Prompt: How do you imagine child Purple reacting the first time they see what Black actually looks like? I just finished Imposter Syndrome and You’re Safe Now (I love them!!!) and tiny wholesome Purple is my new favourite person!
I also love me a pure smol
Read on Ao3 Part 1
Warnings: some implied/referenced child abuse but nothing specific and nothing graphic, mild body horror a la canon but it’s just when the impostor’s shifting
Pairings: gen
Word Count: 1978
Black is an Impostor. The ship they’ve hijacked, the Skeld, comes with an…interesting member. A child, not known by the rest of the human crew, that’s now just…here. And yes, children are children and Black will protect them, but they’re human. Humans don’t like Impostors.
…right?
“Black?”
Black looks up from the console. Purple is in the co-pilot’s chair, fiddling with a ball they must’ve taken off the drive shaft control. They roll their eyes fondly as Purple rubs their thumbs over the grooves in the ball.
“Yeah?”
“You said you could shape-shift, right?”
Black nods. They shake their head a couple of times as they shift into the human face, smiling at how Purple giggles. Apparently, they look like a dog whenever they do that.
“Can you…” Purple fiddles with the ball. “What do you actually look like?”
Black blinks. Purple hasn’t been shy about asking questions, that’s true, but they’ve mostly been asking about the ship.
‘What does this button do?’
‘Can I help with the wires?’
‘Why are there levers over here?’
‘How do the engines make us go?’
That sort of thing. But not about Black.
Black makes sure the ship’s course is correct and turns to face them. They look up, letting the ball drop to rest in their lap.
“I look…different,” they try, “I don’t have arms and legs like you, I don’t have a face like this.”
“So you’re…you’re like a…blob?”
“Yeah, kind of.” Black shakes their head. “It’s not really—I don’t think there’s an animal that looks like me where you come from.”
“I watched a documentary once,” Purple mumbles, raising the ball to their mouth, “had these weird blob things in it that liked to eat stuff.”
“Don’t, I don’t think it’ll taste very good.” Black raises their hand to Purple’s, covering it gently. “What did they look like?”
“They were really weird, kinda grey and twitchy.” Purple furrows their brow, shakes their head. “They were called am—amb—ambas?”
“Amoebas?”
“Yeah, that’s right, amoebas.”
Black chuckles. “Well, those are very small. I’m much bigger.”
“So you’re not an amoeba?”
“No.”
Purple squints up at them, raising their chubby little hand to Black’s human cheek. They pat it a couple of times.
“Soft.”
“Soft?”
“Yeah. Your—your face is really soft. And pretty. I like it.” Purple’s eyes widen. “Why’s it getting warmer?”
If this is how I die, I am completely fine with it.
“I’m blushing,” Black mutters, valiantly ignoring the heat rushing to their face—damned human biology— “that’s it.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Does blushing hurt?” They shake their head. “No, I’m alright.”
“Good. I don’t wanna hurt you.”
“I don’t think you could if you tried,” Black says as gently as possible, “but thank you, Purple.”
Purple nods, still running their hand over Black’s face. “But this isn’t your face, it’s your disguise.”
Black nods. “One of them.”
“One of them?”
Black takes their wrist gently and pulls their hand away, letting the helmet reform. “This is another one.”
Purple’s hand twitches in theirs. “Your voice sounds weird.”
“Weird?”
They start trying to tug their hand away. Black lets them go. They start rubbing the ball again. “Like the others.”
Something cold rips the helmet off and Black smiles. “Better?”
Purple nods but they don’t make eye contact. “Don’t like the helmets. They make it hard to breathe.”
Hard to…breathe?
“Always had to be quiet.”
Quiet?
“Are you sure the other crew isn’t coming back?”
“Yes, Purple,” Black promises, “they’re gone now. It’s just you and me. It’s alright, baby, you’re safe now.”
Adoration and concern chase each other in circles around Black’s chest as Purple nods to themselves, clutching the ball to their chest. After a moment, they look up and shyly hold their hand out.
“You wanna come here, baby?” Purple nods and Black opens their arms. “Come here, then, baby, I gotcha.”
Purple slides off the co-pilot seat and clambers into Black’s lap, still holding the ball to their chest. Black softens the coarse fabric of the suit and wraps an arm around Purple’s waist. Their head comes to rest against Black’s shoulder, their hair rustling against their chin.
Black’s maw purrs.
Purple mumbles happily, snuggling closer. “The rumble is back.”
“The rumble?”
Purple pats Black’s tummy. “This. Rumble. Means you’re happy, right?”
“…yes, Purple, it means I’m happy.”
“What is it? Do you purr? I saw something that says cats purr, are you a cat?” Purple squints up at them, doing a wonderful impression of a scientist examining their hypothesis. “No, if you were a cat it would be higher.”
Their hands reach up toward Black’s neck and Black leans away, cupping their hand in theirs.
“Ask, baby,” they remind gently, “you’ll surprise me if I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Can I feel?”
“What do you want to feel?”
“Your neck. If you’re a cat you purr from your neck.”
“I thought you just said it comes from my tummy.”
Purple sticks their lip out, thinking. “So you’re not a cat.”
“No, I’m not a cat.”
Their fingers curl around Black’s, bringing their hand close and clutching it under their chin like a comfort teddy. Black twists their wrist slightly to stroke their cheek with the pad of their thumb.
“So what is it?”
Black sighs. “It’s my maw.”
“What’s a maw?”
“It’s like a mouth.”
“You have a mouth in your tummy?”
“…this isn’t my real shape, remember,” Black says quietly, “it’s…it’s part of the disguise that doesn’t work completely.”
