Work Text:
Yakko listened to the ringing of the doorbell as he, Winona, Cleff, and Cleff’s uncle Louis walked into the music store. This was Cleff’s favorite music store: the Jam Room. Yakko heard Cleff rave about it all the time, but he had never felt a need to visit the place before. After all, what was the point of visiting a music store if he could pull almost any instrument he wanted out of hammerspace? However, Winona still needed an electric guitar for band practice, and Cleff begged Yakko to come along. Yakko couldn’t say no to Cleff, and even called the Simmons siblings to the water tower to look after Wakko and Dot while he was gone. Now that he was there, he was mesmerized. The hardwood floor felt nice on his feet. When Yakko looked up, he saw too many guitars to count lining the bright red wall. For some reason, the place almost reminded him of the water tower, and he liked that. Yakko stood in place for a moment to soak up the atmosphere, when suddenly, someone tapped on his shoulder. Yakko turned to the left, and saw Cleff smiling at him.
“You like it?” Cleff asked.
“I love it,” Yakko replied.
“Awesome!” Cleff exclaimed, “I’m so glad you decided to come with us, Yakko!”
“Hey, I couldn’t miss this! After all, you are my bandmates, and I don’t wanna miss anything we do as a band.”
Yakko and Cleff smiled at each other. Meanwhile, Winona and Louis examined all the electric guitars on the wall. Winona tilted her head and stroked her chin with her fingers.
“I don’t know which one to choose,” Winona said.
“Well kiddo,” Louis explained, “the only way to find out is to give them all a test drive.”
“But there’s all sorts of stuff to worry about!” Winona replied, “what if the one I want is too expensive?”
“Hey,” Louis said, “don’t worry about the price. Everything you buy here is on me.”
“You really mean that?”
“Sure do.”
Winona smiled at Louis before looking away. Her head hung low as she crossed her arms. Yakko and Cleff saw her and walked over to see what was wrong.
“What’s up, Winnie?” Yakko asked.
“I’ve never picked out a guitar in my life,” Winona said.
“What about your acoustic one at home?” Cleff asked.
“Well,” Winona explained, “I didn’t pick it out. I asked my parents for a guitar, they said that I’d have to pay for it, so I ran a lemonade stand for a couple days, raised enough money for it, and they went to the store and picked out the one I have.”
“Whoa,” Yakko said.
“Yeah,” Winona replied, “‘whoa’ is right. Basically, what I’m trying to say is... I need help.”
“I can help you!” Cleff exclaimed.
“So can I,” Louis said, “I know a thing or two about guitars.”
Winona, Cleff, and Louis then all turned to look at Yakko. He put his hands against his chest as a puzzled expression appeared on his face.
“Why is everyone looking at me?” Yakko asked.
“You gonna help out too, Yakko?” Winona asked back.
Yakko started to laugh nervously. Sweat rolled down his face, and he clasped his hands together. Yakko had no idea how to help, and worst of all, he feared that if he explained himself, nobody would believe him. Cleff put his hands on Yakko’s arm.
“Yakko, are you OK?” Cleff asked.
“Yeah,” Yakko replied, “I’m fine.”
“You sure don’t seem fine,” Winona said.
Yakko sighed, looked Winona in the eyes, and took a deep breath.
“Well,” Yakko began, “the thing is... I’m just as clueless as you are, Winona.”
“Wait,” Cleff said, “I’ve seen you play guitar before, Yakko.”
“Yeah,” Yakko replied, “but every guitar I’ve played was either one of yours or one from hammerspace. I don’t know anything about guitars!”
“Then how are you even able to play one?” Winona asked.
“Toon powers,” Yakko answered, “toons can play just about any instrument that exists. Just the way we are. We don’t have to make sense as long as we’re funny.”
“That’s true,” Cleff added.
“Well then,” Winona said, “no worries, Yak.”
“But if I can’t help you out, what can I do?” Yakko asked.
“Well,” Louis began, “you can look around without us. Just don’t head out of the store without telling us and don’t cause any chaos.”
“I make no guarantees with the chaos part,” Yakko said, “but I’ll stay here!”
Then, Cleff waved goodbye, and Yakko waved back. Winona and Louis started walking towards the wall of guitars, with Cleff not too far behind them. Yakko stayed where he was, watching them walk away. He wanted to follow them, but he had no idea how to help Winona pick out a guitar. He was used to pulling them out of hammerspace, but he knew that she couldn’t do that. Not wanting to linger on it for much longer, Yakko sighed and walked in the opposite direction of the others.
