Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Okarun groaned, in pain and misery where he had been thrown.

Of course, he and Momo had gotten caught up in another alien fight.

He almost didn’t want to get up. Everything in the world felt like dour misery. 

“C’MON YA ONE BALLED BASTARD, GET UP! I AIN’T LOSING MY POWER CUZ YOU DECIDED TO BITE IT!” 

He lifts his head, skull wobbling on his neck. He’s sure if he wasn’t powered up, he’d have snapped his neck… He sighed. “Yo, I can’t even die right, man… bummer…” 

“I SAID GET UP!” 

He grunted as the wind was knocked out of him by a maneki-neko landing HARD on his lower belly. He wasn’t sure if she was aiming for his dick or his diaphragm, but she had gotten a solid hit at both. 

“I can’t get up if your bitch ass doesn’t get off me,” he snapped, swiping at her. She jumped off.

“Just makin’ sure you weren’t dead yet, ya wuss. I ain’t even that heavy.”

“I ain’t lucky enough to be, yo,” he stated simply.

She stares at him. “... not the smartest thing you ever said around a maneki-neko statue, kid.” 

He shrugs, sliding smoothly into a full body motion that lifts him up to his feet, hips first, and then rolls his spine until his shoulders slump forward instead of back. “Alright… guess I’m up now…” 

“OKARUUUN!!”

His casual slumped posture immediately grows more tense and feral at the sound of Momo’s voice. He’s close to dropping to all fours and bolting toward her, already opening his massive teeth to shout, “YO, MOMO, I’M COMIN’ FOR YA!” 

He grunts when just before he launches, a heavy weight slams into the top of his spine and stays there, forcing him to fully drop into a more animalistic position on all fours. He turns his head, slow and angry, elongated neck allowing him to achieve an unnatural angle. 

“C’mon kid, get movin’,” Turbogranny snaps, shoving at his jet black jaw to look forward again. “You carry that little bitch around often enough that you shouldn’t even notice me.” 

He growls, and snaps at her, just enough to try and get her to flinch. “Fuck you, ya old cunt.” But before she can snark back or get another slap in, he’s darting off, arms and legs frantically scrambling at the ground for purchase as he flings himself across the pavement toward where Momo is calling for him again. 

Somehow, though, he felt more… complete. Something about bickering with the old hag made some of that blatant misery smooth into cool apathy. He still felt like a reactive dog, but it was certainly better than being so down he literally wanted to die. 

Chapter Text

“OKARUN!” 

Okarun gasped, struggling to breathe around the fear and weakness smothering his heart. He clutched at his chest. He thought being torn apart from the inside by Turbogranny’s power was bad, like every single fiber of his being was trying to split from one another. 

But this was… so much worse. It was… less painful, sure. More subtle.

But he could have sworn he was dying. Like the little aura in his chest that Miss Ayase could see was being smothered inside him. Like the light was fading from his eyes and he had to watch as the curtains fell. 

Well, he thought, I guess I got what my other me wanted… The thought flared a bit of power through him, that burn of the curse that had become so familiar and apart of him that it was almost impossible to imagine he ever was without it. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as he collapsed to his knees, hyperventilating, breath and awareness and heartbeat all narrowing down into one painful and aching and dying point in his chest. 

Just when he thought he would be snuffed out…

Slam! He felt something hit that point, hard enough that he couldn’t even get those tiny gasps out anymore, making pain explode in his sternum, flinging him back and scraping him across the ground with the acceleration. 

He gasped, hard, struggling to suck in his last breaths only instinctually now… but wait. 

That little feeling inside him, of what he was, within his chest, wasn’t being squeezed by some sort of crushing presence anymore. His heart began to slow and warm. He could catch his breath. 

Even the curse flickered from nothingness, softly burning in the background of his soul. It wasn’t much, but it was so much in comparison to how close he was to collapse before. 

He realized that despite being able to breathe easier now, there was still a weight on his chest. Something moving.

It was swearing at him.

His eyes fluttered open with immense effort, and his eyes were unfocused and drifting for a moment before finally laying on the maneki-neko sitting on his chest, looking pissed but also… crying? Not quite crying, she couldn’t cry, but she sure seemed to be making an effort to-- or maybe not to, he wasn’t sure. It was baffling, especially as he finally registered that she was shouting at him for scaring her, for trying to die with her power in him, for--

“Granny,” he choked out, close to tears himself, and she shut up for a brief second to look offended. She seemed ready to lecture him again, clinging closer and grabbing at his shirt. 

But for some reason, he couldn’t help himself. 

He flung his arms around her, making her shout in shock and anger, wiggling in his arms before settling again.

There.

That was the feeling. 

He had been confused, and weak, and in pain… but now he sighed in relief as he cradled Turbogranny close to his chest, close to where the curse resided inside him, where it flicked and burned brighter at her presence. It warmed him, renewing the energy in his veins that had been sapped out of his limbs by… whatever that was. He sighed in relief, relaxing as he held her close. Something inside him, something that had managed to infuse itself onto every cell of his body, felt… not complete. But complimented. Like he could usually go on his own but he needed her right now, at his weakest, to feel settled and whole. 

Turbogranny, for her part, stood as still as a maneki-neko usually was supposed to. She was made of porcelain, but somehow, she was warm in his arms. 

Hesitantly, her paws lifted… and tapped into a sort of hug against Okarun’s chest. 

He started crying. He couldn’t help it, the sudden acceptance of the connection from both sides made something click into place that made him feel safe enough to bawl. His heart beat strong, spirit bright, and Turbogranny sat, looking contemplative of her very existence as she felt something similar, a sensation that felt so satisfying that she never even realized she was missing. She felt safe, as if her power was surging through her again, protecting her. Allowing to protect others. 

They both slowly slumped into each other, exhausted but happy.