Quills and Sofas Warehouse Sale

by Zontan

The Sock

Author's Note:

Written for Admiral Biscuit as part of a Quills and Sofas gift exchange.

Tags: Silverstream, Starlight, Ocellus, Comedy, Sex

Starlight took a sip of her coffee and checked the time. Only a few hours left until the end of the day, and she still had a line of students outside her office. “I can help who’s next,” she called.

The door to the counselor’s office swung open and Silverstream walked in. Starlight took a deep breath through her nose, mentally bracing herself for whatever the hippogriff had to ask. Then she smiled, and as Silverstream sat, she said, “Hi, Silverstream. What can I help you with?”

Silverstream considered for only the briefest of moments—more than usual—before launching into it. “Well, I had a question. Like, early in the school year when we got roomies, Ocellus and I had a talk about ground rules.” She frowned slightly. “Well, not that early. She was too shy for the first few weeks. But anyway, she made a rule that I didn’t understand, but it seemed just kinda silly and like it would never come up, so I didn’t worry about it too much, but now it’s come up and Ocellus won’t explain so I came to ask you.” She beamed at the counselor expectantly.

Starlight blinked, and took another sip of her coffee. It didn’t help. She waited for a moment, but when it seemed that Silverstream wasn’t going to continue, she asked, “And what rule would this be?”

“Oh!” Silverstream giggled. “Right. Well, okay, so she made me promise that if I came back to the room and there was a sock on the doorknob, I wasn’t allowed to come in. And that seemed super weird, like, how would a sock get on the doorknob, right? That’s not where socks go. But it was a rule, and she sounded very serious, so I agreed and then kinda forgot about it. But then it actually happened! Actually, it’s been happening an awful lot. Like, a few times a week. But Ocellus won’t tell me why when I ask her, she just changes the subject. So I thought you might know.”

Starlight paused. Opened her mouth. Paused again. Then she drank the rest of her coffee. If she’d known she was going to be having this conversation today, she’d have gotten a double. “Um,” she began, eloquently. “So, you see…”

Silverstream leaned forward eagerly.

Starlight gulped. “Well, you see… a sock on the door generally means… how do I put this…” forgive me, Twilight. “It means that sex is happening behind it.”

Silverstream gaped. “Noooo!” She shook her head. “Ocellus wouldn’t! She’s too… Ocellus!”

Starlight shook her head, slightly. At least this was advice she could be confident about. “Well, I think it was very brave of her to bring it up to you at all, since she’s obviously shy about it. And what creatures do in private can often be very different from what they do in public.”

Silverstream frowned, a look of intense thought flitting across her face. Finally she brightened. “Nah. I’m getting to the bottom of this. Thanks, Starlight!”

“Wait, I don’t think—” It was too late. The hippogriff was already out the door. Starlight watched it slowly swing closed, before muttering, “I wonder if I should tell Thorax about this.”

---

When Silverstream arrived at her dorm room, the sock was still on the door. She took a deep breath, and then knocked on it. “Ocellus?” she called out. “Ocellus, I’m coming in!”

When she didn’t get an answer, she opened the door, covering her eyes with one wing and stepping through. There was an eep that definitely didn’t belong to Ocellus, followed shortly by the changeling yelping, “Silverstream!”

Silverstream couldn’t help it. She lowered her wing and looked. Sitting on the couch between the two beds was Ocellus and Smolder. The dragon was trying to hide her blush with her claws, rather unsuccessfully. Ocellus, on the other hand, just looked annoyed. “I told you not to come in!” she protested.

Silverstream gaped. “Smolder? You and Smolder? And—on the couch? Oh my goodness, Starlight was right!” Before Ocellus could say any more, she had turned tail and fled.

There was a pause as the door slowly swung closed. Smolder lowered her claws, still too embarrassed to say anything.

Ocellus huffed, and then turned back to the dragon. “Where else would you talk about feelings?”