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fighting back
Empires Superpowers au masterlist
this takes place about 4 months after the end of ‘poisoned rats’.
cw: food, flashbacks/panic attacks in a public place
~
“Here’s your menus, can I get you both something to drink?”
“Diet Pepsi, please,” Scott says, raising an eyebrow at Jimmy, who manages a stuttered, “Water, thank you.”
Scott nudges him after the waiter leaves. “Boring.” “Caffeine used to really screw with my powers,” Jimmy admits. “I haven’t had any in a long while, but I used to drink a bunch of Mountain Dew, and coffee every morning. Stopped when I was around twenty-three, I think.”
Scott leaves it at that, instead asking, “So you’ve never been to a restaurant before?”
“When I was a kid my parents would take Lizzie and me to, like, buffet places,” Jimmy shrugs. “But then my mom got really sick at one, and going out as a family to someplace nice was too expensive. So we got fast food drive-throughs on road trips or for celebrations, but not much else.”
“Criminal. What do you want to order?”
Jimmy thumbs through the plastic menu, biting his lip. “Um. Not sure. Do I have to get from—”
“Here are your drinks,” the waiter interrupts, placing a tall glass of soda in front of Scott and a matching one in front of Jimmy. “I’ll be back in a few minutes for your order!”
“Thanks so much,” Scott says, Jimmy echoing him. He takes a sip of the water, ice clacking against his teeth.
It’s not a fancy restaurant, by any means. It’s a diner in a cheap part of town, a place that Scott had said has the best fries and milkshakes and had gotten very excited when Jimmy had said he’d never really been out to eat before. Jimmy’s fairly sure that Scott’s made a list of places to eat, to go along with all the sights Jimmy’s never seen and the foods Jimmy’s never tried.
There’s a decent crowd of people here, too, which is why Jimmy’s more put-out than anything else when he feels a hand run through his hair.
He jumps a little, glances around to make sure nobody is near him. Scott glances up at him, then back to the menu.
“I’m gonna get the roast beef sliders. Anything sound good to you?”
No flashbacks sounds good to him, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, phantom fingers curling around his hair. He turns his eyes back to the menu, stares at it uncomprehendingly for a few moments. “Um, you pick,” he says, pushing the menu to Scott. “What’s good here?”
“Ooh, definitely the reuben if you like rye, but the turkey and swiss is always a safe choice. Good?”
“Mhm, sounds fine,” Jimmy mumbles. He tries to grab hold onto anything Scott had told him about the food here through the brain fog of flashbacks. “Uh, you said the fries are good?”
“Ooh yes, I’ll get us both fries and milkshakes. What flavor of milkshake?”
Jimmy can’t remember any ice cream flavor ever, suddenly. He checks the menu, picks the first thing he sees. “Vanilla?”
“Sure! I’ll match.”
As casually as he can manage, Jimmy slips an ice cube out of his glass, cradles it in the palm of his hand. It’s supposed to ground him, remind his body that he’s in the present. The hand in his hair stubbornly remains.
He holds onto the ice cube until it melts, dribbling water in a small pool on the table. It doesn’t do anything but make his hand burn with the cold.
He blinks rapidly, twitches his head several times to try and shake the hand away. His trained instincts are starting to settle in, his body going still. If he moves his head, he might get slapped.
“Everything okay?”
Jimmy smiles easily, brightly, in Scott’s direction. His boyfriend is giving him a concerned look, hand out for Jimmy to take. Jimmy takes it.
“I’m fine, babe. Just got a little lost in thought!”
The acting skills from that one role as Cod Number 3 in Empires South Middle School’s production of The Little Mermaid Jr are really paying off.
Scott’s face eases, just as he looks up to see the waiter approaching them. Jimmy orders with no issue, watches the very pretty way Scott’s eyes scrunch up as he pretends to examine the menu one last time before ordering.
That doesn’t get the hand out of his hair, though. Maybe he should buzz it. Shave his head. Nothing for phantom hands to touch.
The hand trails down to rub his shoulders and Jimmy knows that wouldn’t solve the problem.
The food arrives and Jimmy releases Scott’s hand to watch him for cues, not trusting his unstable mind to do things in the right order. Scott unwraps his silverware so Jimmy does so as well; Scott places his napkin on his lap and Jimmy follows suit.
Scott seems to enjoy his food, and Jimmy understands that his tastes good as well but it’s hard to process. Everything is hard to process. It’s too bright in here, too loud. A family with three shouting kids passes by and Jimmy can’t help but flinch away, a movement that he tries to suavely change into wrapping his arm around Scott’s shoulders.
