THIS RIGHT HERE- THIS MF FANFIC OMFG I LOVE ROOKIE AND JPG SO DAMN MUCH I WANNA EXPLODE AAAAAARGGH /vpos

THIS RIGHT HERE- THIS MF FANFIC OMFG I LOVE ROOKIE AND JPG SO DAMN MUCH I WANNA EXPLODE AAAAAARGGH /vpos

Curses

There’s a fire in his brain and It’s burning up.

The blackout flashes still haunted Rookie’s memories. Maybe he just needed help to go back home.

A jetkie oneshot for my best friend, happy birthday mate! <3

Link to fanfic on my AO3

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There’s a fire in his brain and It’s burning up.

The sink was dripping and the igloo looked like a total mess after the kidnapping. But, that’s alright, no? This place, this big empty, messed place was his house after all.

It was supposed to be Rookie’s house, after all.

He didn’t know why he’s afraid, the Blackout was over. He was safe, everyone was safe, the island and the islanders were fine, he had nothing to worry about, it even felt like the blackout had happened months ago, even if it was only a few weeks.

He was supposed to be safe.

Rookie went to the kitchen, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a decent meal, the last time he’d enjoyed cooking, and went out for pizza with JPG. Oh sure. JPG, they hadn’t spoken since the end of the operation. His interactions were limited to casual “good morning” and sometimes meetings about the future of the island after the EPF went public, which made it more complicated for Rookie, he was “The Communications Lead,” it was his job to make announcements to the public, divert attention and calm the nerves of reporters who increasingly filled his mailbox with e-mails, wanting to know more about the real thing that happened behind the scenes, or receiving anonymous death threats.

Arctic tried to control the reporters but some of them revolted after the blackout, claiming that the “Club Penguin News” was biased and used to deceive the island’s residents. And again, it’s all up to him. He had to deal with reporters, make several speeches a week just to say the same thing: “Operation: Blackout was over and the EPF was in the shadows so chaos wouldn’t spread.”

He was starting to feel a little, well maybe more than a little, overwhelmed .

He took a glass and filled it with water from the sink. It was very cold, like before he was frozen. Memories dripped like a trickle into a dry well, reflecting on every drop, reviewing every regret, every bad decision he’d made since stepping foot in that building after his forty-eighth test. His eyes widened, looking into the void and getting lost in broken memories, without realizing he dropped the glass that fell to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces like the fragments of his memory that insisted on coming back, stronger and worse as if his thoughts wanted to eat him alive and drown him in the icy sea from which he felt heavily he should have never left. Rookie sighed, his stomach felt heavy and he had a headache, suddenly he didn’t feel hungry anymore, he didn’t feel like doing anything anymore.

“That- urgh, it’s okay, it’s going to be alr-” The words came out kindling from his throat, every one of them. He himself seemed in disbelief at what he was saying. Rookie felt his throat burning, but he needed to compose himself, he needed to pick up the shards even if he wasn’t going to rebuild the glass.

He looked at the mess and sighed, going to get a broom. Rookie strongly considered ignoring the mess, but that only made the house look even dirtier and more morbid. His footsteps echoed on the old wooden floor, he smiled remembering when he’d just moved in, a newbie in town with a job helping out at the cafeteria. He smiled remembering the first parties this house had seen, all the years he’d lived there, all the times he’d painted the walls, all the furniture that ever passed by.

He smiled remembering when that house was home.

Now that place sounded like an elegy, he felt the ghosts of his happy memories coming out of the corners of his mind where they used to be and tearing through the walls, burning them down. The corners were crawling with cobwebs and he felt himself stepping on bones, bones of what was once the empty shell he’d dared to call home and brutally ripped from him, everything in this house burned to the bone and slowly disintegrated like ash and he was inhaling the dust. Rookie just needed to get some more sleep, ignore this strange feeling of melancholy that was consuming him and enjoy his first break in a long time.

Knocking on the door made him grab the broom faster, he was scared. It was almost ten at night, people don’t visit you at ten at night. He waited, maybe it was just the wind and he was getting a little too paranoid. Agent said that this paranoia would one day save them, but Rookie wasn’t so sure, so he waited, staring at the door. The knock on the door was repeated, this time a little louder. He looked at the broom and wielded it like a weapon, making his way slowly to the door.

“Who’s there?” He asked, with his ear against the door trying to hear better on the other side.

“Rookie, this isn’t a knock knock joke, it’s ten o'clock, may I come in?” The voice replied, a little annoyed. Rookie recognized that timbre, he would recognize that voice anywhere.

