Winner
Finn Wolfhard x Female!Reader
summary: you get the chance of a lifetime to work on the set of ST5 and you also catch the eye of finn!
hi lovliesss!! happy new year!! this fic was actually supposed to be A LOT longer but i decided to cut it short bc i haven't posted in a few weeks, so if it feels like it's incomplete...it kinda is. also i think i unintentionally wrote gn!reader but i don’t wanna tag it incorrectly, so if someone could lmk that’d be great :p. anyways the season finale has actually made me a shell of a person so yeah lol. hope everyone enjoys!
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You habitually picked at the skin on your thumb, an anxiety laden laugh escapes your mouth– opening college acceptance letters was a breeze in comparison to this. You were dumbfounded that you even made it this far.
The submission post wasn’t even meant to be taken seriously. You honestly only submitted one to appease your friends who kept pestering you. They knew of your love for the critically acclaimed television show ‘Stranger Things’, having grown up with the show, and they also recognized your talent for writing, it was your major after all.
The contest was all across social media with every advertisement reading, ‘Submit your Stranger Things ending and you could be selected to join us in the writers’ room!’
The prompt was simple enough and having been a fan for so long, you had your theories. So pen to paper it went. Many hours were spent drafting and writing your submission, when you should have been studying for finals and completing assignments.
After all was said and done, you submitted your final piece and moved on with your life. The repetitious cycle of school and work took your mind off the contest. It wasn’t until a few months went by, did the contest cross your mind again.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands of notifications flooded your phone; multiple text messages from friends and family, comments from strangers on your Instagram, and finally a congratulations email and social media post from the official Stranger Things account announcing you as a top three finalist.
The opportunity of a lifetime was within arms reach.
The anticipation continued to build during the week-long wait. And finally, the day came. You spent your entire morning shift at your campus’ local coffee shop looking at the clock on the register everytime you took a customer’s order, and you debated ditching your midday literature and film class to instead wait anxiously in your room for five hours, you decided against that.
Upon the return to your shared apartment, you were bombarded by your three roommates, all of whom were speaking over one another with questions and excitement lacing their voices. It was a struggle getting to your room with your friends trailing behind you as if they were baby ducklings. You managed to shut the bedroom door and lock it, effectively kicking your friends out of the room. You needed to be alone for the reveal, embarrassed at the fact that you may break down if you lost.
Retrieving you laptop from your backpack, you set it down on your desk and began to login. Each time your finger hit a key your heart thumped harder and harder against your chest as the adrenaline coursed throughout your bloodstream. A heavy sigh escaped your lips as you checked the time on the screen again. One final minute remained until your fate was revealed. An uneasiness festered in your chest as you took deep breaths in attempt to satiate your anxiety.
The moment the clock switched to 5 PM you smashed your finger against the refresh key. The webpage thought for a moment, taunting you, before your emails began to load one by one. An unopened email sat boldly at the top of the inbox with a subject line that read ‘Stranger Things Contest Winner Announcement!’
Clicking on the email you squeezed your eyes shut, fearing the worst. Upon opening the email you were met with:
We, the Duffer Brothers, would like to congratulate you on your skillfully impressive writing, and would like to thank you for showing us your passion for our show!
After careful contemplation with the help of our current writers and certain castmates, we have come to a decision. We would be honored to have you join our team and provide your ideas to complete the journey’s of our beloved characters from Hawkins, Indiana!
Please reply to this email to accept or deny this opportunity. If you do not reply within 24 hours, the opportunity will be given to the second place finalist.
We look forward to hearing from you, and once again, congratulations!
“Holy shit,” you whisper to yourself, “Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!” You yelled, increasing your volume. At your voice, your doorknob began to frantically jiggle before a click of the lock sounded off. Bursting the door wide open, your friends barrelled in with frantic looks on their faces.
“I won!” You shouted at them with a grin plastered onto your face.
Pure chaos shortly ensued, your friends cheered and screamed and a chorus of ‘congratulations’ rang out. The night continued in celebratory fashion with champagne and a cake that read ‘We always believed in you!’ as they hurriedly shoved an alternate cake with the words ‘They don’t know what they’re missing’ into the back of the fridge.
