#…I’m gonna die on the furry road | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lemonhobgoblin · 3 years

Text

A Casual Night

Mothman x human reader (gender-neutral)

Word Count: 7k

(I remember saying I would have a fic done the same week I posted my other fic. Well, that was a lie. After dealing with work, creating new wips, and editing what started as a 2k fic became this long-ass post. I tried to keep this gender-neutral, but if there are any parts thats not gender-neutral, or if something doesn't make sense give me a message and I'll fix it. Anyway hope you enjoy!)

The faint sound of your car running and the sound of the wind whipping against the surface was muddled out by old tunes playing from a random radio station filling the lonely ride home. Your eyes trained on the dark empty road ahead, your headlights on full beam, lighting your way. The subtle notes of a box of cooling pizza wafting in your direction every so often.

You were driving from a city over from where you lived, coming back from a friend’s home who was having a small get-together. It was a great time, unwinding from the stresses of work and life in general, with games, movies, playful banter, and sharing a couple of drinks. As the night progressed, things began to slow down, one of your friends passed out on the couch while everyone else turned to some lighthearted conversation. Leading the host to pipe up if they were willing to spend the night given how late it has gotten and mostly due to how much some people drank.

While everyone was willing to stay the night and continue their night of merriment. You on the other hand as well as one other person had to leave for the night due to work obligations you both had tomorrow morning.

Regretfully, you made your exit not without being offered leftovers for the ride back. But halfway home, you received an email detailing how you were not needed for work tomorrow as you were getting gas.

With this newfound information, you had the choice of making a U-turn back or continue straight home.

Rather than driving back to your friend's home, you were just going to continue your way home. You already said goodnight to them, and you were almost home even though it was still quite a ways to go. Nevertheless, they probably turned in for the night by now, and there was always next time to make it up to them.

So driving down an empty two-way road, with no lights fixture to light the road. With no other cars passing through, keeping you company. Only the trees crowding around the road giving you some sort of haunting looming audience. This was a normally busy road; however, by how late in the night it was, it was understandably dead.

Fortunately, enough, you saw your first signs of life up ahead. It seemed to be a herd of deer passing by. You honked your horn to scare them away from the oncoming danger that was your car.

Except instead of dispersing, they stayed in place, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary why else did they have the saying 'a deer in headlights.'

But what was odd, was the closer you approached the herd of deer they seemed to be floating off the pavement, apparently, they were one entity and not a group and had a pair of red glowing eyes. It stirred an unpleasant feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Promptly, an undiscernible screech erupted all around, jolting you in your seat, feeling a pang of sudden fear washing over you. Convincing yourself it was only the radio going off the fritz, peeling your eyes away from the road you scrambled to shut off the device. During your haste to bring an end to the blaring otherworldly sound, you didn’t realize how fast you were driving.

"What the fuck?!" Seeing a flash of a large dark mass smashing against your windshield - shards of glass flying around and onto you.

Swerving your car over to the side of the road, feeling the right side slope down, the bumps of the grass making you rattle and jostle in your seat. Putting your car to a complete stop.

Frantically, you scrambled to free yourself from your seatbelts, ripping yourself from your constraints, you busted out your car. Not giving a single care to the state of your car or your frazzled state. Only concerned about what or who you hit.

Jogging down, you saw a crumpled figure on the ground, he was a good distance away from where you parked. "Oh my god," You exclaimed.

“I didn’t see you coming, I’m so sorry," you yelled, hurrying to aid the individual. You didn’t get a response or see any movement - he did hit your car pretty hard.

Scared for their wellbeing you slowed down and fished for your phone in your back pocket to call for help. But before you could dial for help, you saw something that put halt to your actions. You starred in disbelief as your phone locked out.

From the figure, a wing stretched out toward the sky before folding back in itself.

What the hell did you hit?!

Cautiously, you crept forward to get a better look, you could see he was wearing a fur jacket. No. He was furry everywhere, dull in color but with an interesting print on what you believed was the wings, the pattern was similar to a moth's wing. A costume perhaps? His legs were a digitigrade structure and his feet are similar to a bird's foot arrangement. The talons of which were scraping against the road like an animal in pain.

"A moth?" Perplexed at what exactly you were looking at, it still seemed human, but it was too large in stature given it curled up on the ground. This had to be some large person in a very convincing costume. Assuming it was someone dressed up, as what you could only think of as Mothman. A random tall person dressed head to toe in an extremely convincing Mothman in the middle of an isolated road, for reasons you couldn't conjure but there had to be a rational reason as to why.

The closer you approached, the more of your rationality began to slip. Carefully you squat down, putting your hands on its back, it felt real. Too real.

The wings felt warm, stroking your hand down, you felt the ridges, bumps, and what felt like a pulse, in the wings. You noticed it had a plush ruff around its neck that could’ve been mistaken for a scarf. And there were antennas on its head, it was featherlike and twitched every few seconds. You had no desire to investigate further, yet you had a gnawing sense of curiosity that compelled you.

Besides what if was someone who was severely injured and needed immediate help. And what kind of person would you be if you just drove off without a second thought, leaving them to die. You couldn't live with yourself if that was the case.

This is too unreal. But all the signs suggested otherwise.

Bracing yourself, you gently turned him over to face you, the moment you caught a glimpse of his face, you felt instant regret surge through your veins. You stumbled backward, landing on your back, trying to push yourself away from the massive creature with your legs.

"MOTHMAN!!" You screamed.

This in turn alarmed the cryptid, flapping his wings erratically in response to your sudden outcry. It was emitting these indiscernible sounds that you had heard earlier in the car, it provoked that familiar immense fear within you.

Except, this was louder than when you were in your car, the sound reverberated through you, chills traveling up your spine. You could feel your heart palpitating within your chest, your trembling limbs growing numb. You felt your senses heightened at an alarming rate it was nauseating that you felt your mind blur. If these disquieting sounds alone could trigger your flight or fight response, without the presence of the monster. It was nothing in comparison to the full show that was in front of you, it was overwhelming in all the senses, inciting you to get far as possible.

"Holy shit!" Pulling yourself from your state of shock, you turned over onto your hands and knees, pushing yourself up and away, making a straight beeline to your car without delay.

The screeching stopped behind you. Glancing back toward the monster curious if it was making a move towards you. But all you saw was a poor incapacitated being, pitifully attempting to lift itself away. One of its wings was flapping while the other was barely moving at all. When it tried to move its stiff wing, it wouldn't fully extend before retracting it back, making what sounded like a pained low screech.

In all honesty, even in your fear-driven state, it pained you to witness this distressing scene. Pondering back and forth between taking the car and leaving, or taking your chances with the monster.

Inching toward the car, all without removing your eyes from the scene. Then you heard a more distressing shrill, stopping you dead in your tracks. You couldn't leave him.

He still needs help.

Inhaling a deep breath, you shakily walked back, each step was challenging you felt so weak in the knees and you felt lighter than usual. Your mouth desiccated of any moisture but persisted in swallowing nothing. It felt as if you were walking down to your execution and it might as well be. You couldn't predict what it would do or what it was capable of doing if you got any closer. Regardless, you tried to push your fears aside and help him, even if it killed you.

"Hold on, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just don’t hurt me please." Easing yourself onto your knees, mindful of not doing any sudden movements to provoke it any further for both of your sakes.

Bringing a hand back to where you had it before, you delicately brushed your hand up and down in small strokes on its wing. Focusing on his state and not his appearance, you saw cuts and scrapes littering its wings and body.

You grazed over an open wound, causing the creature to flinch, silently apologizing to him in a hushed tone before continuing to pet him while avoiding any more wounds.

Its breathing began to slow, quelling its jitters. You took this as an indicator of the creature growing at ease at your presence. “See I just wanna help." You whispered as the Moth creature peered up, gazing into your eyes in a sort of mutual understanding. Ensuring a feeling of reprieve within you and within him, or so you thought. It was soon to be proven wrong. The moment was short-lived when the cryptid began to thrash around again, this time trying to keep you away from him.

"Wait I thought we had an understanding there." Pulling yourself into a ball to avoid the cryptid's violent flapping wing and arms recklessly whipping around. "The eye contact we had! The eye contact!" you screamed after being betrayed by this false sense of amicable trust you thought you both had shared at that moment. But this ineffectively did nothing to fix the dilemma, merely adding more to the chaos.

"Please I want to help you." Reaching your hand out to calm him once more, without the screaming and flailing this time. "This was my fault, I wanna help and then you can go on your Mothman way, okay?" You tried to coax. Once more the monster began to quiet down, its quick shallow breathing slowed. Weary of his soothed behavior, you waited a bit before wrapping his arm over your neck.

"Okay, I'm gonna pick you up or at least try to." You said, guiding him upward into a standing position.

"Christ, you’re heavy!" Bending under the weight, propping him against your frame, so you could get a proper footing and grip on him. You struggled to the car, trudging over, but not without one of your legs giving out from under the weight occasionally. What caught your eye was how his head lulled forward or side to side, he might be disoriented from the blow. Not wanting to move his head much, you trudged much slower than you already were and stopped every few seconds.

Arriving at you your vehicle, you rested against your car, before opening the car door and easing him inside into the backseat. Tucking in any stray limbs and wings fully inside the car. Shutting the door you looked at the heavily cracked windshield. It was damaged pretty well, you summarized that you had to slowly drive all the way home. Wait home.

"Wait, I can't just bring you to my house." You said, bringing a hand to your mouth, realizing a new issue. "Someone's gonna see you." Remembering you lived on a busy street near pubs and shops, and it was Friday night you could only assume there were still people out and about enjoying the nightlife. Peering inside your car, your eyes locked on your jacket in the front seat.

"Maybe I can disguise you, and it is Friday night maybe people would be too drunk to notice."

"As long as we don't draw too much attention." You said, getting into your seat and starting up the engine. But something about saying those words aloud, felt like it was going to bite you in the ass but what’s the worst that can happen, you had him handled.

….

Here you were driving back home with the low-volume melody playing like before. However, this was different, before you were alone and you welcomed the tranquil ambiance you had riding home. But now you were riding back with an elusive creature. Creating an unsettling silence within the vehicle. What was maddening was that you were unsure what he was thinking, making you unsure of what to do besides drive. Maybe you were overthinking this but you felt you had to do something to break this disorienting atmosphere because this was too hard to fathom as reality.

"D-Do you want gum? L-Leftover pizza?" Your voice cracked, quickly clearing your throat asking again in a stronger confident voice.

No response. You tapped your fingers on the steering wheel, sucking in your cheek prompting you to purse your lips in your endeavor of finding what else to say. Flitting your eyes back and forth from the road to looking around your car on what else to offer.

"My coat?"

No response again.

Looking at your rearview mirror to get a glimpse of the cryptid only to be met with its red eyes staring directly back at you. Hastily looking back to the road and sinking into your seat, alarmed. How long was he staring at you? Why was he staring? At least he seemed less disoriented now, but you didn’t need that right now, maybe you could draw his attention onto something else other than you.

"How about some air?" you asked, hoping he would stare out the window or put his head out, anything but him staring at you all the way home. Gliding your left hand over to the window control panel on the side of your door, you pushed down a button making his window rolled down. This captured his attention, redirecting his gaze towards the open window, watching the trees and road signs passing by. O thank god. but just as he turned his head to the outside, he took this as an invitation to spread his wings to catch some air.

"That doesn't mean you can start flapping, put your wings down." Whipping your head back and forth from the creature to the road, drawing a hand at him, swinging it around to get him to fold his wings down. "PUT YOUR WINGS DOWN! PUT YOUR WINGS DOWN!" Veering your car off to the side of the road.

.....

Back on the road, after sorting out the matter. "Okay, no rolled down windows." You remarked. Mothman looking like a perfect angel in the back tapping at the rolled-up window while you were in the front with your hair messed up and arms lightly scratched. You weren't a mother, but you now had a vague idea of what it would be like and further respect and admiration for them.

Needless to say, you rode the entire way back in silence without a single word being uttered.

…..

Steering your car on the side of the street in front of an apartment complex, you placed your car in park. You turned off the engine. Street lamps and other building lights were illuminating the street. The neon signs from the local business started to shut off, looked like some of them are turning in for the night.

You snatched your jacket from the passenger seat before slipping out and making your way to open Mothman’s car door.

"We need to move, quickly." Throwing your coat over him to conceal him in the event of someone walking by. Mothman pawed at the coat and clutching it closer to get a better look and smell of the material. After gathering your phone and keys, you whirled back toward Mothman. Fussing at him to not move the jacket, readjusting it over his head. You surveyed the streets for anyone coming down or seem like they are heading out in your direction.

Once more putting his arm around you, you strode as quickly as you possibly could to the complex without either of you falling over. Mercifully, you got to the door with no problem at all or bumping into anyone.

Until you heard something you’ve been dreading on the way home, something that made your heart sank down into the deep trenches of your stomach

"Holy shit! Is that Mothman!?!" A male voice exclaimed.

You whirled your head toward the stranger who was slowly approaching you two. Fuck!

Where did he come from and what made him so confident that he’s looking at Mothman. You glanced back over to Mothman noticing that the jacket that was covering his face, was now draped over his shoulders. Drastically you scoured your brain for an excuse or some sort of explanation to counter how this wasn't a cryptid. But he beat you to the punch before you had a chance to find a solid response.

"Dude sick costume!" He said excitedly.

O fuck. Relieved that it wasn't the worse, but you were surprised he didn't question any further especially how close he was to you both. Even you would've questioned, the details and just the overall realism of said 'costume'. It didn't take long for the answer to hit you square in the nose. When a waft of alcohol invaded your nostrils, the man was drunk, and you never were more grateful.

"Thanks." You nervously laughed.

"That’s crazy good man, you did this all yourself?” He asked enthusiastically towards Mothman, beholding every bit of intricacy on the creature.

"He can’t talk right now; he drank too much to function." You interjected. “We just got back from a party.”

"I gotcha, but is it okay if I get a photo though?"

FUCK! you blurted internally, but externally with faux delight, you said "Sure!"

" 'Chad' you cool with that?" you sheepishly asked your moth friend with the first name you could think of for him. And why were you asking him? As if he could make a cohesive verbal response. But you were hoping at this moment he could magically talk, alas all he did was blankly stare.

"I'm not hearing a no." You heard the man say and you woefully agreed.

"Gimme a sec." The man pulled out his phone and tapping it unlocked.

"Okay," your heart was racing in your chest and you could feel a layer of sweat beginning to form and pool in places. But by some sweet grace of some higher being, a miracle happened right before your eyes. You heard a melodious chime sweetly ring through the crisp early fall air.

"O dang getting a call, hold on" the man answered the call, turning his back towards you.

Maybe there was a god, after all, a fucking sadist with a sick sense of humor. Either way, you were not about to pass up this chance for a free getaway.

You took this God-given opportunity to jam your key into the lock swiftly to get the both of you inside. Twisting to unlock the entrance, you could overhear the man to what sounded like him wrapping up his conservation. Turning the knob, you ushered Mothman and yourself inside the apartment complex, but not without throwing a quick apology to the stranger. Slamming your back against the door shutting it closed, a wave of relief washed over you.

"Aw man, that was too close." leaning your head against the door, desperate for a quick breath from your ordeal. You hadn't felt this much adrenaline since, since. You were so winded you couldn't even recall a memory.

Peeling yourself off from the door, feeling ready to make the final steps home. Deceptively though your body wasn’t as ready to move just yet.

"Nope wait." still trying to catch your breath. Doubling over, leaning forward, and resting your hands on your knees. Mothman all the while just tilted his head at you, confused. While you were over there feeling like you were going to be sick. The wave of nausea quickly fading away allowing you to straighten yourself out.

"Okay, we're good." You said as you grabbed his hand leading him up the stairs. Unbeknownst to you, the large creature was zoning in at the unfamiliar contact.

During his entire time with you, he was just as wary of you as you were with him. He wasn’t one to present himself to people, only as a forewarning of what was to come or an indication that Mothman will be the very last thing they would see. He trailed and stalked others like you in your car but was never hit, that was a first for him. Albeit though, him getting hit with your car, leaving him cut up and bruised did give him another reason to be extremely defensive and antsy around you.

Yet, you were gentle, loud but gentle with him when he wasn’t. Risking your safety in an effort for him to get mended. Lightly ghosting his thumb over the soft skin of your hand, tightening his hold on you. But you didn't notice, you were too preoccupied with climbing higher up the stairs, vigilant for any neighbors.

"Come on we're almost to my place." Giving a reassuring hand squeeze.

"Try to stay quiet a little longer." Peering back at the cryptid flashing him a quick warm smile, before looking back straight ahead. The creature looked directly at you, then to stairs, and back to you again. He came up with a grand idea to help with your effort. But first, he had to gain your attention and for this to work, he had to disregard everything you told him not to do earlier. The cryptid started to emit his screech directly at you to get your attention. And to you, he was making a ruckus, that was echoing through the entire stairwell and halls.

"What part of stay quiet do you not understand?" Grimacing at the noise. You stopped your movement, aiming to cover his mouth with your free hand, you felt his mandibles tickling underneath your palm.

The creature pulled your hand away and into his own, clutching both of his hands close to himself, bringing you into him. This gesture was unexpected and left you feeling warm in the face by how close he was pressing you into him. But it didn't last long when he began to bend his knee and flap his wing readying himself to fly up.

"Wait don't" Pushing yourself away from him, you freed yourself from his grasp to stop his actions. He was still injured this would only cause more harm to him and to you if he tried doing what you thought he was about to do. In your effort to stop him, Mothman tried to reach out for you again, only for his wing to smack into you causing you to land on the hard edge of the concrete stairs; headfirst. “Shit."

Groaning, "Well, I deserved that." you brought your hand to your head, you winced at the touch. As you yanked your hand away you caught a glimpse of red in your peripherals. Bringing the hand in your line of vision you saw blood smeared on the tips of your fingers.

Mothman immediately brought his actions to a halt when he saw what he had done to you. His antennas drooped down, he came close, giving you a hand up. Gladly accepting the gesture, he brought you up to an upright position, he felt bad for what he had done to you. Tentatively, he brought a hand up, lightly swiping his claws over your forehead making a low pained screech.

“It’s okay, you just wanted help didn’t you.” He nodded in response, you pressed a hand to the wound preventing the blood from dripping down. You couldn’t be mad at him he didn’t know better, and you did hurt him first, it only felt fair. Disrupting this tender moment, you heard yelling and heavy footsteps approaching one of the doors on the floor you were on.

"Let’s go!" you rushed up the stairs, luckily for you both it was the final flight of stairs. Reaching the top of steps in record time when you heard the front swing door open.

"What's with all that commotion!?" A neighbor yelled upward toward the sound of your feet stomping up. Coming to an abrupt halt at your door, you whispered for Mothman to stay where he was, while you dealt with the matter below. But he decided to follow behind instead, not wanting to leave your side.

"Sorry I was just goofing" You admitted, showing your face over the rail, outing yourself to your neighbor.

"Sorry my ass, I got work early tomorrow, you expect me to sleep with this fucking racket outside, and now this." They argued back, and rightly so, who wouldn’t complain about an unearthly ear-piercing screech penetrating through the halls along with banging sounds hitting all around the walls. But you couldn’t help but feel annoyed

"I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, promise." You leaned forward resting against the rail while one leg was kicked up behind you, preventing Mothman from coming toward the railing. You exchanged a few more words with your neighbor to avoid the landlord getting involved. Finishing up, you pulled yourself away calling it wraps on the conversation as the individual below continued spewing profanities at you and about the building.

