Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“RING RING RING RING RING!” Madhouse is screaming from within your phone. “INCOMING CALL FROM THE FURRY!!!!!! INCOMING CALL FROM THE FURRY!!!!!!” You quickly pull your phone out of your pocket. Even with Madhouses screaming, you can’t help but feel at peace knowing the town DILF is calling you. “Hey August, what's up?” You say, totally trying to hold in your excitement. “Um, hi Robyn. Are you free right now?”
“OF COURSE!!!!!!!” You say way to loudly,
“Um… I mean… sure? What's up?”
“I need someone who’s tech savvy and-”
“Yepthatsmeseeyouin30!” You hang up.
“... you don't even know how to use a TV remote, Robyn.” Madhouse chimes in. Shit. He’s totally right. Yesterday you spent 3 hours trying to figure out how your fire TV stick worked and ended up giving up. Heck, you needed Atlas's help to learn how to use the microwave. Wait… Atlas is super tech savvy… and Atlas lives with August. Why does August need your help? It doesn't matter, any excuse to hang out with Aug is one you will take. “I’ll figure it out” you say as you grab your bag. You shove a granola bar in your mouth and bolt out the door.

As you are running out of your house and into the street, you are suddenly struck by deja vu. And by deja vu I mean a car. Except this time you’re the one on the receiving end of the car crash. You close your eyes, bracing for the impact with the road, but it never comes. Slowly, you open your eyes and realize why. The car never stopped and you are hanging onto the hood ornament by the hood of your jacket. The pain is horrible, but the confusion is worse. Who in this town drives a fucking pink monster truck? No wonder they didn’t see you, this thing is huge. "Welp", you think to yourself, "Hope this is heading towards August’s house". After what feels like forever, the car stops at a gas station. You unhook yourself and hear a familiar voice from behind you.
“When did you get here?” Its Jamie
You stand for a few seconds in disbelief.
“Well if you hitch a ride with me, you better have gas money.”
“YOU HIT ME WITH YOUR FUCKING CAR.”
“You have a habit of getting into car accidents, I don’t think this is my fault.”
“LAST TIME WE GOT IN A CRASH IT WAS CAUSE OF YOU! And Madhouse.”
“That wasn’t my fault!” Madhouse yells from your pocket.
“Ok… I guess maybe I was looking at my laptop” Jamie admits, scratching the back of there neck.
“WHY? WERE? YOU? ON? YOUR? LAPTOP?????”
“Ok… so there’s this game. It’s called cookie clicker. Atlas told me about it. I haven't been able to put it down since.”
“Oh… thats fucking stupid. Oh hey speaking of Atlas could I get a ride to his house? I promised Aug I’d be there in 30 minutes like, 30 minutes ago.”
“Fine, I was going there anyway to visit June.”
You get into the car and sit awkwardly as Jamie pumps gas. “So… what’s a cookie clicker?” Madhouse asks. “I don’t know, I’ll ask Jamie. HEY JAMIE!!!! WHAT’S A COOKY CLICKER??????” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” They respond. You grab madhouse and put his ear to your mouth as you whisper “They’re keeping secrets from us, we’ll have to ask Atlas…”

Chapter Text

You had to confiscate Jamie's laptop for the drive to August’s house. They kept asking about golden cookies and wrinklers, but you didn’t really understand what they meant. Madhouse had full reign over the aux (this is a bad thing) so Jamie couldn’t really hear you asking to elaborate. At least you got to ride around in a monster truck though. It would be a little longer before you got to your destination, so you decided to do some reflecting. It’s been a while since you last saw Atlas, back when he still had possession poisoning. That was 3 years ago, and while you have been in touch with him your demanding job prevented you from being able to meet up with him face to face. You shudder a bit just thinking about that place. Memories of a cramped cubicle, annoying and lazy coworkers, and a verbally abusive boss come flooding back to you. Hard not to think about them when you were just laid off last week. The company got sued so they couldn’t afford to pay you anymore. Not that they paid you much anyways. Whatever. You’re glad you got fired anyways, sending emails to potential investors all day wasn't exactly your cup of tea. Oh god, you're going to have to start job hunting again aren't you? No! You deserve a break! At least for today, you should just focus on seeing your buddies again.

