Archive of Our Own ^beta

Wally tilted his head back, further resting it against the shrubbery outside of Home as he let out a long yawn.

And it confused him.

It really confused him.

His day had started out like any other, which just helped to confuse hm even more. He'd gotten out of bed at the exact same time, he'd gussied up his hair at the exact same time, he'd made breakfast at the exact same time-

Everything was the same.

So why wasn't he?

He didn't know how to explain it. It was a feeling. A very odd feeling. He supposed he wasn't quite as normal as he was insisting, when he got up, but it had been very subtle, then. He'd hardly noticed the odd feeling, at first.

It was something he'd never experienced, before. When he'd gotten out of bed, his steps had felt a tad bit.. heavy? But how could steps be heavy when you're not stomping-?

He'd found himself nearly stumbling and tripping on his way to the kitchen, which he'd laughed off (like he was sure Barnaby would do). When he caught himself spacing out, accidentally burning his toast in the process, he'd laughed that off, too (like Barnaby would do).

He'd treated it all just like any other, normal day!

... But none of that was normal. Was it?

Wally put his hands up to his head- shaking it in an attempt to clear his thoughts. The only thing that it succeeded in doing was making himself unusually dizzy.

He didn't want to be thinking about this. He didn't want for there to be anything wrong. Nothing was wrong, right-?

Just because he'd had a bit of a strange start to his day, that didn't mean that anything bad was happening. He was just... confused!

And Wally was very familiar with being confused.

A lot of things confused him. That's why he had his friends! Home, and Barnaby, and Julie, and Sally, and Howdy, and Poppy- oh, and especially Frank. Frank knew just about everything.

A part of Wally had to pause, at that thought. He idly wondered if Frank would be able to explain what was happening to him, but those thoughts were cut short when another yawn caught him by surprise.

And the second yawn was the catalyst to his bubbling panic.

It sat uneasily in his chest; making something in his guts feel messed up. It made him feel as heavy as his legs had been- made an unfamiliar, painfully cold sensation shoot down his back.

Because it just now occurred to him that the strangest part of his day - the one and only thing that he couldn't just laugh at - wasn't quite as strange as he'd first thought.

... For the others, that is.

Barnaby yawned. Eddie yawned. Julie Yawned. Frank yawned.

Who, in town, didn't yawn-?

Slowly, Wally brought his hands down into his lap. Glancing down at them, he noticed that they were shaking, just a bit.

Why were they shaking? It was the beginning of spring, right now. Wally was certain that it was the beginning of spring.

After all, it had been just yesterday that everybody was enjoying the warming weather.

Just yesterday, Wally hadn't been yawning.

Feeling his growing panic, Wally was quick to look up at Home- just like the three other times, in the past few minutes.

And just like the past few minutes, Home's eyes were shut tight. If he listened intently enough, he swore that he could make out the familiar, slight rattle of Home's subtle snores.

Although he'd known that Home was taking a nap, right now, Wally couldn't help but to open his mouth- to get ready to ask the many questions that he needed to get out.
He closed his mouth after a couple of seconds, though; not wanting to be rude and interrupt his friend's rest.

... But he needed to talk to someone, right now. Anyone.

Wally leaned forward in his sitting position- palms of his hands brushing up against the bright green grass. He was half-tempted to dig his fingers into the dirt, but refrained. He'd just narrowly avoided being rude, after all.

Looking out at the colorful neighborhood surrounding him, Wally could swear that his vision was... off.

From the lawn of his house, Wally could get a lovely view of practically everybody in town. From here, he could see Howdy's Place- and right beside it was Eddie's Post. He knew that instinctively without having to even squint.

But boy did he need to squint, right now. The buildings were blurry- going in and out of focus as Wally attempted to see them properly.

On his right, he knew that if he turned his head, he'd see Barnaby's house. And to his left, he'd see Poppy's. If he got up and walked around to the other side of Home, he'd be able to see Sally's, and then Julie's, and then Frank's.

He'd be able to see everything.

So why couldn't he really see anything-?

Blinking didn't seem to clear anything up, and he didn't really want to close his eyes, out of fear of him never being able to see anything ever again.

The entire reason as to why he'd sat himself down on the front lawn in the first place was due to the wooziness and heaviness overtaking him at the last minute. He'd practically collapsed, and just chose to remain there up until now.

The urge to go find somebody to talk to, to ask questions, was undeniably strong, and yet still, Wally couldn't bring himself to attempt to stand up, again.

And so here he continued to sit- vision still failing him as he put all of his focus into trying to discern the specific details of Eddie's post office. Putting all of his concentration in this one thing, rather than the several distressing things was..... helping.

It was helping... somewhat.

At the very least, it was able to distract him enough for him to not even notice the fact that he had company quickly approaching.

"Heya, Wally!" came Julie's sing-song voice.

She skipped along the path, joyfully making her way over to him. Much to Wally's dismay, however, even Julie was blurry.

He looked up at her, blinking a few times.

".. Oh.... Hey, Julie..." was his drawn out reply; mind very much so elsewhere, at the moment.

This was something that Julie seemed to pick up on rather quickly- her head tilting to the side as she paused right in front of him.

"Somethin' wrong, Wally?" she asked innocently, leaning down and placing her hands on her knees.

"Why're you on the ground, like that? Is this some new game??"

Wally stared up at her for a bit, his tired brain having a difficult time processing her questions. He opened his mouth to reply, closed it, then opened it again before finally managing out something in response.

".. Nooo... Not a... game..."

Julie's smile soon changed to a frown- her confusion only seeming to grow as time went on.

If this wasn't a game, then what was it?

"Soooo," she drawled out, "you're juuuust... sittin' on the graaass...?"

Wally looked back down at his hands. Julie followed his gaze, but was quick to pull it back up when she noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

By now, although she certainly wanted to keep up her jolly disposition, Julie was getting the certain feeling that something was wrong.

For all of his little quirks, Wally wasn't really one to just sit around, doing nothing. Not in front of Home, anyway. If he was spending some time alone, he'd sooner spend it inside- or better yet, by that tree on the outskirts of town.

Julie, never really being one to enjoy stillness, didn't often understand Wally's more introverted nature. She never had to understand, of course; it was none of her business what he did in his free time!

But, all the same, Wally's behavior was new- and not just new: it was downright alarming!

Even more so when she didn't get any sort of response.

She crouched down further; standing on the balls of her feet as she wrapped her arms around her knees. She leaned in, trying to get a good look at Wally's face.

Like any good friend, she wanted to understand this peculiar behavior. Nobody said she had to, but she wanted to. This wasn't anything like his usual private time.

He looked... upset.

"... Wally...?" she tried again.

Wally looked back up at her, and this time, she could clearly see his distress. She could see the emotions that he'd been bottling up all this time- his wide eyes almost frantic, pleading, as he spoke up again.

"... Julie... I-I don't... I don't know what's going on.."

His smile widened- tightened, at the edges.

"I.. I-I just feel so... so strange. Everything is so.. blurry, and... bad... I don't..."

Wally trailed off, his hands finding themselves as he nervously wrung them together, now.

".... I'm scared..."

At that, Julie Joyful JUMPED up in one quick, bouncy motion.

Now, she was just as confused as Wally seemed to be. She didn't know anything more than he did, but if there was one thing that she DID know, it's that when a friend of yours is scared, you don't leave them alone.

Whatever was going on with Wally, he needed help, and quick. Seeing as how she didn't have any of the answers they needed, she wasn't just going to sit idly by while Wally sat there and whimpered.

"Oh- Oh, Wally-! No- no, no, no, no- don't be scared-!!"

"Ohhhh," Julie whined, head darting to and fro as she looked around for assistance.

"Y-You just- You just sit tight, Wally! I'll get some help for 'ya, alright?"

Her words were meant to be reassuring, but in her frantic haste to turn around and start shouting for the others, they only really added to the panic of the situation, rather than taking away.

"Anyone?! EVERYONE?!" Julie screamed, hands cupped over her mouth. "HELP! PLEASE, COME AND HELP!! WE NEED SOME HELP, OVER HERE!"

Within a flash, curtains were being pulled back, doors were being opened, and panicked faces were popping up one after another. Even Home had been woken up from its nap- eyes flashing wide open and looking around in a hurry, attempting to locate the source of the trouble.

Sally practically SLAMMED her door open- a flurry of papers following her shortly thereafter. Feathers flew from Poppy's window as she peeked her head out, only to quickly duck back inside in order to grab something. Julie could already see Eddie sprinting on over- shortly followed by a worried looking Howdy.

