Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

Saffron Sentimentality (One-shot)

Palette jumped at the loud banging noise coming from the second floor of Goth's house; an impressive feat considering the walkway was a good ten or so feet from the house. He was supposed to hang out with his friend today and they had arranged to meet at the smaller monster's house, but it sounded like something else was going on.

Jogging up the walkway and onto the porch, Palette knocked on the door. A muffled voice could be heard alongside the banging. The noises only increased when the door opened... was someone fighting?

"Oh, hello Palette," Geno greeted with a smile, cringing at a yell of frustration from upstairs; it sounded like Goth.

"Um... is everything okay? Did something happen?" the younger monster asked, his browbone quirking upward.

"You could say that...," Geno replied, rubbing the back of his skull, "Goth's upset because he lost something; he didn't say what, though."

"Oh!" Palette perked up and smiled brightly, "In that case, I'll help him find it so he'll be happy again!" Passing the relieved parent, he darted up the stairs and down the hall toward Goth's room. Seeing the door left ajar, he latched onto the door frame to slow himself down and swung himself into the room.

"Goth! I-," he called out, pausing when his starry eye lights fell on the disaster that was Goth's room, "... woooah."

Clothes, books, and toys littered the floor, drawers were ransacked, and the bed sheets were unceremoniously heaped at the foot of the bed; if someone had told him a pack of Temmies ran wild in here, he would be inclined to believe it! The owner of the mess was partially hidden under the bed, with only the back of his cloak and slippers currently visible.

"Hey, your mom said you lost something?" Palette asked cautiously, tapping his friend gently on the leg to get their attention; he winced when Goth inevitably startled, hitting himself on the bed frame.

Goth crawled out from under the bed, rubbing his skull. "Palette?" he blinked owlishly, muttering to himself, "Has that much time really passed?"

The taller could only shrug and questioned them once more, "So... what'd you lose?"

Goth's eye sockets widened as he remembered what he had been doing, only for his single eye light to flick downward. "... A bottle," he mumbled, a blush creeping onto his face.

"A bottle?" Palette repeated, "a bottle of what?"

Goth's blush grew, "A bottle of yellow paint."

"Yellow paint?" Palette was honestly confused. He chuckled, "You're trashing your room over some paint? Really? If you wanted to do some art, you could have just asked me. I have a ton of paint we can-"

"It's not just any bottle of paint!" Goth shouted, eye sockets tearing up and fists clenched tightly from the burst of anger. Silence filled the room as he quickly wound down, looking up to see a surprised Palette. The smaller skeleton hunched in on himself, clutching at the hem of his scarf, "S-sorry..."

Palette snapped back to himself at the apology, shaking his skull, "No, don't be; you lost something and I pretty much called your reaction silly. I should be the one saying sorry." Goth opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by his mom appearing in the doorway.

"I couldn't help but overhear something about a bottle of paint," Geno asked, "Is that what you lost? That little yellow bottle you take everywhere?" At Goth's nod, the parent's only visible eye light brightened slightly, "Well that makes things a bit easier. I haven't done the laundry yet; did you check the clothes hamper?"

Both children stood amidst the ransacked bedroom in silence. A swift intake of breath cut the silence short, and before Palette could even turn to question his friend, Goth took off like a shot. Following him down the stairs and around the banister to a doorway, the taller monster found the skeleton rummaging through a white bin containing clothes in what looked to be the laundry room. 

After about a minute, Goth emerged from the bin with a pair of shorts nearly identical to the ones he was wearing; he fished around in one of the pockets before wrenching his hand out. "Ahhhhh, I found it!" he cried out, popping his head out of the doorway, "You're the best, mom!"

A muffled chuckle could be heard from upstairs, "You're welcome, honey." 

Taking a closer look at the object in his friend's hand, Palette gasped, "Hey, that's the bottle I gave you when we first met!" he swept Goth up into a hug, giddy with happiness as he spun them around, "You still kept it after all this time; that's so sweet!"

As the pair continued spinning, Goth and Geno's earlier words sunk in.

'It's not just any bottle of paint!'

'That little yellow bottle you take everywhere?'

Palette slowed to a stop, a blush spreading across his face. "That bottle...," he questioned the monster in his arms, "... is it really that special?" Goth only nodded, burying his face in the taller's chest.

A tingling sensation drifted through Palette's soul; he wasn't sure what it was, but... he kind of liked it. Shrugging off the foreign feeling with the decision to figure out what it meant later, he set his companion down and grinned, "Well, we found what you were looking for; how about we head out?" Goth smiled and nodded, pocketing the bottle.

"Make sure Hurricane Goth's cleaned up!" Geno's admonishment was heard from the living room.

"Oops... I should probably do that first...," Goth chuckled sheepishly.

Palette laughed, throwing his arm around his friend's shoulder and leading him up the stairs, "No worries, I can help!"

***

Word Count: 952