“Why not?”
Black thinks for a moment. How to explain…
“If you put a mask on,” they decide finally, “or when you put clothes on, your body is still underneath, right?”
Purple nods. They raise their hand to pat their own tummy. Black covers their hand gently.
“Looking like this is like I’m wearing something on top of my body. There are going to be parts that aren’t completely hidden.”
“So your maw is just covered up?”
“Yes.”
“Can you breathe?”
Black blinks in surprise. “Can I…breathe?”
Purple nods, suddenly scrambling at the suit over their tummy. “I don’t—if your mouth is covered it’s hard to breathe, can you—“
“Whoa, whoa, baby,” Black soothes, catching their hands and holding them still, “easy, I can breathe, slow down, baby, you’re gonna hurt yourself.”
“But your mouth is covered!”
“Shh, shh, take a deep breath, baby, breathe with me.” Black takes a loud, slow breath through their human mouth. “See? I’m breathing, let’s take some breaths.”
They place Purple’s hands on their tummy so they can feel it expand and contract. The poor thing’s hands are trembling as they take shaky breaths.
“There you go, baby, just like that.” Black takes another slow breath. “See? I can breathe, it’s okay.”
“B-but—“ Purple looks up at them and Black lets out a sound of dismay at the tears on their cheeks— “you—it’s covered.”
“Do you want me to show you that it’s okay? Okay,” Black soothes as Purple nods frantically, “okay, baby, take one more deep breath for me and I’ll show you.”
Purple takes a breath as Black moves their hands a little further away from the maw. They relax and let the suit slip enough to fall open.
Purple gasps as the maw opens, rows and rows of teeth and a long tongue that lolls slightly out. Black rumbles contentedly, shifting Purple’s weight in their lap as the maw purrs.
“Whoa!”
“That’s it, baby, see? I can breathe, it’s not a problem.” They rub their thumb across Purple’s cheek. “It’s right there, it’s okay.”
“You have so many teeth,” Purple mumbles, “can I—is it okay?”
Well, it’s the first time Black’s had someone willingly put their hand in their maw.
“Be careful, baby, they’re sharp.”
“You look like a shark! So many!”
“A shark?”
“It’s a big fish. Lives in the water, eats a lot of things.” Purple’s hand carefully traces one of Black’s teeth, the maw still purring. “But they don’t purr.”
Black chuckles. “No, I would guess not.”
“Is this what you really look like? You have a m-maw?”
“Maw, that’s right.”
“A maw and no arms or legs?”
“…sort of.”
“Will you show me the rest of it?” Purple stares up at them. “Please?”
“You don’t have to beg, baby,” Black says, because how can anyone say no to that face, “I’ll show you. I just don’t want to scare you.”
“Scare me?”
“I don’t look like a human, baby,” they say softly, “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
Purple is quiet for a moment. Then they twist their hands through Black’s and clutch tight.
“Humans are the scary ones,” they say in a voice that sounds far too old for them, “you’re not.”
Well.
“Okay, then,” Black says, carefully lifting them up and settling them back on the co-pilot’s seat, “just stay there for a moment, baby.”
“Okay.”
Black steps back and rolls their shoulders. Okay. Okay. They’re gonna do this. They’re gonna willingly show their body to a human. They’re gonna show their body to a human and trust them. Fuck, they’re gonna show their body to a human.
Something burns in their gut. It’s so old that for a moment they don’t recognize it. It reaches into the tips of their fingers and clenches, locking the fake limbs with a vice grip and it tingles. For a moment, the suit feels heavy.
Then they grit their teeth and shift.
Their maw unfurls, still rumbling, as their arms come out properly, churning there on the floor of the bridge. They rear their head up and stretch, letting Purple see them. All of them.
Purple’s mouth drops open. The ball falls to the floor with a clang.
“You’re an octopus?”
Black tilts their head. Purple slides off the chair and takes a step closer. Black draws away, wary of one of their arms accidentally snagging the poor thing or the maw getting too excited, only for Purple to walk all the way up to them and reach out.
“Can I?”
A…they…they want to touch Black like this?
They relax slightly, still swirling about on the floor, as Purple reaches out and carefully runs their hand over one of the arms.
“You feel cold,” Purple mumbles, “are you cold? Here—“
And Purple wraps their arms around Black’s middle, not caring about the gaping maw rumbling against their body.
Oh.
Oh.
Purple is so warm.
Almost unconsciously, Black’s arms start to swirl towards them, making a little nest of arms to cradle Purple to them. They keep a path out in case Purple decides to pull away, but for the most part, it seems Purple is more than happy to curl up, right here, in their arms.
“You’re not scary,” Purple mumbles, “I like you.”
The maw purrs, nibbling gently at the borrowed fatigue shirt. Purple giggles. Black rumbles and slowly starts to reform their suit. They keep the human head and nuzzle Purple’s head as they hug them back.
“Why’d you go back?”
“There’s no need to look so disappointed,” they laugh, “I just can’t talk to you when I’m like that. Don’t have the right muscles to speak your language.”
“Oh.” Purple gives them a squeeze anyway. “I like your body. I think it’s cool.”
Black lets out a rush of breath, warming the top of their head. “I’m…glad.”
“You looked like an octopus!”
“What’s an octopus?”
As Purple begins to explain this creature that—wow, maybe they were wrong, that does sound familiar—they saw in a book once, Black lets their mouth and maw curl up into a smile.
The ball lies forgotten on the floor of the bridge as Black lets one of their arms out for Purple to clutch under their chin. It becomes their favorite thing to hang onto when the Skeld gets cold.