Sing Mini Bang

[singminibang]

That’s a wrap!

The last story and art has been posted. An enormous thank you goes out to everyone who participated in and supported this effort. Everyone’s talent was showcased and everyone treated each other with such kindness. We sincerely hope you enjoyed the display of this fandom’s love for this great movie. Sing will always be in our hearts! Thank you all.

[singminibang]

Streets of Gold (6 times Buster showed he cares, and 1 time they repaid him)

Author: OtaGamerKorin (tumblr: @otagamerkorin)

Artist: stevetwisp (tumblr: @stevetwisp)

Summary: It’s been a long time since Buster has had what he could earnestly call a family. So it’s not really a surprise that he’s a bit out of practice with the “care for and protect” side of things (though not for lack of trying). It can’t be that complicated right? When a member of the theater though, life is anything but mundane.

Chapter 1: The Time He Got In Over His Head

(Read the rest on AO3.)

Buster had never really had a family. Well, perhaps that was a bit of a lie. He’d had one once, long ago. His mother had passed away when he was quite young, and for years it had just been him and his father. But even he’d had to leave eventually, leaving Buster a theater, a legacy and a bit of a predicament. The young koala had never been interesting in settling down, his heart belonging firmly to the preforming arts, and he had no closely related family with whom he could potentially bond. As thus, he’d quickly resigned to the idea of spending the rest of his days alone, surrounded perhaps with friends and colleagues, but none he could truly call family.

But then the performers came into his life, spurned by a desire to achieve that he couldn’t help but cultivate. Suddenly he was surrounded by people he’d put anything on the line for, even his precious theater, in order to protect. And they, though certain ones tended to deny it, would do just the same. It was an odd group, rag-tag and coming from all walks of life, but he loved them. Although you’d never hear him say it out loud, he’d found his family.

So it was no surprise that, when Rosita stumbled in one morning, looking like death incarnate, he’d immediately leapt to his feet and rushed to her side.

“Rosita, are you alright? You don’t look well.” He asked, looking her over. Her shoulders were slumped in exhaustion, eyes lightly unfocused when she glanced at him. She urged a tired smile onto her face, giving a little sniffle before she spoke.

“I’m fine Buster. Things are just a bit hectic at home is all. Half the kids are going through growth spurts and the rest are all just getting over colds. I must have picked up a bit of a bug from them. I should be right as rain in a few days.” She assured him, but the koala still tilted his head in concern, placing a hand on her arm.

“Are you sure?”

“I pulled through finals week for my engineering degree with a nasty case of pneumonia. It’ll take more than a simple cold to take me down.”

“Alright, if you’re certain. Gunter’s already back in the practice room. But if you start feeling any worse I want you to come tell me alright?”

“I promise Buster.” She replied, before tromping off in the direction of her partner. He stared after her for a moment before being distracted by a familiar engine rev, heading outside to meet Mike.

The rest of the morning passed much as usual, Buster moving between the different performers and giving them direction as needed. Rosita’s voice was straining a bit on certain higher notes and she was taking more breaks than usual, often choosing to sit and cool down by the air vent while Gunter practiced his solo moves, but otherwise the mother seemed to be holding up fine.

It wasn’t till the day was nearing mid-afternoon that he noticed something amiss. As he glanced into the dancing duo’s while he passed, he noticed her leaning against the wall, her head leaned back against the cool paneling. Frowning, he opened the door and softly called in.

“Rosita?”

At her lack of reply he and Gunter glanced at each other in concern and made their way over.

“Rosita? Are you alright?” He asked once more, taking a knee and reaching out to gently shake her shoulder. This seemed to wake her from her doze and her eyes sleepily opened. She lifted a hand and rubbed at them as she fully sat up, giving a yawn.

“Buster? Oh, did I doze off? Sorry.”

He disregarded her words, choosing instead to settle a hand on her forehead. He grimaced and pulled back, looking at her with a series gleam in his eyes.

“Rosita, you have a fever.”

“A fever? Oh Buster, I’m sure it’s not that bad. I’m just a bit waa-“

Her protests slurred into a groan as she tried to stand, swaying violently on her feet for a moment before sinking back to the ground, head in her hands.

“Alright, that’s it. You’re going home. No if’s ands or buts.” The koala declared before she could try and argue again.

“Gunter, could you help me get her outside?”

Rosita slumped a bit between them with a sigh, evidently giving up on her protests. As they helped her through the main stage towards the parking lot, the rest of the team quickly caught sight of them and made their way over.

“Rosita? Did something happen?” Meena asked, looking the woman over for injuries and the mother smiled at her.

“I’m just feeling a bit sick. Nothing to worry about. I’ll be good to go after a bit of rest.”

“Johnny, may we borrow your truck? We’re going to take her home.” The director asked as the others crowded around.

“Oh, yeah of course.” The gorilla said quickly, digging through his jacket and handing him the keys. He noodled in appreciation and, gently shooing the worried others out of the way, they started once more for the parking lot, the koala giving a call over his shoulder.

“We’ll be back soon, just keep practicing in the meantime!”

With that they helped her out to the black pickup, settling her comfortably between them in the front seat and setting off. Rosita’s house wasn’t all that far from the theater, thus why she walked every day, but by the time they reached it she was dozing again and Buster gently shook her awake as Gunter parked. They helped her out of the car and to the door, Buster fishing the keys out of her purse.

“Thank you guys, I really appreciate the help. Once I get some rest I should be just fi-”

As Buster opened the door a veritable explosion of sound erupted from behind it. Rosita’s face became confused for a moment before she shook her head.

“Right, the kids only had a half day. Well, so much for the peace and quiet.” she sighed before stepping inside, the other trailing behind her.

As the door clicked shut behind them there was a sudden lull in the ruckus, before there came a chorus of shouts and the sound of stampeding feet.

“MOMMY!”

The piglet’s rounded the corner in mass, their eyes going wide with gasps of delight as they spotted them.

“UNCLE BUSTER! UNCLE GUNTER!”

Normally Buster would have found the nicknames endearing, adorable even, but he found himself a bit too terrified to notice as the kids rushed them. Rosita braced herself with the poise only someone who’d been practicing for years could achieve, but Buster and Gunter weren’t so lucky. As the swarm launched themselves at the three the latter two were almost knocked off their feet, Buster actually collapsing back against the wall under the weight of the multiple children clinging to his torso and legs.

“Alright, alright everybody calm down. They won’t be here long, they were just helping Mommy-”. She gave a chuckle at their antics as they tugged at her legs, lifting her hands to calm them. Before she could finish though, she gave a little groan, pressing a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness passed over her. The children stilled when they noticed, releasing Buster and Gunter so they could crowd around their mother.

“Mommy? Mommy, what’s the matter?”

“She’s just feeling a bit sick, so we brought her home. How’s about you all help us get her into bed?” Buster tried and the kids jumped to action, most rushing off while a handful stayed behind to lead them through the house. They successfully made it up the stairs to find the rest waiting by the open bedroom door, just finishing fluffing the pillows and straightening the comforter as they walked up. Rosita smiled warmly at the sight.

“Aww thank you my dears.”

They helped her into bed and she looked down at the kids watching worriedly at the beds’ edge with a smile.

“Why don’t you all go play downstairs while I talk with your “uncles”?” she suggested and the children were out of the room in an instant, even closing the door behind them as they went. Once they were gone Rosita turned to them with a look of appreciation.

“Thank you both so much for the help. I’m sorry for being such a bother today.”

“Bother? You’re no bother! You’re sick! Of course we’re gonna help you!” Gunter replied and she gave a chuckle.

“Either way, you should probably be heading back to the others.”

“Are you sure you’ll be ok here alone?” Buster asked and she shook her head.

“I’ll be fine. Norman should be home from work in just a few-“

She suddenly paused as though something had occurred to her and gave a frustrated groan, letting her head fall back against the pillows.

“Oh damn it.”

Gunter and Buster jumped a bit at the exclamation then regarded her in confusion, the koala speaking once more.

“Is something wrong?”

“I just remembered that Norman is out of town for a business conference till tomorrow morning. Well, there’s not much that can be done about it now.”

The two men glanced at each other and exchanged a nod.

“Alright. Gunter, head back to the theater and let the others know they can go home. I’ll stay here for the night.”

“What?! Buster, I couldn’t ask you to do that! You’re so busy lately!” Rosita chirped, jerking back upright.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not asking me then. Besides, how are supposed to recover if there’s no one around to keep an eye on you, hmm?” He replied, handing the truck keys to Gunter. The mother considered his words for a moment before giving a sigh and relaxing once more.

“If you’re sure...”

Accepting her surrender, Gunter headed out, boisterously bidding the piglets farewell whilst Buster stayed behind to fetch a few books for the sick singer and pull the lamp closer within her reach. He paused when he felt eyes on him and turned to see Rosita staring at him. He cocked an eyebrow and she sat up a bit to meet his eyes better.

“Buster, are you really sure about this? I know you’ve been busy getting ready for the new show.”

To be honest, she wasn’t wrong. The instant he’d announced their new project, the workload had picked up quite a bit. It was to be a unique one, that’s for sure, and when he’d announced the theme the others had leapt headfirst into the fray, but that also meant even more long nights for him than usual. Still...

“Rosita, it’s fine. I’m happy to help. Besides, we don’t premiere for a few more months. One missed work night won’t bring everything crumbling down. Now get some rest.” He assured her, moving to the door and opening it. He winced at the wave of noise that leaked in from downstairs and quickly fetched a thick blanket, pinning it over the doorway to help block the clamor. With that he took a deep breathe, braced himself, and headed downstairs.

What he found was absolute chaos. Free to play, the children were going absolutely nuts, chasing each other around, jumping on the furniture, throwing balls and other toys to each other, and generally being kids. As he stepped off the landing several of them saw him and ran over to swarm around his legs in excitement. He froze and looked around in panic as they laughed and tugged at him, at a loss for what to do. Something suddenly landed on his back, nearly knocking the breath out of him, and he just barely managed to catch the kiddo as they climbed up over his shoulder and fell with a giggle. Gently holding them up in front of him, he felt little feet once again clambering on his back and then a weight settled on his head. A piglet’s upside-down visage appeared in his view as they leaned over into his face, a grin on the youngsters face.

“C’mon Uncle Buster! Play with us!”

Buster gave a nervous hum, feeling sweat bead on his forehead. Oh boy, he may have bitten off a bit too much this time.

“Umm, maybe in a bit kid.” He replied, glancing out at the chaos. No way was Rosita gonna get any rest with all this going on. Well, seems like he had a step one at least. And, while he didn’t know much about children, he had more than enough practice at wrangling theater casts. Swapping the piglet he held over to one arm, he glanced between him and the one on his head.

“Cover your ears you two.”

Though looking a bit confused, they did so, and he lifted two fingers two his mouth, giving a loud whistle. The pandemonium stilled as the kids turned to look at him in curiosity. Gently setting down the two clinging to him, he crossed his arms and addressed the crowd.

“Alright everybody, listen for a minute. You’ve been sick before right? And your mom always took good care of you, right?” He asked, keeping his voice calm and friendly, and a chorus of “Right!”s met him.

“Well, right now she’s not feeling well, so now our job is to take care of her. And the first thing we need to do is make sure to keep the noise down so she can rest, ok?”

Again there came a clamoring of replies and he felt a tug at this pant leg, looking down to see one of the kids looking up at him questioningly.

“Is there anything else we can do to help Mommy?”

He smiled down at the child, reaching down to ruffle their ears as he thought. Rosita still had a fever, if not a very high one, so it was probably best they dealt with that first.

“You guys have a medicine cabinet?” He asked and the kids leapt into action, grabbing at his hands and tugging him towards what he assumed was the kitchen. They lead him to a cabinet near the sink and he had to grab a few of them as they climbed up on the counter in an attempt to get into it, grabbing a stool and peeking inside himself. It was well stocked thankfully and he quickly acquired cold medicine and some Advil, even finding an ice bag tucked away in the back. He sent the kids to fill it and grabbed a glass of water in the meantime, thanking them when they swiftly returned. As he moved to return upstairs though he found the entire group tagging along at his heels and paused on the first step.

“You don’t you all stay down here and clean up your toys while I take this up to your mom?” He suggested and they scrambled off, some even giving him little salutes before they left. He swiftly headed upstairs before they could change their minds, quietly slipping back into the bedroom. Rosita was dozing when he walked in and she awoke when he set down the items on the nightstand, smiling sleepily at him as she sat up.

“Oh, thank you Buster.”

“No problem.” He replied, measuring out the correct dosage on the liquid medicine. It was advertised to taste like blueberry, and it most certainly smelled that way, but something told him it probably tasted more akin to burnt tire rubber.

“I know this won’t be the most pleasant but you know the drill.”

She gave a chuckle and took the capful of blue slime from him, swallowing it down with a grimace and chasing it with a gulp of water. Even this simple a task seemed to take the energy out of her and she laid back down with a tired sigh, falling back into a doze almost immediately. Buster carefully arranged the ice bag on her forehead and, leaving the Advil and water on the dresser for her, quietly slipped out.

When he made his way back downstairs, he was more than a little surprised by what he found. The kids had cleared out the toys lying about in mere minutes and now appeared to be...cleaning? Some were darting about with wet rags wiping things down, others were going at the corners and under chairs with the hose from the surprisingly quiet vacuum and there was even a group in the kitchen wrestling with the mop and a bucket of water. Buster couldn’t help but feel himself taken aback at the sight. The piglets he’d become acquainted with were almost always a force to be reckoned with, constantly running about with their focus jumping from place to place as they caused chaos. So the sight of them doing something so constructive out of the blue was just odd. Admittedly, they weren’t exactly the most proficient at the job, with a few of them wielding long handled Swiffer dusters with such ferocity he was surprised something hadn’t been broken yet, but they were still cleaning.

“Uhh, what are you guys up to?” He asked one of the kids dashing by and they paused to look at them.

“Oh, well Mommy always cleans after she gets home, but she can’t if she’s sick, so we’re gonna do it for her! We don’t want it to be all dirty when she feels better!” They replied with a grin and Buster felt his heart swell at the sentiment, a grin stretching across his face as well.

“Well, what can I say to that kinda enthusiasm? Here, gimme one of those cloths.” He replied, tugging off his jacket and dropping it on the coat rack.

The piglet tossed him one and he dove into the fray alongside them. Damn it if they wouldn’t make this place shine by the time Rosita was up and about. They swept, moped, dusted and cleaned for what felt like ages, one of the kids even arranging a division of their siblings to go start sorting laundry. By the time Buster glanced up from the work it was beginning to grow dark out. Fishing out his phone, he discovered it was closing it on dinner time. He straightened up, feeling his spine pop, and gave another, quieter, whistle to get everyone’s attention.

“Ok guys, I think that’s good for today. Let’s get cleaned up.”

The cleaning supplies were quickly put away and they once more assembled in the living room. He could see that, despite their childish enthusiasm, most of the kids were beginning to run out of steam. He crossed his arms once more, looking out over them.

“I think you all deserve a break. Why don’t you mess around in here for a while your Uncle Buster fixes dinner?”

Most of the kids flopped down on the couches at his words, but a few remained standing and scurried over to tug at him.

“Can we help?” One asked and he smiled, patting them on the heads.

“Well, aren’t you hard workers? If you want to, sure.” He replied and they gave little cheers as they followed him out to the kitchen.

“So, what can I refer to you little helpers by?” He asked as he opened the fridge and they announced themselves as Perry, Gail, Tess and Caspar. He greeted them in return and turned back to the fridge to see what he had to work with. The thing was fully stocked to the brim, just as he’d expect from Rosita, so ingredients would be no problem. He tapped his fingers against the door with a thoughtful hum. What to make? He was a pretty decent cook, if he did say so himself, and a number of recipes swirled around in his head. It should be something easy and fairly to make, he didn’t want to spend three hours cooking this evening. His mind finally settled on a nice stew he remembered and he began to pull vegetables and other ingredients out.

“How’s about you guys help me wash and peel these?” He suggested, piling potatoes, carrots and the like into the far side of the sink. The kids leapt into action, one taking up a station at the sink to begin scrubbing and then passing the freshly cleansed veggies to the other safety peeler wielding tots. Buster quickly found a large bowl for them to put the finished goods into and went to work looking for all his cooking instruments. He discovered a huge pot almost half as tall as himself in one of the lower cabinets and, with quite a bit of effort, hefted it up onto the stove. While the little ones were distracted with their own task he went to work, chopping up various herbs and other ingredients to add to the pot. In addition he set aside a far smaller pot to the side for Rosita. While he wasn’t sure if the illness was effecting her stomach or not, a light vegetable soup would probably be better suited for her right now than a thick stew. Faster than one would have though he was being handed a full bowl of peeled veggies and he began giving them various kid-safe directions, handing him various things and washing spoons and such. They ended up having to pull out the mop again when one of the kids dropped the bag of flour they were bringing him, but otherwise things seemed to go quite smoothly.

Just as he was setting the pot to simmer for a while, a cry of rage and a chorus of dramatic “OOOOOOOH!”s came from the living room and he nearly dropped the lid he was holding in his panicked scramble to get out here. He rounded the corner and 20 pairs of eyes turned to look at him, one piglet still starting at the tv in frustration where a few of them seemed to be playing some racing game.

“Is everyone alright?” He asked, suddenly feeling out of breath, and the group nodded, one pipping up from within the crowd.

“We’re fine.  Nelson was just in first place on the last lap and Carla blue-shelled him.”

“Who does that?!” said piglet cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation and Buster shook his head in relief. He got both pots set to go and quickly cleaned up, joining the kids in the living room while he let them simmer. They were in the middle of an intense tournament of sorts, the 4 players swapping out after every few races and Buster soon found himself entranced. He’d never seen a game form and break friendships so quickly before. Before he knew it the timer he’d set on his phone rang and he went to go finish up on the dishes, taking them off the heat and adding a last few seasonings. He prepped a tray for Rosita and then stuck his head into the living room.

“Dinner’s ready! Could you guys wash up and get the table ready while I go take this to your Mom? Just don’t touch the stove.”

A clamoring of excited shouts greeted him and the game was quickly abandoned as they ran to follow his directions. Leaving the chaos to unfold behind him, he made his way upstairs.

The singer was awake when he entered this time and looked a bit better than before, some of the flush gone from her cheeks. She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled when she saw him.

“Ah, Buster! How are thing’s going down there?”

“Just finished with dinner. Was just bring you up yours.” He replied, and her eyes widened in surprise, just now seeming to see the tray he carried.

“Oh, Buster! You didn’t need to-“ she began, her words halting when she noticed the cocked eyebrow he was regarding her with. She smiled sheepishly as he set the tray in her lap, reaching over to feel her forehead as she examined the food. Her temperature had gone down for sure, but she was still feeling warmer than normal. Grabbing her mostly melted ice bag, he made a quick trip downstairs to refill it, passing the kids diligently, if a bit clumsily, following his suggestion. When he returned she was just tasting the soup and her eyes lit up in delight when she looked up at him.

“Buster, this is delicious!” she exclaimed and he chuckled, setting the ice bag on the dresser.

“Thank you. I’m glad some of my cooking skills carried over from college. When you’re done you should try to get some more rest, if you feel up to it. I’ll be back up to get the bowl later.”

As he turned to leave a hand closed around his wrist and he glanced back to see her regarding him with a warm smile.

“Really Buster, thank you for all of this.”

He smiled back at her, flipping his hand over to it rested in hers and gave a light squeeze.

“Any time Rosita.”

With that he took his leave and left her to her dinner, venturing back downstairs to dish out to the kids.

While something told him this was a far calmer dinner than normally occurred in the house, he was still forced to wrangle 25 young kids as the late night and long day began to bring out their silliness. More than once he had to keep them from adding things to their sibling’s dishes while they were looking away, though they did manage to slip past his notice a few times. (He had to admit though that watching one nearly sneeze themselves silly after their neighbor dumped a decent mound of pepper on their spoonful was far funnier than he should have found it.) Eventually they made it through the meal and he could see the tiredness hanging in the children’s movements, the day finally catching with them. He sent them to get ready for bed while he gathered the dishes and they stumbled off without a single complaint. While they were brushing their teeth he went to check on Rosita and found her sound asleep, the empty bowl set on the dresser. With a smile he collected her dishes, settled the ice bag in place on her forehead and bid her a quiet goodnight. He found the kids already in their pj’s and made quick work of getting them settled in bed. He switched off the lights and was moving to leave when a voice called out to him.

