Still Beating

10

you could have just told me

.

Edward was panicking. Just a bit. He was also no longer at the school. Instead, he was standing at the border, wondering how the hell he was gonna get Jacob Black's attention without a blatant disrespect of the treaty. He needed advice and fast: it hadn't even been a day and she had him basically pinned down. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Leech, what the hell? Why are you here?

"Jake! How did you know I was here? I haven't done anything yet."

Edward peered into the tree line, looking for any sight of the shifter, in either form. It seems the wolf was taking his time to arrive face to face.

You're calling me Jake now? I didn't realize we were friends.

"Now is not the time for your vitriol. I met Genesis and she knows I can read minds!"

How in the hell did you manage that, batman?

"Original. Will you please face me so we can have a proper conversation about this? I have to get back to school to talk to her before classes end."

You have like 6 hours, relax.

Despite his words, Edward could hear Black rustling in the bushes, and the distinct sound of a zipper rising. Shouldn't he have been in school and not lurking around in wolf form? It's a Monday and even werewolves have to get an education. The vampire was of the mind to ask until Jacob left the shrubbery in all his shirtless and bronzed glory. How the hell was he wet even post shift?

"Stop looking at me like I'm a meal, bloodsucker."

Edward was swallowing again, he was worried the dryness would make his throat break apart into a dusty mess that spilled out every time he spoke. Would he even be able to speak without a throat. Speaking...

"You didn't think it important to tell me, the mind reader, that your friend can't speak?!"

Jacob's mind was blissfully silent for a long, beautiful 30 seconds before it erupted in questions, concerns, and imaginations of all the things that could've made his best friend mute. The visuals were a bit gruesome even for a vampire: a preteen Black girl with her throat slit open, bleeding profusely over her hand as she held it closed and walked a highway, the same girl being choked underwater by indistinct but strong hands, another of her being strung up by rope in the middle of a field.

It was overwhelming, and Edward had to yell, "Stop! Please, I can't handle your mind right now. Who the hell is that?"

Genesis.

"Why would you imagine her like that? What the hell happened?"

She was kidnapped three years ago, just before your family moved back to Forks. I was supposed to meet her and her mom at the town middle school and then we were gonna go see a movie. I tried to ditch it by getting there late because I chickened out on telling her something. When I got to Forks Middle, Ms. Knight was there but Gen was gone. She was found a week later walking south on I-5. I never got to see her, so I never knew what happened or how hurt she was. I haven't seen her since the day before she went missing.

"The last time I heard her voice was that morning on a landline call. It was the only way to wake her up back then."

Edward doesn't think Jacob realized his switch to audible conversation. He looked worried and ultimately defeated. If Jasper were here, he'd be positively doubled over with the grief the wolf was carrying. Edward could feel it himself, and he's far from an empath.

"It was a tragedy that couldn't have been avoided. You weren't a wolf then, just little a boy. There's no way you could've stopped someone from taking and harming her. I promise, she doesn't blame you: when she thought of your name her mind glowed bright. I think she can't wait to see you, if I'm honest."

He didn't know why he felt so compelled to console the despondent teen. There's just something inherently wrong about seeing Black look so dull. It was as if he was a candle whose wick was unceremoniously pinched out. A burning light extinguished instead of the roaring inferno Edward was so used to seeing. The sight had an uncomfortable pit building in his stomach - the feeling felt both startlingly empty and ominously heavy. It was a feeling he was wholly unfamiliar with and he wanted it gone.

"I think you should see her sooner rather than later. Come back to the school with me."

There was no room for argument in Edward's tone, but guilt-ridden or not, Jacob Black was still Jacob Black, "No. What would I even say? How am I supposed to look her in the eye? She's probably going to hit me in the face!"

"That would break her hand, we should probably avoid that."

"Not fucking helpful, Cullen," Jacob shouted, pushing the vampire, resulting in the slightest of a stumble - like he was waiting for it. The wolf's ears were starting burn red. His chest was practically vibrating.

Edward found his eyes rolling - it was unbecoming, but it felt right for this situation. Jacob wouldn't listen to reason, but with some button-pushing he'd liven up and go see her out of spite.

So, Edward pushed, "It also probably isn't going to happen, Black. You're being irrational. As always."

"Fuck off! You play around in her head for - what, an hour? And suddenly you think you know all there is to Genesis! You couldn't even tell she was mute until she caught you red fucking handed! Which, how the fuck did you manage that, huh? Off your game, mindhunter?"

There was literal steam raising from his chest. Edward hadn't realized the chill came with such humidity. There must be some rain on the forecast today. He knew the wolf was right. There was no reason for him to be so far off-base like he was today. For him to be so stressed - to the point that his body started showing physical symptoms, and his mind could not focus on the most important of details. He wasn't going to let Jacob know that, though. The brat could come to his own conclusions.

Instead, he said, "I may be off my game, but at least I'm going to face her - I'm not a coward."

There was a distinct sound of denim tearing and the sound of air rushing around him, and - oh - Edward's nestled in mulch again. There's a snout in his face, snarling and drooling. Werewolves are so heavy in this form, and so loud.

"When are you going to stop doing this little trick in particular? We both know you're not going to hurt me."

When you learn to respect boundaries, leech! Both physical and mental! You're in my head all the time, you know my fucking limits. Act right or I'll rip your head off - treaty be damned.

"You could also simply not have such a hair trigger."

Edward's snark was met with a snap of the jowls a few centimeters too close to his eyes just before the beast on his chest pushed away from him. He stood only to watch the wolf trot away from him, but not towards the tree line as he expected.

"Where are you going?"

I'm not going to your school naked, bat fucker.

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A/N: our fave supernaturals both have little crises in this one, haha. also, rpatz is literally batman, I couldn't help myself