She heard Frank's exhausted huffing and puffing- turning her head just in time to catch a glimpse of his reddened face. He held his signature butterfly net; likely due to the fact that her worried shouts interrupted his afternoon activities.

"Julie?!" he'd called, incredulous at the sudden shouts. He had to take a moment to catch his breath; wheezing a little from the exertion.

"Julie!" Sally, Howdy, and Eddie exclaimed all at once. Sally practically bowled the two business owners over in her attempt to be "first" at the scene; much to Howdy's slight irritation, and Eddie's confusion.

Everybody merged together in a multicolored, anxious crowd as they glanced from one another- talking amongst one another, asking each other questions, and some - no, all of them - had already noticed Wally, in his poor state.

"What's goin' on, over here?!" Sally yelled above the noise, to which Julie was quick to put a finger over her mouth in a shushing motion.

"Sh-! Sh, sh, sh, shush!! Pipe down, I'll explain- EVERYONE! I'll explain, just- please! We gotta help Wally! I don't wanna upset him any more than he already is! I don't know what's-"

Before Julie could begin her explanation, she was interrupted by two late-comers to the impromptu get-together.

Rushing over so fast that she was nearly (very nearly) taking flight, Poppy arrived to the scene; her eyes like two full moons in her intense panic. In her beak, she held a first aid kit- which must have been the reason behind her delayed response time.

"I'M HERE!" she managed to cry around the handle. Despite her size and stature, she politely, yet hurriedly, tried to usher her way to the front of the crowd- kit now in her large feathers as she tried to locate the source of the emergency.

"I'm here- oh my goodness, I'm here! Which one of you is hurt?! Oh, fluff my feathers-! Did Howdy sprain his ankles, again?! Oh, the poor dear-"

"No!" Howdy piped up. "My ankles are just fine, Poppy!"

"It's Wally!" Sally explained, beating everybody else to the punch.

Of course, this only stressed Poppy out more, as she practically launched herself at her ailing friend. Already she was kneeling down beside him, checking his temperature, asking him if he was okay, opening the first aid kit.

Julie had been just about to rush over, as well- to ask Poppy to not overwhelm him too much, but it was then that the second neighbor finally managed to make his way over.

"GUYS-!" Barnaby called out- just barely managing to adjust his tie and his hat as he rushed to join the rest of his friends.

"Guys- oh geeze, I'm so sorry 'fer not comin' over sooner! See, I was takin' my afternoon nap, an' I didn't even hear nothin' up until Poppy started squawkin', and by the time I looked out my window, I saw everyone gathered outside Home, an'-"

S L A M !

S L A M !

As if responding to being directly mentioned, Home's door opened and shut repeatedly; the loud noise startling the group of friends. Frank practically jumped right into Julie's arms in the fright- Poppy's anxious scream of a cry then also causing Wally to jolt up; eyes wider than they'd been since Julie arrived.

What had originally been chaos became even worse chaos, which... miiiiight have not been Home's intention.

Nonetheless, it got Barnaby's attention, and he picked up his pace the moment his eyes trailed from the door, to Wally.

"Lil' buddy?!" he'd cried- thus signaling the return of the anxious clamor.

"Do 'ya need anything, Poppy?" Howdy offered, taking a step closer. "I have more supplies at the store!"

"Is he hurt?!" Frank asked to nobody in particular.

"IS he hurt?!" Eddie echoed, voice raising an octave higher in his concern.

"How'd he get hurt?!" Sally demanded, hands on her hips. "Wally's not the type 'a guy to jump off of Home's roof for fun, 'ya know!"

Home didn't look like it appreciated that comment, very much.

By now, Barnaby had reached Wally and Poppy, and he'd already sat himself down on the grass so he could gently lift Wally up into his arms. Wally allowed himself to be picked up- not showing any sign of further distress, or even of any sort of pain.

"He's not- No, I-I think I have everything," Poppy stuttered, already pulling a comically large stethoscope from her first aid kit.

"I just can't to find anything wrong! Wally, dear- Wally, can you look at me, please, hun?"

Throughout the commotion, Wally had simply looked dazed. Out of it, even. In spite of his prior words to Julie, - his confession of fear that had alarmed her so much - he didn't appear to be feeling much of anything, at the moment.

With Wally, though, looks could be deceiving. Out of everybody in town, he must've been the least expressive neighbor they had.

Not that that was a bad thing, mind you-! No, never a bad thing!

However, with everyone worrying their heads off the way they were, Wally's dull stare in response to Poppy's question wasn't really reassuring anybody.

Julie didn't even realize that she'd brought her hands to the hair that hung past her face; fingers wrapping around the thick strands and pulling them to express her mounting anxiety. A bad habit.

One that Frank was quick to notice, as they placed a hand on her shoulder just moments after she'd done it.

"Hey- Julie?" they began, confusion and worry vying for control over their current expression. "What happened? You still haven't explained anything to us. Is Wally okay?"

"I-"

Julie tried to take a deep breath, eyes darting from Wally and Poppy, to Frank, to the rest of her friends. Now that she actually had everybody here, she... actually hadn't thought out the rest, too thoroughly.

She'd trusted everyone else to know exactly what to do. She still trusted them to know more than she did, but, still-

Simply saying 'I don't know!' when SHE'D been the one insisting that she'd explain... didn't exactly seem like the best idea, anymore.

Even so, she turned back to the crowd, hoping that her voice didn't betray her anxiety as much as her actions currently were.

"I-I- I don't know-! Th-That's why I called everyone over here! I- I was just walkin' by when I found him like that! He said he was scared, and then I got scared, so I just-"

"Barnaby....?"

The words died in Julie's mouth- Wally's quiet voice causing all eyes to turn back to him.

Despite not having been the one he called for, Julie turned around and knelt back down to her friend. She wanted to be there for him, regardless of if she could really help, or not.

She'd gotten everybody here, for him. That had to be enough.

Right?

"Yeah, buddy?" Barnaby replied. He looked down at Wally as if he were something fragile- something he could so very easily break if he didn't handle him properly.

"I'm here for 'ya, bud. We're all here for 'ya. What's wrong?"

Wally blinked up at Barnaby, eyes half-lidded, and one of his hands gripping onto the fur on Barnaby's chest. He held onto the dog like a lifeline; his vice grip betraying the anxiety - the fear, Julie knew - that he was hiding behind his neutral mask.

"... I feel.... weird..."

"What kind'a weird?" Julie asked. She reached forward and took Wally's free hand in her own, hoping to be yet another source of comfort. Behind her, she could feel everyone move just the tiniest bit closer towards them.

".. Mmm... Dizzy..."

""Dizzy"?" Poppy repeated. "Wally, dear, you might have a concussion! Did you trip at all recently? Or- Or fall and hit your head?! Or- Oh, did somebody throw a ball at you, again, and you didn't catch it?!"

Before Poppy had even finished her long-winded list of questions, Wally was shaking his head.

"No... No, I.. I only just left Home, today, and I felt so... so dizzy, and.. and everything is so blurry, and... and....."

Wally didn't quite manage to finish that sentence.

As if it had magically come from nowhere, and to everyone's collective amazement, Wally let out one quick, short yawn.

The silence that followed was palpable.

Heads turned from Wally, to one another, then back at Wally, again. Eyes rounded, blinked, then blinked some more. Some jaws might've even hit the floor.

Julie knew hers had.

Everyone shared one singular brain cell at that exact moment, and the overload of having to handle so many people at once must've short circuited it somehow, because none of them were even so much as breathing, anymore.

Wally, even in his drowsy state, looked around at all of his friends in clear confusion. 'Had he done something wrong?', he'd thought, and he'd thought it so strongly that the words were crystal clear on his face.

The shock might've gone on forever - and then even longer than that- if Sally hadn't spoken up.

.. Or, well, if Sally hadn't lost her mind cackling, to be more specific.

The resident playwright was practically beside herself in her fits of chaotic laughter. She'd reached up to SLAP a hand over her eyes in her sudden fit- free hand pointing directly at Wally as she fought with herself to get any audible sentences out.

"HAHA-! AHAHAHA-! WHAT were we all WORRIED about?!" she cried. "Wally- Wally just needs to get some sleep! He's FINE!"

Her words only seemed to make the silence worse.

The crowd of friends almost audibly stiffened- if that was something that could even happen, that is. Even Barnaby, who seemingly always knew what to say to turn any situation into a comedy act, was at a loss for.. well.. anything as he openly gaped at Sally.

Thank goodness for Frank finally breaking the bubble, because otherwise, they all might've been there all day.

