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im-feelin-sick · 1 year

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GUESS WHAT, it’s more Pokémon AU, and this time it’s a fic. Special thanks to @that-kangaroo-fish for much plotting and conniving. Call this part one out of ???

(1/?)

“You heard that too, right?”

Devi glances at Grafaifai, who stands at attention. Its giant ears twitch, and Devi isn’t sure if she’s relieved to not be imagining things again, or if she’s horrified that something unknown is in the room. The latter seems most urgent, but she doesn’t want to be scared. Scared meant being stupid. Stupid meant slipping up.

Careful not to spill her cup of instant noodles, Devi stands from the couch and looks around the apartment. Grafaifai joins her, leaving sticky paint trails across the apartment. That’s fine. Devi’s long given up on getting her deposit back, and Tenna knows to avoid the toxic paint marks. And Tenna’s the only one who ever comes around.

Well, usually. Devi squints and stops to listen. It could just be some stray Dedenne, searching through Devi’s barren pantry. That’s the best case scenario. And Devi knows that she doesn’t get best case scenarios. Instead, she’s probably looking for the worst case scenario, which is…

Johnny Fucking C.

He stalks her. She knows he does. She sees him out the corners of her knife-sharp eyes, as he peeks through windows. When she dares to venture out (usually for food,) she picks out his too-polite reedy voice from crowds. It’s one of many constant reminders that she’s never safe. Not even here, in her own home.

Devi clings harder to her instant noodles. Unfortunately, even spicy ramen didn’t make for much of a weapon, but Devi still wields her cup like it can make a difference. It’s basically pepper spray, right? The baseball bat’s by the door, but she doesn’t want to turn her back on the noise. Grafaifai’s sticking close to her side anyway, ready to attack.

There’s another rustling noise, and Devi snaps her focus on it like a whip. It’s in the kitchen. Whatever it is, it sounds too small for Nny, but she’s terrified anyway. Grafaifai, normally not allowed in food preparation areas, climbs onto the counter and tenses.

A cupboard swings open, to reveal something purple and twitchy, and several things happen at once.

Purple thing, a Sableye, waves its hands in some wild gesture, and makes chirping noises. Meanwhile, Devi throws her noodles and hot broth onto it, and Grafaifai pounces. The noodles hit. Grafaifai doesn’t, and instead leaves neon green smears everywhere and pulls the cupboard door off of one hinge.

“GET THE FUCK OUT!” Devi screams, and Sableye does some kind of noodle-covered dance. With a single sharp claw, it points to itself. Devi picks up an old bottle of hot sauce and throws it, because yeah, it’s not Nny, but she sure does recognize it as Nny’s Pokémon. His favorite one- the one that followed him everywhere- a fucking fidgety gremlin that probably snuck in to finish what Nny attempted.

Sableye dodges the bottle, and a dirty dish, and then a banana, all while waving its hands and shaking its head. It makes a stabbing motion, and then crosses its arms into an X-shape. Hissing, Grafaifai tackles Sableye again. This time, he lands right on top. The two roll around on the ground while Devi searches for another makeshift weapon.

“Out,” she repeats, with more poison in her voice than in Grafaifai’s paint. Sableye cringes at the tone, and slips out from under Grafaifai. With a snarl, Grafaifai chases Sableye, until Sableye leaps on top of a bookcase. Now covered in noodles and paint, it resumes its gesticulating. This time it points to Devi and makes a stabbing motion- a pretty terrible look for Sableye. Devi’s face pales, as she picks up a kitchen knife with a shaky hand.

Grafaifai seems not to mind so much, watching Sableye with narrowed eyes. The Pokémon chatter at each other. Devi doesn’t understand either of them, but she slows down. As she holds up the knife, Sableye sweats and gestures even faster.

“Sableye, Sableye,” it chirps. It points at itself. It shakes its head, then stabs its finger at the ground. It points at Devi.

Didn’t

Attack

You.

Devi starts to understand, but she won’t trust one of Nny’s Pokémon. Not after that night. She steps closer to Sableye, looking fiercer than ever now that she has a real weapon.

With giant gem eyes, Sableye stares at her for a moment, before grimacing, holding up its hands, and backing away toward the wall. Grafaifai copies Devi and stalks its way closer to Sableye, who decides it’s not time to fuck around and find out. It leaps down, and digs at Devi’s floor. Sableye’s claws, designed to tear through rock, make quick work and like a soggy tissue holding up an anvil, the wooden planks collapse. Sableye drops through the hole in a cloud of asbestos, splinters, and cold noodles.

The room goes still and silent. Devi finally takes a careful step toward the new hole in her living room, peering down into it along with Grafaifai.

“Hey!” calls out a familiar voice, “New shortcut to my place! Nice!”

Tenna stands below, grinning, with Sableye in her arms. Spooky, her Duskull, bobs merrily through the air. Devi blinks a few times, coughs, and exchanges a look with Grafaifai.

She yells back down,“That’s Johnny’s Sableye!”

“The homicidal dumbass of a gym leader?”

“That’s the one!”

