#another long dream for you

[omnificent-orion]

Any progress not saved will be lost.

[little-pup-pip]

could I request a board for a boy, 12/13 years old, no pacifier, with a kind of 2000's aesthetic, and Lego vehicle sets?

Yeah!!

[chippedcupwrites]

sansa/arya/dany, your stans could never make me hate the other two of you 💞✨

[somegrumpynerd]

Do you think Dream would be jealous of Nightmare's gang?

Like maybe before they attempt a truce he has these fears that his brother is keeping them against their will or not treating them right, but then when they're trying to make amends he realises that they're all actually... friends? Like Nightmare cares for them (whether he admits it or not) and they're all looked after and content to be there.

And that's great! His brother hasn't been lonely and isolated all this time, he's glad about that! And he's happy these monsters aren't being held hostage to fight this war, what a relief!

His brother has even made friends, that's so good!! He's so happy for him!! Happy is what this feeling is definitely!! :)

I could just see him struggling while he and Nightmare try and mend their relationship back to what it was when they were kids (which is going to take a lot of time and patience, if it's even possible), and feeling a little sour when he sees these other monsters who have what he wants already.

[lunarin64art]

That feeling when he can't stand to see you that way, no matter what you do, no matter what you say😩😭💔

[allthatmay]

So, today my husband said, "Some people think Shanks is a radial leftist, but I think he's the most centrist character in the show. Dragon fills the role of the radial leftist/anarchist that people often attribute to Shanks."

And, huh, yeah. People do often talk about Shanks like he's an anarchist, but he's really not. I've always said that Shanks is a mediator, keeping a tentative peace between the pirate tribes and the government until the time comes wherein the One Piece can be claimed and the mysterious consequences can happen, but that means he is effectively playing the part of a centrist—straddling the fence, as it were. The key difference, I think, is that Shanks knows for certain that change is coming in the form of a rubber deity, and he is trying to guide it into place. All his work is done behind the scenes with very little violence if he can help it.

Now, it's easy to assume that Shanks' plans involve the complete dissolution of the government as it presently stands; that he is simply using his power & influence to mitigate harm for the many until the "real fight" can begin (and, with him having recently decided to chase the One Piece, now it has), but that might not be the case (and, even if it is the case, a lot of centrists use "mitigating harm for the many" as a reason not to take action against some truly heinous acts). The reality may be that Shanks doesn't see the need for the total collapse of the government, or perhaps he knows something about it that we don't (i.e. because he might be of Celestial Dragon blood). I don't really believe this is the case because, as far as I'm aware, Shanks hasn't ever shown any real support for the World Gov but he has shown, time and time again, that he believes in dreams, in people's personal willpower, and in the ability of anyone to become strong and change the future. But the truth is that we can't know his intentions for certain without Oda giving us more information, so my husband's assertion that Shanks is a centrist makes some sense.

In particular, Luffy is what makes this theory interesting: slap him in between Dragon and Shanks, and there's a very real dichotomy between the two "fathers" in his life. See, Luffy idolises Shanks and thinks of him similarly to a father, but he might realise as time goes on that he can't be like Shanks; he might realise that Shanks' ideals will only carry him so far. After all, what good is it to be a pacifistic when your enemy is a powerful government that is comfortable with mass murder?

(My rebuttal is that Luffy is the only one who can be like Shanks. He is effectively Shanks' dream: Shanks wants to be strong enough to do all the work himself, to suffer all the pain himself, and while he is one of the strongest men in the world, he simply can't do that; what he can do is only achievable through the support he has at his side. Meanwhile, Luffy has close support in his crew, and he has the Gum-Gum Fruit! He can literally become a godlike figure and shape the world around him! He can do everything that Shanks wants and needs and, as sure as I am that Shanks wishes he could have done it himself—I'm thinking back to his days with Roger here—he knows that it was never meant to be him.)

This is where Dragon comes in. Dragon, in direct contrast to Shanks, uses violence as a tool whenever he can. He's all about the greater good, for lack of a better term. His thinking is along the lines of, "People are suffering now and we can help, and we have no qualms in forcibly dismantling a government that uses slavery, genocide, and imprisonment to control its populace. We don't wait for the right time to act, we simply act." Do I think Shanks would approve of Dragon's goals? Yes. Do I think he would approve of Dragon's means in achieving those goals? No, but mostly because Shanks is very self-sacrificial and tries to take whatever suffering is necessary for change onto himself, relying only on his small, personal crew, whereas Dragon is happy to let other people martyr themselves for the rebel cause. He lets a small, amnesiac child join them, for crying out loud—something Shanks would never do, not even if the child proved very capable.

If anything is to come from this difference of ideals, I think it's that Luffy will learn from both of them and find his own way to the One Piece and into the world waiting beyond. Why? Well, because Luffy is all about freedom, and no one on the side of Dragon or Shanks is truly free. As for the world itself, it's hard to predict what will happen after Luffy's done with it because it's pretty dependent on Oda's philosophy. For instance, Oda seems to approve of monarchies, which is not something I would personally imagine remaining in a world without a governing body—but, hey, what do I know?

Of course, we all know that the true centrist in the show is undeniably Garp. He will let real, undeniable harm befall those he cares about in order to maintain the status quo, or to stop the government from toppling because [gasp] that would be the worst thing ever! He's a man who believes the government is essential and joins up in order to change it from the inside, only to fall short of his own expectations because he won't stand up when it matters most. Not even for the sake of his beloved grandson.

[nartml]

was it casual when i had a panic attack at the thought of you dying was it casual when you risked your entire carrier just to feed me lunch was it casual when you were willing to die protecting me even though you wouldn't accomplish any of the goals you devoted yourself to was it casual when i spent so many nights rolling around in deep thought about whether you think of me like i do about you was it casual when i wished for you upon a shooting star was it casual when i refused to let you continue your way down a path of self-destructive loneliness even though you wanted me to was it casual when you needed to kill me and only me to grow stronger and be entirely untethered from your past but you just couldn't was it casual when i preferred to bear your pain and hatred and die fighting you as opposed to giving up on you was it casual when i could trade blows with you (read your heart) even though your supposed wife couldn't was it casual when i was your one and only was it casual when the hands that we blew off of each other bore the evidence of our cosmic connection was it casual when you cried your first tears of relief and happiness after you lost to me was it casual when you kept in touch with me but not with your wife was it casual when we fought and laughed and became inseparable was it casual when i can't exist without you was it casual when i put all my goals on hold because how could i focus on them when i can't even save you was it casual when you were my main motivation for training to become infinitely stronger was it casual when i'd remain a fool my entire life if being smart meant that i had to give up on you was it casual when you know my heart i yours was it casual when

[deathpactagainn]

Pencil and Pen, two sides of the same coin.

My personal analyses of Pen and Pencil

I wanted to take a crack at looking into these two's back to back lash out's. Firstly, I'd like to cover these two's obvious parallels seen in both the writing and visuals. As seen in the picture, they both have very similar scenes of which they both respectively begin to lash out at someone, both due to built up anger. They both share the similar mindset of "I can't lose this challenge", however, for completely different reasons.

Pencil is very clearly traumatized by her 6 years in the exit, being mortified by just the presence of Four. She sees challenges as no more than obstacles she must get through in order to win, but not just to win the game, but for immunity, for her guaranteed survival. She disregards her teammates and have little to no care for them due to this fact, but also due to her 'isolated' mentality. She believes she has no allies in this game and that people don't care for her, even when she quite literally has people shouting otherwise in her ear. All of this combined just drives her further to do anything to win, and that is where she is similar with Pen.

Whilst Pencil has (arguably) selfish motivations, Pen has selfless ones. He believes he needs to win the challenge's to guarantee his friends are safe, not him. After losing his closest friends (Blocky, Eraser, Needle) he is terrified of the possibility of losing more. He see's it almost as his responsibility to keep his friends safe, and it leads to so much repressed anger inside of him (but we'll get back to that later). Pen is angry at Pencil due to believing she was the reason Eraser got out (at the time his only friend in the game), and once he finally finds something to put his anger towards, he snaps. We quickly see how even when he's mad he tries to keep his cool, like how he still tried to save Pencil, but I think his anger is a new side of him they should touch on more (again, we'll come back to this).

Now, I also would like to touch on the topic of friendship between these two, because I think their respective relationships with other characters are very important to them as individuals. This is mainly prominent with Freesmart and the Blocky, Eraser, Pen trio.

