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I Love You (I'm Not Supposed Too) - Chapter Nine: Trip To The East - 8k Words

Jimmy takes his own two week long trip to the Grimlands, which reveals its own things that Fwhip would rather leave hidden

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Maybe a week or so after his meeting with Scott, Jimmy is being sent to the Grimlands; on a trip that mirrors Fwhip’s own almost two, maybe three months prior. At least this time, his mother had informed him where he was going and when he would be leaving. It truly was the very least she could do. He didn’t even get a goodbye from her when he departed, only Lizzie coming to send him off. His sister hands him the latest letter from Joel, hugs him tight, and promises to message him daily and to watch over the swamp for him while he’s gone. Jimmy hugs her back, takes the letter, and doesn’t return the promise before he’s being whisked off towards the East.

As soon as the ocean is out of sight, it feels like a large weight has been lifted off the cod’s shoulder. He leaves all his worries and responsibilities back at home, and finally feels like he can breathe for the first time in over a year. He hasn’t felt like that since the arrangement had been made, or since his first trip to House Blossom. He’d missed what it felt like to not have a weight constantly on your chest.

He arrives just over a day later, right as the sunrise fades and the next morning truly starts. It does take a while to travel to the other side of the continent, after all. Gem meets him at the door, waving frantically as he approaches. She nearly trips over the wizard's cape flowing behind her as she runs out to meet him, causing all the staff that had accompanied her to let out chuckles and snorts of amusement. Jimmy smiles, waving back at her as his bags are taken by one of the manor’s staff members.

“Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!” Gem calls, coming to a halt. Her hair is all frizzled up from the August heat, though the Grimlands is noticeably less humid than the swamp and the ocean are. Her wizard’s hat is surprisingly off, probably because of the temperature. The blonde laughs at her, accepting the hand he’s offered as he gets out from the traveling carriage. If he’d known he was missed this much, he would’ve ordered a visit to the Cliffs months and months ago!

“Hi Gem!” He says, and is promptly pulled into a hug before the words even leave his mouth. “I missed you too!” He huffs, caught off guard, and hugs the young wizard back to the best of his ability. His ribs are currently being crushed by her, which makes returning the affection quite challenging. But the cod thinks he manages it well enough.

“Where’s Fwhip?” Jimmy asks, once the two of them pull out of the embrace. It’s surprising that he’s not here yet, really. He was most likely supposed to meet the Grimland’s newest visitor at the door, being the future Count and all. His father, the current Count, probably was too, now that Jimmy thought about it. Though, as curious as both their absences were, it doesn’t mean they were really missed. And Gem had done an amazing job of greeting him by herself, anyways. He’d prefer this over Fwhip any day.

“He’s coming down!” Gem says, smoothing her messed up hair to the best of her ability. “I practically had to drag him out of his workshop.” She huffs, giving a pointed glance to her home's front door; like she’s trying to burn a hole through and straight at her brother. Jimmy just chuckles again, and figures he can wait for a few more minutes. He needs to get accustomed to the new surroundings anyways. This place is almost uncomfortably different from the ocean and the swamp. There’s a lot more grass, for one, amongst other things.

Fwhip appears two minutes later, his coat halfway on his shoulders and goggles hastily shoved on top of his head. (Goggles that the cod’s never seen before, and will have to ask about later. He wonders how he fits those over the horns.) Jimmy doesn’t know how he survives in the black jacket all the time, but maybe half dragons are more resistant to heat or something. Or Fwhip is an insane person , which is also just as likely.

“There you are!” Gem says, her brother striding over to meet them quickly. “You can’t be rude when we have guests! It’s proper to greet them at the gates!” She scolds him, and the words have an air of familiarity to them. Like she does this often, or at least does it enough. Jimmy just looks between them, feeling out of place, and offers the future Count an awkward smile when his gaze flicks over to him.

“Yeah, well I’m here now.” Fwhip huffs, fixing his coat until it rests correctly on his shoulders. He seems unbothered by his twin’s tone, and barely acknowledges her lecturing. Gem just makes a noise of slight annoyance and rolls her eyes at her brother’s easy indifference. “Hi Jimmy.”

“Hi.” The cod breathes, feeling suddenly self conscious. He doesn’t know why. It’s the feeling that everyone is watching you, that’s the feeling he now has. Even though the only ones watching right now and Fwhip and Gem. The former of which watching now makes him….very nervous, for some reason. Not having time to unpack all of that, Jimmy just shifts his weight, and hopes neither of them notice his slight shift in body language. If there was one at all.

If Fwhip notices any odd behavior, he doesn’t comment on it, just turns back to his sister as she starts speaking. “Come on, Dad wants us to show him around!” She says, turning around just as quickly as she’d gotten here. Her tail flicks across the ground, clearly telling her brother and their guest to follow. Jimmy wasn’t even that versed on half dragon body language and he could tell that. Or maybe he was just getting better at reading the twins.

“He’s not greeting the guest? Like he said he would?” Fwhip asks, following behind his sister; a frown starting to stretch across his face. Gem said nothing for a minute, and did the opposite of what her brother had done with his coat just before, now shoving her cape off her shoulders and holding it in her arms. The heat must be getting to her then, while Jimmy remains decently unbothered. Comfortable, even.

