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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 54m

💬 What do you say? 🎤

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 54m

💬 I need someone to buy cider for, please please please come please please please, thank you.

He posts a picture of the event flyer.

💬 Also?

💬 Please please please please!

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 54m

💬 Do you know what's happening today?

Ted sends a long string of emoji. One ghost, one bat, and a lot of pumpkins.

It's not accessible behavior, so please imagine it.

💬 FALL FEST!!!

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 54m

@eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social

Ted types on his phone.

Two weeks have gone by.

Their colds are over, and Fall is feeling more like Fall than ever.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 1h

ONE DAY LATER:

Ted sneezes into a tissue.

"I feel horrible, just horrible! You gotta get me the remote, I'm dying here!"

Buggles chucks the remote at him.

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 1h

(And they would be dragged away /safely/. Ted made /defensive/ technology, he specialized in gadgets that creatively avoided harm.)

When he gets home, he immediately makes himself some tea.

END
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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 1h

Ted wasn't careful because he didn't need to be. But Rose? To his knowledge, Rose would be vulnerable for another day or two.

If anyone got the wrong idea, that fly would drag them away /fast/.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 1h

Ted waves back. When he's a reasonable distance away from the apartment, Ted hits a new button on his watch.

A fly bot, an extremely tiny guard, hovers in circles above Rose's place.

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♡ °.•【 ROSE OSCURO ~ 】 @eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social · 3h

what he had said. He pants hard. Stairs... his worst enemy during this cold.

He waves slightly at Ted.

❝ Hope you will. I'm looking forward to talking more, Ted. ❞

He doesn't unlock his door just yet. He wants to make sure Ted gets out away from the apartment complex alright.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 3h

"The next time you bump into a handsome rich stranger, you're gonna use him until he cries. It's morally proper."

He walks down the steps.

"Good luck with your work, and I'll accept the friend request as soon as I can."

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 3h

"You could've asked for a television. I woulda' said 'gee, you need a TV right this second?' But you know what? I'd do it."

He tries not to break character, but it looks like he's trying not to laugh.

He sets the bags down off to the side of the door.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 3h

He looks indignant.

"And now I'm mad at you. Want to know why I'm mad at you? I'll tell you, it's because you didn't ask for the tea or the food or anything. Nothing. I had to ask you if you wanted things."

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 3h

"No, I should've bought you more.

I'm looking at you and your sniffles and your stress and I'm thinking that I'm a monster if I don't get off my sweet tush and help out."

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♡ °.•【 ROSE OSCURO ~ 】 @eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social · 4h

at the stairs with a face of pure dread.

❝ Just gotta... get up there. And finish my paperwork for the day. ❞

Paperwork. It's the only way he could afford being sick. He doesn't get sick leave, after all.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 5h

"Now, if you run out of anything before you get better, send me a message about it. I don't care if it's something small. I'll get it to you."

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 5h

After they buy the food Rose needs, Ted walks with him on his way home. He holds the bags*.

*There are bag(s) (plural) because Ted insisted on getting some extra items (like lozenges, pain relievers, and tissues) along with a few extra staple foods.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 5h

Before they go, Ted has his butterfly bring him some supplies. He disinfects the table, and the butterfly leaves again.

He returns the cafe's cups, and he leaves an extra tip for the amount of time they've spent there.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 5h

He smiles and shakes his head.

"Great. We'll stop for some food."

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♡ °.•【 ROSE OSCURO ~ 】 @eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social · 6h

mind you walking me home... I can tell you're not a creep. ❞

Though that doesn't mean much. Rose is a notoriously bad judge of character.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 7h

"Now that you have some life in you, I can ask more about what you might need to make that happen.

Do you have everything you need? Do you have something easy to prepare for dinner? And now that I'm not a creep-o for asking, would you like me to help walk you home?"

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 7h

"What you need to do is get home, Rosy. And once you're there, you need to get some medicine and a blanket and heal up. I've already had a long day of talking about myself, I can talk more about me tomorrow."

He folds his hands on the table like he's about to start a negotiation.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 7h

He gives him once last playfully suspicious glance.

"Cute."

He continues casually.

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♡ °.•【 ROSE OSCURO ~ 】 @eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social · 8h

YOU'RE the one creating such incredible things inspired by books! You have such a creative mind-! I need to know more things you've done! ❞

He's trying to get the subject off him again. Little known fact about Rose: He's his own least favorite topic of discussion.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 9h

He taps the table with one finger.

"I bet you've rushed into a theatre because it was your last chance to see a specific show before the actors changed or they stopped performing it locally altogether."

He smiles wider.

"You practice the songs from the shows, don'tcha?"

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 9h

"We can't just focus on me, Rosy! I need to hear about you too."

He stares with a suspicious look in his eye. He smiles.

"Interesting is my judgement to make anyway, and I say those hobbies are perfectly interesting ones to have!"

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♡ °.•【 ROSE OSCURO ~ 】 @eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social · 13h

his fist.

❝ Oh, nothing that interesting, I'll tell you that. I draw a bit. I... sing? Ish? I'm a huge fan of musical theater, myself, so I go to shows when I can afford it... uh... ❞

He scrunches up his face.

❝ ... that's about it on my part. I'm more interested in you, to be honest. ❞

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 19h

"How about you? What are your hobbies like?"

Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 20h

He raises both of his hands and weaves his fingers together.

"And then I realized that I needed to pay more attention to the use of water in the book, so I read it again and got more out of it."

He lowers his hands to the table.

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 20h

"Then I made it a timer, and I changed the lamp idea so the water would move faster inside of the lit portion as the stoplight changed colors.

Then, I got the water to heat up, and that partially restored the furnace idea."

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Beetle @usbkord.bsky.social · 20h

"Last month, I was inspired by a novel that used candles colored like stoplights to indicate the stages of a dying relationship.

I started to make a stoplight furnace, but then I changed the fire to water and made it a lava lamp."

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