“Uncle Buster, will you read us a story?”

He turned back to see many pairs of expectant eyes watching him from the dark and he shook his head with a chuckle.

“Alright, but just one.”

He headed to their bookshelf and began fishing through the tomes there. They had quite a collection it seemed and he soon came across a book of Scottish fairy tales that seemed intriguing. Leafing through it for something mundane enough (he knew the Scottish tended to have a penchant for the darker side of folklore), he settled down at the foot of the bookcase. Soon he found something he thought might work and cleared his throat, all the kids settling down in anticipation.

“Once upon a time, a beautiful princess was born. Soon however her aunt grew jealous of her and cursed her to be light as a feather...”

Buster awoke in darkness to the feeling of a blanket being draped over him.  His eyes flickering open, he blinked in sleepy confusion. From the plushness beneath him, he deduced he must have fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for the next batch of laundry to finish. He glanced around, finding the outline of someone standing next to him in the dark.

“Wha...who...?” he slurred sleepily and the shape chuckled.

“Whoa, calm down. It’s just me. Rosita called earlier and told me what happened.” Norman replied and Buster gave a tired noise of understanding, immediately slumping back down against the cushions. The pig gave another laugh and patted him on the shoulder.

“Thanks for looking after her Buster.” He murmured and Buster gave a little hum.

“No...problem...”

When the koala awoke one more it was light out. He yawned and sat up, trying feebly to tame his flyaway hair as he gave a long stretch and felt his back crack.

“Well, looks like someone’s awake.”

He turned sleepily toward the kitchen doorway to find Rosita standing there in a robe, a mug in each hand. There was still a bit of frogginess to her voice, but she looked leagues better than she had the day before and he smiled at her.

“Looks like someone’s feeling better.” He bantered back and she gave a laugh, coming to sit beside him and hand him one of the mugs. He took a long sip of the coffee inside and gave a happy sigh, the two settling into a comfortable silence.

“Thanks again for everything yesterday Buster.” Rosita said at last, swirling the last of the drink around in her cup.

“I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”

“Oh, I’m sure you would have been fine.” He replied and she gave him a playful shove on the shoulder.

“I’m being serious. I wish there was some way for me to replay you.”

She fell into thought for a moment before turning to him with a smile.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll figure something out. Speaking of, we’re having breakfast soon. Would you like to join us?” She asked and he grinned back at her.

“I would love that.”

[singminibang]

Blind Date

Author: Bitsy83 (tumblr: @bitsy83)

Artist: stevetwisp (tumblr: @stevetwisp)

Summary: Ash has been set up on a blind date that is quickly going wrong. Can the night be salvaged by the unexpected help of a good friend?

There were a lot of things Ash had put up with over the years.  She’d put up with rude subway passengers complaining about her quills.  She had dealt with hecklers at her shows.  And Lance had supplied her with more than enough headaches that she could care to remember.  She even had been promised the chance of winning 100,000 dollars only to find out it was a scam, followed by a near death experience with almost drowning inside of the Moon theater.  

All of that was nothing compared to what she was going through tonight.

Ever since Mr. Moon announced to the audience that she had been dumped by her boyfriend, her Aunt Ruth - a loving, but rather nosy porcupine who lived in the suburbs - made it her sole mission to get her niece back into the dating game by finding her a proper boyfriend.  Ruth was part of a large knitting group that met every week.  During one meeting, she had shared with her fellow knitters that her poor niece was nursing a broken heart and needed to find a knight in shinning armor to help her recover from her recent bout with depression.  Ruth’s friends were more than happy to ask their many nephews, neighbors, and whomever they felt eligible to court the lovely porcupine…despite Ash’s numerous attempts to tell them it wasn’t necessary and she’d rather not get back into the dating game at this point.

Ash knew from the start this date was going to be a disaster.  First off, the mother of Ash’s “date” had already gone ahead and made the reservations for a Tex-Mex restaurant and she hated Tex-Mex.  She loved spicy food, but for some reason anything south of the border (or close to it) always left her feeling nauseated and would haunt her for the remainder of the evening. Second, her date’s name was Stewart and was not the most charming porcupine on the planet. In fact, she swore he was some sort of beaver with really strong hair gel.  He dressed a bit like a stereotypical hipster, complete with black-rimmed glasses, flannel shirt covering a tee that had a T-rex playing guitar, and a stocking cap that fit surprisingly well over his quilled head.  This was due to the fact that he suffered from chronic quill loss and every now and then, a few would quills would pop out and fall to the floor.  But the absolute worse thing about this date is that Stewart hated anything mainstream, confirming Ash’s suspicious of his hipster appearance.  Ash appreciated indie rock and even went to some underground bands while she was dating Lance, but she still liked current bands and singers.  While trying to break the ice with Stewart, she had let it slip that Fur-Out Boy was one of her favorite bands, which sent him on a rant for ten minutes of how they became the biggest sellouts in all music history.

She was ready to bail before they had even ordered their food.  

Ash just gripped her menu, pretending to look at the entrees when really she was trying to figure out what to do to get out of this.  She was hating every second and knew it was only going to get worse the longer she stayed there.  She tried to be friendly with Stewart for her aunt’s sake, but he was making it impossible.  She silently scolded herself for not telling Meena or Rosita she had a date that night and to plan an emergency text or phone call to give her an excuse to leave.  She thought of faking an illness, but she had a feeling that Stewart would see right though that.  Still, looking at the entrees the menu had to offer, she probably didn’t have to do much faking.  

“Ash?  Ash!”

“What?”  She quickly put down the menu to see that Stewart had been addressing her.  

“I asked if you found anything good,” he said, pulling a few stray quill from under his cap and letting them drop on the floor.  

“Oh, um, I was thinking of going light tonight.  You know, just a salad or something.”

Stewart scoffed and rolled his eyes.  “Typical girl.  Always worried about your figure; too afraid to try anything bold or exciting.”

“What’s wrong with salads?”

“I’m just saying you girls are always freaking out if you eat a sugar cube or something and think you’ll explode into some blimp.  Hate to break this to you, but if you thinking eating ‘low fat’ foods is saving you calories, they stuff those things with sugar to make up for the fat loss, so you’ve probably already been suckered.”

Ironically, Ash already knew about the controversy with “low-fat” foods and was well aware of this.  “I don’t actually…” she started to say, but Stewart wasn’t done.  

“Who cares what diet snobs and conglomerate organizations think of your food choices?” he continued, closing his menu.  “Just eat what you want.”

“Ok…I want to eat a salad.”  

Stewart looked at Ash as if she had grown an extra head.  “Did you hear what I just said?”

“Really wish I didn’t,” Ash muttered, putting her face behind the menu again.

Stewart then reached over and lowered the menu.  “Hey, maybe you should let me order for you, huh?  You seem a bit confused on what you want.”  

“I already told you want I wanted,” she said, trying to hide her annoyance.  

“Like I said: confused.  But, hey, you want a salad, go ahead and get a salad.  You probably don’t want to to be too bloated for later anyway.”

Ash looked up, cocking an eyebrow.  “What’s going on later?  You wanted to go see a movie or something?”  Ash almost hoped that’s what he meant.  Seeing a movie would mean they wouldn’t have to talk to each other, unless he liked to nitpick every mistake on the screen.  She could tell this was the type of guy who’d watch a trailer halfway through, then flood the comment section with critiques complete with bad spelling.  

Stewart leaned forward and wiggled his eyebrows.  “I was thinking something more…private.”

Ash leaned back, trying to create as much space between them sitting down.  She really did not like where this was going.  “How private are we talking here?”

“Maybe your place?  I’d suggest mine, but the walls are pretty thin in my parent’s basement and…”

“Ok, stop!”  Ash snapped, throwing up her paws to silence the forward porcupine.  “Dude, are you serious?  We just met!  I barely remember your last name.”

“So?  Why should we let society tell when we can or can’t?  We’re animals, remember?  We gotta do as nature commands.  Besides, I thought you rocker chicks were kinda, ya know, ready and willing?”

Ash felt her face go red.  Not even Lance went this far, this fast on their first date.  She wanted to strangle this weirdo, but there were security cameras around and she was pretty sure there was a cop in the booth next to them.  The last thing she needed was to be tried with murder in the first degree.  Still, what could she do?  If she stormed out, then someone was bound to record it and she’d be on every social media page on the Internet.  Then people would be stretching the truth and Stewart would probably twist the situation around.  And what would her aunt Ruth say?  Obviously, staying there wasn’t an option.  She could try to get out through the fire exit near the bathroom, but what if it was alarmed?  She needed some way to escape before…

“Ash?”

The familiar voice snapped Ash out of her panic attack.  She looked up to see the most beautiful sight she had ever laid eyes on: Johnny.  He was approaching their table, carrying a plastic bag filled with various items she couldn’t identify.  

“Johnny!” she proclaimed, grateful for the distraction.  “What are you doing here?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” he said.  “Why aren’t you at the theater?  Mr. Moon wanted us there at six for warm-ups.”

“Uh, excuse me,” Stewart said, clearly upset at being interrupted.  “Ash, who is this guy?”

Before Ash could answer, Johnny was already extending his hand.  “Oh, sorry mate.  Name’s Johnny; I’m a friend of Ash here.  We both work at the Moon Theater.”

Stewart reluctantly shook Johnny’s hand, which practically covered half his arm, then looked back at Ash.  “Oh, I see.  This is a, uh, ‘buddy’ of yours, Ashy?”  Even without the air quotes, Ash knew what Stewart meant and was about to grab the knife in front of her when she felt Johnny’s hand on her shoulder, calming her instantly.  

“So, yeah, Mr. Moon sent out a group text to everyone this morning about tomorrow’s rehearsal being changed to tonight.  Something about last minute plans or whatever.  Anyway, I was just getting some tucker for later and I just happened to see you from the street.  I figured you probably didn’t get the memo.”

Ash just stared at Johnny.  She knew he was lying since Mr. Moon rarely texted anyone.  He was an old-fashioned phone call kind of marsupial.  Besides, he just recently got a flip phone that made texting close to impossible.

Then Johnny sent a subtle hint by darting his eyes to the door, then back to her.  Catching on, she played along.  

“Oh, right!” Ash said, giving her forehead a light smack.  “I totally blanked on that.  I’m sorry, Stewart, but I’m gonna have to bail - I mean, go.  Come on, Johnny!  Let’s hurry before you get a ticket for being double-parked. Bye!”

“Cheers, mate,” said Johnny, following Ash.  

“W-wait a second!” exclaimed Stewart.  “Who’s gonna pay for dinner?”  

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Ash called back.  

Before Stewart could try anything else, Johnny and Ash were already clear out of the restaurant.  Ash wasted no time in searching for Johnny’s truck.  “Where are you parked?” she asked.

“’Round the corner.  This way,” he said, leading her down the street.

Once they found the truck and were both securely inside, they took a minute to breathe, then busted out laughing.  “Oh man, that was close!” said Ash.  

“Yeah,” said Johnny putting the bag on the seat between them.  “So, what was that?  A bad blind date or something?”

“Bad is putting it lightly,” said Ash.  “My aunt set me up with him. She figured I needed help moving on from Lance.  I swear, if you hadn’t come in…hey, why are you here, anyway?”

Johnny blushed slightly and scratched the back of his neck.  “Yeah, well, I was actually just stopping off at the store to get some groceries and I happened to see you from the sidewalk.  From the look on your face, you needed some backup.  Hope I wasn’t intruding.  I mean, I know how independent you are and…”

Ash raised her paws, hushing Johnny.  “No, no!  You were great.  I knew this date was going to bomb from the first second I laid eyes on that loser.  So…yeah, you were awesome.  Thank you.”  Ash reached over and gave Johnny’s arm a gentle squeeze.  She felt his muscles tighten up a bit, possibly due to nerves.  Sensing the awkwardness, she quickly removed her paw.  “Sorry…” she muttered.  

“It’s alright…” he muttered back.  For awhile, they just sat there, trying figure out what to do next.    

“So…” Johnny said, finally breaking the tension.  “You planning anything else tonight?  It’s still pretty early.”

Ash shrugged.  “Go home, I guess.  I think I still got some leftover mac and cheese in the fridge I could heat up.”

“You haven’t eaten yet?”

“Nah.  Apparently, ordering salads is frowned upon from whatever planet that jerk was from.  That, and I can’t stand Tex-Mex so I doubt I would’ve found anything edible.”

“Well…what’re your thoughts on Asian?”

Ash cocked an eyebrow as she looked up at the gorilla.  “I’m rather partial to it.  What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I was heading for this place that has really good Dim-Sum.  If you want, we could get a table and just…you know, hang.  Would…you like to get some Dim-Sum?”

It was obvious Johnny was trying to make a little rhyme joke.  Normally, Ash would roll her eyes at what she would consider a “dad joke,” but she smiled.  This was Johnny; he was too adorable to chastise.  

“I’d love some,” she said, trying to continue the pun.

Johnny immediately brightened. “Great!  Then let’s go get some.”

“Johnny…”

“Right. Last one.  Promise.”  

Johnny was not kidding about the restaurant.  It was called The Lotus Garden and was located next to the boardwalk.  It had a lovely interior with paintings of ancient China and even paper lanterns hanging over the tables.  The waitress - a slender grey cat - seemed to recognize Johnny and when he introduced Ash to her, she couldn’t help but giggle with a broad grin on her face.  Clearly, she didn’t know this was just an impromptu dinner with a friend.  Johnny took the liberty of ordering, since Ash had never been there before.  Normally, whenever she got Chinese, it was always lo mein or some kind of wanton soup.  He had ordered a couple of lettuce wraps with a rice-and-vegetable filling, followed by some soup steamed buns.  They were the most delicious thing Ash had ever tasted.  The moist buns were filled with a steamy savory broth that melted in her mouth.  It was flavorful without being overwhelming.  The lettuce wraps gave her a bit of trouble since she wasn’t sure what to do with them.  Thanks to Johnny’s guidance, using lettuce leaves as a makeshift burrito made the meal strangely enjoyable.    

“Got to hand it to you, Johnny,” said Ash as she was finishing the last bun.  “That really hit the spot.”  

Johnny chuckled, using the napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth.  “Figured you’d like it.”  

“Pouchong?”

Ash looked up to see the waitress had returned and was carrying an iron tea pot with two small cups without handles.  

“Oh yes, please,” said Johnny, clearing a space for the platter.  The waitress nodded and set the tea set in front of them, then collected their dishes.  She gave them a small nod and took the plates back to the kitchen.  

“What exactly is this?” Ash asked.  

“Pouchong,” said Johnny, pouring the steaming liquid into the cups.  “It’s a type of oolong tea.  I normally get a cup after dinner; helps with digestion, you know?  Here.”  Johnny delicately picked up the cup and handed it to Ash.  Taking it with both paws, she sniffed it before taking a small sip.  It had a sweet, flowery taste.  Ash was never one for tea since coffee was her drink of choice, but she found herself enjoying it.    

“This is pretty good,” said Ash, taking another sip.  

“They sell it at the front counter, if you want to take some home,” Johnny suggested.

“Yeah, don’t really own any teapots, but thanks.”  It didn’t take long for Ash to finish her first cup and motioned for Johnny to pour her some more.  “I take it you’re a regular here?”

Johnny shrugged while setting the pot down.  “Yeah.  Dad and I found it after we moved here.  We always just ordered from the takeout menu.  He never liked eating in the restaurant because…well, he didn’t want people spotting him.”  And then Johnny’s face fell and went silent.  

Ash knew why.  It was hard for Johnny to bring up his dad.  When she first found out that Marcus “Big Daddy” Greystone was Johnny’s father, she had a hard time making connection.  Sure they were both gorillas who happened to be from England, but she couldn’t imagine a sweet guy like Johnny being the son of a gang leader.  Proof that fruit can fall far from the tree, she suspected.  It wasn’t long before the rest of the theater family found out, but they still loved Johnny and treated him with the same dignity and respect they always had.

“Are…are you ok?”  she asked, reaching over and squeezing his hand.  “I didn’t mean to…”

“No no, it’s fine.  Really,” said Johnny, patting her hand.  “I mean, it’s not like it’s a big secret.  But, yeah, I started actually having dinners here after my dad went to…well, went away.  Beats going back to an empty garage, doesn’t it?”

Ash nodded, knowing all too well.  Going back to an empty apartment that still had memories of Lance wasn’t easy after the breakup.  Still, the apartment had to be a much cozier home than a big empty garage and she always had the option to get a new roommate.  Johnny couldn’t get another father…

“But it’s not so bad,” said Johnny, suddenly perking up a bit.  “I visit him every other day and we’re really starting to work things out.  He’s agreed to finish his sentence, he’s actually getting along well with the other inmates.  He’s even participating in one of those “ “scared straight” programs for teens to stay on the right track.  Trust me, he’s perfect for that.  When my dad talks, you listen.  No exceptions.”

“Any word of when his parole is?”  

Johnny did a rough calculation in his head before answering.  “I think the last I heard was about eight months from now?  So by September, maybe?”  

Ash nodded, then lifted her cup.  “Then, best luck to your dad and here’s hoping for an early parole.”

Johnny smiled and lightly clinked his tea cup with hers.  “Cheers.”

“Well, I had a wonderful time tonight,” said Ash, finishing her tea.  “Thanks again for…you know, everything.”  

“My pleasure.”

It was a strange moment.  They both sat there, staring into each others eyes, all the while Ash trying to make sense of what was happening.  She knew it wasn’t a date.  At least, not an official one.  Then why did she want it to be?  They were just friends.  Weren’t they?  She was about to say something when the waitress returned with a couple of fortune cookies.  Johnny was expecting the receipt when cat just shook her head.  “On top of house,” she said with her heavy Chinese accent.  

“Oh no, please,” said Johnny pulling out wallet.  “I can pay.”

But the cat shook her head.  “On house.  Photo?”

Johnny glanced over at Ash and chuckled nervously.  “I, uh, think she wants to know if we want our picture taken.  You know, to…”

“Commemorate the moment?” Ash asked with a grin.  She then pulled out her phone.  “Sure, why not?  Kinda want a memento, anyway.”      

After setting the phone to camera mode and handing it to the waitress, Ash brought her chair closer to Johnny and they leaned in to pose.  Ash had to stand on the chair to be the same height as Johnny and placed her arm on his shoulder.  After the picture was taken, Ash took the phone back to see the results.  It looked pretty good: Johnny wore a handsome smile and Ash, much to her surprise, looked pretty happy too.  Normally, she had to force her smile since she hated having her picture taken.  Here, it looked natural.  Probably because it was.  

After the cat left, Johnny decided to break open his fortune cookie.  “Let’s see. Today is the day to show someone you care.”

“Well, I guess that one already came true,” said Ash, breaking open her cookie.  “Don’t let past mistakes keep you from making future discoveries.”  Ash thought about that for a moment.  She had made a lot of mistakes, especially in regards to Lance.  Obviously, the breakup gave her the freedom to write her own song and go solo.  But what if it also meant…

“So, you ready to go?”  Johnny was standing next to her, offering his hand.  

She quickly shook away the thought and took his hand.  “Yeah, sure.”  

Once they got out of the restaurant, Johnny and  Ash headed to the train station which was just around the corner.  He offered to drive her home, but since she had a yearly train pass and lived on the other side of town, she was ok with going by her usual route.  As they walked to the station, Ash looked up at the night sky.  The moon was full and stars twinkled like diamonds, signifying a beautiful evening.

They sat together on the bench, awaiting the next train, which would be by in a few minutes.  “This night certainly turned out better  than I expected,” she said, swinging her feet back and forth.  

“Glad to hear that,” said Johnny.  “You know, if you’re aunt decides to play matchmaker again, you can put me down as an emergency contact.  I don’t mind.”

Ash laughed.  “Nah, I think I’m good with just one blind date; I’ll just have to be straight when I tell that to Ruth.”

“Do you…do you want to start dating again?”  

Ash fiddled with her purse strap.  “Honestly, I don’t think my heart’s made a full recovery yet, you know?  I only did this so my aunt would get off my back.  Right now, I’d rather just focus on my music; maybe even start a band.  I already know a bassist and a drummer wouldn’t be too hard to find.”  

Johnny nodded, kicking a small pebble onto the tracks.  “Well, whatever you decide, I hope it works out for you.  I really do.”

