#UHHH SO YEAH LIKE I KINDA GAVE UP HALFWAY THROUGH BUT ITS OKAY IT LOOKS GOOD STILL AS LONG AS I DONT LOOK TOO CLOSE

[feniksido]

What did they think was going to happen if they won?

#my art #enver gortash #the dark urge #durgetash #bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #UHHH SO YEAH LIKE I KINDA GAVE UP HALFWAY THROUGH BUT ITS OKAY IT LOOKS GOOD STILL AS LONG AS I DONT LOOK TOO CLOSE #zenith #forgot to tag the man himself #WELL #OH YEAH special thanks to mr the fuckitwebhaal for letting me bounce ideas off his dome (brain) ((skull)) #theres just so much i wanna say and yet im blanking on the words #tumblr please dont kill the quality im begging youuuuuuuuuuuu

[obey-me-fics-n-shit]

Satan X MC: “Cat Cafe?”

@gostbirds So the brothers don’t really interfere with them going, (because I couln’t think of any good reason lol) and I didn’t actually write them going to the cafe, AND its a bit longer than I meant it to be, but I had lots of fun writing it and I hope you like it!

Also this is my first time writing something that’s not headcannons, so if you have any criticisms, keep them constructive please and thank you!

Satan x mc “cat cafe?”

You sat down for a peaceful Saturday breakfast in the house of Lamentation, ready to scarf down as many of Satan’s delicious pancakes as you could before Beel came down and ate them all. Taking charge of who all was there you took stock of Asmo, who seemed busy drizzling on syrup just so in a way that made it look picture perfect. Turns out that was the plan, because a second later Asmo pulled out his DDD and was taking pictures for Devilgram. Moving further down the table you saw Mammon, who didn’t seem particularly interested in what was going on in terms of food, but he was eyeing up the new silverware in a way that told you that you probably wouldn’t see it again soon. Finally there was Satan, who was sat at the table with a book in hand. He already finished eating if you were to judge by his empty but dirty plate. It was cute, you thought, that everytime he made a meal he stayed in the dining room until everyone had eaten some. Satan never really said why he did this, but you figured that he like to gauge everyones reactions to the meal, to see whether or not he should make it again.

You decided to sit across from Satan, who acknowledged you (and your large stack of pancakes) as you sat down with a smile. You offered a smile back and dug in. You’d always liked Satan the best, and the two of you had gotten pretty close but sometimes he still made you nervous. You had honestly gotten pretty good at reading all of his little micro-expressions too, Satan is a quiet guy, you’d noticed that early on. So when the two of you started spending more time together, being able to know what he was saying without actually saying it was a must. But, for all of your hard work on getting to know him better you still couldn’t tell if he liked you back. You looked up at Satan and made sure to make a show out of pointing to the pancakes then giving a big thumbs up. You would’ve said something but it was kind of hard because A) mouthful of yummy pancakes and B) you didn’t want to rope him into a conversation when he was trying to read. Satan acknowledged you thumb up with his own thumb up, small smile and no, it couldn’t be was that a blush? Before you could look closer and verify his face was hidden by the book again.

It was then that Levi walked in and sat down next to you. You greeted him with a cheery “good morning” and Levi did the same. Looking back at the table you saw that Mammon (and his silverware) had done a little vanishing act and were gone, but Asmo was finally getting started on his pancakes. Levi started talking and you were really trying to pay attention, but you had already missed the first part of his conversation. You tuned in just in time to find out he was talking about some new gimmicky cafe he was interested in had just opened.

“-and they’ll join you at the table! Anyways MC all the waitress have little paw print aprons, which I’ve heard are pretty cute and they have a gift shop with a whole bunch of themed collectibles, I’ve got to get there soon before they run out of Ruri-Chan cat figurines!”

Now you really wish you had listened to the first part of Levi’s spiel because to say you were lost was an understatement. You couldn’t help but notice though that whatever Levi talked about must have been interesting. Satan was looking at his book but his eyes weren’t moving across the page, he was listening. If it had gotten Satan’s attention it was probably something you should’ve been listening to. Sooner or later you had to respond though you you decided to go with, “Yeah, that sounds really cool Levi!” Before taking another bite of pancake so you wouldn’t have to say anything more.

It was quiet for a little longer while you and Levi took some bites, “Anyway, MC, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me later today.” Levi got around to the point of his speech.

“Ooh! Like a date?,” Asmo piped in, “because if it’s a date that’s no fair! Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince MC on a date?” At this you noticed Satan stiffen a little a bit, eyes still fixed on his book but unmoving on the page.

“No that’s not it at all, Asmodeus!” Levi rebuttted a little red in the face. You decided if you didn’t chime in now things would only get heated from here.

“Oh that’s nice, Levi, but I think I have some more work I need to do on one of my assignments, maybe next time though!” You weren’t in the business of committing to plans if you didn’t know what they were (although you knew it was your fault for not paying attention.) and if the idea of you going to whatever this place was made Satan uneasy it probably wasn’t worth it.

“Oh that’s okay! It’ll be easier to get a table if there’s one person anyway.” Levi responded. With that you finished up your plate, thanked Satan for breakfast and made your way back to your room. You really did have some work to do, so at least that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t as much work as you made it sound to Levi.

Around noon-thirty you had finished the work you needed to do and decided you’d head down to the kitchen to throw together some lunch. To no ones surprise Beel was stationed in front of the fridge, eating whatever was unfortunate enough to find its way into his hands, and thereby his mouth.

“Heya Beel!” You greeted reaching arounf him for some lunch meat, on the way down to the kitchen you’d decided a quick sandwich seemed like a good lunchtime option.

“Hi, mc,” Beel said through a muffled mouthful of food, “heard you turned down Levi’s offer to buy you lunch, what are ya, crazy?” Beel turned to you a goofy little grin on his face. You don’t remember that, when would you ever turn down a nice time out with your friends? Ohhhhhhh this morning is the time you’d turn that down. You remembered, as you began to assemble your sandwich.

“Oh haha,” you recovered with a quick chuckle, “did he offer to take you instead? I would’ve gone if I didn’t have to catch up on some homework” you asked, trying to retroactively figure out where exactly Levi had offered to take you to.

Beel gave you a friendly laugh over his shoulder, “he did offer, and I’m not one to turn down a free meal, but he said it was a cat cafe,” he paused to take another bite and swallow, you used the silence to throw together an extra sandwich, glad you at last knew the answer to this ‘Levi-lunchtime-mystery’. Beel continued, “-but after Satan’s cat fiasco a few years back I don’t really like dealing with cats anymore.”

Cat fiasco? Were you supposed to know what that was, the way Beel mentioned it so casually, you supposed so. You had no clue but you figured you’d save your questions for another time. “Oh, understandable,” you commented, so that you didn’t sound like a complete idiot. “Speaking of Satan, has he had lunch yet?” You asked, you figured you could take him some lunch if he hadn’t had any, it wasn’t that uncommon for him to get so wrapped up in whatever he was reading that time escaped him.

‘No, not yet. Or at least I haven’t seen him.” Beel said, more to the fridge than to you. Good, you thought, you could take Satan some lunch and spend some time with him.

“Okay, I’d better go make sure he gets something to eat then, see ya later Beel!” You said already halfway out of the kitchen with your two sandwiches.

Finding Satan wasn’t that hard, if he wasn’t in his room he was in the library. And that’s where you found him, he was reading the same book from this morning, and he was much farther along, judging by the way the pages near the back cover loooked a lot thinner than they had this morning. “Hey,” you spoke softly, as not to startle him, “I brought you some lunch.” You said extending the plate towards him.

Satan looked up from his book and took a sandwich off the plate, “thanks mc,” he murmured appreatively. You looked at the cover of his book, recognizing it as one of your old favorites, “any good?” You asked gesturing to the book.

“Yeah, I’m really liking it, you mentioned it a few weeks back and I finally got my hands on a copy.” He placed a book mark tenderly amongst the pages and gently shut the book. You hadn’t remembered mentioning that it was your favorite, wait now that you think about you may have made an off-handed remark, but the fact that he remembered made you heart swell a little. Not only did he remember, but he actively searched out the book and made a point of reading it. This man was going to be the death of you and he didn’t even know it

“Have you gotten to the part where-“ you were cut off by Satan, who shushed you with a ‘no spoilers!” And took a bite out of his sandwich, you did the same. Satan made a small sour look, and looked up at you from his spot on the couch.

“Mc, why is there only meat in this sandwich?” He asked you, quizzical. Oh shit, you realized you had been so wrapped up in talking to Beel that you completely forgot that sandwiches have other ingredients. How on earth did you forget something so simple?

“I- uhhh” you said, unsure of how to explain, you set the plate down beside him and let him set down his sandwich. “It’s kinda a silly reason,” you looked at Satan, who looked at you with a small smile, obviously amused.

“Explain it to me.” He demanded, so you did.

“Well you remember this morning when Levi was talking to me at breakfast?” You asked, Satan gave you a small nod in return. “Well I kinda zoned out and didn’t know where he was offering to take me so I gave him a half-baked excuse not to go”

“I recall,” Satan chimed in. You were a little offended that he seemed to agree your excuse was “half-baked” but you continued your story anyways.

“Well when I finished my work -I actually did have some to do-“ you justified, “I went down to get lunch and ended up talking with Beel, and he filled me in on what I missed.” You paused “I must have gotten so wrapped up in the conversation that I forgot to add anything else” you finished.

You and Satan sat in silence for a while then simultaneously broke out into laughter, what else could you do, ya know? After the giggles died down Satan looked at you, “can I ask you a question?”

“You already did,” you shot back, “but I’ll allow you another.”

“Okay then, smartass,” Satan said, still grinning. “Are you actually interested in going to that cat cafe? Because I was planning to ask you myself but Levi beat me to the punch and I wasn’t sure if you told him no because you just didn’t want to go.” He finished, watching your expressions carefully the whole time.

“Oh!” You were alarmed, Satan wanted to go out with you? At the very least he wanted to take you somewhere he seemed excited about going, and that’s something right? “Yeah of course I’d like to go with you! I mean, my lunch plans kinda fell through anyways.” You gave a good natured chuckle before adding “one condition though” this was kinda a risky move on your part, go big or go home right? You never know if you don’t try kinda thing?

“What is it?” Satan asked hesitantly.

“It’s a date?” You meant it to sound more confident than it did, but you also wanted him to know you wouldn’t force his hand if he wasn’t into you like that.

Satan broke out into a new, wider smile, one you hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing before. “Then it’s a date, mc” he said, glee shining through his voice. “We can discuss the book now the way there, but only up to where I am, okay?” He added, already getting up to go.

You didn’t know how you’d explain turning Levi down if you happened to see him there, but you figured that was a problem for later.

#obey me shall we date #obey me imagines #obey me satan x mc #obey me satan x reader #request #obey me #obey me! #obey me hc #obey me headcanons #@gostbrds #om satan #satan x reader #satan x mc

[autisticmob]

HELLO everyone i am now ten days out from my tiddy surgery so i think while everything is still fresh-ish in my mind I should get a rough timeline of how things went for me, just so anyone having similar stuff done in the future can have it as reference?? 

so under the cut is how shit went down, warning we are gonna be tmi about it for Max Information Dissemination, i will be talking about IV placement, Needles, Bleeding, Bruising, Bathroom Stuff In General, etc. so like. Be Warned.

OKAY SO what did i have done and how did i get it:

- i got a bilateral breast reduction with a “T,” “keyhole,” or “anchor-shaped” incision. this procedure, unlike double-incision top surgery, does not detach your nipples at all, but it DOES leave a decent hunk of breast tissue behind to avoid the nip graft. this connecting tissue keeps your nip attached and supplied with enough blood to survive. that means with this one, theres basically a limit to how much they can take off, and it depends on how big you are to start off with. 

- i went with the T-incisions because as a NB person, I wanted to sidestep the “gender-confirming surgery” route with my insurance. technically, I believe it would have been covered if i had gone through the process of talking to a therapist and getting a note that the surgery WOULD help confirm my gender, but i suspect it would have taken much longer, and I was afraid that my doctor and community resources would not have ended up approving me FOR the surgery since I don’t exactly fit the typical trans narrative. and luckily for me i had Massive, Spine-Bending G Cup Tiddies to contend with. so every doc that took a look at me said “yeah, you need those taken care of for medical reasons.” so i thought hey, let’s see how far this will get me!

- i talked to my primary care doc about my back pain and mentioned i’d like to look into a breast reduction, and she referred me to a local surgeon who could do the procedure. at the time i was still entertaining the idea of double-incision, but as it turned out, this surgeon just didnt do that. but i knew for certain my insurance would cover him, his results were good, and he was local, so i said yes to the T-incisions, which he said would likely get me down from a G to at least a C. it wasnt my ideal scenario admittedly, but frankly the back pain was getting to be too much, and i needed it to be addressed sooner rather than later.

- i had a consultation with the surgeon in early december, and they took pictures and measurements to send to my insurance so they could confirm the tits WERE in fact Too Bomb To Live. Doc said that it varies between insurance companies, but most will have a minimum amount of tissue that needs to be taken off, in grams, from each breast. he was like, “your insurance needs at least 1000g total removed, which’ll leave you on the small side, is that cool?” and i was like “My Man, take AS MUCH as you possibly can, im sick of these” and he was like “cool, makes my job easy then.” 

- it took my insurance like 1.5 to 2 months to get back to me, but late january the surgery place called me and we set a date for february 5th, 2020!!

PRE-OP:

- before i went into surgery, the hospital made me go over my medical history with them over the phone, informed me of all the risks, and gave me a special scrub kit to shower with at home for the last 2 days before the surgery

- fun fact this soap will make your whole bathroom and body smell strongly and exactly like a hospital and it is gross as hell if you hate hospital smell

- i also had to go to my primary care doc to get the OK that i was healthy enough to go under general anesthesia, and also get some blood tests and a urinalysis done. i fucked up the urinalysis tho (which is a whole other story) so i had to redo that the morning of the surgery when i got to the hospital anyway. 

- when i scheduled my surgery they also gave me a list of things i had to NOT DO before i went in. this included stuff like avoiding herbal medications and non-prescription supplements and not drinking any alcohol for like 2 weeks prior to surgery, and not eating anything after midnight the night before surgery.

- then it was SURGERY DAY!!!

- i went in with uhhh a LOT of anxiety about what everything would entail, ngl. i knew i had to do it because staring down the barrel of life with tiddies forever was way scarier than surgery, but yknow whenever you go under general anesthesia they legally do have to let you know that you could die and thats just a lot to consider, PLUS the whole thing involves just, really mangling your torso so like. its a lot! its okay to be scared!

- both my parents went with me for moral support which i appreciated a lot, but i didnt actually see them much since they had to spend a lot of it in the waiting room.

- when i went back with the doc they had me Wash The Tiddy Off with some antiseptic and change into a gown. i got some grippy socks out of the deal which is probably not a universal experience, but this hospital did it so shoutout to them for the socks i guess

- then they asked me all my medical history stuff again and checked me for any like, rashes or open sores or anything. i had some Tit Zits but they did not seem to be worried about that.

- then the surgeon came in and drew lines on me for the incisions. bro when i saw how high up my nips were gonna be i was losing my damn mind. this is one of the really exciting parts, because you finally get to really visualize what your end size is gonna be!! 

- once he was satisfied with how everything looked, they started really Prepping Me For Surgery.

- they hooked me up to a blood pressure cuff, a heart monitor, and some compression leg thingies that would inflate and deflate intermittently around my calves to help me not get blood clots. this felt weird but tbh also like kind of a nice massage

- then the iv placement. bro im not lying when i tell you this is the worst part. the nurse numbed me with some lidocaine before placing the needle and let me tell you that shit HURTED. lidocaine Stings and Burns when it hits and this was arguably the most painful part. but the good news about that is it means nothing else after that is all that bad. and i got THREE lidocaine shots because these two nurses could NOT find my blood anywhere. they finally called in their ringer (an EMT named kirk, s/o to kirk) who got that sucker in my arm with NO numbing and NO pain in like, 2 fucking seconds. i pray you all have a kirk. kirk knows where your fucking blood is and hes not gonna fuck around getting to it because he JUST wrestled a drunk dude into an ambulance like an hour ago and compared to that this is nothing. kirk had sleeveless scrubs. im obsessed. anyway.

- then they put a plastic, inflatable, heated blanket over me? it was between two regular blankets so it wasnt as uncomfortable as you might imagine, but it was strange. warm tho so that was nice.

- THEN they wheeled my bed down to surgery. i was having so much anxiety at this point it was like... dreamlike. getting wheeled into the OR was just surreal. i was like, no thoughts head empty, just taking everything in.

- once i got there the surgical team was very cool about keeping me calm tho. they were playing their like, pump-up music and one of the guys was like “hey fyi about halfway thru the surgery we will be turning the lights off and having a rave, just in the interest of full disclosure. promise not to leave any glowsticks in there tho” and i was like what no i would LOVE glowstick tiddies

- i had to kinda roll from my bed onto the operating table, which was significantly harder and smaller. that kinda made things feel real, so i got a little more anxious at that point.

- to help me calm down they had me breathe in some straightup oxygen thru a mask while they hooked my iv to the fluids and such, and the guy was like “WHOA you got some lungs on you dude” and i was like yeah thanks im recovering from hyperventilating

- then they let the anesthesia into the iv, letting me know the whole time what was happening, talking to me until i was just OUT, which was not a lot of conversation time because i was out in like 5 seconds or less. they didnt make me count down or anything, but i promise you it was nigh instantaneous.

POST OP

- it really was instantaneous. i know everyone says that but it really is the truth, it feels like the whole thing takes seconds. like one moment youre laying there in the OR feeling the drugs Hit, and the next youre waking up in the little wake-up room feelin kinda groggy with a nurse talking to you, and youre still druggy so youre just rambling to her about how fucked your voice sounds right now and as soon as shes contented that youre basically lucid they start wheeling you to your room where youll ACTUALLY stay while you recover.

