#well anyway. look. i dunno how to say this but. the legacy of the 87s cartoon left such a need. to... hmm | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ryukodragon · 7 years

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Mutiny - A Happy 87 Story

TWO DAYS AGO…

This was supposed to be the best spring break kickoff ever. School had finished just the other day, and Sophie had invited everyone to celebrate the occasion at the local pool, followed by a pizza party at her place. With sunshine and blue skies in the forecast for the entire day, no one had a reason to be glum.

However, when Mike arrived at their meeting place – an old picnic table on the edge of the park – he discovered Violet already there. She sat on the worn bench, arms folded and head bowed with a furrowed expression. Mike’s typically loud and cheerful greeting soon deflated in his throat.

“Uh… hey, Violet!” he tried, slowing his approach. “How’s… how’s it hangin’?”

The older girl’s eyes snapped at him. She huffed. “S'fine.”

Mike’s chest clenched. As unsteady as their friendship had always been, they were more distant than ever.

Probably because Violet was in high school without any of them.

It was okay, at first. Violet would hang out when she could, and would regale everyone with stories about the high school half a city away – the different classes, which teachers were fun and which ones were stuffy jerks, the cafeteria that sold burgers and fries every day, and the graduating students who pulled constant pranks, building a legacy to inspire future grads.

Everyone in the group told Violet how cool she was, being a part of this strange new world, and yet still taking time to visit her younger friends. She’d laughed and rolled with it, rather enjoying her newly elevated status in their circle.

However, after a while, she talked less during their hangouts. Didn’t ask about old teachers or classes. Didn’t offer advice for tests she’d taken, saying she’d forgotten because of all the new work she was studying. Had to miss spontaneous get-togethers because of homework. Stopped answering the phone. She was essentially becoming a stranger to everyone.

Well, not to everyone, really – she’d stayed close to Faith. Mike knew why, and had promised Faith he would keep it a secret. As far as the others knew, they were still best friends. Even so, Faith had recently been telling the others that Violet was “going through stuff”, so they were growing distant too.

Mike hoped that today, they could all work together and help cheer Violet up. Right now, it was all on him to start the process.

“Sooo, uh… hey! Play any new games lately? Tanner just got the Addams Family for the SNES, and it’s pretty fun!”

She shrugged, dull and dour. “Cool.”

“Yeah! The levels are all over the place and crazy!” he pressed on, moving closer. “We keep getting stuck in the ice level… you’re - you’re pretty good at those, right? Maaayyyybe… you could.. come over sometime and show it who’s boss..?”

With a heavy sigh, Violet shifted in her seat, turning her back to him. “Maybe.”

He felt his jaw tense up – stubborn as ever. Undeterred, Mike tried again, skipping forward until she could see him. “Orrrrr, you could bring your own games and we’ll play those!”

“I said maybe,” Violet bit back, turning again and resting her folded arms on the table.

Of course, Mike sat across from her and mimicked her posture, offering a toothy grin. “Movie night with all the popcorn and candy in the world?”

“Mike, just lay off already!” she shouted. “Whaddya want from me? I’m busy!”

“Oh come on, it’s spring break! You’ve got all week!” he fired back. “This is the first time we’ve hung out together in AGES! We should do more while we can!”

“Oh, I’m SO sorry, are we playing Pirates again, ‘Captain’? Grow up already, we aren’t kids anymore and you can’t boss me around!”

“I’m not trying to boss you around, Vi! I just want us t–”

“DON’T call me Vi!!”

“OKAY, sorry, whatever! Geez, you’re a bigger sourpuss than normal! All I wanna do is hang out and you get all mad! What’s your deal?”

Mike thought she flinched, but the moment passed. “There’s no deal! Look, I’m here NOW, but if that’s not gonna be good enough, I’m going home!” Violet emphasized this by slamming her palms on the table and whirling around to storm off.

Mike growled in frustration and called after her. “Come on, don’t be like this, everyone’s gonna be here soon!”

“Just lay off, Mike!!”

“But… but Faith’s gonna be here too!”

She immediately stopped. Mike watched her fists drop to her sides. She didn’t look at him.

Mike sensed a new opening and went ahead with that train of thought. He was still fed up, but he worked to keep his voice steady and calm; Faith would be so upset if Violet left now. “Listen… I know you and Faith.. you’re really close. Even going to different schools, you still really.. really care about each other. Right?”

“That’s none of your beeswax, Schmidt-head,” the older teen snarled.

