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Lightbulb lied still in bed, curled up into a ball with tears streaming down her red puffy eyes.
she really wanted to relapse. The feeling had been lingering there for months, she didn’t dare to respond to those whispers. She knew she couldn’t relapse. Not now, not tomorrow, not before. Not ever,
she promised Paintbrush she wouldn’t do it again. Paintbrush helped her, is she gonna waste it? she’d ruin Paintbrush’s day by making them think they’ve helped Lightbulb for no good reason. Actually, can Lightbulb even ask for anyone’s help?
Lightbulb gets out of her position and looks for her phone, her room is a mess. There’s trash that’s been sitting there for weeks on end, messy clothes and some with stains or other unknown substances, her organizers are disorganized, her entire room is full of junk and countless species of mold and bugs. She hadn’t cleaned it up in so long that it’s hard to remember, but alas, she still looks around to find her phone.
after a few minutes of searching she found it, it was under her lap. ‘Great going, idiot..’ she said to herself, Lightbulb shuffled in her place, looking at her contacts list
Lightbulb desperately scrolled through all her contacts, just hoping she’d find one person she can vent to, maybe they’ll understand?
“Why is there no one I feel safe reaching out to?” Lightbulb blurted out, not feeling like she could trust anyone, almost everyone. “everyone else reaches out to me yet I can’t do the same, real cowardly huh?” she whispered to herself.
Lightbulb stared at her hands with more tears piling up.
“I do feel safe telling Painty but I just can’t! They have enough on their plate already, but then what are my options left?“ the tears flooded her eyes as she sobbed silently. Lightbulb continued crying until she noticed something. Or rather someone, an old friend of hers to be precise.
there it was, her blade. Sitting innocently on her nightstand, its purpose was to be used to open cans at first. After Lightbulb had found it, she used it to open her wrists. And now it served no purpose other than being the reason Lightbulb’s fashion choices have been so restricted once upon a time.
That once upon a time was six months ago, yet Lightbulb still hasn’t been over that habit. ‘ pathetic ‘ Lightbulb hummed to herself. To be so addicted it carries on after quitting, just lovely. You see, after Lightbulb had quit cutting herself, she still found ways to bring suffering to herself. She resorted to scratching herself, intensely.
Very very intensely.
She’d dig her nails into her skin, feeling it all burn and hurt made her feel better. She knew she deserved it for every little mess up after all.
All of those times she talked too much and ended up getting yelled at for just not shutting up, why can’t she shut up? Just stop it, Lightbulb. You’re worth nothing for gods sake! Why be under the impression your words can hold better value?
..
it’s not just that either. Her pica disgusts everyone around her,
“I can’t control it..” Lightbulb chokes out while sobbing and secretly scratching herself, making sure no one sees, after Paintbrush caught her eating some twigs. “It’s still bad, I don’t want you eating that.” “why not?” a short silence lingered in the air, one where you’d know where it’s presence stood.
Lightbulb couldn’t figure it out for the life of her! “It’s not good for you one bit.” they sighed “I don’t want you to actively damage yourself. I care about you and you should too.”
“but I do care! Painty, don’t you think I care about myself?” She takes a breath, god this is overwhelming. “Painty? Painty I care about myself, you know that.” She gazes into their eyes, waiting for some response. Waiting for them to show emotion. Lightbulb waited for their answer desperately, now fidgeting with her legs as she wrapped her nails inside the deep cut she formed
“..Lightbulb.” Paintbrush takes a step forward, putting their hand on lightbulbs shoulder and smiling at her. It instantly dissolves into a judgmental frown as they open their mouth. “we know it isn’t true”
wait, what?
“This isn’t how I remember this.” A sorrowful Lightbulb says, snapping out of her daydream. “I’ve replayed these memories so much! There’s no way its wrong,
but-“ Oh. It is?
What type of personality is that, Lightbulb? So.. horrible. That’s her best friend; Painty. They’d never say that to her. Lightbulb isn’t in the best state right now, but she Paintbrush loves her! They do, right?