- THE THING I WAS THE LEAST PREPARED FOR WAS MY THROAT

- your throat will Hurt afterwards, but even more than that, you will be producing So Much Mucus. my surgery took about 2 hours and during that time, all my muscles were paralyzed by the anesthesia, including my lungs, so i was on a breathing tube. my throat, understandably, hated this, and started producing Gallons Of Fucking Mucus to protect itself. it then continued to do this for the next two days or so. the nurses were encouraging me to breathe deep and cough Hard to combat this, and avoid getting pneumonia, so i did. but THAT hurt the tiddies. it was really a vicious cycle. but its necessary because god if i had to have pneumonia on top of all the other recovery shit?? god. 0/10 wouldnt recommend. so it might hurt but dont worry your tiddies wont bust open or anything.

- i spent basically the rest of the day still hooked up to all the machines i listed earlier, PLUS a thing that would beep at me if my heart rate went too high, which it did a lot because i have anxiety, but luckily the nurses didnt seem too concerned. it really kept my breathing on track though because if i didnt breathe deep enough my heart would shoot up super fast and it’d beep and god that was just annoying and im pretty sure that was The Point. you kinda have to get used to breathing again, and the beeping trained me.

- they gave me like a bunch of crackers and a huge mug of water to work on at my leisure. i actually had lunch pretty quick after waking up? i know a lot of people have nausea issues from anesthesia but i didnt experience any of that. i DID move like a fucking sloth while i was eating tho. the pain meds and general grogginess of recovery slowed my whole body down sooooo much. my mom was actually like “are you okay??? like neurologically??????” and i was, totally, i was just. on slo-mo.

- anyway i didnt have to get catheterized for this procedure thankfully but they DID make me measure my pee every time i went to the bathroom. like i had to pee in a little bucket attached to the toilet and the nurse had to come check it every time and i felt really weird about that. so idk just be prepared for that i guess lmao

- also idk if it was the pain meds or the anesthesia itself but post-op, i couldnt shit for like a week. the constipation is real so get u some fucking laxatives asap when you get home, this is not a joke lmao

- they also had me put on a belt every time i got up so the nurse could hold onto me in case i decided to fucking biff it. they got me up a couple times throughout the day/night to walk up and down the hallway outside and get my body used to being upright again

- oh speaking of i never got to lie down completely flat, they had my bed locked at like a 30 degree angle minimum to help with... something. im not quite sure what, but im not gonna question it

- when i got up the next morning they had a couple nurses come in and help me un-bandage so i could shower and finally look at what the tiddies looked like for the first time!! and it was exciting but i didnt cry like i expected lmao i think i was too drained and too distracted by the bleeding

- the bleeding wasnt too bad actually, just little beads kinda coming out of parts of the incisions between the stitches. but once i got in the shower obviously stuff started getting diluted in the water and it looked like a lot more than there actually was, so dont be alarmed by that! 

- SHOWERING: its a little complicated. youre not supposed to soak the incisions, and youre not supposed to apply direct water pressure or actually touch them at this point. so what i had to do was get a washcloth wet and soapy (with antibacterial soap, i think it was hand soap honestly. hand soap’s what ive been using at home so........) and then just kinda. squeeze it at your collarbone and let it drip down over everything kinda minimally. its kind of a process but it works fine. washing your hair and like, tbh literally everything else is gonna be hard. reaching over your head is hard and scary at this point. i will admit my hair care Suffered the first week. 

- then i got bandaged back up and they got me back into my own clothes and ready to go home! they also put a bra on me over the bandages in my new size. i was only there for about 24 hours total, since i didnt really have any complications. 

- on the ride home i had to make sure the cross-chest part of the seat belt was NOT touching me. if whoevers driving you hits a pothole, your soul WILL exit your body tits-first for a moment. im sorry if you live somewhere like here in nebraska where the roads are garbage but its not gonna be fun.

ONCE YOU’RE HOME!!

- i live at home with my mom and sister and if you live alone, id try to have a friend basically move in for the first week. you will need Help with things. basic things. you’ll mostly want to sleep because of the pain meds but those made me pretty dizzy so it was cool having my mom around in case i like. fell on the way to the bathroom and died or anything like that.

- changing bandages is really kind of a 2-person affair too, and youll have to do it at least once a day post-shower, so keep that in mind. 

- the bleeding is like, not that bad after that first day honestly. i never had to change the bandages more than just the once per day. 

- basically from here the procedure is just to take it easy, get up every few hours and walk around a little to keep the blood clots at bay, and enjoy yr new silhouette basically

- worst thing about recovery honestly? im a stomach/side sleeper, and i cant manage anything other than laying flat on my back with my arms at my sides right now, and thats just like.... idk i really cant sleep like that. its not comfy. ive had to set up kind of a pillow fort around me to keep me from rolling over in my sleep bc im afraid i might hurt myself accidentally like that, but idk how well-founded that fear is.

- i will say as someone who did have back problems before this, the difference is IMMEDIATE. i literally had better posture like Day 1. im still a little hunched over because the stitches create a bit of tension in your chest, but like literally it was instantaneous. god. once i got healed to a point that i could like, kinda relax and not be so fucking tense all the time? back pain has basically just been GONE. 

- other fun things to notice: i had some pretty significant stretch marks before, and now they are running in a completely different direction. i crossed my arms over my chest the other day and they actually touched my torso for the first time in like, well over a decade. if i close my eyes and try to grab my tiddy from muscle memory, i stop like a full 3 inches from where my tit actually starts now. the size i am now, just like, freeballing it? this is how i looked when i wore a binder before. if i wore a binder now i imagine id be completely flat, and honestly if i layer up at this point you cant really tell that i have anything more than the average chubby dude’s moobs, which as a kinda chubby person is totally fine. 

its a trip relearning what i look like and what im supposed to feel like but its just. such a fucking improvement over where i was. absolutely no regrets, regardless of how hard recovery has felt at times. anyway i hope this information is at least interesting and maybe helpful to anybody considering anything similar!!

#words #top surgery #breast reduction #info post #again yall lemme know if you have questions abt anything i didnt cover here i tried to hit all my bases but u never know #teat yeet

[bitchmilsky]

pick me up

a/n: HERE IT IS YALL, OVER A MONTH IN THE MAKING!!! i started this story bc i wanted to use the mans am in something bc i had just figured out that it was a joke on trans am and then it turned into this whole mess jdkjhgkhd. uhhhh i had a friend kinda proofread and he said it was good?? but obvs if something is like SUPER bad feel free to tell me bc i LIVE for feedback hehe. ALSO the only context i have for high school parties is the media so if its like super exaggerated thats why ahfsg

tags: @mambofivehargreeves @kiddangers @coolies326 (if anyone else wants to be tagged, lemme know!!)

summary: henry goes to a party and gets mixed in with the wrong crowd. 789 words

TW: underage drinking and drug use

The gentle hum of the Mans Am was enough to lull Henry to sleep. He looked over at Ray, who had zoned out as soon as they got on the highway, only making subtle adjustments when needed. He was in his pajamas, and his hair was a mess. I guess I woke him up, Henry thought. He felt guilty for calling Ray in the middle of the night, but he didn't know who else to call. He had snuck out, so he couldn't call his parents or Piper, and Charlotte would just say "I told you so". Jasper couldn't even drive, and Lord knows where Schwoz was. So, he called Ray. Ray, who dropped anything and everything whenever Henry needed something, anything. Ray, who cared more for him than his own father. Ray, who just needed some goddamn sleep. A wave of guilt rushed over Henry, who once again realized Ray was half-asleep. Trying to push the guilty feeling out of his mind, he thought back to what brought him here.

~~~~~

"Hey Henry, you coming to my party tonight?"

"Oh, h-hey Kendra. Uhh, yeah, I can make it," Henry said, blushing.

"Great! See you there." She gave him a once-over before walking off. Henry couldn't help but stare in awe.

"Henry, snap out of it! Are you actually going to Kendra's party?" asked Charlotte, concerned.

"I heard shes bad news bears. Don't go, Hen," added Jasper

"I'll be fine, guys. Besides, she's cute." Henry had a loving look in his eyes. Jasper and Charlotte looked at each other.

"Henry, she's known to get into some bad shit. Seriously, don't go. I worry about you sometimes," Charlotte told him. Henry frowned.

"I can take care of myself. I don't need you on my ass all the time," he snapped. Charlotte sighed.

"Just be careful, alright? Make good choices," she said, before grabbing Jasper's hand and walking off. Jasper resisted her pull for a second, until she gave him A Look, and he followed. Henry slammed his locker shut and went home for the night.

~~~~~

"Henry, your mother and I are going to a play tonight and we need you to stay home and watch Piper," Mr. Hart said, adjusting his tie. Henry stood up in protest.

" Dad, I can't! I have a party tonight!"

"Hah! As if. Your nerd friends wouldn't have a party," Mr. Hart pointed out, slightly mean.

"Hah. You're a nerd," jeered Piper, from the other room. Henry glared at her.

"No for reals. This girl, Kendra, she invited me to a party tonight," Henry insisted.

"Don't care. You, young man, are going to watch Piper and you are going to LIKE it!" Mr. Hart left in a huff, and Mrs. Hart left soon after.

"There's no way KENDRA invited you to her party," said Piper, looking at her phone.

"She did! It was wack," said Henry, gazing into the distance.

"Well I'm having my friend Marla over and we want you out of the house. Do you need a ride?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. Hey, if Mom and Dad get home before me, can you cover?"

"Duh. Go have fun." Piper pushed him playfully, and he walked out the front door.

~~~~~

"Henry! Glad you could make it," Kendra said, putting her hand on his arm. She smelled like booze. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"N-no thanks," said Henry, somewhat uncomfortable. "Is everyone, y'know-"

"Drinking? No, not everyone. I know I saw Bianca with a cup, but I know Bilsky's not. But he has a joint so that's probably why." Henry frowned. "You sure you don't want any?"

"I'm sure. I have uhhh, work tomorrow and I can't be like, hungover or anything." Kendra shrugged.

"Alright. Suit yourself." She grabbed his hand and led him towards the kitchen, where a couple people were, including Mitch Bilsky. "You have fun, I'll be riiiight back," she said, planting a kiss on Henry's cheek before walking off.

"Hart! Did Kendra really invite YOU?" Mitch looked almost happy to see him. He was oddly chill. "D'you wanna hit?" That explains the chill, Henry thought.

"I'm good, Mitch."

"Whatever. Hey, where's those other two?" Mitch questioned. "Y'know, the bucket fucker and the know it all?"

"You mean Jasper and Charlotte? They uh, couldn't make it." Henry thought back to his friends, and how worried they were about him. They wanted the best for him, and he treated them like shit. He considered leaving, until Kendra came back. She took his hand and led him to a more secluded area of the house. She pushed him onto the couch, climbed on top, and shoved her lips onto his. Slowly, he accepted. She tasted like the Man Cave air after a bad fight. The Man Cave. His friends - his family really. Jasper, Schwoz, Ray. And Charlotte. He recalled what she had said that afternoon - make good choices. He felt horrible about the way he had treated her. She was watching out for him, like she always does. She looks out for her boys, and in return she only gets Henry's bullshit. Henry realized that this wasn't something he wanted, he wasn't with the people he cared about - the people who cared about him. He quickly pushed Kendra off, to her surprise.

"What the hell, man?" She looked pissed.

"I uhh, have to go to the bathroom," Henry lied. She rolled her eyes.

"Down the hall and to the left. But don't take too long," she added, winking.

"Uh-huh." He ran to the bathroom and quickly locked the door. Trying his best to not break down, he hurriedly tapped the name he'd called so many times before. The phone only rang twice before he heard a familiar, sleepy voice.

"H'lo?"

"Ray! Oh thank God, I'm at a party and they're all drinking and Mitch Bilsky brought weed and I think I saw someone with Adderall or something and I just... I don't wanna be here. Can you please pick me up?" he said, on the verge of tears. The line was silent for a minute. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Nope," Ray said through a heavy yawn. "Text me the address, I'll be there ASAP." Henry breathed a sigh of relief, and waited in the bathroom until he got the glorious "I'm here" text from Ray.

~~~~~

A hard swerve of the car broke Henry from his thoughts. Ray mumbled something under his breath, and his eyes were halfway shut. Henry once again felt guilty for waking him up and making him drive all the way to get him. He finally spoke up.

"Ray, I'm so-

"Don't apologize, kid. I'm glad you're okay." He put his hand on Henry's shoulder. "You're my kid, and your safety is my priority."

"No, really, you haven't slept in days

I could've Ubered, or stayed there, or called Piper, or anything. I shouldn't've woken you up."

"Henry, let me tell you something. When you love someone, whether it's platonic, or familial, or romantic, you would drop anything for them. You're my kid and I love you. Besides, we'll be back to the Man Cave in no time. Oh sHI-" Ray narrowly avoided another car after drifting into the other lane and quickly flipped the bird. Henry cringed.

"Look dude, you need sleep. I could've called someone else." Ray sighed.

"Henry, when you became my sidekick, you swore an oath to obey my orders, and right now I order you to stop worrying about me." He cracked a smile, and Henry felt better.

"Thanks.... Dad." And slowly but surely, Henry began to cry.

"Kid, it's okay, I promise, don't worry about me," Ray reassured him.

"It's not that, it's just... oh God, gimme a minute..." Henry said, wiping his eyes. "Whew... it's just... my dad's always leaving for DAYS at a time and my mom's like... GONE. I mean she was here tonight, but otherwise I don't really see her that much and I don't even think they WORRY about me... Piper was in the tubes for like a day and a half and he didn't even care until someone told him to. But when I call you to pick me up, you just come and pick me up and say you care and it’s just... it feels good to be loved by this." Ray was silent for a minute.

"Henry, anything you need, EVER, I can do for you. If you need a pick up, I can do that. If you forget your lunch, I can get that. And Henry, God forbid you need a place to stay? The Man Cave is always open to you. Piper, too. Now get some rest, we'll be there soon. Love you, kid."

"Love you too, Dad." The gentle hum of the Mans Am was enough to lull Henry to sleep, and so, basking in the love he felt, he fell asleep.

#henry danger #dad ray #henry hart #ray manchester #charlotte page #jasper dunlop #piper hart #jake hart #fanfic

[zepheon]

Cramped

Oumota Week Day 1: Stuck in a Small Space Read on AO3 here!

(I’m here with a fic! I can’t believe it either!! But I love this ship and I thought of a fun idea for today so I gave it a shot)

-----

It was no secret that Kaito Momota could be a bit impulsive.

He wouldn’t call it a flaw himself, not really. He was always up for whatever life threw at him! Be it stepping up to a challenge or helping a friend he thought was in need, he was ready to do whatever he thought was needed at the drop of a hat. Shuichi had called it “a lack of impulse control” and Maki referred to it as “being an idiot.” The latter especially when it involved Kokichi.

But could you blame him? Kokichi was his rival! The one who pushed him to do better and aim higher! So of course he would rise to any challenge the other boy posed to him, especially if the other was insistent that he couldn’t do it. The others could roll their eyes and call him impulsive or reckless or whatever they wanted; it never bothered him.

Well, it bothered him one time.

When they were talking about his and Kokichi’s relationship.

That definitely wasn’t an impulse, no matter what the rest of their classmates thought. That was a result of communication and compromise and learning to understand the other and trust built on months and month of work. There was nothing impulsive about the two being together for as long as they had and keeping their relationship strong.

Now, was yelling his confession at Kokichi in the middle of an argument impulsive? Maybe. And was dragging the other boy into a kiss when those same feelings were shouted back at him also impulsive? Probably!

And the fact that the two of them were currently hiding in a dark janitor’s closet while trying to catch their breath from running? Okay, that was definitely impulsive. But dammit how was he supposed to just let Kokichi taunt him about never pulling a “real” prank before? The shorter boy did them all the time, how hard could they be?

Turns out the answer was not very hard at all. It was the getting away part that took some extra effort.

Kaito sighed and leaned against one of the walls of the small closet, eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. It was pitch black, no light even from under the door. His hand went to his pocket but found it empty, his phone forgotten in his room when he ran after Kokichi. He heard the other boy lean against the door near him, fits of giggles mingling in with his pants as he tried to catch his breath as well.

“I… told you it… was easy!” he huffed out and Kaito could practically hear the grin in his voice. He felt a hand brush his arm before patting his shoulder a few times. “And you were a natural! I knew you would be; some of my natural talent for pranks had to rub off on you eventually. I bet D.I.C.E. will be thrilled when I tell them—“

“Yeah yeah tell them we pulled it off, they’ll be so proud,” Kaito cut him off, lowering his voice. “But aren’t we trying to lay low and, y’know, not be found right now?”

Kiyotaka Ishimaru was definitely not his first choice for a prank target, especially considering his boyfriend was in one of the scariest biker gangs in the city. But unfortunately Kokichi was very much a go big or go home person when it came to pranks, and he certainly wasn’t about to let Kaito back down from it either. So after a bit of planning and preparation, the astronaut’s first attempt at a prank was a success.

Well, it would be after he knew they were safe from the angry hall monitor. Who knew he could run so fast?

“It’s fiiiiine, we totally lost him by now,” the supreme leader explained, voice still its normal volume. “I hide in closets like this all the time, not even Kiyotaka would think to look for us here!”

“I guess…” It was unnerving not being able to see the boy next to him with how close together they were. Kaito wasn’t claustrophobic by any means, but it didn’t mean he was completely comfortable. “Can’t we find a different spot then? Or loop back to our dorms?”

He heard Kokichi scoff. “And risk getting caught? That’s the first place he’ll look for us.” He paused for a moment and Kaito was ready to speak again before the other boy went on. “Buuuut if my dear Kai-chan is scared then I guess I can come to his rescue and find us a better spot!”

“Not scared!” he asserted, clenching his fist. But if it got them out of the closet then he’d suffer through the teasing. Kokichi laughed and Kaito heard the door knob jiggle, but the door didn’t open. He sighed. “C’mon Kichi let us out of here.”

“Uhhh, yeah…” He felt his heart sink as he heard the door knob jiggle again and heard the leader slam his body into it but no light to signal the door was opening at all. “Sooo uh.”

“No…”

“I’ve never hid in this specific closet before...”

“Don’t tell me….”

“Aaaand the door’s not budging. SO. Guess we learned this door locks from the outside!”

Kaito groaned and buried his face in his hands, slowly sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. This couldn’t be happening. He felt Kokichi plop down next to him, bumping their shoulders together.