The cape is a new accessory, Jimmy notes, like Fwhip’s black and red goggles are. It’s purple, with white puffy sleeves and the same material lining the edge of the hood. The color makes a nice compliment to her normal green and brown-colored attire. It’s big on the young wizard now, basically trailing down to the floor; but it’s clearly made to be grown into. Which makes sense, Gem hasn’t had the growth spurt half dragons normally have yet; according to both twins. The boys nearly tower over her right now, Fwhip sitting somewhere above five foot seven and Jimmy a comfortable six foot six. Gem’s only five foot four, but she’ll probably be Fwhip’s height one day. Her brothers probably done growing for the most part, but Jimmy knows he has at least another half a foot left to grow. But that’s far beside the point right now.

Gem doesn’t look back at them, just keeps trudging ahead towards the manor. She squares her shoulders, obviously more than a little tense, and Jimmy can’t help the way part of him floods with worry at the motion. “He….said something came up.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure that something was a bottle.” Fwhip mutters, starting the walk back inside the manor. Jimmy gets the feeling no one was supposed to hear that, but everyone around him did anyway. Gem glares sharply at her brother for the remark, but follows behind him regardless. “Come on, codboy, we don’t want you getting lost.”

He says nothing to that, and follows them up the short set of stairs to the house’s front door. The staff around him, the one carrying his bags and seeing off his escorts, look like they just bit a lemon; their expressions all sour or horribly uncomfortable and awkward. They all heard Fwhip’s comment, then, and are trying their best to act like they did it. No one meets his eyes when he looks at them, either out of shame or something else entirely.

Jimmy holds back a sigh as the grand front doors are held open for him, (the staff member to do so not looking at him, either,) and wonders just what the hell his mother’s gotten him into this month.

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The first few days of the visit are relatively uneventful, for the most part. After the decently lengthy tour, they get Jimmy settled in. He has a pretty lavish guest room, one on par with what Fwhip’s had been at the Palace. It’s right down the hall from the twins room, Fwhip’s being the closet. And by the wink Gem gives him, Jimmy’s pretty sure that was a purposeful decision from her. Fwhip doesn't see the wink, and continues on with his day peacefully unaware of his sister’s matchmaking antics.

Nothing much else happens on the first day, other than mealtimes and Jimmy getting himself familiar with the castle. He sees a bit of the village as well, when they’re walking around the gardens, and also the decapitated heads that were kept on spikes inside said gardens. They were for decoration, as Fwhip had said when Jimmy asked. Even though it was the creepiest type of decoration possible. But, as he hadn’t been quick to forget, the Grimlands were weird enough to house the Salmonfolk, so maybe this was normal decor for a kingdom full of weirdos.

The only other interesting thing Jimmy learned about Fwhip, or the empire at all, was that the royal family had adopted two puppies over the past year. One of them was apparently a little older, but Jimmy couldn’t tell you which; they both just looked like puppies to him. The puppies had been in their own room during the tour, probably to prevent them from destroying any furniture right now, since they looked to be quite young. The first one that had run up to him had been named Nova, and the other one was Koda.

They were supposed to be family dogs, Gem told him, but they were very clearly Fwhip’s dogs instead. (He was probably the only person around them the most anyways, minus the staff members.) The little guys were also clearly attached to him, considering how both puppies had gotten excited upon seeing the ginger. They were cute dogs, Jimmy had to admit, and wouldn’t mind seeing them for the rest of the trip. (Jimmy also makes a mental note to bother someone in the castle about a cat again. A pet would liven that place up quite nicely.)

At some point in the coming weeks, Fwhip should probably teach him about Grimlands culture or whatever, like Jimmy had done to him for his visit. That is probably the whole reason for this trip, after all; or at least part of it. Clearly, the ginger has absolutely no intention of doing so, content to just do a basic tour of his home and nothing more. (Admittedly more than the cod had remembered to do for him with the Prisma Place, because back then he didn’t care if Fwhip got lost in a hallway and starved to death.) And zero adults were forcing them to play nice this time around. Fwhip also doesn't think Jimmy is all too interested in learning either, even though he clearly is. That isn’t a problem though, Jimmy’s gotten pretty good at learning when nobody wants to teach him.

He also keeps the cod in the manor and the surrounding area when he can, mainly to keep him away from the salomfolk. For both their sakes, Fwhip says when the blonde asks him about it one day. Jimmy silently agrees, and then says nothing more on the matter for the rest of the trip. The less bloody salmon he sees in his lifetime, the better. Even if it means less room to stretch his legs and less visits to Eastvale’s village

Today, on the third or so day of the trip, they are hanging out in the small workshop the twins have. That has been Fwhip's and only Fwhip's for a little while now. The half dragon is at his desk, working on a small invention. It seems to be a communicator that needs some fixing up, by the looks of the device. Jimmy sits on the corner of the work desk, not caring how much space he’s giving the other. They’re close enough to touch if they really wanted to.T

his empire is kinda boring, he has to be honest. (Though half of that boredom is probably caused by his limited village access, to be fair.) Don’t get him wrong, this is a nice break from setting up the cod empire; but without something to occupy himself Jimmy is so incredibly bored . There are no parents watching them, and Gem isn’t here a good sixty percent of the time, so the blonde is forced to hang around Fwhip. And the ginger seems to spend his time in this dark little workshop, or the kingdom’s forge (which Jimmy is not allowed in for safety reasons) and that’s it. If he doesn’t get some stimulation soon Jimmy thinks he’s gonna lose his coddamn mind.

