#trouble writes

[trouble-writing]

"Trust was a fickle thing..."

Akira and Goro had very different experiences as teenagers, despite starting with the same trust value.

Another snippet from the To be hero x AU collab with @skyheaven1231!

She's been making magic with my words and I can't stop looking at it.

>>Behold! Link to the art<<

[trouble-off-grid]

Songbird

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Here is my gift for @cyncerity! I’m gonna be honest I’ve had this finished for a while but I thought it’d be fun to post on Christmas so I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Soft vore, Blood mention

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Tommy was as happy as he might be as he landed on a branch, faltering somewhat on his uncovered feet. Using his mighty claret-colored wings to help balance the more uncoordinated landing he managed to throw off his grass-strung bag onto the branch and then plop himself down next to it. As soon as he found himself situated a lively laugh erupted from below him.

“Oi! What are you laughing at dick-head?” Tommy glared down at the predator, watching him shake softly from his spur of laughter.

The elder fondly shook his head, “Nothing Songbird.”

Ignoring the grumbling curses from his little audience member, Wilbur began to gently strum the strings of his guitar, and without taking his eyes off the instrument questioned, “Any requests for today?”

The small cardinal tilted his head, nose scrunching in thought, “I don’t know many human songs, just the ones you play.”

Wilbur hummed in consideration, “I’ll just ‘ought to play something new I’ve been working on then.”

As a pleasant tune filled the air around them, Tommy found himself leaning back onto the palms of his hands while he let his eyes drift close. Soon enough the sound of Wilburs music had the young bird drifting into a tranquil state. He felt so at peace that it took him a few moments to realize that Wilbur had stopped playing the guitar.

Holding his position for a second longer had him realizing that a slight breeze was blowing through his hair and wings. Snapping his eyes open he was met with huge hazel eyes taking up his entire view. A fanged smile spread across Wilburs lips when he saw the younger looking at him. Without another thought, he had stood up and hurled himself off of the branch he was just residing on. His wings reacted with him and opened wide as he carried himself skyward.

“Songbird wait!” Wilbur proclaimed, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I promise!”

Keeping flight in midair Tommy felt his heartbeat pound in his ears as he stared down at the human predator, “I’m not scared!” He lied, “I just want to know why you were all up in my personal space, bitch!”

Taking a couple of steps back, Wilbur slowly put up both of his hands for Tommy to see and in his best-assuring voice spoke, “I just wanted to get a closer look at you, I wasn’t gonna grab you I swear.”

“You better be telling the truth because I’m a minor you know, and I could get you canceled for trying to touch a minor”

Ignoring the smallers jab with a soft smile Wilbur took a further step back, “Look, I promise not to grab you without your permission, I truly didn’t mean to startle you, songbird.”

Looking into Wilburs pleading eyes, Tommy slowly drifted back down to the branch he was just residing on. Picking up his pack and slinging it onto his back, making sure not to disturb his wings, Tommy put on his louder facade and announced, “Well this has been fun but I should get going now, I’ve got stuff to do and things to attend to, you know how it is.” He tried to shrug nonchalantly, pretending not to be glancing at Wilbur every now and then.

“Oh yeah, of course, you’ve got things to do,” Wilbur nodded crestfallenly.

Tommy had once again found himself up in the air and before he could just shoot into the forest he found himself stalling at the edge of the clearing, “See you here next week?”

Wilbur felt a true smile grace his face as heard those words uttered in an unexpectedly quiet voice, “Yeah of course I’ll be here, songbird.”

Hearing Wilbur’s soft tone had red making quick work of coloring his face, as he all but zipped into the thick foliage of the forest, calling out behind him, “See you then bitch!”

So both continued meeting at the clearing, the little hiccup between them remaining in the past, as the two continued to form a closer bond with one another. Their meetups became a regular event that they both cherished and would never miss.

This is how Tommy found himself pacing on his usual branch. Ever since their first introduction, Wilbur had never failed to show up under the same birch tree with his guitar at the ready. The difference now was the only thing laying in the clearing was Wilbur’s guitar case, and there was no Wilbur in sight. As Tommy pondered his odd friendship with Wilbur he couldn’t help but think back to his first meeting with the predator.

Tommy shook his head aggressively, thinking about the past wouldn’t help him find Wilbur. Steeling his nerves he decided to take a look around the area for any signs of where his taller friend could have gone and as he went he noticed tracks leading deeper into the forest but quickly dismissed them as deer tracks. Finding nothing of significance he swooped down to land on the guitar case as if it would tell him where its owner had gone. His eyes caught onto the tracks again and the more he looked at them the more he felt dread fill his body.

What originally appeared as simple deer prints, now seemed to reveal themselves as boar tracks. Tommy knew there was a mother boar who lived deeper in the forest but he wouldn’t have assumed the boar would come to this clearing. Realizing what the presence of the boar tracks actually meant, Tommy quickly flew after the trail and prayed for what he was to find at the end.

Flying as fast as he could while dodging some of the thicker foliage, he was able to hear a higher-sounding grunting from further down the tracks. When he arrived at the scene of the noise he quickly took stock of what he was looking at.

His friend, normally full of calm and joyous energy, was currently sitting up in the branches of a tree and what looked like pure panic was on his face as he stared at the ground below him. His arms were wrapped around the trees’ trunk and his knees were tucked close to his chest as he put his weight heavily on the trunk. Circling the tree from the forest floor was a wild boar, just as he had assumed and feared to find.

Making sure to stay clear out of reach from the boar he flew over in front of Wilburs face, releasing a few higher-pitched chirps to make sure his friends’ attention was on him. He watched as those giant eyes snapped onto his body and they softened with familiarity at the sight of his smaller friend.

“Having trouble with the ladies, are we? Couldn’t be me, you know, all the ladies love me”, was the first thing Tommy had thought to say.

Wilbur let out a hysterical sound of disbelief as he looked at the small bird in front of him, “Songbird! Well am I glad to see you.”

“Of course you’re glad to see me, everyone’s always glad to see me, I'm the best”, Tommy loudly proclaimed.

Looking at his smaller friend he could almost ignore the situation he was in entirely and easily banter back to him. Unfortunately, the very angry boar that was still making very upset grunts at him had him focusing back on his predicament.

“Do you think you could help me out songbird?”

“Don’t even worry big ‘Dubs only someone as brave and charming as I can go and distract the boar while you make your great escape” He proclaimed, puffing out his chest and feathers as he did so.

“Just one problem, I think I sprained my ankle while running”, As it was mentioned the pair turned to look down at the ankle to see a nasty discoloration to the foot as well as unnatural swelling, “I only made it up here because of adrenaline, I doubt I can run on it, let alone walk.”

“I’ll just have to make sure it won’t come back,” Tommy nodded to himself, “Don’t worry big man, leave that boar to me.” Shooting a devilish grin at Wilbur the cardinal shot down towards the boar, snapping his wings out right above her head and giving her ear a tug as he did so.

“Be careful songbird!” Wilbur felt his heart leap out of his chest as he watched his pseudo-brother dive towards the same creature that had left Wilbur injured and hiding in a tree. Wilbur could only watch in exasperation as the smaller laughed as the boar now seemed focused on killing him instead of the tree holding Wilbur in it. “The names Tommy dickhead!” was his only response. Despite the crude nickname, Wilbur found he was smiling at the new knowledge of his little friend.

Tommy meanwhile was gliding past the surrounding forest keeping track to make sure the boar was still following him and if the angry huffs he could hear behind him meant anything, she was.

Determined to keep her away from Wilbur, Tommy beat his wings even faster as he tried to come up with a plan to not get himself killed. Looking around his surroundings for anything that could help him. Eyes frantically passing over the surrounding trees, he was struck with an idea.

It was risky but who was Tommy if not a man of risk? Hyping himself with thoughts of him being the biggest man, he swooped lower towards the forest floor, no longer flying above the boar but right in front of her, he could feel the boar’s breaths on his back at this point.

Shooting ahead, eyes locked on the trunk in front of him he reached out to glaze the bark, turning around to stare the charging boar in the eyes, chest heaving as he watched her approach faster. When it seemed she was right in front of him he quickly zipped up making sure to stay out of reach as he did so. His actions resulted in an astounding thunk as the boar crashed, tusks first, into the tree. He watched as she immediately tried to backtrack and get out but was unable to free her tusks from their wooden prison.

Taking great caution, Tommy gently floated down until he was standing on one of her tusks, watching as her eyes immediately snapped to him. He made low cooing noises as he slowly inched his way closer to the base of her tusk watching her tentatively as he did until he had reached her fur.

