I got it done in time!
I was having so much trouble with this chapter, because I keep having to look up things, but because I decided to stick this story in the 1970s a lot of that information is either out of date or can't be found!
I also realized while writing this chapter that I've barely written from Andy's perspective, so that was weird to write.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. And have a happy Father's Day!
Today was the day! With a jump, Yakko got out of bed at the sound of the alarm. He switched it off, checking behind him to see if his sibs were also awake. Dot was groggy, but awake taking out the special curlers that would prevent her hair from getting tangled. Wakko was still snoring up a storm, though.
"Wakko! Wake up!" Yakko whisper shouted. He shook his little brother until he finally stirred. "It's Father's Day, remember? We gotta wake early!"
That seemed to wake him enough. Wakko slowly made his way out of bed and to his closet, Yakko following him. Dot meanwhile was at her vanity deciding on which accessory to wear today, as soon as her hair was thoroughly brushed that is.
Meanwhile Kassie had woken up from her alarm herself, too antsy about the day to sleep as deep as usual. She even managed to turn off the alarm before it rang and woke Andy. With her clothes for the day and her hair pulled in a low ponytail, she snuck to the door.
"So should I pretend to be asleep until you're ready?" Her tail puffed up when she heard Andy's voice. "Sorry, love. I didn't mean to startle you."
Kassie patted her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. "It's- It's fine! Just... Go back to sleep!"
Andy chuckled. "As you wish, your highness."
Shaking her head, Kassie went over to his side of the bed. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "Just don't come downstairs. You'll ruin the surprise, my knight."
They shared a good laugh before Kassie finally went downstairs. At other side of the door she finally grabbed her tail to stroke it back to normal size before knocking on the door of her kids.
The door swung open to reveal three enthusiastic kids with wagging tails. Huh... Add that on the list of dog traits. They knew the drill thanks to Mother's Day, running downstairs to the kitchen ready to help with breakfast. So Kassie set them to work, with Yakko preparing the pancakes, Wakko cooking the bacon and sausages and Dot helping with both the toast and coffee. Like before, they were mostly left to do it by themselves with Kassie jumping in where necessary. Aside from having to call the amount of pancakes to a halt, it all went well. The kids made the table while Kassie continued making breakfast for the 4 of them. Dot pulled a blue iris from her hammerspace while Wakko pulled out a small vase. It too found a place on the table.
"Alright, looks like everything is ready." Kassie said, nodding approvingly at the work her kids put out. "Now, do you have your presents ready?"
All three responded by pulling out their gifts from their hammerspaces. Kassie responded in turn by getting her own gift from her hammerspace. "Now all that's left to do is wake up Andy." she said, leaving out the fact he was already awake. "Who wants to help?"
That was exactly how Andy found himself covered in 3 over-excited puppykittens with the meanest girlfriend ever laughing at his pain from the door opening. And no, he was not being a drama-puppy about it, thank you very much Kass.
The kids barely gave Andy enough time to get dressed, before dragging him downstairs. Before even reaching the bottom of the stairs, the Warners bolted to the kitchen to grab their presents. The second Andy was coming through the opening to the kitchen they'd be ready.
Andy entered the kitchen and the kids all yelled out. "Happy Father's Day, dad!"
The man stopped in his tracks. Dad... They called him dad. After their constant jokes that he had to marry Kassie before they would call him that, he honestly hadn't expected that. Tears welled up in his eyes as he embraced his puppies, tail wagging harder than it ever had.
After he'd calmed down a little, the kids wanted him to open their gifts, until Kassie pointed out that if they did that, the food would be cold before they could eat it. Their plans quickly changed to breakfast first and presents later.
When breakfast was done and the dishes in the sink, the three Warners wasted no time getting their gift out again. Andy dug into the gift-wrapping, pulling out a book from each present. The books no longer had blank, white covers, instead they were now decorated by the siblings. Yakko's had several cartoonish looking instruments and music notes drawn on it, Wakko's had drums shattered on it along with drumsticks, as in the food, and Dot's was covered in music notes drawn on staffs in a rainbow of colors.
When he looked inside the books, he found all blank staffs on one the left pages and lined paper on the right where he could write song-texts on. This was so much better than blank paper cluttering up his music room!
His puppies handed him one more gift, given to them by Kassie, which he all to happily opened. His eyes widened as he saw the instrument case inside. He opened the case finding something from his old wish-list.
