#i really do not like sebpainter

[asliceofteaa]

my goofy ass imagining a pressure animatic I'm probably never gonna make and if I do people are gonna be like "yo is this sebpainter":

[autocat5876]

again, no real title other than more sebpainter! another surface au (owned by the lovely @feligayzed) fanfiction!

wordcount of 2.8k (whoops), more of a hurt/comfort thing this time around. please enjoy! i had a lovely time writing this

The first few weeks back on the surface were the toughest for Sebastian. Everything was new, despite how much he wished it wouldn’t. His body, despite being close to what it used to be, wasn’t all perfect, and the world had changed fast in the years he was gone. 

So- once he was finally released from the medical hell that proceeded leaving… there- Sebastian found himself locking up in his bedroom for days on end. It was small enough that he didn’t have to move around much to get from place to place, a welcome relief to his now-aching body (would it always be like that? He hoped not).

He knew it was unhealthy, but he didn’t really care. He didn’t want to be outside, and the outside probably didn’t want him either. After all, he wasn’t fit to be part of the public anymore. He’d missed so many years of humanity to know what was relevant and what wasn’t anymore, not to mention he barely looked “human” anymore. The patches of scales itched and constantly caught his hair (which, itself, was a mess he never had the energy to fix), and the missing finger on each hand weren’t doing any favours either.

But, that was all he could really do with the shitty hand life chose to give him. And he’d much rather rot away alone than deal with returning to the world anyways.

-

Sebastian had been holed up in his room for a while now, p.AI.nter noted. It was the same thing every day. He wouldn’t even come out to get food or water, leading to the bot needing to bring it to him itself. As much as it knew Sebastian needed time to adjust, this seemed a bit… much.

Steeling its nerves, it walked up to the door Sebastian had been hiding behind. With a huff of its fans, it knocked, soft as to not startle him.

“Sebastian? It’s… well, you know who I am… Um- can I come in?”

The air was silent for a long while, to the point p.AI.nter almost thought he had fallen asleep, which wasn’t uncommon these days. He never got rest back at Urbanshade, and it was almost like his body was trying to catch up on the sleep he missed.

Right before the bot could turn to leave, it heard shuffling coming from inside. Cusses mixed with ruffling fabric and clicks against the wood floor as Sebastian made his way to the door. It opened a crack, bright blue eyes peering out at p.AI.nter. Nothing moved, before the door creaked open enough for it to enter.

Not wasting a single moment, p.AI.nter stepped into the room and shut the door. As to be expected, the interior was… well, it was a mess. Dishes and silverware piled up on top of an old dresser, clothes strewn about on the floor to the point that the wooden boards were barely visible. Leaning against the nearby wall was Sebastian’s walker, which he seemed to have a sort of vendetta against with how much he hated to use it. His bed took up the majority of the room, the sheets ruffled up presumably from him dragging himself out of it. The curtains were drawn closed, bathing the room in a dull orange light from the thin fabric.

Turning to face the man himself, p.AI.nter could see Sebastian was in no better condition than his bedroom. Messy and knotted hair framed his face, but the rats-nest couldn’t cover the heavy bags under his eyes. His clothes were all too loose for him, the faded band tee looking more like a dress than anything else, and his shorts were baggy and barely held up by the drawstring. One hand grasped his cane for dear life, the other gripping the nearest dresser edge to hold him up.

“Well? What do you want?” Sebastian’s voice was rough and low- from disuse, p.AI.nter presumed (did he really talk that little anymore? p.AI.nter didn’t want to believe it).

p.AI.nter shook itself out of its thoughts. “Right! You’ve been pent up here for… a while-” A scoff slipped from the other, it chose to ignore it.  “-so I was thinking you… came out and got some air? Just out on the porch.”

“No.” His answer was immediate. The mattress squeaked as he sat back down on its edge, hissing at the soreness of bending his knees again.

Another huff of p.AI.nter’s fans. “Come on, how long’s it been since you had any fresh air?”

“I open the window from time to time.” Sebastian looked away, mumbling. A quick glance at the windowsill showed it was covered in dust from disuse.

“Sebastian, please?”

“I said I’m not doing it.”

The room fell into silence for a long time. p.AI.nter didn’t want to give up this easily, but it couldn’t think of anything that would work. That is, unless…

“If you do it, I’ll do whatever you ask. One request of any kind..?” It was a bad offer, it knew that much, but maybe it was enough to convince Sebastian.

Again, silence. p.AI.nter fidgeted nervously in place, looking anywhere but Sebastian.

“Paint my nails.”

The reply jolted p.AI.nter out of its thoughts. It turned back to Sebastian, meeting his gaze.

