#there are a few different types of gekkering

[ericsonclan]

A Gekkering Mess

Summary: Renata and Minnie go to a toy store where something interesting happens.

Word Count: 2605

Read on AO3:

It was a beautiful day in the town of Richmond. The sky was a bright, clear blue, the white clouds were rolling lazily by and the air had a freshness that made the huldra’s tail curl into a question mark. Renata’s tail twitched this way and that as she felt a cool breeze blow and tickle the opening in her back. Her brown eyes caught sight of a small flock of birds that flew through the sky. Her animal instincts kicked in and she wanted to run after them and see what would happen. But she quickly shook that urge away with a feeling that was much stronger. There was a different bird that she was really excited to see. A tall, cool, redhead harpy that had flown in and stolen her heart. The way Minnie made her feel was exhilarating and made her heart all warm and fuzzy each time she saw her. Renata was practically counting down the seconds it took her to get to the harpy’s house as she ran forward. The fur on her tail blew through the wind as her shoes whacked against the pavement. She couldn’t help but sprint towards her house, ignoring all the strange and horrified looks she got because of her monster features as she made her way down the street.

Once she saw the house in the near distance she skidded to a halt and began to walk casually forward, a little bounce in her steps as her excitement bubbled over. Any second now she’d get to see her girlfriend. The huldra walked to the front door, gave it a friendly knock and waited as patiently as she could for the door to be answered. Her body swayed back and forth as she waited until she noticed that the doorknob was turning. Her eyes grew large as she waited to see Minnie’s warm smile. Instead her head tilted to the side when she saw no one there at first. It only took the huldra a second to get what was happening.

“Hey, Tenn,” Renata’s fangs poked out with her friendly smile as the ghost boy slipped out of the door and formed into his usual fairly transparent appearance.

“Hey, Renata,” Tenn returned the smile with a shy expression and began to fidget with his fingers. “Minnie should be ready any minute now, but you’re welcome to come inside.”

“Thanks!” Renata strolled forward and heard frantic chirping and other sounds coming from the second floor. After a few minutes the soft clicking of talons could be heard coming down the stairs and Renata’s face immediately brightened when she saw it was Minnie.

“Hey, Ren,” Minnie jogged down the last few steps and stopped in front of her girlfriend. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t make you wait too long,” An apologetic twitter left her lips as she looked at the huldra.

“Nope! Not at all.” Renata leaned forward, getting on her tippy toes and placing a soft kiss on Minnie’s cheek. That made the harpy’s face turn a bright red. The huldra smiled proudly at that; she loved whenever she flustered Minnie. Minnie cleared her throat “Ready to go?”

“Yep!” Renata’s smile grew when she felt Minnie’s hand slip into hers, her fingers intertwining with Renata’s as they headed towards the door.

“We’re heading out. Make sure to not let Sophie eat all the chocolate chip bug cookies.” Minnie looked back at her brother who gave a nod in understanding. There had been far too many times that Sophie had gotten overwhelmed by the deliciousness of a snack and eaten all of it in minutes.

With that the couple was off, walking down the sidewalk slowly as they made their way towards the location of their date: A monster-friendly toy store run by a human the different monsters around Richmond swore was one of the most welcoming and friendly in the whole town. Still, on the way there there would still be humans that would give odd looks and whispered comments, but neither of the monsters seemed to mind. Minnie and Renata were happy in each other’s presence, enjoying the casual conversation and knowing it was a short walk to Swellington’s Toy Emporium.

“So have you ever been to the store before?” Minnie looked over at her girlfriend with a soft expression.

“Hmm, nope! But I’m happy to have my first time at the toy store be with you!” Renata’s tail curled around and brushed Minnie’s feathers. Minnie’s feathers puffed up for a second due to the sudden touch but she quickly gave a smile and continued on.

“Me too. I’ve never been but I’ve heard from Brody that they have really high-quality, soft plushies.”

That caused an excited smile to appear on the huldra’s face, her fangs poking out as she moved a bit faster. “Ooo, now I definitely can’t wait to get to the store!” Renata hummed happily as the two continued down the street. After a twenty minute walk they had reached the store. It was bright and colorful with a big sign. A train display was slowly making its way around the front of the store’s window causing a curious tweet to leave Minnie’s lips. The couple moved forward and opened the door. They were immediately greeted by a lady with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Fuzzy toy animal ears were on her head and she was showing them off to some kids who seemed in awe of them.

“Welcome to Swellington’s Toy Emporium,” She gave a friendly wave. “My name’s Edith. If you have any questions just let me know.”

“Thanks, we will,” Minnie gave a friendly smile and was surprised for a moment that for the most part everyone in this store seemed fine with them being there. Without having to worry about that fear, the two monsters wandered around the store. Their eyes admired all the different types of toys and exhibits on display. Renata’s tail was constantly curled in the shape of a question mark and her eyes were bright and shiny.

“Ooo! Ooo!” Renata’s soft hand gripped onto Minnie’s tighter as she pulled her forward. “I found the stuffed animal display!” The huldra and harpy stood before a display that towered over them. All types of creatures stood before them. Dragons, chickens, cats, bears, if there was a stuffed animal you wanted it seemed like this store had it.

Minnie’s eyes searched the different options. Excited, happy chirps left her lips as she saw the array of choices before her. Her hands immediately went to a fox plushie. Its orange fur reminded Minnie of Renata’s tail and the happy yet slightly mischievous look in its eyes was spot on. The harpy shook her head; maybe she was just reading too much into the fox plushie. She placed it down and decided to give herself time to consider purchasing it or not when suddenly a throaty sound appeared beside her.

The harpy glanced over and was alarmed to see Renata’s teeth bared and her tail slightly puffed. A high pitched sound emitted from her throat as her eyes were glued to the fox plushie. She began to slowly move towards it and continue the sound, the hole in her back vibrating from the volume of her gekkering until she caught sight of Minnie’s surprised face. Renata felt her tail go limp and she awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

“Oops, guess my animal instinct kicked in and all. Again,” She awkwardly picked up a rabbit plushie that she had chewed on. Her fangs had bits of fluff on them from the innards of the plushie. The poor thing looked rather sad now. “I’m gonna go pay for this and apologize. I’ll be right back,” Renata jogged over and gave Minnie a quick kiss on the check then scampered off towards Edith.

The harpy watched as the huldra apologized again and again. Edith simply waved her hand and put it on Renata’s shoulder which surprised the huldra. She gave some kind words with a soft smile and Renata handed over some money. Minnie turned her attention back onto the fox plushie. She wondered what gave Renata such a strong reaction. Was she jealous of a plushie? If so that was actually kind of cute. The harpy smiled and picked up the fox plushie; now she felt like she had to get it. Sneaking over to the cashier she purchased the plushie, tucking it away safely in the bag given to her. Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her waist. The harpy let out a surprised yet happy twitter and looked back at her girlfriend who gave a warm smile. “Hey, everything go alright?” The harpy’s question made the huldra nod her head.

“Yep! Wanna check out some more plushies? Ooo, or I saw this really cool display over by that corner over there.”

“Let’s check out the display,” Minnie’s words caused the huldra’s eyes to sparkle more which made the harpy’s heart flutter. Minnie leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Renata’s cheek. The sudden romantic gesture had Renata’s eyes flickering with surprise before the playfulness returned to them. Her tail brushed against Minnie’s feathers and she grabbed her girlfriend’s hand, guiding her over to the display.

The two continued to explore the wonders of the toy shop, both of them getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of cool stuff they saw. Minnie ended up buying a Lego set and Renata bought a yo yo that supposedly lit up whenever you spun it. Happy with their purchases, the couple walked out of there hand in hand and back to Minnie’s house. When they had reached the destination and said their goodbyes, Renata snuck in one final kiss, capturing Minnie’s lips and making her feathers bristle in happy alarment. With a playful smile, Renata began to walk backwards. “I’ll see you soon,” The huldra had a happy, casual smile on her face that Minnie matched as she waved goodbye.

“Can’t wait,” The harpy watched her girlfriend for a moment longer then closed the door. Her hand immediately got out the small fox plushie, a giddy twitter slipping from her lips as she ran up the stairs, her talons whacking against the wood until she couldn’t wait any longer and flew the rest of the way. “Come on, Foxy, I got the perfect spot in mind for you.”

------

“So what do you want to do today, Ren? Bug eating contest? Go Fish? Want me to fly you over the neighborhood again?” Sophie leaned forward in her bed, her talons tucked comfily away in her little nest.