“Oh fuck!” Tenna looks down at Sableye, and then back up. “This guy is so cute though! Aren’t you the most adorable widdle murderer’s pet!” Tenna pinches Sableye’s cheek, and it has the goddamn idea to look smug and snuggle into Tenna’s arms. Then again, that might just be an effort to protect itself from Devi’s wrath.

“That widdle guy fucking tried to kill me!”

“This widdle widdle guy?”

“Yeah!” But Devi isn’t so sure anymore. Sure, a lot of Johnny’s Pokémon attacked her. She tries not to remember it. But she can’t remember Sableye being part of them. “Wait- maybe not, maybe it was just him and different Pokémon?”

“Widdle Guy is not a killer,” Tenna decides, as she pets Sableye. The positive attention melts a grin onto Sableye’s face. The apartment is a total mess. Tenna trusts Sableye. There’s a giant hole in the floor. Devi groans, and Grafaifai copies the noise.

“Oh, wow,” Tenna laughs, “he smells like ramen!”

#jthm #johnny the homicidal maniac #nny #devi d #devnny #my art #my writing #Pokémon AU #im writing this out of chronological order and you all get to deal

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jthm-kinkmeme · 1 year

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tess x tenna x devi. lesbian time.

bonus optional additions:

-sleepover with there’s only one bed trope

-supernatural/cryptid creatures, maybe with tess vampire, tenna mothfolk and devi werecat

-“holy shit i like girls” realization, fits tess best imo, bonus points if others help work out the newly uncloseted one’s internalized homophobia

-irken au or maybe vortian au? idk getting abducted by lesbian aliens sexy. lesbian aliens sexy in general.

#jthm #tess #devi #tenna #tess/tenna/devi #unfilled prompts

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moonbeam-51 · 9 months

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Devi x johnny- i feel sick

Hello. Earth to tenna . Sigh please enter back .

As the phone was leaving a movie message.

Devi began to cry . Blue crystal roam .

As the Gothic girl sigh. Poor Johnny whom was one of her closest friend.

Johnny waited as he hugged her tightly .

#jhonen vasquez #devixjhonny

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red-dye40 · 1 year

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i just wanna say i fucking love your jthm fic and i’ve been reading it a while while you’ve updated!!! everyone feels very in character and i fully support devi’s capabilities to do Gay Wrongs and also i fucking loved the devi x tenna dream bit it was so fucking good!!! i hope we get to hear more from tenna soon i hope she’s ok!!! but anyways!!! it’s great!!! was super excited when i saw the newest chapter up and i’m gonna read that now!!! you’re doing great and i can’t wait to see where this goes!!!

WAAAAAAHHHHHH WOW thank u so much :) this is really so amazing to hear im going to tattoo this to the insides of my eyelids

i am so so glad you’re enjoying it i am also so glad you understand the real moral of this fic which is devi is a lesbian and can do whatever she wants

also also also i cant make any promises but………. maybe we will hear from tenna again….. maybe :3

#ancaux #anon im putting u in my pocket

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stomiidae · 5 years

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The girls~♡♡♡

#jthm #tenna #tenna jthm #devi d #devi jthm #artwork #devi x tenna #tenna is a courier #thats her bike

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devnny · 5 years

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JTHM meets Animal Crossing! 🌿🍁🌷

INFO [x]:

johnny - rabbit; cranky

devi - wolf; uchi

tenna - dog; peppy

squee - cub; lazy

tess - deer; normal

anne gwish - cat; snooty

edgar - goat; smug

jimmy - horse; cranky

[and clearly pepito is a uh... goat... lion, uh, pig... obviously]

i had no particular palette ideas for the bottom row, so they remain traditional JTHM b/w... if you’d like to take a crack at coloring any of them, feel free! :)c [uncolored here]

#obviously ive been playing too much pocket camp #jthm #mine #can you imagine how dingy and gross their village/town is??? fnjajjk #tenna #squee #pepito diablo #tess #anne gwish #edgar vargas #jimmy #fucking. jimmy horse #ac:jthm

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deepseadreameater · 4 years

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DEVI obviously

Sexuality Headcanon: Heterosexual (it’s so sad)

Gender Headcanon: cis lady

A ship I have with said character: Devi x Nny 😢

A BROTP I have with said character: DEVI AND TENNA!!

A NOTP I have with said character: ALSO Devi x Nny 😢

A random headcanon: what do we even need hcs for Devi is already perfect

General Opinion over said character: I will die for Devi

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neoanedotheart · 5 months

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No comment

#art #fanart #digital art #shitpost #devi jthm #devi d #devi i feel sick #i feel sick devi #devi x tenna #i feel sick tenna #tenna x devi #THEY ARE TOXIC YURI TO ME

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incorrectjthmquotes · 5 years

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Characterizations

I'm roughly 2,200 quotes into this blog and though I've tried to get as close to canon as I can, sometimes the quotes just don't work that way (and sometimes my ships get in the way) and it veers off into its own variation of canon (not quite an Alternate Universe, more like a Universe Alteration. Y'know, "everything is the same but x is y" kind of thing). I like to think of most of it as post canon, with mid canon stuff with Nailbunny and the Doughboys, and Tess and Krik. I still haven't let go of "they're actors, and JTHM is the show, so some of the quotes are just them improvising the script" take.

