JackieBoy-Man: Protecting [Y/N]
{The sequel to "Anti Dealing with Troublesome Y/N}
The first thing Jackie noticed when he opened the door to the house was a plethora of noises which didn’t seem to mesh quite right. The first sound was gentle snoring, unmistakably Anti’s, with the wheeze of air through the neck wound and distortion of his voice; the second was a tiny, muffled, terrified screaming; and the third was an uncomfortably noisy gurgling stomach. This miasma of noise stabbed suspicion right into Jackie’s heart and he crept closer to the source: Anti, sleeping peacefully on the couch with an uncharacteristically swollen and lumpy abdomen. Near enough to understand what he was seeing, he realized that he was hearing [Y/N]’s voice coming from inside Anti. They were screaming for help and squirming hard to escape.
His eyes widened as he paled and gasped softly, “[Y/N]!”
“I-it’ll be okay bud, I’ll find a way to getcha outta there! Ju-just hold on!” He whispered, racking his brain for a solution.
What should he do? If he punched Anti to make him throw them up, he’d likely wind up hurting them, too. If he shoved his finger down the glitch’s throat, there was a good chance he’d end up getting cut. Or worse, end up in the same scenario as [Y/N]. How did Anti even get them in there?! Did Henrik have any ipecac left after the last poisoning incident? No, there wasn’t enough time to go looking! Who knew how long they’d been in there.
Anti began to stir and all thoughts flew from Jackie’s mind. His chest tightened and his breath hitched in his throat, so he did the only thing he could think of. He cocked his right arm back, summoned his flame aura to his fist, and socked Anti in the gut.
Oh God why did I do that?! I hope I missed them!!
Anti was flung into a sitting position with his jet black eyes bugged out. He yelled something incoherent before he groaned and doubled over, leaned to the side, heaved, and threw up. Out popped [Y/N], who fell to the carpet with a small-sounding scream. They were so tiny! Barely six inches tall if Jackie’s guess was right. Anti began to sway, so Jackie grabbed them and took off for the nearest bathroom. He held them tight to his chest as he sprinted down the hall, took a left, took another left, and slammed the door behind him with his foot. Anti would be livid after this. Jackie needed to find a way to protect them, but first he had to get them clean!
He locked the door and leaned his back against it, panting hard and sweating. Not from exertion, mind, he was a professional hero after all. No, he was trembling in his boots and swallowing hard on a dry mouth. He hadn’t even peeked to make sure [Y/N] was okay yet. He had to check, though, even though he was afraid of what he might see… what he might have done when he punched Anti.
He gulped and shook his head, steeling his nerves, “Are you alright, buddy?”
A tiny voice piped up from against his chest, “I-I think– I think so… Thank you, Jackie.”
Finally, he dared peek at the miniaturized friend in his hands. They seemed mostly unharmed, if soaked in saliva and bile in their destroyed pajamas. Dark bags sagged below their eyes, which might’ve been bloodshot but were so small he couldn’t tell. They were pale, which made sense considering where they’d just been. He stepped up to the sink and ran some warm water.
“Let’s getcha cleaned up,” he murmured, “Ya look like ye’ve been through the wringer.”
“Feels like it, too,” they nodded, edging off his palm and onto the sink.
Jackie stopped the drain and his ears perked to the approaching sound of stomping feet. Anti was coming and Jackie still didn’t know how to protect his friend! He turned the water off to hopefully throw the demon off their trail, but he knew better. Anti was clever, it wouldn’t work.
He glanced at the door and whispered to [Y/N], “Hurry, wash up and I’ll getcha outta the house.”
Anti was pounding on the door already, demanding that Jackie ‘get his ass out here with that little menace so he can eat them again’. How about no? [Y/N] hurriedly splashed around in the sink before Jackie felt them tugging at his sleeve. He looked down so fast his neck popped. They were soaking wet and had both hands up, grasping at the air and bouncing on the balls of their feet in the childlike signal for ‘up’.
“Jackie, eat me!” they begged.
“I just spent the last two hours in Anti’s stomach, I’ll be fine in yours!”
He felt the blood drain from his face as he glanced at his watch. Two hours? Did that mean Anti got them while they were sleeping? Just like him to prey on someone when they can’t fight– the door rattled on its hinges as the glitch-demon outside grew impatient and began cursing at Jackieboy. But to swallow [Y/N] so soon after freeing them from that very situation was wrong! How could he do that to his friend? He couldn’t!
“There’s no time! He’s going to break that door down and I’d rather be in your stomach than his!”
“[Y/N], I…” he gulped hard on nothing and turned to them, “I couldn’t possibly do that to ya!”
“Do we have another option?! Hurry!”
