fic: he loves to romance them
Sep. 19th, 2013 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lynzie914Title: He Loves to Romance Them
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Isobel/John
Rating: PG-13, references to underage sex
Summary John looked at her and saw a future, a happily ever after, with a white dress and little girls that looked like her. Isobel looked at him and just saw an ending. (Set pre-Series, but with spoilers up to season two.)
A/N: I wrote this last October, and when I signed up for the October-writing-challenge, I remembered it, and realized I had never posted it anywhere else. So here it is. (If I remember right, the prompt for this was mixtape, hence the references throughout.)
Isobel was different than all the other girls. She had dreams, had plans, she planned a life far out of her own small town. She laughed louder than everyone else, smiled brighter, yelled louder, and shined brighter than anyone John had ever met.
The first time John had seen her, she had been cheering for the opposing team at a football game, and he should have disliked her for that alone. But John had found it hard to look away.
He had found it hard to look away since.
--
Isobel’s parents didn’t like John. He was too old for her, he had his own car, and he called them by their first names.
They didn’t notice the way he looked at her, like she was the sun, or the way he held her hand, or the way he made her feel special. No one else had made her feel like John did. Like she was meant for more than just this small town.
He told her that all time. He talked about their futures and how they would live in New York and he would make a lot of money and she would be an artist or a singer, whatever she wanted.
John always promised Isobel she could have anything and everything she wanted.
--
Isobel was barely fifteen when she and John first met. He was sixteen but she always seemed older than him. More mature, more confident, more herself.
She didn’t believe in following crowd. John didn’t know who he was without it.
On their first date, he made her a mix tape, all his favorite songs, songs that made him think of her. He had wanted to impress her, wanted to be creative and original like her. Grayson had told her to buy her flowers, but that was far too mainstream for someone like her.
She had laughed and called the tape cute.
It wasn’t the reaction he had been hoping for. But she kissed him at the end of the night, and that, that he had been hoping for.
--
Alone in her room, when her parents weren’t there and her sister had gone out, she listened to the tape. Over and over again.
Pretended the lyrics were things he had said.
It wasn’t that hard. They were all love songs and John had been in love with her from first sight.
It made her like him even more.
--
John picks Isobel up from her house down the road and a little to the left, so her parents won’t see. They still don’t like him, but John doesn’t mind, because he thinks it makes Isobel like him more.
She climbs into his car, unshed tears in her eyes as she slams the door behind her. Her hands cup his face, pulling him to her, pressing his lips against her own.
Isobel pulls away and looks him straight in the eye. “Tell me I’m you love me.”
John doesn’t understand what’s going on, but he complies, and Isobel gives him the biggest smile he had ever seen her give anyone.
--
John never stops looking at her like he did when they first met.
Still looks at her, just the same. Like she hung the moon, wasn’t that the saying? Wasn’t that what all the books and poems she had read said? She likes to think if she hung anything, it was the sun.
The sun shines hotter, brighter, longer. The moon only shines because of the sun.
Yes, John looks at her like she hung the sun in the sky. That she was the reason for its existence. And she never wants that look to go away.
--
The first time they had sex, in the back of his truck parked at the lake six months after he had met her, Everything I Do by Bryan Adams was playing on the radio.
It was the first song on the mix tape.
It was more fitting than he realized.
--
John continued planning out their future. Isobel continued planning out her own. He never seemed to notice that the two didn’t quite work together. Or if he didn’t, he didn’t say anything. John was a master at denying what was right in front of him.
He liked to call Isobel a dreamer, but Isobel was pretty sure that he was the dreamer. He was definitely the romantic.
Sometimes she loved that about him. But mostly she just thought it was another reason they wouldn’t work out.
--
John looked at her and saw a future, a happily ever after, with a white dress and little girls that looked just like her.
Isobel looked at him and just saw an ending.
--
Isobel listens to the mixtape again and again, though always alone.
