#first time writing them T^T | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

californiaboytoybilly · 6 months

Text

Look. At. Me.

Tigerfreak || NSFW 18+ || Jealousy || Smut (with a little plot because I can’t help it) || 3.2k

cw: Cursing, possessiveness, jealousy, semi-public sex, handjobs, biting, unestablished relationship, dacryphilia, liberal use of the word queer, miscommunicated feelings, a little bit of degradation if you squint and turn your head to the left, vague references to religious guilt from an outsider perspective.

They’re in love but don’t let them hear you say that.

Ao3 Version: Here

Eddie was possessive of the things- the people - he coveted.

A wild creature of teeth and tongue and nails, leaving bruises and bites along his way so that they could not look upon their skin without remembering him. A clinging echo summoned back when fingertips dug into damaged skin as they tried to wash him away later.

Leaving a stain of himself behind, a thin sheen of oil that nothing could ever quite scrub clean from their squeaky clean facades. Bitter on the back of their tongues.

All that to say, he wasn’t particularly pleased when people touched the things he’d claimed as his.

And inexplicably, Jason Carver had become his. In a strange, obsessive way that had he cared even a little more to pay attention to, he might have acknowledged wasn’t exactly healthy. They still snarled in the lunchroom, trading sharp barbs and insults. Opposite sides of the same tarnished coin- everyone saw that.

Nobody got to see the way Carver’s tawny skin would flush with rosy patches in the dim light of some maintenance closet or dark, dark corner at a party.

How his years of being an obedient little church boy had trained him to do well on his knees, ocean blue eyes swallowed nearly entirely by the wide blown pupils that told on him if he dared to act unaffected by the weight of Eddie in his mouth.

Nobody got to see the delicious way he sobbed when he was fracturing at the seams, a cocktail of pleasure and bubbling shame at how badly he wanted this sinful thing fizzing up under his skin, making his hands shake and his chest heave under his little silver cross.

The way he looked when all that built up energy had nowhere to go but out, ridiculously long eyelashes clumping as salty tears spilled over his cheeks and he slammed his eyes shut so he didn’t have to look at Eddie even accidentally as he came.

It was intoxicating.

In the present, he could hear his own jaw click into place as he tried not to focus on anything else going on in the locker room and failed miserably. Fucking jocks and their definitely not queer touchy bullshit. Butt ass naked and shoving each other around, snickering and dripping from the showers.

He usually just tried to skip gym entirely just to avoid the choice between getting in the shower with a bunch of his peers who wouldn’t hesitate to break his nose if they thought his gaze wandered somewhere it shouldn’t, and smelling like a damp armpit for the rest of the day.

Not that he actually had an interest in leering at them, but they didn’t care. Rumours had a way of digging their claws in deep, burrowing in like a parasite until they could control each jerk of your arms as you reacted to the world around you- especially ones that were true, regardless of if his peers could prove it or not.

If it talks like a queer, walks like a queer and dresses like a queer…

This reason alone was why he couldn’t believe it to be a coincidence in any capacity when Billy Hargrove locked eyes with him from across the room as Eddie turned to shove his grey shirt and athletic shorts into his cluttered locker, tearing his eyes away from where they’d been burning a hole in the back of Jason’s head a moment prior.

His brassy blond curls were dripping wet, skin flushed from the heat, and naked as the day he was born. Eddie kind of hated him, just on principle- the audacity he had to look like that.

Billy held his gaze, making the back of Eddie’s neck itch. People tended to dodge his eyes like he’d take root in their brains if they lingered too long, so the unexpected interaction made him prickle anxiously. Billy’s lips curled into a lazy smirk, staring him down like he knew something, twirling a damp white washcloth between his fingers.

Eddie didn’t notice his muscles bunching in preparation for the strike until the crack resounded throughout the locker room. Dark eyes darted just slightly to the left as a familiar voice broke on a sharp exclamation.

Jason had a startled hand on his ass, red blush high on the plains of his cheeks, rubbing at the spot with a grimace. Eddie’s eyes darted between the rag in Hargrove’s hand and the warmed patch of skin as long as he dared to linger, tasting copper as he bit down on his tongue.

Because while Jason was doing his best to look annoyed, fluffy damp hair askew around his face and mouth hauled now into a scowl that he aimed towards the Californian transplant, Eddie knew better. He knew that flush. That skittish, dark look in his eye as his fingers nervously darted up to curl around the chain of his cross.

Even if Eddie couldn’t read him like a picture book, the way he hurriedly grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist was enough of a tell. It boiled Eddie’s blood, little knives scratching up his skin from the inside.

The world took on a green tinge as Eddie hurriedly started to yank on his clothes. That would’ve finished a lot faster, of course, if he’d been smart enough to not wear his lace up boots today.

He barely even noticed as everyone began to file out of the locker room, jaw clenched tight until even Billy’s shadow was out of sight, hot on Harrington’s heels as usual.

If Eddie snuck a glare at his retreating back out of pure petty jealousy, that was his own business.

He usually liked the guy well enough. He could be an ass, but he was a good customer. Eddie even let him stay and smoke more often than not, something he was picky with. He was funny when he didn’t have his rusty nail chainmail of a public personality on.

Right now, however, he wanted to staple his shirt directly to his skin so he couldn’t walk around looking like chiselled bronze all while pissing him off, touching things that weren’t his.

When he calmed down enough to bother looking around, the locker room was completely empty save for him and Carver. Both dressed now, and ignoring each other.

A dangerous thought seized him before he could battle it back, then.

It was the last class of the day and- as far as Eddie knew- no teams had practice Wednesday evenings. He barely had time to acknowledge that justification before he was crossing the room, flipping Jason around by the shoulder at the same time as he pushed him into the lockers.

The blond widened his eyes, gaze flitting to the doors. “Let go of me.“ He hissed, eyes flattening and lip curling. Like an angry little cat, Eddie thought idly. “Anybody could-“

“You didn’t seem to mind when you were having your ass whipped in front of the entire class.” Eddie said, false smile dripping sweetness.

Jason scoffed in his face, scowling again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He denied, but the pink was crawling back into his cheeks again.

Caught.

Vision still bathed in emerald and blood pumping, Eddie leaned more into his personal space, nearly head to head. “Oh really?”

He wedged his knee between Jason’s thighs, pinning him to the lockers even tighter with a metallic thunk that had the blond wincing. But he had his answer, hot and unmissable pressed against his leg.

“That’s not what I feel.”

Jason was still trying to look angry, weakly shoving at his chest as though to get him off. But Eddie knew damn well that he was strong enough to remove him if he really wanted to.

He’d done it before, when Eddie provoked him a little too far.

The jock’s eye twitched, hips shifting restlessly like he was trying to fight the urge to move them with purpose. “What does it matter to you if I did?” He said, tone bitter as he jerked his chin up haughtily. “You don’t own me, Freak.”

Eddie growled under his breath, “Wrong fucking answer.”

He crashed their lips together in something a little too mean to be considered a kiss, dragging a wounded sound from the blond. He seemed to give up the fake fight, fingers tangling into the hair at the nape of Eddie’s neck and pulling.

Like the action was a ripcord travelling directly to his dick, Eddie groaned. Jason used the pause to rip away, panting for breath and with a frenzied glint in his eye. “Not here.” He repeated again, jaw set stubbornly.

Eddie rolled his eyes, taking a step back as his hand locked around Jason’s wrist. He yanked him along after back into the showers, invisible from either door. “Good enough, princess?”

