Sorry peeps, no happy fluff today, just a sad drabble today. :C
(Casper, I'm so sorry XD)
Casper, Matha, and Ra were out shopping. It was going to be the Mickey and Monaco's birthday in a few days, so they wanted to get the girls something for the occasion. They were currently looking in a clothing section.
"Man, what would they want?" Ra looked lost, putting a shirt back on the rack.
"Probably anything pink." Mantha snickered.
"Isn't your shirt pink?" Ra smirked.
She looked down at her shirt and then back up at Ra. She scowled.
"No, this is purple. She crossed her arms with annoyance.
"It's pink." The mummy insisted.
"Purple." Mantha responded mater of factly.
"Pink."
"Purple!"
"Pink."
"Purple!"
"Alright, fine, it's purple." Matha held up her hands in surrender.
"Told ya, now-" Ra's smirk faded "…hey, wait, no fair!"
The zombie just smirked.
"Hey, Casp, what do you thi-" Ra trailed off when he and Matha noticed their friend had wondered off.
They went looking for him, when they turned a corner and found him standing in front of a mirror, holding a lavender collar dress up to himself, smiling sweetly.
"Uh, Casper?" Mantha raised a brow.
The ghost didn't immediately acknowledge them, he seemed like he was lost in some sort of a daydream.
"You know," He started, not removing his gaze from the mirror. "When I was 8, I went through a phase where I really liked these kinds of dresses. I had bought a big box of them at a garage sale." He smiled. "Well, I say bought, but really the lady got scared of me and ran off, so I had to leave the money in her cashbox." He chuckled.
"You liked wearing dresses?" Ra laughed, but then Mantha elbowed him in the gut and gave him a glare.
"Just this kind, I thought they made me look so cute and sweet. Like little orphan Annie, or a doll." He smiled, but then started frowning, "But…people didn't like it…so I had to stop." He looked down sadly.
He finally turned back to his friends, a bitter sweet smile on his face. "But anyways, we're here shopping for presents! This isn't the time to go down memory lane." He walked away, likely headed to put the dress away.
Mantha and Ra gave each other a concerned look.
The ghost came back and smiled at his friends, but they still looked concerned.
"Are you ok?" Ra asked with a worried expression.
"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" Casper continued smiling.
"You just seemed…really sad for a moment there..." Mantha added.
The ghost frowned sadly, looking away from his friends. "Just bad memories…"
"Do you wanna talk about it?..." the zombie girl placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring smile.
"Maybe some other time…" He smiled softly. "But anyways, let's keep looking for gifts." He started walking towards the music section of the store, his friends trotted after him.
"You know, Casp, why don't you go buy that dress?" Matha smiled at him warmly.
"I think it might be a little too old fashioned for Monica or Micky." The ghost chuckled.
"No, I mean for you…You seemed to like it."
"I did, but there would be no point in having it, I'd never get a chance to wear it. At school I'd get laughed at…and...there are some other people who wouldn't let me anyways." Casper frowned again.
"Your uncles?!" the zombie snapped, appalled at the thought.
"Oh, no, not them…I…I'll tell you later, ok…But for now, can we please just go get the girls some gifts." The Ghost frowned tiredly.
Matha decided to let it go.
The rest of the day went smoothly, they took a break at one point, ate lunch, then bought some gifts for the girls. Now they were waiting for the bus back to town.
Ra swayed back and forth awkwardly. "Casp?"
"Humm?"
"Look, I'm sorry for laughing earlier. I didn't mean anything by it, I just-" the mummy was interrupted.
"Ra, It's ok. You were just surprised; people laugh when surprised. You didn't insult me, I promise." Casper smiled kindly.
The mummy didn't look very convinced.
"I promise. And even If I was hurt, you apologized, and that's enough." The ghost smiled reassuringly.
Ra finally smiled again.
The bus arrived and they all got on (duh.) The rest of the ride was normal, the trio chatting and making jokes. They finally got back to town, Ra and Matha were headed to the portal to go back to their homes in Underworld City.
Matha pulled a smaller bag out of one of the shopping bags and handed it over to Casper. He raised a brow.
"and I threw away the receipt, so you can't return it." She smirked at the confused ghost as he pulled out the lavender dress.
"Mantha…I'm never going to get a chance to wear it…" He frowned with a mixture of guilt and sadness.
"Maybe not, but at least you have it." She patted his shoulder with a gentle smile.
"Maybe you could wear it to the birthday party?" Ra suggested.
Casper shook his head with a bittersweet expression.
Ra and Matha waved goodbye and left for the portal, leaving Casper to go to his own house.
