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Wolfwood could not believe what he was looking at.. His eyes shifted from the unconscious figure of Vash to the round ball of feathers next to him, staring at him with big white eyes. His brain was trying its best to understand the situation now. He remembered the whole fight with two of the Gung Ho Guns gang. Then Vash protected Meryl in his plant glory. Wings spread out wide and high. Him nearly losing control then stopping himself and Elendrina came and then —
Wolfwood crouched down on his heels to see the feathered ball of yellow like feather shift. The thing…..
It …..
Wolfwood took out a cigarette and lit it. Taking a deep breath and feeling the nicotine smoke filling his lungs up, calming his nerves and letting him sort out his racing thoughts before blowing the smoke out. He watched the thing sneeze at the cigarette smoke, making its already puffed up feathers even more puffed up and fluffed. The thing let out an annoyed growl which sounds just like Vash when he grumbles. He thought the sound was kinda cute and the more he looked at it, the more he realized that this feathered puffed ball is sort of cute minus the dirt and some ruffled feathers sticking out.
He let out a sigh through his half open mouth. This is going to be another one of those “it’s a plant thing” from Vash when he wakes up. Looking at Vash’s splayed out body with his long limbs everywhere and back to the feathered ball, Wolfwood knew he had to take this thing back with him to the inn. He shifted his foot on the gravel floor and watched how it flinched before hissing at his foot.
Right. He has to carry it. Judging from its size, he’s guessing it’s around those small adult cat size. He watched the thing look around itself before it stretched out one feathered arm to poke the stones and concrete. It hissed and poke the stones again before deciding that the not alive stone is safe, it scooped the thing and brought it to its mouth. Its small mouth opened wide to show it had fangs making Wolfwood’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. Huh. So the thing and Vash have the same fangs in their mouths. He watched it bite onto the stone. It reminded him of that one puppy in the orphanage, where it will find some of the rocks lying around to chew on it. Sometimes the puppy chews on it to tell him that it's hungry or that it just wants to play.
Seeing the little feathered thing bite on the stone and trying hard to chew it, he figured that it was hungry. Well to be fair, it’s almost midday today. He and Vash didn’t even have breakfast and the only thing they had was their dinner last night which was definitely digested and gone. He reached into his pockets. Rummaging through them, he grinned when he found what he was looking for.
A crumpled ration bar. Opening the bar, he watched the thing stop chewing to peer at him in interest. He pushed the bar out from the packaging and saw how it toddled or more like it flapped its many wings to crawl over. He spied what looked like a single clawed hand. Looking over at Vash’s only human arm and back at the creature, he chuckled. It really is Vash in a way. From the color to his hair down to his only arm left and even that small mole under his left eye. .
Breaking a small piece of the bar, he placed the piece in his hand and lowered it to the floor. He watched the creature stop just a few inches away from his hand, sniffing at it. He swore it made a face at the scent of his fingers but watched in interest as it used its only big wing to poke the ration piece before scooping it and bringing it to its mouth. It chomped on it and Wolfwood watched how its feathers ruffled which he thinks it’s happiness. Once that small piece was gone, it looked at Wolfwood expectantly.
He broke another piece and held it in his hands. It scooped the piece and ate it. He broke a few more and watched it toddled over the next inches to be as close to his hand it can be. There were some kind of soft “mrmmh” sounds and Wolfwood watched it climbed into his hand to eat the food directly from his palm. Now it's just being too cute.
Once the whole bar was gone, it looked up at Wolfwood. He is so tempted to pet it and he hopes it won't bite his hand. He slowly and carefully put his hand on it. It stretched its body up and Wolfwood stroked its supposed head. It even has Vash’s spiked hair, making him want to laugh. There it was, that sound. He can feel it vibrate.
Feeling a bit awed at this, he ran his fingers through its feathers before his fingers caught on some tangled feathers. It let out a loud 'VAAAAAA' which made him flinch.
"Okay, right. Don't bite me", he carefully untangled his fingers and slowly picked it up. It felt light and he felt some of its wings wrap around his hand.
