Rainbow Lyrics and Mellow Mushrooms: WIP Wednesday: The Imp has spoken! (Otherwise known as Riggs' first visit to Shanny's home)

Those who have read A Little Christmas: Ajay's Secret know that Ajay lives with high four best friends in a house that they share together. They are each other's family which also means that are constantly getting wrapped up in each other's businesses. All of them are fierce and protective of one another, but in the case of Shanny and Tiny, feelings burn a little hotter than that of just a brother by choice.

A Little Christmas: Ajay's Secret can be found here!

In Ajay's story, Shanny attends a movie night for little with Ajay and his new Daddy, Walker, who was worried about whether he'd be able to give an equal amount of attention to both of them over the course of the night. Knowing how important Shanny is to Ajay, he doesn't want him to feel left out in any way, so he invites another Daddy to join them as an evening companion for Shanny.

From that point forward, Riggs has been on Shanny's mind. In the opening chapter of Shanny's Valentine Suprise, Shanny decides that the best way to get someone's attention is to show off how acrobatic he is, resulting in him taking a spill into the ball pit and hurting his shoulder. A night in the emergency room is not the way he wanted to hang out with Riggs, but it does result in Ajay issuing Riggs an invitation to stop in and visit Shanny whenever he likes while Shanny is recovering. With the weather having turned too cold for Ajay to be out on streetcorners singing, he'll be there watching over Shanny and would happily let him in.

The thing Ajay didn't know at the time was that he'd be the only one in their little family stuck at home during Shanny's recovery time. Tiny's there too and in the little snippet below, you can see exactly how he feels about Riggs popping in unexpectedly to check on his Shanny-bear.

“Do you think Tom would have been sad if he’d eaten Jerry and no longer had him to chase around?” Shanny asked.

He was nestled between Tiny and Ajay, with his favorite cartoon cat being chased around by a little old lady with a broom after he’d wrecked the whole house while in pursuit of Jerry. Garfield was awesome too, but most of his funny was in the sarcasm. Shanny like the chasing around better.

“Maybe…but only after he was digested,” Ajay replied, prompting a snort of laughter from Tiny.

“Or maybe regret would have set in while he was digesting,” Tiny remarked. “I can’t imagine mouse tastes very good.”

“To a cat it would,” Shanny replied.

“True.”

“But what if he’s running around in there giving Tom indigestion?” Ajay asked. “Tom always swallows him whole. Maybe he’s got a whole treadmill in there or something.”

Tiny’s laughter was like what he imagined a bull snort would be, loud and deep, which only added to how funny it all was. Giggling, he forgot his shoulder until he started to roll onto it and was reminded of what a bad idea that would be.

“Maybe he’s doing crossfit!” Shanny cackled. His sides ached he was laughing so hard.

He loved days like this and having his favorite people with him was the best thing ever.

They were all laughing so hard that Shanny barely heard the pounding of someone at their door. Tiny heard it though, and eased away from him, letting the slight chill in the room creep beneath the blankets. It left him shivering until Ajay draped an arm over him and snuggled up tight. Even over the television he could hear voices, deep ones, drifting up the hall.

Kinda busy right now. Look, you don’t have to check on him. We’ve got this. We’ve been looking after each other for years. Appreciate your concern.

That was Tiny’s voice, Shanny would always know it, even if there was a thousand people in the room.

Would prefer to hear that come from him. Not trying to step on toes.

That was the other voice. Ohhh, wait, were they dancing?

No, wait, the moment the thought popped into his head he realized how silly that was. Why would they be dancing with no music?

Responsibility not yours.

That was Tiny again, but the words were kinda muffled now that Ajay had pulled the blanket up around their heads.

Some responsibility for all this too, so if you don’t mind…

Ohhh, he knew that voice, shoving at Ajay’s arm he scrambled to kick free of the blankets, yelping when he accidentally jarred his shoulder.

Instead of letting go, Ajay held on tighter, his words a low mellow roll in his ear that helped calm him a little. “Slow down Shan-Shan and let me help you.”

It would be better to let Ajay untangle them, he’d be faster at it and Shanny wouldn’t hurt himself again. He even unwrapped the blanket from around the feet of Shanny’s pajamas so he wouldn’t trip when he stood up. He could still hear the voices though, so Riggs hadn’t left yet, which made it far easier for him to wait for Ajay to help him up with a warning to walk before Shanny run-walked out of the room.

“All I’m asking is to just come in for a moment. If Shanny doesn’t want me to come back after that, then I won’t, I’d just really like the opportunity to check in on him and see for myself how he is.”

“But I do want you to come back!” Shanny said as he slid around the corner. Tiny caught him before he could smack into the wall, which would have really, really sucked because his shoulder ached now already.

He could see Riggs’ face now and the moment their eyes met Riggs smiled at him and made Shanny feel all warm and happy. Then he winked at Tiny, who just rolled his eyes and backed up.

“The imp has spoken,” Riggs said, nodding to Tiny as he stepped into the house.

Being called an imp was awesome, but after almost slipping he knew better than to skip around trying to prove how imp-like he could be.

“How are you feeling?” Riggs asked.

“Happy!” Shanny replied.

“Really? And what’s got you so happy? Have you guys been playing a game?”

“No, we’ve been watching cartoons, but I’m happy because you came to see me.”

“Then I am very glad that I stopped in.”

“Would you like to watch cartoons with us for a little while?”

“I’d love to.”