He looks over, lazily watching what Fwhip is doing. The half dragon is now messing with some exposed wires, gloves covering his hands and his newly gifted goggles moved down from the top of his head. Probably in case something electrical happens, or something explodes, if the Cod had to guess. (PPE equipment, or whatever the half dragon had called it when he first walked in here.) He’s being very careful too, precise even. More so than he is in any other scenario. Usually, Fwhip’s on the more uncoordinated side, but that doesn’t seem to be the case when he’s working on something mechanical.

Jimmy doesn't really know anything about mechanics, or smithery, or any field that Fwhip works in, but he knows talent when he sees it. And it’s very obvious that Fwhip is an amazing inventor for his age, anyone with eyes and a single brain cell could see that. The way he moves and handles the materials are a tip off, but seeing him in action is something different. There’s a reason he’s aloud in the forge so young, that's for sure.

"Sausage was right." Jimmy hums his thoughts into the air less than a minute later, idly kicking his legs out. His tail moves a bit as well, and the future Count watches it carefully. Just to make sure it doesn't knock anything off his work desk. If something gets broken it’s gonna be hell for that fishboy, mark his words.

“About what?" Fwhip responds, irritation already starting to flare up in his tone. The cod's only been there a good five minutes, and he's already starting to get annoyed. Heh, that's a new record. Usually it takes about seven minutes for that to happen. Jimmy would know, he timed it in his head once. Ten minutes of no annoyance was the maximum limit, though. Fwhip never quite made it to eleven.

"You are a really good inventor." Jimmy says, his eyes trained on the little device Fwhip’s working on. It’s something Sausage said to him years ago at this point, but he always kept it filled away in the back of his mind. And yeah, the Mythlander had been damn right back then, and he certainly was even more right now. The ginger hasn’t been working for long, maybe only ten minutes, but he’s clearly made a good amount of progress on it. He’s stopped fiddling with the wires, and has moved onto something else that needs fixing; what looks to be a dent on the back of the device.

Fwhip rolls his eyes, fishing around his desk for something. "Thought you didn't like me." He quips, almost cutting himself through the gloves on a loose piece of metal; which he also glares at. Jimmy was going to try and help him look for….whatever he’s looking for, or warn him of the loose metal, but decided against it after being so rudely snapped at.

"I can still recognize talent when it's there." The cod hums, parroting his earlier thoughts. His tail moves again, and Fwhip shoots the limb yet another look as he finally finds the tool he needs. Yet another reason Jimmy was content to just let him suffer, instead of helping him sift through the mountain of stuff. Really, this place would be a lot better if he organized it, but the blonde feels like he’ll get his head bit off for even trying to suggest such a thing. He’s sure Gem has tried though, with how organized her own bedroom looked to be.

"Shame I see no talent in you, then." The half dragon huffs, sounding far too casual as he flicks a screwdriver between his fingers. He unscrews the back on the device with practiced ease, and ignores the way the cod squawks with offense next to him.

"Oh can you just take a damn compliment for once!?" The cod snaps, giving the ginger a glare; one that hopefully matches the multiple he’s already been given today. Fwhip seems determined to be insufferable today, it seemed. He hadn't been this bad last time they had messaged each other, but that had been almost a month before the trip. And, as Jimmy knows very well, a lot can change within just a single month.

"No, not from you." Fwhip ignores him almost entirely now, not even looking up as the cod shifts his position. He seems to at least be trying to focus on the device he’s fixing, not even caring when Jimmy experimentally flaps his tail a few times; just to see what part of the mess he could move. It seems like the half dragon’s gotten focused on his work again, and that many days of this trip are going to be spent exactly like this. Jimmy would know, it’s the second of his maybe four days that it has. He holds back a groan of boredom at the thought, and decides Gem is probably gonna be better company. If she’s even here today, that is.

"Arse." Jimmy huffs, sliding off the work desk. His tail almost knocks something off alongside him as he does, and the blonde ignores the low snarl that starts to come from Fwhip’s throat. He’s almost glad that he’s being such a nuisance, and kinda wishes he had actually knocked something important off. It would serve the half dragon right, really.

"I know." Fwhip calls over his shoulder, still not looking up. His response is delayed too, meaning he’s not hearing the cod right away. The half dragon’s really in the zone then, and will probably be fully unresponsive in the next minute or so. Jimmy’s attempt at getting some minor simulation had been short lived and probably pointless in the end, as he should’ve expected.

"Then stop being one." He shoots back, not really thinking when he says it. Arguing back with Fwhip specifically is like second nature at this point, even if he’s guaranteed to get little to no response. Wait, no, scratch that. Especially if he’s guaranteed to get little to no response. Can’t be insulted if the other person isn’t hearing you, after all.

