#i just saw some…interesting posts that jolted me to reality and i’m like. huh.

[padfootastic]

being so obsessed with certain characters in extremely specific dynamics leads to me getting a fully body electric shock when i get out of my echo chamber lmao

[shadowofthelamp]

Partners

Swap Zim and Dib decide to work together. Technically a direct sequel to this thing that was posted a year and a half ago. Like, comments, and reblogs all super appreciated!

Wordcount: 1800

Warnings: Mentions of Dib experimenting on people, I guess?

Zim woke up strapped to a lab table that smelled so strongly of blood that he almost threw up. (Which was quite an accomplishment, considering it wasn’t like Zim was a stranger to animal test subjects, or even getting himself injured.) It took him a few seconds to remember why he was strapped to a bloody lab table, but hearing the familiar voice frantically muttering next to him helped.

“Come on, I need to kill him, but it’s Zim, I like Zim, I don’t want to kill him, but he’s a threat to the mission, I can’t upset my Tallest or the Professor, but maybe I could just wipe his memory...”

That voice was Dib. Dib, the stalker who had turned out to be a real live alien. Dib, the kid (was he a kid?) who must have strapped him to a table.

_____

It had started out pretty easy- he’d already known where Dib lived from the one time Dib had dragged him there when they’d both gotten caught in an explosion and he’d wanted to help patch Zim up. All Zim had to do was use a taser to short out the electric fence and some hacking to get in the front door once he found the security frequency they were using.

It was child’s play, although it wasn’t like it would be easy for anybody else. Zim was special. He was always special, always better than everyone else. Dib had seen that. As annoying as he got at times, Zim was glad that at least he was annoying because he liked Zim.

However, things had started to go south as soon as he got inside the front door. There was a chubby little pig perched right next to it, and it sniffed at him before its eyes lit up bright red.

“STATE YOUR BUSINESS.”

“You talk?” It looked like a regular pig to him, usually talking animals were a lot clunkier and more robotic-looking.

“IRRELEVANT. STATE YOUR BUSINESS, HUMAN.”

“Seeing Dib.”

“NONE MAY PASS.” The pig jolted up on two legs, and Zim noticed a small zipper on its belly only moments before the pig grasped at it, yanking it down and ripping off its- costume? It didn’t look like any fabric Zim had ever seen- to reveal a silvery robot with burning red eyes. A dozen weapons, mostly guns and knives, popped out from its head, and Zim couldn’t bite back a yelp as he fumbled in his backpack for his own laser gun.

“I know how to use this thing, you know!”

“ANY THREAT TO THE MISSION AND TO MASTER GAZ MUST BE ELIMINATED.” 

Zim squeezed the trigger, but the robot- okay, it moved way too fast for a robot that size, Zim’s tended to blow up if they tried any fancy acrobatics, but this one flipped out of the way, his laser blasting a hole in the wallpaper instead. 

He took half a second to breathe before squeezing the trigger again and swinging it around, burning a line through the wall and couch before hitting the robot and getting a metallic shriek out of it as it lunged for him, pinning him down by the shoulders and making him drop his laser.

“ELIMINATED. ELIMINATED. ELMINATED.”

“Release Zim!” Zim kicked up and heard a metallic crack before he rolled to the side, thankful for those self-defense classes he’d taken as the robot plunged about fifteen knives into the spot where his head had been half a second ago. The red eyes narrowed at him before activating rockets in its feet, and Zim ducked as it swung with a giant mallet from its head. He dropped to the floor, fumbling for the laser and swinging it around to take another shot at the thing. 

The gun managed to blast one of the arms off, but that sure as hell made it mad considering he didn’t have time to dodge the second swing of the mallet. He saw stars for half a second before there was nothing at all.

_____

“Dib,” Zim croaked, head feeling rather like it was full of rats that had thrown a dance party inside his skull and left a mess all over the cerebral cortex. 

“But this is a perfect opportunity for some experiments, you wanted that, didn’t you Dib- huh?” Dib looked up from muttering to himself.

Or rather, the alien did. It was still wearing Dib’s trademark goggles that looked heavy enough to weigh his head down with lenses too dark to see anything underneath, but its skin was an even darker shade of green, and it had a pair of twitchy antennae. No nose, no ears, and it had donned a full-on labcoat that was soaked in a whole lot of red and black stains. He’d always kind of figured aliens were real somewhere out there, but seeing it... it was like reality had tilted a little to the left. There were more pressing matters than a crisis about aliens existing anyhow, and Zim was pretty good at repressing things he didn’t like.

It sounded like Dib, though, and the way it fussed with its hands was the same with two fingers and one thumb on each, same as Dib. ‘Machine accident’, his ass. 

“You’re awake?”

“Y-yes, I’m awake. Could you let me go?” His voice came out sickly-sweet and polite, like he was talking to the counselor again to convince her that he was fine.

Dib-alien shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I really would like to, but you know too much. Protocol is pretty clear- dispose of or brainwash all witnesses when the planet is marked for conquest. But brainwashing knocks out a lot of the intelligence, and that would be such a waste, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it would,” Zim agreed. “So let me off with a warning?”

Dib folded his arms. “Nope. But the fact that you actually held your own against a SIR unit for a full minute as a smeet- and one that I modified to be extra aggressive- just tells me that you’re still useful as a specimen.”

“Hey, I’m not a- a- smeeb!”

“Smeet, child, baby, whatever term it is you humans use.” Dib waved a dismissive hand, stalking closer and looming over Zim. His eyes were a deep, electric blue like an unsucked sour candy, and Zim squirmed under the restraints. “That table is where most of my previous experiments died, and I don’t want you to just be number thirty-six, you know?”

“Thirty-six? Thirty-six what?”

“Oh, this and that. Humans are good for experiments, they’re very determined to survive so you don’t have to use as many.”

“Well, so is Zim.” Zim tried to twist away, but something metallic erupted from Dib’s backpack like a dozen sharp insectoid legs, propelling him up onto the lab table before he dropped directly on Zim’s chest, driving the wind out of him.

“I’m well aware. You’re already a survivor, aren’t you?” He ticked off on his fingers, alien butt shifting on top of Zim a bit to get comfortable. “Barely any parental supervision, yet you create machines and work on biological experiments that are beyond the capability of most humans three times your age. You almost get blown up often and yet walk away from it. You’re an anomaly.” Dib leaned closer, and Zim could taste the sugar on his breath. “I like anomalies.”

Zim attempted to buck Dib off to no avail as he continued. “Find the exception and you’ll have found the thing of most interest, the thing that makes or breaks a species. The outlier the proves the rule, and you’re a human that behaves like an irken, showing just how far ahead of the rest of your species you are. According to my research, they’re going to burn when Gaz decides what to do with this place if they don’t destroy each other before she gets around to it, but I just might keep you as a pet.”

“Zim is no pet!” Even with little oxygen left in his lungs, Zim shouted, snarling up at Dib with his lip curled. “Earth may be terrible, but it’s mine, so back off!”

“Oh? So you agree that Earth is terrible?” Dib tilted his head to the side, one of those long antennae twitching, and Zim narrowed his eyes.

“You’re not very good at research, are you? Of course it is! But it’s mine, and I don’t want any buggy alien getting his sticky hands all over it!”

“It’s not exactly up to me,” Dib replied, hearing the wheeze in Zim’s voice and sliding off his chest to the table itself, and Zim sucked in a deep breath, feeling the air reinflate his squashed lungs. “Gaz is the one who’s actually invading, I’m just here to study the planet in case there’s anything useful. You’re a pre-contact planet, or at least that’s what’s logged, so this place is a treasure trove of undiscovered species. I’m trying to convince Gaz to at least set up a preserve so I can study some of them once she’s done with the invasion.”

“Are you even listening to me? I told you to bug off! Leave me and Earth alone!”

“I’m listening, but I told you, it’s not my call. Even if it was... you said it yourself, Earth is terrible. It would be far more useful to the Empire as a sugar-harvesting operation, or a zoo, or something else. Humans don’t really deserve to be in charge, they’re just going to blow themselves up eventually.” Dib shrugged.

“If I was in charge, you wouldn’t say that,” Zim muttered, and Dib’s antenna twitched again.

“What did you say?”

“I said, if I was in charge, you wouldn’t say that. I bet if everybody listened to me, you’d take that back. I’m a human and I know I could fix everything.”

Dib stared at him for a solid ten seconds, and Zim wasn’t sure he hadn’t spontaneously kicked the bucket. Did aliens do that? “You’re a genius. You’re a genius!” 

“Of course I am, but why?”

Dib smacked his hands on Zim’s cheeks, squishing his mouth in like a goldfish. “Of course, how didn’t I see it before? Your potential is stifled by the fact that you only have access to tools that you create, but if we worked together, you could help us because you have intimate knowledge of humanity, and I could help you by giving you limited access to my technology! We could be lab partners- I wouldn’t have to kill you, and you can help reshape your species for a better future!”

Zim blinked. “Does this mean you aren’t going to do horrible experiments on me?”

“I can’t promise that, but I’m not going to kill you right now.”

“Good enough for me!” Zim tried to shake Dib’s hand, before realizing that he was still restrained to the table. Dib leaned over, hitting a button just next to Zim’s head, and the restraints popped off. Zim rubbed his wrists for a moment as he sat up, mind still whirling.

This was a chance to fix everything, to make things the way that they should be.

“So, you won’t kill all humans, and you’ll give me access to cool tech.”

“I’ll consider your input on that, and I’ll give you access to cool tech.” Dib nodded, taking Zim’s hand, and a slow grin spread across Zim’s face.

“Then lead the way, Dib-thing.”

[iforgotmypreviousaccountlol]

Starting Line

Happy Holidays, @carson-asmo-lover 

This is your Secret Santa gift. I hope you like it!

AU: Asmo is a uni student who just moved into a new apartment unit, Solomon is living next door learning how to bake. Every day, Asmo would smell the sweet aroma of baked goods from his room and in the hallways. One day, after a hectic day from uni, he stops in front of the door trying to guess which baked good is being made for that day. The door opens, cue awkward silence, Solomon invites Asmo into his apartment, and into his life.

ASMO

There, there it is again. Asmodeus glanced at his wall clock. Right on time: 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The sweet smell of sugar and pastry permeated his room. His next-door neighbour is baking again. He closed his eyes and inhaled, trying to take a guess which pastry his neighbour decided to make today. It has been a good past-time for whenever he found himself bored on some days when he doesn’t have uni classes. Not that he had nothing better to do, he had to catch up on a lot of schoolworks but he isn’t in the mood to do them right now.

He moved in just a few months ago so he could be closer to school, but now that he enjoyed the new-found freedom that is living alone, he realized he missed the constant presence of his brothers. Sure, having his own place meant that Lucifer wasn’t around to nag him when he goes out to party most nights, or if he brings people back to his place for some night escapades (He never did bring someone over though. Maybe he should.) He made a mental note to go home for the weekend if the workload permits.

“Cinnamon rolls,” he finally said, propping up from the couch. The sweet smell of the cinnamon powder that contrasted with the slightly sour cream cheese made Asmo’s mouth water. He groaned. “If you’re gonna make pastries, at least offer some to your neighbours so we don’t get hungry from the smell.”

Now he has no choice but to go down and buy something sweet to satisfy his craving. He put on a peach sweater and wrapped a white scarf around his neck. He stared at his reflection for a moment. His champagne-colored hair was longer on one side, stylishly swept to frame his face. His diamond stud earring reflected light when he turned his face in a certain angle. “Alright, enough. I look stunning, as always.”

He wrinkled his nose at his neighbour’s door when he passed on his way out, the smell of cinnamon is much stronger in the hallway. He hadn’t even met the mysterious baker, given that he’s almost always out to some party when he isn’t in class, it’s strange that they never even once bumped into each other in the lobby or the elevator. He shrugged and went on his way to hunt for some cinnamon rolls.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 Asmo was almost dragging himself back to his condo unit after a hectic morning. He had a 3-hour lecture for Fashion Marketing and he had to pass a 10-page essay on Fashion Theory (which of course, he crammed last night. He even skipped a campus party!) and he’s just about ready to pass out and is determined to take a long nap for the whole afternoon. That would have been a solid plan, except it’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon and the scent of baked sweets wafted from his neighbour’s room and into the hallway.

He stopped on his tracks and inhaled the scent, his brain immediately fell to its routine, trying to discern which ingredients are being used to create what pastry. “Milk, definitely. What else? Eggs? And oh—”

The door suddenly opened. Asmo jerked back in surprise, his hand latched to the strap of his sling bag. He blinked once, twice.

A tall man with silvery-white hair with stunning blue-gray eyes, wearing a black turtleneck with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and white apron, came out of the room carrying a small trash bag. Asmo was never one to be at a loss for words, especially not in front of attractive people, but his tongue refused to make an audible sound.

“Oh, hello. I suppose you’re my neighbour? I believe this is the first time we’re meeting each other?” The man continued, “I’m Solomon.”

Asmo shook off his surprise and cleared his throat. He wore his usual disarming smile and nodded at him. “Asmodeus. I just came back from school, I was just, uh,” he said while gesturing to his unit’s door.

“I see.”

Awkward silence filled the space between and around them. Asmo noticed a faint sprinkle of flour on Solomon’s right cheek, he clamped down the urge to reach in and dust it off.

The fire alarm started beeping causing the two to jolt in surprise. Solomon raced to the trash chute, dumped the trash bag and raced back inside his room to turn off the oven. Asmo stood unmoving to the doorway. He wondered if he should offer help.

Thick smoke came out of the oven when Solomon opened it, he fanned the oven with a mitt. The fire alarm hasn’t stopped beeping so Asmo mindlessly stepped inside and grabbed the nearest flat object (which happened to be a pan of piped cream puff dough) to fan the alarm component on the ceiling. He honestly had no idea what he’s doing. The piped dough from the baking pan fell and scattered on the floor, one even hitting him right on the cheek.

“Oh. It stopped,” he commented, the pan still raised over his head.

Asmo glanced at Solomon who was still kneeling in front of the oven and saw that a bunch of dough pieces is now strewn around the kitchen floor. A solitary piece of dough stuck on the baking sheet finally gave up and dropped on Asmo’s forehead. He blinked slowly, unsure on how to react.

Solomon snorted, obviously trying but miserably failing to hold back a laugh. Asmo flicked away the dough which earned a chuckle from Solomon, which in turn triggered Asmo to burst into laughter.

“Sorry, that was… not funny.” Solomon said in between laughs.

Asmo doubled over. He wiped a tear that escaped his eye from laughing and said, “It kinda was.”

“Listen, why don’t you sit and clean yourself up. I’ll just tidy up for a bit and we could enjoy the successful batch I made earlier. Think of it as a welcoming present.”

Asmo considered it for a moment. Sleep or… this? “Sure.”

Solomon smiled, and started cleaning up the mess.

Asmo pulled out a chair and sat. His rose and gold eyes followed Solomon’s movement. It mesmerized him; the grace in his movements, certain and self-assured. He stared so hard he didn’t even notice that Solomon was already standing in front of him asking something.

He shook his head a tiny bit. “I’m sorry, come again?”

Solomon chuckled. His chuckle sent a shiver down Asmo’s spine.

“I asked if you would like tea or coffee. To pair with the cream puffs.”

“Tea, please. With milk.”

Solomon nodded and proceeded to the kitchen counter to make the tea. Asmo wanted to face palm and cringe. Why is he acting this way?

“So… tell me about yourself,” Solomon said.

Asmo paused. In any other instances, he would’ve already started talking about himself without even needing to be prompted. Why is it that he can’t think of something interesting to tell this guy?

“Why don’t we talk about you first?” Asmo deflected the question.

That earned another smile from the fair-haired man. He brought the cooling rack containing the cream puffs and a tray of tea and cups.

“What do you want to know?”

Everything, Asmo thought. Instead he asked, “What’s your major?”

“Chemistry. You?”

Huh, that surprisingly fits him. “Fashion design. Why are you always baking?”

Solomon sipped his tea. “I promised my little brother Luke I would teach him how to bake. You see, a friend of mine, Barbatos went overseas for a job. He was the one who was supposed to teach Luke. But since he can’t, I decided to give it a go.”

“That’s incredibly nice of you.”

“Thank you. For now I still need to watch videos and study the recipe but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. Well, except for the incident earlier.”

Asmo nodded. The cream puffs looked so good he wanted to pull out his phone and post it on his Instagram but he stopped himself. He reached for one and popped it into his mouth.

The milky taste and the slight crisp of the puff blended well, it tasted divine—Asmo’s thoughts stopped at the same time he stopped chewing. WHAT IS THAT? It’s bitter and spicy and sour, flavor after flavor assaulted his taste buds faster than his brain can process the actual taste of the pastry.

He looked at Solomon, the latter clearly expecting a comment or reaction from him. Good thing he quickly managed his expression. He smiled, the cream puff still stuck on the roof of his mouth.

He was saved by the ringing of Solomon’s phone. When Solomon turned his back to reach for his phone, he quickly spit out the pastry on his handkerchief and stowed it on his bag’s pocket.

Solomon’s eyes widened slightly at him when he saw him gulped down his tea as a desperate attempt to wash out the aftertaste. “You sure are thirsty. More tea?” Solomon offered.

“I am. Yes, please.” Asmo nodded vigorously.

“So, what can you say about the cream puffs? It’s my first time so I can understand if they didn’t turn out perfect.”

That would be the understatement of the year, Asmo thought. He also dreaded the question. To tell or not to tell? “Do you have any more of the strawberry tart you made the other day?”

“How did you know I made some?”

“Please. Everyone on this floor probably knows what you’re baking every day.”

Solomon chuckled and proceeded to get a strawberry tart from his fridge.

Asmo swallowed, bracing himself. Just a small bite. A chaos of flavors.

He placed his palms flat on the table for 10 seconds then rushed to the sink to spit out the tart and gargle water. “What the hell was that?”

Solomon raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean? It tastes normal to me.”

Asmo’s jaw fell when he saw Solomon eating his tart with no problem, enjoying it even. He can’t believe he spent his days craving for sweets his neighbour baked when in reality they taste this atrocious.

“That’s it, Solomon. You’re not allowed to bake anymore,” Asmo said, shaking his head.

“Huh? I thought I was doing fine. I really need to learn though, I can’t disappoint Luke.”

Asmo bit his lip, considering. He sighed. “Fine. You can bake all you want, but never without me. I’ll oversee whatever you’re doing to make sure you never end up making those… those unidentifiable monstrosities again!”

Solomon smiled; in his grey-blue eyes, Asmo saw wonders, and potential, and… a future. “Deal.”

SOLOMON

Solomon checked his watch. It’s Friday and Asmo will be coming over in a minute or two. It’s already been more than a month since they started their “baking lessons.” Granted, it’s not every day; it’s only twice a week, thrice when their schedule permits. But would it be a stretch if he admitted to himself that the highlight of his weeks are the days when Asmodeus comes over to watch him work?

A knock interrupted his thoughts. He should just give Asmo a spare key, he thought while walking towards the door.

“You’ll never guess what happened in class today! So see, I crammed a paper again last night so I almost came late for class. Our professor for that class was Professor Simeon, you know? He’s wonderful but can be very strict so I didn’t want to be late and be scolded but then, on the way to the classroom…”

Solomon’s lips tugged at the corner as he watched Asmo lament about his tiring day at school. His strawberry champagne bangs swept stylishly, slightly messed up by the wind. His gold and ruby eyes sparkling along with his words and gestures. Asmo always looked alive to him. No, not the usual alive as in living. Really alive. Maybe that’s what happens when you know to find love in everything.

“Anyway, what are we making today?” Asmo finished, hanging his white coat on the rack near the door.

We. It shouldn’t have sounded as nice as it did. “We,” he said the word with maybe a bit more excitement than warranted, “are making red velvet cake.”

“All right! That’s great. I love red velvet.”

“I already prepared—”

He stopped because of the irritation that flashed in Asmo’s eyes. He bit his lower lip to suppress a smile.

“Throw it out.”

“That would be a waste. At least try out the batter before rejecting it.”

Asmo put both his hands on Solomon’s shoulders and looked at him seriously, emphasizing his words, “Solomon, I know for a fact that you are an amazing and smart chemist, but you’re hopeless in the kitchen.”

Solomon laughed which earned a chuckle from Asmo. “No, no, I didn’t add any suspicious ingredients this time. I swear. I followed the instructions word for word.”

Asmo begrudgingly took a spoon and tasted the batter.

“Good?”

He shrugged. “Surprisingly.”

It was two weeks ago when Asmo finally figured out what he was doing wrong all this time. Solomon had a bad habit of experimenting with ingredients, most likely because of his chemistry experiments. But even after figuring out what’s the problem, Asmo continued supervising his baking. Not that he’s complaining, and not that he would ever ask the arrangement to be over. He would never admit it out loud, but he liked having Asmodeus over.

Solomon started whipping the frosting with a hand mixer while Asmo stayed close to watch him. It took a lot to focus and not glance on his side.

Asmo said, “Hey, you got a little something—”

His eyes met Asmo’s in time as Asmo’s fingers dusted something from his cheek. They stayed frozen in time for a moment; staring at each other, Asmo’s fingers barely grazing Solomon’s cheek.

The moment would’ve lasted longer if the mixer’s whisk attachment hit the side of the bowl in a wrong angle and sprayed both of them with frosting. They blinked at each other before bursting into laughter.

“Kitchen blunders for the nth time,” Solomon joked.

Asmo pulled out his phone and suggested they take a picture, Solomon let Asmo take their “selfie.” After Asmo was satisfied with the pictures, Solomon reached for a paper towel to wipe frosting from Asmo’s usual immaculately beautiful face.

After the cake cooled, Asmo helped design the frosting. He also took pictures to post on his Instagram. Solomon made an account last week just to look at the pictures occasionally. The photo of the cake earned hundreds of likes and comments in minutes. Well, that can’t be helped, Asmo is a popular guy. Solomon would be too if he actually bothered to socialize, but he found it rather exhausting to deal with people he’s not interested in.

“Hey, could you send me our picture from earlier?” Sol said.

“Oh yeah, sure.” Asmo fiddled with his phone. “…And sent.”

“Thank you,” Solomon replied.

They settled down on the table to eat the cake they made and have some tea. They talked about their days and their upcoming exams. Eventually, the sun started setting. Its golden rays streaming from the window, dyeing the room in a soft orange hue.

“I think you’re okay now, Solomon. Remember to just always follow the instructions and don’t add any unnecessary ingredients to whatever you’re cooking or baking, and it’ll turn out fine.”

Solomon raised an eyebrow. He pushed away the idea that Asmo will now stop coming over because they already eliminated the cause of the weird taste (which isn’t actually weird for him).

“It's a force of habit. I’m always curious so I can’t stop myself from experimenting with things.”

“I guess…”

“Why, am I eating up too much of your time?” He asked.

“Of course not. I like spending time with you, Solomon.” Asmo’s cheeks flushed a bit.

Solomon sipped his tea.

Asmo took the small window of silence to change the topic. “Anyway, I got a call from Mammon the other day and guess what? He’s appearing in a mag—”

“Me too,” he interrupted.

“Hmm?”

“I like spending time with you too.”

Asmo was caught off-guard but eventually smiled. He reached for his bag and pulled out a silver box with a champagne-colored ribbon. “By the way, here.”

Solomon’s brows wrinkled. “What’s this?”

“Happy Birthday, Solomon.”

“How did you—”

Asmo winked at him. “Information comes easily when you have a lot of friends.” Asmo laughed and continued, “Kidding. I’m in the same class as Meph, he works in the registrar’s office as an assistant so I asked him. I had to do him some favours, but eh, it’s worth it.”

“Thank you, Asmo. Really.”

Asmo’s phone beeped, he looked at his notifications. His eyes widened a fraction.

Solomon smiled. He had an idea why Asmo was surprised. He glanced on his own phone, notifications pouring in fast. He clicked on a post, his first one ever.

It’s a photo Asmo took of them earlier. Asmo, lively as always, was throwing a peace sign while winking, his ruby and gold eyes full of wonder; Solomon, his blue-grey eyes a pool of mystery, was smiling a bit, looking at him contentedly. The caption? Best birthday with ‘that special someone.’

His phone chimed, a notification appeared on top of his screen: Asmodeus liked your photo.

[sohin-ace]

Josuke - Phone Buddies

This is cross-posted from Wattpad and available on AO3.

Enjoy~

"Yare yare daze, I'll pay, don't bother."

Jotaro was in a generous mood as he decided he would pay for the meal he shared with his uncle and grandfather today. He took out his wallet and got up to pay for the order, but right as he opened it and got the cash out, a small picture fell from it.

Josuke noticed it but as he was about to call Jotaro out to tell him, he was already far gone to the cash register.

Josuke took the picture in his hands and decided it wouldn't hurt to take a sneak peek. Also, he wondered what kind of photo a man like Jotaro could have tucked so preciously in his wallet.

The picture showed two smiling girls. One little girl with her hair styled in twin buns and a cute dress with butterflies on it, and right next to her, a very pretty H/C H/L haired girl with beautiful E/C eyes that was holding the child close to her.

Josuke's eyes widened upon seeing the picture and was astonished at how pretty you were. Were you Jotaro's family?

Jotaro had never mentionned a teenage girl in his family. Josuke already knew about Jolyne and even though he had yet to see her in person, he figured she was the child in the picture.

But you? Who were you? He suddenly became so curious. Were all girls living in America this cute? He blushed at his own thoughts.

"What the hell are you drooling at?" Jotaro grumbled as he came back.

Josuke subconsciously wiped his mouth at the remark and got up, handing him back the picture.

Jotaro's expression shifted slightly and his brow furrowed as he didn't expect to have lost such an important photo.

"W-who is she?" Josuke stuttered as he pointed at the picture, now in the hands of its owner.

"That's my daughter Jolyne and my sister-in-law, Y/N."

"Y-your sister-in-law? How old is she? She's very pretty..." He mumbled the last part, quite embarrassed to ask Jotaro these intrusive questions.

Josuke rubbed the back of his head as he looked away, obviously flustered. Jotaro was quick to catch on what was going on in this hopeless romantic's mind.

"She's around your age, and yes she's single. Let's go now." The taller male huffed as he turned around to leave, Joseph already waiting outside.

Josuke gasped loudly, a deep blush adorning his face as he trotted close behind.

"Wha- I wasn't even gonna ask that!"

Ever since that day, Josuke couldn't stop thinking about Y/N, the girl never leaving his mind. He was so curious and infatuated with her, he really wanted to know more about the mysterious girl.

Even if he knew the distance separating them was a big obstacle, he couldn't help but find it even more intriguing.

Jotaro of course had quickly noticed how dreamy Josuke had become ever since he fell upon that picture and sighed at the teenager's helplessness.

"Here. Call her in the morning before 12 or at midnight if you're still awake."

Jotaro came in one day and slammed a piece of paper on the table in front of Josuke, making the boy jolt and forcing him out of his train of thoughts.

He looked at the paper and on it was a phone number, most likely yours, and Josuke's eyes widened. He jumped from his seat and called out to his comicly older nephew who was already leaving.

"Wh- Really?! Oh my god, Jotaro you're a real man!Thanks!!"

Jotaro only dipped his hat while muttering his catchphrase and just like that, he left the scene, his good deed done.

Josuke's palms were sweaty and his heart was beating fast as he dialed the number and listened to the anxiety inducing bipping sound on the phone.

Yes. Tonight, he was calling you. He would know about you and, even if he didn't expect a relationship out of this, at least he could make a friend, right?

But what was he supposed to say? Were you going to find him weird? You never heard of him after all, and he suddenly had your phone number. What if he messed up? He was fairly good at English, but what if his accent was too strong and you couldn't understand him?

He didn't have time to fret any further as you finally picked up the phone, making his heart jump.

'Hello?'

His breath caught in his throat. Was that you? That was your voice right? This felt so unreal.

'Hello? Who is this?' You questionned and Josuke finally managed to blurt something out.

"H-hi! This is Y/N, r-right?" He stuttered uncontrollably and his hands were shaking.

'Get a grip, Josuke, that's so uncool for a guy like you!' He thought to himself. He wished Okuyasu would be there to give him a boost of confidence and some much needed bro support.

'Yes, it's me! Who's asking?'

Your voice was so sweet in his ears, he didn't expect that much honey in a single person's voice. A few words from you and he could already tell you were a kind person.

"I-I'm Josuke Higashikata! You don't know me, but I'm a relative of Jotaro." He was now calmer after introducing himself, the awkwardness fading slowly.

'Oh! Hi! It's so good to hear from Jotaro's family!' You chuckled lightly. 'How is he? Is he next to you?'

You sounded so happy to have news and his heart was restlessly hammering in his chest. But that was bad, the conversation was shifting towards Jotaro, he had to say something.

"Oh yeah, yeah he's fine, he's not here at the moment, it's pretty late in Japan..." He didn't know what to add. He was so shy, it was killing him.

'Oh I see, that's good. When you see him, tell him to give us a call, Jolyne misses him a lot!'

"Sure, I'll tell him!" He had to say something interesting, and quick, before you figured out how much of a weirdo he was. "U-um... So Y/N... You're... You're 16 right? Just like me!"

'Yes! I'm still in highschool. It's good that we're the same age Jojo. Oh- you don't mind if I call you Jojo? That's how my sister calls Jolyne.'

He blushed at the cute nickname. He wasn't very used to be called Jojo but coming from you it was almost tearing at his heartstrings.

"I-I don't mind!" He squeaked in an embarassingly high-pitched voice that he would have rathered not let you hear and you giggled.

'You sound so sweet! I wish we could talk more often, I'm sure you're a very nice guy!'

He wanted to scream at your cuteness but instead he resolved to balling his fists. Without even needing to meet you he was already falling hard in love with you. But at the same time it broke his heart that you two couldn't meet, or at least not until a very long time.

"Y-you too Y/N... You sound like my type of girl." He paused at his own words when he heard you gasp on the other end of the line.

'WHY THE HELL DID I SAY THAT WHAT THE FUCK ??!!!' He pulled at his precious hair as he cringed. Oh he messed up, just as he predicted. He goofed.

'J-jojo...! Y-you... Really? You think so...?'

You were embarrassed, but you couldn't deny that you were touched by his words, your heart racing as well as your thoughts. Nobody had ever said that to you before, and the mere thought of a boy, as far away as he was, liking you made you blush.

"I-I'm sorry! That... That was too much! Oh my god..." Josuke panicked and facepalmed, feeling so freaking dumb and not knowing how to save the situation.

'N-no it's just...' You trailed off thinking carefully of your next words. 'Maybe... I sound nice on the phone, but the reality may be disappointing, you know?'

"Huh? What do you mean?"

'I'm probably not as pretty as you imagine... Don't get your hopes up.' You laughed nervously his eyes widened at your words.

"N-no way!" He stopped himself before he could say something he would regret.

He couldn't let you know that he saw your picture. The last thing he wanted right was to seem like a major creep and that he only called you for your looks when he actually started to really like your personality.

He also sensed that you probably didn't have the best self-esteem, so disappointing you was out of the question.

"I... I truly believe you'd be nice to me if we met, regardless of what you look like. Also, if Jotaro trusts you then there's no way you can be a bad girl."

'R-really...?' Your heart skipped a million beats at his reassuring words and soft voice and you were glad he couldn't see you fidget in your seat. 'Ah, thank you Jojo, it's really sweet of you.'

He bit his lip and silenced himself from fanboying. You were just melting his heart by the second and he swore if you kept speaking with that airy voice, his brain would short-circuit.

'Actually... I think Jotaro has a picture of Jolyne with me on it, if you're ever curious of what I look like.'

"O-oh, really? I mean... Yeah, I guess I could ask him." He feigned ignorance and tried to keep his cool. "Should I send you a picture of me too?"

'You wouldn't mind? I kinda want to see what you're like, Josuke.'

"Oh, you won't be disappointed, I'm handsome as hell." He teased and you couldn't help but laugh at his boasting confidence.

'Ooh, I know I won't be, Josuke. I'll like you either way. I'm a simple girl.'

Oh no. Oh no. Your words had sent the boy reeling yet again, making his heart ache painfully in his chest and leaving him gaping in his seat like a fish out of water.

That was bad. So bad. He really didn't want to fall in love with you, but he guessed that was a huge failure on his part.

Why did you have to be so kind, so soft, and so far away? Did you feel the same way about him? Or was he the only one suffering in his bedroom right now?

Before he could add anything, he heard the phone beeping ominously, signaling his time with you was almost up. Damn, time flew way too fast.

"Y-Y/N, I'll have to hang up soon. I only bought two hours of phone time towards America."

'Ooh it has already been two hours? Aww man! It was so nice talking with you Josuke. Let's talk again like this soon, okay?'

You tried your hardest to conceal your disappointement, but at the same time you were hopeful to talk with him again in the future.

He was the only person that ever tried this hard to talk with you, and you managed to completely forget to ask him why he even called you in the first place.

You shrugged it off thinking that Jotaro must have talked about you to Josuke and tried to get him to make a foreign friend. If it was the case, you'd have to thank your brother-in-law, as you were really charmed by the young Japanese teenager and couldn't wait to learn more about him.

"Sure! Take care, Y/N..." He spoke softly to the phone, feeling all light and tingly inside.

He couldn't see it, but you were blushing at his sudden deep voice and tone.

'Goodnight, Jojo.'

He lingered a little bit, the phone still against his ear, then hung up. He sighed and held the phone close to his chest, his lips stretched in an unfaltering giddy smile.

"Oh my gooood..." He crossed his arms over his desk and buried his face in them, heavily flustered, your voice still echoing in his mind.

He took deep breaths to calm his excited heart. He couldn't even call his best friend Okuyasu and tell him what happened, it was already 2 A.M.

He knew he would regret having to wake up so early for school tomorrow, but the lack of sleep would be so worth it.

He just couldn't wait to speak to you more.

Do you guys remember when we had to buy cards with codes on it to call outside the country?

At the end of your limited time your phone would bip or tell you 'Time's up bitch, you have 5 min to say goodbye to your family'.

And it was so hard to say goodbye.

Damn, I feel old. The 90's man...

[rainagainstmywindow]

After

I wrote this a while back for the @pjohoominibang and they were nice enough to post it for me but, in lieu of reaching 900 followers, I thought I’d finally post it here. Check out the art that @katslittlestar did for this! I hope you enjoy! I did some editing. I know someone had pointed out a few mistakes. 

+++++++++

In his dream, Percy was twelve again. He was standing just outside his front door, about to face his mother’s look of disappointment as she’d say, Another school? Worst of all there was Gabe, bound to mock him. The stench of his cigar drifted through the door and Percy got the sudden urge to kick something. Why was his mother with him? Because of you, a voice seemed to remind him.

Finally, he came in, dragging his bag behind him. “You’re not supposed to be here,” Gabe told him. Percy ignored him and his friends seated at the poker table. 

 "Hey!“ His voice grew louder, “I’m talking to you!”

 Percy clenched his fists and lied to himself, I’m stopping myself from hurting him. In reality, he was scared. He had felt his stepfather’s anger before. He shouted again, ignoring what the other two dirtbags at his poker table were saying. Suddenly, Gabe was there, right next to Percy. The boy had to look up to meet those beady little eyes that always seem to be suspicious of something.

 "I’ve got no cash,“ he heard himself say, and it was true, he kept digging and digging into his pockets. Although he found nothing, he could’ve sworn he had a five.

 "Don’t lie to me, boy,” Gabe warned. He was so close now that his stench had momentarily drowned out all of Percy’s other thoughts, save the money. He kept digging through his pockets, becoming more and more desperate with each passing second.

 Gabe could always sniff the money out of you, and the older man could’ve sworn he’s smelled something on the boy. He was losing his patience too. Percy knew that look. He was a skinny kid compared to this tall, stinking man. 

 "You must’ve gotten a cab to get here,“ his stepfather stated, “paid him fifteen for the ride with a twenty.” That’s what scared Percy the most, Gabe was smart when it came to these kinds of things. “That leaves you with a five.”

 He kept digging but his pockets seemed to shrink, mocking him. “I’ve got n-”

 He only felt the blow after he stopped seeing stars. Then, all Percy felt was rage. He picked himself off of the floor and spotted Gabe a few feet away, laughing. He was about to run to him when the world gave away beneath him. 

Suddenly he wasn’t at his old apartment anymore. 

 The air was painful to breathe. He felt faint, like standing up would be too much of an effort. Facing him was Tartarus himself.

The sheer magnitude of being told him he would never beat him came rushing back to him. Percy would die. Worst of all was feeling Annabeth’s ragged breath beside him. She was waiting on him; they were a team. How could he possibly let her know he couldn’t do it? He was terrified and small. He was a skinny kid to the tall stinking monster before him and he was too frantic to even move. His limbs didn’t tremble but just barely. Riptide’s familiar weight in his hand had never been heavier. Percy just couldn’t carry the sword anymore. With a newly racing heartbeat he let the sword drop. 

There was relief in giving up. 

 Tartarus and every single monster he’d ever killed seemed to smile down at him. 

 At last.

 Percy woke up then. He didn’t wake with a jolt, he didn’t thrash. He just felt the scream at the back of his throat and his heart beat in time with his headache. He lay there, paralyzed with fear. This fear tasted so bitter because giving up was so tempting, so easy. It was always like that for him.

 Then came the trembling, his body telling him to run, everything screaming: Danger! It was all he could do to stop himself from obeying and taking off.

 He shuffled into the kitchen, stealing a quick glance to his mom’s and Paul’s room. He never woke them up, even when all he wanted was to break down and tell his mother everything. He never did. She’d tried many times to coerce it out of him but his mouth would get so dry when he’d remember; it was like trying to talk through sandpaper. It was too much, too real, too terrifying, too hard to put into words. So he simply did what he always did: clench his trembling fists and pour himself a glass of water, knowing that he wasn’t going to get much sleep that night.

He glanced at the clock. It was 3:45 am. It’d have to do. No matter how tired he was, it was better than going back to sleep. He sighed and sipped his water, growing annoyed at his racing heartbeat. It was hard to catch his breath when he got like this. It was as if his ADHD didn’t exist because it was hard not to concentrate. Every little sound grew so loud. 

 He checked again to see if his parents had heard his loud breathing. He rested his elbows on the counter, his fingers running furiously through his hair, ignoring how damp the sweat had made it. Maybe if he rubbed his knuckles hard enough against his skull, he would scrub away the nightmare.

 "Percy?“ Paul’s voice interrupted his thoughts like a zap of electricity. 

 If everything had been loud before, now it was catastrophic. He could feel the screams of Tartarus roaring in his ears accompanied by the constant ring that had always been his cue to run.

 "Percy! Calm down!” His stepfather walked towards him.

 Percy tried to tell him to step away, clutching the counter between them, but he couldn’t breathe. The air was acid. His lungs burned with every inhale. Paul walked around the counter and tried to put a hand on his stepson’s shoulder, but the movement only sounded more alarms in the boy’s head. Percy tried telling him, stepping away. The sweet and harmless gesture only felt like a claw piercing back.

 He defended himself in the only way he knew. He was fast, much too fast for the older man. In no time he had Paul pinned to the floor, his hands roughly gripping his neck. Paul’s eyes pleaded for Percy to stop, but the boy didn’t see him, all he saw was a monster. He saw all the wretched creatures he’d fought in Paul, but why kill them? Why was he always killing something? 

With a gasp, Percy’s hand let go of his stepdad’s throat. He jumped away from him as his vision cleared. They stayed sitting across from each other, both trying to catch their breath, Percy failing to do so. 

 Paul only looked at him. “Percy, please, calm down.“ 

 He was so tired.

 "Percy! Listen to me, you’re having a panic attack. Control your breathing!”

He tried but couldn’t, he looked at his stepfather for help. This wasn’t real. He tried to concentrate on anything but the memories. The floor beneath his sweaty palms, the wall against his back. It wasn’t real. Finally, he held his breath. At first everything was worse to the point where his chest hurt and he had to release the air. But when he did, it seemed to come back easier. His heartbeat slowed down. 

 "There you go.“ Paul got up and Percy listened as he poured him another glass of water. He came back and handed it to him, but he was still shaking too hard. He just shook his head.

 "I could’ve killed you-" 

 "Don’t do that Percy.”

 He didn’t understand. It would’ve been so simple to rip his throat out. To get his heart to stop beating. Was it any different than all of the other times he’d done it? “Paul,” he made sure he was looking at him, “I could’ve killed you.”

Paul seemed to force himself to look at his stepson. Percy recognized fear in his eyes. “I know.”

 *********

 "Hey!“ Rachel’s chirpy tone greeted Percy as the two came into school grounds. "You look like hell.”

 "Didn’t sleep much,” Percy confessed. 

 "That seems to be becoming a bit of a routine, huh?“ She tried to down play it, but Percy could tell she was worried, as well as half of the people around him seemed to be nowadays.

 "It’s fine,” he lied. It was always annoying to lie to Rachel, after all, she’d been the Oracle. It was hard lying to someone that practically found everything out in the end. The spirit of Delphi might’ve gone silent but she still had that weird presence that had always creeped him out. She knew too much.

 "At least we’ve got Paul today, right?“

 "Yeah.”

 He tried to force last night’s events to the back of his head but they were begging him to remember as he walked to class. The way he’d looked at Percy… There was only one other person that had ever looked at him with that type of fear…

 "Are you sure you’re okay?“ 

 Getting through Paul’s class, Percy soon found out, wasn’t as hard as he’d initially thought it might have been. As a matter of fact, he soon found himself drifting into his old habit of dozing off. Slowly, he felt himself start to fall. Percy. He was beginning to wonder why he didn’t hit the floor. Percy. He just kept falling, the wind making it hard to distinguish the whispering. Percy. He was suddenly aware he wouldn’t survive the fall.

 "PERCY!” He woke up just as he was about to hit the floor, thrusting his hands in front of him. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him but didn’t look at them. He needed to run, to get out of there. All his instincts told him to do so; the way they did when he found himself facing a monster.

“Let’s have a word outside, Mr. Jackson.“ Percy took his chance and left right behind Paul, leaving Rachel with her mouth half opened and a worried expression on her face, a trail of whispering from the other students behind him.

 Paul was waiting outside the classroom, his back to Percy. "You can’t go on like this,” he told Percy. “You need help." 

 His tone was dead serious. It made Percy’s palms itch with anxiety. He’d waited all morning for something like this to come up but his stepfather hadn’t said a word to him the whole ride to school. He kept glancing at Percy nervously, trying to come up with something to say but clearly giving up once he noticed Percy wasn’t that interested in talking either. You need help. The words made Percy feel like a crazy person. He avoided looking at Paul by staring at the window.

 "About what happened last night… this… you can’t pretend it’s okay, Percy. Your mother and I are worried about you.”

 Percy was ready to apologize when something caught his eye outside. He stopped himself just as he was about to talk and focused on what appeared to be a gleaming golden object in the sky. As he looked closer he realized it wasn’t just an object but a person, and it was coming straight at him. Was it… Jason?

 "Percy? Are you listening to me?“ Paul turned to look at him as he tore his gaze from the window, he was starting to really hate that worried look everyone seemed to be giving him. "I’m serious about this.” Jason was right outside the window now, an urgent look on his face. He pointed at the door as if to say: Meet you outside. 

 For a second he looked back and forth between Jason, who clearly didn’t recognize Paul, and his stepfather. 

 "I’m sorry,“ he finally managed, "I need to go." 

 Paul stared at him, defeated. He looked behind him, trying to understand, but Jason was already gone. He’d never gotten used to Percy running off quite as much as he’d led him and his mother to believe. But now he didn’t even try to put up a front. Percy started to walk away. He thought of a million things to tell him. He kept coming back to ‘I’m sorry’, but that just didn’t cut it anymore.

 I’m sorry for interrupting your class and then leaving without an explanation.

 I’m sorry for being the kid you have to stand for the woman you love.

 I’m sorry I make everything complicated. 

 I’m sorry I tried to kill you. 

I’m sorry you’re afraid in your own home.

 Percy finally started towards the door, but not before taking a quick glance back. There was a terrible feeling of determination in his stride, as if he were walking away for good.

 ***********

 New York hadn’t exactly given Jason the welcome he’d expected. After going a full month without visiting his other camp he’d thought that maybe The Fates would take pity on him and let him make the whole journey without being attacked. This wasn’t only naive but stupid, as he soon found out. 

 The minute he’d stepped out of the plane he’s spotted a gryphon and had had mere seconds to get out of there and lead the creature away from the multitude of mortals that surrounded him. Turns out he was being lured into a trap where two of the ugliest cyclops he’d seen were waiting for him. Brutally reminded of his first quest with Piper and Leo, he’d made the embarrassing, yet still good, call of retreating and seeking back up.

 He had remembered Percy went to school not far from there and had flown off hoping that the pair of cyclops hadn’t seen him and that the blow he’d awarded the gryphon was enough to delay the message.

 He landed in a rock right outside the school and waited for Percy to come out. The fact that he’d made him leave when he’d clearly gotten in trouble with a teacher made him feel worse. 

 "Hey!” Jason was about to dive into his story when he saw how terrible his friend looked. He could tell right away that he hadn’t been sleeping, the bags beneath his eyes deeper than they’d ever been, and his eyes just looked empty. He was instantly reminded of an instance months ago when Percy had been trapped beneath the ocean, when he’d given up. “Hey, what happened?”

 Percy looked up but didn’t meet Jason’s eyes. “We’ve got more pressing matters on our hands.” Jason wanted to pry him a little bit more but, unfortunately, Percy was right. 

 "Why’d you think they’re looking for me?“ Jason wondered out loud to Percy, hoping to distract him from whatever it was that had been bothering him since they started towards the cyclops’ camp. 

 "I don’t think they’re looking for you. They’re probably just hungry and sent their pet to find whatever smelled the best.”

 "I didn’t know I smelled that good.“

 Both boys stopped in their tracks as they heard the whoosh of a powerful set of wings. They exchanged looks. If the gryphon tipped them off now they would lose the element of surprise. Percy uncapped Riptide at the same time that Jason took out his sword. He nudged Percy and pointed towards a boulder near them. Percy hunched behind it. Jason reached for the air around him, a small tug at his gut as he searched for the gryphon. A bird that size wasn’t hard to find. He reached out his hand and forced the wind to pull it down and crash against a tree.

 Percy tightened his grip on his sword as the creature went down. He was there in a flash of celestial bronze. Before Jason could react, the blade made contact with the gryphon’s throat and with a crude, sharp sound he’d finished it off. 

 The attack had been so quick and effective Jason couldn’t help but admire Percy’s skill. But, at the same time, he noticed how he hadn’t even flinched. He didn’t think twice about killing the monster. He hadn’t been the only one to notice this. The look of emptiness Percy had worn before seemed to have worsened.

 "We should keep going,” Jason whispered as Percy brushed the yellow dust off him. Percy nodded but didn’t cap his sword back. 

 ********* 

 Percy followed Jason as he hid behind a tree above a clearing. His heart wouldn’t stop pounding. He didn’t have to think about attacking, it was like breathing. He knew Jason had seen it as well, how instinctively he’d done it. “There,” Jason said pointing at a campfire where two large creatures seemed to be waiting.

 Percy tightened the grip on his sword. “There are only two?” He asked Jason, who confirmed it. “One each.”

 "Okay,“ there was excitement in Jason’s eyes. He didn’t see what Percy did. "I’ll draw their attention to me so you have time to sneak up on them.” Percy started towards the two monsters before Jason was even done speaking.

 He tried to concentrate on the battle up ahead but he couldn’t get the gryphon’s shriek out of his head. He was almost to the fire when Jason’s lightning cut across the sky. He was thankful for the diversion; he wasn’t even thinking about stealth. The cyclops had probably already heard him. 

He tried to make up for his clumsiness by slashing at the closer one as he turned to face him. The attack threw the cyclops off balance leaving the other monster with an opening to lunge at Percy. As if on cue, Jason dropped from the sky, landing on the cyclop’s back. Percy heard them wrestle as the cyclops Percy stunned started to regain his bearings. He realized that it was the second time Jason saved his neck that day. The sounds of battle would usually make Percy’s blood pump with adrenaline, but in that moment, he felt nothing. Everything seemed disturbingly in focus.

 He was so out of it that he barely had time to duck as the cyclops, back on his feet and wielding a nasty looking club, threw a punch at him. As he started to bring the club down on Percy, his adrenaline finally kicked in and he stabbed the ground with his sword. 

 There was a painful tug at his gut as the ground around Riptide started to shift, forming cracks that seemed to travel towards the monster. They reached him just as Percy urged the vibrations that seem to be rippling off his feet and sword to stop.

 This time when the cyclops was thrown off his feet, he landed hard enough to get the wind knocked out of him. Percy crossed the distance between them in two strides and was about to bring Riptide into a fatal blow when he made eye contact with the creature.

 His eye was wide with terror and milky brown, like Tyson’s. He had never paused long enough to hear his enemies last words but now he did. “Please!” He lowered his arm a quarter of a fraction. He remembered Tartarus and the curses that had rained down upon him. The dying wishes of everyone he’d ever killed. Did they all start as a plea?

 "Percy, watch out!“ The hair on the back of his head stood and he turned just in time to see the second cyclops inches away from him. His arms were already poised for a fatal strike, so it was with little effort that he brought down his sword, turning the monster to dust. He froze then, his heart pounding willing him to kill the other, but he forced himself to stay in place.

 Jason struck the last cyclops with lightning when he realized Percy wouldn’t move. "Percy?” His voice was cautious. Maybe it was the pity that made him run, maybe it was the way the yellow dust made his skin crawl, either way Percy ran. He ran away. “Percy!”

 ************

 Rachel tried not to panic when Percy didn’t return with Paul. All her efforts of searching for him around campus were thrown out the window when Paul told her that he had left. She was used to him running off to do his son of Poseidon business, but this felt different. No matter what Percy had always told her she knew he wasn’t alright. Over the past few months, she had been watching him silently hide his feelings, making them get worse and worse. The frustrating part was she didn’t know what they were. 

 She did what any smart person would do. She called Annabeth.

 Rachel didn’t have to look hard to find Annabeth amid the churning mass of Goode students. She could feel her stare for miles. No matter what her friend was feeling, her stormy eyes always radiated power. The redhead rushed towards her, the day’s events spilling from her mouth in an incoherent mess.

 "Start from the top,“ Annabeth told her, pulling them away from the other students. 

 When she was finally done re-telling the day’s events she was surprised to find Annabeth didn’t seem fazed. It was almost like she expected it. "It’s Percy, Rachel, you can’t expect him to check in every time he comes across a monster." 

 Rachel wasn’t convinced. "He was acting weird all morning. Something happened between him and Paul." 

 That caught Annabeth’s attention. "What makes you say that?”

 "I don’t know? I could just feel this tension between them.“ 

 Annabeth seemed to finally be getting the severity of the situation. Rachel didn’t know if that was better or worse. "You said he was talking in his sleep?” Annabeth asked. “And that he looked like he hadn’t gotten any last night?”

 "Yeah.“ 

 This was bad, Annabeth’s expression confirmed it. "We need to find him.”

 *******

 "We should just call Chiron. Or Sally. Annabeth-“ 

 "We’ll find him, Rachel!" 

Annabeth sighed. She didn’t mean to raise her voice but Rachel had been pestering her with the suggestion for the last hour and she was already on edge. "He’s never gone for long.”

 "Wait,“ Rachel pulled Annabeth to a stop, making the busy New York crowd annoyed at the obstacle in its path. "He’s done this before?”

 Annabeth cursed herself. “Yeah. Look, Rachel, it’s nothing to worry about-”

 "Nothing to worry about? Do you even hear yourself?!“ Rachel searched her face. She kept looking for something. Annabeth knew what it was. She was looking for her friend, the logical friend who would take care of things the smart way, the friend who wasn’t a mess and could convince herself that everything was going to be fine. She wanted to yell at Rachel that the girl she was looking for was gone. 

But before she could change the subject, her cellphone rang. "Jason?”

 "How did you find him?“ Annabeth asked Jason once the two girls arrived at the rusty old building.

 "Hi,” both Rachel and Annabeth jumped as Nico stepped from behind Jason. “Figured you knew this certain spot by now, Annabeth.”

 Annabeth felt both Jason’s and Rachel’s eyes on her and Nico. It was obvious they weren’t telling them something. Annabeth intended on keeping it like that, but Nico seemed to finally be cracking. “Why would I?”

 "Cut it out, Annabeth. He needs help.“ She wanted to scream out as the painful truth of Nico’s words hit her. She knew it. She’d known it for months now. But she’d kept quiet like Percy had begged her to, about the nightmares, the panic attacks, the shaking, the memories. She didn’t want to admit it. "I called Chiron and filled him in. We’re taking him to camp.”

 "What’s going on?“ Jason asked. 

 Maybe before she would’ve been able to beat Nico at the staring contest he was challenging her to, but deep down, she knew he was right. He was only doing this because he cared about him and both Annabeth and Percy had to stop running away from it. 

 "Fine,” Nico seemed to let out a breath when Annabeth finally replied, “You should go up with me. Jason and Rachel, you should head back to camp. We’ll catch up with you later." 

 Jason looked like he wanted to protest but Rachel put a hand on his shoulder. She understood that the situation was hard enough as it was. "We’ll meet you there." 

 "Are you finally going to tell me what happened down there?” NIco asked once they were both gone.

 Annabeth ignored Nico as she walked up the stairs to the building’s roof. She tried to act like she didn’t know what down there meant. “We should find him first, Nico,” was she ever going to be ready to talk about what happened? “Let him tell you." 

She felt him stop behind her. She was forced to look back at him. "He won’t tell me, Annabeth. I know that you think that just because I was down there too he’ll talk to me about it but he won’t.” He looked defeated, as if he’d said the same thing a million times with the same result: silence. He probably had. Annabeth knew that. “It’s not me that should be talking to him.”

 Stop, Percy! Please!

 She deserved worse.

 We’re your friends, Bob.

 "Let’s just find him.“ 

 Percy was never far from home. Annabeth learned that soon enough. Sometimes it was the ocean, sometimes a far out place in the woods. Sometimes, like today, the roof of his apartment building. "That didn’t take long." 

 "Percy, they’re really worried about you this time?” He was sitting close to the ledge, his back to her. Annabeth was thankful for Blackjack grazing in the corner. “Rachel called me." 

 That got his attention. "What for?”

 "You didn’t go back to school. She was worried about you, she thought something happened between you and Paul.“ She cursed herself as she said that last part. She knew she’d hit a nerve. "She wanted to help.”

 "Did she?“ 

 "Yes,” Nico said behind her, “we all do.”

 Annabeth knew Nico didn’t see it, the way his shoulders rose, taking a long breath. He was collecting himself. Percy had his back to the son of Hades. Annabeth doubted he’d turn to face the younger boy, and if he did, he’d be gone by the time he faced them. She almost yelled in frustration. 

 "I don’t need help, Nico. There’s nothing for you to help with.“ 

 Percy stood up from his place on a rusty bench and made his way towards the ledge. Annabeth’s stomach lurched as he swung one leg over the ledge then the other taking a seat on it. He pulled a smile onto his face, hiding behind it like a mask. It’s wasn’t his troublemaker smile, or her smile, the one only she knew; It was a whole new one. It was one that she detested because it only worked as a shield for whatever he was feeling. "I’m fine, I just needed some air." 

 That didn’t fool Nico, so he pressed on, "What happened with the Cyclops earlier?”

 "Jason and I took care of it.“

 "He said you almost got yourself killed!” the son of Hades persisted.

 Percy’s front wavered for a millisecond before he continued, "I’m here now, so why does it matter?”

 "You can talk to me, Percy.“

 "About what?” He shot, throwing his arms in the air. “Did it ever occur to you that the reason I keep pushing you back is because you’re suffocating me?” Annabeth looked away, she knew how this ended. They’d been arguing like this for so long. “Why don’t you ever ask Annabeth to talk-”

 "Because she doesn’t run around acting like an unstable idiot!“

 Percy laughed humorlessly. "So now I’m unstable? Is that what everyone is so worried about?”

 "Don’t victimize yourself, Percy. C'mon!“

 "I don’t victimize myself. All of you do!" 

 Annabeth had had enough. She was supposed to bring Percy back to camp. She stepped in and started, "Percy-”

 "Don’t, Annabeth!“ He turned to face her, his eyes staring daggers into hers. They used to be so soft. They used to reassure her. Now she couldn’t help but remember how dark they could get, how painfully vengeful.

 She looked away. 

 "You can’t even look at me anymore.”

 "Let’s go, Nico!“ Annabeth ordered, cutting over whatever Percy was trying to say. She steeled her expression, shoving down her emotions. How could he know? She felt Nico’s cold hand wrap around hers as her vision faded to darkness and reached for the back of Percy’s shirt before he could pull away.

 She reoriented herself as they appeared back in the camp’s forest.

 She quickly let go of Nico’s hand. "Go with Chiron, Percy. He’s worried.” She was already storming off.

 ********

 Percy wanted to follow Annabeth. He wanted to not have snapped at her, to apologize. But he did neither one of those. The fact that she’d once again brought Nico into this irritated him. The fact that she took him to camp was worse. If there was something they had in common was that they were both too proud for their own good. It was hard for them to budge and accept they were wrong, especially when it came to this.

 The whole ordeal seemed so personal. It was his problem.

 "She’s right,“ Nico said behind him, "I spoke with Chiron earlier.”

 "Of course you did.“ Percy whirred his head at Nico, his annoyance growing into anger. "Just like you pulled Jason into all of this.”

 "I’m trying to help!“

 "No one’s asking you to!”

 The son of Hades sighed, keeping his anger in check. “I didn’t ask you for your help either, but you still saved my ass when I was acting like an idiot.”

 "This is different.“

 "How?" Nico’s patience seemed to be waning. "Something horrible happened to you and instead of confronting it, you run away and deal with it the worse way possible." 

 Percy said nothing.

 "How is it any different?”

 Percy walked away.

 He couldn’t shake Nico’s words off as he strode through camp. He barely noticed the weird looks he got as he made his way to his cabin. Percy hadn’t set foot at camp in a long time. He hoped that people would figure he was too busy with his life in the mortal world, but everyone seemed to sense something was wrong. He usually wasn’t so serious.

 "Percy.“ He heard someone call behind him. He figured if he kept walking they probably would think he hadn’t heard them. He wasn’t in the mood to talk. "Percy!” This time he recognized the voice and froze in place, not facing him.

 "What is it, Grover?“ They hadn’t talked in ages, not once since Percy had gotten back from Greece.

 "I… I just wanted to see how you were doing.” Percy could tell he was trying hard to act casual, not cause a scene. He could almost picture him fiddling with his hands nervously. Good old Grover. “Talk or something? Catch up.”

 Percy wanted to, so badly it hurt. He wanted his best friend. He wanted his old life back, but there was something that kept him from all of it, from turning around and pouring everything out to the one person who first taught him what a friend was. “I’ve got to-" 

 Percy’s words were cut short by a panicked scream. Before anyone could react, a horn went off signaling that somehow a monster had gotten in. Everyone around Percy scrambled for a weapon, not bothering to look for armor. Percy uncapped Riptide and searched for their unwanted visitor. He caught sight of one of the Stolls, Connor, running down Thalia’s hill. "It’s a goddess!” He warned. “She brought some sort of demon-like ladies.”

 Will’s head popped from behind Connor. “Don’t let their talons get you! They’re poisonous!”

 Percy’s shoulder ached at the memory of the demon-like ladies. He’d fought this goddess before. “Melione? How did she get in here?”

 "No time to think about that now,“ Grover answered, his eyes trained on something ahead of them. "Look.”

 Percy’s eyes traveled up ahead to the strawberry fields were a swirling mist seemed to be forming. The mist traveled down towards the group of confused demigods, carrying with it a sort of chill that seemed to dim the brightness of the sunny day. A burst of whispering made some of them spring out in blind lunges, some even let a few arrows loose. When the first of the familiar batty beings stepped out of the mist they heard a voice. “What a lovely welcoming party.” Percy didn’t know what voice everyone heard, but several gasps were audible. Percy tried to focus on what he knew the goddess could do. Last time he’d been able to keep his own against her. Last time he’d had no ghosts for her to taunt him with. 

 More and more demon-bat ladies started crawling out of the mist. They were all eerily still until a shrieking laugh brought them out of their trance, and they attacked. 

 Chaos burst around Percy and suddenly Grover was at his side fighting off Melione’s servants. The creatures were fast and had deadly poisonous talons; they were proving hard to beat. The swirling mist just grew thicker and thicker making it hard to see them coming. The goddess herself hadn’t shown her face but she was slowing them down by whispering in their ears, her voice disguised as that of fallen friends and family. Percy’s sword arm was almost shredded to pieces when Beckendorf’s voice came out of nowhere, accusing him of being a coward. 

 “You ran away and left me there!” Percy stepped back just in time, but was losing focus fast.

 Pale mist people popped up in front of his friends making them hesitate, sudden panic overtook him as he saw some even putting their weapons down. Soon it was only a few of them, including Grover, fending off the ghosts. They weren’t even trying to beat them anymore; their priority was for them not to get touched by those talons. Percy had been lucky when he had gotten hit, but there weren’t many friendly Titans hanging around now. He felt Grover’s shoulder press against his. He’d armed himself with a wooden staff that made him look very Lord of the Wild-y. Percy almost smiled at the change, almost.

 Right in the middle of the clearing, where they usually lit a fire for their offerings to the gods, the mist was getting thicker. It swirled violently until it formed the silhouette of a man. As it morphed into someone tall and fat it made its way to Percy. He braced himself for whatever the goddess was about to show him, felt his hands get clammy and breathing get shallow. 

 Then the man came into focus. And Percy almost growled in rage. “How dare you!?” After all the friends he’d lost she thought that he regretted losing him?

His blood pumped so furiously against his ears he couldn’t even hear anything else. He was outraged. He could only zero in on that sneer, on the beady eyes. The man had made him feel so utterly worthless was brought back to taunt him once again. The anger in him flowed, he could feel it the way sometimes he could sense a current. He caught sight of him, her, IT, opening its mouth to speak and in one swirling cloud of red the anger just swept out of him, crashing into his old stepfather. He reached out his hand urging the ichor to travel to its throat. Not a single word, he wouldn’t let him utter a single word. 

 He didn’t even feel when he dropped his sword. He didn’t feel his body at all. All he knew in that moment was that water was all around him, his gut hurt, and he was going to kill Gabe Ugliano. As if on cue, the goddess’ features started fighting against those of Smelly Gabe. Blonde-white hair sprouted from her scalp revealing a strange face: one side ghostly pale, the other gruesome. “Please,” she mouthed. “Mercy!" 

 "There is none!” Another flare of anger overtook him, making his gut explode with pain and taking with it the last grip on control Percy had. Power, his power, was everywhere. He felt the poison in the demon’s talons and commanded it to crush its owner. A small part of him was terrified at what he felt. It wasn’t just the demons or the goddess, all his friends were within his grasp as well. The grass at his feet, the moisture in the air, there was barely any difference with this and the blood flowing through their veins.

 Stop, Percy. Please, never do that again. 

 He needed to stop, now. He tried to recede the ichor that had accumulated in the goddess’ neck. She couldn’t breathe, hideous wheezing noises trembled out of her pale lips. The effort made him shake all over. He focused all his energy in the ichor, tried to control it like he’d done before. But now he felt the strain, his hand shook violently in front of him. The tremors raced down his body to the ground. He felt fissures sprouting around his feet, vaguely heard people calling out to him. 

 He felt lost in a limbo where only him and his power existed. It threatened to consume him and his fight was killing him, sending him even more out of control. He tried to hold everything in, push it back to the place where it had resided inside him. He wanted to destroy that part of him that destroyed everything, everyone, around him. 

He couldn’t. Control didn’t exist. 

 Something else pushed its way past his spiraling thoughts, a connection he’d forgotten, one he hadn’t used in so long. Let go, it told him. He knew the voice but was in too much pain to match a face to it. You have to, Percy. You have to let go. 

 He couldn’t, they’d die. With one last painful effort he pulled his hand into a closed fist. White hot, blazing pain shot through him, ripping his throat out in a scream. He wasn’t even a person anymore. He was a hurricane, he was the violent crash of waves, the deadly tide. 

 PERCY LET GO! 

THE EMPATHY LINK! I FEEL IT! YOU NEED TO LET GO! 

 He trusted that voice blindly. He let go. 

 ***********

 Percy woke up to the protest of every one of his muscles, feeling as if someone had shoved a vacuum cleaner down his throat and sucked out all his insides. His aching head was resting atop a comfortable pillow and he was covered by a soft blanket, but he was sure he wasn’t in the infirmary. He’d woken up there enough times to know the difference. There was also someone sitting at the edge of his bed. 

 Begrudgingly, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw were the glittering hippocampi Tyson had hung on the ceiling of Cabin 3. 

 "Percy?“ He inched his head sideways. "Oh Gods! Thank goodness you’re okay!" 

 He groaned as Annabeth inched close to him but didn’t protest when she buried her face in his chest. His stomach twisted in guilty knots as he felt tears stain his shirt. Flashes of what happened came back to him and he was about to ask what had happened, how much damage he’d caused, when Annabeth beat him to it. 

 "No one’s badly hurt. I don’t know how but Grover managed to get through you just in time,” of course that voice had belonged to Grover, Percy thought, “Melione and her cronies vanished as soon as you passed out. Nico went to talk to his dad right away. He’s there now actually.”

 Annabeth sat upright, wiping away the few tears she had let escape. She was back to being all business. They actually hadn’t had a moment like this in the longest time. He felt incredibly self-conscious as she looked away, like she so often did now, and he lay there weak after his meltdown. 

What the hell was wrong with him? How could he lose control like that? He’d could’ve gotten everyone killed. 

 "I’m sorry,“ he blurted, Annabeth’s tired grey eyes meeting his for the first time in what seemed like forever. His heart ached, he missed her too badly to put into words, yet, it had been him who had started pushing her away in the first place. 

 He wanted to say more but just then Will walked through the door. "Good,” he stated, “you’re up." 

 "I’m fine,” Percy said before he went full on Dr. Solace on him. 

 "No,“ he assured, "you’re not.”

 He pushed Percy unto the bed when he tried to get out, not like he could’ve stood anyway,  and made Annabeth retreat to the corner. “I just need to do a quick check up. Chiron told me to leave you alone anyway.” Will glanced at Annabeth. She made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere. Annabeth stared intently as Will worked. 

“There,” he finally huffed, “all done. You won’t die.”

Percy was tempted to thank him as he walked away but he stayed quiet. Except, Will didn’t leave, he turned on his heel and faced Percy. With the look he was giving him he expected a full blown scolding. Percy knew he deserved it too.

 "We’ve all gone through war here, Percy,“ this was unexpected. "I think we’ve lost enough people to realize it’s not exciting or heroic.” He stumbled through his words, Percy could tell it was hard for him to talk about this. “Leadership is not something anyone wants. Not when it means guiding your family to their deaths. I of all people know that, Percy. My point is, we are, or at least I’m, not ignorant to the toll it has. Just because you’re Percy Jackson doesn’t mean you don’t suffer from it either. It’s for that same reason that you’ve suffered it worse than most of us.” He stared at the floor, losing the sudden burst of confidence he’d gotten. “We’re all broken, Percy, one way or another. But we can’t mend ourselves by ignoring the broken parts.” With that the head counselor of the Apollo cabin walked out of the room. 

 Annabeth waited until he’d left to say: “He’s right, you know.” She was staring straight at Percy now. He held her gaze. “You keep pushing everything that happened away. It’s not doing you any good. It’s-" 

 "Spinning me out of control?” They’d had this conversation before. 

 "Yes,“ Annabeth said, she wasn’t yelling she just sounded tired. "It’s not only hurting you.”

 "I didn’t mean to freak out like that. I’m sorry anyone got hurt-“ 

 "That’s not what I mean.” This time she didn’t stop her tears. Gods, he missed those eyes. 

 "Is that why you won’t look at me?“ He’d been ashamed of it so long that he felt his throat closing up. "I’m hurting you?”

 "Not you Percy. It’s not you that hurts me.“

 "Then what?!” He didn’t mean to raise his voice. He was just so frustrated. “Why won’t you talk to me?" 

 "Because I can’t look,” she was sobbing now. “I can’t look at what I did to you!” Her body was shaking as she sank to the floor, never once looking away from Percy. 

 He was out of his bed and on the floor cradling her in seconds. He didn’t care about every single one of his cells screaming in pain. Nothing hurt more than seeing her like this. “What are you talking about?" 

 "You fell because of me! I should’ve just let go! I let you fall with me!”

 He took her face in his hands, not believing what he was hearing. “It would’ve gone against everything that makes me, me, to not have fallen with you. You hear me?” He wiped away some tears with his thumb. “I don’t risk anything to be with you. I HAVE to be with you. It’s something that needs to happen in order for me to live. No matter how hard you would’ve tried to do it alone, I wouldn’t have let you." 

 "I’M not worth all of this! I can’t see you like this and know it’s my fault!" 

 Percy felt his heart crumble. He’d been so selfish. They took care of each other, that’s what they did. They had each other’s backs, at least she had his.

 "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He pressed his forehead against hers, feeling some tears of his own wet his cheeks. “It’s no one’s fault but mine, Annabeth. I caught you and I fell with you. And I would do it now if it meant I got to be with you. I’m sorry I’m a bit slow. I had to vent for a while I guess. I had to be stupid for a while." 

 "You’re not stupid,” Annabeth managed. “And you’re not okay." 

 "No,” he was letting go. He couldn’t hold on to the anger anymore. What had happened, happened. There was no going back. But he meant what he’d said. Annabeth was worth it. His life was worth it. “I’m not okay. And neither are you. And that’s not our fault." 

 Annabeth grabbed Percy’s wrist, trying to pry him off. He could see the fear at the prospect of not being okay. But if there was one thing he was going to hold on to, it was her. He pulled her face closer and kissed her. Her attempts at pulling him away were abandoned, as she pulled him even closer. 

 With everything he’d ever seen, all the myths he’d known to be true, Percy should’ve picture him and Annabeth as two strings that had morphed into one and that were destined to end by the same cut. But he didn’t see any of that. He saw two lost kids sharing some Oreos, in a quest they didn’t fully understand, knowing somehow that the only thing that would make sense for the rest of their lives was to stick together no matter what.

[janeykath318]

Closure 4

Day four post coma, Jamie woke up early from a bone-chilling nightmare that left her gasping and crying out for Chris. She’d seen Khan killing him in slow motion while she was trapped in the Warp core, burning and unable to move.

“No! Stop!! Chris!!” She screamed, struggling wildly to help him. She had to get to him. Had to stop that phaser from hurting the love of her life…..

A pair of hands settled on her burning cheeks.

“Easy, Jamie, Easy, its only a dream. Come back, Jamie. You’re all right. You’re safe.”

She jolted awake, gasping and saw Bones standing over her in his white scrubs with a worried look in his eyes.

Her own eyes were streaming with tears as she relived her husband’s death again.

“Bones!” She what whimpered. “I saw Chris die and I couldn’t stop it! Burning up! It’s so awful!”

She gave up and sobbed with fear and grief, her heartbreak pouring out uncontrollably as Bones attempted to comfort her with muttered words and holding her hand, while wiping away her tears.

When the storm finally passed, she blinked up through her swollen eyelids and saw he looked almost as anguished as she did.

“It was terrible, Bones. I watched him die all over again.” She whispered plaintively, wiping her eyes.

The doctor sighed and held up a straw so she could sip water, which she quickly accepted, having screamed herself hoarse.

“No wonder you cried so hard. I don’t even know what to say, Jamie. I’m so sorry.”

“I know, Bones,” she sniffled, seeing the genuine pain on his face. “It’s so comforting to have you here instead of some random doc I don’t know. I can only imagine the amount of people who’ve lost love ones and spouses in the attack.”

“Yes, well. They ain’t my best friend.” Bones said ruefully. “Now, try to rest easy for a bit before your momma comes. Why don’t you tell me about that "other conversation” you and Chris had? I never got the low-down on that.“

Jamie pushed away the dark remnants of the nightmare and her pain to contemplate the first happy memory of them as a couple. As Bones went about preparing her litany of treatments, she opened up and told the tale.

******** It was nearly two weeks before she heard from Pike about the talk they needed to have and she wondered if he’d changed his mind about her when she got a message asking her to meet him at a small park just outside Academy grounds.

So on the lovely Saturday afternoon, Jamie had garbed herself in her favorite turquoise skinny jeans, gray T-shirt and denim jacket (after changing three times) and made the walk to the scenic area he’d specified.

He was waiting for her by a bench at the edge of the walking trail that led away into the woods. Her heartbeat sped up as she saw him in civvies for the first time in months.

"Wow. So you do have more than just uniforms in your wardrobe,” she’d said cheekily as she joined him, trying to hide how he’d thrown her off balance from the start with the way he rocked the leather and denim.

“It’s hard to believe it, I know,” he said dryly, motioning her to sit on the bench beside him.

Jamie found herself suddenly shy in front of her long time secret crush. She hadn’t even told Bones about the meeting for fear he’d get all suspicious or say something dumb to Pike.

“Cat got your tongue?” He spoke up at last, trying to sound casual.

“More like it’s been stepped on by the elephant in the room,” she admitted, flashing a nervous smile and plucking up her courage. “Let’s just say, those less-than-professional feelings as you put it, go both ways. I was far from horrified at your admittance, the complete opposite, in fact. You ever wonder why I suddenly quit my serial dating and carefree ways?”

“I thought it was good sense finally kicking in,” he said with that goofy half grin. “You’re telling me I was wrong?”

“I’m a Kirk, what do you think?” She shot back, looking him full in the eyes at last.

“Touché.” He conceded the point with a smirk and Jamie was getting antsy when he made his move, turning sideways and taking both of her hands in his.

“I’m not sure it’s showing good sense to get involved with me, but for once I find myself tempted to throw caution out the window. That day you flounced into my office declaring your utter contempt for all mankind, I knew I was a goner.”

Jamie flushed and smiled. She’d been furious after the thing with Gary had ended badly and proved him to be a fame whore. Chris had let her rant and rave until she was out of energy then told her he agreed Gary was a complete idiot and offered her a consoling hug, which she’d accepted gratefully.

“You’ve always been good for me and good to me,” she sighed. “I kept quiet about my interest for the same reasons you did, but you must know I do find you VERY attractive, Captain.”

Just saying it made her blush furiously, which aggravated her. She’d never had problems telling people what she thought of them, before.

“C'mon now, Jamie, let me see those beautiful baby blues,” he urged, tilting her chin up so she had to look at him again. The grey eyes that were generally sharp and piercing were looking at her with a gentle expression that sent a thrill of delight through her.

“You’re incredibly beautiful, you know that? Everything about you is: your genius level brain, your rule-skirting tendencies, your reckless enthusiasm, your infectious smile. Even when you make me want to tear out my hair, I also wanted to kiss that smirk right off your face.”

“Go ahead, Christopher,” She whispered huskily, boldly using his whole name, “I dare you.” And he did. ********

“Don’t worry, Bones, I won’t go into detail, just that it was fabulous.”

Jamie concluded her tale with a dreamy sigh which turned into a yawn. Her friend shook his head in wonder.

“So that’s how you wooed the hard-nosed Captain, huh?”

“Yep,” she said thoughtfully. “Turns out he wasn’t so impervious to my charms after all.” She looked at her friend earnestly. “I hope you get a chance to have great love, too, Bones. I know I drove him crazy, but I never doubted he loved me and I hope I never gave him reason to doubt I loved him, either.”

“Some of us maybe aren’t meant to have that kind of great love, though,” Bones said with a pained expression. “I’d rather be following your sorry self around and keeping you alive than getting myself into emotional entanglements again.”

Jamie was touched at his statement, but hoped Bones would be surprised one day. It was clear at least part of Chris’s observations were correct in regards to Leonard McCoy being very loyal to her.

She dozed off again for awhile and awoke to see her mother watching her.

“Hi, honey,” Winona said softly, lines of sorrow and worry around her face.

“Hi, Mom,” Jamie greeted. “Glad you could make it. I know everything’s chaos right now.”

“Yes, but I’ll let them deal with it,” Winona waved her hand towards the window where the rescue and clean up efforts could be seen ongoing in the damaged city. “I’m here for you, baby. I would have been here a lot faster if we hadn’t been out on the edge of Alpha Quadrant.”

“Did you get briefed on what happened?” Jamie asked, hoping she wouldn’t have to repeat it all again.

“Yes,” Winona’s gaze fell to her daughter’s left hand and the ring. “Oh, honey, It killed me when I heard about Chris. Did you see it happen?”

“No, I was distracted trying to clear the room and return fire. When I got back, he’d taken a shot to the chest and was gone.”

Gone. It was such a final word, but she hated saying “dead” far more.

Winona squeezed her hand in silent sympathy. She certainly knew what it felt like and Jamie was thankful she’d have her to lean on as she adjusted to life without her beloved Admiral.

“Since we both missed the funeral, do you want to watch it with me? All I have to do is message Spock and he’ll send the video to my PADD.”

“Do you think you’re ready to see it, Jamie?” Winona asked. “I don’t want you to have a physical setback from the surge of emotions.”

“It can’t be as bad as my dreams,” she shrugged. “I’d like to hear what people had to say about him. I’ll be okay.”

So in a matter of minutes, Spock had sent the tape and they were watching a hugely attended funeral filled with top brass and dignitaries from many species. Once the formal speeches praising his astounding career and character were finished, several people shared personal anecdotes and memories that had Jamie sniffling and smiling because these people actually knew her husband and really understood what he was all about.

“Good ole Number One,” Winona murmured as Pike’s former first officer talked about him staring down hostile Romulans while battling Rigellian flu.

“He always was a stubborn mule,” she said. “Kind of like someone else I know.” She winked at Jamie, who didn’t try to deny it.

“If I’d been there I would have told them how he pulled my phaser from the holster and shot two Romulans who’d crept up behind me–while he had that slug in him and was paralyzed,” Jamie mused. “It was incredible how FIERCE Chris was when he got riled up.”

She fell silent as the camera focused on the casket, stomach clenching at the cold hard reality in the shiny brown wood box.

Admiral Barnett concluded the service with another heartfelt tribute to his colleague and friend.

“I’ve never met an officer more suited to Command than Chris Pike. He embodied all the qualities of an ideal Captain: leadership, courage, and selflessness as well as diplomacy and compassion. He knew how to push to get the best out of his crew without them even realizing it. But he was more than just a great Captain and later, Admiral, he was a great friend.”

He proceeded to talk about Chris and his friendship that dated back to the Yorktown years and Winona smiled and nodded at several points as she remembered many of the events Barnett referred to. Jamie was thinking about family parties at the ranch in Mojave when her attention was grabbed by the next statement.

“There were only three things that could cause Chris to get riled up: One, mess with his crew. Bad Idea. Two, mess with his family. Even worse. Three, cast aspersions on his marriage, which was grounds for being disowned completely.”

Jamie knew all about that. Chris had frozen out quite a few media and ignorant “fans” who talked smack about their relationship and it was glorious. She’d mildly protested that he didn’t need to do it, she didn’t care what they said, but she knew it would be hypocritical to stop him. After all, she’d put an ensign on long term gamma shift for insulting him in her hearing and another had spent the night in the brig after using the term “sugar daddy.”

“In summary,” Richard continued, “the world lost a very high quality man and we will honor his memory by returning Starfleet to the organization he believed in and prioritizing the loved ones in our lives. Rest In Peace, Admiral.”

He saluted and shortly afterwards the service ended. Jamie realized with a shock she didn’t even know where her husband had been buried and made a mental note to find out immediately.