Cosmo's oneshots / drabbles

Lightbrush hurt/comfort again

Today was calm, and quiet at the house. Paintbrush was off in their studio-- really, the spare bedroom, but they had converted it into an art room since they and Lightbulb shared a room-- working on a new painting. They delicately moved the art utensil along the canvas, the soft blue paint creating a river in the valley they had been crafting. All of their focus was on their art, for no particular reason, but it was always a good distraction from their thoughts. Usually, they never had a hard time keeping their thoughts calm, but when they couldn't they would turn to their favorite distraction, this being art. They paused for a moment, taking the paintbrush away from the canvas briefly as they took a deep breath.

In. Out. Calm mood composed as they continued.

The clock on the wall ticked by, the only noise in the room other than the brush on the canvas, and the occasional sigh from Paintbrush. At some point, they reached a stopping point, or well, a point where they had to step back, not because their painting was finished, but rather their distraction from their plummeting mood was no longer working. So they took a step back from their work, a freshly painted, winding river now laying on their canvas. It looked pretty, and they were sure once they added the trees and maybe a few other details, this painting would be finished. But it didn't even feel like it was coming close to being completed. They washed the blue paint off their brush, making sure it was completely dry before they began mixing a few bits of paint together to make a nice, dark gray. Their thoughts didn't have to stop them, right? Surely they could finish the piece in one go, and go off to do something else afterwards. Adding a few clouds wouldn't hurt... Until it felt like the entire piece had been ruined. The second the gray paint reached the canvas, regret pooled in the back of their mind as they stepped away. Sure, it'd be an easy fix, all that they had done was put a small dot of gray on the canvas before deciding against it, but their frustration, and all the thoughts they had been distracting themself from came back in an instant, replacing any calm that remained with frustration.

They had ruined the entire piece after spending several hours on it with a single bit of gray paint... Not really, but their overthinking was enough to make it feel like that was the case as they let out an annoyed groan, and stepped back a bit more to look at the canvas completely... Yep. They had completely ruined it. Still frustrated, they tightened the grip on their brush, and turned away from the canvas, leaving the room and heading to the bathroom to wash off the brush. More angry than frustrated, their emotions bubbling to the top as they roughly scrubbed the gray paint out, they didn't realize until it was too late that they were being rough enough to have pulled out several of the brush's bristles. Ruined. Just like their canvas. They let the brush lay idly in the sink as well as the bristles they had pulled out as they turned off the tap. They slammed an angered fist against the counter and let out a quiet swear under their breath, watching the brush in the sink clatter a bit at this. They'd have to go out and buy a new one soon, but now they needed a new distraction. They were already frustrated now, and needed to do something quick so as to not blow up on anything else, or anyone. They turned to leave, having left the door open, only to jolt backwards as Lightbulb stood, leaning in the doorway, having watched this. The both of them just stood and stared at each other, before the silence was finally broken by Lightbulb.

"Are you festering again?"

Paintbrush raised an eyebrow at this, not having expected this question. They took a moment to respond, trying to shove their anger down so it wouldn't be aimed at her.

"What..?"

"Ya'know, when you just sit around or you're doing stuff and then you get all frustrated and you can't tell why?"

An awkward cough from Paintbrush. They hadn't expected her to completely nail it.

"Riight, I see, let's go sit down, okay?" Lightbulb smiled at them, keeping up her happy attitude as she stepped into the room a bit, carefully taking their hand in hers, this alone, just feeling their hand in hers making some of their frustration die down as she led them to the living room, which Paintbrush wasn't going to just refuse. They knew just shutting themself out and away from everyone would just make it worse, so what choice did they have? So she led them to the couch, sitting them down, and hopping over to the kitchen.