JSA tried their best to work with and without their abilities, all while trying to work together as a team. It was challenging to say the least, not many of them had much experience working with others.

Curly blonde locks stuck to Courtney's face as she asked Yolanda if she needed to be driven home. The other girl thankfully accepted the offer before running off to grab her things.

Pat, hearing he was now driving Yolanda, went to the next girl who had no mode of transportation.

"Do you need a ride?" He asked Beth who faced away from him, her eyes instead on the boy leaning on the entrance of the building.

"Oh, no thank you." she replied sweetly.

"Okay, just make sure to get home safe." the man instructed, making his voice loud enough for the boy to hear him as well.

Rick turned his head to Pat, giving him a single nod before pushing himself off the wall and walking out toward the road.

"Will do Mr. Dugan." Beth replied brightly before briskly walking in the direction of the boy, goggles slung around her neck, the straps of her backpack gripped in broth her hands.

She found him standing still outside of the building, staring at his path home with a scowl.

He wasn't all that fond of going back to his house, knowing who would be there when he arrived, though with the hourglass he would be able to defend himself if need be. He quickly found himself sinking into his own mind, the multitude of reasons why that was a very bad idea taking over his thoughts.

His dark thought process was interrupted by a hand delicately brushing against his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Beth asked in her sweet, yet concerned voice.

Rick nodded curtly and turned his gaze to the ray of sunshine beside him. Beth wore her wide smile and big doe eyes, wearing him down and making him want to tell her everything.

But he didn't, thinking better of it.

"I'm just getting ready to walk home."

"Me too!" she shook her head eagerly.

He nodded once more, awkwardly, in a gesture of understanding.

The two stood in a thick silence, Beth's hands were now shoved deep in her jean pockets as she contemplated opening her mouth again.

Rick began to walk in the direction of his house when Beth let out a quick, "Do you want to come over to my house?"

The boy stilled wondering if Beth had actually offered.

"I mean, you can if you want to. My parents are working tonight, and tomorrow night, and most nights. They've been doing that a lot recently." she laughed in an attempt to hide her sadness.

"It's getting dark, my uncle won't like me out for so long."

He heard the girl shuffle closer.

"You know, if he tries anything, Pat can always take his robot and exchange some...words," she tried. "Or any of us could suit up and do it. Not just for this, just any time you need."

Rick almost laughed, the image of Beth in her costume coming to his door to threaten his uncle, huge goggles and all, entering his head.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm still not sure that's the best ide-" he stopped himself at the sight of Beth, shoulders slumped, but eyes still bright as ever.

He realized in that moment that she was just like him, lonely and in need of some company.

"Umm...maybe just for tonight." he gave in.

"Yes!" Beth squealed excitedly, hooking her arm through his and turning them in the direction of her house.

As they walked, Beth rattled on about everything from homework to superheroes. Rick had to hold back the smile that threatened to make it's way onto his face at the sound of her enthusiasm.

They made it to Beth's house quite quickly. The girl unlinked their arms and began to rummage through her bag in searched of her keys. Rick wouldn't admit his disappointment at the lack of contact, but he would make note of how he suddenly felt the warmth leave his body when Beth pulled away.

They entered into darkness, no one was home and all the lights were off, Beth haphazardly used her hand to search the wall beside her for the light switch. As she flicked it on, brightness washed over the two. Rick squinted his eyes at the sudden intrusion of light.

"Okay, you can put your stuff here, or you can take it to my room, or just keep it with you. Whatever you want to do." Beth supplied as she began speeding to her kitchen. "Alright, what kind of snacks do you like? We have a bit of everything, sweet, sour, savory. Unless you wanted some dinner, I should have some leftovers from the other day that I could heat up for you." she offered.

"No thanks."

"Are you sure, I have cookies." she called, walking out of the kitchen and holding a clear container filled with some cookies she had caught Rick eyeing the day prior.

This time he couldn't stop his lips from turning upward in a small grin, he nodded his head.

