Wally waited until the sound of your heartbeat slowed and your breathing calmed before slowly shuffling himself out of bed. He carefully tucked the blanket back in and smiled down at you before wandering over to the door.
"I wonder what you're dreaming about." He cooed, quietly turning and closing the door behind him.
The second he left the room, his smile settled. He groaned and made his way to the bathroom clumsily, flicking the light on and leaning on the sink. He stared at himself in the mirror, frowning to the best of his ability.
"You should apologize to Barnaby for what you did. It won't stop bothering you until it happens!" He spoke, staring intently at himself.
"I know, but how would I do that?" He responded sadly.
He pondered for a few minutes. Then, It seemed as if a lightbulb appeared over his head. His face twisted into a new found excitement.
"Oh, I'm so smart! I'll make him a lovely hand-crafted card." He said, pushing himself off the sink.
He walked on the tips of his toes past the bedroom and jumped excitedly into the paint room. He walked over to his craft bench where their supplies from the investigation had been stored. He rummaged through the bench drawer before pulling out colorful construction paper, glitter, a pen and picking up some scissors before leaving and heading over to the living room. He sat criss-cross-apple-sauce on the floor in front of the coffee table, setting the supplies down gently. Wally began to cut out blue hearts and paste them onto a folded piece of pink paper, adding a little bit of glitter every now and then. Wally scribbled a thoughtful and heartfelt apology onto the pink paper, he then gently shut the card and wrote his name on the front with crayon. Wally held the card in front of him and smiled proudly. Wally quietly slipped out of a Home and skipped down the short path to Barnaby's house. Wally couldn't stop smiling as he made his way up to the tall red door. He brought his hand up to knock but was cut short by the sound of laughter.
"Sure, it's obvious he see's them in a romantic lighting - but I just don't know how he expects someone to fall in love him after all the terrible things he's done already. I know I wouldn't!" A muffled voice joked from the other side of the door.
Wally listened for a moment, coming to the realization that the unknown neighbors were talking about him. Wally's excitement was far gone by now, replaced with a familiar empty feeling. He felt as if he were sinking, drowning almost. It hurt to breathe. Wally dropped the card onto the porch and stomped on it, causing the neighbors inside to stop abruptly and make their way to the door. Wally was already headed down the path back to home when the door swung open.
"Wait, Wally!" Barnaby called out, but to no avail.
Wally had already entered Home and shut the door before Barnaby could rush to explain himself. Wally pushed his back against the door, his hands traveling up to his hair and yanking from frustration. Wally mumbled to himself in anger as he paced to the kitchen.
"I'm trying to change! I really am, you know. You have to know. I'm going to be better, I'll be back to normal in no time and everyone will love me again!" Wally whispered, yanking one final time and gasping as he looked down at his hands.
Wally had ripped some of his hair out.
Wally slid down the kitchen wall and curled himself up into a ball, unable to stop the tears that spilled from his eyes. Wally had never truly processed the fact that he wasn't happy. When you're always surrounded by a sea of couples and friends, you tell yourself to feel how they feel - to match them. And Wally tried, he put on the act for years and believed it, but deep down he's never felt more alone in his life. Not until he had to normalize the fact that he will always be excluded, anyway. He's just another person looking from the outside in. A person everyone 'loves', but nobody 'loves' enough to care about. And maybe he deserved it.
Wally sniffled and tilted his head back against the cold wall. He closed his eyes and tried his best to calm the heart ache he felt, but he knew it wouldn't ever truly go away. It never did. Wally's eyes snapped open at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. In an instant, he rubbed the tears away from his face and ran a hand through his hair, standing up in the process. He walked out of the kitchen and peered into the dark hallway, only for it to be empty. This confused him - were you not awake? He cautiously made his way down the hall and peeked his head through the small crack of his bedroom door. A flash of red and yellow escaping through the window was the only thing he saw. He opened the door quickly and checked on you - you were still sound asleep in his bed. A loud sigh of relief left his lips. He glanced over to the open window and made his way over, shutting it and locking it in place. He pulled the blinds down and turned around, knowing exactly who that was.
Julie.
It had to be. If there's anyone in the neighborhood crazier than him, it would have to be her. She was the top suspect on his list for who was involved with the missing children - not because she was flirting with you or anything. Wally walked out of the bedroom and left the door cracked open halfway so he could check on you later, quickly making his way down the hall and into the paint room. He flicked on the light and stared up at the evidence wall.
"Time to get to work.." he said, placing his hands on his hips.
——————-
Reader;
I woke up with a loud, obnoxious yawn. I rubbed my eyes and looked around for Wally, but he wasn't here. I threw the royal blue covers off and scrambled out of bed.
"Wally?" I called out, leaning out of the bedroom door.
The faint sounds of typing filled my ears as I slowly made my way out of the room and to his paint room. I pushed the door open and saw Wally sitting in front of his computer on the ground, typing very loudly. I looked up at the wall and my eyes widened in surprise - he had practically filled the entire wall up with news clippings and what exactly each parent did behind the scenes. How long had he been working on this?
When he noticed me, he looked up and smiled, quickly waving me over. I swiftly made my way inside and sat down next to him.
"Wally, what is all of this?" I said, smiling.
"I thought it would be nice if I did some of my own research and well... I might've fallen down a rabbit hole. But I found out tons of new information! Oh, I'm so excited to show you." He said happily.
"Really? That's fantastic, Wally! Thank you so much, I could just.. ah! You're amazing!" I shouted excitedly, leaning over and hugging him tightly.
Wally's cheeks turned pink as he clicked out of a document and opened a new one, getting ready to run me through the entire case file he put together so far.
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