Hey Guys!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
And don't forget to look for us on Pat reon! We do a live every Friday, and there's a lot of exclusive content for joining us! Not to mention our Patrons are a week ahead on chapters. Check us out.
Lots of Love!
-Dark-
"Lonnie, seriously-"
"Don't."
"-I'm okay."
Lonnie's eyes narrow, "You can either continue lying to yourself, or you can accept that I'm putting your ass in bed." She snaps, her steps never faltering as she half dragged him across the room, "I mean, your choice. Either way, bed."
He groans, but he can't help the smile.
It was weird having her fuss like this, or maybe it was the way she fussed.
So forceful.
So aggressively caring.
When they get to the bed he holds his hands up, "I concede."
"Good. I didn't want to have to poke your ribs to make a point." She glares as she crosses her arms.
"I appreciate that." He admits as she helps him slide onto the bed.
Yeah. Lonnie wasn't like any other girl he'd ever met.
Sure, there were plenty of girls in his life that could be forceful.
Mal was a force to be reckoned with on a good day.
Deez had her moments too, usually when it came to people telling her what to do.
Aggressive?
Hadn't Evie shown how truly aggressive she could be when she found out the secret they were keeping had been about T?
He wouldn't call the girls from his hunting trips anything less than forceful and aggressive, but it wasn't the same thing.
He leans back in the bed as Lonnie adjusts his blankets and pillows, but when she gives him a satisfied nod he grabs her hand before she can pull back.
It hadn't been a thought. He'd just done it.
And now he was staring at her hand in his.
Say something… Anything…
But he couldn't find words. Hell, he wasn't sure he could find his voice.
"You scared me, you know," Lonnie admits slowly, her voice low and pinched in a way he'd never heard her speak before.
As if she wasn't sure of her ability to speak either.
He takes a slow breath, "I'm sorry." He admits, unable to meet her gaze.
"Yeah, well, don't do that again, and we'll call it even." Lonnie says as she lays her other hand on top of his, "I, what you and the others did, facing Maleficent like that-" Her hands squeeze his, "that was really brave, and I need you to know that. Know how brave you are."
Brave?
He didn't feel brave.
That had been plain stupid. But what else were they supposed to do?
And running away after?
What part of that day made Lonnie, of all people, think he was brave?
"But I swear on fucking China Jay, you run like that again, and I'll actually injure you."
He believed her.
Worrying over him in one breath and threatening him with the next.
A smile slowly curves his lips.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"You damn well better." Lonnie crosses her arms.
He finally lifts his eyes to meet hers, noticing for the first time just how deep her dark eyes were, how beautiful the small veins of lighter gold interrupting the depths was, even under her furrowed brow, "But seriously," he blinks, "I'm hoping we never get into another situation like that."
"No kidding," She sighs as she sinks onto the mattress next to him. "I just… Watching you fight that- that- that." She frowns, "Was one thing. I mean, I wish I could've done more, but like what ev's." She shrugs, "But you running," Her voice grows lower, tighter, "the thought of never seeing you- any of you again. That- That scared the shit outta me."
"Scared me too." He admits with a frown, "I know everyone says we have no reason to be worried. That we're not getting sent back to the Isle, but, yeah. That's all I really got as an explanation."
He knew how shitty that was.
Hey, I'm sorry I ran off on you with no word, and you ended up searching for us in the fucking sewers-
Which, to be fair, was where they were. His lips tighten.
Apparently their new friends knew them better than he thought. Even when they'd had no idea what to do and were just going off instinct, the HKs managed to figure out where they would go.
The realization was eerie.
She's silent as she turns his hand over in her's, examining it as if the lines on his palm were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen, "Well, we told you all you wouldn't have to worry about ever seeing your parents again. So I understand your hesitation to believe the rest." Her grip tightens. "Just know… Just know that regardless of where this-" She squeezes his hand tighter, "Goes, good or bad. I'll be right behind you."
