Johnny is pretty sure he's starting to lose his mind. There's a couple reasons for this. The first is he's been seeing things that nobody else can see. The second is he's been having weird dreams involving fire and a man made of metal. His attempts to get to the bottom of whatever's going on in Mayview sweep him into a world he's not prepared for. Most kids would be thrilled about getting superpowers, but for Johnny there's just one, simple problem: he's completely and absolutely scared to death of fire.
Complicated matters is the fact that he's harboring a massive crush on the new kid in town - and the spirit possessing him seems to have plans of his own.
ash in your mouth is a Paranatural canon-compliant Bullymagnet fic written by honeydont. Currently still updating as of 2019.
This fic contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Or grandparents, rather. Isabel's grandfather is not a nice person.
- Ambiguously Evil: Forge. He has plans of his own that seem to involve using Johnny as a child soldier, but he doesn't seem too happy about it.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Johnny has tried multiple times to confess his crush, only to back out at the last moment.
- Crush Blush: Johnny. And how. Max doesn't seem to notice.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Most of the kids have this.
- Max is still dealing with his mother's death.
- Johnny has intense pyrophobia as a result of his house burning down when he was younger, which nearly killed his younger sister.
- Deadpan Snarker: Max is this to the extreme.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Shadow Spirit possessing Max.
- Everyone Can See It: Everyone in Mayview is aware of Johnny's crush on Max except for Max. Lisa's taking bets on it in the school store.
- Harmful to Minors: Most of the stuff the kids deal with isn't exactly something children should have to be dealing with.
- Injured Limb Episode: Max's arm is in a cast for the first couple chapters.
- Large Ham: Dr. Ectoplasm is a talk-show host who investigates paranormal activities... dramatically. Stephen is a big fan.
- Middle School: The primary setting for this fic.
- My Blood Runs Hot: Being a fire spectral means this for Johnny. He tends to get hotter the more flustered he is. Max occasionally takes advantage of this trait when he's cold.
- Not a Date: Johnny's friends are convinced this is what's going on when he and Max visit the mall, despite his protests to the contrary.
- Oblivious to Love: Max doesn't seem to realize Johnny has a crush on him. In fact, Max doesn't even seem to realize that he himself might be returning those feelings.
- Parental Abandonment: Johnny's mom blames him for the house fire and took off with his sister, abandoning him and his father. He hasn't seen either of them in years.
- Parental Neglect: Johnny's dad is never around and is implied to be an alcoholic.
- Playing with Fire: Johnny has fire powers. He hates it.
- Power Incontinence:
- Johnny has a hard time controlling his powers and occasionally sets himself on fire when he's flustered. Usually around Max.
- Isaac generates static electricity when he's upset.
- Pyromaniac: Subverted. Johnny has fire powers but desperately tries to avoid using them.
- Radio Contest: Stephen enters one to win tickets to Dr. Ectoplasm's talk.
- Running Gag: There's a few.
- Max repeatedly getting yanked into the same closet Isabel locked him in in Chapter One of the webcomic.
- Johnny refusing to get Spender's name right.
- A disembodied horse whinnying every time some says the Headless Horseman's name.
- Scary Teeth: Johnny's got a mouthful of shark teeth due to his possession.
- Shipper on Deck: Both the Jang and the rest of the Activity Club are this. Isabel and Stephen seem to be the most invested.
- Spiders Are Scary: Max has traces of this. Taken literally in the Halloween chapter.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The one thing Johnny's scared of is fire, which sucks for him considering he's currently possessed by a fire spirit.