Chapter Text
Riven hasn’t snuck back into Red Fountain this late since he was a freshbaby and was so wasted he tripped over air and sent his dorm key flying into the gryphon pens, but he’s got much more experience and sobriety under his belt this time and he manages to avoid any other late-nighters right up until he reaches the door of his dorm and damn near smashes into Timmy, who materializes out of thin fucking air.
He can still smell Darcy’s perfume in the air around him and he swears he’s still got her lipstick on his mouth and he’s riding such a high after that date – the best damn date he’s ever been on – that he doesn’t do much more than hiss as Timmy crowds him away from the dorm and shoves something in his face. This is not necessarily alarming behavior from the nerd.
When the screen lights up, it’s so blinding that Riven’s eyes water on instinct. But it illuminates Timmy’s face, and any complaint he could muster dies on his tongue.
Timmy looks pissed. Pissed pissed. And Timmy doesn’t get pissed, except for that incident last year with the upperclassman and –
“Dude, you okay? The fuck happened?”
And then he freezes, because his eyes focus on the screen mashed against his nose and –
“I was with the girls and Bloom came back all upset, she said one of the witches warned her. So Tecna searched it up, because we had no idea why she was upset, and –“
His brain feels like molasses, but he’s worked through enough of his shock to let out a noise that shuts Timmy right up.
“Sky’s engaged.”
“That’s mostly why I’m pissed. I get the security bullshit. But – “
Holy shit, he realizes. The girls hadn’t known.
He’d been operating under the assumption that Stella knew. Her and Sky – Brandon? –‘s relationship had always seemed so casual, and Stella was royalty herself, and he’d just – he’d thought they were playing around together, because Sky certainly never talked about his fiancée. But this is – this means Brandon is the one who was engaged, and who’s been trying desperately to get Bloom to go out with him since they first met on Earth, and he’s been very clear he wants a real relationship, and he’s been engaged, and –
Riven’s kind of a piece of shit, he’s made his peace with that. But he wouldn’t cheat. And here are two of his best friends, two of his only friends, and –
“Where are the girls?” He asks, because they definitely shouldn’t be left alone after this, and holy hell are they going to have their hands full with murder attempts in the next few days.
“Alfea. Musa bought drinks, and they’re – taking a night in. I asked them to wait until I’d had a chance to talk to you before they do anything to S—to the others.”
“They didn’t even scrub it off the internet?”
Timmy sighs, and finally drops the holo-screen. Rubs a hand over his face, and looks so fucking tired –
“Hey, dude. It’ll – look, whatever happens, you got me.”
Timmy sags against his side, and Riven puts an arm around his – well. Brother. Timmy’s been introducing them as family since the year started. Riven’s been making fun of it, but…he’s not wrong. They’re intended to work together for life, after all.
Except two of their number are – Riven stops that thought immediately because he’s breaking out in chills and this is going to trigger him so fucking hard.
The girls will let him hide in their dorm. That’s a plus. That’s…a plan. He’s just gotta – stick it out until he can dip, he guesses. He’ll bring Timmy.
“What do you want to do?” Timmy asks quietly. Without the phone there to light them up, the whole hall is dark and kind of uncomfortable. Riven’s tired, more tired than he thinks he’s ever been in his life, but –
“At the very least, the girls deserve a chance to bitch them out as soon as possible. And if Stella and Bloom ditched them, they’ll start bugging the girls as soon as they wake up. So. We should do it now.” He hates the words as they come out of his mouth.
He gets a disgusted sigh for an answer, but he feels Timmy nod against his shoulder and then Timmy pushes off and starts marching towards the dorm, and Riven shoves his hands in his pockets and follows.
Timmy likes to start bar fights, when they go out. He’s got his bar fight swagger on right now. Riven’s going to stick to backup, because Timmy never loses a fight and Timmy’s more pissed than he is and it’s what he usually does anyway and he’s not sure he can handle much more than that.
Sky and Brandon are still up, seated around the table in their common room – Sky perched on top of it, Brandon sprawled in one of the chairs – chatting. Riven closes the door behind him and flips the deadbolt. Unlike Alfea, the Red Fountain dorms come equipped with sound-proofing spells. Squads tend to beat the shit out of each other, apparently, and pranks almost always go a little too far, and unlike Alfea, the professors at Red Fountain don’t care to hear all the goings-on of their students. There aren’t any blushing virgins here, Riven thinks uncharitably, and then has to force himself to focus.
“Shit, you two are back late. Have a good night?” Sky – Brandon? Fucking hell – asks like he’s not a total piece of shit, and Riven raises both his eyebrows because Timmy takes that opportunity to sock him right in the face. Not the nose; nothing broken here. Just hard enough to bruise like a bitch, and also knock said bitch off the table. He lets out a low whistle of appreciation, and it pulls Timmy up short when the nerd goes to follow up on the hit.
“Timmy! What the fuck – “
“Shut the fuck up and sit down, Sky.” Riven barks at – well. The real Sky, halfway out of his chair and looking so outraged it’s almost comical. What is comical is the way he freezes, the way the real Brandon goes rigid on the table. How the fuck they’d managed to keep this under wraps so long given the sheer number of times Riven has screamed for one of them in the general direction of both of them, let alone their professors or fellow students…
He’s – he’s not the center of the issue here, which he’s fine with, but that doesn’t stop the betrayal, the rage, crawling over his shoulders and up his throat thick enough to choke.
“You lied to us.” Timmy says, and the nerd’s voice is sharp and angry and doesn’t crack at all, because Timmy’s a scary motherfucker when he wants to be and also he’s trying not to shout because shouting makes him cry.
Riven shrugs his jacket off and kicks his boots off while Sky and Brandon or whatever the fuck their names are, he’s just assumed they switched, stare between him and Timmy with faces so pale they look like ghosts.
