Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gilbert Blythe could describe himself in many ways. He believed himself to be a man of great ambition, charm, strength, and intelligence.

(Cole Mackenzie called him a conceited asshole for that.)

In fact, if you asked Cole at that moment to describe his best friend, the only word he would use would be frustrating, especially as he tried to convince him to do something he so vehemently refused.

Cole paced around their dorm room as he tried for the third time that week to convince his friend to come to a Halloween party with him. "Come on Gilbert! You're always complaining that we never do anything, and now we're invited to Phillipa Gordon’s Halloween party and you don't wanna go?. It'll be fun, and you need to get out more." Cole sighed as Gilbert shook his head, looking again to his anatomy textbook and the amount of work he had left to complete before his next class. "The work will still be there when we get back. If you sit on your ass your entire college career it's going to be over before you know it!"

Gilbert knew Cole was right, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily. The man knew that if he gave into his friend so quickly, the other would never let him live it down. More importantly, perhaps, was the fact that the major he had chosen was probably the most difficult in the school. He knew Cole would probably call him overdramatic for that statement, but sometimes it felt like it truly was the case. He needed to do his homework, and he couldn’t trust himself to do it later.

"I know that Mackenzie, but the work isn't going to do itself here. Plus I actually like this stuff!" Gilbert had wanted to be a doctor as long as he could remember. He was on track for that dream to become a reality, and kindergarten Gilbert would be incredibly proud of his 20 year old self. "Doctors can't slack off and go to parties whenever they want."

Cole groaned, flopping onto his bed and glaring at his roommate. As much as he loved Gilbert, the boy was so boring sometimes. It had been a little bit less than a year since he had gone to a party, and many of Cole's other friends assumed his best friend was either made up or a hermit. He was tired of explaining to people that he was just very, very, very, studious. Most people probably assumed he was insane. Cole was going to get Gilbert Blythe to go to that party if it was the last thing he did. 

"It's one assignment, Blythe! And knowing you, you'll get it done even if you do go.” Cole continue even as he watched Gilbert fully deny that statement. “Which you are going to do because you love me and didn't get me a birthday present in 6th grade." Cole smirked jokingly and crossed his arms at Gilbert.

"It was one time! And I apologized!"

"Still!"

"You are frustrating, Cole Mackenzie." 

Cole laughed at his friend. He knew Gilbert well enough to realize that he was warming up to the idea. 

"Really though Gil, I just want you to have fun at least one time in your life. You're always either studying or reading or in class or sleeping. Who can you use your so called 'charm' on if you don't talk to any women? This will be fun, trust me. You'll meet new people and dance and forget about your anatomy assignment by the time you walk in the door. I already got you a costume.." Cole reached over to his bag and pulled out a pirate costume he had found in the lost and found and washed, as per the ways of a college student. "All you need is an eyepatch and a parrot!"

Gilbert smiled sincerely at Cole, silently thanking him for thinking of his mental health. He knew he definitely didn't think about it as he worked, or rather struggled, through pre-med. He knew he needed a break but was so stubborn he would never admit to Cole that he'd wanted to go since the beginning. Life worked in mysterious ways, so maybe this party was something he should do. The universe knew he needed this.

"I won't have fun worrying about my assignment the entire time, but fine. I'll go." Gilbert grinned at his roommate as the other boy jumped around the room, finally getting to bring his best friend to a party. "Say Cole, do you not have homework right now too?"

"I'm an art major, Gilbert."

"Right."

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert's freshman year of college was already much better than she ever could've imagined. She sat at her bedroom window in her dorm room, staring out the window as she considered her life at that very moment.

She’d been worried when the year started that she’d be an outcast, just as she’d felt for most of her life before Matthew and Marilla had adopted her. Making friends was, admittedly, not exactly her forte. She cringed, remembering how the girls back in middle school had reacted to her poor social skills and her apparent inability to say the right thing. 

Though it’d been almost 6 years since then, it was always terrifying for Anne to acknowledge that life involves the inclusion of new people almost every day. Anne would’ve loved to bring her little Avonlea to college with her, for the least amount of change possible, but of course this wasn’t possible.

Change was always the scariest thing for Anne.

Anne was happy, even with her homesickness. She had her darling Diana as her roommate, after all, and the university was large. There was many new people to meet and perhaps she could meet another kindred spirit. Though it was frightening to Anne, she wasn’t one to deny admission that new people can make life more beautiful.

“Anne!” Diana ran into the room, clutching a small piece of paper. She looked quite out of breath, as if she’d been running. “We’ve been invited to a party.”

Anne’s eyes widened as she grabbed the note from Diana’s hand. Phillipa Gordon’s Halloween party, which seemed to be directed towards the younger students. This gave her a bit of peace of mind as most people would be about her age.