Keeping a steady hand he reached up and ran his hand across her fur, upon not dying immediately he slowly started to rub gentle circles in her fur, “You’re going to be okay, and thank you for not killing my friend, not that I care what happens to him, of course,” receiving no response from the boar besides her calmed down breathing he gave one last pat to her fur before swooping into the air and heading back towards the direction where he left Wilbur.

Said man was currently trying not to panic as time continued to pass with no sign of Tommy, if he wasn’t still in a tree, and his ankle wasn’t aching, he was sure to be pacing. He resorted to flipping his guitar pick between his fingers as he waited. He let out a breath of release when he spotted a familiar blonde and red blob flying towards him, without anything chasing him.

“Ayyyy big man! I told you I could take care of her! She was no match for the great Tommy!”

Giant eyes swept over him as if disbelieving Tommy’s words and needing to verify for himself that Tommy really was okay and uninjured and after confirming that he wasn’t lying he spoke, “Ah yes, where would I be without the biggest of men, Tommy.”

Tommy smirked at him, “Stuck in a tree, speaking of you can come out of the tree now, people might mistake you for a bird and we can’t have that, as I’m clearly the Alpha bird around here.” Tommy rambled on.

Wilbur rolled his eyes at the younger and slowly began his descent from the tree minding not to put pressure on his ankle as he did. Tommy was no help as he did so, just fluttering around the man and making jabs at him to not fall. He watched as Wilbur seemed to take an achingly long time until finally, he was back on the ground.

With the tree now empty of the predator, Tommy precariously landed on a lower branch so he could still be eye level with Wilbur, glad to give his aching wings a much-needed rest. It wasn’t long until he realized Wilbur had yet to move from where he landed on the ground and was just standing, staring right at him, “Can I help you with something big man?”

He watched as the taller man mused his hair in worry, “I don’t think I can walk on this foot,” as if to prove his point he tried putting pressure on it only for it to immediately buckle under the pressure, sending Wilbur tumbling to the ground. He groaned in discomfort as pain shot through his body, closing his eyes in pain. Only opening them when he felt a small weight hit his knees, it seems when he fell Tommy had flown down and was now smacking against the giant knee, “Wilbur? Wilby get up, don’t you dare pass out you hear me.”

“Aw, did you just call me Wilby?” He teased as he watched red creep up the boy’s face.

“Absolutely not, dickhead! You know what pass out and die for all I care!” He shouted as he pushed against the knee once more but this time to put distance between them as he looked towards the ground, willing the blush to leave his face.

If he wasn’t currently using his wings, Wilbur was positive they would have wrapped around to cover his face from view, “I think it’s sweet Toms.”

Looking back up, Tommy tilted his head in question at his giant friend, “Toms?”

Wilbur’s grin only widened now that Tommy was looking at him, “Yeah, It’s short for Tommy so now we both have nicknames.” Tommy only grumbled to himself at that, saying how calling Wilbur Wilby was a one-time thing and wasn’t going to happen again.

“As much as I love teasing you songbird, we still have to figure out how I’m going to get out of this forest, I can't exactly walk like this,” He mused, pointing down to his foot as he did so.

“Don’t you have any ‘uman friends' to help you? Just use your talkbox and have ‘em come to get you,” Tommy declared.

“I would love too but there's no cell service out here, I won't be able to get a signal,” He explained to his friend, watching him tilt his head in thought as he processed his words.

“That’s stupid, and makes no sense, you’re stupid.”

Sighing in exasperation Wilbur tried to explain in a way the smaller would understand, “Look, while I’m in this forest, my phone won’t work so we’re gonna need a new plan Toms.”

Said tiny flew even closer to the giant, looking around before landing his eyes on Wilbur and wiggling his eyebrows asked, “Well what if your, phone, wasn't in the forest,” Exaggerating on the word phone as he tested out the word for the first time.

Squinting back at him he responded, “And how do you presume we get it there,” not liking where this conversation was headed, especially when Tommy grinned back at him.

“I’ll fly with it out of the forest! And then I’ll get one of your friends to come to get your bitchass!” Tommy was rubbing his hands together as he spoke, the grin never leaving his face.

“You don’t know how to use a phone,” Wilbur pointed out.

Tommy’s grin was nearly blinding at this point, “You can teach me!”

The idea of teaching the little gremlin how the technology worked made the elder sweat as he realized he didn’t have any other ideas for getting out of this forest. Taking a second to prepare himself, he pulled out his phone, beckoning Tommy closer to see his screen better. Going through the motions of how to make a phone call he couldn’t help but stare at Tommy as he did so. Never before really having a chance to get this close, he ingrained all the details of the smaller into his mind.

Finally snapping out of his stupor once he had explained how everything worked to Tommy at least three times. “Now, repeat to me what you’re going to do.”

“I’m going to take your phone and fly to the outskirts of the forest and once there I’m gonna hit that green ‘n white button and hit the option that says ‘Dadza’ and using my charms I will convince him to come to help you”

Stifling his laughter at hearing Tommy call Phil Dadza he told Tommy, “And if anything goes wrong, you come back and we’ll think of a new plan. '' Pointing to himself as he spoke.

“Big man please, I just survived and won a vicious boar attack, everything will be fine.” He dismissed reaching out to grasp the phone in both arms, not quite expecting its additional weight and he momentarily dropped before he was able to adjust, flapping his wings harder to keep himself afloat.

He had turned around and was about to start making his way out of the forest before he hesitated and turned back towards Wilbur, biting his lips between his teeth, “Is this Dadza fella, nice?”

The predator’s eyes softened and his heart nearly burst as he stared at his pseudo-brother, struggling to hold a phone as big as him, and willing to risk anything to help Wilbur out, “Philza won’t hurt you, I promise you’re perfectly safe with him.”

Giving a determined nod Tommy turned back around and without stopping this time hollered back, “Be back soon bitch!” and with that he headed out into the forest, first making his way back to the clearing they usually meet up and heading off in the direction he’s seen Wilbur come from many times before. He continued to fly without a break until he started to see the trees become less dense and the wild shrubbery started to become cleaner the further he went.

Ignoring how exposed he felt being this far in the open, he made his way over to one of the last trees remaining. Nearly collapsing onto its branch as he landed on his back, sore wings in desperate need of a break, he pushed the phone off his chest and laid it next to him. After taking a few seconds to catch his breath he crawled over to the phone on his knees and looked over the imposing screen trying to remember everything he was supposed to do to get it to work.

Using both hands, he first pressed the green and white box and was greeted with what he assumed was a list of names. He sat, staring at them, hoping he would magically be granted the ability to understand the words displayed. So what if he may have forgotten to tell Wilbur he couldn't read? Tommy was a big man, and he was determined to figure it out himself.

After just staring at the screen, not being able to make out the different words, Tommy crossed his fingers and pushed his luck as he clicked on the name at the top of the screen. Within seconds a loud noise seemed to ring out from the phone and Tommy was quick to throw his hands over his ears hoping the sound wouldn’t last much longer.

As if answering his prayers, a voice spoke from the phone, “Ayyyyy Wilbur, mi amigo, what’s happening?”

Gathering his courage, Tommy took a deep breath before biting the bullet and asking, “Is this Philza?”

Tommy was met with confused laughter on the other end, “Unless I suddenly got thirteen years older and no one told me, I’m afraid not.”

Despite this throwing a wrench in the plan ,Tommy did what he did best, talk, “Wilbur’s hurt and needs your help as I’m not able to help him and he said to call Philza and that he’d be able to help and I tried following all of Wil’s instructions but I don’t know how to read so now I’m talking to you and not Phil but I need someone to get here so they can help him,” cringing to himself at the word vomit he had just spewed.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Tommy anxiously waited for an answer, listening to the others breathing as he waited, “Hey man, is this some sort of prank?”, The voice answered.

“It’s not I swear, Wilbur was attacked by a wild boar and he can’t walk and he told me Phil would help him but I don’t know how to contact him so you’ve got to come help,” Tommy explained, slower this time around.

A sharp exhale was heard over the phone as the other processed the news, “Oh, Dios mío, okay, kid? I’m gonna need you to give me your location so I can come help.”

Tommy pondered for a moment, he had no clue if his home had a different name to the giants than it did to him, “Uhhhh, the forest?”

“The forest?” The man repeated, continuing when he received an affirming hum, “Okay, you’re going to have to be a little more specific, do you see a really gran tree? It should be in the middle of a clearing and it will have a bunch of shiny lights all over it.”

Taking a moment to actually take note of his surroundings he spotted a tree in the distance that seemed to fit the description given. “Yeah I can see the tree.”

