#just shouting WOO GO PENN

[rosesncarnations]

Personal art bitches!! I love having ocs interact

For the text:

1: ivy rose put makeup on the himbo

2:penn is questioning things about himself

[fanaticsnail]

SNAILLL!DROP ANOTHER KILLER or /KID FIC! AND MY LIFE IS URS🙏

honestly love all ur work💛🙈

But why can't we have both?

Acid, Salt, Fat and Heat

Masterlist Here

Word Count: 5,600+

Synopsis: Your captain has engaged with a petulant challenge that included refusing to make port until both Kid and Law did first. Feeling pent up at sea, you set your sights on the blonde first mate to aid you in finding relief. The catch? He won't unless his captain does too.

Warnings: Eustass Kid x afab!reader x Massacre Soldier Killer, MDNI, 18+, smut, NSFW, throuple, with little plot, double penetration (same hole), facial (reader receiving), eating from the back (reader receiving), cock sucking, poor puns, poor jokes, vibrator play, swearing, pet names (little one, little thing, kitten, Straw-Hat, buttercup, sunshine), messy eating, masked sex, fingering, finger sucking, inappropriate use of devil fruit, size difference (average afab 163cms, Kid & Killer 200cms), praise, cervix touching, Killer has a shrill laugh, overstimulation, aftercare, creampie, squirting.

Notes: the smuttiest smut I have written on main. Shout out to the OC discord chat and @thenotsofantasticlifestory for their input! Love you guys 🖤

“You sure you can handle it, kitten?” Eustass Kid purred at you, reaching his right arm up to flick at your chin. His purple-hued fingernails colliding with your skin caused shivers to shoot down your spine and ignite your senses with anticipation.

Looking up at him through your eyelashes, you nodded your head slowly with your lips parted. He hummed down at you, his close-lipped smile splitting up his cheeks and his eyes narrowing to assess you further. Leaning down to a lower stoop, he hovered his painted lips above yours. The heat of his breath tingled against your skin, your body moving against its will to draw ever closer to the man in front of you.

As you drew yourself closer, the two arms of the man behind you clapped over your upper arms and tugged you flush into his chest. A soft gasp fled your lips, head tilting back and glancing up at the base of the blue and teal mask above your vision. Gulping back a soft mouthful of saliva, you began to double back on your prior over eagerness to engage with not one, but two, very eager playmates.

It had been a while since the Victoria Punk had docked at port, the entire crew feeling exceptionally pent up and in need to release their energy. Engaging in trysts amongst the crew was not unheard of, but it was uncommon. Ruining camaraderie and rapport was the main reason for the lack of entanglements, and Eustass Kid did not want to lose any more of his crew to their own broken heartedness.

Similarly to you, the crew of the Thousand Sunny were not helpful with catering to your needs. Luffy refused to make port due to the fact that both Kid and Law had yet to dock the Tang and the Punk. He was not going to lose to them, no matter how much you were in desperate need of relief.

When the three ships had brushed their hulls together, ropes thrown over the sides and knots tugged firmly to pull them flush against one another, you were bursting at the seams to at least talk to someone who was not a member of your crew. Shachi and Penguin were always a delight, and you couldn't get enough of their chaos.

However, when the blonde first mate of the Kid Pirates stepped over the barricade of the Thousand Sunny with a large pot of pasta, you were just about ready to spread your legs and have him take you on the dining table. Sanji was an excellent cook, but there was something about the blonde’s pasta that made you weak in the knees.

You had never engaged intimately with any member of the other two crews before, but the neediness pooling and soaking your underwear at the first bite of penne encouraged you to be a little bolder in your intentions. Killer was your first target to attempt to woo your way into his pants, but in doing so, it only attracted the magnetic presence of Eustass “Captain” Kid in the process.

“Fucking hell, Massacre Soldier!” you moaned, chewing back on the aldente texture of the cylindrical tubes, “Whoever said sex was the best thing invented hasn't tried this fucking pasta!”

That earned you a shrill giggle from the larger man, alongside a barked laugh from his captain a little further away. You beamed at the redhead, scrunching your nose playfully at him before the blonde recalled your attention.

“If you think my pasta is good,” the larger blonde huffed down at you, leaning closer to your ear, “You should see what else I can do with just a few ingredients.” You giggled at his comment, genuinely enjoying his comradery beside you.

“Oh yeah?” you arch your brows up at him, gently leaning in closer and brushing your thigh against the outside of his, “Tell me, big guy, what ingredients can you see yourself toying with here?” Killer twitched his head to the side, not expecting this kind of sultriness from a Straw-Hat.

Turning on the wooden pew beside you, he cupped the back of your thigh with his larger hand and gave your flesh a gentle squeeze. He gave you a little pause to test how far he was allowed to pursue you, which you would've appreciated in any other encounter. You were simply too pent up to care, arching your back and sucking your lips into your mouth to still the spread of your smile.

“See, I'm easy,” he hums down at you, “Every good recipe has four main ingredients: acid, salt, fat, and heat.” You nod along to his explanation, your brows knitting together as his fingers brush up and down your thigh before clasping around your hip. Holding your bone firmly, he tugs you towards him and engulfs your form with his larger chest.

“You think you can take my fat cock, little one?” he hushed down at you, causing your fluster to rise higher in your face. He hummed at your reaction, bringing his other hand up to capture your chin, “See, now there's the heat. You're practically radiating with it. I bet your pussy would be just as warm.” His thumb caressed the ball on your hip.

“A-And the acid and salt?” You managed to stutter, prompting Killer to raise his hand on your chin to cup your cheek.

“I think we both know about the salt,” he cooed at you, “What I wouldn't give to pump you full of my load. I could fill you up, or use it like a glaze over your perfect skin.” Your eyes widened and your body moved closer to his against its will.

Your underwear was sticking to your pussy with how wet his words made you. Pressing your thighs together for some relief, you could barely tear your eyes away from his mask for a single moment.

“The acid is where it gets a little tricky,” he traces his hand over your cheek and down your jaw once more. He gently pushed your face away from his and drew your attention towards the redheaded captain of the Victoria Punk.

“My Cap’n gets bitter and sour if he's left out of the mix.”

The amber eyes of Eustass Kid looked dangerously over your form from across the deck. Every part of him was solid and tense, the pure lust and jealousy radiating on him like a beacon illuminating complete darkness.

“You reckon you've got a way we can both fit, little one?” he whispered into your ear, the cool puff of air tickling your ear. You shudder, closing your eyes and giving into your desires with a soft moan.

“With the right chef doing the prep work,” you whimper, “I can think of several ways I can fit the both of you, big guy.”

“That's a good little thing,” he complimented you, the smile tangibly felt in his tone, “I'll make sure you're prepped for both of us. Once we're all done with our actual food, go and give him a kiss for me, would you?”

Not tearing your eyes away from Eustass Kid, you nod dumbly and slowly. Kid is taken aback by your action: cocking his head to the side, narrowing his eyes, and furrowing his brows. Darting his attention between you and Killer, he finally has the thought bloom in his mind and shoot straight to his cock.

He was going to fuck his little Straw Hat with his first mate.

And that is where you found yourself, wedged between two broad chests and grabby hands in the captain's quarters aboard the Victoria Punk. The red tint of Eustass Kid's lips finally collided with your mouth as he pressed himself against you. Desperation and neediness arose in you all, Kid's arm snaking around your shoulder prompted Killer to bring his hands down to the front of your pants.

As Kid’s tongue entered your mouth, Killer dipped his fingers beneath your waistline and immediately slipped his fingers between your glossy folds. You whimper into the mouth of Kid, prompting him to chuckle and consume your moans with more fervor. Growling into your lips, he tugged you closer to him while tilting his pointed chin up to get a better angle.

While tugged closer to Kid, Killer's fingers ground themselves against your clit in small circles. The pads of his large fingertips rocked against your hooded pearl and caused your slit to gush out a fresh wave of arousal. You parted your lips to mewl into Kid's mouth, which caused his teeth to seek out and bully your lower lips with soft nips.

“Fuck, our little one is so wet, Cap’n,” Killer gasped behind you, “I think I can make them cum just like this-...” He increased his speed, flickering your sensitive nerves with each different motion. Kid pulled his lips away from yours, a string of saliva attaching to both his and your lips with the soft tint of red paint lingering within.

“You gonna cum, kitten? You want the big guy to make you cum on his hand?” Kid goaded you, prompting you to pout at him. He removed his hand from your shoulder and pinched your chin in his thumb and index finger.

“Look at me while he makes you cum,” he ordered you, looking down his nose at you as your body continued to be worked at by Killer behind you. As much as you wanted to hold back from submitting to his request, one more swipe at your clit had your pussy contracting and fluttering with the overwhelming bliss of your orgasm.

“F-Fuck,” you stuttered, holding your eyes against Kid's as Killer continued to usher you through ecstasy. Slouching your back against Killer, you keened into his neck as he held you firmly against his chest. His forearm rocked against your chest, prompting you to buck your hips into his hands.

“There you go, little one,” Killer cooed down at you, slowing down his rocking to a steady pause. Running his fingers through your oversensitive folds causes you to shudder and mewl at the sensation. Withdrawing his hand up in front of you, he scissors the glistening slick on his fingertips.

“Fuck, look at that,” Kid gasped, his former abrasive attitude melting away as soon as he saw your essence, “Give us a taste, would you?” Killer offered Kid his hands, Kid making eye contact with you as he parted his lips and swirls his tongue over Killer’s fingers.

Humming, he immediately closes his eyes and cleans Killer’s fingers with his lips and tongue. Killer huffs out a sigh, bucking his hips and grinding his clothed cock against your ass, his neediness growing the longer he holds off from sinking himself into you. Kid pulled his lips off Killer’s fingers with a soundly ‘pop’ before looking up into your face once more.

“You need to get prepped before you take the both of us, kitten. All fours for me, would you?” Kid ushered you over to his large bed, the duvet astray and pillows askew, “Pants off, sunshine. Lemme see it all.” Killer whimpered at your absence, his cock aching and twitching beneath his pants.

The three of you were all as needy as one another, your pussy already dripping with desire thanks to Killer's earlier words, and coaxing an orgasm from you by just rubbing your clit alone. Your pants and shirt were cast aside hurriedly, your chest now exposed and nipples peaked within the cool air. Hooking your fingers into the hips of your underwear, you began pulling them over your ass slowly. The groin of the material stuck to you, the dark patch of arousal from your core painted the center and dampened the fabric.

“Fuck, you're so wet,” Kid stuttered out, his voice breathy and body immediately sauntering over to you with desperation in his footing, “Where do you want, Kil? You want our little Straw-Hat’s pussy, mouth, or ass?” You could barely register any words, arching your back and planting your head onto Kid’s mattress as they discussed what to do with you.

“Wherever you don't want, Cap’n,” he whispered huskily, his eyes hungrily consuming your body with his pointed gaze, “Fuck, that ass does look good, though.” Kid laughed at his oldest friend, clapping his right hand over his right shoulder while pressing a curt kiss against his right.

“Go put their head in your lap, hm?” Kid directed his first mate, “Hear that, kitten? You're gonna suck Killer's cock and treat him right.” You begin to raise your head off the bed, halting when you felt a metal casing cage around your stomach and hold you flush against the mattress. The ringing of belts and dropping of heavy materials on the floor indicated your two bed guests had shed themselves of their clothes.

Kid's metal hand elevated you effortlessly, your face growing more flustered as you felt him pant against your pussy from behind. Killer crawled into the bed, your hands hastily drawing his large thighs closer to you. Nestling your head between his thighs, your eyes drank in the pretty cock bobbing in front of you. Without any further word or direction, your smaller hands wrapped around his large cock and your lips found his inner thigh.

Chasing a trail of kisses over his inner legs, you ground your palm against his cock before pumping his shaft. Killer panted, his cock involuntarily twitching and bobbing with every subtle change you made. Drawing yourself up onto your forearms, you lulled your tongue outside your lips and licked a heavy stripe along the underside of his cock. Following the bulbous vein up his shaft, you flickered your tongue over his blunt tip and collected the first few drops of precum onto your palate.

As soon as you parted your lips to take his knob into your mouth, you cried out as you felt your folds part by Eustass Kid’s large, red tongue. Your eagerness to take Killer’s cock into your mouth multiplied tenfold, using him as a tool to ground yourself to the earth while the motion of Kid's tongue had you ascending. Flicking and bobbing his head, Kid mouthed at you, rolling your sensitive clit over his tongue and sucking briefly on whatever took his fancy.

You had never engaged with anyone so eager to please you with their mouth, feeling yourself truly unable to hold back the rocking of your hips into his face as you began to take Killer's cock into your mouth. Filling your lips with Killer's fat tip, you whimpered and keened around it as Kid rocked your body against his face with his cool metal arm.

“Fuck, little one,” Killer gasped for you, his hand falling down to cradle your scalp and coax you to bob against him, “You feel so good. How you doing back there, Cap'n?” All Kid could find in his coherence was a groan at the back of his throat, too drunk on your essence to give either of you an answer.

Taking what you could of Killer's cock in your mouth, you pumped the remainder of the base with one hand, while the other caressed his balls.

“Hhah-... F-fuck-... I-I-...” Killer threw his head back, bucking his hips up to fill more of your mouth with his fat cock, “...-I don't know how long I'll last like this. Fuck, little one. Who taught you how to suck cock like that?” You attempted to giggle at him, only halting as you felt Eustass Kid pull away from your pussy to spit on it. You whimpered, feeling his lips dive back in and flicker over your clit.

