(Please note that this imagine contains mentions of anxiety and panic attacks, so please be mindful when reading. Thank you)

Requested by ConsultMeOnlyOnBake4: Could I request the good ol classic. School bully (Will) getting stuck in a confined space with the school nerd

I sat in the English classroom, my pen quickly scribbling down the words that were slowly but surely making up the writing assignment that we had due as I listened to my music through my earphones. I knew that if I glanced up, I'd see a class full of idiot teenagers who couldn't give less of a shit about the assignment that we had just been given, but considering that none of my friends were in this class, I had opted for music instead of talking to some other student next to me who would only pretend to like me for the duration of our conversation, before undoubtedly reporting to their friends how weird and nerdy I was. Yeah. I would rather have music. Suddenly, my right earbud was removed from my ear.

"Oy, I was talking to yis." That fucking annoying Geordie accent followed the removal of my earbud and replaced the sound of my music in that ear. I rolled my eyes and looked at Will, the annoying little cunt grinning from ear to ear as he looked at me.

"What do you want this time?" I sighed, this being far from the first interaction that I'd had with the boy branded the "school bully". It had been an easy enough title for him to obtain, considering the fact that he was an eighteen-year-old, six-foot-one lad, which automatically made every single year below year thirteen absolutely petrified of him. In the past, I had never taken much notice of him, only slightly admiring him from afar for how attractive he was, and never letting my heart admit to my brain that I even had a crush on the boy. However, his good looks didn't come with a charming personality, as I found out when I'd been labelled the "school nerd" in year eleven. Ever since then, Will had taken every opportunity to mess with me, on occasion even skipping over the chance to terrorise some poor little year seven child in favour of fucking with me instead. The only thing that still got me through was the fact that in a mere six months, we'd be leaving sixth form, and I'd never have to see his attractive, yet still smug face ever again. And even I had to admit that that was slightly bitter-sweet. He bit his lip and nodded to the piece of paper in front of me. I looked down at it too before my eyes widened.

"No, Will. No, you're not having my fucking assignment." I scoffed and shook my head as I looked back at him.

"Why not? You're so much better than me at writing, and me mam will kill is if I get another D in this class." He whined.

"I guess that you'll be dead by Monday then, because I am not giving you my assignment." I spat. He rolled his eyes before extending his arm to make it look like he was stretching, the stretched out limb knocking all of my belongings and paper off of the desk in the process.

"Oh, god, Y/N, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that, let me get that for you!" Will exclaimed as he shot up and started to gather up my things. I rolled my eyes at the charade that he pulled every time, the one in which he'd knock all of my stuff off of the table "by accident", would then look like the nice student by picking it up, but would slip the work that he wanted into his pocket whilst doing so. And I was powerless to stop it.

"Aye, lass, I'm sorry, I swore my arm would have missed that stuff, but obviously not." He chuckled fakely as he stood back up and put all but my assignment back onto the desk. I looked up at him, my heart twanging in anger as he stared at me, a smirk on his lips as he subtly slipped my now folded-up assignment into his pocket.

"Go fuck yourself, Will." I spoke with a clenched jaw. His smirk widened as he leant down so that his hands were pressed against my desk.

"Nah, pet. I'd rather fuck you." He smirked before sitting down at his desk again. I rolled my eyes at the same comeback that he always used before putting my earbud back in and starting to quickly write again in a desperate attempt to recreate what I'd written as much as possible.

The bell rang, making a wave of relief wash over me as I could finally head to my next class. It was maths, so not one that I liked, but at least I didn't have Will in my class. I packed my stuff up and shoved it into my bag, not caring about the now messiness of the bag as I rushed out of class and hurried to my next lesson. Eventually, I got there, sighing in relief as I saw my friends sat in the front row. I joined them, giving them all quick smiles as I put my stuff down.

"Y/N, do me a favour, will you? Go drop these off to the science department office." The teacher spoke as she handed me a pile of mock exam papers. I sighed and subtly rolled my eyes, though did what I was asked as I took them and headed back out of the classroom. It had been five minutes since the bell had rung, meaning that the hallways were now basically empty. I headed to the lift and pressed the button, the doors quickly opening as I stepped in and pressed the button for the right floor.

"Hold it!" the doors were stopped from closing by a large hand. Soon a head appeared, making me groan as Will saw me. His lips curled into a smirk as he got into the lift and pressed the same button as I had.

