short asl thing based on @where-does-the-heart-lie's modern au :) i started this over a year ago but the beginning is all dialogue and felt more like a script to me i suppose??? which deflated my desire to work on it. anyway i checked it over recently and it's completely fine lmfao, self-confidence restored here we go !
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"Yo. Aren't you usually in the middle of your shift by now?"
"I've been banned from the hospital."
"Like, for life?"
"No. For the next, uh.. Twenty-two hours."
"That's oddly specific."
"It was twenty-four, but I fell asleep after leaving the building."
"That wouldn't have to do with why they kicked you out, at all?"
"Hmmm. I'm too sleep-deprived, apparently."
"Ah. And, um, you called me because...?"
"I pressed a random number in my call log after waking up. Lucky you, I guess."
"Yeah. Right. Lucky me. And your car keys are...?"
"Confiscated."
"Ah, right, of course."
A beat of silence. Two. Three, then "Look, if you're busy, then–"
"No, no. You called me, so I'll be there. Give me twenty minutes."
"Alright. Thank–"
"Thank someone else. Also, if you fall asleep in my car, I'm taking it as express permission to drive you around wherever I want."
"Ugh, go die. I don't even know why I bothered."
"LUCKY YOU, I guess," sounds off way too loudly in his ear. "No take backs. See you in ten."
"I thought you said–" Sabo breaks off as the call ends, leaving him staring blankly at his phone's too-dim screen. He squints, turns the brightness all the way up, and still squints as the sunlight proves too strong for the display.
Ace shows up in more than ten but decidedly less than twenty minutes. Sabo doesn't waste much brain power on it, only climbing into the passenger seat and yawning into his palm while his other hand fixes the seatbelt into the buckle. Not a second too soon, too, as Ace roars the engine to life and peels away from the curb at record speed.
Ace fiddles with the radio. He turns the music up, then dial it back down to inaudible. They hit the expressway and he leans over the steering wheel, frowning with his eyes fixed on the road far ahead. Sabo yawns again and this appears to be the limit to his patience.
"Hey, so, I had a thought after you hung up on me."
Sabo grimaces. "You mean you–"
"Today's Wednesday."
He doesn't elaborate. Sabo is too tired to process. "Yes," he follows, after a second. He glances at the sky out the front window. "What time is it?"
"Oh, uh." Ace fumbles with hand placement so he can lift his watch to his face. "Nine forty."
Sabo takes a couple beats to try and process this, moves his eyes away from the skyline, and sighs as he pulls his phone out. 2:47 is what the display reads, which sounds much more believable.
"How did the minute hand get off?" he mutters to himself, chancing a look at Ace's busted wristwatch. Ace raises a brow, taking his gaze off the road to scrutinize Sabo. "No, it doesn't matter," he mutters to himself once more, sliding his phone away back on his person and out of his hands.
"My point is," Ace continues, like he hasn't just been interrupted by a whole thing. "Your timeout will be done midday Thursday. Did they switch your days off?"
"No." Sabo sighs. "They technically gave me the next thirty-six hours. Technically closer to forty. Something like that. I go back in on Friday. Sometime.” He tries to smile and it turns out very lopsided, from that he can make out in the rearview mirror. “Can you tell I’m tired?”
“I don’t think ‘tired’ is an accurate description,” Ace quips. “When did you eat a proper meal last?”
“Uh, yesterday. Maybe.”
“Maybe??”
“A ‘proper meal’ means different things to the two of us,” Sabo huffs. “On my account it was yesterday. I’ve had food since then, of course.”
“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Ace announces before absolutely whipping it around a curve. Sabo is his passenger in the passenger seat and had fully prepared to be so when he got in the vehicle, but he’d been vastly underprepared for this sudden course of action, which is how he ends up halfway out of his seat with his cheek slammed into the cold window. Ace doesn’t quite notice his brother’s terminal velocity until the car is once again on the straight and narrow, and only then it’s because of the audible thunk Sabo’s face makes when it collides with the glass.
