thank you to @birdboybuckley for letting me steal one of her lovely alternate meeting ideas to help get me out of my writing slump today! hope you enjoy 💛
set in some nebulous time, maybe s3-4? put it wherever you want!
"Heeeeey! That's my boyfriend!"
Tommy startled, staring at the smiling man on the bed in confusion before backing out of the room. He double checked the number on the door: 335, exactly what the nurse had told him five minutes ago when he started looking for Howie's room, but that man definitely was not Howie, and definitely was not his boyfriend, considering he didn't even have one.
He stepped back into the room, only to find the man still looking at him, although this time a pout was on his face instead of the wide smile.
"Why'd you run away from me?" He demanded. "That's not very nice."
"Yeah, man, that's not very nice at all," came Chimney's voice, and this time, not distracted by the handsome stranger closer to the door, Tommy noticed him peeking around the IV stand between the beds.
"What's not very nice is sassing the man who's bringing you food that isn't cold, grey mashed potatoes, Han," he said mildly, dropping the bag full of snacks on one of the chairs between the beds before sitting down in the other one. He glanced at the man in the other bed, who was still staring at him, and Howie laughed.
"Oh, this is Evan Buckley, by the way, he started at the 118 a couple weeks after you left. I got a couple bumps and bruises, this guy took a beam to the brain. He's a bit concussed, they've got him on the good drugs. Buck, this is—"
"Of course I know who it is! That's my boyfriend." The pout was back on Evan's face in full force, and Tommy was just about ready to give him anything he wanted.
"He's not your boyfriend, Buck."
"Then why is his picture above my locker?" Evan pointed at Howie accusingly. "That would be a weird place to put his picture if he wasn't my boyfriend."
"That's a 118 group photo from before he left to go to air support," Howie said patiently, "it's been there for five years. But sure, big guy. What's your boyfriend's name, then? Introduce me."
Evan squinted, turning his attention to Tommy, then he snapped his fingers.
"Hot Stuff," he announced. "That's your name. I nearly forgot. But it suits you."
Tommy laughed, surprised. "Well, thank you. But actually, my name's Tommy."
"Tommy! That suits you even better. Maybe it can be your last name. Tommy Hot Stuff."
He reached out, making grabby hands at Tommy until he gave in and reached back, letting the other man play with his fingers. He didn't talk much, just listened to Tommy and Chimney catching up, but he kept holding Tommy's hand. Eventually, Tommy had to leave to get to Harbor for his shift, and Evan very dramatically kissed the back of his hand before he let him go, telling him to be safe.
Tommy was already far too enchanted by Evan; he knew odds were that when he was lucid, he'd laugh at the way he latched on to Tommy, if he even remembered it. But it had been nice to pretend, for a while, and Evan's sunny smile was in the back of his mind for the rest of the day.
The next morning, Tommy woke to his phone vibrating on the nightstand.
Howard Han
Hey, Tommy Hot Stuff, I gave Buck your number. He was really insistent, I didn't think you'd mind.
He'd barely finished reading when his phone buzzed again in his hand, a new message hiding Howie's.
Unknown Number
so, i hear i have a boyfriend now, and i want to treat him right. wanna get dinner later? my treat :)
happy secret samol @ootron! let's all go back to gamefaqs circa 2002!
on ao3: [Western Scenario] Elena and Veile Duo Party Challenge Guide v2.73
gamer_grl87
23 years ago
hey thanks for the guide, its super helpful!! my brother said theres nooo way anyone can beat the western scenario with /just/ the girls so im on a mission to prove him wrong :p im almost done w the main story but do u know hwo to beat the secret boss flegg with just veile and elena??? i really want the special ultima egg staff for veile it looks so cute!! all the normal strategies say to spam nickis recipes and the fleggbot debuffs to get the defense down but obv that wont work here. any ideas??
