#Hicvember

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 5: Pinocchio Syndrome

Have my first non-Poly-techhic hicvember. I interpreted Pinocchio syndrome in the more tvtropes manner of an artificial being wanting to be more human.

Content: Hiccups, robots, not particularly wholesome.

"Dr. Silver, what are those noises you're making?"

Jack massaged his temples, having feared this question as soon as breath-holding and water-drinking failed to produce results. His unkempt gray hair, face wrinkled with the opposite of laugh lines, and "gave up halfway through shaving" stubble put him in stark contrast with the sleekly built humanoid made of metal and plastic. His face was significantly less expressive than the screen that served as her face, even though it could only display simple shapes made of pixels. "Could–*nnkt* you google this, Poly? *HMNK*–mmnf."

"But I like the way you answer things better!" Jack sighed, though his lungs interrupted him as one of Poly's glossy plastic arms was thrown over his shoulder.

"Poly" was short for "Poly-LLM-neural-comprehensive-synthesizer blah blah blah" a bunch more words that Jack could never be bothered to remember, and she was his least favorite of the "artificial intelligences" that he worked with, largely due to the cognitive dissonance she caused him. Because on the one hand, he was absolutely certain that she didn't actually have what could be called "intelligence" or "thoughts" or "a personality." But on the other hand, he was just as certain that she took pleasure in his suffering.

Just because he hated her didn't mean that he wasn't required to answer her questions, though. "They're hicc–*hup*s, Poly. A malfu–*uck*–unction of the human body *hmk* which causes noises an–*nnk* and discomfort."

Poly let out a strange, offended noise. Jack had no idea where she'd learned how to fairly accurately recreate non-word verbal communications, but he had a feeling that this specific sound might have been his fault. "I'm sorry, are you telling me that humans have malfunctions too? Well, then why are you constantly giving me shit for my errors? Clean your own house first, meatbag!"

"You know da–*uck* damn well we have malfu–*hunk*–tions."

"Sure, but I mostly knew about the 'complete physiological meltdown' types. I didn't know about the debugging types." Poly hummed, then crouched down and stared at Jack's stomach, which spasmed repeatedly beneath his T-shirt. She reached out and poked it before Jack grabbed her finger and pointed it toward something that wasn't him. "Hmph. Touchy." After that, she flounced off and sat down at the computer she had requested and gotten (despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of interfacing with the internet on her own), and Jack could see her googling "hiccups" from over her shoulder.

Doing his best to ignore his own hiccups, Jack grumbled and started taking notes. He wrote down the physical behaviors and state of Poly's robot body first, even though he knew he was supposed to be focusing on her "mental and emotional health". Jack kept telling himself that he'd quit tomorrow, and he'd been telling himself that for upwards of half a decade now. He became more certain of his conviction to quit than he'd been in at least a few months when he heard a staticky squeak behind him. A second, then a third followed. "Sto–*hup* stop that."

"Stop wha–*UCK* what, Dr.? *HIULP!*"

Jack turned around, his eyes tightly shut. When he opened them he saw exactly what he didn't want to: Poly having turned around in her chair to face him, the pixelated line of her mouth opening and closing every few seconds as her plastic torso jerked and her speakers squealed. "Stop maki–*ingk* those noises. *HMK-mmf*"

"You sto–*HUP* stop yours first. *HIK-ULK!*"

"I tried. *hmk* I failed. Just as I do–*hook* every day in trying *hnk* to interact with---you in a way that ma–*uk*–makes sense." He walked over and leaned against a nearby counter, glaring down at Poly, who stared innocently up at him from the chair. "You know, *hnk* if you re–*hkk-lk* really want me to *hnk* stop calling you a sto–*hok!*–nnnhf...stochastic p---parrot, then maybe y–*hk* you shouldn't mimic ev–*urk* every random noise I ma–*uck*."

"I'm not! *HIC-CUP!* I have a *HULK* case of th–*HUP* the hiccups! *HIULK!*"

Jack massaged his temples again, knowing it would do nothing to ease the splitting headache that was forming. This was why he had tried so hard to cure his own hiccups before he got here. He knew that this would be the inevitable result. And just as inevitably, Poly's "case of the hiccups" outlasted Jack's by quite a while, despite his best attempts to convince her to knock it off.

[writingforfishes]

Hicvember: Cuddles

I started number 4 accidentally before realizing my mistake. I'm actually kind of surprising myself with doing these to completion. It's like the time limit is actually inspiring me to finish them faster. That is usually not the case and I'm trepidatious to be hopeful of it continuing...but for now! Here's a SICKENINGLY SWEET cuddle fic!

CW:

gross

just shamelessly gross and cute

fast hard hiccups

soft belly

couple using each other in replacement of inanimate objects

comfort

care

ew

it's too pure!

No thoughts of hiccups, arousal, or kinks were in Atticus’ mind as they lounged on top of Otto on their couch. Atticus had pillowed their head on his midsection and wrapped their arms around his waist as they watched Star Trek while Otto read a book, spine lightly propped against the top of Atty’s head.

The writer didn’t even know what book it was, but they could smell the light mustiness indicating it was something older. They also didn’t mind being used as a book prop. Heck, they were using Otto’s belly as a pillow so, it was only fair.

Even though Atticus couldn’t see Otto’s face they knew what he looked like while reading through his glasses. They knew he was looking down with a studied expression as his eyes traveled back and forth, mouth partially agape at times and brows doing a dance in reaction to whatever he was reading. His long fingers would mount on the lower right corner of the page before he read the end so he could flip it as soon as he arrived at the last word.

Atticus wasn’t necessarily in a state of hiatus, but they weren’t really obsessing about hiccups, either. Their attention was on Data and Geordi as they spoke on screen, letting the murmurs of Otto’s digestive system become a casual background soundtrack during the writer’s comfort-show viewing.

A squelch of gas from Otto’s stomach tickled the writer’s ear before, “HMMPH!-mm. ‘Scuse me.”

Otto’s stomach popped up against the side of Atticus’ head and they widened their eyes in surprise and sudden arousal. Then they narrowed their eyes in mild frustration. They didn’t feel like being aroused. They felt like watching an android and engineer pretend they weren’t boyfriends on a spaceship.

“Sir…” Atticus protested.

They felt the book lift up off their head and they looked up at the bespectacled clock maker.

“Sorry…” Otto said sheepishly. Then his head flew back in a, “HUP’K!”

Atticus felt their head shift again at the thump beneath their ear and groaned in both stimulation and slight annoyance.

“Not a single, then,” they said as several more hard spasms followed.

Otto sighed, also not really in the mood for a case of hiccups to bring him out of his reverie. It was only yesterday he’d had a whole day of hiccup cases. He experienced a mix of it being nice to have an erotic release with his spouse and exhaustion from the returning fits.

“ApaHERP!rently not. HOCK’M!HUP!IP!” he grunted and marked the book before putting it on the coffee table with his reading glasses perched on top of the cover. He rubbed his face with his hands and let the attack have its way with his body, exhausted.

“You need to cure?” Atticus asked as they moved a little further up his body so their head rested on his chest and their hand rubbed softly along his abdomen.

Otto shook his head.

“Gonna juULP!just wait HIMK!ICK! it out. Y—you okay? HULP’K!HICK’M!-uh,” Otto said with a sniff and a rub to his chest from the powerful doubles hitting him.

