#that's it for now 🎉🎊💥💕✨👋💖💫💤🕳️🦞

[d8tl55c]

early in the morning after dead'nt, orange has a question.

usually he'd still be asleep long past now, but he wanted to ask about... TDL.

without the others interrupting.

so, he goes to chosen's door.

immediately this plan starts to slip off the rails.

no one knows where dark is.

...........because the others may or may not have spent the entirety of last night searching for him in every nook and cranny except there and they said they'd tell him if they found him and no one woke him up yet so

that means, the only logical conclusion is: he's in chosen's room.

so how is orange gonna ask chosen his question????

well, usually, chosen lets him just walk in.

s0!

here goes nothin

he opens the utterly silent door.

green made it special for cho, because they didn't want anyone to ever hear it being opened.

as a special bonus, yellow was able to code the door in such a way that it would never need any maintenance related to sound: its hinges and latches would stay pristinely quiet, forever.

so chosen doesn't wake up when orange sneaks inside.

they wake up when orange takes one step in, spots bright red, and fails to stifle a gasp.

"oh shit!!" orange whispers.

chosen's eyes peek over the covers.

"I'm sorry! i didn't know- uh, i would've- if um- i can come back later-"

they stare at him. "what's wrong." chosen prefers clear and concise, especially early in the morning.

"you-" orange carefully picks his next words. "and him-"

they're in the same bed.

"yep." chosen nods.

orange stands there.

then he shrugs.

"um, sorry. on our shows, this is always a big point of conflict. we don't know why. so i just didn't want to- you know. assume otherwise."

"oh. thanks...?" chosen blinks sleepily. "yeah, it's okay."

"okay!"

"you wanted something?"

"yeah, so-"

orange cuts off again midsentence.

TDL is beginning to stir.

dark emits the highest little squeak-whine that orange has ever heard (even compared to red's baby rabbits), and raises a hand to tug chosen back down to the pillow.

chosen turns their entire face to him, trilling.

they both perform a little brushy-brushy head bonk thing.

then chosen maneuvers their body (under the covers) so it, presumably, mingles more tightly with dark's.

this is satisfactory - for now. dark grumbles about it and stuffs his head under chosen's chin.

orange stands pixel-perfectly still by the door.

"you were saying?" chosen finally turns back to him.

"uh," orange stalls.

dark's eyes open.

he awakens with terrifying speed, untangling from chosen, hoisting up from the covers, and raising a warning fireball within milliseconds.

the room shifts into blazing color and stark shadows.

he shrieks,

"GET OUT!!!"

it seems dark does not, "okay" this situation.

orange drops, scrambles, and miraculously operates the door with enough precision to tumble out the other side unscathed.

silently, the door shuts itself behind him.

...

the fireball is put away.

...

"cho, why do you allow The Beast into your room?"

chosen snorts. "it was him who rebuilt you."

dark snarls. "are you SURE it wasn't some trick? you watched the whole time? i don't trust it."

"i trust him."

"why? how?? you do understand why i have reservations about it???"

"yes," chosen nods. "But I trust him."

They press their very cold head into dark's very warm head, and both of them sigh in relief.

"He brought me you."

dark huffs. "mm."

...

"and other things," chosen concedes. "you... weren't there."

"tell me."

...

outside, orange is still collapsed, upside down, against the wall, across from chosen's door, where he crashed earlier in his escape.

red has just found him while coming upstairs to check out the commotion.

"orange!? u okay?"

"yeap," orange strains. "all good."

"what happened?"

orange's hand flops on the floor towards chosen's door. "you were right. dark's in there."

red takes a second to digest this.

then his hands fly up to his mouth.

"what're they doing in there?????? did you see???"

"yes. i dunno."

"were they ? ? ?

fucking ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?"

orange squints at him.

through the door, two voices loudly interrupt,

"NO!"

the angrier voice adds,

"AND FUCK OFF!"

red squeaks and hurries back down the stairs.

orange sighs deeply.

this has been a terrible learning experience for all.