Andrew Pope Cody x Artist Reader Concept
Pope doesn’t fully understand/acknowledge exactly how awful Smurf was until Reader is pregnant.
Something about knowing he’s going to be a father makes something click in his head and heart.
Reader finds him sitting up in the living room on the couch one late night sobbing
She wordlessly holds him against her while he sobs and makes soothing sounds rubbing his back
When she finally speaks the words are gentle “Talk to me please. Tell me what is going on in your mind.”
Pope lets it all out spilling more to her than he ever has even the darker things he’s repressed.
Reader feels nauseous hearing it so many of her suspicions about her boyfriend’s reactions to things making sense: how he sometimes flinches if she reaches out to him and he’s not expecting it, the way he used to stiffen at any sign of affection from her when they first got together, how he needed her to guide him through actually having softer sex like he was lost in how to approach intimacy in a way that wasn’t rooted in manipulation or just rough meaningless movements. She thinks back to how Smurf would be so touchy with her sons beyond a mom showing affection for her children. She touched them with a sense of possessiveness like she owned them like she wanted them to want her, the way she’d glare at Reader when Pope would cuddle Reader on the sofa.
At one point in their relationship Pope would explain how he lost his virginity and Reader would feel nauseous and want to tell him it was supposed to be with someone who loved him.
Reader listens to Pope tell her that thinking about the life she’s carrying and he thinks of every interaction he had with his mother, how she behaved towards him and his brothers, how she treated Julia…he feels sick. He can’t think of the life growing in Reader and think of anything but wanting to love it and keep it safe.
Pope doesn’t necessarily have the words to put into fully articulating what his mother did to him but Reader realizes it.
She doesn’t guide Pope towards the words that night but he does eventually come to terms with them.
That night Reader just holds her boyfriend and soothes him telling him. “I have you, Andy. You’re safe. She will never touch you or our baby. We’re safe here. I have you.”
He sobs against her to the point of exhaustion settling his hand against her belly knowing as awful as it feels to try to put words to all of this it’s healing. He’s healing and sometimes healing is painful.
Reader is here though so he’s not facing the pain alone.