Jason managed to get him in the ribs with an elbow then in response to that. Eddie sucked a strained breath in between his teeth but otherwise refused to acknowledge it.

“Don’t call me that.”

Despite his earlier bitching, Jason was the one to press in this time, already heated in a way that scratched the little itch that had been licking at his spine since that cloth whipped through the air.

He smelled of his usual- probably overpriced- body wash, a heady floral scent that had infuriatingly started to creep into his fantasies at night when he was trying to think of literally anybody else.

Eddie was doing his very fucking best to ignore any and all implications of that fact.

As his lips began to trail a burning path along the side of Jason’s jaw, an idea flashed through his mind that instantly was stoked by the no longer dying flame of possessiveness from before.

Because Jason always tried not to look at him and Eddie usually didn’t care. But he wanted to be the sole focus of Jason’s attention right now- another thought he wouldn’t be touching with a ten foot pole.

Hungry hands travelled down impatiently, neither of them in any mood to drag this out. Jason muttered a curse as Eddie yanked at the ties of his basketball sweats, loosening the waistband just enough to shove them down to mid thigh.

Eddie breathed out harshly through his nose as fingers rubbed over the hard line of him trapped beneath too tight denim, hand slipping under the waistband of Jason’s underwear.

Fishing him out, he felt Jason shudder against him at the feeling of the still hot and sticky air back on his sensitive skin. Eddie eyed the other man for a moment, where he was impatiently rocking on his heels for Eddie to initiate something past them just standing here.

Unfortunately for him, Eddie had no plans on letting him escape unshaken this time. He’d burn himself into the back of Jason’s eyes if he had to.

Popping the button on his jeans and yanking the zipper open, Eddie once again bracketed the other against the nearest flat surface- this time, the shower wall.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked, voice barely a rasp. This wasn’t how they usually did these things.

Eddie held his gaze for a second, lifting a hand up and spitting lewdly into his palm. Jason scrunched his nose, still eyeing him warily.

But then Eddie dropped his hand, slotting their bodies together at the perfect angle for him to wrap his long fingers around both of them at the same time.

“Close your eyes and I stop.” He taunted with a mean squeeze, his own breath catching in his throat at the sensation as he started to move.

“Wh-“ Jason arched his lower back off the wall, a tiny little ah! being punched out of him. “What?”

“You heard me.” Eddie grunted, picking up the pace he was pumping them at just a little. Jason apparently thought he was bluffing, however, as a wavered moan left his mouth and his eyes started to slip closed.

Eddie snarled in annoyance, abruptly stopping his hand. Jason’s eyes shot open in surprise, lips parting like he was gonna start bitching before it seemed to click in his head.

“You’re serious?” He asked, tone incredulous.

“What do you think?” Eddie breathed, free hand coming up to grab Jason’s chin and drag his focus forward. Only once Jason was looking at him properly again did he once again start moving his other hand.

Something in his chest clenched tight before expanding, fizzling up around the cork like a shaken bottle of champagne.

Jason’s throat bobbed, eyes wide and startled like a prey animal under the fog of need coating them. His gaze flickered, like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself now that he couldn’t disappear into his brain, whoever it was he usually thought about just out of reach.

That thought alone made a primal something that had been scratching around in Eddie’s skull finally curl up and relax, temporarily soothed.

“Am I serious?” He prodded, breath fanning over Jason’s face. He twisted his hand, thumb sliding up the sensitive underside of his cock with a hiss. “Tell me, Jason. Do I mean it?”

It was supposed to sound teasing. Taunting. It just came out uncomfortably desperate.

The blond tensed at the vocalisation of his first name, something Eddie never called him. It was always insults and surnames, the abrupt change was clearly throwing the other for a loop.

“Quit- hng- acting like you’re in love with me.” Jason huffed through a groan. If Eddie didn’t feel like he’d been punched currently, he might have noticed the way Jason’s voice trembled as he spoke the words. Anxious and strained.

“In your fucking dreams.” Eddie spat back, all acid again. But that didn’t stop him either. Ducking down, Eddie sunk his teeth into the meat of Jason’s shoulder hard. Not quite enough to break skin, but damned close. It would definitely leave a mark.

“Ow, fuck!” Jason snapped. Eddie could feel the desperate way he rutted into the metalheads' touch despite his attempt to protest, cock throbbing where it was trapped against Eddie’s own. “What are you? A dog?”

Eddie grinned, a wolfish thing with too many teeth, and let go of Jason’s jaw finally. Instead, he grabbed his hand in what could almost be a romantic hold if you ignored the rest of the situation, spinning a band of silver that adorned one of his fingers.

“Just reminding you for later that your cute little purity ring is bullshit. Guess you’ll have to hope you don’t get put on skins team this week, or everyone will know that as well as I do.”

A low, almost inaudible whine escaped Jason’s throat as his head thumped back against the tile wall. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut, swollen lips parted around every breathless little noise he couldn’t control anymore.

Fracturing. There it was.

A fiery whip tightened behind his navel, coiling tighter and tighter as it prepared to lash out. “Shit-“ Eddie breathed, clamping his teeth down on his lower lip.

They were both close, both too stubborn to acknowledge how quickly they were rocketing to the precipice. There was something different lurking in this exchange, replacing the blood in Eddie’s veins with molten metal and thickening the air between them.

Jason looked seconds away from crumbling and Eddie would not finish first. Not this time, when he already felt concerningly vulnerable in the pit of his stomach.

“You act like you hate that idea but you don’t. Deep down, a little fucked up part of you wants to show it off. Don’t you?”

Jason made a garbled attempt at speech that Eddie thought was supposed to be a warning to shut his mouth, trying to turn his eyes away like he’d forgotten the rules again.

Even though it damn near killed him, Eddie stopped his hand again and squeezed for emphasis. Jason sucked in a sharp breath, body shaking so violently Eddie almost got concerned, a sharp curse and a sob-like noise escaping him before furious eyes snapped back to his.

Eddie had made his point. He started stroking them both again, fast and slick. The noise was obscene, echoing off the shower walls and filling the air around them.

This time, Jason didn’t try to win. His eye contact didn’t waver, even as a fevered look overtook him and his brows creased together in the middle. Eddie could see him start to crack, breaths hitching too fast and tears starting to well up.

The sight of watery blue eyes burned him like a brand, a shove to the back towards the inevitable drop.

“Can’t even tell me I’m wrong.” Eddie whispered as he leaned in, sucking down a greedy lungful of Jason’s hot breath as he hovered ever closer. Jason was almost going crosseyed to try and maintain eye contact now, pride discarded in a desperate attempt to keep Eddie from stopping when he was so close.

Then, Eddie pushed it a little further, reckless with all the conflicting, churning things fighting each other in his chest. “Now say my fucking name or I stop for good.”

Jason looked for all the world like he wanted to spit in Eddie’s face instead, jaw working as another sound ripped free of him and hot tears finally spilled down his cheeks. “Fuck, Mun-“

Eddie’s eyes hardened, fingers tightening threateningly, and Jason corrected himself so fast it would have been amusing in any other situation.

“Eddie-“

That was it. With one expert twist of his hand, Jason lost the battle of wills with the second syllable of his name still on his tongue. He shuddered and stilled as he spilled between them with ragged, high pitched gasps for air.

Eddie followed after him with a grunt, teeth gritting as his head bounced around the sound of his own name falling from Jason’s lips like a backing track. Eddie. Eddie. Eddie.

