I Need a Little Bit of a Breeze
Read on AO3Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen, Other, M/M
Fandom: He Who Fights With Monsters - Shirtaloon | Travis DeverellHe who fights with monsters
Relationships: Jason Asano/Neil Davone (Background), Jason Asano & Humphrey Geller & Sophie Wexler & Belinda Callahan & Neil Davone & Clive Standish, Jason Asano & Shade & Gordon & Colin, Humphrey Geller & Stash
Characters: Jason Asano, Humphrey Geller, Sophie Wexler, Belinda Callahan, Neil Davone, Clive Standish, Shade (He Who Fights With Monsters), Gordon (He Who Fights With Monsters), Colin (He Who Fights With Monsters), Stash (He Who Fights With Monsters)
Additional Tags: Fluff, No Plot/Plotless, No Angst, the neil x jason isnt really relevant plot wise, i just think that shirtaloon needs to make them fuck off screen, also soz the charecterization is so shit i need to improve, neil is joel (smallishbeans from mcyt) coded frrr, Mostly Canon Compliant, barely diverges, Nintendo Switch, Not Beta Read, no beta we die like jason
Language: English
Stats:
Published: 2023-11-10
Words: 1945
Chapters: 1/?
Summary:
A collection of short fluffy stories set while the party are on Jason's cloud ship in book nine!!
Chapter updates will be v infrequent (at least a month between them)
(tagged gen as the romance is background, will never be relevant other than neil's devious smirk, and also the dynamic is platonic because i cannot write romance at all)
Notes:
Hiiiii!!!
this took so long to write to the point that I had to force myself to finish it today (friday 10th) but i finally did it!!!
as i mentioned, chapter updates will be so inconsistent, but ill aim for roughly the first friday of each month!
i hope u enjoy!!
lmk if i forgot to tag smthn or missed a field plz!
also ao3 is being so fucking silly so this fic is kinda broke idk why
might delete it and reupload tommorow idk ill see if it sorts itself out
"What's this?" asked Humphrey, calling over Jason
"Oh, that? It's a Nintendo switch. I put one in the cloud flask back on earth because Farrah really liked it," replied Jason.
"What's a Nintendo switch?" asked Clive, walking into the room.
Soon the whole party was gathered on the couch as Jason got Mario Kart set up.
"Okay so, you use this stick to turn the cart, this button to use power ups, and hold that one to drift," explained Jason while the countdown for Wario's Gold Mine began playing. "Also, if you hold A now," he continued as the large two appeared on the screen, "you'll get a speed boost at the start."
As soon as Lakitu flew out of the way, indicating the start of the race, Inkling Girl, controlled by Sophie, raced ahead, leaving the others in the dust, but was red-shelled by Jason, controlling Ocarina of Time Link, and promptly overtaken
by Neil, playing as Yoshi.
"Thanks baby," said Neil, blowing Jason a kiss with his spare hand.
"Get a room," said Belinda, miming throwing up as she used a Bullet Bill to skip ahead five places as Villager, knocking Shy Guy (played as Stash) off the track.
Stash transformed into a bird and flew onto Sophie's shoulder before transforming into a small monkey, which Jason had shown him photos of back in Rimaros.
Colin, who had been driving Dry Bowser just behind Humphrey (who was Colin's living counterpart) thus far, managed to get lucky with a series of mushrooms, allowing it to skip in front of Kamec.
Clive then got a Blue Shell, which was able to stun both Colin and Belinda on its path of destruction, before knocking out Jason, Sophie, and Neil, who had all been fighting for first place until that point. The NPC Princess Peach was able to get first place, until Humphrey used a shock powerup, which Belinda was somehow able to dodge using a trick jump in a shortcut which even Knowledge didn't know about.
In a surprising turn of events, Shy Guy Stash got lucky in the chaos and managed to get First place just as they crossed the finish line leaving the leaderboard as: Stash, first place; Belinda, second; Neil, third; and followed by Sophie, Jason, Clive, Princess Peach, Humphrey, and Colin.
After playing another few races Neil was able to learn the ins and outs quickest, leading to him destroying the others, even on 200cc. Jason, realising that no-one had a hope of winning against his boyfriend, decided to introduce everyone to some games Jason thought they would enjoy.
The next day, while Jason and Neil were chatting in the living room together, Jason picked up the Switch and began playing.
