The pick flew over the strings as the music flowed. The riff, the sound, the feel of the guitar and pick in her hands, all of these sensations worked to give Lammy the confidence she needed to break the shell. When she and her friends had these jam sessions it was like her whole world opened up. It was times like this when she felt like she could conquer the world.
As the song came to a close, Lammy let a sigh escape her lips. The fun and freedom of playing the guitar was well worth it, but it was still exhausting. As Katy and Ma-san put down their instruments and the band took a water break, Ma-san spotted something. “Hey, isn’t that Parappa?” Her usual dialect was slowed, usually symbolizing something concerning. Katy and Lammy both looked and indeed there was the rapping pup, but the young dog definitely was not in the same mood he tended to be in. His shoulders were slouched, his eyes were misty and half-lidded, and his steps were slow, almost aimless.
Lammy’s heart broke when she saw Parappa in this state, she wanted so badly to just run up and hug him but she also was nowhere near close enough to him. She liked the young dog, more than most, but she didn’t have the will nor the regular confidence to tell him. She couldn’t confess while playing guitar, vocal talent was not her forte.
As the dog faded from view, Katy came to hover over Lammy’s shoulder. The lamb was too caught up in her own thoughts to notice her friend coming right up to her ear. “You wanna go talk to him?” Lammy jumped and sprayed her water bottle all over herself and the playful cat. The feline couldn’t help but chuckle even though she was now wet. “W-w-what?! I can’t talk to him…” she blushed slightly at the prospect of actually approaching Parappa, “I’ll just make him feel worse… knowing how I talk…”
Katy however, was not hearing this, “Lammy, you’ve been doing so much better after we started playing concerts. Didn’t you tell me about all that crazy stuff that happened before our first gig?”
“Well, yeah…” Lammy couldn’t help but hear the truth in Katy’s words, she had gone through a lot, all without a real guitar. Heck she had been practically drafted into a hospital to care for babies without a single day of training and that whole story only made Katy drive the point home“Then this should be no problem for you.” Lammy looked up and took notice that the sun was visible, the late afternoon was here. She stood, almost chugging what was left of her water. “Alright Katy, here I go.” With that, she grabbed two more water bottles from the cooler, left her guitar where it sat, and began her search.
Early evening in PaRappa Town was definitely a lot less chaotic than it usually was. Lammy walked and searched for the dog for a good long while. A few more moments and she was about to give it up, then she got a glimpse. She hurried over to where she saw him and then froze, there he was, staring at an old poster. With a hand on her arm, out of old habits, she approached. Parappa stared at an old poster of himself, he had started doing his own shows for a while now. Lammy should’ve guessed something was up. She kept track of his shows and even watched them when time allowed, but only recently had he actually canceled a show, for the first time since he started.
Lammy looked at the poster and noticed one crucial detail, Sunny Funny, she was often there with him but only once did they ever do a song together, the girl needed practice but had a measure of raw talent. “H-hey Parappa, y-you doing alright?” Lammy tried to stifle her stutter but it still managed to rear its ugly head. Parappa for his part was surprised to hear someone was there with him. He wiped fresh tears out of his eyes, trying to keep them hidden. “Oh… hey Lammy, I’m fine.” The dog sniffled, obviously lying but still not telling. “Just ahhh, remembering that show… it was a good one.” He stayed silent for a while, Lammy became more unsure about this but she was here for a reason. An arm extended out, holding a bottle of water, “Y-you should stay hydrated.” She was blushing hard but thankfully Parappa was looking at the bottle and not her face. “Hm…. thanks.” He took it almost half-heartedly, unscrewing the bottle and sipping it. His eyes widened slightly at the still cool liquid, a sip turned into a few deep gulps and a gasp for air. “Jeez, guess I needed that more than I thought. Thanks Lammy.”
Parappa had become distracted by the rockstar sheep, he hadn’t been taking care of himself and he knew it. The water broke the ice better than either of them could have alone. “Thanks for that Lammy, I really needed it.” The two began walking away from the poster but it still resounded in the sheep’s mind as one reason why the pup was down. “S-so… do you wanna talk about it?” she pried, remembering the whole reason why she had pursued him in the first place. “Oh, uuuh, not really.” He looked away, frowning at the whole thing before sighing, he couldn’t help it with Lammy. “Actually it’s Sunny…”
Now it was Lammy’s turn to frown, “Trouble in paradise?”