“Okay, gracias a dios, I know where you are and I’ll be there soon, okay kid? Everythings going to be fine.” Whether he was reassuring Tommy or himself was unclear but the knowledge that someone was coming was enough to calm his nerves.

Tommy flopped onto his back once the other had ended the call, reassuring himself that the man would be there soon, he had said so himself. Finally having a chance to rest he felt an ache of pain flare-up in his wings at how much he has been using them today. Tipping the edges so they were hovering over him as he ran his fingers through his wings, enjoying his feather's softness as he did so.

Tommy wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he heard the telltale footfalls of a giant. Standing up he watched as the presumably human continued to walk around the open area, eyes locked on to the forest's edge as if looking for something. After watching a little longer Tommy figured this was most likely Wilbur’s friend, even so the thought of exposing himself freaked him out a little but he reminded himself that this was to help Wilbur and with his mind set, he sang a loud twittering call to gain the other’s attention.

He felt himself falter as brown eyes landed on him but he pushed down his nerves, refusing to back down, and called out, “Oi, are you here to help?”

Tommy watched as recognition flashed through the eyes of the other as he questioned, “Songbird?” He asked hesitatingly.

“The hell? Only Wilbur calls me that, my name is Tommy,” was the instantaneous response.

Eyebrows raised at the quick response, “My bad, that’s just what I’ve heard Wilbur call you, my name is Quackity.” Tommy scrunched his nose, he didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Wilbur apparently talks to others about him. He supposed that there were more important things at the moment, like the fact that Wilbur was still sitting in the forest waiting for him.

“Well then Quack-i-ty, let’s get goin’” Shaking out his wings before trying to once again carry the large phone in his arms.

After watching the tiny trying to lift the comically large phone Quackity decided to just grab it for him, “Allow me, mi amigo,” And he slowly stepped towards the branch and gently grabbed the phone from Tommy without breaking eye contact as he did so.

Tommy’s whole body stiffened as the massive hand approached him but all it did was grab the phone before it quickly retreated back to its owner's side. Wilbur had said Phil wouldn’t hurt him and while he trusted his pseudo-brothers judgment, Phil wasn’t here. Instead was this unknown man, Quackity, and Tommy could only hope he wasn’t a wrong’un as he was apparently friends with Wilbur.

Launching off the branch Tommy thrust his wings out and soon found himself high enough in the air that he was just above Quackity, shouting loudly, “Follow me bitch!” as he did so. Swiftly taking off back towards his home only looking back to make sure the older man was following behind him as he did so and without fail he spotted Quackity jogging to keep up with him.

Tommy watched as the forest around him became a blur of green as he rapidly flew past it all. Only slowing down when he reentered the clearing that he had grown so used to. Turning around to fully face Quackity, he watched as the human bent over to put his hands on his knees as he breathed deeply. “Wil’ left his guitar here and he’d be right devastated if he didn’t bring it back with him.”

Having finally caught his breath he looked around the area he was in, quickly spotting the guitar case leaning against one of the nearby oak trees. “Don’t worry kid, I’ll grab the guitar for him.” True to his word, Quackity made his way over and grabbed the guitar case strapping it securely onto his back.

Narrowing his eyes, Tommy got as close to the human as he dared and proclaimed, “I am not a kid.”

Quackity slowly nodded his head, “Uh huh, sure thing,” Tommy begrudgingly dropped the subject and took that as a signal to continue leading him to Wilbur.

Once again spotting the boar tracks he followed after them at a much slower pace than before so that Quackityl wouldn’t lose him in the thick foliage. Adrenaline starting to leave him the further they went, Tommy could truly feel the ache in his wings. Ignoring it for the moment he continued to push on until he spotted a familiar tuft of brown hair up ahead.

Wilbur visibly perked up when he saw his small pseudo-brother had returned, brows furrowing as he noticed the man behind him was not who he expected it to be. “Quackity? What are you doing here, is Phil with you?”

“Am I not good enough for you WIlbur?” The man in question teased.

“No, no, I just wasn’t expecting you that's all?” He turned towards Tommy, hoping for him to answer his silent question.

“Ha, see here's the thing big Dub’s, I may have forgotten to mention that I can’t read? So I may have just pressed a random button and hoped for the best?” He answered to his best capability, trying to ignore how he seemed unable to process the world around him as his head pounded. He missed Wilbur’s response as he focused solely on keeping himself adrift in the air.

Figuring Tommy was just ignoring his teasing remark when he received no answer, Wilbur called Quackity over, “Come be useful and help me off the floor.”

Rolling his eyes he moved forwards, Quackity took notice of the angle his foot seemed to be in, “Damn Wilbur, how’d you manage that,” he crouched down and put one of his arms under his shoulders, waiting until the other had wrapped his own arms around him before doing anything. With a slow start, he lifted both of them into a stand carrying both weights as the other leaned heavily on him.

“Oh you know, just your everyday boar attack,” He laughed.

Once sure that he wasn’t going to topple over, Wilbur took a few steps forward with Quackitys’ help, satisfied when he didn’t fall. Turning to give his thanks to Tommy once more he was alarmed to find the tiny boy fluttering in the air, rapidly blinking his eyes as he looked around dazedly. “Tommy?” blue met brown as the smaller eyes latched onto the giants at the exclamation of his name. Tommy fluttered in the air barely keeping his eyes open as he focused on the people in front of him.

Wilbur cried out in concern as he watched Tommy’s eyes close and soon after he started to descend from the air, his body limp as he did so. Swiftly reaching out he caught the younger boy in his cupped palms and instinctively brought him close to his chest, staring at the boy in a panic, “Quackity! Quackity, he just passed out!”

“Mierda! Okay don't panic! Look you can see his chest moving, he’s still breathing” Curling his fingers over the boy protectively he brought him closer to his face and looking at the smaller allowed him to see Tommy’s minuscule chest moving with every breath he took. With his panic mostly snuffed, he took the time to marvel at the boy in his hands. Being able to hold his pseudo-brother really put into perspective just how small Tommy actually was. Such an important figure in his life and here he was holding him in the palms of his hands.

Wilbur's eyes dilated at the thought of something hurting Tommy while he was unable to defend himself. He knew the best way he could protect Tommy but the smaller wasn't going to be happy about it when he awoke. Soon enough his instincts won out and he brought Tommy up towards his mouth, “Please don’t hate me for this.”

He slowly opened his mouth and gently guided Tommy inside. He had a natural sweetness to him, as if he were honey or something. Wilbur was caught off guard and began drooling, which helped slicken the little avian. Wilbur's tongue pulled up a little to ease him back towards his gullet as he chose to proceed. Then, after what seemed like an eternity but wasn't, he swallowed, a warm, powerful muscle embraced Tommy in a warm hold, drawing him down out of Wilburs mouth and into his snug throat.

Tommy was eased deeper without straining too hard by another wave of rippling muscle. Wilbur couldn't help but purr as he felt his friend approaching his stomach. He laid his now-free hand on his chest, his heart fluttering slightly as he reveled in the feeling of knowing that nothing could harm Tommy. With Tommy safely tucked away Wilbur turned towards Quackity, who was just watching the ordeal, used to the predators antics and proclaimed “let’s get the fuck out of this forest.”

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Sorry to leave on a bit of a cliff hanger but I hope you enjoyed it. I really got into this fic and will be posting little facts about this world later and with that I wish you all a Merry Christmas :D

@mcyt-gt-events

[troublepines]

When Stan and Ford are kids, they snuggle. At first it was only when the other had nightmares, but it quickly becomes an every night thing. One of them will crawl into his brothers bed and cuddle up to him, and they’ll drift to sleep like that until morning.

It stays that way until they’re teenagers, and hormones make things awkward; nothing makes a situation awkward faster than waking up with your brothers morning wood against your ass.

And then Stan is gone, kicked out of the house and probably sleeping in a car, and Ford is left lying longingly in his bed, wishing more than anything that Stan could crawl in next to him.

Years pass, and then it’s Ford’s turn to vanish, sucked into his mistake of an invention with no way of getting home, leaving his brother more alone than he’d felt in years. It takes decades, but he gets him home.

He thinks maybe they hate each other. Or maybe Ford just hates him; he doesn’t think he’s capable of hating his brother anymore. He tried that for too long, and he’s long since accepted that he’s miserable without him.

It takes a while, but soon enough that’s fixed too, and they’re on the Stan O’War 2, setting off to sail around the world together like they’d always dreamed.

Their first night is uncomfortably quiet; it’s the first time they’ve slept in the same room in almost forty years, and they can both feel the empty space in their bunks like it’s a burning hot ember pressed to their skin.