He transferred it to the crook of his elbow and slowly stood up. Watching and feeling it wiggle its body, making itself comfortable, he felt it vibrate again. He walked over to Vash and bent down to throw Vash over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He paused all of a sudden making creatuse Vash go “Vaa?” at him in confusion. He stared at Punisher leaning against the wall and then up at the sky, praying hard how to carry all three. Before he could think of a way or even at the thought of leaving Punisher there, he felt a tiny clawed hand gripping his sleeve.
He looked down and saw how creature Vash crawled its way up onto his shoulder and then flapped its wings to fly up and land on his head. He felt his eye twitch at the light weight on his head. He can even feel the big wing brushing against his ear.
“What are you doing?”, he questioned. All he got for an answer was a “VAA” and it sounded very pleased with itself. Letting out a loud sigh, Wolfwood picked up Punisher and made his trek back to the inn he and Vash were staying in.
“You better don’t fall from there. I ain’t gonna pick you up if you do”, he scolded, feeling its clawed hand gripping his hair and the wing wrapping around his ear like an ear cuff. He let out an annoyed sigh. “The things I do for you, needle noggin”.
~~~
Wolfwood dumped Vash’s gangly body onto the bed and carefully (lovingly) propped Punisher against the wall in the corner of the room. Meanwhile, the creature Vash (he needs to name that thing besides calling it ‘ IT/creature/thing ) flew around the room in curiosity.
“Vash”, he tested out. He grinned when Vash tilted sideways from flying to flap its way to him and straight into his arms. “Well aren’t you just being cute”, he half joked but felt Vash purr in his arms. “Huh. You sound just like Angelina on a good day”, then he grimaced at the feeling of sand in his suit and in places he does not want to mention. “Come on, fluff ball. Let’s see if you’re okay with a nice hot shower”.
“ Vaaaaassss”.
Wolfwood dumped Vash into the sink which surprisingly fits him just nicely. He wondered if stripping in front of this fluff would be the same as stripping in front of Vash but yet the said plant man has seen everything of him from the times they fooled around in bed. Forgoing the embarrassment, he stripped himself and got into the tub. Turning the dials for the shower, he waited as the first spray of water was freezing cold making him curse away before it turned warm and then hot. Stepping underneath the spray, he couldn’t help but to let out a soft sigh, feeling the dirt and probably some blood wash away. It almost feels like it’s cleansing his sins but yet he knows that he will need a lot of water and probably a lake full of holy water to cleanse his hands and soul.
Before his mind could go any further, he felt something brushed against his foot making him yelp and half threw himself backwards. His head hit against the tiles and hissed in pain, immediately crouching down to hold his head. Glaring at the wet fluff staring up at him, he grabbed hold of its face and shook it sideways, gently.
“Don’t do that you fucking idiot. You want to crack my skull in half, huh?”, he growled, feeling the bump on his head healing already. “When did you even get out of there?”, he turned to the sink to see some streaks of blood in it. “Wait, fluffy”, he immediately turned to Vash blinking innocently up at him.
He picked Vash up and turned him sideways, up and down, checking him for any injuries or so. The only thing he found was one wing covered in blood but thankfully he wasn’t bleeding at all. Wolfwood let out a relief sigh. He watched Vash sniff his hands before clinging onto them.
“ Vaaa”, it said, staring at Wolfwood.
“Time to get clean”, he commented, slowly bringing Vash under the spray. He watched the water go from brown to red to clear.
He wasn’t sure what soap to use and wondered if it would hurt Vash but decided to screw it and just use the shampoo to clean the feathers. Vash melted in his hands with a content look. Once the two were clean, dried and changed into fresh clean clothes ( Wolfwood ) , he decided to order room service instead. Not feeling up to go down to eat at the lounge area nor does he want to bring Vash along. He placed Vash onto one of the pillows and looked at it sternly.
“Don’t move. I’m getting us some food”, he pointed at it. “If you move from that place, I’ll turn you into a bald fluff, understood”, with that he left to order food and two bottles of beer.
Not wanting to linger for long, he hurriedly went back to the room after getting the waitress to bring his food up to the room, he opened the door just to see Vash poking Vash’s face with its big feather. So the little thing really did stay put. He chuckled at the scene and saw how Vash perked up excitedly at him. It chirped with a chorus of ‘Vaa vaa vaaaa vaaa’ in happiness. Wolfwood was amused at that, at least someone was happy to see him, his eyes slid over to the human Vash.