“Aw shit. You good bro?”
“Ow,” Sabo mutters. “If I have broken bones I’m suing your ass.”
“Well, if you’re good enough to make jokes, I think you’re better than you’re letting on.” Ace keeps the wheel steady with one knee while he takes both hands away to crack his fingers. When he glances over at Sabo again, he looks even more pathetic – like he’s becoming one with the glass. “Anyway, as I was saying.
“I’m taking your ass home. You’re going straight to sleep and while you crash, I’ll make you something decent to eat and stick it in the fridge for you to heat up later. I’ll even make you two servings to eat two different times, since you clearly can’t be trusted to take care of yourself correctly.”
“Ouch.”
“I want you to conk out for as long as your body allows. We can reset your sleep schedule tomorrow, alright? Put your phone on silent; do not answer any calls. In fact, you know what, just give it to me.
Sabo glances over to see Ace’s hand held out to him, palm up. Fingers wiggling expectantly. His lips pull up into a grimace. “I’m not doing that.”
“Fine.” Ace takes his hand back. “But you will comply with everything else.”
“Wow! It’s so funny, I didn’t realize you turned into my mother overnight! Really tapped into your mom potential, huh? Anything exciting happen in your life that would cause that? I guess I wouldn’t know, since I’ve been a zombie for the past two days.”
“There’s nothing wrong with acting like your older brother, you dipshit, especially if you keep putting yourself through the wringer like this. You go home. You sleep. You wake up and eat. You go back to sleep. Then we do laundry. Does that sound agreeable?”
“That’s negotiable, at the least,” Sabo mumbles. “I will accept good food as a form of bribery.”
“Oh, nice, because I’m flat broke at the moment.”
Sabo makes a mental note of that, and then they’re pulling into the driveway. Ace lets him exit the vehicle by himself and then promptly manhandles him all the way onto the couch where it will be easier to force his body to relax than in a real bed. Ace knows this, so he calls him weird before chucking a loose blanket at his head. Sabo is almost too tired to function at this point, so he lets Ace have the last laugh in favor of finally closing his eyes.
Coming to is a surreal experience, especially since the sun is still out. He must make a noise because Ace is suddenly within view. His limbs are tangled in the blanket and still so heavy that he doesn’t bother moving. “Thought you would be gone,” he half-groans, eyes slipping shut again for a moment.
“I did leave,” Ace confirms. “I had to go pilfer some stuff to make stew with. It’s almost done, so I’ll hang here until then.”
Pilfer. That could mean any number of things. Sabo chooses to believe in the option where Ace is an upstanding citizen, and then remembers Ace saying earlier that he had no money. He frowns and squirms on the cushions enough to where it looks like he’s checking his pockets. “Where’s my wallet, Ace?” he bluffs.
“Somewhere around here,” Ace pipes up. “Your stomach will thank you for your contributions to the Portgas Household’s pantry!”
“Ugh, I got robbed,” he complains. “This sucks. ‘m going back to sleep.” He rolls over so his back is to Ace.
“Yeah, you do you, bro. Stew will still be here later. I’ll see you when you’re back in the world of the living.”
—
Luffy comes in late that night and slams the front door shut as loud as humanly possible. When he appears in the main room, he doesn’t seem to be upset, so Ace writes it off as a Luffyism. Sabo hasn’t stirred at the noise, so it’s all good.
Realizing this, Luffy pads closer to Ace’s side and looks at Sabo’s unmoving body warily. “Why is Sabo passed out like a corpse? Is he sick?”
“No, he’s not sick, he just can’t take care of himself. Which is why we are going to let him sleep for as long as possible.”
Luffy just nods to this, but it’s the uncomprehending Luffy-nod that means he’s just going to end up doing whatever he wants to regardless. Ace sighs, then jerks his head towards the kitchen. “He ate a little earlier, but I want him to eat again when he wakes up. There’s stew in the fridge if you want it – just leave him a little. Got it, Monkey D. Luffy?”