“Stan..?” Ford is the one to break the silence, and Stan hates that he flinches in surprise.

“Yeah?” He answers. Ford hesitates, and Stan can practically hear the gears in his head turning. “Spit it out, Sixer.” He urges. The other man sighs, and his voice is quieter than before when he finally speaks again.

“Can I come down there..?”

Stan’s throat is suddenly dry, and he swallows thickly and nods his head, despite knowing Ford can’t see him.

“Yeah.”

He hears Ford’s sigh of relief, and then hears shuffling as his brother wiggles to the edge of the bed to climb down. Stan shuffles himself closer to the wall, and then the bed dips; he knows from instinct Ford is resting his knee on the edge of the bed.

“You’re sure it’s okay?” He murmurs, and Stan nods again in spite of himself.

“Please.”

Ford doesn’t hesitate again, nodding to himself as he shifts to lie down next to Stan, on his side so he can face him. There’s a moment of silence, before Ford manages a weak, awkward chuckle.

“These beds always seemed so much bigger back then.”

“Well, we were a lot smaller back then.” Stan replies easily, and Ford hums softy in agreement.

“True.”

Silence falls over them for a few minutes, and Stan bites his lip. Ford had come this far, it was only fair for him to meet his brother halfway. That in mind, he reaches his hands out and gently grasps Ford’s shirt. He then wiggles forward, enough that he can feel their knees pressed together.

“I know you didn’t come here to stare at my nose in the dark.” Stan teases, and Ford manages a more genuine chuckle at that.

“No, I suppose not.” He admits, slipping his arms easily around his brother and tugging him into his chest. Stan gives a surprised yelp, and Ford snorts a laugh.

“Jesus Ford, muscle enough?”

“Finally, the tables have turned.” The genius whispers into his brothers ear, and Stan can’t help the shiver that ripples down his spine.

His hands tighten in Ford’s shirt, and he takes the last step and pushes his face gently into Ford’s throat.

“You smell like home.” He mumbles, and Ford’s heart twists.

“I am home. I’m home. I’m not going anywhere, ever again.”

Stan sighs contentedly at that and nods his head, nestling closer so he can properly wrap his arms around Ford.

“Good.” He whispers.

[trouble-writing]

First look at a little snippet from my collab with @skyheaven1231! Jenny and I have beenbrainstorming and working on a "To be hero X AU" and we're absolutely excited to show you what we've been cooking ✍️🎨

Please also check out the gorgeous art Jenny has made to go with my scribblings: Click!

[trouble-off-grid]

Pesky Prince

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For @onthefreighttrain I hope you enjoy! :D

Warnings: None

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“Grian please, for one night can you try to behave?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Doc, I’m always on my best behavior.” Try as he might to remain serious, the glare he received, in turn, had the small prince falling into a fit of laughter.

Raising an eyebrow, Doc cupped his hands under his winged companion, “Yeah, I don’t think anyone is buying that.”

Once Grian got his laughter under control he landed in his friends' waiting palms, smoothing out any wrinkles in his suit and making sure his crown was on properly as he did so. Said prince was adorned in a red suit layered in gold accents, sure to draw in the attention of fellow party-goers. Readjusting his crown one final time he looked up to see Doc staring down at him. “Are you ready to go in?”

Turning to face the grand doors in front of him a grin spread across his face, “Let’s do it.” With that, Doc nodded toward two castle attendants and they each opened a door, allowing them access to the ballroom. Immediately a spotlight found them, guests applauding as they entered the lavishly decorated room.

Grian did his best to wave to everyone they passed as Doc brought him towards the middle of the room where a platform resided. Just as decorated as the rest of the room stood a smaller version of the ballroom, a safe place for any tiny-sized citizens to enjoy the party.

He watched as people made room for them as Doc neared the edge of the platform, not waiting for him to set him down, Grian jumped off his hands using his wings to drift safely down to the platform. To Doc's credit, he barely flinched towards Grian when he jumped, only restraining because he was used to the tinys antics. Once Grian landed on the platform everyone seemed to return to normal, if not a little wary of the giant creeper hybrid standing watch over the platform.

Grian politely smiled as people started to come up to him, small talk coming easy as he was more than used to the attention on him, or more accurately his wings. Currently folded behind his back sat two massive wings, each golden in color, seeming to glow in the surrounding sunlight. While more common for parties to start at night, tonight was the summer solstice, where all were invited up to the castle to celebrate the return of the sun. Citizens both giant and tiny found themselves at the party, excited at the prospect of a day of fun.

Making his way through the crowd Grian walked his way to the edge of the platform, walking the barrier and looking at all the surrounding giants, waving at any who seemed to notice his attention on them. Eventually, his walk led him right back to where Doc stood guard and he flew in front of his friend's face. Not that he needed to get his attention seeing as Doc had been watching him all day, “You know Doc, you really should try and have some fun, after all, today is a celebration.”

“Your protection is more important than me having fun,” Doc retorted, already used to this back and forth over this topic.

Grian, to his credit, held in his groan at the response, knowing he wouldn't be able to change the creeper hyrbirds mind. “Counter argument,” he began, “what if you did both, at the same time?”

You could see the skepticism in Doc's eyes a mile away as he answered, “And how would I do that?”

“Easily my friend, just follow my lead,” Throwing a playful wink at Doc, Grian quickly flew off to his right, laughing to himself when he heard Doc cuss under his breath and quickly follow behind him. Easily weaving through giants, Grian scanned over the crowd searching for the perfect victim to help with his plan. While most people seemed to be occupied either talking or dancing Grian spotted a dog hybrid standing off to the side by himself.

He quickly made his way over to his target, knowing Doc would not be far behind, stopping just short in front of the guy's face,” Hello!”

The guy was very clearly startled at Grians's sudden presence, doing a quick bow and looking up at him over the rim of his sunglasses, “Your highness! What can I do for you?” The stranger quickly schooled his expression, an easy grin on his lips

“You see that creeper hybrid over there? I need you to dance with him.” Grian didn't have to look long before he spotted Doc within the crowd, making sure to point him out as he did so.

The dog hybrid titled his head in confusion over the request, “You need me, to dance with him?” Repeating Grians request as if that would help him make more sense of them.

Grian repeatedly nodded his head in agreement, “Yes, I’m trying to show him that parties can be fun. Of course, you don’t have to,” Grian hurried to clarify, “You just seemed a little lonely over here.”

The stranger was about to reply before he was abruptly cut off by said creeper hybrid, “Grian, I may be sworn to protect you but I will kick your ass if you fly off like that again.”

Giving his best sheepish grin Grian tilted his head towards the dog hybrid to clue Doc in that they weren’t alone, “Doc! We were just talking about you! This is-” Cutting himself off, Grian turned fully towards the stranger awaiting his response.

“Rendog, but you can just call me Ren,” The newly dubbed Ren introduced himself, reaching out to shake Doc's hand.

“Doc,” was the guards' reply, firmly shaking the offered hand.

“Well then, now that you two are acquainted I think it’s a perfect time for a dance,” Grian stated, a sneaky smile on his face as he tried to shove Doc closer to Ren, ultimately failing as his friend did not budge in the slightest.

“I would love to have this dance, with you,” Ren once more offered his hand out. Grian quickly switched strategies, flying behind Ren, still in Doc's eyesight, to quickly nod his up and down.

Doc glanced at the prince before looking back at Ren, “You don’t have to do this just because Grian asked you know?”

“I’m aware, I just think it’ll be fun,” was Ren’s smooth reply.

Looking back and forth between Grian and Ren, Doc could feel his resolve crumble, “Alright, but, Grian you have to stay where I can see you.” He could see Ren's tail start to wag and Grian perked up a bit.

“Yes, of course, not a problem,” was Grians's immediate reply, his smile somehow getting even bigger.

“I mean it,” Doc stared at Grian, challenging the small prince to defy him. When he received a nod in exchange Doc loosened up and focused back on Ren, noticing he was still holding his hand out, he gently grabbed it in his.

The two made their way to the dance floor, people easily moving out of their way when they took notice of the creeper hybrid. Grian followed behind them, watching as his makeshift plan was put in motion. As soon as a new song started up, Grian could only help but be entertained as his formal guard and friend were dragged around the ballroom by the energetic dog hybrid. Sticking to their promise, Grian flew around the dancing pair, occasionally catching Doc's eye, never failing to make the small prince grin at him.

