#mark mech x4

[lesbian-bree-davenport]

mech-x4 + textposts (1/?)

[click for better quality]

[ezzysartifact]

Mark Walker Having A Crush On You

Mark Walker having a crush on you would include…

Mark showing off at every chance he can get (like usual), but way less confident and a lot more awkward failures.

Mark tripping over his words whenever he compliments you.

Mark smiling like an idiot whenever you walk into the room.

Ryan making fun of him for his “awesome Mark Walkerness” disappearing whenever you’re around.

Him getting girl advice from his mother, but then getting super embarrassed when she wants to know more about you.

Mark’s basketball buddies hyping him up whenever you come around.

Ryan and the Mech-X4 team teasing him about you. Even Harris.

Spyder unintentionally revealing his crush on you.

[artistartisian]

Been getting a little obsessed over MECH-X4 again so I finally drew something. For now it's still a sketch tho.

I love Mark and Ryan's bond and I really like how protective Mark can get so I *had* to draw them after Ryan's been hurt in a fight! I had this idea in my head for a bit of Mark getting really protective after Ryan had been hurt and taking care of him. I just really enjoy their bonding!

[digitalfate]

Anyway here's some random Mech-X4 gifs bc why not. Idrc if you give credit. Just don't claim as your own.

[youweremadetosoar]