Fuck.

The silence in the aftermath was only broken by laboured breathing, both of them looking decidedly anywhere else but at each other now.

All the fight feeling as thought it had been sucked out of him left Eddie feeling exposed in a way he decidedly didn’t like, skin raw and nerves firing unpleasantly. All at once, he realised he was still gripping Jason’s hand, knuckles white and fingers laced.

He dropped it like he’d been burned, ignoring the way Jason was staring at his own fingers and flexing them like he’d never seen them before.

Eddie took a hurried step back, heart banging a new rhythm in his chest. Jason’s attention snapped back to him, stinging like a sunburn, and Eddie flinched. The fear was new.

They didn’t speak as Eddie wiped off his hand and hurriedly yanked his zipper back up, but the brunette could almost feel the questions swirling through the jock’s mind.

Questions he wasn’t going to answer, not even to himself.

Even if he had to run from them.

Without sparing the other boy another glance, Eddie booked it for the exit. His backpack sat neglected and forgotten on the changing bench.

Right before he left, he could’ve sworn he heard a small, unusually timid-

“What the fuck was that?”

What the fuck was that, indeed.

#this may or may not get a part two #do they rip each other apart or acknowledge their feelings? your call #genuinely my first time writing them #feel free to give criticism #this also is not beta read #i do not have writer friends who beta #jason carver #eddie munson #munver #tigerfreak #🌌 — w r i t i n g #🌌 — a s t e r #jason x eddie #eddie x jason #billy hargrove

45 notes · View notes

smolghostbot · 1 month

Text

Battle Against A Real Threat (Part 1/2)

Part 2 Here

A Non-canon AU where Contralto’s neighbor wasn’t Clay, but the worst possible person it could be. A vent piece/character study of sorts. Part 2 will be posted later today, heads-up that this ends on a low note.

Word Count: 3.8k Content warnings: Whump, tiny whump, kidnapping, injuries, threats, alcoholic whumper, snapping Contralto’s psyche like a glowstick.

======

Chapter 1: Showtime

Finally, Contralto had made her way to the apartment downstairs. The one that would be the start of her heroic journey, to slay all humans so that sprites could rightfully live without fear! She just… needed to get outside the wall. Wait, perfect! An exit! Based on her apartment, this should lead to the kitchen. Not an ideal place for a heroic speech, but she could try to get somewhere higher up once she’s inside.

Messy is the first word that came to mind as Contralto entered the apartment. Several full-to-bursting trash bags were in the corner of the little kitchen, and boxes were all over the counter with a variety of logos that the sprite couldn't read. The floor wasn’t dirty, but clearly hadn’t been swept in a while, and the area under the cabinets that Contralto had found herself in was especially dusty. As Contralto looked around, she shuddered a bit at the sight of a mousetrap, which is thankfully still primed and ready. Humans… more proof that they’re monsters, the sprite thought to herself as she made her way through the apartment. It was dark, as planned, but her night vision made it a trivial trek to the living room, which was equally as disorganized as the kitchen was. Whoever lives here seemed like… not the most proactive person. This could work in her favor, as if all goes to plan they’ll be an easy target.

Finally, with some effort, she climbed up to the top of a bookcase in the corner, using a power cable to assist her. Of course, the top was covered in dust, but she quickly tried to clean up enough of an area to rest and eventually give her big speech without being covered in dust.

This apartment was… very different from her home. No posters of brave heroes, or statues in their honor… just blank walls, some simple furniture, and mess. There was a game system plugged into the TV at least. As Contralto waited, she idly wondered if they played the same games as her human… not that it mattered much, considering they’ll be slain soon.

After a quick nap and a few hours, the apartment started to become lit by morning light. Contralto jumped up, awaiting the human… who didn’t leave their bedroom. She had heard noise in the night coming from there, clearly somebody was home.

Finally, after a few impatient hours, she decided to climb down from the bookcase and make her way into the bedroom itself. Normally, this was taboo for sprites, but what does privacy matter if they were going to die soon anyways?

However, it wasn’t long after she hit the floor that a creaking noise was heard as the door to the bedroom door opened. With nowhere to go, Contralto climbed up the nearest furniture, being the coffee table in the center of the room. Not the height advantage she hoped for, but it would do. She closed her eyes quickly and took a few deep breaths as she rehearsed her speech. Finally, the human walked into the room, and their bleary, deep blue eyes met with the lime eyes of the little hero. It was showtime.

“Human-”, the little sprite started to say, before being instantly interrupted by a very blunt “What the fuck?” as the wide-eyed human stared at her.

“Ahem,” Contralto said, clearing her throat, “I was saying… Human, prepare yourself for a fight! For centuries, sprites have lived in the darkness, fearing your kind. Well no more! Today is when that changes! That's why it is my goal to eliminate all humans, starting with you! Now, draw your weapon, human! And prepare as I, Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the Helpless, the Hero Who Never Gives Up, will defeat you and free my people! Prepare to be struck down by the combined hopes and dreams of all of spritekind!”

As Contralto shouted her speech, which she had rehearsed for days, she noticed the human was slowly moving, first to the kitchen and then getting closer to her. She paid it no mind at first, but after she finished, she noticed the human was particularly close to the table, leaning down over it, their hands behind their back. Were they… planning something? She’d have to be on guard for them to draw a weapon.

“Contralto… a sprite, you called yourself?” The human finally said, their voice slightly alluring to the little hero.

“That’s what I said! You stand before Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the Helpless, The Hero Who Never Gives Up!”

“Fascinating… so, tell me, little hero, have you come here alone?” The human replied, tilting their head inquisitively. This question seemed to confuse Contralto, who took a second before responding.

“Um… Yes, it is the way of the hero to travel alone… most of the time. If I find a mage or a good enough thief I’ll reconsider…” she started to say, before snapping back into her bold persona. “But that’s of no consequence to you, human!”

“Of course, of course, excuse me for prying, I just… wanted to know what I was up against… a little hero, who thinks she’s going to defeat the big bad humans… breaking into my apartment, alone…” Their sapphire-blue eyes seemed to glimmer for a second, as if they had an idea.

“I don’t just think so, I am! Now, are you ready to fight?” shouted Contralto as she struck a heroic pose.

“Hm…” the human said, before flashing a grin that instantly made Contralto nervous. “No, I don’t think so.”

And with that, the human quickly slammed down the plastic container they were holding behind their hands, trapping Contralto underneath it.

“Wh-hey! This is cheating! Let me go!” cried the muffled voice of the hero, as the human slid the container to the edge of the table, flipping the container over and trapping Contralto inside by putting the lid on three of the sides, leaving just enough of an opening for air.

“H-hey! Stop it! This isn’t how this is supposed to go!” The sprite cried out. “I’m a hero! You’re supposed to fight me!”

“Oh, why would I want to fight something like you? No, I think we’ll have a lot more fun instead, little Connie.”

“That’s not my name! It’s Contralto! Hero of the Sprites! Defender of the Helpless! The Hero Who Never G-” she started to exclaim, before the container was roughly shaken from side to side, throwing Contralto against the walls.

“Sorry, I think I missed that. Care to repeat it?”, said the human with a smile as they stared into the container.

“I… I said I’m Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of-”, Contralto started, before the container was jostled again, this time with a bit more force.

“Ooh, I think you got cut off there, try one more time?” The human said, still with a smile on their face.

