Chapter Text
“Sooooo,” Chase spoke in a hushed voice as they stood backstage. His eyes were affixed to the pair of fluffy black cat ears DiamondDiva wore. “What’s up with the cat ears? Another cosplay? DiamondDiva but afternoon nap edition?”
DiamondDiva’s frown softened. “I lost Violet her scrunchie when I gave it to Cashley, and then I didn’t pick it up when Cashley dropped it. I knew Violet wouldn’t wear it again, but…,” he sighed, “this is my punishment for losing Violet’s scrunchie twice. She said I have to wear them for the panel.”
“They’re so cuuuute,” Chase whispered and reached up. He paused. “Oh, can I touch them?”
DiamondDiva glanced away. After a moment of thought, he nodded.
“Thanks,” Chase chirped and rested a hand against DiamondDiva’s head. He gently rubbed one of the fluffy ears between his thumb and forefinger before petting the fluff of the headband and DiamondDiva’s hair. “It blends in really well.”
DiamondDiva’s eyes drifted closed, and he hummed in agreement.
“Oh, hey, we’re going on.” Chase dropped his hand and walked out from behind the curtain partition that blocked backstage from the audience’s view.
DiamondDiva watched as the spotlights bathed Chase in a radiant light, and he listened as the cheers of fans across multiple creators built into a wave of din. He breathed a calming breath and slipped on a pair of sunglasses. He eyed the hand that Chase offered him from the stage, and a corner of his mouth tucked into a small smile. Casting doubt aside, DiamondDiva walked out on stage in a stride. He ignored the cheers from the audience, the surge of energy and sound waves that made his vision chatter. He nodded briefly towards Chase, nonverbally accepting his invitation into the eye of the hurricane.
Chase patted a chair and sent DiamondDiva his thousand-watt smile. Once DiamondDiva took his seat, Chase took a few steps towards the stage’s edge. He held both hands up on either side of his mouth and shouted, “What’s up, AveCon?!”
Another wave of cheers greeted him in return.
Chase soaked in the attention like a sunflower drinking in the daylight.
A firm hand tapped against a microphone, summoning a thump across the speakers. A confident, strong voice spoke to accompany the thump: “Chase Hollow Like and Follow, everyone!” The speaker released a hearty laugh and held a hand towards the remaining empty seat beside DiamondDiva. “Why don’t you take a seat, Chase? We’ll get introductions out of the way, and then we’ll get on with the reading!”
Chase turned to see GoldFinch, a shining beacon of energy standing to the far left of the row of chairs at a podium. He gave him a nod before taking his seat and settling back into a quieter presence. Chase leaned towards DiamondDiva and spoke just loudly enough to share a private conversation: “Got ‘em all warmed up.”
“Something tells me we may suffer heat stroke,” DiamondDiva quipped without bite.
Chase snickered. “S’at why you’re dressed like the goth kid at a beach?”
“Eh.” DiamondDiva shrugged. “Just dressed for the snooty villain role I no-doubt am in these fanfiction excerpts. You think the black leather vest, dark skinny jeans, and combat boots are a little overdone?”
“Nah. The black winged sunglasses are taking the attention off your fit.”
DiamondDiva breathed out an amused laugh. “I’m not taking these off while the lighting has harnessed the power of the sun.” He glanced at the creator on Chase's other side and at the microphone being passed down the short line. “Heads up.”
Chase graciously accepted the microphone and spoke into it with every bit of energy he showed when he walked out on stage, “Hey, guys! I’m Chase Hollow Like and Follow! Thank you, Goldie, for leading this book club. I can’t wait to read some lines!” He then held the microphone towards DiamondDiva.
DiamondDiva eyed the microphone and gingerly slipped it out of Chase’s hold. He leaned forward on his knees and spoke into the microphone, “Hello, AveCon. My name is DiamondDiva, and I hope to keep count of how many of these fanfictions I recognize.” Chase coughed out a laugh beside him as DiamondDiva kept his eyes vaguely centered on the crowd. DiamondDiva then leaned back in his chair and passed the microphone onto the next creator beside him.
Chase leaned towards DiamondDiva again. “Seriously? You can remember every fic you’ve read?”