You unlocked and opened your door “In! In! In!" You shoved the imposing cryptid inside, already getting peeved by the neighbor's continuous rambling. It wasn’t anything new they hated everyone in the building, but it wasn’t something you grew used to though.

"Jesus Christ finally." you sighed, kicking the door behind shut.

Slipping off your shoes, leaving them by the entrance, your feet ached in relief from its constructing confines. Dragging yourself through the small hall leading the way to the main part of your home, it was small but cozy.

"Here we are home sweet home." you chimed, leading Mothman further into the living room, grabbing the jacket from him and tossing it to the couch. As well as turning on a lamp to properly illuminate the room. It didn't take long for Mothman to be drawn to the light fixture like the moth he was. He grabbed the lamp hugging it towards him, looking directly at the bulb. Chuckling at the sight, you could’ve given him a flashlight on the way home if he was going to be this mesmerized. You proceeded to make your way to the kitchen for your first aid kit.

"You can make yourself comfortable, but don’t wreck anything please," you shouted from the room over, but Mothman was unbothered, he was solely transfixed on the soft light, eyes wide and grabbing at the lampshade. "I'm gonna go find my first aid kit to fix you and my cut." You really hoped nothing else gets broken, there was already enough screaming and thrashing for the night.

Shuffling through the kitchen, trying to remember where you last placed the kit. You rested and slid a hand over the cool smooth linoleum counter, looking between cabinets for any sign of a small box. Coming to the last cabinet, you rummaged through before finally pulling out your first aid kit.

But you couldn’t help but stop and think about tonight’s events. It started as a fun night, then filled with pure dread, mothering, and now what felt like taking care of a drunk long-time friend. Except, what really dominated your mind was this odd feeling you started to feel, you recounted back in the hall the way he held you close. It made you feel bashful, to say the least. Up to now, you saw him as a friendly harmless dare you say, an unexpected friend. But that didn’t accurately describe what you were feeling. Shaking your heading, you had other pressing matters to attend to.

"Got it, let's see." And not to your surprise you saw the tall cryptid sitting on the couch, clutching the lamp close to him as if it was his lifeline. You contemplated whether you should take the lamp away. But he looked to be enjoying the light source, hearing faint happy chirps emitting from him. Sadly, you decided to ruin his fun, seeing as there were wounds you needed to tend to on his chest and you needed the light to properly see them.

You attempted to pull the lamp away so you could have better access to examine his injuries. In response, he chittered in objection to his lamp being taken, and nothing was going to separate him from his precious lamp. He was going to soon learn that the lamp was barely holding onto the outlet. Hugging it closer to himself, the plug came out, extinguishing the light. Perplexed as to where his light disappeared to, he presented the lamp towards you hoping you would bring the light back.

“I’ll bring it back, but only until I get a look at you.” He nodded vigorously as you grabbed the lamp and setting back on the mini table, blindingly trying to find the plug and inserting back into the outlet turning on the lamp again. You sat on the couch next to him, motioning for him to come closer so you could get to work.

......

"I don’t see any major cuts or anything broken." Scouting out the state of the injuries, they were honestly not that bad, you guessed it was probably due to the now dried flaky blood around his cuts gave the appearance that they worse than what they were. He got pretty lucky but it was probably due to his build that he was capable of taking on more than a couple of hits.

"Only just a sprain and a couple of cuts, that’s a relief" Thinking to yourself glad it wasn't any worse, you couldn't imagine the stress of trying to keep him at your apartment while he heals, and away from your neighbors’ eyes. The fear of him getting caught and taken away and dissected. Being bombarded by officials and Mothman lovers. And getting questioned or probed, maybe even both. You didn’t know if they would, but you knew deep in your heart they would probe you for answers. Stopping your paranoid-filled train of thought from delving any further. You finished tying up a couple of loose ends and sticking on on salve on minor areas.

"See all better. Don’t move too much, it'll heal quickly that way" Gathering any trash to throw away. Everything is fine now; you don’t have plans tomorrow so you could probably sneak him back out the next night.

Huh.

Letting him go. The idea of it should have given you some relief and yet you couldn’t help but feel conflicted. Would he come to visit again? No that would be reckless. Or you could convince him to stay longer to heal, no that would be irresponsible and selfish of you. He deserves to go back, and you're going to help him get back on his feet and let him be on his way. You walked back to the room.

“Feel much better?” you inquired to Mothman who busy was playing with the bandages on him.

He looked directly at you and nodded in response.

"That’s good, the sooner you get better the sooner you can leave," you told him, seating yourself back next to Mothman who hasn’t kept his eyes off of you. You peered up to catch a glimpse of what he was doing, only to capture him looking directly at you with his head tilted.

Not this again. you thought.

He’s certainly not making this any easier. You looked away trying to focus on anything else in the room before you resorted to looking at the floor.

"You know it’s still kinda crazy, that this is even real. Like I feel like I’m going insane," you jokingly confessed to Mothman, laughing to yourself. But you thought about it more, maybe you were, "O my God is this what a psychological break is?" You looked back at him, having an unfazed look on him.

"Can I?" you asked reaching a hand forward. He stared at your hand for a bit, until he leaned forward giving you permission to proceed.

"So soft" allowing yourself to fully feel him, combing your hand through his dark fur and traveling up his ruff. It was surprisingly plush for how it looked, it felt you were touching a cloud but with some tiny debris within it. You gathered more courage to let your hand wander up to his face, giving a couple of brushes before stopping your motion, cupping the side face. His eyes were a brilliant red color comparable to a lustrous gem.

"You really are real." You muttered, stroking a thumb over his cheek.

Mothman brought a clawed hand to your face in a likewise manner, curious of your own features. Where for him he found them peculiar and to other individuals such as yourself they found it normal. The universe was messed up, making it much harder for you to separate yourself from him when the time comes for him to leave, but you allowed this, forgetting your initial plan.

Feeling a sharp claw gliding up against your skin, perfectly capable of nicking you or doing so much worse to you than you could imagine. But he had no intention to do so, merely entranced by you.

His hand wandered up to your forehead, where your gash was, flaky and dried the blood was chipping at the edges. His antennas lowered and chirped in response, for what he did to you back at the stairwell, he didn't mean to. Even if you said it was alright, it still didn’t make him better, bringing a hand to skim the wound, you flinched at the sharp pain of your forgotten injury, knocking you out of your trance-like state.

Mothman drawing back in his seat, alert and worried thinking he hurt you again.

“It’s okay, you did nothing wrong.”

You reached a hand out to calm him, you aimed for his arm but managed to miss and land your hand on his thigh. Wow, that’s great! you internally cringed feeling a blush rush over you, instead of pulling back you still tried to alleviate him by patting his leg, telling him it was the injury that was hurting you not him.

Instead of defusing his concerned mindset, he only tried to push away from you to avoid causing you any further harm. Hand still anchored on his thigh, you launched yourself trying to stop him from hurting himself more.

Fortunately, with your luck, you ended up top of him, Mothman laying on the couch while you hovered over him, with both of your legs planted on either side of his thigh. Your left knee was alarming close to his crotch if you moved an inch closer you would be bumping your knee right into it. Your hands rested squarely on his chest, finger splayed out as you looked down at him with a similar wide-eyed expression.

You gotta be fucking kidding me.

Maintaining your effort of trying to console Mothman, you coughed to clear your throat and your mind of any dirty thoughts from springing up. “Hey, I know you didn’t mean to, and if you did, I would tell you and- and I’m sorry that I gave you the impression that you hurt me and I’m sorry for hitting you with my car, I feel like saying it doesn’t do justice for what I did.” You panted after your long-winded speech.

“Also, I’m sorry for tackling you down that wasn’t my intention. So, you good? I didn’t hurt you?”

He slowly shook his head, as a response that you didn’t hurt him. Startled yes. Hurt no. Bobbing your head in understanding, you carefully crawled off him.

"Well, I guess I should go get the blood washed off, I'll be right back." You informed the still cryptid who made no effort of getting up, just continued to lay on the couch staring straight ahead in shock.

Walking off to clean off the blood and to regain your composure. You were just going through too many emotions than you should for the night. On your way to take care of your problem, you could’ve sworn you heard something akin to a cat purring where Mothman was. But you blew it off and justified it as hearing the blood rushing and the beat of your heart pounding in your ears.

Striding down a hall and into the bathroom you turned the faucet on allowing the water to flow into the sink and onto your hands. Water pooled in your cupped hands before splashing the cold water onto your face, the water, and dried blood dripping together down around the curves and grooves of your face into the porcelain bowl below. It was a satisfying contrast to your heated face, splashing another round of water at your face but an intrusive memory replayed the moment that happened a few seconds ago. Leaving your face buried in your hands, groaning from sheer embarrassment. Fucking hell why am I like this?!

Unwillingly you slid your hands off and look at yourself in the mirror you looked like the accurate personification of a hot mess. You weren’t going to think too much into this, you are going to pretend what happened didn’t happen, you were going to disinfect and stick a bandage on your cut and not dwell on your emotions around the situation at hand. Allowing him to leave as soon as he is better and not have any other affiliations with him again.

Opening the medicine cabinet for an alcohol wipe and unwrapping the wipe from its small packaging.

"Now for the worst part." Quietly hissing at the contact with the antiseptic. Finishing up on cleaning the wound, you foraged through the cabinet looking for a bandaid. Noting there wasn’t one to be found, you sighed.

Guess I need to go find one.

Turning toward the door to walk out, you looked up and saw Mothman standing at the doorway, watching.

How long was he standing? And how the hell is he so silent for such a big guy and why wasn't he like this before? You were about to question him what he was doing here or if needed something when you noticed he was fiddling with a band-aid in hand. Slowly he brought it up, placing it over your cut.

"Thanks." Laying a hand over the band-aid, feeling not just your cheeks warming up but now a butterfly feeling in your stomach, solidifying your emotions for him.

So much for my plan.

Weaseling past him, before enthusiastically asking him, "Well, we got time to pass, so what do you want to do?"

…..

The sun rays bled through the curtains lightening up your home, the light seeping past your eyelashes and into your eyelids forcing you to wake up. Blinded by the light, you groaned in discomfort, pushing yourself up hearing a couple pops in your back. Rubbing a hand up and down your face trying to wipe away the sleep.

What the hell happened here? Why was there glass everywhere? Looking up you saw your window smashed in with only a few jagged pieces in place around the sides. Turning your attention away you looked around the room, wasn’t there someone else here. O yeah.

But the question was, how did you end up falling asleep on the floor, and where was the large cryptid. Wait a minute.

…

"No, you can't go out, you're still hurt." Trying to hold him back from going through the window. Everything was fine, you both were sitting on the couch, watching whatever, and snacking on fruit, and next, you found yourself asleep but woke up to a ruckus, the tv still on, and seeing Mothman trying to rip the curtain off the window nearby. Jumping to action to stop him, he successfully pulled off the curtains along with the rack, you assumed he was trying to leave even though he wasn’t better or so you thought.

And here you were struggling to hold him back, you thought he was difficult before but now that he fully adjusted and patched, you fully experienced that he was pure indomitable power.

"At least wait till the street is clear." You insisted, noticing some people walking or jogging down the street in the dark early morning. But he didn't listen he was adamant in making his exit. So, you made the decision to let him go.

"Okay, okay at least let me get the window, I don’t want glass on the floor." Racing in front of him to slide the window open. A quick gust of wind whipped against your face, causing you to squint your eyes in response.

"There! AH-!" the last thing you saw was Mothman coming at you and the last thing you felt was his frame bulldozing you down by fast approaching torso.

…

"O right." That explains how you ended up on the floor and the glass strewn all over the floor. More incredibly, even when you opened the window, the creature still managed to break the window in its haste to leave. Your head was pounding, he really is a force to be reckoned with. Bringing a hand to your head, you winced at the contact to your forehead but noticed something else. Delicately raising a hand back to your forehead and skimming along the surface. There was the band-aid from the stairwell and on the other side was another. You didn’t remember adding when did you?

Oh.

……

"My window," you muttered groggily, your vision fading out not before the moth creature gave his assistance to you for the last time and a thanks to you by sticking a band-aid on your sure-to-be bruised noggin as you lulled into an unconscious state.

……

At least bug boy was nice enough to get you another band-aid when he put you out cold, before making his exit. Slowly standing up to get started on assessing the mess and knowing full well that you needed to inform your landlord of the window. You peered out the window, curious of any indication of Mothman to spot, unfortunately, all there was to see the was hustle and bustle of the city around and below.

Turning your attention back to the mess, maybe you could make a fib of some large man drunk man pretending to be Mothman breaking into your home believing it was his. Sighing, you went to grab a broom to clean up the mess, at least you were able to encounter a real living and breathing legend. Made you wonder if other cryptids exist, but you’re pretty sure handling one creature was enough for now after last night.

Finishing up, you gathered all the shards and brought them to the trash. You didn’t have work for today, which gave you the opportunity to get a breather and get things done. Making your way to your room and getting ready for the day.

As you were getting clothes on and getting a good look at yourself in the mirror. There square above your eyes and your right eye was a bruise evident from last night's escapades. Shaking your head, laughing to yourself you weren’t going to be able to cover up the contusion. Bringing a hand to your head, you couldn’t help but smile at the cryptids' cute gesture. Walking out of the restroom deciding to let the shiner shine, ready to do some damage control.

Grabbing your keys, and heading out the door, and yet you couldn't stop thinking of that little moth guy. What are the chances of seeing him again? Probably unlikely, a mere once in a lifetime chance but you were grateful to encounter a sweet bug boy like him.

#mothman #mothman x reader #mothman x human #exophilia #cryptid #cryptid x reader #mothman fanfiction #mothman imagine #monster #monster lover #mothman my beloved #monster fucker #monster x human #monster romance

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sunflowersandmirage · 3 years

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haikyuu characters as texts sent by my irl groupchat

Aone: You can't beat me, I lack eyebrows Tanaka: If I ever rule a country, instead of saluting, we'll dab Nishinoya: Today was a productive day. I stabbed a Pepsi Kita: The merciful despacito gods Kiyoko: horror au: everyone is straight now Osamu: It's okay, we'll revive him with pasta salad Kageyama: If you're an egg, you're a dumbass Lev: Mario's looking really happy, completely destroying capitalism Oikawa: Calm down... he said sexily Bokuto: By day, I'm your dad. By night, I'm your mom, and in the afternoons I'm whatever you want Kuroo: The relationship between my best friend and I can be summarized by the fact that we accuse each other of being furries, and then we aggressively meow at each other Sugawara: Hey, what the hell? Just tell them to go fuck themselves. And calm down Koganegawa: So, to recruit this one guy I need to recruit his childhood friend. and to recruit his childhood friend I need to pLAY SOCCER AGAINST DINOSAURS Hinata: What is that microwave in the hallway for? Tsukishima: The teachers will throw it at you if you misbehave Hinata: Cual es tu motherfucking name, joder? Yamamoto: Everything is losses today. First fortnite kid leaves. And now you do this to me Alisa: The L in LGBT is for Luigi. I am An LL, THE Luigi Lesbian Asahi: Animal Crossing: Survival Mode Matsukawa: Youtube recommended me a Romeo and Cinderella cover sung by Spongebob, and now I'm gonna make it your problem too Hanamaki: The best way to start Pride Month is calling people out for Homestuck Crimes Kinoshita: It was worth the risk. Or the dick, cause I have seen a lot Fukunaga: As far as I know, you can't make a baby breath out fire Atsumu: I'm the seer of... Time? Heart? Seer of I FUCKING KNEW IT. HELL YEAH! Konoha: IGNORE MY GAY NINJA EPIPHANY, WON'T YOU Ushijima: I ended up breaking the floor by beyblade-ing too hard Natsu: And that's all I am now. A communist baby Yaku: Do you know what's the difference between fruit milkshakes and fruit juice? Can't be the milk, some juices have milk too Lev: ... fuit Shirabu: In the game of cardboard, either you win or you die Hoshiumi: He has lost tiny privileges. if he calls anyone else short, I'll have to arrest him Kenma: Bowser is actually a gay icon because in Mario 64, when you throw him Mario says "So long, gay Bowser!", which compliments Luigi being a literal disaster gay. In this essay I will- Nishinoya: You tell them, Hinata! Just because we're short doesn't mean we can't stab them Saeko: TODAY I LEARNED THAT LESBIANISMS CAN SOLVE LITERALLY ANYTHING That one nationals guy and his gf, I forgot their names: WE ARE JUST OMNIPRESENT Miwa: BIG LESBIAN ENERGY WITH A KNIFE Tendou: If I were your government assigned magical girl companion, I'd give you the power to arson Suna: Hello. My name is Suna Rintarou, and I'm a normal girl, except I'm Satan Takeda: And the road trip ended with the whole class singing Baby Shark Daichi: My life is weird and my hats are many Kenma: So while we were playing Animal Crossing, Lev wrote "penis" on the board and then I tried to behead him with my axe Yukie: Mutual morosexuality. The beautifulest kind of love Futakuchi: DOES AONE IS EYEBROWS I'M DYING HERE Iwaizumi: ARE YOU STUPID OR DO YOU EAT SOUP WITH A FORK!? Us: Things would be easier if I was in charge. Everyone could be gay Yachi: I was panicking because I thought I missed the bus. I was inside the bus Gin: Fuck, Suna, you look like you should sleep for 3 thousand years Semi: You all should know lyric videos written in Comic Sans are not trustworthy Yamaguchi: You WILL heal. This is a threat. Where's that Goku post- Goshiki: My dad (Tendou) told me he casually licks lemons. In no time, I will too Aran: I just can't compete against Kansai Logic

Akiteru: My brother placed a pair of crocs under my bed and I am scared

Ukai: [sternly] Do you know what this means...? No, I don’t either

Kindaichi: Hello, I’m Kindaichi, I like books, I’m Veget- Kunimi: -A, PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS

Akaashi: Between all of us, we have 3 braincells, none of them functional

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whatthehelliswrongwithme · 3 years

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Voltron Part 29

Okay, guys, gals and nonbinary pals. It's time for the season 6 finale! As always I'll also put my thoughts bout this season as a whole into this part. Hope you enjoy!:

Lotor, hows the weather like in there? You know? Up your arse. Because you're so fucking full of yourself

Is Keith's scar-thingy permanent?

Lotor: "Omae wa mou shindeiru"

Voltron: "NANI?!"

This asshole is worse than Abra with all these teleports

Remember when I said that this show couldn't get more anime, when Sailor Moon appeared? Well now they've got a sword...... that's on fire

Pidge you just send you lion head/Voltron's fist flying towards Lotor. Weren't you sitting in that?

Allura, why won't you leave Lotor in the quintessence-realm? Do you still have feeeeliiiings?

Is it done? Is the ass dead?

Let the joyous news be spread, that wicked old ass at last is dead!

Good. Won't miss him

Noooo! Not the castle!

Sailor Moon hasn't said a word the last few episodes. But simply by standing next to Allura, I know that this ship exists

I love the idea of them saving the universe, while having all of their shit packed into the lions

They're just glorified U-haul trucks now

Hunk, what kind of eagle-eyes do you have to have seen this castle-diamond-thingy?

