#freshly squeezed guy

[isthisimprov]

Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong at Revolution 2026 Post Scrum

Did...did Orange miss something?

*I do have pop up text in the first three gifs so there's alts that explain what they say due to them appearing so fast/color of the text.

[isthisimprov]

AN: I heard it's a certain freshly squeezed guy's birthday! This accidentally got a bit sad but it's mostly good!

"I just…wanted to get something." That was the explanation on why a box was pushed into Orange's chest. What could be in it was his guess and the knowledge of his new partner, who was standing with his arms loosely crossed.

It was something. That's what made him begin to tear into the box, letting the cardboard stitches slowly pop off with the slow pull until one side was open enough to just reach into it. His hand felt around through soft paper, another paper with something smooth, something—

Soft. Very soft. His hand wrapped around it and pulled until it caught and he had to shake the box off of it. The first thing he sees is a flash of something orange before it turns into the same burnt brown his shades turns most things to.

Orange decides to sacrifice his eyes for a second, pulling off his shade with the same caution as the box. He squinted at the brightness of everything, waiting for everything to tone down from bright shades of white to just a normal amount. Once it did, his eyes finally went back to that same color that flashed before him.

And it was orange, a bright orange that almost looked fake. It was small enough to barely fit into the hold of his hand, rolling around a bit as he looked at it. It had stitches all around, holding it together to the top where it was tied together by a loop that held a pink chain like clip.

And it was smiling at him. Little black dimples and all.

"It's for your Jansport." A key-chain. It was something, small and for him specifically because something was better than nothing for his birthday. "Is it too silly?"

"No, no I—" His voice had a bit more gravel than Orange was used to speaking with. He tried to clear it with a cough, but it only made his breath shivery. He made himself look up at Roddy, his arms still not as crossed as they usually were. "I just…" It still wasn't steady enough.

Roddy's eyebrows shot up. It broke the facade he's been holding together, but Orange didn't feel like putting it back on so he gave up and rubbed at his eyes. The soft plush rubbed across his face and it didn't go back down, even when it was starting to get damp.

He heard slow and heavy footsteps coming towards him and he was ready for them to leave out the door right behind him. Only, they stopped somewhere beside him and Orange felt an strong arm wrap around his shoulder. He didn't let the soft key-chain leave his face, but he just sank a bit into the hold.

Birthday celebrations passed him up a few years ago and the age didn't really matter until he start hurting in places he wasn't before. Still, Orange couldn't help staying up until the clock reached midnight and the feeling of another day washed over him as he whispered thanks to the universe around him. Nothing too big, just something.

This was turning into more than that. His eyes were telling him so.

[isthisimprov]

Ok...now I'm seeing why blood orange cassidy is kind of sexy...