Work Text:
It had been a whole week since Noelle Holiday had wrangled her way into Spamton's life. The girl was, for better or worse, really nice to hang with, and she seemed to have too much spare time considering how she was definitely in high school and on a really short leash with her mother, who she had admitted was the mayor of Hometown.
He was surprised to see Carol Holiday still going strong on the whole mayor thing, but well, a bad weed never dies, and he knows that more than well, so that was the least surprising to learn about how the Holidays were doing. He was far more concerned to learn of Rudy's sickness, considering they had somewhat known each other, but Noelle did not seem to want to talk about that, so Spamton did not push her. Besides, he finally got an explanation as to why Noelle seemed to be so rich and still not really have that peppy attitude that all rich kids had.
It didn't matter much, though. Ever since Noelle started hanging around, life felt somewhat easier. She often insisted on giving him money, even if it was just for hot coffee. He tried to dissuade her, suggesting she use it for makeup or something else, but she always persisted. Stubborn little girl, that one.
Strangely enough, it was also like cops thoroughly ignored him when they saw Noelle, he was not sure how closed Reina and Carol were for the whole police to know to not mess up with Carol's kid, but it worked out for him, made it easier to try to sell stuff to people too! He had even made five whole honest dollars out of selling stuff!
That, of course, would be great if it did not mean that eventually all that greatness came with a side of trouble. Because, of course, after almost two weeks of Noelle having been running away to a whole other city, her dear old mom got worried and sent someone to check on her kid.
He would have preferred Swatch a million times over. Hell, jail time would have been worth avoiding her.
But as it stood, fate had other plans.
“OMG. Noelle, Darling, Who Is That Small Rat?" Reina 'Queen' Device, mayor of the city, asked as she was looking down at him with disgust, as if Spamton were not cleaner than he had been in 10 years.
Noelle had jumped from where she was sitting next to Spamton; she looked terrified to see Reina be here. “Oh I—Queen, what are you doing here!?”
“LOL,” Reina said as she moved to sit across from them both. Her glasses were, as always, making her face be all the more annoying to look at. “Your Mom Ask Me To Pick You Up. You Are Talking With A Hobo.”
Spamton was doing his best to keep himself seated and not start a fight with her. He could not start a fight with her. He couldn't, not in front of Noelle at least.
“You mean Mister Addison?” She asked with a slight frown on her face. “He is nice; he has been helping me with different games—”
Spamton shouldn't have corrected her about calling him White. He should not even have given her his fucking last name. He should have realized the mess he could get in because of it.
He should have known it would come bite him in the ass.
“ADDISON? You Are The Mailman!?" Reina asked as she turned to Spamton and lifted her glasses up to take a good look at him. “OMG. You Are. You Look Like Shit.”
Spamton clenched his teeth as he held tight onto his seat. Noelle was here. He had to be civil; otherwise, he would not be able to see the little angel ever again. He needed to be sane and perfect and work to be better.
He had promised to be a better man.
He needed to be there for Noelle; he needed to be there for Noelle; he— “Yeah, plea-pleasure to s-see you t-too, Reina.”
He saw Noelle look at them both in surprise as soon as he said Reina's name. That definitely meant that Noelle had not any idea who Spamton had once been; he did not know if he liked that or not.
“Don't Call Me That.” Reina snapped as she put her glasses back down. It was fascinating how annoyed she still got just for him not using the English version of her name. “You're Still Annoying. Noelle, Don't Hang With Him.”
Noelle nodded, definitely not paying attention and still starting in amusement at them both. That was getting all already.
Spamton pushed her ever so slightly with his shoulder, and once she blinked and looked down at him, he said, “Hey, i-if you s-stop hanging w-with me, then w-who will h-help you c-code your horror shit?”
“Stop—?” Noelle shakes her head, seemingly only now processing what Reina had said. “Queen, why are you being so harsh to him? He is just a bit… Homeless, but he has was teaching me a lot about coding! I can even make a tic-tac-toe game without help!”
“Coding!?” Even with her glasses, the excitement at hearing that was more than clear on Reina's face. “OK. He Is OK Enough For You To Hang With.”