I’ll delve into that in a separate post, but basically I’ve been fleshing out these characters beyond how JV originally imagined them probably, and they are as follows:

Nny: Depressed gay bastard gremlin boi, not really the best father figure but honestly a sight better than Todd and Pepito’s dads. Still ace, honestly still sex repulsed but mostly bc Jimmy keeps being nasty, but okay with being intimate as long as it’s kept private. Panromantic, as he did love Devi then, and loves Edgar now. Hates Jimmy. Hates Jimmy very much. He is well aware of the shitty things he did to Devi and still tries to get along with her but knows and would probably let her kick his ass a second time. Todd is his child now.

Todd: Gay and tired and a lil traumatized but kinda over it. Still trying his best to be a good and sweet person despite all the chaotic things Pepito and Nny do to try his patience.

Devi: Taking nobody’s shit. Takes care of the kids sometimes. In a poly lesbian relationship with Tess and Tenna. She’s bi, but after what happened with Nny, she’s steering clear of men for now. Tolerates Nny.

Tenna: Loud and proud pan lady who loves food, cheesy jokes, and her girlfriends.

Tess: Useless biromantic lesbian. Refuses to take any man’s shit anymore since she knows her worth.

Edgar: Quiet teacher, very obviously got a crush on Nny but pretty quiet about being gay as a whole. Gets along well with everyone. Loves the kids.

Pepito: Chaotic gay. Has like 2 brain cells, one for loving Todd and the other for breathing. Protective of Todd. Spends his time testing the limits of everything. On thin ice with dad constantly. Interactions with Nny are just sessions where they roast each other.

Krik: Claims he’s straight but involved in a bromance with Dillon. No braincells. Just an idiotic asshole.

Dillon: Probably gay but covers it up with bro culture.

Anne Gwish: In love with herself mostly, total narcissist, but probably accidentally developing some feelings for Mummy Girl.

Mummy Girl: Ace, concerned, just trying to keep Eric the Vampire Guy out of trouble.

Eric the Vampire guy: Horny on Main for Vampires. Nothing has changed much.

Jimmy: Trying his best but he’s done awful things so everyone dunks on him for eternity. Will text you weird philosophical shit at 3am and make you question why you’re still allowing him to be in the friend group.

Other major/minor characters are pretty much unchanged in personality and story.

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ifeelsick-moved · 6 years

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Devi for character ask?

favorite thing about them: her attitude honestly least favorite thing about them: hmmm idk I don’t really have anything I dislike about her favorite line: ( oh boy this is a long line ) “You know what’s worse than hiding from what scares you? Do you? I’ll tell you - it’s having good things pass you by because you’re too busy cringing in idiot terror, hiding some place where all you can do is dwell on shit! And now you think your little apology is going to make me happy as a drooly little baby? Shit! I’m the person who’s gonna make me happy! I am! No more hiding away. If you want to kill me, just try! I’ll lose my boot down your throat!” brOTP: tbh if she wasn’t so scared of Nny canonly, they could totally be an amazing brOTP to me OTP: Devi x Tenna nOTP: Nny x Devi ( not that I hate it..I just think it wouldn’t work ) random headcanon: Uhhhh I dunno- Hmmm....unpopular opinion: She’s a really good character and she doesn’t deserve to be hated on for rejecting the main character ( WHOS A FUCKING SERIAL KILLER I mean I know I say, I’m hella gay for Nny and I am. But like if I was in that situation, bitch I’d run too! Shit! ) song i associate with them: The Artist - Alesana ( its mainly the chorus ) favorite picture of them: I can’t add pics to this ask because I’m on mobile Aaaaaa

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1995-1997 · 7 years

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JTHM Survey Results

First of all, thanks to all FIFTY (!!!) of you who took my survey! I honestly was not expecting that many responses. I really appreciate that so many people took the time to satisfy my curiosity / were interested in the results themselves. So like, here ARE the results:

*Note that not everybody answered all of this first few questions, which is fine, but yeah.

So the ages of people who took the survey were pretty evenly distributed between the teen and young adult options, which a minority being older and an even smaller minority being younger.

16 people are 18-20 (32.7%)

14 people are 21-25 (28.6%)

12 people are 14-17 (24.5%)

Then, 3 people are 26-30 (6.1%)

2 people are 30+ (4.1%)

1 person is 11-13 (2%)

And finally, 1 person preferred not to say (2%)

There were 0 people who are less than 11 which is an incredible relief to me.

I just want to note that I differentiated between trans and cis not because I wanted to create a divide but just for posterity and so that those who are trans can have reassurance about other people around in the community.

I also know that nonbinary is a blanket term that covers any gender outside the gender binary (dur) but I put it there for people who wanted it on record that they’re nonbinary without using the other button to specify their exact gender.

21 people are cis females (42.9%)

12 people are nonbinary (24.5%)

5 people preferred not to say (10.2%)

5 people are trans males (10.2%)

3 people marked other (6.1%) (Agender, magigirl, and genderfluid)

3 people are cis males (6.1%)

0 people (who answered) are trans females (though I’m sure they’re in the fandom).

