Title: Stella's Not So Shocking News Status: Complete Characters: Tracy, Anon Rating: SFW Classification: One-Shot Author: Happy_Birb Summary: Anon is relaxing on a park bench, enjoying a quiet fall afternoon. Things take a turn when he has a meeting with a local hotdog vendor and learns about her past. Anon Y. Mous was sitting on a park bench, enjoying a cool fall afternoon. The sky was rather cloudy, but without the immediate threat of rain. It was Sunday, a day Moe let him have off. Thankfully it was the afternoon, so he didn’t have Rosa asking him to come to church with her. While he appreciated the offer, Catholic mass tends to be rather long. As he sat, enjoying the sounds of people going about their days, he heard rushed footsteps, somebody was in a hurry. Along with the footsteps was what sounded like paws on concrete. A voice yelled out “Bun! Get back here boy!” Anon knew that voice, and soon he saw a Dachshund in a hotdog costume running down the path, leash flailing as it ran. He would stand up, readying himself to grab the dog. While grabbing the leash would have been easier, it would hurt the dog. Instead, Anon chose to try to block the dog, but the dog would run between his legs. He tried to grab the dog, only to somehow end up with the leash in his hand as the dog ran around him, the leash tangling around his legs and pulling him down like an AT-AT right out of Star Wars. As he stood up, leash in hand, none other than the hotdog vendor Tracy would appear, running down the path. “Anon! I’m so sorry, he normally isn’t like this! Are you two ok?” She asked, helping the two untangle. Anon gave a chuckle, trying to act like he hadn’t just been taken down by a dog that weighed twenty pounds at most. “It’s fine Tracy, just caught me a bit by surprise, that’s all.” He stood up and dusted himself off, holding the leash still. He looked down at the dog, who did not look happy. “Can you hold him for a minute Anon?” Tracy asked “It’s hard to walk him and move the cart at the same time, I just need to get my cart before the pigeons get any funny ideas.” Anon would just give her a nod, he understood the birds here were aggressive with unguarded food, he’s lost more than one snack to the local seagulls. Tracy would run off, leaving Anon alone with the dog. Anon would sit back down on the bench, the dog putting his front paws on the bench, clearly wanting to get up. Anon would pick up the dog gently, sitting the little beast next to him and taking a moment to read the dog’s collar tag. “Bun? Well you’re definitely Tracy’s dog. Lemme guess, you just don’t like being in that costume huh?” Bun looked back with an expression that almost felt like the dog was agreeing. Anon would take a quick look around to be sure Tracy wasn’t back yet before undoing the velcro that held the costume on, putting it next to Bun. Tracy would return, this time at a more relaxed pace, pushing her hotdog cart along. When she got to Anon and Bun, she would immediately hand anon a chili dog with extra cheese. “On the house Anon, since you wrangled Bun for me.” Anon would give a thumbs up before taking the chili dog and taking a bite. He would finish the bite before speaking, he wasn’t some savage that spoke with his mouth full. “No problem Tracy, I’d do it again without the reward. I think Bun here was just hoping to get out of the costume, must have been uncomfortable.” Tracy would take a seat on the other side of Bun and give him a scratch behind the ears. “I thought having this little guy in the costume would make for a good mascot, drive up sales you know? Plus I felt bad leaving him at home all day. Guess that didn’t work out how I planned." By this point Anon had reduced the chili dog down to a single bite, when Bun put his front paws on Anon’s leg and gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. “Oh fine, but only because you’re cute.” He said as he held out the small bite of hot dog, which Bun happily devoured in an instant. “Did you even have time to taste that Bun? That was way too fast.” His question got a chuckle out of Tracy. “Hey Tracy, can I ask you something?” Tracy gave a nod, her hand still scratching Bun behind the ears. “Why hot dogs? Yeah they’re nice and all, but of all the things you could cook, why hot dogs?” Tracy paused for a moment, even the scratches she was giving Bun stopped. She turned away from Anon before she spoke. “It’s honestly kinda embarrassing and… I think kids your age would say cringe?” Anon gave a slightly uncomfortable chuckle. “Kids my age do say the word cringe, but I’m sure it’s not that bad. Whatever it is, I'm not judging.” Tracy would nod, still not looking at Anon as she spoke. “When I was in high school, there was this guy. We met in math class, it felt like love at first sight. Sure we were from really different backgrounds, but we had a spark going. When we finally worked up the courage to confess to each other, we had our first date at a hot dog place. Sure it was greasy cheap food, but it was special to us.” Anon would give her a small pat on the back. “That’s honestly real sweet, that isn’t a bad thing. Hell, I know I’ll think about Fang every time I see a box of dino nuggets in a store. No shame there Tracy.” Tracy would nod “Thank you Anon. Hey, would you mind helping me walk Bun and my cart back to my place? I think I see storm clouds, but we’re close enough that we can get my cart back inside before the rain starts.” Anon would stand up, helping Bun off the bench before tucking the costume under his arm. “Lead the way Tracy.” She gave a smile and began to push her cart, leading Anon towards her home. There was a period of quiet as they walked, Anon didn’t want to rush to ask too many questions, but knowing about Tracy’s past was just too tempting. After some walking, he would decide to speak up. “So this guy must have been really special. What was he like?” Tracy would respond with a softer tone than usual. “He was honestly just so nice, really understanding. Didn’t hurt that he had a cute face too. I wonder if he ever grew that mustache he joked about.” Not many people actually had mustaches, with Moe being the only dino with a mustache he could think of off the top of his head. “What kind of dino was he?” Tracy gave a small giggle. “You aren’t going to believe this, but he was actually a human. Not a Neanderthal like your Principal, something more like you actually.” The two approached a small single story home with a garage and a beat up pick up truck in the driveway. “Nice place you got here Tracy. Honestly, I thought you’d have an apartment.” Tracy nudged him with her elbow. “Nah, you thought wrong. Got this place from my gramma in her will, so I can actually afford it. Lemme open the garage.” She would walk away, opening the front door and going inside before the garage door was opened by her pulling a rope. Tracy would roll the cart into the garage, Anon following close behind. “Let me get you a drink, you walked all this way, least I can do is get you a soda.” Tracy would lead Anon inside, with Bun finally being let off the leash and free to run around the house. “Just take a seat anywhere” Tracy said as she walked into her kitchen. Anon would take a seat on the couch in her living room, a piece of furniture which definitely showed that the previous owner of the house was a much older woman, nobody else would get a couch with such a gaudy pattern. Her home was modest and humble, a few framed pictures on the walls, a bless this mess sign, and her tv had a small box with wires under it that looked like… wait, was Tracy stealing cable with a modified cable box? Tracy would return and hand Anon a can of soda, some kind of off brand soda you’d get at Walmart. Not one to turn down a free drink, he opened it and took a sip. It tasted like somebody explaining the flavor of a more popular soda more than it tasted like an actual soda. Tracy would sit on a separate couch perpendicular to the one he sat on. “So Anon, I told you some things about myself, how about I ask you some questions?” Anon smiled and nodded “Sure Tracy, sounds fair. As long as you aren’t asking me to help you keep stealing cable.” Tracy chuckled a little, she trusted Anon not to tell anybody, even if his girlfriend’s dad was a cop. “I know your name is Anon, but what’s your last name?” Anon had more expected a question about him and Fang, given the previous topic of conversation, but this was fine too. “It’s Mous. Anon Y. Mous.” Tracy suddenly had a weird look in her eyes, but Anon couldn’t figure out exactly what it meant. “Is Mous a common human last name Anon?” Was she shaking? It seemed like she was shaking, just a little. “No? I don’t think so at least. Dad said it was pretty rare.” Before he could say any more, Tracy asked another question. “Your dad, I imagine you have his last name. What’s his first name?” Before Anon could make a joke about identity theft, Tracy gave him an actually serious look, one that told him this was not a time for jokes. “Pseudon, his name is Pseudon.” Tracy would say nothing as she stood up, going back to the kitchen and returning a few moments later with a bottle of cheap beer, sitting next to Anon. “Promise you won’t tell anybody what I’m about to tell you, got it?” Anon nodded, not sure what was happening, though he was admittedly a bit concerned about Tracy. “The guy I talked about, my high school sweetheart, I didn’t tell you what happened to him. We graduated together, we talked all the time about opening a restaurant together, maybe talking to the owner of the place we went on our first date, he was a family friend of a mutual friend. Well one day he just vanished, nobody knew where he went. He had been staying with extended family when we had met because of some kind of really bad family drama, and his uncle said he had no idea where he went. I didn’t believe him, but it wasn’t like I could get any answers out of him. He didn’t tell me anything, didn’t leave a note, and it wasn’t like anything suggested he had been kidnapped. He just vanished from my life, never saw him again.” Anon tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she would gently push his hand away. She would drink her entire beer in one go. Bun would sit down by her feet as she pulled her wallet out of her pocket, taking out a worn down photo. “I never really moved on from him.” She said as she held it out for Anon to see. He held it gently, his mouth slowly opening. Instead of words, he couldn’t find a way to say anything as he looked at the picture. The picture showed Tracy in a second hand prom dress, and a tall human man about his age in a suit. He recognized that exact suit, and that told him exactly who was wearing it. That was Anon’s suit, and only one person had worn that suit before Anon was… “Anon, I loved him. I know that’s a lot to hear from somebody who just gives you hotdogs, but…” She couldn’t find any words either, they both sat in silence as Anon held the prom photo of Tracy and his father as young sweethearts. Anon would gently put his arm on her shoulder, letting her lean on him. “Maybe we should just sit here for a little bit.” He would finally manage to say, not able to look Tracy in the eyes. In truth, Tracy couldn’t look him in the eyes either, all she saw was the eyes of her long lost love.