ONCE AGAIN, I AM SORRY FOR SPAMMING YOUR INBOXES WITH SWAC. But this plot bunny popped up right after I posted Litterbug, and and and and, I just had to write it…!

But seriously. After this it's Ouran. OURAN. Well, maybe that English essay I have to work on too. And math homework. Ehhhhh…

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonny with a Chance.

ONE COMMON THING

It was the most horrible thing that could happen in the world.

And for Sonny, that was saying something – whenever her mother came to visit her on the So Random! set, it was always good to see her again. They told each other stories of recent happenings, shared thoughts on Sonny's latest comedy sketch, checked to make sure the girl's grades were good, but definitely not bump into Chad Dylan Cooper. Anyone, anyone, but him.

The Munroes had been walking outside of Studio 3 when they turned a corner and Sonny ran into him, knocking the two both on the floor. She didn't recognize him at first, so her first instinct was to immediately apologize.

"I'm so sorry! I should've looked where I—" The brunette blinked, registering his blue eyes and blonde hair. She wrinkled her nose upon recognition of who he was. "Oh, it's just you. Watch where you're going!"

Something even harder knocked Sonny when Connie smacked her right upside the head. "How dare you say something like that!" she snapped, and turned to the boy, suddenly changing her tone to a sweet, softer one as she offered a hand. "I apologize for my daughter's rude behavior. Are you okay?"

"Could be better," he answered candidly, but took the woman's hand anyway. As he straightened his navy jacket and dusted his pants, Connie gawked at the boy as if he had something on his face.

"Wait a minute, you're…" She turned her head at the large poster behind him labeled 'MACKENZIE FALLS'. The boy's face was printed upon the blue-tinted picture, gazing oh-so-mysteriously at something in the distance. Her eyes shot back to his real life figure in excitement. "You're that boy! From that show!"

"Oh no," Sonny said, wincing at the events that were soon about to unravel.

Chad smirked. "Yes, that would be me: Chad Dylan Cooper."

"Oh my gosh! Sonny! It's Chad Dylan Cooper!" Connie shouted, poking her daughter endlessly and pointing at the teen star.

"Yes, Mom, I can see him standing right in front of us."

"My name's Connie!" The mother offered her hand once more, this time for a proper handshake. "I had no idea you and my daughter were such good friends!"

"Actually, we can't stand each othe—"

"Connie, is it? What a nice name," Chad complimented, flashing his signature smile and shaking her hand. "It's a shame I don't have any pictures of myself at the moment, I would've loved to give you my autograph."

"Did you hear that, Sonny?" Connie whispered, oblivious to the girl's kill-me-now expression. "Chad Dylan Cooper said I had a nice name!"

Sonny breathed an exasperated sigh. "He said that the first time I met him too, Mom, so it doesn't matter. Now stop talking to him, he's not that great."

"What're you talking about?" her mother asked, puzzled. She lightly slapped Sonny's shoulder with the back of her hand and proceeded to tell the world right outloud, "Why, back in Wisconsin, you had the biggest crush on him!"

This comment twisted the corner of Chad's lips upwards as he raised his eyebrows. "Oh, did she really?"

"I did not!"

"Sure you did!" Connie laughed obnoxiously as she recalled the memories. "I remember you used to prance around the room whenever the show came on and say 'I'm going to marry Chad Dylan Cooper someday!'"

"Marriage, really?"

"Okay, enough with all this mingling!"

Sonny jammed herself in-between the two and pushed the both of them farther apart. With a huff, she glared at the boy to her right, and gave a stern look at her mother to her left.

"Don't you remember what we were supposed to do today, Mom? Go clothes shopping? Get some ice cream?"

"Would you like me to come with you?" Chad offered cheekily.

"You most certainly will not."

Sonny pointed her nose up with a 'hmph!', and dragged her protesting mother away before the two-faced jerkface could plot any more ways to take advantage of this situation. For the rest of the afternoon, the girls bought new dresses, guzzled down strawberry milkshakes, and never saw Chad Dylan Cooper again that day.