“Welp. Looks like we’ll be here for a while.”

-----

“I spy…”

“—Kichi.”

“With my little eye…”

“Kokichi.”

“Somethiiiing purple!”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, you can’t see anything in here.”

“Of course I can! I can see in the dark you know.”

Kaito sighed and rested his head on the wall behind him, Kokichi following suit and leaning his head back against the astronaut’s chest. It hadn’t been long before the smaller boy was complaining about how uncomfortable it was being cramped in a closet and decided that his boyfriend’s lap was much more comfy. Kaito hadn’t complained; for one it would keep Kokichi happy and hopefully put a stop to the whines. But it was also nice to just be able to hold the other boy for a bit. Kokichi was finicky about physical affection and it was rare for him to be the one to initiate it. So when an opportunity presented itself he certainly wasn’t going to say no.

“Really now?” he asked sarcastically, gently squeezing the leader’s midsection. Sometimes it was just easier to go along with the lies. “This is the first time you’ve told me about it.”

“Well you never asked me about it!” Kaito snorted at how offended he sounded. “I have to keep some secrets from you, it adds to my mysterious evil charm.”

“You’ve got some kinda charm alright,” he agreed, rolling his eyes even though he definitely knew the other couldn’t see. “So you can see anything in this room? Right now?”

“That’s what I said Kai-chan!”

Kaito couldn’t hold back a grin as he raised one arm to hold up a finger in front of Kokichi’s face. “Then how many fingers am I holding up right now?”

“That’s an easy one! It’s—“ He felt the other boy reach forward and grab his hand, grin turning into a full blown smirk when he heard the gasp the signaled the leader had figured out which finger he was holding up. “Kai-chan! Flipping your boyfriend the bird when he can’t even see it! The nerve! The gall!” Kaito couldn’t even reply, laughing so hard he doubled over and rested his forehead against Kokichi’s shoulder. Kokichi tried to keep up the offended act but it was only a few more moments before he joined in on the laughter, lacing their fingers together as he leaned his head on Kaito’s.

Their laughter filled the closet for a few more minutes, eventually dying down to a few scattered giggles and then into comfortable silence. Kaito sighed as he lifted his head, pressing a soft kiss to Kokichi’s hair before leaning back into the wall. He heard the other boy hum softly before he spoke again. “You didn’t give me a guess.”

Kaito raised an eyebrow. “A guess for what?”

“For I Spy! I spied something purple and you have to guess what it is!”

He chuckled as he gave their joined hands a squeeze. “I know you can’t actually see anything.”

“It counts if I know that something purple is in here!”

Of course he would have some sort of work around rule. He was the supreme leader after all. Kaito hummed in thought, mind going over anything purple he could think of. One item stood out, the most likely option. “Is it my coat?”

“Ding ding ding! Correct!” Kokichi cheered, and Kaito felt a hand reach back to pat him on the cheek. He lifted a hand to playfully bat it away. “The answer was Kai-chan’s stupid space coat!”

“I know you don’t actually think it’s stupid,” he countered, arm going back to wrap around the other boy. “You know you like my awesome coat.”

Kokichi made a noise of disgust. “Awesome? No. Definitely not. It’s stupid and lame and definitely not comfortable at all,” he asserted, shaking his head. “And super tacky. Who even wears galaxy print anymore?”

Kaito just smiled and unwrapped his arms from the other boy, leaning forward slightly as he shrugged said coat off of his shoulder. Hoping he wasn’t going to hit the other in the darkness, he swung it around in front of Kokichi, draping it over him like a blanket.

The reaction was immediate; Kaito’s smile softened as his boyfriend made a happy sound, tugging the coat around him and snuggling into it. The astronaut wrapped his arms around him again, feeling Kokichi wiggle and adjust before placing his hands on top of his and lacing their fingers together again, feeling the coat’s cuffs brush against his wrists. He must have stuck his arms through the sleeves, effectively wearing the coat backwards and still being wrapped up in it. Kaito chuckled as the smaller boy relaxed against his chest, letting out a content sigh. “See? Totally not comfy at all.”

He hummed in agreement, placing another kiss on the top of Kokichi’s head. He rested his head against the wall and let his eyes slip shut, enjoying the peaceful quiet before his boyfriend eventually thought of something new to entertain himself again.

-----

They were halfway through one of their usual arguments when a quiet knock on the closet’s door surprised both of them. They had been in there so long that Kaito had almost forgotten that they were stuck. A familiar voice followed the knock. “Hello? Is someone in there?”

“Occupied! Come back later!” Kokichi called before Kaito even had a chance to reply. He huffed and moved to stand up, dragging the other boy with him.

“No wait, don’t leave! Kiibo it’s us, let us out!” he yelled, praying the robot hadn’t already walked away. He did have the unfortunate habit of taking anything the liar said seriously. Thankfully he heard the door knob turn and the door swung open, light pouring in and revealing a confused Kiibo staring at them both.

“Why are you two hiding in a janitor’s closet?” he asked, stepping to the side so the pair could finally leave the small room. “We’ve been looking for you all afternoon.”

“Well it’s—“

“It’s our way of coming out of the closet!” Kokichi interrupted him, throwing his arms in the air excitedly, Kaito’s coat still backwards on his arms. “We’re gay, Keeboy!”

All Kiibo could do was blink at him. “But. I already knew that. You’re very explicit about it actually—“

“Because we ARE and we’re PROUD and we’re not gonna let a ROBOT tell us otherwise--!”

Kaito sighed and began pushing his boyfriend away. “We just got stuck is all. Thanks for letting us out, man, we’re gonna head back to the dorms,” he explained, giving a small wave behind him. “Tell the others not to worry.”

“Ah, alright then! I’m glad that the two of you are okay!” he heard Kiibo call after them, nodding and intending to give Kokichi an earful about picking better places to hide after pranks. Until of course, the robot called out again.

“Oh! And Kiyotaka was looking for you both too!”

Shit.

#zeph writes #oumota week #oumota week 2019 #kaito momota #kokichi ouma #oumota #catch me outing myself about my ships #this was fun tho even if it took me all day #writing is hard yo #why yes I did have to throw in that ishimondo reference happy belated pride #danganronpa #i forgot to tag it as dr i'm a fool

[pnatsecretsanta]

Johnny Jhonny in: A Christmas Calamity

A STORY!/ IT’S DONE!/ FOR @pjmaxsson! Apologies for getting this out so late, I hope that this little tale brings you a bit of belated Christmas cheer, and more! Without further ado, here is:

Johnny Jhonny in: A Christmas Calamity

“ARGH!”

Johnny Jhonny kicked one of the small snow piles haphazardly placed along the sidewalk. The holiday season, as with most things in Mayview, had been bizarre so far, with a mild snowstorm being followed by a mild warm front. Only a thin layer of snow remained, save for the large dirty piles left by the snowplows.

“Out of anyone I coulda gotten, I had ta’ get Isabel Guerra? That chick’s impossible to get information on!”

“Well if it’s any consolation, she probably won’t murder you if you get it messed up. Pretty sure Lisa knows I got Violet ‘cause she’s been giving me that creepy smile for the past three days. Plus, I don’t think RJ even got someone from our grade,” Ollie chimed in.

RJ nodded in agreement, their furrowed brow hidden by their hood.

“None of this would even be a PROBLEM if Mr. Garcia had handed out these assignments earlier!” Stephen cried out, waving his hands in an exaggerated motion. “THREE DAYS to deliver a Secret Santa present?! We’re gonna have to do our investigations separately!”

               The group, sans RJ, groaned at that. Gift giving for them was nothing to be taken lightly; each member of Johnny’s Gang would meticulously search for, or more often create, something for their target that would have some kind of personal connection for them, a tactic that extended to any poor fool that they got saddled with for a Secret Santa. This, of course, could take a bit of time to gather enough information to make such a gift, which the boys (and RJ) preferred doing together. That plan was now ruined thanks to Mr. Garcia sleeping through the day he was supposed to hand the slips out, on top of his continued forgetting.

               There was a nudge on Johnny’s arm, and he swerved to see where RJ was pointing. At the base of the hill they were slowly traversing down was his target, a maroon sweater barely peeking out under a stone grey jacket, mahogany hair lightly nestled at the shoulders. There’s no way Guerra wouldn’t suspect an ambush if the four of them went down, a thought Johnny saw reflected in his compadres’ eyes.

               “Go get ‘em, slugger!” whispered Stephen with a shove that was anything but soft, sending Johnny stumbling nearly a quarter of the way down the slope before he caught his footing. Halfway down the hill, Johnny stopped and gave a quick glance at his pals, who gave waves of encouragement and thumbs up as a response.

—

About three feet in, Johnny was able to gather one bit of information on Isabel Guerra:

She had really weird ideas for recreational activities.

After a few close calls, he had managed to tail her into a weird-looking cave mound. The damp walls seemed to eat up any light, as Johnny had soon found it hard to see even a foot in front of him, and the soft ground obscured any sounds he could have used to follow her. The paths were wide (he surmised that Ollie could easily walk beside him) and winding ever downward, and the bully soon realized that there were multiple sprawling paths. Johnny silently cursed himself for not charging his phone the day before. At least there would have been a small light source if he had.

The small, uneven muttering up ahead caught his attention.

“Oh geez. Oh man. D-did I go the right way? How are there so many paths? What if Mr. Max is hurt? What if that thing comes back? Ohhh…”

Slowly, Johnny crept up to the voice, hearing it fret over many things. He squinched up his eyes, trying to think. This definitely wasn’t Isabel-her voice could command the room, confidence would ooze from every sound she made.

“I can’t stay here worrying about this! Mr. Max needs me! But…”

“Who the heck’re you?”

               “WAAAUGH!”

Johnny could just barely make out the hazy shape of a boy about his age in front of him, quaking intensely. He wouldn’t have enough time to ruffle this one up, he figured. Got too far away from Guerra already. He’d have to make this quick in order to catch up to her and hopefully hear her let something slip.

“A’ight fella, this is the way it’s gonna work here. I’m feeling pretty generous t’day. Gotta make sure I get the deets on somebody real fast n’ stuff. I’m not even gonna stop ta’ beat ya’ up right now, my mood’s that good. Just tell me where the Guerra chick went.”

“Uhhh…I…don’t know who…that is..?” came the hasty reply.

“Er.. Isabel Guerra? Brown eyes, long brown hair, gray jacket? ”

“…Oh. OH!” The boy seemed to perk up a little upon hearing that. “That’s the scary girl’s name? The one from that weird dodgeball game, right?”

“Hitball, yeah, she was t’ other captain. Besides me.”

“O-oh, okay. I, uh, wasn’t paying too much attention to the game…mostly just watching Max. Ah! Are you the guy Max blocked that ball for?”

That one stung a little. If there was anything that made Johnny Jhonny uncomfortable, it’s someone taking a punishment that should’ve rightfully been his.

“Yeah…that’s me,” he said, the agitation creeping into his voice. “You gonna tell me where the girl went now, or are ya gonna stand here and waste my freakin’ time?”

“Well…I dunno where…Isabel, right? Went exactly…but if she’s in here, that means she’s going to help Max too! Which is good, because this place kinda scares me..”

Great. This kid wasn’t any help at all, Johnny thought to himself as he began to storm off. Well, as best as he could storm in this place, anyway, as the ground muffled all his footsteps.

“Uh, mister sir, you’re heading into a wall,” the boy provided helpfully right as Johnny smashed his face into a bed of dirt. “Are you able to see in here? Because it looks like you’re squinting pretty hard…”

“Oh, so you can see where yer’ goin’ in this pitch black mess?”

“A-a little, mister sir. This place has a lot of weird turns and forks and dead ends. If you can’t tell where you’re going, you could get pretty lost.”

Johnny suddenly had an idea.

“Right then, it’s settled! I can’t see a foot in fronta’ me, and yer’ too scared to fight…whatever it is you came in here fer’, so you get ta’ do the lookin’ and I’ll do the fightin’! I’ll let ya’ pay me back for it later.”

“Uh…ah…oh…kay”, came the uneasy reply. “There’s a path to your left. It’s straight for a while after that, from what I can see.”

And with that, the two set off.

—

Johnny couldn’t tell how long he’d been walking in silence for. At least with the Ed ambush a few days prior, he’d been able to gauge some method of progress by seeing just where Ed was and what he was up to. But here there wasn’t anything to see ahead of him. He could barely hear his own footsteps on the ground if he paid enough attention, but he couldn’t hear the other kid’s at all, even though with a glance he could see the kid steadily at his side.

He wasn’t scared, of course. It was just a dark silent cave, that’s all. Nothing that pathetic could scare Johnny Jhonny.

He was, admittedly, just a little creeped out. He needed something to keep his mind off of this. Besides Guerra, of course. No sense chasing Guerra with some hyped up senses that’d give him away.

“So what’s your deal, anyway? If yer’ so scared of everything, whatcha even come to a spooky cave for?” he asked.

The sad little laugh’s proximity made him jump.

“I was trying to go around with Max a little bit, to see the town again. I thought maybe I could become a little braver, maybe even help in a fight…but then a big spirit came up and grabbed him! I followed it here, but then Max dropped his bat trying to get out of its arms, and I rushed in to help and give it back to him. He can’t fight real good without it… but this is a big cave, and I can’t get the bat to him without going through it, and it’s dark and I got scared…”

Johnny stared at the kid with only the slightest expression of disbelief. “You wanna learn how to fight?”

               “I have to be able to help out when he gets attacked! So I can have his back! Because that’s what friends do!”

There was a sense of conviction in the kid’s voice that wasn’t there before. A conviction immediately lost when the floor shook and a deep rumble emanated from below, if the higher pitched wailing that came from his position was anything to go by.

Once the rumbling stopped and Johnny confirmed that he could not beat the earthquake into submission, he turned and gently slapped his hand over the general area of his partner’s head. Although he missed his mouth entirely, it still worked wonders in stopping the kid’s terrified babbling.

“Tell ya what, ya picked a good day ta run into me. I’ll whip ya up into ship-shop shape so you can wallop all yer problems while I’m out nerd hunting. A’course, you’ll have to pay me back with interest…”, he said, cracking his knuckles for effect, but secretly impressed that the kid was trying to take initiative.

He was not expecting a shaky, uncertain “thank you” as a response, but it filled him with a weird sense of pride, and soon an exchange of stories began.

—-

To the timid kid’s credit, he had kept his end of the bargain.

Johnny soon realized the kid was a good eavesdropper, since he mentioned that he only knew the girl for a few days. He would’ve quicker taken Isabel to be a dog person afraid of spiders than the other way around. Apparently she was close to her spider too, the one that she’d lost recently. Called it a friend. Johnny could relate; the loss of his boxer four years ago still hurt to think about somewhat. She was also Max’s friend, so of course she’d be into the freaky flipping and jumping around he did constantly. Between her and that spiky nerd dude, freaky movements seemed to be something of a requirement for being that kid’s buddy. He made a mental note to himself to practice some moves with his pals later to show him up.

Some of the facts were a bit harder to make sense of. According to him, she had come with some “scary guy with glasses” to help sort out a…evil whale frog the other day? Riding a paper horse? With the kid’s luck he probably found that weirdo history teacher that’s always wearing shades, but with the kid’s track record of jumping at the smacking sounds of Johnny’s hands, he could’ve been scared of pretty much anyone.

And if what the kid was saying was true, he had somehow managed to punch a teacher in the face for “being evil”. Not a bad start to a fighting career, even if he said that he ran and hid behind Max immediately after.

On his own side, Johnny had launched into relaying many of his and his gang’s bouts over the years, placing emphasis on each blow, duck and dodge. What started out as giving advice on which attacks are what, when people are giving them and how to take/sidestep them quickly derailed into making as great a story as possible. Johnny was just too used to framing these stories for his pals. His partner didn’t seem to mind it too much, though, and every hushed “wow” and question of what happened next only served to hype him up further. He told of turf wars and stakeouts, of the gang catching up to a group of cyclists that had bought the last of the candy that RJ had been looking forward to all week, even his battle with Ed and the Great Starch Hunt.

“’An then he gave us stars from his own pocket for beatin’ him, and Ed took off for greater quarry. Gotta meet up with him later to get RJ’s stuff back…an’ mine too, come ta think of it. Then we got thrown inta’ detention.”

“Wow, mister sir, you sure do get into a lot of adventures.”

“Whoa whoa, knock it off with the ‘mister sir’ crap, yer makin’ me feel old.”

“I don’t think you’ve told me your name though.”

“Wha-you don’t know my name? After everything I just told you?”

“S-sorry…”

“The name’s Johnny. Johnny Jhonny. Forget it and I whack ya.”

“Ah, okay mister Johnny.”

There was a small back and forth about not using “mister” and the kid’s inability to get it through his head, followed by a weird silence, until a small question piped up from the compatriot:

“So you were always good at fighting the bad guys and…other guys, huh? I hope I can be that fearless someday.”

Johnny paused. The image of an angry Jeff from a few days before surfaced in his head, mocking him for protecting his buddies and promising a permanent scar. He remembered how that ball came sailing towards his pals and how much it’d hurt them if he moved. How people kept taking shots for him that weren’t meant for them: Dimitri, Max…

…and how readily RJ and Ollie were to take them, too.

“…That ain’t it. Listen, it’s not about never bein’ scared. That Hitball game where everythin’ went nuts? I acted all brave to calm down my buds, but…I was shakin’ inside. But I took that fear and threw it right back at that little punk. You just gotta take all that terror that’s buildin’ in your chest and put it in your fists instead. Pick up all that fear those jerks put in ya and make ‘em take it back tenfold.”

“How do you do that, Johnny sir?”

The “sir” wasn’t much better, but Johnny brushed it aside for now. “Well, you know how you keep screamin’ whenever somethin’ spooks ya? Make it louder. Make it a war cry! Bellow and yell in their face and make em’ pay for makin’ that sound come outta’ your mouth! And when you think maybe you should book it, or get worried that you can’t take the fight, you think of how your friends would be in the same spot as you, and how they’d get hurt instead, and then you beat up that foe for daring to put that image in your head!”

There was a pause before he spoke again with as much mentorly conviction as he could muster.

