"picture, you're the queen of everything. as far as the eye can see."
…
[fairytale]
He knows life isn't a fairytale. Fuck, life is everything but a fairytale. His father (because a piece of shit like him doesn't deserve a to be a dad) was and always had been a deadbeat, his mom needs to work two jobs so she can provide for them and for the longest time he thought he was going to end up just like his father. For the longest time had proven that he was going to end up just like him. He was always getting in trouble and skipping classes and disappointing his mom.
And then he met her. Marley. He didn't want to change (he was fine with being a total dick, he was just making sure the long line of Puckerman jackasses didn't stop at him) but maybe some how along the line he did.
He never wanted to be a stereotype, he never wanted them to be a stereo type. With him being the notorious bad boy who falls for the innocent, good girl and suddenly wanting to change his entire life. Well, fuck that.
Marley's so much more than innocent and good. Those words couldn't even capture the essence of Marley Rose. She was amazing, talented, sweet and also really smokin' but she was kind of perfect to him, you know?
And he was still him. He was still a badass, only now he just really wanted to impress a girl, Marley, and keep her for at least a while, not for a night or two.
[princess]
She's not as high maintenance as other chicks. She doesn't want him to call her every night before he goes to sleep (he still does but whatever) or wants him to stop seeing his friends who happen to be girls (they're not even remotely as hot as Marley so she really has nothing to worry about anyway) or wants him to remember stupid anniversaries like 'one week together' or 'first day we accidentally matched outfits' or 'two days since we kissed for the eight time' and he likes that about her. Not because he's lazy or wants something on the side or doesn't want to make her feel special, but because she accepts that deep down, Jake Puckerman has no idea about what romance is or what makes girls happy (besides in the bed, but that's not the point).
Sometimes he catches her gazing over at Artie pulling Sugar onto his lap with a longing smile or sighing sadly when she sees Sam offering Brittany half of his brownie he only took to school because off her in the first place (that dude is so whipped it's funny) or bite her lip to keep herself from smiling too widely when Finn hands that New York chick he's always talking about a rose in front of the entire Glee club (he has no game) and he knows that she wants that. She wants the romance. He just doesn't know how to give it to her.
He debates on asking Puck for help but to be honest he's sure that his brother doesn't really have that part down either (he recalls hearing Quinn yell at him for staring at her boobs again when they were having Thanksgiving dinner with the entire Puckerman family) and Ryder is not really an option after the whole I-want-Marley-more deal so he decides to improvise.
He skips his dance class and surprises her with a CD with her favorite songs. Since he's incapable of ever admitting how much exactly she means to him he wrote 'for marley - jake' on the CD and he kind of feels like it should be some big, romantic, special message but when it comes to her— his mind just goes blank, like she totally calms him but drives him completely insane at the same. Shit, maybe he should've written that down.
It took him almost half a day to figure out how to even put songs on a fucking CD and he didn't even have time to do his homework or eat but when he sees her smile he knows that U.S. history is really not that important at all right now, or ever. He knows it's not much and it could never compare to expensive jewelry or a romantic getaway or whatever the fuck those cheesy couples do in their spare time but he just went with it.
He actually planned to take her out to eat, see a movie and turn it into a date but they spend the rest of the night listening to that damn CD with songs from Pink or some crap and they make-out on her bed and share a blanket when it starts getting cold (and she slips her foot in between his legs and her hand is slowly running up and down his arm and her head is resting on his chest and all he can think about is her fucking fingers on his skin), so in the end it wasn't that bad at all. All because of a damn CD.
He knows she doesn't long for him to do it, but he kinda wanted to. She doesn't need much, she doesn't want much for him. All it takes is a small gesture and she's smiling at him like he's hung the moon and it's so awesome that's she's fucking smiling because of him. He never makes anyone smile. He knows she just wants to feel appreciated every now and then, feel like a princess.
[wicked witch]
Kitty is a fucking bitch. He repeats that over and over in his head as he helps clean Marley's shirt for the third time that week. He thought after joining Glee club that maybe she would be a bit nicer but he guessed he was wrong.