There was a moment of silence and stillness before Contralto began to shout. “You dare mock me?! I’m Contralto, Hero of-”, she started, but this time the container was moved vertically, slamming Contralto against the lid before she was thrown back to the bottom of the container. The human simply smiled at her, blinking blankly as if they had done no wrong, as Contralto felt her nose starting to bleed from one of the impacts.

“I’m Contralto… Hero of-”

Thump.

“I’m… Contralto, Hero of th-”

Thump.

“I… I… y-you heard it before! You know who I am!” cried the sprite, not wanting to repeat this little “game”.

“Of course, Connie. Now, if you’re done trying to fight me, I think we have some things to do. After all, I’m assuming you don’t want to stay in this container.” said the human, with an almost cooing tone to their voice.

Chapter 2: New Home

It had been a few hours since Contralto’s capture. After their little ‘game’, the human had left the container on the counter as they left their apartment. Contralto had struggled to escape for a while, attempting to use her needles to remove the lid to no avail, and then throwing herself into the sides of the container in an attempt to push it off the counter, but after a while she had grown sore, and was now laying on the bottom of the container, tired and defeated. Was this how it ended? No, this was the part of the story where the hero was at their lowest… right?

Eventually, the human returned, holding a suspiciously large box. Contralto eyed it curiously as the human greeted her. “I’m back, Connie. Did you miss me?”

“I promise you my blades won’t miss once I’m let out of here!” spat the indignant borrower.

“Oh, Connie, there’s no need for that. You’ll learn that I’m a friend soon enough,” they said as they opened the boxes to reveal a hamster cage, to Contralto’s growing horror. She knew the rumors… the risks… this was why she became a hero, after all.

“I… you’ll never get away with this, villain!” cried Contralto, as the human put a hand over their heart in mock pain.

“Oh, you know, it hurts to be called a villain, after I bought you this nice new house and everything. Here I am, just wanting to take care of a lost little hero like you…”

“You… you dare try to put me in a cage? I’m a hero, I’m going to defeat you and save the world!” cried Contralto.

“Of course you are, Connie. Now, it’s time for you to get moved into your new home. Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?”

Contralto drew her blades, staring daggers at the human, who only chuckled before replying. “Ah, I see you’re still doing things the hard way. I guess we’ll have to work on that.”

The human approached the container, picking it up and removing the lid, before giving it a little shake to disarm Contralto as she fell to the ground again. The sprite quickly went to reach for her weapons, before the container was tilted over, sending her tumbling into the hamster cage before the door was quickly shut. As the human began to carry the cage into their bedroom, they spoke to their enraged captive, who was trying her best to climb the bars and stab at their hands.

“There we go, see, that wasn’t so hard, was it Connie?” cooed the human, to Contralto’s growing rage.

“I… I swear, when I’m out of here, you’ll pay for this, human!”

“You know, I’m not so sure I’m a fan of being called ‘human’ all the time… but I suppose I’ll have plenty of time to think of a new title for you to call me, hm?”

Contralto’s cage was placed on the human’s dresser as the sprite took in the room. If the rest of the human’s house was messy, this room was downright sloppy. Clothes lay scattered everywhere, and the bed sat unmade with even more clothes on the end of it. Contralto’s eyes turned behind her to the nearby window, which the cage was in front of. She made a note that the window could be a good escape option, although they were pretty high up in this apartment, even to a human. Her thoughts were interrupted by the human, who seemed unusually lost in thought.

“Now then, let me ask you something. What do sprites eat? Since you’re my guest and all. After all, we have to keep a little hero in tip-top shape, right?”

Contralto weighed her options here. On one hand, she doesn’t want to sound like she’s submitting to the human. On the other hand… she will need food eventually. Finally, she spoke, still trying her best to keep up her hero persona.

“I… I’ll have you know that we sprites don’t eat meat, unlike you heartless humans. Not that I’ll accept any food from you, you monster!”

“Hm… that won’t be too difficult… I guess the hamster cage was more fitting than I thought… Okay, Connie, I'll be sure to get a little hero like you plenty of greens so you can grow up big and strong! Well… a bit bigger, I suppose,” the human mused, to Contralto’s growing frustration.

“You… you…” Contralto started to say in rage, her fists clenched and trembling as she stared at the human.

“Yes, me, me. Now, is there anything else I should know about taking care of a little helpless sprite?” The human said, once again using that soft, infantilizing voice that Contralto had grown to loathe.

“You should know that I’m going to destroy you when I get out of here, human!” shouted the sprite.

“My, you really do have quite the temper. We’ll have to work on that, Connie,” they said with another smirk. “But for now, I still have to go to work this afternoon, so let me get you some water before I leave.”

The human walked out, returning with some much-needed water in a bottle cap. “Now then, are you going to be good and let me put this inside your new home? Because otherwise you’ll just have to go without water.”

It was an offer Contralto couldn’t refuse… it had been a day or so since she last had anything to drink. The sprite snarled at the human as she responded, hand on one of her sheathed blades. “Fine. But if you so much as touch me…”

“Why, I wouldn’t dream of it, Connie. After all, we’re still getting to know each other. Now then,” the human said, as they opened the door and placed the bottle cap inside. True to her word, Contralto stood still until the door closed, but she wouldn’t be caught dead drinking out of it while the human was looking over her.

“Why, you’re such a good sprite, not trying to make a run for it!” cooed the human, clearly trying and succeeding in mocking Contralto. “Well, I’ll see you in a few hours. Take care, Connie!” The human cheerfully exclaimed as they walked out of the room, barely catching Contralto’s murmured death wishes.

Chapter 3: Rage Against the Machine

It had been a few days since her capture, and things were beginning to fall into a routine. The human would wake up and banter with Contralto for a bit, always with that same condescending tone. If Contralto behaved, she was given food and water, usually in the form of shredded lettuce, seeds, and other foods that Contralto recognized as feed for something like a pet. Another form of mocking her, she supposed.

Today, though, she had a plan. As the human opened the cage door to put her bottle cap of water in, Contralto lunged forward, stabbing at the human’s finger with her blades. As the human shouted in shock, Contralto made a run for the door, only to get quickly grabbed by the human’s other hand. “You-!” was all the human could shout as they stared at the sprite in their hands.

“Oh… you’re feeling feisty today, aren’t you?”, the human stated, as Contralto began to panic.

“Let go of me! Let go! Put me down! I’ll kill you!”

“You little… you’re lucky that I don’t crush you right now, you little pest! This is how you repay me for giving you food and shelter?!”

“Food and shelter? You trapped me in a cage, you monster!” cried Contralto, still squirming in the human’s grasp. The human adjusted their grip of the sprite, such that her arms were at her sides, barely gripping onto her blades. With their other hand, they grabbed the blades out of her hands, before roughly throwing her back in the cage.

“I should have taken these from you sooner,” said the human, voice free of even the mock kindness they had used previously. “A broken sewing needle… of course you were running around with trash before meeting me.” Contralto, meanwhile, was staring at the blades in the human’s hand in shock.

“No! No, you can’t! Give those back! Th-those are special! You can’t just throw them out! I… please! Please!”

The human’s eyebrows raised as they stared at Contralto, clearly mulling something over. Finally, their face returned to a neutral expression, and they spoke again with a bit more composure.

“Oh, it’s important to you, huh? Well then… maybe I’ll hold onto them after all. You can have them back… once you prove that you won’t redo this little stunt.” said the human as they put the blades into their nightstand drawer, despite Contralto’s pleas.