Pencil still tries to hold onto Freesmart, despite everyone else (for the most part) letting it go. It's her only sense of normalcy in this game, especially considering how she was a late joiner in TPOT. She cannot bear the idea of someone else caring for her due to her character, so she chases after people she already knows, however, these are people she's actively hurt. Book and Ice Cube actively try to leave Freesmart in the past, seeing it as a toxic environment (and rightfully so) but which how much Pencil is attached to the concept of Freesmart being back in their prime (example; her getting back the freesmart supervan) she can't let the two go, even if they've already let her go. Pencil is not evil, of course, but that doesn't mean she isn't flawed. She's careless to the people she loves until it's too late yet turns away any sort of care from other parties. She's almost stuck in her ways, what with how badly she want's Freesmart to come back despite the ways in which she's hurt them.

Now, juxtaposed to how Pencil chases friendship's she actively diminished, Pen chases relationships diminished by others. I would like to preface this by saying that I don't inherently believe Blocky or Eraser are bad people or even bad friends, but rather they've done bad things. Moving on, we see in TPOT 1 that Pen doesn't even know Blocky is gone. Isn't that a little.. strange? Considering how close the two are, it's so weird to me that Blocky left without saying a word, even knowing that they'd be separated for not only months, but years. It's such a small detail but something I can't help but point out. Onto Eraser, I think their relationship is a little more complicated. Again, this isn't to say that Eraser doesn't like Pen, but it's always so obvious who puts in more effort towards their relationship, and it's not Eraser. Pen is always giving 110% with his friends whilst he just doesn't get the same in return, which I believe should be turned into somewhat of a plot point. And now Pen's anger is back (told ya). I think it'd be interesting if rather than Pen turning his anger into something to mourn his friends, he'd turned into something against them. I feel like he lets them off the hook too easily just for simply being his friend, and I'd like to see this be brought up in an episode rather than just throwing a plot point of Pen being mad at Pencil for whatever reason.

I might've gotten a little sidetracked but whatever. My point is that Pen and Pencil have many parallels with their relationships and the way they're almost obsessed with their friends, with them obviously differentiating with how they treat their friends and also with the way they treat new possible friendships, such as how Pencil turns away Cloudyay to protect herself but Pen instead embraces BAGGED and tries to protect them.

That's all I really have to say I guess. Sorry if any of this doesn't make sense, I'm just spitballing here lol. Feel free to share any thoughts of your own of gaps in my writing :p thanks for reading

[pilkofi]

You are open for requests? Would it be okay to ask for sad Error sans? Quietly sobbing..? If not, that's okay, I hope you'll have a nice time, and find something fun to draw 🫶

to cut off

Error belongs to loverofpiggies

[fayewoodss]

I'm sorry you've been dealing with pain lately, I hope it eases up soon <3 could I request a doodle of the dteam cuddling? or a doodle of patches and any dteam member of your choosing :D

what do you think they're dreaming of?

don't say gay sex

and thank you!! I deal with a lot of chronic pain and fatigue, but unfortunately haven't had any medical diagnosis to determine what care I can get (aside from carpal tunnel in both wrists), so it can get really exhausting :(

[toothplant]

Sammick Soulmates/Fated mates (a/b/o) Pt. 2

Sammie yearning for something since birth, maybe even since before he was even born. But for as long as he could remember, he’s always felt a strong connection stretching far beyond the fields, beyond the town, beyond the Delta, beyond time itself. As a child this confused him, made him odd, made his parents worry. This connection, this longing, felt like steady, old, deep, as if God has recycled the bones of an old lover and with it made his, torturing the pair with a distance felt across the land and the heavens. He didn’t understand the meaning of it, this soul-deep yearning, but he also understood in every other sense. 

Sammie always had a strong fondness for the night. When he got older, It became a bit of a joke between him and his mom. She recalls countless times when he would get fussy as a baby, but could always be lulled to sleep under the blanket of the stars, and once he got old enough to see, he would gaze up at each and every pinprick of light with wonder unseen like anything she’s witnessed before, resting his head on her shoulder until his eyelids got too heavy to ignore. He’s never been able to go to sleep when he should, even when he spent long, grueling days out in the scorching heat, back sore and fingers blistered from picking cotton. He always had to indulge himself, take in the atmosphere of the night: calm, quiet, cool. It tugged at that constant in his heart, in his bones. Plucked at his soul until the notes of a tune left his dried lips, but he took it further. At ten years old, a few feet into his backyard, he sang in the moonlight.

He loved singing. Was humming ever since he was little, would stretch his ear to the Blues musicians playing on the street as he tended groceries with his Momma, would beat rough rhythms into whatever surface was sturdy enough and would make noise. Music was his escape, his life, his soul. His father was indifferent and his mother tried to act the same, but he caught her tapping her foot to his rhythms a few times. Some people around the neighborhood said he was like his uncle, though he was never around the man enough to know if that was true. Regardless, it also gave him a way to voice the hardships he faced, the yearning in his chest, the aching pull to out there. He wondered what’s out there waiting for him. He wondered if it’s a who out there instead of a what. If they felt this same pull, however many miles apart they are. He sang about it.

He did that a lot, wondering and singing. 

Then a few years later, word gets out that his cousins killed their own daddy, and they skip town. Sammie was a good boy and had good friends, but he felt lonely all the same. Lots of things changed. His cousins left a hole in his heart, one he didn’t know how to deal with. This added to everything he was feeling, all the wishing that things would go back to how they were. He sat with it one night, thinking about how he could turn it to words, to rhymes, to song. He was frustrated that nothing was coming out right; it just wasn’t the right time. He instead decided to feel the hole, to face his yearning. His yearning for his cousins, for how things used to be, for the great world beyond the town, for his soulmate.

His soulmate… his soulmate…

His soulmate, it’s what he calls it now (yes, because what if!), ebbs at daylight and grows under moonlight, but never quells or overwhelms. He doesn’t know what that means, so he chooses tonight to investigate why. He focuses on it, feels the warmth in his chest, really feels it. 

It feels like… a tug? A pull somewhere up north. Far northwest. Faint, but there. Lil’ teen Sammie almost jumps from his place on an old bucket. He’s mindful of his excitement (he shouldn’t be out at night) but progress! He can sense it!

If he had doubt before, then he’s definitely sure it’s a soulmate now.

His long-time suspicion is confirmed a few months later, when Smoke and Stack return one last time before going up north. They leave a guitar in his care, a beautiful black guitar with an intricate silver disk in the middle. Said they’ve had it for a while and ain’t got no taste for music, not like he does. It looks almost brand new, hardly a scratch to be found. He strums his fingers across the strings for the first time, excited but inexperienced, and feels something unlike he’s never felt before. Like the whole world opened up before him. Like it wasn’t just his guitar that was plucked, but the pull connecting him to his other half was turned into a string and plucked, forming a otherworldly chord that, for an instant, lit up his soul like nothing before. 

He chased this feeling all day and that night when he went to sleep, he saw him.

He didn’t know if it was a terrifying man, a handsome beast, or a weird mixture of the two; all he knew is that he wasn’t fully human. Moonlight highlighted his pale skin, showing planes of muscles and fat; his eyes black beautiful pools he could get lost in; lips lifted in a charming smile that makes Sammie feel guilty for finding attractive. Every part of him was solid and strong. He carried a banjo, the instrument kept on his person with a strong twine string. A musician, like him. This feeling of silent adoration didn’t last long. He transformed into something much worse.  

His ears elongated, his eyes burned blood red, his teeth sharpened to daggers, tongue lay long and thick. His fingers grew sharp claws. Sammie watched in silent horror as his body morphed into a grotesque creature he’s never seen walk the Earth before. It scared him. It enamored him. 

But he was confused. This man is old as dirt! Almost as old as his father! No way is his soulmate supposed to be an old man. An old White one at that!

He continued to be plagued by these… dreams? Nightmares? as he developed his craft as a Blues musician, practicing on his trusty guitar whenever he could. When he did, his body sang and the connection to the creature got clearer. He could feel him, feel his desperation, his anguish, his longing, much deeper and intense than he’d ever known, but emotions he understands perfectly all the same, strangely enough. He’s incredibly lonely, and maybe he is too. The beast could feel what he felt too. Sammie felt him through the pull, basking in all of him almost always. He didn’t know how to feel about it most days.

So he sings about it, these feelings. Does that for years. And every night he lays his head down to rest, he hopes that when they finally meet, it’s as sweet and romantic as he, albeit hesitantly, imagines it to be.

On the grand opening of the Juke Joint, after his performance, right after his time with Pearline, he feels it. A tug so strong he almost feels his bones rip out of his skin. It’s him! His soulmate! He’s quick to make himself look presentable, body strumming with an emotion he can’t determine as he made his way over to the door. 

Staring him down inside his cousins Juke Joint, unease pooling in his stomach and alarm blaring in his head, was never a situation he conjured.

Now for the A/B/O verse {: >

He’s always been attracted to the smell of petrichor. Since he was a baby he loved rain, loved the smell of it on dirt. Zooming out the house to play in the muddying ground before quickly being snatched back into the house by his Momma, opening the doors however much he could to take in the strong scent of “rainy dirt” or “smelly soil” or whatever his endearing name for the wet land was, wandering the woods after the storm was over just so he could be surrounded by the smell. Finding a good place to lay down at so he could bask in it for as long as he was allowed. The smell would reach the deepest parts of him, in some odd way — reach into his head and overtake it like fog over a swamp, like it belonged there, like it was natural. It brought him comfort and notes, little notes forming a harmonic, happy hum as he took in the scent that reminded him of… of…

He could never name it, but it was something great, perhaps he’s been needing his whole life. Maybe… maybe it was connected to the ever-present pull in his heart, which was made more known when he surrounded himself in the aftereffects of rainstorms. 

He loved it so much, there was just something about it that made him think he wouldn’t mind having a wife or alpha husband who smelled like that. Wouldn’t mind sharing a heat with them. Letting their scents get all mixed up, combining candied nuts to petrichor. He knew that they were out there somewhere, he could feel it in his bones. In his bones, it told him that that soulmate, that lover, was not here. 

The omega felt odd in that way, the instinct rejecting his peers and suitors caused some pretty hard times for him. Sure he had crushes on people — alphas, betas, even other omegas — but when he they would get close, let their scents get all thick and flirty, he couldn’t stand it; it just didn’t feel right. It was easier to ignore with people born with earthier scents, but it was still there.

His heats were worse. Spending the few days of pre-heat hot, bothered, and sensitive — not just all over, but to the pull in his chest. It’s harder to ignore it, threatening to overwhelm him, but never does. He spends the following week glued to the uncomfortable bed inside the heat house, calling for someone he doesn’t know to quell the cramping, the pain, the ache felt all the way to the center of his soul. 

 It’s like something, some higher power like the Lord, was stopping him, telling him “no, not this one.” It frustrated him as much as it saddened him. Scared him too, once he swears he sees the man, the creature, in a dream.

He was a man and a beast, or perhaps a beast wearing human skin. He looked like a White man. Old and handsome, yes, but that wasn’t all. He had blood red eyes, a mouth lined with bloody, sharp teeth, and inhuman claws that could tear skin like paper. Hell, he was more monstrous than that. He kept changing until he looked like…

… like the Devil.

Sammie didn’t know what to make of this.

The teen never told his Pops about this problem, too afraid of confronting the shame of being repulsed by other’s scents, the guilt of having a monster parading as a White man as a mate, and what those meant for him, so he went to Annie. It was in the hoodoo practitioner’s house that he learned about soulmates, people destined to be together. He was both elevated and horrified. Elevated, because there is a perfect mate hand-crafted by God Himself just for him out there, waiting for him. There is someone out there who feels this pull, someone out there who feels just as much age-old yearning in their chests as much as he does, and it’s all for Sammie. Horrified, because he does not know who they are at all. The warning Annie gives him that not all soulmates are good mates, that they can bring suffering just as much as they can bring happiness, leaves Sammie shook to his core on his way back home. 

He doesn’t know what the outcome will be, doesn’t know what plan God has set out for him or why he chose such a creature as his mate, and this makes him scared, petrified even.

But… if the feeling of desolation within his lover, the unadulterated grief and desperation and need that wracked his form nearly all the time, was anything to go by, then Sammie thinks he needs the him just as much as Sammie needs the beast. He’ll take that chance.

So he sings to him, under the moonlight. Hopes that his tunes of a lover and life imagined makes their way to his ears and if even for a moment, assuages his anguish. Almost every night, he travels with his guitar and a lantern to his own little spot deep in the Delta woods, a sizable shed left abandoned, and plays just about anything he can think of. A recollection of his day, a song he’s been working on, regular old practice — all sung out into the moon and stars and comets, making the distance over people and towns and land to reach his lover wherever, if not to find their way to him, then to find comfort in his songs.

Years later, it happens on one starry night. The pull had been strong for the past few days, making him ache, making him excited. He has his head on a swivel for the past few nights, keeping an eye out for any pale man coming his way because he hopes to God they have the sense to not come to him anytime during the day. He felt them get close once, called out to them, smelt the scent of copper and petrichor permeated throughout the air, but they were gone. So he tried again the next night (a little desperate, but can you blame him?) and felt it again. He finished his last song, let the last chords fade into nothing, and opened his eyes. 

Candied nuts and coppery petrichor, the scent Sammie has spent his life loving, mixed in the air between the shed and the outside world. The source clad in causal wear and a face that could sweep Sammie off his feet if he isn’t careful. 

There stood his monster, his creature, his soulmate. The source of all his yearning, the other side of the pull he’s been living with for years, the one hand-crafted for him by God. The alpha picked only for him. 

His alpha, his mate, his…

[somegrumpynerd]

When you find out years later that you accidentally named one of your henchmen

Image ID: A multi-panel comic featuring au sanses. Panel 1: In Killer's original universe. A dark figure stands in the foreground while Killer is sitting back in the snow, covered in blood. Killer says "wh-what are you?" Panel 2: The dark figure is Nightmare but only his smile is visible. He says "I am Nightmare, guardian of all negativity in the multiverse ...and I have a proposition for you, Sans." Panel 3: Nightmare's hand is outstreched, he says "Come with me willingly and I'll take you out of this desolate and barren universe and let you loose on many others." Panel 4: Killer is looking back at Nightmare warily, a thought bubble shows he is thinking "other universes...?". He says "...in exchange for what? What do you want with me?" Panel 5: Nightmare's tentacles are reaching out towards Killer. He says "I feed off the fear and misery and hatred in this world, stirring these up will keep me powerful enough to fight against the guardian of positivity. In short," Panel 6: Nightmare is looming over Killer now, his tentacles surrounding him. He says "I just need you to be a good little killer." The word killer is in red text. Panel 7: Killer is grasping Nightmare's hand, having accepted his offer. Panel 8: Now in a different au, Nightmare stands beside Killer as he taunts Dream, who is out of frame. He says "You're outnumbered now Dream, I have a killer with me this time." The word killer is in red text again. Panel 9: Dream is lying on the ground looking hurt and ruffed up. Killer is standing in the background, looking ready to continue beating Dream up. Nightmare says from out of frame "You should know better than to turn your back on a killer by now." The word killer is in red text again. Panel 10: Nightmare is standing by Killer again, looking smug. He says to Dream, who is not shown "You'll need more than that pathetic bow next time you meet with my killer here." The word killer is in red text again. Killer is looking towards Nightmare, pleased with this. Panel 11: We are now in Nightmare's castle, present day. It is revealed to be Killer telling these events to Dust, who looks bored. Killer says "-and the name stuck, so that's why I'm called Killer now." Dust says very quietly "did I ask" Panel 12: Nightmare is standing in the corner behind them, he looks very surprised and concerned after hearing all this. Text with an arrow pointing to him reads "Didn't realise he had done this." Killer from out of frame says "he doesn't really call me his killer anymore tho" with a frowny face. Dust, also out of frame, says "that's nice now shut up" End ID.

[moeblob]

I'm realizing I have a lot of mlm/wlw best friend duos in OCs....

[cyncerity]

GUYS ITS TIME

this is a big day for the Store Shifter AU

i have had this story in the works since 2021. 2021. THIS HAS HAUNTED ME FOR 4 YEARS, i just didn’t know how to tell it, but i finally, finally finished it. those of you who have been around for a while will know I’ve been teasing the inclusion of someone in this au for years, and i’m really excited to add them.

buckle up, this is the longest thing i’ve written in a while. it’s over 5k words long and has some hidden lore stuff that i am so glad im finally able to get into. hope you enjoy and please send asks if you wanna know where this goes next, cause i have so much to talk about >:)

tw: soft, safe vore. don’t like it, don’t read it

Sapnap was at work today, as he was most days of the week. Karl and Q were borrowing, which also wasn’t unheard of, though they tended to prefer going out at night. However, since Sapnap had started working during the day and sleeping through the night, Karl and Quackity had been trying to align their sleep patterns to his. Hence, borrowing during the day.

Karl and Quackity had split up. This was also not unheard of; on days when the store wasn’t as busy, it was less of a danger to go alone, and going alone garnered more supplies in a shorter time. It also put them in different parts of the store in case Sapnap needed them. And today, it sounded like he did. He was putting small handmade containers he’d just filled with disinfectant into the bag slung around his shoulder when he heard a girl (Hannah, he thinks Sapnap called her once), call someone about “him” being on the floor in an aisle a little farther from where Quackity is. Apparently “he” was pale, shaking, and very out of it in general.

Q was used to hearing these sorts of things from Sapnap’s concerned employers. Sometimes Sapnap would manage to drag himself to the break room and Dream would shoot a text to their home phone that their third needed help, or find them in the store and take them to Sapnap if he could. If Karl was nearby, he’d help Sapnap out and spend the rest of his day in the shifter’s storage. On days when Quackity was out borrowing, he’d help Sapnap. Today was one of those days.

He found Sapnap keeled over in the aisle, arms clutching his stomach and long dark hair in front of his eyes. He…he wasn’t wearing the store uniform. Quackity swore he saw him put it on that morning. “Sapnap…?” he called quietly from his place on a shelf, readjusting the face mask he wore to hide his scar. No answer. He moved closer. He hadnt noticed the lack of chesnut brown roots in his hair, the fact that he knew Sapnap never went out without his beanie but this man wasn’t wearing one, the fact that this stranger was too lean and tall to be his fiancé. No, none of these things clicked until the giant made eye contact with him.

That wasn’t Sapnap.

Quackity had seen that expression on Sapnap’s face before. The dilated pupils, the pale, empty look of hunger. Even if he only saw the man’s face for a split second before trying to hide, he knew that look. There was no doubt in Q’s mind that this man was a shifter, but he wasn’t his shifter. No matter, he had caught the strangers attention, and even if he was fast for a borrower, he wasn’t faster than a human.

He was grabbed and quickly shoved into the stranger’s mouth, kicking and clawing as much as he could, but it didn’t seem to work. He screamed, begging that Dream or Sapnap, hell, even Foolish, someone, anyone would come help him. But no help came. Quackity felt the throat ensnare his leg, dragging him deeper into this giant and further trapping him. His screams increased tenfold, but the purring he felt from the throat only got louder. His screams were cut off as he was dragged fully into the throat with another swallow. In some fucked up way, Quackity felt…comforted. It reminded him so much of Sapnap, he could almost pretend like it actually had been his lover who he’d gone to help. But it wasn’t, and he needed to convince his mind that the purrs around him only spelled danger, that this wasn’t just another night with his fiancé in the comfort of the break room. He’d been eaten by a stranger, and if he was gonna get out of this he needed to make an escape plan.

He got to the stomach and realized it was not just smaller, but colder than Sapnap’s, though just by a bit. If he hadn’t been in his partner’s stomach merely the day before, he probably wouldn’t have noticed. But he knew how long it took for a shifter to shake off the predatory instincts and regain themselves, and sure enough he soon heard the giant around him groan and felt the wall in front of him push in. He kicked it but stayed silent otherwise as the stranger flinched at the contact. “Fuck…shit, did I eat a rat or something??” he finally heard the giant speak, though he wasn’t expecting the strange foreign accent that he’d only heard from Tommy and Tubbo. Quackity almost scoffed at the comment but held it back. Rat, he could work with rat. The shifter had to know he couldn’t digest living things, Quackity would just be kept there until the stranger’s instincts were satisfied and they spat him out, then he’d make a run for it! Perfect, foolproof!

Or it would have been.

“Siri, can swallowing a rat give you rabies- what the fuck is that…?” Quackity froze as heard the giant whisper. Shit, what was he looking at? Was Karl out there? Or did he- oh no. Quackity had a bag with him. One that he was not currently wearing; he’d dropped it so it didn’t weigh down his escape. Which means it’s still on the shelf of the aisle where the giant is standing. But maybe that’s not what the giant found! Maybe there was something else weird in the aisle? Before he could even think of what else would cause the shifter to react like that, the muscles in the stomach tensed and Quackity could hear the breathing sounds above him get faster and harder. He felt the organ shake as the giant presumably ran, before hearing a door slam. The giant continued to hyperventilate as the stomach was squeezed tighter, pressing against Quackity from all angles. Great, he knew what this was, Sapnap did it to piss him off sometimes. The giant was sitting with his knees pulled fully to his chest, except unlike when Sapnap did it, this giant was hyperventilating, and from the sounds of it, now crying. Awesome, full on breakdown position. Quackity was so, so fucking done with this giant. The sooner he got out of here, the better.

One of the already tight walls pressed in on him, like the giant was poking him from the outside. Again. And again. And again. Quackity paid it no mind. So the poking stopped and something different took over. Clicking. A strangely echoey noise that sounded like a knock against wood, clicked at different frequencies and patterns. It took Quackity a while to realize what it was through his annoyance. It was a signal. A signal he knew in his core from his raising as an outside borrower. In situations where verbal communication was unsafe or slow, borrowers had a system of noises that could save time and reduce noise to communicate. Dream had explained that humans had something similar called morse code, but that it was an alphabet without any form of punctuation or tone indication, while borrowers had a whole language that could be tapped or clicked with their tongues.

This…this giant was a borrower.

Quackity had almost forgotten that borrowers could be shifters. And he was literally marrying one. Wow, he felt dumb.

‘So sorry. You’re safe. Accident. So, so sorry. No hurt. Never. You’re safe. So, so sorry.’ The giant clicked, the remorseful low tones barely able to be translated through his sniffling. Holy shit now he just felt kinda bad.

“It’s- well, it’s not exactly alright, you did eat me, but.. you’re like me, aren’t you?” Quackity responded verbally, the idea that he was speaking to a fellow borrower instead of a predator easing his panic. ‘Yes.’ The giant clicked. “You aren’t the only borrower I’ve met that does...this. I know what you are, and I know that I’m not going to get hurt. Just, can you be sure to leave me at the store when your instincts are settled? I have family here.” “Oh, oh, of course, absolutely.” The giant finally verbally responded. “You…you really trust that I’m not going to hurt you?” “Borrowers gotta stick together, man. I trust that even as a giant you’ll honor that. Plus I get eaten fairly often so I know it’s safe; I was more worried about getting kidnapped than digested.” “…I didn’t know there were others like me.” “Once you let me out I’ll introduce you. Theres two more right in this store, one more down the road.” Quackity responded, patting the wall in front of him. “Now can you please stand up i’m cramped as shit.” “Right! Sorry. Kinda panicked there for a second. I found your bag and freaked out cause i’d never swallowed another borrower before. It feels worse when it’s someone of your species who you know was raised to be afraid of you.” The giant apologized as the space around Quackity finally expanded again. “Bitch what have you been doing if you’ve never swallowed a borrower??” “There’s a river near my house where wasted teens hang out after dark. I mean, like, blackout drunk. I just grow giant, swallow them, and then the next morning when I spit them out I pretend I found them passed out in the river and call them a cab. If I had a nickel for every time they explained their nightmare of a giant eating them alive I’d be the richest man in England.” “In where?” “England, where I used to live, across the ocean. I just moved here to live with my boyfriend.” “Oh, congrats, man.” “Thanks. I should probably go back out to talk to him, though. I kinda just ran off.” “Fair enough. I’m good to just chill and nap, if I really need you I know how to get your ‘attention.’” Quackity finished with a click, louder and higher pitched than the others; the catch all emergency “pay attention to me” noise. The stranger laughed and clicked back an affirmation before Quackity felt them pat the wall outside of him and leave whatever room he’d locked himself in.

