To Stray Too Far From Home (Wally X Reader)

Fate Worse Than Death

Early to rest, early to rise as the saying goes and yet Wally still woke up before you, Home startling him awake with the rattling of the guest bedroom shutters. The pounding in his head falling in rhythm with those of the fists on his front door.

Wally groaned softly in the warm light of the room, Home having turned them on to assist him in getting up. You were nestled securely against him, your arms having wound around his waist in your sleep, his own wrapped comfortingly around your shoulders.

You looked adorable curled up with him, even with the string of red bandaids down your cheek. Lazily eying over your rested face, Wally almost slipped back into unconsciousness and he would've if not for the incessant banging at his front door.

Sighing exasperatedly, Wally carefully flitted out of your hold and headed over to his room, snagging the ascot he had left on the kitchen table as he passed it by. Tossing it into the laundry hamper in his closet. Wally threw on his usual clothes; blue sweater, rainbow striped pants, a new ascot and his Oxfords.

Exhausted and knowing his friends wouldn't wait the twenty minutes it would take for him to style his hair, Wally simply brushed through it with a comb, leaving it down- Definitely not because you said it looks good on him.

Marching to his entryway, schooling his features for the onslaught of questions and reprimands he was about to receive, Wally flung open the door and instantly had to duck, narrowly missing Julie's frantic attempt to knock on the already ajar door.

"Wally!" the rainbow monster gasped tearily, throwing herself at him, sending both of them crashing to the floor.

The rest of the neighborhood slowly filtered into Wally's Home, crowding his living room and kitchen. All the while Julie clung onto him, wailing her heart out. Everyone had a look of relief on their face, though most of them had vexation painted on as well.

"Wally! What were you thinking!?" Frank fumed, his hands shooting out to his sides in distress. "Going out at night?! You could've gotten tangled!"

Tangled , the polite term they created for getting caught by the Puppeteer. It was once such an innocent word designed to explain how your shoes were knotted amiss or how your jump rope tied around itself, now turned to a horrifying descriptor of what was to happen if you fell into the clutches of the Puppeteer.

"I know," Wally admitted, guilt twisting in his gut, "but I had to get the new neighbor."

"The new neighbor was out at night?!" Poppy squawked, stumbling on her feet as though she were going to faint.

Wally's hands gently patted Julie's head, her sobs droning down to hushed sniffles. His eyes turned downcast, avoiding his friends' gaze.

"It's my fault they were out there to begin with, I forgot to tell them the rules and they had gotten lost..."

"So you risked yourself to save 'em?" Barnaby mumbled, shaking his head at Wally's selfless act.

In the neighborhood there were only a few rules, one of them was 'always protect your fellow neighbors, but not at the cost of your own wellbeing.' Wally had the first part down pat however, the second half was still coming along.

"Are they alright?" Eddie, the ever caring mailman asked, looking around to see if the new addition to their Home was hidden in the room somewhere.

Wally slightly smiled, his mind flicking back to your restful face as you slept. "They're alright, just resting. Their injuries require more time to heal."

"Did you not sew them up? They should be fine if you tended to their wounds last night. Do you need more supplies?" Howdy pressed, pulling out the extra first aid kit he had brought just in case Wally didn't have enough last night after his daring escape.