#quidrogen…….sigh

[constehlla]

have you read message in a bottle. you should read message in a bottle. it did something to me👍

[keyhasarrived]

Stupid headcanon for my quidrogen cafe/roller rink au for after they get together: when they get engaged, they just keep getting engaged. Not cause they break up or call off the engagements, but just cause they realize they can. Middle of the roller hockey game at the rink one evening Hydra interrupts to propose to Tassita the x time. Everyone just kinda sighs and goes along with it. Slick somehow always has a confetti cannon, and someone pretended to try and stop it one time. Most of the time, Hydra proposes, but Tassita asked first and occasionally does one of the joke proposals. It's their number one bit for a solid year

[kingsnake101]

Wandering in to kindly request a little quidrogen or flatdust fluff (or both in one somehow if you're so inclined) please 🙏

Quidrogen for you!!! I hope you like it. I wasn't particularly interested in this ship before, but after writing I can definitely see the appeal. It's a very cute dynamic.

I referenced my own experiences with sensory overload a lot during this, along with my experience with "ADHD tornadoes" (the phenomenon where people with adhd/add get into a conversation and become very loud without realizing).

Word count: 2,434

Warnings: Sensory overload

At first, Tassita hadn’t been concerned about the snow. He only had a few hours left until he was dropped off at the Troubadour station, and it started out light enough.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way. By the time they pulled into the station, Tassita could barely see the engine a few cars ahead. He stepped off the tracks into the (thankfully covered) station, waving goodbye to the commuter car he had been chatting with. He watched them roll into the night, before sighing and skating to the door.

Freshly fallen snow glimmered under the streetlamps, casting a yellow glow across the entire yard. It would have looked beautiful, but Tassita could only focus on the tracks to the coach shed. Or, rather, where the tracks were supposed to be.

Usually, the distance between the coach shed to the main yard was pleasant. Now, it only ensured that he wouldn’t be able to get back until the plows came the next morning. He groaned loudly, running a hand up his face.

He had a few options. He could stay in the station, or ask to stay in the engine or freight shed. So really, his options were: freeze to death, fend off advances the whole night, or stay at the loudest place in the yard. Great.

Tassita shivered, the cold seeping through his jacket much more apparent now that he wasn’t moving. He had to make a decision, and fast.

With one last longing glance to the coach shed, Tassita skated down the ramp and towards the freight shed.

As he rolled closer, he could hear a loud shriek from inside. Tassita briefly considered going back to the station as the sound of shattering ceramic overwhelmed the silence. A particularly cold wind brushed his freezing form, pushing him to skate to the door.

The talking briefly stopped as Tassita knocked on the door. Moments later, it opened, revealing the confused face of Hydra. “Woah. Hey, Tassita. What’re you doing here?” he asked, his face slightly flushed from the cold breeze. 

“Can I stay here tonight? The tracks to the coach shed are snowed over,” Tassita requested in as polite a tone as he could manage. 

“Yeah! I- I mean, I think so. Let me ask,” he responded, before disappearing behind the door. After a muffled conversation Tassita couldn’t be bothered to decipher, he reappeared, opening the door all the way. “Come on in! We have some stew if you're hungry. You're probably used to Dinah's cooking–”

Tassita tuned out the rest of Hydra’s rambling. He knew it was rude, but he was already overwhelmed and the monologuing wasn't helping. He wished he had his headphones. Ironically, it was the first time in months that he had left his headphones at the coach shed. If the Starlight Express was real, he was sure it was laughing at him. 

Slick’s voice snapped him out of his trance. “And no shushing us!” she called from over the back of the couch. Tassita leveled her with a glare, which she shrugged off. “What? My house, my rules.”

Tassita carefully held back his retort. As much as he hated it, she was right. He was a guest, and he had to abide by their rules. “I’ll try to keep them quiet,” Hydra offered, waving his hand to get Tassita’s attention. When Tassita didn’t respond, Hydra continued. “You can sleep in my room. The couch is. Uh. Less than clean.” Tassita turned to see Lumber trying and failing to toss popcorn in Porter’s mouth. 

He thanked Hydra as he held open the door. Tassita stepped inside, although there wasn’t much space to step. The room was closer to a closet than a room. LED lights bathed the bedroom in a soft green glow, illuminating the mattress that took up nearly the entire floor and the clothes that hung above it. Pictures hung on nearly all the available wall space, including one of Hydra and Rusty holding the championship trophy. The room smelled of eucalyptus. “I’m sorry it’s so small. Slick didn’t want to share the bigger room,” he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s fine,” Tassita stated, walking inside. He meant it, although he couldn’t muster the energy to make Hydra believe it.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound sure. I could ask-”

“Hydra.” Tassita looked Hydra in the eyes. His face looked oddly dark in the green light. “It’s fine. I promise.”

