ＨＯＷ ＣＡＮ Ａ ＨＥＡＶＹ ＨＥＡＲＴ ＢＥ ＳＯ ＥＭＰＴＹ？

[ambitious]

  ＢＯＲＲＯＷＩＮＧ Ａ ＢＲＯＫＥＮ ＬＯＶＥ．

✘ select a muse
✘ leave a prompt ( threadstarter/picture(s)/lyrics, etc )
✘ profit!

Comments

brooke | you asked for this

[adronitis]

[victimized]

[ when are you getting into town? it's never actively discussed in any of their group texts or regular skype sessions, but widely assumed that the four surviving members of the lakewood six would be returning home for the holidays. that is, until brooke throws a wrench in things with one simple reply. i'm not. there's nothing for her there, she explains to emma during the inevitable phone call that follows. she isn't like the others, who all have families to go home to. lakewood is a blood drenched hell hole, and she has no desire to drive past the too large house that used to be hers, or the cemetery where her dad is buried, just over the hill from riley and jake and too many other people she had loved. she can't bare to see the way people's eyes light up when they recognize her, one of the tragedy girls, or the eager way they ask how she's doing after all this time. not looking fot a genuine answer, but instead hoping she's still fragile enough to break.

no, she has a life here and now in dc, and it's where she plans to stay.

despite emma's insistence that she just misses her friend, brooke knows her well enough to see that a bigger part of her just wants to check in and make sure she's doing as well as she claims to be. so with only slight encouragement from marcus, she puts forth the suggestion that, before returning to lakewood, they swing by washington. if only for a day or two. catch up a little before the insanity of the holidays.

it isn't her idea to set up the bonfire, marcus pike the consummate host, but brooke readily agrees. with a few exceptions, it's been a mild enough winter so far, and being outside around the fire may keep them from distracting marcus much, whose work never really seems to end.

even after almost a year apart, the four of them fall back into old conversations as if no time has passed at all. they talk about school very little, all of them too curious about what else is going on in each others lives, with brooke's significant other himself being a big topic of conversation. emma is as sweet and personable as ever, and noah can't contain his inner nerd when he hears marcus' full name for the first time. brooke practically has to haul him into the backyard by the neck of his t-shirt. audrey, on the other hand, spends most of her time eyeing him suspiciously. always the more paranoid of their group, she doesn't let go of betrayal easily or trust new people well.

the three of them stay for hours before falling into a comfortable silence that very quickly becomes their own cue to head back to their hotel. hugging them all as they leave, she clings the tightest and longest to emma, who whispers into her hair "it's nice to see you so happy." there was a time when, as close as they are, brooke would have responded with some sarcastic comment or other about how miserable she must look any other time.

but to the people who know her the best, who've seen every fake smile she can muster, some far more convincing than others, it's not hard to see that this is different. she's almost done with school, she finally knows what she wants to do with her life, and then there's him.

a wintry chill has set into their air but around the fire, still raging thanks to his careful tending, it's still comfortable though that doesn't stop brooke from shivering faintly when the wind picks up. she doesn't turn to look when he approaches, instead shifting in her seat to make room for him. ] You'll be happy to know you made quite the impression on my friends.

[adronitis]

[ Marcus has actively tried not to pry into Brooke's life before she started college. She's told him enough that he's been able to piece together all that he feels he needs to know, and honestly, it paints a fucking horrific picture. It's been tough, resisting the urge to google Lakewood, or her name, or to casually mention it in passing to coworkers he knows had been tangentially affiliated with that case, but he's kept his mouth shut and let her move on with her life. Her past shaped her, sure, but it's her present that he's most interested in.

Well, and her future too, if he's being honest.

The semester ends with a whirlwind of late nights spent cramming for finals and frantic essay-writing, and he's mostly tried to stay out of her way as much as possible so he doesn't distract her while she's working. He proof-reads what she asks him to and helps her with her flashcards, but mostly what he does is feed her and make sure she gets out the door on time in the morning, and lets her do her own thing. Her little office-slash-study-nook is right off the dining room, which means when he cleans up from dinner, it's almost impossible not to overhear her on her Skype calls with her friends, giving Marcus a nearly front-row seat to the whole discussion of why Brooke wasn't coming home for Christmas. There was only mild guilt-tripping but she remained firm in her convictions. She wasn't leaving DC.

After she hung up, he brought her a cup of tea and gently suggested her friends come to visit her here. Not for the whole holiday, since they presumably had family to go see — unlike Brooke, poor girl — but even just for a day or two. They had the space to put them up, and he knows it's important to her.

Which is how he winds up building up the fire pit, hauling some of the patio furniture around to make sure there are enough seats to go around, and filing the fridge for snacks. He remembers being twenty, and how much food he could put away. Being a good host comes naturally to him, and he tries his best to be both welcoming and to stay out of their hair as much as possible. They aren't here to visit him, after all.

He stays outside with the gang for maybe twenty minutes once they all arrive and settle in, and then he excuses himself, citing a pressing project at work that really isn't all that pressing at all. Dropping a kiss to the top of Brooke's head, he withdraws back inside and sets himself up in his office downstairs, killing time by processing paperwork and keeping half an ear out for the low murmur of voices filtering in through the narrow windows at ground-level. He can't quite make out the words, and he doesn't want to, since they deserve their privacy and the opportunity to talk about their pasts without having to censor themselves for an audience that wasn't part of it, but once he hears the scrape of metal chairs across stone and the swell of voices getting louder, he closes down what he's doing and heads back upstairs to see if they're going to call it a night and offer them a ride to their hotel.

Technology thwarts his attempts at chivalry, an Uber having already been called, so he stands around and makes polite small talk for a few minutes before Brooke's friends all troop down the steps of his little white house, waving to them as they pile into the back of the car and drive away.

Heading back through the house to the back patio, he makes a brief detour to pick up some more wood to feed the fire before settling himself down on the little love-seat Brooke had staked out as her own, automatically draping his arm over her shoulders and pressing his lips to her hair. ] Oh yeah? A good one, I hope.