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Vampires SMP
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Jack | Pyroscythe & Owen | OwengeJuiceTV, Jack | Pyroscythe/Owen | OwengeJuiceTV, Mayor Louis (Vampires SMP)/Owen | OwengeJuiceTV (Video Blogging RRP) (Mentioned)
Characters: Owen | OwengeJuiceTV (Video Blogging RPF), Jack | Pyroscythe, Scott Major | Smajor1995 (mentioned)
Additional Tags: Aftercare, Ambiguous Relationships, Hurt Jack | Pyroscythe, Muzzles, Bathing/Washing, Altered Mental States, Pyro is real out of it <3, Bruises, Blood, Crying, Aftermath, Comfort, Can be read as like a pre-relationship I wasn't writing it in any specific way, POV Owen | OwengeJuiceTV (Video Blogging RPF), Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Vampire Hierarchy, bc when won't I be mentioning that
Series: Part 2 of First Kill
Summary:
Owen sighed as he walked down the halls of Goldsmith's place.
He hadn't particularly wanted to spend his morning dealing with the elder's sired, but here he was.
The elder hadn’t told him much. He knew the young Pyro was being ‘punished’ for something, but he didn't know what it was. Or what this punishment entailed exactly.
Taking the key out of his pocket, he unlocked the door where Pyro was being kept.
He didn't know quite what to do with the sight in front of him upon entry.
--
Set after ch2 of First Kill, Owen takes care of Pyro's wounds!
--
Re-reading this really made me realize how this one is really showcasing my bad habit of writing in single sentence paragraphs. oops
Anyways, @leafpile-disturber thank you for editing my nonsense (and also fully encouraging it, I blame you)
And again thanks to @emet-selch-apologism for your amazing art bc otherwise none of this would exist XDDD
Summary: Determined to break their own curses, the other members of the Fearless 7 venture out to find their own happy endings. Out on his own, Jack meets and befriends a beautiful but odd young woman named Gwen, who says she wants to go to the Emerald City to see the great wizard Oz, believing him to be the only one who can find her birth mother. Thinking Gwen could be the one to break his curse, Jack agrees to take her. However, things quickly take a complicated turn when they're attacked by hunters and Gwen reveals herself to be a witch. On top of that, Gwen herself has a strong dislike for humans as they've tormented her for her entire life. Jack is torn between what he thinks is right in his head but knows is wrong in his heart, and as his feelings for her start to grow and get in the way, he has to decide to either tell her the truth or let her go before it's too late.
Rating: NA, under development
I have been working on this story for some time, and while it's still in the works I thought I'd share an excerpt from the first chapter to sort of test the waters and get peoples opinions. This was based on a song from the RWBY soundtrack, specifically V9, as the lyrics to "Worthy" were what really inspired the plot and, because I'm god awful at them, the title.
The only indication he had that it was a woman he’d scared off was the shrill screams of fear as she ran off. By the time Jack had finally detached the tangled cloak from his face, she was nothing but a blur of red. Too far away from him to apologize to, let alone see her face.
Typical luck for him, really. Ever since he had been cursed by that fairy to appear as some unsightly, green dwarf his hand-eye coordination had been off. He was lucky to not have landed flat on his face.
Jack looked down at his hands. Normal, for now, but the moment someone laid eyes on him he would be right back to being–as Merlin put it–short, stumpy, and green.
Merlin. He was partially the reason Jack was out here to begin with. Inspired by his love for Snow White, Jack and the others were determined to break their own curses. Find their own true loves–a happy ending–and perhaps if the fairy princess, Hilde, had been more specific about it from day one they probably would have done exactly that ages ago.
The joke was on them, he supposed. The Fae were not exactly known to be direct, preferring their vague riddles and mischief. Especially fairies. Fairies that were mistaken for witches and wanted to punish their attackers. That had gone down in history as one of the Fearless Seven’s lower moments, just slightly above immediately forgetting they had been cursed and trying to save a band of travelers from thieving goblins–and failing spectacularly.
“Dieux, aidez-moi. Where do I even begin?” Jack rubbed his hands over his face as he continued his trek down the forest path.
As happy as he was for Merlin, Jack also couldn’t quite fathom how he had accomplished it, breaking his curse. Saving Snow White and her father, ridding them of the evil witch Regina forever, certainly helped, but there was something else. Something Merlin either couldn’t or wouldn’t explain to the rest of them. Have more of an open mind, he said, and somehow that was more vague than what Hilde had told them.
Nonetheless, Jack was quite tired of hiding away in his own home and turning into a useless dwarf whenever he did go into public, so he and the others were determined to figure it out on their own. The only question that remained was: how?
