tw; yandere, manipulation, controlling behaviour, forced marriage, cult analogy, slight misogyny
blue lock chris prince | politician au | 3.4k words | unedited | turn your brain off while reading plz | blue lock masterlist
Politics is a hard career, especially when you’re honest to a fault and inflexible. You should be able to look past things, close your eyes and turn your back here and there. That’s what Chris thought, at least. His life is so much easier when he spews whatever words are trending that week and makes a few promises people will forget by the time the next big thing happens. Just smile and wave. It’s not like anyone would find out about all his back door deals, and even if they tried to, the crime rate in the city is high, it’s not uncommon for nosey journalists to get into hot water with some roaming criminal. To show up mangled and bloody the next morning on the news.
“And that’s why I pledge to help reduce the crime rate in our city!” The blond proclaimed loudly as a string of chants left the audience. Politics is easy when people are naturally attracted to you and blindly follow whatever nonsense you come up with. As people started to quiet down, Chris said his goodbyes, and reporters swarmed him as he left, one after another. Asking about anything from his latest policies to what he thought about some recent events the media wouldn’t shut up about. Not that he planned to answer any of them, it's hard to keep up with all your lies when there’s no premeditated script. And anyway, he's a busy man, he has places to be and things to do and can’t afford to waste his precious time on something so trivial.
“What’s on my schedule now?”
“You were invited to a college gathering, after that, you’re scheduled to have dinner with the police commissioner.”
He said entering his car, the drive would be short, and the venue selected was nearby after all.
“I won’t stay long, make sure to be on standby—”
He said, exiting the vehicle, but his sentence was cut short as the male bumped into someone, looking down to find a woman, clearly distraught for whatever reason.
“Ah… I’m really sorry; I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She said, offering a polite bow before walking off, too preoccupied with whatever was on her phone screen to care much for who he was. Not that he minded, it's easier when they don’t recognise him. “Anyway, as I was saying, I’ll call you before I'm about to come out, so make sure to be on standby, we can’t afford to be late to the meeting with the commissioner.” Chris said, walking into the venue as he heard a faint ‘Yes sir.’ in the background.
It was easy to spot the tables reserved for the reunion, what with the chatter, loud greetings from old classmates bragging about their success and offering of unwarranted financial advice to fill their own pockets. It was a diverse bunch, well, as diverse as one from an elite university could be.
“Chris!” One of the men exclaimed, waving at the man to catch his attention. The blond couldn't help but wince at the sight, from his loosened tie and red cheeks, Chris could tell he was drunk, the unmistakable stench of alcohol coming from him upon closer inspection only further proof of it. Not that he cared; he was only here to offer polite greetings and sit around for a while before leaving. Just enough to fulfil whatever common courtesy required he does.
“It’s so hard to get a hold of you these days. You're acting like one of those big politicians now that you've become a mayoral candidate.” Another classmate slurred in a drunken stupor, Chris couldn't care enough to remember who he was.
“Come on, you know how busy it is, I barely get time to do anything at all with elections coming up.” He replied, a large smile and boisterous laughter following suit, careful not to let any displeasure slip out. “You have to help me out once you become mayor, I've been telling everyone how we used to be best buddies back in college, same soccer team and all. Let me in on any juicy stock info you get your hands on.” The blond didn't offer a concrete reply, instead pouring the stranger more alcohol. He couldn’t wait to leave.
“Anyways, you’ll never guess what happened earlier. Y’know [name]?” The bottle in Chris’s hands almost dropped as he turned towards the man. There were few names he remembered, even fewer that could warrant such a reaction.
“Yeah, the one you used to be super into, chairman [last name]’s daughter? I remember I even have pictures of you two from graduation. Yeah, she came in earlier. Apparently, she cut ties with him and became a school teacher.”
“A school teacher?” All dignity he had upheld previously was thrown out the window as Chris leaned forward, eyes set on the man speaking, resembling more a nosy housewife than a seasoned politician.
“Yeah, she's hot as hell now, too, look on the far left on the table in front of you.”
It was embarrassing to admit that he still thought about you, not when you two ended it all on such a bad note before you graduated and you vanished from sight. He couldn’t help but be curious as to what you looked like now if you still had the same habits and if you would still look at him with the same contempt as you did before. Truth be told, he still wasn’t over it, even after all this time.
What a coincidence, he thought. You’re the one he had bumped into earlier. He hadn’t paid attention back then, but you had the same hair and dress; he was sure it was you, now that he heard it, you have the same voice as well. Maybe it was destiny. He couldn't help what happened next, almost as if his body moved instinctively.
“Hey, if it isn’t [name]! You remember me?” Maybe others would have thought it shameless to approach someone when their distaste for you was well known throughout the cohort, but if Chris had even an ounce of shame, he probably wouldn't have made it as far as he had done.
“Sorry?” You looked uncomfortable, now that you could look at his face clearly, he was sure he recognised him. It would be insulting if you had forgotten him after only a few years.
