Room 43// An Inanimate Insanity College AU

13- Causing Problems on... Purpose? Accident? IDK anymore man

"Back at the dorm just in time for classes tomorrow!" Fan said, falling onto the couch and hitting his head on the armrest. Paintbrush laughed as he rubbed his head with a grimace, and Test Tube shook her head while leaving to the kitchen to grab an ice pack, something all of them had decided to invest in considering Fan's incredible clumsiness.

"Classes tomorrow," Lightbulb groaned, flopping into the armchair and resting her head on the armrest, not hitting her head like Fan had.

"I thought you liked your classes?" Test Tube said, coming back with in ice pack and quietly instructing Fan to hold it where he hit his head.

"I do," Lightbulb said, twiddling her thumbs, "But my classes are way too early! I signed up for a 2PM class, but it was all full so I had to go for 10AM!"

Paintbrush put all their things back in their room, half listening to the conversation and half trying to remember where they usually kept their hairbrush. "That's a shame. I'm taking 8AM classes; most science professions require being awake early, so it's good practice."

"I hated science in high school," Lightbulb said. Paintbrush, satisfied with all their things put away, walked into the main area. Fan was sitting in silence with his hand over an ice pack, Test tube sitting beside him chatting to Lightbulb who was still lounging on the armchair. "Too many big words that didn't make sense. Microscopes were cool though- we should get a microscope," she whisper-shouted excitedly.

"I have a microscope in my room. I can grab it if you want," Test tube said, sounding amused by Lightbulb's enthralment. Paintbrush walked into the kitchen to make themselves a coffee; they'd slept the bare minimum during that road trip, and it wasn't like you could bring a kettle with you in a campervan. The only coffee they'd had in the past couple of days was the one at the coffee shop in Lightbulb's hometown.

"Please grab it, they're so cool," Lightbulb said, and Paintbrush flicked on the kettle around the same time Test Tube got up to find their microscope.

Lightbulb had fascinations with the weirdest things sometimes; Paintbrush remembers the time she spent four hours watching paint dry. Literally. They'd just re-painted the lounge from the strange off-white it was previously into a nicer shade, apparently called 'frost white', and Lightbulb diligently watched it dry for the entirety of the day.

Test Tube arrived with the heavy thing in her hands, and Lightbulb picked it up with little effort, bringing it over to the coffee table and running into her room, shouting something about finding cool stuff to put under there.

The kettle finished boiling and Paintbrush poured the heated water into their mug, watching the instant coffee powder turn to a rich brown liquid. They poured milk in and called it, taking small sips from their still-hot coffee and entering the lounge at just about the same time as Lightbulb.

"Voila! I will now hurt my eyes by looking at things far beyond my compressed nation," Lightbulb said proudly, placing a singular blue button underneath the microscope and looking into it.

"...Do you mean comprehension?" Test Tube asked bemusedly. Paintbrush took a sip from their coffee, scalding their tongue bad enough that they almost dropped the handle of their cup.

"whatever, I didn't ask for an English lesson," Lightbulb grumbled, fiddling with the knobs on the side of the microscope. "Look! There's uh... the small guys! The ones that make up everything in that science pun!"

"Atoms," Paintbrush said, sitting on the now vacant armchair and watching Lightbulb marvel over the microscope and button.

Their phone pinged in their pocket and they fished it out, typing in their PIN so they could get into the home screen of their phone. There were an almost absurd number of notifications awaiting them. They didn't have internet during the road trip, so clearly none of the calls or messages went through.