Archive of Our Own ^beta

The hermit's house, that's where a bushel of people have come to reside. A red-head, a little girl, a (very annoying) nun, a scammer, and a few others. It was crowded, but welcome. Over the past month of being coupled up together, everyone had come to find their place in the house. It seemed everyone was here to stay for the time being, which the homeowner had come to accept in the first week.

Though, as time went on, change came. That being little hobby sessions amongst residents. Some of the older men like to get together and discuss the state of the world, some adult residents will meet after the younger go to bed and discuss their old lives, and the most recent one, little bouts of coloring from the little girl imprinted onto other residents.

The drawings had started to crowd the fridge, all of the other residents and the young perception of them. Most were cute, with the first being the little girl and parentless teenager together with the labels of ‘Me’ and ‘Sissy’. It ended up melting the heart of the house owner just enough to where he started hanging them on the fridge.

After that, more just kept coming. The little girl would go to random people and ask them to draw with her. Out of it came the art of Wireface and the protagonist in the pantry, Cashier girl and seductive lady labels as ‘mommas’, the Scammer and theorist as best friends, and many more.

Today, though, brought a special change. The little girl had gone around showing off her newest creation, obviously with the help of the parentless teenager. Everyone could always tell when a new drawing had come because of the excited little pitter-patter of those little Mary-Janes on the hardwood floors. It had become a noise that lightened the mood of the house.

Yesenin and Coat Guy sat similarly on the plaid couch that had worn in from their presence. The two could faintly hear otherwise complimenting the work from the other room. Yesenin didn't care very much, but some secret part of him he'd never admit actually found it sweet.

Coat, too, didn't have much of an opinion on these drawings, but he'd usually give some quiet compliment as he didn't know how to talk to kids. Maybe in the past he did, but not now. He could barely remember anything past a few weeks ago, let alone how to talk to a grieving 6 year old girl. He did the best his frozen mind could muster.

The two men watched as the yellow-dressed girl entered the living room with a big grin plastered on her face, one hand intertwined with the teenage girl's and the other holding her newest art piece. The teen had a smug grin on her face the whole time, much to the confusion of the two men and the nun. Odd. But not unusual for her.

The two girls went up to the nun, the sweet little voice echoing through the living room.

“Miss Nun Lady! Look! Look!” The little girl stated excitedly, holding up the picture of bright colors scratched on by crayons. The little thing was bouncing on her heels in joy.

“Yeah. We worked real hard, hag. She did awesome.” The teen added, her tone just as smug as her braced smile. Her Curly hazel hair had a few random braids in it, undoubtedly from the little girl who loved to braid her hair.

The nun scoffed at the nickname but picked up the picture from the little girl, her stern look etched permanent into her wrinkled features. Sunken-in hazel eyes scanned over the drawing before a subtle look of disdain crossed her features. She looked at the drawing before not-so-subtly glancing back at the two men planted on the couch. Her expression was odd and slightly disgusted in a way she was trying to hide.

The nun quickly handed the picture back and avoided eye contact with the two girls, both with completely different smiles looking her in the eye.

“It's, um… interesting. I don't approve of the influence-” The nun started, her raspy voice quickly cut off by the teen.

“It was me. I was the influence, hehe…” The teen's grin just grew wider as she interjected and proclaimed her involvement. The nun subtly rolled her eyes with a huff but ultimately stayed quiet.

“Yes, yes, well… practice makes perfect, my child.” The nun mumbled, trying to say something decent to satiate the little girl. It was odd as the nun never missed an opportunity to speak her mind. Usually, it turned into some sermon or failed group prayer. No one liked it, but they dealt.

And yet, for whatever reason, the older lady was brief. It was honestly welcome, no one wanted another hour long sermon for a God no one believed in anymore. Still, very weird.

Yesenin kept staring up at the ceiling but his eyes wandered to the interaction. He caught the nun turning back to him and it irritated him, not that he'd let it show in front of two kids. He didn't comment even if he wanted to, to ask what the hag was looking at. The glare was so pointed, so intentional. The nun was never good with casual, but this? It was downright pinning.

Coat Guy had a similar reaction, hunched over on the couch with his head in his arms. He was shivering and mentally cursing the cold plaguing him like usual. He peered up over his knees when he heard the voices on the other end of the room. His stinging eyes studied the scene and a small sense of dread bubbled in his empty stomach at the eyes of the nun looking back at him. The smug grin of the teen only served to worry him more.

That was just his mind, though. Everything worried him. His body was so numb and cold that he could barely think, so it was all he tried to do. Either he was numb or anxious, no in between. Well, one in-between. Talking to Yesenin. It brought him to smile a bit and even chuckle on rare occasions. It was the only time he was anything but cold.

Soon, the little girl and teen came over to the two men, the sweet smile full of missing baby teeth melting away some of the tension. It didn't take long until that little mouth started rambling on to them.

“Misters, misters, look! I asked Sissy what to draw, and she said you!! I tried very hard! It took me allllllll night! I was so sleepy after, ehehe!” The girl explained, the smile never leaving her round face. Again, she was bouncing on the heels of her black shoes from pure joy. A welcome sight in this mess of a time.