“I don’t care!” he snapped back. “Faith’s gonna be here with everyone else, and we can all have some fun together like we used to! Do you really wanna go? Are you that mad at me?”

Violet didn’t respond, but she didn’t leave either. This could be the only chance he’d have to fix this.

“Violet… we are still friends. I know - I know you and I, we.. we freak out like this a lot, but that doesn’t mean we hate each other, right?”

He gave her a moment to answer. She said nothing.

At least she wasn’t disagreeing with him…

The teen boy continued, speaking over a sudden crack in his voice. “*I*– I dunno if I – if I said something or, or did something, but whatever it is, I didn’t mean it, okay? Let’s just have fun with everyone today.”

They were both silent. Violets fists relaxed, and she took a slow, careful breath. “I dunno… it’s not the same anymore.”

“Aw c'mon, Vi – we’re still the same friends you had before, just older! You gotta have more faith than that!”

“Ugh, Mike, that’s not what I mean, it’s…”

Her words trailed off. She turned around, slowly, confusion written across her face.

Mike was laughing.

“What’s so funny?” she demanded.

He waved dismissively as he took some deep breaths. “It’s, hah, it’s – nothing, nothing, just – it’s a pun! Right?”

Violet narrowed her eyes, facing him fully. “What’s a pun?”

Never one to miss an opportunity, Mike delighted in pointing out his clever wordplay. “Well – ‘you gotta have more faith!’ I mean, you’ve been missing Faith at school and stuff, right? And you need more of her, and more belief in us! Haha! Totally didn’t plan that joke either! Ahh, those’re the best–”

“It’s not a joke!”

He looked up to see an angry blur rush at him. The next thing he knew, he was knocked flat on his back, gasping for breath as Violet glowered down at him.

“You think it’s so frickin’ funny, huh? Think you can just – just laugh at me, when no one’s here to see you making fun! No! You shut your face!!”

“Holy – that’s not it, Violet, geez!!” Mike scooted backwards to get away, but Violet pinned him down, one foot pushing into his chest as she stood over him.

“That’s EXACTLY it! I know what you did! I thought we could work things out but now you’re just rubbing my face in it! You’re scum!! You – you say we’re friends?! After stabbing me in the back? And then laughing about it? Some friend YOU are!”

“Violet, what the hell are you talking about??” Mike finally screamed, shoving her foot away and scrambling to stand.

She rushed him again, but Mike was prepared. He grabbed her shoulders as she did the same, each fighting to knock the other down first.

“Stop it! Violet, stop it!!”

“You’re done, Mike!”

“Lemme go!”

“Don’t -!”

“You’re crazy!!”

Violet growled and kicked at his knees, forcing him to stumble. She grabbed a fistful of Mike’s hair, yanking his head back as he cried out.

He glared up at her, limbs shaking but voice steady. “Y'know what? Fine, you win, go home! No one wants to hang around a PSYCHO like you anyway!!”

Violet’s grip tightened. She uttered a furious scream, the world rushed around him, there was suddenly a heavy THUD and a bolt of pain, ripping through his skull.

Head swimming. Get up. Hard to focus. Sounds muffled… someone was yelling… something wet on his forehead… he couldn’t see well. Couldn’t stand… couldn’t… was Violet crying..?

Couldn’t stay… awake…

NOW…

“That’s why I don’t want to tell my parents,” Mike explained. “I know Violet’s sorry! I mean… she was crying, so that means she didn’t mean it, right? She shouldn’t get into more trouble just because I wouldn’t shut up. We can… we can just, just wait a bit longer, and we’ll be good again, and no one else has to know that anything bad happened.”

He expected some kind of reaction from Faith by this point. She’d been staring at the back yard for a while, hugging her Fredbear doll, nodding to show that she was paying attention. Other than that, she offered no response.

Maybe telling her what Violet did was a bad idea. He couldn’t lie about it, not to her – never to her. But she really liked Violet… what if his side of the story upset her? What if Violet had told her something different? Did Faith even believe him?

Mike couldn’t handle the silence. He shifted to apologize and head back inside – when Faith beat him to it.

“No.”

He watched her in confusion. “Um… 'no’, what?”

To his surprise, Faith suddenly took an unsteady breath and clenched her jaw. “That’s not why she cried, Mike. She… she’s not sorry. Maybe guilty, but not sorry. Not about hurting you, she doesn’t… care about you like that.”

“… whaddya mean..?” Mike felt his insides twist.