Her first college party! The idea of it all gave her a thrill. Her thoughts from before of not being able to make friends vanished from her mind as she imagined the new faces she would see, the music, and all the costumes.

“Good thing I’ve already finished my assignments for this week!” Anne giggled as she rifled through her closet and considered what she could wear. Marilla, being an older woman, had always been more practical and Anne’s wardrobe considerably showed it. Basic colors could be cute at times, but Anne was disappointed to realize she didn’t have a clue how to create a costume out of what she had. 

“Of course you have Anne. Didn’t you have, like, three essays? How on earth did you finish them so quickly! Ah, the tricks of an English major.” Diana shook her head at her bosom friend, and opened her closet for Anne to see the costumes she had chosen for them. She heard a small gasp as Anne looked through what her friend had gotten and a meek ‘thank you Diana!’

The party was on Saturday, but Anne and Diana had their what they needed ready by Wednesday. Everything felt so unreal, so different. Diana knew Anne needed this party, she needed to find something, someone, anything. She just hoped with all her heart, for the sake of her Anne, that one tall, curly haired boy would not be there. 

The first thing Gilbert considered about this party was that it was loud. Because he hadn’t been to one of these things in a while, it was definitely not something he was used to. He stood outside the huge house and covered his ears slightly, trying to adjust to the great volume change.

He waved at Cole to go on ahead without him, and sat on a bench near a beautiful tree in the park in front of the house. He didn’t know why the music had affected him so much, but he knew it was just something he had to get used to. He really wished he’d brought ear plugs, though.

Gilbert decided a bottle of water before he entered was a good idea as well, knowing he’d probably offered drinks left and right when he got inside. Sitting on his little bench near his big tree, he chugged the water as quickly as he could and sighed. He truly was glad Cole had practically forced him to come to this party. 

Observing people had always been one of Gilbert’s favorite pastimes. He’d been called creepy a few times before, but people’s differences and similarities had always taught him something about them. He watched as college students dressed as witches, sailors, superheroes, and other characters walked into Phillipa Gordon’s house. He tugged on the collar of his pirate costume, having added a hook to it for his own personal touch. Somehow, he felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be but also out of place. 

The man shrugged, and decided it was time to go in. Checking his watch, he realized he’d been sitting outside for almost twenty minutes, and he’d left Cole all by himself. That could only mean trouble.

As he began his trip back across the street to the party, he continued to observe the other students. There was an awesome C-3PO costume, his matching R2-D2, a doctor and a nurse, Diana Barry, Spider-Man and Iron Man, Harry Potter and-

Gilbert stopped in his tracks as he realized what he was seeing. 

Of course, he knew Anne and Diana went to this university. Avonlea was a small town, and everyone knew pretty much everything about everyone. But he hadn’t spoken to the two since his senior year of high school, nearly two years . It felt as if it had been forever. Gilbert wondered if Cole knew the two had also been invited, but considered that almost the entire freshman and sophomore classes had been. Just his luck, of course. He wondered if Anne was at this party at all. 

This was about to get interesting.

Chapter Text

nearly two years earlier….

If you were to ask Gilbert Blythe who his best friend in the entire world was, it would not even take him 5 seconds to answer.

Why, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, of course. Everyone knew that. 

It was difficult for most to understand what they were, at least according to Gilbert. In his eyes, he saw Anne as someone he could trust with his life. As Anne would say, a ‘kindred spirit’. The amount of times he’d heard someone say he and Anne were dating or should date or even that they were made for each other was innumerable. 

He didn’t get it. Anne was his best friend! Not anything more than that. It was frustrating that their friends and even people they didn’t know that well would hound them with pleas to just ‘get together already’.

Gilbert didn’t see Anne as his girlfriend . 

Anne was just a friend, nothing more.

It was really embarrassing for the both of them when people called them out as ‘adorable’ or ‘the cutest couple in school’. It took a long time for Anne to be comfortable with him at all, and he just did not want to jeopardize the friendship he had created with her.

“Hey, Anne!” He called as the girl parked her car across the street from the park. The two had planned a picnic that day because Queen's University admissions decisions would be coming out. Gilbert wanted Anne to be there with him when he opened his email. 

“Gilbert!” She smiled brightly as she ran towards him. Her floppy hat fell off her head and she stopped and sighed. He got up to his feet to grab it for her, but she put her hand up and looked at him oddly before picking it up herself.

“Sorry, sorry.” She sat down with a plop and crossed her legs.

“Hi.” They said simultaneously, locking eyes and laughing together. Gilbert had just started to put out the food for their meal together, and she motioned for him to move the basket in between them so she could help.