The half dragon responds, this one even more delayed than his last one had been. Yeah, Jimmy was losing him. He was about to be taken by the hyperfixation and mechanics, and nothing can stop it. Unstoppable force vs Immovable object type situation here. "I won't, because it annoys you."

"I'm leaving." The cod says, turning towards the door. He lets his tail drag across the floor, purposefully making a mess for the other to pick up later. If Fwhip even notices he’s messed anything up, with all the miscellaneous stuff on the floor that definitely shouldn’t be. But knowing him, and how the half dragon’s an organized mess kinda guy, he probably will notice and yell at Jimmy for it later. But it’s fun to knock a few stray boxes and stuff over, that’s for sure. (This is the part where Lizzie would call him a cat, and where he would whine about being called one; if he were at home that is.)

Fwhip yells over his shoulder, his voice echoing down the hall for a brief second. If he weren’t so distracted, the cod is sure that pure, unbridled annoyance and contempt would lacing his tone from top to bottom. "Good riddance! You were just gonna get in the way!"

Jimmy nearly slams the door behind him, and starts down the hallway. He heads towards one of the places Gem frequents, and hopes today is one of her manor days; as he’s started to call them. She hadn’t been at breakfast, but she had been known to come over at any time in the day from what he’d heard; so there was still a chance. Maybe it’ll be the cod’s lucky day, and he can finally have a break from the grumpiest person in the world. Cod be willing.

(He is not lucky. Gem is not there that day, she is at class in the Cliffs; as the staff tell him when he asks. So Jimmy makes him at home in the library for what has to be the millionth time, and flips through books he has absolutely no interest in. He gets so bored, he almost wishes he were back home instead. He also briefly considered going to see the puppies again, but decided against it. He’s not good with dogs, especially baby ones that don’t know him. He’ll have to see them with Fwhip one day then, which further kills his options for fun.)

(Worst. Vacation. Ever)

_____________________________

The next day, Jimmy’s back in the workshop again. Though this time he sits on the floor, tinkering with some loose bolts, screws, and other things he’d (somewhat) positive won't harm him too badly. Yesterday, the outside of the workshop had been just as boring as the inside of it had been. Even the manors library wasn’t that interesting to him, since he’d absorbed most of the politics of the Grimlands over the past year on his own time. The books on history had been slightly interesting, but nothing worth stealing or checking out. (And he probably shouldn't steal books from here anyways, but the habit is ingrained in his bones by now. Leaving any kind of trail for anything still makes him uneasy, even when he’s not at home.)

He hums to himself as he shuffles through the floor’s mess, confident Fwhip isn’t hearing him. Or, if he is, he’s able to tune it out with his work. He wonders if Fwhip and Gem sit like this often, working and reading together in quiet company. Because he and Lizzie don’t, not anymore. He hasn’t hung out with his big sister consistently for a few years now; for a very obvious list of reasons. Part of the other cod misses it, the other part is glad he gets some alone time. He thinks if he didn’t he would actually lose his mind.

Wait, hold on, back up; does Fwhip let Gem in here while he works? He seemed pretty irritated with just Jimmy’s presence yesterday, but maybe that had been because he was himself and was also sitting on the table. Did Fwhip do this all the time? Sit in a dimly lit room and tinker for like, twelve hours a day? If so, it’s no wonder why he was so pale, the half dragon never saw the bloody sun! It’s a wonder he didn’t melt in the Ocean Empire, honestly, with how much sunlight he had to be getting. Had he ever seen the sun before, actually, or know what it was like to do anything else with his days? Because this kinda sucked, if the blonde had to be honest. This right here kinda sucked big time when it came to hobbies, for him at least.

Well, only one way to answer all those questions was to ask, Jimmy supposed.

"What else do you do? Other than tinker I mean?" He asks, turning yet another bolt over in his hand. He’d been doing that during his whole ramble of thoughts before, and wasn’t about to stop now. The metal felt nice when it was twirled in between his webbed fingers. Anyways, the question is asked out of genuine curiosity, for this is the only hobby of Fwhip’s he’s ever heard of. He’s sure there’s gotta be at least one more, unless Gem isn’t exaggerated and he really does spend all his free time in here and inside the forge. Which would be rather concerning if true.

"Why do you care?" The half dragon asks, deadpan. He’s deadpan a lot of the time, Jimmy has noticed. Especially when he’s starting to get absorbed in his work like that. Like his brain can only focus on what he’s doing, and doesn’t try to force emotion out when a flat tone will get the job done. Which, yeah, valid honestly. Jimmy wishes he could do that instead of being painfully awkward everyday of his life.

He hums again, an old tune from the Cod Empire. A worker's tune, one they used during particularly long shifts. It had been taught to him over the past few months, and he’d gotten a nasty habit of humming notes of it to fill a silence. "I don't. Your empire's just boring."

"I farm, sometimes." Fwhip admits after a quiet moment of saying nothing, eyes still fixed on his small machine. He seems a little shy about the admission, tone getting a bit quieter when he speaks. The cod even sees a bit of pink color on his face, a smidge of blush if you might. But he decides not to point it out, and tease the half dragon about something else instead.

