Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hope’s only been at Mystic Falls High for two weeks, and she already knows she hates it here. It’s never easy being the new kid, but in Hope Marshall’s case, it’s much more complicated than that. Because on top of being the new kid, she’s also seven months pregnant with her ex boyfriend’s baby. Making her the target of ridiculous rumors, snarky comments, and judgmental whispers everywhere she went. It was truly a nightmare.

But as much as she detests it here, she needs this in order to keep her scholarship to art school, which has always been her dream ever since she was young. So for now, she tries her best to keep her head down, and just focus on the class work. Her classmates however, don’t make it easy for her.

“Nice outfit, Marshall.” Dana snickers as she walks by Hope’s locker, taking in the maternity wear she’s sporting. “You buy it in the ‘accident’ section of Whore’s R Us?”

The girls she’s with roar with laughter and Hope tugs her sweater inward in a futile attempt to cover up her growing belly.

“Considering I’ve seen you screwing half the football team under the bleachers just this week alone, I’d be careful if I were you. You might wind up shopping for clothes like mine soon too.” Hope counters, shooting her a pointed look over her shoulder. She had never been one to slut shame, but Dana had thrown the first punch and she wasn’t just about to stand here and take that from her.

The popular cheerleader bristled at the remark, glaring daggers at the short, auburn haired girl. Clearly Hope had struck a nerve with her comment, leaving Dana so pissed, she struggled for a good minute to find a decent retort.

“Hmph. Whatever freak.” She finally huffs before moving her entourage elsewhere, making Hope grin at the small victory of finally being left alone.

Once they’re completely gone, she hastily reaches up to grab the books for her next class, only for the items to slip from her hand and clatter noisily to the floor. She groans loudly in annoyance, and on instinct, reaches to grab them, but immediately regrets the decision. Wincing as she tries to bend down, Hope finds her stomach getting in the way. Right. She can’t really do that so easily anymore. Just another perk of her situation. Glancing around, she can see everyone snickering at her current predicament, and a blush creeps into her cheeks.

Hope sighs and tries her best to ignore them as she figures out what to do. Squatting was always an option, but last time she did that, she could barely get back up. They’d really have a good laugh at her if that happened. She tries one more fruitless attempt to bend down, using a slightly different angle this time, but the books still elude her short limbs. It doesn’t help matters that when she straightens back up, she notices someone filming her struggles on their cell phone. People suck.

Hope shuts her eyes, trying not to get upset, and leans her forehead against one of the lockers. She was just a joke to them. A walking cliche for them to poke fun at. Let’s all tease the poor little pregnant girl, as if she doesn’t have enough going on right now. How had she let her life become this?

“Here you go.” A voice says, interrupting her thoughts, and Hope’s eyes quickly flutter open to find an attractive, curly haired young man kneeling on the floor to collect her books.

“Thank you.” She whispers appreciatively, face flushed with embarrassment as her blue eyes briefly meet his green-grey ones.

He smiles gently at her, expression sympathetic. “Yeah, no worries.”

Hope takes them from him and he gives her a small nod before heading off down the hall. She stands there a moment watching him leave, still a tad dazed by his kindness, before she finally collects the rest of what she needs and closes her locker.

The rest of the day drags on and she can’t wait to be out of this god forsaken place. Unfortunately, her teacher decides to talk to her after class, making her have to hustle to get back to her locker in time.

“Watch it, Goodyear Blimp.” Connor, captain of the football team, calls out as he brushes past her, heading down the hall.

Hope rolls her eyes at the comment, like she hadn’t heard that one before. “Jackass.” She mutters under her breath, and he whips back around to look at her.

“What did you just call me?”

He stalks towards her with such ferocity that it startles her, and she finds herself backed into a corner.

“You’ve got quite a mouth on you. I wonder what other things you get up to with that mouth of yours.” He scans her body in a way that makes her feel gross, and she squirms uncomfortably under his gaze, her hands moving protectively towards her stomach. He leans forward and grabs a lock of her hair, twisting it around his index finger. 

“You’re a pretty little slut, aren’t you? Shame you had to go ruin that nice little body of yours by getting yourself knocked up. But I guess that’s what you get for whoring yourself around at your last school. What a waste. Who will ever want you now?”

