Chapter Text
Clownpierce sighed, he wasn't really the type to give an invitation to his kids at all. He's pretty sure that Flame had completely cut him— them off. And Ash? Clown's pretty sure he's just been living his life with his girlfriend.
Good for them.
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"Hey, Ashh! There was this card on the porch! I wasn't sure who left it there, you wanna see?"
".. Mhm, sure." Ashes yawned, walking right behind Squiddo before wrapping his arms around her waist. Keeping her close— while Squiddo opened the letter.
"𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘈𝘴𝘩,
— 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸.
𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳."
As Squiddo read it carefully, she turned to look at Ash with a gentle smile— she didn't mind.
"You can spend your New Year's with your family—"
Squiddo was immediately cut of by Ash's words flowing out of his mouth.
"I— we can celebrate New Year's, pleasee baby?" He pleaded, nuzzling his face on the crook of her neck, kissing her neck teasingly.
She chuckled, getting tickled from his kissss. She gently patted his head, then cupping his cheeks.
"Of course we can, just.. Tell your dad you won't be coming, alright? I wouldn't want your dad to be upset since you didn't arrive."
𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴..
"Of course, I'll tell him." Ash reassured her, then Squiddo quickly pulled him into a loving kiss. Then letting go of him, Ash sighed, chuckling before following her to the couch.
"C'mon, you can't just do that and don't expect me to want you moree.." Ash purred, sitting beside his lover as he pulled Squiddo into his arms.
They were like this for a while, in each other soft embrace— sometimes they wish they can stay like this.
"I love you, Ash.."
"I love you— alot more, Squiddo.." Ash stammered, he let out a smile before nuzzling his face against her neck again.
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"Arf, arf!"
Ashen's tail wagged, barking at Flame who was bandaging himself up. Ashen held a letter in his mouth, before spitting it on the floor.
Flame patted his head, "Good boy, Ashen!" He exclaimed, this softer side of Flame was nowhere to be seen at all whenever he was outside. He picked the letter up— while Ashen jumped up on the couch and lied down beside Flame.
Flame opened the letter, expecting some stupid threat from a city or a civilization.. Something. It wasn't..
"𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦,
— 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦.
𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴"
Flame had gotten used to celebrating everything alone— or even not celebrating it at all. He hadn't celebrated his birthday, Christmas, and New Year's for so long.
All of it just sounded unnecessary, and stupid. Clown would probably be disappointed when he sees how much of a failure the two of them were. Flame had gotten weaker, thats what he thinks. Flame sighed, setting the letter to burn. He shrugged the ashes off his hand.
He was spending his New Year's with Ashen, and he might even go near Capital City to check out the fireworks the players would set off. He'd just have to figure a way out on how to block noises for dogs, since he was bringing Ashen nonetheless.
Looking back at the letter— it was horribly done. He knew Clown had always favoured Ash over him, and he hated that fact. But did he favour Ash so much that he made the letter just so.. Badly written?
He sighed, before placing his hand on Ashen's head, "You want food, boy?"
Ashen immediately perked up, getting down from the couch as he excitedly twirled around— then running towards his food bowl. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺..
He poured Ashen a bowl of feeds, just enough for him to be full afterwards. Then replacing his water with new, cold water.
"Eat well, Ashen."
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"Do you really think they're going to attend?" Ferre sighed, walking side by side with Clown.
Clown knew deep down in his heart that they wouldn't attend. It was just some hopeless dream that they'd actually attend just so he could talk to them after years.
"𝘕𝘰, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘺.."