Chapter Text
Hope tried to catch her breath as she made her way outside, she needed fresh air, she needed space to think. Hope’s brain was spinning, did that really just happen, did Josie really just confess that she has feelings for her.
Hope was just in a state of disbelief. When Josie admitted to her about being her childhood crush she couldn’t bare to lose, Hope thought her feelings for her were long in the past. It hurt Hope a little knowing once upon a time the two of them could have been together because Hope had once felt the same way, then life got in the way. It brought up so many “what ifs” about their past but right now she was just grateful to have Josie in her life at all.
This truth bomb Josie just dropped though, it changed everything. If she was being honest with herself, Hope’s pretty sure she never stopped caring about Josie and she’s pretty sure everyone knew she had a soft spot for the younger girl. It just seemed though for the longest time the universe didn’t want the two of them to be together. Every time it felt like she was ready to let the girl in, something or someone got in the way of that.
Like right now, what was Hope supposed to do, she’s still technically was with Landon. As mad as she is with him right now, is she ready to break up with him? She knows she cares about him but does she love him? She knows he’s been someone really important in her life but is he someone she can’t live without? Hope lets her mind drift back to their fight from the other day, was she overreacting or was this a valid reason for them to break up. He had made her doubt herself, made her out to be the bad guy and overall just made Hope upset. That’s not what you’re supposed to do in a relationship, you’re not supposed make the person you care about miserable or cry themselves to sleep. They aren’t supposed to make you feel bad about yourself. That person is supposed to lift you up, they are supposed to support your decisions or try and guide you down the right path. They may not agree with you but that’s when it turns into a discussion not an argument. They are supposed to make you feel loved, not make you feel like you are some bad guy.
Hope’s thoughts start to wander again and her thoughts fall on beautiful brown eyes. She thinks about the sweetest smile and the most beautiful voice she’s ever heard. Hope thinks about the way Josie has made her feel over the years and in these past 48 hours. When Hope told Josie about her argument with Landon, she took everything into consideration and understood where Hope was coming from. Josie has never made her feel like she wasn’t good enough or as if she was this big bad monster so many feared she would become. Josie saw the side of her father it seemed only Hope and a few other people thought was possible. She didn’t see the monster, she just saw Hope’s dad. Josie saw her for more than just her last name, to Josie she was Hope, the hero of her story.
But Hope still questioned herself, there were still too many conflicting thoughts in her head for her to make a decision, she needed to wolf out and run. As Hope was nearing the edge of the woods when a familiar voice pulled her from her thoughts.
“Hope wait, can you please just stop!” Landon called out to the tribrid.
“Please just leave me alone Landon,” Hope almost pleaded to the boy, she had too much on her mind to talk to him right now, she needed to run she needed to clear her mind. She wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him, not right now.
“Come on Hope we need to talk.” Landon comments as he finally catches up to her only a few steps behind now.
“Landon I said back off okay, please. I need to run right now.” Hope answers still walking towards the woods, she hasn’t looked back at him once during this exchange, but she could tell he was getting frustrated with her.
“Seriously Hope, I’m your freaking boyfriend, can you just stop and talk to me!” Landon actually yells at her and this causes Hope to freeze. In that moment, Hope knows exactly what she needs to do, but it doesn’t make this any easier. She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath as a few stray tears fall down her cheeks. Hope opens her eyes just before she finally turns around to come face to face with Landon. Frustration was written across his face but Hope could see this hurt in his eyes.
She knows this isn’t going to go well but she needs to say this, this needs to be done, so as she looks Landon in the eye she tells him softly, “I can’t do this anymore.”
Landon just looks a her a little confused, then it hits him and Hope can see his expression change to a combination of shocked and heartbroken. “What? Wait… are you breaking up with me right now?”
Hope sighs as her gaze falls to the ground, she wipes away the tear stains from her cheeks before she looks back up to answer him, “Yes Landon I’m breaking up with you.”