I wasn’t really sure what countries I should put as options on here, so I just put the major english-speaking ones I could think of, cause I wasn’t sure what other languages the comic has been translated to or where it’s been sold. In retrospect I should have just made this a short-answer question but O WELL.

39 people are from the United States (79.6%)

6 people marked other (12.2%) (Switzerland, unspecified Europe, Russia, Denmark, Finland, and Poland).

3 people are from Canada (6.1%)

And 1 person preferred not to say (2%)

0 people were from Great Britain or Australia.

27 people started at age 14-17 (55.1%)

16 people started at age 11-13 (32.7%)

Then the other three are tied -

2 people started at age 18-20 (4.1%)

2 people started at age 21-25 (4.1%)

And 2 people started at less than 11 (4.1%)

There were 0 who started at 30+

24 people got into it between 2011-2016 (49%)

20 people got into it between 2006-2010 (40.8%)

2 people got into it between 2001-2005 (4.1%)

2 people got into it between 1995-1997 (4.1%)

And 1 person preferred not to say (2%)

There were 0 people who answered before 1995, 1998-2000, or 2017.

K so

24 people got into it through Invader Zim (49%)

17 people got into it through complete happenstance (34.7%)

6 people got into it through a friend (12.2%)

And 2 people marked other (4.1%) (One saw it in a comic store, and one was an Invader Zim fan as a kid but then had forgotten about it by the time they discovered JTHM online)

I think this was the closest to a unanimous response as I got.

40 people said yes (83.3%)

7 people said they like it (14.6%)

And 1 person marked other (2%) (They were a fan when they were younger)

Meaning that none of us don’t like it at all

The best question.

14 people are unashamed goths (28.6%)

12 people aren’t anything (24.5%)

7 people just straight up said no (14.3%)

6 people are punks (12.2%)

3 people are ashamed goths (6.1%) (Meaning that 17 people and 34.7% are goth in total)

3 people said shut up dad (6.1%) (Can’t believe there wasn’t more)

3 people marked other (6.1%) (Kinda, too poor for that, and a little bit of everything)

And 1 person is emo (2%)

0 people are scene. We can all sleep easier at night knowing that.

So the MOST popular issue is Issue 2. Just over half of us marked that one. The others in order of popularity are: Issue 6, Issue 4, Issue 5, Issue 1, and Issue 3. It honestly really surprised me that 3 was the least popular cause that’s probably my FAVORITE favorite.

The top one says “Some but not all of Squee” Erregehgehggrrher this was a dumb question. I should’ve asked which one was your favorite not just which ones you’ve read. O well

Surprising no one, Johnny is the most popular character, followed by Devi, Squee, Pepito, Nailbunny, Satan, Tess and Tenna, Mr. Eff, Psycho Doughboy and Edgar, and Jimmy.

I am literally so glad Jimmy was the least popular. And also kind of shocked. Even though he’s terrible I thought he was really popular?

The others mentioned are: Happy Noodle Boy, Fillerbunny, and all of them but mostly Squee.

Meanwhiles are the most popular of the other/kinda related/supplemental/I still don’t know what to call them comics, then Fillerbunny, Happy Noodle Boy, True Tales of Human Drama, and Wobbly-Headed Bob.

This was a stupid question too but *fart noise*

34 people said THEY LOVE IT (68%) (obviously hurgrhrhgrhughrrgh)

6 people said they like it (12%)

5 people said they’re not really that into it / anymore (10%)

And 5 people marked other (10%) the responses being (paraphrased):

- Stupidly obsessed with it for 8/9 years, love it more than any other piece of media

- Been a while since I last read it but still a favorite

- Love it ironically

- It kinda saved my life

- It’s like my safe space

FANDOMS

Alright so originally I was just going to post a screenshot of all the different answers but since there’s so many of them there’s a scroll bar and I can’t screenshot them all in one. So INSTEAD, I’m going to list all the popular ones, as in any that were mentioned by more than one person. Here we gooooooo

Steven Universe (11) Pokemon (9) Star Wars (5) Anime in general (4) Gravity Falls (4) Rick and Morty (4) OFF (4) Marvel (4) Harry Potter (4) South Park (4) Homestuck (3) My Little Pony (3) Undertale (3) The X-Files (2) Sailor Moon (2) Adventure Time (2) Silent Hill (2) Dragon Age (2) Superjail (2) Horror in general (2) Markiplier (2) Animal Crossing (2) The Walking Dead (2) Batman (2) Metalacopalypse (2) Lord of the Rings (2) Borderlands (2) Dangan Ronpa (2) Tokyo Ghoul (2) Supernatural (2) Sherlock (2) Star Vs the Forces of Evil (2) Gorillaz (2)

#oh my goooadddoodododdddd that was so much fucking typing #but it was worth it i think #i'm so glad ppl actually took the survey!!!#i feel like i know you all so much better now #even though i dont know who even answered #but lemme tell you i am gonna hunt down the other person who likes X Files omfg adjkasjdh #Jthm #johnny the homicidal maniac #jhonen vasquez #my posts

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devnny · 5 years

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CHAPTER ELEVEN.

