a string that pulled me out of all the
wrong arms right into that dive bar
something wrapped all of my
past mistakes in barbed wire
chains around my demons,
wool to brave the seasons
one single thread of gold tied me to you

TAYLOR SWIFT / INVISIBLE STRING

✸

Sweet creature.

Everyone knows the reason why JEANIE GILBERT left Mystic Falls six years ago.

It had a physical shape in the form of a boy: fair-haired, blue-eyed and the town pastor's own flesh and blood. It was 5'7 and smooth talking, full of a promise for adventure and adoration; the kind that had spun a teenager's head silly. All it had taken was an outstretched hand, those pretty blue eyes, the rev of a motorcycle and the one reason to leave for New York City had been enough––

But, everyone knows why she left just like they knew the reason she came back.

That reason was far more shaped like a grave. Fresh, daunting and two parents deep.

Now, Jeanie doesn't know who to grieve first;

ONE. Does she grieve her parents? Her flesh and blood wiped off of the map six years after Jeanie had told them to go to hell. All it had taken was a car ride off of Wickery Bridge and they had fulfilled the teenage threat she really hadn't even really meant.

OR, TWO. Does she grieve the disappearance of Adam Young, the dream of a man that had lured her outside of Mystic Falls in the first place? Gone from their shared apartment in the Big Apple, wiped cleanly from existence and, so it seems, from Jeanie's skin.

With so much grief to chew on, Jeanie feels like she'll choke –– but that's what the air in Mystic Falls has felt like since birth anyway. It's thick and doesn't digest well, but she has to force it down as she returns to raise the siblings that she left behind.

A spoonful of small-town life looming towards her like an airplane, parenting with training wheels and a tendency to cry when shouted at––

What will Mystic Falls make of a golden girl heavy with rust?

...

For ELIJAH MIKAELSON, however, it's fairly simple.

He grew fond of Jeanie once, in a city that never slept just like him, and he's sure he'll be fond of her for the rest of time.

For Elijah, things like that just never change.

Even when said fondness draws blood.

It's not until they're face to face again in Jeanie's hometown that Elijah realises what a problem this will be. A problem, much to his bewilderment, he can't fix. He's spent a thousand years fixing problems, tying the loose threads of his family's lucrative and dangerous historical tapestry and wiping memories as he goes. He's a solver and a fixer and a finisher––– but Jeanie Gilbert is the one thread he failed miserably to let go.

It's those strings that bring him to Jeanie's doorstep, bringing a danger he wished to never inflict. A rope more like a noose than a connection, Elijah, a stranger more than an old friend–– He fixed her problem and, for him, a more daunting one raised in it's place. she won't remember him, but he's sure he'll remember her as the gentle waitress in New York that painted his iron days gold.

He's sure he'll think of her and act for her, even when things go bloody and awry with the twists of his family's vengeance. Even when her own family gets caught up in the crossfire. He's so sure somewhere, down the line, his thread got loose and it tied itself tightly around Jeanie's little finger.

And suddenly, everything changes.

What good is honour and virtue anyway?

Really? 

What good are either of those for a man who's willing to hang himself from his own family tree and risk setting the whole world on fire, just to keep Jeanie Gilbert warm.

dianna agron · JEANIE GILBERT

YOU'RE A BURNING HOUSE I WANT TO LIVE IN.
or sit beside. i won't fuss.

alongside the original the vampire diaries cast
aside from ...

pedro pascal · ALARIC SALTZMAN
freddy carter · KOL MIKAELSON
suraj sharma · MATT DONOVAN
ben barnes · DAMON SALVATORE

and jeremy allen white as ADAM YOUNG

✸

optional recasts.

matthew goode elijah mikaelson
andrew matarazzo tyler lockwood
ewan mitchell klaus mikaelson

BITTERSWEET & TENDER: LIKE MELANCHOLY? ━━━ 𝖎. like real people do, hozier.
𝖎𝖎. rosyln, bon iver. 𝖎𝖎𝖎. sweet, cigarettes after sex. 𝔦𝔳. margaret, lana del rey. 𝖛. sweet nothing, taylor swift. 𝖛𝖎. re:stacks, bon iver. 𝖛𝖎𝖎. sweet creature, harry styles. 𝖛𝖎𝖎𝖎. thoroghfare, ethel cain. 𝖎𝖛. peace, taylor swift. 𝖛. you're on your own kid, taylor swift.

FOR JEANIE ━━━ 𝖎. graceland too, phoebe bridgers. 𝖎𝖎. flume, bon iver. 𝖎𝖎𝖎. funeral, phoebe bridgers.

✸

wow, here's something new and groundbreaking,, wattpad user foxgioves creates an oc with a traumatic backstory set in new york city. florals? for spring.

　　WARNING ! . . . this book contains: dark themes including violence, trauma, ptsd, grief, gore, minor and major character death and sexual themes. there will be extensive discussion and depiction of mental illness, in particular depression and bereavement.

[ if you find these themes distressing please do not continue reading.your readership is NOT more important than your health. always prioritise yourself. ]

　　DISCLAIMER ! . . . i do not own the vampire diaries and respective plots and characters are owned by cw and the respective creatives behind the vampire diaries/originals production team.

　　I DO... however own jeanie and any plotlines that surround her and are separate to the show. this fic will weave in and out of canon and i will, simply, do as i please. jenna does not exist in this universe! and i don't know whether that makes jeanie a jenna replacement by proxy but, they are two different characters and two very different storylines, so please keep that in mind!
(that being said, of course jeanie dates pedro-pascal-ric. it would be stupid for her not to lmao.)

　　DEDICATIONS ! . . . this one forever goes to the milfs; ash lindsay aria hannah 
love u all for all of the patience and support you bring to my life. especially annika who has joined me in this tvd brain rot for better or for worse. thank u my leige, very cool of u and forever deeply appreciated

this one has been a long time coming.........
more than honoured to share it with you.

( foxgioves / 2023 )

STARTED · AUG '23
FINISHED · N/A