The Anthea Forest wasn’t the most dangerous of enchanted places on Fairytale Island, but it was definitely up there on the list of places Jack preferred not to be. Home to the Fae and numerous earth spirits, even if he couldn’t see them he knew there were eyes on him. Watching, waiting for him to lower his guard. Wandering the Fae homeland could be risky as a group, but alone? Jack already had more than enough of fairies and their curses.
“Hey, give that back!”
An agitated woman’s voice, along with mocking laughter from several men, draws his attention to a nearby glade. Peering through the trees blocking his way, he finds three large men dressed in black, swords attached to the belts on their waists, playing keep-away with a woman’s satchel, tossing it to one another whenever she got close. Harassing a woman was bad enough, Jack could feel his blood boiling at the sight, but the fact that they were twice her size made it all the more appalling.
“Stay out of there!” the woman shouted, lunging for the man with the scar across the bridge of his nose as he started rummaging through the satchel. The shortest of the three wrapped his arms around her, lifting and holding her in place. He didn’t seem bothered by her kicking and flailing. “You can’t go through my stuff!”
“The hell I can’t,” the scarred one, whom Jack was just going to refer to as as Scarface, taunted the woman, tossing a few books he had pulled out of the satchel to the ground without care. “Ain’t even anything in here worth takin’. The hell is this?”
Scarface pulled out what looked like a pocketwatch, the golden casing shining brilliantly even in the setting sunlight. “Damn thing doesn’t even work,” he huffed, tossing it to the ground, as well.
This earns a different reaction from the woman, one of panic as she briefly stops struggling to process the watch now on the forest floor. She quickly begins flailing again when Scarface drops the satchel all together, turning his attention to her. “Ain’t nothing in there worth taking, but that’s not all you got now, is it, little girl?”
Jack hated the tone in Scarface’s voice, the implications in his inflections. He loathed the way the other two laughed and felt sick to his stomach as the woman squirmed when Scarface brushed his hand over her cheek. The growing pain in his jaw finally made him realize he’d been grinding his teeth the whole time, and as he watched the woman finally get an arm free to elbow her captor in the face he decided it was finally time to act.
As the three men drew their swords, starting to corner the woman against an unusually large pine tree, Jack pulled his cloak over himself, blending into the forest perfectly. Over the years, he had gotten quite the knack for stealth, even in the outdoors. Did it help that the thieves were distracted? A little, but Jack was extremely attentive of his surroundings, careful of any leaves, twigs, anything that could make a sound.
Not careful enough.
Jack looked up to see how close the thieves were to slicing the poor woman to ribbons for a second, and he winds up stepping on a small stick. The resulting snap, which sounded much louder among the forest trees, draws the attention of the three thieves. It was only for a moment, but once they took their eyes off the woman Jack seized his chance. He kicks the thief with the ridiculous mustache in the back of his leg, snatching up his sword once his grip loosened.
“Show yourself!” Scarface demands.
The thieves spin around a few times to try and find their mysterious assailant. Jack is careful to keep his distance from them, even as he steps between them and the woman. He almost hadn’t noticed the sudden height difference until the thieves were facing, what appeared to them to be, a floating sword. Used to the feeling more than he’d like, Jack ignores it. Keep your priorities straight.
“A ghost!” the shorter thief shrieked. It took every ounce of self control Jack had not to snicker at such genuine fear on such a large man.
“The spirits of Anthea Forest,” Mustache whimpered, still holding his leg. Jack hadn’t hit him that hard, had he? What was the point of having such large muscles if a small, wimpy dwarf could deal such pain? “Boss, I told you this place was cursed!”
“Enough,” Scarface growled. “Spirit or not, nobody makes a fool outta me!”
“Bien sûr que non, Monsieur,” Jack laughed, tossing the sword from one hand to the other. “You do that all on your own. “Now, en garde!”
Mustache and the short one take off with shrill cries of fear the moment the blade is pointed at them. Scarface, though looking slightly more perturbed with amber eyes darting in every other direction, doesn’t flee as easily. “Get back here, you cowards!”
“Y’know, the Anthea Forest is full of all kinds of spirits,” the woman teases. Jack could practically hear her lips curling into a grin. “Where there’s one, others are never far behind.”