You had half a mind to talk to Killer and tease him, but Kid’s skilled lips and tongue had your mind foggy and clouded by each fell swipe. The coil in your abdomen began to stir and tighten to a tense pinnacle, just as Killer felt his balls twitch and draw up into his stomach. Kid’s tongue pressed against your entrance, lapping messily and greedily into your slit while humming and moaning at the taste of your arousal.

“Nghhm-... F-Fuck! Stop- I'm gonna c-cum!” Killer attempted to warn you, already past the point of halting his eruption while desperately trying not to cum in your mouth. Tugging at your scalp to halt you, you managed to shake your head and bob it faster over his shaft. “No, no, no, no, no-...” He stuttered, finally getting a foothold on your head and hastily tugging you away from his cock.

Just as your lips left his knob, you couldn't help but desperately pump his shaft as Kid has you unravel on his tongue. The coil in your stomach snapped and your walls spasmed around his tongue with the first waves of your orgasm. Massacre Soldier Killer held the back of your head in a firm cradle, his cock twitching as you pumped him. Your thumb flicked over his tip, which switched the final channel of lust in Killer's stomach and had him cry out for you.

His cum shot out and immediately splashed over your forehead, cheek, and chin in thick ropes. The milky-colored seed littered your skin in hot splashes, immediately causing you to cum harder against Kid’s face and tongue.

“Shit!” Killer cursed at the sight laid out before him. His captain's face buried deep within your thighs, lapping greedily and messily at your walls while he coated your face in his thick cum. Each splash from Killer seemed to propel you to cry out and cum harder against Kid's face, truly basking in the fact he couldn't contain himself or force himself back from that edge.

Both riding your highs down, Kid gave your clit a quick kiss before bringing himself up to the sight above him. Killer's chest rose and fell in a thick pant, his cock still proudly standing as it dribbled with the soft aftershocks of his release. Your face was riding the blissful waves of a soft afterglow directly after contorting in ecstasy. Lips parted, eyes closed, and face completely covered in several waves of Killer’s heavy load.

“Fuck, big guy,” Kid chuckled at his first mate, “There’s so much.” Kid gives your ass a gentle slap as he crawls up to hover over your back. “So messy, kitten,” he commented on your face, “Hand us a tissue would you, Kil?”

“I-... I got it…” Killer panted, reaching to the bedside table to the right of him. Tearing four leaves in hasty consecutive motions, he drew the material to your face and began dabbing at the cum while Kid rubbed his hand along your back and traced every dip and crevace along your spine.

Several fragments of the tissue paper stuck to your face, prompting you to giggle up at the big guy as he cleaned you.

“Sorry about that, little one. I tried to warn you it was gonna happen,” he spoke in a low and warm tone, “What would you have preferred, me cumming in that beautiful mouth of yours?”

“I would prefer it if you came in my pussy, honestly,” you admit with a shrug, causing Kid to let out a sound between a growl and a whimper. Kid gave you a final dab of the cheeks before giving your nose a gentle, affectionate tap.

“You'll still get some in your pussy if you want it,” Killer cooed at you, turning you to face Kid as he knelt back. His red lip paint spilt over his lipline, the juices of your release glistening against his chin and nose. Smirking up at him, you barely had the opportunity to raise your hand before he pounced on you.

Pushing your back flush against Killer’s chest, Kid rose your hips and sat you on Killer’s Adonis belt above his deflating cock. Eustass Kid’s angry cock twitched it's shaft as he caged both you and Killer beneath his looming form.

“Feeling adequately prepped for me, kitten?” Kid purred down at you, playfully nudging your chin with his forehead to push your head back to lull into Killer’s shoulder, “Or should I fuck you with my metal hand to stretch you a bit?”

“I can take your cock, Captain,” you scoff, attempting to look down at his steely shaft, only for him to push you back down into Killer’s shoulder once more.

“You say that now,” Kid cackled at you, rubbing his tip against your folds before placing the tip at your entrance, “...but once I sink in a little-.” He rocked his hips forward a little,

“-Ah, fuck!” you cry out at the stretch, prompting him to immediately pull his cock head away from your entrance. Killer wrapped his hands around your waist, soothing circles into your skin with his thumbs. Kid and Killer both share a glance with one another, communicating wordlessly before Kid placed his tip at your entrance one more time.

As he slowly pressed his mushroomed knob into your needy cunt, Killer reached his hands down to pry your folds apart with the heels of each palm, seeking out your clit and gently caressing it with his thumbs. Immediately your body relaxes and your hips rock against each roll of his digits in your clit. Kid sunk himself down further, eyes not leaving your face as he watches intently for any discomfort.

“There you go, little one,” Killer praised you, enjoying the feeling of your ass rocking against his Adonis belt, “Taking the Cap'n so well. Good job, just a little more.” Kid fought back the urge to slam his hips forward and immediately sheathe himself in your gummy walls. Using each fiber of his being to not give in to the temptation, he inched himself slowly into your needy core.

“You're doing well too, Cap'n,” Killer hummed up at the redhead, “Being gentle with our little Straw Hat, while I know you want to give in.” Kid whimpered, pressing his goggle-adorned forehead against your chest to hide his fluster. Gently rocking forward, your back bowed as you finally felt him press up to the hilt.

Giving a testy buck of his hips, Killer ensured both you and Kid felt secure enough while still gently rubbing circles against your clit. Kid felt your walls flutter and adjust to his size.

“Nggh-... Fuck…” Kid whispered against your flushed skin, pressing a soft kiss against the bone in the center of your chest. “...why haven't we done this sooner again?” He chuckled into your chest, rolling his head up and resting his chin at the center.

“Because we haven't been desperate enough to try?” you offered him with an arched brow. He huffed aggitatedly, rolling his hips against yours and testing the stretch. Killer braced you against him, holding you completely against his broad chest and taught stomach muscles.

“Fuck,” you keen for Kid, feeling the way each rake of his cock inside you molded you to the shape of him, “That, and I didn't think you were interested in fucking a Straw Hat.”

Kid stopped his movements, sheathing himself to the hilt within your pussy and turning your chin with his flesh hand. Your eyes met his through fluttered lids, examining his expression with curiousity. He drew his face towards yours, all prior cockiness melting away and a stern seriousness left in its stead.

“We don't want to fuck a Straw Hat,” he uttered, his lips almost brushing with yours, “We want to fuck our Straw Hat.” You only had a moment to react to the admission before Kid started properly rocking his hips into you. No more timidity, no more subtlty, all of Eustass Kid’s hulking form finally giving in to his feral urges now that you had fully adjusted to his size.

“Our little Straw Hat,” he growled into your skin, pressing his lips to your neck and mouthing at the skin, “Our spicy little kitten,” he chuckled into you, cementing and punctuating his exclaim with a crude slap of his hips meeting your pelvis. Killer let out a squeak of laughter at that comment, to which you would've laughed along with him if Eustass Kid wasn't slapping his balls against your unexplored ass hole with each heavy, deep thrust.

Killer hummed down at you, removing his hand from between you both in favour of hooking his legs beneath your thighs and raising them to your chest. Kid rose his right leg, trapping Killer’s leg beneath him and changing the angle of each stroke. You mewled out, gasping for air as Killer exposed more of your pussy for Kid to drive into. Killer never took his eyes off you, insuring you were enjoying the feeling of how deep Kid burried himself into you with each buck and rock.

As you adjusted to the depth of his deep rocking, Kid hooked his other leg over Killer's, crouching in a deep lunge. His motions were now so deep, you felt your air being pushed from your throat, and his bulge deep in your abdomen. Kid's lips parted, huffing and panting with his eyes scrunched tightly shut. The crude, squelching ‘plap,’ of his balls slapping against your overstimulated pussy was enough for Killer’s cock to twitch back to life, his own empathetic waves of pleasure coiling in the pit of his stomach.

Your lips parted, brows raising to a peak at the center of your face as you felt Kid finally hit your g-spot with each crude hook of his blunt tip. Your collective moans grew louder, all carelessly flinging them from your chests as you raised your hand up to cup at Kid’s neck.

“Fuck, I-I’m gonna cum! F-F-Fuck- I'm cumming,” Kid cried out, his cock twitching and motions drawing into a manic pace. You barely had any chance to catch up to him, feeling far too overwhelmed by the depth of his cock to properly contract around him. Hot waves of his thick release blew out of his small slit and splashed back against your cervix. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he changed with each languid thrust, falling into his knees and continuing to rock into you. You moaned with him, feeling his release coat your walls with each motion.

Killer couldn't stop what happened next, his body reacted of his own accord. As Kid pulled out, Killer’s fully erect cock danced at your entrance. Kid looked down at Killer's cock brushing against his knob and smirked at him.

“You reckon you can handle both now?” Kid asked with a chuckle in his tone. You were simply too out of it and desperate for your third release that you nodded without any afterthought. Kid reached down and pressed his cock against Killer's, Killer moaning at the immediate attention.

Squeezing his still drooling cock with his first mate's, Kid placed both tips at your slit. Using his prior release as lubrication, Kid rocked both Killer's and his own shiny tips into your slit. You have a soft whine at the stretch, but immediately nodded while bracing Kid's body against yourself. Kid moaned into one shoulder, while Killer hissed in the other. Both cocks slowly stretched your walls, the soft sting of your body accommodating them aided with your’s and Kid's prior release.

Only making it halfway into your pussy, Killer began to set a lazy pace inside you, brushing his frenulum against Kid’s and gasping at the feeling. You felt the most full you had ever been, sandwiched between two walls of flesh on a foreign ship, and taking two cocks deep into your pussy.

Kid pulled his head away from your shoulder to check in with you, sensing any discomfort from you by darting his eyes all over your face. He tilted his head at you, a small thought crossing his mind and causing him to chuckle.

“Mind if I try something, kitten?” he whispered in your ear, giving your skin a soft kiss after you shake your head in response.

“We're already trying a lot of new things for me,” you attempted to laugh along with your confession, huffing out while Killer rocks his cock deep inside you. Kid grins broadly, raising his hand and activating his devil fruit ability. Soaring through the air were six, small, egg-shaped objects no bigger than your thumb.

“This is gonna be new for all of us,” Kid nodded nonchalantly, his cock already twitching with interest while half-sheathed within you. You felt each rock of Killer’s hips press Kid’s knob against your g-spot, causing your walls to flutter and constrict both of them deep within you. Just as you felt yourself build up to your third climax, two of the objects attached themselves to your clit and vibrated them with a hard intensity. Two more were placed on each of the two men's balls as they buried their cocks in syncopated rhythm.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!” you screamed, your pussy immediately releasing a gush of fluid directly splashing against Kid’s pelvis and Killer’s thighs. Kid gasped in surprise, groaning against the feeling of your walls fluttering against his and Killer’s cocks.

“We've got ourselves a squirter!” Kid laughed, immediately rocking with more intension, craving more immediately. “Hear that, big guy? A squirter!”

Killer was completely lost, his mind foggy and need for release causing him to whimper and whine out soft squeaks. Kid barked a soft string of laughter, riding your pussy through the waves of absolute overstimulation, increasing the intensity of the vibrating bulbs on your clit and his and Killer's balls.

“One more, one more, one more,” Kid desperately chanted, feeling his own release propel forward at the knowledge he can make you cum hard enough to splash him with it. Killer gripped your thighs harder, bucking up into your pussy with a desperation he had not felt prior. You were experiencing an outer body encounter, your body flooded with pleasure. Still riding through the waves of your prior release, you felt another creep up onto you.

“You gonna cum? You gonna cum, kitten?” Kid asked, his balls slapping against Killer's as they both thrust up into you, “You gonna squirt on our cocks again? C'mon little one. You've got more for me. Just one more. I'll cum with you, baby. You want that?” You nodded dumbly, feeling your body becoming as pliant as a marionette dancing on Kid and Killer's strings.

Kid increased the intensity of the vibrations one last time, prompting Killer to roar into your shoulder immediately. Hot spurts of his release splashed up and swirled against Kid’s former waves. The chain reaction of Killer’s release caused both you and Kid to cum alongside him. As Kid shot up into you, you released another gush of fluid over Killer’s thighs with enough power to splash against Kid’s stomach and trickle down his balls.

“Just like that, just like that,” Kid praised you, manicly rocking into you with each spurt of his cum dancing with the three fluids.

“Fu-ck!” you keened, crying tears of pleasure down your cheeks at the impact of your fourth release. Kid and Killer's movements stilled, opting to pull out of you and roll you onto your side. Killer tucked himself behind you, resting his covered forehead against your shoulder blade while Kid immediately sprung up and removed the vibrating bulbs from your bodies with a flick of his wrist.

Although he was wonky on his feet, he stumbled to the bathroom and dazedly turned the taps on for his large bathtub to fill with waters and bathing oils. Bracing himself against the side of the tub with his metal hand, he snuck a look over his shoulder at the two of you panting and catching your breaths at the intensity of your climax. Chuckling to himself, he set to work on taking care of his first mate and his little Straw Hat.

Filling a large decanter full of water, he managed to only locate two mugs, and three shot glasses in his bedroom that seemed to match. Opting for the matching set, he cleaned them in the sink and set them aside to dry. As soon as the tub filled with enough water, he turned off the tap and dipped his fingers in it to test the temperature. Nodding and feeling rather proud of himself, Kid returned to his bed and noticed the two of you had finally caught your breath and were almost asleep.