His cruel words make her eyes sting, and that last sentiment cuts her like a knife, playing on one of her biggest fears. 

“Leave her alone, Connor.” A vaguely familiar voice interrupts, coming to her aid. She looks behind her tormentor, and recognizes the person as none other than the boy who helped her with her books earlier.

“And don’t call her that.” He adds stepping closer, trying to draw Connor away from her, but he doesn’t budge.

“Beat it, Kirby. This doesn’t involve you.”

The curly haired boy doesn’t leave though, concern hanging heavy in his eyes, and he tries again to get Connor to back off.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Like cheating on your girlfriend.”

That little dig pulls him away from messing with Hope and he turns his focus onto a new target.

“Someone’s feeling gutsy today.” He declares, squaring up to his classmate, causing him to take a cautious step back from the jock. But before Connor can do anything, his phone goes off. Huffing an annoyed sigh, he pulls it from his letterman jacket and checks the screen, frowning. 

“If I didn’t have football practice to get to, I’d be introducing my fist to your face.”

“Yeah, we’ve already met. Several times actually.” The boy mumbles dryly, fairly unfazed by the threat. Getting a bloody nose or a black eye from Connor was far from being anything new for him.

“Later, losers.” He snickers, before jogging his way towards the field.

The other young man then approaches Hope, who looks quite shaken up by the whole ordeal that’s transpired.

“You okay?”

No. She’s really not. It takes everything in her just to hold it together right now. But she can’t tell him that, so she forces a weak smile onto her face while managing a small nod that she hopes is convincing enough.

“I’m fine.” She lies, hand trembling slightly as it drops back down to her side. It’s clear he doesn’t believe her, but he chooses not to push the matter.

He looks like he wants to comfort her in some way, but struggles with how. Hope can’t bear the look of pity on his face, so she turns her gaze elsewhere, only to notice the clock on the wall. Heaving a heavy sigh, she squeezes her eyes shut in frustration after looking at the time. She just could not believe the day she was having.

“What’s wrong?” He asks curiously, upon noticing her sudden distress.

“That jerk made me miss my bus.”

Now what was she gonna do? Walking home alone in her condition didn’t exactly sound safe, and she still didn’t fully know her way around town yet either. She could call her mom, but her job was over 45 minutes away without traffic, so who knew how long that would take given the hour. At this point, neither option really seemed all that ideal. 

“I can give you a ride.” The boy offers, much to her surprise, as she turns to look at him. “I promise I’m not an axe murderer or anything.” He assures with a lighthearted chuckle.

“I don’t even know your name.” She points out.

“I’m Landon. And you’re Hope, right? We have Chemistry together.” His eyes suddenly go wide as he realizes his choice in wording, and he flusters himself a little.

“The class, I mean.” He corrects awkwardly, slightly embarrassed, and for the first time that day, Hope laughs. It’s genuine and unencumbered, which seems so foreign to her own ears, and Landon finds himself smiling when he hears such a lovely sound bubble out from her delicate pink lips.

As she thinks over what he’s told her, she starts to recall who he is. “Right. I remember you now. Weren’t you the one who accidentally caught his sleeve on fire with the Bunsen burner?” Landon sheepishly scratches at the back of his head, cheeks warming slightly at the reminder of that little incident. “Uh, yeah. That would be me.”

Maybe she should be a bit more discerning, but he seems fairly harmless as long as there isn’t any lab equipment around, and it’s not like she has many other choices.

“You’re sure you wouldn’t mind?” She asks, and Landon lightly shakes his head. “Not at all.”

Hope contemplates the offer one last time before appreciatively nodding at him. “Okay. Thanks.”

Once she has all her things, Landon leads the way out to the parking lot, where they come to stop in front of an old, navy blue sedan.

“It might not be the hottest car on the road, but it is reliable.” He assures her, gently patting the hood.

“Reliable is good.” Hope says, echoing his sentiment. “I’m over expensive, flashy cars that are clearly just compensating for something.” Landon can’t help snorting at the not so subtle dig at the popular kids, though he also finds himself thinking her words might be aimed at someone in particular as well.