With a tsk, Scarface sheathes his weapon and hesitantly takes off in the direction of his comrades. Jack lets out a relieved breath of his own, piercing the stolen sword into the dirt before turning toward the woman. The invisibility cloak falls to his shoulders, revealing what he is positive is his green, dwarf face as the woman is much taller than she actually would have been had he been himself.
She looked surprised, but thankfully not at all horrified or disgusted. “You know, somehow I figured you weren’t actually a forest spirit,” she said with a giggle, “but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dwarf around this part of the forest before.”
“I was just passing through.” It came out like a joke, although it technically wasn’t a lie, either. “Are you alright, mademoiselle?”
“I am thanks to you.”
As the woman goes to retrieve her satchel, Jack decides to help her by picking up her belongings. He sees now that what he thought were books were mostly journals, all bound in leather with constellations he didn’t recognize carved into the fronts. Small bits of paper stuck out of a few of the pages; Jack assumed they were makeshift bookmarks, or perhaps the journals were so old that the pages within were starting to fall out of their binding.
The pocketwatch turned out to double as a compass, unique in design with another constellation carved into the golden casing, adorned with what looked like small moonstones. He could see why Scarface and his clowns would want to steal it; the compass was gorgeous, truly a work of art. Jack could also see why he said it was broken, as the arrow in the compass was going completely haywire and the hands in the watch remained stagnant.
“I hope those creeps aren’t responsible for this,” Jack said softly, handing the woman her belongings. Now that he was getting a closer look at her, he could see that her eyes were a shining silver, almost like starlight. The waves in her cornflower hair reminded him of the ocean, especially how they each glistened in the light. She was beautiful.
“Oh, no, not at all,” the woman assured him. She smiled softly at him as she accepted her things from his hands, shoving the journals back into the satchel while investigating the compass. “The compass is… Well, it’s always been sort of busted, but it’s been with me for as long as I can remember. I’d be devastated if anything happened to it.”
“I can understand that.”
Actually, Jack couldn’t. There was nothing his family owned he truly valued in such a sense. Perhaps if his mother had kept anything of his father’s–his rosary, his sword, or even his clothes–he would feel slightly different about the sentiment, but between her and his step-father he couldn’t think of a single thing he cared enough about to keep at his side.
She didn’t need to know. It wasn’t important, after all. “Might I ask your name, ma dame?”
Once everything was accounted for and safely back in her satchel, the woman looked slightly hesitant. As if giving something as simple as her name would be near sacrilege, but the doubt in her starlight eyes is gone as quickly as it comes. “It’s Gwen,” she said.
“Lady Gwen, it is an absolute pleasure to meet your acquaintance. My name is Prince–”
Jack has to stop himself before he can finish that sentence. He hadn’t felt he could introduce himself as “prince” in well over a year, far too ashamed of his ridiculous dwarf shape. What kind of prince looked like this, repulsive green skin and pointed ears? Far too short and uncoordinated to be of any actual use. It didn’t matter that Merlin had broken his curse, the word of the Fearless Seven slowly starting to spread. Jack refused to introduce himself as “prince” looking like a monster.
“Princeton?” Gwen asked.
“N-No, no,” Jack assured, clearing his throat awkwardly to brush off the panic of nearly giving himself away. “Apologies. Slip of the tongue. My name is Jack.”
Gwen quirked her brow, as if asking herself how he could have possibly gotten two completely different names mixed up, but shrugs it off. “Well, Jack, thank you for your help.”
Gwen smiled at him again and, as silly as it sounded, Jack felt his heart skip a beat. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled. Simply stunning. She stood up, closing her satchel and securing it over her shoulder. “How does a dwarf end up in the Anthea Forest, anyway?” she asked.
“Funny, I was about to ask how a lovely lady such as yourself ends up in the Anthea Forest,” Jack said, dodging the question with a laugh. He wasn’t foolish enough to tell a pretty girl that he was merely in the woods looking to meet, well, a pretty girl just to break a curse. Talk about killing his chance before he even took it.
The risk he took on the mild flirtation wasn’t for nothing, at least. Gwen didn’t acknowledge it verbally but she did giggle. She didn’t seem disgusted and that was good enough for Jack to consider it a win. “Actually, I’m looking for the Emerald City,” Gwen explained.
