The Talk

A Mr. Peabody and Sherman Oneshot

Story contains somewhat mild suggestive themes. Readers have been warned.

Mr. Peabody was not used to borrowing other people's stuff without permission, but today, he would make an exception.

He just needed to send an email real quick, but much to his dismay, he left his laptop downstairs in his office. He could just retrieve it, but Sherman's laptop happened to be lying around in the living room. If he could just do it quickly, his son might not notice. So the beagle took that chance.

He opened the laptop, logged in, and began typing his email with the speed his two paws could let him. After the email was sent, he couldn't help but notice that Sherman might not be home in another fifteen minutes. So instead of turning it off, he decided to explore the file explorer.

"Let's see what this boy keep inside his computer..." the beagle mumbled to himself.

The document folders were nothing much, just some stuff an average middle school student might have. Stuff like biology assignments, book reports, debate matters, and presentation materials. The music folder was mostly filled with artists Peabody knew nothing about, though he could spot some works of Mozart and Lennon.

The picture folder was slightly more interesting though. The boy seemed to be really organized in chronicling their WABAC adventures ever since he was allowed to have a camera phone. Everything was sorted nicely according to the dates of the events, ranging from the dinosaur age to as recent as the 1990s. They barely had any trips in the WABAC ever since Sherman enrolled in middle school due to both of them were getting busy and busier. So Peabody couldn't help but smile at the marvellous slideshow of photos that brought back memories.

Not all photos were related to time travel though. Some in the folder were normal things like 'Penny's birthday' or 'Science fair'. But what really took Peabody's attention was a folder titled 'Personal Stuff, Don't Open!' written in caps.

"What could possibly be so personal for me not to open it Sherman...?" The father grumbled quizzically. Peabody took a moment to think before clicking the icon. If he opened it, he basically invaded Sherman's privacy. But then again, Mr. Peabody was Sherman's father and the house had a strict no-secret policy, he practically had a right to open it.

Without thinking further, the beagle clicked twice at the folder. As expected, a text box inquiring a password popped up. Peabody was the one who taught Sherman how to secure important files, so basically it was a piece of cake for the dog to actually crack and open it. But Peabody decided that it would be easier just to figure out the password instead.

"Okay, if I were Sherman, what kind of password would I use?" At first the dog typed 'shermanrocks', 'shermanisawesome', 'shermanus' and 'red-hairedwonder', but none of it actually worked. The dog leaned back to gain more thinking space until an idea popped into his head.

"ShermanXPennyForever" Peabody stated it out loud as he typed it in the keyboard. But as he hit enter, he soon regretted the decision of invading Sherman's privacy.

"Oh my..."

Peabody looked at his fourteen year-old that was chewing mashed potatoes on the other side of the dining table. The dog tried his best to be casual despite the knowledge he received this afternoon. How could his son keep a secret that big? That thoughts alone already made the dog lose his appetite for the entire meal.

"And after Mr. Mali was sent to the infirmary, the rest of the period went empty." Sherman mumbled through his chewing. "Do you think that it's okay to pull a prank on a really lame teacher?"

Despite Sherman's direct question, Peabody didn't answer. He was just mutilating his portion of meatloaf into smaller cuts without eating it.

"Mr. Peabody, are you okay?"

"Uhh, I'm fine Sherman" the boy's second question finally broke Peabody from his train of thoughts, though he was still fiddling his fork and knife. "Please don't talk with your mouth full."

Sherman gestured a sorry and swallowed his food. "Are you sure Mr. Peab? You haven't touched your dinner. Do you need more gravy?"

"Not really, I ate a heavy lunch today, so I'm not really hungry right now." Peabody lied, but Sherman seemed to be buying it.

"Well, your loss..." Sherman stated as he finished whatever left on his plate. "Dinner was delicious, as usual..."

The fourteen year-old stood up from his chair and about to do the dishes before Peabody stopped him.

"Do you have something to tell me Sherman?" Peabody inquired, which made the redhead raised an eyebrow. "Any secrets you didn't tell me?"

"I don't think so Mr. Peabody, I tell you everything remember?" Of course, Peabody's not buying it now. His boy wasn't a six year-old anymore. He must have some secrets and occasionally told lies from time to time, even to his own father.

"Okay then..." Peabody hopped from his chair and began walking out of the room. "Now be a good boy and put my plate into the fridge."

"Sure thing Mr. Peab"

"And Sherman, after you are done cleaning up, please come to my room. I have something... we need to talk about..."

With that, Peabody left the room and Sherman didn't notice that he would be in a really big trouble after this.

The beagle was sitting on his desk, reading a specifically bookmarked page of a thick parenting book. He knew this day would eventually come, but to be honest, he was less than prepared.