He tightens his jaw as he starts scrubbing the fabric of Marley's sweater even harder. He sees Marley blowing a piece of hair out of her face in the corner of his eyes, her cheeks tinted red and her hair wet from the slushie. She sighs as she continues washing her hat, or beret or whatever, and he scrubs even harder, wishing it was Kitty's face. She turns to him, stopping his hands as she gives him a look.
He asks her if she doesn't just want to rip out Kitty's hair since he can't do it and she laughs at him and he just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand how she can't be pissed and hateful and ready to punch a wall at the plain sight of the blond headed bitch in the Cheerios uniform.
She tells him about karma or some shit and that she won't stoop down to her level and he guess it figures, you know. Marley's too nice, always been, always will. Even when some pathetic, frustrated, maybe bored cheerleader tries to tear her down every day of the week.
She smiles at him in her white tank top with her flustered cheeks and sparkly eyes, runs a hand over the side of his face and he just really, really thinks she's amazing and strong and really amazing— so, so amazing.
Later when Marley gets picked over Kitty for a solo at sectionals he catches the glimpse of a victory smile on Marley's face, squeezing his hand (as if she was telling him that good things do happen to good people) and she would never admit it but she's fucking glad she had the chance to put Kitty in her place (even if it wasn't with violence).
[white horse]
He doesn't have a car, all he has is a razor scooter and an old torn up kart from his childhood that is falling apart, so most of the time the end up walking when they go out. He knows it's stupid he feels insecure about not having a car and he never fucking feels insecure (he's a guy for God's sake, do guys even feel insecure?) but with her he always does. It's probably because he can't take her out on many real dates, just once every while when he's saved up enough money, and they usually just end up at school (school in their free time, what the hell), on the bleachers talking or kissing or sitting in silence.
But on some nights, when it's cold and she has to huddle extra close to him and her hand slips into his and her cold nose presses against the crook of his neck when she hugs him goodbye, he guesses walking isn't really that bad.
[villain]
He knows he's done bad things to himself, other people, mainly girls. Mostly because he never saw the point in pursuing a damn relationship because all the people around him broke up anyway but he didn't think he was the bad guy this time. Not with Marley.
He knows that sometimes he hurts her pretty bad by staring a little bit too long at some girl that passes them or by initiating another stupid fight about nothing, his temper getting the best of him and words just slipping out of his mouth before he can even think about what he's saying. It's not like he deliberately tries to hurt her or likes to hear the sound of her crying after she locked him out of her house but sometimes his rage, his temper, gets the best off him.
So when he sees her with Ryder (fucking Ryder with his perfect hair and perfect athletic skills and perfect personality and perfect voice— fucking Ryder who seems to be every one's fucking God around here) laughing and smiling and fucking touching while deep down he knows Ryder would never do the things he does to her— he considers that maybe this time, even this time, especially this time, he is the villain in this story.
[serenade]
He doesn't really sing for other people. He recalls singing a song for his mom's birthday once and he auditioned for glee club (it were like four people) but it's not like he's actually ever sung in front of hundreds of people before. During Sectionals he feels like throwing up the entire time and during Regionals it's twice as worse— and he doesn't even have that many fucking solos.
But those nerves he feels are nothing compared to the ones he feels when he sings to Marley or with Marley. He swears if her voice was a real solid thing it'd feel like silk and smell like daisies and taste like cotton candy because her voice is pure magic and it just does something to him. And when he sings to her, it's even worse because she's looking up at him with those big blue eyes filled with adoration or something like that and it just makes him want to be so much better (not at singing but at being him) and it kind of scares him.
[first kiss]
He thinks about their first kiss a lot when he's alone. Not when they're sitting on the bleachers and she leans her head on his shoulder or when they're in his room playing video games and she keeps cheating and brushing her arm along his. He's pretty much always thinking about Marley when he's not with her. Which is kind of new and kind of distracting and kind of creeping him out.