"How about beside me?" He asks with a smile, "Watching my back for me?"
"Don't be dumb," She snorts.
He bites his lip, "Maybe this is one of those things that's different here." He tilts his head to the side, searching for the best way to explain. "I stand behind Mal, but I don't want that with you. I-" He rubs the back of his neck, "I don't want you to be a subordinate. You're better than that."
"Oh." A small smile tugs at her lips. "No, that's not- I mean, I think we're really good at covering each other's weak points. I love that we share a mutual respect for each other. You know, you're the first one to treat me as an equal here. I mean, I've bitched about it enough, and appreciate you for that. For like, getting it. Understanding it. I mean, even my father took a long time to view my mother that way."
That was still so hard to wrap his head around.
Lonnie was the best out of everyone he'd ever faced with a sword, hands fucking down.
Why was it so hard for Auradon to see that about her?
He shifts in the bed, laying back further into the pillows behind him before he gently tugs her closer to his good side. "I like it too."
"Good." Lonnie nods as she tentatively settles next to him. Pink powders her cheeks as she looks away.
He carefully wraps his arm around her shoulders.
"I would have eventually found a way to get you a message." He admits with a sigh.
She turns and looks at him skeptically.
"I mean it." He rubs his lips back and forth against each other, "I'm not gonna lie, I had a lot I was thinking about when we were, you know, but no matter how much I tried to tell myself that I was doing the best for the others, I couldn't stop myself from trying to figure out how to talk to you. I- I was afraid you- I mean, we were afraid everyone would hate us after what Maleficent said." He squeezes his eyes shut.
Why?
Why had he brought that up?
None of them had mentioned it since being found, but he knew they were all thinking it, dreading the topic coming up.
What were they supposed to say in defense of Maleficent's announcement?
What could they say that wouldn't get them in trouble?
How could they lie about it though?
It would be like building their future, and the future of everyone they ever hoped to get off the Isle, on a lie.
Even on the Isle they knew that lies made for shaky foundations.
Her brow furrows, and her head tilts to the side slightly as she falls silent before she shakes her head, "What did she say that had you guys thinking that we could ever possibly hate you?"
His heart jumps, lodging itself in his throat.
Had Maleficent not ratted them out?
Had she not told the whole watching world that they had come to Auradon with a plot?
There was no way she hadn't.
He could still remember the hatred burning his stomach as she said it.
As she condemned them.
"She- she told everyone she sent us here with a mission."
Her brows crinkle as her lips purse to the side, "Jay-" She frowns, "If there is one thing I'm sure about, it's that you don't give up. Well, don't give up and feel deeply."
His brow furrows as he draws his arms to his chest and crosses them, "I do not feel deeply."
A small smile tugs at her lips as she pats his head, "Of course you don't. I must've mistaken you for another person beating his fists into a bloody pulp."
He closes his eyes, sighing at the automatic denial.
Had he ever fooled anyone other than himself?
"Punching things isn't-" he takes a deep breath, interrupting himself before he could sound like a pouting child, "You have a point, right?"
Her smile widens. "Simple. When you believe in someone, something, you don't give up."
"What does that have to do with-"
"Well, you're not dead. And the wand is where it belongs." She shrugs.
He blinks.
Was she-
She couldn't be saying-
"It doesn't bother you?" He asks as his arms fall to his sides.
She snorts, "No." She settles back against him and lays her head on his shoulder. "Not in the slightest."
"But like, all the worst fears about us-"
"I was wrong about so much surrounding you four and the Isle. But not in the way I think you're thinking of."
He takes a slow breath.
She was wrong about them. The Isle.
But not in the way he was thinking?
"I don't get it." He shakes his head, "Like seriously, the entire time we've been here, people have been afraid that we were working with our parents, and then Maleficent shows up and says that's exactly what we were supposed to do, and it doesn't bother you at all?"