“I can’t believe this right now,” Landon begins to pace, running his hands thru his hair. Hope can tell he is hurt but then his demeanor and body language completely changes, Landon is tense as he looks back at Hope furious, “it’s because of Roman isn’t it? Do you still have feelings for him?” He shouts his questions at her.
“Oh. My. God.” Now it was Hope’s turn to snap, pissed at the boy in front of her for bringing up her ex again, “Landon, this has nothing to do with Roman! Look I may have forgiven him but I’m never going to be able to trust him enough to ever be in a relationship with him again. None of this is about Roman.”
Landon scoffs, still in disbelief of this whole situation and not satisfied by Hope’s explanation, “Yeah, sure.” He spits back sarcastically.
Hope expected Landon to be upset with her but this took a turn she was not expecting, and now she was fuming. She was so frustrated with him she could feel the magic seeping from her finger tips. Hope stops herself and takes a deep breath trying to compose herself, as mad as she was at the boy in front of her she couldn’t snap. She shuts her eyes as she takes another breath, when she looks back at Landon and notices his frustrated stare, she can’t hold back her words.
“No you know what, yes I’m partially breaking up with you because of Roman,” Hope starts clearly infuriated by his comments, “because for some fucking reason you can’t let go of MY past! He is one piece of my life that got me where I am right now and for, I don’t know what reason, you can’t stop bringing it up. So yes Landon we are done because you can’t move on from my past, so why should I give you any part of my present or even my future.”
Landon quickly realizes he’s fucked up and tries to defuse the situation a little, “Come on Hope, it’s not like that.”
But Hope was not having it, “No? Then what is it Landon? Because every time I’ve asked you to drop the subject you keep bringing it up. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and bad decisions in my life that I regret. Forgiving Roman isn’t one of them and if you are going to judge me for one of the few things I’m okay with, what are you going to do when it’s something I’m not proud of. Are you going to call me a monster? Are you going to make me question everything I’ve ever done? Are you going to push me to make decisions because it’s how you would do it or because it’s what you wish you could do or have?” The tears started to flow again, not from any sort of sadness or grief but from frustration and anger.
“Hope, hey come on please. We can figure this out okay, look I promise I’ll do a better job of listening to you and communicating my feelings with you.” Landon begs as he takes a step closer, “I mean once Roman is gone, I promise I won’t ever bring it up again, I mean out of sight out of mind right. I promise we can make this work."
It’s Hope’s turn to scoff at the boy, this is unbelievable. “No we can’t. This was just the tipping point Landon, I realized now, this was never going to work.”
“Hope come on what other possible reason do you have for us not being together, I mean we are perfect for one another. We’ve both been broken and we understand each other, I know you’ve lost people you loved but look I’m a phoenix I’m basically indestructible. Besides this little bump in the road what is there from stopping us from being together forev-“
“I don’t love you.”
“You…” Landon looks at her like she just punched him in the chest, unable to get the words out.
“I don’t love you Landon. I care about you, I know that, but I’m not in love with you.” Hope says calmly and very matter of factly. Silence fills the space between them as she can tell Landon is finally realizing what she just said.
“So we’re done?” He asks just above a whisper.
“Yeah we’re done.” Hope states as she starts to walk back towards the woods so she could turn. After a few steps however she stops as she looks back at Landon one last time, “I’m sorry Landon.”
Then she was gone, disappearing into the woods and leaving Landon alone with his thoughts.
—————————————————————————————————————
Lizzie and Josie were still seated at their table in the auditorium, it had been about half an hour since the last singer of the night had left the stage, and it had been almost two hours since Hope had left Josie to imagine the worst.
The twins had been sitting in silence, Josie just staring off into space as Lizzie stared at her with concern. Lizzie’s gaze shifting towards the doorway every now and then whenever there was movement of someone passing by, praying that one of those people would be Hope.
