Three of a Kind!

𝕠𝕙 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕠𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕤 - Ella starter

‘  we  fall  in  love  until  it  bleeds,  or  hurts,  or  fades  in  time.  ’

Ella was sitting in a bench at the park, Dandelion was safely with Patty - she had explained the situation and Patty agreed to take care of the little one. She was staring in front of her, not really minding what was happening around her when a voice dragged her out of her daydream - although it felt like her personal little nightmare. “Hmm? What is it?”

@happieststarters​

Broden had been - rather un politely - peering at the strange lady. Either she was really zoned out or she was asleep while sitting up and with her eyes open. When he had said a tentative “Hello?” she spoke back, though, so he flinched back and clasped his hands together. Right, normal human social skills, he had to use those sometimes. He better do that. “Oh, um, well I was worried!” he said. “You looked kind of upset. Do you need an open ear? Not to over step, of course.” He put on his best worried raised brows and sincere puppy dog eyes, though he was secretly more interested in the hot gossip she may share.

~

Tina was unwavering, the wringing hands and shifty glances around an indication that she was, in fact, being as annoying as planned (though she couldn’t have guessed it had anything to do with his brother and sister and a suspected prank). She could be relentless in her pestering if she wanted to be. Now that she had found another victim, this wouldn’t be the last time.

When he started rambling on about being taken over by strong emotions, Tina didn’t know whether to snort a laugh (which she did) or scream internally. That was her whole damn shtick, being so consumed by her feelings that she could hardly function, but she really didn’t need anyone to know that. She blinked as he continued, sinking into her hip, folding her arms and tipping her head to the side. Had he even taken a breath yet? She was pretty good at looking like she was listening but truthfully she had already zoned out, and could only wait until he was finished.

“Do you just open your mouth and hope for the best or..?”

“Yes,” Broden answered truthfully. Rarely did he think about what he said. He wasn’t one of those people who got stuck in their head about what to say. It just fell out of his mouth and that made life a lot easier and a lot more happy. A lot less tp think about. “So far it hasn’t steered me wrong. I haven’t punched a single time in this conversation,” he said, laughing at his own joke. “You should try it next time someone completely un-annoying tries talking to you.”

~

“He’s at least seven feet tall. I’m, like, ninety-eight percent certain of it,” Tina replied, as if it were fact. In reality she hadn’t the faintest idea how tall he was. Her severe lack of height didn’t make guessing his true height any easy. When you’re five feet tall (allegedly) it’s pretty difficult to guess how tall someone really is. When someone gets past a certain height they stop looking like people and more like… well chests and undersides of chins. Even James was too tall for her to comfortably kiss without having to stand on her toes or on a step stool. “I think he’s part giraffe or something. It’s the only explanation.”

Of course, Tina was only playing, but the continued panicked defence was funny so she kept it up. “Well now I think I’m offended that I’m not winning the ‘most annoying’ trophy this year. How upsetting! Unfortunately for you that means I’m either going to have to prove or disprove it, but I don’t think I can do that when you’re expecting it, like right now.”

Barrel wrung his hands and shifted his gaze from side to side. Was his siblings playing a prank on him? This definitely seemed like them playing a prank on him. Sending some old looking child to pester him. Oh my god, what if she had am ear piece in and was just saying what his siblings told her to? Well if that were case (or more likely wasn’t) then he would get back at them!

“Well you can’t think you’re offended, you’re either offended or not offended, you would know because the rush of emotions would be so strong and emphatic that you would be immobilized by the emerging emotion that you would most certainly know it were there or if it weren’t now.” He began speaking so quickly that his words jammed together into one long, breath-taking sentence. “Though your motive is noble and your initiative is certainly there I think it will still likely be very difficult to surpass the efforts of my effervescent siblings who have a tendency of being so particularly annoying that their actions would seem intentionally evil of which I cannot prove of disprove at this very moment.” He took a short pause to take a breath, “But even then their experience in causing an annoyance upon my inefficacious existence is so expansive and crossing over years that it would be difficult for you to learn all the niche annoyances and ticks that would cause me to cringe and recoil in the way that their words and actions can inflict upon me, and in fact it would be much more worthwhile or you to annoy my brother Logan instead because-” then Barrel broke off into a long, drawn out story of something embarrassing Logan had done before finally being silent long enough to allow Tina to speak.

