Paintbrush stared at a singular yellow flower in bloom, warm wind fanning over their face as they crouched to look at the blossom. "It's officially spring," They said plainly, turning to Fan with a deadpan expression. "I can't wait for hay fever," They continued sarcastically.
Fan nodded in agreement, but then quickly backtracked. "I don't get hay fever," He declared with passion, yet the slight shake in his voice gave away the lie completely. "I've actually never gotten sick. Ever!"
Paintbrush rolled their eyes with their blank expression turning amused and fond, shaking their head ever so slightly as they rose from their kneeled position and brushed off any dirt that stuck to their clothes. "Sure, Fan," They said. "Whatever you say."
Sputtering for a few moments in disbelief at the unconvinced tone Paintbrush used, Fan continued with his lie despite knowing that there was no way he was winning this argument. "It's true!" He exclaimed, rocking onto his tip-toes to reach Paintbrush's height. "I've never been sick. Test Tube could vouch for me!"
"Then what happened in the holidays? When Test Tube had to go get you because you ate something that had peanuts in it and threw up all over your bedroom?" Paintbrush asked, leaning against the brick pillars that made up the walls outside the college campus.
"...I think you should trip down the stairs on the occasion, Paintbrush. It would be beneficial to me."
Paintbrush laughed, in pure shock at the speed of the quip. "Wowww," They said, elongating the word for a long beat. "Wow, Fan. Wow." They continued to laugh, almost knocking their head against the brick pillar flush with their head.
Fan laughed alongside them, and Paintbrush kicked off the pillar with their raised foot and started walking. The two of them had planned to go out for donuts (Test Tube and Lightbulb were also invited but they declined) but Paintbrush had gotten thoroughly side-tracked by the blossoming flower.
It was chilly out; there was still snow spotting the ground, although most of it had melted with the sun that had peeked its head out of grey and white clouds. Fan's nose was red-tipped, the cold nipping at it, and he had a yellow scarf wrapped all the way around his neck three times over, if Paintbrush was counting correctly.
As the two of them were walking, following instructions from Fan's phone, something catches Paintbrush's eye. It's a set of overalls in a shop window, nothing too significant, really. Maybe it was the recently-shined buttons holding the front of the overalls against the straps, or the bright yellow of the top underneath, but Paintbrush stopped in their tracks and Fan turned around inquisitively.
"Do you think Lightbulb would like these?" Was the first thing that they thought to say. Fan stared at them blankly for a few moments before snickering, cheeky grin plastered across his face until he covered it with his palm.
Paintbrush stammered, growing embarrassed at the amused reaction. "Wh- hey!" They exclaimed, the tips of their ears growing warm as they ducked their head away from any attempt at eye-contact.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Fan wheezed, calming down from his fit of laughter. After looking up at Paintbrush, he fell into another laughing session. "It's just- That's the first thing that comes to mind? Really?"
"Well..." Paintbrush made a valiant attempt at forming a reply, although they found that they couldn't think of anything that wouldn't incriminate them even more. "You're just a bit of a dick, aren't you," they landed on, making a very rude gesture with their middle finger.
"Okay, Paintbrush, okay," Fan said, grinning and shaking his head.
He began to walk again and Paintbrush followed close behind, a comfortable silence taking its stance, the sounds of the city mid-afternoon washing over the two of them. "So... Lightbulb?"
"What about her?" Paintbrush asked, dodging past a biker. They flipped said biker off when their back was turned.
"Your face is very red at the mention of her. I feel like you get the point."
Paintbrush stared at Fan, the implications not quite clicking, but once they did Paintbrush just groaned, face getting warmer. "I hate you," they groaned. "I would punch you if it wouldn't get me jailed."
"Trust me, I'm sure you would," Fan giggled. Paintbrush grabbed their scarf and wrapped it around the lower half of their face, the warm and soft fabric snagging on their nose. "I can't believe this. This is gonna be so interesting."
Rubbing their temples, Paintbrush turned to Fan. "Nothing's gonna happen," They grumbled, voice muffled by the scarf. Their eyebrows dropped and their lip tilted downward, although Fan couldn't see that. "She can't know. I wouldn't be able to talk to her ever again if she knew."
Fan rolled his eyes, looking toward the donut shop and pulling his wallet from his pocket. "And you're sure that's the case?" He hummed.
"Wh- Yes! And that's considering she would even want to talk to me, I mean it's- I need to be there for her, she's going through some... things, right now. I can't let some stupid feelings get in the way of helping her out," Paintbrush sighed, pushing open the door of the donut shop. The chime of a bell rang out, the little contraption frail above their heads. Paintbrush quickly ducked out the way and moved toward an empty table.
