after doing this for graduation i wanted to do one for amnesty too. i didn’t have another outfit meme saved though, so i just picked some outfits from my tag.
might do more in the future but we’ll see. my motivation’s been pretty low recently.
Could you write something where Keith is investigating Aubrey and trying to convince Hollis that she can do magic, but it turns out that Hollis can also do magic or is a cryptid of some kind? Doesn't have to be shippy but it could be.
Hey! Thanks for the request! Sorry it took a little while to get done! I hope you like it! I don’t really know if tumblr tells people when their ask has been answered so I’ll just tag you in it! @auberginesdonthavelimbs
Requests are still open if anybody is interested!
Hollis was wearing purple lipstick today. A deep, plum colour neatly put on. Not a smear in sight. It was what Keith focused on as they helped him up the stairs. Their purple lips, cursing and panting, as they half-carried Keith up the narrow staircase of their house. He knew that staring wasn’t exactly polite, but he couldn’t help it.
“I swear to god,” Hollis said, purple lips moving, “Next time, break your arm.”
“If I had a choice, I would,” Keith said. He looked down at his leg, stuck straight in a white plaster cast. The names of all the Hornets was written all over it, as well as numerous actual hornets. Hollis’s name was written across the knee, in neat, yellow letters. He tried not to notice the heart they had put to dot the i.
“Why the hell were you even out on your bike?” Hollis demanded.
Keith wanted to tell them the truth; that he had been following Aubrey Little to see if what she had done on the ski hill was real. And it had been. He wanted so badly to tell Hollis the truth, but he also valued not having his face melted off. He normally told Hollis everything. Now, he was choking on his secret.
“It was a nice day,” Keith said.
“It was -4 out,” Hollis said.
“A nice day,” Keith reiterated.
Hollis huffed in response as they finally reached the last step. They tossed Keith’s crutches onto the floor.
“Um… I’m going to need those,” Keith said.
“Fuck,” Hollis said, and the arm they had wrapped around his waist snaked itself out.
Keith stood there, balancing on one leg as Hollis gathered up the crutches. He tried not to notice how their hair fell over their shoulder as they bent down. When they straightened up, he tried not to notice the strands stuck on the purple lipstick.
Hollis seemed to notice that something was up. “You good?”
“Yeah,” Keith said, his eyes snapping to the floor.
Hollis handed him the crutches, and put their hand on his shoulder. Their voice was gentle as they said, “You in pain? Do you need me to get the Tylenol?”
“No no,” Keith said, “I’m fine. Just. Not looking forward to showering with this.”
“Well, now that lawn chair we have can actually be useful,” Hollis said. “Why the fuck did you insist on that chair again?”
“It was free, it was on a lawn, it was a chair,” Keith said, “And now it’s useful. So, ha.”
Hollis rolled their eyes. “You need help getting to the bathroom?”
“I can walk in a straight line just fine,” Keith told them.
“Alright,” Hollis said, “Let me know if anything comes up.”
“I’ll scream,” Keith said with a nod.
Their purple lips turned up into a smile. They patted his shoulder, and walked back down the stairs. Keith watched them go, before he shook his head and crutched into the shower.
The plastic lawn chair was already set up in the shower, as well as a garbage back and some duct tape. Keith spent the better part of five minutes trying to get the garbage bag around his leg and sealed tight. He knew that he was going to lose some leg hair getting the duct tape off, but it was better than having a wet cast.
As soon as he got into the shower, his mind began to wander back to Aubrey. He thought about how she had healed him, how her hand had lit on fire, how close that fire came to his face. He groaned, and tried to forget about it, but it just kept on resurfacing.
He then thought about Hollis, and how he knew that they should know about this. That they’d know what to do about it. Hollis would know what to do. Hollis always knew what to do.
He made up his mind. He made to get out of the shower, when the chair beneath him cracked. The leg broke off, and Keith tumbled to the bathtub floor. The broken plastic ripped through the garbage bag protecting his cast. He lay there, face down, water seeping into his cast, and he just thought about how much he hated Aubrey Little.
“Uh? Keith?” He heard Hollis’s voice from behind the shower curtain. “You dead?”
“I wish,” Keith said. “Fuck.”
He heard the sound of the curtain behind pulled back, and Hollis then shrieked, “Your cast!’
“Yeah,” Keith said, finally pushing himself up from the bathtub. “Fuck this lawn chair.”
Hollis stepped into the shower. The next thing Keith knew, their arm was around him and they were hoisting him out of the bathtub. Keith couldn’t help the flush that coated his cheeks.
“Hollis, you didn’t have to do this,” Keith said.
“You fell in the shower with a broken leg,” Hollis said.
“Yeah, Hollis, in the shower,” Keith said.
“What? I’ve seen your dick before what’s the deal?” They said. Their hair was dripping, and their eyeliner streaming down their face.
Keith didn’t have a response. He just let Hollis toss him a towel, and watched as they dried their own hair.
“We’re gonna have to use a hairdryer and try to get your cast dry,” Hollis commented, pulling the towel off of their head. Their hair was tangled, still damp. The eyeliner was mostly gone, staining the towel instead. Their purple lipstick was smudged. More of it was on their cheek than their lips now. Keith just stared for a while.
Eventually, Keith just said, “Sorry.”
“For what?” Hollis asked, “Falling in the shower?”
“No,” Keith said.
“Then for what?”
Keith frowned. “Hollis. I haven’t been completely honest with you. I need to tell you something.”
“Can you wait until I’ve changed and you’re wearing pants?” Hollis said.
