Break It To Me Gently
Parings: Austin Butler x reader
Summary: Austin is breaking the news that he wants to break up with. It comes unexpectedly, he makes sure to break it to you gently to it’s easier to digest.
Based on the song Break It To Me Gently by Brenda Lee
The room was filled with an eerie silence as you sat across from Austin, the weight of his words hanging in the air. His voice trembled as he struggled to find the right words, his eyes avoiding your gaze.
"Y/N, we need to talk," Austin finally managed to say, his voice filled with sadness.
Your heart skipped a beat, a sinking feeling settling deep within your chest. You had a sinking feeling that this conversation would not end well.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I've come to a difficult decision," Austin continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "I think it's best if we break up."
The words hit you like a tidal wave, causing tears to well up in your eyes. You had never imagined this moment would come. The love you had once shared now seemed like a distant memory, fading away into the void.
"But... why?" you managed to choke out, your voice trembling with a mix of confusion, heartbreak, and desperation.
Austin took a deep breath, his eyes filled with regret. "I've realized that we want different things in life, Y/N. Our paths are diverging, and it's becoming harder to ignore the growing distance between us."
Tears streamed down your face as you struggled to comprehend his words. The pain in your chest was unbearable, as if someone had ripped your heart out.
"But... we can work through this, Austin," you pleaded, your voice filled with desperation. "We can find a way to make it work. Please, don't leave me."
He shook his head, his own tears threatening to spill over. "I wish it were that simple, Y/N. But the truth is, we've been drifting apart for a while now. It's not fair to either of us to hold onto something that's no longer there."
The room fell silent once again, the weight of his words hanging heavy in the air. The love that had once filled your heart now felt like an empty void. You had no choice but to accept his decision, no matter how much it hurt.
As Austin stood up, his eyes filled with a mix of sorrow and regret, you felt your heart shatter into a million pieces. The love you had once shared had come to an end, leaving you feeling lost and alone.
"I'm so sorry, Y/N," Austin whispered, his voice filled with genuine remorse. "I never wanted to hurt you. But sometimes, the hardest decisions are the ones that need to be made."
With that, he walked away, leaving you to pick up the broken pieces of your heart. The room echoed with the sound of your sobs, as you mourned the loss of a love that could never be mended.
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𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅
𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒, 𝐴𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑥𝑎𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑓𝑜𝑦
𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑒: 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟. 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑘.
Summary: Every villain has his regrets. So what is Tom Riddle's? Well, not getting to say 'fuck you' to his own father before he accidentally fell down the stairs to his death, of course. But, Abraxas says he needs closure, so you could say the trip to Little Hangleton wasn't a complete waste.
Recommended Music: I'm Sorry by Brenda Lee
This is the first time I’ve felt the need to confess.
It all started with Abraxas’ suggestion to visit my father.
I’ve asked him: why.
His answer: closure.
He believed my mental health to be somewhat, “unstable” and “unhinged.” Apparently, childhood trauma does that to you.
So, closure was the answer.
I’ve pondered about it. Why not. Why not go up to the man in the mansion and stick it into his face? Why not tell the rich man in a big mansion, “fuck you,” “I hope you’ll die in a ditch,” and “You will not be invited to my inevitable coronation.”
If this will help me become a better leader, then gladly I would accept the opportunity to cuss in my father’s face.
Apparently, that was not what Abraxas meant by closure.
But, being the open-minded leader that I am, I said why not.
The plan was to visit Little Hangleton on New Year’s Eve anyway, to assess exactly what I will be inheriting. So, why not make the trip more interesting? Why not start off the marvellous year of 1944 with a clean slate?
Needless to say, the closure has gone slightly out of hand.
I stood on the second-floor foyer, overlooking the entrance hall. Perhaps unwisely, I thought I would give my father a surprise, apparating behind him.
Now, a man lay unmoving below me. His body mangled. His eyes, wide open in the shock that ultimately led to his untimely death. The blood, pooling beneath him.