JTRM — THE “R” STANDS FOR RECOVERING!

PREVIOUSLY.

i like to call this chapter ‘AH, devi’s crazy TOO.’

[additional end-of-chapter drabble here: X ]

Devi watched Johnny brood sourly in the reflection of her rearview mirror, and couldn’t help but smile in amusement. There had been an argument between him and Tenna about who would be sitting in the passenger seat for this particular car ride – an argument that Johnny had bitterly lost.

“Who the fuck cares if you ‘called shotgun’…” She managed to hear him grumble under the thunderously loud music, and she snickered to herself.

Maybe she would pacify him with kindness later, if all went as planned tonight, but for now, Devi needed him to be in as pissy of a mood as possible without him being completely insufferable. She didn’t know the innerworkings of his fucked-up head too well, but she imagined that like anyone other person, he was more likely to get in a fight with someone if he was already in a bad mood.

The yellowed sign of the Camera slid across the windshield of the car as they drove past its front and turned into the small, poorly lit parking lot behind it. Devi had barely turned the engine off when Johnny undid his seatbelt, eager to leave his abhorred spot in the backseat. He got out and took in the familiar scenery of the theater’s dumpy, dark parking lot with a fond smile.

“Hm, I haven’t been here in quite a while.” He commented while Devi stepped out of the driver’s side beside him. She looked to him, then surveyed the area herself.

“Yeah, me either.” She replied, deciding not to mention that it was because of him that she had avoided this place for so long, then took up the leash that dangled loosely from his neck. Johnny’s eyes flickered down a moment at the movement, only to snort in remembrance of his new attachment.

Tenna looped around the trunk to meet them as they began their walk to the building.

“They still haven’t fixed that light by the dumpster?” She complained. “That’s been out for like, a year! Who knows what vile city dwellers could be lurking in the dark, ready to shiv me and steal my monies.”

Devi snorted a laugh.

“Eh. I’ve got the most dangerous thing in this parking lot roped to me, so I’m not too worried.”

Johnny smiled devilishly at that, and Tenna squinted apprehensively in his direction. Devi wasn’t wrong, she guessed, but was that really a good thing? She desperately hoped that whatever Devi was planning didn’t get either of them stabbed in the process.

The trio walked into the dull lighting of the entrance, and Johnny felt his asshat senses heightening by the second. He listened to the small crowd’s murmuring, pessimistically certain that someone would make a comment about either his attire, like usual, or the fact that he was currently adorned with pet equipment. A few people gave them weird stares, but his keenly tuned ears failed to hear if they said anything. Devi tugged him in the direction of the ticket booth, interrupting his paranoid scanning for the time being.

They settled on an old horror film, much to Tenna’s dismay, given the current company. Johnny felt some contentment in leading Devi to his old favored spot in their designated theater – he had a preferred spot in each of the Camera’s handful of theaters, back when he frequented the movies more often. He was also pleased when Devi readily sat beside him instead of putting Tenna between them, though it was most likely because having that damned leash drape over Tenna’s lap while she held it from the other side was impractical. He wanted to believe that she would have sat next to him anyway, even if the situation was different.

Devi only half-minded the movie, instead keeping her focus on Johnny’s behavior, which was more suspensefully entertaining than the cheesy, predictable stalking scenes of a film that she’d seen plenty of times as it was. She watched as covertly as she could at every twitch and look he gave to the people that laughed at inappropriate times, or talked through the ‘boring’ parts, and she felt some God-awful mixture of pride and disappointment that he did little else. Maybe his self-control had improved more than she thought it had.

The closest he got to losing it was when a couple of girls’ talking started getting progressively louder, as if they were unaware that their difficulty in hearing each other was because of the movie that they had paid to see. Devi could see Johnny tense, and could vaguely feel through their conjoined seat the movement of the muscles and tendons in his arm flexing and stretching as he ground his knuckles into a fist over and over. Before he could even yell at them, Tenna lobbed her still half-full box of candy over their row and hit one of the girls in the head with it, sending the shadows of little chocolates across the screen for a second, paired with her target’s aghast gag.

Johnny was surprised at the direct action, then built up a grim laugh into a quick cackle, joined by Tenna, who squealed out her usual high-pitched hyena laugh. Devi sunk back against her seat in defeat, already sensing by the hushed chatter a few seats ahead that the woman her friend had just beaned with a box of Raisinets was too weak-willed to confront their ‘larger’ group about it.

She tried to brush it off. Johnny was fantastic as drawing trouble to himself, and there would surely be another decent opportunity as the evening progressed; people were just too rude and shitty to not give him the desire for violence.

When the movie finished and they began their walk out to the street, Tenna insisted that she knew of an amazing little train of food trucks that parked nearby that they just had to try. It was almost six blocks away, and with the streets mostly dead, Devi would have insisted on any normal night that they drive there – of course, tonight was a little special, so she insisted that they walk.

“Yeah, I could use the exercise. Been cooped up in the apartment with Nny for one day too many.” Devi spoke nonchalantly about her choice, guiding Johnny smoothly away from the direction of the parking lot and toward where these alleged food trucks should be. She hoped along the way that Johnny would try and run from her side, at anything, even to chase a cat or something equally harmless.

