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The lulling drone of the elevator would've been comforting if not for the dread of a presence that Pest took around with him, Poob thought. It was just a few more floors until Poob's stop, and the partygoer was determined to crack his shell. They'd tried it all: compliments, stories, even their best jokes seem to have no effect on the man who had a perpetual frown whenever the two were alone like this. His mouth had opened twice so far: once to tell Poob to shut up, and another when he mumbled something too low for Poob to hear. Poob idly let out a fwoo! of their party blower as they looked to the side.
One thing about Poob? They were not a big fan of silence. Everytime the words in a conversation dried up it felt like suffocation. They were always clawing for something to say, to keep the sounds going, to be assured whoever they were talking to wasn't getting tired of them.
Over time they'd gotten quite good at keeping conversation going. So good that their fear became less and less of an issue in their daily life. They knew how to control it: when to be silent to accentuate something, to draw out comedic timing, even building suspense for what they'd say next. Silence became less of a leash and more of a tool.
Until Pest.
Poob had tried, at least they could say that, but every conversation without fail had ended in the most crushing silence they had ever felt. They could deal with Pest's poisonous glares, his back-handed comments, even his hatred for parties. It never mattered to them; only the silence afterwards did. But after every failure of a conversation, something always made them try again, much to the beetle's dismay.
And tonight, Poob still had one more trick up their sleeve; a conversation topic so interesting and so awesome that Pest couldn't possibly resist talking with them, not this time!
With a determined huff, Poob pulled out their holiest grail of a conversation starter:
"did u kno therz a frog that smellz like peanut butter??"
Pest gave them a glance, more like a glare, before his head turned to the doors of the elevator like he could open them with his mind. Poob waited, but when Pest's mouth stayed flat, they tried again.
"Itz so coolzies rite!? frogz ar awsum -- !!"
"It's a toad," Pest chittered, his first words in what felt like hours. "Not a frog."
"O..." Poob flushed, only closing their jaw when their party blower began to tip out. They clamped it between their lips and let out a short fwoo! in habit. "How d u knowz dat?"
Pest let the silence build as Poob continued to stare at him in question. When Pest still didn't let up, he muttered something in what Poob recognized as japanese and faced the wall.
Poob let their shoulders sag in defeat just the slightest bit, staring down at their shoes and letting out another fwoo! if only to fill the silence. The quiet was like a blackhole, taking any and all joy down with it, the only person unaffected being Pest himself, seemingly incapable of such an emotion at all.
Fwooooo! Poob tried to remind themself that not all friendships would work out. Fwoooo! But maybe they were missing something, something that would surely flip Pest's frown around. Fwoooooooo! There had to be some topic, some combination of words that made this man look less like death incarnate! Fwoo --
"Could you cut it out!?" Pest hissed, his head snapped around with a lip curled up that flashed his grinding teeth. Poob's eyes widened, shoulders tensed at their sides. They blinked at Pest's murderous gaze, their mouth automatically doing the one thing it probably shouldn't have.
...Fwoo?
"Yes! That!" Pest took a step towards them, jabbing a jet-black finger at the colorful party blower. He looked comically pissed off; scarlet eyes filled with bitter hate, skin radiating lava-hot rage over a tiny noisemaker. Poob suppressed a snort. They were usually much more considerate of other people's anger, but could you blame them? Pest, always so angsty and quiet, was seething over a damn party blower!
Poob let out a giggle, inhaling until their lungs ached before absolutely blaring the thing in Pest's face. Pest only shut his eyes at the sudden flash of color and noise, the silly sound barely echoing in the small elevator room before Pest's eyes opened again, boring into Poob. Without so much as a twitch, Pest darted for the party blower, Poob narrowly avoiding it with a turn of their cheek. They let out a gleeful fwoo! before dashing to another corner, Pest hot on their heels.
He growled, trying to swipe at their hoodie which Pest avoided with a FWEE! from their party blower, ducking and pushing off the wall to the next corner before Pest could even rebalance. He stood back up to his full height, eyeing the crouched Poob with disdain. Poob only let their goofy grin widen, playing a little victory tune teasingly. They cut off into a yelp of a high note when Pest barreled towards them, arms outstretched with an expression promising much more than a broken party blower.
Poob managed to get their legs pumping just in time, bending their back into a limbo and getting a perfect view of Pest's hand gliding a hairs-width over their face while the rest of his body was inches from slamming into the railing. Poob kept their legs moving, arms outstretched to grab hold of the next corner when the yank of their hoodie flung them back, the impact of the two hitting the wall jerking the breath out of them.
"Got you," Pest sneered with a huff, flipping Poob around with his other hand ready to snatch the party blower. Poob thought fast, letting out a gasping fwm --! before both their hands gripped the hem of their hoodie, pulling the thing off in record time while they stepped backward. They made it to the other side of the elevator by the end, left in their T-shirt of the same blue color.
Pest looked nothing short of bewildered, staring at the blue hoodie like he expected it to turn into a bird next. "Really??" he asked, hurling the fabric into a corner. "You really want to do this??"
