And this is where I totally diverge from most canon show stuff to have some real fun with these characters! :D
I'll still be putting effort into making it accurate and somewhat like how that show's reality works but otherwise I am absolutely going to just go ham.
Have fun with some horror and suspense mixed with romance! It may be a little short, not sure but we'll see!
(Inspired from Forrest Day - Sleepwalk)
Sleepwalk
It was Halloween in the city, a big event for not only the city but also the group that protects it. Usually there's noise, light, celebration long into the night and into the next day when they promptly don Santa caps for fun. But it was nearly silent, eerily so, not a whisker or hair seen or heard from the two rapturous rabbits, no light on in the fishtank of sleeping fish. Mochi wasn't even sleeping on the couch or in his bed, nowhere to be seen really. No one had left though, so why the silence?
This was the thing Stan, their resident Tanuki nerd/mecha mechanic had walked in on. There was a weird coppery scent in the air, he couldn't quite put his fingers on it but it made his hackles raise. He looked around, breaking the silence almost reluctantly.
"Uuhh guys? Are you here? I'm sorry if I'm late or something... What am I talking about they're probably out celebrating in the city... but the indoor door sensors have only gone off a few times and none of them were for the elevator or the pod, just their rooms. Hmm." Stan mused that maybe they were waiting for him in another room. He went further in, hearing the gentle hiss of the elevator doors closing behind him. He looked around, something told him to be cautious.
Maybe that villain Debilouman had broken in, he knew the entire penthouse was bugged like no tomorrow by him, finding every single one only to be replaced with double than before was something he had learned to just leave alone.
The scent of copper had grown while he was walking, something wet touched his foot and he jumped a little with a tiny squeak. He looked at the floor, unable to discern much color but whatever it was it certainly wasn't water. The acidic copper scent was pretty strong there to. He quickly hopped his way to a carpet and wiped his foot clean, not willing to risk too much if it was some kind of chemical. He looked around, worried. Whatever it was it was warm, meaning that someone was here very recently.
"Hey guys? Y-You here?"
He heard someone's breath hitch, and he froze, slowly turning while his head was filling with alarm bells. He caught sight of Jean-François, the light filtering from between blinds on the massive window caught the flash of red around his mouth and on his hands, it was a stark contrast to the royal blue of his dear friend, and the look in his eyes seemed emptier, no, they just seemed different. Not in a good way.
Stan took a step back. "Uuuh-huhhehehey, J-Jean, uhh watcha got there?"
Stand didn't get an answer, only Jean-François stepping towards him. He stepped back, Jean stepped towards, he stepped back, Jean stepped forwards wordlessly. He was matched step-for-step, every step back he took, Jean took towards him, Jean circled him slightly and he kept his eyes on him, Stan's fear growing greater each step.
"H-Hey, hey, ahh, Jean-François, you gonna talk buddy?" Stan tried to snap Jean-François from whatever was happening to him. He thought saying his full name would work. It did not.
Stan's brain started to register what the mystery liquid could possibly be, and it made him pale. Did Candy and Bunny finally push Jean-François over the edge? Did something happen? What happened? Why was he the target!? He tried to be a little quicker with his stepping back, back peddling to be in-between the couch and the table, stepping in more of the liquid. He didn't want to say it was blood, he didn't want to believe it might be blood.
"C'mon, snap out of it Jean-François, I-I'm your friend, I haven't done anything to you, have I?" He tried to bargain with the eerily silent Jean-François again.
Jean-François was enjoying terrifying Stan a bit much. He saw the thin silver remote on the table, his tail shifted as he crouched a bit, as if to pounce Stan, he felt a shudder go through his body at the act and something almost seemed to click into place in his head. His tail purposely knocked the remote off, the sound of metal falling and hitting the floor sounding too loud in such a tense situation.
Stan flinched at the noise, glancing at the reflective... metal... oh gods was that a knife?! He didn't wanna believe it, he really didn't. But it was red to, it was shining in the light like one.
Suddenly the lights all came on and Stan screamed, loudly. Just as Jean-François tackled him with a growl that turned playful rather fast.
"Jeeze!! Jean-François, I thought I told you to clean the pizza mess not spread it ya dodo! Gosh now me and Candy gotta clean this up while you and your boyfriend over there get clean. Oh yeah, we got more pizza for our spook party to!" Bunny had come in from the elevator.