“Ya’ don’t let those punks hurt your friends. Ya gotta stand by your pals, fight by their side, so they don’t take blows that ain’t their due.”

“Because that’s what friends do.”

“Exactly.”

A few seconds passed without any words. Johnny then piped up again.

“Y’know, I don’t think you ever told me your name neither.”

“Oh. Uhm..it’s PJ. I’m PJ.”

Johnny couldn’t really see the kid’s face at all, but he could feel the smile from where he was standing. Or maybe that was just the small smile creeping up on his own face. He wasn’t sure, but the area felt calmer, the silence almost welcoming.

That didn’t last.

Another rumble cut through the air, and the quakes nearly threw the bully to the ground. Then another noise, just loud enough for Johnny to make out, bellowed from below.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

“That’s the spirit that got mister Max! It’s close!” shouted PJ before a third rumble sounded. Johnny felt loose soil fall into his hair and vigorously ran his hands through his ‘do. He wasn’t exactly sure what a “spirit” meant, or what could’ve possibly made that noise, but it wasn’t going to stop him from following Guerra. He charged ahead.

Straight into a wall of dirt.

“Ahh! The path is blocked off! It must have touched the soil again!”

“Wha..?” came the muffled reply.

“The spirit can touch things! It moved the soil around earlier when I was making my way in!”

Johnny felt hands on his shoulders for a brief moment before he was catapulted backwards. His hands quickly found soft fabric and the two sped away back up the hallway, swerving and curving to avoid pieces of the ceiling falling down around them. The tremors intensified, and Johnny swung back, bracing himself to punch an enemy he couldn’t see.

KLANG!!

It took a minute for his ears to stop screaming at him, but the vibrations underneath him seemed to halt. His foot slipped for half a second over a pit that he didn’t think was there before. As the ringing subsided, his head pieced together what that noise could have been.

“Hehey, that sounded like a solid hit! Looks like ya got more punch than ya thought, lil slugger!”

“Uh…I didn’t actually swing at it…it came up from underneath me and hit the bat with its face…”

“A solid hold then. You held the bat steady while it came at ya.”

“I was more frozen in fear…”

“Dude, take the compliment before I shove it down your throat hole.”

“OK, Johnny sir.”

“NO, it’s just—you don’t have ta—ah, forget it.”

Johnny turned back and felt around the edges of the hole with his shoe. Whatever came up from the ground was huge, as it took him a while to find a part of the soft earth that wasn’t sloping into the pit. He had half a mind to try throwing something in it to hear how deep it went, but the way the ground was, he wouldn’t be able to hear how far something went anyway.

With no other options, the two started backtracking farther up the cave.

—

“Hey, come ta think of it…PJ, are you in your pajamas?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so.”

“Why’d you come down here in your pajamas when it’s this cold out? You lookin’ to catch a flu or something?”

“I can’t really…touch anything unless it’s possessed. …or a spirit… …or Max…or people with special powers.”

“Whaddya mean you can’t touch things? You’re holding Max’s bat. You just touched me like five minutes ago!”

“This is Max’s special weapon with special powers! I can touch it because it’s full of magic.”

“Yeah, well I ain’t no freaky jumpin’ wizard with wizard tools, and ya touched me, so there. What the heck are you talking about with ‘spirits’ anyway? You saying this cave is full of ghosts or something?”

“I don’t think spirits are the same thing as ghosts… they’re weird. They can be really big, or small, and they all have powers, and they can have legs.”

“Ha! Now I know yer’ bluffin’! Stephen told me that ghosts look like super see-through people with a faint bluish tint on ‘em. Only the ones from other places don’t got feet.”

There was an awkward silence. Johnny couldn’t see the face of his partner beside him, but he could tell that the look on his face was one of confusion.

“…You’re new to this, aren’t you?”

Before Johnny could ask him what the heck that was supposed to mean, the rumbling returned. The large, soft chunks of dirt rained down on Johnny’s shoulders, and the ground beneath him quickly lost stability. Small hills of soil quickly piled up near his feet.

The place was caving in.

Johnny quickly found PJ’s arms (though there was little need, as his hands had already found Johnny’s wrists as soon as the rumbles had begun again) and booked it back up the path. He soon found it hard to block out the burning running up his side, or his lungs crying out for air, or the urge to remove all the dirt from his hair, but the twists and turns the path soon divulged helped distract him ever so slightly.

There was only one brief stop, when two other shadows crossed their path, one yanking the other forward in a similar manner. The long hair fluttering into the other shadow’s face was a dead giveaway for Guerra, but when Johnny tried to follow her, he ran into another wall. The place must be coming down fast if he was blocked off that quickly, he thought, and scrambled back as fast as he could to get the heck out of Chrysler.

After more twists and turns and dodges, a blinding light made its presence known. Johnny raced forward, the screaming in his sides unmatched by the crumbling walls becoming more evident from the light. As the exit loomed nearer and the snowy woods came into focus, he noticed the archway begin to buckle. He forced himself forward as fast as he could muster as the shiny white window to the outside became polluted with fallen sediment. He could feel the cool air on his skin and in his lungs, soothing his aching….well, everything. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the roof give entirely. He threw both of his arms forward in desperation, only dimly realizing that the grip he’d felt on his arm had vanished.

Suddenly he felt a hard shove from behind, and everything went white.

—

Johnny lied on the ground for a few seconds, allowing the small layer of snow to soothe his burning limbs. Each inhale brought both pain and relief. Slowly, he got back up to his feet, rubbing tiny patches of nearby snow underneath his pant legs to numb them ever so slightly and surveying the ground.

For the most part, the woods looked about the same as when he had entered, though he hadn’t been paying much attention to the ground at the time. Every track in the snow looked fresh, so it hadn’t snowed any further after he had entered the cave. A massive gouge in the frozen fluff confirmed that someone had been dragged into the mound, and he could see his shoeprints from his stalking mission, his wavy treads trailing just behind a far smoother and slightly smaller boot print.

He paused, then looked around the marks again. There were only two types of prints in the snow. Unless the kid had trod over the haphazard gouge, that was one type too few.

A small gleam caught his eye, and as he registered what was giving off such a glare, his eyes widened.

Lying three or four steps away from his position was an aluminum bat.

His head quickly snapped up to the cave’s entrance. The once great gaping maw that had lead down to the damp dark underneath had been entirely filled with moist brown soil.

There was no sign of life nearby.

He tried to scream for his cave companion, but his voice flickered in and out like a match refusing to light. Within seconds he was at the cave’s entrance, frantically clawing out bits of earth, searching for an opening, his trembling legs and pinwheeling arms providing the howling his throat could not produce.

As he opened his mouth to attempt crying out a fifth time, another scream filled the area for him.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Johnny stumbled over onto his back, scrambling back into the snow while keeping eye contact with the thing. It was a gigantic mantis, about a few heads taller than a bus, with glowing white eyes the size of the globe Mr. Garcia had in his room. A viscous purple permeated its form and gleamed in the light as if it was made of Jello, and it shimmered like some form of mirage.

It noticed him instantly. Quicker than he’d ever expect a mantis to move, it raised a violet-tinged talon and swung its biological guillotine towards him. The light streaming through the bug caused Johnny’s eyes to water, and he braced himself.

Another familiar sound struck through the air, and his ears cried out in protest.

Johnny blinked away the tears to see another purple shape floating just a few feet in front of him. While the consistency still looked around the same, this one took the form of what looked like a twelve year old kid. A squint revealed what looked to be some form of shirt with a collar and wrist cuffs. There were no sign of legs; instead, the torso tapered off to a wispy serpentine tail. As Johnny stared at the apparition with a quivering mouth and eyes wide as saucers, the purple boy struggled to retain his position. The redhead mentally shook himself and peered beyond the kid; the mantis’s front claws had locked on to the bat the kid was holding and was attempting to push it out from underneath him.

“Aaah! The spirit’s too strong! I can’t keep this up!” the ghost exclaimed as the mantis lowered its head to his eye level, chattering large mandibles that would look less out of place on an ant. Its voice sounded familiar, Johnny thought, and oh sweet merciful Punch why did it sound so familiar, it couldn’t be–

“Please, mister Johnny! Heeelp!”

Johnny glanced from the purple boy to the purple bug and back a few times, his breathing becoming more erratic. It was then that his voice finally burst through in full force.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

For a brief second, the boy turned his head just a bit to look at Johnny. He had the same glowing eyes the bug did, as well as a small curl of hair sticking from his top. A look of panic and confusion soon snapped into realization, and the boy turned back and joined in the din.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

It was barely audible above the combined noise of Johnny’s and the bug’s screams, but it was a valiant war cry nonetheless.

Through the wails, Johnny noticed the ghost slowly pushing back upwards against the mantis. The redheaded rogue shot himself to a sitting position and shoved the ghost forward, and the insidious insect buckled. The cold metal of the bat reunited with the behemoth’s face, and as it reeled backward, PJ raised his volume just a little bit, pitched his arms back, and swung the bat right into the creature’s eye. After another round of shrieking, the mantis waved one arm in front of them, and with a tepid “peh”, it retreated back into the earth.

Johnny stared at the spot the mantis had been a second ago in shock, only turning back to the ghost as it floated back in his direction.

“We did it! We beat the bad guy with …uh…violence! And friendship! And violent friendship!” PJ exclaimed as he neared Johnny, his grin somehow resting on the verge of just off-looking enough to be intimidating.

The bully tried to get up, or scramble away, or anything, but his body betrayed him. A fist slowly and haltingly tried to meet the ghost, but even that only made it halfway to its destination before stopping, the limb quaking uselessly in the air. The seconds passed as the ghost stared at the shaking fist until finally he clasped his hand around it.

Johnny’s voice failed him once again, only letting out a small squeak. He could only stare.

After a few minutes, the pajama-clad lad let out an “Oh!”

 “I think that’s Isabel and Max over there!”, he exclaimed. Johnny barely managed to turn his head to see a large smoky red arrow a few yards away. “I have to hurry home too, I sort of didn’t tell Lefty where I was going again and he’s probably going to be real mad if he finds out I left.”

“Bye Johnny! Thanks for everythiiiing!” the ghost cried as he flew away.

 Johnny just stared forward for a few minutes, his body completely spent. His head tried to come up with reasons for what just happened, but to no avail.

It took about ten minutes for his legs to finally work again, and as he made his way back home to complete his mission, the thoughts nagged at his mind.

He fought…something. With a ghost. He had Friendship Fused with a ghost.

He had befriended a ghost.

He shook his head back and forth to try to clear his head. He got what he needed out of the…ghost…and now it was time to put his newfound knowledge to good use.

Operation Season’s Beatings was a go.

—

All things considered, the Activity Club had a rather uneventful morning. Early patrol had consisted of dealing with one minor spirit with a compulsion to spread gift wrap everywhere, and Isaac’s small kicks of wind made quick work of the litter.

The lunch bell rang, and Isabel hurried to her locker to put away her books. The four of them had promised to eat lunch together outside and possibly share what they had gotten with the others. She thought about how Isaac would try to play it off as if he hadn’t looked at his gift yet when he had been keeping the plush ninja bunny really badly hidden in his jeans pocket all morning and grinned.

Upon kicking the locker door open, she was greeted with what looked like a shoebox with red Santa wrapping paper awkwardly balancing above her books. The spectral quickly glanced around to see if she was being watched and just barely caught a glimpse of red retreating. Shrugging it off, she grabbed her prize and headed to the schoolyard.

Unsurprisingly, Isaac was gushing about the bunny, his eyes reminding her of those “canine eye inflation disease” posters her grandfather had put up in her room. It was a well-crafted rabbit, from what she could see, and the black ninja garb combined with a small metal headband was a nice touch.

“Oh man Izzy, you’re gonna love what Max got,” Ed chirped as she plopped down beside the three.

“I’m serious, whoever told my Secret Santa about this is dead,” Max groaned as he revealed a model train set from his box. Isabel laughed heartily. “My dad is never going to stop running this thing! It’ll be puffing around upstairs until Halloween!”

“How long did it take Stephen to figure it out, by the way?” she asked Ed, who mirrored her devious grin.

“Two periods and I’m pretty sure Ollie was in on it.”

“Do I even want to know what awful fate you brought upon that fool?”

“Hey, when I told him the alien was right behind him, I wasn’t lying. And the Velcro stuck pretty well, all things considered.”

After hearing Isaac gush about the bunny some more (she recalled a scant few times where his voice reached that high of a pitch) and watching Ed reveal his gift of some art supplies and an Optimus Prime robot, the kids turned their attention to Isabel’s red box.

“The tag just says ‘Guerra!’ on it with no sender, so we’re off to a good start already”, Max said dryly as she carefully tore at the paper.

Isaac complained that he wanted to use that paper for later, so Isabel removed it carefully as to make it as whole as possible. Soon the box was bare, and the kids shot each other gleeful looks. Isabel ripped the box open.

Everyone paused. The boys shot uncertain glances at their friend, who stared at the contents with the blankest look on her face any of them had ever seen.

The box was filled with spiders of various sizes, colors and materials. Felt spiders with pom-pom bodies and googly eyes stared innocently upwards, a drawing of a spider eating a dog was taped to the side of the box, and spiders crafted with pebbles and glue stubbornly stuck to the bottom.

There were three origami spiders scattered throughout the box, each done in a different style. One of them had red eyes, saw-tooth fangs and an oddly misshapen head.

There was a handwritten note taped to the lid.

“Guerra,

I heard you lost your spider pal. Having somebody you love leave you stings something awful. So I made you a bunch of spiders that will never die on you ever. Plus to give you something to remember your friend by.

-

PS. They eat dogs”

“They didn’t even write their name on it?” Isaac murmured as Isabel picked up the red-eyed origami spider, slowly turning it in her palm.

“Izzy?” Ed asked gently as his friend traced an hourglass shape into the spider’s body. She stole a glance behind her of the red-haired idiot she’d seen earlier, propped up against a tree just within her line of sight, doing what looked like his best not to fall asleep. “You OK?”

She turned to her friends with a small smile, tucking the odd spider into the deep pocket of her jacket.

“Yeah, I’m just fine.”

#Ooo! A fic! #Cute! #submission #fic #pj #johnny #ollie #rj #stephen #jang #izzy #max #ed #isaac #ac

[gatortavern]

Johnny Jhonny in: A Christmas Calamity

A STORY/IT’S DONE!/ FOR @pjmaxsson ! Happy holidays from your @pnatsecretsanta, and apologies that this was sent out so late! (also as a PS, PJ gets his own gift in an epilogue, which will be coming soon!)

Johnny Jhonny In: A Christmas Calamity

“ARGH!”

Johnny Jhonny kicked one of the small snow piles haphazardly placed along the sidewalk. The holiday season, as with most things in Mayview, had been bizarre so far, with a mild snowstorm being followed by a mild warm front. Only a thin layer of snow remained, save for the large dirty piles left by the snowplows.

“Out of anyone I coulda gotten, I had ta’ get Isabel Guerra? That chick’s impossible to get information on!”

“Well if it’s any consolation, she probably won’t murder you if you get it messed up. Pretty sure Lisa knows I got Violet ‘cause she’s been giving me that creepy smile for the past three days. Plus, I don’t think RJ even got someone from our grade,” Ollie chimed in.

RJ nodded in agreement, their furrowed brow hidden by their hood.

“None of this would even be a PROBLEM if Mr. Garcia had handed out these assignments earlier!” Stephen cried out, waving his hands in an exaggerated motion. “THREE DAYS to deliver a Secret Santa present?! We’re gonna have to do our investigations separately!”

              The group, sans RJ, groaned at that. Gift giving for them was nothing to be taken lightly; each member of Johnny’s Gang would meticulously search for, or more often create, something for their target that would have some kind of personal connection for them, a tactic that extended to any poor fool that they got saddled with for a Secret Santa. This, of course, could take a bit of time to gather enough information to make such a gift, which the boys (and RJ) preferred doing together. That plan was now ruined thanks to Mr. Garcia sleeping through the day he was supposed to hand the slips out, on top of his continued forgetting.

              There was a nudge on Johnny’s arm, and he swerved to see where RJ was pointing. At the base of the hill they were slowly traversing down was his target, a maroon sweater barely peeking out under a stone grey jacket, mahogany hair lightly nestled at the shoulders. There’s no way Guerra wouldn’t suspect an ambush if the four of them went down, a thought Johnny saw reflected in his compadres’ eyes.

              “Go get ‘em, slugger!” whispered Stephen with a shove that was anything but soft, sending Johnny stumbling nearly a quarter of the way down the slope before he caught his footing. Halfway down the hill, Johnny stopped and gave a quick glance at his pals, who gave waves of encouragement and thumbs up as a response.

---

About three feet in, Johnny was able to gather one bit of information on Isabel Guerra:

She had really weird ideas for recreational activities.

After a few close calls, he had managed to tail her into a weird-looking cave mound. The damp walls seemed to eat up any light, as Johnny had soon found it hard to see even a foot in front of him, and the soft ground obscured any sounds he could have used to follow her. The paths were wide (he surmised that Ollie could easily walk beside him) and winding ever downward, and the bully soon realized that there were multiple sprawling paths. Johnny silently cursed himself for not charging his phone the day before. At least there would have been a small light source if he had.

The small, uneven muttering up ahead caught his attention.

“Oh geez. Oh man. D-did I go the right way? How are there so many paths? What if Mr. Max is hurt? What if that thing comes back? Ohhh…”

Slowly, Johnny crept up to the voice, hearing it fret over many things. He squinched up his eyes, trying to think. This definitely wasn’t Isabel-her voice could command the room, confidence would ooze from every sound she made.

“I can’t stay here worrying about this! Mr. Max needs me! But…”

“Who the heck’re you?”

              “WAAAUGH!”

Johnny could just barely make out the hazy shape of a boy about his age in front of him, quaking intensely. He wouldn’t have enough time to ruffle this one up, he figured. Got too far away from Guerra already. He’d have to make this quick in order to catch up to her and hopefully hear her let something slip.

“A’ight fella, this is the way it’s gonna work here. I’m feeling pretty generous t’day. Gotta make sure I get the deets on somebody real fast n’ stuff. I’m not even gonna stop ta’ beat ya’ up right now, my mood’s that good. Just tell me where the Guerra chick went.”

