Archive of Our Own

11.59pm.

Remus crept over the floor. Darkness was flooding his vision. He was lucky to be Creativity, albeit the more or less forbidden one for Thomas. He fulfilled anything people would consider to be “cursed“ thoughts. He brought about nightmares, taboo topics and horrible or even dangerous ideas. He resided in the Imagination but sometimes, he liked to come out and mess around. Tonight, he was not up for messing around.

The man had a mission!

His tentacles and he slid over the floor of the light side territory.

For a group call liked that, there was a whole lot of awful darkness down here! Not that he was complaining. It made things easier for him.
The dark side of creativity turned his head from one side, to the other, then back to where he had started. After a whole 360° of turning, he proceeded. Nobody was around.

HA!

Even logic was asleep. Virgil had not noticed a thing, or maybe had noticed, yet did not care for him and his shenanigans. It was just him, a harmless little octopus yeeting himself into someone‘s room through the slit between the door and the floor.
His body was flattened to be as thin as a shadow. Indeed, he was a shadow trying to get to all the other shadows in this room. Remus squeezed himself through the little slit and soon enough had his thicc butt on the other side of that door.

He allowed his body to take proper, three-dimensional shape again. Instead of tentacle shadows, he returned to his full body. A proud butt, a rather regular body and toned limbs.
If he had a say, he would make Thomas work out less and eat gross things more! But that was another topic. He was here on a mission.

The dark side peeked up to a little night light. It was shaped like a heart and just a s rosy. Remus smirked.
How cute!
His body crept over to the bed.

Yes, he had let himself into a bedroom and it was just about time.
The clock ticked and his body rang like a bell! Vibrations shook him, running through his body. The dark side felt himself leap into the air like a cartoon character struck by lightning. He squeaked and with yet another leap, landed in the bed he had been busy approaching.

A figure moved.

Midnight! Midnight!

Remus flung himself at the person.

“Cas! Awful birthday to you!! I wish you all the slimy horrible things to happen!“

The sleepy figure hummed softly, barely capable of verbally communicating. The night light was prominent enough to illuminate his smiling face. It took them a few more moments, Remus grinning patiently.
Then, Cas was awake enough to process what had been said to him. He threw his body at the other and engulfed him in a hug. He squeezed his partner and Remus squeaked in delight!

Casper giggled.

“Shhh!“

He shunned the other and both giggled, stopped because they might have altered the others, then giggled again, this time quieter. Their eyes met, conspiracy giving them a wild gleam.

“I have a plan for you! For us! It has been your birthday for seven minutes already!“

Casper hummed softly. His body sacked against Remus‘ chest. Casper was a bit smaller and meeker than Thomas. Every side was a bit different in terms of body and personality. The pink side was about as pink and sweet as he seemed like a rather childish kid.
Remus brushed through his chestnut hair and patted his head ever so softly. It was soft like a breeze, fluttering like a kiss to Remus‘ heart. The weight of a grown man was in Remus‘ lap and he felt it more and more as Casper dozed off into his warm, sweet sleep.

“Caaaaaas~“

He grinned softly.
The body in his lap twitched. The dark side brushed over his back. Attachment responded with yet another hum. This time, it seemed less warm and lethargic.

“Huh?“

Casper‘s body jumped back into place, upright and awake at once. The green side giggled and gathered him back into his arms. He heaved him up and kissed him onto the top of his head.

“I made you breakfast!“

Casper curled up in Remus‘ arms as he teleported them into the Imagination. Of course he could have teleported into his room, but where would the fun have been? So, he promptly changed their location from a pink room to a pink world.
Remus had modelled his part of the Imagination to look like a candy wonderland. There were huge candy canes, striped with glittery rainbow colours. They stood, framing paths like trees. Sugar crusts with cute faces were hanging from them like baby mobiles.

Casper blinked himself awake. His body was lethargic, still heavy with sleep. He turned his head to look around. Surrounded by cotton candy clouds and dog-sized gummibears, the pink side found himself right in front of a row of tables standing close together to form a heightened path of space. It was decorated with funny strings all over and even a table cloth which was made of edible “paper“. Sprinkles and heaps of whipped cream adorned the table at every seat. The seats were made of chocolate wavers and had icing to glue it together and decorate it.

Attachment perked up at the sight and hopped into one of the seats. His arms reached out to drag Remus down with him. They shared their stead and Remus eventually broke off a part of the wavers and reattached it with a bit more space for the two. A bit of whipped cream was whisked off the table to serve as glue.
Remus huffed, satisfied with the space he had now established.

“We shall feast, birthday man!“

Casper giggled.
A little bit of sleep was still veiling his eyes.

He looked at the table of sweets. A huge grin spread over his face and he turned back to face Remus. Was that for real? This seemed like a dream! Also, the Imagination usually looked like a huge mess, all colourful and straining for the eyes and full of bad smells and things but-
... Casper blinked.
Oh! It smelled like pancakes in the morning!! And chocolate syrup to balance out the chocolate-mint chips. His stomach habitually bubbled at the temptation of a scent.

Did that mean he would get pancakes? Any of them were great, but personally, he really liked them with sprinkles inside and sugar on top (optionally! - it depended on the amount of sprinkles inside of the pancakes.
Remus turned to exchange a knowing look with the other and Casper felt himself become somewhat warm inside and all fuzzy.

“We can get pancakes“, he whispered in realisation.

Wow.

Remus simply nodded back at him. The birthday boy perked up.
Before he could try and materialise his own pancakes like the other had shown him once, he realised something else. It was a realisation worth noting!
Looking at the other, he realised that Remus was not in his usual attire of fancy clothes and funky accessories. Instead, Creativity was dressed in a fuzzy suit of furriness. An eye-strain of colours met Casper. It made him wonder how he had not noticed it before. Remus was wearing a bunny suit, but it was something that Casper would call „“candy gore“ in appearance. It was about the only kind of gore things he could handle.

Remus must have worn it just for him and his birthday. After all, scary things were not okay to him. He still slept with a night light in order to keep the mean things away. Especially because the light sides were not okay with the two having regular sleepovers.
They did not know the two were somewhat dating, either.

A breeze to the face distracted him from his thoughts. He blinked, reality slowly fading back into his awareness.
Remus was blowing air to his face and making weird movements with his hands. Was he trying to fan Casper some air? He was okay!

Before he could ask, Creativity already cheered.

“Finally! It has taken me ages to blow your dummy thoughts away!“

Casper giggled, his love soon joining in.
He was blessed with the best of the best! No matter what the others were thinking about them! They were as they were, but they were happy.

“Thanks, Ree!! Now, back to the pancakes? I want the cute ones with sprinkles inside, the colourful chocolate ones! And AND AND!“
Casper hopped in Remus‘ lap.
“Can they be shaped like cute animal faces? Pleaaaaase?“

His pink eyes seemed wide like a doe‘s. The irises were hearts that seemed to grow and throb as he looked at the other in anticipation. Remus could get lost in them, but he was pre-occupied. He had planned a birthday for his boy and he would give a birthday to his boy!

“You can have anything! You know I would give you my heart!“

Casper squeaked.
That was a literal statement. Remus had offered him his bloody organ more than once and while his reactions to it had dulled down to an awkward giggle, Attachment still did not enjoy the action.

“No hearts!! I am happy with a funky bunny in my arms!“

He squished his body closer to the other as if to demonstrate how close they were. Remus chuckled softly and pushed himself against the other too, their bodies snug.

“Pancakes, then~ I will give you little kitty cats, my ducky~“

Casper blinked at the nickname.
Thomas had resorted to calling Remus “Dukey“ but what was “ducky“ all about? Remus summoned a plate made of oblaten wafers. Soon enough, pancakes started falling onto them. One by one, Remus caught them. His hand moved around, nowhere yet in all places at the same time as he brandished the plate around like an acrobat.
Casper clapped his hands together, giggling.

“Yay!! You are doing it, Ree!“

He grinned at his best friend and platonic partner. The mustache grinned back.
Remus summoned himself a plate as he retreated his arm with the plate to his chest where Casper leaned against. The duck-onesie-clad man was curled up and hugged the thin plate to his chest at once.
Dogs and cats had their faces marked into the colourful sprinkle pancakes he had in front of him.

