Multifandom Oneshots

arcane ~ breakdown (hurt/comfort) ~ vi/caitlyn

She returned with a small to-go box of Jericho's fish and a fresh bruise on her cheek, likely from a fight she had gotten in with someone down in the Undercity. Caitlyn's father greeted her back into the house, and she came in with a small smile, stashing the box in a small bin that had been reserved for just that purpose. After safely stowing away the food, she walked up to Caitlyn's bedroom door. She had her own room- A spare that was still incredibly spacious because it was a fucking mansion- But she still spent most of her time at the place in Caitlyn's room.

She entered to find Caitlyn sitting on the edge of the bed, her muscles wound up more tense than Vi had ever seen from her. The girl was clearly forcing herself not to cry, and the sight was just... Sad to look at. "Cupcake?" Vi said with concern as she cautiously sat next to her girlfriend and wrapped an arm over her back. "Did something happen or..?" the pink haired girl asked carefully.

"No, Vi" Caitlyn replied with a shaky breath, still not just allowing herself to cry despite the fact that she very clearly needed to release her emotions in some capacity. "I am fine" she said in a harsh tone, glaring in Vi's general direction but not actually looking at her. Vi had to bite back a sarcastic comment about how she totally believed her. There was a time and a place for her... Specific sense of humor, and there and then was neither of those things.

"Why are you..." Vi took a deep breath, choosing her words carefully. "You know you don't have to worry about whatever you think will happen if you just- Like- Cry, right?" she asked rhetorically, hoping her words held some comfort for the topsider. "It's not really good for you to bottle up your emotions all the fuckin' time, and it sure as all hell doesn't make you weak or anything. Anyone would be completely ass-fucked in the head considering everything that we've been through"

"I'm just so tired, Vi"

Caitlyn's voice broke as she said that and she caved in on herself, finally just allowing herself to cry. Vi allowed the blue haired girl to curl up against her, and whispered quiet reassurances as she cried and shook in her arms. "It's okay" Vi said quietly. "It's okay to cry. You don't have to be strong all of the time, and this doesn't make you weak- Or a burden, or whatever you think this is gonna- What this comes across as"

The topsider just nodded as she cried more, occasionally taking sharp, choked gasps of air. Vi kept telling her quiet words of comfort, mentally noting that her girlfriend was in way more pain than she had realized. She tried not to beat herself up about it. Sure, maybe if she had paid more attention to the woman's body language or something then she would have seen the cracks in the mask she held up, but she also knew it was unrealistic to figure out everything a person was thinking and feeling all based off of tiny hints. Either way, it didn't matter. It was in the past anyways, so all she could do now was try and help the shaking girl.

Caitlyn kept punching at her chest, but she didn't care. It didn't hurt (her pain tolerance had needed to be high from a young age to survive the Undercity, so it would take a lot more than some weak punches to get her in any real pain) and she just wanted Caitlyn to be able to experience whatever she was feeling without any sort of restraints. The girl had been (metaphorically) restrained all her life when it came to her emotions, so Vi opted to not intervene unless she started to hurt herself. Thankfully, she didn't.

Eventually, the topsider lost her energy, physical exhaustion taking her over and replacing her high running emotions with a numbness. Depression.

"I'm sorry" she muttered, still curled up against her girlfriend even though she was no longer crying. "Do not apologize" Vi replied, stern enough to drive home the fact that she meant it while soft enough to not make Caitlyn think she was mad at her. "It's not healthy to bottle up so many emotions like that. I'm just glad that you finally let yourself feel it, even though it wasn't particularly pleasant"

"You know..." Caitlyn uncurled herself from the pink haired woman and sat up next to her, wiping the remaining tears away from her face. Her voice was flat, and her eyes were glazed over. It was almost more worrying to watch than the breakdown had been. "I haven't had an outburst like that in front of anyone since I was... Maybe four years old" she said with a chuckle, as though that wasn't a super worrying piece of information to just drop casually.

"In our family, big bursts of emotion like that were a big no" she explained in response to Vi's horrified expression. "It was... Bad for the Kiramman image to be upset in front of people, and my mother didn't want me thinking that it would be okay to just freak out during a speech or something, so she told me to hide my emotions. That negative emotions were private things that I could only show in the privacy of my own room"

"Cupcake, that's..." Vi placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know that's not true, right? It's not- That's not good for you" Caitlyn gave a weak smile. "I am learning that now, yes" she replied. "Thanks to you" she added. Vi still seemed incredibly worried for her girlfriend, but she returned a small smile that was only broken once Caitlyn's broke. "I'm tired" she said quietly. Vi nodded, helping her to lie down on the bed.

"I love you" Vi said quietly as she lied next to her girlfriend. That got her a small, genuine smile. "I love you too, idiot"