“The Emerald City? You mean the Kingdom of Oz?”
“Yes! I was told I could find the Yellow Brick Road through the Anthea Forest, but I was either given bad directions or I’ve gotten myself hopelessly lost.”
The Fearless Seven had visited Oz on numerous occasions. They had assisted the maiden Dorothy on her mission to free the Ozonians from the tyranny of the Wicked Witch of the West. Jack had even been there a few times as a child with his parents, long before her evil reign and before the death of his father. He knew the way in his sleep, and escorting Gwen to the city seemed like a good first step into breaking his ghastly curse.
“Fear not, mademoiselle,” Jack said. “The Yellow Brick Road does, indeed, begin on the other side of the forest, but the direction you want is west. Of course, I would be happy to take you there.”
“Really?” For a moment, there is a spark of something that might be hope in Gwen’s eyes. She allowed herself to be eager, but it quickly fades into something more like suspicion. Suddenly, she seems cautious, raising a brow and moving to hold her satchel close to her chest. “Wait, why?”
"Pardon?"
"What's in it for you?"
This catches Jack off guard, and for a second he wonders if he had let something slip. He’s never known anyone to be wary of his help, much less a woman. Then again, he supposed that was due to him being a handsome prince and not a dwarf. Who wouldn’t be suspicious of a monster’s help?
Still, the skepticism she displayed gave him the idea this was something she had come to expect. Nothing in life was free, and Jack knew that all too well.
“I merely wish to assist you, ma dame,” he insisted. “The Anthea Forest is a dangerous place, and I simply cannot turn my back on someone in need, especially someone as beautiful as you.”
The casual coquetry isn’t as welcomed as the first, as while Gwen softened slightly she didn’t look convinced. Silver eyes gaze down at her bag now again resting against her hip, and after some contemplation she lets out a sigh. “I’m sorry,” Gwen mumbled. “It’s just… no one’s been this kind to me in such a long time. I don’t know what to say.”
I find that hard to believe. Jack has to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying such a thing out loud. The girl was hesitant enough to accept his help as it was; it would cement the idea that she couldn’t trust him if he trivialized her feelings.
Gwen bit her lip, looking at everything but at Jack. She was obviously troubled by something, and perhaps if Jack had Hans’s way with words he would be able to convince her to tell him what it was. He couldn’t help if he didn’t know what the problem was. Finally, Gwen looked back at him and said, “I really need to get to the Emerald City, to see Oz. I’m looking for my mom, and I know the wizard can help me. Will you take me there?”
Another missing parent? Jack thought it an odd coincidence, but that was life on Fairytale Island. Accidents, strange events, and odd coincidences were the day to day norm. Throw in a few mysterious disappearances and you have a land that proved to be quite dangerous. It was why he and his friends formed the Fearless Seven in the first place, to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. To help those in need, and Gwen needed help.
“Certainly, mademoiselle.” Jack bowed to her, not necessarily to come off as flirtatious but he’s happy to see the smile return to Gwen’s face. “I am happy to escort you to the Emerald city in no time at all. You have my word.”
“Well, okay then. Lead the way.”
Whether she was desperate or simply felt she could trust him, Jack wasn’t sure. A part of him wanted to pry, he had always been a bit of the nosy sort, but over the years had come to know better than to act on those impulses. All that mattered was that he was now walking alongside a beautiful young woman through an enchanted forest and, hopefully, one step closer to breaking his curse.
French translation (according to DeepL)
Bien sûr que non: of course not, no of course not
Dieux, aidez-moi: gods help me
Short little drabble I put together for my Rhythm Doctor crack pairing (ian x ada and nicole x ada simultaneously). Ada gets a moment of rest she both deserves and needs. Hope you enjoy!
“You wanted to see me, Nicole?” Ada asked. Dusk was falling over the cafe, and the hospital was finally quiet enough she could find a few minutes to sneak away from Edega’s watchful eye. She was exhausted, and her face showed it.
“Oh, you made it, babe!” Nicole said with a smile. Glancing over Ada’s shoulder, she pointed at a new arrival. “Ian’s here too! What a surprise…” She said with barely feigned shock.