He won’t say that he’s worried but he is. Seeing how Vash reacted and all and almost destroying everything again. He let out a sigh. There were a few knocks to his door and he opened it a bit, blocking the waitress’s view of the room but took the tray of food with a big smile and a chorus of thanks before shutting it. The smell of a hot meal made his stomach growl in hunger. The sudden chips of ‘Vaaaa, vaaaa, vaaaaa’ can be heard and he turned to see Vash flapping his wings in excitement with how his eyes were trained on that full plate of food.
Well, time to feed the hungry beast, he thought with a smile.
~~~
Vash woke up with a loud groan. Reaching to hold his head, he slowly sat up. Pausing at the feel of the soft texture underneath his palm, he knew that Wolfwood had brought him back to the inn. He looked to the side when he heard munching sounds only to freeze. His blue green eyes widened at the sight in front of him. On the table that held plates of food was this fluffy creature just munching on a piece of roast chicken from what Vash can see. It’s feathered wing flapped now and then but it’s the beady white eyes that was staring at him that irked him.
The creature continued to munch on its food while it stared at Vash. Both were just staring at each other till the room door opened and Wolfwood walked in with another plate of food and a bottle of beer. He looked surprised to see Vash awake.
“Oh, good. You’re finally awake”, he placed the plate down and opened the beer bottle with just the edge of the table. The sound of the fizz coming from the bottle was loud in Vash’s ears but all he could do was stare at the sight of the creature eating away. “You hungry, needle noggin? There should be enough food”, Wolfwood sat down.
“Wolfwood”, Vash spoke since he woke up, eyes not leaving the creature. “What is that?”, he pointed at it.
The little fluff ball made a “ vrrmmm” sound as if it was offended. Wolfwood barked out a laugh at the creature’s voice but held his hand out for it to waddle over. Vash watched how the thing just nuzzled its face into Wolfwood’s palm and all of a sudden Vash felt jealousy burning in his stomach. He wanted Wolfwood to cup his face like that whenever he woke up from getting injured or passed out.
“It’s you, blondie”, Wolfwood grinned, wiping the little thing’s face with a napkin. “You're such a messy eater”, he laughed, hearing the little thing chirp and groan.
“What do you mean it’s me?”, Vash pushed himself off from the bed to pad over to them. “It’s not -”, he paused and finally took in the creature’s look.
Yellow in color, the same color as his hair. Messy, sticking up in different directions. Feathers, plant feathers that make up for the one wing on the left side of its body. A small clawed hand can be seen clinging to Wolfwood’s finger and finally its white eyes blinking at him. It even has that one mole underneath its left eye.
“Me…”, Vash finished off after studying it. “Why, how?? When?? What????? Wolfwood!!!”, he screeched, panic flashing in his eyes.
“Easy angel, easy”, Wolfwood stood up, grabbing a hold of Vash’s shoulders to stop him from panicking too much. “I don’t know. Can’t explain it either. I only found it when you were passed out and it was there”.
“It’s a plant thing”, became Vash’s default answer.
Wolfwood rolled his eyes. “Yea, yea”, he scoffed. “A plant thing. It's harmless. It’s really you only a more fluffled version of you”, he grinned.
Vash pouted at that but slumped his shoulders in defeat. The thing had gone back to eating its chicken and just looking at the food is making him really hungry. Moving over to sit next to it, he eyed the thing with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. Wolfwood slid a plate of spaghetti to him while he sipped on his beer and lit a new stick of cigarette.
“Vash”, he suddenly called and watched in amusement as both blondes turned to him.
Vash turned to mini Vash who chirped in reply before he snapped his head to Wolfwood in aghast. “It’s responding to my name too!”.
“It’s you, dumbass. Cute isn’t it?”, Wolfwood laughed.
“No it isn’t! Oh god! You can’t call our names like that!”.
“Our? So you finally accepted that he’s a part of you, needle noggin?”.
“No. I…it’s just….it…him…….ah fuck”, Vash cursed out, stuffing a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.