“Do you have any other games on that thing?” asked Neil, cuddling into Jason as he did so.
“Oh yeah, there’s loads ‘cause I stuck most of them in the flask back on earth. In fact, I think you might enjoy Animal Crossing,” he said, pulling it out of the air and putting it into another Switch he made out of cloud stuff which he then passed to Neil.
After showing him the controls and getting him started, Jason showed Neil how to time travel and let him come visit his island.
Tidy Fish Neil from Sweetmouth is visiting Dewpond. Say Hi!
Jason began the tour by giving Neil enough bells to pay off his home loan, plus plenty of nice items and cool DIYs to decorate his island. Neil was also introduced to Jason’s villagers: Tangy, Azalea, Lobo, Stinky, Tia, Merengue, Dora, Tasha, Lolly, and Coco, before they began decorating a farming area on Ladybug.
After they’d played together for a while, Jason decided to introduce everyone to a game they would enjoy, and set out to find others.
He quickly found Clive, who was hidden away in his room studying a builder relic from the floating city in Rimaros, and coaxed him away to play a game, using his party power as blackmail. Jason had made a list of games everyone would enjoy in his head and, for Clive, had decided on Baba is You, which he hadn’t played much but he knew Emi loved the game, and so he decided Clive would too. Clive, the inquisitive researcher he is, however, had other plans, and proceeded to attempt to smother Jason with questions about how the switch worked. “How does it even show you these things? It’s impressive what you managed to achieve on earth without magic,” he said, staring at the console in awe.
“Clive, I really don’t know mate. Can you explain how the living documents work? I didn’t think so,” responded Jason, before Clive cut him off again.
“Actually, I can. They operate-”
“Clive. That was a rhetorical question.”
“Oh. Well how does-”
“I don’t bloody know!” exclaimed Jason, a hint of exasperation coming through in his voice. “How about you just play the game and see if you can figure it out yourself?”
Eventually, Jason managed to get Clive to try Baba is You, and Clive, to no-one's surprise, was able to grasp the controls and concepts quickly, and completed the first ten levels in about an hour, though he continued playing, and discovered the level editor shortly after.
Jason was able to find Belinda shortly thereafter, who was spending time with her familiars, but was just about to go and practice combat. “Can you spare a minute Belinda?” called Jason, using his bond with the cloud house to project his voice.
“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” she asked.
“I was just wondering if you wanted to try out the switch. I’ve got a game I think you’d really like.”
“Why not,” Belinda decided, changing direction and striding in Jason’s direction. He pulled out the games console and created a living room with TV around them, making it as comfortable as possible. “It’s called Pokémon: Legends Arceus, and it’s about cataloguing every Pokémon you find, although it’s not as tedious as it sounds.”
“Alright, let’s go”
Soon, Belinda was racing through Obsidian Fieldlands, catching every Pokémon she found.
Using his map ability, Jason was able to locate Sophie, who was pushing herself to her limits in an attempt to gain as many instances of [Momentum] as possible. “Sophie,” Jason called out, using the cloud house to project his voice so she could hear him, “Do you have a minute?”
“Yeah, what’s it for?” she responded, knowing Jason would be able to hear her, despite her speed.
“I was wondering if you wanted to try another switch game. I’ve been showing everyone some other games too.”
“Why not,” she said, stopping in front of Jason.
“Great!” Pulling the switch out of the air, “I was thinking you could try Breath of the Wild.”
“Sounds weird.”
“You’ll like it,” Jason said, sitting down on a couch that wasn’t there before, and gesturing for her to join her.
With a whimsical gesture, a TV appeared from the ground and he inserted the console into the doc, giving Sophie the controls once he opened the game.
“Just do what it tells you, you’ll grasp the controls fast.”
“It's so slow.”
“No, you’re just insanely fast.”
“Nope. They’re slow.”
“Just speak to the Old Man”
“What’s his name?”
“The Old Man.”
“That’s his name? Sad life.”
“Humphrey!” called Jason as he found him cuddled in his beanbag, racing against King Boo in Mario Kart.
“Yeah?” he asked, not noticing Jason till just then.
“Do you want to try another game? I’ve got one in mind I think you’d like.”
“Of course! What’s the game?”
“Super Mario 3D World. You basically just try and figure out how to get places, though it's quite fun.”
