star festival: fish for stars

[ Noon 6:24 ] Colus sighed extendedly, dramatically dropping his body onto the comfort of his neatly-made bed. His cyan-blue hues scanned the roof closing off his home, trying to think of something he could possibly do in the meantime. He furrowed his brows, huffing out of his nose for a second. This was such a wonderful day!! And he just couldn’t get any idea on what to do. He put his hands to his face, groaning a little in frustration. Man, life got pretty boring after high school. Although it is true that studying and stressing about classes were a bother, he'd much rather do that and have a roommate or two than live alone. It made him think about his friends for a moment, mind roaming the memories of them hanging out after school, throwing paper crumples at each other in lunch, that one time they went to the star festival.. He gave a small chuckle, a smile on his face at the thought.

Suddenly, he sat up. Wait. his friends.. What day was it today? Colus pat himself down, trying to locate the whereabouts of his phone. He flipped onto his knees and started treading his hands across the soft bed sheets, brows furrowing a little. What in the gods? He just had his phone ! He looked around at his drawers and his desk, and perked up his ears once he noticed his phone on the desk across the room. Whilst he didn’t really feel like getting up from the sweet embrace of his bed, he did so anyway, and ushered over, picking his phone up quickly. Frantically looking for his calendar app, he jolted up in celebration once he noticed the day

dialing the number necessary, the electronic device began to ring rhythmically, and colus anxiously held it up to his ear. It's been a really long while, and he was hoping they'd pick up… he moved his phone away from his ear to click on call again, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. maybe he had the wrong phone number.. maybe they didn't want to talk to him? Did he do something wrong? maybe he should just forget abou—

"hello?"

colus' eyes widened once he heard the familiar voice on the other end, a sudden smile appearing on his face at the reminder that his friend really didn't abandon him. He was probably just busy! That's right!

"hey! hello- genesis, it's me, colus!" "Who?"

colus' heart dropped when he heard the response, a sudden pull straining the strings of his heart into an uncomfortable feeling. Wait, what? he stood still in his room, silence engulfing his surroundings. his eyes widened in surprise once he heard a laugh on the other end, ears perking up in a little bit of confusion

"I'm just messing with ya! hey colus! been a while, I missed you!"

oh dear genesis. Colus smiled, chuckling at his silly response. He should've known they would pull a joke like this. his shoulders tensed down to a less stressing position, and he comfortably returned his phone properly to his ear, responding with energy in his voice just as he did before.

"You scared me!" "that was the point!"

Colus giggled a little, recalling the many amounts of the jokes Genesis would pull in high school, a small and serene moment of nostalgia running through his mind.

"You didn't change at all, did you?" "I wouldn't say that at all, but you're right!"

"still a big idiot like you were before haha, say, sorry for calling you at this time of day and asking so out of the blue, I get we haven't talked in a while- but do you remember when we used to go to the star festival together? with Haven too?"

Colus' laughs turned from confident to nervous. yeah, maybe this was a little weird to approach so suddenly about a memory that was a while ago. He didn't want to seem pushy or anything, but he was really bored, and needed something to do, so he had to ask. He furrowed his brows at the sudden silence turned to odd babbling with someone in the background, a little bit of curiosity sparking in his chest. Ooh, who were they with?? As quick as genesis had turned away, they turned back to colus and spoke up in a content tone.

“Haven said he’d join us!!” “You’re with haven?? Nevermind that question actually- Alright!! Sounds good!!”

The boy exclaimed, happily conversing with his friends. Not long after, they ended the call, and Colus quickly scrambled over to his closet. It took him a solid second to stare at the closet, looking through his many diverse clothing pieces. White shirt.. Shorts.. Jacket.. More shirts.. Mushroom shirt.. MUSHROOM SHIRT! That’s it! He quickly dismounted the shirt from the hangar, quickly ushering off to change into what he picked out. Grabbing everything he needed, he stuffed his items into his pocket and darted off to the nearest transport station.

“You think he’s gonna be here on time?”

Haven spoke up, turning to look over at genesis. Scanning their facial features and body language, he could tell that they definitely weren’t worried about it.

“Yeah man! He’s- decently reliable. We should be fine!”

