Soon, all his hard work, his toiling, his struggling… Soon, it would all be worth it.
His master plan was about to come to fruition.
The ring Cherry had picked out ages ago sat in the jewelry case, glittering in the LED lights. A gold band, with a diamond set in the center surrounded by little rubies and emeralds. All lab-grown, and expertly set.
Lime was going to love it, he just knew it.
But it was the last one they had. And he knew none of the other stores had any.
Hopefully they didn’t sell this one before he could buy it.
I forgot to ask, what is the gremlin children au of the fruitverse
HI THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME AN EXCUSE TO YELL ABOUT THEM
So the gremlin children AU is a version of the Fruitverse where, through various shenanigans, Cherry and Lime ended up adopting several kid versions of various spirit pairs. The normal versions of their AUs also exist, and they have met some of them.
Originally, it was just DS Nightmare and DS Dream. Dream was also a corrupt because normal, adult Obsidian and Jet appeared in their AU and decided that whether they were in the past or another MV, they wanted to see what happened if they messed things up.
Surprisingly, Nightmare and Dream weren’t very thrilled when Cherry showed up pretty soon after that. But he felt so bad for these kids and they clearly needed help, so he called Lime, and together they convinced the kids that
1. They’re not Jet and Obsidian
2. They want to help
3. you two really should have adults to take care of you anyways
So they came back to the Fruitverse manor. Very sweet, lots of familial fluff.
I don’t actually remember if they already knew each other or not, but eventually normal DS Dream and DS Nightmare appear. One of the good endings happened, though I don’t remember which anymore, so Dream didn’t really care about the three corrupts. he is quite concerned that one of them is a kid tho. And very pissed when little Dream tells him what happened, because he’s dealt with The Bastards before
But anyway the gremlin children adore their adult alternates. They end up calling them Uncle Moon (Nightmare) and Uncle Radiant (Dream). Very sweet
Eventually, Cherry and Lime find kid versions of Jade, Obsidian, Jet, and Dark, and adopt them. Obsidian and Jet have an especially rocky start, between how little they trust people and the fact that Dream and Nightmare absolutely do NOT like them at first, but they give the kid Jet and Obsidian a chance. It’s not like they had anything to do with what happened.
Sometime after the newer four settle in, Cherry and Lime find kid versions of Biotite, Emerald, Ebony, and Void. Biotite and Ebony have just as much trouble relaxing as Obsidian and Jet did, but for different reasons (trust people much much less; Dream and Nightmare aren’t nearly as wary of them tho)
The kids are alright, now that they have a bunch of adults who love them dearly and take care of them. Obsidian and Biotite frequently challenge each other to do something better, faster, etc. Apricot and Lemon are bad influences on their kid alts and Jade, Dark, Void, Emerald, and Nightmare are the most chaotic little shits and get into all sorts of trouble.
Ebony and Jet are mischievous, too, but they’re much calmer
Dream’s the only one of them who doesn’t keep trying to get into trouble, aside from him almost breaking his bones trying to figure out how his wings work.
At one point, Wheeze and I added pretty much all of our JMV/DINTIS AUs (excluding the Fellverse and the Ironverse), but in the main timeline is just those guys. Also I don’t think they all actually existed at once; just the main 6 and one other set of 4
There’s one AU of this, but However Holy is a clusterfuck (affectionate) so I’ll just tell you that Cherry and Lime are demons and the kids are all various types of nature spirits (nymphs and dryads and such). I think they adopted a few random human kids, too, but I don’t remember if it was anyone in particular or just ‘yeah they just keep collecting kids like pokemon’ and never went into it
But yeah no the kids are having a great time now. Cherry and Lime love them all and their only regret is that now the other adults are teasing them about picking up strays every other time they leave the house.
A lot of the JMV pairs in particular had some conflict between them when they arrived, and that conflict normally would eventually lead to…all the shit in the normal AUs when they’re adults. But the Fruitverse fools, and the other kids, help them work through it. And their relationships are stronger for it
So we know how Apricot and Lemon proposed. how Cherry and Lime proposed each other ?
IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED
They proposed at the same time because they’re both morons (said lovingly)
Cherry (before getting a job) was flat out broke. A couple pennies to his name, maybe, but they were very shiny pennies and they’re for his shiny things hoard so he’s not gonna spend them.
