#finally finished! fwoo

[crintsiewintsey]

CRINGETOBER DAYS 3 TO 6!!!!

its slimecicle kinda mood

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Monster!AU Kalim Fic: Whistle a Little Tune

Yaaaaay I finished this within two days! That’s a personal record wooooo!!! :D

Man, this was so much fun to write! On another note, it was so sweet as I was writing this that I gave myself a sugar rush. 😂 Hope you guys enjoy the cuteness that was inspired by this post!

@fantasy-dating-sim-trash (since you asked to be tagged once it was done 💖)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Are you sure this’ll work, Ace?”

“It’s gotta work, Grim. No one else has been able to get that whistle away from Yuu so far—unless you’ve got any bright ideas?”

“Mrrgh…I just don’t wanna hear that noise anymore. Coach does it enough in PE already!”

It had been a week since Yuu was given a whistle from Coach Vargas to encourage the students during PE classes, and over the last few days the toddler had been using it almost every second of the day. Aside from nods and head shakes, Yuu had completely reverted to using tweets and trills to “communicate” with everyone—not even the staff or the researchers could coax them to go back to using words. Anyone who tried to forcefully take it away was met with a wailing toddler, while trying to sneak it away when they were distracted or napping resulted in Yuu becoming distressed and crying. That left only one option:

Try and bribe the whistle away with something better.

“Okay, here goes nothing.”

“Good luck, Ace!”

“Don’t screw this up!”

Hiding his hands behind his back, Ace smiled as he walked over to where Yuu was lying on the floor. They were whistling a few quiet, airy trills as they focused on their coloring book, Cater—who was on babysitting duty at the moment—was sitting on the couch nearby. The hippogriff noticed Ace’s approach and—knowing what was coming—held up his phone and hit record just as Ace began to say, “Hey, Yuu! I’ve got a surprise for you~! Wanna see?”

Yuu’s eyes went wide and they nodded, immediately sitting up and trilling on their whistle. Fweet! Fu-fwoo-fwee-fuu?

“Okay, but first, how about a little game? Which hand: right, or left?”

Fuuu…fweet!

“Hm? Right hand, huh?” he said, rolling his right shoulder a bit as he followed Yuu’s pointing. “Is that your final answer?” Yuu nodded and trilled again, insistently pointing at his arm again. “Okay! You get…” Pausing for a moment, he swung his hand around and held up the prize as he said, “A cookie! Triple chocolate chip—a Trey specialty~!”

Fweeeee!! Fee-fwee-foo-fweet! Fwee!

“Oh, you really want it huh?”

Fweet!

“Well, if you really want it, I gotta hear you say the word ‘yes’ as loud and clear as you can first. Then I’ll give you the cookie, okay?”

Fuu……FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

“Gah!?! Right in my ears!!” Ace–who had fallen over with his hands covering his rabbit ears–heaved a heavy sigh as he held out the cookie and said, “Here. It’s yours.”

Fwee-fwoo~!

“Well, that could have gone worse,” Deuce said, watching the toddler claim their prize and run over to climb in Cater’s lap to enjoy their snack. “I don’t think Yuu’s going to give up that whistle so easily though.”

“Ugh…gee, ya think?” came the disgruntled response as Ace sat up. “Anyone else got a bright idea?”

“Maybe we should just leave it be,” Trey said as he walked up to the first years. “Little kids tend to have odd quirks like that, so it’ll be best to just let them get bored on their own and move on to something else.”

Fwoo-oo-ooop~!

“Great…”

“Here, I picked up some earplugs from the shop for some of the others with sensitive hearing…just in case.”

////Later that day////

Twee-foo-fwoo-fweet?

“Oh, uh…here you go,” Epel said, holding out a couple of apple slices to Yuu, who was barely able to see over the table. Instead of accepting them, however, Yuu gave a frown as they shook their head, patting the table and trilling again. “No? Um…what about this chicken tender?” Again, Yuu shook their head with a warbling trill. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you want…”

Fwee! Twee-foo-fwoo-fweet!

“Augh…this is so frustrating,” Ace grumbled. “It’s been a guessing game ever since Yuu’s been using that whistle. Why can’t they just tell us what they want?”

Fwee? Fuu…twee-foo-fwoo-fweet! Phoo-phweet?

“Well, there’s not much we can do,” Jack said with a sigh, rubbing his aching ear. “At this point, we just have to do our best.”

“It’s impossible,” Sebek said, a frown on his face as his tail thumped heavily against the ground in annoyance. “Not even Lilia can understand what the small human wants! How are we supposed to–”

“Here you go,” a new voice said cheerfully, Kalim appearing and setting down a juice box in front of Yuu. “One juice box!”

Fweet! Fwee-fwoo~!

“You’re welcome,” Kalim answered with a beaming smile as Yuu pulled it closer to them and working to stick the straw in the hole. “Did you want anything else?”

Fwooo…fwee-fu-fu-fwoot?

“Sure thing!” he said, oblivious to the multiple sets of eyes from various tables staring at him as he scampered over to the cafeteria line. After retrieving a bowl from the offered selection, he returned and placed it–and a spoon–in front of them and said, “Here you go: one bowl of yummy pudding!”

