So I just watched Sing, and I loved it. I also love finding crack ships so here we are. This is kinda just a side project that's been used as warm up writing before I work on my other stuff, but I'm still trying to stay invested.

So this started as just the whole movie and my own little things here and there as a oneshot, but it's getting really long, so I might break it down into chapters, I don't know yet.

So, I'm making everyone here have more humanoid features, so they're still animals proportionate to their size, but women have boob's and curves, and males have a more cut body, and muscles are going to be defined.

Also, for the past that I made up for Buster, it may or may not have been inspired by his voice actor and a certain movie called Magic Mike...

I'm just having fun and no one's done it yet, so here we are. It's going to be in Buster's POV, mostly because I need practice on writing an adult male's mindset. Sorry if his way of thinking or actions come off as creepy or weird, it's not on purpose.

Enjoy the Buster x Ash crack down below.

Hope you like it. Also, sorry if I ruined a fun family movie for some people, but it's been fun to write.

Last thing, this will make way more sense if you've already seen the movie.

Now, time for the Buster x Ash fic that nobody wanted.

999

I couldn't help but dance a little in my seat as Miss Crawly and I judged the contestants. I caught the old lizard looking at me out of the corner of my eye and turned to give her a nod and a grin. She smiled back and began writing down something on her clipboard concerning the group of shrimp currently singing. Their song was pretty catchy!

A handful of animals auditioned before we got another singer that stood out. A pig wearing a sparkly gold outfit was singing one of my favorite songs to sing along to. My mouth had dropped open in surprise when the male on stage started singing, but a corner of my mouth slowly turned upward at the sound of his accented voice and his amazing energy. This one was a definite maybe.

A few acts later there was another group that caught my eye with the great harmony in their singing and dancing. Adding them to the 'maybe' list in the group act section.

Where we have good ones, we have bad ones, though. There was a group of small, red panda children singing along with a jukebox and just jumping around with the energy only little kids could have. I couldn't help but look in disbelief as Miss Crawly actually enjoyed the craziness on stage. Nope, not gonna have that one in my show.

It got better after that, but only a little. We had some more group acts come on, including a group of cute rabbits. I couldn't help but smile at their act, I was a male after all, but I wouldn't be using them for the show.

The next act took about ten minutes to set up the amps for their performance. While we waited, I observed the porcupine duo as they got out their guitars and hooked them up. They were signed up as Lance and Ash. They looked to be young adults, possibly teenagers. By the way they dressed, I guessed they were punk rockers. Both the male and the female had some of their quills needled through the front of their shirts, and I couldn't help but wonder if that was a rocker thing or just a porcupine fad.

The girl walked up to the mic first and tapped it gently to do a mic test, and I couldn't help but raise my brows at the sound of her voice. It had a raspy, smokey tone to it that immediately had me interested. I was excited to hear her sing.

I was broken out of my trance when the male walked up to test his mic and addressed Miss Crawly and I.

"Alright, uh, so we're going to be singing 'I Don't Wanna' for you guys, so be prepared to be totally blown away!" He said with such confidence that I could only hope he could back it up with talent.

Before I could even tell them to begin, the male started strumming while the girl was quick to join.

The sheer volume of their notes was enough to make my fur stand on end.

My large ears were suffering horribly, not only from the volume, but from the male's singing. I desperately tried to hear the girl's voice in the madness, but could only pick up her saying some background "Yeah's, and Hey's!", the lead singer's lyrics were drowning her out.

I flinched back into my seat and brought my clipboard up in front of my face in a weak attempt in shielding myself from the music.

I grimaced as another chorus was coming up. Then, suddenly, like the soothing balm to my hurting eardrums, I finally heard the female's voice with startling clarity. I peeked out from behind my shield and gazed at the scene before me. The girl had taken over, singing a longer verse than she was supposed to by the look on the male's face. What a set of lungs on her!

I smiled. She was for sure in my show.

After that, there was a couple other performances that just weren't cutting it, from rappers to de-tuned guitars and children not quite ready for singing.

The last dozen acts were well worth the cringe worthy singers before them, though. I smiled a tired but giddy grin to myself. It was going to be an excitingly hard choice of who was going to be in my show, and I couldn't wait.

999

I finally stood and stretched my legs as Miss Crawly called the contestants back to the stage for the weeding. I glanced down at my clipboard and read over our notes on who stays and who goes. We had marked the people who would cut it, but it was still too many. I would have to play it by ear and decide last minute. One of my best skills was bullshitting and coming up with solutions last minute so I wasn't too worried.

I stood still in front of the crowd of animals and looked over them all carefully. They were all either incredibly nervous or confident or...bored...in the male porcupine's case. The girl was the only one who looked like she was both excited and scared to be on that stage out of the two of them.

Mentally rolling my eyes, I walked down to one end of the stage to get a better look at them all. "Alright," I started as I reached the end of my trail and abruptly turned around to start my trek back down the way I came. I noticed them all jump back to attention.

"Hmm..." My eyes perused the many faces as I tapped my pen against my clipboard and slowly walked forward. "I'll take..." I arrived back at the middle of the group and glanced at the frog group. "You guys." I pointed my pen at them and continued on, ignoring their cries of joy. I knew who was next.

"Ok, now which one of you is the girl?" I couldn't help but blurt out. It was a stupid joke, since I could very clearly tell who was female, especially up close, with how well the girl was...endowed. Said girl rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but I quickly cut her off with a small smile and a quick wink. "Easy, just kidding."

She closed her mouth and blinked at me before giving me a deadpan stare. "Ha ha. Funny."

I grinned at how sexy her voice sounded even when being sarcastic. A quick glance at her partner showed that he was still looking bored and barely even paying attention, staring straight ahead instead at myself. I looked back down to my paper and inwardly shook my head at the blatant disrespect. How did he even manage to get any gigs?

"Loud and horrible, but shows promise." I read aloud, a summary of the act as a whole but the last part only about her. I looked back up and met her gaze with one of my most charming smiles.

"Welcome to the show."

She broke eye contact first and looked down at my clipboard in disbelief, like she couldn't believe she was chosen.

As I was walking away I heard the young male chuckle, "Cool. I guess we could hang." Ha.

"No no." I shook my head and continued on without looking back, "I just want her, not you."

A beat of shocked silence, before I heard them both say, "What?!"

I turned and faced the whole crowd again and said, "All right, the rest of the group acts, thank you so much!"

I was met with groans of disappointment and I quickly tried to offer what little comfort I could. My ear automatically cocked back a bit when I heard the male porcupine sputter behind me.

"Hmph, whatever. Let's get out of here, Ash." I quickly turned around to see him roll his eyes and walk away, but my eyes were quickly drawn to the female's wide and conflicted ones. Ash.

She glanced at Lance and then back to me, her eyes widening more when she noticed me watching her. She quickly took a small step back and shifted her gaze to the floor in thought.

Lance finally noticed that he didn't get a reply and turned back to her with an irritated look on his face. "Ash?"

"Uh, yeah..." I raised a single eyebrow in question and silently hoped she would stay. Ditch him, he's dragging you down!

"Yeah, let's go." Her voice went back to confident and sure, but her eyes stayed longing and conflicted. She turned and slowly followed him out, but kept her eyes locked with mine until the very last moment.

I let out a small sigh and went to address the soloists. I couldn't help but feel disappointed, knowing she would shine brightly on my stage if given the chance. I made a mental note to have Miss Crawly leave a space open for Ash just in case she came back.