Reaching for his keys, he comes around to open up the door for her. Hope blinks at the unexpected act of chivalry, murmuring a quiet thank you as she settles inside, and he shuts it for her. Returning back to his side of the vehicle, he gets in and does a quick double check of the mirrors.

Once she’s got her seat belt on, Landon puts the key in the ignition to turn on the car.

“Comfortable?” He asks, eliciting a small sigh from her as she shrugs her shoulders.

“Not exactly, but that’s less to do with the car, and more to do with my physical state.” Hope confesses with a weak half smile, and Landon offers her an understanding nod as he begins to pull out of the parking lot.

“So, where we headed?”

It’s a simple question, but Hope can’t help feeling a little self conscious at the thought of telling him. Unlike most of the students at Mystic, she didn’t exactly live in the nicest looking part of town. It was just her mom and her, and they could only afford so much on a single mother’s salary, especially now. Her run down little house was just another thing for her classmates to tease her about. She actually contemplates lying and having him drop her off a couple blocks over, then walking the rest of the way, but she’s too drained from earlier to even try and pretend right now.

“Um, I live over on West Berry.” She murmurs quietly, staring down at her hands in her lap.

“Oh, really? I don’t live too far from there actually. I’m at Elm Grove.” Landon informs her, and she feels a small sense of relief upon hearing that he doesn’t live anywhere fancy either, putting her a little more at ease around him. Though if she was being honest, his general personality had already helped in that regard.

“I guess we’re practically neighbors then.” He chimes in, causing Hope to gently smile in agreement. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

A comfortable silence falls over the car after that, as the radio plays quietly in the background. It stays that way until Hope’s phone suddenly pings a few minutes later, and she reaches into her backpack to check her texts. Pulling up the new message, her eyes scan the words on the screen, and she frowns at the sight.

“Everything okay?” Her companion questions as he briefly glances over at her while they’re stopped at a red light.

“Yeah. It’s just... my mom has to work late tonight. It’s fine.” Hope replies with a forced smile, doing her best to seem okay with the news.

Though she’d originally been looking forward to going home, the thought of being alone after the day she had didn’t seem all that appealing. Hope knew that if she asked, her mom would come home to be with her in a heartbeat, but they really needed the money right now, so she thought it better not to say anything.

Landon can see the disappointment written all over her face as she sends a quick reply back to her mother and puts her phone away. Her eyes then sadly drift towards the window to watch the scenery go by through the glass.

“Hey, have you eaten?” He asks, and Hope casually glances over at him, blinking in surprise.

“What?”

“I was thinking of getting some food. There’s this little place in town that serves really good burgers, and they have the best milkshakes around. If you want, you can come along. Eat together. My treat.”

Hope’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape, unable to believe his offer. He was being so nice to her, and she couldn’t fathom as to why. Part of her is convinced this must be a trick, and that he plans to make some public spectacle of her for the sake of a laugh, because it wouldn’t be the first time that's happened. And yet... maybe it’s a naive sense of hopefulness, but she can’t seem to bring herself to believe that’s true here.

“You sure you’re not ashamed to be seen out with me?” She murmurs dejectedly as she looks away, a hint of bitterness in her tone. Hope knew full well that she was a pariah at that school. Guys didn’t want to be seen anywhere near her for fear of someone mistaking them for the father, and the judgemental girls only approached to mock her and show their scorn before leaving. In these past seven months, she’d never felt more alone in her life, which was kinda ironic given her situation.

His face falls and a deep ache fills his chest at her question. He can’t even begin to imagine what she must have to deal with on a daily basis, but he does understand what it’s like to be the target of undeserved bullying.

“No. As long as you’re cool being seen out with a sci-fi loving, dungeons and dragons playing nerd.” Landon teases with a playful grin as he tips his head to her.

A small smile twitches at the corner of Hope’s lips at his attempt to make her feel better, and gentle laugh tumbles out.

“I think I can manage that.” 

“Good. We’ll head over to the Mystic Grill then.”

Chapter Text

As they drive back towards town, they soon arrive at a cute little place near the square that has a laid back, casual feel about it. Upon noticing that it’s far less busy in the outdoor dining area, they decide to sit there and enjoy the pleasant weather. Perusing through the menus offered to them by the waitress, they place their orders and wait for the food to arrive.

