He watches her back twitch violently as she sleeps, and wonders if she has phantom pains like he does.
His sleepless, addled mind wanders to her holding him close, surrounded by robotic samurai, using her whole body and strength to protect him from the thousands of blades.
Her final act as his shield.
A tool.
As the thought crosses his mind, a stabbing, then slicing pain races across his gut and where his right eye used to be.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
His jaw clenches tight, teeth grinding together. His whole body trembles, hands grabbing at his face, and he squeezes his good eye shut.
It will pass. It always does.
The guilt never does.
“Fuyuhiko?”
There’s movement in the bed after a moment. Her warm, calloused hands are on top of his, taking them away from his face. A thumb rubs circles in his palm.
He lets out a shuddering breath and opens his eye, “Peko?”
Her deep, red eyes bore into his golden one. Digging into his soul, as they always did, and full of knowing.
A smile stretches across her lips, a small attempt to show him comfort.
His heart clenches painfully in his chest.
She was hurting too.
He intertwines his fingers with hers, matching their breathing. Becoming one. Equal.
He doesn’t mind when she inches closer, pressing her forehead to his, and closes her eyes.
He imagines that the pains fade to a dull ache when she’s with him and he with her.
In the days following her awakening, she wasn’t able to meet his gaze.
She could feel it on her constantly.
When he sat with her as she gained her bearings and the memories of their despair plagued her, haunting her.
When he watched her from the doorway as she struggled to get her strength back in the island’s dojo, she hoped he didn’t come help her.
When she laid in bed next to him, feeling fleeting, stabbing pains in her back and mind seeing his bleeding body underneath her, lifeless. His eye sliced in half by her own blade.
A small sigh escapes her as her heart and body aches. The bed shifts and she can hear quiet cursing behind her.
As she turns, she sees him clutching his face, jaw tense, and teeth gritting.
She takes in his trembling body and reaches out to him, hands over his.
“Fuyuhiko?” She murmurs, a small part of her still wants to call him master, but she pushes it down deep.
She pulls the hands away from his face and rubs circles in his palms. She waits as he lets out a harsh breath, her heart aching as he does.
His voice is quiet when he responds, “Peko?”
His one eye meets her own.
It’s easy to meet his gaze now. After all this time.
They’re both hurting. She knows that in her soul as she laces her fingers in his.
She will never leave his side. Not when they need each other.
“Please stay with me,” He said with a bright smile etching its way onto his face. His canines looked sharper in the low light, almost animalistic.
She watched his dark eyes sparkled with green as their eyes met. Those eyes made her feel like they had met before, like something felt right. The monkey in his backpack seemed to wink at her, like a wingman would.
Maybe she should give him another shot.
Maybe she should open her heart to another boy, as much as she didn’t want to.
He wasn’t wearing the douchey cowboy hat anymore, so she could see the green streaks against the coffee-brown hair. She took in the creases in his brow, like he wasn’t sure what to do if she said no.
She gave him a slight smile and nodded, “I guess I could stay a little bit longer.”
On paper, a multitude of opposites, clustered together and a puzzle where the pieces are forced to fit.
She was darkness and stayed where demons dwell. She was blacks, blues, and purples. She was ancient tomes and herbal teas. She was frowns, sighs, and the occasional smirk, a wallflower.
He was brightness and diverse as the natural world. He was greens in every shade. He was video games and comic books. He was smiles, laughs, the center of attention.
In reality, things are always different.
Most people don’t always see the deep understanding and empathy.
Most people don’t always see what's underneath the surface, inner demons pulsing through their veins like wild animals.
Maybe that was why they liked each other so much, the deeper connection that came with tragic pasts and shared experiences.
Because, really, he’d do anything for her, even when she turned him away and kept everything inside. He’d fight for her, turning his inner demons outward.
Despite the belittlements and the criticisms, she’d always return the favor.
A @trcspringfling gift for @daleyposts
Summary: “This person assumed he was just like his parents, when he was standing with his eco-warrior girlfriend in a Save the Bees tee shirt at an Earth Day rally. Didn’t that mean something to this person?”
Prompt: (TRC) Blusey - At an environmental activist or Earth Day rally/protest.
ao3: here!
I hope you like it! If I knew anything about Easter, you would have had a different fic.
“I feel slovenly and the irony is not missed here.”
Blue laughed as she pecked him on the cheek and brushed invisible dust off his shoulders.
He pulled at the bright yellow tee-shirt that fit perfectly on his muscled biceps, boldly displaying Save the Bees! across his chest, and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.
“Gansey, you look like a normal person.” She said with a smile, “I can’t have you walking around in a damn polo shirt at an Earth Day rally.”
She probably had a point, but he already felt out of place with his slightly coiffed hair and overly expensive jeans and shoes. That followed the voice in the back of his head that sounded like his mother, who had talked about these kinds of rallies in the past, showing her displeasure in only the way Ganseys could.
Her floral-decorated combat boot covered foot playfully kicked his Sperrys, “I’m still letting you wear these, rich boy.”
He smiled his true Gansey smile, the one he reserved only for her, “You love the boat shoes, Jane.”
She rolled her eyes at him with an amused smile, picked up the picket sign at her feet, and shoved it at him. He stumbled for a moment before hefting the sign over one shoulder and holding his free hand out to her, a smile on his face.
“I most definitely do not like the boat shoes and you know it.”
He would do anything for Blue Sargent, especially walk several miles in Washington DC in a March for Science on Earth Day.
