- a lil complicated, it takes a while for them to catch their footing. pope goes to college, jj works in a mechanical shop in the same town. they buy themselves a small apartment to start with.
- pope graduates and does whatever one does with what he studies and jj opens his own surf shop. they buy themselves a proper house next to a beach and start to fully live that domestic life.
- i could see them potentially getting married at some point but i think they'd also be content to just live in harmony with each other for the rest of their lives.
10. how do you imagine they met?
jj bumps into pope at school one day while pope has his nose buried in a textbook as he rounds the corner then classic trope of pope dropping his books and jj helping pick them up. jj then starts to notice pope around more until one day he asks if pope wants to go surfing with him. (jj ends up teaching pope how to surf properly) and from then on they become best friends <3
AH thank you for requesting them 🥺 been kinda dying to write hayden/tracy tbh, here’s some softness for them bc they deserve it (and honestly i needed it)
set vaguely before they capture deucalion in 5b, i don’t remember events super clearly so sorry if i’m a little off in that regard haha;;
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Tracy didn’t anticipate the cold.
There was never any time for someone to explain it all to her. Theo said a few things to them that night in quick, fierce words: dead, not dead, chimeras, pack. In that moment, Tracy hardly understood it all, but she saw the way her nails lengthened into claws, the strength in her grip, the scales that ran up her face. She doesn’t understand it, but while it’s here to stay, she might as well embrace it.
But the chill in her bones won’t leave. Maybe it’s a Kanima thing—cold-blooded, right? At first it’s enough to stand in the light, layer more clothes beneath thicker jackets, but it still won’t stop. So she lets the cold fade to numbness instead. It’s easier to feel nothing.
Even if she’s shivering in this damp corner of the Dread Doctors’ lab, while Hayden pulls venom from her claws into a vial.
Certainly both of them are wishing it’d go by faster, but the venom ekes out in slow drops. Hayden’s grip is featherlight on Tracy’s wrist, like she’d rather not be touching her at all. Their silence is broken only by drops of water echoing further in the tunnels, and the low murmur of Theo and the others in the next room discussing what comes next.
Tracy clears her throat. Hayden jumps slightly in surprise.
“I can probably finish this myself,” Tracy says.
Hayden stares like she’s forgotten the English language. Then she blinks. “Oh. No, it’s okay,” she says, shaking her head. “I don’t mind.”
Tracy wants to insist, but all things considered, she really doesn’t care that much. Hayden’s hand, however lightly it’s touching her, is warm. Tracy is a little reluctant to pull away. She shivers again.
“Cold down here, huh?” Hayden says, like this is just some breezy conversation in the middle of the school hallway.
Tracy almost laughs, but she figures, why not? She doesn’t care to make friends out of anyone here, but it certainly doesn’t benefit her to piss Hayden off. She’s seen her roundhouse kicks.
So she responds, a little awkwardly, “Yeah. Not the place I’d pick for a hideout.”
Hayden almost smiles. “Don’t let Theo hear you say that.”
Tracy snorts. She shifts a little and Hayden shifts with her, hands following Tracy’s hand. Her grip on Tracy’s wrist turns a little firmer, warmer.
Tracy says, “I run cold. Ever since...” She waves her free hand vaguely between them.
Hayden nods. “Because of the Kanima?”
“Probably.”
Tracy impassively watches the venom go, drip by slow drip. The vial is finally full. She tugs her claw out of the top. Hayden lets go of her hand and steps away to seal the vial.
She shivers again from the chill, from the loss of having someone else so close to her, and she hadn’t realized just how long it’s been since she’s felt anything like it. She watches her claws retract, one by one, the scales disappearing along her skin with each motion.
Suddenly something drapes over her shoulders, something soft, warm. Tracy stiffens and shoots her claws out on instinct
Hayden laughs. “It’s just my scarf,” she says. “Take it.”
Tracy looks at her with wide eyes, breathing heavily. She retracts her claws and tentatively touches the scarf with one hand.
“I don’t need it,” she says, and Hayden rolls her eyes.
“Just take it, Tracy.” Hayden moves forward, and Tracy reels from the sudden switch between Hayden barely touching her and Hayden being close enough for Tracy to count her eyelashes.
Hayden loops the scarf around her neck, once, twice. Tracy’s hair gets a little tangled in it, but she doesn’t tug it free. She doesn’t move at all, not with Hayden so near. Not when she’s afraid to touch, to breathe. She belatedly realizes that the scarf smells nice.
“There,” Hayden says, smiling a little. “That better?”
Tracy dips her chin, shrinking into the scarf. This is embarrassing. The cold doesn’t bother her. It’s easier to feel nothing.
But.
“Yeah,” she says, feeling warmth rush to her face, and more so when Hayden’s smile widens.