Fwee!

Kalim chuckled as Yuu—after letting the whistle fall to dangle on the lanyard around their neck—eagerly sipped their juice box and dug into the pudding with the biggest smile on their face. It was then that Kalim noticed everyone staring at him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“...how…how did you know that’s what they wanted?” Deuce uttered.

“Huh? Because that’s what they were asking for,” Kalim said. “Didn’t you hear what they were saying?”

“What? How did you get that out of all those whistles?” Ace asked. “They didn’t even use words!”

Tilting his head in confusion, Kalim shrugged and said, “I guess I’m just used to it since I have so many siblings back home.” Reaching out to pat Yuu’s head, he said, “A few of my little brothers and sisters would sometimes talk to everyone with their toys or instruments. Haha, so I guess it’s just second nature for me!”

“...you can seriously understand what Yuu’s saying? With the whistle??” Grim asked.

“Yup! Is it that weird?”

The first years glanced at one another in shock and disbelief, Yuu oblivious to this revelation as they finished their dessert.

////Later////

Fweet! Fufu-fwee-fwoooo!

“I know right? Jamil’s cooking is the best! Thanks, Jamil~!”

Fwee-fwoo Fufwoo~!

“Um…you’re welcome,” Jamil responded, slithering over to set another tray of food between the two. “I have to say, this is…not what I expected.”

“I know right? Who would’ve thought that Kalim would’ve been the one who understands our lil’ Chickadee~!” Cater said, happily recording the two interact. Somehow, Kalim was able to carry on a conversation with Yuu and provide feedback, as though he wasn’t just listening to the sounds of a whistle.

“At least that makes one of us,” Grim uttered, munching on one of the meat buns that Jamil had brought. “Shoulda thought of this earlier! Then we wouldn’t haveta guess what Yuu wants.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t exactly solve the problem,” Jamil said quietly, the naga sitting back on his coils away from where Cater’s phone was pointing. “At some point we need to have a serious conversation with Yuu about that whistle, otherwise they may not speak to anyone again.”

“Ah jeez…you’ve got a point,” Cater said, stopping the recording and sighing. “As totes adorbs as this is, I do miss hearing their voice.”

“Hm? What was that, Yuu?” Kalim’s voice broke in, catching their attention.

Fwoo-fwee-fooo?

“Sure, we can play a game!” Kalim said excitedly, his tail wagging and wings quivering excitedly.

Yuu’s eyes shined as they eagerly turned to the others and began whistling at them. Fweeeee! Foo-fweet fwu-fweet? Phweeet!

“Oh…sure, you guys can play a game!” Cater said, a cheerful smile on his face.

…fwee?

Before he could respond or ask Kalim for a translation, the einfield turned to Yuu and said, “You know, I think they’d really like to join us if you asked them in your own voice.”

Fweet?

“Yeah! Everyone really misses hearing you talk to them, Yuu,” Kalim continued. “The whistle is fun and all, but it kinda hurts everyone’s ears when you use it, and that’s not very fun for them.” With a sad smile, he asked, “Don’t you miss being able to chat with them? Or when you get to tell stories to Lilia or Rook and how they tell you how much they love hearing what you have to say? Or even singing songs with Vil? I know everyone misses hearing you laugh too…don’t you wanna talk to everyone and have fun like before?”

Yuu looked contemplative for a moment, the whistle silent—much to everyone’s surprise. Then, to their shock, Yuu pulled the lanyard off and set the whistle down on the counter before turning to the others and asking, “Can we play together, please?”

“S-sure!” Cater said. “Whatever you wanna play, Chickadee!”

Beaming, Yuu raised their arms up and asked, “Upsies?”

“You got it~! Aaaand…we have liftoff~!!” Cater cheered, making a ‘whoosh’ sound as he hoisted Yuu up in the air. “Lookit you go! Soon you’ll be flying high like your big brother Cay-Cay~!”

“Yaaaay!!”

“Come on, let’s get the others!” he said, shifting Yuu onto his back as the toddler wrapped their arms around his neck. “We’ll meet you guys in the courtyard, okay? Hang on tight, Yuu! Whoosh~!”

The tiny human’s giggles and squeals of joy echoed down the hall, Cater’s wings partly open as he trotted with his passenger while Grim followed after them. With the three gone, Jamil picked up the whistle and said, “No one’s been able to get them to take this off since they got it. How did you know that would work?”

“Well, kids are smart, and Yuu’s a smart kid,” Kalim explained. “I just told them how everyone else has been feeling since I heard Cater mention he missed hearing them talk.” With a shrug, he added, “My brothers and sisters can understand things when my parents and I talk to them like they’re adults. They may not understand certain words sometimes, but they can still understand the concept of things better than we give them credit for, you know?”

Jamil blinked at him in response before he huffed, a small smile on his face. “Huh…well done,” he said. “Hopefully with this out of the way, we won’t have to worry about Yuu picking up some other noisy habit.”

“Oh! That reminds me, Lilia wanted to bring Yuu to the next Light Music Club and teach them how to play a musical instrument. I was thinking of showing them how to play the drums!”

“No.”