Work Text:
Shelly was sitting in the main living room, the TV was on, playing a cartoon about dinosaurs riding a train. Despite loving the show she wasn't really paying much attention to it, instead her mind was captivated by something else. Something much more interesting, a dino themed coloring book she had in front of her. Crayons were scattered all around her, a stuffed Protoceratops was tucked in her arms, and a pacifier was comfortably in her mouth.
There wasn't much of a reason for Shelly to hide her regression, not really. No one cared in general about age regression at Gardenview, plus no one noticed her to begin with anyways. All the other toons were gone to do.. Something, lots of different things probably since she watched them all break off into groups. Barely noticing her when she had joined them in the living room earlier that day.
Tears started to sting in her eyes. She tried really hard to not think about it, really really hard.
Shelly whined quietly, rubbing her face against her Protoceratops. Trying to shove all the reminders and memories that no one really liked her in the far back of her mind. Instead, trying to remember everything that made her smile, her favorite dinosaur facts, how she didn't have to fight for control of the tv. Tried convincing reminding herself how she was actually very happy on her own and really preferred it.
At some point Shelly began to feel the presence of someone standing in front of her. Cautiously she peaked out too look, was surprised to see Shrimpo when she moved the stuffed dino away from her face.
Normally Shelly would be scared, lots of toons have said she should always be afraid of shrimpo. He was a meanie and a bully -- but he didn’t look angry or anything. Shrimpo's usual angry expression was flat and unreadable, and his hands were shoved in his hoodie pocket. And he just.. Looked at her. Not saying or doing anything, just watching her trying not to cry in the middle of the living room.
For several minutes both just stared at each other until Shelly got the courage to speak up, “ Um.. ‘impo?” words mumbled behind her pacifier.
Shrimpo blinked, like he just snapped back to reality. His eyes moved to stare at the floor as he shifted in place from foot to foot, as if he was nervous. “ Uh.. Hey Shelly.. whatcha doing..?”
Shelly sat up a bit straighter, “ oh um, jush coloring…”
“ Cool.. Can i-uh join you?” Shrimpo mumbled sheepishly, as if he was hoping Shelly hadn't heard him.
Except she absolutely did, and Shelly's eyes lit up, scooting over immediately, patting the floor besides her. “ ‘of course! I gots lots of different Dinos you can color!!”
Shimpo just nodded and sat next to her, hands still tucked in his pockets and hesitant to do much more. Shelly didn’t mind though, no she was much more preoccupied with flipping though her coloring book to find the perfect dino for him to color. Eventually landing on a page, ripping it out and presenting it to Shrimpo.
For a moment he just stared at it, “ what.. Is it?”
Shelly managed to light up even more.” Its a Ichthyosaurs!” she explained, “ Whish isn' a dinosaur, but it's still really cool! Its a extinct group of exotic reptiles an its very fishlike in its look an-!”
While Shelly continued to ramble about dinosaurs and not dinosaurs, both started coloring. Shrimpo was really slow to actually start, lazily coloring not caring if he wandered outside of the lines, at some point though he started focusing much harder on his coloring. Carefully deciding and debating what crayons he would use, and trying very hard to color inside the lines.
Shelly continued to babble and ramble as they colored, each grabbing a new page once they finished.
At some point, during a pause in her conversation, Shelly looked at Shrimpo. He had begun chewing on one I'd his sleeves and was hugging a bear to his chest she didn't remember him having. Shrimpo was so focused on coloring too, but was struggling to hold the crayons properly. It felt… Familier…
After a minute of debating about saying anything, Shelly decided to just go for it. “ Hey ‘impo?” She mumbled.
“Hmm..?” he was barely paying attention to her, but it was different then how people usually would. He was just super super focused on his coloring. Shelly understood.
“ you.. shmall?” The question made Shrimpo pause, clutching His bear lightly. He looked.. Almost scared, definitely conflicted.
“Uh..” Shrimpo began slowly, making a point to not look at Shelly. It took him a good minute to finish his thought, “ yeah.. I guess so…”
“ oh ok!” Then Shelly simply went back to coloring. After a moment shrimpo relaxed, more relaxed than before, comfortable even.
…
“ ‘impo?”
“ Yea..?”
“cn'n we color like this all da time?”
“.. yea, sure Shelly”