“So how are you liking Mystic Falls?” Landon asks as he takes a sip of water.

“To be honest, I haven’t really seen much of it. I don’t exactly go out that often anymore, so it’s basically just home and school.” She explains, as she fiddles with the napkin on the table. Though part of her longed to do some exploring, Hope knew it was probably for the best that she didn’t. Just walking up to the Grill, she had already noticed two people staring at her, and she could only imagine the reactions somewhere more upscale.

Catching onto why she might prefer staying in, Landon attempts to downplay the social little area that she’s recently moved to. “You’re not really missing out. This place isn’t all that different from any other small town. Entitled founding families, weird local holidays. Still... there’s a few hidden gems worth seeing around here, like the dock down by the lake. If you go there at night, you can see all the stars reflecting off the surface of the water. There’s something almost magical about it, like if you reached your hand out, it would be like touching the sky.” He reminisces, before suddenly feeling embarrassed by his own enthusiasm. “Sorry. That probably sounded dumb.”

“No.” Hope dismissively shakes her head, her expression turning thoughtful as she regards him. “That place sounds really beautiful actually, like something I’d love to paint.”

Landon curiously quirks his head at that. “You’re an artist?”

“Not quite sure I’ve earned that title just yet.” She chuckles sheepishly before continuing. “But, yeah. Mostly oil paintings, though I’ve had to switch to watercolors recently, since they’re a bit safer.”

“Do you have any pictures of your work?”

“Um, yeah.” Hope hesitates, a little nervous about the idea of showing her art, but nevertheless, she still finds herself reaching for her phone. “They’re nothing special though.” She adds, pulling up the photo app and scrolling through the images until she finds a few paintings she did last year. The first one is of a white wolf in the forest, while the second one is of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Landon’s jaw drops as he takes in the sight, caught off guard by the level of talent that’s on display. “Hope, are you kidding? These are amazing. They look like something that should be hanging up in an art gallery, or protected behind glass.”

His unexpected praise makes her face warm a little. “I would hardly go that far, but thank you. Enough about me though, tell me about yourself. What makes Landon Kirby tick?”

“That is a surprisingly deep question.” He confesses with a quiet laugh, taking a moment to ponder it over. “Um... music, I guess? It’s kinda my outlet for everything. Happy, sad, angry, lonely. Picking up my guitar or scribbling down some new song lyrics just helps me make a little more sense of whatever I’m feeling or dealing with at the time.”

Hope bobs her head. “I’m like that with my art. Do you ever play anywhere?”

Scoffing humorously at the notion, he’s quick to wave off the idea of that. “God, no. Unlike you, I’m not very good, so I tend to keep my music to myself. On occasion, I let my mom listen to a song or two, but that’s about it.”

She finds herself a little disappointed to hear that, having been curious to know what he sounds like, but she also understands where he’s coming from.

“Besides, I doubt anyone else would want to hear them anyway.” He adds with a shake of his head.

“I would.” Hope confesses, and Landon doesn’t quite seem sure what to do with that information. He wasn’t really used to people taking any sort of interest in him outside of being a walking punching bag, so her words mean more than he cares to admit. His ability to speak seems to elude him in the moment, and before he can properly respond, the waitress comes over with their meals, so they decide to pause the conversation for now in favor of eating.

The food is just as good as Landon described earlier, and Hope makes a mental note to let her mother know about this place. The peanut butter blast milkshake she ordered with whipped cream on the bottom, is particularly hitting the spot right about now. The only downside is that the wind is starting to pick up, causing Hope to shiver from the cold, and she suddenly regrets having left her sweater back in the car. Noticing this, Landon shrugs off his jacket before standing up from his seat to drape it over her shoulders, causing a feeling of warmth to instantly envelop her while a pleasant scent of pine greets her senses, and the boy gives her a small smile before sitting back down to eat again.

When a quiet lull passes over them a little while later, Hope finds herself posing a question that she fears she might end up regretting.

“You wanna know, don’t you?” The young woman asks him, placing a hand atop her belly, finally acknowledging the looming subject that hung prominently in the air.

Landon’s eyes widen slightly in surprise, not having expected that, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little bit curious on the matter.