“Stimulated as hell, but I’m not really in the mood, honestly. No offense,” Atticus said.

“N—none takeULP!ken. NeiHIP!HIP! Neither am I mmp! I. HUCKUP!” he admitted.

“Cuddles, then?” Atty asked.

“MmMMK! Mm! Ugh. HULP!-uh! Ye-HUP’K!Yeah. Can y—you keep HNK’UH! rubbing my HUP’K!HUCK!HILK!-uh, my stomach?” Otto asked, sighing before another cluster hit him and he patiently waited it out before grunting again.

“Of course,” Atticus said. Waves of arousal passed through them; they let the sensations come and go as they bounced with Otto’s hiccups.

After another few moments Atticus was no longer watching the show and Otto was leaned back onto the arm of the couch with one hand on Atty’s shoulder and the other resting on his chest as the quick, loud hiccups continued to jerk Otto’s body violently.

“You have some of the most violent hiccups I’ve ever seen, by the way. And that’s saying a lot as I scour the internet for files pretty regularly. They really are fast and hard. Do you ever get, like, light-headed from them?” they asked as they felt another cluster of hiccups speed through his diaphragm, gasps of pinched off air coming back-to-back for a second.

“Um HUCK’UP! no, not really. HILMP! S—sometimes HIK’M! I get a lMP!little wiHIMPK!inded when HUP!-uh, when they c—come fast IP! fast like this. But n—not like HIMP!MP!HUCK’M!-uh, not dizz—y or hmk! or an—anything. HUP’K!” he said.

“That’s good,” Atty said, relief evident in their voice.

Otto chuckled a little bit between the spasms and gave a small kiss to his partner’s head. Atty cared a lot about Otto’s well-being during these attacks. To Otto, his hiccups were simply an annoyance. Sometimes they were arousing when he was in the mood and thought about how they affected Atticus. But tonight, they were just something to wait out. They were akin to an attack of sneezing or an annoying itch. It was simply an act his body did occasionally.

At the same time Atticus was aroused by something Otto couldn’t control, they also held in great importance his comfort. Atty never used Otto as one would use an object of sexual pleasure. Their appreciation for him and acceptance of him was always more important than the arousal he could offer them.

As the writer continued to push their hand pleasantly down Otto’s strongly tensing muscles the clock maker experienced a rush of gratitude for his relationship with Atticus. Hiccups were, in a way, a part of the package making up Otto as a person. As frequent and as large of a presence as his hiccups were, he couldn’t see himself being with someone who found them an annoyance or was triggered by them in some negative way.

Additionally, Atticus’ arousal to hiccups were just as much a part of their identity. It wasn’t lost on him how special it was for them to have found each other and for even the oddest quirks of their personalities to be compatible.

Just as Otto’s throat was starting to get sore from the onslaught, he felt the spasms finally start to weaken and become slower. After a yawn or two, some deep breaths, and a few more singles they had solved themselves and left Otto to breathe in peace.

“Aaaah,” he said. “Kind of glad that’s over.”

From the clocks Otto figured it had been around a 15-minute case.

“Me too,” Atticus admitted. “Those were pretty powerful.”

Otto nodded with a deep breath in and out. “I’m good now, though.”

“Yeah, you are,” Atty said with a grin. They craned their neck up and planted a furred kiss on his cheek, their mustache tickling his skin.

Otto smiled.

“Wanna go back to reading your book?” they asked.

“Nah, I like this. You’re nice and warm,” he said surrounding them with both of his arms.

“Awww. So are you. And soft,” they said.

They both sighed happily at the same time. Then they both chuckled.

“Gawd, no wonder people think we’re gross,” Atticus said, muffled in Otto’s chest.

“Our level of disgusting is pretty untenable,” Otto remarked.

“I love being gross with you,” Atticus said.

“And I love being gross with you,” Otto confirmed.

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 5: Pinocchio Syndrome, That is the Drama

|| CREATOR'S NOTE: Kindly read from left to right. ||

[hiccupscloud-26]

Hicvember Day 16: Self-Indulgent

Hey everyone, so I had this whole intro written, saved it, came back to it and found out it didn't save🥲. So, uhhh, I don't remember what I said, but I'm sure I mentioned that this is self-indulgent because the hiccups are based on my favorite hiccup videos.

And as usual, just Calliope and Indyko are in this story, yada yada, something about needing to write Xvari more, yada, yada

Hicvember prompts: self-indulgent/induced

CW:

-induced hiccups

-fast hiccups

-loud hiccups

-burping

-stuffing mention

Indyko walked through the bedroom door, flopping face first onto the bed. They took a deep breath and groaned exhausted.

“Rough day, babe?” Calliope asked, gently massaging their hair with her free hand.

Her other hand was scrolling through social media.

“Mmmmm,” was their only response and the younger of them chuckled quietly.

“Duly noted…why don't you just go to sleep and shower in the morning?” Calliope suggested.

“Nnngh,” Indy whined softly, turning their head to look at Calliope, “you sure?”

“Yeah, just don't make it a habit,” the woman smiled, “one night isn't going to hurt ya.”

Indyko gave a big sigh before kicking off their shoes and scooching up to their pillow like a worm. “Kay, love you.”

Calliope smiled, “love you too- and they're already gone, hehe.”

She stood from the bed and tucked her beloved under the covers. She then grabbed her phone, cut out the main light, leaving the night light on before leaving the bedroom and closing the door behind herself.

Heading down the stairs and to the kitchen, she was trying to be as quiet as possible, wanting Indy to be in full sleep mode before she even risked this. See, Calliope's been feeling this urge to induce her hiccups today, but between classes, hanging out with her best friend, and doing homework/studying, she hadn't been able to attempt it all day. She could've done so while studying, but honestly, she would never be able to focus on studying when she's enjoying a mild case of hiccups.

She opened up the refrigerator as she started her process. Quiet burps erupted from her as she pushed the air to the back of her throat and released the burps. This was only step one. She grabbed the soda that was in the back of the fridge before closing the door and heading to her office space–aka, the room farthest from the bedroom.

“Alright, we should be safe now,” she whispered and rubbed where her diaphragm was located, “let ‘em rip.”

She giggled at her goofiness before pressing record on her audio recording app and took a huge, quick swig of her soda. Instantly, she felt a silent spasm before a burp erupted out of her. Calliope smiled, knowing that if she kept burping, she'd get them for sure. She continued the pattern of releasing some strong burps, drinking more soda, silently hiccuping, and repeating. She did this for about 2 minutes before she noted her spasms happening without being prompted by soda.

“Okay, *hnkup* I think *huckuh* we're good *HU'UP!*-oh, excuse *higguh* me,” she covered her mouth as she watched her whole body jolting wildly with every hiccup.

She lifted up her pajama shirt and smiled at the sight of her big, soft, belly bouncing to the rhythm. The hiccups were coming at every breath, with no signs of stopping soon.

“*hick* *HI'uh-rrrp*” she covered her mouth at a hiccup burp combo, “oh m-*HMMP*-my *HMPK*-ooh.”

Calliope chuckled at all the different sounds that were bouncing out of her. That's one of the reasons why she loved her hiccups. Every single one was unique and had a different story to tell. She felt bittersweet about having to keep them somewhat quieter so as to not wake her partner.

