Hey everyone! Make sure you re-read last chapter before this one, seeing as how I've done some editing to it, just so you're not confused! There's a longer A/N at the end of the chapter explaining, I just thought I'd give you a warning here too :) Also, don't skip through parts that seem familiar, some are a little different ;) Thanks and happy reading!
It took Pete a moment to regain his bearings when he drifted into consciousness. He wasn't at home- this bed was much more comfortable and something was tickling his face. Opening his eyes to find Maisy curled under his chin, Pete remembered how differently his night had ended compared to what he expected when they stumbled into her apartment.
Once Maisy had to stifle a yawn as they made out on the floor between the couch and the coffee table, it dawned on them how late, or early it was. Gathering his jacket he gave Maisy a kiss goodnight and walked to the door.
"Wait!" Maisy had called out, stopping him short. "Just because we won't sleep together, doesn't mean we can't sleep together, does it?" Maisy asked a bit coyly.
"Nah it doesn't." He had said his voice gravelly with the hour and grasped her outstretched hand allowing her to lead him to the bedroom.
If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that he would be giving the boys an abridged version of the night's events when they inevitably asked, lest they rip the piss out of him until his face turned blue, Pete thought with a snort. Especially if he told them how he wasn't disappointed, not even in the slightest, with the night's outcome.
Brushing Maisy's hair out of his face he began to chuckle in earnest realizing Jerry had wiggled his quickly growing body between theirs sometime in the night. Now jostled awake, Maisy looked confused before a sleepy smile crawled across her face.
"Morning." She grinned giving Pete a few lazy kisses. Pete didn't even mind the tickling sensations as her hair caught on his stubbly jaw.
"It's actually nearly twelve in the afternoon." He remarked as he caught the time on her sunflower alarm clock. "Although, this isn't a bad way to start the day." Pete said smugly drawing a giggle from Maisy before he drew her head to his to kiss her soundly on the mouth.
"Not bad at all." She agreed, slightly deepening the kiss before grinning sheepishly when her stomach grumbled loudly.
"What do you say to getting out of here, stopping my place so I can get out of this fucking whistle, and then I'll take you out for a bite to eat, yeah?" Pete suggested as Maisy stretched and twisted in his arms, wringing the sleep from her joints.
"That sounds great. Wanna go someplace outdoors so we can take Jerry for a walk? I feel like I've been a bad dog-mommy lately…someone has been taking up all my attention." She mock-sighed with a sassy look in her eye, then let out an embarrassing squeak as Pete rolled himself on top of her, a wicked glint lighting his eyes.
"I think someone wants some more."
"Did you know that you have a freckle just behind your right ear?" Maisy asked Pete breathlessly as she laid a heated kiss upon it. For the last fifteen minutes she had been trying to leave his flat, and yet found herself being consistently sidetracked. After spending a lazy Sunday afternoon together traipsing around London, they had retired to Pete's shabby apartment wading out their remaining time together curled up on the couch, waiting until Pete had to meet up with the boys, their usual Saturday "Lads' Time" now postponed to Sunday.
"No I didn't; maybe you should look for more." Pete replied haughtily, roughly pulling her off his neck and back to his mouth. Leaning off of the wall he spun to press her back against the wall by the door; his hand grazing down her thigh until he captured her knee and pulled it up to hook onto his hip, using his weight to leverage her higher. Maisy groaned against his mouth, conflicted.
"I have to leave." She whispered, breaking their kiss, seeing the sky darkening through the window past Pete's shoulder. In lieu of a response Pete's lips trailed from the corner of her mouth to the corner of her jaw, then down to just above her pulse. "That's not playing fair." Maisy moaned, scraping her short nails along the nape of his neck, eliciting a low growl from Pete. "I swear, if you leave a mark…"
Pete raised his head with a smug, mischievous glint in his eyes, allowing her to clasp his face in her hands, "Too late." He murmured against her lips, coaxing them into deep kiss. "I still don't see why you have to go," He rasped when his front door suddenly burst open. Pete moved defensively in front of Maisy, his body instinctually preparing to fight the intruder until he recognized the dark figure in the doorway.