A sad smile tugs at her lips. "One. Supposed to and doing are two completely different things. I'm not supposed to be good at swords. You're not supposed to care. Mal's not supposed to paint on school property. Evie isn't supposed to like a dwarf. Carlos isn't supposed to get along with dogs. But you do care. Mal does paint. Evie does like Doug. Carlos does love Dude. And I do love seeing the look on people's faces when I lay them out flat." She bites her lip as red darkens her cheeks. "As for my thoughts," Her eyes drop, "I thought, I mean… This is so stupid now that-" She sighs. "I thought even villains had to love their kids."
A deep laugh escapes him before he can stop it, though it wasn't the kind of laugh that made you smile.
Even villains love their kids?
He frowns as heat pricks at his eyes.
He probably had it the easiest out of the majority of the Isle, but even he couldn't say his father loved him.
Tolerated him, sure.
Fuck, maybe even feared him a bit.
But love?
No.
And if he couldn't say that about his father, then he knew the others felt the same way.
Mal and her mother?
That was nothing but one power play after another.
The stupid god of death was the same way with Deez.
Evie and her mother? He was only just beginning to learn the terms for what that bitch did to Evie.
Carlos and his mother? He closes his eyes against the image of the Pup's scared back.
And T?
Fuck, he seriously didn't even know where to begin with that.
What had Frollo done to T? To Faustina?
Even just the thought made his stomach churn.
He blinks when arms encompass him gingerly, carefully minding his ribs.
Why was she-
His chest tightens when he feels moist warmth at his side. "What's wrong?" He asks, grimacing as he grasps her shoulders and pulls her up to find her eyes brimming with tears. "I didn't mean to-"
She shakes her head as her eyes drop, and she swallows before she looks back up at him. "You didn't. Do anything I mean. It just… Hurts."
"Hurts?" He furrows his brow.
Had he hurt her? How?
What had he said?
She brings up her hands and softly places them over his heart. "I can't even-" More tears trail down her cheeks. "You're all so… I just, it's so hard not to l- I care about all of you. For you. And I just-" more tears build up in her eyes before she surprises him, moving back to his side to hug him tighter. "It just hurts."
He slowly encircles her in his arms, hugging her back automatically before it tightens.
He holds her almost desperately.
He and his pack had come to her school, into her life with lies at first.
Had come with the thought of stealing the wand and returning to the Isle, serves the stupid Auradonian idiots right for trapping them on the Isle.
And yet, here she was, hurting for him.
For them.
Hurting because she thought their parents loved them.
Hurting because they'd been scared.
Before leaving the Isle he'd only seen glimpses of something like this.
Deez always cared too much, even when she tried to hide it.
He bites back a snort.
And Harry?
Harry cared too much too, and he reveled in it.
Pirates be passionate, mate.
He had always rolled his eyes-
But this?
"I was wrong about Auradon, too, if that helps." He admits heavily.
She shifts to glance up at him with watery, puffy eyes.
He sighs, "I really thought everyone on the outside of the barrier would be like, I don't know, like Chad, or, like Queen Leah." He slowly shakes his head, "Spoiled and stupid, weak and obnoxious." Each word felt like a sword slap to his face, "Just, nothing like me or anyone I grew up with. Well, maybe Deez and Evie, kind of, but they're the Princesses of the Isle, so yeah." He holds her closer, "I never thought anyone like you could exist out here."
She bites her lower lip to keep it from trembling as she ducks her face back into his side.
"My point is, we both had to like, change our minds, right? So I guess if you can change your mind, and can even exist in the first place, then maybe it was stupid for us to run away because we thought no one would care that we hadn't done anything to follow through with the plan after the first week or so that we were here."
He grimaces when she starts to cry harder.
"Wait, why? No, I didn't-"
What the fuck was wrong with him?
"I um, I know crying isn't a bad thing, but-"
He grimaces again before he rolls his eyes. He'd been open and honest so far, right? "I really want to punch whatever is making you cry," He admits as he balls one hand into a tight fist, "but I feel like it's me, and I really don't want to piss you off." He explains, struggling to not stumble over his words.
