(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

The Good Fight (One-shot)

"I thought I heard someone banging around out there; did you just get home?" Palette appeared from the hallway leading into the living room as Goth locked his phone in distaste. A sad smile adorned his companion's face as they sat down on the other side of the couch by the smaller's feet, "hard day?"

"Yeah...," the smaller huffed, tossing his phone onto the table and staring at the ceiling.

"Want to talk about it?" Palette offered, leaning back into the cushions.

Mulling the idea over for a moment, Goth declined, "No, talking about it will only make me upset. Right now, all I want to do is relax and forget this whole mess exists." Leaning his legs to the side so he could see the lounging skeleton past them, he changed the subject, "what did you do today?"

"Well, I did some commissions, tidied up the apartment, watered the plants, baked some cookies...," Palette listed the items off on his fingers excitedly, though his expression morphed from excited to sheepish, "buuut I might have left something out because they didn't taste right when I tried one... oh, and I watched some videos on my computer!"

Goth smiled at their enthusiasm, feeling like a broken record when he said, "Thanks again for volunteering to stay home; I know you don't like having to stay cooped up in the apartment all day." With the stay-home order currently in place, Palette wasn't able to meet up with friends or train with the Star Sans' as he normally did; even with all the activities the skeleton found to keep himself occupied, being stuck inside every day had to be incredibly difficult.

"Of course," The taller skeleton chirped, "You're the one that has to deal with the craziness outside because of your job and I know how everyone going out for non-essential stuff bothers you; the least I can do is give you one less thing to worry about by staying inside like I'm supposed to until this whole thing blows over. Besides, the humans on the news said it would probably only last a month or two at most, so I can handle staying in for a little bit."

Goth didn't have the soul to tell Palette it would likely last longer due to the people and monsters ignoring the recommended guidelines and continuing to spread the disease; instead, he settled for reaffirming how grateful he was, "Still, thanks for taking the social hit and for always cheering me up. I feel like I'd go crazy if I was by myself, so having you here to talk to really helps."

"Aww, I'm not really doing that much," Palette chuckled shyly, but looked pleased by the praise regardless, "but if my being here helps, then you can always count on me- oh!"

"What is it?" Goth blinked at the taller's sudden exclamation.

"I just remembered I found this really cool video I wanted to show you!" Palette elaborated, jumping off the couch, "Hang on and I'll go get my computer!" The skeleton disappeared down the hallway for a minute and a half before returning with his laptop in hand. Setting the device down on the coffee table, Palette lifted up the pillow Goth's skull was resting on and set it upon his lap. A bright blush enveloped the smaller monster's face as he struggled to get his voice to work properly, only managing a flustered squeak that caught the taller's attention, "is something wrong?"

"N... no," Goth finally stammered, fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie, "I was wondering why you did... this."

Following his line of sight to the pillow, Palette smiled easily, "I figured you were tired and didn't want to get up; by doing this, you can still lie down and we both can see the screen." 

Goth nodded wordlessly, not trusting his voice to maintain any type of composure. It always amazed him how Palette could turn him into a blushing mess with such innocuous actions... then again, that sense of caring with no ulterior motives was part of what made his companion so endearing to him.

Leaning forward and fiddling with the computer keyboard, Palette's voice sounded positively electric, "You're going to love this; it's one of those optical illusion videos where they show pictures and sculptures that change at different angles!" Goth knew exactly which video he was talking about, but kept silent so as not to put a damper on his excitement. 

As Palette leaned back and the familiar music began playing, Goth shifted onto his side to watch the video more comfortably. The video ended fairly quickly, only being about four minutes long, but his roommate had another one ready with two taps of the touchpad; this one looked to be an animal blooper compilation video from the recommended section on the sidebar.

Goth chuckled as a moose went romping around in a sprinkler when he felt a hand rest against his shoulder. Glancing up covertly, Palette was fully distracted by the video while smiling in mirth at the animal's antics. Returning his attention to the screen, the hooded monster settled in and elected to not bring attention to the action; he wasn't averse to the touch by any means and after the day he had, he wanted to preserve the cozy and peaceful atmosphere he was fighting so hard for every day.

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Word Count: 1,518