“That’s… That’s it?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that ‘anything’ didn’t include everything.”

The bot quickly jumped into motion, waving its hands in front of itself. “No, no! If that’s what you want then that’s what I’ll do.”

Sebastian just hummed, the sound resonating in p.AI.nter’s system. Gosh, his voice was so nice to listen to sometimes… it shook its head. It couldn’t be thinking like that right now.

“Stay right here. I’ll be right back!”

-

Sebastian was going to regret this, he felt it in his bones (alongside that constant dull pain, the hope that it wasn’t permanent was beginning to fade). Outside meant people could see him, and people seeing him meant… he didn’t want to think about it.

He didn’t get up from the mattress, waiting for p.AI.nter to return. It had run out of the room nearly as soon as he agreed. He looked around as he sat, his gaze hardening as his eyes landed on the walker leaning against the wall. 

It wasn’t that he hated the object itself, but the thing it represents instead. How he couldn’t even function properly like how he did before. Before they came and took him for no good reason, ripped him apart and put him back together, and-

The door creaking open pulled Sebastian from his thoughts. In the doorway was p.AI.nter, with a hairbrush and towel in hand.

“I know we aren’t going to be outside much, but I thought you’d maybe like to clean up a bit before we did?”

Sebastian didn’t move, letting p.AI.nter do what it wanted. Despite how he acted, he was glad his companion still cared for him.

The bot took a seat behind him, crossing its legs as it reached out for his hair. Sebastian jolted as soon as he felt fingers brush up against his hair, tensing up in fear. He couldn’t let anything touch him, if he did then he’d be brought back, stuck in that too-small cell-

Again, p.AI.nter pulled him out of his thoughts (how does it keep doing that, he wonders?) with a soft, “Sorry!”

“It’s… It’s fine. Just don’t do that again.”

p.AI.nter slowly made its way off the bed, leaving what it brought in next to Sebastian.

“Here… if you want to clean up. I’ll wait outside.”

-

p.AI.nter groaned, holding its screen in its hands as it sat down in the hallway outside. Of course it had to mess this up. It was trying to make Sebastian more comfortable, and all it did was make him more upset.

It sat alone for a while, its self-pity party broken only by the door opening. Peeking through its fingers, it could see Sebastian carefully shuffling out of his bedroom. His hair was carefully combed (although still messy, that would never change) and his face was washed off. Still in his faded shirt and shorts, he was careful with one hand on his cane and the other on the doorframe.

“Hey…” p.AI.nter stood, but it didn’t approach Sebastian again. 

“Hi. Let’s get this over with.”

The bot nodded, walking alongside him, still not touching. Their pace was agonizingly slow down the hallway to the front door, but p.AI.nter didn’t mind the time. 

Sebastian on the other hand, very much minded. Under his breath he mumbled curses and words of anger at his situation. p.AI.nter couldn’t help but feel bad, but it still didn’t act on it. It didn’t want to upset him again.

After what felt like nothing to p.AI.nter and everything to Sebastian, they made it to the door outside. p.AI.nter turned to the other, its eyes looking everywhere but him.

“Ready?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go.”

The door opened with a small squeak, and the front room was bathed in the afternoon sunlight. A gentle breeze ghosted through the grass and leaves, filling the air with a quiet white noise.

p.AI.nter was the first to step outside, a smile quick to be drawn on its screen. It had been so long since it had really seen the outside world. It never got the chance to just sit outside and enjoy it, something was always filling that time instead.

It took a seat on the first step of the stone stairs leading up to the entry, patiently waiting for Sebastian to join it. He did, after a moment. A quiet groan escaped his lips as he lowered down to sit. p.AI.nter said nothing, just returned to looking around.

Thanks to the calm conditions of the day, the other people in the neighbourhood were also out and about, either in their own yards or walking the sidewalks. The sight softened the bot’s expression. They were all so peaceful, it thought. Nothing threatening their safety, nothing dull in colour, no one trying to rip them from their family and trap them in a lone cell, force them to do mindless tasks for god knows how long… p.AI.nter shook its head. It shouldn’t be thinking like that anymore. It was safe, they both were.

p.AI.nter didn’t even realize how much time they spent outside until its gaze again landed on the man next to it. He was shaking, his grip on the handle of his cane tight enough to turn his knuckles a sickly white.

“Sebastian?” It said nervously. “You’re shaking…”

He didn’t turn to look at p.AI.nter, still staring straight ahead. “Can we go?” He managed to croak out, the last words dying off into wisps of air.

Something was seriously wrong. p.AI.nter stood, nodding. “Yeah- Yeah, of course we can. Let’s… let’s get you inside now.”

