Title: Strawberry Cream Soda Pop Daydream
Author: Carrehz
Fandom: Adventure Time
Pairing(s): King of Ooo/Toronto
Warning(s): None
Notes: Purely self-indulgent sugary-sweet fluff, because I remembered recently how much I love these two and thought it was about damn time I wrote some actual out-and-out slash of my Adventure Time OTP (only took me eleven years... better late than never, eh?). This story takes place between scenes of the episode "Hot Diggity Doom", specifically after the election but before the "I'm a Princess" song. Title shamelessly nicked from the Tommy february6 song/album of the same name.
Strawberrry Cream Soda Pop Daydream
King of Ooo flopped back onto the bed, revelling in how soft and bouncy it was. A bed, an actual bed. Not the ratty, dirty, broken mattress he'd been putting up with up to now, or the prison-style bunk from his old zep - or, worse still, a cold, hard patch of ground, which he'd been reduced to more times than he'd care to admit - but an actual, honest-to-Glob, pink, fluffy bed, with soft fluffy pillows and everything. And it was all his, and he hadn't even had to do all that much for it, either. Toronto had been sceptical of the strange, hooded figure that had approached them in the Candy Tavern a few nights prior, but what did he know? Toronto was sceptical of everyone. King of Ooo had told him he was being suspicious for nothing, and here he was, proven right again. For a brief moment he wondered who exactly this "Mr. X" character was, and what he got out of helping him... then he shrugged it off, putting it out of his mind. Who wouldn't want to help him? He was The One True King of Ooo, after all. There shouldn't need to be any further explanation - he was confident, and Toronto had certainly backed him up on this enough times, that everyone loved him and wanted him to succeed.
...Well, perhaps not Bubblegum. He supposed she probably wasn't too happy about him taking over her kingdom, let alone her bed. But that wasn't his problem, was it? He stretched luxuriously on the bed, spreading out his short limbs as much as possible. He deserved this.
A small knock on the bedroom door pulled him away from his thoughts, and he bolted upright, panicked. Knocks on the door usually meant bad things. Repo men, cops, gangs looking for someone to rob. No one ever came knocking with good news. Maybe they'd found him and- no, no, relax, he told himself, coming to his senses. He knew that knock; that soft, small knock could only belong to Toronto's little hand. Paw. Whatever. He didn't really know how animals worked. "Toronto?" he called out, even so.
"King of Ooo? You in there?"
He smiled, his suspicions confirmed. "Come in~" he sang out, relaxing his stance, crossing one leg over the other.
"...I can't."
"Hm? What do you m- oh." Of course - the door handle would be too high up for him. The one disadvantage to picking such a tiny sidekick. Still, Toronto's height (or relative lack thereof) came in handy in other ways, and he liked having someone looking up to him, even if it was mostly just in a literal sense. He uncrossed his legs and stood up, all but skipping down the dais and across the room. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so- so - so pleased, so light and happy and brimming with confidence that absolutely nothing would go wrong. He pulled the door back and beamed down at the little Shiba Inu, his smile widening at the unimpressed look on Toronto's face.
"Stupid door," he mumbled. King of Ooo giggled; caught up in a fit of whimsy, he bent down and scooped Toronto up into his arms, ignoring his protests as he spun back into the room, kicking the door shut again behind them.
"Gah- Boss! Stop it!" Toronto was wriggling in his arms, his expression annoyed and flustered all at once. He was soft and warm and close, a comforting weight in the wax hustler's arms, and he felt entirely fond of him in this moment, this wonderful moment when everything was finally going his way. "You know I hate it when you- mmmph!"
King of Ooo had shut him up by way of a kiss, holding him even closer as their lips pressed together. Toronto made little noises behind his closed mouth, not actually attempting to pull away, and their faces were so close together that King of Ooo could feel the warmth of his blush burning through his fur, the way he always could when they were this close. They remained like that for several moments, King of Ooo having no concept of how to deepen the kiss, until Toronto finally put both paws on King of Ooo's collarbone and pushed him away, sputtering and making little spitting noises.
"Pft, pft- oh glob you taste so gross, ugh--" Toronto complained, paws scrabbling at his mouth as if he was trying to scrub it clean, as he always did after they kissed. King of Ooo just rolled his eyes at this familiar display.