“Jo we should probably head up to bed, come on. Hope will come find you when she’s ready.” Lizzie tells her as she rubs her back comfortingly, trying to get her attention.
“Yeah, sure.” Josie answers in a bit of a daze, “Umm actually, I think I’m gonna hangout down here for a few more minutes, okay?” Josie asks looking over at her sister and Lizzie understands she needs the moment to be alone.
“Okay I’ll see you upstairs.” Lizzie tells her as she rises from her seat. She stands behind her sister to hug her around her shoulders and gives her a kiss on the top of her head. “Don’t stay down here too long.”
As Lizzie heads out the doorway she stops to take one last look back at her sister. Her head had fallen into her hands as her arms rested on the table. Lizzie released a sigh feeling her sisters heartbreak. As she walked the halls towards the staircase her attention is quickly caught by the sudden opening of the front door to find Hope walking in.
“HOPE!” Lizzie whisper yelled as she approached the older girl, “Where the hell have you been?! It’s been 2 freaking hours!” The blonde caught Hope off guard as she punched her in the shoulder.
“Ow! Lizzie what the-“ Hope starts to defend herself but Lizzie cuts her off.
“Where were you?!”
“I uh had a lot on my mind and I needed to go for a run.” Hope defends as she rubs her shoulder, “I had some stuff I had to deal with. Have you seen Josie?”
“What stuff was so important-Wait.” Lizzie stops herself taking in the expression on Hope’s face, her eyes were a little red and puffy like she had been crying. She had the same look on her face when Lizzie interrupted her argument with Landon last night, “Did, did you break up with Landon?”
Hope scratched at the back of her neck, “Yeah, yeah I did.”
Before Hope could say anything else Lizzie pulled her into a tight embrace, it took Hope a second to react being caught off guard again by Lizzie’s actions but she welcomed and reciprocated Lizzie’s hug.
As the two started to pull away from each other Hope looked up at Lizzie as she asked again, “Lizzie, where’s Josie?”
With a sincere smile on her face Lizzie tilted her head to point back down the hallway, “She’s still in the auditorium,” Lizzie looked back at Hope before she added, “waiting for you.”
This made Hope’s heart beat a little quicker and her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. The two gave each other a knowing look, acknowledging they both understood the meaning behind Lizzie’s words. Lizzie smirked at the shorter girl as Hope gave her a nod and started to head towards the auditorium.
When Hope made it to the doorway, she quickly notices Josie still sitting where she had originally found her earlier that night. Hope noticed the slight shake in Josie’s body as her face rested in her hands, she was crying and this broke Hope knowing she was probably the cause of this. All she wanted to do was hug her and tell her she was sorry but Hope hesitated, she wasn’t quite sure if that would be enough for the younger girl. Hope honestly hadn’t really thought any of this through, all she could think about was finding Josie and now that she has, she was at a loss for words. Hope just stood there in the doorway staring at Josie when in the corner of her eye she noticed the younger girls guitar sitting next to her. Hope’s thoughts immediately go back to Josie’s performance, to the song she sang for Hope, that’s when Hope got an idea. She shifts her gaze toward the front of the room where the stage was still set up to find, yes the piano is still in here.
Hope quickly and quietly made her way over to the piano, she took a seat and positioned herself to play the first notes. She looked up from the keys back to where Josie was seated, keeping her eyes locked on the younger girl as she started to play. Josie froze at the sudden sound of the piano filling the auditorium, she immediately recognized the tune, after all she did listen to that melody for basically 3 straight hours yesterday. She quickly removed her hands from her face to wipe away the tears, she took a deep breathe before she turned in her seat to face the piano and the musician playing it.
Lizzie was right, Hope did come back and she was playing the song Josie fell in love with yesterday morning. There she was, staring right back at Josie with those gorgeous ocean blue eyes and a shy smile on her lips. Josie seemed to relax out of instinct to whenever Hope was around, but this was one of those times her heart liked to do the exact opposite. Her heart rate seemed to spike seeing Hope playing the piano again, playing for her again.
