Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lil’ Buddy was in the house’s toy room. A small room, but one where he’d experience all the wonders he could think of. Having a tea party with his animal friends? Walking across the lands for the hunt of the magical rainbow sea horse? Flying through the skies with a narwhal with wings? As uninterested as he was in those sorts of things, they were part of the anything could happen in here, as far as he was concerned. But right now, he was pretty preoccupied with stopping a meteor from hitting earth.

     “What?! The dragon doesn’t have enough power?!” He put on a voice, puppeting around one his narwhal plushies as if it was talking. “What are we gonna DO?! We’re all gonna DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!”

Buddy cleared his throat, going back to his regular voice. “Hmmm… We neeeeeeed…” His eyes scoured the room for yet another object to pull into his antics, spotting a colorful marble on the floor and rolling it back to the scene. “This! A dragon’s favorite food, theeeeee… Dragon Stone!!” He rolled it over to a long, serpent-like plush, rather reminiscent of his species, before picking the plush up and letting out a roar, puppeting the dragon before using it to hit a rather big rock with it, making the dragon let out various roars and growls, and triumphantly turning around to his plush audience. “And the meteor’s GONE!! We’re all safe now!!” Buddy heard cheering and clapping, but it wasn’t him playing pretend again, as it was coming from the doorway. He looked up to see his big sibling, a yellow inkling much, much bigger than him. He waved, excited. “Vee!! Vee!!! Did you see that?! Did you?!” He began jumping high in excitement.

    “Hell yeah, I did! Congrats on stopping that meteor, bud!” They cheered before crouching down as far as they could, being as close to his level as possible and their voice turning to that of concern and warning. “But I might just have another thing for you to save… And I’m afraid you can’t have any help with this grueling task…”

     “What is it?! I can take anything!” Buddy hopped over to them, landing before them and puffing his chest out in pride. “I’m super strong, y’know?!”

    “You need to save…” Vee hesitated, intentionally dragging it out longer than it needed to be. Buddy listened intently, before the inkling sighed, getting up. “Your food. From getting cold.”

    “Food?!” Buddy ran out, causing Vee to stumble back a little. As Buddy hurriedly made his way to the kitchen’s dining table, Vee followed behind him. The food was already laid out, a shrimp stir-fry, accompanied by various smaller sides, like fries or shrimp-stuffed pasta shells.

    “Sorry, I know we’ve had shrimp stuff a few nights in a row now,” Vee picked him up, placing him next to his plate while pulling a seat out for themself and sitting down. “I might’ve bought too much shrimp this week… That, and money’s running kinda thin, and I didn’t wanna have to borr-”

They were interrupted with the sound of a loud rumble from outside. The two of them snapped their heads towards the window. The clouds were dark as rain pounded on the glass. The two of them could hear the wind howl in their silence.

    “Huh, good thing I went out earlier, I guess.” Vee shrugged. “Buuuut… Would be nice to go on a little walk out there, don’tcha think?”

    Buddy nodded, taking a bite of his food.

    “You wanna take a look outside once we’re done? Y’know, splash in some puddles, enjoy the rain?” Now it was Vee’s turn to take a bite. Buddy nodded excitedly. The sounds of wind, rain, thunder and a faint TV coming from the living room filled the silence as they ate, the two of them enjoying the atmosphere it gave. It was surprisingly cozy for them, rather reminiscent of the time they spent back in their hometown, with all the roars and other miscellaneous loud sounds they’d hear throughout the week.

    “Hey, Vee?” Buddy looked up from his plate. “Why do storms happen, anyway?”

    “Hmmm, well…” Vee propped their head up on their hand, elbow against the table as they pondered how to answer. “Sometimes, the Great Zapfish gets real bored, so it decides to have some fun! …Whiiiiich results in aaaaaaall this. Or, that’s what I tend to hear. Some people say it’s because it’s real mad.”

    “Why??” Buddy asked, sounding concerned. “Did someone else hurt it too??”

