VAPORAME

Vash does a good job of pretending to be human. Not that he’s trying to pretend. Vash is probably the most genuine and peace-loving idiot amongst humanity on this shitty planet and he shows more emotion than half of the people they come across. And continues to do so despite all the scars and shit he’s been through. It can be hard to see past the mask if you aren’t around him long enough—probably a reason why Vash doesn’t hang around a town for too long.

Hiding on the other hand, Wolfwood can assume Vash does not want his inhumanity to be known, which is something can Wolfwood emphasizes, having his own past demons. It became an unspoken rule to Wolfwood to not talk or think about Vash’s inhumanity and also pretend Vash was more human than Plant.

Wolfwood didn’t think one of the many hidden Plant abilities would include this of all things.
—
Or, the times Wolfwood witness Vash purring and didn't mind it.

Vash knows he has fucked up and his punishment is in the form of Wolfwood’s silent anger.

He didn’t want to inconvenience anyone when he left early in the morning. He really thought he could make a quick trip—it’s only four hours away, he’s done worse—and be back in the afternoon. Instead, he got unlucky with encountering bounty hunters after he took care of the Plant. Even more unlucky that some of their shots landed. The uncomfortable pain in his abdomen had made the trip on the Toma unbearable and longer than it should have.

Vash didn’t want to inconvenience Wolfwood but he’s gone and done that right now anyways.
—
Or, Vash goes off on his own and comes back hurt and tired. Wolfwood takes care of him.

Before falling asleep, Vash hopes his Plant biology can work its magic and withstand the poison. To his dismay, Vash wakes up two hours later to his body boiling and learning that he is, in fact, not immune to the poison. At all.

Wishful thinking.
—
Or, Vash gets poisoned.

There are black feathers scattered on the bed and a trail of them on the floor. The trail leads to the bathroom which Wolfwood can assume where Vash is hiding. Striding to the bathroom, Wolfwood can hear Vash whining and he startles when he rounds the corner. Vash is sprawled over the bathtub but that’s not what startles him. It’s the two large ebony wings draping down his back onto the tiled floor. More feathers are scattered along with specs of red. The wings themselves are tangled, clumps of feathers sticking out in various directions, like a Toma who hasn’t preened in a month.
—
Or, Vash neglects to groom his wings. Wolfwood helps.

Vash isn’t surprised that his markings are glowing in the dark room (his subconscious thoughts of wanting to heal Wolfwood causing them to appear), but something else is glowing too, faint.

Wolfwood has his own markings. Plant markings.
—
Or, Wolfwood gets injured and Vash heals him.

No incidents getting into town and the building the Plant resides in. Only a few folks gave them a look as they made their way to a desolate part of the town where the Plant was located. Wolfwood thinks no one gave them a double-take so this mission should be a piece of cake.

Keyword: Should.
—
Or, Vash is fatigued from healing Plants and they run into people looking to collect his bounty.

Wordlessly, Wolfwood stitches the wounds. Vash wheezes at his skin being pierced. It also seems like it’s a good time for him to babble.

"I'm glad it's me and not you,” Vash wheezes. “I don’t want you taking any more vials."

Wolfwood bites back his retort. Better than you suffering like this. He lets Vash continue to talk in his delirium if it helps distract him from the pain.

“You’re so good to me.” Vash grips the fabrics of Wolfwood’s pants.

Ridiculous. All he’s doing is making sure Vash doesn’t die out here in the desert. Wolfwood ignores him. However, can’t ignore the next words that come out of Vash’s mouth, stilling his movements.
—
Or, delirious from the poison, Vash confesses. Wolfwood takes care of him.

This came out of seeing fanart of Vash having a last run. I want to write tristamp vash going through a last run (red plant lines and all) but enjoy this trimax one for now <3

Just an extra note here that there's no MCD and wolfwood is alive

Confused but tired, Vash settles back against the bed, closing his eyes once more. The soft noise happens again. With furrowed brows, Vash pushes himself to full consciousness to discern where the sound is coming from and who. Listening for a couple of seconds, he realizes the sound isn’t coming from in or outside the room, it’s not a sound at all.