Scott scoffs at him, wriggles out from under and gives him a quick peck on the lips. “How’s your food?”
“Good,” Jimmy responds automatically, taking another bite. The hand pulls hard enough on his hair that his head jerks back and he freezes, biting his lip. He’s not going to cry here. He just wants to enjoy a nice meal with his boyfriend. Why can’t he just have a good time?
“Scott, love?” Jimmy manages, the slightest tremble making its way into his voice. He gathers his courage before he’s too anxious to ask. “Could—could you touch my hair?”
Scott goes still. After a moment, he slowly turns to give him a concerned look. “Jimmy, your hair is off-limits. We set that boundary in place ages ago.”
Great, now Scott probably thinks something ridiculous, like he misses the feeling of horrible hands touching his hair. He doesn’t, he doesn’t at all—in fact, he’s so nervous about Scott touching him that he can feel himself begin to shake. He just needs a little push.
“I just—I—” he takes a calming breath, places his clenched hands on the table, “there’s—there’s a hand. In my hair. And I—I want a real one. So I can tell the difference.”
Scott’s eyes flick up, and Jimmy watches as his face morphs from confusion to understanding, then sorrow. “Oh, Jimmy. I’m sorry that’s happening.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jimmy grits out as the ghost hand yanks again. “The ice trick didn’t work, eating didn’t help, it started almost as soon as we got here and it just won’t go—”
“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Scott says, glancing around as Jimmy pulls at his face. He’s fine, he’s not freaking out. It’s just a flashback, just a stupid flashback, and he’s fine. He’s not—he’s not—
“We can get to-go boxes, eat later,” Scott offers, already looking to wave down a waiter. “Really, it’s fine—”
“No, I want—” he wants to have a good time with Scott, he wants to eat, he wants Xornoth to stop touching him— “I want to be here, can you—can we at least try?” he begs, peeking at Scott through his fingers. “Can you try touching my hair?”
Scott glances around again, frowning. “Jimmy, I—” he sighs, bites his lip— “Jimmy, we set up months ago that if you’re clearly distressed and want me to touch your hair, I’m supposed to say no. And baby, you’re crying.”
And now he’s crying. Great. He grinds the heels of his hands into his eyes, takes in a shuddering breath. “I didn’t want—I wanted it to be good—”
He can hear the panic in Scott’s voice when he speaks. “Jimmy, do you know where you are right now?”
“The diner, with you, and so many people watching—” he cuts himself off, buries his face in his arms. There’s so many people here, all staring at him as he has a breakdown over a stupid flashback that he knows isn’t actually happening but just can’t shake.
“I’ll get some to-go boxes, okay? We’ll go home—”
“But I want to stay,” Jimmy insists, and he just knows he sounds like a petulant child. “I want to eat out with you, I want you to not have to worry about me freaking out over nothing! I love you so much, I just wanted today to be normal. . . .”
Scott’s silent for a while as Jimmy sniffles into his sleeves. At some point a waiter approaches, asks Scott lowly if everything’s all right.
“We’re fine . . . no, he’s got PTSD . . . thank you for your service too. . . .”
Scott waits until the waiter leaves, lays his head down on the table beside Jimmy. “Hey,” he says quietly. Jimmy blinks at him through the tears.
“I won’t be upset if we have to leave. I just want you to be safe and happy. You’re not a burden to me—I want to spend time with you, and it doesn’t matter where.”
Jimmy closes his eyes briefly as the phantom hand falls again to his back, rubbing lightly. “Can—can you rub my back?” he asks, voice small.
Scott immediately complies, and the feeling of something real—someone real—touching him where the hand was makes the phantom sensation drift away, off into the air like it had never happened. He relaxes into Scott’s arm as his breathing begins to even out, tension seeping out of him.
“Told you,” he grumbles, pressing his head into Scott’s chest. Scott being there, his head up against Scott’s firm and real body, makes all the difference. “‘S gone now. Just needed you.”
Scott’s hand, still rubbing his back, pauses. “I—oh,” he says softly, resuming the backrub. “I’m really . . . I’m really happy you trust me in that way. I’m really happy I can help you.”
“Sorry for making a scene.”
“You don’t need to apologize for a thing, love. Flashbacks are nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Jimmy’s embarrassed anyway, certain that there are still eyes on him. He sighs, rubs his eyes before reaching for his plate. “Can we still stay? I want to.”
Scott gives him a once over, frowns. “Okay, but on one condition: if another flashback starts at any time, we’re leaving. All right?”
It’s the right choice to make, and Jimmy nods his agreement.
He’s still not used to luck being in his favor, but he doesn’t have another flashback, and he finds he can push through the exhaustion and enjoy dinner with his boyfriend.
There may be flashbacks, and panic attacks, but really? Everything . . . everything’s okay. For the moment, he’s happy, and he knows that a flashback is a minor setback.
He leans against Scott’s shoulder, sucking on his milkshake, and lets out a contented sigh. Everything’s okay.
#empires smp#empires smp fanfic#flower husbands#jimmy solidarity#scott smajor#empires superpowers au#esh au#mas writes#ough writing trauma processing my beloved...#plus a sweet ending!#i just. idk i like writing scenes where the trauma is still there and hurts#but the character can live a happy life still#and have a good time#and know how to cope#i also like writing the flower husbands smsm#031422#let me know what you think!#love you guys
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DEVASTATING the lyric you've been mishearing is better than the real one
#i've been listening to icarus by bastille#and for some reason my brain fills in 'this is how it feels to take a fall' as 'this is how it feels to take off all your skin'#and like fuck man#and I KNOW that’s technically not a misheard lyric but my post my rules cope#anyway my line now#also probably phrased this poorly but its ok#im allowed to be incomprehensible#as a treat#and then fuckin#from we sink by of monsters and men#the original line was 'please look away dont look at me'#and i kept hearing it as 'please learn a way to look at me'#anyway#shoving this post in the queue but please be aware that i am writing it very late at night#q
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#making a spreadsheet about it is the only way I know how to cope with stress and emotions#it’s all data babey
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redraws featuring some of my fav megu moments(tm)
#my art#jujutsu kaisen#jjk#megumi fushiguro#fushiguro megumi#itadori yuuji#yuji itadori#yuuji#megumi#fanart#jjk fanart#itafushi#i guess lol#i LOV that frame of blushing megu but let me see his FACE mappa >:(#let me see fushiguro tsundere megumi or so help me god#anyway gege wont give my son back so i will continue to cope the only way i know how#manga is wild rn i will simply bide my time until he returns#edit bc i cannot count to five and gave him . 4 fingers in th first post..............gomen..................
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FNAF Afton kids got interesting coping mechanisms
#myart#chloesimagination#comic#fnaf vanessa#michael afton#mike schmidt#fnaf#fnaf movie#sister location#fnaf fanart#five nights at freddy's#they are both super normal and well adjusted I promise#another Vanessa and Michael bonding moment 🔥🔥#I know both tried so much for their fathers approval#only to be both betrayed anyway by him#LEAST they have each other to talk about it#Mike isn’t very impressed by how they cope#but he can’t talk much seeing he copes through actually constantly sleeping#none of these guys are okay and that’s okay 💜
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He loved it the way people love evil, because it thrills them to the core of their souls. - The Story of Daniel the Devil's Minion, or the Boy from Interview with the Vampire
#iwtvedit#interview with the vampire#iwtv#iwtv s2#the devil's minion#armand#daniel molloy#queen of the damned#armaniel#please notice how extremely normal i'm being about all of this#I SIMPLY THINK THIS PASSAGE IS IMPORTANT AND THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW#i'm coping with waiting until next week ok?
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Happy Thistle Debut Day!
#dungeon meshi#Thistle#Old dungeon meshi fans remember the days when it was ambiguous what gender Thistle was.#Now we know Thistle uses he/him pronouns but in my heart Thistle is still non-binary. Clowngender elf with poor coping skills.#I hope the anime-only watchers know that this is a character to keep an eye on.#Love (in it's many forms) and desire (in it's many forms) is the main course of Dungeon Meshi and THIS silly jester?#My goodness. What a perfect encapsulation of how one can hurt other's so deeply in the name of love.#The actions we take to 'protect' other's is often the route to doing the most harm.#Love is letting go. Sometimes that means control and sometimes that means saying farewell forever to someone.
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this_is_stupid.mp4
#xmen#idfk what verse this is its the I Didnt Look Up Refs vers#cherik#professor x#magneto#charles xavier#erik lehnsherr#erik magnus lehnsherr#max eisenhardt#snap sketches#i spent the day finishing the draft of my comic and i do not want to finish it im so LAZY#so to cope with the inevitability of that because theres at least TWO panels i like and want to line i doodled this stupid shit jvaLKAJV#i just keep thinking of how silly they must look from each others povs ........#ESPECIALLY charles. erik stronger than me i woulda smacked his dome AT LEAST once a day#ok im sleeping thank you for joining me for Daily Cherik Nonsense#come back tomorrow where ill throw up. about what exactly ? who knows !
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What I wanted so badly was for Mary to learn about her boys from Cas. Like that night where Cas finds her when she can’t sleep and she expresses that she just doesn’t know anything about her sons since she missed so much?? All I wanted was for Cas to sit down with her at the table and just start telling her about them. Basic stuff at first: their favorite foods, their sleeping habits, the stuff he’s just observed by being their passenger for years.
And then I want him to say something totally Cas, like “Dean always wears more layers but that’s because his body naturally runs two degrees colder than Sam’s. But that’s normal for him and not indicative of any illness, so it’s nothing to worry about.”
And as they talk, it starts to get a little deeper, and Cas tells her more. He tells her about what she missed, about all the horrible things that happened to her sons and how they coped; how it changed them. And he tells her about Sam, he does, but really it ends up being all about Dean.
He’ll tell her about how Dean clenches his fists when he’s upset, even as he tries to keep his face impassive. About how Dean drums his fingers on the steering wheel when he’s anxious. He’ll tell her about Dean’s nightmares, about the ways he’s chosen to cope. He’ll tell her how to know when to approach Dean and when to give him space, how to gently acknowledge what he’s feeling without pushing him too far.
And with every word he says, Mary’s curious head tilt from when she’d seen them hug in reunion turns into a bone deep type of certainty. Because Cas is telling her things that only someone who paid special attention would notice. He’s telling her things that only someone very, very close to her son’s heart would know.
Cas will tell her the cliff notes of what they’ve been through; will tell her how the whole world looked to Dean and he rose to the occasion over and over again. He’ll tell her about Dean’s doubts in himself and then vehemently declare them as wrong and explain, at length, why. He will tell her about the people Dean has loved— the people who loved him like he was their own— and lost. He will tell her about Bobby, Ellen, Jody, Donna, and Charlie. He’ll tell her about Claire, too, and how Dean stepped up.
And the whole time, Mary will have this realization that oh, she may not have been around to guide and protect her sons, but there was always someone there to care for them and support them when they needed it. She will realize that she and John may have left them, but they were never alone.
But more than that, there was someone there for Dean. Someone picking Dean over and over again while Dean picked Sam, or the world, over himself. There was someone fighting for Dean when he wasn’t fighting for himself. There was someone who saw Dean, and loved him unconditionally.
Sitting across from her, at the asscrack of dawn, filling her in on all the things she missed was every mother’s dream: someone who loved her child with the kind of devotion that would break the world. And from the sounds of the stories she was being told, it did break the world. Someone whose love is entirely untainted and comes without any strings attached.
It’s so clear to her as she listens to Cas talk that Cas loves Dean with no expectations. That loving Dean is something he just does, like he doesn’t know how not to love Dean, like the possibility of not loving him never occurred to Cas. He loves Dean in a way that Mary knows can and will soothe Dean’s sharp edges and battered heart. He loves Dean in the kind of pure way that tells Mary that it will continue to endure and overcome everything without ever diminishing, even the littlest amount.
Mary, through tears, will tell Cas how she always told Dean that there were angels watching over him. And before Cas can make some comment about Dean being the Righteous Man and the interest of most of Heaven, she will place a hand over his and give him a motherly look that will convey all the things she’s not sure how to say— and the things she’s not sure Cas is ready to hear yet. And Cas will flush and look away, mumbling about how her son is very special to him.
And when she pulls him into a hug and murmurs thank yous into his shoulder, she will be comforted in the knowledge that her sons turned out to be wonderful men, and that they managed to stay together through everything. She will be comforted to know that no matter what happens, no matter her shortcomings as she tries to fill a role she never meant to leave, Sam will have Dean and Dean will have Cas.
And this time, when Cas tells her that she belongs here, she will believe him. And she will tell him that he belongs here, too.
And when Dean wakes up a few hours later and wanders in to find Mary and Cas still chatting over the table, he’ll be surprised— but pleased— to find Mary looking more at ease. He’ll be pleased when she gives him a warm hug and pats him on the cheek and tell him with all the sincerity that only a mother can muster that she’s glad that he met Castiel. And when Dean agrees, a little confused, Mary will just smile at him.
“I always said I’d like a third son.” She says, “so give him a reason to take our last name, won’t you?”
And Dean will splutter and turn fifteen shades of red as he steadfastly doesn’t look at Cas but mumbles something that suggests he’s not against the idea at all.
And Mary will laugh again and wink at an equally red Cas before heading towards the kitchen like “Cas said waffles are your favorite, so I hope you’re hungry!”
