Work Text:
It was one of those evenings.
When Ribbit would sneak out in the dark of the cool darkness of hallways, barely brushing the door when she knocked.
But Jax would hear.
He would always hear, because that quiet sound was the highlight of his entire week.
So he would open.
And she would smile.
But the smile wouldn't reach her eyes.
And they would talk.
Quietly.
To not disturb the night.
He would make some half-funny comment, and she would let out a half-laugh that would turn into silence too quickly to really matter.
She just gets like that sometimes, he always tells himself. People would tell themselves any lie to keep their sanity.
But this wasn't a lie.
She just gets like that sometimes.
She would laugh at that too, and say she's okay, just tired.
And that was also not a lie.
There was no trick.
No problem to be solver.
She just gets like this sometimes.
Just how life is.
She would breath out. Her breath would tremble.
She just gets like this sometimes.
Maybe there was a lie, hiding somewhere under the semantics.
"Sometimes".
That's the only lie she's ever told.
"Sometimes" is nothing but a passing thing.
But to her, both hands on the clock always seemed to be moving too slowly.
To her, neither a sunny day nor a summer rain would make any difference.
To her,
Sometimes was always.
And it had to be okay.
Because if it was not, there would be a reason for it.
And there wasn't.
…
She craves happiness. She has everything to achieve it.
Except her head is always telling her there are goals you can never reach.
And it's not your fault.
It's no one's fault, really.
Just how life is.
— Ribbit, I'm…
Jax's smile is gone.
She smiles instead of him.
— I'm okay. I promise.
Her voice is nothing but a whisper. It's too warm and broken not to be convincing.
So he would stare at her. Not saying a word.
But she would read an entire book in his eyes.
"I'm sorry"
And she would manage a small laugh.
And she would move closer.
And she would kiss him.
Because it's nothing serious.
Because it's just another day.
Because that's just how life is.
And yet,
For the first time,
He believed her.