content warning: mentions of past abuse, self-harm, and suicidal comments. read at your own discretion.

"Sheik, I need you to talk to me. Please." Corrin said once the door was locked behind them.

"I'm- I'm sorry, Corrin. I dragged you into this. I had no right to do that. I should have been more careful." Sheik mumbled, refusing to meet Corrin's eyes.

"Look at me." Corrin whispered, placing his hands on Sheik's shoulders. He visibly flinched away from the contact, which tore at Corrin's heart- he hadn't done that in years. Not since they'd first started dating, really. "This was going to happen eventually. Those idiots on the internet don't know what they're talking about, alright?"

"But-" Sheik started speaking, then cut himself off. He took a moment to keep speaking, but when he did start talking again, his voice broke halfway through his last sentence. "Maybe they ARE right, Corrin. I'm a horrible person. I shouldn't be here. I have no right being here."

"No. You're one of the most amazing people I've ever met. You have every right being here, because I've seen how hard you work to learn your lines and the choreography. These people who are attacking you have no respect for your feelings, because some people in this world are fucking terrible." Corrin's voice was soft, but there was an unmistakable edge in his tone. He was clearly pissed off about all of this, and it took a lot to make him truly angry. "When was the last time you talked to your father?"

"I haven't spoken to him since he got put in jail." Sheik mumbled.

"Are you sure?" Corrin asked softly.

Sheik just nodded. His hands were shaking ever so slightly at his sides, and he looked worse than he had in a long time.

"My mother, on the other hand... I spoke to her yesterday." Sheik's voice was barely audible now.

Oh. Well, fantastic.

"She laughed at me and said it was about time that everybody realized what a terrible person I am. Then she started blaming me for my father's sentence. Oh, and she told me that I'd be better off dead at this point." Sheik laughed humorlessly. "I'm starting to think she's right. It's ridiculous how weak I am. Soon as people start saying shit about me, I jump to wanting to off myself."

"Let me see your arms." Corrin's tone left no room for argument. Again, this was something that he hadn't had to do in a long time.

Sheik rolled up his sleeves, revealing two neat, angry red lines on the inside of each wrist. "I almost went down instead of across."

Corrin took a deep breath. "Last night or this morning?"

"After I got back from talking with my mother. I wasn't thinking clearly. I haven't been thinking clearly for days now. I'm fucking sick of this already. Literally none of the others, besides Link and sometimes Marth, bother to see how I'm doing. Robin just doesn't seem to fucking care, and he's the damn leader! I can't focus on anything. I can't even practice without feeling worse about myself." Sheik closed his eyes and turned away from Corrin.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say it'll all be okay in a few days." Corrin said. He tried to ignore how the words felt like poison to say, because he knew it wasn't really what most people would tell their clearly distraught boyfriend. "But you are going to get through this. We are going to get through this. This won't end like it did with your father."

When Sheik didn't respond for a solid three minutes, Corrin almost started talking again.

Then he saw Sheik's shoulders start shaking, almost like he was laughing, but Corrin knew better.

"I'm a failure. I'm a failure. I can't do this, I just- I can't! I'm trying so hard to please these goddamn people I'll probably never meet because I hate letting people down. I let my parents down and look where that got me!" Sheik was barely able speak, he was trying so hard not to break down completely. Still, at the end of his last sentence, a broken sob escaped his lips anyway.

He hardly ever cried. Not these days. Of course, he did tend to bottle up his emotions, but even then...

"The only failures here are your parents." Corrin whispered, taking a cautious step closer.

"No. No. It's not their fault that I'm such a whiny, oversensitive little bastard." Sheik bit back another sob. Corrin reached his hand out and rested it on his shoulder, but Sheik stepped away again. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Sheik yelled. "Just... don't. Please."

Corrin raised his hands in a reassuring gesture, but instead of taking a step back, he stepped forwards again. "Don't shut me out. I know this is stressful, but I need you to talk to me."

"You don't deserve me. You could date literally anybody else, so why me? Why me, knowing that I'm just a scared little kid who can't take negative comments?" Sheik asked, his voice rising in volume as he spoke.

Fuck it. Corrin was sick of watching Sheik beat himself up like this. So instead of responding, he pulled him into a hug. He was expecting him to put up a fight, but instead, Sheik just leaned against him and started sobbing.

"I hate how fucking weak I am." Sheik mumbled.

"You are not weak." Corrin said. "You've been through more than those idiots know. It is perfectly fine to feel the way you do about this, but please don't let it get the best of you. You are stronger than you think, Sheik."

SOCIAL MEDIA ROUNDUP! (these are kinda vicious again. read at your own discretion.)