The Libra (Eric Derekson + S̀e̡̛͠p͡ţ͠į͜͡c̸̢ Egos G/T) (One-Shots)

Indelible

Eric was nibbling on a fig newton bar when Jackie suddenly came barging in, followed by the soft-spoken JJ. The human yelped and fumbled to not drop his lunch, while Chase pitched an empty wrapper.

"Hey! What happened to knocking?" He protested. JJ brought up a loose fist and politely knocked on the cavern wall. "... Thanks." Eric let out a little titter and hid his face with the fruit bar.

"Chase, this is no time for caviling!" Jackie insisted. "We came here because we wanted to make sure the little duder was okay. He's been hiding in here for the past three days, and you keep postponing having supper with us! Is he sick? Is he trying to lose weight? Is he vegan? Is he—?"

"Whooaa, Jackie— Jackie!" Chase subtly shifted his leg in front of Eric, as if to shield him from the barrage of questions. "Slow down bro! He's okay. He's not sick, and he isn't a vegan." Eric seemed to take an interest in the floor as he continued to anxiously nibble.

"[Avoiding Stockholm Syndrome?]" JJ prompted. Chase shook his head, and the mute shrugged cluelessly as he scratched his head.

"Then what?" Jackie pleaded. "Little duder, if ye don't like us then you can just say so! We're just worried about ya." Eric shriveled, hunching under the superhero's distressed stare. He licked the crumbs from his fingers and awkwardly set the wrapper aside, wincing when Chase spoke up.

"Of course he likes you! He doesn't hate us, he just... He isn't up to talking to a bunch of us at once. He's still gettin' used to us." The young human found himself nodding as he kept his gaze averted.

"Well... Yeah, okay." Jackie's shoulders relaxed as he sighed in admission. "But ya can't just hog him, Chase, we wanna get to know him too!" Chase smiled thinly.

"He will when he wants to. I don't wanna force him into anything." Relieved, Eric turned away from the conversation and resumed eating from the small stash that they had "borrowed" from storage. The three giants chatted together a little bit longer before saying goodbye and leaving them be.

Above him, Chase let out a big sigh and propped his chin on his arm. "I'm sorry, little dude," he apologized. Eric turned sharply toward him.

"F-for-for what?" He held a packet of fruit snacks in his wringing hands, eyes widened with concern.

"Well... I mean I kinda just spoke for you, and I should have let you speak for yourself."

"O-oh..." Eric shrugged and meekly popped a grape-flavored gummy in his mouth. "I-It's-it's fine, I'm-I'm used to it." Chase frowned.

"Used to it?" He echoed.

"Y-yeah, my-my dad does everything for me..." Eric trailed off and quietly corrected, "D-did."

"... Oh." The giant fell quiet for a few seconds. "... My-my dad was nothin' like that," he mentioned tersely. "I mean... He didn't really give a shit what I cared about. Just 'do this' and 'be that', th-the usual BS..." Eric cast a sidelong glance to his side, but he didn't look up.

"I-I-I mean, it-it was f-for the-for the best," he stammered, "He-he did e-everything right, and-and I-I-I always m-messed everything up." Chase's frown carved deeper with an unreadable emotion darkening his eyes.

"... Hey." He put his hand next to the human, wincing sympathetically when the little guy jolted in surprise. "You do not mess everything up. Screwing up once in a while is perfectly fine— it's those mistakes that let us grow and become better people— but letting your dad push you around and make all of the choices for you isn't gonna help you. It'll only make it worse. No one should make important decisions about you without your consent, and even then it should be in the interest of your well-being, of who you are and who you want to be." His eyes narrowed as a slight scowl crossed his lips. "And if someone tries to tell you who you want to be or who you should be, then fuck them. Be your own person, not somebody else's."