Title: The Unlikely Admirers of Veronica Mars
Author: Cherub Dawn
Rating: PG-13
Summary: No hero pleases all, and Veronica Mars certainly isn't an exception. But regardless of critics, every hero has admirers in even the unlikeliest of foes.
Spoilers: Season One and Two
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, neither will I ever. Everything belongs to Rob Thomas. Except the most unlikely admirers. That was all in my head.
There is no such thing as being completely, and utterly, perfect. Yet it was as mythically beautiful as the late Lilly Kane, like a firefly dancing in the morning fog.
Perfection was undeniably a myth. Especially in a town as unfortunate as Neptune however, its lacking presence was exactly what kept her here. Veronica Mars. So smart, so undeniably beautiful. Yet not smart enough to leave everything that tainted that fibreglass face behind.
She was the unluckiest child to ever walk the pirate soil that was Neptune, California. And Neptune was a pretty fucked up place.
Hell, beneath that unconscious ground lay so many to face the wrath that had doomed practically every inhabitant of Neptune since the moment they stepped foot upon its soil.
But nobody had faced quite as much as her. Aaron Echolls, Cassidy Casablancas, Mercer Hayes. It seemed the moment Lilly Kane deserted her in the unfortunate rush of Neptune High, Veronica Mars had been doomed to walk her unfortunate life alone.
But it wasn't that there were no men that wanted to be her company. She simply looked the wrong direction every time.
Because she was Veronica Mars. She didn't have time in her eventful life for real love. Epic however, seemingly managed to capture her every time.
He loved how she always spoke her mind. Veronica Mars; Neptune's future prom queen.
She possessed so much raw, un-tapped potential. So much beauty, beyond recognition. But she never noticed how much life he projected in his smiles towards her.
No.
She simply sighed and smiled, moving onto the next arrogant male who was completely undeserving of her unrequited love, while he stood by the sidelines, watching Veronica Mars in all her former glory conquer the world with Logan Echolls on her arm.
Never once noticing how she could have so much more with another, such as he. But no. She was completely unaware of his love. Only his nickname.
Corny the Stoner.
Veronica has only ever known him to be a friend but he has always seen her to be so much more. Veronica Mars, the angel of Neptune, always watching over the defiant monstrosity that was formally known as Lilly Kane.
He didn't know her as well as the other '09ers but he adored her nonetheless.
He found it astounding how someone could manage to see all the good in everything and everyone regardless of how negatively they saw you in return.
But then Lilly died, and everything changed.
Suddenly everything possessed a murky shadow and not even Neptune's angel could see past that anymore. The angel fell and became the Veronica Mars everyone now knows and loathes but not him. Not Casey Gant.
And the moment he had been converted, he knew he could count on even this new Veronica to see the good that had been newly bestowed upon him, and he hoped that one day, she would finally see that even though he had no remaining memory of his conversion, no amount of hypnosis could erase her proud smile from his crooked mind.
Veronica Mars was her knight in shining armour long before the incident with Duncan Kane. She was the one person in Neptune High she could truly count on.
Meg Manning's admiration for Veronica Mars was anything but unknown, but Lizzy Manning? The problem child? No-one could believe that.
Lizzy was the attention seeker of the family, as Meg seemed to always be at the receiving end of her parents' and school's adoration.
In her parents' eyes, the virginal Meg Manning could do no wrong. Until they were informed she was pregnant with Duncan Kane's bastard child.
And suddenly, negative attention could get Lizzy no farther.
Her elder sister had always been the one in the spotlight but even Lizzy could tell Meg would have to sing back-up when contrasted to the infamous Veronica Mars.
Even with his child, Veronica would always be the apple of Duncan's eye and it always intrigued her as to, why would anyone pick Veronica Mars over her saint and never-sin sister?
But of course, she was Veronica Mars. Trouble was her middle name regardless of whether it was intentional.
She was all people talked about, all men desired, much to any other female's dismay and frankly, Lizzy had never admired anyone more.
"After all these years, do you not instinctively fear me?"
Truthfully? No. As a matter of fact, Dick Casablancas admired his best friend's former girlfriend, in more ways than one.
There was absolutely no denying Veronica Mars was hot. She'd be even hotter if she knew when to keep her mouth shut but hey, who was he to complain when a girl was screaming his name?
In all fairness, it was hard not to stare whenever Logan was around with Veronica Mars.