Do they?
‘No, of course not. I’m no good for Painty…’ she sniffles “they’re worse.. with me there, I want to change that.” She reaches for the blade.
Lightbulb smiles at the sight of holding it, her grip sharper than ever. “After this, I won’t be the weak girl who brings everyone down and disgusts them. I’ll be stronger? No, im a coward..” She sniffles until her nose burns
“I’m disgusting.” Lightbulb says as she flicks the first strike on her wrist, a big cut appears! Lightbulb giggles at the sight of it, she then realizes it’s a cat scratch. “really? A cat scratch? I’m lazy aren’t i.. like a couch potato! no- bag of potatoes? Um, bed potato. Yeah, that.” did she just interrupt her relapse to make a fruitless joke about couch potatoes? That deserves a deeper cut for her actions.
It deserves a cut so deep it’ll leave a big hole in her wrist. One so big you could see what’s behind her wrist, Lightbulb hopes. She tightens her grip on the blade and she lunges it in.
1
2
3
She dug the blade up, some blood started showing up. Lightbulb grinned
“I’m doing so well.” she thought to herself.
“ i don’t care about what’ll happen next, for now I’m as happy as can be. “
Lightbulb continued to cut herself all night, unleashing emotions of melancholy, frustration and guilt by cutting. Making sure there were no cat scratches to be seen, just pitiful and deep cuts, the only thing filling those cuts were her blood, sure. But it felt like there was more to it than that? Maybe she doesn’t even have real blood.
“I don’t deserve to have blood after that..” Lightbulb said while still clutching her blade and keeping it close to her, like a baby holding its bottle.
‘what do I even do with it? I.. I could taste it. But Painty wouldn’t forgive me. I don’t even know how’ll they act to me relapsing. Hey, why do they even need to know? I could just hide it from them, hide it all and make a new and improved Lightbulb! Perfect.’ she thought to herself.
Her smile eventually faded when another thought came in mind. This is just exactly how Lightbulb was in the past, she’d mask everything. She forgot the peace of suffering In silence, nobody would worry about her mental health since she forcefully showed no signs.
This’ll be good, right? Well it should be.
Lightbulb held her wrist close to her mouth, sticking her tongue out and bracing herself for the metallic taste. She stared at her wrist, it looked like a mess. Cuts were all over it despite her wrist not being that big, the cuts all overlapped with each other. Some had already swollen because she’s been doing this for hours after all.
She ignored it all and roped it closer to her tongue, excited to taste it. “Ok.. 3-2-1!”
She licked it. Actually licked it? What was wrong with her. She’s so odd for doing so.
Lightbulb felt like she was gonna throw up, her face cringed. “this is disgusting.” She said. “So.. disgustin’ dude!” She got angry. No, furious. Lightbulb thought about how to punish herself for that stupid mistake.
She then realized the answer was in her grasp, it stood between her index and thumb. Her blade! Her blade that heard her cries, her blade that knew every secret that each cut was behind. Her best friend, well, blade friend.
She did it again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. She didn’t feel satisfied, barely satisfied. She needed more.
She eventually did it until she just collapsed from being too tired. The glowing clock in her dark room flashed 2:30am on it. Lightbulb would be ok next morning, this relapse was a one time thing. And it wouldn’t affect her, right?
(Next morning)
“Lightbulb?!” Paintbrush shrieked as they entered her room, it was the first time they’d done so in months. They assumed lightbulb just simply wanted no one to enter her hotel room, but they were oh, so wrong. Heaps of clothes on the floor with an unusual stench and unfamiliar stains on it, trash everywhere and not to mention mold. Mold was a big fear of lightbulbs so why have it? But that didn’t matter to paintbrush one bit.
They moved closer to lightbulbs bed and cupped her cheeks. They gently tried to wake her up. Apparently that screech of theirs wasn’t enough. “Lightbulb, let’s wake up?” They then inspected lightbulb for a few seconds.
Blood. And cuts? That wretched blade in her hands. ‘She relapsed.’ They thought. ‘She relapsed, She relapsed.’