The songs never change, but Isobel does.
And suddenly the songs didn’t seem quite so sweet; they didn’t seem quite so romantic. Just a reminder of things that all seem so different now.
Now all the songs seem suffocating.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to her. She was supposed to escape this town. She was supposed to leave. To get out.
--
“I’m pregnant.”
Those words change everything. There’s no way they can’t. She’s fifteen and is still a sophomore, and he’s seventeen and applying to colleges.
This is not how life is supposed to be.
“We’ll make this work. It’ll be okay.” He tells her.
He means it. He’s in love with Isobel, has always been in love with Isobel, and he’ll fix this, he’ll make it okay. He’ll stay in Mystic Falls, he’ll get a job and go to the college there, and they’ll raise the baby together. His parents will hate him and so we’ll hers, but Grayson will be on his side and so will Miranda.
It’ll be okay.
John will make sure it is.
--
John is always there, always crowding her, always talking, always there.
He won’t leave her. He promises her he won’t.
Isobel never promises it back.
--
John doesn’t tell his parents. He will, but not yet.
He tells Grayson instead. His brother is supportive and tells him that he’ll help as much as he can. That he’ll always be there for his baby brother, no matter what stupid things he does.
But there is something underneath it all, envy and judgment welling up underneath the surface. John can see it, though he pretends not to.
His brother has never been envious of him before.
--
She’s nine months along and Isobel can’t take it anymore. Her mother hovers and her father is never there and her sister is always staring at her stomach as though it’s going to do something miraculous.
Isobel hates it.
She wishes she had been shipped off to one of those schools for “troubled girls”. She thinks it would have been more dramatic. She thinks it would have been an escape. She thinks she never would have come back.
When her water breaks, she climbs on a bus and shows up at John’s brother’s door. He’s a doctor and he’s like John. It’s easy for her to convince him not to take her to the hospital.
--
Isobel gives birth to a little girl with big brown eyes, just like her own, and when John holds her for the first time he swears she smiles at him.
Elena. Elena Gilbert.
Isobel had let him pick the name.
He thought it was beautiful. Just like her.
--
Isobel watched the way that Miranda held Elena, the way she had looked at her. It looked natural, looked picturesque. She had looked like a mother, dressed the part, smiled that way that mothers do.
Isobel had never been picturesque. She had never babysat. She had never been like all the other girls, planning their weddings at twelve.
She had never wanted this.
She was sixteen and she wanted to live.
--
Isobel told him that she thought they should give Elena to his brother and his whole world stopped turning.
They had made plans. He had had plans. For them, for their future. They were supposed to be a family; him, Elena, and Isobel.
He didn’t know how to be a family without her. He didn’t know how to be anything without her.
“Miranda and Grayson, they’re already a family.” Isobel explained, looking down at their daughter in her arms. “They’ll give her the life she deserves. She deserves so much, John; she deserves anything and everything she wants. They can give her that.”
“We can give her that too.” John says.
And he believes it. He does.
“No, I can’t.” She tells him.
--
Isobel watches John as he holds Elena. He treats her like he treats Isobel; always soft and careful like she’s fragile, like she’s too important to break.
Isobel has always loved him for that.
But it’s not enough.
--
John tries to talk Isobel out of her idea, tells her that everything will be okay, reminds her of their plans.
He tells her to sleep on it, that it’ll all look different in the morning. He spends the night next to Elena’s cradle and when he wakes up Isobel is gone.
There’s a note, telling him she’s sorry but he can’t bring himself to believe her.
John wasn’t the only one she had left behind.
--
Isobel climbs onto the bus, her stomach turning, her legs still aching, and unshed tears in her eyes. She takes her seat at the back of the bus, puts her headphones in and presses play on her tape player.
Listens to the only reminder of John she allowed herself to take.
Listens to Everything I Do (I Do For You) and thinks of Elena. Sweet little baby, Elena, with her dark hair and her eyes.