"I- Whuh- He-"

Frank didn't seem to know what to do with his hands. He gestured to Sally, at first, but then moved onto Wally, and then back to Sally, and then finally chose to just flail them around in his fit of absolute exasperation.

"Sally!! Wally DOESN'T sleep! THAT'S the problem!"

Sally - who, thankfully, had managed to begin to calm herself down all on her own - only continued to smile at Frank with the face of somebody who didn't believe a word they were saying.

"Pssshh-! Of COURSE he SLEEPS! I mean- seriously, if ANYBODY around here was gonna tell a joke to lighten the mood, I did NOT expect it to be you, Frank!"

"You got me good, though!"

Naturally, this response only succeeded in upsetting Frank more.

Julie was pretty sure that he was about to blow a gasket, but before he even had the chance to, Wally spoke up again.

"... But... But Sally's right... I.... I do sleep...?"

"SEE!" Sally proceeded to point at Wally with both hands, this time around. "SEE SEE SEE- STRAIGHT from the horse's mouth! Case and point! We can all go home, now!"

The argument continued almost instantaneously- with everybody choosing to ignore Wally's befuddled mumble of 'but I'm not a horse....'

"Buddy," Barnaby tried, seeing Frank's face turn from grey to red.

"I know 'ya think 'ya do, but... starin' up at th' ceilin' every night, goin' 'I am sleeping, I am sleeping, I am sleeping'.... ain't how you sleep."

There was a long pause from Wally.

"......... What?"

"WHAT?!" Sally repeated, but only much louder.

Poppy tried her wing at jogging Sally's memory.

"Sally, dearest- don't you remember all of those sleepovers? Surely you heard him! It's true! I mean, honestly, just thinkin' about it too much nearly sends me into an anxiety attack, but... Wally doesn't sleep like the rest of us do."

Howdy clicked his tongue and shook his head. "First time I heard it, I honestly couldn't get it outta' my head. Strangest thing I've ever witnessed."

Everyone casually nodded along. Everyone but Wally and Frank, of course, but only because the former was still reeling from the biggest revelation of the century, and because the latter was attempting to weigh the pros and cons of getting into a screaming match with Sally.

"Yeah, it, uhh.. kinda made it hard to sleep those few nights!" Eddie added, but then was just as quick to raise his hands and add on: "NOT IN ANY BAD WAY! I mean- it wasn't annoyin', or anythin'! It was fine! I just- y'know, I'm just not used to.. to hearin'.... y'know, hearin' someone talk all night; I just wasn't used to it... I wasn't.."

Eddie trailed off, shrinking a little bit into the back of the crowd. Everybody allowed him to do so; not wanting to add to the awkward air for his own sake.

Sally, at long last, actually seemed to be listening to her fellow neighbors at this point. With so many people backing each other up, it was hard for her to admit to being the odd one out.

Putting a hand to her chin in thought, Sally tapped her foot a couple of times, walked around in a circle at least three times, and then, finally, the light bulb went off upstairs.

"OHHHHHH!!" She slapped a hand to her forehead, reeling back for the briefest of moments before righting herself again.

"THAT'S why I don't really remember! See, every time we had a sleepover, once all the fun and games were done with, I reviewed my scripts in my head until I fell asleep!"

Her laughter this time around was lighthearted in place of boisterous. She waved a hand; almost as if she were intending to shoo the topic away, altogether.

"I'm not surprised that I never heard Wally! I mean- geeze, do you guys think that I come up with all of my plays on the spot?!"

Somehow, somewhere, a cricket began to chirp.

".... What?!" Sally exclaimed, looking around at each of her fellow residents.

"I work HARD to put on my shows for all of you guys! ART doesn't just make ITSELF, people!"

".... And we appreciate it a lot, Sally," Julie added, gently; putting on her sweetest smile, since nobody else wanted to step up and comfort the fuming star.

Wally, seemingly still in complete shock, (and likely not having processed a word of the previous conversation, bless his heart) slowly shook his head from his place in Barnaby's arms. He squeezed Julie's hand, returning her attention to him.

".. I don't.... I don't sleep...?" he asked, dumbfounded by the new information.

He glanced up in order to look at all of his onlooking friends.

".. But... But I do sleep! Honest! What I don't do is.. is yawn!"

He released his grip from Barnaby's chest to point at Poppy, and then to Julie.

"Poppy yawns! Julie yawns!" He pointed to Barnaby. "Barnaby yawns!"

He then proceeded to point to each and every one of his friends as he listed them off.

"Frank yawns, Sally yawns, Howdy yawns, Eddie yawns- Home yawns, sometimes!"

Everybody then took a moment to look at Home, as if looking at the house would somehow make that statement any easier to process. Home stared back.

Wally then proceeded to point at himself.

".. But... But I.... don't. I mean- I think I... don't...?"

He looked up at Barnaby.

"That... That is what I'm doing, right...? Yawning? That's.... what yawning is?"

Barnaby scratched the back of his head, just as at a loss as Wally appeared to be.

"I-I mean- that sure looked like a yawn t'me! Not that I've ever seen 'ya do it, before!"

At this point, all of the prior tension had begun to leave their little group. The casual back and forth banter helped to alleviate their collective stress- gradually making it easier and easier for Julie to smile, again.

Really smile.

Nothing serious ever happened in their little town, after all. Minor arguments, wacky adventures, silly games- those were what they all were used to.

Although she felt a little bad, now, for making a mountain out of a molehill, Julie couldn't make herself regret disturbing the local peace. Everything had managed to sort itself out; just like it always did!

Wally was fine, now, and nobody had to be scared, anymore.

... Unfortunately, Julie's thoughts weren't being projected to the whole town, it seems. Wally, apparently not having appreciated Barnaby's response too much, anxiously looked from Poppy, to Julie herself.

".. Then- Th-Then what.. what does that mean...?"

Julie giggled. "It means that it's your turn for an afternoon nap, Wally!"

Poppy nodded. "If you haven't slept in... GOODNESS, who knows how long, then it certainly wouldn't hurt to close your eyes for a bit, honey."

Wally stared up at her, visibly confused by the recommendation. He blinked one eye and then the other.

"Uh," Barnaby started. ".. No, lil' buddy, you gotta close both eyes. And you wanna keep 'em closed."

Wally blinked one eye and then the other, but in reverse order, this time.

This was enough to make Barnaby crack up a bit.

"Snrk- buddy, c'mon. You've seen me sleep a bunch'a times! Just do what I do, okay?"

He then proceeded to close his eyes, and lean his head forward a bit as he relaxed himself. He even faked snoring; offering up some little 'honk-shoo's' for a better demonstration.

Wally, however, wasn't hurrying to follow suit. He stared at Barnaby, brow furrowed in what Julie suspected to be further confusion. It wasn't until he actually spoke his mind that things started to click into place for everybody.

".. But," Wally mumbled, "if I close my eyes... will I be able to open them, again...?"

Barnaby's smile pulled down at the edges a bit at that; opening an eye so that he could look back down at his friend. Poppy brought her feathers up to her chest and tilted her head, signaling that another round of motherly doting was about to begin.

"Oh, hun.. Of course you'll be able to! It's just like blinking, but... longer!"

She continued to talk to him as she began to pack up her first aid kit. Now that there wasn't any actual trouble, and nobody had gotten hurt, it would be a pretty good idea to get it ready again for a real emergency.

"Trust me, I know how scary it can be to try something new. It can be downright terrifyin'!!"

She turned back to him and smiled.

"But with good friends by your side, you never have anythin' to worry about. That's somethin' that all of you taught me."

"Yeah!!" Julie piped up, grinning from ear to ear. She even reached up to place her other free hand over Wally's, and gripped it tight.

"And we can play all sorts 'a new games when you wake up!! We'll have a BLAST!"

"An' I'll be right here for 'ya, the whole time," Barnaby added.

Sally huffed from her place behind Julie, placing her hands back on her hips. "You know that I don't USUALLY believe in any sort'a favoritism, but I suppooooose I could pull a couple'a striiiings and make you the leadin' actor in my next play, Wally."

"Only if it'll cheer 'ya up, of course!! Don't go gettin' any ideas that it'll become a habit!"

"'Usually'?" Barnaby smirked. No one seemed to hear him, though.

Howdy let out a gentle laugh, though whether or not it was at Sally's odd brand of comfort remained to be seen.

"This whole situation's been quite the doozy, hasn't it?" he chuckled. "Say, Wally, why don't you drop my shop when you wake up? I'll have some special deals in store, hand-crafted just for you!"