    “I dunno, but it must be a big deal to it regardless.” Vee shrugged. “Wonder if anyone’s tried calmin’ it down?” They shoved the last piece of food into their mouth, stretching. “Either way, I think it should do this more often.” Buddy nodded as the inkling got up, stretching. “I’m just gonna wash up and then we can go, ‘kay?” Buddy nodded again, continuing to eat their food as Vee ran the faucet, sorting any of the dishes left in the sink into piles on the side as it filled up.

As Buddy finished his plate, he nudged it closer to Vee before jumping off the table, hopping all the way to the living room and onto the couch. He took the TV remote and pulled it to the middle seat, flicking through the channels before he saw a cartoon he liked. A show about a family of goldfish, two orange and two blue. As far as he understood from the visuals, it was about the kids getting into antics with their toys and imagination, with the parents usually playing along. Buddy sat there and watched, as flashes of lightning came by behind their closed curtains, accompanied with the rain pattering on the ground outside.

     “Alright, you ready, Bud?!” He heard Vee call out from the hallway. “Come get your coat on!” Buddy jumped down, shuffling his way into the hallway.

     “But I don’t waaaaaaanna wear my cooooooat!!” He whined, pouting as he watched Vee place a bucket underneath a leak in the hallway before walking over to a cabinet and opening a cupboard, which had a small coat hanging from a hook inside it, among other things relating to activities like sewing and felting. Vee took it out, kicking the door back shut and walking over to him.

    “I know you don’t, dude, but you gotta!” They said, crouching down to his level again and holding the coat out. “If you wanna go out there, you’re gonna have to put this on! You’re gonna become a little salmon popsicle otherwise!” Buddy crossed his fins and turned away from them in an act of refusal. “...Buddy.” Vee said, with a bit of faux annoyance in their voice. “Do you wanna go out or not.” The smallfry glanced back at them, before huffing and holding his fins up so the coat could be put on him. “There we go!” The inkling gently pulled the coat over his fins, before turning him around and zipping it up, pulling his hood up and booping his snout. Buddy let out a little “bweh” in response. “Alright, I’ll go find somethin’, hang on.” With that, Vee walked off. Buddy quickly ran back to the couch and sat down to continue watching his show as he waited. Eventually, they returned, having thrown a coat on and grabbed an umbrella. Buddy switched the TV off with the remote as he heard the jingling of keys of Vee unlocking the door, rushing out to meet them. They slammed the door open, stepping out of their house as Buddy followed, Vee closing the door behind him.

    “Woahhh…” Buddy always found himself enamored by the sights of storms. He couldn’t explain why, but all the noise and rain felt kind of comforting. He followed Vee as the latter put the umbrella up, holding it over the two of them.

     “Just stay close to me, got it?” Vee looked down at him while walking, with Buddy following as he nodded

The city seemed empty, with only the faint sounds of cars and sirens from a distance proving otherwise. Most people were inside their houses with the lights on, no doubt sheltering themselves from the weather save for a few jellyfishes out ‘n’ about. The local corner shop was still open, as it always seemed to be no matter what happened. The two of them could see a few people talking inside with the shopkeeper as they walked past.

    “...Did you fix Pascal the Otter yet?” Buddy piped up. Pascal was a red otter plush, one of his favorite plushes to play with. Recently, he got a tear on one of his arms.

    “Oh, yeah. He’s doin’ better now!” Vee reassured him. “It was just a small tear, anyway.”

Buddy let out a sigh of relief, as if this plushie was real. “Do you think he’ll be mad at me??”

    “What?? Mad?? At you?? ” The inkling laughed. “You’re pullin’ my tail here, why would he be mad??”

    “Well…” Buddy began, his voice full of guilt. “I hurt him! I mean, I didn’t mean to, but…”

    “Nah, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.” Vee began twirling the umbrella in their hands. “He’s your friend, right? I think he’d understand it was an accident.” Vee, of course, knew the plushie wasn’t sentient, but they figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a little imagination and play along.

    “...If you say so…” Buddy turned his head down as he shuffled along next to his sibling.