Luffy throws him a salute and then runs off in his socks. “Yippee! Ace made stew!”
“Think of your brother, Luffy, and make good choices!” Ace calls after him. “He’s a pathetic man who needs food to feel better or he’ll end up sleeping through Laundry Day!”
—
Sabo does not sleep through laundry day, but he does sleep for sixteen whole hours, so it’s just around noon when he forces himself up off the couch and into a warm shower.
Ace is around, which is mildly unexpected. But he’s still half-asleep, so everything is at least a little unexpected. He glances up from playing video games with Luffy to see Sabo leaving the steam-filled bathroom with his hair hanging around his shoulders. “You look like a wet cat,” he calls.
“Sabo’s awake!” Luffy cheers. “Ace thought you died at one point.”
Ace elbows Luffy in the gut, making him hunch over. “I did not!”
“He totally checked to see if your heart was still beating!”
“I’m undead, actually,” Sabo says completely seriously.
“Does that mean you don’t need to eat anymore?” Luffy questions. “Because I ate all the stew last night.”
“I saw that coming and made extra.” Ace finger-guns in Sabo’s general direction. “That’s why I bought two sets of ingredients. With your money!”
“With my money,” Sabo echoes, because it’s such a wild statement to have to deal with this early in the day. Well, early for him. “Fuck you.”
“I mean, I can tell Luffy where I hid–”
“Thank you, Ace, for agreeing to share your quarters with both of your brothers so we can all do laundry today on your dime!” Sabo raises his pitch so his voice is mockingly squeaky when he says this. He starts moving down the hall before Ace can start to argue, letting his and Luffy’s voices bleed into the background.
When he comes back out, now dressed, it smells significantly better than before. “I reheated the stew,” Ace announces, gesturing for Sabo to take a seat at the kitchen counter. “Let’s all have lunch before we head out.”
“You have to drink this too,” Luffy tells Sabo, sliding a Gatorade across the counter so it sets in front of him when he finally does take a seat. “Ace’s orders.”
“Gotta get those nutrients back somehow.”
“Aren’t we so considerate, Sabo?”
“Do you even know what ‘considerate’ means?” Sabo asks, lips quirking up into a half-smile. At Luffy’s shrug, it turns into a real smile. “Well, thanks anyway. Both of you.”
“No sweat. And look!” Ace brandishes a five dollar bill for both to see. “I found this baby for us to use on coins! It’s all on me today–”
“Where’s my wallet, Ace?!”
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I know you kinda mentioned how the rest of of the smiley guys react to Al/lan's pregnancy, but do you have anything to expand off of that? Does G/lep get jealous or just unaffected by it? Is Ch/arlie ever awkward about it but trying to be cool? Eee I AM VERY INVESTED 😭😭
Figured I'd group these two together since they're similar❤️
(This one's a long one, buckle up y'all)
First thing's first.... telling boss man.
Al/lan had no immediate intentions to confess his pregnancy to anyone just yet, since he'd only JUST found out himself. He hadn't even been to see a doctor yet but after having 5 at home tests come up positive(not to mention the constant nausea and the slightest hint of a bump beginning to poke out under his tie)... it was painfully obvious. But after he had to come clean to P/im, he was persistently prompted to at least fill the boss in on his situation.
"I-I dunno, P/im..."
Though he didn't want to admit it, he was extremely nervous. Would this affect his job at all? His position?? What if he's viewed as a nuisance and gets fired for it?? He can't afford to be fired! Not NOW!
"Well... You won't know unless you try. Mr B/oss is uh.... a strange one, to put it frankly, but he's usually pretty understanding. I don't think he'd fire you over this. He's a father himself, after all!"
"Hmm..."
About that time they heard keys jingling just outside the back entrance. As expected, they heard the boss's voice sing out a gleeful 'Morning, guys' as he came through the door, passing them on his way to his office.