He opened the door, and there he was. Unlike usual, JPG had his sweatshirt and his lucky sunglasses, his jet pack, as usual, on his back and carrying a freshly purchased pizza with him. JPG smirked, almost imperceptibly as the door opened.

“I-“ He began, taking a deep breath. “I- talked to Dot because-” He stopped again, unable to maintain eye contact, so he looked down at the floor. "I didn’t know how- talk to you, so Dot said I could, I don’t know, buy you a pizza and I don’t know- we’ll watch Shadow Guy and Gamma Gal, ‘cause I know it’s your favorite play and-”

Rookie hugged him hastily, which almost made JPG drop the pizza on the floor. He was clearly startled, as Rookie could feel him flinch. He released the hug a little and looked up to see JPG with his glasses askew, holding the pizza over his head. Then he smiled and released the hug, kinda embarrassed.

“So, do you want to come in?” He backed away, making way for the door.

“Sure!” JPG said entering the house, completely dark and cold. All messy, there were things scattered on the floor, broken paintings, a plant pot was lying broken on the floor and in the kitchen he can see shards of glass reflecting the moonlight coming through the window.

He stopped in the middle of the room, staring at the mess. Rookie threw the broom anywhere and closed the door, locking it. JPG gently removed the things from the coffee table in the living room and placed the pizza in the middle, opening it. Rookie’s stomach growled loudly, which made him blush in embarrassment.

“Sorry for the mess, I- didn’t have time to clean up.” He lied, and he swallowed thickly when he saw JPG raise an eyebrow. His boyfriend was an expert at body language, he wouldn’t fall for that.

However, he didn’t say anything. He just went to the broom and started sweeping the floor of the room, picking up the shards from the ground and picking up the broken things. Rookie, went to pick up some shards and thrown objects but JPG scolded him with a look.

“You can eat and watch the movie, I’ll watch it with you in a bit.” He said without taking his eyes off the mess, Rookie sat on the couch staring at the pizza, strangely he didn’t feel like eating it, he didn’t feel hungry, he felt like he was going to throw up as soon as it got to his stomach, so he just stared, as if the pizza will bite him.

Meanwhile, JPG was sweeping the living room, looking at the open kitchen door and the broken glass on the wet floor. He finished tidying up the living room and went to the kitchen, carefully picking up the shards and seeing the faucet running, but the sink was strangely empty, Rookie was strangely quiet. JPG didn’t like to analyze people close to him, especially his boyfriend, but he was already starting to get worried, so he decided to test his theory. After picking up the shards from the broken glass and making sure the floor was dry, he went to the fridge.

“Hey, Rookie, I forgot the cream soda. Can I see if you have some?” He asked from the kitchen, receiving an affirmative humming in response.

JPG opened the fridge, confirming his suspicion: it was almost empty, there was a half-empty can of an energy drink, a full bottle of cream soda, and a lunch box that Agent probably brought him a few days ago. Which terribly proved his suspicion, Rookie wasn’t eating properly and was drinking caffeine, which when it came to him, caffeine was no good. JPG sighed, taking the Cream Soda and two cups, feigning neutrality, he was good at that. He walked over to the couch and sat next to his boyfriend that was staring into nothingness, and seemed to have been doing so for a while.

“So-” Rookie tried to make conversation, but failed miserably.

“Won’t you eat?” JPG asked gently, taking a piece for him and filling the glasses with purple soda.

“Uh? Oh sure…” He said looking at the pizza.

JPG sighed, handing the cup to him, Rookie managed that he had already noticed, he took the cup silently and took a sip. He took the remote and turned the play on the TV, but Rookie wasn’t paying attention, he couldn’t pay attention .

“You know you can talk about it, don’t you?” JPG whispered, taking another bite of his pizza slice.

Rookie looked at him, and gave him a wretched smile. “You, telling me about talking? This one is new.”

JPG looked away and took another sip of his soda, took another bite of his pizza and continued to stare at the floor. Rookie convinced himself to take a bite of the pizza, it was strangely better than he remembered. He concentrated on eating the pizza, then took another bite and devoured that one too.

“Oh, nice! You bought-”

“Your favorite pizza flavor…” JPG completed, blushing soon after. Rookie felt his cheeks burn.

It was strange, now the house felt like home again. His screaming bad luck curse seemed to have taken pity on his poor soul, it felt like all his thoughts stopped screaming when JPG was close, it felt like everything went up like smoke he knew he could feel it: JPG would stay with him even if this one place would never be a home again.

And it made him feel at home again.