She hopes she grows up to be just like Miranda.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Isobel/John
Rating: PG-13, references to underage sex
Summary John looked at her and saw a future, a happily ever after, with a white dress and little girls that looked like her. Isobel looked at him and just saw an ending. (Set pre-Series, but with spoilers up to season two.)
A/N: I wrote this last October, and when I signed up for the October-writing-challenge, I remembered it, and realized I had never posted it anywhere else. So here it is. (If I remember right, the prompt for this was mixtape, hence the references throughout.)
Isobel was different than all the other girls. She had dreams, had plans, she planned a life far out of her own small town. She laughed louder than everyone else, smiled brighter, yelled louder, and shined brighter than anyone John had ever met.
The first time John had seen her, she had been cheering for the opposing team at a football game, and he should have disliked her for that alone. But John had found it hard to look away.
He had found it hard to look away since.
--
Isobel’s parents didn’t like John. He was too old for her, he had his own car, and he called them by their first names.
They didn’t notice the way he looked at her, like she was the sun, or the way he held her hand, or the way he made her feel special. No one else had made her feel like John did. Like she was meant for more than just this small town.
He told her that all time. He talked about their futures and how they would live in New York and he would make a lot of money and she would be an artist or a singer, whatever she wanted.
John always promised Isobel she could have anything and everything she wanted.
--
Isobel was barely fifteen when she and John first met. He was sixteen but she always seemed older than him. More mature, more confident, more herself.
She didn’t believe in following crowd. John didn’t know who he was without it.
On their first date, he made her a mix tape, all his favorite songs, songs that made him think of her. He had wanted to impress her, wanted to be creative and original like her. Grayson had told her to buy her flowers, but that was far too mainstream for someone like her.
She had laughed and called the tape cute.
It wasn’t the reaction he had been hoping for. But she kissed him at the end of the night, and that, that he had been hoping for.
--
Alone in her room, when her parents weren’t there and her sister had gone out, she listened to the tape. Over and over again.
Pretended the lyrics were things he had said.
It wasn’t that hard. They were all love songs and John had been in love with her from first sight.
It made her like him even more.
--
John picks Isobel up from her house down the road and a little to the left, so her parents won’t see. They still don’t like him, but John doesn’t mind, because he thinks it makes Isobel like him more.
She climbs into his car, unshed tears in her eyes as she slams the door behind her. Her hands cup his face, pulling him to her, pressing his lips against her own.
Isobel pulls away and looks him straight in the eye. “Tell me I’m you love me.”
John doesn’t understand what’s going on, but he complies, and Isobel gives him the biggest smile he had ever seen her give anyone.
--
John never stops looking at her like he did when they first met.
Still looks at her, just the same. Like she hung the moon, wasn’t that the saying? Wasn’t that what all the books and poems she had read said? She likes to think if she hung anything, it was the sun.
The sun shines hotter, brighter, longer. The moon only shines because of the sun.
Yes, John looks at her like she hung the sun in the sky. That she was the reason for its existence. And she never wants that look to go away.
--
The first time they had sex, in the back of his truck parked at the lake six months after he had met her, Everything I Do by Bryan Adams was playing on the radio.
It was the first song on the mix tape.
It was more fitting than he realized.
--
John continued planning out their future. Isobel continued planning out her own. He never seemed to notice that the two didn’t quite work together. Or if he didn’t, he didn’t say anything. John was a master at denying what was right in front of him.
He liked to call Isobel a dreamer, but Isobel was pretty sure that he was the dreamer. He was definitely the romantic.
Sometimes she loved that about him. But mostly she just thought it was another reason they wouldn’t work out.
--
John looked at her and saw a future, a happily ever after, with a white dress and little girls that looked just like her.
Isobel looked at him and just saw an ending.
--
Isobel listens to the mixtape again and again, though always alone.
The songs never change, but Isobel does.