Stan only knew of one exit unaccounted for while his heart calmed down. He cursed the fire exit. He slumped on the floor, panting after his scream earlier and going from panting to laughing almost madly while batting at Jean-François.
"You jerk! Jean-François you better help me clean, I do not want this tomato sauce to stain my fur! You owe me after that prank, that was horrible!"
Jean-François muttered the first words Stan had heard from him all night so far. "Jean-François!~" His name softly spoken in a cheeky teasing tone.
Stan groaned, head lightly thumping against the floor before he found himself being scooped up and carted away to the bathroom to get help cleaning. He grumbled in Jean's arm, his own arms crossing.
Jean-François held Stan in one arm while he started up the shower on warm, being mindful not to bump Stan on anything as he also bent down to gather an extra untouched loofah, the bottle of shampoo specifically for greasy tomato-related messes that he and Bunny often got into, and a few nice fluffy towels to boot. He looked at Stan, head tilting at the odd look he was getting.
Stan glared a little at Jean-François, still a little suspicious of any further pranking, and also still a little scared of Jean-François. The look on his friends face felt a little too unnervingly real, like he really was about to be... who knows what, in that living room... felt more like a death room in the dark. He felt like he saw a part of him he wasn't meant to see and it certainly spooked him more than it probably should.
"Jean-François? J-Jean-François?" Jean-François's head tilted worriedly at Stan's look. Trying to question the only person that seemed to fully understand him.
"Huh? O-Oh sorry Jean, you... I just didn't know you could pull off practically being a cryptid so we'll, it was actually way scarier than I thought it'd be. It-It's fine though! Don't worry about it!" Stan sweated a little nervously, feeling a bit bad now at being so spooked by one of his best friends. He sighed, and looked at the steam from the shower, something to avoid eye contact. "Can we get in the shower now, Jean?"
"Jean-François. Jean-François." Jean-François nodded, agreeing verbally as well as apologizing. He grabbed his own loofah and the extra one before hopping into the shower with Stan, putting him down finally, reaching out and grabbing the high-up shower head to bring it down and rinse off Stan first. He gave a little nudge here and there, hands carefully sifting through his fur and he found himself looking at Stan for a moment as he felt the Tanuki finally relaxing a bit. He gave the top of his head a tiny kiss, then went on to keep rinsing out his fur.
Stan knew exactly what that feeling was, a peck on the head. It wasn't followed by cutesy gushing or baby talk much to his relief and surprise. He was small, very much so, enough for even Mochi to bowl him over without too much effort, it's why he's good at what he does though. He's a techy, a nerd, coding, making circuitry, programming, making custom pieces of tech, cleaning all the nooks and crannies of his literally hand-made creations with the same surgeon-like level of precision he used to put them together. It didn't help he was a bit of a workaholic. Being able to fit where others can't lets him look at so many things that others just can't see. He was getting distracted by the thought of being back in his nice comfy super computer. He felt himself being lifted again and squeaked softly, he felt the fur and muscles under his legs, and then saw the hands that lifted him going towards his feet.
Jean-François could tell Stan was absorbed in his thoughts, and he really needed to get to the foot paws clean and rinsed though, they were still covered in liquidy pizza sauce. He sat down and pulled him into his lap, hands going to his feet to gently and carefully unmat the fur there and rinse it to a cleanable state. He didn't even think of the position, even as he reached for the bottle of shampoo and started rubbing it in and cleaning from Stan's feet to up his legs. He cleaned his own feet and legs as well while he did this, two birds with one stone in this position.
Stan's brain had a brief short circuit while he was being worked over, he didn't expect his friend's hands or fur to be that soft, he expected the fighting, the dancing, his old rugged lifestyle might've made him harder but... he was soft. It was almost as surprising as the fact that he was being cleaned. "H-Hey I'm not a kid you know!"
"Jean-François!" Jean-François exclaimed happily, nuzzling him a bit afterwards.