Beth pumped her fist in the air before grabbing Rick's arm and dragging him to her room. She plopped down on her bed opening the container and taking a bite out of the sweet.

"So what do you want to do first?" she questioned, extending the box for Rick to take from. "We can do homework, watch a movie, Chuck has this great karaoke setting-" she gasped. " Ooh, we can do face masks. I was going to do them with Court and Yolanda next weekend but there's no time like the present."

"No."

"What why?"

"Cause I don't want you putting anything on my face."

"But it'll be fun." she tried.

"Nope. Let's just finish the homework and then you can pick a movie." Rick countered.

" How about we finish the homework and then we do face masks."

"Not happening."

"I can help you," she sang "and Chuck knows all the answers."

"Still no." Rick shook his head calmly.

Beth's shoulders slumped but she soon fixed her posture and shrugged. She grabbed her backpack from the side of her bed. She shuffled through it and pulled out her folder full of assignments. She grasped her geometry packet and began working on it. Rick sat down at the foot of the bed, he too got out the homework and began start on the page.

They worked in mostly silence for half an hour, Beth occasionally looking to Chuck for guidance, earning a long and extremely detailed account of every question and answer she asked about. Rick tried his best to focus on the paper in front of him, but he was just plain disinterested in the numbers, letters, and shapes on the page. He instead opted to scribble down the first answers that came to his mind, accuracy be damned, just wanting to finish as soon as possible.

He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to restore the little energy he had before taking out the assignment to no avail. When he looked back to the work, he was surprised to see a paper airplane made out of a sticky note set on top of his work.

He stared at the small plane in front of him before turning his gaze to Beth who was laying on her bed, appearing to be concentrated on the packet on her bed, tapping her pencil on the comforter as she looked over the page.

Rick moved his eyes back to the paper airplane, gingerly unfolding the wings to see in neat handwriting the words,

Face mask plz:)

He snapped his head to the girl who's face was now hidden behind her folder. She peeked her head out shyly only to see Rick rolling his eyes playfully and once again shaking his head no.

Turning his attention back to his homework, Rick wrote down the solutions to three more problems before an airplane landed on his lap.

He haphazardly opened the paper up to read the words,

Please. It'll be really fun. Please.

Before Rick had the chance to reply with a no, yet another airplane cascaded across his field of vision landing just beside his shoe. He leaned to pick it up and undid the neatly folded paper.

Pretty please with cookies on top?

Rick furrowed his brows and turned his body to face to girl, who was now at the foot of the bed, her chin was resting atop the box of cookies from before. Her big eyes and hopeful smile pleaded with him to reconsider.

He caved.

He let his head fall to his chest and pinched the bridge of his nose. He raised one hand and lifted his index finger.

"Once, we do this once."

Beth's entire face lit up as she squealed "Yay!" dashing off her bed she leaned down to give Rick a quick hug before running to get the supplies from her bathroom.

Rick begrudgingly made his way over to the side of her bed and sat down uncomfortably. But if he was being honest, he would do this a thousand times just to see the overjoyed expression that overtook her features at his compliance.

She returned holding a tube in one hand and a brush in another. Rick guessed to brush would be used to apply the mask.

"Okay, you ready?" she asked, popping open the cap and squeezing out a dollop of the mixture onto the brush.

"Why is it green?" Rick interrogated.

"Because it's matcha." Beth said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. At Rick's confused face she explained sweetly, "it's a type of green tea that's really popular to use in face masks."

He nodded cautiously as Beth stepped closer to him. She was directly in front of him as she softly touched the brush to his face. He hissed and pulled back quickly.

"Why is it cold?"

"It's not necessarily that it's cold. It's just that you're hot." Rick's eyebrows shot up. Beth didn't even realize what she had said until he made the gesture. "I didn't mean it like that! Not that you're not, it's just that- ugh, I meant body temperature. The average human body is between 97 and 99 degrees Fahrenheit and this," she held up the face mask tube, "is very much below that temperature." she rambled. "Besides, would you rather this be warm?"

Rick just stayed silent.