I don't really care about Shance. But I appreciate the scene of Lance angsting over Shiro

Heeeeey!!! "Shiro" is Shiro again!

But why the fuck is all of his hair white (gray?) now?

Also, wouldn't it feel fucking weird to just like not have your body anymore. And instead someone else's. Even if it's an exact replica of you....

But, also: SHEITH!

They're finally going to earth!!!! I've predicted it since season 2 and now it's finally happening!

Thoughts on the season as a whole:

I really, really liked this season

Seriously, better than season5 and much better than season4

Many good episodes, fave was probably "Cheaper by the dozen, but it's just Shiro" because of !Sheith!

But the DnD episode was also really good

I disliked that Keith aged 2 years on the space whale, to bond with his mom

Because it wasn't acknowledged AT ALL. Even though 2 years is such a long time!

I'm still conflicted about this whole "Shiro was actually a clone" thing

Might actually make another "Rant"-post about this

(Also, in terms of foreshadowing: Apparently "Kuron" literally means clone. So I can see how that theory existed.)

(I just knew, that "Kuro" means black. And I thought that this was supposed to mirror the Shiro-white thing)

{Huge thanks to @living-for-fiction and especially @non-plutonian-druid for explaining!}

It's nice to have Keith back in the MAIN-main cast. Feels good to have him back. Missed him

Shiro is his own whole situation. I'm glad to have him back. I just hope that the writers won't fuck his character up

Lance had some serious self-reflection since season1. And I actually kinda enjoy him now. Being so smitten by Allura is kinda cute

Allura is weird. She's got that whole angst/confidence issue going on, because she was fooled by Lotor. But honestly, she's kind of right. She really should have been more suspicious of him

(Also: Why didn't you "die" this finale?)

Pidge is my sassy, unhinged nerd daughter. And no one can take that away from me

Hunk is my nerdy, sunshine boy who's a little bit too much into cooking. But I still love him, and he had some good scenes

Lotor's dead. Good. Finally. Hated him from the start. He was irredeemable ever since he killed Furry

Moustache man is great. I'm still mad that the fandom gave Shiro the title of "Space dad", when he's clearly so much more deserving of it

Krolia, Sailor Moon and space wolf..... seem interesting? They haven't had any real time to shine

Though I still absolutely love Sailor Moon's design

Sheith! There was so much Sheith! And that's great! So much content! And honestly, these two just have the best dynamic between all the characters

Allurance is cute. And I'm kinda rooting for it now. I just hope, that it won't be as one-sided anymore

Lotura had a kiss! But also, one of the people involved in this ship died. So.... I'm sorry for any Lotura shippers

Klance, Plance and Punk had a few crumbs here and there

Shallura starved the past few seasons, and is now a skeleton in the corner. It's cute, but there's like no canon content/potential anymore

Predictions/Hopes for season 7:

Are they gonna do a space road trip to get to earth? Will they make truckstops, sit in a diner and drink milkshakes?

When Voltron combines, do you think that everyone inside can just walk from one lion to another? I want them to just, float through space, combined as Voltron, living out their lives.

Seriously, just imagine them, basically using their giant-murder-robot as a house

Sorry, Allura. But I want Keith to replace you again. You can do your own thing with this castle-diamond-thingy and the team-constellation of S1 and S2 returns

ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT KEITH AGED 2 FUCKING YEARS!

Season 1+2 felt like one big arc, and it ended in a mech battle against Zarkon. Season 3-6 felt like one big arc and ended in a mech battle against Lotor. I'm gonna guess that S7+8 are the next big arc, which will also end in a mech battle, probably against space witch

I'm honestly expecting the worst, because everyone seems to dislike S7. So.... maybe I'll be positively suprised

I've noticed that the parts, where I just review 1 episode are getting more notes? Are these smaller, bit-sized parts better to read?

Anyways! Once again, thanks for all the support I've been getting! It's really fun to read your guy's comments! Appreciate all kinds of notes! Love Y'all!!!❤

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hazbincalifornia · 3 years

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Midnight Snack

Chapter 25: Blitzo gets peckish.

Warnings: As always, mpreg, and implied animal death. Also stuffing if that needs a tag I guess, and BABY VIOLENCE. (Violence committed by a baby, not against a baby.)

Likes, replies, and reblogs are all appreciated, both here and on ao3!

Ao3 link

Blitzo’s stomach gurgled, and his arms tightened around the pillow that he was hugging to his chest. A fussy, hungry stomach wouldn’t have necessarily been a problem, except for the fact that it had been doing it for the past hour, and he was just about ready to tear it right out of his skin and rip it in half. Acid sloshed around audibly in his empty gut- or maybe the freeloader wanted more room and was just squashing the organ down so much that it had resorted to griping as loudly as it could. Relatable fuckin’ content right there.

Dinner had been two burgers and fries smothered in hot sauce and mayo from the grease trap down the road, which was more than enough to coast through until breakfast. Besides, he’d be damned if the kid was going to make him deal with the grocery store any more than he had to in this condition. No, he was staying right where he was, especially considering he’d been denied any sleep last night. One day low on sleep was manageable with reduced caffeine, two would suck satan’s left tit.

“C’mon, that was enough and you know it, I don’t want you ruining my figure any more than you already have,” he grumbled as the muscles clenched around his stomach, wringing it out like a sponge and drawing a pitiful whine out of his throat. “I’m not gonna just- give in and give you whatever you want, daddy’s gotta do him sometimes and I’m not letting you empty out the fridge. I ate enough, siphon blood outta my system like a normal leech does. I’ve got plenty of that.”

The reply was another gurgling groan and a hard clench as Blitzo’s empty stomach demanded sustenance, this time loud enough to make his middle vibrate even through the pounds of baby. He stuffed the pillow over his mouth, drool leaking down the case and over his chin as he forced out a scream.

He had to take a few seconds to pant before setting a hand on the side of his stomach, fingers drumming. “This is a battle of wills, and I am not letting you win. Your baby-daddy already started all this shit, so I’m just going to treat you the same as him- by ignoring you as long as feasibly possible until you decide to pop up and make everything difficult. Sound good? Yeah, sounds perfect.” There was a nudge from inside and Blitzo nodded in satisfaction at the apparent agreement, settling back down on the bed. He’d gone to sleep hungry plenty of times before, the baby gut notwithstanding, he just had to muscle through this for the next few-

There was no time to muffle the next scream as a sudden pinching pain went from ‘noticeable’ to ‘holy shit who’s tearing up my guts with a chainsaw?’, and there was a thud and a shuffling of feet before Loona started pounding on the door.

“You having a heart attack in there or something?”

Blitzo clutched at his stomach, wheezing as he was clawed apart from the inside out. “N-no!”

“Look, if you die, I’m on the hook for the rent.” Still, there was a semi-worried vibrato to her voice, and he swallowed down the coppery taste flooding up with the saliva to his mouth.

“I’m- fINE-!” His voice pitched up at another pinch-turned-horrorshow and his claws dug all the way through the pillow, stuffing spilling out like viscera.

“What the fuck are you doing in there?” The doorknob jiggled. Where was a portable x-ray when you needed one? Or ultrasound, or whatever the fuck you used to look at a baby that was trying to kill him before it even got out yet. What kind of horrible mouth or claws must it have- oh, fucking hell, Stolas had said something about his kid having a razor-sharp beak from birth, hadn’t he?

“Okay, I’m coming in.” Loona eased the door open, already in her pajamas and clutching a package of opened peanut butter crackers tightly enough that crumbs were sticking to her fingers. “You look like shit.”

“I feel like shit, so good-” Sharp inhale for breath, let it out- “-To know that I’m all on the same page.”

She dropped down on the bed with a metallic creak. “What’d the kid do now?”

“It feels like they’re biting me again, but w-worse- fuck!” Another nip, this one dragging a line on the inside of the womb like they were drift racing in there. Wait, dragging? He swallowed down more coppery bile. “Okay, fine, fine, sheesh, I’ll fuckin’ eat something, happy you little shithead?”

Loona raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything.”

Blitzo shoved himself up off the bed to wobbly knees. “Junior’s gotten real bold, and instead of just sucking up the meat I’m eating for them like a good little lump, they decided to put me on the menu- ow, fuck, I’m going, keep your baby-tits on!”

“Babies don’t have tits, Blitzo.”

“They do if I say they do, sweetie.” Blitzo ruffled Loona’s fur between her ears as he waddled across the room, pausing next to the TV to take a breath.

Loona raised an eyebrow. “Do you need me to bring you something? I don’t want you passing out in the middle of the apartment and tripping over you tomorrow morning.” In response, Blitzo just waved a dismissive hand.

“I can handle walking across two rooms, Loonie.” The active chewing had paused for the moment, but whatever they’d shredded in there was still shredded, and he’d rather not make it any worse- he had work tomorrow, dammit.

The fridge bathed him in a sickly, hospital-like glow as he tugged it open, and drool immediately started leaking from his mouth as the smells of half-forgotten, time-ripened leftovers hit him. A small mouse with four red eyes leaped up from the floor when he opened the door, burrowing into a box of takeout on the bottom shelf that Loona must have gotten when he’d been at Stolas’s place. His tongue snapped out automatically, snatching its furry body up and slurping up the tail between his lips before swallowing, and it took a second for his brain to load enough to register- after it slid down his throat.

Holy shit, did he just…? It squirmed a little as it descended, little hairs stuck in his teeth, and his fingers tightened on the side of his stomach before he reached for the box it had been after to wash out the aftertaste.

Everything after that was a bit of a blur, although he did retain enough sense of mind to avoid the six-pack of cheap beer in the back that still had four cans on it. Better to not risk puking all of this up or ruining the kid any more than they already were. Carbs, meat, a few wilted veggies that Moxxie had pawned off on him, sweet, sour, cold chili and whole untoasted bagels- it didn’t really matter what it was as long as it was at least mostly edible (he was pretty sure he swallowed a wrapper at some point), he just needed it inside of him now. Smothering everything in hot sauce and salsa and mustard made it more palatable anyway, especially the ice cream. The kid didn’t start taking chunks out of him again, at least, so he must have been doing something right. More and more of the white fridge walls became visible as the floor around him littered with containers, and his stomach grew tighter before he finally slumped back against the nearby counter with a groan. His legs sprawled out on the cool tile, both hands now stained with a mixture of about five kinds of leftovers, and he cradled his stomach after muffling a burp.

“Are you happy now, you needy little shit?”

Blitzo didn’t really expect a reply and almost didn’t hear it over the churning gurgles of digestion, but a soft ‘eee’ of a hoot, more a whisper-screech than anything, murmured from his midsection. He stared down at it, the warmth of his full stomach counteracted by ice dripping down his back.

“Oh, of course you sound just like him.” His claws dragged along the sensitive, itchy-while-stretched skin before the protection spell sprung up and pushed the fingers away. It only let him touch his own stupid body when he laid his palm flat. “Sure, it’s cute now when it's all little and squeaky, but you’d better not be as entitled as he is, alright? Or as you are now, since I’ve gotta do everything for you until you’re born. Considering you just settled right down in there without even asking in the first place, I doubt it. Rude.”

There were no more noises other than his stomach grumbling about going from empty to full so quickly, and he stayed slumped against the cabinet for long enough to let some of it digest. He must have been more tired than he thought, because he swore that he already looked bigger than he’d been when he’d finished binging. Maybe it started swelling in a bad reaction from whatever fucked-up food cocktail he'd accidentally made.

When he didn’t feel quite so much like a boulder had gotten stuffed inside his guts, it took three tries to haul his ass off the tile and drag himself back to bed, huffing like a cop running for the last doughnut in the process.

The ice had crept from his spine to the rest of his bones and muscles as he tugged the blanket tight around himself, but at least the churning food kept his stomach warm, and he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

#insert that one link image with 'it's my fic and I get to write the self-indulgent bs'#I could have gotten more descriptive but then it woulda been like... the longest chapter and I'm not giving that to THIS #it is plot relevant though I promise #one time #daddy blitzo #shadow writes stuff #helluva mpreg #chub stuff

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vintagedolan · 3 years

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mixtape | track nine

| masterlist | faceclaims | playlist |

Eden arrived in New York in the biggest coat she could find in a store in Los Angeles, which came equipped with a furry hood and enough stuffing in it to make her resemble the michelin man when she climbed into the car.

She leaned back against the headrest of the seat with a sigh, an iced coffee in each hand. Her eyes closed for a minute, like she was trying to find her inner peace, and then she sat up and passed a cup to Indy in the driver’s seat.

“Vanilla, oatmilk right?”

“Always,” Indy laughed, taking a sip before putting it in the cupholder. “So uh, I love you and all, but are you finally gonna tell me why you changed your flight and made it so much earlier?”

“Drive to your place, and I’ll explain.”

Eden waited until she got out of the majority of the traffic.

“So, I had my original ticket and I was just gonna rent a car and show up, you know this, we planned it. But then I had the brilliant idea to come early and kidnap you,” she grinned, sipping her coffee.

“You’re kidnapping me?”

“Kinda. Well, reverse kidnapping I guess cause I’m forcing you to host me. You told the boys you were Christmas shopping like I said right? So you’re clear for a few hours?”

“Yeah.”

“Well good, cause we’re having a girls moment, because you need me.”

“I need you?” Indy laughed. She could never imagine possessing the confidence that Eden manifested every day, but she hoped one day she could have a fraction of it.

“Yeah, because you’re surrounded by Dolan twins, not Dolan twins girlfriends. And I’m sure neither of them have shut the fuck up about everything going on, right?”

Indy sighed, which Eden took as a yes. The two had been talking more and more, but especially since the absolute blow up on social media. Eden had been the first one to text her that day with a simple message.

Been there, I know how much it sucks but it’ll pass. Call me later when you’re up for it

Indy hadn’t called. She didn’t want to be a burden, didn’t want Eden to think she was weak. Instead she’d gone onto Eden’s instagram, tried to see how she handled things, and from the first few scrolls on her feed it was blatantly obvious that she didn’t give a shit. Just a few weeks prior she’d posted a picture of her and Ethan in the mirror dressed up for a date, his hand fully grabbing her ass with the caption miss you bby. Indy scrolled the comments, blood boiling at some of the shit people said to her. She wondered if she’d ever get to the point where she could even stand to reopen her own instagram, much less post with reckless abandon.

“We love men who think they know what it’s like to be a woman,” she teased, shaking her head as they continued down the road. “They’ve got such a protection complex, both of them, but Gray especially. Don’t get me wrong, I love it most of the time. Actually, it’s kinda hot. But holy shit does it get annoying when they underestimate you.”

Indy had experienced it first hand in the last week, and she couldn’t disagree. It was like she was on lockdown. Gone were the days of Grayson meeting her in the lobby of the building, or waiting for her outside of Jets. When he came to her apartment he was in sunglasses and a beanie, sometimes even a scarf pulled up over his mouth in an attempt to hide from any cameras he couldn’t see. He relaxed marginally when he got inside, but the only time he really seemed to catch his breath was when the sun set and they were tangled in each other’s arms, or when they were off the interstate on the back roads to Jersey. His shoulders would sink a bit, and his grip on her hand would relax when they took the exit. Something about the trees, still coated in snow, made him feel safer, made him feel like he could protect her somehow.

It felt like a breath of fresh air to walk into her lobby with someone by her side. There were no cameras, but Eden wouldn’t have cared even if there was. She held her hand and walked in as if she’d done it a thousand times, though she had to wait for Indy to hit the right elevator button.

When they got inside the apartment, Eden plopped herself down on the couch with a smile and patted the cushion beside her.

“Alright, spill. Give me all the details, how’s it been going?”

Indy started to talk, and then she couldn’t stop. It spilled out of her like water, every single thing that had happened since her graduation date. Eden listened intently to each detail, from the way they’d changed their walking path to the hospital to the fact that he was looking into a new paint job for the truck to make it less recognizable.

“And he’s just so paranoid, and I mean I guess I am too in a way, cause I like my privacy too. But it’s like he thinks I’ll die if a picture of me gets out or something, like damn, I’m a little sensitive sometimes but I’m not that fucking fragile.”

“You should have seen Ethan when the pregnancy rumors started for me. One big lunch at Monty’s later and all of a sudden I’m 3 months pregnant and I don’t know which twin’s it is,” she rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee through her straw with a smile.

“No fucking way.”

“I thought he was going to actually murder the dude from Hollywood Fix for that one. We burned through two Relax candles that week. Wild.”

“Jesus christ.”

“But hey, you already got the engagement rumor out of the way, so pregnancy is probably next. To be safe though, never even look in the window of a wedding dress store, and definitely don’t go to the baby section anywhere.”

Eden said it all so casually, as if making sure to avert your eyes from a wedding dress in a window was a totally normal thing to do. Indiana’s breathing picked up at her words, afraid that somehow she’d accidentally start a rumor about herself that would come back to bite Grayson.

“Isn’t that exhausting though? Being worried about that shit all the time?”

“You get used to it, and you adapt. Like the topaz ring for Lisa. That’s from Ethan and Grayson together, but they decided to send Gray in because if Ethan got spotted in a ring shop there would be an article about our secret wedding on DailyMail next week. Of course, that plan didn’t work out for Gray so well either, as we now know. Why the fuck he didn’t think about that is beyond me, but whatever,” she laughed.

“No one was supposed to know about me,” Indy said, and her words didn’t resonate until they hung in the air. Was that what it was? The sudden shift in him being so damn worried about someone possibly seeing them together? It made her palms sweaty and she rubbed them on her pants before she spoke again.

“When did Ethan get over it?”

Eden scoffed. “He’s not over it. Still makes him want to lose his mind when someone says some shit about me. He broke a knuckle last year punching a wall cause a news outlet got pictures of me in a bikini while we were in Hawaii and said I’d gained weight.”

“That’s… absolutely fucked Eden, I’m fucking sorry.”

“I put it on my instagram story and laughed it off.” She shrugged her shoulders, as most women do when they have to accept unsolicited opinions from strangers. But something about the confidence she exuded when she said it made Indy believe that, somehow, she really had just brushed it off for the most part.

“Is it hard to do that? Laugh it off?”

“Sometimes.” She sat up, getting more serious as she looked at Indiana. “But here’s the thing babes. Someone is sitting in an office somewhere, probably in their little house, with a bunch of clutter on their desk writing shitty articles about me. Meanwhile, I’m living in a nice ass house in LA with my hot ass boyfriend who bought me that bikini and took me to Hawaii. So who's actually winning?

“People talk shit about you when they wish they were you, that’s just how the world works. It’s shit, but once you accept that it changes your perspective on a lot of things. I mean honestly Indy, who gives a fuck what dolantea with 7 a’s the end has to say on instagram when you have Grayson fucking Dolan in your bed every night?” She raised her eyebrows, happy to see the smile she got out of Indy. “And if you ever tell him I said that I’ll put Nair in your shampoo.”

“My lips are sealed,” Indy teased, suddenly filled with a boost of confidence. “You have a very interesting perspective on the world Eden, I like it.”

“Coming from the college grad, I take that as a major compliment.”

“Believe me, there’s plenty of dumb people with college degrees. Doesn’t mean much at the end of the day.”

“But it gets you into a career that means something,” she mused. “I mean, being a doctor is a big deal, you’ll help a lot of people.”