The door rattled harder with a heavy ‘thunk!’ that sounded like Anti was throwing his body at it. He fidgeted in place, but jumped when the door began to crack.
He set his hand on the sink with an open palm, “Okay, okay. I don’t like this, but fine! C’mere.”
The now-tiny [Y/N] jumped onto his palm and hugged his thumb as they kneeled. He brought them up to his face and hesitated. This felt so wrong, but he couldn’t come up with any other solution. Anti hit the door once more and Jackie was showered with splinters. He gasped and opened his mouth, then tilted his head back a little ways. They practically threw themself into his maw and he choked somewhat, then tried not to gag. They tasted like watered down bile.
Something whizzed past his ear and he gulped. He felt their head and arms pop into his throat as the thing that missed him by centimetres embedded itself in the tile wall in front of him. Anti’s knife. He needed to do this quickly. Another swallow and their legs were in his mouth. The door crashed open and he closed his mouth as he turned to see Anti panting and glitching in rage.
“G̷ive.̷ t̡ha͢t.̀ l͢i̧t͡tle͡.͡ ́shìt͢. b̸ack̕!”
“Nm-mn,” Jackie shook his head and [Y/N] squirmed, trying to worm their way down his throat. His stomach churned and greasy feeling started at the base of his tongue. He wanted to throw up.
He finally swallowed hard one last time and grimaced as he felt their descent. Anti snarled as Jackie gagged, then burped and wiped his mouth. The knife reappeared in the glitch’s hand and he leveled it at Jackie’s abdomen as it swelled ever-so-slightly. He never broke eye contact.
“Fi̵nę. ͞Bu͟t ͏you’d ̢b͡ett͜e͝r ḱe͢e̷p͜ t̷he̡ḿ d́ow̛n, ơr̛ ̧y͠ou'͟ŕę ͞n͞ext.͟”
“I’m not lettin’ ya hurt ‘em.” He flexed his abs, the slight distention disappearing behind muscle, “I’ll protect ‘em, whatever it takes.”
Anti growled, stabbed his knife into the wooden door frame, and stomped off back to the living room. “Wat͜c̴h y̴o̸ur̀ ba͡c͞k̛, h́e̶r͞o.”
Jackie waited until the knife disappeared in a small puff of staticy black smoke to relax and let [Y/N]’s bulge return to his belly, then put his hand over them. There was a good chance that he was about to throw up even if he didn’t force it. They’d shifted around inside his stomach in such a way that made him incredibly queasy. Even though they seemed to be sitting still, he could feel their every subtle movement, from breathing to hugging their knees. God, this was all wrong!
His breaths were shaky as he traced their outline with his fingertips and stared at the door across the hallway. Oh God, he’d just swallowed his friend and now they were inside his stomach! How had it come to this? He couldn’t bring himself to move. He just stood rigidly, disgusted with himself but unable to truly bring himself to vomit. It was true that Anti couldn’t get them now, and they’d lasted two hours in the glitch’s stomach, but how long would they last in his? He had to go see Henrik and get them out, then find another way to protect and get them back to their original size. Marvin needed to know that Anti had done this, so did Seán. Especially Seán.
“Jackie? Hey! Jackie!” [Y/N] piped up, their voice seeming to come from inside his head, “HEY! Are you okay out there?!”
He didn’t respond at first, couldn’t bring his mouth to work.
A small collision rippled through his gut, “JACKIE!”
“Wha-?” He shook himself, snapping back to reality.
That was ironic, they were worried about his well being.
He chuckled haltingly, “I-I’m alright, but what about you? This is the second time today ye’ve been swallowed!”
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. And thank you.”
“Fer what?” He furrowed his brow but never stopped rubbing their outline.
“Saving me. Protecting me. Getting me out of Anti’s stomach.”
“But I putcha back in the same situation!”
He felt them place a hand against the lining of his stomach, “Not really. I mean, I asked you to. You’re protecting me, not… whatever it was he wanted to do to me.”
Jackie legs finally collapsed from beneath him and he fell to the ground, landing hard on his ass, as he put a hand to his head. What had Anti wanted to do to them? Probably digest them, if he guessed right. Oh god! Digest them! Adrenaline tipped into his system and he jumped back to his feet.
“I’ve gotta see the Doc and getcha outta me! Then we’ll see Marvin about fixing this!”
He resisted gulping on a dry mouth again and shakily made his way out of the bathroom, taking a roundabout route to Henrik’s office. If he wanted to fix this, the Doc would be the best person to see. He needed to hurry, but his feet felt so sluggish and unresponsive and the short trip down the hallways of the big house felt like an eternity. Anti would need to answer for this, but first [Y/N] needed to be safe.
He covered their outline with his hand, “Like I’ve said before: I promise I’m gonna keep ya safe, [Y/N]. No matter what it takes.”
