The Misadventures of Rotty Rotten and Shantacus

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/46173256.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/F
Fandom: Shantae (Video Games), LazyTown
Relationship: Rottytops/Shantae (Shantae)
Character: Shantae (Shantae), Rottytops (Shantae), Sky (Shantae)
Additional Tags: April Fools' Day, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, One Shot
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-04-01 Words: 5,496 Chapters: 1/1

The Misadventures of Rotty Rotten and Shantacus

by incorrectshantanon

Summary

It’s looking to be another typical day in Lazytown as the villainous Rotty Rotten readies her
latest scheme…but a twist of fate (and a twisted ankle) leads to a more domestic day spent
high in the air - which, surprisingly, Rotty doesn’t really mind.

(NOTE: The author of this fic has never actually watched Lazytown)

Notes

See the end of the work for notes

“Hehehehehe…this is going to be my greatest scheme yet!”

It was a rather pleasant day out in the small town of…well, Lazytown - the sun was shining, the
birds were singing, and a woman in red and purple was giggling maniacally to herself as she pushed
what looked to be an oversized arcade cabinet out into the park. So, overall, a typical Tuesday
really.

The woman in question was a common sight for the locals, unremarkable by this point, but for any
visitors, she’d stick out like a sore thumb. With garish green skin (which she never bothered to
explain), equally green hair, red eyes that glinted with mischief, and an outlandish outfit - a dark
blue shirt with no sleeves, exposing her shoulders and a tattoo of a stitch around her right arm, long
dark blue gloves with white cuffs around the wrists, and her headband, vest, and long pants, all of
which shared the same red and purple striped pattern - one would probably wonder if she was an
actor of some kind. And, to be fair, Rotty Rotten could be quite the actress when the time called,
but that was hardly what she was here for.

No, this was simply another effort to combat the problem in this town. The very consistent, blue-
clad problem that could not get the hint to mind her own business. Rotty Rotten still fondly
remembered the good ol’ days before the arrival of Shantacus (or Shantaflop, as she’d taken to
calling her): all she really did was lay down on her fluffy orange couch, watch TV, and enjoy the
quiet, blissful silence of her underground lair. A very nice, peaceful life, up until a massive blimp
had pulled up in the sky and a woman with tanned skin, wavy purple hair, and an (admittedly well-
crafted) blue outfit dropped down with a smile. Apparently, Shantacus had gotten it into her head
that she needed to help the locals live out a healthier lifestyle, which was, frankly, completely
ridiculous in Rotty’s eyes. This place literally had lazy in the name, thank you very much! She
could take her exercise and healthy dieting and go stuff it. And since no one else was bothering to
maintain the town’s pristine reputation, Rotty supposed it was up to her to get things under control.

Now, it’d been a year or so since then, and, well…had she succeeded even once? No, not really.
Was that going to stop her from trying? Also no! Shantaflop might be a consistent thorn in her side,
but Rotty Rotten prided herself on being an even bigger and more annoying thorn. She was not
going to stop anytime soon, and if Shantacus thought she would, she had another thing coming.
Like her latest scheme, for instance. A stroke of pure genius, if Rotty did say so herself. It was no
secret that Shantacus’ acrobatics were on a superhuman level, one that few could really hope to
match. And yesterday, as Rotty had been grumbling to herself about that after her latest defeat, a
thought occurred to her - she might not be able to match those flippy, fancy moves, but perhaps she
could make something that could emulate it?

Rotty may have lived underground, but she wasn’t blind. She’d caught on to how the kids of
Lazytown loved Shantacus (enough that resident new kid Skyphanie had ended up making herself
the woman’s sidekick), and she’d also caught on to how piggyback rides were a fairly common
request whenever the hero came down to teach. Clearly, the kids enjoyed the high speed thrills she
could provide with her own two legs, but Rotty could do one better. And so, she got to work. A bit
of coding there, a bit of engineering there, and a bit of artistic spice, and…bam! Rotten Raceway
was born, the high speed racing game for everyone to enjoy. Meant to authentically emulate the
feeling of high speed with a pair of hidden fans providing the wind, Rotten Raceway provided all
the fun of Shantacus’ fast-paced action, with the added fun of video games and approximately none
of the actual work.