“For you, Cas!~“

What was better than this?
Casper could not imagine anything better. However, knowing Remus, there was much to come for sure! So, he took what he had and dug into the food. He had no cutlery but those were pancakes and they were just perfect~

Warmth spread in his mouth. The soft, dough-y texture of pancake flopped onto his tongue and he started to chew. The sprinkles were partly molten but his teeth still made some parts of them crack and crush under their power.

“..wow.“

Chocolate, sugar and wonderful dough melted in his mouth, combining to an amazing taste of a breakfast way too sweet to be consumed by any ordinary person.
But none of them was ordinary. Also, Casper could swear that the cat faces made cute kitty purr sounds in his mind when he ate them. The dog ones were making dog sounds, like yawning and stretching and panting.

It was amazing.

He never would have thought about any of these things. Attachment had never known just how much he had needed these things and wanted them before he had gotten them. They were not necessary for his regular life but they did make it much better!

Remus seemed to be done with his plate, already devouring the kitchenware. Considering it was made of sweets, Casper bit into his, too.
Crystals of sweetness broke inside of his mouth, slowly melting on his tongue, or cracking and exploding between his teeth.

He had never had anything as tasty as this. Not even Patton‘s home-made cookies were as good!

They ate for a while and eventually, Casper called it a meal. He was not sick of the sugar, nor sick from it. The pink side was energised and sufficiently filled.
Remus snuggled him from behind and brought his tickling fingers to his sides.

“Ah, Ree, nO- AHH!“

Attachment squealed in delight. Giggles made the air vibrate. Remus‘ mustache was twitching in cheerfulness. The screams of pure delight and ecstasy were enough to replace his need for agony and blood.
Plus, Casper was one of these people to squirm when tickled. A pure gift to Dark Creativity.

“Reeeee~“, Casper whined.

He was breathless and mindless. Giggles had overridden his thinking, his common sense. All he could think of was pushing Remus away to stop the tickles.
Or..
A devious grin spread over his mental mouth. He was perpetually grinning and chuckling at the moment. His body wormed around like an excited dog, trying to get away from the tingles spreading from Remus‘ chaos hands.

He took a huge breath.
Remus was taking a break. One glance at his eyes suggested he was only waiting for Casper to catch his breath. The pink side was unaware of the little glitter tears in his eyes, the wetness from being tickled throughout.
While the dark side bathed in the triumph of their one-sided tickle fight, Casper angled his body and got into position. Remus was grinning at him with that huge mustache all over his face. Sugar crystals adorned the corners of his lips. A few crumbs of cookies resided on his cheeks, still.

Casper charged at him.
His (baby) duck-onesie-clad body made him fluffy. He appeared to be even smaller and cuter than usual. To be fair, he was objectively the most adorable side in the Thomasphere but that was not the topic in this context.
The topic was this pink boy of sugar slamming his body against Remus‘, effectively pinning the long boy down. It certainly was a sight to behold. A duck was hovering over a neon-gore bunny accident, driving hands up and down the messed up fur.

“I got you !! HA!“

Casper asserted in triumph.
Remus was squirming and writhing underneath him. Despite his wild movements, he was chuckling like a madman.

“YOu!“

He nearly snapped but laughs and breathlessness cut him down to mere chuckles and incoherent sounds. Casper grinned at him from above, finally in the position to give back what he had gone through beforehand.

“You!“, Casper mimicked sassily.

Fingers flew.
Hands sought out the best spots, ears accounted for which reaction was greater than the other. All the while, mouths were only moved to complain or giggle - rarely to suck in the sweet, sweet relief of oxygen, which the nose could not provide enough for.

They ended up entangled, limbs going anywhere as they had flopped over again and again like a pan-fried cheese sandwich.
The sound of heavy pants filled the air. Both pushed at each other‘s chest to successfully de-tangle the mess of their intertwined bodies. Remus rolled down onto his back, right next to Casper.

Casper‘s lungs were burning. His eyes fluttered shut.
He was tired, technically. He had not slept the whole night. His mind knew he was supposed to be tired, to be asleep. The amount of adrenaline and dopamine running through his body were not on par with getting back on track with his sleep-wake cycle. His serotonin wanted to complain but there was nothing to do about it now.
The pink side was numb to complains. He only heard the rhythmic pants of himself and his love. He turned to watch Remus. His chest fell and rose fast but the creative side restrained his lungs to fall back into a more slow and natural dynamic.

Warmth bloomed inside of his chest. Little flowers of hearts seemed to grow and spread inside of him. Looking at Ree bore no more but good feelings to him.
It was illegal to think bad of him, to see him as mean or harmful when he had been the only one to be open, honest and caring with the other. To Casper, Remus was the farthest away from being an unreflected hypocrite of all the sides in Thomas.

His face grew warm. Casper‘s, not Remus‘! The little heart-shaped freckles of his cheeks were starting to sparkle with colour. Whenever the pink side got excited or really emotional, the freckles would become bright and show off their amicable shape.

“One more thing!“

Remus rolled his body up into a squatting position, then jumped to his feet. How was that dude so fit? They were both part of Thomas, simply representations of their functioning inside of him. How was Casper so unfit compared to someone made of the same stuff?
It did not make sense to him, but considering they were residing on a path of chocolate stones, green grass of almond paste all around them, he could not complain about a lack of logic at all. Instead he sat up and stretched out his hands.

“Reee~“

Remus gently took them and helped him up. The pink side was beaming up at him. The sight of his warm freckles, bright and wide, brought a red dust to Remus‘ pale cheeks.

“Yes, yes! You need to have your present- well, a part of it, maybe!“

Casper gasped.

“You got me a present? But this was a huge breakfast and it was secret!“

Remus wiggled his eyebrows as if he had started a career in it.

“A present for the gift to my life!“

A part of Casper‘s mind was still stuck on the fact that his present was not one but multiple parts. He was, in fact, so occupied by this thought, he had to blink when a new something appeared in front of him.
The present was wrapped up in almost see-through paper. Was that rice paper? It seemed to be .. no, that was candy glass!

Casper stared at Remus, then back at the gift. Again, he looked at Remus and then at the gift and at Remus-
H-
How was he supposed to open th-

Something ding!“ed in his head. He lowered the gift and threw himself against Remus, squeezing him in his arms. It was a huuuuge bear hug. Creativity squealed in his arms. He shook his head and hugged Casper close in return. The pink side sighed softly.

“Reeee~ I need your hammer thing!“

The dark side stopped dead in his tracks.
For a moment, Casper had the feeling the other had frozen. Time seemed to stand still and suddenly, he was heaved up into the air.

“CAS!! YOU ARE LEARNING!“

The squeaky delight was evident in the increased scratchiness of Remus‘ voice. He almost sounded like a messed up record from the 60s or whatever. Scratchy, horribly quality and a complete ear-fuck to listen to.
However, he caught Casper like a pancake and pushed a huge pole into his hands before letting him go. Attachment landed on his feet, a bit wobbly. The weight of the pole tilted his balance to the side. It was the side on which end the pole had a huge ball to it.

“I am so proud of you“

Casper tried to balance the pole in his hands. The spiky end was a giant weight to him, really unbalanced. It was unusual to him to actually do any heavy lifting. He was attachment! He held hands and liked people and cried for them and over them. He suggested how to handle relationships and whether or not to detach.
Holding a big-boned bastard of a bone-crusher in his hands was NOT his expertise, but as Remus had mentioned, he was learning.

And he was proud of him.
His freckles felt brighter again, cheeks and heart warm. Casper liked to imagine that Remus‘ nice words and weird ways of showing affection liked to mend the broken heart that was his symbol. He wanted to wonder about whether or not a side‘s logo could change but he saw the gift again, his mission right in front of it.

Crush the bomb!

Casper pushed his hands a bit away from his chest. His arms were angled to his upper body, in the right position to best provide muscular support to heave the immense weight of this unusual weapon of choice. He focused his eyes on the gift and thrusted the mace into the air, letting it crush down with his arms tensing as much as possible against the obstacle.