The blonde's eyes light up with a dumb idea, and Fwhip just knows he's made a mistake by admitting to that. A mistake he feels deep in his very soul. “Farmer Fwhip!” Jimmy exclaims, a cheeky grin now stretching across his face. The half dragon just holds back a groan, and resists the urge to bury his head in his hands. He will not be called something..…..something so stupid like that! He refuses the nickname! Refutes it, even! He especially will not be called that by Jimmy! Farmer fucking Fwhip! Gem would tease him about that forever if she found out (It’s a wonder his twin hasn’t already invented the name herself, really, with how much time he used to spend in the fields.)

"Shut up!" He snaps, cheeks already starting to burn from embarrassment; more than they already were from the admission itself. Though the blush is what makes Jimmy determined to not shut up, a devilish grain stitching across his face. He’s gonna be calling the half dragon Farmer Fwhip till the sun explodes, and that’s a promise.

"Show me the farms then, so I can do something other than deal with you." The cod scoots closer as he speaks (and promptly ignoring the order to shut up, might Fwhip add,) most of the things he’d been fiddling with now abandoned in a small pile. The ginger finally looks up from his work, and down at Jimmy; who is now practically sitting beside his chair. Kinda close, if you asked him, but they both knew the blonde wasn’t moving from there. Even if asked nicely.

"Oh gladly ." Fwhip huffs, putting the tool he’s currently holding down. He has a hunch that progress won’t be happening today, not with a certain fishboy sitting at his side like the puppies do when they want attention. "Next thing tomorrow morning, that's where you're going."

"That's the best thing you've ever said to me." Jimmy quips back, his head resting against the edge of his work desk. Like he owns this damn room and isn’t invading Fwhip’s personal space everytime he puts a foot through the door. He notes that the cod’s hair is getting long again, now trailing down the back of his neck, and makes a mental note to remind him about cutting it later.

"What about you?" Fwhip maneuvers the chair until they’re facing each other, grimacing at the sound of the legs scraping across the wooden boards of the floor. Jimmy feels his fins moved back in displeasure at the sound, but thankfully the chair is moved quickly. Different as the two boys are, their sensory issues remain eerily similar. “What…hobbies do you have?”

Jimmy hums, turning his thoughts over in his head for a minute. He does have hobbies, more than Fwhip probably, he just doesn’t get to do them much anymore. So it takes him a minute to actually remember what he used to do in his free time, before the cod empire happened. "I like building, but I'm not very good at it."

"Figures." Fwhip snorts, shoving his goggles back on his head. He’d kinda forgotten they were over his eyes, only realizing once he noticed that Jimmy was more red-tinted than normal. He fixes any messed up strands of hair while he’s at it, promptly ignoring the offended sounds coming from the cod next to him.

"Hey!" Jimmy’s face turns into a pout rather quickly, and he pokes Fwhip harshly in the leg for that remark. The half dragon decides to ignore that, lest he retaliate by hitting the cod with a wing of his tail. Which he really wants to do and is a really tempting idea, by the way. "I mean I can swim, but that's a fish thing."

Fwhip leans forward a little, chin resting on his palm. He had disliked the closeness earlier, but was now making it worse, for whatever reason. Maybe Jimmy’s uselessness was just that interesting. "So your only talents are building and swimming?"

"You know what my mums like. Fun isn't an option to her, especially not anything too 'boyish.'" Jimmy huffs out, putting air quotes around the last word. His tone is sour, many unpleasant memories from childhood briefly flashing through his mind. “I was only taught to do ‘feminine’ things, like sowing. And I haven't done that in years.”

“Oh yeah. That. Sorry.” Fwhip says, momentarily dropping his earlier tone for a more apologetic one. He probably should’ve come to that conclusion on his own, really, with the Ocean Queen everything . He was a little surprised her children hadn’t spent their formative years locked in white, boring rooms, with how much she seemed to hate anything that wasn’t orderly and proper. A real buzzkill, that's what she was. “But you can sow?”

“Yeah. Lizzie always said I was good at it.” Jimmy says, and then promptly changes the topic to another skill he had. The half dragon makes no comment on it, but he does file the information away in the back of his mind. "I guess I can use a trident too."

"That's….not too bad of a skill. It's kinda useless on land though." Fwhip says, going to poke at the cod’s buttons again now that they’d moved on from a rather sore moment. Also, he would never miss an opportunity to make fun of this guy. Especially one that had been practically handed to him on a platter like this one had.

"I am well aware of that , Fwhip. Thank you very much." Jimmy says, with a quick roll of his eyes. Which, wow, okay, rude . Such disrespect, in his workshop, no less. The cod shifts his position slightly, until he can wrap his tail around his legs comfortably. Fwhip decides to ignore the clink of things being thrown astray by his movement, and figures he can just fix all that later. Ya know, whenever he actually gets around to cleaning and organizing this room. Whenever that may be, if it ever happens at all. (Sadly, being part dragon did make you somewhat of a hoarder. And the autism he probably had didn’t help either.)