Yakko walked around almost the entire store several times, but stayed away from the guitar section to avoid getting in the others’ way. Yakko still didn’t feel a need to buy anything, but he couldn’t leave the store and he couldn’t get into any mischief. A part of him wanted to wait outside, but he didn’t want to scare Cleff or Louis, and he was too scared to go over to Louis and ask if he could. He sighed, when suddenly, he saw a young human woman approaching him. Her skin was pale, and her short hair was mostly black, but with an eye-catching, hot pink highlight. She wore a red shirt with text that said “Jam Room” on it.
“Are you having trouble?” she asked Yakko.
“Um, no,” Yakko said with a stutter, “I’m fine, thank you.”
“You look lost,” she replied.
“Oh, I’m not lost. I’m just... waiting for my friends is all. They’re over there.”
Yakko pointed to Winona and Cleff in the distance, and the employee briefly looked at them.
“I’m in a band,” Yakko said, “and our guitarist needs an electric guitar for practice, so my best friend and his uncle are helping her out. Too bad I know nothing about guitars...”
“What do you play?” the employee asked.
“Well,” Yakko began, “I’m the drummer, but-”
Before Yakko could finish, the employee pointed to a part of the store filled with drums and cymbals. Yakko knew where it was; he had passed it several times.
“Feel free to browse around there,” she said with a smile.
“Um, thank you!” Yakko replied nervously.
Yakko waved goodbye to the employee and walked over there, arms crossed. He let out a sigh.
“What am I supposed to do over here?” Yakko mumbled, “look at things that there’s no chance I’ll buy?”
Yakko just knew that he had everything he needed. He already had a drum set and a high-quality microphone at the tower, and there was a drum set and a microphone at Cleff’s house too. He had bags to transport his drums whenever he and his bandmates practiced at Winona’s house, and he knew they’d come in handy when the band began to play shows. Thanks to hammerspace, Yakko had all of the drumsticks he could possibly need. Although he had no intention of buying anything, he decided to browse, or at least pretend to browse so the employee didn’t come back to bother him.
Yakko sulked as he walked around the section. He prayed that Winona would pick her guitar soon and he wouldn’t have to do this much longer, but until she did, he had to keep walking. Eventually, Yakko stumbled upon a shelf filled with drumsticks. On the shelf, each kind of drumstick was separated into its own container. Some of them were brightly-colored. There were too many sticks to count; even when separated, it would’ve taken hours for Yakko to count all of them. However, one container was almost empty, and it caught Yakko’s attention.
Yakko moved his eyes to the container, and there were only two drumsticks in it. They were white in color, almost blindingly so, and for some reason, Yakko couldn’t take his eyes off of them. He took the sticks out of the container and held them firmly in his hands. “These feel nice,” Yakko thought. Suddenly, Yakko felt the urge to buy them. Not wanting to waste his money, Yakko checked the price on the container and noticed that the sticks cost over one-hundred dollars. He jumped before backing away from the shelf.
“Over a hundred dollars?” Yakko asked himself, “for a pair of drumsticks?!”
Yakko nervously looked around after he shouted. Nobody seemed to notice him. He took a deep breath and put the sticks back where he found them. Then, he got an idea. Yakko could pull all of the drumsticks he wanted out of hammerspace, so why not this particular kind? He put his hand in hammerspace and began digging around. He pulled out quite a few pairs of sticks, but none of them were the same kind that Yakko had been eyeing. Eventually, Yakko gave up. He picked up the sticks again and softly sighed. Although they were expensive, Yakko couldn’t help but want them. He briefly looked at Louis in the distance and wondered if he’d be willing to buy the sticks for him, but he quickly turned away and decided not to ask. Louis already had to pay for Winona’s guitar, and he didn’t want to make him pay for an overpriced pair of drumsticks on top of whatever guitar he had to pay for, which for all Yakko knew could be the most expensive one at the store.
Yakko then turned around again to see if Winona, Cleff, and Louis had made any progress with the guitar. They didn’t look done, so Yakko stayed in the section. He tried to walk away from the drumsticks, but for some reason, he couldn’t make it too far. He didn’t want to buy the sticks, but he didn’t want to leave them at the store either. He knew he couldn’t steal them, and haggling the price with a random employee didn’t seem like the best idea either. Then, suddenly, Yakko heard a song faintly playing. His ears perked up, and he started tapping his foot. The music began to carry him away. Yakko approached the container with the pricey drumsticks again, took the sticks back out, and began gently tapping the shelf with them to the beat of the song, still tapping his foot. He hit the shelf as quietly as he could to not catch anyone’s attention. The drumsticks felt good in Yakko’s hands, and the sound of them hitting the shelf was oddly satisfying. Yakko started to chuckle, and he played and hummed along to the song until it ended.
