What is all this? i'm so glad you asked!
uhm...
generic jartist, law degree gale, i love jjs, stupid idiot, 007n7 mailman skin but jartist.
more in a second, aka under the cut!
What's down here???
idk, more stuff
Those are song thumbnails, one's a forsaken typa thing, the other's butcher vanity, and the third is twiddlefinger
oh and jartis_ puppet v2 as well. hi happy, how are ya?
So a few days ago I was inspired by this lovely prompt by @make-it-whumpier
A whumpee is disguised to look like the enemy, whether it’s through magic, technology, or something else, they look and sound exactly like the enemy of their team. Their team quickly captures them and despite the whumpees pleas for the team to believe them, the team thinks it’s some kind of trick. The whumpee never knew their team could be so ruthless when it came to getting information until the first torture session started.
I wrote a little something for that and you can find it [here].
This is the continuation for that.
contents include: team dynamics, found family stuff, generic leader and generic whumpee, betrayal, COMFORT, nightmares, managing to insult the Villain’s and the Leader’s banter at the same time,
----------------------------------------------
“Hey, are–uh. How you feeling this morning?” Leader decided they had to try and say something, anything, even if the sound of their voice still made the younger hero flinch. Nervous, blood-shot eyes only met Leader’s for a moment before finding refuge again in the pancakes. Piled three high and covered in syrup. Just like Whumpee liked it. Just like nothing had happened.
They hadn’t been touched yet. A fork was picked up and bites were idly moved around the plate without actually making any attempt to eat them. Their only answer was a subdued shrug.
Leader couldn’t stand it. Whumpee’s face was still bruised from where Leader’s knuckles mercilessly pummeled into it, asking over and over for information they literally hadn’t possessed. The marks left purple and yellow banners all over Whumpee’s cheek and jaw, flags that seemed to stake territory Leader had never wanted to claim. The red, swollen line of a split lip and a gash near Whumpee’s temple hadn’t even begun to heal yet, and they wouldn’t be able to use their left hand for a few weeks. Not with the fingers still splinted. Needless to say they were out of commission for hero work for the time being, but it wasn’t like this was the first time they’d taken a sound beating.
This was just the first time that beating had ever come from their Leader’s own two hands.
Leader sighed and then took a seat at the kitchen table, scooting as close to their team member as they dared. (That was actually pretty close, since Leader made a living out of taking dares--Close enough to reach out a gentle hand and lay it on a thin shoulder.) They felt it tremble slightly under their touch and their stomach rolled in shame. Couldn’t win ‘em all.
“Listen–I’m… I’m sorry. I know I said it before but I gotta say it again. And I’ll keep saying it till you believe me–”
Whumpee’s fork smacked down onto the table by their plate, making everything rattle. “It’s NOT THAT–” Their voice rose for a moment before they stiffened and took a deep breath. Let it out again. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I… I know you. I know you’d never hurt me on purpose. I know that whatever the enemy did, it disguised me so well that even you couldn’t see through it till the effects had worn off. You thought I was... one of THEM.” If there was bitterness in their voice for a moment, they couldn’t help it. “But I just… It’s like my brain knows but the rest of me doesn’t. And… And I HATE it!”
They smacked the table again, this time with their fist (the only hand they could still make a fist with) and tore away from the table. Stalking over to the fridge and giving it a swift kick with one booted foot.
“I HATE feeling this WEAK around you! I hate feeling this SCARED around you! I’ve never felt this scared around anyone in my entire LIFE. I hate–” They cut themselves off and gave the fridge another kick before storming out of the kitchen all together.
Leader sat at their spot at the table still, looking dumbly from the fridge to the uneaten pancakes, to the place where Whumpee had been. They sat in a stunned trance until he heard the door to Whumpee’s room slam shut.
Whumpee was scared of him… But didn’t want to be. The thought hurt just as badly as Whumpee’s silence had, but along with the pain and the guilt now came the spark of an… idea. That idea gradually coalesced into something firm and real; a decision. Maybe a bit of a risky one but... Leader wanted Whumpee feel safe around him. To trust him.
And Leader made a living out of taking dares.
__________
With a ragged shriek Whumpee threw the covers off their bed, followed by their kicking legs and flailing arms, till all of them lay crumpled in a shivering heap on the floor. Their heart still raced from the nightmare they’d just clawed their way out of, beating so hard in their chest they could feel it against their skin. They pressed a hand over it. The fingers were shaking. The arm was shaking. No matter what they did they couldn’t unstick the image of–
“Whumpee?” Leader was standing in the open door to their bedroom, figure carving out a solid block against the yellowish hallway light. They were so tall. Imposing. Impressive.