"...Well in that case fine! It's not that bad anyways, you do kinda owe me after that scare... I mean jeeze are you meant to be creepy, secretly or something?" Stan huffed, relaxing against Jean-François, closing his eyes to feel the water running down his body, the hands lathering his body with shampoo and massaging out his tense muscles. He let out a happy sigh, really starting to relax. He didn't realize how good this would feel once he let Jean-François do what he wants. "Thanks... Jean..." He yawned a little, nuzzling back against Jean-François with a tiny smile.
"Jean-François.." Jean-François murmured lowly, nuzzling Stan back. He scrubbed himself and then Stan over after the initial lather, being gentle and not willing to jostle him much. He felt a little bad but also a little off about the whole prank. it was really fun, there was a lot of adrenaline going on, but there was definitely something there for a moment he didn't understand. After all, he still pounced Stan even when he saw Bunny and Candy enter. It was really weird. He didn't necessarily feel aggressive, just excitement, and something else.
Jean-François shrugged to himself, something to think of later... or mess with. This was relaxing, simply scrubbing the both of them down, he of course was going to be a bit thorough, though he did his best not to overtly be until he noticed Stan nearly asleep in his lap. He mentally shrugged to himself, this perfect opportunity to clean everywhere was certainly not going to waste. He got no fuss from the seemingly tired Tanuki, and only got him to squirm when he started to rinse them both off. He nuzzled Stan, sighing happily. This. This was more intimate than what he was used to but...he liked it. I felt nice.
Stan was a bit flush, he had almost fallen asleep with Jean-François, right in the shower no less! Then there was all the touching, and he really started waking up when he was getting rinsed, feeling a hand on his sheath and balls was not totally unwelcome but it was definitely surprising. He had to fight himself to not show that he noticed that cleaning touch in particular. He made a show of slowly stretching, the yawn part of said show coming naturally as he lightly shook the water off of himself. He heard the water turn off and somewhat blearly looked up at Jean-François, flustering himself with what he wanted to do, and the processed to do. He held his arms up to Jean-François, silently asking to be picked up. He couldn't keep the blush off of his face when he was.
"Th-Thanks Jean-François." Stan murmured.
"Jean-François." Jean-François replied softly, smiling at Stan happily. He nuzzled his cheek, a lot more of a forward affectionate gesture. He got them both towels, giving Stan his. "Jean-François!" He gave Stan a happy smile.
Stan smiled at Jean-François a bit tiredly. "Thanks again Jean-François. You..." He blinked, realizing what he was about to say. A nudge from Jean-François silently told him to continue. "Aaahhah, Y-You, you're pretty great is all. Even if you did scare the wits out of me earlier. Help me dry off and we'll finally be even and ready for the party?"
"Jean-François!" Jean-François grinned broadly at Stan, moving quickly to fluff up and dry off the Tanuki with the towel. He got himself dried off as well in what he'd call record time, fur fluffing up quickly. He practically pranced out of the bathroom, his ears catching music, eyes catching the lights all on and the decorations, he looked down to Stan with an ecstatic grin. He caught the look Stan was giving him, and flushed a little, grin turning into a flustered smile.
Stan watch Jean-François prance out of the bathroom, shaking off his surprise at being dried off so quickly. He saw the light catch Jean's eyes, the excited thrum of energy that ran through Jean-François the minute he took in the party environment, the excited grin he sent him. He felt his heart flutter, and blushed, he... he really liked that. Oh. He was being looked at...
OH! He was being looked at! He flushed much darker, smiling back at Jean-François's look, said look made his heart flutter again and he sighed happily. This was his best friend, and Candy's best friend, and Bunny's best friend, how could've he even thought of Jean-François doing something like go psycho? How ridiculous. He huffed a little, going towards Jean-François, almost hesitating before he nuzzled his outer thigh and deciding to walk past the flustered Jean-François to join the party.
Jean-François felt a few somethings in that moment. A flutter in his chest, admiration and affection, and then that weird something from earlier. It made his tail flick a little before he realized he had be staring at Stan walking away and he quickly walked after to join him around the couch. A scary movie marathon was this year, and judging by Bunny and Candy's occasional shudder under the covers it was already well underway.
Jean-François chuckled a little, sitting down on a nice bed of blankets and pillows and grabbed for Stan, pulling him into his chest. He also grabbed various snacks and water bottles with his hands and tail, settling in with Stan for a nice long night of frights. Horror movies were one of his favorites, judging by Stan's shuddering, it wasn't Stan's forté but he knew what he was getting into when he accepted the invite is what Jean-François figured. So he did his best to drape his tail over him and enjoy himself.