DiamondDiva lightly shook his head. “Absolutely not. I expect I won’t recognize any of them, but isn’t it more interesting to a fan that someone they watch and listen to may run in their same circles online?”
Chase paused for a moment before shrugging. Yeah, it’d be pretty thrilling if Alastair recognized one of Chase Hollow Like and Follow’s original songs. Ah, well. Chase made the conscious decision to dial back his energy now that introductions were over. He and DiamondDiva shared quips between each other as other creators on the panel read their parts in the submitted fanfiction. It wasn’t until the third ficlet Chase and DiamondDiva read that Chase noticed a pattern. He skimmed the lines they had just read on his packet of paper as Goldie prepped the next fic excerpt. He then leaned towards DiamondDiva and mumbled, “DD, are you seeing this?”
DiamondDiva glanced between their copies. “See what?”
“I was a stringbean again,” Chase sighed before attempting to shrug it off.
DiamondDiva stifled a chuckle. “What are you talking about?”
Chase stared at the paper. “That was like the fifth time I’ve been pinned against a wall without being able to break myself out. I mean. Okay, yeah, it’s just fanfiction; it’s not that deep, and I want people to be able to write about whatever the hell they want, but when it’s like my main thing in these fics….”
“Are you worried your fanbase thinks you’re a waif?”
“Nah, but I post gym thirst traps and everything. You’d think I’d be a little…. I dunno.”
DiamondDiva flipped to the next page in his packet. “Don’t worry. You’re plenty strong, I’m sure. Fandoms just end up assigning one person as a twink and the other as the larger one. In our case, taller one.”
“You’re only like five inches taller than me. That’s like nothing.” Chase paused before adding, “And I am plenty strong, thanks.”
DiamondDiva worked to keep his expression as a neutral smile rather than the grin it wanted to be. “I’m sure you are.”
Chase leaned closer. “Is that doubt I hear?”
“No, no. Certainly not,” DiamondDiva mused and waved a hand. “I trust that you’re as strong as all your gym thirst traps.”
“Chase,” Goldie addressed directly. “We have some explanation for this next one!”
Chase nodded. “Yup, one sec!” He then stood up and placed his packet in his seat. “Thank you, everyone, for submitting your fic if you submitted fic, but I just wanna take a quick moment to—.”
“—Chase.”
Chase looked back at DiamondDiva and at the serious, concerned look behind those dark shades. He paused, thinking on his next words and his tone carefully, before shining a bright smile to the crowd. “I just wanna take a quick moment to point out that I can bench press DiamondDiva.”
A wave of cheers poured over the stage at the suggested image.
“Yup! I was a wrestler in high school and everything. No lanky dude shoving me against a wall is gonna stop me.”
DiamondDiva spoke into a borrowed microphone to stoke the joke, “No way. There’s no way you can bench press me.”
Chase looked back to see the smallest hint of an amused smile from beneath DiamondDiva’s snooty act. “Oh, yeah? You don’t think I can, Kitty?” Chase’s eyes flicked between DiamondDiva’s cat ears and the bright lights glaring off his sunglasses. A playful grin filled his face, challenging DiamondDiva to take their banter further.
After a measured pause, DiamondDiva spoke, “I know you can’t.”
“Okay, c’mon, let’s go.” Chase walked over to DiamondDiva and then passed his microphone to another creator. He leaned down so DiamondDiva’s microphone would catch his voice. “C’mon. I’ll do push-ups with you on my back.”
“...Push-ups aren’t a bench press.”
Chase gently lifted the microphone out of DiamondDiva’s hand and passed it over to the creator sitting beside him. “C’mon, DD. It’ll go viral,” Chase sang just above a whisper.
DiamondDiva snickered and shook his head. “I doubt that. Go on, then. Make a show of it. I’ll villain it up.”
Chase stood up straight and shrugged off his jacket. “Awesome.” He dropped his jacket over the back of his chair and leaned over to speak into the microphone he’d given away. “In the interest of time, I’m just gonna do twenty push-ups, but DD’s gonna help me keep count, right?”
The crowd’s cheers echoed against the walls and ceiling.
DiamondDiva leaned to the creator to his left and spoke into the microphone Chase had guided away from him. “Absolutely, Tiny.”