He flew home and didn't even bother going through the front door, phasing into the attic instead. He slowly walked over to a chest on the floor and opened it, inside was a small pile of collar dresses. He dropped the bag inside and closed the lid without a fuss. Then he passed through the floor and went to his room, falling face first onto his bed in a depressed heap. He turned on his side and snuggled into his pillows and blankets.
"This is a stupid thing to be sad about. It's just fabric. You shouldn't be upset about this, you shouldn't be upset, you shouldn't-" And he started to cry. The more he tried to calm himself down, the more he wanted to cry. "You're stupid, this isn't important. You probably looked dumb in them anyways. This isn't important enough to cry over." He continued to cry.
The 8 year old ghost skipped happily down the sidewalk, his sky blue dress looking adorable with his black dress shoes and white socks. He felt so happy and adorable, surely Billy would like his outfit! Billy was his human friend, and he liked him quite a bit. Billy made him smile and feel all fluttery.
Looking back at this, Casper wondered if this was his first crush, before he really knew what one was.
He and Billy loved all the same kind of games; play pretend, baseball, hopscotch, ect. Casper was looking forward to playing with his friend to day, he had even put a little yellow string bow in his hair. He turned the corner and walked through the big brown wooded fence and into Billy's back yard. Casper was met with laughter. The 7 year old pointed and snickered at the ghost, who was confused to say the least.
"W-WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?!" Billy laughed.
"A dress, I don't-" Casper backed up, he felt very embarrassed.
"W-why are you dressed like a g-girl?" the human boy kept laughing
"I..uh..liked it…" Casper muttered so quietly.
"YOu can't wear dresses! You look like a sissy! Only sissy's wear dresses! And I won't play with no sissy!"
"…but…I"
Billy started laughing hard again "Y-you look s-so d-dumb!"
Casper stared at the ground and tried not to cry.
"…I guess I'll go change…" he disappeared and left his friend's house, flying home crying.
He stopped when he heard thunder, looking up he saw the sky had turned grey, wind whipped at his clothing and crackles of lightning lit up the sky. He knew that this meant Kibosh was checking up on his uncles.
Looking back on this, Casper wished that he had ran off and hid in the woods.
Casper walked in the front door, and found Kibosh talking to his uncles about something. The four adults turned to look at him. Kibosh growled at the sight of him.
"Teaching him to be scary, have you? DOES THIS LOOK FRIGHTING TO YOU?" The green ghost yelled at the trio, who cowered. "You let your nephew walk around in clothing befitting of a little girl at a tea party!" He gestured to the child.
Casper looked at the ground and fought back tears.
"Next time I come here, I better not see him with anything pastel or frilly! Teach him how to be a proper ghost! Or I will!" and with that, Kibosh left in a twister, slamming the door behind him as thunder rung out one last time.
The four ghosts stood in silence for a moment, the intimidation of the green king still lingering. The winds outside started to die down, signaling that Kibosh had left the area. Casper looked up at his three uncles sadly, already knowing what they were going to say.
"Sorry kid…" Stretch muttered, looking at the floor. "You heard what he said…"
"No more of the frilly stuff." Fatso added reluctantly.
"Kibosh's word is law…" Stinky added quietly.
"…I know..." Casper choked out quietly, still fighting down tears.
The trio watched sadly as their nephew slowly flew off to his room. They hated this. The liked annoying Casper, teasing him and making the tiny child mad. But this, this was not fun to watch. They didn't enjoy him being sad or crying, they didn't like watching the little guys heart be broke.
Casper silently cried and packed up all his dresses into a chest in the attic. Quiet tears running down his face. It was sad he wasn't all that surprised by this being the outcome. Something inside him had known his fun wasn't going to last, it never did. He was starting to figure out that if he was enjoying something, the universe wasn't going to let him have it.
He had tried to hang out with Billy a couple of days later, but he found he couldn't anymore. When he saw the boy, he felt bad. The fluttery feeling had been replaced with shame and sadness. Being around Billy didn't make him happy anymore, it just made him want to cry. So, he stopped playing with the boy. What hurt him even more was that Billy didn't seem too fussed with the sudden disappearance of his ghost friend. Casper would watch from afar and see Billy hanging out with tons of other kids. Billy didn't need him…
Casper continued to sob into his pillow, he had pulled his blanks over himself, accepting that he wasn't getting up for a while. He felt something sniffing at his hair, he looked up teary eyed; it was Ferdi. The little orange ghost fox looked at him worriedly. Casper reached up and wrapped his arms around the little creature, pulling him close. He needed a hug.