*Hey guys I'm back with another chapter of my version of Sing! YAY!!! As you all notice(if you're in the Sing fandom) I put in three mini-movies that were on the Sing disc and threaded them into this story. So, this is published on September 23, 2021. If you guys like this chapter, don't be afraid to vote and comment. That will be greatly appreciated. The songs used are called "Immortals" by Fall-out Boy and "Burn" by Phillipa Soo! Enjoy! Heads up, the next chapter will be more intense and emotional. Alright, bye!!!*

Eddie was staring up at the ceiling, watching the ceiling fan spin around and around in endless circles to keep the poolhouse cool from the warm air outside. Eddie sighed as he knew that he's not going to be needed for a week until the next week. What was he going to do in the next week? Eddie glanced over to see the blue box of headphones that he saw in the commercial...that his mother bought without a second thought.

Eddie's mother wanted him to bring her the graduation certificate...just to get him to be fit. However, Eddie could only just stare at it. He bit his lips ragged and sighed heavily.

"Do it, it'll be good for you!"

His mother's voice rang through his head as he exhaled deeply. Eddie opened the box and took out the pair of blue headphones. It had a smooth curve to it that he extended it to fit it around his head. Eddie turned it on and put it over his ears.

"This is so stupid," Eddie muttered to himself.

"This is so stupid."

Eddie jumped at the headphones speaking, repeating what he just said a minute ago.

"That's what you might think but now is not the time to think!!!" A familiar voice of Gary "The Winner" Wishman announced into Eddie's ears.

Eddie tilted his head, having some second thoughts.

"Now is the time to go beyond your limitations! I know that this is a slow process and it'll take more than a week to get through it! But I promise you that all of this will be well worth it! The graduation certificate will be your reward for the week you chose to listen to me! So, let's get started! First things first...we need to clean your exterior before we could clean your interior."

The song began as Eddie was given the first step to clean his poolhouse since it's a huge mess compared to most nice places. Throughout the first verse, there's a daytime lapse as Eddie was cleaning up the place---with a few distractions such as napping, gaming, and eating the whole bowl of chips before they go stale.

https://youtu.be/PHn5Q7hCjxw

"They say we are what we are.

But we don't have to be!

I'm bad behavior but I do it in the best way!

I'll be the watcher of the eternal flame!

I'll be the guard dog of all your fevered dreams!"

"Next step, remove all distractions," Gary said through Eddie's headphones as Eddie sadly put his game console in the cabinet.

"Goodbye, little buddy," Eddie replied sadly as he closed the cabinet door.

"Oooh--ooo-oooo--oooo--oooh."

Meanwhile, Buster opened the cabinet door to search for something in the theater. His smile went wide as he found wax to placed the posters up with. Mizuki had the posters printed as they made their way towards Les Calamars with the song playing in the background.

"I'm the sand bottom half of the hourglass(glass, glass)!

Oooh--oooo--oooo---ooooh!

I try to picture me without you but I can't."

Buster and Mizuki put the posters up on the window where the squids from the restaurant could see what Buster had to offer through the poster.

"Hey!" The French chimp waiter spotted them.

Buster took Mizuki by the wrist, abandoning the equipment in the bushes. The chimp waiter chased after them, not knowing the squids were reading the posters and considered the offer.

The chorus continued as Buster and Mizuki were smiling and laughing from being chased by the waiter.

"'Cause we could be immortals (immortals)

Just not for long (for long)

You live with me forever now

You pull the blackout curtains down

Just not for long (for long)."

Eddie crossed off the day on his calendar to show the day was finished.

"We could be immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immortals."

The next day rolled by in the music's pause.

"WAKE UP!!!"

Eddie screeched and tumbled over from his sleep on the couch, confused.

"Alright, now let's clean your interior!" Gary, from the headphones, stated boldly.

Eddie went into the kitchen in his pool house and tried the mixes the drink the person in the headphones suggested...but it tasted disgusting.

The sheep almost puked from the drink as he tried to mix his pizza in it...which didn't taste as bad as it looked. Eddie meditated on the diving board, but ended up falling asleep with a snore. He leaned forward and tumbled into the water with a splash.

The second verse began to play as Buster and Mizuki were watching Gunter and Rosita dancing. Gunter's moves were smooth to the music but Rosita stumbled a bit.

