Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 50: Sea Me, Kiss Me

“So?? Any luck?”

“Ugh, no. Daddy’s firm in Val not joinin’ us.”

“Dammit! Why??”

“Oh I dunno, probably has ta do with what you and your sisters did ta him.”

“Hey, he attacked my brother first. He had it coming.”

Molly huffed and fell back on her bed. For the last couple days, she’d been trying to convince Henroin into allowing Valentino to join their family on the upcoming beach trip. But annoyingly, his answer was always no. And he never said no to her!

She wasn’t stupid. She knew she was his favorite out of the three of them. She was his little girl. All she had to do was bat her eyes and he’d give her anything she wanted.

Except this time.

Though she did get some level of success. Yesterday he said he would allow it if she could give him a good reason to invite the pimp. Which was another problem. It wasn’t like she could be honest about why she wanted him there. She and her friend were trying to hook up their brothers and get them to have their first kiss on the beach? That’ll cause a whole other problem!

So Molly was stuck. Without a good reason to invite Valentino, their plan was a flop.

She heard Maria’s voice through her phone and brought it back.

“Sorry, pulled the phone away. Whaddya say?”

“We need to figure out another way to get my brother on that beach with yours.”

“No shit. Unless you gotta good reason for us ta invite him, he’s not gonna be there.”

There came a hum from the other end. Molly waited patiently. She honestly couldn’t think of anything. But sometimes Maria managed to figure something out. Whether they were good or bad ideas was another thing. Hopefully her friend could think of-

“Oh, oh! I got it!”

“Yeh? Spill.”

“What if we went on our own beach trip?”

“… We as in me ‘nd you???”

“No! Me and my siblings! I could see about convincing them to have our own beach day since you mentioned your family’s trip! Your father can’t say anything if we just happened to show up at the same time and place.”

The female spider grinned. 

“Oh that’s perfect!” 

“I know!” 

“You call up your siblings, and I’ll text you where we’ll be at!” 

“Once we arrive, you and I will work on getting our brothers to kiss! Ahh! I’m so excited! There’s no way our plan can fail!” 

“Agreed! I’ll talk to you later.” 

“Later!” 

Once off the phone, Maria instantly started to text her siblings. Having a sibling beach day would be a good excuse to get her brother to the beach! Plus she wouldn’t be lying about spending some time together with all seven of them. 

She only hoped that none of them would spoil her and Molly’s plot. 

That would be the last thing they needed. 

‘Hey everyone! How do you all feel about going to the beach?’ 

It took a moment, but eventually all of them started to respond back. Some longer than others. Granted, that was probably because some of them were at work. 

Violeta- ‘The beach?’

Abril- ‘Oh it’s been a while since we’ve been there.’ 

Mia- ‘The weather’s finally back to Hell’s usual hot climate.’ 

Valentino- ‘I don’t mind a trip to the beach. Could be fun. I can work on my tan’

Luna- ‘Zestial and I aren’t much for the beach.’ .

Maria- ‘You two can hide under the umbrella or find you a nice shady spot. It’ll be fun! You’ll see! And we haven’t had a fun sibling day in forever!’

Isadora- ‘It has been a long time since we had a family outing. I’m up for it.’ 

Ximena- ‘I guess I can schedule a day off…’  

Maria- ‘Yes!’

Ximena- ‘What day? We gotta make sure our schedules align.’  

Maria- ‘How about this Saturday?’ 

Saturday was the perfect day! None of her siblings really worked on Saturdays. Except for maybe Ximena or VeeVee. But they could schedule those days off easily! 

Abril- ‘Saturday is good for me!’ 

Violeta- ‘I can do that day.’ 

Isadora- ‘I’m scheduled for that day off this week, so that works well for my schedule.’ 

Mia- ‘I’m down.’

Valentino- ‘I’m game too.’ 

Luna- ‘Hmm…. Very well. I’m sure Zestial will grant me to take the day off to see you all.’ 

Ximena- ‘I… guess I can take a personal day…’ 

Maria grinned. Success! All of her siblings were coming for the beach day! Yes! Her and Molly’s plan was officially in motion! Now all she had to do was help her siblings plan their beach day and Operation: Beach Bromance was a go! 

Oh she couldn’t wait!

Over at Ragno Industries, the place was buzzing with energy more than usual. While they typically dealt with drugs, shady business practices and murder, the recent energy wasn’t about the usual day-to-day sleaziness.  

No. It was about something entirely else. 

The Ragno Family Beach Trip. 

A once-a-year trip where everyone in the Ragno Family would head down to the beach for sun and fun.  Many members were discussing activities, food, and plans on what they’ll do once they arrived. 

But through all the hub-bub, one member was currently making his way through the many hallways.

Nico. 

It’s been days since his last contact with Alastor. He knew the stag had a tendency to disappear. He just wished he knew when he planned on killing the disgusting bug…. 

But he can worry about that later. Alastor will arrive when he does. 

Right now, he just had to focus on his own role.  Continue to play the caring Uncle Nico. Continue to be Henroin’s best friend. Keep the mask on. 

Their other friends already knew he didn’t like the kids… but so what? As long as Henroin believed he did, what did it matter? And if he did learn that he didn’t like the kids, was it really that bad? With Anthony, it was easy to explain away. He disgraced the family when he became a Porn Star. He was disobedient, loud and never took the family business seriously. 

Molly would be harder to write off. 

She was Henroin’s little princess. The one that looked the most like Gaia. If anything, she was the spitting image of that blasted woman… 

Explaining his dislike of hers would be the toughest one to counter. 

As for Arackniss…. 

Uhg. Where did he begin? 

He could write an entire list of reasons he didn’t care for him. None of which would go over well with Henroin at all. Molly may be his favorite, but Arackniss was the one he kept within reach at all times. If he phrased it right, he could potentially pass off his reasons as understandable. His oddities would be the biggest excuse. The boy just wasn’t right in the head anyway.

But enough thinking about those brats. He wasn’t going to waste time on them. Not unless he absolutely had to… Being their ‘good old Uncle Nico’. Ugh… Hopefully he can avoid spending as much time as possible with them this coming trip.

He approached Henroin’s office door and gave it a couple knocks. At least his friend didn’t follow the stupid two-knock rule Arackniss insisted on.

“Entra.”

Nico went in, finding their other friends already gathered in the office. 

“Sorry for bein’ a little late, boys. Had to handle some last minute problems.”

Henroin nodded in acknowledgment.

“We were just talkin’ about preparations for the trip. Grizz?”

“Food requests all sent in, games picked, and beach equipment accounted for. Just need to assign who brings what.”

“Good, good.”

Nico listened to the conversation. Everything was more or less decided so there wasn’t much else he could add. He eyed his other friends. To be honest, they were more Henroin’s friends than his. That didn’t really bother him though. As long as he had the title of best friend, what did it matter? Course that isn’t to say he didn’t get along with the rest of them. After all, they did all grow up together.

It was mostly the matter of the kids that they came to disagree on.

He knew they all cared for them. Grizzly especially. They were all there for Henroin and Gaia when they were struggling to get pregnant. They were there when his kids were growing up. And while they were more than happy to be involved, Nico just… Couldn’t find it in himself to care very much. As an act for Henroin, of course! But never seriously.

Ugh, he was thinking about them too much again. Focus on something else.

“We still up for our weekly game of poker?” Bullet asked. 

Oh thank fuck. Finally something worth talking about!

“We are.” Henroin acknowledged. “Who’s hosting this week?”

“I am.” Nico spoke up. “Got the place all set up for ya lads.” 

“Oh good.” Buck smirked. “I can’t wait to wipe the floor with you all.” 

The wasp snorted. 

“Ya wish.” 

“You got the good stuff right?” Tank questioned. “Last time ya bought that sissy wine-knock off and it tasted like ass.” 

“It was a wine suggestion from Honey.” 

Honey, Nico’s “wife”. If anything, she was more of a cover-up spouse. Their whole marriage had been a sham from the moment they met. A woman that only cared about her looks and money. She didn’t care if he was gay. Only about how much money he made. 

And with their operations, he made a lot of money. 

The woman tended to spend it like it was water. 

So acting as a beard for him was perfect. She got to live her best life and he got a woman to act as a wife for the public eye. 

A win-win in their books.

“How is Honey by the way?” Grizzly inquired. “I’m surprised you two don’t reconcile after you found each other a few years ago.” 

The wasp gave a tight smile. 

“She’s… doing well. I know many wish for us to be together again, but she’s adamant that she likes to be a single woman now. She’s found her own happiness post death.” 

A half-lie. But it wasn’t like they needed to know the truth.  

Buck snorted.  

“You make it sound like you two didn’t have a happy marriage when you were alive.” 

“Oh… we had… issues. But ultimately, being down here, we just realized we were two very different people than we were up on Earth. We’ve made peace by going our separate ways. We still talk from time to time.” 

Henroin caught a ‘help’ glance his way. He cleared his throat.

“Lay off him, boys. Not all of us are eager ta reunite with a spouse after death. I’m sure Nico will find someone else in time. If he wants.”

The words hurt more than Henroin could ever know. But Nico knew he couldn’t say anything. Not unless he knew for sure he had a real chance…

Bullet clicked his tongue.

“Soooooo… Is she down for a hook up at least?”

Buck smacked his shoulder.

“Man, c’mon.”

“What? She’s a good lookin’ woman! Staying single doesn’t mean she’s gotta skip out on the fun.”

Nico rolled his eyes. He honestly didn’t care. His wife was hardly faithful when they were alive. Not that he wanted her to be anyway. As long as she was careful not to get caught.

“If you want my blessin’, go on shoot yer shot. I can’t guarantee she’ll say yes though.”

“Hey, I’ll take it.”

Grizzly shook his head.

“You’re shameless, man.”

“Hey, I can’t help liking sex now and then.”

“Anyway,” Henroin interrupted, “Back to the matter at hand.”

Relieved to move on from the topic, Nico spoke.

“I got the good stuff this time, don’t worry.”

“Thank fuck,” Tank muttered, drawing out some chuckles and snickers. 

Bullet glanced over at the Spider Don.

“And you, Hen? Are you… Drinking too or…?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Grizzly beat him to it.

“He shouldn’t if he’s trying to go clean.”

The large spider huffed.

“One drink ain’t gonna make me go berserk, Griz.”

Nico nodded. 

“Goin’ cold turkey is a bitch. One won’t hurt. I’ll make sure he’s cut off for the rest of the night.” 

The big bear hummed. 

“You better. Last we need is Belladonna on our asses.” 

The mention of his mother caused a shiver run through most of the men. While the black widow could be nice and sweet, they remembered all the times she’d straightened them out when they  were young boys. She had a mean streak when she wanted to. 

“Well it’s a good thing that she won’t be there.” Henroin grunted. “Since everything seems to be  straightened out, you’re all dismissed. We got a lot of work on our load today. I want everything done before the trip.”

“Si.” 

“Good.” 

Arackniss eyed the store in front of him. Uhg. This was the last place he wanted to be. But he had no choice. Even though he had a swimsuit, he wasn’t going to swim. No. He was there for something else. 

Buying beachwear. 

All he needed was a tank top and a pair of shorts. 

He already had the colors in mind. Typically he was going to go with black. He didn’t care if his zias told him it was a bad idea due to the sun. It wasn’t like he was going to be out in it much anyways. 

Suppressing a sigh, he went in. 

Just grab a pair of shorts and a tank top and get the fuck out. That’s all he had to do. Thankfully he found what he needed pretty quickly. Good. He didn’t like shopping. A feel of the fabrics and he was good to go. 

Molly and Nonna had offered to come with him, but he declined their offers. 

Knowing them, they’d be in the store for hours and he did not have the mental energy to deal with that. So going on his own was currently the best.  

As he was checking out, he felt his phone go off. 

He pulled it out. 

Oh, a message from Val! 

‘What are you doing?’ 

He typed back a response. 

‘Getting beachwear.’ 

‘Oh fun! Whatcha get?’ 

‘A top and shorts.’ 

‘That’s it?’ 

‘Boo got some new water toys but I ordered those online a few days ago. They should be arriving today.’ 

‘Aww. I bet he’ll enjoy those.’ 

‘Yep. What are you up to?’ 

‘I’m also out shopping!’ 

‘Yay you.’ 

‘I got some amazing deals.’ 

‘I’m sure you did.’ 

‘I’m guessing you’re about to head home?’ 

‘Yep.’ 

‘Boooooo. We could’ve met up.’ 

‘You don’t even know where I’m at.’ 

‘You’re at least in the city, right?’ 

‘Yeah.’

‘Then we can totally meet up!’ 

Honestly meeting up with Valentino did sound very enticing… 

But he couldn’t. He had his father coming over. 

‘I’d like to, but Pops is coming over to discuss our beach day over with me.’ 

‘Aw boo! What’s there to discuss??’

‘A lot actually. This isn’t just immediate family, this is *everyone* in the family. There’s a lot to plan.’

‘How big is your family?’

‘Pretty big. We go back generations and got more coming in.’

‘Huh.’

‘Yeah. Arackniss paid for his items and returned to his car. He kept texting.

‘I… Kinda wish you could come, honestly.’

‘I’d love to if I was allowed. We could’ve hung out.’

A soft blush rose to his cheeks. Yeah… He would’ve liked that too. Unfortunately his family was the type to hold grudges. It didn’t take much to know they wouldn’t want him around. He texted back. 

‘Another time.’

‘I just remembered, when did you want me to stay the night?’

Oh right, they keep talking about that but haven’t made plans yet. He hummed in thought. When would be a good time to do that… Oh!

‘How about the night of the beach trip? We usually start packing up around the evening.’

‘Oh I can do that. When?’

‘This coming Saturday.’

Dots.

Dots.

‘Damn. I’m not sure if that’ll work for me.’

Disappointment struck him hard.

‘Oh… Busy?’

‘Kinda yeah. Funny enough, it’s also a beach day for me.’

‘Really? You, Vox, and Velvette?’

‘No, my sisters. Maria brought it up. We haven’t done anything together in a loooong ass time.’

Huh… What a coincidence.

‘Take it you can’t change the date?’

‘No, sorry. It’s already decided.’

Damn… Well… There was always the next day.

‘Sunday then?’

‘Yeah, I can do Sunday!’

‘Great. Sunday it is then. Later.’ 

‘Later!’ 

The arachnid pocketed his phone as he slipped into the driver’s seat. Time to get home. And to face the dreaded beach day that was coming up. 

Saturday morning came much too quickly in Arackniss’s opinion. But time was a fickle thing. Sometimes it felt like it was taking far too long than it should, and other times, it just went by too damn quick. 

Arackniss was currently going over the massive list that he had sent his family for the beach trip. With such a big family like his, everyone had a role to play. He was making sure to contact every relative so they wouldn’t forget to bring their items. 

Everyone was to bring their own towel, sunscreen and beach equipment. Such as beach-chairs, umbrellas, ect. Everyone was to bring at least one dish or beverage. They were having a massive potluck. Made it easier so that no single person alone handled the food. 

Matteo was bringing the Volleyball net and ball. 

Uncle Guiseppe was bringing his jet skis. 

Uncle Maximo was bringing his boat. 

Some of the other cousins were going to bring their surf boards. 

As the spider checked off his list, he gave a satisfied nod seeing everything was in order. Doing his own personal list, he went and scooped up Boo, sitting him in the passenger seat. 

“Alright Boo. We’re already for the Family Beach Day.” He chewed on his pen as he looked over his list again. “I got seaweed and fruits for you. Your water toys, a towel for you. I got all of my beach equipment. Towel, sunglasses, sunscreen, my sand-castle building equipment and two buckets for any seashells that I find. Oh and let’s not forget my dessert that the family insists that I bring for the trip.” 

Boo let out an excited trumpet. 

This was so exciting! He hasn’t been to a beach in forever! He couldn’t wait to get into the water, play in the sand, and help him with his sandcastles! Oh! Oh! Would Fat Nuggets be there too?? He hoped so! 

The arachnid chuckled, patting his head. 

“I know, you’re super excited.” 

A minute later, a group of cars started to drive past. One of the cars pulled up next to him. His father stepping out. 

“Nick? Ya ready to go?” 

The smaller mobster shut his trunk. 

“Yeh. We’re ready.” 

This father gave a curt nod, stepping back into his own car. As he pulled out, Arackniss slipped into the driver’s seat and proceeded to follow his father. The beach was a good hour away. Maybe two or three depending on traffic. 

Time for the start of the beach trip.

“¡Ándale! The sooner we get there, the better spot we’ll get!” Isadora called out as they all started loading up the car.

It was a bit hectic that morning in Vee Tower. Or at least in Valentino’s suite. The moth family had all gathered early to make sure they had everything they needed for a day at the beach. Food, drinks, ice, towels, umbrellas, chargers and power banks, beach blankets, sunblock, and other such necessities. A chaotic way to do it, but a way that worked for them. Mostly for the ones with funny brain. Left to their own devices, there was always bound to be something overlooked. All together they could see what was getting done and what wasn’t.

Once satisfied, they headed down to the garage to pile into one of the lesser used cars the Vees had stashed away. Big and bulky, it was perfect for when Valentino and his sisters planned a gathering and have the space for packing. 

Ice chests first, then their bags, and finally the extra supplies. 

Vox and Velvette stood by to watch them pack up. They weren’t going as it was more a family trip, but they could at least see them off. 

“Is that everything?” The eldest asked.

“Looks like,” Abril responded.

“Then let’s hit the road.”

“Wait! I got one more thing to pack!” Mia called out before going over to the two Vee members and lifting Velvette over her shoulder. The doll demon let out a squealing giggle.

“Mia!”

“I’m ready!”

Valentino gawked and rushed over to grab the smaller female.

“No, no, family only.”

“They’re practically already family!”

“You know what I mean!” Valentino set Velvette down. “Sorry babydoll, maybe another time.”

“I’m holding you to that, I hope you know.”

“As if I’d forget.”

Mia bumped her brother out of the way to give Velvette a goodbye kiss.

“I’m gonna steal you away next time, promise.”

Velvette giggled again, making Valentino roll his eyes. He caught Vox’s eye and sneered. Before Vox could say anything, the moth sent three middle fingers before going to join his sisters. The Tech CEO slouched his shoulders.

“Dammit… Is he still really not over it?”

“Well you did bang my twin behind his back.”

“Yeah, dick move, Vox.”

He sputtered at the two women.

“You two literally encouraged me to!”

Neither responded to him, only snickering to themselves before Mia left to join the others. Once they were all packed in, Mia drove them out of the garage.

“On the road we go! Whoo!” Maria cheered.

Abril glanced at the eldest.

“Carmilla and her daughters?”

“Letting them know now that we’re on our way,” Isadora responded, typing on her phone. “They should be heading out soon too.”

“And Zestial, Luna?”

“He’ll meet us there as well.”

Their pink sister squealed.

“Our first family trip all together! Today is gonna be so fun!”

Ximena made a face.

“Sure… Lots of fun…”

Violeta peered over the seat at their workaholic sister.

“C’mon Mena, what’s more important? Boring work or a fun day with family?”

“Do I have to choose?”

“You’d really rather work than be with us?”

There was a brief pause before Ximena sighed.

“I didn’t say that. But you all know how important my company is to me.”

“Of course we know,” Isadora assured, “But a day off every now and then won’t hurt. Your company isn’t going anywhere.”

“I know, I know.”

“Plus look at it this way,” Maria added. “Family bonding time! We haven’t had any of that in a long time!” 

“I… guess that’s true.” 

“How long is it gonna take us to get there?” Violeta inquired. 

“About an hour.” Mia responded, then frowned at the traffic. “Maaaybe longer with all this traffic. Damn there’s a lot of it today.” 

“Which is why we left early.” The orange moth replied. “I had a feeling traffic would be busy today. It usually is on Saturdays.” 

“Which means we can all sit and relax until then.” Val smirked, leaning back. “I can’t wait to work on my tan.” 

Abril snorted. 

“What tan? Our skin is blue.” 

“Hey! We can still tan!” 

“Whatever you say.” 

It took close to two hours, but eventually the moths finally arrived. As they started to pull into the parking lot, Mia let out a whistle. 

“Damn… lotta people at the beach today.” 

“Uhg. I hope not.” Luna frowned. “I want to find a nice quiet spot to read.”

“I’m sure you will.” Ximena reassured. “The beach is a pretty big place. We’ll find a spot.” 

Eventually they managed to find a spot to park. Once parked, they all unloaded and started to head down. Waiting at the entrance of the beach was Carmilla, her daughters, and Zestial. Clara smiled seeing them. She was wearing a pink bikini. Odette was wearing a white full piece and their mother was wearing a black and silver bikini. As for Zestial…. 

His wings were currently wrapped around him, so it was hard to tell what he was wearing. 

“You’re here!” Clara ran up to them. “Oh this is going to be so much fun!” 

Carmilla placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. 

“Let us find a spot for us to settle first. Then we can get to the beach activities.” She turned to her relatives. “Do you guys need help with the equipment?” 

Mia responded by grabbing the heaviest items. 

“I got the heavy stuff.” 

Isadora smiled at her granddaughter. 

“I’m sure you got your own stuff to bring down. Down worry. We got this.” 

“You sure?” 

“All of us have four arms. Trust us. We can carry a lot more than usual.” 

The ancient Overlord made his way over to his fiancee, opening a black parasol to further shield her from the sun. 

“Here thee art, my dearest. A parasol to hideth away from the intense heat of the sun.” 

The gothic moth gave a polite head nod at her future husband.  

“Gracias, Zestial.” 

The group started looking for a big enough spot on the beach. Though despite the crowded parking lot, it actually didn’t seem very busy. So finding a spacious area to settle down didn’t take as long as expected. They started setting out the blankets, chairs, canopies, and umbrellas. 

“Oh look at that water! Today’s gonna be so fun!” Maria exclaimed.

Isadora held up a bottle of sunscreen.

“Don’t forget to apply sunscreen everyone! We don't want to get burned while we’re out here.”

“Speak for yourselves,” Luna mumbled as she and Zestial rested together under a large umbrella.

Mia scanned the shore.

“Damn, for a full parking lot, doesn’t seem like a lotta people out here, huh?”

“I’d say that’s a good thing,” Violeta commented.

“True. Better than a crowded-” The muscular moth paused, spotting a large gathering some ways away, “Uh… Am I seeing things, or is that the spider family over there?”

Abril glanced over.

“The spider family?”

“Yeah, the mafia one.”

Valentino immediately perked up.

“Wait what??”

She pointed them out. Showing that the Ragno family indeed were there as well.

Carmilla frowned lightly.

“That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“As long as they stay over there and away from us,” Ximena pointed out, crossing her arms.

Meanwhile, the Ragnos continued setting up their own spot. Arackniss busied himself with instructing his family on where to put what. And thankfully, it all started coming together. The table of food there. Each food item spread out in alphabetical order at his assistance. The volleyball net set up over there. Umbrellas and towels over here. He nodded to himself. Soon enough, it’ll all be perfect. 

Boo hopped around him, excited to get into the water already. He glanced down at him and chuckled.

“I know, buddy. Little bit longer and then I’ll let ya go.”

The tiny elephant squeaked and sat down, the sand getting disturbed by his impatient jittering. 

“Nick! We ready yet?”

The smaller mobster looked up to see Henroin.

“Gettin’ there.”

“Good, good. Trip’s startin’ on a good note.”

Arackniss said nothing, only nodding. It wasn’t the most ideal trip for him, but as long as he wasn’t forced out into the water, it’ll be manageable. Finding seashells and building sandcastles was just fine for him. Still kind of a shame Valentino wasn’t allowed to join… But at least he’ll see him tomorrow.

“Oh, you gotta be shittin’ me…”

He blinked and looked up at his father.

“Pops?”

“The pimp’s here.”

Glancing over, he noticed the moth’s family setting up their own equipment a few yards away. Huh. What an odd coincidence. 

“Oh…” Shit how was he going to avoid a fight? “Uh… I’m sure if we leave them alone, they’ll leave us alone.” 

“They better.” 

He gave a small nod. As much as he wanted to go over and talk to Valentino…it was probably best if they stayed separate today. He glanced back at his clip board. Let’s see… Tables set up. Food set out. Ice coolers placed under the tables to prevent the ice from melting. Grills hooked up. Plastic plates and cups set out. The Volleyball net far away from the food to avoid sand getting sprayed…. Boats and jet skis in the water….

“I think we’re all good.”  

“Alright. I’ll inform the family.” 

As he went to do that, Arackniss bent down to unleash his pet. 

“Okay Boo, I’m gonna release you now. But I want you to follow one rule. Okay?” 

The little elephant tilted his head at him. Rule? What rule?

Arackniss picked him up, then pointed at where a dinghy was floating. 

“You see that floating object? That’s called a dinghy. I do not want you to swim past that, okay? That’s super deep water and my relatives will be out there with boats and jet skis. I do not want you to get hurt. Understand me?” 

No going past the… dinghy? He can do that! He gave a trumpet of confirmation. 

“Alright good. Anth- Angel should be around here with Fat Nuggets somewhere. I’m sure you two will have fun. Off you go.” 

He was placed on the ground. Instantly the little elephant started to bolt towards the water. Water! Water! Yay! He couldn’t wait to start swimming- WAIT!! He skidded to a stop just as he was about to get the water’s edge. 

What about Arackniss??

What was he going to do? 

He glanced back over at his owner. Maybe he should make sure that he was going to have fun too? He knew Arackniss couldn’t swim. But surely there was something fun he could do! He decided to backtrack for a moment. 

Just to make sure his owner wasn’t going to be left on land without nothing to do. He gave a small trumpet, grabbing his lower wrist to gain his attention. Once he had it, the mobster bent down to his level.  

“Boo? What is it?” 

Boo glanced around him, pointing at random objects as if asking him what he was going to do. Realizing what he wanted, Arackniss gave a small chuckle, patting his head. 

“Oh, you’re wondering what I’ll be doin’ since I don’t like being in the water, right?” 

He nodded his head. 

Yea! That’s right! 

Arackniss proceeded to grab a bucket and shovel. 

“I’m gonna be building sandcastles and seashell hunting. I’m gonna be a few feet off the water’s edge. Not too close but close enough for the wet sand. Okay?” 

Oh! So that’s what he was gonna be doing! 

His owner proceeded to nudge him back towards the water. 

“Now off ya go. I’m sure you’re excited for some swim-time.” 

Satisfied with his ma-Arackniss’s response, he took off back towards the water. This was going to be so much fun! 

Arackniss chuckled as he watched his pet dive into the water. Excited squeals and clicks echoing in the air. After a few moments of watching, he went over to a bare spot that was a tiny ways from his family to give him some privacy. He immediately started to get to work on building a sandcastle. 

And kept stealing glances toward the other group.

He really wanted to talk with Val… Dammit. Why did there have to be tension between their families? But there was nothing he could do. Hopefully there weren’t any conflicts…

Some of the moth’s sisters went out to the water while some of them stayed back. Oh, Zestial, Carmilla, and her daughters were with them too. Made sense. They were all technically family, Or close to being family in Zestial’s case.

He saw Valentino by one of the beach chairs. Huh, what he was up to…

The Overlord slipped off his crop top and daisy duke shorts to reveal a white bikini. The bikini bottom had the strings hooked over his lower shoulders. 

Oh…

Arackniss stared. Not intentionally. But… Fuck.

Valentino then settled back on the chair. And almost immediately looked his way. He seemed to grin and waved teasingly at him.

Heat rushed to his face as he quickly averted his gaze. 

He got caught. He got caught staring! Fuck! Why did he do that!? It’s rude to stare! Dammit! 

Over on the other side, Valentino giggled to himself. Arackniss was staring at him. The cutie. It couldn’t hurt to go over and talk with him right? Would it really be that much of an issue? He glanced toward the rest of the Ragnos. Ugh, it was unfair. All because Henroin had to be a controlling asshole. He huffed. Hopefully they can still enjoy their day.

Unbeknownst to either men, their sisters were watching. Waiting. They were all at the same place. And yet neither of their brothers went to eachother! That wasn’t right! How were they going to plot their first kiss if they stayed away from each other!?

Maria hummed to herself. Then turned to her phone to type a text.

‘They’re not going to each other.’

Dots.

‘I see that. Your family saw us right?’

‘Oh they did. Yours?’

‘I think so.’

‘Any ideas?’

Nothing for a moment. Then dots popped up.

‘Maybe we just gotta go for it. If we start talking, maybe our families will start mingling.’

‘Oh that might work!’

Maria set her phone aside and spotted Molly starting to approach. Time to play nice with the Ragnos. 

“Maria??” 

The moth turned and gasped. 

“Molly!? Hi!!” 

The two girls instantly went over to each other. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Family beach day. You?” 

“Same!” 

Hearing them, Arackniss and Valentino’s attention were drawn to them. As well as a few of their other relatives. 

“What a funny coincidence!” 

“I’ll say!” 

Arackniss’s brows furrowed. He peered over at his father, who looked displeased at seeing his daughter engaged with the moths. Knowing what he had to do, he forced himself to stand to head on over. 