---
This is where Blue shined her brightest, he thought to himself, as they took to the streets of the city.
Her voice joined the thousands who gathered to let their voices be heard, warriors to defend for the sanctity of the trees, environment, and animals that could not speak for themselves.
Gansey watched her face as she shouted with the others, defending the trees that she also considered as her family. They walked through the city, tall and unafraid, hand in hand.
He was here for Blue. He was here for his friends. He was here for Earth. He was here for himself.
He was also here for something bigger and greater than himself. He was here for Cabeswater, which made him feel closer to the planet in ways that couldn’t be explained in words.
It was more than a feeling, in a way. Something supernatural. Something that couldn’t and wouldn’t be explained in books or with logic.
That’s why he was here.
Cabeswater seemed to drive more of his actions these days. That force of nature and magic underneath his skin, running through his bloodstream, and in his bones, always making him see life and its wonders in a different light.
He was honestly okay with that.
Cherry blossom petals drifted through the streets, showering the crowds with gentle pink. He positioned the sign higher on his shoulder and the spring wind ruffled his hair, decorating it in pink.
—-
“You’re Senator Gansey’s kid, aren’t you.”
The tone in the unknown voice made Cabeswater rustle with frustration in his chest, echoing the feeling of anxiety creep into his brain.
He turned to find a young person, not much older than he was, with bright green hair and dressed in something that could have been pulled from Blue’s closet, made of eco-friendly materials like hemp.
“Your mother voted for the pipeline in Alaska,” They spat at him, venom in their voice. “You shouldn’t be here; people like you don’t give a shit about this sort of thing.”
Cabeswater rustled more in anger as people like you stabbed him with anxiety. This person assumed he was just like his parents, when he was standing with his eco-warrior girlfriend in a Save the Bees tee shirt at an Earth Day rally.
Didn’t that mean something to this person? Who were they to judge him?
“Pardon me?” His burning anxiety mixed with the rustling anger, settling in his gut.
“You heard me: get out of here, Trust Fund. Go back to your mansion.”
He felt like he should say something back, to defend himself, to say that he had every right to be there too.
A strong, yet small squeeze of his one hand.
“Excuse me?” Blue’s voice came from his right, “He has every right to be here.”
That familiar feeling of being known flowed through him, bursting from his beating heart through every vein in his body.
“This Trust Fund got chained to the largest walnut tree with me in Oregon. He cares more than he looks like.”
“He’s still related to that Conservative bitch,” the other person snapped, stepping closer to them. “He doesn’t really care, he just wants to help his mother look good after that.”
Gansey felt threatened for his life for the fourth time in his lifetime. Wasn’t that a bit too much for someone his age?
Blue let go of his hand as she decided to be a raging ball of protective girlfriend. He wasn’t about to see Blue fight someone for his honor at an Earth Day rally.
The anger and anxiety melted away. The crowd around them started to whisper and point, a growing scene.
It was like taking care of Ronan all over again. There was no way she was going to get arrested today, he was going to make sure of it.
He leaned to her ear to whisper, “Blue, they’re not worth it.”
To the other person, she probably looked like an angry chihuahua with her tiny stature and all rage, bristling with excitement.
When her eyes locked with his, she settled down, as if all of her fire extinguished in a fraction of a second.
The other person was urged away from them, as if they had their own Gansey to pacify them.
As Blue stood there, slightly shaking in rage, he thread his fingers through her smaller ones. She squeezed them with all the power she could muster.
He watched the crowd disperse as though they pretended they weren’t watching the whole confrontation by avoiding anyone’s line of sight.
Gansey noticed some of the group looking at him and whispering. He violently flinched as if their words were daggers.
The anxiety crept back into his gut. It didn’t really matter what he looked like on the inside, did it? Was he always going to be seen for his name? Was Big Money and his family’s actions always going dictate what he was and will be?
Suddenly, he was pulled down to Blue’s level.
“Ja-?!” He started but was cut off by her arms wrapping around his neck.
“Shut up.”
“What?”
“Shut up. You’re not like her. You will never be like her. You are more than your money. You are more than your name.”
She pressed her cheek to his, warmth and calm flowing back into his body. She was right.
“The Gansey name is not you. That’s not all there is, okay?”
She would always be right. He would never doubt her.
“Are you absolutely sure you’re not psychic?” He laughed, taking in all that she was.
“Only when it comes to you,” she said with a smile and squeeze to his middle.
“Don’t move,” the Svanir barked as he held a corrupted blade to her neck.
She glared at him with steely eyes and clenched her jaw. They had taken her hammer, which lay in the snow a few feet away.
“Mama?” The small voice called to her, grabbing her full attention.
Her piercing gaze locked with his widened eyes filled with fear. All she wanted to do was hold her baby and hug the fears away.
The Svanir holding him hissed after her, “Don’t move, woman. The boy comes with us.”
Her eyes narrowed, no one was taking her baby boy. Not if she had anything to do about it.
“Don’t worry, cub. Mama’s going to get us out of here.”
The Svanir laughed at her, horrible, guttural laughter. They overpower her, touched her cub with their dirty hands, and they had the audacity to laugh at her? She frowned in anger.
How dare they.
She let the power of the Spirits flow through her, calling upon Bear to lend her strength. She clenched her fists, feeling her nails change into sharp claws.
“Einar?”
“Yes, Mama?”
“Cover your eyes and don’t stop until I tell you, okay?”
“Yes, Mama.”
She felt the bones crack under her skin, her muscles shift, and let out a growl worthy of Bear herself.
