Dear Readers,

Heehee, just what we've all been waiting for...another DJ/Jenny oneshot! (everyone cheer) This is a random idea that has been tugging at me for a few days...so I've decided to write it. YAY! Everyone cheer again. I will be updating my other MH fic soon, so don't worry. And by the way, I know I never put disclaimers on my stories, so: I don't own Monster House. If I did, everyone who is dedicated to this fandom would be teaming up w/ me to force Stephen Speilberg? Robert Zemickis, and Gil Kenan to make a sequel.

Best Regards from a Bookworm,

Miss Pookamonga ;-)

and her muses: SUzy T. Blue, s a l l y b r o w n, and sub (Sunny Baudelaire--she can't exactly write her name yet) whom she loves although they constantly annoy her.

Suzy: HEY!

D.J. trudged home, feeling depressed. He hated school. Not because he didn't want to learn, but because he was constantly teased. Especially by the older, "cool" guys and by the cliques of girls who were going out with them. Today had been no different than any other school day. The minute he walked into the building, someone had spotted him and had started poking fun at him. He always wondered why certain people chose to believe they were superior to others and why they chose certain people to pick on. It wasn't fair. It was stupid, and he hated having to endure it every day.

D.J. wished that he had Chowder by his side right then to do something ridiculous and silly to cheer him up. But Chowder, unfortunately, was sick with bronchitis and would have to remain at home for another few days. Which meant another few horrible days having to brave through the insults and jeers alone. D.J. angrily kicked a pebble on the sidewalk in his frustration. It bounced across the cement and hit the white picket fence of the next yard. But D.J. hardly cared. All he wanted to do was go home, hug his stuffed rabbit tightly, and cry into his pillow like a baby. He didn't even notice the voice calling out to him until someone shook his arm roughly and nearly yelled into his ear.

"D.J., HELLO!" cried Jenny loudly.

D.J. jumped in surprise and looked up to see Jenny standing at the gate of the fence, smiling at him. He let out an inward sigh of relief and happiness. She was there, just when he needed her most. He looked up to the sky and thanked God silently for putting her there at that moment.

"Oh--uh, hi, Jenny," he answered somewhat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "What're you doing here?"

"This is where my bus stop is, silly," she said, rolling her eyes in amusement.

"Oh," said D.J., blushing from embarrassment. "Yeah, I for--hey, why am I on this street?" He looked around, suddenly confused.

"That's what I was going to ask you next," Jenny remarked as she tried to stifle a giggle.

"Dangit, I must've not been paying attention and walked too far," D.J. groaned, feeling depressed again. "Stupid me."

Something in his voice must have given away how depressed he was feeling, because Jenny asked, "Hey, D.J., what's wrong?"

"What? Oh...it's nothing," D.J. answered, waving his hands in the air.

But Jenny was not so easily convinced. She could see that D.J. wasn't acting himself today, and that something was definitely on his mind. He didn't usually seem this...sad...especially around her.

"C'mon, D.J., I know something's up," she said, looking concerned.

D.J. stared at the sidewalk, trying to avoid Jenny's gaze, and he shuffled his feet nervously. He knew he desperately needed to tell her what was bothering him, but he feared that if he told the whole story, she'd think it was silly. "No-no really, i-it's nothing. Nothing for you to worry about," he stammered, failing to sound more confident than he felt.

Jenny softly laid her hand on his shoulder. The small act made D.J. tingle all over, and he couldn't help but look up at her. "Look, if you need to talk about something, you can tell me," she whispered, her eyes growing wide with her increasing concern.

D.J. just nodded silently. He was trying not to stare at her eyes. They're so beautiful...maybe I should tell her, he thought, but he quickly shook his head and knocked the thought out of his mind.

Jenny was startled. "What? What? What's wrong?"

"I-it's okay, I'm fine," answered D.J., hoping that his face wasn't red by now. "Just--I was thinking something--oh, never mind. I should be getting home." He turned around to walk back the other way, but Jenny grabbed his arm.

"D.J., something's bothering you and I want to help," she said in a determined voice. "I am not going to stand here and let my friend walk home in this state."

D.J. sighed. He knew it would be useless to argue with Jenny because she always won. He reluctantly turned to face her. "Oh, all right," he muttered.

Jenny smiled sympathetically, hoping he wasn't mad at the tone she'd just used. He was obviously upset, and making him even more upset was far from what she wanted to do. "It's okay," she said softly and reassuringly. "Come on, you can walk with me to my house." She laid her arm across his shoulders for comfort.

D.J. grinned a little at the gesture. But his grin quickly turned to a frown again when he faced the prospect of telling Jenny the truth about what had happened at school that day. What if she thought it was stupid? What if she didn't care? Wait a minute, who am I kidding, this is Jenny. Of course she really cares. She's my friend. D.J. sighed again. She's my friend and I have to trust her, he thought bravely.

"You don't have to rush it," said Jenny quietly. "In fact...you don't have to talk at all...I just...thought I might be able to help you if...if you told me what's wrong." She'd heard D.J.'s sigh and was worrying that she was pressuring him too much to say something.

"No, no, it's okay," D.J. answered. "I--it's just that--I mean--it's kind of embarrassing." He lowered his voice to a whisper and hung his head.

Jenny smiled comfortingly. "That's okay. I won't laugh, I promise."

