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imhereformr · 7 months

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Waking Up... And the clock reads yesterday for Riven please (:

Guess who's aliiiiiiiiiiive (sort of)

Riven thought sleep would never come, but it did. It was a cruel, fitful sleep that had him tossing and turning all night. After the nightmare day he'd had, restless sleep was the best he could hope for. And really, even restless sleep was better than being awake.

His alarm went off at 5:30. Riven silenced the phone, dropped it beside his pillow and rolled back over. He could skip his morning workout just this once. His muscles wouldn’t deflate if he missed one day of weights and his legs wouldn’t stop working if he didn’t go for his morning run. What was the point anyways?

I can’t do this anymore; we’re not working.

That was what she’d said. Quick and simple, like she was trying to get the words out before they got stuck in her throat. He had nodded, gotten up from the bar and walked away. He didn’t want Musa to see him cry. A year and a half of having his worthless life blessed by her love had come to a crushing halt yesterday, November 12th at 6:37 pm. The walk home had been a numb blur of crossing streets the streets of Gardenia and having people move around him as he rushed home to the safety of his room.

He had almost fallen back asleep when his alarm blared in his ear. Riven cursed himself for setting a backup alarm for days when he didn’t feel like getting up. He fumbled for the phone and stabbed the silence button, returning the room to its previously dead state.

Outside of his room he could hear Brandon and Sky joking about something. Brandon’s loud, borderline obnoxious laugh echoed through their far-too-small-for-six-people apartment, grating on Riven’s nerves. He twisted the pillow around until he was almost smothering himself, but their incessant chatter seemed to not care about solid objects because it got no quieter.

Exasperated and unable to sleep, Riven sat up. Apparently, he would be working out this morning. It was that or lay in bed and ruminate on how he’d fucked up his relationship. He would wait until Brandon and Sky had left, though. By now, Musa had almost certainly told the other girls about the breakup and Stella had inevitably opened her big mouth and told Brandon who had also inevitably opened his somehow bigger mouth and told the other guys. And the last thing he wanted right now was Sky and Brandon’s pity.

He grabbed his phone, determined to mindlessly scroll through social media to avoid thinking. Though, maybe he would stalk Musa’s page? Or maybe not. That wouldn’t do him any good. But really what more harm could it do? He already felt empty. He couldn’t possibly feel more empty, could he?

“Hey, Riven, are you coming or not?” Brandon shouted through the door before Riven could even turn on his phone.

“I’ll, uh, see you guys there” he shouted back, thankful that Brandon didn’t pester him about more than whether he was getting his ass moving. He would break Brandon’s pretty little face if the squire so much as thought to ask how Riven was feeling.

“K. Cool, see you later.”

Riven laid back in bed with a sigh and turned on his phone. He nearly dropped it onto his face when he saw the message that had popped up.

Musa (6:14 am): Hey, are you free tonight?

He clicked the message instantly then froze when the full chat screen appeared. He didn’t know what to say. Did he just say yes? Did he ask why she wanted to see him? Did she miss him? Did she regret her decision?

Riven stared at the screen for what felt like hours, reading over her words, trying to decipher the hidden message that wasn’t there, to figure out what was wrong.

Then it hit him.

This was the same message she’d sent yesterday morning while he was heading out with Brandon and Sky. And every message that had followed – his confirmation that he was free, her suggesting that they get a drink, his letting her know that he’d be a bit late – was missing. It was like yesterday had never happened.

He fumbled his way back to his home screen, nearly dropping his phone again in the process. He stared at the picture of him and Musa on their first anniversary – they'd gone to a “romantic” fancy restaurant that Helia had suggested. After they had eaten the, admittedly, delicious food, they stripped into much more casual clothes in the unnervingly fancy bathrooms and gone to a free concert in a park where they’d spent the night making out and barely paying attention to the show. He took the picture near the end of the night – long after the band had finished, and people had left – when they were lying on the grass and joking around, both trying to avoid having to call it a night.

Back when they were happy... Before he’d gotten scared and started to pull away from her. Before she’d started getting frustrated with him and his unwillingness to open up. Before she’d stopped trying to talk to him.

Right there, just above Musa’s head, was the second most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. He felt hope bloom in his chest. He could turn this around. He could make her change her mind. He could save them. His phone read November 12th, 6:58 am.

