Faster than a speeding bullet

incredible-dad​:

Bob was out of the house a lot. 

It wasn’t by choice. Work was just…extraordinarily busy. The town felt like it was slowly crumbling and it put Bob on edge. He stayed up worrying about that. He stayed up worrying about his daughter going off to university and his youngest son’s powers exposing them all. He didn’t want to move the family again. Despite his doubts about whether Swynlake was good for his family or not, he thought that moving them would be worse.

This meant, however, that he didn’t always know what was going on with his family. He barely recognized that Dash and Jack-Jack were fighting. Or that Dash and Violet barely spoke. 

That being said: Bob was caught entirely off guard by Dash’s question. 

He winced a bit as he set down the box he was holding, wishing that he didn’t have super-strength for a moment so that he could pass the expression off as a twinge his back or something. 

“Ah, no–no, not yet,” Bob told Dash, not quite meeting his son’s eyes as he riffled aimlessly through the box of decorations. “I’m sorry, bud. Things have just been hectic. We’ll find somewhere soon, I promise.”

Dash had caught his father’s grimace and immediately, his heart sank. After the first ‘No’ he stopped listening. He didn’t want to hear any more excuses. Anger slowly simmered inside of him, and the grip on the box he was holding made dents on the edges. 

“Mom promised the same thing when we moved here,” he grumbled, trying not to sound too angry. If he lost his temper now, he’d loose all footing he had in this conversation. He needed to work with his dad on this. To at least state his case to him. He needed to be heard.

ashlee-inperfection​:

Ashlee almost flinched back, she could see his anger plain on his face and this was exactly why she told Phineas she hadn’t wanted to get involve. Moments ago as far as she was aware Dash had his brother’s collar in his shirt and who knew what happened after that.

But the way he didn’t meet her eyes was enough for her to not regret running after him. Not yet at least.

“I imagine not well.” Ashlee mumbled because yes she could guess. “I’m sorry.” She instead offered, though she wasn’t quite sure what she could apologize for. “Can I help?” Again not sure she could but Ashlee wasn’t offering an empty promise just she wanted to do something.

Dash glanced over, meeting Ashlee’s gaze for just a moment. He could see she was being at least somewhat genuine. There wasn’t that usual calculating look he knew the Ashleys always had behind whatever emotion they were putting up for everyone else to see. 

The anger in his posture and expression faded a bit, but it left him struggling more to mask his sadness. He wasn’t about to cry in front of anyone tonight, not if he could help it. 

hopefullyincredible-jackjack​:

Jack Jack just didn’t get it. Wanting to impress the Ashleys. Who wanted to impress the Ashleys? Maybe they were high school royalty, or whatever, but that’s all they were. They had peaked. High school would be it for them.

Maybe that was just the issue. Jack Jack had never felt the need to impress anyone, or at least, he had never felt the need to go to such great things. If people thought he was uncool, well, they thought he was uncool. Maybe he could change their mind (‘cause personally, he thought he was pretty cool, as did his many tiktok followers, but whatever), but he wasn’t really willing to put the work in to find out.

All Jack Jack could do was keep sitting quietly and listen. He couldn’t pretend to understand where Dash was coming from, but he could still be a good brother. And honestly, at the end of all of it, he didn’t wanna fight with Dash. He was quite happy being the one sibling without any major drama and he didn’t want to be caught up in the rest of it, either. Being friends with both Violet and Dash wasn’t easy in the current climate, but he was making it work and he liked it that way.

“I won’t.” He said, scooting a little closer to his brother. “I won’t tell anyone. What’s said next to the lake stays by the lake.” He tried for a joke, but he wasn’t sure it really worked. “You think the Ashleys will tell her, though? Mei, I mean.”

Through his stinging tears, Dash managed a feeble smile. JJ was a good brother to him. Even when tensions were high, he somehow managed to ease them without someone snapping. It was kind of... refreshing.

“I dunno. Probably not.” He hoped not at least. “I mean, if they haven’t told her already, the won’t now. What’d be the point? She’s moved on... I think. But whatever, if they- if they tell her, I can handle it. I’ve had my fair share of angry girls after my head before.” Was he talking about Violet or the girlfriends he’d had back in the U.S.? Probably both.

Prom 2 had sucked even more than the first. Way more. Dash would never have guessed, given that Prom 1 had essentially been a bust too. Now he and JJ weren’t really on speaking terms, which made two for two (ever since he’d deleted Vi’s stuff, he could barely stand to hold a conversation about the weather with her). 

Dash felt more alienated than ever. He could only cry about it in his room alone for so long. He shared it with his brother after all. He felt trapped. There wasn’t a single place he could hide away to. A place yet untouched by vicious words and actions. 