“Uhhh…I…don’t know who…that is..?” came the hasty reply.

“Er.. Isabel Guerra? Brown eyes, long brown hair, gray jacket? ”

“…Oh. OH!” The boy seemed to perk up a little upon hearing that. “That’s the scary girl’s name? The one from that weird dodgeball game, right?”

“Hitball, yeah, she was t’ other captain. Besides me.”

“O-oh, okay. I, uh, wasn’t paying too much attention to the game…mostly just watching Max. Ah! Are you the guy Max blocked that ball for?”

That one stung a little. If there was anything that made Johnny Jhonny uncomfortable, it’s someone taking a punishment that should’ve rightfully been his.

“Yeah…that’s me,” he said, the agitation creeping into his voice. “You gonna tell me where the girl went now, or are ya gonna stand here and waste my freakin’ time?”

“Well…I dunno where…Isabel, right? Went exactly…but if she’s in here, that means she’s going to help Max too! Which is good, because this place kinda scares me..”

Great. This kid wasn’t any help at all, Johnny thought to himself as he began to storm off. Well, as best as he could storm in this place, anyway, as the ground muffled all his footsteps.

“Uh, mister sir, you’re heading into a wall,” the boy provided helpfully right as Johnny smashed his face into a bed of dirt. “Are you able to see in here? Because it looks like you’re squinting pretty hard…”

“Oh, so you can see where yer’ goin’ in this pitch black mess?”

“A-a little, mister sir. This place has a lot of weird turns and forks and dead ends. If you can’t tell where you’re going, you could get pretty lost.”

Johnny suddenly had an idea.

“Right then, it’s settled! I can’t see a foot in fronta’ me, and yer’ too scared to fight…whatever it is you came in here fer’, so you get ta’ do the lookin’ and I’ll do the fightin’! I’ll let ya’ pay me back for it later.”

“Uh…ah…oh…kay”, came the uneasy reply. “There’s a path to your left. It’s straight for a while after that, from what I can see.”

And with that, the two set off.

---

Johnny couldn’t tell how long he’d been walking in silence for. At least with the Ed ambush a few days prior, he’d been able to gauge some method of progress by seeing just where Ed was and what he was up to. But here there wasn’t anything to see ahead of him. He could barely hear his own footsteps on the ground if he paid enough attention, but he couldn’t hear the other kid’s at all, even though with a glance he could see the kid steadily at his side.

He wasn’t scared, of course. It was just a dark silent cave, that’s all. Nothing that pathetic could scare Johnny Jhonny.

He was, admittedly, just a little creeped out. He needed something to keep his mind off of this. Besides Guerra, of course. No sense chasing Guerra with some hyped up senses that’d give him away.

“So what’s your deal, anyway? If yer’ so scared of everything, whatcha even come to a spooky cave for?” he asked.

The sad little laugh’s proximity made him jump.

“I was trying to go around with Max a little bit, to see the town again. I thought maybe I could become a little braver, maybe even help in a fight...but then a big spirit came up and grabbed him! I followed it here, but then Max dropped his bat trying to get out of its arms, and I rushed in to help and give it back to him. He can’t fight real good without it… but this is a big cave, and I can’t get the bat to him without going through it, and it’s dark and I got scared…”

Johnny stared at the kid with only the slightest expression of disbelief. “You wanna learn how to fight?”               “I have to be able to help out when he gets attacked! So I can have his back! Because that’s what friends do!”

There was a sense of conviction in the kid’s voice that wasn’t there before. A conviction immediately lost when the floor shook and a deep rumble emanated from below, if the higher pitched wailing that came from his position was anything to go by.

Once the rumbling stopped and Johnny confirmed that he could not beat the earthquake into submission, he turned and gently slapped his hand over the general area of his partner’s head. Although he missed his mouth entirely, it still worked wonders in stopping the kid’s terrified babbling.

“Tell ya what, ya picked a good day ta run into me. I’ll whip ya up into ship-shop shape so you can wallop all yer problems while I’m out nerd hunting. A’course, you’ll have to pay me back with interest…”, he said, cracking his knuckles for effect, but secretly impressed that the kid was trying to take initiative.

He was not expecting a shaky, uncertain “thank you” as a response, but it filled him with a weird sense of pride, and soon an exchange of stories began.

----

To the timid kid’s credit, he had kept his end of the bargain.

Johnny soon realized the kid was a good eavesdropper, since he mentioned that he only knew the girl for a few days. He would’ve quicker taken Isabel to be a dog person afraid of spiders than the other way around. Apparently she was close to her spider too, the one that she’d lost recently. Called it a friend. Johnny could relate; the loss of his boxer four years ago still hurt to think about somewhat. She was also Max’s friend, so of course she’d be into the freaky flipping and jumping around he did constantly. Between her and that spiky nerd dude, freaky movements seemed to be something of a requirement for being that kid’s buddy. He made a mental note to himself to practice some moves with his pals later to show him up.

Some of the facts were a bit harder to make sense of. According to him, she had come with some “scary guy with glasses” to help sort out a…evil whale frog the other day? Riding a paper horse? With the kid’s luck he probably found that weirdo history teacher that’s always wearing shades, but with the kid’s track record of jumping at the smacking sounds of Johnny’s hands, he could’ve been scared of pretty much anyone.

And if what the kid was saying was true, he had somehow managed to punch a teacher in the face for “being evil”. Not a bad start to a fighting career, even if he said that he ran and hid behind Max immediately after.

On his own side, Johnny had launched into relaying many of his and his gang’s bouts over the years, placing emphasis on each blow, duck and dodge. What started out as giving advice on which attacks are what, when people are giving them and how to take/sidestep them quickly derailed into making as great a story as possible. Johnny was just too used to framing these stories for his pals. His partner didn’t seem to mind it too much, though, and every hushed “wow” and question of what happened next only served to hype him up further. He told of turf wars and stakeouts, of the gang catching up to a group of cyclists that had bought the last of the candy that RJ had been looking forward to all week, even his battle with Ed and the Great Starch Hunt.

“’An then he gave us stars from his own pocket for beatin’ him, and Ed took off for greater quarry. Gotta meet up with him later to get RJ’s stuff back…an’ mine too, come ta think of it. Then we got thrown inta’ detention.”

“Wow, mister sir, you sure do get into a lot of adventures.”

“Whoa whoa, knock it off with the ‘mister sir’ crap, yer makin’ me feel old.”

“I don’t think you’ve told me your name though.”

“Wha-you don’t know my name? After everything I just told you?”

“S-sorry…”

“The name’s Johnny. Johnny Jhonny. Forget it and I whack ya.”

“Ah, okay mister Johnny.”

There was a small back and forth about not using “mister” and the kid’s inability to get it through his head, followed by a weird silence, until a small question piped up from the compatriot:

“So you were always good at fighting the bad guys and…other guys, huh? I hope I can be that fearless someday.”

Johnny paused. The image of an angry Jeff from a few days before surfaced in his head, mocking him for protecting his buddies and promising a permanent scar. He remembered how that ball came sailing towards his pals and how much it’d hurt them if he moved. How people kept taking shots for him that weren’t meant for them: Dimitri, Max…

…and how readily RJ and Ollie were to take them, too.

“…That ain’t it. Listen, it’s not about never bein’ scared. That Hitball game where everythin’ went nuts? I acted all brave to calm down my buds, but…I was shakin’ inside. But I took that fear and threw it right back at that little punk. You just gotta take all that terror that’s buildin’ in your chest and put it in your fists instead. Pick up all that fear those jerks put in ya and make ‘em take it back tenfold.”

“How do you do that, Johnny sir?”

The “sir” wasn’t much better, but Johnny brushed it aside for now. “Well, you know how you keep screamin’ whenever somethin’ spooks ya? Make it louder. Make it a war cry! Bellow and yell in their face and make em’ pay for makin’ that sound come outta’ your mouth! And when you think maybe you should book it, or get worried that you can’t take the fight, you think of how your friends would be in the same spot as you, and how they’d get hurt instead, and then you beat up that foe for daring to put that image in your head!”

There was a pause before he spoke again with as much mentorly conviction as he could muster.

“Ya’ don’t let those punks hurt your friends. Ya gotta stand by your pals, fight by their side, so they don’t take blows that ain’t their due.”

“Because that’s what friends do.”

“Exactly.”

A few seconds passed without any words. Johnny then piped up again.

“Y’know, I don’t think you ever told me your name neither.”

“Oh. Uhm..it’s PJ. I’m PJ.”

Johnny couldn’t really see the kid’s face at all, but he could feel the smile from where he was standing. Or maybe that was just the small smile creeping up on his own face. He wasn’t sure, but the area felt calmer, the silence almost welcoming.

That didn’t last.

Another rumble cut through the air, and the quakes nearly threw the bully to the ground. Then another noise, just loud enough for Johnny to make out, bellowed from below.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

“That’s the spirit that got mister Max! It’s close!” shouted PJ before a third rumble sounded. Johnny felt loose soil fall into his hair and vigorously ran his hands through his ‘do. He wasn’t exactly sure what a “spirit” meant, or what could’ve possibly made that noise, but it wasn’t going to stop him from following Guerra. He charged ahead.

Straight into a wall of dirt.

“Ahh! The path is blocked off! It must have touched the soil again!”

“Wha..?” came the muffled reply.

“The spirit can touch things! It moved the soil around earlier when I was making my way in!”

Johnny felt hands on his shoulders for a brief moment before he was catapulted backwards. His hands quickly found soft fabric and the two sped away back up the hallway, swerving and curving to avoid pieces of the ceiling falling down around them. The tremors intensified, and Johnny swung back, bracing himself to punch an enemy he couldn’t see.

KLANG!!

It took a minute for his ears to stop screaming at him, but the vibrations underneath him seemed to halt. His foot slipped for half a second over a pit that he didn’t think was there before. As the ringing subsided, his head pieced together what that noise could have been.

“Hehey, that sounded like a solid hit! Looks like ya got more punch than ya thought, lil slugger!”

“Uh…I didn’t actually swing at it…it came up from underneath me and hit the bat with its face…”

“A solid hold then. You held the bat steady while it came at ya.”

“I was more frozen in fear…”

“Dude, take the compliment before I shove it down your throat hole.”

“OK, Johnny sir.”

“NO, it’s just—you don’t have ta—ah, forget it.”

Johnny turned back and felt around the edges of the hole with his shoe. Whatever came up from the ground was huge, as it took him a while to find a part of the soft earth that wasn’t sloping into the pit. He had half a mind to try throwing something in it to hear how deep it went, but the way the ground was, he wouldn’t be able to hear how far something went anyway.

With no other options, the two started backtracking farther up the cave.

---

“Hey, come ta think of it…PJ, are you in your pajamas?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so.”

“Why’d you come down here in your pajamas when it’s this cold out? You lookin’ to catch a flu or something?”

“I can’t really…touch anything unless it’s possessed. …or a spirit… …or Max…or people with special powers.”

“Whaddya mean you can’t touch things? You’re holding Max’s bat. You just touched me like five minutes ago!”

“This is Max’s special weapon with special powers! I can touch it because it’s full of magic.”

“Yeah, well I ain’t no freaky jumpin’ wizard with wizard tools, and ya touched me, so there. What the heck are you talking about with ‘spirits’ anyway? You saying this cave is full of ghosts or something?”

“I don’t think spirits are the same thing as ghosts… they’re weird. They can be really big, or small, and they all have powers, and they can have legs.”

“Ha! Now I know yer’ bluffin’! Stephen told me that ghosts look like super see-through people with a faint bluish tint on ‘em. Only the ones from other places don’t got feet.”

There was an awkward silence. Johnny couldn’t see the face of his partner beside him, but he could tell that the look on his face was one of confusion.

“…You’re new to this, aren’t you?”

Before Johnny could ask him what the heck that was supposed to mean, the rumbling returned. The large, soft chunks of dirt rained down on Johnny’s shoulders, and the ground beneath him quickly lost stability. Small hills of soil quickly piled up near his feet.

The place was caving in.

Johnny quickly found PJ’s arms (though there was little need, as his hands had already found Johnny’s wrists as soon as the rumbles had begun again) and booked it back up the path. He soon found it hard to block out the burning running up his side, or his lungs crying out for air, or the urge to remove all the dirt from his hair, but the twists and turns the path soon divulged helped distract him ever so slightly.

There was only one brief stop, when two other shadows crossed their path, one yanking the other forward in a similar manner. The long hair fluttering into the other shadow’s face was a dead giveaway for Guerra, but when Johnny tried to follow her, he ran into another wall. The place must be coming down fast if he was blocked off that quickly, he thought, and scrambled back as fast as he could to get the heck out of Chrysler.

After more twists and turns and dodges, a blinding light made its presence known. Johnny raced forward, the screaming in his sides unmatched by the crumbling walls becoming more evident from the light. As the exit loomed nearer and the snowy woods came into focus, he noticed the archway begin to buckle. He forced himself forward as fast as he could muster as the shiny white window to the outside became polluted with fallen sediment. He could feel the cool air on his skin and in his lungs, soothing his aching….well, everything. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the roof give entirely. He threw both of his arms forward in desperation, only dimly realizing that the grip he’d felt on his arm had vanished.

Suddenly he felt a hard shove from behind, and everything went white.

---

Johnny lied on the ground for a few seconds, allowing the small layer of snow to soothe his burning limbs. Each inhale brought both pain and relief. Slowly, he got back up to his feet, rubbing tiny patches of nearby snow underneath his pant legs to numb them ever so slightly and surveying the ground.

For the most part, the woods looked about the same as when he had entered, though he hadn’t been paying much attention to the ground at the time. Every track in the snow looked fresh, so it hadn’t snowed any further after he had entered the cave. A massive gouge in the frozen fluff confirmed that someone had been dragged into the mound, and he could see his shoeprints from his stalking mission, his wavy treads trailing just behind a far smoother and slightly smaller boot print.

He paused, then looked around the marks again. There were only two types of prints in the snow. Unless the kid had trod over the haphazard gouge, that was one type too few.

A small gleam caught his eye, and as he registered what was giving off such a glare, his eyes widened.

Lying three or four steps away from his position was an aluminum bat.

His head quickly snapped up to the cave’s entrance. The once great gaping maw that had lead down to the damp dark underneath had been entirely filled with moist brown soil.

There was no sign of life nearby.

He tried to scream for his cave companion, but his voice flickered in and out like a match refusing to light. Within seconds he was at the cave’s entrance, frantically clawing out bits of earth, searching for an opening, his trembling legs and pinwheeling arms providing the howling his throat could not produce.

As he opened his mouth to attempt crying out a fifth time, another scream filled the area for him.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Johnny stumbled over onto his back, scrambling back into the snow while keeping eye contact with the thing. It was a gigantic mantis, about a few heads taller than a bus, with glowing white eyes the size of the globe Mr. Garcia had in his room. A viscous purple permeated its form and gleamed in the light as if it was made of Jello, and it shimmered like some form of mirage.

It noticed him instantly. Quicker than he’d ever expect a mantis to move, it raised a violet-tinged talon and swung its biological guillotine towards him. The light streaming through the bug caused Johnny’s eyes to water, and he braced himself.

Another familiar sound struck through the air, and his ears cried out in protest.

Johnny blinked away the tears to see another purple shape floating just a few feet in front of him. While the consistency still looked around the same, this one took the form of what looked like a twelve year old kid. A squint revealed what looked to be some form of shirt with a collar and wrist cuffs. There were no sign of legs; instead, the torso tapered off to a wispy serpentine tail. As Johnny stared at the apparition with a quivering mouth and eyes wide as saucers, the purple boy struggled to retain his position. The redhead mentally shook himself and peered beyond the kid; the mantis’s front claws had locked on to the bat the kid was holding and was attempting to push it out from underneath him.

“Aaah! The spirit’s too strong! I can’t keep this up!” the ghost exclaimed as the mantis lowered its head to his eye level, chattering large mandibles that would look less out of place on an ant. Its voice sounded familiar, Johnny thought, and oh sweet merciful Punch why did it sound so familiar, it couldn’t be--

“Please, mister Johnny! Heeelp!”

Johnny glanced from the purple boy to the purple bug and back a few times, his breathing becoming more erratic. It was then that his voice finally burst through in full force.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

For a brief second, the boy turned his head just a bit to look at Johnny. He had the same glowing eyes the bug did, as well as a small curl of hair sticking from his top. A look of panic and confusion soon snapped into realization, and the boy turned back and joined in the din.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

It was barely audible above the combined noise of Johnny’s and the bug’s screams, but it was a valiant war cry nonetheless.

Through the wails, Johnny noticed the ghost slowly pushing back upwards against the mantis. The redheaded rogue shot himself to a sitting position and shoved the ghost forward, and the insidious insect buckled. The cold metal of the bat reunited with the behemoth’s face, and as it reeled backward, PJ raised his volume just a little bit, pitched his arms back, and swung the bat right into the creature’s eye. After another round of shrieking, the mantis waved one arm in front of them, and with a tepid “peh”, it retreated back into the earth.

Johnny stared at the spot the mantis had been a second ago in shock, only turning back to the ghost as it floated back in his direction.

“We did it! We beat the bad guy with …uh…violence! And friendship! And violent friendship!” PJ exclaimed as he neared Johnny, his grin somehow resting on the verge of just off-looking enough to be intimidating.

The bully tried to get up, or scramble away, or anything, but his body betrayed him. A fist slowly and haltingly tried to meet the ghost, but even that only made it halfway to its destination before stopping, the limb quaking uselessly in the air. The seconds passed as the ghost stared at the shaking fist until finally he clasped his hand around it.

Johnny’s voice failed him once again, only letting out a small squeak. He could only stare.

After a few minutes, the pajama-clad lad let out an “Oh!”

“I think that’s Isabel and Max over there!”, he exclaimed. Johnny barely managed to turn his head to see a large smoky red arrow a few yards away. “I have to hurry home too, I sort of didn’t tell Lefty where I was going again and he’s probably going to be real mad if he finds out I left.”

“Bye Johnny! Thanks for everythiiiing!” the ghost cried as he flew away.

Johnny just stared forward for a few minutes, his body completely spent. His head tried to come up with reasons for what just happened, but to no avail.