“Ah, okay. Can we play together so you can show me how to play?”
“Yup!” replied Jason, already swapping the cartridges.
Soon, they had reached the first boss battle, and Humphrey was really enjoying cat mario, as he whacked all the soccer-bombs back into Bowser, beating him easily.
“That was fun! I’m going to go find Clive now, since I promised to help him train, but I’m looking forwards to playing that again sometime!”
“By the way, if you guys don’t have any other plans, we could play another game like Mario Kart later,” Jason said over breakfast the next morning.
“Ooh, yes, I don’t have anything planned,” said Humphrey, who had been playing a multitude of games over the past few days, including the entirety of the Mario franchise on the switch.
“I’m always free for you baby,” said Neil, with a devious grin on his face, while a blush climbed up Jason’s.
“Get a room for the love of the gods!” exclaimed Belinda, punching Neil on the shoulder lightly - for a silver ranker - and continuing. “I was planning on training, but I would much rather do nothing. I’m in.”
“If she’s in, I’m in” said Sophie, grabbing a plate as she walked in. “What are we talking about?”
“Jason’s asking if we want to play a game later,” said Clive. “I don’t have anything scheduled except for a meeting with the local adventure society branch about some astral magic after dinner.”
“Great, how about we play in a couple of hours?” asked Jason. “That should give everyone time to prepare. The game is called Minecraft, by the way.”
“Watch out Humphrey, there's a creeper behind- ” exclaimed Clive, before being cut off by Humphrey's scream of terror.
“I had like 10 diamonds in my inventory!”
“I’ll go grab it, don’t worry your adorable little face,” replied Belinda, as Humphrey frowned at her mocking tone.
“There’s no need to tease Humphrey, he just died, give him a break guys,” said Sophie. “He’s clearly focusing more on flexing his muscles anyway.”
“Hey! That was one time.”
“Besides, Neil’s more buff anyway”
“You’re biassed, you don't get a say.”
“Just because I can appreciate a handsome man? That seems a little harsh.”
“You don't get a say because you make out with him every spare moment you get Jason.”
“I concur with Mr. Standish’s comment, Mr. Asano”
“You too shade?”
“I feel like I should get more of a say in this”
“You’ll just flirt with Jason, so no.”
“Did anyone actually get my stuff?”
“Sorry, I'm a bit busy building the house.” replied Sophie sarcastically.
“It looks a bit shit though” commented Belinda.
“I only have cobblestone and birch wood! Unless you go and find me other stuff it's not going to get better.” exclaimed Sophie.
“Humphrey, I, as your best friend, collected the stuff you lost,” said Belinda.
“Where are the diamonds?”
“Oh, I’m not sure. They must have despawned.”
“Are you sure you didn’t steal them?”
“No,” came an unconvincing response.
“Belinda…”
“I didn’t steal them. And I definitely won’t use them to buy Clive’s service in building a skeleton farm. Definitely not.”
“I don’t know how to make a skeleton farm!”
“You’re smart, figure it out.”
“I think you’re overestimating my capabilities here.”
“We’re really not.”
“Sophie! I found spruce wood!”
“Then get some saplings, quick!”
“I’ve got some, I’m on my way back!”
“Thanks Jason.”
“It's going to cost you about 5 diamonds though.”
“I’m not buying saplings.”
“It’s the only way you’ll get spruce in a birch forest.”
“Remind me why we set up here again?”
“Because it's near spawn.”
“Yeah, but it's also really ugly.”
“What do you mean? There’s bees!” exclaimed Humphrey
“Yeah, but they’re the only good thing here.”
“So? They’re bees, Sophie. They’re almost as cute as cats, and there's a village nearby too.”
“You realise I killed about half of them before I found out how to get honeycomb?”
i wrote most of this while listening to life by the beach by tubbo (hence the name)
if u have any ideas for fluff, please let me know!
w regards to continuity between chapters, theyre in chronological order and all happened w each other (basically just theyll reference each other)
ALSO i have an idea for a really angsty fic but i wanna get my characterisation improved!
please lmk if u have any tips for general charecterisation or if u have ideas on improving lines for any of the dialouge!
also feel free to give tips + constructive criticism (dont be mean tho) and POINT OUT ANY TYPOS PLEASEEEEE