FweeEEEeehehehe~! Poob responded with flushed cheeks, determined to get on every last nerve. It had been so long since they felt such a rush of fun, and what a delightful surprise for Pest of all people to cause it! They couldn't just stop now!
It looked like Pest felt the same -- at least about the not-stopping part -- his hands clenching into fists before he crouched into a sprint. Poob blew into the party blower like it was a race horn and the two were off.
Poob nearly dropped the noisemaker from their mouth several times in their fits of laughter and hollers, the rest of their breath spent on being as loud as possible. They dodged, jumped, and squirmed their way out of Pest's increasingly frustrated reaches, sparing a wave to Emerson, who watched in stunned silence. He sputtered as the elevator doors closed before he could even muster his lines and the two kept at their chase. Their breaths were becoming labored and Poob had tripped more than once -- only the thought of losing their shirt as well kept their movements lightning fast. Pest, although noticeably slower, didn't seem to lose his stamina as quickly, making the scale about even. For now.
There were only a handful of floors left until it was Poob's stop and they were sure they could survive long enough, even as they miscalculated a leap and ended up on the floor, having no other plan than to cling to Pest's leg and hope another floor would separate them. Pest hissed and tried to shake them off, spitting out several foreign phrases that Poob was for once grateful they couldn't understand. Poob gleefully added to the chaos with the loudest FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-- they could muster. Pest was busy trying to tear Poob off his leg but froze when a "THINK FAST CHUCKLENUTS!" released ear-shattering gunfire that forced them to scramble to either side of the elevator, pressing their backs to the walls as blazing red eyes met a cheerful grin through a storm of bullets. Poob, in their believed invincibility, raised their hands in a cheeky shrug that made Pest exhale so loudly Poob could hear it over the shots.
Poob wasn't expecting it. Really, they hadn't even opened their eyes between the time that the gunfire ended and Pest leaped at them with a roar, catching their wrists with his hands and pinning them against the wall. It hurt for a second -- only enough for a small gasp to escape them before the compromising position set in and Poob's eyes widened to saucers. Poob struggled for a bit, trying to kick and twist out of the grips to no avail. They couldn't stop giggling, resulting in several fweeheheee! s between gasps for air and shakes of the head, but Pest didn't give in the slightest. Red-faced and out of breath, Poob let Pest have his victory. Only it wasn't quite a victory yet, seeing as Poob still had the party blower in their mouth and Pest knew damn well that if he let one of Poob's hands go, it would only be a matter of time before they slipped out of the other one and escaped. Poob couldn't exactly open their mouth in an attempt to banter either, so they stood there with only the sound of their winded breathing, the seconds ticking by until the next door would open, a mischievous smile on one face and a scrutinizing glare on the other.
"Drop it," Pest ordered with a tiny squeeze around their wrists. Poob would be lying if they said a tiny bolt of... fear? didn't shock its way from their wrists to their heart, and they genuinely considered opening their jaw and letting the damn thing clatter to the ground then and there. Maybe they would've if they hadn't gotten a better idea.
Poob slowly blew in just enough air for the colorful tissue paper to unroll bit by bit with quiet crinkles, letting it sit straightened between them for one second... two seconds... before blowing into it as HARD as they could in an attempt to shock Pest. What they didn't expect was the CHOMP of Pest's teeth biting down on the noisemaker, shutting it up instantly and leaving the two practically nose to nose in the quiet drone of the elevator. Poob cinched the corners of their mouth at the sudden closeness, their breath completely halted while the back of their head pressed as hard into the wall behind them as physically possible. Pest tilted his head back the slightest bit, ripping his half of the party blower off before he turned and spewed it at the floor where it landed with a soft crinkle. Poob could only stare flushed as Pest looked back, now the one smiling with a shit-eating grin from ear to ear. It was cynical, cold-hearted, and born entirely from Poob's defeat.
I didz it!!! Some far off part of Poob's mind celebrated. I madez him smile!!! omgomgomg!!1!11 Their mini mental party was short-lived, however, now faced with the reality that their party blower was destroyed, and with it their epic chase.
Poob squinted up at Pest before timidly letting their jaw lower, the cardboard mouthpiece clunking to the ground before rolling away. Poob plastered a glare on their eyes even though they couldn't stop their mouth from grinning.
"rood." they said monotonously.
Pest replied with words Poob couldn't understand, though the sinister, wicked tone he spoke in was enough for shivers to crawl up their spine. It was like a poisonous vapor seeped out of his lips, writhed into Poob's ears, and settled in their gut, eliciting a strange combination of blush and fear that made their hands curl into fists and the hairs on their back stand on edge, now aware of how little control they had pinned up like this. They squirmed a bit before they leaned forward as far as Pest's grip would allow and blew a raspberry in his stupid face out of protest. Pest finally let go with a revolted scowl just as the elevator doors opened to Poob's floor. The partygoer quickly bent down to pick up both halves of the noisemaker like the good non-litterer they were, steps already crossing the doorway by the time Pest hit them with a final, toothy death glare. Poob hit him back with a :3 and waved as the doors closed and broke their perilous eye-contact.
Poob may not've learned Pest's favorite color, or hobbies, or literally anything that would otherwise initiate a friendship, but they did manage to make him smile! So...
...Success?