[Homestuck] It Can't Be Over (Jake x Reader)

You jump, slightly startled as (favorite song) plays from your phone, alerting you to a text from your friend, Dirk. Recovering from the sudden shock, considering you were very immersed in reading (favorite book), you grab your phone and open the text, thereby silencing your ringtone.

Have you talked to Jake at all recently? –Dirk

You reread the text in confusion. That certainly came out of nowhere. Thinking back, you remember you had spoken to your other friend yesterday, before he was supposed to go out on some big date.

Not since yesterday. Why? –(y/n)

I think he broke up with that girl he was seeing. –Dirk

Oh no! Didn’t he really like her? –(y/n)

Yeah. I’ve tried texting him, but he won’t answer. –Dirk

I’ll shoot him a text. Talk to you soon. –(y/n)

Sighing, you switch tabs on your cell, pulling up a window to chat to Jake in. You feel bad for your friend, knowing he was very much into the girl he was dating. He wouldn’t stop talking about her all the time, so for the two of them to suddenly break it off… well, it left you concerned. Mostly because you figured this would happen. You’d seen the exact girl in many relationships, none lasting too long. You had wanted to warn Jake about it, but the way he seemed so happy about being near her made you stop. You couldn’t do that to him, or anything that would hurt him, really. It was a side effect of loving him.

Hey Jake, how are you doing? Are you alright? Dirk said you’ve been ignoring his texts. –(y/n)

You wait for a good twenty minutes, getting no response from the Englishman. This worries you even more. As long as you’ve known Jake, he’s never ignored a single text message from you, and rarely ever anyone else’s. Making up your mind, you grab your shoes and slip them on before heading out the door of your house, set on walking to Jake’s to see what’s up.

As you reach his house, the fact that the lights are off is another warning that something’s wrong. Jake never sleeps late; he claims he always has to be up and ready for an adventure, even if that means being awake at eight in the morning. Heading up the steps, you see a mass of white fur huddled by the door.

“Bec?” You ask, seeing the furry white dog raise his head to look at you. “What’s the matter boy?” Before you can even finish your sentence, the dog has run up to you, nudging you towards the door with an almost desperate look in his eyes. “Where’s Jake?” You ask the dog, getting a terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach. Bec whines, pawing at the door before giving you that look again. You quickly grab the spare key from under a potted plant on the porch, opening the door before turning to your friend’s dog. “Bec, I need you to go get Dirk. I’m going to see what’s up with Jake, but I want him here as backup.” The dog lets out a soft bark, nuzzling your hand before bounding off the porch steps and in the direction of the Strider household.

You slowly walk into the house, closing the door behind you before listening quietly to see if you can hear anything off. Coming from upstairs, you can hear the soft, muffled sound of someone crying. Immediately heading up there, you do your best to stay quiet as you walk up the stairs, the sound of crying getting louder and more distinct as you near Jake’s room. You see his door is closed, a stream of light showing from the crack under his door. You try to decide whether you should knock on the door or simply walk in, and assuming your friend is in as much distress as he sounds to be, you decide to quietly open the door and peek in, your eyes widening in shock at the sight.

Jake stands looking at a blank spot on the wall, his clothes rumpled and his hair more unruly than usual. Some of his movie posters lie crumpled or even ripped on the floor, littering the ground and giving the room a cluttered look. But what shocks you the most is the fact that Jake holds one of his pistols in his hand, the shaft pointed straight at his head.

“Jake!” You blurt out, opening the door wider, your breaths coming faster in panic. He whips around to face you, gun still at his head, and you can see now how red and puffy his eyes are from the crying he’s obviously done.

“(Y/n)… what are you doing here?” He asks you, his voice sounding dull, his green eyes lacking that brightness and sense of adventure.

“You didn’t answer my text…” You reply, trying to keep calm, which is harder than one might assume, considering your best friend, who you also just happen to have a major crush on, has a loaded gun pointed at his head!

