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closed starter - keaton & rory ( @imitheous )
Sheep found Rory before Keaton, and he knew that they were close when Sheep head perked up. Keaton looked in the dog’s direction and saw the other standing a few yards away, not too far from the forest’s edge. He unclipped Sheep, “Go on, go get her,” he said, letting the dog run to meet Rory, as he trailed behind.
The minute Keaton got home, he hung up his backpack. Keaton gave Sheep a good pet after he had greeted him at the door, toy in mouth. “Rory?” He asked, stepping more into the apartment, Sheep following at his heels. “Where are yo--” he paused when he saw her in the same place as she was when he left. He raised his eyebrows at her. “Are you in the same place as when I left?” ( @imitheous )
Keaton took a seat across the other, setting his crutches down next to him. “So why did you call me here?” he asked. “I was getting so far on my project in the forges.”
aesthetic + keaton arkwright & rory mikaelsohn
start over. / keaton & rory.
date: february 6, 2021 characters: keaton arkwright & rory mikaelsohn summary: keaton and rory talk about everything that’s happened.
Keaton went out for a walk to clear his head of the things that he had been thinking about. Lately he had been talking with his therapist about talking to Rory, mostly apologizing to her, but also talking and re-inviting that part of him back into his life. Keaton was apprehensive about it because he knew Rory had also been through a lot and he didn't want to bring it all back if it was too soon for her. Keaton had been working a lot on doing things for himself and for others, and finding a healthy balance between the two.
With Rory this was hard. He cared so much about Rory, that he was terrified to hurt her anymore than he already had. He just had to take that push. He lowered himself on the ground, at the forrest's edge that was close to the lake, so he was facing the lake. That's when Keaton finally pulled out her number after months and sent a text:
Hey, can we talk? It's okay if you can't. If you want to, I'm in the forrest, near the lake.
All he had to do now, is wait.
Having the day off of work allowed Rory to spend her day wandering the woods, sorting through some thoughts and feelings. Between getting used to a new job, her therapy sessions, the reappearance of multiple Hades children, and Bailey leaving for an unknown period of time - she found her brain unsure of how to handle everything happening. Her best self therapy? Lounging in a tree branch with her eyes closed, taking in the sun on her face and the wind blowing through her hair to ignore the world for just a little while.
Her sense of peace was broken up by her phone vibrating in her pocket, though it took her a minute to find the strength to reach in to grab it. She felt her breath catch in her throat when she saw who it was texting her. She hadn’t heard from Keaton since their mutual breakup, and she found herself nervous to actually see him again for the first time in months. Sure, she knew this conversation had to happen at some point in time, but she still found herself hoping she had more time to get her thoughts in order.
Though, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that having more time wouldn’t solve anything. She wouldn’t magically come up with anything else to say. So letting out a small sigh to try and gather some courage, she replied.
Sure. I’ll be there in a few minutes.
Swinging herself out of the tree and back onto the forest floor, she made the short journey from her spot in the forest to where Keaton said he was waiting. Once she arrived, she saw him sitting where he said he would be, and felt her stomach flip a bit. At the same time, the winds churned erratically around her, the breeze making its way over towards the lake more steps she took in his direction.
When the wind came, Keaton's own stomach did a flip. He knew that wind came before his ex-girlfriend. Keaton watched her step into view. Keaton felt his heart pound in his chest, he didn't think he'd be this nervous. Actually seeing her, made him more nervous than thinking about it.
In front of him, laying on his lap was Sheep. When he felt Keaton turn, Sheep perked up, looking around Keaton curiously, before happily running toward Rory. Keaton let himself smile at her as she stepped closer.
Seeing Keaton turn, she internally cringed at the winds giving her away, silently cursing her power for not cooperating with her for once in her life. Rory gave him a small, nervous smile as their eyes met, but her attention was quickly pulled away from him at the movement she saw in front of him.
Seeing Sheep perk up and immediate charge at her, caused a mix of a laugh and a sob to fall out of her as she dropped to her knees before the dog. “Sheepy!” Her arms came out just in time to wrap them around him, a laugh making it’s way out of her as he immediately started attacking her with kisses. “Hi baby boy, I missed you!” After another few minutes, Sheep happily laid himself on her lap, and she finally looked back up at Keaton, her bright smile turning back into its earlier, nervous state. “Hi.”