Indy chewed on her lip. Every intrusive thought she’d had in the last few days that didn’t revolve around Twitter had to do with her imagining herself as a doctor, but it always faded into something else. It was her at a patient’s bedside, her helping them get to their feet, her sending them home with their family. Things that nurses did, not doctors.

“Yeah. I hope so,” was all she could say.

“That wasn’t very Indy of you.”

She quirked an eyebrow at Eden and waited for an explanation.

“You always keep a convo going, and you let that one drop, which means you probably don’t want to talk about it. But I’ll listen if you want to get it off your chest.”

“I don’t know… it’s just. The more I think about it, the more I realize that maybe being a doctor isn’t exactly what I thought it would be.”

“Oh. Well, then don’t be a doctor.”

It was Indy’s turn to scoff. “It’s not that simple Eden.”

“Isn’t it though?”

Indiana couldn’t come up with an answer. So instead, after the silence became too much, she deflected, making Eden walk her through the plans for the day.

A few hours later, once they’d gotten ready, they headed out to Jersey for the early birthday surprise, which Lisa was in on. She had ordered a massive vegan cake from one of the bakeries in New York that Indy picked up on the way, making Eden hold it for the majority of the ride. But when they got to the start of the driveway, she pulled over and had her counterpart climb into the trunk of the SUV, sticking a shiny blue gift bow on top of her head while she held one hand on the cake box to keep it steady.

Grayson appeared on the porch at the sound of the gravel crunching, cocking his head to the side when he noticed that Indy was backing in. He jogged up to the window when she put it in park, waiting for her to roll it down so he could lean in to kiss her. She hummed and smiled at him.

“Happy Birthday.”

“It’d be happier if you were out here,” he mused, leaning back to pull on the door handle, frowning when he realized it was still locked.

“Go get Ethan for me, tell him I need help getting the cake out of the trunk.”

Grayson turned to do as she asked before he did a double-take at the very cake shaped box in the passenger seat.

“But…”

Indy repeated her sentence with a tight smile, but he still just frowned.

“Is that not the cake? Mom let it slip that she ordered one, I can just get it, cause Ethan is grumpy.”

“BITCH JUST GO GET HIM.”

Eden’s yell was so loud that Grayson jumped, putting a protective hand on Indy’s shoulder, though he didn’t know what he was protecting her from until he peeked into the car.

“Oh thank god,” he laughed at the sight of her, half hidden by the back row of seats. “He’s been moping for like three days!”

“Oh believe me, I know. Now go get him, I’m getting a fucking leg cramp back here.”

Gray grinned, already feeling his brother’s happiness somehow as he bounded into the house, yelling incessantly until Ethan finally came trudging down the stairs, muttering profanities as he stepped out into the New Jersey cold.

“Bro, be nice, Indy worked really hard to make this birthday nice for both of us, even if Eden couldn’t be here. Just help me carry the cake,” Grayson said, doing his best to keep his voice steady.

Ethan took a deep breath and nodded.

“Dee, open the trunk babe!” Gray called, having to turn away to hide his grin. But he looked back quickly, not wanting to miss his brother’s face when the door lifted and revealed his girlfriend, sitting adorably with a bow on her head.

Ethan just stared for a moment, mouth hanging open so wide that it made Indy laugh as she watched in the rear view mirror.

“You little shit!” He finally said, closing the distance and pulling her into his arms and out of the car, spinning her around for a moment before peppering kisses all over her face. It was like he couldn’t let go. Every time he went to pull back he caught sight of her face again and pulled her back against him until they were both shivering out in the cold, wind whipping at their exposed hands and ankles.

Grayson helped Indy out of the car, warming her lips with a welcoming kiss before they moved to unpack the car, letting the lovebirds have their moment. Lisa greeted her as soon as she made it in the door and sat the gifts down, her hair smelling like she’d just put on hairspray. Eden and Ethan trailed in moments later hand in hand, with Ethan yelling about how Li had been in on it the whole time.

In terms of birthdays, it was a chilled out evening. The twins birthday used to be a huge event, full of laughter and excitement. Now, there was a blanket over the scene, a silent understanding that one person was missing from the table - one who should have been a year older just a few days prior. But they made the most of their time together, eating the cake first gathered around the table before moving into the living room and starting on presents.

Grayson kept a hand on Indy’s knee unless he was unwrapping, looking over at her with a warm smile any time that he could. Lisa’s gifts were first - new sweaters, Ethan’s red and Grayson’s green, a bottle of shampoo each, specific to their hair texture. They gave each other such an incredulous look that Eden and Indy couldn’t help but laugh, only growing louder when Lisa leaned over to smack their heads lightly. They got individual gifts too - a new helmet for Ethan for his longboarding trips and a nice drill that Grayson had asked for. They both stood up to kiss her cheek in thanks before they settled back down to open gifts.

Indy was let in on the tradition that Ethan always opened first because he was older, and she was more than happy to lean on Grayson and watch his brother open his gifts. He started with Eden’s, eyebrows shooting up when he pulled out an odd arrangement of things. A bottle of sparkling cider, sunscreen and a pair of swim trunks that were adorned with a pattern made of a picture of Gizmo. He checked the bag for anything else before looking back at Eden and waiting.

“Read the bottle.”

He held it up to his face, reading aloud. “Passionfruit Cider. Made and bottled on Maui. Oh shit. Oh SHIT! Are we going back to Maui?”

“We’re going in March cause that’s the only time when I could put two weeks together where we both don’t have work.”

Indy sunk down even further despite already being on the floor while they celebrated. She looked at the tiny box she’d brought for him, wanting to reach out and hide it behind her back.

She didn’t get the chance to, because Ethan had already grabbed it, reading the tag.

“Indiana you didn’t need to get me anything,” he said, and his sincerity made her feel a fraction better.

“Well, it’s no trip to Hawaii, so don’t get too excited. And your mom helped.”

He unwrapped the box carefully, opening the lid and staring down for a moment.

“It’s a key,” he murmured, reaching in and pulling out the necklace, a silver key which sat on a matching chain horizontally.

“It’s a copy of the key to your house here, but as a necklace. I know you really miss home while you’re gone, and you wear necklaces sometimes, so I thought I could make you a little reminder.”

“You made this?” He looked up at you with wide eyes.

“Yeah! It’s not much, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it's perfect Inds. Seriously, I love it, thank you so much.”

Indy blushed anyways, not really believing his words but trying to accept them as he leaned over to hug her, grateful for the change of subject when it was announced that it was Grayson’s turn.

He started with Eden’s, smiling wide at the tool belt that he pulled out, yelling when he realized it was customized with his name on the side.

“You can use that to build that side table you keep telling me you’re gonna make me,” Eden teased, which devolved into a moment of playful bickering. Indy used the time to line up the boxes in the right order, biting her lip when she handed him the first one.

“That’s way too many gifts,” Grayson said, frowning at her a bit.

“It’s really just one, it’s like a - well they go together - just, just open it.”

He did as she asked, pulling the paper off and unboxing the first one.

“A fucking nutcracker! Fuck yes!” He yelled, starting to look at it a bit closer. “Wait. WAIT. Is this Cudi?”

“What!?” Ethan piped up before Indy could even answer.

“Bro it looks like Man On The Moon End of The Day cover, look at the fucking colors, and the moon.” He pointed to specific parts on the body of the doll, showing his brother who leaned over his shoulder.

“Open the next one,” Indy laughed, passing him the box.

He was quicker with that one, yelling so loud that Gizmo started to yell in the kitchen as he recognized the album art from Man On The Moon II, all tans, blacks and stars.

“Holy fucking shit these are so fucking cool! Give me the next one, holy fuck.”

Indy passed them along, laughing when each reaction was just as dramatic as the first. The Indicudi was Indy’s favorite, with the mixture of reds and oranges. The collection started to take shape as he sat them out next to one another, adding the simplistic Satellite Flight nutcracker next, followed by the neutrals of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. Passion Pain and Demon Slayin’ matched well with the bright colors of Man On The Moon III, and Grayson was so excited by the end of the six that he had to stand up and run a lap before he came back and pulled Indy to her feet.

“You like them?”

“You got me Cudi’s discography in fucking nutcracker form. I fucking love it, and I fucking love you.” He kissed her like no one was in the room, her heartbeat so loud in her ears that she didn’t even hear Lisa’s ‘awe’ from behind them.

“I love you too,” she murmured against him, letting him hold her for a minute before he dropped back down to his knees to look at the collection, dissecting every detail like a six year old with a brand new toy.

Ethan was just as enthralled, and she wished she could be as chilled out as Eden seemed as she sat and watched them. But instead, she was running numbers in her head, trying to calculate how much a trip to Maui for two would cost with airfare and lodging put together.

She’d thought she’d gone overboard with the $300 collection of nutcrackers. For her, it was anyways - she’d timed her showers for two weeks and left them lukewarm in an attempt to save some money on her utility bill to justify it. Her mind spun for a moment as she thought about the little stack of Christmas presents hidden under her bed. A sweater for Lisa, a roll of film for Charlie to go with the new camera Dev was buying her. Fuzzy socks and a candle each for Eden and Cam that she’d found on a good sale. The thought of them sitting next to big extravagant gifts she was sure would arrive on the 25th made her deflate, so much that Grayson sensed it enough to pull himself away from his new toys.

“Hey, where’d you go?”

“I’m here,” she said, giving him a smile that didn’t make it to her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was have him worried about her on a day that was supposed to be about him. He returned one in hopes it would lighten her mood, but he knew not to push it. In fact, he didn’t bring it up until they were back at Indy’s apartment, in their pajamas after eating extra cake that Lisa had sent home with them.

“Did you have a good birthday?” Indy asked, tracing H-A-P-P-Y-B-D-A-Y on his chest.

“I did. Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah! Yeah, it was good. But today was for you, it doesn’t really matter what kind of day I had.”

“It always matters what kind of day you had,” he countered. “You seemed kinda upset when we were giving presents.”

“Oh, yeah, it was no big deal. I just didn’t feel like I got you guys enough stuff. 21 is a big birthday.”

He leaned back enough so he could see her face, frowning down at her.

“First off, it’s only a big birthday because you can drink, which doesn’t matter to me. Second, you gave us both more than enough, I have no idea why you think that.”

“Eden got Ethan a trip to fucking Maui.”

“And?”

“I got him a key. On a chain.”

“Which is probably the most thoughtful gift he’s gotten in a really long time.”

“It cost $20.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“That’s easy for you to say, you can buy people whatever you want.”

“We’re just in different life stages,” he said. “You’ll be making bank once you’re out of school, you just have to get to that point. And even then, it doesn’t matter what you buy people for gifts. They only care that you’re there with them.”

Indy resisted the urge to repeat her words back to him again. She didn’t really expect him to understand where she was coming from.

“Yeah, I hope so.” She ran her hands down over his ribs under the covers, smiling when she felt him sigh under her. “By the time I pay off my loans Ethan and Eden will probably have three kids, you’ll have to spot us for all the baby shower presents.”

It was Grayson’s turn to fall quiet. He could see it - see Indy in a little pink sundress out in their LA backyard, celebrating a new baby on the way, talking with Eden and Lisa, helping Adele organize tables. And he wanted it. But he held her in his arms and thought about all that would come for her before that time came, and his heart tightened in his chest when he realized that he wouldn’t be there to see it.

“Tell me about school.”

She sat up a bit, running her hands through his hair.

“That’s what you wanna do with the last hour of your birthday? Hear about school?”

“Yeah. Just wanna hear you talking to me,” he said, ignoring the tightness in his throat.

She did as he asked, talked about the classes she had left and what order she’d have to take them in, the application process, the in’s and out’s of medical school as he tried to memorize every inflection of her voice, her laugh, and the feeling of her pressed up against him.

When they woke up, it seemed that the holiday season had fully taken hold overnight. Suddenly, the days were flying by in blurs of Christmas lights and shopping. The pair were together 24/7, attached at the hip every moment that they could get away with. When Grayson was recording the podcast, Indy was just out of sight on the floor listening. While Indy was clearing out her laptop from the semester, Grayson was sitting behind her on the bed braiding her hair. Before they knew it they were trying to fit Bekah’s presents, and the cookies they made for the nurses into an already packed backseat of the truck on Christmas Eve.

A blanket of snow still rested in the city, muffling the city sounds it seemed as they drove. They were bundled up enough that Grayson wasn’t worried about them being recognized in the short walk to the hospital, and they shed their layers once they were inside the warm walls. They took the elevator, not minding the slow climb up to Bekah’s floor. But when they got to the desk to sign in, the nurses looked weary. Indy chucked it up to having to work the holiday and hoped that the cookies would lift their spirits when she left them on the counter.

Bekah’s room had a small tree in the corner, covered in colorful lights and generic silver and red ornaments that were identical to those in every other room of the hospital. Bekah hardly reacted when she saw the duo enter in, though she tried. She sat up as much as she could but ended up back flat on her bed.

“Hey Beks, hold on, let me help.” Indy rushed over to her side, fumbling for the buttons to raise the back of her bed up so she could sit up and see the room. Grayson held up her stack of presents with his biggest smile, the one Indy loved where he would clench his teeth. Bekah lit up, grinning wide at the two of them. Her skin was pale, and they could tell that she’d lost weight, but her smile was just the same.

“Earrings, you double as Santa on the weekends or something? They already give the sick kids pity presents, you didn’t have to go so hard.”

“These are from Indy actually,” Grayson said. Indy bit her tongue. She’d picked them out, but Grayson had footed the bill.

“They’re from both of us,” she corrected. “You feel good enough to open them now?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m good.”

And she was good. But she wasn’t great. Just unwrapping the boxes seemed to zap out the small energy store she had left. Indy wished she’d had the foresight to package them in bags instead of boxes, make it a bit easier for her to open. But the excitement was enough for her to make it through opening the new Christmas blanket, which was covered in cats and dogs in festive sweaters, a Harry Styles crewneck and new fuzzy socks. The last box was an Among Us shirt, with a little purple crewmate peeking out of the pocket - Bekah was notorious for how many hours she spent playing (Gray and Indy would sometimes hop on and play a few games with her when they weren’t there).

“You guys are the best,” she said, letting the pile of presents rest on her bed. She yawned, so hard she leaned back and her beanie slipped off her smooth head. Grayson watched as she reached for it and winced, and suddenly he was watching his dad there in the bed, trying to get to his phone on the bedside table, wincing in pain. His breath caught in his chest and he blinked hard, trying to come back to reality.

And then Bekah closed her eyes, and laid perfectly still. It was quiet in the room for a moment, and a wave of nausea rose in Grayson, so strong that he raised his hand up to his mouth.

“Beks?” He choked out.

“She’s okay, she’s okay.” Indy rushed to reassurances. “Look, look at her monitor.”

The blips on the heart monitor line meant much more to Indy than they did to Grayson, but he recognized them enough to catch his breath.

“Sometimes, when someone is exhausted like that, they lapse in consciousness for a little while. It’s a defense mechanism, she’s okay.”

“For a second I thought - fuck,” he huffed, running his hand over his face. Indy moved beside him, taking his hand in hers and kissing his knuckles one by one.

“What the fuck.”

They both turned to the bed, where Bekah’s eyes were open again. But they were unfamiliar somehow, none of that usual Bekah charm that warmed the dark pools of brown in sight.

“Bekah-” Indy tried, but she was cut off.

“You two are dating? Seriously? What is this, community service date night?”

“Beks-” Grayson spoke up.

“I never ask for much, but fuck you two. Fuck you.”

“Bekah, hey.” Indy took a step towards her bed, and Bekah recoiled.

“I try. I try really fucking hard not to think about how fucked up and shitty my life is. I’m 15, and I’m dying. I’m never gonna go back to school. No prom, no graduation, no wedding. Not even a fucking boyfriend before I die and everyone forgets me. The least you could do is not rub it in my fucking face.”

“Bekah, you can’t think like that. You’re gonna get better, you’re gonna get all those things,” Grayson said, blinking through the tears that had formed without warning in his eyes. They fell down his cheeks in uneven droplets, hot and unfamiliar.

“Yeah? Just like Emma was gonna get better right? Well, her funeral was last week. She’s never going to play hide and seek again, much less anything else. What about Damion from my last radiation rotation hmm? God was gonna come down and heal him too right? Then why is he dead, huh? Where’s God in all this? Where’s my fucking happy ending? I’m gonna get the inside of a box, that’s what I’m gonna get, and no one will fucking admit it because I’m a kid, and I’m supposed to be here longer than this! I’m supposed to have more time! I’m supposed to get to do stupid shit in college, and grow up, and find my person but no. I’m never going to get those things, so fuck you both for throwing it in my face.”

“Bekah-” Indy’s voice broke on the word.

“Get out. Both of you, out.”

“Bekah please.”

“OUT!”

Her yell was loud enough to alert a passing nurse in the hallway, and she stepped inside.

“You two need to step out of the room please.”

The sobs didn’t take hold until they were in the hallway. They ripped out of Indy without warning or grace, and Grayson did all he could to hold her pieces together as she started to shatter.

“Shhh, Dee, hey, it’s okay, let’s go outside,” Grayson tried to comfort her through his own tears, leading her towards the doors.

A hand caught his shoulder and he turned his head to see Jessica in her scrubs, coming out of another patient’s room.

“What did she say?”

Indy perked up from where her face had been buried.

“What did Bekah say?” She asked again

“She’s agitated, talking about how her life is being cut short, how she’s dying. She told us to leave.”

Jessica sighed, looking down at her shoes.

“We’re on our last resort. A final round of chemo and radiation. If this doesn’t work, we’re out of options. And it’s going to be brutal, it’s spread to her brain. You’ll have to be patient with her, she’s probably going to go through some personality shifts. She’ll be more emotional, more irritable. Sometimes she might be disoriented. This type of cancer, when it’s in the brain, it’s unpredictable. One minute she could be fine, the next she could be completely unrecognizable. Give her a few days, wait until after the holidays when everything is back to routine, and give it another try okay? Hopefully it’s better when things are a bit more normal.”

“Yeah,” Indy sniffled. Jessica put a hand on her shoulder.

“Indiana her face lights up when you two walk in that room. She talks about you guys non stop when you aren’t here. She’ll come around from whatever it was, okay? Just give her some time. We’ll be here to take care of her, don’t you worry.”

Indy wasn’t sure why, but she pulled Jessica into a hug. The woman was surprised, but she reciprocated anyways with a squeeze.

“Sweet girl. It’ll be okay,” she murmured, which only made the tears flow even more when she let go.

Indiana transferred from one set of arms to the other, back into Grayson’s strong grip which only loosened when he pressed the button for the doors. When they made it to the ocean hallway, it all hit at once, and her legs gave out. She caught herself on the support bars as Grayson lowered her to the ground. They came in waves that she couldn’t control, not for want of trying.

“I’m s-s-sorry,” she stuttered, trying to force air into her lungs. Someone down the hall pulled a door closed quietly.

“It’s okay, hey, it’s okay. Breathe baby, just breathe,” Grayson murmured, running his thumbs under her eyes to try and wipe her mascara, which was running down her red cheeks in dark streaks. He waited until she was able to take a few solid breaths before he spoke again.

“C’mon, let’s go to Jersey. I’ll take you to Jersey.”

