This takes place in a world where Kaufmo and Ribbit didn’t abstract.
CW: You say "I'm gay for the purple twink." as a woman.v 587 words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You curl in on yourself into a ball, snorting as you laugh at a stupid joke that Jax told the group. Kaufmo is chuckling while Ribbit is holding her stomach, laughing. In reality, the joke wasn’t that funny, but it was rolling off the joy from the past hour of giggles and laughs from the group, so it sent the two of you into a sort of frenzy.
Kaufmo stands up, and puts a hand on Jax’s shoulder. “We should go get some more snacks, yeah? Also.” He points to the tv that’s hanging on the wall of the make-shift livingroom. “It’s your turn to pick a movie.”
“Oh yeah! I already forgot, haha. How about you get the popcorn, and I’ll get the movie?” he said, pointing his own thumb at himself as he finished his sentence.
Kaufmo nodded, and Jax looked at you. “You want to help me pick out a movie?”
You can’t help but let out some residual giggles as you respond. “Heh, n-no. I want to se-ee what you.. You pick haha.”
He shrugs. “Alright. Your loss if I pick more than one.” He stands up, following Kaufmo to head to the other side of the wall.
Ribbit watches them, and as soon as they turn the corner she turns to you. “I know it wasn’t that funny.”
You wipe the tear from your eye. “Yeah I know. I guess I was just caught up on the energy.”
“Or maybe you’re crushing.” she narrows her eyes at you.
Your eyes go wide, and a light blush appears on your cheeks. “Wh-what?”
“I’ve definitely noticed. And I see the way you look at him. It’s okay really.” she says, sweeping some non-existent dust from her knee. She turns her gaze back to you. “I mean, I kinda get it. Not fully, but I can definitely see why. Specifically how he treats you.”
You’re silent for a moment. “O..kay.. So... what if I did have a crush... I don’t want to do anything about it?”
“Oh come on you’re so crushing on him!”
“Okay, you caught me. I’m gay for the purple twink.”
“Uhm, that’s not how that works.”
“Why not?”
“You’re not gay...?”
“Well, as a woman, I’m very gay for that twink. And that is how it works for me.”
Jax comes over, holding two dvd cases. “What about twinkies?”
You both look up at him, surprised, before bursting out laughing hard as possible. Wheezing. Crying. Unable to breath.
Jax looks at the two of you confused, and Kaufmo comes back with the same look. His arms are full of movie snacks, and four buckets of popcorn. Him and Jax exchange a confused look, and Jax just shrugs.
Bonus for NYE:
Outside the tent, a giant sign signaling the end of the year.
“3. 2. 1!” Confetti falls around everyone, bubble bursting into a million pieces before re-appearing.
Everyone is giving each other a hug, until Ribbit shoves Jax into you, yelling “DO IT!!!”
You almost fall over, and find your footing. The fireworks around you two get drowned out at you look up at his big eyes. All in the same motion, he takes a deep breath, puts his hands on either of your cheeks, and pulls you in for a kiss, making sure to release his breath as you two make contact. A firework goes off behind you two as a flash goes off.
A polaroid camera.
Confetti perfectly framed the photo, with the firework perfectly lighting the moment.
Ever since we were kids, my siblings and I would hover around our mom in the kitchen any time she had the shredded cheese out. We’d stand there making obnoxious ‘cheep cheep’ sounds with our mouths wide open pretending we were annoying baby birds until she relented and shut us up by shoving a handful of shredded cheese into out mouths.
I like imagining that the batkids do this. I can’t see Alfred giving in often if at all, but Bruce? Almost definitely.
Maybe it starts with Dick after getting injured as Robin. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t dial up the ‘helpless injured kid’ act by 1000 to tug on Bruce’s heartstrings. Bruce would only have to give into it, surrender part of his meal or a snack and hand-feed him once and it’s over.
After that, Dick’s either pulling the helpless card or resorting to being plain obnoxious, making loud cheeping noises with his mouth wide open and pointed upward like his namesake. (If you haven’t seen what a hungry baby robin looks like, look it up. They’re so scrunkly. I love them so much, but they’re annoying)
Dick ate all his fries already, but he sees that Bruce still has some? Cheep cheep! Dick is hungry (or just bored) while on patrol? Cheep cheep!
After Dick is no longer Robin, he’s obviously not around or close enough to Bruce to do it as often. And though he may be ticked that Jason now has the Robin name and suit, he insists the baby birds must band together to bother their Batdad, so of course he teaches Jason how to leech snacks and food off of him. Now there’s a duet of annoying cheeping following Bruce around.
Then Jason dies and it’s quiet again.
After Tim comes along, I imagine that it would take much longer for Dick to pass the tradition onto him, but I can’t see the cheeping getting as obnoxious or reoccurring as it was before. Perhaps Dick would do it as Nightwing as one of his ways of getting onto Bruce’s nerves, and Bruce would cave in out of habit or nostalgia.
Tim would prolly try it more often if he could do it for coffee, but I can’t see Bruce trying to pour coffee into his open mouth going very well. Maybe if Bruce attempts to cut him off of caffeine for the night, Tim could overlap his words with loud cheeps until Bruce just sighs and dumps a shot of espresso into the fiend’s mouth to shut him up.
Damian would be baffled and borderline horrified witnessing this happening with any of the other batkids. These absolute animals were really trained by his father? And his father was indulging them?!
I can’t see Damian doing the cheep cheep thing. At least not for a while. As an animal lover, maybe he’d warm up to the idea a little bit after seeing the chicks in a bird nest being fed by mama bird in the gardens.
Lord help poor Bruce after his collection of kids grows. Any time he has a snack in hand, there’s at least two batkids hovering around him cheep cheeping. ‘Kids’ is actually a very loose term, some of these annoying mfers are legally adults and still are trying to get some of his snacks even though they have full access to the same damn snacks on their own.
