A/N: This story is set right after the episode 'Shutterbug Smurfs'. In it, Handy invents the camera.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from The Smurfs. They all belong to Peyo.
It was a beautiful spring morning and Vanity had just woken up. The day before he had been hogging Handy's new invention, the camera, but the inventor smurf had finally managed to get it away from him.
To celebrate Handy's brilliant invention, Papa Smurf decided that the whole village would take a group picture. It would be a great memory and later generations could see it too.
Vanity was really excited because he loved being in pictures. He couldn't wait to see his gorgeous face after hours of sleeping, so he went over to his big mirror. But when he saw his reflection he yelled in shock. He was expecting to see his usual handsome self, but he was horrified at what he saw.
On the right side of his nose was a zit. It wasn't huge, but it was definitely noticeable.
"Oh no! I have a zit! My poor, beautiful face is ruined! And tonight's the group picture! Oh, why me?" Vanity yelled in a very miserable sounding voice. "Well I have to do something! I can't let anyone see me like this! And I absolutely can't be in the picture with this dreaded thing on my face! I know! I'll go ask Smurfette for help. She knows all about cosmetics," he said.
He didn't want any smurf to see his zit, so he put his hand over it to cover it. Then he ran out of his house to go to Smurfette's. As soon as he got out of his house he bumped into Clumsy and they fell on their butts.
"Ouch! My smurf!" Vanity shouted angrily. "Why do you always have to be so clumsy?"
"Ugh, gee I'm sorry Vanity. Uh, say, what's that on your face?" Clumsy asked as he pointed to Vanity's zit.
Without realizing it, Vanity had accidentally taken his hand off of his face which was covering the zit. He quickly put his hand over it again.
"Oh that? It's just a mosquito bite," Vanity said nervously.
"Are you sure? It looks more like a zit to me," Clumsy stated.
"Oh all right you caught me! But don't tell anyone else! Please!" Vanity begged.
"Don't worry Vanity. I'll keep it a secret," Clumsy responded.
"Thank you so much! Now I have to get going," Vanity said as he got up and ran to Smurfette's house.
When he got there he knocked on the door really loud. Smurfette opened it and said, "Hi Vanity! How are you smurfing this morning?"
"Oh Smurfette! I'm in big trouble! You have to help me!" Vanity exclaimed.
They went inside Smurfette's house and Vanity told her about the zit.
"Aw, I'm sorry Vanity, but I don't have anything that'll help you. I'm all out of makeup," Smurfette replied.
Vanity sighed in disappointment. "Thanks anyway Smurfette," he said as he walked out the door.
He was about to go back to his house, but then he had an idea.
"I'll go to Papa Smurf! Maybe he can make a potion for me." When he got to Papa Smurf's lab he saw a sign on the door that said: "Do no disturb under any circumstance!"
"This is an emergency though! I'm going in anyway." He opened the door and saw Papa Smurf working on an experiment. "Papa Smurf!"
"Vanity, what do you think you're smurfing in here? I put strict orders outside the lab! I'm working on a very important experiment!" Papa Smurf shouted angrily.
"I know, but it's an emergency!" Vanity said.
"What is it? Is some smurf hurt?" Papa Smurf asked worriedly.
"No, it's even worse! I have a zit on my face! I was hoping you could mix up a potion to make it go away," Vanity explained.
Papa Smurf immediately stopped what he was doing and frowned, then went right up to Vanity. He was extremely mad.
"Are you smurfing me? You interrupt my work and waste my time over a zit? I don't have time to worry about something so silly!" Papa Smurf yelled.
"But the group picture is tonight and I can't be in it like this! Can't you just put off what you're doing for a little while?" Vanity asked.
Papa Smurf was outraged. "Vanity, get out of my lab this instant before I kick you out!"
Vanity ran out as fast as his little smurf legs would carry him.
He was really upset now. Smurfette and Papa Smurf wouldn't help him and the group picture was getting closer.
As he went back to his house he heard laughter. In fact, every smurf was laughing.
"What's so funny?" Vanity asked.
"Your face!" Hefty yelled as he pointed at Vanity.
Vanity gasped. "But how did you find out? My hand is covering it!" Vanity said.
"Clumsy told us," Hefty replied.
"Clumsy how could you?" Vanity asked angrily.
"Gosh, I'm sorry Vanity. It just kind of slipped," Clumsy said.
"You're gonna look really funny in the group picture tonight!" Handy exclaimed.
Vanity was so embarrassed. He ran to his house and slammed the door.
"This isn't fair! How could I of all the smurfs get a zit? I'm the best looking! And why does it have to be on the day of the picture?" Vanity asked himself. "Wait a minute! I bet Gargamel has a spell that will get rid of it. He's usually in the forest this time of day gathering ingredients, so if I hurry I can leave his hovel before he gets back."