“Relax, needle noggin. It only responds to your name and nothing else. I’ll just call you whatever I feel like it”.
“Please don’t. Your nicknames are just horrible”.
Wolfwood raised an eyebrow. “Really? So you don’t like it when I call you sugar in bed? Or angel? You love it when I call you angel when I fuck you”.
Vash’s face turned so red like the color of his coat and his eyes darted over to Vash who blinked up at him. He can’t believe he’s blushing in embarrassment in front of his own creature like self. This is just scandalous, he thinks.
“Sweetheart, stop thinking”, Wolfwood called out. “It’s still you, remember. I gave up my dignity when I bathed it”.
“Wait, you bathed him? Naked? You, naked?? WOLFWOOD!?”, Vash screeched, face even redder than before.
“It can’t tell the difference. It had blood in its feathers. You wanna explain to the lady when she finds the sheets covered in blood?”.
Vash kept quiet but accepted the reasoning in a way. He glared at his creature self who is now licking its lips from the chicken. Hearing Wolfwood click his tongue, he grabbed a spare napkin, picked up Vash and began to wipe its mouth. Vash just watched them interact while he ate, watching how pleased Vash looked with the petting from Wolfwood.
He wanted to be petted too. He blinked when he realized that he’s slowly becoming jealous of his creature self. He almost scoffed out loud at the thought. There’s no way he’s jealous. Maybe?
Is he?
Is he not??
Vash groaned and covered his face with his hands. Wolfwood nudged him in the foot but he waved him away with the words “shower” and “need to be clean”. Wolfwood waved him off and went back to petting Vash who is now purring in delight. Vash glared at it and shut the bathroom door with a bit of force but he didn't care.
Since then, Vash has been following them in their travels much to Vash’s despair. The amount of glaring contest he had with it was laughable to Wolfwood. Even when they made camp outside, the little thing would find a way to snuggle with Wolfwood without a doubt. Vash once woke up to being nearly suffocated by the little thing’s fluff of feathers. Wolfwood, fast asleep, would cuddle with it and Vash would whine and pout in the morning of how he misses having his Wolfwood’s hugs.
When they do get into town and manage to snag a room, they would toss Vash into the room and lock the door, ignoring its pitiful cries to be let out or to follow Wolfwood. In those times, Vash would have Wolfwood all to himself if he could. A simple touch to Wolfwood’s shoulder where his hand would linger a bit longer or just simply lean into his space. Sometimes Wolfwood would steal a peck or two when no one was looking.
Or even on the run, Vash would grinned up at him till they got back to the room. Then it’s all about Vash and how Wolfwood would coo at him and pet him. Vash would bristle at that, seeing how Vash would puff up in delight under Wolfwood’s touches or how he’ll chirp in excitement. Vash couldn’t understand why it’s so attached to his partner. Why it would never leave Wolfwood and how fast it would latch onto him.
But the worst to Vash’s dismay and annoyance is the ‘No sex’. He hasn’t had good sex from Wolfwood for weeks since Vash followed them. When in their rooms, when they think Vash is asleep and the lights are off with just the moonlight as their nightlight, when their lips touch and their kisses become a bit more rough and desperate, when their clothes are about to go off and Wolfwood just so happens to look up, he yelped.
Vash immediately looks up to see Vash staring at them with wide white eyes. To Vash it looked like it was glaring at him but it made chirping sounds at Wolfwood and then proceeded to flap its wing to glide over snuggle into Wolfwood’s neck. Vash thought the man would toss Vash away like he has done once or twice when he got annoyed at both of them but this time he didn’t.
“Let’s just go to sleep, spikey”, Wolfwood sighed, knowing it will be a losing game when Vash is here with them now.
Vash gaped at his lover then glared at the little thing in Wolfwood’s arms. “You….Fine”, he huffed, flopping onto his side of the bed with his back turned to Wolfwood.
Both of them fell asleep, not happy with being cockblocked but Vash was just too pleased with himself about it. Vash figured out that this hissing, fluff thing is just out to make his days miserable and full of jealousy. Wolfwood has gotten used to the thing crawling all over him and even going as far as to carry it in his arms or letting it rest on Punisher. Wolfwood would be stuck in the middle of a glaring contest between the two Vash’s while he ate his food.