I also think it would be really funny if one of the younger batkids does this to Dick instead of Bruce. Maybe if Damian finally decides to give it a shot, he cheeps at Dick when he’s eating a snack instead of his father, especially if Damian still doesn’t feel ready to act so ‘unbecoming of a Wayne heir’ in front of his father.
Dick would prolly cry at finally being ‘mama bird’ in these games.
Fandoms: The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan; Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Summary: In a single day, Apollo got robbed, found the little criminal responsibile for taking his fifty cows and then got offered the most beautiful instrument he had ever seen in exchange for those very same cows.
What else could he do but accept?
While he was at it, he also kept the child.
AKA the story of how Apollo went from begrudgingly forgiving Hermes for the theft to spoiling him rotten in less than one day.
---
I wrote down the first concept of this fic in may last year. Since then, it has literally haunted me every time I wanted to write.
I am a perfectionist, and that is one of the reasons this fic has taken so long to finish. The other main reason is that I over-edited. Every time I opened the doc, instead of continuing with the story I would reread what was already there and change half of it, which made me feel like I never got anywhere and like I would never be able to finish.
I am finally at a point where I am ready to let it go, both because it's complete and because I literally need it out of my head. Is it perfect? No. Are there things I already want to change? Yes, but if I keep doing that it's never going to end.
Despite this, I can recognize it has improved a lot (A LOT) from the first draft I wrote down, and not just because the final result is approx 5000 words longer. I worked hard to improve my writing, and I am now sufficiently confident and satisfied to share my work.
This way, I can also finally focus on some other fics that have been sitting abandoned in my wip folder.
I hope to be able to write more from now on, although life has been very busy so I can't say for sure.
Warnings: Swearing, nightmares, cannibalism, and smoking
A/n: Just wanna thank all the peeps that were able to vote on the poll I made a few days ago <33 Had no idea what to do for the story so voting really helped me. Also this one’s kinda L O N G, I just had a lot of ideas for this part. (Also this song just reminded me of this fic listen to it PLS)
Adam’s pov:
Another weird ass dream, ever since I moved in this chicks hip-dip apartment I’ve been getting them. It’s mostly the day of the extermination, I can’t believe I didn’t turn back as soon as they started fighting back. Now I let everyone in heaven down, even Lute.
Whatever, I need to go wiz. I should probably stay quiet otherwise that butterfly bitch might wa-
Third dream pov (idk what to call it):
Before Adam can finish his thoughts, he looks towards the mirror, revealing his angel form but severely injured, and with a large gaping wound in his chest, surrounded by blood. Adam lets out a startled yelp, backing up against the bathroom door, awakening him.
Normal third pov:
Adam wakes up, startled at his new dream. He had still been lying on the couch, but his eyes wider than ever. He sits up, some of the leather couch sticking against his sweaty body, scratching the back of his head. The grey morning sky shined between the window blinds, he wanted to go back to sleep, but who could after a dream like that?
Adam rushes to the bathroom, quickly opening the door and turning on the lights, heading straight to the mirror. He gently touches his left horn, feeling a mix of relief but also disappointment that he’s back in his new body.
A lousy cough escapes his chapped lips, feeling that his throat is dry, and decides to get water from the kitchen tap, grabbing a mug and filling it up with water. Sure it tasted weird and warm, but he didn’t care. He chugged the nearly the whole thing in one sip, with some water spilling from the cup to his chin hairs. Adam slams the cup against the table.
Suddenly, a displeasing alarm goes off in the distance. He realizes that he’s not alone in here, what could that alarm be for tho? Y/n steps out of from her room still in her pajamas, yawning.
“Oh Adam!... What are you doing up this early?” She asks while heading to the kitchen. “I dunno man, just felt like it.” He responds in annoyance, “What are you doing up this early? You’re the one with the annoying ass alarm.”
Y/n rolls her eyes a bit while opening the fridge and taking out a box of frozen waffles, “I just have somethings to do today, so I thought I’d wake up early. I’m planning to pick up something from cannibal town.” She begins putting some waffles in a toaster while making herself a latte. “Gasp, you should totally come!!” Y/n exclaims excitedly.
Adam looks alarmed, offended even, and just stairs in confusion. “Y/n, why in the fuck, would I want to go anywhere, in this miserable place.” He says in a brutally honest manner. “I mean seriously, are you blind? Have you seen what goes on out there??” Adam pulls y/n to the window opening the blinds, revealing a guy getting his brains blown out.
Y/n cringes at the sight, “okay yeah it’s not great, but cannibal town is pretty enjoyable! Cmon you’ll see what I mean when we go there, plus you get to try out those wings of yours.” She says pointing at his scaly two scaly things, leading Adam to spread one of them a bit.
Y/n stares at Adam waiting for an answer, he sighs in annoyance, “eugh, fine I’ll go. Whatever means I can crash in here.” She then jumps in excitement, “Yess!! Also you’re going to have to pay at least half of the rent here if you wanna stay.” (He really thought 😭)
Time skip: 2hours
Adam waits on the couch waiting for y/n to finish up getting ready, y/n was lucky to find her old roommates clothes in his size. He has a leather jacket, along with black jeans and a Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt. He’s wearing the same boots he wore when he got here tho, he thought they’d look good with his jacket. Adam flinches at the sudden steps of y/n who just finished up, walking in the room.
“Sorry, I didnt scare you did I?” She says chuckling whilst brushing her hair. She had a long forest green skirt, along with a brown laced top and a cardigan that only reached her elbows. “So do you wanna fly or walk there? I can teach you how!”
Adam realizes, he has to pretend he doesn’t know how to fly, otherwise she might get suspicious. He assumes that since one angel has fallen, then there must be a shit ton. He can’t let her know that he’s the reason for the exterminations. “yeah, yeah totally totes you can definitelyteachmehowtoflymanandstuffhahahha” He rambles on while his eyebrows are furrowed and making finger guns to him, noticeably sweating his ass off.