Before you knew it, you put your academic pursuits on hold for your dream job and hopped on a flight that was headed for Atlanta. With the perks of winning the contest, you were living like royalty; an all inclusive first class flight to Atlanta, free housing for the duration of filming, and a monetary prize. Being the typical broke college student, you were beyond grateful for everything being given to you.
You were given a week to settle in to your fully furnished apartment unit before you were scheduled to meet your new team. The week passed by quickly as you became adjusted, most days were filled with long phone calls home to friends and family about every detail and interaction you had in the new city.
The following Monday you were woken up by your phones blaring alarm. You typically weren’t a morning person but today you shot out of bed at the sound of the alarm, wanting to give yourself ample time to prepare for the big day.
With your bag packed with everything you could possibly need; notebooks, an assortment of colored pens and highlighters, and other personal belongings, you locked up and left for set.
Placing your headphones on your head, you set them to max volume and set off on the ten minute walk to work, taking in the sights and feel of Atlanta’s morning air. Your walk was uneventful, having spent majority of the time creating scenarios of what the day may entail, both good and bad.
As you approached the front gate, a girl, not much older than you, dressed in business attire rushed out of the building and towards you, “Hello! You must be our lucky winner!” The woman called out cheerily, motioning for the security guards to open up the gates.
The gates metal squeaked as they slowly opened up, allowing you entry. You peeled the headphones from your head and shoved them haphazardly into your backpack and stuck your hand out towards the woman, “That’s me! Pleasure to meet you…” You trailed off.
“Oh excuse me, I’m Lara, I’m a PA here on set. I’ll be the one giving you the tour and breakdown of the place,” she replied enthusiastically. “Why don’t you walk and talk with me! There’s lots to do and so many things that I’d love to show you!” You both make your way inside the building.
Lara hurriedly gives you a tour of the building, highlighting certain areas that you would become very familiar with such as the writers’ room and smaller sets that were built on the soundstages, “Typically, all of our writers, aside from a select few, spend majority of their time in that one room. However, you my dear are a lucky outlier. I had the chance to read your submission and–,” Lara lets out a laugh of disbelief, “You–you are just pure talent,” you blush and thank her.
“Well dear, I think that covers pretty much everything tour-wise. Any questions? Did I tell you where the bathrooms are?” You nod your head and let out a light laugh, “Okay perfect! That leads us to our next bullet on the agenda!” Lara crosses off her next agenda item on her clipboard and guides you down a hallway that you vaguely remember from the tour.
“Like I mentioned earlier, you are our lucky winner here which has it’s perks but it also has it’s duties tied along with it. And one of those is a special promo video with everyone,” Lara stops at an unmarked door and slowly opens it for you. You glance at her with a questioning look on your face, “What do you mean by everyone?” With the door ajar, you are met with the entirety of the Stranger Things cast.
“Holy shit!” You holler out, caught completely off guard. Horror spreads across your face as you register what you said and a hand flies up to your mouth, “I’m so sorry,” you manage to squeak out.
The room breaks our in a roar of laughter, “That was the most perfect reaction ever!” A familiar voice calls out. Your eyes scan the group of actors that you’ve grown to love from a screen.
“Come in, come in!” One of the Duffer Brothers calls out to you, motioning you to join the cast. Your steps are slow, afraid that once you reach everyone they’ll all disappear and you would wake up.
“We’re so glad you could join us! Everyone has been dying to meet you! Your manuscript has been passed throughout the entire cast and honestly, we all loved it,” you shake the Duffer Brothers’ hands, “Somebody pinch me,” you say airily.
“Fear not kiddo, this is real, and you are joining the Stranger Things family!” You beam at the brothers, “Now whattaya say we all head out for lunch and get to know our newest addition,” cheers echo throughout the room from the cast.
The cast and you are split up amongst multiple vans with you being sat in the same van as Millie, Sadie, Finn, Noah, Caleb, and Gaten. The actors clamber into the van finding their designated spots. You stand their awkwardly and feeling out of place until Millie pats the spot inbetween her and Caleb, “Come sit next to me!”
