short little 1000 word snippet i wrote for cinnamon bark just for fun :3
i prooooobably won't be making this scene canon since i don't know where exactly it'd fit in the story, but it keeps popping up in my mind now n then so might as well put it somewhere lmao
basic summary is: fluff & ebony just got back from a long night of clubbing in fluff's universe, and ebony is having Gender Feelings from a certain experience that happened but doesn't realize yet what that means. and fluff honestly just wants to bury himself in ebony's boobs
also this is very very minimally edited or even proofread so if there are parts that are bad simply Don't Look At Them
--
The cool fabric of the pillow finally provided a sweet, comforting pause to Ebony’s spinning vision as his skull crashed into it with the ferocity of a thousand earthquakes.
He’d gone, perhaps, a little too hard tonight. He was certain he’d be cursing himself for it in just a few more hours, while struggling to put on his many layers of royal uniform. He’d never really been able to resist losing himself to the thrill of these things, even before they’d become such a rarity. He was only a bit sad that many of his memories of those thrills would be lost, as most of the night had been a blur.
There was one moment, though, that kept returning to him for reasons he didn’t understand.
Fluff had left him alone for around ten or twenty minutes, off who-knows-where doing who-knows-what. Ebony hadn’t minded too much, since he could dance by himself just fine, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss having someone’s attention on him.
So, when a very handsome woman with a lip ring and a snapback joined him, he'd felt no need to object. She was a very good dancer, after all! He’d found himself a tad intimidated by the way she moved, matching her rhythm the best he could, but she clearly knew what she was doing far more than he did.
He didn’t hear her voice until she asked to buy him a drink. It was low and husky, like she’d used it a bit too much in the past and decided she liked it that way. He’d already started taking steps toward the bar before he remembered to actually accept her offer.
They’d just talked for a while over their drinks. She was incredibly charming, complimenting everything from his corset to his makeup. He’d returned the compliments, of course, but every word he spoke seemed to leave his memory at the very same moment it left his mouth.
Then, Fluff had found them.
The first thing he’d done was press himself up to Ebony’s side to hold his waist, smiling at the woman underneath a piercing glare.
“Oh hey Jackie, cool to see you here!” he’d said. “I guess you two already got familiar, but let me introduce you anyway.”
Ebony had moved to question him, or at least tell him that wasn’t necessary and to stop being rude, but Fluff had started talking before he could get a word out.
“Ebony, this is Jackie. I bought some real dogshit weed off her at a house party a while back,” Fluff ‘introduced,’ gesturing in the woman’s direction. She rolled her eyes. “Jackie, this is Ebony. My boyfriend.”
Her eyes widened, only a little, as he said that. She looked between the two of them for a few seconds, like she was confused.
“You…? Oh! Ohhh, shit, my bad!” She’d laughed, standing up from her seat. “I’m–...Haha, I totally thought you were a girl, dude. Sorry.”
Again, Ebony moved to respond, and again, Fluff beat him to it.
“Nope. He’s a guy, and taken. Hope he didn’t mooch too many drinks off of you.”
“Nah, it’s no problem! But, just so you know…” She’d put a hand on Ebony’s shoulder, leaning in just a bit as she looked straight into his eyes, “...If you ever, y’know, decide to change your mind on that, feel free to gimme a ring. You’d make a really pretty girl.”
Then she’d backed up, winked, and disappeared back into the dance floor.
And that was it. He couldn’t remember much of anything before, and even less of whatever happened afterward. Fluff might’ve gotten annoyed at her, or at Ebony for indulging her, or about any number of things, really.
You’d make a really pretty girl.
Despite all of the night he’d already forgotten, that one line just kept coming back to his thoughts over and over again.
He was brought back to the present by Fluff flopping into the bed heavily next to him, smelling like fresh cigarette smoke as he pressed his face into Ebony’s ribs. It was a strange thing he did, only when he was too drunk to stop himself from seeking affection, but not drunk enough to go about it in any normal way. Ebony covered him with his arm, gently rubbing small circles into his back.
“...Fluff?” Ebony asked after a moment.
“Mm?” Fluff responded blearily, barely lifting up his head enough to reveal his eyes.
“Do you… think I’d be a pretty girl?”
Fluff didn’t respond for a few seconds, the wait somehow agonizing and exhilarating at the same time.
“Y’re a’ready pretty,” Fluff slurred, the end of it muffled as he pressed his face back down halfway through his sentence.
Ebony didn’t need a mirror to tell that his entire face flushed.
Fluff wasn’t much for outward affection. He rarely gave Ebony compliments outside of sex, and even then they were usually still some level of backhanded.
But this time… There wasn’t any insult following it, no disclaimers making sure to keep it from coming across as too lovey-dovey. All they were doing was laying in bed and cuddling. Fluff didn’t even like to call it cuddling.
It felt… nice? If not... a little strange.
But it also wasn’t his question.
“I… Thank you, but…” He attempted again, struggling to get the words in the right order. “That isn’t, really, what I was–”
Then, Fluff leaned up, and pressed his mouth into his.
Their tongues met for a moment, but only a moment. Fluff smirked after pulling away as Ebony leaned forward to follow him.
Then, Fluff settled back into his spot, this time wrapping his arms tight around Ebony’s chest as he put his face back down once again.
Ebony sighed. It always made his soul skip a few beats whenever Fluff kissed him like that, but it also never failed to sting, just a little. It was a gesture that could almost feel romantic, cute, even, but Ebony knew that was never really what Fluff used it for.
It was just a slightly nicer way of telling him to shut up for a while.
Well, they both needed to rest, anyway. It had been an exciting night.
I nominate that one goblin that decided to add cinnamon to his food.
I wonder, what was going on through his head as he considered it? After all, goblins have no way to cultivate cinnamon, it has to come from humans... and why in the world would humans eat literal tree bark?
Then again, cinnamon with mushrooms is also a bit of a reach for our human taste, so maybe it's just a revelation for goblin taste buds.
all i ever post about cinnamon bark is how bad they are for each other but i Do want to make one thing very clear actually: by the time they’re only like 2-3 months into the relationship fluff is having to actively stop himself from saying I Love You on multiple occasions and also the reason he doesn’t start spiraling as extremely fast & hard as he does UNTIL they finally break up is because it is the worst heartbreak of his entire life & it hits right when he finally starts feeling ready to accept & perhaps even express that he’s weak enough to deeply love & care for another person with genuinely every single fiber of his being
second color changed for MAXIMUM anonymity but i played around with doing that chart with the secret ship i talked about a million years ago and this part is just really really funny to me. it explains their whole Thing so well and they dont even date until like 2 years later