“Now then, I’m leaving for work. And since you chose to be naughty today, you can just wait until tomorrow for some more food and water, how about that?” the human said, not waiting for a reply as they began to turn and leave with a simple “See you later, Connie.”

Contralto was at a new low. Her blades were gone, she was trapped in a cage, she was hungry, thirsty, and weak, and she had been forced to beg her captor.

She almost thought that her situation couldn’t possibly get any worse, until she heard the sounds of the human returning from work. For some reason, they were louder and more aggressive than they had been in the prior days. Finally, the human came into the bedroom, holding a can of something. They seemed to ignore Contralto entirely, until they looked over at her, blue eyes showing pure anger.

“Well, if it isn’t my little sprite. How are we doing with no food and water?”, they said, their calm voice clearly contrasting their expression.

“I’m doing… just fine! No thanks to you, human!” spat Contralto. The human’s face seemed to twist into a snarl for a split second before returning to its prior expression.

“I’d watch your tone, little hero, today isn’t the day for your antics. Unlike you, some of us have actual problems.”

Contralto just rolled her eyes at that, before shouting in response, “Oh, I’m sure that a monster like you has so many problems in their life. The other humans can probably tell that you’re especially evil!”

“All right, that’s it!” shouted the human as they walked over to the cage, placing the can on the dresser nearby. As they jostled the cage, sending Contralto off-balance, they opened the door and quickly grabbed the defiant sprite. “I think it’s high time that little Connie learned a little respect.”

Contralto immediately started to panic again, very much fearing this human’s grasp. “H-hey! Put me down!”

“Oh, I’ll put you down… once you learn to respect me,” the human said, anger in their voice, and as Contralto could now note, a particularly strong smell of what she recognized as alcohol in their breath. She hardly had time to process, however, before the human began to fidget with her in their grip, positioning her such that they were holding one of her arms uncomfortably far backwards with two of their fingers..

“Now… I want to hear a thank you,” they said simply.

“Thank you? For capturing me? I’ll never thank you, you-” Contralto started, before shouting in pain as her arm was moved just a bit too far backwards.

“That wasn’t a thank you.”

“Hah… you think you can get me to give in? I’m… the Hero Who Never Gives Up!” Contralto defiantly shouted, before her arm was once again pushed just a bit too far backwards, causing her to shout in pain.

“That was a lot of words, but still not a thank you. Are you really going to make me be the bad guy here?”

“You are the bad guy, you mons-” Contralto started, before screaming in pain as her arm was moved even farther back.

“That still wasn’t a thank you, little Connie,”

“That’s… not my name! It’s Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the-” Contralto started, before the human jerked her arm backwards forcefully, causing her to scream in pain again.

“Oh, little Connie… we’ve been over this. I don’t want your little speeches, what I want is a thank you, for taking care of you. Why do you have to make this so difficult?”

Contralto was struggling to breathe from the pain. She could feel a burning in her shoulder, it was probably close to dislocated, but she was the Hero Who Never Gives Up, after all. “I’ll… never thank you…” she muttered, bracing herself for another surge of pain, which was received as the human pulled her arm forward this time.

“Oh, but I think you will. I’ve got tomorrow off, after all. We have all the time in the world.”

True to their word, the human kept up their little training session for another hour before it finally came to an end.

“Are you finally ready to just say thank you?” they asked, holding the battered and bruised sprite in their hand. Her shoulder was swollen, and something was clearly wrong as even small movements caused the sprite to shriek in pain.

“N-never…”, Contralto said, having lost the will to speak in full sentences a while back. However, despite her pain, and her face streaked with tears, she truly refused to give up.

“A shame. You know, I feel like we’re not getting anywhere here…” they said, before pulling Contralto’s arm far behind her, such that her elbow started to move in an unnatural direction with a painful-sounding noise. Contralto’s vision instantly filled with stars and auras, and the human could tell that she had become unfocused.

“Come on, just say it and this will be all over, Connie. It’s only two words… thank you. Is that so hard?”

Once Contralto was able to return to the consciousness she was barely clinging to, she decided to collect herself to try to speak. “I’ll… say it… if you stop…”

“Of course, Connie. Do you think I’m a liar?”

Contralto didn’t answer, until the human gripped her arm again. “Do you think I’m a liar?”, they repeated. Contralto tried to shake her head, but her neck muscles hurt so badly that she could only speak it instead.

“No…”

“Well then, you know the deal. Just say thank you for all I’ve done for you, and I’ll let you go.”

There was a tense silence between the two of them, before Contralto finally broke.

“... Thank you…”

“Oh, why, you’re so welcome!” The human replied in a chipper tone, as they immediately went to place the defeated sprite back in her cage. “You know, I loved to hear that. I think you should get in the habit of saying it more often.”

Contralto couldn’t respond, as she simply fell down onto the opposite side of her now-broken shoulder and began to sob.

#if it wasn't explicit... this is in fact supposed to be The Previous Human from Patchwork Melody #probably the first/only time i'll actually go into detail about them but hey had to do it once right #whump #tiny whump #g/t whump #g/t angst #g/t writing #g/t fearplay #tw alcohol #oc tag: contralto #oc inspo: them #my writing

13 notes · View notes

compacflt · 9 months

Note

This is niche (maybe) but please share more about ice and mav at Oshkosh!! Do they go yearly? Or just the one time? Are they part of any aviation enthusiast communities???

yes yes yes!!! going to air shows is 100% a date for both of them. i feel like: a couple things:

- they’ve both probably seen the blue angels so many times it’s not super exciting anymore, and until they retire & become private citizens it’s also too big of a Thing for them to go, so they try to go to civilian/private air shows if they can

- one exception is fleet week for obvious rzns. They both probably have to do shit for fleet week on the reg. Ice especially

- i do keep thinking it would be funny for mav to do like a two year tour with the BAs at some point but there wasn’t room for that in the narrative so it’s Schrödinger’s headcanon

- before they retire their schedules are super crazy packed & don’t always line up, even if they request certain dates (like each other’s birthdays, Xmas, thanksgiving, Oshkosh etc) off in advance, so Oshkosh specifically doesn’t become yearly until after they retire. But after they retire they do annually fly in to Oshkosh in their p-51. lots of picnic lunch breaks in Reno/Omaha/Boise etc

- theyve been to the big international air shows (farnborough, Paris, NOT dubai for security/gay people issues, etc) together a couple times when they can swing it. (Me looking for any excuse to send them back to europe on vacation) but before they retire it’s also probably a Thing. So Thing-ness (public & Navy engagement etc) has to be accounted for when they’re planning their trip. they do have a responsibility to rep the Navy as best as they can etc etc

- Thing-ness also has to be accounted for when joining aviation enthusiast groups… after they retire & get married hell yes!!! they probably have a ton of civilian aviation friends & are pretty involved. not before their marriage though. It takes a while for them to come out of the hidden little shell they’ve been living in for thirty years & make friends as a real couple. but they do eventually.