Tenna nodded as though that made sense, but still had the gut instinct that Devi was up to something that she wouldn’t admit to. She kept her suspicions to herself while they trekked down the sidewalk, and instead continued talking up their eatery for the night.

Two streets passed, and Devi almost wanted to pout that Johnny had done nothing but walk dutifully by her side. He observed his surroundings with waning interest, unaware of Devi’s scrutiny. The darkened buildings of the already-closed shopping district blended together into one amorphous, black shape in his eyes, with his mind unable to find the square, uniform city architecture interesting for long. He was much happier looking at the starry sky, though it was difficult for many of the stars to appear brightly enough to be seen from a view inside the city. Stupid concrete monster wasn’t good for anything.

Partially coherent jabbering from Tenna failed to distract Devi from her disappointment in what was, so far, the most normal outing that she had had with Johnny since their reunion. She wished it wasn’t disappointing, but the entire purpose of this trip was to ensure that her leash idea would hold up in the face of Johnny’s unpredictable nature. She couldn’t afford to have a false sense of security when walking the streets with him!

The universe had thrown her so many asinine screwballs at this point that she wouldn’t be surprised if Johnny magically slipped his collar despite his big, dumb pumpkin head, or somehow had the unreasonable strength to break the clasp and attack something.

Why did he have to pick tonight to be on his very best behavior?

They reached the gated lot full of assorted food trucks without incident, and Devi’s lips vibrated with an annoyed exhale that sounded more like a disgruntled horse. Tenna assumed it was because of the gross, greasy looking people and food that awaited them, and gave her shoulder a friendly jostle.

“C’mon Devi! Truck food is amazing, you remember the hamburger sushi don’t you?” She asked with a giggly smile. Johnny made a face at the mention of ‘hamburger sushi’.

“Oh, I remember.” Devi eyerolled. It was actually pretty good, if she was being honest, but as of now she was bored with this completely fruitless adventure.

Johnny watched Devi curiously while they followed Tenna around the lot to different van windows, and his lower lip tented up in thought. She seemed unhappier suddenly, and he wondered why. Like Tenna, he speculated that it was because of their current environment, which he would emphatically agree was horrible. The mixing of smells from the numerous different types of frying dishes certainly did nothing for his already small appetite, and the people bumming around eating were all loud and irksome. And smelly.

“Devi, must we eat here?” Johnny whispered to her. Devi turned her head toward him.

“You don’t have to get anything if you’re not hungry.” She told him. “There’s food at home.”

Johnny pouted more.

“That’s not completely what I meant…” He mumbled, looking around. “The people here are wretched. Can’t we go somewhere more… completely absent of life?”

Devi looked at him for a moment before caving into quiet chuckles. Johnny felt his heart swell at the sound of her laugh. He steadied his composure as she moved to speak again, but her response was lost as Tenna called them over to the farthest corner of the lot.

“I FOUND THE HAMBURGER SUSHI TRUCK!” She yelled victoriously. Johnny’s mouth wormed miserably as Devi lead him to his doom of the fast-food version of fusion cuisine.

As they came to a stop beside Tenna, Devi noticed two men leaning up against the side of one of the buildings that walled off the lot, and raised her eyebrows in interest. They were smoking and drinking, and overall looked like the kind of late-night assholes that would loudly criticize others for a laugh. She wasn’t getting her hopes up, but kept their presence in mind as they waited for their food, just in case they were more trouble than she was asking for tonight.

Tenna had ordered them two ‘cheeseburger’ rolls to share, and the concept of splitting two items between three people only vexed Johnny further. Now he would have to make certain – if he even bothered to EAT this disgusting-sounding thing – that whatever he was grabbing hadn’t already been handled by someone else. It was repulsive enough knowing whatever sweaty creature lurked in the van’s ‘kitchen’ was going to create this abomination with, likely, their bare hands.

He shivered in disgust.

The truck was either very popular, or the cook was very slow, because it was taking forever for their order to come out. As time drug on, Johnny began idly picking at his collar while Devi talked to Tenna. He was indifferent to their conversation topic, and his eyes listed over the rooftops of the surrounding structures, again looking for anything to occupy his thoughts while he was unable to have Devi’s undivided attention.

A particularly rude-sounding set of laughs resounded behind him, and his senses were suddenly sharp again. Anyone else wouldn’t have thought twice about it, probably wouldn’t have even heard it amongst the chatter of everyone else nearby, but Johnny was accustomed to being an object of ridicule, and knew the common vocalizations of assholes and bastards.

“Hey!” One of them said. He stopped to laugh again before continuing. “HEY! Dog-guy! Did she get you neutered too??”

Johnny and Devi both straightened at the comment, immediately aware that they were the subject of discussion. Johnny trembled a second as he attempted to swallow his insult, but failed, and turned to face the men that were trying to humiliate them. Devi only turned enough to side-glance at the interaction with a small, apprehensive smile.