Lime however found a bunch of money in the castle when he found it so he’s basically rich
Cherry picked out the exact ring he wanted almost immediately, but since he had no goddamn money he couldn’t get it. This was the final thing that pushed him to get a job, and he actually got hired at the store the ring he wants was in.
He could’ve asked one of the others for help, but he didn’t want to. And he sure as hell can’t ask Lime to lend him the money for it. If he was going to propose to Lime, he wants to buy the ring himself!
So he slowly built up his funds to buy the ring
Lime, meanwhile, was also wanting to propose, and while he could probably buy any ring he wanted, he had absolutely no idea what he wanted in the first place. So he took some time trying to decide.
Eventually he checked out the store Cherry worked at, when Cherry wasn’t there.
Cherry has gushed about Lime to all of his coworkers. The person working there that day thought they recognized Lime as soon as he walked in. They asked if he would happen to be Cherry’s boyfriend that he talks about so much and Lime goes “I- he-?? Oh, of course he does.“ he’s clearly flustered but he’s got a big smile on his face.
They ask what brings him in today; especially as Cherry’s not working. And he tells them, very nervously
Cherry has also told his coworkers his plans. And even told them which ring he wanted to buy once he had the funds.
So the person working there decides to be a little gremlin and says “hmmm. I might be able to help you out” and shows Lime that same ring. They say nothing about Cherry’s plans though
Lime very clearly likes the ring, but he looks so unsure. They tell him that Cherry would probably be happy with whatever he got, and Lime goes “I know, but… I want it to be something he’d actually like.”
He leaves without buying anything (but thanking them lots for their help and asks them not to tell Cherry. Which they agree to readily), and comes back a few days later to buy the ring.
It’s not a one-of-a-kind thing, mind you, so Cherry isn’t disappointed when he comes into work after than and hears someone bought it. There’s more in the back.
Now Lime’s problem though is that he is so, so nervous about proposing. When should he ask? *How* should he ask???
By the time he gets up the courage to ask, Cherry has finally bought the ring and he, being far more confident than Lime, doesn’t wait very long to ask.
I don’t remember which of them asked first, but the moment they do the other one starts laughing and pulls out the ring they bought.
couldn’t have a clearer yes than that (mostly kidding)
I think I remember that their wedding was kind of a small party, with just their closest friends, but they were very happy.
And Lime tells Cherry what his coworker did and Cherry laughs and goes ‘yeah that sounds about right for them’
Apricot and Cara are officially friends, but they bicker like children constantly. They stick out their tongues at each other and everything
LEMON AND LIME’S OUTFITS SHOULD LOOK WAY CLOSER TO JET AND DARK’S AND THEY SHOULD HAVE THE SAME CAPES BUT INSTEAD OF ECLIPSES IT’S ROUND SLICES OF A LEMON AND A LIME AND I’M SO FUCKING MAD I CAN’T DRAW IT
The spirit pairs (AU pairs, not romantic partner pairs) are a bit like brothers to each other. They’re not technically, actually brothers, but that doesn’t matter to them. No romo or anything between those pairs. Period.
we accidentally made cherry autistic also. If you noticed.
kiwi has a gun. He almost threatened DS Dream with it in one au.
Cherry works at a jewelry store. He looooves working at the shiny things store so many pretties he gets to see every day. The customers usually like him a lot too because he’s very friendly and he will tell you all the things you need to know about the shinies you want. He’s also the one his coworkers call if they have a Karen to deal with and their manager is busy. Frankly the fact that he can deal with Karens so well without it being A Big Deal is a sign of how much he’s grown and everyone is so proud of him
Lime’s doing better with his paranoia, but it’s not completely gone. Being around a lot of unfamiliar people freaks him out still.
If Lime and Cherry ever get dropped into an alternate universe, in the very literal sense, they have to fall one at a time and whoever dropped in first must catch the other one, preferably bridal style. This is the law of the AU.
Cherry and Oleander are the only non-ace Obsidian alts on the moral good side of the obsidian alt spectrum
You should ask about the Gremlin Children AU of the fruitverse :]
Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase ask me about how cherry and lime proposed they’re soooo soft and dumb (loving)
Every single plot dump is going to be a rambling mess and i apologize.