"Sometimes the only payoff for having any faith

Is when it's tested again and again every day

I'm still comparing your past to my future

It might be over but they're not sutures."

Buster was drinking his morning coffee with Ms. Crawly searching aimlessly around backstage of the theater during the pre-chorus. The lyrics faded in the background.

"Do any of you know where my glass eye went? That thing keeps popping out," Ms. Crawly groaned in frustration.

Buster almost choked when she mentioned her glass eye as he opened his mouth to realize her glass eye was accidentally in his coffee. He quickly spit it out, sending it flying and hitting Rosita in the head by pure accident and messing up her dance routine. The glass eye rolled towards Ms. Crawly, who smiled when she saw it.

"Never mind, found it," Ms. Crawly stated while rubbing the glass eye and placed it back into her eye socket. The iguana walked away as Buster profusely apologized to Rosita for messing her dance routine up.

Another day was marked off the calendar as Eddie was awakened the next morning by loud obnoxious music in his headphones.

"Alright, it's time to get physical!!!"

Eddie widened his eyes for a moment until he finally realized what the actual dog met.

Eddie walked into the gym to do zumba as the chorus began to boom in the gym. Eddie gasped to see everyone dancing as he tried to copy the movements but fail miserably. When that failed, he went towards the treadmill section where he...strangely had no idea how to work until he pressed a button. The moving tread underneath Eddie immediately threw him back against the wall in a cartoony fashion.

"Cause we could be immortals (immortals)

Just not for long (for long)

You live with me forever now

You pull the blackout curtains down

Just not for long (for long)."

Meanwhile, at the theater, Johnny was playing the piano with Ash strumming the guitar strings, their voices and their music in sync finally for the show. All the while, Mike and Nancy were practicing their songs to sing with each other but Mike struggled with his confidence in his singing abilities.

Meena, on the other hand, was breathing heavily while trying to tell herself that she could do it. She could conquer her stage fright. Buster noticed this as he went up to her and told her to breathe deeply. Meena, quite literally, breathed in too deeply. When told by Buster to exhale, Meena exhaled by using her trunk to blow Buster back. Buster stumbled against Mizuki, who blushed a bit from catching the koala.

"We could be immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immortals."

In the music pause, Eddie marked off another day in his calendar at the poolhouse. However, he became more motivated for the next three days.

"Wake up! Let's kick it up a notch!"

Eddie turned over, fully clothed and prepared with a motivated grin. "Yes, Gary!"

He took the steps he made in the first three days by dusting up his place and cleaning up the poolhouse into a sparkling new place. In the next day, he meditated underwater with bubbles coming out of his nose instead of his mouth.

Then, he strode into the gym into the zumba class in the next day, more confident in his dancing abilities and loosening up his muscles. He decided to try that treadmill again. The sheep started off slow but he picked up the speed as Eddie began to run on the treadmill with his eyes narrowed at the wall in front of him like he's pinpointed a target.

"We could be immortals (immortals)

Just not for long (for long)

You live with me forever now

You pull the blackout curtains down

Just not for long (for long).

We could be immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immor-immortals

Immortals."

The final day finished as the week has passed already. Eddie woke up to the bright sunlight and the victory music played in his headphones.

"Congratulations! For completing the week, you will now receive the graduation certificate!" Gary, from the headphones, announced happily.

Eddie sat abruptly on the couch in happiness with fists pumped up in the air. "Yes! I'm a winner!!!"

"As long as you sent me an additional 99.95 that graduation certificate is as good as yours!" Gary announced.

"What?!" Eddie gasped in shock. His shock turned to anger quickly as he took his headphones off. "I just did everything you said! I ate kale!!! Do you know how hard it was to eat kale?!"

With that, Eddie looked up the address of Gary "The Winner" Wishman and found it. He stormed through the streets and arrived at the mansion with long stairs ahead of him. He opened the iron gates boldly with a determined growl. He put on his red bandana on like a samurai and put the blue headphones given to him around his neck. The sheep ran up the long stairs in two legs, pushing himself up and up towards the huge mansion like a castle sheltering a king. Eddie narrowed his eyes at the target as he pushed beyond his limitations. The sheep finally reached the door to the mansion, knocking on the wood with heavy pants.

The door was opened.

"I'll get the--" A familiar dachshund with brown fur was much different than he was on the television. He was wearing a red robe with black squares on it while his white shirt glowed underneath with gray sweats.

