tim murphy & the nala to his simba.
baby tim deserves luv and appreciation 💗💓
he had no friends. tim murphy had no friends after jurassic park. he was a ten year old boy who was terrified of speaking to anyone in fear of what they might think of him.
that was, of course, until you showed up.
you hated to see people alone, your heart was just that big. you came up to him one day during recess and asked him if he was okay, and he said he wasn't. and that's how it began.
unfortunately, you talking to tim the weirdo was something that your friends weren't very happy about. so, soon enough, tim was also your only friend.
for a while, he felt guilty about it, because it wasn't like you had a small group of friends - no, people genuinely liked you in your grade. but he was so messed up that getting near him was close to dangerous.
you wouldn't dare to think of it like that, of course. tim was a lovely friend, and you loved spending time with him. people just didn't want to see it because it's always easier to ignore. you didn't like that at all.
and somewhere along the way, a movie came out, 'the lion king'. coincidentally, tim had been having a rough couple of days when the movie came out; it happened sometimes, the memories would get him too depressed and he missed a day or two of school and you, being the good pal that you were, would bring him the homework and play with him.
so when 'the lion king' came out, you thought that since he was your friend, it would be a good idea to try and cheer him up by taking him to the movies.
you didn't really think that movie was gonna be too much of a great deal. that's because you didn't know just how bad you two were gonna love it.
as soon as the movie finished, you two little human radios started with the talking and it never stopped. you had absolutely fallen in love with everything lion king involved.
your parents brushed it off and laughed because they thought it wouldn't last, a lot of things didn't last when you were ten.
but it went on. for months.
every time you'd see each other, it was automatic; you were nala and he was simba. you'd even call and refer to each other with those names sometimes! you'd also get funny looks from classmates (and occasionally, teachers) when you'd start jumping all over each other during recess just like the characters would.
but you didn't care, it was fun. and tim didn't realize it but it was the first time in a long time that he didn't care about what people said.
a while later, the movie came out on dvd and there was a copy of it in both households. every play date consisted on watcing the movie with a variety of candy and popcorn to choose from.
after a while, when you two had already turned eleven, you could laready recite every single word said in the movie, including the songs. everyone would think that after that, the movie would've lost its appeal but no. now you'd just play the movie and start jumpig all over each other on the floor. your favorite activity was to recite and play all the scenes with nala and simba.
of course, being the naive children that you were, it didn't really occur to you that since nala and simba ended up together in the end, it had to mean something else to you.
truth be told, you didn't know if you liked tim. you were still a kid, maybe it wasn't that serious. but you knew you loved spending time with him, and he made you laugh more than any of your old friends ever did. plus, you liked taking care of him in his bad days. it gave you a sense of accomplishment, and seeing his mood shift when you were with him was amazing.
one day, though, you were playing like you always did, it was a normal play date. tim and you would jump all over each other, as usual.
and then timon and pumba started talking about simba falling in love with nala and leaving them behind.
every time that happened, they jumping would kind of stop. they said that can you feel the love tonight was too slow for them to play. but for tim at least, it was different. it felt weird to be in that situation with you, so you guys would just stare at the screen. and sing, obviously.
but at some point, in the middle of the song, you turned to tim. "s-simba?" you called for him.
"yes, nala?" he turned towards you.
"do you think that... timon and pumba are right about us?" you asked, clearly using the lion king as an excuse to ask about something that was actually happening.
tim fell silent for a second, his cheeks turning a little pink. but then he just shrugged. "you're my best friend, nala." tim said.
"i know that, you silly pumpkinhead." you chuckled. "i'm just asking, though. they seem so sure about it so i wanted to know. do you think we're gonna, like... f-fall in love and all of that?"
okay, the mention of that word definitely sent both of your hearts racing. of course it wasn't love, at least not then, not with such a young age.
"w-well..." tim stammered. "what do you think?"
now it was your turn to freak out. what did you think? what could you think, right? you were only eleven. "i think..." you hesitated. "i think..." and you still didn't know what to say. or think.
"yeah?" tim encouraged you with hid eyebrows up.
you looked at him in the eyes. and your instincts suddently woke up and forced you to get on you knees and hands, just like nala the lion, crawl towards tim and lick his cheek.
"ew!" tim exclaimed, wiping the spit from his cheek. "why did you do that?!"
"it was a kiss!" you explained yourself, sitting back down and crossing your arms angrily.
"but lions can kiss like people, too!" tim pointed out, even though he was pretty wrong.
"no, they don't!"
"yes they do!" he insisted. "and i can prove it to you right now."
he got on his lion position and kissed your nose softly. you giggled. "it tickles." you said as you got on your lion position as well and went for a kiss on the nose as well.
but you definitely had miscalculated along the way because your lips landed right on his. you pulled away almost immediately and saw that tim's eyes were wide open at what you had just done.
"sorry." you blurted out. "don't tell timon and pumba, they're gonna be super sad if they find out." you said, keeping up with the game
tim let out a little breathy laugh. "don't worry nala, i won't tell." he smiled.
and after a few seconds of silence, tim felt like it was only right to jump on you and keep the playing going. you let out a loud laugh and went along with it, almost forgetting about the little incident.
a while later, the movie came to an end just like it always did. and as if on cue, your mother came to pick you up.
but before you left, tim held you by the arm as if to say 'wait up'. you looked at him in confusion. a deep blush appeared on his face and neck. "can i g-get another one?"
"another what?"
"another kiss." he muttered almost inaudibly. luckily, you understood him perfectly. he was accustomed to speak very low on his very low days.
you looked around at your mom and tim's parents who were just frowning in confusion. with that, you took tim's hand and dragged him to the nearest bathroom, not before yelling "be right back!" to your mom.
you locked the door, pulled tim by the shirt and planted another kiss on his lips. this one did last a little bit longer, maybe three seconds.
tim smiled goofily at you and your gesture. "thanks, nala." he said.
you blushed. "anytime, simba." you chuckled. "we still can't tell timon an pumba." you added, raising your pinky finger.
"gotcha. lips sealed." tim smiled as he intertwined his pinky with yours, sealing the promise.