“Listen here you incompetent philistine, I will destroy you so thoroughly that your children’s children will still be scraping up what’s left of you. This is my godchild we’re speaking about and you WILL do better than this pitiful progress thus far!” Do not throw the phone, do not throw the phone, do no—- “UGH.” She threw the phone. Now, while normally the shattering phone-on-floor sound usually worked its magic on Lorelai’s mood, it hardly scratched the surface today.

Barely taking a breath, she turned on the nearest person— “Tell me, is it international incompetence day in this hellhole?” @happieststarters​

Broden froze solid upon being spoken to. Was it international incompetence day? Did he just forget? Was he supposed to be doing something !? Oh! She was being sarcastic. Barrel didn’t have to smooth talking or quick thinking skills as his family did. He tried to play it off cool to try avoiding going down the same route as the poor phone had. 

“Isn’t every day incompetence day for anyone around you? You know what they say, if you want something done right, then you do it yourself. Maybe it’s time to revaluate who you depend on if they’re this horrible at their job.” He put on a voice to sound more confident than he was. “Perhaps it’s time to invest in people more competent to do - uh - whatever it is you need them to do.”

Sofia, as a general rule, tried to be as positive as she could. That proved difficult sometimes, especially when she was in such a nerve-wracking environment, where everything seemed to be happening too much and too loudly. So when Broden said ‘it’s best to stay positive!’ she smiled back and nodded, making her best to swallow her fear. “You’re right. I try my best to be… To be positive, but sometimes it’s difficult, you know?” she shrugged. “I’m not usually like this. I think I’m just not used to parties, that’s all.”

The young birdwatched smiled a bit wider. “Yes, you’re right, you’re right. This isn’t that important,” she nodded, feeling quite better now. “I don’t think I’ll have the time to arrange a party… But if I do, I guess I could invite you,” Sofia suggested. After all, Broden seemed like a wonderful friend to have. “I love baking and cooking, so there’ll surely be lots of good food,” she added, to seal the deal. Even if he didn’t end up liking her that much to accept an invitation to the party of a relative unknown, Sofia liked having people over for a nice meal.

.

Barrel was so taken off guard by her suggestion that he practically did a double take. “Oh my god. Me?” He placed a hand over his heart dramatically. “That would be so awesome, what? Oh my god. I would like that. I only ever hang out with my family, I don’t get invited to stuff like that, oh my god.” Usually it was him going to something because his brother or sister went or because it was a public event. He almost doubled over with even more happiness, speaking in a strained voice, “I love cooking and baking stuff.” But then he stood up straight again. “I’m not very good at it, though. Because I haven’t practiced a lot. Because I’m not good at it. So it’s kinda like a cycle of not doing it because I suck at it. But maybe I could get better? I don’t know.”

But then he was overtaken by an excited grin again. “That’s so awesome. I can’t believe that. That’s great. Thank you. Aw man.”

~

An innocent little smile had spread across Tina’s lips when she realised her game was going exactly as planned, though admittedly it was much easier for her act to work when the person had never met her before. (Even easier still if they had never heard of her before, because the name Tina Bell was always closely followed by some story about how much trouble she was.) She was pulling stupid accusations out of her ass, and Barrel was already flailing trying to think of an excuse to prove his innocence. Tina knew he wasn’t up to anything, but it was terribly funny watching him panic.

Her head tipped to the side. “Sure, sure…” she hummed, pretending not to buy a word of it. “If you aren’t stalking him already, you really should. It’s like spotting the fucking Slenderman in the woods. If you’re lucky you’ll even get a picture.” Poor Zach was perpetually being wound up by Tina, but she thought he could use some more friends and, well, a new stalker could totally get him friends, right..? Then, for the fun of it, Tina threw on a pout. “Are you saying that I’m being annoying?”

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“Oh my god,” Barrel said gravely. “Is he really tall?” He was so befuddled by his own imagination of a tall, secretive guy who only came out of some creepy cabin in the woods to sell holiday stuff. Oh my god was that why his siblings didn’t want him to work there? So he didn’t get totally kidnapped? Oh my god, were they secretly replaced by evil(er) versions of themselves by their tall co-worker and were scheming on how to also replace him? Well that was all very stupid but it would be fucked up if true. Plus he was probably taking her comment a little too literally.

“What? No way. I know how to deal with annoying people. You’d know if you met my brother, he is the most annoying person I know. Followed up only by my sister. So it would take a lot to annoy me, and you’re nowhere near that… Yet, I guess. Like, I don’t really know you, so I wouldn’t know.”

.