And the best part? Completely hands-free! Juuuuuust to ensure that there was as minimal exercise
as possible, Rotty Rotten had ended up making the game a magic carpet race, with an actual carpet
serving as the game’s interface. All you had to do was lean a little bit when you wanted to move to
the sides or change your speed. It was perfect. Completely infalliable. Rotten Raceway would
completely absorb the kids’ attention, take up the niche that Shantacus had inadvertently provided
among the youth, and ensure they were just sitting around for most of the day on top of that! Wam,
bam, bye bye Shantacus, hello good, normal Lazytown! She really couldn’t think of a way this
could go wrong!

Though, that being said, actually setting up the game was a different story entirely. She was
giggling now, but wow this thing was heavy. Rotty was really glad she’d had the foresight to put
some wheels on the bottom of this thing, because frankly she couldn’t have moved it an inch
otherwise. She also had to get a lot of extension cords to make sure the game was plugged in, since
there wasn’t exactly an outlet out here. She’d been planning on getting a new TV with that money,
too…but whatever! It’d all be worth it. She could watch all the TV she wanted when Shantacus
was out of town. With a grin, Rotty Rotten let the wheels retract, letting the game cabinet down
with a heavy thunk.

“Alright, let’s see…” Rotty drawled, taking a moment to inspect the outside of the machine. The
shiny logo and aesthetics looked to be untouched, and after a full walk around she came to a stop,
nodding her head. “Outside’s completely good! Now, let’s just do a quick maintenance check
here…”
It was more of a formality than anything, but you could never be too careful. Pushing past the
black plastic strips to walk to the inside, Rotty critically eyed the blank screen inside for a moment
before pulling out a remote. She clicked one of the buttons, and-

“Fans, check,” Rotty nodded, feeling the cool breeze on her face and shoulders for a moment
before turning them off. She pressed another button, and the arcade screen lit up, going through a
demo display. “Screen, check…and controls-!”

She wiggled the joystick on the controller, but got nothing. Frowning, she wiggled it again,
keeping an eye on the carpeted metal platform, but still nothing. After a quick glance behind her,
Rotty got on the platform herself, leaning to the sides just as she intended - and there was no
movement at all. Which, considering she’d calibrated the exact tension of the platform with twelve
year olds in mind, was a bit of an issue.

“Oh, come on!” Rotty groaned, running her hands over her face before shooting a glare at the
traitorous machine. “I know for a fact that you weren’t jamming earlier!”

Actually, she didn’t, because she’d been working all night on this, and she knew she should have
double checked the mechanisms, but she also really wanted to sleep and trusted her ability to
engineer enough to leave it be, so she did. And her reward was this, apparently! Just to make
matters worse, her box of tools was all the way on the other side of town, and underground at that.
It probably wouldn’t be too hard to grab, if Rotty was being honest with herself, but she was
scheming and Shantacus was going to show up any minute and by goooooooo-llyyyyy (okay there
were no kids around to hear her internal monolgoue but she wasn’t taking the risk) she had not
gotten this far into her newfound villain career just for her Best Scheme Ever (patent pending) to be
thwarted by a simple jam. It’d be embarassing at this point!

“Move, you stupid-!” Rotty growled, planting one foot on the base of the control mechanism and
grabbing the carpet with both hands, pulling with all her might. Internally, Rotty cursed her
spaghetti limbs and, not for the first time, really wished she’d had Shantacus’ upper body strength,
because she could probably get this thing to budge with half the effort-

“What are you up to, Rotty?” -and, in hindsight, she probably should’ve seen this coming,
considering her luck, but somehow, it’d completely slipped her mind. She yelped, arms
pinwheeling as she startled at that oh-so-familiar voice who still somehow managed to sneak up on
her every time without even trying, and, well. In such a narrow space, there’s only so many ways
you can fall. With the slick plastic of the arcade cabinet not providing any traction, she twisted and
fell directly on her back, staring up at the blue sky as her ears registered a sound much like she
heard when she cracked her knuckles, and, not a moment later, a white hot flash of pain.

“That…sounded bad,” A young voice said above her with a wince, and Rotty’s eyes landed on
Skyphanie, the young girl wearing her usual blue and pink striped dress with a bird-shaped hairclip
tucked neatly into her hair. She looked into the arcade cabinet for a moment, a sharp hiss running
through her teeth, and then pulled out to look at Shantacus. “It’s not broken, is it?”

Well, Rotty would like to think she’d know if she’d broken a bone, but she also hadn’t exactly
been physically active enough to ever break one, so she couldn’t help the slight shot of panic in her
chest as the blue-clad hero’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully in response to Skyphanie’s question.
Shantacus was also wearing her usual outfit, that being a tracksuit with a distinct dark blue-light
blue pattern and a white stripe coming down across her torso, with a thinner orange line curving
across that stripe diagonally. Her blue vest, as always, sat unbuttoned, with two pins displaying the
number “10” on either side. Purple hair spilled out from under her blue bandana and behind it in a
ponytail, the big thing held in place by a metal hairtie that looked similar to the guards around her
forearms. Without a word, she walked into the arcade cabinet herself, kneeling down to the floor.
Rotty felt her left pant leg being pulled up slightly as Shantacus looked intently at her leg.

“Well, the good news is, it’s not broken,” Shantacus started, causing a sigh of relief to escape both
Skyphanie and Rotty. Rotty’s breath, however, quickly caught in her throat as those bright blue
eyes looked at her with visible concern. “but it does look like you twisted it pretty badly.”

“…is that it?” Because, really, that was just a sprain, right? If it wasn’t broken, she didn’t see the
problem. Honestly, Rotty felt a little silly about the whole thing now, though Shantacus and
Skyphanie clearly didn’t feel the same. Must be a sports thing. With a grunt, she pushed herself off
the ground, unable to help the wince as her left foot made contact, before turning around to face
Skyphanie with her usual smug grin. For some reason, this didn’t seem to help, judging by how her
eyebrows furrowed together.

“You really shouldn’t-”

“Oh, relax kid, will ya’? I fell down, big whoop. Happens to people all the time,” Rotty rolled her
hand as if to say “what can you do?”, then looked down. “Now what were you and Shantaflop over
there asking?”

Skyphanie still didn’t seem very reassured, though she had settled into her usual wary and skeptical
look. Rotty could live with that. “That really doesn’t hurt at all?”

“Whaaaaaaat? No, no, of course not! Barely feel it, really,” Actually, it felt like she was stepping
on a dozen hot needles at once, but she wasn’t telling the kid that, and especially not Shantacus.
She could feel the judgement without even looking behind her. Well, jokes on her, because unlike
her enterage, Rotty Rotten was a big girl who could manage herself, so hah. “Though, if you really
want to make me feel better, you and Shantacus can go stand very, verrrrrry far away while I stay
here and finish my completely regular-”

“Hmmm, yeah, no. Not today, Rotty,” She couldn’t help the indignant squawk and the slight flush
that came to her cheeks as Shantacus proceeded to literally sweep her off her feet, scooping her up
bridal style with no warning. She didn’t even have the decency to look like it took any effort to hold
her, the ingrate! Rotty could see Skyphanie hold her hands to her mouth to stifle a giggle, and she
proceeded to level her best death glare at the runt (and if doing that also happened to be a
convenient distraction from the well-defined muscles she could feel pressing into her back and
legs, that was between her and whatever higher power was out there).

“Could you tell the others that I’ll be out for today, Skyphanie?” Shantacus looked down at her
self-proclaimed sidekick, and the girl nodded.

“Sure thing!” With a grin she wasn’t bothering to hide, Skyphanie turned on her heel and ran off,
only turning back briefly to wave goodbye. “You two have fun!”

“…have fun?” Rotty questioned, looking up at Shantacus. “What does she mean, have fun?”

In lieu of an answer, Shantacus simply gave the villain a grin of her own. Taking a few steps away
from the arcade machine for room, Shantacus did a quick backflip (how she did that while holding
someone was beyond Rotty, and she had a front row seat), crouched down, and-

-oh. Right. She’d forgotten she could do that. So, Rotty Rotten proceeded to shove aside her pride
for the moment to cling to Shantacus like a life perserver and scream for her life as the two
ascended into the clouds, where the deck of the blimp opened up in invitation.
“…is it over?” Rotty whimpered, cracking open an eye to check her surroundings. It was
admittedly unfamiliar, with a sleek, futuristic white look everywhere, but the open view into the
clouds was enough of a hint as to where she was.