Beth gently brushed all around his face, sometimes imploring him to stop scrunching up his face. Rick hated to say it, but it was actually kind of relaxing. There weren't many times where someone tried to take care of him for a change.

"Alrighty, all done." the girl announced, removing the brush from his face and stepping back.

"How long do I have to keep this on for?"

"Until it's completely dry."

"And when is that?"

"Ummm..." Beth searched for an answer. " once it's hard to smile, you should be good to wash it off."

"I don't smile."

"I'm well aware, you can just wait till I take mine off."

She moved over to her mirror and began applying the mask to herself.

"I feel like an idiot." Rick complained.

"You are not, you look super cute!" Beth chided.

"I'm not sure if that's worse."

The boy watched her apply the mask all over her face, he couldn't control the expression of love and adoration that graced his face as he observed her.

He stayed like that for God knows how long until Beth turned to fully face him. He could say with the utmost confidence it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen in his life. Her face was green like his and a wide smile lit up her face.

There was no denying the smitten appearance he held as he gazed at Beth.

He was ripped from his trance when he heard the snap of Beth's phone camera. She smiled cheekily and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Beth." Rick began dangerously. "Don't do it Beth." already knowing she would share the photo.

"Just let me send it to Court and Yolanda." she pleaded.

"No, Beth."

Beth gripped her phone tightly behind her back as her eyes wandered to her open room door. Rick saw the plan forming in her mind and raced to beat her to the door. She ducked under his arm and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

Rick knocked on the door frantically, "Come on, Beth. What's the point?"

"The point is you look adorable and that is not something that should be hidden from the world. And by world I mean the team." she called from behind the door.

"Beth Chapel I will turn this hourglass over right now and take this door off it's hinges." he said in an attempt to sound threatening.

"We both know you won't," Beth stated matter of factly.

"Dammit." Rick grit his teeth knowing she was right.

He heard the door unlock behind him, Beth wore a wide grin. He groaned, knowing he was completely incapable of actually being mad at her.

"Was it at least a good picture?" he asked, defeated.

"You tell me," Beth instructed, handing over her phone to the boy before slipping past him and back to her room.

The screen showed a picture of Rick, covered in a green face mask. But that's not what really got him. Plastered on his face clear as day was a lovestruck expression that could rival that of Beth's favorite rom-coms.

He sighed, accepting his fate. There would for sure be hell to pay the next day. He was certain Courtney and Yolanda would never let him live it down. But at the moment he wasn't to bothered.

"Is it okay if I put on 'The Breakfast Club'?" He heard from the other room. He lowered the phone and walked back to the room, prepared to spend the rest of the night with the adorable being that was Beth Chapel.

The End ♡

Again I will reiterate, this is my first time posting a fanfic so I would really appreciate some positive feedback, or if there was something you saw that you didn't really like please leave it in the comments, politely please. I am but an emotionally fragile egg trying my best. If you want to see more hournite oneshots or headcanons let me know. Thanks

Sincerely, Tessa.

The Birthday Thing (Hournite)

Summary: It's Rick's birthday and Beth makes sure it's a great one.

Warnings: none

Category: Fluff

See notes at the end:)

Light flooded Rick's room. He groaned, angry at himself for forgetting to shut his blinds after coming back from patrol the night before. Pulling his blanket up over his head he hoped he could fall back into slumber, but had no such luck.

He rubbed his eyes, seeing his alarm was going to ring anyway and stood up from his bed, he went and grabbed his clothes before heading to shower.

He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and took not of the large purple circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep. With hair disheveled and greasey, he turned the water on to hot and washed away the traces of last night's patrol.

When he returned to his room, he grabbed his phone from it's place charging on his nightstand. He looked at the date and realized, it was his birthday.

His first birthday since he found out the truth about his parents. His first birthday since he joined the JSA. His first birthday since he and Beth had gotten close.

He didn't even have time to process when he saw a text from Beth reading,

'Happy Birthday, Rick!!!🎉🎉🎉'

He smiled, because of course Beth would remember his own birthday before he did. He could just imagine the bright smile on her face as she typed away at her keypad, probably with goggles hanging around her neck.