The sound of a pathetic crushing and breaking filled the air. Sugar flaked and cracked, pieces of it flew through the air, seeking to hit and destroy in revenge. Other parts of the hardened gift wrapper was pulverised and seemed to spread over the ground like sweet snow.

It was pink and green.
Remus caught a few of the pieces and offered one to Casper.

“I‘m good but thanks a lot!“

Casper grinned up at him. The green side shrugged and started snacking on the razor-sharp bones of what used to be a loving gift‘s shell.
Small, pale hands reached into the splinters of candy glass. If it had not been for the plans he had yet to be informed about, he would have tried to play with the shards, trying to put together a sweet and colourful mosaic of sugar and uniqueness.

“Huh..“

The birthday boy pursed his lips ever so slightly. He trained his gaze on the shards, hands starting to push the broken shell out of the way. Slowly, a little piece of paper seemed to appear. It was folded, string keeping it together.
If this was candy, then it was no candy he knew how to name it. It was new.. felt like actual paper in his hands. The ink seemed to be dark chocolate, darker than Thomas‘ eyes. He smiled at the thought about it.

“What is this, huh?“

Ree grinned widely. His face seemed to get larger, just large enough to accommodate the growing grin of his lips. Casper was squinting at the paper as he unfolded it properly and inspected it carefully. There were more lines than words. A few symbols indicated a deeper meaning.

He was holding a map in his hands.
WAit a moment-

He turned over the map only to find instructions plastered all over its back.

“You made riddles for me! This- This is a whole treasure hunt!“

Casper jumped up.
Energy fuelled his body enough to make him jump. Being physically idle did not do well in letting out all the feelings he was experiencing. Thus, he had to wiggle his body a bit. Remus happily joined in on their improvised, weird dance.
The dark side giggled at his partner. Casper felt his heart halves melt together.

“This is a map!! Thank you so much, Ree!“

There was an unspoken transfer in this action. While Remus‘ present was a whole adventure and a lot of work, there were implied values attached to it. Casper was rather childish and seemed to be more like a young child, rather than an adult side.
He was pink, he was cheerful and he liked candy and childhood friendships more than adult topics, mature matters and questions of morality. All he cared for was playing catch with his friends, cuddling his favourite pets and finding someone to really feel complete with. Someone he would never have to be fully separated from.

Thus, the light sides treated him like a young child.
The map in his hands was more than just a task, a means to build up tension to an even bigger gift. It was trust in Casper‘s leading abilities, trust in him understanding and being competent enough to navigate them through this wild candy land.

His heart swelled up until it felt like it was twice its original size.

“Thank you.. really. Thanks a lot.“

Tears started to well up in his eyes. He smiled despite of it - or maybe he smiled because of it, smiled along with the tears in his face.
Remus drew him into a hug.

“Aw, Cas!“

He papped the other ever so gently and gently nudged him with his shoulder. A compass appeared in the hand of the arm that had nudged the other. The pink side looked up at him, eyebrows narrowed.

“Ree, this is wonderful- I.. May I lead?“

His big, wide eyes looked up at him. They were magenta around a dark heart at its core. Remus blinked at him, his eyelashes like lavish fans.

“That‘s your gift. Your present wants you to lead.“

The compass in his hands was chocolate, laced by gold. A few sugar crystals adorned the round device. The little pointers were made of sugar, too. The little letters were licorice on an oblate base. In Remus‘ hands, the pointers went into any and all directions. Once in Casper‘s palm, it seemed to recalibrate, to organise itself.
The thing was reacting to him and him alone. After a bit of watching the pointers dance, the little tip came to a shaky stop.

It pointed them towards South at the moment.

Casper checked with the map.
The candle table was.. there, at the left top of the map. The x-mark was on the other side of the map, in the very corner. The candy table rose on the map until it was materialised.

“Wow-“

Ree nudged him to keep looking at the map. South was downwards, according to the compass of the map. The map started illuminating a spot below their current location. A sketch of a forest was light, yet did not rise like the candy table and the wonderful arches they had here.
If Casper found the spot, maybe the map would save it and materialise it, like the one they were at. Maybe it would only show the spot they currently were at with a three-dimensional model.

Attachment gripped the map tight, then gently folded it, his fists melting onto the parchment. Rivers of fingers curled around the paper and gently decreased its size. He put the map into his onesie pocket and cleared his throat. The compass was firm in his right palm.

“We shall get on track with this adventure!“

Ree squeaked like a dog toy. His body twitched up into the air, just a few inches above the ground. His limbs wiggled a bit before he came down again, attaching himself to the slightly smaller Casper.

“Aye, we shall, Leader Cas!“

Pink returned to his cheeks, marking his name as “pink side“ as a rather literal phenomenon. Creativity grinned at him, eyebrows arching.

“You shall come with me, oh yee... uh.. thee magical union of creation and dis-creation!“

Remus nodded, a hand over his chest as if to contain his wild heart. Casper believed this to be not unlikely at all. He gently smiled, pride gleaming in his eyes.

“I shall!“, Ree agreed. His voice was strong, resonating with his body. Casper felt almost taken aback by it. He grinned over it, after regaining his posture, and used his finger to indicate what the compass wanted from them.

“There we have to go to! March!“

Ree groaned playfully.
Their feet started to march away, down to south, to the mysterious forest. It did not take a lot of time for them to see the scenery change. The candy table and wide space seemed to disappear, swallowed by how narrow the path got. The chocolate stones and pebbles faded until sparkling sugar sands took over, turning darker and giving way to almond paste grass, green like Remus‘ wonderful logo.

Casper‘s free hand intertwined with Ree‘s. The taller one gently squeezed the hand in his bigger one. It took only a few moments for Casper to squeeze back - but not in response to Remus‘ actions.

Cake pillars of trees were dancing around them. The map seemed to vibrate in Casper‘s pocket, so he let the compass plop into his pocket and pulled the curious map to his sight.

“There seems to be something going on, mate!“

Ree giggled like a maniac at Casper‘s comment. He grinned, nodding again and again as if the pink side had said so much more than he actually verbalised.
The birthday boy peeked at the map. There was a change, indeed. The forest was starting to rise from the paper, drinking up colour until it was bright. Huge strings of gummy-like sweets were hanging from the trees, sometimes intertwined with the chocolate flakes of bark. The real trees in front of them were more detailed, had the natural carvings of tree bark, the wrinkles of plants. Here and there, golden syrup was leaking from a few injured trees. Others had dried trails of such syrup on them, marking them as recovering trees.

The pink side swiftly turned to the other, mouth slightly agape.

“You are doing all of this? This is so cool! Ree, you outdid yourself!“

Attachment beamed brighter than the soda candy sun in the sky. It was smiling a candied slice of lemon. The pink side, however, was grinning white teeth and excitement. His hand tugged at Ree‘s and dragged him into the forest. His feet moving swiftly.

The bigger, elder trees had huge branches of churro sticks. They built a sort of canopy above Casper and Remus, shielding them with shadows from the soda sun and cotton candy clouds.
A lake of purple grape pop crossed their way.

“Will we just f- UAHHHH!“

Casper turned to Remus to ask something, steps slowing down together. However, something made him trip over. Casper landed on the grass which seemed to become darker in colour and more in numbers.
Rock candies were glistening from underneath blankets of chocolate crumble earth and almond paste grass. A few stray rays of sunlight warmed the solid, translucent rocks. They seemed to shimmer. A few beams of light reached up to Casper - or rather, down. He was currently sitting up, Remus squatting down next to him.

“You alright?“

Casper had a smudge of green on his elbows and quickly licked it away. The action curled his and Remus‘ mouths upwards.

“Yup!“

The pink side wanted to ask something, but a marshmallow with strawberry “softies“ on top walked over. Was this a little mushroom?
Casper squealed.

“ Ree!! Look!! I want to be friends with them!“

He hopped back onto his feet. The candy mushroom approached them, a few smaller mushrooms following after. All of them had little black eyes but only the bigger ones had enough face to fit a mouth onto them. They looked like black candy tint on them. The eyes were in different colours.

“Are you one of the biped heroes? Will you help us?“

The mushroom hopped up. How did it jump without feet? Well, how did it talk when it was fully candy. This was a paradisical dream world, not a logical report on extraterrestrial objects. Of course there was no real logic in here.

