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emlynnnnn · 7 months

Text

ODD ONE OUT —

gosling!ken x barbie!reader

summary | You meet some of the other Barbies at beach. Ken gets a bright idea.

part one , part two , part three , part four , part five

. . .

YOU had always been different to the other Barbies in Barbieland. Book Barbie did not enjoy going to beach as much as everyone else—You absolutely hated sand and found little joy in volleyball. You preferred staying holed up in your book shop, reading your days away before you returned back to your dream house every evening as the sun set over the bright blue sky.

Most importantly, you had never had a Ken follow you around like all the other Barbies.

"Please come to beach, you haven't gone in days!" Your close friend, Allan, begged. You attempted to ignore him by hiding behind your book, to no avail, as he had simply pulled it down and away from your head.

"Don't make me, Allan..." You frowned, closing the book as you rested it on your lap. "You know how I feel about beach."

"But you haven't been in almost a week, Barbie... It's no fun going to beach without you," He looked down at you with his doe-y eyes, pouting out his bottom lip.

You thought it over for a few moments, looking away from Allan to avoid the sad puppy-look on his face. "I'll go for a little while," You finally huffed out, trying not to roll your eyes. It was only fair you went with him every now-and-then; he stayed with you at your book shop most other days. "Just let me close up the shop and I'll follow you down..."

Allan cheered, scrambling to the front door of the shop before turning around one more time. "I'll tell all of the Barbie's you're coming! They all keep asking about you," He spoke gleefully before disappearing outside and down the street toward beach.

You let out a small contesting grumble as you began to clean up around your shop to close for the day, double checking you had your beach outfit in the back.

. . .

"HEY Barbie! Long time no see!"

You sent lawyer Barbie a friendly smile as she greeted you at the bleachers on beach, welcoming you to sit down next to her. "Hi Barbie," You acknowledged her with a nod before taking the seat down next to her.

"Where have you been all week?" She asked with a frown.

"I've been... busy with the shop, sorry," You explained as your eyes moved to watch Allan cheer on the other Barbies as they played volleyball. The last thing you would ever do was tell the others you disliked beach. They would probably tell you to visit weird Barbie; no one hated beach!

"Oh! That's so cool!" She clapped her hands joyfully, excited to hear that your shop was doing well.

"What's cool?" Another voice piped in, making yourself and lawyer Barbie turn to see stereotypical Barbie looking at the two of you with her usual bright smile.

"Hi Barbie!" Lawyer Barbie waved to the blonde, signaling for her to sit down next to her like she had done for you. "Barbie was just telling me about how well her book shop was doing!"

"Oh my, that's amazing!" Stereotypical Barbie looked over to you excitedly. "Are you coming to girls night tonight?" She asked with an expectant smile, changing the subject to her nightly parties that she held at her dreamhouse.

You sent her a polite nod having known this question was coming—you couldn't possibly say no without bringing attention to yourself. "Of course, Barbie!" You grinned happily. "I've really missed it the last few nights... I've just been so busy!"

"Great!"

"Yay!"

Cheered lawyer and sterotypical Barbie, thrilled that their friend would be joining them for the first time in a few days.

The three of you had been freely chatting amongst yourselves on the bleachers when there was a sudden voice that called over in your direction, grabbing the attention of anyone in your immediate area.

"Hey Barbie!" The voice shouted eagerly, clearly pumped to see his Barbie on beach.

"Oh, hi Ken," Stereotypical Barbie greeted with a pleasant smile, happy to see her friend.

"Are you gonna play volleyball with us?" He asked with an optimistic grin, his huge surfboard tucked under one of his arms. He had yet to acknowledge you or lawyer Barbie.

As you watched their painfully one-sided conversation, you thought about how you had always felt bad for stereotypical Ken. More so than all the other Ken's in Barbieland, he was regularly ignored by his Barbie. Despite his adorable retriever-like personality and his oddly captivating blond hair, she had never seemed very interested in her matching Ken.

"I'll join you in volleyball after my conversation, Ken!" She told him with a plastic smile, obviously trying to shoo him away. "I want to talk about a book with Barbie," She continued to explain whilst pointing toward you. This piqued your interest, as Barbie was clearly not very interested in reading nor had anyone ever known her to be.