The entire car ride to the restaurant the actors were asking questions about yourself and including you in all their jokes and playful bickering. Your heart warmed to see the people you’ve known your entire childhood so friendly and accepting towards you.
The lunch went just as smoothly with the older cast taking their turn to get to know you and discuss your ideas for the show. After everyone’s appetites were satiated, Matt and Ross gathered everyone together for a group photo that would later be posted to social media. “Alrighty everybody let’s head back!” You shuffled alongside the cast back to the respective vans.
This time you were sandwiched between Finn and Caleb in the van. The ride back was less chaotic than the first go around as everyone was stuffed full of food and groggy. It gave you had a moment to digest all that happened in the past few hours.
You felt a tap on your left shoulder, “Hey, you doing okay?” Finn asked in a hushed voice. Your eyes met his concerned brown ones and you a small smile spread across your face as you breathed out softly, “I’m more than okay. Just taking it all in,” Finn smiled back at your words, “Good, I’m glad to hear,” you nodded and turned to back to face forward.
Finn’s voice started once more, “Hey–uh–d’you think I could get your number or something?” He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “You’re a really talented writer and I’ve got a couple projects on the backburner, and I–uh was hoping maybe I could get your input?” Finn’s face scrunched up as he asked his question. You beamed at him once more, your face heating up, “I’m honored that you even asked. Here, hand me your phone, I’ll put my number in.”
Sadie’s voice suddenly came out from the row of seats in front of yours, “Wait! Me too, me too! I want her number too!” A plethora of pleas and whines followed Sadie’s and you were handed multiple cellphones, inputting your information into each one.
You handed the final phone back to its owner and sat back in your seat, “Don’t forget about me, I asked first,” a slight pout sat on the shaggy-haired brunette, “Saved the best for last,” you whispered back as you nudged his shoulder. As you handed Finn his phone back he looked at you contact profile, “You forgot something,” you furrowed your brows as you looked at the profile, “I don’t see anything. What did I forget?”
You leaned slightly more into the boy analyzing the screen when the boy quickly switched to his camera app and snapped a photo of you, “Hey!” You said in surprise. Finn made the photo your contact icon and showed it off to you with a satisfied smile on his face, “There, now it’s perfect.” Giggles drew your attention away from Finn and once again to Sadie, Noah, Millie, and Gaten, a quizzical look sat on your face as you tried to figure out what the group was laughing about.
Before you could figure it out, the car came to a halt and the vans doors opened up, “Alright kids, out of the car!” Everyone scrambled out of the car and gathered around the Duffer Brothers as they made their announcement, “That’s going to be a wrap on today! Everybody go home and get some rest as tomorrow some of you will be starting in costumes, some of us will be in rehearsal, and some of us will be in the writers’ room,” the brothers wiggled their eyebrows at you, “It was a wonderful day today and once again thank you all for your hardwork. I can’t wait to see what we all do with this final season!” The group of actors clapped and hooted at the speech and one by one began to disperse.
You bid your goodbyes to the castmates and made your way to find Lara. The PA handed you your backpack and schedule for the next week and the two of you parted ways. From your bag you retrieved your headphones and placed them around your neck as you readied yourself for the walk back to your apartment.
You lie in bed later that night staring at the ceiling, reflecting on the events that are your life. A buzz from your phone pulls you out of your thoughts. Your hands search blindly for the phone lost in the sheets, your grip it once you find it, squinting your eyes in preparation for its blinding light.
[unknown]: Hey! It’s Finn
Your heart began to speed up. Despite meeting the cast today and them being incredibly welcoming, you still were starstruck that they would want to reach out to you outside of a work setting.
[finn]: Just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. You had a big day!
[you]: yeahh, still can’t believe it if i’m being honest
[finn]: Totally, big changes always take a bit of getting used to. I’m always around if you feel overwhelmed!
[you]: thanks finn! i really appreciate it! everyone was so kind to me today, i felt so welcomed!