For safe measure he looked up the date and nearly cried tears of joy when he saw that his phone hadn’t glitched.

And then he called Musa. She answered on the first ring.

“Riven? Shouldn’t you be under a few hundred pounds right now?”

“I didn’t go to the gym. Do you have time before work? We could get breakfast.”

She didn’t. She had to be at work for 8; she had to open the music store that day. He suggested dinner or a show – he could probably find some concert or comedy show. She countered with drinks. Exactly what she’d suggested yesterday right down to the place and time.

“Yeah, that sounds good” he replied. He was determined not to let her plans to break up with him get him down. He’d take the day to think about what he wanted to say to her and then hopefully not freak out when he got there and lose the ability to speak like he tended to do when emotions came up. He wasn’t giving up that easily.

He sucked at his job that day. Not that he was ever great; customer service was not his strength. He was particularly bad that day. So many orders were wrong, a few plates got dropped, some poor man got soup on his leg. It was not a good day to be his customer.

It was a good day to be Riven though – or as good as it ever really got, anyways. He knew exactly what he wanted to say. And because he didn’t trust himself to get the words out, he also wrote it down.

He got to the restaurant Musa had suggested at 5:45 – no sticking around work today. He sat at the bar and ordered for both of them: two blackberry beers that sounded exactly like something Musa would like.

Musa got there at 6. She looked tired and stressed. Had she been like that yesterday? He couldn’t remember. Musa had never had a great sleep schedule – she usually got up around 7 after having been up for hours the night before doing something or other: usually writing, but sometimes it was studying or, for a few weeks after her foray into the Golden Kingdom, crying. Despite her not-so-great sleeping habits, she’d had never looked quite this tired.

“Listen, we need to talk” she started, taking a large sip of the beer. “That’s good...” she mumbled before taking another large gulp. She was nervous. How had he not seen that? It seemed so obvious now that he knew what was coming.

“I thought you’d like it...”

He was stalling. The words he wanted were there, they were in his mind all lined up waiting to go, he just needed to get them out. He had practiced this. He had recited the words he wanted to say all day at work – sometimes accidentally saying something meant for Musa to a client – and the entire walk to the restaurant.

“So... uh...” Musa fidgeted with her sleeves. Now, while she was trying to get the words out, was his chance to tell her everything. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words he wanted died on his tongue.

Again.

And again.

And why couldn’t he get the stupid fucking words out? He was growing increasingly irritated with himself and it was starting to show, and Musa would think it had to do with him and then she’d definitely leave and WHY COULDN’T HE JUST GET THE WORDS OUT?!!?!??

“Riven” she sighed, “I ca-”

He pulled the paper – the one that contained every word he wanted to say to her – and held it out. It was a last resort. He wanted to tell her everything; to show her that he could do this whole boyfriend thing properly. A last resort would have to do. Musa startled a bit. Her questioning eyes lifted from the paper in his hands to his, tears pooling in her blue eyes. God, he really was a jerk. How could he not have noticed that she was on the verge of tears yesterday?

“Please” he whispered.

Musa took the paper between trembling hands and unfolded it. He watched, unable to breathe or move or think, as she read. Every shuddering breath he took tore him apart and every soft smile stitched him back together. A tear escaped her eyes and slid down her cheek, dropping onto the page.

He wanted to reach out: to brush the tear away even if it had already escaped her face; to take her hand; to kiss her forehead; to touch her knee; to tell her he loved her. He just couldn’t. Not until he knew she understood that he would go to the end of the universe for her. That he would always come back to her. That he would kill for her. And die for her. And live for her. Riven had spent his entire life insisting that he would never fall in love and never be one of those idiots that was willing to give up everything for a girl. Then Musa looked at him and smiled at him, and all of it – the stories, the love songs – made sense.

There were still tears in her eyes when she looked up, but it was different. When she’d come in, she looked dejected. Now, she looked at him with a love so fierce it burned him up in the best possible way. It horrified him to realise that she hadn’t looked at him like that in weeks when a year ago that (and utter rage, but he could pretend that one didn’t happen) was the only way she ever looked at him.

“I’m sorry” he whispered, stretching his arm to offer her his hand.

Musa smiled at him. She folded the paper and shoved it into her pocket. “I’m keeping this” she told him as she took his hand and pulled it into her lap.

