#baaaarely squeaked it in but still!!!

[missellaneousworks]

Tuck In - Shawn x MC Drabble

Relationship fluff goodness for the best cat man in the world's birthday!

Tags: Established relationship--MC and Shaun have been going strong for a while now, fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff, so much fluff you're drowning!

Something is Wrong With Sunny Day Jack is a +18 ONLY series. MINORS DNI.

~

You blinked blearily, staring at the soft glow of the screen. How many times have you read this paragraph? Two or three, you were sure. Yup, it wasn't sticking. You reached your nighttime limit, which was often to the dismay of your night owl boyfriend. With a defeated sigh you saved the work and hit the shut down button. Standing up, you clutched the bat-printed blanket that draped over your shoulders.

Padding over to the other side of your shared office, Shaun furiously typed away at the next part of the script. Moonpie snoozed next to the computer, her little head partially resting on top of it, likely appreciating the warmth. Leaning down, you tenderly wrapped your arms around his hunched shoulders. He continued to type, but you felt the muscles in his arms relax by a fraction.

"Hey," though his eyes didn't leave the screen, his voice was warm and inviting.

"Hey," you replied into his dreads sleepily. "I gotta call it quits tonight, babe."

"What, already?" He paused the rhythmic typing to look at your face, noticing the bags under your eyes.

"Dude. It's 1:22 AM."

"Wha? Can't be, it's... oh." Shaun's protest stopped short when he turned to the clock app on his laptop, brilliantly showing it was the wee hours of the morning. "Well, that's still pretty early on my time clock."

You bent over further, resting your chin on his right shoulder, placing your palm over his chest, rubbing gently to play with the chest hair. "Well, it's late on mine. I can't believe you still write throughout the night without your eyeballs falling out. I haven't done that since college..."

"Ah contraire, my best work is done admidst the moonlit night," Shaun revealed a toothy grin, his canine shining in the dimly lit room.

"Mmm, well I get some of the best sleep on a moonlit night." You gave him a loving peck on the top of his head before reluctantly releasing him. "Night, babe." But before you stepped away, you tapped the table near where Moonpie was resting, gently getting her attention with a Mrrrp?. You reached your hand out to allow the cat to sniff your finger, recognizing your scent, and gently brushed the side of her cheek, leading up to her ear. "Night-night, Moonie."

"Night, Kitten," Shaun smiled as he watched you slink down the hall and into the bedroom. He sighed once you were out of view, turning back to his laptop, but did a double take at the now empty spot where Moonpie had been cat-napping. Whirling around, Shaun saw Moonpie's tail following where you had disappear to. She feebily attempted to open the now closed door, using her paws and whiskers to feel for any possible opening. Shaun regarded her for a moment before standing up and stretching.

He stepped over to Moonpie to slowly scooped her up and cradled her over his shoulder. "You wanna go in and tuck them in? Yeah?" He cooed softly. "Yeah, let's go say nigh-night."

...

Your vision was blurry, but you didn't want to oversleep as you checked your alarms for the third time. And just like before, all 5 of them were set. There'd be no way you could sleep past them. The creak of the door got your attention as soft light poured in, followed by a familiar silhouette.

"Sh-Shaun?" You answered as you tried and failed to suppress a yawn midway through calling out to him. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Shaun softly placed Moonpie on the bed, her motor immediately started up as she used her head to rub the side of your face, popping down into the crook of your neck. "Moonie and I came to tuck you in."

"Awwww, thank you babyyyy," you cooed giving the purring kitty a loving head bump. "Oh, and thank you as well, hottie." You added jokingly with a lazy wink.

Shaun chuckled as he lay on his side, facing you. He gave Moonpie a few more scritches, earning him louder purrs. You had managed to crawl under the plush blankets and made yourself a nice little nest. Of course, there was always room for one more. Even if Shaun wasn't going to stay with you the whole night, you'd welcome any cuddle time with him.