[finn]: You made it hard not to like you :). Plus you fit right it!
[you]: oh stoppp, you’re too sweet <3
[finn]: By the way, I was completely serious about wanting your input. You’re like a total wiz with your storytelling.
[you]: i’m glad you think so! i gladly accept the offer, whenever you want my help just lmk and i’ll be there!
[finn]: You should get some rest, the real work begins tomorrow
[you]: thanks again finn, i really appreciate you checking in
[you]: goodnight finn, sleep well <3
[finn]: Of course, anytime
[finn]: Goodnight. See you tomorrow :)
You found yourself smiling throughout the entire text thread and rereading the messages after the conversation ended. The smile stayed on your face as you fell asleep.
The next few weeks were hectic as the work actually began. By the time you joined the team, they were about halfway finished with season five. The other writers eased into the process understanding that it was your first time in a setting like this. A handful of you ideas were chosen and adapted into the script and you were designated to write drafts for those scenes, which would later edited and pieced into the final script.
Episode six was currently in progress and yet it felt like everyone was at a standstill, “Okay, let’s take five. There’s no point in beating a dead horse,” said Matt, “Take a lap, use the bathroom, cartwheel down the hallway, whatever you need to do to get your creative juices flowing,” the writers shuffled out of the room, frustrated by the stint of writers block that they were all experiencing.
You walked to the lounge, certain that a pick-me-up coffee would shake you out of this funk. You got in line to order and scrolled on your phone while you waited when you felt a tap on your shoulder, “Hey stranger, long time no see,” you turned around to find a familiar brown-eyed boy.
“Hi Finn! How have you been?” you ask, enveloping the man in a hug. Finn freezes for a moment, caught off guard by your friendly nature. Despite only seeing each other in passing and the occasional text, you chat with him like he’s an old friend.
“I’ve been good, been busy but I’ve been good. How about you? I always see you around but you always seem like you’re on a mission so I try not to bother,” he replies. “You’d never be a bother to me,” you exclaim, waiving your hand at the ridiculous thought, “It’s been good though, really good. Some of my ideas are being written into the script and I think that’s all I could really ask for,” you beam.
Finn smiles back, you’re really cute with how passionate you are about this project, he thinks to himself, “Yeah? Any of those scenes mine?” He wiggles his eyebrows, a smug look on his face. You let out a hearty laugh, “There may be a few,” you reply with mischief in your tone.
The barista calls out next in line and takes your order, Finn cuts in after you and places an order as well, “It’s on me,” he says and uses his card to pay, “Thank you Finn, you didn’t have to,” Finn smiles softly at you, “No, but I wanted to.”
“Would you maybe want to sit with me? I mean if you’re not busy?” Finn asks, scratching his head, “We’re on a break right now, so I’ll have to get back soon, but I’d love to,” the two of you find a semi-secluded table and talk about what’s going on in your hectic schedules.
Ten minutes pass by in what feels like seconds and the two of you part ways. Before you can get too far Finn calls out your name and you turn of your heel to face his direction, “What’re you doing this weekend?” he asks. You shake your head, “Nothing. Why?” Finn pulls out his phone and after a couple of seconds you feel yours buzz in your back pocket, “That’s my address. I’ve got a script that needs some work…but–uh only if you want to and if you’re not busy.”
“I’ll be there,” you say back, “Great, yeah–awesome,” he replies and shoots finger guns at you, “Well–cool. Yeah, I’ll see you around then.” You smile and let out a breath of amusement, “Bye Finn,” Finn watches your figure get smaller and smaller as you retreat back to the writers’ room. He rubs his face and mutters to himself, “Nice going Finn, real smooth.”
The next few days leading up to your hangout had you extremely giddy, you tried not to get yourself too worked up and attempt to convince yourself that Finn only asked to meet up because he wanted another opinion on his work, but that didn’t stop you from calling your best friend back home and freaking out.
You arrived at Finn and Gaten’s shared apartment complex that Saturday.
