Dead Poets Society Imagines/Preferences

Four - He Asks You Out

Neil: Opening night of the play had finally arrived, and you'd never been more excited before in your life. You and Neil had grown close during your practices, him constantly goofing off around you to make you laugh. You'd never felt so strongly about anyone before, and you hoped he felt the same way about you. Everyone performed the play wonderfully, and as soon as you finished bowing and the cheering died down, backstage Neil came running up to you and pulled you into a huge, tight hug. "You did amazing!" He told you, his arms wrapped around the small of your back. "You did too, Puck!" You told him, happy you got to experience the performance with him. He pulled away from you, his eyes sparkling happily as the two of you stared at each other. You really thought he was leaning in for a kiss when your director had to interrupt by yelling his name. He pulled away from you quickly, the two of you embarrassed now. "Neil, your father..." She told him, and his face fell while his mood shifted dramatically. You knew just by that look that he didn't have a good relationship with his father. He didn't say anything else to you as he took off away from the stage, and your eyes followed him over to his father at the entrance to the auditorium. He talked to him sternly, his father never smiling once, and you were sure he'd be taking him home with him. However, to your surprise, you watched his father slap Neil on the shoulder before turning and leaving, Neil's body language conveying that he was completely thrown off by what had just happened. You watched his friends go running up to him, hugging him and smacking him on the back as they yelled. You wanted to go back up to him, but he had a large group of friends and seeing them intimidated you. Right before you turned away to go check in with your other friends from the play, you noticed Neil looking your way from across the theatre. He put his hand up to stop one of his friends from talking before racing back over to you. "Y/N!" He called out at you, grabbing your hand with his. "You have to come meet my friends! I've told them all about you!" Your heart began racing at that. Surely that meant you liked you, right? Still holding your hand, he led you up to the back of the theatre where his friends were huddled in a group. "Fellas," Neil started, glancing over at you. "This is the lovely Y/N I've been telling you about. And Y/N these are my friends, Charlie, Todd, Pitts, Meeks, Cameron, and Knox, and I'm assuming Chris next to him," a blonde girl holding onto Knox's arm blushed profusely as Neil continued, "and my English professor, o' Captain, my Captain, Mr. Keating." After the introductions, Mr. Keating gave Neil one more pat on his back before they all headed outside and left the two of you alone again. Neil took your other hand in his as you thought back to your almost kiss from earlier that was interrupted by his father. "Was everything okay earlier, with your father?" You asked him, and Neil beamed. "Yeah! Great, actually. He didn't want me doing this play, but I went against his wishes, and he told me he wasn't happy about it, but after my performance tonight he can see that it means a great deal to me. Though he told me never to pull another stunt like this again or he will be removing me from Welton and sending me to a military academy." "Oh no," Your mouth gaped. Neil shrugged, still beaming. "I don't care, though. He allowed me to go through with it, and that's all that matters. Baby steps, Y/N. Baby steps. And speaking of taking steps, how would you like to go on a date with me?" Your eyes widened happily at his question, and you nodded quickly, letting him engulf you in another warm hug before placing his arm around you and ushering you outside to catch up with his friends.

Todd: It was difficult to find time to get off your school's campus, even during the weekend because of the amount of homework and studying you had to do. It had been weeks since Welton's soccer game, and you feared you'd never see Todd's face again, or if you did, he wouldn't remember you. However, you were walking the corridors of your school to head back to your dorm after one of your clubs finished, when you glanced out the window and noticed two figures walking up towards the building. One was walking at a steady, confident pace, and the other was following at almost a jog, arms flailing like whoever it was was distressed. You realized in the pale light that it was two boys. Two boys who definitely did not belong here. You wondered if one of them was Gerard, though neither of them walked with the same strut he had, and neither of them seemed tall enough to be him. Curious, he walked out the nearest door to get a closer look. "Neil! Just let it go!" You heard the distressed boy yell at his friend. Neil Perry? You wondered, trying to get even closer as they approached the main doors to the school. "We're not supposed to be here anyway!" "Oh shush, Todd, we'll be careful. It's dark enough out, anyway. We've never been caught before when we sneak out." With a gasp, you realized it was your brother's friends from Welton. "What are you two doing?" You called, and both of them tensed up just before Neil reached for the door. "Wait a minute... this isn't our school." You heard Neil say, not recognizing you yet. You laughed at his poor attempt to get out of trouble, before stepping closer to him so that he could see who you were. "Oh thank goodness," Neil blew out a breath, relieved. "Actually, perfect!" He grabbed Todd's shoulders, bringing him forward. The shy boy was shaking, unable to look up. "Neil, can't we just go?" He asked his friend desperately, as a last resort. "This is ridiculous." "What is ridiculous?" You asked, looking between the two boys. Neil was looking at Todd like he'd magically gain the courage to speak up and tell you something, but Todd still stared at the ground. After another moment or two, Neil looked back at you. "Okay, here's the deal. Todd is too shy to admit this to you, but he's got a huge crush on you." "Neil!" Todd pulled at Neil's sleeve, more uncomfortable than before. Neil continued. "Now, you don't have to say anything, obviously, but I just felt that, as Todd's best friend, I had to help him get it out there. He's still learning how to seize the day, and that's okay." Neil gave his friend a quick smile, an attempt to help him feel better. It did no good, and the boy continued to shake, turning away now. "Wait!" You called after him, hoping you had enough courage to admit how you felt about him, too. "I feel the same way, Todd." He stopped dead in his tracks, finally able to turn around and look you in the eye. "You do?" You nodded at him. "I do. I just didn't know how to tell you because it's so hard to get to you. And I'm scared what my brother will think." "Yeah, me too." Todd admitted, to which Neil butted in again. "Pitts will get over it. He's gonna have to!" You all grinned at that, the tension easing now. "So," Neil started, egging on his friend by giving him a nudge. He whispered something else to him that you didn't catch. "Oh, uh... yeah. Y/N...." It took Todd a few seconds to compose himself, swallowing nervously as the sky darkened. "Do you want to, maybe, go on a date sometime?" He said it quietly, but you still heard him, and you were proud that he had found the courage to do so. "Yes, of course, Todd. I'd love to. But you're going to have to stop being so nervous and talk to me, okay?" He nodded, a shy half-grin on his face. "Yeah, okay."