“A hero?“

Casper repeated. His eyes grew wide. Pink hearts seemed to sparkle at the word.
Hero.
Who in this sugar forest was a hero? Remus was the classical villain to everyone but Casper. The pink side was just him, right?

The mushroom nodded.
An umbrella of red leaned close, facing the ground for a moment, then stopped right before touching it. The mushroom sighed back into position, the red umbrella resting in its intended place.

“The legend says only biped heroes can mend our issues! You need to help us!“

The pink side blinked.
This was getting interesting. So, he did the natural thing and -

“But this can‘t be. We just happen to be on two legs. That means nothing!“

-doubted himself.

Remus nudged him.
His mustache seemed to transform to licorice curls. He looked at his partner, eyebrows arching.

“You have to be the heroes! You are our only hope! We cannot leave the forest because we cannot climb down the beach where the water comes from. Please, we need help!“

Remus whistled softly.
The crowd of mushrooms was trembling a bit, collectively staring at the others.
Attachment looked at them, eyebrows cast downwards. His eyes seemed to decrease in size as he observed the little mushrooms. They barely got us to his thighs.
They were so helpless.

“...Alright, we can try. What do you need us to do? What‘s outside of the forest that matters so much to you?“

Casper got back down onto his knees. He wanted to be on eye level with the mushroom people.

“Our flower friends need a lot of strawberry milk. We get our milk from a river outside of the forest! It usually fills up a whole pond and our flower friends grow all around it. But.. but now they are hurting a lot because they are so hungry. Everyone has syrup, but that is not enough for them. Some gummy bats fly around to help them bring some strawberry milk. They take chocolate egg shells to transport it but it is not enough. Please, our flower friends need help!“

Casper nodded.
The tallest mushroom of all was starting to shed little marshmallow fluff tears. Attachment‘s heart felt hurt, too. He placed a heart on the red umbrella part as the smaller mushrooms started to wail along.

“Don‘t worry! We will do our best to help. I- I don‘t think any of us is a hero, but we can do our best to mess things up!“

Remus cheered him on and nodded wildly. He glomped Casper from behind. The pink side giggled softly.

“You would?? Thank you so much!“

A few smaller mushrooms started to stray from them. They seemed to line up with a path away from where they had come from.

“The smaller mushrooms will lead you the way out of the forest.“

As if this sentence had been a clue, the small mushrooms jumped up, their marshmallow torsos buried by their bright red umbrella heads. Promptly, they started glowing.
Casper gasped at the sight.

“Wow! That is so cool!“

He turned to Ree, then to the mushrooms. The small ones were radiating a halo of glow around them. It was slightly greenish. Maybe that came from the rich surroundings of the jungle-like forest they were in.
The dark side nodded. To him, that was just one of the most normal sights. It was usual, so he saw nothing outstanding or gasp-worthy in that. But he saw Casper‘s excitement and it brought a smile to underneath his mustache.

„“Let‘s go follow them, then, huh?“

Casper nodded.
His mouth was still slightly agape but he closed it then and there. The pink side hopped on the spot and turned his whole body towards the glow path.

„“Farewell, biped heroes. Farewell. Our trust is in you!“

Casper felt a warmth in his heart. It seemed as though it had started to grow wings. It lifted itself up inside of his chest and it was wild and swollen in power.
He waved at the big mushroom with eyes and a mouth, then let his hand intertwine with Remus‘. The taller one gave him a squeeze.

And off they were.

The partners followed the glowing mushrooms for a while. At some point, they had walked for a long time and Casper sighed softly.

“How long do we have to travel? I am getting hungry.“

Remus shrugged.
His free hand indicated the worlds of sugar around them.
Casper hummed softly.

“We could take a break, how about that?“

Just as he said so, they got a peek on a huge tree. It seemed broken, so Remus suggested having some of it. Casper agreed. The two walked over, four legs approaching the broken tree.
As they did so, they realised that fog started to come up. At first, Casper thought that light cotton candy clouds were coming down on them. Instead, something heavier seemed

“Oh, is it really okay to just..- huh?“

Attachment stopped himself.
More and more sugar thread seemed to come down onto them. At the end, it felt as though the whole forest was covered in hair made of sugar. This was the oddest thing to ever happen to him, even despite all the years he had spent with Remus, visiting the weirdest places of the Imagination and so on.
This really made an example of how odd things tended to be, sometimes.

“Ree, I think we have a problem-“

Said side already tugged Casper closer.

“I bet it is too late to check the map now, isn‘t it?“

Casper snorted.

“Great idea, but too late indeed. Now.. what can we-“
Again, the pink side stopped himself. He looked up at.. uh.. well, more and more hair, considering he was unable to detect Remus at all. His gleaming spark of ideas in his eyes was not visible to the other, nor were his own hands before him.

“I have an idea instead, Ree. I know we can‘t see one another, so it is really important to stick together. Don‘t let go of my hand.“

Ree nodded.
It took him about three moments to realise the birthday boy could not see him. So, he cleared his throat and played a loud “Aye, Sir! Mister Casper, Sir!“.
The pink side jumped on the other side of his hand, but regained his posture enough to squeeze back in reply.

“Very well then. Listen to where my voice is coming from, follow to where your hand seems to be with mine.. and slowly eat the fog away with me.“

The idea his Ree like a truck. Without seeming him, Casper could physically feel the other snap into action and suddenly start eating away the fog. It was pismaniye. It tastes sweet, mostly, but also a bit nutty. It was nothing like cotton candy. It fell like hair.
It was almost creepy to be surrounded by something that looked and felt and fell like hair, yet was sugary sweet and kind of tastes like sesame and pistachio.

Attachment followed his own advice after becoming oddly aware of his own inaction. He started to eat, his hungry body grateful for the input of actual sustenance. They had been walking for a few hours, so breakfast had been a longer while ago. The steady exploring had exhausted him.
Now, he just wanted to see his Ree and be sure they were with one another, even if he could feel him on his hand.

Diligently, almost as if they were quite enjoying it, the two were eating away the barriers between their love. Hands held softly were the guidance to their inner compass directing them. It took them a short while, but eventually, they had eaten away enough fog to start seeing colours shimmering through, then even pieces of actual clothes appearing behind the thick curtains of light blonde angel hair.

“Ree! There you are!“

The dark side did not let himself be called twice. He reached out and picked up his smaller partner. Carefully, he drew him to his chest.

“This is my Cas, and the forest won‘t get a single piece of you!“

The pink side giggled. Remus brushed a piece of sugar wool off his face and instead stuck it into his own mouth. His partner giggled.

“We should get out of here. Maybe the fog will get worse. We need to be quick. As much as this was a good snack, we need to think of moving first.“

Cas commanded. He quickly checked the map and the compass. They needed to go to the west. The funky trees on the map started to retreat. So, they were almost outside of the forest!

“Let‘s see for the lights!“

Maybe the mushrooms were glowing because they knew the fog would be coming? In any case, Casper held onto Ree‘s hand again and started walking, when he experienced the worst deja-vu of all-
Once more, he tripped, once more, this triggered a whole bunch of plot.

Remus was helping him up when they heard ripping, the sound of branches breaking. Something heavy was breaching through the forest and it would not be kind to them, as it sounded.

“Ree, we need to go!“

Casper pushed the other over the dead tree and they tripped over it, curling into a ball of a falling and rotating mess. Their bodies stuck together due to their hands finding one another, but it did nothing to help with the rapid movements as well as the intense churning they experienced.
When the pink side laid eyes on what was chasing them, he was more than glad to experience this rather than.. that!

A huge jawbreaker was rolling after them, breaking and running over many plants and animals. A “squish“ noise reminded him of the mushmallows.

“I hope they are okay..“

Casper had a last thought before a horrid squeak cut through his mind. All worries about the others were gone when his hand was gripped tightly. It was so tight, it started to hurt, his bones aching already. He wanted to turn around, ask Remus to stop.
He could not.
His body was drawn in and engulfed by arms. Remus was was holding him close, blocking his mouth with a whole bunch of furry onesie. He thought he was actually breathing in the gore-bunny‘s heart or whatever kind of monstrosity was growing from it‘s chest.