“Mhm! We’re here,” And there was the confirmation, coming from who she dreaded hearing it
from the most - Shantacus, with a light smile and a more relaxed stance than she’d seen in the hero
for…ever, really. Now, see, if the situations were reversed, this would be where Rotty would bring
out a cage or some other means of containment, and Rotty fully braced herself to be on the
recieving end of that treatment, but instead what happened is that she was set down on…a couch?
A couch, of all things. It was a very nice couch, too. Shantacus leaned down into view. “Are you
comfortable, there? I know it’s not your fuzzy couch or anything, but it’s still very cozy.”

“It’s-”

“Oh, one second!” Without giving her a second, Shantacus flipped over the couch, a few more
athletic maneuvers performed before she landed back where she started, putting something small
and blue on Rotty’s injury. Rotten looked up in quiet confusion, and Shantae simply shrugged.
“Ice pack.”

“…okay, I don’t think we’re on the same page here,” Rotty started slowly, tilting her head. “What
exactly is your scheme? Because so far, you’re not making a lick of sense. This is why true
profressionals learn the art of monologuing, you know.”

“It’s not a scheme,” Shantae remarked, rolling her eyes as she turned to face the town. “The facts
are - you have a twisted ankle, and a stubborn streak a mile wide. I’d take you home, but I don’t
trust you to not wander off the moment I take my eyes off you, soooooo…”

She clapped her hands, turning around with a beaming smile. “No schemes for today! No lessons
on my part either. You are just going to stay here…”

The hero walked up to the idle Rotty, poking her in the chest as she gained a serious glare she’d
only seen a few times before. “And rest.”

Rotty blinked once. Twice. “…rest? You, miss flippy-dippy, miss workout, miss zoomy, are telling
me to rest? Who are you and what have you done with Shantaflop?”

“An important part of a proper exercise routine is knowing when to let yourself take a break,”
Shantacus sighed, stepping back and rubbing her temples. “And that goes double when you have
an injury like that! Don’t even try to pretend that doesn’t hurt, I know it does.”

“…okay, yes, you’re right, it sucks, it really does,” Rotty admitted with a wince. “buuuut I was
working on something important, and, well, no pain no gain, right? Ever heard of fake it ‘til you
make it?”

“Okay, firstly, that saying is about how workouts make you exhausted, not this,” Shantacus
gestured to Rottytops’ ankle. “Secondly, this isn’t even a healthy lifestyle thing, this is just-!
Common sense! Basic self-care! Whatever it is can’t be nearly as important as making sure you’re
okay.”

…well, there was no good way to argue when she worded it like that. So, ignoring the way her
heart slightly fluttered, Rotty nodded. “…yeah, I guess…”

“Great! Glad we’re in agreement!” And just like that, she snapped to her usual cheery self,
crouching down to meet Rotty’s eye level laying on the couch. “Do you want me to get you
anything? A glass of water, maybe?”

“I am feeling rather parched at the moment,” Rotty slowly nodded with an exaggerated flair, to
which Shantacus flashed her a thumbs-up before running off to grab it. Honestly, if Rotty really
thought about it, Shantacus could probably give her a run for her money in the flashiness
department. Without even trying, no less; she just felt the need to add that little bit extra to
everything as far as Rotty could tell. Shaking her head to get her mind back on track, Rotty took the
opportunity to look around at her arch-enemy’s base of operations. Might as well, right?

The first thing she saw was about what she expected, being a hangar for various sports equipment.
A bit over to the right of that hangar was a makeup mirror and wardrobe - very nice, in Rotty’s
opinion; it reminded her of her own setup. Not that she was telling Shantacus that. Then, over to
the right of that, she saw…Rottytops squinted. What was that, sitting on the table? Before she
could think further, though, Shantacus was back, holding out the cup of water with pride.