Y/n notices this, then coming to a conclusion. “I know why you’re nervous, Adam..” She says gently, while looking up at him. Adam panics, nearly choking on his spit, “Ar-Ar you serious?”
“Yeah..
you must be afraid of heights!” She exclaimed happily, truly a eureka moment for this woman. Adam sighs in relief, the most unbearable relief anyone has ever felt. “I knew it from the moment I saw you, it’s always the tall ones.” She says shaking her head. “We don’t have to fly, Adam. It’s only a mile or two away, we’ll get there in no time!” Y/n adds picking up her messenger bag. “Now, let’s get going!” She says with a bright smile.
As they step onto the sidewalk, y/n notices that Adam seems a bit cautious. Normally when he was in hell it was to commit a massacre, not having to worry about a sinner hurting them because-well they couldn’t at the time. But now things are different, he’s one of them now.
“Relax,” Y/n starts, “just stay out of trouble, and stick with me. Oh and also watch your step, these guys are open to just taking a dump anywhere they’d like.”
The two begin to walk on the dirty sidewalk, y/n being extra careful about where she’s walking, but Adam doesn’t really mind stepping on a used condom or some junkies bag of coke.
“So, what’s it like up there?” Y/n asks, Adam gets alarmed at her question, stuttering a bit. “uuuUUP WHERE?”
“On earth! I heard that the sky is blue instead of red. And the animals there are not as scaly” y/n begins to stroke the soft hairs on her left wing, she was truly torturing this poor man. “How do the animals look here?” He asks, before y/n can respond,
splat!
A large red fleshy snake falls onto the ground, not really moving that much, just there. “I think that should answer your question” y/n then walks over the seemingly dead snake, while Adam does the same.
“So like, what do you guys do here all day?” Adam questions while sneering at the explicit posters causally displayed out in the open. “I mean, that depends on who you’re asking. Most people go on a rampage as soon as they get here, at least from what I see.” Y/n shrugs. “But sometimes you find a stable part of hell, or at least as stable as hell can be.” Adam becomes slightly intrigued about what she’s saying about hell. “Like, I work at a cafe around here. It’s nice but it’s a bit hard to keep up the wage when angels and demons wreck the place every now and then.” She says sadly, Adam feeling a wave of shame, that she has to live in constant fear while working because of others, and sometimes him.
Eventually, both y/n and Adam finally enter cannibal town. Adam being a bit wary, since he sees many familiar faces around the place, but not for good reason. Y/n then noticing, “Adam? You don’t look so good, is something wrong?” She questions. Adam begins to snap out of his cautious mode, “uhh, yeah?It’s not like on earth people are open to just eating each other out in the open-and NOT in the good way.” He scoffs, pointing to a gentlemen eating another’s guts out. “Oof, Rosie might wanna get that checked at.” Y/n says looking over at where Adam is pointing.
“And who the hell is Rosie??” Adam asks pretty loudly, “The mayor, but I’m sure she’s busy today. Anyways, I’m gonna go to the florist shop. Whole I go you can..” Y/n begins to look around, trying to find a place for Adam to get distracted, then finding a smoke store nearby. “-go to the smoke shop!” She suggests pointing nervously to the shop, hoping that her assumption wouldn’t offend him.
Adam stared at the shop for a bit, he had smoked before, but it was mostly when he was able to disguise himself as a human and go to earth. But he hasn’t done that in a while, last time he smoked he found himself passed out at the back of some hippies van. Ever since Sera made sure he was always watched whenever he went to earth.
“…yeah sure I’ll go smoke.” He submits. Y/n taking a breath of relief, “good! I’ll be in the shop if you need me” Y/n quickly gives him a nice 50, then going off to the flower shop.
Adam finishes his shopping trip pretty quickly, to be fair all he had was 50$ and the store was quite small. He just bought a bubbler and a pack of cigarettes, along with a lighter of course. He sits on a bench that had been between the two stores, then smoking one of the cigarettes.
He sat on that thing for at least 6 or 7 minutes. As he was sitting, he did notice that this place was nicer than every other part of hell. A bit weird to think about, how just a few days ago they were trying to kill each other. A huge gust of wind blows his cigar onto the floor, and into a puddle to his left. His attention is then drawn into the reflection for a few seconds, but he shrinks away from the pain of realizing he’s a demon now, and turns away closing his eyes.
After a good 9 minutes, y/n comes out with a woven basket of lavender, as well as candles with flowers inside of them. “Oh I took so long didn’t I?” She apologizes. “They just had a great sale on candles I couldn’t resist!” Y/n begins to sit down with Adam, hoping to rest a bit after standing round for a bit. “So, how have your last few days been down here?”
“Shitty. Do you have any eyeliner?” Adam replies manspreading, him being slightly slouched down. Y/n then scurries in her bag, hoping to find some. “I didn’t strike you as the type to wear eyeliner.” She chuckles, handing him the small stick along with a hand mirror. “What shape do you like putting it? I like a thin feline, it’s cute but basic.” Y/n shrugs, “Do I look like Jeffery star to you? I don’t know the fuckin species of eyeliner.” He laughs shaking his head giving himself a soft Smoke. Y/n laughs along with him, setting down the basket of lavender and candles between them.
“I got the lavender stuff for you.” Y/n says, Adam pauses, looking over at y/n. “…you’re not that smart are you?” Adam stares judgmentally, y/n taking lots of offense to his comment but keeping quiet. “Why do I need flowers right now? I don’t need a pity gift, especially if they’re some fucking flowers.” Adam scoffs. “No, they aren’t a pity gift or anything, I can tell you haven’t slept peacefully ever since you’ve gotten here.” Y/n removes a bit of the cloth on the basket to take one of the lavenders out. “These will be able to help you, I can make tea out of them and they’ll help you out. Or we can use the aromatherapy I got with it too, just in case you don’t like tea.” Y/n offers, she reaches over to gently grab Adam’s hand places it on hers.
