itsalwaysforyou

[itsalwaysforyou]

jay in ‘did i mention’

[itsalwaysforyou]

Love love love characters that present themselves as emotionally open social butterflies but the more you see of them the more obvious it is that they’re the most closed off fuckers in the story. Sure, they want to help you with your personal problems and messy emotions, but if you turn that shit back on them, they’ll shut down or deflect every time. Why are you sticking your nose in their business anyway? It’s not like it matters. They’re not a person, they’re just a role being played. They’re the guy who fixes things and saves people. Please ignore the man behind the mask, he’s fine. Everything’s fine.

[itsalwaysforyou]

if it’s the last thing that I do

(tw for implied self harm, but the source of the injury isn’t explicit in this bit)

"...not a bad person," somebody whispers. "Shhh, shhh. Hey. You're going to be okay, I promise you." 

Jay stops moving. The reason is twofold - first, there's not supposed to be anybody in his room right now, and second, he's reached his door. The locks look intact, but Jay's had a lot of practice getting through locks without breaking them, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. If he can crack a few extra padlocks and disable their screamer alarm without leaving signs that he's been through, it's a sure thing that he's not the only person who can do the same. There's not supposed to be anybody in the dorm room that he and Carlos share right now, because Jay's plan was to stick to the rooftops of the school for the rest of the night, and Carlos was supposed to be spending the night in the girl's room, because he sleeps more and screams less when there's other people in the room with him. 

Jay's heartbeat is too loud to hear the whispers clearly. He shifts his weight, settles down so that his back is to the wall and he's safely hidden in the shadow of the stupid enchanted flower vase outside the door, and listens. 

"...can wash my clothes. They're just fabric, the blood will come out. Your skin is what I'm worried about, not my pants." 

It's Ben's voice. 

The relief that washes through Jay's nerves is heady. He's not dealing with an unauthorized break in. Nobody's broken past all their locks and alarms without the floor noticing. They gave Ben a key so he could come in and out as easily as the rest of them on purpose, even though it's a risk to have more key copies in circulation. Ben's worth the risk that he represents, they decided that as a crew. He's worth it. 

"hurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts--" 

"Shhh, shh," Ben sooths, over the whining keen that's almost, nearly words. "You're going to be okay. Move your hands for me, there we go."

"FUCK." 

"Okay, okay, you can put your hand back, that's fine, just breathe. Breathe."

Jay fumbles his key out of his waistband pocket. He scrapes it on the sides of the lock, because making a little bit of noise should be enough to announce his presence. The others should be able to hear him. Locks one and two click open, lock three clicks closed, so he turns it again, and then lock four scrapes open too, so that's fine, he's got the magnet to deactivate the audio alarm in his sleeve, and he swipes it up against the top of the door to disable the alarm before he pushes the door open in a slow, even sweep.

His eyes adjust easily to the dim light of his own bedside lamp. It's the only light on in the room, soft yellow light throwing his bed into just enough light that the occupants can see him, not so much that it'll show under the door from the outside. 

The bodies in his bed are still, nearly invisible from the door. 

Ben's golden head pops up. "Jay?" 

"Yeah?" 

"We thought you were out for the night." 

He shifts inside, easing the door closed so softly that it doesn't make a sound. "Yeah. I did too." 

"D'you need a blanket, or something--" 

"Jayjayjayjay," a voice that is distinctively not Ben's whines. "Please. You promised." 

"Shhh, shh, you're okay," Ben soothes. "Uh, this is kind of a bad time, Jay, we're a little bit occupied with some, uh." He stops. "Um." 

"Hurts," Carlos whispers. "Fuckin' hurts." 

"Then you shouldn't have tried to cut your own damn leg off." Ben hisses. "Uh, I mean--" 

"Bandages are in the cubby under the bed," Jay says casually, already moving to get them. "Upper or lower?" 

"Upper. It's going to need stitches, but I didn't want to try those on my own until the bleeding's slowed down, and we're still working on that," Ben says, shifting upright. From this angle Jay can see how hard he's putting pressure on Carlos's leg. He can't see much more than that, but it wouldn't be the first time he's come home to more blood outside Carlos than in. 