Fan sighed as he watched them walk to the table, heading toward the counter to order. Paintbrush tapped the table with their nails rhythmically, staring at the marbled pattern on the desk. They heard the faint mumbling of Fan talking to the lady at the counter, immediately feeling a pinch of regret at letting Fan go alone; he was horrible in social situations, unless it was somebody he somewhat knew.
They dwelled on this thought until Fan eventually sat across from them with a sigh of relief that Paintbrush almost missed, stating that their donuts were on the way.
"Epic," Paintbrush said. "You better have gotten me chocolate."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I did," Fan said, rolling his eyes. "As if you wouldn't maul me if I didn't. Jeepers."
"Jeepers?" Paintbrush asked, bemused.
"Test Tube says it all the time. It's rubbed off on me."
Paintbrush laughed, the two of them mindlessly chatting and bantering until the server came over and handed them their bags with donuts, and Paintbrush immediately reached for theirs and took a bite. "Talk about bad table manners," Fan teased, grabbing his own sprinkle donut.
Paintbrush finished the chunk of donut they'd eaten before speaking, holding up their pointer in Fan's direction. "Fan, we're in a donut shop. In the middle of the city. That nobody goes to. Before we walked in I was convinced this place was a money-laundering scheme! I don't think we need table manners."
"Okay, but still. Fuck you," Fan said, biting into his own donut.
"Rude," Paintbrush hummed.
"So," Fan said, covering his mouth with the back of his hand while he spoke. Clearly he'd already forgotten his lecture about table manners. Dick. "You seriously think you've got no chance with Lightbulb?"
"Are we seriously going back to this?" Paintbrush groaned, considering walking out at that moment, donut and all. They remembered that one time they dropped their donut on the sidewalk when they were thirteen and stopped considering it.
"Well, yeah," Fan said. "I miss having drama in my life! Yesterday was the seventh time I re-watched Breaking Bad!"
"Is Breaking Bad a drama?" Paintbrush asked.
"Yes," Fan said. "It's not very good, and talks about drugs a lot, but yes."
"Wow."
"Anywho, anywho," Fan said. "No chance?"
"No chance," Paintbrush agreed sullenly. "I mean, like... How could I? You've met her, you've met me. It's very clear who's, you know... pretty? Charming? Really cute when they do that thing with their hair? And when she laughs at something on her phone and covers her mouth with her hand and squeezes her eyes shut a-?"
"Okay okay I get it you can stop."
Paintbrush bit into their donut angrily, glaring. Fan grinned and raised his hands in mock surrender, head turning to the left.
"I think you'd have a fair shot, though," Fan said, turning back. He gave Paintbrush a once-over, nodding appraisingly. "I mean, you and Lightbulb are like two peas in a pod, really."
"No the hell we're not," Paintbrush said. "You're projecting."
"Well fuck me for wanting to use that analogy, I guess," Fan huffed.
"If anyone is 'two peas in a pod', It's you and 'Test Tube'," Paintbrush said, adding an extra pair of air-quotes on Test Tube's name just for fun. Fan stared a them strangely, and they began laughing.
"Is Test Tube just a figment of our collective imagination, then?" Fan asked, throwing his hands out.
"Yes," Paintbrush said, ridiculously amused. "Our dorm room is actually a mess because none of us know how to Adult responsibly."
"Let's hope Test Tube's real, or else we've left Lightbulb in the dorm alone," Fan said.
"Oh god, we're gonna come back to campus and the fire alarm's gonna be blaring," Paintbrush bemoaned.
"She'll be passed out on the floor, like in Family Guy."
"Stop making pop culture references. It feels too much like breaking the fourth wall."
"What fourth wall?"
"The one in real life."
"Oh."
-
"We're home!" Fan yelled, strolling into the lounge. Paintbrush followed behind them, rubbing their eyes. God they were tired after they spent the day with Fan, running about and heading to what they felt was every store in the city.
They thought the two of them were simply going out for donuts, however thy quickly discovered that Fan had different plans for the day and ended up dragging Paintbrush along for all of them. Wiping their forehead with the hem of their shirt, Fan elbowed them in the ribs.
"Stop slouching, Paintbrush, jeez. Look sharp," Fan said cheekily. At the same moment Paintbrush punched Fan in the shoulder, Lightbulb walked into the room.