“That’s putting it lightly…. we broke up… hard”
“O-oh… that’s awful.” Lammy couldn’t help but feel some small measure of happiness, she’d always felt jealous of the sunflower, but now she didn’t dare let that feeling grow. She wasn’t the kind of sheep to move in after someone else left. “What happened?”
“Everything!” Parappa exclaimed and Lammy flinched, not used to the dog lashing out. However after a moment of fuming in silence he took a breath, calming his nerves before speaking again. “I did all that stuff to be with her. I learned how to drive, how to cook, I even sang and got a job for her. Then, after we started going steady, she began asking me to do things for her, buy stuff here, drive her there. At first I thought that she just needed my help, then the money just kept getting used, and I was driving her everywhere.” Lammy was frowning more and more. “She was using you?” Her voice was steady, her stutter gone as anger stabilized her mentally. Parappa, for his part, simply nodded and continued, “She always said she would stop asking once she managed to get on her feet, and she would stop if I told her off enough. That one show where she asked to sing on stage with me, it felt like she was actually trying to make something of herself… Then she asked me to help her set up her own gigs and it all fell apart. I told her that she had my support, but that I wanted us to perform together. I flipped a switch, she accused me of not wanting to support her and that if I really loved her I would give up everything to support her.” Lammy was holding back, the normally meek and shy lamb could not tolerate someone being manipulated like that. “What did you do?”
“I told her no, I told her that I couldn’t just drop everything and help her build her own career by herself. She called me a traitor, packed up her stuff and officially cut it off….”
Lammy stayed silent for a moment, they were approaching down town but the noise didn’t derail her. “Parappa… why didn’t you say anything?” She asked without letting her anger slip through. “Well, I wasn’t really open to talking to anyone, heck I haven’t even talked to my parents since the whole thing happened. I haven’t really been out much till today.”
Lammy sighed, her anger fading a little as she realized that it was all in the past and there really wasn’t much she could do about Sunny. The two of them were coming up to a theater and Lammy had an idea, “Well, since we’re here, how about we catch a movie?” Parappa blinked, looking up and seeing the theater right in front of them. He saw the posters, the titles and the people lined up, then he turned to see the sheep who was smiling gently down at her, he still hadn’t hit his growth spurt but he still had a few years left to get there. “Y’know, maybe we should. I think it’d be fun.” Lammy blushed slightly as they got in line, soon they were chatting about what was showing and almost gave up on choosing just one. Then they both spotted one last poster and geeked out for a moment over a recent release, they had found their film.
That motion picture was the start of something, it was small but it was still something. Parappa and Lammy had a great time and even went out for ice cream afterwards. They both had so much fun even if they both ended up with stomach aches the next day. Parappa soon became a regular guest at Milk Can’s jams and practice sessions, they even let the rapping dog join in sometimes. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much with the extra company. The fun had to take a pause though as the band had a concert coming up and practice took precedence over fun times. Despite this, Parappa found himself just enjoying the time spent with them, listening to Ma-san’s gibberish, watching Katy and Lammy mess with each other, it was all so enjoyable to be around. He didn’t dare discount the skill of the band, he found himself unable to look away from them as they played. His eyes found themselves lingering on a certain sheep girl who always played her heart out with the guitar in hand.
The date of the concert approached fast, and Parappa found himself wanting to spend more time with Lammy. He hadn’t even thought about Sunny since that night at the movies. Parappa gave it a lot of thought and made a decision. He was going to ask her out and he was determined to give it his best shot. Milk Can gave him a backstage pass just for being their number one fan and showing so much support, which made Parappa’s endeavor all the more simple. As Lammy leaned against an extra speaker, she tuned and experimentally strummed her guitar The sheep gave it a quick riff before she glanced up, spotting Parappa and waving him over. “Hey you made it!” she hurried over and gave him a brief hug, Parappa’s just managed to stop himself from blushing and he instead smiled. “You better knock ‘em dead today Lammy.” Parappa said nothing else, only pumping his fist and giving her a fist bump. Lammy returned it with a laugh, not usually her thing but a friendly gesture anyway. Her confidence had skyrocketed around Parappa and yet she still held off on asking him out. She thought it was still too soon after his break up with Sunny.
