Elvis One Shots/Imagines

Memories - Elvis/Austin Butler

A/N:request by @aimee_loverxox! It's both of them, you'll see what I mean. Remembering Elvis today 8/16/2022 ❤️

———1958

When Vernon opened the door of Graceland, his body shaking and his tears reddening his cheeks, you knew something was awful. Something was very very wrong. He explained in broken words that Gladys had passed away.

Your hand came to your mouth, immediately feeling that pain in your heart. As much as it hurt to lose someone like Gladys for you, it must have been a thousand times harder for Vernon and Elvis. Vernon fell onto the steps, holding his head in his hands and crying. You heard wailing, loud moans that tore through your very being and knew it was Elvis. It had to be Elvis.

There, on the floor of his mothers closet, Elvis sat clutching one of her dresses to his chest. He was a mess. You felt tears fall onto your own cheeks but you ignored them, going to sit next to Elvis. He leaned his head on your shoulder, sobbing until his body hurt from sobbing. He cried until he had no more tears, until it was only limp wails coming from his mouth in spurts. He was dehydrated and exhausted, but the grief kept him awake. It forced him to replay each moment with her over and over in his head, reminding him that he would never see her ever again. She was gone.

Elvis knew that whatever he did in the future he'd have to do alone. Gladys wouldn't be at his wedding to you, wouldn't be there at the birth of her grandchild, wouldn't hear him sing across the country. He wouldn't get to hear her praises or disagreements over his career. He'd never get to show her his ideas for the future. It was all over and he couldn't believe it, his chest felt like it was on fire and he sobbed and sobbed. He was dry heaving, holding that blue dress to his body like it could bring her back from the dead.

You just held him, comforted him as you cried silently to the loss of Gladys. She might not have been your mother but you cared for her. And you cared for Elvis. The arrow of pain that punctured his heart went through and lanced your own, and you prayed that if there was a God that he would give it to you. Let you deal with it. Elvis has been through enough.

His body seemed to give out eventually and Elvis fell asleep in a ball against your body. You didn't dare move, didn't dare disturb the only peace he would have right now.

A few years later and the memory of Gladys still stun Elvis, but he could talk about her without crying. With the giant bouquet of red roses you'd bought, Elvis and you went out in the backyard of Graceland to visit Gladys. Every year you packed a picnic and ate with her. It was the 10 year anniversary.

Elvis placed the flowers on the gravestone, his fingers brushing along it for a second before sitting on the grass with you. You handed him his peanut butter and banana sandwich, biting into your own. You didn't say anything, the moment didn't call for it. After minutes of silence, you felt Elvis grab your hand through the grass. When you looked up, he had tears streaming down his face.

He didn't speak, he didn't look at you, his eyes were glued to his mother. And he wept, clinging to his life force that was you. Years and years later, and the pain never seemed to go. It morphed and matured with time, but it stayed a constant in his life. You leaned your head on his shoulder, letting him know that you were there for him. Through sickness and health, this was it. If there was a heaven, Gladys was up there sending down sunshine rays to spill over your faces.

——— 2022

You knew that Gladys Presley's grave was going to be one of the more difficult moments of the tour for Austin. He'd lost his mom at the same age, and it was one of the most heart wrenching connections between him and the King. Baz carried on in front of the group like a tour guide, spouting facts that he just knew off the top of his head.

You pulled back, holding Austin's hand. "You don't have to, you know that?"

Austin squeezed your hand, looking down, "I do."

"You don't have to reopen that wound."

Austin shook his head, "I'm not baby. I have to connect to him, to her."

You sighed, not wanting Austin to tear himself into pieces just for a movie role. His mental health was more important than all of this, couldn't he understand that? But even if he did, Austin pulled your joined hands up to his lips and kissed your knuckles. The two of you followed Baz to the garden where Gladys's elaborate grave was set up.

Baz started to explain their relationship, her death and how Elvis took it in great detail. You saw Austin tighten next to you, his Adam's apple bobbing with suppressed emotion as he took it all in. He was a calm man, never one to explicitly say what he was thinking. But you knew him, you knew the man you loved and you saw the raw emotion take over him as he fought to keep it down. Memories of his own mother came to mind. Her premature death. He was 23, the same age as Elvis.

Baz and the group started to move on, but Austin stayed. Feet planted in the ground as he looked at her grave. You squeezed his hand, leaning your head against his shoulder. Austin cried.

"It's okay baby," you murmured, just being with him.

Austin whimpered a little, bringing a hand to his mouth to try and cover his sobs. You held him as he silently cried. His chest hiccuped with each cry, memories of his mother flashing through him. Elvis's pain seemed to radiate within him, all these years later. His mother would never meet you, never meet any future grandchildren. She'd never know what a talented young man he'd become, how celebrated he is. She'd never get to attend the Elvis red carpet with him or see her baby boy win an Oscar.

Austin felt Elvis's spirit in him, Elvis's pain in him. If anything was to bond the pair, it was this right now. This moment of loss and grief, despair in a time of joy. The claustrophobic feeling of death and never getting to see the person you love the most. It was overwhelming and it made him feel so broken. He felt lost.

So Austin did what Elvis had done. He leaned into his partner as he cried, letting you hold him tightly. They had never been more united.