Chapter Text
It was a bright sunny morning in critterville, the sun was rising, birds singing, flowers blooming, all throughout the small town, and in a tall purple cat tower shaped house, inside a purple cat yawned as the sunlight hit his face, Catnap’s eyes adjusted quickly to the light as he hopped out of bed. He stretched his arms and let out another yawn, using his tail to take off his sleeping cap and lay it on his nightstand, picking up his crescent moon pendant and putting it on, heading to his bathroom he grabs his toothbrush and some toothpaste, squirting the minty green paste onto the bristles, running the toothbrush under some water before brushing his teeth. He spat out the foam into the sink and washed it down the drain, he used some mouth wash to rinse out the remaining toothpaste and spit it out into the sink before heading down stairs.
His nose scrunched up once the scent of coffee reached his nose, great his dad was drinking coffee. He hopped down stairs and went to the kitchen, his mother frying up some tuna bacon and stacking up waffles. Once she turned she smiled widely seeing Catnap sitting at the table, “Ah Catnap sweetie, good morning, are you going to your friend’s house after breakfast?” he nods and holds up his hands to begin signing. ‘Yes mom, Dogday has a big plan for the end of summer.’ His dad scoffed a bit as he took a sip of his coffee, Catnap looked up at him before getting distracted by his mother putting down a plate of waffles and tuna bacon, he smiled and licked his lips ‘thanks mom’ picking up his fork he began to eat.
Once he was done eating he wiped his mouth with a napkin and placed his plate and fork into the sink, heading towards the door, he signed a goodbye to his mom and dad and headed down the trail to dogday’s home, waving to other critters as he walked down the trail.
The orange dog house came into view, Catnap’s smile grew larger as he hurried to the door and knocked on it. The door burst open startling the feline and a red blur grabbed him and dragged him into a spine cracking bear hug “oh Catnap! I'm so happy you made it!” his tail twisted around in shock as Bobby Bearhug spun around the living room with him in her tight embrace, “geez Bobby, you act like it’s been years since you saw Catnap” the voice of Kickin Chicken rang out from his spot on top of Dogday’s couch, the chicken taking a long noisy sip from the juice box clutched in his feathery hand, much to the annoyance of the teal elephant known as Bubba Bubbaphant who was sitting properly on the worn couch, trying to read an old brown book reading glasses balanced on his trunk.
Bobby let go of Catnap, letting the purple feline stumble his way to the couch, the red bear blushing hard “I know… it’s just with helping my mom and dad at the bakery and my paper route I feel like I barely got to see all my friends!” she blushes some more as she rubbed the back of her head, the sounds of plates clinking drew everyone’s attention as Picky Piggy comes out of Dogday’s kitchen balancing two towers of plates and bowls no doubt filled up with healthy food for everyone present. “I know how you feel Bobby, my dad’s been working me to the bone at home, it feels lik- WOAH!” Picky yelled out as a green blur flashed by causing the pig to spin for a bit and have to re find her balance while trying to keep the towers of plates and bowls from falling over, said green blur had stopped in the middle of the room and was now doing fifty jumping jacks in under four seconds, the ever hyperactive Hoppy Hopscotch panting as she soon jumped down to do push ups, until an empty juice box bonked her head.
“Hey Kickin!” the green rabbit hopped up to her feet with an angry expression on her face, crushing the juice box in her hand, “what was that for?!” the chicken slid down from his perch onto the couch seats between Bubba and Catnap, “you almost knocked Picky over cottonbutt” he said with his arms crossed. “I need to keep up with my exercise regime featherhead!” Hoppy snapped back getting close to his face, Catnap could almost see the sparks of electricity between their eyes as they glared each other down. “If I’m going to win the school’s winter marathon I need to be in peak shape!” Kickin scoffed and let out a chuckle, “like last year where you only made it half way to the first checkpoint and passed out?” This comment made Hoppy pause in shock, before her face turned red with rage “YOU YELLOW FEATHER DUSTER!!!” the green rabbit was about to lunge at the yellow chicken when a sing-song-like voice broke all tension with a smile and the scent of vanilla. “Come on crittercrew, there’s no need to fight” the six gathered critters turned to see the orange cocker spaniel standing in the doorway to his room, fluffy tail wagging as he smiled “let’s just all calm down, Hoppy how about you apologize to Picky, and Kicken can you apologize to Hoppy?” Hoppy’s angry look faded as she rubbed her arm slowly “I’m sorry for almost knocking you over Picky” Kickin let out an awkward cough “sorry for bringing up what happened last year Hoppy” Dogday clasped his hands together as he walked to the center of the living room “alright now that is all over, Picky you can put the plates down” the pig let out a sigh of relief as she began placing the plates on the coffee table. “Alright, we have carrots, broccoli, and ranch dressing for Hoppy…” the green rabbit pumped her fist and let out a yes as she took her plate “...mango salad for Bubba…” the teal elephant closed his book and took his reading glasses off as he took his plate “...salmon cutlets for Bobby and Catnap…” the red bear squealed and hugged Picky tightly before taking her plate, Catnap simply took his plate and smiled at Picky “.... spinach and rice for Kickin…” Kickin clucked happily as he took his bowl “... banana oatmeal for Dogday…” Dogday’s tail wagged as he took the bowl “....and finally a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for me!” Picky took her sandwich and sat down on the pillow that was placed around the coffee table.