“Nope, none of that,” Kid warned you, rousing you from your almost slumber with a pout on your lips, “Gotta clean you up, buttercup. We stretched you pretty good just now, don't want you to regret it more than you already probably will.” You scoff at him, slowly drawing yourself away from the man behind you by wriggling on the mattress.

“I don't think I'm gonna regret being sandwiched between two legendary pirates, Captain,” you hummed at him, your legs feeling as stable as a plate of jelly in an earthquake. As you stumbled forward, Kid chuckled at you and caught you in his arms.

“You might not,” he shrugged, hoisting you into his arms and carrying you to his bathroom, “But your pussy might feel a little raw after a while. Lemme take care of you for a bit, alright?” Killer hummed from behind you both, rolling onto his stomach and rocking back onto his knees.

“M’coming too, Cap'n,” Killer nodded, springing to his feet and walking beside the two of you, “You reckon we can all fit in there?” All of you look down at the triangular spa and tilt your heads to the side. You giggle, looking to the mask-wearing first mate and shoot him a winning smile.

“I can think of several ways to make us all fit in there, big guy,” you hum affectionately at him with half-hooded lashes. He shakes his head, giving your chin a soft pinch, and beginning to ready the three of you by finding towels and wash clothes to dote on the both of you.

Filling up the three short glasses with cool water, Killer passed them two both you and Kid sitting beside him in the scented water. All relaxing in comfortable silence while enjoying one another's bare skin, you all finally felt the tension wash away and recline into one another. Finally finding a small semblance of peace between ports, you had never felt more content than you were with your two allied crewmen.

Tag list: @mfreedomstuff @daydreamer-in-training @since-im-already-here @gingernut1314 @writingmysanity @sordidmusings @i-am-vita @indydonuts @feral-artistry @the-light-of-star @empirenowmp3 @racfoam @sunflowersatori @carrotsunshine @skullfacedlady

[multifandomthoughts]

White Tea with Mista

Gender Neutral reader

TW: food, fire

Requested by: anonymous

Part of the Soulmate Tea Party Event!

You resist the urge to throw your phone across the room as the video on it shows a perfectly completed pasta dish, while you stand at the countertop with burnt noodles in a too watery sauce. All you wanted to do was learn a new recipe and surprise Mista with the meal, but it seems next to impossible to get right no matter how many times you’ve tried.

“Hey, can one of you help me?” You shout to the other members of your squad. You shriek, noticing a zipper appearing below you. “I’d be happy to help you with this meal. What are you trying to make?” You take a minute to catch your breath, realizing it was only Bruno.

“Well, I’m trying to make penne with sausage and a cheesy sauce, but I keep messing up the pasta… and the sauce. I can cook the meat just fine though.” He nods thoughtfully, and pokes a fork into your dish. “Yes, I see what you mean. Let me see the recipe you’re reading from, and I can try and see where the problem lies.”

The two of you consult the video for a few minutes, and you explain the process you were going through to follow it. Sure enough, he offers a few pointers, but you still can’t seem to see what’s making such a big difference. You sigh and continue to fiddle with the dish until you hear the creak of stairs and the whine of tiny voices.

Mista.

As you look over into his eyes, It begins to happen again. That familiar sense of calm. Your body begins to feel like jello and any thought you had immediately dissipates. Bruno of course turns to greet his subordinate, but then immediately turns back to pointing out an issue you were in the middle of trying to correct. Unfortunately for him, you no longer hear his words of wisdom as all thoughts and feelings have been shot down.

All you can experience at the moment is blissful serenity as Mista smiles at you and asks… something. It’s hard to focus on listening right now. Why is that? Doesn’t matter, he’s here and you feel great about it. Mista stares dumbfounded at you as Bruno grips your arm, turning your body around. The pan spouts flames as the sausage slowly chars. Luckily for you, you’re able to extinguish the heat before it can destroy the meal. “Mista, can you go somewhere else? Bruno barks, gritting his teeth. Gulping, the gunslinger takes the hint, hightailing it out of there.

You want to object, to get upset about Bruno being so rude, but you look at Mista and suddenly your anger and panic evaporates again. “Okay, you’re going to need to explain what all that was about, or there will be a lot more fires in our future…” Bucciarati says, rubbing his temples. “Every time my eyes meet his, my body melts like butter and my insides explode into butterflies. I’ve wondered if there’s something wrong with me, or if I need to seek professional help. This has been happening ever since I joined the squad, ever since I met Mista.” You confess.

Bruno clasps his hand in yours, becoming quiet. He wants to make sure he articulates his words correctly, not leaving you lost. “This would imply that maybe, just maybe, Mista is your soulmate.” Bruno states, his words cutting the atmosphere like a knife. “Until seeing your interaction just now, I thought the idea was just a myth. It’s been said that locking your eyes will immediately put you into a state of serenity and utter calm. It would explain you completely zoning out and missing every word I said.

But knowing what I know now, this dish becomes even more important. Time is of the essence; you’re going to confess how you feel to him.” Bruno removes his hand from yours, a suave smile creeping onto his face. “Now, can you concentrate enough to finish this dish and woo your teammate?” Teasing aside, you know how important this is. Having dinner to present to your soulmate (it feels so weird to think of him with that title!) would make the confession all the better, so getting it right has never been more crucial.

The two of you spend another 15 minutes going over the recipe with a fine toothed comb and you soon realize the problem had been how high the heat had been on the stovetop. You had wanted to speed up the cooking process with a higher heat for less time, but the lower simmer did more to slowly cook the pasta all the way through and let the sauce components mix together smoothly.

With that error sorted, the rest was easy and you soon had an excellent looking dish ready. “Go ahead, I’m sure he won’t be hard to find. Just let him know how you feel, and try not to lock up looking at him if you can help it. He might think avoiding eye contact means you’re upset, but once he knows the real reason it’ll be fine.”

You saw Mista dart out the door after being scolded, so you immediately follow his steps. Going out on the porch, you find your so called soulmate sitting on the patio chair, squabbling with his stand. “Hey Mista…” you mumble, keeping your eyes on the freshly grown grass. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about, do you mind if I have a seat?” He nods at you and continues to chide his bullets for how they’re squabbling amongst themselves, all 7 of them perking up when you place the food on the patio table. “Wanted to try making something new, thought you’d enjoy the first taste.” You explain as a subtle encouragement for him to eat.

You pull out a chair and sit down, drumming your fingers on the table. “I apologize about earlier today, there’s something about you that puts me at peace, something that I can’t put my finger on. Bucciarati had a theory on why it is, but I don’t know how you’ll feel about it. Before any of that, I want to try and put it into my own words… you’ve become someone very special to me, and someone I’m always really happy to be around. That’s only gotten stronger over time, and now I feel like I can hardly spend a day without you…I think you’re my soulmate.”

Mista chuckles, barely containing his laugh you loved so much. “I’ve known for a while that you were someone special to me. When I look at you, you’re all I ever wanted in life. You’re intelligent, attractive and funny. Not to mention a really good cook. Now that I know that there’s a word for it, i’m very glad to be your soulmate, and glad that you’re mine.”

You smile brightly at him and laugh too. “I’m so glad. I was going to say, Bruno figured it out by the way looking at you made me completely forget about the food I was struggling to make earlier. I guess it’s an old tradition that looking at your soulmate instantly mellows you out from everything around you? Glad he gave me the nudge I needed!”

Mista pokes your shoulder, a wide grin plastered across his face. “Maybe next time we can try to successfully make food for the entire team! As a thanks for putting the two of us together, and as a thanks to Bruno for helping us realize our love for each other!”

Your jaw drops at Mista being bold enough to use the L word you had been a bit afraid to. “Yeah… yeah our love. We should do something nice for them. But before that, I have something special for you too…Wanting to be bold back, you take his hand and lean in to press a kiss on his cheek. Unfortunately for that plan, his reflexes are quicker and he turns at just the right time to make it a full kiss.

“So, what should we make for them?”

[ratcatcher0325]

Nobody’s Fool (Chapter #12)

Chapter 12! Woo hoo! Penn ponders his existence in a pink bathtub. I don’t know… He’s hungover, give him a break! Also, the tiny vampire reference in this is an unashamed shout out to @entomolog-t and their OC Aedes! I love that little bloodsucker!

Previous: Chapter #11

Next: Chapter #13

CW: Adult language, dehumanization, references to abuse, mild non-sexual nudity

________________________________________

NOBODY’S FOOL

Chapter #12: Just Under the Surface

[Penn’s POV]

*******************

What. The. Fuck. Happened? I felt like I’d been hit by a train when I awoke. I’d been having the time of my life and now… I felt like complete and utter shit. I mean, I knew there’d be a price to pay for all that kicking, dancing and bouncing around given that I was still pretty beat up. But this felt different. This awful throbbing in my head, my gut felt rent to pieces… if I didn’t know better this felt like a massive hangover. Had I gotten that drunk?? I was buzzed throughout the night, sure… but I didn’t remember getting drunk. Shit. Did I black out? Oh no. Oh, god, how embarrassing!! I racked my brain trying to remember…. The last thing I recalled was taking that photo as a group, Jack and the band…. And then… nothing.

I didn’t remember how we got home. How I got into these pajamas, how I ended up wrapped in Eveline’s fingers. Her warm breath cascading down on me in slow rhythms. I realized, embarrassed, that she must’ve changed my clothes for me. My face flushed hot. What else had I said or done to make myself look like an idiot? What a shitty way to fuck up an amazing night! I rolled over, trying to get myself to go back to sleep, when I felt her murmur and shift, her grey green eyes opening, looking down at me. “Hey, little man…” she mumbled, half asleep. She rubbed my hair with her finger tip. “How ya feeling?” I moaned. “That bad huh?”

I nodded my head up and down, sticking out my lower lip. She couldn’t help laughing at my sorry state, “Awwww, poor little baby! You seem a lot more sober now, though, so that’s good!” Ugh! I smacked my face with my hands hiding my eyes. “Oh! Oh don’t be embarrassed! You were absolutely fucking adorable!!” I groaned. “You were! You kept stumbling all over yourself and telling everyone how much you liked them!” I groaned even louder. “Ha! You even told Riley, because you didn’t realize I was right behind you that you thought I had pretty eyes…” Oh god! That was actually bad. My face stung with red hot embarrassment. She didn’t need to know that I practically fell into the turbulent tidal waves that were her irises every time I looked at them. “Penn? You alright?”

I’d been quiet for too long. I pulled my hands away from my face, looking up at her. “I don’t remember any of that. I must’ve blacked out. How embarrassing!”

She chuckled at me as I rolled over, “Hey you’re just lucky Dani decided to be nice and not film the whole thing on her phone!” I groaned at top volume. “Whatever, sour puss, you didn’t do anything too egregious and you were fabulous the rest of the night. We were all so proud of you.”

I rolled back to face her, shoving at her fingers that encircled my body, “Nuh, uh! You’re just saying that so I’ll stop bitching about it!”

As I shoved at the flesh of her hand, unable to move it at all, she giggled, “Oh you lookin for a fight, little man? You wanna fight me this morning?” She tickled me up and down my rib cage making me burst into laughter, despite my sore body and pounding head. Then with the greatest of ease she pinned each of my flailing arms down above my head with just her fingertips, “Go ahead, fight me! What’re you just laying there for??” I squirmed and writhed.

“No fair! No fair! Time out, time out!” Damn, she was strong, even when she was just playing with me. She let go immediately, replacing the pressure of her fingers with her soft, warm lips on my head. Her touch, so soothing and enveloping helped ease my headache for just a fleeting moment. I closed my eyes and breathed in her scent that surrounded me as deeply as my little lungs would let me.

*******************

I wasn’t as insane about it as Dani, but I loved giving him little kisses. It felt sweet and I hoped it did something to counteract all the abuse he’d experienced before. I wanted him to know some humans could be tender, sweet, gentle. Given his drunken confessions last night, I felt more confident than ever that the message was being delivered. When I pulled my lips away, his eyes were closed as he took a deep breath, a smile on his face. Cute boy.

“You wanna stay here and rest for a bit? I’ve got some illustrations I have to get working on, but I can do that in the living room.” Keeping his eyes closed he nodded his head. “Okay, little man, you sleep off all that alcohol poisoning and feel better, okay? Doctor’s orders!” He couldn’t help the smile playing on his lips. “Good boy. I’ll come check on you in a few hours.” He rolled over curling up as I placed the covers over him.

I padded off to the living room, leaving my door cracked open. After brewing some earl grey with honey for myself, I settled into my usual spot on the couch and grabbed my sketchbook. I had meant to flip straight to my drafts for my latest project, but accidentally flipped to the page where dozens of little Penns peered out at me in graphite lines. I traced my finger over these, some of them about true to life in size. He looked so little. So beside himself with fear. I just remembered how his whole body trembled at practically every new sound or movement. It was hard to imagine the man asleep in the next room was the same as the one shown here. My, how you’ve come into your own, with just a little love and encouragement!

