Heart-a-Flutter

by Shadowmane PX-41

Opening Up

Keychain arrived back home at his house at long last, with Fluttershy still so small that the seatbelt could only barely hold her in place. Still, she had managed the whole ride home, which was all that mattered on that front. Before he let Fluttershy out, Keychain went to the back of the car and opened up the boot, pulling out the bags of toys that he had bought for Fluttershy. Everything was in there apart from the bunny, which was still nestled in Fluttershy's dinky hands.

With the bags in hand, Keychain went over to Fluttershy's door and put the bags down, then opened it and lifted Fluttershy out of the seat, letting her feet touch terra firma once again. As soon as she was on the ground and the door shut, Keychain made his way towards the front door of his house, with Fluttershy chasing after him. They made it back inside just as the wind started to pick up, collecting the leaves and throwing them towards Key and Fluttershy before they made it through the door. Once the two of them were inside, Keychain took the bags of toys and carried them through the house to an empty room with nothing but a dresser and a bed.

"Now, I'm not entirely sure how to properly set this up. But... in your case, I think it'd be fine if we just put them out randomly." Keychain plucked things out of the bag one at a time. Plushies, blocks, squeaky things, even the occasional kids' outfit for Fluttershy, filling the once barren space into a small playroom for Fluttershy to marvel at. "Now, I know that it isn't really designed for kids in mind, but I'm sure that you'll be able to make do with what we have. Right?" Keychain picked out the last toy, letting the squeak noise that came out of it play before he dropped it.

With everything all set up, Fluttershy's brows lifted. Her own bunny still in her hand, she toddled towards the new toys slowly. Her other hand was trying to choose something while her eyes scanned each and every one of them. In the end, she gravitated more towards the other stuffed animals in the room. She took one, then carried it over to another one, then repeated the same process for all of the other animals in the room, until at last, she had an entire group of plushies sitting in one large pile, with the only exception being her bunny. Gurgling with a grin on her face, she sat down with the toys and gave them all a hug, burying herself in soft, furry fabrics.

It had been a while since Fluttershy had been able to have some fun like this. Though she had some faint, fuzzy memories with her parents, her young mind was still learning how to hold on to big chunks of information. As it stood, she could remember something for only a few days unless it was a really good memory of something, namely being with the new bunny plush that she had recently picked up from the mini-mall. Still, this was a memory that she was happy to have. each of the animals that she held onto gave off a positive and comforting vibe, effectively nullifying any bad thoughts that she might have had.

Where are her parents? That much I need answers on... That was the thought running through Keychain's mind as he watched Fluttershy entertaining herself with the animals. He watched her as she whispered in their ears, sharing her secrets with them, even moving their arms and legs to give herself the illusion that they were alive. It seems just wrong for someone like her to get lost like that. Wherever Mr and Mrs. Shy are, I just hope they're looking hard for her...

Keychain was about to go over to Fluttershy and try to play with her when he heard his phone buzzing once again. Fishing it out of his pocket, he pushed the green button to collect the call, putting the phone to his ears. "Hello?"

"Keychain? How are you doing, my little schnookums?" A feminine voice came from the other end of the phone. "Don't tell me that you're too busy to speak with your mom now, are ya?"

"Hey, mom. How's it going?" Keychain asked, though his mind was even more distraught with the thought of speaking to his mother when Fluttershy was in the room.

"Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Me and Suntan are just in the middle of sorting out our next little trip to the coast of Spain for a week or so." Whitewater chuckled to herself. "Anyways, more to the point, how are you doing, Key? It's been a while since you moved into Cedar Grove with all your friends."

"Yeah, yeah. I feel that I had to do it. The last place I was in was starting to get rather... I dunno, samey?" He twisted his wrist in a circular motion. "Here in Cedar Grove, I feel that there's always something to do, whether it's in the small city nearby or with the forests all around us. That's one of the beautiful things about it. Never a dull moment."

