Its a sunny day in Wartwood at the Plantar family home. Y/N and Anne are outside, standing in the front garden looking at holes in the vegetable patch.
Y/N: Anne, you know I have a problem with this. It just feels wrong.
Anne: Relax, Y/N. I'm sure he can find a better home. Now are you ready?
Y/N sighed and nodded and let out his mantis claws.
Y/N: Ready as I'll ever be.
Anne: You set 'em up, and I'll knock 'em down!
Y/N dove into one of the holes and he saw his target. A small insect that had been burrowing in the garden and eating Hop Pop's vegetables. Y/N clawed at it and it quickly buzzed out of its hole. As it left the hole, it screeched and rushed towards Anne, attempting to attack her. She was ready with her tennis racket however and delivered it a backhanded swing and it flew through the air and Y/N emerged from the hole.
Y/N: Sorry Stefan!
Anne: Was that his name?
Y/N shrugged his shoulders and retracted his claws.
Y/N: Nice swing.
Anne: I was on varsity.
Y/N: I have no idea what that means but good for you.
They did a strange friendship handshake which ended with joyous laughter. A concertina starts playing a song as Wally starts walking towards them.
Wally: The two monsters from the woods getting along? How unnatural.
He plays a harsh note on his concertina.
Anne: Pssh! Of course we get along! We're the human duo Y/N and Anne!
Y/N: Anne and Y/N!
Both: Y/Anne against the world!
Wally: Disgusting.
He continues playing and walks past them. From the basement, Hop Pop's screams could be heard.
Anne: Was that Hop Pop?
Y/N: No, it was Polly. Yes who else could it have been? It sounds like he's in trouble aswell. We're coming Hop Pop!
They both rushed into the house and threw open the trapdoor to the basement to see that it was flooded with a disgusting green ooze.
Anne: Woah, what happened in here?
Y/N: Hop Pop?
Y/N wiped away some slime ontop of the water and Hop Pop came out of it screaming.
Hop Pop: Stay back!
Y/N: Monster! Save me! I mean, oh hi Hop Pop.
Hop Pop: Darned burrow bugs must have chewed the water pipes.
Y/N shook his head silently.
Y/N: Damn it Stefan.
Anne: My room! My stuff!
Hop Pop: Don't worry, Anne. I saved your stuff.
Hop Pop held her backpack over the water and planted it on the stairs as some objects began floating by.
Hop Pop: Except your bed and your blankets. And your pillow, pencils, t shorts, hairbrush.
Anne quickly picked up her backpack.
Anne: Just how long till its fixed?
Hop Pop: Well, gotta find the leak, then patch it up good.
Sprig appeared from around the corner of the trapdoor.
Sprig: Oh, let me help!
Hop Pop: Oh no ya don't! This here's river water. No tellin' what creepy critters are swimmin' around.
Anne: Uh, so where am I gonna sleep?
Hop Pop: Well, the living room ain't no palace, but the couch is comfy.
Y/N: Or she could stay with me in my nest.
Anne: Your nest?
Y/N took them into the attic of the house and showed his hand made nest which was made of twigs and leaves.
Y/N: About a day or two after I moved in here i found this place. It seemed a bit dusty and dirty and so I thought nobody used it for much. I had a nest like this back at my old cave where I could go to get some alone time away from Mantis and Ant.
Hop Pop: Oh, I thought you were using the time you excused yourself for ... other reasons. But I don't know. Bein' friends is one thing, but roommates? You think you know someone until they're in your space and you're in theirs and you can't stand how they whistle all the time, and they complain whenever you clean your web crusties out. Yes, I have to do it in our room! It had the best lighting! My point is ...
But by the time he had finished, Y/N was already helping Anne set up her stuff in the nest. Hop Pop sighed and left the attic.
Anne: This is actually kinda comfy. Hey, what's those? They look cool.
Anne pointed to three doll-like things ontop of a box next to the nest. Y/N picked them up and showed them to her.
Anne: Sweet dolls.
Y/N: They're my action figures. I made these when I first moved in here. Sometimes I would get a bit homesick from being away from Mantis and Ant for so long so I made these so I could always feel like they're with me.
Y/N showed the action figures to her. They were all made to look like Ant, Mantis and
Y/N.
Y/N: Interesting fact about these figurines are that I made them by using my-
Anne: Incoming!
Before Y/N could stop, Anne wacked him in the face with a pillow and he fell to the floor.
Anne: Ooh, sorry, dude.
Y/N: What was that?
Anne: What? Haven't you ever had a pillow fight before?
Y/N squinted at her as if to say "boi".