“DOES MY SITUATION CONCERN YOU THAT MUCH?” Johnny yelled back at them. He steamed when the pair only ‘OOOH’d back at him in response before breaking into hysterics.

Devi watched as Johnny’s body began to shake more, and held her breath behind her inconspicuous expression as he took a step forward. Tenna eyed her in concern, uncertain why she wasn’t intervening into an exchange that would surely only escalate without her involvement.

“Hey girl, he’s had all his shots right? He looks rabid!” The other called toward Devi, and Johnny took even more offense that they would address her directly with their brainless, monkey-drool humor.

“SHUT YOUR MOUTHS.” He ordered, standing wide-legged and pointing aggressively in their direction. “DON’T SPEAK TO HER, you filthy, bleating, devolutions of humanity! I don’t come outside to be a spectacle for swine like YOU.”

His eye twitched when their response was something about him coming outside to have ‘walkies’, followed by further spittle-inducing laughter. Oh, how he hated people so very much. Just watching how unguarded they were as they hooted and gestured at him made his fingers twinge with the desire for physical mutilations. It would be so hard to laugh without tongues! Or faces! OR A HEARTBEAT!

The grit on the asphalt scuffed with the friction of his boot as he lunged toward his intended victims, and Devi barely had a chance to register he’d moved at all before her arm was outstretched, a continuation of his now taut leash. Within the second, her arm was extended as far as it would go, as was the leash, and Johnny gagged from the speed at which his collar hinged around his neck. His body propelled forward further, twisting him around, and he hit the ground face first with an unceremonious BLAP!

Everyone stared at his limp figure on the floor for a few seconds, and then the men spasmed with a new, uncontrollable fit of laughter. Devi’s eyes were wide as she watched Johnny raise up onto his elbows, and she felt a long-missing energy crackle to life in her stomach.

She bowled over and laughed; laughed with deep, desperately needed triumph beating in her blood.

“IT WORKED!” She yelled at Tenna as she rose. “DID YOU SEE? It worked!!”

Tenna offered her a confused, open-mouth smile, but her eyes only showed her worry and discomfort at Devi’s abnormal change in demeanor. Devi bent back and held her forehead, still laughing.

“Oh my GOD. That was so perfect!” She chuffed. “I… I can’t believe it! Heehee!”

Tenna set a hand on her shoulder.

“I think… all the joy you’ve repressed for like, an entire year, is coming out right now. All at once. About this weird fucking leash thing.” She dropped her hand and pointed to Devi’s wide smile. Devi’s only continued her snickering.

“It worked, it worked, it worked! HAH-HAH-HAH!”

Johnny’s ego couldn’t have been more bruised if he ran it over with his own car in a freak accident. He pushed himself up, using his knee to get back into a standing position. The bastards behind him were still laughing, and Devi was cutting up with Tenna about it too, which stung a lot more than the taunting of some nameless strangers. He tried to breathe between his clenched teeth to calm himself down, but he was so embarrassed and angry – Devi probably just let him make an ass out of himself to teach him a lesson. Why did she always have to make a fool out of him to get her point across? Talking and being gentle was an option too, if she didn’t know!

He couldn’t stop himself from glowering when she turned to face him.

“NNY!” She smiled at him, and Johnny frowned unhappily, believing her smile was part of her mockery. He could guess that Devi was going to reprimand him, again, for trying to attack some ‘innocent’ people – he was getting sick of this. Those morons were not innocent; they instigated this! She saw it!

“What?” He snapped bitterly. Devi only laughed and tugged him closer by his leash.

“That was PERFECT, I’m so happy!” She cheered. “You did just what I wanted you to do!”

The tension in Johnny’s face vanished immediately.

“I…” A weak smile crept over his lips. “I-I did??”

“YES! This night wasn’t a total waste after all!”

Johnny’s previous perception of her smile as cruel and jeering dissipated, and instead he felt himself amazed by the wide grin she wore. He hadn’t seen that particular smile on her in quite a long time, and the inside of his chest was suddenly light and airy. He had absolutely no idea what part of his actions exactly she was talking about, but he had made her so very happy, and that’s all that mattered to him for the moment. Johnny clasped his hands in front of him, admiring her continued giggling until Tenna approached them.

“Um… our food is done.” Tenna spoke while she chewed, still judging the bizarre scene uncertainly.

“Oh, good—” Devi took one of the take-out plates from her, but got distracted when she realized that the two peons she’d used to test Johnny’s apparatus were still guffawing in their direction. Her attention moved back to them, and Johnny followed her stare, scowling in their direction to show his support of her disapproving look. Devi passed him their food casually, and then slipped the handle of his leash off of her wrist.

“Here, hold this a second.” She said with a smile as she dropped it into Tenna’s open palm. Tenna almost gagged on her food when she realized what she had just gripped onto.

Johnny was surprised too – it was unlike Devi to give away control so casually. His wide eyes flicked away from Tenna’s hand and back to Devi, who was walking toward the men standing by the wall. He felt a twinge of worry; not because he thought Devi couldn’t handle these idiots, but rather that said idiots might touch her in some way.

If either of them pushed her or something, he would gut them both with the chopsticks that were so carefully perched on the raised edges of this disposable plate. No way would Tenna’s weak grasp be able to hold him back, he was confident in that.