As he got closer, he could hear the two women talking about random stuff. Once near her, he took a hold of his sister’s wrist, tugging on it. 

“Molly, what are you doin’?” 

She glanced down at him. 

“Oh Nicky! I just saw Maria was here and I just had to come talk to her!” 

“Okay…” He gave a polite nod over at the pink moth. “Caio Maria.” 

“Hola~” 

He turned his focus back onto his sister. 

“Look, I know you’d probably wanna hang and talk with yer friend, but this is a family trip and-” 

She waved him off. 

“Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Oh look!” She suddenly grabbed him, turning him to face where a certain Overlord was. “There’s Valentino! Why doncha go say hi?” 

“Moll-” 

“Go on!” 

She shoved her brother toward his crush.

Only for Arackniss to lose his footing and fall face first into the sand. 

“Molly!” Maria exclaimed in genuine shock.

“It was an accident! Sorry, Nicky!”

The smaller spider immediately started spitting out sand and trying to brush it off his face. The pink moth went and helped him up.

“You alright, Arackniss?”

“Bleh! Yuck! I’m fine…” He turned his head to glare at his sister. Who only gave him an apologetic smile.

“Oops?”

Both their families watched the interaction, but neither made a move just yet. As if waiting for the other side to make the first offense or not. Among the Ragnos, Angel narrowed his eyes toward his twin. She was plotting something, he was sure of it. He just couldn’t figure out what. But if he had to guess, it had to do with setting up their brother with his boss. 

Because why else would Valentino and his family be here at the same exact time? It was too fishy. He caught sight of Violeta. Maybe he could get some information of his own. Making sure Fat Nuggets was being looked after, he started going over. 

“Violeta! What’s up, bitch, haven’t seen ya in a while!”

The yellow moth looked over hearing her name. She grinned, seeing no reason to not respond.

“Angel! Hey!”

Arackniss cursed under his breath. He glanced back over at the family. More of the Ragnos started noticing the twins mingling without issue. But their father didn’t look pleased… Crap. If he didn’t reign in his siblings, Henroin might cause a scene. 

“Tony! Get on back ta the family!”

“Hey! It’s Angel, remember? And what? I can’t say hi to a friend? Molly is!”

Fucking… Why couldn’t the twins see that it was a bad idea?! He wanted to talk with Valentino, but he knew better! Not while there was tension between their families! It was going to ruin the trip for all of them! 

Isadora, however, started getting other thoughts. She hummed to herself. Being separated from each other can only go so far while on the same beach. Some contact was bound to happen. But whether that contact could lead to conflict was up in the air at the moment…

She looked toward her brother and went to him.

“Tino.”

He blinked up at her.

“Yeh?”

The orange moth leaned in to whisper her idea to him. He thought it over and nodded. The two then made their way toward the Ragnos. 

Which didn’t go unnoticed.

Henroin growled low as he stood from his chair to intercept them, followed by his friends as backup. Prompting Arackniss to rush over in hopes of preventing a possible fight. If he could get Valentino and Isadora back to their side, it might smooth things over for the time being. Carmilla and Zestial also shared a glance and stood by in case things went south.

The Spider Don glared at the Porn Overlord. Who only offered a professional smirk.

“Henroin. So good to see you.”

“You got a lotta nerve-”

“We have a proposition for you and your family.”

A small pause.

“A proposition?”

“That’s right.”

“And why should I hear you out?”

“Depends if you want to avoid any conflicts today,” Isadora pointed out.

Henroin narrowed his eyes in suspicion. 

Not waiting for an answer, Valentino spoke.

“You treat your parties like neutral ground, right? Play nice with rival families? Then for today, let’s make the beach neutral ground. We don’t have to mingle. But if we cross paths, no harm, no foul.”

“Or, we can dance around each other the entire day until a fight breaks out. Your choice.”

Henroin turned to Nico. The wasp let out a hum. 

“It might be best, Hen. Better than an all out brawl. That could lead to more trouble on both sides. Neutral ground would be best.” 

The scorpion let out a grunt. 

“Very well. The beach is neutral ground.” 

Arackniss let out a sigh of relief. Oh good. There wasn't going to be any trouble. His father proceeded to snap his fingers. 

“Let's go boys.” 

They started to leave but Henroin stopped, gripping his son’s shoulder. 

“Priorities Nicholas. You three better not spend the entire day with them. This is a family trip.” 

The eldest of his children gave a curt nod. 

“Si papa.” 

Satisfied with the response, the elder members went back to their seats. Arackniss proceeded to send a glare at his younger siblings. 

“You heard him. The family trip takes priority.” 

Angel scoffed. 

“Says you. All you do is go seashell hunting and build sandcastles.” 

“Shut the fuck up.” 

“It's true!” 

“Just don’t spend all yer time with them, alright?” He looked up at Valentino and Isadora. “No offense, of course.”

“We get it. We’re just here to enjoy a family beach day as well. We’d rather avoid any conflict, hence the proposition,” Isadora assured.

The smaller mobster nodded, stealing a glance at the Overlord before clearing his throat. 

“You all have a good day.”

“You got some sand in your hair still,” Valentino pointed out before reaching out and giving his hair a quick tussle. “There we go. Better.”

Arackniss tried to ignore the blush in his cheeks.

“Th-Thanks…”

Molly and Maria quietly giggled to each other, clearly excited their plan was working so far. All they had to do was get their brothers some privacy and that first kiss was guaranteed!

But Angel narrowed his eyes at both his twin and his boss. Like hell would he allow anything to happen while he was around. He grabbed Violeta’s arm and pulled her away to speak in private.

“Alright, quick question. Who’s idea was it for y’all ta have a beach day today?”

The yellow moth blinked in confusion.

“Maria’s. Why?”

“Oooooh that’s sus.”

“What’re you getting at exactly?”

“I have a feelin’ Molly and Maria planned this. It’s too coincidental.”

Violeta frowned lightly and looked toward their respective sisters.

“You think they’re up to something?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re still tryin’ ta get our brothers together!”

At that second, both pink women happened to look their way. Maria looked innocent, but Molly threw her twin a smug grin.

Angel gasped.

“I fuckin’ knew it!”

“Angel, relax. Even if they did, there’s no way they can succeed here.”

“How can ya be sure?”

“Because both our families are here together. And we’re expected to stay on our own sides for the most part. Everyone’s out in the open. How are they gonna work together to hook our brothers up without getting caught?”

“She’ll think of something. Sneaky little bitch.” 

They paused hearing their brothers speaking. 

“So sandcastles?” 

“Ain't much fer me ta do on the beach.” 

“I see you got a Volleyball net.” 

“S’not my thing.” 

“You played that tennis game.” 

“Only cuz you ‘nd Slick said you were interested.” 

“But not volleyball?”

“Never played it.” 

“Where's Boo at?” 

“In the water.” 

“Ah. Of course he is.” 

“I told him not to go past the dinghy.” 

“Does he even know what a dinghy is?” 

“I pointed at it before letting him go. Elephants are pretty smart. I already taught him a few tricks.” 

“Of course you did.” 

“I taught him to break into a safe.” 

“You did not.” 

“I did.” 

“You're gonna turn him into a little thief, aren't ya?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Unbelievable. Teaching your baby to be a criminal. You're a bad parent. Shame on you.” 

“.... I'm in a Mafia family. We're already criminals. Did you forget that?” 

Silence. The black arachnid gave a giggle. 

“You totally forgot.” 

“....shut up.” 

“He fuckin’ giggled.” Angel grabbed Violeta to shake her. “My brother fuckin’ giggled!”

The temperamental moth stopped his shaking.

“Yes, I heard. What’s the big deal?”

“Niss doesn’t giggle! Hell, he ain’t even supposed ta laugh!”

“… What do you mean he's not supposed to??”

“Niss doesn’t laugh. Ever. And I ain’t exaggeratin’. But somehow Val’s able ta get him laughin’!”

“I’m… Pretty sure the fact he laughs at all is proof against that claim.”

“Look, the point is we gotta make sure they don’t spend any time together. Distractin’ them from each other is the only way to ruin whatever Molly and Maria got planned.”

Violeta hummed in thought. She personally didn’t see the urgency to keep them apart. As she stated, they’re all out in the open. There wasn’t any chance of privacy from each other. And definitely no way for their brothers to run off anywhere besides the parking lot. But with how insistent Angel was being and knowing how sneaky her sister could be… Maybe it was best to help out. Just a little at least.

She turned and kneeled to gather some wet sand in her hands. The famous spider blinked at her.

“Uh… What’re you doin’?”

“Distracting my brother.”

“… How… Exactly…?”

“Watch.”

She stood up with a good handful of sand.

And chucked it at Valentino. 

He let out a startled yelp as the wet sand slapped loudly against his body and wings. Then swiveled around to find the culprits. Angel froze with clear panic on his face before pointing at Violeta. Who only smirked at him and waved her fingers tauntingly.

“Bitch, what the fuck was that for!?”

“Aww, what’s wrong, Titi? It’s just a little sand.”

“Oh I’ll show you just a little sand…” The moth threatened as he went to scoop up some wet sand himself.

Violeta took off in the opposite direction with Valentino chasing after her.

“Get back here!!”

“Fuck off!!”

“It’s just a little sand, Leta!!”

“Don’t you dare!!”

Angel laughed a bit to himself. Well shit, this might be easier than he thought. He shot his own smug smirk toward his sister. Who only glared back at him.

Oh this meant war. 

Unaware of his younger siblings' silent proclamation of war, Arackniss did his best to ignore the stab of disappointment of Valentino running off to chase his sister. Oh well. They’ll run into each other eventually again. He proceeded to go back over to his half-built sandcastle. 

Let’s see…. scoop up more wet sand, compact it and make another tower. Continue adding more sand to get the desired length that he wanted. Okay, now to start on the walls.  

As he was doing that, Valentino managed to retaliate against Violeta. 

“Ahh! ¡¡Puta!!” 

“Ha! Got you!” 

The rest of their family watched. Abril, Ximena, Clara and Odette had taken to the water. Clara insisted on a game of Chicken Fight. With Odette on Ximena’s shoulders and Clara on Abril’s. Zestial and Luna were content under their umbrella. Each with their own book but holding each  other’s hands as they read. 

Mia was currently tossing a beach ball around with Carmilla. 

Isadora busied herself with the food. 

Maria and Molly waited until Angel went back to the Ragno’s side to go and play with Fat Nuggets. Once he was gone, the two women had settled on a spot to continue scheming  gossiping about their brothers. 

“Okay, so how exactly are we going to get them alone together?” Maria asked. “I know your brother can’t swim.” 

Molly hummed. 

“Oh! Maybe he can help Arackniss go seashell collecting!” 

“Oh that’s a great idea! When’s he gonna do that?” 

“Probably after he finished building his sandcastle. Typically he goes with Nonna, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind sitting this one out. They do it every year.” 

The pink moth frowned.  

“If they do it every year, wouldn’t your abuelita consider that a bonding activity between them?” 

The female arachnid waved her off. 

“Nah. They do shit all the time together! The family kinda has this saying on who’s the favorite in our immediate family. Angie’s always been Ma’s, I’m Daddy’s and Nicky’s is Nonna’s.” 

“That… doesn’t sound like a dynamic you guys should be accepting of.” 

“Oh it’s fine! We know they still love us, it’s just some of us are closer to a specific person than others.” 

“Uh huh….” 

“Anyway, once Nicky’s done building his sand castle, he’ll start lookin’ for seashells. Then we can get Valentino ta join him.”

The pink moth looked toward her brother. And realized he was going back to Arackniss now that he was done chasing Violeta.

“Oooooh, maybe we don’t gotta wait.”

“Huh?”

Sure enough, both women saw Valentino going back to Arackniss. They squealed to themselves at the sight. Maybe this’ll be easier than they thought.

“Sorry about that, bichito. Leta decided to be a bitch for some reason.”

Arackniss blinked at his voice, having been engrossed in his sand castle.

“Oh, uh… No problem. Are you… Gonna go back to yer family or…?”

Valentino tilted his head.

“You don’t wanna talk some more?”

“I- I didn’t say that…”

“Is it okay if I join you then?”

The spider perked up.

“Yeah! Course.”

The moth grinned and settled down on the sand next to him.

“So you use actual molds huh?”

“Yeh. Easier to build with.”

“I always heard they don’t work that well.”

“Eh, just depends on the moisture of the sand. Too much water and it’ll melt or won’t come out properly. Too little and it crumbles.”

“Makes sense. You got it down to a science then?”

“Yup!”

Valentino chuckled lightly. He looked out toward the water to see if he could spot Boo. Every now and then, he could see the little elephant pop his head out of the water before diving again.

“I bet Boo’s having the time of his life.”

Arackniss chuckled.

“Oh yeah. That’s an Envian Pygmy for ya.”

Valentino continued to watch the little spider continue with his creation. 

“So you do this every trip to the beach?” 

“Yep.” 

“So what can I help you with?” 

“You can gather water.” 

“Ah. Should’ve figured. I will scoop up a bucket full.” 

“Grazie.” 

Thankfully the water wasn’t too far away. Only about four steps and he was quick to fill up the small bucket with water, he then proceeded to sit it next to the busy arachnid. 

“Is it only castles that you build?” 

Arackniss didn’t bother glancing up at him, instead mainly focusing on his creation. 

“Not all the time.” 

“Oh?” 

“I’ve done Sand-animals.” 

“Sand… animals?” 

“For Sandcastle contests.” 

“Wait, seriously? You’ve been in sandcastle contests??” 

“And won.” 

“You won!?!” 

“I got the rewards at home. And Nonna has pictures.” 

“You never told me that!” 

“You never asked.” 

Valentino pointed at him, opening his mouth to respond but couldn’t think of a good comeback. He huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Smartass.” 

The Italian Sinner didn’t answer. Instead he crawled over to a different part of his building. He started to dig at the base, creating a curve into the wall. He paused, staring at it, then proceeded to do more digging. 

“What are you doing now?” 

“Building a sturdy base.” 

“Didn’t you already do that?” 

“No. It gives me more control of the height and width of my castle.” 

“Ooookay…?” 

Personally, Valentino wasn’t an expert when it came to the art of sandcastle building. Though considering Arackniss never learned to swim, it would make sense that he spent all his time doing something like this while his family played in the water. 

“Do you want me to help dig or…?” 

No response. 

Shit. Was he supposed to just sit here while Arackniss did all the work? Or was this one of his oddities? He stilled when Arackniss suddenly stopped digging, only to stare at the hole that he had dug. 

Should he say something? 

“Uh… Ni-” 

A frustrated sound came from the smaller sinner. He then proceeded to demolish said castle that he was working on. 

“Whoa! Hey! You just built that! Why are you destroying it??” 

“It’s coming out wrong!” 

Coming out wrong? What did he mean by that? 

“But it was looking pretty good!” 

“No it wasn’t! One of the walls was too lopsided.” 

It was? He honestly couldn’t tell. He watched as Arackniss continued to destroy all his hard work until there was no trace left of the previous architect. It… was a little sad to watch. From what he could tell, it was looking pretty good. 

Arackniss sat there in silence as he glared hatefully at the ground. As if it offended him for not cooperating for his vision of his castle. Valentino wasn’t sure if he should say anything, but he couldn’t just ignore it either.

“Are… Are you okay?”

The mobster huffed.

“I hate when it doesn’t come out perfect the first time. It’s annoying and frustrating.”

“Well… How about you try again then?” The moth grabbed one of the molds. “I could help you if you want. Or do you want to do it yourself?”

Arackniss kept his gaze on the disturbed sand a moment longer before shifting it to Valentino. He offered a half-grin to show he was ready to help. The spider bit the inside of his cheek.

“Are… Ya sure ya wanna help?”

“Course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I dunno… I don’t wanna take up too much of yer beach day.”

Valentino waved a hand.

“Oh it’s fine. I mostly just wanted to work on my tan anyway.”

“… You weren’t plannin’ ta get in the water?”

“Not really. I mean, if I were wearing a different colored bikini maybe.”

Arackniss squinted in confusion.

“What’s wrong with white?”

“White clothing gets see-through when wet. And sometimes it happens with bathing suits too. And I’m not really planning to flash my family.” He stared ahead at nothing. “… Honestly, I really should’ve worn a different color anyway. I don’t know why I went with white. Didn’t really cross my mind when I put it on. I would’ve worn that new one I got but left it at your place. Fuck. Okay, I really can’t get wet. And if I do, hopefully it’s the kind that doesn’t become see-through. Shit that’s gonna be a problem. Actually no, I have my regular clothes for cover. And comfy clothes for later. Duh, problem solved! Should I just go put those back on? Not exactly tanning right now.”

Honestly, the spider wasn’t listening anymore. His mind went elsewhere upon hearing the words ‘see-through when wet’. And now those images were stuck in his brain. It wasn’t exactly hard to imagine. He’d seen Valentino half naked plenty of times already. Except for that one area between… Between his…

He could swear his body temperature went up. 

And something else down below too…

Don't think that! Don’t think that! Distraction! He needed a distraction! 

“You know what, yeah, I’m just gonna go put my clothes-”

“Sun!”

Valentino stopped his rambling and looked at the spider.

“Wha?”

“Sun! It’s… It’s sunny. And bright.”

“… That it is?”

An awkward silence.

“Um…”

“… Sorry, what were you sayin’?”

“I’m gonna go put my regular clothes back on.”

“Oh, o-okay.” 

Valentino proceeded to stand up and immediately left the little spider alone. Arackniss stared after him. Then proceeded to flop onto his back. Why was he so fucking weird!? Uhg!

He scared Valentino off! Dammit! 

Uhg, as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, he almost had an… He started to get another erection. At just thinking about Valentino and his see-through… GAH!!!! Stop thinking about that! What was he doing? SANDCASTLE. Focus on making a new sandcastle!!

He continued to lay there, staring up at the sky. 

What the fucking hell was wrong with him!? Frustration started to bubble in his stomach. Then it started to rise. Up his chest. Up his throat… and he let out a scream. Naturally it startled his relatives. They looked over at him and noticed him kicking and flailing his arms around. Sounds of Italian cursing ringing through the air. 

Some of them rolled their eyes. 

“Another meltdown,” Vinny commented. 

“Been a while since he had one of those.” Giuseppe mused. 

“Not since his birthday party.” Maximo responded. 

Seeing his eldest throwing a fit, Henroin let out an aggravated sigh, pinching the bridge between his eyes. Goddammit…. 

He started to stand up to go see what was upsetting his son, only for his mother to run over. He blinked, then shook his head. She always knew how to handle him better than he did. Best to let her handle it. He went back to the card game he was in the middle with his friends. 

Grizzly raised a brow at him. 

“You’re not gonna see what’s upsetting him?” 

“It’s probably over his sandcastle. You saw how he destroyed it earlier.” 

“I guess…” 

“My ma’s got it. She always knows how to get him to calm down.” 

Over with Valentino’s family, they all jumped hearing the scream. Carmilla instantly looked over at the source. 

“What is going on over there??” 

Isadora glanced over at well, her brows furrowing in concern. 

“That… sounds like Arackniss.” 

“Arackniss?” 

“Henroin’s oldest.” 

“Ah. What could he possibly be screaming about?” 

Luna tilted her head. 

“Valen says he has autism. He could be experiencing a meltdown.” 

Zestial blinked at his future bride-to-be. 

“What is this… ‘autism’ thou speak of? I hath never heard of such a thing.” 

“It’s like funny brain, but different.” 

Maria turned to her friend with concern.

“What’s happening?? Do we go check on him?”

But Molly waved a hand.

“Oh it’s fine, he’s probably just havin’ another meltdown.”

“… That doesn’t sound ‘fine’, Molly!”

“It’s not the first time it’s happened. Look, our Nonna is goin’ to him now. She knows how ta handle him when he gets like this.”

Valentino, who was just starting to slip on his shorts, cursed under his breath and finished getting the article of clothing on before rushing over. What happened?? He was fine just a moment ago! Was it the sandcastle? Did he regret it? Shit, shit!

Arackniss kept up his screaming fit without a sign of stopping. Not even as Belladonna sat by his side. She gently pet his hair to let him know she was there, then pulled her hand away to avoid aggravating him further. She then looked up hearing the pimp approach.

“What happened?? Is he alright?”

“He’s havin’ a meltdown. Just give him a few minutes ta get it out.”

“He- He was fine a moment ago, I swear.”

“I know. Don’t worry, it’s not yer fault. They just hit him when he gets too frustrated or overstimulated.”

Seeing the spider’s abuela had clear experience with this, Valentino sat on the other side. Other than the screaming and Italian cruising, a brief silence followed.

“Is there… Anything I can do to help?”

“First, let’s just let him calm down on his own.”

He nodded in understanding. So meltdowns hit when he got too frustrated or overstimulated. That made sense. And good to know. The closest thing he recalled of Arackniss having a meltdown was probably that time at the mall. Too bad there were no quiet boxes to escape to here…

He noticed Belladonna seemed to look around, frowning to herself. Hm, what was she looking for?

“Dammit…”

“What is it?”

“Once he’s calmed down, I take him somewhere dark or quiet. Though preferably both. I think the parking lot might be the only option here though…

”Somewhere dark and quiet… Yeah, he could see the problem there. Though he doubted the parking lot would be the best place to go. There had to be another option. But where? 

Oh! That could work. 

After another minute or two, Arackniss eventually stopped yelling and thrashing, now laying on the sand panting heavily. 

“Tesoro? Doing better?”

A whine.

The sun. Too hot. Too bright. 

She started to help him sit up.

“C’mon, let’s get you somewhere more comfortable.”

“You mind if I suggest something?”

The elder spider blinked at Valentino.

“Uh… I suppose.”

The moth grabbed his wings, making sure they both layered over each other, and draped them over Arackniss. The two appendages provided a fairly good blocking of the sun. And their size allowed Arackniss to be mostly covered. If he made himself a little smaller by tucking in his legs…

Yeah… That was better.

Belladonna scooted a bit closer to where her grandson was. After a moment, he then flopped his head onto her lap. 

“Feel better?”  

“......yes.” 

She nodded.

“What were you feeling?” 

“......frustrated.” 

“I see.” She paused for a bit to allow him to further process. “Was there anything frustrating you?” 

More silence. 

“Me.”

Valentino’s brows furrowed in confusion. How was he frustrated with himself? Belladonna continued. 

“Why are you frustrated with yourself?” 

“....just am.” 

“Was it your sandcastle?” 

His mouth formed into a tight line.

“Okay, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” 

More silence. 

“I’m stupid.” 

The proclamation surged a reaction of shock from the moth. Why would Arackniss say that?? He wasn’t stupid! If anything he was one of the smartest people that he knows! He looked at the elder arachnid in hopes that she would tell him that he was wrong. That he was just saying that because he was angry.  

But she didn’t.

“Why are you stupid?” 

The question practically sent Valentino through the loop. She seriously didn’t ask that, right?? He had to have misheard her!

“My brain.” 

“Oh?” 

“....stupid brain.” 

“How is your brain stupid?” 

“Can’t function normal.”

“Is that so?” 

Why the fuck was she allowing him to say such things about himself!? Surely she had to know that allowing that mindset wasn’t going to help him in the long run! 

“Yes.” 

She nodded in understanding. 

“Brains are very silly.” 

“S’not silly. It’s stupid.” 

“Of course it is.” She reached into her sundress, pulling out something. “Do you want to bite your stupid brain?” 

“Yes.” 

“Because it’s acting so stupid?” 

“Yes.” 

“I thought so.” She held something up to his face. “Here, tesoro. Pretend this is your brain. Bite it all you want.” 

The male arachnid glanced up at her hand. Valentino craned his neck to see what was in. She opened her hand to reveal a…. necklace? No. Not just any necklace. On the end of it was a large silicone object in the shape of a shark tooth. 

The mobster proceeded to grab the shark tooth object, immediately biting onto it. Valentino gave the widow a questioning look. The hell was that?

“Stress reliever. He’s a biter,” She answered, catching his look. 

Ah… He did notice Arackniss had a tendency to bite. Apparently it helped him calm down too.

Wait. He knew this. Right? Yeah. That day at the spa when the staff was doing his hair. He calmed down enough to get through the treatment as soon as he chomped down on his hand. 

Arackniss continued biting on the shark tooth. And did indeed seem to relax the longer he kept biting. Huh. Alright. Well, at least Valentino had an idea of what to do if a meltdown hit while it was just them. Let him scream it out. Get him somewhere quiet and dark. And give him something to chew on. Easy enough.

Though he was still confused about the way Belladonna talked to him. He’ll need to ask her what that was about. In his opinion acting like something was wrong with Arackniss wasn’t going to help. 

A few more minutes into his biting and Belladonna finally spoke again.

“Feelin’ better, Tesoro?”

“… Yes.”

“Good. Are you gonna try makin’ a sandcastle again or do you wanna start huntin’ for seashells?”

A moment of quiet.

“Try the sandcastle again...”

“Alright. You let me know when you’re ready to start sea shell huntin’.”

“… Grazie, Nonna.”

“Prego, Tesoro.”

Satisfied knowing her grandson was doing better, Belladonna left the two men alone. They sat quietly for a few moments. Valentino bit his lip. Should he try talking with him? Did Arackniss want to talk? How much longer should he sit with him? Did he want to be alone now? He didn’t want to risk accidentally upsetting the spider again…

Dammit… There was only one way to find out for sure.

“Are you… Okay?”

Arackniss said nothing for a moment.

“I’m… Okay.”

A nod.

“That’s good… Do you want me to-”

“I’m sorry…”

Valentino blinked.

“You’re sorry?? About what?”

“‘Bout… Earlier… Scared ya off…”

“Eh? You didn’t scare me off?”

“Ya left me alone again…”

“Not because you scared me. I just went to put my clothes back on, that’s all. I was gonna come back… Unless you want me to leave you alone-”

Arackniss quickly shrugged off his wings.

“No!” His face immediately flushed with embarrassment. “I-I mean… I…”

“Niss?” 

Arackniss’s cheeks puffed out in irritation, his hands digging into the sand. 

“Don’t…. want you to leave.” 

“Okay.” He glanced around, then grabbed one of the molds. “You said you wanted to reattempt your sandcastle? I’m serious about helping you.” 

Arackniss stared at the mold, just as he opened his mouth to speak, a familiar trumpet sound was heard. They looked over to see Boo swimming towards him. Ah. He must’ve heard Arackniss’s screaming and came as soon as he could. 

The little pachyderm paddled as quick as his little legs could carry him to land. The moment he felt solid ground, he did his best to speed up to his owner. He was coming! Eventually he made his way back onto land, instantly heading over to him. He ran up the sooty-furred mobster, running his trunk over him to see what had caused him to scream so loudly. 

Was he hurt???

He saw the nice black spider lady and Valentino sit with him! But they didn’t touch him until he was done screaming! Why didn’t they help him??? 

Arackniss pulled him close, petting him. 

“...I’m okay Boo… I just had a meltdown.” 

He tilted his head at him. 

A meltdown…? Oh! Is that what he was doing? He remembered his old master doing something similar. What could’ve caused the meltdown? Maybe he can help get rid of the cause of it! 

“You ready to try your sandcastle again?” 

There was a small pause, then a nod. 

“Yeah… I’m… I’m ready.” 

“Great. Just tell me what your vision is and I’ll do my best to help you. I am an artist, remember?” 

“I know.” 

Boo perked up his head. 

Oh, the sandcastle! He’ll help too if making this sandcastle will help him feel better! He watched to see how they did it. 

Let's see…. sand and… water! 

Oh that was easy! It seemed Arackniss was using the water to shape the sand! Oh that is so clever! He can help bring water too! He went and grabbed one of the smaller buckets. The two men noticed him dragging the bucket over to the water. 

Valentino chuckled. 

“Looks like he decided he wanted to help us with your sandcastle.” 

A small smile twitched on Arackniss’s lip. He had the best pet. He turned his attention back to his grainy building. First thing first. The towers. As he continued building, Valentino noticed that the same shark tooth thing was still around Arackniss’s neck. 

Odd. 

He didn’t notice Belladonna slipping it around his neck. 

Now that he thought about it… if it helped him so much, why didn’t he always have it on him at all times? Surely he could just keep it tucked into his shirt or in his pants pocket… right? He watched as Arackniss paused for a moment in his building, bringing the silicone tooth back to his mouth. Then proceeded to chew on it. He left it in his mouth as he continued with his project. 

Huh. 

He never noticed how he would bite things when he was working.  

Or did he….? Did Arackniss bite things when he was busy with his job? He tried to think back to when he stayed at his penthouse. He had to… right? There was… oh pens! That’s right! He would find chewed on pens around his place! 

Damn, was that from Arackniss? He thought it was caused by Boo! 

But now that he thought about it… he never saw the little elephant with his pens, only Arackniss…. 

“So you like to chew?”

The spider paused and peered up at him. Then dropped the silicone tooth from his mouth.

“Sorry…”

“What, no, Niss I don’t have a problem with it.”

“… Ya don’t?”

“No, why would I?”

A shrug.

“Just… It’s a bad habit.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad habit… But you probably go through a lotta pens huh?”

