Author's Note: I tried to read A Wrinkle of Time when I was younger, but it just made me determined to never take a physics class in my life (a goal successfully met so far). Then I saw the 2018 movie with Storm Reid and Levi Miller. The chemistry between the young actors had me completely hooked. Yet I couldn't really find any movie-based fanfic. So I wrote my own. Meg/Calvin: #relationshipgoals
When Calvin O'Keefe was fourteen years old, he met Meg Murry for the second time.
They shared classes together for years, and Meg had been unwillingly thrust into the spotlight when her father disappeared, but they had never spoken. He'd seen her, in the halls, or trying futilely to fade into the back of the classroom. She was hard to miss, with glorious, riotous, hair, and expressive eyes hidden behind thick glasses. Before her father was gone, she had glowed with an inner light that had dimmed with every year that passed without her father. Now, he only saw it flare when she was with her little brother, love for him written in the curve of her lips, the clutch of her hands, the throw of a basketball.
Gossip about Meg finally lashing out at Veronica had run rampant through the halls, and he felt shame curling in his stomach. It was impossible to miss the vitriol Veronica directed Meg's way, and he had never interfered. He knew his popularity carried some weight and he had never swung it on Meg's behalf. He could have stopped it, could have prevented things from reaching this point. But he didn't.
His thoughts stumbled over each other to the point that he felt the need to get out, to be out in the wide world instead of trapped by these four walls. He walked aimlessly until he stumbled across Meg and Charles Wallace taking their dog for a walk. Something in him had said, yes.
This moment. This place. And her.
It had led to an adventure, a rescue, and a revelation. Both of them were capable of much more than they had believed. Meg shone now, her skin luminous with happiness and love, marred only by lingering feelings to be resolved, but she had found her center.
As for him, he knew that he had a purpose. No longer would he turn away when the Veronicas in the world spat their self-hatred onto another soul. No longer would he hide behind a veneer of glossy smiles and deflection. Instead he would be a warrior. A warrior for the light, and for Meg.
If she ever again doubted how incredible she was, if her self-confidence ever faltered, he would be there to remind her. When she reached out a hand, he would be there to take it. He would be her sword, her shield, her voice, whatever she needed. If he never tessered again, he would be content, because the only place he wanted to travel to was her side.
When Calvin O'Keefe was fourteen years old, he fell in love.
With the rest of his life.