“Appreciate that.  You know, if you want, I could come by the garage some time and keep you company.  I’ll bring my guitar and we could jam out or whatever.”  

Johnny’s face instantly lit up.  Apparently, he liked the idea of having any kind of company on days he wasn’t needed at the theater.  “I’d love that, actually.  It’s got plenty of space, so the acoustics would sound amazing.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for.  So, would Wednesday be ok?”

“Sure!  Uh, maybe after one?  I tend to hit the gym in the morning.”

Ash smiled.  “It’s a date.”  

She then stood upon the bench and, once she was eye level with Johnny, put her arms around his neck and hugged him.  His neck was so thick, she could barely make her fingers touch.  She felt him return the hug, making sure to be careful of her quills.  Ash never felt so secure in someone’s arms before.  Lance was always so half-hearted with his hugs, being that he hated public displays of affection.  Even when they were alone, he thought cuddling was stupid.  Then again, Johnny wasn’t Lance, so of course it was better.  Much better.  

She pulled away took to look into his eyes.  They were such a warm, chestnut brown and Johnny was so handsome.  Why hadn’t she noticed it before?  Without stopping to think, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, causing Johnny to let out a small gasp.  His cheeks turned a subtle red before he looked down at his shoes, a small grin spreading on his face.   

 Just then, a loud whistle broke the silence as the train pulled into the station.

Ash once again smiled at Johnny and patted his shoulder.  “Night, Johnny,” she said and hopped off the bench.  

“Y-yeah, night.”  

When she boarded the train, she took one last look at Johnny as he gave her a small wave goodbye.  The image was ruined as the doors closed, blocking him from view.  The train took a sudden lurch and started moving again.  It wasn’t hard finding a place to sit since there were barely any passengers riding the train at that hour.  Once she was comfortable, she thought about what she had gone through tonight.  

There was no doubt that the night started horribly.  She knew it would, even before she met Stewart.  And yet, had it not been for that nightmarish blind date, she’d had never had met up with Johnny.  She would never have discovered how much she loved his company.  

Discovery. She pulled out her phone and called up the photo from the Lotus Garden.  The porcupine and the gorilla in the picture certainly looked happy together. Then she thought about her fortune: Don’t let past mistakes stop you from making future discoveries.  

Ash didn’t want to think too much about the future or look too far in the past.  She was perfectly fine in the present.  As she listened to the hum of the train taking her home, she closed her eyes and sighed happily, inadvertently pressing her phone against her heart.  

[singminibang]

By Myself

Author: The Unaccomplished Writer (tumblr: @theunaccomplishedwriter)

Artist: Skulpin (tumblr: @skulpin)

Summary: He’s all packed. He’s got his ticket. He’s got a place lined up to stay. He’s more than ready to leave. Now all he has to do is get on that plane. Problem is that it’s ever so slightly delayed. Stuck in an airport in the middle of the night, Lance wanders round the airport, taking in his final look of the sights and animals that make up this country before he leaves for good. But will a last phone call change his mind?

It’s a strange thing; an airport in the small hours of the morning. If you stop to think about it, we all have the same sort of preconceived notions of what an airport is like, even if you’ve never been to one.

The frantic dashers hurrying over to the checkout desk before being told they were seconds too late; the complaints of being stuck too long in the queue for security; the half-muttered swears as the metal detectors bleeps; the mutual discomfort of the security pat down, the inevitable item you left in your bag being flagged up and having to route through delicate packing to bring out the most innocuous item.

Then, after all that effort, you’re waved through without a word and you’re left with the nigh impossible task of repacking your previously impeccably packed bag into some semblance of order. All this while an animal with bags under her eyes and uniform straining against her ever expanding paunch, glowers at you as the queue of irritated animals grows ever larger behind your overpacked suitcase lid.

The groans, moans, screeches and squeaks are all expected, all part of the experience as much as whining children and terrible airline food. It’s almost half the reason you go, just to complain about it afterwards to your friends, all of whom gives knowing nods of agreeance.

Yet once the sun dips over the horizon, all the frenzied activity slows to a lethargic crawl. Gone are the throngs of animals heading off in all directions for flights, all hopeful and excited. In their place comes the bleary-eyed and weary passengers who mill around the near empty airport, making the most of the cheaper fares and below average vending machine teas. The legions of alert and helpful staff shepherding them to their correct destinations are by undervalued and underpaid staff of nocturnal and diurnal bent who put more effort into finding a quiet corner to kip in than assisting their exhausted travellers.

Sitting in one of the airport’s many near identical waiting room, Lance drummed his digits against his knees as he attempted in vain to get himself comfy in his chair. Lance sat perched on the metallic edge of the fabric backed chair, his paw brushing his back occasionally, making sure he hadn’t in-avertedly skewered the chair’s mauve fabric.

Readjusting himself for the umpteenth time, Lance glanced over at the departure board to once again verify what he already knew. Flight MK 5876 to Anopolis International Airport was delayed. Lance groaned before resumed his knee drumming with renewed fervour.

Six hours.

Six bloody hours of hanging in limbo.

The plane had arrived on time, the luggage carefully thrown on, the crew having filed past him and down the walkway in their pristine uniforms. All seemed to be going like clockwork. But then the soulless sounding tannoy bonged tunelessly before the lady announcer, speaking as if she had all emotions forcibly removed from her very being, informed the animals of Flight MK 5876 that there would be a delay due a ‘technical issue’. Even Lance, for all lack of flying, knew that that was the international code for ‘we have no clue but don’t panic, we’ll figure it out… we hope’.

That was at twenty past seven. It was now verging towards half past one.

“Bloody airports,” Lance grumbled, his uncomfortable seating arrangements not helping his mood in the slightest. “Get you all worried about arriving on time, make you go through all the palaver of security and rushing you to your gate only to keep you hanging round like you’re on the dole.”

Looking round the sparsely populated waiting room, Lance saw that he, along with the two flamingo flight attendants manning the gate, were the only animals still awake. The rest had wisely decided to collectively nod off than torture themselves with the arduous task of consciously waiting for their flight. One of those who had taken the slumbering route was a particularly large grizzly bear in a two sizes too small t-shirt who decided at that very moment to start snoring right down Lance’s ear.

Taking that as his cue, Lance grabbed his carry-on bag and made his way out of the waiting area, to both escape the deafening noise and to let the blood return to his pained legs.

Exiting the waiting area, Lance found himself amongst the mostly shut shops, with only Veggie King soldiering through the wee hours, the chimp cashier slumped against the counter while his squirrel co-worker slept in the crook of his folded arm.

Passing the shuttered shops, Lance peered into their darkened interiors, their wares on display as if to tease low minded animals to take a crack at stealing them while a CCTV camera watched voyeuristically from a near hidden corner.

“Then again,” Lance thought, “with the prices they charge it might be worth nicking a magazine or two.”

Looking back at the magazines and newspapers however, emblazoned with vapid or hateful headlines, Lance resisted the urge to shoplift. It was the usual dross anyway. Sensationalist newspapers telling you to fear their immigrant neighbours, gaudy magazines shaming women into being another dress size smaller, or dirty magazines showing off a sow’s breasts as if she were a piece of meat while simultaneously shaming her for apparent slutty behaviour. Pushing himself away from the shops, his stomach reminded him of a more pressing need, letting out a gargantuan gurgle.

“Oh yeah, guess I haven’t eaten in a while,” Lance thought, as he began to rummage around his pockets. After pulling out some loose coppers, paper receipts and a spare plectrum that he thought he had lost a month ago, a Gekko chocolate bar was finally prised from its Demin tomb. Unwrapping it and snapping the lizard shaped chocolate in two between his teeth, Lance savoured the taste while internally bemoaning the twenty-five pence price tag.

“25p for a Gekko? Jesus, what’s the country coming to?” Lance moaned before shoving the other half of confectionary delight into his gob.

Pocketing the empty wrapper and swallowing the remnants of the chocolate, Lance resumed wandering before making his way over to the other near deserted waiting rooms. It took nearly ten minutes of aimless meandering before Lance saw something other than empty rooms and disaffected staff.

Idling up to the glass exterior of the waiting room, Lance looked over the artificially lit scene. Seated in slumbering tableaux; armadillos, crocodiles, deer, a lone squirrel, and a family of skunks were all in the collective land of nod. Some alone, some in clusters, some cutely cuddled together, some trying to rend themselves apart. Yet all slept on into the night, their consciousnesses on a joint voyage into timeless dreams.

All except one animal.

A lone hog remained conscious, his piglets all unconscious around him, having given up the ghost on trying to stay conscious any longer a long time ago.  While the seven piglets remained lent against each other in an attempt to get some form of comfort, their middle-aged father’s eyes remained wide open, transfixed on the delayed sign lit at the other end of the room. It was as he was in a trance. The snoring not putting him off. The unchanging sign not distracting him. The fact that a teenage porcupine openly staring at him not even registering with his internal parental sensors. The father’s eyes remained transfixed as if, by sheer power of will, he could make his flight any less delayed than it already was.

“You can’t change it,” Lance tiredly yawned. “no matter how much you want it to.” Lance shook his head, pushing the fatigue and thoughts back down as he left the waiting area, leaving the portly pig to keep his faithful watch.

After twenty more minutes of taking in all the same sterile scenes, Lance turned a corner and slammed his knee right into a metal chair.

“Goddammit,” Lance grumbled, nursing his bruised knee. Looking up, Lance saw the distinctive Crocsta Coffee logo, the bold, pure white letters standing in stark contrast to the storefront’s green scale façade.

The regular staff had clearly decided not to bother about cleaning up at the end of their shift and it didn’t seem that the night staff were particularly fussed about turning up to work if the unlit shop interior was anything to go by.

Coffee cups were dotted around like the dead animals on a battlefield, each one having either lost too much fluid or had succumbed to terrible effects of hypothermia. Even their confectionary comrades in arms had suffered similar fates, their plastic wrappings being shredded to bits, with scattered crumbs being the only other indication of their existence.

Manoeuvring his way around the wobbly metal tables and chairs to one of the few clean tables, Lance dumped his bag onto vacant chair beside him, the faux leather suitcase landing with a loud thud.

“The hell’s that thing still together?” Lance thought, giving his weathered and weary suitcase a cursory glance. He’d had it since God knows when. He remembered having it as a young porcupette, the suitcase stashed under his bed for toys to be crammed in when he was told to tidy his room. Then it was used to put music sheets. Songs, albums, and entire discographies had gone in and out of that suitcase as they went from unknown, to learning, to committed to memory and discarded. It had been used for holidays, as an emergency school bag, occasional weapon against bullies, and sturdy seat on packed buses and trains.

And now it contained his life, or at least, the bits he wanted to take. Looking at the case, the years etched on it from its worn handles, frayed straps and peeling stickers, Lance couldn’t help but give a wry smile at how this bit of luggage had managed to stay with him all his life.

“It’s probably older than me,” Lance thought, a soft chuckle tickling his throat. “Certainly been around all my life. Which is more than can be said for some…”

Quickly, Lance aggressively shook his head, as if the very action could avert his mind from wandering down that particular mental avenue.

“No more of that,” Lance quietly berated himself, anger quickly flashing across his face as he tried to reign in his mind. Looking for a distraction, Lance squinted at a departures board in the distance, the word delayed in pale yellow letters just about visible to Lance’s strained eyes.

Reaching into his pocket, Lance fished out his phone. Flipping open the old model, Lance quickly read over the time. Twenty past two. Shutting the phone with a firm click Lance let out a weary sigh, repocketed it without a word.

“Not even worth moaning about now,” Lance mused as he made himself comfortable.

“Maybe I can rest my eyes,” Lance reasoned as his eyes began to droop. “Just for five minutes.”

Closing his eyes closing and letting his mind shut down, Lance was ready to not think for a few minutes. He needed a fresh start. A new beginning. A new story. A better story. A story without-

The sudden chiming of his phone put a halt to all those thoughts as Lance’s eyes shot open angrily.

“The hell?” Lance said angrily, thrusting his paw into his jeans pocket. “I thought I blocked everyone already?”

Flipping the phone open and ringing his phone to his face in one fluid motion, Lance’s thumb was poised to smash the decline button with all his might. However, his eyes had other ideas, catching a glimpse of the caller ID, causing his brain to halt his thumb mere millimetres from cancel button.

Staring at the phone’s screen, Lance’s read and re-read the name. His face swung between fury and joy like a pendulum, before settling on remorse.

“Goddammit,” Lance thought, pressing the phone against his forehead. “I should have told her.”

The phones’ shrill ring kept sounding out, each trill becoming more and more urgent in Lance’s ears.

“I’m going to regret this,” Lance said, his heart winning over his head, as he shifted his thumb across to the green answer button, pressing it gently and raising the phone to his ear.

“Hey, what’s up?” Lance said with forced normalcy.

“Quilt?! That you?!” the voice asked urgently.

“Hey Slyv, and if you mean Lance, then yes this is he.” Came Lance’s slightly irritated reply.

“Quilt where the hell are you?!” Slyv roared down the phone. “I’ve been looking high and low for you! Been round your house, the Two Sticks, Live Nite, the Blue Shoe, Croc Rock, the Viper Underground, everywhere! Hell, I’ve even been to Old Drummond’s place and even he’s worried! And this is from the guy who still hasn’t forgiven you after the whole pineapple incident! I knew you were probably gonna be a no show at the ceremony but I never thought you’d skip on gig! I’ve missed Sarlon Moseby because of you, y’know? The Sarlon Moseby! You’d better have a good reasoning for making me worry sick and make me miss out on seeing him! The tickets cost an arm and leg. Yours if I have my way! I’ve been seriously pulling out my fur and you know how much I love my fur! So I’ll say again, the hell are you Quilt?!”

“Okay, first off,” Lance said calmly after he was sure Slyv had quite finished. “you went round everywhere we go but you didn’t think to ringing me till gone two o’clock in the morning?”

“I’ve been worried!” Slyv barked down the phone. “You know I don’t deal with stress well and you disappearing into thin air has had me very stressed. Besides, your phone is like a million years old-”

“It’s like six years old!” Lance interrupted defensively.

“A million years old!” Slyv reaffirmed. “God knows why you haven’t just upgraded like a normal animal. Doesn’t keep battery, only texts when it wants to, cuts out on calls or just flat out doesn’t receive them! I’m surprised I’ve managed to get you to be honest. I was expecting the usual static or just flatlining boops.”

“Alright you made your point Slyv! I’ll get a new phone, okay!”

“About damn time Quilt.” Slyv commented smugly. “I knew you’d come into the twenty-first century like the rest of us sooner or later.”

“So, as I was saying,” Lance commented loudly. “secondly can you please stop calling me Quilt? We’re not six anymore,” Lance said as he kneaded the bridge of his muzzle with his fingers. “My name is Lance. L-A-N-C-E. You know, medieval knights used them and all that? Thought even you could remember a name.”

“Oh yeah, I remember your name Lance,” Slyv said, Lance feeling the quotation marks she was giving down the line. “But anyway, I still prefer Quilt. It’s way cuter. And you are soft like a quilt and you’re a big softie! Well, you used to be. But stop trying to distract me Quilt! Where are you?! I am freaking out here and you need to give me a hell of a good reason or I’m going to have to pull out your quills and make you into a life size voodoo doll!”

Lance winced at the thought, knowing that was not some sort of hypothetical threat. He still remembered the time when he faked a Hendrix autograph and she believed and told the whole school. The memory of her enraged eyes and grabbing paws yanking out his quills and skewering them back into him like he was some sort of a living shish kebab was seared in his mind in glorious technicolour.

“Alright, alright I’ll tell you Slyv. Just don’t be mad, okay?”

“Why would I be mad?” Slyv asked, her voice becoming worried very quickly. “What’s happening?”.

Lance breathed deeply, readying himself for the onslaught.

“I’m leaving Slyv.”

“Wha-what d’you mean leaving?” came Slyv’s puzzled reply.

“I mean I’m leaving. I’ve packed up and I’m going tonight.”

The phone was silent for a second, the words hanging in the air, as Lance’s mind just began to comprehend the finality of what he just said.

“This is it.” Lance contemplated silently. “I’m actually going. And I’m not coming back. Ever. I mean, I’m actually going. It’s not just a plan anymore, nothing just swirling round my head. I’m actually leaving. God, I can’t believe it. A whole other continent. With no-one I know there. Not even Slyv. Is this okay? No, this is right. I need to do this. I have to go. I can’t stay after-”

“You’re leaving?” Slyv chimed in, taking Lance’s attention away from those nagging thoughts. “You mean, you’re leaving town?”

“I mean, yeah I am but-.”

“Is that all?! God Quilt you were had me worried there! Finally putting the plan into action then? Heading down London way, are you?”

“Erm, not exact-”.

“I thought it was just a pipe dream when you said you wanted to move away. I mean I completely understand why you’d want to. It’s been crap. God knows it has. But most animals who say they’re moving end up just going down the road or something. But you’re actually doing it? You’re actually leaving! I would say congratulations but did you have to do it on results day Quilt? I wanted photos of us together, going mental about our results and getting into our Uni’s after seventeen hours on the phone with UCAS.”

“Slyv.” Lance said, vainly attempting to shoehorn himself into the increasingly one-sided conversation.

“And then the gig! You know I’ve been looking forward to that for ages! And you pull your own great escape now?! Seriously Quilt, sometimes I don’t know what to do with you, you scruffy urchin. I mean you living down in London, eh? God, you’re going to have such a great time down there. They may even like those two quills you keep putting in your shirts for God knows what reason I know it’s meant to be punk or whatever but it seriously doesn’t suit you. You look like a wannabe.”

“Slyv.”

“But hey, since you’re in London I’ll be able to come down and visit. I mean it’s only two hours on the train so I can crash with you right? I’m sure you’ll have space for little old me and my bushy tail. You have got a place set up, haven’t you? Or are you going to be bumming round a few hostels first?”

“Slyv, listen.”

“If you got somewhere to crash yet I’ve got an uncle down there if you like. Well, a sort of uncle. I think he was my neighbour when I was nine or something and he helped my dad move some furniture or something. You know, one of those uncles.”

“Slyv, just stop a se-”

“Anyway, he’s super nice and I’m sure he’d be willing to put you up for a few weeks. And I know what you’re thinking but you wouldn’t be in the way.”

“Just wai-”

“I know London placed are a bit cramped but the guy’s a polar bear. You’d be able to roll on the sofa bed for days before you came within touching distance of the edge. It’ll be perfect for you! God, I’m almost jealous of you! You’re gonna have a gr-”

“SLYVIA!” Lance bellowed down the phone, spittle speckling the receiver.

“Alright, alright, geez. No need to blow out my eardrums Quilt.”

“Sorry Slyv, it’s just you weren’t listening to me. Again.”

“Alright, I’m sorry my prickly porcupine. So, what do you want to tell me then? Must be pretty serious if you’re calling me by my full first name.”

Lance took a deep breath.

“I’m not-”

“You do know only you and my mum do that, right? It’s weird. At least you don’t do the whole full name thing. I know I’m in proper trouble when I hear my mum yell my name like blue bloody murder.”

“Slyv,” Lance groaned in irritation. “You were listening. Remember? Not a few moments ago? D’you mind doing that again for maybe a few fractions of a second more?”

“Sorry Quilt. I’ll shut up now. What did you want to say?”

“Thank you. Anyway-”

“Oh my God, you’re not gonna do one of those emotional goodbyes, are you Quilt?”

“What? No! Just listen for a mi-”

“You know I’ll cry if you do and you do not want me when I’m all weepy.”

“Slyv, for God’s sake just listen-”

“I know it’s only down south but and you’re not that far away but if you make me weep up I’m coming straight down there to wipe my tears on you before dragging your prickly butt back-”

“I’M GOING TO AMERICA SLYVIA!”

The phone suddenly went scarily quiet. Gone was Slyv’s chirpy yet incessant voice, being replaced by sheer nothingness. No comments, no laughter, not even breathing. It was as if Lance’s words had erased her from existence.

“Slyv, you there?” Lance said tentatively, hoping for some semblance of a response.

Nothing.

“Slyv, you alright?”

Still nothing.

“C’mon Slyv, you’re freaking me out now.”

The phone remained deathly silent.