An embarrassed blush rose to Arackniss’ cheeks.

“Oh… You noticed?”

“You left a lot of chewed up pens in my penthouse. I thought it was Boo, but now I’m realizing it was you.”

“… Sorry.”

“You don’t have to be. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I will ask why you don’t keep something like that on you though.” Valentino pointed at the silicone tooth.

“Oh… Pops doesn’t approve of it. He’s the one who says it’s a bad habit. And that it looks ridiculous havin’ a chew toy in my mouth.”

“Of course he does… At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised he doesn’t understand.”

“He’s not wrong. But… It is why I chew on pens instead. They’re convenient and replaceable.”

“You don’t worry about breaking through to the ink though?”

Arackniss stared at him, then averted his gaze innocently.

“… You've gotten ink in your mouth before haven’t you?”

“… I plead the fifth.”

Valentino giggled. 

“Aye, you’re silly.”

A huff.

“I can’t help it… Bitin’ and chewin’ feels good ta do. I’ve tried stoppin’ before but…” He groaned. “I didn’t like it… It just made me feel anxious and thump my foot more.”

“Thump your foot?”

“Yeh, ya know like-” Arackniss sat back and thumped his foot against the sand. “Like that.”

“Oh… Is that another problem?”

“No, but sometimes my family finds it annoyin’.”

“Huh. And they’re repetitive behaviors you do?”

“Yeah… That was a weird way to phrase it.”

“I’m just thinking about this thing Izzy brought up once. Uh… Stimming? Can’t really remember how she explained it, but she was talking about how those of us with funny brain sometimes stim. I think she was trying to say it was part of our ‘ADHD’ but I still don’t think it’s what it is. So we got little quirks like that, big deal.”

“Stimming… Is your rocking a stim?”

“My rocking?”

“Yeah, when ya sit in one place for a while and start rockin’ your body back and forth? Yer doin’ it now.”

The moth stopped, realizing that yes. He was indeed rocking. 

“Huh. I guess it could be.” 

Arackniss chuckled, giving Boo a quick pat of acknowledgement as he brought them more water. Valentino moved over to the opposite side of where he was to help stabilize their sandy architect. 

“Do you have any other stims?” 

“Cigarette burns.” 

The response caused him to look at him in horror. 

“Why would you do that to yourself??” 

“The burning feels good.” 

“Arackniss!” 

“I know, I know. Ya ain’t the first one ta get on me ‘bout it.” 

“Doesn’t that hurt?” 

“Yeah, but like I said, I like the burning feeling.” 

“Dios mio…” 

Arackniss paused, bringing the chew toy back up to his mouth. He seemed to stare at his sandcastle. He scooped some water out of the bucket and splashed it more onto the castle, then grabbed more sand. 

The castle was now at least a foot high. With seven towers and walls connecting them. 

As they continued building, Angel couldn’t help but keep looking over at them. Uhg! This wasn’t right! They should not be so… at ease with each other! Damn it! He had to do something! But what?? 

He tried to ignore them at first. Focusing on playing with Fat Nuggets and doing some volleyball with his cousins. But he kept getting distracted by his stupid boss and brother! He yelped when the ball hit him in the head. 

“Yo, Angie! Eyes on the prize!” Marco called to him. 

“Sorry!” 

Rhea grabbed the ball, throwing it over to her older brother. 

“Why do you keep staring at Nick ‘nd Valentino? You bein’ distracted is causing us to lose the game.” 

“Which is good for us!” Matteo grinned, as he spiked the ball over the net. “Keep up the good work, Angel!” 

“Oh shut up!” 

Fredrick grabbed hold of the ball, pausing the game. He frowned, looking at their famous cousin.  

“Why don’t you just go over to talk to them? You clearly can’t focus on the game. We can get someone else to take your place.” 

He sputtered.  

“What? I can play! I can totally not focus on them!” 

“Can you? What are you worried about? Your boss gonna do somethin’ to Niss?” 

His silence spoke louder than words. 

Colombio let out a low whistle. 

“Wow. No faith in yer older brother.” 

“Look, y’all know how he is with his oddities. Val’s a fuckin’ pyschopath. I know how he is.” 

Fredrick tossed the ball over the net. 

“Even so, we know how Niss is. He doesn’t take shit lyin’ down.” 

Hunter slid to where the ball was, sending it back over the net. 

“Don’t forget he took guys down as big as zio Henry. He can handle himself.” He paused. “Maybe.” 

“The fuck do you mean ‘maybe’???” 

“Like ya said. His oddities. Enzo ‘nd I has ‘em too. We know how difficult it can make some days.” 

Rhea hit the ball over to Fredrick.

“I think you’re forgetting an important detail too, Angel.”

“What? What important detail??”

“The fact they’re out in the open. Whatever Valentino tries to pull, it’s not like he’ll get away with it. The entire family is right here. He’d be an idiot to try.”

Matteo spiked the ball.

“She’s got a point!”

Angel jumped to hit the ball before it hit the ground.

“Well, I can’t help bein’ worried, alright!? Val’s trouble!”

“Oh yeah, just look at him helping Nick with his sandcastle,” Colombio commented as he hit the ball. “So scandalous!”

“Nick ain’t even supposed ta be with him! He’s supposed ta be with family!”

Matteo spiked the ball, and while Fredrick dove to hit it again, it bounced off the sand instead.

“Damn!” He got back up, turning to his cousin. “Nick always goes off to do his own thing with the sandcastles anyway. None of us ever join him. If you’re so worried, why don’t you go help?”

“I’m not gonna go diggin’ in the sand! We get enough stuck in our fur as is! Y’all know what a pain it is ta clean it all out!”

“Then it looks like Valentino’s gonna be his only helper today. Now are you gonna play or are you gonna spy on them instead?”

The famous spider huffed and crossed his arms before looking back at the spider-moth duo. From the looks of it, they were still working on the sand castle. It actually seemed to be coming together. Which only annoyed him even more. His brother was just as much a perfectionist with his sandcastles as he was with… Well, everything! And if Valentino was helping him so easily… Ugh, why couldn’t anyone see what he sees!?

He turned his attention to the moth family, scanning for Violeta. But it seemed she was having her own fun with her family. He then looked toward his sister and her friend. They were both still sitting together and likely gossiping or scheming. 

Dammit… Today was supposed to be a fun day at the beach! How were he and Violeta going to juggle between enjoying their day and keeping their brothers away from each other??

“Uhg, the things I do for his ass.” He turned to his cousins. “I’m goin’ over.” 

“About time.” Rhea quipped, then turned to where her twin brother was. “Hey Vinny! Angie’s spot is now open! Wanna help us crush Matteo??” 

“Fuck yea!” 

The Porn Star rolled his eyes, but immediately headed over to his brother and boss. But first, he went and scooped Fat Nuggets up. 

“C’mon Nuggs. We’re gonna visit Uncle Nicky and papi. Maybe go destroy their stupid castle.” 

Fat Nuggets gave a curious snort. As they made their way over, Arackniss paused in his sculpting, feeling the vibrations of someone coming over. He looked over, noticing his younger brother heading their way. His chew toy dropped from his mouth. 

“Oh great.” 

The moth blinked at him. 

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“My idiot brother is headin’ our way.” 

He looked over, and sure enough, he was. 

“Maybe he’s coming over to help?” 

The mobster scoffed. 

“He’s never helped me with my sandcastles. He’s gonna ruin it.” 

“You don’t know that.” 

“I do too. The moment I get one of my sandcastles done, he comes and destroys it. No matter how many times Pops or Nonna tells him not ta, he always does.” 

Valentino frowned. 

“Well I won’t let him. Promise.” 

Angel grinned at them as he came closer. 

“Hey there~ Mind if I come help you two?” 

The elder spider gave his brother a scrutinizing squint. 

“What fer? Ya never helped me before.” 

“First time fer everything right?” He then held up Fat Nuggets. “Plus Fat Nuggets wanted ta come see you two and Boo.” 

Noticing the dark elephant, Fat Nuggets gave an excited squeal. The white and pink spider sat him down. Immediately the two started to play. Angel proceeded to plop himself in between his boss and brother. 

“So whatcha two workin’ on?” 

“What I’m always workin’ on when we come to the beach day. A sandcastle. I swear Ton- Angel if you fuckin’ destory it-” 

“Oh calm yer tits. I ain’t gonna do that.” 

“I don’t trust you.” 

“Wow, such faith in me.” 

“I have no faith in ya. You always destroy my sandcastles.” 

“Well I ain’t gonna wit’ this one! Promise!” 

“Ya do and I swear, I’ll kick yer fuckin’ ass.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” He looked over what they built so far. “Anyway, need any help?”

“No.”

“Oh c’mon, I can help!”

“No. Go away.”

Angel scoffed.

“Me go away? Today’s a family day, remember? Ya gotta spend time with family.”

“Not my fault no one ever comes ta build sandcastles with me.”

“Cuz yer a perfectionist! Ya get all fussy when it doesn’t come out how ya want!”

Valentino frowned.

“Angel, knock it off.”

“What?? It’s true! Ya saw him destroy his first one earlier.”

“And we’re rebuilding it better. Sometimes a fresh start is what you need.”

The porn actor huffed. 

“Uh-huh. Anyway, how can I help?”

“Don’t touch anything, that’s how you can help,” Arackniss responded. 

The response was a roll of the eyes. Angel sat back and watched the two work. Not the most exciting plan, but at least Valentino can’t get away with anything while he was there. He turned his head to glance back at Molly. And caught her glaring at him. He smirked. She could get pissy all she wants, he wasn’t going anywhere. As long as he stayed by his brother and boss’ side, nothing will happen.

At least until lunch. That should get the two separated for a while. 

Though rather quickly… It proved to be a very boring plan.

He messed around with the sand a bit. Neither of them were talking. Which was weird for Val alone. His boss loved hearing the sound of his voice. Was it because he was there now? He kinda hoped so. But that also meant nothing was happening. He watched them. 

Arackniss did most of the building. Valentino only followed his direction. At least… Angel thought he was. His brother appeared to be giving silent orders. Between pointing at the water, different parts of his castle, or just the sand… Valentino just did what he was ‘told’. 

It was weird…

He turned his attention to Boo and Fat Nuggets. Both small creatures were playing and running around through the small waves hitting the sand. At least his baby was having fun. 

He let out a sigh. 

This was so boooooring!! 

He flopped onto his side. His elder brother cast a glance but didn’t say anything. He continued on his little project. 

UHG!! 

“Can you at least let me do something?? It’s boring just watching you two!” 

Valentino hummed, then held up a bucket. 

“If you wish to help so badly, you can collect water.” 

Well… it was something. He snatched the bucket. 

“Fine, I’ll play water-boy for you two.” 

He went over to the water, scooping up until there was a decent amount of water in once. He then proceeded to sit it between them. 

“Here. Water for your castle.” 

Arackniss gave a grunt, moving towards one of his towers. He then proceeded to start digging into it with a finger. The fuck is he doing? 

“The hell are you doin’?” 

“Windows.” 

“Windows?” 

Valentino perked up. 

“Oh! That’s right. Every castle needs some windows.” 

Personally, the younger arachnid had no idea what his brother was aiming for. Though the longer he watched… he had to admit that his brother showcased some serious skills. Seven towers. Three of the towers were connected with a…. bridge? Well it looked like a bridge to him. And another bridge-like structure connected to two other towers. 

How was he able to sculpt them without them breaking???

Once the windows were done, they then proceeded to carve out arches. 

And was that… stairs he was now making? 

The hell?? How was his brother so good at this??

“Have you always been this good at making sandcastles?” 

“Yep.” 

Huh. 

Valentino smirked. 

“Apparently he’s won contests.” 

“You’ve won contests!?!? How come ya ain’t never told me???” 

The shorter spider hummed as he carefully sculpted the arches out. 

“Ya kept ruinin’ them. Ya never cared or asked.” 

“Does Pops know??” 

“Kinda.” 

“What do you mean ‘kinda’??” 

“He knows I do this with nonna.” 

“Have you fully told him that you won?” 

“No.” 

“What the fuck, Niss??” 

“None of ya ever bothered ta care ‘bout my sandcastles. Don’t know why it’s important ta ya now.” 

“How long have ya been doin’ the contests?” 

“Since we were kids.” 

Angel gave a scoff. 

“There’s no way. I would remember if ya would’ve entered in sandcastle building contests.” 

“You ‘nd Molly were always doin’ yer own thing with Pops ‘nd Ma.”  

“No we-… That’s not-…”

“Exactly.”

“If you’ve won contests, where were yer trophies, huh?”

“Didn’t get trophies.”

“Aha!!”

“I got medals and ribbons. Easier to hide away.”

Valentino blinked at him.

“You hid your medals? Why?”

“Didn’t see a point in displayin’ them when no one cared.”

“Not even in your room?”

“That’s where they were hidden. No one noticed ‘em on the wall when they came into my room.”

Angel scoffed.

“Bullshit. I woulda noticed.”

“Except ya didn’t.”

The pink spider opened his mouth to argue. But nothing came out. Dammit. He really wanted to call his bluff, but he couldn’t really remember what Arackniss’ old bedroom looked like when they were alive. God, it was years ago… 

Arackniss meticulously carved in small details along the walls and tower roofs. He put the silicone tooth back in his mouth as he concentrated. 

What the…

“What’s that ya got in yer mouth?”

“His chew toy,” Valentino responded for the mobster.

“Chew toy???”

“Chewing helps him focus.”

Arackniss pointed at him as if to say it was true. 

Angel gave his boss a weirded out look. Chewing… Helped him focus? How the hell did that work? That seemed more distracting than anything! 

“Since when the hell do ya need a chew toy?”

“Alway-sh.”

“Oh c’mon, I know for a fact that’s bullshit. I’ve never seen ya carry around one of those things. Where’d you get it from anyway?”

“Nonna.”

“Apparently your father disapproves, so that’s probably why.”

Angel frowned. He did not like how Valentino seemed to know more about his brother than he did. That wasn’t even possible! How could his boss know more when they’d only been talking for less than a year!? 

He shot his brother a look.

“When did you tell him about all this??” 

“Todah.” 

He blinked. 

“What?” 

Valentino nodded. 

“Yeah. He literally just told me all of this today. Surprised me too.” 

Huh so he… shit. Still, it irked him that Valentino knew first before he did. What bullshit! He was his brother. Did Molly know about this?? Why didn’t she tell him any of this shit? They told each other everything! 

“Okay….” 

He frowned, turning to look over at where Molly and Maria were at. He then noticed that they were making their way over to them. 

Wait, what were they…?

Ah shit. 

“Hey boys!” Molly grinned. “Whatcha doin’?” 

“Helping your brother with his sandcastle.” Valentino answered. “Did you know he’s won contests for them? He’s really good.” 

Maria gasped. 

“Seriously?” She looked at it, marveling at it. “Oh wow… this looks incredible! VeeVee you helped him with this?” 

“He did most of the work. I mostly fetched water for him.” 

Maria turned to the female spider. 

“Molly, you didn’t mention your brother was so talented!” 

“I…. didn’t know either.” She blinked. “Wait, contests? I don’t remember you entering any contests.” 

Angel huffed. 

“Don’t feel bad, Molls. He ain’t told anyone but Nonna.” 

Molly gave an offended gasp. 

“And she didn’t tell us!?” 

“Ashked her not ta,” Arackniss muttered around his teething toy. “No one care-sh.” 

The female Ragno gave a scandalized look. 

“I would’ve cared!” She paused, noticing his chew toy. “Nicky, what the hell are you biting on?” 

“Apparently, it’s a chew toy.” Her twin responded. “Val says chewin’ on shit helps him focus.” 

Molly made a face.

“How does-?”

The female moth suddenly piped up.

“Oooh, I remember Leta used to do that when we were younger.”

The twin spiders and Valentino looked up at her.

“She did??”

“Yeah. You were still real little. She grew out of it, but I remember whenever she got a really bad tantrum, mami had her chew on this old leather belt papi had. She took all the rage in her little body out on that thing.” She squinted to the side. “Actually, I think she eventually ripped through it and that’s why she stopped.”

Molly looked taken back.

“Your sister ripped through a leather belt?!?”

“An old leather belt, yeah.”

“… Is that why her teeth were always fucked up?”

Maria stared at her brother. Then looked ahead at nothing.

“That is… A good possibility, yeah. Damn, that actually explains a lot.”

“Oh I’m teasing the shit of her for that later.”

“She’s gonna kick your ass.”

“It’ll be worth it.”

“It’s your funeral.” She turned to Molly. “What’re we doing again?”

The female spider gave a bewildered look. Then motioned with her eyes toward Angel. Maria took a moment before gasping in realization.

“Oh! Right! Angel!”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere,” He answered threateningly.

“Angie!”

“Damn, you don’t gotta be rude about it. We just wanted to ask if you wanna get some beach pics with us.”

Angel narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

“Beach pics, huh?”

“Yeah! Ta share on Sinstagram, duh!” Molly explained before going to try and pull her twin to his feet. “C’mon it’ll be fun!”

“Molly, knock it off! I ain’t goin’ anywhere!”

“We look too cute in our swimsuits ta not share!”

“I already got pics posted!”

As the twins struggled against each other, Valentino and Arackniss quickly moved to protect the sandcastle.

“Can you two do this somewhere else?!” The moth snapped, “You’re gonna kick it down if you’re not careful!”

Maria then went over, pulled Molly out of the way, and lifted Angel straight up onto her shoulder.

“What the- Hey!!”

“Alrighty, away we go for pics!” She started to walk away before turning to Molly. “You’re not very strong are you? He weighs like nothing.”

“I’m not that weak! I just needed a good grip.”

They walked off with a thrashing Angel. 

“Let me go! Uhg! You bitches! Help! I’m being kidnapped!” 

Arackniss and Valentino watched their siblings walk away. The darker arachnid shook his head, then went back to putting the finishing touches on his sandcastle. 

“Uhg, siblings.” 

“Tell me about it.” 

The Overlord mused at the sandcastle. 

“But my sister is right. Your sandcastle is amazing. No wonder you’ve won contests.” 

“Yeah.” 

“We should show your family!” 

The smaller sinner shifted uneasily. He wasn’t really sure… Other then Nonna, his family never really showed interest in his sandcastles. He honestly doubted that they’d even care…. 

“I dunno…” 

There was a light nudge on his shoulder. 

“Hey, c’mon. You don’t know if you don’t ask.” 

Arackniss glanced over where his family were. They were all busy doing their own thing while happily ignoring him. Uncertainty clawed at his stomach. He bit his lip. Seeing the arachnid’s hesitation, he thought over a possible resolution. 

Arackniss should be proud of his work! Everyone should be in awe at it!

“I’ll be right back.” 

“Huh?” 

Valentino walked off, heading towards his family’s side of the beach. His own sisters were enjoying their own time. Isadora looked up, noticing he was approaching. 

“¿Qué pasa, hermano?” 

The youngest moth jabbed a thumb towards where Arackniss was. 

“You guys mind coming to see Niss’s castle? Maria got to see it, but his family tends to ignore his creations. Apparently he’s a multi-award winning, sandcastle builder.” 

Hearing his request, Luna looked up from her book. 

“¿Qué?” 

He nodded. 

“Yep.” 

“What do you mean his family ignores his creations?” 

“They just do. Like they don’t even know he’s won the contests.” 

Carmilla, who was in the middle of tanning, glanced over. 

“They don’t know he’s won contests?” 

The Porn Overlord snorted, crossing his arms. 

“They don’t bother askin’ bout his interests. The only person that does know is his abuela. Not surprising, since she’s the only one he’s apparently close to. His own siblings didn’t even know!” 

Isadora frowned. Well that certainly wasn’t right. Did the Ragnos just ignore everything Arackniss does unless it benefited them? Do they know anything about him personally? What kind of fucked up family where they??

She looked over to where Arackniss was. She could see he was next to a sandcastle that was at least half of his height. So it must be pretty impressive. She stood up. 

“Lead me over, Tino. I think we all need to see the latest masterpiece of this brilliant sand-builder.” 

The male moth grinned, leading her towards their creation. 

And seeing the two go over, the rest of their little family got curious as well. 

Arackniss worked on some extra tiny details before noticing Valentino and Isadora approaching. He stood straight and swallowed nervously. The Overlord motioned to the sand creation.

“Ta-da! Amazing, right?”

Isadora marveled at the sandcastle. It wasn’t just amazing. It was incredible! It looked like it could be a real structure!

“Wow… You really made this?”

Arackniss kicked a bit at the sand around him.

“Yeh…”

“I’m impressed. I’ve never seen such detail on a sandcastle. If I didn’t know, I’d question if it was even sand.”

“Right?? No wonder he’s a sandcastle building champ!”

The spider blushed at the praise. Then noticed the other members of their family coming over.

“Holy shit, look at this!”

“Impressive structural integrity.”

“Dude, you got a gift!”

“Look at the detail… You thought of everything!”

“Wow, so cool!”

“An astonishing feat. Thou has talent, young Arackniss.”

Arackniss grinned a bit to himself. Though the sudden attention on him was starting to get a little overwhelming. He started inching his way toward Valentino, as if almost trying to hide behind him without making it obvious. As long as the attention was mainly on his creation, he could manage. And thankfully, that seemed to be the case.

Valentino tilted his head at him. He noticed the spider’s movement, but didn’t argue. The little guy was probably getting bashful. Or overwhelmed. Either way, he didn’t move. Instead, he allowed the closer wing to drape over the spider. Arackniss blinked and looked up at him. Valentino grinned and winked at him. 

The mobster blushed more.

“Know what’s something you could do?”

“W-What?”

“Take a picture. Then you can post it on your Sinstagram for everyone to see. Especially before Angel actually does try to destroy it.”

Isadora caught his words.

“Before Angel what?”

“Apparently Angel likes to destroy Niss’ sandcastles when he finishes them.”

She stared before looking at the spider. Who only gave a nod of confirmation.

Oh, not on her watch.

“Where is he now?”

“Maria and Molly dragged him away for pictures,” Her brother explained, “He didn’t want to though. He was probably waiting for the right time to destroy it.”

She frowned. Oh absolutely not. She looked around where Angel, Maria and Molly could be. She spotted them a little ways away. Molly and Maria were hanging all over Angel taking pictures with their phones. The male arachnid desperately trying to get away from his sister and her friend.  

At least Maria was keeping him busy. 

She glanced down at Arackniss. 

“Have you thought about sharing this with your family?” 

He shyly shook his head. 

“They don’t notice…” 

“How about I go get your father to show him?” 

The mobster cringed at the thought of his father coming over. Most likely he’ll just scoff at it… 

“I dunno…” 

“I’ll get him.” Valentino offered, then headed towards where the Ragno family was stationed. “Hey! Henroin!” 

Arackniss felt a flash of panic. Oh no! Maybe he should go stop him?? His father didn’t like it when people interrupted his card game! He started to open his mouth to stop him, but one of Carmilla’s daughters suddenly got into his face. The blonde one. 

“Can you show me how you managed to get so good at this? I’ve always been aware of sandcastle building contests, but I never got to actually build one myself.” 

“O-oh uh…. O-okay…?” 

While Odette was interrogating the Ragno Heir for sandcastle techniques, Valentino made his way up to where the Ragno Don was seated with his buddies. Hearing his name being called, Henroin glanced up from his cards. Only to frown, noticing the pimp was headed his way. 

“Oh great.” 

His friends looked up at him. Buck tilted his head. 

“What?” 

“The pimp is heading this way.” 

They all looked over. Sure enough, he was. The tanky turtle frowned. 

“The fuck could he want?” 

“No clue. Hopefully he says his piece and scrams.” 

Nico hummed, taking a swig of his scotch. 

“Neutral ground, Hen. No getting pissed at him.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

Eventually the moth arrived at their canopy. His appearance gathering attention from the other relatives. All curious on what he could possibly want. 

“Whatcha want, moth?” 

“Have you seen your son’s sandcastle?” 

The question caused them all to pause. That was not what they were expecting from him. Henroin frowned.  

“We saw ya messin’ it with him. He builds one every trip. S’not something that special. What about it?” 

Valentino frowned. 

“Uh, it’s very special. He’s phenomenal! Do you know he’s been in contests and won??” 

The statement caused the other men to look at each other. Contests? Arackniss was in contests?? And no one told them?? They all looked at the Scorpion. 

“You never told us Arackniss was in contests!” Bullet exclaimed.

Grizzly nodded. 

“Yeah. Ya never mentioned them.” 

Henrion grit his jaw. 

“I know nuthin’ ‘bout these contests that he’s claimin’.” 

The Porn Overlord scoffed. 

“Your mother knows. She’s been to all the contests with him.” 

Hearing that Belladonna has been the only one to know about such things, Nico decided it was best he played the role he was so good at. He forced a smile, leaning back against his seat. 

“Ya know, now that ya mention it. All these years and we’ve never taken time to appreciate his sandcastles. He builds them every beach trip. Maybe we can all go and at least acknowledge them. He does spend hours on them after all.” 

Realizing that he was out voted, Henroin suppressed a sigh. He took a drag of his cigar, then proceeded to stand. 

“Alright. Let’s go see what Nick built.” 

“Preferably before your other son destroys it. Intentionally, of course,” Valentino added with a fake smile.

Henroin barely held back a growl at the jab. Yeah, he knew Angel took the chance to destroy whatever Arackniss built. He’s told him off about it, but his youngest just never listened to him anyway. What was new?

The group of men followed the moth. As well as a few other curious Ragno members. What was it about? Arackniss’ sandcastle? Everyone knew he built one every trip. What was the issue?

As they got closer, Henroin spotted the size of the sand creation.

What the hell…?

Seeing them approach, the other family started moving over for them to see it. Prompting Arackniss to pull his attention away from Odette. The moment he saw his father, the panic returned. Crap! His father was probably pissed about being brought over! He rushed to intercept them before Henroin could… Well, not destroy it but… It just wasn’t worth his time!

“P- Pops! This is- Uh, y- ya don’t hafta-!”

“The pimp said you finished your sandcastle.”

“I… I did…”

“Well, let’s see it then.”

Arackniss swallowed his anxiety and allowed his father and everyone else to see his creation. He braced himself for the comments. The type of comments that always downplayed his achievements as wastes of time or not as impressive. It was just a sandcastle… Nothing important… His family didn’t care anyway…

But no such comments came.

“What the hell… This is insane!”

“Look at the details!”

“No way this is real.”

“It’s amazing!”

“That’s my grandbaby!”

“God damn, look at this thing…”

“Nick, you really made this yourself?”

Arackniss took an uneasy breath and nodded. His anxiety died down a little at their words… But he didn’t let his guard down yet. Those other comments were coming. He knew they were.  He glanced up at his father. 

Henroin stared at his creation, though he couldn’t quite tell what his father was expressing. 

He heard Valentino’s voice.

“And to think, this is what everyone’s been missing out on these trips.”

He didn’t know why… But the statement made him feel… Fuzzy. Like… Like there was real worth behind his work. And it was about time he got the appreciation he deserved. A little smile grew. 

With all the commotion, eventually Angel, Molly, and Maria noticed both their families gathered around.

“Oh shit, what happened?” Molly mumbled with concern.

“… I think they’re all just admiring your brother’s work. C’mon! Let’s go see how it looks completed!”

They unceremoniously dropped Angel, causing him to yelp as he collapsed into the sand. 

“Hey!” He huffed, standing up and brushing the sand off of himself. “Jerks.” 

He squinted at the crowd. May as well go and see what everyone was saying about it. Though… even he had to admit that what his gremlin of a brother did is impressive. He sauntered his way over. 

Sure enough, everyone was gathered around the sandy creation. Everyone was basically complimenting his brother on his work. He noticed their uncles, Buck, Grizzly, Tank, Bullet and Nico around the small black spider. 

Even their father was admiring the work.

The large scorpion took a drag of his cigar. If Angel knew anything about his brother, it was that he was always lapping at any compliment that his father would throw at him. And no doubt, it’d be no different with this one. 

Sure enough, Henroin reached over, then proceeded to pat his eldest’s shoulder. 

“Impressive work.” 

Arackniss seemed to swell up in pride at his father’s words. He liked it! He really liked it! 

“R-really?” 

“Yep.” Another drag. “So contests, huh?” 

A shy shrug. 

“S’not anything impressive.” 

“It is when you won multiple times. So why didn’t ya say anything?” 

“No one cared before.” 

The elder arachnid hummed. 

“Fair enough. We didn’t realize this was what you were doin’. Thought it was all mediocre shit.” 

The younger arachnid did his best to ignore the sharp pang of disappointment that shot through him. Oh…. Of… course. He should’ve expected that. Everyone is only impressed because he’s managed to hone his skills after all these years. If he was like any other random schmoe, no one was gonna care. Even as family, if it was just….average, no one cared. 

Because of course they didn’t. 

“Oh…” 

“Let me know next time ya got a contest comin’ up. I’m sure ya won some trophies ‘nd shit?” 

“Medals ‘nd ribbons… mostly.” 

A grunt. 

