“Bee!! Swim!!”
Apologies but twisted shelly pronouncing vee as bee popped in my mind and it wont leave...srry lol
(drabble on the caretaker of twisteds au by @cupcakewebkinz! This au completely belongs to them and you better drop everything ever and go check em out rn or something)(if u want)(which you should lol)
Kai u broke me
I needed to fluff
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It started with a box. Big. Cardboard. Mysterious
On the front, a neon sticker that screamed: “TO OUR FAVORITE GALS. STAY COOL—Love, Shanon & Veronica”
Vee stared at it. Shelly sniffed it. It sloshed.
“…It’s wet in there” Vee whispered, backing up.
“B...box… b-breathin’...” Shelly mumbled.
They opened it with salad tongs. Inside? A massive inflatable pool set.
Shanon and Veronica were already outside, getting ready to set it up with matching visors, matching drinks, and the goofiest grins plastered on them both. (Matching, of course)
. . . .
Later..…The pool was filled. Cool water, crystal clear. Duck float spinning gently like it was planning something
Vee stood at the edge, suspicious. “I don’t like this. I can’t like this. I’m 70% wires and sass. I get in, I fry”
Shelly clung to a towel like a blanket, staring at the pool with huge eyes.
“N-no. Uh-uh. Nuh-uh. C-can’t”
Veronica flopped on a lounge chair. “You can. You will. You’re both going in”
“No!” Vee shouted. “I like dry! I like being alive!”
Shelly’s claws flexed. Her toes inched closer to the water- Shanon crouched next to her. “We’ll go slow, honey. You don’t have to dive.. Just… try, ok?”
Shelly’s mouth twitched. Her eyes were wide. But she nodded, and stepped in
One foot. Then the next. Stopped. Shaking.
“Sh-Shan… legs. Float weird. F-feet… w-wobbly”
“You’re okay,” Shanon said, holding her hand. “You’re doin’ good” ..Shelly’s breath hitched. She stepped deeper. Water to her knees. Her thighs. Her chest.
Then—She let go. Arms out. Flailing. Kicking wild, and then-
“HUFF—HH—BEE!! BEE—!!”
Vee ran to the edge in panic. “BEAN??? YOU OKAY?! YOU DROWNIN’? YOU VIBRATIN’? YOU MELTING?!”
But then she heard it. Laughter. Watery. Breathless. (Bit of a growl even but oh well it was cute)
“B-BEE!!” Shelly cried, flapping in half-paddles. “L-LOOK!! I—I—SWIM!!”
Her words were jagged. Her joy? Explosive. Vee’s mouth dropped.
“You’re—Bean, you’re—holy—YOU’RE DOIN’ IT!!”
Shelly kicked in clumsy loops (flopping towards the pizza float like a possessed seal)
“SWIMMIN’!!! ME!! W-water!! L-look!!!”
Shanon clapped from the side. Veronica screamed “YAAAAY!” from her lounge chair
Vee just grinned like her circuits were gonna pop. “YOU’RE AMAZING!!”
Shelly sputtered water, turned in a crooked circle, shouted. “L-like fish!!! Like... soggy dog!!! LOOK, BEE—LOOK!!”
“I see you!!” Vee beamed. “YOU’RE A WHOLE TIDAL WAVE!!”
“BETTER’ N O-OCEAN!!” Shelly giggled, kicking her leg into the air and immediately sinking an inch
Veronica leaned over- “What about you, toaster girl?” Vee flinched. “I—I’m still thinking about it.. I gotta waterproof my self first.”
Shelly swam in a weird Z shape toward the duck float. “BEE. D-duck. Safe.”
“you mean pamela the inflatable duck?”
“Yuh. Pam duck. T-trust...”
Vee sighed. “…..Fine. Fine. For pamela”
. . . .
---Five minutes later…Shelly was clinging to Pamela like she was her soulmate. Vee was laying across the pizza raft like a soggy dog.
Shelly was still flapping around with wild joy, yelling out in her jumbled, proud voice: “Swim!! B-bee, swim!! I—I goin’ fast!! See??”
And Vee?
....well..
SPLASH
. . . .
Vee went under for the third time in ten minutes. Flailing limbs. Wild sparks
Shelly dived after her- Grabbed Vee’s floaty arm band by her teeth, and yanked her up like a soggy cat.
Vee surfaced with a wheeze. “BlubBB—cough—IM- IM ALIVE?????”
Shelly snorted, swimming backwards with perfect form-“Y-you sink. A...a-again.”
“I’M A ROBOT! I’M NOT BUILT FOR BUOYANCY!” Vee cried, clawing her way back onto the pizza raft like it owed her money. “I’ve got the same water resistance as a toaster!”
Shelly shook water from her head- “Still. B-bad form”
Vee gasped.
“BAD?!”
Shelly floated next to her smugly, making lazy little circles. Then, she leaned in close, nose crinkled in fake concern.
“B-bee… you… uh…”
She blinked. Thought.
“…n-never… learn… swim?”
Vee froze. Looked around. Realized everyone was watching.
. . .
“…I CAN NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY—”
“OH MY GOD.” shanon screamed from the poolside. “YOU NEVER LEARNED?! VERI NEVER TAUGHT YOU???????”
Vee covered her face. “I WAS BUSY BEING A GIRL GENIUS, OKAY?! I LEARNT HOW TO TRIPLE FLIP ONTO STAGE WHEN I WAS SIX!!!”
Veronica only nodded calmly. "Yeah. Remember that animation on the tv where she did that? I taught her that on a tuesday"
Shanon nodded in acceptance "hm, oh yeah, neat"
Meanwhile Shelly blinked once. Then started paddling backward again, slow and smug.
“....Sad”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘SAD’?!” vee shot up-
Shelly’s grin grew sharp. “Y-you need… leson. P..pro teach”
Vee narrowed her eyes. “You just learned how to float with dino legs this morning!”
“Yuh” Shelly said proudly. “And now am… pwo.”
She ducked under, popped back up with both arms out like a sea wizard. “Watch!! Paddle!!! p-pro tech-nik!!”
She started kicking in exaggerated, flailing, but somehow graceful strokes
“Leg. Wiggle-wiggle. Arm—s...splashy. Chin? Up. NO snortin’ woter.”
Vee stared, halfway impressed.
“Okay. That was actually kind of—”
(Shelly splashed her straight in the face)
“LESON WUN!!!” shelly barked. “Stay float. N..no scream. NO DIE”
Vee listened. Like she was actually taking notes.
“Leson TOO!!” Shelly dunked herself dramatically, popped back up. “no fight woter. W..woter… hug. Woter… big sof monster. Be fren”
“Okay. That one sounds fake but poetic”
Shelly grabbed Vee’s hand and tugged her off the raft. “No mor float. Bee learn. Bee paddle.”
“BEE WILL SHORT CIRCUIT!” vee protested
“You fix self. L..later”
“THAT’S NOT HOW ROBOTS WORK!”
“Legs. Wiggle. Wiggle!” Shelly yelled, already positioning her. “NOW!!”
Vee kicked once. Then again. Then promptly spun in a circle like a cursed blender.
“…Am....am I doing it?”
. . . .
“b-bee.....you… no.
.. .
But proud.”
Shelly beamed like she’d just coached an Olympic swimmer through a thunderstorm though
And Vee spluttered beside her, going back to clinging to the duck float for dear life