When he heard the song fade out, Yakko sighed. He giggled some more and looked at the sticks again. If the sound of them hitting the shelf was that good, Yakko wondered how good they would sound against actual drums. He walked over to a drum kit, sat down, and started tapping all of the drums and cymbals as softly as possible. It sounded crisp and clear, and Yakko loved it. He couldn’t have the sticks, but now, he desperately wanted them. Yakko decided to just sit for a moment, holding the sticks and waiting for the others.
As Yakko sat and waited, he suddenly heard the sound of an electric guitar. Although they had come looking for a guitar for Winona, that was the first guitar that Yakko heard all day. Did she finally find the one she wanted? Did this mean they were going to leave soon? A few minutes ago, Yakko wanted to leave more than anything, but now, that was the last thing he wanted to do. Yakko looked up at Winona, Cleff, and Louis and softly smiled. Cleff made eye contact with Yakko.
“Yakko!” Cleff shouted.
“Coming!” Yakko replied.
Yakko stood up and ran over to the others, holding the drumsticks behind his back. He put on his best fake smile and looked at the guitar that Winona was holding. It was bright red and shiny. Yakko’s smile became genuine, and he looked up at Winona.
“I assume you found the one you want?” Yakko asked.
“Sure did,” Winona said, “I’m glad Uncle Louis over here’s happy to pay for it.”
“Pretty expensive guitar she picked out,” Louis commented.
Yakko and Cleff both giggled. Louis smiled at them.
“Alright,” Louis said, “let’s go pay for this.”
Winona and Louis walked to the nearest cash register, while Yakko and Cleff stayed behind. Cleff noticed that Yakko had been holding his hands behind his back for an unusually long time.
“Yakko?” Cleff said.
“Yeah?” Yakko asked.
“Why are your hands behind your back?” Cleff asked back.
Yakko put his hands back to his sides, revealing the drumsticks. Cleff recognized their blinding white color instantly.
“I found these,” Yakko explained, “but I don’t wanna make your uncle pay for them, especially since he has to pay for the guitar too.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind!” Cleff replied.
“Well, I don’t wanna risk it,” Yakko said, “and besides, they’re overpriced anyways.”
“The wood used to make those is really expensive.”
“Is it now?”
Cleff nodded. Yakko looked at the sticks again.
“Guess I should go put these back,” Yakko said.
Yakko walked back to the shelf with all the drumsticks and put the ones he found back in their container. He walked to the checkout and smiled as the employee with the pink highlight that he met earlier rung up Winona’s new guitar. Winona thanked her and walked out the door, and Yakko followed. Before Yakko walked out, he heard Cleff whispering something to his uncle, but Yakko didn’t pay any mind.
Two days later, Yakko sat on the couch in the water tower, watching TV with Dot. Wakko was out of the tower, looking to see if he or his siblings got any mail. Eventually, Wakko found a blue box tied with a yellow ribbon. He picked up the box, leaped up to the water tower’s balcony, and walked inside.
“Someone got a present!” Wakko exclaimed.
“But it’s not any of our birthdays!” Yakko replied.
“Who’s the present for?” Dot asked.
Wakko checked the tag on the box. It said it was to Yakko, but the “from” section of the tag was left blank.
“It’s for Yakko,” Wakko said, “but we don’t know who it’s from.”
“Sketchy,” Dot added.
“I doubt it’s anything bad, Dot,” Yakko replied, “and even if it is, I’m sure we’ll know how to deal with it. Bring it here, Wakko!”
Wakko walked to Yakko and handed him the present. Yakko untied the ribbon, opened the box, and put his hand inside. He felt something, took it out, and to his surprise, it was the white drumsticks he found at the music store. He gasped and grinned as he took them out.
“Faboo!” Wakko exclaimed.
At first, Yakko wondered how he got the sticks, but after a few seconds of thinking, he realized that Cleff had something to do with it. “That must’ve been what he was whispering about!” he thought. However, even though Yakko figured out that Cleff was the mastermind, it almost felt like chance or pure luck that he got them. Then, Yakko got another idea: he could have them as lucky charms. He could carry them around with him to shows, and maybe the luck he had today would carry over to those gigs. Yakko got excited just thinking of the possibility.
“They sure are white,” Dot said.
“I know!” Yakko replied, “and I know exactly who got these for me!”
Yakko jumped off the sofa and rushed into his room. He took out a piece of paper, a pencil, and began writing a thank you letter for Cleff.