Anne: Righttt. Grew up with bugs.
Y/N: Fighting that doesn't hurt? How exhilarating!
Y/N grabbed a pillow in the nest and wacked Anne with it aswell.
Anne: Oh, its on!
Y/N and Anne began wacking eachother with pillows. Suddenly, Anne hit Y/N's hand and it almost knocked out the dolls which would've broken on the floor.
Y/N: Whoops. Better keep these out the way.
Y/N put them back on the box and they resumed their pillow fight.
Night 1
Anne: So Y/N, would you rather sweat melted cheese or always smell like skunk?
Y/N: Well I think melted cheese. For one I could open up a restaurant and serve people cheese dishes. Second if I choose to smell like a skunk then that's gonna be very obvious but melted cheese is pretty discreet so I can just cover it up.
Anne: You would feed people your cheese sweat? Gross. Ok, next question. Y/N?
Y/N had silently drifted to sleep in the nest as Anne kept calling to him.
Anne: Psst! Y/N? Y/N? Y/N? Y/N? Y/N. Y/N. Y/N. Hey, Y/N!
She threw a pillow right in his face which woke him up suddenly.
Anne: You awake?
Y/N: Oh, yeah, totally.
Anne: Ok, good. So, next question.
Later on in the night, Anne was squirming in her sleep from the temperature.
Anne: Ugh. Ugh! Melting.
She got up and opened a nearby window, letting a cold draught in. She sighed happily and went back to bed. Y/N got up shivering and closed the window again.
Y/N: Aaah. Much better.
He returned back to his bed and a sweating Anne looked over to him and glared. The morning came and Hop Pop opened the door to the attic with Polly and Sprig.
Hop Pop: Rise and shine, sleepyheads! You missed breakfast!
They both groaned a response.
Anne: Go away.
Y/N: Ugh. I feel like I've only just thawed out from last night. It was absolutely freezing.
Anne: What? It was like a swamp sauna in here. Maybe Y/N just needs another blanket.
Y/N: Or maybe Anne needs fewer blankets.
Anne: Or maybe ...
Hop Pop: You know, the couch is still free in case there's trouble in paradise.
Y/N no way. Pssh. It's no trouble.
Anne: Yeah. We're the best roommates in the history of roommates.
Both: Y/Anne against the world!
They both walked towards the door and Y/N stepped to the side.
Y/N: After you, best roomie.
Anne: Why, thank you, also best roomie.
They left the attic and the Plantars were left watching them as they went.
Hop Pop: Hmm.
Polly: They're gonna eat eachother alive.
Hop Pop: Oh, absolutely.
Sprig: Definitely.
Night 2
Anne turns on her firefly light and reads a cat magazine while loudly munching on snacks.
Y/N turns away from the light and covers his ears with a pillow, trying to drown out the noise.
Night 3
As Y/N sleeps, his wings start to vibrate, making an annoying buzzing sound, waking Anne up and getting her frustrated.
Night 4
As Anne opens a window, Y/N would get up to shut it. This would continue for hours.
Night 5
Anne flicked on her light again, immediately waking Y/N up and he growls in frustration.
Night 6
Y/N threw a molted claw hide over the nest which landed on Anne. She groans and looks over to him picking off the shedded hide from his mantis claws.
Night 10
Anne goes into the attic and trips on a small box, causing her to throw her clothes over the attic and fall against another box which caused a domino effect into the box holding Y/N's figures. He quickly caught them and they looked at eachother and chuckled.
The next day, Y/N went down to check on Hop Pop's progression on the basement.
Y/N: Hey, Hop Pop. How much longer, you think? Tonight?
Hop Pop: Not a chance.
Y/N: Oh come on! Can't you just let Sprig help?
Hop Pop: Getting frustrated with sharing a nest with Anne are ya?
Y/N: Psssh, no. How absurd.
Y/N slammed the trapdoor and went back to the attic. That night, they both barged into the attic and grunted at eachother. Y/N let out an exaggerated yawn.
Y/N: Oh boy, what a long day. I'm going straight to bed. If I can get there can get there of course without tripping over these dirty clothes.
Anne: Yeah, actually I think you'll find that its your bug skin thats in the way there.
Y/N: I'll leave my molt on the floor of my nest if I like.
Anne: What was that?
Y/N: Oh, nothing, best roomie. Anyways, good night.
Y/N turned away from her and tried to fall asleep. On the other side of the nest, Anne turned on her phone and started scrolling through the pictures that they had taken together and chuckled a bit. She looked over to him fondly.
Anne: Hey, Y/N, would you rather have a splinter you could never get out or get bit by a giant mosquito once a day forever?