Noelle seemed to rapidly fall back into the excited rambles she did whenever someone asked for her opinion on something she really liked. Spamton just observed them both talk; for one, he was taking the opportunity to take a good look at Reina.
Her hair was hidden as usual, but he could see some white hairs slipping out. She had wrinkles that were a lot more defined when she smiled and laughed in that obnoxious way of hers. She did seem a lot more down-to-earth than she ever was with him, wearing just one or two pieces of golden jewelry and really moderate makeup, and she was not even being escorted by any guards. But what irritated him the most was that as old as she seemed, she still looked rich and comfortable…
He looked nothing like that; he still remembers when he had first seen his hair getting white, well, apart from the stupid streak he had had since he was a baby. It had been so challenging to live with the fact that his hair was getting white every day, he was getting wrinkles everywhere, and his body was starting to give up on him whether he wanted it or not.
Reina should be the same. She was so close to him in age, and yet at most she just looked like she was gratefully aging, keeping her beauty and success even through it… All while every day that passed, Spamton looked more and more like a crazy old man that you hide your kids from…
At least he was not bald…. Yet. Then he would truly feel like he was at the rock bottom, well, as much more worse than he could already get…
“Mister Addison, are you coming?”
He blinks, then turns towards Noelle. Had he gone that lost in his head again?
“W-where are w-we going?”
Noelle had packed her things and was standing next to Reina as they both stared at him with confusion, or well, Reina with more annoyance at his incompetence than Noelle.
“I Said For You To Come Take A Shower In My House. Noelle Has To Come Back With Me Either Way.” Ah, he was being offered a pity shower. Great.
“Yeah, then I could show you some of the games that Queen has bought me for when I visit her! And I could also show you the dress Queen commissioned me for the festival back in my town!” Noelle added as she gave him a nervous smile, as if a bit embarrassed to be admitting she was excited about the dress.
Oh. Spamton had totally forgotten about Hometown's fall festival… The festival was never really that big of a deal on TV-Time; not really much one could sell for a small town's festival… Tenna had loved the festival even then.
“I c-can go, Reina's t-taste in d-dresses is shitty.”
He could play house if that would make Noelle happy.
“Uhm… You are sure this is okay?” She looked at herself in the mirror; Queen had insisted that the kimono was the best-suited dress for the theme this year's festival had. She was not even that sure why her Mom insisted on the Japanese theme, but Asgore seemed happy to be selling his flowers for the occasion, so maybe that was why Mom was doing said theme… As strange as it seems for the town.
“You Look Great!” Queen said as she clapped her hands together in excitement.
Noelle could see in the reflection how she was giving her two thumbs up. On her left side, Mister Addison was frowning as he spoke, while Queen had. “Blue is n-not your c-color.”
Both of them stare at one another with pouted lips; ever since Queen had come to pick her up, the two of them seem to be a breath away from fighting; it reminded her of how Berdly and Kris acted every so often… Though it looked rather exaggerated on the two adults.
“Shut up, Pacman, She Looks Good In Blue, It Makes Her Look Like An Angel!" Queen said, pointing angrily at Mister Addison, Noelle ignored the strange nickname she had used too; she had been, after all, calling him names all day.
“The b-blue m-makes her look t-too sad! Green and r-red fit h-her better, and C-carol w-would prefer the Christmas theme!” Mister Addison snapped back as he stumped; he looked like an angry cat ready to bite the finger Queen was pointing at him.
Though, Noelle was more surprised by the fact he seemed to know who her mom was even when she had never told him her name; well, considering he knew Queen, it would only make sense for him to know her Mom, they probably used to be friends before whatever happened to Mister Addison happened.
“My mom would prefer something green and red,” she mumbles, not knowing if it was alright to interrupt the other two. “And I think it would look wonderful alongside purple!”
She let herself smile at the memory of yesterday. Noelle still could not believe it if she were honest. Since yesterday, after having gone to church with her dad, Susie had out of nowhere asked Noelle if she wanted to maybe work on their project together, and one thing had led to another, and she had asked to go with Noelle to the festival! Well… More like shouted at her mom that she was going to do that, but the fact still stood.
