Care bears: UTM short stories

'Cause of you

Grumpy stared down at his work, feeling his eyes hollow and his head aching and fuzzy from fatigue. He aggressively cranked his wrench at the bolt, tightening it for the fifth time in an effort to make at least some progress.

Besides, it was the easiest way to mindlessly distract himself.

He lifted his head up the inspect his work bench with a strained glare.

"I need a fourteen.. Fourteen.." He muttered to himself as he scanned the bench, before exclaiming and grabbing a couple of bolts sitting near the edge of the table.

He began inserting them in, before a spring came loose and the device fell apart. "UUgh! No, I needed a seven, not fourteen why did I-!"

He grumbled and dumped the broken device down, before scavenging a few pieces and restarting. He had to get it done. He had to.

There was a rustling from outside the work room as Funshine waltzed in with a burrito.

"Grumffy whaffs going on dude?" He asked through a mouthful as Grumpy jumped in a startle. Funshine swallowed before speaking again, "It's like, midnight,"

Grumpy grunted in annoyance and continued his work. "I'm just getting a job done."

Funshine tilted his head in uncertainty.

"But it's late, you should be resting," His voice took a bit of a softer tone as he stepped forward to see what Grumpy was working on.

"We got lots to do tomorrow after we almost lost the seed of caring. The whiffles are crank-ky," He added.

Grumpy inhaled sharply and tensed as Funshine mentioned the close shave with the seed of caring. "Yea, exactly, i need to get this done before tomorrow." He snapped in vexation.

Funshine stepped back with his paws up in defence.

"Hey, geez! I'm just worried is all," He said irritably, before deciding it best to leave Grumpy alone. He headed for the exit, but paused for a moment as something seemed to tug at his heart. He turned and looked back at Grumpy, who was tensely cranking with his wrench again, and frowned thoughtfully.

"Uhh, Grumpy?" Funshine said as he turned and stepped back into the room.

"What?" He grumbled, feeling a headache come on.

"You okay?"

Grumpy gave a muted grumble and continued tensely working. "Yes, Funshine. I'm fine."

Funshine narrowed his eyes in concern, taking another bite of his tasty burrito. It seemed Grumpy was too... well, grumpy to talk. Funshine thought he'd try to make him feel better some other way. He went back over to Grumpy and held the food out to him.

"Hey, you wanff somff?" He asked, stray bits flying out of his mouth as he asked.

Grumpy silently shook his head and continued glaring at his work, as if it was a difficult chore just to keep his eyes open. Usually Funshine would shrug it off at this point, and leave Grumpy to himself. But this was different, none of the bears had seen him leave the work room since the entire fiasco with the seed and the damaged whiffles homes.

Of course, Share had tried coaxing him out with treats as well as trying to get him to talk, but she was just too gentle and Grumpy wouldn't give in. Cheer, Dibble and even Good Luck all tried talking with him, but he'd just grumble to himself and keep working.

Funshine waved the burrito in Grumpy's face.

"Are you suuuure?" He probed, trying to make it seem like a fun thing to do, a tactic he often used to get children on Earth to respond.