My commission piece for @cabeswaterlovesthem as part of @tfcfansgive!! The prompt was for the foxes visiting Disneyland, I hope you enjoy :>
Andrew startled just a little when Neil grabbed for his arm as they squeezed through the gates and throngs of small children.
“Stay close to me,” Neil whispered, his eyes wide with sudden anxiety as he looked around at the wide expanse of the park just beginning before them, and how so many moving bodies filled the space completely, the noise of them all like a solid wall pressing against them. He could feel his own heartbeat starting to gallop as well.
“I’m right here, no need for the dramatics,” Andrew replied after a moment, and firmly took Neil’s hand in his own. They clutched each other tight.
“Come on, you two!” Nicky yelled as he pushed past them, already grinning and bubbly with excitement. “Peter Pan first!”
“We’re gonna lose him if he keeps running ahead like that,” Dan sighed as she joined them, though she looked just as wired and overawed, eyes wide.
“It’ll be fine, we’ll just yell and he’ll come back,” Matt shrugged. “If nothing else, we can ask the staff to put out an announcement for a missing child.”
“I refuse to be the parent,” Aaron huffed, his arm curled around Katelyn’s waist. She scoffed and gently pushed his shoulder.
“Shut up, babe, you’re totally the parent,” she smiled. “Come on, I want to get in the queue before all the kids fill it up.”
Allison announced her presence with an overly loud pop of her bubblegum. She affected a cool disinterest behind her giant sunglasses, but she had a hat with Mickey ears over her glamorous hair, trophy of a previous visit. “Where do you want to go, Renee?”
“The Little Mermaid, I think,” Renee grinned, looking so much younger and even sweeter than normal in a sundress covered with princesses. Everyone pretended they didn’t see her pinky linked with Allison’s. “I’ve always loved that movie.”
“What about you, Kevin?” Matt grinned at Kevin’s stony expression. He’d been complaining the entire bus journey from their hotel to the park that they should really do the Hollywood section first, but everyone else had outvoted him for the Magic Kingdom and he was trying not to be too obviously sour about it.
“A rollercoaster,” he announced solemnly. “I want to go on a rollercoaster.”
“We just had breakfast,” Neil replied, confused. “Won’t you throw it up?”
“Not now,” Kevin sighed. “Later.”
“Right, well,” Dan said with her hands on her hips, “Everyone stay paired up if not in groups, and keep your phones on. We’ve got a reservation for lunch at the Chip and Dale place at one, alright?”
They huddled up, gave an excited roar of ‘Foxes!’ and peeled off into the crowd. Andrew found himself being tugged along after Renee and Allison towards The Little Mermaid, with Kevin shrugging and following Aaron and Katelyn in the general direction of Peter Pan after Nicky. Matt and Dan ran off towards the Buzz Lightyear place. Andrew clutched Neil’s hand tighter, trying to breathe through the anxiety and stress of being crushed up in a crowd and fighting to stay with his group. When Allison had booked their trip and the hotels, she’d booked for the very start of the summer holiday to avoid as many kids as possible, but there was only so much she could do when they were going to a park as huge as Disneyland.
This was pretty okay, he thought as they finally got into a seashell-shaped cart and it started moving along the track, lights low and music swelling. Renee and Allison were sitting behind and he had Neil next to him, hand sweaty in his own as the panels in the car began to glow. He could see Neil’s eyes, big and delighted and enraptured as the ride took them ‘Under the Sea’ and past the almost eerily fluid animatronics. He caught Neil silently mouthing along to the songs as he stared about himself in childish glee, a holdover from Nicky and Matt demanding he catch up on his childhood deficit of animated musicals, and he could hear Renee and Allison singing along shamelessly behind. Pretty damn okay.
Hours passed in a blur of crowds and rides that were a lot nicer than he’d been expecting, and a lot of excellent cake and ice cream and sweets in various themes to keep him going. Allison laughed and took pictures of everything, even when he got a blue mouth from some ice cream. Renee was queen of hidden details, finding neat little touches and references everywhere they went. Nicky was a yelling child in their midst, running up to the costumed staff and asking for hugs and pictures, ecstatic and in his element. He even caught Aaron and Katelyn grinning together as they rode the Dumbo ride, swooping gracefully through the air and laughing. Kevin seemed fascinated by learning all the trivia he could about the inner workings, more interested in how the park worked than the magic it was trying to show, but as long as he was happy then everyone was happy. Matt and Dan had the most energy, running to and fro and mingling with the fluid groups that broke apart and reformed as people went to different areas and rides, seeing as much as they could with a boundless energy.
Andrew was starting to tire by the time they’d watched a parade go by and all had lunch, and though he knew Neil must be running out of steam too, he was still trying to run on fumes and enjoy as much as he could. So when he turned towards a huge rollercoaster with a gleam in his eye, Andrew had a perfect opportunity to gracefully bow out.
“You go ahead,” he said. “I’ll wait here with some ice cream.”
He settled himself in a shady spot and watched Neil run off with Kevin and Matt towards the hellish-looking spiral of death. He occupied himself vaguely watching the crowd of exhausted parents and hysterically-excited children milling by, all so happy and cared for and valued. And when Neil came running back to him, breathless and wild-looking with his hair in an absolute mess over his shining eyes, and started babbling away about how awesome the ride had been, Andrew tucked their hands together and let himself relax.
