The next morning...

Inky woke up and yawned, hugging his daddy as he blinked away sleep. Ink was still asleep, snoozing away. Inky sat up and rubbed his sockets. He looked around the room, and it was just the same as yesterday. Inky got out of bed and went to the kitchen. He was going to make his daddy breakfast.

Now, where was the jelly kept again?

The jelly called out to him from the fridge (not really - he just remembered that it was in the fridge).

Inky pulled the jelly and bread out and made two thick jelly sandwiches. He brought his creations to his room and set them on the side table before going to shake Ink's shoulder to wake him up.

"Hm..?" Ink woke slowly, opening his eyesockets to see his son.

Inky smiled, whispering. "Daddy, I made breakfast."

"Wha..." Ink yawned. "What..? Breakfast..?"

Inky brought the plate of sandwiches from the table to Ink. "I made jelly sandwiches! One for you, and one for me."

"Oh..wow, Inky!" Ink smiled down at his son. "You did so well!"

Inky beamed at the praise, sitting down on the bed and taking his sandwich. "I did it all by myself."

"I'm so proud!" Ink hugged his son tightly, being genuinely proud of the child.

Inky giggled, glad he could make his daddy happy.

"Well, you have to go back to school again, today!" Ink informed. "What do you want for lunch?"

Inky hummed. "Um... Can I have what you made yesterday again? But I want tea to drink!"

"All right!" Ink nodded. "Bacon sandwich with tea it is!"

Ink ate his breakfast, and Inky finished his food and got dressed for the day - just a simple t-shirt and jeans; he had all sorts of clothes to choose from now! By the time Inky had gotten dressed, Ink had already packed his lunch downstairs. Inky grabbed his backpack and went to the kitchen. He wondered what he would do at school today.

"Ready for school today?" Ink questioned, handing Inky his lunchbox.

Inky put the lunchbox in his backpack. "Yep! I'm gonna pillage people again."

"That sounds fun; good luck!" Ink smiled, opening a portal for Inky to go back to school.

Inky ran through the portal to the school.

"Have a good day!" Ink closed the portal behind his son.

Inky waved at the closing portal before turning around and looking for his class. Where was it again? The school had a kindergarten section; his class was probably there. Inky followed another kid his height and by chance found his classroom. He walked in and looked for Fritz, finding the boy at his desk.

"Hi, Fritz!" Inky greeted.

"Hi, Inky!" Fritz waved Inky over. "Come here!"

Inky ran over to Fritz and hugged his friend. He then pulled his homework out of his backpack and showed Fritz the picture. "Look! I drew my daddy!"

"Awesome!" Fritz pulled out his homework, featuring crude drawings of two adult goats, a child goat, and a human. "This is my family and me!"

"Cool! You're a really good drawer!" Inky complimented.

"Thanks!" Fritz grinned. "You are, too!"

"Thank you!"

After a few minutes of Fritz going on a bit of a rant about his bedroom (it had been remodeled recently), the teacher got the class's attention.

"Today, we'll be learning about families!" She announced. "Each of you drew a picture of your families last night, and today we're going to explain how everyone is related!"

Inky sat down in his seat. It was next to Fritz's. He couldn't wait to show his picture! The teacher began to go down the rows one by one, showing how each member of everyone's family was related to the other members. When it came time for Inky to show his picture off, he smiled proudly.

"Ah, is this your father?" The teacher assumed.

"No, that's my Daddy." Inky corrected. "He makes me soup and plays tag with me."

"That's very good!" The teacher smiled. "But 'daddy' is just another word for 'father.'"

"Ohhh... okay!" Inky smiled.

The teacher moved on, continuing down the rows, and once the students were done with showing off their families, the class moved on to the next topic.

"Now we will learn about the letters of the alphabet." The teacher announced.

Inky tilted his head and raised his hand. When he was called on, he asked, "What's an alphabet? And letters?"

"The alphabet is the basic form of our language, and the letters are what makes it up!" The teacher explained.

"Oh." Inky was still confused. "What's a language?"

"Well, you're saying words, right?" The teacher asked. "That's a language."

"Ohhh..." Inky nodded; he understood now.

The teacher continued explaining the alphabet, teaching all the children the well-known song. Ink sang along loudly; he liked this song! The class sang the song until lunch, and when lunch time came, Inky sat down with Fritz again. He asked who all the people in his picture were; he had forgotten while they were singing.

"This is my mom, my dad, and my brother!" Frita explained. "They adopted me!"

"What's adopted mean?" Inky asked.

"Well, it means that your parents weren't always your parents, but they are now!" Fritz defined.

Inky thought for a moment, mulling that over. "I think I'm adopted then..."

"Cool!" Fritz smiled. "We can be adopted buddies!"

"Yeah!" Inky cheered.

"What do you have for lunch?"

Inky held up his bacon sandwich. "Same thing as yesterday! And Daddy let me bring tea!"