They can deal with it. 

[itsalwaysforyou]

nothing scarier than being a fan of a fic and then becoming mutuals with the author. like hi shakespeare. big fan of your fake dating au

[itsalwaysforyou]

yeah

[itsalwaysforyou]

guys i had a dream that jal were in d5 for a little bit & they were helping red out on the isle. and jal kept teasing each other & messing around and then when red left mal said that she was going to steal jay’s hoodie.

[itsalwaysforyou]

Alex Dimitrov, from Love and Other Poems; “The Weather of Our Lives”

[Text ID: “someone presses their teeth / to your skin and shows / just how needed you are.”]

[itsalwaysforyou]

[itsalwaysforyou]

The word you are looking for is an ensemble cast. You like the ensemble cast. Not found family.

[itsalwaysforyou]

Please can you tell me more about Jay and Celia and what they should have done together?? Is this like a post-isle sort of summer situation where they’re living in Evie’s house together or is this like a school mentor thing?? Or are they isle friends who could have had a history together?? Inquiring minds (blue) need to know!!

HELLO BLUE!!!! i am very happy to talk about the beautiful dynamic of jay & celia that i made up :)

in my brain, jay & celia’s friendship mostly builds over the summer in evie’s house like you said!!! imo they are veryyy similar — wily, tricky, opinionated, AND they are both some of the only (main canon) vks with dads!!! whilst imo celia’s relationship with facilier is better than jay’s with jafar, they’re both obviously Isle Kids & also help run their fathers’ businesses, so there’s definitely a lot of similarities between them

they don’t really interact with each other much on the isle. they know of each other, obviously, and i think they’d have some mutual respect for each other. jay is impressed by celia’s scamming prowess; celia admires jay’s pickpocketing ease.

and then d3 happens, and the barrier comes down, and it’s summer. this means Events. balls, soirées, receptions, formal dinners etc etc. celia is a kid!!! an isle kid!!! she hates this shit!!! she doesn’t dream of being a princess like dizzy; she isn’t shy & looked over like the twins. she is restless, and uncomfortable, and irritated. she loves to dress up, sure, but she’s not even allowed to scam people!!!

jay recognises this like his reflection in the mirror. the itching hands; the glances to the door. and although jay finds fun in charming & flirting with unsuspecting royalty, celia, being younger, doesn't have anyone her age to mess with, and all the adults either treat her like a nuisance or a pet

and jay knows they're meant to be good now. but he knows 'good' is subjective. and he also knows that in this instance, being 'good' means instigating mischief with celia before she snaps.

it's discreet, of course. bets on how long it'll take for a snobby prince to mention his castle and wealth; who can ask evie for the most items from her purse before she becomes suspicious; sneaking a plate of hors d'oeuvres into their various pockets and eating it outside to get away. or seeing who can throw one the furthest across the lake

sometimes, they're able to wiggle their ways out of an event, and they hang out at evie's for the night. celia picks a film, but it usually devolves into jay trying to catch popcorn in his mouth and then celia pelting him with the stuff. jay teaches her some tourney stuff. she shows him some basic card tricks. they bond over their shared slight of hand; exchange techniques and tips.

i just really think jay & celia's friendship was a missed opportunity in d3. they can both be quite standoffish, but they high-five!!! they celebrate things together!!!! plus i think celia being disappointed/angry at mal's betrayal vs jay being instantly forgiving would've been sooo delicious to explore. young girl who finally has a chance at life and trusts the people giving her that chance, only to be betrayed vs Most Loyal Guy Ever. celia looking up to jay but just not being able to understand why he's so ok with mal lying to them. jay just being like it's mal..... ANYWAYY this is not a jal post. apologies

basically, yeah -- mentor/mentee type dynamic would've been so cool to see. especially for jay's chatacter development!!! bc my guy was so sidelined in d3. not only has he learned the importance of working as a team, he's willing to expand said team & trust and rely on other people. crazy. and celia would've maybe been able to show some more vulnerability/dimension -- maybe they have a Dad Chat or she's worried abt how they're going to treat her at school. maybe jay sees her as somewhat of a younger self -- feisty, arrogant, slick and wily, but also scared to death and disguising it so well it's hard to stop pretending. god we could've had it all if mr mouse didn't hate side characters & characters of colour & basically any relationship/dynamic that wasn't heterosexual romance!!!!! what the hell!!!!