"You're welcome." He says, a wide smirk stretching across his features. Those really aren’t the best remarks he’s ever thrown at Jimmy, but they’re something to be proud of. Annoying the cod like this is always funny, and would never not be.

"You cheeky little…." The cod grumbles, narrowing his eyes at the other. Fwhip just continues grinning down at him, even when they lapse into momentary silence. Jimmy starts to hum his little tune again, the one he’d been humming the whole trip, and the half dragon listens until one of them can think of another conversation topic. (Yeah, no more work will be done in here today, that’s for certain…)

“How's Gem?” Jimmy asks, glancing back up at Fwhip. He’s seen the young wizard, sure, but she was busy with her studies. She was always being kept busy, it seemed, and the cod hadn’t really had a chance to check up on her; or spend more than a handful of hours together. He’d known the twins had maken up, but nothing much else, so he couldn’t help but be a little worried. Especially with the… everything he’s seen from this family so far.

“She's doing good.” The half dragon said. His tone sounded far too stressed for the news he was delivering, but Jimmy didn’t have any reason to not believe him. Gem was doing pretty okay, from what he had managed to see. “We've talked but….things still feel rocky.”

“Oh, well that’s better than before!” Jimmy offers a lopsided smile, one that he hopes is reassuring. He wishes he could offer more, knowing how nasty their fight was. But, without knowing all the details (one’s Fwhip definitely doesn’t want to talk about,) it really is the best way he can respond right now.

“Yeah, I guess.” Fwhip sighs, resisting the urge to run a slightly stressed hand over his face. His whole household had been like….what Jimmy was seeing for a bit now, and the fight with Gem had only made it worse as of late. Even if they had made up already. “Thanks for…being concerned with my family stuff, but you don’t have to be. I can handle it on my own.”

“Think of it as repayment, for helping with my mum.” Jimmy just shrugs nonchalantly, fiddling with yet another screw between his fingers. The seventh one he’d randomly found on the floor, if he remembers correctly. He might’ve moved away from his little pile, but there was still more junk nearby; there always was in this room. “And no, I don’t think you can.”

“Whatever.” Fwhip huffs, but he appreciates the sentiment anyways. The half dragon doesn’t say so, or even give any indication that he actually does, but Jimmy just has a hunch. A hunch supported by how the half dragon isn’t short with him when he responds. (He is getting close enough to Fwhip to tell some of his mannerisms now, dear cod.)

“I like it here.” Jimmy says, his gaze moving to focus on a wall for a minute. The one wall in this room that’s not full of shelves of stuff. It’s a good point to stare at when you wanna zone out, or not look at anyone else. He wouldn’t be surprised if Fwhip does that often.

“...You do?” The half dragon asks, sounding a little surprised. The cod can’t really blame him for sounding that way either. He’d spent the whole trip clearly miserable and bored out of mind, or awkward due to any of the weird family dynamic stuff. And don’t get him wrong, all of those things sucked, but that didn’t stop him from liking the manor. (It was a lot better than his house so far, something they could both probably agree on.)

“Yeah,” The cod responds, feeling the smallest smile starting to stretch across his face. One of the first real ones he’s had since he got here, he thinks. Certainly the first real one he’d sported all day, that’s for sure. “Feels easier to be myself here, y’know?”

“Yeah, I know..” Fwhip mutters, the prior surprise in his voice now having faded into something softer. Something in his gaze is softer now too, now that he’s looking at the cod. Jimmy ignores how his stomach flutters at that and keeps on talking.

“I finally feel like I’m not faking.” He says, remembering how all the weight had vanished from his shoulders when he’d left the Palace. He was always walking on eggshells back at home, trying to not upset his mother too horribly and also keep things civil with Lizzie. Which was an impossible task. His mere existence seemed to upset the Ocean Queen, and Lizzie was so frustratingly neutral about everything wrong with their family. Here, in the Grimlands, it feels like he can finally breathe. It feels like he can finally just exist without worrying too much, and that's a luxury Jimmy doesn't want to take for granted anytime soon.

“That’s good.” Fwhip says, his tone still soft around the edges; even though he’s back to making fun of the cod. A weird mix to be sure, but certainly not an unwelcome one. It's better than whatever yesterday was, that's for sure. “But you’re still a faker the rest of the time.”

Jimmy feels a real laugh start to bubble out of him, and he stops fixing all his attention on the wall, and turns it back to Fwhip. “You are too!” The half dragon has that cheeky grin on his face when the cod looks at him again, and Jimmy wants to smack it right off his stupid face once more.

Right as the blonde says that is when the door swings open, and Gem is sauntering into the room before either of them know what’s happening. Both boys jump at her arrival, startled, and Fwhip almost falls out of his chair in the process. Jimmy’s too busy being scared to laugh at him. “I don’t know what you two are talking about, but you can be fakers together.” His sister, however, is not too busy to laugh, and her words end up muffled towards the end. Fwhip says nothing, just glares at the wizard while he rights himself in the chair once more.

“Hi Gem!” The cod says, once he’s done being startled by her entrance. He flashes the wizard a grin, genuinely getting excited to see her. It’s not often they did talk in person after all, which made her scarce presence around the manor even more disappointing than it normally would’ve been. But she’s here now! Yay!