"Fuckin' hell, Bovver!" He cried, realizing the trespasser was his best mate.
"I knocked." Bovver said unrepentantly, as if he had walked into his own empty flat.
"That's why." Maisy mused to herself as she tried to settle her racing heart.
"Yeah, bruv, we were a bit busy." Pete explained with a slightly amused smile in the same way parents discourage their children from doing something both adorable and forbidden. Maisy blushed as Bovver looked her over, his eyes focusing momentarily with a tinted glare on the sleeve that Pete had pulled down her shoulder. Righting it she squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze.
"Yeah I can see that." Bovver said with a sniff, looking around the room. Maisy stood on her tip toes and gave Pete kiss goodbye, finally able to extricate herself from the apartment.
"I'll be 'round later, Love." Pete grinned.
"'Kay. Bye, Bovver." Maisy said with a friendly smile, receiving only a pair of raised eyebrows and a mumbled "cheers" as a response. Maisy laughed internally at the resemblance between him and her students as she closed the door behind her.
Though she knew it should worry her, even hurt her that her boyfriend's best friend seemed to disapprove of her, Maisy couldn't help but find it amusing. Bovver reminded her of herself after her younger sister Sarah was born, territorial and unsure of her own place in her family. She got that Pete and Bovver were close, almost like siblings, and she was the new girl around. That would mean growing pains for a while, maybe eventually a few squabbles over toys-or Pete- but in the end they would learn to co-exist and perhaps even learn to be friends. In the meantime though, Maisy didn't mind giving Bovver his space until he worked himself out.
"So what're you doin' here so early, mate? I thought we wasn't meetin' up till eight?" Pete asked affably after she left, pulling two beers out of the fridge as Bov let himself into the apartment.
"She's making herself right fucking comfortable, in't she?" Bov replied tossing one of Maisy's cardigans off of the couch arm and onto the ground before flopping down in front of the television. Pete's shoulders tensed in anticipation.
"Leave it, Bov." Pete heaved a sigh, handing his oldest friend the beer before picking up the sweater and joining him on the couch. "I'm serious- I like her. A lot." Pete stated resolutely, sending Bovver a cautionary fierce look over his Foster's before focusing his eyes on the screen. "I asked her to be my girl friend last night."
Bovver studied his friend's profile with a clenched jaw. The traits that many others took for normal and celebrated as parts of the human condition, Bovver took for weakness; like love and trust. Ironically, he had aligned himself in the schoolyard playground with a man whom, unbeknown to most, abounded in a willingness to do both. For a guy like Bovver who preferred to strategize and contemplate, Pete's impulsiveness and wholeheartedness confidence in others drove him to his wit's end. Hadn't they both been burned by that fire before?
Cracking his neck to relieve some of the tension building up in his shoulders, Bovver allowed this skirmish to pass, choosing your battles and whatnot; though he would never admit it aloud, Bovver had missed Pete the last couple weeks when his attention had been eaten up by Maisy. He was smart enough to know if Pete was this serious- making it official and all- it was going to take more than some whining to get him to break things off with The Yank Bird.
Christ, what is it with Dunhams and Yanks?, Bovver pondered, baffled. He found himself to be more of a "use 'em and lose 'em" type bloke.
Turning toward Pete with a slow sneer crawling across his harsh features, he let out a choked snort, "Have I told you 'bout that leggy blonde from the Abbey yet?"
Maisy sat in her living room, surround by curriculum materials, though unable to glean anything from the brightly colored pages.
Pete was supposed to arrive around 11 and the clock had just struck midnight. No call, no smoke signal, nothing. Swallowing down the nervousness she felt building up in her chest, Maisy tried to distract herself by trying to concoct an activity to go along with an upcoming reading lesson. Unable to focus on the lessons Maisy took to wandering around the clustered flat straightening the couch seat cushions, organizing the tiny bathroom closet, and bookcases.