It took about ten minutes for his legs to finally work again, and as he made his way back home to complete his mission, the thoughts nagged at his mind.

He fought…something. With a ghost. He had Friendship Fused with a ghost.

He had befriended a ghost.

He shook his head back and forth to try to clear his head. He got what he needed out of the…ghost…and now it was time to put his newfound knowledge to good use.

Operation Season’s Beatings was a go.

---

All things considered, the Activity Club had a rather uneventful morning. Early patrol had consisted of dealing with one minor spirit with a compulsion to spread gift wrap everywhere, and Isaac’s small kicks of wind made quick work of the litter.

The lunch bell rang, and Isabel hurried to her locker to put away her books. The four of them had promised to eat lunch together outside and possibly share what they had gotten with the others. She thought about how Isaac would try to play it off as if he hadn’t looked at his gift yet when he had been keeping the plush ninja bunny really badly hidden in his jeans pocket all morning and grinned.

Upon kicking the locker door open, she was greeted with what looked like a shoebox with red Santa wrapping paper awkwardly balancing above her books. The spectral quickly glanced around to see if she was being watched and just barely caught a glimpse of red retreating. Shrugging it off, she grabbed her prize and headed to the schoolyard.

Unsurprisingly, Isaac was gushing about the bunny, his eyes reminding her of those “canine eye inflation disease” posters her grandfather had put up in her room. It was a well-crafted rabbit, from what she could see, and the black ninja garb combined with a small metal headband was a nice touch.

“Oh man Izzy, you’re gonna love what Max got,” Ed chirped as she plopped down beside the three.

“I’m serious, whoever told my Secret Santa about this is dead,” Max groaned as he revealed a model train set from his box. Isabel laughed heartily. “My dad is never going to stop running this thing! It’ll be puffing around upstairs until Halloween!”

“How long did it take Stephen to figure it out, by the way?” she asked Ed, who mirrored her devious grin.

“Two periods and I’m pretty sure Ollie was in on it.”

“Do I even want to know what awful fate you brought upon that fool?”

“Hey, when I told him the alien was right behind him, I wasn’t lying. And the Velcro stuck pretty well, all things considered.”

After hearing Isaac gush about the bunny some more (she recalled a scant few times where his voice reached that high of a pitch) and watching Ed reveal his gift of some art supplies and an Optimus Prime robot, the kids turned their attention to Isabel’s red box.

“The tag just says ‘Guerra!’ on it with no sender, so we’re off to a good start already”, Max said dryly as she carefully tore at the paper.

Isaac complained that he wanted to use that paper for later, so Isabel removed it carefully as to make it as whole as possible. Soon the box was bare, and the kids shot each other gleeful looks. Isabel ripped the box open.

Everyone paused. The boys shot uncertain glances at their friend, who stared at the contents with the blankest look on her face any of them had ever seen.

The box was filled with spiders of various sizes, colors and materials. Felt spiders with pom-pom bodies and googly eyes stared innocently upwards, a drawing of a spider eating a dog was taped to the side of the box, and spiders crafted with pebbles and glue stubbornly stuck to the bottom.

There were three origami spiders scattered throughout the box, each done in a different style. One of them had red eyes, saw-tooth fangs and an oddly misshapen head.

There was a handwritten note taped to the lid.

“Guerra,

I heard you lost your spider pal. Having somebody you love leave you stings something awful. So I made you a bunch of spiders that will never die on you ever. Plus to give you something to remember your friend by.

-

PS. They eat dogs”

“They didn’t even write their name on it?” Isaac murmured as Isabel picked up the red-eyed origami spider, slowly turning it in her palm.

“Izzy?” Ed asked gently as his friend traced an hourglass shape into the spider’s body. She stole a glance behind her of the red-haired idiot she’d seen earlier, propped up against a tree just within her line of sight, doing what looked like his best not to fall asleep. “You OK?”

She turned to her friends with a small smile, tucking the odd spider into the deep pocket of her jacket.

“Yeah. I’m just fine.”

#paranatural #pnat #pnatsecretsanta #isabel guerra #johnny jhonny #pj

[turtle-steverogers]

I Meant It Figuratively, Bro

The obligatory Halloween au

Ship: Ralbert, platonic Sprace

Warnings: None? Clowns?

In hindsight, Racetrack Higgins didn’t know why he had agreed to come on this haunted trail with his best friend, Spot Conlon. He never liked haunted houses or anything of the sort. They were loud, flashy, overpriced, and not really even scary, so why bother? But Spot loved them and he loved Spot, so here he was, hand clasped onto the other man’s hoodie as they walked through the mock circus portion of the trail.

“Remind me why you like this shit again?” Race hissed in Spot’s ear as a scream rang out in the distance, followed by what sounded like a chainsaw.

“I’m an adrenaline junkie, man, it’s thrilling,” Spot whispered back.

“It’s not even scary,” Race countered, “It’s a rip-off.”

He heard Spot scoff, “Not scary, huh? Bet you were thinking that when you screamed like a little shit when that one dude grabbed your leg in the mirror room.”

“He touched me!” Race whined, “I wasn’t expecting him to touch me.”

“Okay, Racer, whatever,” Race could tell Spot was rolling his eyes, even from his place behind him.

They continued in eerie silence for a little while longer. The circus tent seemed oddly quiet for an attraction so big. The lighting in the room was dark, yet fluorescent. Green, red, and white stripes lined the walls and if Race looked his at his clothes, the white on them glowed. Glass cases with fake, demon clown heads were scattered throughout the room and stuffed circus animals hung from the ceiling. It was cheesy, but creepy considering how alone it seemed in there. They were just nearing the exit when a guy dressed as a zombie clown jumped out from a hidden door, blow-horn in hand.

A shock of red hair caught Race’s eyes as he reeled backwards with a shout, “Oh, fuck me!”

“I mean, sure,” The clown said. But before Race could process, let alone answer what the clown had said, Spot was pulling him outside.

“Dude,” Spot laughed, “What were you saying about these things not being scary? Christ, you shoulda seen your face!”

Race hit his shoulder and pouted, “Shut up. He surprised me.”

“That’s the point,” Spot said, smirking.

“Fuck you, how much more is there to this trail?”

“I think just the woods,” Spot said, already walking ahead.

Race jogged to keep up, “Oh, I’m gonna kill myself, okay.”

“You’re annoying, c’mon.”

Race reached forward and grabbed Spot’s hood again as they neared the forest. There were papers on the trees that looked suspiciously like the notes that appeared in the woods in the Slenderman game that they used to play. Nothing happened for the majority of the trail, save for the notes getting more alarming in content. A chill went up Race’s spine as speakers that were apparently hidden in the bushes began playing what sounded like thundering footsteps.

“They literally re-created Slenderman,” Race murmured.

“Yeah, it’s kinda cool to be honest. They did a good job in-” Before Spot could finish, the sound of a chainsaw cut through the silence behind them. Both boys startled and turned towards the noise, only to see an actor, dressed as Slenderman on stilts, running towards them.

“Oh, come on!” Race complained as they began to run away from the actor. The chase lasted for a few minutes until they spotted the exit to the trail.

Just as they were about to leave, they heard the Slenderman actor laugh and call out, “Thanks for coming! Hope y’all had a good scare!”

“Thank you!” Race and Spot called back in unison.

“I gotta pee,” Spot declared as they walked back towards the food and drink area of the trail park.

“Okay, I’ma just wait by the picnic tables,” Race said. Spot nodded and strolled towards the porta potties across the field. Race wandered for a bit until he found an empty picnic table. He zipped up his jacket as the wind picked up and sat down, pulling out his phone as he did so. He entertained himself by scrolling through Instagram for a bit, but when ten minutes passed and Spot still hadn’t returned, he began to feel out of place. The wind got steadily stronger and Race was now shivering. He glanced up to see if Spot was anywhere around him, then decided to move to the bonfire that the staff had set up and wait for him there. On the way there he pulled out his phone to let Spot know where he went, but promptly crashed into someone while not paying attention to where he was walking.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” He cursed, looking up to see a familiar head of red hair. His eyes wandered away from the person’s hair to find a pair of warm brown eyes. It was the guy from the circus tent.

“Ohmygod,” The guy said. He was dressed in regular clothes now, but there were still smears of clown makeup on his face. It looked like he had tried to wash it off, but gave up halfway through. Despite that, the guy was rather attractive. He had a charming smile and a strong jaw. His hair was medium length, curling as the nape of his neck, but it worked well with his stature, “You’re the ‘fuck me’ guy!”

Race blinked, “Excuse me?”

The guy laughed, “You’re the guy who yelled fuck me when I scared you.”

Race’s eyes widened, “Wait, was it just me, or did you answer with ‘I mean, sure’.”

The guy blushed, but continued to grin, “No, you heard right. But, hey! Can you blame me? You’re easy on the eyes!”

Race blushed in return, “Oh, uhhh, I mean, you’re not too bad yourself.”

“You got a name,” The guy stated.

“I do,” Race said, a teasing smirk finding its way to his face.

“Shut up,” The guy rolled his eyes, “What is it?”

Race raised his eyebrows, “Why would I tell you if you want me to shut up?”

The guy groaned in mock frustration, then fixed Race with a pleading gaze, “I’m sorry. What’s your name? You gotta tell me or else you’ll just be the ‘fuck me guy’ in my head forever.”

Race threw his head back in laughter, “It’s Racetrack. Race for short.”

The guy furrowed his eyebrows together, “No, it’s not.”

“Correct, that’s just a nickname” Race said, “But you’ll have to go on a date with me to find out my real name.”

“You don’t know my name,” The guy said.

Race considered, then pulled out his phone, “Put your shit in there and I will.”

The guy took his phone and bit his lip as he put his information into Race’s contacts.

He handed his phone back and smiled, “I’m expecting a text, pretty boy.”

Race took it back and looked at the information that the guy had just entered, “And I’m expecting an answer, Albert.”

Albert saluted, “Count on it, Racer. I have to go sign out, but I’ll see you soon.”

“Definitely.” With that, Albert turned and walked towards the staff building, leaving Race slightly awestruck.

“Higgins!” He turned around to see Spot walking towards him, “Sorry I took so long, there was a really big line. With a haunted trail this popular, you’d think they’d invest in more than one porta potty.”

Race grimaced, “That’s rough, I’m sorry.”

Spot shrugged, “You good? You look shook.”

Race huffed out a laugh, shaking his head, “I’m really good. I got a dude’s number.”

Spot’s eyes widened, comically, “What!? Who?”

“Remember that clown in the circus tent that scared me?”

Spot nodded.

“Well, him. I crashed into him on my way to the bonfire and I don’t really know how, but now I’ve got his number and we’re gonna go on a date soon.”

Spot stared at him for a moment, then started laughing so hard he doubled over, “O-Ohmygod. It is so you to get a fuckin’ clown’s number,” He said between laughs.

“Hey! He’s very attractive under that clown nose and bloody circus suit,” Race said, beginning to laugh as well.

Spot shook his head and gave Race a clap on the back, “You’re ridiculous.”

Race flicked him in the arm and the two of them began their trek back to Spot’s car.

--

To Albert: Hey, clownboy. It’s Race. Jacobi’s tomorrow at 1:00?

From Albert: Sounds good, fuck me guy. I’ll see you then

#ralbert #racetrack higgins #albert dasilva #newsies #newsies fic #halloween #spot conlon

[fallinglntokillugon]

Unexpected Surreality Chapter 1: Morning Shenanigans

A Fluffy KilluGon Fanfic by Falling lnto Pieces and Flufflecakez

Synopsis: After the Heaven’s Arena Arc, Gon and Killua take a break on Whale Island. This is some of the fun days they spent together, exploring all the Island has to offer. Filled with awkward situations galore, enjoy fluffy KilluGon as they adventure and grow closer.

Characters: Gon, Killua, Aunt Mito, and Grandma Abe

Pairing: KilluaXGon, KilluGon

Genre/Mood: Boys Love, Cute Fluff, Roleplay, Awkward Situations 

Rating: G

So this was originally an RP I did with Fluffle @flufflecakez on the KilluGon Gang Amino! I am Gon while Fluffle is Killua. I changed some things and fixed some errors, but otherwise the overall story is the same from what we typed on our phones. I love (teasing) you, Fluffle~ 

The sun worked its way up the pale sky, shining its rays across the blue horizon of the ocean. On Whale Island, the tree leaves fluttered in the warm sea breeze, the grasses and flowers of the rolling meadows joining in this morning dance.

The birds were the first creatures to awaken, tweeting their gentle calls to the world around them. In town, people were getting out of bed in order to set up shops and ready the fishing boats. The feeling of being outside was a pleasure to all, especially with the late summer wind. It was an average morning for those on the island.

With blankets twisted in the most impossible of ways, and one of two pillows still on the bed, a pair of young boys dozed masterfully as the sun rose. For now, the couple was unaware of their future morning make-out seshes with the floor.

Gon was dreaming about an ocean of orange juice, complete with dolphins shaped from orange slices and a boat made out of a hollowed half of an orange peel. The black-haired boy had been riding in this boat for a while, watching as the dolphins splashed and played in the bright waves.

Killua dreamed of being with a certain someone, someone that had always smiled at him childishly. In his dream, they were so close that their breaths mingled, their lips about to meet for the first time. Unfamiliar hands suddenly latched onto Killua’s arm, trying to pull him away from the moment he so desperately wished for.

It had been a fun adventure on the orange juice waves, but without warning, a dolphin rammed into Gon’s boat. The boy struggled to keep the vessel stable, but it only prolonged the capsizing. As he toppled out of his citrus peel and into the ocean, he grabbed desperately for anything. His hand caught on the rim of the boat.

Fiercely trying to escape from the grip on his arm, Killua used his whole body to attempt to break away from this unidentified being. His heels dug into a floor that was soft and had no traction, while his free hand reached longingly for his certain someone. To his distress, that person turned away from him with a disappointed expression.

Gon clutched at the boat rim with all the force he could muster, but somehow, it fought back. The boat grew a foot that kicked him in the gut, causing him to let go. Right before Gon crashed into the juice ocean, it froze. Like a sheet of orange creamsicle, he hit it face-first before he could put his arms out.

The vice-like grasp suddenly released Killua, making his body act like an elastic band and barrel towards his certain someone. In slow motion, the person turned back to look at him in surprise, but just before their lips collided, Killua’s eyes snapped open. His vision was surrounded by blue carpet right before his face smacked the floor with all the force of falling out of bed.

“Ah, my nose...”

“Argh, what the heck!” Killua quickly sat up first, rubbing his forehead ruefully. “Oi, Gon, I think we need to control your sleep… grabbiness?” He glanced behind him at the bed, seeing it empty. “Uhhh, Gon?”

The boy in question slowly popped his head over the foot of the bed, revealing that he was also on the ground. “I think it’s bleeding… is my nose bleeding, Killua?”

Killua’s cheeks flushed a little as he glanced at Gon, recollecting his dream. He rapidly shook off those remaining thoughts. “Um, yeah, it’s kinda bleeding. What were you dreaming about to give you a bloody nose?” he scoffed.

“Darned orange dolphins…” Gon mumbled this to himself while rubbing his nose with the back of a hand. “The dolphins. They pushed me out of the boat,” he explained to Killua, as if the other boy had also been aware of the contents of his dream. The more he rubbed, the more blood began to flow out of his right nostril.

“Hey, stop that,” ordered a slightly confused best friend, frowning, “and get some tissues, you idiot. I was going to hope that those dolphins or whatever knocked some sense into you, but obviously that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

“That’s mean to say, Killua! I’m smart,” came a backless defense. Gon left his nose alone in order to pick up the pillow that was lying next to him. He grabbed a corner with one hand and chucked it with a good amount of force at the younger boy.

“Ha! Smart?” Killua snorted. “As i-” Suddenly, his speech was cut off by a mouthful of feathery cushion. As it slid down his face, Killua clutched the pillow, his blue eyes glaring threateningly at the person who threw it. “Gon, the only reason I won’t kill you right now is because washing the blood off of everything in this room would be too much of a hassle.”

Gon smiled triumphantly, nearly forgetting about the crimson already gushing from his nose onto his black tank top. “You’d never be able to kill me anyway, Killua.” He gave a smug giggle and searched the bed for the other pillow.

The ex-assassin looked at his best friend blankly. “Yeah, not if Mito-san doesn’t kill you first for bleeding all over the place on your own.” He snickered, hand subconsciously raising his pillow as a shield before the next attack was to come.

Seeing this motion as an opening, Gon threw the second cushion, but himself right after it. It was almost like what he had done during his fight with Hisoka at Heaven’s Arena about a month ago. Would Killua, especially morning Killua, be able to guess this surprise attack?

With ease, the younger boy dodged the pillow, but just barely managed to evade Gon. “Ew, idiot. You’re getting blood on the carpet,” he groaned. “I swear I’m gonna hit you if Mito-san doesn’t.”   

Turning back to his best friend, Gon started to say, “Then try it”, but halfway through, he let out a big sneeze. Red splattered on everything in front of him.

Killua rushed to cover his face as blood flew out of Gon’s nose at him. His arm could only block so much. “Ugh, Gon! What the hell was that for?!” From his spot, the tissues were close by. Grabbing the box gingerly, he took a few for himself before chucking the box at Gon’s head. “Cover your face next time!”

“Sorry,” Gon blushed as he was scolded by his best friend. He wiped at his nose with some tissues before rolling one up and sticking it into his nostril. With the problem handled for now, Gon gazed at the mess he had made. Indeed, he had gotten blood on everything: the carpet, the bedsheets, the blankets, the pillows, himself, and even Killua. He thought it was probably best to take a morning bath, even though they normally didn’t. What about all this dirty bedding? A moment of musing gave him an idea. “Hey, do you think I can wash the sheets and take a bath at the same time?”

At first, Killua simply crossed his arms and gave a disapproving look at the sheepish Gon. But, his eyes widened a little once he processed Gon’s question. “Wow, that’s actually pretty clever.” In mock seriousness, he put a hand to the black-haired boy’s forehead. Looking him straight in the eye, he asked, “You’re not sick, are you?”

Gon childishly stuck out his tongue, tasting the blood that had dried on his upper lip. “No, I don’t think so… but I still blame those dolphins.” Jumping up, the boys gathered the blankets, and the pillowcases, in order for Gon to throw them in the bathtub.

