#cartoonloverstuff

Half an hour later, no less than three of the kids had picked themselves on Ash's quills and cried. Ash was currents sat on the kitchen counter glaring at the ground in frustration next to Meena who was tending to Micky, the latest victim of her quills. The porcupine was about to banish herself to clean up duty when something large and soft suddenly flopped on her. She struggled with a heavy, soft entrapment for a few moments before it settled more comfortably around her shoulders and a hood fitted on her head. Ash's vision was blocked by baby blue fabric and knew the entrapment was Meena's hoodie. Like magic, the elephant was suddenly in front of her tying the sleeve of the hoodie so it was secure around Ash and the sleeve would only drag on the ground a minimal amount.

"There. I-is that okay?" Meena stuttered slightly as she shuffled back a little to look at her handy work. The tiny piglet with a fresh bandage on his finger looked around Meena as Ash was still fixing the hood so she could see. Once adjusted, the large garment fit perfectly over the quills on her head and effectively covered the quills running down her back.

"Woooow, you have cape! You look like a super hero!" The Micky piped up from behind Meena. Ash smiled at that, even though she was sure she looked more like a pastel grim reaper than any caped hero. Still, she was just relieved she won't be spending the rest of the evening worrying about accidentally impaling someone.

"Heh, thanks Meens." Ash smiled as she hopped off her perch and followed the other two out to meet Johnny where they left him in the playroom with the rest of the kids.

The three walked into a scene of pure chaos. Art supplies had been scattered everywhere, toys littered the room, and the remaining piglets had occupied themselves by any activity they could find that was either loud or made a mess. Micky immediately took off to join his siblings in running around and screaming. Meena and Ash were both kind of struck dump by the sheer havoc and stood frozen taking it all in.

Johnny was in the midst of everything, completely unfazed by the disarray surrounding him. In fact, he was just adding to chaos by chasing the piglets around the room, seeming to be having just as much fun as they were. A few moments after the girls entered, Johnny looked up and realized they were back. He gave them a cheery smile from where he was a few feet away carrying three piglets he had 'captured'. "'Ey, ya back!" He chirped as he released the piglets and made his way closer to them. "Wot's with the new looks?" He cocked an eyebrow as he got closer and sized them up, seeing Ash looking very cozy in her new hoodie cover and and Meena looking slightly uncomfortable now that she was sans-hoodie, revealing a loose grey t-shirt with red sleeves.

"Uh, we found a way to cover Ash's quills!"

"I'm a superhero!"

The two answers overlapped and just amused Johnny. Shouting came from behind him as four piglets charged his legs, trying to bring him down. The gorilla stumbled slightly, threatening to fall on the girls, but manage to keep his balance and turned on the piglets. With a playful roar, the youngsters took off screaming with Johnny chasing behind them. Ash was quickly swept away by a majority of the piglets once Micky had spread the word that she was now a superhero. (She had a cape now, she had to be a super hero!) Meena entered the fray much more cautiously, going over to the building block area where she could keep an eye on the rest of the piglets.

Not long after Ash was deemed a superhero, Johnny declared himself a super villain and dove into their expansive costume chest for a villain costume. The best he could come up with was a pirate hat, which he proudly dawned. The room essentially became a play war zone of pirates versus heroes with Meena off to the side supervising the last subset of piglets as they built an impressively large fort.

The elephant marveled at the little ones' craftsmanship and thought they must have inherited some of their mother's engineering talent. She also found herself surprised by just how much she liked Rosita's children. Sure, they were loud, energetic, and even mischievous, but they weren't mean or cruel like the kids Meena had remembered growing up. Granted, not all children Meena knew as a child were mean, but enough were to make her lose hope on making friends with any of them. Seeing so many children playing and cooperating together, and siblings no less, without the mean spiritedness she had been somewhat expecting made Meena feel a warm happiness bloom inside her chest. She hoped the piglets stayed like this and didn't let schoolyard taunts and bullies sour them. She reasoned they had a good chance of staying kind and unharmed by the years to come. After all, they would have each other. The last thought calmed Meena and widen the soft smile on her face.

She was suddenly pulled from thoughts when she felt someone grab her arm and yanked her away from her post by the play fort. Confused and almost panicked, she turn to see Johnny dragging her behind him quickly. He turned suddenly with Meena behind him, putting himself between her and everyone else. Triumphantly, he raised the hand that was clasped around her wrist and proclaimed. "Ha! Na' I've kidnap ya babysitter! And you'll haf to go through me ta get 'er back!" Johnny grinned menacingly and crotched in a ready stance with a plastic sword in one hand in preparation to face off against Ash and her army of piglets. Johnny glanced behind him quickly and saw Meena's concerned and puzzled expression. Before she could ask anything, he shot her a crooked smile. "Just play along, yeah?" He whispered with a wink and turned back to face the others.