While Casper was unable to ask or scream about what was happening, he clearly heard wind whooshing around him. The ground under his feet was gone and all the safety he knew was Remus‘ grasp on him.
He was sure he was going to be safe, yet his broken heart was aching. His lungs seemed to string.

He closed his eyes harder and focused on Remus‘ smell.
This time, he did not have pickled poo logs on. No, he was wearing vinegar and rotten roses. What a romantic.
As Casper tried his best to focus on Remus being warm, being smelly as always, he did not notice the heat rising around them.

However, a soft thud occurred. It was followed by millions of variations of one single sound. It was difficult to describe, but Casper felt as if it sounded like plastic pieces crashing together. It was a series of dull noise.
To Casper, it was an unspoken sign, a permission to look again. Now he would be able to open his eyes again.

Slowly, he did exactly that.
His eyelids fluttered. The pressure on his face decreased.

“Oh, we fell and landed softly! How wonderful!“

Remus‘ voice reached him.
It was close. His voice box was so close, it made Casper‘s ears rumble a bit from Remus‘ vibrating chest. His lips curled up, just a tiny bit.

“Fell?“

He detached himself from the other‘s chest and blinked, trying to slowly let reality dawn onto him. The world was different now.
A thought flashed inside of his mind and he quickly took his map and his compass out of his pocket. He looked around, trying to filter out certain landmarks which would tell him where exactly they were.

“Oh.. we did fall. Where-“

He blinked at his map.
The jungle.. this.. forest.. it was gone, away away. Instead, a new space was rising from the map and even making a sound. He could hear the rushing of wav-

“CAS!“

Remus jumped into him.
The dull sounds of plastic meeting plastic started to sound up again. It kind of felt drowned out in all of the sounds of waves. Coming closer and closer and crashing over them, breaking and burying them in..
Candy beans?

Different colours filled his vision. Huge logs of colour fell from the sky, rained down onto him. Casper could not hear more than the deafening noise of dull plastic crashes.
His whole body was walled in by a huge Remus as well as the plastic sounds and big colour logs. He wanted to narrow his eyes but felt himself close them instead.

“WOO~“

Casper felt his chest become free with the sound of Remus cheering.
Attachment did not know what was happening but he knew that a LOT was happening. The sounds of Remus being Remus were closer but not louder than the plastic ones.
But it was warmer.

He felt a warmth spread inside of his chest.

Slowly, the noise subsided again. It faded away but never really disappeared.
Maybe he had internalised it by now. Who knew.

Casper, for his part, was giggling a bit. He had his things, still, so he took what he had and tried to get up. Beans were around him and as he got up, Ree followed.

“This was a nice ride!“

He hopped up and looked around, one hand over his eyebrows as if to build a makeshift roof with it.

“Huh, we-“

Casper interrupted him.
The golden colour before them cued him.

“WE ARE AT THE BEACH!“

He squealed and screamed. His body turned towards Remus once more. The dark side was more than happy to reply with screams and squeals from his own side.

“AHHHHH!“

Casper grinned: „“WE DID IT!!“

Remus wiggled his body and nodded. He looked like a Golden Retriever.

“WE DIIIIIID!“

The duo giggled at one another before jumping at one another, chests first. They melted into a hug, laughing still the soundtrack to their current situation.
Casper was the first to pull away but Remus quickly picked him up, pulling him closer. He gently rested the other on his shoulders.

“Look out for waves. I will walk us back to the beach.“

Casper nodded. Not, that the other could see it. He still had his compass and his map in his hands, so he put the compass away. But he did shoot a glance at the map, considering he wanted to see the “beach“ part of the map start to rise up.
Carefully, he observed it, witnessing how the candy bean sea became more prominent in colour. They seemed to roll a bit, much like a regular sea‘s many waves.

“Will do.“

He looked over at the waves, but the sea was rather calm now. The next few waves were barely one full layer of beans reaching over to them. By the time a bigger one started to build up, Remus was ankle-deep in the “water“.
A few more steps and he was outside. He softly put Casper down.

„“We did it!“

Casper giggled softly.
Now that he was standing on the shore, he took the time to examine the land around them more closely. Previously, he had focused on looking out for the waves, but now his attention could be redirected to their mission again.
He checked the map.
It very much was the beach, it really was.

Casper felt as though his heart was being lifted in his chest. It was an almost violent feeling but it made him want to hug Remus close.
And so he did.

“Come here, Ree“

He pulled the other into a huge bear hug. Casper gave those a lot to Ree, especially when they had not seen one another in a while. It was their “welcome hug“ when Casper was not too tired or exited to give it.
The dark side could feel himself being squeezed tightly. Warmth surrounded him. Warmth seeped into him.

“Aww, Cas. I am proud of you. You got us right here where we needed to be.“

Casper nodded softly.
He was unsure about it but his success did the talking.

“Hey, wait a moment!“, he exclaimed. Remus looked at him, a loyal companion as always, “there are sandwiches!“

Indeed, there were.
Casper flashed his pointer at a row of cacti around the beach. They seemed to be never-melting popsicles rising from the sandy ground. A few fruits seemed to hang there.

“Cas, I think that‘s jus-“

Yet the other was running before Ree got to finish his talk. He was about to say something important even, or so he thought. But there was no stopping the other, so it was apparent that the taller one had to follow the birthday boy. Said person was getting closer and closer to the cacti.
Like, he actually did.
Remus could not believe it while Casper believed and knew it all the way.

“Sandwiches!! They are sandwiches!“

For the first time in the sweet little world, - quite literally sweet - Casper found something not exactly made of sweets and sugar. This was bread, actual bread.
Ree stopped right behind him as he gripped the “fruit“ until it came off. The dark side cleared his throat.

“Is that safe?“

He was mimicking Patton‘s voice. Casper only shrugged. He rolled his eyes as he turned to face his partner.

“Do you want to try it?“

He handed the round-ish ball over. The “fruit“ had a little stem of cheese.
Why did such things come from a popsicle cactus?
One would never know.

Ree inspected the thing.
It was.. somewhat circular, kind of golden in colour. Some were a bit different in colour, like more green or more red. It was funny. The one he took out of Casper‘s hands was clearly golden like the sun - well, the sun in the non-candy world.
He looked back at the other fruits. His mind held the fruit absent-mindedly, squeezing about tighter as usual. Casper gasped.

“Ree! Let go! Look, look! I told you it was sandwiches! I could see it, I could smell it!“

The pink side‘s hands came around Remus‘ larger ones. He carefully eased his grip on the fruit. Remus just let him do and shift as he pleased. His hands were almost limp, making it easier for Attachment to move them around and pry them away from the fruit just a bit.
The cactus fruit had unfurled itself, revealing a golden crust. In fact, it seemed as it had shed a little case in which the sandwich had been stored.

“You were right!“

Ree concluded in awe. Casper nudged him playfully.

“Stop sounding so surprised! I know my food. Let‘s sit down and eat. I can study the map and you and I could need a little break. Also, I am hungry. What about you? Aren‘t you hungry, too?“

Ree shrugged but picked a fruit for himself as well.
Around the popsicles, it was a bit cooler. The soda sun was actually burning down pretty hard, but the cacti provided more than enough cool and shadow for them to not really sweat a lot. The run and fall had done a number on them, so the warm breeze and sunny heat was enough to dry them off and give them a nice time to relax.

“Those are not bad. I got tomato on mine.“

Casper giggled.
He had unpacked his map, eyes fixed on the compass on it as well as the beach rising from the flat parchment again. Slowly, he started biting into his own sandwich. He took his eyes off the map, letting it process all the changes around them.
As he ate, an explosion of warm, umami flavour flooded his mouth. The sandwiches were warm, but not hot. The cheese was molten pleasantly. He did not seem to have tomato in it. Instead, it was just a whole lot of cheese.

Attachment loved it.

“Jus‘ chees‘“, he mumbled around his food.
Ree giggled.
His hand swung over to his partner, silently presenting it to the other. The dark side took a huge bite from it. In return, he grinned and started chewing away at it while offering Casper some of his. The pink side was staring at the map, yet noticed just enough to react and bite into the tomato-fed piece of delicious.

