Big fat WIP for something I'm working on, I really wanna finish up this little PMV idea in time before my exams but it may be a tad bit difficult. Fingers crossed
WoW's birthday event: day 9: aftermath of rescue | sickness | "you're burning up"
(does a hostage exchange count as a rescue? I say yes, for the purpose of this)
A day or two after Phoenix waking up in the medbay and the revelations that followed, they ask Joseph to check on Aaron (and by extension, the rest of their team).
Joseph belongs to @i-eat-worlds
1k
CWs: low self-esteem, mentioned past abuse, exhaustion, caffeine, self-neglect
Joseph knocks on the door to Phoenix's flat.
He almost hopes no-one answers and he'll have to use Santhiya's key. Then there's a chance they'll be asleep already.
No such luck.
Kai answers the door. Joseph can tell immediately why Phoenix was worried, even if it was only Aaron they mentioned – he's a mess. Clothes and hair rumpled, swaying slightly, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Joseph? This isn't INSUPA."
"I was visiting Phoenix, and they–"
"Are they okay?" asks Kai immediately, looking ready to run at the slightest hint of a 'no'. "What's wrong, what happened?"
"Nothing's wrong, calm down." Kai's shoulders drop and Joseph bites back a surge of anger. What did Abbie do to make Phoenix think this man could hate them?
"Then what–"
"As I said, I was visiting Phoenix, and they asked me to check up on you. Apparently the bags under Aaron's eyes look tattooed on?"
Actually, what Phoenix had done was apologise for being an inconvenience but could he please check up on Aaron? Joseph had felt sick hearing the fear there, like Joseph would do something to them for asking.
Kai sighs, judging the door further open. "Come in."
Joseph slips inside and follows Kai into the living room.
Morfydd and Lian are slumped on the floor, propped up by the couch, and Aaron is perched on the coffee table, looking two seconds from drifting off and falling, under-eye bags true to Phoenix's word. Morfydd winces at their footsteps. A selection of empty caffeine and sugar drinks and snacks surround them all, spread out around a sugar paper epicentre. Lian appears to have been snacking from a bag of whole coffee beans.
Santhiya's presumably still asleep with Phoenix in the medical bay, Phoenix themself talking to Vic about advocacy roles after she took one up for them during their interview with management (which has caused at least one panic attack so far, and which Joseph is still annoyed about). So at least no-one's unaccounted for.
"You all need to sleep."
Aaron shakes his head, taking a large gulp of coffee (which he doesn't even like. Joseph recognises this version of him from their course together). "There's more important things to do."
"What are you doing?" he asks curiously.
"Trying to work out why Phoenix thinks we'd hate them," mutters Lian morosely. "We don't know what we did, or how to fix it."
"How do they not know we value them for more than their powers and fighting?" adds Morfydd through clenched teeth.
"Because they can count on one hand the amount of people who have before." The room is dead silent. "If you slept, you'd work this out for yourselves. And I'm not taking you to medbay if you have a heart attack from all that caffeine, Lian."
Lian looks at him in surprise. That's fair. The others don't know him as well as Aaron does, don't know that he'd drop everything if that did happen.
"Joseph's lying," announces Aaron.
Joseph shrugs. "Maybe. But it's been over 24 hours since Phoenix woke, I suspect none of you have slept since before then, and I'm not going anywhere until you're asleep. Phoenix asked me to make sure you're okay, and I intend to do so."
"Okay, okay, you've made your point," mutters Lian. "Morfydd, shall we–"
They nod then wince. They seem to have got the idea, as Joseph helps them into their chair. They wheel down the corridor, slowly, Lian holding on, and leave the chair outside whichever one of them's bedroom it is.
Once they're safely inside, Joseph turns to Aaron. "Come on."
He shakes his head. "I need to go on my shift soon. I'll be fine."
Joseph snatches the bag of dissolvable HAL-issued stimulants out of his pocket and transfers them to his own.
"Don't you dare. Phoenix will be better off for you getting some rest, and so will everyone else. I'll take your shift."
"But–"
"No. I'm taking your shift."
"At least let me have a bleep?"
"Not until you've had at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep."
Joseph stares them down until they sigh. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Nope."
Aaron nods, and holds out an arm to let Joseph help them down off the table. He pulls it around his shoulders as soon as they've slid off, stopping them from falling completely.
They're warm to hold. His own heart skips a beat. He has no idea which is the spare room, if any, so he just leads them into a random empty one. Aaron doesn't protest.
Once Aaron is sitting on the bed, they seem to come back to themself and say urgently, "They didn't think to come to me when they thought Kai would kick them out. They don't think any better of me. What if they think I've abandoned them because I let you take my shift?"
"It was specifically you Phoenix asked me to check up on. They won't think you abandoned them."
"Me?"
"You're the only one they've been able to see how bad you're getting."
"Oh."
Joseph pulls him into a hug. "Come on. Sleep. Phoenix will still be there when you wake up."
Aaron nods sleepily, and Joseph helps him under the duvet. He extracts his arm regretfully, and closes the door behind him with a little snick.
It turns out he could've stayed longer, because once he returns to the living room he finds Kai already passed out on the sofa.
Joseph smiles and shakes his head as he drapes a blanket over him. He could wake him, tell him about management probably coming round for their side of the story soon, but he doesn't. Kai won't go back to sleep, especially after finding out they visited Phoenix. He scoops up the mess instead, at least wanting to make the place presentable. The sugar paper – plans to make make Phoenix realise they're valued, apparently – he stacks and covers up, not wanting anyone outside of the team to see, and the caffeine remains he dumps in the kitchen, grinning at Phoenix's moulded Grogu mug on the counter.
And now it's time to return to HAL's medbay. No-one's waking anytime soon. He hopes Phoenix realises their team loves them soon, because it's so painfully obvious to everyone else that they do.
um I would personally love to hear the rant about Tess Tyler and how she’s a real character because SHE IS!!!
ok so like!!! the standard disney channel mean girl mold (sharpay evans, bonnie rockwaller, amber and ashley) is they’re mean for the sake of being mean. they’re the stand in for every girl who made you feel uncool ever at all, and with small exceptions they’re written to be that and only that. they’re vapid, they’re above the clouds, and they serve virtually no purpose than other to fit the formula.
tess isn’t like this. tess has some of the hyper feminine qualities associated with these characters (mostly she’s just blonde) but that’s about it. she’s not mean for the sake of being mean, she’s not singling mitchie out, she’s like this with everyone. tess’s mother is pretty neglectful, like to the point where at the end of the original script she invites tess to come along on tour with her which implies that tess has just been at home on her own for however long. tess developing some attachment issues over this is completely understandable and they manifest in the need to control what her friends are doing at all time.
growing up a child of a parent with that much success like, tess’s goal isn’t to be the top of the social pyramid, and she’s not! she has a very small friend group and the rest of the camp social circles don’t interact with her at all. tess’s end goal is to achieve the success she has witnessed up close all her life and feel like she’s really earned it. an esteemed music program with educational and networking opportunities outside of what her mother can offer her is probably really crucial to her.
tess isn’t a suburban beauty queen or captain of the cheer squad, she’s a messy kid doing her best to be like everyone else she’s looking at.