“I know you’re going through a lot Adam. You don’t have to tell me why, but I need you to know that hiding your feelings wont do any good for you.” She explains giving a worried but weirdly comforting look at him, “so please, let me help you.”
Adam stares into y/n’s maroon and green eyes. He then feels as if a big weight of pressure left his chest, he’s never been able to have a person understand him like this. Especially when they don’t really know who he is. Tears slowly form in his red eyes, as y/n pulls him in for a hug. Feeling the warmth in her body made him feel safe in a way, that he could trust her. That she can always help him when he needs it. He didn’t know the exact words for it, but all he knew is that he hadn’t felt this way ever since Eden.
Adam’s dream pov:
Both Adam and y/n had gotten back to the house, it was a nice trip back since Adam finally trusted her a whole lot more. Once they got back y/n gave Adam some lavender tea, sure he would rather drink a cup of literal vomit than tea but he was desperate to sleep soundly for once. Hell, he could even sleep in jeans if we wanted to.
Adam practically throws himself on the couch, immediately going to sleep as soon as his cheek hits the pillow. He dreams of nothing but a void of darkness, as others do, but in that void he sees a familiar face in it, carrying a beautiful light with it. As the light came closer, it transformed into something Adam can only described as beauty.
He wasn't sure who it was tho, he's seen many women in his life, but he couldn't poke out who it was, only little things.The way she laughed, felt like small bubbles popping in his head. and her teeth coming from her smile, like beams of light, peaking through clusters and clusters of trees. And her eyes, oh her gorgeous eyes, like two pearls shining against the sunlight. Whoever it was, was truly gorgeous. But who was it?
“Are we in Antarctica or something?” your voice shivers. You were dropped into a shelter with heating, but that didn’t stop the deathly cold from seeping its way through the thick metal walls. You look around, Pomni and Ragatha accompanying you as you search for jackets. Finally, you three enter a room with Jax, Zooble, and Gangle all wearing jackets already. The puffy jackets all had white fur trim, with a bright red outside. They were long enough to cover top to bottom with a hood to cover your heads. It was basically built like a really comfy blanket with a zipper and arms.
You three walk in to grab your respective jackets, but yours seemed to have a massive hole in one of the pockets, creating a small draft. You did your best the whole time to either keep from noticing, or to hold it closed, but it wasn’t very effective. By the end, you were sneezing and coughing a lot. You sounded like you were becoming either hypothermic or you caught pneumonia.
Walking through the final door, the snow is violently swirling around all of you. The group had decided that you should be the first one in since you clearly were having issues handling the cold. Despite the comfy jacket, you were shivering basically the entire time. Your nose was dripping to the point icicles were forming, and your face had not only gone pale, but your cheeks had flushed. You were subconsciously hunched over when normally you’d be standing tall and proud. If it weren't for the vast difference in temperature, you would have still felt cold as you entered the circus.
Caine scans you up and down before hovering in front of you to make eye contact, not saying anything yet. He hovers back up above the others to look at them as they walk through the door, snow still swirling its way into the circus as the harsh wind blows from the pocket dimension behind you. You turn around to find the others shedding their jackets with Gangle and Ragatha giving you a concerned look. You think you might have seen a flash of something similar on Jax, but you felt so terrible you just assumed you were seeing things. Deep down you knew he cared for others, but even if you hadn’t been hallucinating, he wouldn’t openly admit to it.
Looking back up at Caine, you just breath low, barely enough energy to speak. Clearly whatever is happening is slowly taking over. “Caine, what’s going on? I feel like garbage.”
Caine snaps his attention back to you, looking you up and down again. “Well... I’m not sure... you humans shouldn’t be able to get sick...” He tilts his toothed head, racking his AI brain to try and figure out a solution. He turns his head to the group. “Well, everyone, I’m going to have to pull all of my attention on finding out what glitch is causing your dear friend to feel absolutely disgusting!” He stares off into space for a moment before snapping his fingers, and suddenly you find yourself back in your room with the door cracked open.
You were laying in bed, the covers pulled snuggly up to your chest, with your entire being tucked in comfortably. You were sitting up against a small pile of pillows behind you with another blanket wrapped around your arms and shoulders from behind. You almost couldn’t tell the difference between the missing jacket and the blankets surrounding you.
You stared off into space, wondering why and how this could happen? Was it a glitch? Was this some cruel form of punishment? Sure, Caine said this shouldn’t happen. You’ve heard of bugs in the game before, but this? Whatever. Your mind was somehow spiraling, but also way too fogged to think clearly. Whatever this was, it was taking over quicker than previously thought.
You moved your head to face your door as it creaked open, a small warm cloth bag fell off your head as you do. Your body temperature feels so dysregulated that you hadn’t even noticed its presence.
Peeling your eyes from where the cloth thing fell, you look up to find Ragatha and Pomni peeking their heads in, one with a concerned look and the other with a bit of a cheeky smile, but still clearly concerned. You gave a weak “Hello” before they came into your room. You three talked back and forth for a bit. You were nodding in and out coming close to sleep several times. You did your best, but Ragatha and Pomni just ended off by telling you they’d be around to check up on you later.
You fell asleep as they closed the door behind them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At some point during your slumber, you opened your eyes to see that Zooble and Gangle had come in to say hello and check on you. They did their best to have a conversation with you, but you were barely responding. You were barely out of limbo while talking to them. They both figured they’d leave you be, but not without wishing you well.
A little while later, Ragatha came back with a small tray of food, but you were sound asleep. She sat there with you, venting about who knows what while you slept. After about what would be considered half an hour, she got up and left, passing Kinger on the way. He had brought one of his pillows as a sort of ‘offering’ in an attempt to make you more comfortable.
He carefully lifted the blanket up to your knees, placed the plush pillow underneath, and put the blanket back, making sure to tuck the blanket back under your legs. With a gentle pat to your head, he left.
