#I still get squirmy killing spiders that have rather painful bites. I could never hurt another human on purpose | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

five-rivers · 3 years

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Loved 7

Danny stared miserably at his shredded and ruined toothbrush. He’s been trying to be careful, but… He ran his tongue over his teeth, feeling first an extra row, then, on the next pass, braces he never had, then smooth even teeth, then needles, then something soft and clinging, then normal teeth again, then the almost vampiric fangs he’d become accustomed to over the past week.

His mouth ached constantly, an ever-deepening soreness, accompanied by a need to bite. His friends, especially Sam, were trying to help him manage the pain as well as the urges, but they couldn’t do anything about the underlying cause.

Or about the fact that he was, essentially, teething.

Despite being the only one currently in the bathroom, he still blushed. The whole thing was as embarrassing as it was disturbing. And it was very, very disturbing. And painful.

He could go ask Clockwork about it, ask for help.

The thought made him sway and his eyes flutter, his body yearning for the Dream. Sternly, he pulled himself back into reality. He had decided to only go to the Dream by actually sleeping. He’d been caught missing once too often, and while some of those times were unavoidable – he often had to chase the Ideal of Cubes away in the dead of night, among others – the one when he was making personal visits were not.

He threw the toothbrush away.

The journey back to his room and thence to his bed was a painful, sleepy blur. He wasn’t entirely sure if he hadn’t teleported. It was, after all, something that he could do.

He hid under his covers and dropped into the Dream.

The pain didn’t relent at all. Still, he made himself stop and consider his options.

First, he could try to tough it out, see if it would stop. That hadn’t been working well for him so far, though.

Second, he could try to find a solution on his own. Except he had no idea where to even begin. He suspected that any dentist confronted with the inside of his mouth would swiftly need to see a doctor of their own.

Third, he could go to Clockwork. This was the most and least appealing of his options, as well as the one most likely to get results. Because Clockwork would help him. It was just that… Clockwork would probably do other things, too.

Love was also a factor. Danny Loved Clockwork more than anything, and he sometimes craved Clockwork’s presence with an urgency that surprised him. He knew Clockwork Loved him back just as much. But he was a little scared of that Love, of how pliant and docile it made him act, of how small it made him feel. Not to mention, he feared the reappearance of the gifts he had not accepted.

But… He put one hand on the chain that represented Clockwork’s Love, rubbing the side of a link that was longer than his hand and thicker than two of his fingers together. It was silk smooth and icy, but in a comforting way. He put his other hand on his jaw. It did not throb with pain, but he suspected that was because he had no heartbeat, and even his own soft touch made him flinch.

He blinked tears out of his eyes and watched as they floated away on a breeze. It hurt.

He was tired of hurting. It was okay, wasn’t it, to want to feel better? He was in pain so often and so much. Did he have to endure it?

His hands trembled. So many of the others… He knew, now, that they were just toying with him, just playing, that they weren’t really trying to hurt him, but they did.

The dark mirror had hurt, had hurt more than anything else, but it had stopped, and, since then, Clockwork hadn’t hurt him. Not really. Clockwork had been soft and gentle, and he’d given Danny food and gifts, even if the food was strange and the gifts had strings attached.

He hurt, and he wanted to be taken care of.

Following the chain, he pushed through the Dream. It had taken on the metaphor of an alien garden with uncertain physics. Huge, blobby flowers tilted themselves at his face and vines spiraled into the air without support. It wasn’t a jungle, though. There was no thick overhead canopy, no baleful humidity. The air was heavy with perfume, but that was all it was heavy with.

It had been like this since Danny’s encounter with Nocturne, which was frustrating. He had been unable to shift the metaphor again on his own.

Clockwork rose stark against the not-sky in the middle distance, a great clocktower, a sweeping gothic cathedral. The outlines of the structure wavered, as if behind a curtain of heat.

Something moved in the underbrush, and Danny twisted to try and see it. As he did so, something moved in his mouth and he shrieked in pain.

Crouched on the ground, mumbling imprecations, he massaged his gums. It shouldn’t hurt. His real body wasn’t even here. This was all just a flavor of imaginary that was closer to solid than it should be. It was all thoughts and feelings.

Except those could hurt.

He brushed tears out of his eyes and looked up.

Oh.

Clockwork was much closer, now.

Danny walked through Clockwork’s front door. Clockwork’s avatar was on him almost at once. Danny had to crane his neck to look up at the avatar. Had it been so tall last time? Danny couldn’t quite recall.

What is wrong?

“M’teeth hurt,” said Danny, slurring the words slightly around both his new teeth and the fingers he still had in his mouth. “C’n you help?”

Of course.

The avatar then proceeded to pick Danny up with two of its arms. With its third hand, it gently probed Danny’s lips.

Show me, said the avatar. It wasn’t exactly a request, but it was too soft to be an order.

Danny opened his mouth anyway. He wanted this to be done. Clockwork ticked steadily in the background.

I have just the thing, said the avatar. It started walking deeper into Clockwork, not showing indication of when or if it would put Danny down.

Danny let his mouth close again, wincing as his teeth ground uncomfortably against one another.

“D’you know what’s happening?” asked Danny, stealing himself.

You are teething.

Danny hunched his shoulders. It was one thing to hear Sam and Tucker tease him, quite another for Clockwork, or, rather, his avatar, to say it.