Once Chase settled himself lying down on the floor center stage, DiamondDiva walked over and stood over him. He sent the crowd a knowing look before moving to sit cross-legged on Chase’s back. DiamondDiva lifted an eyebrow and pretended to check his nails. “Don’t strain yourself,” he murmured.
A chuckle settled in Chase’s chest as he readied himself. He then breathed in a deep breath and pushed against the stage floor.
DiamondDiva’s eyes grew wide, and his body was instantly rigid as he was lifted at least a foot into the air. He flicked his sunglasses up over his bangs and looked down at Chase’s fluffy blonde head as he sunk down to the floor. He then rose again, and DiamondDiva looked out at the crowd as they counted for him. His sunglasses dropped down to cover his eyes again, and he attempted to be composed as Chase pushed himself up and sunk down another eighteen times at a careful, measured pace.
Once the count was done, DiamondDiva scrambled as cooly as he possibly could off of Chase’s back. He stood and reached a hand out to Chase.
Chase sprang up to his feet as if his legs were made of springs and threw his arms up in a cheer. “Twenty!” He shouted and then turned to give DiamondDiva a wink. “Told ya I could.”
DiamondDiva's lips pressed into a firm line, and he gave him a nod in return. “Well done.”
Chase brushed his hands against his pants and followed DiamondDiva back to their seats. Chase rested the fanfiction packet in his lap as he accepted his microphone again. “And now back to our regularly scheduled programming,” he joked.
“Ah,” DiamondDiva spoke into Chase’s microphone as he crossed his legs and caught sight of where they left off previously. “My favorite show. Hubris.”
GoldFinch chuckled and went right back to pulling up an additional source to explain the upcoming excerpt while the crowd started to settle.
Chase skimmed through the final fanfiction submission for him and DiamondDiva. He lifted an eyebrow and mumbled to himself, “...A crossover?”
DiamondDiva leaned closer to Chase. “Hm?”
Chase lightly shook his head. “This looks like some kind of fantasy thing. It's not like the others.”
Goldie's voice carried over the crowd. “When we did our research, it looked like a lot of stargoth works crossed over with a property called Rapunzel Boy.”
Cheers bubbled up within pockets of the room, and a flag waved here and there.
Chase lifted his microphone and spoke into it, “Yeah? What's Rapunzel Boy, Goldie?”
“I'd say an allusion or a metaphor,” Goldie replied, his confidence as shining and rock-solid as ever. He looked down at his podium and brushed a few fingers against a tablet. “If we're talking what’s written on the ‘About’ page, then Rapunzel Boy is an all-ages comedy webcomic about a book-averse young man—Hunter Empty—who jumps into books to gather a substance called narramine which heals his sick sister when given to her in small amounts, but his aim is to collect enough to heal her from her condition entirely. Hunter is thwarted—or perhaps just annoyed—by a handsome young man who he has facetiously named ‘Pal’. Commonly, Chase Hollow takes Hunter's place, and DiamondDiva takes Pal's place. Or sometimes, fans will assign Chase Hollow and DiamondDiva different magic roles and incorporate them into the world alongside Hunter and Pal.” GoldFinch proceeded to go over the title of the work and began reading the few paragraphs of description and setting.
Chase nodded as he glanced down the page and leaned his microphone away to whisper to DiamondDiva. “Okay, DD, it looks like I'm Hunter for this thing.”
DiamondDiva flicked a page over, quickly scanned the excerpt, and replied just as quietly, “Let's switch roles for this.”
“What?” Chase lifted an eyebrow. “Why? It's pretty clear that I'm Hunter and you're Pal.”
“I just think it could be fun. A little acting practice. You know.” The excitement DiamondDiva promised didn’t reach his eyes. In fact, it didn’t even bring a smile to his face.
Chase slowly tore his gaze away from DiamondDiva to look down at the fanfiction. He scanned the lines of dialogue to try and glean why DiamondDiva seemed to be a wet blanket about it. Eh, he thought, Pal felt like the kind of character DiamondDiva would play if he was stuck up in a tower and hissy about it. He leaned back and whispered again, “C’mon. I’m sure the person who submitted this fic is really looking forward to you reading for Pal. This one seems a lil more serious than the other ficlets we read. Don’t you wanna make this writer’s day? Week? Month?”