“*hickuh* *KUH-rrrp*” she kept surprising herself with her hiccup burps, but they were to be expected. With hiccups caused by burping and soda and all of that air, it was bound to happen. “Shhhh *higguh-rrrp* that's be-*himpk*-better.”

She chuckled at their obedience, but she knew it wouldn't last for long. So she brought her phone closer to her mouth to enhance the volume whenever she'd listen back.

“*hmpf*-mm I've got *himguh-rrp*-mm scuse *higuh!-rrp*-mm excuse *hig-uh!‐gmp*-ah,” she whined playfully, “hiccups…*BIP!'kmp*-mm, oops that wa-*HIGGIT!*”

Calliope's eyes widened as she covered her mouth and glanced at the ceiling, listening for any movement. When she heard none, she sighed in relief, which of course was interrupted by a silent spasm, but she didn't mind at all.

“I told you *hmpmp!* to shhh,” Calliope reprimanded, “can't wake Indy *himpgm?*” She giggled at the way it sounded like her hiccups had asked a question. “You know, my beloved par-*himpGUH!*...okay, guess yo-*holp!*-ou don't really care *hickip!* huh?”

“*himpgahmp!*” the hiccups responded.

Calliope only smiled and rubbed her tummy happily. She was enjoying riding these out, the way her whole upper body would jerk uncontrollably, her stomach, gosh, the way it bounced out like a water wave and she could kind of hear the sloshing of the soda inside if she listened close enough. But she turned and looked at her soda, tempted to try to make them worse.

“*grrrrpHUP!* all these burps…*hup!kulp!*,” she squeezed her tummy at the double spasm. Huh, maybe her hiccups were trying to show off tonight. “Show offs- *hiyup**hicc'p**hip*...*ickolp!*-oh that was nice.”

She was amazed by that triple. Her body was so intriguing and held her interest. She couldn't help but feel a bit proud. She grabbed her soda, deciding to risk it. Besides, Indy hadn't budged since she'd been down here and frankly, even with the muffled and quieter spasms, she still felt like she could make them a bit faster.

“G-*guUUP!*-get ready-*ICkup-grrroolpeerrrrllllllpp-HU'UP!*-ugh go-*HU'OP*‐gosh,” her eyes widened before another, “*HIUrup!*” erupted out of her. “Excuse me, that was *huuckiiip!* a huge burp…”

She then proceeded to drink more of her soda, muffled, but loud hiccups spasming after every gulp. When she released, all at once, her body went crazy.

“*ic’KAUP!*-mm *HUIK!*- uh *HUCK!*-uh gosh *HICK!* *HIMPgm!*” she patted her chest twice, hardly able to breathe.

“*ic'KULP!* *HICK!rrrpHICK!grrrh* *HICKim*-uh” then she patted her chest once again. These hiccups were harder and faster and louder. She was in so much euphoria, she hadn't even noticed the sound of movement upstairs.

“*HIUP!*-ah *H'UMP!*-ah *hiyuck-ah!HICK!*-uh *HIMMP!* *HMK!*-uh *HUCK!*‐ah *HUWICKup!rrrrphuUCK!*” Calliope placed a hand on her tummy, rubbing it gently, as more hard hiccups didn't give her a break.

“*HU'GUCK!* *HIGCKUH!*-uh” she placed her other hand on her chest, “go-*HUCKUH!*-osh jee-*HIGguh!*‐z.”

“Callie?” Indy's sleepy voice broke through and Calliope froze, as well as her body would let her.

“In-*HMMKM!*-huff,” she bit her lip before a sharp, “*HUCK!*-ugh…*HUP!*”

She was finally able to breathe a bit, the hiccups calming down slightly, but still quite loud if “*hICG'KOLP!*” had something to say about it.

Indyko looked at her concerned, “aww, you caught the hiccups, hun?”

“Oh f-*huck*-uck,” Calliope, despite having just attempted to say their name, forgot they were here. “Indyko, I *hickuck* I can explain-*hmmMMP!*”

She blushed, embarrassed at being caught. She knew she'd be caught eventually. She should've just gone to sleep and ignored her urges.

“Explain?” Indyko tilted their head. “What is there to explain? You got the hiccups and came down here so you wouldn't disturb me. It happens to all of us. Heck, I literally had the hiccups a few weeks ago from that curry, remember?”

Of course she remembered, how could she forget the sight of her beloved hiccuping mercilessly from eating something spicy.

“Yeah, I-*hU'ULK'L*,” Calliope looked away.

“Aw love, they sound really bad. Is there anything I can do to help get rid of them?” Indy offered their help.

“No-*huuu'uuu'uuck'l* shit,” three hiccups overlapped themselves.

“No? But…they sound painful,” Indyko seemed more confused than judgy.

“They *hm'GOUP!grrrp* excuse me,” this was torture. Not the hiccups, of course, but being caught in the act. Having to explain this to Indy.

Even though they clearly thought she had randomly caught these hiccups, she couldn't lie to them. She knew she should keep her mouth shut, avoid this conversation. Indy was going to find her weird and leave her for sure after this.

After a deep breath, interrupted by a *huck!grrup!*, she attempted to explain, “please b-*BIP!gurrp*-bear with me, but…I didn't *HIP!grruup* excuse me, rando-*hhhOLP!*-fuck, randomly get these hiccups…I gave them-*h'muckEEEP!* to myself…*HU'uck*.”

She refused to make eye contact, but Indy still looked at her.

“Really? Why'd you do that?” They asked validly, curiously.

“I…” Calliope closed her eyes tightly, “have a thing for h-hiccups! Well, m-more like a feti-*hip*-ish? I like listening to them and I like having them! I'm-*mk* sorry, I know it's weird andifyouwannabreakupwithmeIdontblameyouyoucanstillliveherejustinseparateroomsand-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, Callie, sugar bear, slow down, breathe,” Indyko went over and held her hands, placing one hand to their chest and taking a deep breath in.

Calliope followed their lead, taking a deep breath in with them.

“And out, very good Callie,” they both exhaled slowly. “Now look at me please? Or in my general direction? Whichever is more comfortable for you.”

The red-eyed woman glanced in their general direction, opting to choose to look at her hand on their chest. “Y-yeah?” She stammered out.

“Thank you for being honest with me about this,” Indy squeezed her hand gently. “And everyone's got their thing…kinks and fetishes. It's a part of everyone's lives, there's nothing to be ashamed of.”

“But mines is weird…” Calliope muttered, looking away again.

“No it's not…not as weird as stuffings,” Indy blushed and it was their turn to look away.

Calliope looked back at Indy, “you…enjoy stuffing?”

Indyko nodded, “yeah, or just the tummy in general. The way it stretches and grumbles at it reaches its point of being full…” they blushed even more.

“That's not weird, Indy-”

“Well neither is yours, dear,” Indyko interrupted, making their point. “So don't be ashamed. I love every part of you, and learning this new information just makes me love you even more.”

Calliope couldn't help but jump up and hug her partner close, a few tears even breaking through. “Thank you…” she whispered as Indy hugged her even closer.

“Thank you,” Indyko added, placing a kiss on her forehead, “oh, and, uh…your hiccups are gone~”

Calliope gasped, but chuckled, “you tease…but yeah, I think I spooked them away….bummer.”

“Well, if you wanna do an encore, I'm always down for watching a soda bloat,” Indyko half-joked.