"Nice!" Fritz smiled.

Inky nodded, eating his lunch. He liked bacon sandwiches. After lunch, the class went on to other things - namely, the teacher was teaching the children how to trace their hands. Inky traced his hand with a pencil, carefully drawing each line. When he lifted his hand off the page, there was a perfect outline of a skeleton hand. Fritz had a more-crudely drawn outline of a human hand, but it was better than some of the other drawings, at least!

Inky looked over at Fritz's drawing and said, "Good job, Fritz!"

"Yours is better!" Fritz awed. "You even got the tiny parts!"

"Thank you! But I like yours too though." Inky complimented.

"Thanks." Fritz smiled.

"You're welcome." Inky said, before going back to his drawing. He wanted to color it...

While Fritz began to doodle around his drawing, Inky colored his hand with tattoo designs similar to those on his arms. Fritz had drawn a pitiful recreation of the Mona Lisa, but Inky complimented Fritz's picture again. Fritz returned the compliment, and the teacher told the class that it was time to sing a song. Inky sang along, learning all about the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider.' It climbed up and fell down all day, apparently. Inky wondered if water spouts were fun to climb; they must have been, if spiders liked them so much. After the song, it was time to go back home for the day. The parents started to arrive, including Ink.

Inky ran to Ink and tackled him in a hug. "Daddy!"

"Hey, Inky!" Ink hugged his son. "Let's get home, okay?"

"Okay! Do you wanna hear the song we learned?"

"Of course!" Ink smiled, opening a portal back home.

"The itsy bitsy spider, ran up the water spout~! Down came the rain~" Inky sang as he entered the portal.

Ink listened to the song with a smile, joining Inky as he sang the lyrics.

Once finished with the song, Inky sat down on the couch. "Daddy, guess what!"

"What is it, my son?" Ink questioned.

"Fritz and I are adopted buddies!" Inky announced proudly. "Because we're both adopted!"

"That's very nice!" Ink complimented.

"Yeah. Fritz is really fun and he's a really good drawer. He has a big family! He has a mommy and a daddy and a brother..." Inky paused, the glitchy child coming to mind.

He shook his head; he'd think about that later. If he could remember. For good measure, he smacked his arm; it stung, strengthening the memory.

"..Are you all right?" Ink raised an eyebrow at Inky's actions; maybe his son was a masochist.

"Yes!" Inky smiled innocently. "Can we watch a movie?"

"Sure." Ink turned on the tv.

Inky scooted over and cuddled next to his daddy as he watched the show, and Ink put his arm around his son, holding him closely. While Inky leaned into his daddy as he watched the movie, Ink summoned some popcorn, not feeling like getting up to make some.

Inky stole some of the popcorn with a smile. "Thank you!"

"Of course, son!" Ink grinned.

As the movie played, Inky did some thinking. His memory still wasn't the best, but more and more memories of the glitchy child came to him. He knew the boy. As time went on, he remembered where he had met him.

Thoughts of the white place weren't fun. Those were memories he wished he could forget.

Inky curled into his Daddy's side with a frown.

"Are you all right, honey?" Ink questioned, looking down at his son with a frown. "Are you feeling ill?"

Inky hugged his daddy's waist. "Daddy?"

"Yes, Inky?" Ink was ready to do anything.

Inky looked up at Ink's face with an earnest look. "I'm glad you're my daddy. And...I like being here, instead of the white place." He looked back down and squeezed Ink tighter. "I don't want to go back..."

"I won't make you go back, little one." Ink hugged his son tightly, offering a firm reassurance. "I'll keep you right here with me, forever."

"You promise?" Inky whispered.

"I promise." Ink whispered back, booping Inky's nose ridge.

Inky smiled lightly. He was still learning what it was like to be in a family, but so far he liked it. He wondered if the glitchy child wanted a family too. Was that why he wanted Inky to go with him? The next time he saw him, he was going to ask him to stay.

"I..." Inky tried to find the word to describe what he was feeling. "Um... what's the word, where you feel warm and pink? When you really wanna hug someone?"

Ink smiled. "Care, compassion, friendliness, respect... love. I love you, Inky."

"I love you too, Daddy!" Inky announced, smiling wide.

"Do you want to eat out for dinner?" Ink offered.

"What's that mean?" Inky sat up and tilted his head. "Eat out?"

"It means we'll go to a different place to eat our food instead of making it here." Ink explained.

"Ohhh! Yeah! Let's do that!" Inky said, excited to go somewhere new.

"All right!" Ink chuckled. "Do you want to go to a fancy restaurant or a diner?"

"I don't know what either of those are."

"The diner will be more fun." Ink opened a portal. "Let's get going!"

Inky followed Ink through the portal excitedly. "Okay!"

The portal led to a quaint universe known as Outertale, the universe known for its perpetual stargazing spots. Inky stared in awe at the stars in the sky; he remembered this place.