Keaton grinned even more watching Sheep with Rory, it felt somewhat nostalgic. It gave Keaton hope that maybe one day they could get to be normal, or at least somewhat normal, no matter what their relationship was. Keaton wasn't going into this thinking they might get back together, he still wasn't even sure if he was ready for that, and the two of them definitely changed over the past few months.
When Rory looked back up at him, he locked eyes with her. "Hi," he replied, not really knowing what else to say. A silence fell upon the two for a moment. "I'm sorry if I dragged you away from anything."
"Oh no, you didn't. Don't worry." She shook her head to emphasis the fact, her hands busying themselves with petting Sheep as he stretched out on her lap. "I was already out here, so it was actually kinda great timing? You know how I am with trees, so." Rory shrugged, also at a loss of what to say. The silence dragged on once again. "So...how've you been?"
Keaton nodded in response to her trees statement. He nodded agin when she asked him how he's been. "Good," he replied, and for once in a long while, he actually meant that, but then he followed it up with, "Honestly." He knew that Rory knew he sometimes lied when he said stuff like that. He wanted to make sure that she knew, he was telling the truth this time. "And you?"
Her head tilted just a bit at his immediate answer, knowing that he was always quick to brush off his own feelings. However, she found herself believing him when he followed it up. She wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he looked better than the last time she had really talked to him. Her smile turned a little warmer as she came to that realization. "Yeah, I can see that. You look good, Keaton." Her shoulders shrugged again at his return question. "I'm doing pretty good. I finally got out of the diner - though Mikey and Ellie almost killed me for it." She joked.
Keaton nodded, "Yeah I uh, a lot has happened since we last talked," he replied to her. He tilted his head slightly though, taking in the blonde hair and the cut. "For honest though? I'm not saying that it's bad or anything, the blonde looks beautiful, and you are totally not at all me, I just, last time one of us dyed our hair blonde, well to be honest, I was really spiralling then."
When he mentioned it, Rory’s hand flew up to her new hair, resting on the ends of her now short style. A frown grew on her face slightly as he continued talking, only the tiniest bit annoyed that he thought this was her losing her mind. It was fair though, considering their past, so the frown fell away quickly as she nodded. “Thanks, but honest, I’m good. This was all Abel.” She said, as if that explained everything. To her it did. “I’m still getting used to the length but I really like it.” Sheep looked up at her when her hand was away from him for too long, and she smiled down at him before going back to petting, looking back up at Keaton. “I promise this isn’t me spiraling though.”
Keaton nodded, feeling relief that she was really okay. If he was being honest, it was really hard not being there for her and not knowing if she was okay. “Okay, I believe you, I just wanted to make sure,” he replied. “It really does look great, you look great Rory.” He let out a soft sigh, shifting slightly, his hand absentmindedly going to pet the part of Sheep closest to him. Sheep looked at him and rolled over so that he was in between the two, in order to get pet by both of them. “I’m uh, really glad you and Abel are getting along again. Honest truth, promise.”
"Thank you, I honestly feel great." Keaton sliding closer made Rory's body freeze for a second, though she wasn't sure why. Instead of trying to figure it out, she focused back on Sheep, letting out a little laugh at his attempts to reach the both of them at once, giving him a small boop on the nose as Keaton spoke. The responding smile was small, almost guilty looking at the mention of Abel. She had a lost of remorse for everything that happened the night of their argument, especially for everything they both said about both Sean and Abel. "Thanks, it's...crazy how familiar it is, yet totally different. If that even makes any sense." She let out a small sigh, feeling the words bubbling under her skin and barely fought to keep them back. "Look, I know I said it a million times before, but I am really sorry. For everything."
“Rory, you,” Keaton started. He wanted to say that she had nothing to be sorry for, but the thought of her bringing up Sean in their fight, it hurt him. “It’s okay now,” he said truthfully. “You don’t need to keep apologizing to me about it. We both said things we weren’t exactly proud of. I know you’re sorry, it’s truly okay. I should really be apologizing to you.”
