Chapter Text
"Did you notice," Yellow said, casually, as if he were talking about the weather, "that White's lost his mind?"
Pink paused mid-way through boxing the next shipment of shoes that he was going to stock his store with. They turned and gave the other Addison a long, appraising look, raising a single brow at him.
"I thought it was already established that White has… been acting strange for a while, now," Pink said, a grimace pulling at the edge of their mouth. They quickly righted it into a neutral expression; frowning too much would cause wrinkles, after all. "I thought all the, ah…" How to put it lightly? "... him being him was normal now."
It was true that White was a bit of a strange man. Already his shape and size made him different from the other Addisons, albeit in a way that helped him less stand out and more fade away into the background. He was short, stout, his coloration white to their bright, saturated hues, and his hair a messy nest that needed approximately several gallons of grease to slick back, resulting in him having an almost permanent case of helmet-head that was on par with Orange's hair.
His demeanor was a complete 180 degree flip of his appearance, however. He was loud, boisterous, and energetic- and he seemed to have made up for his size with his ego. Pink privately thought of his confidence and bravado as rather… put up upon, rather than the natural ease the other Addisons had with their self confidence.
And, then, did it culminate into two things- one, White rarely got a sale. The only times he got clicks were either by accident or curiosity. It wasn't like what he was advertising was bad, either, he was just unlucky enough to… not be noticable. At all. It would be almost pitiable if White hadn't made it abundantly clear to the other Addisons that he was not going to accept pity, not now, and not ever.
And that was because of the second thing- his confidence led to him talking the big talk . The Big Shot talk, if you will. White tended to hype himself up around the rest of the Addisons, rambling on and on and on about how he'll improve his business and become just as big as they were- his own words.
Pink didn't know how the other Addisons truly felt about that- they were a tight knit group, somewhere between family and friends, having known each other for what seemed like the beginning of time- but he found it all rather cute, if a bit silly. Really, Yellow was being overdramatic when he claimed that White was "clinically insane" a few years back. White was strange, but insane he was not… Pink was pretty sure.
"No, no no no no, I'm serious, Pink," Yellow raised both of his brows back in retaliation, and leaned towards Pink, hands spread and ready to become a flurry of gestures and motions and knobby elbows flying this way and that, "he's really lost it this time. As in, completely off the train tracks fucking insane , lost it."
Pink stared, incredulous. "Okay," they reluctantly agreed. "... though I still doubt it. Give me an example."
Yellow took in a deep breath. "So first, he threw away all of his electronics-"
The pink Addison dropped the shoe he was holding in shock, and then quickly scrambled to grab it from where it was falling mid-air. He cradled it close to his chest when he recovered, staring at Yellow with wide, open eyes.
"You're serious?" Pink asked, more confused than alarmed. "But that's where- isn't- how is he going to advertise if he doesn't have a platform to advertise with ? Are you pranking me again, Yellow? I swear to God, that last time is the only time you'll ever get me, you-"
"Didn't I tell you I was serious? Yes? No?" Yellow waved his reply away. "Whatever. Well, I'm double serious, then, because I was there. I saw it. He just- upped and threw it all out the window. Bam."
"Just… just like that?" Pink's eyebrows were now one with their hairline. "Bam?"
"Bam," the other man nodded solemnly in reply. "I didn't even know the little guy could throw so far."
"Yes, it's… wait, no, hold on, hold on just a second," Pink gently raised a hand, leaning against one of the shelves that the boxes were on, his task long forgotten. "Why did he do it? Is White… is he… you know…"
"Mentally unsound? Yes-"
"No, you nincompoop, I was asking if he was okay ," Pink scowled at him, and then realized their mistake, quickly massaging the lines away from their face with his hands as they relaxed their expression. "I'm sorry, I apologize. That was out of line."
"You should. I've never been called a greater insult than "nincompoop"."
"Yellow."
"Really, my heart's broken. I think my wiring's shorting out from grief. Oh, the horror. The tragedy. Pink, calling me a nincompoop. "
" Yellow."
Yellow stuck a tongue out at him, grinning unashamedly as he leaned against a stack of boxes. This time Pink was able to hide away his grimace, but the sight alone made him cringe at the thought of damaged goods.
"Stick in the mud," he said, not unkindly. His smile faltered as he was forced to address the part of the conversation he had been avoiding since they first started talking about it. "Yeah, I asked White why he did it. Thought he finally snapped, yanno? Like this was his way of saying "enough is enough", or whatever, except in a more violent way."
"What was it, then?"
"It…" Yellow's smile vanished. "Look, when I tell you that White is insane, I mean he is insane insane. Full on conspiracy theorist insane. Complete with throwing out his phone after claiming that he'd have to "ascend to Heaven again" if he "succumbs to the wires" or… something along the like. He's been rambling about stuff like that, about puppeteers and him finally escaping and being given another chance and- something called Kromer? It's like he's had a total mental break."
Pink processed this. Opened their mouth. Processed some more. Closed it. Processed again. Opened it for the last time.
"So," he said, recollecting all his thoughts because they did not have enough time to unpack all of That. "White's having some sort of midlife crisis... and he's Catholic now?"
Yellow looked completely lost at this point, scratching his head. "Yeah, I don't... I don't know. I can't comprehend him at all. Maybe Blue would have a better shot at talking to the little guy."
Pink sighed, their thumb already typing in their passcode into the phone they slid into their palm within a second of Yellow finishing his sentence. "Already on it."