“It’s not that big of a deal Slyv,” Lance began to reason, already knowing he was clutching at straws. “It’s not as if I’m going to the moon or anything. I can still call you and stuff. It’s just I, I need to get out of here. London isn’t far enough. Hell, Europe isn’t far enough. I just need to make a clean break of things, you know?”

Hearing no change down the line, Lance decided to change tact.

“I’ve thought this through. I can get by on the money I have for now until I get my own place and the Uni was very understanding. I sorted it out a few days ago. Sorry Slyv. I know you were looking forward to getting our results together, but I needed mine early so I managed to pull a few strings since, you know, I did quite well and all. And it’s not as if I’ve thrown everything away or anything. I just need time. They said they’ll hold my place as long as I want it so-”

“How long?” came Slyv’s curt, emotionless reply.

“How long what?”

“How long have you had this planned?”

Lance gulped, his throat suddenly feeling like sandpaper.

“A year or a year and a half. Probably, probably just over year and a half now.”

“A year and a half.” Slyv said, letting the comment hang as if it were on the gallows for the public to see and lob rotten tomatoes at.

“A year and a half,” Slyv finally restated. “and you didn’t tell me? Not once? Me. Your best friend. I’ve stuck with you through thick and thin, you know? We’ve done so much together Quilt. Hell, I can barely remember a time before you turned up. And now what? You’re leaving just like that? Without even telling me? Not even a text. You were just gonna up and go and leave me without a word? The hell Quilt! Do I mean nothing to you?!”

The guilt was seeping into Lance’s bones. He knew it would eventually, just perhaps not like this. He knew he should have told Slyv his plan, that she would have understood, or at least not stopped him. But her finding out like this? Hurting her like this? That had never been part of the plan.

“Slyv, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?! Sorry doesn’t even begin to cut it! You were just gonna ship out and not say goodbye or anything. Not a word. And go to America? Where the hell you gonna go in America? Do you even know anyone in America?”

“Well, I mean sort of. I’ve never met them but I’ve got some animals who’ll lend me a hand for a little while at least. You know, out of obligation.”

“Oh, I see,” Slyv said, the anger still lingering in her voice. “So that’s it, huh? You’re just dropping everything here like a hot plate then?! Leave everything here behind and just rock up to these animal’s place out of nowhere and-”

“I’m not rocking up out of nowhere.” Lance countered, trying to assuage Slyv’s anger with some reason. “I managed to get in touch with them. Found some old contact info and one worked. They weren’t too happy but I guess they felt somewhat compelled to help me. Even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Yeah but that’s not gonna last forever and you know it! What happens when their hospitality withers up? Who are you gonna turn to then? Do you even know anyone else out there?”

“No, I don’t.” Lance replied, a note of conviction in his voice. “I’ll be a complete unknown. Just another guy out there and not someone to speak in hushed voices about. If I stay here, or anywhere in the UK, something or someone will remind me. I’ll see something, or hear something, or go somewhere and it’ll remind me. Remind me what happened and it’ll be real all over again. And I just, I just can’t deal with that anymore. I just need to get away, at least for now.”

“But how long’s for now?” Slyv asked, a note of panic entering her voice. “A year? Two? Ten? Your whole life? Will I ever see you again?”

“Of course, Slyv. I’m not gonna stop seeing you. Hell, I’ll even get a new phone so I can FaceTime with you or something. You’re probably the only animal that I want to keep in touch with.”

“But not an animal that can make you stay?”

Lance remained silent for a moment, letting her words wash over him. The guilt making itself known anew.

“Should I do this?” Lance thought. “I mean, I can go back now. There’s nothing stopping me. Well my bags are on the plane but I’m sure another delay to get them back won’t be too much of a problem. Hell, even if they go to America and get flown back I can just collect them another time and pay whatever fine I need to. But nothing would change though. I need to get away. To strive out on my own. Don’t I?”

“Quilt,” she pleaded, oblivious to Lance’s internal argument. “you’ll know no-one there. You’ll be all on your own. Is that what you want? I, I know you’re hurting right now, and I know you don’t want to hear this, but d’you think running away is going to change things? You’ve got a life here. You’ve got friends here. You’ve got-”

Lance’s grip on the phone tightened as his whole body tensed up, his second thoughts evaporating in an instant.

“Go on. What have I got?” Lance growled down the phone.

“I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“That’s right! You shouldn’t have!” Lance said, his voice cracking with raw emotion. “She promised me! She promised me that she wouldn’t! And I believed her. I believed her with all my heart. All my stupid, stupid heart.”

Lance was physically shaking now. If animals had passed him by they would have thought he was on the verge of a fit. But there were none around to see the emotions running rampant throughout his body.

“She couldn’t keep her damn word! She… she couldn’t keep her promise,” Lance said, his voice and body suddenly deflated. “I... I did everything for her. To make her proud. To show her it was all worth it.”

“She was proud Quilt. She was so, so proud.”

“Clearly not proud enough.”

“Don’t you say that Quilt!” Slyv exclaimed, the sobs catching in her throat. “Don’t you ever dare say that!”

There was a brief moment of silence. The die was in Lance’s paw and he knew it. He could clench his paw, keep himself from making that choice. Turn back and return to the life that was his.

"What she did, that wasn’t her. I, I refuse to believe that was her. She wouldn’t have done that unless something went wrong. Really wrong. She wasn’t well Quilt. God knows you knew that better than anyone.”

His grip on his mental die tightened, his mind still a whirlwind of conflicting emotions.

“She lied to me Slyv.” Lance replied, his voice betraying the inner turmoil within him. “She… she promised that she would tell me if something was wrong. She’d be on the phone as soon as possible. That she’d get the bus all the way down to see me if necessary. But she didn’t.”

The tears were welling up now, yet then damn refused to break. Lance couldn’t let it, wouldn’t let it. But the words kept flowing on, as his mind tried valiantly to repress his hurt.

“What did I do wrong? Was I not enough? Did she not remember me? Remember the good times? Was I just another nameless animal to her? One of her nightmares? Did, did I matter at all?”

Lance’s mental grip loosened. The die beginning to roll free in his paw, its corners starting to turn against his fur.

“You know the last time I saw her she promised me. She looked me right in the eyes, promised and hugged me so tight it felt like the earth had stopped spinning, even if it was just for the briefest of seconds. She held me and promised to never let go. But she did. She let go and left me here alone.”

“That’s not-”

Booming over Slyv’s reply, a loud announcement resounded through the airport, shaking its residents out of their early morning slumber.

“We apologise for the delay. Flight MK 5876 to Anopolis is ready to board. All passengers please make your way to the departure gate for Flight MK 5876 to Anopolis.”

“-will be there for you.”

Lance thought a moment, the die still in his tenuous grasp. He could ask her to repeat what she said. Get the final emotional appeal from the one animal that could convince him to stay. Have it all laid bare before him so that he would pause for a moment and think, before turning on his heel and facing his world instead of fleeing from its presence. The door remained open, its light shining upon Lance.

“All passengers for Flight MK 5876 to Anopolis, please make your way to the departure gate as the flight is preparing to leave.”

The monotone voice cut through the illusion, the door vanishing from his mind’s eye. Clenching his hand once more, his grip softened, and a small crash reverberated around his mind as the die cast ripples, turning to tsunamis within him.

“Quilt? You still there?” came Slyv’s voice, catching on raw, unfettered emotion.

Lance took a moment, staring down at the where the die had landed, before he responded.

“Yeah, I’m here Slyv. Just, thank you. For everything. You’ve made everything bearable and you’re still my best friend. Hell, you’re practically family. But, this… this is just something I need do. I wish you could come with me, but you’ve got your own glorious life to live. Me on the other hand, I’ve got to do this by myself.

Lance sighed as he picked up his suitcase and started heading out of the Crocsta and towards the gate.

“Have a great life Slyv. See you around.”

“Quilt, wait-”

And with that Lance cut off the call.

Staring down at the phone, Lance made his way over to a bin. Stopping a few steps away from it, Lance gave his phone one last look. He’d had this phone for so long. It was still his first phone. The one she had given him.

His face suddenly becoming determined, he dropped the phone to the ground. It only had chance to bounce once before a heavy-footed stomp slammed it to the floor, the forced impact, crunching its frame into the polished floor, sending tiny shards of plastic and electronics sent skittering away from the epicentre of the carnage.

Picking up the main part of the carcass, Lance tossed it in the bin, his last contact with his old life well and truly gone. Adjusting his grip on his suitcase, Lance made his way back to the gate.

Upon his return, Lance quickly saw that he was clearly the last animal left to board, the two flamingos clearly irritated at having to wait even longer than absolutely necessary.

“Oi!” one called, pointed is feathery finger in his direction. “You getting on this flight or what?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming now.” Lance said, walking over to them. After a quick once over of his passport and boarding pass, Lance was let through as the flamingos quickly shut up shop at the gate.

Walking along the walkway towards the plane, Lance stopped but a moment. Looking out the plastic windows, across at the airport, Lance was struck by the thought that this was it. The last time he’d see this place. These animals. This world was ending and he was entering a new one. Alone.

“It’s fine,” Lance said determinedly. “I don’t need anyone else. Not anymore. I’ll do this by myself.”

Looking up, Lance breathed in deeply before stepping forward towards his unknown future.

After getting himself comfy in his seat as the plane began to taxi onto the runway, Lance closed his eyes. He felt the rumble, the tilt and then the nothingness below him.

“And so it begins,” Lance thought, his mind drifting as he let sleep take him, with dreams of success and fortune filtering into his brain as he soared into his unwritten future.

[singminibang]

A Push in the Right Direction

Author:  Andrea O’Down (tumblr: @andrea-odown)

Artist: Arte (tumblr: @arteinthemachine)

Summary: Sometimes, all you need is a push in the right direction. Sometimes, this push can be something unexpected, something like a yellow publicity flyer. For five animals who love to sing this flyer is what is going to change their life forever. 

Ash

Ash loves to sing. She loves it so much, she forgets everything else around her. She gets carried away, and then nothing else matters except for her and the music. And that’s bad because it’s not just about her. It’s about Lance, too.

Lance, her bandmate. Lance, the lead singer. Lance, her boyfriend.

She shouldn’t do this. She’s doing the backup vocals, and she’s always been fine with it. She doesn’t know what happened, but the more she sang, the more it took her over until she just couldn’t stop herself anymore. And next thing she knew, she was trying to push Lance away from his microphone. And she has absolutely no idea how that happened.

Lance is tense as he puts his guitar into its case. Ash tries to think of what to say, but no words come to her. And so it’s Lance who speaks up.

“Ash, babe,” he says, as he lets the case snap shut and gets to his feet. “I’m the lead singer, okay? Just stick to the backing vocals.”

He doesn’t even look at her as he sets into motion, and it makes Ash’s heart ache. When Lance doesn’t look at her, it means he must be really, really angry. She just has enough time to grab her own guitar case and run after him.

“Sorry!” she says, deciding to stick to the truth. “I… I get carried away.”

“Yeah, I know, right?” he says. “It just kind of ruins my song, you know?”

Ash lowers her eyes. Yes, she knows. And even more importantly, she understands. Lance is the lead singer, this is his band, his song, and who wouldn’t get annoyed when they get pushed out of the way by someone who’s supposed to support them?

Ash bites down on her lower lip as she does her best to keep up with Lance. It’s always been her role to support Lance, starting the day they met. Because she wanted to do this.

She remembers as if it happened yesterday, the moment Lance took the makeshift stage in the diner of their small hometown. And the moment he started singing, it was all about him. Ash can’t remember that a song has ever touched her as much as Lance’s song did back then. The lyrics, the melody... it appeared like it was written for her and her alone. And nothing else mattered at that moment besides her and this song and the porcupine who singing it.

When Lance was done with his song, time and space set back into place and Ash found herself staring at him with wide eyes and her mouth agape.

She waited for the audience to burst into applause, and she almost jumped when they didn’t. Instead, there were boos and calls for Lance to leave the stage right now. Ash looked around her, her eyes widening even more. Didn’t they get it? The song, the music, Lance? Her eyes shot back to the porcupine on the stage, and she was expecting to find him sad and disappointed. But what happened next made Ash speechless with adoration. Lance just shrugged, looking totally unimpressed, and left the stage.

He didn’t care what others thought of him. He was doing his thing. He was an artist.

A few seconds more and Ash slid down from her seat and ran after him. She has never been one to do the first step, but this time she couldn’t help herself. She called out to him, and the other porcupine stopped, turning around and looking her over with something that Ash hoped at that time - and knows now for sure - was interest. And then she started talking, the words simply bubbling out of her mouth. She told him how much she loved his song and how much she loved music and that she played the guitar herself as a hobby and that she’d love to learn it properly, and that sometimes, she even sang and she liked it, and when she was done with her little speech that turned out waaaaaaaay longer than she had planned, Lance looked at her with a little frown.

“I can tell you have a passion for music,” he said then. “And it turns out I am looking for a background singer. Interested?”

And how she was interested! Okay, it was a bit of a challenge because Lance was asking a lot of her and she spent hours every day to improve her guitar skills, but she got better, and her singing improved, too.

And something else happened. Ash can’t tell how it happened and if it was because they spent so much time together, but at some point they started dating. And it felt so right, so perfect!

And now everything feels so wrong. She made a terrible mistake today by stealing Lance’s spotlight, and what’s even worse is that this happened the second time in a row. She reminded herself that it was about Lance, she even watched him at first, concentrated on him, letting her admiration for him show. And then it happened again and she got carried away, and now Lance is mad at her. And she has absolutely no idea how to fix this.

Ash lets out a long sigh and when she raises her gaze again, planning on checking how much ahead of her Lance is now, she finds Lance standing a few steps away from her, his hand outstretched into her direction. He doesn’t look at her, but Ash knows him well enough to see that this is his peace offering and that’s he’s forgiving her. She smiles before she runs up to him and takes his hand. Then they set into motion again, their steps in perfect sync.

It makes the last of the tension melt away from Ash and she gives Lance’s hand a little squeeze. Her smile widens when he squeezes her hand in reply.

Waiting for their train, they are still holding hands, and Ash is still smiling. Lance is still not looking at her, but that’s fine. By the time they are home, he’ll have forgiven her and Ash can live with that.

Their train comes in, but it brings something else with it. Something rustling and orange, and Ash only realizes that it’s a bunch of flyers when she finds one sticking on Lance’s quills. She’s so excited when she reads what’s written on that flyer that it doesn’t even bother her that Lance has let go of her hand when he moved to enter the train.

One-hundred thousand dollars as the grand prize of a singing competition!?

“Hey, Lance, look at this!” she calls out. She is still checking the flyer when she hears Lance call her name, his voice somehow muffled, and when she looks up she realizes that’s because he’s already inside the train and the train is already taking off, but she can’t care less.

She’s smiling like an idiot as she runs after the train on the platform, waving the flyer like a flag.

This is going to be so great! Lance is for sure to win the money because he’s an amazing artist. And she’s going to do her best to support him!

Johnny

Johnny loves to sing. He sings whenever he gets the chance. This means, he sings whenever his dad is not around. His dad wouldn’t understand. Singing is something someone does in the shower, music is something you listen to when there’s nothing else to do or when you need ambient noise to cover what you’re really doing. And in his dad’s case that is when you do something illegal.

But for Johnny, music is so much more. It is what keeps him going. Whenever he is alone, he starts singing. And that’s not always good. Especially not when he’s keeping a lookout and starts singing because there’s no one else around. But he just can’t help himself. Whenever his dad isn’t around, whenever he’s alone, he starts singing. He loves singing just so very much!

He takes after his mom when it comes to music, he had that one figured out rather quickly. Not that he can really remember his mom. He was too young when she died. But there are some things he does remember. A lovely voice singing, a warm hand on his forehead or gentle fingers stroking his cheek. He remembers her singing voice the best, though. It somehow stuck with him. Sometimes, when Johnny wakes up in the morning, when he’s not awake enough to actually think, when he’s in this pleasant state between sleeping and waking where anything is possible, he can sometimes hear her voice. Part of him knows that it’s only there in his head, but it sounds like it’s coming from the kitchen. Like every morning when he was little. His mom always was singing when making breakfast. It feels like he could get up and her voice would become louder when he enters the kitchen; she’d be there, singing and smiling. It’s so nice. Until he wakes up and remembers that his mom died many years ago. It always makes his heart ache a little, even after all this time.

He always hums a melody when he gets dressed, but falls silent the moment he enters the kitchen. Because his dad is there. And his dad doesn’t understand why Johnny loves music so much. He even scolded Johnny when he said he wanted to be a singer when he was younger. Because, really, making money with music? How ridiculous is that! No, according to his dad, Johnny needs to do something more concrete. Like his dad does with his gang.

So Johnny does what his dad asks him to. He keeps a lookout or helps the gang check out possible targets. And that’s okay.

But sometimes, Johnny thinks that the low chance of actually making a living out of his singing is not the only reason why his dad is so against it. Sometimes, he thinks it’s because his mom loved singing so much. He got this idea soon after his mom died and he entered the kitchen in the morning. Eating his breakfast, he just couldn’t stand the silence anymore and started singing. And his dad turned his head and looked at him, his face so hurt, before he said angrily that Johnny shouldn’t sing because he wanted to eat his breakfast in silence for once. Back then, Johnny didn’t understand. He just stopped singing when his dad was around because it would make him angry. Over the years he remembered the wounded look on his dad’s face, realizing that there might be more behind it. His dad would never admit it, though, and Johnny would never ask. So it is just an idea that his dad doesn’t want him to sing because it’s hurting him too much.

What Johnny knows for sure is that his dad doesn’t want him to sing because it’s useless. It doesn’t bring any money. The gang and their jobs, they bring money, not singing.

But still, Johnny can’t help it. Whenever he’s keeping a lookout and is all alone, he starts singing.

It happened again today and it almost got him, his dad, and his gang caught. His dad was angry and disappointed, but it turned out well, mostly thanks to Barry’s amazing driving skills. They managed to shake off the cops, but for a long time, it was close, really, really close.

Whenever Johnny felt his dad’s eyes on him during the pursuit, he flinched a little. There was so much disappointment in them. But as soon as they reached the garage, Johnny was quick to help unload the loot. His dad seemed to be pleased. Only when his dad left the room to change into his regular clothes did Johnny allow himself to take a deep breath.

His dad has still not returned, but Johnny is telling himself for the hundredth time now that he needs to be more careful. Heck, he can even hear the sirens in the distance. Okay, they are not so distant - they are actually really close.

Johnny’s eyes widen when he realizes that he forgot to pull down the shutter of the garage. So much for being careful! He quickly runs to the front of the garage and catches up on that. The shutters are almost down completely when something gets blown inside by a breeze. Johnny pulls down the shutter all the way, but his eyes are on the yellow piece of paper. He grabs it and reads what’s written on it.

His eyes widen and a big smile spreads on his face when his brain processes the words.

A hundred-thousand dollars for a singing competition? That’s great! That’s money, actual money!

He can hear his dad’s voice behind him and Johnny quickly hides the flyer in his jacket. Yes, he might be able to win some money with his singing, but he can’t tell his dad about that yet. He needs to win the money first. Then his dad would understand, and would see that Johnny can make a living out of his singing.  

And maybe, just maybe hearing Johnny sing wouldn’t hurt his dad so much. He can only hope.

Meena

Meena loves to sing. She loves it so much that she forgets everything around her. She just needs to close her eyes and then it doesn’t matter if someone is watching her and hearing her. She just sings. And she knows she has a great voice. She has known that for quite a while now, even without her grandpa reminding her on a daily basis that she should make something of her talent. The thing is, she just can’t. And she tried. A lot. She tried a choir, she tried a band, and it never worked.

Because while she can forget everything around her when she’s singing, there’s so much that keeps her from getting there - her nervousness, her shyness, her agoraphobia. And that’s too much to deal with.

She just never makes to the part where she actually starts singing. Her nervousness has often kept her from actually entering a stage. She managed to deal with her shyness a bit, though. She was able to ask if she can join the band and the choir, but it seemed her short-lived boldness was used up after that. So her shyness made it impossible for her to actually start singing on the few occasions she made it on the stage. As did her agoraphobia. Whenever she feels all their eyes on her, she freezes, she forgets what she wants to do. She just panics. Even worse, she actually forgets how singing works.

And that’s just bad because singing is her life. It comes so easily when she’s alone or when she’s surrounded by people she’s comfortable with. But even then she has to close her eyes to be able to sing. But that’s no problem. She closes her eyes often enough when singing anyway.