Y/N gave a grunt, trying to ignore her questions and just sleep. In all honesty although he was used to Anne's habits after sleeping in the basement with her for almost a week, he was far enough away that they didn't effect him. But now that she slept next to him her shenanigans became more bothersome.
Anne: Hey, Y/N?
He sighed.
Y/N: What is it, Anne?
He turned to look at her and saw her looming over him with a pillow in her hands.
Anne: Pillow fight!
Y/N: No, wait, stop!
Y/N dodged the hit of the pillow and knocked into a box. It was the box that held his figures on it and it knocked off the Y/N doll, sending it falling to the floor. As it hit the floor, its head came clean off as it broke in two.
Anne: Oh, no! Your doll, I mean, action figure.
Y/N looked at the doll distraught on the inside by unbothered on the outside.
Anne: Y/Anne against the world, right?
Y/N: I have to go to the bathroom.
He stiffly walked out of the attic door but as soon as he was out of sight he quickly rushed to the basement and began clawing at the water with his mantis claws.
Y/N: I gotta find it around here somewhere! I can't stand her being in my nest anymore!
Y/N's wings buzzed as he flew into the air above the water and checked behind the stares. Unbeknownst to him, Anne had just came into the basement and dived into the water in search of the leak. He flew back to the stairs of the basement and hovered there. As he did, Anne came up for air and spat some river water out.
Anne: That leak has to be around here somewhere.
Y/N: I know, right?
They both gasped and looked at eachother.
Y/N: What're you doing here?
Anne: I was, uh, feeling like a night time swim. What are you doing here?
Y/N: Psssssh. Uhhh. You know. Basement flying stuff. The usual.
Both: You came down here to fix the leak! Yeah, well, so did you!
Y/N: I knew it! You just couldn't wait to move out of my nest!
Anne: And you just couldn't wait to get rid of me! If you wanted me gone, you should have just said so ...
Anne screams as she pulled under the water.
Y/N: Anne? Anne! Anne! Anne! Anne!
She reemerges from the water shouting.
Anne: Something's got my leg!
Y/N: Hang on, I'm coming.
Y/N went over to get her but a tail came out from the water and wrapped itself around his leg and tried to pull him under. Anne's creature pulled her under again but she slammed it against a ladder and it let go of her, allowing her to swim to the surface. Y/N slashed at his creature with his claws and it let go with slash wounds on its head.
Y/N: God dammit, they're River lampreys! What are we gonna do?
Anne: They're too fast, we can't fight them under water.
Just then, Anne's bed and pillows floated past them.
Anne: Huh. Heh, Y/N. You set 'em up ...
She picked up one of her pillows and had a courageous look on her face.
Y/N: and you knock 'em down.
Y/N hovered slightly above the surface of the water and dipped his two claws into the murky depths. The lampreys took the bait and clamped their jaws around them. Y/N winced in pain but threw the lampreys out the water towards Anne with her pillow in hand. She gave a backhanded smack towards the lampreys and they slammed against the wall.
Anne: Had enough of that, river losers?
Y/N: There's more where that came from!
The lampreys shrieked and dived into the water and burrowed out of the basement, draining the water in it as they left. Y/N stopped flying and planted his feet firmly on the ground and Hop Pop bursts into the basement with Polly ontop of his head.
Hop Pop: What the heck's going on down here?
Polly: Some of us are trying to sleep!
They both screamed as they saw the sleep deprived hideous monster that was Polly.
Anne: Ah! Oh, hi Hop Pop.
Hop Pop: So, the nest thing didn't work out, huh?
Both: Not really.
Anne: I just can't live that close to him! The dead skin, constant buzzing, the heat!
Y/N: The loud snacking, the freezing cold, all those bright lights. Guess Y/Anne really is a bust.
Anne: Yeah.
Hop Pop: Why? Because you're finally talking? Sharing a room doesn't make you friends. Being honest with each other does. In fact, if you ask me, you're better friends now than you were before.
They both smiled at eachother softly.
Y/N: Of course we are!
Anne: Yes! Y/Anne is back and better than before!
They did their funny handshake thing together.
Polly: Aw, how sweet. So where are they gonna sleep then? Not with me. My bucket's for one.
And so that night Y/N slept alone in his nest whilst Anne slept on the couch. It was cosy, but Y/N felt lonely. He made a string telephone and chucked it down to the living room window which, of course, was open. Once he felt a tug on the line, he knew Anne had picked it up.
Y/N: Hey, Anne. Ever notice how at the end of each chapter we're always somehow going to sleep or in bed?