the cry goes out

“Oh, yeah?” she chuckles, debating whether or not he’s got any actual sway at the training grounds or if he’s just trying to crack a joke. Either way, she’s smiling. “My thing?” she repeats, a little thrown off by the question, in part because she can’t remember the last time she’s heard anyone ask a stranger that, and partly because she doesn’t think can quite name her thing. Boring as ever. “Um, I’m a student,” Aria tries, absentmindedly tucking her hair behind her ear in an effort to occupy her hands with something. “Granddaughter of Kratos and Psyche, if that’s what you mean,” she adds a little sheepishly, hoping to hear some sort of affirmation in his voice that she’s answered correctly. “You?”

“almost impressive? please, you’ll make me blush. you really know how to make a man feel special, you know that?” it’s still probably the nicest thing she’s ever said to him, so jae’s just going to ignore the rest. if she can have selective hearing, so can he. “or admit you have terrible taste. i’ll take either.” he can already hear the spite in her voice. it’s good wine. she’s so obnoxious. it should not be making him smile. “do you think you’re the only person who’s ever called me unbelievable?” he tuts, “it’s an ongoing list.” not that jae actually keeps track of all the things people call him. in the end, it all blurs together. he takes it as he wants to, mostly. “right. be honest.” his skin itches at the thought. ariel says that like it’s just something people do. “well, we can still watch a movie.” he has no idea how to navigate whatever’s going on between them. it feels both comfortable and tenuous all at once. even if they’re not going to do anything exciting tonight, he does want to keep kissing her. his arms are still wrapped around her. “something mindless. any suggestions?”

“i’m saying there’s a difference between being a snob and having taste. i’m just very good at doing both.” just to be annoying, he adds, “the price tag on this alone is enough to pretend you love it when you tell people about it later. this was a great year for merlot, though, so you better like it.” he doesn’t mean that last bit, but it’s so effortless, the way they fall back into their usual back and forth. jae’s struck for a moment by how strange it is, the ease of it, but the sound of her laugh pulls back. the hows and whys don’t matter. he needs this. “impossible, unbelievable, incredible. the list goes on. i’m very aware.” he pouts against her skin, where she can’t see it. well, when she puts it like that. “it’s not that i don’t want to. there’s nothing more i’d rather do. i just… might also be a little exhausted.” this is weird. it goes against his nature to willingly not put out. jae wraps an arm around her waist, daring ariel to leave. “in the name of sharing terrible truths, the wine was a ruse. but i know you didn’t come over just to hang out. stay anyway?”

“i don’t think about those things the way you do,” he says with a frown, because he’s never going to be much help when it comes to work advice. shiloh doesn’t think much about social media in general, but he certainly has no idea how to build or maintain a personal brand. “don’t people hate those?” personally, he has no feeling either way. anyone with a big enough following is always selling something, even if it’s just themselves. anyone with a brain knows that when following in the first place. he scoffs. “that’s not true.” in this case, he’s not being self-deprecating, he’s self-aware. shiloh isn’t really a fun time.

“i didn’t say any of that,” she says, openly clutching her phone in the optimal recording position. to be fair, it’s a very flattering angle, he should be pleased! “this is always who i’ve been, so you’re either with me or you’re against me.” acab, tyler, just do crimes. “you could totally make those cringey pov videos. maybe take your shirt off and half-ass a few dances. you’d be–we would be millionaires in no time. because i’d be your social media manager, obviously. i can’t believe you won’t flash your abs to make us rich.” she pouts, blinking rapidly as if to ward off imaginary tears.

Without too much convincing, Aria decides this is the act of a helping hand, and a small smile appears on her rosy lips. “I guess it’s nice then,” she mutters with a slight shrug. “But I feel like they’ll stop letting me volunteer if they catch me letting someone else do my work. Still, thank you,” she adds quickly, trying hard not to watch his expression to read how he responds, as if she really knows anything about him. Foolishly, she wants to believe a face like that is always friendly. “I could be, who knows?” Aria tries, doing her best to have the kind of upright posture the heroes do, thinking maybe she could convince him. She puts a polite hand out, offering another smile. “Nice to meet you, Tyler.”

mind already made up, he’s popping it open before she’s even responded.  “well, we can fix that,”  jae snorts, handing her a glass,  “you just memorize a few of the good ones and then pretend it tastes better than anything anyone else is having. anything I give you will always be good, though.”  having said that, he throws half his glass back in one swift movement and primly sets it down so he can press up against her side. ariel is dangerously warm, though, so as he leans on her shoulder, his eyes slip closed for a moment. he mouths lazily at her neck in an effort to keep himself focused.  “hey. if i promise to get you off before the third act, can we just watch a movie?”

“she shouldn’t do either of those things,” he says, trying not to make a face, though he’s almost positive he fails. or that, when it comes to ariel, trying to conceal any of his true feelings is futile. “don’t people just repost their tiktok videos, anyway?” shiloh has an instagram primarily for following certain people and brands. he hardly posts anything of his own, and when he does, it’s of people and places that are not him. “nothing, why else would i be talking to you?” he jokes, because even if they aren’t emotive people, ariel knows she’s his favorite person, and he’d spend a lot more time with her if she weren’t so busy. not that he begrudges her that – she deserves a career, and other friends, even if shiloh barely has either of those things himself.

that makes them bark out a laugh.  “sure, whatever. it’d be a really good story down the line though, don’t you think?”  not that luz plans on screwing up that bad. mostly they’re worried it might be kinda slow and not very pretty. they yank tyler over so they can start cleaning up the wound, eyeing the injury with skepticism.  “not very lucky of you, is it? you sure this wasn’t just your fault?”

ariel  //  @foryourdiary​

the idea of making ariel come over had been exciting in concept. but his eyes fall in another heavy blink and he feels like the only way to hold onto what little control of the situation he has as it is, is to adapt. he swerves away from his usual path toward his room and heads toward the kitchen for the good wine.  “how do you feel about some 2005 merlot?”  he asks, apropros of nothing.