"We've been here before!" Inky exclaimed.

"It's a very popular place!" Ink grinned. "Come along, the diner's this way!"

Inky nodded and followed his daddy to the diner. Ink entered the diner, and he and Inky were seated in a booth; Inky was given some crayons and a menu he could color on. Inky colored with the crayons happily. He didn't stick to the line picture it provided, either; he drew on the whole menu. He drew pictures of his Daddy, of Fritz, and of other people he had met.

Drawing always made remembering easier.

Ink watched his son draw; there was certainly talent there, and he was more than willing to help hone Inky's artistic abilities.

Distracted, Inky didn't realize who he drawing until he had drawn Nightmare and his gang, along with Ruru; he just kept drawing until the menu was filled with doodles.

Ink blinked when he realized whom Inky had drawn... the child hadn't even seemed to notice it...

Ink spilled a glass of water on his son's menu, right onto the doodle of them.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Inky!" Ink grabbed some napkins and began to clean up the mess. "I'm so clumsy, sometimes!"

Inky blinked at the mess in surprise; he gave his daddy a forgiving smile, though. "It's okay! I make messes too sometimes." He paused and looked to the side in thought. "A lot of sometimes..."

"I'll get you a new menu, okay?" Ink picked up the soaked menu.

"Okay." Inky nodded.

Ink left to get Inky a new menu, returning soon after and giving it to Inky. "There, good as new!"

"Thank you!" Inky took the menu and started doodling again - more drawings of people, but this time, they were monsters who came in the diner.

Ink was content with these drawings. Soon enough, a waiter came to take their orders.

"What would you like to eat, Inky?" Ink asked.

"Um..." Inky shrugged; he wanted to try something new, but didn't know what restaurants served. "I don't know."

"Shall I pick something for you?" Ink offered.

Inky nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what to get."

"All right." Ink hummed, before looking to the waiter. "I'll have a plain cheeseburger with fries and an iced tea, and he'll have raviolis and a chocolate milkshake."

The waiter nodded and walked away, leaving the two alone.

"What are those?" Inky asked, with wide sockets; they sounded really tasty.

"You'll see; they're delicious!" Ink assured.

Inky vibrated in his seat in excitement; he couldn't wait to try them! After a short wait of half an hour, the food arrived, and Inky grabbed the milkshake first, slurping some down quickly.

He cringed when his head started hurting. "Owowowowow! Cold!"

"That's called a brain freeze, Inky." Ink chuckled. "It'll go away in a second."

After a while, it did, and Inky pushed the shake away. He was mad at it right now. He would forget in a moment and happily drink more, though.

For now, he tried the ravioli, and his eyelights lit up when he took a bite. "This is good!"

"I'm glad!" Ink smiled, eating his burger.

Inky finished his ravioli and did indeed forget the milkshake's past transgressions. He drank it again.

And he got another brain freeze.

Ink sighed, smiling.

Once the second brain freeze passed, Inky decided to draw some more. Nothing in particular at first, but doodles of a certain child kept creeping in. This time, he did notice them. He kicked his foot against the table legs before scribbling over the doodles; he didn't know why he felt the need to hide them from his daddy, but he did. He subtly glanced up to see if his daddy noticed the drawings, but Ink was occupied with his food at the moment; Inky was successful in hiding his drawings. He then took to coloring the rest of the page full. He got the idea to color over all his drawings and turn the menu into a four colored rainbow! Ink was finishing his food. Inky soon finished his coloring and was now bored; he looked up to see if his daddy was done.

Ink took the last bite of his meal, and his plate was empty soon enough. "All right, I'm finished."

"Yay! Can we go play now?" Inky asked.

"Sure!" Ink put some G on the table and opened a portal back home.

Inky ran through the portal and went to get a game, bringing out a box labeled 'Checkers.' "What's this game?"

"Checkers." Ink replied. "Do you want me to teach you how to play?"

"Yes!" Inky started pulling the pieces and board out of the box.

"All right." Ink pulled out the instruction manual and began to read it aloud.

Inky tapped the pieces on the board in a random rythm as he waited.

"Do you understand?" Ink asked, after he finished reading the rules.

Inky blinks, stopping his tapping; he had forgotten to listen. "Uh...yep! I understand!"

"Okay, let's play!" Ink set up the board. "Do you want to be black or red?"

"Red!" Inky pointed at the red pieces.

"All right!" Ink turned the board around. "Do you want to go first?"

Inky nodded, moving a red piece forward from a black square to a white one.

Ink chuckled. "You can only move diagonally, onto the same colored squares."

"Oh." Inky slid his piece to the side, onto a black square.

"All right.." Ink moved one of his pieces forward.

Inky moved the first piece closer towards Ink's, and Ink moved closer, too. Inky moved his piece closer and closer until it was right next to Ink's, at which point, Ink captured Inky's piece.