Devi looked between the men in front of her as she walked, debating from her experience with shitty guys and their unspoken douchebag tier rankings, which of the two was more leader than follower. She thought that the one that first called out to Johnny, the taller one, was likely that man.

“Huh?” The same man said as he saw Devi encroaching on the invisible border of their hangout territory. “Oh, what’s the matter girlie? Did we upset your pet over there?”

He sneered a rude grin at her, and Devi smiled back, certain that she had chosen correctly.

With her last step, she drew her arm back, then hurled it forward as though her knotted fist was a shotput. Her knuckles cracked against the bottom of his jaw at such a speed that it threw him back with a light topspin. His turning body slammed his head into the brick wall behind him, and he bounced off of that like a sad rubber ball, landing at the wedge where the building and ground met in a heap.

Johnny and Tenna opened their mouths in silent gasps, unable to do anything else.

Devi held her fist in front of her a moment, appreciating the dull ache in her digits with a satisfied smirk, then dropped her expression to shoot the remaining man a warning look. He looked terrified, like a sheep separated from the flock, and Devi was content with that. She turned around and regathered her ‘things’ from Johnny and Tenna.

“C’mon, Nny.” Her mouth perked up again. “Let’s go.”

BACK HOME:

Johnny jammed himself further into the nesting spot he had made for himself on Devi’s couch, shuffling his legs to get more comfortable. His head lolled over to watch Devi, as it had many times since the movie started. It was supposed to be thought-provoking, said one of Devi’s film magazines, but by all accounts was dull and droned on aimlessly about the futility of society. It was a totally unbelievable portrayal of a mental downward spiral– and he would know. Where was the frenzied tears? The passion?

But, to be fair, even the most interesting, well-written plot in the history of cinema couldn’t keep his attention right now, with Devi sitting beside him lazily and scorning the images on her TV. His heart fluttered remembering her gleefulness just an hour ago, and how she decked that guy that had been laughing at him. Now that was passion.

A relaxed smile spread across his face, and he sighed contently. It had been such an exhausting night; from venturing into public, to enduring Tenna’s loud nature, to arguing with shitheads, to falling and hitting his head on the floor, to eating hamburger sushi – which was much better than he had imagined, actually – he was exhausted. It didn’t help that this movie was unengaging and badly-written. It would be a better use of his eyeballs to look at the dark inside of his eyelids.

Devi turned to make a sarcastic comment about the film, but lost her air when she saw Johnny asleep with his head tilted back over the couch cushion. She stifled a laugh.

“Wow. This movie must really be a boring piecashit to put you to sleep, Nny.” She said to him.

She pulled a wadded blanket out from her corner of the couch and threw it over him, then settled in to continue watching the rest of this abhorred picture. Maybe the ending would blow her fucking mind, or something.

Half an hour later, Devi’s cheek was stretched against the back of her hand, her head drooping despite her arm’s best efforts to keep it upright. She blamed her outburst of absolute joy tonight for taking so much out of her, and her weary brain decided it would be fine to fall asleep right here, beside Johnny, the man she normally locked her bedroom door to ensure didn’t come in and kill her while she slept. She didn’t even have enough cognitive function to argue how fucking stupid that was.

Devi’s eyelashes flittered closed for a few seconds, but just as she was drifting off to sleep, Johnny screamed at the top of his lungs and jolted her wide awake. Her hands clamped over the arm and top of the couch, and she scrambled back against the corner to stare at him. Johnny’s irises ricocheted around the whites of his eyes madly, before settling on Devi with the look of a frightened animal.

“…YOU GOOD?” Devi asked with concern and restrained fear in her voice.

Johnny looked cautiously around the room, then back to Devi, who was not bleeding or stabbed, as he had dreamed she was. He stared at her torso until he was absolutely positive that the injuries that he’d just seen seconds before were, in fact, figments of his imagination, and then relaxed shakingly against the couch cushion.

“Y… yes.” He choked out, then cleared his throat. “Yes. Just a… bad dream.”

He pulled the blanket on his lap up and around his shoulders, bundling it over his head and huddling up into a paranoid ball on the couch. Devi blinked tiredly, then rubbed her eyes as she mentally chastised herself for bothering to be startled by more of Johnny’s nonsense.

“Okay.” She sighed and stood. “I’m going to bed. That movie sucked, in case you were wondering.”

Johnny smiled fondly at her pessimism.

“Alright. Goodnight, Devi.”

“Night, Nny. Try and… get some rest.” She raised an eyebrow in reference to his previous panic, and left to her room.

Johnny watched her door close, then snatched up the remote and changed the output to cable. He focused on the TV as if his life depended on it, stubbornly refusing to even consider the notion of sleep again. ‘Get some rest’—yeah right! The night terrors were only getting more gruesome and realistic each time he slept, and he was not at all interested in seeing exactly how bad the dreams could get. He decided the best way to avoid that was to not sleep at all again, for as long as he could manage.

NEXT.

#4.1k of devi what the hell are you doing #jtrm #jthm #mine #devnny #chapter

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