|^|Random fandom one-shots|^|

|^|His Little Butterfly|^| -The Amazing Digital Circus

  That seemed to be good enough for the chess piece and he motioned to her. "Come on in, don't need you standing out here and getting a cold."

  The jester didn't argue, even though the circus characters can't technically get sick. Standing out in the middle of the circus tent at night made her uncomfortable, so she crawled in.

  The pillow fortress, though small, felt cozy and safe. Especially with the little firefly in the jar that was sat next to a binder that Kinger was scooting back over too. "Please, take a seat." He motioned to some of the pillows and blankets on the other side of him. Pomni slowly crawled over and sat down, sinking into the soft surface and letting out a small hum.

  Kinger, now back on his own throne of pillows, opened the binder and began to flip through it slowly, admiring what ever was on each page.

  With a closer look, Pomni realized it was a binder about bugs, with a beautifully shaped, paper butterfly cut out and taped on the front as a cover. Pomni took a note of how it had the colors of Queenie, its bright red wings spread out elegantly that practically demanded its respect. It made Pomni's heart ache for Kinger, wondering if he made it before or after his wife abstracted, but she didn't know if she had the gut to ask, instead, "are those real bugs in there that Caine made?"

  Kinger chuckled. "No, its just a bunch of paper crafts and written knowledge about them, I've been learning about them for a...long time, ever since my wife showed me." His voice slowly died out at the end, and Pomni felt her heart shatter.

  "How long did it take her to convince you to like them?" Pomni asked, hoping that will lead Kinger to think about happy memories.

  It seemed to work as Kinger rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Oh, years! I could barely look at a lady bug with out freaking out. But then one day she had me hold a butterfly. I was very against it, but she promised to hold my hand the entire time. I thought I was gonna black out, I was so scared." Kinger's embarrassment fizzled away as he got lost in the memory, his gaze softening in the process. "But the more time I held the butterfly, I realized that it was just as scared as me, ready to fly away even at the smallest movement, but it didn't. So convinced myself to calm down and admire the bravery of this little creature." Kinger looked down at his hand, like he was reimagining the scene. "That's why butterflies are my favorite."
 
  Pomni gazed at Kinger with a mix of curiosity and surprise. She wondered if the memory the chess piece just told was before he and his wife got stuck in the circus, or after. She guessed it was the later, but they could've done this on many Caine's adventures way before Pomni arrived.

  The other thought that bloomed was how Queenie called Pomni, His little butterfly. And now it was revealed that butterflies were Kinger's favorite. Was Queenie trying to tell her something? Had she really grown such a strong bond with a chess piece, even if he sometimes doesn't remember?

  "So, what are your favorite things you've learned about bugs?" Pomni asked, wanting to lift Kinger's spirit a bit more.

  Kinger immediately brightened up at that. He grabbed his binder as Pomni scooted closer to see the pages as the chess piece was already quickly flipping through the pages and pointing at random bug facts, most of them being about butterflies. "So you see, that's why a butterfly's wings are so colorful, they are just a bunch of tiny reflective scales that are basically threaded together, not just one solid surface. Oh! And this one! Butterflies can sometimes see colors we can't see thanks to them being able to detect ultraviolet light..."

  Pomni, at some points, muffled Kinger's rambling, just letting it be soft white noise to her ears. Sleep began to tug at her, even though the circus characters didn't need it, something about Kinger's voice soothed her nerves and began to make her tired.

  Kinger took notice of the little jester tiredly lean against him and said, "oh my, it's getting quite late, I think it's best for you to get back to bed now."

  Pomni felt a small nought form in her stomach at the thought of returning to her room. It felt childish, but Pomni didn't want to be alone, her time spent with Kinger made her long for some company as she slept. So she gently tugged at the cloth of the chess piece's robe to get his attention.

  At first Pomni was a bit hesitant and embarrassed to ask, but the soft look Kinger gave her made her feel safe, knowing she won't be judged. "Do...do you think I can stay here, just for tonight? I don't really want to go back to my room...alone."

  Kinger immediately gave a look of understanding and nodded, "of course, it would be nice to have company again for a night."

  Pomni smiled softly, knowing that he was referring to Queenie. She knew that she could never replace his lost wife, but knowing that Pomni has been the only one to stay in Kinger's pillow fort since Queenie, made their bond feel stronger, their connection deepening.

  The jester laid down on the soft pillows, having an extra one to prop her head up comfortably. Kinger grabbed a blanket and laid it over Pomni. The jester gave the chess a piece a grateful smile and sunk into the pillows, letting out a soft, content sigh.
 
  Kinger sat back down and went back to what he was doing before, flipping through the pages of bugs facts for probably the thousandth time ever since he started it with his wife. Before he got far, he realized that he still had the firefly in the jar, so he asked. "You don't mind my lil friend, Sean, do you? I'm probably still gonna stay up for bit longer, but if you want it to be darker, I can put him away."

  Pomni mumbled a little sleepily, "it's fine, I like the light." It was true, she preferred the little fireflies' soft, orange glow, it helped push back the suffocating darkness. It made Pomni feel safe and secure.

And loved.

  Pomni nearly chuckled at the cheesy thought, but sleep had already pulled her in as she listened to Kinger softly flip through the pages, and hum an old nursery song.

  Now Kinger was left back in his own thoughts, thoughts that were taunting him before, jabbing at him left and right no matter how much he tried to focus on the binder that used to bring good memories. But now, they were gone, like a greedy dragon that had finally been defeated by a brave knight.

  Kinger looked over at his savior, who was now in a happy slumber. Pomni came in at the perfect timing. He honestly didn't know how bad things would've gotten if she didn't show up when she did. She was the little source of light he needed at that moment.

He saw a lot of his wife in the jester, that's probably why they had made such a deep connection. Even if she'll never replace Queenie, it was nice to have someone so close again. He just hoped she will be able to manage without him, when he's gone.

  MORE TADC CONTENT LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
  I loved ep 3, literally had me in tears
  I especially loved Pomni's and Kinger's dynamic, it was so good, I had to write a fanfiction about them
  Also if I accidentally wrote these two like a ship, I'm sorry, I don't ship these two, I see them wayyyyy more as father/daughter or something. But if you ship em that's fine, it's just not what I was going for here. 😭🤚
  Anyways, this surprisingly didn't take me that long to write, even though this is out after ep 4, I actually started writing this like a week ago. I am shocked and proud of myself with how fast I got this done lol
  Alr that's enough from me, as always, I hope you all have a good/night! :3