(Pardon the previous version of this chapter being deleted, the text within was meant to be a reply to someone else and I posted it as a story by accident.)
The days came and went, Brian and Gavin chatted over text. How life was, what their fluffies did that day, the idiot Karens that Gavin dealt with, etc. Soon enough, Saturday was here. Brain had reminded Cherry about what was happening on Saturday, and Cherry was very excited. Cherry was now old enough to roam the house on his own, since Brian had sealed up the old dog door and fluffyproofed the house. This freeroaming led to the alicorn leaping up onto Brianâs bed at 5 am.
âBWIAN! BWIAN! WAKIE TIME! CHEWWY GONâ MEET NYU FWIEND TODAY!â Cherry energetically squealed. Brian groaned and rolled over, folding his pillow over his head.
âItâs still dark outside Cherry. Back to sleep bud, itâs too early. Besides, the playdateâs not til 2 pm, remember?â Brian croaked, his throat dry. Heâd need to get up and drink some water before he went back to bed.
âUUUUUGH otayyyy.â Cherry groaned dramatically as he leapt off Brianâs bed and went back to his own. Brian rolled his eyes. Great. Heâd kept forgetting his fluffy was now in its teenage years. That meant sass and rebellion. Oh well, heâd deal with it the best he could. After grabbing some water, he fell back asleep.
He awoke a little later (It was still a little dark) to the radio playing by his bed. His alarm. He reached out to silence it and roll out of bed, but when he pressed the button it didnât shut off. He grunted and sat up a little bit, pressing it again, firmly. No reaction. âDammit.â He groaned. Heâd have to find out what the thingâs problem was.
Thatâs when he noticed the strange accent the radio station dj had.
âDa fowecast today am 70 degwees wif da bestest bweese evah! Su be suwe to-â
âDAMMIT CHERRY, go back to sleep! Itâs still not time yet!â Brian snapped. Cherry wilted and trudged back to bed, scowling. âWake me up before itâs time again and no playdate, mister.â Brian grouched. He rolled over and fell back asleep.
He woke up to the real alarm blasting music. He turned it off and got ready for the day. Then he went over to Cherryâs bed, where the little fluffy slept. âHey little guy, time to get up. Weâre going to the playdate in aboutâŚâ Brian checked his watch. SHIT. Guess his alarm really was broken.
â10 minutes!! Hurry and use your litterbox, you can have breakfast in the car.â Brian speedily said. Cherry shot out of bed, already fully awake. It reminded Brian of his own childhood, when it was easier to get out of bed and wake up for the day. He smiled.
Cherry hummed and sang along to the radio, one of Brianâs disks playing in the car. He tilted his head and moved his legs to the tempo happily, excited that heâd be meeting a new friend soon.
âLittle things remind me of you, cheap cologne and that damn song too!â Brian sang.
âDun put anothah dime in da jukebox, I dunâ wanna heaw dat song nu mowe!!â Cherry belted out. Brian laughed and kept singing. Cherry happily stuck his head out the window, smelling the fresh air. He smelled the leaves on the trees, the exhaust of the other cars, the hot asphalt. Ah, summer. He purred and closed his eyes, listening to the music and the world outside.
Eventually, they made it to Jellen Park. It had grassy hills, with a jungle gym. There was a tennis court, a gazebo, and nice tall, shady trees. Brain smiled. Heâd loved this park since he was a kid. Heâd come here for a few hours whenever life at home got too hard. It had a special place in his heart.
Finally, they arrived. Cherry excitedly âsqueeâed when he saw the other fluffy standing with Gavin in the distance. He yanked on the leash, tugging Brian along at a steady pace. Brian chuckled and walked faster, eventually getting to Gavin.
âHey, youâre here! Nice to see you again Brian!â Gavin exclaimed.
âHewwo! Fwuffy name am Chewwy. Wowie, yoo am taww! Nyu fwiend?â Cherry babbled at the lavender alicorn before him. The large alicorn smiled.
âFwuffy name am Switchy! Nice to meet yoo, nyu fwiend!â He wagged his light blue tail and held a yellow hoof out for a âhandshakeâ. Cherry grinned and shook it.
Later on, Cherry and Switchy were getting along great. They were playing red-light green-light, peek-a-boo, and other games. Gavin and Brian were sitting in the shade of a tree. Everything was going good until Cherry didnât want to share the pretty flower heâd found by the nearby pond.
âNu! Dis am Chewwyâs fwowew! Get yoo own!â Cherry grouched. Switchy sighed. There were no other flowers, theyâd been picked by other people. Heâd already checked twice.
âPwease, Chewwy? Switchy pwomise to gif it back! Jusâ wan see it anâ smeww it, das aww.â Switchy tried to reason.
âGu âway dummeh! Dis am smawtyâs fwowew! Keep askin anâ yoo git sowwy hoofsies!â Cherry snarled, rearing a hind leg back in the threat of a kick.
âCherry! You know better than to talk to other people like that! Come here, mister.â Brain glared sternly and started to stand up, but Gavin gently placed a hand on his arm.
âWait for it. Switchyâs more independent than you think.â Gavin spoke quietly, watching the scene before him. It only took a little more arguing back and forth; Switchy trying to de-escalate, and Cherry just throwing insults.
âDATâS IT!â Switchy snapped after Cherry tried to kick him. He was sick of Cherryâs blatant disrespect. They may have just met that day, but he had standards that he held others to. He ran over to a bush and grabbed a thin stick, yanking all the leaves off of it.
