#jayce is NOT a top stay delusional

[janceezer]

no but viktor is literally a God / a deity he has that halo (in his final form), they made him look like literal Jesus, he performed MIRACLES, he came back to life three times. so yes, divine worship. so yes, jayce should be kissing the ground he walks on, kneel before his altar, make stained glass windows of viktor, become his apostle, immortalise him in statues, literally worship his soul, his body and mind. nothing less than that will be accepted. (I know he will)

[the-twinventors]

An Unpleasant Surprise

WARNING: STUPIDLY LONG!!

It legitimately scared the twins how time flew sometimes. Just yesterday it felt like they’d found out about Galaxy, which was back in June - and now here they were, just a few days away from Christmas. And Stella was practically ready to pop. But she had another month to go yet - in theory, anyway. The Braxton Hicks were going strong, and they both knew actual labour could start at any given moment.

For now, though, they were happy enough to just relax in their apartment. With them being off for winter break, they had all the time they could want to lounge on the couch under a heap of blankets and play video games. The apartment was decorated for the holiday - not too over the top, but still enough to get them a little in the mood. With so many new friends, they were hoping this year would be much better than the previous years.

At least, that was the hope… until they heard a knock on the door.

Stella blinked, exchanging a look with her brother. “You expecting anyone, bro?”

“No. Maybe it’s Maple returning the textbook we lent her. You stay, I’ll get it.” Standing up, Jayce took a second to stretch out - lounging for a long time could make you pretty stiff - before swiping his keys from the coffee table and calmly striding over to the door. Yeah, they didn’t often get visitors, unless they’d pre-planned study groups or game nights, or lent things in the hopes they’d get them back, so they didn’t really think it was anything to be concerned about.

But when he pulled the door open, both twins froze. Their hearts dropped into their stomachs. Their blood chilled to ice.

No… this couldn’t be happening…

“Hello, sweeties~!”

Talia. Talia. Their mother. She was here.

It took Jayce a moment to get his breath back. It honestly felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “… what…?”

Talia laughed, completely ignorant to the issue. “Surprise! I bet you weren’t expecting me to come and visit, were you? It’s been so long - I’ve been dying to see my baby boy and girl again!”

Jayce finally found his tongue properly, his face contorting. “Wh-- what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Oh, well that’s a nice way to say hello to your mother!” Talia frowned, crossing her arms with a playful pout. “I’d expect you to at least be a little happy. I see you’re still as disrespectful as always…”

How can you expect us to be happy when we literally withheld our address so you couldn’t pay a surprise visit like this?!

Actually, on that topic… Jayce shifted in the doorway, his fist clenching. “How the hell did you even get our address?! We never told you what it was!”

“Oh, that bit was easy.” Talia waved her hand like it was all just a big game to her. “I knew Max wasn’t going to tell me - you know how stubborn he is. So I decided to just come to the campus anyway and check in with the admin. They wouldn’t give it to me, either - something about student confidentiality, or something like that. So then I started asking around, hoping one of the other students would know, and what do you know, they did! They even showed me the way to your building!” She laughed again, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “The students here are so nice - I can see why you wanted to come here.”

“Why are you here, though?” Stella leaned over to better see out the doorway from her position on the couch. Thank Chaos all her blankets were hiding her bump. “It’s a three-hour journey, and you can’t drive - wait…” She’d only now just noticed the items at their mother’s side, and she looked alarmed. “Why do you have suitcases??”

“Why do you think, you silly little thing?” Talia lifted both suitcases up by the handle and forcefully nudged past Jayce into the apartment, ignoring how both of them bristled at her nerve. “When you told your father you’d be skipping Christmas again, well, you can imagine how upset I was. It’s supposed to be a time for family, after all! So I decided I’d just come down and spend Christmas with you, since you won’t come to us!”

“Like hell you are.” Jayce pointed at the still-open door. “If you hurry, you might still be able to catch the next bus back to Red Gate City.”

“Besides…” Stella tilted her head suspiciously. “Don’t you still have a bakery to run? Pretty sure your your clientele won’t be happy if all your Christmas treats run out.”

“I’ll have you know that I’ve got a new hire willing to cover my shifts for the season.” Talia frowned at them again, already removing her coat, scarf and gloves. “I want to be able to spend as much time with my babies as possible. Honestly, after I made all the effort to come here…”

We don’t want you here! LEAVE!!

Sighing, Stella sat up a little. She didn’t want to get too angry - Galaxy wouldn’t appreciate it. She was already going nuts in there from how worked up Stella already was. Hopefully Talia would agree to a compromise. “Only for Christmas. You leave on Boxing Day. That’s my pitch - take it or leave it.”

Talia’s eyes lit up, and she smirked, setting her things on top of one of her cases. “That long, sweetie? Surely you’d want to bond with your mother for a little longer--“

“Shut the fuck up and listen to me for once in your damn life.”

Stella leaned forward, tugging at the blankets a little to hide her bump better. “All of us know you’re not gonna leave until you get your own damn way, but at the same time, the two of us aren’t gonna tolerate your little mind games anymore. If you want to stay here for the holidays, you’re gonna have to follow our rules. Either you’re out of here by Boxing Day, or we call campus security to throw you out. And we’re really good friends with the security, so you’re gonna be surprised if you try sweet-talking them. So either take our offer, or go find a hotel if you’re so intimidated by us taking control in our own fucking apartment, but we’re not gonna put up with your ‘my way or the highway’ crap anymore. Do I make myself clear?”

Talia was silent the entire time Stella spoke, an incredulous look frozen on her face - but there was a slight hint of anger too. The twins knew that look all too well. That was her ‘how dare you defy your mother like that’ look. But they both straightened up and hardened their own expressions, refusing to be intimidated. They had to make it clear to her that she wasn’t in control anymore.

