OH SHOOT BEE'S TAKING PROMPTS UMMM Okay Yknow How I Love JJ And Marvin, So Maybe Something With The Two

OH SHOOT BEE'S TAKING PROMPTS UMMM Okay yknow how I love JJ and Marvin, so maybe something with the two of them and 8. “I’m never letting you go” from the drabble prompts? I love all these AUs BUT I'm gonna ask for the Graceling AU cause I really like those books and also I'm interested to see what you do with it ^-^

Graceling AU: Based on the Graceling books by Kristin Cashore. Eleven-year-old Jameson lives with his half-brother Anti, a supernaturally beautiful person called a Monster who has spent his life hiding from or destroying anyone who would try to hurt him. While wandering the fields one day, Jameson discovers another Monster named Marvin being held captive in a nearby keep and befriends him.

Tws for implied rape and mentions of past child abuse. Please be aware that the Graceling AU is a little more mature than my usual fics (nothing remotely graphic, it's from the POV of a sheltered eleven-year-old, but lots of implied, messed up stuff having to do with Monsters). No pressure to anyone who is uncomfortable with any of that <3

This is super late because I originally had this whole huge story in mind but it was too big of an idea to handle. So I just wrote a snippet. Thank you Ninja!! Okay, have at it and thanks for reading.

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He chases crickets in the weeds and swaying grass by the apple trees, leaping after them and trying to snatch them up with his hands, scraping his knees and scratching his calves as he pounces. Most get away. One he does manage to catch, and this he scoops up in proud hands and turns as if to display the prize to the nearest adult – but no one else is there with him.

Jameson deflates, releasing the cricket back into the grass. The garden around him is quiet but for the bugs and the wind. Marvin has not come.

For days now, he has waited for the Monster in the castle across the field to come find him as he usually does, slipping away from his master's grasp to come play with Jameson. Jameson has become accustomed to running over to the keep after he finishes his lessons to visit the Monster, but for three days now, there has been no sign of Marvin.

He stares up at the castle, scraping absent-mindedly at his scratchy calves and ankles. Marvin has not come to see him. There must be a reason. He intends to find out.

Jameson shoots a glare back at Anti's keep on the other side of the fields, now just a toy in appearance. Anti wants to keep treating him like a baby? Well, he isn't. He is eleven now and he can handle himself.

And if he wants to sneak into another person's castle, he can handle that himself too. He's done it with Anti plenty of time before.

He's shoving open the big door to the servant's quarters a minute later, darting down the hall and only stopping to listen for footsteps. There's people in the kitchen, talking as they cook something that smells tasty – he pauses to grab a strawberry off the cutting board – but nobody's going to pay mind to a little kid racing along the hallway in the middle of the day. There's probably servant kids, pages, and everybody's miscellaneous children running around here all the time. As Anti always tells him, the most important thing is to act like you belong, and in most cases, everyone else will believe it. In theory, the only problem is that he can't ask anybody where Marvin stays, but luckily for Jameson, Marvin has waved to him from his window before coming down to meet him more than once, and he's confident he can find the way to his room. He gives a bow to an old man hobbling down the hall and bounces up the stairs, licking sticky strawberry juice off his chin.

The corridor is quiet, but that's how things are in his home too. JJ slides towards the second door – nope, empty. Third door? No. Fourth door – found it.

He would recognize Marvin's blue hair from anywhere. He's asleep in a huge white bed, bundled up to his nose, his eyes closed. Jameson beams and shuts the door behind him, padding towards him.

But up close, Marvin looks... bad.

Jamie whistles softly, deflating as he creeps up to the side of his bed and Marvin does not so much as stir. He clicks his tongue for attention, reaching gently out to tug on the blankets. Marvin shifts, face scrunching up in pain, and his eyes slide wearily open – or at least the right one does. The left is swollen closed.

“JJ,” gasps Marvin, sitting up and then groaning and shaking his head, pulling the blankets close around him again as he lies back down. “What are you doing here? JJ, go home, now! You can't be here.”

Jameson reaches out to touch Marvin's neck tenderly, his fingers tracing a line of bruises locked around his throat. Marvin flinches back and pushes his hand away.

“JJ, please go home.”

Jameson shakes his head, struggling to get onto the bed beside him. Marvin sighs in exasperation, but he helps pull him up, staring at him the whole time.

“How did you even get in here?”

“Worried,” signs Jameson. “Sad. You're hurt...”

Marvin never had a chance to learn sign, but he often gets the gist if Jameson is slow. The big frown on his face is probably a good hint too. Marvin sighs again and shakes his head at him, reaching out to stroke his hair from his eyes. Jameson throws his arms around him, squishing their faces together as he hugs him.

“JJ... oh, sweetheart.”

Marvin's voice breaks suddenly and his breath hitches. He pulls away from Jameson and covers his eyes, coughing and drawing shaky breaths.

“Who, who?” signs Jameson, tugging at his hands. “Hurt. Punch. Grab.”

“JJ, go home. When I feel a little better, I'll come see you again. I've been thinking about you everyday, wishing I could get up to visit you. But I'm going to be just fine. Go home to your brother, sugar.”

“Who?” insists JJ, hugging him again between words. “Who?”

The anger is boiling up in him now. He wipes at his own face, sniffling as he feels tears building. Someone hurt him. His friend. A Monster like Anti. Is this what Anti means, when he talks about how people hurt Monsters just because they're pretty? Marvin is, definitely. Even beat up and pale, he's so pretty. JJ hugs him again and hides in his shoulder. Marvin grips him back, air shuddering out of him as he tries not to cry.

JJ has never seen him cry. Not even when he talked about wanting to go home to his family or being stolen from his home. Marvin does not cry.

He'll kill whoever did this to him. He'll put a knife in them like Anti taught him to do. He draws back, crying, and pets Marvin's hair like Anti does for him when he feels bad.

“You're just a little boy still,” whispers Marvin, pushing at his hair in return. “Too little to have to worry about me. I'm okay, JJ, I promise. I'm going to be just fine.”

JJ wipes tears from his eyes and nods. He squirms forward to snuggle under the covers with Marvin, but his friend pushes him quickly back. “Sweetheart, I'm naked. And I think these sheets are... well, let's just stay above the covers. Here. I'll go get dressed. Close your eyes.”

Jameson scoots back against the headboard and covers his eyes. He hears a slow shifting of blankets and then, with a groan, Marvin's feet press against the cold stone floor.

Marvin sits there, half out of bed, for so long that Jameson almost peeks. But eventually, he hears him rise to stand. He must stop to breathe for a second. Then he limps across the room to his closet and disappears inside.

Jameson wraps his arms around himself, waiting for him to come back. He always knew Marvin was being kept here against his will – Anti has explained to him that sometimes Monsters are held like that and have to find ways to escape, which is why sometimes killing people is okay – but hurting him like this? Why? He doesn't deserve it. Any of it.

He doesn't get why people would be mean to Monsters. Even if someone just thinks they're pretty, wouldn't that mean you would be even nicer? And try to make them your boyfriend or girlfriend, maybe? For him, Anti's Monstrosity is the only thing he's ever known. And every story he hears about Monsters being attacked or kidnapped, every mark he sees on Marvin's body – they could just as easily be his Anti.

Worse, he knows what it's like to have someone leave bruises on you like that. It's mean and it's scary. Even if it's your daddy it's scary. Anti saved him and no one has left a bruise on him since, cause Anti knows about bruises too. He wonders if somebody ever beat Anti like this. Beat him up and left him in bed.

He squeezes his eyes shut and his fists together. That's why he has to protect him. Anti and Marvin too. He's not too little. He can fight. He won't let anything happen to them again.

“Don't cry, sugar, don't cry.”

Marvin has come back to wrap his arms around him, scooping him into his lap and sitting down on the bed with him, lying back as he rocks him. “I'm sorry, darling. Please don't worry about me.”

JJ sobs into his shirt, gripping his little fists in the cloth. He hugs Marvin and cries. Marvin rocks him against his chest, murmuring to him and stroking his hair.

“You can stay for a little while, okay, honey? I'm glad to see you again. I've really missed you. You know you're about the only comfort I have. But you have to go before the sun starts getting low. That's when he comes back.”

Jameson shakes his head vehemently. No. He's not going.

“JJ...”

“Hurt all over?”

“I'm okay, JJ. I am. I don't want you to worry.”

“Run away!”

“No. No. I won't let you get in trouble trying to get me out of here. I'll find my own way home. You know that. You're just a little boy, JJ.”

But Jameson's not having it. He heaves himself off the bed and grabs Marvin's arm, trying to tug him along with him. They'll go back home and he'll make Anti see that Marvin is nice and deserves to be helped.

“JJ, I can't – ow, hey, honey, please – ”

Jameson drops his arm quickly, flushing with guilt. Marvin winces and grips at his shoulder, smiling weakly at him.