He peeked out the window to see if his uncle's truck was out in the yard. It wasn't. That was probably for the better, seeing as the best birthday present he could possibly imagine was crushing it under his fist like the first time.

He glanced at the clock and saw it was almost time for him to leave. Grabbing his backpack, Rick left his house and began his walk to school. It was slow walk, fog had settled over the road giving the path a spooky yet calming atmospher.

Rick had thought a lot about what today meant. He didn't feel any older, or smarter. He compared this birthday to his last birthday. Before, he felt alone on his birthdays. His uncle wasn't around long and it's not like he had friends.

Though, the year before, Beth had noticed something was off about him at lunch. When she asked him about it, he was surprised that she had spoke to him, let alone noticed he was in more of a mood than usual. But that was Beth after all, observant as hell.

He had almost snapped at her when she asked, knowing it was none of her business, but when he looked up at her face, the real concern drawn over it made him rethink it.

'I'm not really loving my birthday this year.' he explained as honestly as he could without spilling the whole truth.

'Oh, why didn't you say so earlier?' Beth exclaimed before digging a hand into her bag and pulling out a small plastic box full of brownies.

Rick's eyes widened.

'Do you just have sweets at the ready for all occasions?' He asked as monotone as possible.

She nodded her head brightly.

'Yeah, pretty much.' she stated and slid the container over the him.

He picked one cautiously and took a bite. He swore to himself he would never admit how good they were out loud.

'Thanks.' He nodded gratefully before the two fell back into silence once more.

Rick's thoughts came to a halt when he saw the tree. The one where his parents were murdered, the one he punched down when he first got his powers.

He crouched down, gently running his fingers over the bark. Tracing the hourglass figure he had carved wood.

"Some birthday," he muttered bitterly, as if they could hear him.

He stood and continued his walk, finally making it to school with only five minutes before the bell rang. As he entered the building he was immediately tackled in a hug.

He knew it was Beth right away, her arms snuggly wrapped around his torso as she buried her face in his chest. She let go after a moment and beamed up at him,

"Happy Birthday!"

"How are you so energetic," He asked before dropping his voice low. "We patrolled till what, three in the morning?"

"Oh, I didn't go to sleep last night. I'm certain it will come back to bite me in a few hours. Anyway, I have something for you." she grabbed something out of her bag and handed it to him. It was a container of brownies, much like the ones from the year prior.

"They're the same recipe as last year, and..." she grinned before taking out two cards from her folder.

One was store bought and had in bright letters,

'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'

"This one is from Court, Yolanda, and Pat." she gave it to him before extending out another card, stuck in a a closed envelope which read on the back,

Rick

In loopy letters.

"And this one's from me. Don't open it until after training though." she instructed.

He nodded happily before opening the box of brownies and taking a large bite. They were just as good as they were before. But this time they were still warm.

"Beth, did you stay up all night because you decided to make me brownies?"

"No. I stayed up all night because I had a ton of homework to do. And because I decided to make you brownies."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I am very aware. But I really wanted to, and either way, by the time I was done with my homework, I only had a couple hours until I had to wake up. It seemed like a good idea to me."

He smiled widely, he couldn't remember a time anyone had ever done so much for him.

"Thank you." he said.

"Anytime." she smiled playfully.

He opened his mouth to say more when her heard two voices behind his yell,

"Happy birthday."

Rick turned to see Courtney and Yolanda smiling.

"Thanks guys."

"I'm just really glad we made it in time. Traffic was crazy this morning." Courtney said.

"Did you guys drive here together?" Rick questioned.

"Umm-umm, we did," Yolanda stuttered out. "You know, carpool is good for the environment and all tha-"

"Is that your shirt from yesterday?" Beth asked innocently.

"Is that the bell?" Yolanda prompted. Then a loud beep confirmed her statement. "It is, see you guys at lunch, bye. Happy Birthday, Rick." she spoke loudly as she dragged Courtney with her. The blonde waved sweetly before turning back to Yolanda and rushing across the hall.

