Just Another Part Of Me
Pairing: Jerome Valeska x Reader
Warnings: Mentions of abuse and sex
AN: I’m kinda really proud of this so I had to post it. Hopefully you enjoy it too :)
“In.. And out. In.. And out. Come on Jerome, just breathe. It’s okay, I’ve got you.” You say softly to the boy crying with his head resting on your chest. Gently, you rock back and forth trying to soothe his tears. “S-she said it was gonna be different now, Y/N. I… But- She p-promised!” He cries into your shirt, his skinny arms wound around your body. You have been Jerome’s beacon of comfort since the two of you were tots.
Grabbing his face in your small hands, you wipe his tears away. No fourteen year olds should go through the things you and Jerome have, but alas, here you are, “Hey, look at me, Lila doesn’t deserve your tears okay. Remember what I told you, smile and the world smiles with you, right? And those who don’t?” Jerome sniffles one last time and nods his head in your hands, “Those who don’t will learn.” You smile at him, receiving a smile back before you pull him to his feet, “Come on, let’s get you patched up.”
You sit down and watch as Jerome paces back and forth in front of you. He’s hyperventilating and ranting and near tears. You hoped that once you’d gotten older, all of this would stop. Standing up, you put yourself in Jerome’s path, and your hands on his face. “Hey, hey, babe, look at me.” You soothe, pressing your foreheads together. Jerome follows your breathing as his eyes lock with yours. He nods lightly as his breathing slows, allowing one stray tear to fall. You kiss the tear beneath his eye, your lip soaking up the salty solution, “Okay. You’re good now, right? We’re all better?” You ask, gently pushing his sweat filled waves away from his face. Jerome nods and hugs you tightly, his knees growing weary as he collapses to the ground. His head resting on your more developed chest as if you were still children, an act that hasn’t died with the years either.
On instinct, you kneel with him and begin rocking gently, one hand wrapped around him in a comforting manner and the other still working his hair away from his face. “Come on. Look at me, Jerome.” When he lifts his head to look at you, your eyes stare right into his, confident and compassionate, “Let’s see it, smile and the world smiles with you, babe.” Jerome nods, releasing your waist and pushing his hair back into style. When he nods, you smile and stand, your hand out for him, “Hell yeah, and those who don’t?” Now on his feet and smiling at you, Jerome responds, “They’ll learn.”
Since neither of you actually do anything in the circus, you and Jerome wander around for a while. You saunter confidently while Jerome titters about, though despite your obviously different outlooks on yourselves, your hands are clasped tight, as if the two of you are one. Man and dream, woman and shadow. You go to pull Jerome towards one of the tents, but he freezes. “What’s up, babe? I just wanna see some of the act. We can even get popcorn if you want.”
You always call Jerome babe, ever since you turned sixteen. The two of you aren’t a couple, but Jerome still likes it. It makes him feel loved. He usually can’t help but comply when the nickname comes from your mouth, but this time, he shakes his head, his eyes watering. “Y/N, I- I can’t. He - his - that’s the last guy my mom was with is in there. He gave me these bruises, I, I can’t face him.” He pleads quietly. You feel your blood boil, “Jones was the douche bag Lila let hit you earlier?” Looking around to make sure your loud statement hasn’t drawn any attention, Jerome nods. Huffing, you squeeze his hand tighter for a moment, “Alright, we can go to your place. Lila should be dancing for some man now anyway.”
As the door closes behind the two of you, you pull Jerome close to you, kissing his forehead, “Go get showered. We can figure out what we wanna do from there.” Jerome turns to go, but you grab his wrist and turn him around, placing your forehead on his, “Remember babe, smile. No tears in that shower, you know I can tell.” Jerome nods against your head and you release him to shower.
He stalks off, leaving you to drink a water against the counter. Halfway through the bottle, Lila bursts through the door, most likely looking for a condom and her good lipstick before leaving again. She doesn’t even notice you as she yells for Jerome. “Yes?” He questions from his new post beside you. His hair is wet and his eyes are red, little jerk doesn’t listen. Though, your thoughts are pulled away from Jerome crying in the shower when you hear it. The slap. Lila has never hit Jerome in front of you.
Seeing that Lila has no intention of slowing, let alone stopping her flying hands, you growl beside your best friend, your other half, “I’m gonna kill her.” Grabbing the closest thing to you - which, weirdly enough is a hatchet - you swing it at her. The one time isn’t enough though. Not enough for the pain, the suffering, the tears she’s caused Jerome. The nightmares, the bruises, the split lips, and cracked ribs. You mentally tick them off with each satisfying sink of the blade into Lila’s skin.
Finally, Jerome pulls you up from over his mother’s body. There are tears in his eyes when you look in them. “No no no, no tears, okay, no crying.” You say gently as you rub your thumb over Jerome’s lips, making his frown a smile and spreading some of the blood from your hand on his face, “Come on, smile babe. You killed her.”
Jerome nods when something sticks out in his mind. You said you killed her, as in Jerome. He looks down at Lila’s corpse curiously, but when he looks back to you to ask what you meant, you’re no where to be found. Jerome starts to panic when he hears your voice in his head, “Hey, no more of that okay? You’re a man now babe, she’s not here to hurt you, you don’t need me anymore. And remember what I said, smile and the world smiles with you.”
Jerome finds himself smiling by the time your voice fades. “They’ll learn.” He says to no one. Looking down at Lila once again, Jerome begins to laugh for the first time in a long time. “They’ll learn, Y/N. Oh, they’re all going to learn.”
