Work Text:
Tiny rat was the coolest, most popular rat in town. She was pretty, smart and nice to everyone. But she felt deeply alone and misunderstood. One day, she was hanging out with boyfriend rat at a park. Tiny rat was wearing her nicest rat outfit, and she was carrying her little rat purse with the last book she was reading about anarchism.
“… and that’s why I think the book is really interesting, because it demonstrates with examples how the system is inherently- boyfriend rat, are you even listening?!” She asked, her little rat face being as angry as it physically could.
“Hahah tiny rat, you’re so cute when you’re mad” said boyfriend rat.
“Don’t call me cute, I’m actually angry! You never listen to me! Not even when I talk about serious topics!”
“Ugh, that’s not true. Besides, that book is just a bunch of paper. We should eat it.” boyfriend rat dismissed her with his little rat hand.
“That’s it, I’m breaking up with you!”
“Tiny rat, don’t be like that! Ughh you always get mad at the smallest things.”
“It’s over. Goodbye.” Tiny rat picked up her pink rat purse and left.
_____________
“Come on tiny rat, we’re leaving” mom rat said knocking the door.
“Ugh, I’m coming…” tiny rat had been crying for breaking up with now ex-boyfriend rat.
“Tiny rat? What happened?” Mom rat went into the room and saw tiny rat.
“I… broke up with my rat boyfriend, he didn’t understand me… I just feel so alone!”
“Awww, my sweet tiny rat. You deserve someone who will love you for who you are, if he didn’t try to understand your feelings then he wasn’t the right rat partner for you.” Mom rat hugged tiny rat with her little rat arms.
“Thanks rat mom, I love you.”
“I love you too, tiny rat. Now, you should finish packing. Going to the cabins in that small town for Christmas will be good for you.”
Tiny rat nodded and went to prepare her things.
The whole trip, tiny rat listened to her favorite music, like Rat Sk8er Boi by Rat Avril Lavigne, and rat k-pop, and the music from naked rat guitarist the sleep paralysis demon.
Finally, they got to the small town where they would spend the holidays. The family went to that small town every year to visit mom rat’s sister and her family. After tiny rat had left her things in her room, she went downstairs to meet everyone.
“Hey tiny rat!” greeted cousin rat, her older cousin.
“Hello, cousin rat” said tiny rat, with little energy.
After greeting everyone, cousin rat took tiny rat aside and asked:
“You seem kinda down, tiny rat. Did something happen?”
“Yeah, I broke up with my rat boyfriend. He was a dick, totally deserved it, but I’m still kinda sad it didn’t work…”
“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that. But hey, if you wanna cheer up, we can go down to the lake. We can go watch the sunset, it should be pretty empty at this hour”
“Sure! That sounds fun.”
After talking to their mom, cousin rat took tiny rat to the lake near the house. In their walk, tiny rat explained a bit more of her situation, and how her rat boyfriend didn’t want to listen to her talk about her anarchism book.
“Girlll what the hell, that dude wouldn’t see fun if you put it right in front of him!”
“Heh, right…”
Suddenly, cousin rat’s phone started to vibrate.
“Mom? He swallowed WHAT? IS HE ALRIGHT??? ok, ok. I’ll go.” Then, cousin rat turned off the phone and said “I’m sorry tiny rat, I have to go. My little rat brother ate half a lego set and needs to be rushed to the hospital, but I’m the only one in my family who knows how to drive. I gotta go back.”
“Oh no, well… I don’t really know how to help, but let’s go.”
“If you don’t want to go you can go later. It’s gonna be a mess. If you keep walking down that path you’ll make it to the lake in like 5 minutes, you should still make it to see the sunset.”
“Oh, thanks! Good luck with your rat brother.”
“Byee” and cousin rat ran off.
Tiny rat kept walking, and just like cousin rat said she got to the lake a bit before sunset. She sat down on a bench and waited while listening to music with her rat cable earphones.
Suddenly, when Rat Sk8er Boi started to play again, she heard a voice from behind her.
“No way, you like Rat Avril Lavigne?” Tiny rat turned around, and found a tall, beautiful, badass rat standing. Then, she noticed her rat earphones weren’t fully plugged in, so her music was blasting out loud!
“Ah- that’s so embarrassing…” she said while plugging her rat earphones all the way.
“It happens. Can I sit?” said the other rat. Tiny rat moved from the middle of the bench so there was enough space for the other rat to sit. She sat down gracefully, although she also had an intimidating rat aura.
They watched the sunset in silence. Tiny rat looked at the beautiful rat beside her and couldn’t help but stare a bit.
“Like the view?” Said the other rat. Quickly, tiny rat turned her head and looked at the sunset reflected on the lake.
“Y-yeah…”
“I haven’t seen you around here.”
“Ah, I’m from the Rat Big City. I have some family here, I’m cousin rat’s cousin”
“Ooh, cousin rat!”
“You know them?”
“Yeah, they tutor me for math. Not the cheapest tutor, haha, but they do help.”
“You’re in high school too?” Tiny rat wished they could be classmates.
“Yep, senior year.”
“No way, me too!”
They talked a while about the many things they liked, like Rat Avril Lavigne, when suddenly, the tall rat noticed the book poking out of tiny rat’s cute tote bag.
“Girl, that book is so goooood! Are you still reading it?”
“This? Ah- yeah, I’m almost done. I’m taking my time tho, because there’s not many books like this at my local library.”
“I have tons of books like that, are you staying for long? You can borrow them if you have time to read.”
Tiny rat was touched. No one had ever shown that much interest in her expanding her knowledge. “I- that would be amazing. I have a couple of weeks, I should be able to finish something.”
“Ah, it’s getting dark, I should head back home. Can I get your rat phone number?”
Tiny rat shyly took out her phone and opened a new contact “Here.”
When she finished typing the rat number, the other rat said “You can text me if you’d like. We can meet up again soon.” Then, she began to walk away.
Suddenly, tiny rat realized they didn’t even know each other's names. “Ah- wait! I forgot to ask your…” The other rat had disappeared in the path leading away from the lake.
When tiny rat looked down, she saw the contact had a name on it.
It read:
Tall Rat <3
Tiny rat blushed and got closer to her phone.
She giggled and let out little excited rat squeaks, wondering how her Christmas holiday would go now.