Beth giggled.

Rick thought it was the most amazing sound in the world.

"They're getting really bad at excuses. But the carpool thing might not be all that bad of an idea." the girl thought aloud. "Okay, well I'm going to head to class, see you at lunch."

"See you."

Beth squeezed his had once before pulling away and walking off to class. Rick stood frozen, absolutely certain he looked like a love struck idiot in the middle of the hallway, but he didn't care.

The day dragged by slower than usual and lunch came as a relief to Rick who had been dozing of in every class he had been to.

When he walked into the cafeteria, he realized he wasn't the only one that was exhausted. Courtney had her head on the table, hair covering her face. Yolanda was leaning on her, blinking rapidly in an attempt at staying awake. Even Beth, who had seemed quite energetic in the morning, had her chin in her hand, eyes closed.

"You too?" Rick asked the group.

"End my suffering." Yolanda muttered against Courtney's hair.

"We should really invest in 5 hour energy." Beth declared sleepily.

"Or cocaine." came a muffled reply from Courtney.

"Yeah, that too." Yolanda agreed yawning.

"Maybe we should just skip training today." Rick propositioned.

"No, we have to get used to the exhaustion. It's apart of superhero life." Beth pointed out.

"Shhh." Courtney said. "Secret identity remember?"

"Sorry," Beth mumbled as her face slipped lower and lower down her arm.

"But what about homework. How can we do that and spend all night out?" Yolanda questioned, now buried in Courtney's blonde locks.

"Chuck knows all." was Beth's only reply.

"Are we all just going to fall asleep at this table right now?" Rick questioned seriously.

"Mmhm." Yolanda hummed

Rick shrugged, pretty okay with that option. He rested his head against the cool table and let sleep overtake him.

And there they were. The new JSA sleeping in the noisy school cafeteria.

Fifty minutes wasn't enough to make up for their long night, but it was better than nothing. When the bell rang for lunch to end, the group awoke. They said their goodbyes and parted ways until they could go to training.

The school day couldn't end fast enough in Rick's opinion. As soon as the bell rang, he flung out of his seat and walked to the front were he was met by a much more energized group of girls.

"You guys look better." he teased.

"Yeah, we got an extra hour in history. There was a sub and a video." Yolanda informed gesturing between herself and Courtney.

"Same here. I just slept and asked Chuck to record the whole thing." Beth smiled.

"Good for you guys. Pat's picking us up right?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, we might even pick up some pizza for your birthday." Courtney confirmed.

"Thanks." Rick said, surprised they were still going on about his birthday.

They saw Pat roll around into the parking lot. The man waved at the four teens.

Rick leaned over to Beth and asked slowly,

"Do you think he realizes he unintentionally adopted us?"

Beth smiled up at him.

"Do you really still think it was unintentional?"

"Fair." Rick nodded.

They entered Pat's car. Courtney sitting upfront while the rest sat in the back. Rick was seated between Beth and Yolanda.

"Happy Birthday, kid." was the first thing Rick heard as he got in.

"Thanks, Pat."

"I already dropped Mike off at home so we have extra time for training today. Unless you all want to get pizza first?" Pat swiveled his head to the back.

"What kind of a question is that. We always want pizza." Courtney spoke for the group.

They all nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, pizza it is."

Beth rested her head against Rick. He relished in the comfort of her body against his and sighed in content.

Courtney heard this and moved her head to look at the two.

Rick caught her eye and narrowed his eyes in confusion. She wiggled her eyebrows as she eyed the two.

Rick's jaw clenched and he glanced down to Beth, who's eyes were closed. The sun that came through the car window cascaded across her face and gave her an angelic glow.

His features softened as he took in her appearance. He knew Courtney was right in her teasing gaze, but he still did not crack.

He tore his eyes away from Beth and back to Courtney. He pointed at her before turning his hand on himself and drawing a line against his throat in a threatening manner.

The blonde simply rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning her gaze back to look at the road.

