Band Imagine one-shots

The request was realistic with Andy and based off of Never Give In. I sorda stretched the "realistic" part by setting it in the way future. When it says (S/W), insert a swear word.

This was never meant to happen. I was never meant to be sent to a camp to train how to be a soldier. The entire alien apocalypse wasn't supposed to occur for another 20-30 years, or so the scientists said not that long ago. But it did happen, and here I was at a teen warrior camp, learning about the strengths and weaknesses of the new enemy we would soon face on an intergalactic battlefield.
"Any questions?" The teacher asked once he had finished the lecture. I lifted my head off of the desk and raised my hand. "Yes, (Y/N)."
"Why are we here, again?" He sighed.
"You all know this, and it will be my last time reminding you, so listen up. You are here because Earth needs all the fighters it can get in this war. We are teaching you how to survive, training you to become soldiers so that we can defeat the invading enemy and save this planet. The fact that you're teenagers does not change anything. You are able to participate, therefore, you will participate. There is no debate or choice allowed, and none of this is optional. If it was, I can fairly assume that this room would be nearly empty, if not completely vacant. That is why you are here." My life in a nutshell. Because I had to do it. Even before all of this, I didn't fight back against anything, my motto was "suck it up and deal", and this motto involved doing what had to be done. Normally, it was good for forcing myself to do necessary tasks like homework, but I would choose homework over this any day. If I "sucked up and dealed" with my current situation, I would die, no doubt about it. Resisting my chosen fate was pointless, yet for once, I refused to back down. Unfortunately, this was the one time where rebelling could end up killing me.

To make things worse, I was new here, and failing. The training scoreboard taunted me with my glaring result. According to it, I needed to take physical combat AGAIN, and for the third time as well. Might as well face and accept my impending doom now.
"Yikes," a deep voice said from behind me, and I spun around to face it. "If you want, I can help you improve that," the boy said, motioning to my terrible score.
"First of all, who are you? Second of all, why do you care?" I asked him more harshly than I meant to.
"Whoa, hey, back off. My name's Andy, I'm 18, the youngest person to work here because I aced all my classes. I care because we need to win this war, and every single individual makes a difference. Besides, I assume that you would like to live through this," he told me, extending his hand. I shook it, regretting my hostile attitude and now appreciating this offer.
"(Y/N)," I introduced myself. "Sorry I snapped at you, by the way. I'm having a pretty bad day, as you can see," I laughed nervously, and he smiled. I found it difficult to tear my eyes away from him. He had short brown hair, and ocean deep eyes that were almost hypnotic in their beauty.
"No problem. So for the training, I was thinking that you could do it in your sleep, because we don't have any other free time." This caught my attention away from his perfect face.
"Wait, what? In my sleep?" I exclaimed. He nodded.
"Yup. If you hook up a certain cable to your head, I'll be able to see and control your dreams on a computer screen. I can stimulate the scene of a war zone that you must fight to survive in. We could start tonight, if you like," he suggested casually and naturally.
"Uhh, sure," I stuttered, not really knowing what I just agreed to.
"Ok, great! I'll find you at lunch today and give you the cable then. I have to go. Goodbye for now, (Y/N)" he said, walking away as if nothing strange had occurred. My jaw fell open. What the (S/W) was going on? What did I say I would do? I was still in shock over how attractive he was; let alone what he was saying. I guess I would find out tonight.

That night, I did as he told me to do with the cord earlier and fell asleep easily. Yet there was no peace within my head tonight. He controlled my dream, so here I stood, alone in the dark alley with rain pouring down. I had a flashlight, but the only constant thing about its beam was the fact that it continued to flicker on and off. All of a sudden, a figure sprang at me from behind, and I whipped out my ray gun, firing at the unknown enemy instinctively. Somehow, I hit the alien in the right spot and it collapsed, but the attack had only just begun. More dashed through the shadows, threatening to kill. Naturally, this caused me to blank out on everything I had ever learned about them and I shot the darkness aimlessly until they disappeared and Andy was by my side, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, but-“
“I’ll never survive? I’m too talentless to waste your time?” I interrupted with the words I predicted he was about to say.
“No, actually. May I start again?” I nodded, surprised. “I’m sorry, but you remind me of myself when I first began.” Ok, now I was surprised.
“Wait, what? How could I remind you of yourself? You’re so good at this, you’re the youngest person to ever work here, the youngest who ever will. You’re the top in your class, the teacher of it, in fact,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t always. In the beginning, I was just as terrible as you are, and people told me that it was useless to keep going. I would not back down, no matter what they said. Giving in was the last thing I ever wanted to do, even if I was convinced that I would die, it wouldn’t be without a fight. I gave all that I could, pushed away the painful negativity, and look where I am now. As long as you never give in, I promise that you’ll improve,” he told me. I was stunned.
“Wow. Thanks,” I managed to say. “That is honestly the most useful advice and kindest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“You’re welcome. You still need your sleep, though. We can do this again until you pass,” he said, and the dream faded away all around me before either of us could say goodbye.

And so I fought the same aliens in my sleep every night, and despite his praise that I was much better, I doubted my skills. I hid that uncertainty from him, though. Finally, one night, I mastered it. Thankfully as well, because it was only a day before the war would take place.
“Yes!” I cried, leaping up into the air with joy and pride that I was uninjured enough to do so. Andy appeared next to me, grinning. He hugged me.
“Didn’t I say that you could do it? And see, you never gave in and believed in yourself the entire way through. Strength and perseverance leads to victory.” I then decided to tell him how unsure I was about my survival chances, and he shook his head. “No. You’re going to live and we’re going to win. You’re good enough to, and I will make sure that it happens,” he declared. I laughed for a moment, but then dropped it and became serious, preparing for something I had wanted to do for a while now.
“Thank you, Andy,” I said, and I kissed him. To my surprised delight, he kissed me back, and I experienced joy for the first time since coming here.
“We both need our sleep for the big day tomorrow. I’ll see you after the battle,” he promised before vanishing. I missed him as soon as his hand left mine.

I woke up in the hospital, and sat up with a groan.
“What happened?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes, one of which had a patch over it.
“You fought amazingly and kicked major alien butt until one clawed your eye and the poison made you pass out. I brought you to the hospital ship just in time,” Andy responded.
“Wait, what?” I gasped, feeling the patch. He laughed.
“Sorry, but it’s cute how you always say that when you’re surprised.” I glared at him with my one good eye.
“Yeah, but this is serious. I can feel that the patch is duct taped down, otherwise I would ask you how it looked, but did the nurse at least tell you if there’s just an empty socket? Am I going to get a glass eye?” Andy shifted around uncomfortably, as if he didn’t know how to tell me the news or if he should wait till later. “Tell me.” He sighed.
“The venom melted your eye and most of the skin around it. There’s going to be a permanent scar, and no replacement eye because it already healed over the socket. You’re stuck wearing the patch. I’m sorry, (Y/N).” I took a deep breath. This was a lot of beyond terrible news to absorb. A tear leaked out of my good eye, and he came over to the side of the bed to hold my hand.
“(Y/N), I-“
“Shut up and kiss me.” He smiled softly and did as he was told.

Notes