Taro left after the curse struck. Occasionally you will see her drop by for a snack but it’s never long enough to catch up. But you suppose even cats know that sleeping all day isn’t exactly conversation material. Madhouse on the other hand has not let you go since Taro left. He insists that “It’s dangerous for you to be alone now! Someones gotta protect you!!!” He’s right though, and you’re glad he decided to stick with you. God you love that green blob so much. You look back on your relationship with Mike. He always had your back, especially when the curse would start to act up. One odd thing you've always remembered was that one night, while watching BeetleJuice, he expressed a desire for an open relationship. “If you ever want to add a third wheel to this bike, I’d be happy to be the one in the middle if you catch my drift!” You thought it was a joke at the time, but now it’s something you wanted to bring up again with him. Maybe some other time though.

Jamie was always out and about, so you couldn’t miss them even if you tried. They always made an effort to see you and plan outings with the group, even though you always had to cancel last minute. “Our bonds are stronger than the chains holding the damned down in hell. I would never not invite you to one of our hangouts, even though it is foolish to think you will show up.” They would say when you asked them why you were ever invited. “Plus, one of these days you might be able to make it. I would not want to miss out on that.” Now that you were fired, maybe you could make time for the group? Hopefully at least, you still need a way to pay the bills. Jamie invited you several times to bunk with them so you didn’t have to pay rent but after what you and Oz got into last time you went to Jamie's neighborhood you didn’t feel safe there anymore. Your chest still has that scar on it to this day.

August… oh August… how much you think about that tall glass of water. Even after pleading with him for 2 days, he never did bite you. I guess being double cursed would kinda suck after all. But you still can’t get him out of your head. He shares a special place in your heart right next to madhouse, and it’s been making your head spin. But he would probably want to just stay friends, right? He’s busy after all, with June and Atlas under his wing (or paw?). Speaking of June, she's starting middle school this year. We’re all so proud of her, being a straight A+ student throughout all of elementary school. In fact you feel kinda dumb around her. There's even talk of having her skip 6th and 7th grade and going straight to 8th. You remember feeling bad not being able to make it to her elementary school graduation party, but she seemed to understand. One problem she was always worried about was making friends. She doesn’t really have any outside of the gang, and some of the kids at school would make fun of her for it. You told her she should bite them but Aug shot that idea down immediately.

“Atlas had wanted to show me his new computer for a while,” you thought out loud, “Maybe this whole thing has to do with that?” You’re still unsure of what tech related stuff you are helping August with, so that is a possibility. Then again, Atlas was always pretty tech savvy. He would text you about his new “specs” whenever he got the chance. You didn’t understand any of the meaningless jargon that he was spitting, but it was nice to hear his voice after a long day of work. “Oh! August mentioned something about technical difficulties when I saw him at the McDonalds drive through.” Jamie shouts over the music. You realize now that you’re at Augusts house. You step outside to see June on the porch writing in a notebook. She looked up and closed it really fast as soon as you started approaching.
“H-Hi Robyn! My dad said you were coming over to help him with Atlas’s computer.” She said, sounding out of breath.
“Yeah, haha, that.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be here an hour ago?”
“Well, you see-”
“JUNE BUG!!!!!!” Jamie screams from the car,
“I BROUGHT THE STUFF!!!!”
“YOU REMEMBERED??? Oh my god this is going to be so much fun!”
You see Jamie with a grocery bag.
“What’s in it?” Madhouse peaks over the top of the bag.
“Hydrogen peroxide, soap, yeast, 5 things of food coloring. Jamie what the fuck are you guys gonna use that for?” he asks, looking at June with fear.
“Its Elephant toothpaste, though IDK why Jamie got that much food coloring lmao” June runs over to Jamie and gives her a big hug.
“Aw, too bad Mike and I are going to have to miss the experiment.” you say, making your way to the door, but Mike had other plans.
“Um, I’m not helping. Sorry. I don’t remember the first thing about computers, and I want to see what this Elephant toothpaste thing is. You’ll be with August, he can keep you safe if the curse acts up.” The three of them stroll into the woods, seemingly to not make a mess of the house with their science experiment. You sigh and chuckle, sometimes Madhouse gets too excited. You don’t feel upset, you’d probably ditch him too if it meant hanging out with June. She’s so fun to be around. You turn the knob and step inside to see August asleep on the couch. He’s so adorable when he’s asleep, so you decide not to wake him up yet. You sit down next to him and gently scratch his head while you pull out your phone. The tech stuff can wait, its probably not even that important…

Chapter Text

“God I hate the tumblr mobile app” you think as you scroll on your phone. It's just bad now, and that rage must have made you do something weird with your hands because August shot right awake. “Whaaaa…” he rubs his eyes, giving you a confused look. “Oh, hi Robyn. I just needed to take a short nap, what time is it?” You could lie to him and say you’re on time, but you have too much respect for him. Or it’s because you are so fucking bricked up you can’t think straight. It’s probably the latter you DILF hunting furry.
“Um… Well… It’s 6:00.”
“Didn't you say you were going to be here at 4:30?”
“I got hit by a car, sorry. So what was it again you wanted my help with?”
“Come with me… I’ll show you”