Rick allowed himself to lean against Beth and relax his body. His hand fell and it landed right against Beth's. The boy froze, unsure of what her reaction would be. He was relieved and ecstatic when she intertwined their fingers together.

Her eyes were still closed and a small smile played on her features.

After they got pizza and pulled into the garage, the teens got out of the car one by one and stood outside the door to their training room.

Pat got his keys and unlocked the door. Rick was shocked by what he saw.

The room was decorated, there was a table of snacks and a cake in the center of the room. Above that was a large banner that read

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" in colorful letters.

"Wha-" Rick could barely spit out before everyone in the room yelled,

"Surprise!"

"What is all this?" he asked dumbfounded.

"It's your birthday party." Courtney stated like it should was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"You guys did all this for me," he asked softly as he looked around the room in awe.

"Well, most of it was Beth's idea. But Pat got all the snacks and the cake. The cosmic staff helped us decorate. " she explained.

"It was kinda hard not telling you all day. I'm surprised Beth didn't crack." Yolanda admitted.

"Honestly, the exhaustion made it slip my mind for almost three hours." Beth said and smiled sheepishly.

"This is," Rick searched for the right words. "the best thing anyone has done for me. I don't think there's anything better than this."

"I will take that as a challenge." Beth warned.

The boy smiled down at her.

"Okay you guys, have your fun. There's water and punch at the end of the table. But remember, we are having training tomorrow, so don't have too much fun." Pat chided.

"Okay, thanks Pat." Courtney said before pulling Yolanda to the snack table, leaving Rick and Beth alone.

"So, all of this," Rick gestured to the decorate room. "Was your idea?"

"Well, the concept of birthday parties aren't very new." Beth tried downplaying, but at the look on Rick's face she cracked. "Yeah. A lot of it was my idea. Though, Court did bring up the option of keeping it a surprise, pretend we forget your birthday or something, but I never was a fan of that. So we just settled on not telling you about the party."

"This is pretty awesome. You know, I honestly think this is the nicest thing someone's done for me since my parents...you know." Rick trailed off.

Beth grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before pulling the teen in for a hug. He gladly accepted and wrapped his arms tightly around the smaller girl's frame.

"Thank you," he mumbled against her hair.

"Anytime. Now come on, its pizza time." she grinned and pulled away from his warm embrace. He frowned at the loss of contact but followed her to the table anyway.

For the next hour the two talked, laughed, sometime in between Courtney and Yolanda joined the two with glittery party hats on their head.

Beth giggled and happily put one over her head. Then the three girls turned and looked at him expectantly.

"Nope. No thank you."

"Come on. It's your party and you're going to be the only one not wearing a hat." Courtney tried.

Rick shook his head.

Beth grabbed his hand with both of hers and gave him a pleading look.

"C'mon please." she begged.

They got him. Rick couldn't say no to her.

He hung his head low.

"Crown me." he said in defeat.

Beth grabbed a hat and put it on his head. Pulling the strings over his face and tucked them behind his ears.

He looked at her and took in the close proximity of their faces. Her hands remained on his cheeks for a bit longer than normal before she pulled away when Courtney coughed.

"Cake?" she proposed.

"Oooh, yes." Beth cheered. "Let's go sing 'Happy Birthday' and blow out candles."

The teens walked over to the center of the table where the cake was. Courtney gestured Pat over from where he was tightening a screw on his STRIPE robot. The man stood and made his way to the group.

Pat grabbed a box of matches and lit the candles stuck in the cake. The group sang Rick 'Happy Birthday'. Beth told the boy to make a wish.

Rick closed his eyes and focused on his wish. He blew out the candles.

The teens clapped and hollered out a string of 'whoops' and 'happy birthday's.

"What'd you wish for?" Courtney asked.

"You can't ask that. If he tells you, the wish won't come true." Beth warned.

Courtney raised her hands in surrender before grabbing a plastic knife off the table and slicing the cake. She served Rick first before grabbing slices for herself and Yolanda. The two girls walked off yet again leaving behind Beth and Rick.