"A ukulele!" He pulled it from the case, giving it an experimental stroke. It had a higher-pitched sound and sounded more bright and cheerful than his guitar. Oh yes, he was going to make good use of this. "Thank you for these amazing gifts, pups." he said as he hugged all three of his kids, and giving Kassie a thank you kiss as well.
While Andy sat with the kids in the living room, trying out his new ukulele, Kassie was in the kitchen preparing some some last things. Just as Andy had surprised her with a trip to the aquarium, so was she gonna surprise him with something.
Andy looked up in surprise when a backpack and purse landed next to him on the couch. "Is everyone ready to go?" Kassie asked.
Yakko, Wakko and Dot, knowing what they were gonna do, all jumped up and went to the garage. Andy did not know what was going on and asked Kassie about it.
"Ah, ah, ah!" She wagged her finger, booping his nose before continuing. "You didn't tell me your plans for Mother's Day, so I won't tell you anything either."
He supposed that was fair, but that didn't mean he had to like it. As Kassie grabbed the purse, he grabbed the backpack. He noticed both of them were hammerspace items, which Kassie bought after burning her old prop sack. How much were they bringing that they needed hammerspace bags for?
It didn't take long for Andy to recognize the road they were taking. His suspicions were confirmed when they pulled into a familiar parking lot.
"Los Angeles Zoo?" Yakko asked from the backseat.
"Yup." Kassie confirmed. "We went here years ago when the place was... Let's just say it wasn't great." Kassie shuddered remembering that place. "We've been wanting to see it for the last 10 years, but never found the time to."
The family got out of the car and were ready for a day at the zoo. Immediately Andy and Kassie could see the improvements from before. Gone were the small cages, nice big enclosures taking their place in the zoo.
The Warners meanwhile just went from enclosure to enclosure, looking at the animals. It was one thing to see the aquarium, you don't see fish toon often, but to see land animals that weren't toons was another thing. The first bear they saw had them comparing it to their uncle Luke. So did the foxes, the kangaroos and the deer! It was odd to see them walking on all 4. And foxes were so small compared to aunt Vicky!
It was also when they were walking around that the parents discovered a new talent their kids had. They could change their bodies to look like different animals. While it wasn't an uncommon toon-ability, it was one that took practice. So the fact Yakko just pulled a mule face to make a joke surprised them. The siblings didn't see the issue. They've always been able to do it. It left the couple wondering. Just how much could they do?
"Hey look! That gorilla has a baby!" Dot pointed to a gorilla with a young clinging to her. "It's so cute!"
All of them shared a good laugh when Andy started howling to the wolves trying to get a reaction. They laughed even harder at his dejected face when the wolves just ignored him.
"What were you even trying to do?" Kassie asked.
Andy grumbled. "Trying to get them to howl back at me..."
With that idea planted in their heads now, the Warners started howling as well. Andy's ears perked when their pretend howls turned into actual dog howls. And so the list of dog traits grows.
After being sent away from the wolves by zoo employees, they went on their merry to see the other animals. The kids had fun learning about and seeing animals that you couldn't otherwise find in America. Not that they'd seen many in the first place. Having lived on studio grounds and being confined to the water tower doesn't really allow you to see a lot of animals. And the few times they did escape the tower they didn't exactly stop to look at every animal they crossed paths with. Sure they knew what each animal was, but knowing about them and actually seeing them were different things.
Eventually the family took a lunch break in one of the picnic areas. Kassie pulled out a picnic blanket from Andy's backpack along with some sandwiches and drinks she brought along.
After lunch the kids had more than enough energy to go through the rest of the park, even Wakko who'd been getting a little lethargic as the day went on. After eating his lunch he was back to his energetic self, chasing his siblings around in a game of tag before they continued through the park.
A good few hours passed before the family finally decided to go home. The kids had seen everything there was, Yakko even read every information board there was. That boy soaked up information like a sponge! When they passed the gift shop, Andy insisted they went in. You can't have a day like this and not take home a souvenir.
Wakko and Dot immediately gunned it for the toys, stuffed animals and knick-knacks with Yakko following behind at a slower pace. Dot easily decided on a baby penguin plushy that was really soft and Wakko found a bucket that was filled with plastic zoo animals and fences that he could make him own zoo with. Yakko was a little more difficult, originally trying to find a toy he and his sibs could play with, but the second he laid eyes on a stuffed wolf and felt its smooth fur his decision was made.
