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Lightning crashed through the darkness overhead and rain poured down from the heavens as Straight Smolderiing sprinted to find cover. He had been out being straight late into the night at Kelly’s house party, as he liked to do, when his ride abandoned him to go be gay somewhere. Straight smolderiing supported this but it unfortunately meant walking home at 11:17 at night.
At first it was a nice enough evening with a slight breeze blowing but then the rumbling started and not even 6 minutes later it started torrenting. Straight Smolderiing was looking left and right for any cover he could go under until a break in the storm happened but he had taken the old winding cursed road to save a few minutes. He was beginning to think maybe he should keep going till he got home when lightning struck a lamppost next to him, making it fall and collapse in front of him. Frightened, Straight Smolderiing looked around for anywhere he could stop as soon as possible. It was then that he saw it, the old abandoned McArthur mansion. It was a place most people tried to avoid ever since its inhabitants mysteriously vanished back in 1981. Faced with no other options, Straight Smolderiing headed on into the building.
Opening the door was like stepping into a time machine. Shag carpets wall to wall, a disco ball in the parlor, several cans of preserved food stacked on top of each other spelling out “Time to Die” in the kitchen, all expired. Looking for a towel to dry himself with, Straight Smolderiing proceeded up the stairs and entered the master bedroom. Inside the bedroom, something called Straight Smolderiing’s eye immediately, a full body mirror covered up by a thin cloth. Thinking he could dry himself off with the cloth, Straight Smolderiing pulled aside the cloth revealing his reflection in the mirror. Something about it felt off and immediately grabbed his attention, causing him to approach it. As he put his face up to the mirror, the reflection in it smiled.
Reeling back, Straight Smolderiing stumbled to the floor as the reflection stepped through the mirror. The reflection walked up to Straight Smolderiing and held out its hand. Afraid, Straight Smolderiing grabbed onto the outstretched hand and the reflection helped pull him to his feet.
“You okay? That fall looked bad.”
“Who- what are you?”
“Why, I’m you! With one slight difference.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“What? No! That would be insane. What slight difference would make me want to kill you?”
“Sociopathy? I don’t know, I’m just scared.”
“Fair enough. Anyway the difference is that I’m gay. I’m Normal Smolderiing.”
“Normal Smolderiing? That’s insane to imagine. Are you from a different world?”
“I am from discord, don’t worry about it. So what are you doing here in this seemingly abandoned mansion?”
“I was just desperate to find shelter from the rain. My ride abandoned me to go be gay, which was cool at the time but now I’m worried about catching a cold.”
“Of course, let me help you find some towels.”
The two Smolderii (the plural of smolderiing) set off in search of towels. Eventually a few perfectly clean towels were found in the linen closet from down the hall. Straight Smolderiing stepped inside the bathroom to dry himself while Normal Smolderiing went downstairs to see if anything in the mansion would turn on. Straight Smolderiing went downstairs to look for his reflection, only to find him in the parlor with the disco ball turned on and lights reflecting off it.
“For some reason, this is the only thing that works.”
“How strange, is it on a different circuit than everything else? Who would need an emergency disco ball?”
“I guess us, we are otherwise in a dark abandoned mansion.”
“This is true.”
“Yes indeed.”
“That’s a fact.”
The Smolderii sat down in the parlor and talked for a while. About everything and nothing in particular. About how Straight Smolderiing was always bullied for being straight and how Normal Smolderiing was always bullied for being Normal Smolderiing. About how cool Jeckole are. Normal Smolderiing then said something about yuri that Straight Smolderiing didn’t understand but he just smiled and nodded the whole time. The two realized they actually weren’t all that similar with one minor difference. They were in fact, completely unrelated people who looked exactly the same. Normal Smolderiing also explained that he wasn’t Straight Smolderiing’s reflection but that he just hangs out in mirrors. They did have one shared interest however and that was warrior cats. The two of them loved warrior cats so much. They talked about all the cats, like SmokeWeed and MoonStar and TriangleMan. Normal Smolderiing even showed Straight Smolderiing his OC, GiroroStar. Straight Smolderiing liked the design but explained that a cat can’t be named that since Giroro is not found in nature, which made Normal Smolderiing a bit sad but he admitted it was a mistake, renaming it to FrogStar. After what felt like only a few minutes, a large clock chimed out 3 times.
“3 A.M.?” Straight Smolderiing exclaimed. “I need to get home right now. If my parents realize I’ve been hanging out in the disco mansion all night they’ll ground me from straight pride.”
“Well that hardly sounds like the worst thing ever, I mean wouldn’t the parade just be you?”
“Yes but Citibank is there giving out free pens and there's a military recruiting station.”
“That sounds actually terrible but okay. You should probably leave then.”
“What about you?”
“I’m… afraid I can’t leave this place. This mansion was actually my uncle’s and his lawyer says I have to stay the night to inherit it. If you ever want to come back and hang out though that would be cool. I can introduce you to my ex.”
“That sounds fun, and I can show you how straight people cook chicken.”
The two of them hugged and parted ways, promising to reunite again one day. That unfortunately never came to pass as a short in the disco ball set fire to the mansion. There was no proof Normal Smolderiing ever died in that fire but his body was never retrieved. Some claim he started the fire for the insurance money vanishing with it in the dead of night while others claim he was never part of this world to begin with. Whatever the case, Straight Smolderiing visited Normal Smolderiings grave once per year, to tell his friend about the new Warriors Cats books.
This is also where he met Normal Smolderiing’s ex, but that’s a story for another time.