Pushing her hair behind her ears, she pulled the food out of the basket. “So, did you bring your laptop? Today’s a big day! I am so excited for you, though my senior year will be crazy boring without you, you know? Once we’re done setting up here, we should check, oh! No! I know, let’s check once we’ve eaten some appetizers. Oh, I-”

“Anne!” He chuckled at his friend, “Please slow down. Yes, I have my laptop right here, see.” He patted his backpack lightly. “You know decisions don’t come out until 5, that’s why we’re here now.” 

He brought his hands down upon her flailing ones and they sat, Anne quieting down. For a second, it seemed there was the world and there was them, just Gilbert and Anne, and nothing could break the bubble that had been created through the joining of their eyes. Were they always that blue? As if some invisible force was pushing him towards her, he felt himself moving closer. He didn’t know if it was the reflection of the sky in her eyes, or if that was just how they always looked, but he wanted to know more. 

But then came the quack of a duck, and their eye contact broke. She shook her head and turned away, and Gilbert felt a strange clench that he decided he would ignore.

As everything was set up, Gilbert also pulled his computer out of his laptop and logged in quietly. He realized that he didn’t really like the quiet. Tightening his fists, he sighed. It was actually more like he didn’t like when Anne was quiet. It felt wrong.

Setting his computer down in front of him, he crossed his own legs to match Anne’s. She had just finished setting everything up for them. He smiled to himself, and quickly grabbed her waist, pulling her towards him. Her shriek broke the tension that had materialized between them, and he rested his chin on her shoulder as she sat on his lap.

She turned her jaw to face him, and this time, the quiet was tamer.

“I’m going to miss you most, you know? I know Bash will be alright wherever I go, but I worry about you.”

“Gilbert Blythe, worrying about little orphan Anne Shirley. Now that is something I did not expect.” She turned her body so she could rest her cheek on his shoulder, pushing his chin off of her. “You don’t need to worry about me, you do know that? I have my darling Diana to take care of me while you’re gone. It’ll only be a year before we see each other again, won’t it?”

“Nearly two. You know I’ll be away this summer, and it’s unlikely I’ll be able to return for the next.”

“Oh. That’s a lot longer than I thought, actually.” Her smile dropped slightly and she curled into his body. He noticed she fit into his side quite well.

“We’ll get through it, you know. Plus, I’m taking Cole to distract me, the idiot.”

“Hey!” She slapped him lightly the first place she could hit, his chest. “Cole’s my friend too, you know.”

“Doesn’t make him any less of an idiot.” He grinned.

“I take offense to that.” She pushed his nose away from her and rolled off of him. “We should eat, there’s only about a half hour until decisions come out. We know you got in though, so this is really just a celebration of that, isn’t it?”

He nodded, biting down on a cheese cracker. Queen’s University was a great school, but it was close by and most of the Avonlea High kids went there anyway. As an orphan himself, it was Gilbert’s best option in terms of price, even with Bash contributing the little bit he could.

Their conversation was light as they ate, with subjects like the weather, some gossip from school. It wasn’t until Gilbert heard Anne gasp that he looked up from his plate. 

She reached out, shaking his arm. 

“Gil! Decisions should be out, it’s 5:05!! Login, login!” She grinned excitedly at him and he couldn’t help but match her. Cole had already gotten in early, but Gilbert’s decision had taken a little bit longer, so this really was the moment.

He typed in his password, though it took a few tries because he was shaking with Anne moving him around, and opened his decision. 

The huge CONGRATULATIONS on the screen really gave it away if he were honest.

Anne shrieked beside him and pulled him off his feet. 

“You got in, you got in! Of course you did, you’re the smartest person I know! Gilbert!” She was probably more excited than he was, jumping up and down and pulling him around with her. 

It was a weight off his shoulders. Logically, he knew he would be accepted, being the top of his class and all, but knowing for sure was incredible. He stopped Anne’s jumping by placing his hands on her shoulders, and time stopped.

Okay, no it technically did not, but the feeling was there. In that moment, Anne became everything he could see, and it was so electric that he just could not look away. He wanted to snap himself out of it, because Anne was his friend , and only his friend. 

She apparently did not get that memo, because a second later, her lips were on his and she was everywhere. His brain turned to mush as he attempted to wrap his head around what was going on in that moment, but in his shock he pulled away and in the weeks afterward, there was nothing in his brain but the look of hurt that Anne had given him once they were apart.

“I’m so sorry-”

“Anne, I-”

“Of course, I mean-”

That ugly silence returned, and before Gilbert could get another word out, Anne was gone. Her figure got smaller and smaller as she left him behind, and everything came into focus.

He should’ve called after her.

He never did. 

In the weeks left that they had together, he never fixed what he had done. He tried his hardest, but she would always push him away. Eventually the messages went from read to not delivered.

He decided he would give her her space, as much as it hurt, as much as he wanted to talk about it, she didn’t, and that was her decision. 

Two years feels like a lot less time when she’s right in front of you, though.