At the peak of the song, it seemed both Doc and Ren were focused on a conversation, comfortably chatting between themselves. Seeing the opportunity for what it was, Grian slowly started to get further away from the pair, flying backward to make sure he was not to get caught. When he gauged he was far enough away that they wouldn't notice any sudden moment, he swiftly turned around and made quick haste to get to the opposite side of the ballroom and If he happened to get lost in the crowd of giant party-goers then that was between Grian and himself.

Now that he was by himself Grian was ready to cause some problems, nothing harmful of course, just some small pranks here and there. Honestly, with a royal party, it was to be expected that Grian caused a bit of mischief during it. Swooping higher into the air Grian was able to see the entirety of the party from this angle, including his newest targets. Sights set on his goal he made his way over to the band, delicately landing on top of the piano, he grinned sweetly at the pianist.

It was with a sudden jolt Doc realized his mistake too late, slowly glancing around he saw there was no prince to be found, “God damn it Grian.”

Ren seemed to realize at the same time Doc did that their tiny friend seemed to have disappeared, “Does this happen often?”

“More than I’d like, unfortunately,” Doc grimaced.

“Well, I’m sure he’s fine, what's the worst that could happen?” As if on cue, the once calm music seemed to take a drastic change, as if the band had started a new song half through their current one only much faster passed.

“Do you think-”

“That Grian was the cause of that? Most likely,” was Doc's immediate response, ”If anything it's a place to start looking for the little menace.” He turned to start walking towards the band when he glanced back at Ren. “Thank you for the dance though, I had fun.”

“Not a problem dude! I enjoyed it as well,” Ren shot him a toothy smile, small fangs on display as he did so. With a final farewell, Doc headed towards his destination, determination in his walk.

While he was originally headed towards the band he noticed a small crowd across the room was starting to form Doc felt worry spread through him and he made a sharp beeline towards that area.

Doc was Grians personal guard and despite how he may act sometimes he still trusted the tiny. He knew Grian would never do anything purposefully destructive and wasn’t so much worried about any chaos the prince could cause as he was about strangers. While many loved the winged prince there were still people out there who saw tinys as lesser beings than them. It was Doc's duty to protect Grian at all costs which may have made Doc a smidge overprotective of his friend.

Which is why the scene he walked in on got his blood boiling. The first thing he noticed was Grian, glancing over his form showed that the prince was thankfully uninjured. The second thing he noticed was the piece of shit human standing across from Grian. He had a nasty snarl on his face and seemed to step closer to Grian every time he tried to fly back.

“Look, sir, I already said I was sorry, I truly didn’t mean to fly into you.” Grian tried placating the man in front of him.

“What? Do you think you’re too good to look where you’re going? Is that it?” Was his seething reply.

“No, I swear!” It seemed Grian had finally flown back enough that he startled when he felt his back hit someone's chest. Giant hands were quick to envelop him and while at first, he wanted to panic, he soon enough recognized the furry green hands he layed in as Docs. He could hear said giant yelling but he chose not to listen, instead, content to gently run his hands over Doc's much bigger ones, petting down any ruffled fur.

It wasn’t too much longer before the world around him began to sway as Doc started walking. Doc's pace remained even and steady as he made his way through the rest of the party eventually making it to the same doors they had used to enter the ballroom in the first place. Only once they were on the other side of the doors did Doc open his hands up, glaring down at the prince.

Giving his best sheepish smile Grian made eye contact with the giant already knowing the lecture that was about to come, “Heyyyy Doc, how’s it going?”

“How’s it going? That’s really what you want to ask right now?” Doc raised a single eyebrow.

“In my defense, I truly didn’t mean to bump into that guy.”

“That’s not the problem Grian, I’m your personal guard and I can't exactly do my job without you there,” His glare softened when he saw Grian looked genuinely guilty, “I’m also your friend and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I know, I just want you to be able to do things for yourself as well, you're always worrying about me,” Grian was decidedly not looking at Doc when he spoke, his cheeks starting to color red.

Lifting up his hands so he was at eye level with the tiny he spoke, “Look, I’m sure we can come up with a compromise, for now we’re just lucky that guy didn’t get physical.”

“Oh yeah, what ended up happening with the guy?” Grian questioned, tilting his head in bird like fashion as he did so.

“Lets just say, he wont be coming back to the castle soon.” A startled laugh left Grian, echoing throught the hall as it did so.

Grian flew up onto Docs shoulder, sitting down as if it were just any other chair, it was Docs turn to chuckle as he felt Grian settle, “You comfortable there?”

“Oh most definitely, I’m content to sit here if you’re ready to go back to the party?”

“I suppose we should get back in there, seeing as you are the prince.” With that the two headed back into the party, ready to enjoy the rest of their day.

@mcyt-gt-events

[trouble-off-grid]

Songbird AU

These are just some canon little fun facts about the au :)

Tommy originally refused to tell Wilbur his name out of spite but as they continued meeting up it became a sort of game between the two, for Tommy to refuse to tell his name and Wilbur creating his own nicknames in retaliation, eventually sticking with the nickname, songbird

Tommy is a Nothern Cardinal avian, they’re made for short fast flights vs long distance flights, hence him over exerting himself and passing out

Wilbur and Techno are Phil’s adopted children both are predators while Phil himself is a human

No one is sure what Wilbur and Quackity’s relationship is, there’s currently a bet going on weather they’re dating or rivals

There’s three different species in this world, predators, humans and hybrids

Predators and Humans are both giants and exist among each other while Hybrids are always tiny and the older generations and traditionalists tend to live in their own civilizations away from the giant species

Though with every year more and more hybrids will move and adapt to live in giant populated areas

It’s not too uncommon to see giants have hybrid roommates/ adopting hybrids

Tommy lives in the forest, presumably by himself, instead of with a tiny colony

One of the main instincts predators have is to hunt, weather it be for food or just to play, they also are very protective of people they love

To help predators with their instincts a huge corporation was created, allowing predators to hunt hybrids, the game is set up like a big laser tag room but with a lost more hiding spots, normally the hybrids playing are employee’s but any hybrid can play with their giant friends if they so please

Anyone playing has to sign a bunch of waivers essentially to keep the employees safe and anyone who does purposely harm a hybrid during the game will get banned and charged

In this world harming/killing a tiny is just as illegal as harming/killing a giant, though that’s not to say that discrimination isn’t real or that ‘accidents’ don’t happen

Hybrids are just as technologically advanced as giants, Tommy just has,,, trauma that kept him from learning about a lot of things

That’s one of the main reasons Wilbur kept visiting as it was weird for him to see what looked to be a hybrid child just living in the woods

Lovejoy is real in this world and most of the songs Tommy has fallen in love with have been from said band

That’s all I’ve got for now but feel free to ask any questions!

[trouble-off-grid]

Little Fish

Here it is, this is my piece for the mcyt g/t enchange, and my person was @lorie-the-little-ghost! I’ve never written Karlnap before so I was supper excited to see this prompt and I hope you enjoy! Living with Sapnap felt just as natural as swimming, of course, there were the occasional rough parts, but the reward was worth more to Karl than any risks that came with sharing a house with a human. When Sapnap first suggested they were to get a house together, Karl all but glowed at the idea. He loved Sapnap and couldn’t wait to spend even more time together with his boyfriend, there was only a slight problem with this. The house they moved into was right on the seaside and while the view was truly gorgeous, Karl couldn’t help the way his body froze anytime Sapnap mentioned going down to the actual beach.

The idea of Sapnap seeing what Karl actually was terrified him, he truly loved Sapnap and as much as he hated keeping such a main part of him a secret from him he couldn’t help but be more scared of losing his love. So he agreed to move there and just promised himself that he would avoid all water while around Sapnap. Even if it hurt him every time he declined going down to the beach with some flimsy excuse. After all, the man was relentless with his efforts, and seeing his face fall every time was not something Karl wished for.

It was this current thought process that brought Karl back to the conversation he was having with his boyfriend, “Come on babe I promise it’ll be so much fun, I even packed us lunch!” Sapnap pleaded, staring at him with his best puppy dog eyes. Karl almost broke then and there, maybe if he went and just stuck strictly to the sand everything would be okay. But the little voice in his head couldn’t stop whispering about all the what-if scenarios. Ignoring how his heart yearned to be able to swim with Sapnap while in his true form. 

He looked away from Sapnap, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes at his answer, “I’m sorry Sap but I’ve just got a really bad cramp right now” The excuse sounded weak even to Karl, and as soon as he mumbled out his answer he was standing from his chair and making his way down to their bedroom. He immediately flopped down onto the bed and groaned loudly into his pillow. Getting all his frustrations out he grabbed it with both hands and curled himself around it, trying to swallow down the guilt he felt at lying to Sapnap.