Ian, eyes darting around nervously as usual, nodded at Nicole, then turned to Ada. “Hello, dear.”
“Hey, Ian. Sorry, Nicole asked to see me… are you getting the cravings?” Ada said with a frown.
“Nope. Two months without a cigarette, babe, and I’m not interested in going back.” Nicole said with a smile.
Ada’s face eased a bit at that. “I’m very glad to hear that, Nicole. Still, be cautious - we wouldn’t want a relapse. What’s up?”
“P-please don’t talk about any more relapses…” Ian muttered under his breath. “A-anyway, Ada, please let your mind rest. We wanted to do something special for you, not force you to do more work.”
She grimaced. “I’ll do my best, but you know it’s hard for me to turn off that part of me. I worry.”
Ian sighed. “I know, Ada. I don’t think you’ve stopped worrying about me since med school.”
“Because you need someone to worry about you!” Ada replied, exasperated.
“Aaaanyway-” Nicole interrupted, pointing to a table covered in a conspicuous sheet. “The two of us thought we’d get you a little somethin’.” With a flourish, she dramatically pulled away the sheet, revealing a selection of donuts and a small chocolate cake reading “Happy Birthday Ada!”
Ada took in the sight, stunned. After a moment of silence, tears began to well up in her eyes. “I haven’t had a proper birthday celebration since starting this job…”
Coordinated, Ian and Nicole planted a kiss on one of Ada’s cheeks simultaneously. “Happy birthday.” The pair added.
“Thank you guys.” Ada said, voice warbling through tears.
Nicole and Ian glanced at each other, and a loud smack rang out as they high-fived.
“First of many, hopefully.” Nicole said with a smile.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Hi friends!!! Long time no fic lmao I’m SO sorry😅 In honor of my roleswap series turning three years old, I’ve decided to edit some parts that I noticed were kinda bothering me during my latest reread earlier this year lmao. Thanks for all the support these last three years! It really means a lot to me🫶🏻🫶🏻
It's another Song Fic because I like writing these and they're theraputic for me. I found this song and all I could think of was a relationship with Jason Todd. It's based on Try Losing One by Tyler Braden.
Link to the song: https://youtu.be/2IoiLh0jPfY
Summary: All the times Jason loses her.
Warnings: Angst! cheating, mentions of violence, alcohol mentions.
Pairing: Jason Todd X Fem! Reader
Word Count: 1,491
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's hard to get a number
It's hard to get that dance
It's hard to talk a girl
Into ditching all her friends
It's hard to get that first kiss
It's hard to make one fall
It's hard to get the courage
Up to give her dad a call
And if all that ain't hard enough
Try losing one
Jason hadn’t been much of a flirt before he died, he hadn’t thought much about girls at all really, but he was grown now and had seen so much more of the world than anyone ever should. Now as an adult, he didn’t want to, couldn’t, place the burden of what he did on another’s shoulders.
But then he met her. She lived in the apartment across the hall from him. She was so nice, so polite, and charismatic. It went against every barrier he had put up, every lesson he had ever learned, but he wanted to know her like no one else did. He wanted to be the one she smiled at, the one who made her laugh, who did everything with. Building up the courage was ironic, he fought villains all the time, but asking a girl if she wanted to get dinner with him was making his knees shaky.
And of course, you had said yes, and of course you were as lovely as he knew you’d be, and even though he was new to all of this, you made it seem easy. You were easy to love.
So easy to love, so why did he keep messing up the only good and right thing that had happened to him.
Try walking through the door of an empty house
Try staring at the wall pouring whiskey out
Try living with knowing that you let her down
Try trying like hell not to think about
That hurt in her eyes as she turned around
If you think finding a girl you can't live without
Is the hardest thing you've ever done
Try losing one
The first time was an accident, he waited to long to tell you about the second, bloodier, part of his life. A call from his older brother to tell you that he wouldn’t be home for a few days because he got shot too close to the heart.
Understandably, you asked for a few days, but your absence in his apartment weighed heavy. He tried to convince himself that what he did was right, that dragging you in the know would put you in danger. He tried not to think about that look on your face as you walked away.
At the end of the day though, he decided that no matter how right he knew he was, losing you would be worse.