This felt…oddly natural. Less than an hour ago Quackity was scared for his life, now he was just having a chat with the stranger who just swallowed him alive. He only had one thought as he dozed off: how did he keep ending up in situations like this.

~~~~

“You’re sure he’s not-” “Sapnap, I’ve checked everywhere, I have no idea where else he could be.” Karl pleaded from his place hidden on top of the shelves. Sapnap cursed. “My shift is almost over, when this store closes we can scour every inch of it to find him. In the meantime I’ll see if Dream knows anything, you check at home, ok?” “Ok. I love you, Sap.” “I love you, too. We’ll find him, ok?” Karl nodded, willing tears out of his eyes as he darted away towards the vents.

Quackity had been missing for a couple hours now. He’d gone out borrowing and hadn’t been found at any of the aisles he’d said he was going to hit and hadn’t shown up at any rendezvous points. Sapnap and Karl had no idea where he was.

Dream was basically nonexistent today, showing his boyfriend all around the store instead of managing. Sapnap was trying to stay as far from those two as physically possible. Sure he may be a hypocrite for complaining about pda when him and his fiancés were so obnoxiously cuddly, but that’s different. Theyre engaged, he’s marrying them. Dream and whoever-the-fuck are just holding hands and being all touchy and gross in front of the customers. No thank you.

Sapnap is sure that Quackity would agree and make fun of them with him if he could only find him.

Soon enough, the store was closing for the night and everyone was gathering their stuff to leave after the customers had left. Sapnap shot Karl a questioning text, knowing they had a phone in their living room, to which the answer was negative. Still no sign of Quackity, so Dream was their last lead. But Dream, for some fucking reason, was nowhere to be seen, no matter where Sapnap looked for him. He was about ready to pull his hair out when his search was cut off by the loudspeaker. “Hey guys! I realize a lot of you haven’t met my boyfriend yet so if it’s not too much trouble, I want you all to congregate at the center of the store before you go if you’ve got the time!” Sapnap groaned. He did not give two shits about Dream’s boy toy right now, one of the loves of his life could be in actual trouble. That, and the sickly sweet excitement in Dream’s voice was actually making him nauseous. Still, now he knew where Dream was.

So Sapnap made his way to the center of the store, not surprised to see almost everyone else crowded around the newcomer. Sapnap could only see him from behind, but he was much shorter than Dream (which still makes him taller than Sapnap, unfortunately) with dark thick wavy hair. He also had a ridiculous accent that he’d only heard from Tommy, Tubbo, and that one baking show Dream put on before the store opened. Dream spotted Sapnap first, and quickly took the liberty of introducing him. “Oh, Nick! Good to see you, man, you haven’t met my boyfriend yet!” Dream gestured to the stranger next to him, who spun to meet Sapnap’s eye. He froze, and the man across from him seemingly did, too. Theres no god damn way. Not after all this time, there’s no chance. “George, this is Nick, and Nick-“ “Sapnap?” The (not?) stranger next to him asked in an accent that didn’t fit the face he was looking at. The face he had sworn he’d seen for the last time almost a decade ago. The face he’d sworn to memory since it was his fault, all his fault that his lover’s brother was dead,

“C’mon, George, hurry up!”

“Slow down!”

that the oldest of Sam’s kids was gone,

“I told dad I wouldn’t be late! Your family is probably already there, Sam hates being late! And Karl is over, too, we gotta move!”

“We’ve been running..for 30 minutes, Sap. Gimme a break…”

that his best friend in the fucking world was-

“Come on we’re so close!! Just, like, another few feet, you’ll be fine.”

“Just go ahead without me,”

“Fine, but when Sam is mad at you it won’t be my fault!”

right there.

“George?”

His best friend didn’t move, at first. None of the employees or Dream dared to say a word as they stared at each other, both of them with tears beginning to stream down their faces. Sapnap took a step forward, then another, scared that if he moved any faster that the ghost in front of him would dissipate. George broke the tension when he full on sprinted and tackled Sapnap in a hug, clinging to him like he was his only lifeline, sending both of them to the floor. Sapnap clung back, burying his face in the shoulder of his best friend who he’d mourned for so, so many years and he sobbed. He sobbed like he was 12 again, like he was the age he’d been when he’d lost the person who meant more to him than anything in the world. George cried more silently, but the steadily growing tear stain on Sapnap’s shirt and ragged breathing betrayed him.

Sapnap pulled away and grabbed George’s face, just looking it over. It hadn’t changed much, over the years. He looked older, of course, and tired. But he was still…George. He still had the same glint in his eye, the same quirk to his lip. Holy shit. It hadn’t truly hit Sapnap until he was face to face with him, holding him in his arms, sobbing into him and feeling his heartbeat against his body, and feeling the warmth of his flushed cheeks in his palms. Holy shit, George, his best friend, his George, was alive. Sapnap laughed lightly, the tears not stopping. George looked at him, grabbing his hands and intertwining their fingers as he began to laugh with him. The two of them dissolved into a fit of laughter as they kept crying, sitting up together and unwilling to untangle their fingers, pressing their foreheads together, something Sapnap had learned was strictly a borrower show of affection so he was sure that to all the humans watching they looked stupid. He didn’t care. He had his best friend back.

Wait. The humans.

Sapnap was big, he had just gotten off his shift. George was…his size. Holy fuck George was a shifter. “Uh, not to interrupt the moment, but…how do you two know each other?” “And what the fuck is a ‘Sapnap’?” Dream asked, followed by Punz. “Nickname!” Sapnap was quick to answer, standing and yanking George to his feet as well. “Yeah, haha, my close friends have been calling me Sapnap since childhood. You fall asleep in a tree one time and you’re pegged for life, y’know?” He laughed awkwardly, the lie coming out forced and unconvincing. “How are you two childhood friends, I thought you were from here?” Dream asked him, and George cut off whatever explanation Sapnap was going to give. “He is, so am I. I…i didn’t end up in England willingly. I was kidnapped, i’ve been trying to get home for years.” Dream’s eyes widened, the rest of the humans responded in various levels of shock, some gasping and some staring at him sadly. “I know, I know, poor George has spent the last 9 years on the wrong side of the ocean, boohoo. Thats over now, I’m back and I don’t want to think about it anymore.” George didn’t miss the pained look on Sapnap’s face as he explained. “I didn’t blame you. Not for a second.” He said quietly, and saw tears form in Sapnap’s eyes again. “If I hadn’t-“ “There was no way you could have known. It wasn’t your fault. I’m glad you weren’t taken with me, even if I missed you.” “I’m still sorry.” “Well sucks, cause you’re not allowed to be. I’m not letting you.” Sapnap scoffed wetly. “I’m 21 years old you can’t tell me what to do anymore.” “When could I ever.”

God, Sapnap had missed him. Even after all this time, their banter came easy, like the years of separation and mourning had never even happened. “I’m glad you two found each other again. You seem really close.” Dream said after he thought the two had finished their moment. “He’s only my best friend in the entire world that i’ve thought was dead for 9 years.” Sapnap shrugged, and George elbowed him. Sapnap laughed. Yeah, he’d missed him.

The next half an hour was spent with the humans getting to know George better, and with him and Sapnap telling (incredibly altered) stories of their childhoods. “Oh, oh! Sap, we have a bet!” George yelled excitedly, something akin to mischief in his eye. “We do?” “Yes! I bet that you’d either end up with my brother or the new kid in town, and you bet that I’d end up with that guy my age from the town over who gave me gifts sometimes. I got kidnapped before i got to see how that all went down, and if I remember correctly, it was 10 bucks to whoever was right. You already lose,” George said as he gestured to Dream, who was basically hanging off his arm. “so I need to know if I’m getting paid.”

What they’d really bet on as kids were honey candies that Bad had made, which were a rare treat cause honey was hard to get safely, but Sapnap supposed that $10 was a good enough human equivalent. It had been a stupid bet, and one Sapnap was sure he’d win. The random guy from the other colony stopped to give George gifts almost daily, and not easy to come by ones, either. To this day no one was quite sure how he managed to bring flowers that were not only out of season, but not even native to the forest. Sapnap, however, had found George’s bet ridiculous. At the time he found Quackity severely irritating; he always tried to interrupt his time with George and he never shut up. And he barely knew Karl, all he knew about him was that George said he was chill, they’d rarely ever even spoken. So he took the bet. A decade later, it was biting him in the ass. Sapnap stared him down before sighing, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two $10 bills, throwing them in George’s direction. “…Sap you gave me two.” “So I did.” George stared blankly. “I only need the one if I was right.” Sapnap sighed. “Nope, you need both. You were right twice.” George’s eyes widened in understanding as Sapnap finished. “Fuck you and your ability to know what I want before even I want it.”

“What?! What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck, you- what?! You got with them, both of them?!” George practically jumped on Sapnap as he held up his braid: red, purple, and navy, worn on his left ring finger. George screamed. “Tell me everything! How long have you been together, how long have you been engaged?! You’d better not be married yet, that better not be what that means, cause i’m planning your wedding, god dammit. Oh my god, I’ve missed so much. You’d better be taking care of my brother.” George ranted, and Sapnap laughed at his excitement before freezing. Oh fuck, George’s brother. He’d been so caught up in the impossible return of his best friend that he’d forgotten, and here he was wasting time.

“Ok, this has been fun, but I think it’s time to lock everything up for the night, Dream.” Sapnap said, suddenly incredibly serious. Dream was confused, but the pleading look in Sapnap’s eyes led him to agree. It didn’t take the rest of the employees long to leave, they’d been packed up since they met George, but they couldn’t say goodbye and get out the door fast enough. George stood next to him, worry taking over his features, but Sapnap couldn’t focus on that. He’d never live with himself if his distraction caused him to lose Quackity so soon after regaining George. The only thing that broke him out of his panic was hearing the door to the store lock. “Ok, it’s just us three, what’s up-“ “Quackity is missing.” Sapnap interrupted, panic clear in his voice. Dream and George both stared at him in horror. “He went out borrowing this morning, Karl and I haven’t seen him since. Did you see him at all when you were making your rounds?” “Wait, wait,” George interrupted. “You three live here? And he knows about them?!” George said, pointing to Dream. “What happened to hiding from humans?” “I’m not human, I figured that out about half a year ago. I can change sizes like he can, like both of you can, apparently. I didn’t know you were one of us until you started talking about knowing Sapnap as a kid and I know for a fact that he grew up in a forest colony.” “You’re- you can- what?!” George yelled. “You’re not human either?!”

“Can we please stay focused!?” Sapnap yelled. “Quackity could be hurt or taken or something, I don’t know where he went and Karl and I can’t get into the security room.” “I saw him in the afternoon.” Dream added, finally. “Little before 1 o’clock, i think? He was near the back in the cleaning supply aisle. I waved and he waved back and that was that, I don’t know where he went after.” “Ok, that’s good to know. That gives us a timeframe, now we-“ “Dream.” George asked, cutting Sapnap off with an eerie calm that both other shifters could tell was going to break at the slightest nudge. “How soon after seeing him did I run off?” “Uh, not super long after, maybe 5 minutes…why?”

George’s face didn’t move, but his hands and legs started to shake, and before Sapnap or Dream could even hope to react, he was off in the opposite direction. Sapnap had no idea what could have caused a reaction like that, but chased him regardless, Dream following shortly behind. Unfortunately, George had shaken them off his trail and they had no idea where he ended up.