Meanwhile, Sapnap just stared as his boyfriend all but ran out of the room from him. Sighing he sat down the bag with their lunches in it on the counter and slumped into the seat Karl was previously sitting in. He couldn’t help but feel that Karl was hiding something from him. He seemed so excited to move in together yet there were times when it felt like Karl would just completely pull away from him. Thinking over all the odd encounters he’s had with Karl recently made him notice how these moments aligned with anytime Sapnap mentioned going to the beach. 

Raking through his brain for possible solutions he tried to think of why Karl would avoid the beach like the plague. It’s not as if he avoided water either, as the man still took showers like a normal person. So if Karl wasn’t scared of water then why wouldn’t he want to swim? As if his muddled thoughts cleared suddenly, he was left with an answer that made so much sense he was shocked he hadn’t figured it out earlier. 

Karl can’t swim. 

It made perfect sense! He must have just been too embarrassed to say anything so instead, he just avoided his problem. Well, how could Sapnap claim himself as the best boyfriend if he continued to let Karl suffer alone in his embarrassment? Sapnap was determined to teach Karl to swim now, he smirked as he thought about his adorable boyfriend clinging to him as they waded in the ocean together. Taking their food out of the bag and putting it in the fridge Sapnap left the kitchen and made his way to their office where he began his research on how to teach someone to swim. 

Deciding to stop wallowing in his own self-pity Karl peeked out of the bedroom trying to gauge where Sapnap was in the house. Karl was already hiding a big part of himself, the last thing he wanted to do was completely hide away from Sapnap. Walking through the hallway he saw the lights were on in the office, he gently knocked on the door before pushing it fully open and entering. 

At the sound of Karl coming in Sapnap swiftly closed the tab he was on and spun his chair around to face Karl. They made eye contact and Karl gave a little apologetic smile at Sapnap, normally the younger would feel disheartened after his boyfriend declined his offer once again but knowing the truth now he smiled fully back at him. 

When Karl walked into the office he was a little suspicious of how quickly Sapnap closed whatever screen he was on but with how big of a secret Karl was keeping from him he figured it was only fair Sapnap got to have his own. So instead of questioning the weird behavior he just moved on getting ready to apologize to Sapnap only to be surprised when Sapnap genuinely smiled at him, “I just wanted to apologize again for not being able to go to the beach with you but uh, I think I might’ve just eaten something bad.” 

Standing from his chair Sapnap made his way over to Karl grabbing both his hands in his own and rubbing a circle gently on his boyfriends’ skin, “Hey, no worries baby, I understand and besides there’s always next time,” He let a smirk grow on his face and wiggled his eyebrows at Karl, delighted in the way he broke into giggles at his antics.

Karl seemed to stare longingly into Sapnaps eyes as he replied, “Yeah, next time.”

Next time seemed to come sooner than Karl was prepared for as normally Sapnap waited a couple of days to ask him the dreaded question again but it seemed his boyfriend had other plans for today. 

Sapnap had left the house extra early that morning just to go shopping for the items needed for his swimming lessons with Karl. He couldn’t wait to show Karl the kickboard and fun assortment of floaties he had bought.     

He was practically vibrating with excitement as he unlocked the front door shopping bags in hand. He couldn’t help but smile in glee when he saw Karl started as he burst in through the door and saw Karl startle. 

Their current positions felt like Deja vu as Sapnap prepared to ask Karl the same question he asked yesterday. But this time would be different as now Sapnap knew why Karl was declining all his offers. 

“Karl my love! We are going to the beach today!” Paying attention he noticed how Karl winced once he realized what was said, only reaffirming Sapnaps suspicion. 

Biting his lip in contemplation he tried to find the words to say, “Sap I would love to, but, I just ate and I really shouldn’t go swimming right after eating.” Normally this would be the moment when Sapnap tried and failed to not act sad over Karl declining and then he would eventually give up asking until another today. Today however Sapnap seemed to only grin wider after hearing Karls response.

“See I knew you’d say that, every time I’ve asked you to come down to the beach with me you’ve always declined,” Karl wasn’t sure he liked the way Sapnap was walking towards him as he spoke, “I’ve been trying to figure out why you would say no.” At this point Sapnap was practically standing over Karl making the taller have to look up at him as he was sitting down, “And I finally know the truth.” 

Karl felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest with how fast it was beating. How could Sapnap know? He had been so careful not to slip up and expose himself yet somehow his boyfriend had still found out. “Go on, say it then.” He closed his eyes in preparation, not being able to look at Sapnap when he said it.

“You can’t swim!” Those three words had Karl startled out of his thoughts.

“I, uh what?”

“Yeah babe, I know you’ve been too embarrassed to say anything to me but I figured it out yesterday and I’ve decided I’m gonna teach you to swim.” Sapnap sounded so sure that Karl found it hard to even respond to him.

“That’s not- I know how to swim Sapnap” He weakly argued.

“You don’t have to lie anymore, plenty of people can’t swim Karl, you don’t have to be embarrassed around me,” and before Karl could even respond Sapnap was emptying the grocery bags to show his earlier purchases.

“Look! I even got stuff so that It would be easier for me to teach you!” 

Karl could feel as his eyes start to swell with tears, he was so lucky to have such a caring boyfriend, if only he knew the truth. Standing up so he was now right next to Sapnap, staring down at him. “Sapnap, this was all very sweet of you but I can’t go to the beach with you.”

He could see confusion paint Sapnaps’ face as he spoke, “I don’t understand, why are you avoiding this?”

“I just can’t okay?” He turned to leave the room, desperate to escape this conversation but found his wrist caught in Sapnaps hand before he could. 

“If you can swim then why are you avoiding me on this? Did I do something?” 

“No, I just can’t talk about it,” He tried to pull his wrist free but found Sapnap still holding on. 

“Why can’t you tell me?” Sapnap pleaded.

“I just cant!” Karl tried pulling his wrist out again at the same time Sapnap let go. Not expecting the sudden momentum Karl stumbled backward flailing his arms to try and catch his balance. As he did so he knocked a glass of water straight off the counter and onto himself.

It was as if time froze before multiple things happened all at once. Both men turned to a state of panic, Sapnap worried the glass hurt Karl while Karl was panicking over what he knew was about to happen. He could see Sapnaps lips moving, trying to ask if he were okay but his ears were filled with a ringing sensation. Karl could only pray that this time he got water on himself would be a fluke, maybe nothing bad would happen.

 As if thinking about it made it true he immediately felt himself go from towering over Sapnap to now having to stare up at him from the floor in just a quick flash. He had never seen Sapnap from this angle and he could only imagine the short jokes Sapnap would make if he saw him now. That is if he was able to ignore the fishtail now attached to his body and only focused on his new height.

Meanwhile, Sapnap stared in disbelief as one second his boyfriend was in front of him and the next he wasn’t. Looking around the now empty room and not seeing Karl he started to panic and call out, “Karl?! Baby, where’d you go?!”

While Karl was trying to figure out a plan to get away without being seen he couldn’t help but hear how desperate Sapnap sounded. He kept glancing from his tail, up to his boyfriend, and then again. If not for the way Sapnap was still calling out in a panic he might not have worked up the courage to gain his attention. Drawing all his nerves Karl sat, petting his tail for comfort, he had to remind himself that this was Sapnap, his loving boyfriend, who would never hurt him.

“Sapnap!” Watching as the aforementioned male looked around in confusion he continued, “Look down!” 

Sapnap hearing Karl’s voice looked down to see his boyfriend, not only tiny but sprouting a rainbow fishtail. Crouching down to get a closer look at him he saw that sure enough, his boyfriend was now a tiny merman,” So I take it this means you do know how to swim?” He joked.

Flustered, Karl covered his face with his hands, “That’s the first thing you’re going to say to me?!” God Karl couldn’t believe how much of a nimrod his boyfriend was. 

“Just trying to lighten the mood” He chuckled. It still felt like his eyes were deceiving him and he started to reach out to Karl only to pause right before actually touching him when he saw Karl flinch away from him. “I would never hurt you, Karl,” he whispered, keeping his hand right in front of Karl.

Slowly reaching out he put his hand on Sapnaps finger marveling at the size difference, “It’s not you I’m scared of, it’s just your height” 

Sapnap felt his breath hitch at the feeling of Karls little hand on him, looking closely he could even see little webbing between his fingers, “What, jealous that I’m taller?”

“Oh shut up nimrod!” Karl lightly smacked Sapnaps finger and gasped in surprise when he nudged him back in retaliation. 

“So, a fish huh, don’t you like need water or something?” His eyes squinted in concern as he stared at Karl as if he was about to drop dead.