Phew, she dodged a bullet there.

---

This was not happening. Oh, this was so not happening.

Somebody needed to pinch the girl right now, because Chad Dylan Cooper was not sitting in Sonny's dressing room, sipping tea with her mother, sharing laughs and funny stories as if the two were suddenly BFFs.

She dropped her handbag to the floor from the shock of the horror show playing right in front of her. "What are you guys doing?!"

Her mother finally turned her head and took notice of Sonny. "Oh, Sonny! Chad dropped by while you were gone and we decided to have tea together! The MacKenzie Falls show has such nice tableware, wouldn't you agree?"

Sonny gaped at the tea set her mom showed off to her and preferred to smash it over Chad's head instead. He seemed to be having quite the dandiest time, drinking from a porcelain cup with a pinky waved in the air.

"Connie was just showing me your baby pictures," he said casually. "I never would've guessed you had a star-shaped mole on your butt. So you've always been a natural-born star, huh?"

Gasping in revulsion, Sonny stomped towards the two and snatched the photo album off the table. She slammed the book shut and tucked it tightly under her arm, glaring at the tea-sipping celebrity.

"Alright, Chad, that's it! You better get out of my room now, or I swear I'll—"

Connie smacked the girl upside the head for the second time this week. "Oh, stop threatening him. Chad is a very sweet boy."

"Oww," the brunette whimpered, rubbing the sore spot on her head. "You don't understand, Mom! Chad is a jerk! He's like—like the mayor of Jerksville!"

"A quite handsome mayor, I must say," was Connie's grinning reply.

"Like, like the ambassador of Jerksi—"

A knock on the door interrupted Sonny from arguing any more. Marshall opened the door and popped in his head in.

"Connie, there you are," the producer said. "I'd like to talk to you about something – though I prefer it to be private, please."

"Oh, sure," Connie answered, a bit surprised by the unusual concern in Marshall's voice. She put a hand on her daughter's shoulder as she stood up. "You two buddies can talk and catch up on things while I'm gone, okay?"

Even after her mother closed the door behind her, Sonny still stood where she was, arms folded. She hadn't moved a single inch closer to the boy.

"So what's the deal?" the girl asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the star sitting in her chair. "Are you trying to get some juicy info to blackmail me or something? Trying to keep your show 's number one spot on TV? Because if so, I'm not afraid to announce to the whole world what's on my butt!"

"Do the world a favor and keep that to yourself," Chad said. "I'm not trying to do anything. I just like spending time with your mom, that's all."

"Why? She's my mom, not yours." Sonny briefly wondered where Chad's parents were. She never recalled ever seeing or hearing any mentions of them.

"She's fun to be around," the boy simply replied. "I bet your dad is too. Where is he, anyway?"

Sonny shifted from one weight to another. Her arms remained folded, still on guard.

"In Wisconsin." She paused. "I think."

Chad cocked his head slightly to one side, but chose not to respond to that last comment. He felt it'd be better not to say anything.

---

When Chad checked his clock, he had about twenty minutes until he had to go back to the Falls set. It would be easy to make it there on time from here. For the past couple of months since he met Sonny, he found himself visiting the So Random! studio quite often, despite the two shows' apparent rivalry. It was enough for him to already know which direction to go and work his way in and out of the building effortlessly.

What he didn't expect, though, was to overhear a conversation as he passed by Marshall's office on his way out of the studio. The actor stopped in his tracks once he heard the mention of Sonny.

"I'm just worried about Sonny, that's all. You and I both know what's happening next week…"

Chad mused over this. Today was June 14. What was happening next week?

"You're right," came the muffled voice of Connie from behind the door. Her tone was much more concerned than the usual cheerfulness the woman had before. "I've already booked the date for my flight back to Wisconsin though… but I could ask her to come along with me that weekend."