“I’m not sure…” Look at you avoiding eye contact, how cute.
“S’a shame, we used to be real close back in college.” He had just rolled his eyes moments ago when a classmate claimed they used to be close friends, and now here he was using the same trick. Inviting himself to the spot next to you, someone was already seated there, what with the half-drunk glass of water and plate of food placed there, but seeing as they were nowhere to be found, he was sure they wouldn’t mind moving.
He tried striking up a conversation with you, trying any possible way he could to be closer to you than he already was, it felt so refreshing to see you after all these years. In contrast to his lovestruck state, you tried brushing him off a few times, changing the discussion to something others could join in on, distracting him just enough to slip away. Ask about his recent TV interview or political career. Unfortunately for you, he was a master conversationalist, Chris knew what you were doing and, if anything, found your attempts to distance yourself quite adorable.
However, unfortunately for him, time passed faster than he would like to admit, his driver having to escort him out before he missed his dinner plans. He cursed himself for not asking for your number, considering the sheer amount of people there, he was sure you would have agreed, after all, it would be hard to reject him in front of them all if you were still as much of a pushover as you were back then.
You never liked Chris, if anything, you dreaded the moment he started approaching you. No single event caused this distaste; rather, it was just the discomfort that came with being with someone so sociable. He had a bad habit of forcing you out of your comfort zone, whether he realised it or not. But you were sure he did.
You were eager to push back your chair and storm out of the gathering at any moment. Had it not been for your old classmate who insisted you attend this time around, that it had been ‘far too long’ and that you’d never seemed to attend the get-togethers she organised’, maybe you would have ignored the invitation sent your way this time as well. However, despite the unpleasant run-in with Chris, the event went well. No one spoke too much of your fallout with your father or how you practically threw your degree aside to pursue a career as a ‘meagre teacher’ this time. Not nearly as much as they did in the past, at least. And you managed to come home early, so while you had no intentions of putting yourself through that again, you thought it had gone quite well.
Furthermore, you were tired of uprooting your life time and time again, and you enjoyed your new work as a kindergarten teacher. Children had always had a soft spot in your heart, and you couldn’t help but melt when they tried to act grown-up or pronounce big words or even just waddle around the classroom that looked so large from their eyes. You worked at a good school, not the most outstanding but decent regardless, so you were rightly taken aback when you were informed that a politician would be visiting, something about wanting to promote his campaign. You were sure there were better ways to go about that than visiting a school with children who couldn't care less if he did want to bomb innocent civilians or not.
But that was that, and you didn’t linger on it too much, not until you saw a familiar set of blond hair walk in, slicked back and in his signature suit. Surrounded by a crew of cameramen and assistants hoping to catch every second to not miss what could’ve been the next big headline.
You could feel your heart drop as he flashed a grin your way. All left for you to do was pray that the amount of cameras surrounding him would put him off from approaching you too much.
He was good with children, just about as good as he was with most people, making sweet promises and spewing encouraging words their way.
“[name]! Fancy seeing you here as well.” He said, motioning you to join him as he painted with some of the children. The familiarity he used to refer to you caused the cameraman to immediately perk up.
“You know, miss [name]?” One of the kids asked.
“Yep! Me and your teacher go way back!” The people present on sight seemed to be eating this up, Chris merely laughed and went on colouring, trying to attempt polite conversation with you here and there.
You were sure he knew what he was doing. He’s no fool; if there is anyone who should know the weight of words, it should be him, the one who made a career out of them. So you waited until the crew slowly left, and the children were all taken by their parents before letting out your frustrations on him.
Maybe you could’ve been more mature about how you went about this, voiced your concerns like a responsible adult and asked for his understanding instead of lashing out like this. But Chris had never been one to care about others’ feelings, so you were sure reasoning with him would have been in vain.
“You weren’t just visiting some kids; there was an entire hoard of cameras behind you. You know this better than anyone else. ‘go way back??’ What are you trying to do?”
“We both went to the same college. It isn’t a lie to say we were well acquainted. At least up until you decided to run off to who knows where.” If you weren’t so focused on the man in front of you, maybe you would have noticed the one hidden behind a nearby wall–the cameraman from earlier.–“That was years ago. You gain nothing out of doing this, so why-!” You stopped yourself mid-sentence, reminded of the futility of arguing with someone as thick-headed as him and the frustration that would ensue afterwards. Rubbing your temple in hopes of relieving some of the tension before walking away, offering Chris one last glare as you did. If you had stayed for longer, maybe you would have seen red that dusted on his uncharacteristically blank face or the shoddy attempt to cover it with his hand as he stared at your figure until it disappeared out of sight.
You had always avoided the spotlight, especially from strangers, but the very next morning, even before whatever they were filming at the school had aired, there was already article after article featuring pictures of you and Chris together from the day before. He didn’t expect it to come out so soon, but it didn’t feel unpleasant to see photos of you two in every cheap tabloid in the city–even if you were just standing together. And while most of the rumours were fuelled by speculation alone, he could already picture your reaction of sheer panic. After all, you were still the same [name] he remembered, the same one he had created. You would curse yourself for allowing this to have happened as if you could’ve never predicted your entire life would be turned upside-down because of an ex you hadn’t talked to in years.