A wet snort leaves her before she pulls back and shifts to sit up, wiping away her tears with the back of her arm. "You're not wrong," She smiles weakly as she pulls her legs to her chest. "You're injured enough, and your punch is a beast."
"I do my best." He smiles as one hand coaxes the last of her tears from her cheeks.
She rests her chin on her knees, her eyes softening with warmth. "I have no doubt."
He sighs in relief at the barest hint of a smile on her lips.
He'd never been great at handling others when they cried; He never knew what to do.
Still didn't. It wasn't like you could hit hurt like it was a person or a tree… or a wall.
He lifts one hand to the back of Lonnie's head before he carefully, slowly, runs his fingers through her thick dark waves.
Her smile softens as she wraps her fingers around his arm.
"It seems like a stupid reason to run now," He admits, continuing in a soft voice, "but at the time, all I could think of was how to keep Evie and Carlos from going back." He sighs, "It all happened so fast, and I- we just needed time to think. Figure out what was going on. Stay out of everyone's way while they possibly dealt with villains escaping. And then-" He looks down at the bandages peeking out from under his shirt.
And then he'd finally realized how hurt he'd been. Or let himself realize it.
She studies him for a moment before she sits up and pulls his hand closer before she faintly presses her lips to the center of his palm. "I…" She draws back, squeezing his wrist gently. "I get it. Understand why you ran. It hasn't been easy for you four here. So many don't understand you. Fear you. Feel bitterness and resentment towards you-"
"And I guess if I were the villain they fear I was, that would make me happy." He shrugs, "But, I guess I don't really care what others think, not for myself anyway."
"Of course you don't." Her smile widens slightly.
"I just, I don't want to be the reason Harry and the others," Like so many, many, others, "never make it out here." He sighs again.
He could deal with a lot of things.
Deal with the Chads, the stuck-up princesses, and the Queen Leahs.
He could take it so long as the others got to see what freedom was like-
So long as the others got adopted-
And selfishly, so long as he got to stay with David and Nani and he got to hug Lonnie like this-
He could deal with Auradon at its worst.
"I can't believe you'll ever be the reason, Jay. None of you will be. It's just not the type of people you are. It'll be the bigots and fear mongers. It will be the scared and the ignorant. But it will never be because of the four of you…"
She shifts to kneel beside him, holding her balance perfectly as she sits on her feet. She narrows her eyes and bites her lip as she looks him over.
Her eyes hardened after a long moment. "This is-" She shakes her head before her eyes level on him. "I don't understand the depths, doubt I ever will, but I know how much you want to help the rest of your friends. The rest of the kids who don't belong on the Isle-"
Friends.
It was a word he feared using not so long ago.
A danger to anyone he might actually care about.
But here, here he could admit that even with all the bullshit rules and stupid petty rivalries, he'd always had friends.
"-but," Her grip tightens around his wrist. "I need you to promise me, need it, not want it-"
He blinks as he watches her struggle to choose her words, "What do you need me to promise?"
"That if you ever, ever, ever find yourself in a position where you have to go back- need to go back there to that, that place, that you'll take me with you." She finishes with a steel gaze.
Take Lonnie back to the Isle?
His brow furrows as his heart thuds against his aching ribs.
The Isle?
He bites his lip.
She could take care of herself, he had no doubt about that. And there weren't many he'd trust to have his back like he knew he could trust her.
Still, the very thought of putting her in that kind of danger made his skin crawl with cold.
Need.
She needed, not wanted, this promise.
He takes a deep breath.
"I would never want to do that to you. Like ever." He sighs, "But I also don't want you to walk out of here thinking I doubt you in any way cause I don't." He rolls his lips against his teeth, "So, okay, I promise. If I find myself having to go back, I'll let you know. If I'm being sent back, I hope you know there's like, nothing I can do about that. And I can't think-"
He cuts himself off before he can finish the statement.