The teenager had of course heard all the outrageous rumors around school about it, like the one where she apparently seduced her English teacher and broke up his marriage, but he wasn’t the type to really believe any of those things. After all, it’s not like he himself hadn’t been the victim of made up nonsense courtesy of the popular kids before.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I know something like that’s personal.”

“It’s okay. I want to.”

Truth be told, Hope’s not exactly sure why she decides to tell him her story, because it’s not like she’d shared it with anybody else at school. Maybe she just really wants him to know that she’s not what they say she is. That she was just a young girl who made a mistake.

Inhaling a shaky breath, she steadies herself before finally telling her tale.

“It’s my ex boyfriend’s. The two of us were very much opposites, the soccer star and the painter. He came from money and was the son of a senator, while I was the daughter of a single mom who could barely make ends meet. It sorta felt like something out of a cheesy teen romance novel in the beginning, and he was my first time.”

There’s the briefest hint of nostalgia in Hope’s eyes before she’s swiftly reminded of how young and naive she’d actually been to ever believe any of that. What once sounded like a fairytale of sorts, quickly turned into a cautionary tale in which she was the star of.

“He broke up with me a few days after that. At first I didn’t understand what happened, but then it all made sense when I learned that he had a nickname I hadn’t known about.” Taking a moment to shut her eyes as the searing embarrassment comes rushing back, Hope pushes ahead. “They called him, ‘The Virgin Slayer’, which basically meant he got some weird pleasure out of being a girl’s first time. It turned out that I was lucky number 7 in his long line of conquests. Guess that’s why I got a parting gift.” She jokes, in an effort to make light of her less than stellar situation, and to keep herself from crying.

“When I later learned that I was pregnant and told him, he accused me of being a gold digger who was trying to trap him and ruin his future political career. I told him I had dreams too, but he only cared how it would affect him and his life, not mine. I knew he wouldn’t exactly be happy with the news, it’s not like I was either, but I never expected for him to be so cruel. He made me feel so dirty and beneath him.” The hurt in her voice makes Landon’s chest tighten and he can see her valiantly fighting back tears.

She hadn’t planned to tell him this much, but now that she’s started, she can’t seem to stop herself, having kept it all bottled up inside for so long.

“Then, to try and save face, he told everyone at school that I cheated on him, and that it wasn’t his. To no one's surprise, they believed him over me. Which was how I found myself with a nickname too: ‘Hoe Marshall’.” She repeats disdainfully, recalling someone writing that across her locker.

It's for many of these reasons that Hope doesn’t plan to keep the child after it’s born. The shame of it all was too much for her to bear, and the baby deserved better than what she could offer him. So instead, she had agreed to let a couple that her mom knew adopt the infant. They’d been wanting to adopt for years now, but were denied by various agencies because of ‘lifestyle choices’. Them finally getting to be parents seemed to be the only good thing to come out of this entire situation.

Clenching her fingers into a small fist on the table from the embarrassment and frustration, she continues. “I’m smarter than this, ya know? Or at least I thought I was. The warning signs were all there; like how I never met his parents, and he only took me back to his place when they weren’t home, or when I told him I wanted to wait, but he kept trying to convince me it was just nerves and that I really was ready. Still, I ignored it, all because it felt nice for someone like that to be interested in somebody like myself. But look at where that got me.” Hope murmurs regretfully, rubbing her stomach with her other hand. She’s seventeen, she should be worrying about things like what to wear to prom, or passing her history exam, not this.

“To believe I actually thought he cared. I’m such an idiot.” The girl whispers dejectedly, and to her surprise, Landon reaches his hand across the table to lay it over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze of support.

“Hey. You are not an idiot, alright?” He soothes, his tone gentle but earnest as he dips his head down to her. “People like your ex, they take advantage of your trust, and use your insecurities against you to get what they want. And from what you've told me, it doesn't sound like it's the first time he's done that to someone. I'm really sorry you've had to go through all this."

Gradually lifting her eyes up to meet his caring ones, a look of appreciation shows in her features at his comforting words and touch. The lack of judgment about her situation isn’t something Hope is really used to, and because of this, she finds herself giving a helpless half shrug on instinct, to try and brush it off. “It’s okay, it happens.”

