You seriously have no idea how much fun I had writing this. Several times I had to break away and squeal with sheer delight. I love little Angel with all my heart. Finally, I get to show off my fluffiness in this fandom!
A big humongous thank you to my sister Liz (Clio195) who was my beta for this story.
It was a delightful spring morning, so every child aged five and up was bouncing off the walls. Of course, every mother decided to drop their unruly brats off at the park. Mrs. Marquez, exhausted from keeping track of her daughter Mimi, deposited her near two other boys. She looked around for her friend, Mrs. Schunard, who had a son Mimi's age, but they weren't here--yet. Oh well, random toddlers almost always got along well. Besides, she was pretty sure that these other kids when to the same daycare. Mimi would be fine.
"Go have fun, mija," she encouraged. "Mami will be right over here."
Mimi skipped over to the boys, waving. "Hiya. I'm Mimi. Can I play with you?"
"Sow. I'm Mawk, and this is Woger," one boy introduced them, smiling kindly. (For those of you who don't speak speech impediment, that's 'Sure, I'm Mark and this is Roger') "We wow gonna play cops and wobbers. Wanna be a cop?" ('We were gonna plays cops and robbers')
"Sure!"
"NO!" Roger shrieked, pulling Mark away. "Girls have cooties," he told him, very seriously. "My mommy's a nurse, she told me."
"Nuh-uh!" Mimi shrieked.
"Uh-huh," he contradicted. "She said so. Girls have cooties, and if ya touch them, you get cooties too."
Mimi sniffled, her lower lip quivering, and both boys stepped back, waiting for the outburst. "ROGER, YOU GRAPEFRUIT!" Angel screamed, storming over. He threw his arms around Mimi, squeezing her tight and glaring at Roger. "Girls do not have cooties! Boys do!" he yelled, sticking out his tongue.
"But you're a boy too."
Angel let go of Mimi and crossed his arms angrily, stomping his foot. "Not anymore! Boys are mean. Leave Mimi alone!" Mark pulled on Roger's arm, scampering away. Mimi giggled.
"Thankth, Angel. What did you call him?"
"A grapefruit," he said proudly. "It's an icky kid of food, all squishy and nasty-looking."
"Oh yeah," she said, eyes brightening. "I hate grapefruit." Both kids giggled at her audacity. How many kids their age had the courage to use the h-word? "You wanna go on the thwingths with me?" (For those who also don't speak lisp, that word is swings.)
"Sure! I like the swings. I can jump off 'em."
Suddenly Angel gasped, and ran over to the blacktop to save somebody else. Mimi looked after him for a minute, puzzled, and then went over to the swings. She tugged herself up and started kicking as hard as she could, but nothing happened. She grunted, kicking harder, but nothing happened.
"You hafta kick with both legs at the same time," a little voice told her. Mimi turned and found Roger in the swing next to her, looking shy. She humphed, sticking up her nose, and tried kicking again. "Trust me, I do this all the time," he urged. "Watch."
Roger stuck out both feet and pumped, hard, and pretty soon Mimi was gaping. He was practically flying. Biting her lip, she kicked with both legs, furiously trying to lift off. It was no use. "I thtink," she whined. (Stink)
"No, you don't! Here, let me help." Roger scrambled over and gave Mimi a big push. Yelping, she started to kick. He kept pushing her, and soon enough she was higher than she had ever been. She squealed in pleasure.
"I'm doing it!"
"You're real good!" Roger encouraged, moving back to his own swing and flying up too, perfectly in time with her. Mimi laughed, delighted, and Roger smiled.
Meanwhile, over on the blacktop…
"I don't have to follow the rules to play the game!" Tommy protested. "Rules are stupid! Basketball's more fun when you can play with your feet."
"That's not how you play," Benny whined.
"Well then I don't want to play," Tommy said, folding his arms angrily. "It's just a stupid game for stupid people." Benny didn't think. He just reached out and shoved Tommy in the arm. Tommy poked Benny in the stomach. Benny pushed Tommy onto the ground.
"YOU GRAPEFRUIT, STOP HITTING HIM!" Angel screamed again, flying over like a demon from playground hell. Benny ran away, and Angel stopped chasing him. He was panting heavily, so he plopped down right in front of Tommy, catching his breath. "Hi," he said shyly. "I'm Angel."
"Angel? I've never heard that name before," Tommy admitted. Angel frowned. "But I like it!" he added hastily. "I'm Tommy."
Angel grinned. "Hi, Tommy. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just got a little scratch on my hand, see?" He held out his right hand, palm up, showing off a tiny cut he had gotten when he reached out to block the fall. Angel gasped, grabbing Tommy's hand and pressing a big fat kiss to the scratch.