DiamondDiva locked eyes with Pal’s lines and breathed in a deep breath before quietly sighing it out. “Fine.”
“I know we’ve just been doing comedy ones and romance-y ones so far, but you can do a great dramatic reading, too.” Chase nudged his shoulder against Buddy’s upper arm.
Buddy’s gaze drifted to catch Chase’s expression. The gentle look in Chase’s deep brown-gold eyes and the low-effort but sincere smile seemed to pull Buddy’s attention well enough to drown out the hot lights, GoldFinch’s booming voice, and the low chatter of the audience. Buddy breathed another stabilizing breath and released it. “Alright.”
GoldFinch narrated until he reached the first line of dialogue. “Hunter took a few steps back and positioned his hands on either side of his mouth before calling up to the window.”
Chase held his microphone between him and DiamondDiva. “Pal! Hey! Pal! Are you up there?! It’s Hunter!”
DiamondDiva waited as GoldFinch narrated the text between dialogue and then hissed into the microphone, “Shh!”
Chase’s face broke into a relieved smile. “Pal! Where’ve you been?!”
“Shut up!” DiamondDiva crossed his arms and then rolled his eyes as he spoke. “Don’t scream so loudly. You’ll be heard.”
Chase stared for a moment. “...Uh…, yeah? I wanted you to hear me.”
DiamondDiva rubbed a couple fingers against his temple in exasperation. “You’re such an idiot,” he muttered.
“How?” Chase blinked a bit blankly before concern filtered into his voice. “Why wouldn’t I try to find you? You disappeared! You saw…, and then you just…. You never showed up again. Why are you here? Why aren’t you where you’re supposed to be? Why aren’t you playing as the villain and trying to stop me?”
DiamondDiva heaved a heavy sigh, glanced toward the audience, and then gave Chase a tired gaze. “I am where I’m supposed to be. I was given a chance. Several chances, but I squandered—,” he gulped and glanced away, “—...them all. So. Now, I’m here. I was always supposed to be here.”
“I don’t understand.” Chase watched as DiamondDiva seemed to grow less annoyed.
DiamondDiva’s prickliness softened, and he wore a defeated frown. “What we are named shapes who we are. I can own a baseball bat and use it to hammer a nail, and it’ll become my hammer even though it’s a bat. It will never stop being a bat even though it lives as a hammer, its original purpose unfulfilled and ignored.”
“I extra don’t understand.”
A small wave of scattered laughs roamed over the audience as DiamondDiva breathed a sigh. “...My name isn’t ‘Pal’. It’s just what you started calling me. I never corrected you. At first, it was an insult, and then…, it grew to be…special. I started to….” His voice died off, unable to share his deepest thoughts. “We’re given roles. Identities we can’t step outside of. Identities that were forged for us. I begged for a chance to grow beyond what I was, but….” His gaze flicked between the stage itself and the packet he was reading from. “I was proven incapable of it. So….” He flicked a hand to the stage lights. “Now, I’m back where I’m supposed to be.”
Chase’s eyebrows pulled together in mock thought. “‘They’ think you belong in a tower?”
His grip on the pages tightened. “In a prison. In a tower. Behind iron bars. In my room. Beneath the ground. Above the clouds. In a hut with no door.” The locations were strung together as his voice grew less confident. He cleared his throat. “More or less, on a shelf. To be occasionally seen and never heard. …But not before humiliating me and forcing me to watch my failure over and over again. Forced to watch….” His gaze fell to the stage before him. “Whatever.”
“That’s sad.”
A brief spark of anger flashed through Buddy’s eyes. “I’m not sad! I’m not to be pitied! I’m a Diamond, an heir to an identity I live to maintain! I’m refined and intelligent and capable, and I’ll be ready when it’s time for me to take responsibility!”
“...Until then, you gotta stay locked up in the tower?” Chase watched Buddy with a neutral expression and with worry nestled in his eyes.
“You don’t understand—.”
“Isn’t it boring?” Chase chirped, his energy renewed. “Do you wanna stay up there? Or. Under there or behind there or wherever they’re gonna put you next?”
Buddy bit his tongue and gulped back his feelings.
“I mean. We could probably… .” Chase pinched the edge of his paper and tore it just a bit—an inch deep or so. “Hm. Mmnah. Still a little spikey.”