Ash successfully rounded all the piglets up in a huddle for a game plan, as even the ones in the fort had decided to join forces to save their damsel-in-distress babysitter. Meena just blinked and felt out of place, unsure as to how she should 'play along.' "Uh, help. Help meee." Meena croaked out awkwardly. "I'm being held hostage by a pirate. (Whose only like half my size.)" Meena couldn't help but chuckle as she said the last bit.

Johnny turned back to pout at her. "I am not!" He all but whined, which made Meena giggle out more. The gorilla smirked at her. "'Nd 'sides, hostages aren't suppose ta giggle. Ya not very good at thi-"

His teasing was cut short when an inflatable ball sailed through the air hit the side of his head. His attention swiftly switched back to the piglets just in time to see the onslaught of rubber balls, stuffies, and soft toys being hurled their way. Johnny quickly got in his stance and deflected a majority of the toys that came his way with the toy sword. Behind him, Meena held up her arms in defense of the soft objects, squealing with laughter.

Once the kids ran out of ammo, Johnny laughed triumphantly. "Hah hah! That the best ya got?" His question was answered when a wave of piglets all charge him at the same time. His face fell and he had just enough time to realize his mistake before being trampled by a sea of children.

Over the children's screaming and giggles, he heard Meena descend into a laughing fit and Ash give out mighty commands. "Yes, my adorable, pink army! Show him no mercy!"

Johnny tried to raise from the mountain of children on top of him, but quickly learned was out matched and should tap out. "Ok-oof- okay, I surrender! Ow! Guys, ya won!" Johnny squeaked out in good humor. He was no longer being trampled, but a majority of the piglets were still amassed on top of him, playfully keeping him pinned. "Meena? Meena, I can't get up. Help?" His pleads were met with more uncomfortable giggle as Meena was trying (and failing) to regain her composure. Eventually, her breathing evened out enough for her to shoo the piglets off Johnny and help him to his feet. It was close to the kids' bedtime anyway.

"Attention!" Ash barked out in military famous. All eyes were immediately on her. "Company, line up!" She point to the door as she ordered the piglets. The mass of giggling children ran towards the door, forming a shape that was more line like than not. Ash took her spot at the lead and began marching to the children's bedroom with them in tow.

She was faced away from everyone, so no one saw the huge, giddy grin bloom across her face. She had never been good with kids before. Normally, she avoided them and found them annoying. And in turn, they would find her scary or boring. The porcupine glanced back to see a long line of little piglets goofily imitating her marching. Her smile grew impossibly wider. With how the evening had started, she assumed she would be spending it avoiding the kids like she often did, not be playing right along side them like Johnny did.

With a happy sigh, Ash schooled her face in mock sternness and turned around once they reached the bedroom. "Alright troops, you've got five minutes to change into uniforms. Go, go, go!" She ushered them in and the bedroom became a pandemonium of pajamas and screaming.

Twenty minutes later, the piglets teeth were brushed and they were settle in bed, intently listening to Johnny's dramatic reading of one of the picture books he found. Ash and Meena dismissed themselves to clean up detail and spend another twenty minutes picking up the playroom and trying to figure out where things went. Once the playroom room look relatively decent, the girls headed down stairs and plopped down on the living room furniture. Ash climbed into a comfy looking chair and Meena all but collapsed on the couch.

After a moment of peace, Meena turned her head to look at Ash. "Think we can consider tonight a success?" She chuckled a little. When the porcupine didn't make any response, Meena sat up and looked over at her. "Ash?" Ash was curled up in Meena's hoodie with back to the room. Soft snores escape from her baby blue wrapped form. Preoccupied with peering over her sleeping company, Meena didn't notice the approaching footsteps behind her.

"I don't think ya getting that back any time soon." Johnny spoke softly, but still made Meena jump. She squeaked and turned to just in time to see him vault himself over the back of the couch with one hand and land next to her. "Sorry, didn't mean t' scare ya." He said in a hushed voice as he gave an apologetic smile and leaned over to grab the TV remote. "Anyway, the rugrats are asleep so now all we've got to do is keep quiet enough not t' wake 'em." With that, he leaned back with one arm hanging on the back of the couch and his other hand operating the remote.

