Aris Jones X Reader One Shots

Nothing

Nothing.

You felt nothing as you looked at him. No anger. No sadness. No anything. Just tired despite the sleep you had been forced into. You weren't sure if you could call it that with the memory that came with it, but you weren't sure there was another name for it.

Your expression was completely blank as you looked at them.

Everything.

Aris felt everything as he looked at you. Love. Thankfulness that you were alive. Pain. Everything.

He didn't say anything as he held his hand out. You didn't accept it, just looking over yourself. At the bruises and cuts despite not fighting them.

As you glanced up, you saw his face twist into a grimace, almost as if it physically hurt him.

You still didn't speak as you stood up without his help, walking past Teresa and out the cave. Your legs were shaky, but you ignored that and the bright sun as you started walking.

“Y/N, wait,”Aris called desperately. Stopping in your tracks, you stared at him, your eyes piercing into him. Teresa stood beside him, her expression something you didn't even care to read.

“I’m waiting.”

You said it as a fact. No snappiness. No anything. Just the simple truth.

“It was all part of a plan. WICKED wanted variables. Needed them, needed you. And they were gonna get it, whether we wanted to or not,”He explained.

“I don't believe you.”

Your words cut through him in a way he couldn't understand. He swore you just knocked all the air out of him.

“They would have killed you if we didn't,”Teresa tried.

“Totally,”You shrugged.

“We had to.”

“So you two weren't communicating telepathically in the Maze?”

“We were, but it was only about the plan and WICKED. That's it. I swear,”Aris pleaded.

“I still don't believe you.”

He took a shaky breath as he tried to think of what to do, of how to convince you that this was the truth this time. Of how he could undo all he did wrong.

“Yeah. That's kind of what it feels like. Betrayal sort of feels like that.”

You turned on your heel, leaving him to figure out what you meant. Walking down the sandy hill, you glared at the ground, scowling at the broken earth as a tear fell. Wiping it away with your sleeve, you took a breath before continuing to walk.

Getting over the shock of it all, Aris followed you, his footsteps light on the ground. Not on purpose. He just learned how to walk silently to prepare for the betrayal. Something that may just stay with him forever, a constant reminder of today.

His hand brushed over your shoulder. Stopping again, you turned to look at him, your face blank.

“I didn't have a choice. I’m sorry. I am. I just wanted to keep you safe.”

“Even if it meant losing me?”

“Yes.”

He cringed at his answer, but it was true. Protecting you had always been the most important thing to him, no matter what that meant.

“I don't know how to love you now. It was easy, and now it's just not. It was so easy to defend you when everyone else was actually wrong about you. But they weren't in a way, and now I look stupid.”

“I’m sorry. I am. You couldn't know. It would have ruined everything. This was the only way,”He whispered, his hands cupping your face. You tried to feel something at his touch. Shivers or butterflies or calmness or a blush or a racing heart. Any indication that your feelings were still there.

There was none of that. It just felt like hands on your face. Everything about him became literal. Not the usual happiness that he was supposed to bring.

“I love you,”He repeated softly. As you didn't say anything, he gently brushed his lips against yours.

You begged your heart to remind you why you always loved his kisses. To give you a sign that you would still find a way to genuinely smile against his mouth. To tell you that if he woke you up by kissing your temple life would be complete.

You didn't get that.

All you could think about was how his lips just touched another girl's. Almost as if he wasn't yours. Almost as if he never was.

He pulled away, his forehead pressed against yours as his eyes begged for you to speak. To tell him it was okay the way you usually did. To tell him you felt the same goosebumps on your skin he just did from a single kiss.

“It's not okay. It doesn't just get to be okay now. You lied to me, and now I look stupid. Why do you get to be okay after hurting me? Why do you get to be fine when I look like an idiot because of you? Why do you get to be forgiven after what you did? To be told it's alright while I have to just accept what happened? While I have to move past it as if you didn't just betray my trust? Why?”

You pulled away from him, crossing your arms as you looked at him for an answer. An honest one.

“I love you. If you stay with me, I’ll prove it to you every day. I promise,”He swore.

“No.”

“Please? I-”
“No. I’m not gonna wait around and be happy with you just for you to betray me again. Fuck off, Aris. Fuck you.”

Your face contorted to absolute hatred as you stormed off in the other direction to find the group. Anywhere that meant not being around him.

Not knowing what else to do, he sat down, his eyes wide as he replayed the moment over and over. The disgust from just looking at him. The rage. Your narrowed eyes and scowl said everything. Your low voice said even more.

Covering his face with his hands, he silently cried into them. Curling his knees to his chest, he covered his mouth as broken sobs left him.

Hesitantly, Teresa approached him, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. He cried harder at the contact, unable to look up.

“We have to leave soon,”She said gently.

“Just go,”He got out through muffled cries.

“You’ll die if you stay here, and nobody wants that. We have to go now. You can't make it up to her if you sit here and rot away.”

“Five minutes? Please?”He sniffled.

Sighing, Teresa nodded as she sat a few feet away from him. Taking out her pocket watch meant for the betrayal, she set a timer before placing it on the ground, staring straight ahead as if there wasn't a boy breaking down in plain sight.

There was nothing that could be done about it now. She knew that. No words would be any comfort. If it was Tom, nobody would be able to console her. Nobody but him.

Nobody would be able to console Aris. Nobody but you.

How could you? How could you fix him after he broke your once happy relationship as if it was nothing? How could you fix him after he caused you pain that would haunt your sleep?

You can't.

So for once, you won't.