“Painty?” Lightbulb said, still yawning. She must’ve barely gotten any sleep. But oh dear, the clock had 12:00pm on it. She’d been sleeping for a long time, Lightbulb forgot about what happened last night since she just woke up.
“Sooo.. what’re you doing in my room?” Lightbulb casually says as she puts both her hands behind her neck, trying to be “smug”. She feels a sting as her arm touches the bedframe, oh shit. She relapsed.
“Lightbulb, are you okay? I.. I came In here because you haven’t responded to me all day and I was worried”
Paintbrush said as they sat on the edge of Lightbulb’s bed, trying to make her feel safe.
“Of course I’m okay Painty, I juuuust had a big nap haha..” she’s trying so hard to not wince from how it stings. Lightbulb looks down on her bed sheets and realizes there’s blood all over them, talk about relapsing in the dark.
Lightbulb gets scared after seeing the blood, knowing Paintbrush has obviously seen it as well. “Painty wait, that’s not blood! It’s.. well this’ll be embarrassing but, it’s my period blood.” she has no excuses. “Lightbulb you’re transfem. You don’t need to lie to me, are you doing ok? and- and please tell me where that blood is from.”
Oh right, she forgot she was trans. Well, she didn’t. She’ll always see herself as him deep down. He’s always there, Lightbulb doesn’t even look like a girl anyhow. She’s too ugly for it.
“I relapsed last night.” Lightbulb winced, hoping Paintbrush could ignore what she said. Please don’t hear it, why did she even say it? Oh yeah she can’t lie to Paintbrush because they’re too important to her. Paintbrush doesn’t say anything
They wrap their arms around her, as tight as they humanly could. “Thank you for telling me.” They tried not to cry. They can’t make Lightbulb think they’re disappointed because they aren’t. They’re proud of her for telling them. “Are you mad at me?” Lightbulb said as she hugged back, tightly but not as tight as Paintbrush. She’s silently crying to not be a nuisance.
“I’d never be mad at you for that, but I’m still upset to why? Did something happen? Or did u get triggered into relapsing”
…
Lightbulb stiffened. She can’t just dump that onto Paintbrush, not now! They’re going through so much, why carry Lightbulb’s burden with them. “I’m glad you’re not mad.” Lightbulb whispered to Paintbrush’s ear after moving their hair out of the way, tucking it behind their ear.
A smile crept up Paintbrush’s face, they really did care about Lightbulb. But, why is she trying to change the topic?
“Lightbulb. I love you but I need you to be serious with me. I can’t bare seeing you live like this.”
“Painty.. I can’t.” Lightbulb said, quietly sinking into her own world.
She didn’t want to deal with this. Not now, not tomorrow, not before, not ever.
“Why not? I’m open to what you have to say.” Paintbrush is starting to get worried. ‘did I do something wrong?’ Those words repeated like a broken record player in their head, never stopping and looping. Getting more distorted with each replay and changing its meaning every once in a while, but not for the better. That meaning just got worse, they couldn’t ask that tho, too self centered
“I don’t want to burden you, y’know.. you have so much to deal with and I don’t know why do you still care about me. Before me I always want you to put yourself first, can you do that for me?” Lightbulb smiled. But the smile lacked her bright eyes and her radiant smile. It just lingered of sorrow and pain. Not like how a real smile should.
Paintbrush paused for a second, they didn’t expect her to think she’s a burden to them.
“You’d never be a burden to me, I want you to tell me what’s going on. I don’t care how bad it is or how it can affect me too because if this concerns you it should concern me too.” Paintbrush said, locking eyes with Lightbulb as they slipped their fingers into hers, interlocking them and holding hands. Lightbulb smiled, it was a soft warm and pure smile. It’s the first time she’s smiled like that in a while.
“I guess I’ll tell you, but.. if you feel uncomfortable please just tell me.” Lightbulb answered, she didn’t want to hurt them with her words despite the words coming out of her own mouth are tainted with her disgusting self image of herself.
