Chapter Text
You know, it was kind of funny seeing how most of the contestants couldn't read. Especially during the show and especially if the "reader" was Chalky. Seeing him just stare blankly at a piece of paper before asking Broomer to read it for him was just amusing to Chocolate Bar.
But now it wasn't as funny to him anymore; it was kind of sad? He never thought he would use that word to describe Chalky of all people, but it fit.
So, he decided to take it upon himself to teach the kid how to read.
"Chocolate Bar, where are we?" Chalky asked, as the two were suddenly in a generic classroom for plot reasons
"You not being able to read is getting embarrassing, so I'm gonna teach you," Chocolate Bar says, accidentally sounding rude
"Better than having Broomer try and teach me, he can't spell." Chalky says
Chocolate Bar stared at the small boy in disbelief,"How did any of you make it past the first grade?"
"We cheated off of Clay."
"Figures. Do you even know your ABCs? What a letter even IS?"
Chalky blankly stared at Chocolate Bar for a few seconds before he answered, confidently, mind you,"It's the thing the mailman delivers, right?"
Oh, this was going to be a long day
And a long day it was, it was like teaching a baby how to walk, exciting but slightly disappointing watching it fall and fail time and time again.
Except the "baby" was someone who was almost or an adult (CB didn't really bother checking at this point) and the "walking" was reading short sentences.
"I don't think that half of these are even words!" Chalky says, looking at the kid's book in front of him like it had the most graphic pictures known to man
"I gave you a book made for 5 year olds, of course they're words," Chocolate Bar sighed,"Try reading them out loud, they'll probably make more sense"
Chalky narrowed his eyes at the page; he was probably using his one working braincell to comprehend each word-no, each syllable.
"The.. Bear"
Chocolate Bar raised an eyebrow; Chalky was actually doing it.
"Ran.. to the"
"C'mon, just five more words," Chocolate Bar whispered, more to himself than anything
"For.. est.. to catch"
Two more
"Some.."
One, just one more and Chocolate Bar could finally go home. Man was tired.
"Fish"
"YES! YOU DID IT!" Chocolate Bar yelled
Chalky smiled, running up to CB and hugging him. Whether it was because he had no energy to care or was actually proud, CB hugged back.
"I'm so proud of you!" Chocolate Bar said, letting go of Chalky, smiling
"Woah, I haven't heard that before!" Chalky says, happy but shocked
CB's smile fell. Did he actually say that him? Out of every object in the whole world, he said that he was proud of Chalky.
Jeez, how tired was he?
"Don't get used to it," Chocolate Bar says
"Way too late, this is going on my grave"