~~~~

Quackity prided himself on being a sound sleeper. After dealing with Sapnap on the job while he was in his stomach, he liked to think there wasn’t any amount of noise or jostling that would wake him up if he didn’t want to be awake. Hell, Sapnap once commended him for being able to sleep through a screaming match he’d had with a particularly nasty customer.

However, apparently even though he hadn’t lived in the forest for years, he still registered the attention noise as “emergency,” and woke up in a panic. Initially he forgot when he was and was about to chew his fiancé out for waking him, but the clicks were coming faster and repetitively and through tears, and Q quickly remembered where he actually was. “I’m awake, I’m awake!! Just quit it with the noise, it’s loud as hell from in here!” The noises stopped immediately, but the giant didn’t speak up. “What did you need?” Quackity asked after a few moments of silence. Another pause, then the giant answered. “Your name. I never caught your name.” “You woke me with the loud as shit alarm noise to ask for my name??” “Please, it’s important.” The giant said, voice carefully empty, though desperation seeped through. Q sighed.

“Quackity. My name is Quackity.”

Quackity’s stomach lurched as the stranger fell to the ground, heart racing and breathing coming in short bursts. He felt the giant press a hand to where he was. “…Alexis?” Quackity froze, his blood running cold. Before he could even ask how this giant knew his name, his real name, he felt the walls around him constrict as he was pulled back into the esophagus. The second he was back in the man’s mouth, he was pulled out and held up to his face. The light blinded him and he had to take a moment to wipe the spit from his eyes, but he heard the giant gasp. He mentally debated removing his mask since the wet fabric made it hard to breathe, but the idea was quickly drowned out by the instinctual fear he had of anyone other than his fiancés seeing his face uncovered. “Ok, man, how do you know-“ Quackity asked, finally getting a good look at the man. His eyes were wet with tears, and he looked at Quackity with a sense of grief, of mourning. Giant hands cupped around him like he was the most precious thing in the world. And the giant, he was…oddly familiar. Something in the stranger’s face struck a chord in him, and he found himself stunned into silence. His face was recognizable, but felt wrong, in some way. Like every detail of it was familiar, was etched carefully into his mind, but one major thing felt off. Why did he know this man’s face? Why did it feel so familiar??

The giant swiped a thumb against him, wiping some more spit off. “I…I can’t believe it’s you! I’m so sorry, Q, I had no idea at the time, I swear it.” He chuckled wetly, and Quackity searched further into his own mind. The voice was vaguely familiar if he ignored the accent, now that he thought about it. Something in his instincts screamed that he should absolutely know who this was. “I missed you. Fuck, Alex, I missed you so, so much. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see you grow up. I wish I would have. I hope Tina and Sam took good care of you for me. From what I’ve heard, Sapnap and Karl have been taking care of you for a while now, too, haven’t they?” He laughed, still crying, still grieving. Quackity looked at him, something clicking as he talked about his- no, their family. He knew why he knew this man. He couldn’t place it earlier because he thought he was dead. He’d accepted he was dead years ago, mourned for years and years, banished the thought of him from his mind to ease the pain.

“…George…?” He barely whispered, too afraid that if he said it louder it wouldn’t be true. That he’d wake up and the visage of his giant long dead brother would be gone. He didn’t wake up. The giant just grinned and nodded, holding Quackity up and pressing him against his nose, lightly trailing his thumb down his back. “I’m here, Q. I’m here for good.” Quackity let himself be held in this awkward imitation of a hug; he didn’t sob, he didn’t scream, he just let himself cry silently as he tried to wrap his mind around everything. The last time he’d seen George…

He took a deep breath. It was a memory he’d long repressed, the mere thought of it sending him into a spiral of grief and longing that took him days to get out of. But his brother was in front of him. His brother was here. His brother was back.

No matter how much he said it, he still couldn’t truly believe it. Not yet.

He’d been in his house, in a carefully carved out hole at the base of a tree. Sapnap had just walked in, complaining about how slow George was. He and his dads were over for dinner. Karl was too; he didn’t have parents, so the families of the colony rotated taking care of him. It was Sam’s turn that night. No one knew him well, but George had been making an effort to make him feel included. Without him there, Karl awkwardly sat alone at the table, waiting. The kitchen smelled wonderful, a mix of whatever herbs and vegetables Sam could harvest wafting through the air. It was almost sunset, the sky turning a pale pink. Quackity wasn’t sure why he remembered everything from that night in so much agonizing detail. Maybe it was because it was the last night of normalcy, the last few moments of peace and comfort he’d feel for years. Maybe he wanted to hold onto how he’d felt in those moments, before his heart had been shattered and his community broken.

Sapnap had sobbed so hard that he couldn’t speak for a week after and got so dehydrated that he could barely see or walk. Tina needed to be alone and didn’t leave her room until the memorial. Karl had made himself useful where he could, comforting the others, distracting himself. Quackity didn’t see him break down over it until about a year later, after they’d grown close. Quackity had heard Sam smash things in a blind fit of rage and hurt in the moments after, though he spent the next months building and crafting for the colony to try and forgive himself by being useful to others. Bad comforted him when none of it made him feel any better. Skeppy took over Bad and Sam’s duties to the colony for while.

Quackity didn’t quite know how to mourn. The others knew that, of course, but…he was 11. Logically he knew his brother wasn’t coming back, but it slipped his mind. He’d wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare of humans and running and grieving and find himself in his brother’s now empty bedroom. He made portions of food for George at the table, and no one would move it from the empty seat. He talked with friends about how much George would love to hear what he’d done that day when he got home. No one corrected him. Permanency doesn’t make much sense to an 11 year old. At 12 or 13, you start to get it. Sapnap, after all, was only a year older than him and understood just fine. By 14, 15, 16-

Quackity is 20. Slowly but surely, he had learned that his brother wasn’t coming back.