Paintbrush gave her a thumbs up, gesturing her to start as they changed their position to sit beside her. Still obviously holding her hand but now their free hand clutched her close to them as if she’d evaporate into nothing if she dared move an inch farther.
“I don’t feel clean. Like, at all. No matter how much I scrub myself it just.. I just. I feel dirty.” She choked out, her eyes are starting to water. “What do you mean by dirty exactly?” Paintbrush questioned. Lightbulb takes a deep breath, “I still feel ___’s touch. It’s like from the day It.. it happened- I still feel it. I tried changing so much things hygienically, but she’s still there. It’s like no matter how far I go from her, her hands and fingers are glued to me forever.. really sticky glue tho, maybe gorilla glue? And, I feel dirty about every small thing, like painty be honest. Do I even look like a girl?”
Lightbulb paused her vent. She wanted to know what Paintbrush thinks
“Just please.. be honest with me even if it hurts.” Lightbulb says to Paintbrush.
Paintbrush is baffled, they sometimes forget lightbulb isn’t a cisgirl if it wasn’t for small details that make them remember, one of the only ones being the fact that she doesn’t get periods. “You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever known. I can’t imagine to even think of you as a boy.” Paintbrush replied while they rubbed Lightbulb’s shoulders lightly.
“Do you mean it..?”
“I always mean it.”
A tear rolled down her cheek and she smiled. Not a big, forced bright one. A genuine smile that was warm.
“But, I really don’t know if I’ll ever get over ___ I can’t do things I used to enjoy because of her. I can’t.. I can’t look at my own naked body without feeling her hands on it, I feel disgusting. It was my fault, maybe if I closed the last button on my polo shirt at school, it wouldn’t have happened.” Lightbulb said in a whisper as quiet as a mouse
Paintbrush went rigid. ___ was their and Lightbulb’s old friend, well until she SAd her. Paintbrush supported Lightbulb a lot during that time. They made sure she was safe and always dragged her away from ___, Since they were at school with her.
“Her actions.. shouldn’t define your self image, I think that your body is yours either way and it shouldn’t be claimed by- err.. what she did to you. Trust me,”
They hold lightbulbs hand with their arm which was on her shoulder.
“..this wasn’t your fault, okay? You didn’t make her feel like doing it and she’s just messed up. In more ways than one.” Paintbrush said, smiling at the last bit. Lightbulb smiled back and turned paintbrush to face towards here as she hugged them, tightly.
“Thank you.. I- I don’t deserve you.”
She muttered
“You’re right, you deserve better than me.”
Paintbrush said as they ran their hands through Lightbulb’s hair, it was bouncy.
“Painty, I don’t think I could ever find someone better than you, honest.”
Paintbrush paused, they hadn’t treated Lightbulb’s cuts yet. She was acting like this when she’s this close to getting her wounds infected, they probably sting, they must sting oh so hard. Poor Lighty. She didn’t deserve this at all
“Lightbulb is it okay If I bandage you up? I don’t want to risk you getting hurt when u have fresh cuts out..” Paintbrush asked, trying to be as calm as possible to not startle Lightbulb
“You sure?- I mean.. I don’t know if these can get treated one bit ya’know.. they really, they run deeeeeep! I don’t want my tall enby to get uncomfortable.”
Paintbrush ignored the remark that Lightbulb had made, looking for a first aid kit that OJ put in every hotel room. “I want to.”
Lightbulb didn’t know how to respond, she still felt like she didn’t deserve this and no matter how much she’s told the opposite it’d never work.
Paintbrush eventually found the kit, it was in the bathroom adjacent to a countertop. “I think that’s all I need! Now, I’ll need to spray something on the wound to avoid bacteria from staying, preferably something like perfume or alcohol spray?.. do you have any of those?” They tilted their head waiting for Lightbulb to respond
“It’s like somewhere near there” Lightbulb points between under her bed and her nightstand “can you get the perfume that smells like cookies? It may not be oatmeal raisin themed but.. it well, counts.” Lightbulb’s lips curved into a small shy smile, barely noticeable unless someone’s staring attentively at her. Which Paintbrush was doing
“Stay here while I look for it, while waiting you can choose what bandages you want” They then handed the kit to Lightbulb, it had kiddy stickers in them since they costed less than adult bandages according to OJ. There were princess stickers, sonic stickers, and ones with simple shapes.