“Oh… Well, I wouldn’t know, but I suspect a casino is not the best place to raise a child,” she said. “Since, you know, all that overstimulation, all the noises… But hopefully your father can separate his personal and professional life.” There was something about ‘doing stuff for him’ that sounded rather suspicious, but surely Fawn was just still a bit worried from the idea of Rose ever venturing close to a casino in the first place.

“Very important stuff you can’t talk about, you don’t say,” she chuckled with a nod, crossing her arms. “What would you study, then, Broden, if you didn’t have all that other stuff to do?”

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Barrel dramatically hummed and tapped a finger against his chin. “I think cooking is kinda cool. Like, imagine being an awesome chef with your own tv show and stuff. And then when holidays come you get to make holiday themed stuff like- like cakes and stuff! That is so awesome. Except a lot of the cooking shows are just old ladies doing boring stuff and talking to their guest hosts about how the weather is and about their favorite casseroles. If I had a cooking show it would be so epic. Imagine, like, explosions and rave lights and cool stunts, not boring old lady stuff.” Then, realizing what he had said, Broden balked at his own statement and quickly corrected himself. “Not that there's anything wrong with being an old lady, of course. You live your life how you see fit.”

Sofia smiled at his reassurance, but she wasn’t going to lie to herself. “Oh, I don’t think they’re looking for me,” she said quietly. “I don’t think they know I’m here… And if they did, they’re probably busy having fun.” Even Quasi, who seemed to be the most like her regarding big crowds and meeting new people, surely was enjoying himself. She should have told them her coming to the party beforehand… Now, would they even check their phones? Did people do that when they partying? Sofia had no clue.

So she was surprised by Barrel’s quite sound logic. “It’s true… In a certain way. And… I guess Quasi would be easier to spot.” She looked around, trying to find something that felt familiar. But still, everything looked so strange to her, so many different faces and masks and shapes… But she had to remain optimistic. The night was still young, after all… “Alright. You’re right. There’s nothing to worry about… I’m simply not so sure I’d recognize them that easily, maybe?” she dared to say. “I… I know them, but I haven’t met them a lot of times… They’re rather new friends, really. I text them from time to time but we haven’t managed to speak face to face more than, maybe, twice or thrice…” With how much homework Sofia was having, she had little time to spend with friends; and whatever time she had, she dedicated almost entirely to either resting or spending it with Rose.

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“Oh dang,” Broden said, scratching his chin apprehensively. He somehow managed to restrain himself enough to not say ‘that would make things a lot harder that I thought’ out loud. “It’s best to stay positive!” he instead said. “That’s how I get by. If I got hung up on everything that made me sad, then I’d be sad, like, all the time. I know some people can’t always be positive all the time or they can’t help but thinking about the sad stuff but when you start getting stuck in being so upset about stuff just take a step back to think.”

He took a step back and held his hands out in a ‘pause’ gesture. “What is the worst that can happen? You don’t find you friends and go home. Then you text them that you couldn’t find them and they say ‘oh wow that sucks! since we didn’t hang out there then maybe we could hang out another time!’ And then you can have an awesome party with just your friends or do something other than party if you don’t like parties and then you’ll have an awesome time and then everyone will forget about this one time you didn’t see each other at a party and then everything will be just fine.”

~

A feint smirk spread across Tina’s lips when her initial plan to give the lurker a fright worked. Yes, she was certain now she had picked the perfect victim to pester for ten minutes to satiate her need for attention and mischief.

“That sounds exactly like something someone would say if they were just caught stalking,” Tina countered, hands squarely on her hips in defiance of her point. “You can’t say you’re awesome at it if you’ve never done it. Buddy, you just keep proving my point. Plus, it’s one of the more exciting illegal ones, so.” She was absolutely just on the wind up. She didn’t even know this guy’s name (other than the weirdo with the other weirdos) but that didn’t phase her. “Who are you stalking anyway? Is it Zach? I don’t think he’d be good to stalk. He’s better for annoying out in the open. ”

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Broden was absolutely thrown off. He was used to people just ignoring him or being confused when he did his please-leave-me-alone rambling but this chick just completely played along with it. The only people who usually dealt with that were his family. But because it was someone he didn’t know and they were playing along he was almost at a loss on what to actually do in a real social situation.

“I wouldn’t stalk Zach, because I don’t know him,” he said as if it were just an obvious statement of fact. “Unless he’s an interesting guy, I’d have no reason to stalk him. But I’m not a stalker so I wouldn’t know if he’s interesting nor would I know how to effectively stalk someone in the first place!” He was so wrapped up in his own tangent that he almost forgot the thread of conversation. “Annoying someone public is very satisfying, though, and not illegal. But from the sounds of it you seem to have that aspect covered all on your own accord. We all have people we need to keep in place by annoying them.”

Starter for @barrel-borror​

If anyone was to guess where Tina was heading today, in a slightly better mood than she had been for the past five days (five months, more like) they would have been correct without having to think too hard. She was heading for Jack’s Attic again, having used up the last of the glitter she had purchased at Halloween. She spent all her goddamned money in that store this weather, no thanks to Jack showing her where they kept the real supply of glitter, which Zach always denied existing.

Now, Tina liked to think she knew everyone that worked there, though she tried to avoid Sally, and knew that if those other two weirdos were in the store then Zach wouldn’t be there. She also knew that, occasionally, those other two weirdos were accompanied by a third weirdo who lurked around doing… well, Tina had no idea. One thing was for sure was that this group were distinctly not Lost-Boy friendly, and so, Tina, seeing the one marked B outside the store, took the opportunity for a bit of mischief. “You know, if you’re going to stalk people, you should at least be subtle about it,” Tina said, appearing at Barrel’s side from seemingly nowhere. (She knew all the best sneaking routes outside the store to get Zach when he least expected it. Her miniature stature certainly helped.)

Barrel nearly jumped out of his skin. He totally could have beaten up anyone who snuck up on him, but he realized that this was just a random innocent person and didn’t need to throw a punch. Otherwise he totally could have won the fight against anyone who could sneak up on him if he needed to. But he was lost in his thoughts because he was feeling all types of feelings about being left out. Both of his siblings got to work at Jack’s Attic, but he didn’t. Were they leaving him out on purpose? Did they not want to hang out with him? Did they use the time to conspire against him? Did they not like him anymore? 

“I’m not stalking anyone,” he said defensively. “If I were you wouldn’t notice me, because I’m awesome at it. That is- if I would ever need to stalk someone I would be. I’ve never done it of course, because that’s illegal, but yeah. I’m just, uh.” He tried to look all casual but probably radiated his anxious energy. “I’m just hanging out and just so happen to be by this fine establishment. If anything you’re being weird by talking to me and accusing me of a crime of which I would never ever do, thank you very much.”

“Alright, but if everyone’s gonna be here, then how can I manage to know who’s who?” she shouted back, wondering if she was talking too low, or if the skeleton man couldn’t hear properly over the music and the mask covering his ears. “I don’t know if asking each person if they’re who I hope they are is a good idea…” Sofia was quickly becoming too overwhelmed at the party, despite the conversation and the snacks to distract her. If she didn’t find a way to slip away from the cacophony, she might just be on her way to a panic attack…

“I’m not sure I want a drink…” she admitted, even as the jar of apple cider looked quite cool and tasty. The biggest issue was that, despite her love for the beverage, she knew that it could make her a bit tipsy, and even more sensitive to the noise and thumping. “Oh… Would you really be my professional escort?” she asked her, half out of delighted surprise, half unsure she had heard correctly, and dared to hope a little. “That’d be wonderful, truly. Um, let’s see… I got this friend who wears forearm crutches, his name is Quasi. Not a lot of people in town uses them, so that might make him easier to spot. Then… There’s Charlie, who’s a bit fatter than me, and about this tall, more or less…? And Alice, who…” Sofia looked around, feeling more and more confused. “… Well, they… They’re about the same height, and… Goodness, they could all look completely different, wearing disguises…”

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“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Broden said quickly, trying to interrupt her raising anxiety. “If they’re you’re friends and you’re looking for them, then I bet they’re probably looking for you too. And that’s three people you listed right there so that makes it like, three times more likely you’ll see each other.” He didn’t really know if that was mathematically true but it sounded right, so he said it. But also he didn’t think he knew any of those people off the top of his head so couldn’t really help. 

“But listen, I do a lot of people watching,” which was somewhat true. “And you said one of your friends has crutch-things so that makes the easier to spot. If we just watch and wait and stay calm then I promise you, you will see your friends before the night is over. They’re your friends! I know if my sister or brother were in disguise I could still tell who they are, because I’ve seen then so many times that they can’t fool me. I bet you can do the same. Nothin’ to worry about.”