“Ok,” he said quickly. “I-I’ll go warm up the stew. Make yourself at home.” With that, he was gone. Tassita didn’t have the energy to dissect why he was so nervous. The coach closed the door, beginning the process of taking off his work tack. Usually, he would change into sweatpants and a hoodie. Unfortunately, all of that was currently at the coach shed.

A dark green hoodie hanging above the bed caught his attention. Surely, Hydra wouldn’t mind if he borrowed some of his clothes. He had plenty of the same hoodie, after all.

Tassita ended up grabbing the hoodie and a pair of nearly-black sweatpants. They were both much too big on him, but he could manage. He tied the sweatpants tightly, rolling up the legs until they were a reasonable length. He did the same with the hoodie sleeves.

It was thankfully quiet as he rolled back into the main room. It likely wouldn’t stay that way, assuming by the monopoly currently being set up on the coffee table. Tassita stopped by the stove, next to Hydra.

“Soup’s read–” Hydra interrupted himself as he saw Tassita. A dark flush crept up his neck.

“You’re very red. Are you okay?” Tassita questioned, taking the bowl from Hydra’s hand and filling it with stew himself. That seemed to shock Hydra out of his frozen state.

“I-I’m fine! Everything’s fine. It’s just, uh, really hot in here! Yeah. I’m gonna go… monopoly.” he stammered.

“Ok,” Tassita replied as Hydra hurriedly skated away. He took a bite of the stew, wrinkling his nose. Hydra was right. It was far from Dinah’s cooking. He ate it as fast as he could manage, flinching at the bout of laughter from the couch. He set his bowl in the sink and skated back to Hydra’s room.

Tassita had hoped to somehow fall asleep before the game inevitably descended into noisy chaos. He gave up that idea rather quickly as the freights began to argue over the thimble piece.

He climbed into the bed, taking a moment to appreciate how clean the sheets felt. All the clothing had a very slight eucalyptus smell, although after a few minutes Tassita barely noticed it. Maybe he would have to ask Hydra about the laundry detergent he used.

Something crashed from the living room, quickly followed by a rowdy cackle. Tassita pulled the blanket over his head, and then the pillow as Porter and Hydra got into a very loud discussion about ice cream.

The noise grated on his ears, making his head feel claustrophobic. It didn't help when Porter and Slick joined the discussion, talking over each other and getting slightly louder each time. Tassita pulled the hood over his head and slammed his hands over his ears. It wasn't enough. He shuddered as one of them laughed loudly.

His first instinct was to tell them to quiet down. He almost did, but remembered Slick’s rule. She had explicitly told him not to shush them. 

Was the air in the closet getting thinner?

Tassita resorted to quietly shushing himself, a method he used to calm himself. It wasn't working. He didn't have his headphones, he couldn't tell them to shut up, and he couldn't leave. It was his worst nightmare, in all honesty.

Tassita dug his fingers into his scalp, pressing on his ears until they ached. Every breath he managed was exhaled in a soft “shhh”, although they became harsher as his panic grew. The world was closing in on him.

Someone shrieked, and Tassita couldn’t take it anymore.

He stood up and threw the blankets aside, marching to the door. He slammed it open, ignoring the freight’s startled looks. He skated to the door, yanked it open, and skated outside. The door slammed shut behind him.

It was blessedly quiet outside. No crickets or frogs broke the silence, the snow muffling the generator to a near-imperceptible hum. Snowflakes drifted onto his face, blessedly cool. Belle had told him once that drinking something hot or cold was a good way to break a spiral. Something about how the change of temperature in one’s core resets their mind. Tassita hadn’t believed it at the time. Now, as the cold air allowed his chest to loosen, he was much less sceptical.

“Tassita!” Hydra slammed the door open. Tassita flinched hard, clapping their hands over their ears and instinctively shushing him. “Sorry!” he squeaked. “Sorry,” he repeated, much quieter.

Tassita didn’t move. He wished that Hydra would go away, even as a traitorous part of his mind yearned for someone to hug him. Hydra was loud.

Still, Tassita couldn’t bring himself to tell the truck to leave. Snow crunched gently as Hydra walked around him, stopping when he mostly faced Tassita. To Tassita’s immense surprise, extended his pinky and thumb, rapping on his chin twice while furrowing his brows. “What’s wrong?”

Tassita responded without thinking. He lifted his hands, spreading his fingers and shaking them by his ears. “Noisy.”

Hydra nodded, glancing back at the shed. His fist rubbed a circle at his chest. “Sorry.”

“How do you know sign?” Tassita couldn’t resist asking. Hydra was one of the last people he expected to know the language.

“Lumber doesn’t talk sometimes. All of us know it,” Hydra explained. His brows furrowed again as Tassita shivered. “We should go inside.”

Tassita shook his head. He couldn’t do it. Even if, by some miracle, the freights were quiet for the rest of the night, the idea of stepping back inside made his stomach churn. Hydra chewed on his lip, worry painted across his face. Suddenly, he perked up, snapping his fingers once. “I have an idea! Wait here,” he signed hurriedly, before speeding inside. Tassita raised an eyebrow, but stayed put.

A minute later, after some shuffling and complaints from the other freights, Hydra emerged. He carried a huge pile of blankets and pillows. He tried to shift it to one arm, but failed horribly, scrambling to keep the blankets out of the snow. He managed to get one hand free, and began to try to fingerspell.

“You can talk, just be quiet,” Tassita told him, unable to suppress a small chuckle. Hydra could be such a dork, sometimes.

Hydra’s face poked out from the pile. “I know a place. It’s quiet, and only a couple minutes away,” he explained in a whisper. Tassita raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t exactly pleased with the idea of following Hydra to some unknown location, but then again, he didn’t have a lot of options. For whatever reason, he trusted Hydra.

As Tassita followed Hydra behind the shed, he couldn’t help but imagine a dog. He was practically bouncing through the snow, occasionally glancing back to make sure Tassita was following. He entertained himself by imagining a tail wagging behind the truck.

Tassita became worried as Hydra walked into the woods behind the shed. In hindsight, following Hydra into a strange location in the middle of the night wasn’t his brightest idea. Still, he followed. He didn’t have the energy to question the truck about it, and something about Hydra felt remarkably honest. It was refreshing.

So, against his better judgment, he followed him into the woods. They didn’t go far. The lights of the shed were still in view as Hydra stopped, lifting his pile and dumping it into a building just above his head. A treehouse? “Welcome to La Casa De Slick!” Hydra boasted quietly, flourishing his hands towards the structure. It was old, with obvious patch marks covering it in more places than he could count. Despite its age, it looked sturdy, and Hydra had no reservations about climbing in.

Tassita followed him in, watching as he fiddled with something in the corner. Fairy lights came to life, illuminating the building with just enough light to feel cozy but not dark. Hydra began spreading the blankets and pillows around, and Tassita stepped in to help a moment later. Tassita was surprised by how warm his skin was whenever their hands brushed.

They worked in comfortable silence, with Hydra placing things down and Tassita adjusted them to his liking. The treehouse’s size was better suited to trainlets (then again, the same could be said for Hydra’s closet-bedroom), and was quite crowded with two grown cars. Somehow, Tassita found he didn’t mind. 

They finished quickly. Tassita was surprised at how comfortable it was. He would have assumed a few blankets on top of wood would be a lot worse. It was almost like a futon, but better-smelling and with a much nicer atmosphere.

Hydra cleared his throat, drawing Tassita’s attention. The yellow lights reflected nicely across the patterns on his face, accentuating his features and making him sparkle. He was cute, in a way. “Well… I should get going. I’ll see you in the morning. If you need anything, the door’s unlocked,” he whispered, before backing up toward the doorway.

Tassita grabbed his wrist, causing the truck to freeze. “You’re leaving?” he questioned.

“Y-yeah, I thought I’d give you some privacy.” Hydra seemed genuinely perplexed. Tassita huffed.

“And leave me alone in the woods, during a snowstorm?”

Hydra didn’t have a response for that. Tassita pulled him forward, lifting the blanket on the other side of the room and gesturing to it. He couldn’t suppress a smile as Hydra froze again. “It’s only weird if you make it weird,” he stated, before rolling onto his side and closing his eyes.

He could hear Hydra shuffling, followed by some gentle pulls on the blanket. Eventually, he settled, and his gentle breaths joined the quiet cacophony of the forest.

Tassita had nearly drifted off when Hydra whispered something, his voice soft and wistful. Tassita opened his eyes. “Did you say something?”

Hydra flushed, averting his eyes to look at the blankets. “No. Nothing.”

“Okay,” Tassita responded. “Thank you, by the way. For all of this. It’s nice.” He had never been the best at expressing gratitude, but he figured he should try.