"My mama says a hurt won't get better until somebody kisses it," he explained, grinning proudly. Tommy blushed.
"Are boys allowed to kiss other boys?" he asked thoughtfully.
Angel frowned, thinking. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. "But it's okay, 'cause I'm a girl!" he added, his whole face lighting up.
"Cool! Thanks for helping."
"My mama says it's important to be nice to people."
"Yeah, my gran does too. Well, sorta. She said you should be nice to people unless they're not being nice to you. If they're mean, then you should kick their ass," he explained, standing up. "Do you want to play with me? Benny didn't want to because I don't follow the rules real well," he said, feeling just a little bit ashamed.
"Rules are boring," Angel said, determined. "I never listen to the rules."
"Me neither!"
"Come on, we're going on the swings," Angel decided, grabbing his hand and tugging him in the right direction. "Nobody ever tells you what to do on those. We can jump off!"
"Angel, you rocks my socks," Tommy said, delighted. Holding hands, they raced over to the swing set gleefully.
Meanwhile, over on the playscape…
Joanne was sitting on the top of the slide, looking down, wishing she had somebody to play with. Suddenly, somebody shoved her. She shrieked, and slipped all the way to the bottom before somebody else crashed into her, laughing.
"That's fun! Come on, let's go again!" A little girl asked, pulling her up.
"You're not s'posed to push people," Joanne said, upset. "That scared me."
"Oh," the other girl apologized. "Sorry. I'm Maureen."
"My name's Joanne."
"I like that name. You wanna be my best friend?"
"Okay," Joanne said happily. You wanna play on the monkey bars?"
"HECK YEAH!" Maureen screamed, running over.
"Mauween, yow not apposed to say that woad," Mark reminded her, breathing heavily as he chased her. Joanne looked at him, blinking in confusion. ('Maureen, you're not supposed to say that word')
"Who are you?"
"I'm Mawk. We was gonna play on the big slide, but Mo ran away," he said, watching Maureen swing from the bars. His face fell "I can't do the monkey baws. I fall off."
"Oh. Well I kinda want to play with my new best friend, so maybe you could go over there with those guys," Joanne said reasonably. She pointed over towards a tree near the swings, where Tommy and Angel had gotten distracted and were trying to climb up it. Tommy fell off a branch, and Angel giggled, spinning in circles above him.
"Mauween, I thought I was yow best fwiend!" Mark whined. ('Maureen, I thought I was your best friend')
"Well not anymore, silly, I met Jo! Come on, we can all play together!" Maureen grabbed both of their hands, dragging them towards the swing set. "Tommy!" she yelled. "We're gonna go on the swings! Come on!"
"Angel, let's go!" Tommy cheered. Angel jumped off the tree branch, tackling Tommy to the ground.
"Yay, swings!" he said, running away. Massaging his head, Tommy ran after him.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Meanwhile, on the swings…
"Thankth for helping me, Roger," Mimi said with a big smile. Roger blushed.
"'M sorry I said you had cooties," he mumbled. "That wasn't nice."
"Okay."
"Mimi! Mimi! Mimi!" Angel yelled happily, grabbing the swing next to her. "Look, this is Tommy! Isn't he cute? I like him."
Tommy blushed, claiming the swing next to him. "I'm not cute," he muttered.
"Yes you are," Angel insisted, nodding adamantly.
"Nuh-uh, I'm handsome," he said teasingly, sticking his tongue out. Angel giggled.
"Okay, but only if I can be the prettiest girl in the whole wide world."
Tommy thought about it. "Okay."
"Yay!"
Angel sat on the swings and started pumping expertly, as high as he could go before he leapt off. Tommy tried to imitate him, but he sort of fell and landed on his side. Angel rushed over, concerned. "Oof," Tommy said sheepishly.
"Oof," he giggled, giving the other boy and enormous hug. "Hugs are even better than kisses, don't you think?"
"Mm-hm."
Meanwhile, Maureen had claimed a swing and was twisting it, laughing as she let go and spun. "Come on, Jo, try it!"
Reluctantly, Joanne spun a little bit, steadying herself with her feet. "I like going high," she said, swinging herself higher and higher. Mark sat down on the woodchips near the swings, watching everybody play.
"You don't want to thwing, Mark?" Mimi asked curiously.
"Nah, he gets sick," Roger answered for him. "Let's go see if Angel and Collins wanna play kickball," he urged.
"I love kickball!" Mimi gasped.
"Me too," Joanne added.
"I'm the best at kickball!" Maureen boasted.
"I like it too," Mark said, softly. They found a ball and started to play, laughing. "Wew gonna be best fwiends forever," Mark whispered to himself as, instead of kicking it, Tommy picked up the ball and started running around the bases, laughing maniacally. "I know it."