"Glad to hear it. Y'know, it's always the best idea to move to somewhere like that, rather than some stuffy, foggy, polluted old city. Good for you, son."

“Yeah. But... there’s some issues that I’ve got at the moment. Now before, you get really panicked, I’m not behind on my payments, my job is going fine, all the things you’re worrying about are for nothing. It’s just....” He took another look at Fluttershy, who had finally taken herself away from the other stuffed animals and wandered towards the blocks. “There’s this girl. And not the kind of girl where you think she’s gonna turn into a girlfriend after a few dates and good time. This girl is young. REALLY young. She’s like, three years old or something.”

“Have you taken up a babysitting job since you left for Cedar Grove, Key?” Whitewater asked. “I’ll be totally honest, you and children don’t seem to mix these days. The last time Snowdrift came round, you just froze up when it came to playing around with her.”

“Gee. Thanks for adding insult to injury, mom. No really, thanks.” Keychain grumbled. “And besides, this girl’s not my niece. Far from it, in fact. Her name’s Fluttershy and she’s lost. I had to take her in while trying to find out where her parents are. But so far, I’ve had pretty much no time to look since Lemon and the guys roped me into bowling and shopping today.”

“Fluttershy? Oh dear. How well are you treating her?” Whitewater’s tone quickly turned with the fact that Keychain was caring for a lost toddler. “Are you sure she’s eating well? Making sure she’s using the bathroom right? Most importantly, are you making sure that she’s happy? So that she doesn’t end up crying day in and out for her mom and dad?”

“I’ve been... trying, at least. Trying being the keyword here.” Keychain grimaced. He had been a terrible father figure so far. All he had done was leave her with the TV in the morning, take her out when her parents could have come to the city and watched her try a food she didn’t even like. “Now, Cyber’s been telling me that I should try to make her open up. My friends all made me buy some toys for her in the hope that she’ll be happier. But... what else do I do?”

“It’s simple. Until her parents come to collect her, you’ll need to play with her, keep her out of danger, feed her properly, and just treat her like a normal kid. Nothing too special or anything like that,” she said. “In the meantime, whenever you get the chance, try looking for anyone related to her by either the phone books or city hall. I’m sure that if she found her way to your house, then her parents can’t be too far off now, can they?”

“I suppose not. But still... I bet they must be heartbroken right now, to know that their daughter’s lost like this...” Keychain watched as Fluttershy stacked the blocks up. There weren’t just cubes, but also arches, rounded shapes, cones, and the occasional rectangular one as well. “I’ll try my best, mom. But... if my best isn’t good enough then, god help me.”

“Oh, you worry too much. I’m sure you’ll be fine, Key. In fact, I think I’ll help your search out. I’ll call you again when I get some details on Fluttershy’s parents. And maybe even some contact details if I get really lucky. But who knows just how long the search could take?” Whitewater’s jovial tone came back.

“Don’t say that. Just don’t. If this gets jinxed because of you, it’s on your head, mom.” Keychain’s brows fell as he pushed the button to hang up. After which, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and focused his attention to Fluttershy, who was still deep in her little building project. His muscles were still tightened at the idea of the search for Fluttershy’s parents being prolonged, but when he saw her playing, he couldn’t help but loosen up a little.

At the same time, as he tried to walk forward to play with her, memories of the last time he tried this with his niece Snowdrift were a different story. He still remembered the times when all of his attempts at jokes never hit their mark and instead made her groan in response, as did all of the times he tried to treat her like she should have been treated; as the eight-year old that she was. However, in Fluttershy’s case, she was much younger. Less than half of Snowdrift’s age. And she seemed much more malleable than Snowdrift could have ever been. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Then again, was he ready to do this again? To try and play around with children after his first attempts went so pear-shaped?