The sound is in his head.

Vash knows it could mean one thing: it’s coming from a Plant. But where? The Plant doesn’t sound like it’s in distress but Vash searches for its location anyway. He doesn’t get very far, eyes widening when he realizes he’s not alone in the room nor alone in his body.
—
Or, Vash discovers he's not alone in his body, mind connecting with his unborn baby. He struggles to tell Wolfwood.

Closing the door behind him, Wolfwood slaps a hand to cover his nose and scans the room. In his signature red coat and leather pants, Vash is lying on his side on the bed, his travel bag forgotten as it sits in the middle of the room. Stepping closer, Wolfwood realizes the smell is coming from Vash, who is writhing and sweating while dozing. Something in Wolfwood’s brain clicks, eyes widening.

Is Vash in heat?
—
Or, Wolfwood finds out Vash is an omega.

Wolfwood’s usual pine scent is there, faint underneath the unknown one. The new scent is refreshing, crisp. Vash tries to put a name to the smell, sifting through his brain to recall. It’s familiar but distant. He’s come across the scent before but not very often for him to remember easily.

It’s when a memory from months ago hits him and he knows exactly what the scent is.

It’s rain—water.
—
Or, Vash finds out Wolfwood's true scent.

He’s seen Vash’s sharp canines when he smiles wide or laughs hard but not this close and personal. Wolfwood has felt them on his skin and tongue, only a graze of their sharp edges. Vash doesn’t make much use of them besides eating.

The top incisors are longer than the bottom ones. Looking closer, his molars and front teeth are sharper than a human’s. It’s like looking into a beast’s mouth, the set of teeth can easily tear into him. Wolfwood is glad Vash is relatively harmless and doesn’t have violent tendencies.

An intrusive thought enters his mind: how would they feel on his skin?
—
Or, Vash regrows a tooth, teething and biting happen.

When Vash approaches the cell, Wolfwood sees his dreadful state. There's dried blood under his nose, fresh blood on his temple, and he has a split lip. Wolfwood can see a bruise forming on his neck underneath the high collar.

Vash’s tense shoulders droop as soon as he sees him as if the entire weight of the planet slid off in his relief. Wolfwood doesn't think he’s worth that much.
—
Or, Vash saves a captured Wolfwood and gets hurt in the process. Wolfwood patches him up.

Right on cue, he hears footsteps approaching and freezes. He can only hold his breath until the steps stop right outside the laundry room. He looks up with water still in his eyes.

It's Miss Melanie.

He must look awful since she hides her surprise with concern as she soaks in his sorry state. Her eyes land on the blood-stained sheets in the basin. His eyes also land on the sheets but with shame.
—
Or, Vash learns how to take care of himself on his period with the help of Miss Melanie and Wolfwood is a good (boy)friend.

Vash stops trying and lays down on the sand to take a breather. He racks through his muddled brain to find a way out—the only option that sticks out is someone else has to release the clasp. Wolfwood will find him and get him out of this.

He just hopes Wolfwood gets to him first.
—
Or, Vash gets stuck in a worm trap.

Vash laughs humorlessly at the timing. His heat only happened during puberty—if it can be called that given his nature—it was a part of growing up so why is it back now?

Misery fills Vash’s heart—he accidentally considers Wolfwood his mate, his partner. The Plant in him decided without his knowledge but it’s too late on the memo that his other half is gone to fill that need. He can’t catch a break.
—
Or, Vash thinks Wolfwood is dead and goes into heat.

“Vash! What're you—” he cuts himself off at the sight before him.

Vash’s skin is completely masked with feathers, but that's not what he’s staring at. He stares at the two small creatures next to him. Vash is preoccupied with licking—grooming the feathers of one of them. They have tiny feathers and wings like Vash.

Oh my god.

Those are his twins—their kids.
—
Or, Vash and Nicholas meet the twins.

Wolfwood didn’t believe his eyes or nose when Vash walked into the kitchen.