999

I was in so much shit.

I tried to take deep, even breaths as I escorted a sobbing Miss Crawly out of my office so she could compose herself.

"C'mon, Buster! What do you expect? She's like two hundred years old."

Yes, she was old, but I just couldn't bring myself to even want to let her go. I've known her so long, and she's been there with me since dad gifted me this place. No, I would figure this out. I always did. That reminds me...

"Eddie, please, look." I shut the door and jumped up onto some stacked books so I could look over my desk and see the sheep. "If-if your folks could just loan me the money until-"

"A hundred thousand dollars? Buster, come on!" Eddie chuckled and gave me an incredulous look.

Well, there went that option. Okay, getting harder to keep the panic at bay. I let out an explosive sigh. "I gotta think, I gotta think, I gotta think, I've got to come up with a solution..." I muttered while I paced around my office.

"Look, maybe it's time to stop thinking and it's time to just move on." Eddie tried to reason. "I mean, this theater of yours, you could get some decent money for it and...I don't know, maybe we could do something together!"

"Like what?!" I paused in my mutterings and turned to him with wide, skeptic eyes. "What, sit around playing video games?" I couldn't help but scoff at the mere thought of it. I was not playing video games for a living.

I gave my friend a scowl and pointed up at my shelf. "Do you know what that is?"

"Uh, it's a bucket?"

"Yes, and do you know why I have this bucket?"

Eddie rolled his eyes up at the ceiling. "'Cause the roof is leaking?"

"No, that's the bucket for the leak." I corrected with an exasperated shake of my head. "I have this one 'cause it belonged to my father. Everyday, for thirty years, he worked his tail off washing cars just so I could buy this place." I said while picking up the metal bucket. "Every day, Eddie. Just for me." My voice softened towards the end of my sentence, my heart burning with gratitude even now. I sighed at the thought of possibly losing this place after all that he did for me.

"Wow. Sounds like a great dad..." Eddie paused before continuing, "Wait, weren't you making a lot of money back when you were str-"

I quickly cut him off and set the bucket back on the shelf. "Yes! Yes, I was making a lot of money at my old club, but between all the bills and a few...well, bribes...and my bodyguard there was only so much left to live by. I could have lived there like I do here, but I didn't really feel comfortable about it." I sighed at the memories coming back to me. Some that I tried my best to forget about.

Back when I was younger, when I had turned nineteen, I had moved out of my parents house and found a cheap apartment downtown instead of staying in the campus dorms when I left for college. My father understood that I was ready to spread my wings, and helped me find a job in retail to get me started into the world of adulthood. I also spent every other evening on a street corner playing my acoustic guitar for some extra cash.

One day, on my day off from the local supermarket, I was performing on a rather hot day, and had my shirt off while I played. I was one of the rare few koalas that worked hard on having a muscular figure, a feat that many koalas didn't bother with since we had such fluffy fur that made it hard to see muscular definition. I hadn't been the most ripped animal around, but I knew I looked good for a fuzzy little koala. It helped draw in some of the ladies too, something I had loved, being a teenager and all. I had suddenly been approached by a slick talking fox who asked me if I wanted a job.

I got excited when he told me he was looking for new performers, thinking the man wanted me for my musical skills, especially when I heard how much I would make every night.

Then I found out just what kind of performing I would have to do.

I flat out refused at first, and couldn't believe I hadn't seen the signs on my way into the strip club. The fox, Duke, who had turned out to be the manager, practically begged me to at least go out there and give it a shot, even if I couldn't dance great, being cute and taking my clothes off would be enough. I went out on stage and was immediately met with cooing and laughter. My face shined red through my fur when I heard the hooting laughter coming from the other dancers watching from backstage, actual studs, being a horse, two tiger twins, and a German Shepard. The other new recruit, a young antelope, had looked on at me in pity.

Until I took off my shirt.

The audience of women, animals of all different sizes, suddenly started cheering and leering. The laughing stopped. There was still some cooing, but it was mostly females letting out growls, bays, and howls in approval. I couldn't believe it. I had never been so obviously wanted by so many females, especially females that weren't koalas. It was insane. I loved it.

By the time I made my way backstage again, I was clad only in my purple boxer briefs, money stuffed into my underwear from everywhere possible. My first time on stage had landed me over two hundred dollars in tips, and that wasn't even my paycheck.

None of my family or friends were aware of what I had done for a living through college, and I started taking dancing lessons from the guys at the club, the tigers showing me how to really hook the crowd of ladies. The antelope, Chase, gave me a few dance lessons that didn't require gyrating. I was much appreciative.

My father was none the wiser and still believed that I worked and the supermarket. I felt horrible for lying to him, but it would be worse if he ever found out what I did for a living. The only reason Eddie knew was because some classmates had dragged him there as a joke, letting him believe it was a female strip club, and was almost as shocked as I was when we saw each other. Maybe not as shocked as him, considering I was wearing leather chaps at the time, and didn't notice him sitting in the crowd until I was already grinding in the lap of a blushing poodle.

That was an awkward conversation after hours.

Being a stripper, or, later on, managing other strippers wasn't what I wanted to do, which was why I had set up a savings fund for when I could eventually buy out the theater. Which happened a lot sooner than I thought it would, thanks to my dad.

Anyway.

"I did have some in savings, what I had left after paying off my student loans anyway. Had I known my dad was working to buy the theater, I would of saved a lot more or actually did some more dances before I retired. I spent all of my savings keeping this place open and on repairs. Also some on making my own personal living space here in the office..."

"So, wait, when did you have a bodyguard? And why didn't you tell me?! What if I had come to visit you one weekend and decided to surprise you only for your bodyguard to kick my ass!" The sheep exclaimed indignantly.

I rolled my eyes. "Please, what am I, an Idiot? I showed him a picture of us and told him that you were my friend, Victor wouldn't have hurt you."

Eddie scoffed, "Okay, we'll talk about that later. How are you going to handle your current problem?"

As if on cue, my office phone let out a beep, and Miss Crawly's voice was suddenly sounding through the room. "Mr. Moon, I got Judith from the back holding on line two again..."

I sighed. "Well, there's only one thing I can do..."

999

Later that evening, I was still writing up plans and ideas for rehearsals tomorrow evening when Miss Crawly walked into my office holding a dark red piece of paper and my late night tea.

"Here you go, Mr. Moon." I gratefully took the cup and from her frail, shaking hands and hoped to God that she didn't drop it on his desk again.

"Ah, thank you." A gave her a tired smile in thanks and was about to say good night when I took notice of the slightly crinkled flyer in her hands. "What's that?"

"Oh!" The old lady blinked her one working eye at the paper and handed it to me. "That loud porcupine duo left that with me when they signed up for auditions."

I was lazily perusing the flyer before my eyes shot open and alert at that. I quickly skimmed the page until I found their contact information. Not quite believing my luck, they had left a phone number to call. I distantly heard Miss Crawly bidding me goodnight, and I distractedly replied while looking for my cellphone.

I flicked some papers and found it hiding underneath. I swiped a finger across the screen and quickly dialed the numbers and held my phone up to my ear, hoping it was Ash that picked up.

After three four rings it was finally answered. "Hello?"

Ugh. That bored, droning voice.

I cleared my throat before saying, "Hello, may I speak to Ash, please?"

There was a pause. "Who's asking for her?" Lance asked in a slightly suspicious voice.