“Well, have them out on display next time. Sure the family would like ta see ‘em. Ya got pictures of yer wins?” 

A timid nod. 

“Nonna has pictures. ‘Nd they go on magazine covers or calendars so… I get the first issues.” 

“Noted.” 

Arackniss tried to keep his head up. Tried to accept the praise and compliments he was finally getting from his family. But… It all felt… Almost hollow now…

A hand on his shoulder nearly made him jump. He looked up to see Valentino grinning at him.

“So? Ready to take that picture? At least as a memory to save.”

Oh, right. He mentioned about posting it on Sinstagram. It sounded like it’d be a good idea… But he frowned unsurely.

“I… I dunno…”

“Why not?”

“I’m not so great at taking pictures…”

The moth snorted back a laugh.

“Is that it? If you want, I can take a pic and send it for you to post. Or I can post it on mine and tag you.”

Oh… Actually.

“… Do ya mind?”

“Course not. I wouldn’t offer otherwise. Remember, I post pieces of art on Sinstagram all the time. I know how to take a good photo.”

Arackniss smirked playfully.

“Pieces of art, huh? Ya mean yer selfies?”

“Uh, duh.”

“That’s debatable.”

“The hell it is.”

“Does it really count if ya edit yerself?”

“I don’t edit myself!”

“And the filters are….?”

“… Fuck you.”

The mobster giggled. 

Which almost immediately caught his family’s attention. 

Valentino poked his forehead.

“You’re a little bully, you know that. I’m gonna get my phone.”

“‘Kay.”

He watched the moth walk off. His mind started to wander, almost lamenting the fact his wings blocked a proper view…

He immediately shook his head. No. No. No such thoughts. Especially here at the beach with his family present. The last thing he needed was another physical reaction. 

“Nick.”

Arackniss turned to his family. He gave them a confused quirk of his eyebrow at their stares.

“Yeah…?”

His zio Bullet pointed at him.

“Did you just giggle?”

Huh? Did he… Giggle? What kinda question was that?

“Uh… No?”

Grizzly hummed. 

“No. I’m pretty sure you just did. You’ve never done that before. Not even as a tot. We should know. We’ve all helped raised you.” 

The Underboss squinted up at everyone in confusion. What the hell were they going on about? Him? Giggling? So he found what Valentino said amusing. Everyone finds random shit to snicker at. 

Whatever. They’re just being weird about him. 

“Uh-huh…” 

The elder demons looked at Henrion. The Don waved them off. As if saying ‘Leave it be.’ So they did. But they’ll be sure to keep an eye on this strange behavior. Eventually Valentino came back with his phone. 

“Alright! Photo time!” He shooed everyone away. “Everyone, please move back! Arackniss wants me to take a picture of his castle!” 

Thankfully everyone did as he instructed. Once the shot was all clear, Valentino proceeded to snap several pictures at all angles. High, low, eastside, westside, northside and southside. He grinned, turning his phone to show Arackniss. 

“There you are. A memory to capture your creation!” 

Arackniss gave a small smile. 

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” 

Silence started to fill between them. But it wasn’t a weird awkward silence. No. It was more… comfortable. Relaxing. Angel frowned, noticing how close they were standing next to each other. He doubted Valentino would try anything with so many people around them. 

But he didn’t like how they were looking at each other. 

No doubt everyone will be on his ass for what he’s about to do. But then again, he’s always done it before. He glanced around and noticed Fat Nuggets and Boo still playing with each other. 

Perfect. 

“Nuggets! C’mere boy!” 

Hearing his daddy call his name, Fat Nuggets paused in his playing. He glanced around to locate where his call was coming from. He then noticed him standing amongst the crowd. The little piglet snorted at his companion, then the two proceeded to run towards the group.

And just as Angel hoped, the two creatures started to run in between people’s legs to get to them. 

Now all they just needed was to send someone close enough into the sandcastle. 

He bent down, noticing Fat Nuggets was getting closer. He positioned himself in range close to his brother. Almost… Just about… 

“There’s my baby!” 

The hell-pig leaped into his daddy’s arms, squealing happily. Angel made a show of spinning his baby around… 

And ended up knocking into his brother. 

Which said brother, due to his smaller and lighter size, let out a startled yelp in surprise at the force. He was sent toppling, heading right for his sandcastle! 

For as fast as it happened… Time seemed to slow down. By the time anyone realized what was happening, it’d be too late. Arackniss braced himself to get a face full of sand. And resigned to the fact his hard work was once again about to be destroyed. At least he had pictures this time…

But rather than a sandy landing… Something grabbed his wrist. And a pair of arms wrapped around him. His leg on instinct attempted to hook into whoever was catching him. Arackniss found himself in an awkward dip, hovering just above the sandcastle.

By Valentino.

Being close enough to the small mobster, Valentino had practically lunged forward to save both Arackniss and his creation. And luckily, he did just that. Neither made contact with the other. 

The two stared at each other. Their faces grew hot. The physical contact left an almost electric tingle on their skin. Neither could help but imagine a kiss in the moment if they were alone.

But unbeknownst to them, the save also left them in a very… Comprising position in everyone else’s point of view. Valentino wasn’t just dipping Arackniss… The spider’s leg had hooked around his upper thigh too. Which appeared to be very reminiscent of an intimate action. 

There were expressions of shock, horror, and amusement from both sides. 

Carefully moving back away from the sandcastle, Valentino set Arackniss back down.

“Uh… Y- You good?”

“Mm-hmm…”

“Go- Good. Lu- Lu-Lucky I g-got you. Yo-our san-san-san-” The moth touched his throat and cursed under his breath. “Your cre- cre- creat- fuck… Ca-Castl-le is s- s- safe.”

“Y-yeah… Thanks.” 

Angel glared, seeing how his plan failed. That wasn’t supposed to happen! His boss ended up grabbing him and ended up in an intimate dip!! He looked over at Molly and Maria to see them on the verge of openly squealing. He growled, then turned to their father. 

“So Pops!” 

Henroin glanced over at his youngest. 

“Yeh?” 

“When’s lunch about to start?” 

He glanced at his watch, then clicked his tongue. He proceeded to give a whistle, catching the attention of everyone. 

“Ragnos! Lunch!” 

Hearing his order, all the arachnids or those associated with the Ragnos, instantly headed over back to their side. As the crowd started to diversify, Angel waited a bit longer. He eyed his brother and boss if they attempted to do anything. 

Arackniss shifted. 

“.....See you later?” 

The moth nodded. 

“Y-yeah. L-l-later.” 

“And…. thank you for helping me with my castle.” 

“I ha-h-had fun.” 

“Me too.” 

More of that weird awkward silence that wasn’t awkward started to form between them. No doubt Molly and Maria were hoping they start for a kiss… Nope! Not on his watch! He slid over, subtly, but not so subtly, shoving his elder brother into the castle. 

“So Val, how’s- outta the way shrimp. How’s after this me ‘nd you have some sex on the beach?~” 

Unfortunately this time, no one had time to catch him before he slammed into his sandy ziggurat. Everyone else let out a cry of dismay. No! The castle! Three of the towers collapsed. The stairs becoming obstructed as his knees made contact. Down came the bridges. 

The once proud and glory of Arackniss’s sandcastle now was in ruins. 

“No! The castle!” Clara cried. “Oh all his hardwork!” 

Arackniss pushed himself up, coughing and spitting out sand. Ew gross! He looked to see where he landed…. to see that it was what was formally his castle. Sadness filled his chest.

Figures. 

One again his brother had ruined his castle and it was by shoving him into it. 

….At least he had pictures now. 

“Angel!!!” Valentino snapped.

“What?? I didn’t mean ta! Besides, it was gonna get wrecked eventually.”

The moth glared down at his star. He had a good feeling it was on purpose knowing Angel always made it his mission to do exactly that. Because Arackniss wasn’t allowed an ounce of happiness or pride for himself. No, it always had to be squashed one way or another. 

And it pissed him off.

Valentino started to raise his hand.

And for a split second, Angel braced himself for a smack.

But just as quickly as he raised it, Valentino closed his hand into a tight fist and seemed to physically restrain himself from acting instinctively.

He took a breath.

“I believe your father said it’s lunch. Go join your family.” The moth started to turn away but paused. “And you can forget about any sex on the beach. It’s a family day for both of us.”

Angel dropped his shoulders. There was relief he didn’t get hit, of course. But… Seeing Valentino and some of his sisters help Arackniss back up while trying to preserve what was left of his castle… He felt… Guilty? Jealous? Bad? He didn’t really know honestly. He then shook his head and huffed as he retreated.

What was the big deal? So what if the stupid sandcastle got knocked down? It was sand! It wasn’t gonna stay up forever! If he didn’t do anything, something else was bound to do it for him! Like the water! Or some careless walk by! It wasn’t his fault sandcastles don’t last!

Meanwhile, Arackniss stared sadly at what was left. A good half of it was now gone. Crumbled under his body when he landed. There was a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Isadora.

“Are you alright?”

He sighed.

“I’m fine. Just… Disappointed.”

“No doubt. At least we all got to see it. Including your family.”

“I guess… But like Ton- Angel said. It was bound ta come down…”

Mia scoffed.

“Dude, he totally did that on purpose! He literally shoved you into it!”

“A real dick move,” Abril agreed.

Arackniss shrugged lamely.

“Not too surprised… It always happens.”

Valentino frowned. Dammit Angel. Why did he have to be such a jerk to his brother? What was so satisfying about destroying his sandcastles? Ugh, that little shit… 

“You sure bichito?” 

Another lame shrug. 

“I jus’ ain’t allowed ta be happy in my family. I know my role.” 

The comment sent a boiling rage through Valentino. He wasn’t allowed to be happy? He wasn’t allowed to be happy?? 

Oh the next time Angel was in the studio, he was going to strangle the little shit. 

“Niss-” 

“NICOLAS!” 

Arackniss jumped at his name being called. 

“I gotta go.” 

Before they could say another word, he was gone. Valentino’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. Damn it. Everything was going so well! Damn Angel! Damn his fucking family! He felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see it was Isadora. 

“C’mon Tino. I think we all should have lunch ourselves. I’m sure everyone is hungry.” 

His jaw gritted. 

“...Yeah. Sure.” 

It’s been days. 

Days since they learned Alastor had made a deal with Roo. Days since the ominous message the imp gave them about a mysterious figure returning… and about them needing to team up with Heaven. 

Lucifer groaned as he rubbed his face. 

He had borrowed Charlie’s conspiracy board so he could possibly figure out what the imp could mean. 

Not to mention how she could’ve been bestowed mystical powers! Imps should not have magic! Satan said he created them so they couldn’t! 

He thought about holding a Sins Meeting but the idea of all of them in the same room together after seven years of him being holed up in his Castle…. well… it spiked his anxiety insanely. Uhg, not to mention a possible meeting with Heaven again. 

This was all that stupid bellboy’s fault. 

He knew it was. Since speaking with the imp, they went to visit Cannibal Square. Or whatever they called it, to see if the deer-demon had made an appearance. 

He hadn’t. 

But Charlie had left Rosie her number. So that way, whenever Alastor did show up, they could arrive there immediately to come collect him. With his magic, there was no way Lucifer was going to allow that idiot to escape! Not on his watch! He was going to pry Roo’s motives out of his jaws if it was the last thing he does!

…Fuck. 

Sometimes being the King of Hell sucked. 

How he wished it was like in the past. 

With just him, Charlie and…. 

Lilith. 

His wife. 

Seven, no. Eight years. It’s been eight years now since they separated. ….Where could she have gone? Where did she go? He tried calling her. But nothing. Charlie said that she’s been calling her too. Always leaving messages. 

Did she ever get their messages? 

Did she know about what they were doing? 

Did she care? 

He let out a sorrowful whine. Then shook his head. Focus! Now wasn’t the time to wallow! He had a pesky deer demon to worry about!

… If he could find the bastard. This search was becoming a real pain in the ass. Personally… He’d be happy to never see Alastor again. He got himself mixed up with trouble? Let him deal with the consequences! As long as he didn’t drag Charlie and her project down with him, what should they care?

If only his daughter saw it that way. 

“The fuck’s going on over here?”

Oh great… 

“Kinda busy here, Adam. So if you could just move along, that’d be great.”

The first man saddled himself on the couch. 

“Hey, you’re the one set up in a communal area.” 

Lucifer didn’t respond. Because as much as he didn’t want to admit it, Adam did have a point. Ugh.

“So what’s up?”

“Looking for the bellhop.”

“Who?”

“The red deer sinner.”

“Oh! The radio bitch, gotcha… Huh. Come to think of it, haven’t seen him around in a good while.”

“Don’t you have manner lessons to attend?”

“The hag’s taking a personal day. Something about the beach. Kinda thought about getting Charlie to set up a beach day, but I dunno what kinda shit is lurking in your waters here. ”

So he was stuck with Adam. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. 

“Just regular hell animals… Maybe.”

“Maybe??”

“Look I don’t have time to-”

There came a knock at the front door, drawing both their attention. They shared a look as if expecting the other to go answer it.

“Well?”

“Well what? I’m a patron, remember? Why do I gotta answer it?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes and begrudgingly went to check who was at the door. Part of him hoped it was Alastor so he could finally stop searching blindly. But another part of him hoped it wasn’t too. Honestly, the Radio Demon had no business hanging around anymore. 

He put up a smile in case it was a potential new patron and opened the door.

“Hey there! Welcome to the-” His voice immediately died.

The person before him wasn’t Alastor. Nor was it any random demon. It was…

“Luci-”

He shut the door. 
 
Then opened the door again.

“Lucifer-”

Shut the door. Then squinted to the side. Was he seeing things? He had to be seeing things. It was a trick! It had to be! She probably wasn’t even there anymore!

Open the door again.

A moment of silence.

“May I speak now?”

It… it couldn’t be. 

No. 

“I…what… it can’t-” 

She gave him a small smile. He felt her hands cup his face. 

“It can’t what? Be me?” 

“You… you’ve been gone-” 

“Eight years. I know. I’ve missed you both so much. I’ll explain my disappearance in time. But priorities first.” 

Priorities. Right. Inform Charlie. Learn where his wife had been for all these years. Now was not the time to be emotional. He was the King of Hell! He had to show he was in control! 

He was-

A kiss was placed on his cheek. 

“It’s good to be home with the love of my life again. Shall we proceed?” 

Her request was met with Lucifer practically launching himself into her arms. Tears had started to form in his eyes. He tried to fight the emotions. But they were becoming too strong. Too hard to ignore. 

He couldn’t contain himself.

“LILY!!” 

She was here! She wasn’t a dream! Or a figure of his imagination! Or a hallucination! She was here! She was really, really here! After all these years! He held her tightly. As if terrified that she would instantly vanish from his arms once more. 

“You’re here! You’re really here! Oh Father, don’t let this be a dream. I don’t think I can handle it if this was a dream. Am I hallucinating? Oh fuck don’t let it be so. You feel real.  Gah, if this ends up being a terrible prank, I’ll go insane. Please, please, please be real….” 

So much for keeping a level head. But it’s been eight years of wondering where his wife had gone off. Eight years of drowning in despair. Of not knowing if he’ll ever see her again. He probably looked pathetic. 

Especially with Adam not too far on the couch. 

But fuck it. His wife was back. She was back. 

Lilith hugged him tightly, running her hand through his hair. 

“I know, dear. I’m overwhelmed with seeing you too.” She pushed him back. “We shall embrace and celebrate together soon, my dear. But first, let’s tell Charlie I’m back.” 

He nodded, drying his eyes. 

“Right, yes! Of course! Sorry! Just… Shit…” He took a breath, composing himself. Once he felt like he had his emotions in check, he flashed a smile. “Alright! Let’s go find Charlie! I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.” 

As Lilith entered, she took the chance to glance around the hotel. It did look beautiful and elegant. To think that her daughter was running this entire hotel? She would’ve been so proud. Even though she had other matters to attend, there was no harm in pursuing some personal-

“Holy shit, Lilith??” 

She paused. No… That voice that couldn’t-

Sure enough, it was. Adam came around into view. She stared at him in surprise. No that… that couldn’t be. She was told he was dead! Damn it. What did that mean about their former agreement?

Actually… he looked different. 

…He was a demon now. 

Huh. 

“Adam.” She paused, doing her best to hide her surprise. “I… was told you were dead.” 

He smirked, leaning against the front desk counter. 

“Phssh! It takes more to kill me off! Don't forget, I'm fucking Adam! Like my existence was just gonna be wiped off? As if! Apparently the Big Man has some big plans from me! Haha!"  

“I see…And you are here because…?” 

Lucifer cleared his throat. 

“Adam is a patron of Charlie’s project. So…. yeah.” 

Oh joy. This may cause some issues, but she’ll have to pull her ex to the side for a discussion. He couldn’t have her ruining the reason she was here. 

“Ah.” 

Her husband took her hand, leading her down the hall. 

“Now Charlie should be in her office! …I think. But no doubt she’ll want to show you the hotel. We built it! So you know the old one we have? Well Adam and his exorcists destroyed it-” 

Lilith listened as her estranged husband rambled on about everything that she’s missed in the last seven years. She loved listening to him when he rambled. He always looked so cute. How excited he got. The way his eyes sparkled. 

It always reminded her of when they first met…. 

They came up to a door. It must be their daughter’s office. He knocked on the door. 

“Oh Charlie! I have a very special surprise for you~” He grinned as he turned to her. “She’s going to be sooooo excited to see you!” 

The hellish queen smiled fondly at her husband. Eight years later and he was still such a little dork. 

The door quickly opened.

“Oh, did you finally find-?” Charlie’s voice died upon seeing the second person with her dad.

Lucifer grinned like a little kid, waiting for his daughter to react.

“M… Mom?” She asked timidly, as if afraid acknowledging her might make her disappear once more.

“My little girl. I’ve missed you so much.” Lilith held her arms out. Charlie’s eyes weld up with tears as she quickly rushed in for the hug. Lilith held her close and kissed the top of her head. “I know. It’s been too long.”

Lucifer watched the reunion with total adoration. He went in to join the hug. 

The royal family, all together once again. It almost felt unreal for all three of them. Lilith did her best to hold back her own tears. How it hurt knowing it wasn’t for them that she returned. The news of Adam’s initial death last year meant a new deal had to be made, this time between her and his right hand Lute. 

Heaven was scared. No, not scared. Terrified. Or at least the higher ups were…

Adam’s death alone rocked the council to its core. The First Man was dead. Dead dead. Murdered by a damned Sinner in cold blood. Deserved in her opinion. But her and the Angels didn’t exactly see eye to eye…

But the arrival of Heaven’s first redeemed sinner caused more of a scandal than she could ever imagine. If one Sinner managed to redeem himself to be allowed into Heaven… How many more would follow? That’s why she returned. 

She was sent for one reason, and one reason alone.

To put an end to her daughter’s project. 

Charlie was always so passionate… It’d kill her to put an end to something she felt so strongly for. But for both the sake of Heaven and Hell, it needed to stop before it got too far.

But that was a conversation for later. She hadn’t seen her husband and daughter in eight years. And they her. It didn’t feel right to spoil their reunion with business like that. For now, her little family can just be. 

The princess pulled away to look up at her.

“Oh my gosh! I can’t wait to tell you everything that’s happened!”

“And I can’t wait to hear. I’m sure there’s lots you want to share.”

“Yes! Oh, wait, wait, first things first! I wanna introduce you to someone!”

“Oh?”

“My partner! Lemme just give her a quick call. She’s around here somewhere. I can have her meet us in the lobby and we can sit together!”

“Oh that sounds love-” She blinked, catching the pronoun her daughter used. “Her?” 

Charlie didn’t seem to notice, pulling out her phone to summon her girlfriend to the lobby. While she was doing that, Lilith gave her husband a confused look. He gave her a grin. 

“She likes girls now!” 

Well that was… different. Last partner she recalled Charlie to have been with was Seviathan. But that was many years ago. She forced a smile. 

“Oh she likes girls now…” 

Who was this girl? Was she a Hellborn? A Sinner? Was she a Goetia? Oh Dark Lord, she hoped they weren’t part of the Goetia family. So many of them were so unbearable…. 

“See you sooooon~ Love you~” 

Aww, she did sound like she really liked this girl. Once Charlie hanged up, she went and hooked her arm with her mother’s. 

“Oh! I can’t wait for you two to meet! You’ll love her! I’ll give you a quick bit of facts for you. We’ve been dating for three, no! Four years now! Her name is Vaggie and she’s the most badass woman you will ever meet! She typically wields a spear, but she’s not afraid to throw a punch. Uncle Satan, she’s so damn hot when she does-” 

The Queen of Hell chuckled as she listened to her child ramble on about her girlfriend. So they’ve been together for several years at this point. That was nice to hear. They must really love each other to be together for so long. She couldn’t wait to meet this mysterious woman.

 As they entered the lobby, Charlie had them sit on one of the couches. 

“Okay she should be coming in-” 

As if on cue, the elevator opened to reveal a gray-purple skin woman with long white and gray hair with a single pink eye while the other was covered by an eyepatch with a red x on it. In her hair was a red bow. She wore an outfit which Lilith was sure was the Hotel’s staffing uniform. A red shirt and a dark gray skirt. 

She was very… 

Wait. 

Was that on her back….?

The woman came up to Charlie. 

“Hi hon, what’s this surprise you have for me?” 

Charlie giggled, grabbing her hands.  

“Vaggie, I want to introduce you to…” She dramatically went over to her parents, specifically standing next to her mother, as she held her arms out in a grand presentation gesture. “My mom! Queen Lilith!” 

Vaggie stared at her in surprise. Lilith froze, noticing the strange objects on her child’s partner’s back. 

Wings. 

She was an Angel. 

Ah fuck. But how did an Angel get down here in Hell…?  

She gave her a polite smile, taking the Angel’s- Vaggie’s hand.  

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my dear. Charlie has been raving about you since telling me she found someone. I must say you are quite pretty.” 

Lucifer piped up. 

“That’s what I said too!” 

Vaggie blushed at the compliment. 

“Th-Thank you, your majesty.” 

“Why don’t you two tell me how you met and got together? I would love to hear your little love story.” 

Charlie bounced excitedly. 

“Oh! Oh! Yes! You two aren’t going to believe it!” 

The young couple took a seat across from the Royal couple. With encouragement from her girlfriend, Vaggie started sharing how she arrived in Hell. How she lost her eye. How she met Charlie. At first Lilith was stunned to know that she was an exorcist. Or well… a former exorcist. Her motherly instincts told her to not trust this Angel. 

To not let her near her precious daughter. 

But… 

The longer they told their story, she couldn’t help but notice how they would look at each other. The love in their eyes. The way they tenderly held hands and gave encouraging touches. The way her daughter gave Vaggie encouraging nods and smiles while Vaggie would help reign in her daughter’s over-exciteable nature, but not diminishing or dismissing her cheeriness. 

They reminded her so much of herself and Lucifer. 

Her mind wandered to her mission. She knew she’ll have to do it eventually. But eventually didn’t mean now. It could wait. 

Right now…. 

She wanted to just be with her family. After all, they had seven years to catch up on.

Lunch had come and went by uneventfully. As much as Arackniss wanted to still talk with Valentino, he couldn’t. They still had their own family trips that they were on. Which meant that he had to still spend time with family. 

So what was he doing now that lunch was over with? 

Preparing to go with Nonna and Boo out for seashell hunting. 

Arackniss was currently trying to decide which of his buckets that he wanted to take with him. Did he want to take the red one or the blue one? The red one was taller. But the blue one was wider….

Uhg. 

So hard to decide. 

“Ready, Tesoro?”

He huffed.

“I can’t decide which bucket ta use.”

“Oh?”

“The blue one’s wider and my favorite color… But the red one’s taller.”

Belladonna hummed.

“Why don’t I take one and you take the other? Does that help?”

“What about yours?”

“I can leave mine behind.”

“… But ya brought it ta hunt seashells.”

She thought for a moment. She knew her grandbaby can be very particular about these things. He clearly wanted to use both his buckets, but not for her to not use hers. 

“What if we invited someone ta join us? You can share the other bucket with them.”

Arackniss made a face, looking around at his family. They were all doing their own beach activities as usual. He knew from past attempts that they wouldn’t join them. There was a reason he only did this with his Nonna…

“Ya know they’ll all say no.”

“Oh, I don’t mean from our family, Tesoro.”

He blinked at her. Then quickly realized that she meant the other family on the beach. He turned his attention toward them. They also seemed to be doing their own activities with each other. He wouldn’t want to interrupt them. But…

Valentino was laid out on a beach chair and seemed to be talking with Carmilla. He had ditched his shorts again. 

Arackniss bit his inner cheek. Would the moth want to join them? It wouldn’t hurt to ask… Right?

“… Can I ask Val?”

Belladonna chuckled lightly.

“I don’t see why not. C’mon.”

Grabbing both buckets, Arackniss followed his grandmother to the other side of the beach. As they approached, some of Val’s sisters noticed them and sent waves or acknowledgments. Okay, so far so good… At least they weren’t annoyed.

“So this funny brain… It runs in the family?”

“Oh yeah, big time. Izzy, Luna, Carmen, Maria, Violeta, and I got it from our mami. She got it from our abuela and so on. And we’re pretty sure Clara might have it too. Still not too sure about Odette yet.”

“How strange. I’ve never heard of the phrase. Are you sure it’s not something else?”

“Ugh, Izzy says it might be something called ADHD, but I’m not buying it honestly.”

“ADHD?”

“Yeah, attention… Something something disorder. I can’t remember the full name. Anyway it’s-”

“Val?”

The moth turned his head at the new voice. And immediately sat up with a grin seeing Arackniss.

“Niss! Hey, what’s up?”

The spider shifted on his feet nervously.

“I… Wanted ta ask if ya wanted ta join nonna and I ta look for seashells.”

“Oh, sure!” He looked back at his niece. “You don’t mind if we talk later, do you sweetie?”

Carmilla sat in silence a moment.

“Do not call me ‘sweetie’. It’s… Strange. And no, I don’t mind.”

Arackniss perked up. Then held out his two buckets.

“Which one do ya want?”

Valentino took one look at the buckets and immediately picked the blue one.

“This one. It’s you.”

The spider furrowed his brow, unsure if he heard him correctly.

“It’s… Me?”

“Yeah. Blue’s your favorite color right? And it’s shorter like you.” He then pointed at the red bucket. “That one’s me. Taller and red like my wings.”

Arackniss stared at the two buckets. He… didn’t see the comparisons at first. But after a moment, it clicked. Oh! Oh…. So bascially… it would be like they both had the other with him. He felt his cheeks warm up at the insinuation. 

“O-oh…” 

The moth chuckled. 

“Yep. So where should we start to look for seashells?” 

The black widow gestured further down the beach. 

“How about we go on a little further out? It’s a lot easier to find some when you’re not around a bunch of people.” 

He nodded. 

“Sounds good.” 

With that, the three of them headed away from their respective families. Arackniss immediately  lowered his eyes to the ground. Most likely already on the hunt for some. Boo was with them too, running around their legs in excitement. 

“So what kind of shells are we looking for?” 

“Oh any that you can find, really.” Belladonna answered. “We can find some very pretty ones during our trips.” 

“Really?” 

“Oh yes. We find all kinds. Big ones, small ones, all in different colors. It’s a lot of fun.” 

The Overlord let out a hum. 

“Does anyone else join you two?” 

She shook head. 

“Sadly, not. They’d rather be in the water, tan or play games.” 

Eesh. Didn’t his family care to do anything with Arackniss other than his abuela? Do they even know any of his hobbies? Or were they all so up their own asses, they couldn’t care about anyone but themselves? 

“So basically they just leave him on his own?” 

“Pretty much.” 

Arackniss suddenly came to a stop. 

“I see one!” 

The two elder demons looked over. Arackniss went up to where he spotted the shell. He got on his knees to dig the rest of it out. After a few moments of digging, he pulled it out. It wasn’t that big. Maybe half the size of Arackniss’s hand. It looked like part of a shell of a clam. In a white and orangish color. 

“Oh look at that,” The black widow gushed. “Isn’t that pretty?” 

Arackniss held it out to Boo. 

“This is what we’re looking for Boo. Seashells. See if you can find some too.” 

Boo sniffed at the shell. They were looking for seashells? He can help with that! No problem! He immediately lowered his trunk to the ground, sniffing out for any shells that could be in the sand.  There surely had to be a bunch in here somewhere! 

Valentino gave a small smile, then glanced around the ground. After taking a couple of steps, he managed to find a little one. It looked like a small twisted cone. Once in his hand, he curiously looked at it's hole. 

Only for a tiny claw to suddenly reach out and pinch him. 

“Ow!” 

He dropped the shell, the tiny shelled-creature scuttling away. Ow that hurt…. Nonna looked over. 

“Are you okay, caro?”

“There was a crab in the one I grabbed.” 

Arackniss didn't glance up from where he was digging up a new shell. 

“Yep, gotta be careful. Crabs and snails will live in those shells. Ya gotta check them first.” 

“Noted…” 

He found another one. This time he checked to see no living creatures were inside of it. Seeing none, he dropped it into his bucket. He continued his search. 