He wished he could just run. Like really run. It had been so long since he’d used his speed. Rome had really been the last time, and ever since coming home, he’d been good about it. But now he was getting the itch for it again, and it was bad. Hadn’t his parents promised to find him a good secluded place for him? It had been a while since he’d pestered them about it. Maybe it was time to bring the subject up again.

“Hey Dad,” Dash began while the two were putting away their Fourth of July things in the garage, “did you find a place for me to run yet?”

Heart to Heart (?) || Incredibrothers

Ohhhhhhhh this was so bad. This was so fucked up. This was the worst.

And for a second, maybe two, JJ really did not like his brother. He looked at him, his expression carefully blank as Dash explained, and he just. Since when was Dash like that? He’d known his brother his entire life, and he never would’ve expected that that, pretending to want to date someone, whether you ended up liking them or not, he never would’ve thought his brother capable of that.

Jack Jack dropped his gaze to the sand, and scrubbed a hand through his hair. This was all so fucked up. He didn’t want to be mad at Dash. He wasn’t going to be mad at him, because boy was Dash trusting him here, and he obviously was hurt, but it was difficult. It was a lot. He liked Mei, too. Not that it would make any difference if she had been awful, what Dash and the Ashleys had done was still also awful, but. Mei was nice. She definitely deserved better than… all of that.

He took a breath, and then he looked up at Dash, unsure of what exactly he should say.

“Why’d you agree to it?” he asked, for lack of anything else to say. “Not judging,” he added quickly, though… okay, he kinda was. “But… if the Ashleys tell you to jump off a bridge, you don’t have to.”

Dash sniffed loudly, wiping tears away with the back of his hand, careful not to get any sand in his eyes. JJ was silent. That was the worst part of all of this. He knew his brother was judging him. In all honesty, he deserved it, but that didn’t make it any easier to take.

He was terrible to Mei. Objectively. As kind as he was to her, as much he ended up liking her, the relationship was still faked. He wouldn’t have dated her without the command from the Ashleys. Jack Jack was right to ask him why. He had been asking himself the same thing since he had gotten back from Rome. 

“I know I don’t. I wouldn’t... but I wanted to impress them... It seemed harmless enough... right?” Dash sighed. “No... no I know it wasn’t I just.... didn’t care. I didn’t care about who got hurt, because I never thought- I never thought I’d be hurting myself.”

The teen went quiet. 

Whoops | Phish

Phineas nodded and laughed nervously. Dash looked seriously pissed-off. Maybe at the beginning of the semester, Phineas would have challenged the whole getting-called-an-idiot thing, but by now, he could see that you really did not want to get on the wrong side of people like Dash. Even if he could already tell he probably was on Dash’s bad side. Making it worse wasn’t anything to be proud of.

“That’s me,” he said with a nervous laugh. “Pretty funny, right? I mean, who would have thought. I’m just hoping it’s not some kind of elaborate prank. I mean, it’d be a great prank.” Maybe Dash was the one who had nominated Phineas as a joke! “It’s just prom, though. Not all that big a deal. I mean, obviously I’m excited, but it’s not the kind of thing any of us are going to remember in twenty years, right?”

That was sort of how Phineas felt about prom, even if he was downplaying it for Dash’s benefit. He knew making prom unforgettable was important, but he also thought that prom king and queen was kind of a silly social tradition. It was pretty frustrating to be getting so much grief about something he didn’t really care about.

Dash’s glare softened a little. Yeah, yeah, a prank. A joke. That’d be funny, really funny. Maybe giving Phineas here a little roughing up wasn’t worth the trip to the Principal’s or a stint in detention. It’d be great to watch him be humiliated at prom. Now that would be more fun to watch than beating him around a bit.

“Yeah, you’re right, that’d be a great prank,” he agreed, nodding, a small smile curling the edge of his mouth. Just slightly. “Sure sure, yeah, maybe not. But you gotta admit, it should still be one hell of a night, right?” He wanted it to be one hell of a night, at least. 

theincredibledash​:

Heart to Heart (?) || Incredibrothers

Jack Jack’s eyebrows raised so high they almost joined his hairline, and he had to cover up his surprise, dropping his gaze to the ground. Ariel Triton. No wonder Dash didn’t want anyone to know.

But why was Ariel punching his brother in the first place? There were so much more to everything than JJ knew or understood, and he wasn’t even sure he wanted to understand it. Everything was too messy and too tangled and he was sort of starting to understand why everyone was so stressed all the time.

He held his pinky finger out to Dash silently; he had said pinky swear, and he had meant it. “What happens by the lake stays by the lake.” He promised Dash. That’s what brothers were for, right? For keeping secrets, for things you couldn’t tell your parents.

He waited quietly, for whatever that secret was. He was sort of dreading it, but if Dash wanted to talk, well… JJ wasn’t going to stop him.