Hey guys, I wrote a short ficlet about Ryan, it’s based on mechexecute260’s headcannon and is basically just a slightly extended version of it. The idea credit goes to mechexecute260, like I said but the writing is mine. I hope you enjoy, I titled it “Just to be Sure”

~~~~~~

"Oh no, please no. No no no no no Mark! Mark, please wake up! Mark! M-" Ryan bolted upright, shaken from his nightmare.

He brought his knees up to his chest and tucked his head out of sight, trying to hide from the darkness around him.

"It’s okay; it’s okay; Mark’s okay; I’m okay." Ryan breathed and tried to convince himself; his voice was so quiet he could barely hear it. Ryan sat there, rocking himself for what seemed like hours, until he got up with the intention of going to the bathroom before trying once again to sleep. As he walked into the hallway, he mentally repeated his mantra. "It’s okay, Mark’s okay, I’m okay," over and over, knowing in his head it was true.

He’d been having these particular nightmares for a while, ever since they got back from the Arctic. He would see himself standing over his brother and aiming his weapon at him. In the Arctic, he thought he was threatening Treager, but in his dream, he could clearly see himself standing over Mark, over his brother, and being ready to fire the ooze canon. He recalled Harris barreling into him, knocking him away from Mark, but in Ryan’s dream he wasn’t that lucky. He watched helplessly as he shot his own brother, and the mirage faded away to leave a motionless Mark. He remembered pleading with his brother to wake up, that feeling of desperation still lingering even when he woke up.

Ryan shook his thoughts away and continued to the bathroom before his feet brought him to rest in front of Mark's door. "He’s okay," Ryan told himself. "You’re being stupid," he mumbled, but a part of him, that part that wanted to make sure it was really a dream, whispered, "just to check, just to be sure," so he pushed the door open anyway. As quietly as he could, he crept towards Mark’s bed, holding in a laugh as he saw his brother drooling onto his pillow, and he just paused for a minute. He knew he shouldn’t hover; Mark would think he was being ridiculous, but he stayed until he’d watched Mark’s chest rise and fall steadily 15 times, counting them to himself. Reassured that his brother was alive, he, after some deliberation, pulled the covers up to better protect his brother and headed back into the hallway.

Ryan used the bathroom and then walked back towards his room, his gait slowing slightly as he passed Mark’s door once again before spurring himself onward into his own room. As he laid down, closing his eyes and trying to fall back asleep, he repeated his mantra one more time, "It’s okay, Mark’s okay, I’m okay," before falling back asleep to the comforting thought of his brother’s steady breathing.

[ladym-17]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Mech-X4 (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ryan Walker & Mark walker Characters: Ryan Walker, Mark Walker Additional Tags: Brothers, Skipping Class, Arguing, lying Series: Part 9 of Whumptober 2022 Summary:

Mark comes home from college to find Ryan's work-life balance has gone wrong.

Content Warnings: Swearing, arguing

[lt-chari]

C:User>Admin>Records | ~query "benetton"

personnel>charisBenetton.dt

disciplinary>3147-08-13_benetton.dt

mechLogs>benettonEyesInFlame.dt

mechLogs>benettonMoonsOverEmber.dt

C:User>Admin>Records | ~open personnel>charisBenetton.dt

NOTICE: This file is marked [NOT FOR GENERAL PUBLICATION]

Redact? [Y/N]

C:User>Admin>Records | Y

Redaction level?

C:User>Admin>Records | 1

Displaying....

// SILVER WING MERCENARY COMPANY \\

--This information is not for public distribution.--

CHARIS SAMUEL BENETTON

Rank: Lieutenant Senior Grade, Lance Commander

Assigned Unit: Bravo Lance

Personal 'Mech: Black Knight BLK-9-RR-L "Moons Over Ember"

Date of Birth: 3118-01-13

Age: 35

Listed Gender: F

Physiological Details: [Redacted]

Height: 175cm

Weight: 69kg

Eye Color: Brown

Languages Known: English (First Language), Biak (Fluent), Arabic (Beginner)

Organ Donor: Y

Current Location: [Redacted]

COMBAT EXPERIENCE

12 years contracted to SWMC

5 large operations

61 deployments

54 combat deployments

[Redacted] confirmed kills

54 battlemechs incapacitated/destroyed

115 combat vehicles incapacitated/destroyed

12 aerospace craft downed

2 dropships downed

Areas Deployed: [Redacted]

Awards: SWMC Crest of the Hawk (3147), SWMC Distinguished Service (Amethyst 3143, Tourmaline 3147, Peridot 3150), SWMC Offensive Ribbons x1, SWMC Defensive Ribbons x4, SWMC Raiding Ribbons x43

[theworldvsyoshiko]