“Okay” he chuckled, rolling his eyes. The plan had been to burn the paper so no one would ever know he had feelings, but if Musa wanted to keep it, that was okay too. Anything was okay, as long as she was happy.

“One more try” she nodded. “We give us one more try.”

“I’ll do better” he assured her.

Musa pulled her chair closer to him, all the while never letting go of his hand. “Me too.”

“Muse, you have noth-”

“Clearly I do” she scoffed. “Riven, I had no idea you... that you felt this way about me. I was so sure you didn’t care, and I’d gotten so in my head and started convincing myself that you were... I don’t know. Whatever” she shook her head. “Flora told me I should talk to you weeks ago. Clearly, she was right...”

“The bitch” he deadpanned.

“For real. Like, fuck her” Musa laughed. When her laughter subsided, she took a deep breath. “I’ll talk to you even if...” she trailed off.

“Talking about it fucking sucks?”

“Yeah.”

“You could just write me a song” he suggested.

“And you can just write me a letter” she countered with another laugh that made his heart flutter. “But we talk. However we need to.”

And they did talk. All evening. They talked through four pitchers of beer, a split plate of “mixed starter platter”, a lot of tears – some from him, as much as he loathed to admit it – and one very annoyed bartender that hated that they were the last two people in the place. They got everything out into the open and, much to his surprise, he didn’t care that people could hear them.

When they finally left, it felt like a weight that he didn’t even realise had existed had been lifted off them; like they were back in that honeymoon phase. Riven walked Musa home and kissed her goodnight when they reached her door. He turned to leave but she pulled him back into her before leading him up to the girls’ second floor apartment.

They settled into bed. Musa curled herself up into him and Riven buried his face in her hair. He could feel her fingers tracing lazy circles into his back until she fell asleep. And then, he forced himself to stay awake, not wanting to miss a moment with her. When he finally allowed himself to go to bed, sleep came easily.

#winx club #winx #winx musa #winx riven #rivusa #muri #set in season 4 #oneshot #prompt

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fiendishwinx · 10 months

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why do you like rivusa? (i love rivusa i just want to hear your reasons why)

Now, I did say that if I ever got the chance, I'd write a whole essay about them. Like 10 pages, minimum. But knowing me, it's gonna be shitty bullet points again! Yay! Who doesn't love those?

[SEASON 1]

-I know this season's a tossup for them. Rough times, rough times. Musa's feelings are unrequited (or at least appear to be unrequited) throughout most of it, right up until s1e25. Sucks (for me) that it takes him until the finale to reciprocate, but I like to interpret that as S1 Riven, or "girls!...who needs them" Riven, being understandably wary of anyone's sudden, unfounded affection towards him.

-But the thing about Musa here? She's stubborn with it--her affection. He's not ready for it yet, but she's layin' it on him, and she's layin' it on him thick. With reckless abandon, where her whole damn heart's on the line. That's a dangerous and naïve thing for someone to do, and any cagey person (Riven) would keep their distance. Ignore them, even.

And yet:

-And homegirl gives NO fucks about it, either--no reciprocation necessary! Well, maybe a little, because she stops pursuing him at the end of s1e9. He's dating someone else now, and he's being an ass about it, kinda, but she gets over him. To protect herself, as any humbled girl should. In turn, she's a lot more closed off (especially towards him) than before.

-Deep, deep down though?....it's still there. Can't get rid of those feelings, for shit.

-Would've loved some more buildup scenes post s1e9, or between s1e23 and s1e25, showing their gradual apologies, Trix-ocalypse bonding, and then Riven's "oh fuck, she's serious" moment that he starts pacing outside over. Let it rock his world for a bit.

[SEASON 2]

-There's a lot of will-they-won't-they this season, but I don't mind that. Always been a "it's the journey, not the destination" kind of shipper, anyway. But something they will do this season, and a whole lot of it, is touch:

-So many touches, grasps, hugs...shared hiding spots.

-Everyone's roughed up from last year, and Musa can't quite verbalize what's hurting her, much less explain it, but she can sure as hell grunt, unravel, and burst into tears in his arms. Because while yes, her friends are amazing, and give her plenty of advice and support, when it comes to Riven, he doesn't tell her how or what to feel. He just lets her do it. Hics, snot, and all.

