〘 :*¨༺ 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 ༻¨*: 〙
"Believe me Blake, I wouldn't even consider having hope for this if I didn't think it had even the slightest chance of working."
ᴺᵒʷ ᵖˡᵃʸᶦⁿᵍ; this is me trying - taylor swift
ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯
" and it's hard to be at a party
when i feel like an open wound
it's hard to be anywhere these days
when all i want is you"
FIVE YEARS LATER
A LARGE, MUSCULAR older man pushed Blake out of a bar. The now 21-year-old's face was beaten blue, and his lip and eyebrows were cut. Blake had grown a little bit taller, now at 6'3", he'd grown into his muscles a bit more and he had let his hair grow out a little. The ends of his hair were choppy as he had never let anyone else cut his hair other than Ellie.
"You gotta ride kid?" The old man asked in a gruff voice.
"I'm fine," Blake replied with a slur in his words, waving his hand dismissively. His other hand which held a bear can, was slung loosely at his side. "I got people down the road,"
The man sighed, his chest puffing out. "All right, well, get some help kid. This blip has taken a toll on all of us." The man left to go back inside the bar, leaving Blake staring at the dewy sidewalk.
Blake coughed, bringing the can to his lips, and took a bitter sip.
Why would you beat up that poor man? What did he ever do to you?
Ellie's voice echoed in his head. Blake shrugged as if to respond.
"He took my seat when I got back from the bathroom," Blake mumbled, looking up and down the crowded street.
All aliens alike bustled up and down the sidewalks, various vehicles slowly making their way down the road. Blake caught a glimpse of a blue leather jacket and raven black hair.
Do you see me?
"It's not you," Blake muttered in reply, shaking his head but never looking away from the spot. Onlookers gave him strange glances as they passed around him, scrunching their noses at his alcohol smell.
But it could be.
Blake couldn't help it, he knew it wasn't right, and yet his feet carried him. He followed the blue jacket, pushing his way through the crowd. He followed her around corners, and through street lights. Just as he was getting closer, they rounded a corner into an empty alleyway. He turned the corner after her, and there she was. She looked over her shoulder, meeting his gaze with her bright smile and dimples. Blake couldn't help but smile back as he made a move to reach out to her and in a blink she was gone, Blake's hand hovering in the air in front of him.
Sorry star-boy, maybe next time.
Blake looked up at the sky, sucking in his lips that fought to quiver. Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. He yelled, throwing the half-empty can of beer at the wall of a building, the liquid spraying sporadically.
Oh, my pretty boy.
Blake pressed his hands against his ears, tangling his fingers in his hair and tugging hard. "Stop talking to me!" He yelled, pushing his back against a wall. "Stop," He sobbed weekly, his back sliding along the wall as he fell to the ground.
Blake...
Blake shut his eyes tight. "Stop! Stop it!"
Blake...
Blake pushed his face into his knees, his fingers tugging harder on his dark blonde locks. "No! I can't- I can't..."
Blake didn't want her voice to leave his head. In a way, he was thankful he'd never forgotten what Ellie sounded like, what she looked like, the smell that lingered when she left a room. But it was also torture to always hear her voice, see her everywhere he went, and smell her in every room she had ever been in.
A small hand was placed on his shoulder. "Blake,"
Blake looked up quickly, letting out a small gasp. Rocket's face of pity and empathy made Blake want to retreat back to his knees.
Rocket gestured his head to the side. "Come on Blake, let's go."
Reluctantly, Blake stood up, following Rocket out of the alley and onto the sidewalk.
"We're going to Earth," Rocket said, breaking their long silence as they walked back to the Milano.
Blake's brows furrowed. "What? Why?"
Rocket hesitated to answer at first. "The Avengers, believe that...we could bring everyone back."
Blake froze in his steps.
Noticing the lack of response, Rocket turned back to the young man, stopping as well.
"What do you mean?" Blake questioned, his face flashing his underlined anger.
"They think they bring everyone back from the blip. Everyone Blake. Ellie, Groot, Quill, Mantis, Drax, all of them." Rocket explained, his voice light and a small smile gracing his lips.
"Don't," Blake stated coldly, beginning to walk again at a much faster pace.
"Don't what? Blake, do you understand what this means? We could bring Ellie back."
"Stop it!" Blake shouted, turning to Rocket with his hands in fists. "Don't," Blake swallowed the lump in his throat as his eyes stung once again. "Don't give me hope that we could bring her back." He said softly, a tear breaking from his eye. "I can't lose her a second time when I still haven't accepted the first."
"You don't think I didn't check their theory a million times?" Rocket asked, pointing his finger at Blake accusingly. "Believe me Blake, I wouldn't even consider having hope for this if I didn't think it had even the slightest chance of working. I can't stand to lose her again either, none of them. So sober up and get your head out of your ass."
Rocket stormed off to the ship just a short distance away, leaving Blake to stare at the sidewalk once again.
⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒
BLAKE CAREFULLY PULLED his shirt over his head, grimacing at the sting in his back and the ache in his muscles. He threw the rest of his clothes to the floor by his closet and walked to the running shower. The steam was already clouding the bathroom and blurring out the mirror. Blake stepped into the hot water, letting it scold his skin, sighing when he grew used to it.
He put his head under the shower head and blew the water from his mouth. He combed his hair away from his face, looking down at the water dripping at his feet, splashes of red here and there until it was clear.
He moved his hands against his skin, shutting his eyes. His memory unwillingly took him to the last night he shared with Ellie. Remembering her hands sliding up his abdomen, hearing her sweet sounds, the smell of her neck.
He opened his eyes, quickly shaking the memory away as he rushed to finish his shower and get into clothes, ignoring the sting that sprung into his eyes, claiming it was the water from the shower.
⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒
HE SLUNG HIS arms through his brown leather jacket, fixing its cuffs. He moved to his mirror, quickly combing his fingers through his hair to get it away from his eyes. His eyes caught the polaroid stuck in the corner of the mirror frame.
Blake was holding the camera out at arm's length, his other hand on Ellie's chin as he kissed her cheek. Ellie's eyes were scrunched up her beaming smile and dimples taking over all of her other features.
He could hear her giggle through the photo.
Ellie positioned the camera to her eye, the lens focusing on Blake as he read his book aloud to her. Blake turned to her as the flash went off, stopping his reading.
"Hey!" He laughed accusingly, putting down the book and reaching for the camera. Blake's longer limbs made it an unfair fight for Ellie to try and get away as he successfully grabbed the camera from her grasp. Blake rearranged it in his hand, quickly figuring out the buttons.
"You're always taking pictures of everyone else, someone should take be taking pictures of your beautiful face," Blake said as he held the camera up to his eye and clicked the shutter. He waited for the Polaroid frame to come out of the camera before grabbing it and tossing it to the nightstand.
"Blake," Ellie laughed, covering her blushing face. Blake huffed playfully in annoyance, pulling her hands away from her face. She continued to giggle as Blake peppered her with kisses. He grabbed her chin and kissed her cheek, holding the camera out and taking a picture.
Blake dug his flask out of his pocket, taking a quick swig as he turned away from the picture and exited his room.
He shoved the flask back into his pocket, making his way to the front of the ship and sitting in his seat.
"We're arriving in thirty minutes," Rocket called from his seat, hearing the man sit down with a huff.
"Fantastic," Blake mumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes.
No need to be rude.
Blake pulled his flask out once again and took a sip before putting it back in his pocket and buckling himself into his seat.