Despite everything, that put the colony over the $350k mark, so here we are. I mean, if I'm not going for Archonexus I don't need to end now, but this seems like a good spot for it anyway. The last several fights have been kinda iffy, so gotta get out while we still can. I guess it's a good guideline to remember for the future--this seems to be a good wealth level to cut and run, if you aren't pretty combat optimized.

The gang's a bit bigger this time.

Colony 2 (Study Butte) Stats:

Number of bodies buried outside: I absolutely did not do that this time. Way too much work. There was a corpse pile out back.

Colonist deaths: 3 (Cella, Da Silva, Natalya) Also, Slayer the Welsh Terrier and Jerky the Elephant.

Surviving colony members: 8

Yoshiko’s kills (humanoid): 35 (lifetime: 79)

Yoshiko’s kills (mechs): 24 (lifetime: 63)

Yoshiko’s kills (animals): 130 (lifetime: 209) So many fucking bugs.

Most pathetic surviving colony member: All of the more battered elephants died in that last fight, and the colony's mastery of bionics has stopped anybody from being horribly maimed over and over. I'm giving the award to Valabregue though. I had to scroll several times to get to the end of her injury list after that last fight, and she was within about 20 minutes of bleeding out before they patched her together.

Number of mechs: Militor Lancer Tunneler Centipede Gunner Centipede Blaster Legionary Lifter x4 Constructoid x2 Agrihand x2 Cleansweeper x2 Fabricor

Yoshiko's bodily situation:

Including her 24/7 neural supercharge, she:

takes 25% less damage from all sources, post armor.

is completely comfortable up to 97F when totally naked.

feels 50% less pain.

recovers from diseases 22% faster.

eats... probably a bit more food than a normal person, when you count in the sleep accelerator. But not a ton.

ignores 60% of environment toxins.

ignores 50% of the effect of toxins that do get into her.

eats 26% faster. (why is this a stat?)

gets tired 80% as fast.

does most labor at 151% speed.

... but twice as fast for things like surgery and making medication.

moves at about the same speed as a cheetah.

is within 1.6% of the maximum ranged weapons accuracy. If she isn't wearing the mechlord suit it's like 0.7%.

has kitty ears.

[lrwafterdark-deactivated]

Welcome to the Dark Side, We have Mpreg and eggs.

Angry Marcus stan, poly shipper, and fanfiction defender.

NSFW Account.

My birthday is February 9th if anyone cares.

While I may post some nsfw prompts and headcanons I don’t post actual nsfw fics on tumblr, even before the great tumblr purge

I may be trash but I do not tolerate bullying for people’s ships for almost any reason unless the ship is a pedo ship. We all have different headcanons and beliefs.

Fanfiction requests and inquiries may be sent to my askbox or my new public email, labratswhore@gmail.com

My only DNIS are terfs, pornbots and 60 plus year old men, thanks!

N/S/F/W things to ask me about:

N/S/F/W headcanons

Kinks

🍆 Stuff

Smutt fic requests

Squicky stuff like Mpreg

If I cannot do something I will either ignore the ask if anon or answer it privately off anon.

Main/Special ships:

Mareana (Marcus/Breana)

Tankam! (Adam/Tank)

Kazivana (Kaz, Breana and Oliver)

SteelCanary (Breana/Nate Heywood)

NightCanary (Breana/Dick Grayson)

Breana/Tecton (his name is too awkward for a ship name)

Dizzy (bad ship name but Douglas/Lizzy)

Breana/Megahertz (again, his name is too awkward for a ship name)

Breana/Tecton/Megahertz poly

Kazana (Breana and Kaz)

Olivana (Breana and Oliver)

Fandoms (a condensed list because I have way too many):

Lab Rats

Mighty Med

Lab Rats: Elite Force (even though most of EF canon was trash)

Mech-X4

Rick and Morty

Supernatural

Stargirl

Titans

Arrowverse (Especially Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow)

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Zoey and Leif and Mo are baes)

Daredevil (except it is 2021 and I have yet to watch season 3)

MCU

Girl Meets World

Liv and Maddie

Ships Involving Canon Characters (not all just the mains):

AdamxTank

Chaz/Kase

Chaziver (Chase/Kaz/Oliver)

Brylar

Leo/Logan

Taylor x Kate

Destiel

Olicity

Saileen

Stony

Stucky

Foggy/Karen

Kaziver

FitzSimmons

Olicity

Clintasha

Pepperony

Techertz

Ships Involving OCs:

Marcus Henderson/Breana Davenport

Douglas Davenport/Lizzy Knight

Rick Tyler/Breana Davenport

Mark Walker/Breana Davenport

Nate Heywood/Breana Davenport

Sebastian|S-3/Ellie Frost

Dean Winchester/Breana Davenport

Ryan Walker/Breana Davenport

Breana Davenport/Leo Mendel

Rarepairs:

Ray Palmer/Nora Darhk/Nate Heywood

Probably more because I am a filthy, filthy multishipper

