It's official. Mr. Wesalbrat and Artichoke have now become "bros", and it was all thanks to the help of Buddy and his mechanic friend Darnell. They weren't the kind of brothers who were related, rather they are two male friends who are very close. They became bros after they both found out of their same love for the band Pain Diamond. Artichoke happily carried his weasel friend in his arms as they walked through the Concho Bolo. Buddy and Darnell looked on.
"Well, we helped a man find his bro. It's beautiful," said Buddy, wiping away a tear.
"We are the greatest people ever in history!" Darnell added.
Right as they were about to exit, Mr. Weselbrat picked up a helmet that was lying on one of the tables. Artichoke kicked open the doors and headed outside.
As soon as they were outside, the two of them briefly celebrated their newfound friendship. Artichoke laughed and hugged Mr. Weselbrat before spinning around in circles. "I can't believe it, you and I are bros!" exclaimed Artichoke. He stopped and set Mr. Weselbrat down, who shook his head to shake off the dizziness.
"I know!" said Mr. Weselbrat, "I can't wait to tell my wife!" Buddy and Darnell walked out to meet with them.
"Hey!" Buddy wrapped an arm around Mr. Weaselbrat, "How are you liking your new bro so far?"
"Oh he's perfect! I can't thank you guys enough. My wife is going to be so proud of me!" Mr. Weaselbrat said while clasping his hands together. He then pulled out his phone and dialed up his wife. He waited for her to pick up.
At the Weaselbrat residence, Mrs. Weaselbrat was sitting on the couch. Her cell rang and she picked it up, "Hello?"
"Hi honey, guess what happened," said Mr. Weaselbrat.
She gasped, "Did you find a bro?"
"I sure did! It was all thanks to my pal Buddy!"
"Oh honey, good for you! I can't wait for you to get home and tell me about your new bro,"
"Me too! I have a feeling he and I are gonna be the best of bros,"
Mrs. Weaselbrat giggled, "So, I'll see you when you get back?"
"You know it. Bye, honey!"
"Buh-bye!" They both hung up. Weaselbrat turned his attention back to his friends.
"Congratulations, man," Darnell said while he patted Mr. Weaselbrat on the shoulder, "Say, now that I think about it, we gotta find a way to celebrate. Hmm," He thought about what the four of them could do, as this was a night worth remembering. Darnell came up with an idea, "I got it!"
"What is it?" asked Artichoke.
"How about we invite the two of you over to Buddy's place. We'll have ourselves a bro night!" said Darnell. Mr. Weaselbrat and Artichoke stared at each other for a moment before they nodded in agreement. "Sure!" said Weaselbrat, who was very excited. He was of course Buddy's number one fan and couldn't have been more excited than he already was.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Buddy, who was walking over to his truck with Darnell.
"Wait!" Mr. Weaselbrat stopped them, "I've gotta let my wife know," He grabbed his phone and called his wife again, "Hello?"
"Yes, honey?" his wife answered.
"Yeah, um, sorry to call you again but me and my new bro were just invited to stay over with Buddy. May I stay the night, please?" he pleaded.
"Oh? You wanted to stay the night there?"
"Mhm," he nodded.
"Well sure you can, sweetheart! Have fun with your bro. As long as your back sometime by tomorrow morning,"
"Oh thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" He shouted while jumping up and down like a kid's first time in a candy store, "Thank you so much honey, K', love you bye!" He swiftly hung up.
"I'm guessing that's a 'yes'?" asked Artichoke.
"Well come on y'all!" Said Buddy, motioning for Artichoke and Mr. Weaselbrat to follow, "We're going for a ride in the Rabble Rouser!"
Mr. Weaselbrat squealed. He and Artichoke hopped inside Buddy's truck, taking a back seat, literally. Though Artichoke was honored to ride in Buddy's truck, his excitement didn't match up to Mr. Weaselbrat's. "Oh boy, isn't this great or what?!" said Mr. Weaselbrat, kicking his feet back and forth.