A gentle nudge from P/im suggested he go ahead and bite the bullet. With a dreadful sigh, Al/lan got up from his seat and made his way towards the office himself.
"Eh, Mr B/oss?... Could I speak with you real quick? It's uh... urgent."
"Oh hey Al/lan! Sure, come on in! What's up?"
"So.... something's come up, and-... Well, I don't really know how else to say this but-"
"Hold on, lemme stop you right there. I've seen this enough times to know where this is going."
Al/lan's eyes widened nervously. "You do?"
"Yeup. But If you're putting in your notice, I urge you to reconsider."
"I-...," he paused, losing his train of thought for a second, "What??..."
"PLEASE don't quit, Al/lan!" Mr B/oss clambered onto his desk, hands clasped together, a pleading look on his face. "I know firing Tyler was kinda out of the blue but there were reasons I can't legally discuss! It was a hard blow to all of us! We can't afford to lose you too! Things would be wack around here without you! Unbalanced! It just wouldn't be the same!"
"...."
"Who'll keep the finances in check? Who'll keep the paperwork organized and the files alphabetized and the plants watered and the shelves stocked and fridge clean and the... er- um... WHATEVER else you do! Please don't gooooo-!"
"I'm not- Mr B/oss, I'm not quitting!"
"You're... you're not??" he sniffled pitifully.
"NO! I'm trying to tell you I'm...," he hesitated a second before finally steeling himself. No sense in putting it off now, "I think I'm... pregnant...."
"Oh!..," he straightened up immediately, as if he hadn't just been bawling in front of his employee, "Is that all? You had me worried for a sec there, haha!"
Al/lan was completely taken aback. Wait... It was that easy? "You're... okay with this??"
"Yeah man, that's great news! I remember when Jason came around it was the happiest I'd ever been! It's nerve wracking, don't get me wrong, but it's worth it! If it's what you decide you want, that is."
The red critter's eyes darted side to side briefly in thought. "It won't affect my position at all?"
"I don't see why it would. Unless you just NEEDED some time away or something. Whatever you decide, you have my full support, dude!"
"Um... Wow, I- er.... Thank you."
Meanwhile, back in the breakroom.
Shortly after Al/lan left the room, Gl/ep made his way into the breakroom. P/im smiled and waved frantically to him!
"Good MORNING, Gl/ep! Ready for a brand new work day?"
The small green critter narrowed his eyes suspiciously, making P/im shrink slightly in his seat.
"Wajdhfkrjrurup?... (Why're you acting so skiddish?...)"
"Skiddish? ME?? HA! No no no, I'm not... Th-That's ridiculous!...," he mumbled, his tone growing quieter and quieter with every word.
Sweet fella can't lie for SHIT. And Gl/ep could see right through his attempt as if he were looking through freshly windexed glass. All it took was the unwavering glare to break him.
"Okay, okay.... It's not really MY news to share but... Can you keep a secret, Gl/ep?"
"Æ, (Meh.)" he shrugged.
P/im quickly peered over his shoulder before motioning Gl/ep to come closer. He put his hand up to his ear and whispered. "Al/lan just found out he's expecting!.."
Gl/ep's expression turned from brief confusion to brightened wonderment as he muttered his own version of 'WOW' under his breath
"You're the only one besides me and Mr B/oss that knows right now so try to keep it on the down low, alright?"
"Keep what on the down low??.."
P/im nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of a voice behind him. "Ch/arlie! When did you get here?? You startled me!" he yelped shakily, grasping his chair for dear life.
"I literally just got here, man. You didn't hear me come in? The front doorbell went off and everything," he said as he placed his lunch in the fridge. "So what's all this secrecy nonsense you were babbling about before I walked in?"
"Ah... Well..."
"Sjdidjfjoieuehjkipodepibop! (Al/lan's up the duff!)"
"GL/EP!" he semi scolded, earning another half hearted shrug from the smaller critter.
"'Up the duff?'..," Ch/arlie pondered a second, "I've never heard that phrase in my life, 'up the duff,' what's that even mean, dude?"