Crossover Ships:

Oliver Queen/Matt Murdock

Clint Barton/Leo Mendel

Donald Davenport/Leo Mendel

Poly Ships:

Ray Palmer/Nora Darhk/Nate Heywood

Poly Ships With OCs:

Dean Winchester/Castiel/Breana Davenport

Oliver/Breana Davenport/Kaz

Nate Heywood/Breana Davenport/Mick Rory (which is the ship portrayed in my contribution to the lab rats rp blogs)

Marcus Davenport/Breana Davenport/Steve Rogers

Tecton/Breana Davenport/Megahertz

This is not an exhaustive list and will be periodically updated

Tags to Filter instead of just blocking me (you should be filtering ships you don’t like in general):

Mareana - that’s Breana and Marcus

Kazivana - Kaz, Breana and Oliver.

sexy stuff - the nsfw/smutty stuff

[itslikeababywithamustache]

Happy birthday to meee.

On the lowkey side of things I watched the Hardy Boys 2020 series recently and thought Chet looked familiar and landed on maybe Mark Walker from Mech X4 (he is not, been a while since I seen an episode but soon as I watched one I was like ah nm im just faceblind I forgot löl) BUT while watching that episode (they go camping) Dane pops up on screen and I make the brick-to-face realization as to why Frank fkking Hardy felt Odd from the beginning: He Is Dane. I can't stop fkking stop laughing. The difference in characters is just So Much I Just CAN'T.

[dramaticnerdwithanxiety11]

the urge to do a "rewrite of the entire show but (??)" except it's "rewriting all of mech x4 but they can swear"

if you don't know mech x4 is a disney kids show lmao but like these guys would def be swearing and i want to see them cuss mark out so badly lmao

i'm not gonna do it but it is a funny idea lol

[ezzysartifact]

Fandoms I Write For

School Spirits

Simon Elroy (i love him sm pls)

Maddie Nears

Wally Clark (will not post for him much since he has tons of content already)

Rhonda

Platonic! Xavier Baxter

Platonic! Charley

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

Wyatt Lykensen (literally watched the movies because of Pearce so)

Willa Lykensen

Zed Necrodopolis

Eliza Zambie

A-Spen

A-Lan

Platonic! Wynter Barkowitz

Cobra Kai

Demetri Alexopoulos (aka my spirit animal)

Tory Nichols

Miguel Diaz

Samantha LaRusso

Aisha Robinson

Chris

Johnny Lawrence

Amanda LaRusso

Platonic! Robby Keene

Platonic! Eli/Hawk Moskowitz

Platonic! Kenny Payne (mentor vibes)

Mech-X4

Mark Walker

Veracity Campbell

Ryan Walker

Spyder Johnson

Platonic! Harris Harris Jr (whoever named him that sucks)

Blue Beetle

Jaime Reyes

Milagro Reyes

Jenny Kord

Platonic! Rudy Reyes

My Babysitter’s A Vampire

Sarah Fox (literally the only character)

Benny Weir

Ethan Morgan

Erica Jones

Platonic! Rory Keaner

Platonic! Horace “Jesse” Black

Julie and the Phantoms

Luke Patterson

Reggie Peters

Platonic! Alex Mercer

Platonic! Julie Molina

Willie

[lesbian-bree-davenport]

not 2 be mech-x4 in 2023 again but im thinking abt how it's sort of vaguely hinted and played that ryan and harrris are closer with each other than with spyder and it is kinda sad yeah but also my personal headcanon is that spyder has a crush on ryan and has for a while so it hurts for him especially and he gets jealous sometimes but never says anything but like in the first episode where he says "3 equally good friends" that's a moment of insecurity. and notice ryan (intentionally or not) seems to undervalue spyder at times and favor harris especially in s2 and even before if the team is split into 2 groups sometimes it'll be ryan and harris and mark and spyder (which i don't mind bc i think mark and spyder develop a strong bond [ideas for a different post]). anyway. yeah

[hersweetrevenge]

okay so not to d*sneypost on main, but i watched the episodes of mech-x4 that rohan is in and his character is so strangely written that i have to talk about it. dane definitely suffers from filler character syndrome, but the writers can't seem to figure out which note he's supposed to be playing.

dane is presented as the typical dumb jock character. he's best friends with mark, the main character's older brother. he pulls pranks on unsuspecting freshmen and intimidates the more geeky students. the characters around him admit that he is a jerk, and being mean is apparently his thing.

but then he's also the butt of the joke, almost as often as he is the one making the jokes. he's made fun of for being clingy and stupid and slow. he isn't as popular as mark, and survives socially by sticking close to him.

leading off of that though, we then get these really weird moments where we are given some weirdly specific details about dane's character that could lead to some development or growth (but never do because he is a bit player):

