Chapter Text
october 2022
if there was anything wakko warner didn’t like about himself (wow, what a way to start), it was how emotional he had gotten over the last year and a half. therapy definitely played a role in that, and so did the senior year of high school. helena carlisle, the only mental health professional that seemed to know what she was doing, told him that coming to terms with the hand he was dealt was as good as letting the dam burst, or opening the faucet in his eyes. wakko didn’t realize that that meant weeping over every little thing.
he found himself choking up at an episode of big time rush the other day, and for what? he wasn’t sure. he cried a lot on the days leading up to graduation a few months ago, but that made sense. things were ending and changing. wakko was no longer school bound, and he didn’t have to worry about waking up early or getting any assignments done. sure he only attended for his last 2 years of education, but it was a chapter in his life that was now closed, and the change made him just a little weepy.
the real kicker was that his best friends, charlie and astro, got accepted into their dream schools, NYU and berkeley, respectively. wakko cried again when it was time to say goodbye. astro had driven them to the beach so they could scream their worries at the ocean, and it ended in tears on all parts. it was insanely cathartic, and helena applauded it when wakko recalled the adventure.
two months had passed since then, and he hadn’t seen astro or charlie because they were learning stuff in other cities far, far away. wakko was crying about it again. at least he could take comfort in the fact that he could now drive himself somewhere to be sad in private, away the tiny apartment. he was sure that yakko and dot didn’t cry as much as he did, and he was positive that they were tired of hearing him cry about the same thing over and over.
wakko didn’t go anywhere special, just to a mcdonald’s parking lot. he had the intention of getting a mcflurry to cushion the blow, but he remembered he only grabbed the car keys and his driver’s license on the way out, and that was the final nail in the crying coffin.
the license was what caused this particular outing. it had been just over a week since wakko passed his driving test, and he wasn’t allowed to have any passengers until he was eighteen. that wasn’t until next month, so unless yakko suddenly wanted to join in on the sob fests, wakko was driving alone.
he pushed his seat back and turned up the volume on the radio to block out his crying noises because no one was more tired of wakko tears than wakko warner. more emotions built up in his throat as he remembered the time astro made him drive around the abandoned parking lot on prom night. wakko was certain he wouldn’t have asked yakko for lessons if his friend hadn’t encouraged him. wakko had also hoped he would have gotten his license before charlie and astro moved, but it didn’t work out that way. they were excited for him over facetime, though.
but as soon as that call was over, and wakko was back to his mundane life, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. he didn’t have classes to attend, despite the announcer at graduation saying “wakko warner, east los angeles college” at the ceremony. there just wasn’t anything that stood out to him when it came to signing up for classes. thankfully, yakko didn’t try to pressure him and let him off the hook for now.
it was well into october, and wakko almost wished he had a class or two - or anything, really - to keep him distracted from this ache. he already spent time driving past his friends’ houses and other places they used to go, and that was just as sad as you think. he had never felt so lonely before.
and it wasn’t just the absence of his two closest friends - it was the lack of any friends. just before the school year ended, wakko made promises to his orchestra friends to meet up and hang out over the summer. but all wakko did was count down the days until charlie and astro left. no one tried to contact him, but if he reached out - oh, i’m too busy. oh, i’m working. it was useless, and wakko felt a little duped. what was the point of making friends in high school if they were just going to leave you?
it was wakko’s first real year of not having any obligation. he didn’t have a show to film, nor was he in survival mode, nor did he have school. all wakko did was merely float through life in this bizarre limbo space while everyone around him had something to do, whether they wanted to do it or not. yakko was still working retail everyday, and dot was in her second to last year of high school. they both still had their friends in close proximity. did they know how lucky that was?
wakko would have to find a job eventually, he knew that much. he might want to pursue a career at some point. he almost wished that yakko was like his friends’ parents, demanding that he get his whole life together so he can have a good future, blah, blah, blah. at least then it would be happening at the same time as everyone else so he wouldn’t feel so odd and left out… and alone.
he sat in the car, curled up in the driver’s seat. the sun was long gone, and one of his siblings would call or text soon wondering where he was. sure, he could tell them what was running through his head, but he already told them how much he missed charlie and astro. regardless, wakko knew he had to be home already, so he took a breath and picked his seat back up. he can cry into a mcflurry some other time.
it was almost ten o’clock by the time wakko was climbing the steps to the apartment. it was a tuesday night, and he was expecting a silent, dark living room. he was hoping for it, actually.
but the lamp was on, only illuminating half the room. yakko was on the couch, watching an episode of big time rush.
“did you know these guys are half toon?” he said, like his brother had been in the room the entire time.
wakko nodded, not really in the mood to talk about the one of the things he had been looking into in order to pass the time. he tossed the car keys to yakko, who caught them and put them away behind his back.
“see anything interesting out there?” he asked, changing the subject. “crashes? fights? did you remember to stop for a bird?”
“a police car followed me for a few blocks, but i wasn’t doing anything wrong.” wakko shrugged.
“maybe you murdered someone and forgot?”