Tiny hands held up the piece of colorful paper, Coat's head lifting from his trembling arms and Yesenin's eyes peering down to the art. On the page was, as told, a drawing of them in crayon. It was a little hard to make out, but not too scribbly. It was a blue figure, presumably Coat, and a white figure with brown hair, Yesenin, on the red and green couch. The colors were bright and the characters were mostly scribbles and sticks.

What made it interesting though were the smiles drawn on both their faces along with their hands (or at least, what they assume to be hands amidst the scribbles) hooked together. Between them was a red heart, the middle blotchy from the coloring work. Not to mention the height difference was even more pronounced in the drawing as the little girl had never seen Coat standing up before.

“Cool, right~?” The teen asked, her grin growing even more mischievous. The influence of recommending them obviously making her feel accomplished in causing a tiny hint of chaos in the already dysfunctional household.

Coat and Yesenin stared in both bewilderment and confusion, processing the work in front of them. Now they understood the Nun's reaction. She had been checking to see if it was them. Well, and because she was so old fashioned that queerness wasn't exactly something she was fond of.

Coat's cheeks seemed to dust a light purple as he looked away from the drawing and pulled his scarf over the bottom of his face. His eyes immediately darted to the rough, plaid fabric of the couch. Anything to avoid looking at the drunkard next to him.

Yesenin just stared before his slender fingers gently took the picture to bring up to his face. It's not that he needed glasses, but that the girl was so short he swore he'd saw the drawing wrong. But nope, he was right. His eyebrows knit together as he cleared his throat and looked back up to the ceiling. It was faint, but if you looked hard enough, those pale cheeks seemed to gain a little color.

“Well?? Do you like it? Is it good? I spent a loooong time on it!” The girl proclaimed, still bouncing on her heels as she took the picture back into her hands. Her smile was one of anticipation of praise for her work. Her fingernails were painted with little flowers, undoubtedly the work of the teen who had a matching (but messier) set of paint in her nails too.

Coat gave an awkward little thumbs up and nod as he put his head back in his arms. Yesenin nodded slowly and patted the girl's head, even if his expression was disinterested along with his monotone voice.

“Yeah. It's good. Good job, kid.” Yesenin muttered just loud enough to be heard, his voice not making it across the room. He saw the glare the nun was giving the paper along with him and Coat, cringing back a bit at the stare and pretending not to notice her. He gently patted the girl’s head and gave a nod to the teen, not that it was met with anything but a devilish smile

The little girl squealed with joy before basically skipping off to show the next person in the house of her work. The teen followed quickly in tow as she was dragged along. Though, the smug snickering seemed soften when she was dragged off due to the skipping.

The room now was tense and quiet, the stare of the nun boring into them. Not a great start to the evening, but whatever. The silence was just a consequence of such an implicative yet childish drawing.

Soon enough, the nun muttered a prayer with way too much disdain in her voice before leaving the room. Something about preparing holy water. That'll definitely be fun for later. Either way, it left the two men alone without the piercing star of a religious old woman.

The two didn't really know what to say but felt the need to speak about it somehow. Yesenin being the first to break the silence…

“Quite the imagination on those two…” The lanky man murmured, his voice still strained but hoping to break the tension.

“Y-yeah… i-i don't know- k-know where th-they got t-the idea t-that we're…” Coat Guy trailed off, digging his face further into his scarf as his cheeks got even more purple. Yesenin noticed and his face seemed to feel a little warmer. Though, he couldn't quite figure out if it was the heat outside or the weird churning in his stomach.

“They're just kids. I doubt they understand.” Yesenin mumbled, adjusting himself a bit on the couch in a way that subconsciously got himself closer to Coat. His slender hand sat in the place between them to balance himself.

“M-mhm…” Coat agreed, his voice quiet and shaky. His own hand seemed to wander to the place between them as well.

Yesenin could feel the cold radiating off Coat's hands, not even touching it and still somehow being able to feel the chill. Neither commented on it from there, going back to their respective positions of silence. It was still awkward but they were comfortable enough with it.

As time went on, Coat spoke up just loud enough for Yesenin to barely hear…

“I-it was sill- s-silly, though… eheh…”

Yesenin cracked a smile at that, his eyes briefly darting down to Coat before noticing the shy smile and looking back up.

“Yeah… Do I really look like that? Maybe I need to grow my hair out a little to cover the receding, heh.” Yesenin joked, grateful for the lightening in mood. He was still neutral, but much calmer now.

Coat chuckled quietly to himself, a rare sight to see such a pleasant expression on one usually etched in suffering. His icy Pinkie finger slowly came to rest over the drunkard's, loosely curling around it. Not that Yesenin commented on nor moved away.

“W-well, i-i think you- y-you look f-fine… i-i just didn't real- r-realize I looked th-that blue, hehe..” Coat joked back quietly, actually laughing at his situation for once instead of just hating himself and his predicament.

Yesenin chuckled to himself, deep and raspy in a way Coat enjoyed without being able to quite explain it. The compliment was new, but he didn't mind. In fact, the lengthy man found himself trying to hide his face once more as his lanky pinkie finger curled back around Coat's.

“Heh, I guess we both are a little rough around the edges, eh?” Yesenin remarked, eliciting quiet chuckles between the both of them as their pinkie fingers curled further together. Neither seemed to quiet notice or care as they hid shy but worn smiles and joked around.

The conversation ended there, but that was okay with them. They no longer minded the drawing anymore. It was almost cute now. Maybe it wasn't so bad…

Well, for everyone but the nun.