I flipped back to my drafts, and kept working on character designs. As I sketched and re-sketched face shapes, eye placements, proportions, trying to get the right feel for this particular client’s children’s book, I found that every reworking of the little prince character turned more and more into looking like Penn. His mop of hair, his sweet brown eyes…. I couldn’t help smiling to myself. Maybe, with the client’s approval, this character could be a nod to the wonderful tiny man who’d come to shake up my life. I worked for the next few hours, transferring my initial paper sketches to my digital studio. At my desk with my full kit and wide state-of-the-art monitor, these cartoon-y drawings really started to come to life. I had a background in anatomical realism, and that was my preferred style, but that didn’t always pay the bills… illustrations for books, however…. After about three and a half hours had passed, I slipped quietly back into my darkened bedroom.

Peering over the bed, I found a sleeping pet, breath heavy, brow relaxed, lips slightly parted. I wished I’d brought my sketchbook in here now. I wanted to capture this sweet moment. I reached out to lightly stroke his head when he whipped around and growled. I jumped! “Ha ha! Gotcha!!! I heard you crack open the door…” he had a huge, satisfied grin on his face. For once, he’d managed to frighten a human! “Ooh, you totally got me! Just you wait, I’ll get you back for this! When you least expect it!” I winked, sliding on to the bed, propping myself up by my elbows. “How’s the headache treating you?” He had slid up to sitting now, his back resting against my pillow. As I asked, I started to massage his scalp with my fingers, rubbing his temples and across the crown of his head.

He shivered with pleasure. Groaning, “Mmmm, well it feels great right now… do me a favor and just do that forever, okay? Ooh!! That feels amazing!” I loved having my head rubbed like that. I’m glad he enjoyed it too. He kept leaning into the pressure I was applying like a cat, begging for more pets. “My head feels okay. Not 100% but much better.”

I was relieved, “Good. Glad we didn’t accidentally kill you after your first night on the town!” I winked and he chuckled.

“Who knows where I might’ve ended up right now if that girl and her mom had kidnapped me, instead, right?” Where indeed? Hopefully not crumpled up at the bottom of a trash can.

“You wanna come out into the light or stay in here like a good little vampire?” I rested a finger on his chest.

“Oh! Vampire you say? I’d be a very tiny vampire! That would actually make me pretty good at my job! I could sneak up on unsuspecting humans and…” he reeled back and then bit me! He sunk his little teeth into the pad of my finger. I yelped, pulling away.

He laughed hysterically. I was more surprised than in pain, as I looked at the tiny impression of his mouth on my skin, he hadn’t drawn blood or anything. “Look at that! Look how little your teeth are… awwww my teeny tiny vampire… so cute!!!” I pinched his cheeks between my fingers. He laughed right along with me. “C’mon, it’s time to rise and shine, little guy.” He nodded, agreeing, as I picked him up. Seeing his unkempt hangover hair, I remembered I needed to bathe him. “Hey, don’t take this the wrong way, but I think this little pet needs a bath… like now…” I lifted him to my nose, wrinkling it, pretending he stunk.

“Woah, hey! It’s not my fault you thought it would be a good idea to bring me to a packed bar full of drunken, sweaty humans… their nasty stench probably rubbed off on me!” Rolling my eyes, I carried him in to the bathroom, running warm water for his bath.

As I leaned over the bowl of the sink, I had a thought. “You know… I guess you’re more than capable of bathing yourself…. I don’t know why I felt like I had to do it for you… I guess because you were still so cold and hurt that first time… but I don’t want you to feel like I’m treating you like a baby… you want me to give you some privacy?” He looked stunned. He’d probably never ever had the chance to clean himself. He’d probably accepted it as a fact that every time he needed to be cleaned up, he’d be robbed of all his dignity and poked and prodded by giant fingers. “Here….” I filled the bowl up enough to cover him, but where he could easily sit or lie down and not have to tread water. I made sure it had plenty of suds before placing some shampoo, conditioner and body wash in bottle caps, which floated in the water like bath toys for him to use. He’d have to strip and I’d have to pick him up and place him in the water, but that was it. He did so and I picked him up under his arms, lowering him gently into the soapy water, I cast my eyes away from his naked body, trying to give him some shred of dignity.

“All set?” He replied in the affirmative. “Okay, just shout when you’re done and I’ll come help you out of there…. Enjoy your bath!”

As I crossed to the door, his voice sounded again, “Eveline?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for working so hard to treat me with respect and decency. You have no idea what it means to me…”

I bit my lip, “You’re welcome, sweet boy. I know you’d do the same for me…” with that, I stepped away from the bathroom.

*******************

I laid back in the water, the heat an absolute gift to my aching body. It was so quiet. The only sounds were the lapping of the water against the frosted pink sides of the bowl, as well as the distant hum of the air conditioner as it kicked on. Other than that it was just me and my thoughts. Alone. Private. Space to breathe. Space to look at myself. She’d been trying not to stare at me naked, which was very generous of her, but she and I had both forgotten about the bandaids I had on. Now soaking in the water, they felt like strange scratchy patches of skin that had been grafted on to my body. I didn’t really get much of a chance to look at myself, or think about myself as a thing that took up space, however small. Everyone else practically made it their job to comment on and observe my body, my movements, my size. But sitting here comfortably, all to myself, I lifted my arms, wiggling my fingers, watching the muscles of my abdomen bulge as I sat up, rolling my ankles and watching my thighs and calves flex and relax. I pushed my wet hair from my eyes. All in all, I had a nice body. When not compared to a human’s gigantic features, I looked proportional, well built, an attractive specimen. My hands, my feet, my face, didn’t seem so pathetically tiny to me, as I was so often told. It was just everyone else that was so freakishly big.

I leaned back into the warm water, lathering up my hair with shampoo. I chuckled that at a little over thirty years old, this was the first time, I, a fully grown adult, was washing my own hair. It felt strange to have fingers proportional to my skull digging into my scalp rather than one or two massive ones. Thank you, Eveline, for giving me the gift of privacy… it was so nice to do things for myself. I loved the way the shampoo smelled, strong and floral, as I rubbed it in.

I remembered back to that first night, I was wracked with fear, caked in dirt, ice and my own blood, when she had been cleaning me with her fingers and pouring water over my head. Each time she did so, I kept waiting to be cruelly dunked under the water and drowned. I was such a skittish little thing back then, having been so used to alertness and an over-abundance of caution being my only tools to survival in a world that could kill me as easily as swatting a fly.

Things were so much better now than then. Images flashed through my mind of last night’s euphoric magic. Humans. Cheering. Sweat. My aching hands as I played as fast and hard as I could. Heart pounding. Voice soaring. Being a part of something. Wowing them all with that one classic rock riff. Pictures, so many pictures. Drinks. Rowdy crowd. Picked up. Put down. My soul leaving my body to relish in the happiest night of my whole existence. I started to whistle to myself as I washed my body and rinsed my hair. What a lucky pet I was…

I soaked in the water for a bit longer when I heard a soft knock at the door. “Hey… how we doing in here?”

I sat up, ringing out my hair, “Good. This felt amazing, thank you. I’m ready to get out, now.” A hand appeared over the lip of the bowl, descending down. I climbed on, soaking wet, and now a little cold. Still looking away, she handed me a towel to wrap myself in. I snuggled up in it until only my head was showing.

“You can look now… I’m all decent…” I chuckled. How weird. No one had ever respected my privacy when it came to my naked body before. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Eveline was the best owner a pet could ever dare to dream of.

Those eyes, green like the sea after a storm, greeted me with a sparkle in them. “Hi, snuggle bug…” she beamed. I must’ve looked rather cute all bundled up like that, with just my head popping out.

“I’m a snuggle bug now? You’ve got no end to these nicknames do you?”

She leaned forward and kissed my soaking hair, before whispering in my ear, “Nope, tough shit! You’d better just get used to it!” I groaned dramatically, as if that were just the worst news in the world. “Oh quit your crying!” She played along, finger extended like some hard-lined disciplinarian. I stuck my tongue out in defiance. These games we played, while totally stupid, were one of the things I most looked forward to in this new life I found myself in. There was something about playing with her, consensually, as an equal, safely, that made me feel so much closer to her, empowered, accepted. You couldn’t banter with someone who wasn’t worth your time, after all.

She placed me in my drawer to pick my outfit for the day. I went with something super casual, grey sweat pants and a long sleeve electric blue shirt. Comfy and simple. I clamored up the wall of the drawer, leaning over with the edge digging in under my arm pits, my toes curling as I held myself in place. I waved dramatically, gripping for dear life with one arm, like I was signaling an airplane on where to land. “Hey! All done over here!”

She stopped tidying her bed as she heard me call. “Look at you, Spider-Man! How’d you crawl up there?” She leaned down putting her hands on her knees as she dropped to look into my eyes. “Let’s see the fashion choices for today!” She gripped the back of my shirt with her fingers and lifted me up, my bare feet kicking at the air between us in a half-assed protest. “Ahh, very chic, comfy casual today, I see! Very nice!” With a easy flick of her wrist, she swung my body over onto her palm, before leaning in, and planting a kiss right on my stomach. My heart stopped as the heat from her soft lips pressed down on my abs, her sweet, hot breath surrounding my whole body. She was so close to me, practically melting into me. My heart thundered in my chest.

This was like the previous morning when she’d bitten into the edge of my shirt, pulling in as close as she could to me. Now, just like then, my face flushed red as I tried desperately to deny what I could feel was happening to me. Arousal. It was wrong. So so wrong. I knew that. A pathetic little toy for humans to toss around until they broke, to be attracted to a human woman…. It was simply off limits. Sure it wasn’t completely unheard of, especially not in porn… but it was still wildly unacceptable. I knit my brow, wishing with every fiber of my being for this feeling to disappear. I wished she wouldn’t linger over my body. Just go away, please! She released me, finally, after what felt like a lifetime of agony.

“I’m sorry, I got too close again didn’t I?” She frowned, clearly disappointed. “You’ve made so much progress that I forget you can still be afraid of me at all. I’m sorry little guy, I didn’t mean to be a big scary monster…”

She thought she was frightening me… if only she knew the truth! I was frightening myself! I just shook my head, staring at the surface of her palm like my life depended on it. There was an uncomfortable silence. She finally broke it, “I… I made lunch? You want something to eat?”

[cartoonsliveon]

Malevolent Intentions

After reading some fanfics on AO3, I realized that no one’s ever tried to play the “side kick being lured to the dark side” trope. Or where Sashi’s skills attract some unwanted attention.

8,716 words

Sashi swiped her arm swiftly across her forehead, wiping off the sweat that was starting to bead down her face. It was an abnormally hot day today, the humidity so thick that the moisture in the air was slightly blurring her vision through the specs. Sitting in the shade of a giant tree, was their gym coach snoring softly away. Across the field, most of her team was sat huddled in the tiny square confines of Capture the Flag jail. The group of six students were stood shoulder to shoulder uncomfortably, just desperate for the game to end so they could go back inside. But, because it was only Penn and Sashi left, they all knew this game could go on for another twenty minutes.

Sashi stood, standing protectively in front of their little yellow flag. At the moment, their goal was defense until either no one was left defending the red flag or the odds looked favorable enough for one of them to grab it. But at the moment, all Sashi could focus on was the two students in front of her, right at the edge of the line that divided the red team from the yellow team. Sashi glared as they both sized her up, clenching her teeth in determination as they glanced at each other. The Willis twins were pretty athletic, and were probably the two fastest runners on the red team.

But they didn't stand a chance against Sashi. As soon as they crossed the line, Sashi gave a blood chilling war cry as she launched herself at the closest of the brothers. Her small body rolled twice along the ground before she rose suddenly to her feet in front of him. Her hands connected to his chest, the force of her shove sending him falling flat on his butt. Then she turns, spotting the second Willis twin halfway to the yellow flag. With a growl, Sashi sprints after him as fast as she can. Pieces of the turf is kicked up with each step she takes, and she blinks furiously as sweat starts to drip into her eyes. But Sashi suddenly skids to a stop once the boy has hold of the yellow flag, and Boone can't help but be grateful he can only see Sashi's back. If looks could kill, Sashi would have turned anyone within fifty feet of her glare to pure ash.

"Oh no you don't," She whispers softly to herself, staring him down as he stands almost like a deer in headlights. He's got the yellow flag tightly in his left hand, eyes flickering to decide which way would yield the best possibility of victory. 

He runs to the right, planning to trick Sashi into gaining the momentum of that straight line before switching directions and taking off to the left. But Sashi anticipates this, seeing the way his eyes flicker purposefully to the far left side of her side of the field. She sticks closer to the dividing line, inching closer to the right side in order to bait the teen into a false sense of security. But once he starts to break towards the left, Sashi launches herself in the air to close the distance between them. She flips through the air, not caring that the specs are sliding slightly down her nose. She hits the ground in a crouch near the boy and, spinning on her heels, tackles him to the ground. She presses her hands against his shoulders before ripping the flag from his hands and standing.

And suddenly the entire class, including the red team, is cheering. Sashi turns, confused, to see Penn crossing back onto the yellow teams side with the red flag. Everyone rushes out from the pretend jails, crowding around Penn to congratulate him. No one cares who won or lost because the game is over and everyone is disgustingly sweaty. They all want to go back inside and shower and change.

"Woo! Way to go Penn!"

"The way you slid under Jefferson's leg to get to the flag was epic!"

"Good game Penn!"