Rory shook her head, sitting up straighter. "No, stop just-" She let out a huff, trying to get her head in the right order. "Just let me say this. I'm not just sorry for the fight - though that's a major part of it, I was a fucking bitch. But, I'm sorry for everything since I got back from that quest. I was barely a person, let alone a halfway decent girlfriend." Her eyes moved away from him, focusing back on the dog as the words continued to spill out of her. "I was so determined to pretend that I was okay, so that people wouldn't worry about me, but I was a fucking wreck inside, and I know that you saw that, but I still just...kept it from you, I don't know." Her eyes now tilted up, willing away the shine that was now over her eyes. "I guess I'm just sorry that I put you through all of that."
Keaton sighed slightly. “Rory, you put me through that for like two months. I put you through that for five years,” he said. “You do not have to apologize for losing it. Everyone loses it eventually, it’s just a matter of when.” Keaton looked away from her for a moment, working up the courage to speak about what was on his mind. “I think I got so protective because I knew you were hurting and there was nothing I could do to help you because I couldn’t even help myself. I didn’t know what to do. You were the one who was always strong for me, and when I needed to be that person for you, I didn’t know how to be? I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard when I knew you weren’t ready. When I saw you go through this, I was scared honestly, I was scared that you were going to ignore it for so long and end up like I did. I want that for no one, especially not for you.”
Keaton shifted. “I don’t, I don’t know if Mikey told you, but over the summer when I left camp, I uh, had myself committed to this mental health facility. I’m not ashamed of that, really.” Keaton looked at her again. “I learned a lot this about coping and myself... and our past.” He sighed slightly. “What I’m trying to say is, you deserve a break for it, because losing it and putting me through it, it’s not weakness and it’s not bad, it’s just life. It sucks and it’s messy, but no one can even blame you for that. I admit, it definitely could’ve been handled a lot better on both our parts, but what matters is that you’re not losing it anymore.”
Rory wanted to speak up and defend him against himself, but the words wouldn't come out. Cause honestly? She couldn't fight the truth in them. She wasn't sure what she needed when she in the thick of her mental issues and breakdown, but everything that Keaton did to help only made her feel more overwhelmed. So she just stayed silent, letting him rant just as he did for her, looking back down at the dog in her lap when he talked about not wanting her to end up like him. She hated that found herself agreeing to it.
As he continued, her head flashed back up, eyes furrowed in confusion at the mentioning of a health facility. "No...Mikey didn't say anything to me." Probably because she spent a chunk of time not talking to Mikey much at all, but that wasn't the point. Acting on instinct, she reached around the german, resting her hand lightly on top of his. "I'm proud of you, though. A few years ago I never thought I'd be hearing you say this. That took a lot of strength, Keat. Everything's still a bit messy, but we're working on it, on ourselves, so I think it's steps in the right direction."
Keaton nodded in agreement with Rory. "I really am sorry for how I tried to go about everything, you deserved so much more than that, and I really understand and see that now. I'm sorry I didn't really get it before," he told her. Silence fell between the two for a moment, Keaton looked at her hand on his. He wanted to move his, but he honestly missed it. Though, he wasn't going to think too much of it.
"Would we just be able to start over? I mean, we wouldn't erase the years between us, obviously. Honestly, I don't think we could. More of like, start new? We've changed a lot over the last year, so it's not like we can just start from where we left off." Keaton looked at her again. "I would really like if we could start as friends again, honestly I've really missed being able to talk to my best friend. Without all the war, and the pain, and everything. Like actually be friends. That's if you're comfortable with that. If you're not, that's totally okay too, I'll understand if you're not."
A small, sad smile appeared on her face. "I think we both did. I'm sorry too." As the silence dragged on, Rory pulled her hand away, moving it to brush some hair out of her hair before returning it to lay gently against Sheep. She turned her head to look out at the lake, feeling a breeze of calm wash over her despite the conversation currently happening.
Keaton's next words cause a smile to grow on her face, not a full one, but it was a smile none the less. She thought back on their friendship before the war, at how happy they were and how well they fit together as friends. She did find herself missing that version of them, or at least the idea of those two people. "Yeah, I think i'd like that. It won't be easy, though I think both of us already knew that." She turned her head to look back at Keaton. "But I'm definitely willing to try."