~~~~
“Hey, wake up” A rough but smooth voice forced you awake. A familiar voice that was unmistakable. You turn your head to find Jax holding a tray with warm chicken soup, crackers, and bread, along with silverware. You could even see the steam rising from the food. His face held a soft yet annoyed look. “H...huh?”
“Wake up, you missed dinner. Everyone else went to sleep.”
“Huh... oh...” You do your best to sit up, but you still feel a bit weak. Jax quickly puts the tray on your night stand to help you sit up, positioning not only the pillows behind you, but also taking the pillow from underneath your knees and placing it on your lap. His expression doesn’t falter the whole time. Really, inside, he’s annoyed that you look so tired and sickly. He’s annoyed that you didn’t eat dinner despite Ragatha bringing you food. He’s annoyed that he cares, but really he can’t do much about it other than doing the small things.
You look up at him, your head feeling heavy and your body feeling warm. Blinking, you do your best to question what he’s doing there so late. He gently places the tray on your lap, being careful to not spill the soup, his full focused attention on the action. “Well, if Caine can’t figure out how to fix this then we have to take care of it the ‘normal’ way. And that won’t happen if you don’t eat.”
Normally you would have questioned this logic since you’re in a digital world, but given your sickly state you didn’t. The sickness was seemingly causing some brain fog despite having gotten some good sleep. Clear enough to know what was going on around you, but not enough to not question certain things.
Clearly the sickness had given you some brain fog despite the sleep you’d gotten.
You wince at the grinding sound that assaults your ears as Jax pulls your desk chair over to your bedside. He sits, legs spread wide, getting as close to the edge of the bed as he can, his facial expression softening as he takes in a quiet deep breath. Picking up the bowl and soup spoon, he gently dips the metal underneath the soup’s surface to fill the void with chicken, noodles, and broth.
Slowly lifting it, he watches as he brings the spoon to your face, moving the bowl underneath so as to not spill anything. If your face hadn’t been flushed from the sickness, it definitely would be now. It’s almost confusing, but you go with it, opening your mouth to accept the food. You hear him grumble something under his own breath, but don’t question it. Lifting the spoon slowly by the very base, all of the broth leaves the spoon and deposits into your mouth as he pulls it out slowly. He’s being uncharacteristically careful.
You swallow as he’s pulling another spoonful up to your face. It almost feels rushed, but at the same time, trying to raise your arm would cause you to just shake, so really the help is much appreciated.
After a few minutes of this sort of back and forth, you lean back as much as you can trying to get some good deep breaths, looking forward as you focus on your breathing. Jax looks between you and the soup bowl, placing the spoon back into the bowl. “You want some bread?”
You nod your head slowly at his question. You don’t notice just how intently, how closely he is watching you at this point. Taking the bread and tearing it into a smaller piece, he dips it into the broth before bringing it to you to eat. As you close your mouth, your lips accidentally graze his fingers causing him to blush slightly. Of course, he’s trying super hard to toss away the redness, but it doesn't work.
You chew and swallow the bread, still staring forward. You two sit in comfortable silence for what felt like minutes before you tell Jax to give you the bowl, to which he obliges. You finish your soup and bread, and give the empty bowl back to Jax.
“I’ll be right back.”
He gets up and takes the tray away. Sitting alone in the silence of your room was almost deafening. Yet somehow it was soothing. The promise of his presence to return kept the negative energy at bay, otherwise it would feel unforgivably lonely. He comes back into the room, wordlessly placing a glass of water before leaving the room again. Distantly, you can hear the sound of a door clicking open, and moments later, clicking closed. His footsteps echoed down the silent hallway, getting louder as they approached your room once again.
He re-enters your room, now dragging a big fluffy blanket with him as it drags on the floor. Walking up to your bed, he takes Kinger’s pillow and places it back under your legs along with moving the pillows that were supporting your back, putting them to the side for him to lay down. Tossing the blanket across your form, he fans it a few times to make sure it covers the whole mattress. Starting next to you, Jax walks around the border of the bed making sure to smooth over any wrinkles in the fabric.
He turns on your desk fan before crawling into bed, making sure to give you plenty of space so as to not make you uncomfortable. He hadn’t said it outloud, but he’d decided he was going to stay in your room tonight. You look over at him a bit confused, but not complaining.
“What are you doing?” As you speak you notice how nasally you sound along with the feeling of your nose being stuffed up.
His ears shoot up “Oh! I, uh..” his gaze tears itself from you, looking up at that suddenly interesting piece of nonexistent dust on your headboard. “I just figured... I could sleep over here tonight. Y’know..” he rolls his eyes downward, still avoiding looking at you. “Just in case you need something else I’m right here.”
You let out a small giggle that catches him off guard. His eyes immediately snap to rest on your face. He was fully expecting you to tell him to get out, or maybe even yell at him for being a creep.
But no.
You laughed.
It caused some butterflies to start fluttering in his stomach. His ears now flat against his head, eyes wide and dilated, and his mouth taught into an almost invisible line. This just caused you to give him a look that can’t really be described other than silently calling him a cutie. Seeing the look on his face gives you an idea. You couldn’t tell if it was the sickness or if you were enjoying watching him get flustered.
“You know, normally I snuggle with a stuffed animal. I don’t know where I put it though.” It wasn’t a total lie. You did normally at least have a stuffed animal in your bed. You knew exactly where it was though.
He started to sit up as he spoke. “Oh, I can go find it-” You snap your hand onto his arm, stopping him from moving further, cutting off his words with the action. “No, it’s ok. I was actually thinking. I mean. If you’re okay with it we could just snuggle.”
His face starts to flush at the proposition. Of course, he’d rather stuff his face under the blanket and pretend he isn’t emoting, but instead he forces his fake bravado, his flushed state betraying the persona. His signature smile being shoved onto his lips, his eyes and ears looking to the ceiling to avoid eye contact again. “Well, I mean if it means you get better faster I guess I could consider it.”