Hope tilted her head towards the spot next to her, gesturing for Josie to come sit down. Josie didn’t hesitate or take a moment to question it, she stood up and made her way over to the older girl. Hope’s eyes never left Josie, as her fingers kept playing across the keys. As Josie took her spot next to Hope neither one of them spoke, it didn’t seem necessary as Hope just let the piano speak for her. Josie quickly recognized where Hope was in the song, she moved her hand and let it rest on the keys for the first notes Hope had taught her to play. Hope’s smile grew a little wider seeing that look of recognition on Josie’s face as she moved her hand onto the ivory keys, her gaze never leaving Josie’s face until she hears her start to play along with her. Hope let her eyes shut as she continued to play with Josie by her side, listening to the melody of her favorite song being played how she always thought was best.
As she did yesterday, when Josie finished with the final note Hope had taught her, she let her hand rest in her lap as she just watched Hope play the rest of the song. Somehow Hope still managed to amaze her, still playing the keys with such familiarity Josie is pretty sure Hope could play this song in her sleep.
As Hope played the final notes of the song, she opened her eyes once again and turned her head towards the younger girl. Her eyes never left Josie’s as she let her hands slip from the keys into her lap. Just like yesterday morning at the old mill, Josie’s breathe gets caught in her throat when she realizes how close they are once again.
For the first time that night Hope’s gaze falls down to her hands as she weakly whispers, “I’m so sorry for running out earlier.”
Josie can hear the regret in Hope’s voice, she leans forward and pulls Hope into a hug, wrapping her arms around the older girls neck. Josie pulls Hope into her as she whispers in her ear, “It’s okay,” and gives her a gentle squeeze.
This gets a small smile out of Hope as she shuts her eyes letting herself sink into Josie’s embrace, her arms snaking around the younger girls waist. Hope nuzzles her face into Josie’s neck as she whispers back, “You were amazing by the way. Just like I told you you would be.”
Josie can feel her cheeks getting red again and her own smile getting a little wider as she answered, “Thank you.” The two remained in this position for a few moments, just enjoying the others presence but Hope knew this couldn’t last forever they needed to talk.
So Hope speaks up and asks Josie, “Did you mean it, did you mean what you sang in that song tonight?”
This catches Josie a little off guard, she figured Hope would understand the meaning behind her song choice but she wasn’t quite sure if the older girl would want to talk about it all so soon. Josie takes a breath as she pulls away from Hope and shifts around on the bench, throwing her left leg over onto the other side so her body was fully facing Hope. She raises her hands and places them on the sides of Hope’s face. She looks Hope in the eyes and decides right then and there she’s going to tell the older girl everything, she was going to lay everything on the line.
“I meant every word. Hope, I’m pretty sure you stole me heart that first day you walked into this school. Every time I look at you or whenever I’m around you I feel safe, I feel like I’m that dorky tween again, back when everything was simple and I didn’t feel so broken. You make me feel something no one else ever has before.” Josie takes another breath, “Hope you are the one person that has ever made me want to be selfish.”
Hope looked at Josie a little confused by her words not quite sure what Josie meant, and Josie could tell as she let out a small chuckle at the older girls confusion. Josie tucks a few stray hairs behind Hope’s ear as she lets her hand drop back into her lap.
“I know I’ve always put everyone’s needs before my own, I’ve done so many things because it would make others happy, not necessarily thinking if it would make me happy as well. When it comes to you, I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I wanted you so badly when we were younger that I was terrified of losing you to my sister. I took a stupid risk that in the end backfired but that was one of the most selfish things I’ve ever done. You Hope Mikaelson, are the one person I’ve wanted the most and I’m pretty sure I’ve known that for awhile but yesterday made everything so much more clear.”