Inky giggled. "You got it, Daddy!"

"Indeed, but you can get it back!" Ink chuckled.

They continued to play the game. Inky picked up on the game rather quickly, and he eventually had half of Ink's pieces; Ink had a feeling that he was going to lose. Inky jumped three of Ink's pieces in a single move and crowned himself another king. He had three now.

He smiled up at Ink. "I did it again!"

"Good job!" Ink congratulated. "You're great at this game!"

Inky raised his arms in the air and cheered. "I'm the king of checkers!"

"Yes, you are!" Ink agreed.

In the end, Inky won the game; he did a victory dance, singing, "I win! I win! I win!"

"Congratulations!" Ink smiled at his son.

Inky skipped back and started resetting the board. "I wanna play again!"

"Okay!" Ink set up his side of the board again.

Inky was red again and went first, moving a piece forward. Ink did so, as well. Halfway through the game, Inky got the idea to hold two black pieces to his sockets like button eyes.

He giggled. "Daddy, look!"

Ink chuckled, rolling his eyelights. "You look like an evil monster!"

Inky play-growled, pretending to be scary. But he was only pretending; he didn't want to scare his Daddy too much.

"Oh, no, the evil monster is coming for me!" Ink made a dramatic pose.

Inky stood up, checker eyes still in place. He moved to tackle Ink. "Rawr! Imma get you!"

"Ahhh!" Ink playfully fell onto the ground, letting his son tackle him.

Inky dropped his checker eyes and started tickling Ink.

"Ahahahaha!" Ink giggled.

Inky crawled over Ink and attacked his ribs, giggling, and Ink tickled his son back, intending to win this tickle fight!

Inky squealed, moving his arms to block the attack. "No! Stop that!"

He rolled off Ink and kicked his legs at the offending hands.

Ink grabbed one of Inky's ankles and tickled his foot with his other hand. "Never!"

Inky squirmed, trying to break free and laughing loudly. "No! Daddy! That tickles!"

"I know!" Ink nodded, continuing his onslaught.

Inky squirmed and tried to roll away to escape, and at last, Ink allowed him to, deciding that his son had suffered enough tickling for one day. Inky jumped to his feet and ran to hide behind the couch; he peeked over the top, giggling.

"I see you!" Ink grinned.

Inky ducked down. "No you don't!"

Ink grinned. "All right, I don't see you!"

Giggling could be heard behind the couch.

"Inky, where'd you go?" Ink looked around, smiling. "Wherever could he be?"

Inky crawled under the couch and reached an arm out to snatch Ink's leg. "Gotcha!"

Ink let out a yelp, before bursting into laughter.

Inky poked his head out and grinned. "Did I scare you?"

"Yep, you got me good!" Ink chuckled.

Inky crawled out from under the couch and cheered. "I'm the sneakiest!"

"Yes, you are!" Ink agreed. "Well, it's almost time for bed; is there anything you want to do before then?"

"Um..." Inky held a hand up to his chin. "I wanna...can we paint something?"

"Sure." Ink confirmed, summoning some art supplies.

Inky started painting a landscape of of Outertale, and Ink watched with pride; his son was going to be a great artist like he was someday! Inky spread blacks, purples, and blues over the canvas. He flicked the brush and made dotted white spots for the stars, and he took a feathery brush to make a swirling nebula in the corner.

"That's really good, Inky!" Ink approved. "Would you like me to show you how to do anything special?"

"Okay! Um, I don't know." Inky handed his painting to Ink, smudging the edges with his fingers. "What should I add next?"

"How about you add some tiny rocks on the ground?" Ink suggested.

Inky took his painting back and paints some gray rocks on the bottom. He also fixed the smudges.

"That looks wonderful, Inky!" Ink grinned.

"Thank you!" Inky smiled, adding the finishing touches to his painting - shading things and what not. By the time he was finished, it was bedtime. Inky yawned, ready to sleep. He stretched paint-covered hands up to Ink, wanting to be picked up. Ink picked up his son, before looking at the mess he had made.

"I think you need a bath before bed.." He rolled his eyelights.

Inky grinned, more awake now that he'd heard that. "Yeah! I want bubbles!"

"All right, one bubble bath, coming up!" Ink grinned, teleporting them to the bathroom.

Inky wiggled to get down. "I wanna put the bubbles in! I can do it!"

"All right!" Ink gave Inky the bubble soap as he filled the tub.

Inky dumped half the bottle in before he was satisfied; This was going to be a very bubbly bath. Inky giggled happily as he watched the bubbles grow. Ink chuckled when the water was ready for Inky.

"Okay, are you ready to get in?" He asked.

Inky forgot the all-so-important step of undressing and climbed over the side of the tub. He and his clothes were quickly soaked; he didn't care, though. He started molding the bubbles into towers as high as he could get them. Ink rolled his eyelights and began to wash Inky off; he would get some pajamas later.