Keaton nodded. "I think we both recognize that we need like just to be friends for a while, so it's worth a shot. I'm told I need to be a kid for once, rather than feeling like I need to take everything on," he shrugged as if it was like no big deal, but it was really something he struggled with, is struggling with. "If you're down, it would be really cool to do some things that we've never done as friends, like stupid teenager shit."
Nodding along to his words, Rory couldn't help but smiling a little bit as she joked. "You definitely do, I was always the more childish one between us." Loosening up would do wonders for Keaton, she had always thought that, and was glad to hear the same idea come from his own mouth this time around. "Yeah, sure thing. Just uh, you can text me whenever you have an idea."
Keaton nodded at Rory in response, a smile growing on his own face. "Will do."
end of an era. | keaton & rory.
date: june 12, 2020 characters: keaton arkwright & rory mikaelsohn summary: keaton and rory talk about their relationship.
Keaton walked Sheep over to the Zeus cabin. It had been odd these last few weeks with the two of them moved out of their apartment, and back where they were a few years ago. Something was still off, and Keaton knew it. She had been off, different then before everything. If he was being honest, he was also off. The last few conversations with his therapist, has been making him realizing things about himself, about him and Rory, that he couldn't keep his mind off. He was too afraid to voice them though. Voice them into reality, or voice them and hurt Rory. "Go get Mama," Keaton said, letting Sheep of his leash to find Rory. Keaton followed Sheep, and after the dog greeted Rory, Keaton wasn't too far behind. "Hey."
Rory had left the front door open, anticipating Keaton’s arrival. Sprawled out on the couch, she was trying her best to get out of her own head for a minute, not wanting everything that’s been on her mind lately to weigh her down. The jingling of a leash pulled her attention away, and a bright smile appeared on her face when she caught sight of Sheep running towards her. Dropping down to the floor, she let the dog jump on top of her and fussed over him. “Hi Sheepy!” Her bed felt colder and it was weird to adjust to not having her dog or her boyfriend to curl up with her at night. Piper was starting to warm up to cuddling at night, but it wasn’t the same. “I missed you so much, baby boy!” Herring footsteps, she looked up, her grin now directed towards Keaton, though she couldn’t get off the floor because of the dog sprawled on top of her. “Hey, babe.”
Keaton smiled when he saw her, taking a seat next to her on the floor. "How was your day?" Keaton asked, letting Sheep roll over so that he was laying in the middle of the two of them, belly up. "Where's Piper?"
When he sat down next to her, Rory leaned over to give him a quick kiss. With Sheep now off of her, the smile dimmed slightly, and she could feel her brain kick start once again, especially at his question. “It was alright,” she started, busying herself with looking around the room for the cat in question. “Pipes is around here somewhere, she ran off after a toy before so she could be anywhere honestly.” She made a few whistling noises, and while Piper didn’t make herself known, there was a thump from somewhere farther in the cabin. “Bailey isn’t here so that must be her.”
Not too long after the thump, Piper came running in, tripping slightly over her big for her paws. Piper rolled up next to Sheep and Keaton scratched behind her ears. “So, uh, the apartment is all clean, and the landlord just said to give him the keys within the week.”
Rory shook her head, laughing slightly as Piper tripped. That cat went from dopey idiot to sweet love bug in five seconds flat, and she never failed to find it endearing. The smile fully fell off of her face as Keaton spoke again, and she pressed her lips together as she nodded. “Alright, yeah. I’ll drop mine off before my shift on Tuesday.” She felt awkward, about the situation they found themselves and everything else that was running through her head. Rory knew that she needed to talk about it, and soon, but she was unwilling to just yet. Instead, she gave him a small smile as she looked up at him. “Do you want me to bring yours too? Or did you already drop it off?”
“If you want, I was going to ask you the same thing,” Keaton replied with a small chuckle. Keaton took off the key from his key ring, a moment of silence flooding over them. “So uh, how’s Bailey? I haven’t seen her in a while.”
Rory only felt more awkward as the silence seemed to drag on. She busied herself with pulling her hair-ties out of her braids, making quick work of taking both of them out of her hair. "Oh, she's good, running around all the time as usual. We're both still getting used to living together again." She shrugged. "How's everything over with your sisters?"