“Hi Jimmy!” Gem returns his smile, shutting the workshop’s door behind her. Her wizard’s hat is perched atop her head once again, though the cape has now vanished to who knows where. Probably because of the heat, which reminds Jimmy that the future Count is still insane and still wearing a thick black coat, even when the humidity is making ninety degrees feel like a hundred and two.

Fwhip parrots his sister with a giggle, running a hand through his hair; fixing any strands that had gotten messed up in his near fall. His tail smacks across the floor absentmindedly, but the sound is quickly swallowed by all the other noises around it. Which is mainly the three of them talking. “We’re fakers together, huh?”

The young wizard walks further into the room, kicking a few spare screws and stuff out of the way as she walks. Fwhip doesn't even bother glaring at her for that, well used to his sister disrespecting his organized chaos. “Yep! You’re always being fake about something!”

“Am not!” Fwhip protests, wings almost flaring out behind him. Jimmy couldn’t help but smile at the twins' exchange, and also be glad he wasn't the only one taking the mick out of Fwhip anymore; or being the only one who enjoyed doing so. Finally, an ally in his never ending quest to annoy the half dragon to death.

“Yeah you are!” Gem says, leaning an arm against his chair. She invades her brother’s personal space in the process, to annoy him further of course. He moves away as if on instinct, and Gem leans further against the chair in response. The half dragon moves away again, seeming content to play this game until she leans too far or he falls out of the chair. Jimmy would rather that not happen though, because one of the twins would probably end up falling on top of him. And he likes not being crushed into a pulp, thank you very much.

“She’s got a point there.” Jimmy chimes in, an amused smile stretched across his face. Gem shares a gleeful look with him, clearly also excited to have a partner in crime, just like he is. Annoying the half dragon was just too funny of a hobby for many people in his life to pass up, it seemed. Which worked out wonderfully for everyone but him.

“I am being bullied and harassed right now.” Fwhip huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. A small pout formed on his face as well, leading Gem to playfully punch him in the arm. All she got in a response was a nasty but clearly not very serious look, leading to nothing but laughter at the half dragon. The ginger grumbled something under his breath, and pouted until the laughter died down. Which certainly didn’t help his sister and Jimmy’s giggling in the slightest, and only prolonged his misery even further.

“Now that you’re in here, entertain fishboy for me?” Fwhip says once the two are done bullying him, turning back around in his desk; chair momentarily scraping against the floor once again. Jimmy sticks his tongue out at the half dragon, and though he couldn't see it, Fwhip was absolutely aware that he was doing it. The cod didn’t really know how, but he just was. His response was a middle finger, which just made the Ocean prince roll his eyes and stick his tongue out harder.

“But I thought you liked being around Jimmy~?” Gem teased, ignoring the two boy's exchange beside her. Jimmy gave her a look , which she either didn’t see or was also ignoring. Though, now that he thought about it, looking at her like that was not helping the crush allegations. Much like every other interaction they had on this trip, sadly.

Curiously, Fwhip’s face turned a slight shade of pink at her words. For his own sanity and mental well being, and probably fwhip’s as well, Jimmy was not going to dissect that and just assume it was from being embarrassed and teased. “Not when I’m working.”

“Uh-huh.” Gem said skeptically, raising an eyebrow at her brother. The looks he gave him said more than enough, and the half dragon just gave a scoff. Jimmy shifted where he sat, feeling embarrassed the longer this went on, well aware of what Gem was implying. Her suspicion that they were secretly dating was never not going to fluster him, really. But at least it had stopped being mortifying as of late, for whatever reason.

“I don’t even like you when I'm working.” Fwhip reasons, pointing a wrench at his sister.

“Whatever.” Gem huffs, taking a seat on the floor a few inches away from Jimmy. Fwhip, figuring trying to work on anything would be futile once more, turns the chair for the third time that day until he can face both the guests. The scraping of the legs against the floor is now a sound that fades into the background, being overtaken by the sounds of people shuffling into more comfortable positions and new, curious questions being asked.

“Hey guys?” Jimmy asks, tail twitching idly where it rests. He can feel himself getting slight pins and needles from sitting still for too long, and makes a mental note to get up and move around soon. Or at least switch positions, lest he get too antsy.Gem looks over at him curiously, head now resting against her knees.

“Yeah?” Her hair falls over her face a bit, and it’s the first time Jimmy notices her hair is not in braids. He doesn’t know how he didn’t see it before, really, since that was how she wore her hair about ninety percent of the time. Maybe her surprise entrance had just startled him that much..

“Why do you sometimes bind your wings?” He glances between the two twins as he asks the questions, finding his anxiety from the very start of the trip returning. The one he’d felt when he’d first seen Fwhip. He doesn’t know why it’s back right now specifically, and isn’t interested in finding out why either. “Not to be insensitive or anything, I’m just curious.”

“It keeps them from getting in the way in the forge, and keeps them uninjured. Sometimes I just forget to unbind them.” Fwhip says, said wings moving slightly behind him as he talks about the appendages. Jimmy nods at the explanation. It makes sense. From what he’d seen of the forge it was small, and had a lot of dangerous materials inside it. And badly injuring a wing can have some pretty nasty, potentially even life long, consequences.