Faith blinked rapidly, her grip on the plush toy growing tight, as she visibly struggled to find the right words. "Violet, she’s… I mean, I thought that… I hoped she’d be… less jealous. I thought being her girlfriend would… make things better. She’d be happier, but… she changed.

“She just got more angry. If I didn’t call on time, or couldn’t hang out, or whatever - even when I was at my dad’s place, it didn’t matter… and, and then, the day before all this happened… we, we had a fight.”

Mike could see her shoulders tremble, despite there being no chilly breeze. He reached out to offer comfort, but a moment’s hesitation caused him to pull back.

“Was it.. bad?” he asked, and immediately felt like a jerk. Of course it was, just look at her!!, he mentally screamed.

“Y-yeah,” Faith confirmed, seeming to curl further into herself. "And, maybe… m-maybe if I’d… said something or done something better… she wouldn’t have hurt you.“

“You don’t know that…”

“Mikey, we fought about YOU.”

The teen boy jolted; his head floundered in a wave of nervous static. "Huh? Wh-why?“

With a heavy sigh, Faith answered, "Because Violet’s friends at her school told her that if I’m not calling her enough, it’s probably because I’m - I’m cheating.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah, and since Violet still thinks you’re trying to 'replace her’ somehow, you must be the one I’m cheating with.”

“Oh fer - I knew she was crazy!!” Mike hissed, keeping his voice down. "How could she believe any of that garbage! You’re the most honest, loyal girl I-- er, any of us know!“

Faith managed to crack a smile, but it was bittersweet. "Well… maybe she believed that before. As soon as I admitted she wasn’t my first kiss, though, she just… put things together.”

“Wait, you…” Mike trailed off, eyes wide with realization. "Oh… OH. Oh s#!&.“

"Language!”

“Sorry but - geez!” His headache throbbed, probably from the blood rushing to his face. "You seriously told her we–“

"No, no, I didn’t tell her it was you!” Faith rushed to clarify. "I just told her she wasn’t my first! SHE guessed who it was, she didn’t even let me explain that it happened once! When we were twelve! Violet thinks we’ve been going behind her back this whole time!“

Mike groaned and scrubbed at his hair. "Great… well, no WONDER she got so mad. Wish she’d'a let us explain but… I kinda get it.” He felt his face burning again; he turned away to hide it. "I don’t blame her for getting upset…“

"No, Mikey, don’t!” Faith cut in. She grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to face her. "Don’t brush it off! Violet slammed your head into a bench! You were in the hospital! She’s not just 'upset’, she’s being serious! D'you actually wanna protect her by lying about it to your parents?“

"I, well - it’d be snitching, wouldn’t it?” Mike reasoned. "Maybe we can talk to Violet when this all cools off and it’d all go back to normal!“

"We can’t - this is, this’s gone too far. Violet’s getting physically dangerous!”

“Faith, she might be better if she’s calmed down! Geez, we might’ve been able to talk it out if I didn’t push her! It’s my fault too!”

“Yeah, but YOU didn’t send her to the hospital!”

“I still don’t think she meant it…” he protested, idly rubbing his left temple.

“For real, do you think she’s gonna get better if you say nothing? Let her get away with thinking that beating people up is okay?”

“Mmph…”

“Or should you tell your parents the truth, and they can tell HER parents, and then they can help–”

“Ngh - aah!”

Mike suddenly collapsed to his knees, grabbing at his head. Faith gasped and crouched beside him. She lowered her voice as she offered to get his mother. He dismissed the idea, promising that the headache spike would soon pass.

Even so, Faith insisted on checking his stitches and rubbing at his scalp to relieve the pain. Whether it helped or not, Mike didn’t protest her attentions.

A minute or two later, Mike’s headache had mostly gone away. Faith helped him to his feet.

Instead of leading him inside to rest, Faith tugged him close and wrapped her arms around him. Mike was instantly terrified that she could feel his heart racing faster - but the way she tucked her head down and pressed into his chest, he wondered if… maybe she wanted to feel it.

“Don’t keep it a secret from your parents anymore,” she pleaded into his shirt. "You don’t have to tell the whole WORLD about it, just your parents. They can help. I agree with you, Violet is not a bad person. I know she isn’t, deep down, and I don’t wanna get her into trouble either, but… it - it hurts to say it, but I’m really scared of how she’s changed… she might hurt you again… and worse. She won’t listen to any us, she won’t even listen to me… not anymore. N-not anymore.“

Faith’s voice cut short as she fought to keep herself calm. Mike wanted to argue until they found another way to fix things - but he had no other ideas. As much as he wanted to promise that his plan would help them all be friends again, he really couldn’t. For all he knew, Violet wouldn’t care that he was trying to keep her out of trouble. Maybe getting through to her was beyond them. Maybe they needed help, from people they trusted to take care of them.

