if you could only see
*read tags for fun facts. mostly written while half asleep. not edited.
"Oh," she says, the corners of her mouth drooping into that familiar frown that accompanied the majority of his high school career. She sets her mug down on the coffee table.
Oh? A similar frown is quick to replace the elated grin his face had adorned when he arrived. "'Oh' is what people say when they get socks on their birthday, Mom. Not when their son tells them that he's engaged!"
"It's just..." she hesitates, as if looking for the correct words. "...you're still so young."
"I'm almost 22. I--"
"Exactly! Only 22!" Emily interrupts. "How can you be sure?!"
"What?! Mom! This is Julie we are talking about!" Luke can't sit still and stands up from the couch. Resentment builds within him. Why can't she ever be supportive from the get go?
"Well.. You've only ever had the one relationship. You can't know what you want really, never having experienced other relationships."
His mouth drops open in disbelief. She cant honestly be suggesting what he thinks she might be.
"I thought you liked Julie!" His hand flies up with the statement, emphasizing his frustrations.
Emily stands, no longer able to remain seated as the conversations heats up.
"Luke, Julie is lovely. And lord knows she's done you a world of good, but you could really benefit from dating around a little!"
Oh, so she is saying what he thought she was saying.
He let's out a humorless huff of a laugh. "Are you insane? You think I should give up the best thing in my life, a sure thing, on the chance I might find someone that can make me just as happy somewhere down the line? Yeah, that math doesn't check out."
She is getting visibly agitated now as she takes a step closer to him.
"Julie will always be your teenage girlfriend. Your relationship will never be more than that of children!"
"God. Do you hear yourself?! Julie's not in her teens anymore. Our relationship has grown with us. We have supported each other through personal growth, and continue to challenge each other to be the best we can be! We've already been there through hardship together." Luke leans into Emily's personal space, not wanting to back down. It's a familiar dance at this point, these arguments with his mom. That thought gives him pause but he never drops eye contact.
His mom claims that Julie would prevent him from flourishing as an adult, but in this moment, with Emily, he feels the most like he's a kid again in the worst way possible. Suddenly, he feels very tired. He takes a step back with a sigh.
"You're unbelievable." His normal volume voice sounds quiet after the heightened pitches from a moment before. He turns and heads for the front door. There is no point in staying.
"Luke? Luke! Get back here!" Emily follows after him. "Most marriages at your age end in divorce! I'm just trying to help you not make a mistake that will ruin your future!"
Luke's at the door but he spins suddenly to face Emily one last time. "It's not a mistake, mom! If you could just see all the ways she loves me, maybe you would understand why I feel this way. How I know this is the right thing to do."
"But Luke--"
This time he interrupts her, not caring to hear anymore of what she's likely to say. "I mean, if you could see how bright her eyes get when she says she loves me. I just.. " Julie's smile, eyes full of mirth flashes in his mind, replacing a lot of the angerfilled responses he wants to shout at his mom. "There's no way being with her could ever be a mistake."
He opens the door and steps outside. "If you can't be happy for us, don't bother joining in on the celebrations."
He closes the door behind him. His mom might have tried to say more but he honestly couldn't care less anymore. It's time to head home. Back to the welcoming arms of the woman he loves and can't wait to marry. She makes him a better writer, and a better man. She supports him and his dreams more than his mom ever has. This exchange has proven that all his mom will ever be good for is giving him great song ideas. But the one starting to ruminate in his brain this time promises to be a lot happier than Unsaid Emily.
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do you have any ao'nung and tsireya bonding w their new brother, spider, hcs?? <3
I had almost finished writing this post out, and then my computer died, and I wanna scream. anyway
both siblings are good kids, so when their parents take spider in and tell them to treat him as one of their own, they do it. spider is their baby brother (we don't know ao'nung or tsireya's ages, so they might be younger, but I don't care, spider's the baby of the family as far as I'm concerned) from the second he's brought into their home
tsireya is the sweet supportive sister from the very beginning, she loves having another baby brother to coddle and annoy (cause that's what big sisters are good for). ao'nung is the pain in the ass big brother who would die before someone harms a hair on his head.
