AN: Old fill for disney kink (2010), archived here. Written to the prompt 'Ken and Barbie are each other's beards'.
Golden Couple
/
"Look at them." Twitch nudges Stretch and nods to the other side of the room. "You have to admit they're pretty cute."
Stretch peers across the daycare centre's floor where, lit by a thin shaft of moonlight, Barbie and Ken sit at a table, shifted clumsily out of the Dream House kitchen and dressed up with a makeshift tablecloth. They're engaged in animated conversation with another couple – a tall, sturdy Action Man and a petite Cindy doll – and the scene is that of a perfect double date.
Even as Twitch and Stretch watch, Ken leans forward, whispering something to Barbie as he rests a hand gently on her cheek. The pair stay pause like that for a moment, the other dolls at the table swirling the stems of their pink plastic glasses in their fingers.
Those of the toys who've ever considered pursuing romance hold Ken and Barbie in high regard, a kind of aspiration; living in the Dream House, spending so much of their time together, always smiling in each other's presence as though sharing some private joke. It's the kind of thing Stretch imagines for herself one day, if the right toy should ever come along.
Ken's hand now rests atop Barbie's on the tablecloth and she smiles at him, the pale light throwing her pretty features into sharp relief. So ordinary; a reassuring constant in the day to day chaos that comes with life at Sunnyside.
"Well," Stretch says finally. "We should probably leave them to it. Come on, we need to check on the pre-school toys."
"I swear, some of them have so much trouble keeping their accessories together." Twitch frowns. "Ken keeps them in order so well. Must come with having such an organised closet himself. Where would we be without him and Barbie, eh?"
"Yeah. If you can count on anything around here, it's our golden couple."
/
The doll sitting opposite Barbie sighs at the feel of Barbie's toes running along her smooth, bare calf beneath the tablecloth. Ken, meanwhile, utters a quiet 'whoops' as he drops something onto the floor; the Action Man opposite him blushes uncharacteristically as his boyfriend winks at him before dropping out of sight.
The four talk easily amongst themselves, enjoying the company and the date, but anticipating the end of the evening when they can retire to the Dream House, whose plastic walls Ken and Barbie sometimes worry aren't quite thick enough – but then again, who would listen closely enough to hear the sounds of four people instead of two? She doubts anyone even notices that her and Ken don't share the same bed.
Ken, resurfacing from the table, catches a glimpse of something in the distant shadows and pauses. Turning to Barbie, he leans in closely. "Don't look now, but we're being watched. Stretch and Twitch." Barbie makes to turn her head to the side but he moves his hand to her cheek to keep her gaze fixed on him. "Don't! They'll see us watching them watching us!"
"Do you think they suspect something?" Barbie's eyes flicker briefly to her and Ken's dates, who are also resisting the urge to glance over their shoulders.
"That wouldn't be groovy." Ken bites his lip.
"Just wait a minute. They'll probably move on soon."
Ken rests his hand lightly on Barbie's and runs his thumb over her knuckles; he feels the slight tension in his friend's shoulders relax and the four toys watch out of the corner of their eyes until, a few moments later, Stretch and Twitch seem to shrug to themselves and continue on their way.
When at last the two pairs of footsteps recede to faint echoes, the four at the table breathe a collective sigh of relief.