‘ these all suck.. no I suck! Why did I let my guard down, now Painty knows and they know how much I really suck, I needa drink a Dr. fizz, even if I don’t get depressed.’ Lightbulb thought to herself.
She thought her mind was weird for processing things badly or for how she made weird puns, it was apparently embarrassing according to her. Lightbulb’s thoughts overlapped with heinous remarks about herself, until it came to an end.
“I found it!” Paintbrush sing-songed, walking towards the edge of Lightbulb’s bed. “Okay, this is gonna sting and you can hold my hand if you want to.
Lightbulb did nothing more than nod and grip Paintbrush’s hand until her knuckles turned white, she started to shake before Paintbrush even removed the cap of her perfume, they held her hand tightly as they opened the perfume and sprayed it.
Lightbulb winced in response as all she did was hold on. Tears were forming in her eyes as she bit her lip, she didn’t wanna whine or make noise. Paintbrush patted her lap, “it’s over, you did well!” They said as they then moved onto checking which bandage Lightbulb had chosen
“N-n..no problem painty!..” Lightbulb said as she was shaking, she hated how bad it stung but the problem was she loved feeling that pain. ‘Why am I still thinking like this?‘ Lightbulb thought to herself, ‘I should be thinking happily now, I got comfort after all..’ she started to tear up. She teared up and the only way she knew how to stop herself from crying was to dig her nails into herself.
“Lighty! Did you not pick a bandaid yet?” Paintbrush asked,
“No…t yet” Lightbulb replied as she tried her best to not let Paintbrush notice what she’s doing.
“Why’re ur hands back there? I’ll need them right on your lap so I can apply those bandages, come on!” Paintbrush said while gently holding her arms from behind her, trying to bring them to the front.
Lightbulb didn’t want Paintbrush to know what she was doing, so she eventually let go of her wrist, even if the damage was bad she could blame it on last night. After all, Lightbulb could never tell Painty that.
She moved her hands and placed them on their lap, Paintbrush replied with a warm smile as they pecked her cheek and then showed her the bandages. Lightbulb blushed but ignored it.
“Maybe you didn’t focus on choosing a bandage, but here! Which one do you want?” Paintbrush eagerly explained, smiling at the fact that Lightbulb seemed to feel better than before.
“Can I have the Amy rose one? She’s, girly.” Lightbulb replied with no explanation provided.
Paintbrush blinked twice before realizing they shouldn’t question her choices, she wasn’t doing well today either way. They gently opened the bandage and placed one part on the first cut on her wrist, then they cautiously put the other side as they threw the access plastic from the bandage.
Paintbrush held a thumbs up with a worried look, gesturing to ask Lightbulb if it was fine. She smiled and gave two thumbs ups!
“This’ll take a while to put, you really did a lot, sweets. I hope you don’t do it again… n-not that I’ll be mad if you do!”
Their eyes diverted to Lightbulb, who was just listening to their words attentively.
“But… speaking of that, since it’ll take a while do you want to put on a song or watch something while I bandage you up?”
Lightbulb nodded in response, she grabbed her remote from a pocket on her pajama pants, and then turned to Paintbrush.
“What do you wanna do? I’m fine with like- either option, it’s fine, like a-okay!” She smiled to Paintbrush.
“I guess music would be better, I’ll be looking at you either way so a show would be pointless.” They replied, as they then remembered they’d need another bandage of Lightbulb’s choice.
“Anyways, can u sort bandages to put? I’ll be choosing a song from your playlist.” Paintbrush asked Lightbulb, as they gestured for her phone to put music on. She handed the phone to them as her other hand was choosing bandages.
