Author's note 1: A gift for StarGureisu. Although I don't know her close, I do like her drawing skills and love for the TAWOG puppets - love so great that she has an AU where she's not just the new owner of the puppets, but also a motherly figure to all three. So this fic follows this author's vision.
Something odd definitely was in the air, Grace sensed it at the very verge of Imaginationland. She expected her puppet stepchildren to whip up at least something for this special day. Something like decorating their home. Or popping out of their hiding places with a loud "SURPRISE!" so all four would go picnic somewhere on the colorful hills afterwards. Instead, there was this odd feeling that couldn't leave her even if it wished.
They were in trouble. All of them.
Before Grace put her hand onto the door handle, the door banged open, nearly hitting her, and the girl gazed in shock at the completely inconsolable Grady, standing with his face still back to the room and wailing, "Truth! I'll tell her ALL the truth! AND THEN YOU ALL SHALL WITNESS THE POWER OF HER WRA-" The clown turned to the door and his face fell the moment he realized just who stood before him.
"Mi-mi… Miss… Grace…" Grady, completely shaken, couldn't think of a better idea than slam the door closed and pull their now-owner away from it. "We need… Need to- Talk- I tried- I…"
"You calm – down!" The girl had to grab him by the shoulders and shake a bit before Grady stopped trembling and could at least breathe normally.
"I-I-I… Am not… s-sure you should even see it", he muttered, not able to get his eyes off the tips of his shoes. "It's too…"
"Horrible?", asked Grace, now nearly just as much shaken. "Tell me, are the guys okay- Are they – alive, at least?"
"I-I-I-I… I don't know!", Grady cried out. "I tried to… I don't know! To scare them into gaining consciousness! I was sure it helps and then- Then I saw you…"
"I'm here", responded Grace, decisively putting her arm around the scared clown. "Mama's here. And I swear that, whatever you show me now, I won't get scared and will find a way to get you, all of you, out of this mess. Let's go?"
The sight of the puppets' room, partly splattered with some weird purple sparkly goo, and of a still unconscious Howdy on the sofa, with her entire head, thin paws and upper body covered with the same goo, in fact almost scared Grace as much as they did Grady a couple hours ago. She shifted her gaze from the sofa to a large pile of purple and blue fur laying just opposite it and realized it was none other but Frank. A strangely bloated Frank, at that. A very, very full and content Frank, peacefully sleeping as his pals – from what Grace managed to figure out – apparently bickered with each other. What did catch her eye, however, was a small streak of purple goo in the corner of the shaggy giant's mouth.
"…Let me guess." The girl turned to Grady. "This", she pointed at the blots of goo, "is from him", she pointed back at Frank. "Right?" (A nod.) "If our Howdy is all smeared with it, this can mean…"
"Our Frank…" Grady shook his head. "I didn't expect that from him."
"Didn't expect what? You mean he- " Grace furrowed her brow. "Attacked Howdy all of a sudden and tried to eat her?"
"Worse", sighed Grady. "He made you a birthday cake – and – gulped – it all – down – himself." He suddenly collapsed down on his knees, right by Howdy's feet hanging off the sofa, and continued with a teary voice, "Howdy, she- She threw herself r-r-right down his throat to save it. It was too late. The cake had already turned into.. This." He barely nodded at the goo blots. "And I almost was late, too. Her shoulders were halfway down Frank's gullet when I ran to the rescue. I… I barely tugged her back out by her legs. I'm so, so sorry, Miss Grace, we've ruined your- ruined… everything…" He buried his face into Grace's side, his entire body shaking with sobs.
The birthday girl, completely lost, couldn't find any words of consolation – neither for the poor clown, nor for two other puppets. The only thing that occupied her mind was a thought of how much they cared – and joy that all three were, after all, alive.
"There, there", whispered Grace, softly patting Grady's back and helping him stand back up. "Grady, Howdy…" She lighthy touched the tip of Howdy's paw, to which the puppet gave a weak groan and finally rubbed her eyes, trying to get the goo off them. "Let's go wash that off you guys first. Grady, where are the towels?"