Just as she began to consider pulling her hair out with nerves, Jerry's piercing yips brought her attention to the door as three heavy knocks landed on it.
With Maisy's heart leaping into her mouth, she leaped up from organizing her CD's and lunged for the door.
"Happy to see me, are we?" Pete laughed, ignoring her astounded gasp as she threw open the door. Maisy's fingers danced around his cheekbones and jaw, appraising the various cuts and emerging bruises. "That's alright, love." Pete dismissed pulling her hands away, trying to distract her with a mischievous glint.
"It's not alright, that cut by your eye looks pretty deep, what happened?" Maisy asked with a worried look in her eye, causing her eyebrows to curl together in concern. This was the look he hated most of all from birds; the clucking, mother hen, let-me-heal-your-wounds sympathy stare. Yet, when Maisy gave him that look he decided the outcome might not be half that bad and let her lead him to the couch.
"Fucking Gooners. Cunts jumped us right off the tube," He grumbled.
"What is that, a gooner? Some kind of Queen's English word for ass?" She laughed sarcastically as he settle onto the couch.
"Something like that." He mumbled.
"Did you get a few licks in at least?" Maisy asked, failing to constrain her smile as she continued to inspect his injuries now that she could actually reach them.
"You know it, babe." Pete laughed.
"I'm gonna go look for some disinfectant. Be right back." Maisy said with a kiss to the un-bloodied corner of his mouth before flitting down the hallway to the bathroom closet.
Rooting through the bins in search of the first aid kit she'd just seen, she couldn't help but shake her head and let out a light snort. Being raised in a relatively hippie Vermont household, Maisy had always been taught violence was never the answer; yet when she thought about the battle worn body resting on her couch and the way he had stepped in front of her when Bovver barged in on them earlier, she found it entirely…sexy.
Spotting and grabbing the small basket from the closet Maisy brushed the distracting thoughts out of her head and vowed to watch less TV.
"Of all the birds in London, I go and pick the nerd." Pete ribbed holding up the copy of "Othello" that Maisy had been reading as he re-entered the room.
"Hey! I was up, bored and waiting while you got your ass served to you!" Maisy replied with a good-natured laugh, "Besides, I needed a good love story. My own love life is painfully barren you see- no prospects." Maisy deadpanned, straddling his lap and set to mending the cut by his eye.
Taking a handful of her hips, Pete pulled Maisy closer, "That so?" He asked nipping at her shoulder. Maisy gave him a playful yet forceful shove back, in return.
"Yeah, now let me fix your eye." She implored, opening a bottle of disinfectant and dabbing some on a square of gauze. Pete winced as he watched the gauze come closer to the sensitive skin of his face, and seemed surprised when it didn't sting as bad as he thought it would.
"How'd you do that?" Pete murmured as Maisy continued her work.
"My mom's a nurse, remember? I spent a good 5 years idolizing her when I was younger, picked up a few things." She chuckled with a shrug, her eyes never leaving her work. He searched her face for the drop of sorrow that used to spread across her delicate features when she spoke of the family she left across the ocean. His heart warmed a bit when he saw it didn't come, and he wondered if that had something to do with him. Searching for something to distract his thoughts he picked up Maisy's discarded book.
"How's this shit romantic? Doesn't he smother the chick in their bed?" Pete asked skeptically as he thumbed through the worn pages.
"You've read it?" She responded just as skeptically.
"Fuck off- I'm a history teacher! It's my job to know-" Pete began to rant with a sudden fervor.
"Ok, ok! I surrender!" Maisy joked before answering his question, "He only strangles her because he's heartbroken- driven mad with jealousy. They had this epic love that transcended society's cares and concerns. They were supposed to be two halves a whole, made only for each other, and then he was tricked into thinking she cheated." Maisy murmured, as she moved from his cheek to disinfect the cut near his temple. A thought came to her and she couldn't help herself, "So if Bovver ever comes to you claiming I cheated make sure you get some bulletproof evidence before moving for the pillows." Pete chuckled wryly at the very real prospect of Bovver doing just that.