Being an artist had its perks, and then again, there were the downsides. One of those downsides was trying to get all the materials back to her art studio. The paints, brushes etc were easy. It was the oversized canvases, the blocks of marble and anything else that quite clearly was larger than Ashley - which was most things.

Trying to walk the streets of Redwood Hollow in Louboutin’s as well as attempting to carry a stupidly huge sized canvas wasn’t going well at all.

“Hey! You look strong. I’ll pay you fifty bucks right now if you carry this thing to my studio for me.”

@happieststarters​

“Fifty bucks!?” Broden exclaimed, perhaps a bit too excitedly. Easy money had just walked right up to him. He was strong and good at carrying stuff. Maybe he could make it big as a mover. Actually, at second thought, that probably wouldn’t be as fun. Anyways. He approached the art lady and held his hands out to accept the canvas.

“Wait, how far away is that? Where are we going?” He wasn’t worried about how long it would take. In fact, he was only just going on an ambling walk. It let him think and people watch instead of pacing in circles and annoying his siblings. But as a kid stranger danger was drilled into his head and even if he was an adult now, this art lady could have a sharp pencil up her sleeve and stab him in the neck with that. Or she could have paper scissors, which were even more dangerous- he was distracting himself. He really just needed to know which direction he was supposed to be going so he didn’t walk into the street or something.

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“Snake Eyes, the casino?” Fawn said, almost raising her voice, opening her eyes wide. “Goodness gracious, I really hope not. What do you do in a casino, young man? Are you a gambler, by any chance?” She frowned as he continued, chewing on the jelly bean which honestly wasn’t as bad as she had expected. “Hm, she never mentioned people going by those names… I guess you’re as much of a stranger to her as you’re a stranger to me.” That was, at least at first blush, a big relief.

Fawn glanced at the young man up and down. He certainly didn’t look like a gambler to her, especially with the rather childish costume he had on. Heck, she was expecting most young people his age to be wearing costumes referencing movies or the sort… He just seemed to be a slightly glowing skeleton. “What’s your name, kid? And what do you study?”

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“Well everyone calls me Barrel, because that’s my nickname since I was a fat baby,” he said. But then he got the feeling that he should probably tell his real name too because even though she was an old lady she didn’t yell at him for having fun and was just all chill and relaxed, which almost automatically made her pretty cool in his eyes. Most of the time people were all ‘ooh you should be more mature’ or ‘oh my god, that’s so childish’.

“My real name is Broden. My dad owns the casino - that’s why I go there -  and sometimes I do stuff for him. We’re family so we have to have each others’ back and all. But I don’t do college. Not because I can’t, of course. I could crush college if I tried. I just got other stuff to do. Very important stuff I can’t talk about, that’s how important it is.”

Toulouse could tell this guy was judging him, internally, and that was fine. Art was what Toulouse was good at, and he never shied away from that. If everyone else didn’t like it, that was on them. He did art for his own enjoyment, not anyone else’s. Sure, it was nice when other people appreciate what you do, but at the end of the day, only he needed to be proud of what he accomplished. “Everything and anything. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. My whole family is involved in the arts; music, art, theater, you name it.”

He grabbed a pencil, spinning his pumpkin around slowly to find the side he wanted to start working on, and began to sketch out a design that was swimming in the back of his mind. “What about you? Are you a student, or are you working or anything? Not to say students can’t also work,” he shrugged, focusing precisely on his sketch. He wanted to get it down before he lost it. Carving out the inside could wait.

. “Wow, that’s awesome,” Broden said, genuinely interested in the matter. “When I was a kid I was all about drawing, but I guess I grew out of the creative stuff. My family isn’t into art stuff like that.” It would be awesome if his family had fun hobbies to share. Barrel skipped the sketching step and went right to the knife. He lightly punctured the skin of the pumpkin, tracing thin lines where he wanted the eyes and mouth to be before he got into the serious business of cutting out chunks.

“No, I didn’t go to college and I don’t have a job. I guess I work for my dad sometimes but other than that- eh.” He paused and leaned back a moment as he thought before shaking his head. “Man, what have I been doing? If I could get an awesome job then I think I’d be all about it but, like, I dunno. I think cooking would be a cool job. Or maybe more baking, making candy and stuff. I know, it’s stupid though, so I guess I shouldn’t do that. I don’t want to waste my time when I could be doing, uh. Other things. I guess.” 