Renata sat on the floor and tilted her head to the side. “Hmm, those all sound great… Let’s do them all!” Her fangs poked out with her smile when she saw that her best friend was clearly just as excited.

“Awesome! Let me just grab some stuff and we can start with the fly over the neighborhood.” Sophie fluttered her wings and got out of her nest. The harpy went over to the desk to grab something when suddenly she heard a throaty, high pitched growling sound. Alarmed, Sophie spun around to see her best friend slowly moving towards Minnie’s bed. There, tucked away in the nest was a small fox plushie with a cute smile. Sophie was confused for a second until she remembered Renata had mentioned before that foxes gekker when they see a rival. Which meant that Renata was jealous and competitive of a small, soft fox plushie. Renata’s tail was puffy and her teeth were bared as she lunged forward.

“Renata, no!” Sophie ran forward but it was too late. Renata’s teeth were already tearing apart the fox plushie, her eyes holding nothing but jealousy and anger for this innocent toy. The harpy flew up and wrapped her talons around the huldra’s arms. As she began to try to pull Renata away, a familiar voice called out.

“I’m home!” Minnie’s talons clicked up the stairs. “Hey, do we have any more grub ravi-” Minnie froze when she saw the scene before her. “Oli…”

Renata’s eyes grew large and her tail went limp as she spit out the toy.She looked into Minnie’s eyes for a moment then tried to speak but nothing came out. An awkward silence filled the room before the huldra spoke once more. ‘I’m really sorry,” She ran past Minnie and down the stairs.

“Ren, wait!” Minnie called out but the front door slammed shut and the twins were left alone, confused and with a torn up toy. Minnie took a spot on her bed and held the toy. She really didn’t think that this would happen. Her pale blue eyes wandered over to the open door. She just hoped Renata wouldn’t kick herself too much over this.

-----

The next day Minnie was surprised when she heard a knock on the door. She flew down to open it, hoping to see her girlfriend’s playful smile and bright eyes. But instead no one was there. The harpy’s eyes traveled down to the ground. There lay a dozen fox plushies and a big apology card with the words I’m sorry I got jealous over a plushie. Minnie picked up the card and was immediately hit with the familiar, comforting scent of cinnamon. Renata had definitely left this. The harpy stared at the collection of plushies for a moment before scooping them up and plopping them inside the house by the door. She didn’t want Renata to feel guilty over this silly thing. “I’m heading out for a bit!” Minnie didn’t wait for a response and sprinted out the door, pulling her hoodie over her feathered arms as she made her way to act out her brilliant idea.

-----

Renata lay on her bed. Her poorly resewn bunny plushie from Swellington’s was on her desk next to a pile of homework she hadn’t done yet. She hugged her pillow close to her chest. She hoped Minnie liked the apology gift. Her mind continued to focus on that until she heard a knock at her door. Curious, the huldra walked forward and opened the door to be surprised to find Minnie who was out of breath. A big yellow bird plushie was wrapped in her arms.

“Hey, Ren, I thought...” Minnie took a moment to catch her breath, “Since you gave me a bunch of plushies that remind me of you I’d get you one that hopefully reminds you of me.” The harpy's arms shot out, red feathers falling to the ground as she held forth the big plushie. Renata’s tail twitched this way and that as she accepted it.

“It's a big bird because, y’know, I’m a big bird,” Minnie gave a nervous smile.

Renata hugged the plushie close to her before she set it down and tackled Minnie with a hug.

“I love it!” The huldra peppered the harpy with kisses.

Minnie laughed and wrapped her arms around Renata, embracing her warmth. “I’m glad.”

The pair cherished that hug for a moment longer before Renata pulled back. “So, you're not mad at me?” “Mad? Nah, I think your gekkering is pretty cute.” Minnie’s smile grew when she saw that she had flustered Renata for a moment. “But just between you and me, those plushies have got nothing on you.”

Those words made Renata beam as she pulled Minnie into another hug. The harpy looked down at her girlfriend and laughed. Yep, there was no one like Renata. The huldra who had snuck her way into Minnie’s heart. The harpy hoped she stayed there for a really long time.

#twdg #twdg renata #twdg minnie #twdg tenn #twdg sophie #twdg edith #twdg minata #fanfic #we are monsters we are proud au