“Just go away,” DiamondDiva groaned. “I’m meant to stay in here until you finish the story, and it’s mind-numbing in here.”
GoldFinch narrated, “Hunter stepped back from the tower and stretched his neck to see Pal.”
Chase frowned just obviously enough for the audience to see. “But if I leave, you’ll be all alone. I don’t know much about you, but I get the feeling that you’re not cool with that.”
DiamondDiva stared, his frown forcefully firm.
“Don’t you wanna come hang out like we used to? Don’t you wanna be a pal?”
DiamondDiva looked up at the audience and held a tense fist to his chest before looking to Chase to cue his next line.
“You can still be a Diamond and play games with me. Diamonds are portable.”
A sputtering laugh broke DiamondDiva’s composure. “That’s not a good reason to use a metaphor.”
“Okay, well, your metaphor about a bat and a nail was dumb, too,” Chase huffed. “You’re a person! Not an object or a tool. So.” He shrugged, memorized the line, and held his arms up. “Rapunzpal, Rapunzpal, let down your…uh. Your whole self.”
DiamondDiva bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing. “My ‘whole self’?”
Chase nodded. “Jump!”
DiamondDiva blinked a bit blankly. “You expect me to rip through these thorns and jump from this tower?”
Chase winced. “I mean. Yeah? I didn’t see stairs or a door down here. Hey, I know the spikes are probably gonna be uncomfortable and maybe hurt a bit, but if you hop down, then I can catch you.”
Buddy watched Chase. “...You will?”
Chase nodded and lifted his arms a bit to illustrate his intent. He met Buddy’s eyes and smiled that easy, reality-shifting smile. “I will.”
End of Pyrite Stars and Porcelain Shields Chapter 11
For anyone who wishes to read the full, uninterrupted fake fanfiction scene, I have placed it below this horizontal line.
It was a dark and quiet night. Leaves dyed dark by the night sky crunched as Hunter treaded over them and down the dirt path through the hollow. It had been a few books since he’d last seen Pal. As a result, stories ran more smoothly. He was able to get from start to finish with a significant amount of narramine—very much unlike his usual narrative stint. Usually, Pal was there to butt in to the rising actions and climaxes to make things harder on Hunter, all while wearing a smirk as he toyed with him. That glitter of mischief in Pal’s cool eyes and tousled annoyance fluffing his dark hair stuck in Hunter’s mind like a freshly licked lollipop welded onto a brand new wood floor, but ever since the fiasco with Fern accidentally revealing Hunter and David’s lying, Pal had been missing from the books entirely. Each generic villain’s appearance made Hunter’s gut sink deeper and deeper until he noticed something peculiar in all the horizons he saw.
A tower.
The leaves crunched before parting to reveal the dirt path scatter over a stone bridge, and beyond the stone bridge was a thicker grove of trees. Beyond those, a stone tower stood tall and immovable among the treeline. Each book had a fixture in the distance, but Hunter’s eye always seemed to pass over it. Luckily, this book was more open-ended and allowed for more time Hunter could use for himself to explore.
He breathed in and breathed out, mentally bulking up his will to continue on. Hunter walked over the bridge and through the grove, glancing up every so often to re-familiarize himself with where the tower stood. Once he’d reached the foot of the tower, his gaze turned skyward to see a soft glow from a singular window up near the top of the tower. Thorny vines twisted and clung to each other and the tower walls, promising significant wounds to anyone who would attempt a climb either up or down.
Hunter took a few steps back and positioned his hands on either side of his mouth before calling up to the window, “PAL!” He waited a few moments in silence before trying again, “Hey! Pal! Are you up there?! It’s Hunter!”
Immediately, someone leaned out of the window between the vines and hissed, “Shh!”
A spark of relief flashed through Hunter’s warm-colored eyes. “Pal! Where’ve you been?!”
“Shut up!” Pal knelt against the floor and leaned his arms on the stone window sill. “Don’t scream so loudly. You’ll be heard.”
Hunter stared for a moment. “...Uh…, yeah? I wanted you to hear me.”
Pal rubbed at his temples. “You’re such an idiot,” he muttered.