The stench of an omega’s heat was in the air, the bitter kind when the person is anxious. He did a head count at the table and found no one was sick or presenting. Just Vash was absent. Seeing Vash present his neck at the doorway, smelling Vash, made him freeze in confusion. He held back any protective instinct he had by balling his fists, fighting the urge to walk over to Vash and bring Vash back to whatever nest he made.

Vash is a beta—well, was a beta since he’s known him, so why is he in heat?
—
Or, Vash goes through his first heat.

Vash refused to go into town for a long while when he was first getting settled at the orphanage. Some coaxing and company made him comfortable enough to help with picking up supplies or checking out the local market. He enjoyed seeing the bustling streets, even going so far as to people-watch by the benches while enjoying a light snack.

The high of interacting with humans was soon squashed after an unfriendly run-in with a local who cursed and yelled at him. It sobered Vash up, unwilling to go to town for two months.

Vash just warmed up to going again and now this happens, possibly blinded by misplaced anger.
—
Or, Vash is temporarily blinded and Wolfwood takes care of him.

He didn't recognize all the signs that his body was telling him to slow down, until one hot afternoon playing with the kids, a day after rebuilding the orphanage. Vash supposes all the power he used up would someday come back to bite him in the ass.
—
Or, Vash gets a fever.

Wolfwood crosses his arms. "Y'know you don't have to take those anymore, right?"

"I know."

Wolfwood sighs. "At least try to wean off them," he grumbles. He doesn't want to start an argument while they've got stuff to do.

Vash looks off to the side, gazing at the bottle of pills, lost in thought as he considers the idea. "I'll think about it."
—
Or, Vash struggles to stop taking suppressants, leaving Wolfwood frustrated.

"Spikey?" Wolfwood kneels before Vash to tap his face. He gets no reaction from the other man. "Vash—hey." He shakes Vash to wake him up, but to no avail. That's when he notices a red stain on Vash's side, darker than his coat, and a bullet hole. Wolfwood curses and lifts Vash into his arms to lay him on the bed, quickly unfastening the rows of buttons on Vash's coat to tend to the wound. His movements stop when he sees more than just a bullet wound under Vash's coat.

There's a suspicious bump on Vash's abdomen.
—
Or, When Vash gets hurt and passes out, Wolfwood finds a little surprise.

Vash knows childbirth was the most excruciating experience one could go through. He also knows he's not going to have a typical human childbirth experience, if the occasional feathers sprouting from his skin due to haywire hormones is anything to go by.
—
Or, Vash gives birth to their daughter.

Wolfwood turns his gaze to watch Vash, who's also watching the scenery. The other has a strange, faraway expression on his face. It's a bittersweet one.

"Is something bugging you?" Wolfwood asks.

The expression disappears as Vash glances at him. "No, it's nothing."

Wolfwood frowns.

"Really, I'm fine, don't give me that face. I'm enjoying myself." Vash attempts to placate him, but Wolfwood isn't buying it. He looks back at the crowd with a smile. "It's great to see everyone happy."
—
Or, Vash has some feelings about his birthday after celebrating.

"Let's go, spikey," Wolfwood says while walking up to him. When Vash pouts in response, Wolfwood raises a brow at him. "What?"

Vash shakes his head. "Nothing. Let's get some ice cream."

He wants a disgustingly sweet pet name.
—
Or, Five times Wolfwood calls Vash sweetheart (and one time Vash calls Wolfwood sweetheart).

Vash barely focuses his attention on the words Wolfwood throws at him as they navigate through the grocery store. Wolfwood doesn't mind as he continues to chatter after receiving lukewarm responses, thinking Vash is still distracted about what happened earlier. What Vash is really distracted about though, is why he's cautious of Wolfwood. His heart is still racing, and the restlessness from this morning has increased twofold, too on edgy to stand still. This distraction is what caused him to run into the man earlier.

Wolfwood is the reason. Wolfwood is distracting him.
—
Or, Vash doesn't know his heat is coming when he notices some changes until it hits him.