"Listen, Wishman, I need that certificate!" Eddie demanded firmly.

Gary, with bags under his eyes, just stared at Eddie in confusion. "Uh...who are you?"

Eddie grew even more angry. "My name is Eddie. My mother ordered your headphones--"

Gary noticed the blue headphones wrapped around the sheep's neck. "Okay, okay, calm down--"

"GARY, STOP PLAYING VIDEO GAMES AND CLEAN THE POOL!!!!"

Gary groaned at the sound of a demanding woman, who anyone could assume to be Gary's mother. "Hold on, mother, I'm dealing with an unfortunate situation!"

Eddie tilted his head in mass confusion instead of anger. "You're Gary 'The Winner' Wishman?"

"I-It's just Gary," Gary answered while rubbing his arms in embarrassment.

"What the heck? I've been treating you like my lord and master!" Eddie blurted out his disbelief. Part of Eddie wasn't sure he even got the right address at all.

Gary arched a brow for a moment till he was more relaxed. "Okay...that was very creepy to say if taken out of context but that's...nice that you think of me that way. Uh, the whole thing was my mother's idea."

"Seriously? Huh...my mother ordered these for me," Eddie referred the headphones around his neck.

"Yeah, moms, am I right?" Gary chuckled a bit.

"Well, my parents were just judgmental. I mean, I had a fitness partner in the gym and worked at the theater but it was never enough to please them," Eddie responded sadly. "That's why Ma ordered these."

"Yeah, my parents set me up with this life coach to find my purpose in life or something but I get so--"

"Scared that it turns out to be--"

"The wrong one," Both Eddie and Gary said it at the same time.

"Dude, we're living in the same life," Eddie replied with a smile, relieved to find someone like him. Then, he noticed the familiar video game he'd been playing for months when he's not working at the theater or hitting the gym with Gunter. "Wait a minute, is that the original addition to Clashers of Fort Dunstan?!"

Gary looked back at the television and then back at Eddie. "I'm on level forty-three."

"Get out! Me too!" Eddie responded in excitement.

There's a pause as both men were looking at each other in shock to find some things in common.

~.~

At night, Eddie and Gary had been playing videogames at Eddie's poolhouse.

"Thanks for the certificate, dude. My mom framed it and hanged it up on the wall," Eddie thanked Gary.

"My mom won't get off my back," Gary replied with a sigh.

"Have you told her that you're just a flower waiting to blossom?" Eddie asked.

"You have no idea how many times I've told her that," Gary responded with a laugh.

Eddie chuckled in response. "Well, what are your talents besides videogames?"

Gary shrugged. "I dunno. I wanna make videogames but it's not 'realistic' enough...so, I had to change my entire life plan."

Eddie blinked and glanced over at Gary. "You do realize that videogame designers make bank making videogames like these, right?"

Gary pondered for a moment while playing. "Huh, never even thought of that. I might give it a whirl."

"Go for it, dude. You'll do great!" Eddie encouraged his friend.

"Thanks, man. What about you? You're motivated by my voice throughout the entire week. What kind of talents do you have?"

Eddie thought about it for a moment. "Eh, nothing special like making videogames. I mean, I work as a stagehand for the theater."

"Yeah, you were telling me about that. What theater do you work for?"

"Moon Theater. It's owned by my friend."

"Ooh, nice, nice. How much do you get paid?"

Eddie clenched his teeth. "Well, that's kind of a hard part...there's not really money involved. I mean, you sure will get paid but he doesn't--he's broke."

"Oh geez, is he going to file bankruptcy or something along those lines?"

"No...he has two choices...either settle his accounts by the end of the month or put the show on by the end of the month."

"So, he chose the latter," Gary guessed.

"Yeah, he's gotta do whatever it takes to keep the theater alive or else the bank's gonna take it from him."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

"Well, I wish him the best of luck."

"Same, dude, same."

There's a brief pause as they were conquering the men in the videogame world. Gary pondered about something else to say.

"You know, I'm free all the time so...I can come over to the Moon Theater and help if you guys need it. At least, it'll keep me out of the house and away from my mother," Gary offered to help.

"Wow, man, thanks for the offer. Um...I think we're good so far but I'll have to ask Buster more about that when I get back to work," Eddie responded to Gary's offer.

There's a knock on the sliding glass door.

"I'll be right back," Eddie said as he paused the game and Gary waited patiently for Eddie to come back.