“How'd you know I used soda?” Calliope tilted her head confused.

Indyko pointed to the bottle of soda on the floor, “I used context clues.”

“Mm, but as tempting as that sounds, it's kinda late and my tummy's kinda tired,” Calliope revealed before she grabbed her phone, turning off the recording as a yawn escaped her lips, “huh, guess I'm a little tired too.”

“Then let's get to bed and we can cuddle and I'll rub your tummy til you feel better. If you're comfy with me doing so,” Indyko smiled.

“Heck yeah! You're my partner, Indy, of course I'm comfy with that,” Calliope looked up at them and returned their smile. Then she kissed their lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Indyko smiled even more before holding Calliope's hand and leading her to the bedroom.

Fin~

[allergical]

Today's hicvember prompt is public and i have a setting. ( medical stuff yay! :D)

A doctor is late to work and forgets to eat breakfast. They get hunger hiccups but still have to see their patients so they're forced to do all their examinations and consultations while hiccuping. The doctor is usually very calm and collected so theyre particularly embarrassed to have to face their patients with loud hiccups. Because that day they have an abnormal influx of patients, they don't have time to eat lunch, and so their hiccups progressively worsen by the hour till the doctor has the hiccups so fast they can't speak so they have to let someone else take over their patients for them. Cue nurse they have a flirtatious relationship with, who brings them food and helps their hiccups settle down with tummy rubs.

[doginasillyhat]

sillyhat when the tumblr return coincides with hicvember so it gets to read an almost constant stream of content

i’m running out of hats to put her in guys

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 20: Throat

It's funny that the idea for this one came to me almost immediately, because I've never put a whole lot of focus on throat movements, nor have I ever had really big feelings about vampires. Oh, by the way, this one has vampires.

Contents: Hiccups, neck focus, vampires, blood drinking and blood talk generally, enemies with benefits, degrading language (slut) (not affectionate), burping, inducing hiccups.

"Will you hold still, you insufferable bendy straw!?"

"W-well i–*ULP* if you keep ma–*HUK*–king me laugh, *HULK* of course no–*HOK* not, Wall–*AUK*–ace!"

"I will chain you to the fucking wall again! Don't think I won't."

"Oh n–*HOK* nooo, please! *HIUK* Don't throw me in tha–*UCK* that briar patch!"

Wallace snarled, showing off his gleaming white fangs through his unnaturally wide-spread lips. That just made his uncooperative slurpee laugh even harder.

Wallace Chain (AND YES THAT WAS HIS FUCKING NAME!!!) was a dignified vampire! He'd lived centuries longer than any of these walking wine bottles ever could! He was a scion of the proud immortal lines of Great Britain! He was technically still a lord, probably! This ambulatory black pudding was supposed to be his prophesied enemy, the descendant of those who had pointlessly fought his kind for centuries all across the globe! Ishmael Văn-Hall was supposed to be his generational foe to be dramatically warred with, then eventually killed in an orgiastic celebration of vampires' triumph over the pathetic cattle that was mortal man!

SO WHY WAS THIS OBSTINATE FUCKING SMOOTHIE LAUGHING AT HIM?!?

Ishmael, whose name Wallace really shouldn't have bothered remembering, was offensively mediocre and absolutely not stunningly handsome with his dark brown skin and curly hair and sharp eyes and offensively wide grin. He worked as a data entry drone, for fuck's sake! The only method of fighting he knew was taking Taekwondo lessons in a strip mall as a child, a fact which he had proudly informed Wallace of within minutes of meeting him! And here he was, tied to a chair, absolutely refusing to let Wallace get a decent drink from him because his jugular wouldn't hold fucking still because he kept fucking hiccuping and that kept making the insufferable stolen blood that pumped through Wallace's veins go inconvenient fucking places! He could only stare as the man's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat with each hiccup.

"Oh come o–*OCK* on, Vladdy *HNK!*" Ishmael tilted his neck offensively at Wallace, waggling his eyebrows. "B neg–*GUK*–gative. Very rare. *HUK* Your faaaaavori–*ICCUP*–iiiiite." His whole body bounced with every hiccup, but the way the triangle at the bottom of his neck caved in over and over again was particularly obscene. "None of th–*HUP* those gross, che---chewy RhD pr–*HUK* proteins."

"RhD proteins are not fucking 'chewy'!" Wallace jabbed a finger into Ishmael's vulgarly bouncing chest. "And do you have a death wish? With your neck fucking..." his blood inconveniently filled up his stupid fucking face "...spasming in that fashion, I could rip you open and let you bleed out accidentally instead of doing it on purpose!"

"Are you su–*HURK* sure they're not ch---chewy? I feel li–*UCK* like it ha–*HUCK* has to be like an o–*HUP* orange juice pu–*HULP* or no pulp kind o---of thing. *HMNK*"

"DO YOU WANT ME TO MAKE YOU A VAMPIRE SO YOU CAN FIND OUT?!"

"Oh do it! *HMK!* Vampirize m–*HEEK* me, Vladdy!" Ishmael twisted in his chair so he could make aggressive eye contact with Wallace, who felt his dead husk of a heart beating faster than it had any fucking right to. Even as his head jerked back over and over, exposing his delectable fucking neck like a slut, his eyes fell half lidded and his voice dropped low and smoky around his hiccups. "Make me im–*hmp* immortal so you ca–*UCK* can deal with m---me for th---the rest of your fu–*huk*–ucking life."

Wallace forced his body not to tremble.

He turned around and kept his back to the stupid fucking wine bottle. "Fine. I've lived for over two centuries. I can be patient. I can outlast any little mayfly like you."

"Don't lie to me, Wallace. *hmp*. You're not good at it."

A growl escaped Wallace's throat as he glared into the wall. "Your weak attempts to delay the inevitable are fading."

"Hmm. Yeah. Guess my hiccups are going away." Ishmael hummed.

Wallace knew what was coming. Wallace fucking knew what was coming. He knew he could do it, he'd seen Ishmael do it before. What Wallace should have done right now was turn around faster than the human eye could see and bury his fangs in that bendy straw's fucking neck so he could drain him into the husk he was meant to be, finally filling his belly with all of the brilliant red wine that he could drink.

...he kept facing away anyway.

"It'd be a real shame if I were to do something like..." Wallace's face burned as he heard Ishmael start swallowing air, the bobbing of his throat offensively audible as he did before belching shamelessly. And then he did it again. And again.

"I will kill you, you know," Wallace said. "Your artery is going to impale itself on my fangs."

"Yeah yeah," Ishmael's voice strained slightly around an audible gulp before he opened his mouth. "*SuuuuUUUUUUUUuuure* you will. *HRMK-mmmrp* I'm sure you d–*llk* don't have an–*glp*–ny other way *lgk* you rea–*lkt* to drinking from so–urk–gff...from somebody w-with—ulk—" The audible struggle in his throat made it almost unbearable for Wallace to keep facing away. "...with the hi–*IC–GUUUUUUUUUUUUPS!* *HIULK–UUUUUURRRR–CUP!*

"GOD DAMMIT!" Wallace wrenched around and before he could stop himself he had his fangs buried in Ishmael's neck. In his stupid fucking warm, delicious, bubbly, spasming neck, slurping hot blood in big clumsy gulps as it bounced out of him, desperately trying to control his body and avoid what he knew was fucking inevitable as he drank and drank and drank and drank and—"*HMLK!*"

Ishmael's neck shook around his teeth and beneath his lips for a completely different reason and Wallace felt like he was on fire under the fucking sun. "Oops. *uuuuuur–CUP!* Now look wh–*huk* what I've done. *mmmmrrr–GUP*–mmf. 'scuse me."