I took a moment to think over my answer. If I wasn't careful here, the other male might not even let Ash on the phone to talk to me if I didn't let both of them in the show. Yeah, there was no way in hell I was letting Lance in. "Ah, I was just wanting to finish our conversation about a chance performance on my stage. She had to leave rather abruptly before we could finalize the deal." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie.

"Ah, I gotcha dude! That was probably before that singing competition we went to check out. Don't worry though, it was lame, we'll be free to play for you!" You won't be, thank you. "I'll go get my girlfriend so you guys can hash this out."

I heard him call for Ash and I let out a sigh in relief. With a girlfriend like that, I figured he'd be a little more cautious about other males calling around for her. Especially since it was Ash.

I took a deep breath when I heard her faintly talking in the background before her voice was speaking directly into my ear. "Hello?"

I took a second to soak in her voice before answering, "Hi there! This is Buster Moon. I was hoping to talk to you about your performance."

Ash let out a surprised sound. "Moon?! Um...look, there's no way I can be in the show without Lance, I'm just the back up vocals-"

"Back up vocals?" I interrupted incredulously. "Ash, you are amazing! With a voice like that, you should be the lead!"

"...Really?" The female porcupine asked dubiously. Was she serious?

"Yes! I don't lie about talent, young lady. I would really like to be able to work with you and have you in my show."

"Oh, I don't know...I mean, I really want to! But Lance would never let me-"

I couldn't help but cut her off again. "It's not up to Lance, it's up to you. It's your future career. You might be coming in by yourself, but think about the 100 grand!"

I felt bad for lying to her, but I just had to get her here. I sighed. "Look, just think of all you and...Lance...could do with that money if you win it. That alone should be enough of a reason for him to let you do this." And if he doesn't, dump him, I silently added.

I heard her sigh on her end before saying, "Alright, Mr. Moon. I'll talk to him about it. No promises, though."

I let a big smile spread across my face at that. Yes! "Thank you, Ash! I hope to see you tomorrow morning!"

This time I could practically hear the smile in her voice as she said, "Yeah, hopefully. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

999

"This contest is war."

It was the next morning, and I was facing my new group of performers bright and early. All had showed up, except a certain porcupine.

"This stage is the battlefield. Your song is your weapon. Now you only get one shot to blow that audience away, so select carefully from the list of songs I've selected for each of you."

I paused in my pacing when my large ears heard running footsteps and I turned to see Ash just stepping into line at the end. My eyes lit up at the sight and I immediately walked over towards her.

"Ah, talked some sense into that boyfriend of yours?" I said with a grin and licked the tip of my finger to flick through my papers for her song list.

I heard her scoff and glanced up quickly to see her roll her eyes. "Lance is an artist, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that."

She raised a challenging eyebrow and gave me a smirk. I just smiled back. It was endearing and a little sad that she felt like she had to defend her boyfriend, but if she thought I was going to give the usual reaction to sass, she was wrong.

"You're right." I chuckled a bit and held out her list. "I don't understand that at all." Lance? An artist?

I shrugged at her and couldn't help but smirk a little at her gobsmacked look and gently handed her the page before moving on.

"Now," I raised my voice to address everyone once again, "you'll notice each list also includes my costume and performance suggestions. Okay? Miss Crawly will show you to your rehearsal spaces. Now, let's get to work!"

I quickly set Johnny up with some piano lessons with Miss Crawly and paused when I heard shouting coming from one of the practice rooms. I resisted the urge to sigh and hurried to where the arguing came from. It was the frog group. I faintly recall them arguing a few minutes ago on stage as well.

"Guys! Guys!" They barely even noticed me, and the sound of foreign pop music immediately distracted me. This time I did sigh in frustration. How did those kids get in here again?!

I walked over to the glass facing them and wagged my finger at them slowly and frowned. They just didn't get that I didn't want them in the show!

The little girl in lead formation looked up at me and slowly imitated my wagging motion before getting the wrong clue. Of course.

I shook my head and left the room altogether. I looked down at my list and decided to head to the costumes and started sorting through those for now. There would be some peace there, hopefully.

I pushed open the door and let it close before I let out an explosive sigh. This was frustrating, and even I was having a hard time being constantly optimistic all the time. I walked forward and tapped my pen to my lips as I gazed at a revealing, bright pink outfit. My lips curled against my pen in a small smile. It was just the right size for a certain porcupine...

Speaking of, "Hey, Moon, you gave me the wrong list."

I glanced behind me for a moment to see her saunter in wearing an outfit similar to yesterday's, with a dark sweater with two of her quills threaded through the material covering her stomach under her perky breasts, and a red plaid skirt over ripped skinny jeans that hugged her form nicely. Her converse shoes scuffed the wooden floorboards slightly as she made her way towards me. I quickly looked back down and made a note about future costumes for her.

"Cheesy pop's not exactly my style." She said with raised eyebrows and held her sheet of paper out in front of her as if it would bite her.

"Style." I repeated with a grin and turned to face her. "I'm glad you brought that up."

She raised her eyebrows at me in confusion and I quickly climbed up onto a case to dig out that cute outfit I saw earlier. I knew without having to look that she was rolling her eyes at me with all the drama only a teenager could muster up with such a simple action.

My smile grew as I grabbed a hold of the hanger and held it out for her to see. She immediately drew back with a noise of disgust. "Isn't this a great color for you?"

I held it out a little further for her and held in a laugh when she inched back from it. Yes, I knew she probably wouldn't go for it, but I couldn't help but tease her.

"I can't tell. It's melting my eyes." This time I got to witness her rolling her pretty blue eyes with feeling. "You got anything in black?" She asked hopefully.

"Black?" I asked incredulously and jumped off the case. "What, you want everyone to think you're going to a funeral?" I walked over to the middle of the clothes rack and searched for a certain dress I saw yesterday. "No no no...bingo! Pop star princess!" I exclaimed excitingly when I finally found what I was looking for and held it out for her to see.

I had time to see her glare at the bright, sparkly dress before there was suddenly a loud clunking sound and darkness.

My smile dropped from my face as I glanced up to the ceiling where the lights should've been on. I heard Ash let out a quiet gasp beside me as the rest of the crew let out their own gasps and questions.

I dropped the dress and reached my hand out to feel for Ash. I could barely see anything, only outlines until my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Moon?" I heard her call softly, and I gently grabbed a hold of her arm. Good, she was still right here.

"I'm right here, don't panic, it's okay." I murmured to her, and without thinking, swept my paw down her arm to squeeze hers comfortingly. When she let out another quiet gasp, I realized what the hell I was doing and quickly let go. I cleared my throat awkwardly and started walking towards the other animals.

"Okay, everybody, don't panic! Don't panic."

"What's going on?" Mike demanded.

"Talk to me, Crawly." I turned around and tried to make out who was who from the shapes I could see. That turned out to be a mistake as all I saw was a mass of shadowy spikes that I assumed was Ash following close behind me. That's also when I noticed that the fabric at the end of my suit jacket twisted as I turned, as if something had caught hold of it.

"When did we last pay the power company, Mr. Moon?" I cocked an ear back to my left where I heard the old lady's voice near me. I turned towards the sound of her voice and felt my suit pull backwards a bit. What was I caught on?

I immediately stopped wondering when I felt scaled, wrinkled hands pressing and feeling around my face and I grimaced. Ouch, that was a claw on my nose. At least I found Miss Crawly...