She put most of her weight on him while they took the stairs out into the cold streets. It had begun to snow again, and the cold only added to the stinging in her eyes as he led her to the truck. She wondered in that moment how many times he’d had to hold her together, and her stomach twisted in guilt for a moment at the thought. Even still, she huddled into Grayson until he opened her door for her, immediately moving over as close to him as she could, pushing the middle console up to make it a bench seat and scooting to the middle when he climbed in.

His Dad had once told him it was important to be a confident one handed driver - you never knew what you’d have to hold in your passenger seat, he’d said. At the time, he was referring to the four large pizzas that ended up leaving a permanent grease mark in his jeep seat. But Grayson was thankful for the advice as he maneuvered the car out of the spot and out of the parking garage with an arm still around his girl.

The roads were quiet, and he questioned it until he remembered that it was in fact Christmas Eve. He slowed down when they got to the Jersey neighborhoods, looked at all the lights, all the families he could see in the windows, huddled around their bright trees. He could remember those nights like they were yesterday, him and Ethan sneaking to the top of the stairs to try to catch a glimpse at the big man with the red sack. When they were five they’d seen him and ran to wake their sister. They’d all watched in amazement as he placed presents under the tree and ate the cookies they’d left.

He’d found the santa suit in a box in his dad’s closet when they went through his things after his funeral.

“Does your family have any Christmas traditions?” He asked quietly, running his arm quickly over Indiana’s arm in a bid to keep her warm as he drove. The cool wind that was whipping the snow around seemed to be outrunning the heater in the truck.

“We did. We would watch Elf the night before, cause it was mom’s favorite. We did the cookies, the stockings, all that stuff too. But we always had grilled cheese and soup for dinner too.”

“Grilled cheese and soup?”

“Yeah. That was mom’s idea too. She always said we could leave extra room for a good Christmas morning breakfast if we ate grilled cheese and soup. So we always ended up in the living room with our plates and bowls and Christmas PJs watching elf. Turns out, warm soup was always her trick to get us to go to sleep early. Made me and Charlie tired I guess. She told me it worked like a charm every time. What do the Dolan’s do?”

“Ours is more Christmas morning. We do the whole giant breakfast thing. We open stockings first, and Santa presents, then we do breakfast and then we do the rest of the presents. Used to drive us crazy when we were little, cause all the presents would just be waiting for us. But Mom said it was so we were grateful for our food too, cause it was a gift that we had it on our table at all.”

“Li is a good mom,” Indy sighed, resting her cheek on his shoulder. Her eyes were tired, the kind where your eyelids feel like they weigh ten pounds a piece, but she fought with them and won, still awake when they made it to the house. She hopped out and moved to the backseat, but Grayson caught her.

“I’ll carry the stuff in. Go get cleaned up, take a hot shower and relax. Mom will be worried, she always knows when someone has been crying, it’s like a sixth fucking sense.”

For once, Indy didn’t argue. Instead, she went in the house as quietly as she could, grateful that even Gizmo didn’t seem to note her arrival. She snuck up the stairs to Grayson’s closet, grabbing an old thick flannel and a sports bra that she’d left, plus some sweatpants, considering she’d left her bag in the truck.

She had never been so thankful for a shower. She lost track of how long she let the warm water wash over her head, closing her eyes and focusing on the feeling of the stream against her skin. It was peaceful, but surreal in a way. She thought about where she’d imagined herself on Christmas Eve night at the beginning of the year, and it looked so vastly different than where she was, on the cold tiles of a New Jersey shower with her boyfriend carrying in gifts downstairs. The thought of him waiting for her gave her enough motivation to get cleaned up, though she had to resort to using Grayson’s shampoo and bodywash, which was an unlabeled Wakeheart sample he’d been testing out it seemed. It smelled fresh, with a vanilla mixture that was reminiscent of Jet’s.

Indiana was in higher spirits when she sauntered down the stairs, and her heart swelled a few sizes when she heard a familiar song in the background - the title screen of Elf, waiting on the TV in the living room. She checked rooms until she found Grayson, standing in front of the stove with two pots and a skillet going. She didn’t have to ask. Instead, she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

He spun around, spatula in hand until they were chest to chest as he watched the stove over her head, holding her close to make sure she didn’t get burnt. He nuzzled into her wet hair, and then sniffed harder.

“You smell like me,” he noted.

“Had to use your stuff. I like that body wash though, which one is that?”

“Can’t remember. Let me see.” He reached around and caught her arm, smelling her skin.

“Ah. That’s Polis.”

She looked up at him.

“Polis? Like… Poland?”

He chuckled against her, flipping over a grilled cheese.

“Polis as in the end of Indianapolis. A smell that makes you seem put together and professional with a sweet note at the end. Vanilla. Like your lattes.”

As he often seemed to, he rendered her speechless enough that all she could do was press a kiss to his chest and wrap her arms around him, under his sweatshirt to trace on his back.

L-O-V-E-Y-O-U

He kissed the top of her head and stirred the soup.

Ten minutes later and they were cozied up on a makeshift palette on the floor under a few blankets, with soup and sandwiches in hand. Grayson had made himself three vegan grilled cheese and tomato soup, and caved and given Indy the last can of chicken noodle in the cabinet because he knew it was her favorite even if it wasn’t vegan, though her grilled cheese was vegan as well. They watched Elf play, laughing and noting all the familiar NY scenery. Indy swore the man in the red jumpsuit had come into Jet’s before. They sipped their soup out of the bowl, and Indy listened to Grayson talk about the cinematography, trying to follow all that he was saying.

Once the bowls and plates were sat aside, they found themselves wrapped in each other’s arms, and Nicole’s old trick seemed to work, considering Indy was asleep before the end credits. Grayson carried her upstairs and put her to bed before going back down to clean up.

Though he tried to get into bed without waking her up again, he didn’t quite manage it, his weight moving the mattress just enough for her to stir and open her eyes.

“Sorry baby, it’s just me. You fell asleep.”

“Hmmm. C’mere,” she murmured, opening up her arms. He laughed, knowing that if he laid on her the way she was asking that he’d press all the air out of her lungs. Instead, he pulled her on top of him and slotted their legs together, revealing in the feeling of their skin pressed together. She was warm for once since she’d been under the covers, and he hoped his fingers weren’t cold as he began to trace patterns against her back.

“I love you,” she hummed, tracing a swirl over his ribs lazily.

“I love you too.”

“Forever.”

“Hmm?” He asked.

“I’m going to love you forever. I can feel it. I’m yours forever Grayson Dolan, and don’t you forget it.”

He pressed a kiss to her head and felt her finger against his ribs. F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

“I’ll love you forever too Indy. Forever.”

The tears returned.

------------------------------------------

Grayson was the first up the next morning, after a restless night of sleep - or so he thought. Lisa was in the kitchen, watching the snow continue to fall outside. It coated the trees outside and muffled the woods in a blanket of white. Lisa turned to greet her son, and frowned.

“Have you been crying?”

He hadn’t shed a tear since the night before, but he should have known she would know. A mother always does.

“Just some stuff with Bekah. She’s not doing well, and I feel bad cause I won’t see her again until next time we come visit after we leave.”

“You can always call, and she’ll have Indy. She’ll be okay love.” She stood and ruffled his hair as she passed, headed to pour him a cup of coffee.

“It’s not as good as Indy’s, but it’ll do,” she smiled, rubbing her hand over his shoulder. They sipped in silence for a moment as the world woke up.

“Do you remember the year Dad dressed up for Christmas? When we were five?”

“Oh yeah. That was your Poppy John’s idea, he did it for Sean when he was little. Said it made him believe in Santa for a few more years. Your dad wanted to keep you guys kids as long as he could, and he knew Cameron was going to figure it out sooner than later. He also knew you two would be spying. You tried it when you were four, but you both fell asleep on the stairs before you could see any action. He told you Santa must have carried you to bed when you woke up that morning.”

“Holy shit, I remember that.” He paused for a moment, reflecting. “You all always went all out for us on the holidays, I never really thought about it. Thanks.”

Lisa smiled the warm smile that only mom’s could really give, and patted his hand on the table. “I just hope you’ll do the same for your kids one day. I know you will.” She paused for a moment, and then she smiled. “You remember what he told us, on that last Christmas? About what he was gonna do?”

Grayson could hear his father’s voice in his head for a moment, and it made his throat tight.

“Yeah. Said he’d give us white Christmases for the rest of our lives if he could.”

Lisa lifted her mug towards the windows.

“Merry Christmas Sean.” Her words hung in the air, and Grayson swallowed the lump in his throat, watching the snow fall.

Eventually he went back to bed to coax Indy awake about an hour later, smiling at her bedhead when she rolled over.

“Merry Christmas Dee,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. Her eyes widened a bit quicker than normal.

“It’s Christmas!”

“Yep,” Grayson laughed, brushing her hair out of her face. She caught his hand and pulled him down over top of her, the covers wedged between them as she kissed him.

“Merry Christmas,” she said against his lips, and he melted into her. He couldn’t think of how many Christmas morning’s he’d woke up wishing to have someone there with him. It brought a new kind of excitement that quieted his mind for the time being, and he happily scooped her up and sat her on her feet so they could go wake up the other duo of the house.

By the time they convinced E squared to arise - which took jumping on the bed, a promise of lattes and the threat of cold water - Lisa was already halfway done with breakfast.

Grayson hadn’t exaggerated - there was a huge assortment of fruit, pastries and coffee to get everyone started.

“Stockings first! Well, coffee, then stockings!” Lisa clapped her hands and passed out mugs. Indy channeled her Jet’s days to make the lattes quickly, funneling in behind everyone as they headed to the fireplace to grab their stockings.

She melted when she noticed the I.

“Lisa, you didn’t need to do that.”

“Oh hush. Okay red E is Ethan, white E is Eden…” she trailed off as she passed them out, slightly confused when she watched Ethan reach underneath the tree to pull out a stocking for his mom that the boys had filled.

Indy was let in on the stocking tradition when she opened it. Everyone got essentials - a new toothbrush, socks, chapstick, lotion. She also threw in each person’s favorite candy and a giftcard to a local ice cream shop in town with vegan options. Lisa’s stocking was more extravagant, with some of her favorite high-end hair products, a certificate for a free massage, and lots of bath bombs that were Wakeheart testers. She hugged her boys necks when they all stood up, up on her tiptoes so she could reach. Everyone funneled into the kitchen after that, the boys in charge of the vegan meat options while Indy and Eden helped with the biscuits and cinnamon rolls. They ate around a full table, laughing and telling stories of Christmas. Eden won the most interesting story with one about her holiday with her extended family back in the Philippines, in which they’d spent Christmas using buckets to get water out of the house from a monsoon that had made landfall, a rarity for that late in the year.

Time seemed to fast forward as they moved to open presents. The boys spoiled Lisa, as they always did. A new iPhone, expensive tennis shoes to help her back while she worked. New signs for the garden beds that Grayson built and Ethan painted, a canvas print of the picture Charlie had taken from Thanksgiving. They saved the topaz ring for last, knowing it would make her cry. Her tears were enough to get Ethan’s eyes prickling - forever the mama’s boy, who just hugged her while she let it out, Grayson joining in a few moments later. She opened her sweater from Indy, complimenting the color, and a new set of Airpods from Eden, seeing that she’d lost her first set.

They moved on to Eden next. She also got a new phone from Ethan, which she smacked his arm for buying considering she knew how expensive they were, ignoring the fact that her phone barely held 20 minutes of battery anymore. Grayson got her a new sketchbook with a set of top line pencils and markers for her to sketch out her work designs, and Indy bought her a pair of Nike’s that she’d had her eyes on. Lisa got her a gift card to her favorite restaurant in LA - a non vegan one that she proposed could be used on a girls date when Lisa came to visit.

Indy was next. She had always hated opening gifts in front of people but she swallowed her un-comfort and proceeded through the boxes. Lisa bought her a nice blow dryer, remembering that she’d complained about hers once and raved about the one that she let Indy borrow. Eden bought her a new outfit - it was a bit out of Indy’s comfort zone, with the patterned pants and bright top, but she hoped she’d be able to pull it off. Both Eden and Gray assured her that she could. Ethan bought her a print of the state of Indiana, laughing at the way she tried to pretend that she loved it.

“Read the back.”

She flipped it over, squinting to try to read his messy handwriting that told her to check behind the tree. Sure enough, she found a box with a stethoscope in it. Top of the line, one of the more expensive brands.

“Every doctor needs one of those things, at least that’s what google told me. It’s got your initials on it too, cause apparently people try to steal them.”

He dismissed her claims that it was too much, and instead urged her to open Graysons gifts. The first was a speaker, because ‘Cudi needs to be played loud and well’, followed by a bag full of clothes. She pulled the first piece out and gasped.

“You bought me scrubs?”

“Yeah. I know you were stressed out about them being expensive, and I knew you’d use them. I bought five sets, I hope that’s enough. And I asked the nurses at Frazier what the best brand was, but if you don’t like those I have the receipt.”

“I’m sure they’re perfect. Thank you bub, I love them.”

She knew that Grayson had held back, and she was appreciative, especially as they got closer to his gifts. Luckily, Ethan was born first and therefore got first dibs. He got a custom longboard from Eden that she’d designed with all his favorite things, including a thermal painting of a very scandalous picture of her on the bottom that she’s covered with a piece of paper so Lisa didn’t see. Grayson got him an envelope with three tattoo appointments that he’d managed to get with their favorite artist in LA, who was usually booked up for months in advance. Lisa bought him a new jacket and boots, while Indy bought him a pair of headphones designed for the inside of a helmet, so he could listen to music while he skated.

Grayson was the last to go. Eden got him new sweatshirts since he ‘wore the same ones all the time’, while Lisa bought him a sweater and jacket. Ethan bought him extra organizers for his closet and a minimalistic nutcracker, though he admitted it didn’t stand a chance of taking the spot of one of the Cudi nutcrackers, which stood tall on the mantle. Finally, he opened his bag from Indy, smiling when he pulled out a few things. The first was a journal, made of recycled paper and bound in a dark green cover with his name on the front in gold. The next was a Jet’s gift card, a small inside joke between the two of them. The final one was a picture frame. It was simple, black with flecks of gold along the edges. Within it, the first picture they’d ever taken together, in the mirror of Indy’s room where half his body was covered in her writing, labeled muscles.

“Can’t lie, I spent most of my budget on your birthday. But I have a matching picture to put on my shelf, so I figured you might like it.”

“I love it,” he reassured her, kissing her cheek quickly, a sweet moment before the bustle of clean up began. The afternoon flew by with movies playing in the background and the snow continuing to fall outside. The boys cleaned off the cars, and after sunset, they appeared with a duffle bag each and a mischievous look on their faces.

“C’mon, we’ve got one more gift to show you guys.”

Lisa waved goodbye from the front porch as both couples climbed into the truck, the girls in the back.

“Do you know what this is about?” Eden whispered.

“No idea.”

So they waited patiently until they finally put the pieces together - it only clicked when Ethan got out and opened the gate.

The trail looked different from the seat of the truck. Partially because it had been cleared out, but mainly because they weren’t on the back of a quad, with the wind whipping in their faces.

Hidden away in the snow covered clearing, the tiny homes were covered in snow. The lights inside were glowing a warm yellow, inviting them in from the cold. Grayson parked halfway between the two, coming around to get the duffle bag before turning around, a sign for Indy to climb on his back.

She didn’t argue, considering he had the advantage of snow boots over her, and climbed on, hugging onto him tight as he trudged through the snow to the front door. He kicked the snow off his boots on the small front porch and then opened the door, the draft of warm air already enticing.

The inside was more beautiful than Indy could have imagined it would have been. She remembered trying to visualize it when Grayson had explained where everything would be - it felt like years ago, that warm fall day. But the kitchen was exactly as he had said it would be, minimalistic with dark wood that looked black in the dim light and white cabinets. The stairs were beautifully done, and Indy found herself climbing to the loft to find the queen size bed that awaited them, with the triangular window that looked out over the trees.

“This is incredible,” she mused, looking down over the balcony at him. He beamed up at her, taking her in. Her skin glowed in the warm light, her hair washed yellow in a beautiful tone as it hung around her shoulders. He found himself kicking off his shoes and climbing the stairs to meet her, abandoning his plan of giving her a full tour in favor of exploring her instead.

She followed his movement like water in an ancient stream, cut out and formed just for her to flow along, and they ended up on the bed with her back against the soft mattress.

“Are we christening the house?” Her words were muffled by his lips, which were eager and hungry against hers, a feeble attempt to drown out his thoughts. He kissed her incessantly instead of answering, pressing all her buttons to make her melt for him. The heater was small and nestled downstairs, goosebumps rising in the cold air as they lost layer after layer, chasing the heat of each other.

He held her as close to him as he possibly could, blocked out the cold and the doubt as he bit onto her shoulder and rocked her in sync with his hips, watched her head fall back and his name sing from her lips as she came undone over and over again until she was putty in his hands. He came so hard he saw stars, slowing down with her still in his arms.

She was in such a daze that it took her a moment to come to her senses and remember that she needed to go downstairs to pee and get cleaned up. As soon as she was out of his sight, the realization of what he’d just done came crashing down on Grayson. The guilt crushed his lungs as he finally admitted to himself that he knew he was hurting Indy. He knew she deserved to know where his mind was at, where it had been ever since Ethan had brought it up. He’d been selfish, and cruel, and as he sat there naked he’d never felt more ashamed in his life. He scrambled to get his clothes back on before Indy came back up.

She was still blissful, her legs a bit wobbly as she tried to navigate the unfamiliar stairs. But she frowned when she saw his winter coat.

“Those aren’t pajamas.”

Grayson jumped at the sound of her voice.

“Yeah, uh, Ethan texted me, he said their heater isn’t working, asked me to come look at it.”

“Oh. That sucks, you want me to come help? I can hold a flashlight or something,” she offered.

“No, no it’s cold, you just stay here and relax, I’ll be back. Might take a while, but I’ll be back.”

“No promises that I won’t be asleep,” she teased, climbing under the covers. “This bed is better than mine I think.”

“Get some rest, I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. I’ll save a spot for you. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

He headed down the stairs, slipping his boots on as quickly as he could and choking back his sobs until he was out of the door. He trudged blindly across the yard, only guided by the lights from the windows, and he knocked on the door.

He couldn’t imagine what he looked like when Eden opened the door. But it was bad enough that she didn’t say a word. Instead, she simply turned and called for Ethan, who took one look at him and pulled on his coat, following him out into the snow towards the truck.

Safe inside the cab and in the presence of his brother, Grayson fell to pieces. Ethan could only remember a handful of times that his brother had cried so hard, and he held him tight in his arms as best be could, shaking with him as the sobs ripped their way out of him.

Ethan didn’t even attempt to talk, only to console as best he could until Grayson could finally breathe. He pulled the extra inhaler out of the glove box and made his brother take a few puffs when he started to wheeze, holding the canister up to his lips.

“Breathe Gray, c’mon, you’ve gotta breathe so you can talk to me. You gotta tell me what’s wrong so I can help. Hey, I’m right here, it’s me. You can tell me, it’s okay.”

Grayson finally caught his breath enough to calm down, with his hands gripping onto Ethan’s jacket collar like his life depended on it.

“I’m gonna break her E. I’m gonna destroy her and it’s all my fault. I love her, fuck, I love her. What am I supposed to do?”

Ethan sucked in a long breath through his nose, looking over at Grayson’s house.