"They're good, we've been working in the forges a lot. I think I've come to know at least 4 classic rock albums by heart by now," Keaton replied. "Blue's been in and out with her geefs, and Morgan, is y'know, Morgan," he replied. "Though like you with Bailey, we're getting used to being in the same cabin together again, at least Blue and I, I've never lived in the cabin with Morgan before."
Rory laughed slightly, she remembered the other Heph kids mentioning Morgan's obsession with blasting classic rock while in the forges. "Yeah, that makes sense." She paused, but realized that was pretty much her reply to everything Keaton had said and instead moved to fuss over Sheep again. "And hows my Sheepy boy settling in?”
"You know, Morgan loves Sheep, when he's not with me, he's usually with her," Keaton replied.
Rory nodded her head, Blue liked Sheep too, so she knew that her boy was in good hands between the three of them. "Good, I knew she would love him. It's hard not to with this cute face." She took another minute or three to pet Sheep and center her thoughts. Taking in a breath, Macey's voice sounded in her brain. This is your life, Ror. Take charge. Her eyes slide shut as she let out a shaky breath. She knew what she needed to do and while she wasn't quite sure she was 100% ready to pull the trigger, Rory knew she couldn't keep pretending. "I think we need to talk."
Keaton's mind was on so many other things, Rory's voice brought him back. "Oh, yeah?" he asked. "What's up?"
Rory let out another breath, not being able to help the flare of annoyance that flared in the pits of her stomach. The last thing she wanted was to do all the work in this conversation, therapy already made her feel emotionally drained almost constantly and this didn't help whatsoever. This is necessary she reminded herself, but still couldn't bring herself to look Keaton in the eyes. "We need to talk about us, Keat."
Silence fell between the two of them when Rory mentioned talking about them. Their relationship had been on his mind fo a while now, even he's talked to his therapist about it, and even his therapist thought what was going on between the two of them was unhealthy. Keaton let out a slight sigh, almost relieved that he wasn't the one to bring it up, too scared to. "Uh, yeah."
Now turning her entire body to face Keaton, she found the words disappearing from her brain. The two of them have been awkward lately, which yeah made sense since they moved out of the apartment, but it seemed to be more than just that. Rory's brain had been going in circles since the minute that apartment door shut behind her the night of their fight and her therapist had finally been able to help her start to understand everything that had been making her feel so on edge this whole time. "I love you, Keaton. You know that I do.." Her voice trailed off, her throat feeling as if it had closed up on her suddenly.
Keaton let out the breath that he had subconsciously been holding when she started her sentence, but trailed off. They had been at two different points in time, but it seemed to come together when she opened up the gates to what seemed like a break up conversation. "I love you too, but you're breaking up with me, aren't you?" he asked, relieved that she was the first to mention it somewhat first. "I'd be lying if I wasn't thinking about it too."
She froze at his words, letting them ring in her head before her body reacted. Sagging slightly, she let out an almost relieved sounding sigh. "Yeah, I am." This was a terrible thing to be relieved over, but the tears that welled up in her eyes were ones of genuine sadness. "I just think I need time, we both do. There's so much stuff I haven't let myself get over yet and I feel like I'm just....not me." Rory had always been very aware of the person she was at her core, but as time went on and all the trauma started to pile up in the dark corners of her mind, she felt that person slipping away from her. "I just need to be me again and I can't let myself become this dependent person." She reached out, gripping his hand tightly as the tears fell down her cheeks. "I need to do this for me. I've done everything for everyone else for so long, but I can't do that anymore."
When Rory started crying, Keaton didn't really know what to do. He wanted to hug her and tell her it would be okay, but this was happening, this wasn't a fix it situation. He wanted this too. "I want that for you too," Keaton replied. "I don't want this, but I think that it needs to happen. I don't know. I want you to be who you are, and I know who you can be, and I love that about you, and I want you to be happy, and I know that for you to do that, it's not with me." Keaton broke eye contact with her, feeling weird not comforting her when she's crying. "I don't want you to become dependent, especially on me, because I'm a mess right now too, and I'm just realizing so much shit I never realized before. I'm so dependent on you, and our relationship, that I don't even know who I am. That's not your fault at all, to clarify, that's a me thing. I don't want that for you. As of late, I've been a shitty boyfriend, a shitty person really." Even though he wasn't hugging her, he still let his thumb rub circles into the back of her hand that she had in his.