‘It sucks being on my knees and on the floor facing Lightbulb while putting these bandages on, I don’t mind staying like that but it does hurt- wait, would it look like we’re doing something else if somebody walked in?! With her back facing the door and everything.. DON’T think like that, Paintbrush! She’s your best friend so you can’t fantasize about that while bandaging her up, that reeks!’ They thought to themselves, trying not to cringe at the last part. Why’s their brain so fucked up?
“I’m done!!” Lightbulb chirped then laid a small stack of bandages she chose in front of Paintbrush, now thinking about whatever goes on in her mind while waiting for them to pick a song.
“Thanks! I’ll put a song now,” Paintbrush said while scrolling through Lightbulb’s playlist, landing on a song called “Karma” by Vivinos. It seemed like a long song from what they thought, Paintbrush hoped it wouldn’t ruin the mood.
“..how’d you know I’d definitely want to listen to this song right now?!” Lightbulb turned to Paintbrush as she made an overly exaggerated shocked face.
“I had no idea, it seems like a calm song tho, so.. it’s so different from how you act.” Paintbrush thought out loud, while placing a bandage with a pink triangle on it onto a wound.
Lightbulb smiled as she hummed to the lyrics, Paintbrush’s last sentence repeating in her head. Do they really inspect her personality that much? Nah, it’s something they’d be able to tell easily.
Paintbrush eventually finished bandaging it up, after about 20 minutes passing by. They continued to listen to music in a calming silence, it didn’t seem like they’d need to break it, they have all the time in the world to talk so why not enjoy each other’s presences for a while.
“I’m done!” Paintbrush smiled as they showed Lightbulb her fully bandaged hands.
“Thanks!.. I’m, sorry for just wasting half your day on this. I didn’t mean to scare you, I just- I didn’t want to bug you last night! You’re like.. sooo strong y’know? You always have cool big painter things to do, you won’t have time for a gyal like me, ‘specially to comfort me..”
Lightbulb said, her smile wavering a bit but forming into a neutral face. She didn’t mean to make it sound bad, she hoped that Paintbrush wouldn’t see it that way.
“Lightbulb..” Paintbrush said as they put their hand on the floor, “I’ve been on the floor and on my knees for god knows how long, I chose to do this because I care about you. I want what’s healthiest and best for you, when you harm yourself I don’t like it believe me, not one bit. But I’d never act as if it’s your fault, not now, not tomorrow, not before. Not ever.” They said while smiling at her, pushing themself to sit up on the bed next to Lightbulb.
“Thanks Painty.. I care about you too.” Lightbulb smiled to them as she laid down, gesturing for them to also join in. It was mid-noon by now, “Wanna get ice cream instead of sleeping in?” Paintbrush questioned, “My treat, alright?” They smiled at her as they held their hand out for her to hold it.
“Of course!!” Lightbulb replied and held their hand to stand up. “I should get changed tho, right? There’s a ton of blood all over my clothes!!” She yelled
“Yeah, I can sit somewhere else while u get changed if you want.” They replied
“Thanks! I’ll change fast!” Lightbulb says while looking for fresh clothes in her pile of clothes.. she can’t find any. They’re all dirty.
“If you want you could borrow my clothes and when we’re back I’ll wash all ur clothes.” Paintbrush asked
“Really? For me~” She said in the most over-exaggerated high pitched voice ever.
“Yes, and stop it with that voice! You’re making my ears bleed, ok now follow me”
After about ten minutes Lightbulb changes, she and Paintbrush have a slight height difference so she used one of her own jeans while wearing a white tank top with a bit of dry paint on it with a big hoodie on top of it, it has an embroidered flower pattern in colors like yellow blue and white.
“I’m ready!” Lightbulb yelled from across the room. Paintbrush nodded and slipped their hand into hers, smiling at her while they started walking to the ice cream place.
They get out of the room and lock the door, Paintbrush is walking down the hallway while Lightbulb is skipping
‘I’m glad she’s happier now.‘
they thought to themselves
As they exited the hotel gates they were immediately met with the prettiest blue sky and some wet grass, someone must’ve been gardening a while ago.