After going through what was available, Johnny settled on watching some game show while keeping the volume low. He cracked a yawn as the TV droned on and glanced at the clock. It was just past 8:45. Why was he so tired? Had the piglets really drained so much energy out of him? He had been staying with them for weeks and interacted with them daily and it hadn't fazed him. Then again, he had never been left in charge of the piglets before. It was different not having their always-on-top-of-things mother around. Johnny had been really nervous about being around the kids when he first started staying with Rosita and her family, scare that he might accidentally hurt one of them or that they won't like him. He learned quickly that kids were more durable than they seemed, and all it took was the promise of piggyback rides and funny story telling and he was suddenly their new best friend. In other words, Johnny took to the lot of children quickly, and they had taken to him immediately. The first time the gorilla had ever set foot in the house, he had children climbing on him and hanging off his arms asking him to come play with them within minutes.

Johnny smiled dreamily at the memory. He wondered if this was what it was like to have siblings, since had never had anything like this before. His family had pretty much always been his dad, a couple of 'uncles', and occasionally a woman would enter Big Daddy's life long enough to bother meeting Johnny. His family was far from nuclear.

His thoughts began to turn towards his father and that whole situation when they were interrupted by another yawn. He shook the thoughts from his head, he didn't really want to dwell on that right now anyway.

Shifting around in his seat, he tried to sit a little more up right to stay awake and glanced at his company. Ash was soundly sleeping and Meena's head was drooping dangerous low. "Oi," Johnny voice was hushed and he nudged Meena's side. "You falling asleep on me too?" He jabbed lightly.

Meena's head lulled up and words was barely audible. "'M awake." She murmured drowsily.

Johnny smirked fondly. "Yeah, that was convincing." He checked the clock again. "Listen, I figure at least one of us should be awake 'til Rosita gets back. Why don't I take the first shift 'n I'll wake ya in a bit?" Despite his tired body's protests, Johnny was too much of a gentleman to not offer to go first. Meena only gave a little nod in response, her eyes already sliding shut. Johnny turned back to the TV, determined to stay awake.

Half an hour later, all three were peaceful sleeping. The living room still and quiet save the low noise from the TV and soft snoring coming the three teens. It was a blissfully calm scene.

That is, until Ash's restless, sleeping form turned over and right off the chair she was curled up in. The other two were jolted awake by the porcupine yelp as she fell, hitting the floor with a soft thud. Meena groaned as rubbed at her eyes while Johnny sleepily sat up and looked around for what woke him. His gaze landed on Ash face down on the floor and his mind piece together the rest. He tried not to chuckle at her. "Not exactly a graceful way to wake up." He quipped, his voice still heavy with sleep. The porcupine sat up (eventually, after a bit of struggle with the hoodie still wrapped about her) and tried to glare at Johnny. This just made him snicker more. He couldn't take her stink eye seriously while swaddled in the baby blue pullover, looking more like a grumpy, little kid than a snarky teen. Johnny looked away, covering his mouth to try and conceal his chuckling, and checked the clock again. 9:24. He sighed tiredly as his body was already leaning back into its comfortable sleeping position. Unfortunately, he didn't realize the elephant he had been using as support wasn't there until it was too late. Johnny let out a small sound of surprise as he fell against the couch cushions, quickly propping himself back up and looking around in confusion.

"Yeah, she got up and left." Ash answered his unspoken question and nodding towards the stairs.

Upstairs, Meena walked softly through the hall. She was sure she had heard something, her ears didn't play tricks with her. Quietly, she strained her hearing and waited.

*sniff*

There it was. Meena hear soft sniffling and whimpering and followed it to its source. Her ears lead her to a linens closet near the kids' bedroom. Gently, she opened it and peered inside. Meena felt her heart ache at the sight of a little, frighten piglet curled up towards the back of the closet. The elephant crotched down and reached out.

"Hey there, can't sleep?" She spoke in a soft comforting tone. The piglet looked up at her with teary eyes and took Meena's hand, letting the elephant bring her out and pick her up. Kelly, the piglet currently being carried back to the bedroom, clung to her babysitter's shirt. Meena's brow furrowed in worry. "Did you have a bad dream?" Kelly nodded. "W-well, there's nothing to worry about! We're all downstairs keeping watch." Meena ignored the part her brain that reminded her they had fallen asleep. She briefly fretted over how long Kelly had been hidden away in there before forcing herself to refocus. "You've got a superhero and a pirate keeping guard! Remember?" She tried to get the piglet to smile, but Kelly just clung tighter.