“Binding one's wings back used to be a cultural thing for half dragons long ago, but it’s not really practiced anymore. There’s a book on it somewhere in the Cliffs.” Gem explains, her own wings unconsciously twitching as she talks; just like her brother’s did. Other than that, they are mostly still sat behind her. “I also do it for safety and movement reasons. The Cliffs weren’t really made to accommodate people with wings.”

“Ah, okay.” Jimmy nods. That makes sense as well. He’d only been to the Cliffs once, but from what he remembered the hallways were decently narrow, and he can only imagine how small the classrooms and libraries that Gem spends most of her time in are. Especially if there’s more winged people occupying them at the same time. “Does it hurt?”

“Only when you do it for too long,” Gem responds first this time, and then pauses, as if looking for a better way to describe the feeling. “Like when you wear a chest binder for too long, or a brace.” Is what she eventually settles on, and it makes all the information click a lot better in the cod’s head than it had been.

Jimmy nods again, now able to understand what binding one’s wings for too long might feel like. He’s had experiences with wearing both a binder and a brace for too long, and is quite familiar with the pain, discomfort, and possible conditions that can come with overusing them. He imagines those feelings are amplified by ten though, with how big half dragon wings can get, and how decently sized the twins are right now.

With that now done and over, Fwhip switches the topic. His gaze focuses in on his sister, and the overall feel of the room seems to hinge on whatever she says next. Which is totally reassuring and not nerve wracking at all. “Where were you earlier, by the way? You didn’t answer your com.”

“Oh, sorry about that,” Gem says, immediately sounding uncertain of herself, and how she should answer that question. Like she has to walk on eggshells about this topic. Something else that is also very assuring and not nerve wracking at all. “I was with mom.”

“Oh. Joyous.” The half dragon snorted, clearly sarcastic. The mention of his mother was obviously not a welcome thing, depending on the day and the time; something Jimmy has never related to more in his life. Mothers tended to be unpleasant like that, it seemed. Or, at the very least, they were very good at being so when they weren’t meant to be.

“Fwhip.” The young wizard switches into scolding mode immediately, which the cod knows will do nothing but upset her brother more. Fwhip doesn't like being scolded, for a large variety of complicated reasons, especially over topics like this. Everyone who knows him knows this. You think Gem would’ve learned that by now, really, after literally being related to and living with him for over half her little life. “Don’t be like that in front of-”

“He’s dealt with worse, trust me.” The half dragon snorted, barely sparring the young cod a glance. Jimmy says nothing, just kinda….sitting there as the two half dragons glare at each other. They seem to be having some sort of nonverbal argument, one in place of anything they wanted to say out loud. And, while the cod didn’t know what either of them were thinking right now, he felt more than a little inclined to side with Fwhip here. As crazy as that sentence was.

Jimmy had seen Gem and her mother around, on the first day or so of his stay. (Though she did have to leave before her brief return earlier that evening.) And he recognized instantly what was happening there, with the two of them and Fwhip. He didn't even have to think about it, even see them have a fight to understand. It was the way they all acted when in a room, the way they glanced at each other and the words held back because of the guests currently present. He sees the tension around the family, and knows it's thick enough to be cut with a butter knife.

He sees part of his own mother in the Head Wizard when she’s around, and has to stop himself from being curt and rude with her for no reason. Well, no reason in her eyes, at least. He sees so much of Lizzie and her behavior in Gem, Jimmy has to stop himself from slinging so many words at her. Or punching a poor innocent wall to let out all his pent up rage and frustration and pain. The pillows in his guest room aren't that good of a substitute, sadly.

The only other person in the family is Grimland’s Count, and he barely sees the man. Jimmy thinks his children see him the same amount, if not less. Jimmy’s almost glad he has no horrible father figure to compare that man to, or else he thinks this trip would be fully insufferable. And again, he can only destroy so many pillows before people start asking why all his pillows have claw marks in them.

He brings himself out of his thoughts as the two twins stop glaring at each other, and Gem turns to ask him something. Something about how things have been at home, or something about Lizzie. The cod doesn't hear what she says, still a little out of it, and has to ask for the question to be repeated. Once they managed to get his attention, that is, because the wall was starting to look like a mighty interesting thing to study.

Fwhip says nothing as the two of them sit on the floor of his workshop, chatting slowly. The tension doesn’t really dissipate for the rest of the day, even after dinner and everything. Jimmy goes to bed that night with a small knot in his stomach, still on edge from that one small moment. There had been so many unspoken feelings between Gem and her brother, and the simple knowledge of it felt just as suffocating as living it had to be.

He lays down to at least try and get some sleep, and his bed feels strangely empty that night. Jimmy doesn’t know what else would quell that feeling, and hopes the unease that’s filling him will be gone when he wakes up. (And figures that it probably won’t.)

#ron.writing #ron.fic #jimmy solidarity #fwhimmy #empires smp #fwhip #FORGOT THIS WAS POSTING UNTIL NOW. WHOOPSIES #ily (im not supossed too)#empiresshipping #Copy pasting this on mobile is hell 💔

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