Whumpee scrambled off the floor because from that angle Leader looked like something else entirely.
“M'fine.” They turned away, facing the bed and mumbling. They really didn’t want to deal with this right now.
But then Leader was right behind them. There was a hand on their shoulder and–
“Stop!” Whumpee practically sobbed the word out and wrenched away, taking a couple wandering, clumsy steps till the bed knocked into their knees. They sat down on it hard and then just crumpled into themselves. “I’m sorry… I’m s-sorry I know y-you’re safe b-but I–” They bowed their head down to their knees as the tears came, streaming down their face with hitching breaths and sharp, painful coughs as they tried and failed to hold it in. Whumpee couldn’t hold it in anymore. They couldn’t hold it together. Their entire world had been tipped upside down and the one person in the world they really trusted had spent hours making sure they screamed louder than the sound of their bones breaking.
They didn’t feel “betrayed”, that didn’t seem like the right word. They felt like they were walking around with no ground underneath them. Like nothing made sense anymore and nobody--nobody--could be really trusted.
They felt lost.
It was even worse to know that Leader felt bad about it. It was even worse to know the fear they couldn’t control was just creating more and more pain.
When they felt Leader’s arms wrap around them they tried to push away again, good hand and forearm of the bad one against shoulders that were much stronger. But gentle hands held him fast. Secure. Not tight like iron, but warm and soft like a blanket tucked around them just right.
They keened louder against Leader’s chest, some kind of wall seeming to break when they weren’t being allowed to run away anymore. Crying out their misery and their shame at not being able to trust again and, deep deep down, their bitter, broiling anger.
“HoW C-COULD Y-Y-YOU IT WAS ME GODDAMMIT IT WAS ME!! THE WHOLE TIME! I P-P-hnnn--I begged you. I nEVER BEG. And you looked m-me RIGHT IN THE FACE and HURT ME ANYWAY I HATE YOU.”
The last couple words rang out loud enough for the whole base to hear. Loud enough to crack across the dark room like a slap to the face. Leader flinched around Whumpee’s sobbing, broken form, but took it. Leader knew they deserved it and just…
Took it.
Kept Whumpee tucked in tight in their arms, hands carding soft, whispering paths through their hair. Murmured next to their ear that it was okay, it was alright to hate them, it was alright to be scared. “I’m not gonna leave you though. I’m not gonna hurt you so bad like that and leave you to deal with it all alone. I’m here and I can take whatever you dish out. It doesn’t change–”
Leader’s soft words were interrupted by Whumpee’s fist against their chest. Using one fist to try and fit every molecule of hurt, wounded rage in their body and pound it all against the solid (safe) mass that held them, until they finally went limp. Exhausted, hollowed out. Tears dried up.
That’s when Leader took Whumpee’s face in their hands. Tilted Whumpee’s chin up–so careful of the bruise there–and touched their foreheads together. Whumpee closed their eyes when that face came close and that nose bumped against their own.
“It doesn’t change the fact that you’re part of this team. You’re part of this family. And your home is still right here. Even if it takes a while for the monkey in the back of your brain to realize it.”
Whumpee gave a couple tired snuffles, their hands soft in their lap, their entire weight leaning forward into Leader’s hands. They didn’t fight anymore. They understood, and it was as if the floor reappeared underneath them. The world turned itself back up off it’s head and the room didn’t seem so full of dark, alien shadows.
Whumpee was home. They realized that with a sigh of surrender, while Leader ran thumbs over their bruises and soothed reassurances over their heart.
“I promise I’ll never hurt you that way again. Never ever. Neeeever gonna hurt you again, buddy.”
Their head had already known this but now, sitting there wrapped up in Leader’s arms, their heart finally had the proof it had been screaming for. No matter how Whumpee felt they knew Leader would be there to help them through it.
“I AM going to hurt Villain though. Gonna kick their ass.” Leader mumbled against Whumpee’s hair, eliciting a wheezing laugh from inside the protective circle of their arms. “Oh no, you think I’m joking? No amount of witty banter is gonna save them this time.”
This is why you don't give an artist a simple assignment and a lot of time. I was told to draw the definition of "plot" for my Literature class and this was the result.
Here’s a late valentine for you guys, sorry about a the quality, didn’t want it to be too far off. I’ll editing more later, just wanted to thank you guys for following.