dane is made fun of by the smarter characters, they say he'll end up being fired from a minimum wage job for messing up an order and he won't be able to buy christmas presents for his kids (and we don't have time to unpack how yikes all of that is). he gets genuinely defensive about it, "i will so be able to provide for my family".

he looks at all of his sporting trophies where he came second place (and mark came first). he seems pretty okay about it, and his admiration and/or feelings for mark is toyed with as a punch line a few times.

he talks about the girl who lives across the street who he acknowledges wants nothing to do with him. he says this to himself, there is no one else around to hear him.

dane and mark are teasing the main characters about a local urban legend and dane runs with it a bit too long and is told so. he gets embarrassed and walks away.

after scaring some freshmen in the woods at a camp out, dane gets lost and sprains his ankles. thinking he might die, he asks the main character to tell mark how awesome he thinks he is.

again, when he thinks he might die via giant robot, he says he's sticking with the main characters for safety (because "the robot" said they're cool).

when trying to help the main characters (for the somewhat selfish reason of his own self preservation), they lock him in the drama room so he doesn't get in the way. they forget about him and he isn't let out for (implied) hours.

there's multiple (two) times where dane makes a joke and no one laughs, but then mark repeats it and gets laugh (maybe on dane's behalf? maybe stealing his thunder? not made super clear)

when the main characters think they'll have to move away, mark is reassuring someone over the phone that they'll stay in touch. his brother asks if that was mark's girlfriend, and mark informs him that it was dane.

when mark quits the basketball team (which dane never made in the first place) dane is elated, "i knew you wouldn't leave me behind".

all of these moment's are played for laughs, of course, because dane is the comic relief. but he's also supposed to be a mean, intimidating jock. but he's also meant to be seen as a little bit pathetic.

all these moments could really have been worked with to make dane a more rounded character, maybe even a secondary character.

or maybe i'm just reading too much into it, and all of these traits makes sense, even on a superficial level. dumb jock who would actually be a loser if it weren't for varsity?

i can't quite remember where i was going with this, but i think it's a shame we didn't see more of dane. they accidently wrote an interesting character and didn't even realise it.

[youweremadetosoar]

I made some Mech-X4 wallpapers, thought I’d share :) My favorite one is Veracity’s.

[foxxhoecourt]

Let’s Go to the Beach!

Fandom: Mech-X4

Relationship: Ryan Walker/ Veracity Campbell 

Tags: Pre-Slash, Fluff and Angst, Post Canon, Scars

Summary: The evil may be gone, but the scars remain.

Text: Read on AO3

“Woohoo! Beach time!” Spyder yelled as he threw himself out of the car, ducking his head just in time to avoid hitting the doorframe. A concussion would be a bummer, especially now that Traeger was gone and the team was finally getting their well deserved vacation.

The beach house they pulled up to was big enough to fit the team (and Grace, who had agreed to chaperone) comfortably, walking distance from the beach, and relatively low tech. The point of going to beach was to unplug, anyway, as well as spend time as a team in a non-life threatening situation, so it was time to ditch the science fiction for a week and live low-key.

“Ohh sweet!” Ryan followed, slapping Spyder on the back as he ran into the house. The rest followed, woops of excitement erupting from the younger boys as they all pushed each other in hopes of getting the best bedroom. Veracity and Mark approached the house calmer, shouts and the telltale sounds of someone getting pushed to the ground audible from upstairs.

“Not worried about getting the suite?” Mark asked Veracity, wincing as another shriek filled the house.

“Nah,” she shrugged. “I get my own room no matter what. That’s enough for me.”

Veracity rounded the stairs to the second floor and almost tripped over Harris, who was currently in Spyder’s headlock. Stepping over the wrestling boys and ignoring the quiet “Not the time, not the time!” coming from Harris, Veracity entered one of the bedrooms and looked around. It was nothing special but it had a great view to the ocean, so she flopped down onto the bed. Sadly, her moment of peace was broken by a shout of triumph from Ryan as he claimed the suite.