tsireya is the empathetic, emotional protector sibling; she helps keep him grounded, gives him a rock to hold onto when he can't go to their parents, since his sort of parental trauma doesn't just go away easy, no amount of proper parenting with undo it, so sometimes he needs someone in his corner when his mind gets the best of him. ao'nung is more of physical protector, he makes sure no one messes with his baby brother, that he takes care of himself, and that he doesn't push himself too far.
tsireya is normally the one who follows him when he sulks off, and it always works out the same way; she goes to find him, sits next to him without saying a word, and then waits for him to fall against her before she wraps her tail around him. sometimes she starts humming or singing, sometimes they talk, other times they just sit and listen to the water or the forest. he feels safe to just feel and react and cry when he's with her.
ao'nung is his partner in crime, they're attached at the hip, constantly butting heads, and always ready for chaos. ao'nung taught spider everything he knows about their culture, diplomacy, leadership, and mischief; so not only are they good at pissing each other off, but they're good at breaking havoc against any poor unfortunate soul, and getting away with it (they're best friends and it shows)
when spider first joins the village, but was not yet adopted, tsireya tries to be kind and welcoming, as she did with the sully's joining the village. ao'nung does the same, in the way that he treats spider like he did the sully's; he antagonizes cause he's a stupid teenager. he hits a sore spot fast and see's spiders true nature very quickly. he thought that spider was a relatively well-rounded kid like him, thought he could take a couple jabs here and there, he didn't know how badly he had been alienated his whole life, so the few stabs at spider's human nature revealed how sad and anxious he was, how hard he tried to fit in. he's pretty protective after that, so you can only imagine how he reacted when he found out how spider was treating himself, and how he was being treated by the sully's after neteyam's death.
when spider goes through his mental and physical burnout, its ao'nung that won't leave his side; he practically force feeds him when he won't eat, is constantly offering him water, watching him sleep, forcing him to clean himself up. he makes sure he won't lose another brother (spider's body gave out during the clean up of the battle, ao'nung subsequently witnessed it, and after losing neteyam, it made him feel a certain type of way).
ao'nung and tsireya were the first people to get spider to smile again.
spider brings out tsireya's competitive streak, they always have some sort of petty bet going on between them; who can finish chores first, who can piss off ao'nung first, etc.
ao'nung and spider, no matter how they present themselves, are fair, intelligent, competent leader's. they are s perfect duo when it comes to helping tonowari maintain the village during the war times and they're are constantly surprising everything everyone with how serious they can be at times.
spider likes to show his siblings his live by making them things or doing their hair. he likes quiet time with his loved ones.
ao'nung and spider are a mirror image of neteyam and lo'ak respectively, and it makes them both a little sad, and it chills the Sully's to their cores.
when they sleep together as a family, the kids sleep between their parents, with spider in the very middle, cause they all know that boy needs all the cuddles.
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The saddest thing about it is that she died in pain.
She died in pain and in the cold
She died and she was alone while her body was falling apart
She died without a single comforting thought to accompany her.
She died and it took minutes but it felt like an entire lifetime.
She died a hero and didn't even get to be killed quickly.
She had to feel every single bit of pain, she had to feel her body failing, she had to stay conscious until her lungs were empty.
Lucie died in agony
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yes greg is selfish yes he's pragmatic to a fault yes he's always looking out for number one yes he's not always the most emotionally intelligent person but yes he also cares, yes he's vulnerable and no the LAST thing he wants is to hurt tom's feelings, he's trying to pick the best possible most acceptable time to broach the subject of getting tom to rescue him and make it the softest possible blow and yes, look, he clearly expects and is prepared to do something in return!!! and yes it certainly stings tom to hear greg make that request But tom is stung every day that greg doesn't read fluently between the lines of all his batshit love confessions and take it upon himself to fulfill all of tom's repressed desires. more importantly what tom hears right alongside it is that greg needs him, that greg is terrified and less able to cope with it and likely has more to actually fear from prison than he does and frankly did less wrong, too, and if i can do this for him, it's a small start at repenting for all the shit i've done to him. and he'll remember, and he won't stop needing me.
tom doesn't always like who he is but i'd go so far as to say that, the moment he grants greg that request? is his favorite version of himself.
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