As the rest of Milk Can prepared to play, Lammy looked towards the stage and then back at Parappa. “You better be cheering me on the whole way.” Now it was Parappa’s turn to laugh. “Better Believe it!” He exclaimed and moved to his side of the stage. He waved to the few stage hands around and made sure not to get in the way as the band went on. The performance was better than the last time they had appeared on stage, he couldn’t deny that they seemed to get better and better every day. However, towards the end of the concert a familiar tune began to play, Parappa paused and looked around, noticing a mic being passed to him and Lammy looking right at him. “And now a very special surprise guest, Parappa theeee Rapperrrr!” The crowd exploded in cheers as the dog was gently pushed on stage. He looked out at the fans now cheering his name, and felt the spirit of the rapper come back to him. Parappa got into his groove and the lyrics flowed like a river. The crowd was electrified and so was Lammy, she’d never seen him sing up this close before.
The concert ended after a new collaboration song, Parappa actually got nervous about that one because they hadn’t practiced that often with it but the crowd still loved it. The band exited the stage and Parappa gave his brow a wipe. “Hydration time!” Katy called out as she ran over with bottles for everyone. Everyone drank heavily before Ma-san waved goodbye. Katy had to leave as well but offered Lammy a ride home, “Actually I wanted to talk with Lammy before she goes.” Parappa piped up before this entire operation was ruined by Katy by accident. Katy smiled and gave Parappa a knowing look, “Alright you too, stay out of trouble and get home safe.” Katy left almost too quickly, leaving the two of them all by themselves outside. The stage crew had already loaded the van up Katy drove and the two had nothing stopping them from leaving, save one thing. “Lammy… I wanted to thank you, ever since that night at the movies, the breakup with Sunny has felt like ancient history.” Lammy blushed and looked away, “I-i-it was nothing Parappa, we’re friends, and I wasn’t g-going to let you suffer like that.”
Parappa looked up at her and was now blushing himself, “Well, on top of that, these last few months have been really fun, it was awesome to hang out with you guys and performing with you was like a cherry on top of a hot fudge sundae….” Parappa had trouble now, he had all of last week to come up with the words and they still were hard to say. “It… it’s been a lot of fun to hang out with you especially and….” Lammy was blushing, not believing at first where this could be going but wanting it to go there all the same. “Would you like to go out… you know like, on a date? Lammy’s eyes widened, her heart began pounding and she couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping. Her face must have been as red as a tomato because Parappa seemed to pick up on what she was about to say, “Ah… are you… asking me to be your girlfriend?” Parappa rubbed the back of his head and looked sideways, “Y-yeah, you gotta believe y’know.” That catchphrase of his practically sealed the deal for her, “....yes….” she whispered.
Parappa blinked, then he blinked again as Lammy’s hands began trembling, “Yes?” he asked, almost not believing it himself. “Yes!!!” Lammy shouted, embracing parappa tightly before spinning in place with the dog in her arms. “Yes Yes Yes!!! You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to ask you too!!! This is a dream come true!!!” She couldn’t stop smiling or laughing, almost on the verge of happy tears and Parappa spun and laughed with her, unable to form words at this revelation.
The spinning came to a stop and both of them were panting slowly before realizing how close they were. The redness of their faces became more gentle, less pronounced as they both found their faces gravitating towards each other. “Parappa?” Lammy questioned this, wondering if it was moving too fast. The little dog couldn’t help but smile and simply nodded slightly before leaning forward and meeting her lips with his. Lammy froze but soon leaned into it, the new couple’s eyes closed as they enjoyed this moment. No one can predict the future, but these two knew that this new journey would be well worth it.
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This was my very first commission i ever did. It was done for https://www.deviantart.com/firefang3074 and I am so grateful for the business.
I will be continuing to write captions for commissioned pieces and hopefully moving into some fan fiction of my own. With that being said, commissions for stories are always open, and all proceeds from said commissions go right back into buying more art to caption and expand my own stories. You can DM me at:
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These characters belong to Rodney Alan Greenblatt.
Thank you all so much for your support.
Good Fortune to you, and Blessings of the Father upon you.