They’ve got a little kitchenette in their common room. Riven digs out one of Sky – Brandon? –‘s noodle cups and goes about preparing it while his friends remain frighteningly tense and quiet behind him.
“Stella’s parents are getting a divorce because her father’s a cheating piece of shit. It’s going to destabilize the entire Solarian government. And Bloom – you were one of the first people she trusted here! She can’t even – and you lied! You used them! You used us!”
The microwave dings, and Riven pulls out his cup and ignores the ache in his eyes as he jams a fork into it.
He’d expected Timmy to forget about – himself, about Riven, about the hurt this has done to them. It’s probably a good thing that he didn’t, though the fact that he even mentioned them doesn’t bode well for how badly he’s hurting. Riven uses his friends as a gauge, and he’s perfectly willing to cope to that. The more upset Timmy is, the more upset Riven’s supposed to be. The more excited Sky gets, the more vehemently Riven’s gotta tell him no. The more certain Brandon is, the more confident Riven can be.
Except that’s all wrong, now.
“You told Bloom?” Brandon – Sky, the real Sky – asks, and Sky, the fake Sky, cringes. Riven catalogues that like a desperate man, because remorse means his whole fucking world might not crumple down around him, and that’s –
Well.
“No, she told us. And you’re fucking lucky you didn’t put us in that position, because I’d be burying you right now if you had.” Riven says.
Fake Sky opens his mouth, still cradling his face where Timmy punched him, and then cuts a glance to Fake Brandon and closes it. Fake Brandon looks pissed.
Fake Brandon is better at armed combat than them. Not at hand-to-hand. Riven catches the thought, and the disposable cup in his hand crumples. Soup and noodles go all over his riding suit which is a shit thing but he just – they’re not – they’re not supposed to be threats, and –
“That isn’t your place!” Fake Brandon snaps. Riven lets the mess in his hand hit the ground, because he’s already slamming a fist into the jackass’s stomach hard enough to make the fucker double over. Riven keeps one hand fisted in Brandons’ shirt, over his shoulder. To keep him down.
“I am fucking exhausted right now. I don’t have the energy to deal with this, jackass. You lied to me. If I don’t go and request a transfer in the morning, you’d best get down on your fucking knees and pray. You lied.”
Over a year. Over a year and neither of them had come forward and maybe there’s good reason for lying to everyone else but to them? And about the fucking engagement?
“And if you think I won’t throw down for the girls after what you did to them, you’re fucking wrong. You’re engaged, you absolute piece of shit.”
He’s gonna have to talk to her. The fiancée. Some uppity rich asshole, who absolutely doesn’t deserve Brandon fucking around behind her back even if she wants the marriage, and it’s –
Sky. He’s not Brandon, he’s Sky.
There’s a hand tugging at his arm. Riven realizes his nails have been digging into flesh and there’s blood and – he lets go. Lets Timmy pull him back a little.
“Do you want to – “
“No.” He says, interrupts. Timmy’s shaking a little. But he nods, and starts pulling Riven towards their room.
When he’d finally caved and stopped bitching about being stuck with a squad, when he’d finally stopped snapping and started talking, he’d told them lying was off the table. Hadn’t explained why. Hadn’t had to, with Timmy. And those two had looked him in the eye, all serious and solemn and said yeah, of course, sure, never, when he hadn’t even known their fucking names.
“Where are you going?!” Brandon – Sky. The real Sky – asks, and he sounds – angry. Like he has any right to be. Riven thinks its pretty fucking obvious what’s going on, but –
“We’ll – I’ll be here in the morning. If you…want to talk.” Fake Sky says. Brandon, maybe. He’s not angry, not like Real Sky. Still nursing his bruise, eyes pinned on the floor. Timmy hesitates a moment, and then gives a curt nod. Riven says nothing.
When their door closes behind them, they both sink to the ground where they’re standing. Riven lifts an arm on autopilot and Timmy mashes himself there and.
“If you do leave. I – I’ll go with you.” Timmy says quietly, voice unsteady and trembling. Riven slams his eyes shut but it’s too late because now his face is all hot and wet and fuck.
“Other than – did you have a good night?”
“I asked Tecna out. For – for real. We didn’t get to plan anything, but…”
“Congrats.” He says, and as hollow and unenthusiastic as he sounds, he means it.
“What about you?” Timmy asks softly, and then wriggles free just so he can mash one of his cold, pointy little fingers to Riven’s neck and –
“Her name’s Darcy. She’s a witch. Bloom said she’s cool. She is.”
“That…sounds like a mess. But – congrats.”
Riven can’t help the wheeze of absolute horror that he lets out, because realization bitch-slaps him across the face and he can’t handle much more of this but fuck tomorrow is going to suck –
“What?”
“Bloom’s – she’s been hanging out with them witches? Because Alfea’s doctoring their lessons.”
“…Is she gonna – oh that’s why – well, we’re going to stop by tomorrow afternoon. She’ll probably tell us then.”
“The fuck you mean we?” Riven asks, but there’s no heat to it, and Timmy lets out a watery laugh. Looks half distracted by the extra mystery already, which…well, that’s something. Something good, he thinks.
Timmy starts rambling about it, voice soft and soothing as he scrambles around for the nearest electronic. He keeps the light down to its nighttime cycles, just bright enough to give the shape of things a vague outline. The asshole still plants himself on Riven’s bed, but that’s what Riven gets for mentioning nerd stuff, so.
He doesn’t think he’ll sleep, not really, but with the nerd rambling and his bony elbows jammed up against Riven’s back, his eyes drift shut of their own accord.
And even the angry hush of voices outside their door can’t keep him up.