#bellyjere au post-canon

[lansangprincess]

Belly, I'll always come and get you

Jelly drabble of a post-TSITP universe where bellyjere drifted apart after belly married conrad but even in times of struggling jeremiah is still the person belly looks for to come get her.

It was Jeremiah Fisher's 30th birthday. Every other year he'd be spending it raging with friends but there was something about reaching 30 that made him feel like he couldn't go out and party anymore. He loved his friends, of course he did, but after a while he realized that his partying days eventually stopped being about having fun with his friends and more about trying to forget his most important one.

Belly.

Her name used to be a comfort to say out loud. He never thought it was possible for it to hurt to even think about. They tried their best to be friends again after splitting up. They kept in touch when she ended up studying abroad and when he went to pursue his Master's in International Relations. It was okay for a while. Most of the time he felt like they were walking on eggshells trying to figure out how to not be together but it was okay. They'll find a way to go back to being the platonic soulmates that they were. Of course they would.

But then she married Conrad.

They never talked about it—none of them. Once again, everybody thought sunshine boy Jeremiah moved on and just because the three of them were finally cool in a long time, that that meant he would be okay with them getting married. Not one bit of him felt like it was right. But he was tired of all the drama. If both Belly and Conrad said that being with each other would make them happy then fine, this time he'll choose to believe them. Or at least try his fucking hardest to.

But despite his attempts, an invisible cord between him and Belly broke. It was too painful to even pretend so the two of them drifted apart. They were cordial of course. Joked around on holidays and also somehow the pair of them ended up taking on the mantle of preparing every Christmas dinner together, but deep down both of them knew it wasn't the same.

He thinks of her the most on nights like these. Alone in his studio apartment, he lit the candle on the birthday cupcake he bought for himself. He chuckled. He realized he really doesn't know how to be an introvert. But whatever, it's fine, Jeremiah was going to take off his shoes, put on a face mask, watch some black-and-white movie and eat this fucking good cupcake.

Clock struck midnight.

He was 30. He was finally going to do it, he thought. He was going to fall asleep on his couch, wake up in the morning and finally forget that he was in love with Isabel Conklin. It was his one birthday wish.

Too bad the universe had other plans.

His phone rang before he could blow out the candle. It was her. He cursed whatever muse or god or deity was listening. Whatever she said, he decided, he wasn't going to change his wish. No matter how sweet her birthday greeting is going to be for him—which he knows it will be since it always is—he refused to have it reignite all the feelings he still had for her. He couldn't do it anymore. He just couldn't.

He picked up the phone.

"Hey Be—"

She didn't even let him finish.

No matter how sweet she is, he repeated to himself, no matter how many time she says the word "love".

But she wasn't sweet. And she didn't say the word "love". He's not even sure in that moment if she remembered it was his birthday.

Instead, what she said made him feel much more worse than if she'd told him she hated him.

"I'm divorcing Conrad."

His heart pounded. His first thought was something selfish. Very selfish. Her words were spoken through a humorless laugh and he absolutely hated to hear her like that. There were no words of comfort running through his mind, no declarations of love, no jokes—nothing. For the first time in a really long time, Jeremiah Fisher was speechless.

"Can you um—" her voice started to crack as he heard her trying to fight through tears, "Can you come get me?"