He tried so hard to commit his brother’s face to memory. He was so young when he’d lost him. He tried desperately to etch every single minute detail into his mind so he’d never lose at least that part of George. Every detail of his face from 9 years ago stayed perfectly intact in Quackity’s mind, which may be why he hadn’t recognized him now. This George wasn’t 16 anymore, he would be 25, and he looked like it. He had bags under his eyes, creases around his mouth and forehead that hadn’t been there, and, oh yeah, every detail that he did recognize was about 100x larger than it should have been. George wasn’t a teenager, he was a grown man, and it was strange to see. He could only imagine how strange George felt seeing him as an adult when he’d barely been old enough to go borrowing last he’d seen him. He wondered if George questioned his face mask, but he wasn’t going to push that if he didn’t have to. George hadn’t been around when he’d gotten the scar that marred his face, and he’d hate for his brother’s image of him to be tainted by it.

This…was him. It was really him.

“Holy shit…” Quackity said breathlessly, not bothering to say more. What more could he say? His brother was back. Against all odds and logic, he was alive and safe and home. Quackity still wasn’t fully in his right mind when he felt himself be pulled away from the warmth and set on the ground. He had half a mind to argue it, dreading being apart from his brother after just finding him again, before he saw the giant clothes fall to the ground and a much more recognizable version of George crawl out. Apparently, he followed the Sapnap rule of “keep tiny clothes in your pocket when human in case you have to shrink.” He was so much easier to recognize like this; the version of George he used to imagine he would find one day, before reality forced him to give up hope and move on.

Quackity finally broke and ran to him, throwing himself at his brother who caught him with ease. He felt like a little kid again, when he would tackle his brother after he got home from scavenging or farming to show how much he’d missed him. He clung to him like a lifeline, and George ran one hand through his hair and hugged him with another as Q wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He let Quackity cry quietly into his shirt and just held him. “How…? How’ve you…you were…I saw…” Quackity couldn’t quite put everything into words, not when what he was feeling was so fresh. “It’s ok. Everything is ok right now.” George’s voice quivered slightly, the only thing betraying his emotions right now. He so easily slotted himself back into the older brother role that he’d been robbed of for years. “I’m here now. I can explain everything later. For now, let’s just…let’s just be here.” “You’d better,” Quackity laughed sarcastically, “explain, i mean, considering I just spent the better part of today in your stomach.” Quackity laughed more genuinely as he recieved an annoyed but light slap to the back of the head for that comment, but relented.

Quackity wasn’t sure how long they just stood like that, but eventually, he heard footsteps coming from the vents. He let go and looked up to find Sapnap tying a rope down, and Dream standing waiting for it. They made their way down as much of the rope as they could since it wasn’t long enough to hit the ground; Dream started using shelves to scale down while Sapnap basically jumped down far too quickly to be safe. “Quackity!” Sapnap yelled, throwing himself at his fiancé and pressing their faces into a rough kiss that had Quackity laughing before Sapnap even pulled away. “What the hell, man, where have you been all day?! Karl and I have been worried sick!” “Why don’t you ask him?” Quackity answered, pointing at George who had a look of absolute disbelief painting his face. Quackity was confused by his reaction for a moment before remembering that he’d missed the past few years that led to his engagement. He went to explain himself until George suddenly snapped head to look at Sapnap. “I so deserved that $20.” Sapnap punched him and Quackity couldn’t help but feel very lost. He was saved from his confusion when Dream finally hit the ground and all of George’s attention was drawn to him.

“Holy fuck, you are like me…” George whispered, eyes wide. Dream laughed, closing the distance between them. “I may or may not have been shot at. Took me a while to get used to, but i’ve been able to shift for a while now.” He explained awkwardly. George, eyes still wide with shock, nodded slowly. George started to ask Dream more questions, and Dream explained how he’d learned about borrowers and their culture, and told George that Tommy was a shifter, too. Sapnap slipped himself right next to Quackity, interlocking their fingers and squeezing his hand tight, not seeming to mind how thoroughly soaked in spit Quackity still was. “So…your brother.” Sapnap whispered, and Quackity chuckled quietly. “My brother. This is…so damn weird. I really thought-“ “yeah.” Sapnap interrupted him, voice choked up. Quackity had a feeling he didn’t want to hear it any more than he himself wanted to admit it out loud. “But here he is…” Quackity trailed off. Sapnap didn’t try to continue the thought. They had nothing more to say. The two stood, hands interlocked, content to watch as Dream and Georges’ serious conversation turned to playful bickering.

