"hey, shut up a second." strong bad said, cutting homestar's rambling short. "can you pretend you're like.. about to be mauled by a laser cougar?"
the athlete's face lit up. "no probalo!" he chirped, and in mere moments he was in a dramatic stance- feet planted firm and raising his arms as if he were taking aim on said beast.
strong bad stifled a laugh. ".. not what i was expecting, but i'll make it work."
"well, it's a laser cougar. i figured i could have a laser gun, too."
"whatever." strong bad waves a hand, using his other one to retrieve his pencil. "just hold still."
"ok, i've waited long enough. what's with the popcorn?"
homestar glanced at the bag in his hands, like he had forgotten all about it until that moment.
"just leavin' a tasty trail so we don't get lost." he grinned to himself.
strong bad lowered his eyebrows. "we go through the spooky woods all the dang time. besides, i think whatever animals live here are gonna eat your popcorn anyway."
"they better not!" homestar scowled. "not when i spent all that time soakin' 'em up real good in glowstick juice so we could see 'em."
as he continued on, talking about how nice and glowy said snacks would be as they would make their way back home, strong bad sighed deeply. he could think of an effective distraction, but there was no way he was removing all the toxic corn before his 'hiking buddy' could recover them.
not to mention the pieces he continued to drop behind them.
homestar grinned when he opened his front door to his friend and neighbor, the middlest strong. what he wasn't completely prepared for, though, was the blast of the frigid december air- or what appeared to be a mass of wrapping paper and duct tape in strong bad's arms.
"uhm.. i brought you something."
when the mass fell into homestar's hands, the other man stood quietly for a moment, as if trying to formulate an excuse; he gave up after too long, and just took to gunning it.
homestar smiled- he didn't care much for celebrating his birthday like he used to. he was, however, tickled by the fact that strong bad had taken the time to bring him a gift, much less remember it.
he did have to find a knife to free the contents. when he did, he was rewarded with at least three papercuts and a bootleg deep impact t-shirt wrapped around a can of melonade. the shirt was soaked from the condensation, suggesting the gift had been assembled earlier that day. the drink itself was still cold, thankfully.
he cracked open the can right away, but flattened the shirt on his coffee table to air dry. it would probably stay in his closet, unworn. or he could wear it later that month when he continued the dvd pile-up.
the immaturity of their shared humour was a breath of fresh air, in the weirdest way. if only the deliveryman had lingered.
"hey strong bad, can i borrow your-"
"no."
"okay." he turns to leave, but turns back for a double take. "..hang on. is there something different about you?"
strong bad pulls himself away from the lappier to face his home intruder directly. "i don't know, is there?"
homestar's face crinkles, then lights up. "ooh! no mask."
"not checkin' an email today."
"oh. right. hmm…" suddenly it clicks, and he gasps. "oh! my! blue! strong bad, don't look now, but i think strong sad's pens had an.. accident on your head."
indeed, strong bad's hair was in the process of setting a shade of royal blue. strong bad, however, cringed.
"eugh.. don't say that."
"your hair's still blue though."
"it's on purpose."
"oohh. so you're gonna be like that japanese show! smelly guy!"
"..stinkoman?"
"yeah! one of those guys."
"did you break into my house just to watch me wait for this dye to set?"
homestar thought for a moment. "well, i was gonna ask to borrow something, but i forgot."
suddenly the lappier beeped, interrupting the program its user had been running. strong bad clicked a key to silence in, then rose from his stool.
"well, good, because i gotta rinse the rest of this mess out."
"ooh! need me to help with that? i'm number a at rinsing messes. i think."
"knowing you, i'll have to trick strong sad into cleaning the bathroom for weeks to get whatever you get all over the place out."
"ah, come on stro-bro! i've washed marzipan's hair loads a times-"
"gross,"
"-so i'll know what i'm doing."
he was just going to sit over the edge of the tub with the shower head. he didn't have to help.
"..fine. only 'cause you got nothin' better to do."
homestar "woo'd" to himself, then followed the other man to the bathroom.
6 am.
strong bad's eyes trailed to the window, revealing the deep blue of impending morning.
he wished he could groan.
pressed against his back was homestar, who had his arms draped around his partner's waist as he dozed, and in his own arms was one of the pillows he grabbed during his last bout of half-sleep.
strong bad normally wouldn't have tolerated this. you're pushin' it, man, he'd say. someone might see. but nobody was watching, and his chest was warm with a strange calm; exactly the kind of feeling he was afraid of giving in to. not that he wouldn’t mind now.
the cool blue continued to trickle through the blinds.
he shut his eyes, moving a hand to hold one of homestar's. he couldn't guarantee he'd be able to fall asleep. at least with homestar he wasn't complaining as hard.