“You haven’t told her.” It wasn’t a question.

“I wanted to, I fucking can’t. Every time I think I can tell her I just think about what it’s gonna do to her. What it’s gonna do to me. I don’t know what the right thing is here E, you gotta tell me.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Fuck that, you’re me, we’re each other, you know me better than I know me. Tell me what to do.”

Ethan could barely see his brother’s face, but the little bit of light from the moon showed enough pain in his eyes to have Ethan’s stomach twisting. He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder and squeezed.

“You know what I’m gonna say.”

Grayson’s breath hitched once, and then a new wave of sobs took over. He shook so hard that Ethan was convinced the entire cab was shaking with him. Ethan held him, willed himself to absorb some of the pain, as much as he could, anything to help.

“If it’s the right thing why does it hurt this bad?”

“I don’t know Gray. I don’t know.”

“I love her.”

“I know.”

“She loves me.”

“I know.”

“Then how is this the right thing?”

Ethan paused for a moment, holding steady on Grayson’s shoulders.

“What would dad say? If he was here with us, right now, what would he say?”

Grayson pressed into his eyes with the heel of his palms and sniffled.

“He’d say that it wasn’t fair. He’d be mad that I hadn’t told her yet, and he’d say that she’s a good person who shouldn’t have to give up on her dreams for mine. He’d tell me to do what’s best for her, I know that. God, FUCK!” He smacked the dashboard so hard that Ethan heard something crack. He wished there was a way that he could protect his brother in that moment more than anything. Usually, he could step up, take the heat, take the attention off him if he needed. It was one of the few times that he felt truly helpless.

“You don’t have to do it tonight. You still have a few days. Just think about what you want to say, and bring it up whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m never gonna be ready, Ethan. That’s the love of my life, and I’m just supposed to walk away? And what’s she gonna say, when she finds out I’ve been thinking about this for weeks, and I haven’t said shit, huh? She’s not gonna want anything to do with me. She’s not gonna love me anymore, Ethan, and I can’t live with that. I can’t.” His voice cracked, and Ethan’s heart cracked with it.

“If it’s meant to work out, it will somehow. We’ve always believed that.”

“How?” It was a plea more than a question.

“I don’t know Gray. I don’t know.”

Grayson didn’t know how long they sat in silence. They didn’t need words, just the comfort of each other’s presence as he ran through line after line of what he was going to say. He had to do it then, there was no other option. He had to tell her as soon as he got back, or he was afraid that he never would. But every time he closed his eyes to think, his mind was flooded with her, a kaleidoscope of memories and moments that he couldn’t imagine not making more of. He thought of the way his soul ached every time she cried, and he couldn’t fathom how much worse it would be when he was the cause of it.

He threw the door open without warning, stepping back out into the snow. It took Ethan a few steps to catch him, but when he did he pulled him into a hug, a real one, and pressed his face into his shoulder.

“I love you bro. We’ll get through it. You’ll be okay.”

Grayson always knew when his twin was lying, but he tried his best to believe it. The cold wind stung on his wet cheeks as he went back to the house, kicking off his boots. He took the stairs one at a time as slowly as he could, his panic growing with each one.

When his foot cleared the final step, he saw her.

She was asleep, curled up under the covers in her New York sweatshirt, hands folded underneath her face. He just stared at her, tried to memorize every feature on her face.

He could have stood there for hours, but she stirred only a moment later. Her eyes peered open just enough for him to see the blue, and then they closed again, a small smile stretching across her lips.

“Come to bed baby. S’warm.”

Every cell in his body screamed at him, tried to pull him back as he slid out of his coat, out of his flannel, stepped out of his pants. His brain called him every name in the book, told him he was pathetic, weak, manipulative.

But his heart beat just a bit slower at the thought of being in her arms, even if it was just for a moment, the familiar home he’d made for himself comforting enough to let him drown the rest out and climb under the covers and over to her, pulling her into his arms as he pressed his lips together and let his eyes fall closed.

#mixtape #WOOO #sorry it has christmas even tho christmas has passed hahaha FUCK #pls lemme know what you think :)#grayson dolan #grayson dolan imagine #grayson dolan fanfic #grayson dolan fanfiction

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moon-yeongjun · 3 years

Text

Cat Got Your Tongue? || Moon Princess + Ting-Ting

Summary: On the morning of September 22, Jun races off to Ting-Ting’s in search of a solution to his little furry problem.

@princess-haru-chan

@princess-ting-ting

@moon-yeongtae

JUN: Jun was a cat.

Unfortunately, this fact had not changed during the frantic drive from the Moon Farm into town. Jun did not suddenly wake from this horrible nightmare to find himself hungover from last night’s Chuseok celebrations with a cough in his throat, rather than a hairball. But no! Instead he sat in Haru’s lap the entire way into town, though he took every opportunity there was a bump in the road to dig his claws into her thighs. Just a little revenge, though naturally he blamed his brother’s terrible (illegal!!!) driving.

And so he arrived at the Qins house as a cat. Yes, in one piece, but maybe getting run over would have been preferable.

Kidding.

Maybe.

It depended on how this early morning emergency magical consult went.

And it was early. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even 7 am yet, and Jun’s phone was probably under the couch somewhere ( he hoped? Honestly, where had his clothes gone?! Would Eomma find them and think the worst?) so they hadn’t been able to ring Ting-Ting beforehand. Jun just had to hope for the best-- namely, that she was a morning person, who saw this kind of thing (spontaneously cursed into the form of a cat) a lot.

So Jun leaped from Haru’s lap as soon as the truck’s door was open and dashed to the front of Ting-Ting’s house. “Hurry up, hurry up!” he hissed at both Haru and Tae as they clambered out too. Tae reached down to pick Jun up, but Jun bat his hand away. “Think about it and die!” he hissed.

Haru just rolled her eyes and then reached forward to knock on the door persistently, until it opened.

Instantly, Jun meowed first, despite how pointless an effort this was. “Ting-Ting, ah, thank god it’s you! Oh, we apologize for coming so early, but I need your help! Tell her, tell her!”

HARU: Haru wasn’t a cat, but she sure wished she was.

If she was a cat, she wouldn’t have claw marks in her thighs and she wouldn’t have to worry about translating for a very grumpy Jun-cat so humans could understand him. That was maybe the worst part of this whole thing so far because Jun-cat wasn’t a very nice cat. He hissed a lot, used his claws, and was not above using his teeth.

Haru tried for a bit, asking Tae to slow down and watch how he was taking corners, but every time Haru translated something, Tae would look down at Jun and smile at him which made Jun more angry and ended up hurting her legs even more. She stopped translating around the time Jun started threatening to never let Tae drive again and didn’t pick up again until Ting-Ting opened the door.

“Hello,” Haru said, shushing Jun-cat as he batted at her ankles. “I don’t know if you remember me but--”

“Jun-hyung is a cat!” Tae blurted, covering up his giggle with his hand. Haru wasn’t sure when he went from anxious and worried to thinking the whole thing was funny, but she supposed laughing was better than hyperventilating.

She turned and looked back at Ting-Ting.

“He’s not wrong,” she said. “This is Jun.” Haru gestured at the handsome black cat currently hissing at her. “He wants me to tell you he would really appreciate any help you can give him.”

Haru offered Ting-Ting an apologetic smile. “Sorry if we woke you.”

TING-TING:

Ting-Ting would like to say that she was up bright and early, but the truth was, she was actually fast asleep when the doorbell rang. At first she thought it was part of her dream (and it was a very good dream, actually, where she was a character in Dragon Age and — okay, that was besides the point), but then it rang again, and again, and finally Ting-Ting realized that oh, someone was at her door before 7 am and maybe it was serious.

Blinking away sleep, she grabbed a robe and made her way to the door, hoping that Mei and Su were still asleep.

She had no idea who it could be, but she certainly wasn’t expecting a hissing, spitting cat. She certainly wasn’t expecting Jun’s brother to blurt out that the cat was Jun. Slowly, she blinked. She looked at the woman, who she’d definitely seen around at Moon Market, but could not remember the name of, then looked at the cat.

“Oh my God,” said Ting, and she opened the door wider.

Immediately there was a bark. Key came sprinting down the stairs, her tail wagging furiously, as she caught the scent of a cat. Tiptoeing behind Key was Princess Kevin, who meowed curiously, but remained a safe distance away from Jun the Cat. Ting did her best to block off Key with her leg, while still ushering her guests in.

“Sorry it’s a bit of a menagerie in here,” she apologized. “Uh — sit down, please. I’m gonna make some tea so I don’t look like a total zombie.”

“Ting-Ting!” This was Mu Hou, calling from upstairs. “What’s going on?”

“Just some friends!” said Ting, as loud as she could while not being too loud. “Please don’t wake Mei and Su.”

Key barked. Kevin meowed. MuHou came sliding down the rain of the stairway. Ting wanted to bury her face in a pillow.

Instead, she put the kettle on, then sat down on the couch.

“So… why don’t we start at the beginning? How did … this happen?”

JUN: The relief Jun felt when he saw Ting-Ting lasted approximately… mmm… maybe seven seconds.

And then there was barking.

Every instinct in Jun’s cat-body reacted before his human brain. Because in his perspective: the dog was big, bigger than him, and coming straight for him.

He shrieked. It sounded like a yowl. And without warning, he launched himself up his brother’s leg, scrambling until a flustered Tae finally collected him in his arms, wincing and complaining as soon as Jun’s claws dug through his shirt. Jun could not be blamed for this! There was a massive dog and a strange cat and too many scents! He shivered in fright, never feeling more vulnerable as he did right now. Oh, the privilege of having two legs and standing up right! He missed it, needed to be a human again the way he was supposed to be!

Jun was therefore carried into Ting-Ting’s house and as soon as Tae and Haru sat down, Jun hopped off Tae’s lap but stayed squished at his brother’s side. His eyes tracked onto the loud dog and his ears flattened. If it got so much as one step closer to him…

Was that a monkey?! “What the hell?!” Jun hissed.

Oh, this was so overwhelming!

The best thing to do was get through it as quickly as he could. So as soon as Ting-Ting sat down, he meowed toward Haru. “Well! You should know, you’re the reason I’m like this! Tell her about your… your… cat magic ways!”

“Cat magic?” meowed the cat.

Wait, Jun could understand that? His ears perked and then he groaned, putting a paw up to his face. It was too early in the morning for this.

HARU: Haru wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to say. It was hard to think with Jun meowing loudly at her one second and practically yowling the next. Ting-Ting had always seemed very nice when she came into the market, but Jun should know better than most people that it was hard to tell random strangers your life story! Haru had been keeping the cat thing secret so long (mainly because of Jun!) that having him hiss at her to tell Ting-Ting was a little disorienting.

Sure, she knew they’d come here for help, but what if Ting-Ting couldn’t help them? What if Haru told Ting-Ting all about her home and how she was actually a cat and then Ting-Ting simply said she didn’t believe her and kicked them out of her apartment?

Ugh!

“Hush, Jun! I can’t think with you hissing at me all the time. Gosh you’re so whiny as a cat.”

With pink cheeks, Haru turned her attention back to the woman across from her.

“So, um, he said I should tell you how this happened to him, but I don’t actually know. He thinks, and he’s probably right,” she added while looking back over at Jun where he was squished against Tae, “that it has something to do with me being a cat.”

Haru blinked and continued, avoiding Ting-Ting’s gaze. “I, um, I actually come from somewhere else. I think it’s really weird like, portals are involved and everyone where I come from is a cat. I’m actually a princess, my country is called Nihon and I sort of miss it but Swynlake is really nice too and Jun has been so helpful and sweet and…” Haru trailed off, realizing she was rambling. “I don’t know how this happened to him, but I really hope you can help him. Do you think you can?”

TING-TING:

On one hand, Ting-Ting was very flattered that Jun kept coming to her for magical help but on the other hand he kept coming to her with increasingly complicated situations — honestly, she wondered how the heck he managed to get himself caught up in all of this? People taking on other’s appearances?! A world of cats?!

She wondered if there could be use in going to Reza — this seemed like a curse, if she had to guess. Though it didn’t seem malevolent… more like an accident if anything. But transmutations and transformations were absolutely out of Ting’s wheelhouse and honestly, all things considered Jun-as-cat’s internal Yin-Yang balance was pretty fine. Well, at the very least she could probably try to restore his power of speech, but…

She listened as best as she could, trying to formulate some sort of actionable plan — literally anything, when Mu Hou spoke.

“Oh dear,” said Mu Hou. She hobbled into the kitchen, lifting the whistling kettle off the stove and said nothing else.

Ting whipped her head around.

“You only say that when you know more than you’re letting on,” she scolded. “What is it?”

At her feet, Key rested her head, never once taking her eyes off Jun. Kevin aloofly kept his distance, but tilted a head in their direction every so often.

Mu Hou tsked her tongue, as she prepared the tea tray.

“You’re going to have to go back home, dear,” she said, not to Ting, but to Haru. She walked over, setting the tray down on the coffee table. “The only way to reverse this is to return to Nihon — this is a magic that won’t be undone here. I mean, theoretically, it could since — “

“There is in theory a spell for anything,” recited Ting, rolling her eyes a little.

“Yes, but it might take years to decipher. Your best bet, sir,” and here, Mu Hou addressed Jun, “is to go back with this young woman and find someone to remove the spell. They’ll know how to do it there. It’s pretty standard.” She hummed to herself and poured some tea. “But Ting can at least give you your voice back, if you’d like — isn’t that right?”

“Oh yes,” said Ting, standing up. “I can prep the spell for that if you don’t mind waiting a bit.”

JUN: Wait wait wait. This monkey said what?

First of all, Jun was quite unsatisfied with Haru’s explanation. It left out most of the important facts in his opinion! Like--

Well, actually, Jun did not know. For the first time, he realized his own squeamishness when it came to magic had meant that he’d never really asked Haru how she had become human in the first place, or why she’d come to Swynlake, or any of that. He’d just… well, he’d put it out of his mind completely. But surely she had to know much more about these things, at least the piece where she ended up in Swynlake! Yes, she was running away from a marriage, but why here? And how? Did she steal a, a charm, or could she open up portals herself, or what?!

There were missing pieces of this conversation that made Jun even more uncomfortable than he was. Miss Monkey’s confident diagnosis hardly did anything but make him more dismayed.

So while Ting-Ting stood up to at least give him his human voice back-- thank god!-- he glanced from Haru to Mu Hou and back again. At least they both could understand him.

“That makes no sense! Why are you so sure we have to go back to Nihon?” Jun demanded of Mu Hou. “And you!” This, to Haru. “You never explained to me how you even got here, eh! That seems relevant to this conversation, don’t you think? What kind of magic have you been hiding this entire time?”

TAE: As far as holidays went, this Chuseok was probably one of the more memorable ones. It wasn’t every day that his hyung’s girlfriend woke him up to tell him that his hyung was actually a cat and by the way so was she, you know? In fact, as the little cat form of his hyung snuggled up against his side, shying away from the other animals in the room, Tae was still struggling to wrap his mind around the whole thing. As far as he knew, Haru was related to someone at church! That’s why she’d been around so much. That was obviously a lie.

Now Tae was sitting in a room with talking monkeys and a girl who could understand his hyung when he yowled at her in cat and honestly he was going to have to talk to Jun as soon as all of this blew over--have a chat about telling lies and dating magick cat-girls like some anime or something.

Actually--Tae laughed from his spot on the couch, his fingers petting over Jun-cat’s back absentmindedly--and then blushed when they all looked at him. They were clearly having some sort of serious conversation that he could only hear half of and he’d interrupted them, but it was just so funny. His hyung was living an anime! He couldn’t wait to tell Nemo--well, as soon as the whole thing blew over and it wasn’t a giant secret anymore--but he was literally dating a cat-girl and then got turned into a cat!

“Sorry, I just--” he said to the room. “I was just thinking about something funny, don’t mind me.”

Haru cleared her throat beside him and he turned to look at her. He still really liked her, cat-girl or not. She was good for his hyung. He’d paid attention. He’d noticed Jun smile at her and let himself have a little fun when she was around. He really hoped Jun didn’t hate her too much for this.

“It’s not my magic,” Haru said, basically out of nowhere, though Tae was sure she was answering Jun’s meows. Heh. Cute.

“Back home we have a sorceress, Purrseph--she was kind of like a mother to me sometimes. I liked to follow her around, ask questions about what she was doing and she let me. I think she--well, I think she liked me more than my own family did sometimes, but that’s not important.” Haru’s eyes got a little shiny and Tae felt his heart twinge. He could understand that. Not that his family didn’t like him, but there was that fear of rejection--being scared of being tossed aside. He reached over and patted her arm.

Haru smiled at him and kept going.

“She told me she’d figured out a way for me to be happy when I came to her. She said she knew I didn’t want to get married to that stupid cat and that I was going to come to her so she’d been working on it. She said it would send me somewhere where I’d find that happiness and only when I found it would I be able to come back so I had to be sure.”

Haru’s cheeks were super red and Tae looked from her to Jun then smiled.

“Aww, hyung, you made her happy!”

“I think it was your whole family, Tae,” Haru said. “You all were so kind and welcoming and I just--I felt really at home with you. So thank you.”

MU HOU:

While Ting-Ting busied herself with the spell components — muttering a quick apology before dashing upstairs to the landing to collect all the reagents — Mu Hou pursed her lips, listening to the chatter of the cat-girl and the boy-cat (they were different, you see, for one was a cat turned girl and the other was a boy turned cat).

“Ah, I see,” said Mu Hou, with an understanding sigh. “I would’ve done the same for my girls. Well, perhaps not the same — but once I had them switch bodies to teach them a lesson. We mother-figures have to get creative sometimes, you know, otherwise a lesson won’t stick.”

She figured Haru would understand — animals often went about their ways in more indirect manners than humans. Part of it was not always being able to communicate in the same way, but Mu Hou found that those lessons stuck more when the people had to figure it out on their own.

“I’m back!” called Ting-Ting, darting down the stairs. “So so sorry — somehow we do have all the reagents, which is great, so they're all bubbling together right now and — “

“You’ll have to journey to the cat kingdom,” repeated Mu Hou. “I bet this Purrseph put a specific lock on the spell that only she can break. Complicated, yes, but lots of sorcererers will put failsafes on these sorts of things — especially when they come from the heart.”

She smiled at Haru, then looked fondly at Jun.

“It might seem… unconventional, but I have a feeling you will come out of this with something valuable.”

“Oh, please don’t tell me this is like those cookies,” moaned Ting, who scrunched up her nose. “That was a nightmare.”

“And you learned!” said Mu Hou. “Now — fetch that spell and help poor Jun find his voice again at the very least.”

Ting did as she was told — she always did — and soon enough, the spell was assembled and handed over to Haru in a little vial.

“Uh, he can lap it up using a little saucer?” offered Ting.

JUN: Ah, yes. A cat sorcerer. If there were a cat kingdom, and a cat princess, why wouldn’t there be a cat sorcerer? Though the more Haru explained, the more Jun wished she didn’t because of what it all implied--

Haru had been happy.

Apparently, Jun was this way because Haru was happy. He was supposed to fill in for this strange cat prince, and go rule a kingdom or something, like this was a strange faerytale about kissing frogs. If Jun had skin, he would be red from the tip of his ears to the tip of his nose. Did this mean that Haru actually like-liked him?