anyway this basically turned into a huge rant but i hope this somewhat answers your ask HAHAHA

[itsalwaysforyou]

The combination of 'unnervingly flawless self-control' with 'occasional tendency to engage in reckless, dangerous, and borderline self-destructive or death-seeking behaviour' in a character is SUCH catnip to me

[itsalwaysforyou]

take my bones

Jay leans one arm up against Ben's locker with all the charm of one of Aurdrey’s bracelets. "Hey." 

Ben could shut the locker and then laugh when he falls over, but he's not going to do that. "Hey. What's up?" 

"So, the music yesterday--" 

"Chad likes pop," Ben says apologetically, before the grin on Jay's face can turn sharp and mean with the fresh ammunition against the VKs favorite person to antagonize. Not that it's undeserved, exactly, but it's still pretty mean of them. Chad's not a bad sort of guy, he's just not very good at being aware of anyone other than himself, and he's constantly putting his foot in his mouth because of it. "It's only fair. He's allowed to play whatever he wants on his days. You can play whatever you want when it's your turn to pick." 

"Yeah, about that. I, uh." Jay shoves a hand through his hair, shaking it loose from the tie. "I kind of. Can't." 

Ben's got a copy of the list for who picks the team lift music somewhere in his locker. Or possibly in his gym bag. Jay's name is definitely on it, because as team captain he had to sit down with Coach and work out where to put a new kid with no last name into the alphabetical lineup. "You're on the list. After Hector Ingles. We put you in under J." 

Jay grins. "Thanks, man. It's not that. I wanna play Isle music." 

A vision of Lo-Fi Tormented Screams to Chilllax To flashes through Ben's head, but he's not going to be another person who makes inaccurate, hurtful assumptions about his friends, so he pushes it back. "Sure. It'll be something different to look forward to!" 

Jay's grin grows wider. "You can say if you think t'll suck. I'm not offended." 

Oops. 

"No, it'll be cool. No problem." Ben insists. He really doesn't hate listening to new music. After Herkie played Country Toads eighteen times in a row on his last turn, he can tolerate listening to anything. Just as long as it's not Country Toads again. 

"Well, actually....." Jay trails off, meaningfully. "I could kinda use your help with getting some of it." 

"Fairy Godmother won't approve a trip off campus." Ben says immediately. He knows where this is going. There's a music store in town that carries everything, and Robbie swears they have Isle music behind the counter that they'll sell to anyone who knows the code word.  "After what happened with the silly string, I don't think she's going to let any of the junior class out without an adult. Possibly ever again." 

"That wasn't even my fault!" 

"Fairy Godmother won't care, unfortunately. I can't go against her rules." 

Jay holds out his phone. There's a fresh bite mark on the rubber case, but it's not a bloodstain, so that's....solid progress from the last time Ben saw his phone case. "I just need an unfiltered internet connection. Five minutes. I can download the stuff I need, and we never have to talk about it again." 

"You're going to be the death of me." 

He wiggles the phone. "C'mon, man.YOLO." 

"You did not just say that." 

"YOLO. YOLO. YOLO--" 

"Bullying!" 

Where one VK goes, the others follow, so it's not exactly a surprise to feel another warm body drape over his back. 

"I'll save you, babe," Mal coos in his ear, wrapping her arms over Ben's neck and planting a boot on his knee to kick herself high enough to manage the whisper. "Is the big mean villain kid bullying my poor little kingling?" 

"Terribly," Ben murmurs, twisting his shoulder so that he can get an arm around her. "He's sooooo mean to me." 

"I'll eliminate him." Mal promises. "You hear that, Jaybird? I'm going to take you down. You'll never bully my little king again." 

[itsalwaysforyou]

[itsalwaysforyou]

They’re so Circe and Scylla coded