and i love her ▸ tate langdon ✓

27. nobody's daughter

You don't understand how damaged we really are
You don't understand how evil we really are

-

Marceline sat nervously at a table in some cafe as she waited for her mother to arrive.

They had agreed to talk and Melissa was over the moon that Marceline didn't just completely write her out of her life.

It was a little before noon and it was already hot. Even if it was just the middle of March. Marceline fidgets with her fingers, hoping this meeting won't be too awkward. She wanted Tate to come with as emotional support, but he said she had to do this on her own.

Eventually, Melissa arrives.

Dressed in her usual flowy dress and slightly messy hair, she sits down across from Marceline with a smile on her lips. "I'm glad you agreed to do this," she says.

Marceline looks up at the woman known as her mother and nods softly. She didn't even know where to begin. Marceline had this whole list of questions to ask, but none seemed to be worthy of even asking.

All of them would end up hurting, as well.

"How've you been?" Melissa asks, a smile on her glossy lips. Marceline shrugs. "Okay, I guess," she answers vaguely. Trying to stay optimistic, Melissa flags down a waiter and orders two cups of coffee.

"I'm sure you have questions and I'll be happy to answer anything," Melissa prefaces.

Marceline nods, sitting up in her chair. "Why now? Why do you want to be in my life?" she asks right away, not bothering with small talk or the nice-nice crap. Melissa swallows thickly, pushing her dark hair from her face.

"I have my life together. I grew up and got married. Adopted two great kids. And I realize, through all of this, that there was still one thing I needed to do," she says, pausing as the waiter sets down two mugs of coffee before walking off. "Make amends,"

Sighing softly, Marceline stays silent as she stirs some sugar and creamer into the coffee given to her. "Make amends with the kid you dropped off at a fire station," Marceline mumbles as she sips at her coffee.

Melissa frowns, playing with one of the rings on her fingers. "I was eighteen, Marcy. I knew no better," she tries to reason.

"Yeah. And my dad didn't want me either. So I woulda been better off aborted, huh?" Marceline snaps, glaring at the woman before her.

"I... love you. I know you might doubt that, but I keep you in my mind no matter what you think, I keep you in my mind. I hope you're happy. I hope your boyfriend treats you right. I hope you graduate and go on to have little kids or just live life," Melissa leans forward as she speaks.

Marceline takes a long sip from her coffee as she contemplates her next words. "It was a violation. Getting me to feel comfortable with you so you could know what was going on with me," she says.

"I know," Melissa concedes. "I knew I couldn't just say I was your mother because what I did was horrible,"

Marceline stares at her mother blankly, her hand cupping the warm coffee mug. "You're not lying?" Marceline asks, afraid to put too much trust into Melissa when the trust could easily be used against her.

"No. Swear to God,"

Her eyes fall down as she thinks it over. Marceline had no fucking clue what she was going to do here. "I need some time. I don't... I don't know,"

And with that, Marceline quickly stood up and left the cafe in a hurry.

-

Tate plays mindlessly with Marceline's hair, his eyes set on the TV as her head lays in his lap.

She refused to talk about how talking with her mother went, but Tate didn't mind. He assumed it didn't go all too well considering how she wouldn't speak about it.

They watch some crappy daytime show; the only thing on at noon on a Tuesday. Twisting her unbrushed hair around his finger, Tate shifts where he sits. Marceline doesn't move, telling him she must've fallen asleep.

Staying both still and quiet, Tate turns the TV down so she can sleep peacefully. He leans back on the couch, trying to calm his heavy thoughts.

These thoughts consisted of one thing-- murder.

They had shifted from dreams to everyday thoughts. He could be at dinner and he'd be imagining watching the life drain from someone's eyes.

But he isn't crazy.

He kills people who deserve better. He doesn't see death as some scary thing. He sees it as a release from the shitshow that is the world. And plus, he knows the secret. The secret that nobody ever truly dies.

People like Marceline were too good for the world. They don't deserve the shit they got. If he could make her life better by ending it, maybe that was what he needed to do.

Running his fingers through her long hair, Tate listens to her soft breathing as he lets his mind drift off into a pool of violent fantasies. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe his philosophy was off. But he didn't know that.

Because they always say that the villain thinks they're the hero in their own story.

-

March was coming to a close and April was fast approaching.

Tate and Marceline spent more and more time together than ever before. Due to their cutback on coke, they found themselves bored often.

They began to spend their time watching TV and just listening to new music but sometimes it got rather difficult to stay sober. Both of them had their fair share of temptation over the past weeks, but neither cracked.

Marceline's stepmother, Gloria, was getting hit like a truck with morning sickness and everything else you'd expect with pregnancy. But Marceline didn't care. Her resentment toward her father and Gloria only grew after finding out Mrs. Evergreen was her mother.

Her father never questioned how she was or where she'd go. It was like he had his own resentment against Marceline.

She felt stuck.

It was like the only thing she had in this life was Tate. And she had the forever lasting fear that he didn't love her as much as he used to. As if the novelty of being with her had worn off.

Hot water beats down on the both of them, Tate standing behind Marceline in the shower as he washes her hair. He had always enjoyed playing with her hair since it was always soft and very long.

She leans into his touch, moaning in pleasure as his fingers worked at her scalp. Once again, that nagging thought in the back of her head was telling her that Tate had fallen out of love with her. The thought pushed her so that she had to ask.

"You still love me, right?"

Tate exhales softly, hating how negatively she'd think about things. "Yes, Mars. I'll love you for the rest of my life and longer," he assures, still washing her hair. She sighs, her eyes fluttering shut. "I'm sorry. I just convince myself that you don't and it gets me... kinda paranoid," she admits.

"It's fine. I get how it feels to think the person you're devoted to doesn't share that feeling," Tate replies simply. "I would never harm you in any shape or form. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me,"

She blushes, feeling Tate's hands move down her shoulders as he finishes washing her hair. They swap places so that she could rinse the shampoo from her hair.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Marceline comments with a smile.

Tate chuckles. And if only she knew the malice behind that small, small laugh.

Two more chapters left :)

keep on gaslighting, gatekeeping, and girlbossing <3 have a great day

<< also, this was literally just a filler chapter so i apologize for that >>