Sashi sighed, throwing the yellow flag back onto the ground before taking the specs off her face to start wiping them clean. She hadn't noticed Penn make a break, all on his own, for the flag. It makes sense though, he knows that Sashi can hold the entire field on her own without any back up. When she puts the specs back on her face, she sees the entire yellow team sitting Penn on their shoulders and carrying him inside. They all head off, and Sashi takes a deep breath as she clenches her hands into fists.

'Keep it together Sashi. Keep it together.'

Sashi takes three deep breathes before making her way slowly back inside. The air conditioning immediately brings goosebumps to her skin and makes her feel shivery. But it doesn't distract her from the bitterness still sitting in her chest. She knows that at the end of the day it doesn't matter because this was just a stupid game, but she can't help wanting that praise and attention the same way Penn gets it so easily from their classmates. She just wants all her hard work and effort to be acknowledged.

'It doesn't matter Sashi. It's a game. It's not like he cheated again like in dodge ball.' But it still mattered to her, no matter how much she scolded herself that it shouldn't.

-----

"Whoa! Look at you!" Larry gasped in awe, "You're like... a really weird lion with your normal head and an insect tail."

"I'm a manticore!" Rippen growled, shaking his head as he stared down at Larry, "Judging from the fact that your a satyr, I've got to guess we're in some sort of Ancient Grecian Mythology dimension..."

Larry, however, didn't hear anything past the fact that he was a satyr. He was too busy staring up at Rippen, staring in awe at the way his dark black spikey hair flawlessly blended in to his main, the dark and sleek muscular physique of the lion body. The scorpion tail glistened a dark, deadly red and Larry was really tempted to stroke it Rippen's back to see how soft his fur was.

"Larry!" Rippen shouted, interrupting the smaller man's thoughts, "The mission!"

"Right," The overly optimistic and distracted henchman nodded, tapping the side of his specs. Rippen stared at the swirling dark red image projecting from them but before Larry could begin explaining, an incredibly irritating and familiar voice spoke up from the bushes around them.

"You're the general of an army of Grecian monsters preparing to lay waste to an overwhelmed city of demigods. The city is on the verge of defeat and their only hope is to gain help from the god Ares by bringing him an offering to his temple at the top of that mountain. Your job is to destroy the offering and stop them before sunset or else... well, you should know that by now huh Rippen?"

"What are you doing here Vlurgen?"

Larry suddenly let out a high pitched gasp, as if he were excitedly choking for air, as the woman stepped out of the foliage to greet her brother. She shared the same oddly green complexion as Rippen, red eyes, pointed ears, and spiked black hair. Though her hair was spiked downwards rather than upwards, and she cast Larry a rather disgusted look as he started to jump in place excitedly. She was dressed in a beautiful, long, flowing green peplos dress with a leather satchel across her shoulders and a dark black waist length cloak.

"Relax Rippen, I'm not here to steal the spotlight from you and actually succeed," Rippen growled in response, "I've found myself in need of a right hand man. Simple as that. What better place to look than among supernatural beings who spend their entire life trained in combat?"

Rippen raised an eyebrow, about to tell Vlurgen to go hit the road and stay out of his way. But Larry immediately turned his eyes on him with that stupid pleading look.

"Oh Rippen, can she please come with us? Please? I've never met your sister before. Please? Please? Please?!"

Vlurgen started to cackle, "Perhaps while we're here, we can find you a new henchman as well."

-----

"AHHH!"

Boone shrieked as a cyclops swung a giant club towards his face, the centaur raising his arms up to protect his face. His shrieking was so loud that it completely drowned out the war cry Sashi let out as she stabbed her spear right into the cyclops neck. It exploded in dark black dust, coating Sashi as the girl dashed through the disintegrating monster to take out the rest of the attack party.

While Rippen and Larry were the general and his henchman for the army of monster, Penn and his friends were the warriors sent to deliver the offering to Ares. Penn, obviously because he was the hero, was the demigod child of Zeus himself. His jeans and t-shirt had transformed into a white chiton that was pinned over his right shoulder in a single strap and stopped at just an inch above his knees. He wore the most uncomfortable sandals he'd ever experienced and had a dark brown rope as his belt tightly around his waist. Strapped to his back was a heavy wooden shield and a short sword was secured safely to his left side. A ring of laurel leaves were tangled in his curly red hair. Boone, being the wise man, was their centaur guide. His horse body was a deep chestnut brown. Boone's hair was changed to match the dark brown coat of his horse hair, and much longer and wilder than normal. Twigs and leaves were also tangled in it and he had a scraggly braided beard coming from his chin. He had a fully loaded quiver with him, but he forgot that he even had it.

And Sashi, Sashi was just a normal mortal armed with a spear and dressed in an off white peplos dress. It was ripped along the edges, ending two inches below her knees because she had needed to improvise. It was WAY too long for her to be able to fight like she wanted to and used Penn's sword to alter it to her liking. Her specs were rimmed in a gold color, though it was now coated in the black ash of her enemies. And hanging across her back was a small brown satchel carrying their offering to Ares, a bottle of wine to burn in the sacrificial fire and a sculpture made of pure ruby of the god himself.

They were making their way up the mountain to the temple when they had been attacked by a group of monsters. While Boone ran this way and that way, kicking up dust and dirt with his hooves, Sashi and Penn were doing everything in their power to destroy them. Sashi stabbed and threw her spear at the enemies around them, not letting the weapon be her only means of delivering painful death. She kicked and punched, fighting back like they had never witnessed a mortal do before. And Penn, realizing that he had the ability to shoot lightning from his hands, was content in taking out monsters purely with his demigod abilities.

It was the screaming of the monsters as they're electrocuted to death and violently stabbed by Sashi that lured Rippen, Larry, and Vlurgen to the edge of the clearing. They lurked between the trees, Vlurgen's arm raised to signal that all she wished to do was observe.

"Really Rippen, are you not competent enough to handle three children?"

Rippen huffed, glaring as his eyes landed on the satchel around Sashi's shoulder. He silently cursed to himself. If it were Boone who had the satchel or even Penn, it wouldn't be that much of a problem. They were both immature and childish, all he would have to do was wait for their guard to drop. But Sashi was vigilante, always on the alert. There would be no way of stealing that bag from her.

Vlurgen followed his gaze, from the red haired boy shouting annoying quips and making ridiculous conversation with the centaur to Sashi. She could see her brother pulling a face, trying to think of a way to get around her. The alien woman silently crossed her arms as she watched Sashi take out three monsters at once single handedly, her entire body turned nearly black from the ash of her enemies while Penn merely knocked them out. She couldn't help the evil, malicious grin spreading across her face.

"Ooh... someone has the case of the smiles."

Rippen immediately turned towards Vlurgen, eyes widening in recognition of the look on her face, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Who's the girl?" Vlurgen asks, completely ignoring Rippen's question. Her gaze predictably shifted to Larry as the minion started to answer.

"Oh, that's Sashi. She's Penn's side kick," Larry explained happily, "If you want we can introduce you."

"A side kick," Vlurgen hummed in thought.

"Oh no. Listen here Vlurgen, those three idiots are for me to humiliate in defeat and destroy with no mercy. If you think you can just-"

"That's funny Rippen, because I only see two idiots and one incredibly dangerous and competent potential hench-woman," Vlurgen gripped Rippen by the chin and forcibly turned his head to stare back down at the three teens, "All I want is her. The two buffoons with her are all yours for the destroying. Think of how much easier it'll be to cream them when you don't have the side kick to worry about."

"Sashi is really good at keeping Penn and Boone out of immediate death and danger," Larry supplied, though the little man didn't exactly know where this conversation was headed either.

Rippen scowled, narrowing his eyes as he watched Penn laugh victoriously at the defeated monsters around him. That stupid, smug look on his face made Rippen want to leap from the trees they were hiding behind and rip it clean off the muscle. But he couldn't do that, not yet at the very least. Otherwise he would never be victorious if he was merely following every violent, emotional urge in him. If he had, Larry would have been dead a long time ago. Rippen couldn't help blinking a lot though as he let Vlurgen's words actually set in. Sashi was a problem, always protecting her friends and fighting any and every force that got in their way. She was their smartest and strongest team member. She was always saving Penn and Boone's butt, which arguably really flipped the script. Usually it's the hero saving the sidekicks.

Without Sashi, Rippen might actually win for once. His eyes darkened at the mere thought of victory in his grasp, an evil smile beginning to morph his features.

------

"Come on guys, we're burning daylight."

"Give us a second Sashi," Penn gasped, collapsing against a large rock as he struggled to catch his breath. They had just finished climbing the steepest incline in maybe the entire Multiverse. His hands burned and ached from having to practically rock climb up here.

"Hey, you're not the only ones that are tired!" Sashi crossed her arms in front of her, "But we have to keep moving."

All she got in response was a bunch of groaning and whining. Rolling her eyes, Sashi scoffed at them as she turned her back on them, "Fine. I'll go scout the area for any more monsters waiting to stop us."

Sashi didn't even wait for Penn or Boone to acknowledge what she said, making her way quickly though the woods to scout out the area for any danger. If either of them cared about the danger, they didn't say. Or at least, Sashi didn't hear them. She was hot, sweaty, and just as exhausted as Penn and Boone. But they were so close to the top and to completing their mission. And they hadn't run into Rippen or Larry yet, so the sooner that they got there the better. Yet Sashi learned a long time ago that there was no moving either of them when they didn't want to move. So she'd give them two minutes to catch their breath and then drag them up the path some more.

Unfortunately for Sashi, there weren't any monsters in sight for her to pummel. Or to use as an excuse to go back to get Boone and Penn on their feet. Branches just smacked her face lightly, the leaves tickling or scratching her face as she went. The only sounds that greeted her were the scampering rabbits and foxes that hid deep in the foliage.

"I see you've finally ditched Dumb and Dumber."

Sashi immediately spun around, one hand firmly grabbing the satchel resting against her hip. The giant bushes rustled, revealing a grinning Larry as he came tumbling out of the foliage with Rippen behind him. The manticore stared down at Sashi, his grin revealing a row of sharp teeth that would have made any other girl start bawling her eyes out. Sashi growled, reaching for her spear.

"If you think you're going to get these offerings you have another thin-"

"I'm not here for you," Rippen interrupted, smirking at the dumbfounded expression emerging on Sashi's face before he gestured his head for her to look behind her, "She is."

Sashi glared, thinking Rippen was trying to create a diversion to distract her. But it's the sound of branches cracking and leaves shifting that make her slowly turn her head around to stare at the tall woman coming from behind her. The physical similarities between her and Rippen make Sashi a tad uneasy. Because even though Rippen always fails, it's not because he's completely incompetent. He's actually a fairly dangerous adversary when they aren't careful.

"Sashi, meet Vlurgen. Vlurgen, Sashi."

"Listen lady, no one is getting their hands on-"

"Oh I'm not here for the satchel," Vlurgen scoffed, walking closer to Sashi. She circled the girl, like a predator sizing up its next meal. Her eyes bore into Sashi, taking in the fighting stance and burning fire in the girl's eyes, "I'm here for a new right hand man, and I want you."

"Not interested."

Vlurgen laughed, before swinging her leg into Sashi's chest. Sashi went flying backwards, her head hitting the ground with a thud. She blinks, watching as Rippen starts laughing at her. Sashi tilts her head, frowning as she stares at her art teacher. Something doesn't seem right about this situation, about Rippen just letting this strange woman attack her and wanting Sashi to join her. But before she has a chance to fathom what this nagging feeling is, Sashi's rolling across the ground, swinging her legs out to trip Vlurgen up.

Vlurgen trips, falling onto one knee. Sashi takes the opportunity to get back to her feet, but Vlurgen grips her arm tightly and pulls the teen down besides her. So Sashi turns, pulling her right arm away from the alien's grip and swinging her left elbow into the woman's nose. Vlurgen digs her sharp nails into Sashi's arm and swings her knee into Sashi's stomach as she stands. Sashi feels her legs start to buckle, trying to get the air back into her lungs. Her entire body can't help but hunch forward, exposing her back. And suddenly she's dealt a painful blow as both elbows slam into the center of her back. Sashi collapses on her stomach in the dirt, the specs sliding up her face to where they start resting on her forehead more than her nose.

When she lifts her head up, Larry and Rippen are gone. She can hear their retreating footsteps, heading in the direction she just came from. Towards Penn and Boone.

"Hey!" Sashi shouts, but before she can start hurling insults to lure Rippen back, she's picked up by the back of her neck and flipped onto her back.

Sashi growls angrily at Vlurgen and swings a left hook into her face before she has the chance to restrain her. It hits, but Vlurgen just starts laughing. And it brings a chill through Sashi's entire body.

"So much fire in such a small feeble body, I like that."

"Let go of me!" Sashi shouts, squirming as Vlurgen tightly grips both her wrists and pins them to the ground.

"Why? So you can go back to your pathetic friends and keep them out of danger?" Vlurgen asks, "You'd be so much better without them anyways. I've seen you in action. You're so much stronger, so much smarter. You don't need them. They're holding you back."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Aren't I? Look at yourself Sashi. Is this where you want to be? Some idiot boy's side kick, constantly saving him because he doesn't listen to you or have the common sense to keep anyone out of trouble? Aren't you tired of trailing behind him? Of doing all the work and not getting the level of credit you know you deserve?"

