From prompt "the world may be ending, but at least i've got you"
*CRACK*
Gordon hated the big tropical storms at night. Thankfully they were rare, but this one was a doozy.
The sheet lightning lit the night sky as bright as daylight. Several of the trees had lost leaves as the rain and the wind battered the island, and several would be found in the morning in various stages of damage.
He stuck his hand blindly under his bed, shifted some energy bar wrappers and … well he wasn't sure what that was, but it was something that used to be crumbly, and was now as hard as pumice. Eventually he felt the soft fuzzy fabric, and pulled him out.
"Hey Squiddy," he whispered in relief.
The toy octopus had seen better days. Yes, okay he was an octopus and not actually a squid, but when Gordon had been handed it on his second birthday he hadn't known any better, so the name stuck.
His pale blue brushed upper and yellow under had so much ground in dirt that no amount of washing could move it. One leg was much worse than the rest. It was the favoured one that he had bunched up in his fist when he slept. Grandma had said the reason it was so bad was because he had sucked his thumb as a kid, and the saliva soaked material just refused to fully clean.
The original felt eyes had long gone. Whether lost in the wash or wear and tear he wasn't sure, but they'd been replaced with buttons. A strand of the thread from the smile had come loose, and fiddled with that much it had naturally formed a small knot. Seams had been restitched in a mish mash of coloured thread.
Grandma might not be much of a cook, but she came through the make do and mend revival with a few skills in repair. She'd had a job and a half with squiddy, scavenging pillows to replace lost stuffing over the years.
Now Squiddy was safely hidden under the bed so his brothers didn't see him. Gordon had persuaded them long ago that he'd been lost again to stop the teasing.
There had been that one time … when he was maybe about 3?
They had gone out for a family trip somewhere and Squiddy had been lost… Gprdon had been absolutely devastated, and they'd hunted everywhere without luck. The next morning he was overjoyed when he woke to a friendly face and a note from The Toy Doctor, who had found him and repaired him and brought him back looking brand new. Now, obviously, Gordon knew that his parents had bought a new one exactly the same, probably in preparation for the inevitable, but as a small kid you believe the magic. Squiddy was left safe at home every trip after that.
Yes the toy was a bit gross, but it was all his historical germs so Gordon didn't care. His fingers bunched around that leg, and he wriggled the duvet over his head to block out the light and dull the noise of the apocalypse raging outside the window.
"The world may be ending Squiddy, but at least I have you."