An odd noise echoed in the hall they were traveling down. It took Danny a moment to realize Clockwork was chuckling. A bell began to ring overhead.

They entered a room that contained a large glass basin full of squirming things. Several of Clockwork’s mechanical spiders walked around the edge of the basin, pushing the things back in when they tried to escape. Cushions were arranged on the floor in a loose circle around the basin. A single light shone through a colored window overhead.

“W’t is’t?” asked Danny, unnerved.

Food, answered the avatar.

Danny attempted to twist out of the avatar’s grasp but was held firmly. The collar around his neck thrummed and he stilled.

Teeth, said the avatar, sternly, are ultimately for eating. For acquiring food. As is your venom.

Danny shook his head.

Come, now, said the avatar. This is how to stop the pain. At least for now.

“For now?”

It will return. Teething is simply something the young experience. And Danny was always going to be young.

His heart would have sunk. He’d been hoping—But more importantly.

“Not killing.” He had no idea whether these things were still connected to people, no idea of the damage he could do.

The avatar petted him, pushing hair away from his face. Danny leaned into the touch despite himself, feeling the chain and collar become heavier. Icy pinpricks danced along his wrists and ankles.

You will not, murmured the avatar.

With that, the avatar folded itself to sit on one of the cushions, arranging Danny in its lap. With two hands, it interwove its fingers with Danny’s trapping his hands. The avatar’s other arms crisscrossed over Danny’s chest, holding him close. Finally, it rested its chin on top of Danny’s head. Right now, the collar had shaped itself more like a neck brace than anything else, so he couldn’t exactly duck away.

Then again, he didn’t really want to. This position was… cozy. Comfortable. He felt secure. Safe. If it wasn’t for the pain, he might have been tempted to fall asleep.

With another arm, an unnaturally long arm with too many joints for Danny to count, Clockwork’s avatar plucked one of the squirmy things from the basin. Danny pressed his lips together as tightly as he could without his vision whiting out. He could feel his venom sacs throb as liquid dripped from his teeth, some of it escaping from the corners of his mouth.

Why did the Dream have to pick now to be so, so, so realistic? So physical? He wanted to go back to mist-soft edges interspersed with moments of shocking clarity.

The avatar pressed the thing’s soft, boneless body against Danny’s lips. The scent of it was a key in Danny’s mind that unlocked a vibrant hunger. He bit, his fangs sinking all the way into the thing’s not-flesh.

The relief was instant and much, much greater than when he’d bitten into apples. A pleasant numbness spread across his senses, even as the avatar stroked him reassuringly. It took far too long to force himself to disengage.

The puncture wounds on the things skin healed almost instantly, and Clockwork’s avatar threw it back into the basin, still squirming. Danny licked his lips as the avatar retrieved another.

By the time Danny was satiated, his mouth hurt much less, and he was also completely exhausted. Eating should not take so much energy, but it did.

The avatar cleaned Danny’s face. Time for a nap.

“Nap?”

It is helpful for digestion, said the avatar, before standing again.

Danny, feeling unbalanced, grabbed at the avatar’s robes. He blushed. He was being carried like an infant.

After another journey that both lasted forever and no time at all, they came to another door. Beyond it was a room with soft, cloth-covered walls and a variety of interesting objects with both possible and impossible configurations. There were designs on the walls in colors that Danny could not name but which were nonetheless soothing. In the center was a sunken area, like a reverse dais, filled with pillows, blankets, and other soft objects. A ring of twisting, luminous runes surrounded it.

The intent of the room itched at his mind. He had never seen anything quite like it, and yet it was familiar.

Your room, said the avatar, although it is temporary.

It hit Danny, then. His room.

This was a nursery.

Something else bothered him. “Temporary?”

We are making another room for you. A permanent one. It is not yet ready. For now, this will serve.

“Where?” asked Danny, curious.

In my heart, little love.

Danny felt himself smile. That would be nice… to be in Clockwork’s heart… forever…

The avatar placed Danny in the depression and made a nest around him out of pillows and blankets. It put a stuffed rabbit- or something near enough to a stuffed rabbit for Danny not to think too much about it- into his arms.

One more thing.

Danny blinked up at the avatar, slowly.

We had intended to save this for later, but… It brought out a box that looked oddly familiar. Slowly, it eased open the lid and a thick black smoke oozed out, condensing into a shape like a dog. The dog bounded into the pit and snuggled up next to Danny.

“A puppy!” said Danny, delighted.

I made note of how you said your human parents, there was some derision, there, would never let you have a dog. He will keep you safe. The avatar put a hand on Danny’s head, and then on the dog’s. I infused it with your human hate, it murmured. I thought upon your words regarding it- of reason and safety. And, so, any who would give you cause to hate, any enemy that would be so dear to you, this one shall feel that in your stead, and destroy them.

That really, really should have woken Danny up a bit. Should have scared Danny. Perhaps, if he didn’t feel so nice and warm. As it was, he only hugged the dog closer. Implications, terrifying as they were, could wait for later.

Sleep well.

The lights went dim. The avatar faded away, although Clockwork was, of course, still present inside himself.

From this position, Danny could see the other thing the room resembled.

A womb.

#danny phantom #dannymay 2021 #dannymay #dannymay 2021 day 21: teeth #loved #eldritch abomination au

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