Vlurgen smirks when she sees she's hit a nerve. Sashi's squirming lightens up for a second as the girl stares off to the side blankly. Sashi's thoughts immediately drift to gym class, to the way everyone crowds around Penn when no one looks at her. Or applauds her for all her effort. Every adventure they go on, they thank Penn and cheer on Penn. They call Penn the hero when Sashi does just as much work if not more than Penn. It's not fair. But... Sashi knew that going into this what being a side kick entailed.

"That's my job."

Sashi swings her knee up into Vlurgen's abdomen, and her grip slackens. Sashi uses the moment to roll, shoving her off onto the ground as she scrambles to her feet. Sashi immediately turns her eyes to the trees, preparing to make a break for it, but just as she takes off, she's pulled back. Vlurgen has a tight grip on the strap of her satchel, and the momentum sends Sashi stumbling back. The specs go sliding backwards off her head and somewhere on the ground. Vlurgen slams her into a tree, her spear pressed painful into her spine as her feet swing helplessly. Vlurgen holds her by the neck off the ground so they're eye level and presses herself close enough to Sashi that the girl can't swing her legs. All her heels do is scrape against the bark of the tree for traction.

"No, the job of a side kick is to be the annoying little helper that always needs saving by the hero. They're the one who is useful only fifty percent of the time in a situation, who always messes up to the point where they get captured or need saving. They're constantly in distress," Vlurgen whispers, "You're not a side kick. You're nothing but wasted talent."

Sashi growled, but Vlurgen continued, "Why aren't you the hero huh? You're so much more competent than the both of them. They should be your sidekicks. You could do so much better. Be so much better."

All the anger building inside Sashi starts shifting, started redirecting away from the villain in front of her to resentment. Throughout the years, she'd dream of becoming a side kick to an amazing hero and wise man, to being an unstoppable and unparalleled team. She imagined working with serious heroes who knew maybe more about this job than she did. And instead she got stuck with Penn and Boone. They constantly needed her help, her protection, and her vigilance to keep them focused. Everything Penn did was perfect without even trying, sometimes he wasn't even trying at all and it was just... always going his way.

"You could be so much better. Do so much better Sashi."

She could do better. Sashi could be so much better. She... dare she say that maybe she even deserved better. She was tired of Penn and Boone always getting distracted and goofing around. She was tired of not being listened to. Tired of having to rescue them. Of sacrificing herself for them.

"I can give you so much more," Vlurgen promised, watching as Sashi's eyes started to gaze distantly up at her. The girl was clearly soaking in every last word, her arguments turning and bouncing around in her little human brain and converting every resistant thought over to her side. Sashi stared up at Vlurgen and her dark brown irises slowly started to bleed red.

------

"Um... Boone? A little help over here?"

Penn raised his shield, his legs shaking as Rippen slashed a large lion paw against the heavy wooden circle. His sharp claws managed to gorge out long chunks of the wood and some of the metal rivets decorating the edges.

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"Screaming isn't helping!" Penn shouted, before yelling himself as the back of Rippen's paw knocked him clean off his feet.

"Is so! I'm calling for Sashi!"

"Sashi probably can't even-" Penn cuts himself off though, eyes widening in sudden realization. His eyes narrowed angrily as he grabbed for his sword and stared Rippen down, "What did you do to Sashi?"

It hadn't occurred to Penn, until Boone mentioned their anger driven friend, that Rippen and Larry came from the direction she left from. Which meant that Sashi would have undoubtedly crossed their path. And while Sashi was more than capable of taking care of herself, she was the one with the satchel. She was the one in the most danger because she had the offerings. And Sashi would have been lured back by the fighting and screaming by this point. Or she would have been dragged back here with the angriest look on her face.

But Rippen started to laugh, "Believe me boy, I haven't done anything to your little side kick."

Penn clenched his teeth, not at all comforted by those words. It actually made him even more nervous and worried for Sashi, with the foreboding feeling that she was in a lot more trouble than they were. And that Rippen knew exactly what. With a scream of rage, Penn charged at Rippen with his sword raised. Rippen swung his scorpion tail forward to impale the red headed hero, but he blocked it with his sword. Behind him, somewhere to the side, he could hear Boone fumbling for his bow and an arrow from his quiver. The wise man and Larry the henchman didn't really exist though in Penn's mind though, he was far more worried about getting to Sashi.

Penn stared Rippen in the eyes, and... faltered. His grip suddenly went slack around the hilt of the sword and the scorpion tail started to push past it. Penn stumbled back, rolling backwards as the tip came down onto the ground. It punctured a deep hole into the rocky earth and Rippen immediately began to step closer, left paw on top of Penn's lost sword.

Something wasn't right. Despite how much he hated Rippen, Penn knew that there was something wrong with the villain. Rippen's eyes were a much darker shade of red than normal. It's an incredibly weird detail to notice, an otherwise unnoticeable change to anyone who hadn't spent nearly every day standing toe to toe with him, staring him eye to eye. Rippen's eyes were a vivid scarlet red, not this darker, almost bloody like red. Penn raised his arms up though to shield his face as the scorpion tail became poised above him. Rippen stared down at Penn, laughing as the tail straightened. The light caught the dark exoskeleton shell and-

And then an arrow struck the top of the tail. Rippen screamed painfully, backing away and shaking his tail back and forth to dislodge it. Penn climbed quickly to his feet, planting them firmly to the ground as he stared Rippen down. Rippen growled, about to lunge, but Penn threw his arms forward and a bright flash of lightning flew from his palm. It collided with Rippen's chest and sent the villain crashing into the trees behind him.

"Whoa..." Boone whispered, coming to stand beside Penn as Larry raced to check on Rippen.

Penn was silent as he stared at Rippen, knowing that they had to run off and find Sashi. But there was a fear that maybe he took it too far, that he really hurt Rippen. And maybe even... no. No his chest was moving. Penn hadn't killed him. Rippen groaned, suddenly growling as Larry yanked the arrow out of his tail without any warning.

"Rippen? Rippen are you okay?"

Rippen snarled as Larry pressed his face closer to his, "Larry get away fr-where are we? Penn Zero?"

"Where's Sashi?" Penn demanded, the relief he felt for not committing murder thrown aside once he remembered the situation at hand, "What did you do to her?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh come on Rippen, remember? We just saw her. She was with your sister, Vlurgen."

"Vlurgen?" Boone asked, before looking at Penn and silently whispered, "Who names their daughter Vlurgen anyways?"

"Yeah! We were helping her find herself a new number 2 henchman! She said she wanted Sashi and-" Larry stopped, because Rippen's face was turning a dark red. If Penn didn't know better, and actually cared, he'd think Rippen would have smoke flying out his ears, "Don't be mad Rippen. You did hit your head really hard."

"It's not because I hit my head you idiot! That rotten-"

"Hey!" Larry shouted, interrupting Rippen before he could unleash the long and violent list of alien curses he wanted to slander his sister's name with, "Where are you both going?"

Neither Penn nor Boone needed further explaining from either of the villains. Penn hopped onto Boone's back, and the centaur took off through the woods in the direction they last saw Sashi. Neither of them wanted to dwell on what sort of trouble Sashi could be in, especially on her own against an opponent they knew next to nothing about. And sure, Sashi was tough, but that doesn't stop them from worrying about her. From wanting to protect her. They raced down the beaten path, branches smacking Penn and Boone in the face as they screamed her name.

"SASHI!" Penn shouted, pleading for her to answer them.

Penn suddenly flies into the back of Boone's head as he skids to a stop, sliding off of Boone and landing with a thud to the ground. But before he can yell at Boone or demand to know why he stopped, the weight of the entire sky seems like its crushing him into the dirty. He stares silently at the specs, watching a beetle crawl over them.

"No. No, no, no..." Penn whispers, crawling to his feet and grabbing the specs, "Sashi? Sashi!"

"Penn?" Boone says softly, bending down to pick of the discarded satchel, "Penn. She's not here."

Penn shook his head though, "N-no. No, Sashi can't be far. She has to be here somewhere. I mean, come on Boone, this is Sashi we're talking about! She's the toughest girl in the entire multiverse-"

"And that's exactly why my sister wants her as her partner."

Penn dug his nails into his palm, back tensing as he turns to look at the villain. Rippen stands two feet behind them, not daring to come any closer. Boone doesn't blame him, Penn has a look of rage that could rival Sashi's right now. He wouldn't want to be on Penn's bad side right now either.

"Think about it Penn, every mission you won was because you had Sashi on your team to keep you safe or to keep you focused. Without her you're both scrambling in all directions like headless chickens. We all know that," Rippen told him.

"Sashi wouldn't join the dark side," Penn spat, "She wouldn't betray us."

"Not on her own free will. You're not the only one with supernatural powers here boy, so does she. The power to enthrall and enchant people to do what she wants and see things her way with just the sound of her voice. That's why I didn't remember, because the wretched woman did it to me so I wouldn't get in the way."

"Why are you even telling us this?" Boone demanded.

That same thought was on Penn's mind too, as he held Sashi's specs tightly in his hands. As Rippen's explanation sunk in, he couldn't help feeling incredibly worried for Sashi. Sashi was tough and all hard edges, but she didn't want to hurt them. She didn't like hurting her friends. Not like this, not like they were the enemy. Yeah, a couple of punches and kicks were one thing. But trying to actually hurt them hurt them like they were the enemy she needed to vanquish, Sashi would never want to unleash that wrath on them. But why did Rippen care about what happened to Sashi? It meant one less hero to deal with. One less threat to get in his way. Isn't that what Rippen wants?

"I thought you wanted to be rid of us."

"I do," Rippen narrowed his eyes as a snarl started to form in the back of his throat, "But I loathe the idea of Vlurgen getting anything she wants more than the idea of you idiots winning another mission. She left that here because she wants you to go to the temple. She wants to show off," Rippen rolled his eyes before turning around, "Come on Larry."

"Wait... you're not going to help us?"

At that, Rippen let out a barking laugh, "Isn't it enough that just this once, I let you go scott free and don't try to stop you? If, by chance, Vlurgen and Sashi annihilate you both, I have to be ready to lead an army of monsters onto a helpless city of demigods."

Penn narrowed his eyes, glaring into Rippen's back as he made his way down the mountain with Larry in tow. He looked down at the specs one final time before sighing and glancing up at the sky. The sun was beginning to sink down towards the horizon. They were running out of time.

"Come on Boone," Penn says softly as he hops back on to the wise man's back, "Sashi needs us."

------

They arrive to the temple a few minutes before sunset. It's not at all what Penn was expecting. The temple was just four white Grecian pillars standing tall and straight at each corner. There's a giant pyre in the center, a hot fire already burning. A pillar of dark black smoke rises into the sky, and standing at each side are two towering dogs made of glistening bronze. They stand to attention, facing out away from the temple as though to guard it. Slightly behind the pyre is a stone pedestal, most likely the place where Penn and Boone are meant to put the ruby statue.

"I knew you'd come."

And then there's the woman sitting at the very top of one of the pillars. Her feet dangle and her cloak flutters slightly in the breeze. Just beneath her, sat silently in a meditation like pose is Sashi. She's silent beside the pair of abandoned sandals and doesn't even open her eyes to see what brought on the sudden conversation. Penn has to force himself to stare at Vlurgen instead of Sashi. The familiar similarities between her and Rippen strike him like a fast ball. They have the same weirdly colored skin, the spiky dark hair, and piercing red eyes full of malice and hate. Vlurgen holds his stare with the same intensity as her brother, jumping gracefully off her perch and landing besides Sashi. That still does not rouse Sashi, who remains completely still despite the villain towering over her.

"Heroes, always so predictable," Vlurgen sighed, "Always rushing to do the right thing and save the day."

"Give us back our Sashi."

The response was not at all what Penn expected. Vlurgen starts to laugh, eyebrow raised in challenge at Penn. Besides her, Sashi finally opens her eyes and turns to stare coldly at her two friends. Boone and Penn both freeze when they see a pair of dark red eyes staring at them.

"Your Sashi?" Vlurgen couldn't help the high pitched tone her voice took as she laughed.

"I'm no one's property," Sashi hissed softly, eyes narrowing at Penn. Penn's mind couldn't help going back to when she answered death vision in a choice between super speed or super strength. He felt grateful she didn't have those powers or else he'd be toast.

"Sashi-"

"And as it stands anyway, Zero," Vlurgen interrupted, "Sashi's here on her own free volition. She chose to come with me."

"That's a lie and you know it," Boone argued, "Rippen told us everything. That you have some weird magic voice power to trick people into doing what you want."

The laughter had died down, and the sly smile that graced Vlurgen's features vanished. She stared at Penn and Boone with an unimpressed expression, mouth morphed into a straight line. Sashi finally climbed to her feet, gripping the spear in her hand.

"Not that much time left," Vlurgen observed, "Best make those offerings before my brother finally does the impossible."

"Not without Sashi."

Penn could feel the panicky look Boone sent his way. The words had came immediately, but Penn doesn't regret them. Completing the mission means going home and he doesn't know if Sashi will come with them or not. Will Phyllis bring Sashi with them? Would Sashi still be under Vlurgen's weird control? Penn couldn't stand the idea of leaving Sashi behind or leaving her in this predicament.

"Then I believe you're going to become very disappointed."

With a war cry, Sashi rushed the two teens with her spear held high. She swung it down, aimed towards Penn's chest. Penn swung his battered and broken shield around, watching as the spear cut cleanly through the wood. The tip rested half a centimeter from his heart when Boone started screaming. He turned on his front hooves and kicked backwards at Sashi. Sashi slipped beneath Boone, back hitting the dirty as she kicked upwards with both feet to his underbelly. Boone, still only balanced on his front two legs, screamed as he went falling forward onto his face.