“guess they did too.”
there was a bit of silence as yakko tapped his chin, watching his brother. wakko averted his eyes, knowing they weren’t done here yet. he really just wanted to watch this live action cartoon until 3AM… again.
“you’ve been driving a lot lately, haven’t you?” yakko finally asked.
“just getting used to the road.”
“okay. is that all?”
despite the obvious energy gap that was the size of an elephant, wakko was glad to see how well his brother had gotten. yakko was more animated and chipper again, even when he was showing concern. time, therapy, and medication had done him some good. it just felt like the better yakko got, the more wakko felt his own energy slipping away. it was as if there was a finite amount of happy energy between the warners, and it could never be evenly distributed for some reason.
the shift in energies was especially prominent tonight. wakko just wanted to be left alone, but he had a feeling that yakko wasn’t going to let that happen.
“don’t make me ask, sib.”
“huh?”
“are you okay?”
and just like that, the cloud formed above wakko’s head. what was it about that question that made it so heavy and loaded and tear-inducing?
“thought so,” yakko said, and he patted the cushion next to him. “c’mon.”
wakko stayed where he was and chewed the inside of his cheek to center himself for a moment. “you already know.”
“what? that you miss your friends?”
hearing it from another mouth only made it sting a little more. wakko nodded, tears welling up in his eyes for the thousandth time that day. that made the cloud vanish. (raindrops had to come from somewhere!) he thought he was all cried out, given how numb he was on the drive home.
once again, yakko patted the seat like he was inviting his brother to follow him into disneyland. wakko sniffed and took the seat. he didn’t know what to say that yakko hadn’t already heard. but as always, the one who yaks had things to say.
“did i tell you that annie-bannanie is moving away?”
was that supposed to be comforting? wakko almost wanted the anxiety-riddled yakko here to tell him that it could be worse.
(also, is there a need for exposition as to who this fruit girl is? if you’re reading this then you already know of annie-bannanie and her relationship to yakko, but there’s always at least one person who doesn’t know!)
“yeah,” yakko continued when his brother gave him a shocked look. “she found a graduate school in oregon. she leaves in january, and her boyfriend is going with her. so that’s two whole friends of mine that are leaving.”
“you don’t sound sad about it,” wakko told him, rubbing his eye with his shirt sleeve.
“haha!” yakko chuckled. “trust me, it’s brewing! you know annie-bannanie, she’s my best friend. you think those kinds of people are going to be there forever, and some do stick around that long. but you gotta give ‘em a chance to come back to you.”
“but what am i supposed to do until then?” wakko asked. “my friends are off doing things and learning stuff and i… i’m here.”
“we’ll figure it out, sib. i’m about to be in the same boat as you.” yakko squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “what do you do? where do you usually go when you steal the car?”
wakko felt a little sheepish. it was already mildly humiliating that he was caught in the middle of his feelings again, imagine actually admitting he drives by the usual places his friends went to. that was just another type of sad.
“i wanted to get a mcflurry, but i didn’t have money.” at least that was true today.
“okay.” yakko nodded. “that’s a starting point. we can get fast food, and we’ll go from there.” he pressed his forehead on wakko’s temple for a reassuring second.
it was something… kind of. did wakko really have to wait for his brother to feel the ache of saying goodbye to a friend in order to have something to do? besides, the drives were just for him.
“you know we’re going to face this pain again, right?” yakko said after a moment.
“you have such a way with words, big brother.”
“i’m talking about dot. you know she’s gonna wanna go some place extravagant when she’s done with high school.”
wakko sighed. that was extremely true, but it wasn’t happening for another couple of years, so he would burn that bridge when he got there. “she’ll probably wanna go to a dance academy in paris.”
“perris, california,” yakko said with a grin. after another beat of silence. “she cries too, y’know. and so do i.”
“huh?”
“it’s not hard to figure out what you do when you drive. you have puffy eyes and i can hear you sniffling when you come home. just wanna say, sib, just because you don’t see the water works on me and dot doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”
that was a little reassuring, but wakko was sure neither of his siblings were crying as much as he was these days. dot was thriving, having finally found her people on the dance team. she still struggled with her classes, but she didn’t seem bothered by it. yakko, apart from the annalise bomb he dropped, seemed happier with life. he got promoted at work and was training for his new position, and he was more present with wakko and dot. that was why he was sitting with wakko so late on a school night.
speaking of wakko, he had been relatively okay. his little insulin problem had been treated, and he had been off of debilitating medication for a while now. it was a matter of finding a stable ground when it came to his eating habits. but as soon as he was okay with that aspect of his life, it was time to say goodbye to his two best friends. there wasn’t any real breathing room. not to mention, being sad about it was hard without feeling like a jerk. wakko was happy for charlie and astro, they got into their dream schools and they got out of LA. he just wished the happiness and pride was enough to outweigh the loneliness that came with it.
“they’ll be here in a month’s time,” yakko reassured. “they’re not missing your birthday, and i’m sure they’d love to hear from you until then.”
“i know…”
“isn’t that something? having all this love for them that makes the separation so hard?”
“did you just butcher winnie the pooh?”
“of course not! this fic is for general audiences!”