He had to admit, it was a little fun. He never went seashell hunting before. Never even had a thought to occur to him. But with each shell, they revealed themselves to be completely different in some way. Whether it be in size, in color, or in texture. 

Each of them sharing each one that they found. 

“Oh boys, look at this one!” 

They looked over to see the black widow holding up a giant conchshell. 

“Well, well, looks like you hit the jackpot!” 

It was at least half the length of her arm. Black with purple marks on it. She held it out to Arackniss. 

“Would you like it, tesoro? I think this one would go lovely with your seashell collection.” 

The Vampire Spider’s brows furrowed. 

“You don’t want it?” 

“You know I like the smaller ones. I can make those into jewelry.” 

Valentino blinked at her. Jewelry? You can make jewelry out of shells? 

“You make jewelry?” 

“Only with seashells. It’s a little hobby Molly and I do. Making jewelry. It’s nothing fancy. Just something the two of us girls do.” She handed her grandson the large shell. "Here you go, caro.” 

A grin split on the little spider’s face. 

“Grazie nonna.” He bent down to Boo. “Here Boo, listen. If you hold conchshells up to your ear, they say it’s like hearing the ocean!” 

The tiny elephant raised his ear to listen against the conch. Then gave an excited squeak hearing the ocean. Valentino chuckled at them. They continued on, finding more and more shells along the beach. As their buckets filled little by little, they eventually came upon a beachside cave. 

Arackniss perked up at the sight.

“Ooh, cave!”

Belladonna chuckled at her grandbaby. But Valentino titled his head.

“Is there something special about it?”

“Oh, Nicolas likes exploring any caves we come across. Mostly to see if there’s any animals to find.”

“Ah, figures.” He noticed Arackniss already heading in. “Wait, Niss! Don’t forget about us!”

The elder spider watched him rush after her grandson with amusement. Oh those two… She never thought she’d appreciate the Porn Overlord of all demons to be a friend to Arackniss. A very close one at that. Arackniss always seemed to open up with Valentino. Happier too. 

And it worried her.

It wasn’t a secret they’d grown closer since they started talking last year. And while she was glad Arackniss found someone he could call a friend — and possibly something more — there was still that little thought that hung in the back of her mind. 

Arackniss only tolerated Valentino in the beginning to eventually snag Angel’s contract.

And whether on his own or through the drug deal, when that moment finally happened… At least one of them was getting hurt. It could very well ruin what they have. Especially if Valentino found out Arackniss was supposed to use his feelings against him for it. 

It’ll kill her to see Arackniss get hurt. Even if it’s by his own doing. 

Inside the cave, Arackniss looked around excitedly. He carefully avoided the small pool of ocean water created by the tide. Shallow or not, he was not going to risk it. The cave itself was spacious. It was almost like a mini beach inside. Sunlight still poured in from large holes in the rock higher up above. 

Boo ran for the pool almost immediately, happily splashing around and searching in the sand for more shells.

Valentino whistled.

“Damn… It actually looks kinda cool in here.”

Arackniss grinned at him. 

“The beauty of caves.”

“Echo!”

A pause.

“Aw damn. No echo. That woulda been even cooler.”

Arackniss giggled. 

“Yeah, probably.” 

He continued to look for any animals that were in the cave. The small pool of water naturally had small fish and hermit crabs, which Boo happily chased after. Nonna shortly arrived. She bent down near the water, taking notice of its underworld world. 

“Oh how pretty.” 

Her grandson looked over at her. 

“Cosa vedi, nonna?” 

“The beauty of marine life. Here, come look.” 

The younger Ragno seemed to hesitate getting close to the water, but he did so. Careful not to even touch the pool as he made his way back over to her. Once he was next to her, she bent down, pointing at the water. 

“Look. You can see all kinds of seastars, sponges and other little marine creatures.” 

He did so, and marveled at the hidden world that was locked away by water. He still wasn’t going to risk stepping in, but it was still pretty cool to see. 

“I know you don’t like water, tesoro, but the sea has the most beautiful and unique creatures in both Hell and Earth. Why, we don’t even know what all lies in our oceans to this day than we do compare to Space!” 

He blinked at her. 

“Why?” 

“Well, the deeper we do go in the water, the more pressure it creates and the darker it gets. So it’s hard for us humans to see what kind of animals live in the ocean.” 

That was kind of sad. He remembered how much his brother liked visiting aquariums when they were alive. He always liked seeing them too. There were so many weird and cool looking creatures. 

He remembered asking her when he was little how she knew so much about marine animals. She would laugh and say that like how he had a special interest in animals and cars, she had her special interest in sea animals and painting. It was nice to have someone to talk about animals with. 

She may not have oddities, but it was nice to have someone he could talk to about these things in the family. No one else seemed to. 

“Whatcha two lookin’ at?” 

They looked up to see Valentino coming up. Belladonna smiled at him. 

“Sea creatures. I was just about to tell Arackniss what kind of seastars we were seeing.” 

He blinked at her. 

“You know how to tell apart seastars?” 

“Indeed I do. Marine animals are kind of a special interest of mine. I’ve always loved marine wildlife as a little girl.” 

Huh. That was some interesting lore about her. 

“Oh.” He kneeled down next to Arackniss. The little pool wasn’t that deep. Maybe about half a foot. He could see all the little sea critters swimming around, forever trapped in their little pool away from the big sea.

… Actually-

“How’d all these animals get in here? It’s cut off from the ocean.”

“High tide,” Arackniss answered plainly, “The tide comes in far enough for water to fill the cave. Then the low tide leaves the water trapped in here. Along with any animals it pulled in with.”

“Ah… How often does that happen?”

“On Earth, the tides are pulled by the gravitational force of the moon as it orbits around. But since Hell isn't technically a planet, the moon we see at night isn’t… Well, technically a moon.”

“… Wait really??”

“At least that’s how I’ve always seen it. A moon’s classified as a planetary body around a larger planetary body. It’s the same with our sun and stars. They’re not technically the same sun and stars we saw on Earth.”

“Huh… Never really thought about that. I guess that makes sense though.” A pause. “So how often does the tide come in?”

“It’s random.”

“… It’s random??”

“From what I could tell, yeah.”

Belladonna nodded.

“There’s been a few trips in the past when the tide suddenly came up on us. We had ta scramble gatherin’ our stuff before it hit us.”

“Oh shit…”

Arackniss’ mouth formed a thin line.

“Yeah… Those were not fun times.” He heard Valentino giggle. “What? What is it?”

“Sorry, sorry, just… I got a mental image of you making a mad dash for the parking lot to avoid the water and leaving everyone behind to scramble.”

“That- That’s not what happened!”

“Oh? So you stayed to help?”

A brief quiet.

“… No…”

“Aww, it’s alright, bichito. I know you don’t like the water. It must’ve been scary when it happened.”

Arackniss dug his finger in the wet sand.

“… It was…”

Belladonna rubbed his back comfortingly.

“Henroin’s gotten upset with him about it before. Not angry thankfully… But not happy he didn’t help either.”

“Ugh, of course…”

“Sometimes the other members with oddities have their issues too and everyone else gets upset with them.” 

Valentino frowned. 

“I… huh. I don’t actually know what other relatives have oddities like Arackniss.” 

“Enzo and Hunter are one example. Enzo is sensitive to sand. He hates it. If you see him, he’s in a full wet suit and water shoes. He primarily stays in the water as much as possible.” 

“Yikes. So going to the beach for him is just as big as an issue for Arackniss?” 

“Pretty much. Basically they’re the opposites of each other during the trip. Nicolas stays on land and Enzo stays in the water.” 

Huh. That was interesting to hear. Belladonna went back to pointing at the pool. 

“So as I was going to say. You see that little red seastar with the white tips on its arms? That’s what we call a Coriastor.” 

“Oooo.” 

“Some people call it the ‘Dough-boy’ seastar. Because it looks so big, soft and plump.” 

Arackniss could giggle, he would. 

“Dough-boy?” 

She chuckled. 

“Yes. It is a very silly little name for a seastar. But a lot of people like to give silly little names to animals. That’s what makes us love them so much. To give them nicknames to show how much we admire them.” 

Valentino nodded, then paused. Wait… seastars…? 

“Excusa… but what are… seastars?” 

She blinked, then giggled. 

“Oh mi dispiace, caro. Starfish. They’re starfish. I call them seastars. It’s a little quirk of mine.” 

Huh.  He’s never heard anyone called starfish seastars before. But everyone has their own little quirks that made them unique. After a while they decided to go a little deeper to explore. Boo kept coming up to Arackniss with more seashells. 

Unbeknownst to the three seashell hunters, two other figures were following them. More accurately, a certain pink moth and her friend. 

“How exactly are we going to get them to kiss when they’re inside a cave?” Maria huffed. “It’ll be impossible!” 

Molly frowned. 

“That’s a good question. At least it’s not super dark inside.” 

“It might be easier if they didn’t have your abuela with them.” 

The female spider chewed the inside of her cheek. How were they going to get Val and Niss alone? If only they got Nonna away from… 

That’s it! 

“Oh I got it! I’ll call Nonna to see if she can help me with something.” 

The fashion designer gasped. 

“Yes! ¡Muy brillante! ¡Perfecto!” 

“I just need to think of a thing that would be a good reason to get her to help me.” 

They stood in silent for a moment, then Maria gasped, spotting a small group of rocks not to far  from the cave. 

“Oh! What if we say you got your foot caught in those rocks?” 

“I’m not putting my foot into some rocks!” 

“Molly! It’s for our brothers!” 

“Ugh! Fine! But then what? If I’m distractin’ nonna, that means you gotta keep an eye on our brothers. How are ya gonna get them ta kiss?”

Maria thought for moment, then huffed.

“No idea… Oh wait! No, not that. We don’t have any cigarettes on us.”

Molly quirked a brow.

“Cigarettes? How’re those gonna help?”

“My pheromones. If I had a cigarette, I could blow some toward Arackniss.”

“… What do your pheromones do?”

“Mine’s like a love potion. And I mean classic love potion, not whatever knock off Velvette sells. God, that pissed me off so much when she first came out with it. VeeVee’s pheromones are an aphrodisiac! Totally different!”

The pink spider stared at her friend hard. She grabbed her shoulders.

“Are you tellin’ me… That this whole time, you could’ve used your pheromones ta get our brothers ta fall for each other and kiss?”

“No. It won’t work on VeeVee. None of ours do with each other. We only found out cuz he tried using his smoke on Ximena like decades ago to get her to loosen up at one of his parties. She didn’t feel a thing.”

“Maria!”

“What??”

“Why didn’t you bring this up before!? We could’ve gotten our brothers ta kiss ages ago!”

“Uh, cuz I never had the opportunity? Duh. I’d either have to use a cigarette or spike his drink or food. But if I smoke, I can’t control it like VeeVee can. I’d need a clear, direct shot at Arackniss. Like how Izzy did it to your father at his birthday party.”

Molly frowned lightly.

“I could run and get Nicky’s pack real quick… You think you can get a shot at him while they’re in there?”

Maria opened her mouth then closed it. She gave a so-so gesture.

“Maybe? Like I said, I can’t control it like my brother can, but I might be able to send a good puff toward him if I get close enough.”

“Good enough! I’ll be right back!”

She took off to go snatch her brother's keys in his bag. It didn't take long. He kept it in the same pocket as always. The good thing about having a brother with oddities? Always knowing where they put their shit. 

And…. Oh! 

Perfect! He actually had his cigarettes in his bag! 

She pulled one out and snagged his lighter. He wasn't using it in the moment. She'll put it back before he even notices. Objects in hand, she made her way back over to Maria. 

“Alright, I got them!” 

“Great! Now to go distract your abuela!” 

“Uhg, I so don't want to put my foot in some rocks…” she gasped, getting a different idea. “Oh I got it!” 

She took off the seashell bracelet she had on her wrist. Maria’s eyes sparkled at it. The shells were tiny, switching between pink and black shells. 

"Oh that's so pretty. Where do you get that?” 

“Oh I made it.” 

“You made that!? Chica! You didn't tell me you were a jewelist!” 

Molly giggled. 

“It's just a hobby Nonna and I do. We don't really sell them or anything.” 

“Well you should! Holy shit, those are gorgeous!” 

“Grazie.” 

She then tossed it onto the ground a couple of inches away next to a stick. Maria let out a shriek. 

“What are you doing!?” 

“Creating a reason to drag Nonna away. Now to create some waterworks.” 

Molly took a second to think of an upsetting memory. In no time, her eyes started to water. She started taking quick and shallow breaths. Then quickly motioned Maria to hide. The moth did so. Once she was out of immediate sight, Molly wailed out.

“Nonna! Nonna!”

From further within, the trio stopped hearing her cries. Belladonna immediately rushed out to find out what was wrong, Arackniss and Valentino not far behind. They all found Molly a crying mess.

“Molly? Molly, what’s wrong??”

The pink spider tried to get her words out.

“I-I-I don’t- My bracelet! One- One of the ones we- we made together and- and I can’t find it! I-I-I think I dropped it so- somewhere! But- But I don’t know where!”

The elder spider went to her side to comfort her.

“Oh, there, there. It’s alright. We’ll find it. It’s gotta be in the sand somewhere.”

“Wha- What if we don’t!?”

“We will, I promise.” She looked back toward the two men. “I’ll be right back, Tesoro. You and Valentino go on without me.”

Arackniss slumped his shoulders in disappointment. He didn’t want to cut their time together short but… Clearly Molly needed her a little more than he did right now. 

“Oh… O-Okay.”

Both women went off to go searching for the missing bracelet. Valentino glanced down at his crush. 

“You think we should help them? We’ll probably find it faster all together.”

“Mmmmm… I… I kinda don’t really wanna… I wanna explore the cave more.”

“That’s fair. Shall we continue then?”

Arackniss looked back toward his Nonna and sighed. At least Valentino would be with him. He’d probably be more upset if he was sent back in alone…

“Yeah. Let’s.”

Both went back further into the cave. 

With Maria sneaking in after them. She didn’t light the cigarette just yet. She didn’t want the tobacco smoke to reach them before she had the chance to pull off their plan. If she could just get close enough…

The two men continued looking around. Occasionally stopping to pick up more seashells, inspect the different pools of water or pay attention to the little elephant. 

“So when did you realize you liked collecting seashells so much?” 

“Eesh. That's a good question. I wanna say… when I was around four…?” 

“Really?” 

“I was still too little to be in the water. So Nonna, Pops and Ma would play with me on the beach.” A small smile ghosted on his lips at the memories surfacing up. “We’d build sandcastles mostly. I wasn't very good. Sometimes we’d pretend we were burying pops. Or ma. Or nonna.” 

“Oh. So… Henroin… actually helped you with your sandcastles? Why’d he stop?” 

“The twins.” 

“Ah.” 

“Yep. But, after burying someone in the sand, Ma or Nonna found a seashell one trip. They got so excited and showed it to me. That's… I think that's when we started. We found a lot that day. But… we didn't take any home.” 

“Why not?” 

“I was four. I would've broken them.” 

“Oh…”

“Yeah. A lot of ‘em were really interesting.” 

“I bet.” 

Maria silently gushed. Awwww, they were bonding! She still needed to get closer to Arackniss though….

“Did you ever ask your father to help you build sandcastles again?” 

“I tried… once.” 

“Oh gee. Lemme guess? He said something that made you stop asking?” 

A slow nod. 

“He told me he was too busy. That he was too old to keep playing sandcastles with me. So… I stopped asking.” 

“What the hell?” 

“It's… just how it is.” 

“Oh bullshit. He was just creating excuses to not spend time with you. That's complete horseshit.” 

“I guess.” 

Uhg, if only she gets closer! But how?? The spider then pointed over to a random spot in the cave. 

“I’m gonna go look for seashells over there.” 

Oh! Yes! Thank you Arackniss! She could hide behind that big rock! Perfect! 

“Alright. I’ll be over here then.”

The two men separated. Maria carefully followed Arackniss. Yes, he was right there! She took the cigarette and lit it. Pink smoke slipped from her mouth. Now to aim. She inched closer ever so carefully to not disturb him. Thankfully, Arackniss appeared undisturbed, his attention entirely on looking for seashells.

Maria took a deep inhale. Then blew the smoke toward the spider before ducking back behind the rock.

Arackniss happily dug into the sand until an almost familiar smell hit him. Tobacco. Was Valentino smoking? He shouldn’t be smoking in the cave! Wait no… There was something else mixed with the smoke. Something sweet. Very sweet. Strawberries? And vanilla? His body suddenly felt… Warm. And his head felt a little fuzzy. What was…?

He stood up and looked for the moth. 

“Val??”

“Yeah?”

“Do you smell somethin’ weird?”

“Eh?” Valentino came into view. “A weird smell?”

At that moment, it felt like Arackniss’ heart was struck by Cupid himself. His heart rate sped up, his stomach did flips, his face turned red, and his body tingled. In his eyes, little pink hearts formed around his pupils. A goofy love struck smile spread across his face.

Valentino got closer.

“Niss? I don’t smell anything-” A pause. His antenna picked something up. Something that should not be there. “Wait.”

Completely forgetting about his concerns, Arackniss went straight up to Val and practically threw himself at the moth. 

“N-Niss??”

“Vaaaaaaal~ Have I ever told ya you're my favorite person ever?”

“Uh… N-No?”

“You make my heart go-” The spider’s leg suddenly thumped rapidly against the sand. “-in the best way.”

Valentino tried to ignore his own blush before pulling himself away. Something wasn’t right.

“Oh, really?”

Arackniss refused to let there be a gap between them. 

“Oh yeah~ You’re so amazing and talented and smart and funny and hot and kind and strong and so much more.”

The moth shivered at the hands around his body. They weren’t feeling him up but nevertheless the placement made his mind go haywire. Still, he tried to give them both a little space.

“Why Niss, I’m flattered.”

“I wanna kiss you.”

“Oh believe me, I know.”

“Do you wanna kiss me?”

“I uh-” A yelp escaped him as he suddenly lost his balance from trying to back away and fell back against the other wall. Bringing Arackniss with him.

The spider was quick to climb up higher.

“So? Do you wanna?”

“I-I-”

“I want you ta wanna…”

To say Valentino was conflicted was an understatement. On one hand… Holy fucking shit, yes! All the yeses! He’s been wanting this to happen for so long! Arackniss was right there for him to take! But…

Fucking goddammit… This wasn’t Arackniss.

He carefully grabbed the mobster’s shoulders.

“Uh, h-how about we… Take a step back, huh?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Niss, this isn’t you.”

A giggle.

“Course it’s me. I like ya. A lot.”

“I… totally get that. But uh-” 

Dammit! Why was he acting so weird?? If only he could focus long enough on that weird scent was! He knew it smelled familiar. He just needed a moment to investigate. He felt Arackniss grabbed his fluff to bring them closer. 

“Kiss me.” 

“Niss-” 

“We both want it.” 

“I know but-” 

“I’m ready for my first kiss.” The arachnid brought his face closer. “And I want you to be my first…” 

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!!! 

Here was Arackniss basically begging to kiss him and he can’t! Not because he didn’t want to. He absolutely did! But something was… wrong. But what could….? Wait a minute. 

“Arackniss, your eyes-” 

“What about them?” His face inched closer. “You like them?~” 

Well… He might as well play along. Just until he can figure out what the fuck is going on. He gently gripped his chin. 

“Oh I do. So beautiful. I love staring into them.” 

A giggle. 

“I like staring into your eyes too…”

There it was! Hearts. Hearts were in Arackniss’s eyes! That bitch! Uhg! He was going to kick his sister’s ass when he found her! He twisted his antenna around. She had to be around here somewhere. She couldn’t have gotten to far. 

“Are you gonna kiss me or not?” 

Valentino chuckled. 

“Oh bichito. You know I want to. So very, very much.” 

“Then do it. Be my first kiss.” 

The spider closed his eyes, puckered his lips, leaned in. But Valentino craned his head back. He couldn’t. This wasn’t how he wanted to take his first kiss. It was insincere. Wrong. Manipulative. 

He didn’t want their first kiss to be like this. 

Not like this.  

If only he could find Maria…. 

THERE. 

His head snapped at where his sister was hiding. 

“MARIA!!” 

The female moth flinched, ducking further behind the rock. Shit! The shout jolted Arackniss, causing him to stumble onto the ground. Valentino instantly bolted over to where his sister was. 

“I know you’re in here! What the fuck!? Come out of hiding!!”

The female moth didn’t dare say anything. Not that it would matter. He knew she was there. It was only a matter of time before-

“Aha!!”

She squealed in surprise. Then felt him grab her upper arm.

“Ow! That hurts!”

“What the hell are you thinking!? You drugged him!?”

“No I didn’t!”

“You know what I mean, puta! Your pheromones!”

“Our pheromones aren’t drugs! So I didn’t technically drug him!”

Valentino cursed under his breath as he rubbed his face. Unbelievable. Just what he needed to deal with today. A love struck Arackniss. Henroin was gonna kill him for sure.

Arackniss sat up from his fallen spot. But didn’t get up on his feet. Instead, he got on all sixes and proceeded to hop toward Valentino as if he were Pepe Le Pew after his dear Penelope. 

“Oh Vaaal~”

Valentino glanced back, then glared at his sister.

“You better hope Henroin doesn’t freak out on us if he finds out what you did. Or worse, think I did it.”

Once the mobster was close enough, he positioned his body to make a big jump and shot himself straight onto Valentino’s back. He giggled as he happily clung to his moth. 

“Aww, look at him!”

“I hate you so much.”

“As if you’re not happy he’s like this.”

“I’m not.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Oh please, as if you don’t do worse for your job. How’s this any different?”

“The difference,” He hissed, “Is that I actually care about Arackniss. C’mon, we’re going to tell his abuela what you did. She might be able to help us figure out what to do next.”

Maria huffed as Valentino started dragging her out of the cave. He then felt something small jump at his heels. Looking down, he could make out the dark shape that was Boo. The poor thing was probably wondering what happened. He only picked up the elephant to take out with them.

They made it out to the little pool of seawater once more. Belladonna appeared to still be comforting an upset Molly. Which made Valentino frown in realization.

“Did you two plan this?”

“… No.”

“Don’t lie to me. You two are friends and just last week we caught you both spying on us.”

“This has nothing to do with that.”

The younger brother wasn’t convinced. He dragged her over to the two Ragno women.

“We have an issue.”

Both stopped to turn to him. Belladonna furrowed her brow in concern seeing Arackniss clinging to Valentino’s back.

“Oh no… What happened?”

Valentino shot a sharp look at his sister.

“You wanna tell her or should I?”

Maria huffed. 

“Arackniss… may have of been in the line of my pheromones.” 

“Bitch! You fucking drugged him!” 

“Shut up VeeVee! ”

Belladonna stood up in shock. 

“He’s what!?” She went over to where Arackniss was. “Tesoro?” 

The little spider said nothing, only digging his face into Valentino’s fluff. 

“Mhmm…. so soft….” 

She gently took a hold of him. As she started to pull him off, he let out a shriek, his grip tightening onto the moth of his desires.  

No! No! Let him go! He must be with his beloved! 

“Nicolas! Stop!” 

Valentino glared at his sister. 

“He can’t stop. Not until the effects wear off.” 

Molly let out a fake but convincing gasp. 

“Oh no, how terrible!” 

“It is terrible because I’m stuck with the responsibility of fending him off!” 

Eventually Arackniss managed to break free out of Belladonna’s grip. Once again, landing on the ground. Valentino let out a swear, giving a hateful glare at his sister. 

“I’m telling Izzy.” 

She gave a gasp. 

“Do NOT!!” 

The youngest moth took off running. With Arackniss once again Pepe Le Pewing after him. 

“Oh Valentinooooo~ Amore della mia vita~ Mio amato~ You can run but love will always win the race!~” 

Nonna let out a gasp. Oh that wasn’t good. She looked down at Molly, gently taking her hands. 

“Stellina, I’m so sorry. I’ll help you look for your bracelet again, but your brother needs my help right now. I promise. Once I’m done handling him, I’ll be right back to help you.” 

Molly sniffed, wiping away her tears. 

“I understand, nonna.” 

The elder arachnid placed a kiss on her granddaughter’s head, then bolted after the two men. Once she was out of earshot, Molly went and grabbed her bracelet. Once it was retrieved, she made her way back over to the fashionista moth. 

“I can’t believe it worked!” 

Maria huffed. 

“Yeah, but now VeeVee won’t kiss him!” 

“Wait, what!? Why not??” 

“I don’t know! They both clearly want to! But VeeVee’s being a little bitch about it!” 

“Shit.” 

“Tell me about it! Now he’s gonna snitch to Izzy about it too!” 

Molly bit her lip. Damn it! This wasn’t how this was supposed to go! Maria was to use her pheromones, they kiss and…. they can worry about the rest later! …Okay maybe they didn’t fully think this out…. 

But it should be fine! 

Totally fine! 

Eventually Arackniss should get his first kiss from Valentino! 

It’s not like the Family…. 

“THE FAMILY!!!” 

Maria jumped. 

“What? What about your family?” 

“They’re gonna flip the fuck out if Niss kisses Valentino in front of them!” 

She blinked at her. 

“Uh… and that’s a problem… why? Aren’t they like…. now accepting of LGBTQ people?” 

The pink and white spider grabbed her friend’s arms. 

“Look, just because they allowed Angie back in doesn’t mean they’re actually okay with it! If Niss kisses Val in front of Daddy? He’s gonna go apeshit!” 

“Wha- Why didn’t you mention that!?!”

“I thought they’d finally kiss in the cave! Your brother is kinda known for taking advantage of people that way!”

“I know he’s known for that! That’s why I don’t understand why he didn’t!”

“Shit, shit, shit… We cannot let that kiss happen in front of my family. We gotta keep both Valentino and Nicky away from them.”

“How?? My brother just ran off to snitch on me to Izzy! And your brother went after him!”

“Then we gotta get movin’. Now.”

Both women ran off after the trio.

Between running and flying, Valentino rather quickly made it back to where his family was settled. 

“Izzy!!”

They all looked over hearing him. Isadora frowned with worry as she stood up to meet him.

“Tino?? What’s wrong? What happened?”

The male moth came to a stop in front of her, panting hard from the run. 

“Maria… She fucking… Used her pheromones… On Arackniss!!”

The orange moth’s wings raised in alarm.

“She what!? Why!?”

“I dunno! Me and Niss were in this cave looking for seashells and suddenly he started acting all weird after complaining about a weird smell. And now he’s after me!”

His sisters all gave various reactions to the news, ranging from exasperation and annoyance. 

Carmilla and her daughters, however, were confused.

“What’s going on? Something about pheromones?” Odette asked.

Ximena nodded.

“As moths, our saliva acts as a pheromone. We all have a unique effect on people and if we’re not careful, it can cause some issues.”

“Oh! How interesting!”

“Where’s Maria and Arackniss now?” Isadora asked her brother, “I assume the best course is to make sure Henroin doesn’t find out?”

“Oh yeah, big time. I left Maria behind but Niss should be coming up soon.”

Isadora scanned the direction he came from. And sure enough, she spotted the smaller spider hopping his way through the sand.

“Crap… How big a dose did she give him?”

“No idea. I smelled cigarette smoke in that cave though, so I doubt even she knows.”

“Great…”

“Luce dei miei occhi! Mio ciliengina~ Come out, come out wherever you are!” 

The color drained from Valentino’s face. 

“Ah, shit, here he comes!” 

“Alright, stay calm.” Isadora advised. “Mia, when Arackniss gets here, grab him. We’ll hold onto him until the love pheromones pass. Hopefully she didn’t give him too big of a dose.” 

The green moth nodded.  

“Got it!” 

Eventually the mobster finally arrived, he then proceeded to tumble and roll into where he was kneeling on one knee, with his upper hands placed as if clutching his heart and his lower right extended out for Valentino. 

“Valentino my love, I am here~” 

The pimp gave an awkward smile. 

“So I see.” 

“Let us embrace in each other’s arms so that our love may-” 

“Mia now!” 

Before Arackniss had a chance to react, beefy arms, wrapped around him. Thoroughly trapping him. 

“Got him!” 

Valentino let out a sigh. Okay this… this was going to be fine! All they had to do was just keep Arackniss contained until the pheromones wore off! Not a problem! That shouldn’t take too long… right? 

And it’ll even go smoother as long as they keep him away from his family right now. 

That was the last thing they needed…. 

“Okay so… now what?” Mia asked. “Not that I don’t mind helping but… I kinda don’t want to be the one to hold him down for… however long he’s gonna be under.” 

“Maybe we can use a rope?” Violeta suggested. “Do we have any?” 

Ximena shook her head. 

“I don’t think we do.” 

“Great…” 

Eventually another body arrived.  Arackniss’s grandmother. She panted, stumbling to a stop as she arrived. 

“N-Nicolas…” 

Carmilla went over to aid her. 

“It’s alright Señora. We have him. It’s going to be okay.” 

The black widow glanced up at her, then nodded. 

“Grazie.” After taking a few moments to catch her breath, she straightened.  “Right, okay. Where’s my grandson?” 

