The first thing Val noticed was how heavy everything felt.
Not in a bad way, just real. Her legs ached when she stood too long. Food sat warm in her stomach instead of disappearing into nothing. She kept pressing her fingers to her wrist, marveling at the pulse there, like it might vanish if she stopped paying attention.
Ashri adjusted faster than she expected.
He paced the trailer they’d been staying in, barefoot on creaking floorboards, stretching fingers that were no longer porcelain-thin. His scars were still there, seams softened into pale lines, cracks turned into strange birthmarks, but the body beneath them worked. Moved the way it always should have.
He caught her staring.
“What?” he asked, amused, grinning in a way that still looked a little too sharp.
“You’re… really okay,” Val said. “Like—really okay.”
He snorted at her question. “You say that like you expected me to fall apart.”
“I kind of did,” she admitted, smiling. “I know I did.. with the whole process. It's terrifying watching you having something similar to a seizure.”
Ashri leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. “I’ve waited my whole life for this body. Dying, the way it happened was just… the worst part of the process.”
She rolled her eyes, then grew quieter. Outside, the Menagerie’s wagons sat still for once. No crowds, or spilling of blood. Just the low hum of cicadas and a summer breeze through torn curtains.
“I don’t know what we do now,” Val said with a sigh, finally filling in their awkward silence.
Ashri tilted his head. “We live?”
She laughed softly, shaking her head. “I mean really live. I’ve always been the girl who thought she’d have a house, white picket fence, stupid garden gnomes, the whole thing..” She hesitated. “Just like my grandmother, I just don’t know how that fits with… us.”
Ashri watched her for a long moment, expression unreadable. Then he smiled, gentler than usual.
“That’s adorable,” he said. “I get it, you want suburban hell.”
She swatted his arm. “Oh shut up!”
He caught her wrist, tugging her closer and into a hug. “Hey. I’m not mocking you.” His thumb brushed over her knuckles, warm as he nuzzled against her. “I think it’s nice. After everything we’ve done… maybe we’ve earned boring.”
Val blinked at him, surprised he was actually considering it. “You’re serious?”
“Terrifying, I know.” He glanced toward the door, where Maribel, Eli, and Teagan were arguing quietly over a half-burnt coffee pot. “We could settle. At least for a while. Call in some old favors..”
She raised an eyebrow at that, what could he possibly mean by that. “From who?”
Ashri’s grin turned sly. “An old family friend. Well. A family.” He shrugged. “You know who, The Rays.”
Val froze for half a second. “That Ray family?”
“The very same,” Ashri said. “If anyone understands dolls trying to play house, it’s them.”
Val laughed, resting her forehead against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, real, steady, it felt impossible. “You know,” she murmured, “this might be the weirdest version of my dream.”
Ashri kissed the top of her head and cups her face in his hands. “Weird dreams are the only ones worth keeping.”
Suddenly Teagan burst through the trailer door like it personally owed her money.
“Okay, settle this,” she said, already mid-sentence. “Because I think you can’t just fix a coffee pot with duct tape, and Eli thinks—”
She stopped.
Ashri and Val were standing far too close. Val’s forehead was still pressed to Ashri’s chest. His arm was wrapped around her like the world might steal her again if he let go.
The room went dead silent.
“Oh,” Teagan said flatly.
Val jumped like she’d been caught committing a crime. Ashri, on the other hand, didn’t even move.
From behind Teagan, Maribel leaned in, squinting. “What? What is it—”
She saw them and immediately softened, one hand flying to her mouth.
“Oh,” Maribel repeated, but warmer with a smile visible with the way her eyes narrowed. “Well, how sweet.”
Then Eli peeked around the doorframe, eyes wide. “Did we walk in on something or—”
“Yes,” Teagan and Maribel said at the same time.
Val pulled back, face flushed. “We were just talking!”
“Mhm,” Teagan said, turning slowly, arms crossed. “About your little fantasy and definitely not any murder.”
Ashri pinched his nose bridge and sighed. “Listen, we were deciding to settle down.”
That earned him three identical stares. Eli blinked, caught off guard. “Like… settle, settle?”
“Like ‘maybe stop running every six months’ settle because we have to kill assholes for a living,” Ashri clarified.
Maribel giggled, dark brown eyes shining a little. “I always thought you’d make a terrifying neighbor..”
Teagan groaned, rolling her eyes. “I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re planning domesticity.”
Then she paused and slowly smirked, clearly this idea didn't bother her as much as she let on. “So when are we going?”