[finn]: Awesome, I’ll come down to get you
You rocked bath and forth on your heels as you waited; the ding of the elevator catching your attention. As the doors opened, Finn stood there with his hands in his pocket. Stepping out of the elevator, he approached you and enveloped you in a hug, “Hey! I’m so glad you could make it,” you happily embraced him back.
You follow Finn back into the elevator, a slight awkwardness hung in the air as the elevator slowly ascended. Finn cleared his throat, “Thanks again for agreeing to this,” you brush off his thanks, “It’s nothing really. I’m really just flattered that you like my writing that much,” Finn scoffs, “Like your writing? I don’t just like your writing. Y’know the Duffer Brothers had a couple of castmates read the submissions and as soon as I read yours…I knew we found our winner. You seriously ruined any other submission that I read,” you looked at Finn in awe.
“And that’s exactly why I want your help with this stupid script,” Finn finished as the elevator door opened. He led you into the apartment, it wasn’t anything too fancy nor was it in the typical state you’d expect from two men in their early twenties.
“I think Gaten said he’d be back in an hour, so it might be a loud if you wanted to stay in the living room. Otherwise we could work in my bedroom, up to you,” you agreed to work in Finn’s room, claiming that you would concentrate better.
Finn’s room was an amalgamation of everything he liked, posters of the Beatles and other bands littered the walls, instruments and music equipment were strewn about, and he even had a small DVD collection on one of his shelves. You took in the room, smiling to yourself at how much of him could be found in his room.
“Please, make yourself comfortable,” you plopped yourself onto the bed and set your backpack down on the floor nearby as Finn riffled through his desk drawers for his script. He explained the premise as he handed the papers to you. You scanned through the pages and storyboard that he developed. Finn sat across from you at his desk chair, his leg nervously bouncing and habitually biting his fingernail, “I know, I know. It’s shitty isn’t it.”
You quickly shook your head and protested, “No! Not at all. It’s an interesting and unique concept. It’s just a bit…what’s the word…underdeveloped,” you patted the spot on the bed next to you, “Here, come sit,” Finn took the spot as you provided your ideas.
Finn listens to you talk and swears that he could listen to you for hours on end. Not only were you beautiful, you were so passionate and confident in your abilities and Finn thought that was so hot. After laying out your final thoughts you turn to look at Finn with expecting eyes, waiting to hear his feedback. He stares back dumbstruck, if there was a sliver of a chance that he didn’t like you before, he definitely did now, “I know I keep saying it, but you’re actually a genius. How do you even think to come up with this,” you felt your face heat at his words.
“It just kinda comes naturally,” you murmur. The two of you are leaned in close together, but neither of you seem to notice, or care. “Well it’s a good thing I found you,” Finn says softly. You don’t know how it’s physically possible but you move in closer. Finn’s eye glance at your lips and quickly shift back to your eyes.
The bedroom door suddenly slams open, “Finn! Finn!” You and Finn jump apart from each other, “Guess what I–,” Gaten stops mid-sentence and stares at the scene in front of him with wide eyes, “Fuck. Shit. Sorry!” He calls out as he shuts the door just as quickly as he opened it.
Finn leans his body back against his headboard, putting his hands on his face to cover his embarrassment, “I’m so sorry,” he sighs out. You stare at the man hiding behind large hands. You fidget with your thumb, taking a moment to decide your next move, and grab ahold of his wrist. You rub your thumb alongside the back of his hand, trying to soothe him, “Don’t worry about it, seriously,” he peeks at your face, still embarrassed about the situation.
You quickly lean in and peck his cheek, “See? All better,” you whisper, your face centimeters close to his. Finn doesn’t let another opportunity go to waste and catches your lips is a soft kiss, testing the waters. You don’t hesitate to kiss back and your lips move in sync. The kiss is tender and sweet, exactly what you want from a first kiss with him. You reluctantly pull away, breathless, Finn looked at you languidly, “What would you say if I were to hypothetically ask you on a date,” he breathed out. A giggle escapes your lips, “Hypothetically, I would say yes,” a small smirk appears on Finn’s lips, “Next weekend? I’ll come pick you up.”
“I’d like that,” you recapture his lips once more.