Mia stepped forward with the struggling arachnid in her grip.

“Right here.” 

“Nothing shall prevent my love!” Arackniss exclaimed. “I shall break these chains that dare to restrict our destiny of being together!” 

“I’m sure you will, bichito.” Valentino turned to his muscular sister. “Be careful by the way, he’s a-”

She suddenly yelped in pain and pulled one of her arms away.

“Fuck he bit me!”

“A biter. Yeah.”

Arackniss tried to worm his way out, but was foiled when Mia placed her arm over him again.

Just for him to bite her again.

“Ow!! Fucking shit! I can’t hold him right if he keeps biting me!”

The male moth got an idea.

“Oh! Wait, hold on!”

He went to grab something from his bag, all while Mia tried to hold him properly.

“Nicolas, stop! We’re tryin’ ta help!”

“No! I don’t want help! I want my love!”

“Please, Tesoro, keep your voice down. Or you’ll alert your father.”

“I don’t care! I’ll scream my undying love for Valentino if I hafta! I’ll scream loud enough for Heaven to hear me!”

Ximena, Abril, and Clara kept an eye on the Ragnos in case the commotion got their attention. Thankfully, it seemed they were still preoccupied with their beach activities. Though for how long if they couldn’t get Arackniss to settle down was the question.

Valentino returned with his towel.

“Alright, give him to me. I’m gonna burrito him.”

Mia carefully, but firmly transferred the biting spider into the towel, which Valentino then wrapped him until he was fully cocooned. Despite his new confinement, Arackniss settled down as he happily cozied up to Val.

“Mm, my love.”

“Phew! There we go!”

“Ow… Little fucker.”

Violeta went to check on her.

“He didn’t break skin, did he?”

“No, doesn’t look it thankfully. That’s one helluva bite he’s got though.”

Belladonna brushed Arackniss’ hair back.

“Oh my poor grandbaby. How did this even happen?? When did your sister show up?”

“I’ve no idea,” Valentino answered honestly, “One minute, me and Niss were searching for seashells- Dammit, I forgot our buckets in the cave. I’ll hafta go back for those later. Anyway, we were fine and then he asked about this weird scent. I didn’t pick up on it right away, but it was cigarette smoke mixed with Maria’s pheromones.”

Isadora pinched the bridge between her eyes.

“Aye, Maria…”

“That’s when he started acting like this. My sisters and I produce natural pheromones through our saliva. Maria’s is like a traditional love potion. Which is why Niss is suddenly proclaiming his love for me. So… At least it’s not real.”

That last bit was a half-lie… But his abuela didn’t need to know that.

Belladonna frowned.

“And you’re sure it’s because of her?”

He pointed at Arackniss’ face.

“See his eyes? There’s hearts in them. That's specifically from her pheromones.”

Upon closer inspection, the black widow could see that yes, there were literal hearts in his eyes. Oh dear… That wasn’t good. Hopefully the effects of this… love pheromone will dissipate quickly. 

She couldn’t imagine how angry her son would be if he saw Arackniss in this state…. 

“Alright. So… basically we just… gotta sit and wait this out. Right?” 

He nodded. 

“That’s the plan.” 

“Alright. I’m… pretty sure I can keep Henroin away for… maybe half an hour or an hour. He knows we went looking for seashells. So hopefully he’ll think that’s what we’re still doing.” She went and patted Valentino’s arm. “Don’t you worry about those seashells, caro. I can go get them.” 

He frowned. 

“You sure?” 

She nodded.  

“Of course. Besides, I don’t think Nicolas would be too pleased  to be ripped away from you right now.” 

Sure enough, the younger Ragno’s face was pressed as close as he could get into the Porn Overlord’s chest. If they were going to keep him calm to prevent Henroin from finding out… it was probably the only way to do so.  

“Right…” 

“Izzy!” 

Hearing the eldest moth’s name being called, everyone looked to see who it was. To see that it was their missing sister. Abril crossed her arms. 

“Well look who finally showed up.” 

Violeta smirked. 

“Oh she’s so in for it.” 

The fourth youngest moth stumbled as she landed but kept her balance. She immediately ran up to the orange moth. 

“Whatever VeeVee said, it’s not what it looks like!” 

Isadora frowned. 

“Is that so?” 

“Yes!” 

The eldest sister went and grabbed Arackniss’s face, forcibly turning his head around much to his protest. She pointed at his eyes. 

“Then explain to us why you used your pheromones on him! And don’t try to lie, we can plainly see the hearts in his eyes!” 

“I-” 

“Maria. The truth.” 

She huffed, crossing her arms. 

“We were only trying to help!” 

“Help with what?? What could your pheromones possibly help Arackniss with?” 

She gave an exasperated sound. 

“Their feelings for each other! I told you all, Arackniss and VeeVee like-like each other!” 

Valentino cast a glance over at Belladonna. She appeared to be staring at Maria. As if wondering if what she was saying was true. He had to deter her away from it. Arackniss wouldn’t appreciate it if his family thought he was developing feelings for him. 

…No matter how much it hurts for him to deny such a claim. 

He knew he liked Arackniss and vice versa. 

But the Ragnos…. 

Well that was a tricky obstacle neither of them knew how to fully handle. Especially when it came to Henroin. Isadora continued interrogating Maria. 

“How much smoke did you blow in his face?” 

“Just one big one…” 

The other moths relaxed at that. Good. Well… not good-good, but that meant he wouldn’t be under the pheromone effects for long. Only about thirty minutes to an hour. They can handle that. If it was any longer… 

Well that would’ve complicated things. 

Isadora pinched the bridge between her eyes again.

“Maria, regardless of how justified you feel, you can’t just use your pheromones on Arackniss. Or any of the Ragno members.” She motioned toward the other family. “We’re currently on neutral ground with them. If they find out what you did to Arackniss, it could very well be seen as an attack on them. How do you think that could end for us?”

Maria slowly shrunk as she got scolded. A satisfying sight for Valentino. Sort of. He still would’ve preferred she didn’t try to be sneaky at all, but what’s done was done unfortunately. He then spotted Molly in the distance, watching them. Oh if she thought she was pinning it all on his sister…

“I’m pretty sure Molly was in on it too.”

Belladonna blinked up at him.

“What makes you say that?”

“It just seemed very conveniently timed when she showed up. Plus, her and Maria are friends. And she’s watching us from over there.”

The group looked to where Valentino was pointing. 

And very quickly spotted the Ragno princess. 

The elder spider frowned to herself and went over to her granddaughter. If it turned out Molly was involved, oooh that girl was in big trouble.

Molly gulped seeing her Nonna marching her way over. Maria really didn’t throw her under the bridge, did she? The pheromone plan wasn’t technically her idea! It’s not like they expected Arackniss to leave the cave and risk kissing Valentino in front of everyone!

She gave the elder a nervous grin.

“H-Hey Nonna! Uh, guess what! I found my bracelet! Yay!”

“Young lady, did you happen to play along with Maria in getting your brother drugged up to hook him up with Valentino?”

She feigned a gasp.

“What?? Me!? As if I’d ever!”

“Malarie.”

She winced.

“Um…”

“Did you really lose your bracelet?”

“… No…”

“Did you and Maria plot this together?”

“… Yes…”

“Are you outta your mind!? Do you have any idea how furious your father will be if he finds out!?”

She winced again.

“I-I know it’s bad… But we just wanted ta help!”

“This isn’t how you help your brother!” 

“We just wanted to help him get his first kiss!” 

“That is for your brother to decide when and whom he wishes to get that from. Not for you two to drug him into doing so! How do you think your brother is going to feel that he got his first kiss without having the mental capacity to do it on his own free will?” 

The younger woman’s mouth pursed into a pout.

“I… guess I didn’t think of it like that….” 

“No, ya didn’t.” She crossed her arms. “Jus’ fer pulling this stunt, you’re gonna help yer brother clean his animal room.” 

Molly cringed. 

“Nonna no!” 

“Oh yes you are. That is the least you can do fer him after pulling this stunt. Once he’s outta his drugged mind, yer gonna apologize to him. Now you march yer little ass back to the family this instant.” 

“Si nonna…” 

The elder Ragno watched has her granddaughter retreated towards their family’s side of the beach. No doubt Henroin will see that she’s upset and he’ll try to rug sweep whatever it is to make her happy again. She knows her son loves his daughter, but damn does he spoil her fucking rotten! 

And to think, as their grandmother it was supposed to be her job to spoil all three of them… 

She made her way back over to the moth family. 

“Alright. I took care of my granddaughter. After what she did to her brother, she’s gonna think twice about doin’ this kinda shit again.” 

Valentino nodded. Good. Hopefully she doesn’t say anything to send Henroin over to their side… 

Maria bit her lip. She hoped whatever her abuela said wasn’t too harsh. Fuck this wasn’t how it was supposed to go! She did her best not to flinch when the Librarian moth’s eyes snapped back over at her then back at Nonna. 

“I assume you have where she’ll be facing consequences.” 

The elder arachnid nodded. 

“I did. She’ll be helping her brother cleaning out his animal room at his Penthouse. How ever long that will be will be set by Arackniss.” 

Clara tilted her head. 

“Animal room? Oh! Is that the room for his little elephant? We noticed he had one follow him.” 

Little elephant…. Valentino gasped. Boo! They almost forgot about him! Shit! 

“Boo! Shit! He must still be at the cave too! Damn it! Arackniss will freak if he got left behind!” 

Belladonna waved him off. 

“Don’t worry, I’m heading back to the caves right now to get our shells. I’ll be back.” 

As she walked off, Abril immediately turned her focus to her brother. 

“You guys were in a cave??” 

“Oh yeah. Kind of a cool place. We stumbled upon it during our seashell hunting.” 

“The cave of love~” Arackniss mused dreamily.

“Whatever you say bichito.”

Isadora turned once more to her pink younger sister.

“I believe a punishment is in order for you too.”

Maria whined.

“But Izzy!”

“No buts. This little plan of yours could’ve backfired horribly. I would think you’d know to use your pheromones more responsibly by now.”

Maria slumped her shoulders. Then heard little snickers. She snapped her head toward her younger siblings to glare at them. Mia, Violeta, and Valentino made no attempts to hide their smirks.

“Traitors.”

“Fuck around and find out, Maria. Sorry,” Mia pointed out, not the least bit sorry. 

She huffed and crossed her arms. She could only hope whatever punishment Isadora dealt wasn’t too bad. The eldest sister thought over an appropriate punishment, only for Valentino to come up to her.

“If I may suggest, Izzy?” He whispered something to her. When he finished, she pulled away to look at him in mild alarm. He only gave her a nod as if to confirm he wasn’t lying. She glanced back at their sister, thinking it over.

“You know what, I agree. I’m sure Arackniss will appreciate you assisting Molly in cleaning his animal room.”

The fashionista relaxed.

“Oh… Well that doesn’t sound too bad. It’ll just be his little elephant. How bad could it be?”

Valentino smirked.

“Oh the animal room isn’t for Boo. He has his own special room.”

The rest of the group turned to him in confusion.

“If his pet elephant has his own room, then what is the animal room for?” Luna asked.

“Oh it actually came up at that dinner we attended with the Ragnos.” His smirk widened at Maria. “It’s so infested, Mia actually suggested he call an exterminator.”

The green moth gasped.

“Wait, that’s supposed to be his animal room?? I thought that was his bedroom!”

“It is back at the manor he lived at. But since his new place has some extra rooms, he dedicated one to his animal friends. Birds, roaches, spiders, centipedes, rodents, any icky little creature you can think of, they’re welcome in that room.”

Horror dawned on Maria’s face the more he talked. 

“Y-You’re bluffing… You’re just trying to scare me!”

“Nope. I've been there. It’s not an exaggeration.”

“Izzy!!”

“My mind’s made up, Maria. You should know better.”

Maria was horrified. Clean out a room full of bugs and rodents!? No! No! No! She wasn’t going to be able to handle it! Bugs were so… so… gross! And creepy! How could Izzy do this to her!? Oh god. Molly would be with her too. 

Worst thing ever!! 

Over at the Ragnos side of the beach, Molly huffed as she flopped onto her beach chair. This was so unfair! Though…. Okay maybe… using Maria’s pheromones wasn’t the greatest plan that they had. 

But Nonna making it that she had to clean Arackniss’s bug room? That was just cruel! 

Uhg! 

But… she did feel a little guilty. None of them could really predict that Valentino would refuse to kiss Arackniss. Or that Arackniss would chase after him out of the cave. Shit what a mess….

“Something wrong, Princess?” 

Molly blinked at the voice, turning to see her father. Shit. He must’ve saw her sulk back over. 

“Oh hi Daddy. It’s… it’s nothing.” 

He snorted. 

“Nuthin’... right. You’ve been hanging with that pink moth this entire trip. She say something to upset you?” 

Molly frantically shook her head. 

“Oh no! Nothing like that! Honest! Just…. Nonna kinda tore me a new ass.” 

The mention of his mother caused him to frown deeply. 

“The fuck for?” 

She hesitated. She couldn’t let him know that Arackniss got drugged. He’ll go apeshit! 

“Jus’... something involving with Nicky. It’s fine. I…I deserved it.” 

“Is that so?” 

“Y-yeah.” 

“You didn’t force him into water again, did you? You ‘nd Tony knows he hates water cause he can’t swim.” 

“No. No, not that. It was… somethin’ else.” 

He eyed her. 

“Is it something I need to get involved with?” 

“No, no! We… we got it covered! I’m… I’m gonna be uh… helping him clean out his animal room at the penthouse! To uh… make up for what I did.” 

He stared at her. 

“You? Willingly go into his animal-infested room? You’ve never set foot inside of it. You vowed to never do so again after the first time he was moved in. You hate bugs and mice.” 

She gave a haughty sniff. 

“I’m a big girl! I can handle cleaning up after some icky animals!” 

He gave her a skeptical look.  

“Can you? Because I remember when you offered to cat-sit for yer nonna, and you refused to touch the cat’s litterbox.” 

"It smelled like death!!” 

He snorted. 

“Uh huh. You do know you’ll be cleaning out litter boxes for him too, right? Not to mention cleaning out their enclosures? The bird perch? Oh and not to mention all the bugs that you ain’t allowed to kill? I know you, Molly. Every time you see a bug, your immediate reaction is to kill it.” 

“They’re gross and creepy!” 

“I get that. I do. But yer brother doesn’t see it that way.” 

She huffed. 

“I don’t know why he’s gotta keep those icky nasty creatures.” 

He nodded in understanding. 

“I know. I don’t quite understand it myself. But that’s just one of his oddities. He’s always been sensitive to animals being killed.” 

“You make it sound like he could become a vegan at any moment, Daddy.” 

“Hey, watch it. You know your Zia Scarlett is a vegan. ‘Nd some of the younger generations. Some of them due to health issues or their oddities. Or so they say.” 

“I didn’t mean it like it’s a bad thing. Just… I’m talking about the radical ones.” 

“I get that, I do. But yer brother ain’t like them. He’s jus’... sensitive ta when animals are killed in front of him.  Remember when you were kids? How Tony endin’ up hitting an actual bat that had gotten in the manor? ‘Nd then you ended up killing it by smashing it with a heavy book?” 

She grew silent as she thought back to that memory. 

“Oh that’s right… Angie and I were like… seven when that happened. I thought it was a flying mouse.” 

“Remember how your elder brother reacted?” 

“He didn’t talk for weeks… He cried too.” 

“That’s right. Animals… He views them differently than we do. I personally don’t get it, and I sure you don’t fully either. But to him, those little critters he got in his room, he considers them his…. friends. Even if it doesn’t make sense to me or you.” 

She sighed. 

“I know…. but they’re just so…. gross!” 

He nodded. 

“Yes. ….Why offer to clean the animal room? You could’ve literally offered to help him with anything else?” 

Molly bit her lip trying to think. She couldn’t admit it was a punishment set by their Nonna. Then he’d pry for the why. If her and Maria were going to get away with what they did, she needed to convince him that her punishment was her own choice. But how?

“I… Dropped his shell bucket in the ocean.”

Henroin furrowed his brow.

“You what?”

“I-I didn’t realize he was keepin’ his shells in there so I just… Grabbed it ta get some water and kinda lost his shells… H-He was pretty upset.”

The Spider Don rubbed his face. Okay. That he could see upsetting his son and his mother. 

“And you think cleanin’ his animal room is gonna make up for it?”

“It was the only thing I could think of! Huntin’ for seashells is their thing! I wasn’t gonna intrude! Then he’d be upset even more!”

Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it…

Henroin eyed her a moment before sighing. 

“Ya sure you wanna do this? I can talk ta both of them for ya.”

“I-I’m sure daddy.”

“Alright… How long you gonna be doing it for?”

“I’m… Lettin’ Nicky decide that. Ta show him I mean it about makin’ it up.”

Henroin frowned. He personally didn’t like the idea. But if his daughter insisted…

“Alright, alright. But I hope ya know what you’re gettin’ into. There’s a reason he's been the one ta clean his room instead of the staff back at the manor. He’s particular about how he cleans it.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I’m sure ya will. How about after your last clean, we’ll have a Daddy-Daughter day. Make it a little celebration in gettin’ through all that. We’ll do whatever you want.”

Molly’s mood lifted up. She did like the sound of that.

“I can’t wait.”

He nodded.

“It’s settled then. Ya let me know when yer last day is.”

“I will. Grazie, daddy.”

“Anything, Princess.”

With that, Henroin left his daughter to enjoy the rest of her day. She flopped back into her chair. Shit that was a close one. She was just gonna have to avoid that side of the beach for the rest of the day. 

Uhg this sucked!

The doors of the hotel loomed in front of him. He’s been gone for a while. Roo made sure that he knew his place under her. That defying her orders resulted in the cruelest of punishments. It felt good once she took out the threads to let him speak again… 

But not without reason. 

A special guest had arrived at the hotel. 

One that left Roo practically foaming at the mouth seething. 

So here he was. Under strict orders to observe and to sabotage the Morningstars. He had to get Charlie to trust him at all costs. In order to get Roo what she wanted maybe, just maybe, he’ll finally get his soul free…. 

He took a breath. 

This was it. 

He slunk into the shadows, staying hidden until he could make his grand entrance. He watched as everyone went about their day. Charlie and Vaggie was discussing those silly therapy activities to help with the ridiculous notion of redemption. Husk working the bar. Adam being as insufferable as always. Niffty was chatting up Baxter, who…. apparently didn’t seem put-off by her eccentricness. 

Angel… wasn’t here. Huh. Probably at work. 

And for Lucifer… 

He froze noticing someone was new in the hotel. 

A woman. With long platinum blonde hair, white skin, and long dark horns. 

Queen Lilith. 

Oh gee…. He shook his head. It didn’t matter! Roo…. Roo gave him a job. Just…. Just wait until everyone was gathered. 

Yes. That’ll be when he makes his grand entrance. He caught the sound of Charlie clapping her hands together. 

“Alrighty! Let’s get everyone gathered! I know Angel will be missing out on today’s activity, but I can’t wait for everyone else to participate!” 

Oh? Another activity! 

Perfect! 

He made his way to the new recreation room where they had been holding their “therapy sessions” in. What a perfect way for him to announce his arrival. One by one everyone started to gather. Now all he had to do was wait for the right moment.

“Alrighty everyone! Today’s activity will be a little different. As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, we have a very special, very important guest today!” She motioned to the newest arrival. “My mother, Queen Lilith!”

Lilith sat to the side with Lucifer, who happily cozied up to his wife. She offered a polite smile to the hotel residents and waved at them.

From what Alastor could see, the others didn’t seem so surprised to see her. They likely caught sight of her before he showed up. He didn’t see Lucifer or Charlie keeping her return on the down low until now. Niffty was her usual cheery self. Baxter appeared somewhat interested. Husk seemed to be eyeing the queen suspiciously. How odd. He’ll have to hear his thoughts on her later. Adam looked annoyed unsurprisingly. Oh, how strange. Was Angel’s great-grandmother not here either? If he recalled, she was scheduled to meet with him a few days a week. Perhaps she just wasn’t scheduled to come in today.

Charlie’s grin seemed to grow.

“So! In celebration of my mom’s return, I thought we could use today’s activity for her to get to know you all, what your roles are, and better understand what we’re doing here!”

Alastor perked up.

Oh! Perfect! He can introduce himself after everyone else!

“Now, who wants to go first?”

Niffty threw her hand up.

“Oh! Oh! Me! Me first!”

“That’s the spirit! Go in.”

The little cyclops stood in her seat and grinned toward the queen.

“I’m Niffty! I’m the head maid of the hotel!”

“Nifft, you’re the only maid in the hotel,” Husk pointed out.

“I know and it’s so much fun! I get to hunt all the little bugs I want and clean everything to perfection!”

Lilith chuckled lightly.

“My, I see someone’s very passionate about cleaning. And pest extermination.”

“Oh I am!” 

“Well I’m glad you keep this place so nice and clean. You do an excellent job.” 

“Thank you, your majesty.” 

“And thank you Niffty,” Charlie grinned. “Who’d like to go next?” 

Baxter lightly shut his book, standing up as he adjusted his glasses. 

“I am Baxter. I’m a scientist. I have agreed to become part of your daughter’s redemption project in effort to prove that redemption is not possible.” 

Lilith’s smile faltered a bit. Oh? Well… she couldn’t wait to burst this little man’s bubble. 

“I see. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Baxter.” 

Her daughter gave a nervous giggle, then turned to the other residents of the hotel. 

“Anyone else?” 

Husk sighed, then turned to the Queen. 

“Name’s Husk. Bartender, valet, front desk clerk, and everyone’s unpaid therapist. Yes, including your own husband and daughter. Pleasure to meet you, your highness.” 

The Queen chuckled. Seemed Husk was the straightman of this hotel. It’s nice to have someone that was able to keep them all in check. 

“Well thank you for everything you do Husk.” 

He grunted. Adam snorted. 

“I don’t need to introduce myself. She already knows who I am.” 

Charlie nodded, her smile forced. 

“Yes. We’re… very well aware about yours and my mom’s past… relationship. But why don’t you share about why you’re in the hotel instead?” 

The former exorcist leader pondered it over, then shrugged. 

“Fine, whatever. I’m here because this freaky bug maid here-” He pointed at Niffty. “Stabbed me in the back. Literally. I woke up here like… months after. I want to get back into Heaven, but since I’m a demon I can’t. So this is my only chance.” 

Ah. She honestly wasn’t surprised. Though it was some nice karma after all these centuries. It was about time Adam got his ass handed to him. The Queen’s smile tightened at him. 

“Well… as long as you treat my daughter respectfully while you are here, I guess you won’t be too big of an issue. Though I’ll be keeping my eye on you. After all you did try to kill her, when the treaty stated you were not to harm any hellborns.” 

The First Man glared at her, then looked away with a huff. She smirked. Victory for her. 

Vaggie stood up. 

“I’m Vaggie. It’s still an absolute honor to finally have you join us. I’m the head manager and Charlie’s co-partner in starting the redemption project. I help make sure everyone does their job and keep this place from falling into complete chaos a majority of the time.” 

“And one of my best bitches in my army!” 

“Shut the fuck up Adam! I’m not part of your stupid army anymore, you brainwashing, narcassistic fuck!” 

She already knew that as Vaggie was very upfront about her past when Charlie introduced them. It seemed Adam was hoping to stir up some drama. She did like how Vaggie didn’t take his shit. She was really starting to like this girl. 

Charlie smiled at her mother. 

“We do have three other members of our hotel, but they’re not here today. Angel is another patron and his great-grandmother is Adam’s life-coach. But they’re having a family day at the beach today. So you’ll meet them when they return! And well… as for our last member-” 

“Is right here!” 

With a grand flourish of shadows and voodoo symbols spinning around the room before the stag popped out. 

“Greetings everyone! It’s so good to be back!” He let out a laugh. “Apologies for being away so long. I had to go on a little…. trip.” 

Charlie grinned seeing him. 

“Alastor! You’re back!” 

His grin widened at her. 

“That I am, my dear.” He locked eyes with the Queen of Hell. “And my what a time for me to arrive! Pleasure to be meeting you, your majesty, quite the pleasure! I am Alastor! I’m the hotelier of this fine establishment. I must say, I can see where Charlie gets her beauty from. You certainly are a delight to have here! Much more exciting than her last relative that appeared.” 

Lucifer gave an offended look. 

“I’m right here!” 

Alastor hummed, as he glanced down. 

“Oh, so sorry! I didn’t see you there!” He went and made a gesture referring to the king’s height. “Literally! For a moment, I could rejoice in knowing you weren’t in attendance. What a pity.” 

The Fallen Angel growled at him. He lifted his hands in a way that it looked like he was ready to strangle the deer-demon. 

But Alastor stepped away and right at Charlie’s side.

“I’m sure Charlie’s told you all about her redemption project. Quite the passionate young woman she is!” He pulled her in by her shoulders. “Why it’s truly an honor to work with her toward such an ambitious goal, as unattainable as it seems.”

Lilith said nothing, merely glancing between the two.

Charlie gave an awkward grin.

“Oh, thank you, Alastor. I’m glad to know you believe in me. Sort of.”

“As if I’d miss out on the entertainment of the century! Yes indeed, your daughter is hard at work to prove the impossible!”

“Are you done putting down my daughter?”

The words stunned the Radio Demon. He blinked at her, only to find a stony expression his way. Not an ounce of friendliness as she had just a moment ago. It took a moment to find his voice.

“Pardon?”

“And kindly remove your hand. I believe you’re making her uncomfortable.”

Almost hesitantly, as if there’d be consequences if he did it wrong, Alastor removed his arm from Charlie. He let out an awkward laugh.

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to-”

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

He grit his jaw. Then turned to Charlie.

“Apologies, my dear, I didn’t intend to make you uncomfortable.”

“Uh, th-that’s okay, Alastor.”

Lilith frowned. She didn’t care for how his ‘apology’ was phrased. It didn’t sit right with her. Nor how he talked about Charlie in general. Ambitious, unattainable goal? Entertainment? Prove the impossible? It didn’t sound like he even believed in her project at all. And if that was the case… Why was he here?

The way he carried himself… He almost reminded her of something… Annoyingly familiar. No. Not something. Someone. Her gaze flicked to Adam. Hmm, she’ll need to keep an eye on this Alastor. 

“Anyway, mom! As you can see, we all play an important role here. No matter how small or insignificant it may seem, we’re all committed to seeing redemption becoming a reality!”

She smiled at her daughter.

“I can see.” A glance at Alastor. “Mostly.”

The Radio Demon’s smile tightened. This was… Not how he pictured his return to go. But right now, he couldn’t let his mask slip. Roo…. Roo was counting on him. He had to play his role. He chuckled, spinning his mic. 

“Well, I say this is caused for a celebration! How about I make some of my mother’s famous jambalaya for dinner?” 

Niffty jumped up. 

“Yes! Can I help Alastor? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease???” 

His grin widened at her. 

“Why of course, Niffty darling!” 

She cheered, running over and climbing up onto his shoulder to give him a hug. 

“We missed you so much! Where did you go? Can you tell us? Was it somewhere fun? Did you bring back presents??” 

He chuckled as he made his way towards the door. 

“Sadly I can’t share my whereabouts this time, darling. Nor did they have adequate gifts I could bring you all. But I promise, next time I do, I’ll be sure it’s someplace splendid!” 

As the stag and maid made their way out of the room, Lilith shared a look with Lucifer. The King gave a silent nod. As if confirming what she could be thinking. They don’t trust him. He was up to something. Lucifer knew that Roo was involved. 

What she was up to, he didn’t know.

But he’ll have to let his wife know. Because if they all weren’t on the same page…. 

Whatever Roo’s plan was, it was bad news for all of Hell. 

“I loooooove you.” 

“I know.” 

“Do you love me?” 

“I care about you very much.” 

“But do you looooove me too?” 

“Sure.” 

A giggle. 

“You’re shy.” 

“Oh?” 

“I know you love me. You just don’t want to admit it.” 

“Mmm, sure bichito. Let’s go with that.” 

“~You are my one heart~” 

“Oh god.” 

“~The heart I bring to you~” 

“Arackniss, please stop singing. Your stage fright.” 

“Love conquers all mio ciliegina~ I shall sing our love for all of Hell to hear!” 

“Maria, this is all your fucking fault.” 

“~I have but one heart to share with you~” 

Valentino wanted to bury himself into the sand. Arackniss had been spouting love-sick gibberish at him since Nonna had sent to retrieve their seashells and Boo. And has still continued to do so even when she returned. 

God this was going to be the longest thirty minutes to an hour ever…. 

Though he couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t like he wasn’t enjoying Arackniss’s attention. He just wished it wasn’t under a fucking love pheromone!! Uhg. The little spider was even serenading him! And he couldn’t enjoy it because of his fucking sister!!!

He shot her a dirty glare. Said sister was currently sulking in her beach chair. As if she was the wronged party in this situation! Ugh. What was wrong with her?? Yes, he and Arackniss liked each other a lot. But that wasn’t her and Molly’s business to get involved in! Once the pheromones wore off, they were getting to the bottom of their actions.