It happened again today when singing Happy Birthday! to her grandpa. She just started singing, making a mental note to sing with her family and not get carried away. But then she closed her eyes and singing took over, and her voice was doing all these amazing things. And when she opened her eyes again, her grandpa, her grandma, and her mom looked at her, appreciation in their eyes.

Immediately, her ears flapped over her face, hiding herself from their looks as much as she could. That’s something she picked up at a young age - hiding behind her ears. It had been easier when she’d been younger, when her ears had been bigger and her face smaller. But she still does it. It gives her a hint of feeling safe, but unfortunately, it’s not enough to overcome her fears.

And of course her grandpa had to make a comment on what a superstar he would be if he had Meena’s voice. Meena tried to play it down, saying that sure, he would, hoping it didn’t show that it hurt her a bit. Because her grandpa is right. He would be a superstar if he had Meena’s voice. But Meena won’t. She’ll never be a superstar. She’s too shy for that. Too nervous. She just can’t do it. And she hates it.

If only she would be more like her grandpa, if only she’d be more confident, if only… No, she isn’t. Period.

She’d never be a superstar. Period.

Later that day, it’s time for Meena to carry out her domestic chores. And she does that like she always does it - with her headphones on, listening to her favorite music and humming along. Work is always easier with a little music. That’s probably because she loves music so much. Or maybe it’s a general thing. Meena doesn’t know. And she couldn’t care less.

Of course, she starts thinking about her singing problem again - which is more a problem of not singing. Or not being able to sing.

She thinks of ways to overcome her fears. She could try keeping her eyes closed when she enters a stage. But then she remembers that she’s already tried this. And she almost fell off the stage back then.

She could ask her grandpa to lead her out on the stage, but no, that would look ridiculous. People might laugh about it and then she wouldn’t be able to sing because she’d be too ashamed.

Meena sighs. Why is this so complicated? She loves singing, so why on earth can’t she sing when it comes to the point!? She wants to scream!

She doesn’t, though, just lets out another sigh.

And then she realizes something else. Maybe that’s the problem - that she thinks that she can’t sing when it comes to the point, but maybe it doesn’t come to the point. Maybe she just isn’t supposed to sing in front of an audience. Maybe she’s supposed to sing when no one is around. Maybe she’s supposed to sing when she’s alone.

Meena nods her head in agreement. Yes, maybe that’s it.

She waits for her heart to do a little jump, for a pleasant feeling to settle in because she has finally figured it out.

Instead, she has this bitter taste in her mouth.

She sighs again and continues her work.

She’s just started watering the flowers, humming to herself like she always does, and as surprising as that is, the longer she was humming or singing silently to herself, the more the bitter taste in her mouth disappeared, and now she’s actually in a good mood. And that’s great. Yes, that’s the good thing about singing. It always cheers her up, no matter what.

Suddenly, she feels a gentle push on her shoulder and looks up. Her mom and her grandpa are standing in front of her, and her grandpa is holding up a yellow publicity flyer while her mom nods approvingly. Meena reads what’s written on the flyer, and her eyes widen.

A hundred-thousand dollars for a singing competition? That’s a lot of money! Gosh, she could help her family with all that money, she could go to college, oh, she could do so much with that money!

Okay, she still has no idea if she’ll be able to sing in front of an audience when she has to, but for that amount of money, it’s worth a try!

And maybe that’s all she needed - a goal, a real goal. Not just being able to sing on a stage or join a band or a choir - no, something concrete like prize money. Okay, she isn’t totally sure about that yet, but heck, she’s going to try!

Mike

Mike loves to sing. He loves music in general, but singing is something special. Singing is something he does for himself mostly. And this means something. Because he’s making a living out of his music. Not a good living, that’s for sure, but it’s enough to bring a meal into his tummy almost every day and keep a roof over his head. Okay, an old and leaky roof, but a roof nonetheless. But he’s sure that one day, his music will bring him enough money to live a good life, a comfortable life with all the luxury he appreciates so much.

And if it’s not with his music, well, he has a bunch of other talents. Not all of them that legal - or legal at all - but hey, if it brings him enough money, that’s totally fine, isn’t it? There’s nothing wrong with money. Or enough money to make it to another day. And one day enough money to live a good, a really good life. Yes, that sounds about right.

But singing, that’s something he doesn’t do for money. He plays his saxophone because he’s good, very good, and animals enjoy it enough to give him a bit of money for it. And as long as it’s not just a penny like that obnoxious monkey gave him today. Ugh, the nerve of it! A penny! For his amazing saxophone-playing! No, that’s something he just can’t let pass. He’s worked too hard to be that good with the saxophone, not to mention that he’s studied at the Lincoln School of Music. Okay, he didn’t graduate and he didn’t spend that much time studying, and the Lincoln School of Music probably isn’t that much of an institution, but hey, it still is something! And no one, least of all this monkey, is going to take this from him!

But singing, that’s just something he doesn’t want to do for money. It’s special. He learned the saxophone because he liked the sound of it, but singing was something he used to do at home with his parents. That was such a long time ago, but he still remembers everything. The evening they were sitting together in the living room, his father playing the piano and he and and his mother singing, and it was … perfect. He never felt so safe again in his life. And then everything changed, and Mike found himself having to take care of himself way too early. To have to fight for his life each and every day. He managed. Somehow. He still manages.

Yes, sometimes, after a day of playing his saxophone on the streets and waiting for animals to toss some spare coins into his saxophone case or maybe, when he’s lucky, some dollar bills, he comes home, tired and hungry, preparing himself a small meal when he’s made enough money to buy one, and out of instinct, he starts singing. It starts as humming a melody, and then singing a few notes, a few more, until he ends up singing a whole song. And as surprising as that is, he always feels better when he’s done. Heck, sometimes he even sings so loudly, his neighbor starts banging his fists against the wall and shouts for him to shut up. But Mike couldn’t care less. Well, he probably should care, because his neighbor is a rhino and the walls are very thin, but he doesn’t.

Singing is what keeps him going. Keeping singing as something special is what keeps him going. It reminds him of that safe feeling, those little moments of perfectness, and sometimes, he even feels safe again. Just for as long as he’s singing, but still. It makes the darkest times just not so dark and it helps him make it to another day.

Mike puts his saxophone back into its case. The place at the train station didn’t bring much money, well, except for the bundle of dollar bills he managed to get from that monkey. But still, he better looks for a new place. He closes the case and sets out for the park. That’s a usually a good place at this time of the day.

He reaches his destination a while later, setting down his saxophone case, opening it and taking his beloved saxophone out. He lets his eyes wander over the park. There are some animals hanging around here. So he was right. This is a good place for earning some money with his music.

With a determined nod he lifts the saxophone to his mouth and starts playing.

Time passes, but Mike can’t say how much time exactly. He’s too busy playing the saxophone and checking if any other animals have the nerve of tossing just a penny into his saxophone case like this obnoxious monkey did. So far, no one did, and Mike is pleased.

There’s something in the sky above him, a rustling sound, but Mike doesn’t even care to look up. He’s playing his music. He’s earning money. He’s making it to another day.

But then something hits him. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just a piece of paper, but still.

“Hey, hey, hey!” he protests, struggling free from the paper. “What do you think you…”

He breaks off when his eyes fall on the piece of paper and he reads what’s written there.

A hundred-thousand dollars? For a singing competition!? Heck, think of the life he could afford with that amount of money! All these nice things! It wouldn’t be about making it another day anymore, he’d actually be living!

A big smile spreads across his face. It doesn’t even falter the tiniest bit when he realizes that it’s a singing competition which means he’ll have to sing.

That’s fine, Mike decides. Singing to win a hundred-thousand dollars, that’s something special, right? Maybe not as special as the safe feeling singing for himself brings to him, but still close enough so he can overlook this.

It’s about a hundred-thousand dollars, for Pete’s sake! If that’s not special enough to sing in front of an audience, to sing to win, to sing to earn this life he’s always wanted, then Mike has no idea what is.

Rosita

Rosita loves to sing. She sings in the shower, she sings while working, she sings whenever she can. Singing makes everything better, easier.

And she’s good. Everyone knows. Everyone in her family, that is. Even though her piglets and especially Casper make fun of her sometimes. But that’s okay. They don’t mean it in a bad way. They are young, and sometimes, they just don’t know what to do with their energy. It makes them say and do stupid things. Like climbing on the table and making fun of her. It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt much.

Norman knows that she’s a good singer. Or so she thought.

Oh, yeah, you were great, honey.

Were. Past tense.

As in, back at college, she was great. When she and Norman spent every weekend at the Karaoke bar close to campus and Rosita was singing for hours until she just couldn’t go anymore. They always cleared the stage for her as soon as she entered the bar. And then she started singing and kept singing until her mouth was dry and she needed a drink and little break. It was amazing.

And then she and Norman graduated and got married. Finding a great job was next on her list, but she got pregnant before that. She remembers the joy and the fear she felt at the same time when she found out. And then it turned into more fear than joy when she found out she was going to have thirteen babies. Thirteen! At least, she isn’t superstitious or something, because thirteen-lets! Or whatever the right name is. She never checked. She managed to keep the fear at bay, and it was singing that helped her. She sang whenever panic threatened to take over. The doctors told her that having so many babies wasn’t unusual for a pig. It was for her, though. But she managed. And so did Norman. He looked for a job, a job he didn’t like and still doesn’t like, but a job nonetheless. And a job that brought enough money. He was taking responsibility, and so did she.

And she did it again when soon after the thirteen-lets were born she got pregnant again. Twelve babies this time. Or twelve-lets or whatever. Again, she managed, somehow. But it was harder than before. Much harder. Norman’s boss felt sympathetic, though, and let Norman take annual holiday at once. It was okay. With twenty-five babies, they didn’t have time for vacation anyway. It was easier when Norman was around, but even this very long holiday way over at some point and Rosita was alone with twenty-five babies. What made it even harder was that to show his boss that he was entitled - and because they needed the money - Norman took every chance to work overtime. And so Rosita found herself alone a lot with the babies. Sometimes, she thought she was losing her mind. And when this happened she started singing. Sometimes, it was more like humming to herself. But it helped. Singing always helped. It still does.

But when Norman reminded her that her singing days were over, it made her sad. Really sad. That was when she took over her post at the window and turned on the music a little louder. She only managed to move when it was time to say goodbye to her piglets when they left for school. And then she moved back to the window and turned the music on even louder.

And she’s still here. She just can’t get herself to move. And for a long time in ages, she doesn’t feel like singing. She just feels like standing there, her arms folded on the windowsill, her chin resting on her arms, looking into the distance, and listening to the radio. She can feel the tears prickle in her eyes, but she doesn’t care.

She never wanted to be a professional singer, she just wants to sing. And all she’s asking for is a little appreciation for it from her family. That’s not much to ask for, right? That her family enjoys to hear her sing as much as she enjoys singing. That’s the only little thing she’s asking for herself. And that’s okay, right? She’s allowed to ask for something just for herself, right?

Rosita lets out a long sigh. It doesn’t matter now. She’s trifled away enough time already. She’ll have to work way past midnight anyway if she wants to get all the housework done. She’d better get started now or it would take even longer.

She forcefully wipes over her eyes with the back of her hand, brushing away the tears that never managed to fall.

The piglets are already fast asleep for at least half an hour, but she hasn’t even made it halfway through the pile of dirty dishes. And the fact that Catherine called ten minutes ago doesn’t help to make her work any faster. She isn’t really listening, though. Catherine is just telling one of her stories again, and all of Catherine’s stories are just about Catherine talking. She doesn’t want replies, she just wants someone to listen and mumble approvingly, so that’s what Rosita does with her phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder while doing the dishes. She mumbles and Catherine talks.

And then, suddenly, there’s something at the window, something yellow, and it’s hard to miss. So Rosita looks at it. It’s a flyer, and there’s something written on it. Rosita has to tilt her head a little to be able to read all the words.

One-hundred thousand dollars for a singing competition? So much money, it would be enough that they could move into a bigger apartment, and that she could send all her piglets to college. And making all that money with her singing? That’s amazing! She can do something she loves and get money for it! Money for her family!

It all clicks together in her brain, and she straightens herself, her eyes wide with joy and a big smile on her face.

She barely notices the splashing sound when her phone falls into the sink.

[singminibang]

When it Started

Author:  Twilightprince102 (tumblr: @twilightprince102)

Artist:  stevetwisp (tumblr: @stevetwisp)

Summary: Jude and Meena’s friendship is complicated; that is known to many. Jude may try to help their friend with their stage fright, but there are times when the jaguar can get too overprotective of their friend. Yes, Jude supports Meena throughout her life when hardships come, but the elephant doesn’t know anything about her friend’s life! But there was a time when this friendship was normal; a time when there were no mysteries, no harm done, no stage fright and when the friendship seemed like any other. So what happened? When did everything change? How did the hardships begin? The only way to know is to go back to when it started.

(Additional notes: Jude is my OC, and they are a jaguar who goes by they/them pronouns; prequel to the ongoing fic Some Moral Support.)

The school day had once again begun for everyone at Catselar Elementary school. Whether they eagerly woke up to their alarm clocks or tried to act sick, the students all made their way to school for the day. It didn’t matter if they came by bus, car, bike or foot; animals of all shapes and sizes arrived for another day of learning, whether they wanted to or not! And for the young calf Meena, she couldn’t be any happier! Because another day at school meant another day with her best friend Jude! School was already fun for her, but “Jude makes it even funner!” as she would say. She scarfed down her breakfast, grabbed her backpack and raced out the door to her bus stop after saying her daily goodbyes and love you’s to her family.

Meena hummed a happy tune as she waited for her bus while other students looked at her with a skeptic expression. But as a cool gust of spring air swept by, they shrugged it off and went back to waiting, thinking that she was only in a good mood that day. But to Meena, it felt like it was going to be the perfect day! Usually every day at recess, the two always sat together while they ate their lunch. They would talk about events that have happened recently-such as a surprise trip to a waterpark-while they ate. Afterwards they would play together,  have their laughs, and on occasion Meena would sing or hum a song. Whenever she did, the jaguar always listened to her and applauded, complimenting her voice. Then on cue, the recess bell would ring and they would go back inside for the day.

But yesterday as Jude listened to their friend hum a song, an idea popped into their head, and the cub thought aloud. “Maybe I could sing you a song.” The jaguar mumbled, unintentionally interrupting Meena’s humming. She turned her head to face her whiskered friend, having to do a double take at her friend’s offer.

“What was that?” She spoke up while her face began to morph into a wide smile, hoping that she heard her friend correctly. The jaguar then realized what they had done, realizing that they had accidentally thought out loud. They broke themself out of their thoughts, visibly embarrassed at their slip up. Jude turned to face Meena, shifting in their brown shorts and yellow shirt, repeating what they thought out loud a moment ago.

“U-uh, maybe I could sing you a song? I mean, almost every day you sing a song while we’re here so maybe I could, sing for you? Sometime?” The cub said slowly. Meena gasped loudly and Jude could see her eyes light up like fireworks. Jude let out a small yelp when Meena grabbed their paws and brought them close to her body.

“That would be amazing!” Meena yelled. She leaped off of the bench they sat on, letting her sneakers scuff the courtyard pavement. Her yellow and orange striped dress waved in the wind as she stood up excitedly. Ever since the two met when they were toddlers, Meena could never recall a time when Jude sang openly around her. She had always imagined that it was simply a case of them being shy, but Meena was never brave enough to ask why to her friend’s face. Every time she tried, she feared that it would make them uncomfortable and she backed out. But now all of that fear had been washed away and she confronted Jude head on. “Can you do it now?”

“U-um, now?” Jude asked while their mouth shifted into an uncomfortable smile.

“Yes!” Jude did not expect their friend’s eager reaction, despite knowing each other for over four years. They began to chuckle out of fear, hoping that Meena was simply joking or that the school bell would ring and save them from being in the spotlight. When Meena did not back down, nor did the bell ring, the cub shut themself up. They looked at another group of children playing Four-Square across the playground as they pulled their legs up to their chest. “I’m not sure if you would like my singing. My voice sounds like garbage next to yours.”

“But that does not mean it’s bad! I’m sure it will be amazing, so come on, sing!” Meena grabbed the jaguar’s paws once again and brought them close to her, shaking in excitement. Before Jude could denounce their skills again, the school bell rang, signalling for all the children to come back inside. Taking the chance of escape, Jude grabbed their lunchbox and spun around Meena to march towards the door. Upset but not losing hope, Meena walked with Jude back to the doors, having to jog to catch back up to them. The cub glanced at their friend and began to regret their actions when they saw the sadness on her face. Jude had rarely ever seen their friend openly upset, so seeing her sad from something they had done made their regret sting even more. So making a last minute decision, Jude tapped their partner on the shoulder to grab their attention.

“I’ll sing tomorrow at recess if you wear your favorite dress.” they whispered into her giant, outstretched ears. Hearing those words instantly restored Meena’s mood. With the biggest, toothiest grin she could possibly wear, the calf nodded and shook their smaller paw to confirm their deal. Then the two separated to sit in their separate desks and mentally prepare themselves for the next day.

So there Meena was that next day; sitting on the bus seat with her multi-colored, polkadot dress. She dangled her legs off the edge as she sat in solitude, barely containing herself from bouncing off the walls of the bus. She had only worn her favorite dress on special days, such as birthdays, holidays or when her friends were joining her for a day at the street fair. But that day was just as important as-no, more important than those days! She wanted recess to come as soon as possible so she could hear her best friend sing! Her only hope was that Jude didn’t get sick the night before or have something more important to do at recess.

As the bus rolled into Jude’s stop, Meena stood on her creaking seat and stared out the window to try and see her friend, in hope that they would see her (and her dress) and wave back at her. But for a reason unknown to her, the jaguar wasn’t there. She kept her hopes up and stared at the school bus door, expecting to see her friend hop on first since she couldn’t see them out the window. ‘Maybe they are as excited as me and can’t wait to sing!’ the calf thought. When all the other kids walked on and the bus pulled away, Meena looked out the window once again to try and spot Jude running after the bus. They did have a tendency to oversleep sometimes, and when they did, their father would have to drive them in during one of the morning classes. But once again, there was no sign of Jude.

Meena stepped away from the window, visibly upset by Jude’s disappearance. While other students stole a glance at her then brushed her off, she felt as if her worries became true and they did get sick. Meena wondered if that was the case or if they were too scared to sing to her. ‘No.’ She shook away her suspicions, focusing on the rest of the day that was ahead of her. ‘No, they’re just late again, they’ll be here by lunch time! Even if they’re sick today! I’ll see Jude again on Monday when they’re better, and I can hear them sing then!’ She forced her good mood back into her mind and jumped back down into their seat, causing something inside it to let out an ear-piercing SNAP!

She looked down at the seat in slight shock from the accident she had made. Realizing that she felt a new, strange dip in the seat, the calf panicked and stepped off onto the floor to look at her seat at every angle to see what broke. After a few moments, Meena had also noticed that the rest of the bus had gone silent after the accident. She peeked out into the hall of the bus to find that nearly all the other students were looking over their seats to find the source of the noise. When they all saw the young elephant instead, the students began to snicker. Meena normally liked having the attention on her, but that was only when it was in a positive way. Her outstretched ears folded inwards as she crept backwards to the unbroken part of her seat. She could hear the three baboon bullies four seats ahead of her snicker and laugh at how she was able to snap the seat with her weight alone. Meena sank into the corner of her seat, trying to ignore the trio.

The bullies had been friends since meeting each other in first grade; their first shared encounter was made throwing insults at each other. The reason they started to fight was unknown, but what is was that the three were all forced in a group together for a project. All three of the baboons screamed at each other for the entirety of the class period, much to the dismay of everyone else around them. By the end when they were out of breath but still brimming with insults, the three walked out with a newfound respect for each other. Since then, they have bonded over taunting those they thought would break down, and even four years later they still keep up their antics of verbal torture. Nobody could stop them even if they tried-and many students and adults alike had. Many have said that the trio are “just jealous of the people they taunt” and “have it rough back at home so are mean to cope.” But in truth, they were simply having fun together the best way they knew how.