The girl was a vixen, and even with a tarnished status, she still conquered the social ground of Neptune High. He highly enjoyed the commentary Madison provided in his ear every time she heard her name(!)
Either way, Veronica Mars was admirable. As a woman and a friend. Perhaps maybe as more.
Veronica Mars was anything but admirable to Madison Sinclair.
She was infuriating, despicable and cheap. She deserved absolutely nothing yet had the world at her feet even with a destroyed status and not even enough money to buy the gum under the Shark Stadium seats.
Yet there she stood, all perky and natural, without a cloud in sight.
Where were the days when Logan Echolls used to shove her into the lockers with a care in that wealthy head? Now? God! The guy couldn't last a minute without a gasp of longing for her in his eyes.
Pathetic. And peculiar.
How could a girl as drastically ordinary as Veronica Mars have so many men at her feet? While she, the epitome of beauty only received Dick Casablancas, whom Veronica has also kissed, and Sheriff Lamb who she had to bid in order to keep. And even he had an unhealthy infatuation with the Mars family.
What was so special about Veronica Mars? She would never understand.
But one thing she did, was how even in her darkest moments, she still strived to stay in the spotlight. And that was one thing Madison Sinclair understood more than anything.
He was head of security.
He couldn't possibly have any interest in little blonde teenage girls who didn't know when to mind their own business, yet here he was. Bugging her bedroom and sitting, waiting, completely fascinated as to how someone as prone to danger as Veronica Mars managed to stay alive while another like Amelia DeLongpre was murdered under the circumstance of wealth.
Then again, she was her mother's daughter. And if it was one thing Clarence Weidman knew about, it was the survival instinct of the Mars family.
Before everything happened, before Lilly died, she despised Veronica Mars from the bottom of her heart. And as the daughter of her arch-nemesis, that despicable Lianne, it didn't take a genius to work out why she shared the same hatred for her daughter.
Except... it did.
Veronica Mars, if not the epitome of her husband's betrayal was her vision of the perfect daughter. She was beautiful, hard-working, smart, sweet and obedient. Everything Lilly wasn't.
And deep down, she knew the one reason she truly despised Veronica Mars was that she wasn't her daughter, but Lianne's.
But now she doesn't have to feel envy anymore, because nobody stays perfect and Veronica Mars could never stay flawless forever. Yet somehow, she still admired her bravery. And still despised her alcoholic excuse of a mother.
But of course, who could blame her? She was Celeste Kane. She hated everyone without status and aren't her beloved son.
She has passed him so many times, yet never truly saw him until that day. She may not have seen him, but he certainly saw her. It was hard not to.
For the first time he laid eyes on Veronica Mars, he knew she was one in a million.
She was beautiful, smart, instinctive and perhaps the most idiotic smart person he had ever met. She was the smartest and most experienced in her class yet she was still dumb enough to pick people like Logan Echolls as her boyfriend, when she could have any other man in the world.
But he figured if paradise had such a large price tag and let you past the velvet ropes on the house, he'd find it hard to refuse too.
Yes, Veronica Mars was one in a million. But there are six billion people in the world today, and if Jeff Ratner couldn't have Veronica Mars, he'd make it his mission to find the other 5,999,999 and make one his own.
Or at least, to distract Logan Echolls.
Of everyone who despised Veronica Mars, you'd never believe he of all people held any sort of admiration for her. She had only ever been a prisoner and a snitch to him before, why be something more now?
But hell, when has that ever stopped him before?
There was no denying it anymore. He was deeply and irrevocably in love with Veronica Mars. Becoming one of many in fact.
Ever since her rapist had been unearthed, Veronica had moved on from the situation, concentrating more on teasing him after Madison's departure to USC. But lately the teasing had become more playful, and her visits to the station more occasional.
And he could only hope she felt the same way in return while tangled in the Egyptian cotton sheets of the Neptune Grand with Logan Echolls in her arms(!). God, he was being ridiculous. He should know the way of life by now.
"Can I stay here for a while? I have nowhere else to go."
But then he opened his apartment door to Veronica Mars, cold and carrying clothes and the South Park movie. And suddenly life didn't make sense anymore.
He was more than aware of the anxious boyfriend at the Neptune Grand and the even more anxious father at home, but who was he to complain when the woman of his every desire turns up on his doorstep?
After all, he was Sheriff Don Lamb. Simplicity was his middle name.