Keith nodded.
“Alright. You good to get dressed?” Hollis said.
“Yeah,” Keith said.
Hollis pulled out the hair drier. “My room?”
“Sure,” Keith said.
Hollis smiled, and left Keith.
He crutched as fast as he could to his room and clumsily threw on a shirt and a pair of shorts. He tried not to look at himself in the mirror; he knew he looked like a mess. Hollis had seen him looking worse.
He let out a sigh, and left his room. He lingered outside Hollis’s room for a while. Maybe he shouldn’t tell them this. Maybe it would be better if he kept this secret. Keith shook his head. He needed to tell them this.
He knocked on Hollis’s door.
They answered immediately. Their hair was still wet, but they had tied it up in a messy bun. Their makeup was removed, but sloppily. Eyeliner was smeared under their eyes, and Keith could still see the tint of their lipstick, making their lips look purple still.
“Sit on the bed,” They said, “Near the wall.”
Keith frowned, but did as Hollis said. Hollis hopped on the bed after him, and turned on the hairdryer. They started drying his cast near his foot, where the most water had gotten. They sat there for a while not talking, the hairdryer filling the silence.
“So you needed to tell me something?” Hollis said eventually,, not looking up from the hairdryer.
“It’s…” Keith started. He pursed his lips, and then said, “It’s not… You’re not going to believe me.”
“Try me.”
“So… uh… I was out on my bike because I was investigating Aubrey,” Keith said.
“Aubrey?”
“Aubrey Little. She lives at the Lodge.”
“Oh? The one we met on the ski hill, with Jake?”
“Yeah. That one.”
“What’d you find?”
Keith took in a deep breath, “She’s magic.”
Hollis looked up at Keith, “Yeah? She’s a magician.”
“No,” Keith said, “No. She’s magic. I was following them because I thought she did something to me on the hill. They were at this campground, and I thought I saw something weird in the trailer.”
“Weird?” Hollis probed.
“Like… a monster?” Keith said, “I don’t know. It was dark. But whatever it was, it was huge.”
“Uh huh.”
“Anyways. I was gonna bike back when I got attacked by these goatmen,” Keith said.
“Goatmen?”
“They were like… walking goats,” Keith said. “One of them hit me with a shovel, and I crashed and that’s how my leg broke… I think. Then Aubrey was there? And she healed me? I don’t know her hands were glowing orange and I felt better and then I lost consciousness again.”
“That sounds… rough,” Hollis said. They still weren’t looking at him. They moved the hair drier up a little higher on his leg.
“They took me to the basement of the Lodge,” Keith said. “And… and Aubrey threatened me in order to keep me quiet.”
“Threatened you?” Hollis said. Their eyes met his, and Keith could see fury behind them.
“She lit her hand on fire,” Keith said. “Just… holding her hand on fire.”
“So Aubrey Little is magic,” Hollis muttered, “I didn’t think she was one of us…”
“One of us?” Keith said.
Hollis sighed, setting down the hairdryer, and turning it off. “Keith. I haven’t been completely honest with you.” They stepped off the bed. “Try not to freak out.”
“Freak out?” Keith asked, “Hollis, I’m confused.”
Hollis didn’t reply. They just began to remove their industrial piercing, the one Keith had never seen them without. They did it slowly, deliberately. They never faltered, never hesitated. They pulled the bar from their ear, and they changed.
Their ears became more pointed, their teeth sharper, and their eyes turned a bright orange. They smiled at him with their barely purple tinted lips, “I know that magic is real, Keith.”
“You’re…”
“I’m a Sylph. From another planet, essentially,” Hollis explained.
“You’re an alien?” Keith asked, trying to sound like this was completely normal.
Hollis laughed, “I suppose so.”
“So… Aubrey is one of you?” Keith said.
“No. Or at least, I don’t think she is.” They sat back down on the bed. They were fidgeting with their necklace; a simple orange crystal on a black chain. They kept their eyes down. “Aubrey’s certainly something else.”
“Oh,” Keith said, not knowing what else to say.
“You’re freaking out,” Hollis said.
“No!” Keith said. “I mean? It’s just…”
“It’s just what?” Hollis pushed.
Keith felt his cheeks heat up as he murmured, “I have a crush on an alien.”
Hollis burst out laughing, clearly relaxing. They pushed Keith’s shoulder gently, knocking him into the wall. “Well, I have a crush on a moron.”
Keith’s heart fluttered. He looked up at Hollis, “So what are we going to do?”
“Well,” Hollis said, “We’re going to keep an eye on Aubrey. If she tries to do anything to hurt you again, you let me know. Even if it’s just a threat. She can’t do that to you. I’m not going to let her.”
Keith nodded. “Gotcha.”
“Keith?” Hollis said. They sounded a little nervous.
“Yeah?”
“Are you really okay with this?” Hollis said, “With me?”
Keith locked his eyes with Hollis, “Of course! You’re my best friend! It might take me a while to get used to it… but I’ll try.”
Hollis smiled. “Thanks, Keith.”
“No problem.”
They sat in silence for a couple of moments, before Hollis turned to Keith, holding up the industrial bar, “Can you help me get this back in?”
Keith nodded, taking the earring from Hollis. He leaned in close and brushed Hollis’s hair behind their ear. He fumbled for a little bit, but eventually slipped the earring back in. Hollis changed back to their familiar form, and turned to face Keith.
“We good?” They asked.
“We’re good,” Keith said.
“Good,” Hollis said, and those purple lips pressed up against his cheek.