It's hard to come home early
Them last call home come so late
Pride is hard to swallow
And sorry is hard to say
And taking her for granted
Is an easy thing to do
And if you wanna see the kind of hell
A girl can put you through
Try losing one
Now that you knew, he crept in through the window of your shared apartment. You were asleep and he kicked himself for not coming home sooner. You tried to stay up, but he knew you couldn’t wait up forever, not when the morning was so harsh to you.
He tried to apologize in the morning, a sincere apology he reserved only for you, but his stupid pride. It turned into an argument, and you left with tears in your eyes.
Later that night, after real apologies were made, and you were smiling and laughing, he told you about the Gala that Bruce was putting on. He had to go, but he asked if you’d be his plus one. His heart soared at the excitement in your eyes. You had never been to a gala, never had a reason other than prom to dress up in a fancy dress.
The night of the gala you were a sight, a dress that made him want to never let you go. The awe and joy in your eyes made his heart glow. You were so special.
And so easy to love, and he took that for granted, and dropped it like a glass balloon.
Try walking through the door of an empty house
Try staring at the wall pouring whiskey out
Try living with knowing that you let her down
Try trying like hell not to think about
That hurt in her eyes as she turned around
If you think finding a girl you can't live without
Is the hardest thing you've ever done
Try losing one
Maybe if he had gone with you to get some champagne then he wouldn’t have ended up in the mess he’d made. You walked away for one second, a joy laced in your tone, and a girl he barely remembered from Gotham Academy was suddenly on his arm.
She was also charismatic, nothing like you, but she was also persuasive and before his mind could catch up, he was walking to a corner and she was all over him.
He didn’t know how long it’d been, but he knew he had to get back to you. And just as he thought that he heard you.
“Oh,” you said just loud enough to be heard, your shoulders dropping like the world fell on them. He watched the joy and excitement in your eyes turn to confusion, turn to sadness. He wanted to shoot himself, oh, that’s all you said, like you knew it was bound to happen to you eventually, like reality had come up to meet you and he hated himself for it.
You turned to leave and as you were walking away, you turned back to look at him, pain and hurt in your eyes, and he let you go. Nothing he could say could mend the mess he’d made.
You weren’t there when he got home. No sign you had even come home at all. He grabbed some whiskey and sat on the couch.
For tonight, he would pretend that he wasn’t the biggest joke the universe had made. Pretend that he hadn’t just lost you, hadn’t just screwed up royally.
Like he wasn’t facing the possibility of losing the girl he couldn’t see himself without.
Try losing one
Try missing her every night
Holding on
Barely getting by
A love like that
It might be hard to find
But try losing one
You had been gone for a week, and he let you have your space. He had tracked you down after that first night just to make sure that you were safe. Your chosen refuge was your art studio, armed with extra clothes and a pull-out couch.
Sleeping without you was hard. Living without you was harder and Gotham felt it.
Crime rate had dropped by percentages, and even thugs were afraid to go out at night in fear of facing the Red Hood’s rath. How pitiful he looked and how pathetic he felt.
You knocked on his door, a look in your eyes that he couldn’t quite place. You asked what happened, and he was honest.
After a while you said you didn’t want to break up, that you wanted to get past this. He leapt at the second chance. He wouldn’t fail you again.
Except, when you were threatened, and his reality, the one he had been avoiding, finally reached him.
Try walking through the door of an empty house
Try staring at the wall pouring whiskey out
Try living with knowing that you let her down
Try trying like hell not to think about
That hurt in her eyes as she turned around
If you think finding a girl you can't live without
Is the hardest thing you've ever done
He packed his things, if he was going to abandon you like this, then he certainly wasn’t going to make you move after. He left the things he knew you would’ve kept anyways. Left the things that meant the most to him, that he knew you would pour over hoping to find an answer. He was selfish like that, he wanted you to still think of him even though he was about to break your heart.
There was a tiny thread of hope though, and it lived in the darkest corner of his heart where he hoped to smother it, that he could come back to you, and you would let him, and everything would go back to normal.
He left a letter on the kitchen table where you set your keys when you got home. It was an excuse that he didn’t want to burden you anymore, that it would be easier if he went back to being a one-man-band.
And, as he closed the door behind him, he knew that losing you was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done.