Once both puppets were clean, dry and more or less calm, and the room (not without Grady's effort) shined as new, Grace finally sat by Frank's side and patted him on the chest to wake him up.
"Ggggrrrmmm", purred the giant, opening one eye. "Grrrmmmm… guys… I… I mus' be sleeping and seeing a dream", he muttered at the sight of the girl. "…Wait, I'm not? Mama… *hic* Grace's 'ere?!"
"You big ol' yarn ball you", laughed Grace. "Think I'm angry that you ate all our birthday cake all by yourself? I'd leave you the biggest piece anyway. You know? You didn't have to almost gulp down Howdy along with it and scare both her and Grady to half death at all…"
"What… Wait." Frank sleepily blinked for the last time, shifting his gaze from one of his friends to another and obviously having no idea what do they all mean. "I did not even touch the cake once it was ready! It's over there in the fridge, go see yourselves!"
"Then what's in here?" Howdy poked the giant right in the bulk of his furry belly… and neither she, nor Grace, not even Grady expected him to laugh hysterically in response.
"PAN*hic*CAKES!" exclaimed Frank. "A stack of pancakes! As tall as my *hic* body! I didn't know you wanted some of them so much you even threw yourself right into my gullet just after I was done with that stack, Howdy – I mean, why didn't you *hic* just ask me earlier?!"
Now it was Howdy's turn to laugh like crazy. To think what she was trying to save were mere pancakes, Frank's own lunch he must've made while waiting for Grace's visit!
"And Grady", finally said Grace with a chuckle, hugging the clown by the shoulders. "Grady, as always, must've gotten it all wrong, panicked and scared me when I got to your place! But not only that!" She planted a light kiss on his forehead. "He saved Howdy when she was in trouble, and that's a noble deed. Grady, you truly live up to your name!*" She then turned to Howdy, ruffling her yellow fluffy hair. "And you, my brave girl? You rushed off to save the cake, without thinking of what might've happened to you! I'm so proud of all of you, kids", she finished, her voice slightly teary at the end. After a short pause Grace, not saying a word, gave Frank a mighty hug – as mighty as his now massive waistline allowed her to. It was clear enough that she wasn't angry at him one bit. The giant was so touched he could only nuzzle her face and purr in response, which made his whole body vibrate and warm up even more – so much that even Grady and Howdy moved closer to him as well.
"Hey guys", finally declared Grace. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Grady, could you get our best tablecloth here? Howdy, how about putting around some pillows?"
…Usually, on a person's birthday their family gathers around the regular table with cake, plates and drinks on it. But did anyone ever try gathering around a large, living kotatsu**? The one that can purr and chuckle as you pet it, laugh at your jokes and talk to you during the whole holiday? Not to mention it is completely okay with you and your friends burying your legs into its soft yarn fur. Even the cake, large and heavy as it was, didn't fall off Frank's tablecloth-covered belly – letting Grace solemnly cut a piece of cake for everyone after she made a wish and blew all the candles.
"Got any room in there already, big boy?", asked the birthday girl, reaching closer to Frank, and winked to him.
"Ummm", he hummed and grinned. "I think there is by now. For one piece." He hummed again and added, "A very large piece, if you please".
More author's notes:
* The name Grady in fact means "noble" in Irish.
** A kotatsu (Japanese table with a built-in heater) fit just right when paired up with Frank's name. "Brasero", sadly, not as much ^_^;
...And just in case, NO, the gooey substance Frank (according to a fanon of mine) is filled with beneath all that fluff and threads is not the weird food Gumball had tasted in one WfG episode. It just happens to match his main color. Nor would it digest Howdy anyway as she's not food, she's a friend ;p Still, getting half stuck in your friend's gullet is no picnic so I can imagine how she must feel before Grady pulled her out.