#maverick criticizing the blue angels every time they see them ‘I would’ve done it cooler’#joint blue angels thunder birds show ‘oh my god. WHAT does the Air Force think they’re doing. such poor form #it’s such a shame to abuse a viper like that i would’ve done it 10x better’#this one-shot is another one i haven’t read since I posted it in October #hmm.#some issues #PLANES DONT RUST THEYRE ALUMINUM (but it’s for the metaphor so it’s ok)#i think when you read my plane writing moments you can tell that i am very very enthusiastic about planes #but i don’t know the first thing about how they work or how to fly them #my boyfriend did my physics homework & took my physics tests for me in high school. i never learned even elementary physics #it was covid high school okay we all had to make do #bernouilli’s principle??? it’s all greek to me love <3 #(hungry for pussy voice) (twirling my hair) pressure differentials are like soooo interesting #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #icemav #top gun #asks #props to all you STEM people. i can’t do basic math #i keep entertaining the idea that ice & mav buy a t-38 in the late 2010s #after i saw a t-38 on sale for $800k apparently you can just buy them #that’s the dream

39 notes · View notes

hershelwidget · 9 months

Text

wait hang on

HANG ON

DO YOU SEE MY VISION

#professor inkling #count bleck #TELL ME YOU SEE IT. IM NOT CRAZY #*writes yet another octonauts crossover au-*#OK BUT LISTEN HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT #H E A R ME O U T #in case you're wondering if it's just the monocles NO IT RUNS DEEPER THAN THAT I PROMISE #1. both have been around a long time and founded some sort of group to further their goals (octonauts & team bleck)#2. fancy clothes (yeah inkling's in just a bowtie but remember he's straight up an octopus) that stand out among their peers #3. speaking of that last point: unusual anatomy (one does NOT look a fish and the other is a head torso and floating hands. nothin else)#4. i kinda don't wanna have to pull the mafia au card on this one but if I WAS then: tragic backstories and tragic motives #though then again do we REALLY know anything about inkling- like do we R E A L L Y?? his backstory could be tragic they just aint tellin..#5. avid book readers (bleck let a book tell him how his life was supposed to go this man is clinically into books)#6. defense mechanism that involves darkness (octopus ink & a bLaCk HOLE-)#7. if you see either of them walking it Don't Look Right #8. this is more of an implied thing for them but: knows a LOT about the people they gathered for their causes #9. both from children's media that gets DARK sometimes without warning #10. sometimes they say things and the people around them are just ''what''#11. love interests (ones outright saying it and the other is again just implied but STILL ITS ANOTHER POINT SOOO)#12. ok fine. yes it was the monocles at first but then i thought about it MORE so HA #feel free to add on if i missed something

36 notes · View notes

ofpolitics · 4 months

Text

me desiring to be a smol menace on the dash vs the fear of accidentally being mean instead of funny: a constant battle.

#· ooc » entranced by navy burnout silk velvet #i'm actually doing drafts and just.... not posting/queuing them one by one as finished #we're trying speed writing and then editing after for a change #also i went to church for the first time since my trip today to a church i've visited three times that i actually really like #why am i mentioning it? because the wife of the singles bible study talked to me after and more or less said the church really pushes #membership... which i personally don't believe in because usually you have to swear you believe all the core tenets of said church's belief #and i generally don't and told her so. she told me i won't find a perfect church (i know... i'm fine with that) and that it is important t #be a member of a church and thus participate (which i can do w/o) and so i'll just have to defer to the leaders of the one i like the most.#me externally: *all polite*#me internally: *screaming crying OH NO THIS ISN'T HOW THIS WORKS MA'AM THAT ISN'T BIBLICAL AT ALL*#and i certainly wouldn't join that one because THEY believe in the rapture... which i MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT. they're fine otherwise so #if true‚ disappointing. but this is why i'm so done with corporate churches. actual new testament more egalitarian structure PLEASE.

8 notes · View notes

theydjarin · 1 year

Text

Title: Abstinence Only

Rating: G

Word count: 1200

Summary:

Boba Fett was fine with the world thinking he didn't approve of sex before marriage. It was true, anyway, only in the sense that he didn't want sex at all, before or after marriage. He just hoped Djarin would get the picture and stop trying to get with him before he had to lay it out - or, worse, before he caught feelings.

Major tags/warnings: Asexuality, asexual relationship, depictions of acephobia, misunderstandings, happy ending

Snippet:

“Don’t you know?” Boba asked, desperately, almost pleading. “Don’t you know that I don’t…” “Before marriage, yes,” Djarin confirmed, standing tall. “Then why…” “I want to be with you. This is the way.”

#bobadin #the mandalorian #boba fett #din djarin #short and sweet!#my first time writing them i hope i got their voices down ok i don't know if i nailed boba's #my stuff #my fic #my writing #maybe this should be T since they say fuck multiple times but. eh

39 notes · View notes

galacticlamps · 6 months

Text

'to thine own self be true (and thou canst not then be false to any man)' Polonius tells his son Laertes in Act 1 - and it's so trite a saying that we quote it on everything from greeting cards to jewelry and almost laugh to stumble upon it in its original context

and then Laertes goes and spends the rest of the play - and let's face it, what little of it came before that as well - playing the foil to its tragic hero until it kills them both in Act 5 (and through the means of his own deception too)

#i am soooo normal about laertes (i'm lying)#one day i'll write a book about how normal i am about him but for now have this textpost #anyways nobody asked but i think that's probably the shakespeare quote i have the biggest love/hate relationship with #because we talk about it so much but hardly ever actually talk about IT #and even when we do it's mainly to be like 'oh polonius you with your empty maxims you!' (& we do need to remember that part too)#but it's also:#'oh polonius you are in conjunction with that & in more ways than one the very thing that dooms your son and therefore all of them'#it's the quintessential hashtag-its-not-that-deep quote #while at the same time being bitterly ironic and rarely do you get to discuss how both of those things can be true at once #so i Love it but i also Hate that i could undoubtedly find it on a t-shirt without much effort yk?#(and before anyone points out that there are multiple shakespeare quotes for which the same can be said re: the whole #itssodeep-noitsnot-actuallymaybeitisforadifferentreasontho dance #trust me i know but i refer you back to the first tag & how extremely normal i am about the character of laertes in general)

7 notes · View notes

pocket-ozwynn · 2 years

Text

Offline Valor: Chapter 1

[Borrower!AU]

Next Chapter: Chapter 2

Word Count: 3324

CW: Adult language, blood, injury, brief animal attack

Zelly’s skin crawled as she stared with absolute horror.

The skull was melting, the warnings were stark and bold, and the scorpion-infested bone left a lot to be desired…

Zelly set her jaw, steeled her nerves…then shot a dramatic look towards the camera. She held that accusatory glare before leaning back and laughing nervously, “You guys suuuuuuuuuuuck. Do I REALLY have to do this?”

Zelly pursed her lips as she turned over the coffin-shaped box in her hand. The print on the lid–the melted skull with scorpions crawling over the cranium–was a perfect caricature of just how awful this was going to be. Zelly squinted as she read the warnings. There wasn’t much to say other than ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO EAT THIS CHIP.

The Hot Chip Challenge was the infamous, unholy love child of the Carolina Reaper Pepper and the Scorpion Pepper–two of the hottest peppers in the world–into a single chip. Streamers far braver and far more popular than Zelly had taken this challenge with far less persuasion needed, and they had utterly crumpled under the heat of this Scoville scale-breaking abomination.

Zelly was TERRIFIED, but she was a woman of her word. Her livestream audience had crushed the ridiculously high donation goal she had set for them in a matter of days, and their reward was watching their favorite livestreamer eat this chip and surely perish. Suddenly Zelly wished she had a will written out. She cursed under her breath as she worked to pry off the lid. Her fingers trembled as she struggled.