Okay, that claw got a little close to my eye. "Oh, for Pete's sake." I muttered as I gently took her wrists in my hands and pulled them away from my face. "Okay, don't worry, everybody. I will take care of this!" I backed up a bit from Crawly and almost bumped into somebody. I mumbled out a quick apology before continuing, "In the meantime, you will continue to rehearse in the dark!"

"What?" Someone said so close next to me their words were practically in my ear. I couldn't help but jerk my ear away in surprise. That smokey tone...Ash?

I barely recognized her from the fear interlaced with her tone.

"But I can't see anything!" Rosita interjected and derailed my train of thought.

"Don't you worry, Rosita!" Gunter said and the next sound we all heard was unzipping. "I have glowsticks!" He exclaimed happily and cracked one, lighting up the area with a soft, green glow. I saw Rosita, Gunter, and Miss Crawly behind me thanks to the light.

"Great." I stated with my ever present smile in place and turned back to face forward. I was just about to continue when I noticed Ash standing very close to me. I was slightly taken aback with how close her big blue eyes were. I blinked at her questioningly and saw her take in her bottom lip in between her teeth. Then I noticed the tug at my suit again and glanced down to find the cause.

Oh. It was Ash that held the fabric of my suit jacket in her lithe hands. She was now bunching and twisting it in what looked like nervousness. Had she grabbed hold of me since the lights went out to help her navigate? Or was she scared of the dark perhaps?

"Use this time to shake off those first-day inhibitions," I said and raised my eyebrows in a silent question at the porcupine and she immediately dropped her hands from my jacket. "and I'll be right back." I gave Ash one more look before hurrying up the stairs towards my office to fix our power problem.

I had just the solution.

I quickly started searching for the longest extension cord I could find, my efforts doubled when I heard an especially loud complaint that sounded an awful lot like Mike from downstairs.

I let out an "Aha!" when I finally found it minutes later and jogged to my window. I pushed it up and ducked my head outside to see how far down the closest ledge was. I stuck the tip of my tongue out in thought. Yeah, I could do it.

I hopped down to the ledge and shimmied my way over to the next one, careful as possible, considering I'm three stories up from the ground.

I jumped onto the ledge with the designed pillar and nearly felt my stomach heave when a piece of it gave way under my foot.

"Whoa!" I gasped, and watched the plaster and stone crumple down below while quickly pressing myself back against the pillar. This was a little too much like that scene with Doc Brown and the clock tower from that movie Back to the Future for my liking...

I took a breath and patted the building behind me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, old girl. I'll fix that!"

I continued on my way to the building I was aiming for and peeked my tongue out again as I measured the distance I would have to jump across. My blue eyes jumped to and from the ledges and nodded to myself. I can do this.

Or not.

I jumped but missed the ledge by just inches, and gravity did it's job.

I'll admit, my scream could've been manlier on the way down.

Just as I thought I was going to be a fuzzy little pancake, my descent was abruptly halted, and I hung suspended in the air by the cable around my ankle. I glanced up and saw that the cord was stuck on the very place I almost fell moments ago, where there was a obvious chuck of stone missing from the ledge.

I grunted with effort as I tried to reach the cord wrapped around my foot and sighed in annoyance.

"Um, Mr. Moon?" A timid voice asked. I turned my head to look for the speaker and was greeted with a young female elephant.

My eyes widened as I examined her height, considering the length of her trunk...

"Hey, listen!"

She paused mid sentence and stared at me with startled eyes. Oh, was she already speaking? "Do you think maybe you could reach the ledge?" I asked with a sheepish smile.

"Th-that ledge?" she asked and I quickly nodded. I motioned for her to help me up and she gently scooped my smaller body up with her trunk and heaved me up to my destination. I landed a little wobbly on my feet, all the blood rushing back out of my head now that I was right side up.

"Whoa, that's a heck of a trunk you've got there!" I complimented before turning back to the task at hand. "Thanks a lot, kid!" I called down to her before jogging over to the buzzing letters of the neighboring business.

"Uh, Mr. Moon? M-My name is Meena, and-" The girl continued, but I could only make out the first part of her sentence with all the buzzing from the glowing letters and her quiet, shy voice.

"Just a moment, please!" I called down to her and found the plug I was looking for. I pulled the power from the letter 'O' and quickly began attaching the plug to my own. "Be right with ya," I continued distractedly.

Oh, come on!

The my plug was just out of reach of the outlet I needed! I pulled and yanked on the cord, frowning in frustration. "Hmm." I grunted and pulled on the cord with all my might, until it finally gave away the few centimeters I needed and I was able to attach them.

There we go! Powers back on.

999

Later that night, I sneaked over to visit Eddie at his parent's house. His family is pretty rich, but also strict, so they don't usually let Eddie have visitors over when it's late, but I really needed a break with my friend after the conversation with Judith.

I tugged off my suit jacket and got more comfortable while Eddie dried off from the pool and threw on a robe. The sheep then turned around and went to a mini fridge I didn't notice before and pulled out some sodas and tossed one to me. "Here, you wanna play some video games? The PlayStation is already up and running, I just paused my game to get my laps in before it got too much later."

I shrugged, I wasn't the best at video games, but it sounded less stressful than trying to come up thousands of dollars in a short time. "Sure, what are we playing?"

"Racing." Eddie answered and plopped down into his inflated chair.

"Oh..." Great, I suck even worse at racing games.

We started the game up in silence for the first few minutes, before I asked the question I had been pondering since following Eddie back into the pool house and seeing the living room it's been made into. "So, what, you live in the pool house now?"

Eddie popped a chip in his mouth and said, "Yeah, my folks want me to be more, you know, independent, I guess."

I leaned to the right with my controller and cringed when I still slammed into a wall. Eddie's car zoomed around me and took the lead. Along with half the other NPC racers.

He continued on as if he wasn't having to concentrate on his driving, like first place wasn't a big deal. Well, it probably wasn't if this is what he did everyday. "They even hooked me up with this life coach dude.

"Life coach?" I repeated and frown down at my chair. What was I sitting on?

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I guess he's gonna help me find my purpose in life. I thought I had one-" I reached behind me and pulled out a shoe and gave the oblivious Eddie a dry look before tossing it over my shoulder. "-but it turns out, it wasn't the right one or something. I don't know."

"Huh," I responded, once again trying to crawl my way back out of 6th place.

"Anyway, he's got me on this whole schedule thing." Eddie said and popped another chip in his mouth. "It's like, Mondays, take out the recycling; Tuesdays, mow the lawn; Wednesdays, go visit Nana-"

I blinked and completely gave up trying to concentrate on winning as I replayed that last one back in my head.

"Thursdays, clean the pool. It's like, don't we have people to do all of this stuff?"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa. Back up." I turned in my seat so I was facing the sheep. "Your nana is still alive?"

Eddie gave me a look and said, "Oh, yeah." And suddenly kicked over a surfboard that was leaning against the wall next to him. As it slid away, there it was, a picture of Nana Noodleman.

I couldn't help but lean away from the family photo with wide eyes, her glare so powerful I was almost positive she was alive in the picture.

"Wow." I couldn't help but say. She looked healthy for a sheep her age. Very lively. Then another thought came to mind. "And she's rich, right?"

"She's loaded." My friend confirmed around his loud, crunchy bites. "But trust me, you don't want to go near my nana." He chuckled out before returning to the race, snagging first place in the meantime.

He suddenly shuddered as if the cold hands of death had suddenly gripped his shoulders. "She's one mean sheep."