“You better hurry,” Killua mumbled as he added the blue comforter cover to the stack in Gon’s arms, “or else Mito-san might notice.” The younger boy plopped down on a bloodless area of carpet, supporting his head in his hands. “I’ll be waiting here until you’re done.”

Gon gave a nod before opening the door to his room and slinking down the hall to the upstairs bathroom. He unceremoniously dumped all the cloth he was holding into the tub. Turning on the water, he checked that the temperature was warm before he took off his clothes. He threw his black tank top in, followed by his shorts and underwear. Pushing them under the surface, he realized that his sneeze had probably gotten blood on Killua’s garments as well. Running back to the room with only the wadded tissue in his nose, he flung the door open and whispered, “Killua, are your clothes okay?”

The boy on the carpet snapped his head towards the noise, immediately regretting the reflex. Turning away with burning cheeks, he hissed, “U-use a towel, you idiot! Where’s your common sense?!”

“Are your clothes okay?” Gon repeated.

“Do you even have any dignity?” the other boy murmured, looking down at himself. He frowned, seeing that not only the arm he had shielded himself with was speckled with dried blood. “Oh great, you did get it on my clothes. It’s probably in my hair as well… Augh, I should just take a bath too.”

“C’mon then,” Gon said with a smile, bouncing over to grab Killua’s hand, “the water is running.”

“W-what?! That’s -! No!” Killua sputtered, his dream coming back to the forefront of his mind. He pulled himself out of Gon’s grasp and turned to face the window so he could hide his embarrassment. “Y-you have all the blankets in there with you anyway,” he reasoned, “so both of us wouldn’t fit in the tub, stupid.”

“Right… I’ll go first then. But give me your clothes now,” Gon said, holding out empty arms.

Killua breathed out a shaky sigh. Damn, his heart was beating like crazy at the thought of the naked Gon innocently standing behind him. Looking up and over his shoulder, he narrowed his eyes while reluctantly pulling off his dark gray tank top. He tossed it behind him, hoping that Gon would catch it. “I can wash my shorts myself, thanks,” he said flatly, ears tipped with red.

“Okay,” Gon grinned, catching the shirt before it fluttered to the floor.

“Yeah. Make sure to actually clean it.”

“Of course.” With that, the older boy ran back to the bathroom with the new item.

Draping it on the rim of the tub, he turned off the water and got in with all the fabric. In the dim bathroom light, Gon scrubbed the pillowcases, then the blankets, then his clothes. When he got to Killua’s shirt, he lifted it with both hands to look it over. It seemed like there were just a few specks of blood, nothing big. What a relief.

Before Gon dipped the dark colored shirt in the water, he gave it a sniff. With his strong sense of smell, he breathed in Killua’s scent. It was sweet, like all the chocolate the white-haired boy loved, musky, from all the training they did together, and a little metallic...  He liked the smell a lot, though he felt like it would be embarrassing to tell his best friend something like that.

Killua stared absentmindedly out the window. After he had gone and grabbed a dark purple tank top from his bag in the far corner, there wasn’t much to do until it was his turn to bathe. I guess I’ll clean the floor then, he thought, pushing himself off the ground in order to look for something to use as a rag. Of course there was no such thing just lying around in Gon’s room, so he realized he’d have to head to the bathroom.

Stepping silently down the hall, his hand stopped on the doorknob, about to turn it. Was he certain Gon was in the bathtub? Killua focused and listened to some light splashing, then a strangely long inhale. Ugh, let’s just get this over with… With a shaky sigh, he mumbled, “Hey, Gon, I’m coming in for a wash rag.”

Hearing his best friend’s voice, Gon immediately breathed out and shoved the shirt onto his lap with a loud splash. “Y-yeah? You can come in then,” he called back softly, a light blush dusting his cheeks for almost being caught doing something weird.

Killua opened the door and cautiously peeked in when he got the go-ahead. “Did you, like, slip or something?” he asked, referring to the noisy splash just moments before.

“N-no,” the older boy sputtered, pretending to scrub at Killua’s shirt under the water. He watched as his best friend walked in, grabbed a blue face towel from underneath the sink, and started to run it under the faucet.

“What’s that for, Killua?”

“Oh this? This is ‘cause you decided to not only make a mess of yourself and all the blankets, but also the carpet.” Killua deadpanned, wringing out the piece of cloth. “And since I’m such a great friend, I’ve decided to bless you with my help.” He shook the small towel to make sure it wouldn’t drip.

“Thank you, Killua,” Gon smiled as the white-haired boy walked back out into the hall and shut the door behind him. He then proceeded to actually clean Killua’s tank top. Unfortunately, because it was wet, he wasn’t quite sure where the spots of blood were anymore.

“Yeah, no prob,” Killua murmured to himself as he returned to the bedroom. Lazily rubbing the crimson spots out of the blue carpet, Gon’s voice echoed in the back of his head. 

Whenever he had finished an assassination job, no one ever appreciated his putting his life on the line for the family business. Now, his best friend seemed to always be grateful for anything he did for him, no matter how small. On top of that, whenever Gon said his name along with the thank you, it always made Killua’s heart skip a beat.

In the bathroom, Gon finally tossed everything out of the tub except for himself. As he drained the water, he took the nose tissue out and shampooed his hair. Then, he turned on the shower and give his body a soapy scrub. With a quick check in the mirror above the sink, Gon made sure his face was clean before ending his shower and drying off with the white towel from the bathroom shelf. Now what to do with all the wet things on the floor...?

Killua heard the shower turn on and, a few minutes later, turn off. Footsteps made their way back to the bedroom and the door opened. Dropping the slightly dirty rag, the ex-assassin complained, “Damn, Gon, I -” He stopped once he saw his best friend.

“What is it, Killua?” Gon questioned as he ruffled his wet hair with the small green towel around his neck. The bigger one was in place around his waist.

Damn, Gon… he actually looks kinda se-,  Killua mentally slapped himself to stop his train of thought. Totally not flustered, he picked up his clean tank top and briskly walked past Gon. “I w-was just wondering how much time you were gonna take.”

“I didn’t take that long,” Gon mumbled, “it was mainly all the- oh yeah, Killua, what should we do about all the wet things? If we hang them out to dry, Mito-san will find out really fast.”

“Just say you pissed the bed or something~” Killua sang as he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. He stepped around the pile in question before stripping off his clothes. He threw the shorts in with the blankets and put his boxers and tank top on the empty towel shelf.

“BU-BUT I DIDN’T DO THAT!” Gon yelled, finding this fact more important than staying quiet. Now panicking, he scanned his room looking for some way to dry all the blankets without being discovered. If he were discovered, Mito-san would probably think he had wet the bed. ANYTHING BUT THAT.

“I’m just kidding~” laughed the white-haired boy, closing the curtain and turning on the water for a shower. Stepping into the tub once the temperature was fine, he mumbled, “Just saying we decided to do the laundry for her probably wouldn’t cut it…” 

He stopped thinking about the matter in order to enjoy bathing. Gon could be so cute when he was teased into a tizzy. But it was so easy. Killua chuckled as he washed off whatever blood was visibly speckling his skin. He stayed in the shower for at least ten minutes. By the end of his refresh, all he could think about was how quiet it was without Gon...

“Hmph,” Gon pouted, sitting in the middle of the floor of his room, still just wearing towels. He had been unable to think of a plan for what to do with all the wet things in the bathroom. Killua was so smart, but wouldn’t help him. Gon wished he could be so smart and cool and awesome like his best friend. He wondered what had caused the white-haired boy to become that way. His natural talents? His upbringing? His food choices? His way of showering? Gon grinned to himself as he rose to his feet.

With his nen ability of zetsu, the black-haired boy snuck into the hallway to stand in front of the bathroom door. Leaning down, he peeked through the keyhole with one eye. Killua had closed the shower curtain, but he could make out his best friend’s shadow moving behind it. In Gon’s delusion, he looked for anything special Killua might do while bathing. Unfortunately, all he did was shut off the water.

Stepping out of the tub, Killua searched for a towel. Gon had one, so there must be another one somewhere in the room. He was checking under the sink when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Shoot.

“What in the world are you doing?” a female voice asked calmly into Gon’s right ear. Gon had been so in the zone that he had forgotten his surroundings. With a yelp of surprise, he turned his head to find himself face to face with Aunt Mito! She had her hands on her hips and a concerned expression. “Are you… peeping on Killua-kun?”

Hearing that, Killua walked over to the door and realized there was certainly a sizeable keyhole. Gazing through it, he was startled to see Gon’s bare chest. He stared dumbly at the view for a moment before he realized what his best friend had probably seen of him. “W-WHAT THE HELL, GON!” he shouted at the door, stepping backwards to more quickly find a towel. Instead, Killua let out a grunt as he slipped on the tiles and fell back on the pile of cold, wet blankets.

“Killua-kun?” Mito called out when she heard him fall. She turned the knob and tried to open the door, but Killua stopped her halfway with a foot.

“D-don’t come in! I’m not decent!” the boy called in a flustered tone, grabbing something from behind his head and slapping it over his crotch. Gon’s worried face popped into view. “You idiot! If she can’t look, that doesn’t mean you can!”

“I was just checking if you were okay,” Gon defended, seeing that his damp tank top was being used like a modesty towel.

As the pair began to bicker about the situation, Mito snuck a peek, wide eyes scrutinizing the mound of sopping wet items Killua had fallen back on. She had come up the stairs simply to tell the boys that it was almost time for breakfast. The woman was well aware of all the noise they had been causing this morning, though hadn’t really given any thought to why. This certainly wasn’t what she was expecting, but Mito did know one thing.

“Killua-kun, I really do hope you’re okay.”

“Y-yeah, thanks,” Killua mumbled awkwardly, still not used to people, other than his family, caring for or about him.  

“Breakfast will be ready when both of you have some clothes on. So, we’ll leave you to dry off. ” Taking Gon by the ear, the orange-haired woman dragged him to his room. The boy yelped pointless apologies the whole way, but she paid them no mind.

“With what?” Killua asked under his breath once they had gone. He sighed and laid his head on the pile with a squish. This morning was definitely a crazy one.

Back in the bedroom, Mito made Gon sit on the floor and asked for a good explanation to why all the bedding was in the bathroom. He looked down at his fingers, which were starting to fidget nervously. “I… Killua said we should clean them… because I… he… I swear I didn’t wet the bed though! I swear!” In his head, he was screaming, Killua, please save me, over and over again. Mito sighed and crossed her arms, not buying whatever words had tumbled out of Gon’s mouth.

“Just put on your clothes and wait for Killua.”

“Ah, right… it’s not just blankets in that pile…”

“What?!”

Killua luckily had enough small towels from underneath the sink to dry himself off. He let out a snicker when he stopped to listen to the loud conversation going on in the other room. Putting on his dry dark purple tank top and boxers, he realized that he had forgotten to grab a clean pair of shorts. Ah man…

Gon was grovelling as Mito expressed her displeasure when Killua walked through the open door, sheepishly holding a wet pillowcase in front of his waist. The pair paused to look towards him. Killua awkwardly told the woman in the room, “I forgot… to grab a… pair of shorts…”

Mito’s face changed into a warm smile, as if she hadn’t been scolding Gon, and she allowed the conversation to be cut short. “Of course, Killua-kun. I’ll go and set the table then. Come down when both of you are ready.”

Killua nodded gratefully as Mito-san walked out in order to return to the first floor. Breathing a sigh of relief, the white-haired boy closed the door with a swing of his foot. Watching Gon sit up, he huffed, “Today’s your lucky day. I may postpone your death because I don’t want to cause more trouble for your aunt.” He went over to the corner where his bag was and dug through it. Pulling out his khaki shorts, Killua glared over his shoulder when he heard his best friend giggle. “What is it, idiot?”

“Thanks for saving me there. She can be so scary when she’s angry…” Gon locked gazes with Killua, his eyes full of affection. His lips formed an appreciative smile. Beaming, he continued, “If I knew that you’d come if I thought hard enough, I’d think about you all the time, Killua.”

Killua choked harshly, hurling the moist pillowcase at Gon’s too-bright face. “Quit saying stuff like that so carelessly!” he fumed, slipping into his shorts as the older boy’s vision was compromised. “I-I’m gonna go dry my hair some more. In the bathroom!” Stomping out of the room, he focused on breathing in order to calm down his strongly beating heart. In the bathroom, he ruffled and combed his damp locks until he was satisfied.

What did I do wrong? Gon wondered to himself. Getting up, his bath towel dropped from his waist as he went to his closet to grab a pair of briefs and his remaining set of clothing. He let the smaller green towel fall to the floor so he could properly put on the white turtleneck tank top. Then on went his whitey-tighties and his green short shorts. Gon was settling his belt buckle into place while walking the hall. He met Killua at the top of the stairs and they went down to breakfast together.

Gon bounced into the dining room, hungry after all the morning shenanigans. Aunt Mito seemed to be back to her chipper mood and Grandma Abe was already seated at the table, sipping a cup of green tea. Gon slid into his chair and licked his lips at the food placed in front of him.

Killua was much more relaxed as he entered, smelling the delicious aromas filling the air of the house’s first floor. He grinned, happily sitting in the seat nearest to Gon and eying the wonderfully cooked cuisine on his plate. “Man, Mito-san is such a great cook,” he commented aloud, picking up his fork.

“I know… right?” Gon said with a full mouth, “She’s so great… at everything! Cooking, cleaning… laundry, cooking… and taking care of people!”

“Yet you still give her trouble,” Killua teased, digging in and eagerly stuffing his cheeks with the wonderful breakfast.

The two fell into eating noises as they scarfed down their meals. Gon slyly reached for a piece of Killua’s breakfast sausage with his fork. The action did not escape the younger boy’s blue eyes, however. With a flash of silver, his utensil deflected Gon’s.

“Oi, your plate is in front of you.”

“But I’m still hungry…” Gon whined, licking at his empty platter with a desperate tongue. A few seconds later, the plate was shining, so he said in a whisper Abe couldn’t hear, “After what just happened upstairs, I don’t think Mito-san will give me any more.”

“You didn’t even ask her.”

“He doesn’t need to ask me, Killua-kun.”

“Oh.”

“I just want one more bite…” Resting his chin on the thoroughly cleaned porcelain, the black-haired boy gazed up at Killua with puppy-eyes.

The response was an emotionless stare back. The ex-assassin slowed down, savoring each bite with every chew. After watching Gon start to drool, he stated, “I dunno, you look pretty full to me.”

Gon’s chocolate puppy-eyes got bigger, rounder, and cuter. “Killua… I’ll do anything for your sausage.”

“W-what?” Killua tensed, stabbing a bit of scrambled egg a little too hard.

“Your sausage, in my mouth, please,” Gon begged.

That sounds so dirty… The white-haired boy gulped, blood rushing to his face. He tried to eat the egg he had lifted to his lips, but he couldn’t do it because his hand was shaking. Letting go of the fork, he gave in. “F-fine, you jerk!” he grumbled in defeat as it clattered onto his dish. With a unsteady sigh, Killua put his elbows on the table to properly cover his burning visage.

Cheek still on the plate, Gon closed his eyes and opened his mouth expectantly, “Aaaah…”

“Oh my god, you’re so embarrassing,” groaned Killua. He shook the egg off his fork, forcefully stabbed the breakfast sausage, and shoved it into Gon’s open maw. “There. Happy?”

“Mmhmmm,” the older boy smiled while he chewed. Killua could say mean things and tease him, but if he pushed enough, Gon knew he could always get what he wanted from his best friend.

Killua mentally kicked himself for a few moments until Mito dropped two new sausages onto his plate. That brightened his mood back up and he was able to enjoy their meaty goodness for himself. They were quite juicy and had a nice herbal flavor that he'd never tasted before. 

As he finished off his meal, he leaned towards Gon and whispered fearfully, “You think we have to wash the dishes?” He had never had to do so, given the amount of servants always in the mansion, but this wasn’t his home.

“Probably… I’ll do them if you figure out what to do with the blankets.”

“We just need to hang them out to dry, right? That’s easy.”

“Then that’s the plan,” Gon grinned. “Mito-san, I’ll do the dishes!”

“And I’ll hang the blankets,” Killua offered, looking over at the orange-haired woman. He pushed out his chair and got up. “The meal was amazing again, Mito-san.” Putting his hands behind his head, he stretched before going to head up the stairs.

Mito beamed at the complement from her place at the kitchen door frame. “Killua-kun, I’ll help you with that pile,” she called after him. “Gon, once you finish the dishes, wipe down the entryway, alright? Then you two are free to do whatever you want to today.”

“Alright,” was the reply as the dark-haired boy carried the plates and utensils to the sink. The extra cleaning was a lighter punishment than usual, so he was content.

Upstairs, Killua groaned upon seeing the mound of wet blankets and clothes. They had created a massive puddle that hadn’t quite reached the drain in the tiled floor. I should probably wring everything out before I attempt to bring them downstairs, he thought to himself. He got started as Aunt Mito entered the bathroom with an empty laundry basket.

The woman rolled up her sleeves before she picked up the blue comforter cover. It was soggy and crumpled. She couldn’t help but let her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. That son of Ging’s… Together, Killua and Mito tried their best to get all the fabrics as dry as possible before putting them in the basket.

“So, what exactly happened here? Gon didn’t really explain anything to me.”

“Um, we made a bet and Gon lost. But we didn’t know what the loser should do, so I decided that he’d wash the blankets and our clothes as punishment. We didn’t have anything else… to do…”

“As soon as you woke up this morning?”

Frick, Killua mentally screamed. “We woke up super early?”

“Alright,” Mito said slowly, putting Killua’s indigo shorts on top of the pile. She could see through such a blatant cover up, but she was just happy that Gon had brought a friend home. Best friend, even. Killua didn’t seem to be the most comfortable around people who weren’t Gon, but Mito hoped that he would become like a second son by the end of the Whale Island visit. Now that they were finished in the bathroom, the woman moved to pick up the basket. 

“Let’s go hang these to dry outside.”

“I can take it for you,” Killua said, putting a hand lightly over hers.

“Oh, it’s fine, Killua-kun. I don’t want a guest to lift anything so heavy.”