“I don’t LOVE the branding,” Zelly admitted as she finally popped off the lid. “I dunno about you, but I personally try to avoid eating things that say hi! I want to kill you.”

Zelly’s gaze flitted off to the side to read the scrolling chat while she prolonged her eventual agony. They were eating this up. She couldn’t keep up reading any of the comments beyond seeing streams of emojis, laughter, and glimpses of inside jokes.

Despite how much trepidation she felt, Zelly smiled.

Zelly set the sealed chip off to the side and slipped on some latex gloves. She shook her head in disbelief as she stared at the thing as if it was a coiled viper. “Look, I didn’t think this was actually possible! I set that donation reward ridiculously high NOT THINKING you would actually hit it!”

Zelly swallowed and picked up the chip once more. “I guess I underestimated how much pain you guys wanna see me in, ya’ buncha sickos…”

She cracked a crooked smile to mask some of her fear before ripping off the corner of the chip’s container. Zelly went to make a witty comment…then gagged as she caught a whiff of the contents. The Hot Chip smelled like rancid vinegar, feet, and mildew all wrapped up in a single, triangular snack of death. Her sinuses were scorched and shriveled in an instant, and she had only just opened it.

Zelly coughed and sputtered through pained laughter as she slowly reached in and pulled out the jet black chip. Her eyes widened as she regarded this monstrosity.

“Oh noooooooo…” Zelly lamented quietly, the fear feeling far more genuine now that she was holding it between her fingers and could actually smell Suffering. The chat was going wild. “No no no, you…you can’t be seriou-...it’s CAKED on there! What the hellllll…”

Zelly puffed out her cheeks and slowly exhaled as she tried to summon what courage she could. She gave a wistful look towards the camera before raising the chip.

“Well, Chat,” Zelly said, as if raising a toast at her own funeral. “This is for you. Cheers.”

And with that, Zelly tipped the chip towards the camera as if clinking a champagne flute. She then closed her eyes, tossed it onto her tongue…

…and bit down.

Zelly frowned as she started to chew. She cracked open one eye. Huh. Maybe it was a dud? Sure there was a bit of heat, but nothing terrible.

“Oh, that wasn’t so ba-” Zelly choked on her words as pain gripped her taste buds.

She immediately screamed and fell out of her chair in a panic before scrambling to her feet and running for the door. Chat silently howled with glee as they could hear her yelling all the way down the hall as she bolted for the kitchen.

What a way to start the day.

—

Everyone agreed that the Hot Chip Challenge had been the highlight of the stream. And while Zelly had fun the rest of the time and she’d been able to play a few rounds of Apex Legends with Takua and Cybertooth, she couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.

Zelly screwed up her face as she mulled over that feeling. Nothing prompted it, nothing triggered it, it was just…there. It had been there for a couple of days now, though the feeling ebbed and flowed. It wasn’t hard for her to know why she was sad, but it wasn’t something she was willing to admit it still bothered her.

A lack of closure does screwy things to the heart, that’s all.

Zelly sighed as she finally finished up the backend work of her post-stream. She typed out a quick message to one of her mods before pushing away from her desk and making her way to the bathroom. Maybe a shower would help take her mind off of things?

Unfortunately for Zelly, the shower proved to be dreadfully mediocre.

Despite it being the height of summer, Zelly cranked up the water as high as she could and just…sat there. She gently pressed her eyes against her knees as she pulled herself into a ball, her lips still stinging from lingering pain. The shower water cascaded off her and crashed around her rhythmically; her deep, wistful breaths invited plentiful steam into her lungs with hopes of granting some degree of peace.

But it never came. The once-comforting heat did little to ease the gnawing of her heart.

“Alright, leeeeeet’s go…” Zelly murmured to herself as she raised her head. She spat a quiet curse as some of her soaked locks slapped her in the face like strands of wet bubblegum. She let out the longest groan she could muster before combing her hair back and carefully rising to step out of the shower.

As Zelly dried off and wrapped her hair in a towel, she felt her heart start to wander a bit. It wasn’t like she was thinking about what happened with Oakley; it was the feelings that still lingered. The good, the bad, the blissful, the painful…it was a hungry feeling that demanded not just mere offerings of acknowledgment, but craved absolute attention.

It honestly was exhausting how much it still hurt.

Zelly lost track of time as she got ready. Apparently somewhere along the way she decided that Starbucks was going to be “dinner” tonight. Man could not live on caramel cookie bar frap alone, but Zelly always knew that bit of ambrosia helped her to at least have a bit of a joy in her heart between now and her next therapy session. But Zelly didn’t necessarily want to be alone, so she sent Nikol a text to see if she wanted to tag along.

She got her reply from Nikol right after she had slipped into a new tank top and her favorite pair of denim shorts. The text was straight forward: oh hell yeah. Zelly smiled and tapped out a response of her own before doing a little bit of makeup. Nothing too crazy, but just enough for a bit of a confidence boost.

After striking a silly pose in the mirror, she headed out of the bathroom. She slid into some sandals, threw on a pair of cute sunglasses, and grabbed her purse making her way down the stairs and out the front door.

Zelly poked around on her phone a bit as she bounced down the steps and moved down the driveway. The only movement she saw was her pink hair bobbing out of the corners of her eyes, and some subtle movement by her car.

Zelly looked up curiously, then beamed as she spied the neighbor’s cat Chu Chu out by the driver’s side of her car.

“Oh hiiiii, Chu Chu,” Zelly cooed sweetly to the neighbor’s cat as she approached. Chu Chu didn’t respond at first. She bowed her head down, made a low yowl, then picked something up in her teeth and shook it about violently.

Zelly’s stomach flipped as she realized what the cat was doing. Chu Chu was prone to eating poor baby animals, and she really liked dropping off whatever she wanted to “share” with Zelly.

“CHU CHU, NO!!!” Zelly screamed. Chu Chu started and shot across the lawn like a bullet.

“Dumb cat…” Zelly murmured with the shake of her head as she watched Chu Chu run. She loved that cat, but the last thing Zelly needed today was seeing some poor bird getting eaten right in front of her.

For better or worse, the cat didn’t take her dinner with and had unceremoniously dropped the small dark form on the driveway right next to the car door. Thankfully she saw no blood, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still hurt or possibly dead.

“God…” Zelly whispered sadly. Her heart broke as she considered what to do for the injured animal.

She crept a little closer. From her distance, it was a bit hard to make out what it was at first… All she could really see was blacks and browns. Maybe it was some sort of crow chick? No, the proportions didn’t look right and it didn’t seem to have wings. Zelly squinted behind her tinted lenses.

She stopped when she saw the animal had a hand sticking out. Was it a mouse? Or was it just a toy, and Zelly had been overreacting?

“Weirrrrd…what the hell is this?” Zelly murmured as she pulled off her glasses and leaned down to get a bit of a better look, her shadow falling over the prone form.

Then, without warning, the tiny form pushed itself up onto an elbow–their head snapping up to stare at her through strands of dark hair that fell over their face.

Definitely not a mouse or a toy then.

This was a man.

Zelly screamed instinctively as she threw a hand up over her mouth. She took a panicked step back and braced herself against her car with her free hand.

“What the hell what the hell what the hell…” she whimpered to herself as she just stared down at him. Her mind was reeling. What was she looking at exactly?

The miniature man had 3-day scruff, sunken eyes, and sunburnt skin that was glistening with sweat and slightly peeling. His chest heaved as he swallowed deep gulps of air, his entire frame just shuddering with each labored breath. Was it from adrenaline? Fear? Pain?