Seeing as how everybody was joining in on reassuring their sleepy friend, Eddie's eyes lit up as he realized it was probably his turn, now. The prior embarrassment seemed to be long forgotten, thank goodness.

"O- Oh-! Yeah! A-And don't forget that I've still got some mail for 'ya, Wally! You can be sure that I'll get it delivered to 'ya on time, as always! That's my dearest guarantee!" he assured, pride swelling in his chest as he tipped his hat to Wally.

"See, Wally?" Julie then asked. "We're all here for 'ya! Nothin' bad is gonna happen 'ta 'ya. I promise."

Wally looked to each of his friends- eyes bouncing from neighbor to neighbor as he took in their words. Slowly but surely, his body became a little less rigid; his grip on Julie's hand becoming a little less harsh.

Julie could've sworn that she even saw his own smile widen, if only just a tad.

".... Okay," Wally conceded with a sigh. "I... I believe you. All of you. I can... try-"

"No."

All heads turned at once.

Several sets of eyes bore into Frank as they took a few steps closer, eyes closed and shaking their head.

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't want to say anything. I know that Wally needs his rest, so I'll try and make this brief, but I just can't- I CAN'T hold this in, any longer."

And, honestly, none of them should be surprised by Frank's interruption. He had been awfully quiet, for the past few minutes. If Julie hadn't been so caught in trying to help Wally, she might've stopped to check in with him.

Or, at the very least, she might've noticed that he'd been the only one to not try his hand at giving words of reassurance.

Though, on the other hand, Frank wasn't the best at bedside manner, so maybe him not speaking up was for the best. (And she meant that as kindly and lovingly as possible, mind you).

"We've all been taking Wally's little..." Frank paused as they struggled for the right words. "... Quirks, in stride. We've been doing this for as long as we've all known him, and yet nobody- NOBODY-"

He frantically gestured to Wally, frown firmly set, and butterfly net still in hand,

"- has EVER questioned why he can't sleep, until NOW?!"

Julie went on the defensive in a heartbeat. "Well, what's wrong with his quirks?! You're bein' a little rude, right now, Frank."

Frank shook his head. "No, you're misunderstanding me. I'm-"

He stopped for a minute to take a deep breath, before continuing to speak, but slowly, this time.

"I'm not... trying to be rude... And I'm not saying that it HASN'T crossed anybody's mind, before. What I'm TRYING to say, is that.. Wally not sleeping, is downright hazardous to his health, and yet we're all just.. just pretending like it's normal?!"

"I mean," Frank scoffed, "going over twenty four hours without sleep leaves you cognitively impaired! Not to mention that just SEVENTEEN hours, alone, can impact your judgement, your memory, your motor skills-"

They were counting on their fingers, now.

"- and- and I don't even want to THINK about what else!"

"This. Has been bothering me. For SUCH a long time now, and- I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I CAN'T let this go until I'm able to- to- to wrap my head around it!"

"I thought he said this was gonna be brief," Sally not-so-subtly ragged, elbowing Howdy in his side.

Howdy tried - and failed - to stifle his laugh, leaning down so he could whisper back to her (though everybody could still hear him): "Oh, just let 'em talk. I'm a little curious, myself, if I'm bein' perfectly honest."

Frank, mercifully, didn't appear to feel like putting his limited energy into their comments, as he turned his full attention onto Wally.

"Wally," he started, voice almost pleading, "Wally, I just don't understand! HOW do you do it?! You're telling me that you've NEVER slept? EVER? Even when you were a baby?"

Wally blinked at Frank absently; the hamster wheel in his brain turning ever so slowly. If you listened hard enough, even, you might just be able to hear the rusted metal of the wheel squeak as that poor little hamster tried its best to get Wally's thoughts going.

Unfortunately for it, its efforts just didn't seem to be enough. Wally put his free hand to his chin in thought, humming to himself as he visibly tried to fight through the drowsiness.

"Ummmm.... I meeeaannn.... If I did ever sleep as a baby, I don't think I would... remember that," he lethargically explained.

"Because I was.... a baby."

Before Frank could proceed to lose it any further, Wally held up his hand as he amended:

"But-! Buuuut... I don't know..? I usually always felt pretty well-rested when I got out of bed, in the mornings... Like I just told Barnaby, here, for the longest time, I thought that I was sleeping."

"That makes absolutely NO sense," Frank moaned, holding his head in his hands.

"It makes perfect sense to me," Wally muttered.

Which, of course, only served to stoke the flames even higher.

"I just- No, I can't-"

"Frank," Julie warned.

"Poppy!" Frank cried, turning to her.

"'Poppy'?!" Poppy cried back, startled by her sudden roping into the conversation.

"Poppy, you have to be just as concerned about this, right? I mean- you worry about EVERYTHING!"

In response to the accusation, Poppy shrunk back, eyes darting everywhere but in Frank's general direction. Her feathers had fluffed up as a fear response, and instinctively several pairs of feet began to make their way to her in an effort to calm her down.

Before anybody could reach her, however, she at least attempted to stammer out some kind of reply.

"O-O- Oh-! W-Well, I- Gosh, I- I-I didn't... I never-"

Glancing to Wally, then back at her first aid kit, Frank's words seemed to be getting to her, as she began to reach back toward the kit in order to open it up, again.

"I.... Goodness, I... I suppose that it never.... occurred to me, before, but- but now, I-"

Julie stood up before the situation could get out of hand any further. Seeing as Wally appeared to be feeling a bit better, she carefully let go of his hand so she could reach it out to Frank, instead.

"Frank!" she tried again, placing a hand on their shoulder.

"Frank, that's enough. You're scarin' Poppy!"

She turned her attention to the bird, in question; smiling gently in an attempt to calm her down. "Poppy, I'm positive that Wally's gonna be just fine. You don't gotta worry any more, alright-?"

Howdy came over, as well- walking just behind Poppy so that he could attempt to pat down her ruffled feathers. "Julie's absolutely right! Just take some deeep breaths for me, okay, Poppy?"

Using one of his many hands, Howdy reached down and closed the first aid kit, again, while he was sure Poppy was too distracted to notice.

Frank flinched back- likely due to a combination of Julie's touch, and his realization of what he'd just done. He whipped his head around to look at Julie; eyes wide.

"I-" he began to stammer, grip on his butterfly net tightening. "I-I didn't-"

Wilting underneath the many pairs of eyes, Frank began to back away from everybody else. Julie had reached out to stop him - to tell him that everything was alright, that nobody was upset with him, that they knew he'd only meant well- but she'd done so a bit too late.

In his growing anxiety and panic, Frank hadn't noticed Eddie standing just behind him until he bumped right on into him.

"Oh-!" Frank started- the coming apology being interrupted by Eddie taking his turn to put a hand on Frank's shoulder.

"Hey- it's alright!" Eddie was quick to reassure. "Sorry, that was my bad! I was just tryn' to- I just wanted t'help! I thought you saw me, there."

Practically jumping back from Eddie, Frank bashfully attempted to walk away from the crowd going the other way, but wound up nearly bumping into Julie, this time around.

"Frank! Where're you goin'?" she asked, but was just as quick to to add on: "Oh, I was too harsh, back there, wasn't I-? I'm sorry!! I'm sorry, I didn't mean 'ta hurt 'yer feelin's!"

Eddie frowned, brows furrowed with worry. "Are you okay, Frank-?"

Frank looked between the both of his friends as they unintentionally made him feel rather trapped in. While they were only trying to help, and this he knew, their "help" was only managing to make him feel even more guilty. The expression on his face expressed all of this, clear as day.

By the time Julie and Eddie realized that, however, Frank had already had enough. He waved his hands around in a panic- trying to make them give him some room so he could properly explain himself.

"I'm FINE!" he yelled. He realized his mistake immediately, though, and lowered his voice so as to not further stress out Poppy or Wally.

"I-I'm... I'm alright... I... I just..."

Looking down at their feet, Frank hung their head and sighed; net held closely to their chest as an act of self-comfort.

".. I'm.... I'm sorry. Really. I... I-I didn't mean to upset anybody, I'm just.."

"... I'm just worried."

The idle sounds of Barnaby, Howdy, and Wally speaking gently to Poppy had died out, a bit, shortly after Frank's initial outburst. While Wally continued to make sure that Poppy was doing alright, the other two piped down as to better hear what Frank had to say.

"I'm," he started again, "I'm worried! I.. I think I've always sort of... been worried. About Wally, I mean."

"But.. But because nobody ELSE seemed to be worried, I.. I kind of forced myself to not be worried, either."

He looked back up to Julie with wide eyes, and then turned to look over at Eddie and Sally.

"And that's what's got me so upset! The moment that we figured out Wally wasn't hurt- that he just needs some sleep, everybody relaxed, and acted like the problem was suddenly solved!"

"But it isn't!" he cried, arms opening wide to further emphasize his point.

"And I know that this might be a bit insensitive, and I'm genuinely sorry for hurting Poppy's feelings-"

Frank stopped himself, then. Figuring that Poppy should be the one the apology was directed to, he turned to her and sheepishly continued.

"... Poppy, I'm so sorry. I never should've yelled at you, like that."

"It's... It's hard for me to be able to speak my mind like this." His face flushed a little red as he looked away from her; unable to maintain any semblance of proper eye contact, or anything similar to it, at the moment.

"It's hard, even now. But.. B-But I NEED to say this, because I'm just so- so confused!"

"I'm confused, and I feel like I'm the only one who FEELS like this!"

The flush only continued to spread across his face the longer he managed to speak his mind. His voice shook, and it gradually got quieter and quieter as he lost his nerve.

Frank wasn't the one to make massive public speeches, after all. Not emotionally charged ones, at the very least. It was so much easier for him to speak for long periods of time when it was to infodump about something, or to share random fun facts with the rest of his friends.

He'd never had to apologize like this, before.

He'd never had to fret over somebody like this, before, either.

"I-I'm not trying to make this about myself, but I just can't help but to... t-to feel so..."

"... so alone," he finished.

Everybody stayed quiet for a little bit, after that. Nobody - not even Sally - wanted to be the first person to speak up, out of fear of being the person that said the wrong thing.

It was rare for Frank to be so verbally honest with anybody- let alone the entire town.

Julie's heart went out to him- it truly did. Heaven knows that she struggled with making sure her tone of voice came out properly, from time to time.

While she'd known that Frank hadn't meant any harm when they were asking Poppy their question - when they'd been talking about Wally's "quirks" - she'd still reacted rather poorly.

Knowing Frank as well as she did, she really should've watched her tone, better. She really should've understood where they were coming from, before they had to up and say it.

Frank hadn't been the only one who handled the situation poorly.

Julie tugged at her hair a bit, wanting to open her mouth to say something, anything, but just as she saw Eddie getting ready to do much the same, his voice wasn't the first one she heard.

"'Yer not the only person who feels that way, Frank," Barnaby explained with a sigh.

Wally, who had been watching and listening with an expression of concern, tilted his head and glanced up at his friend in surprise. And he wasn't alone, in that, as practically every head turned towards Barnaby as he spoke.

Suffice it to say, nobody expected one of the neighborhood's silliest characters to jump at the opportunity to contribute to a pretty serious conversation.

But they stayed quiet and listened, all the same.

Barnaby scratched the back of his head as he went on. He tried to maintain a smile as he did so- not wanting the situation to get as uncomfortable as it had been, prior.

"I meeaaan... Sure! Wally not sleepin' the way we do was, um... a little hard 'ta understand, at first. Heck, I'd be a liar if I said that I understood it at all."

He then proceeded to shrug.

"But, hey! He seemed t'be doin' alright 'fer himself! If it ain't broke, don't fix it, y'know?"

"And... yeah. This whole 'suddenly bein' sleepy for th' first time ever' thing... it's not the beeeeest thing t'ever happen..."

Barnaby glanced down at Wally, smile widening a bit.

".. It's confusin'-! But I'm sure that everythin' will turn out just fine once somebody gets some proper shuteye."

Laughing to himself, he reached down and gently booped Wally's nose (or, where his nose would be, that is) with a too-large finger. Wally looked down at it, going cross-eyed for a second before reaching up to put a hand on Barnaby's.

Julie held back a little snort at the cute interaction, already feeling the tiniest bit better. Looking over to Frank, she could see that he was starting to feel the same way.

Even if it was only marginally, it was still something.

"I concur!" Howdy joined in with a smile from his place beside Poppy. "Sleep is the best medicine, after all!"

Poppy nodded along with him. She was certainly looking much better than before, too. Her feathers had relaxed themselves, and she'd managed to stop hyperventilating as badly as she had been.

She was still fanning herself with one of her large wings, but her smile was sincere, and she looked at Frank without any hint of resentment.

"Barnaby summed it up rather well, I'd say," she said in her quiet voice. "I know that I make an awful habit out of stressin' out over every little thing, but I suppose the reason why I've never worried too much about Wally is because..."

"... Wally's always been okay."

"And I'm positive that he'll continue t'be okay," she stated, reaching a wing out to Wally as a comforting gesture.

Her words weren't only meant to reassure Frank, but to further reassure Wally, as well. That had been the main point of their prolonged gathering, after all. Frank hadn't meant any harm, in the end, but Wally wasn't exactly one to be as verbal about his own discomfort as Poppy was.

Frank's words surely had to have been hard to hear, and the coming confessions relating to his "condition" likely weren't helping. Poppy knew this all, well, and so she didn't hesitate to return the comfort that Wally had given her, only moments before.

"... And I forgive you, Frank, dear," she added, throwing a warm smile Frank's way.

"I know that you were just trying t'be a good friend."

Frank anxiously rubbed his free hand over his arm, unconsciously leaning toward Julie as Poppy and Barnaby spoke their minds.

His face was still more red than grey, but most of the anxiety from before was beginning to wash away. Julie pulled him close for a little side-hug, hoping to make that anxiety leave even faster.

"I..." Frank turned his head away as he practically mumbled into Julie's shoulder. "... I appreciate it, Poppy... Barnaby... Sorry... again..."

"And I'M sorry 'fer takin' a jab at'cha," Sally added; seemingly deciding that she was "allowed" to speak up, again.

Her tone of voice hadn't been the best at showing it, but her expression had softened much more than it had been during their earlier conversations. She couldn't look Frank in the eyes as she said it, but she looked genuinely apologetic.

"I didn't expect 'ya to be so serious about it! Honest!"

Eddie let out a little laugh at Sally's apology- the tension from before most certainly having cleared, by now. Normally, Eddie wasn't really one to handle conflict all that well. The fact that he was able to find some sort of humor in anything, at the moment, spoke volumes.

"That's awfully nice 'a you, Sally! I'm sure Frank appreciates it."

"And... um..." he went to add, but wound up trailing off as he actually turned his attention to the person in question.

"... I hope 'yer feelin' a little better, now, Frank. M'sure it took a lotta courage t'speak up like that, and, uh.."

Eddie's cheeks flushed a bit as his smile widened- taking his turn to be bashful, now.

"... I just, uh.. wanted t'let'cha know that. 'Yer heart was in the right place, and that's all that really matters!"

Julie giggled as Frank's flush returned tenfold. He attempted to hide his face in her hair as he practically glued himself to her for the time being.

Julie let him do so, of course; offering up a few gentle pats on the shoulder in return.

"Wonderfully put, Eddie!" she chimed. "I know that that was juuust what Frank needed 'ta hear~!"

Frank grumbled something unintelligible, moving his head just enough so that he could shoot her a subtle glare. Julie only grinned back, not at all regretting a single thing.

And she would've loved to continue, so Frank was awfully lucky that this was neither the time, nor the place.

Howdy let out a low chuckle as he adjusted his hat. "Well, then-! Now that everything's all been settled, and whatnot, how's about we begin t'wrap things up, and let poor ol' Wally drift off t'dreamland, hm?"

Barnaby let out a little scoff of a laugh, at that. "'Yer tellin' me he hasn't, already?"

Looking down to the resident in question, Barnaby playfully (and gently) shook Wally to further emphasize his point.

"You still with us, kid-?" he joked.

".. mmm... yeah..." Wally replied, groggy and out of it.

Naturally, Welcome Home's most reliable neighbor had been trying his absolute best to be present and alert throughout everybody's various conversations. Never being one to put himself first, Wally wasn't about to just pass out on them without feeling like he'd gotten explicit 'permission' to do so.

... And him likely not even knowing how to pass out might've also been adding to that, but the sentiment still stood.

As a result, though, who knew how much of everything that Wally had actually managed to process and understand?

Barnaby shook his head good-naturedly. "Well, there's a shocker."

"You think 'yer ready t'get some sleep, then, bud?"

It took him a moment, but Wally managed out a weak nod in response. It was quickly followed by another yawn- this one much longer than the last.

"Yeah," he repeated, reaching a hand up to sleepily rub at his eyes.

"I'm ready. How do I-"

"Oh-!!"

Once again, Wally was interrupted.

All heads turned back to Frank as he perked up from his place by Julie- eyes wide and attention now fully back on Wally.

"I- I can't believe I forgot!!!" Frank left Julie's side and hurried over to Wally, kneeling down to better get on Wally's level before speaking up again.

"Wally, I am.. so sorry. I completely forgot to apologize to you! Gosh, that should've been one of the FIRST things I did! I-"

Frank's words wound up being all for naught, however, as it was now Wally's turn to interrupt a conversation. He had already been shaking his head before Frank even managed to finish a single sentence.

Reaching out a hand, Wally laid it directly on Frank's cheek, causing Frank to pause in their apology.

" - .. I.... Wally-?" Frank tried to say, but Wally reacted immediately- putting a stop to whatever Frank had wanted to add by beginning to incessantly pat Frank's face.

Not roughly, of course, but the repetitive motion was a swift one, and, most importantly, an annoying one.

Frank put up with it for a few seconds longer than Wally figured they would, but it wasn't long at all before Frank began to pull back out of Wally's reach.

"Wa- Wally, what are you- stop- stop it-??? STOP??"

Reaching up, Frank grabbed Wally's arm so that he wouldn't continue his irritating patting.

"You stop," Wally responded with a tilt of his head; tired eyes revealing nothing. "No more apologies."

"What-?"

"Too many for today," Wally clarified. "You've already been forgiven. Silly."

Frank blinked once. Then twice.

They opened their mouth to say something in return, but nothing came out for a while.

Not being nearly as good with prolonged eye contact as Wally was, Frank was the first to look away. Wally only continued to stare in turn; gently pulling his arm away as Frank let go of him.

".. B-But," Frank stammered, but they had to pause again as they fought with the words.

... That, or they were afraid that Wally would resume his patting when they tried to speak, again.

Seeing as that hadn't been the case, Frank tried their best to continue after a moment of silence.

".. But- But didn't I... Didn't I make you nervous all over again-? Didn't I- Didn't I hurt your feelings-?? Didn't I-?"

"Yes."

Frank stopped speaking at once.

The resident bookworm practically flinched away at the sudden reply- the single word cutting through them in an instant.

In fact, it felt like everybody blanched a bit at the harsh honesty. Whether it was out of sympathy for Frank, though, or if it truly was from Wally's blunt response could be anybody's guess.

Wally didn't seem to realize any of that, though.

"You made me nervous," he went on. "You made me really nervous, Frank."

"But I forgive you!"

Seeing that Frank was continuing to struggle with finding their voice, Wally reached forward again. Before Frank could back away out of his reach, he playfully gave his friend a little boop on the nose; copying Barnaby's action from earlier.

"I know you'd never be mean on purpose, Frank! You're my friend, and I forgive you."

Frank's typical frown only seemed to deepen at that. His gaze shifted from Wally's hand on his nose, to Wally himself, but, still, he chose to remain silent. He had to look away, again, before long.

Not being one to disregard her caring nature, Poppy leaned forward a little; extending a wing to rest behind Frank in a quiet act of comfort. Howdy moved in unison with her, acting as if he wanted to do something similar for Frank, but he retracted each and every hand right at the last minute, as if second-guessing himself.

Wally pulled his hand back, again- head tilting in the opposite direction as Frank continued to sit there in silence.

He remained equally as quiet for a moment, waiting to see if Frank would eventually find his voice again if he was given some time. When that wound up not being the case, Wally went on.

"If something bad does end up happening when I go to sleep... then I'm sure that you and everyone else will be able to figure something out. You're one of the smartest people I know, Frank."

Wally's smile widened a bit.

"I'm not scared... because I have you guys-! So... I'd like to get some sleep, now, if that's okay. We can talk some more... when I wake up."

He paused, again, waiting to see if Frank had anything more he'd like to say.

Again, nothing.

Wally took in a deep breath and allowed his shoulders to slump- deciding to finally give up and leave Frank be. Perhaps that would be for the best, anyway.

".... If you want to, you can even ask me any questions you want about how I sleep, later, okay?" he asked as he got himself comfortable in Barnaby's arms. He wasn't expecting any sort of response, of course.

And so, it surprised him when he actually wound up getting one.

".... Okay," came Frank's quiet voice.

While Wally had been speaking, Frank had shifted slightly in their position on the grass; head turned away and held low, clearly still feeling more than guilty. It would likely be a while before any of those feelings went away.

Even so, Wally seemed to visibly relax at the sound of a reply. Everybody did, really. Any sign that meant their friend was doing okay - if not, then at least feeling a little better - was a good one, in their book.

Wally hummed in contentment at that, laying his head down on Barnaby's arm. Barnaby readjusted himself slightly, settling in alongside his little buddy so that Wally could get as comfortable as possible.

Closing his eyes, Wally looked like he was about to pass out right then and there. After the day that he'd had, nobody could fault him for immediately turning his lights off just mere seconds after finishing a pretty serious conversation. It would've been sort of funny, even, if he did.

... However....

Just as Frank started to stand back up, Wally felt the need to add just one last thing.

"... Oh, and... Frank-?"

Frank stopped what he was doing at once. Almost cautiously, he turned his head halfway towards Wally.

"... Yeah-?"

Frank just barely had enough time to speak before, quick as a whip, Wally sat up, reached forward, and patted Frank's face again.

"Wha-" Frank blanched, hardly processing what had just happened until it was over.

"WALLY!!!"

In a fit of sudden, almost comical rage, Frank flailed his arms around as he lurched back. His attempt at avoiding any other unwanted touches had been rather unnecessary, though, as Wally was settled right back where he'd been before; eyes closed peacefully.

"I am sleeping... I am sleeping.... Honk-shoo... Honk-shoo.... I am so sleepy...."

"Wally, I KNOW you're not ASLEEP, YET-!!"

"I'm so sleepy..... The sleepiest guy in the world....."

Barnaby had been one of the first to start laughing, of course. And when Barnaby starts laughing, then nobody is safe.

Almost as if everybody had been eager to shed the tense atmosphere from before, a chorus of laughter sprung free from the crowd. Wally's little stunt yielded the intended result, as everyone took their mounting stresses and concerns, and threw them to the breeze in the form of one of nature's best remedies.

And while Julie couldn't help but to feel the slightest bit guilty joining in with everyone, she couldn't deny: it felt good to laugh. It felt so good.

Tense situations, serious discussions, uncomfortable conversations- that wasn't them, after all. It had never been them. It had never been a part of their carefree little neighborhood.

None of them were used to it. To any of it.

But, just like anything new, they all attempted to face it together.

Looking around at her friends, gaze jumping from neighbor to neighbor as she took in all of their smiling, happy faces, Julie felt the knot in her gut loosen. She internally said her thanks to Wally for the brief reprieve, and she carefully bottled the memory for a rainy day.

Laughter didn't fix everything, of course, and she wasn't about to pretend otherwise, but it sure could do more good than people tended to realize.

Even in his current sorry state, it warmed her heart to see that Wally hadn't forgotten that.

Twirling back around so that she could look back to her friend in question, Julie's smile only continued to brighten as she took in the sight of Wally joining in with everybody else. Barnaby was saying something to Wally and shaking his head, which prompted Wally to deliver a pat to his best friend's face.

Howdy and Poppy were speaking to each other and exchanging smiles, though their attention was diverted as Eddie made his way over to where Frank continued to sit. Grin on his face, yet brows furrowed with a bit of worry, he placed a hand on Frank's shoulder.

And Julie's heart sang as she realized that even Frank was laughing.

His hand was covering half of his face (likely due to him dragging it down in his frustration), but his shoulders were shaking, and she could just barely make out the reluctant smile hiding underneath.

It took every ounce of her strength to not rush over and tackle hug them, right then and there.

Frank was quick to wave Eddie off, though they didn't refuse him when Eddie offered to help them stand back up.

"Go get some real sleep, Wally," Frank threw over their shoulder, not making much of an attempt to wipe the halfhearted grin from their face.

Everyone's collective joy, while it may have lasted for a wonderful, peaceful eternity in Julie's mind, began to die down just as quickly as it started. Those close enough to properly hear Frank's comment were the first to return their attention to the real matter at hand; their giggles, chuckles, and idle conversation coming to a bittersweet end.

Before long, everything returned to how it had been, just moments before- the only difference being the brightened atmosphere, and the firmer belief that everything was going to be okay.

Frank hadn't needed to speak twice. Wally, despite trying his best not to show it, was fading, and fading fast. He likely would have wound up passing out, on his own, if he'd been made to stay awake just a few minutes longer.

Snuggling up against Barnaby's chest, Wally relaxed himself and allowed his eyes to close, again.

"Mm... I'm guessing by 'actual sleep', he means keeping quiet-?"

The question had been more of a joke than anything, and Barnaby knew that. He chuckled before responding.

"I mean- I ain't no genius, but that'd be my best guess, yeah."

"If I'm being quiet, then.. what do I think about? While I'm trying to sleep."

Poppy smiled warmly down at Wally. "Why, anythin' you'd like, dear! For me, goin' to my happy place usually has me out like a light before too long."

Howdy nodded in agreement. "The happier the thoughts, the better-!"

"Oh!" Poppy interrupted worriedly. "But make sure they aren't too happy, of course! You'll make yourself too excited, and then it'll just wake you up, all over again."

Sally scoffed at that. "Poppy, LOOK at him! I'm shocked he's still talkin'! Pretty sure you've got nothin' t'worry about, there."

Wally drowsily opened one eye to look back over to Poppy and Howdy, seemingly not paying much mind to Sally's comments.

".. So... think happy thoughts, but make sure they're not.. too happy...?"

He let out an unhappy hum. "Sounds confusing..."

"It... really isn't," Frank stated, looking more and more like his usual self every second. Everybody's typical tomfoolery had brought back his signature frown in a flash.

Eddie laughed a little as he scratched the back of his head. "I- I-I usually just turn my brain off when I'm tryin' to get some sleep. I don't think about anythin' in particular, so... maybe you could try that-?"

Wally opened both of his eyes, now; staring at Eddie with visible confusion.

Frank let out a loud sigh, and opened his mouth to make some kind of retort, but Julie made sure to beat him to the punch. Wally didn't exactly need long, drawn-out explanations of any kind, at the moment, and she had a funny feeling that that was exactly what Frank had in mind.

"Let's just go with the happy thoughts!" she offered. "Somethin' nice, somethin' relaxing-!!"

Thankfully, Wally was quick to go right on back to the initial recommendation. Following the direction of Julie's little nudge, he closed his eyes, again, and went still.

Aside from the steady rise and fall of his chest, Wally was perfectly quiet.

Everyone was, really. Any hints of further words of encouragement, offhanded comments, or general conversation came to a halt, again, as they all politely waited.

Julie hadn't realized that everyone was unconsciously leaning in to where Barnaby sat; all of her friends and neighbors seemingly wanting front row seats to the event unfolding right in front of them.

And it's not like she could really blame them, since she was in the exact same boat.

Eight pairs of wide eyes observed the little artist curiously, each and every one of them watching for.. anything, to be perfectly honest. Any twitch, any sign of discontent, any tiny movement- they wanted to be aware of it.

Was it a little bit creepy? Yeah. Yeah, it was.

But in spite of everyone's lifted spirits, they really, truthfully, had no idea of what to expect once Wally drifted off.

Would it be a good thing, like everybody was hoping? Would it wind up being a bad thing, like everybody secretly feared?

And if it did wind up being a bad thing, then what were they going to do about it-?

Again, the dark clouds of anxiety began to rear their ugly heads. Mercifully, they were much easier to wave away than before, but that didn't stop them from still being present.

Julie didn't need to look around to know that she wasn't the only one feeling this way, either. She'd been friends with everybody in the neighborhood for what felt like years, after all. While they were always going to have their differences, and while they were always going to have their occasional fights, she'd bet anything that she knew her fellow neighbors more than she knew herself.

Breathing out a sigh, it wasn't hard to realize that she'd been getting her train of thought offtrack. Her thoughts drifted so aimlessly, sometimes- traveling in so many directions at once, that she was often surprised that she could gather them back up, at all.

Thankfully, Wally hadn't seemed to move an inch during that time. Not a thing about him appeared to be out of place.

His eyes were still tranquilly closed.

He was still breathing- which was always a good sign.

Oh, and he was still letting out little snores every now and then, which was also a good sign-

...... Wait.

Julie couldn't stop the gasp that left her mouth- hands coming up to cover it immediately, out of fear that she'd been too loud and disturbed Wally's rest.

Unfortunately, she was, in fact, Julie Joyful: Welcome Home's most Joyful resident.

While she might have been lucky in containing her excitement during her initial reaction, the next snore that came from Wally wound up sending her completely over the edge.

"He SNORES!!!!" she whisper-shouted, hopping around and flapping her hands.

"He snores he snores he SNORESSS, THAT'S SO CUUUUUUUUTE-!!!"

The pure, unfiltered delight that coursed through her body was too much, FAR too much, for her to contain, and she NEEDED to get the energy out. Now.

Frank, having still been nearby, was thankfully an expert when it came to helping Julie bottle up her louder outbursts. He was quick to place a hand over her mouth, which.. wasn't a perfect solution, but a solution nonetheless.

"Julie!!" he whisper-shouted back, mostly out of panic. "Do you WANT to wake him up?!"

Julie wasn't the only neighbor having a strong reaction to Wally's cuteness, however. Poppy and Eddie practically had tears in their eyes as they (quietly) gushed over their sleeping friend.

"He looks..... SO peaceful," Poppy sniffled.

"He looks like a KITTEN!!!" Eddie sobbed.

Barnaby gently shook his head, smile earnest and full. "I'm so gonna tell him you called him that, later..."

Howdy pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, one of his many hands gingerly pressed against his chest. "I have to admit.... he does look like a kitten, doesn't he?"

Everybody ignored Sally as she silently fell to her knees and held her head in her hands, not wanting to interrupt her moment. (And also not wanting one of the neighborhood's loudest residents to start yelling, since it came as a shock to them all that she wasn't already screaming at the top of her lungs).

Jumping up and down in one place, Julie reached up to pull Frank's hand from her mouth. If she'd been thinking a bit more rationally, she might've wondered just why he allowed her to do so so easily, but right now, that was besides the point.

She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes.

"Frankie, go get 'yer camera."

Frank practically had to do a double-take, looking at Julie as if she'd gone crazy.

"What-?! Why?!"

"Go get 'yer camera," she repeated, now being the one to grab HIM, and shake him around.

"Please get your camera," Eddie chimed in, tears streaming down his face. "Please please please please please please-"

Sally dragged herself along Home's lawn until she was close enough to grab Frank by the ankle, which nearly caused HIM to be the one to scream and wake Wally up.

"Go get your camera right now, or I'm gonna lose it," she whispered, grip tightening with every word.

"Camera, camera, camera, camera, camera," not one, but three of Frank's fellow neighbors chanted.

Howdy and Poppy looked like they were just about to join in, but Frank had reached their limit the moment Sally felt that it was okay to give t hem one of the worst scares of their life.

"Fine!!" they relented as they attempted to shake their friends off. "Fine, I'll do it, just- STOP touching me!"

Sally released her vice grip at once, and Julie and Eddie were quick to follow suit; none of them wanting to be the reason why Frank went back on their word.

Frank's eyes were still rolling around in their skull when Eddie collapsed to his knees, hands clasped together in order to express his immense gratitude.

"Thank you..... Thank you so much....." he whimpered.

Frank took a moment to stare down at the mailman, an... overwhelmingly large part of him wanting to ask just him just what he thought he was doing.

... But then he thought better of it!!

"S- ... Sure," he stammered out, already walking backwards towards his house. "I... I-I have to.. to put my net away, anyway, so..."

And in what was possibly one of the smartest decisions that he'd made, that day, Frank turned and bolted off- rewarding himself with a few moments of complete and utter peace away from the bedlam that was Wally's front yard.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wally woke up slowly, at first. His eyes struggled with the act of being re-opened- so much so that they actively fought back against him.

For the first couple of moments, he wasn't sure if he was awake, really.

Being awake didn't feel much different from dreaming. Not so far, anyway.

Wally didn't move a muscle as he allowed himself to blink, blink, blink the grogginess out of his vision. The room he found himself in was dimly lit, but not dark. Sunlight was still filtering in through the nearby window. He could tell that without even having to turn his head.

Somebody had pulled a curtain over it, hoping to block out a majority of the sun's rays. Even in his strange, half-dreaming, half-not-dreaming state, Wally couldn't help but to be thankful for it.

Gradually, he felt his senses break through the drowsy fog that had enveloped him. The softness of the bed was one of the first things to properly register in his mind. The next was the comforting warmth of the blanket.

Someone had tucked him in, that much was obvious.

The non-restricting snugness of the blanket was a sensation that Wally didn't often experience, after all.