“Hey, Painty, look at that little tree! It looks like there’s a squirrel in there!” Lightbulb tugs Paintbrush’s wrist as she pushes her face as close to the squirrel as she can. “Awww.. they’re really cute.” She says as she leans her head onto Paintbrush’s shoulder. “They definitely are!” Paintbrush replies hesitantly, they don’t want to ruin the fun mood.
They stay like that for a few minutes until the squirrel notices them and chucks an acorn onto Paintbrush’s nose, Lightbulb giggled at the moment.
“That’s ENOUGH. We should continue walking.. I don’t want the ice cream parlor to close and stuff.” Paintbrush says as they huff, being a bit embarrassed at what just happened.
About twenty more minutes of skipping and chatting through the way, they find themselves right next to a Baskin Robbin’s. “Look we’re here!” Lightbulb chirps and stares at Paintbrush, they stare back and nod with a grin.
“Let’s walk in instead of staring.. at each other.” Paintbrush felt awkward saying that, they just wanted to eat ice cream though. Who can blame them?
The bell dinged as they walked into the store, hand in hand. “What flavor do you want, you can have as many scoops as you want! Or, if you want a milkshake u can have that too.” Paintbrush asked, putting their free arm behind their neck.
“Can I haveee… the blue raspberry sorbet ice cream? It makes me feel like a fish!” Lightbulb said as she eagerly pointed to the area with that flavor.
“Anything for you! How much scoops do you want?” Paintbrush trailed off and started giving their order first while letting lightbulb decide. They ordered 1 medium scoop of love potion #31.
“I think I’ll have- like, three scoops!” Lightbulb said as her smile shined in the brightestway possible.
“Are you sure you’ll eat it all? It looks like it’d be hard to finish and I don’t want you to
Waste a thing.” They asked, hoping she’d respond honestly.
“Even if I don’t finish it, you’ll finish it for me right-iooo?? And if you don’t I can save it for later.” Lightbulb responded, still holding their hand with her right. It did sting but she was able to ignore it when she was around Painty.
“Well don’t yell at me when you waste it!” Paintbrush teased “Excuse me, I’ll order a three scoop blue raspberry sorbet too!”
Paintbrush tugged Lightbulb softly, gesturing for her to follow them to the counter. Lightbulb looked at them and grinned as she followed them.
Paintbrush stood in front of the counter, digging inside of their pockets for their wallet.
Paintyy! Can I have toppings please? I want, like- sprinkles! Rainbow sprinkles actually..”
Lightbulb asked, her eyes beaming with plea.
“I don’t see why not.” Paintbrush then asked the clerk to add sprinkles to Lightbulb’s ice cream.
After a few minutes of waiting, and Paintbrush ranting about a new game they’ve played while Lightbulb listened to them attentively,
until their ice cream was ready! Paintbrush swiped their card and then gestured for lightbulb to put the ice creams into Lightbulb’s hands while they fiddled with their wallet.
“Thanks Lighty!” Paintbrush said while taking the ice cream from her hands.
“Anytime my brusherbro,” Replied Lightbulb.
They exited the ice cream parlor and made their way to a park nearby with a few swings, benches, slides and a fountain in the middle. The terrain was surrounded by thick trees full of greenery, with some pigeons and other animals roaming around.
“Let’s sit here!” Lightbulb suggested to Paintbrush, she patted a spot next to her on a bench as she sat down rather fast. Paintbrush followed and took a seat next to her, remaining quiet as they were in the middle of eating their ice cream.
“Wow.. it’s pretty here, isn’t it?” Paintbrush added. “It’s just so alive.”
“This park rocks!” Lightbulb replied.
A few minutes of comforting silence passed, they were both eating at their ice cream with brief small talk lingering.
“Painty I’m so full! I don’t think I could even manage a last bite..” Lightbulb said while dramatically putting a hand on her head, mimicking an actress about to faint.
“Do you want me to finish it or what?” Paintbrush scoffed teasingly, taking another bite in.
