Pre-Onward One-Shots

Barley's Third Birthday

Chapter 1: Barley's Third Birthday

A/N: Hi, everybody! This is my first Onward fanfiction! I've been loving and obsessing over this movie ever since it came out in theaters. It's just so adorable, sweet, magnificent, clever, and many other things with such an excellent message for both kids and adults. I also really really adore Ian and Barley and their relationship; they are my absolute favorite characters in the entire movie. Barley has especially grown on me over the past two months. He's such a doting and protective brother to Ian. At first, you see him as this eccentric, magic and historical fanatic who everyone calls a "screw up", but as the movie progresses, you learn more about him, particularly in the Cheeto boat scene. He sorrowfully tells Ian his fourth memory of his father, and it's just so heartbreaking, and you realize why Barley acts the way he does. You see a side of him that you've never seen in the movie, well apart from that bridge scene where you see his anxiety but tries to hide it, and that was such a huge move for him. His brave nature is an effect of that memory; he made a promise that he would never be scared again, and he kept that promise. So, because I love him as a character, I am currently writing two fanfics about him, one a one-shot about his fourth memory of his dad and another one-shot where we get to see the iconic ending scene from Barley's perspective. They are going to take a while to get done, so, wanting to write something else since I haven't come up with anything original for months, I am deciding to make a series of one-shots featuring Barley's toddlerhood with his father before his death and Ian and Barley's childhood together. It's just something to help my stress lately. Plus, we all need something positive with all of this tragedy and chaos that's going around in the world. These one-shots are going to have A LOT of family fluff, so I hope you like them. Requests are welcome, but I already have some ideas. This first one-shot is about Barley celebrating his third birthday with his family. I hope you enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I, by all means, do not own Onward. It respectively belongs to the director, Dan Scanlon, and Disney/Pixar.

Today was a special day for little Barley. He couldn't stop thinking about it all week. He was very excited for it to arrive, and he would repetitively tell his parents that it was coming up. The little elf had a hard time sleeping last night, too excited about this wonderful event. Now, it had finally come. Today was the day that Barley was turning three years old. That was a big and proud age for Barley. He was now a big boy. His parents would see that he was capable of doing and conquering new things, grown-up things. Maybe they might let him drive their car. Whatever the case, he was thrilled to be three. The day was going to be amazing for him. A day filled with fun, happiness, gifts, and yummy cake.

The newly three-year-old excitedly woke up in his little bed. Not even yawning or rubbing the "sleep" away from his hazel eyes, he threw off the covers and got out of bed. He quickly raced out of the room and ran upstairs to his parents' room. He swung open the door and climbed onto their bed before jumping on it.

"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up, wake up!" Barley yelled.

Wilden and Laurel immediately felt the sudden weight on their bed. Laurel slightly moaned and turned over to her left side while her husband slowly opened his weary eyes, hearing the excitement of his son's voice and feeling the mattress shake with his wild jumping moves. He glanced over at the alarm clock on the desk beside the bed and yawned.

"Barley, it's too early. It's not even seven yet," he mumbled.

Barley stopped jumping and looked at his father. "But it's a very special day today!" his son claimed.

Wilden chuckled by the cuteness of his son and sat up straight on the bed. "And what day is it?" he asked playfully.

"Guess!" Barley smiled.