"Fancy seeing you here, lass." He chuckled as we both stood looking at the now-closed doors as the lift started to move.

"Will, this is now already going to be the longest fucking lift trip of my life, I don't need your annoying noise of a voice in my ear too." I sighed, my eyes rolling again as that only made him smirk more as he looked down. Suddenly, the lift jolted to a stop, making me yelp slightly as Will and I fell against the walls at the impact. The light of the lift went out before being replaced by a duller light, which I could only assume was the emergency one. My eyes widened, as did Will's as we looked at each other.

"Why did the lift just stop?" I gulped as Will got up and walked to the doors.

"I don't know." He mumbled before putting his hands up and trying to pry the doors open.

"Shit, they won't budge." He sighed. My eyes widened as I joined him by the doors.

"No, they have to, they have to." I shook my head, my heart already starting to speed up.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?" a muffled voice sounded from the other side.

"Yeah! There is! It's William Lenney and Y/N Y/L/N from year thirteen! We're trapped!" Will shouted. I gulped again, my mouth suddenly feeling bone dry as my anxiety started to creep up through my slowly numbing body.

"Right, okay! The school had has a power-cut, but we're working as quickly as we can to get the power up, so we'll get you out as soon as possible! Just stay calm!" the voice responded.

"Aye, will do." Will nodded.

"Speak for yourself." I gulped, my hands starting to shake as my heartbeat steadily got faster, my chest tightening as I felt like all of the air had been sucked out of my lungs and my body started to go numb. Will looked at me, his eyes widening slightly as he saw my response.

"Just chill out, will ya? They won't be long." He scoffed.

"I can't chill out, Will, I-I have anxiety and s-severe claustrophobia, I-I think I'm having a panic attack." I choked, my legs suddenly turning to jelly as I collapsed into the corner of the lift. Will's eyes widened.

"Oh, shit." He mumbled under his breath before rushing to me.

"Get away from me, don't touch me." I choked as he put his hands on my shoulders, only for me to try and struggle out of his grip.

"Y/N, stop for one second-."

"Don't be nice now, Will, just get the fuck away from me!" I cried.

"Hey, hey, look at me." He demanded as he gently took my face into his hands and forced me to look at him. I gulped, my vision blurred by tears still being able to pick up the boy's attractive face.

"What's the first thing that you notice about someone?" he asked. I gulped again, not sure where he was going with this but my anxiety-ridden brain decided to humour him.

"T-their eyes." I choked.

"Okay, brill, look into my eyes." He nodded. My eyes widened slightly.

"Y-you want m-e to look into your e-eyes-."

"Yes, Y/N, I promise that I'm trying to help you, just do it." He reiterated. I gulped, my breathing still jagged and tears still leaving my eyes as I raised them to look directly into Will's stunning blue eyes. I was playing a dangerous game here.

"Okay, you're doing great, just look at my eyes. Focus on what my pupils are doing, look at how the light is reflecting off of which parts, whatever you feel drawn to, just focus on my eyes and don't stop." He instructed, his voice as calm as the hold that his hands still had on my cheeks. I gulped and brought myself to nod, making Will return it as I stared into his eyes.

"What are you focusing on, Y/N? Tell me, talk to me." He continued.

"How pretty the colour of them looks in this light." I admitted, though immediately mentally kicking myself as I'd just given Will more ammunition to use against me. But to my surprise, he smiled and chuckled in return, but not the malicious smile and chuckle that I was used to from him. No. This reaction was genuine.

"Thank you, Y/N, I appreciate that. For what it's worth, your eyes look really pretty too." He nodded, making me gulp and smile as my breathing started to slow down. Will's eyebrows raised slightly at the change in my breathing.

"How you feeling? Better?" he asked.

"I'm still shaky, but...yeah. Better." I nodded. He returned it and gently let go of my face, both of us sitting opposite each other on the lift floor. I looked at him.

"How did you know what to do? I've tried, like, twenty different techniques that supposedly make panic attacks stop before they're meant to, and that's the only one that's ever worked on me." I admitted. Will shrugged and looked at me.

"Me sister also has anxiety, and she has her fair share of panic attacks. So, whenever she's in the early stages of one, me mam or me dad, or me, if they're not around, we'll run that with her. Just tell her to focus on the part of the face that she always notices first. Calms her down a lot better and quicker than others have." He nodded. I returned it and looked at him.

"Thanks, Will, I appreciate you doing that for me too." I spoke. He gave me a small smile and nodded.