#mary Winchester could have been a good character#and the Mary&Cas friendship could’ve been everything#Mary deserved to learn about her sons from someone who loved them#and she deserved to see how they were never truly alone#like that whole scene I was screaming for Cas to talk to her#Cas helping Mary navigate the stress of situating herself into her boys life could’ve been so powerful#because he had to do that and he’d know#and Dean having cas to keep going to as he tried to cope with his own side of things???#im just saying#this show robbed us of a lot but this is one thing I feel especially bitter to have missed out on#Castiel#dean winchester#mary winchester#spn#supernatural#destiel#deancas
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the problem was that you threw an F2 driver into an F1 seat too soon and now you’re doing the same thing all over again?
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The what?? 🤨
(On this episode of Dragon Ball Z: Krillin and Gohan give advice to Trunks on how to deal with Vegeta's bad attitude)
#dbz#dragon ball z#gohan#son gohan#krillin#trunks#future trunks#trunks brief#dende#piccolo#vegeta#comic#sketch#db#dragon ball#this came to me in a flash at 2AM#i think i was intending to make it serious#but realized halfway I actually had no ending#then this happened#yay#i wonder how much trunks knows about vegeta#also after this gohan dende and krillin comfort trunks by telling him all about Vegeta#from saiyan saga to present#while trunks just sits on the edge of the lookout with a hetap or something#coping#lmao
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Dick gaslights himself 💀.
These images aren’t mine, they’re from the Wayne Family Adventures comic on Webtoon. I just used them as they’re easy identifiers of each character, also in the same style.
#dick is depresso espresso but he gaslights himself into thinking he loves himself because that’s how he copes y’all#am i projecting?#you’ll never know#tim drake#dick grayson#richard grayson#stephanie brown#babs gordon#barbra gordon#jason todd#cassandra cain#cass cain#damian wayne#damian al ghul#duke thomas#bruce wayne#batman#dc universe#dcu#dc comics#batman comics#bat family#bat fam#batfam#batman universe
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THEY CANCELLED DEAD BOY DETECTIVES :(((
Guess they belong to me the fandom now
#dead boy detectives#dbda#payneland#WHAT A WAY TO FIND OUT#thanks for letting me know anon#damn that sucks#pls don't hate me for trying to joke about it gasdjkaskfja this is how i cope#does this mean now i HAVE to write that fanfiction about the gang going to Japan to retrieve Niko's body I've been actively avoiding?#ask ask ask
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This is a small moment that got lost in the sauce but can we PLEASE talk about this???
Because he was literally suffering from writer's block until Penelope told him she loved him and then he was off to the races.
#Writer!Colin I love you 😭#her love literally unleashed him wtf how can I cope with knowing that#bridgerton#polin#colin bridgerton#penelope featherington#bridgerton season 3#luke newton#nicola coughlan#bridgerton season three#bridgerton spoilers
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itakugi sillies fr the soul
#my art#jujutsu kaisen#jjk#yuji itadori#nobara kugisaki#itakugi#jjk fanart#jujutsu kaisen fanart#jjk leaks#jjk manga spoilers#jjk spoilers#jjk 267#eye horror/#cant see the haters <3#not pictured here megumi holding the camera like ......................#also i dont know how i feel abt eyepatch yuuji but fr the sake of itakugi wearing each other's eyepatches he can have one :'>#entertained the idea of them having Matching ones but i scrapped tht pretty quickly dhsdfgfdf i like them distinct#i think yuuji might b able to pull off the larger snaparound kind bc the scars on the other side of his face maybe balance it out#but i like nobara having a smaller more traditional eyepatch personally#1 bc i think she would not want to mess up her hair but also bc i LOVE th look of her scars i want as many of them visible as possible#the eye socket itself tho is ....kinda gnarly GGHJFHFS#speaking of which ik nobara's eye kind of. exploded. but what exactly happened w yuuji's did it just ???? burn away????#idrk if yuuji shld also have a more defined eye socket tbh but fr the sake of my own enjoyment n sanity#i am pulling the fanartist I Do What I Want card#i make the rules and i want his scars to look Like This smile#anyway i love them so much i missed them so much they r so SIBLING CODED#u dont understand officer i need them being dumb n chaotic. to cope#hands and knees itkg save megumi itfskg make it out alive plspslpslplspslpslspsl
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it's a fair question 🙃 Lokius Incorrect Quotes [12/∞]
#mobius#loki#lokius#mcuedit#lokiedit#marveledit#for the record they would be VERY indignant about being asked but also unable to give a solid answer for good reason lmao#well lads it's finally time to start coping with the finale in the only way i know how besides angst#which is turning the show into my own personal comedy of errors so unfortunately for everyone it's incorrect quote time again 😂💖#owen wilson#tom hiddleston#marvel#b-15#casey#lokius incorrect quotes#owenwilsonedit#dianagifs
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