As Meena arrived at her first class, she once again searched for Jude while practically racing in to find them. After taking deep breaths to recover, Meena’s mood dropped once again when they were still nowhere to be found. As the class continued, she expected to see her friend walk in like they usually do on their late days and try to catch up with the daily worksheet. But with each minute she wasted looking at the door, the elephant wasn’t able to finish her schoolwork in time for the bell. For the majority of the hour, she kept looking back at the door, waiting for her best friend to walk in. It was the same process for the second class period as well: Search for Jude, get distracted, search more, ignore the classwork, move on to the next class.

In the third class period, she repeated the same process, thinking that it would yield different results. As she looked for the eighth time that period, she could hear the familiar snickering of the baboon bullies from a couple desks down. Meena tried to ignore them, knowing that listening to what they say would only be a waste of time. ‘They only make fun of you because they’re jealous of you darling.’ Her grandmother once said. ‘Simply just ignore them sweetie; they have no weight behind their words.’ But to her dismay, her hearing was too excellent to block out any noise, no matter how quiet. And thus, she could hear every word they said about her.

“Hehe, look at her! Fat princess thinks her knight is going to come for her!” The first baboon spoke loud and proud. Meena winced.

“Haha, she’s a fatso! Did you hear that snap this morning?! I bet she could break a roof with her body alone if she tried!” The second whispered. Meena’s ears folded inwards.

“Huehue, that dress is so ugly! All that color makes me wanna puke! I think it needs some mud to balance the barf!” The third said as if it was a normal conversation for them (which in actuality it really was). Meena sulked in her seat; her mood taking a complete nosedive.

Meena stayed in her seat and focused on the work for the rest of day; attempting to block out the insults thrown by the three baboons. The calf tried to cover her face from the three using her giant ears as a double with an attempt to block out the insults. The baboons harassed people on a daily basis, and Meena was their latest target. For the rest of the day, they would make fun of Meena at every opportunity. Meena knew that if Jude were here, they would stand up for her and try to get them to stop, but today her friend was gone doing who knows what. All she could do was sit down and take the blows as they all came.

As the recess bell rang, Meena grabbed her lunch box and trudged out the door to reach her usual bench. The three baboons from class were still making fun of her, so she power walked out of there as fast as she could. She could feel the stinging in her eyes, noticing that she was on the verge of tears. The calf tried to suck them back into their eyes before she could cry; she didn’t want to cry now, it would just give the bullies more reasons to throw insults at her. The day had gone completely opposite of what she had expected. The baboons, the seat, Jude; things weren’t going her way at all that day. She couldn’t wait to go back home to her family.

That was what she thought until she spotted Jude sitting on their usual lunch bench!

Her mood skyrocketed from rock bottom and the little elephant began to squeal, making a mad dash to her best friend. Her favorite dress flapped violently in the wind while she made sprinted and, that combined with the squealing, caused many of the other students to look her way. Some were confused to why she was so happy while others laughed at the noise she made, along with when she was completely out of breath when she made it to the bench. But that didn’t matter to the young calf at all! ‘They’re here! I can hear Jude sing now!’ After taking deep breaths to recover from the sprint, Meena stood up straight and faced Jude with an ear-wide smile.

“Hi Jude!” She practically yelled to her friend, making them jump from surprise.

“Ah, h-hey Meena.”

“So how do you like my dress?” the elephant twirled around in her favorite tea-length dress to show it off to the jaguar, not able to contain herself to do it once more. She giggled as she planted her feet on the ground to prevent herself from doing it a third time. She was just so excited that her best friend was here to see her dress, and even more excited to hear them sing! All of the terrible things that had happened earlier that day had completely slipped her mind! She opened her eyes, recovering from her happy high, and took a look at their friend to see their smile.

But Meena didn’t see a smile.

She thought that Jude would be ecstatic to see the dress, but instead it seemed that they were on the verge of tears. Meena tried to get close to the cub to see what was wrong, but when Jude noticed her approach, they turned away in a panic. Her yellow and black-spotted friend tried to hide their tears in their legs, pulling their knees as close to their body as possible. Meena immediately assumed to be what she thought was the worst: Jude was too scared to sing and didn’t like the dress. But as Meena looked closer at her friend, she noticed several disturbing clues that stuck out to her like a sore thumb.

Jude was wearing brown shorts and a yellow shirt: the exact same clothes they had worn the day before. Normally her friend had a wide variety of colorful clothes to wear, so why did they not change? ‘Maybe Jude was more focused on the song they were going to sing?' She searched more, spotting a strange spot on both the jaguar’s fur and shirt that was a different color from the rest. It was faint, but looking close enough Meena found a white stain on Jude’s shirt sleeve. The other half that was on Jude’s fur stood out more, as it seemed rough and messy. When Meena sat on the bench next to her friend, she could smell an unknown yet sweet aroma coming from them. To the elephant it smelled like fruit juice, but ‘I don’t know any juice that smells like that.' Meena lifted her lunchbox onto her lap, seeing if Jude would do the same. But then Meena realized, looking around, that Jude didn’t bring a lunch box today! But using her expert hearing, the calf heard a low growl come from Jude’s stomach, along with a whimper short after. ‘Did they eat at all since yesterday?’ Something was definitely wrong and Meena knew it, but she didn’t know what it was.

Hearing more snickering with her excellent ears, she found the baboon bullies looking at the two friends, laughing at Meena’s run and Jude’s clothes. An idea hit her when she saw them: what if they did all of this to Jude? ‘They beat Jude up and stole their lunch at the bus stop, and Jude had to walk here because that was why they missed the bus!' Her anger flared at the trio; picking on her best friend of all people? They were already too mean to the students here; this was going too far! But as she was standing up to confront the three, a thought came to her.

‘But wait... why did Jude’s dad not drive them in during classes then? Wouldn’t they ask him to since they missed the bus?’ Meena sat back down on the bench. ‘Jude didn’t come in during class, but they were already out here during recess. Don’t they have to go to the office first?' Meena thought hard to wrap her head around this mystery, trying to think of a reason why Jude was so late, had no lunch, looked the way they did and was so upset even after seeing her. Most times, if the two friends saw each other, they would both get a giant smile on both of their faces. After trying to think of a reason until her brain hurt, Meena decided that the best way to know what was happening was to simply ask.

Meena reached out and gently placed their paw on her friend’s shoulder, trying to see if they could face her. But when she did so, the jaguar flinched on contact, spinning around to prepare as if they expected some sort of attack. Meena reeled back from shock, and when Jude realized that they had made their friend scared as well, they turned away once again and pulled their legs as close to their chest as possible. Meena was almost certain then that it was the bullies that did this! ‘The bullies beat them up at the bus stop, and that’s why Jude is so scared! That does it, when recess ends I’ll tell a teacher and those three will finally get it!’ But since Jude was still scared next to her, Meena tried to calm her friend down by holding their paw. She looked Jude in the eyes and saw that tears were rolling down their cheeks. With her hearing, she also noticed that Jude’s breath was incredibly shaky; they sounded as if they were scared for their life! But after getting a solid look at them, they found the most horrifying fact out of everything.

Jude had no whiskers. Every single one of the long hairs on Jude’s face was gone, leaving nothing but the imprints of where they used to be. There was no doubt about it; somebody pulled out every single one of Jude’s whiskers the day before. Meena gasped in horror for her friend while unwillingly imagining the pain that they went through. All of the rage that directed at the bullies shifted into remorse for her friend. There was no logical way that the whiskers weren’t connected to Jude’s behavior that day. ‘Was all of this still the bullies?’ Meena questioned. ‘They’ve called other kids names but they’ve never really hurt someone. Especially not like this.’

“Jude, w-what happened to you? Who did this to you?” Meena tried to pry, shifting her entire body to face her friend. She absolutely had to know who did this to them, but their current state mattered the most out of everything in that moment. The fur underneath Jude’s eyes became slick from the salty tears; they weren’t able to get a single word in through their rapid breaths and silent sobs. Meena let go of their paws, letting Jude cover their face and wipe away the tears. While bringing their paw back down,  Meena’s friend felt at the whisker imprints left on their face, wondering if everything was only a dream and the whiskers were already back. But when they felt nothing, they pushed their head back into their legs to cower. It was then that Meena realized the truth of the situation.

‘This… is much more than just the bullies. This is worse, much, much worse.’ Meena thought . ‘But whatever happened to them is too scary to talk about. They’re scared when I even try to reach out to them and they can’t stop crying. The bullies could never do something like this; this is much more than the other kids here at school

...The singing can wait for another day.’

Meena zipped open her lunch box and placed it on the bench, pushing it closer to Jude. The young cub lifted their head up from the legs, hesitantly staring at the food inside as if it was some sort of trick. Meena gestured the food to them, saying “It’s fine. I’m not hungry anyways.” Jude reached out a shaking paw for an apple, picking it up as if it was somebody’s most prized possession. They stared at it for a few moments; Meena could see Jude’s eyes start to water again. When her friend looked back up to her, she nodded and tried to give her friend the most comforting smile she could show.

“Jude, I don’t know what happened to you and I want to make sure that you’re okay. But if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. We can save the singing for another day.” She spoke as gently as possible, attempting to calm them down. “Just know that if you want to talk to me you can. You are my best friend Jude, and I’ll always be there for you. I promise.” Her friend looked down at the apple again, staring at it in awe as if it was a diamond. To Meena’s relief, Jude finally smiled again, sniffling as they put down the apple. She could see more tears start to fall, making the calf worry if they accidentally said something wrong. As she went to ask again, the jaguar leaped across the bench to her friend and pulled her in for a tight hug. Meena was caught off guard at first, but did the same once she realized that Jude needed a hug. Badly.

The two held each other tight for a long time. Within their friends arms, Jude finally let it all out. They cried, wailed and hiccuped right into their friend’s ears, but Meena didn’t care. Meena could feel snot and tears fall on the back of the rainbow-polkadot dress, but she didn’t care. She could see more students staring at the two; a couple of them even snickered at the sight, but Meena didn’t care. The dress didn’t matter to her, the bullies didn’t matter to her, nobody else at the elementary school mattered to her. In that moment only Jude mattered; best friends are supposed to take care of each other after all. The calf gently rubbed her friend’s back, copying what her father did whenever Meena was crying about something. “It’s okay, I’m here.” Her voice was soft, yet was still slightly shaky. As recess time passed, the cub began to quiet and calm down, much to the relief of their best friend. After many strange glances over to the two friends came and went and recess was close to ending, Jude had finally completely calmed down. The two pulled away and looked at each other and, with one final sniffle, Jude gave Meena what she wanted; a genuine smile.

“Go on, eat!” Meena spoke, back in her upbeat mood once more. Jude nodded and began to reach for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which was sliced in half by Meena's mother as it usually was. But both of the friends were caught off guard when the three baboons rushed by and swiped up the lunch box right from between them! On instinct, Meena yelled out a “Hey!” and she ran after the baboons with Jude right behind her, chasing the three around the playground. As they ran, the baboon bullies passed the bag of delectable goodies between them, turning the chase into a game of pickle. Meena and Jude ran back and forth between the three, trying to get the lunchbox back so Jude could eat. But with each pass and sharp turn to the next bully, Meena’s breathing got more and more intense. Eventually, her head became light and she collapsed into the mud. Her polka-dot dress became stained beyond belief. Jude rushed to their friend’s side to make sure that she was okay.

“Huehue, look at these two! The knight has come to save the hopeless, helpless princess!” The third bully mocked. The jaguar cub flashed a glare to the bully.

“Hahaha, look at Meena’s knight! Acting all tough but deep down, Jude is just one big, weak crybaby!” The second baboon insulted. Meena began to whimper from how messy her favorite dress was.

“Hehehe, look at the special snowflake! She thinks that she’s the most beautiful in the school, but she’s actually just a big, fat, crybaby loser!” The first yelled. Jude tried to comfort Meena the same way she did to them.

All three of them laughed and pointed at the young calf, repeatedly calling her names. “Fatty!” “Fatso!” “Special snowflake!” “Loser!” “Fat princess!” “Crybaby!” Meena sat up and tried to yell back at them, saying that they were “wrong! I’m not fat! I’m not!” The baboons didn’t care, they kept harassing her. Meena’s eyes stung and her vision became fuzzy. The young calf got on their hands and knees, letting the salty tears drop from her eyes down into the mud. She tried as hard as she could to block out the insults, but her ears wouldn’t allow it. Jude tried to help Meena up, but stopped as she began to openly sob.

“They’re right.” Meena whispered, giving in to the harassment. “I am fat. I broke my bus seat this morning, I can barely run across the playground without getting tired, I am fat.” She cried as she accepted the bullies’ insults. “I knew all this time. I knew it but never did anything about it. I am fat.” Her own sobs began to drown out the rapid string of scream as she tried as hard as she could to get the insults out of her mind. She wailed at the “truth” she had realized that day, crying louder than she ever had been before.

Then another noise came into Meena’s earshot. A low growl. She wiped her eyes and looked around, trying to find the source. The calf assumed that it was Jude’s stomach again, but it sounded deeper in pitch and more fierce. When she saw the baboon bullies, Meena realized that they had dropped her lunch box, scattering its contents, and were walking slowly backwards. For the first time since arriving at this school, Meena saw that the three were actually afraid. They were never scared even if the three were threatened to be suspended by the principal. As for what they were afraid of, she turned her head again and found the source.

Jude.

Her friend was on all fours, leaning down in a hunting position to prepare to pounce. They bared their sharp fangs to pair the deep growl, causing the bullies to quiver in terror. As the cub crawled forwards, they flicked out their claws which-while still growing-still looked sharp enough to get the job done. Jude’s eyes were wide and filled with rage that was visible to any naked eye, and that rage was directed right at the bully trio. The quiet, respectable friend they knew had turned into a beast, dead set on making the trio pay for what they did to her friend.

“J-Jude?” Meena’s voice wavered; stricken with fear from seeing her best friend in such a frightening state. ‘This is a dream, right? This has to be a dream, Jude wouldn’t ever be like this!' Behind her, she could hear the three baboons start to sprint away from the monster that was the calf’s friend with all of the effort they could muster. But that wouldn’t do any good. Jude bent down farther, then just like a savage beast, it pounced towards Meena.

Meena sat up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. Still shaken by the sight of her friend, she looked around, trying to find Jude and stop them from hurting anyone else. That was when she realized she was sitting in her bed, back in her room in the present. The light of the setting moon shined through the window, helping her get a grasp on reality. The fully grown elephant took deep breaths to calm down, trying to remind and confirm to herself that all of that was only a dream. Meena jumped when she heard another low, snarling-like noise, making her fear spike once again, and she looked around frantically to try and find it. Peeking over the side of her bed, she saw Jude, sleeping on her spare mattress on the floor and snoring quite loudly. The elephant grabbed her phone and looked at the time: 3:27AM. Meena dropped her phone back onto her bedside table and reality came back to Meena quick.

‘That wasn’t a dream,’ she thought, ‘that actually happened. I was there, I actually wore that dress, the baboons really said all of those insults to us and Jude really did do… that.' Meena had dreamed of when it had all started. The day Jude became overprotective of their best friend, the day everyone around Meena began to drift away from her, and the day her hatred of the spotlight began. Ever since that day, Meena’s world had completely changed. Her friends, her family her life; all that changed starting on that day.

Now, Meena was back in the present. The events of yesterday afternoon flashed quickly through her mind. Grandpa’s birthday, the cake, Jude arriving out of nowhere, the flyer for the singing competition, Meena accepting it and all the practice that she did to prepare for it. Meena had agreed to let Jude stay the night here, since rehearsals were early the next morning and it had been a while since the two had met outside of their countless jobs. Meena looked down at her mystery of a friend, who was still unaware that she was watching them.

“Jude…” Meena whispered. “I have so many questions. What happened back then? Why did you do that to the bullies? What did you go through the night before, and why have you changed so much since then?” Jude snored for a response. The elephant sighed, fully aware that her friend wasn’t going to give such a concrete answer, asleep or awake. She crawled back under her blankets, trying to get a little more sleep to prepare for tomorrow’s auditions. As she laid down under her blankets and her eyelids once again became heavy, one last thought came to her mind.

‘Maybe while you’re here, I can finally get the answers to the questions I’ve been asking for so long.’

[singminibang]

Broken Strings

Author: bookreader525 (tumblr: @bookreader525​)

Artist: Skulpin (tumblr: @skulpin)

Summary: While roughhousing in the theater, a few animals accidentally break Ash’s beloved guitar. As a result, Ash thinks back to the day she received the guitar as a gift from a former special someone. 

Meena careens around a corner, giggling as she hops over a prop. Gunter is right at her heels, his glittery leotard barely containing his jiggling belly. Dangling from one of her hands by its laces is one of Johnny’s precious Converse sneakers. The shoes may very well be made out of solid gold, seeing the way Johnny treats the things. Meena would not put it past him to place the shoes on a soft pillow every night like some type of precious jewel.

        So, when Gunter approached her with the idea of stealing one of Johnny’s prized Converse, she could not resist. After all, her mischievous side needs to be fed a little every now and then.

        It did not take long at all for Johnny to discover his missing possession, and it only took him a matter of seconds to trace the path of the culprits. Mike did not care enough to steal a shoe that was not actually made of gold; Rosita would never think of doing such a thing in the first place; Ash was out buying sandwiches for the group, or otherwise she would totally be in on the joke; and Buster was completely, genuinely oblivious. So was Eddie. All that left was…

        “Meena! Gunter! Dang it, stop runnin’ away from me. I want my other Converse back!” Johnny yells.

        Meena can practically feel his angry, puffing breath on the back of her neck. Gunter jerks his head to the left, and leads the chase down a new back hallway of the theater.

        “You have one shoe! Isn’t that good enough?” she teases gently.

        “Not if I wanna be balanced when I walk, no,” Johnny protests.

        “Then just take off your other shoe! Problem solved.”

        “Urrghhh…”

        The hallway they are in now is rapidly coming to an end. Gunter is panting heavily as he looks left to right at the end, then on a whim goes to the right. This leads them right onto the stage.

        Meena feels like she is inhaling and exhaling pure giggles as she continues jogging forward. Being an elephant and all, her large size is sometimes an issue, and makes her unwieldy. She never participated in sports in school because of this. And now, while running as fast as she can away from Johnny, she is reminded of why elephants do not typically go out for marathons. She loses her balance, veering out of the path Gunter has been carving for them through all the props currently sitting on stage. She lets out a cry, her elbow colliding with something hard as she falls down.

        “Ah, Meena! Are ya okay?” Johnny asks. His quarrel with her is quickly forgotten as he bends down to help her up. She barely has time to admire the bulge of muscle in his arms as he supports her back to her feet.

        “Y- yeah… I think I’m fine…” she answers, rubbing her head.

        Gunter is staring at something past her. “Ach, nein,” he mumbles softly.

        The two teens follow his gaze, and immediately both of their jaws sag open in dismay.

        The hard object Meena’s elbow had hit was an amplifier. The amp had fallen over, and when Johnny sat it upright again, underneath was Ash’s guitar. It must have been propped up next to the amp, but now it was a crushed mess on the floor. Guilt stabs at Meena’s heart like a thousand little pins.

        “Oh, no…” she whispers.

Ash hums a little melody to herself as she nudges open the front doors of the theater. A bag of sub sandwiches swings from her grasp, freshly prepared, toasted, and wrapped at the Sealway a few blocks over.

        As soon as she enters the auditorium from the lobby, however, her cheerful mood vanishes. She has to wade through waves of tension just to get to the stage. She sees Meena, Johnny, and Gunter surrounding something, and when they turn to see her, their devastated expressions only worsen.

        “Guys? What is it?” They do not answer her, so she climbs up onto the stage herself. She pushes Meena and Johnny aside and feasts her eyes on the most depressing and pathetic sight she has ever seen— this even beats the time she spotted her ex and his new girl singing a lame duet at the restaurant she and her ex could never get gigs at when they used to date…

        The sandwich bag drops from her shaking fingers, hitting the ground with a dull, resounding thud. She is quick to follow it. Ash feels her legs cave underneath her, and she crumples to the floor in a heap. Her eyes are swimming with tears as she crawls over to the mangled instrument that used to be her beloved guitar. In her mind, she sifts through all of the memories and special moments she had with this guitar: her first gig, when she wrote her own original song, and her first concert…

      She sniffles, wiping her nose and sitting back against an amp, cradling the ruined guitar in her lap. The others approach her, a chorus of “sorries” leaving their mouths in a never-ending torrent, but she does not hear them. She only focuses on the destroyed guitar, and all the bittersweet memories it has woven between broken strings and splintered wood.