I barely heard him, my thoughts running wild with ideas and new hope. As I continued to stare at her photo, a smile grew on my face. Yes, if anyone was willing to loan me the money to save my theater, it was surely Nana Noodleman. She may be 'one mean sheep', but I was known for talking my way in and out of almost anything, surely the retired singer wouldn't be too hard to sway, especially if its about her favorite theater...

999

The next day, I rubbed my still stinging cheek as I made my way to Ash's rehearsal room. I was two acts down, one 'maybe' with the timid Meena, and plain out rejected when I tried to talk to the Japanese kids. What the hell did I even end up saying to them, anyway?

All night, as planned out what I would say to sway Nana into sponsoring my singing contest, I couldn't help but think about Ash. Or more importantly, my feelings towards Ash. I was a grown man, I could recognize a crush when I had one. I've never had such a strong attraction to another species before, though. Sure, I've been attracted to other species before in college and when I was an exotic dancer, but never this...intense...

From the very first second I heard her voice I was hooked, I think. She was physically attractive too, sexy, even. I never thought I would have the urge, or even the thought, to run a hand through a porcupine's quills, but hers looked so smooth, especially the few framing her face.

She was also a teenager. I wasn't sure how old she was, but I was hoping she was at least legal...I shook my head as if I could shake the very thought out of my head. She also already had a boyfriend her own age, and would not appreciate an old man coming on to her or being creepy! I was probably over half her age for Pete's sake!

I hauled up the portable stereo to sit on my shoulder as I neared the porcupine's room, glad that I had forgone the jacket today and just settled with my white dress shirt. I had been doing a lot of manual labor to help out and direct today, and it felt good to be more relaxed.

I would only work with her to help her improve, to help her shine, and would not let my personal feelings get in the way.

I. Will. Be. Professional!

I pushed open the door with my free hand and smiled big for the singer. "Hey, Ash! I've got something I want you to hear."

Ash paused at playing her red guitar and gave me a very small smile in return. "Hey, Moon." Her smile dropped and she gave me a cautious look. "What do you want me to hear?"

My smile widened and I waltzed over to where she was standing. "What's with that look?" I asked teasingly and set the big (to me) stereo down with little effort to the floor before turning back to the teen. I saw her looking at the stereo and back to me with curious eyes as she set her guitar on its stand.

"Well, I remember the...outfits," she practically hissed out that last word, "that you tried to get me to wear." She suddenly smirked and quirked a finely shaped eyebrow. "You know, for a koala, you're pretty strong. That stereo looks as big as you are, and probably weighs as much, too."

I paused in readjusting my rolled up sleeves and looked up to see her eyes raking over my form, her gaze pausing on my exposed forearms. My smile turned into a bit of a smirk against my will, my ego swelling. "Well, what can I say? I try to keep fit in my spare time."

I smiled and turned back around and pulled the CD I'd chosen out of my back pocket. Dammit, no personal feelings!

"Now, after going through the list of songs for you to sing, this is the one I think would be best." I popped in the disk and pressed play, and 'Call Me Maybe' started playing through the small mirrored room. It was such a catchy song, and I couldn't help but dance to the beat.

"I. Am. Not. Singing. This." Ash's voice lost the teasing tone the moment she heard the first couple of lyrics, and immediately went rebellious.

"What's not to like?" I asked, and turned back around to face her, still dancing. "You're a female, and you're a teenager. Right? What are you, like eighteen?" I couldn't help but add on that last question.

"Yeah, as of last month, but-"

I tried and failed to ignore the way my heart jumped in happiness at that. "Then what's wrong? This song was made for you!"

She gave me a deadpan stare before feigning shock. "Wow. It's like you can see into my tiny, teenage mind!"

"I know, right?" My smile widened and I pointed my index fingers at her. "You just gotta add some moves and a little bit of..." I stepped back a few paces and before my mind could catch up with my body, I was dancing and singing for her.

"Hey, I just met you," I sang as I leaned my torso forward, arms straight out and pointing at her with my hips still moving. I held my hands out in a 'well?' gesture before moving on to do a low spin.

"And this is crazy!" I sang this verse while twirling my fingers by my temples to go with the lyrics before giving her a wide grin while I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and raised my eyebrows. She was watching me with wide eyes and a twitching grimace, almost like she was fighting a smile.

"But here's my number," I acted out writing my number out on my palm and then imitated that sassy head move teenage girls are known for before finishing with, "So call me may-beh!" I flicked out my hand in a vague 'go on' gesture towards to gaping teen.

"Go for it!" I encouraged excitingly.

Ash immediately schooled her features to match my excitement. "Oh, you mean like this?"

"Try to chase me," She swept her hand out, imitating moves like I did moments before.

"But here's my number," She danced a couple steps closer to the stereo with her eyes closed and pretended to hold a fake phone up to her ear with rolling eyes.

"So call me maybe." She raised her arms up above her head and swept them down slowly down her body and finished the chorus with a sassy hip cocked and her head thrown to the side, her quills faintly clacking from the force.

My cheeks hurt from how wide my grin got. Even when just oozing with sarcasm, she was fantastic! And that gritty tone her voice gets sometimes just...oh. Goosebumps.

"There you go! You're a natural!" I said, meaning every word.

Ash looked back at me incredulously and cocked an eyebrow. "Are you-ugh!" She groaned and threw up her hands in frustration. "I wasn't being serious, Moon!"

I nodded and dropped my optimistic mask for a moment and gave her a serious look. "I know, you weren't being serious in that little performance, and you were still great! That's why I want you here."

The porcupine looked taken aback by my sudden shift in personality, and her eyebrows knit together with an emotion I couldn't quite read. "Oh, um, thanks, Moon..." she trailed off uncertainly and dropped her eyes to stare at the two quills in her sweater. Another dark colored sweater over a gray long sleeved shirt and a plaid skirt with light blue ripped skinny jeans today. Did she wear anything else?

"I'm serious, Ash. Don't doubt yourself! You can do this." I insisted, feeling my heart twist at the sight of an insecure Ash before me.

"I know I'm a good singer! And a good guitarist too! I just don't think I could perform a song that's so far out of my comfort zone, especially alone! Even Lance thinks-"

Lance.

"Lance doesn't kno- I am a professional at recognizing talent, Ash." I stated firmly and placed my hands on her shoulders so that she was facing me, her wide blue eyes met my own. "If I say you can do it, and you know that you can do it, then you will. The end." I ended my little pep talk with a smile, making sure to show my pearly whites.

Ash's eyes were swimming with awe and gratitude as they bounced from my lips to gaze. She gave me another small smile, and I felt the breath leave my lungs at the sight. It completely changed her face and made her look even more beautiful, a feat I didn't think possible.

"T-thanks, Mr. Moon. That..really means a lot." Her tone was bereft of any sarcasm maybe the second time I've spoken to her.

I nodded and reluctantly let go of her shoulders and brought my arms back down to my sides. "How about this," I glanced at my wrist and huffed out a quiet chuckle when I remembered that I had taken it off earlier. I instead pulled my phone out of my front pants' pocket and checked the time. Ah, it was almost noon already? "I'm going to go ahead and call for a break, and everyone can grab some lunch. Why don't you go over the song list again, and see if you like anything else on there if you really don't want to sing this song. Okay?"

The girl sighed in defeat and nodded. "Alright, sure. I'll look it over."

I nodded in thanks and held a hand over her lower back as I walked with her.

Right as we entered the main hall outside the rehearsal area Johnny came barreling by us, nearly plowing Ash and I over. Without thinking, I had immediately swept a hand under the porcupine's mane of quills so that my arm was across her back and quickly swept her around me so that she wouldn't be jostled by the larger animal.

