CASINO | II AU | REMAKE!!

Chapter 11: Slow dance

3rd person's POV

"I am terribly sorry, I didn't think that it would come like this but.. you aren't wrong about him throwing something. I did tell him to throw out the trash from guests and visitors, but I didn't think that he'd throw the dump like that. But I assure you, it was an accident. It won't happen again."

The TV camera switches back to the interviewer

"And there you have it everyone! The one and only owner of OJ's Casino, OJ, at the interview! What are your thou—

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"Pfft, yeah right."

Paintbrush turned the TV off and tossed the remote to Lightbulb so she can watch her little cartoons. Paintbrush sighed and went to their art room, they needed to calm down from all that. The plan was starting, but they need as many assistance as possible.

Paintbrush took out their palette and well, paintbrush. And started to take out some paints, what piece were they going to make today?

They sighed once more, and started painting. They were feeling upset, stressed and complicated. And so they started, paint by paint, shade by shade. Every sweat was worth the paint, maybe listening to some music would work..?

Hours left by and, finally, the painting was done. It was about a forest, burnt down. Fire everywhere, it didn't look pretty. But it captured the feeling Paintbrush was having, and they still felt the same. Nothing was working, nor changing. Their thoughts keep shifting back to that darn casino, it won't get out of their mind.

They sighed, stopped painting, and left the room.

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[10:00 pm]

The lights in the living room was dimly lit, but it felt warm. Warmer than ever, as Paintbrush was trying to relax their mind on the couch.

"Painty hey! Hey! Hey Painty!"

"What is it Lightbulb?"

Paintbrush looked at her as they were trying to relax their mind away.

"Recently, I heard this really smooth song Fan sent me! And then I thought, what if we dance together?" Lightbulb asked.

"W- w h a t ?"

"Y'know? Dance together?" Lightbulb said as she did a little silly dance.

Paintbrush's face was steaming at this point, but then they chuckled and stood up from the sofa.

"Heh, alright, we can do a little slow dance. What's the music anyways?" Paintbrush asked, walking closer to Lightbulb.

"Here let me play it!"

Lightbulb went to the speaker and played the music.

Loving You - Elvis Presley

Elvis' soothing voice swelled into every corner of the house, humming something or another about loving you, loving you... They both swayed in unison with one another, making soft circles around both Lightbulb and Paintbrush's living room. The speakers crackled idly in the corner as the song continued, and Paintbrush was trying entirely too hard to look anywhere but at Lightbulb...

"You're good at this," Paintbrush's voice was near to a whisper as they spoke; their eyes were wide and round, and their expression was filled with something vaguely unplaceable.

Lightbulb's eyes flickered like fireworks and smiled brightly, "Me? Nah! You're better!"

"Did you dance a lot in the past?" Paintbrush chuckled, "The last time I saw you dance was at the hotel years ago, and it wasn't even a slow one."

Paintbrush's eyes were nearly black in the low lighting of the house; there was the softest smile on their face, one that they're certainly was not trying to hide amid the glow of string lights and lava lamps. The low drone of loving you, just you, and... was nearly hypnotizing, pulling the both of them into a sort of trance.

Maybe Paintbrush was imagining the way Lightbulb was looking at them; maybe they were imagining the adoring look in her eye, maybe they were imagining the way her lips moved in some unknown word.

"Lightbulb.. I-I have.. something important to say." Paintbrush stuttered out, not expecting those words to come out of their mouth.

Lightbulb looked at them in curiosity, as Paintbrush laid their head on Lightbulb's hair. And muttered something, something that made Lightbulb's hair flicker brightly for just a moment.

Lightbulb looked at Paintbrush with a smile, and Paintbrush shared it. She tip-toed to reach Paintbrush's height, and Paintbrush's heart was pounding against their chest as they both were suddenly closer, noses close enough to brush against one another...

Lightbulb was the one who closed the gap between them; her lips were soft, as they both had been on the front step of the bedroom. Paintbrush was suddenly aware of just how addictive she smelled; how electric their kiss felt; how desperately they wanted this moment to continue. Elvis' voice fell into a diminuendo, and they broke slowly.

Paintbrush wasn't sure when they closed their eyes, but the world was vibrant when they opened them again. They stood there for a moment, as Elvis' voice disappeared in the background slowly.

"I love you."

"I love you too.."

Lightbulb yawned as she tried to stay awake, the slow dance was comforting, and relaxing. A moment Paintbrush never thought they'd confess in.. but.. it felt perfect.

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The next day, Test Tube and Fan came over to their house and they were happy for them. Finally having the courage to confess, it made them feel like proud parents.

Of course, Lightbulb was still herself, despite now being together with Paintbrush. And Paintbrush just chuckled away. After a brief conversation with Test Tube and Fan, they then focused on the plan.

"I was able to infiltrate the casino, and find a few suspicious employee's only doors." Test Tube said.

"By infiltrating she meant entering the casino normally and just looking around unsuspiciously." Fan corrected.

Test Tube looked at Fan with a glare, "Yes that, whatever Fan said."

"How are we gonna get in? Its going to be hard with security cameras and all that." Paintbrush wondered, they do have a point.

"Oho? Well thats easy! I found a perfect way to enter them!" Test Tube said proudly.

"Well what is it?" Paintbrush asked, their hands intertwined together alone.

"All we need....

..is a little bit of luck."