“Here you go!” Shantacus beamed. Rotty made a show of looking between her and the cup for a
moment before reluctantly taking the cup and drinking it down (she was actually very thirsty from
pushing that arcade cabinet all the way to the park, but it was the principle of the thing). Putting
the cup aside, Rotty looked up to see a more contemplative look on Shantacus’ face. “…so, what
was your plan going to be today?”

Rotty’s face twisted in offence. Really, did she think she was subtle? “And why should I tell you
that?”

“Wellllll…” Shantacus hissed through her teeth, eyes darting away from Rotty, before she
reluctantly sat down on the floor and admitted, “I said I was keeping you here for a day, but that
was more of a hopeful estimate for how long it’ll take me to convince you to actually rest? Because
the reality is, you’re going to have to try and stay off that leg for at least two weeks, probably
longer. So, uh. I imagine that’s going to interfere with your scheming a little bit.”

“Two weeks!?” Rotty balked. That was more than a little bit. That was going to throw her off her
whole scheming schedule! “You’ve gotta be kidding! I can’t just sit around and do nothing for
two-”

She then promptly snapped her mouth shut. Paused. Thought about what she was saying for a
moment. And then stared at her hands with wide eyes for a solid thirty seconds before lifting her
head to see Shantacus with a smirk, like she knew this was going to happen, the little sneak.
Scowling, Rotty leaned back with crossed arms. “…shut up.”

“I’m not saying anything,” Shantacus held her hands up in mock surrender, shaking her head with a
smile. “If it helps, I’m not saying you can’t walk, just that you should avoid using that leg too
much - like, for, I don’t know, throwing out a random example here…heavy physical labor? But,
yeah, since you’re going to be out of the game for a bit, why not tell me what you were going to do
today? It’s not the same, but at least it’s something.”

“Well…” Unfortunately, she couldn’t really argue with Shantacus’ logic (unless she wanted to
shove her foot further down her mouth), and, well…it wouldn’t really be the same if she tried the
scheme again after two weeks, would it? With a sigh, Rotty turned her head to the ceiling. “I made
a racing game. A magic carpet racing game, actually. All the high octane thrills you could imagine;
I installed fans to simulate wind and everything…because, you see, I noticed that the kids love
your stupid speedy stunts, so, I figured - if I could provide a replacement, it’d render you obsolete!
So, ha! What do you think of that, Shantaflop?”

She looked over to her archenemy, expecting…she didn’t know, really. Anger? Indignation?
Certainly not her tapping her chin thoughtfully with a smile on her face.

“Magic carpet racing…where do you come up with this stuff?” Shantacus chuckled, leaning back
a little. “Kinda wish I could’ve seen that in action now, the kids would’ve loved it. What was the
problem you were trying to fix when I dropped by?”

Rotty once again found herself at a loss before eventually finding her voice again. “…the, uh. The
interface wasn’t working. Couldn’t move at all. Why are you complimenting my scheme?”

The hero rolled her eyes - like that wasn’t a completely valid question - before remarking, “Look, I
can’t exactly say I approve of what you do, but, the way I see it…you’re not really hurting anyone,
right? Encouraging bad habits, sure, but nothing actually harmful. You make sure the kids have
fun, you’re always very imaginative with whatever plot you come up with, and…I have to admit,
I’ve always your work ethic.”

“Wh-I do not have a work ethic!” Rotty sputtered, because that was clearly the most important
thing here and nothing else she just said, no sir. “That’s the exact opposite of what I’m trying to do
here!”

Shantacus raised an eyebrow and gave Rotty a dry look. “You were literally complaining about not
being able to do anything for two weeks a minute ago. What do you call that?”

The villain froze in place again. Curse that stupid Shantaflop and her stupid logic! “Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. Shut up! You and your…stupid hair…stupid friggin’ Amazon muscles…”

Rotty Rotten then caught Shantacus’ look of utter bewilderment, and it was only then she realized
she said that last part out loud. Before she could try and say something, though, Shantacus looked
away, and…was she blushing? “Oh. Gotcha, gotcha…”

The silence quickly turned awkward. Shantacus, apparently, had no idea how to respond to that,
and Rotty certainly didn’t. One of them had to break it, though, so after a long pause Rotty cleared
her throat. “Don’t you have…I don’t know, stretches to do, or something? Since you don’t have a
TV in here?”

That snapped Shantacus out of it. “Oh! I do, actually! Let me just…”

She pulled out a remote, fumbling with it for a moment, before pressing a button. There was the
sound of moving gears and pistons, and Rotty couldn’t help but let her jaw drop as the largest
screen she’d seen outside of a movie theater lowered down from the ceiling. She turned her head to
stare at Shantacus incredulously, and the hero just scratched the back of her head with a sheepish
grin.

“I mostly use this for video calls, but I do watch some stuff occasionally…here!” A bit more
fumbling, and the screen lit up to a familiar menu. Apparently Rotty and Shantacus used the same
streaming service. Who knew? Shantacus tossed the remote over, and Rotty barely managed to
catch it before it landed on the couch cushions. “I’ll just let you watch whatever you want for a
while. If you need anything, just give me a call!”

“Yeah, sure,” Rotty nodded, and with a casual backflip, she was alone.

The time passed fairly quickly after that. Rotty had to admit, it’d been…a while since she’d relaxed
like this, just flipping through shows without worry or some sort of grand plan in mind. It was nice,
actually. As much as she didn’t want to give Shantacus any credit, if she had to spend two weeks
doing mostly this, it wouldn’t be that bad.
…that didn’t stop her mind from going back to the purple-haired heroine, though. Now, Rotty
knew she was into women, that was a fact she’d long accepted about herself and could claim with
pride, but admittedly she hadn’t actually thought about romance in a while. She certainly hadn’t
thought about Shantacus and romance, but now it couldn’t leave her alone.

Look, she was a grown woman, and even if you’d have to hold her at gunpoint to get it out, she
could admit that she’d taken some sneaking glances at her archenemy to, as the kids would say,
check her out before. Shantacus was hot, okay? Rotty could admire an attractive woman even if she
constantly foiled her plans and was a massive pain. But now, she couldn’t help but wonder - was
the feeling mutual? It couldn’t be, surely. Sure, she might be a lot friendlier than she was
expecting, and actually admitted to liking her in some regards, but that blush could’ve been
anything. It didn’t necessarily have to be in response to her inadvertent compliment…right?

And then, unbidden, Rotty remembered something. An old scheme of hers from the first few
months Shantacus was here. Seeing how quickly Shantacus had built up a repetoire with
Skyphanie, Rotty Rotten had made up a new identity as one Fillin De'Blanc, a shy and clumsy
newcomer to the town, in hopes of “befriending” Shantacus and then leading her into a trap. Which
was all well and good, except when she actually commited to her plan, Shantacus’ reaction had
been…unexpected. She was a lot less confident, more awkward but still earnest, and very…
blushy? At the time, Rotty had idly wondered if Shantacus had caught some sort of fever, or if she
just acted diferently talking to someone her age, but in retrospect-

Rotty took a moment to pause her show and breathe deeply. “Oh my god I can’t believe I missed
that she’s a lesbian.”

Or bi, Rotty didn’t want to assume (she was bi herself, after all), but wow it was obvious now. Now
that she thought about it, she was actually fairly certain Shantae had been about to ask her out in
her Fillin persona before she finally sprung her trap. That would’ve been awkward. But, whatever,
that wasn’t the point - the point was, Shantacus was definitely flustered by her compliment, and
Rotty was feeling petty about how Shantacus had led her to stuff her foot in her mouth twice (okay,
maybe that was all her own fault, but she was sure Shantacus had something to do with it
somehow). So, the question was, how to flirt with her archenemy…?

Just then, she saw a wave of purple hair heading into the kitchen, and a flash of inspiration struck.
Before she could think twice about it, she shouted. “Hey, Snackcakes! Bring some popcorn over
here, would ya?”

There was a moment of silence, and after a few seconds, Rotty managed to push herself up to look
over the couch. Sure enough, Shantacus was there, looking extremely confused, and when she
Rotty looking over she pointed to herself with a raised eyebrow. Rotty nodded with a wide smirk,
and though Shantacus’ confusion visibly deepened, she complied, the sound of a microwave filling
the air a few seconds later.

Rotty let herself back down, content to let this play out, and after a few minutes, Shantacus came
around with a bowl of popcorn and that confusion still visible on her face.

“Thank you~” Rotty took the popcorn, setting it on the table in front of her, and turned back to look
at Shantacus with as innocent of a gaze as she could manage. It took a bit, but sure enough-

“Snackcakes?” She asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow. “Did you get tired of Shantaflop or
something?”

“Eh, something like that,” Rotty shrugged casually, reaching for her popcorn.
“Okay, sure, but, can you explain your logic here? Because I’m really not following,” Shantacus
remarked, sitting down next to the couch.

Rotty let out a hmm, just for the dramatic effect, then elaborated - “Well, for one, it’s a sugary
snack, which I know you despise…”

Shantacus groaned, starting to rub her temples. “I’ve told you, I’m not against sugar, I just suggest
having it in moderation-”

“And for another, just like a snackcake, you’re also sweet enough that I’d eat you up,” Rotty
finished, turning to her with popcorn in hand. “That good enough for you?”

And just like that, Shantacus froze. Rotty freely let her grin expand into “just pulled off my master
plan” territory as the hero processed the statement, face slowly turning red as she silently turned to
look at Rotty. There was a silent stare-off for a few seconds, and then Shantacus abruptly stood up.
“You did not just-”

Rotty cackled, letting the hero stand there before putting her head in her hands, sitting back down.

“I can’t believe you just…” Shantacus shook her head, turning to look at Rotty. “Was that a pick-
up line?”

“Yup! Made it up on the spot just for you,” Rotty confirmed, leaning back. “I mean, since you just
learned about me finding you hot and everything, and you actually got flustered by that, figured I
might as well get some petty revenge for you making me shove my foot into my mouth earlier. Eh?
Eh?”

“That was literally all you,” Shantacus deadpanned, giving Rotty a dry look.

“Mmmm…still not convinced,” Rotty shrugged, to which the heroine groaned in aggravation.

“You’re the worst. You’re the actual worst,” Shantacus sighed, head put in her hands again.

“What can I say? It’s a talent,” Rotty grinned with pride, making sure to angle it so Shantacus
could see it in its full glory. As she did, though, her eyes landed on that table again, and she
blinked. “Y'know, I forgot to ask earlier - what is that on the table over there?”

“Huh?” Shantacus whipped her head around, looking over the table, before her face lit up with a
grin. “Oh, that! That’s my…what did Zapple call it…a DS!”

“A what now?” Rottytops tilted her head, even as Shantacus went over to grab the unknown
device.

“It plays video games,” Shantacus explains, flipping the device open to reveal two screens.
“Zapple gave it to me when she bought a new model a few months ago. I’m…not really good at
most of the games on here, so I don’t really use it that often, but I do like this one!”

She moved the menu over a few bits to reveal the game that was actually in at the moment,
something with a cutesy logo. Rotty squinted.

“…Animal Crossing?” She asked, looking over at Shantacus. “What do you do in there?”

“Mostly just mind your own business and hang out with the animal friends that come to your
village, as far as I can tell,” Shantacus answered, sitting down casually. She hesitated for a
moment, and then, “Do you…wanna watch? I mean, you’ve made a few games, so you’re probably
 more familiar with this stuff than I am.”

Rotty paused, looking up at the episode she had yet to finish, then shrugged. “Sure, why not?
Maybe I can try some more flirting techniques on you while I’m at it.”

“Don’t test me,” Shantacus rolled her eyes, opening up the game. “I can actually flirt back, you
know. And who was the one who called me an Amazon earlier?”

“It’s objectively correct,” Rotty sniffed, ignoring how her cheeks heated up for a moment.
“Besides, I have a show to finish watching. This probably won’t hold my attention past a few
minutes!”

She never did end up finishing that episode that day.

She did, however, fall asleep that day knowing a lot more about her archenemy than she ever
thought she would.

End Notes

So, only now realized over a week later I forgot to put an end note here - this is the fic I
made for April Fools Day on my blog over at https://incorrectshantaequotes.tumblr.com!
It's not much, but hopefully you enjoy!

...also, don't mind the slightly changed commenting permissions; that's because I keep
getting spam comments in here. Couldn't tell you why.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!