Bit of a time skip
Enough screams had been had by the time is started getting into the AM of the next day. Bunny turned off the TV with a sigh.
"Lets uuuh, call that a night you guys, me and Candy gotta rest." Bunny said as he stood up and stretched out, popping his joints with a groan. "Lets go sugarbuns." He helped Candy up and they nuzzled eachother.
"We can all clean this up tomorrow before I pick up Mochi, try to keep it down if you two decide to watch more movies." Candy said after the nuzzle.
Jean-François saluted and nodded with a grin. "Jean-François!"
Candy nodded. "Good, now, goodnight you two." She went off with Bunny back to their bedroom, clinging to his side the entire time.
Jean-François stretched as did Stan.
Stan looked at Jean-François. "So, do I gotta go home or?..." He tilted his head curiously.
"Jean-François!" Jean-François grinned proudly. Nudging him towards his bedroom door.
"You sure you don't want me to help you, I mean, thanks for letting me sleep there, but are you sure Jean?" Stan hummed a bit worriedly.
Jean-François nodded. "Jean-François!"
"Hmm alright, I'll go get settled. Thanks Jean-François." Stan's ears twitched, and he hesitantly moved to give him a small nuzzle before darting for the bedroom. He flopped into bed, grinning happily and flusteredly. His feet kicked a bit excitedly. He sighed, relaxing and nuzzling into the soft comforter and pillows. He wiggled his way under the blankets and relaxed... this was more relaxing than he thought it'd be.
A few minutes of him relaxing and calming down from the night's activities and he slowly started to drift a bit. But something was off, Jean-François wasn't here yet. He squinted, sitting up just the tiniest bit in the bed. He was getting that hair-raising feeling again.
The bedroom door was left open. He could see the shadow of Jean-François shifting about in the darkness, the slight twitch, the pacing. At first he thought it was him picking up and throwing away trash, but over time it started to look more frantic. It worried him more than a bit. Then the pacing started slowing, and he noticed Jean-François curling a bit.
It was really starting to get freaky. He looked on wide-eyed at his friend. He blinked and suddenly Jean-François was gone. He looked around wildly, sitting up fully in bed, head whipping back to the door when it closed with a click. The only source of light being the soft blue glow of very small lava lamp nightlight and what little light escaped the blinds on the window. He looked around slower, trying to find glimpses of his friend. He saw the shadows shift, and felt the bed dip slightly, he looked towards Jean-François, shaking lightly in his spot. He had that odd look in his eyes again.
Jean-François had once been panicking about his weird feelings in the living room as he cleaned, but over time had decided to let his instincts tell him what to do. Apparently they like spooking the ever loving hell out of Stan, as he was doing right now. An odd feeling settled over him the moment he get on the bed, eyes locking with Stan's. He stalked forwards, as silent as the dead themselves in the moment. He got closer, raised himself a bit higher above Stan who had remained surprisingly silent so far.
He leaned down, staring intently. He felt a multitude of feelings wash over him in the moment and they took more control than his logic did and he had pulled Stan closer and under himself slightly, a small pleased purring sound leaving him. He forgot he could purr. He gently 'fwuhmphed' his weight onto the bed, effectively pinning Stan under him while he shifted and adjusted his body to curl around Stan's. His instincts were pleased and he flushed when everything settled.
His brain had so much to try and process. He liked seeing Stan spooked, he like being not only the source of spookiness but also the source of comfort, and he has a huge crush on the mech builder. He looked down at Stan to see him looking at him in surprise, and he just couldn't help himself. He kissed him, body curling around him in a tighter circle for a moment before relaxing. He held the kiss a bit longer before separating. "Jean-François~..." He murmured breathily, nuzzling Stan before promptly passing out.
Stan's brain was a mix of terrified, flustered, embarrassed, shocked, and just confused arousal. He had definitely returned the kiss but goodness was it still surprising and flustering. The sensual and flustered "Goodnight" from Jean-François's own lips certainly wasn't helpful either. He needed a nap to regain some brain power, and with that he promptly passed out.