"What do you think they do when they leave us alone?" Beth wondered aloud.

"Not sure. Talk maybe. Plot world domination?"

"I thought it was our job to stop that from happening?"

"Oh yeah. That's true." Rick chided playfully, earning a small giggle from Beth.

"Thanks for the party." He said as he took a bit of cake.

"You already said that." Beth smiled.

"And I'll say it again. Thank you, Beth Chapel for the best birthday ever," he thanked once more before grabbing both her hands with his own. "I have no idea what I'd do without you."

The girl simply rolled her eyes teasingly, not believing she was worth all the praise. But the look in Rick's eyes made her feel like the most important person in the world.

They talked for the rest of the party. Debated about classes, superhero names, and everything in between.

They had such a good time they didn't even realize it had gotten dark until Pat tapped them on the shoulders.

"Hey kids, it's getting dark. I should probably be taking you home."

Beth frowned knowing she'd have to stop talking to Rick but quickly replaced it with a polite smile.

"Alright Mr. Dugan, let's get everything cleaned up."

The man nodded and went to the table, beginning to clear out the empty bowls of chips and candy.

"I probably shouldn't take the cake home. My uncle probably won't be too happy about it." Rick stated

"We can leave it here in the mini fridge. Eat it after training tomorrow. Right Mr. Dugan?" Beth called.

"Sure thing."

"See, probably solved."

"Okay then," Rick said.

The four teens helped clean the table and soon the training room looked just as it had before the party took place.

They walked outside and to the sidewalk where Pat's car was parked.

Courtney and Yolanda got in while Beth stood with Rick.

"I think I'm just gonna walk," he told Pat.

"Okay, stay safe kiddo." Pat instructed. "Beth?"

"Gimme a minute, please." she said as she moved closer to Rick.

She turned to him and lowered her voice so the others didn't hear her.

"I had a lot of fun tonight." she smiled.

"Me too, all thanks to you."

"I'm really glad I met you." Beth confessed.

"I'm really glad I met you." Rick laughed. "What's with all the seriousness?"

"I just know it's not easy. Spending so many birthdays alone. But I just want you to know that as long as I'm around, you'll never have to spend your birthdays alone ever again."

Rick had no idea what to say to that. He wore a shocked expression before shaking it off and grabbing her face in his hands gently.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead before resting his own forehead against hers.

Rick could've stayed like that forever and he'd be the happiest guy alive, but Beth pulled away.

"I'm gonna go. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Happy birthday." she waved as she got into the car.

He waved back before turning around and walking all the way home with the widest grin on his face.

Once he got home, he was relieved to see his uncle passed out on the couch.

Rick made his way to his room and fell onto the bed. He tossed his backpack to the side of his room and rested on the bed.

His eyes snapped open when he remembered the card Beth gave him that morning. He scrambled off the bed and shuffled through his bag until he found the envelope with his name on it.

He carefully opened it and took out the card inside.

It looked to be handmade and the cover was decorated with hand drawn balloons outlined in glitter.

The cover had the words,

'Happy Birthday, Rick' on the front and right below in the bottom corner were Beth's initials.

He opened the card and read the words inside.

Dear Rick,

It's your birthday. Yay! I hope you've had an amazing day and I really hope I was one of the reasons for it.

I know the past years have been tough for you and birthdays might not be your favorite memories but I promise, as long as I live I will make sure that every day you will have good memories. Cause you deserve them.

If I could choose one person to spend the rest of my life making happy, it would be you. You are the greatest person and you absolutely deserve the world and I will make sure you get it.

If you listened to me and read this after training like I told you, I hope you liked the party. If not, you just ruined your own suprise.

Anyway, I hope you've had a very happy birthday. Best wishes and lots of love.

-Beth

Rick looked at the card, smiling ear to ear at Beth's sweet note. He would never get tired of her antics. He moved back to his bed card still in hand. The teen held it close to his chest.

The last thought on his mind before he slipped into his dreams,

"I'd do anything for Beth Chapel."