"B-but... w-what if s-something is up h-here? They're d-down there." The piglet's voice was shaky and tired.

"Oh, well, I'll stay up here. With you!" Meena smiled down and this time Kelly smiled back.

Once in the bedroom, the piglet still had a death grip on Meena's shirt and the elephant wasn't really sure what to do. She sat down with the child cradled in her arms when an idea stuck her. Softly, she began to hum a gentle tone. Soon words followed, and Meena found herself singing Amazing Grace. That song always put her to sleep, or at least that was her excuse to her mother when she was caught sleeping at church.

Meena felt the grip on her shirt loosen and glanced down to see Kelly's eyes drooping. The elephant smiled triumphed, but kept singing. She continued without stop even when she was startled by shifting beside her and turned to see a sleepy Casper trudge over with a blanket in tow until he was just within reach of the elephant and fall against her leg, curling up next to her. More piglets migrated towards Meena's serenade, her smooth voice calming whatever restlessness that had be inside them. After singing thought the song twice, the elephant let her voice fade out, and the room drifting into a sleepy quiet.

"Dawwwww." Her peaceful moment was interrupted by the low drawl of a cockney accent. Her gaze flickered up and she saw Johnny in the doorway with his phone out, clearly taking some digital records of the scene. Meena's face heated slight and she tried to shoot him a stern look, but it morphed into a halfhearted pout.

"Whatever, at least it worked and got the kids to sleep." Meena rolled her eye and tried not the smile at her friend's antics.

"Not just them." Johnny added as he pushed the bedroom door open the rest of the way, revealing a sleeping Ash sat on the floor and leaning heavily on the doorframe.

Meena smile fondly, touched that Ash had also felt the need to come up and check on her, and that her song had lulled the teenager to sleep as well. Immediately, she felt the need to pickup her friend and carry her back, but that was also the moment Meena realized she had a half dozen or so piglets sleeping on her. Looking about herself, she knew she was trapped.

"Uh... Johnny?" Meena whispered with her eyes still in the piglets. "I, uh, I can't get up. ...help?" She giggled out faintly. Johnny cocked an eyebrow at the scene and took one more picture, in which Meena in hidden behind her eyes and glowering at him, before entering the room. After a few minutes of careful tucking piglets into bed, they crept out of the room and headed back downstairs. Meena stopped briefly to scoop up a still hoodie-wrapped Ash before following Johnny down the hall.

Johnny checked the clock again before sitting down, this time in a more alert posture. "Kay, this time, we should actually stay awake." He thought out loud as Meena gently placed Ash back in her chair.

"Right!" Meena straighten up where she was standing next to the chair, her blue eyes bright with determination. "They'll be back in a little over an hour. We can last til then!" Her encouraging words were more to convince her sleep-craving body than Johnny. Still, she felt confident in her ability to stay up as she returned to her seat on the couch. Within ten minutes, both Meena and Johnny were soundly dead to the world along with Ash.

Meena was the first awake, her sensitive hearing catching the sound of keys jiggling and the front door opening. Her eyes peeked opened just in time to see Rosita enter the room. Meena's eyes snapped open the rest on the way and she shot up from the couch. This caused Johnny, who had once again slouched against the elephant, to fall back against the couch cushions with a small oof. "Rosita! W-welcome back!" Meena's words jolted Johnny semi-conscious brain. His eyes popped open and he scrambled off the couch to a standing position next to Meena. Rosita watched the whole display with her hand in front of her mouth, trying to hide a very amused smile.

Both teens began to apologize for drifting off, their word overlapping each other's, but Rosita waved it off and offered them a grateful, beaming smile. "Were they any trouble?" She asked with such sincerity that both teens froze for a moment.

Johnny was the first to respond. "The kids? Naw, they were great!" He relaxed a bit while going over the evening events with Rosita as Meena shuffled back to wake up Ash. A few moments later, Norman walked in counting out some bills and started handing off payments to the three teens.

Johnny was preoccupied talking with Rosita and automatically accepted what was being handed to him. A moment later glanced down and gave the currency in his hand a puzzled look. Meena had an equally confused expression when payment was pushed into her hands. Ash was barely awake enough to process what was going on and didn't question the money that had somehow appeared in her grip.

Johnny tried to give his back as politely as possible. "Uh... Rosita, ya know ya don't have t'-"

"Don't be silly. You were all a big help tonight and definitely earned!" Rosita cut off the cockney teen, quickly brushing off his offer before he could even finish saying it.

"But-"

"It's getting late. Johnny, why don't you drive the girls home."