Eddie opened the door to reveal that it was Buster standing there outside. "Buster, hey!"

"Hey, Eddie--"

"How are rehearsals going?" Eddie asked.

Buster clenched his teeth. "Well, tomorrow, we're going to have a...rehearsal-rehearsal for the final show. I'm going to need you tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, dude, totally," Eddie responded, happy that he's needed finally after a week.

Buster noticed Gary and Gary stared at him back. "Uh, who's that?"

Eddie darted his glances between Buster and Gary. "Oh, Gary, this is Buster. Buster, this is Gary."

"Hey," Buster said with a wave.

"Hey," Gary greeted back.

"Well, Eddie, I'll let you go back to your videogame and I'll see you tomorrow--"

"Whoa, you don't have to go, Buster. You can stay with us if you want. I have a third controller," Eddie offered while gesturing a seat.

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well, do you have company at least to get home?"

"Yeah, Ms. Crawly and Mizuki are waiting for me."

"Oh...okay, just as long as you got company."

Buster smiled at his sheep friend. "Have a good night, Eddie. Oh, and nice to meet you, Gary."

"Same here, man," Gary responded with a salute.

Buster waved at Eddie and Gary goodbye and walked away from the poolhouse. Eddie made sure Buster got back to Mizuki and Ms. Crawly safely. Eddie sighed heavily as he went back into the poolhouse and sat down on the floatable chair.

Gary noticed a frown and a worried look on the sheep's face. "Is everything okay? You seem...well, protective of your friend."

"Oh, it's nothing important. Just that I'm making sure he doesn't walk around with gangs jumping people left and right," Eddie responded.

"Yeah, I heard about that. It's one of the reasons why I don't go outside. Is it only at night or during the daytime too?"

"It's usually at night," Eddie said while resuming the game with Gary.

"Okay, so I'm good to go during the day. That sounds good."

They played further into the videogame as they were beating level by level.

~.~

Ash had been writing her own song throughout the week while practicing the song with Johnny. She still couldn't Lance off of her mind. She still remembered his face, his soft eyes, and his voice. Now, all of her senses came back, she realized what she'd done. Part of her felt nothing but guilt for letting Lance go as far as mistreating Meena, her one and only childhood best friend she had left. If Meena were trying to tell her about how Lance wasn't the one for her back in high school, she wouldn't believe her. Her heart has grown too big love only for it to be deflated by the truth. And the truth was that Lance was a scum. The truth was her family and her friends were right about Lance. The truth was...Ash and Lance weren't right for each other.

Ash changed so much of herself just to please Lance, only for it to blow up in her face. Now, she's going to sing out her feelings since that's the only way to get them out without anyone around her.

The porcupine girl searched through the files to look for anything that had a picture of Lance, only for sheets of music falling out. Ash stared at the paper with tears in her eyes while the song went like this.

"Oh my, darling, Ash.

You are the flower that rose in the dark times.

You are the beauty the sun couldn't afford to look."

Ash got teary-eyed when re-reading her ex-boyfriend's songs. This was the song that made her fall in love with him. This was the song that made her fall into his arms. Where had they gone wrong?

Ash wiped her tears away as she took a deep breath and brought her guitar on her lap. Flashes of memories of Lance bringing out his guitar and sang the songs that he's now singing to this girl basic girl named Becky.

Ash remembered walking with Johnny and Meena by the restaurant where they would try out gigs and saw Lance just singing with Becky, looking at her just like the way he first looked at Ash in high school. Part of Ash was jealous of this girl, who's 'prettier' than her. But...another part of her hated Lance for what he did for her. She wanted revenge...she wanted to destroy everything.

Ash glanced down at the songs that Lance had written for her. Shifting her gaze at the her opened laptop, Ash saw the lyrics that were typed:

"Set it all free, oh, free, oh, free."

That's all Ash had so far. For so long, she was convinced that she couldn't write her song but she never even tried to see whether she could or couldn't. Ash sighed deeply as she erased the lyrics and began to type out the new lyrics that captured perfectly. The notes and the words just flow through her mind while her fingers typed what she wanted to sing.

When she's done typing, she gazed at the lyrics and edited out any grammar mistakes that she might have left behind.