Yah, what was he, a fourteen-year-old?! Thinking things about ‘like-liking’ someone! He really needed to get out of this cat body, it was frying his brain!

(Though he couldn’t ignore that he’d had similar thoughts last night. But it wasn’t so much a feeling, was it? No butterflies at all. He and Haru had been perfectly comfortable with each other and that’s why Jun thought all those maybes. Maybe dating her for real wouldn’t be awful….maybe she’d be a good mother, a good wife, one day… maybe maybe maybe…

This was his fault too.

He’d never admit it!)

Instead, he leapt off the couch and padded toward the saucer. At least he could stop this high-pitched mewling! Jun lapped up the potion quickly, which wasn’t difficult because it was actually quite delicious. Then, blinking, he looked around at Mu Hou and Haru and Tae and finally Ting-Ting. “Well, I don’t feel any different. How do I know it’s work-- my voice!” Jun exclaimed. He could hear it this time, his words! His voice was back!

“Ah, thank you so much Ting-Ting! You have no idea how grateful I am. I promise, I’ll find a way to pay my gratitude.” He bowed...as a cat. Several times.

Though the main problem wasn’t fixed. But apparently… they had to go to Nihon for that.

He glanced at Haru. “Come, Haru, Tae-yah. We should er, let Ting-Ting get back to her morning. I’m sure she’s very busy.”

#para #moon princess #junting #moon bros

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nowornever13587 · 3 years

Text

MCYT Oxenfree Chapter 1

Edward’s Island.

Fundy POV

“It used to be a military base. Then it became a ranching thing, then it was turned into an army thing, then it became a bird thing and a museum or whatever. Henry Fonda stationed here, I think, for a bit. Unless he was Navy.”

I listened to Tommy rattle on as I leaned on the rail of the ship. The salty smell of the ocean filled the overcast sky. But thankfully, it was only slightly cold. Just enough for a light jacket..

“Who’s Henry Fonda?” Eret asked, unaware that you should never ask Tommy questions when he’s explaining things. He had a tendency to not hear them.

“And around Christmas time, this little breakfast place used to sell these amazing polar bear sugar cookies…” Like normal, Tommy went on. I laughed to myself, peering back over the edge of the ferry for wildlife in the water.

“Hey,” Tommy poked me. “Are you still with us? You haven’t said anything for like… 10 minutes.”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah. My mind just drifted for a second.” I turned back, checking my watch. It was 8. Right on time.

“So, you all moved in?” Tommy continued to talk to Eret.

“Um, not really. I just got in this morning.” Eret chuckled.

“And how did Fundy’s mom meet your dad again?” Tommy was eager for gossip.

“They met on vacation in London. He got lost in a garden and thought she worked there.” Eret took it in good humor as we walked back in the boat.

I took the liberty of exploring the small craft. It wasn’t that old but still had that air to it. Slightly chipped paint and worn seats. How they got worn, I never understood. Only bird watchers and history nuts ever headed to Edward’s island anymore. Particularly not in the winter.

“Hey, there’s an old ship's wheel up here.” I called down to the others from the second story as I bent to read the placard. “It’s a replica from a… Portuguese caravel, it says.”

“Yeah! I think the Portuguese discovered the island? I dunno. I mostly slept through the maritime portion of history class.” Tommy shrugged.

“Says the kid who’s been ranting about the island for the past 18 minutes.” Eret teased. Tommy shot him a teasing glare as I came back down.

“So you guys just met tonight?” Tommy continued.

“Yeah, I was… I’d been out at school and the timing had just never worked out.” Eret shrugged.

“And what does that make you to the Furry? Second cousin or something?”

“Step bro and I am not a furry!” I groaned

“Yeah, yeah! At least you seem cool!” Tommy laughed. “Cool guy, cool eyes. You get a cool new sibling living right in your house! Wearing your clothes… eating your food ... Sharing your toothbrush.”

“Ew!” We both grimaced. The conversation dipped awkwardly.

“So… how do you two know each other?” Eret prompted us.

“Oh, from way back when, like paleozoic. Grade school era.”

“I moved from the Netherlands in the first grade and Tommy was the one I got partnered with on the first day.”

“Passengers,” Suddenly the robotical intercom kicked on, nearly scaring me out of my skin. “We’ll be arriving soon. Check under your seat-”

“Check under your seat to make sure you don’t leave behind any grandchildren.” Tommy commented over the recording sarcastically.

“And if you picked up a complimentary disposable radio, remember to tune to 102.3 at the various plaques…” It droned on.

“Ooh! We should get a picture!” Tommy suddenly stood, dragging Eret and I back to the bow of the ferry.

“Fine. Just… hold the camera out. Like… far. I don’t look my freshest right now.” I told Tommy as he pulled out his phone. I ran a hand over my ears, trying to smooth down my fur that had puffed up due to the humidity.

“It’s true, Eret. This is like B Minus Fundy.” Tommy grinned.

“Take the picture you child!” I nudged him.

“I am not a child!” Tommy retorted while holding out the camera. We all smiled as the audible click came from the phone.

“There! Great. I’ll magic erase all the warts out and stuff, so don’t worry.” Tommy checked over the photo.

Eret made a face at the mention of warts and rolled his eyes.

“Hey, Furry. Did you remember to bring that radio? The little portable one?” Tommy piped back up.

“Yeah.” I sighed, ignoring the comment as I took the object out my pocket.

“Our high school has a radio station and Finn- he’s a friend of ours- he’s filling in because TapL went on vacation with his family or something.” Tommy explained as I began twisting the knob to find the station. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s gonna say something like… basically right now about our thing so…”

We all intently listened to the radio as I found the right station, 88.3.

“... Which I played because Karl wouldn’t stop singing it during math class!” Finn seemed to be talking about the song that was just on. “But… oh! Look at the time! Just after ten o’clock. Which means my dear friend Tommy and his bros are probably just touching down on Edwards island for the yearly bash on the beach…. Or whatever we call it now.”

“But anyways, I promised him that I’d play a song from his channel, so hope you're tuned in, Tommy! Here’s Able Sisters- Sable and Mable from Animal Crossing. He’s been tormenting me to play it for ages so here. Please stop.”

The familiar song came on. I groaned quickly, shutting it off.

“Haha!” Tommy crowed. “I finally got him to do it!”

His victory rant was cut off as the ferry’s horn blasted above us.

“There’s no radio reception on the island.” Tommy continued. “I’m glad I got to hear it before it went totally kaput.”

“If we can’t use it, why’d you bring it? Not just for the boat?” Eret inquired.

“Um, no. You’ll see. Don’t expect too much but… nah. It’ll be fun. I won’t undercook it.” Tommy waved his hands mysteriously. “You’ll see.”

We all shut up as the boat began nearing the dock. The old man running the ship helped us get off, before pulling away again.

“Oh boy! Smell that clean air, lads! This ain’t city livin’!” Tommy gestured to the now dark heavens. “My other friends should be up around the bend.”

“Actually,” Eret said nervously, waiting at the top of the dock stairs. “I mean, I don’t mean to be the guy to break us up already, but Tommy, could you do me a favor? Can I have two quick minutes with Fundy?”

“Uh… you sure?” Tommy hesitated. I glanced back up at Eret. The older boy seemed sincere.

“Something wrong?” I wondered.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just need a minute.” Eret glanced at the street light above.

“Alright, but- Look, I don’t wanna go up by myself. I mean, can’t we just stick together? You’re gonna have all night to say, like… whatever.” Tommy pleaded, using his puppy dog eyes.

“But you were going to meet your friends, right?”

“Yeah but there further-”

“Tommy, it’s alright. Just wait for us at the end of the town, okay? We’ll catch up with you there.” I reasoned.

“Alright.” Tommy sighed, walking off. “Though this is a really strange way to start off, splitting up.”

“Thanks man!” Eret called after him, before turning to me. “He seems nice. Funny.”

“Yeah, he’s… what did you want to talk about? Before I suspect something nefarious.” I teased, coming back to the top of the stairs.

“Listen, I just wanted to grab you ahead of time and say you’ve been…. Cool… about everything. And I guess it’s just - for me, I’ve never moved anywhere, ya know? And, like, getting a new family at the same time kinda feels like I’m skipping the training wheels.”

“Not that it’s bad! You and your mum have been great!”

“Eh, we’ll make do.” I nudged Eret playfully. “Lemons, lemonade, however that goes.”

“You idiot.” Eret and I laughed.

“Oh, thanks for setting up the attic for me, by the way. It’s cool, how it’s a little bedroom.”

“No problem…” I looked at the dark water. I really didn’t want to touch that subject. “It’s nice, at night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Not chilly.” Eret nodded. “We can- we can catch back up with Tommy now. I didn’t mean to take so long.”

We walked down the stairs into the parking lot. Commenting on the lonely car, I noticed a blocked off road. I decided to ignore it in favor of heading up the long staircase to the little shops that made the town of the island.

“Oh, what’s that?” Eret pointed at the statue as we reached the top. A bird on a pedestal with a whale below it.

“I forgot this was even here.” I chuckled. “It’s a monument to some submarine that was sunk off the coast.”

“Oh, wait. Can’t you do that radio guide thing like the boat said?” Eret looked excited. “I wanna see how it works.

“Sure.” I pulled the thing out of my pocket.

“It was…. 101 or 102, I think.”

I found the station. The voice of some tour guide came on.

“Named after the Hawiian god of the sea, the USS Kanaloa was launched on January 15, 1941 and commissioned into service at the end of that year under the command of Lt. C. Dream...”

“Never heard of this before. Kinda creepy in a way, right?” Eret murmured.

“On October 28, 1943, it was sunk by the Japanese sub chaser Tokisada some 25 miles off the coast of Washington…”

“Yeah, I hate thinking about it. It reminds me of those scenes in movies where sailors have to seal somebody up to drown or else the flooding will take the whole ship, you know?” I shivered at the idea.

“... and remains, to this day, the only submarine casualty in American waters. Eighty-five officers, as well as twelve Army passengers, were lost.”

“Yeah, no. I always thought submarine duty was, like, the worst possible war assignment. There’s no way out if something goes wrong.”

I turned off the radio as the recording began again. We continued through the town. All the stores were closed. Probably because it was starting to become winter and we took the last ferry here.

“Hello kids. The other guys and gals must be further up, so be quick now.” Tommy’s voice suddenly called from the top of a ramp. We laughed, running up to him.

“Okay, speed-read definition of Edwards Island. This is a tourist trap with shops and beach. Nobody lives here except some geriatric named Mr. Halo. But, cross my heart and hope to die, we’ll never mention him or any other old person’s name again.”

“We are here to drink and be stupid. A tradition apparently started by bored recruits in the nineteen fifties who would sneak dates over from the coastal towns. They literally called it ‘trawling’.”

“Wow, interesting.” I lightly mocked. Eret snorted behind me.

“Yeah, like kids at camp or something.” Tommy shrugged. “So, to summarize, we are not allowed here after dark. The town is shut down, and we - the L’manberg High Junior Class- have come to commit improper acts.”

We came to a fence just taller than me. I frowned, glancing at Tommy.

“The beaten path officially ends here. The beach is past the fence a way. I think Nikki told me that there’s a way that they used to get over there, but… I can’t remember how. I mean, can’t be too difficult.” Tommy looked around.

“Dumpster?” Eret pointed to the relatively empty bin sitting by the edge of the path.

“Perfect, we can push it over and close the lid.” I got beside him and helped.

“And the other thing about this nowhere island,” Tommy stayed back to finish his story. “Is the weirdo caves.”

“The weirdo caves?” Eret echoed incredulously.

“The whole reason Fundy brought the radio is because when you go to the- it’s like ‘front’--

“The mouth.” I supplied.

“The mouth of this particular cave, you can sometimes pick up frequencies to stations that don’t exist.” Tommy grinned. “You’ll hear voices or just... sounds… And they’re impossible to get anywhere else on the island. Crazy, right?”

“It’s, um, it’s pretty creepy… at least I’ve heard.” Eret and I managed to get the dumpster into place.

“I did it once. It’s amazing when it works.”

“Okay, back up a minute here. What about that Mr. Halo guy? Is he the saint for the island or something?” Eret looked back at the town below us.

“His family, I think, like owns or owned some of the island or something… he’s been shackled in the same spot for like seventy years. He’s kind of what you’d call a local legend. His house is on the other side of the woods.”

“I can’t imagine living in the same exact house looking at the same exact wall for that long a time.” I climbed up the dumpster and hopped over the fence. The other two joined me a heartbeat later.

We walked down the path, finding the trail that dipped down to the beach.

“Oh, before we get there, I should mention-”

Tommy was cut off by laughter.

“Who’s that?” Eret asked from behind me.

(Sorry if it's too long. But I shall try to post the next chapters every few days or so. Each should be around this long.)

#tommyinnit #the eret #eret myct #fundy minecraft #fundylive #tommy mcyt #mcyt fanfiction #oxenfree #oh this is going to be fun #youll see whos who over time #no ships btw #badboyhalo #i can't believe i nearly forgot bad #mcyt oxenfree

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pepperdee · 3 years

Text

Senior Year Was a Fever Dream

I was looking for a baby picture in my google drive and instead i found a document where I wrote down weird stuff my friends and I said.

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*in a voice like Roz from Monster's Inc.* Ya gotta do ya homework, ya gotta get inta college, get a job at McDonalds, die in a deep frya.

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Is the journey really more important than the destination when I'm driving to the gas station for a Monster?

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How's Megaman gonna play Fortnite with those hOrSe HoOf HaNdS???

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Apple sauce on the road? Who you foolin' that's pancake E S S E N C E

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Thinks you know? The know knows so you know.

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A: What's a furry's favorite line from Bohemian Rhapsody?

B: oh dear god no

A: Mamaaaa, OWO

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A: That's some good ketchup, where'd you get it?

B: That's NOT ketchup.

A: UwU

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My French teacher: Just a warning, there are some scantily clad women in this video. ... Also, happy International Women's Day.

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My Genetics teacher: PNAS FOR EVERYONE!

#writing prompts #dialogue prompts #funny prompts #incorrect quotes #i miss my french teacher so much #her delivery was PEAK #we were doing that march madness but with french songs thing and this was the first day #also: the genetics teacher one #PNAS is a website that has free science articles #our teacher was shocked that none of us had ever used it until she realized it was blocked because of the name #so she spent the entire hour and a half period angrily emailing the school until it was unblocked #in which she declared her victory #and i came up with the bohemian rhapsody joke because life was simpler in the Before Times #queue and i are a team

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sohin-ace · 4 years

Text

Bucciarati - Kitten

This is cross-posted from Wattpad and available on AO3.

Enjoy~

It was late in the evening and you were currently sneaking inside the headquarters of Passione with a long coat covering you.

Bruno had sent you on a solo mission and you were out all day. When you came back, it was already very late, you had taken more time than intended to get back to the hideout and most of the gang members were already fast asleep.

You slowly unlocked the door and snuck in as quietly as you could to not disturb the guys and most of all, to not bring attention to the little secret you were currently hiding.

You hugged your long coat close to you as you closed the door carefully, but the moment you were about to turn around and bolt to your room, you were startled by Bruno switching on the light of the entryway.

You gasped loudly and jumped as you whipped your head around. "Y-you scared me Bruno..."

He only crossed his arms against his chest and looked down at you, a stern look on his face.

"Do you know what time it is, young lady?"

Your lips shook slightly as you were trying to find the right words. "I-I... Um... It's- uh... How do I say it..."

"I don't remember sending you to Bamako for this mission. Why. Are. You. This. Late?" He spoke softly but with such a demanding tone it made you even more nervous. You hated making Bruno angry.

"Uhhhh.... You see, I was... When I was coming back.... I had to take a weird path, there was some constructions on the road, and then the cops blocked the main street and also this drunk guy seemed to follow me? Weird. So I panicked but then this Egyptian man came in and did some weird tricks with fire and it was really cool!"

You blurted random things that didn't make any sense to try and make him let you off the hook, but of course, he wasn't buying any of it.

Tired of your bullshit and knowing you would ramble weird things again, he dropped the question and instead pointed at your jacket, his other hand resting on his hip.

"What's with the long coat? It's not even that cold and I'm pretty sure you didn't bring it with you when you left."

Suddenly, a small meow was heard startling both you and Bruno and you tensed up, trying to cover it as best as you could.

"DRUGS!!!! I'm doing drugs!" You blurted out the first excuse that came to your stupid mind and you wanted to slap yourself the moment you said it.

You turned slightly to the side as the little animal moved under your coat and you struggled to hide it from your Capo who was raising a questioning eyebrow at you, almost amused.

"Drugs huh?" he fought back a smirk. "Yeah, that makes absolute sense to bring back drugs here in Passione, and admitting it to me of all people." He pressed on as he watched you squirm.

You struggled even more as another meow came out of your incriminating trench coat and you panicked.

"W-well, it was nice but I'm super tired, I'll see you in the morning, bye Bruno, buona notte-" As you tried to slip past him and run to your room, The tall male quickly grabbed your shoulder and stopped you in your tracks.

"Open the jacket, Y/N."

"N-no, I'm cold..." you shakily argued, not daring looking at him.

"Don't force me to lick your face, Y/N, you know I hate the taste of liars." He spat out with disgust and you gulped, slowly turning around and looking down.

"Please don't lick my face..." you pouted and he insisted.

"Then open the damn jacket, Y/N."

You carefully loosened your grip on the material, and without losing a second, a tiny furry head popped out of your collar, meowing almost agressively at Bruno, as if to tell him to stop nagging you.

The tall male looked at the kitten with astonishment, then at your blushing face.

"Y/N, what's the meaning of this?"

You hugged the cat inside your coat, subconsciously bringing your hand to caress its head as it started nuzzling into your touch, rubbing its face on your neck and letting out loud purrs.

"H-he was all alone in an alley and it was going to rain so I... I thought... Maybe..." you trailed off hesitantly and a bit sad.

You knew he wouldn't let you keep it. It was too much responsibility and Passione was not a stable place to take care of a small animal. But you couldn't just let the poor kitten die alone in the streets.

Bruno's expression softened on you as he sighed fondly. At the end of the day, he couldn't be mad at you, you were just like him. A natural caretaker who couldn't let a fragile being all alone.

"Y/N... I didn't know you liked animals."

He approached you and the kitten hissed at Bruno who was unfazed by the cat's threats. He then tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear and glided his hand from your ear to your chin, lifting your face up to look at him.

"I'll close my eyes on it this time. Prove to me that you can take care of him. I'll talk with the boys, but you have to make sure he won't trouble any of us. Understood?"

You nodded at him, your expression lighting up instantly "Thank you so much Bruno! I won't disappoint you!"

"I know..." he chuckled softly and looked into your beaming eyes, happy and relieved that you were safe and that the reason you were so late was actually just because of your undying kindness towards an animal.

You smiled and he brushed his thumb over your cheek. Upon seeing this, the small cat reached out with his tiny claws and tried to scratch Bruno's wrist away from you.

You tried to calm him down by patting his head again. You looked from the cat to Bruno, a little bit worried.

"... He doesn't like you that much."

"Maybe he's jealous." Bruno looked down smugly at the kitten but his expression soon fell. "I can't blame him... I'm a bit jealous too."

He stared at your delicate fingers caressing the animal and how you lovingly held him against your soft-looking chest, sharing your sweet warmth with him. Bruno suddenly wished that he was that cat. That you would touch him with the upmost care and hold him close against you and feel your heartbeat.

