As Winter's chilly grip began to loosen, the new year was greeted by the Sun's rays, warming the ground and melting away the patches of snow covering the land. Flowers began to bud, and plant objects seemed much more joyous.
The days got warmer, the temperature rising to a comfortable heat.
And that meant one thing...
~~~
Fries always loved springtime. New beginnings, watching the world thaw out, and plants long dormant begin to flourish. He would soon be planting his small garden, one of his favorite hobbies, and would be able to enjoy the fresh harvest in a few short months. Puffball was finally old enough to help him with the plants, and he had actually purchased some seeds from her native forests, hoping to possibly sell the exotic plants at the summer market.
As for the little puffling, she loved springtime too, even more so than Fries. All winter she had been watching the window from a perch her caretaker had purchased, asking the potato object if she could venture outside nearly daily.
Of course, he did allow her to venture into the snow, yet despite her ample coat she was usually darting back inside shivering after a few mere minutes of playing outside.
Speaking of her ample coat...
Now that the weather was getting warmer, she no longer needed the thick fur lining her body, and as a result, began to shed some of her wooly undercoat. Unfortunately for Fries, she chose to drop said fur all over his apartment, turning his normally white carpet to a shade of light pink. Hell, in some spots a new rug of sorts was formed completely by her shed coat. It wasn't too gross to sweep up or anything, but there was just so much fur...it was crazy how much such a small puffling could produce.
Fries sighed as he dumped another load of shed hair into the garbage can, glancing over and seeing Puffball rubbing her back against the couch- tufts of pink fur floating down onto the floor he just cleaned. He had already thrown out 2 bags of the stuff, and she didn't seem to be slowing down with the shedding anytime soon.
"It's itchy- I'm too hot!" Puffball squeaked out as she continued to scratch herself, due to her lack of limbs she had to resort to rubbing against furniture to remove the loose coat. "Here- let me try this-" Fries had purchased a small brush, made specifically for puffball fur, and gently picked up the puffling, holding her in his arms. Slowly, he began to run the bristles across Puffball's face, pulling back the fur in front of her eyes, revealing them and causing her to blink. Her pupils took up the vast majority of her visible eye, with an oil spill-like sheen swirling in the middle. "There ya go- much easier to see now without all that fur in your face!" Puffball giggled at that, glancing at the fur-clogged brush in Fries' hand. "That come from me? Wow." Even she seemed surprised by the amount of fur present.
Fries continued to slowly brush out her coat, earning soft purrs and trills from Puffball, as she felt relief from having her heavy winter coat removed. He wasn't the best hairstylist- hell, he didn't HAVE hair- but he tried his best, making sure to keep her signature fluffy look while still removing the undercoat. It took nearly an hour, but she was soon completely brushed out, a pile of pink fur covering Fries' body as well as the floor beneath her.
"Well. At least that's over with..." The potato object gently placed Puffball onto the couch, where she shook off and floated into the air. She was completely able to fly now, but Fries was still careful to place her down on the couch rather than simply letting go of her.
"Can I go outside now?" The pink puffling floated over to the door again, looking out at the spring green grass, glancing back at Fries. "Of course- you just stay out of trouble, ok?" He finished sweeping up the fur pile, dumping it into the bin before opening the back door for Puffball. As she drifted through the doorway, another clump of pink fur fell from her, landing at Fries' feet.
Guess she wasn't done shedding.
~~~Author's Note~~~
Ah yes, puffball fur
How wonderful. She's gonna be doing this for the rest of her life.
Good luck to Free Food, sweeping her fur out of their cabin for eternity. (Team cabin hc is the best hc fight me)
Also hc that Flower brushes puff's fur n shit bc she can't do it herself
I dunno maybe she uses it for her sweaters or something
also ruby thought it was cotton candy and ate 2 pounds if it until flower told her it was fur 🗿
yeah puff fic babey
also physical chem makes me cry.
-Fire