"Sashi stop!" Penn shouted, grabbing her by the wrist as she reached for her spear. Sashi pulled it free from Penn's useless shield, clearly intending to make a Boone shish-kabob with it, "You need to listen to me."

She immediately stiffened, pivoting on her heels as she ripped her arm free from Penn's grasp. The red irises only exaggerated the fire burning in her eyes, the rage radiating from Sashi's small figure enough to level hundreds of cities. The pure look in her eyes turned his intestines to jelly.

"No," Sashi hissed, and her fist landed with a large crack as it connected with Penn's nose, "You need to listen to me, Zero."

Penn stumbled back, pulling his hands away from his nose to find that it was thankfully, not bleeding. Though he didn't have the time to really appreciate it because his sword was instantly drawn, trying to deflect the thrusts of her spear so they didn't impale him. While electrocuting Sashi would be an incredibly quick end to the fight, Penn refused to use his demigod powers on her. Sashi was his friend, she had to be in there somewhere. There had to be some part of her that knew this was wrong. To fight her and treat her like a villain would only make the situation and its consequences all the more worse.

"I've worked my butt off for you. Keeping you idiots safe, keeping you idiots on track and focused, getting you to your end goal. I worked so hard protecting you, helping you," Their weapons clashed. Sashi growled as Penn did everything he could to keep himself grounded and balanced, "But it doesn't matter. It never mattered. I put my blood, my sweat, and tears into everything to help you succeed. So we can succeed. But you get it all. You get all the credit. All the attention. All the thanks. You wouldn't have won Capture the Flag if I hadn't protected the flag. You wouldn't have been able to get Boone in the water to get that stupid trident if I wasn't holding off Rippen's army. You and Boone spent so much time organizing a stupid wedding, but I was the one who called the princess out on her superficial garbage!"

Penn gasped, her spear came dangerously close to hitting his stomach. She ducked under his sword swing, and came back up to punch him in the throat. Boone, finally back on his feet, came charging towards them to help, but Penn waved his hand to stop him. Behind him, he felt the intense heat of pyre burning the back of his neck. A few more steps and he would be literally in the fire.

"But is this really what you want Sash?" Penn asked softly, forcing himself to hold eye contact with her, "Sashi, I-I didn't know you felt like that. I-I know Boone and I are always telling you how awesome you are, but..." Penn couldn't afford to falter right now. He had her attention, as she drew her spear back in preparation for her next attack.

"End him," Vlurgen ordered, "End him now."

"Please Sashi. I'm sorry that it never occurred to me that you don't get the thanks or credit you deserve. Every time we're thanked together, as a team, I assumed we were all valued at the same level. But that's not always the case. And I've been too stupid and hyped up on a victory to realize you want thanks and applause from more than just Boone and I. But Sash, you know how awesome you are. Every day, Boone and I are so grateful for you. You're the reason we're still alive. I'm sorry that you feel shadowed, ignored, or forgotten at the end of the mission," Penn hesitantly reached out to touch her shoulder, "But is this really what you want? Sashi you spent 13 years training to be the best side kick in the multiverse. You are the best side kick anyone could ever ask for. Do you want to throw that away and be a henchman? Will joining evil really make you feel better?"

Sashi immediately jerked away from Penn's hand, back handing him across the face. The blow causes Penn to fall back and, seeing the spear poised over him, squeezes his eyes shut. Penn holds his breath, waiting for a swift demise. But nothing happens. Instead, he opens his eyes hesitantly to see Sashi dropping her spear. With both hands, Sashi grips her head. Penn pushes himself into a sitting position.

"Sashi?"

"No!" Vlurgen shrieks.

"P-Penn?" Sashi groans as she blinks, the red fading from her eyes. Penn pulls himself to his feet, about to wrap his arms around her to steady her when she shakes her head, "T-the offerings... Ares..."

Boone comes trotting over, tossing Penn the satchel as he sets a hand on Sashi's shoulder. Sashi blinks, one hand drooping as she looks around quietly. She's silently taking it all in, the surroundings as she rubs her head. Everything that happened after Vlurgen pinned her down in the woods is a blur, she can't remember what happened after that. All she remembers is suddenly hearing Penn's worried voice right in front of her. And Penn, the satchel hanging loosely from his shoulder, reaches for the bottle of wine. Twisting the cork off, he turns to face the fire and holds the bottle over the flames.

"You little-"

"Not another step closer!"

Vlurgen stares down at Sashi, the smallest of the heroes standing directly behind Penn. Her spear, now gripped in her hand again, is pointed towards the villainess, eyes narrowed as she holds the tip just under the woman's chin. Somehow, despite her confusion and headache, Sashi has the strength to keep Vlurgen at bay away from her best friend.

"You're pointing that thing at the wrong person my dear. You would be so much better off without them."

Sashi glared, hissing as her head throbbed with unwanted thoughts. Boone stepped forward, trying to get between Sashi and Vlurgen as if he could protect the side kick.

"That's nothing but garbage!" Sashi hissed.

Penn glanced back and forth, from Sashi to the sun sinking towards the horizon to the wine evaporating into the fire and back again. The moment the last drop of wine dripped out, Penn threw the bottle aside. He heard the glass shatter somewhere in the distance but didn't care as he raced to the alter. His hands dug into the satchel, trying to grab the statue.

"These idiots don't deserve you. Join me and I can turn you into someone."

Penn wanted to look back, heck, he wanted to run back and restrain Sashi in case it was becoming too much for her. He could feel the weight of Vlurgen's words on his shoulder, and they weren't even directed at him. But the sky was growing darker and darker above them. Boone rose onto his back legs and kicked forward, knocking Vlurgen away. Or at least, he tried to. Vlurgen moved out of the way and grabbed one of Boone's horse legs, tossing him off to the side like he weighed no more than a piece of paper. Sashi ducked beneath Boone's flying body, before giving a scream of rage.

"No one throws my friend around!"

Sashi lunged, rushing to stab Vlurgen through the chest with her spear. Vlurgen grabbed it though just beneath the point and stared Sashi down. She opened her mouth to speak, lifting the spear up in the air. Sashi, holding on with a death grip to her weapon, was lifted off the ground. But before she could try to put Sashi under her control or influence again, the sky darkens with dark, heavy storm clouds. Thunder echoes across the sky but there is no lightning to be seen. Everyone's eyes turn to Penn, standing before the alter with the ruby statue resting on its new pedestal.

"It seems I'm the one who's run out of time," Vlurgen scoffs, looking off into the distance. Below, in the tiny distance, the fighting was taking its turn. Monsters began a swift retreat, their screams too far away to be heard as a tall, hulking figure in a glowing red aura stood before the city gates, standing side by side with veteran demigod soldiers. Another win for the heroes. Another loss for the villains.

Vlurgen looked back at Sashi, releasing the girl's spear. Sashi fell with a thud on her butt, and the alien woman backed away as both Penn and Boone ran to their friend's side.

"It appears I've underestimated you," Vlurgen mused, watching as their bodies started to take on a blue glow, "A mistake I won't make again."

------

"Ow!" Sashi hissed, pulling her arm away from Penn as he wiped disinfectant on the deep scratches Vlurgan had practically gorged into her arm. One look at Penn's worried and guilty face has her reluctantly stretching her arm back towards him though, averting her gaze to her shoes and pushing the specs slightly higher up the bridge of her nose.

"I'm almost done," Penn reassures as Boone hands Sashi another ice pack for her head. Ever since they snapped Sashi out of it, her head has been killing her.

"It's all my fault the mission was almost ruined. If I hadn't gone off on my own and-"

"Vlurgen would have found way to separate you," Phyllis intervened, staring down at the group from the balcony as she worked.

But that still didn't make Sashi feel any better. She drew her knees to her chest and pulled silently away from Penn's assistance, "She knew just the right words to say to... to persuade me or whatever. But-"

"But no matter how annoying we get, you would never trade any of this for a life of being evil," Boone finished for Sashi. Sashi nodded, staring at the ugly carpet rather than their faces. Penn and Boone both took a seat on either side of Sashi, setting their hands on her shoulder.

"You know, no matter how many missions we go on, you'll always be our hero," Penn told her, "You're always keeping us safe. And even though people tend to not pay attention to that, which is their fault and their problem for not seeing how awesome you are, we'll never not be grateful and appreciative for everything you do for us. And you should never have to bury those feelings down Sash."

"Yeah," Boone reassured, "And if you were feeling so ignored and a tad jealous that no one was giving you anywhere near the credit you deserve, you can talk to us. Don't forget she also put some of those thoughts in your head for you, all those feelings might not even have been yours to begin with."

"I know," Sashi whispered, "I know. I just... it had never been a problem like that before. All the frustration, it just boiled over. It's never been like that, so uncontrollable. I'm still sorry, for everything I'd done back there."

"The only one who ought to be sorry is Rippen's sister."

"Yeah, hopefully we never see her again."

"Do not speak so soon," Phyllis interrupted, much to Boone's disappointment that he would be wrong, "Vlurgen is dangerous villain. She won't stop until she have what she wants. If she wants Sashi, she will not stop."

"Well that's not going to happen," Penn snapped, turning to look at his two best friends, "No one's turning one of my best friends to the dark side. She has another thing coming if she thinks Boone and I will just let that happen."

"Thanks PZ," Sashi whispered, wincing as the sudden flashing light of Phyllis blow torching something aggravated her headache.

Sashi was grateful that the conversation ended there. She had a bad feeling deep in her gut that this wouldn't be the last time Boone and Penn would almost lose her. And that thought terrified her, not because she would need saving and protection at every turn, but the thought of hurting her best friends made her feel physically sick. She'd come way too close to hurting them both, especially Penn. She didn't ever want that to happen again. Ever.

[ratcatcher0325]

Nobody’s Fool Bonus (Chapter #2A)

A third bonus chapter! Woo hoo! This is all of Chapter 2 from Penn’s perspective (minus the bit at the end of the original chapter that’s already in his POV). I enjoyed writing this one. 

Original Chapter: Chapter #2

Previous Bonus Chapters: Chapter #1A, Chapter #2A

CW: Adult language, dehumanization, angst, references to abuse, blood

Reblogs > Likes. Thank you!

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NOBODY’S FOOL

Chapter #2A: When Hell Freezes Over

Word Count: 3,630 Read Time: Approx. 28 mins

[Penn’s POV]

She carefully pulled the lapel of her winter coat around me as she stepped outside. With my pitifully thin undershirt and boxers being my only protection from the cold, I was grateful to be shielded from the wind and snow. Still, my mind was racing, trying to understand just what she was planning on doing with me. She’d seemed kind. She’d fed me, bathed me, bandaged me. So why suddenly toss me outside now? I’d die if I was left out in the cold, but maybe I could find some crack in the building or some insulated place to wait out the night. That is if she wasn’t, for some reason, planning on killing me first. But no, she didn’t seem to be headed toward the bushes that skirted the side of the building, or even lowering down to the ground below her. No, she was headed somewhere else. Her car maybe? No. She carried me into the breezeway and took the concrete steps up to the second story.

Oh no. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Turning whiter than my shirt, my vision blurred as I gripped the flesh of her hand. Please let me be wrong. She can’t be taking me back there. I’ll die if I go back there. Claire will butcher me herself! I had never tasted true fear until this moment. My whole frame quaked as each step got us closer and closer to that dreaded threshold. I held my breath as I found myself in front of that familiar, dingy, green door with the 2B metal plate screwed in just above the peephole. As the woman’s free hand, raised in a fist, prepared to knock on the wood, I looked down. Would leaping from this height kill me? Probably. And even if I didn’t die, I could just as easily shatter both legs or be crushed to death under foot. I wanted so desperately to run. But how? And where? I was  stuck, held captive by this woman I’d almost dared to trust.

The knocking of her knuckles on the door, over the sound of the party still raging on, sounded to me like a death knell. I was being sent to slaughter. I just hoped Claire killed me quickly and got it over with. As the doorknob ground in its socket, and the door creaked open, I identified her, immediately. My eyes flashed instinctively between her line of sight and her hands. I knew them all to be unrelenting and deadly quick. She stared above me into the eyes of the woman who held me, my body still somewhat out of sight tucked between the woman’s chest and coat. She was even more hammered than when I’d been thrown out on the balcony and toyed with by those two smokers.

“Whadd you want???” She leaned closer in the doorframe. I jumped almost reflexively. That caught her eye. Suddenly, those awful, piercing blue eyes, almost always rimmed in crimson red, were boring holes into my very soul. I couldn’t help my bodily reaction as I looked into the eyes of the cruelest creature I’d ever had the misfortune of knowing. Quaking from head to toe, I cringed as I felt the sudden warmth between my legs. She watched as I humiliated myself with a malicious smile playing on her lips, “Mmm h-heyy lil dude! Th-Thought you broke your neck down there…. Ha! Guess yer stronger than you look!!” Suddenly her massive finger thrusted forward, aimed right at my heart. I shouted pitifully, absolutely beside myself with terror. Instead of absorbing the shock of the blow in my clavicle or sternum, I felt the surface of the hand I was perched in rock back. The woman was stepping away, out of Claire’s reach to keep her from touching me. If she didn’t want me to be harmed, why the hell were we at this door in the first place? Couldn’t she see how dangerous my owner was for someone as defenseless as me?