He had no time to think it through, as Fluttershy took one look at him, tilted her head to the side, then made a gesture with her hand, inviting Keychain to come over and play with him, flicking her fingers towards her face. The grin on her face never dropped once as she kept on doing it, waiting for Key to take her up on the offer. He couldn’t deny her in the end as a sigh fell from his lips and he walked over to her, then dropped to his knees so as to match her height.

“So, what’s... up, Fluttershy?” Keychain asked, scoffing to himself internally. That’s it, man? That’s your best move? How is she ever going to like you when you’re hesitating like this?! His mental outcry ended when Fluttershy put one of the blocks—one resembling a miniature bridge painted red all over—into his hands. “You... want me to do something with this?” He watched Fluttershy nod, then tap her finger at the top of the structure that she had made. She touched two different blocks on separate towers. “Here? Is this where you want it?” Keychain did as he was told and put the block down, connecting the two towers into one. His reward from that was Fluttershy clapping her hands together.

Fluttershy went on with the construction of her little structure, taking more and more blocks of varying shapes and sizes, laying them out one by one on top of each other. From the outside, it looked like a bright, mess of colours conglomerating into one, misshapen mess of mass. But to her, it was a calculated and thought out plan made up entirely of building blocks, with her as the instrument bringing them all together. During her little job, she handed out more pieces to Key, telling him where to put them down with little taps on the rapidly-growing tower from her fingers. To which he responded promptly. He didn’t have as big of a smile on his face as he did the work, but she didn’t mind that so long as her little game went on.

Keychain, as time passed still couldn’t get into the apparent craze of building with kids’ blocks. He had long since grown out of the concept, so to come back to it now at his age was almost unheard of until today. With every piece that went on and how large and complex Fluttershy’s creation became, however, it was clear that he could see why she found the appeal to it, and just how much fun that she was having purely from making something out of lots of other, smaller things. By the time she was running out of blocks to stack, the tower was almost as tall as Fluttershy; meticulously put together by her and his hands.

At the end, Fluttershy had four triangular blocks left. She stood on her tip-toes and wobbled around trying to balance herself and put them on top, to the point where she started to lose her balance ever so slightly. Keychain hurriedly reached over in response, holding Fluttershy by each of her hips, stabilising her. She gave him another big, beaming grin before she put down half of the blocks on one side, before dropping back to her heels and giving the rest to Keychain. She once again told him exactly where to put it and he did so, following the symmetry that she had laid out for him. With his last contribution, Fluttershy and Keychain’s blocky creation had been finalised.

Fluttershy squealed and threw her arms up, bringing them down for another round of applause as she let out another series of giggles. She held up her bunny plushie and cooed at it, as if to show it the fruits of her labour. In her fit of ecstasy, she jumped up and accidentally landed unsteadily, causing her to lurch forward and bop the front of the tower with her head, causing the whole thing to collapse, with the screeching noise of the blocks clacking among themselves as they tumbled to the ground.

Fluttershy rubbed her head from the impact, then opened her eyes to what she had done. The remains of her tower laid before her, plastic rubble with many different colours. Everything that she and Key had worked so hard on had come crashing down around her. A series of things ran through her mind. She wanted to cry because of the tower’s destruction, but instead, she just held the bunny tighter and slowly walked over to the felled building blocks. She patted each of them tenderly, feeling sorry for all of them, before she ended her condolence-giving session and looked up at Key.

“Again.” She spoke, her voice squeaky and soft as herself. Then, she reached down for one of the blocks and went back to the base of the tower with it in her hands. One by one, she took the mess away from Key’s legs and put it back with the other blocks.

“Wait a second. Hold up. Did you just... talk?” Keychain asked Fluttershy, but got no other words out of her.

“Again.” She repeated, taking the blocks and reorganising them before her eyes. Fluttershy’s runs back and forth between Key’s body and her shamble of a tower didn’t stop, regardless of the rest of the mess on the floor or the stunned look on Key’s face. Fluttershy brought the smile back and said, “Again,” for the third time that day.