“oh, so you can? okay, go on, prove it!” her tone is challenging, but the way she immediately raises her phone to start recording is extremely unsubtle. “i suppose we could shoplift from erewhon instead.” regan can afford their prices, but she’d feel like a dipshit paying $15 for some soup in a mason jar. she is willing to pay $20 for one of their smoothies, though. “because, tyler, just because you don’t have tiktok doesn’t mean you don’t fit the demographic. you’d absolutely do crazy numbers, like it or not.”

✧ — ⋆ 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗵 & 𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗹 / @foryourdiary​

shiloh slides the iced coffee over to her wordlessly, because it’s hotter than the deepest pits of hades in los angeles right now and he knows his sister could use it. she’s settled at the table with a crapload of work, as always, and though he doesn’t fully get what ariel does, he still wants to seem interested. “what are you working on?” shiloh barely even has a social media presence, but that’s probably best for them both, so ariel has no opportunity to micromanage his image.

✧ — ⋆ 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻 & 𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗿 / @foryourdiary​

“are you sure you can’t do this?” she asks, far from the first time, shoving her phone in his face yet again. she allows the video to play through one more time, then scrolls down her fyp page on tiktok without even looking at the screen, stopping at random when she hears a trending song. “what about this? huh?! i need to gain at least 500 more followers before classes start again and obi wan, you’re my only hope.” because tiktok loves a white boy dancing.

She can’t tell if he’s genuinely trying to be helpful or if it’s some sort of pick-up line, but she also doesn’t trust her own judgement on that anyway so she’ll have to take him at his word. “It would be kind of wrong of me to make you do part of my job, wouldn’t it?” Aria responds with a chuckle, then a crease of her brow, suddenly a slight bit self conscious. “Wait, why, does it look like I’m carrying it wrong?” She doesn’t know why she’s simply assumed he’s a hero with the experience to know, maybe he just has some air about him, but now she’s got the sword in her hands, checking the form of her wrists that she knows her mom has always given her notes about. Doe eyes peer back at him over the glittering blade, “Aria.” Only then does she think to lower it again and ask, “What’s yours?”

“only for now. experience should prove that it’s only a matter of time before i find something else to be stubborn about.”  there’s a hint of a smile in there somewhere, but despite the encroaching levity, it’s also a warning. this won’t be the last time jae digs his heels in. locked into her orbit the way he is, they’re destined to clash again in the future. he hopes ariel is prepared for that — it’s too late to avoid it now either way. he doesn’t plan on giving her up any time soon.  “okay.”  he can accept that. all he wanted was for her to take him at his word. he feels more than sees when his question catches her off-guard, though he hadn’t meant it to. her quick response catches him just as much by surprise.  “oh. but what is there to be ashamed about?”  he winces, immediately hating how it sounds. as hungry as he is for every new piece of herself she’s been so willing to share today, there’s a limit to how much he can push her to unveil more and more before she realizes he’s being greedy.  “wait, you don’t have to answer that. i wasn’t trying to be an asshole. i’ll stop.”  he freezes. burden him? he opens his mouth to speak and shuts it again. where to begin answering that? what she calls cruel sounds to him like mercy. to know what he’s been flirting with in his worst moments, teasing him everywhere he went, would be damning and freeing, all at once. but that’s not something he can admit when she’s just barely allowed him a glimpse into her past. even so, she can’t think that he can leave things be like this. not if it’s about her.  “please. you don’t have to tell me now, you don’t even have to tell me all of it all at once. but i want to hear it and know i’ll remember. it’s not a burden.”  he is. whatever she was going to say, he is that and more.  “neither of us did. it’s not fine, but it’s gone now. there’s no use holding onto anger i don’t even have space for anymore.”  he slides a knee between hers and plants it on the chair. she’s right. none of it matters anymore. what does matter is that all he can think about is kissing her again. hand still on her jaw, he tugs her back to him with a deep sense of relief. this he missed more than he ever expected to. he could probably kiss her forever and still not get enough. but there’s only so much more he can take of hovering over her, never close enough, before he loses all sense of sanity. he’s already climbing into her chair and if he doesn’t get his wits about him soon, they’re going to break something. he pulls away again after a while with a rough sigh.  “can we finish talking about this somewhere else?”  for a completely unintended confrontation, they’ve talked plenty. feather-light touch trails down her arm and lands at her wrist, pulling it up to his lips so he can kiss the pulse point. he stands slowly, grip still circled around her wrist.  “you’re done with work for the day anyway.”  whether or not that’s true doesn’t really concern him. jae is ready to get out of here. where he heads next, however, depends on ariel.

He feels some sense of relief to watch the door open and be able to look at Stormie and know that she’s there and standing and breathing. It’s dramatic, but it’s something, and then it feels like nothing when it’s apparent Stormie is still doing pretty bad. “Thanks,” Nick responds, as gingerly as he can as he steps into her apartment and sets down the food in his hands on her table. “You’re not gonna make me eat alone, are you?” he asks, mustering up a small smile for her as he motions towards his direction. “Sit down?”

luz rolls her eyes.  “always with the whining. you’re such a loser, just get in here.”  they’ll never hear the end of it if someone finds out they let someone walk off without getting healed. besides…  “look, i need the practice but it’s been mad slow. just don’t cry or whatever if i don’t get it on the first try, alright?”  they motion him forward.  “let’s see it. what am i workin’ with, huh?”