Room 43// An Inanimate Insanity College AU

38- Personalized Balloons

Paintbrush turns their newly acquired driver's permit over in their hands for the umpteenth time, marveling at the fresh documentation that confirmed Paintbrush had the ability to drive a car and not kill several pedestrians. They were never very good at multitasking.

The first thing that stumped them was how absolutely easy it was. They just had to drive around a few empty blocks in a car that wasn't theirs- It was Bow's, bedazzled with pink and black rhinestones- with a quote unquote driving instructor in the passenger seat. Bow again.

"So like, you just gotta make sure your turn signal is on whenever you need to. Well, y'know. Turn."

Paintbrush drummed their fingertips against the steering wheel, not having anywhere to go in that particular moment. They'd asked, more timidly than they'd like to admit, if they could take a short break from driving. Bow obliged without much force, and now they were both sitting in her car, parked in an empty parking lot. Paintbrush couldn't remember what the parking lot was for. Walgreens, or something.

"That's all there is to it?" Paintbrush said, slight disbelief in their tone. They caught Bow's shrug and nod from the corner of their eye, and muttered out a half-hearted, "That explains why there's so many car accidents."

"Hey! don't, like, jinx me and my car," Bow chided, placing her hands on her hips defiantly. "If we did, y'know, get into an accident, we'd both look real good doing it. And that's what counts."

Paintbrush smiled to themselves, shaking their head exasperatedly. "You'd better not get into an accident, the police would know your car from a mile away," they murmured.

"Damn straight they would! I'd be taking a selfie, too. The roughage in the background gives it character. I'd get so many likes..."

That was just last night, around the time the sun was setting. There was a lot more that had happened, most of it yet to be processed by Paintbrush's brain that insisted on taking everything on anecdote at a time, but Paintbrush had begun to notice the feeling of the vinyl ID digging into their palm. Right, they still hadn't put it away.

After hurriedly slipping their new permit in their wallet- a spot for the license had been saved since their junior year of high school, and seeing it filled was a fresh kind of euphoria- Paintbrush lie back on their bed, trying to catch themselves up to speed. Right, everything that happened last night.

Bow talked about how her car was beautiful and using it as a criminal getaway car would make a statement. Paintbrush thought about how Salt and Pepper most definitely would've agreed with that statement, making a mental note to get them all introduced one day.

Paintbrush almost drove directly into a pole that held up the small veranda outside the store, earning a snarky comment from Bow- "Nearly left a scratch there, tall guy,"- and holding the car horn until they felt as if their rage was gone. Maybe they hit it a few more times for good measure, but hey, who's counting?

They gave Bow an accidental shovel talk, and- wait, no, that part was actually kind of important, hold on.

"Me and Apple are gonna head over to Marshy's house to play some video games after this," Bow said casually, flashing Paintbrush her screen with a string of text messages that confirmed the time and place.

"Cool," Paintbrush said idly, too focused on figuring out the right time to turn to zone in on anything Bow was saying. "I'll burn your house down if you hurt her, by the way."

"Woah, woah. Listen, I get that you wanna protect Marshmallow, but I've always found you, like, super intimidating- like, maybe even more than Mr. Angry Eyes, you know, Paper- and I can't tell if you're serious."