I’m gonna be silly today and start with Lemon and Lime instead of Cherry and Apricot.
When everyone in the town you grew up in hates you, it’s easy to start thinking they might try to seriously hurt you. And sometimes, they did hurt Lime. Lemon was the only one Lime felt he could trust.
Eventually, though, Lime became so paranoid that he decided he really, really needed to leave. He wanted Lemon to come, but he was afraid that the villagers would try to hunt him down if he ‘took’ Lemon from them, so he left Lemon a note, ate the negative apples (and then the positive ones, which turned negative when he touched them. Same ol’ story), and ran off. He’s a corrupt now.
Lemon was, understandably, pretty upset that Lime ran off like that. With just a note to tell Lemon that he was leaving.
Lemon left to find his idiot friend.
It took quite a while for them to meet again. Several years, in fact, and during that time Lime’s paranoia only got worse. He found an abandoned castle in the middle of nowhere, and decided that that was a good place to stay. If anyone else found it, it’d be easy for him to hide, if he needed to.
When they eventually do meet again, Lime is so relieved to see that Lemon made it out of that godawful place, and so happy to see him.
Lemon is happy to see him too! But you could’ve at least told him in person you were leaving!!!!!
Lemon seems quite mad. Lime is terrified.
But he acts like it’s fine. Aside from feeling bad that he made Lemon worry. He really does feel bad, but why is Lemon so angry…
Lemon ends up moving in with Lime, and Lime spends pretty much every moment with Lemon lying. Lying about anything he can if he thinks it’ll keep Lemon from possibly trying to hurt him. Gaslight gatekeep girlboss guys!
It takes Lemon a while to realize how much Lime is lying to him, and how little the latter trusts him.
When he inevitably does, he tries to talk to Lime about it. Calmly. Lime is like “What are you talking about??? Of course I trust you. You’re my best friend.”
Lime’s gaslighting and normal lying game is too strong. It takes several more ‘talks’ like this, where Lime gets more cagey and freaked out every time, before Lemon is finally puts his foot down and is like “Okay. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I’m done with it. I’m not going to hang out with you, much less live with you, if you’re going to lie to me constantly.” And leaves.
Lime takes this very poorly. But Lemon went off about it more before he left, and Lime wonders if maybe he did do a fucky wucky after all…And Lemon didn’t actually hurt him, he just left. Which still hurts a lot but it’s not at all what Lime was expecting.
Traveling back in time and going to another multiverse, Cherry and Apricot are having a very interesting time. And by interesting I mean Cherry thinks he’s doing great and Apricot has yet to really notice that anything’s off.
When everyone around you treats you one way, you start to think that’s just How People Interact. So you imitate it. Treat others how you want to be treated and so on.
Cherry was an asshole and he was trying to be nice. He thought he had so many friends. He thought everyone liked him. Apricot was the only one who was actually nice to him, and he and Cherry were kind of mean to each other on occasion still. Apricot understood that Cherry wasn’t really trying to hurt his feelings, and he’d stop if he thought he’d hurt Cherry’s feelings. Apricot thought it was a form of affection, and since Cherry was never bothered by it, he didn’t have any real reason to think otherwise.
When Cherry was still very young, Apricot was worried about how the other kids were treating Cherry, but as time went on and Cherry didn’t seem to be bothered, calling the kids his friends, Apricot let it go. He didn’t hear when the other kids called Cherry ‘stupid’ and ‘weird’ behind his back, or the adults whispering that there must be something seriously wrong with Cherry if he thought everyone was being nice to him.
Cherry decided he wanted to see the rest of the multiverse, though. He did try to take Apricot with him, but in the chaos that ensued after he ate the apples, they got separated.
Apricot, eventually, met Kiwi and his brother (who weee haven’t nameddd), and they let him stay for a bit. Hypothetically a Quartz might’ve been there too. Maybe. We forgot her again. But Apricot and Kiwi became very good friends.
Cherry should have met the rest of the JMV cast while they were separated, but as is the case with the Swap verse, some things have changed and we haven’t fully considered the effects of those changes. I’m…not actually sure whether or not they got there before or after Cherry and Apricot met up again. I think after is probably a better option, but until I have time to consult Wheeze about it, we’ll ignore everyone else and focus on Apricot and Cherry for now.