He slowly turned his eyes back to you, which to him felt like a massive mistake. He was now sweating seeing how cute you were looking up at him with a sparkle in your eye.
Shit shit shit shit.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
Rubbing his arm against his forehead, he stares at you for a few seconds more before looking away again for a split moment. “So, uhm... how do...” You blink at him, expecting him to come closer to you. You were already comfy so he needed to come cuddle you. “Do you want me to...” You just nod in response, taking a pause before speaking. “You come over here.”
He stares at you a hair longer before clearing his throat and scooting closer. Turning to his side, he moves his pillow so he can lay his head above you along with moving your blankets so they’re covering you up to your shoulders. He moves carefully as to not brush against your body, placing his head above yours with an arm curled up between you two. His other arm loosely draped across your shoulders, while he rested one of his legs on top of you. The other outstretched but still against yours.
If there wasn’t a blanket between you two, you’d be practically skin to skin. He awkwardly reaches down with his somewhat free hand, and pulls his blanket over his own shoulder before finally resting his head, pulling you as close as possible. You lean your head to gently rest in the crook of his neck, causing him to freeze.
His heart is beating out of his chest, covering up any small sound that might be buzzing in the circus. Not even the sound of your laboured breaths can break the pounding in his ears. You’re laying there, relishing in the heat of the purple fuzzball now laying in your bed. You close your eyes just as he regains control of himself, his face now a blaze of bright red. You can feel the heat of his face, but figure it’s the sickness trying to take over all over again.
Meanwhile, somehow his mind is both spiraling and also completely blank. A mix of racing thoughts and nothing at all. Like he can’t believe this is happening at all. Trying to figure out how or why.
Your voice breaks him out of the spiral.”Goodnight Jax.” you say as you close your eyes, your lids suddenly feeling heavy.
“Uh.... Night.” is all he can muster out as you fade into a deep slumber.
He just lay there entangled with you, feeling your chest rise and fall with each breath. The entire time he was thinking ‘They’re so cute’ and ‘How did I get so lucky?’ before quickly wiping the sentences from his mind. They would return just as quickly as they disappeared however. The thoughts are inescapable despite his best efforts.
~~
After what felt like an eternity to him, he finally was able to relax. Your body had fully relaxed and your breathing reduced to soft but laboured breaths. His face had cooled to a mild but bright blush. Letting out a soft sigh, he finally let down his guard. Not that it was often up around you, but he didn’t want you to know his true feelings.
Why? Why do you... “have to make me feel things...”
He didn’t even realize that his thoughts had escaped his mouth at first. Not until he kept talking out loud.
“Why can’t we just be friends? I just... I just want to... I want to be around you. All the time. I don’t want to scare you away. But... I also...” He pulled back ever so slightly to look down at you sound asleep in his arms. You moved your head in your sleep before scooting your shoulders closer to snuggle back into him, causing his mind to go blank once again. Just for a moment.
A slight shiver goes down his spine.
“D@$% it...”
Moving his free hand, he starts stroking the side of your head.
“You’re so soft....”
Returning to his thoughts, he continues on from earlier. He knows he’s a jerk, and wouldn’t be surprised if you otherwise hated him. Normally he wouldn’t care for the other’s opinion. He’s supposed to be the bully of the group. He’s there to push people’s buttons. But when he thought of you, he couldn’t help but care. The others have definitely noticed by now.
If he ever made a joke that you didn’t laugh at, maybe at first he didn’t care. But as time went on, he found himself asking more and more if it was actually funny. It didn’t matter so much if anyone else laughed. If you didn’t, he would think I need to do better.
When you got onto him for bringing centipedes near Ragatha or picking on Gangle, he started to change his behavior. It wasn’t even fully voluntary or conscious.
“What are you doing to me? I... I know I’ve felt like this before with people, but here? In the circus....”
He continued stroking his hand before letting it rest on your shoulder, draping his arm across your chest.
“Can you keep a secret?”
He knows you won’t answer, or at the very least you shouldn’t answer. Supposedly you were asleep as far as he could tell, so if he let some words slip out then it wouldn’t be the end of the world, right?
“You... I don’t know.... Or I do know...” Looking back at your face he can’t help but note how relaxed you are. “Hm. You look so cute when you’re sleeping. So relaxed... especially with me around... I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just because you’re sick, heh.” He pauses for a brief moment. “I know the others would be apprehensive. Or... Maybe not Pomni, but even that might be a long shot I guess.”
You scrunch your nose for a moment causing him to tense up.
Are they awake?!?!
No. You were still sleeping. You settled quickly back into the resting position from before.
He relaxed once again, letting out a breath he’d held for just a moment.
That was a close one.
Another pause causes silence to fill the room again.
“I’m sorry you got sick. I mean, I know it’s not my fault... Really I feel like it’s Caine’s fault if anything. We shouldn’t be able to get sick.” His hands curl into a loose fist as he groans from frustration. “I could kick him for this.. I mean, putting us in the freezing cold is, was pure torture!” He relaxes his fingers again, letting out a sigh. “I guess I can’t fully blame him.. He did say it was a glitch... Hm. Regardless. Why did it have to be you. I guess I’m kind of grateful because I got to-”
He cut himself off as the realization hit him. Talking out loud where you could potentially hear. He couldn’t have that, but he keeps going.
Subconsciously he acknowledges that he’s basically talking to himself at this point. Nobody is around to hear him, let alone listen to his words.
“So I don’t know if I told you this, but, I’m going to nurse you back to health if I need to.” His face flushes a soft shade of pink all over again before words start fumbling out of his mouth again. “I-I mean. Because then we can have fun again on adventures! Yeah!” His voice lowers to be softer, just under a whisper. “Not that I mind laying here with you...”
Without warning he finds himself wandering his thoughts. Wondering if you’d ever let him do this normally. Right now you were sick and clearly not in a clear state of mind. Besides, he can’t let the others know he has a soft spot. They’d probably laugh... right?