Those times, he would just drink a couple of beers or poke Vash in the wing or even feed it while it continued glaring at Vash. Vash grumbled and whined about it to Wolfwood until he didn’t. They were bound to get caught sooner or later with the bounty on Vash’s head.
Wolfwood watched in horror as Vash flew straight to Vash. Even Vash was shocked to see the thing in front of him when a bullet pierced through its fluffy body. Blood sprayed out and Vash quickly grabbed the thing and shot the hunters. He rolled and dodged into an alleyway just as Wolfwood unleashed a shower of bullets. The screams of the hunters and then groans from them. Vash looked up to see Wolfwood running towards them and that was his que to get up and run too.
They managed to outrun some of the remaining hunters with Vash cradled in Vash’s arm. Catching their breath, they turned to see how it was faring. Vash’s heart dropped at the sight of blood just dripping from its little body.
“He’s not healing. Why isn’t he healing?”, Wolfwood immediately asked, noticing how Vash’s wing fluttered a bit as if it was in pain.
Vash felt tears brimming in his eyes. He brought Vash close to his chest and leaned against the wall.
"Hey”, he whispered so softly to Vash who chirped. “It’s okay. Thank you for protecting me. Thank you and I’m sorry”.
Vash weakly chirped, trying to nuzzle into Vash’s chest before its eyes slipped closed. Wolfwood clenched his teeth hard and looked away but his eyes went back to see Vash cradling Vash in his arms and tears streaming down his cheeks. He watched when Vash brought Vash close to his face and sobbed quietly into its feathers. The sound of someone shouting had them turning to the alleyways entrance and one look from their eyes, they took off running to the inn they were staying at.
Once in the inn, Vash carefully placed Vash in its little nest that it made in the nights they were staying here. Wolfwood propped Punisher against the wall. Silence blanketed their room and Vash just stroked the yellow feathers when slowly Vash broke into tiny pieces like plants who have all but run out of energy. He gasped out loud and Wolfwood turned to watch Vash slowly disappear until there was a single feather left in the bed.
Vash picked it up and gently brushed the feather tips before the tears spilled over his cheeks and he burrowed his face into his hands, sobbing quietly. It was always hard to see and hear his sisters cry out when they died but this was his little brother. A part of him and all. He felt Wolfwood’s arm wrap around his waist and a soft kiss was pressed to his temple in comfort.
He was jealous of his own self when it kept on cuddling with Wolfwood but at the end of the day, Vash would brush its feathers to untangle them. Sometimes even complain about Wolfwood or other things to it. All in all, Vash was a part of him. A part that he wanted to reject but yet accepted that even though he was different from the humans, he was still a plant. Vash made sure of that. Sometimes nuzzling him when he felt like breaking, when humans would say mean things to him or throw things at him.
When Wolfwood would try to defend him, Vash would cuddle with him in his sleep. He wiped his tears away and put on a watery smile for Wolfwood. Placing the feather on top of the makeshift nest, Vash laughed wetly, spotting the dirty small handprints on the blanket. No matter what, the thing was still a menace and Vash wouldn’t trade anything for the times they spent together. He turned to face Wolfwood and placed his arms around his neck.
“I know it looks mean and all but”, he leaned forward to capture Wolfwood’s lips. “I’ve been dying to sleep with you”.
Wolfwood’s eyes darken at that. He smirked at Vash and nipped his lips. “Getting angsty, kitten? How many rounds do you think you can last?”, he whispered hotly, making Vash shiver.
“Why don’t we find out?”, a coy smile and hooded eyes was all it took for Wolfwood to get Vash out of his red jacket and bodysuit.
Tossing him onto the bed, a twinkle of a light laugh like soft wind chimes made Wolfwood’s heart flutter and smiled at him. Arms went around his neck and Wolfwood leaned down to kiss him. Even though Vash kept on cockblocking them, but this, having Vash wrapped in his arms is something that Wolfwood will forever treasure. Creature or not, this version of Vash was something that he would forever choose, no matter what.