Landon swiftly shakes his head in disagreement. “No. It’s not okay. That guy is a jerk, same thing goes for the people at your old school. No one deserves to be treated like that. You don’t deserve to be treated like that.”

Tears prick at her eyes again, but it’s for a different reason than before. The previous anger and sadness she felt takes a backseat to something warm and gentle in the center of her chest, and her barely audible ‘thank you’ is so soft and fragile that it sounds like it could shatter into a million pieces at any second. Still, there is a weight of genuineness to it that doesn’t go unnoticed by Landon.

“I’m sorry that I dumped all of this on you, and basically ruined our meal.”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” Her companion assures, helping to alleviate any guilt she’s feeling. “Typically that’s my job.” He chuckles wryly to help lighten the mood a little. “I’ve been pretty lucky not to spill or knock anything over this whole time. I can be a bit of a klutz on occasion.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that from the incident in chemistry class.” Hope counters playfully, happy to move past such a heavy topic, as Landon humorously feigns offense at her quip, and the two of them easily settle back into their earlier repartee.

They spend the rest of the evening discussing books, movies and everything else in between like they’ve known each other for years, until they finally realize just how late it’s getting. Landon then drives Hope back home and walks her up to the doorstep of her house.

“Thank you, for tonight. It’s the first time in a really long time that I’ve felt... normal. It was nice.” She admits shyly, her eyes shimmering in the moonlight. This boy had managed to do something that felt close to impossible since all this happened, he’d made her truly feel seen. For once, she wasn’t just ‘the pregnant girl’, she was Hope Marshall, the girl who loved art, Shakespeare, and cooking shows. She had allowed her situation to become her identity without even realizing it, believing it was all she was now, while hiding her real self away in the shadows of this towering life event. But since she’s gotten a taste of the sunlight on her skin again, she refuses to give that falsity power any longer, and for the first time in months it feels like she’s able to breathe.

Landon smiles kindly at her in return, rather happy to hear that she enjoyed herself. “Good. I’m glad you agreed to come. I had fun too.”

“I have a feeling I’m gonna be dreaming about that milkshake tonight though.” Hope confesses with a small laugh, chewing at her lower lip as she remembers just how tasty it was. “You were right about them being the best around.”

Amusement twinkles in his green gray irises. “I let you in on a little secret, I worked there last summer, so I know the recipe if you want it.”

“I might just have to take you up on that offer.” She replies before sighing contently, as she replays the evening over again in her mind, still trying to process how great it was. “You know, given how my morning started, I didn’t expect today to become one of the best I’ve had in a while.”

“Because of the milkshake?” Landon teases with a tilt of his chin, making Hope chuckle warmly before shaking her head. “Partly, but... mostly because of you.”

“Me?” A look of surprise shows on Landon’s face, and his cheeks tinge a light shade of pink at the compliment.

“Moving to a new town hasn’t been easy, and people aren’t always as kind to someone in my situation as you’d hope they’d be, but you were. You made me laugh and forget about my problems for a while, and that meant a lot.”

Bashfully running his hands through his dark curls, he gives a small shrug. “Well, you make it easy.” 

Leaning against the column of the porch, Hope suddenly becomes aware of something. 

“Oh, your jacket-“ She realizes, starting to try and slip it off, but Landon holds his hand up to stop her.

“It’s alright. You can give it back to me tomorrow at school.” He explains, pulling the article of clothing back around her shoulders again, and Hope nods sincerely, her heart momentarily fluttering in her chest. The involuntary action causes her brain to scold her however, so she heeds its warning to wrap this evening up before she dares to think anyone could ever be interested in her in this condition. Not to mention, romance should be the last thing on her mind right now.

“I ought to be getting inside, I’ve still got a bit of homework I need to finish.”

He nods. “Of course. Goodnight, Hope.”

“Night, Landon.” She whispers in return, before placing a quick peck on his cheek and disappearing behind the door.

A shell shocked Landon reaches his hand up to rub at the still warm spot on his face where her lips had been, while a broad smile tugged at his own. Then, giving one last glance back at Hope’s house, he slips his hands into the pockets of his jeans before walking back to the car.