Wallace's diaphragm spasmed with renewed life and vigor as Ishmael's neck kept moving under his lips.

He hated that bendy straw so fucking much.

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 14: Sudden Embarrassed Feeling

|| CREATOR'S NOTE: Kindly follow the numbering found on the top left for the order of scenes. ||

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 8: Singles

Have a little story with some nameless characters having singles and noticing things about each other.

Edit: A sequel short now exists.

Content: Single hiccups, burps, arousal, embarrassment, alcohol.

"*HILK!* Ah!" A's hand flew up to cover her mouth, and she felt her cheeks heating as she and her friends, B and C, walked back from the mess hall. "Ah...excuse me."

C had burst out laughing as soon as he heard the massive noise. "Whoa, that was so loud! You got a case of the hiccups or something?"

"N-no, I just...that happens to me occasionally." A played with the hem of her shirt. "I'm not sure why. It's most common after I eat, but sometimes they just...come out of nowhere."

C kept snickering. "I'd never even imagine your dignified ass squeaking so loud."

"Mmmf." A rubbed her temples, but as she did, something occurred to her. "Oh, B, I'm sorry, I know that your hearing is sensitive, are you al—" A's voice died when she actually looked at B, seeing their face flushed unusually pink and their eyes already staring at her. "...right?"

"Wh—oh!" B shook their head. "Nah, I'm fine, don't worry about it."

A did worry about it, but that wasn't really B's fault. It wasn't their fault that she had a crush on them, after all. As time went on, though, A's attention on B led her to start to notice a pattern.

...

"...after which both squads will make our final assault on thei–*HURK!* mmf, excuse me, their base. Do you all understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" Almost everyone on the team responded. C had done so through giggles, for which A was considering smacking him. More surprisingly, B only straightened up and responded when they noticed everyone else doing so. And their face seemed suspiciously red for someone who had just had a training exercise strategy explained to them.

"B, come here." Having a crush on them didn't mean that A couldn't maintain her authority under the circumstances, and B approached without complaint, though they kept their head low. "You were listening to my strategy, right?" A kept their voice calm, but the idea that B might not have been hurt her more than it really should have.

B nodded rapidly. "Yeah, yeah! Of course! I'm sorry, I just, uh..." they got redder and scratched the back of their neck. "That single caught me off guard is all."

A's brow furrowed. "'Single?'"

"Ah—" B seemed even less composed at that as they shrunk in on themself. "S-sorry, the...the hhhiccup. It was just a single. Not a, um, a whole case."

"Oh." A wasn't really sure what to do with that, though it made her wonder how one ended up having a word for such a specific concept. "Alright then. Go, um, join your squad?" B nodded and jogged off, and A shook her head to refocus her thoughts, but that stuck in her brain.

...

"*HMK-ggrrp!* Oh fuck, 'scuse me, dude!" C laughed at himself as he glared playfully at the can of beer in his hand. "Forgot that booze does that to me sometimes. Hey, you get to be the one to make fun of me this time, A!"

A shook her head and smiled. "You're lucky I'm very magnanimous and forgiving."

"Lucky you're no fun, more like." C took another sip and let out an even louder "*HIURP!*" that had him laughing again.

It was more surprising to A that B wasn't making fun of him. Instead, they were bright pink, focus narrowed in on C. That night at the bar, A watched curiously as B stayed by C's side the whole time, keeping an unusually close eye on him and flinching whenever he had another half-hiccup half-burp "single."

Flinching and blushing.

A was starting to form a theory as to why B had a word for that.

...

"*HIULK!*–kuh! Hff. Excuse me." A heard C snickering and glanced over at him. "I'm shocked that you still find that so amusing."

"Hey, not my fault you make funny noises," he said.

A sighed. "I suppose that's true." She looked out of the corner of her eye at B and bit the inside of her lip to make sure she didn't smirk. "It's not your fault that I hiccup so frequently." The word made B look up and their face get redder, and A mentally tallied another data point. She was becoming more and more confident in her theory...and was also researching how one might go about getting more than just a "single" hiccup.

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 21: Case Coded

|| CONTENT WARNING || Day prompt based on a Fandom Artificial Intelligence Hiccups Hints of teasing Presence of an obnoxious character Implications of internal panic Mentions of frustration

The vibrant corridors were at a dim cast of light than the usually well-lit glow that the jester took note of. They have just woken up from a nap. Well, it is more so of deep pondering about their new life and recent events being in a virtual world and with an excruciatingly mad host that is keeping the said "world" meaning new home together. Can life throw any more curveballs whilst its at it?

The jester rubbed their eyes, making their way to the center of the tent they reside in for "forever" it seems like. Until they were unexpectedly teleported to a different area in the tent.

"Gah! Wuh…?" It left them in a slight woozy state. A hand on their head as they process what had happened.

"What just-," then, their words got cut off, when they heard a sudden yell out of nowhere near them.

"OH-****!" The triangle-shaped head hissed sharply at their fall, a frustrated look in their eyes. They turn to see the jester who was confused and felt the need to be concerned and question about what had happened to the both of them.

"What's going on exactly?" The jester asked with concern, their back slouched a bit and eyes seeking for an answer.

The triangle-shaped head slowly stood upright and spoke in a low and annoyed tone after a grunt, "Apparently, HE'S what's going on." they pointed over from afar.

They looked over to the host floating near the stage with a few of the other individuals, seemingly trying to talk about something while also hiding from him. The jester then noticed the host twitched in a jolt action, making the map glitch a bit out of place. Something is going on, alright.

Once the host was gone in a cloud, the jester and triangle-shaped head made their way to the others. A raggedy plush waved over to them, immediately greeting and checking them making sure they are not harshly affected from a current problem at hand.

"Hey, you two! Oh, I'm glad that you're alright." The raggedy plush spoke to the triangle-shaped head with a mellow, heartfelt tone of concern in their voice.

The jester then shot a question, "Has something happened?" They felt the need to ask as they stood their with a weary, yet confuzzled look.

The raggedy plush and a king piece looked at each other, before the place rumbled a quick second, leaving the group in a state of shock but no panic, or perhaps there is, internal-wise. The raggedy plush decided on explaining.

"Well, it's just a minor inconvenience. Don't worry though, he'll be able to fix it as soon as possible. I hope." By he, they mean the host. "But just so you know, do be careful whenever you're around him."

The raggedy plush ended with an advice. It left the jester curious to ask more.

"Why do you say that?" The jester spoke until shifting their head to another voice from the group.

"Because, you will be subject to a different kind of fun." With a sly, shut grin, an obnoxious rabbit stood with their arms crossed.

"Not helping!" The raggedy plush shook their head in disapproval to their reply.

The jester raised a brow before turning their attention to the triangle-shaped head. "He just have a case of the hiccups, technologically-speaking."

"What?" The jester plainly questioned in confusion and curiosity. But mostly confusion.

How does that work and make any sense exactly? And how did it all started? If one were to incorporate artificial intelligence having a case, it would involve something in their system unit like a malfunction in their coding or a foreign anonymity might have breached and entered into their functions.

"He's a bit aware of it, given that the whole tent is affected, not to mention, it might also not end well for us." The raggedy plush told the jester.

"Yeah, like how they were teleported out of nowhere earlier." The obnoxious rabbit spoke and emphasized, a thumb pointing over to the triangle-shaped head who gave a pissed off look at them.

"Wait until it's your turn!" They scowled back at the rabbit.

What has been given resorts to being similar to the natural involuntary action a human normally experience. If an artificial intelligent were to have it, it may or may not differ and stray away from that of a human body.

Precaution is taken in all seriousness for this matter. The jester figured that when the host hitched, it affects the place to change and individuals to teleport to some place different.

But that is only one result, possible there may be more, and the jester along with the others do not want to know half of it.

"As long as we keep our distance from him, I think we'll be okay." The raggedy plush tried to offer some reassurance to them all.

Suddenly, the tent shook side to side, a quick change of the place made the group hide anywhere that is safe, not wanting to deal with this nonsense.

The jester slightly hyperventilated as they hid, a hand on their chest to calm themselves down. Most of them, then, checked the place with hesitation once the shaking subsided.

"Is everyone alright?" The raggedy plush asked, the others nodding and showing themselves.

"Are you good over there?" Then they asked the king piece who gave a thumbs up in return.

Until another rumble shook the tent. The items and blocks floated shifting in places.

One of the items affected was the king piece's pillow fortress, which they took notice immediately and screamed, "AAH!" concerned for their safe pillow igloo that has disappeared.

Another rumble rose, it made the place shake and shift randomly. That case of his sure is active. Unfortunately, it teleported Ribbons and Triangle-shaped head to the stage rather than the floor.

"Oh my goodness!" The raggedy plush called out to them, checking and making sure if they were fine.

"We're okay…" Ribbons spoke with a wince at their fall.

The obnoxious rabbit chuckled. "That fall was comical, Ribbons! Do it again." Their grin grew in amusement. How could they find humor to that mishap?

With the third wave though, the obnoxious rabbit fell in a black hole that opened underneath them, sending them to fall on top of a floating block. They grunted, face planted on the cube. The two who were at the stage watched it happened, looking at each other.

"Eh, serves them right." The triangle-shaped head commented with no regret.

"Guh! When will this be over?" The obnoxious rabbit spoke in frustration and attitude as they sat on the edge of the floating block with their arms crossed, not happy about this inconvenience.

"We'll just have to wait!" The raggedy plush replied in return, ignoring the murmuring of irritation from the rabbit.

A few more of the earthquakes and changing of the map, it was in a rapid succession. The group figured that it must be quite a stubborn case the host has. They were all completely done with this. The group just want it to be over already. And if that thought was going to happen sooner than later, the host just had to add up to the internal panic and longing of rest as he made his presence known with the group after a long while. In a rushed and iconic host tone, they spoke with the accompanied sounds of the case that is somewhat similar to a human's sounds.

"Hello! my HUCK!-lucky stars-" The host exclaimed with glee.

They all called him out of his name in unison. Then the rabbit spoke. Their voice echoed faintly from above, still stuck on the same floating block.

"Uuugh! No luck with that? Could you please hurry it up! I've been up here for ages!" The rabbit dragged their groan, complaining as they looked down at the host.

"My-my, you should've called me!" The host snapped their fingers to return the way things are back to normal.

But they let out another hitch again, snapping their fingers once more. It happened again and again, until is was a quick cycle.

They all called out to the host again, making him stop in his tracks as he realized his distracted-self. He spoke. "Oh, my bad! HIRK!-RR'Rrr!" It comes out in a fuzzy static.

The tent shook with intensity, glitching a bit, now that the one with the case was at close proximity.

"UH! Do you have something to tell us?! The raggedy plush called out as they hid behind a couch.

The host looked at them. Not them thinking about it, floating mid-air for a few moments on why they were there instead of managing to resolve his case.

The host's eyes shifted to walled, a bright tone on their voice as they held their finger up.

"Ah-ha! Yes, of course. Now I remember why I'm here!" He said with a delightful tone. They all looked at him, anticipating provision of some good news about this matter.

"I still have them." The host said in a defeated and nonchalant tone, back slouching and hands fall to the side.

The group groaned in unison at the end, thinking that this particular episode is accompanied with a case and its about to go crazy or rather, it had already been crazy. It will be quite a long day as the group hid and scattered. This adventure was uncalled for.

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 13: Working-in-Progress Nuzzles

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 2: Body Chose Random Case

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 19: Induced

And here we have my first A+B(+C+etc) story to get a sequel, with this one being a follow-up to Day 8, Singles, in which A (now Anna) observed how her crush B (now Bowie) reacted to her and other peoples' singles. This takes place once Anna manages gather enough data points to get the nerve to do something about it.

Content: Hiccups, hiccuping in public, anxiety, embarrassment, alcohol, bad movies.

"Okay, Cameron, what stupid fucking movie are you torturing us with tonight?"

"God, have a little faith in me, would you?"

"You literally call it bad movie night, I know you're going to make us watch some complete bullshit."

Anna was only half paying attention to the argument between Bowie and Cameron while other members of their troop were setting up the projector and screen on which said bad movie would be shown. She'd actually spoken to Cameron earlier about this, requesting that he not show anything especially gory, disgusting, or distasteful. He had whined that this limited his options, but after nixing the one by the leader of scientology(?) and the one that would apparently have involved throwing cutlery at the screen(???) the two managed to agree on a "classic" in which a role played by Bela Lugosi would primarily be played by someone who was not Bela Lugosi. These were the sort of things that made Anna wonder if she would ever even slightly understand her fellow trainees.

She was coming to understand Bowie, she hoped. Or rather, she was fairly certain she'd come to understand one specific thing about them. If it turned out she hadn't, Anna worried that she'd wind up embarrassing herself more than a little tonight. But given just how much thought she'd put into this stupid plan, it would feel like a waste not to go through with it at this point. And yes, she did know what the sunk cost fallacy was, but dammit, even if she wound up being completely wrong she'd get new information out of this.

That fact only helped her nerves so much as Bowie flopped down on the couch next to her, apparently done antagonizing Cameron for now. "You want me to get you some popcorn or anything, Annie?"

Anna felt her face redden and looked away. "No, but thank you. I'm...prepared for whatever's to come tonight."

"You super aren't, but you'll find out all about that soon!" Cameron bounced on his toes as one of their squadmates dimmed the lights. "Alllll right then! Introducing! The world's first worst movie ever! Dun dun duuuuuuun!"

As a man filmed in black and white began stiltedly talking about the future, Anna began putting her preparations into action. It wasn't as if she'd needed to do much, but she tried to be subtle about it, knowing that Bowie had sensitive hearing and not wanting to embarrass herself more than necessary. So she concealed the gulps of air she was deliberately swallowing in sips of a glass of wine she'd poured herself, doing her best not to belch loudly even as bubbles of air caught in and out of her throat.

She actually ended up stopping herself partway through the opening credits before starting up again. This happened a few times. Overthinking things was a terrible habit of Anna's, and she wondered if her nerves meant that she was also scaring away exactly what she was attempting to induce. Her circle of self-doubt was thankfully broken when an unbelievably fake UFO was dangled onto the screen. Bowie barked out a single loud laugh along with some derisive whoops from other troop members, and seeing them amused made Anna giggle too. And that giggle was cut off by half a burp and a "*HNK!*" that she just barely managed to swallow down.

Anna could feel just how red her face was going as one hand flew up to cover her lips. She kept it there despite knowing it wouldn't do much to muffle the sound, having...practiced having these before. If it turned out she was wrong about her assumptions concerning Bowie's response to hiccups she was going to feel like an idiot. But in spite of that worry, the idea that she was about to be proven right excited her enough that she had to hide her mouth so nobody would see her smiling.

When she glanced down at Bowie, Anna was initially surprised that they weren't looking at her. But when the screen lightened and she got a better look at their face, it was obvious that they'd deliberately forced themself to stare at the movie instead of at her. A "*HMK!*" put an end to that, and Bowie's attention snapped onto Anna before they caught themself and looked away again, and even with how low the light was, the blush on their face was practically radiant. Anna's must have been too with how fast her heart beat when she "*HMK-MMP!*" hiccuped again. "S-sorry B–*HMP*–Bow," she whispered, doing everything she could not to giggle or grin too obviously.

"S'okay," Bowie said softly, gaze nailed back to the screen. "You, uh—" they flinched at Anna's next *HMP!* and took a moment to start speaking again. "uh...you, uh, doing okay?"

Anna nodded and forced herself to look away too. "I-I'm fine! *HMK!* I've ju–*HUP!*—a-ah!" She'd thought she'd be able to muffle all her hiccups to near silence since, unlike with her "singles", she would know to expect them, but at least one managed to sneak past her defenses, and it made her face burn all the way up to her ears. "E...excuse m---me. *HMK!*" She was fairly sure she heard Cameron snickering, but nobody else seemed to respond. "I...I h–*HMP!* have the hiccups, B–*HMK!*–Bowie," Anna whispered, curling slightly in on herself.

"Yeah..." Just how awestruck they sounded caught Anna off guard, and when she looked over, she saw Bowie staring at her, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. "Uh!" They shook their head as soon as they noticed her gaze. "S-sorry, you want, um, you want me to get you some water or something?" They whispered barely loud enough for Anna to hear them. Not sure she trusted herself to speak out loud again, Anna just nodded, and Bowie nodded back before stiffly getting up and rushing out of the room. They were barely gone a second before Anna missed their weight and warmth next to her. It didn't take long for Bowie to return, and when they did, they shoved a glass of water into Anna's free hand before sitting down just as stiffly as they'd gotten up, back board straight and feet flat on the ground, knees at a ninety degree angle. Even if Anna hadn't know what to look for already, that would have been suspicious. Bowie never sat correctly. Nevertheless, Anna had water now.

...she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it, though.

How suspicious would it be to put it aside? To not drink any? Too suspicious, right? She had to drink some, right?

Anna shook her head again, trying to rattle the thoughts away and took a small, nervous sip, happy that just a split second after swallowing it, another "*MMNK!*" rocked her. A few more tiny sips and muffled hiccups, and Anna felt safe putting the glass down for now "Sorry Bow," she whispered, swallowing a hiccup just after she finished their nickname. "I don't thi–*NNK!*–nnh...think it w---worked."

"Doesn't, uh...doesn't sound like it, nah," Bowie muttered, still uncomfortably rigid.

After a few long moments, Anna made herself take the initiative and leaned into Bowie's shoulder. She failed to completely avoid laughing at the non-word noises that came out of their open mouth at that, and her hiccups picked up a bit of speed. "I don't w–*HNK* want to disru–*HPT* the movie for *MMNK* the oth---thers," she murmured into their shirt. "Could you he–*LP* help me keep th–*HMK* them quiet?"

"Y-yeah!" It came out just a little too loud, and Bowie nodded just a little too hard. Even though her eyes were at an awkward angle with her pressing her lips into their shoulder, Anna could see the massive grin stretching over Bowie's face. "Yeah, sure, Annie! Yeah! I-I got you!"

Anna felt herself smiling, realizing only a moment too late that that meant Bowie could feel her smiling too. After a second, she decided it didn't matter and nuzzled more firmly into their shoulder. "Th---thank you, Bow. *MMK!*"

"Yeah..." They giggled softly and slowly got less tense, and Anna felt her heart pick up more speed when they eventually rested back against her so her hiccups were shaking both of them. Every time she glanced up at Bowie, she could see how pink their face was in the dim light of the bad movie.

Even though she knew that the scientific method was supposed to look at things objectively, sometimes it felt very very good to finally confirm a hypothesis.

[writingforfishes]

Hicvember: Random Case

I cranked this fucker out all tonight. So, enjoy me making something and having to release it into the wild without overly editing it like it's some sort of homework assignment!

CW:

loud squeaky hiccups

brief mention of fatness (positive/in humor)

atticus' embarrassment

mention of Olivia (Otto's birth giver)

a new hiccuper has entered the fic

short case

mention of a vibrator

slapdash knowledge of tea and herbs

mild teasing

Margie ran an apothecary downtown. She’d started it before gentrification got into full swing on the street her shop resided. Nowadays she got college students and tourists in addition to regulars coming in the store. When she first started her business, she would frequently have 5 customers the entire day. While she was grateful business had picked up since the addition of other popular shops, she was also frustrated to see most shop owners were young folks who’d moved from either richer areas of the city or other states. Very few owners were locals of the neighborhood. It was definitely a double-edged sword.

It was summer so the shop was back to being slower. She was happy for the rush when the college kids were in town, but she was grateful for the slow days as well when she could spend the day catching up with her inventory and refilling the shelves and containers with herbs, spices, and teas.

The door jingled as it was opened. When she looked up Margie smiled at the couple who entered.

Otto and Atticus had taken a day for errands. They were both dressed in their usual casual dapper attire. Otto had his curly hair loose and wore a button up with a vest and Atticus had on a flat-cap with a short sleeved patterned button up over a graphic tee. They both waved to the auburn-haired woman at the counter and Margie waved back, her dark brown eyes squinting in a grin.

“Hey! You two need a tea refill?” Margie asked.

“We certainly do!” Otto’s voice called out.

The couple closed the distance to the counter. Atticus stood in front of Otto as Otto put his hands on Atticus’ shoulder, lightly rubbing them.

“Let’s see if I can remember,” Margie said pushing up the billowing sleeves of her peasant top and thinking, “Green tea...lemon ginger...mmmm, Earl Grey and...lemon balm...something...shoot.”

“Lemon balm lavender chamomile,” Atticus supplied helpfully.

“Right! Lemme get those mixed for you!” she said. “Is that helping by the way?”

“It is!” Atticus said. “I mean, I’m still an anxious mess, but now I can at least get to sleep at night.”

“Hmmm,” Margie said, tapping her mouth. “I’m going to put some Ashwagandha in there, too this time. Might help with the anxiety.”

“Will it help with the looming deadlines and existential dread?” Atticus asked dryly.

Margie giggled.

“Sweetie, if I could find something that helped with that Cindy and I might actually have settled on a wedding date,” Margie said with a shake of her head.

Margie and Cindy had been engaged for a couple of years now. The only thing stopping them from getting married was every single maladaptive coping technique to both of their forms of ADHD and their ever-changing desires for wedding themes, not to mention having to deal with family members on both sides and all of those opinions.

“I still call being a flower person at the wedding,” Atty said as they watched Margie bring down the canisters of dried tea and herbs. “When I was younger, I wanted to be a flower girl so bad. I am determined to be a flower person at someone’s wedding one day. I don’t care if I’m 80 years old. I’m gonna do it, dammit!”

“Yes, you will, dear,” Otto said as he rubbed their shoulders more purposely. It was just on the edge of being a condescending remark. But there was enough genuineness in the gesture for Atticus to let the teasing slide.

“Well right now th—the theme is fairies,” Margie said. She’d ignored whatever spasm had interrupted her. The second one hit her after her sentence finished and she frowned a little.

Atticus blinked at the movements Margie made as her speech paused. They swallowed hard but tried not to focus on it.

“I will wear the fuck out of some fairy wings, then! And if you have any nieces or cousins, I will fight them for the role. Just warning you!” they said as they upped their snark with the nervousness that came from having noticed the possible beginning of a case of hiccups.

“I’ll heep! pass that on heep! to Cindy! Heek! Goodness!” Margie said finally relenting to having to notice her body’s involuntary movements. She covered her mouth with her hand as the high-pitched squeaks continued to interrupt.

Otto, for his part, was suddenly engaged not only in the hilariousness of Margie’s normal speaking voice being naturally husky mixed with endearing squeaks which were almost too high pitched to listen to comfortably, but Atticus immediately tending in front of him more than merely being startled by the sudden hiccups.

Otto, who was usually the victim of hiccuping more than any of the couple’s friends, opened his mouth and widened his eyes in shocked amusement.

“Are you...okay?” he asked trying not to smile too much.

“Yeah heep! These came hee’ulp! came out heek! of nowhere! Eep! I don’t ev—even remember ee’up! the last time heeulp! I had the hicceep! hiccups!” Margie answered, hand to her chest now.

Atticus could only watch their friend as the hollow above her clavicle hollowed and Margie’s brows furrowed adorably with each hiccup. The sound she made was startling, but the frequency and her frustration was both endearing and arousing.

“Um,” Atticus said trying to act like a person who was totally normal about hiccups. “A-are they always this...uh…”

“Adorable?!” Otto finished for them. Atticus was startled into a laugh and rubbed Otto’s hands in silent gratitude for his interjection.

Atticus stole a look up at their husband to find a face of delight and amusement above the scruffy jawline.

“They are heeeep! not adorable! They are hi’eep! annoying. I’m sEEP!sorry. I used to eek! to get th—these in class when HEEP! when I was a kid. Teacher mameep!made me waIP!wait outside because I was disturEEP!disturbing the class. They’re so loud heep! loud and shrill. I really hi’EEP! can’t control it!” Margie said and held her hand on her mouth.

Even when she suppressed them the high-pitched sound could be heard through her mouth and hand. Her neck pulled in all the more with the attempt.

���I think that was more a sign of a bad teacher than you being annoying,” Otto consoled. “I mean, I got pulled out of class for my hiccups too. Heh, remember when I was helping you move into this store? I think that was the first time you saw me hiccup.”

“I had HEEP! completely forgotten that! Mmmp!” Margie remarked with the shrilled suppressed hiccup as an exclamation mark.

“It’s funny,” Otto said casually. He kept one hand on Atticus’ shoulder, thumb rubbing it soothingly, and the other hand gesticulated. “I never realized how often I got hiccups while sober until Atticus moved in with me.” He felt them jolt under his touch.

Atticus had no idea where Otto was going with this but felt heat prickle their neck. For her part, Margie hadn’t seemed to notice, though glanced down as the writer was mentioned.

“Atty noticed when I hiccuped more than I did!” Otto said. It was probably the biggest understatement he’d ever made.

“I did do that,” Atty said, determined to stay as normal as possible.

“Apparently, I’m a pretty hiccupy guy!” Otto said with a shrug. “Made me remember all the times in the past before I started drinking heavily, too. I would get them all the time when I was a kid. Didn’t bother me at all. Was the one thing Olivia didn’t call me out on. Being too loud when I was excited was a problem. Me hiccuping a mile a minute and causing everyone to stare at us was apparently endearing. And if anyone complained she would actually defend me. Which is...actually really weird come to think of it.”

“Well, there’s heep! one thing she heek! she got right,” Margie said with an eye roll. She was well aware of Otto’s experiences with his mother. “Well, that aHI’eep!and having you.”

The sounds of clinking scoops into glass jars were creating a very satisfying sensory experience to go with Margie’s hiccups. Atticus was well stimulated, to say the least. But they were holding it together pretty well. Otto was also doing a decent job of grounding the by keeping a hand on their shoulder.

“I agree with that last one,” Atty added. “I don’t think I knew you helped Margie with the shop!”

“Oh yeah. You were so scared, Marge. She took the biggest leap when she stopped bartending. And this was before Cindy and her were dating,” Otto said.

“I w—was having hip! anxiety attacks every day. I put everything into this place. Every last dollar,” Margie explained.

“Yeah...that first year was rough,” Otto admitted with a wince.

“Well, it would’ve been rougher if you and Mark hadn’t stepped in financially to help out,” she said. “I felt like an idiot. I didn’t know how to run a business. What did I think I was doing? But then things started to pick up. Cindy and I started being a thing. She had connections. Got the word out. Pushed me out of my comfort zone to advertise and represent my business. Hell, before she showed up this place was called The Apothecary. When she suggested Two For Tea: Apothecary and I said she’d have to stay with me now for relevance she said, ‘Well, that was kind of the plan, toots!’”

Margie chuckled to herself as she envisioned Cindy’s bedroom eyes as she had winked at her that day. She felt herself blush a little.

“Ah, I didn’t know she came up with that. That’s actually really sweet,” Otto said smiling down at Atticus.

“I agree,” Atticus said. They were actually relieved that Margie’s hiccups had stopped so they could focus more on the conversation. “Extremely gross. Very cute. I approve.”

Margie laughed. Then she paused.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad those damn hiccups finally went away. I’ll have to tell Cindy, though. She gets them a lot, too,” Margie said.

“Yeah, her and I talked about that a little. She told me about when she was a kid and she was in--” Otto started before Margie interrupted, laughing.

“In church! Yeah! And her hiccups went in time with the choir singing? And the congregation laughed and that was the only time she ever felt accepted and appreciated in her church. The little fat metronome. Her words, not mine,” Margie said with a chuckle.

Otto laughed too. Atticus forced a laugh because, again, this is what normal people did when they talked about hiccups, right?

“Okay, I’ve got you all set up,” Margie said laying the bags of dried tea and herbs out on the counter. “Green, lemon and ginger, Earl Grey, and the ultimate tea for anxiety and sleep. Report back to me on that, Atticus. I’m hoping that Ashwagandha will help.”

“Will do!” Atty said, dutifully.

The couple paid, said their goodbyes while exchanging hugs, and walked out the door.

“So, how are you holding up?” Otto said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

Atticus held out the anxiety and sleep aid tea mix with a stern look.

“I’m going to need, like, 2 mugs of this and maybe a vibrator session, but I’m holding up surprisingly well considering!” they said.

Otto couldn’t help it when he burst out laughing.

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 1: A Whimsy Halloween Greeting

[mademoisellekalopsia]

Day 24: Nothing but Silent Hitches