    “Oooo, hey! Look over there!” Vee pointed at a large puddle. “Last one to jump in it is a-” But sooner than they could finish the sentence, their brother already ran over and dived in, making a big splash. “..Ah, well. Guess that makes me a rotten egg or something.” They stepped a bit closer, watching the smallfry splash around happily.

    “C’moooon, aren’t you gonna join too?!” Buddy pleaded. “It’ll be fuuuuuun!!”

    “Nah, I’m too old for that…” Vee waved their hand dismissively. “Besides, it seems like you’re havin’ enough fun on your own.” Buddy stopped, folding his fins and pouting at them. Vee looked away, as if pretending to mind their own business before glancing back and sighing in defeat. “Fiiiiine, fiiiiine…” They walked over and jumped in with an even bigger splash, splashing a lot of it on Buddy, chuckling at his surprise. The two of them kept splashing around in the puddles they found as they walked through the streets.

    “Do you think we’ll see the Great Zapfish flying around tonight, like you said?” Buddy said hopefully. “Maybe we could ask it to give us a ride!!”

    “Ha, hopefully.” Vee shoved their free hand into a pocket. “Would be nice to say hi, wouldn’t it?” Buddy nodded.

Eventually, they found their way back to that corner shop, Vee hesitating as they looked inside thoughtfully. “Hm… C’mon, let’s grab somethin’ while we’re here!” And with that, the inkling scooped the salmonid up and placed him on their shoulder. They closed the umbrella and pushed the door open, stepping inside. As far as Buddy was concerned, this place was like a mini wonderland with all the food it had. The drinks, the sandwiches, the candy, the kid’s magazines that always came with colorful toys… He looked around as Vee scoured the shelves for whatever they were looking for. He didn’t know what anything said, but there was no doubt in his mind that everything tasted delicious to him. He wasn’t really paying attention to what his sibling was grabbing besides things like bread, ham and cheese as he was too distracted by everything else. Eventually, they went to check out. Vee and the shopkeeper, a nice crab lady, started talking with each other, in a language Buddy didn’t really know besides it being the one locally spoken here. All the items were placed in a bag and paid for before the two of them left, with Vee opening the umbrella again as they continued walking.

    “What did you get??” Buddy asked.

“Eh, just the usual.” Vee responded. “Bread, cheese, ham, butter… Some chips, drinks, chocolate bars, cookies… I also got you some of those cheese and onion goldfish crackers you like.”

Buddy gasped in excitement. “Really?!”

    “Yep, that should tide us over ‘til tomorrow.” Vee assured.

“Thank you!!” Buddy cheered, his tail beginning to wag. The thunder roared as the wind howled as they made their way back home.

They walked over to their door, Vee pulling out their keys and unlocking it, pushing it open as Buddy jumped inside while his sibling shook the water off their umbrella and followed suit. They propped the umbrella against the wall and placed the bag of food on the dining table.

     “A’ight, let’s get that coat off!” Buddy came running as they crouched down, unzipping his coat and taking it off of him. “Yeesh, you’re soaked… Hang on.” They grabbed a hand towel off of the counter, wrapping it around him and drying him off before giving him a squish. “There we go! Aaaaaaaand…” They got back up, rummaging through the bag before pulling out a box of goldfish-shaped crackers and grabbing a small bowl, pouring them into it. “Go sit down, I’ll bring it in.” Buddy did as he was told, running back to the couch and turning the TV back on. Vee took their coat off and hung it up on the coathanger before making some sandwiches for themself, quickly drying themself off with a bigger towel before bringing everything into the living room.

     “So, you wanna keep watching that show?” They took a seat next to him as Buddy found what they were planning to watch. “Y’know, I still don’t get what you see in it, but it’s probably just me being too old.”

    “You’re the one who cries after it for whatever reason!” Buddy retorted, blowing a raspberry at them.

    “Well- I- …” The inkling grumbled in defeat as Buddy put on the episode they were planning to watch.

The two of them sat there, watching and talking as the storm raged on outside.

Vee had to admit, playing around like a kid today was fun. They should probably do that a bit more, especially if it makes their brother happier.