Could her talking be a sign that she’s starting to feel more comfortable? Keychain thought to himself as he assisted Fluttershy in cleaning up the ruins of the last tower. “Uh... sure. Alright then. If that’s what you want.” He was still trying to figure everything out himself, but the sheer fact that she was talking must have meant something.

Keychain and Fluttershy went back to repairing the tower. For the most part, the building was exactly the same as the first time, but the only difference was that the colours were lined up in a different pattern. Fluttershy hadn’t noticed it, but Keychain did, as the lower area was a shade of orange that time, when the last time, it was blue. This time, though, he didn’t need Fluttershy’s verbal prompts and just put the blocks down wherever he thought that it would look good, still baffled with the thought that a man of his age, with a job and bills to pay was playing with blocks; toys designed for babies and toddlers. But every time he saw Fluttershy’s face and heard her humming again, any complaints he had were invalid.

The tower was finally reconstructed at last, with Fluttershy once again showing it off to her little bunny plushie. This time, she made sure not to jump. Instead, she played around with the bunny’s arms and moved them as if to make it seem like it was touching the tower instead of her. She chuckled again when she let the paw touch the blocks.

“Well. This has certainly been... interesting.” Keychain came around the tower to take a look at Fluttershy and the bunny once again. “I hope you’re happy with what you’ve made, Fluttershy. And I hope your little friend there is just as pleased with it as you.”

“Angel.” Fluttershy squeaked lifting the bunny to his face. “Angel.”

“Angel?” Keychain asked. His pupils shrank a bit. “There aren’t any angels here...”

Fluttershy shook her head, then lifted the bunny to his face again, patting its’ belly with her fingertips. “Bunny. Angel. His name.”

“His name?” Keychain facepalmed at how much of a dunce he was for falling for that. “His name’s Angel. I see. Well, fair play to you. You got me there.”

Fluttershy just grinned some more and threw herself into Keychain’s leg, hugging it tenderly. “Key...” She cooed softly, running her little hands against his trousers. “Keychain. Friend.”

Well what do you know? She is opening up to me after all... Keychain could only put his hand on Fluttershy’s back and pat it, making her hug tighter on his leg as she pressed her cheek against him. “That’s right, Fluttershy. I’m your friend. And I’ll be your best friend until we fix this and get you home.”

“Best... friend?” Fluttershy parroted, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“It’s like this. Your bunny, Angel. You love him a lot, don’t you?” He pointed Angel out to Fluttershy, causing her to nod on the spot. “Well, I can do the same, make you just as happy. All you have to do is let me in, be happy with me. In return, we can play all the time and do whatever you want. Sound good?”

“Best... friend. Best friend!” Fluttershy cheered out more as she swung her arms into the air and laughed for the umpteenth time that day.

“Eat your heart out, Snowdrift. Who says I’m bad with kids now, huh?” Keychain said to himself as Fluttershy hurriedly ran off to the next toy in the room, with him following after her.

Comments

[The Bricklayer]

...Small steps Key, small steps.

Also, those have to be the most amazingly embarrassing parents ever. Because my god!

[Shadowmane PX-41]

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9743451
Ya seen this new chapter yet?

[The Bricklayer]

9747998
I don't think you need to ask them. If they're tracking this story they probably have. May not have gotten around to it, but they probably saw it at least.

[Shadowmane PX-41]

9748121
I know, I know. I just get this constant feeling that the only way to know if people have truly enjoyed what you’ve written is when they leave comments.

I write pretty much every story for comments, as they tell me the best whether or not I’ve done good as a writer or terribly because I’ve made mistakes.

Sorry if it seems like nagging.

[The Bricklayer]

9748167
You can't force comments, people will do that on their own time. Least they like the story, am I correct? That should be enough.

[Shadowmane PX-41]

9748187
Yeah. So long as I’ve succeeded at putting a smile on their faces, I’m happy.