Inky squirmed around, trying to avoid the cloth. "Daddy! Not now - I'm playing with the bubbles."

"All right, but I'm going to clean you up in a few minutes!" Ink informed.

"Okay." Inky then proceeded to plop a bunch of bubbles on Ink's head.

Ink sighed, retaliating by giving Inky a bubbly wig. Inky snickered, throwing more bubbles at Ink, who quickly returned fire. Soon, there were more bubbles on the floor and Ink than there were in the tub. Inky giggled behind his fingers.

"All right, you - time to get clean!" Ink held up a towel and began to clean Inky.

Inky squealed in laughter, trying to escape. "I wanna play more!"

"After you're clean!" Ink shook his skull.

Inky plopped down in the tub, splashing Ink. "Okay."

Ink continued to clean his son, making sure to get every part of him squeaky clean! Once clean, Inky tried to climb out of the tub. He and his soaked clothes were going to go play hide and seek!

"Inky, I need to dry you off!" Ink grabbed a towel.

Inky made his escape out the bathroom door, looking left and right. Where to hide? He started towards the kitchen; the cabinets would make great hiding spots. Ink chased Inky out of the bathroom, following the wet trail on the floor to find his son, while Inky ran down the hall and shut himself in a cabinet, giggling loudly. Ink decided not to play right now; Inky had to go to bed. Ink opened the cabinet and ambushed Inky with a towel, proceeding to dry him off. Inky pouted; he had thought that was a good hiding spot.

When he was dry again, he asked, "Can we hide and seek now? I wanna play."

"It's time for bed, Inky." Ink shook his skull.

"But I'm not tired!" Inky whined.

"Inky..go to bed." Ink ordered, taking advantage of the changes he had made to Inky's code.

Inky grumbled, shuffling his feet as he walked to his room. Ink sighed; he would make something delicious for breakfast in the morning. Inky sat on his bed, crossing his arms and still pouting, while Ink went to clean up the mess Inky had made. Inky's head started to bob, but he was being stubborn and wasn't going to fall asleep. No matter how heavy his lids were. Ink continued to clean the mess, before draining the tub. Inky was slumped over, asleep. When Ink had finished cleaning, he went to bed. Inky fell over and landed with a thump on the floor. He was still asleep, and the house was quiet.

Inky slept on the floor the whole night in what should have been an uncomfortable position. He didn't care and was just fine the next day. Ink was still asleep when Inky woke up. Inky yawned and sat up. He rubbed his sockets and and got up, before wandering to Ink's room and peeking over the side of the bed. Ink was fast asleep, and soon enough, Inky got an idea, using his hand to muffle his giggles. Ink was blissfully unaware, not waking to the giggling. Inky backed away from the bed before running and jumping on it.

He then tackled Ink's sleeping form. "Boo!"

Ink jumped up from his sleeping position, now armed with the knife that he usually kept under his pillow.

"I... Inky?" He groaned, lowering his weapon.

Inky blinked at the weapon curiously. It was shiny! He tried to reach for it. "What's that?"

"Don't touch that!" Ink pulled the weapon out of Inky's reach. "It's a weapon, meant for defense."

Inky stood up on the bed and looked at the knife longingly. "What's defense? Can I hold it? Please!"

"No, Inky, it's too dangerous." Ink shook his skull.

Inky pouted. "But... but I wanna see it. It looks cool!" He gives Ink his biggest puppy dog eyes. "Please!"

Ink sighed. "Fine, but do not touch it!"

Inky squinted his sockets and tilted his head. "How do I see without touching it?"

"You use your eyes instead of your hands, silly." Ink rolled his eyelights.

"Oh." Inky sits down on Ink's lap and stared at the knife. He really wanted to touch it. His hands fidgeted with his shirt. "It's shiny... what does it do?"

"It... looks pretty." Ink didn't want to corrupt the child... too soon.

"You looked like you wanted to hit somebody with it." Inky pointed out. "When I scared you."

"Well... that's what you're supposed to do with this." Ink supposed that there was no avoiding it; he had planned on waiting a week or two before beginning to teach Inky about his favorite things, but, hey, this was fine, too! "It's supposed to injure people."

Inky frowned slightly. "Injure? You mean hurt people?"

"Yeah." Ink confirmed. "If a stranger came into the house and wanted to hurt you, I would use this to defend you!"

"Oh..." Inky glanced from the knife and Ink's face; he wasn't sure what to think about that. Helping people was good, but...he wasn't sure about hurting people. "It keeps people safe, though?"

"Yes, it keeps people safe." Ink nodded.

"Okay." Inky still wasn't sure what to think about the knife, but it was pretty and helped people - it couldn't have been all bad. And his curiosity was piqued; he looked back to Ink. "How does it work?"

"It's very thin on the end; it's easy to jab into things." Ink explained. "And it hurts, so I won't show you."