“No, I insist,” came a dazzling smile, the boy easily pulling the basket away from her grasp, “You deserve a break after cooking us such a wonderful breakfast.” He deftly hefted the basket with one hand and placed it on his shoulder.

“Ah, thank you…”

Mito laughed dryly to herself once Killua had left the bathroom. Of course any friend of Gon’s would have to be as strong as him, possibly stronger. She wasn’t expecting Killua to have been a normal twelve-year-old, but he sure acted like it more than her nature boy.

The ex-assassin stepped down the stairs, through the hallway, and to the entryway. He set down the basket in order to put on his shoes and open the front door. Once outside, he basked in the sun’s warmth as he strolled to the side of the house where the clotheslines were. Dropping the basket in a flat place, he gazed up at the blue sky, which was painted with a few white cotton candy cloud wisps. It was definitely a great morning for fun adventures.

As Mito exited the house, she smiled when the light sea breeze rustled her skirt and played with the strings of her apron. Making her way to where the white-haired boy was, she grimaced at what she saw. Killua had flung a white sheet speckled with faded brown spots over the clothesline.

“Mito-san, it’s like this, right? And then you straighten it out and pin it?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.” The woman grabbed a handful of clothespins from where she kept them in a cleaned out coffee can. She affixed Killua’s work in place before slipping a few into his pocket. Then, Mito took a better look at what the dim bathroom had kept hidden from her as she started up a conversation. “I’m so happy Gon’s friend is so helpful.”

“Well, we were the ones who created this mess…”

“I know it was mainly Gon’s fault, right?”

“Oh, uh, then I’m glad I can help.”

“I was worried what types of crazy creatures Gon would drag back to the island, but I’m glad it turned out to be such a well-mannered and clever boy. Since you are Gon’s first best friend, I have to assume you are quite a patient and understanding person as well, Killua-kun.”

It was certainly strange to hear praises coming from the mouth of an adult. All he ever heard were ‘murderer’, ‘killer’, ‘assassin’, ‘monster’ from terrified mouths saying their last words…  Killua shut his eyes to clear these labels from his mind. I’m free from that now, right? He shook out a sheet and threw it over the line.

“So, what do you think of Gon?” was the next question. After all, Mito could only ask such a thing without the black-haired boy within earshot. “He’s a good child with a big heart. Would you agree?”

“Gon?” came a slow response, “He is pretty honest and sociable. But he seems to attract danger and strange people, if I were to be frank.” Hiding a cattish grin, Killua added in his head, He’s also a total idiot.

“He’s also not the brightest,” Mito remarked, as if able to read the boy’s mind, “so I hope that you can be there for him whenever he’s in a bind.”

“O-of course,” Killua stuttered, holding a pillowcase to the clothesline so she could pin it.

“But please don’t cover for him over things like this,” the woman sighed, finally revealing that she knew the truth, “because when it comes to bloodstains, you need to quickly use cold water, not hot…”

“Oh, so you’ve noticed.” Killua blushed, feeling bad about lying. He pulled a piece of clothing out of the basket in order to avoid her possible scrutiny. He stared down at what he was holding. Gon’s shirt… didn’t I… she should definitely wash this for real.  

“Yes. I’ll have to redo all of these again, but with spot cleaner. We can still hang them though, so I can see how much damage has been done.” Mito turned her head to see Killua gazing at Gon’s black tank top in a way that didn’t seem to be searching for blood splotches… “Killua-kun?”

Hearing his name, Killua snapped out of his trance. “O-okay. Sorry we didn’t know how to clean it,” he apologized, quickly using the pins in his pocket to hang the shirt.

“No worries,” the woman replied, smiling as her motherly instinct kicked in. She had suspected something was special about the bond the boys had, especially the way Killua seemed to hang around Gon like a skittish kitten, but maybe it was something more hormone-based than she first thought. The woman had been single all her life, but she definitely knew enough to guess Killua’s situation. Boy, did he have a tough road ahead.

With only the sound of the wind blowing through the grass, the two hung the remaining things. As they finished, Mito dismissed her helper. “I’m going to inspect these, so you are good to go.”

“Osu,” Killua nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. Running back to the house, he couldn’t help but feel slightly excited to spend the day with Gon. He wondered what his best friend had planned. In the entryway, he found Gon wiping at the hardwood floor with a cloth. “Gon! You almost done here?”

The older boy had scrubbed the dishes and hardly dried them before putting them in the cupboard. He was currently finishing a less than acceptable cleaning of the entryway. Looking up once he heard Killua open the front door, Gon knew he had to complete his chore faster. “Yeah, give me another few minutes.”

“You need any help? You don’t look like you’re doing a great job.”

“I’m fine,” Gon stuck out his tongue in response to what he thought was teasing. “Can you go grab the lunch basket from the kitchen? Grandma Abe said she made us sandwiches.”

“Alright,” Killua obliged, kicking off his shoes, “I’m gonna grab some socks first.”

“Okay.”

Killua disappeared down the hallway and back up to their room. He put on a pair of white ankle socks from his bag before heading back down to the kitchen. As he passed the dining room, he noticed that Abe was still sitting at the table, but with a new piping hot pot of tea. It’s probably good manners if I thank her, Killua reasoned, popping his head into the room.

“Hello there, Killua-kun.”

“Um, thanks for making us sandwiches, Grandma Abe.”

“It was my pleasure,” the old woman chuckled.

“Hope you have a nice morning,” Killua beamed, ducking out to take the food from the kitchen. He spotted the wicker picnic basket sitting on the countertop and grabbed it by the handle. As soon as he did so, he heard Gon yell, “I’m finished!” joyously.

“Awesome, then let’s get going!”

“Silly Killua, do you even know where we’re going? I didn’t tell you.”

“I know, but you were just so slow. I wanna get outta the house, like, right now.”

“Okay, okay.”

The boys put their shoes on as rapidly as they could. Gon sat down to pull on his boots while Killua shoved his feet into his sneakers on his way out the door.

“C’mon Gooooon,” the ex-assassin teased, the basket hanging off his arm. He jokingly tapped his foot and checked an imaginary watch on his wrist, “It’s already ten o’clock.”

“Geez, give me one sec,” Gon giggled, jumping to his feet to dash past his best friend.

“Hey, that was cheap, you jerk!” Killua shouted good-naturedly, turning quickly on his heel and exiting the house with a slam of the door.

Gon waved at Mito, who was still inspecting the blankets, before taking off down the dirt path. Killua did the same. She yelled after the pair, “Come back for dinner, alright?”

“Got it~” the boys sang in reply, leaving the Freecss household behind them.

“Did I wash everything alright?” Gon asked as they followed the sunny road.

“No way,” Killua scoffed, a sly smile curling on his lips, "She realized it once we started to hang things up."

“Oh no! What did you tell her then?”

“Only the truth… that you wet the bed!” the younger boy teased with a hoot while he sped up the pace.

“Nooooo! I did not, Killuaaaaaa!”

The pair was excited to spend time together. Gon was eager to show his best friend the natural wonders of Whale Island while Killua was content to do whatever his best friend had planned. Little did they know what thrilling adventures the midsummer day was going to offer them.

#fanfiction #fanfic #killua x gon #killugon #hunter x hunter #killua zoldyck #killua #Gon Freecss #Gon #aunt mito #grandma abe #fluffy #roleplay #This was totally longer than it looked on the Amino

[anniartist39-blog]

True Loves Kiss 19

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug, or its characters. ———————————————————— Chapter 19 Ladybug zoomed through the city of lights, swinging from building to building as her thoughts ran through her discussion with Tikki earlier that day... "They were in love" Tikki had said with a gentle smile as she remembered her earlier charge "Okay... s-so... what you're saying is..." "Marinette, not every Miraculous pair has ended up together, and hardly any have truely grown so close." "Wait, are you saying that... i-I'm in love... w-with..." "Only you can truely answer that Marinette." Ladybug stopped in her tracks, processing the memory 'No... n-no it CAN'T be...' she took off again 'no, no no no no NO!!!' she swung her way to the Eifle Tower, 'i CAN'T be in love with... with... THAT STUPID CAT!' And began to climb... 'what about Adrien?' She finally stopped on the top level. She looked out over her city. The wind, softly blowing her hair as she stood still, contemplating over her internal delima... she was so absorbed in thought that she didn't hear the slight padded thump of someone landing behind her. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she grabbed said hand and forced the perpetrator onto the ground with a serious scowl on her face "Ow... Ladybug?" She blinked, then realized what she had just done "KITTY! OHMYGOSH, I'MSOSORRY,AREYOUOKAY?!" "Woah, woah, easy there" Chat said calmly as he got back up onto his feet "calm down, its just me. Slow down, take a deep breath... good. Now... what's wrong?" She couldn't look at him... after everything that's come to light, she just couldn't... look at him... "I..." she took a deep breath "i th-think I'm-" she was going to be sick "HAVEYOUEVERHADAJOINTDREAM?!" Chat blinked at her, dumbfounded "A... what?" "A joint dream, you know, where... two people have the same dream, at the same time, but really, it's their subconscious entertwining and in reality, they're actually together, just... subconsciously?" "Uhhh..." poor confused little chaton "no... not that i can recall... why? Have you?" Did he not realize their dream was joint? Or could he be hiding the fact that it was with a civilian... even IF that civilian was actually HER "Uh... actually..." Chat looked at her with his head slightly tilted, pure curiosity on his face "i... i think i have... but... i don't known if he even realizes it was a joint dream or not" "If he doesn’t know, then how do you know it was joint?" "Because the last time i saw him, he quoted part of my dream" silence. "And, he himself said that he was quoting his own dream..." Chat still looked as confused as ever "O...kay, umm... so... do you like this guy?" Ladybug began to blush "I-I don't know... m-maybe" "Okay... is it really such a big deal if it WAS a joint dream?" She shot her head up "OF COURSE IT IS!" "Okay, okay. No need to snap my head off..." "I'm sorry, its just..." 'i seriously don't want to tell him about it' "m-my Kawamii, she told me that, joint dreams, are like... extremely rare, and well, only happen when two are so close... like... w-when they're in... l... l-love" she trailes off as she avoided his eyes "So... you think you're in love?" Her blush grew "thats great LB" she looked back to find him grinning the biggest grin he could muster, a light gleam in his eyes "I'm so happy for you... hey, maybe later, once Hawkmoth has been defeated, we could go on a double date" okay... now he was just getting ridiculous "Thats... that'd be kinda hard to do..." "Oh, common... he can't be THAT bad if he has your attention Ladybug" she shifted in her spot uncomfortably, Chat looked perplexed as he tried to figure out his partner "was he a previous akuma?" She shook her head "is he someone we know" she hesitated, then nodded, her blush growing "has he ever hurt you?" She shook her head "do you trust him?" She hesitated again "With everything I am" she replied back, eyes still glued to the floor. His gentle smile grew "Then I'm not sure you have anything to worry about... don't worry, it'll be okay, okay?" She shifted again "Whatifhewasyou?" She mumbled under her breath, but, being the cat he was, he had caught it. His own blush began to grow "Wh-what?" Her face was almost as red as her suit "when..." he cleared his throat "when did you have this dream?" She shifted on her feet "... last night?" His tense shoulders relaxed as his ears stood back up and he began to laugh "wh-whats so funny?" Chat whiped his eyes "while it's sweet to know that you dream about me LB, I guarantee you that it wasn’t a joint dream, as you say" "How do you know?" She pouted as she turned away "Because..." he began, walking up to right behind her "i haven't had a dream about you in two months" she spun around to look at him with blown eyes "What?" She whisper-mumbled "Yeah, uhh..." he scratched the back of his neck "I uhh, actually use to dream about you quite a bit... every night, actually" her jaw was on the floor as he tried to avert his eyes "b-but then, i-I started dreaming about a-a friend of yours- of mine- of... ours..." her breath hitched "Who?" He hesitated for a moment, considering if he should actually say anything... finally he sighed "Marinette" her hands flew to her mouth... he DREAMED ABOUT HER?! and not just HER, as in LADYBUG, but... her, as in MARINETTE! And... for the past TWO MONTHS?! But... wait a minute... FairyGodmother was only last month... "B-b-but... w-what do you mean... two months? Y-you only confessed to her last month" his face was calm and collected as he stepped forward, looking her straight into the eye "I know. I'm not exactly sure when it started, but I guess I've slowly been starting to notice her more and more... she's become one of my best friends. I can open up to her about anything and everything. I trust her, i want the best for her... I love her. Honestly, I think I've subconsciously known for a while, but... it took FairyGodmother for me to finally recognize and realize what exactly had been building the entire time... until then... i had been trying to deny it... i thought my heart belonged to someone else, but... I've never felt the way I do about her, for anyone else... ever. It took kissing her awake for me to finally accept that. To realize that, without a shadow of a doubt, I am deeply in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Tears were starting to form in her eyes "Why?" "What?" "Why do YOU love HER? She’s just... plain, and clumsy, a-and pathetic, she's always running late, she isn't really that pretty, nothing really special, she's a complete nobody, I mean, how could she even COMPARE to a superhero? She’s-" "STOP RIGHT THERE!" Chat ordered sternly. She looked up to find him staring at her as if she had just said the worst thing you could ever think of. "I will NOT have you talking that way about her, Ever AGAIN! Why do I love her? Because I do... i love everything about her. Her laugh, her smile, she's the kindest girl I've ever met. She's not plain... she's extraordinary. She's not pathetic... she's amazing. She's not pretty... she's the most beautiful, wonderful, breath-taking woman i have ever seen. She's talented. She's gifted. She's a true prodigy. She's strong, and proud, but also humble... she has the most dazzling smile, and the most welcoming eyes. She's NOT a nobody... in fact, I'd say she could even give one Mr. Gabriel Agreste a run for his money. Her voice is like an angels, and when she sings... my heart stops. She knows who she is and isn't afraid to show it. And even if she isn't a superhero, she's a hero in her own way... she stands up for others... even against Chloe. She's always trying to do the right thing, and even if she messes up, she works to fix it. She admits to when she's wrong and apologizes to those she may hurt. She always wears her beautiful smile, and when she lets her hair down, its like looking over the Niagara Falls. No, she's not perfect, but then... no one is... and that doesn't matter... i still love her." "Chat" she whispered He had turned away halfway through his explanation. He was surprised that when he turned back around to face his partner, her face was nearly as red as her suit. Just then they heard the all too familiar sound of a beep coming from Ladybugs earings... had she really been out that long? "Your Miraculous is going off" she blinked "Oh, r-right" then she turned on her heels and threw her yo-yo, zipping off without another word. Chat Noir landed on the balcony, surprised to find his Princess asleep on her lawn chair. He smiled as he walked over, bending down, he brushed her bangs out of her face as he placed a single, gentle kiss on her forehead "Mari," he whispered "Princess, time to get up" she pouted as she moaned and turned over on her other side. Chat couldn't help but quietly chuckle... she was just too cute. He stood up to stretch before bending back down and lifting her up, Princess style. She moaned again as she burried her face into his chest. His gaze was soft as he carefully walk them both over to the open skyroof window. Then he cautiously lowered them both inside her room. He placed her in her bed just as his ring gave a warning. Once she was tucked in, he snuck down the ladder, trying to make it to her bathroom before his transformation wore off. A bright green light shown through the room as Chat Noir became Adrien Agreste. He spun on his heels, worried that the bright light would have woke her. He sighed in relief when he saw that she was now facing away from him. "Boy, that was a close one" Adrien reached out and cupped his hand over Plagg's big mouth "Plagg, shhh" he whisper-shouted. Said Kawamii glared at his charge. Once Adrien removed his hand, Plgg sighed "Look kid, I'm tired, and I'm hungry... you stay here, I'm going down to the kitchen to grab a snack" before the boy had a chance to protest, the chaotic-being had phased through the floor door. "Psst... hey, Tikki..." Adrien's anxiety spiked when he realized that Plagg was now gone. Frustrated he pinched the brim of his nose and sighed "you better not get yourself caught Plagg" he muttered under his breath. Marinette let out a small moan as she shifted in her sleep. He looked up to see her framed in the moonlight shining through her skyroof. He smiled 'she's beautiful' her hair was let down, a small strand had fallen in her face as her lips barely parted. Je stared at her lips... he wanted to kiss her, but he didn't want to wake her. He looked away, trying to district himself from hos own thoughts, when his gaze landed on her desk... almost all the pictures of him as Adrien had been taken down and neatly piled together. And right beside the pile, her drawing journal was open. His breath caught when he saw what she had been drawing... it was him, as Chat, with beautiful Golden hair, and vibrant, deep, cat-like green eyes... it was so detailed, it looked like she had either had him pose for it, or had looked off a picture to get the shading JUST right... but upon further inspection, he couldn't find a picture 'did she... draw this based on memory?' He looked back to see she had turned to face him, but she was still fast asleep. He smiled at the little sleeping Beauty before him as he slowly made his way back over to her. His eyes were soft as he gazed at her lovely, sleeping face, reminding him of their first kiss. Gently, he leaned down, and kissed her "I love you" Adrien whispered to the still sleeping girl "Hey, Kid" Plagg whispered loudly. Adrien ignored him, Plagg rolled his eyes "look, I know you want to, like, stay here all night or whatever, but unfortunately... you can't. One, you are currently NOT Chat, and if she woke up to find... you... in her room, leaning over her, looking at her like she’s your whole world... fortunately for you, it wouldn't end pretty. Second, you have a shoot tomorrow morning, and I'm NOT having you get in trouble for falling asleep on set again... need I remind you what happened the LAST time tou fell asleep?" The Kawamii crossed his arms. Adrien sighed as he stood up and walked to the bathroom with him... just because it didn’t wake her before, doesn’t mean it wouldn't this time. Chat Noir came out of the bathroom and walked back over to her desk. He glanced back at the drawing and gave a soft smirk, before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a single red rose, placing it down beside the undisturbed journal. Then he made his way back to the skyroof window. But before he opened it, he leaned down once more, gently brushed her bangs out of her face, and kissed her forehead. When Marinette woke up the next morning, she found the rose along with a small note 'Not even Briar Rose could compare to your Beauty Princess' It was signed with a heart that had been made into a paw print... she blushed as the small smile grew on her face... 'Stupid cat'...