-On the flip side, Riven's been humbled, or humble squared. Wouldn't say matured just yet, but he's tamed down his ass-ness, compared to S1. He's quieter, more distant. That's what imprisonment and nearly dying does to you (and it won't be the last time, either). Instead of yelling or mocking someone, he might choose to say nothing at all. It's both a blessing and a curse, though, concerning the both of them.

-Remember the formula, people. You put an avoidant guy in front of an emotional girl, then throw in some death dice. What do you get out of that, exactly? A relationship.

[SEASON 3]

-Less focus on them this season, and I never really vibed with the majority of their scenes being...inflammatory. Small moments like s3e9 (yeah, he could've spared Bloom's feelings more, but we've got two seasons of character development showing why he'd err towards bluntness, Musa...) and fuck-ing s3e19 (like, where? where does this come from, guys?!), that make my eye twitch. Rainbow's type-casted them at this point--they're the tropey, drama-prone "bickering couple" now, and indefinitely.

-If they weren't so serious about it, and had more of a snarky/teasing banter kind of situation? I would've ate that shit up. That's a trope I could get behind, and tbh, it'd make a lot more sense, given the narrative. Like, let them be a fun background couple now, it's fine.

-Shout out to "bACk aWay frOM mY WiFe" Riven in s3e21:

-Say what you want about it, but at the end of the day, Musa sees that he still cares, has always cared in his own way, and will drop everything at any hint of her being in danger.

-From this season's crumbs, I gathered that these two are lines--not parallel or perpendicular ones, but they do cross, and it's at this rare point where their love languages sync, their communication's on point, and they both genuinely see things eye-to-eye. It's somewhere outside of the graphing window, but they'll find it.

[SEASON 4]

-That interaction in s4e2? That's what I was talking about. Some quippy back-and-forth, where nobody's butthurt. Could've been the blueprint for them this season. And last season.

(Keep in mind, S4 makes me tired and delusional. Another jealousy plot? Failed simping attempts? Nope, doesn't ring a bell. W-Who's Jason Queen, again? No clue who that is, babe...must've hit my head on something...)

-But I do like seeing them switch here, where Riven's confronted with his own insecurities, and starts showing emotional vulnerability towards Musa, in different ways:

-Is it unpopular to say that, though S4 Rivusa irks me to bits, I prefer them to their characterization in S3? Because at least here, their arguments seem justified; Riven's threatened by Jason, and in turn, Musa's promising career on Earth, because it sparks the realization that he's stagnating, and might get left behind? And if it weren't for that realization, that fear, I'd think he'd be very supportive of her endeavors (going back to s2e15, and what he did at the concert for her: "everyone sing, goddammit!").

-This could've been their final relationship "bump", so to speak. They'd have all their deeper, more personal issues bubble to the surface ("Support me, Riven!", "I'm not good enough for you", "Please don't abandon me", etc.), which they'd address and come to terms with, then end S4 being that much closer.

Wait! Let's not forget SOTLK:

-This scene, in its entirety, had me levitating off the ground. Straight into the stratosphere, and you couldn't have paid me to come back down. Riven knows what he's fighting for, and Musa loves him, crunchables hair and all. That's the finale, for me. The end! Close the curtains, I beg of you!

Fuck, there's more?!

Anyways, I've always liked the underdogs--the easy-outs, and the least picked poll options. While it's a lonely experience to favor those types of ships (until I joined the fandom here, and found people who either like Muri/Rivusa, or are at least willing to discuss them, critically), it's never discouraged me from making ship content, you know? Some sites will just...never get to see it, though lol. Not that they'd want to, judging from what I've encountered.

I think they're neat, and if no one agreed with me on that, I'd be fine. You'd just see me in that empty section, way up in the stadium's bleachers, waving around some half-powered light stick by myself.

#rivusa #muri #musa x riven #winx club #and I'm not gonna get super crit bc I hate HATE doing that #but seriously #you have no idea how thankful I am of this fandom and its ability to respectfully disagree (compared to most sites)#liking ships don't require (and NEVER require) you to disprove undermine or blatantly bash someone else's ship + the characters involved #instead of 'why A should be with C instead of B (ew)' can't it just be 'why I like A and C together'? why focus on the other character?#*spins in chair*#*spins again*

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