Maybe Faith was right. Maybe his parents should know the truth.

The two friends quietly embraced on the porch, witnessed only by the night sky. For the moment, it was all they needed.

THE NEXT MORNING…

"Not hungry, Mikey-boy?”

Mike looked up from idly stirring his cereal. The marshmallows were becoming one with the milk, turning from a bright rainbow of colours to an oddly bland shade of purple. "Mmm, not really Dad,“ he answered.

Fred, Sophie, Tanner and Faith had finished their breakfasts a few minutes ago. They were already in the basement, packing away their sleepover gear. (At least, that’s what they promised to do - Mike thought he heard Tanner fire up the SNES already.)

"Ahh, that’s okay,” Carl assured him, getting up from the kitchen table. "Finish your toast at least, your mother will have BOTH our heads if you don’t have some kinda balanced breakfast.“

Mike smirked and took a small bite as his dad took the bowl away. Some minutes passed, during which Carl washed some dishes and Mike stared at the ticking clock on the wall.

Eventually the teen spoke up. "Shouldn’t Mom be back by now?”

Carl continued washing as he replied. "Well, she might be there a while. It’s a lot to explain - prolly have a lot to work out with ‘em.“

”… is Violet gonna be okay?“

Now, Carl looked up at his son. Mike was staring into space, too guilty and uncertain to keep eating. The elder of the two quickly finished his current task and returned to his seat. "Well, son, that’s not really my place to say. I’m not Violet’s parents.”

“Well, what if you were her parents? Er, her dad? What would you do?”

With a thoughtful hum, Carl reached back to the counter and picked up his pipe. He turned it idly between his hands. "That really depends, kiddo - whether she’s done this before, maybe to other kids, or if this is something outta the blue… either way. She’d be in trouble.“

Mike grimaced. "But she’s not a bad person–”

“No, of course not! I’ve seen you kids play nice all these years - you’ve had some real laughs and fun together!” Carl reassured him, clapping a warm hand on his shoulder. "But she IS growing, and she’s got to learn that hurting others - hurting her FRIENDS - is never the way to settle things. Especially if she’s getting this violent,“ he added, gesturing to Mike’s healing scar.

"It was my fault too - we argued, and I called her names!”

“Well, I’m glad you’re being responsible, son. It doesn’t help to be responsible for everyone, though, everyone’s gotta take responsibility for their own actions, including Violet. Who knows - maybe she’s already talked to her folks about it, and they’ve gotten it taken care of.”

“Then why’d Mom go see them? Maybe she didn’t have to? Maybe I just made things worse!” Mike worried. His father gently shushed him

“Hey hey, it’s okay! Your mom’s a very calm and reasonable person, and she’s gonna get their side of the story too. Besides, the Quinlans are good friends of ours. It’ll help if we work together, make sure ALL of our kids are safe and honest and responsible.”

Finally Mike sighed; he still worried, but the weight had grown lighter. "Still sucks, Dad. I dunno if we’ll be friends again.“

Carl murmured his sympathy, tugging his son into a half-hug. "Wish I could promise things would work out, kiddo. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. No point worrying about it right now - we’ve done everything we can. Whenever you see her again, you might know then. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Mike relented, briefly hugging his dad. Carl chuckled and enjoyed the father-son moment.

“Miiiiike! Mikey, get down here!! Tanner got past the ice level!!”

As Fred thundered up the stairs, Mike all but leaped away from his father, who simply laughed and handed over the unfinished toast. "G’wan then, I 'snow’ how hard you kids worked at that game,“ he winked.

"Heh, n-ICE one,” Mike fired back, taking the toast and running to meet Fred.

“So Mike, just between us,” Fred piped up as the boys went downstairs. "What ELSE did you talk to Faith about last night, hmm..?“

"WH– sh-shut UP, dude! None of your beeswax!”

“Say no more, say no more… took you long enough, though, I almost lost the bet…”

“Fred, would y-- what bet??”

Carl laughed aloud as their voices faded into the background. Then, pipe between his teeth, he went back to doing dishes.

#ryuko writes #happy 87 #mike schmidt #violet quinlan #faith rowan #carl schmidt #frederick anderson #ryuko draws

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