"Okay." Inky nodded; he didn't want to accidentally get hurt. Instead... "I'm hungry."

The attention span of a child was a wondrous thing.

"All right, then!" Ink hopped out of bed and began to get dressed.

Inky slid off the bed and went to the kitchen, making jelly sandwiches again for them. When his daddy came down, Ink made chocolate pancakes for their breakfast.

Inky enjoyed his pancake and jelly sandwich; they were delicious! "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Inky!" Ink smiled. "Well, it's time to get ready for school; do you have your backpack?"

Inky nodded, picking up his backpack; he had gotten changed and grabbed his bag right after he ate breakfast. "I'm ready!"

"Okay!" Ink smiled, opening a portal. "Can I have a hug before you go?"

"Yeah!" Inky ran up to Ink and raised his arms for a hug.

"Thank you!" Ink hugged his son tightly. "Have fun at school, Inky!"

"You're welcome!" Inky ran through the portal to school. "Bye, Daddy!"

"Bye!" Ink waved, before closing his portal.

Inky followed the other students to his classroom and took his seat. As he waited for class to start, he realized he only had one friend so far; today, he determined he was going to make more friends. The teacher began the class period with a poem about bananas; "Ode to Bananas" was a very funny poem, Inky decided. After having the class recite the poem, the teacher had them review their ABC's.

"A, B, C, D, G, I, K, N, M, N, O, P..." Inky tried - he really did. The letters got a little mixed up though.

The teacher understood the problems; she was patient, and she would help any student who needed her. With the teacher's help, Inky was able to learn his ABC's; he was happy with that. After the alphabet, the teacher decided to start teaching the students how to write the letters, and Inky did very good with this part; since he was really good at drawing and remembering things he put on paper, he picked up on his letters much faster this way. The other students had a bit more trouble, but they got the hang of it by lunchtime. Inky got his lunchbox and opened it, noticing that Fritz must have been out sick today; he wasn't here. Inky frowned; his friend wasn't here. Hmm...

Inky decided to sit next to a random kid. "Hello! My name is Inky. What's yours?"

"I'm Clara!" The girl replied.

"What are you eating?" Inky asked.

Pasta." She answered, showing Inky her food. "What about you?"

Inky looked down at his lunchbox. "I have..."

Ink had prepared a cheesesteak for Inky's lunch today, with a side of apple slices. For a drink, he had provided grape juice.

Inky showed his lunchbox to Clara. "I have this!" He held up the juice box. "I don't know how to open this..."

"I can show you!" Clara offered.

Inky handed the box to her. "Okay. Thank you!"

Clara showed Inky how to open the juice box, demonstrating the most proper technique, and when she was done, Inky took the box back.

"Ohhh...so that's how it works." He takes a drink, his eyelights lighting up. "That's good!"

"Uh-huh!" Clara nodded, happy to help.

While he ate his food, Inky said to Clara, "School is fun. I like the singing. What's your favorite part?"

"I like games."

"Me too! What's your favorites? I like Candy Land, Checkers, and hide'n'seek." Inky said, listing his current favorites.

"I like playing pretend." Clara voiced her favorite.

"That's fun too. Last night, I pretended to be scary and scared my daddy." Inky recalled, taking another bite of his food.

"That sounds fun! I like pretending I'm a superhero!"

"That sounds fun. We should play together! I can be a pirate." Inky smiled, hopeful that she would say yes.

"I'll be a mermaid!" Clara grinned.

After they finished their lunch, Inky went and grabbed some foam swords, giving one to Clara.

"Okay! I'm a pirate, and I'm gonna pillage you, little mermaid!" Inky claimed; he didn't know much about pirates.

"You can't pillage mermaids!" Clara huffed. "You make friends with them and let them sail with you!"

Inky lowered his sword. "Oh...okay!" He held his hand out to Clara. "Let's go sail then!" He looked around in confusion. "How do we do that?"

"Pretend, duh!" Clara giggled.

"Okay!" Inky didn't know what sailing was, but he made up for it by taking Clara's hand and running around. "We're sailing now!" After a moment, he asked, "What do we do, little mermaid? Do you want to pillage people? Or...other pirate and mermaid stuff?"

"I wanna make people happy!" Clara clapped.

"Good idea!" Inky looked around for someone who looked as if they needed to be happy.

The teacher was sighing at her desk; she had a headache - not that Inky or Clara knew that.

Since Inky thought the sighing meant the teacher was sad, he went to his desk and pulled out paper and crayons. "Let's draw pictures for the teacher. She looks sad."

"Okay!" Clara nodded, sitting down with some paper and crayons.

Inky drew himself and Clara with their foam swords; he also drew stars all around them. When they were done, Inky and Clara took their drawings to the teacher.

"Oh..this is sweet." The teacher smiled at them. "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" Inky smiled, before turning to Clara and saying, "We did it! We made someone happy! Now what?"