Susie had invited Noelle to the festival!
Noelle didn't realize the adults were staring at her until Queen said, “Noelle, Darling, Do You Have A Date To The Festival?" She sounded just like Noelle had wanted her mom to react if she had ever told her about going on a date with Susie.
“Uhm,” she started as she felt a blush start crawling to her face. “I mean, uhm, Susie didn't say as so, but, I mean–”
“Susie!?” “That pu-purple kid?!” Both Queen and Mister Addison asked her in total disbelief. That, on top of all the bickering they had been making, made Noelle finally turn to look at them directly.
“Yeah, she was, uhm, working on her project with me and Kris yesterday, and she… Uhm, she said we would go together.”
Mister Addison was staring at her as if she had just suggested the craziest thing ever. Noelle was not really sure why he seemed to know Susie, but his reaction was a lot more like the one Noelle expected. It was far easier to understand than the excitement Queen showed.
“OH!” She exclaimed as she hugged Noelle too tightly as she very much started to shake in excitement. “There Is No Greater Dream For A Mother And Queen Than Her Two Little Daughters Getting Together.”
“Th-that sounds s-so awful,” Mister Addison said as he thankfully pulled Queen away from Noelle. “I think t-the girls d-don't need th-that image on t-their h-heads!”
Noelle certainly didn't, though it was as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders at realizing that Mister Addison and Queen were okay with Noelle liking girls. Besides, she certainly was happy to be about to change the not-so-beautiful dress Queen had gotten made for her.
Spamton did not know what was stronger, his need to relapse or his need to call Tenna.
Both were stupid; he knew how he shouldn't try to go and find whatever under link of Mike that had still been selling him stuff, or how if he was actually trying to be… Someone in Noelle's life told him that he should not do any type of drugs, not only for the fact that it would make him be a bad influence for the girl but, more than anything, for the way he acted when he was on NEO…
He never wanted to hurt Noelle by being too out of his mind to think straight and confusing teenagers for the assholes that had put him in the streets… He still needed to make up for all the damage he had given Kris and the shit gang…
At the same time a part of him knew that he also wanted someone to comfort him. To tell him how he was doing great for being clean for two whole weeks, and he knew that once upon a time, at least to make sure Spamton would stay, Anthony would have been that for him… And, God, how did that hurt to be reminded of.
As if that was not enough, Spamton knew for a fact the asshole would not answer; he had more than definitively changed his phone number in the decade it had been ever since they last saw each other…
And yet his phone number was one of the only comforts Spamton had on moments like this. 2688-3662, call the Ant on the T, for Mr. (Ant) Tenna's ring…! Such a sour memory that little jingle was, and even then some days the reminder that just maybe if he tried to call Tenna would be there for him had been like the light at the end of the tunnel…
How stupid he was to believe such things.
He closed his eyes. He needed to sleep and stop thinking of what he couldn't have anymore. Noelle and the internet both said he needed to stop thinking about any stuff he would rather not do… As if it were that easy to just not do so…
Tenna and him… Spamton remembers when he left; it had been a week before Christmas…
This year it would be Spamton's 11th year anniversary of being homeless… Of having lost everything, including his child, his dear and perfect Cungadero!
He had lost Tenna too…
He moved to be on his side; he could see his unclear reflection on Reina's TV… Why was his mind so decided on reminding him of what Spamton and Tenna had once upon a time…
It all had started to come back to him as soon as Noelle had mentioned her date to the festival and her plans for the whole day…
God.
The festival…
How boring of an event, and yet it always held a special place in Tenna's heart. The TV show runner had lived in Hometown his whole life, and while he was first and foremost interest in keeping TV-Time being the best channel in all the state, the festival had been one of the only times he had ever let himself lax on any of the production at all.
The first time the festival had come around, Spamton had unknowingly arrived at the studio to go over paperwork and possibly tried to get a raise out of the mailroom, but he had been met with not only all the streets being blocked off for the parade later that night but also the studio being completely closed. It had been infuriating, Spamton had since he joined TV-Time tried to his best to work with Tenna's temper and wacky ideas.
