Goofy

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and the Walt Disney Studios. This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way.

Hello, my readers! Enjoy!

In a quiet corner of Disneytown, there were neighborhoods that almost looked ordinary. Regular houses with semi-regular colors, with regular streets running along nice, even roads. The part of the world was called "Spoonerville Square." Ironic that such an ordinary part of town was home to one of the least ordinary citizens—Goofy Goof. But it was here Goofy lived, and it was here that three Keybearers were staying.

"Thanks for the hospitality Goofy," Axel said. "King Mickey offered to keep us in the royal suites but…"

"It ain't homey there," Goofy said with a nod. "And things are still kinda awkward between you and Mickey since he and Minnie don't have kids and Roxas and Xion are still shy around 'em. Don't ya worry, Axel. I can make sure the three of you have a place to sleep tonight. It's the least I can do, on account of yah stoppin' Pete.

It had been a simple enough mission—stop Pete from stealing the old tomes and spell books King Mickey kept in the royal library. Apparently, King Mickey had smuggled them out of Yen Sid's Tower some years back (which Yen Sid was quick to reprimand Mickey for). And it turned out Pete was absolutely inept at everything but the simplest combat magic, and had unleashed several terrors that they had had to fight.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't so simple after all. Still, by the time everything was said and done, their Gummi Ship had been damaged when a terror tore through the Gummi Garage. Which required them to stay overnight as it was being repaired.

"I know just what ya need," Goofy said. "I'm gonna make you a big pot of Hi Dad Soup."

"What's Hi Dad Soup?" Roxas and Xion asked in unison. Ah, some things never changed. Not that Axel had ever heard of Hi Dad Soup either.

"Oh, it's my specialty," Goofy said. "We're just gonna need to pick up a few ingredients."

"Ingredients?" Roxas asked. "Like you used to fetch for Little Chef at Scrooge's bistro?"

"Hyuck, we're not gonna have to do any of that!" Goofy said. "The market's perfectly fine."

Goofy led them down the street to a marketplace, five blocks from where he lived. Twice, they had to stop because somebody wanted to say 'thank you' to the Keybearers who had fought Pete's terrors.

"Here we are," Goofy said. "Vegetables. We're gonna need carrots and onions and what do you think Axel? Parsnippys?"

"Parsnips?" Axel said. "The only time I like them is in a stew. They're too earthy otherwise."

"Earthy?" Roxas asked. "Like Terra, you mean? What are parsnips anyway? They don't have them in the gardens back home."

"They're cousins to carrots, more or less," Goofy said. "Trust me, yer gonna love em. And these are straight from Grandma Duck's farm."

This went on for a while, with Goofy picking up eggs, chicken, beef chunks, onions, and several spices.

"Almost forgot the pasta! Can't have the Hi Dad Soup without it! 'Cause then it's just Regular Soup, and it's not as much fun!"

Pasta…pasta…homemade pasta? Huh, Axel hadn't thought to look for that in an open-air market, but Goofy lived here, and he found what he was looking for almost immediately. There was a vendor with a mane of orange hair almost as impressive as Axel's, selling homemade pasta and bread.

"Here ya go, Mista Goof!" The vendor said. "Ma's alphabet pasta and a pound of cheddah! Ahooooo!"

"Thanks Bobby," Goofy said. "Tell yer folks I say hello."

"Mister Goofy," Xion said, holding the bag of alphabet pasta in her hands. "How did they cut the pasta into these little letters?"

"Er…I don't right know," Goofy said. "I reckon they have a special machine to do it. Or magic, one of the two. Now come on, we gotta get cookin'!"

xxxx

Goofy's kitchen wasn't large, but it was well-maintained and Goofy set right to work chopping vegetables and cooking the meat for the soup. Xion, bless her little heart, started helping right away, while Roxas set the table. Before long, the soup was bubbling on the stove, and Goofy was toasting the cheddar cheese he'd bought on artisan bread. It smelled better than anything Axel could cook.

"Here we go," Goofy said. "It's gonna be done in just a couple minutes!"

"Alright!" Roxas ran over to the table and took a seat. Xion darted over to bring the napkins that Roxas had forgotten.

"Come and get it!" Goofy said. "Oh…you're all at the table. Oops. Well, here we go, the world-famous Goofy Goof Hi Dad Soup!"

Your last name is Goof and your parents named you Goofy?!

"Oh, Mister Goofy, this is so yummy!" Xion said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"And the bread's great too!"

"That's the Zimmeruskis for ya!" Goofy said. "There's no one who knows cheese or pasta or pizza better than 'em!"

"What's pizza?" Roxas and Xion asked in unison. Goofy's mouth fell open in surprise and Axel felt his ears redden.

"Whatever it is, we can find out later," Roxas said. "This soup is delicious!"

Goofy chuckled and then began eating his own bowl of soup. Axel dipped his cheesy bread into the broth. Oh! That was good!

"So why is it 'Hi Dad Soup,' then?" Axel asked. "Why not just call it alphabet soup?"

"Oh," Goofy chuckled. "Back in the day, my boy Maxie, he was just learning how to read. And he'd take the last few letters in his soup and spell out little words. Like 'Hi Dad' or 'Bye bye' or 'I love you.' 'Hi Dad' just became the ones that stuck."

"That's…very sweet,"

"Yeah…it was," Goofy said. "Even after I stopped callin' it that, since Max could read, he loved alphabet soup. Him and PJ and Bobby…"

Bobby…the vendor who sold us the pasta and cheese in the first place?

"Mister Goofy, did you mean like this?" Xion asked, pushing her bowl over. Axel glanced at it. The bowl had nearly polished. The last few letters spelled out THANK YOU. Roxas turned his bowl over. His leftover letters spelled out YSQJ.

"Yeah…" Goofy said, and for a split second Axel thought he saw a tear in his eye. "Just like that."

After dinner, while Xion volunteered to do the dishes and Roxas tidied the kitchen, Goofy put his hand on Axel's shoulder. Even though Axel was way taller, it was still surprisingly strong.

"Be good to 'em. The time you get when they're little…even yours aren't so little…it goes by way too fast."

"Don't I know it," Axel nodded. "You got that right, Goofy. They're my kiddos…I hope they stay that way."

Consider this vignette a non-canon companion in particular to Rise Above the X, where Goofy plays a major role. I love Goofy and the chance for him to give parenting advice is one I will always take.

Thank you for reading my dear, dear readers. Leave a comment if you're so inclined! I appreciate each and every one of you!