Few knew this, but Chris Prince had two loves in his life–politics, the one everyone was sure to guess, and his college sweetheart, [name]. The one he could never manage to charm no matter what he said or did, the one that saw through his act and saw him for what he was. A slave to society, the worst type of human, with no morals or convictions besides what would make him the most money or give him the most praise. But you failed to notice one thing about him, and that was his conviction to make you his own little passion project. Where he took the plain quiet [name] and turned her into something nobody could look away from but could never touch because you would be his. His diamond in the rough, the one that he found and polished. Somehow, Chris succeeded in inserting himself into your life, not a boyfriend–you had never made it official–but not a friend. Because friends don’t decide what you wear or eat or who you talk to or kiss you in the empty classroom. Looking back on it, he was probably one of the main reasons you left it all behind as soon as you graduated, disappeared off the face of the earth and didn’t contact anyone you knew up until that point. He made you realise how unfit you were for that world and how quickly you buckled under pressure. Once you settled into teaching, a passion you didn’t know you had, you thought you could leave it all behind. Live as you wanted, if only you hadn’t run into that old classmate who instantly recognised you and insisted you attend. If only you weren’t spineless and incapable of saying no when it mattered.
Even so, like a fool, you hoped nothing would change, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Chris thought it was time you come back to your rightful place. You ran off at such an inconvenient time, right when he started taking off in the eyes of the public. He was still young and inexperienced, and so he made the mistake of letting you slip out of his grasp, one he regretted until he met you again that day. Now that you were on his home turf, he couldn’t just let you go again. So, as he raved about the rights of women, he thought about all the ways he would tie you down until you couldn't even think of leaving him.
That’s why his crew that day consisted of such loose-lipped people, that’s why he let those remarks slip and didn’t react even when all sorts of rumours about you two spread. After all, Chris had always been one to skillfully dodge questions about marriage, the type that seemed uninterested in anything that wouldn’t increase his approval ratings so this was bound to be something big. At least, that’s what most people thought. Now, as he dialled your phone number, all that was left was to see how much his acting had improved.
“Hello?” Your voice was faint, he could tell you were a wreck right now.
“[name]? You have to help me, otherwise, I’ll lose it all!”
If Chris’ grin wasn’t as wide as it was, anyone seeing him would think he was equally–if not more– shaken by the recent events than you were. You most certainly did as he went on a spiel about how the career he worked so hard to build all these years is about to crumble, all because of you. No sane person would believe any of this but your state was far from it. You had never fared well under stress after all.
“Help you…? What could I possibly do?” You spoke so softly he couldn’t believe just yesterday your words were laced with pure spite. That’s when he said something so ridiculous even he couldn’t believe himself.
“We have to make it seem like we’re in a relationship. Some old classmates released photos from college–the rumours are getting out of hand nothing I say will be enough to quench them, please understand it’s so close to elections I can’t lose when I’m so close. [name], please!” It wasn’t a complete lie, photos from college had been leaked, but he wasn’t entirely helpless. Chris could, if he wanted to, pull some strings. But this was just so much more entertaining, to see you walk straight into his grasp again.
Most people would laugh at his sorry excuses, curse and hang up but most also think they’re immune to cults until they’ve been fully indoctrinated into thinking aliens have invaded us and that death is the only solution. Your little disappearing stunt had been troublesome but years of work had not yet been undone. The way you dressed was still as he had taught you, your figure was still the one he worked you to the bone to obtain and your posture the one he made sure you’d never deviate from. The only difference was that even you couldn’t see through him anymore, after all, there was nothing to see.
Once you were within his grasp everything else came easy, like a slippery slope you could never climb back from. First, it started with publicly announcing a relationship that never existed. Then a marriage under the pretext that nobody would take him seriously if he just messed around with a girlfriend like a child. If you ever questioned him he would just flip the narrative on its head, it was your fault this happened, you almost ruined his career, are you sure you didn’t do all this to marry him? It’s okay, he’ll love you regardless because he’s a kind, loving husband. And eventually, it’ll become a reality, you–just like everyone else–will convince yourself you’re undeserving of someone like him.
‘You want to have children? You’re right, it’s about time we have a couple running around, anything for my wife!’ He’s glad all those run-ins with large happy families and visits to children's hospitals and orphanages paid off, otherwise, he’s had to use more… unsavoury methods.
‘You’ll have to quit your job because of the pregnancy? It’s okay I’ll take care of you!’ He was getting tired of it anyway, now he can have you all to himself.
Even if one day you wake up from your trance, it’s too late now because there’s nothing left of you but the parts that constitute Chris Prince’s wife. If the eyes are the window to the soul then Chris must have long sold his and now he’s ridden you of yours too.