"Hey party people!" She said, waving jazz hands in front of her face. "How are ya? Didja bring any donuts for me and Tubular over there?" Lightbulb pointed to Test Tube sitting on the couch, three different textbooks sprawled over the coffee table and several pens tucked in her hair and behind her ear.
"Lightbulb, for the umpteenth time, I am trying to study," Test Tube said, exasperated. "...Did you guys bring donuts, though?"
"Test Tube's tuckered out good and proper," Lightbulb whispered to Paintbrush, leaning onto their shoulder to reach their ear. "I might've spent the day tryna get her to stop the studying, and we might've built a pillow fort for Baxter. It's in your room and takes up all the floor. Sorry!"
"We brought donuts," Fan said, revealing the plastic bag he'd been holding behind his back since they'd walked in the dorm room. He handed it to Test Tube, who emptied the contents onto the half of the sofa she wasn't occupying.
"Can't you just take your science-y books off the table?" Lightbulb said, bounding away from Paintbrush and grabbing one of the opened textbooks. She stuck a piece of paper in the middle to act as a bookmark and slammed it shut, flinging it behind her. It hit the wall with a thud and slid to the floor.
"Lightbulb! That was a library book! I'll get fined if it's damaged!" Test Tube chided, although she removed the rest of her textbooks from the table and placed them in a neat pile on the floor.
"...Oopsie Daisy?" Lightbulb said, shrugging in a slow, comedic fashion.
Fan had already retrieved the textbook that was thrown away, handing it to Test Tube with a strained smile. Lightbulb gravitated back to Paintbrush, but only after grabbing a donut of her own. Fan and Test Tube immediately dove into conversation, the exact words lost on Paintbrush.
"Those two are strange," She said amicably, looking over Fan and Test Tube with an almost affectionate look.
Paintbrush stifled a laugh. "And we're not?" They asked.
"Well, yeah, we are," She hummed. "But I guess... We're all a different kind of weird, yaknow?"
Paintbrush looked over to Lightbulb, a strange and unfamiliar kind of wisdom in her eyes, as if this was something she had thought about for quite some time. "We all kinda... compliment each other. If you get me," She continued, a smile worming its way onto her face as she looked at Paintbrush, something so gentle and genuine that it made their heart race. "I think that was what I was missing, before all us four met."
"Oh yeah?" Paintbrush said after they remembered they needed to answer, the breath knocked out of their lungs.
In her slightly squinted eyes, a warmth that looked strange and unfamiliar yet felt homely, known, and safe surfaced. She nodded, yet she didn't break her almost unblinking eye-contact with Paintbrush. "Yeah."
Paintbrush's guitar is heavy in their hand, the afternoon sun beating down on them despite being under the veranda hanging overhead the walkways to their dormitory. They were headed for Marshmallow's dorm; they'd informed her they were coming, although their message was left on delivered.
The main goal of the day was to hang out for a while, although the guitar in their hand held the hope of more lessons in guitar; after the musical number Lightbulb had done (which had wormed its way into Paintbrush's head and wouldn't find it's way out) one particular interaction after the fact had stuck itself in the forefront of Paintbrush's mind.
And you still haven't sung for me.
All things considered, they felt bad about it; it wasn't like they doubted their musical abilities or anything, but they had just been... nervous. They were sure that if it was anyone else, singing would come a lot easier, but it was Lightbulb. And despite the comfort that came with confiding in her, they still wanted to... impress her.
Of course, that sounded cheesy; but there was some truth to it. They wanted to impress Lightbulb, plain and simple.
When they pushed open the unlocked door to Marshmallow's dormitory, they found quite the usual sight; she was pacing up and down the lounge of her room, occasionally running a hand through her hair and wincing as it got caught in the curls.
"Hey, Mar-"
"Hi! Hi, Paintbrush," Marshmallow said, words muddling together in the rush she said them in.
"Woah, woah. Calm down," Paintbrush said, raising two hands in the air. "Take a breath, Marsh, jeez."
"Sorry," Marshmallow sighed, recollecting herself and slumping onto the couch. Paintbrush left their guitar against the armrest and went to sit beside her. "It's... Apple and Bow, you know? They left this morning- to who knows where- and they didn't even tell me!"
Paintbrush was familiar with Marshmallow's small outbursts; they had quite a lot of their own, as well. It was, if Paintbrush had to guess, one of the reasons they were such good friends. Although, Marshmallow had an appropriate reason for hers; Paintbrush generally didn't, but that was besides the matter.
"I mean, I know they'll be fine," Marshmallow continued, shaking her hands up and down, "But I just... I wish they would've told me, at the very least. They just left a letter on the door of the fridge! They left while I was in class!"