They left the zoo happy with how their day went, and especially happy about the purchases. Wakko was constantly tilting the bucket and looking through the transparent lid at all the animals he could find. And Yakko and Dot kept fiddling with their plushies, stroking the fur and grabbing at other limbs. Seeing them fiddling with their toys the parents offered to put them in their bags, which all three declined. They liked the noise the bucket made when it was being tilted and how the plushies felt. In fact, the moment they got in the car, Dot took off her gloves to feel the soft fuzz better.
Oh well, if they liked it that way.
When they got home the kids immediately started playing with their new toys. The contents of Wakko's bucket were dumped on the floor and a mini zoo was built with it, as well as whatever other material they could find. All the while the wolf never left Yakko's lap. Dot also didn't let her penguin too far out of reach, though she had put on her gloves again.
After dinner the whole family gathered in the music room to play some songs, Andy using his new ukulele, Yakko on the piano, Wakko on drums and Dot choosing the violin she had some practice with. After all, what Father's Day would be complete without doing your dad's favorite activity?
At some point Kassie left to get some drinks, calling a break when she returned with them.
Kassie nudged Andy after the kids went back to playing their instruments. "So, did you like your first Father's Day?"
Andy nodded. "Definitely, love." he said. "There's only one thing that could make this perfect."
"Oh?" Kassie tilted her head. "And what's that?"
The kids also stopped what they were doing once they heard that. They watched in confusion when their dad reached into his hammerspace and pulled out a small box.
Kassie gasped, covering her mouth as Andy opened the box. "If you'd agree to marry me?" When Kassie didn't respond, he continued. "Kass, we've known each other for 36 years and we've been dating for 34 of those. I know we've always been satisfied to just stick to dating, but with everything that's happened this past half year alone, with all that changed I finally made up my mind. I want to be able to call you my wife." He held up the box with the ring. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes!" Kassie jumped in Andy's arms, knocking them both to the ground. "Yes, of course I'll marry you."
The Warners cheered, abandoning their instruments to jump on their parents, creating a puppy pile. Andy freed his arms from the pile to grab the ring from the box. The siblings now noticed the ring was attached to a chain, turning the ring into a necklace. Andy put the necklace around his now-fiancee's neck, admiring how lovely she looked with it.
"Why is it a necklace?" Dot decided to ask.
Andy blinked, suddenly being reminded his kids were still there. "Well, they don't sell rings for toons." he explained. "Our fingers are too big, and we can't use our toon-power to stretch them to the right size either, they'll break." he explained.
"Oh no, mister. You're not getting out of this one by explaining things to the kids." Kassie scolded lightly, pulling on the collar of his shirt. "Come here you."
Not caring if the kids saw, Kassie pulled Andy into a kiss. The kids did react, being grossed out by seeing their parents kiss, but neither noticed. They were too far in the clouds to notice or care about how the kids reacted.
The moment passed, the Warners going back to making music while the parents just watched, holding each other.
"So..." Kassie turned to look Andy in the eyes. "What made you change your mind?"
Andy in return just nuzzled her. "I've been thinking about it for years already. I guess I just needed something to give me the final push."
That final push came in the form of a woman commenting on his family.
'Oh, you and your wife have such adorable children.'
'-your wife.'
'-your wife.'
'-wife.'
He hadn't been able to correct her. He knew Kassie wasn't his wife, but he couldn't correct the woman and say Kass was his girlfriend. It felt wrong. He'd been calling her his girlfriend for 34 years, but now? He wanted to call her his wife. They were created as husband and wife, but decided to start by dating and just getting to know each other. But he couldn't anymore. He wanted to marry her.
And now that she said yes, he could officially call this the best Father's Day.
Don't mind me, just casually throwing my own autistic traits and habits on the Warners... Not me always fiddling with stuffed animals I win at carnivals or wanting to feel the soft, fuzzy fur texture.
I'm just guessing LA Zoo had wolves in 1976! The only mention of wolves I can find is either maned wolves or Virginia the wolf, who escaped the enclosure in 1979! Why did I set my story in the 1970s?!
Likewise I have no idea if it had a gift shop back then.
Also, the baby gorilla Dot mentioned was Evelyn. I found out about her while researching Los Angeles Zoo, so I decided to throw in a nod to her.