Vanity went to Gargamel's hovel. Just as he had predicted, the evil wizard wasn't there. Neither was Azrael.
"I'd better hurry!" Vanity said.
After looking for a few minutes he still found nothing.
"Oh smurf is me! Why can't I find anything?" Vanity asked hopelessly. Then he saw a book he hadn't noticed before. "Yes! This book is called 'Beauty Spells'! There must be something in here."
He flipped through several pages until he found what he needed.
"Ah, here it is!" Vanity said excitedly. "Let's see. I have to get the ingredients and a bowl to stir them in. I need 4 mouse whiskers, a teaspoon of cactus juice, 3 dashes of paprika, and the wart of a wart monger. Ugh! What a disgusting mixture! But if it'll make my zit go away it's worth it."
He got the ingredients, stirred the mixture, and put a dab of it on his zit. It disappeared instantly.
Vanity took out his handheld mirror and looked at himself.
"My face is beautiful again!" He said happily as he kissed his reflection.
All of a sudden the door burst open, and in walked Gargamel and Azrael.
"Bah! I couldn't catch a single vile fish, and we're out of food!" Gargamel said angrily. "What will we eat Azrael?"
"Mrow meow!" Azrael growled.
"Wait Azrael!" Gargamel said as he sniffed the air. "I smell little blue happiness. There must be a smurf here!"
"Uh oh!" Vanity whisper yelled. "I better get out of here!"
He jumped down from the table he was on and ran for the door, but Gargamel spotted him and grabbed him.
"Ah ha! I've got you now you revolting little smurf!" Gargamel stated. "Now Azrael, we'll have a fine lunch of fried smurf!"
"Meow!" Azrael meowed as he licked his lips.
"No! Let me go!" Vanity begged.
"No way! I've caught you now, and I'm starving!" Gargamel said. He walked over to his cookbook. "Hm, there must be a good recipe in here somewhere."
He put Vanity in a locked up crate while he continued looking for a recipe.
"Azrael! Help me find a recipe!" Gargamel demanded.
Vanity was really scared. Tears rolled down his sad face.
"Oh why did I have to come here? I don't want to die!" Vanity sobbed.
"At last! I've found a tasty recipe!" Gargamel announced.
He opened the crate and picked up Vanity. He was just about to put him in a frying pan, when all of a sudden he heard the door open.
"Bigmouth hungry!" Bigmouth yelled as he stomped in.
"Ah! Bigmouth! I'm sorry, but I don't have any food," Gargamel said.
"Bigmouth want goodies! If Gargamel no give Bigmouth goodies, Bigmouth break house!" Bigmouth said angrily.
Terrified, Gargamel set Vanity down and raced to the cupboard, looking for something to give to Bigmouth.
Vanity ran out the door and safely made his way back to the smurf village.
"Vanity! There you are!" Papa Smurf yelled. "We're about to take the group picture. Where were you?"
"I went to Gargamel's to find a spell that would get rid of my zit, but after I was done Gargamel came back! He was going to eat me, but then Bigmouth came and Gargamel let me go," Vanity explained.
"You should never go to Gargamel's hovel! You know how dangerous it is!" Papa Smurf scolded.
"I know Papa Smurf. I'm sorry. I just couldn't be in the picture with a zit," Vanity said.
"We're all so glad you're back safe!" Smurfette said as she hugged Vanity.
"All right smurfs, let's take the picture!" Papa Smurf said.
All the smurfs got in a group in a random order. Vanity of course was in the front because he wanted all the smurfs to see that the main beauty of the picture was him.
Papa Smurf pressed a button on the camera and then hurried to get in the picture.
"Everyone say smurfberries!" Papa Smurf yelled.
"Smurfberries!" They all cheered.
After the picture was taken the smurfs had dinner. Jokey sat across the table from Vanity.
"Hey Vanity, what's that on your face?" Jokey asked.
"There's something on my face?" Vanity asked worriedly.
"It looks like another zit!" Jokey pointed out.
"Oh no! Not another zit! Oh I sure hope it wasn't in the picture after all the trouble I went through!" Vanity said.
Jokey laughed hysterically and then said, "Surprise!"
"That's not funny Jokey!" Vanity yelled. "You had me so worried!" He then took out his mirror to make sure that Jokey was just joking. "Whew! There's nothing there."
"Well Vanity, did you learn a lesson today?" Papa Smurf asked.
"I sure did Papa Smurf!" Vanity responded.
"And what lesson is that?" Papa Smurf asked.
"From now on I need to put lotion on my face every day to prevent more zits from appearing," Vanity said.
"Uh, that's not—" Papa Smurf started to say, but Vanity cut him off.
"Well I'd better get to bed. I need my beauty sleep after all," Vanity said as he left the room.
Papa Smurf just sighed and rolled his eyes.
The End
A/N: Vanity is my favorite smurf so I wanted to write a story about him. Of course, I'll write them about many others too. R&R! :)