Paintbrush winced; they knew that Apple and Bow weren't the smartest bunch (Apple was about as sharp as a marble, and Bow... well, she was Bow) but they would've thought that the two of them were, at the very least, less emotionally constipated than everyone else Paintbrush knew.
They supposed not. It wasn't that surprising, now that they thought about it a bit more.
"They'll be alright, Marsh," Paintbrush said, hitting the sides of theirs and Marshmallow's heads together gently. "They're idiots, but at least Bow knows how to drive."
"All the hours spent skipping class to get her license paid off," Marshmallow mused. "Let's hope she doesn't let Apple drive though. She doesn't know how, and they might die."
The room was silent for a few beats, before the two of them burst into laughter in near tandem. "They'll be fine, they'll be fine," Marshmallow said through her giggles. "I have no clue where they went, though. They didn't- hahaha- say," she whispered breathlessly.
Paintbrush looked away from her for a moment, smiling to themselves. They reminisced on the last encounter they had with Apple; it was quite a strange conversation, and Paintbrush felt like they had the slightest idea where the two might've gone.
They just hoped they were right.
"Moving on," Marshmallow said, taking in deep breaths to fix her heart rate that spiked at the breathless laughter, "What are you doing here? I was gonna ask, but you know. I was worrying."
All of a sudden, Paintbrush felt embarrassed for their reasoning to come along; they knew it was somewhat of a silly reason, but now Marshmallow had her eyes on the guitar and Paintbrush knew that at least something had clicked.
"Well I was uh... gonna ask for more lessons?" They said, voice rising higher in pitch with every syllable. Marshmallow looked at them with a confused expression, causing them to smile awkwardly and shrug their shoulders abnormally high.
"What brought this on?" She asked, crossing one leg over the other. "You hadn't even played this thing for months, as far as I knew."
"I haven't..." Paintbrush said, trailing off.
"So why do you want lessons now?"
"There's no particular reason! Except... well, there actually kinda is."
Marshmallow sighed fondly, walking over to the guitar case carelessly slung over the kitchen counter. walking back and unzipping the bag at the same time proved to be quite a feat, but once she sat down she nodded at Paintbrush's own guitar, and they picked it up with little resistance.
Marshmallow played a few chords, and them Paintbrush played after. It was a common warm-up practice they'd done back when Paintbrush was just starting the learning process, and now that they knew how to play chords and where to put their hands, it was a lot easier to follow along.
"So," Marshmallow said, strumming over all the strings of her guitar gently after the two of them stopped the warm-up because of Paintbrush's complaints about their hands cramping, "What was the reason you wanted to pick up music again?"
"Well I mean, I never really put it down," Paintbrush said. "I've just been..." They ran their fingers over the guitar strings with no thought or rhythm, trying to think of the right words to say, "Neglecting it, I suppose. And as for the reason why... Well..."
Paintbrush didn't wish to tell Marshmallow about Lightbulb's playing. They didn't want to tell anyone, they realized. It felt too personal, something for the two of them to keep to themselves.
Paintbrush wasn't even supposed to be there, but they felt something in the air, something that reminded them of themselves. It was confusing. "I want to play for someone."
Sing was the right word, really, but Paintbrush couldn't manage to squeeze that word out. "Alright. Uh, anyone in... Particular?" Marshmallow gave a knowing smile, eyes twinkling with mischief, and Paintbrush rolled their eyes, leaving them looking away from Marshmallow's piercing expression.
"...No," They said, lying through their teeth. Marshmallow knew it, too; she hummed appraisingly, running her hands over the smooth wood of her guitar, occasionally brushing over the strings and letting hums spread throughout the room. "I- Can we just start?"
Marshmallow smirked at them before nodding, reaching into her case and pulling out some sample sheet music. "Let's polish those skills of yours, Paintbrush."
-
"You messed up there," Marshmallow said, not unkindly. "That was supposed to be a D minor."
Paintbrush tsked in annoyance. "That's supposed to be a D minorrrr," They mocked, making a gesture with their hands to crudely recreate a person talking. "I'm Marshmallow and I know how to do music correctly. Meh meh meh!"
Marshmallow laughed, her grip on her own guitar unsteady. The door slammed open at that moment, and Marshmallow jumped in shock, causing Paintbrush to do the same when her guitar fell to the floor with a sharp and loud thud.
"Paintbrush!" The person at the door that Paintbrush quickly pinned as OJ said, scrambling to hold on to the doorframe to keep himself upright. "Your roommate- the uh, the blonde one- she told me I could find you here!"