"Oh, like you taste any better." He was a dog, after all - all fur and bristles. (The last time he had pointed this out, Toronto had screwed up his face and yanked at his mustache with a snap of "and what's this, boss?") Surely if he - he, the One True King of Ooo - could condescend to putting up with a little discomfort, it wasn't asking much for Toronto to do the same, though he couldn't imagine that kissing a king would be an unpleasant experience in any way.
Toronto glared up at him. "You're made of earwax," he growled, spitting out each word like a curse, as he always did.
"And I'm your king." A pause as he remembered, then a smile hit King of Ooo's face again, and he laughed merrily. "No- your princess, remember?" He twirled on the spot, holding Toronto close to him again, one leg bent girlishly. "I'm your princess and you'll do as I say~!" he laughed, emphasizing his new title.
"Ugh, stop, I'm gonna be sick..." Toronto complained, paws tensing against King of Ooo's lapels. He knew it was just an empty threat, but stopped twirling anyway, his hands moving to under Toronto's arms, holding him out in front of him again.
"Oh, Toronto! Don't be so grouchy. I succeeded!" He paused. "No- we succeeded! I couldn't have done it without you, Toronto." Toronto's mouth twitched at that, pleased in spite of himself, which just made King of Ooo smile more. "Isn't this great? A whole castle just for us! We can do whatever we want - I'll get the doors fixed for you. And feel this!" He hugged Toronto to his chest again, skipping back up the dais and falling backwards onto the bed, spreading his arms out either side of him when they landed, Toronto bouncing up and down on his chest with the impact. "An actual bed! Haha!"
"Yeah..." Toronto flipped onto his stomach, folding his arms against KOO's chest and resting his head on top of them. For a while - who cared how long - they just lay there like that, King of Ooo's eyes closed, head thrown back, just - relaxing. He couldn't remember the last time it had been like this, the last time he had been afforded the comfort he deserved, allowed to just exist without having to waste time planning the next petty scheme or con. And Toronto was there too, which made it even better, being as Toronto was the only person in the world even remotely close to being his equal, the only person he'd ever cared about nearly as much as he cared about himself.
Eventually Toronto broke the silence. "K.O.?" he said quietly.
If it had been anyone else, King of Ooo would've scolded them for daring to call him such an undignified moniker, reminded them that he was their king - no, their princess king - and should be treated with all the respect that implied. As it was, he just opened one eye.
"Yeeees?" he drawled lazily. He was starting to feel sleepy.
"Where, uh." The Shiba Inu shifted on top of him. "Where am I gonna sleep?"
He laughed again, feeling full of affection for his sidekick. "Ah, Toronto," he said, raising one hand and slowly dragging it back and forth along Toronto's back. "Why, you can sleep wherever you want to, of course! This is our castle now, remember?" His hand caught the edges of Toronto's blazer as he continued to pet him, and he twitched his hand, slipping it underneath the fabric and rubbing there.
"Anywhere, huh." He stretched his tiny arms forward, lying them flat against King of Ooo's shoulders, as close to wrapping them around his neck as he could get without moving forward. "So, here?"
He opened both eyes and tilted his head down to face Toronto, bringing his arms up and wrapping them around him, tightly, possessively. "Of course, Toronto," he said - he liked saying his name, and Toronto always seemed to like hearing it. He was pleased at the request. They usually spent their nights huddled up together, for warmth as much as anything else, but he liked having Toronto close to him, having him push and elbow him and whine about him talking in his sleep (he was sure he did no such thing), and how he'd curl up against him when he thought the wax hustler was asleep, winding his stubby little arms around him and cuddling close. He hadn't thought about it before now, but of course he still wanted this to continue, why wouldn't he?
It didn't surprise him that Toronto liked being close to him - who wouldn't? The only thing that puzzled him was why he pretended otherwise, but then, Toronto was always like that.
"You love me, after all, don't you?" he continued, extracting one hand and starting to pet the Shiba Inu's head. He was pretty sure he could fall asleep, right now, just the way he was. He couldn't think of any reason not to. Just fall asleep, on top of these soft, silky blankets, and not have to worry about - about anything, and tomorrow he'd be crowned officially, be the center of attention in a ceremony just for him, something he'd been waiting his whole life for...
"Of course I do." He paused. "Everyone does."
"That's right," he agreed, his eyes slipping shut, head tipping backwards, hand still idly sweeping back and forth as he drifted into sleep. "Every.. one..."