"Speaking of, how was Bovver after I left? He seemed a little cranky." Maisy asked, trying as best she could to keep her voice even.
"Fucking same." Pete said with a shake of his head and rough sigh. It seemed apparent that Pete was less comfortable with the situation than she was.
"He wasn't that bad." Maisy appeased noticing the tensing of Pete's shoulders. He merely gave her a look to tell her how full of shit he thought she was.
"It's always the same with'im though. I mean, Christ, you should've seen how long it took him to warm up to Ned and look at 'em now- tripping over themselves to kiss each others asses."
"Well then that proves it- he'll come around." Maisy comforted as she strategically placed small bandages, knowing full well he would take them off at the earliest possibility.
"Yeah but in the meantime he doesn't have to be such as arse about it. Especially when I've told 'im how much y-" He suddenly paused, rose tinting his cheeks. Maisy sat back on his lap, amusement twinkling in her eyes.
"Why Mr. Dunham, I do believe you're blushing." Pete's brow furrowed.
"Blokes, don't blush." He grumbled.
"Tell that to your cheeks." She laughed giving them an affectionate pinch before hopping off his lap.
"How about I make us some tea and then bed?" Maisy suggested as Pete sank further into the plush cushions of the couch, Jerry sidling up beside him.
"Sounds good." He mumbled covering his eyes with his forearm.
Opening her new electric kettle that her mother had sent over a week ago, Maisy read the instructions while waiting for Pete to return.
Be vigilant to hold handle firmly when pouring so as to decrease risk of spilling and burns.
"Hey I have a question for you." Maisy asked innocently, Pete on the brink of unconsciousness, "What's a firm?"
Taking a moment to assess how much she knew already, he removed his arm questioning, "Why do you ask?"
"Yesterday Stacy said something about how she's glad Ike doesn't tell her much about 'the firm' and then I overheard Dave's Aunt Tillie talking about how she was surprised Michelle married him and how she couldn't believe he invited his 'firm friends.'" Maisy said offhandedly as she adjusted the kettle's settings.
Pete knew he had to negotiate this topic properly seeing as how this conversation was probably long overdue; it just wasn't the easiest subject to broach.
My interests include sipping piña coladas, long walks on the beach and routinely getting pissed and beating the shit out of people, he thought ruefully.
Fire scorched his throat as he opened his mouth, trying to think of a way to form his words without sound like some sort of brutish thug.
"A firm is a group of… supporters of sorts, for football teams."
"Like a fan club?" Maisy asked, surprised.
"Sort of." Pete said with a squint of his eyes desperately trying to think on his feet of a way to explain this.
"So what's wrong with being in a fan club? The way Stacy and Aunt Tillie were talking about it, it sounded like you were a bunch of teenage hoodlums running around tearing down the city." Maisy questioned, feeling like there was more to be said.
"Sometimes we can get a bit…carried away with our supporting." Pete said speaking slowly, plotting his words, "Arguments break out between the different firms."
Maisy looked closely at him, wondering why he was struggling so much describing a simple fan club, when suddenly the pieces started to come together: the bruises he sported after matches, the way Aunt Tillie and her friend described them, the way other guests looked at him and the boys at the wedding, the nearly religious following the boys held to the soccer team.
"Oh my God." Maisy murmured looking at Pete as if for the first time, and that scared Pete. Not knowing what to say or do, he stood in her living room awkwardly staring back at her with unsure and searching eyes. "You get into fights don't you? That's why you always look terrible after you go to a match isn't it? You weren't playing soccer with your friends or rough housing with them- you were getting into fist fights with other teams." Maisy accused, waiting for him to deny it. He didn't.
"So, what? You go to the match with the boys then find some other firm to beat the shit out of?" Pete suppressed a smile at the attractive way her lips pursed when she was angry, knowing if there was any hope of coming back from this and salvaging whatever was going on between them, trying to distracting her- or any smart bird really- when she was mad would sufficiently crush that opportunity.