After a few seconds, she found her tongue, and she stormed towards the couch, one hand grabbing Stella’s bicep to yank her up. “Alright, you insolent little bitch, you listen to me--”

“Hey, don’t you fucking touch her!” Jayce lunged at her, but she promptly shoved him back, causing him to fall on his tail.

“Get the hell off me!” Stella clawed at Talia’s wrist with her free hand, but she used her other hand to grab the front of her shirt, succeeding in forcefully pulling her off the couch. Unfortunately, her bump threw off her centre of gravity, which resulted in her tumbling off the couch and falling on her knees, the blankets falling away.

“Get away from her!!” Jayce grabbed Talia’s shoulders and yanked her away viciously, hard enough that both of them tumbled over backwards.

Shoving him back again, she stood up, looking towards Stella again. “Listen here, you--”

She froze, eyes widening in shock. It was only then the twins realised the new issue they had to deal with. Stella’s very pregnant belly was now on full display for all to see. Their plans of hiding Galaxy from Talia were completely dashed now. Sighing in annoyance at the realisation, but more concerned about whether or not the tumble had hurt Galaxy, Stella carefully rose to her feet again, one hand on her stomach to try and gauge what was happening. The whole time, Talia just stared and pointed, her lips twitching as she tried to form words, while Jayce slowly began to move between the two women to prevent another blowup.

One more silence later, Talia’s face contorted again, into a vicious snarl. “You stupid girl! You got yourself pregnant?! What the hell were you thinking?! Oh, Chaos, what are people going to think of you?! What are my friends going to think when I go home and tell them my daughter’s a little whore?!”

“They better not think anything. Because it’s none of their fucking business.” Furious as she was, Stella maintained a calm tone of voice. “Just like it’s not any of yours. Our lives aren’t one of your stupid soap operas to gossip about.”

“Excuse me?! You’re my daughter, so it’s my business! You have to get rid of it!” Talia crossed her arms, glaring at Jayce. “Why the hell didn’t you think to stop her, you stupid boy?!”

“Hey, don’t you fucking dare pin this on me. She made the choice to keep her baby.” Jayce met her glare evenly. “And I support her decision, as a matter of fact. Like she said, it’s none of your business what we do with our lives.”

“Yes it is! You have to get rid of it!” Talia frowned disapprovingly at Stella. “I’m taking you to the nearest abortion clinic tomorrow! I’m getting you an emergency appointment! I’m sure they can find some way to squeeze you in--”

“They won’t.” A triumphant smirk formed on the younger twin’s muzzle. “I’m coming up to thirty-five weeks. No reputable clinic is gonna abort a pregnancy as far along as mine.”

Talia snarled, unwilling to admit Stella was right. “Well, you’ll just have to adopt it out, then! When are you due? We might still have time to make the proper arrangements--”

“No.” Stella stepped right up to her, meeting her eyes. “I’m not gonna let my child feel as unloved as you made us feel. I plan on being a better mother to her than you ever were to us. And if you think you’re going to have any part in her life, you’re fucking delusional.”

“Wh--?” Talia had the gall to look confused. “Don’t be stupid, you’ve never looked after a baby! I’m more qualified than you are! Oh, actually, that’s a good idea - just give that baby to me!” She lit up like she’d had the epiphany of the year. “I’ve got far more parenting experience than either of you - that baby will be much better off with me than with either of you!”

“We can confirm from experience that she won’t.” Jayce rolled his eyes.

“Oh, don’t be silly! You and your brothers all turned out fine, didn’t you?” Talia laughed, like nothing was wrong with how she’d raised them. “Trust me, you’ll be doing that poor thing a favour letting me have it - you’ll thank me later! It’s only going to suffer if you’re the ones responsible for--”

Before either her or Jayce had time to react, both of Stella’s hands had shot out and grabbed the front of Talia’s shirt, yanking her down to eye level. The next few minutes were filled with an incredibly tense silence - neither twin had ever shown any kind of violence to Talia before, so this was definitely new. When she next spoke, her voice was dark and threatening, the tone of a scorned mother determined to protect her child.

“You’re going to have to pry my daughter out of my cold, dead hands.”

For just another moment more, Talia stared, unable to believe that her children were daring to defy her. Though they couldn’t understand why - they’d been defying her ever since they were in elementary school, so she had to be used to it by now. Did she really have her head that far up her own back end that she thought they’d just bend to her? She should have known better…

“Oh, would you look at the time!” Talia’s sudden chirp caught their attention. “You spent so much time pointlessly bickering with me that I’ve missed the last bus! You silly little things!”

Horrified, the twins spun around to find the clock - fuck, she was right! The last bus was gone! Had she deliberately provoked them into arguing with her to waste that time?! Ugh, they were so fucking stupid!!

“Right… well, our offer is still up there. You can either find a hotel, or be out of our apartment by Boxing Day.” Stella released Talia, still glaring angrily. “But because you could have hurt my daughter pulling me off the couch, I’m really not comfortable having you in the apartment.”

“Neither am I.” Jayce snatched Talia’s things from the suitcase and tossed them back over to her, a glare of his own forming. “You’ve got one chance to leave on your own before I kick you out myself. There should still be a few hotels open willing to give you a room.”

Talia scoffed. “You two aren’t seriously going to kick your own mother out, are you? Well, it’s going to take more than that.” Tossing her things back onto her case, she slammed the door shut and began pulling them along towards the bedroom doors. “Besides, you’re going to need my help with the baby if you’re so insistent on keeping it, so I might as well hang around until it’s born. You’ll thank me later. Now, which rooms are yours? I need to see which one I’m going to be staying in…”

Jayce and Stella exchanged a look - one that screamed fear, frustration and full-on anger. This was not going to be fun…