“To stay in this form I need to remain wet, otherwise I’ll transform back, my scales will probably dry out soon enough”

“Do you want to? Stay in that uh form I mean, If you want, I can run a bath for you?” 

“Yeah actually, that would be really nice.”

Surprised that Karl agreed Sapnap perked up cupping his hands around Karl but not touching him just yet, “Is it okay if I carry you?”

Karl had never been held by a human before but if he was going to do this he was glad it was someone he trusted as much as Sapnap, “Yeah.”

Constantly looking at Karls’ face to see if there was any discomfort he slowly began to close his hands underneath the little fish. Until Karl was fully cupped safely in his hands, where he brought him against his chest for extra support, “I’m gonna stand now, okay?” He watched as Karl clung onto his thumb for support and nodded his head in confirmation.

With that Sapnap slowly stood up, thankful that he was still wearing shoes as he made his way around the broken glass on the floor, making a reminder to clean that up later. Careful not to jostle his little passenger he slowly made his way to the bathroom. Once inside he gently moved Karl to one hand, using his other to get the bath set up. 

He absentmindedly started to stroke Karl’s tail while waiting for the bath to fill, awed by how much trust Karl put into him. Karl may not have got a choice in Sapnap finding out his secret, but Sapnap was determined to do anything to show his boyfriend that he could be trusted with this.

Eventually, the tub was filled and Sapnap gently slid Karl into the water, “Into the tub for you.” As soon as he said that he felt water hit his face and looked to see Karl giggling before swimming under the water.

Sapnap couldn’t help but watch in amazement as Karl expertly glided through the water, truly able to see for the first time just how pretty his tail was as it seemed to sparkle underwater. It also looked like Karl just enjoyed swimming and it made Sapnap ponder when the last time he got to transform was. 

He waited until Karl popped his head above water to praise him, “You’re really fast underwater.” The blush that coated Karls tiny face was just an added bonus as he complimented his boyfriend.

“I’ve never really gotten to test out how fast I can go” 

“Well let’s see then,” that was all the heads up Karl got before his boyfriend’s hand approached the water ready to chase him down. 

Karl squealed before diving back under the water, and the chase was on. It was a little difficult for Karl to avoid capture while stuck in a smaller area but he was able to hold his own very well and the few times Sapnap almost got him he was able to slip out of his grasp and keep the chase going. 

It wasn’t until Sapnap used both hands to fully cup around Karl and scoop him out of the water completely did he admit defeat,” Sapnap,” Karl whined, “that’s cheating,” he pouted.

“Maybe this will make up for it,” He brought Karl up to his face and began to pepper kisses all over his body, delighting in Karl’s laughter and little squeals. He finally backed off, leaving Karl to catch his breath in his hands, minuscule chest breathing heavily as he did.

“Fish or not, I love you, Karl,” Karl didn’t think his face could get any redder at this point and he used his hands to cover his face before gesturing for Sap to come closer.

At his request, Sapnap leaned in closer, going cross-eyed as he watched Karl press a kiss to the tip of his nose, “I love you too, Sapnap.”

[trouble-off-grid]

Keep you safe

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CW: Blood, death

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When Techno had awoken he was not surprised to find himself alone in his cave. Tommy has always been prone to adventure, often leaving early to explore their surrounding area. So seeing the little figure no longer on his chest when Techno awoke didn’t shock him. He trusted his pseudo-brother not to get into too much trouble, at least not this early in the morning.

Unfortunately for him Tommy had never been very good at staying out of trouble. He was out in their surrounding territory, making his way over to the fresh river he knew was nearby. He had always loved the river and would often force Techno to take him as nearby animals would find their way there for water and Tommy was able to gaze at them as they did so. It seemed the river was always at peace and Tommy wasted no time in throwing his body onto a large rock and bathed in the sun. Closing his eyes he let himself get lost in the peaceful sounds of the river and nearby animals. 

It was this that presented him with the first sign of something being wrong. It seemed a hush had fallen over the forest as even the birds seemed to silence. Tommy sat up with a frown, stilling as he scanned the forest edge for any potential threats. Not immediately spotting anything he slid off the rock and slowly creeped into the forest careful to keep his footsteps light as he did so. 

The further he went he almost convinced himself nothing was wrong and that he could just return and brag to Techno about how brave he was making sure nothing was wrong within the forest. To his left he heard noise loud enough to snap him out of his thoughts, head snapping towards the area. He debated going close as it seemed the noise was coming from the edge of Technos territory and the elder never liked when Tommy got too close to the edge without him there for protection. 

Steeling his nerves he turned away from the direction he knew would lead to home and made his way towards the noise. A grin stretched over his face as he figured Techno wouldn’t be upset if he never knew what Tommy was about to do. With his mind made up he trekked through the foliage with ease keeping his footfalls silent as he did so as the noise became loud enough to decipher what it was. 

What first appeared as nothing more than indecipherable sound soon turned into words. Tommy felt himself freeze as his brain processed what he was hearing, humans. Now it might seem hypocritical of Tommy to dislike humans when he himself was one but despite being the same race he had never found a comfort in them that he did with Techno. The giant piglin had shown Tommy what family truly was supposed to be and gave him a chance when no one else would even spare a second glance at the boy. 

So hearing humans in front of him only served to sour his mood as he approached them to get a better idea of what exactly he was dealing with. The logical part of his brain that sounded suspiciously like Techno told him to just return home and let Techno deal with these strangers. He snuffed out that thought quickly, Tommy was a big man and he didn’t need to bother Techno when he was already here and was just as capable of getting the humans to leave. 

Finally, he was right in front of the group, being careful to stay out of sight as he glanced at them. The first thing he noticed was that it was a decently sized group, with more people than he would have originally thought. The second was that they had a decent amount of weapons on them. Now he’d like to believe they were just normal hunters who unknowingly entered a piglins territory but the give away was the shiny armor they all had displayed. Each member seemed to be done up in a fancy display of armour only leaving their helmets off. 

There was no denying, these were kings guards, and they weren’t just hunting for animals, they were hunting Techno. The king believed Techno to be no more than a mindless beast when that couldn’t be further from the truth, it was always the knights who attacked first while Techno was just defending what he cared about. It was time Tommy returned the favor.

He glared at the knight who was currently sharpening his blade, he couldn't just sit by and let this happen. Tommy stood from behind his cover and started walking towards them making sure they could hear him approaching. As soon as the group took notice they stood on guard and Tommy had to stop himself from breaking his calm facade as they pointed their weapons at him. “Fellas, fellas, no need for that, we're all friends here,” He put both hands up trying to show he meant no harm. 

“What is a kid like you doing out here?” What looked to be the head knight spoke out. 

 Not going into this with a plan besides trying to get them to leave he felt his palms start to sweat as he spouted out the first thing he could think of, “I want to be like you! A knight, I mean,” he clarified.  

Chuckles broke throughout the group, the same guard as before tried to muffle his laughter yet amusement remained clear on his face, “You? A knight? You’re nothing more than a scrawny little kid”

Blood rushed to Tommy's cheeks at the jeering, even though he was lying it still hurt to be laughed at. The guard didn’t even know how hard Techno and him worked to get some meat on his bones, if he thought he was little now he should have seen Tommy before he met Techno. Faced with humiliation Tommy resorted to what he always did when embarrassed, yelling, “I could be a knight! I’m the biggest man there is and could beat anyone in a fight!”

The man's eyes seemed to glow as he sneered, “Is that so?” He seemed to lean in closer as he said the next words, “Even the blood god?” It seemed all laughter had stopped at just the mention of the infamous name, of course he was referring to Techno but Tommy was one of the few who knew his real name. 

Keeping up the facade a smirk grew on his face as he answered, “Please, even the blood god is scared of me, it's why he doesn’t go in this area”

The tension seemed to leave the air as it was replaced by amusement, “And how would you know that, hmm?” 

Tommy had to restrain from rolling his eyes at the question, reminding himself that the goal was to get the knights to leave, “All of this area is mine and never once have I seen the blood god so clearly you have the wrong place” 

“On what rights do you have to claim this area as yours?” He questioned.

“On the rights of finders keepers, I claimed this area as mine therefore it's mine,” In truth the area was Techno’s but that wasn’t information they needed to know. 

The guard let out a huff at his response, “Well no matter, you’re with us now, might as well make use of you” By this point most guards had gone back to what they were previously doing before the interruption. 

Tommy may not have thought this out, he didn’t want to stay with them he was just trying to get them to leave! “I really think you’ve got the wrong area, big man.”

