Work Text:
Jaiden wakes up shaking, heaving, sobs forcing their way out of her throat. Flashes of memories, of knives, of screaming, of endless tears, of stinging pain— She tears herself out of bed, shoving herself as far beneath it as she can get.
It’s unbelievably cramped under there, and her wings ache from where they’re shoved between her back and her bed. But, but— She can’t even remember what happened.
She just knows it was bad. It was— it was—
Jacob. Jacob was there, and he did something, and maybe it wasn’t just a nightmare, maybe it was—
She screws her eyes shut, rubbing really hard to try and get the tears to go away. It just doesn’t work. She feels so awful, so scared, she can hardly breathe— she doesn’t like being under the bed, but nowhere else is safe, and she just doesn’t know what to do.
People. Her friends. They’ll— They’ll know.
She grabs her phone from where it’s fallen to the floor next to the bed, and opens up the House groupchat, the first chat she sees. She starts typing immediately, not even looking at what she sends.
jaiden
helkp
hlkj
cscary
jacob
what the fuck
jaiden?
fyrus
??? are you okay
Jaiden squints at her phone, but through all the tears, she just— Nothing makes sense. She— She’s just so scared. It’s just— it’s so—
There’s a knock at her door. It startles her so bad she jumps, bumping her head against her bed — a panicked squawk escapes her, and she attempts to burrow further under her bed, a hand holding her head.
Everything hurts and everything’s scary and she just can’t breathe.
“…Jaiden?” a voice calls. She thinks it’s Jacob, but— but— what if it isn’t? (What if it is? She doesn’t know what would be worse.)
“Jaiden, I… I know you’re in here,” it says, he says, “Will you come on out? It’s— Nothing bad’s gonna happen.”
She coos lowly, letting him know where she is — but not coming out. He can’t promise anything. The House is alive, and he killed her, and he died, and, and, and—
Jaiden watches the shadows shift as Jacob (presumably) moves closer. The wooden floor creaks with every step he takes — she tries to suppress the flinches that come every time.
“I’m not gonna try and squeeze under there,” he says, clearly much closer now — she shivers. “But… I’m gonna sit down right here, okay? And you can come out when you feel ready.”
A shaky warble escapes her, the only sound she can make in confirmation— it’s getting really awful being down under here. But she— she can’t go out there. Not yet. Not ever. It’s too… It’s too dangerous. It’s bad. She’ll— She— The same hands that killed her once will kill her again, and it’ll be all her fault.
But…
She feels awful lonely under the bed like this.
Slowly, nervously, she reaches a hand out from under the bed— desperate. She needs— She needs something. Touch.
Gently, carefully, fingers land on her palm— then, as she doesn’t move, a hand wraps around hers, squeezing gently. She squeezes back.
Whoever it is, Jacob or not, doesn’t say anything. Just… holds her hand, rubbing it softly, soothingly.
Jaiden peeks her head out slightly, still a little too nervous to crawl all the way out— but she takes this chance to look over the person holding her hand.
Sure enough, it’s… it’s Jacob. She can see the crystal embedded in his chest peeking out above the neckline of his shirt slightly, and his eyes look the same as they always do, and his hand— giving herself a second to actually feel his hand in hers, she realizes it’s cold, like it always is, now.
“Ja… mm. J— Ja—” she stammers, trying to get her mouth to work with her— trying to say his name. But her throat just feels so tight, trying to talk just hurts. She whines in frustration.
“Shh,” says Jacob, squeezing her hand. “You don’t have to talk.”
She crawls out the rest of the way, if only to just rest her head on his lap, tears still running down her cheeks.
She feels him gently guide her into sitting up, her head pressing against his shoulder. Jaiden coos, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Jacob. Jacob. He’s here. He’s real, and— for a moment, she wonders if she should really be letting this happen. She wonders if this is safe— He killed her, after all, she can’t trust him. She can’t.
But then, he gently rubs her back — she can tell it’s a little hard for him, what with her wings in the way, but he continues anyway — up and down, in slow circles.
And it’s just the right amount of pressure. And it just— it’s—
“Jacob,” she sobs, and it’s maybe the only word she can utter right now — she repeats it, over and over, she has to, “Jacob, Jacob, Jacob,”
“I’m here,” he murmurs. He’s quiet for a second, just holding her — usually, his cool skin might just make things worse, a reminder of everything that’s gone wrong, everything she wished she could’ve done something about, but… now, it’s strangely grounding, telling her that this is the real him. Whether that’s good or not… she’s yet to determine. But at least it’s him. “I’ve got you.”