Genesis offered their friend a smile, softly giving him a little punch on his shoulder, no ill-intent to hurt him whatsoever. Although it may have not seemed so, they were infact a little worried about him not showing up. Hey, they haven’t chatted in over a year, and truly, they weren't sure what type of person colus had become. Whilst he didn’t doubt he changed, there still was that chance, and it somewhat had the hairs on the back of their neck raise at the possibility. What if Colus showed up in a suit of all things? Or even worse- with a girl?? He shuddered, not wanting to think about it.

“There he is!”

Haven suddenly stood up from their sitting spot, ushering over to the approaching figure. Genesis suddenly stood up, also scrambling over with haven. Wait! What if it really wasn’t him!? Suddenly, both of them were pulled in a big bear hug, a total homies hug from colus, immediately turning him to smile widely. Yep! That’s colus!

“Colus!” “guys!” The three exclaimed, breaking the hug to talk face to face. “Gods It’s been ages! You all look great!” colus smiled widely, tightening his grip on the satchel going over his chest in excitement. Genesis pat his shoulders down, widely smiling at the reconnection. “It’s been forever! You look great too!” he chuckled. “You still have that shirt? Didn’t we tell you to trash it?” haven laughed, giving colus a small punch on the chest in playful nature. “I did! I just got a new one. Better size and all!” he chuckled, tail swishing in a happy manner. Haven laughed, putting a hand up to his mouth to brace it, and genesis rolled their eyes with a smile. “I have no idea why I was so concerned about you changing” “oh come on! It’s a nice shirt!”

“Sure!” genesis said playfully, messing up colus’ hair like little kids would do. “Come on guys, there’s a cotton candy stand nearby! Let’s go get some!” Haven spoke up, sliding back a little on his heelies, corresponding with activating his wings for a moment. pointing to the direction of behind his back. The two laughed and followed along, running off to the ambient crowd.

The first booth they had visited was ofcourse the cotton candy one. Haven had gotten the biggest size roll he could, and was happily feasting on it as if he were a little kid with a sugar liking problem. “Hey!” Haven suddenly protested, watching as genesis took a pinch out of the cotton candy and ate it. “Oh wow you’re right! This is good!” they laughed, getting a small smack on the head from Haven. Colus spoke up, pointing his finger into the direction across the trio, exclaiming a “guys look!”

The fishing for stars booth!

Colus grabbed both the two by the collar, practically dragging them over to the booth. A friendly looking guy sat at the booth, counting the pixels he had received over time. A smile appeared on his face once he noticed the trio approaching, quickly putting away his money and standing up. “Hello!” Colus chimed, and the guy responded with an upbeat “hello!! Welcome! My name is Samuel and this is the fish for stars booth!” he said with a big grin, motioning his hand at the tank before them. “How much for one game??”

As quickly as they arrived, they started playing. Samuel had explained to perfect bits on how to play the game, even offering an example. But Genesis wanted to wing it, see how they’d all do on their first rounds. Colus had gone first. He stuck his hand as far down into the aquarium as possible, and pulled out nothing short of a medium-sized prize. It followed with haven, then genesis, and it kept going around.

Soon enough, they had started playing around. Colus focused his eyes onto the biggest fish he could see, locking onto it like a hawk about to dive onto his prey. He quickly jabbed his hand into the water, and genesis grabbed a hold onto the back of his head, shoving him underwater. Luckily, these little idiots had put something over their headsets just for this situation! Genesis let go of colus’s head, both them and Haven beginning to laugh their hearts out.

“What was that for!?” colus protested as soon as he got out of the water. Despite being dunked, he managed to get the big prize, all with genesis’ help! “Well, you got the prize! A thanks would be appreciated!” they laughed, getting a quick shove to the face from colus. Genesis helped the boy dry off, laughing quite a bit and boasting about how colus looked while getting dunked, all whilst Haven took his turn.

Genesis was up, and colus was scheming. Genesis felt eyes on the back of their neck, and braced themself for a dunk into the water. He swiftly pushed his hand toward a fish, colus getting ready to dunk him, but instead he slipped and fell into the tank! Colus stepped back, absolutely baffled, both him and haven mouth wide in surprise. Haven quickly pulled him out, and he began to dry off genesis. Not only had he fallen into the water, he didn’t even catch a fish!

Colus began bawling his eyes out in laughter, he practically fell back onto the floor, laughing more than he ever had before. Haven did his best keeping in his laughter, using a towel to dry off genesis’ hair. They had probably paid Samuel for damage, and all three left off to go sit somewhere to eat ice cream. It may have not been the most ideal meet-up, but they had fun, and enjoyed spending time together after a while.