“Mhmm...“

Both sat in silence. Relative silence. A few chewing, humming as well as general eating sounds occurred from them.
They both reached for another sandwich when one was done.

“Oh, see. Is that the river they talked about? It was not there before, but now it is flowing. It looks pink. Hey! Like me!“

He smiled softly. Ree shrugged.

“Looks rad. Does that mean we can go on?“

Casper shrugged.

“I think so. We must have fallen through the barricades or whatever was annoying the strawberry river. Well, we can go further to here.“

He pointed at a place further below the beach they were currently at. At least when considering the positions on the map.

“It seems like a forest or something else is gonna await us.“

Remus shrugged.
He had already finished his food and was interested in biting into the cactus. Would it hurt? Pain only made sensations more interesting. He leaned in and bit into the plant.

“AHHH!“

Remus pulled away at once. Casper flinched closer to his partner and best friend. His forehead was wrinkled up. Remus looked almost offended in contrast to the pink side.

“What did you do?!“

The cacti started to bow over them, arching their bodies.

“Why did you bite me!“

A new voice arose, demanding and accusatory. Casper looked at the cactus, the source of sound coming from that direction. He could see the bodies of the cacti turning a bit, revealing faces.
Angry faces.
The cacti were colourful, white and red and orange up until the tip where they were green again with a few red dots and little pricks to them. One of them seemed to be missing. Remus pulled it out of his mouth and threw it into the sand.

“Bite?“

Casper repeated softly. The moment he said it, he realised just what has been said. The cactus was accusing them of having bitten them. Sadly, Attachment looked at Remus holding his mouth in mild pain. A small pout was making his lips appear bigger and more innocent than usual.
He wanted to hold him but also push him away for being such an impulsive idiot. Exasperation took hold of him and he sighed.

“Ree, you cannot just bite people!“

Ree‘s pout grew bigger.

“I didn‘t know! I just wanted to test the cronch!“

The cactus cried out as if having been bitten even harder. It shook. Casper squeezed against Remus‘ side. The taller side was hurting, but put one arm around the smaller one, carefully holding his partner a bit closer.

“Cronch?! I am no cronch! You hurt me!“

Remus shrugged.

“Well, sorry about that. I cannot change it now, tho.“

Casper nudged him.

“Can we do anything to make it up to you?“

He felt a pit inside of him. There was emptiness. Despite the sandwiches, he felt as if nothing but self-eating emptiness was inside of him. And it hurt.
No, actually, the sandwiches probably made it worse. They were the poison in the well that was his body. Casper wanted to wince but he tried to be as nice as possible. It must have hurt to be bitten by Remus.
Remus was quite the strong one after all.

The dark side huffed stubbornly. The cactus stood as tall as possible. Casper had the feeling the cacti were trying to stand even taller and broader than before, maybe to just look a bit bigger.
The shadow they cast onto them was growing huger, longer. They were dooming stripes, thick prison bars in the sand, trapping them in place.
The cacti were actually growing, the middle one, the talking one, more than the others and much faster at that.

Casper took Remus‘ hand again.

“I think we tried a lot to be friends with the cactus again, but they won‘t listen. We should go, really-“

Attachment‘s voice spoke with a much more intense haste than usual. He checked his compass and started to take the initiative.
He was the leader of their little troop, their small team. He was to make decisions and do things. So, he made the decision to run away at once. Behind them, cactus pricks shot through the air. They bore into the sand, digging deep into the loose sand.
Remus turned his head to throw one last glance at the angered cactus, now much taller than them, surrounded by a few cacti which grew into similar sizes. They started to free themselves from the sand, popsicle stick feet were hopping through the sand.
They were after them.

“We need to hurry!“

Casper was running like the wind.
His partner alerting him was more than enough to push his mind over the edge. He had to make a decision fast and quick. Where would they go? There were sugar bean oceans, strawberry rivers-

There!
A huge pond!

Casper pulled Remus after him. His feet were almost flying over to the pond. It was a temple of safety in Casper‘s mind, the kind of place were they would be sheltered from the mean cactus.
Well, the cacti were kind of right to be mad, but chasing them around and trying to prick them? That was a lot!

The cactus monster was hot on their heels, nearly breathing down their necks. Remus had the feeling they were melting down onto their exposed body parts and absolutely non-innocent skin.
The pink side felt an idea hit him much harder than a prick could have. The cactus started to “reload“, prepared to pierce sharpness into them.

The leader was against that. So, Attachment took a sharp cut into another direction. The cactus monstrosity was huge and did not react well. The sudden change of direction had the meanie baffled. The cacti union wanted to turn around just as sharply, but lost balance. The many branches of cactus heads were too enormous in size and different ideas. One wanted to gather their balance again, while others were arguing whether to give it up or actually still pursue them at all.
By then, the pink side had them safely hidden away in the muddy warmth of a dark chocolate fondue. He waited a bit, dragging the curious Remus behind him before his air was out and he had to get up and breathe again.
He squeezed Ree‘s hand and gently tugged it upwards as he returned to the surface. Two heads, completely immersed in dark chocolate, popped out of the darkness.

It smelled like cocoa butter, a bit bitter, even.
The two cleaned their faces carefully, trying to free their eyes and mouths and noses first, so they could breathe and see right.
The cacti seemed all gone.. they were safe?

“Good idea!“

Remus‘ mustache was now double its size. Casper started to giggle.

“Ree!!“
He chuckled to himself.
“You look so funny!“

The dark side grinned.
He tried to glance at his mustache, but it was hard. How was he supposed to see his face? He scrunched up his nose. He craned his neck a bit, showing off the side of his throat.
No, he could not see better like this either.

Casper could not hold his laughter back.
He was curling in on himself, shook by his own amusement. Seeing Remus trying to turn his face upside down and whatnot just to see himself was hilarious. The pink side shook his head, little crystal tears appearing at the corner of his eyes once more.

“You..You-“

He tried to express anything with even a hint of coherence.
Needless to say, he did not manage. His breath was short from how much he was laughing, also, he was laughing way too much to actually say more than one or two syllables in one go.
Remus pouted playfully.

“Cas, you are being meeean~“

A huge grin adorned his chocolate features.
Time to take matters into his own hands! He approached the laughing side. His partner was currently wiping tears from his eyes. They were squeezed out from how much he was laughing, balled up cheeks squishing his eyes like lemons.

He realised the other too late, and even later.
Casper could barely squeak out a plead, a word to turn Remus‘ mood more mild. The other already threw himself onto him, arms finding his muddy wet sides. Warm chocolate covered his ticklish spots, but did not desensitise them.
Attachment was squirming.

„“Ah..Ahhhh~ Ree!!!“

His giggles had barely faded, just to be resumed once more. A new force was accompanying the sounds of his laughter. Casper‘s little body was flailing its limbs into every direction it could possible reach. He squealed like prey.

„“You deserved that!!“

Remus playfully shot back. Attachment wiggled away, trying to move out of Ree‘s reach. He reached the end of the chocolate pot and heaved himself out eventually.
Sweet, sweet - ouch!

He landed much harder than expected.
It was a deep fall, leaving him to roll over a bunch of leaves. He blinked softly. His sides were hurting now, but he was okay.
A loud breaking sound rushed to his ears.

„“Hu-“

He gasped. Obviously, his mind was going many places.
They had faced a lot of obstacles, nice and mean people. Now, the sound was promising a fall -
...a fall of Remus, apparently.
As Casper before him, he was breaking out of the pot without a lot of grace. He had broken some branches in the process but took it with a giggle, as he too, rolled over.

“That was fuun!! Wooo!“

He cheered.
The taller one sat up, his hands up in the air. They were all chocolate.

“It was, but it hurt.“

Casper retorted.
He shrugged it off, though, and simply looked at his hands. They were full of leaves - as much chocolated as he was. Chocolatified? Chocolate-covered.

“Ha, look at this! We are covering everything in chocolate!“

The light side beamed up at his partner. Remus slid over to him.

“Truce. No more tickling!“

Casper nodded. They shook chocolate-hands on that!

“Alright! But we need to do something about this chocolate stuff!“

Remus shrugged.

