Buttons, a Coraline inspired story

rouF thgiN

I didn't even realize I fell asleep until I woke up to something crawling on me. I woke up to a pill bug, a butterfly, and a waterbug in my face
"Hello?" I ask
"Do you still understand us?" the pill bug asks, moving his head
"Yeah," I nod
"Good, follow us," the waterbug huffs, moving off my bed. The butterfly and pill bug follow the waterbug while I follow the bugs carefully so that I don't accidentally step on them
"Your other boyfriend is waiting to take you on a dinner date at the other Gunsmoke's place," the pill bug says as the waterbug picks the lock
"Other boyfriend? I don't even have a boyfriend," I frown
"Well, he's your boyfriend in our world," the pill bug spits
"Ok..." I mumble as the bugs opened the door
"Are you sure I should go back there?" I ask
"Yes, he requested for you to be there and he's waiting for you," the pill bug growls. I nod and crawl into the tunnel with the bugs following behind.

As I reached the other side, I was greeted by my other father and other uncle. Both smiling with a full suit and orange tie in their hands
"Is it that fancy?" I ask
"Fanciest dinner you'll ever have," the pill bug sighs, putting his hand on my shoulder. I never noticed they changed species once they enter either world.
"Three bugs will be waiting in your room like last time," the pill bug says, crossing his arms and walking away
"Don't mind Toxicity, he's always grumpy like that," other dad says. Other uncle responds to other dad by elbowing him in the side
"I mean not that we would know, they just seem like that," other dad quickly adds on
"So you want me to change into this?" I ask. They nod and I sigh
"Where should I change?"

I was nervous, I don't know who my boyfriend is in this world or what he looks like. I don't even know how he acts or talks or anything, all I know is that he could be any of the guys I've met in the real world. I could only think about my notes that are hidden in my pockets in my room under my pillow, hoping that none of the bugs touch it
"Smokey!!" I hear a very familiar voice exclaim. I felt my heart skip a beat as my face was taken over by a blush. No... they didn't... I looked up and saw who I guessed was the other Stan walking up to me with a big bouquet of daisies. He was obviously very different, like he didn't have his sweater on, his bow was longer, and his eyes were buttons like everyone else's. His button eyes were white with a vibrant green string that matched Stan's eyes. My heart was throbbing because he looked way more attractive than in the real world
"S...Stan..." I manage to say
"Glad you can join me on this dinner date!!" he smiles with glee. I felt panicked
"A... Are you... my..." I stumble on my words, unsure what to say or do
"Boyfriend? Yes!! I am!!" he cheerfully giggles. Gosh even his laugh was so hot...
"I... never had... a boyfriend before... I don't even know what to say..." I hyperventilated. He gave me the flowers and cupped my face with his cold yet soft hands
"How about 'I love you'?" he says in a hushed voice. I could faint right then and there, his voice was so hot that I couldn't breath
"I..." I start. I remember not being able to see Stan in the real world today, remembering all of the thoughts that would have kept me up all night
"No... I'm sorry... I don't deserve it..." I mumble, looking at the ground
"You do, you absolutely deserve my love. I could be better than the guy you know in the real world. I can be here whenever you want me to. I'll do anything you want, say anything you want, I'll even kiss you till the end of the night," he smiles, bringing my attention back to him
"I love you, even if you don't want me to," he hugs me, I hug back. We hugged for a while before I pulled away
"Shall we get going?" I ask
"I'll lead the way," he smiles, reaching out for my hand. I wrapped both my arms around his arm and we walked to the basement of the house where the Other Gunsmokes lived. He knocked on the door and the woman from the real world answers. Like the others, she had button eyes except hers was a dark grey with brown string. Understandable that you'd want people to see the color of your strings
"Hello, dears!! Dinner is almost ready, I just gotta get the tables set and we'll be set," the woman smiles
"This is other Courtney, Smokey," Other Stan smiles
"Hello..." I mumble, clutching onto other Stan's arm tighter
"Nice to finally meet you, Smokey," other Courtney greets, letting us inside. There was a big table in the middle of what seems like a fancy kitchen area. There were big red curtains beyond the table but they were closed and I couldn't tell what was behind them. Other Stan and I sat next to each other at the table
"So, what have you been up to in the real world?" Other Stan asks as other Courtney goes behind the curtains. It was pitch black behind the curtains so I couldn't see anything
"Not much, just went to see a well then watched Zoe and Forrest argue about string instruments," I shrug
"Can you do me a favor and not go back to that well? It's dangerous and you could fall in. Plus you're not ready yet," Other Stan frowns
"What does that mean?" I ask
"You're not ready to find the key yet... it opens the tiny door but if you unlock it with the key, you will be tested. You're not ready for the test yet. Not while the information you have is incomplete and unreadable," he folded his hands on the table, making them look like an origami swan
"Impressive... but how did you know about the information I have?" I ask
"A little ant told mistress and she told me to tell you. This is all I'm allowed to tell you or..." he stops, holding his unfolded hands at his neck
"I'm afraid she would erase my sentience," he mumbles
"But not to worry about that now, we're on a date," he smiles, looking at me while folding his hands again. This time, it was a dragon
"How are you folding your hands like that...?" I mumble
"I've had practice while we waited for you to arrive," he nervously smiles, flustered
"Yeah but how?" I ask
"I'll tell you soon," he smiles as the curtains flew open, revealing the other Gunsmokes in different outfits than in the real world. Other Courtney moved with grace while other Dice, other Sydney, and other Aldex moved like they were puppets. That's... weird. The family were each carrying trays that had lids. They put down the trays at the four other seats as well as in front of other Stan and I.
"What would you like to eat, sirs?" other Courtney asks, not lifting the lids.
"Whatever Smokey wants," other Stan smiles
"Spaghetti?" I ask smile
"As you wish," other Courtney hums as the family lifts the lids, revealing that they were all spaghetti. The family sat down at the empty seats and began eating without question.
"Wanna share?" other Stan asks with a smile
"What?!" I exclaim, flustered
"We can Lady and The Tramp it," other Stan teases, picking up a strand from my plate and putting one end in his mouth. My heart was throbbing and my face was covered with a blush. I suddenly couldn't find my words or thoughts, this other version of Stan is so charming!
"You don't have to if you don't want to," other Stan smiles, slurping up the very long pasta. I shrugged it off and began eating. They tasted a bit off and were very long. How long were these pasta strands? They seemed to have no end... going on for miles... and they tasted... meaty for some reason...
"I hope you don't mind the pasta, I made it from left over meatballs. We just had so many yesterday that I rolled them into one long pasta strand that I cut up into evenly plates of spaghetti," other Courtney smiles
"That explains a lot," I say, biting off a bit of the meat spaghetti
"Sorry I didn't mention it earlier," other Courtney says
"You're ok, I wasn't expecting a meaty pasta," I smile, trying to be nice. I have no idea what anyone in this world can do, being nice to them might do me some good. Maybe they'll help me or something... I don't know...