"I know. I...umm...well...it's school. The other kids are...well...teasing me...well, they always do, and I hate it."

He felt Jenny's arm grow tense. "They're...teasing you?" she asked in surprise. "And they do it all the time?"

"Yeah," he whispered.

Jenny clenched her teeth to keep herself from letting out her anger all at once. How dare someone tease D.J.! Her D.J.! The nerve of those bullies! she thought furiously. Cowards, picking on my D.J.! I ought to kick them in the butt! No, punch them in the stomach! Or both! She glanced over at D.J., who was hanging his head dejectedly and staring at the ground with a depressed look on his face. Her heart swelled with pity for him, and she wished that she could do anything at that moment to make him smile that cute, happy grin that made her stomach do backflips.

"What do they tease you about?" she asked, trying to maintain a soft voice, despite her anger.

D.J. bit his lip. Should he tell her? Of course he should. She was his friend, and she deserved to know. He took a deep breath. "Well...they tease me about everything--about the way I look, how I talk, how 'nerdy' I am and all that. But..."

"But what?"

"But...there's one thing they tease me about most...and that's what they were teasing me about today..." He hesitated.

"Come on, Deej, you can tell me."

D.J. took another deep breath. "Well...they tease me about...about my ears."

He winced, bracing himself for a bout of laughter, but Jenny stayed true to her promise and didn't so much as chuckle. "Your ears?" she asked, staring at him.

"Well...yeah! I mean, they keep talking about how big they are, and some people even pull on them when they walk by me. Some people go around school holding their ears out and saying, 'Hey, look at me! I'm D.J. Walters!' And then they all laugh. I hate it!" D.J. suddenly realized that his voice had grown considerably louder and that both his hands were balled up into fists. He let out another sigh and uncoiled his hands. "And they tease Chowder too," he said more quietly. "Because he's the 'fat' kid. I hate that too, but for some reason, he's better at dealing with it. I mean, he acts as if it doesn't bother him."

"Because he doesn't let it bother him," answered Jenny softly. "Why should he? And why should you let all those comments about your ears bother you? What does it matter what people say about your ears? They may be bigger than someone else's, but that isn't anything to be ashamed of! You were made like that for a reason."

"I know!" cried D.J. in frustration. He could feel hot tears suddenly begin streaming down his face. "But they don't stop! Today...today they said I look like...like a monkey!" He bit his quivering lip. He was not going to cry. Not in front of Jenny.

"You do look like a monkey," Jenny said.

D.J. looked up at her in surprise. He roughly pulled away from her and stared at her, looking very hurt. "What?" he croaked.

"A very cute monkey," Jenny finished, grinning as she reached out and took his hand in her own.

D.J. just blushed scarlet. "R-really? I mean--thanks," he said, his frown finally fading into a smile. She said I'm cute! he exclaimed to himself in sheer delight.

Jenny, meanwhile, stood looking at his smile, guiltily enjoying the backflips her stomach was doing. He really is cute, she thought to herself. Especially when he smiles like that.

"I don't see what problem they have," said Jenny finally, in a soft voice. "I like your ears." She blushed too.

"Y-you do?"

"Yeah--I mean, you wouldn't be D.J. without them," she said, afterwards mentally kicking herself for making such a stupid comment.

"Oh, well, thanks," said D.J., grinning wider. "And thanks for walking with me. It really helped having you there."

Jenny smiled back. "I'm glad I walked with you. I wouldn't have been able to stand it if I'd let you walk home all sad like you were before. Oh, hey, look! We're at my house already. Do you want to stay for a while? We can help each other with homework."

"Yeah, okay," answered D.J., "But I think you're going to be the one doing most of the helping."

"Oh, D.J., stop being so hard on yourself. You're smarter than you think." D.J. just grinned more.

The two turned to walk toward the front door of the house, but stopped suddenly when they realized that they were still holding hands.

"Uhh..." Jenny stammered, looking embarrassed.

"Jenny, can I ask you something?" D.J. said abruptly.

"Umm, yeah. What?" said Jenny, giving him a confused look and quickly letting go of his hand.

"Can I...kiss you again?" D.J. knew his ears had turned red, but he didn't care about them anymore. Not if Jenny thought they made him look cute.

Jenny smiled the biggest smile D.J. had ever seen on her face before. "Again?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him slyly. "May I remind you that it was I who kissed you the last time, not the other way around." She said nothing for a moment. Then she leaned her head toward him and whispered, "But I wouldn't mind if you kissed me now." She tilted her chin upward.

D.J.'s grin widened, sending Jenny's stomach into another round of backflips. "Okay then," he said softly. He then leaned in toward her and kissed her lips gently. He stayed there for a few seconds, then pulled away slowly with the ridiculous grin still on his face.

"Your ears are red," Jenny remarked suddenly.

"And?" D.J. answered, raising an eyebrow.

Jenny shot him a smug look and walked toward the door. D.J. followed, the grin on his face growing wider by the second. Boy, are you lucky, D.J., he told himself. Then he looked up at the sky again and thanked God. But this time he was thankful for his big ears.

A/N: Thanks to all you on the MH forum who mentioned D.J.'s big ears. You guys actually inspired this story :-) Oh, and by the way, Pluto is no longer a planet. Just thought you should know.