“You know!” Veracity called through her open door, “Since the suite only has one bed you and Mark are gonna have to share.”

Twin groans erupted before Mark announced, “Guess you’re on the couch, bro.”

“What the hell! I got here first!” Ryan quipped back before the brothers devolved into more fighting. As much as Veracity loved her team, sharing a living space with them for a week was going to be a challenge.

“Everyone come down and help unpack the car!” Mrs. Walker called from downstairs. Veracity picked herself up and scurried downstairs with the boys.

“This isn’t over,” Ryan gritted out, angrily picking up a cooler from the car trunk. Most of what needed to be unpacked was food they had brought, so the team congregated in the kitchen to discuss what the plans were.

“It’s what, four o'clock now?” Harris said, “So why don’t we get dinner and then hit up the beach?”

Veracity agreed, leaning over the kitchen island, “Sounds good to me. There's probably some good restaurants on the boardwalk.”

“Mmmm, I’m thinking crab. It reminds me of this time I-” Spyder was cut of by Ryan’s hand over his mouth, saving the group from a story that would have probably put them off from crab forever.

---

With full stomachs, the teens returned to the house to gather everything they needed for a few hours at the beach.

“Towels?” Grace asked as they got their bags together.

“Check.”

“Water?”

“Check,” Veracity said as she loaded up the cooler with bottles of water and snacks.

“And I’ve got the boogie boards!” Mark lifted two boards which looked well loved and worn, flames decorating both.

“Yes!’ Spyder said, grabbing one from mark and putting it on the floor to surf, flailing arms and all.

Mark jokingly pushed Spyder of the board, “Get off dufus.”

“Hey! I’m the king of surf!” he retorted.

“Well you can show us when we’re actually at the beach, c’mon people let's get this show on the road!” Harris started out the door, towel around his shoulder.

“Where’s Ryan?” Grace asked, not seeing her son in the common room.

“He was getting his swimsuit on last time I saw him,” Mark said. “I’ll grab him and tell him to hurry up.”

The older brother went to the stairs. Before he could get halfway up, though, Ryan himself almost ran Mark over, flying down the stairs.

“Alright, let's get our beach on!” Ryan said in his typical cheerful fashion. Veracity sensed something was off but the other boys just whooped in agreement and ran out of the house. Ryan had a football in hand and tossed it to Mark, who had to drop the boogie boards to catch it.

“Hey, no football in the house!” Grace called, picking up her beach bag.

“C’mon bro, last one to the water is sleeping on the couch!” Mark yelled as he ran out the door behind Harris and Spyder.

“Not cool, Mark!” Ryan followed.

Grace sighed and picked up the boogie boards, struggling to find a grip for a second, before Veracity grabbed one and put it under her arm.

“Thank you, Veracity,” Grace said with a smile.

“It’s no problem, Mrs. Walker. We girls gotta stick together, don’t we?” Veracity answered, doing a slow arm punch like she would do to any of the guys.

Grace didn’t know to respond exactly, nor did she have a free hand, so with an awkward chuckle, she responded, “Let’s just make sure none of them drown out there.”

Veracity nodded, “Sounds good!”

She grabbed the cooler, and walked with Grace out the door, who shut it firmly. Eventually the two met up with the boys, who had all dropped their shirts and supplies in a pile and jumped into the ocean. All except Ryan, who was sitting on towel, smiling out at his friends. While Grace set up an umbrella a little bit away from the boys’ pile and started to read a book, Veracity sad down beside Ryan.

“I guess you’re sleeping on the couch?” she asked, genuinely curious why he wasn’t out with the others.

Ryan seemed to have not heard her but, after a moment, noticed her presents with a double take, “Oh! Hey V, did you say something?”

“I asked why you weren’t swimming with everyone else.”

He chuckled half-heartedly, looking down at his crossed legs, “I mean, I could ask you the same thing.”

“Well, I,” Veracity answered, looking at Ryan even if he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Wanted to check in on you. You seemed a little quiet during the drive and you took a while getting ready so-”

“I’m ok, V. Just don’t feel like swimming today,” he finally looked up.

Veracity squinted, “Hmmm-- You’re lying. But it’s ok, you can keep me company.” She pulled out a book and layed back.

“Wuthering Heights? Isn’t that an old romance book?”

She looked up, unimpressed, from her position lying down, “What? Should I be reading a textbook on particle physics?”

