Who's Laughing Now?

by RandomDragonexe

Summary:

After Captain Underpants defeats the talking toilet army, George and Harold take in that they still have him around. However, Harold is also worried about Professor Poopypants still being free and George comforts him about it. Little does Harold know, George is going through some emotions of his own about it.

TLDR: My interpretation of what happens after the final scene of the movie, with a side of angst.

Chapter 1: Watching

Darkness enveloped the night sky save for its twinkling stars and a bright full moon as George and Harold watched the Waistband Warrior take on the final talking toilet as they directed him to.

They watched as he went behind, latched onto the last talking toilet in the middle of the street, and hurled it towards the ground back into the Toilet Recycling Center with the rest of the piles of broken porcelain.

With a loud crash, the toilet shattered into pieces onto the pavement and left a large gaping hole in the concrete.

“That’ll teach these toilets to terrorize this town", he triumphantly said in his heroic stance with a large smile plastered on his face—the crowd of people who escaped from the toilets gathered around the Captain and started thanking him.

They saw Edith the lunch lady come out of hiding from within the depths of the restaurant, under a table like a few other people. She ran out of the restaurant's doors and made her way next to the Captain.

"Woah, you saved everyone!"

"All in the day's work." He met her loving gaze and smiled. He even started to hover in the air in response. "Nothing can hurt you as long as I'm around."

Her face grew red, she smiled back and batted her eyes. "You're such a flirt, my man." She pulled him down slightly, then puckered her lips, and planted a kiss on the side of the hero's face.

Suddenly, the hero's feet touched the ground, his face changed to that of shock, and he started looking around in fear.

"What the-how-where am I?"

"Krupp, are you okay?"

"Edith!" He looked down and noticed he was in his underwear and grabbed onto the cloth behind him to shield himself.

"I g-gotta get out of here!" He shouted as he glanced around in fear and humiliation.

"No, wait, Ben", she yelled as he darted off, towards the direction of his house.

George was about to chase after him and grabbed his skateboard until Harold laid a hand on him to stop him.

“He's going home, he'll be fine. We should too, it's late.”

George glimpsed at Krupp running away, before responding. “You're right, our parents must be getting worried by now. Let's go home.”

Harold grabbed his skateboard and joined George alongside him, skating in the direction of their homes.

It wasn't long until he recognized the houses that led to their street.

Harold noticed the dull but constant ache of his feet as he maneuvered alongside George. He and George did stay to guide Captain Underpants with the toilets.

Yet, he couldn’t help but also feel excited about their latest adventure with the Captain. Even though they helped him with the talking toilets with some difficulty, it was quite a fun night.

“You know, I still can’t believe that we have Captain Underpants back!" Harold said, still astounded by it.

"Me too!" George said as he swerved around Harold, onto the street next to him.

Harold then realized something. "Hey, you know it's going to be a bit hard to manage when he switches back and forth right?"

George looked at him as he picked up speed beside him. "Yeah, it will be, but I know we’ll figure it out. But, look on the bright side, we have a superhero with us!"

Harold thought about the implications of having the superhero around. "Yeah, you're right. We'll also have him around to protect people!”

“Yeah, and we can have fun while doing it too!”, George said excitedly. “Can you imagine the possibilities? Like flying around Piqua on him?”

“Being able to help him fight the bad guy!” Harold responded as he picked up speed.

“Yeah, we’ll be there to help him during a fight. Sure he’s not the brightest tool in the shed, but we’ll be there to…guide him. Kinda like we did with his fight against the talking toilets and Poopypants, but a bit better."

Harold noticed their street coming up, so he decided to come to a halt and get off his skateboard, with George following suit. He then processed what George just said.

The battle between the Captain and Professor Poopypants went through Harold’s mind, which caused a small wave of dread to shoot through him as he recalled that the deranged professor escaped.

“Yeah, about that. You realize he’s still out there right?”

“Uh, what?”

“Poopypants, he escaped, remember?”

He noticed George winced and looked down a bit, only for a few seconds. “Yeah, I remember.” He quickly regained his composure and walked alongside him.

He then noticed their houses in the near distance. Their houses against the dark blue night sky.

“I mean, he’s still a threat and might come back and try to enact vengeance. Probably on us. We’re the ones who stopped him.” Worry was starting to worm its way through the pit of his stomach, as he recalled being subjected to the professor's anti-laugh ray and felt a chill up his spine.

He stopped walking as he felt George’s hand on his shoulder. The warmth of it on him was juxtaposed with the coldness of the night. Like a miniature blanket on his shoulder.

"Well, we'll be ready for him and we'll stop him. I mean we defeated him once, and we can do it again", he said with a determined look towards him.

Harold paused to ponder about that for a second. Didn't they only win because he happened to mention Uranus?

“Besides, now Captain Underpants has powers", he said as he interrupted Harold's worried thoughts. “With him by our side, he’ll easily defeat him. Or anyone and anything else!”

He thought about how they were saved from Poopypants trying to shrink them and the talking toilets just in time. “Y-you’re right, he’ll protect us, just like he did with the toilets earlier,” he said as a smile crept onto his face.

“Exactly, and It’s not just him you got. You’ve got me too.” He then stopped walking and wrapped his arm around him. “With him and us together, nothing will stop us.”

“You’re right. We’re in this together,” he returned the favor and put his arm around George.

“Yeah, and along the way, we’ll have some laughs. Just like we always do.”

He chuckled a bit. “Yeah, thanks.”

They took their arms off each other and began walking again, coming by the yard to his house.

“No problem.”

He began to walk towards the stone path leading to the front doorway. “See you at school, George,” he said as he looked back and waved while walking.