As the assembled critters began to eat their snacks Dogday spoke up “so Craftycorn is coming home from art camp tomorrow, and we need to plan out a welcome home party for her” Catnap couldn’t help but sneakily roll his eyes, he knew the orange dog had a crush on the unicorn, “we could have a skate board ramp and do tricks” Kickin suggests as he twirls his chop sticks between his fingers. “Crafty doesn’t know how to ride a skateboard Kickin” Hoppy cut in, jabbing a ranch coated carrot the chicken’s way “we should do an obstacle course!” this earned a raised brow from Bubba who spoke up for the first time since Catnap arrived. “Is that really such a wise idea Hoppy?, don’t you remember what happened last time we did one of your obstacle courses?” the green rabbit blushed softly as Picky licked her lips clean of grape jelly before speaking “we could make a bunch of s’mores for her”
“S’mores really Picky?” whined out Kickin “she probably made a ton of s’mores at camp” the four critters argued about ideas before Dogday cut in “come on guys, we gotta think up a great idea to show Crafty how much I- I mean how we all missed her” his freudian slip made Catnap smirk as the only other critter who knew about his crush on the unicorn nudged the purple cat in the side, Bobby popping a salmon cutlet into her mouth as the discussion on how to welcome their friend home went on.
The afternoon sun gleamed through the bus window as Craftycorn sat alone, being the last critter that needed to be dropped off, the white unicorn flipping through her sketch book, letting out a sigh as she looked at sketches of her friends. Art camp was great, but the shy unicorn had issues connecting with the other campers, she would be so happy to finally see her friends again, she looked out the window of the bus as it pulled up to the bus stop and… her friends weren’t there, she was expecting them to be there waiting for her, to give her warm smiles and hugs, not seeing them there made her frown deepen, the bus coming to a halt with a jerk.
Crafty trudged out of the bus and down the trail to her home, her mother would be upset at her if she was late. She sighed for what felt like the tenth time as she made it to the gate surrounding her house, when a sudden party horn startled her, looking up she saw her friends in her front yard a banner above her front door that read ‘WE MISSED YOU CRAFTY!’ she felt tears of joy well up in her eyes as her frown turned into a big smile. “G-guys you didn’t have to do all this for me…” Hoppy pulled Crafty past the opened gate “nonsense Crafty, we all missed you and wanted to welcome you home right!” the green rabbit handed her a cupcake with marshmallows and chocolate pieces, Crafty smiled as she took a bite out of the sweet treat, Kickin Chicken soon spoke up “took us all day yesterday to figure out this party, and this cool guy is going to teach you how to ride a skateboard” the chicken smirks as he pulls his shades down, Bubba walking over with some fruit punch “and we all are excited to see what you made at art camp!” as the critters all chatted around Crafty, Dogday was standing by the large oak tree in Crafty’s front lawn, hiding a few of Crafty’s favorite flowers behind his back, Catnap using his tail to tap Dogday on his shoulders, signing encouragement, ‘come on pal, this is your chance’ the orange dog gulped and made his way to Crafty.
“Hey Crafty, w-welcome back, I want-” Dogday was interrupted as Craftycorn’s mother opened the door, the scent of smoke clouding her jasmine scent, “Crafty, you’re home.. Come inside, dinner is almost ready” Crafty handed her empty cup to Picky, “yes mother…” she rushed to get inside her home, leaving her friends disappointed “I’ll see you guys once school starts” the assembled critters all frown at Crafty’s mother closing the door. “Aw man, Crafty’s mom is such a killjoy” Kickin groaned as Hoppy grabbed the banner “I know right?, she could have let us hang out with Crafty a bit longer…” as the critters cleaned up the party they worked all day setting up and heading home, leaving Dogday, Catnap, and Bobby in the front lawn outside the castle tower like home, Dogday’s face looking dejected and sour, as he lets the collection of flowers droop in his hand, only perking up when Bobby wrapped her arms around his shoulders, Catnap signing ‘don’t fret pal, there will always be another chance, and hey, at school Crafty’s mom won’t be able to say no’ Bobby let out a snorting laugh “she’s such a snob..” she soon put on a snobby nasally voice “oh no Crafty dear, you can’t go out with your friends today, you have violin lessons and their blood isn’t blue enough for my taste” Dogday snickered as he wiped a tear from his eye Bobby smiled and continued putting on the voice, “now which of you strapping young gentlemen would like to escort this fine lady home?” both Dogday and Catnap chuckled as they walked with Bobby to her home.
Crafty stared down at her plate of apple slices, carrots, and grilled asparagus, her mother looking at her sketch book “mmmm your lines are improving…” her mother flipped the page. “Subject matter could be better…” Crafty moved one of the carrots on her plate with her fork as her mother judged her sketches. The moon was almost up when Catnap and Dogday reached the orange dog house, the orange cocker spaniel hopping onto his couch and pulling a blanket over himself, Catnap frowned as he signed ‘you know you’d sleep better in your big soft bed than that rough old couch’ Dogday chuckled and rubbed his head “you know I like to keep my bed open for when I have guests, I know you like to make sure we get the best sleep we can Nap, I’ll be fine, you should head home before your parents start to worry” Catnap was still frowning but went towards the door ‘goodnight pal, sleep well’ “you too Catnap” the purple critter turned the lights off and gently closed the door, heading back to his home, humming a lullaby to himself as he entered his house, heading upstairs, he yawned softly as he took off his crescent pendant and put on his sleeping cap, getting into bed, he sighed as he worried about his friends, closing his eyes he drifted off to slumber.