It stood, Sebastian slowly following its actions. His return inside was much faster than p.AI.nter expected, its heart lurching at the sight. He was forcing himself to speed up to go inside, probably hurting himself in the process. All because of some dumb idea it had…

The walk back to Sebastian’s room was silent, save for the clink of metal on the wood-panelled floors. p.AI.nter opened the bedroom door, letting him in as it followed behind. Sebastian made a straight beeline to his bed, burrowing under the blankets and hiding his whole body under them.

p.AI.nter said nothing, instead it just took a seat on the edge of the bed to watch over the lump under the covers.

- 

Sebastian hid. Hid from the sunlight (it was too bright), the breeze (the chill it sent down his spine was very unwelcome), the people (they were so loud and they kept staring oh god they wouldn’t stop-). So he stayed under the blankets of his bed, where he knew it was safe.

It was darker out when he finally peeked his head out, his gaze landing on the bot sitting nearby. It had left the edge of the bed hours ago, now sitting against the wall opposite of the bed. It was clearly lost in drawing, the screen displaying a bright landscape instead of the usually messy eyes and grin.

“What are you drawing?” He asked, his voice filling the room with something more than just cooling fans.

The sudden sound caused p.AI.nter to jump in place, a large, accidental brushstroke covering its artwork. It quickly undid the mistake and saved the file, returning to its face. 

“Ah- nothing. Just the usual…”

The room again fell into an awkward silence, neither of the two wanting to look at each other. Sebastian looked down at his hands clutching the edge of the blankets, the promise from earlier in the day resurfacing in his mind.

“You know, you still owe me that promise. Nail painting, remember?” He didn’t look up as he spoke.

The only sound that came from the bot was the near-silent movement of its joints as it stood. 

“What colour?”

“Black.”

It only nodded, leaving yet again to find where it kept its real paints.

-

p.AI.nter found itself sitting back on the mattress of the bed within minutes of leaving, right across from Sebastian. Next to it was a small palette, a small dollop of black paint on it (though the orange light from the sunset and old curtains made it look strangely different). In its hand was the thinnest brush it could find. 

Truthfully, it didn’t really know what it was doing. It had never painted nails before, but it assumed it couldn’t have been much different than actual painting- much to its joy, it was right.

In order to try and make Sebastian a bit more comfortable, it began to play a local radio station from its speakers. It kept the music quiet to focus, but it was loud enough to be audible. 

Sebastian didn’t say anything, but before long he was softly humming along to the tune of a song p.AI.nter didn’t recognize. Both looked down at his nails as they were all carefully covered in a thin coat of black paint.

They stayed like that for a long while, even after p.AI.nter was done with the nails. The paint needed to dry, after all.

The music was cut off with an exhale of p.AI.nter’s fans. It took a moment to collect its words. “Sebastian, listen,” It began. “I’m so sorry for today. I didn’t mean to make you feel so upset.”

p.AI.nter waited nervously for a reply. It wasn’t expecting for Sebastian to magically forgive it of everything it did, but it hoped he wouldn’t be pissed at it either.

“...It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean to. I probably shouldn't have freaked out on you like that either.”

It looked up at Sebastian, eyes widening. “No- you shouldn’t be apologizing here!” Its volume raised slightly. “You had said you didn’t want and I basically forced you out and I even made you upset before everything and-”

“p.AI.nter.” His voice cut through its nervous ramblings. He sounded annoyed, but it knew better than to assume that’s how he really felt. “You said you’re sorry, I said it’s fine. That’s all, alright?” 

“...Yeah, alright.”

Sebastian hesitated, before looking up and meeting p.AI.nter’s gaze. “Besides, I got a free manicure out of it, didn’t I?” 

p.AI.nter couldn’t help the laugh it let out, quiet and glitchy. “I guess that’s a pretty good plus side to this whole thing.”

The room fell into another silence, but this one was much more comfortable than before. Dusk turned to night, the only light in the room the dimmed screen of p.AI.nter’s face. It stuck around as Sebastian slipped back under the blankets, sitting comfortably at the foot of the bed to continue its scene from before. It tentatively hit redo on the accidental brush stroke from before. Maybe it could find a way to work that mistake into the landscape…

-

Sleep came quickly for Sebastian as he curled up beneath soft blankets. He kept his hands above the covers, careful to not nick them. Taking another glance at the black paint, a dumb grin grew on his face. By no means were they perfect, but to him they were everything. He shut his eyes, listening carefully to the soft droning of p.AI.nter’s fans. And if that night was the best sleep he had in years, he never admitted it.