“See ya,” he waved back with a small smile.

He opened the door, only to see his mom by the T.V. with the phone in her hand. “Harold", his mom shouted to him, “It’s late, you need to go to bed, it’s a school night.”

“What were you doing? I even called George's parents to check up on you."

He closed the door behind him, seeing George walk towards his house. “Sorry about being late, we were skateboarding around and then we lost track of time,” he said with an awkward smile, trying not to reveal what happened with the Waistband Warrior.

"Well it better not happen again, now please go to bed, sweetie."

"Alright, mom."

He walked up the stairs, and into his room. He placed his skateboard down on the floor and quickly changed into his blue pajamas while inside his closet.

He paused in the middle of buttoning up his pajamas and recalled their friendship pledge.

"I, Harold, hereby declare George as my best friend, permanently, forever. "

"And I, George, accept the permanent rights that Harold has given me, to be his best friend forever. "

He figured that he shouldn't be too worried. Captain Underpants would protect them and George would always be there for him.

He finished buttoning them up, went to his window, and saw George in his room. He noticed that he wasn't in his pajamas yet. Harold saw George as he appeared to be deep in thought, his head slightly tilted down.

He happened to look over to his window, and their eyes met, but George jumped slightly, and he quickly smiled at him.

He then placed his hand on the window, and Harold saw him say "Goodnight".

He smiled back. "Goodnight, George." He walked back towards his bed and crawled into the warm, cozy blankets.

He'll always be there for me, and so will Captain Underpants. I'll be safe, he thought as he lay in his bed on his side. I’ll also be sure to watch over him as well.

However, he couldn't ignore the small pit of dread in his stomach that remained as he slowly succumbed to the darkness of sleep.

Chapter 2: Protecting

"See you at school George."

"See ya", he said as he put on a smile.

He walked towards his house and opened the front door, only to be shocked when he was met with the sight of his parents.

"George, where were you? We were getting worried," his mom said.

"We were just going to try to find you”, his dad added sternly.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

“What were you doing out so late?”, his mom asked.

“W-we were…skateboarding, then we…got distracted, and lost track of time”, he said as did an awkward smile, and his voice faltered.

“Look, it’s late and you need to go to bed”, his mom said.

“She’s right, we’ll talk about this in the morning. Just go to bed”, his dad said with his hand over his face and his brows furrowed.

They needed to think about what they were going to tell their parents whenever they got back from being with Captain Underpants from now on.

"Okay."

Sheepishly, he walked upstairs and as he did, Harold's concern about Poopypants being free rang through his head.

He couldn’t help but feel a wave of guilt wash over him as he recalled that the mad scientist literally escaped his grasp. He was shrunken down and he was right there in his hand.

George thought that if he only focused and held onto him tighter, they could've put him in a jar and he wouldn't be a threat.

"It's my fault", he said as he entered his room and nearly threw his skateboard down onto the floor.

Not bothering to change into his pajamas, he started to pace lightly around his room and put his head down.

The troubling thought weighed heavy on his mind. He knew Harold wouldn't be so worried if it weren't for his mistake. Sure Underpants also swatted him away, but that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for him.

He started to shift his weight just a bit, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

Thinking that at least they had Captain Underpants around to protect them, he turned his gaze toward Harold's window.

He immediately jolted back when he made eye contact with Harold looking over from his window. Quickly, he feigned a smile and put his hand on the glass.

He'll protect them, and he'll be there for Harold too.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight George", he saw Harold say.

He watched as he walked away from the window. He then saw Harold's silhouette climb onto his bed, and curl into the blankets.

George slinked from his window, deep into his darkened room into the shadows.

Treading lightly to his closet, he changed into his yellow pajamas and started to button them up at the top. Crawling onto his bed and under the warm blankets, he curled into them which provided him some sort of comfort.

However, the distressing thoughts kept flowing through him. If Poopypants were to wreak havoc again, it's not just about Harold. If anyone gets hurt, it'll be partially his fault too.

He pulled the blankets closer to his body as he stared up at the ceiling. No. It wouldn't happen and he'd make sure of it. He'll make sure that Harold doesn't get hurt or anyone else for that matter.

"We'll stop you, Poopypants. You messed with the wrong friends", he whispered to himself, his voice firm with resolve.

He hid himself in the blankets and awaited the darkness of sleep to take over him.

Notes:

Yeah, George isn't doing so well.

In the next chapter, we'll check on a certain someone and see what he's up to.

Chapter 3: A Familiar Fun-Sized Face

Summary:

A tiny problem is on its way to becoming a giant problem...

As the cold night darkened to an inky black sky overhead, an ice cream truck remained parked a few blocks from Jerome Horwitz Elementary School.

The lights were off and to anyone who was to see the vehicle, it would appear vacant. 

Unless someone were to take a closer look inside through the ice cream vendor window, which was cracked open just enough for something, or someone tiny to get into. 

Someone such as an ex-professor and mad scientist, who rode in on a bee. With the technology inside, he spent the last couple of hours attempting to make another size-altering gadget to return to his regular height. 

“Finally! It’s working,” he said, wiping sweat from his forehead as the final piece clicked in place. 

The invention before him glowed to life. As massive as it was compared to him, it was only a few parts that he managed to link together. A far cry from a finished and functional machine. 

“Ugh, building this is gonna take forever,” he yelled in a rage. He kicked it in frustration, and it only caused pain to shoot through it. “Ow!” He gripped it in pain and winced, but quickly recovered. “I don’t care how long it takes, it’ll be worth it to eliminate laughter once and for all. Starting with those two laughter-loving brats and their naked hero. Professor Poopypants will rise once again!” 

 

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of No Laughing Matter