“Well then, there should be nothing for you to worry about.” Before Tommy could ask him what he was on about he felt someone grab his wrists from behind and they pressed their knee to his back forcing him to fall to the ground, wrists still captured in the unknown person's grasp. 

He stared up into the eyes of the knight in front him and could see a dark gleam in his eyes as he crouched down to be eye level with him, “You said you wanted to be a knight? Well this is how you can help us out, nothing like live bait to encourage the blood god to reveal himself.” He felt his mind buffer at what had just happened before finally his brain processed what was happening, he was going to be used as bait against Techno. 

Oh Techno was going to be so mad when he found out Tommy willingly walked up to his now captors. 

In his defense this wasn’t how he planned this interaction turning out. The knight seemed to take his silence as fear and grabbed him harshly on his shoulder dragging him up with him as he stood. He was then pushed into the person behind him, “Go tie him up, and make sure you draw blood,” there was no sympathy in his voice.

“Wait wait wait, you really don’t have to do this,” It wasn’t that he was scared of Techno, he knew Techno would rather lay his life than hurt him, he was more scared of what would happen if the hunters did manage to get the jump on him. Techno was always protecting Tommy and Tommy just wanted to return the favor and look how that turned out. With his hands currently being tied together behind one of the thinner trees leaving him trapped to it. 

He could deal with this until Techno inevitably showed up; it may have been uncomfortable but it certainly wasn’t the worst. At least until a blindfold was forced over his eyes and a gag shoved into his mouth. “Sorry kid, it’s nothing personal,'' Tommy really began to struggle, now fueled with the panic of losing his sight, he tried his best to let his displeasure be known with how he was trying to curse out the knight despite the gag. 

The knight's cold grip was firm on his wrist before an unbearable pain shot up his arm. He felt his breath stutter at the sensation of a knife swiftly cutting up his arm, even though it only took a second for the skin to cut, the pain remained a pulsing fire. It’s nothing personal, the knight claimed, Tommy was tied up and bleeding out but it wasn’t personal right? Bullshit.

Finally the knight released his wrist and Tommy flinched as the rope touched the open wound, the feeling of it making the wound sting all the more. “It’ll be over quick,” is all he was offered before the sound of the knight's footsteps left his hearing, leaving him all alone in the forest with nothing to do but hope for Techno to come before the blood loss. 

Tehno had just finished tending to the land, making sure the livestock and vegetables were kept up with before he realized something was off. It was too quiet, and with Tommy around things were never quiet. It wasn’t unlike Tommy to go running off but he always came back soon enough, either to bother Techno or just be in his company. He looked around, sniffing as he did so, and confirmed that Tommy wasn’t just hiding nearby trying to surprise Techno. 

Looking to where the sun was he saw it was just barely starting to get dark out and while more likely than not Tommy had just lost track of time it made him antsy that it was going to be dark soon and the boy's location was unknown. He couldn’t help but to be protective over Tommy, he was just a little runt and the piglin would do anything to keep his pack safe. 

The more he thought of reasons Tommy might not be back yet the more he felt his instincts lead him to action. Soon enough he had caught the faint scent of Tommy and though it was old, clearly from this morning, it was still prominent enough for the piglin to track. Techno found himself unsurprised that he was led to the river, he couldn’t help but smile at the fond memories this location brings. But he was on a mission and couldn’t get distracted until he was sure his ward was safe. The smile slipped off his face as he kept going, a soft frown replacing it as he found the scent heading towards the end of his territory.

Techno’s eyes dilated as what once was a comforting scent was tainted by the distinct smell of iron. The piglin tried not to run when near the runt as to avoid any accidents but this would have to be an exception as Tommy was still missing and definitely bleeding. After that it took no time at all for the giant to reach his goal, spotting Tommy, his family, his pack, tied up and bound like that made Techno see red. Even though Tommy couldn’t see due to the blindfold he definitely heard the giant's footfalls as he was trying to move his head to gauge where the noise came from, Techno’s heart only broke more when Tommy attempted to call out to him. 

“I’m here Tommy, I’ve got you, you are going to be okay, I promise.” The giant descended onto his knees, and gently reached out to his brother, tapping his knuckle on his shoulder to let him know Techno was there. Tommy leaned into the contact feeling safe just by the piglins presence and Techno couldn’t find himself to remove his hand using his other to carefully reach around to cut the ropes that bound the boy to the tree. 

Right before he could, he felt a prick in his shoulder and looked to see a minuscule arrow lodged in his shoulder. A growl reverberated through his chest as he looked at the area where the offended arrow had come from, spotting a soldier perched with a bow. It seemed with the first hit the rest of them took that as their sign to attack as well. His eyes glowered dangerously at the attackers, easily able to knock down any who dared to get too close, “Are you the one’s responsible for this?”

Though Techno had asked, it was clearly a rhetorical question as everyone was aware of who was guilty of restraining the teen. “We’ve come to best you, blood god!” 

Technos head snapped in the direction of the voice and based on the appearance spotted what seemed to be the head knight. With a speed no human could ever hope to match, Techno had reached down and snatched the guard right off the ground, holding him in a fist tight enough he dropped his sword as he was raised. He bared his teeth at the tiny enjoying the look of panic on his face, “Best me? You can’t even hurt me.” There was no mercy as Techno slowly squeezed the life out of the guard. As a reaction all the guards started up again with more vivour but Techno felt no pain, even when one succeeds in hitting him, the attacks are nothing more than an inconvenience to the giant.

It was hearing Tommy whimper that brought him out of his rage, looking over to see where Tommy was previously standing; he was now sliding down the base of the tree. Dropping the nuisance from his hand, not caring of how he landed, he paid full attention to Tommy. Once again dropping to his knees in front of the boy, this time using his arm to encircle him as to make sure nothing could get to him. Without any interruptions he finally was able to cut the rope, freeing Tommy. 

Tommy for his part immediately went to take off the blindfold with his now freed hands and it was then that the source of the blood he smelt earlier was shown. On Tommy’s left arm the vein was clearly cut open, blood oozing out as there was nothing to stop it from doing so. Blood was getting all over the young one’s clothes as he moved from untying the blindfold to the gag. Techno couldn’t stop the concerned rumble that produced from him if he tried, seeing his pack hurt like that was making his instincts scream. At the noise Tommy finally looked up at him a lazy smile covering his face, “How’do” he slowly spoke, eyes hazy. 

“Oh God, okay, Tommy I need you to stay awake for me alright?” Panic filled his voice he reached out to his little brother noticing how Tommy seemed to absentmindedly follow his movements. Going limp as Techno gently scooted Tommy until the human was fully sitting in his hand. Using his teeth he ripped a piece from his cape and handed it to the boy, “I need you to wrap that around your arm for me, okay?” 

Tommy mumbled something that was too quiet for Techno to hear and slowly started to wrap his arm, occasionally flinching from the pain. Techno brought him close to his face just barely nuzzling him with his snout, “You did so good, I just need you to do one more thing for me okay?” Going cross eyed as he watched the boy nod his head he continued, “I need you to keep talking okay? Tell me about what animals you saw at the river.”

“I sawa..deer, it looked tobe..female causeof her…horns..I guess just allthe woman…flock to me.” Despite the slurring Techno let out a relieved sigh, even when dealing with blood loss, Tommy still managed to stay, well, Tommy. Slowly bringing his hand down, Techno cupped it against his chest keeping Tommy tucked close, no could hurt him from there. 

Making sure he could still hear mumbling coming from the runt he slowly stood back up, turning around to stare down at the people responsible for Tommy’s current state. All softness left his face as he looked at the knights, replaced with a steely glare that if it could, would already have them six feet in the ground. They were all in one area, surrounding their captain to see if he was alright. Good, this would make Techno’s job easier. 

These humans had come into Techno’s territory planning to kill him and not only that but they had hurt Tommy and as they were about to learn, no one hurts Techno’s family. The giant piglin felt no pity as he finished off the guards, easily wiping them out with just one step. They received a death too quickly for Techno’s likening but the life he was holding in his hands was and always would be more important. 

Bringing Tommy back up to his face he couldn’t help but to sniff Tommy, trying to find any other spots on the smaller that were bleeding. At the insistent air blowing over Tommy he couldn’t help but to let out a little laugh at the feeling, Techno’s face brightening greatly as he heard the noise. “I knewyou’d save me,” with his uninjured  arm he patted Techno on his snout, blue eyes staring into red. 

Techno started to purr as he gently squished Tommy against his cheek, knowing just how much the teen liked the sound and at being able to have his pack so close to him, “I’ve got you Tommy, I’m going to keep you safe” and Tommy full heartedly believed he would.