Artichoke chuckled, "Sure is bro,"
Buddy climbed into the driver seat and put the keys in ignition, starting the engine. A couple puffs of flames came out through the exhaustion pipes.
Buddy whistled, "Darnell, we gotta go!" He stuck his head out of the window. Darnell ran up to the passenger side of the truck and hopped in, buckling his seatbelt. "Sorry, Buddy. As your mechanic, I had to make sure everything was ship-shape before we took off,"
"Alright, let's roll! Seatbelts, everybody!" Buddy gunned the gas pedal and took off from the Concho Bolo at an insane velocity. The entire time he was driving, Buddy had not once lifted a mere inch off the pedal. He was fast, even when he wasn't competing in a race. He really enjoyed the feeling of going fast. However he was careful not to draw any unwanted attention from Sheriff Cannonball. Mr. Weaselbrat was having the time of his life, "Woo-hoo!" He cheered while raising both of his arms. Artichoke, on the other hand, fearfully clutched the back of his seat and held on for dear life.
They finally arrived at Buddy's home garage. Buddy had parked the Rabble Rouser to the side. Artichoke and Mr. Weaselbrat were the ones to hop out first.
"Let's do that again!" Mr. Weaselbrat declared. He noticed Artichoke wasn't feeling too well, "Are you ok?"
"Ooogh," Artichoke groaned. Being inside Buddy's truck was a much different experience than watching Buddy race. His stomach churned and rumbled, "I don't feel so good, bro," Knowing the inevitable, he covered his mouth and ran in the other direction. The weasel's jaw dropped at what he saw.
Buddy walked up to Mr. Weaselbrat's side and observed, "Oh man. I remember my first carsick," He laughed, "Lucky I brought with me one of those paper bags, Right, Darnell?" He turned his head to see Darnell opening one of the big doors, "Yeah. What a fiasco that would've been," All four headed inside while Artichoke slowly lagged behind.
Inside the garage Buddy immediately plopped on the couch and lounged. Darnell reached into the fridge and grabbed a to-go bucket of some leftover hot wings. "Hey guys, if you're still hungry I'll heat up some of these extra hot wings,"
Artichoke, who was feeling much better, ran up to Darnell, "Yeah! I'm down for some more wings!"
"Me too!" Mr. Weaselbrat chimed in.
"Comin' right up!" Darnell placed the wings on a paper plate and set them in the microwave. He set a timer to 45 seconds. Artichoke and Mr. Weaselbrat both stared inside the microwave and waited patiently for their tasty meal. Though they had already eaten earlier at the Concho Bolo, their tummies were dying for more. As soon as the microwave dinged, they grabbed their wings and sat on the couch with Buddy.
"Hey Buddy, want some wings?" Mr. Weaselbrat asked, holding a wing.
"Oh, no thanks," said Buddy, "I've already had my fair share of wings back at the Bolo," He patted his stomach.
Mr. Weaselbrat shrugged, "Suit yourself," Artichoke snatched the box away from him, "Hey bro, save me some!" He grabbed two wings and ate them clean off the bone. He licked his lips and threw the two small bones behind him, "Mmm good stuff,"
"What else y'all wanna do? Play some games on the Tv?" asked Buddy.
"Yeah, let's game it up!" yelled Artichoke, holding a fist up in the air while at the same hugging Mr. Weaselbrat with his spare arm. Buddy turned on his old-fashioned TV and the console. One of his favorite things to play were the racing kind of games. He grabbed one of the few cartridges and inserted it into the console.
"Here, take these," Buddy handed Artichoke and Mr. Weaselbrat the two controllers. The game's main menu popped up. The game resembles one of the typical racing games you'd find in an arcade.
"Wanna do two players, bro?" Mr. Weaselbrat asked Artichoke.
"Sure, bro. I'll be player one." said Artichoke.
"No, I wanna be player one!" Mr. Weaselbrat protested.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Darnell hunched over the couch and separated the two before they fought, "Come on guys, no fighting, not on bro's night!"