"That's probably the best solution," Marshall responded. "We won't film So Random! that day because the other cast members will be leaving to spend time with their dads too; even my old man and me."

Connie sighed. "I get the feeling she'll reject my offer though. Then she'll be spending Father's Day here alone."

"It's been lonely since her father left you two, huh…"

Chad pulled his ear away from the door and, with silent steps, made his way exiting Studio 3 without a single trace.

---

In Sonny's quiet room, soft laughter could be heard behind the door. The girl spent all morning flipping TV channels until she got to see the Father's Day special for So Random! She giggled as she watched Nico on the screen, almost having a heart attack as Tawni, his daughter, brought home her new boyfriend. Which, well, happened to be Dolphin Boy. Grady always had a knack for squirting water out of his head.

That was what fathers were supposed to do, Sonny thought. Scare away boys by being way overprotective over their daughters, be amazed with how much she's grown when she dresses up for prom, and just be there for their child as they grow up. Sonny wondered how her friends were doing back in their hometowns, and smiled at the thought that they were all probably enjoying themselves with their dads.

On Father's Day, everyone was…

A rapid tap on the door stirred Sonny from her reverie. She beetled her forehead in puzzlement; barely anyone was in this studio except for her. After she walked over to open the door, the girl peeked through and found the knocker no other than the star of MacKenzie Falls.

"Chad? What're you doing here?" Sonny asked. Instead of his usual private school uniform from his show, he wore a normal plaid shirt with jeans.

"Just wanted to pop in, wondering if we could hang out today," was his easy response. The brunette raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing closely as if she could find some way to find out how those strange gears in the back of his head worked. 'Hang out'? He was definitely planning something.

"Well, for your information, I happen to be a very busy actress," she explained matter-of-factly, and stood her ground in the doorway, still blocking the boy from coming in. "I can't just suddenly drop my filled-up schedule because you happen to pop up out of the blue."

"Right, that would explain your bunny-clad pajamas and the TV blaring in the background."

Chad had a very crooked grin as Sonny blinked down at the rabbits hopping from cloud to cloud on her outfit. She sighed in defeat and gave in. Now Chad knew just how pitiful of a girl she was.

Her shoulders slumped down as she looked up at the blonde. "What about you? Aren't you supposed to celebrate Father's Day with your dad like everyone else?"

Chad laughed off that question as if she had just asked if the sky was yellow. For some reason, Sonny thought he didn't seem as amused as he tried to appear.

"My father would rather stick pins in his eyes than be in the same room as me."

She stared back at the boy in silence, and chose not to respond to that last comment. She felt it'd be better not to say anything.

"So if you're not doing anything, and I'm not doing anything, how about it?" From his confident stature, she knew he wouldn't give up so easily. "Come on. Let's go have fun today."

Sonny pursed her lips. Unusually for her, she was considering his offer – not because he was handsome, or because she was lonely, but for something much different, deeper.

"I'll go change," she finally answered, and went back to her dressing room, muttering a 'geez, how troublesome…' under her breath. Chad knew that was just her way of saying 'thank you'.

And so the two walked out of the studio parking lot together, not really knowing where to go or what to do, but for the first time they felt an unspoken connection – a sense of empathy, almost – for the one thing they never would've expected to have in common.

End.

Author's Note: In any event that there ever comes an episode where Sonny and Chad's family situations are explained, and it ends up being totally different from my idea, just disregard the second half of this fanfic. But if their situations really turn out as drama-fied as I'd like it to be, then that's simply awesome.

This story was very quick and easy to write; I started it last night, went to sleep, and finished it this afternoon. Yet I think it might be my favorite SWAC fic.

See that? I said 'favorite'. I really need to stop writing all this SWAC and start working on my English essay. (And finish those Ouran fics I started, agh!) I am sorry to readers who have put me on author alert, who are now having their inboxes spammed with fics about a Disney show; and to readers browsing through SWAC fics, who are having their fandom spammed with these uninteresting stories by me.

-grovels away-