"It started off with little jokes and digs to people, ya know, nothing that could at all constitute as bullying." Will spoke as we remained sitting on the floor of the lift, my legs outstretched alongside his considerably longer ones. We had been here for a couple of hours now, and somehow it hadn't been filled with even one awkward silence. The pair of us had spent the entire two hours talking, and I was beginning to learn that Will was actually a really nice guy. Which didn't at all help my crush on him.

"But then, one of me mates made a comment that I wasn't harsh enough on some people, or that I was too much of a pussy to actually do more than joke. I saw that as a challenge, and so started to just be a cunt to people for no reason." He explained.

"Yeah, I know." I scoffed gently. Will looked at me and sighed.

"Aye. I really am sorry about everything that I've done to ya. I honestly don't have a good excuse as to why I've put you through hell for the last two years, so I completely get it if you choose to not forgive is." He nodded. I sighed and looked at him.

"I just don't get it, Will. I mean, they're not your friends if they think any less of you for not bullying people." I shrugged.

"Aye, I know. But I'm done after today. Probably won't gain back me reputation before we leave, but all I care about is setting me reputation straight with you." He admitted. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Why me?" I chuckled. He sighed and looked down, squeezing his eyes shut as his fingers pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I just...I've always liked yis. And not like a friend, I guess that you could call it a crush. I've always had a bit of a crush on ya, and I started picking on you to make you notice me, which was obviously a fucking stupid plan, but...it's the truth." He nodded as he looked back at me. My eyes widened slightly at his admittance, my heart speeding up again at the idea that Will liked me back.

"T-thank you for telling me, Will. I appreciate the honesty." I nodded, not quite ready yet to tell him that I felt the same, just in case this was some sick prank or something. He returned it and gave me a small smile before looking down at his jeans pocket. My eyebrows furrowed as he dug something out of it, but my heart swelled in happiness as he pulled out a folded piece of lined paper. He looked at me and handed it out.

"Here's your assignment back. I can't lie to ya, if this wouldn't have happened, I would have handed it in because I read it, and it's really good. You're really talented, Y/N." he complimented. I couldn't help but smile, making him return it as I leant forward and took the paper from him.

"Thank you, Will. Look at you, you're already changing your ways, you're complimenting me left, right and centre." I teased, making him laugh and nod.

"What can I say? When I make a promise, I stick to it." He spoke. I smiled and bit my lip as I looked at him, him returning the loving gaze. Suddenly, the lift jolted back into life, making me yelp quietly in surprise as it started to move up. Will and I looked at each other as we scrambled to our feet.

"Guess that they got the power back. Only took...two and a half hours." Will sighed as he looked at his phone.

"At least we weren't stuck in here all day." I chuckled.

"I can't lie, lass, I wouldn't have minded that." He admitted. I looked up at him to see him already giving me a gentle smile, making me return it as the lift opened. We quickly grabbed our stuff and left the lift before looking at each other.

"I, um, I guess I'll see ya around then." Will nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks for helping with my panic attack and thanks for spending that time with me. Not like you had a choice." I chuckled.

"I would have chosen it even if I did have a choice." He admitted, making my smile widen. We both nodded awkwardly, giving each other one last smile before starting to turn away in opposite directions. But something didn't feel right. I stopped in my tracks before looking over my shoulder at Will, who was walking away.

"Wait." I suddenly spoke, my eyes widening slightly as I surprised myself that I'd actually managed to speak. Will stopped and turned around to look at me.

"You alright, lass?" he asked. I gulped and started to walk back towards him, his eyebrows furrowed as he also walked back to in front of the lift.

"Do you have your phone handy? Because what you said in the lift, about having a crush on me, well...I feel the same way. I like you too." I admitted quietly, timidly looking up at him through my eyelashes. A smile immediately spread onto Will's face as he dug out his phone from his pocket and handed it to me. I bit my lip and entered my number before placing his phone back into the palm of his hand, the smile never once leaving his lips.

"Am I okay to text you later, like?" he asked.

"Aye, course." I nodded. He returned it, making my heart swell again as he quickly leant down and kissed my cheek before pulling away. We smiled at each other again before parting ways again, this time knowing that something more was definitely going to happen.

(Please note that I do not have anxiety and the way in which Will stops the reader's panic attack IS NOT an actual way as far as I'm aware, so if you actually have anxiety and panic attacks, please do not use that way of stopping them over ways that actually work for you. Thank you)