"Careful, Johhny!" I scolded, and let go of Ash's person. "What are you in such a rush for?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Mr. Moon! I was, um, actually looking for you." The gorilla answered and shot an apologetic look at us.

"Well, what's up?" I asked and waved at the young rocker as I parted ways with her, and was happy to get a short wave back and another eye roll. When did I start finding her teenage angst and sarcasm so endearing?

"Yeah, well, that's the thing, I kinda hafta go...like right now, I have to go home early." Johnny called behind me as I made my way up the stairs. I stopped in my tracks at that and spun back around.

"Wait, what to you mean, you gotta leave now?" I stammered out and looked down at him from the top of the stairs.

He rubbed the back of his head. "I know. I'm...I'm so sorry. It's just, I've got this family business thing."

I placed a hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow. "Do I need to start worrying about your commitment here, Johnny? Tell me no?" I asked and folded my hands together.

"No! Absolutely not. I promise it won't happen again." Johnny promised with wide, regretful eyes.

I sighed and decided that would have to do for now. The last thing I needed was another act to drop out. "It better not." I called over my shoulder as I continued back up the stairs.

"Thank you, Mr. Moon!"

999

My tongue couldn't help but stick out a bit as I weaved my bike through traffic as I made my way to the late twenty-four hour fast food joint I liked to frequent. I didn't really feel like cooking tonight, and the food there was worth bike ride. It might have been less of a workout to just take a cab, but the cheaper the better right now.

I swerved to a stop at the bike racks and finished locking up my bike when my ear twitched at hearing some loud arguing coming from across the street. I couldn't help but look over to see what the commotion was about, curiosity winning over my current hunger.

My eyebrows flew up when suddenly the door to the apartment building flew open and two porcupines were practically thrown down the steps. ...Wait...

Was that...Lance?

I dropped all pretenses of not being curious at seeing Ash's boyfriend and another female porcupine being kicked out of a building and turned both of my large ears forward to listen with all of my ability.

"Hey, what did you expect? You're never around anymore!" Lance exclaimed annoyed while the girl next to him stood next to him awfully close. Then, none other than Ash came out onto the doorstep holding a guitar case, looking more emotional than I'd ever seen her.

"I did it for us, Lance! YOU and ME!" She yelled, her beautiful voice cracking with emotion. I felt my heart sink with sadness. Surely he didn't...

Ash threw the guitar case down at Lance's feet and the force caused him to fall forward as it knocked his legs out from under him.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. But I think I left my sunglasses in there-" The other female porcupine didn't get a chance to finish as Ash then proceeded to slam the door in her face.

I stood still in shock at the sight before me. From what I've gathered it would seem that in the two days that Ash had been gone to rehearse at my theater, Lance had become lonely. He had actually had another girl over at their own house...

The sadness was still present in my gut, but it was quickly being overshadowed by a powerful anger. How...stupid did you have to be to...to...actually cheat on a young woman as wonderful like Ash?!

I glared at the dumbass as he scoffed and stood back up. "Come on, Becky. Let's get out of here." He took hold of her hand and proceeded to walk away from her, shooting one last scowl at the apartment building.

The other girl giggled, "I can see why you were tired of her, hon, she's kinda crazy."

Okay.

I quickly looked both ways before sprinting across the street to the apartment building. I hesitated for a few seconds, and tried to reason that Ash probably didn't want to see anyone right now, especially not an older koala that she didn't really know...

I turned around and was just about to walk back down the steps when a choked sob came from the other side of the door. Like a puppet being pulled by its strings, I whipped back around and gave the door a firm couple of knocks.

The sobs were abruptly cut off. Ash's smokey voice was thick with emotion as she weakly called out, "Go away."

I licked my lips and knocked again.

"Go away, Lance!" she yelled louder, her voice stronger now with anger powering it.

"It's me, Ash." I called back, softly.

There was a pause, and the sound of something hard and hollow scraping and hitting the wood of the door. Was she leaning against it? "...Mr. Moon?" she asked.

"Yeah," I swallowed before raising my voice an octave. "Can you please open the door?"

She didn't respond for a few seconds, before finally saying, "I...want to be alone right now, Moon...I'll talk to you tomorrow."

My eyebrows furrowed and I sighed. I considered just doing as she wished, but once again my body made my decision for me. "Please open the door, Ash."

I heard a familiar annoyed sigh. "No, Moon, please go."

"Ash."

"Moon!"

"Ash..." I growled a bit, letting my voice lose the high, optimistic tone that she was familiar with.

"WHAT?!" She snarled and finally wrenched the door open, breathing heavily as she glared at me. I should feel ashamed for intentionally riling the heartbroken girl up, but I needed to speak to her face to face.

I gave her a gentle, searching look before saying, "I'm so sorry about Lance, Ash."

That seemed to knock the wind from her sails and she flinched back a bit. "W-what...?" she said so softly and broken that I immediately stepped into her personal space and pulled her into a hug. It wasn't that comfortable, with her standing stiff as a statue in shock from my bold move and the quills framing her face slightly jabbing me in the neck, but I held her regardless; in a way that she could break away if she wanted, but tight enough to let her know she was safe and secure in my arms.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," I whispered against her small, round ear. "He's an idiot, and you were too good for him anyway. He doesn't deserve you."

That shattered the dam holding back her tears, and she broke down in my embrace.

She brought her hands up to grip at the back of my white shirt and let out body wracking sobs. I gently walked her backwards so that we were inside her apartment and I kicked the door closed. This was a private, vulnerable moment for Ash, a young girl who was so strong...

I rubbed one of my hands soothingly across her back and angled my head a bit better so I wasn't getting pricked her smaller quills and my large, fluffy ear wasn't smothering her. She suddenly pressed closer until she had her face buried in the crook of my neck as she choked out, "I-I did everything for h-him! *hic* I left home for him, and he d-does this?! I've put up w-with so much, I loved him!" She cried, and I felt my fur get damp from her tears.

I squeezed her to me tighter and whispered, "I know, sweetheart, let it all out..."

She shook against me and let out a wail of anguish, and I had to scramble a bit to keep a hold of her as her legs suddenly gave out underneath her. I tried to keep her from falling to the ground, and my heart clenched at her pain.

Fuck it.

I pulled her towards me a bit more and slowly led us both to the floor and pulled her into my lap. She didn't even seem to notice, and her hands shifted from my back to grip the collar of my shirt and she buried her face into my chest, tears still pouring out with no sign of stopping. I let out a sad sigh at the broken girl collapsed onto my lap and carefully ran a hand over the top of her smooth quills and quickly brought the other one up to undo my red bow tie so my neck wasn't so constricted.

"It'll be okay, Ash. You'll see. It's hard now, but you'll come out of this stronger, and happier..." I consoled, my voice staying low and comforting. I don't know if she was even listening to me, but I continued to whisper little nonsensical things to her while she cried.

I don't know how long we sat there on the floor of her apartment, my back to the door and my legs sprawled out in front of me with the teen in my lap. I had stopped speaking, and was just content to run a hand over her quills and my other arm wrapped around the small of her back, my thumb rubbing small circles into the soft, fine fur that peeked out between her shirts and skirt. Her cries had faded into small hiccups and then into deep breathing and sniffles. I swallowed when she finally spoke.

"...How did you know?" She asked, her voice rough.

I didn't need her to clarify. "I was across the street when you threw them out. I took a guess to what happened from what I heard..."