Ash still remembers her eighteenth birthday a few years ago. The memory is as clear and distinct in her mind as a photograph in her hand.

        It was June, so the entirety of Los Angeles was trapped in a massive heat wave. As Ash strolled down the street, she felt like she was trying to wade her way through a solid wall of heat. The sun beat down on the hot streets, and hairless and fur-covered animals alike were all panting heavily as they walked. The air was filled with the unpleasant stench of hot tar from construction just a block over; that mixed with the smell of car exhaust made Ash’s trek through the heart of the city quite a miserable affair.

        The only thing empowering her and keeping the pep in her step was the knowledge that today, she was finally an adult in the eyes of the law. Although her parents lived halfway across the country in Iowa and she had not seen them in a few years, Ash felt freer than ever. Running away from home at fifteen was definitely the best choice she had ever made.

        Besides, if it were not for her escaping her dusty hometown three years ago, then she never would have met her current boyfriend of one year. Lance.

        If any stranger were to stop her on the street and ask her to tell them about Lance, Ash would have three words for them: “Strong. Rugged. Handsome.”

        Okay, so Ash had not been expecting to fall for someone like him. She had not pegged herself to go for the stereotypical “bad boy” kind of guy. But there was something about the other porcupine that drove her wild. Just laying her eyes on him made her heart rate pick up and her palms start to sweat. He was not always the most affectionate of guys, but then again Ash did not have much— or any— experience with guys. For being her first boyfriend, Lance was passing every test to their relationship with flying colors.

        After the long, grueling walk through the city, she was greatly relieved to arrive home. She climbed the stairs to her and Lance’s shared apartment, singing a quiet tune to herself. She honestly could not pinpoint the last time she had been so… carefree. And cheerful! It was a fantastic feeling.

        The high she was riding on did not come to an end once she opened the door to their place. She swung it shut behind her and dropped her key in the bowl in the foyer. She turned the corner into the living room, and then she froze into a statue.

        “Hey,” Lance rumbled. He wore a sly smirk on his face, and his bright green eyes were narrowed into equally mischievous slits. He was standing in the middle of the room and leaning against a very intriguing-looking object.

        “Babe… wh— what’s that?”

        “What? Oh, this?” Lance circled around the object, keeping one hand on top of it as he moved. “Nothin’.”

        She tilted her head playfully. “Lance.. !”

        He chuckled, and dropped the uncharacteristic act. He reached for a zipper running down the length of the item and pulled it down slowly. With every millimeter more the zipper descended, Ash’s eyes grew another size larger until her brows were practically reaching her quills. Eventually the zipper stopped and the black cover gave way, revealing a new electric guitar coated in shiny red paint.

        Ash stumbled forward, reaching out one hand as if the guitar was something far away and unreachable. “Oh my god… are you… is this— is this for real?”

        “Yup,” he said. “Got it for cheap at Mel’s on 48th Street. Do you… do you like it?”

        “Like it? I love it!” She flung herself forward, enveloping him in a robust hug. “Thank you so, so, so much.” Then she leaned back, hesitated a moment, and then decided to just go for it. She pulled him into a long kiss, smiling all the while. When they finally separated, she mulled over the words brewing in her mind and in her heart.

        She squeezed his hands, looked deep into his gorgeous green gaze, and murmured, “I love you.”

        If a roller coaster represented their romance, then that day was most certainly the high point, at the very top of the tracks before the big drop.

        That was the last time he ever got her a decent gift. And it was the last time she ever said those three words.

        Should she not have been expecting for him to say it back? They had been together for one year. One whole year filled with memories, laughs, kisses, and the boom of music in their hearts and souls. She hated those corny thoughts swarming her head— not just because of their utter cheesiness so uncharacteristic for her, but also because of their now apparently false existence. Because he did not say “I love you back.” The three words that left his mouth were

        “Oh…

                “Yeah…

                        “Cool.”

        She felt so loved.

        And yet, it was easy enough for her to move past that embarrassing let down. There was her new guitar, which sat patiently waiting on its stand in the living room. So that night, she settled on the floor next to it, the tips of her quills pricking the couch as she leaned back against it. She took the guitar into her arms, and it slipped perfectly into her hands and lap like it was made to be played by her. She took out a brand new guitar pick and began strumming the strings gently, babying the instrument as she broke it in. Once she had gotten through a few memorized tunes, she decided to plug it into an amp on the lowest volume— just for the sake of their neighbors downstairs, because it was not as if her ears would have minded the loud noise. She then took her pick to the strings once again, and the music that flowed out was indescribably beautiful.

        The music covered up that “Oh… yeah… cool” in response to the three most important words ever. “Oh… yeah… cool” was just a mumble in her head, and the music was screaming right over it, steamrolling over those three pathetic words. His three pathetic words, and her three pathetic words. It was perfect.

        The guitar made her feel more than great. It was a beyond surreal feeling every time she picked it up and plugged it in. Suddenly, landing gigs became easier too. Just a brief sample of the fresh songs pouring out of that guitar and they were hired. Ash worried about Lance showing some jealousy, but he continued slamming on his not-quite-as-new guitar just the same as before.

        And still, even when things fell apart between the two of them, she was okay. As their too young two-year-old relationship began to crumble all around her, she turned to her guitar and started to play. And when she felt really awful, she started to sing.

        The singing was born out of an urge to rebel. There had always been rebellious blood in her veins, ever since she ditched her boring parents and dull hometown— and maybe even before then.

        But when she and Lance began to fight frequently, she fed her rebellious side with hearty portions. Yelling just a bit louder when backup singing for him was only the appetizer. She kept serving more and more courses, leaning into the microphone and swiping at the strings until her arm was a blur and her muscles were shrieking from the exertion.

        Eventually, Lance learned to pronounce the elusive word “love.” The only problem was that the way he pronounced it was in the form of a casual, flippant “Love ya, babe.” It was the same three words she had said months earlier, only somewhat rearranged and skewed. But she accepted it all the same.

        And on their off days, she continued to sing louder. She wanted to be noticed. And the day she pushed him out of the way on that stage… well, that was only the beginning.

Back in the present, Ash runs her furry hands over the ruined strings of her guitar. To think of all the times she practiced and played and toiled for hours over this thing, all the callouses that formed on her fingers combined with the familiar ache in her teeth from holding a guitar pick in her mouth while scribbling down music notes or lyrics.

        For the first time since she sat down with it, she glances up. Meena, Johnny, and Gunter are still standing there looking so, so guilty. Now Ash can’t tell if the stab in her heart is from the pain of losing her guitar, or from seeing their forlorn faces.

        “We are so sorry, Ash,” Johnny mumbles.

        “We can all pitch in to help buy you a new one,” Meena adds.

        “Or for zee repairs,” Gunter says.

        Ash shakes her head. “It’s okay, guys. It… was getting old, anyway.” She forces a smile to stretch her lips open, despite being more inclined to frown at the moment. “I- I had a lot of memories with it, but hey, at least now I can buy that new one I’ve been eyeballing at the store.” She examines the newly-made chips in the black paint job, revealing the bits of the old red underneath and bits of her past self, the girl who was in love with the careless boy.

        “I’ll survive,” she says. And she knows she is right.

        The next day, she, Meena, and Johnny walk to the music store a few blocks downtown. She finds a shiny, brand new guitar there with stiff strings that have yet to be played. She takes out her trusty old pick, gives the instrument a few strums, and then nods affirmatively.

        When she gets home later that night, she sets her new guitar on its stand by the sofa. Then she walks into her room and gently pulls open a drawer, placing a single guitar string inside. It’s a little mangled, sure, but not every broken string needs to be fixed. She learned that a while ago.

[singminibang]

3 against 25

Author:  Yeahjusttrash (tumblr: @cartoonloverstuff)

Artist:  stevetwisp (tumblr: @stevetwisp)

Summary: Just a sweet one shot of Johnny, Ash, and Meena trying to watch Rosita’s kids together for a night. Johnny is natural great with the kids. Ash has some difficulty adjusting, but managed. Meena is used to babysitting, just not so many kids at once. Not much in the way of plot. Mostly just fun fluff.

"There's plenty of snacks in the fridge, help yourselves. First aid kit is in the upstairs bathroom cupboard. Bedtime is at 8pm for the kids.-" Rosita spoke quickly as she went over information Johnny already knew. He had been staying with Rosita and her family for the past few weeks and figured the she was saying all this for the other two teenagers present.

On Johnny's right was Ash looking completely out of place in the family house and on his left was Meena in her signature nervous stance. "We'll be back by 11:00 at the latest. Call if you need anything." Rosita said right before she disappeared out the door with her husband, leaving the three teens in a house with 25 children.

"3 to 25. We got this!" Johnny said with more confidence than he actually had.

Half an hour later, no less than three of the kids had picked themselves on Ash's quills and cried. Ash was currents sat on the kitchen counter glaring at the ground in frustration next to Meena who was tending to Micky, the latest victim of her quills. The porcupine was about to banish herself to clean up duty when something large and soft suddenly flopped on her. She struggled with a heavy, soft entrapment for a few moments before it settled more comfortably around her shoulders and a hood fitted on her head. Ash's vision was blocked by baby blue fabric and knew the entrapment was Meena's hoodie. Like magic, the elephant was suddenly in front of her tying the sleeve of the hoodie so it was secure around Ash and the sleeve would only drag on the ground a minimal amount.

"There. I-is that okay?" Meena stuttered slightly as she shuffled back a little to look at her handy work. The tiny piglet with a fresh bandage on his finger looked around Meena as Ash was still fixing the hood so she could see. Once adjusted, the large garment fit perfectly over the quills on her head and effectively covered the quills running down her back.

"Woooow, you have cape! You look like a super hero!" The Micky piped up from behind Meena. Ash smiled at that, even though she was sure she looked more like a pastel grim reaper than any caped hero. Still, she was just relieved she won't be spending the rest of the evening worrying about accidentally impaling someone.

"Heh, thanks Meens." Ash smiled as she hopped off her perch and followed the other two out to meet Johnny where they left him in the playroom with the rest of the kids.

The three walked into a scene of pure chaos. Art supplies had been scattered everywhere, toys littered the room, and the remaining piglets had occupied themselves by any activity they could find that was either loud or made a mess. Micky immediately took off to join his siblings in running around and screaming. Meena and Ash were both kind of struck dump by the sheer havoc and stood frozen taking it all in.

Johnny was in the midst of everything, completely unfazed by the disarray surrounding him. In fact, he was just adding to chaos by chasing the piglets around the room, seeming to be having just as much fun as they were. A few moments after the girls entered, Johnny looked up and realized they were back. He gave them a cheery smile from where he was a few feet away carrying three piglets he had 'captured'. "'Ey, ya back!" He chirped as he released the piglets and made his way closer to them. "Wot's with the new looks?" He cocked an eyebrow as he got closer and sized them up, seeing Ash looking very cozy in her new hoodie cover and and Meena looking slightly uncomfortable now that she was sans-hoodie, revealing a loose grey t-shirt with red sleeves.

"Uh, we found a way to cover Ash's quills!"

"I'm a superhero!"

The two answers overlapped and just amused Johnny. Shouting came from behind him as four piglets charged his legs, trying to bring him down. The gorilla stumbled slightly, threatening to fall on the girls, but manage to keep his balance and turned on the piglets. With a playful roar, the youngsters took off screaming with Johnny chasing behind them. Ash was quickly swept away by a majority of the piglets once Micky had spread the word that she was now a superhero. (She had a cape now, she had to be a super hero!) Meena entered the fray much more cautiously, going over to the building block area where she could keep an eye on the rest of the piglets.

Not long after Ash was deemed a superhero, Johnny declared himself a super villain and dove into their expansive costume chest for a villain costume. The best he could come up with was a pirate hat, which he proudly dawned. The room essentially became a play war zone of pirates versus heroes with Meena off to the side supervising the last subset of piglets as they built an impressively large fort.

The elephant marveled at the little ones' craftsmanship and thought they must have inherited some of their mother's engineering talent. She also found herself surprised by just how much she liked Rosita's children. Sure, they were loud, energetic, and even mischievous, but they weren't mean or cruel like the kids Meena had remembered growing up. Granted, not all children Meena knew as a child were mean, but enough were to make her lose hope on making friends with any of them. Seeing so many children playing and cooperating together, and siblings no less, without the mean spiritedness she had been somewhat expecting made Meena feel a warm happiness bloom inside her chest. She hoped the piglets stayed like this and didn't let schoolyard taunts and bullies sour them. She reasoned they had a good chance of staying kind and unharmed by the years to come. After all, they would have each other. The last thought calmed Meena and widen the soft smile on her face.

She was suddenly pulled from thoughts when she felt someone grab her arm and yanked her away from her post by the play fort. Confused and almost panicked, she turn to see Johnny dragging her behind him quickly. He turned suddenly with Meena behind him, putting himself between her and everyone else. Triumphantly, he raised the hand that was clasped around her wrist and proclaimed. "Ha! Na' I've kidnap ya babysitter! And you'll haf to go through me ta get 'er back!" Johnny grinned menacingly and crotched in a ready stance with a plastic sword in one hand in preparation to face off against Ash and her army of piglets. Johnny glanced behind him quickly and saw Meena's concerned and puzzled expression. Before she could ask anything, he shot her a crooked smile. "Just play along, yeah?" He whispered with a wink and turned back to face the others.

Ash successfully rounded all the piglets up in a huddle for a game plan, as even the ones in the fort had decided to join forces to save their damsel-in-distress babysitter. Meena just blinked and felt out of place, unsure as to how she should 'play along.' "Uh, help. Help meee." Meena croaked out awkwardly. "I'm being held hostage by a pirate. (Whose only like half my size.)" Meena couldn't help but chuckle as she said the last bit.

Johnny turned back to pout at her. "I am not!" He all but whined, which made Meena giggle out more. The gorilla smirked at her. "'Nd 'sides, hostages aren't suppose ta giggle. Ya not very good at thi-"

His teasing was cut short when an inflatable ball sailed through the air hit the side of his head. His attention swiftly switched back to the piglets just in time to see the onslaught of rubber balls, stuffies, and soft toys being hurled their way. Johnny quickly got in his stance and deflected a majority of the toys that came his way with the toy sword. Behind him, Meena held up her arms in defense of the soft objects, squealing with laughter.

Once the kids ran out of ammo, Johnny laughed triumphantly. "Hah hah! That the best ya got?" His question was answered when a wave of piglets all charge him at the same time. His face fell and he had just enough time to realize his mistake before being trampled by a sea of children.

Over the children's screaming and giggles, he heard Meena descend into a laughing fit and Ash give out mighty commands. "Yes, my adorable, pink army! Show him no mercy!"

Johnny tried to raise from the mountain of children on top of him, but quickly learned was out matched and should tap out. "Ok-oof- okay, I surrender! Ow! Guys, ya won!" Johnny squeaked out in good humor. He was no longer being trampled, but a majority of the piglets were still amassed on top of him, playfully keeping him pinned. "Meena? Meena, I can't get up. Help?" His pleads were met with more uncomfortable giggle as Meena was trying (and failing) to regain her composure. Eventually, her breathing evened out enough for her to shoo the piglets off Johnny and help him to his feet. It was close to the kids' bedtime anyway.

"Attention!" Ash barked out in military famous. All eyes were immediately on her. "Company, line up!" She point to the door as she ordered the piglets. The mass of giggling children ran towards the door, forming a shape that was more line like than not. Ash took her spot at the lead and began marching to the children's bedroom with them in tow.

She was faced away from everyone, so no one saw the huge, giddy grin bloom across her face. She had never been good with kids before. Normally, she avoided them and found them annoying. And in turn, they would find her scary or boring. The porcupine glanced back to see a long line of little piglets goofily imitating her marching. Her smile grew impossibly wider. With how the evening had started, she assumed she would be spending it avoiding the kids like she often did, not be playing right along side them like Johnny did.

With a happy sigh, Ash schooled her face in mock sternness and turned around once they reached the bedroom. "Alright troops, you've got five minutes to change into uniforms. Go, go, go!" She ushered them in and the bedroom became a pandemonium of pajamas and screaming.

Twenty minutes later, the piglets teeth were brushed and they were settle in bed, intently listening to Johnny's dramatic reading of one of the picture books he found. Ash and Meena dismissed themselves to clean up detail and spend another twenty minutes picking up the playroom and trying to figure out where things went. Once the playroom room look relatively decent, the girls headed down stairs and plopped down on the living room furniture. Ash climbed into a comfy looking chair and Meena all but collapsed on the couch.

After a moment of peace, Meena turned her head to look at Ash. "Think we can consider tonight a success?" She chuckled a little. When the porcupine didn't make any response, Meena sat up and looked over at her. "Ash?" Ash was curled up in Meena's hoodie with back to the room. Soft snores escape from her baby blue wrapped form. Preoccupied with peering over her sleeping company, Meena didn't notice the approaching footsteps behind her.

"I don't think ya getting that back any time soon." Johnny spoke softly, but still made Meena jump. She squeaked and turned to just in time to see him vault himself over the back of the couch with one hand and land next to her. "Sorry, didn't mean t' scare ya." He said in a hushed voice as he gave an apologetic smile and leaned over to grab the TV remote. "Anyway, the rugrats are asleep so now all we've got to do is keep quiet enough not t' wake 'em." With that, he leaned back with one arm hanging on the back of the couch and his other hand operating the remote.

After going through what was available, Johnny settled on watching some game show while keeping the volume low. He cracked a yawn as the TV droned on and glanced at the clock. It was just past 8:45. Why was he so tired? Had the piglets really drained so much energy out of him? He had been staying with them for weeks and interacted with them daily and it hadn't fazed him. Then again, he had never been left in charge of the piglets before. It was different not having their always-on-top-of-things mother around. Johnny had been really nervous about being around the kids when he first started staying with Rosita and her family, scare that he might accidentally hurt one of them or that they won't like him. He learned quickly that kids were more durable than they seemed, and all it took was the promise of piggyback rides and funny story telling and he was suddenly their new best friend. In other words, Johnny took to the lot of children quickly, and they had taken to him immediately. The first time the gorilla had ever set foot in the house, he had children climbing on him and hanging off his arms asking him to come play with them within minutes.

Johnny smiled dreamily at the memory. He wondered if this was what it was like to have siblings, since had never had anything like this before. His family had pretty much always been his dad, a couple of 'uncles', and occasionally a woman would enter Big Daddy's life long enough to bother meeting Johnny. His family was far from nuclear.

His thoughts began to turn towards his father and that whole situation when they were interrupted by another yawn. He shook the thoughts from his head, he didn't really want to dwell on that right now anyway.

Shifting around in his seat, he tried to sit a little more up right to stay awake and glanced at his company. Ash was soundly sleeping and Meena's head was drooping dangerous low. "Oi," Johnny voice was hushed and he nudged Meena's side. "You falling asleep on me too?" He jabbed lightly.

Meena's head lulled up and words was barely audible. "'M awake." She murmured drowsily.

Johnny smirked fondly. "Yeah, that was convincing." He checked the clock again. "Listen, I figure at least one of us should be awake 'til Rosita gets back. Why don't I take the first shift 'n I'll wake ya in a bit?" Despite his tired body's protests, Johnny was too much of a gentleman to not offer to go first. Meena only gave a little nod in response, her eyes already sliding shut. Johnny turned back to the TV, determined to stay awake.

Half an hour later, all three were peaceful sleeping. The living room still and quiet save the low noise from the TV and soft snoring coming the three teens. It was a blissfully calm scene.

That is, until Ash's restless, sleeping form turned over and right off the chair she was curled up in. The other two were jolted awake by the porcupine yelp as she fell, hitting the floor with a soft thud. Meena groaned as rubbed at her eyes while Johnny sleepily sat up and looked around for what woke him. His gaze landed on Ash face down on the floor and his mind piece together the rest. He tried not to chuckle at her. "Not exactly a graceful way to wake up." He quipped, his voice still heavy with sleep. The porcupine sat up (eventually, after a bit of struggle with the hoodie still wrapped about her) and tried to glare at Johnny. This just made him snicker more. He couldn't take her stink eye seriously while swaddled in the baby blue pullover, looking more like a grumpy, little kid than a snarky teen. Johnny looked away, covering his mouth to try and conceal his chuckling, and checked the clock again. 9:24. He sighed tiredly as his body was already leaning back into its comfortable sleeping position. Unfortunately, he didn't realize the elephant he had been using as support wasn't there until it was too late. Johnny let out a small sound of surprise as he fell against the couch cushions, quickly propping himself back up and looking around in confusion.

"Yeah, she got up and left." Ash answered his unspoken question and nodding towards the stairs.

Upstairs, Meena walked softly through the hall. She was sure she had heard something, her ears didn't play tricks with her. Quietly, she strained her hearing and waited.

*sniff*

There it was. Meena hear soft sniffling and whimpering and followed it to its source. Her ears lead her to a linens closet near the kids' bedroom. Gently, she opened it and peered inside. Meena felt her heart ache at the sight of a little, frighten piglet curled up towards the back of the closet. The elephant crotched down and reached out.

"Hey there, can't sleep?" She spoke in a soft comforting tone. The piglet looked up at her with teary eyes and took Meena's hand, letting the elephant bring her out and pick her up. Kelly, the piglet currently being carried back to the bedroom, clung to her babysitter's shirt. Meena's brow furrowed in worry. "Did you have a bad dream?" Kelly nodded. "W-well, there's nothing to worry about! We're all downstairs keeping watch." Meena ignored the part her brain that reminded her they had fallen asleep. She briefly fretted over how long Kelly had been hidden away in there before forcing herself to refocus. "You've got a superhero and a pirate keeping guard! Remember?" She tried to get the piglet to smile, but Kelly just clung tighter.

"B-but... w-what if s-something is up h-here? They're d-down there." The piglet's voice was shaky and tired.

"Oh, well, I'll stay up here. With you!" Meena smiled down and this time Kelly smiled back.

Once in the bedroom, the piglet still had a death grip on Meena's shirt and the elephant wasn't really sure what to do. She sat down with the child cradled in her arms when an idea stuck her. Softly, she began to hum a gentle tone. Soon words followed, and Meena found herself singing Amazing Grace. That song always put her to sleep, or at least that was her excuse to her mother when she was caught sleeping at church.

Meena felt the grip on her shirt loosen and glanced down to see Kelly's eyes drooping. The elephant smiled triumphed, but kept singing. She continued without stop even when she was startled by shifting beside her and turned to see a sleepy Casper trudge over with a blanket in tow until he was just within reach of the elephant and fall against her leg, curling up next to her. More piglets migrated towards Meena's serenade, her smooth voice calming whatever restlessness that had be inside them. After singing thought the song twice, the elephant let her voice fade out, and the room drifting into a sleepy quiet.

"Dawwwww." Her peaceful moment was interrupted by the low drawl of a cockney accent. Her gaze flickered up and she saw Johnny in the doorway with his phone out, clearly taking some digital records of the scene. Meena's face heated slight and she tried to shoot him a stern look, but it morphed into a halfhearted pout.

"Whatever, at least it worked and got the kids to sleep." Meena rolled her eye and tried not the smile at her friend's antics.

"Not just them." Johnny added as he pushed the bedroom door open the rest of the way, revealing a sleeping Ash sat on the floor and leaning heavily on the doorframe.

Meena smile fondly, touched that Ash had also felt the need to come up and check on her, and that her song had lulled the teenager to sleep as well. Immediately, she felt the need to pickup her friend and carry her back, but that was also the moment Meena realized she had a half dozen or so piglets sleeping on her. Looking about herself, she knew she was trapped.

"Uh... Johnny?" Meena whispered with her eyes still in the piglets. "I, uh, I can't get up. ...help?" She giggled out faintly. Johnny cocked an eyebrow at the scene and took one more picture, in which Meena in hidden behind her eyes and glowering at him, before entering the room. After a few minutes of careful tucking piglets into bed, they crept out of the room and headed back downstairs. Meena stopped briefly to scoop up a still hoodie-wrapped Ash before following Johnny down the hall.

Johnny checked the clock again before sitting down, this time in a more alert posture. "Kay, this time, we should actually stay awake." He thought out loud as Meena gently placed Ash back in her chair.

"Right!" Meena straighten up where she was standing next to the chair, her blue eyes bright with determination. "They'll be back in a little over an hour. We can last til then!" Her encouraging words were more to convince her sleep-craving body than Johnny. Still, she felt confident in her ability to stay up as she returned to her seat on the couch. Within ten minutes, both Meena and Johnny were soundly dead to the world along with Ash.

Meena was the first awake, her sensitive hearing catching the sound of keys jiggling and the front door opening. Her eyes peeked opened just in time to see Rosita enter the room. Meena's eyes snapped open the rest on the way and she shot up from the couch. This caused Johnny, who had once again slouched against the elephant, to fall back against the couch cushions with a small oof. "Rosita! W-welcome back!" Meena's words jolted Johnny semi-conscious brain. His eyes popped open and he scrambled off the couch to a standing position next to Meena. Rosita watched the whole display with her hand in front of her mouth, trying to hide a very amused smile.

Both teens began to apologize for drifting off, their word overlapping each other's, but Rosita waved it off and offered them a grateful, beaming smile. "Were they any trouble?" She asked with such sincerity that both teens froze for a moment.

Johnny was the first to respond. "The kids? Naw, they were great!" He relaxed a bit while going over the evening events with Rosita as Meena shuffled back to wake up Ash. A few moments later, Norman walked in counting out some bills and started handing off payments to the three teens.

Johnny was preoccupied talking with Rosita and automatically accepted what was being handed to him. A moment later glanced down and gave the currency in his hand a puzzled look. Meena had an equally confused expression when payment was pushed into her hands. Ash was barely awake enough to process what was going on and didn't question the money that had somehow appeared in her grip.

Johnny tried to give his back as politely as possible. "Uh... Rosita, ya know ya don't have t'-"

"Don't be silly. You were all a big help tonight and definitely earned!" Rosita cut off the cockney teen, quickly brushing off his offer before he could even finish saying it.

"But-"

"It's getting late. Johnny, why don't you drive the girls home."

"But I-"

"No but's!"

Rosita gave the gorilla a silencing stern look and ushered all three teens out the front door before any of them had the chance to reject their payment. The door shut leaving the guilty looking gorilla, a slightly flustered elephant, and a semi-conscious porcupine on the front porch. They stood in the quiet night air for a few moments, each in their own thoughts. Johnny tried to wrap his head around how he was suppose to not feel bad about getting paid. Paying Meena and Ash made sense, but he had staying with the family ever since Rosita had learned of his situation. Watching the kids for her seemed like the least he could do.

"Johnny!" He was yanked from his thoughts when he heard his name called. He turned and saw Ash and Meena had already started towards the car. Meena stopped to get his attention and waited for him to catch up, while Ash continued her heavy-eyed trudge.

Johnny hurried over to walk with them down to his car. "Sorry, just thinkin'." He offered a quick explanation then looked down guiltily. "I'm already stayin' with 'me rent free.  What they go 'n pay me for?" The gorilla scuffed his shoe as he thought out loud.

Meena made a hum of agreement. She hadn't been expecting any kind of payment either and had intended to just chalk up the favor as payback for all the stuff Rosita did for them. Giving the mother pig a night off seemed like a reasonable task. Meena's thoughtful gaze shifted from Johnny to Ash, who had shown the least amount of resistance when receiving compensation. Meena wondered now if it was because her friend actually needed it. While she and Johnny were both living with families, Ash was living by herself, paying rent and everything.

As they reached the end of the walkway to the street, Meena quietly spoke up. "Um, Ash? Do... do you want my share? I mean you could probably use it more and-"

"Nope." The porcupine answered confidently as she walked by the pig family's mailbox. Once underneath it, she hopped up and grabbed the handle with one hand, her weight pulling it open. Dangling for a moment, she chucked her payment in with the other hand, then plopped down and went to wait by the car for Johnny to unlock it.

Her friends watched with interest. An amused grin spread on Johnny's face and he chuckled. "Works for me." He tossed his share in as well with Meena happily following suit and flicking the mailbox closed with her trunk.

As Johnny went around the car to unlock it, Meena spoke up hesitantly. "Sooooo... can I maybe have my hoodie back?"

Ash felt her grip on the fabric tighten. She found herself reluctant to give up her warm, sleep-provoking, cloth cocoon. "Nope. Still need it." She stated blankly, trying to fight off a yawn as she leaned heavily on the closed car door.

This took Meena surprise. "For what?" She puzzled. "Isn't it way too big to be useful to you?"

"Imma superhero..." The small mammal mumbled drowsily and lost her battle with a yawn that nearly cracked her jaw.

"She's got a point," Johnny chimed in once he got the car doors unlocked. "Can't go bein' a superhero without a cape. It's just unprofessional." He reasoned in a mock serious tone. This earned his an exasperated glare from Meena.

"You stay out of this." She pouted, her words lacking any harshness and only caused the gorilla to put his hands up in a halfhearted mock surrender.

With a bit of struggle (and maybe some assistance from Meena), Ash managed open the car door and heave herself up on the seat. "Besides," she huffed out. "I look cuter with this." The porcupine pulled the hoodie tighter around her and cocked an eyebrow at Meena. "And you look cuter without it."

Meena froze halfway in the car, her face turning pink. "Th-that's not true!" The elephant sat rigidly in her seat, sudden made aware how exposed she felt without her shapeless hoodie to hide in. Her arms gently wrapped around herself as if to conceal her bulky body.

"Sure it is! Right, Johnny?" Ash was unfazed by Meena's flustered behavior and casually turned to Johnny for support.

The gorilla looked up wide-eyed from the ignition, clearly confused as to why he was being called upon for this. He looked between an expectant Ash and shy Meena before giving them both a sheepish smile. "I thought I was suppose t' stay out of this."

"Wuss." Ash rolled her eyes and looked through the windshield.

"Okay, fine. Ya' both pretty always. Bette'?" Johnny smiled as he gunned the engine to life. "Cop out." Ash smirk as she watched the elephant out of the corner of her eye and saw her large friend's face grow deeper and deeper with color. She heard Johnny give a tired sigh and Meena cut in before he could continue his back and forth with Ash.

"You can hang on to the hoodie for a bit if you promise to stop talking and go to sleep!" Meena was too easily flustered to let this continue. She just wasn't use to or knew how to handle being called cute. And Ash knew it.

Ash's smirk grew. Score. She was happily curled up in warm, blue cloth and snoring within minutes.

"Toldja ya' wouldn't be gettin' it back anytime soon." Johnny gave a tired, knowing smile. Meena just shrugged and returned the smile, too sleepy to think of anything to say back.

[singminibang]

We’re about to post the first story plus art of this mini bang. Stay tuned! ^^

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Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 7

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 7

Story Title: By Myself

Summary: He's all packed. He's got his ticket. He's got a place lined up to stay. He's more than ready to leave. Now all he has to do is get on that plane. Problem is that it's ever so slightly delayed. Stuck in an airport in the middle of the night, Lance wanders round the airport, taking in his final look of the sights and animals that make up this country before he leaves for good. But will a last phone call change his mind?

Snippet: “Lance,” she pleaded. “you’ll know no-one there. You’ll be all on your own. Is that what you want? I know you’re hurting right now but d’you think running away is going to change things? You’ve got a life here, you’ve got friends here, you’ve got-”

Lance’s grip on the phone tightened as his whole body tensed up.

“Go on. What have I got?” Lance growled down the phone.

“I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“That’s right! You shouldn’t have!” Lance was trembling now, his voice cracking with raw emotion. “She promised me! She promised me that she wouldn’t! And I believed her. I believed her with all my heart. All my stupid, stupid heart.”

Lance was physically shaking now. If animals had passed him by they would have thought he was on the verge of a fit. But there were none around to see the emotions ran rampant throughout his body.

“She couldn’t keep her damn word! She… she couldn’t keep her promise,” Lance said, his voice and body suddenly deflating. “I... I did everything for her. To make her proud. To show her it was all worth it.”

“She was proud love. She was so, so proud.”

“Clearly not proud enough.”

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Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 6

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 6

Story Title: Streets of Gold (6 times Buster showed he cares, and 1 time they repaid him)

Summary: It’s been a long time since Buster has had what he could earnestly call a family. So it’s not really a surprise that he’s a bit out of practice with the “care for and protect” side of things (though not for lack of trying). It can’t be that complicated right? When a member of the theater though, life is anything but mundane.

Snippet: Buster had never really had a family. Well, perhaps that was a bit of a lie. He’d had one once, long ago. His mother had passed away when he was quite young, and for years it had just been him and his father. But even he'd had to leave eventually, leaving Buster a theater, a legacy and a bit of a predicament. The young koala had never been interesting in settling down, his heart belonging firmly to the preforming arts, and he had no closely related family with whom he could potentially bond. As thus, he’d quickly resigned to the idea of spending the rest of his days alone, surrounded perhaps with friends and colleagues, but none he could truly call family. But then the performers came into his life, spurned by a desire to achieve that he couldn’t help but cultivate. Suddenly he was surrounded by people he’d put anything on the line for, even his precious theater, in order to protect. And they, though certain ones tended to deny it, would do just the same. It was an odd group, rag-tag and coming from all walks of life, but he loved them. Although you’d never hear him say it out loud, he’d found his family. So it was no surprise that, when Rosita stumbled in one morning looking like death incarnate, he’d immediately leapt to his feet and rushed to her side.

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Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 5

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 5

Story Title: Blind Date

Summary: Ash has been set up on a blind date that is quickly going wrong. Can the night be salvaged by the unexpected help of a good friend?

Snippet: Ash knew from the start this date was going to be a disaster. First off, the mother of Ash’s “date” had already gone ahead and made the reservations for a Tex-Mex restaurant and she hated Tex-Mex. She loved spicy food, but for some reason anything south of the border (or close to it) always left her feeling nauseated and would haunt her for the remainder of the evening. Second, her date’s name was Stewart and was not the most charming porcupine on the planet. In fact, she swore he was some sort of beaver with really strong hair gel. He dressed a bit like a stereotypical hipster, complete with black-rimmed glasses, flannel shirt covering a tee that had a T-rex playing guitar, and a stocking cap that fit surprisingly well over his quilled head. This was due to the fact that he suffered from chronic quill loss and every now and then, a few would quills would pop out and fall to the floor. But the absolute worse thing about this date is that Stewart hated anything mainstream, confirming Ash’s suspicious of his hipster behavior. Ash appreciated indie rock and even went to some underground bands while she was dating Lance, but she still liked current bands and singers. While trying to break the ice with Stewart, she had let it slip that Fur-Out Boy was one of her favorite bands, which sent him on a rant for ten minutes of how they became the biggest sellouts in all music history. She was ready to bail before they had even ordered their food.

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Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 4

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 4

Story Title: Broken Strings

Summary: While roughhousing in the theater, a few animals accidentally break Ash's beloved guitar. As a result, Ash thinks back to the day she received the guitar as a gift from a former special someone.

Snippet: Ash feels her legs cave underneath her, and she crumples to the floor in a heap. Her eyes are swimming with tears as she crawls over to the mangled instrument that used to be her beloved guitar. In her mind, she sifts through all of the memories and special moments she had with this guitar: her first gig, when she wrote her own original song, and her first concert... She sniffles, wiping her nose and sitting back against an amp, cradling the ruined guitar in her lap. The others approach her, a chorus of "sorries" leaving their mouths in a never-ending torrent, but she doesn't hear them. She only focuses on the destroyed guitar, and all the bittersweet memories it has woven between broken strings and splintered wood.

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Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 3

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 3

Story Title: A Push in the Right Direction

Summary: Sometimes, all you need is a push in the right direction. Sometimes, this push can be something unexpected, something like a yellow publicity flyer. For five animals who love to sing this flyer is what is going to change their life forever.

Snippet: Rosita loves to sing. She sings under the shower, she sings while working, she sings whenever she can. Singing makes everything better, easier. 

And she’s good. Everyone knows. Everyone in her family, that is. Even though her piglets and especially Casper make fun of her sometimes. But that’s okay. They don’t mean it in a bad way. They are young, and sometimes, they just don’t know what to do with their energy. It makes them say and do stupid things. Like climbing on the table and making fun of her. It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt much. Norman knows that she’s a good singer. Or so she thought. Oh, yeah, you were great, honey. Were. Past tense.

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Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 2

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 2

Story Title: When it Started

Summary: Jude and Meena's friendship is complicated; that is known to many. Jude may try to help their friend with their stage fright, but there are times when the jaguar can get too overprotective of their friend. Yes, Jude supports Meena throughout her life when hardships come, but the elephant doesn't know anything about her friend's life! But there was a time when this friendship was normal; a time when there were no mysteries, no harm done, no stage fright and when the friendship seemed like any other. So what happened? When did everything change? How did the hardships begin? The only way to know is to go back to when it started. (Additional notes: Jude is my OC, and they are a jaguar who goes by they/them pronouns)

Snippet:

    Meena zipped open her lunch box and placed it on the bench, pushing it closer to Jude. The young cub lifted their head up from the legs, hesitantly staring at the food inside as if it was some sort of trick. Meena gestured the food to them, saying “It’s fine. I’m not hungry anyways.” Jude reached out a paw cautiously for an apple, picking it up as if it was somebody’s most prized possession. They stared at it for a few moments; Meena could see Jude’s eyes start to water again. When her friend looked back up to her, she nodded and tried to give her friend the most comforting smile she could show.

       “Jude, I don’t know what happened to you and I want to make sure that you’re okay. But if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. We can save the singing for another day.” She spoke as gently as possible, attempting to calm them down. “Just know that if you want to talk to me you can. You are my best friend Jude, and I’ll always be there for you. I promise.” Her friend looked down at the apple again, staring at it in awe as if it was a diamond. To Meena’s relief, Jude finally smiled again, sniffling as they put down the apple. She could see more tears start to fall, making the calf worry if they accidentally said something wrong. As she went to ask again, the jaguar leaped across the bench to her friend and pulled her in for a tight hug. Meena was caught off guard at first, but did the same once she realized that Jude needed a hug. Badly.

       The two held each other tight for a long time. Within their friends arms, Jude finally let it all out. They cried, wailed and hiccuped, but Meena didn’t care. Meena could feel snot and tears fall on the back of the rainbow-polka-dot dress, but she didn’t care. The dress didn’t matter to her, the bullies didn’t matter to her, nobody else at the elementary school mattered to her. In that moment only Jude mattered; best friends are supposed to take care of each other after all. The calf gently rubbed her friend’s back, copying what her father did whenever Meena was crying about something. “It’s okay, I’m here.” She spoke softly, yet her voice was still slightly shaky. As recess time passed, the cub began to quiet and calm down, much to the relief of their best friend. After many strange glances over to the two friends came and went and recess was close to being over, Jude had finally completely calmed down. The two pulled away and looked at each other and, with one final sniffle, Jude gave Meena what she wanted; a genuine smile.

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[singminibang]

Sing Mini Bang 2017 - Story No. 1

(To make it easier for artists to look up the stories, we decided to put them online in separare posts.)

Story Number: 1

Story Title: 3 against 25

Summary: Just a sweet one shot of Johnny, Ash, and Meena trying to watch Rosita's kids together for a night. Johnny is natural great with the kids. Ash has some difficulty adjusting, but managed. Meena is used to babysitting, just not so many kids at once. Not much in the way of plot. Mostly just fun fluff.

Snippet: "There's plenty of snacks in the fridge, help yourselves. First aid kit is in the upstairs bathroom cupboard. Bedtime is at 8pm for the kids.-" Rosita spoke quickly as she went over information Johnny already knew. He had been staying with Rosita and her family for the past few weeks and figured the she was saying all this for the other two teenagers present.

On Johnny's right was Ash looking completely out of place in the family house and on his left was Meena in her signature nervous stance. "We'll be back by 11:00 at the latest. Call if you need anything." Rosita said right before she disappeared out the door with her husband, leaving the three teens in a house with 25 children.

"3 to 25. We got this!" Johnny said with more confidence than he actually had.

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[singminibang]

Artist Sign-Ups Are Starting!

Hi, everyone! ^^

The authors have been busy and sent in their story-information (title, summary, and snippet). Now it’s time for phase two, the artist sign- ups!

So to all the lovely Sing-fanartists out there, gather around! ;) You can find the story information here in this Google Sheet. 

When you have decided that you want to draw something for one of these stories, please sign up for this story here: https://goo.gl/forms/KszysoQFeViFS8jN2

After that, we’ll send you the contact information of the author and the two of you can work together to create something amazing. :)

Now, let’s get this started! ^^