Anonymous asked:

Duke tries to get back together with Rose. Duke universe

Aside from the big one, I'm all out of prompts! Send in some more - I've got a long work day and mostly nothing to do!

Warnings for this one: infidelity mentions, written on my phone

"Thank you for giving me the house," Rose said, feeling incredibly awkward.

What did one say to their ex-husband after the finishing touches were put on the divorce decree and they were officially done? What did a person do when looking at someone they vowed to spend their life with and, even though they were wrong, they still carried affection for that person? Rose didn't know.

"You're the one who made it a home," Duke said. "It was only right."

They stood on the sidewalk, facing one another, and Rose didn't know how to walk away. It was too flippant to say "see you!" and it was too formal to say "Goodbye" and she certainly couldn't say "I have to go, Jake's waiting for me".

"Well, thank you. It does mean a lot to me." Rose smiled at him. "I'm really sorry, Duke, for how everything happened, and I hope you're happy."

"I was happy with you," Duke said quickly. "We were happy together, I know we were."

"We were," Rose agreed, because she wouldn't have married him in the first place if it hadn't been true. "But -"

"It was terrible, what you did," Duke said, "but we've had time apart to heal. Do you ever wish you hadn't done it?"

"I wish I hadn't done it the way I did but as happy as we were, we weren't happiest. I'm happiest now and all I want is for you to find that too." Rose felt like the conversation was spiralling.

"I was happiest with you. And I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't at least tell you that. Tell you that we can work through the pain and be stronger and that all I want is you. I want you. I love you. We can go back. Please."

He was breaking her heart but, Rose supposed, it was fair. She'd broken his.

"Duke," she said, as gently as she could, but she knew none of it was truly gentle, "I don't want to go back. I wish you the best."

And then without a goodbye, Rose ran away.