"We can finish our lunches now.." Clara was hungry.

"Okay." Inky followed Clara back to their lunch boxes; Inky had already finished his food, but he was okay with waiting for Clara to finish hers.

Clara continued to eat her lunch, enjoying the pasta. After she was finished, Inky wondered what they would do next. The teacher, after officially ending the punch period, began to teach the class about syllables, having them clap for each syllable in a word, and Inky liked the clapping part; he did really good with this lesson! The other students seemed to enjoy it, too, having fun with the syllables. After they were done with that lesson, Inky wondered what was next. He was having fun in school!

Next, there was arts and crafts! Inky lit up at this part. Clara showed him how to make a boat, so now he knew what pirates used to sail with. Clara also made some origami, showing Ink how fun it was! Inky learned all kinds of shapes from Clara. He learned how to make frogs, cats, swans, flowers, planes, boats, people, and other fun shapes.

After that, it was time for something all the students had been looking forward to: gym class. Inky stared at the gym equipment with curious eyelights. There were basketballs, soccer balls, kickballs, and baseballs; there were jump ropes and little beanbags too. There was even a pogo stick. The gym teacher allowed all the students to try out whatever they wanted. Inky didn't know what a lot of this stuff was, but it looked fun! One of the students rushed over to the pogo stick with a mission, beginning to play immediately, while the rest of the children went about their business.

Inky followed the one student and watched as he played on the pogo stick. "Can I try it next?"

"Nuh-uh!" The other child refused. "I wanna play with it!"

"What about when you're done?" Inky requested.

"Then we'll go back to class!" The other stated.

Inky pouted. "But I want a turn, too..."

"Well, you can't have one!" The other child stuck their tongue out.

Inky frowned and huffed. "That's not fair."

"Too bad!" The other student continued to enjoy the pogo stick.

Inky crossed his arms and stomped his foot. "You have to share!"

"No, I don't!" The other continued to play.

"You're mean!" Inky stomped away and pouted in a corner.

No one noticed him for the rest of the class period. After gym ended, the students went back to class, where, after the teacher had assigned some homework, it was time to go home for the day. Inky grabbed his backpack and trudged to his daddy and the portal home.

"Inky?" Ink noticed his son's mood immediately; he closed the portal once they got home and sat down next to Inky on the couch. "Are you all right?"

Inky had his arms crossed and was glaring at the floor. He mumbled, "The kid wouldn't let me have a turn..."

"What?" Ink tilted his skull. "Was someone being unfair to you? What happened?"

Inky nodded, looking up at Ink. "I just wanted a turn! I was gonna be patient too! They got it first, but I wanted to try it after. I was gonna wait...but they said no..."

"A bully, huh?" Ink assumed.

Inky wasn't sure what that word meant, but it sounded like what the kid was; he nodded firmly. "They were mean."

"I see." Ink hummed. "Would you like me to tell you how to deal with bullies?"

Inky nodded. "Mhm."

"All right." Ink smiled. "First, you ask them if they'd like to come over to your house for a playdate! Tell them I've got cake!"

Inky blinked, tilting his head. "So...be nice to them, and they'll be nice?"

"..Something like that." Ink smiled. "Just invite them over, and then I'll teach you more!"

"Okay!" Inky felt better now; his daddy was going to help him make friends.

"Do you have any homework?" Ink inquired.

Inky pulled it out of his backpack. "Mhm!"

"Okay, you get started on it, then!" Ink ordered.

"Okay!"

Inky got to work on his homework; he had to trace his letters and learn the right order. He was done in about an hour, and when he finished, he went to see what his daddy was doing. Ink was in the basement, preparing some things for the guest he was expecting for tomorrow. He had locked the basement door, of course; Inky couldn't get in, but he could hear Ink moving things downstairs. Inky pressed his head to the door when he couldn't open it; there were some funny sounds coming from down there.

"Daddy? What are you doing?" Inky called through.

"Checking the pipes for leaks! I found one already, so I've got to fix it!" Ink called up. "I'll be up in a few minutes!"

"Okay!" Inky called back.

He then went to color while he waited. Ten minutes later, Ink came back upstairs, and he sat next to Inky, looking at his drawing.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

Inky had drawn a picture of a child Fell Sans playing in the snow.

"Better." Inky replied, as he finished up the details.

"Good." Ink rubbed Inky's skull playfully. "Are you hungry?"

Inky put his picture to the side and nodded. "Mhm! I'm this hungry!" He held his arms out as wide as he could.

"All right, would you like hot dogs for dinner?" Ink offered.

"Yeah!" Inky jumped up, excited.

"I'll start them, then!" Ink got up to begin the meal.

Inky grabbed his coloring supplies and carried them to the kitchen, sitting down at the table to draw while Ink cooked. While Ink placed the hot dogs on a pan, Inky drew more pictures, mostly of random stuff in the house and spiders. The teacher had shown them pictures of spiders when they had learned the song, and Inky wanted to draw some - he even found a real spider in the corner to draw! Ink grabbed the hot dog buns.