âWhatchu gonna do nao, dummeh? Yoo gonâ shove dat stick up yoo-â Cherryâs insult cut off when he saw Switchy stalking up to him, stick in his mouth. His eyes widened. Oh, no! He sped off, flower forgotten. He knew exactly what Switchy was up to.
âWha- Get back hewe!â Switchy sped off too, chasing the red alicorn around the grassy shade. Brian snickered at the scene before him; 2 fluffies chasing each other around in circles, the red one yelping whenever the other gained on him. Eventually, Cherry got too tired and began to slow down against his will. Switchy, having a larger build, caught up to him quick and whipped his head to the side, sending that stick across Cherryâs flank once hard.
WHAP!
âOWWIES!â Gavin and Brian did their best not to laugh as the scene went on, Switchy holding Cherry down and gently whapping him all over with the stick. He wasnât hurting him at all at this point, just scaring him a bit and showing him who was boss. The gentle bap bap bap sounds and Cherryâs drama-queen reaction nearly made Brian wheeze.
âOTAY! OTAY! AM SOWWY! CHEWWY BE NICE TO NYU FWIEND!â Cherry yipped, hiding his head from the gentle taps of the stick. Switchy tossed the stick to the side, nodding approvingly.
âGud, dats bettah. Swichy fowgib yoo. Wanâ pway nao?â Switchy leaned down to Cherryâs level. He crept closer with a worried expression when Cherry continued hiding, dead silent.
âTAG! Yoo it!â Cherry suddenly booped Switchyâs nose, startling him. Switchy laughed at Cherryâs harmless trick and gave chase as Cherry sped off again.
Brain and Gavin spent time at the gazebo chatting about their lives, recent events, and pretty much anything. Cherry and Switchy spent time playing tag until they dragged their humans into a game of hide and seek. However, they had to quit the game when Brian got too into it and fell out of a tree.
âOW! Dammit!â Brian yelped. Gavin ran over with the 2 fluffies, worried.
âBwian hab huwties? Why Bwian cwimb twees?â Cherry asked, shocked. Heâd never seen anyone climb a tree before, he didnât know that was possible! It was so cool!
âDamn dude, you alright?â Gavin asked, bending down and offering a hand to help Brian up. Brain muttered âthank youâ as he grabbed the hand and hauled himself up.
He brushed himself off. âYeah, Iâm alright. I probably shouldnât be climbing trees if Iâm gonna fall on my ass, huh?â He joked. He and Gavin laughed, not noticing Cherry gazing at the tree.
âHmmm. Chewy wanâ twy to cwimb twee! If Bwian can cwimb, den so can Chewwy!â The red alicorn thought. While Switchy was occupied talking to Brian about this and that, Gavin popping into the conversation, Cherry wandered over to the tree.
He jumped up onto a large knot low on the tree. Then, he crouched, wiggled his butt like a cat about to pounce, and leapt up to a low branch, scrambling up. He kept leaping from branch to branch, only stopping when he happened to look down. He yelped, and called out for help. âBWIAN! SWICHY! NICE MISTAH GAVIN! HEEEEWP!â
Brain looked over, and nearly had a heart attack. He clutched at his hair, eyes wide. He and Gavin zoomed over to the tree just as Cherry began to slip.
Swichy ran over, faster due to his four legs and the fear for Cherry. Cherry landed on him with an âOOFâ. Switchy slowly got up, wobbly from the other fluffy falling onto his back. Brain and Gavin made it over, panicking.
âMy god, are you two okay?!â Brian exclaimed. He knelt down, looking the two fluffies over for injuries.
âSwitchy am otay⌠Just a widdle bwuised. Chewwy otay?â Switchy looked over at the red alicorn that was sitting on the grass shivering.
âC-C-Chewwy otayâŚâ He whimpered. âS-ScawyâŚâ
Brian scooped up his alicorn, glaring at him a bit. âYou need to be more careful mister, you could have gotten seriously hurt. Itâs a good thing Switchy was here to catch you, or youâd at the very least have a broken bone! Now listen to me, little buddy; Do as I say, not as I do. Sometimes I might make a bad decision, like climb a tree and fall out of it. Donât ever do that again, you hear me?â He scolded.
âHuu, Chewy sowwy! Nu do dat nu mowe, pwomise!â Cherry sniffled, feeling guilty.
âHey guys, this actually seems a bit like a dangerous place for a fluffy to be. How about we take this to my house?â Gavin offered. He knew it was a bit soon to invite him over since this was the very first playdate, but he wanted the fluffies to stop putting themselves in danger.
Brian glanced around. The more he looked, the more he noticed. People walked large dogs up and down the paths. A redtail hawk circled overhead. There were still more tall trees, not to mention pools of water the fluffies could drown in. Gavin was right. Cherry was not mature enough to be trusted around a place like this. Brian gulped.
Cherryâd probably try to make friends with a dog, and the dog would probably play too rough and at the very least injure him. The alicorn wouldnât even notice the hawk, and he could easily drown in the ponds that littered the park. Theyâd have to move the playdate elsewhere.
âAlright, that sounds good. We only got here like an hour ago, so it would suck to take the fluffies home so soon.â Brian nodded. They got into their respective cars and headed out after Gavin gave Brian his address.
First chapter: Cherry And Brian, Chapter 0: Cherry's Backstory (Star-The-Alicorn)
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Next chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 7: Bonding (Star-The-Alicorn)