Mr. Weaselbrat quickly realized his mistake and reluctantly apologized, "Sorry, Arti,"
"Apology accepted but geez, player one or player two, there's no real difference," Artichoke surfed through the many color options of cars. He selected the red car while Mr. Weaselbrat chose the green car. The real game was about to begin. Right as the countdown hit one, both cars on the screen took off.
So far Artichoke was in the lead. He shuffled around on the couch and aggressively mashed the buttons. Mr. Weaselbrat wasn't having much luck as he kept swerving off the road and bumping into obstacles. "Come on!" whined Weaselbrat.
"Don't speed when turning those corners, man. Slow down, it'll give you more control," Darnell whispered to him.
Mr. Weaselbrat nodded and took his advice. He regained control of his car by slowing down at the corners. Eventually after some time he began to creep up behind Artichoke.
"Watch out Arti, I'm a comin'" He then skillfully turned and drove beside Artichoke's car. The finish line was only a mere couple hundred of feet away. It was gonna be a close one.
"Oh no you don't!" He bumped Mr. Weaselbrat's car off the road causing him to crash. Artichoke crossed the finish line. Buddy and Darnell cheered alongside Artichoke, "Woah! I gotta say, Artichoke, that was some swift thinking!" said Buddy.
"Hey, that's not fair! I demand a rematch!" In a fit of rage, Mr. Weaselbrat threw down the controller. They all gasped.
"Dude it's only a game, not that it's the end of the world!" said Darnell.
"Yeah, come on bro. Please don't be like that. Who knows? The next time you and I play I probably won't be so lucky," said Artichoke, who extended his hand out to Mr. Weaselbrat, "Good game,"
"But-!", Mr. Weaselbrat stopped himself. He calmed down and reluctantly shook his hand, "Good game, bro,"
Buddy stretched and yawned. It was well past everyone's bedtime, "Whew what a day. Weaselbrat's found a bro and we got to spend a good amount of quality time together. Let's call it a night, hm?" Buddy climbed up the ladder leading to their bedroom. Darnell followed close behind, "You said it, Buddy,"
The two climbed up into the bedroom which wasn't technically a room. Rather it was set on an elevated platform. Buddy peered over the ledge, "Oh and you two can share the couch if you'd like,"
"Thank you, Buddy, you're awesome!" Mr. Weaselbrat waved, "Good night!"
"Good night!" Buddy draped the blankets over him before Darnell switched off the lights. It was pitch black, with the only light source being the moon shining through the large windows overhead. It gave the interior of Buddy's garage almost an almost blue-ish tint. Mr. Weaselbrat watched Artichoke jump onto the couch. He rested his hands behind his head and observed the night sky.
"Gosh what a beautiful night," said Artichoke, eyelids heavy.
"Huh? Oh yeah it sure is," Mr Weaselbrat didn't know what else to say other than that. Suddenly without warning he felt a slight chill run through his body. He looked back at Artichoke and thought of something. He does look warm, he thought to himself.
Slowly he approached his bigger canine friend, who was drifting in and out of sleep. Mr. Weaselbrat watched him sleep. His muscled chest slowly rose up and down with every breath he took. Now was his chance. He crawled up onto the couch and huddled right next to him. He was right. Artichoke was indeed very warm. The reason being he wasn't all muscle and had a little chub to go along with it.
Artichoke woke from his brief slumber and was suprised to see Mr. Weaselbrat sleeping next to him. He didn't know how to react, "Bro?" There was no answer as Mr. Weaselbrat was sound asleep peacefully. At first Artichoke wasn't comfortable with it, but he found out as long as it made Weaselbrat happy then it would make him happy in return. Artichoke shifted on his side and wrapped his arm around Mr. Weaselbrat's small torso like a child's teddy bear. Mr. Weaselbrat giggled softly, thinking it was part of the dream he was having. A dream which had come true. Artichoke hugged him closer and smiled.
"Sweet dreams, bro," Artichoke softly whispered into his ear, before he closed his eyes and fell back asleep.