He remembers the way her soft cheek felt in his hand and how her thin fingers wrapped around the fabric off his shirt and the look on her face right before their lips touched. He can't describe the feeling he had when that happened- it was indescribable, nothing he had felt before, something he wanted to do over and over and over until their lips were sore.
[fairy godmother]
She talks about you all the time. The words kept ringing through his head like they were a song he couldn't stop singing and he was just frustrated and totally confused by Marley and Ryder and Marley and Ryder but Mrs. Rose gave him this smile like she knows something he doesn't and he just went for it, you know?
He asks her out and at first she says no (well, actually Ryder says no for her so it doesn't count) but then she asks him out (or tries to) and he's never been this over the moon about a damn date.
Many weeks later, when he tiptoes down the stairs in the dead of night after Marley not wanting to stop kissing him (hey, he wasn't complaining at all) and he almost dies when he catches Mrs. Rose in front of the TV, a look of amusement on her face as he tries to sweet talk himself out of it. He tries the 'I fell asleep' excuse and she nods but he knows she knows the real reason he was still there and that she doesn't hate him for it. Which is totally awesome.
[ball gown]
He doesn't want to go to prom. He doesn't do prom. He hates prom.
He hates wearing a tuxedo that makes it hard to breath and he hates spending money on stupid shit like limousines and corsages and he hates listening to top forty music all night long (Glee club is awesome sometimes— this is one of the times it's not).
When Marley comes down the stairs in a homemade baby blue dress with a sweetheart neckline and wearing the widest smile he's ever seen he realizes he loves prom (and her, he does really love her, too). Prom is fucking awesome.
The music isn't that bad and Marley loves the corsage and the limousine so much she clings onto him like it's the fucking last time she's seeing him, placing a kiss on his cheek and the best part of it all is Marley. He even gets a free pass to 'accidentally' lower his hands onto her ass when they dance (the fifth time she gives him this look that tells him he shouldn't try a sixth time) and even though he has to dance to slow songs, too, he doesn't totally hate being this close to her.
That night when with tears in her eyes she whispers in his ear that everything was perfect tonight, and they have really awkward, messy, amazing, perfect sex he finally builds up the courage to tell her he loves her.
And he thanks the fucking lord or whoever is up there when she tells him she loves him, too because he might have died if she didn't.
[rescue]
He finds out about her eating disorder about two minutes after he hears Kitty asking her if she's still vomiting to stay thin as they enter the bathroom.
It makes him so mad at himself for not noticing sooner, for Kitty for fucking talking her into it at Marley. At her, mostly, because how can she not see how beautiful she is? She's perfect, for God's sake. She's so perfect that at night he lies awake thinking about her and she's so perfect that every time she smiles at him he feels like he could conquer anything, she's so perfect that he could bet his life on the fact she's going to be someone important after high school.
It doesn't come out of his mouth at the time because he's really bad with words and thoughts and his mind loves screwing things up (another damn almighty Puckerman quality— curse— he got stuck with) so he takes action instead. He's better at the physical stuff anyway. He practically knocks down the door of the girls' bathroom and drags her outside, ignoring her until the point she's telling him he's hurting her.
He lets go off her arm and he wants to ask her so many things like why, when, how, why, damnit, why, Marley? Instead all he can blurt out is something like but you're so fucking skinny, baby and he sees the tears in her eyes and all that follow are sobs and apologies from her (from fucking her because she's that good of a person— apologizing for a fucking eating disorder) and he just doesn't feel angry anymore. Not even a tiny bit because for some screwed up reason she has the idea she's fat.
He holds her, whispers it's okay's against her hair, rubs her back and makes her promise she won't do it again— that if she ever feels like doing it she could come to him or call him or text him or whatever but, baby, please don't do it again. She nods against his chest and many weeks (breakdowns, phone calls in the middle of the night, cries, breakthroughs) later— when it's snowing outside and they're watching a bad lifetime Christmas movie, her legs draped over his lap as they share a blanket— he offers her the bowl with popcorn, she bites her lip and looks up at him, telling him 'thank you' as she accepts it and he knows it not just any thank you.