Before he can lie.
Because hadn't he already come close to finding a way back several times already?
Hadn't he scared the shit out of David enough times?
He bites his lip as he stares at Lonnie.
"If I find myself thinking of going back, for whatever reason, I promise I'll talk it out with you." He holds his hand out, "Fair?"
She studies him for a long moment before she nods curtly. "Very." She smiles, clearly pleased. "Because, regardless of the circumstances, I'm coming with you."
He sighs at her tone, a tone he knew only too well.
Girls could be so stubborn sometimes, and apparently, Lonnie was right up there too.
"And now you can't be pissed about it when I do."
"I never agreed to not be pissed." He chuckles as he tugs her to his side again, "Seriously-" He sighs as he hugs her again, "I will let you know if something happens, and I won't run away again without finding a way to tell you what's going on."
She sinks to his side, "Thank you." She whispers softly as she snuggles up next to him.
"Think you can stay with me for a little bit?" He asks.
Asks.
Definitely not beg.
"'Til you get sick of me." She smiles as she looks up at him.
"Don't make promises you can't keep to a VK." He teases with a wicked smile, "We can be ruthless."
Her eyes soften as she nuzzles against him happily. "Til your pack comes back then," She amends.
He nods before he rests back fully into the pillows, content to hold her to him with one arm as he stared up from his bed at the familiar ceiling.
He thought he'd never get to come back to the school.
Never get to see Lonnie or any of their other new friends again.
And yet, here he was, holding onto her like she was his only lifeline in the world.
If not a lifeline, then at least his sanity.
Things didn't seem so bleak after that conversation, after the conversation with David in the sewers.
Had they really been so scared of the few people trying to make their lives a living hell that they'd been willing to throw everything else away?
He gingerly drags his free hand down his face.
Apparently.
It was going to take a while, but hopefully they'd find that groove they'd found before.
Find the feeling of belonging that had just started sinking in.
Until then, he was happy to hold Lonnie as a reminder that at least one person thought he was more than a villain.
"I will stab you if you leave me behind again." She whispers, voice heavy with exhaustion.
"I promised I'd talk to you if things get… weird again, didn't I?" He rolls his head to the side to look down at her, "A promise is a promise."
"Just checking." She nods as she curls around him.
Stab him if he ever leaves her-
He tilts his head to the side, smiling at the sudden warmth in his chest.
He hadn't seen it before, but the way she was curled into him right now lifted her shirt up just barely enough for him to catch a glimpse of it where she had it tucked into her back pocket.
The dagger he gave her. The one she wore in her hair.
She carried it around with her despite the no weapons rule.
Which meant, if she were to ever carry out her threat to stab him, chances were she'd stab him with the very first gift he'd ever given her.
It shouldn't make him happy, but it did.
E might be scary, but Lonnie is fierce af.
This chapter seriously made me squee guys.
I know Disney shipped them before we did, but I just fucking love what we've done with it.
It's straight fucking adorable. *Humble so isn't my thing right now*
I loved the way they struggled to communicate with each other.
Did we get teen awkward right?
Did you guys love this as much as I did?
Did you love the promise?
The threat?
Fuck knows that Lonnie Li is definitely one to carry through. Albeit, she never said how deep she'd stab him, or where… My guess is the foot.
Keep him nice and incapable of walking away from her, at least quickly anyways...
Any of you have differing opinions?
LoLz Jay loving the thought of Lonnie stabbing him with the blade he had given her. Talk about complex feelings.
Fave quote:
"And now you can't be pissed about it when I do." -Lonnie
"I never agreed to not be pissed." He chuckles as he tugs her to his side again, "Seriously-" He sighs as he hugs her again, "I will let you know if something happens, and I won't run away again without finding a way to tell you what's going on."- Jay
What's yours?
Much love and appreciation,
-Twisted