And suddenly the songs didn’t seem quite so sweet; they didn’t seem quite so romantic. Just a reminder of things that all seem so different now.
Now all the songs seem suffocating.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to her. She was supposed to escape this town. She was supposed to leave. To get out.
--
“I’m pregnant.”
Those words change everything. There’s no way they can’t. She’s fifteen and is still a sophomore, and he’s seventeen and applying to colleges.
This is not how life is supposed to be.
“We’ll make this work. It’ll be okay.” He tells her.
He means it. He’s in love with Isobel, has always been in love with Isobel, and he’ll fix this, he’ll make it okay. He’ll stay in Mystic Falls, he’ll get a job and go to the college there, and they’ll raise the baby together. His parents will hate him and so we’ll hers, but Grayson will be on his side and so will Miranda.
It’ll be okay.
John will make sure it is.
--
John is always there, always crowding her, always talking, always there.
He won’t leave her. He promises her he won’t.
Isobel never promises it back.
--
John doesn’t tell his parents. He will, but not yet.
He tells Grayson instead. His brother is supportive and tells him that he’ll help as much as he can. That he’ll always be there for his baby brother, no matter what stupid things he does.
But there is something underneath it all, envy and judgment welling up underneath the surface. John can see it, though he pretends not to.
His brother has never been envious of him before.
--
She’s nine months along and Isobel can’t take it anymore. Her mother hovers and her father is never there and her sister is always staring at her stomach as though it’s going to do something miraculous.
Isobel hates it.
She wishes she had been shipped off to one of those schools for “troubled girls”. She thinks it would have been more dramatic. She thinks it would have been an escape. She thinks she never would have come back.
When her water breaks, she climbs on a bus and shows up at John’s brother’s door. He’s a doctor and he’s like John. It’s easy for her to convince him not to take her to the hospital.
--
Isobel gives birth to a little girl with big brown eyes, just like her own, and when John holds her for the first time he swears she smiles at him.
Elena. Elena Gilbert.
Isobel had let him pick the name.
He thought it was beautiful. Just like her.
--
Isobel watched the way that Miranda held Elena, the way she had looked at her. It looked natural, looked picturesque. She had looked like a mother, dressed the part, smiled that way that mothers do.
Isobel had never been picturesque. She had never babysat. She had never been like all the other girls, planning their weddings at twelve.
She had never wanted this.
She was sixteen and she wanted to live.
--
Isobel told him that she thought they should give Elena to his brother and his whole world stopped turning.
They had made plans. He had had plans. For them, for their future. They were supposed to be a family; him, Elena, and Isobel.
He didn’t know how to be a family without her. He didn’t know how to be anything without her.
“Miranda and Grayson, they’re already a family.” Isobel explained, looking down at their daughter in her arms. “They’ll give her the life she deserves. She deserves so much, John; she deserves anything and everything she wants. They can give her that.”
“We can give her that too.” John says.
And he believes it. He does.
“No, I can’t.” She tells him.
--
Isobel watches John as he holds Elena. He treats her like he treats Isobel; always soft and careful like she’s fragile, like she’s too important to break.
Isobel has always loved him for that.
But it’s not enough.
--
John tries to talk Isobel out of her idea, tells her that everything will be okay, reminds her of their plans.
He tells her to sleep on it, that it’ll all look different in the morning. He spends the night next to Elena’s cradle and when he wakes up Isobel is gone.
There’s a note, telling him she’s sorry but he can’t bring himself to believe her.
John wasn’t the only one she had left behind.
--
Isobel climbs onto the bus, her stomach turning, her legs still aching, and unshed tears in her eyes. She takes her seat at the back of the bus, puts her headphones in and presses play on her tape player.
Listens to the only reminder of John she allowed herself to take.
Listens to Everything I Do (I Do For You) and thinks of Elena. Sweet little baby, Elena, with her dark hair and her eyes.
She hopes she grows up to be just like Miranda.