harnold & the imposters among us

and ia m the ideiot wiuth the painted bface

"so, you're coming, right?" asked cloudyeveningg in vc, excitement radiating from their voice.

"of course," responded themstarsthough, his blue orbs lighting up. 

"how are going to go about that?" asked lunearr, sounding slightly concerned. "you only have space for one more. one of us will have to stay out." 

"hmm," cloudyeveningg thought hard. "I have an idea."

---

two weeks past and they were all together ad cloudyeveningg's house, packing for the long ride. they had been at his house for the past few days, wanting to ease out of the jet lag before they made the trip. today they would be leaving and they were all panicking that they might not have everything they need. 

"I brought seven jackets," lunearr said.

"why the fuck would you need seven jackets?" asked themstarsthough, confused.

"idk you guys are used to warm weather maybe you don't have jackets," they mumbled, shrugging. 

friend #1 piped in. "I don't have a jacket," they offered. lunearr's face brightened in joy as they handed friend #1 one of their seven jackets. 

"okay, well, we're going to be staying there for a while, so we'll need more than just jackets." cloudyeveningg paused. "you did bring more than just jackets, right?" 

there was silence.

cloudyeveningg sighed. "I guess we'll have to go clothes shopping."

soon enough they had bought seven of the same vintage sweater and packed that. after that, they were ready for the ride. 

---

once they had gotten there, cloudy told them the plan.

"so you're going to have to switch on different days," they said. "as for the hotel it doesn't really matter, you can just share a room. themstarsthough can sleep on the floor. but we don't have enough reservations for all of you to come along, and since friend #1, friend #2 and friend #3 already have paid, it will have to be you two that switch out," she turned to themstarsthough and lunearr. 

the two exchanged concerned glances. 

"how exactly are we supposed to do that?" themstarsthough asked. 

"simple; we have seven of the same outfits. just wear those and a full face mask and no one will even notice." he paused. "we'll call you... harnold."

themstarsthough snorted and lunearr visibly cringed. 

"harnold...?"

"harnold." cloudyeveningg reiterated. "they will never be able to tell the difference, I swear."

though they were weary of the idea, lunearr and themstarsthough agreed, not sure what else they could really do. and so, the week began.

---

friend #1 coughed uncomfortably. "you look a little... different, today," they said, trying to be respectful.

"what do you mean?" harnold choked out.

"well, yesterday you were... taller? blonder?"

"ah, yeah, I dyed my hair, I do that a lot," harnold said, audibly struggling to deepen his voice. "and, uh, I just have, like, really bad posture. I'm very sensitive about it."

"OH!" friend #1 looked flustered. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

they walked away, looking back at at harnold with embarrassment over having insulted him.