"You know me and the boys, Maisy. We'd never hurt some uninvolved person just for the hell of it. It's just something that goes along with love of the game, like a hobby." His eyes squinted as he took in the anxious thrumming of her body, "And if you're worried, you have to know I would never hurt you-ever." Pete stressed wanting to make that very clear.
"Oh, but beating some random guys you don't know is fine? Good to know." She said sarcastically, staring at him in perplexed amazement. "Also, I'm not sure that beating people up really constitutes as a 'hobby'." She huffed before looking back at him with another question in her eyes.
"Why did Tillie's friend mention you specifically?" She asked directly, not allowing his gaze to escape hers, "I'm sure Keith and Ned and Swill and Bovver are all in it too," She paused waiting to see if he corrected her and when he didn't she continued, "So why did she mention you in particular?" Thinking of how all of the guys seemed to look up to him, the confidence he held especially around them, the answer to the question dawned on her as she spoke the words.
"Because you're their goddamned leader aren't you!" She exclaimed. A solemn nod was the only reply he could muster. "I cannot believe this." Maisy groaned, forgetting about the kettle that had already begun to boil.
"What are you thinking?" Pete spoke quietly, his pride getting in the way of allowing him to grovel.
"Aside from the obvious problem of your terrible choice in extracurricular activities, I don't get why this coming out now- after a month of dating. After last night!" Maisy said, her voice rising higher, setting Pete on edge. This anger was a new side of Maisy, one he had never seen before.
Taking his pride down a notch, he continued slowly with trepidation, "I don't know what you want me to say."
Maisy's eyes bugged, "You don't know what to say? The one person I've come to trust after moving to another continent- the man I'm falling head over heels for reveals he's in a gang, and he doesn't 'know what to say'? How about 'I'm sorry for getting so close to you then turning out to have a really fucking shady other life?'" Maisy's breathe came in harsh panicked pants, speeding Pete's heart up as she seemed to have no intention of slowing down, "How about 'I'm sorry for making you care about me then suddenly letting you figure out I'm not the person I let on to be?' How about 'I'm sorry for lying to your face as you patched me up in your apartment, never mind the last month!?" She cried.
"Well, it's not exactly a fucking conversation starter, is it?" He shouted defensively. Seeing her slight flinch at his hardened tone, he rubbed above his brow.
"So what do we do?" He asked, unable to meet her steaming gaze.
"Get out." Maisy said barely surpressing a sob. Pete's eyes snapped up to meet hers.
"Wait, Mase-"
"Get out!" She called resolutely.
Shame morphed into anger as Pete gathered his things without another word, and crossed the apartment to the door. Locking the chain behind him, Maisy refused to watch him through the fish eye; instead, holding the tears at bay until she crawled under the sheets where she finally gave into the pain.
Hey guys I know this is a bit of a lackluster chapter but things are finally starting to move. The next chapter or so will delve into Maisy's back-story a bit more and set up the arc that will take us to the movie. Sorry for the lack of updates, my muse left for a while- this is like the 8th incarnation of this chapter :(
I've been readjusting this chapter and the last chapter because I felt I wrote Maisy OOC from what I planned on her being, especially her reaction to the firm, or rather Pete's lack of forthrightness regarding the firm (can you really blame him?), so for the next few chapters you might see some familiar parts.
Also, for those with some concerns about the pace of the relationship, remember at the beginning of last chapter I stated there was, I think, about a month between their first date and the wedding, they see each other nearly every day at work, and have been hanging out outside of the school, so I feel like that's plenty of time to cultivate a trusting relationship, which may be some fodder for the next chapter.
As always, please god-almighty review! Especially with his story, my first OC, I'd really love to hear what you all are thinking about the story, how you imagine the character growing, what you (dis)like, what you want to see more of, ect. I love each and everyone of them but the ones with a bit more thought to them (although all come with great intentions and are equally appriciated) really do help me focus and sharpen the story! Thanks again and happy weekend!