Hydra smiled, his face lighting up slightly. “Anytime,” he whispered. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Tassita replied. He closed his eyes again, easily falling asleep to the sound of Hydra’s breathing.

[blueberryattack]

don’t tempt me with the offer of askbox requests!

… quidrogen fluff that’s heavy on hydra’s big dumb golden retriever energy? (please?)

I'm not sure how heavy on high energy Hydra I went with this, but I tried my best!

Tassita shouldn't have been surprised that this was what Hydra wanted to do with their day off. This was the first one that had lined up for them both in almost a month, and Tassita had gotten to pick the last time. They’d gone into town together for the afternoon, and Hydra had dutifully followed him through several thrift shops as well as the library. He’d also come away from the trip with several borrowed guides on local flora and fauna. That should have been Tassita’s first warning, and Hydra’s near constant comments on how nice the forecast was looking for their day off should have been the second. 

It wasn’t that Tassita minded a nice walk out in a nature. Not at all. But his idea of a nice walk and Hydra’s were…different. Mostly in terms of length. Tassita preferred a little ramble of an hour, at most; they’d been going for 90 minutes so far it didn’t seem like Hydra had an end point in mind. Granted, Hydra had a tendency to stop every five minutes or so to admire some plant or point out some bird before he’d surge forward as if they had time they needed to make up for the stop. While they were walking, he rambled on about glaciers and tectonic movement, while Tassita drifted in and out of paying attention. The only time he’d really been quiet and still since they’d gotten under way was when he’d spotted a warren of rabbits in a field close by, and they’d paused to watch them for a bit. 

Hydra’s chatter had somehow drifted to the subject of Hippotumases when Tass interrupted him. “Hydra! Sorry, but is there somewhere in particular you’re taking me?” 

“Hmm? Oh, yeah! It’ll be good, I promise!” He beamed at him, clearly excited for whatever he had planned. “Just a bit further, Tass!” He hurried on a head, Tass sighing a little as he trailed behind the hydrogen tanker. 

It was, in fact, another half-an-hour, and a steep hike up a hill, before Hydra proudly announced that they were there. “Nice, right?” Hydra asked as he shrugged off his pack to pull out a blanket as well as the lunch he’d packed for them both. 

And it was nice. Beautiful, even, with lots of late spring flowers dotting the grass. And while the hill had been a steep climb, they were high enough up that they had a picturesque vista of the surrounding area. “It’s lovely, Hydra,” Tassita sighed, collapsing down on the blanket and leaning against his side. He snuggled against him as he handed him a sandwich. 

“Sorry if it took a bit getting here,” He smiled sheepishly. “But it was worth it, wasn't it?” 

“Absolutely,” Tass smiled. “But you’re carrying me back.”

[blueberryattack]

A quick Quidrogen Drabble

This came from a little chunk of a larger fic I started working on but I'm not sure where I'm going with it. I liked the concept, so here's a quick little scene

(Also my ask box is open for drabble requests jsyk)

“Hey, Dinah? I think you bought one too many toothbrushes,” Tassita called out from the bathroom. The dining car had tasked him with helping her put away a few of things she'd purchased on her trip into town. The toothbrushes in and of themselves weren't an unusual purchase. Dinah was a bit of a stickler for good oral hygiene and dutifully got a new set of toothbrushes for every inhabitant of the coaches’ shed every six months.

So Tassita was swapping out their old ones for the new ones. Pink for Dinah, Orange for himself, Purple for Belle, White for Pearl, and Yellow for Greaseball (which always went rarely used, since Dinah usually stayed over with the engine rather then the other way round). Tass had been expecting the red one for Rusty - he stayed over quite a bit now, it made sense - but with all those tucked away, he was still left holding one package. With a green toothbrush inside.

No, she wouldn't have. Would she?

It was presumptive! They'd only been out on a few dates over the past few weeks.

Not even really dates! They’d gone into town together for coffee, and hung out in a large group with the freights and the coaches, sat together at lunch a few times when he went on passenger runs with Rusty, and had a surprisingly quiet movie night curled up together on his bed in the freight shed.

Well, maybe that last one had been a date.

Still, he hadn't even stayed the night once! Well, once, he supposed, but that was during the blizzard and it didn't really count.

“Oh, that one,” Dinah said, poking her head in through the doorway. “That's for…it's just in case, you know?” She gave Tassita a wink before leaving the quiet coach to finish his task.

He turned the package over in his hands a few times, looking back and forth between it and the cup where the other toothbrushes sat in the medicine cabinet. He sighed, and set it down on the shelf beside it.

It would be there if they needed it.