Shaun's hand went from stroking Moonpie's back to splaying it over your midsection. Even through the thick blanket, you could feel his radiant warmth and love.

"Thought you said you weren't," you paused as you let another yawn escape. "tired yet."

"I'm not, but I wanted to snuggle a little before going back to work. Feel like I haven't seen you all day."

"You were nose-deep in your script. That's due tomorrow. It's okay, baby, I get it."

"Well, technically it's due today. Since ya know, it is morning." He gave a half shrug. "But, let's talk about anything else. I'll stay until you fall asleep, okay, Kitten?"

"Yeah?" You couldn't help the smile spread across your face. "I'd love that." Shaun returned it with his own warm smile, you were so adorable like this. Sleepy, warm, and happy in the bed you shared together. In the life that you two had made for yourselves. He wouldn't have traded it for anything else in this world. You were his love. His family. And with certainty, his future.

The two of you talked about your day, and the days to come. A new restaurant you wanted to try out on your next days off, Shaun mentioned a cinema house that was showing an old classic horror movie he wanted to show you, it seemed like the two of you planned a dinner and a date later this week. Conversations turned to talking about other plans you two had for the not-so-distant future.

But before long your heavy eyelids began to droop, and your words became one or two syllables as sleep slowly but surely claimed you.

Though you could not see it, Shaun gave you a tender of adoration as he watched you sleep for just a few seconds, Moonpie curled at your side as you both slumbered. Shaun lingered a moment, his lips ghosting your forehead before kissing you. You barely reacted save for a small smile on your lips.

"Sweet dreams, Kitten."

"...mm... hm...."

He delicately brushed a strand of hair away from your cheek before quietly rising from the bed, pulling up the blanket slightly to cover your sleeping form. Without another sound he silently left the bedroom to continue his work, leaving the door only open a crack.

He tiptoed back to the office and plopped down in his chair. But instead of getting back to writing, he opened the side drawer and shuffled to the back of the drawer where he kept a small black box. Picking it up, his thumb ran over the smooth yet intricate texture of the container before flicking it open to reveal a golden ring with your birthstone at the very center.

Just a few more days... to the beginning of the next chapter of your story together.

[yeswevegotavideo]

@thegrandwilde, I got inspired from our earlier conversation and you did say you like getting introduced to new music so… (Though actually, feel free to ignore this post entirely, I just like info-dumping about They Might Be Giants and this is a convenient excuse to do so lol)

Apparently it was three asks, maybe there were more I didn’t see, but these are the songs I’ve seen referenced in those weird ass tmbg asks (Spotify links):

The Mesopotamians

Birdhouse in Your Soul

Don’t Let’s Start

And really, those are great songs, but speaking as someone who has obsessively listened to this band for 32 (of 36) years, these are some equivalent or better ones under the cut. One from almost every album, actually.

(*Favorite albums)

Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head (They Might Be Giants, 1986)

Their least-refined album, being their first, but full of a lot of gems, actually.

Ana Ng (Lincoln, 1988)*

Much more polished than the first. This one’s hard to choose one song from, nearly every one is gold.

Your Racist Friend (Flood, 1990)

Probably their most popular album, at least from my era? Extremely popular among Mormons for reasons I’ve never really understood.

I, Palindrome, I (Apollo 18, 1992)*

Arguably my favorite album to this day, not just from TMBG, but generally. It’s actual perfection, is all. Next to impossible to choose a single song to feature.

No One Knows My Plan (John Henry, 1994)*

Their first album after adding more members/instruments, including some horns, which they would keep from this point forward. (Now they’re two Johns, two Dans, and a Marty). Arguably their first commercially viable album, and likely the thing that got them noticed by TV producers. (Soon after this, they wrote The Daily Show theme and have been more or less industry staples ever since. They wrote the Malcolm in the Middle theme song, as well.)

Pet Name (Factory Showroom, 1996)*

Another basically perfect album, next to impossible to choose a single song from. I only chose this one because it’s awesome and a bit more chill than a lot of their stuff.

