A/N: Inspired by the digital comic about the little girl and Mr. Noodle, because it's definitely a Jade thing. In which young Jade picks an unusual pet,,

It was her sixth birthday, and she vividly remembers walking through the pet store with both of her parents (it was one of the last times they were all happily together). She remembers thinking about how cute the puppies looked yawning through the glass, how cute all animals looked yawning, but she didn't want to settle on a puppy; most of the people she knew had puppies or dogs. They weren't boring, but everyone had a dog. She wanted something different.

She's walking through the store with her mother's hand wrapped around hers, and her dad on her other side as they're venturing towards the back of the store towards the glass aquariums. A fish might be more interesting, or at least a little different than anything. One of those fancy sounding fish, she couldn't remember the name of them—

Her eyes land on an aquarium, and just as Jade realizes there's a snake curled up in there under a heating lamp with its head raised at her, it yawns. Its jaws are wide and she can see into its mouth, fangs, thin tongue, and all. She can feel her mother's hand squeeze around hers and her dad's hand dart out in front of her chest as if it was attacking, both of them clearly disturbed by the display, but Jade feels the complete opposite way, and smiles at the creature in the tank before looking up to her parents.

"I want that one. The snake."

They are hesitant about their daughter's pet choice, but nevertheless buy it for her, knowing her mind couldn't and wouldn't be changed.

"His name is Mr. Noodle," Jade announces a few days later. Her parents are still hesitant about their daughter's new pet. His body is wrapped loosely around her shoulders and neck, his head raised and tongue darting out every few seconds. She's beaming and happy, though, and that's all that matters (especially with the heavy, thick air that's been hanging around the house lately).

Once she's gone back to her room with Mr. Noodle, her parents talk.

"They're going to call her the weird snake girl," her mother muttered.

"That's the worst thing you can come up with?" her father replied, despite being worried, too.

"It's going to be harder for her to make friends. She's already not very social," her mother added, and her father couldn't disagree with that.

Despite their worries, Jade comes home from her first day of school a few days later with big news.

"I made a friend, and she wants to come over," she announces with a lot more enthusiasm than she usually exhibited. "She really wants to see Mr. Noodle."

Her parents are surprised, but agree to meet her new friend's parents and set something up.

Jade answers the door to greet her friend with Mr. Noodle around her shoulders and neck, and the other little girl's eyes immediately go wide with excitement.

"Wow, Jade! He's great, just like you said!"

The girl named Tori reaches a small hand up to Mr. Noodle, and the three adults watch silently and hesitantly as Mr. Noodle's tongue flicks out and Tori giggles as it brushes against her thumb.

"Aw, hi Mr. Noodle!"

"Come to my room and I'll show you his enclosure," Jade says, slowly saying the word her father taught her to refer to his cage as. Tori excitedly trails off after her friend, leaving the adults to stand at the door.

Jade and Mr. Noodle end up living with Jade's dad after her parents separate, which worked out for the best since he'd since then warmed up to the snake more than her mother did (he still wouldn't willingly choose to hold him, but when Jade had him out of his enclosure, he would still gently stroke the snake's smooth scaly skin, which was very different from petting a dog but still somewhat satisfying).

"If you ever have any questions, you know you can ask me, right?" he asked, and Jade nodded simply. She was sitting on the floor with Mr. Noodle, letting him sit on her shoulders. He watched her, but couldn't read her; her lips mostly stayed a thin line, and her face was emotionless except for the occasional little change from something the snake did.

"I'm glad I still have Mr. Noodle," Jade said simply, looking up to her dad. He felt a little tug in his heart, but nodded.

"Me, too."

A/N: Uh, sorry it got a little sad at the end there, but thanks for reading! c: