Ingrid came to find me after I hadn't answered any of her calls. I'd texted her throughout the evening, in an attempt to cope with the simmering fury Astrid had sparked in me, so when I fell out of touch and became unreachable, Ingrid somehow guessed my intentions and rushed over.

I don't think I'll ever know how she did it. Whatever thread of fate connected the shards of our consciousness, the broken pieces of our hearts, the mirrors in our eyes fogged over with intoxicating vapours? Whatever it was, we owed it our lives.

We shared a hot bath back at Ingrid's place after our adventure on the rooftop. She had some gin in her cupboards, so we drank some of that before we went to bed. I must have slept peacefully for a while, without the nightmares kicking in, because I was woken up by Ingrid shivering and whimpering next to me.

"Ingrid?"

She'd broken into a cold sweat. Was she having some kind of seizure?

"Ingrid!"

I squeezed her shoulder and jostled her awake. She jumped up with a start, recoiling from my touch. Was this what my own night terrors were like?

"Ingrid," I said, as softly as I could, keeping my hands up and away to show her I meant no harm. "What happened?"

She looked sick. Terrified. In a split second, she dashed out of bed, then I heard her throw up in the bathroom.

"Shit."

How wasted had she gotten?

I went to check up on her and found her sat by the toilet, trembling. Possibly crying. I fetched her a blanket.

"Hey..."

I wanted to caress her, soothe her as best I could, but I feared I'd only make things worse. I didn't know what else to do.

Ingrid swallowed her sobs and sucked in a few deep breaths. That seemed to calm her down somewhat. I had been crouching in front of her and let my arse drop on the cold tiles.

"I was..." She licked her lips. Her fingers trembled. "On that ledge, I was there myself, so many times. I never dared to jump." She shrugged her shaking shoulders. "I wouldn't have had much to lose, right? I thought I wouldn't care. But it still...it scared the shit out of me. Tonight, though...," she trailed off and pulled her knees up, to hug them to her chest.

I watched her, feeling helpless. As if looking in a mirror, like she'd said.

That gave me an idea.

"Let's make it a deal, then, shall we?"

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "What?"

"If you jump, I jump."

Her frown deepened.

"Only..." I reached out for her hand and took it in both of mine. "If you don't jump, I don't jump," I murmured.

Her face brightened up. She chuckled, rubbing at her eyes. "That...that actually kind of sounds like a good idea."

I kissed the back of her hand, drew myself closer to her. I held onto her ankles as I framed her knees with mine. Pressed my lips against each of them in turn.

"If you don't jump," I said again, "I don't jump, hmm?"

She nodded and let me kiss her trembling fingers. I licked and bit her knuckles, gently, tracing tender lines along her forearm in the process. Ingrid eventually lowered her legs and crawled over into me, putting her arms around my torso. I cupped her cheeks and kissed her on the mouth. She melted into me, as I knew she would, her panic forgotten.

We sat in silence for a while, our foreheads pressed together, our eyes closed, listening to each other breathe, feeling each other's pulses. Hers had steadied down. Mine had, too, and I knew she sensed it under her thumb, which began to stroke patterns on my wrist.

"I promise you, Jude," she whispered over my lips, "I won't jump. If you don't jump, I won't jump."

*
a/n

well, where do i even begin? i guess i'll just say it: this is essentially a fanfic. as some of you will know, Jude belongs to Norwood515 (Ava) - from her story The Reason I Exist. Ingrid is my character, who's got her own odyssey up on my profile already: Whiskey Latte, Vodka Espresso and Tequila Americano.

i don't know which planets aligned to bring Ava and me together, but i'm glad they did, because it turns out we love to torture our protagonists in similar ways. which is what inspired me to try and see what would happen if they met.

disclaimer #1: i swear neither of us stole from the other, it's just a super freaky - and awesome - coincidence that Jude and Ingrid are both such hot messes.

disclaimer #2: new and old readers alike, please do bear in mind this is just a bit of fanfic fun - that is, none of the events pictured here have any bearing on any of the origin stories. however, if you loved this, there is definitely more where it came from: see Norwood515 or my own profile.

disclaimer #3: i have received Ava's permission + blessing to write and post this little story ❤️

cheers 🥃

p.s: Experiment, starring Ingrid and nice-guy Craig is now up and running in its entirety on my profile and features a cameo appearance from Jude, who just so happens to be Craig's best mate... 😬