Doctor Worm (Severe Tire Damage, 1998)

One of their better-known songs, from an almost entirely live album, but not a live song. I see people quoting this one semi-often and wonder where they heard it.

Reprehensible (Long-Tall Weekend, 1999)

The first full-length online-only album ever released by a major artist. Which is amazing. (They were also one of the first major artists, if not the first, to have an official online radio station, in 1999. Which is insane.)

This song is a good representation of a mainstay of TMBG: pairing perky pop melody with vaguely (or sometimes blatantly) sinister lyrics or subject matter. One of my most favorite musical tropes (gee, I wonder why? Lol)

My Man (Mink Car, 2001)*

Released around the time John Flansburgh started his electronica/hip-hop fusion side project, Mono Puff. I’m not wild about the project, but being in that headspace did wonderful things for this album.

This song is featured to demonstrate their extreme, general nerdiness (especially John Linnell’s, who is my preferred John). Insofar as they have managed to turn the 3 word phrase, “I am paralyzed” into a 3 minute song, without once using the actual phrase.

Experimental Film (The Spine, 2004)

A good, solid album, another one it’s hard to choose one song from. The video for this song was done by the Brothers Champs, creators of Homestar Runner. The story goes that they each found out the other were huge fans of theirs, collectively did whatever the middle-aged man equivalent of a fangirl-squeal is, and began collaborating immediately. They still do, occasionally.

The Cap’m (The Else, 2007)*

It took me a while to warm up to this album, but now I absolutely love it. While looking for a song to post, I realized one of the anon asks quoted this song.

The Lady and the Tiger (Join Us, 2011)*

A nearly perfect album marred by a couple of songs that I legitimately dislike. That is…not a thing I say about TMBG often. *shrug* They can’t all be Apollo 18.

This song baaaarely squeaked by ahead of You Probably Get That A Lot, When Will You Die?, and Cloissinné because the Bassline. Fucking. Slaps.

Money for Dope (Album Raises New and Troubling Questions, 2011)

Released as a companion to Join Us, including some songs cut from the album along with some b-sides, live tracks, & remixes. It’s got some good shit on it, including Marty Beller Mask, easily one of the most surreal songs they’ve ever written.

But I featured this song because it was the inspiration for my The Young Ones: Love & Mobsters fic: Dope, and because it’s one of their many songs that is literally just a list of things, which is very them.

Call You Mom (Nanobots, 2013)

Another solid album, but not one of my favorites. It might just be too new for me (she said of the 6 year old album), but it might just not be one of their best albums. *shrug*

They Might Be Giants has a very distinct sense of humor. This song is just about the perfect example of that.

Erase (Glean, 2015)

The first album released after they started their new Dial-A-Song project, which they turned into a song-a-week challenge. As a result, the album isn’t like, exceptional, but there are a lot of gems, actually.

This is my favorite song on the album because it’s about the creative editing process (yes, a rare TMBG song that is definitively about something) and I feel it on a spiritual level.

Bills, Bills, Bills (Phone Power, 2016)

I’m not familiar enough with this album to have much of an opinion on it, I don’t listen to it much. But I had to include this song because I legitimately fucking love TMBG covers, and this one was…unexpected, lmao.

Mrs. Bluebeard (I Like Fun, 2018)*

The first album released after the 2016 election, and it shows, with a strong thread of fears about aging, loss, vague despair/disappointment, and political anger (An Insult to the Fact Checkers is a blatantly anti-Trump song). I fucking love it.

This song is just really well composed, and also demonstrates a strong feminist sensibility, rarely seen in ostensibly cishet(?), white, male baby-boomers (young ones, but still).

(Yes cis, dunno if het? Neither are particularly effusive about their personal lives. They’re both married which, of course, means literally nothing.)

I mean, they’ve clearly always been liberal commie bastards (see Your Racist Friend above), but they’ve become more vocally so over the past few years.