He heard the door clicked open. "Ahh Sherman. Sit on my bed would you?" Peabody stated without even looking at his son as he closed down the book and shoved it into the drawer.

Sherman, who was still innocently clueless about the situation shutted the door with his foot and did exactly that.

Peabody gulped before turning his swivel chair around to face his son. Regardless of the lack of preparation, he needed to look as calm and confident as he could.

"Sherman my boy, do you know why I call you here today?" Peabody asked to start the discussion.

"Is my phone bill exceeding the limit again?" Sherman guessed with something that firstly popped inside his head.

"No, that's not why I call you here now."

"Then what?"

The beagle picked Sherman's laptop that was on his desk and moved to sit next to his son on the bed.

"Why is my laptop..." With that, like a thunder striking on a sunny day, he knew exactly what was going on. Cold sweat started to flow from his forehead as he gulped.

"You said that there's nothing that you don't tell me." He opened the laptop and turned it on. "This thing will prove it otherwise..."

The screen flashed on, revealing the exact condition how Peabody left it earlier. The secret folder was opened. And what was surprising that the folder was cluttered with pictures of girls, pictures which were entirely inappropriate. All of them were either wearing minimal clothing or nothing at all. Eventually, Peabody kept scrolling, which revealed more and more pictures, all with different subjects and poses.

What made matter worst, at the bottom of the list, existed some videos too. Some titled 'girls' night out' and 'happy days', and more titled inappropriately. Sherman was caught red handed with red blush covering his entire face.

"Now, do you have other things to confess before we continue?" Peabody shutted the laptop and set it aside.

Sherman, who was now crying, just shook his head and quickly sobbed to his father's coat, ignoring the fact that he was twice the size of the dog.

"Sherman, please stop!" Peabody exclaimed as his son continued crying to his off-white fur. "Sherman, you'll crack your glasses for heaven's sake!" Regardless of the dog's order, Sherman kept crying. So Peabody took off Sherman's glasses and held his chin to meet at the eye level.

"Now, I'll ask again. Do you have anything you don't tell me before we continue?"

Sherman just shook his head and wiped some tears on his eyes.

"Now, I suppose that you're gonna tell me that it wasn't yours. It belongs to a friend that just need to borrow some of your hard drive space..."

"Nope, it... It was mine..." Sherman sobbed.

Peabody sighed, with a deep pride forming inside his heart. His son chose the truth despite knowing that the truth would only get him into even deeper trouble.

"I never really expect you to be this kind of person Sherman..." Peabody jumped from his bed and face his son, who lowered his head in embarrassment. "Looking at your awkward nature, I thought that you'll not be reaching that stage of life until you are sixteen or so. Well I guess I was wrong..."

"I... I..." Sherman mumbled.

"You will be allowed to defend yourself when I say so. Now where was I?" Peabody stated clearly. "I know that you had 'the talk' a couple years ago, well it's time for another. Now tell me from the start..."

"I think I was eleven or twelve back then..." Sherman, who started to calm down, said. "A friend showed me some pictures at first... I don't know why, but I feel excited when I look at it. Next thing you know it, I used the internet connection in school to collect more and more..." Sherman bursted more tears and sobbed into his knees. "I'm a... hideous person Mr. Peabody..." His voice cracked as he said that.

Peabody sat down to his seat next to his son again and rubbed his back. "No, Sherman, you are not hideous, it is actually pretty normal..."

"It is?"

"Remember the last time when we talked? Your body is going through some serious changes, like your cracked voice, mood swing, and of course, attraction to opposite gender, or the same gender if your body decide to go to the other way. It was entirely normal."

Sherman just smiled slightly as he paid attention at his adoptive father's wisdom.

"But, that doesn't mean that collecting those adult pictures and clips justifiable inside this house young man!" the father stated confidently. "You have to learn that it was really disrespectful–"

"Disrespectful?" The boy interrupted.

"Disrespectful towards women," Peabody added while Sherman raised an eyebrow. "Now answer truthfully Sherman, in every videos you got on your computer, the women basically just do anything the man wants right?"

"Yeah... Sorta..."

"Well, it doesn't work that way in the real world Sherman, we have to treat everyone with respect, including women, and those videos you watched don't really give a good example do they?"

"Not really..."

"Well, because you already understand, I think that it's best time to establish some new rules. You cannot keep any of those kind of pictures. I know that we're living in a free country, but as long as you are living under my roof that rules will apply."

"Yes Mr. Peabody, I wouldn't do it again..."

"I'll also be scouring your room tomorrow to find any... printed material."