P/im shot Gl/ep a slightly stern look before sighing. Guess it's only fair to not keep him in the dark, now that basically everyone else knows. "Al/lan's pregnant, Ch/arlie."
Ch/arlie soaked the information in for a hot minute, momentarily wracking his brain to make sure he'd heard that correctly. "Pregnant, huh?... When'd he find that out?"
"I think last night? He'd taken several tests and they came back positive, so he's pretty sure. He must be at least a month or so along! He's even got a little bump starting to show!" P/im's enthusiasm obviously started to swell again when he reached the end of his statement.
"Ah... Cool."
Soooo to recap first reactions:
P/im, ECSTATIC.
Mr B/oss, super cool about it.
Gl/ep, also happy but kinda neutral.
Ch/arlie, mildly traumatized.
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sooooo... *twirls her hair* how many asks should i send until kuwagami art. jk as well. the real question will be: does it happen often that someone else’s art inspires you? in fandom spaces specifically
well you see it’s like a loyalty card program, every 10 asks or so you get a complimentary kuwagami
just kidding you can just breathe in my direction and I’ll be tempted to draw them. kuwagami blast! (you've caught me on a... just okay art day lol)
(people still like kabedons, right?)
anyway for my actual answer:
in terms of direct inspiration, it doesn't really happen much? the last two times i did art directly based on someone else's work is probably this one from this fic, and also that time i drew art of someone else's judgment au. oh! and there's that moriohpsycho art based on this comic! (filthyguts' work is so very. hgngngghh. very good.)
nothing else really comes to mind, and when i think of the other things i've been into recently there hasn't been as much opportunity for that to happen...
flex and herds = strong fixation but lmao. almost nobody else made stuff about them. nobody is surprised
umineko = surprisingly i don't read much umineko fanfiction? and in terms of illustration, i certainly picked up imagery and indirect inspiration but nothing concrete enough for me to give an example... now that i think about it, i did once draw andromalius from redaction/sunny, but that was years ago, and also mostly because i was acquainted with the writer. ...i don't have that artwork on hand right now
death note = didn't really get involved with the fandom + i enjoyed my own ideas well enough! ...i can't recall if i drew long-hair-L art before or after seeing other artists do it.
and as for everything else the same kind of reasoning applies. didn't really get involved with the fandom or wasn't really compelled to make art in response to stuff i saw, or i just don't remember anymore.
buuuuuuut if we're opening this up to just... pulling ideas from other people? then yeah, all the time, though that kind of goes without saying when you have a creative hobby. ...it's probably going to be hard to come up with examples of this since it's more ambiguous.
there's uhhhhhh... kuwana listens to nickelback which was a @/four-white-trees invention, wasn't it? (EDIT: and @/overdevelopedglasses!) (not tagging in this post so he doesn't feel obligated to read my big ass ask responses 💀) as of writing this, it's not posted but i did end up making kuwagami art based on a nickelback song so. yknow. there's that LMAO
for sawashiro and arakawa, i do sometimes go reference @/todayisafridaynight 's art to help me with my own. ("how did he draw this part of the suit? oh, like that huh? hmm" <- this kind of thing)
and um. i'm not trying to pander to you (at least not this time), but genuinely it's one of the few examples that come to mind at this moment. but when i was writing my first kuwagami fic, i could feel the influence of the ever-changing on my brain... was turning over some of your ideas there...
you remember this? (you even pointed it out in your comment on my fic, and i should've said something then, but whatever i'm saying it now)
that was absolutely because of this
(obligatory poke at anybody else reading this post that you can read passthroughtime's fic here.)
so, um. yeah. not really sure what else to add to that. pretty self evident i think. (i'm always talking about the ever-changing but i don't think i can overstate the impression it left on me at the time)
anyhow there aren't really any other examples off the top of my head! these are all recent examples so they're not so difficult to recall, but there are probably others i've forgotten...
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