Work Text:
It’s a nice, sunny Day in Smiling valley, and Crafty was walking through the park with her collapsible easel and art supply box in one arm and a fresh canvas in the other, looking for something interesting to paint.
She looked around for inspiration.
The sky? Nope, been done, she had like 80 sky paintings.
The trees? Nope, it wasn’t flowering season yet, and she didn’t wanna paint boring leaves.
The grass? Who would want to see a painting of grass…?
She sighed to herself.
She needed to find something living, something challenging to paint.
Suddenly, some shouting from nearby got her attention.
“HAH! I won again!”
“No fair! I can’t jump that high!”
Crafty looks over to the commotion to see Hoppy and Kickin arguing, holding rackets and standing by the park's badminton net.
“If you can’t jump that high, you’ll never beat me!” Hoppy says with a sassy smirk.
Kickin groans, throwing his hands in the air. “Screw this, I'm going home…” he says, tossing the racket on the ground and stomping off.
Crafty walks over. “Wow, what a sore loser.”
Hoppy looks at her. “Oh, hi Crafty!” She says with a smile. “What’s up?”
Crafty smiles at her. “Not much.” she says. “I’m just looking for something new to paint.”
Hoppy goes to pick up the other racket. “Fun.” she says.
Crafty then gets an idea. “Say…” She says, setting up her easel. “Do you think I could paint you?”
Hoppy blushes a bit. “M-me…?”
Crafty nods. “I don’t think I've done a portrait of you yet.”
Hoppy smiles nervously. “U-uh, sure!” She says. “Do you want me to pose or anything?”
Crafty thinks for a bit. “Maybe…”
Then she gets an idea.
“Yeah, Can you pose like you’re jumping?” she says. “While holding the racket up?”
Hoppy nods. “Sure.” She says.
She holds the racket up in the air and poses like she’s jumping.
Crafty claps and giggles. “Yes, that’s perfect!” She says. “Now hold that for like 10 minutes!”
“Okay!” Hoppy says, trying not to move.
Crafty opens her box and starts to paint Hoppy.
~About 10 minutes later~
“Okay, all done!” Crafty says, finishing up the last details on her painting.
Hoppy finally puts the racket down. “Finally, haha.”
She walks over. “What does it look like?”
Crafty showed her the painting, which looked magnificent.
“What do you think?” she asks with a shy smile.
Hoppy’s eyes sparkled like lightning in the sky.
“Oh my gosh, crafty, that looks AMAZING!” she says.
Crafty blushes a bit. “R-really…?”
Hoppy nods. “Yeah!” She says.
“It’s the best painting I've ever seen!”
Crafty giggles. “Well I'm glad you like it.” she says. “I love painting my friends.”
Hoppy smiles. “And your friends love being painted by you!” She says, booping her nose.
Crafty blushes. “T-they do…?”
“Mhm!” Hoppy says, nodding. “Everyone knows you’re the most talented artist in all of Smiling valley.”
Crafty hides her face. “Stooop!” she says, turning red.
Hoppy giggles. “Well it’s true!”
Crafty then gets a little mad.
“Hey, I'm good at OTHER things too, not just art!”
She says.
Hoppy tilts her head. “Like what?”
Crafty thinks. “Uhhh…”
She spots the badminton racket on the ground.
“I’m amazing at sports!” she says.
Hoppy’s eyes go wide. “Really?”
Crafty nods and smiles confidently. “Oh yes!” she says.
Hoppy smiles. “Huh, never pegged you for the sporty type.”
Crafty giggles. “I’ve kept it a secret.” she says. “I didn’t want to upstage you.”
Hoppy smirks. “Well, if you’re as sporty as you say, how about a wound of badminton?
Crafty nods, going to get the other racket. “Sure!” she says.
“Badminton is fun.”
Hoppy smiles brightly. “Awesome!” She says. “I mean I’ve never seen you play badminton, but I'm looking forward to being impressed.”
Crafty smiles too. “Well I’m sure you will be!”
Outside she was confident, but on the inside, she was freaking out. She’s never even PLAYED badminton, let alone ANY sport…
Hoppy stands on the other side of the net. “You ready?”
Crafty nods, standing with her racquet ready. “Yeah!” She says. “I’m ready!”