Dash caught the his brother’s expression before he was able to hide it. He had expected it, but it still sucked. A lot. He wanted to be angry but he couldn’t. He was more ashamed and embarrassed than anything.

JJ’s pinky hovered in the air for a few moments before Dash sighed and linked his own pinky with is brother’s. What a childish thing. But somehow it made him feel better. Although the feeling didn’t last long. The pit in his stomach grew as he prepared himself to give up his damning secret.

“I uh-so when I dated Mei-I uh-it wasn’t um-” He paused, holding his breath before blurting out, “The Ashley’s made me date her.” 

Dash should’ve felt relief. But the pit in his stomach wasn’t gone. The weight on his shoulders hadn’t lifted. He had to keep going. 

“But-but even though it started like that, I liked her, like, actually really liked her, he continued, softer, sadder. “But the Ashleys expected me to break up with her. And so yeah, I broke up with her, but it-it hurt a lot... more than I could ever admit to anyone... especially not the Ashleys...”

Whoops | Phish

Phineas froze. This is gonna be a whole thing, he thought to himself, trying to find a way out of this situation. Dash looked mad, and Phineas couldn’t take getting threatened or yelled at on top of everything else that had happened today. Maybe he could offer a helpful solution?

“I really don’t know how it happened,” Phineas said with an easygoing chuckle, trying to hide the little hint of nervousness on his voice. “I was just sitting in History, and boom, nosebleed. Weird, right? Why does that kind of stuff always happen at school? It’s like I’m, uh, the girl from Stranger Things!” 

He threw his hands up in an “I don’t know” gesture and shook his head, plastering on a smile. “Crazy stuff. I think you can probably get that out with some cold water and laundry detergent? It’d be cool if someone came up with a laundry detergent that was just for backpacks. I bet everyone would need that. I mean, people get mud and dirt and stuff on their backpacks all the time, right?” He was rambling, but Phineas hoped maybe Dash would get bored enough just to walk away.

Dash scowled. This kid talked too much. His reedy voice rattled around in his head like coins in a can. Stranger Things? Backpack detergent? Was he high or something? Honestly, it didn't matter. What did was that he was about two seconds from grabbing him and slamming him into the lockers. His hand twitched, ready to act, but stopped when recognition finally dawned on him. "You're that idiot that got nominated for Prom King, aren't you?" he questioned, eyeing Phineas and leaning forward.

Heart to Heart (?) || Incredibrothers

JJ was confused from square one. He couldn’t really understand Dash picking his friends over his sister — and to be honest, he knew who Dash’s friends were, and Jack Jack didn’t know why he was friends with them at all. He was more on Violet’s side, when it came to all that, but he wouldn’t say it out loud. Someone had to be neutral, right?

And he especially didn’t want to take sides when he saw the glint in Dash’s eyes as he turned away, the sheen there. JJ felt a lump form in his throat - he was terrible with people crying. As for the broken nose, and for Mei, well. JJ didn’t know what to say to that either, cause he hadn’t seen any of that coming. The fact that Dash wouldn’t tell them who had broken his nose, making it some big secret, and then the thing with Mei had been pretty out of the blue if you asked Jack Jack…

It was like Dash was diverting away from them, picking a path that they couldn’t follow him down. Not necessarily a bad thing,‘cause they all had to grow up sometime, but still. It was hard to watch. Hard to say anything, when JJ felt he only knew half the story, and was pretty bad at advice to begin with.

“Well…” he continued picking at the sand, digging at it with his index finger for something to focus on. “I mean, nothing’s forever, right? Vi will… she’ll get over it. Or something will happen and afterwards it’ll be like— what’s the saying? Bridge under the water. No. Water under the bridge.” He doubted it, honestly, but it seemed like it was what Dash would want to hear. “And I think… at the risk of sounding lame, and middle aged, I think Dad’s just worried about you. Y'know. About someone punching you.”

He paused then, wondering if he should ask. He still didn’t really know what had happened with all of that. “…Do I get to ask who punched you? Pinky promise I won’t tell.”

How was Jack Jack just so good at making him laugh, even when he was crying? At least it covered up his tears. He opened his mouth to make a comment about their dad, but then JJ asked about who punched him and his mouth worked faster than is mind.

“It was Ariel. Ariel Triton.”

Dash didn’t want to spill his guts. He wished he could have just held onto the hurt forever until it went away. But he wasn’t that strong. He had been holding back so much. The damn of emotions had been threatening to break for so long now. He trusted JJ, and now he was actually listening to him. There was no use with trying to stop the inevitable.

“She caught me off guard. I could’ve dodged her so easily,” he explained rushedly, turning back to face his brother with a serious expression. “You better keep that promise.”

He sighed, his expression softening, saddening again. He felt somewhat better after telling him. A little weight off of his shoulders. But that wasn’t all of it. There was still an ache in his chest from Mei...