Josie pauses and takes a moment to just look at this beautiful girl in front of her as she took in Josie’s words. Josie sighs as she thinks about what she was doing, she’s never done anything like this for her own gain before. She was really about to try and get Hope and Landon to break up, but sitting here in this moment she realized she didn’t care, she wanted Hope more than anything, Landon be damned. She took Hope’s right hand with her own and started to play with it as she spoke again.
“And look I know you are with Landon but I’m gonna be selfish right now and tell you, he doesn’t deserve you, he doesn’t deserve you if he is going to hurt you like he has the past few days. If you were mine I promise you, I’d never let anyone hurt you, myself included. You’ve protected everyone at this school and I know you are the strongest person I know, but you deserve to have someone who wants to protect you too. You deserve someone who helps build you up, someone who helps you shut out the ignorant words of stupid people who don’t know who you really are. Someone who isn’t afraid with what comes with your last name,” Josie pauses as she stops playing with Hope’s hand making sure the older girls attention was fully on her and the words she was about to say. When Hope meets her gaze again Josie continues. “You deserve someone who would want to take your last name and proudly say they are yours. Please just give me a chance to be that person for you.”
Josie finally stops and takes a breathe, she pauses for a moment but she wants to say some much more. She wants to tell Hope how badly she wants to kiss her right now and how she wants to be that person she talks to her aunts about when they call to check up on her. Josie wants to be Hope’s everything like Hope has become hers.
The silence between the two of them was unsettling for Josie and fear started to creep in. Did I just fuck this up? Oh god I crossed the line didn’t I? Hope’s never going to speak to me again. It felt like an eternity to Josie, but in reality it had literally been 3 seconds since she stopped talking. She was so consumed by her thoughts she hadn’t noticed the smirk that formed on Hope’s face. It wasn’t until she felt the older girls hand under her chin lifting her head up, did Josie come back to reality. Her eyes meeting those gorgeous blue eyes once again causing Josie to sigh into Hope’s touch. They are only inches apart and both girls know it, as their gazes flicker from the others eyes down to their lips. Before Josie can say anything else Hope leans forward and finally connects their lips together. Without hesitation Josie returns the kiss with everything she has, her hands immediately finding their way to the back of Hope’s neck and into her hair pulling her closer to Josie. The kiss is filled with passion, the two of them putting all their emotions into this simple act.
Hope’s hands fall to Josie’s waist, the kiss was getting heated and Hope needed more. In one smooth motion Hope pulls Josie even closer to her, never breaking the kiss, Hope’s left hand falling from Josie’s waist to under her left leg so she could lift her over to sit on the tribrid’s lap. Hope’s hands wandered from Josie’s thighs up to her ass, causing the younger girl to mentally curse at herself for wearing jeans right now instead of one of her school skirts. Josie’s whole body felt like it on fire and her head was starting to spin, she was almost in a daze from how amazing it felt to have Hope’s lips against her own and her hands on her body. As Hope’s hands found Josie’s ass the older girl smiled into their kiss as she squeezed and pulled Josie even closer if that was even possible. This caused a small gasp and moan to escape Josie’s lips and it gave Hope easy access for her tongue to meet Josie’s. The two battled for dominance but in this moment Hope did not care at all if she lost to Josie, she would gladly lose to Josie forever if it felt this good. The kiss started to get rough and desperate, like they had to show the other how badly they needed this, how badly they needed the other. Josie pulled Hope closer to her as her fingers tangled into the older girls hair and Hope’s hands found their way under Josie’s shirt where her nails scraped against the soft skin of Josie’s lower back. The combination of both girls actions caused chills to run down both of their spins and the need for oxygen finally caused the two to separate and break their kiss.