“We can wait this out. Just take a nap and the chocolate will be hard as a d-“

Casper nudged him away.

“Staaaaahp! We can take a nap, alright alright!“

He had a pout on his lips now, too.

They playfully pushed one another before paying down and curling up together, one against the other. Remus curled around Casper like a bowl, or maybe a nest. Casper nuzzled his chest softly.
He was sure he would have a hard time sleeping now. He had been up all night, they had been chased yet again. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, his brain. The chase, the fall, the tickles and the rest of it all. They were in his mind, flashing before his inner eye.
He could see what had happened to them, he thought about everything they had experienced so far. Before he knew it, he was caught in a deep sleep.
His body was snug against Remus‘. Together, they slept into a state of hardened chocolate.

When they woke up, they felt odd.
Hardness kept them in place. They were restrained, even when they tried to breathe a bit deeper. Chocolate armour was attached to them like a second skin. It was not tight, nor was it really heavy, but it was everywhere, even in their hair as they now realised.

“Oh.. oh, what‘s that?“

Casper nagged.
He wanted to un-curl, get up and see the world, but every twitch of muscles was met with resistance. He felt pressure against his skin when he tried to move. Very much from his chin down, he felt immobile and restricted. Little walls were keeping him in space.
A frown fell over his features.

He had been soft, even a bit disoriented from switching over to reality after his warm, heavy sleep and dreams. Now, he was surrounded by so much confusion, he barely knew what to do. The world was odd, their situation was odd.
For a moment, he feared being unable to ever move again. His throat tightened.

Oh no.
Now, even the rest of him would freeze and become unmovable! The rigidity around him seemed to worsen. It pressed a moan out of him. Little tears formed at his eyes again.
Instinctively, his throat formulated what he usually did when Casper did not know what else to do. The helplessness of having no more logical thoughts to help but only panic to guide him made his chest heavy.

But his automatism kicked out a powerful: “Remus!“

Instead of a whine, a pathetic plead, he strongly pronounced the other back into their reality. Remus awoke with a sudden jolt through his body. Though, he could barely move. The twitches resulted in pressure against his skin.
There was a whole lot of pressure instead of the nice, heavy warmth of a chocolate blanket from before.

Remus caught on rather fast.

He wiggled his body as powerfully as he could. Little grunts and moans came from him. He sounded like a character from Dragon Ball in a ten-episode filler fist-fight.
Cracking was soon to be heard. It filled the air, much like the sounds of opening an egg.

A louder sound breached Casper‘s ears.
He was unable to see much, considering he was much glued to Remus‘ chest shell. Yet, he could see and hear how Remus removed himself from Casper‘s face with a sudden motion. The dark side rolled all over the space around them. This time, his body did not pick up any more leaves or straws of grass. He jumped to his feet and yelled.

“I AMST FREEEEE.“

Remus shed a last piece of dried muddiness around him. The dark, bitter shell crashed to the floor and burst into pieces. Casper flinched into an embryo position, trying to curl up as much as possible. The dark side shrugged and sat down to his friend.

“Actually, I can get you out even better!“

He gave Casper a smug grin. Before Attachment could think twice, the other was leaned over him and bit into his necK!

“AH! Ree!“

While Casper wanted to complain, he.. felt no pain. He looked up. Actually, he COULD look up once more. He felt his neck crane ever so softly. IT worked! He could move again!

Oh.

The pink side felt the other carefully bite and push until the shell gave in. Casper giggled at times. The chocolate was brushing against his skin, sometimes with the warmth of Remus‘ breath.

“That tickles!“

He started to squirms.
Soon enough, Remus‘ work as well as his additional wiggling helped him out of the shell. Casper chuckled, snuggling up to his partner.

“Thank you, Ree. I got really scared.“

The dark side shrugged.
As nonchalant as he acted, he still leaned down to kiss the tears building up in the corners of Casper‘s eyes. They were crystal-like, precious like sugar.

“Awww, what for?“, Ree reasoned softly. Casper was giggling but still holding onto the other. The dark side held his partner softly, „“there is nothing I wouldn‘t save you from. See? I defeated the chocolate!“

Casper chuckled.
When he looked up at, Remus‘ face was smudged with chocolate. It was all dark brown around his mustache and lips. Attachment chuckled and snuggled into Ree‘s arms again.

“You are so silly! You are full of chocolate!“

He was giggling with the other but when Remus brought both his arms around the smaller side, he sighed softly. His heart was melting inside and he felt.. right, being so close to the other.
They stayed like this for a while.
Only after a longer while did they part. Casper wiped his eyes. Remus wiped his mouth.

“I have the feeling we can use the chocolate leaves a bit. Let‘s take them with us.“

Remus nodded. They took a sugar glass cup from the trees around them and collected the leaves. They then locked their hands again, fingers intertwining. They smiled as they walked through the calm trees of the forest.
It seemed different than the other, more plain, less crowded. There were no funny mushrooms... marshrooms? Well, they were none, so it did not matter. However, they saw some cute mice racing around. Some birds and bats flew around. Licorice and yoghurt gummy bears crossed their ways.
They kept on walking.

Eventually, Casper checked the map again.
The last stage before the treasure seemed to be highlighted. Much like the others before, they rose from the map and stopped, slightly moving since mice from the map were moving around, too. Gummy birds were tweeting and chirping.
It felt like a song for these two alone.

“Hey, there is a funky thing here.“

Casper pointed at something. Remus nodded softly.

“Yes, yes.“

The dark side‘s response prompted him to go on.

“Let‘s go there.“

They did as they decided on and eventually came around to a clearing. There, their favourite mixed-race person was sitting!
The dragon witch!

“Good day, children.“

She had a table set up, a few plates made of stroopwafel were laid out. Little cups of chocolate were prepared. There even was a little kettle.
The table looked like a horizontal yule log, lazy in the sun. It was surrounded by smaller Baumstriezel which formed little things like chairs. Candy glass covered the hollow inside on top, so people could sit on it. It had funny colours. The dragon witch gestured to the seats. They were two free ones, the exact number of butts that needed a rest after nearly walking and falling all day. Even their nap was not enough. They had walked for over one hour once more after this.
The duo sat down with the witch, happy to be welcomed.

“I hope you brought some leaves for our tea.“

Casper perked up.

“We have chocolate-coated ones!“

The dragon witch giggled.
She was a huge dragon with a stereotypical witch-hat adorning her head. Roman had made her up. Remus had befriended her after his light-reflection kept on fighting her. She was his first friend on the “dark“ side.
She opened her hands. They were claws and wonderfully colourful. Scales of all colours decorated her body. Casper smiled and put the leaves into her opened palm.

“Thank you young man! This shall make a wonderful, spiced hot cocoa.“

Gently, she started to blow her hot, steaming and flaming breath onto the bottom of the tea kettle. Soon, it started whistling.
Casper giggled.
The warmth was very much welcome. He and Remus warmed up on it, hands stretched out.

“Nice..“, they breathed out softly. Smiles decorated their faces.
Behind them, the bushes rustled. Little mice and other animals came to join them. Casper picked a bit of stroopwafel and handed it over to them, bit by bit - crumble by small crumble.

The dragon witch giggled at him. Her hands moved and a new piece of food entered the scene. A few mice ran over, bringing them a loaf of dense, dark bread. It looked like dark caramel on the outside. On the inside, it was much more yellow than people would expect bread to be.
Of course, it was something special.

“I made Ontijkoek for you. I hope you can enjoy it, child.“

Casper grinned up at her.
His and Remus‘ hand intertwined under the table. The dragon witch paid that no mind. She cut the bread and gave everyone a little piece.

“Happy birthday, Casper.“

She started to take everyone‘s cup. One by one, she filled in some of the tea which had steeped for a while. Well, it was less tea and more chocolate chai whatever.. He did not know. But what he knew was that the second the dragon witch started the fill his cup with this chocolate mix of hot liquid, little animals of chocolate liquid started to rise from his cup.
They danced above their heads, chasing one another.

He looked up, eyes gleaming.

“Ohh!“

Remus giggled.

