BUT AIDEN'S PARENTS DO CARE

THEY DO

THEY JUST CAN'T SHOW IT BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO

THEY WEREN'T READY FOR A KID, BUT REGARDLESS HAD TRIED TO LOVE HIM

THEY DIDN'T KNOW THEIR KID WAS STRUGGLING BECAUSE THEIR JOB HAS THEM BUSY CONSTANTLY

IT'S HARD TO CHECK UP ON YOUR KID WHEN HE'S UNABLE TO EXPRESS HIMSELF

IF HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO EXPRESS HIMSELF, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO KNOW

IT'S HARD TO SEE IT SOMETIMES

Look, they may have not been the best, but they weren't awful.

Daniel and Jessica tried.

They did.

They thought, "Hey, he enjoys these games with give him, maybe more means he'll be happy?" It's hard to be a parent

It's harder to be a parent who has a job that constantly requires you to travel.

And it's especially hard when your kid doesn't know how to express emotion properly, and he needs to live with thrill to cope.

Understand that they are trying. I know they are.

ahahahhahahahahahahahahhaha @the-princess-fangirl and @loife1m thanks for the one shot prompt

After the final battle, after discussions and reunions and funerals.

It finally sank in.

The nightmares, the trauma, a PTSD of sorts.

Anxiety.

He wasn't sleeping anymore. At first, Aiden just wasn't tired. Nidra had him nice and rested for a good two weeks.

But then, Nidra kept him awake.

What he saw when he had escaped the land of the waking-

It was beyond anything he wanted to relive.

If Aiden went back to sleep, would he ever wake up?

It started to wear on him, the sleeplessness, the sweaty anxiety of even getting close to his bed, his brain screaming for an out.

It went on like this for a month before one day, he snapped at Aru.

"Gods, Shah, do you have to be so extra all the time?" He spat out.

Aru whipped her head at him, a 'how dare you' look crossing her face. "Aiden Acharya, I'm going to give you one chance to rethink that sentence before I walk out of here." Immediately, his heart rate spiked, seeing stars in his vision and his throat closing up. She's gonna leave you-

"No, please," he said hurriedly, sounding strangled. "Don't leave- I'm so sorry, I-" He took a giant shuddering breath. Here we go again, his brain sang, a mocking song to bolster his anxiety further.

Aru was by his side in seconds, dropping all anger and taking hold of his shoulders. "Wifey? What's going on? Hey, no-" she wiped his face- it was wet- he'd started crying- oh dear- and she searched his eyes, worry clear in her frown. "Can I hug you?" She asked. Aru was trying to make it very clear- in his state of distress, he was in control- nothing would happen without his consent. Aiden nodded in response, feeling Aru wrap her arms around his waist and letting his head bury into her shoulder.

They didn't talk for what felt forever, and the silence, the contact, it calmed him down. She was not leaving, he could feel the sentiment in every stubborn fiber of her being.

"Sorry." He said abruptly, pulling his head up. "For yelling at you. I didn't mean to- I'm just really tired."

Aru nodded solemnly. "Exhaustion makes us act badly. Thank you for apologizing. However, I'm more worried about the fact that you're so tired." And ready to have a mental breakdown at any moment, Aiden thought. She didn't say it, but it was there, in the air, unspoken.

"I haven't been sleeping since Nidra," he said numbly. "And not cause of the saved up sleep I had- that's gone now. I'm just." His hands shook and he shut his eyes tightly. "I never want to feel like I won't wake up again." He exhaled, reaching for hands and giving them a squeeze. "I'm scared, Shah."

Aru said nothing for a moment, then, "I didn't sleep for weeks after the Sleeper took me." Aiden looked at her quizzically. "My brain kept telling me, 'if you go to sleep, you leave yourself vulnerable.' And I believed that for a long time." Aru smiled sadly, thinking back to those tremulous times. "I mean, I got over it. Eventually. But it was so rough- and definitely not as bad as what you're going through right now. Because if that was bad, then this is definitely worse, because, Aiden, you died." She looked him directly in the eye, her own looking glassy. "Nidra took you."

"Yeah," he whispered. Sometimes, he couldn't believe it himself.

"I needed someone. And I promised myself in the unlikely event that something similar happened to me or someone else, that I would get help." She squeezed his hands now, comforting and warm. "I can help you, definitely, but maybe you should go see an Otherworld therapist?" When he hesitated to respond, she quickly added, "not that you have to decided right now- it's just an option."

"Ok," he said, curling into her. Aru placed the laptop and notebooks on the ground, making more room on the bed as he closed his eyes. "I'll think about it."

"Alright," she said, leaning into him.

Before he fell into the first of many more hard-fought peaceful sleeps, his brain pleaded,

Don't let go.

To which a small, hopeful flame in him responded,

more angst? sure :)

She tried to stop him, you know.

She told him it was a bad idea.

But he was stubborn. He said it was the only way.

The truth was, he was right.

So she begged him to switch places with her.

She could handle it! She was strong and used to working alone.

He didn’t listen.

“I can’t lose anyone else.” He had said.

And now he was gone.

She had lost him so that he wouldn’t lose anyone.

It was unfair.

She would have lived.

She would have come back alive and with her sister.

She should have been more forceful.

But he was always her weakness.

And now, they were paying the price.

or rosepunch content

anything

i can't keep living off of my own fanfics (unfinished...)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It all happened so fast. One moment, they were fighting side by side, and the next, he was gone. Aiden, Brynne’s best friend, was gone. And she couldn’t do anything about it. She screamed and kicked and cried, but nothing was going to bring him back. The others grieved, but none as deeply as her. She wanted Aiden back.

Eventually, she had enough. Against the wishes of the Council and her own sisters, she set out to find him. And find him, she did. But it wasn’t him, not any longer. His eyes, once bright and lively, were now dull and flat. His movements were monotonous, and seemed to be controlled by puppet strings. This wasn’t the Aiden she knew. Brynne dropped to her knees, not struggling even when her best friend knocked her out.

it’s actually 2 am lol

after the sleeper’s house, aru has nightmares and barely sleeps. the sisters feel it on their mind connection thing, and know they’re powerless to help.

Aiden’s MAD af about it. he will cut a bitch to avenge her.

but deep inside, he misses the annoying aru who he totally fell in love with was his friend

Rudy’s trying to find something, anything, to help. eventually he does figure something out, but it isnt a permanent solution.

over time, aru develops depressive anxiety. she’s constantly on edge, and doesnt make jokes anymore.

Oh, and boo? Fuck him! she loses any trust for him.

He’s heartbroken. but understands

The others dont get it. but they’re too scared to push aru for details