(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

A Cup Full of Cheer (One-shot)

Raven paused in his flailing to address the threat, "He's not here."

"I. Have. A. Phone!" Goth annunciated each word, digging through his pocket and brandishing the device in an aggressive manner. True, Blueprint might detest the idea of crowded places, but the shy monster still had a phone number that could be very easily reached at a moment's notice.

Raven's sockets narrowed into a glare, "You wouldn't."

"Try me," Goth countered with a matching expression. He knew from the way his brother grit their teeth that he had won; Raven knew he was vindictive enough to follow through with his threat and unlike with Palette, Blueprint would have a solid hour at minimum to mull over a text on their own without any type of damage control. On top of that, a text message would be much harder to explain away or reinterpret.

"Goth! I heard- !" Palette's voice finally became audible as he made it to the pair while still carrying the drinks, stopping short and quirking his sockets at the scene, "... Raven? What's going on? Why are you both wearing such scary expressions?" In retrospect, Goth sitting on Raven's shoulder, gripping his skull while brandishing a phone as they glared at each other probably looked odd to everyone not involved in the situation.

"It's nothing; we were just playing around, weren't we Raven?" Goth lied, giving the younger brother an expectant stare; the ball was in their court now.

Raven's eye light went from Goth to the phone, then back again before he slowly confirmed, "Yeah... just brothers being brothers."

Goth watched Palette process the information, "Well, Pj does give me that look a lot..." His mouth formed a pout as he chastised, "Still, you shouldn't rough house in a crowded room like this; someone could get hurt and I was worried when I heard you yell."

"Right...," Goth grimaced, unlatching himself from his brother and floating back to the ground with an apology, "Sorry for worrying you." 

"It's okay; I'm just happy nothing happened," Palette chirped, donning the smile that made Goth's soul flutter as he handed over one of the cups while Raven retrieved his seasonal hat. Goth thanked him and tipped the drink back without much thought, immediately regretting it when he began sputtering and coughing at the unexpected taste in his mouth; the reaction had both his crush and brother fussing over him and patting his back.

Once he had regained his breath and signaled that everything was fine, Raven asked, "What was that about?"

Goth turned to Palette, "You got us both soda, right?" Receiving a confused nod, he explained, "I think the soda's been spiked. I wasn't expecting the alcohol, so I ended up choking on it."

Palette eyed his own cup quizically and took a sip of his drink; his face scrunched up in disgust as he spat the contents back into the cup and began apologizing, "Stars, I'm so sorry; I should have-"

"It's fine, it was an accident," Goth soothed; he knew Palette would never give him a spiked drink on purpose and that it was likely a partygoer up to some holiday mischief.

"Yeah, no harm done; we're all legal here anyways," Raven laughed, plucking the cup from Goth's hand and taking a sip only to gag seconds later, "Ugh, bad drink combo. No wonder you choked; whoever spiked it did a crappy job."

Palette still wasn't appeased with the reassurances and banter, taking on a searching look before perking up, "Oh, tap water should be safe! I'll go get us some water; be right back!"

He took off through the crowd once more and Goth didn't bother to stop him since 'fixing' the problem would help him get over the mistake faster than placation would; it was just another trait that made Palette so special.

"Looking real thirsty there," Raven nudged him with their elbow, flashing a cheeky grin that reminded him of their dad.

"Shut up," Goth nudged back while fighting a smile, "You're lucky Palette takes that kind of thing at face value."

"You know he'll find out eventually," his brother pointed out as they watched Palette's hat disappear past the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah, but I want to be the one to tell him when the time is right," Goth stated as he leaned back against the arm of a nearby couch, "It's no good if someone else does it for me."

"If that's really what you want, then I'll stay out of it," Raven promised as they spotted the familiar sailor hat making its way toward them once more.

As Palette reappeared with three cups and a triumphant grin, Goth smiled, "Thanks Rave."

"What are brothers for?" the taller shrugged easily, taking the offered cup along with his sibling and raising it into the air, "A toast to friends... and maybe more."

Palette tilted his skull in confusion while Goth had to fight not to choke on his drink a second time, "Raven!"

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Word Count: 1,461