Heck, when any other person would have asked for Sundays off because of it being a sacred day of the Angel or of Jesus, Spamton had not. He had gone to work. Because Tenna asked him to help and Mike insisted that Spamton was on the path to success, so he had to suck up to the boss.
He remembers the worst part of that day was how his Cungadero had gotten trapped between two of the streets that were close up for the parade and, as such, trapping him until the festival was over, which had been, of course, when Tenna had found him.
“Spakeman, what are you doing here?” Tenna had said he had been wearing one of his suits, though for once he had changed his tie to be blue; he had looked just as great as he normally did. Spamton remembers having gotten slightly thrown off by seeing the old Anthony Tenna change anything about his appearance.
Spamton hated that he remembered how when he had answered him with an annoyed bristle, Tenna had laughed and sat next to Spamton even if that got his suit dirty… That had gotten him to actually try to speak with the other man, considering just how aware as he was of Tenna's need to keep himself as prestigious as he possibly could.
“I've g-got nothing to talk to y-you about, boss.” Spamton had snapped, annoyed at the whole situation.
Tenna had rolled his eyes. “Come on, there is no need for that now. Were you not here to enjoy the festival like everyone else?”
Spamton had scoffed at that and turned to look at the floor as he mumbled insults towards no one in particular. Tenna had not been happy with his attitude.
“Come on, let me show you what you are missing out on by being an asshole!” Tenna had pleaded as he put a hand around Spamton's shoulder, which he knew that Spam hated.
Spamton had to keep himself from thinking too deeply about what had come next. Tried his best to think of anything else or of the last hometown festival he had ever experienced and the mess it had been, yet a part of him wants to really go down memory lane.
Even after being pulled into trying anything at the festival while kicking and screaming, Spamton still remembers how even then what had impacted him the most had been how Tenna had not been scared to tell him off and had used his power over Spamton's head, stupid as that sounds.
Tenna had forces Spamton do each one of the stupid mini games for couples in town. He had invited Spamton to dinner, and as much as he hates to even remember the fact, that had been the first time Spamton had taken a look at Tenna and thought, Oh. OH.
Spamton remembers the anger he had felt at feeling his stomach start to fill with butterflies and his stutter get worse and worse as he lost more and more control as to how he should act in front of the older man.
He was hopeless to Tenna's charm.
For that same reason, Spamton had tried to ditch Tenna. It hadn't worked, and the other had put him along for the coronation of the festival queen and king. Spamton had been far too preoccupied about the implications of his possible attraction to Tenna to really care about who had won.
What he does remember is the fact Tenna held his hand in the unbearable way he always tried to touch Spamton, and for once Spamton hadn't cared—hadn't cared to imagine what life could be if he let himself think even a bit about him and Tenna being anything…
Spamton had—
“Mister Addison,” Noelle's voice woke Spamton up, considering he had seemingly fallen asleep. Fuck. “Um, the shower is free, and Queen said you were taking me to the tailors so we can get me the new dress… I'm sorry to wake you up.”
He waved her off as he stretched up. Then what she said caught up to him. “I'm d-doing what now?”
Noelle, who was still in her bathrobe and drenched after seemingly showering, gave him a confused smile. “Queen said we will have Mister Swatch drive us… She has a meeting, so you are chaperoning me… I thought she had told you about it.”
Spamton groaned because, of course, Reina had arranged a whole thing without telling Spamton about it. It was just like her to do that.
“Nope, nope, nope,” Mister Addison said as soon as they had parked in front of the tailor's shop. “I refused to g-go in t-there! Sw– Essel, let's get t-to F-forever Twenty-one!”
Swatch just gave a big sigh from the front seat and didn't even answer Mister Addison's despair, who then turned to Noelle with a desperation she hadn't seen on him ever since she first met him.
“N-noelle, m-my favorite teenager, p-please t-tell me we can g-go anywhere else!”