In the time he’s been on his own, Cherry’s whole…let’s go with attitude has made him several enemies. Fortunately for him, it was nothing worse than ‘if i see that asshole again i’m going to beat the shit out of him’ and no one is going to hunt him down and kick his ass. But he has gotten worse, not that he’s realized it.
Apricot’s also changed some, in the time they’ve been separated.
When they do finally meet up, they’re both super excited. There you are!!! I missed you!!!
Cherry tells Apricot about this sick manor he found in the middle of fricken’ nowhere, he’s kinda been trying to renovate it and stuff because like, it seems to be in fairly good shape, and since there’s no one around he’s really sure he wouldn’t even have to pay for it and it’d be so cool to live in a manor house-
Apricot comes with him to see this cool ass manor house (not without telling Kiwi and his brother where he’s going, so they don’t worry too much about him), and decides to help him out with it.
Cherry is being such an asshole though. It was okay for a little bit, Apricot didn’t think anything of it, but then it started to like,,, actually hurt his feelings. And when he tried to say something about it, Cherry was just even meaner.
Apricot got really sick of this and said “ok well if you’re going to be like that i am not sticking around.” and went on about how he didn’t know why Cherry had become such an asshole, but he is NOT having it. Just tears right into him and calls him out on all his bullshit. He leaves.
He doesn’t go back to Kiwi and his brother, either, though. He texts them and tells them what’s up, but he doesn’t want Cherry to try and find him.
Cherry is genuinely baffled. He wasn’t trying to…? He thought everything was fine. Why…?
He also goes off for a while. He’s so upset that Apricot left. For a little while he’s wondering why Apricot didn’t say anything if he was upset about it, but the more he thinks about it he realizes that Apricot did say something. Several times.
And he wonders why it was so different now. It’s not any different from how he’s interacted with Apricot before. Or anyone else…
Oh god has he been being mean to everyone this whole time?
…his. Friends. From back home. They did the exact same things too.
Lemon and Apricot, end up running into each other. They hit it off pretty well. But they’re both still really upset about how Lime and Cherry were treating them, and they can tell the other is upset, so after a while they both open up about their former childhood friends being dicks. And bond over it, like
“Man. this sucks. What the hell.”
“I know right. I can’t believe this.”
They end up hanging out a lot. Friendship ended with [Cherry/Lime], now this other spirit from another multiverse is my new bestie.
Meanwhile. Lime is seriously trying to figure out how to get his paranoia under control if it’s gotten so bad that he completely ruined his most important relationship because of it, and Cherry is trying desperately to figure out how he can NOT be a complete asshole and how he could fix things with Apricot.
And they run into each other.
Cherry is very nervous interacting with anyone now, but Lime. lime is pretty. Hello. Hi. you also seem very upset are you alright?
Lime just stares at him like a cornered animal.
They very tentatively become friends. Cherry is very clear that if he’s ever an asshole please tell him point blank. As many times as it takes. He’s trying to be nicer and has no idea what he’s doing.
Lime straight up says he absolutely does not trust Cherry at all, though he does appreciate the concern and would really like to. Be friends. Maybe.
It’s hard, though. Cherry is never sure if Lime’s just being Afraid Of Stranger or if he said something wrong, and Lime’s first assumption is always that Cherry’s being mean on purpose and hates him.
Lime at least makes an effort to not lie to Cherry. There’s a lot that he just won’t say, but he tries not to lie. And Cherry’s trying very hard to be nice.
They’ve both made some progress, though it’s more visible with Cherry than with Lime. Cherry’s just starting to relearn how to talk to people. Lime’s realized that he has a serious problem and that he needs to do something about it, though he’s still completely lost as to what
Cherry is trying more to keep their friendship than Lime is, and Lime is afraid of why. It’s because cherry is lonely and really doesn’t want to fuck this one up either and be alone again, but Lime is thinking more along the lines of ‘does he. Want something from me? Am I in danger????’
Cherry, eventually, tells Lime a bit about Apricot. His best friend, whom left. Because Cherry was an asshole. And uh. That’s. That’s the point where cherry realized. He is fucked.
Lime blinks. “...wait. What?
