SOOO... I wanted to do something fluffy and emotional and cute and DIFFERENT all at once. And this was born. This was inspired mostly by a post on 6 billion secrets. If you're on that site I'm sure you've seen it! I'll find a link and post it on my profile eventually.

The family situations are different in this fic. Toby lives with just his mom, who is obvi still alive. Emily and Spencer are cousins and they live together. Spencer's dad died for reasons... and Emily's dad died in a war or something. IDK, his death isn't really important. So the sisters decided it'd be easier to live together. No Aria, as per usual. Because I hate her. And Hanna and Caleb will be in here, but their situations are basically the same.

The updates for this will come slower until one of my other stories are done. But I wanted to give you guys a taste of what's to come!

Chapter 1

TPOV

His face was set in a frustrated grimace. This wasn't exactly his ideal way to begin his last semester of high school, but he was the only one that he trusted to take care of it. His insignificant, bullying classmates could say whatever they wanted to about him, but when they messed with Spencer it was going too far.

And it wasn't like she even told him about it, because she wouldn't think that it was a big deal. He had to hear it from Hanna. She played off cynicism pretty well, but he knew well enough that inside she saw the best in people. She would have seen it as an accident, but he sure as shit didn't. And he would make sure that it didn't happen again.

He tore through the halls until he found the person he was looking for. "Kingston. Hold on."

Wren Kingston turned from his friends with a knowing smirk, like he knew exactly what Toby was upset about. "Yeah, mate? What can I do for you?"

He shoved the shorter boy into lockers, not enough to hurt him but hard enough to prove that he was serious. "You're going to leave Spencer alone."

"What did I do? I just complemented her. I'm sure she doesn't hear-"

He shoved him again, this time a little bit harder. "It was't so much the words as your hands on her, Wren."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not like she knew it was me for sure. She's kind of stupid, right?"

Before he even realized what was happening he punched him hard in the face. He was the opposite of violent, but the petite brunette that was sure to be waiting for him by his truck was more than enough of a reason for him to throw out his moral compass. He took off down the hall, leaving Wren behind. Because it wasn't as though he groped her in the middle of the school, but even touching her was too much. She couldn't see him. An unfamiliar hand was enough to send anyone into a panic, especially when you couldn't see who it belonged to.

He exited the school and couldn't stop his smile at the sight of her leaning against his truck. She might- she might never feel for him what he felt for her, but that was alright. Because Spencer Hastings was the kind of person that you just wanted in your life, no matter what the capacity may be. He made sure to make plenty of noise as he neared her, figuring that she had had more than enough scares for the day.

"Hey," he said softly, reaching out and lacing his fingers with hers. "You all good?"

"All good," she replied, her shoulders relaxing at his touch. She allowed him to help her into the truck, which she didn't usually do. Spencer was about every good thing in the world, but she was also stubborn to a fault. So he immediately knew that something was wrong. And he doubt that it was the Wren thing, because she would have just brushed that off. This was something different.

Once they were both in and he was guiding the truck out of the congested parking lot he voiced his concerns. "What's wrong?"

She shot him an annoyed smirk. "Too observant for your own good. I'm just stressed about school."

"UPenn again? Spence, you're going to be valedictorian. They'd be stupid not to let you in." He couldn't stop the pride from slipping into his voice. He was as proud of her accomplishments as he was his own, maybe even more so. She had been forced to overcome so many obstacles, but she never gave up.

"They'd be stupid to let me in," she countered. "I take a lot more work than the average college student," she gestured angrily up to her eyes.

He pulled up to the curve at her house and took one of her hands. He just held it until she looked calmer. "Are you ready to listen?" He murmured, not continuing until she nodded. "You're not anymore work, Spencer. All you need is for them to tell you what they've written on the board, which they should be doing anyway. You're so smart, and you'll be an asset to any classroom, not a burden. I wish you'd see yourself clearly."

"You're such a nerd," she muttered. But she finally had a smile on her face, so that was enough for him. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

He snorted. "As if I could ever forget that."

He was excited. He zipped around the playground like an airplane, looking for his friends. First grade was going to be the best ever, he was sure of it. He saw Emily by the doors with a bunch of people. He grinned and ran over to them.

But when he got closer he didn't like what he was hearing at all. "Are you stupid? It's not sunny out, take your sunglasses off!"