“That‘s cool! I want too! Please, dragon witch!“

The dragon witch shook her head. She pulled out a wand. It seemed to be made of crystal candy. Colourful, shining, powerful.
She poked Remus‘ nose with it.

“Nah, nah, little naive man. You shall get a little surprise for your birthday when it comes about. Until then, we are celebrating for Casper.“

Ree‘s lips were fallen into a pout for just another moment. Then, he gently nudged the other.

“I bet on the funky horse.“

Casper frowned.

“No, no! The cat will win.“

The dragon witch let one animal per cup rise above their heads. Now, her cup had its turn. She catapulted a bit of the steaming liquid into the air. Promptly, a raccoon formed.

“I hope my raccoon friend can show you what counts~“

They ate their bread as the animals raced for them. Sometimes, they ran into one another for fun, jumped at one another and so on.

Like that, they let the world move on for a bit longer. The animals ended up playing around and flowing into a little puddle for the other animals to enjoy. The Dragon Witch gave a little gift to Casper, but left it under his bed, like a secret.

The duo travelled on.
They had passed the last stage, had a nice afternoon tea and now, the sun was slowly sinking down. Casper was yawning again.

“This was a cool birthday..“

The pink side snuggled up to Remus who held him loyally.

“What‘s the last stage?“

He asked softly. Remus shrugged. Casper felt his head move along, considering he was leaning onto the other with most of his weight. He stifled yet another yawn.
Remus pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“We are right there. Come on there, my prince. I will carry you.“

Casper did not answer verbally. His body moved to spoon Remus half-way from behind. His body was snug against the dark side‘s back. Swiftly, the journey continued.

His eyes blinked.

The forest seemed to be over.
There was the little hill they had seen. From there, the jungle-like forest they had been in at first was visible. It was far away, but Casper felt it in his heart that they were somewhat back where they had been before. The strawberry lake trickled into the side of the jungle. It was a fine line of thread, coloured like self-made strawberry yogurt in the summer.

The nostalgia made Casper feel more like he was in his bed. Remus usually made him feel liker that, but also remembering nice and simple times.
He was sure the other knew about this.
Mentally, Casper focused on this for just a while. He barely realised when Remus gently settled himself and the lighter side down onto a nest. It was green and made of funny candy. Casper new it was edible Easter grass, but he did not know how it was made. It looked weird and he had never really liked the taste.
Still, he would usually ask for it, ask for the completion of a holiday child dream.

However, he noticed a change of pressure on his butt. He hummed softly. The nest was soft, but not as soft as the air his butt had nestled against beforehand.

“Hmm... Ree..“

He smiled softly and patted the space next to him.
Ree sat down next to him. They enjoyed the view for a while.

“The strawberry lake.“

Ree nodded. He hummed, because he realised the other did not look at him but at the world created for him and him alone.

“Can we go back here, sometimes?“

Ree nodded once more.
Again, he made it more clear to the other, even when Casper looked up at him with his big, pink eyes.

“Of course we can, Cas.“

A calmness settled over his head.

“Thank you, Ree. Really.“

They both looked at each other, then, as if they had communicated about it, they looked back at the jungle for a while.

“You made a great world.“

Remus smiled.
He had made it for Casper only. Casper was more than a world to him, so he knew he would build more and more worlds for him - as long as the other would let him.

But of course he did not say that.
He smiled, his mustache twitching a bit with it.

“I am ready for the end.“

Ree nodded.
This time, he did not have to indicate his approval, his understanding, any more in order for Casper to understand.

Sounds of rustling tickled Casper‘s ears. Like a set of butterfly kisses, the light touch delighted his skin and caused some areas to curl up in a veil of goosebumps. He tilted his head a bit, towards the source of this new noise.
Around them were eggs. Not the small ones.

Oval balls of all colours were in the lime green nest. They were sprinkled with some spots of the dark chocolate, revealing its true nature of chocolate at heart.

“Oh?“

Casper felt the sound leave his lips, slipping from him like a fleeting thought.
He sighed softly. A smile warmed his lips.
Each egg was huge. Had he been standing, it would have reached just below his knees, he was sure. It was similarly broad, but definitely taller than broad.
The pink side reached out, feeling drawn to touch the eggs.

Softly, he approached one by one. He placed his ear against the shells. All of them had sounds. Only one of them was quiet. When he listened to all of them, he glanced at Remus for just a moment, then returned to look at this egg.

It was yellow, less oval than the others. It also did not seem as sprinkled. In fact, the golden like colour was spot-on. Or rather: spotless.
While other eggs had vibrated against his ear, sounds and movement keeping him mentally engaged, he saw this motionless egg.

It was almost lifeless.

A feeling of knowing came upon him.
His eyes were fixed on the one egg. Golden, glistening. It seemed to be sparkling at him and him alone.

Attachment placed his palms onto the peculiar egg‘s shell. It seemed... surprisingly thin. Instead of a robust, thick shell, it felt as though Casper could reach right through it, almost like tracing his finger tips over the see-through veil of rice paper.

A part of him wanted to look at Remus. He did not know why. At this point, it felt like instinct, maybe habit. In any case, he experienced the urge to look at the dark side. Yet, he refused it.
The egg first.
This, he mused, was his time. Although provided by his lovely partner, it was a moment for him alone and he wanted to value it - for the sake of himself, really.

Almost as if following a deeply ingrained ritual, his fingers started to grasp at the egg, carefully cracking its top. His nails scraped off the thin layer of colour. Golden fractures of colour split off of the egg.
Soon enough, the little mountain top of gold was melting away under Casper‘s magical hands. He worked until he could see enough and even reach into the inner of the egg. A little bag was inside of it. Dark.
Not candy.

Casper‘s fingers brushed over the fabric, trying to take in which candy it could be until it occurred to him that it actually was no candy at all. It was too smooth, not sticky enough. It was light, breezy. It did not feel air-tight at all.

He wanted to ask what this was, but his eyes were focused, his brain not even considering the idea of opening up his mouth in order to even try and produce a single sound. All he did was to open the bag and insert one hand.
The inside was.. odd? To the touch at least, he felt nothing but weirdness. Somehow, it was several textures at the same time. It was somewhat gooey, yet also firm. Was that slime over something?

His eyebrows narrowed together, nearly meeting above his nose.

He pushed his thumb into the item.
It felt very much solid, covered in something like grime.

Attachment gently retreated his hand. He had his eyes closed. He had not even realised it, but he must have done it during the time of him trying to feel just what it was. He was guessing mentally, was attempting to understand it all.
When his eyes fluttered open, his freckles were a faded, peach colour. He blinked a few times.

The item was not just small enough to fit into his palm, it also seemed to reach around his palm. It was spheric, hollow inside. His hand fit right through.
He looked properly at it, squinting ever so carefully. The line around his hand was made of interwoven tentacles. Green goo was dripping from it. It was translucent, yet did not feel disgusting. It was smooth and silky, instead of sticky and stranger.
It felt as natural as water to his hand but did not stain him or wet his fingers.

“Wh-“

Now, his mouth was moving. But he stopped himself at once.
He did not know what to say. He wanted to say so much, wanted to what this was. His brain assembled the pieces, slowly solving the puzzle one object at a time.

This was the most Remus gift ever, for the most Casper person in the world.
Attachment scratched at his friendship bracelet. He had made them all, for any side Thomas had, any side he knew and liked. He had made them and sometimes, the others did not even wear theirs.
Not once person had returned the favour, had given him a similar treatment.

“Thank you..“

He took a really deep breath.
His body was in Remus‘ arms all of a sudden, his body moving into its right place right by his partner.

This piece of weird string, eternally dripping its weird, unaffecting goo, was a symbol of so much more. The tentacles never-ending, never stopping. It was snug against his ankle soon. Remus‘ hands hugged the root of his foot, gently squeezing it before putting it back down onto the bottom of the nest.

The first eggs started to crack around them. Little blocks of Turkish delights, flush and warm in colour were starting to jump around them, up and down. They made funky, wet sounds.
Slurp, Smorf.

They shared a giggle.
This time, Ree let the other cry.

When Remus curled up in bed, Casper was with him, a little ball of ducky onesie in his arms, a trail of crystal sparkles over his cheeks, stopping right above the curl of his smile.