“Hey,” Quackity started, squeezing Sapnap’s hand just a little tighter to get his attention. “does Karl know yet?”

~~~~

“I’m going to kill those fuckers when they get back here.” Karl muttered to himself, pacing the floors of his living room. ‘if they get back here,’ his mind supplied unhelpfully. He had parted ways with Sapnap almost 2 hours ago, and had been texting him nonstop. Nothing. He’d gone back out to look for him; after all, he was human size, how hard could he be to find? Hard, apparently, cause the man was fucking nowhere. Now both of his fiancés were missing. Awesome, perfect, how could this day get any better?

As if on que, he heard footsteps echoing through the carved tunnels of the home. About 4 distinct sets, if he was hearing right. Good. He didn’t know that many borrowers, and even fewer knew their way through the walls of the store, so two of them had to be Quackity and Sapnap. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders at the realization that they were alright. The others he assumed were Dream and Tommy, since it wasn’t too out of the ordinary for them to show up unannounced and stay the night. Karl just hoped they wouldn’t mind listening to him chew his fiancés out for making him worry so much.

Karl took a few deep breaths, preparing himself to not yell at the two for stressing him out for hours. Just kindly scold a bit, that’s all. It just so happened that in his pacing, his back was facing the door when he heard the first step into the room, followed by the rest of the group. He took a deep breath in.

“Sapnap, Quackity. You had better have a good fucking reason for not telling me where you were or I swear to god-“ Karl started, swiveling to face whichever of his fiancés had been unfortunate enough to walk in first only for all of his air to leave him at once.

Sapnap, Quackity, and Dream stood near the entrance, a good few inches behind the man face to face with Karl. Karl couldn’t breathe. He actually couldn’t fucking breathe. The man was a good bit shorter than him, with dark curly hair and a light spattering of freckles. He looked up at Karl with tears in his mismatched eyes, eyes Karl never thought he’d see again.

“Hi, Karl.”

He wasn’t exactly sure what happened. One second, he was looking at a living ghost. The next? There were four people surrounding him, he was facing the ceiling, and his head fucking hurt.

“…ow would I have known?!” “Is this normal, has he fainted before?” “No!” “Shit, fuck, did he hit his head?” “I think so, do you guys have an ice pack?” “We live in the walls, Dream, how the fuck would we have ice.” “Shut up, shut up, he’s waking up!”

Karl sat up half on his own and half with the help of who he could only assume were Quackity and Sapnap. “God dammit, my head hurts.” Karl whined, the black still leaving the corners of his eyes and his vision clearing painfully slowly. “Nice goin’ George, you concussed him.” “Fuck off, Sapnap, no I didn’t…did I?” Karl vaguely saw a green shape move closer. Dream then. He felt his eyes be pried opened, then shut again. “His pupils are normal, he’ll be fine.” “Oh thank god.” The british voice responded. It was the only voice Karl couldn’t immediately recognize, though it sounded familiar in its own right.

He finally opened his eyes the rest of the way to see the same dark haired man sitting in front of him, face plastered with worry. “…Karl? You ok?”

Karl sat in silence for a minute, face carefully blank, the calm before a storm. “…am I ok?” Karl asked quietly, volume growing quickly, “am I ok? am I ok?! Holy fuck, George!!” Karl practically screamed, throwing himself at the man in front of him and squeezing him in as tight of a hug as he could manage. “I’m not the one who’s been missing in action for 9 goddamn years, what do you mean ‘am I ok,’ fuck off, holy shit.” he laughed, tears pouring down his face. “What the fuck, what the fuck…” he muttered, unable to hide his smile as he cried. “I missed you, too.” George whispered, clinging onto Karl.

Karl let go of the hug, still keeping a grip on both of George’s shoulders as he turned to his fiancés. “How did you…?” “He just showed up.” Sapnap shrugged at the same time Quackity said “He kidnapped me.” Both of the fiancés turned to him. “He’s a shifter and I’m sopping wet. Put the pieces together.” Karl and Sapnap turned back to George, who was red in the face and refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the room. “Wait you’re a- nevermind.” Karl shook his head, “I don’t care, not right now. I couldn’t give less of a fuck about the who, when, where, how, or the why. I just care that you’re here. We can iron out the rest of that later.” “Sounds good.” George muttered, eyes locked firmly with the ground. “Dude, we do it too. You have no reason to be embarrassed.” Sapnap tried to comfort, gesturing to Dream and himself, but George just sputtered something that could have been an attempt at words before giving up and burying his face in his hands. “Give him a break,” Quackity intervened, “it was his first time storing someone he’d see again after, now he’s gotta live with the fact I know what his stomach looks like. Plus it was his first time eating a borrower and it happened to be his brother, he’s gonna be weird about it.” Quackity half explained half teased. George flipped him off with both hands without uncovering his face. “Fuck you, I’m keeping your bag.” he muttered, his voice muffled behind his hands. Quackity shot back some obscenity before Sapnap quickly pulled him into a different room to put on clothes that weren’t soggy.

“Why are you here then? No offense.” Karl asked Dream. “I fuckin’ brought him here! He moved here to move in with me, we’ve been dating online for like 5 years. I had no idea he knew any of you or was even a borrower until I ‘introduced’ him to Sapnap.” “Wait, you’ve been what?!” Karl dramatically turned back to George. “You’re dating Dream?!” “Mhm.” George confirmed, finally lowering his hands from his face. “Had no idea he was a…what’d Q call me, a shifter? Absolutely never would have guessed he’d be the one to reunite me with all of you.” “I’m planning your wedding.” Karl said, a tone of finality to his voice. “You can plan my wedding if I can plan yours.” George smirked, eyes darting to the braid around Karl’s ankle. Karl’s face went red hot in a matter of seconds. “So you-“ “Know that you’ve been dating my brother and best friend for god knows how long? Yes. I was betting on it, even. Sapnap gave me $20.” “Ok cool,” Karl sighed, “cause I wasn’t positive what kind of reaction you’d have to the idea that your brother and I have ha-“ “And that’s where that sentence can end!!” George shouted, shoving both of his hands over Karl’s mouth. “No more!! You keep that to yourself!” Dream snorted and Karl cackled from behind George’s hands.

“What did he say?” Quackity asked, re-entering the room with Sapnap, both in their pjs and Quackity with a new less wet and suffocating face mask on. “Nothing I wanted to hear.” George said in lieu of an answer, removing his hands from Karl’s mouth and wiping the spit off them. “Wanna spend the night? You guys can borrow some clothes to sleep in.” Sapnap asked, looking to George more than Dream. George glanced back to Dream. “…I need to move the stuff I brought from England into Dream’s house. Plus, the U-Haul arrives tomorrow morning and I really should meet Tommy in person.” George’s voice was sad, and only got sadder as the looks on the faces of his family dropped. They all sat silently, none of the borrowers making a move to argue and neither Dream nor George moving to leave. “…we can do it tomorrow.” Dream said finally. “If we leave here by like 7:30 we can make it to the house before the U-Haul gets there. Plus Tommy, Ranboo, Foolish, and Puffy will be helping us bring your stuff in, so it won’t take that much longer if we don’t start it now. And Tommy loves any chance he can get to drag Ranboo over for a solo sleepover night. You’ll be living with him, you’ll get plenty of chances to get to know him.” “Really?” “Of course really, you shouldn’t have to be pulled away from your long lost family to deal with a U-Haul.”

The borrowers collectively cheered, Karl going to drag more pillows and blankets into the bedroom area, Sapnap grabbing clothes he thought would fit them, and Dream shooting a quick text to Tommy that said he wouldn’t be home that night before joining Quackity in showing George around the rest of the “house.” Dream just watched George’s face. What? He’d only met him in person about a day ago, he was allowed to admire how lucky he’d gotten in the boyfriend department, the man was gorgeous. All of George’s attention was on Quackity. He’d never seen so much unbridled joy on someone’s face. He kind of looked like he was on the verge of tears, but to be fair, he’d looked like that all day. Like he was grieving. Dream couldn’t blame him. If he’d been separated from Foolish for as long as George had been separated from Quackity, he’s sure he’d feel the exact same way.

It didn’t take long for all of them to settle together. Dream had been taught a long time ago that that was just an outdoor borrower thing; they only had whatever insulation existed in the forest for their homes, so they conserved whatever heat they could by sleeping in a pile. Despite the store being heated, Dream supposed old habits died hard. Or maybe they just didn’t want to be apart again so soon, even to sleep.

George was in the middle, arm tightly around Quackity with his hand holding Karl’s, who himself was curled around his fiancé. On his other side, Sapnap leaned into him, George’s arm firmly locked in his. All of them were either half asleep or fully dead to the world, eyes closed and peaceful. They made a pretty picture; they looked like a family. Dream moved to separate himself from them, not wanting to interrupt their moment, before being yanked back down by both his wrist and his leg and falling into the pile. “And where do you think you’re going?” George mumbled sleepily, and Dream registered that it was his tail that has yanked his leg (he was going to have to get used to the idea that his partner had a tail, why was no one in his life human anymore) while it was Sapnap’s hand that was firmly grasped around his wrist. “I- I just didn’t think I shou-“ “Shut the fuck up,” Sapnap mumbled, freeing his wrist and groggily smacking Dream in the face. “Just.. shut the fuck up and sleep. It’s been such. a fucking day. Just sleep.” George hummed in agreement, obviously barely clinging to consciously, pulling Dream closer to him with his tail. Dream took the hint and wrapped his arms around George, who didn’t have any hands to spare. He sighed, resting his head against his boyfriend’s collarbone and hearing a faint purr. Right, borrower. He’d need to remember that.

He couldn’t quite be sure what the future held, especially now. First he wasn’t human, then his ward wasn’t human, and now his boyfriend isn’t human and also happens to be a missing family member/friend to a bunch of his friends, who also aren’t human. Tomorrow, he’d drag George out to their home and unload a U-haul with help from his mom and brother and Tommy’s best friend. Tomorrow, George would meet Tommy (and Tubbo, once Puffy and Foolish left). Tomorrow, George would get a tour of his new home and town, the parts he hadn’t seen growing up as a borrower. Somewhere down the line Dream would have to tell his family that he wasn’t a human, that no one in his house was a human, and he knew that somewhere down the line he’d help reunite George with the rest of the people he was taken from. But for now, everything was alright. Right now, for the first time ever, he held his boyfriend in his arms after 5 years of falling asleep on the phone together. Right now, for the first time in almost a decade, a man reunited with his brother and two best friends. And for right now, that would be enough.

[wackywatchdotcom]

im obsessed with pomni cus shes one of the most multifaceted characters ive ever seen in a way that doesnt feel so contradictory that its inconsistent. she is nice but also shes impatient and snippy but also her response to stress is to stop thinking OR to bolt OR to start hitting things and launching herself at things and which of these she picks is almost completely random except for the slight degree that what is scaring her influences which one it is. she is jaded but also she is not jaded. she is easily frightened but can also handle being extremely scared for a long time. under mild pressure she can work on solving problems relatively calmly. shes selfish but also she tries to help when she can. she is an asshole under pressure. she is shockingly quiet and casual under normal circumstances. shes not receptive to reassurance half the time but the other half of the time she appreciates it. she is distrustful of others. shes severely logical but also spends a lot of time too stressed to think and is easily confused. she is very observant and can put things together in her environment but also she has no clue whats going on and is often guessing. she knows what larping and collisions are and how to exploit design flaws in the game. despite her fearful nature she is calm in social settings. she is bad at socializing but engages in it frequently. she is emotionally intelligent but also has to be not scared first. despite not being quick to comfort she is very good at knowing how to cheer people up. she is comfortable speaking her mind and is extremely blunt. she gets annoyed at inconsistency and things being loud and active and eventful. she hates being in a game it pisses her off and upsets her but also shes the only player weve seen to get EXTREMELY invested in the npcs, even more than ragatha. theres so much to her. theres so much to her i never stop thinking about her

[phoenixcatch7]

Loz fandom stop being angsty and give the daydreaming kids on big fun adventures with a cool glowing sword some actual whimsy and joy challenge