Inky looked up and asked, "Are they almost done?"

"Almost." Ink nodded.

"Can I help?" Inky hoped, hopping out of his chair and going towards the stove.

"Sure." Ink pulled up a chair for Inky to stand on, and Inky climbed up onto it.

"What do I do?"

"You just have to watch the hot dogs carefully; you'll be the hot dog bodyguard!" Ink exclaimed.

"Okay!" Inky nodded firmly; he would be the best hotdog body guard ever. Inky stared at them with wide sockets, never blinking.

Ink pulled the condiments out of the fridge and began to cut the buns open; he wondered why he hadn't chosen to purchase the pre-cut ones. Inky was staring intently at the hotdogs, but they were still cooking. Ink finished the preparations and began to watch the hot dogs with Inky.

"I think they're done." Inky announced; they certainly smelled done.

"Me, too." Ink removed the hot dogs from the pan and placed them into the hot dog buns. "Do you want ketchup and mustard?"

"Umm...the yellow one!" Inky pointed at the bottle.

"Okay!" Ink put some mustard on Inky's hot dog before handing it to him.

Inky took the hot dog and took a big bite; his mouth was so full that his cheeks stuck out. He mumbled out a thank you through the bite.

"You're welcome." Ink chuckled.

Inky plopped down in the chair and finished his hotdog off in two big bites. He then burped, startling himself; he covered his mouth, and his sockets widened.

Lowering his hand, he said, "That was loud!"

"Just say, 'excuse me,' when you burp." Ink rolled his eyelights.

"Okay!" Inky nodded, giggling a little. "Excuse me!"

"Good job!" Ink approved.

Inky beamed at the praise; he was happy that he had done something good. "Can I have another one? I'm still hungry."

"Sure." Ink handed his son another hot dog.

"Thank you!" Inky ate this one slower, enjoying the flavor more.

When he was finished, he hopped off the chair and went to collect his drawings.

He glanced up at Ink. "Can you draw with me?"

"Of course!" Ink agreed, taking Inky to the living room and setting him down on the couch; he placed some art supplies on the coffee table. "What do you want to draw?"

"Spiders! I saw one in the kitchen, but he ran away." Inky explained, as he grabbed a new sheet of paper. "They're weird looking. I like them!"

"All right!" Ink smiled, beginning to draw a spider on his paper.

Inky drew his own spiders, giving them really long legs. He also added webs at the top of the page, but the webs looked more like looped strings. And they were blue. In the strings, one could see tiny red and white hearts tied up. Ink pretended not to notice the details in Inky's picture as he added some finer details to his own; his spider looked like a real spider. Inky finished his drawing by giving his spiders funny hats. His spiders looked more cartoony.

He looks over at Ink's drawing, ooh-ing and awe-ing. "That looks real, Daddy! Can you teach me how to draw like that too?"

"Well, it takes a lot of practice, Inky." Ink informed. "It took me decades to learn how to draw this well."

"That sounds like a long time..." Inky said slowly, but he soon perked up and smiled brightly. "I still wanna learn!"

"All right!" Ink smiled; he supposed that he would have a lot of time with his son in the coming..eternity. "But not right now; it's getting a bit late. Do you want to watch something before bed?"

Inky nodded, picking up his pictures; he stood up and hugged them to his chest. "Yeah. I'm going to put my pictures away first. Then I wanna watch something about spiders!"

This afternoon, spiders were his favorite creature, and, as obligated, Ink put on a spider documentary.

After putting his drawings away in his room, Inky came back to the living room and climbed onto the couch next to Ink. He cuddled up into his daddy's side as he watched the documentary. Ink had never known a few seclect things that had been included in the documentary..and he could have gone his entire life without knowing those things. Meanwhile, Inky was fascinated by the documentary. He never knew about the different kinds of webs spiders made. Or that some made their homes under ground.

He was sad that the mommy spiders didn't get to see their babies though. That was sad.

When the documentary ended, Ink decided that it was time for bed.

"Well, go get your pajamas on and get in bed; it's sleepy time." Ink informed.

Inky groaned and flopped over on Ink's lap, letting himself slide off and land on the floor with a thump. He grumbled and whined into the floor. "But I'm not tired!"

"Remember what we've got planned for tomorrow?" Ink reminded. "You'll have to get your rest if you're going to deal with your bully!"

Inky lifted his head and smiled. "Oh, yeah! We're going to give them cake! And they'll be nice then!"

"Yep!" Ink nodded. "So get to bed!"

"Okay!" Inky jumped up and ran to his room; he was dressed in his pajamas faster than he'd ever been before.

Ink just needed to set up a few more things in the basement before he slept... this bully would never mess with his son again!

He would make sure of it.