The reality is you really wouldn’t mind snuggling, even if it's platonically. Yes you had a crush on the dude, but especially in this place, a little cuddling here and there with friends could help with keeping sane. Not only this, but the rest of the crew would greatly appreciate knowing he has some sort of soft side. Even if it was only in specific moments. Granted, most of them could see through his facade, but they’d never openly acknowledge it to his face. Well, other than Zooble. And he’d never openly admit to them about his feelings either.
He starts stroking the side of your head again, burying his chin into the top of your head. He just lays like that for a bit, daydreaming about a life together. The intense feelings that have been brewing are now at the forefront of his mind. He’d almost built up the courage to ask Gangle if maybe she’d be willing to draw something ‘totally silly’ for him, but chickened out.
In his mind it would give her ammo to throw back at him. Not to mention how much he messes with her, so the likely outcome would be her saying no. Even if she didn’t yell and scream, why would she do him a favor?
But really he just wanted a cute little picture. Maybe you two having a little picnic or going on a date? He’d asked Caine about a similar adventure, but you’d ended up paired with Kinger for not only dinner, but also the activity afterward, roller-skating.
Rubbing his face into your head he lets out a groan. “Why do you make me feel things... Stop it”
More silence fell over the two of you save the sound of your breathing. He moves his hand from the side of your head to your arm, gently drawing circles into the fabric that laid over your skin. Turning his head slightly, he stares at the ceiling. It would be so easy to wake you up right now. A little peck to the cheek. Imagining how soft your lips would feel against his.
His eyes go wide and his pupils shrink as the thought crosses his mind. He shook his head like he was trying to remove the very idea from his brain. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work.
It’s a good thing you’re still asleep...
“I wanna kiss you right now...” Another pause.
“Why did I say that?” Turning his gaze back at you, his head still pressed against your skull. “You better be asleep. I can’t afford the embarrassment. You- you’d tell me right?” The panic in his eyes is evident, but you don’t respond. You just take in a deep breath as your lungs try desperately to cling to whatever air they can find. The congestion in your chest feels as real as it possibly could despite not being in your real body.
He blinks at you like he’s waiting for a response.
His mind starts racing as he thinks of all the possibilities of what could happen if you ever did hear his confessions. Would you reject him? Would you accept? He could lose you as a friend if he did that.
Friend
Is that all I want?
What if I wanted more?
In this body I’m so stupid looking.
I push people around.
All of them hate me, right?
So why wouldn’t you?
His breathing was now fast paced. He pulls you as close as he possibly can, trying to ground himself.
Soon, his spiraling thoughts calmed, and his breathing returned to normal. This time, instead of finishing the one-sided conversation, he laid his head down and closed his eyes. It had been a long day, and so long as he was here with you, you could wake him up for something. Anything. He’d be willing to go kick Caine for you if you asked. He’d gladly take the punishment if it meant you were happy. As he drifted off to sleep a small part of him wished that you’d wake him up. Shake him awake because you needed a glass of water, or even just someone to cure your boredom while you waste away in bed.
But you don’t. If you do wake up, you don't move. In this moment you run by the same rule as cats. You don’t move, because if you do, he’ll wake up and move.
You wake up the next morning with Jax still wrapped around you. His mouth is wide open, moving with every breath. Drool has found its way down his cheek onto his chin. You move your head around just barely, feeling normal again. Jax in his sleep feels you move, and wraps his legs and arms around you even more than before, pulling you closer. You were burning up from the blankets that were over your body, but otherwise you felt fine.
You whisper. “Jax.”
“Hey Jax.”
You raise your voice slightly. “Hey.”
Jax shakes his head as he wakes up, forcing a sort of snort through his nose. “Huh? What? Where am I...?” His voice is low and soft
“Jax, it’s time to get up.”
His eyes shoot open when he hears your voice. Slowly looking down, he pulls back until he meets your gaze. He can’t help but the blush return to his face as his ears pin themselves back against his head.
He forces his ears back up and scrunches his eyebrows together putting on fake smugness. “Well that’s a relief. Today would have been boring if you couldn’t entertain me.”
You giggle at the false look plastered on his face. “Love you too, goofball.”
You meant it. More than you wanted to openly admit.
The blush on his face told you everything you needed to know though. If you could kiss his non-existent nose you would, but you couldn’t from this angle.
The rabbit could feel the burning in his face, so he looked away from you. “You better not say anything. I don't need anyone remembering any of this.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LORD it feels so wrong using the proper versions of ‘lay’ like UHG why is english like this.
Rubbing my eyes, my mind tried to recall the dream I had last night. Some weird adventure where we were all children? I don't know. The details are fuzzy.
Opening my eyes, I get startled slightly by a gloved hand pulling me closer to the source of heat next to me. Looking over, Jax is fast asleep next to me. He looks so peaceful. Maybe he'd had another nightmare? Maybe I had another nightmare?
I can't even remember what happened last night. All I can really remember is that we were laughing and having a good time before we went to bed. Pomni had been in my room with us as we recalled our not-so-spectacar dating lives.
I wonder why Jax doesn't want anyone in his room?
Hm...
I rested my hands on my stomach only to find... a bump? What?
Looking down, there was what I could only describe as a baby bump. This is new??? And when could I have gotten pregnant?? I didnt know i could get pregnant???
I frantically reach over and shake Jax's shoulder, desperately trying to wake him up. “Jax!” a panic in my voice, still whispering for whatever reason. “JAX!! Wake up!”
The purple man just groaned. “Five more minutes..” pulling me closer.
“NO! JAX! Wake up- what.. what happened last night??”
“What do you mean?” His voice slightly slurred, eyes still closed. Of course, his one hand was resting on my legs so he still wasn't aware of the bump yet. “Pomni hung out with me and you in here last night, remember?”
Aggravated by his lack of attention to the matter, I grab the hand that was around my shoulders, and force it onto my stomach.
“What- what are you-?” His eyes opened and he froze, staring directly at where his hand was now placed. His eyes darted to mine, now in a similar panic, his pupils now like tic-tacs. “What the hell did we do last night??”
“You tell me! I mean. We can't even take our clothes off??”
“I mean...” His fuzzy memory starting to come back to him. “I know you fell asleep before we did... and then Pomni went to bed...” a small smile replaced his frenzied look, “I know I didn't feel like walking back to my bed, so I just crawled up in here. You snuggled up to me like a big ol’ teddy bear.” A small blush now forming before his smile falters. His brows crunching together as if it would help him think. “...maybe we should ask Caine...?”
“...what do we tell the others? I mean. I know we didn't do anything except sleep in the same bed..”
He inhaled deeply before speaking, “You know what, how about we wait for them to go on their silly adventure and then we can ask him.”
“You know that's not gunna work.”
“Why not?”
“You always go even if its boring.”
His gaze turned to the side away from me “Right....”
And what was his bright idea? Picking me up, not so carefully mind you, busting through my door and announcing to the whole world. “PARDON ME! PREGNANT LADY COMING THROUGH! DON'T BOTHER THE PRECIOUS PRINCESS!!”
He literally ran, hopping with every step, all the way down to the meeting spot.
Of course, nobody was downstairs yet as everybody had just started to make their way downstairs. Like literally everyone was just leaving their room or were already walking down the dang hallway.
I just threw this together to take a small break from the main story I'm working on right now. It's taking so much brain power trying to connect the middle to the end (the entire ending is written out already)
Maybe this will become a whole series on it's own, who knows?
I'm obsessed with platonic Jax x Reader preferably big brother Jax with a young teen female reader. The reader is a tomboyish little gremlin who thinks his pranks are some of the best things ever while trapped in the circus. So she's all for helping him pull them off in whatever way she can. Unfortunately that doesn't stop reality from being a jerk from time to time bringing down her mischievous side while bringing in her anger and sadness at being trapped bonding her even more to Jax.
In the Reader's mind Jax is a major source of comfort because he gets it at how much being stuck with no escape sucks. So there are times she will just seek him out preferring his honesty and he does give out good hugs.
Unlikely Bond
I couldn’t figure out if you meant literal gremlin or not, so I’m just leaving it ambiguous. I will probably write out more like this since there seems to be a demand, but this is what I have so far! I hope you like it anon!
Jax was definitely not the type to be very nice. If anything, he was kind of annoyed by the fact that a teenager of all people had managed to find themselves stuck in this god-forsaken circus. Then again, at the ripe young age of 22, he could understand the feeling of your entire life being ripped away. As a teenager it must've been worse. Not really even given a proper chance to figure out who you are. He still didn’t like showing his emotions a whole lot though. So initially he tried to keep his distance assuming you’d just become attached to one of the others.
On your first day, a prank he had set up had gone off without him around. It was a pie placed in a spring-loaded hand behind Zooble’s door. Of course, this sent you into a laughing fit. Ragatha had witnessed the whole ordeal as she had been showing you to your room, and she felt conflicted. Happy that you were laughing, but not so happy that it was at the expense of another.
The next day definitely changed everything. Jax being curious as ever, interrogated you about how the hell you got in here in the first place. This was all before the adventure had even started. Pomni did her best to steer the conversation into a less antagonistic manner, and asked more about you as a person. Caine interrupted the conversation by announcing today’s adventure. You’d all be trapped inside a large space station, and have to find each other. Of course, Caine didn’t spare you at all and left you all alone with no way to figure out where to go.
Eventually you kind of just broke down crying. You don’t know how much time had passed, but you eventually heard big purple feet approach you. “Hey, everything’s gunna be ok.” his smooth voice came out, uncharacteristically soft. Clearly he could tell you were crying. The only reason he knew you’d heard him was because you looked up at him. His eyes were wide like a cat watching their prey. He got down on a knee infront of you. “Hey, listen, it wasn’t very nice of Caine to leave you all on your own. He’s kind of.... He’s not used to....” He couldn’t really find the words. Comfort wasn’t exactly one of his strong suits, but he could tell you needed it.
Instead, he tried to change the subject slightly as you sniffled. “Hey, what do you say when we get out of here we can make friendship bracelets or something? Teenagers like those, right?” You just kind of shake your head at him, staying mute. “Well, what would you like to do? I can get Caine to conjure up basically whatever since I’ve been here so long.”
You sniffle a little as you wipe some tears from your eyes. “I mean... I don't know....” A small chuckle leaves you before you continue speaking. “That pie in the face was pretty funny though.”
A soft smile gets a bit wider, and he gets an idea. “Well, how about me and you find our way out of here. And we can figure out a way to prank Pomni? Whaddya say?” Of course Pomni being his best friend, she would take it the best. Even if she did get a bit annoyed. You nodded, and he put a hand out to help you up. With another sniffle you looked at his hand. “C...can I have a hug...?”
He kind of hesitated, but seeing the dried tears on your face he obliged. He got on the ground next to you, and pulled you into him sideways, his leg bent between the two of you. The warmth was almost unexpected, but after a brief moment he pulled away. “How about we get out of here, huh? Maybe we can even get Ragatha with centipedes if we see her.” His mischievous smile had returned.
“EW! Centipedes are so gross!”
“What? You don’t want to hold one? But they’re so cute!” He pulled one of the crawlers out from his overall pocket, holding it out in front of him.
“OH MY GOD! EW! They’re so weird!”
He let out a little laugh before putting it back into his pocket. “I guess I’ll have to put them down myself.” He stood up, and put a hand out to lift you to your feet.
Really, he did the majority of the brain work to try and find a way out of the place while you were thinking out loud on how to mess with Pomni. Jax openly admitted before reaching the others that it seemed like you two were going to get along.