We kept eating in silence and no, other Stan and I did not kiss. It was just strange how there's versions of everyone in the real world besides me. I didn't see an other Smokey as far as I know... After dinner, other Stan and I left saying goodbye. I found it weird that only other Courtney spoke rather than her family.
"I hope you sort of enjoyed the dinner..." other Stan nervously smiles
"It was ok, I'd like to have pasta made from dough and not meat though," I smile
"So... I'm not getting a kiss?" he jokingly asks
"Maybe not yet... maybe one day..." I respond
"I understand, maybe before you're ready," he smiles
"How do I know when I'm ready?" I ask
"You'll know, I promise," he says with a kind smile. We hug one more time before I went to my room to greet the bugs. I was greeted with Oppressive, a silver bug, and a caterpillar
"Where's the pill bug?" I ask
"He's not here today. Only specific bugs appear depending on how you've been feeling in the real world," Oppressive explains
"How am I feeling today?" I ask
"Anxiety," Oppressive says, gesturing to the silver bug
"Depression," Oppressive says, gesturing to the caterpillar
"But not me, I'm only here to watch them so they don't complete your information early," Oppressive says, crossing their arms. I lay down in the bed
"Go ahead, I'm ready," I sigh
"Do you really think that Stan would like you in the real world? I mean you're just a kid who is talking to bugs," Depression frowns
"In this world, you know Stan loves you because you want him to love you. You can make anyone you like love you however you seek fit," Anxiety frowns
"You won't be seeing us again if you decide to stay and make this world yours," Depression says, messing with their fuzzy sleeves
"You would be better off in this world!! You won't have busy parents, you would have a loving boyfriend, your neighbors will be as quiet or as loud as you want, you can have any food imaginable, all the possibilities and fantasies are endless!!" Anxiety exclaims
"I'm not sure yet..." I mumble
"You can go to mistress and tell her you're ready to join whenever you'd like. We're only here to convince you to stay here forever," Depression says
"I... don't know if I want to yet, I think I need more time to think. Plus I think my family in the real world will miss me," I say
"With the situation that's going on right now? The decorating, the cleaning, the arguing, did they even know you were gone the other day?" Anxiety asks
"I'm sure Stan told them," I say
"He didn't, he got scared," Oppressive says
"I... don't know..." I mumble "I am an only child... I don't know if..." I start to wonder
"That's enough time for us, we think you should go to bed," Oppressive says
"Can you guys leave me alone this time?" I ask
"Can't do, we're forced to stay here until you fall asleep," Oppressive shook their head. I covered my whole body with the blanket and searched for the notes I had. They weren't there
"If you're looking for the notes, we had Doubt leave it in the real world so that mistress couldn't get to it and edit it," I hear Oppressive say
"Why do you all call her mistress?" I ask, keeping the blanket over my body
"She asked all of us to call her mistress when she hired us," Oppressive says
"That was years ago before you came about," Anxiety says
"Even before the-" Depression starts
"HOUSE was seperated from the other apartments," Anxiety inturrupts
"No she-" Depression starts before I heard them grunt in pain
"Shush," Opressive hisses. I closed my eyes to try to sleep but it was hard

Oppressive: Where is Guilt when you need him...
Anxiety: Downstairs probably...
Oppressive: You need to watch your mouth, Wolf
Depression: Sorry... I thought he would have figured it out by now
Anxiety: If he figured it out, he would have found the key by now and started the test
Depression: Right...
Anxiety: If mistress knew you almost let Smokey know about the swap... she'll hang you on a wall in glass and we're gonna have to ask Doubt to change the notes again
Oppressive: Shush, we're already in trouble for talking about the swap while Smokey can hear. We don't want mistress to pin us all on a cork board...
Anxiety and Depression: Fine...