Rolling her eyes, Rosetta just folded her arms across her chest. When he seemed to perk up at the mention of Oz, Rosetta smiled a bit. “Yeah? Some good things, some you know…other things. I’m not supposed to tell you though.” She said with a shrug. Biting at her lip, Rosetta stepped a bit closer to Broden before reaching into the container of jellybeans to pop one in her mouth. “Have fun at the party Broden.” She said turning to start walking away. 

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Broden let out a slightly awkward laugh. “Yeah, of course, only good things. Everything else was probably just- uh. Secret, yeah. Lots of family secrets. Can’t talk about those, nope. That’d be bad.” It was clear he was talking more to himself and barely reacted when she disengaged. He was too vexed to even go back to shooting hoops with his candy. “Yeah, see ya, I guess. Have fun at the, uh. Party, and all that,” He managed to call out over the party noise. Barrel now had to find out why he was being talked about by his dad and strange pretty women. Actually, that kind of sounded like something Dad might do regularly.

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“Do you really think I would get a credit card on your name, or take out a loan, or a new phone, or a bill on your name, Barrel?” she asked him, just a little bit amused. 

The guy shook Sally’s hand so surprisingly enthusiastically (she was almost expecting him to not take it at all) that she felt her spiderweb-style crinoline clattering against the edge of the table. “Right…” she said, shutting her eyes and nodding. The two of them weren’t as recognizable to her outside of their typical Halloween costumes, or even when they weren’t travelling in their pack of three. But it was true; the young woman and the young man who worked the other shift at Jack’s Attic were the Borror kids. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool… I may be biased, though,” she chuckled. “I love all that sort of stuff for crafting, and for decorating…” Now, the seamstress didn’t interact much with the two other Borror kids, but she knew that, since they were likely hired some years ago, if they ever were to be fired, they would have been so a while ago. “I never said you were,” Sally said quietly, looking back down at the punch bowl. “And if you wanted to pass by, I don’t think you’d get anyone fired.”

Just then, when she looked back up at the crowd, particularly at the fella in charge of guarding the bathrooms (who now was following a group of ladies in some superhero-adjacent minidresses), Sally had an idea. She grinned, plucking out a bunch of extremely realistic-looking spiders she had around, tangled in the fake cobweb hanging from her costume’s crinoline. “Hey, Danny over there seems to be neglecting his Community Event Committee duties… Could you put some of these spiders all over in the toilets for me, real quick?”

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“It’s very cool,” Broden mumbled. As she spoke he scuffed his shoe on the ground, awkwardly trying to play it off like he wasn’t super jealous that she got to work with his awesome siblings. He could totally work a job and not mess it up, like people thought he would. He could be responsible! Well, he could try to be. He didn’t really have a lot of responsibilities, but he totally could! He liked decorations and holidays and crafting stuff. For the longest time the shop had started to seem magical and mysterious due to being off-limits to him, instantly making this lady ( ...Sammy? Or Something?) seem cooler. Then, on top of that, she also didn’t think he was a dumb ass! Wow!

Upon learning that someone would dare to not uphold their duties, though, Barrel’s train of thought became focused on only that. “Fuck Danny!” He shouted, though it likely couldn’t be heard over the noise. He graciously took the spiders and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll put the spiders in there, don’t worry. It’s gonna look so fuckin’ spooky in there, everyone will be scared shitless.” He let out a harsh laugh at his own juvenile joke. “Because- Because it’s the bathroom.” Still laughing at his own hilarity, Barrel  took the spiders to decorate the bathroom to be super spooky and completely forgot about the reason he began talking to Sassy in the first place.

~

Deziree’s eyebrow listed slowly, until it was almost pointing into her hair line. She blinked in sheer unamusement at the man before her, quickly tuning out everything that he was saying to plead his case. If you could even call it that… It seemed more like he was trying to bamboozle her instead, or talk so much that Deziree lost interest and left the scene. She considered it. “Can you actually hear yourself?” she asked, just as an apparent force of maniacal energy overtook him and he pinged a jelly bean right at her forehead, hitting square between the eyes.

A shriek erupted, and with no hesitation, Deziree yanked the bag of jellybeans from his hand. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

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Broden was caught up in such an intense and honest bout of laughter that he couldn’t even do anything but laugh. He didn’t care about the jelly beans or even escaping consequences now. The lady’s reaction was so outrageously hilarious, so impeccably perfect, and so ludicrous laughable that he was stuck in place as he continued to guffaw. His laughter turned raspy as he ran out of breath, though Barrel barely managed a breathless “Fuck you!” in return. He was too happy to even care about who was pissed with him anymore.