The woman holding me proceeded to scold her, “You, you need to take better care of him, Claire. If I hadn’t found him who knows if he would have survived the night? He’s not being fed enough, and he was filthy. I cleaned him up and gave him something to eat…. You should really be more careful…” If I’d ever dared to speak to her in that tone, I’d have ended up as nothing more than a tiny, sun-bleached skeleton in some local landfill years ago. I guessed that was the advantage of being able to look her in the eye, they were on equal footing.

Claire listened with a cocked eyebrow before laughing in this other woman’s face. She was struggling to stand steadily, “Are you giving him back to me? Cuz I don wann him. If you don’t either you can toss him off the balcony again, bonus points if he splatters on impact…” she beamed, proud of her sick joke. “Nah, but I don’t—-I don’t give a fuck. Sell him or somethin’, I’m tired of dealin’ with his ass. He's way too fucking needy…. And ‘spensive…” I froze. It was now all up to the whims of this stranger holding me... what was the rest of my life going to look like? What would she do? Insist on giving me back? Do as instructed and throw me over the ledge for fun? Or take me with her to do with as she pleased? None of these sounded appealing at all, but at least I had a chance of survival with the last one. I trembled in her hand, awaiting her answer.

She spoke again to the drunken blonde woman in the door, her tone biting and fierce, “You are seriously fucked up, Claire. All of you! It’s four in the goddamn morning!! Shut the fuck up and go the fuck home!” No one spoke to Claire that way, not even a fellow human. Every muscle in my body tensed as I waited to see what she would do to the woman holding me. This stranger’s cupped hand being the only line of defense between myself and my torturer.

She lunged forward and I prayed it wouldn’t get physical, because I was certain to be lost in the shuffle, but, suddenly, her eyes glazed over and just as the other woman recognized the signs and sidestepped the disaster, Claire threw up. Nothing I hadn’t witnessed before, but at least I wasn’t covered in it this time.

“Have a good night…” And with that, this stranger turned on her heel and headed back downstairs. I gripped her hand, panting and completely unable to recover from the shock of everything that had just happened. In the blink of an eye, we were back inside, behind closed doors.

It was probably a combination of being exposed to freezing temperatures for too long, cracking my head on concrete and the sheer overwhelming amount of fear and stress I’d just experienced at the hands of these two women tonight, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. My mind had officially broken along with my body.

She’d almost given me back. I’d been inches away from certain death. My face twisted as tried to fight it, but nevertheless, the tears burst forth in a violent wave and I just started to weep.

Her voice pierced my ears, “Hey little fella…. Are you mad at me? For trying to return you? I only brought you back because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do…I, I’m sorry. I see now how abusive it was….”

I just wanted everyone and everything to disappear. I was so tired of being jostled about by giant fingers. Poked, prodded, pinched and played with. I just wanted to be fucking left alone and on solid ground. I didn’t have the strength to scream, so I just curled up into myself and cried even harder.

The woman never said another word, but simply draped that familiar washcloth over my shoulders before setting me down on the heating pad. I didn’t bother looking up, the tears blurred my vision anyway. What a horrible, miserable little life I led, with no choices of my own. I was now stuck in some new, unfamiliar place, with a woman who’s true intentions had yet to be determined, but who I still relied on for practically everything. My body racked with uncontrollable sobs. I hated being so little.

I cried until it physically hurt to continue. Then I just laid there, back pressed to the arm of the couch, a bundled mess of pitiable man (if I was even allowed to call myself that). My spine stiffened again when I suddenly realized I didn’t know where the human was. I’d kept my head tucked inside my knees and hadn’t been tracking her movements. I whipped around as I scanned the room for a sign of her. I never wanted to leave her out of my sight, if I could help it. That way I could always anticipate fits of rage and incoming blows or hands seeking to pluck me up. I saw her, across and a bit behind me to my left, perched on the other couch. Immediately, I darted my gaze away, hoping to avoid her eyes. But I wasn’t fast enough, she’d caught me looking.

Her voice, warm and sweet like honey, cascaded across the room, “Hi, little guy…”

I refused to turn around. Maybe she’d drop it and leave me alone if I was too boring to play with. After all, it looked like she’d been busy working on something. Instead, I took in my surroundings, trying quickly to calculate possible escape routes if needed. Not that I could get very far, all the doors were closed.

I could feel her eyes darting from me back down to the page in her lap and then returning to me. It made my skin crawl. What was she staring at me so intently for? Was she taking notes about my behavior? I didn’t like it. I had to know what she was doing. After a good long while, I finally mustered up the courage and cleared my throat, before speaking to her for the first time, “Ma’am? May I ask…Why do you keep looking at me?” I didn’t dare to look in her eyes, for fear that I may come across as too bold. She paused, my heart leapt into my throat, had I pissed her off? Would she punish me for speaking without being spoken to? Finally, she replied.

“I’m sorry…. Do you not want me to?” I had to see her expression, to gauge how much trouble I was in. I turned toward her, but still kept from meeting her gaze, both out of fear and an attempt at showing respect.

“No ma’am, I just wondered what you were doing….” I wished I hadn’t said anything.

Her voice became softer, more gentle, “Can I come closer? Can I show you?”

Closer meant within arm’s reach. I didn’t want to be picked up anymore. But once again, what choice did I have? I was no bigger than her hand, if she wanted to hold me she’d get her way, even if I cried and spat. She clocked my discomfort immediately. “It’s okay, little man….” She sure was observant. As though she really didn’t want to frighten or hurt me. As though she were actually looking for signs of distress and doing her best to mitigate them. I relaxed a tiny bit. Maybe if I seemed less fearful she’d be less tempted to caress or cradle me. I nodded my head up and down to let her approach. She lit up at that, crossing the room slowly, so as not to frighten me. She sat down on the floor her back to me up against the couch. She scooted so that I could see over her shoulder. To my relief she didn’t get as close as she possibly could, there was enough distance between our bodies that my heart could pound at a steady pace.

She opened up her pad of paper, propping it up on her knee so I had a clear view. What I saw gazing back at me were tons of sketches of my own form, huddled up in the washcloth. My jaw dropped slightly. The pencil markings, simple and expertly set down, somehow resembled me almost exactly. I couldn’t help crawling forward on my hands and knees, just a bit, amazed by what I saw, “…. That’s me?” She nodded yes. “Is that what I look like? So small…” I really was quite a pathetic little creature. I couldn’t imagine how I must’ve appeared to her: weak, terrified, emotional, desperate. But instead of seeing these traits and immediately taking advantage of them, she’d sat quietly while I cried and turned me into tiny works of art.

I was struggling to figure out the type of person this woman was, but I supposed that fact made her seem kind, compassionate, even. I still wasn’t sure what to make of her, but her drawings did warm my heart. She was looking straight at me now, her hair cascading about her face as she turned over her shoulder. Her gaze was bright, and sorrowful.

“Hey, it’s okay. I, I owe you an apology… for, for taking you back there… it was wrong… I’m so sorry for what she did to you….” I felt a pain in my chest, as tears sprung up again in my eyes. No. I didn’t want to relive that nightmare. Not now. Not just when I was beginning to hope, against all odds, that I might not stand on death’s door every day while under the care of this new human. Please don’t take my hope away from me by reminding me of the hell I just came from. She was still looking at me. I hung my head, unsure what to do.

“What’s your name?” Her question took me by surprise, I furrowed my brow.

“Huh?”

“What’s your name? What would you like me to call you? Or I can just keep calling you little guy if you like that better…” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or genuinely meant that.

What answer do you want? I’ve had at least 8 different names over the course of my life… but I assumed she wanted the most recent, “She…. She named me J-Joey, after some tv show character…” I had barely finished my sentence when the pad of her finger came to rest on my head. I stiffened but tried my best not to squirm. “No, what’s your real name?” Her finger suddenly started to move from its perch on my head, down my cheek and, finally, up under my chin. With a tiny amount of pressure from her, she guided my head until our eyes met. I clenched my teeth. You can be brave. Don’t be such a frightened little mouse. I swallowed but kept my gaze fixed, “Penn… my name is Penn… ma’am” she seemed to like that, her face blossomed into a bright smile. My shoulders relaxed a bit. It felt so nice to say my real name aloud for the first time in so long.

My victory was short-lived, though, because suddenly her face was getting closer and closer. Her mouth, in particular, was aiming right for me, descending directly on top of me! Horrified and fearing being bitten, or worse, eaten, I scrambled away into my little corner, unable to run any further. My eyes were wide and my nostrils flared, as my chest heaved. Her voice was as calm and sweet as ever, “Shhh, relax… calm down, you’re okay…” before I could beg her to reconsider, she pressed a finger into my chest, and pinned me up against the couch, making any escape impossible. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she leaned in for a second time, her target now immobilized. But no pain came. Instead, two warm, soft lips pressed sweetly against the top of my head. She hovered millimeters above me and whispered, her breath hot and sweet as it cascaded around me, “Hello, Penn. Nice to finally meet you…” Then, all pressure was released and I slumped to the ground. “I’m Eveline. But mostly people I know call me Ev. You don’t have to keep calling me ma’am, just Ev will do... You okay? I didn’t scare you that badly did I?” I was terrified out of my mind, of course. But I couldn’t deny the absolute thrill of hearing my name, my true name, the name my mother had given me when I was a little boy, said out loud, honored and revered. I paused to catch my breath before shaking my head and trying to pretend that I was fine.

“Penn?” There it was again! My name! I couldn’t help smiling at the sound of it. “You, uh, wanna hand me those boxers so I can wash them?” Oh. I’d completely forgotten about that. “Hey, nothing to be embarrassed about. Its okay. It wasn’t your fault. I’m certainly not holding it against you, you poor abused little thing….” She was only making it worse. I did as I was told, all while avoiding her eyes. She disappeared for a moment before returning, crouching back down as she had before. My breathing had at least calmed down by the time she returned.

“Tomorrow I’ll take you to pick out some clothes, how does that sound?” I’d have something to wear? It was certainly more than I expected. I was grateful.

“Thank you… thank you, ma’am.. er…” Fuck! She’d told me not do that. I searched her eyes and watched her hands carefully. Would she punish me for that mistake?

She seemed to think my terrified reaction was funny, as she laughed, “It’s okay. It’ll be hard to get used to at first.” Her fingers did approach me, but I quickly realized they were there to caress me along my spine.

After a moment of this, as I tried to relax, she spoke again, “I’m so glad I found you tonight… You sure are a cute little fella…” My face stung. Was I going to be okay here? Or would she treat me like an object just like everyone else? And for that matter, was she even planning to keep me? She had immediately tried to return me. Maybe she had no interest in keeping me at all. Maybe she didn’t want the responsibility. Did that mean she’d give me away to a friend or relative? Would she simply turn me out of doors to fend for myself? Or would I, once again, end up in a rescue center, whiling away my days in a metal cage, unable to avoid the ear piercing sounds of dogs barking and cats howling along the prison-like hallways, consigned to an existence of restless boredom and a never ending cacophony of noise that threatened to drive me insane?

“So…” I practically choked on the words.

“Go ahead…”

“So… you’re going to keep me?” I was scared to look at her expression. I stared at my own toes instead.

“Of course, little one. You got me to rescue you, now you’re stuck with me. You’re not going anywhere if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Oh thank god. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. That sigh turned, reflexively, into a yawn. I felt half dead from all the shit I’d been through this night. My body desperately needed to sleep.

“Oh! I saw that little yawn! Yeah, I think you’re right…. It’s sleepy time…. Poor little fella, poor, sleepy, little Penn… come here, come help me make your bed…” She was babying me, sure, but it was like water in a desert to me. She was kind, she was thoughtful and she was doing her best to take care of me. I was becoming less and less afraid of her. Maybe her warm tone was genuine after all. She grabbed my torso between two fingers and lifted me into the air. I was nude but I was so tuckered out I didn’t have the energy to protest. I just wanted to be put to bed. Her grip on me, however, did make me writhe in pain. She’d managed to press into fresh wounds from earlier in the night. “I’m sorry, little man! You okay?” Struggling to breathe, I nodded. She set me down on my hands and knees in the flat of her hand. I gripped her pinky and the flesh of her pointer finger for balance as she took steps towards the closet. She let me pick out my own blanket. She probably could never understand it, but something as simple as getting a choice in what I slept in was a luxury few pets afforded their whole lives, myself included. I was grateful for that gesture.

Soon, I was settled into bed. She crouched before me, eyes sparkling with delight, like a small child wishing her favorite doll a good night and sweet dreams, “Get some rest, little one. You’ve been through so much. Sleep in as long as you like. I promise you’re going to like being here so much more than… well, you know. Sweet dreams, Penn.” she leaned in and kissed my hair. I only jumped a little as she first came towards me. As she pulled away, my heart suddenly skipped a beat. For some very odd reason, I didn’t want her to go.

After everything that had happened, and praying with all my might to be left alone, now that I was faced with solitude, I didn’t want it. I was starting to not hate the warmth of her fingers or the feeling of her lips pressed against my head. They could actually be almost comforting after I pushed past my habitual fear. I wished I could ask her to stay. Or to take me with her. But I didn’t know how. And what if I ended up regretting it? I thought better of it and shut myself up before I had a chance to ruin everything.

And just like that, I was left all alone in the dark.