And he was small. He was so incomprehensibly small that Zelly could barely wrap her mind around it. He was 2, maybe 3 inches tall? It was hard to tell. No Human being should be that tiny…but then again, maybe he wasn’t Human. Who's to say?

Zelly was not a tall girl by any means, but she felt utterly enormous at this moment. To him, she probably looked terrifying. Without really thinking, she quickly squatted down to seem less intimidating, but the movement only seemed to startle the man further–he scooted back, his lips curling into a snarl as he pulled something from his boot with his free hand…

It was a yellow thumbtack. Though at his size, it looked like it could easily be a dagger. And with the way he held it in front of him, it seemed to imply that was its intended use.

It dawned on Zelly how a “colossal creature” moving suddenly and without warning might have looked to the man. She mentally chastised herself for acting without thinking. Zelly slowly raised her hands to indicate she meant no ill intent…though she wasn’t quite sure that kind of gesture would translate for him.

“H-Hey, easy,” Zelly stammered. She tried to keep her voice soft and calm, but that was incredibly difficult. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The man stared up at her. He propped himself up a bit more, as if trying to get ready to run if Zelly proved hostile. This was a standoff, with Zelly wanting him to make the next move lest she startle him again.

While she wasn’t sure what he was exactly, she could tell he was perhaps some kind of elf in his mid-20’s. And despite the blistering weather he was wrapped in a mishmash of black and burgundy leathers and had a dark cloak draped over his shoulders. The cloak had a familiar frill along the edges–it almost reminded her of one of those soft cloths you use to clean glasses.

He had long dark hair that looked like it had been done up in a bun once, but now it was partially down thanks to the tangle with Chu Chu.

Zelly searched his face. It was bizarre how many details she could make out, despite the size of his face and the distance there was between them. She could see pain…and fear…but was that fear because of Chu Chu? Or because of Zelly? The thought that anyone could be afraid of her was shocking, and perhaps even a little unnerving.

But there was a third thing Zelly could pick out as well: defiance.

This miniature man was looking defiantly up at her, despite the obvious pain and fear. She noticed the way his jaw was set and his nostrils flared as he blinked through the pain. He looked like he was willing to stare Death in the eye.

Did…did this man think that she was going to hurt him? Or worse?

Zelly realized how dry her throat felt. She swallowed and licked her lips before carefully and quietly asking, “Are you okay?”

A new emotion flickered across his face…confusion. He hesitated as he slightly furrowed his brow.

Then he spoke.

“I…never thought a Titan would care about the well-being of a Borrower,” the man admitted. His voice was rich, and ever so slightly clipped with the faintest of accents. He also sounded exhausted.

By all accounts, his voice should have been so small that Zelly wouldn’t have been able to hear him speak…and yet she did. She almost felt his words. She wasn’t sure if it was magic (god, was magic actually real?) or her own misunderstanding of how this being’s physiology might work compared to a person of her size. Regardless, Zelly could absolutely hear this man’s somber reply.

“Borrower? Titan?” Zelly made a face at the terminology. “You think I’m a-”

She cut herself off and shook her head.

“…not important,” Zelly told herself, then looked back down at the little man. “Are you okay?”

Zelly stopped as realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Wait, oh my GOD,” Zelly yelled as she grabbed fistfuls of hair. Her eyes widening as reality started to sink in. “Chu Chu nearly ate you alive! Th-...That was YOU!! In her mouth!! Holy shi-”

“A terrifying creature indeed.” The man nodded in solemn agreement.

“How are you so calm about this?!” Zelly gawked in disbelief. Why was she the one that seemed more freaked out by this than the man who nearly been eaten?

The Borrower went to reply as he readjusted his positioning, but was cut off as his face twisted in pain. Zelly’s anxiety melted into concern as she watched him raise an inquisitive hand to his chest. He pressed against the leather and winced slightly at the contact. When he drew back his band, Zelly noticed it glistened with fresh blood.

Zelly’s hand went out instinctively, but when she saw the way the man braced himself at the approach of her fingers, she stopped immediately.

Maybe it was old Hippocractic embers rekindling in her heart, or maybe it was the “Oakley Situation” feelings being so raw and present…but regardless of the reasoning, she knew she couldn’t just let this man bleed out.

“You’re hurt,” Zelly pointed out with a certain firmness that belied her utter bewilderment. She wanted to scoop him up and run him inside, but a part of her cringed inwardly at the thought. She needed his consent. Zelly wasn’t just going to pick up a random stranger–little or not–without making sure that was even remotely okay for her to do.

“It is j-just a little blood,” the man replied weakly. Zelly watched as the man started to fade, his eyelids fluttered as he struggled to keep his head up. “Nothing…mmph…new…”

As his words came out sluggish and belabored, it also dawned on Zelly how unbearably hot it had been. This man had clearly been out in the sun, but for how long? Dehydration alone was a very real risk, and along with that came heatstroke. If the blood loss didn’t get him, Zelly was terrified that the heatwave would.

Suddenly Zelly’s desire for a silly, sad Starbucks run seemed so incredibly trivial as she crouched above this bloodied, heatstricken, thumb-sized man.

She couldn’t just leave him, but her head was spinning with the implications of what she was looking at…this wasn’t just saving a baby bird that had fallen from its nest, this was a full-grown man. Zelly had no idea what he was or where he came from. Did she really understand what she was getting into? Zelly felt a pang of panic. What if she couldn’t do this? There was a reason she dropped out. There was a reason Oakley had-

One thing at a time. She needed to get him inside, stop the bleeding, get him cooled off, and get some water in him. Then she could try and piece together what was going on.

Zelly drew back her outstretched fingers and instead twisted her wrist so her hand was resting on the driveway with the palm up. The miniature man groggily regarded the hand, then looked up at her.

Zelly held his gaze for a long moment. He didn’t move to climb up into her hand, but she also didn’t move to try and grab him without permission. Finally, Zelly ventured, “You can trust me. You’re hurt, and I can help.”

Did Zelly really mean it? Could she be trusted?

Despite how much uncertainty she felt, Zelly smiled softly.

Then she reassured him quietly, “I promise.”

The Borrower’s hesitation was palpable. The man’s eyes fluttered as he struggled to maintain consciousness. He regarded her words…her fingers…her eyes.

He looked at her eyes for a long time. Zelly wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for

Then after what felt like an eternity, the man sheathed his thumbtack back into his boot and wiped off the blood of his hand onto his cloak. He reached up with his cleaner hand and gripped into the flesh of her fingertip and pulled himself up. Zelly could feel the individual fingers digging into her skin and muscle, she could feel the way his body shook as he struggled to stand. Zelly’s head was swimming with questions, but she knew there was a time and place for that.

Zelly was breathless as she waited for him to say something–anything. She was on the balls of her feet, ready to spring and catch him with her free hand if he looked like he was ready to pass out.

After hauling himself up to his feet, the man took a few deep breaths before looking up. The Borrower met her gaze. He didn’t move further and he didn’t speak. No smile graced his lips.

Then, finally, he weakly nodded and replied with a quiet, almost hesitant, reply:

“...thank you.”

#ogtoc Rowan #ogtoc Zelly #gt #g/t #giant/tiny #giant tiny #g/t writing #giant/tiny writing #Borrowers #Borrower!AU #Offline Valor #gt writing #wholesome giantess #it's about time we gave them their First Meet 💙🖤

146 notes · View notes