Noelle would have wanted to help him considering just how genuinely affected he seemed with where they were, but, well… “We have to return the other kimono either way, Mister Addison… You could wait outside if you'd like.”
Mister Addison had only groaned at that and stared outside his window once more; he seemed tired, even when Noelle had woken him up from what seemed to have been a good night of sleep. It was as if something had been bothering him. Noelle doesn't want to ask; he has been living in the streets for who knows how long. He could have just been uncomfortable being indoors for so many years.
“N-no, Reina w-wanted me to babysit y-you…” He said as he finally opened the door to the car. “And I w-will make her pay f-for doing t-this.”
Noelle didn't ask and just took the bag with her other dress and said thank you to Mister Swatch before following behind the older man.
The shop they were going into was one Noelle knew well, and honestly only now was it hitting her that “Addison's Sew & Needle Shop” could have some relation to Mister Addison… She had been coming to this shop since she was a kid, and it was so difficult to believe that maybe she had even come here when Mister Addison had been here if she was correct about him being related to Mistrum Petunia…
She hoped this didn't turn into as much of a mess as it seemingly was about to, considering how Mister Addison had reacted to just being outside the building.
“L-look, angel, if t-they ask, I-I'm your g-godfather or something, s-so Pinkie or Orange d-don't get it a-all wrong, capiche?” Mister Addison asked as he stopped at the front door. Noelle gave him her best thumbs-up at it. “E-everything will b-be just fine… M-maybe s-she won't e-even recognize m-me.”
Noelle very politely ignored him and moved to enter the store; it was lonelier than usual, which made sense considering it was Saturday morning and considering Noelle was coming over unannounced when so close to such a big sale season coming up and how the Addisons would only take reservations. Queen had said that she shouldn't worry about that, so she tried her best to shake the thought away. Besides, Mister Addison was sure about to be a surprise enough to the others that they may just forget about it.
“This is e-even m-more alone t-than when I w-was at the front.” Mister Addison snickered as he looked around the very vacant lobby, clearly trying to joke through whatever he was feeling. “H-have they gone b-broke?”
Noelle opened her mouth to answer before, of course, she was blatantly interrupted.
“We have not!” Miss Electra—who Noelle barely even knew—interrupted them; she was coming from the back and very suddenly stopped once she fully did. “Spamton–!?”
Mister Addison had instantly turned towards Miss Electra. They both had stared at one another as if it had been the first time they had seen each other in decades; maybe it was, considering how old Mister Addison seemed, and then after a second Miss Electra had run to hug him, her blonde hair making her look like lightning with how fast she moved.
“You're alive!” Noelle hears her mumble, and Noelle feels awfully like she is intruding in something she shouldn't, making her think of Dess for a second before she shakes her head and reminds herself to keep going with what Queen wanted… She can't let the thought of Dess drown her more than it already does.
After a couple of minutes of both of them mumbling something to each other, they finally separate, and Miss Electra asks, sounding slightly disbelieving, “What are you doing here of all places? You will finally accept some help?”
Mister Addison grimaced at that; he awkwardly moves his hands to point at Noelle. “My niece—god-daughter, whatever—needed some-someone to come a-ask you g-guys for a s-speedy request.”
Miss Electra didn't seem happy with that; still, she turned towards Noelle, a more fake smile making its way to her face. “Ah! Miss Holiday, why is it that you are here? Did the dress not fit?”
Noelle pulls a hand behind her neck as she tries her best to not make this more awkward than necessary. “No, no, no! It fit me amazingly, it's just um– Well–”
“S-she looks awful in this t-teal color!” Mister Addison interrupted as he took the dress off Noelle's hand. “L-Look at h-her and tell me h-how she w-would look good in this ne-neon teal! Like, w-who even makes this?”
Miss Electra rolled her eyes at that, even as she took the dress. “I suppose it's not the most flattering color, but to make another kimono in short notice will be hard.”
Mister Addison to hear that as he pulled out the card that Queen had given to them to pay. “Good th-thing I'm n-not paying!”
Noelle couldn't hold back the small smile at that; this had gone way better than she expected.