“Hurt all over...”

“Just a little sore, JJ. I'm just a little sore.”

“Why? Why hurt?”

“You'll understand when you're older, my dear. For now, you should be glad to be a kid. Okay? It's good that you don't have to know. I can take care of myself.”

Marvin pulls him gingerly back onto the bed with him and lies back against the headboard. JJ stays sitting up, gazing at the bruises on his neck and face. He wants to take care of him. He reaches out helplessly, then lets his hand drop again. He can't... he can't do anything. Marvin's right. He's just a kid.

“Don't cry, JJ,” murmurs Marvin yet again. “Tell you what, how about you draw something for me. Yeah?”

He pulls parchment and a pen from the drawer beside his bed, pulling JJ back to his lap and setting the paper in front of him. “Like we do in the garden.”

“What draw?”

“Whatever you want.” Marvin pets his hair. “Something happy.”

JJ sniffles, gripping the paper in his hands. It takes a long time before he's ready to draw anything. But Marvin's hand is nice in his hair, and the room is warm and cozy, and he wants to do something for Marvin, no matter how little.

He draws people shakily onto the page, snuggled up with Marvin on the bed. Eventually he gets lost in it.

“You remind me so much of my younger brother,” mumbles Marvin sleepily, still playing with his hair. “You even look like him when he was your age. Course, he talked non-stop – still does, sometimes. But he's a sweet kid like you. I'm so glad you're here.”

JJ snuggles against his chest, drawing himself and Marvin in the garden. He's old enough now that there's detail in the trees and flowers. When he's done, he presents it to Marvin, who smiles at him.

He really is beautiful. JJ stares at him, latching his arms around his neck. He has soft blue hair, summer ocean color, and eyes even deeper blue – wildly blue, unnaturally blue. He is not as ivory-pale as Anti is, but other than the terrible bruises, his skin is clear and flawless. There's glittering jewelry in his ears. He seems to glow from an internal, otherworldly light.

How can anybody hurt him?

He hugs him again and Marvin rubs his back in slow circles, pressing their heads together.

“It's time for you to go,” he whispers.

JJ shakes his head no.

“You have to, JJ. Trust me. I wish you could stay too. But if he finds you here... I don't know what he would do.”

JJ just clings to him. Marvin sighs, pushing him slightly back to cup his face. His cheeks still have a little baby fat in them. It makes him smile.

“My friend,” says Marvin softly. “Go home to your brother.”

JJ reaches down to grab his drawing. He sets the pen to paper again and leaves Marvin a message against the empty sky of the drawing:

I am never letting you go. Come home with me.

Marvin smiles at him. “You are a very good young man. And I know you're not to be messed with.”

JJ nods severely. No, he isn't.

“But this isn't something I want you to get tangled up with. Even if you were a grown-up, I'm not sure I would want you involved. JJ, don't you understand that you do plenty for me just by being with me? Being kind to me and drawing me things and hugging me when I'm sad?”

JJ wipes at his runny nose, mouth trembling. He wants to do more, though.

“Go home to your brother,” repeats Marvin. “And tomorrow, if everything goes well, I'll see you in the garden. Okay?”

Jameson stares at the floor, eyes burning.

“I'll get in trouble if I try to run,” says Marvin. “Or if he finds you here. So go, alright? For me?”

Jameson shoves himself forward for one more hug. Marvin wraps him in his arms and holds him tight, kissing the top of his head.

“I love you, Marvin,” he signs against his chest.

“I love you too,” whispers Marvin. “My only joy. Go now, little sneak. Run back down the stairs and go home. And later, if I get scared, I'll remember that you came all this way to check on me, and that you were so sweet to me, and that I get to see you again tomorrow.”

Jameson nods, his face set miserably and his eyes downcast. He slips out of the bed and over to the door, pausing to glance back at Marvin.

In the light of the late afternoon, he glows gold, his hair lit up in an azure haze and his eyes glittering like stars. His soft mouth curls into a smile just for him.

JJ smiles back and races down the stairs.

It's just as simple to leave the keep as it was to enter. At the top of the hill, he looks back at the castle, and watches as a man rides home on a tall white horse.

Something in his heart clenches. His hands play with the small knife tucked into his boots.

Anti and Marvin always want to protect him and tell him there are things that he does not understand. But all he needs to know is this: someone is hurting Marvin, and he cannot let it go on.

He'll show them he's a man. He will find away to get Marvin out of there, and then he will never have to let him go again.