Work Text:
It’s never a good sign when the house is quiet.
Evillustrator stands on the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and scans the living room before spotting his roommates. Sandboy and Reverser are on the floor of the room and cutting out paper snowflakes, though they were quite terrible and some were cut enough where it breaks while being unfolded.
“What’s going on?” Evillustrator question.
He steps off the stairs and comes to stand over the two; glitter has gotten everywhere and Evillustrator doesn’t even know where it came from because he never even created glitter. Markers missing their tops, thousands of tiny pieces of paper litter the floor, and even the scissors are covered in glue.
“Arts and crafts,” Reverser said while Sandboy nodded in agreement. “You want to join?”
“We’re making paper snowflakes!” Sandboy sits up and unfolds his ‘snowflake’ that has a huge hole in the middle. “Reverser and I are going to hang them up from the ceiling.”
“Oh…” Evillustrator wasn’t expecting that. “Well, that sounds like fun.”
Sandboy motions for Evillustrator to take his snowflake, who does, before turning back to make another. It’s covered in silver glitter that Evillustrator somehow overlooked which is just great. He needs to know how they got glitter. Evillustrator folds it up back up before leaving for the kitchen.
“Where are you going!?” Reverser stops him. “Come on, we need a master artist to help us out or are you just bad at crafts?”
Bad at crafts? No, Evillustrator isn’t but there’s a reason why none of his paintings are finished.
Evillustrator put the ‘snowflake’ on the table next to the archway (leading to the hallway with the stairs with another archway into the kitchen) before turning around and grabbing some paper and scissors. Once it’s almost complete, Evillustrator holds the paper over his head and puts the final snip into it causing the paper to burst into real snowflakes that gently fall down around them.
“Happy?”
When neither said anything, Evillustrator turn around and walk away.
…
It was silly to get mad at them just because of some paper.
Evillustrator had left the house and went to City Hall to do some work on a few nearby buildings. However, none of his drawings came out the way that he wanted them to; all bent and looking more like lines than anything important.
He sighs and flops back onto the stairs; staring up at the void above them though it's starting to look more blue lately. Stormy Weather has been working overtime in figuring out how to make the seasons work, everyone is pretty proud of her for making what seasons she could.
“Eve!”
Evillustrator forces himself to sit up when Sandboy comes running over.
“What’s wrong, Sandy?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” Sandboy holds something out in his cup hands, which somehow Evillustrator didn’t notice, and gestures for him to hold his own hands out. “Reverser and I were trying to figure out how you can do arts and crafts with us.”
“I can do crafts I just can’t finish them.”
Evillustrator should have just explained instead of storming out of the house. It’s just unfair to see everyone else be creative and having fun while Evillustrator can’t do that and is stuck with so many unfinished projects because of it. It’s disheartening and…maybe that’s why his art looks worse than normal.
“Well, then this can help you.”
Evillustrator isn’t convinced but holds his hands out and is confused when a flat clay frog keychain lands in his hands, with a grinning Sandboy to match. He holds the keychain in his fingers, watching it swing gently.
“A keychain?” Evillustrator question, looking down at Sandboy. “How will this help me with making stuff?”
“It’s two-sided, see.” Sandboy flips it around so the red side is facing Evillustrator. “So Reverser and I know when you need help finishing your art. If one of us finishes the project, you technically wouldn’t be creating anything.”
Evillustrator lay the frog in the palm of his hand with the red side facing up. It’s not a bad idea but would it work is the question that needs answering. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up if that’s the case. Evillustrator ruffles Sandboy’s hair as he stands up and goes inside the city hall; the boy following close behind.
They easily reach the meeting room where the council is arguing over street rules thanks to Rogercop – again – but Evillustrator ignores them to grab some paper in the middle of the table. Even though there are no scissors in this room – not after what happened last time – Evillustrator went to Dark Cupid and took one of his arrows to cut with.
Dark Cupid is busy arguing with Timebreaker over some competition the two came up with while Stormy Weather eggs them on; all the while Bubbler is trying to get everyone to settle down to finish their meeting and Lady Wifi plays on her phone.
Evillustrator gently guides Sandboy out of the room with a hand behind the boy’s head. Once outside of the room, he went about cutting the pieces that he didn’t need while walking back out to the steps. He notices Sandboy looking very impressed which makes Evillustrator try to make the ‘snowflake’ a little over the top until he stops at the last piece that needs to be gone.
All his projects are always left undone because finishing them only creates them.
If this works then thousands of projects can be completed.
Evillustrator set the arrow off to the side before handing the ‘snowflake’ to Sandboy, who gently takes it and went about gently pulling the final piece out. There’s no way that Evillustrator was giving a child any sharp objects, he can be reckless but not that reckless.
Sandboy hands it back but Evillustrator could only stare at it because what if it doesn’t work?
What if it just turns to snow?
Evillustrator holds the paper above their heads and unfolds it…but instead of snow, a paper snowflake is still in his hands. His eyes are wide as he lowers it down and barely notices Sandboy throwing himself into Evillustrator’s side in excitement…because it worked!
It really worked.
“You know, it kinda looks like the one you gave me.” Sandboy reaches out but doesn’t touch it, looking pleased with the way the sun shines through the pieces. “Though the pattern in the middle is different.”
The one Evillustrator gave him?
He doesn’t quite remember but…the sand.
No, he remembers now.
“Do you still have it?” Evillustrator asks, looking down at the child who nods. “How about we go home, it’s getting close to lunchtime.”
The two pull apart to stand; Evillustrator offers his hand for Sandboy to take before leading the two of them back home.
…
Nightmares roam the streets; sand dripping off the creatures while Akumas tries to escape from them. Evillustrator wanders through the streets in search of the Akuma causing all of this; his fear is something that he had long since got over and now just left with sand attempting to create something before latching onto someone else.
Sitting on the steps of City Hall is a child Akuma with multicolour sand lashing out around him.
Evillustrator makes his way through the chaos, luckily bringing his bag with him, and takes out a piece of paper and a pair of scissors.
With careful hands, Evillustrator cuts the paper into a ‘snowflake’ but stops just before he can finish it, ignoring the despair of an unfinished piece. It’s not for him anyway.
Kneeling down, Evillustrator gently gets the boy’s attention and unfolds the paper to show him.
The boy looks above his knees, seeming hesitant, before gently taking the ‘snowflake’ from his hands. A glimpse of a tearful smile is only visible for a moment before disappearing again. And suddenly, Evillustrator found himself with an armful of the boy who clings so tightly but doesn’t utter a sound.
…
A trio of paper snowflakes hangs from the ceiling in the living room while the sounds of conversation drift from the kitchen.