Room 43// An Inanimate Insanity College AU

23- Falling In Love (Over and Over Again)

"Couldn't we have done this another time?" Paintbrush said, tugging their light blue woolen sweater further down their arms. Lightbulb, on the other hand, seemed very excited for what was to come. Only a fraction of that excitement rubbed off on Paintbrush, though.

"We could have," Lightbulb said, turning on her heel and almost falling over in the process, "But i wanted to do it now."

"My class was going to the botanical gardens today," Paintbrush sighed, yet followed Lightbulb regardless. Realistically, they could've left and went to see their class, but really they were content walking through the small city with Lightbulb, pretty much alone.

Maybe that was the ticket; quality time was a love language, after all.

"You can see the plants another time, Painty," Lightbulb said, looking through a murky window. Inside the store seemed to be a bunch of winter sports supplies; she moved on, continuing to walk the snowy footpath.

Paintbrush grumbled a bit more, but no more major protest was made. There didn't seem to be any strict schedule on what activities you could do and when; Maybe they'd check out the botanical garden another time.

Lightbulb walked into a shop that Paintbrush almost walked past; they abruptly stopped as they heard the chime of a bell as she walked in, looking around the quaint store.

It seemed to be full of winter clothing; parkas and puffer jackets hanging on the walls and on racks alike, scarves with a variety of patterns put on display, etcetera etcetera.

"What, did you walk in here because you realized you never end up wearing the clothes your mum bought for you?" Paintbrush joked, watching as Lightbulb went to a small display of beanies and other assorted hats fitted for the cold weather.

"This isn't for me, silly," Lightbulb said, grabbing a hat and stretching it in between her hands. "I'm looking for a hat for Baxter! Do you think they make crab-sized hats?"

Paintbrush was rendered completely speechless for a moment, looking to Lightbulb's own empty head, before sighing and walking over to the rack of scarves, flipping through the designs. Lots of stripes in eye-straining colours, loud checkerboard designs in yellows and greens and oranges, all neon.

There was a lot of polka dots, too; they were a bit easier on the eye. Then there was one they came across that had a pattern of snowflakes, on a snow-white background.

After some careful consideration, they left it where it hung but left a mental note to come back for it later. "Hey Lightbulb, did you find anything?" Paintbrush asked, their voice echoing throughout the somewhat empty store.

Lightbulb essentially ran up to them, looking sad and slightly annoyed. "Nothing!" She said, throwing her arms up in the air and almost knocking a jacket off the hook it was on. "Does nobody think about the wellbeing of crabs nowadays?"

"I'm sure Fan is taking good care of Baxter, Lightbulb. Come on, let's go," Paintbrush sighed, walking out the store. Lightbulb followed after, still a bit sour.

Quickly though, Lightbulb was the one in the lead. She seemed to get a bit of a kick from leadership; it was one of the many small details Paintbrush had noticed over the many months spent as her roommate.

...God, time flew by fast. it felt like not even a week ago when they were walking into the dorm for the first time.

"Hurry up!" Lightbulb whined, pulling on the sleeve of Paintbrush's blue sweater. "It's cold, and I wanna find a store with heating!"

"Oh, so now it's cold?" Paintbrush said. "I told you to put something warm on before we left- why don't you listen?"

Lightbulb grumbled under her breath, picking up the pace and walking into the first store she saw. Once Paintbrush walked in behind her, they immediately felt their muscles untense.