“How?” Hunter brushed aside whatever sting ‘idiot’ held. “Why wouldn’t I try to find you? You disappeared! You saw…, and then you just…. You never showed up again. Why are you here? Why aren’t you where you’re supposed to be? Why aren’t you playing as the villain and trying to stop me?”
Pal heaved a heavy sigh, glanced back at the quiet room, and then watched Hunter with a tired gaze. “I am where I’m supposed to be. I was given a chance. Several chances, but I squandered them all. So. Now, I’m here. I was always supposed to be here.”
“I don’t understand.” Hunter watched as the spirit of annoyance quietly left Pal.
Pal rested his head on his arms, and his lips relaxed into a defeated frown. “What we are named shapes who we are. I can own a baseball bat and use it to hammer a nail, and it’ll become my hammer even though it’s a bat. It will never stop being a bat even though it lives as a hammer, its original purpose unfulfilled and ignored.”
“I extra don’t understand.”
Pal breathed a sigh. “...My name isn’t ‘Pal’. It’s just what you started calling me. I never corrected you. At first, it was an insult, and then…, it grew to be…special. I started to….” His voice died off, unable to share his deepest thoughts. “We’re given roles. Identities we can’t step outside of. Identities that were forged for us. I begged for a chance to grow beyond what I was, but…I was proven incapable of it. So….” Pal sat up and lifted his hands, gesturing to the tower. “Now, I’m back where I’m supposed to be.”
Hunter’s eyebrows pulled together in thought. “‘They’ think you belong in a tower?”
Pal hovered a hand near the thorny vines. “In a prison.” He rested a finger against a down-turned thorn. “In a tower. Behind iron bars. In my room. Beneath the ground. Above the clouds. In a hut with no door.” He winced and drew away his hand. “More or less, on a shelf. To be occasionally seen and never heard.” With a frustrated frown, Pal smacked the stone window frame. “But not before humiliating me and forcing me to watch my failure over and over again. Forced to watch….” His gaze fell to the ground below him to rest on Hunter. “Whatever.”
“That’s sad.”
A brief spark of anger flashed through Pal’s eyes. “I’m not sad! I’m not to be pitied! I’m a Diamond, an heir to an identity I live to maintain! I’m refined and intelligent and capable, and I’ll be ready when it’s time for me to take responsibility!”
“...Until then, you gotta stay locked up in the tower?” Hunter’s eyes trailed over the thorny vines.
“You don’t understand—.”
“Isn’t it boring?” Hunter chirped, his energy renewed. “Do you wanna stay up there? Or. Under there or behind there or wherever they’re gonna put you next?”
Pal bit his tongue and gulped back his feelings.
“I mean. We could probably… .” Hunter tore part of his shirt and wrapped it around the vines. “Hm.” He gripped the insulated section. “Mmnah. Still a little spikey.”
“Just go away,” Pal groaned. “I’m meant to stay in here until you finish the story, and it’s mind-numbing in here.”
Hunter stepped back from the tower and stretched his neck to see Pal. “But if I leave, you’ll be all alone. I don’t know much about you, but I get the feeling that you’re not cool with that.”
Pal stared, his frown forcefully firm.
“Don’t you wanna come hang out like we used to? Don’t you wanna be a pal?”
Pal looked back at the room he was held in and held a tense fist to his chest as he used his free hand to brace himself against the window frame.
“You can still be a Diamond and play games with me. Diamonds are portable.”
A sputtering laugh broke Pal’s composure. “That’s not a good reason to use a metaphor.”
“Okay, well, your metaphor about a bat and a nail was dumb, too,” Hunter huffed. “You’re a person! Not an object or a tool. So.” He braced himself and held his arms out. “Rapunzpal, Rapunzpal, let down your…uh. Your whole self.”
Pal lifted an eyebrow. “My ‘whole self’?”
“Jump!”
Pal blinked a bit blankly. “You expect me to rip through these thorns and jump from this tower?”
Hunter winced. “I mean. Yeah? I didn’t see stairs or a door down here.” When Pal didn’t respond, Hunter sent him a confident smile. “Hey, I know the spikes are probably gonna be uncomfortable and maybe hurt a bit, but if you hop down, then I can catch you.”
“...You will?”
Hunter nodded and lifted his arms a bit to illustrate his intent. “I will.”