Cherry: yeah i think i’ve spent my entire life treating everyone around me like shit, because everyone around me growing up, aside from maybe apricot, treated me like shit and I thought that was normal. And I only realized this after Apricot called me out on being an asshole.
Lime:
Lime: oh you are absolutely fucked up. That explains so much though.
Cherry:
Cherry: is that. Good?
Lime: i don’t know? i just understand you slightly more
Lime:
Lime: i managed to piss off my childhood friend enough to leave me, too. But i don’t want to talk about it
Lime says one (1) more thing about it, which was some less memey variation of ‘i gaslit gatekept and girlbossed too hard and he decided i didn’t pass the vibe check with it’
Please also note that cherry is also frequently fucking up with Lime. and he tries to make up for it every time but he’s not really gaining Lime’s trust.
Lime has also lied to Cherry several times. He’s praying to god that Cherry doesn’t realize it and decide to do something about it. Cherry has realized already, but he’s afraid to say anything about it.
Back with Apricot and Lemon, they’ve been talking about Lime and Cherry a lot more lately. And they’ve both kinda started to realize that there were signs of this shit well before they even started to notice.
Lemon is especially horrified that he never noticed how bad Lime was getting, and that maybe perhaps being mad that Lime didn’t tell him in person that he was leaving had freaked Lime out.
Apricot is sitting there like that one Lisa Simpson meme as he remembers the lost and hurt look on Cherry’s face when he said he was being an asshole, and all. All the times. The other kids in the village would give Cherry shit. But he said there wasn’t anything wrong, and looked perfectly happy. Oh god he’s never seen anyone be nice to cherry. Oh no does he think he was being nice the whole time. Holy shit.
Apricot is more willing to give Cherry another chance than Lemon is Lime, but Lemon realizes that he also kinda fucked up here. Lime at least deserves an apology for that. Man…did Lemon ‘prove him right’ by leaving like that? He’d feel so bad if he did…
So. They look for their idiots.
Cherry has been actively looking for Apricot as well, without Lime, and they happen to be separate when Apricot and Lemon find them.
Lime is terrified for a moment, before he realizes that Lemon just seems to feel guilty. Maybe he’s not coming back to hurt him…?
Lemon tells him that he’s realized some things, namely that he probably kinda triggered Lime’s problem to get worse when he found him after the whole apple incident. He’s still mad that Lime treated him the way he did, but like. There were definitely signs and Lemon just never noticed and he really is sorry he scared Lime so bad. He had been really worried about Lime, and yeah he had been kinda mad that Lime just left the way he did. Just a note.
“,,,if i promise not to be like that again can we be friends again”
“...I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.”
“I’m working- well, i’m trying to work on it. There’s. Um. not a whole lot i can do right now. Without the money to afford a therapist. But. I’m…trying?”
“...Okay. One chance.”
Lime is relieved. Lemon says he’ll help him get a proper goddamn therapist. Big hugs many tears holds them soft
Apricot and Cherry are very awkward for a moment. Cherry has no idea what he should say and Apricot is waiting for him to say. Like. anything.
Cherry had thought of a lot of things he wanted to say when he found Apricot and had even run a couple by Lime, to see if they sounded okay. But Apricot came looking for him and now he’s drawing a blank.
Apricot finally takes a deep breath and goes “So. Long story short. I kinda realized that your childhood seriously fucked you up.”
“...Yyyyeah so have i. I’ve. been looking? For you? To try and apologize?? Shit I knew what i wanted to say and even asked someone what they thought to make sure it was okay but now i have no goddam idea what it was”
Apricot laughs. “Well, I came to try and help you realize that and then help you deal with it, so I guess it works out. I was kinda afraid you’d think I was being the asshole and would get mad at me for suggesting something was wrong.”
“I was, for a while. But…yeah.”
“Ok. well. Do you want help”
“Fucking hell yes i have no idea what i’m doing i’m so confused”
Big hugs!
Pretty quickly all four of the spirits hang out together after finding out that their new friend’s old friend is friends with their own old friend. Did that make sense? I don’t know, I spent several hours typing and took a nap and came back to fix this one sentence and my word bank still hasn’t recharged.
As Lime and Cherry both get better, their rocky friendship slowly grows. Cherry slowly gets more confident and does things ‘right’ more often, and Lime feels comfortable enough to trust him some. More than he would without the therapy he’s getting.
