#crystaleevee4

Impulse had a feeling introducing Skizz to the hermits fully would be... Interesting. One of his favourite activities is standing, half curled around Impulse like an oversized cat.

i dunno! i wrote all of treesekai in like one 11 hour sitting so i didn’t think too hard about stuff that wasn’t directly relevant

Name: Paperhouse

Namesake: Paperhouse (song by CAN)

Stand Master: Odile

Stand appearance: Paperhouse is a large orange stando, large in appearance, appearing almost like a large wall with its front & back being completely flat. Its body contains patterns that resemble slim lines, resembling the pages of a closed book.

Abilities: Similar to stands like Heaven's Door and Enigma, Paperhouse's power deals with paper. It is more similar to the former in which it can turn things into paper (only non-living objects, however), telepathically being able to manipulate the physical properties of affected objects. For example, weapons like blades can be crumbled up into balls, and shields can be torn into. Only five objects can be paperised at a time, and anything affected will return to its usual state as soon as Paperhouse lets go of them (e.g. crumbled swords will spring back to their original state).

i've been writing this fic late at night for aro week (i was kinda combining every prompt) and. i didn't have wifi. and today i opened the doc to write some more and.

A MAJOR PART OF THE GODDAMN DOC DIDN'T FUCKING SAVE. I AM SO FUCKJNG MAD. anyways my own fic for aro week is gonna be late now becasue of that

this is great and all, except that typically once you're in the nest, you cannot leave until skizz is a little less in his instincts. Skizz is the oldest in his current hoard, and the only griffin hybrid, so when he's deep in his instincts he sees himself as kind of the group's protector. unfortunately this means he's also very clingy... you know how there are some cats that will follow you around everywhere in the house? yeah, skizz is like that. you have to go to the bathroom? he Will anxiously pace in front of the door. you're hungry? what are we making? we, plural, because i'm making food with you, of course! how else am i supposed to make sure you don't get hurt by the scary kitchen appliances? not to mention that the need to protect everyone in his hoard results in everything turning into a ~group field trip~.

it can get a little annoying at times, but at least they know he cares. and, hey, a five-hour cuddling session can be nice! it keeps some of the more... workaholic members of his hoard (read: impulse) from getting burnt out or worse, and it's a good excuse to be lazy and finally catch up on all those shows you promised you were going to watch.

Some of the hermits got disappointed they didn't get to take part in the nest. Then Skizz got word of it, it immediately broke his heart, and the entire server ended up in a nest for a week. He doesn't want anyone to feel left out!

Everyone gets them. They grow in their hair and sprout from cracks in the sidewalk when they step, changing in association with their emotions in any given moment. Lessons on flower language are in the curriculum at schools, to help people differentiate their emotions and promote communication among others.

Impulse gets flowers when he's around Skizz. They're daffodils and they're pink roses and they're blue roses.

Skizz gets flowers when he's around Impulse. But they're not those types of flowers; they're daisies, yellow and blue, and they're alstroemerias and sunflowers. Not the flowers associated with "romance" in any way.

The two of them grew up in a little town not too big on flower language; they never knew what the flowers they grew around each other meant. And they didn't particularly care.

...That is, until they moved to a big city for college, and made friends with the kind of people who did grow up around flower language, who do know the meanings behind the flowers the two grow for each other.

No one ever says anything to them until, in their second year of college, and the second year of the two being roommates, Skizz starts getting little daffodils in the mix.

---

(Just to make this a bit easier for everyone: the meanings I'm sourcing from this are daffodils (in impulse's case) for unrequited love, blue roses also for unrequited love, and pink roses for quote "admiration, happiness, and love". for skizz, we've got yellow daisies for joy, optimism, and friendship, blue daisies for long-term loyalty and trust, alstroemerias for friendship and strength, sunflowers for loyalty and happiness, and daffodils for new love/new beginnings. i wanted to go a bit further/add more flowers for both of them but im tired)

In their small town, everybody had their own story about what flowers must mean. The phenomenon had only recently began proper research, with brain scans now possible. Even then, it's still difficult. So, not much news spread to their little home.

And then their friends in the city kinda assumed they already knew. After all, Impulse is pretty obviously a cry for help.

So imagine their surprise when Skizz starts growing daffodils too and instead of rejoicing about reciprocated love, they're just excited they match now.

That problem is his best friend. His best friend, who he has a crush on. His best friend, who is very, very openly aromantic and asexual. His best friend, who loves doing typically “romantic” things with all the people he’s close with. Things which, unfortunately, make Impulse’s heart feel like it’s about to explode. He’s just glad Skizz is so oblivious about Impulse’s “tiny” crush.

Smash cut to Skizz, who picked up on Impulse’s feelings for him even before Impulse did, and has been freaking out about it for months. He doesn’t want to hurt his best friend’s feelings, but, well… not saying anything just feels like leading him on.

(They have that conversation, at some point in time. But right now? Is not that point.)

At the heart of the issue is this: neither of them want to talk about it and risk losing what they already have. Impulse knows he can't be with Skizz romantically, but Skizz worries that's what he wants. Impulse thinks these 'romantic' feelings would ruin their relationship if Skizz found out about them, not knowing Skizz has known for some time.

So it's easier, isn't it, to just say nothing at all. Instead of realising there's still a conversation to be had that addresses those issues, and that 'best friend' or 'boyfriend' aren't the only options.

But until then, they'll skirt around this uncomfortable lump between them, until probably Gem or Pearl forces them to talk about it.