of heroes and villains {on hold}

f i v e

jody stared at him for a second as they walked. she opened her mouth to speak but decided against it, a nagging part of her already knew what was wrong. instead, she merely gripped his wrist a little bit tighter and hoped he saw it as comforting.

they stopped and circled the front door, along with the other residents as charlie walked in. to put it simply, the girl looked like a mess. her clothes were dirtied and there were a few tear tracks still visible on her face, to top it all off her bag was missing. it didn't take a genius to figure out she had been mugged.

mike and may li rushed around her, telling everyone to give her some space although no one did. the pity filling the room was almost suffocating to ryan and it wasn't even directed at him. well, not all of it. jody wasn't as subtle as she liked to think she was.

out of the corner of his eye, ryan saw tyler frowning at him slightly. he shifted his gaze to his and jody's interlocked hands and internally rolled his eyes at the frizzy haired boy. it would be more of a shock to ryan if something happened between him and jody.

he looked back at the scene before him and chewed on the inside of his cheek. he felt awful that this happened to her, he really did. he just couldn't help but ask himself where she was when he had died. (where were they all?)

it was selfish and a shitty thing to wonder but god, it was the only thing he could think about. they didn't even know the real story, but they didn't know charlie's either.

the only difference between their stories is that they all cared about what happened to charlie, even his own sister looked on with pity, not the disgust she held in her eyes when she saw him. the realisation was a real blow to the chest.

ryan watched alex run over to the shaken girl when she stumbled and wrapped an arm around her waist, taking her hand and helping her into the lounge to sit down.

a pang of jealousy shot through his heart but he instantly ignored it. the poor girl had been mugged, what gave him the right to feel bad for himself? (everything.)

he looked down on himself with shame. whilst he was too busy thinking about himself, charlie had been fighting off an attacker, probably terrified out of her mind.

(they never looked down on themselves. whilst they were too busy thinking about themselves, ryan had lost his life to the rushing water, terrified out of his mind.)

as everyone filtered into the lounge, he and jody stayed in the doorway and watched on quietly. she noticed ryan's down hearted aura and quietly spoke up, "penny for your thoughts?" she asked, holding out the coin for him to take.

he smiled lightly, despite himself, and replied, "i just wish i could've done something. i mean, charlie and everyone here are the closest things to a friend that i've ever had," he admitted, looking away from jody's pitiful gaze, "the worst part is most of them don't even like me. sad, i know." he scoffed, picking at the rips in his skinny jeans.

"i like you," jody offered, punching his arm jokingly, "you're funny and smart, two things i never really noticed about you before."

ryan huffed out a small laugh, no humour evident in his tone, "you only like me now because it was you who walked in on me freaking out. if it were anyone else, i'd just be saying this to them and you would still hate me." he murmured cynically.

jody opened her mouth to argue but no words came out. he had hit the nail on the head. she lowered her head slightly, feeling awful about all the times she had ever been mean or distant towards him, "maybe you're right. maybe, if it had worked out differently, you could be talking to candi - rose or taz or anyone. that's the thing though, it didn't work out differently, ryan. i'm here now and that's not going to change."

ryan finally glanced at her, eyes slightly glassy but she didn't question it. he turned away again before speaking up once more, "i've been thinking." he began.

jody followed his line of sight, unsurprised to see him watching alex and charlie's interactions. another wave of pity crashed over her for the boy. nothing ever seemed to go his way.

"maybe..." he murmured in thought, jolting jody from her muse. she turned to him in curiosity as he spoke, "maybe i could do something. no one else is going to step up, right?"

"i guess not." jody answered him, unsure how to approach his vague question without sparking any bad ideas in his head.

ryan sighed when he saw her expression and crossed his arms self consciously, explaining what he meant, "i just- i don't want to be another freak, jodes. i mean, look at me," he gestured to himself with one hand, "now that i can do all of this, when stuff like that," he nodded his head towards charlie, noting the way she hung her head, "happens, i feel like a damn coward because i know i could at least try and help."

jody paused for a second, trying to gather if the boy was being serious or not. when she decided that his face showed no sign of lying, an ear - splitting grin made its way onto her face, "i was hoping you'd say that."

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ik this has been a pretty slow start but i don't believe in the 'oh i discovered i had superpowers an hour ago time to save a bank' crap. i mean, you've gotta at least get used to the idea for a few days and then make a thought through decision, let alone figure out what you can actually do, yano?

lol i'm not dead, just lazy. sorry for the wait