"Lightbulb?" Paintbrush asked. They didn't have any other roommates that were blonde, at least, not that they were aware of.
"Yeah! Yeah, her!" OJ said, rather dismissively. "Anyway, I heard from Paper, who heard from Bomb, who heard from Salt and Pepper, that there's some indie band coming into town in like, half an hour! You should come with us to see them!"
"...OJ, I have one question for you," Paintbrush said, voice level.
"Shoot."
"At what point do you become mature?"
OJ stared at them, mouth slightly agape, for a long beat. Then, surprisingly, he scoffed. "At least I know how to do my taxes."
"How someone can be so smart and good at being an adult, while running through the halls of a college campus with fake Jordan's on, is forever a mystery to me," Marshmallow said, pointing at OJ's shoes.
"Congrats, OJ! You're an enigma," Paintbrush said sunnily.
"What's that? Is that one of those scoreboard things where I have to put in my initials?"
"Orange fucking Juice, everybody," Paintbrush announced to nobody in particular, gesturing to the man with a roll of their eyes.
"Hey! I resent that," OJ said bitterly.
"I can't believe Paper's a morosexual," Paintbrush said exasperatedly, continuing to tease.
Marshmallow chuckled into her hand, her guitar dropping into her lap. "And you aren't?" She said, raising an eyebrow. "I've spoken to Lightbulb maybe three times but even I know she's... Not exactly the smartest."
"Wh- Hey!"
"The first time I spoke to her she was in the middle of eating a receipt, Paintbrush."
"Wait," OJ said, grinning like he'd struck gold whilst mining for coal. "Wait wait wait. Don't fucking tell me."
Paintbrush groaned, looking to Marshmallow with a glowering glare. "This is all your fault," They mouthed, flipping her off. Marshmallow merely giggled to herself.
"So the girl I was just talking to-"
"Lightbulb," Paintbrush reminded, a little agitated.
"You're dating? I didn't know that! Congrats dude!"
Paintbrush felt their face heat up, their eyes water ever so slightly. They threw their palms over their face and sighed into them. "We're not dating," They said exasperatedly, voice muffled by their hands. "It's just a crush. I'll get over it."
"Paintbrush, you came here because you wanted to learn a song to play to her," Marshmallow said.
Paintbrush removed their hands from their face, shooting daggers at her. "...Could you not try to embarrass me for like, five minutes, Marsh?"
At the suddenness of it all, Marshmallow launched into a fit of giggles all over again. OJ was staring on in heavy amusement, a grin plastered across his face. "And to think that you made fun of me-"
"If you start I will push you down the stairs," Paintbrush said, although the absurdity of the situation left the smallest grin hanging off their face, just big enough that you could see it.
"Let's hope the injuries aren't too bad, then," OJ said with a grin, placing a hand on his hip.
-
The sound of a notification on their phone pulled Paintbrush away from the lull of sleep that had almost encompassed them. Blearily reaching for their phone, they swiped up on the message and squinted at the small text.
Juice Man™: hey guys did you hear about Paintbrush
Immediately, they rolled their eyes and began typing out their response, autocorrect leading the way.
The Tall ONe: OJ I swear to fuck i will maul you
Juice Man™: man i thought you were asleep
Juice Man™: and not in this gc
The Tall ONe: well fuck you too
Juice Man™: it's ok i'll just wait an hour
The Tall ONe: I'm fucking walking over to your dorm you bastard
Juice Man™: wait whar
The Tall ONe: I'm grabbing one of Fan's lightsabers
The Tall ONe: you're fucking going down Juice Man
Juice Man™: you forgot the TM at the end
The Tall ONe: oh shit mb
The Tall ONe: you're fucking going down Juice Man™
Juice Man™: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
hiii guys :)))
i have had. the most MAJOR WRITER'S BLOCK. i simply didn't feel like typing at ALL my god
anywho anywho i feel like everyone was ooc this chapter, but you know what? I don't fucking care, my story bitches I'll make them as gay and chaotic as i want
sorry for taking so long to update, i've been trying to do a weekly schedule thing but yk. my brain hates sticking to schedule it loves to float about like a float toy in a pool. splash
P.S. THE NEW III EPISODE?? this chapter was actually just to give Paintbrush a break from the bullshit /silly
(THANKS 4 READING, DRINK SOME WATER SILLY GUYS)
edit: if you saw that i forgot to put in a chapter title. uhmmmm no you didn't!!! 😁😁