His face felt warm just by thinking about it.

"You? Jealous? Of the kitty?" You questioningly looked from Bruno to the cat who was slowly falling asleep under your tender touch.

Bruno couldn't resist anymore and he leaned down, landing a slow but passionate kiss on your lips. You blushed, startled by his sudden action, but you eventually closed your eyes as you melted into the kiss.

You felt light as Bruno was sending you all his love through his warm lips and you wanted time to stop. Sadly, he separated from you, breaking the kiss painfully slowly as he lingered in the feeling of your soft lips on his. You struggled to open your eyes and looked to his blue ones.

"You're a sweet girl, Y/N." He whispered against your lips and your heart skipped a beat at the subtle contact and his breathy voice. Bruno was so bold yet so gentle.

"Why...?" you asked him while staring at him in a love-struck daze, you brain barely processing what was happening.

"Since now I have competition, I need to step up my game." He glanced at the sleeping cat on your chest and swore to himself that he'd be next. "Did you like it?"

"YES!" You blurted a bit to eagerly and immediately brought a hand to your mouth in shame as your eyes widened. His sultry tone and the tickle of his breath on your skin made you lose your mind.

Bruno chuckled at your cute behavior as he straightened himself up. "Good. See you in the morning, Y/N."

He patted your head and walked away as you tried to calm down your pounding heart down. You slowly and dizzily went to your room, hoping your loud heartbeat wouldn't wake up the little cat.

"Oohh my goodd! So cute !!!" Trish squealed as she came back, only to find what seemed to be the newest member of Passione.

"Oohhh whose kitty is this?? It's so tiny!!" Narancia stared at the baby cat like it was the first time he ever saw one in his life, which was probably the case.

The cat was running and jumping around everywhere until Giorno crouched in font of him and carressed him all over, which made the cat stop and roll to his back, purring and loving each second of Giorno's affection.

"Ew, someone get that gross thing away from me." Abbachio said with disgust.

You looked at him, unsure if he was talking about Giorno or about the cat.

"Why did you bring a cat here? Is capo okay with that?" Mista asked as he turned towards you and you shrugged.

"He's okay as long as I teach him to be clean and not destroy everything."

"What are you gonna call it, Y/N?!" Narancia asked all giddy, obviously happy with the small addition to the team.

"Huh..." You thought for a moment then you looked at the kitten with an idea. "Bacio."

"Ooh that's romantic, Y/N!" Trish said as she played with the cat's paws.

"Hmmmh, in what honor? That's a pretty cute name." Mista questionned teasingly with a little smirk and you looked behind you, noticing Bruno watching the scene from the hallway.

Your face reddened a bit and you looked back at the team surrounding the cat.

"... Oh, just like that." You said softly, a bit to yourself but Mista still heard you.

"...Wait, no!! Don't call it that! It sounds like my name!!!" Abbachio yelled, offended.

"Eeh, no, Bacio is a cute name! It suits the cat better than you anyways!" Narancia said, not even caring what the goth thought.

"I like it too." Giorno said as he glanced at Bruno who was coming to you.

"Bacio, huh?" He stood behind you and you turned your head to nod at him. He smiled and looked at the cat again. "Fitting."

Mista stared back and forth from you to Bruno with a look of pure confusion on his face.

"...Wait. Did something happen with you two? What even is going on? Am I missing something?"

*kevin hart voice* Mind your DAAAAMN MOTHERFUCKING BUSINESS MISTA!

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo #jjba #vento aureo #golden wind #bruno #bruno bucciarati #bruno buccellati #x reader #reader insert #writing #part 5 #jojo part 5 #jojo no kimyou na bouken #bruno x reader #bucciarati x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #buccellati x reader #bruno buccellati x reader

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yourdeepestfathoms · 4 years

Text

Build Me Up (without using the foam blocks in the trampoline park)

[Wing AU]

Wing Reference

LET ARAGON BE A DORK!!!!!!!!!!

Word count: 3056

--------------------------

They were pulling up to the large building in the distance. Not many fliers were out, as it was raining, so more cars were on the road than usual. Puddles lapped gently against the curb as Aragon turned into the parking lot. The young avian next to her shifted.

“Catalina…” She said uneasily. “I really don’t know about this…”

“Hush, my darling,” Aragon replied breezily. “I told you to trust me.”

“I know, but…” Joan squinted out the window at the word RUSH posted in large neon green and electric blue letters at the storefront. “Are you sure a trampoline park is the best place for me to learn to fly?”

“I am sure.” Aragon nodded.

Aragon parked the car and they both got out. A light sprinkling rained over them and they hurried to the canopy stretching from the building before they could get too wet. Joan huddled her wings in close when they stepped inside.

The trampoline park was giant. It boasted a high, vaulted ceiling and a large open space for various activities. From where the pair had entered, they could see netting and padding for all the different trampolines, but also a huge indoor jungle gym, an obstacle course, and carved cliffs stretching from the walls, some of which avians were climbing without any equipment. Further out, a diving board-like tower was poised and waiting above a foam pit.

Aragon paid and got the special socks required to do things in the park, while Joan fidgeted awkwardly behind her. The poor girl looked supremely embarrassed about being there, but she had to learn somehow. Plus, it was good for her to have some fun every once and awhile.

“So,” Aragon said after they got the socks on and put their shoes away, “what do you want to do first?”

Joan shrugged. She still had her wings wrapped around her like a protective cloak and wouldn’t stop shifting from foot to foot. Aragon bumped her with her tail.

“It’s okay, darling,” Aragon murmured. “There’s nothing to be worried about.”

“But--but I can’t fly.” Joan mumbled, her antennae drooping. “I’m gonna look stupid…”

“No, you’re not.” Aragon said. “I’m going to help you. Come on.”

They walked into the closest area- a netted enclosure with two springy trampolines and two walls, one four feet and one six feet. The objective was to climb onto the edge of the wall by using the momentum from jumping.

“What’s the point of this if you can just fly to the top?” Joan asked as she was watching Aragon bounce on the trampoline for the four foot wall.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Aragon replied.

“Fair. I guess.”

Aragon flashed Joan a grin before leaping up onto the edge of the wall. It was a small space, but she fit and moved over for Joan to join her. After a moment of hesitation and eyeing the trampoline like it was actually made of molten lava, Joan stepped onto the springy surface.

“I still don’t know how this is going to help me learn how to fly…” Joan mumbled as she began to bounce.

“Make sure to get enough altitude so you can make the jump,” Aragon told her. “Or else you’ll just--”

Joan slammed into the wall with a loud THUMP.

“...hit the wall.” Aragon peered down at the girl that collapsed backwards onto her back like all her bones just melted. “Are you alright, hun?”

“My kneecaps,” Joan groaned. She rolled onto her back and fluffed out her wings, which had been uncomfortably creased when she fell. “Can I try again?”

“Of course!”

Joan nodded and did so. She didn’t hit the wall as hard the second time, but slipped off before she could claw her way up to the edge and tottered back onto the trampoline.

“I’m a lot weaker than I thought…” Joan said, looking at her four furry arms.

Aragon chuckled. “Come on, darling. You can do it.”

Joan tried again, almost making it this time, but fell backward with a squawk of alarm. Aragon laughed.

“Was that your Anne impression?”

Joan blushed, but managed a tiny giggle. “Sorry. I don’t know why I made that sound. Maybe I was meant to be a bird?”

“You’re much cuter as a moth,” Aragon said. “I need all your fluff in my life.”

Joan blushed even harder. She got back up and tried one more time, furiously pumping her wings until she managed to wiggle up onto the edge. Her antennae perked up.

“Haha! I did it!” She exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Aragon grinned at her as she sat up slowly.

“I don’t know what that achieved, though,” Joan said. “I still can’t fly.”

“Patience, little one,” Aragon said. “We’ll get there. Let’s move on to something else.”

They decide to go to one of the main trampolines to jump. Joan got flustered almost instantly when she saw how many young children there were, but pushed through her embarrassment. Mostly everyone was either focused on themselves, their kids or friends, or Aragon. Not that she blamed them for the last one.

Aragon jumped peacefully on one of the squares, eyes closed, body relaxed. Her hair and glistening golden-orange feathers bobbed with her smooth movements, wings raising up and down like she was actually flapping them. Her long tail feathers never got caught under her feet, even though Joan worried they would. She just looked so at ease in such a childish place.

Joan had to be like that.

Taking a deep breath, Joan closed her eyes, unfurled her wings out slightly, and began to bounce. After just a few minutes, she felt painful stitches in her side and realized she was a lot less fit than she initially thought. When she peeked one eye open, nobody else seemed to be hindered by cramps, or maybe they were just really good at hiding that they were. Or maybe the constant exercise from flying made it so where their muscles were used to the kind of strain and it really was just her because she was Flightless and didn’t get to build up her body like they all did. Maybe.

Oh well. Nothing she could do. She had to push through it for Aragon. She had already complained enough.

Wait--

Oh god. Was she complaining? What if she had been annoying Aragon by being so doubtful and whiny? Oh dear, oh dear… She really hoped Aragon didn’t think that. She really did appreciate her doing this! She just had so much anxiety and shame and--

Was that What Does The Fox Say playing on the speakers? Damn, this trampoline park has some BOPS!

Joan let herself get into the music, biting her bottom lip to smother a stupid smile. What could she say? She thought the song was funny! She got so into the song, in fact, that she didn’t even notice that she was moving forward until her foot caught on the padding around each square and she catapulted into the next trampoline.

Fun fact: they did not taste very good!

Giggles of children erupted around the area. Joan’s face burned red (or maybe that was just from her skidding it against polypropylene) and her wings instinctively hooded over her. She knew laying there like a corpse would not make this situation any better, but she didn’t want to sit up and face the stares of several amused kids who would probably very easily shame her. She just wanted to sink through the trampoline mat and curl up on the floor underneath it and die.

And then Aragon crouched down next to her and over exaggerated suicidal ideations diminished greatly.

“Are you okay?” Aragon asked, resting a supportive wing on her back. “Did you hurt yourself? What happened?”

“I, uhh--” Joan’s antennae twitched nervously. “I had my eyes closed so I wasn’t watching where I was jumping…”

Aragon blinked and then laughed, which she immediately tried to muffle with her hand.

“Hey!” Joan yelped. “Don’t laugh!”

“You’re right,” Aragon said. “I’m sorry.” And then she snorted and burst into laughter.

“Stop! It’s not funny!” Joan flared, flapping her wings and fluffing out her fuzz in distress. But even she couldn’t bite back giggles from seeing Aragon crack up. “I’m serious!”

“You’re laughing, too!”

“I know! But it’s okay when I laugh at myself!”

After a moment, Aragon contained herself. She helped Joan to her feet and checked her for injuries, luckily finding none.

“We can leave if you’d like,” The queen said. “I’ve realized this may be a little much.”

“No, it’s okay!” Joan said quickly. “I wanna stay.”

Aragon looked delighted. “Oh, wonderful! Because I REALLY wanted to try that obstacle course over there!” Joan giggled. It seemed even the oldest, toughest, most mature queen had a childish side.

They went over to the obstacle course next at Aragon’s wonderment. It was a large area with rings and monkey bars and nets and dozens of other things to try and get through to reach the end. Aragon was amazing at it, skillfully swinging across hanging ropes and climbing over walls and swooping gracefully through hoops. She controlled her wings so well during the flight portions of the course. Joan, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of the queen.

“Catalina!” Joan mewled. “H-help! I’m stuck!”

Aragon turned and immediately burst out into laughter when she saw that Joan was caught upside down in a net.

“Oh, darling!” Aragon flapped over and gently untangled Joan. The girl yelped when she began to fall, but was caught by the queen before she could hit the ground. “Silly girl.”

“Sorry,” Joan blushed. She pulled her shirt down over her stomach, which had been peeking out slightly when she was upside down. “U-umm-- Thanks.”

Aragon smiled. “No problem.”

“I think I’m gonna sit this one out,” Joan said. “I still can’t tell if you brought me here to actually teach me how to fly or if you just wanted to play on anything.”

“Both,” Aragon winked before taking off onto one of the other courses.

Joan sat down at the table on the edge of the obstacle course, watching as Aragon completed each one with ease. She was amazed at how skilled and graceful the queen was, not that she should be surprised. This was Catherine of Aragon after all.

“Woo!” Aragon exclaimed, thumping down beside Joan and taking her by surprise. Her feathers were ruffled, crest half extended with visible excitement, and a sheen of glistening sweat soaked her face. “This place is amazing!”

“It is,” Joan smiled up at her.

“Come on, my little fluff ball,” Aragon said. “It’s time to get back to your training!”

They go to a giant pit near the back that was at least the size of an Olympic swimming pool, except instead of being filled with water, it was filled with foam blocks. That was where the diving board-like platform was, probably fifty feet up into the air, and the two of them walked over just to see a kid half Joan’s age leap off of it and glide across to the end.

“Oh wow,” Joan said, slightly intimidated. “That’s really high up.”

“You’ll be able to go even higher once you learn how to fly,” Aragon said, though it didn’t encourage Joan very much.

They climbed the steep spiral staircase that wound up the post to the top. Aragon jumped off first, and Joan thought she was just going for fun because she didn’t fly or glide, but then her wings shot open at the last moment and she soared upwards so fast Joan thought she may hit the ceiling. But then she twisted around and hovered in the air, smiling down at Joan.

“Come on!” She encouraged.

“I still don’t know how to fly, though,” Joan said to herself as she inched closer to the edge.

She wasn’t afraid of heights, but just being up that high knowing her wings couldn’t save her made her feel nervous and dizzy. She really, really didn’t want to jump off it, but she didn’t want to disappoint Aragon even more, so she gathered all her courage and hopped off of the ledge.

“Fly, Joan! Fly!”

Joan hit the surface of the foam pool and sunk into the shapes like an anchor in water.

She did not fly.

She didn’t even flap her damn wings.

Aragon swooped down and hovered over Joan, smiling thoughtfully down at her.

“You had perfect form,” She said. “Shall we try again?”

“I’m stuck.” Joan said. She lifted her wings and tried to wiggle out, but the foam cubes just kept tumbling down into her like she was caught in a sand trap. She looked up at Aragon helplessly. “Help?”

Aragon chuckled and grabbed one set of Joan’s hands. She pulled her out with ease and laughed at the way Joan had to clamber over the foam to get to the edge.

“Is it really that hard to get out?” She asked.

“You try it!” Joan answered.

Aragon shrugged, shook her tail feathers, and then hopped in. Joan burst out into laughter.

“What?” Aragon blinked up at her.

“Your--your tail!” Joan sputtered out through giggles. “Why’d you shake your tail like that?”

“Why not?” Aragon responded smugly. She smirked and began to climb out, only to find that it was a lot more difficult than she expected. “Oof. This is hard.”

“I told you,” Joan giggled. “Do you need help from me now?”

“That would be nice,” Aragon grunted.

Joan nodded and shot out a strand of silk--

--directly into Aragon’s eye.

“OW!!” The queen yelled, flaring her crest in alarm.

Joan froze, a feeling of mortification seizing her entire body.

Did she just shoot the former queen of England in the eye with her silk? Oh god, she was going to Hell for sure.

“Oh dear!” Joan squeaked. “C-Catalina, are you okay?!”

Aragon didn’t respond. Instead, she clawed her way over to the edge of the pit and climbed out. Then, she began scraping off the sticky silk plastered over her left eyelid.

“I’m so sorry!” Joan blabbered. “I-I didn’t mean it, Catalina! Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

After plucking off the last of the silk, Aragon rubbed her eye and blinked it a few times. Finally, she looked at Joan and gently took two of her hands in hers.

“I’m okay,” The queen said. “You really gotta work on your aim, though.” She laughed, but Joan was too guilty to join in. She seemed to notice that and gently brushed Joan’s cheek with one of her wings, which Joan nuzzled into. “Hey, honey… It’s okay. I’m alright. I’m not hurt.”

“B-but-- Your eye--”

“Is okay.” Aragon said. “See? It’s okay. I’m not hurt.”

Joan examined her eye very closely and then nodded. She leaned into Aragon’s wings, which wrapped around her lovingly.

“I didn’t mean to almost blind you…”

“I know, baby girl.”

“I’m sorry…”

“No need to apologize.” Aragon kissed the top of Joan’s head and then pulled back. “Everything is okay. Take a deep breath, darling. It’s all okay.”

Joan nodded and took a breath. It helped, soothing the tight, anxious feeling that had bloomed in her chest.

“Thank you,” She whispered.

“No problem, my darling,” Aragon smiled at her. “Want to try again?”

Joan agreed and they climbed the steps to the top. Aragon lifted off into the air and flapped above the ledge instead of jumping off. Joan stretched out her own wings. A little sigh left her lips as she felt the heater ruffle through her velvety chitin and she couldn’t help the small smile on her lips. It felt good. It felt right. Even if the height made her nervous, she felt so much more like an actual avian up there. She didn’t feel Flightless anymore, even if she still couldn't fly.

“Cutie,” Aragon cooed at Joan’s wistful smile. “You are so precious, Joan.”

Joan blushed shyly. “Th-thank you.”

“Okay, give me your hands,” Aragon said, and Joan obeyed. “Now, walk to the edge and flap your wings. I’ll help you.”

“But what if I pull you down?” Joan asked nervously.

“It’ll be okay,” Aragon assured her. “Trust me, darling.”

Joan nodded and began to flutter her wings. The beating of the limbs ruffled Aragon’s hair, but the queen didn’t appear to care. Aragon just continued to hold firmly to Joan’s hands and lead her to the end of the platform until she was directly on the edge.

“Just like that,” Aragon murmured encouragingly. “Good girl. Keep it up.”

Joan concentrated on controlling her wings, which suddenly seemed very heavy on her back. As she flapped them a little harder, they fluttered around her in a flurry of bright pink and banana yellow, some fuzzy chunks of chitin floating to the pit below. Soon, she felt herself rise a few inches into the air, over the edge and over the pit, but not falling. Aragon began to cheer.

Joan couldn’t believe it. She was flying. Or, floating in the air at least. But it was something! And it was an incredible feeling! Joan couldn't stop smiling!

A few seconds later, her wings got tired and she let herself fall down into the pit. As she was climbing out, Aragon swooped into her in a great big hug.

“You did it, darling!” The queen exclaimed, holding Joan tightly in her wings. “You were hovering! That’s such a big step! I’m so proud of you!”

Joan didn’t know how to respond, she wasn’t used to so much praise, so she just blushed and buried her face into Aragon’s chest. Aragon continued to coo and gush over how incredible she was, and Joan didn’t ask her to stop. She’s never had someone believe in her so much before.

“Thank you,” Joan said shyly. Aragon cupped her cheeks and she leaned into her hands. “I never thought I would actually...you know…”

“You did!” Aragon said. “You’re one step closer to fully flying!”

“Thank you,” Joan said again. She couldn’t help it. “I couldn’t do it without you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Aragon kissed the top of her head. “Come on. Up you go. We still have an hour left here and there’s other things I want to do!”

Joan giggled. “I’m ready when you are.”

#wing au #aragon is just vibin #livin her best life #i love her so much #six the musical #six the musical au #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #six fanfiction #six fanfic #catherine of aragon #joan on the keys #build me up

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