Lemon and Lime swear not to lie to each other anymore, and though Lime sometimes goes back on his word at first, he makes a huge effort to come clean as soon as possible and apologize. To his credit, Lime warned Lemon that it was happening with Cherry out of pure habit when they first promised, so Lemon forgives him as long as Lime does tell him the truth and fixes it. And as time goes on, he gets better at stopping the Voice of Paranoia from taking over and thinking things over before he says anything. No more lies.
Apricot and Cherry have a slightly rockier time at the start, but Apricot is trying to be understanding and help Cherry outside of his own therapy sessions, and Cherry is trying very hard to listen to him when he says Cherry did something Not Okay. Cherry’s having to entirely relearn everything about talking to people and it’s fucking hard.
But! Present-day, they’re both doing very very well! Lime’s learned to trust people again, and he knows how to cope with most of the symptoms of his paranoia. Cherry no longer needs someone with him (emotionally or otherwise) to help him talk to people and he is very confident!
He’s so confident and sweet he even managed to get lime to date him. And then marry him. They’re so gay and stupid and soft
That’s kinda it. The rest of the au is just shenanigans and sometimes making them hang out with their alternates. It’s really fun with Cherry actually because if you line up all of the obsidian alternates, they’re all in all black and either emo, goth, or edgy. And then Cherry’s just a ball of sunshine and wearing little to no black. Smiling. Obsidian and biotite are probably calling him an eyesore and he just frowns and goes “you guys aren’t very nice. On purpose, too. I’m going to hang out with the goth one he seems nice”
You have to imagine that instead of hibiscus flowers, his shirt is covered in cherries.
cherry is so soft i love him holds him gentle he’s so stupid and soft and dumb and sweet and and and
Normally when I call a character stupid, I’m just having some form of cuteness aggression, but he’s a proper himbo. He wouldn’t hurt a fly if he could help it, but he’s just as powerful as Obsidian. He’s an avid collector of anything and everything shiny.
There is a huge room in the manor that only Cherry, Apricot, Lime, and Lemon know about. And Lemon only knows because of how close he is with Lime and Apricot. This room is Cherry’s Collection Of Shinies, and is stacked floor-to-ceiling with various shiny things, ranging in value from ‘smooth rock he found on the ground’ to moderately expensive jewelry. When i said he was part magpie, i was not kidding. The others technically know of it, but they don't know where it is. Cherry's shinies are well-hidden
Speaking of shinies; you know that necklace Obsidian has? The crescent moon with the purple gem? Cherry has something similar, but instead of a purple gem (that might be round or pointy depending on who you ask), it’s a red cherry-shaped gem.
He loves his friends and him hubband and he’d do everything in his power to protect them, though he’s very hesitant to fight. He’s still unlearning a lot of things from growing up, and while he’s doing great, he’s very uncertain at times.
(or Wholesome!JMV and Wholesome!DINTIS. that's the official tag)
Obsidian: Cherry
Jade: Apricot
Koroit: Carambola (‘Cara’) ('carambola' is another name for star fruit)
Zircon: Pitaya ('pitaya' is another name for dragonfruit)
Paraiba: Pomegranate (‘Pom’)
Silver: Plum
Jasper: Strawberry
Mercury: Watermelon (‘Melon’)
Zuli: Kiwi
Amber: (N/A)
Quartz: (N/A)
Peony: Blossom (ref and lore non-existant, but she does exist)
Peridot: (N/A)
Jet: Lime
Dark: Lemon
Huge Plot Dump
Funnies & Fun facts
They’re as fruity as you can get, in every sense of the word. Kiwi and Pitaya live with their families, and not in the manor, but they visit a lot. Kiwi is so tired of babysitting his friends (half joking). Lime is mostly a ball of anxiety but he’s getting better. Apricot’s signature weapon is the metal folding chair. Lemon proposed to Apricot with a McDonald’s happy meal and Apricot said yes. Cherry is a magpie/labrador retriever hybrid. I could go on about them all day. Also they all wear appropriately fruit-themed outfits because we had to commit to the bit.
The original doc was very rambling (admittedly, all of the jmv/dintis ones me and Wheeze made were; most still are), but I've done my best to consolidate everything more; both here on tumblr, and in the doc.