Ryan laughed, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“If you must know, it’s part of my required reading for next year,” her gaze returned to the book, but her attention remained on her friend.

His face twisted up, “You actually do the required reading?”

“Uh huh. Though I’m mostly reading this book to hate the characters,” Veracity shrugged.

“They’re that bad?” Ryan asked, twisting to lie on his side, facing her.

She nodded, “Totally. They’re all terrible people, but I guess that’s what makes it a good romance- they deserve each other.”

“Do you read a lot of romance books?” his eyebrows furrowed a little.

“Nah,” she challenged. “I’m too busy reading about particle physics.”

The two chatted for a little bit longer, the sounds of the waves and their friends in the distance. Gentle reminders that they were safe, that they had made it through everything the past year had thrown at them. Silence eventually fell over the pair and Veracity finally started reading her book. But the quiet was short lasting before a dripping wet Spyder interrupted, shaking his head like a dog and getting both the teens and V’s book wet.

“What the hell, Spyder?” Veracity said harshly, using her towel to dry the novel.

The boy grimaced, “Oof, sorry. I just wanted to know if you had a hair tie I could borrow? My hair keeps getting in my eyes.”

Still a little startled, Veracity dug into her bag and pulled out a black hair tie, holding it out to him.

“Cool! Thanks V!” Spyder yelled over his shoulder as he ran and tied up his hair at the same time.

Ryan watched the ordeal with amusement before noticing V’s still damp book.

“Oh shoot is your book gonna be ok?” he winced.

She sighed, assessing the damage, “Yeah this isn’t a library book, I own it, so that’s not an issue. It’s just gonna be all wavy.” She clicked her tongue and inspected the novel before putting it down. “It’s fine, I was done reading for the time being anyway.”

“You barely got to read at all,” Ryan pointed out.

Veracity jumped up, “That’s just how it is going to the beach with four boys! C’mon, the water’s warm.”

The confidence Ryan seemed to have been regaining over the course of their conversation instantly left him. He bit his lip.

“V? I’m gonna show you something and if it’s too gross just tell me-”

“Oh my god Ryan I don’t want to see your-” Veracity quickly interjected.

“It's not my-!” Ryan cut her off, both of them blushing profusely. 

“It’s this.” Ryan lifted his tee shirt, reveling an X scared into the entirety of his chest.

Veracity crouched down to his level, examining the scar with mouth slightly agape. “Is that? From the-”

“X- weapon? Yeah. Harris thought it would heal right up like most of the times I get hurt but I’ve never gotten burned before- and it’s been like this ever since it started to heal,” Ryan talked fast, like he needed to explain his situation.

“And you think it’s gross?” Veracity asked, confused as to why Ryan was letting this of all things affect him. He never seem to be one of those vain guys who worried about his appearance.

“Isn’t it?” Ryan looked at her, scared.

She hummed for a second before reaching out and running her fingers across one section of it, “No. It’s not gross. And I think I know your problem with it.”

Ryan shuddered a little at her feather light touch but rolled his eyes to mask his feelings, “Enlighten me?”

“Well, we know that you hate when us, or your mom, see you hurt. You think it makes you look weak. Right?” Veracity looked knowingly at the boy.

“Fine. But-”

“And a scar is a permanent reminder of you getting hurt.”

“I don’t see how this is supposed to make me feel better.”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to make you feel better? I was just answering your question. With a /hint/ of psychoanalyzing.”

Ryan rolled his eyes again as Veracity continued, “Well anyway, what I was gonna say is that getting hurt, needing help, doesn’t make you weak, Ryan, it makes you strong. This scar,” she gestured to Ryan’s once again covered chest. “Proves that. You take the hits like a champ, and you know what I think?”

“Aren’t you already telling me?” Ryan cocked his head.

It was her turn to roll her eyes, “I think that a scar doesn’t show that you got hurt, it shows that you healed.”

Ryan licked his lips and looked away, unable to deal with the intensity of her gaze. “Uh, thanks, V. That, uh, did make me feel better, actually.”

Veracity stood up and smiled, holding her hand out, “Cool. Ready to swim now?”

Ryan took her outstretched hand and used it to get up, “Yeah. I think so.”

He took of his shirt and she took off her cover-up and glasses.“Race ya,” Ryan challenged.

“You’re on, labrat.”