Work Text:
It was a cloudy day, and all Henry really had to do was sit around and be nervous for the upcoming performance. He listened as Gomer played the same song over and over again. Henry was sitting in the living room, petting his racoon, Sammy.
It helped some, but he couldn’t get the bad thoughts out of his head. What if he screwed up, and said something embarrassing by accident? What if he stuttered and everyone laughed at him? What if he got dirty thoughts in the middle of the performance?
He was thinking so much that it startled him when Gomer came and started petting Sammy as well.
“Gomer! Hi!” Henry exclaimed. When he was with Gomer, all his nervous energy started to fade away. And being with Gomer and Sammy at the same time was really nice.
“You nervous?” Henry asked. Gomer shrugged, then pointed to him.
“Me? Am I nervous? Yeah.” Henry admitted. He didn’t like to talk about his anxiety that much, but Gomer was a good listener and never made fun of him. Gomer seemed to have an idea, so he went to the kitchen, pulled out a recipe book, and looked through it.
“Oh, you wanna cook?” Henry asked. That was clearly a yes, as Gomer kept flipping through it, until he eventually found gingerbread cookies and pointed at the picture. Henry giggled.
“Gingerbread cookies, perfect for the holidays!” Henry exclaimed.
“Well, okay, let’s see if we have the ingredients. Okay, we have the flour, and the butter… The sugar of course… Oh… We don’t have cinnamon, or ginger.” Henry said. Gomer rummaged through the cabinet, but looked really sad and disappointed when he didn’t find those ingredients anywhere.
“Aww, Gomer, don’t worry… I can go to the store.” Henry said.
“Or I can.” A voice said from behind them, and Henry turned around to see Wendell.
“C’mon Wendell, you don’t have to… You’re always trying to do all this stuff for us, just settle down for a little.” Henry said.
“No, I’m going! Okay, ginger, cinnamon, ginger, cinnamon!” Wendell chanted to himself, going to get on his coat.
“Be safe out there!” Henry shouted, as Wendell slammed the door and went out into the cold. Henry sighed.
“He’s nervous too.” Henry said. When Wendell was nervous, he felt like he had to do a bunch of stuff for people to feel more confident and to distract himself from being nervous. Which was actually a pretty good coping mechanism.
“Okay, let’s preheat the oven! Can you do that, Gomer?” Henry asked. Gomer got excited, and ran to the oven.
“Okay! First, press ‘bake’. Got that? Now, put in the numbers three five zero. Press start.” Henry instructed.
“Woo hoo, you did it!” Henry exclaimed, giving Gomer a big hug.
After that, Henry and Gomer sat on the couch for a while, passing Sammy back and forth between them.
“Everyone wants to have me!” Sammy exclaimed. Henry and Gomer giggled. Sammy was the best emotional support racoon out there.
A little bit later, the door opened again, and Wendell came in, holding two bags. Gomer went to see what was in them.
“Well, I ended up finding more than just ginger and cinnamon…” Wendell said. Gomer looked at the new ingredients like he was opening a Christmas present. There were all kinds of holiday-themed sprinkles. Gomer shook them around in pure wonder and amusement, then looked at Wendell and smiled at him.
“I think he wants to say thank you.” Henry said. Wendell giggled.
“Well, you’re welcome.” He said. Gomer came over to give him a head pat.
“Wait, what is this…” Henry mumbled, noticing there was another thing they hadn’t seen yet.
“Wow, it’s a gingerbread house kit!” Henry exclaimed. Gomer came over and looked at it, and looked really excited, then flapped his hands merrily.
“That’s the holiday spirit!” Sammy shouted.
“Wait… Wendell.. Where’s my credit card?” Henry asked. Wendell giggled nervously.
“Well, uhh… You said I could use it for essentials… Aren’t gingerbread and sprinkles necessities?” Wendell said nervously, hoping Henry wouldn’t yell at him.
“I’m just kidding, Wendell, of course it’s okay.” Henry said, patting him on the back. Wendell sighed in relief. Henry was always okay with letting people borrow his money if he had it, and the doors to his big house were always open if anyone needed a place to stay.
“Now c’mon, let’s make gingerbread.” Henry said.
It was a great time. Gomer could always suggest something fun to calm Henry down.
Gomer worked hard on the cookies, and they turned out wonderful. The bears and the racoon ate them together, not wishing for things to be any other way. They were perfect as they were.