They rested their foreheads against each others as they tried to catch their breathes. Josie’s hands fell to Hope’s shoulders as she tried to compose herself, her chest rising and falling as if she just ran a marathon. Hope’s hands moved back to Josie’s waste but Hope kept her hands under Josie’s shirt, not wanting to lose the feeling of Josie’s soft skin under her fingertips. The two stayed like this for a few more moments, eyes still shut trying to catch their breathes, Hope’s thumbs now making small circles on Josie’s skin.
As Josie finally starts to come down from her high, her mind starts to race with questions,“What was that for?” Josie asks still a little breathless from their mini make out session and a shy smile on her lips.
“I heard you Josie, I heard everything you were trying to say in that song.” Hope answers sincerely, causing both girls to finally open their eyes, Josie found her looking up at the younger girl with pure love in her eyes.
“You did?” Josie asks a little shocked but not necessarily surprised.
“Yeah I did, I think I’ve always heard you…” Hope starts raising her right hand to Josie’s face, pushing the loose hairs out of her face so she can see her clearly. “I just think with everything that has happened in my life these past few years, I started tuning everything out but I couldn’t do that with you. I’ve always heard you Jo, it just took me a minute to fully understand what you were trying to say.”
Josie was ready to lean in for another kiss, but she stops herself when she remembers the one thing standing in their way, “What about Landon?”
A shy smile makes its way onto Hope’s lips, “About that.” Hope starts causing Josie to pull away from her to get a better look at her face, Josie wanting to find any clues as to what the older girl was about to say. “I broke up with him, before I came to find you. When I ran out of here my mind was spinning and I was just trying to process everything you said. I was trying to sort out my feelings for you and for him, he ended up following me outside trying to get the two of us to talk. Then I don’t know it all just sort of clicked, I realized I don’t love Landon, I care about him just not as much as I do for you.”
Josie’s smile went wide from Hope’s words, she moved her hands from the older girls shoulders to her neck as she pulled her in for another deep kiss. As they pulled apart Josie had this look of realization on her face as she nudges Hope’s shoulder, “So I didn’t actually have to do this whole pouring out my heart to you speech did I?”
Hope had to chuckle at Josie’s reaction, “Ha ha well technically no, I realized I would do anything to be with you Josie, I just wasn’t 100% sure if you would want this too. So you know it was nice to actually hear you say you wanted me too.”
“Uh huh, sure.” Josie replied a bit sarcastically teasing the older girl, as she played with the hairs on the nape of Hope’s neck. They two just looked at each other lovingly again for another moment until Josie breaks the silence.
“And what about this,” Josie starts as she gestures behind her to the piano, “why’d you play that song again for me? You could have just come up and talked to me.”
“Well if I remember correctly, you did ask me to play it again,” Hope answered giving her a knowing look referencing back to Josie’s performance earlier that night. “So I wanted to play it for you but if I’m being honest I don’t think I ever want to play this again unless you are sitting right next to me playing it with me.”
Josie just looks at Hope in awe, how was it possible this girl could make her feel so loved, so safe, so special like she was the most important person in the world. Josie’s smile was probably the widest it had been all night as she leaned in to capture Hope’s lips in another sweat kiss. As they pulled away again Josie whispered, “I guess you’ll have to teach me the rest of the song then.”
Hope smiles back at her, “I guess you’re right.” Hope leans back in for another quick kiss and as she pulls away she rests her forehead against Josie’s as she softly asks, “Want to get started now?”
Josie let’s out a small chuckle, “I think we can wait until tomorrow,” she states as she brings her hands to the sides of Hope’s face, running her thumbs against her cheeks. “There is something else I’d much rather be doing right now.” Josie adds with confidence in her voice, a smirk on her lips and this look in her eyes that makes Hope’s heart flutter.
“Oh yeah?” Hope asked with her damn signature Mikaelson smirk plastered across her face as she looked up at the girl still sitting in her lap. Hope leaned in again stopping just before her lips made contact ghosting over Josie’s, waiting for the younger girls response.
Josie smiled once again as she gave a quick nod. “Yeah” Josie answered sealing it with a kiss.