Advice

4. perfection

"Uh- Paintbrush... they/them." I meet my hand with hers.

Lightbulb smiles at me and vigorously shakes my hand, I can feel my brain shaking against my skull.

"Well nice to meetcha, Painty"

"It's just Paintbrush."

She raises her brow and puts a hand on her hip. "Yea right bud-!" She fans out her hands. "Plus- we're pals! Best friends in fact! This is the start of the great adventures of Paintbrush and Lightbulb! The duo of the year!" She dances around in a circular fashion.

Yep, she's definitely a psychopath. Let's think about this logically so she doesn't murder me as soon as I say no.

I calmly step around her and put a leg over my bike seat. "I really don't think it's gonna work out...pal." I strain my smile. She cocks her head and a small frown appears on her face. I almost feel bad... but not really cause she tried to rob me of my bike just a few minutes ago (why did I feel sympathy for her???)

I begin to push off on the pedals before I hear a quiet voice behind me.

"Bye Paintbrush... see you later." Lightbulb mumbles, cradling her hat against her chest.

"Hopefully not." I mutter, gripping the handles of my bike, pushing off onto the sidewalk.

I immediately regret my words. Stupid Paintbursh.

...

I hope she didn't hear that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LIGHTBULB'S POV

"Bye Paintbrush... see you later." I mumble, looking towards them for a confirmation of some kind.

"Hopefully not," they mutter.

I watch them ride off.

...

I can tell they were trying to say that in a way they didn't want me to hear- but I definitely heard it.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to try to take their bike... or try to talk with a stranger and immediately try to make friends with them. It wasn't my bike and you should never talk to strangers unless you have to. They really didn't have any obligation to befriend me anyway. I tighten my grip on my hat, holding back my tears with all my might.

I don't need to cry. Stupid nonsensical Lightbulb doesn't need to cry. It's all good around here. Yup.

I pull my shirt to my eyes and wipe my tears away. Lightbulb is never sad. Everything is perfect!

Breathe in, breathe out.

I plaster a smile on my face and gleefully skip out of the alleyway. I feel people's eyes on me, but I don't care! Everything is great!

It's all good!!!

I'm doing great!!!

Why should I even care about what strangers think about me?

Well...

Hm.

I think I'll try to apologize to them tomorrow.

~~~
hello it's the author 🤯🤯 i hope everyone had a wonderful week!! i'm going to attempt to upload during the week this time so be prepared. next chapter will most likely be more fluffy cause i think we all need that at this point. 💀💀 love ya!!!

~hiya future alexa AGAIN!!! the ending of this chapter was a vent originally, even though it didn't really look like one??!! yeah. it was not a good day. but i have patched things up! hooray! have a lovely day haha 12/18/2023~