Real

Date: 2004-09-14
Fandom: Real Ghostbusters
Word Count: 183
Notes: The title is from "The Velveteen Rabbit."

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Singed and stained by chemistry set accidents and other vagaries of life, Droopy wasn't quite the soft plush toy he'd started out as. When Ray was ten he'd been beaten up by a foster brother for sleeping with a stuffed toy, and Droopy had spent the next nine years in a plastic bag at the bottom of various closets, which had squashed him rather out of shape.

Then one day, when he'd been looking for a pair of shoes, he'd pulled Droopy out of the plastic bag and set him on his bed again. He'd been living with Egon and Peter for several months, and he knew they wouldn't comment. That was when he knew they had become the brothers that his parents and, after their deaths, the foster system, had never been able to provide.

Now Droopy Dog spent every night under his arm. At thirty-six years old, it wasn't because Ray needed a stuffed toy to snuggle up to. It was just that Droopy was an old buddy, and Ray couldn't bear to leave him out, cold and alone all night.