So much for a clean slate.
Abraxas appeared on the first floor, returning from the kitchen, carrying a slice of cake that he had nicked from the New Year’s celebration. His feet, along with the long shadow cast on the marble tiles, came to a halt.
“Huh,” his brows furrowed, tilting his head, still sucking on his fork. “Is a human head supposed to look like that?”
He pointed his fork at the large dent on the inion of the head.
Tom Riddle Sr. lay still, face down on the floor. Even a corpse did not have the energy to answer such a dull question.
“Shit,” I gritted my teeth. “Fuck, Abraxas. Damn!”
Abraxas’ eyes widened, the realisation finally dawning on him. The slice of cake slowly slid down the plate and fell, the splatter marking its timestamp in the silence.
“Tom…!” Abraxas’ mouth gaped and closed like a helpless fish, “When I said closure, I did not mean this!” He waved the fork over the corpse, as if to say ‘Whatever this is.’
“It. Was. An accident!” I hissed in return at his unhelpful contribution, my fingernails digging into the mahogany handrail.
“Merlin’s beard,” Abraxas ran a hand through his hair, devolving rapidly into a panic. “We’re fine. We’re fine. We merely need to get rid of evidence.”
“Just clean up after ourselves. We weren’t here long. Nobody saw us,” Abraxas began pacing about the room. “Nobody can trace this back to us.”
“Ah, shit,” Abraxas paused as his feet stepped into the crumbled mush on the floor. “The cake! They can trace my DNA, oh god, oh god oh god.”
“The what?”
“It’s a new thing, Tom,” Abraxas wiped away the sweat with his shaky hand. “Heard all about it on that crime radio I listen to.”
I paused to close my eyes, willing myself to ignore Abraxas’ pathetic wailing, taking a deep breath. If my brilliance had served me thus far, it was going to serve me now.
“Calm down, Abraxas,” I opened my eyes again, and let out a shaky breath as I began to descend the stairs.
Abraxas turned his teary, desperate eyes to me, hoping that his leader had some incredible plan.
“Look at this,” stopping next to Abraxas, I languidly gestured to the crime scene. “It merely looks like he fell, does it not?”
For the first time in this dreadfully long night, a glimmer of hope and conviction appeared in Abraxas’ eyes.
“You’re right. He did fall,” he nodded fervently, as if attempting to convince himself. “An unfortunate accident.”
“That befell on an unbalanced man,�� I reassuringly patted the back of Abraxas with a smirk, ending his sentence, “Now, let us calm down, and enjoy the serenity before we begin rifling through their possessions.”
I sauntered to the stairs, and sitting down on it, took out a flask for a swing. Still shaking, but now considerably less so, Abraxas followed.
Abraxas nodded his thanks as he took the flask that I offered, taking a swing as well. The alcohol seemed to do wonders, as it was always the case for Abraxas, as his breathing evened out and the confidence returned to his blue eyes.
“You know,” Abraxas began, returning the flask to me. “It is impeccable timing, if you think about it.”
I raised my brows at him, urging the blond to continue.
“It is your birthday. And the old man died, giving you everything in this room,” his gaze wandered around the room, to the antique armours guarding the front doors, the expensive Chinese vases, to the crystal chandelier above them. “Shit, you might be as rich as me, now.”
“Hm, true,” I pondered, my eyes also trailing the many valuables in the room. The word ‘closure’ came to my mind. Yes, I suppose, counting these as an apology gift and my birthday gift, I could find it in myself to forgive my father. Maybe.
My eyes landed on the man’s face, still slumped down on the floor a few feet from us. Tom Riddle Sr. was extremely handsome. Deadly handsome, even.
Too soon, perhaps.
I raised a flask towards the body that eerily resembled me. “Thank you, father, for the gifts!”
“And the cake!” Abraxas joined in with a smile.
