THE BAD GUYS IN: raising princess

Skillet concert

A request from Flashbolt157ninja

Princess was lying belly-down on her bed, legs swaying lazily in the air as she flipped a page of The Corpse Bride: A Monster Love Novel. The dim glow of her reading lamp bathed the pages in warm light, and her fluffy white tail occasionally twitched when something dramatic happened in the book.

Eddie was nearby, lounging upside-down in her beanbag chair with a half-empty bag of popcorn resting on his chest. He was doodling something in his sketchpad—a zombie alien princess riding a rocket unicorn, naturally.

"This book is so weird but so good," Princess said, eyes still glued to the page.

"That one with the undead bride and the cyclops husband?" Eddie asked, not looking up. "Did they already fight off the banshee ex-girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Princess said with a grin. "She tried to possess the wedding cake. It was insane."

Suddenly, Princess's phone buzzed beside her pillow. She picked it up and read the text, her eyes widening.

Jeff: You and Eddie free tonight? Got backstage passes to a Skillet concert. Starts at midnight. Diego and his crew are coming too.

"Holy catnip," she breathed. "Eddie!"

"What? What?" He dropped his sketchpad.

She turned her screen toward him. "Look!"

Eddie's eyes grew wide. "No way. Skillet? Tonight?!"

"Backstage passes! This is huge!"

Eddie's jaw dropped. "No way! That's insane!" He quickly added, "Okay, let me ask my mom real quick."

"Okay, I'll tell Wolf," Princess said, grabbing her phone and skipping downstairs.

Later on, Princess was at her vanity mirror, brushing her long white fur and humming to herself when a text popped up on her phone.

Jeff: You and Eddie wanna come to the Skillet concert tonight? Got backstage passes. It's gonna be insane. Midnight to 2AM. Diego's crew is coming too.

Her eyes lit up like sparklers on New Year's. She spun around, phone in hand, and bolted down the hall.

"Hey wolf!" she called, poking her head into Mr. Wolf's study.

Wolf, sitting in his armchair with a cup of chamomile tea and a newspaper, looked up from his reading glasses. "What's up, Princess?"

She skipped into the room, beaming. "Sooooo, Jeff got backstage passes to a Skillet concert tonight. Starts at midnight and ends at two. Me, Eddie, Diego, the whole pack it's going to be epic! Can I go? Pweeeeease?"

She hit him with the full force of her pink eyes, ears tilted adorably, tail swishing like a heart-shaped pendulum.

Wolf blinked. "Oh sweetie, Nope."

Princess gasped. "WHAT? Why not?!"

Wolf calmly folded his newspaper and set it aside. "Because it's a school night. Because midnight is when normal people are asleep. And because Skillet means loud music, crowds, chaos, and strangers bumping into you. That's like my personal version of a heart attack."

"But I'll be with my friends!" she argued.

"Exactly why I'm worried," he replied without missing a beat.

Princess huffed. "Ugh! You are so overprotective!"

"I call it 'being a dad,'" Wolf said, sipping his tea with a relaxed smile.