Odette eyed Arackniss curiously before turning to her relatives.

“So, when the pheromones wear off, will he remember anything?”

Abril gave a so-so gesture.

“Maria’s said in the past that men she’s drugged say they feel like they wake up from a dream. They kinda remember, but it doesn’t feel real.”

“She does this often?”

Mia nodded.

“Oh yeah, big time. Kinda hard not to drug anyone when we have a makeout session since that’s all about swapping saliva. I know I’ve definitely drugged some women in the past, but at least mine isn’t like Maria’s.”

Clara tilted her head.

“What does yours do?”

“It’s like a steroid. Gives people some extra strength.”

“Oooh, really?”

“How strong do they get?”

“Kinda depends on how strong they already are honestly.”

The blue moth chuckled.

“Then you’ve got mine. It’s like a shot of pure adrenaline.”

“How fascinating,” Odette marveled. “What about the rest of you?”

“Izzy’s calms and soothes, Luna’s is a hallucinogenic, specifically fear focused, and Ximena’s is hypnotic.”

“Then you’ve got Violeta’s rage inducing pheromones and Valo with his pure aphrodisiac.”

Carmilla hummed.

“So… In a way, your pheromones all match your personalities and traits.”

“Yup,” Abril confirmed.

Odette hummed, then zoned in on her muscular great-aunt’s arms. She knew the Ragnos had venom. So that meant Arackniss did as well. She hoped Mia wouldn’t get sick… 

“Are you okay Aunt Mia? Arackniss did bite you. You didn’t get a shot of venom from him did you? We know the Ragnos have venom.”

The muscular moth paused. She…. hadn’t thought about the possibility of Arackniss injecting her with venom. Ah shit. Was she going to be okay?? Was she going to need a hospital!?

Isadora reared up in alarm. 

“Venom!?” She instantly grabbed Mia’s face. “How are you feeling? Do you feel sick? Nauseous? In pain? We should get you to a hospital!” 

“Izzy-” 

The eldest moth started to pull out her phone. 

“I-I-I’ll call an ambulance! It might take them a while to get here, but surely they can bring some anti-venom-!” 

“Izzy,” Mia interrupted, grabbing her shoulder. “I… I feel fine.” 

“A-are you sure? The effects can be delayed!” 

Valentino frowned. Should… should he tell them? He knew that he promised Arackniss he would never share his lack of venom with anyone. …Other than Vox and Velvette. But he was on speaker phone so he technically didn’t tell them! 

He bit his lip. 

He glanced down at Arackniss. 

Surely he would understand right? That it was just to prevent his sisters from freaking out? 

“Arackniss-” 

“I don’t have venom~” 

They all stilled at the spider’s proclamation. They all turned to him. Zestial squinted at him. 

“Thou... hast no venom?” 

The smaller spider shook his head. 

“Never did~” He turned his head back to Valentino. “Which means I can bite ya allllll I want~”

They all shared a look. On one hand, they were very relieved to hear it. That means if Arackniss bit any of them, they would be fine. But on the other hand… did the Ragnos know? Was it a family secret? Or did Arackniss never shared it? If so, why not? 

They all looked at Valentino. He was the one closest to him. 

Ximena spoke. 

“Did you know that he didn’t have venom?” 

Valentino nodded. 

“I did.” 

“When?” 

“Last year. I got invited to a mandatory luncheon with the Ragnos when we first started meeting together. Fat Nuggets ended up getting onto the table so we were all trying to grab him. I ended up smacking my hand into his mouth and got ‘bit’. Afterwards I went to the hospital and… no venom they said. Then he admitted it to me several months later when we got more comfortable with it. Don’t…. Don’t tell his family. They… they don’t know.” 

Carmilla blinked. 

“He hasn’t told them?” 

“Henroin knows. But…. he’s the only one. He’s worried his family will think less of him because he doesn’t have venom.”

The family shared looks with each other. With what they’ve seen and heard so far regarding how the Ragnos treat Arackniss… Perhaps that worry wasn’t so far-fetched. 

Isadora frowned lightly.

“We won’t tell. That’s not for any of us to share anyway.”

Valentino nodded.

“I’m sure Arackniss will appreciate that. He won’t like it… But given the circumstances, he’ll understand. Hopefully.”

The wrapped-up spider had tuned out the conversation. He was now trying to move himself into a more preferable position. And luckily, Valentino let him. His love was so sweet and considerate. He was so lucky to have someone like Valentino.

“Ciliegina~ I loooove you~”

“I know you do, bichito.”

Luna tilted her head.

“What is that he keeps calling you? It sounds like a pet name.”

“I have no idea. He’s never called me that before.”

There came a giggle from the spider.

“It means ‘small cherry’. Cuz you’re mio ciliegina~”

Valentino stared at him. Then glared hearing his sisters starting to giggle and snicker.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny,” Violeta argued playfully.

He huffed, his cheeks growing warm. Of all the pet names Arackniss had to give him, it was ‘small cherry’! Unbelievable! At least he’ll drop it once the pheromone effects wear off.

… Though he wouldn’t lie and say he didn’t like the idea. Maybe down the line he’ll get a proper pet name. Or not. Arackniss honestly didn’t seem the type.

“Why ‘small cherry’?” Carmilla questioned, “Because of the color of your wings?”

Isadora pointed at her antennas.

“Moths have a heightened sense of smell and something we noticed after finding each other down here is that we all have a unique scent. We’re not sure why, but we do. Tino’s scent happens to be cherries.”

“And a little tobacco since he’s a smoker,” Ximena added.

Abril snickered.

“Apparently someone else picked up his scent.”

As if to prove a point, Arackniss stuck his face into Valentino’s fluff and inhaled deeply.

“I like how you smell…”

The moth blushed feeling Arackniss all the way to his neck and across his shoulder. 

“~The red means I love you~”

Oh great, he was singing again.

“~Tasting your blood means I looove yooooooou~”

Wait, what-

CHOMP!

“AYE!!”

He pulled the mobster away from him. He glared at him. 

“You need to stop biting people!” 

Arackniss frog-blinked at him. 

“Mio amor… Biting is how I show I like people.” 

Wait what? 

His sisters shared a look. 

“Why? How did you associate biting with love?” 

Arackniss went to cuddle up against him. 

“Nonna’s cat.” 

That didn’t make sense at all. How could his abuela’s cat show him that biting means love?

“Explain, please.” 

Arackniss hummed, playfully flickering the tip of Valentino’s good antenna. 

“I was.. three? And I was playing with her cat when she started to play-bite me. I freaked out and Nonna told me that’s how she shows her love for people. That to cats, some bites can mean love.” 

“So that meant to you, biting equals love.” 

“Yep! So I started to give bites to everyone I care about. My ma, Pops, my zios, my zias, nonna, Noelle-” He stopped. “Then Pops told me no more biting when the twins were born.” 

Honestly, he was a little glad that Arackniss didn’t bite any babies as a kid. He couldn’t imagine what kind shit would’ve gone down if he did. 

“Aye, estás loca.” 

The black-furred sinner giggled, booping his face. 

“Crazy for you~”

These pheromones needed to get out of his system soon. The Porn Overlord had no idea how long he could deal with the tiny love-sick menace in his arms.  

“~Sugar pie honey bunch~” 

Oh god. 

“~You know that I love you. I can’t help myself. I love you and nobody else~” 

“I never took him as a singer.” Violeta hummed. 

“Stage fright.” Valentino told her. “Once he’s out of this, no doubt he’s gonna freak. Though his showerhead is pretty impressive.” 

Ximena looked at Arackniss in surprise. 

“He sings in the shower?” 

“Yep. He’ll at least go between two to three songs depending on how long washing his fur goes.” 

Maria suddenly perked up.

“You’ve heard him in the shower!? When?!”

He glared at her.

“I’m not telling you that cuz that’s none of your business.”

Arackniss tried to unravel himself.

“Oh come on! You can’t mention that and not explain!”

“I can and I won’t.”

“Boo!”

The little elephant perked his head up at his name. He rushed over to Maria curiously. She blinked at him and scratched under his chin with a giggle.

“Aww, I’m sorry, cutie. I wasn’t calling for you. That’s just something I say when people say something I don’t like.”

Valentino rolled his eyes at his sister. She could boo him all she liked, he wasn’t giving up that Arackniss was living at his penthouse in the weeks after his party. That was a secret between them. And Vox and Velvette… And Angel.

Smaller hands suddenly grabbed his face and pulled him in.

“Kiss me.”

Luckily at the last minute, the moth put up his hand before their lips touched.

“Whoa! Hold on there, bichito. Sneaky spider, trying to steal a kiss… Wait, when did your arms get free??”

A giggle.

“Just now. C’mon, why wontcha kiss me?”

“Beeeeecaaaaause… We don’t have any privacy. My family’s right here.”

Arackniss leaned in closer.

“So let’s go somewhere private~”

“Tempting… But I can’t just leave my family. I’m spending the day with them, remember?”

“Ya came with me earlier ta seashell hunt.”

“We were with your abuela.”

“Ya still left ta be with me. And you didn’t complain about bein’ alone in the cave~” He wrapped his arms around the moth’s neck. “Please, let’s go somewhere private? I wanna kiss you.”

Valentino frowned. He wanted to. So fucking badly did he want to! But he couldn't. Not when he was under the influence. What could… oh! 

“How about this? You can kiss me when we get home. How's that?” 

The arachnid perked up.

“Really?” 

“Sí.” 

“Okay!” 

There! Crisis averted! By the time The pheromones wore off, Arackniss most likely wouldn't remember the little verbal agreement they had. Good. The last thing they needed was for Arackniss to get all upset and alerting his family. 

Speaking of…

Valentino glanced over to see Angel in the water with some of his cousins. 

It seemed like they were bouncing a beach ball between each other. 

“Send it this way, Noelle!” 

“Heads up!” 

“Don't let it hit the water, Enzo!” 

“I got it! Comin’ yer way Frankie!” 

“Yo, Angel! Right at ya!” 

“I got it!” 

He hit the ball, sending it towards Terra.

“Incoming Terra!” 

“I see it!” 

As they continued, Angel took notice of his twin who was sulking in her beach chair. Huh. Why wasn't she with Maria? Did they get into a fight? Oh! Did their latest plan of hooking Arackniss and Valentino fail? He hoped so! 

He turned to his cousins. 

“I'm headin’ back on land.” 

“Aww, what?”

“Already?”

“I gotta check on somethin’. Go on and have fun without me.”

Not waiting for them to ask, Angel hurried out of the water. Oh he could wait to hang Molly’s failure over her head! It serves her right for trying to hook up their brother with his boss! Once on the sand, he strolled on up to her.

“Hey Molly~”

She looked up at him.

“Why ya look so glum? Somethin’ happened between you and Maria?”

A huff.

“No.”

“No? Then what?”

“Never you mind. Go away.”

He smirked and leaned in closer to whisper.

“Ooooor, did you two fail in hookin’ them up?”

Molly glared at him.

“Fuck you.”

Angel barked out a laugh and settled on her chair.

“Oh this I gotta hear. How bad did you two fuck up?”

“None of yer business!”

“The hell it is. My boss is involved.”

“I ain’t tellin’ you shit. Nothin’ happened.”

“Then how come you ain’t hangin’ with Maria anymore?”

Molly pursed her lips in annoyance. Then proceeded to stay quiet. Her twin rolled his eyes at her. Oh, something definitely happened. The question was, what? Obviously Molly wasn’t going to tell him out of spite... But maybe Valentino’s sisters might.

He got up and started walking over.

“Where ya goin’?”

“Ta talk with Val’s sisters. They’re a chill bunch compared ta him.”

She squinted at him suspiciously.

“Why?”

“None of yer business.” He stuck his tongue at her and continued on his way.

“W-Wait, ya can’t!”

“Yeah? And why the hell not?”

“Because… Because daddy’ll get mad!”

He scoffed.

“When is he ever not mad. I’m allowed ta go talk with a friend, just like you.”

“Angie!”

He kept walking.

“Whoop, can’t hear ya! I’m gettin’ too far away!”

“Angie, wait!” Molly cursed under her breath. Under normal circumstances, she’d physically stop him. But if she did, it’ll only draw attention to them and raise questions on why they’re suddenly fighting. She couldn’t risk the truth coming out! Then they’ll all be in trouble!

Hopefully Maria’s family will handle him…

As the famous arachnid got closer, he noticed his brother. Wait…. What the hell was he doing over there? Wasn't he supposed to be seashell hunting with nonna? 

Something smelled fishy… and it wasn't the ocean! 

He put on a smile as he went up.

“Hey there! What's going on? Mind if I join you?” 

Valentino froze seeing his star arrived. 

Shit. 

They all looked over at the younger Ragno. Violeta gave him a tight smile. 

“Oh hey Angel! Uh….” 

Angel turned towards his brother, then still seeing him. His jaw clenched. 

“Niss…. Why the fuck are you in Val’s arms?” 

“Angelcakes, I can explain-” 

“Because he loooooooves me!” Arackniss cuddled closer to the cherry-smelling Sinner. “And I love him. Mio ciliegina~” 

“The fuck, Niss!?” He went to pull his shorter sibling away. “That is my boss! You don't ‘love’ him!” 

“Yes I do~” 

Something was wrong. Arackniss doesn't cuddle up to people! Except if that person was nonna. Anyone else, he throws a damn fit! No way. He started to grab his brother. 

“No ya don't! I'm takin’ ya back to the family's side of the beach! Let go!” 

“Angel wait-” 

“No!! Lemme go!”

“Dammit, Niss, don’t fight!”

The smaller mobster let out a shriek in protest, desperately trying to stay with Valentino. 

Violeta quickly went over to stop him before Arackniss got too loud.

“Angel, knock it off!”

“Wha- Me knock it off?! What the hell, Violeta! I thought you were on my side!”

“I am on your side, but this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Oh bullshit! My brother ain’t a cuddler! He don’t even like bein’ touched! Yet he’s sittin’ on Val’s lap claimin’ theyre in love!?”

“If you just listen-!”

Angel suddenly gasped.

“Wait, wait a minute…” He pointed at Valentino. “You fuckin’ drugged him didn’t you?”

“No. No, I did not. Angel, listen-”

“I fuckin’ knew you were gonna pull this shit! Because that’s what you do! You drug us with yer pheromones and take what ya want! If you think I’m gonna let ya get away with doin’ that ta my brother-!”

Valentino stood up, still holding a clingy Arackniss.

“I didn’t do it!”

“Oh, bullshit, Val! We both know how you are! Well it’s finally gonna bite ya in the ass! Pops is gonna be rightfully fuckin’ pissed!”

Before he could run off, Angel found himself captured in a bear hug by Mia.

“Nope, not happening.”

“What the- Let me go!” The famous spider struggled against her. “I can’t believe you’re all allowin’ this!”

Violeta faced him directly.

“We aren’t, Angel. If you just calm down and listen-”

“Why should I?! Why should I listen ta any of you!? All you girls do is enable him cuz he’s yer baby brother! He can do no wrong in yer eyes! He doesn’t even gotta hide it!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Okay, yes, Arackniss was drugged.”

“No fuckin’ shit!”

“But not by our brother!”

“Oh like I’ll believe that! If not by Val then who else, huh?”

At that, they all turned toward the real perpetrator.

Isadora crossed her arms.

“Well, Maria? Tell him what happened.”

Angel stopped struggling.

Wait, what?

Maria?

The pink moth's mouth thinned into a line. 

“Maria!”

“Alright! Fuck!” She crossed her arms. “I used my pheromones on him. VeeVee didn't do shit.” 

“Then why the fuck is he actin’ so clingy for?” 

Mia sat him down. 

“‘Cuz Maria’s acts like a classic love potion. If you would've paid attention, you'd have noticed the difference. Valo’s an aphrodisiac. Which if he did drugged him, he’d try to get Valo to sleep with him. That's not what's happening here. Instead, he's just clinging. Cooing pet names, trying to get Valo to kiss him and just being an overall flirt.” 

That… huh. 

That was different. 

Which meant he had to apologize to his boss. Damn it. 

“Ah… uh… sorry Val. I… didn't know.” 

His boss waved him off.

“It's fine. Your brother should be coming out of it soon anyways. It's been almost an hour.” 

An hour!?

“He’s been drugged for an hour!?” 

“Yep.” 

Suddenly, the Porn Overlord felt a wet foreign object make contact with his check. And go up. He cringed at the feeling, pulling his head away. 

“Did you just lick me!?” 

“Yep!” 

“Why!?” 

“Ya said we can't kiss right now. You didn't say anything about licking~” 

Boo let out a squeak, happily curled up next to Val and Arackniss. His tail was wagging. He was so happy to see Arackniss and Valentino being affectionate! Though he didn't understand why Valentino didn't lick Arackniss back. Licking meant he liked him! Everyone knows that! If Arackniss was going to be Valentino’s new mate, shouldn't be lick him back too? 

Demons were so confusing! 

Angel made a disgusted face.

“Ewwww! Niss!” 

“Leave me alone.”

The pink spider face palmed. Just perfect. At least he could see his boss wasn’t taking advantage of the fact his brother was drugged. Which was… Honestly, weird. Valentino was genuinely fending off his brother. Sort of… Letting Arackniss sit on his lap was certainly a choice. 

“Okay… So… Couple more questions?”

“Shoot,” Valentino answered.

“Why keep him on your lap?”

“He’s calm as long as he’s with me. If I’m away, he chases me. And as you just saw, if you try to take him away, he fights. And we’d rather avoid alerting your father.”

Angel looked back toward his family.

Okay… That actually made some sense. He did threaten to tell his father knowing it would send him raging. 

“Right… And why did this happen?”

“Maria?”

The pink moth groaned.

“Molly and I agreed it was a good idea to get our brothers together…”

“… Molly knew you were gonna drug our brother!? And agreed to it?!”

“Yes.”

“Wait a minute, what about Nonna?!”

“Your abuela knows what happened,” Isadora explained, “She agreed we keep Arackniss on our side until the pheromones wear off. And punished your sister with helping Arackniss clean his animal room.”

Angel burst out laughing.

“W-Wait, seriously!? Is that why she’s sulkin’ on our side??”

“Probably, given Maria’s been sulking as well since I told her she’ll be joining your sister.”

More laughter.

“Holy shit, that’s hilarious! And deserved!”

Maria glared at him before huffing and crossing her arms. Valentino snickered at his sister’s misery, then glanced at Arackniss. The mobster was still happily cuddling him. He gazed dreamily up at him. And Valentino saw the hearts in his eyes seemingly fading.

“Oh good, I think the pheromones are finally wearing off.”

Angel went over curiously.

“How can ya tell?”

“Look at his eyes.”

He squinted.

“… Are those… Hearts??”

“Yup. A sign of Maria’s pheromones. They’re fading, which means the effects will start wearing off too. Once they’re gone, his system will be cleaned out.”

Huh… Well… At least he could confidently say it wasn’t by his boss. He’d never seen literal hearts in anyone’s eyes after getting a dose of his pheromones. Shit. Good thing they stopped him before he tried to snitch.

“So… He’ll be good in a little bit? Will he remember anything?”

“Eh… Kinda? It’ll be like he woke up from a dream. So his memory will be a little fuzzy.”

Angel didn't know if that would be a good thing or not. On one hand, he could tease the fuck out of his brother if he remembered!  But on the other hand… if he didn't, then it would probably be best. 

Dreams were weird on their own. Sometimes they were vivid enough to remember. Others not. So it was up in the air at this point. 

“Mio ciliegina~” 

Angel snorted back a laugh. 

“Really bro? Ciliegina?” 

“He smells like one. It's so good~” 

He couldn't deny that. The Porn Star likes his boss's cherry musk as well. It was addicting. Delicious. Back when times were good between them, he loved having the scent cling to him. 

Now….

He ignored the bitter pit that started to form in his stomach. 

Minutes ticked by. The hearts continued to fade, until they were finally gone. 

Once they were, Arackniss's grip fell, moving to grip his head. 

“Aye… what happened..?” 

“How ya feelin’ bro?” 

“Tony?” 

“Yeah. How ya feelin’?” 

“Disoriented. Fuzzy.  …Did I fall asleep?” 

“Eh… Not exactly,” Valentino answered hesitantly.

“Not exactly?”

“What’s the last thing you remember clearly?”

Arackniss furrowed his brow.

“I remember we were in that cave, lookin’ fer seashells. Then there was this weird-” He paused fully realizing where they were. As well as all the eyes on him. “Smell… Uh… When did we get here?”

“That’s… Sorta my next question. Do you remember anything after the cave? And I mean, anything.”

Did he remember anything after? The vampire spider frowned. He… Didn’t actually. It was like the events between that last moment in the cave and now we’re just… Gone. 

Wait.

He did remember! No… Was it a dream he was remembering? Did whatever that smell was coming from make him pass out? It had to have been. It was the only explanation. 

“Not… Really. Other than some weird dream I had but… Nothing.”

“What was the dream?”

“Huh?”

“The dream. Do you remember anything from the dream?”

Arackniss stared at him. Then thought back to his dream. He remembered… Valentino… And… Finally confessing his love. Hugging and cuddling him, singing to him, trying to kiss him… It… It oddly sort of felt blissful. Finally being so open to his crush without fear or worry or anxiety getting in the way.

But there was no way he’d admit any of that! Especially with his brother right there!

He ignored the blush on his cheeks and cleared his throat.

“Uh… Some of it, yeah… But it’s kinda embarrassin’… I’d really rather not share.”

Valentino winced.

“Oh, bichito… I’m sorry.”

Huh??

“Y- You’re sorry? Fer what?”

“That… Wasn’t a dream…”

He stared at him. 

“What… what do ya mean… it wasn't a dream?” 

Luna motioned with her head at Maria. 

“Maria drugged you with her pheromones. It pretty much acts like a typical love potion.” 

He was drugged!? Wait that meant… he actually did all that stuff in his dream!!! And in front of other people!! Including his brother and Val!!!

He felt his chest starting to constrict. His throat tightening up. His legs trembled. It was hard to breathe. His heart pounding in his ears. He covered his ears. As if it’ll help stop the ringing that was happening. 

Immediately sensing his distress, Boo ran over to him. He gave a trumpet to alert him. He grabbed a hold of his owner’s hand, helping him move to sit down on the ground. Arackniss practically collapsed as he sat. He was spiraling. He knew that he was. 

A scream rose out of his throat. 

No! No! This couldn’t be happening! Why!? Why him!? 

Everyone around him winced. Many covering their ears. 

“Why is he screaming??” Clara asked. 

Angel winced. 

“He screams when he panics. It’s one of his oddities.” 

“Oddities?” 

“He’s autistic. We call it oddities in my family.” 

“Well how do we get him to stop?” Abril demanded. “No offense, but I don’t want your family thinking we did something to him!” 

“There’s this trick that our Ma ‘nd zio Grizzly does. Uh… Shit. I hope I can do it right.” He knelt down next to his brother, then started to rub the area between his eyes with this thumb. “C’mon Niss, settle down. It’s alright. It’s fine.” 

Arackniss only shrieked louder. 

Yeah, no. He wasn’t doing it right. Fuck. He glanced over at his side of the family’s beach. Only to see that they were starting to draw the attention of the others. Double fuck! 

He covered his brother’s mouth. 

“Niss, shut the fuck up! Yer gonna end up bringing Pops over here!” 

“Angel!” 

“I’m tryin’ ta get him ta stop!” 

“You can’t just cover his mouth like that!” 

“Well how the fuck else can I get him ta stop screamin’ like a fuckin’ banshee??” 

“Any other way that doesn’t result in creating harm to your brother!” 

“Do you have any bright ideas on how ta get him to stop??” 

Valentino tried to think. He thought back to earlier that day when he had a meltdown. But part of that was letting him cry it out. And they couldn’t risk letting him do that right now. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Okay, what did Angel try to do? Rub his thumb between his eyes??

Oh fuck it!

He kneeled next to Arackniss and started rubbing his thumb in the same spot Angel tried.

“What’re you doin’??”

“You said this calms him down, right?”

“Yeah, but it ain’t gonna work! Only our Ma and zio Grizzly have been able ta do it!”

Valentino didn’t respond, instead focusing on Arackniss. Definitely don’t press too hard… Going too fast seemed counterproductive… Slow and steady… Please work, please work…

He spoke softly.

“It’s okay, bichito. It’s okay. We know you didn’t mean to do any of that. We’re not mad or upset with you.”

Angel threw his arms up. This wasn’t gonna work. They were screwed. Absolutely fucking screwed. And he wasn’t even involved in this whole mess! Even if he tried to explain it was Molly’s doing, their father wouldn’t listen! She was his princess! She got away with everything! And because of her and Maria, they were all in deep shit!

He looked over at his family. And spotted his father, Nico, and Grizzly starting to make their way over.

Fuck!!

He bit his lip trying to think of how else to calm Arackniss down, but nothing came to mind. How were they going to explain themselves out of this mess?

Just as he started giving up… The screaming started to die down.

Angel snapped his head toward his brother. And saw Valentino still trying the thumb trick. Except… It actually seemed to be working! How the hell…?

“That’s it. It’s okay, bichito.”

Arackniss seemed to calm down, his scream gradually dying. Until finally he sat there panting and looking less panicked than just a moment ago. Valentino pulled his hand away. Then gently tilted Arackniss’ face up by his chin.

“There we go. No more screaming.”

Unfortunately, they were too late.

“What the hell’s goin’ on over here??”

The group turned to see the three men approaching. Angel went up to them. 

“Nick was jus’ uh… havin’ a little panic attack. He’s fine now.” 

Henroin frowned, then snapped his fingers. 

“Grizz.” 

The large kodiak bear instantly went over to his friend’s eldest son. He knelt down to his level to figure out what had caused him to panic. He started to bring his thumb up to his eyes, but he pulled away, giving a whine. 

“You okay?” 

A nod. 

“Can ya talk?” 

It took a moment, but the small mobster nodded again. 

“I…I can.” 

“Good. Can you tell us what made you panic?” 

A shake of his head. 

“Alright…. Are you sayin’ no cause ya don’t want to or ya don’t remember?” 

“Don’t wanna…” 

“You positive ya don’t wanna tell what’s wrong? We can handle it for ya.” 

A shake of the head. 

“....I wanna go home.” 

Henroin frowned. 

“Nick, you know we all don't leave until the sun starts to set.” 

Another whine. 

“Tired.” 

Nico hummed. 

“I say it might be best if he does Hen. You know his panic attacks tend to take a lot of him. Plus the longer he stays out in this hot sun, it’ll just cause him ta have another meltdown. Might be best to let him go home.” 

The scorpion frowned. He typically didn’t like allowing his son to leave a family gathering early. He especially didn’t like that his eldest primarily spent the trip with Valentino. He was not family! He’ll have to have a discussion about family time being about the family. The only relative he interacted with today was his nonna. And it was for their usual seashell collecting. 

Speaking of, he should probably go see if she had any shells for him to take. 

He sighed. 

“Fine. You can head home. But I don’t want you drivin’ by yerself. Someone else will take ya back.” 

Arackniss let out a whimper. He didn’t want to be around any more family members… He just wanted to be alone. 

“I’ll go with him.” 

Everyone turned their attention to Valentino. Henrion’s eyes narrowed at him. 

“Excusi?” 

“Yeah. I know where he lives. I can take him back.” 

Isadora frowned. 

“Tino, are you sure?” 

He waved her off.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” 

Henroin, however, did not find it fine.

“I’d prefer a family member to go with him.”

“And who of your family is willing to cut their beach day short?”

“My Ma.”

“You’re really gonna make your own mother end her day early?”

“She’ll understand.”

“S’not fair…”

Henroin looked at his eldest.

“Eh?”

Arackniss shifted anxiously.

“Not fair ta Nonna…”

“Nick, ya ain’t ridin’ with the pimp.”

The moth overlord crossed his arms.

“And I ask again, who in your family is ready to cut their beach day short? Without being told by you.”

The Spider Don growled low. But looked out toward the Ragno family anyway. Some were still looking their way, but most had returned to their usual beach activities. As much as he hated to admit it… He didn’t see anyone being happy about leaving early. There was still plenty of daylight left. 

Goddammit…

He turned to his two friends.

“What do you two think?”

Both Nico and Grizzly glanced at each other. The blue wasp made an unsure face, but the Kodiak bear kneeled next to Arackniss once more.

“What do you say, Nick? You okay goin’ with the pimp instead?”

Truth be told… The thought of being alone with Valentino after being affected by the love pheromone sounds absolutely mortifying. From what he remembered, he was all over the moth! Being touchy and affectionate and lovey-dovey! It was embarrassing! And just remembering what he did made his anxiety spike!

But…

Being alone with Valentino did sound preferable than being with any of his family right now.

He gave a small nod.

Grizzly nodded himself and stood back up.

“If Nick is fine with it, I don’t see a problem.”

Angel gawked at the answer.

“What- Seriously!?”

Henroin waved him off.

“Not now, Tony.”

“It’s Angel!”