I smiled against the flask as I took another swing, revelling in the immediate warmth that spread through my core. “You know,” I murmured, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically sentimental all of a sudden. “I’m glad you’re here, with me. On this memorable night.”
Abraxas turned to me with a genuine smile that came more easily to his lips than mine. “Always happy to help, Tom.”
Abraxas fell silent, however, when there was a groan from the corpse. My eyes widened, as my father groaned, and he raised his head, his eyes fluttering open. We froze as our eyes met. Nothing has terrified me more than that moment, when my father’s irises captured us, his son and a stranger, on his stairs, eating his cake, celebrating his death.
“Avada Kedavra!”
My wand had reacted sooner than I’d had the time to think.
The head dropped again with a heavy thud.
“TOM!”
Abraxas’ shriek pierced my right ear, and I winced.
“Why?! WHY did you do that?!” Abraxas was wailing again, “You have to stop casting a killing curse on your reflex!”
“Shit,” I grimaced. “I panicked.”
“Yes, I’ve gathered, Tom,” Abraxas ruffled his hair, leaping to his feet to begin pacing again, his hair now beyond recognition from the neat style he usually kept. “Merlin, now they’re really going to think it’s a crime scene.”
“He saw our faces,” I murmured darkly. A weak excuse, I knew, but Abraxas’ finger-pointing was unbearable.
“Fuck, Tom!” the blond was hyperventilating now. “I cannot go to Azkaban! They will eat me alive!”
I glared up at the rattled man, still pacing back and forth in front of me, his nerves getting to me. A terrible idea crossed my mind, for a moment, whether keeping Abraxas alive was a liability. He did not do well under pressure. He’d crumble under interrogation in mere seconds.
I growled, “Well, there’s nothing we can do at the moment, but to–”
Abraxas yelped when there was a low grumble from the corpse. He turned on his heels, the fork gripped tight in his hand. I widened my eyes at the savagery of the blond, watching him straddle my father and plunge the fork into him again and again. The muggle way.
He screamed at him. Then cursed. Then stabbed some more.
Watching Abraxas go absolutely feral on the poor corpse that resembled me, I had to consider the possibility that Abraxas perhaps harboured some pent-up vehemence towards me.
“Jesus,” I watched him stand up, the sweat-matted strands of hair falling into his eyes. “Could you not? That is my father.”
“Fuck,” he let out a shaky breath, the fork slipping from his hand and rattling on the floor. His pale skin, splattered with red. “I thought he was dead! How’s he still alive?!”
“It happens,” I sighed, scratching my brows at the situation that was rapidly growing out of hand. “Corpses release gas and liquid.”
“Oh god,” Abraxas fell to his knees, as if begging for forgiveness from my father. He began sobbing, the tears streaming down his cheeks. “Oh god, my life is ruined.”
To be frank, I found the situation somewhat amusing. How the tables have turned. I bit my tongue, wanting desperately to say ‘Who panicked this time?’ Instead, I stood up with a heavy sigh, and laid a supportive hand on his shoulder.
“Yes, it does look like ‘fuck you in particular’ now, doesn’t it?”
Despite my solace, Abraxas began to sob harder. Perhaps it was the way I said it.
“Come,” I helped him up to his feet. My father’s blood painted his blond hair and pale skin. His tears and spit have now mingled with it as they trailed down his chin. I sighed, producing a handkerchief from my pocket.
“You’ve always enjoyed crime radios,” I wiped his face clean, until reconsidering the futile attempt as more tears poured. “Now you get to be a part of it.”
Abraxas howled as more tears began to pour.
“There there,” I wrapped my arms around him in a comforting embrace.
“You won’t let me go to Azkaban, will you?” his frail voice came muffled against my wool uniform.
“Of course not,” I patted his shoulder. “I’ll always be here to fix your mistakes.”
-----
A few hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, we stood in front of a roaring fire. The sky was just beginning to brighten as Abraxas rubbed his hands over the fire, trying to warm his pale hands that had gone frigid.