"...Oh..."

Ash finally lifted her head up from my chest and blue met blue. I couldn't help but be affected by how close we were, and did everything in my power to keep eye contact with her, and not sneak a peek at her lips.

"Tha-" She broke off and cleared her throat before starting again. "Thanks, Moon. I...really."

I shook my head and gave her a small smile. "Please, just call me Buster when we're not at the theater. And it's no problem, Ash. You were hurt, and, well, I wasn't going to let you go through that alone."

The porcupine glanced away from me for a second before looking back. I've never felt such overwhelming relief when a small, wobbly smile took the place of her frown. Her painfully beautiful features changed again, and I felt an emotion so powerful that I absentmindedly brought a hand up to my chest to soothe the feeling. Ash's eyes followed the motion and then widened, staring horrified at my shirt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I got your shirt all wet! Shit," The girl hurriedly sat up and pinched a bit of the fabric of my shirt between her thumb and pointer finger and pulled it taunt, stretching out the front.

"Huh?" I said intelligibly, and looked down to see a dark, wet patch over my entire chest. I shrugged and looked back up at the embarrassed girl. All the heartache and hurt she's going through and she's worried that she cried on me? I bit my lip in order to stop a stupid smile from spreading across my face, but must have failed since she immediately zoned in on my mouth and then back up to me with shocked eyes. I couldn't help it, she was just so adorable! I let out a short chuckle and pulled the surprised porcupine back in for a hug.

She gave a muffled "Hey!" as her face was once again pressed into my neck and I laughingly said, "You are such a wonderful creature, sweetheart."

She froze in what I assumed was shock and I quickly went to assure her, "I mean, no, I'm not laughing at you, Ash. It's just, it's really no problem about the shirt, it'll dry pretty quickly. What matters is your feelings..." I trailed off and decided to just be blunt. "This won't heal overnight, Ash. It's different for everybody, so I can't say when it'll get better, but what I do know after only meeting you a couple days ago, is that you are strong, talented, and so much more. I believe in you, I believe that you will get through this stronger than ever."

I heard her take an abrupt breath and sniffed a bit before wrapping her arms around my waist and hugging me tight. I smiled and hugged her back, happy that I was managing to help her. "Thanks, Moon-ah!"

I playfully pinched her side and reminded her, "Buster, please."

She sat up so she was upright in my lap and gave me a huff and teasingly scowled down at me. "Okay, Buster. Jeez, didn't think I'd get, y'know, punished, for getting your name wrong."

Oh Jesus. "Well, I thought you had a good memory. And, well..." My smile got a bit of an edge, and while my brain was screaming at me to shut up, my hand left her back and lightly pulled at the hem of her plaid skirt. "You are wearing a skirt that's similar to a schoolgirl's. That's like you're just asking to be punished."

I immediately bit down on my tongue before I could say anything else creepy and insensitive. For fuck's sake, she just broke up with her cheating boyfriend! And here I was, saying things like that, with her a mess in my lap...

Oh.

Oh...

My eyes widened slightly as I quickly took note of our positions. My gut immediately burned with desire, and never had I realized how much I wanted something until it was suddenly happening.

Yes, I was aware I had a crush on the young porcupine, but I didn't realize just how fucking much I wanted and cared for her until she was sitting here with her thighs framing my own. Oh God, don't think about that...

I was thankfully torn out of those inappropriate thoughts when Ash let out a startled laugh. She shook her head, her quills clacking softly, and quickly covered her mouth when a giggle broke through. I blinked up at her as she tried to hide her laughter. My earlier embarrassment slowly faded away as I looked up at her and I gave her a grin.

"Yeah," she giggled, blue eyes shining with amusement. "Yeah, I guess you got me there." She suddenly let out a big yawn, and I glanced at my wristwatch. Oh, I had been here for a half hour.

"Maybe you should turn in for the night," I suggested with a kind smile. "You've had a long day."

She shook her head and sighed. "No, I don't want to go to bed yet. I still haven't eaten dinner." She suddenly glanced down at our positions, as if seeing for the first time, and a blush lit up her cocoa butter cheeks. She squeaked a bit, and quickly clambered up and off of my lap. "Sorry! Ah, sorry..."

"It's fine." I assured, and grimaced when I had to grip the doorknob to pull myself up. Damn legs were asleep.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked worriedly and held her hands out as if ready to catch me should I fall.

"Pshh," I waved her hands away. "Yeah, just have the tingles in my legs. I'll be fine." I gave her my usual happy smile, and the porcupine eyed me and slowly nodded.

I clapped my hands together. "Now, about dinner. I haven't eaten yet, either." I gave her a shrug. "I was actually going to go eat at the place across the street from here when all...that started. Would you like to join me for some dinner? We could whip up something here, or I could order carry out?" I asked tentatively.

She thought for a moment, and dropped her eyes to the ground. "I don't know what I have here that would be quick to eat. We- I mean, I have plenty of frozen food, some easy to make stuff like soup and mac n cheese...Everything else would take a while to make..." She trailed off and looked back up at me with shy eyes. "You really wouldn't mind us getting carry out?"

I rolled my eyes and gave her a teasing grin. "Oh course not, it's fine! I'll look up their menu so we can order, and I'll run over and grab it when it's ready, okay? It usually only take like ten to fifteen minutes, tops."

Ash held out her hands. "No no! I can go get it, really! It- you've done enough for me already, M-Buster." She quickly stuttered out and I blinked at her. I was kind of off balance with how different Ash was when her mask of indifference was gone. I still really liked her, but it was a little worrisome how insecure and unsure she was about things. She just radiated self-confidence when she performed, so was this truly how she felt when she wasn't playing guitar or singing, or did it have to do with Lance?

I gave her another gentle smile and patted her arm. "It's fine Ash. I don't mind, really. Why don't we go sit and watch some TV or something while we wait for the food? Or we can keep talking..."

Ash chuckled and ran her hands over her face. "Yeah, okay. Yeah, TV sounds good. My voice kind of hurts from all the talking and crying. Anymore and a good night's sleep isn't going to help it before tomorrow morning."

I slapped a hand to my forehead in exasperation. "Right! Yeah, let's go sit. Don't strain yourself if you don't have to, okay?" I led her over to her sofa and took a quick glance around her apartment. It was certainly spacious, and there was two mic stands set up in the middle of the sitting room, connected to some amps.

The porcupine turned on her TV and pulled up the TV guide to look for something while I thumbed through my phone and ordered us some food, all the while shooting her concerned looks. She still looked miserable, but slowly, she was putting up her walls again. Her true emotions were getting harder to read, and I ran my tongue over the front of my teeth in thought. I might get one more thing across the street before I return.

We continued to sit there in comfortable silence when she finally stopped on a movie that was close to ending when I decided to head out and get our dinner. I stood up and met her gaze. My optimistic smile was met with a blank face. "Alright, I'm sure it's ready by now. Be right back, Ash."

She nodded and turned back to her flat screen. I let out a silent sigh and hurried to the the restaurant. While standing in line waiting to pay, I quickly looked over the large menu on the wall and smiled when I found what I was looking for. I knew just the thing to make Ash feel better.

I ran across the street with my to go bag and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later Ash opened the door for me and let me in with a small smile. "Welcome back."

I nodded but quickly pulled away when she reached for the bag. At my dodge, she gave me a confused look. I shrugged and gave her an innocent look while making sure the bag was behind my back. "I can set the table if you want to go sit."