Blinking the tears away, Rory intently listened to everything he had to say and just felt so grateful that he understood where she was coming from, that he even agreed with her that this needed to happen for the both of them to heal. "Don't blame all of this on you, I haven't exactly been girlfriend of the year or anything lately." She leaned her cheek against the couch and froze so Sheep could get comfy again, tucking himself closer to her lap when he saw the tears in her eyes. "I want you to be so happy, Keaton and I wish that I could that person to help you figure out who you are alone, but I can't be right now. I let all this shit basically take over my life and you don't deserve someone like that holding you back from figuring out what makes you happy."
“It’s crap to say that I don’t want you to help with that. You have so much going on, that I know you need to work through too, and I don’t know how to be there for you,” Keaton said. “You’ve done so much for me already, and you need to do things for you, and I need to learn that I shouldn’t be so dependent on someone who isn’t myself. I don’t know if that even made any sense.” Keaton sighed and then looked up at Rory again. “We’re not who we were months ago, or hell, even years ago when we met. You’d never hold me back. What happened Rory, that shit was traumatic, it’s understandable that you need to figure out yourself and figure it all out, without me, especially for the fact that I look like a complete idiot trying to help you, because you were right when we fought, I don’t even have my own shit figured out. I’ve been running for so long, and I guess when you started running, I didn’t want that to happen. It fucked me up, and it’s a shitty road to go down, and I didn’t want you to feel all the hurt that I felt, that I still feel. It’s the last thing that I ever wanted.”
Rory shook her head. "That doesn't mean I had the right to say it. I was too proud to say that anything was wrong with me, or maybe I was just too scared to admit it. But what it was, it didn't change the fact that no matter what, you tried to help me. Doesn't matter if your way of doing so helped or not, but you tried and I'll always be grateful for that." A sad smile grew on her face, and her free hand moved to rest gently on his cheek. "We're definitely not those kids anymore, but we need to figure out who those kids became separately if we have any shot of figuring out if we work together anymore."
Keaton leaned his head sideways against the couch. "Aren't you scared though?" he asked, and then sighed. "I know we both need it, but I'm scared I'll just fall into myself."
"Oh, I'm terrified. But being terrified of myself is what got me into this hole in the first place, so." She shrugged and the humor in her voice had almost a depressed tone to it. "I'm tired of being scared."
Keaton let out a small laugh, it was almost comical how he didn't believe they would get to this point. "How did we even get ourselves here, Rory?"
Rory's brain quickly flashed through everything they've been through, all the trauma between them that they were too young to handle. Now that she was looking back, she almost wondered how they hadn't reached this point earlier. "I don't know, Keat. I guess everything finally caught up to us."
Keaton looked forward again, his hand rubbing the top of Sheep's head. "Yeah, I guess so."
ship meme for keaton&rory!
KEATON & RORY.
Which one sexts like a straight white boy? okay i’m sorry but they probably tried sexting like once and they both were like “yeah nevermind”, but we both know that keaton was HORRIBLE at it, because rory is beautiful and no one can compare.
Which one cried during a fucking disney movie? rory 100%
Who put a goddamned fork in the microwave? i feel like neither of them would do this, but if i had to pick, rory probably would’ve done it like accidentally or something.
Who does the silly hands-over-the-eyes “Guess who” thing? keaton
Who puts their cold hands/feet on their partner? rory. keaton isn’t usually cold, so he warms her up, like a personal space heater
Who had that embarassing Reality TV marathon? rory
Who laughs more during sex? i feel like they don’t laugh during sex, but if they do, it’s probably rory because keaton probably tried to say something sexy and it just came out dumb and then she made fun of him
WHO IS THE LITTLE SPOON? RORY (but occasionally keaton, but probs only when he’s crying)
♫ (keaton + rory)
Someone to You - BANNERS
Don’t Give Up On Me - Andy Grammar