August leads you upstairs, into Atlases room. The moth in question is pressing his face up against his computer screen. His hand is glued to the mouse, clicking rapidly on the mouse. “HEY! ATLAS! ROBYNS HERE!” Atlas spins his head around, you swear you can hear a crack. What the fuck. “Robyn???? In the flesh???? Dude! It’s been forever!!!!!!” he sprints towards you with enough force that it knocks you over. He looks you deeply in the eyes for a second in disbelief. You notice his feathers are all ruffled up and he has large dark bags under his eyes. “I thought you were stuck in that dead end job? How did you get time off?” “Well… I kinda got laid off…” you admit sheepishly, but Atlas definitely doesn’t see it as something embarrassing. “GREAT!!!! NOW WE CAN MAKE UP FOR THE TIME APART!!!” He hollers. Suddenly he looks worried as a squeak noise comes from his computer. He sweeps you off your feet as he sprints back to the computer to click on a yellow cookie.
“Say Robyn, have you heard of cookie clicker?”
“Oh! I think Ja-”
“NOPE!” August interjects, “AND THEY WILL CONTINUE TO NOT HEAR ABOUT IT!!”
Oh god. You recognize this is the start to one of Augusts outbursts. You would try to calm him down but you’re too busy watching him sprout fur and slowly grow taller.

“IT’S ALL HE DOES ANYMORE!!! AND I'M NOT JUST BEING SOME KILLJOY BOOMER!!!!! HE DOESN’T COME DOWN TO EAT ANYMORE-HE JUST EATS FUCKING BUGS THAT COME INTO THE ROOM!!!! HE DOESN’T SHOWER, I’M SURE YOU CAN TELL” You take a sniff. Oh yeah Atlas definitely has not showered in a couple of weeks. “EVERY DAY AT 12 HE CALLS UP JUNE AND HAS HER WATCH OVER THE GAME WHILE HE SLEEPS! FOR! 30! WHOLE! MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE KEEPS TALKING NONSENSE ABOUT COOKIES, HE WON’T TALK TO ME, HE WON’T DO CHORES, HE ONLY SITS STARING AT THAT STUPID FUCKING GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!” “Wow, August. Chill.” Atlas says in a very unconcerned tone. “Listen, if you’re really that bothered by it (which is completely unreasonable), I’ll set it down for a bit. It’s called an idle game for a reason.” At this point August is full werewolf, but he seems to be at least a little less tense by this compromise. Unfortunately, you are stupid and open your mouth. “Wait, you’ve told me about this before. Isn’t the whole point of idle games that you don’t play them all the time and still progress?” Atlas lights up at the thought that you recalled something he said “Yeah! It’s kinda genius. You can become super OP without sacrificing your life.” Now August looks super pissed, and it kinda turns you on. He goes to the corner of the room and slams his fist on the wall. “Wait… Now correct me if I’m wrong… But did you just say… You… Aren’t… Supposed… To be… On that game… By design?” “YEAH-oh wait” it seems Atlas has caught on to the corner he has backed himself into. August starts laughing a little. Then a lot. Then he turns around to face you and he looks like, uh, well, its kinda hard to explain. Y'know what, reader, type “omori manic” into a new google search tab and go to the images tab. You see the first gif? That’s what August looks like. Thankfully before anything can happen the science trio walk into the room.

“DAD!!!! LOOK AT THIS!!!” June says and holds up her phone.
August immediately chills out “Oh is that the Elephant toothpaste you told me about? That’s awesome! June, you’re the coolest kid ever!” June starts grinning from ear to ear. Man, that wolf has priorities. Your admiration for August just keeps going up today.
“Easy for you to say, they didn’t use you as an ingredient!” Madhouse yells in frustration. You knew he looked a bit… different.
“Sorry Mikey, I just couldn’t resist! Plus, I didn’t expect it to work!” June giggles.
Jamie is covered head to toe in food coloring. Nobody asks why, this wouldn’t be the first time they have done this. You look over to Atlas to see what he makes of this, and he’s back on cookie clicker. For some reason, some of August’s rage transferred over to you. You give Atlas the death stare, and he slowly closes the game. “Well, this one hell of a reunion! Now that we have Robyn, what should we do?” Atlas chirps as if he hadn’t spent 3 weeks as a hikkikomori over cookie clicker. “Your going to take a shower Atlas!” everyone says in unison. Glad to see everyone's on the same page.