“I’m glad we built this fire,” he said with a relieved smile. “Fire has a soothing effect, I think.”
I hummed in agreement, blankly staring at the flames that reached for the sky before me. There was a hint of nervousness in the voice that Abraxas was desperately trying to quell. I chose to ignore it.
“Say, do you know if they wanted cremation?” another nervous whimper from Abraxas.
I took one last drawl of the cigarette before tossing it into the fire. “Now, how the fuck would I know that, Abraxas.”
Abraxas merely hummed and nodded, numbly staring at the three bodies that had grown unrecognisable. The grandmother and the grandfather had to go as well. Loose ends and all that. They’ve lived a good long life anyway.
“You know, I don’t think I’ll ever be the same,” Abraxas’ voice was dead and despondent as he accepted a cigarette from me. “That image of you, underneath me, as I plunged the fork into it… It’s changed something within me.”
I knitted my brows at his wording. “You mean… my father,” I raised a suspicious brow at my oldest friend as I corrected him. “You felt the urge to kill my father.”
“Hm, what?” Abraxas had borrowed the light from the roaring fire in front of him, his gaunt features light ablaze with orange contemplation. “Yes, of course.”
I fell into an anxious silence, the image of Abraxas straddling someone that resembled me, too similar for my comfort. The animalistic sheer will that burned in his eyes – no thinking, no reasoning, all his focus on simply doing – as he poked holes into my father. The image shall haunt me for the rest of my days.
I cleared my throat, and took a step away from the blond. Suffice it to say that the night had changed something inside me as well.
“Well, father,” I tightened my tie as a respectful gesture that seemed appropriate for the sobering moment. “Grandmother, grandfather.”
Abraxas tossed the cigarette, crushing it underneath his black leather shoes, taking his hat off.
“Wish I got to talk with you a bit more,” I cleared my throat again, not having had much experience with eulogy, despite deaths that seemed to follow me wherever I went. “Maybe discuss my inheritance. Alas, it is what it is.”
I looked down at the bouquet of flowers, gripped tightly in my hands. “Abraxas and I gathered a little something for you. Don’t know what kind you liked, but – there are some dandelions in here.”
I furrowed my brows, angling the plants in an attempt to name them. “Some… grass. Well, I hope you’ll like them.”
I tossed the bouquet on top of the fire, watching the flowers shrivel as the flames licked them hungrily.
“Closure,” Abraxas leaned over to me and whispered, giving me an encouraging wink.
I nodded and took a deep breath. My eyes surveyed the first hint of light behind the roaring hills at the approaching dawn. I bit my lips in deep contemplation, trying to put a label on what I was feeling.
“You were a shit father… father,” I continued, blinking away the tears that were beginning to pool in my eyes. “I wish I got to tell you that in person. I admit things could have gone better.”
“But,” I sniffed, looking up at the chalk-white sky to dry my eyes. “Rest assured, your assets will be put to good use. I’ll promise you that.”
My eyes landed on Abraxas, who had given me a thumbs-up. I nodded in appreciation of his support.
I sighed, growing restless at the idea that Abraxas and I still had to bleach the entire place. “Goodbye, father. And fuck you.”
I knew I did well by the congratulatory pat on my shoulder. I turned my eyes as the first ray of sunshine hit my cheekbones. The clouds. The birds chirping by. It was strangely serene, even idyllic, betraying the violent night that we just shared.
But, I found myself smiling as the strands of my hair in the breeze tickled my cheeks. I felt it. Abraxas was right. My mind was finally at peace.
Reflecting the serenity of our environment. Save for the burning corpses.
I knew it in my heart. That was to be the last time I killed a man.
A single tear rolled down my cheek, as I clasped the blond’s hand on my shoulder.
A fresh new start, I felt it in my core.
A/N: Written for Quidditch writing competition a few months ago! I am sorry that I haven't been writing/uploading new stories recently. But the new ones are coming!
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