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[𝙴𝚙𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚍𝚎 .𝟻] 𝙽𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜

Taylor cried into my shoulder, clutching at my shirt with all the might his trembling, weak muscles could muster. I held him in my arms, soothing him by rubbing his back and combing my hand through his now messy brown hair.

    He let out a sob, weeping as his words turned ineligible. He cried for his parents which haven't come back, cried for our classmates, and cried for me and Hayley. I held him closer, whispering sweet, meaningless words to him during this rare moment of weakness. This rare weakness was becoming more common. I hope it didn't. This hurts my heart to see him like this, I don't think I could handle it if this continued.

    I'd been in his head before, and he'd been in mine, I thought to myself as I told him to let it all out, that it was okay to do that with me. I knew every thought, every memory, he wouldn't seem weak to me.

    "Your parents will come back, and when they do we'll be a happy family again." I included myself to make him feel better, even though we both knew I didn't feel like part of their family. I never truly fit in with them. Taylor was too far gone to care though, his sobbing was calming down, however.

    Six months without their parents, I know how they felt. When my dad went missing, my mom and I both worried a lot. And I knew what it was like, to suffer the loss of both parents and have to deal with that too. It hurt, so much. I'm still aching though it's been years.

    Taylor was getting restless, near his breaking point. I know Hayley wasn't much better.

"Why haven't they come back yet? They said they would, I let them go cause they promised...!" He curled up, his head dropping from my shoulder down to my stomach, hugging me for dear life. The crying had stopped completely, fortunately enough.

"Taylor, they're still alive, their okay, I'm sure of it. Have faith in them, they're strong. They'll come back, I'm sure." I didn't know if what I was saying was right, but I was sure. They are alive, I know that. Because they have Taylor and Hayley to come back to, and there would be nothing stopping them from doing so.

      He looked up, head barely moving from my lap, "How can you be so certain?" His voice broke, raspy from all the crying.

"I just said why they're strong Taylor. Two of the strongest Jaeger pilots I know."

"You know a lot of Jaeger pilots..." he mumbled, pressing his face back into me again.

I sighed, before giggling, pulling him up and trying to lighten the mood. "They'll be back in no time, Huntles."

He pouted, grumbling. "That stupid nickname? Again? What happened to the old one? It was so much better."

"Exactly, Huntles! This one is so much more embarrassing, so I have to keep it." I gushed. Huntles was a name given to him by our fellow cadets, he said one day he was gonna pilot Hunter Vertigo someday like his parents when an older cadet had asked, and the older cadet had called him Little Hunter, and then someone had yelled 'Huntles!' Starting his newest nickname.

The older one was worse, Blow it all, (we kept that one away from his parents, no cadets in the academy that called him that meant anything by it, everyone had nicknames, we were all okay with it, helped us bond). It was hilarious though.

"I'd take BlowitAll over Huntles..." he paused for a second before a mischievous smirk made its way onto his mouth, "Moretts."

I groaned and pushed on his face as he laughed, falling off the bed.

Moretts, a mix between Mori and Beckett's, my parents. Given to me for obvious reasons, I wore it with pride. Sometimes.

We laughed at the nicknames, holding onto the normalness it gave us, a sense of familiarity.

And suddenly, it wasn't tears of grief or sadness he was crying of, but happiness and laughter, and so did I. Tears of joy streamed down my face too.

"What are you two doing?" Hayley walked in, and we erupted in laughter again.

"???"

"Haybales come join us," I offered.

"Haybales." Taylor wheezed.

"In what?" She asked, confused. Shyly walking over to sit in my lap.

"Laughing at each other."

"Why would you do that?" She asked, confused.

"Because it helps us remember good times, like back at the academy. Remember when we brought you in for family day, and Taylor's friend, Henry, tried to impress his sister and pulled Taylor into it too, they tried the simulator and on the thirteenth drop Taylor got jump scared by the Kaiju and completely fell on his face, and then Henry laughed so much he got taken out too?" I cackled at the memory.

Hayley giggled too, while Taylor complained. "Wha... No fair! What about the time (Y/n) claimed she could match Mrs. Beckett's simulator score and then failed on the first Kaiju drop!" He whined, and my face dropped.

"Yeah, I remember that." I was standing up for someone who joked about me, proved them right in the end by losing, but my classmates stood up for me anyway.

Hayley put her hands over mine as I clutched her in my arms, "Thanks."

"No problem, it's okay to feel sad sometimes. I'll be there for you when you are, and so will Taylor!" Hayley looked at Taylor with a smile and he looked back at me with a smile and a nod.

"And I'll always be there for you two," I promised them, smiling.

"Alright, so let's try and think up a funny story about Hayley now, okay Taylor?"

"What?! No!!" She whined and we laughed. Yeah, everything was gonna be okay.

Taylor - 14
(Y/n) - 13
Hayley - 9

𝚃𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚘𝚛-
𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 - 𝟷𝟶𝟶%
𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 - 𝟾%
𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠, 𝕓𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕.

𝙷𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚎𝚢-
𝚂𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚍 - 𝟾𝟿%
𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙- 𝟺𝟹%
𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 - 𝟸%
𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕞𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙! 𝕀 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤 𝕞𝕠𝕞 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕕𝕒𝕕 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕖 𝕤𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡𝕤, 𝕀'𝕞 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪'𝕝𝕝 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜!