#anything with good sibling dynamics just gets me right in my meow meow

[wishbonedean]

If I saw these messages on my brother's phone and saw how much he's worrying all by himself, I too would playfully mock him about his hubris and reaction to ghost pepper jerky, just to give him something else to think about.

[psychangels]

My prompt: chai and peppermint being adoptive siblings sillies (fluff)

took this as an opportunity to write a continuation of my fic Incidence of Metamorphosis! :] ik this isn't necessarily them being adoptive siblings, but i generally write them with a sibling-like dynamic in mind so

Peppermint sets all of her makeup supplies down in relatively neat piles. 808 keeps messing them up. She huffs, shooing her. 808 hurries away, presumedly to see Chai, based off of the sound of a door opening.

Looking over, she watches as Chai walks over to her. 808 is in his arms.

"So," Chai says as he sits down on the floor in front of her. "So," Peppermint replies. 808 meows.

They both look at her and chuckle.

Then, Chai picks her up and sets her aside. He grabs a shade of blush and a brush.

"You ready to be bedazzled?"

Peppermint snorts. "I don't know about that. We don't even have rhinestones or anything."

"Well, maybe we should get some, then," he replies as he starts putting the foundation on her.

"Sure. Just no glitter." "Eugh—you don't need to tell me that." "I figured you'd like that stuff." "Hell no!"

His words are punctuated by the foundation case clicking shut.

"Glitter is the fucking worst. It gets everywhere and then never comes out. I'd rather die than willingly buy any, much less put it on my face!"

"Well...good to know we're on the same page."

As Chai picks out some eyeshadow colors, 808 hops up onto his shoulder. She purrs when he reaches up to scratch under chin with one hand.

Peppermint smiles. She leans forward a bit so she can give 808 a few pats on the head.

She moves back once Chai settles on a color. She shuts her eyes.

As he starts applying it to her, she wonders if she should bring up something that's been on her mind since their earlier conversation. But she's not even sure how to.

"You're doing your thinking frown. What's up?" "Wh—" She huffs a laugh. "My 'thinking frown'?"

"Yeah, you always get this like...tiny frown when you're thinking about something. So, what is it?"

"I just...was wondering about what you wanna be called now," Peppermint explains. "If you even want to be called anything different."

"Whaddya mean?" "Well—you're sort of a girl." "Yeah."

"So do you want to be called a different name? Different pronouns and stuff?"

"Oh."

The feel of the brush against her skin disappears. Hesitantly, she opens her eyes.

Chai's brow is furrowed. He's looking away from her, down at the eyeshadow in his hand.

808 nudges the side of his face. She makes a soft questioning noise.

He sets it aside, grabbing a different color.

"I don't know," he finally replies as he puts the new color on the brush.

Peppermint shuts her eyes again.

"I don't really wanna change my name," he continues, "but I dunno about anything else."

"We could try it out if you want." "Try it out?"

"Yeah. Like...I could try using she/her on you. Or they/them. Whichever sounds better."

He hums.

"Could...could you do she/her?" Chai asks. Then, after a moment she says, "You can open your eyes, I'm gonna do your eyeliner."

Peppermint opens her eyes. "Okay."

While she looks for the eyeliner pencil that 808 batted away earlier, Peppermint thinks of how to go about this.

After another moment, she clears her throat to catch Chai's attention. Then, she says, "Have you seen Chai today? She looks great!"

It's weird talking about her like she isn't there when Peppermint's just saying this to her directly.

Chai freezes. Then, she whirls towards Peppermint, eyes wide.

"Wh-what?"

Did she do something wrong?

"Can you say something else like that?" "Uh—sure."

She pauses for a second to think.

"Do you know Chai? She's my best friend. I think you'd like her."

Slowly, a grin creeps onto Chai's face. "Feels right!"

"Oh. Good!" Peppermint returns her smile. "So—just she/her?" "...Yeah." "Okay, cool." He laughs breathlessly. "Yeah!"