“Alright, here it comes!”
For the next 20 minutes or so, they hit the birdie back and forth with no issue, Crafty being able to hit it pretty well, even hitting it back when she had to jump and hit it a few times.
But one time when Hoppy hit the shuttlecock too high, Crafty tried to jump up and hit it, but when she landed, she hit the ground at the wrong angle and fell over with a “AUGH!”
Hoppy gasps. “Oh no!”
She quickly runs over, kneeling down next to Crafty. “Are you okay…?”
Crafty slowly sits up. “I… I don’t know…”
She says, her eyes wet with tears.
Hoppy gently examines her arm.
“Oh no you’re bleeding…” she says.
She gets up. “Stay here, I'll go get some bandages.” she says.
Hoppy then runs to the park’s nearby medical station, which was always stocked with hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, ointment, and band-aids for situations such as this.
She brings the supplies back, quickly cleaning, putting ointment on, and bandaging Crafty’s arm as gently as she could.
Once she was done, she kissed the band aid gently, causing Crafty to blush.
“Feel better?” She asked with a soft smile.
Crafty nods a bit. “Mhm…” she says.
“I… I'm sorry but… I wanna go home now…”
Hoppy gently helps her stand up. “Okay.” she says. “You can go ahead, I'll carry your things.”
Crafty sniffles. “T-thank you…” she says.
“No problem.” Hoppy says, going to fold up Crafty’s easel and get the painting (Which had dried by this point) and her art box.
Crafty then slowly leads Hoppy back to her house.
A few minutes later, Crafty was sitting on her couch, waiting for Hoppy to put her things away like she’d offered to.
She felt like a total loser.
“Okay, all done.”
Hoppy says as she walks over. “Are you feeling any better?”
Crafty nods. “A-a little…” She says.
Hoppy sits next to her, examining her arm again.
“I’m sorry you got hurt…” She says softly.”
Crafty shakes her head. “Oh no Hoppy, it wasn’t your fault…” She says. “I was just trying to show off, and I failed…”
Hoppy smiles a little. “Yeah…”
Crafty then tears up a little.
“Hoppy… I… I lied to you…”
She admits softly.
Hoppy’s smile fades. “About what?”
Crafty sniffles.
“I-I'm not that good at sports… in fact I'm terrible…”
She says, tears running down her face.
“I… I just wanted you to think I was good at something other than art…”
She cries. “I.. I wanted to impress you…”
Hoppy looks at her for a second, then hugs her softly.
“Hey, hey… it’s okay…”
She says, gently wiping her tears.
“You don’t need to be good at sports to impress me…”
Crafty looks at her, hugging back. “B-but you’re so amazing at sports… i thought that if I was too, then…”
She looks away. “I don’t know… maybe I could get closer to you…”
Hoppy pulls back. “Crafty…”
She nuzzles her gently. “I do think you’re good at things other than art!”
Crafty wipes her eyes. “Like what?”
Hoppy smiles. “Well for one, you’re great at ice skating.” she says. “In wintertime, when you’re on the lake, you look like a beautiful snow fractal.”
Crafty blushes. “R-really…?”
Hoppy nods. “And you’re PERFECT at singing.” she says. “Your voice is like pure ear sugar.”
Crafty smiles a little. “Wow, you really think so?”
Hoppy nods. “Yeah, and you’re amazing at playing the harp and violin too.” she says. “I’ve heard you practicing. “
Crafty’s eyes widened. “Y-you have?”
Hoppy nods. “Everyone has.” she says. “When you leave your window open to practice, your music spreads across the valley.
She giggles. “Not to mention my house is right next to yours.”
Crafty looks down. “O-oh…”
Hoppy scoots a bit closer.
“So yeah, you’re amazing at all sorts of things.”
Crafty smiles. “T-thank you…”
Hoppy puts an arm around her. “You don’t need to be good at the things I like to impress me.”
She says. “You do that just by being, well, Crafty!”
Crafty giggles and blushes. “Thanks…”
Hoppy looks into her eyes. “Say Crafty…”
Crafty tilts her head. “Yea?”
Hoppy smiles.
“Do you think you could teach me to paint?”
Crafty smiles. “Sure!”