He kind of feels proud of himself in that moment, because in a way he saved the girl he kind of really loves from something bad and it's like he has actually accomplished something in his sorry ass life.
[prince charming]
He knows a lot of people think he's a bad influence on Marley because now and then they skip a class or she's late because he wouldn't let her go without making our for at least five minutes beforehand.
He's not stupid. He knows she'll always be sweet, innocent Marley no matter what he does. He knows that he'll always find a way to royally screw things up. But he kind of likes that he's not the only one changing (the other day when she shoved him and called him an asshole for commenting on her new dress a little bit too lovingly, she apologized for about an hour until he was finally able to stop laughing and convince her he'd been called way, way, way worse).
He also knows that all those people (the ones who whisper when they walk down the hallways, the ones who stare when they eat lunch together, the ones who totally don't have a life and instead pry on theirs) can suck it, because he has the girl and the girl isn't any girl— it's Marley fucking Rose and she loves him. Him. Jake.
And that keeps him sane, convinces him that he must have done something right and that they (whoever 'they' is) are wrong. He isn't corrupting Marley Rose. Hell, he's pretty sure she's corrupting him.
[kingdom]
Lima ain't special, just another deadbeat town too good for people like Marley Rose and Tina Cohen-Chang. Lima is his home, though and he can't hate the town for the people in it. People make fun of him for being half-white, half-black, half-Jewish about ninety percent of the time, people make fun of his friends' dreams, people make fun of Marley's mom, people make fucking fun of everything but he could care less.
Because when he walks down that damn hallways in McKinley with Marley he knows that in ten years, when he and Marley are together (or apart, the voice is his head keeps reminding him that everything ends) living somewhere sunny like California or some shit and Marley's selling hit records— he won't remember their names or faces. Secretly, they rule this school and soon, everyone'll know it, too.
[castle]
The white bleachers next to the football field are kind of their Jerusalem, so to speak. No matter what he does, no matter how big the fight they got in was, no matter how much he fucking hates football(players) (and she doesn't even know whatever the fuck is going on when they see one of Ryder's games)— they always end up back there.
It's where they first sang together, it's where he first fell for her (for her eyes, for her voice, for her kind heart), it's where their first and third break-up was, it's where they spend most of their time.
And it's not even remotely okay how much he's attached to those damn bleachers but it's all because of Marley. Because of Marley he started going to Geometry, because of Marley he now knows all the words to 'call me maybe', because of Marley he's seen the movie 'mean girls' so much he's starting to like it, because of Marley he's fucking in love with a pair of bleachers. That damn girl has him wrapped around her pretty, little, lean finger and she doesn't even know it.
[one true love]
Now that he's with Marley it's not like he lost his eyes or suddenly is repulsed by every girl. All he knows is that there are so many hot girls— but they don't drive him crazy like she does and they don't even add up to Marley Rose in the slightest way.
[happily ever after]
He doesn't believe in happy endings. He's seen too much fucked up things to believe in a happy ending. He doesn't want them to end (even though he knows she must get sick of him soon, must get fed up with his temper someday, must leave because that's what people do). So he makes sure they'll never get to the happy ending and just stick right along somewhere in the sad, frustrating, angry, happy middle because there's only one ending to every story, but a lot of middle and he wants a whole lot of with Marley, you know?
…
"under your command, i will be your guardian when all is crumbling to steady your hand."
…
AU: This fic is slightly based on a Hart of Dixie fic from . .you, if you watch HoD I definitely recommend it. The song is by the Fray. I own nothing. Okay, so otp: I know I do. I am so in love with Marley and Jake (and Jake— my, my, my Jacob Artist can be my superman any day of the week) that I had to write this. Unfortunately there aren't many Jarley fics out there to feed my addiction and there isn't much personality shown for me to be totally sure this isn't all OOC (I hope it isn't because reasons) but here's my try at a Jake/Marley one shot. I loved writing it so much. Thank you for reading this. A review would make my year! ! !