(This chapters' setting: Bonnie's house, a bit after Toy Story 3.)
Toy Story © Disney/Pixar
threads
(1: instants after)
1: introduction
Dolly was on the receiving end of an amiable smile from Buzz while Woody enthusiastically explained who they all were.
Rex little arms twitched as he grinned nervously; Trixie practically fell over in her enthusiasm to greet him.
Buttercup smiled as he finally saw a fellow equine, and he and Bullseye bumped snouts; the three green aliens gathered around him to admire his horn.
Hamm was greeted cordially by Mr. Pricklepants, completely opposite personalities blending surprisingly well.
Chuckles' normal morose expression shifted to surprise as Mrs. Potatohead happily grabbed his hand and smiled, Mr. Potatohead tipping his hat to the clown.
Jessie energetically bounced from toy to toy, stopping in front of the plush Totoro and mirrored is beaming expression.
The Peas withdrew shyly into their pod until Slink touched it gently, and they sprang out and startled him so much he fell over, laughing.
No matter how much they would go through together, no matter how many new memories that would be made—none of them would forget the first time they met.
2: dark
All of Bonnie's original toys had stayed on her bed when she went to sleep.
After the addition of Andy's toys, the girl tried valiantly to keep them all there with her, too. It was impossible, and when her mother found her buried under the pile they made, she was ordered to put them somewhere else.
She grumbled a bit, but eventually she eventually decided to perch them all carefully on the tea table.
After Bonnie fell asleep that night, Dolly and Trixie and the others snuck to it and asked if they were all okay.
Quietly, each of them spoke up. It was fine, more than fine—it was perfect.
(…and even if it wasn't, the tea table was a thousand times better than a dark toy box.)
3: helping
"…Why're you doing that?"
Buzz startled, hands jerking from the tape he was putting on Bonnie's little popsicle-stick boat. It had fallen from her backpack after she'd overenthusiastically tossed it aside, accidentally breaking into several pieces.
"Do what—" it took him a moment to remember the clown's name, so contrasting from his melancholy face. "—Chuckles?"
The clown pointed at the boat. "That."
"Fix it, you mean?"
"Yes."
He went back to pressing pieces together. "Uh. Well, why wouldn't I?"
"Bonnie could notice."
"I doubt it. Andy never noticed when we fixed the wheels on his cars and such." He glanced at Chuckles, voice more curious than accusing. "You never do it?"
"No. They—" he waved towards the rest of the toys clustered around one of Bonnie's coloring books "—don't do much that can get us caught beyond the computer things. I…I don't think about it much."
Buzz noticed the small waver in his voice, then thought of the 'repair station' in the Butterfly Room and his companion's Bonnie-stitched side. "Well. It's better than just leaving it."
After a pause, Buzz nodded respectfully and went on fixing the ship.
A few moments of silent scrutiny later, Chuckles carefully stepped closer and reached for the glue.
4: gather
"Slink, could you gather everyone up?"
It was said almost absentmindedly, but Slinky immediately perked up. "Can do, Woody."
It was a just a job to him before, he reflected, urging Totoro to wake up and herding the Peas to the meeting place. But they'd been so few for so long, it was so rare and so painful when he looked around for the others, finding fewer and fewer each time.
"Dolly? Dolly, where're you at?"
"Here, Slink." She waved from the top of the tea table. "What's up?"
"Woody's havin' a meetin'. Will you come?"
But now he had plenty of new folks to find, in a place that would keep them safe for years to come.
"Sure!"
And he was happy.
5: dealing
Maybe it was pathetic…but Woody couldn't, wouldn't stop.
Whether he was on the bed or on the tea table, the cotton cowboy slipped away every night. The others used to get unsettled, but they got used to it after the first few times—although they might've been becoming unsettled again. After all, it's been months…
All he had to do was mention that he was as happy as ever—happier, in fact, than he's been in a long time. He loves Bonnie as much as the rest of them.
Sometimes Buzz came with him, but not often. Trixie did the first few times, but after she knew he wouldn't break anything, left him alone.
He carefully opened the window and logged in to the messenger. Click, click, and there it was.
Andy's picture.
His hands hovered over the keys, just as always. After a time—ten minutes, an hour
(it was never the same but it felt like days and seconds at the same time)
—he shut it off, closed it down, and went back to where he was supposed to be. Where he'd chose to be.
(…It was the only way he could cope.)