"But I-"

"No but's!"

Rosita gave the gorilla a silencing stern look and ushered all three teens out the front door before any of them had the chance to reject their payment. The door shut leaving the guilty looking gorilla, a slightly flustered elephant, and a semi-conscious porcupine on the front porch. They stood in the quiet night air for a few moments, each in their own thoughts. Johnny tried to wrap his head around how he was suppose to not feel bad about getting paid. Paying Meena and Ash made sense, but he had staying with the family ever since Rosita had learned of his situation. Watching the kids for her seemed like the least he could do.

"Johnny!" He was yanked from his thoughts when he heard his name called. He turned and saw Ash and Meena had already started towards the car. Meena stopped to get his attention and waited for him to catch up, while Ash continued her heavy-eyed trudge.

Johnny hurried over to walk with them down to his car. "Sorry, just thinkin'." He offered a quick explanation then looked down guiltily. "I'm already stayin' with 'me rent free.  What they go 'n pay me for?" The gorilla scuffed his shoe as he thought out loud.

Meena made a hum of agreement. She hadn't been expecting any kind of payment either and had intended to just chalk up the favor as payback for all the stuff Rosita did for them. Giving the mother pig a night off seemed like a reasonable task. Meena's thoughtful gaze shifted from Johnny to Ash, who had shown the least amount of resistance when receiving compensation. Meena wondered now if it was because her friend actually needed it. While she and Johnny were both living with families, Ash was living by herself, paying rent and everything.

As they reached the end of the walkway to the street, Meena quietly spoke up. "Um, Ash? Do... do you want my share? I mean you could probably use it more and-"

"Nope." The porcupine answered confidently as she walked by the pig family's mailbox. Once underneath it, she hopped up and grabbed the handle with one hand, her weight pulling it open. Dangling for a moment, she chucked her payment in with the other hand, then plopped down and went to wait by the car for Johnny to unlock it.

Her friends watched with interest. An amused grin spread on Johnny's face and he chuckled. "Works for me." He tossed his share in as well with Meena happily following suit and flicking the mailbox closed with her trunk.

As Johnny went around the car to unlock it, Meena spoke up hesitantly. "Sooooo... can I maybe have my hoodie back?"

Ash felt her grip on the fabric tighten. She found herself reluctant to give up her warm, sleep-provoking, cloth cocoon. "Nope. Still need it." She stated blankly, trying to fight off a yawn as she leaned heavily on the closed car door.

This took Meena surprise. "For what?" She puzzled. "Isn't it way too big to be useful to you?"

"Imma superhero..." The small mammal mumbled drowsily and lost her battle with a yawn that nearly cracked her jaw.

"She's got a point," Johnny chimed in once he got the car doors unlocked. "Can't go bein' a superhero without a cape. It's just unprofessional." He reasoned in a mock serious tone. This earned his an exasperated glare from Meena.

"You stay out of this." She pouted, her words lacking any harshness and only caused the gorilla to put his hands up in a halfhearted mock surrender.

With a bit of struggle (and maybe some assistance from Meena), Ash managed open the car door and heave herself up on the seat. "Besides," she huffed out. "I look cuter with this." The porcupine pulled the hoodie tighter around her and cocked an eyebrow at Meena. "And you look cuter without it."

Meena froze halfway in the car, her face turning pink. "Th-that's not true!" The elephant sat rigidly in her seat, sudden made aware how exposed she felt without her shapeless hoodie to hide in. Her arms gently wrapped around herself as if to conceal her bulky body.

"Sure it is! Right, Johnny?" Ash was unfazed by Meena's flustered behavior and casually turned to Johnny for support.

The gorilla looked up wide-eyed from the ignition, clearly confused as to why he was being called upon for this. He looked between an expectant Ash and shy Meena before giving them both a sheepish smile. "I thought I was suppose t' stay out of this."

"Wuss." Ash rolled her eyes and looked through the windshield.

"Okay, fine. Ya' both pretty always. Bette'?" Johnny smiled as he gunned the engine to life. "Cop out." Ash smirk as she watched the elephant out of the corner of her eye and saw her large friend's face grow deeper and deeper with color. She heard Johnny give a tired sigh and Meena cut in before he could continue his back and forth with Ash.

"You can hang on to the hoodie for a bit if you promise to stop talking and go to sleep!" Meena was too easily flustered to let this continue. She just wasn't use to or knew how to handle being called cute. And Ash knew it.

Ash's smirk grew. Score. She was happily curled up in warm, blue cloth and snoring within minutes.