With a sigh, she was determined to practice her own song when she's doing her own gigs. Ash took a deep breath and placed the guitar on her lap, strumming the chords. She had tears in her eyes as she looked at the lyrics of the song she's writing. Then, she began to sing croonly.

https://youtu.be/a0k0FJrY4a8

"I've saved every song you wrote for me.

From the moment you sang them to me, I knew you were mine.

You said you were mine.

I thought you were mine."

Ash strummed more as her gaze drifted off somewhere else in the living room. Flashes of memories of Buster and Mizuki telling Ash and Lance that only Ash was chosen for the performance and afterwards. After Lance left and Johnny bringing up the question about them performing. After Ash told Buster that she doesn't do well in duets. She took a deep breath as she brought up the memory in the song.

"Do you know what Buster Moon said

After we sang together for auditions?

He said

Either you don't do well in duets or you don't have the right partner."

Ash shook off the memory as she stood up and her surroundings became blurry in the background. The songs Lance wrote for her in high school were lifted up in the air and spun around Ash from the wind blowing through the window she left opened.

Ash continued to sing, ignoring the songs dancing around her.

"But you and your songs have flooded my senses.

Your verses left me speechless.

You built me mansions through every strum of the chord.

You built skyscrapers."

In the middle of her song, Ash caught one of the songs with tears running down her cheeks while caressing the paper.

"I'm re-reading the songs you've written to me.

I'm searching and scanning for answers in every line.

For some kind of sign, and when you were mine.

And the world seemed...to be free.

Free."

Ash let go of the paper, setting it free through the window the wind gladly took from her. The porcupine girl's anger seeped through as she sang the second verse with her fingers strumming the chords.

"You sang the songs you wrote for her!

You toured all around Catalonia just to show off her beauty.

In making something new, you've ruined our lives.

Do you know what you said to me

When you were exposed in your bed?

You said that I'm never around anymore.

It's all my fault."

Ash's brows furrowed and turned on the fire in the fireplace as she continued to sing with more remorse in her voice.

"You and your songs, obsessed with fame and legacy.

Your verses left me empty through your tongue.

You had me cut off my friends and my family.

Only to focus on how the world perceives you---"

Tears broke free from her closed eyelids as she whimpered at the thought of Lance and sang with a cracked voice.

"You, you, you!"

The song paused as Ash breathed heavily, gathering herself slowly. When she gathered herself, she continued to sing and wiped the tears away.

"I'm done wasting my tears on you.

Let the whole world know that there will be no more Ash and Lance

Since you broke my heart.

You have torn it all apart, and I'm setting it all

Free!!!

Setting it all Free!!!"

With those words sang, Ash tore the picture of her and Lance in half, throwing away Lance's half while keeping her other half. She set her other half free from the window. Her tears were nonstop as she continued to sing in more of a determined tone.

"The world will know me without you!

The world will know me without your songs!

I hope I'll forget all the pain you left behind!"

Ash threw Lance's songs he'd written from high school into the fire, watching it go up in flames while the smoke traveled out of her opened window with. She threw each of them, one by one while singing in a more determined tone.

"I'm setting all the memories free!!

Setting all of your songs that might've carried me through the darkness free!"

Ash drew her brows more with determination as the background faded as she rocked her heart out with her guitar, shaking the whole cottage.

"You forfeit all rights to my heart!

You forfeit all rights to this cottage!

You sleep in the streets, see if I care!

Leaving the memories of when you were mine!!"

Her quills flew everywhere while some stabbed the couch and some stabbed the walls with Lance's pictures on it. Ash breathed deeply as she calmed herself from strumming her guitar too loudly. Ash looked around the cottage as the background was no longer blurry and the calm fire was lit with ashes of songs that she burned.

Ash took another deep breath and strummed her guitar softly.

"I'm setting it all...free."

Ash wiped the tears away as she gazed at the living room and came back to her computer to see that she sang all the lyrics. Now she had a song to sing once the talent show was over. However, it's a shame that it's coming to an end so soon. She wanted to hang out with Meena and Johnny more. However, she just sat in the living room, strumming the guitar to practice the song that she's supposed to do with Johnny.

~.~

Mizuki, Ms. Crawly, and Buster were on their way back to Ms. Crawly's place in the old iguana's vehicle. Mizuki and Buster were seated in the backseat as Buster's eyes were starting to get heavy from the lack of sleep throughout the week of watching the performers and making sure everything was lined up for the performance.