She furrowed her brows a bit at that. "Oh. Um, I was just thinking we could eat in the living room. It doesn't matter to me-"

"Alright, go ahead and sit down in there then and I'll grab us some silverware and drinks!" I interjected happily and gently pushed her into the living room, wary of her sharp quills. I smiled reassuringly at her suspicious look and held back a laugh when she gave her signature eye roll and did as I said. I hurried to the kitchen and pulled my extra purchase out before searching for her dishes and silverware. I piled my vegan burger and fries onto my plate and scooped her salad into a bowl before looking for one more thing.

"You doing okay in there?" Ash called from the other room as I climbed up onto the counter to look into the top cupboards. Aha! So she does own wine glass! I picked one of the two glasses up and paused when I saw two full wine bottles at the back of the cupboard. Ash was eighteen, right? Where did she get wine?

I hummed in thought and jumped back down with my prize in hand and went over to the table. "Yeah, I'm fine! What do you want to drink?" I called back as I stopped short of scooping the last item and eyed glass. There was a thin layer of dust layering the entire thing. "What do you want to drink?" I asked as I wiped the thin handle off on my suit pants and placed it between my teeth so that my hands were free.

"Just water's fine. There some in the fridge." I heard her say as I climbed up onto the counter again to reach the sink and rinsed the glass so it was clean.

"Sounds good." I answered and hopped back down to finish preparing our dinner. I left the now full wine glass on the table and pulled some water bottles out of the fridge and headed back into the living room with our food.

Ash raised an eyebrow as soon as she saw me. "What took you so long?"

I shrugged. "Oh, you know, just took a minute to find the plates." I fibbed and handed her the salad.

"Uh huh. Or a few." She said suspiciously. "You were totally snooping, weren't you?"

I placed a hand to my chest in fake shock. "What? I would never! Hey, what are you watching?"

She blinked at my off topic question and turned back to the TV. "Oh, I don't know, some old movie came on."

I took a seat a respectable distance away from the girl and grinned excitedly when I recognized the movie. "Oh, this is a great movie! You've never seen Back to the Future?"

"Nope, but I've heard of it."

"Oh, man, you're gonna love it! It's a pretty funny movie, and has a good plot. Also, the main character is a lot like you!"

Ash gave me a dry look. "Why, because he's a porcupine?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, he's a rocker! He's a teen who loves rock music and is still looking to be discovered for his talent."

"Oh." The female porcupine took a bite of her salad and looked back to the movie with feigned boredom, but I could see the interest sparkling in here eyes. I smiled to myself as I ate my own dinner.

Marty had just gone back into time when Ash finished her salad. I placed my plate down onto the table beside me and stood. "I'll be right back." I told her before she could ask. I hurried back to the kitchen and was grabbed the wine glass.

I held it behind my back as I walked back into the room, causing Ash to give me a wary look. I gave her a big smile. "I have a surprise for you."

Just as she opened her mouth to ask, I held out my surprise for her to see, causing her eyes to go wide. "The best thing to have for a sore throat and an aching heart is a hot fudge sundae." I smiled and held my free hand behind my back and offered the glass of ice cream out to her.

Her eyes darted from the dessert to my face before her eyes welled up with tears. My friendly smile slid off my face in fear. Shit, I didn't mean to make her feel worse!

"Ash?" I asked worriedly and set the glass down next to my plate and moved closer to her. "...I'm sorry, I...I just thought-"

She mumbled something so softly that I had to perk my ears forward. "I'm sorry, what?"

Ash took a deep breath before saying louder, "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me..."

I had a moment to process that before she was standing and threw her arms around my neck to pull me in for another hug. My arms automatically mimicked her actions and wrapped around her waist. I hid a slight wince when my arm scraped across her quills.

"Thank you, Buster." Ash whispered against my neck and I closed my eyes.

"No problem, Ash." I whispered back and took in the scent of her. She smelled kind of like cocoa, just like the color of her fur, with just a hint of leather...

I pulled back from her hug and gave her a smile. "Your ice creams going to melt if you don't hurry and eat it." I picked up the glass again and held it out to her like before but upped the charm of my smile.

She let out a watery giggle and wiped the pad of her thumb under her eye to catch a stray tear before taking the glass and gave me the warmest look I've seen from her yet.

999

I ended up staying for the whole movie. When one of the final scenes came on with Marty playing for the dance and doing his wild guitar stunts I teased Ash that she should do some of those moves in her performance for the contest.

The porcupine rolled her eyes and replied that the 'stupid call me song' wasn't really made for awesome guitar gestures.

I gave her my full attention when I heard that. "Wait, you're actually going to do that one?"

My question made her look at me with shocked eyes, as if she hadn't meant to say that. "Uh," she stuttered out and quickly turned her gaze back to the TV. "Well, I wasn't going to, but after going over the whole list again...that was the best option." she said with a casual shrug of her shoulder.

I grinned big at that before suddenly remembering the performance itself. I glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall and realized what time it was. We both needed to be up and early in the morning.

"Well, I'm going to head home." I announced and stood up from the comfy couch. Ash quickly stood up with me.

"Yeah," she said slowly, "We both have to get up early in the morning."

"Thanks for having me over." I thanked as she walked me over to the door.

I looked back to see her giving me a disbelieving look. "You-" she cut herself off with a chuckle and I raised an eyebrow in question. "Thank you, Buster. For everything."

She surprised me yet again by leaning in closer and wrapping me in a quick hug that I returned, happy to hold her one last time tonight. When she pulled away a few seconds later, she paused and quickly pecked me on the cheek before leaving my personal bubble altogether.

My brain kind of shut down for a second when I felt her lips against my fur and I blinked dumbly at her when she gave me an expectant look. "What?"

There was the eye roll I know and love. "I said, I'll see you before rehearsal?"

I blinked again and tried to make my mouth work. "Oh, um, actually I have somewhere to be in the morning." I distractedly scratched at my clavicle and was surprised when my collar felt look and open. "Miss Crawly will let you guys in and get you situated, and I'll be back in the afternoon, maybe earlier."I stuttered as I glanced down and saw that my red bow tie was messily undone and just lying across one shoulder. When did that happen?

I brought up my other hand to tie the bow back into place at my neck as Ash said, "Oh...alright."

I have literally been in much, much worse situations with my previous occupation and handled them without a hint outwards that I was embarrassed or bothered, why the hell was I getting so flustered from a harmless kiss on the cheek by a pretty girl?

She gave me a small smile and looked to be blushing slightly as I walked out and gave a final wave goodbye. "Good night!"

She nodded and quietly said, "Good night." before shutting the door closed.

The entire ride back home I came to a realization. Until Ash brought up rehearsal, I hadn't once thought about my theater or financial issues. Ever since I hit the rocky times, I was always thinking about ways to make more money for the theater or planning more shows. Everywhere I went, it was in the back of my mind, ready to spring out at a moment's notice. But for the first time, maybe years, I didn't think about it at all the entire time I was visiting Ash in her time of need. All my thoughts were revolving around her.

I didn't know how I felt about that.

999

There's the first part. Sorry about any errors I missed, I don't have a beta. Let me know if you like it, if you don't wanna review but still like it, I'm still happy if you fav or follow it!

Also, for those who are still waiting for me to update my other stories, I'm sorry if you're disappointed that you got this instead lol. I'm trying to update all of them at once, so I'm a manager of a business at my day job and am in a committed relationship so I have only so much free time.

They're coming though!

Peace.