Ken obviously shared this thought as his face seemed to light up with an idea, his eyes falling on you for a moment before turning back to Barbie with a slow nod. "Alright... I'll see you after then?" He asked with a small tilt of his head.

Barbie sent him a nod before she focused back on yourself and lawyer Barbie once again to continue with your conversation.

. . .

THE day after beach was a quiet one, so you busied yourself away once again with one of your books. All you ever did was read books, and sometimes that made you feel lonely. You wanted to hang out with the other Barbies and Kens but that meant regularly going to beach, and you simply weren't willing to make that compromise.

Again; you hate sand.

You jumped in your pink swivel-chair behind the register when the the bell at the front door dinged, signaling the arrival of a customer. You looked up from you book and quickly hid it under the counter, surprised to see that it was stereotypical Ken that had walked through the door.

"Oh, hi Ken!" You sent him a bewildered glance, pushing yourself up from your chair to go greet him. "What're you doing here?"

"Hi Barbie," He flashed a charming smiled as he approached the register, leaning over the counter lazily as he sighed. "I wanted to buy a book for Barbie," He explained, referring to stereotypical Barbie.

The meaning behind that glance he sent you yesterday finally clicked hearing his intentions; he wanted to buy a book to impress his Barbie.

"Well..." You began slowly, trying to hide the amused grin that threated to pull at your mouth. You didn't want to break the news to the poor guy that Barbie had only used the whole 'book conversation' thing as an excuse, so you decided to play along. "What books do you think she would like?"

Ken pursed his lips for a moment as he stared thoughtfully at the wall behind you. "...I'm not sure..." He finally answered, defeated at this revelation. "I didn't even know she read books until yesterday..." He mumbled to himself.

You had to stifle a laugh at his response.

"Well, what do you like to read? You're friends with Barbie so you must like similar things!" He asked eagerly.

"I love a good fairytale," You answered fondly and your eyes seemed to glimmer as you thought about all of your favourite stories. "They're the best stories to imagine yourself in. Sometimes you're rescuing a Ken from a tower protected by a dragon, or you're travelling through the most dangerous seas to find the magical stone to save your friends... You can be anything in a fairytale, and that's what makes them so fun."

"Well then, that should be perfect for Barbie!" Ken grinned, inwardly admiring your clear love for books. "Which story would be the best to get for her?"

You scrunched your face up in thought, wanting to get the perfect book for your friend. You thought it was adorable how committed Ken was to making Barbie happy. "I know which one," You nodded to yourself as you pulled out the book you had placed under the register earlier.

Ken raised an eyebrow at this. "But... aren't you reading that right now?" He asked hesitantly, feeling bad about you wanting him to take it.

You brushed him of with a wave of your hand, sliding the hardback across the front counter towards him. "It's fine! I've read it plenty of times already... It's one of the best books I have, so take it—Barbie will love it," You lied, knowing she would have absolutely no interest in any book he would give her.

Ken picked it up excitedly, holding it close to his chest. "Perfect!" He exclaimed. "When do want the book back?"

"Policy says within a week, so any time within then," You shrugged nonchalantly.

"Great, thanks Barbie!" He shouted over his shoulder as he practically ran to the front door, eager to bring this new book to his Barbie for her to read.

You could finally let out a chuckle as Ken disappeared down the street, trying not to feel too bad for feeding into his delusion that Barbie saw him as anything other than a friend. In fact, part of you started to wonder what it was like for someone to pay attention to you like Ken did to Barbie.

It must be nice, you thought.

. . .

—> part two

. . .

note | this is my first post and story on tumblr… i’ve written a few other things on other sites i’m too embarrassed to mention (😭) but it’s been a few years so i’m probably a bit rusty.

i hope this first part was okay! i’m already working on part two, but i’ll see what people think about this first part before i post another one lmao.

#barbie #ken #ken x reader #x reader #reader insert #pre canon #the barbie movie #barbie reader #barbie 2023 #barbie fanfiction #gosling!ken

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