Mizuki gazed out towards the window as Buster yawned tiredly. Subconsciously, Buster laid his head on Mizuki's arm, falling asleep on her. Mizuki glanced down to see Buster falling asleep on her arm. She blushed madly as she nudged Buster slightly.

"Hey, Buster?"

Buster fluttered his eyes opened as he immediately realized that he's about to fall asleep on her. "S-Sorry." Buster released Mizuki's arm while looking away with his face beet red.

Ms. Crawly softly smiled at both of them as she parked her car near her apartment. The three animals got out of the car as Buster stretched his limbs.

"Well, I'll see you ladies tomorrow morning," Buster replied with his tired eyelids.

"Are you sure you should walk home by yourself, Mr. Moon?" Ms. Crawly probed her boss.

Buster nodded his head with a yawn. "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"You can stay with us for the night, Buster," Mizuki offered softly.

"Yeah," Ms. Crawly uttered in agreement.

"I-I don't want to impose," Buster responded shyly.

"No, you won't impose at all, Mr. Moon. I made chocolate chip cookies--"

"It's fine, Ms. Crawly--"

"With walnuts."

Buster clenched his teeth while temptations of having delicious cookies with walnuts lingered in his mind.

In the next ten minutes, Buster was inside of Ms. Crawly's place, munching on chocolate chip cookies with walnuts inside of them.

Mizuki couldn't help but thought Buster was cute when he's lured in by something so simple. The antelope smiled as she was drinking her delicious hot chocolate from Ms. Crawly.

Ms. Crawly was smiling in pride that she's able to get Buster inside without him denying assistance for once. "Well, it's almost midnight. We should be getting to bed if we want to review rehearsals tomorrow."

"Yeah, Mizuki can sleep in the guest bedroom and I'll--" Buster walked towards the couch and was about to fall on it before someone familiar shouted.

"Whoa, Moonster!"

Buster immediately stood up to see Mike laying on the couch.

"Don't sit on us," Mike responded while yawning, referring to the other mice sleeping on the couch with him, including Nancy.

"How did you guys get into Ms. Crawly's apartment?" Buster asked with a brow raised.

Mike looked around. "Ms. Crawly left the balcony door open."

"And...that gives permission for you to come in--?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Mr. Moon, I left it open for them," Ms. Crawly explained. "Anytime they want to come in and crash here, they can."

Buster glanced down at Mike apologetically. "Oh, nevermind. Sorry, Mike."

"Eh, it's fine. Not like we both knew about Ms. Crawly's offer," Mike answered with a shrug as he rested on the couch.

Buster blinked as he sighed heavily. Mike and the mice were definitely taking the couch.

"Guess I'll be sleeping on the floor--"

"What? No, you got to sleep on something comfortable," Mizuki offered the guest bedroom.

"No, Mizuki, you can sleep there. I'll just sleep on the floor--"

"I have lice on the floor, Mr. Moon," Ms. Crawly uttered innocently. "I was getting the pest control to take care of it by the end of this week."

Buster blinked while blushing madly. "Alright...fine. That way I don't have to shave off my entire fur."

"Wouldn't lice get on the bed too?" Mike questioned.

Ms. Crawly shook her head. "Oh no, no, they don't like clean sheets and mattress."

"And the sheets are--"

"Clean, my dear," Ms. Crawly answered Mizuki's question before the doe could finish.

Buster blushed madly more. "Uh...okay. Goodnight."

The koala and the antelope entered the guest bedroom. Ms. Crawly smiled giddily as Mike tapped on her dress.

"Is there really lice on the floor?" Mike whispered to Ms. Crawly.

Ms. Crawly glanced to see Buster and Mizuki getting ready for bed and then shifted her focus on Mike, shaking her head with a discreet wink from her real eye. Mike gasped while holding in his burst of laughter with all of his might to not mess up the lie Ms. Crawly created.

Meanwhile, Buster and Mizuki were carefully changing their clothes since there's 'lice' on the floor. Buster just took off his shirt and tie and crumbled them under the pillow, leaving just the pants on while Mizuki went into the bathroom in the guest bedroom to change.

"So, how excited are you about rehearsals tomorrow?" Mizuki asked from the bathroom.

Buster took a heavy breath while covering his body with the blanket. "Uh...I'm a bit nervous. I feel bad for putting pressure on them. I didn't mean to stress them out but...I had to put a show on because I got nothing to pay back the bank with."