"My mommy said people wear sunglasses to hide ugly eyes."

"You look like a bug!"

Now that he got closer he could see that Emily looked near tears. "Leave her alone! She just can't see!"

He didn't like mean people. He especially didn't like people being mean to his friends. And he didn't like people being mean to nice people that weren't being mean back the most. He pushed past some kids and grabbed Emily's hand and the girl's hand and pulled them away. He looked around wildly, deciding that the spot under the slide would work. "What the heck was that?" He asked Emily breathlessly, his eyes darting between the two girls' faces.

"A bunch of meanies," she sniffed, pulling the other little girl into a hug. "Are you okay, Spencer?"

She just shrugged. "Guess so."

He waited awkwardly until Emily's eyes flicker back to him. "Oh! Spencer, this is Toby!" She grabbed Spencer's hand and directed it to his shoulder. "He's one of my bestest friends."

He took her hand and shook it like he saw his mom do once. "Nice to meet you."

Butterflies danced around in his stomach when she smiled at him. "Thanks for saving me, Toby."

"Anytime," he grinned, feeling a lot like Superman.

He didn't know what she'd grow to mean to him, but slowly that little girl on the playground grew to be his best friend in the world; and more. Because he was sure as he was anything that he'd love Spencer Hastings for the rest of his life, although he doubt she'd ever feel the same way. "Kids are assholes."

"They just didn't understand," she offered up. "Kids shouldn't have to understand."

He rolled his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut, because he didn't have the right to be bitter over the way people treated her. "We're at your house. Do you want to go inside?"

"Only if you're coming too. I have a mountain of Calculus homework already, and I don't understand any of it."

He rolled his eyes again with a short laugh. "As long as you help me with my history paper."

"Deal," she laughed and opened the door. "I'm sure Em will need help with something too."

"Wait," he cautioned. "let me help you."

If he could see her face he was sure that she would be scowling. "I'm not an invalid, Toby. I can walk to my front door without help."

She always got like this when she was feeling down, and it always pulled at his heartstrings. She had nothing to prove, especially to him. He knew how capable she was. But there would be no talking her down. He just shut his door and hurried around, walking close enough that he could catch her if she needed him.

Her walking stick swiped back and forth in front of her as she walked slowly up the lawn, diligently making sure there was nothing in her path. "See," she persisted. "I don-"

But before the words could fully leave her lips her foot slipped on a damp leaf and shot forward. He wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying her before she could fall to the ground. There was a long pause. "Maybe I do need some help," she reluctantly admitted.

He had to bite back a laugh as he guided her the rest of the way into the house. Emily greeted them as they walked through the door. "Guys I've been working on my Chem homework for ten minutes and my brain already hurts. Help?"

Spencer's laugh made him smile fondly. Emily shot him a knowing look before taking Spencer's other arm and pulling her into the living room. "Seriously, who cares about the periodic table," she whined, plopping on the ground. "Also, I'm hungry. And Hanna's coming over. Also The Voice is on tonight, so we have to finish by 8, and-"

"Breath," Toby teased her. "We'll be fine. I'll order a pizza, okay? You two get started." Emily had been one of his best friends his whole life, and those feelings only increased when he saw the care and compassion she employed when looking after her cousin. Even to the point that they watched vocal based shows together, something that Spencer could enjoy too. It was kind of beautiful.

"No-"

He interrupted Spencer with a laugh. "No Spence, I was going to actually forgo the pizza and try to feed you a giant bowl full of sausage."

She snorted, taking her sunglasses off and putting them on top of her head. "Go order the food, smart ass."

He dodged the pillow she threw at him with surprising accuracy and grabbed the phone in the kitchen. If Hanna was coming over he knew better than to get pizza from anywhere other than Papa John's, which was apparently the royalty of the pizza kingdom. He had some weird friends.

As he ordered the pizzas he watched Emily help Spencer set up her laptop and Braille keyboard. She could write, but it was messy. She had just barely made it through kindergarten when she had had the accident that took her sight. But she could do it if she had to. It just never come out all that neatly.

He finished ordering the pizza and gingerly lowered himself onto the ground next to Spencer. He didn't really care about studying. He just wanted to spend time with the best people he knew. His mom used to tell him that you could tell a lot about a person by the company that they chose to keep, and that must mean that he was pretty alright. Because there wasn't a better group of people anywhere in the world.