“ Whaddya think, doofus? Of course you’ve gotta finish my ice cream, but can I have yours? ” Lightbulb pleaded.
“Didn’t you just say you were full?” Paintbrush asked, feeling dumbfounded.
“Just because I’m full doesn’t mean I won’t need your ice cream! Scientists say that you can be full from your ice cream but never your friend’s.” She answered, the latter part being total bullshit.
Paintbrush rolled their eyes and swiftly swapped their ice creams, Paintbrush has their ice cream in a cup while Lightbulb’s is in a cone. They continued eating, not noticing Lightbulb looking at them with the cheekiest smile ever.
“Mmm! This is good, not even good it’s perfect. How’d you find this flavor?”
Lightbulb questioned
“I once got bored so made it a mission to try a new flavor every time I came here, this was my favorite from every other ice cream!” Paintbrush replied, beaming at her
“You have great taste.” She said while ignoring them to finish her ice cream.
Eventually, they both finished their ice creams. By now it was about 3pm, Paintbrush would’ve wanted to spend more time with Lightbulb but they wanted her ti rest due to yesterday, they decided why not ask her what to do instead?
“Hey, Lighty?” They nudged her shoulder softly.
“What’s up brush full’a paint?” She replied while looking at their hand on her shoulder.
“Since we’re both done eating, do you wanna go back to the hotel? I think it’s best if we do that because I want you to still process yesterday. And I think u should rest as well, you’ve been burnt out lately.” They suggested to her.
“Surey!! Let’s go dude!” She smiled and started making her way back to the hotel while holding hands with Paintbrush
Paintbrush were excited to go back. Even if it meant no more free-time with Lightbulb, but alas her feelings always come first.
They eventually made their way back to the hotel after a few minutes, Paintbrush decided it was best to drop Lightbulb off to her room, since she always does it for them. It’ll be nice to pay back the favor.
Afterwards, they’ve made it to Lightbulb’s hotel room. She gently unlocked the door and opened it.
“So I’ll head back! Bye Lighty!” Paintbrush waved at her, trying to hide the fact they’d miss her. She needed to rest anyways.
Paintbrush put their hands in their pockets as they made their way back, until they felt a tug at their jacket.
“Is it okay if you.. stay with me? I don’t feel like being alone.” Lightbulb muttered to them.
“Sure, but if you ever wanna be alone you can tell me!” They smiled at her, accepting the offer.
They walked in to her room hand in hand.
“Wanna watch a movie? You could pick if you want to- I have hmmm… uh my subscriptions all ended!” Lightbulb quickly realized.
“Dude we could pirate a movie instead, not everything’s made of subscriptions you know?” They teased her.
“Pass me the remote, I’ll go to the browser and find a movie, so which one do you wanna watch?”
“I already told you doofus! You can choose the movie.” She replied
Paintbrush rolled their eyes as they went to the tv’s browser, entering a website to pirate. They ended up putting the Lego movie, as they pressed play they plopped themself next to Lightbulb with their arm around her shoulder.
A few minutes passed by, they were both engulfed by the movie, not leaving each other’s side.
“This song is pretty awesome!” Lightbulb commented, after “Everything is awesome” finished playing.
“It’s straight up noise pollution but whatever floats your boat…” Paintbrush replied to her, paying no mind.
They both ended up getting tired and switching the movie off after about 40 minutes into the movie. Not leaving the other.
“Do you want me to stay?” They asked Lightbulb, trying not to be too loud.
“Yeah.. but I’m sorry for kind of- err… wasting your day? I didn’t mean to do it, sorry.” She replied as she tried to hide her face from Paintbrush,
who was staring at her as if she was an idiot for thinking she ruined their day.
Paintbrush grabbed Lightbulb’s hand and brought it close to their chest,
“My day could never be ruined if you were there. Not now, not tomorrow, not before, and not ever.” They whispered to her as they hugged her and stroked her hair.
The night went by as they eventually went to sleep, feeling warm physically and mentally.