"I know. But we'll get through it."

Buster smiled genuinely at Mizuki's positivity. "Hopefully."

Mizuki opened the bathroom door with a purple tank top on with purple shorts that went up past her knees. She stretched her limbs as Buster was blushing madly looking at her. He immediately curled up on the corner of the bed, never really sharing it with someone before--especially if they're meant to be a friend.

Mizuki arched a brow. "What's wrong?"

"Oh...nothing...I-I never shared a bed with anyone before. I'm afraid that I'll roll on top of you or you will roll on top of me--"

Mizuki noticed the way he stumbled over his words and he would ramble on and on just made her smile a bit. Buster stopped mid-sentence while gazing at her with blue sparkling eyes staring into his hazel ones.

The doe smiled a bit with a blush on her cheeks while sitting on the bed. "Well, if you are worried about us rolling on top of each other--" Mizuki began to pick up the pillows to create a pillow wall between her and Buster to give them equal amount of room to sleep.

"See?" Mizuki pointed out. "Problem solved." With that, she yawned and switched off the lights. "Goodnight, Buster."

Buster turned over with a soft smile in the thought of Mizuki. "Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams," Mizuki mumbled and began to fall asleep.

Buster frowned at the thought of returning to the dream world, where his nightmares were fueled by the past he would not like to remember. Not wanting to freak Mizuki out with his constant nightmares, he tried to keep his eyes open so that he wouldn't fall asleep and live through a hell of a nightmare. He didn't know if he'll hurt her if she's next to him but he hated the thought of her getting hurt because of his subconscious mind. The koala felt the blanket pulling away from him, causing him to shiver. He turned back to see Mizuki taking all the blanket without meaning to.

Buster arched a brow as he rested his head on his arms and just stared at the wall, trying to find something interesting to keep him awake. However, his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier while his body was begging for him to fall asleep. Buster tried to keep himself awake but it failed since his body's desire to sleep was a lot more powerful than his willing mind to stay awake.

~.~

"N-No...please...leave her alone."

Mizuki flicked her ears with a groan, hearing Buster muttering something in his sleep. She fluttered her eyes open and turned over to see that she's hoarding the blanket while Buster didn't have any. She sighed to herself and threw the blanket over the koala to warm him up.

"No--stop it!" Buster cried as he clutched the sheets of the bed, shocking Mizuki.

Mizuki was confused about what's going on, watching him toss and turn with anguish in his face.

The doe never seen her boss in this state before and she's afraid that she didn't know what nightmares were lingering in his mind. Buster was breathing heavily like he tried to cling onto something but was falling and falling into a darker hole.

Mizuki immediately tossed the pillow wall aside and scooted up next to him to hold him, that way he'll know that she's here for him. Buster turned over and buried his face into her chest, sobbing into it.

"I'm so sorry...I'm so so sorry. I didn't...I wasn't...I'm sorry."

Mizuki couldn't tell if Buster was awake and apologizing to her or to someone else in his dream. He clutched onto her shirt, not fully aware that he's holding onto Mizuki.

Buster began to calm down while holding onto her shirt and muttering something incoherent. The tears were still spilled but he didn't sob any more loudly in her chest. Mizuki stroked his head to calm him down like she's calming a scared animal. Mizuki noticed Buster fully asleep as she drifted off the sleep as well.

~.~

In the next morning, Buster and Mizuki weren't held closely as they were last night. A bit more far apart but it's not to the point where Buster couldn't reach her. Buster yawned to wake up in the morning as he kneaded on the mattress and then on Mizuki's chest by pure accident. He immediately snapped his eyes open and noticed his face close to her chest. He blushed wildly as he immediately jumped back away from her, almost falling off the bed.

Mizuki was still surprisingly asleep from the minor freak-out Buster had. His face was red as he immediately put on his shirt and tie. The koala put on his shoes quickly and exited out of the guest bedroom, looking forward to Ms. Crawly's breakfast...only to be met by Mike's smug smirk in the early morning.

"Morning, sleepy beauty," Mike playfully teased. "How's your beauty sleep with your lover?"

"Mike," Buster whispered harshly. "Not now."

Mike chuckled quietly. "Hey, man, you and Mizuki look cute together."

"I--we--" Buster was trying to think of a way to explain while looking back to see Mizuki's sleeping figure still on the guest bedroom. He sighed heavily with his ears dropped down slightly.