"No need. I only put those kinds of thing in my laptop–"

"I believe that I have more than one reason not to trust you today Sherman," the beagle interrupted harshly, and it really stabbed the boy's heart. "You have to learn that trust is something that is earned instead of given."

Sherman just nodded, he didn't need to answer. His father was just trying to make the boy learn something, even if it meant losing his father's trust for a couple of weeks.

"And because you're a growing boy. I don't think that I'll need to talk about... relieving yourself... so to speak..."

"What, relieving myself? Like peeing?" The redhead grinned, trying to act clueless about it.

"You know really well what I meant by that Sherman... Don't play innocent with me... Let's just say that you are... allowed to do that as long as I don't catch you doing it... and you are not using those pictures to do it either..."

"Seriously, I have no idea–"

"Sherman, I do your laundry everyday, not to mention that I'm a dog too. I'm pretty sure I can sense the slightest difference of smell in your underwear, or the tissue papers in your dustbin."

Sherman just blushed and bowed down. His cheeks were as red as his fire-engine-red hair.

"And the last, I need to take your smartphone and laptop, for precautions." The redhead's eyes grew wide as he heard this. He was okay with the other punishments, but having his phone and laptop taken really broke his heart. He knew that worked really hard to make his dad let him to have one, now it seemed that he blew all that years of begging and perfect scores with this small mishap.

"But what about homework? Or calls?" Sherman tried to relent.

"Feel free to use my computer, but you are not allowed to take it outside the house. And you'll be watched when you are using it. I'll give you a backup phone tomorrow, the one that could only text and make phone calls." With that the father opened his paws, gesturing Sherman to hand over his phone.

Sherman just grumbled, he fished his phone from his pants and give it to Mr. Peabody, who put it next to the confesticated laptop.

"You know that I only do this because I love you..."

Sherman just nodded and leaned down so that his head rested on Peabody's lap. The dog placed the glasses that he held the entire time on his son's face. Sherman who regained his vision looked at his father and smiled.

"Parents do great lengths for their children to make sure that they learned their lesson, you know, so they could reach... en-length-enment."

Sherman groaned at the putrid pun that could have come out better, and the father just chuckled in response as he tousled his son's hair.

"You are the lamest parent ever, Mr. Peab."

"I love you too Sherman." the dog looked down to his son who was stargazing to the nonexistent stars in the ceiling. His son was not a kid anymore and Peabody need to introduce him to the world, opening one door at a time. He could not just cope him in a censored environment forever. "If you are curious about anything, anything at all feel free to ask me before looking it down on the internet."

There was a pause before Sherman inquired, "do you think I'll be able to be a good man and will know what I'm doing with a woman?"

"I'm pretty sure that you will learn that as the time goes by, but not by looking at inappropriate stuff online. At your first time, I guarantee that it will be awkward and messy for both of you and your partner. But you need to remember that you have to be responsible for everything that will be caused by your actions. So I hope that you will be restraining yourself from it until you are way older, because you are... the most irresponsible person I know at this moment." Sherman flinched slightly at the comment.

"What will be caused by my actions and irresponsibility?"

"Well, you yourself is one of the example. I don't want you to make the same mistake as your parents did..." Peabody sentence ended with a mumble, as he fiddled with a lock of Sherman's red hair.

The adoptive son stayed silent and let it sink for a moment. He really hated his parents for doing that. But then again, it was because of them he eventually met Mr. Peabody, and let him live the best life a kid could ever wish for. Still, it's not justifiable to leave a kid in an alleyway.

"Just make sure that you will only do that with a person you really love..." the beagle added.

"How do I know it is the person that I actually love?" Sherman asked.

"You will know it someday, but here's a hint–It will be a person that you want to spend your rest of the life with... any person in your mind?"

"No, not at this moment." Sherman shook his head vigorously. The father knew it was a lie because Sherman's password told him otherwise. Just five minutes ago his boy was actually telling him nothing but the truth, and now he already lied again, but Peabody decided to let it slide for now.

"Marriage will be one of the most important and life changing experience in your life, so I tell you once again that you need to be prepared, responsible, and of course, with the right person..."

"Sure thing Mr. Peab..." With that, Sherman snuggled into his father's chest as he kept rubbing his son's back. As much as Peabody wanted Sherman to be mature, his son was still a little pup looking for comfort in his father's lap.

"You'll be a great man someday, and will be a great husband to a woman you love..." the father whispered, as the pride forming inside his heart. He was actually more prepared for the talk than he thought he was.

"Oh yeah Mr. Peabody?"

"What is it Sherman?" Peabody raised an eyebrow.

"Why weren't you married?"

"End of discussion." the beagle quickly replied as he felt his cheeks grew red. Sherman just grinned in response.