#diamond tpp

but under cut because SPOILERS (but that's like obvious)

summary: Ben meets the lonely boy that Juno has been sneaking off to see. He also learns that the lonely boy is a terrible dancer. But that's alright, honestly, because Juno's smile makes up for it.

rating: mature

pairings + characters: Peter Nureyev ♡ Juno Steel, Mick Mercury ♡ Benzaiten Steel, Buddy Aurinko ♡ Vespa Ilkay, Sarah Steel, Mag, Diamond, Rita, Jet Sikuliaq, Jack Takano/Ramses O'Flaherty, Sasha Wire

warnings:

- sarah steel's canon typical abuse (juno has a split lip from getting backhanded by her but it's not described or actually in the chapter, just mentioned)

- peter's disordered eating referenced but not in detail

snippet:

ᴮᵉⁿ ᵏⁿᵒʷˢ ᴶᵘⁿᵒ.

ᴮᵉⁿ ᵏⁿᵒʷˢ ᴶᵘⁿᵒ ᵈᵒᵉˢⁿ'ᵗ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ˢᵗᵃʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵃᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵃˢᵗˡᵉ, ᵏⁿᵒʷˢ ʰᵉ ᵈᵒᵉˢⁿ'ᵗ ᵉⁿʲᵒʸ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵉⁿᵗᵉʳ ᵒᶠ ᵃᵗᵗᵉⁿᵗᶦᵒⁿ ᵒʳ ᵇᵉ ᵍᶦᵛᵉⁿ ᵐᵒʳᵉ ʳᵉˢᵖᵒⁿˢᶦᵇᶦˡᶦᵗʸ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ʰᵉ ᶜᵃⁿ ʰᵃⁿᵈˡᵉ. ᴴᵉ ˢᵉᵉˢ ᶦᵗ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵃʸ ʰᵉ ʰᵘⁿᶜʰᵉˢ ᵒᵛᵉʳ ᵒⁿ ʰᶦᵐˢᵉˡᶠ ᵗᵒ ᵐᵃᵏᵉ ʰᶦˢ ˢᵗᵃᵗᵘʳᵉ ᵃˢ ˢᵐᵃˡˡ ᵃˢ ʰᵉ ᶜᵃⁿ ʷʰᵉⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ʰᵉ'ˢ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖʳᵉˢᵉⁿᵗˢ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᵃᵈᵘˡᵗˢ. ᴴᵉ'ˢ ᵃ ˡᶦᵗᵗˡᵉ ᵐᵒʳᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᶠᵒʳᵗᵃᵇˡᵉ ᵃʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ ᴶᵃᶜᵏ, ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ᵐᵒᵐ'ˢ ᵃᵈᵛᶦˢᵉʳ, ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ˢᵉˡᶠ⁻ᵃᵖᵖᵒᶦⁿᵗᵉᵈ "ᵘⁿᶜˡᵉ", ᵇᵘᵗ ᴮᵉⁿ ᵏⁿᵒʷˢ ᵇᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ᵗᵒ ˡᵉᵃᵛᵉ ᴶᵘⁿᵒ ᵇʸ ʰᶦᵐˢᵉˡᶠ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗᵒᵒ ˡᵒⁿᵍ ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵃⁿʸᵒⁿᵉ. ˢᵒ, ᵗʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ʷʰʸ ᶦᵗ'ˢ ˢᵗʳᵃⁿᵍᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ʸᵒᵘⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵗʷᶦⁿ ʷʰᵉⁿ ᴶᵘⁿᵒ ˢⁿᵉᵃᵏˢ ᵃʷᵃʸ ᵒⁿᶜᵉ ᵃ ʷᵉᵉᵏ ᵗᵒ ᵍᵒ ᵐᵉᵉᵗ ʷᶦᵗʰ ˢᵒᵐᵉ ᵐʸˢᵗᵉʳᶦᵒᵘˢ ᵖᵉʳˢᵒⁿ.

FIRST OFF the pronouns in the quote from PoM itself. "a friend of mine asked me to prove her husband was cheating." "turns out he was." After What Lies Beyond, we know that Diamond uses she/her pronouns, so if we assume the couple in Juno’s story were him and Diamond, this sets the roles (at least how he tells them.) HOWEVER given that Juno is an unreliable narrator, i think the actual story went something like this:

Juno's going through a rough time after getting fired from the HCPD (or possibly while working at the HCPD- our dear detective has just been going through it for a long time now in general.) In a moment of "Hey, maybe I shouldn’t fuck myself up constantly," he reaches out to someone OTHER THAN DIAMOND for help- probably Rita, possibly Mick, possibly someone else he met somewhere else that he felt he could trust. Doesn't matter who- what does matter is that he starts to get platonically close to this person. Again, this is not cheating, but Diamond doesn't see it that way. 

Diamond sees Juno forming support systems outside of her, and a major abuse is cutting off outside support/isolating the victim- so she hires/"hires" Juno as a setup to prove he's been talking to people other than her. She then frames this as him being unfaithful and not trusting her, when in reality what he's doing is perfectly justified, but she manipulates him until he doesn't see it that way. Even after they break up, this sticks with him, feeding into his pre-existing fear of getting close to people and skewing his sense of boundaries in future relationships. He thinks he's a bad person for not immediately trusting Only Diamond, which leads to him feeling like he had to "give her all his trust up front and wait for the trustworthiness to fill in later." We see in What Lies Beyond that he's worried about a lot of things in a relationship- specifically being a bad partner and where boundaries are. He sees Nureyev doing things that would have made Diamond distrust him, and he doesn’t distrust Nureyev for them because he’s, You Know, A Little More Well Adjusted, which confuses him based on the precedent set by his last major romantic relationship.