“Oh.” Jake says simply, glancing to where his phone lies, broken, in the corner of the room.

“Jake, what happened?” You ask softly, concern for your friend showing through your tone of voice. Jake’s grip on the gun handle tightens.

“She left me.” His eyes fill with more tears, though he had thought he had cried himself out already.

“Jake…” You say his name sympathetically, taking one step forward, which turns out to be a mistake. Jake moves his finger more over the trigger of his pistol, his eyes gaining a dangerous look to them. “You need to relax, okay? Relax, Jake, and put the gun down.” You say slowly, not daring to take another step forward.

“Why? Nobody cares about me anyway. I’m useless, right?” His voice sounds slightly hysterical as he speaks. “Go away, (y/n).”

“I am not leaving you alone.” You protest firmly, bewildered as to where he could’ve gotten the notion that he was useless. Then it hits you. It must’ve been that worthless girlfriend of his. Of course. You had seen it coming. She used him, then dropped him flat on his ass with the idea that no one cared for him. “Jake, listen to me. I don’t know what she said to you, but it’s not true.”

“But it is!” Jake cries out, his hand shaking as the tears spill down his cheeks. “What am I good for, huh?! Annoying people? Getting in the way?” You feel tears of your own slowly rising as you listen to him talk about himself this way. “It would be better if I wasn’t even alive!”

“NO!” You scream at him, catching him off guard. “Stop saying these things, Jake! They’re not true!” You make the mistake of stepping forward again, and in the blink of an eye, the gun no longer points at Jake’s head and you feel a stinging, wet sensation on your arm. One that is soon followed by a shock of pain. You hold in a gasp as you look down at your arm left arm and you quickly bring your right hand over it, cursing that you just happened to be wearing short sleeves today. It would be nice to have some extra fabric to rip off to bandage that off.

“G-go away, (y/n)!” Jake shouts at you in a shaky voice, the gun pointed back up at his head. You keep pressure on the injury, thankful the bullet only grazed your arm. Ignoring his wish, you step forward again, one step, two, then a few more before you’re almost right in front of him. “Oh, crickey!” He exclaims, fresh tears building up as he drops to
his knees, his arms hanging limply by his sides. You slowly sink to your knees as well, trying to decide what to do. Knowing you’ll need both hands, you slowly remove your right hand off your injury, laying it over Jake’s left hand. He barely notices as you move your other hand to grip the shaft of his gun, arm stinging with every movement. You’re able to remove the gun from his hand with little resistance, and you slide it across the floor and out of the way before turning back to your friend.

“Jake, look at me.” You command softly, moving your hand to his cheek when he doesn’t listen. You tilt his head to face you, watching his distressed eyes slowly look you over. “I want you to listen for a moment, okay? You’re not useless. You’re not annoying, you’re not getting in the way of anything, and you are not better off dead. I understand breaking up with her was hard, and I’m sorry I even have to bring it up, but this is not the solution, Jake.” You use your thumb to wipe away some of his tears, ignoring the pain in your arm, as well as the blood that runs down it and onto the floor. “Maybe you lost one person that cared about you, but you have so many friends, Jake. What about Dirk? Dave and John? Don’t forget Roxy and Jane, Rose and Jade. And me, Jake. We’re all here for you.”

“I loved her, (y/n).” Jake says pitifully, but the dangerous look in his eyes is gone, revealing the lost, broken man behind them.

“I know, Jake. I know. But you have to be able to move on. And just because she doesn’t love you, doesn’t mean that no one does. In fact,” you smile sadly, brushing his tears away again with your thumb, “I know a girl who’s loved you for a long time.” Jake gives you a confused look. “She’s loved you since the day she became your friend, and she’s been by your side through everything. She’d never leave you, Jake.” You slowly press a kiss to his forehead before pulling him into a hug. “Remember that, okay? I can’t imagine how I’d go on without you.”