Mike lost his smug grin when he noticed Buster's facial expression slowly turning sad. "Hey, you okay?"

There's a pause as Buster rolled his blue eyes.

"I can't stop thinking about her," Buster uttered sadly.

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Well...yeah. I mean, I have these feelings for her when she's with her boyfriend but I-I can't act on them because I know she's in a relationship with him," Buster vented to Mike.

"And...now that she doesn't have a boyfriend anymore...what about now?"

"It feels like I'm going...I'm going to explode when I'm near her. And the fact that she still stay with me despite all the rough times...it just leaves me conflicted."

"Conflicted?"

"Yeah, on whether I should just ask her out or just leave these feelings be."

"I think you should. To be honest, I think she likes you too."

"No...no...why would she go for a guy like me?"

"What do you mean by that?" Mike asked with his head tilted in confusion.

Buster sighed heavily. "I'm a theater nerd who just...fails at everything. And I barely had any friends besides you guys at the theater. And...Babeesh was more--"

"Abusive than you," Mike finished Buster's sentence for him.

"Yeah, yeah...but someone who's nicer than Babeesh would be good for her."

"And you're not nicer than Babeesh?"

Buster groaned deeply. "I'm afraid I'm going to end up hurting her."

"By...what?"

"I don't know...anything I could accidentally do or say in my sleep."

Mike blinked and then he gasped in realization. "So, that's what I heard last night."

"What?"

"You talking in your sleep," Mike pointed out. "I mean, I wasn't fully awake when I heard you but I heard you sobbing in your sleep."

"Yeah."

There's a brief pause.

"Do you always get nightmares?"

"Not always...just a few days a week."

"That's still too much, man."

Buster sighed.

"So you think she wouldn't like you because you were sobbing and scared in your sleep?"

"That's part of it."

Mike pondered about it. "But you were perfectly fine when she was holding you. It's like your nightmares just vanished when she's holding you. So...I don't think that part will bother her."

"You don't even know half the nightmares I have. Some of them would cause me to lose control of myself."

"Okay, then tell me one that's so violent that makes you crazy or scared. Or maybe it would make you wet your bed--"

"I don't wet on my bed--"

"Hey, I've seen people do it when they have bad nightmares."

Buster was about to sit down until he was reminded that they were mice sleeping on the couch. He stopped and stood up with a sigh. "I have nightmares about my dad. Occasionally."

Mike tilted his head while leaning forward to take interest in the nightmare he had. "Okay...so daddy issues? I mean, that's okay if you do have daddy issues. I have severe daddy issues but uh...it didn't end up well."

"No, not exactly," Buster uttered sadly. "I kept dreaming that I was constantly losing him. He kept dying in front of me over and over again like a replay in my head."

Mike arched a brow. "How did he die...exactly?"

Buster glanced at Mike, who just stared at him quizzically. Buster just stared at the wooden floor with a sigh. "He...got into a fight with somebody. And...I was trying to break him up with someone. But...I didn't know my own strength or I barely touch him that I just...pushed Dad into the streets without meaning to. Then a truck hit him and...he got run over by it."

Mike had his eyes widened. "That's...sounds pretty traumatizing."

"I guess it was...I kept seeing blood on my hands in those dreams and I had to watch him die over and over again."

"How old were you when it happened?"

"Fifteen."

Mike pondered for a second. Wait a minute...a fifteen year old was able to push an adult by accident into the streets. How could that happened unless it takes all of Buster's strength to push his father into the streets?

Ms. Crawly walked out of her bedroom and ambled into the kitchen. "Good morning, Mr. Moon, Mike."

"Sup, Glassy Eye," Mike replied with a nod.

Buster gave Mike a stern gaze while Mike shrug.

"Well, I debated whether I should call her Lizard brain or not but that sounds racist to amphibians," Mike responded to Buster's gaze.

Buster arched a brow up. "Ms. Crawly's a reptile."

"Oh, sorry," Mike uttered quickly.

Mizuki walked out on cue, dressed like she's ready to go. "Good morning, everyone."

"Uh...good morning, Mizuki," Buster stuttered with a wave.

"Hey, Buster."

"I made muffins!" Ms. Crawly announced from the kitchen.

Everyone smiled at Ms. Crawly's announcement as they went into the kitchen and ate the muffins Ms. Crawly made. 

To Be Continued...