Title: Candyland
Characters: Tezuka, Marilyn (the dinosaur, not bonsai)
Wordcount/Rating: 350+ / G
Summary: Tezuka finds out that dinosaurs don't like tennis.
Author's Notes:
aquara started it with the talk of Tezuka, captain of the plushie tennis team, urging them to become Candyland's pillar of support. Blame her. In the meantime, this fic is dedicated to
verloren1983, who asked for more Marilyn fic. I guess now I have a "fic: marilyn" an "au: the adventures of tezuka and marilyn" tag.
Kunimitsu lifted his tennis ball, preparing to serve. "Marilyn," he said, "Yuudan seizou ni ikou!"
His velvet plush dinosaur continued to sit beside the racquet, immobile. "Marilyn, come!" Tezuka repeated, but Marilyn didn't move.
Kunimitsu felt disappointed. He wanted to play tennis, but Marilyn was proving to be a frustrating tennis partner. Maybe it was the racquet. It wasn't too big for Marilyn, but it might be too weak to hit a tennis ball back. It was unfortunate that Marilyn couldn't hold a racquet properly, too, Kunimitsu thought with a pang of sadness.
Or perhaps Marilyn just didn't like tennis and was too polite to say so. Mother didn't like tennis very much either, though she would sometimes play with Kunimitsu anyway. In which case, the proper thing to do would be to do something Marilyn did like. Marilyn liked to play hide-and-seek, especially when Mother helped Marilyn hide.
Kunimitsu sighed. He didn't want to play hide-and-seek. He wanted to play tennis.
Perhaps Mother would know something else both he and Marilyn could do together, even if it wasn't tennis. Before he asked, though, Kunimitsu needed to put his racquet away. He carefully zipped the racquet into its bag while making sure the zip didn't catch on his fingers. Grandfather had laughed the first time he'd done so, and he didn't like it when Grandfather laughed at him.
Maybe Grandfather would throw him some tennis balls once he came back from his dojo. The thought cheered Kunimitsu up, and he brightened. What time was it now? Grandfather came home some time after lunch, and lunch had been over for a while now. Kunimitsu looked at the dinosaur watch Father had bought for him last month. It was nearly four, and Grandfather would be home at four-thirty. Mother could play with Marilyn, when Grandfather came home. She said Marilyn liked to watch her cook while Kunimitsu played tennis.
Gathering up his racquet and ball, Tezuka picked up the smaller toy racquet Mother had bought for Marilyn. "Come," he said, picking up Marilyn. "I won't make you play if you don't want to. Let's go home."