“Angel, whatever.” He sighed deeply, then looked at his smaller son. “You sure you’re okay goin’ with the pimp?”

Another small nod.

With a defeated slouch, Henroin rubbed his face.

“Alright. Alright, fine. You can go with him. But I want ya ta video call the minute ya step through the door, got it?”

“Si, papa…”

Why did Henroin need him to video call?? Wouldn’t simple text message just do? As much as they wanted to question him, they decided it was best not to. Grizzly helped Arackniss stand. Immediately the gothic arachnid made his way back over to his family’s side of the beach. Mostly likely to collect his things.

Henroin snapped his fingers again. 

“Let’s go boys. We ain’t needed here.” 

Once they were out of earshot, Mia scoffed. 

“Wow. Does he snap his fingers at everyone like they’re dogs or something?” 

“It’s a display of authority.” Angel commented. “Ta let everyone knows that he’s in command. It’s also used as a way ta command someone ta do an action. Or he’s jus’ impatient.” 

Interesting. Still rude as hell. But then again, they weren’t well-verse in mob culture. The eldest moth turned her attention back to her brother. 

“Tino, are you sure you’re okay with ending your beach day? This was supposed to be a family trip or us too.” 

He gave her a smile. 

“Izzy, it’s fine. Besides, I can always drive back.” 

“You sure? It’d be a two hour round trip.”

He paused.

“...actually it might be best if I don’t drive back. I might be tired once I get back to the city.” 

He started to go collect his things. 

“Let’s see…. phone, my towel, my bag…. Did I bring anything else? Do I want to take the seashells home? Oh! I’ll need to give Arackniss’s bucket back to him. Did I give it back to him already? Wait… did his abuela take them already? ….shit. I can’t remember.” 

As he was busy collecting his stuff, Angel frowned. He really didn’t want his boss and brother driving home alone. But he also didn’t want to leave the beach so early…. Dammit! Why this have to happen to him of all days?? Why couldn’t the universe have it that they had separate beach days? 

None of this shit would’ve went down! 

The only highlight was at least Molly and Maria were being punished by their hairbrained scheme.  

But…. he really didn’t want to end his beach day either. He was having a total blast! …..Aw fuck it. He was going to enjoy the rest of his day. He wasn’t going to let his gremlin of a brother ruin his trip. 

He still didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone… 

He shook his head. Beach trip. If he went with Arackniss and Valentino, no doubt his boss would persuade him to come to the tower to do some work. And he rather enjoy his day off…. 

Mind made up, he decided to head back over to his family’s side of the beach. 

“Well, I’ll catch ya guys later. I got a tan ta work on. See ya ‘round!” 

They watched the famous spider walk off. Then once Valentino collected his things, they said their goodbyes.

“Let us know when you get back.”

“I know, Izzy, I will.”

“And drive safe.”

“I will. Don’t worry, I’m not like how Niss is behind the wheel.”

Mia furrowed her brow.

“Hey, wait a minute. Are you driving or him?”

“Probably best if I do. Why?”

"Did he drive himself here? How are you gonna fit in his car if the driver’s seat is fixed in place?”

“Oh, they’re not anymore. Since his growth spurt, he had to get the seats updated for his new height. I’m pretty sure he mentioned deciding to make them adjustable again, but I can’t remember why he chose to.”

“Aw, what? That ain’t fair!”

He blinked at her.

“What??”

“You get to drive one of his sweet cars!”

“Oh… Oh! That’s right!”

“Damn. Lucky!”

He smirked.

“Should’ve offered to drive him first~”

Mia huffed and sent the middle finger at him.

Valentino then turned to Carmilla and her daughters.

“Sorry I couldn’t stay longer. I’ll try to make up for it sometime.”

“Not to worry. We understand with the circumstances,” Carmilla assured, both Oddete and Clara nodding in agreement.

The moth turned around, only to nearly run into Zestial.

“Jesus Christ!”

The older sinner chuckled.

“Apologies. Thou art too easy to startle.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s funny, I got it. Until next time, Zestial.”

“And to you, Valentino.”

“All of you enjoy the rest of your beach day. ¡Adios!”

Valentino started making his way back to the parking lot. And soon saw Arackniss and Boo waiting nearby. Oh boy… Hopefully Arackniss didn’t clam up on him. He could only imagine how the spider felt knowing his ‘dream’ was actually real. He’ll definitely need to assure that the only problem was their sisters. 

He offered a cautious smile.

“Hey. You ready to go?”

Arackniss kept his gaze to the floor. He was messing with the hem on his shirt.

“… Yeh…”

All three continued into the parking lot and to Arackniss’ car. A fancy, rare one as usual. They loaded their stuff in before the spider handed over the keys. The shell buckets emptied to where Arackniss only had a couple of shells in one bucket. 

They opened the trunk, placed the buckets in, along with all of Arackniss’s and his beach gear. Then they went to get into the car. Valentino adjusted the seat so he could comfortably drive. He’ll def have to readjust the seat once they get back. No doubt Arackniss would be upset if he didn’t.

Once buckled in, Valentino started the car, and drove out of the parking lot. 

The first couple of minutes in the drive was silent. The moth tried to think of a way to help ease the spider’s anxiety over what happened. His thumbs drummed on the steering wheel. 

“Hey.” 

The mobster glanced over at him. Boo had settled onto Arackniss’s lap. He wanted to stay close to help make his Ma- Owner feel better. “I’m not mad at what you said when you were drugged.” 

Arackniss looked away. 

“Ya should be…” 

“Why?” 

“....I embarrassed ya.” 

“Niss, you didn’t embarrass me.” 

“I… did.” 

Dammit. What could he say? What could he say…? Oh!

“Not gonna lie…. I really did like how sweet you were on me.” 

A surprised blink. He squinted at him. 

“....ya sure.” 

“Oh yea! The pet names were… sweet. What did you call me? Cil…gina? You said it meant ‘small cherry’?”

“....ciliegina.” 

“Yeah that!” 

He could see Arackniss starting to loosen up a little bit. Good! This was good! He smirked. 

“Plus, I really did want to kiss you. But ya know, you were drugged.” 

Now the mobster fully sat up. 

“Really?” 

“Oh yeah. Took everything in me not to kiss your stupid little love-sick face. If I did, you wouldn't have remembered the kiss. I want you to have full control over it. Being drugged really fucks with your head and consent.” 

Huh. That made sense. And… it actually made him feel a little bit better too. 

“I… guess that makes sense….” 

“So whatcha gonna do with those seashells?” 

“Oh, I have a cabinet I put them in. I shift through the shells to see which ones I really want to add to my collection, and then the others I give away to beach shops in town.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. They make good money on selling shells.” 

“I never knew that.” 

“Yeah. ….would you like to take some with you?” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Yeah, I’ll take a few of the ones you don’t want.” 

“Ya sure? If ya got some that ya like-” 

“I’m sure. I ain’t as big into seashells as you are. But I’m sure whatever ones you got, they’ll still be special cause they’re from you.” 

Arackniss felt his face heat up. Dammit, why’d Valentino have to say things like that? It always made him feel fuzzy inside.

There was some more silence.

The spider thumped his foot anxiously.

“How… How bad was I? I only remember some parts…”

“What do you remember?”

“You, obviously. I remember wantin’ ta kiss ya real bad… And cuddling you at some point.”

“Close enough. I kept you on my lap to keep you calm and happy until it wore off. To avoid to alerting your family mostly”

A small nod.

“Okay, that… That makes sense… I also remember singin’.”

Valentino suppressed a grin.

“Yup. It was like your stage fright vanished.”

A whine.

“Why me… What did I sing?”

“Couple different love songs. You also bit me and licked my cheek.”

The spider covered his face in embarrassment.

“Oh god…”

“And asked we go somewhere private so we can finally kiss.”

“It just keeps getting worse…”

Valentino winced.

“Yeah… That’s not the worst part.”

Arackniss lifted his head in alarm.

“What- What else did I do?”

A pause.

“Okay, um… I’m just gonna pull over, just in case.”

“Val.”

“I’m not gonna lie, you’re likely gonna be very upset.”

Some quickened breaths.

“Oh god, what did I do??”

Valentino pulled over on the side of the road and turned off the car. Then turned his body to face him.

“Okay, so… When I got back to my family to tell them what Maria did, you came chasing after me. To make sure your family didn’t find out, Mia held you until I got you into a burrito towel. But-”

“What- What’s a burrito towel?”

“Ya know, like a burrito blanket, but with a towel. It was all we had.”

“Oh…”

“Anyway, you ended up biting her a couple times to escape. We got you wrapped up and you were happy to be with me. Then eventually one of Carmilla’s daughters asked about Mia getting injected with venom…” 

He trailed off, letting Arackniss figure out where he was going.

The spider stared at him. 

“Please tell me ya didn’t tell ‘em I don’t have venom.”

“No.”

“Oh thank god. So what-”

“You… Actually told them…”

Panic hit the mobster once more. He gripped his head. No! Nononono!! Why!? Why was this happening to him!? Oh god! What if they told someone!? The rival families could…! They would-! He gave another scream, causing Valentino to wince at it. 

He leaned over and started to rub his thumb between 

“Hey, hey, hey it’s okay. It’s alright! They promised they wouldn’t tell anyone.” 

Arackniss whined. He didn’t like other people knowing he didn’t have venom! Why did Maria have to drug him??? Once he was calmed down enough, he slumped against the window. 

“I don’t like this….” 

“I know.” 

“Why did Maria have to drug me?” 

“She and Molly wanted us to kiss.” 

“....I don’t like her no more.” 

“I get that.” He started the car again, getting back onto the road. “But Izzy and your abuela laid inta them. They’re gonna help you clean your animal room.” 

He made a face. 

“They ain’t gonna do it right….” 

“You can show them how on their first day. They’re gonna leave up to you for how long they clean the room.” 

“I clean it every few days. I don’t think I’ll like them over so much.” 

“That’s okay. But this is a punishment for them for what they did to you.” 

Well… he couldn’t really argue against that. 

“Okay…. Do you mind if I put on an audio book?” 

“Not at all. Maybe listening to something will help you feel better.” 

Arackniss reached into his stack of CDs, then pulled out a CD. He then inserted it into the player. A calming soothing woman’s voice started to speak. 

“Water for elephants. Written by Sara Gruen. An audio book recorded at the Golden Records. Read by Lena Copperstate.” 

Ah. He should’ve known. Of course Arackniss would be listening to books about elephants. He wasn’t going to complain. Anything to keep the spider happy and calm doing the drive was a plus. 

At least the drive back will be peaceful.

After an hour, the two finally managed to reach the apartment complex that Arackniss now lived in. The mobster had shelled out some extra money for a private garage, so that at least ensured that his fancy car wouldn’t be out in the open. 

Once parked, the two headed towards the elevator. Arackniss gave a polite nod over at the secretary imp. Once the doors were shut, and the key turned, they arrived in the Penthouse a few short moments later. 

Immediately, Arackniss went to fish out his phone. Remembering his father’s request. This caught the other man’s attention. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Pops told me to call him the moment I entered.” 

“Niss, your arms are full.” 

“But he gave me an order.” 

“How about this? We set the stuff down first, then you can call him.” 

“....what if he gets mad?” 

“Then I’ll tell him that I suggested it. Come on, let’s put this stuff down before we drop it all.” 

Uncertainly clawed at Arackniss’s stomach, but he did his best to ignore it. All they had to do was just sit the stuff down, then he call his father. ….Okay. He can do that. Plus his arms were getting heavy with holding all this stuff. 

Once they entered the living room, they dropped everything in their arms. Except for the buckets of seashells. Those were placed softly on the ground to prevent damage. Once his hands were free, Arackniss immediately video-called his father.  

It took one ring, then he answered. 

“Nicolas?” 

“Yeh. I’m home.” 

“Good. No trouble with the pimp?”

“No.”

“He’s gone right?”

Arackniss fought the urge to glance at the moth in his living room.

“Yes.”

Henroin nodded.

“Rest up. I’ll see ya in the office tomorrow.”

“I will.”

“A presto.”

“A presto.”

He ended the call. Phew, at least that was over with.

“Did you really just lie about me being here?”

He looked up at the grinning moth. 

“Yes… Was… Was I not supposed ta?”

“No, I’m just a bit surprised. I know you’ve said before you can never lie to Henroin cuz he’ll find out.”

“Well… I didn’t know how he’d act if I said you were still here.”

“Fair. I just think it’s cute you’ll lie about me.”

“Cute?? How’s it cute?”

“I’m like your dirty little secret~”

Arackniss’ face went hot.

“D-Don’t phrase it like that!”

Valentino burst out laughing. 

“Am I wrong? I know you’re not being totally honest about us to your father.”

As if his face could get any hotter.

“… Y- You’d be right…”

“You’re such a cutie.”

“I will bite you.”

“That only means you like me more~”

“N-No it doesn’t!”

“Yes it does~ Because you explained that you associate biting with showing love from your abuela’s cat~”

“… Fuck you.”

Valentino giggled. Then pulled out his phone.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go ahead and call up my driver so I can head home myself.”

A shot of disappointment hit the spider.

“Oh… Do- Do ya gotta leave so soon?”

“Do you want me to stay longer?”

“… I wouldn’t mind. Least ‘til… Sundown?”

The moth smirked teasingly, bending down to boop his nose.

“Like I said, you’re a cutie. Let me go change into my comfy clothes.”

“Okay.” 

While the moth went to change clothes, Arackniss went to work on putting up all of his stuff. Toss the dirty towels and Boo’s water toys into the washing machine, rinse off the seashells and sandcastle molds, put away the sunscreen and other small items… 

“Niss?” 

“In the hall closet!” 

Valentino came around the corner. 

“There ya are. Need help putting stuff away?” 

“Nah. I got most of it. I’ll have to take a shower and go change.” 

“Already?” 

“I got sand in my fur. It’s a bitch to clean out. Plus I wanna go change too. I can’t stay in my beachwear. We’re not at the beach anymore. I have to change clothes. And I need to give Boo a quick rinse.” 

“Ah, okay. How about while you do that, I go ahead and lay the seashells out.” 

“Okay.” 

“...any specific way you want me to lay them out?” 

Arackniss gave a thoughtful frown. Should they go biggest to smallest? Or color coordinated? Though many of the shells had multiple colors… and that would make them difficult to do color coordination with… 

“Smallest to biggest, please.” 

“Sure thing, bichito.” 

“Come on Boo, let’s get you cleaned from all that sand.” 

Once the two dark creatures left the room, Valentino went to work on organizing the shells. Smallest to biggest. 

It took probably about forty-five minutes for Arackniss to return. Not that Valentino minded. He knew it took the mobster a while to shower with his fur. Not to mention he also had to clean off Boo too. As well as change his clothes. 

Once all clean and dress, Arackniss came back out into the living room. 

“Alright, we’re cleaned and dressed.” 

Valentino glanced up, then grinned. 

“Oh perfect! I just got all the shells lined up. So which ones do you wanna keep?” 

Arackniss bent down on the ground. Let’s see…. He was definitely keeping the black and purple shell that Nonna gave him. Oh, and keep this white one with the red heart-shaped spots. It reminded him of Valentino. Also this black shell with green specks. That one reminded him of Boo. Let’s see…. 

Oh and keep those two too. 

“Alright. I got what I want.” 

Valentino glanced over the shells. Let’s see…. what did he want? He’ll def take this little black one with eight little red specks on them. This electric blue one that reminded him of Vox. As well as the dark red one with a white swirl that reminded him of Velvette. There we go!

“And I got mine!” 

“Great.” Arackniss started to put the remainder of the shells back into the bucket. “I’ll put these aside to take into town tomorrow.” 

Once those were put away, the two fell onto the couch. 

“Uhg, what a day.” 

“You said it.” 

“At least it’s over. Until next year.”

“Maybe next year things will be better with your family and I can join.”

“… I wouldn’t mind that. Thanks. For… Spendin’ time with me today.”

“Aw, I was happy to.”

Boo looked between them, not really understanding why they weren’t being affectionate like they were earlier. It didn’t make sense. Did Arackniss’ panic attacks scare Valentino? He really hoped not. They were so happy together at the beach. He crawled over Arackniss’ lap and tried to pull Valentino closer. The spider tilted his head.

“Boo? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, he’s probably wondering what happened to us.”

“What do ya mean?”

Valentino scooted closer to get Boo to stop tugging on his wrist.

“You were all cuddly and affectionate earlier. It must be confusing him why you’re not anymore.”

“O-Oh…” Arackniss mumbled with a blush. That was… A fair observation. He brought the pachyderm over. “Hey Boo, are we wonderin’ why we’re like we were earlier?”

The little elephant gave a squeak, clearly looking between the two.

“Ah, sorry, buddy. That’s… Not how we are. I was drugged by one of his sisters. She made me act… Not myself.”

Boo tilted his head. Drugged? Made him act not himself? What was wrong with how he acted? Did… Did that mean Arackniss didn’t really want to be mates with Valentino? But they liked each other! 

Right? 

He gave a sad whine.

Valentino scratched behind his ear.

“Aww, poor thing. It probably confused him too much. It’s alright, Boo. Your daddy likes me, he’s just very shy.”

Arackniss sputtered.

“Wha- Hey!”

“Am I wrong?”

The spider glared with a blush and turned his head away. Hearing a giggle only made him blush more. Because… It was true. He was shy. He’d never felt this way about anyone before! He didn’t know if he was doing anything right! They hadn’t even had their first kiss yet! His first kiss… As much as he wanted it from Val already… He was glad the moth didn’t go for it while he was under the influence. To get his first kiss and not remember it… He’d definitely be disappointed. And probably pissed too. Thankfully Val had the decency to realize that. Besides, he promised to when they-

He lifted his head.

Then looked at Valentino.

“You promised.”

“Huh?” 

“You promised to kiss me at the beach when we got back.” 

A hum, then the moth leaned closer. 

“I did…. didn’t I?” 

“You did.” 

Arackniss felt his heart beat faster. Was this it? Was he finally going to get his first kiss? After all these decades? Wait shit! Should he prepare first? Go and brush his teeth first? Wait.. he did that already after eating at the beach. He never did like the feel of food being stuck in his mouth. 

It…. It should be fine!

Hands cupped his cheeks. 

Oh god! It was happening! This was it! 

Their faces got closer. The heat radiated on the spider’s face. He closed his eyes. Felt the other man’s lips contact his…

A burst of fireworks ignited within him. Sparkles filled his imagination. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach. His foot thumped against the ground rapidly as if he was like Thumper from Bambi.

It felt…. magical. 

He lifted his hand, bringing it up to caress the back of Valentino’s head. He pulled him closer. He didn’t want this to end. 

Would Valentino expect tongue? 

Maybe next time. Eventually the two pulled away, gasping for air. 

“So… how was your first kiss?” 

“It was…. magical.” 

“Yeah?” 

“I’ve…. Is all kisses like that?” 

“Not all. But hey, good for you.” 

His first kiss. He had his first kiss! Yes! And to think it was with Val! His friend! His crush! Though he used to imagine it was a woman. But surely kissing him was-

He felt a screech shot though his head. 

He kissed Valentino. He kissed a man. Shit!! Shitshitshitshitshit!! What did that mean?? Kissing men was gay! He wasn’t gay! Fuck! Did that meant he was gay too?? What would his family think? What would his father!?!? 

He started to hyperventilate. 

No. Nonono!! He wasn’t gay! He wasn’t! 

The sudden change in behavior caused Valentino’s brows to furrow. 

“Niss? Are you okay?” 

“I kissed a man!” 

Ah. 

He chuckled. 

“You did~” 

“But I ain’t gay!” 

“Bichito, it’s-”

“Cazzo!!” 

Valentino jumped a bit in surprise. This was… Not the reaction he was expecting… Shit, was his homophobia still that bad?

“Niss?”

“This wasn’t supposed ta happen! I wasn’t supposed ta kiss ya! I’m not supposed ta wanna!” He gripped at his hair. “Pops is gonna fuckin’ kill me!”

Ah, that’s what it was. Not homophobia… Well, no, a little bit of that. But mostly fear of his father if he found out. Figures. Damn that Henroin…

Okay, never mind that asshole. Focus on Arackniss.

“Hey, hey, don’t worry. He won’t find out.”

“Yes he will! He always finds out! Always! What am I gonna do!? I can’t be gay!”

“Niss, you’re not gay.”

“I kissed you! You’re a man! That makes me gay!”

“Nnnnnnnot exactly…” He carefully stopped the spider from pulling out his hair. “Niss, listen. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not!!”

“Yes, it is. Henroin is not gonna find out.”

“How do you know!? I’m so fucked!!”

Okay, new plan. Get him to calm down first.

“Arackniss, look at me. Breathe.”

The mobster’s breathing was quick and shallow. He tried to control it. Boo was also quick to try and help him calm down, nuzzling him and caressing his face with his trunk. Arackniss’ lower arms pulled him in close.

“C’mon, Niss. Breathe in.” Valentino inhaled. “And out.” Then exhaled.

Arackniss tried to follow him. Breathe in and out. In and out. Gradually his breathing started to even out.

“There we go. Keep going. You’re okay. You’re safe.”

He’s okay. He’s safe. 

Breathe in, breathe out.

He’s okay. He’s safe.

Breathe in, breathe out.

“That’s it,” Valentino assured gently, “You’re doing good. Just like that.”

It took a few minutes, but eventually Arackniss managed to calm down enough. Exhaustion was starting to settle in. Today was too much. He slumped back against the cushion, staring up at the ceiling.

“Better?”

“… A little.”

“That’s good. You wanna explain what happened?”

A whine.

“Everything’s so fucked…”

“Can you tell me how?”

He didn’t respond right away, trying to gather his thoughts for a comprehensible answer.

“… I’m not supposed ta want this.”

“Want what?”

“This, between us. I… I’m not supposed ta like you this much. I shouldn’t wanna kiss you this bad… I… I’m not gay.”

“Niss… I don’t think you are.”

“What else would I be? You and I are both men. That’s the definition of bein’ gay!”

“There are other sexualities, Niss. I like both men and women, does that make me gay?”

“… No…”

“So why does that make you gay?”

“I… I don’t like men. I only like women. I’ve only ever liked women.”

“But you like me.”

“… I do… A lot…”

“You can like both men and women.” 

“I… I shouldn’t….”

“You can. There’s nothing wrong with it.” 

“There is something wrong with it! I can’t like men! I can’t be gay!!” He panted, his jaw clenched and he pointed an accused finger at him. “You did this ta me. Ya made me gay.” 

Valentino gave a snort. 

“You give me too much credit. I can’t make you gay, Niss. Sexualities aren’t choices.” 

“I’m supposed ta be straight!” 

“Well, ya ain’t.” 

“You… You-!” He growled, grabbing his hair. “I hate this! I hate you! Yer makin’ me question things ‘bout myself! I shouldn’t be questionin’ myself! Damn it! This is wrong! All wrong!” 

“How is it wrong? To like someone? To be happy?” 

“‘Cuz that ain’t how it should be! I’m supposed ta marry a woman! I’m supposed ta have kids!” 

“Well that went out the door when ya died.” 

“I KNOW!! Then you came! You got inta my life! You made me…. THIS!! I can’t be this!! I can’t!!” 

“There’s nothing wrong with that Niss. It doesn’t hurt to cut loose and experiment. To learn there’s more than being straight.” 

“I’m in the damn Mafia! I can’t be gay in the Mafia! That’s a one-way ticket for me ta get whacked!” 

Well this wasn’t working. Valentino tried to think of a way to calm him down. To help him see that there was nothing wrong with liking people of the same gender. But that was easier said than done. 

Arackniss wasn’t like his brother. 

Angel took pleasure in being himself. He didn’t have his brother’s autism. He didn’t have the pressure of being the perfect golden boy in the mafia family. He didn’t have the soul-crushing pressure to be the mob’s definition of “perfect” in their field. Angel got to be himself. Free of the expectations. 

Not him. Never him. 

The spindly sinner sent a glare at the Overlord. 

“I….I should kill ya fer makin’ me this way.” 

Valentino stared at him. Wordlessly, he moved. He reached into his coat and pulled out his own gun. He placed it in the mobster’s hand. He guided it up to point the barrel at his forehead. 

“Than here. Do it. Since it’s bothering you so much. That I infected you with The Gay. Kill me to make it go away. I guarantee you that it won’t.” 

Arackniss’s hands shook. He should. Send a bullet through his damn head. For doing this to him. For making him feel these weird feelings. For making him like men. He could end him right here and now. 

…But he didn’t want that. 

Valentino was his friend. He couldn’t kill his friend. Plus what if the bullets were holy? Then he’d never see him again…. 

There was a tense silence between them. Valentino waited to see what Arackniss would do. Would he kill him? Personally he hoped not. But there was no guarantee. 

The gun was lowered. 

“I…I can’t. As much as I want to….. I can’t.” 

“Do you really want to?” Valentino asked gently.

“… No…”

The moth took his gun and set it aside. Then carefully cupped Arackniss’ face.

“Niss, listen to me. You’re confused and scared. That’s normal. But… Why is it such an issue now?”

Against his better judgment, Arackniss leaned into the touch.

“… I… I guess it’s… Finally hittin’ me that I’m… I’m not…”

“Straight?”

“… Yeah.”

“And you’re worried how Henroin will react, aren’t you? Knowing how he was with your brother?”

A sniffle.

“… Yeah…”

“Listen, bichito. Henroin doesn’t need to know about this, about us.”

“B-But he’ll find out eventually.”

“You’re not ready to come out of the closet yet. That’s okay. We can take this one step at a time. And I’ll be right there with you.” His thumb wiped away a tear. “ You don’t have to face this alone.”

“… This is wrong, Val. We… We can’t…”

“Did you like the kiss?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you like me?”

“… A lot…”

“Do you feel like I forced you?”

“No.”

“Then there’s nothing wrong. We didn’t do anything wrong. We can keep this just between us, okay? One step at a time.”

Arackniss took a shaky breath.

“O-One step at a time… M’sorry I ruined the moment…”

“Don’t be. You just got hit with a truckload of emotions, that’s all.”

That was… An understatement. Arackniss sighed tiredly and leaned more into the moth’s hands. His own hands gripped his wrist. Valentino frowned softly in thought. As much as he wanted to keep what they had going… Maybe it was best to hold off on it for the time being. At least until Arackniss felt more comfortable with his self-discovery.

“Hey. We… Can pretend this didn’t happen if you want.”

Arackniss looked at him in alarm.

“Wh-What?”

“I don’t want you to feel this is something you have to move forward with if it’s too much for you. We can still be just friends and… Try again at a later date. When you’re more comfortable. Does that sound-”

“No.”

Valentino blinked.

“No?”

“I…” He swallowed. “I wanna move forward. I feel… Strongly about ya. Just… C-Can we take it slow?”

A smile crept across the moth’s lips. 

“Yeah. We can take it slow.” 

The spider felt relief wash over him. Good. Good. He can… He can manage as long as they take it easy. He felt his heat leap up into his throat again when he leaned close again. 

“I’ll give you some space for tonight. I’ll be back over tomorrow for our sleepover. Don’t stress, bichito.” A kiss was placed on his snout. “Buenas noches.” 

“N-night.” 

Arackniss watched him leave. He slumped in his seat. Great…. His first kiss and he almost ruined it by freaking out! God what the fuck was wrong with him?? Valentino probably thought that he was weird. He is weird. He can’t do anything right. 

He flopped onto his side. 

He was exhausted. The beach, his constant panic attacks…. It was too much. He forced himself to sit up. He wanted to sleep. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to. But he wish he could… 

He felt something reach up and brush against his cheek. 

Boo. Probably checking to see if he was okay. He gave a small smile. He petted him. 

“Yeah… I’m okay Boo. I just…. I have a lot of overwhelmin’ feelings… I’m sorry if I scared you when I yelled at Val. Lemme go check on Misery ‘nd we can cuddle up in bed ‘nd watch a movie. Sounds nice?” 

Boo trumpeted in confirmation. That did sound nice! 

“Alright.” 

He forced himself to sit up. He crawled over to where Misery’s web was stationed at the base of a lamp. The little spider was still there. He could see that he was currently wrapping a hell-fly that had gotten ensnared in his web. 

“Hi Misery. I see you’re good on dinner tonight. Did you have a good day? We went to the beach. A lot happened. Boo and I are going to retire to my room. You have a good night.” 

The hell-arachnid waved his leg in acknowledgment. Satisfied, Arackniss and Boo went to the bedroom. The mobster picked up his pet, placing him on the bed. Boo gave a pleased squeak. Moving to curl up on a pillow on the head of the bed. Arackiss chuckled. He crawled in himself, grabbing the remote and flipping the TV on. 

He smiled to himself. 

He did it.

He had his first kiss. 

This was a moment he wasn’t going to forget. He curled up with Boo. His first kiss, with the man he had a crush on. They agreed to take things slow. Did that mean they were official now? He knew Val would still sleep with people. What did that mean with Vox? Were they no longer together? He didn’t know. He’ll have to have a discussion with him about that tomorrow. 

But right now? 

Right now, he was going to enjoy knowing he finally got his first kiss.