When it came to his nightly routine, he wasn't really one to snuggle beneath the covers. He'd always been more than content to flop onto his bed, stare up at the ceiling, and... 'sleep' until the next morning.

Anything else more than that wasn't really.... needed.

He idly wondered why he'd ever thought that way. The blanket added so much to the entire experience. He wanted nothing more than to snuggle up beneath it and drift off all over, again.

Alas, that desire was more so out of enjoyment rather than need. The longer that he found himself awake, the more and more his body wanted to stay that way.

And... speaking of the ceiling...

... Wally could swear that the ceiling above him looked so, so familiar.

The bed, too. It all felt so horribly, terribly familiar.

The ceiling, the bed, this room, this house-

He'd been here, before. He was sure of it.

This was..... This had to be...

".... Home-?" Wally croaked out.

The fact that his throat was so dry startled him. His throat had never been this dry, before. Not from sleeping, that is.

rattle, rattle, creak !

Exactly on cue, Wally got a response back in the form of movement, just to his right.

To anybody else, the unexplainable sound of something in your house moving by itself might've been a sign to get the heck out of dodge. Preferably, as quickly as possible.

To Wally, however, the feeling of comfort that washed over him, just then, was hard to understate.

Letting out a content sigh, Wally turned his head in the direction the noises had come from.

"Hi, Home. It's good to see you, too."

A pause.

".. I think."

creeeaak ? rattle, creak, clink !

The glass of water on the nearby nightstand swayed this way and that in tune to Home's sounds. In spite of him still waking up, it wasn't hard for Wally to understand that his attention had been meant to be directed towards it.

He shook his head, sitting up in bed so he could reach for the glass.

"Oh- no, no-! I-It's not... You didn't do anything wrong, Home. I'm just-"

A yawn interrupted him, then.

It made his entire body lock up, for a moment, but somehow in a... good way...?

Following the strange sort of energy that surged through his body, Wally allowed himself a good stretch.

Everything was over and done with as quickly as it began, but while it left him feeling rather relaxed once it passed, it still left him with... more than his fair share of questions, as well.

"... I'm not used to... that."

rattle, rattle !

Home made the glass of water shift and slide uncomfortably close to the edge of the nightstand, attempting to make its prior point known.

Even so, Wally didn't hurry to attempt to reach for it, again. He kept a close watch as Home slid it closer and closer to oblivion, sure, but he didn't actually grab it until it was slipping off of the table.

"Thank you. Did you leave this here, Home?"

creeeeaaaaaaaak. shuffle, shuffle, creak, rattle, creak, BANG !

While Home spoke, Wally took the opportunity to take a few sips of water. It soothed his throat considerably, and he took a moment to enjoy the relief that came with it.

Putting a hand to his chest, he coughed a few times to make sure that all was well before responding.

"You didn't-? My friends were here? Are they still-?"

bang, bang, bang, baNG, BANG, BANG, BANG !

Wally winced a little. "What?? What do you mea-"

He paused as his attention was taken, elsewhere. Eyes darting over to the floor as they caught some form of sudden movement, Wally watched diligently as the wooden floorboards popped their way out of their set places.

Like piano keys, they danced- constantly shifting in and out of their correct positions, but only in certain places, Wally noticed. Knowing Home as well as he did, it didn't take him long to realize that the floorboards were only moving so that his gaze would switch to them.

Once he looked at them, they swiftly settled back down as yet another one took their place, just a few inches in front of its predecessor. He obediently followed the trail, though it only took a couple of seconds before he finally saw what had been bothering Home, so much.

"..... Oh."

Not that far from his bed lay a colorful array of... many things, littered along the floor.

Scraps of brightly colored paper, various origami animals, several bottles of glue, crayons and markers, at least two scissors, a camera (for some.. reason..??), and...

... what he was so hoping was not glitter. Tilting his head, he could just barely make out the shimmer that coated certain areas of the floor, and even some portions of his blanket.

Yep. Glitter.

He'd also seen some sort of book that seemed to be surrounded by the brunt of the arts and crafts supplies, but he hadn't been paying nearly as much attention to it as the accursed glitter.

Wally hung his head with a sigh. "Juliiiiieeeee...."

Home hated messes. Wally had always made sure to keep its interior, and exterior, as neat and tidy as possible. They both took turns with its upkeep, even, to make the housework easier.

Julie also knew this, since he'd spoken to her on Home's behalf several times.

... Though, he supposed he had to give her some credit...

He forced himself to shrug, trying to make light of the current situation. ".. At least sheee... didn't draw on you, this time...?"

SQUEAK! creak creak, RATTLE, CREAK, BANG-!

"I know you're upset, but you know Julie never means anything by it."

S L A M !

He jumped a little, somewhat surprised by just how peeved Home was.

"Now, Home," he began, "it isn't very nice of you to slam your doors, like that. You're going to chip yourself, again."

"If it's bothering you so much, then why don't we clean it up? I'm sure Julie won't mind if we tidy up her project, a bit. Let me wake up, some more, and then we can-"

Interrupting himself once more, Wally's head perked up as he took note of an unusual sound coming from somewhere else in the house.

It wasn't Home doing that- it couldn't be. It wasn't the familiar clanging, creaking, or squeaking of his friend, but rather, it was the unmistakable sound of...

footsteps.

Rapidly approaching footsteps, actually.

The shock of the noise that very much so didn't belong caused Wally's thoughts to come to a screeching halt- the hamster in its little wheel taking a tumble as it went from being the source of the spinning, to suddenly becoming the one being spun.

By the time the poor creature managed to regain its footing and restart Wally's brain, however, the door leading out of his room was thrown open, leaving him little time at all to react.

"WALLY-?!" Poppy cried, rushing inside in a bright flurry of feathers.

Oddly enough, in her wings was a neatly arranged plate of muffins, but they were the last of Wally's concern as he stared up at her.

Wally stiffened at the loud intrusion, but when he opened his mouth to at least.. try to reply, Poppy let out a gasp.

"Oh- Wally!! Wally, sweetheart, you're awake-!"

Hurriedly setting down her plate on the nearby dresser, she masterfully traversed Julie's mess along the floor so that she could make her way over to him. The fact that Poppy didn't even so much as stumble, wobble, or trip would have amazed him, if he wasn't still reeling from so much happening all at once.

The moment she was close enough, she extended her wings to gently cup his cheeks- her beak reaching down to deliver several quick kisses along his forehead.

"Poppy-!" Wally finally managed to get out, although the exclamation was more from shock, than anything else.

She didn't let him get anything more than that out, though- her words coming out in an odd, speedy mixture of joy, relief, and, well, fright.

"It's so good 'tsee you up an' at 'em, again, dear! You have NO idea how worried we've all been- ESPECIALLY me! We've all been takin' our turns t'watch over you and make sure you've been alright. I only just stepped out to grab a few things from my home when I heard, well, HOME makin' all these loud noises, and I just-"

She paused to take a deep breath.

"- I RAN up here as soon as I realized that Home might've been tryin' t'get my attention, and that maybe somethin' BAD had happened t'you, and that's why I came up here in such a hurry. I didn't even have time to set my muffins down on the counter- I didn't even think about that! All I was thinkin' about was YOU, and-"

Abruptly, Poppy's eyes widened with guilt as she pulled her wings back.

"- and- oh... Oh, no, I didn't- I wasn't the one that woke you up, was I-?!"

It took him a moment for his tired brain to catch up with everything that Poppy was saying. A large part of him still hadn't even processed the fact that she was here, now; let alone how to unpack... all of that.

His grip involuntarily tightening around the glass reminded him that he was still holding it. Not wanting Poppy to somehow make him drop it and spill the water everywhere, Wally sat the glass back on the nightstand before trying to come up with something intelligent to say.

"Oh- no! No, Poppy, it's.. it's okay," came the automatic reassurances. "I was awake before you came in. I woke up on my own."

Poppy breathed out an audible sigh of relief at that.

"OH, thank goodness-! I.. I-I didn't MEAN t'barge in like that, really-! I just wasn't- I wasn't thinkin', and.."

The relief was clearly short-lived, however, as Poppy took a few moments to practice some breathing exercises. Whatever her racing mind had come up with in that short span of time must have sent her into another mini-panic.

Wally reached out to lay a hand on her arm. "Don't worry, Poppy. You can take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

She nodded along with his words, seemingly attempting to make herself believe them.

"I.. I-I know, dear, I just.... Oh, I really need t'stop gettin' myself all worked up, like this... It is NOT good for my heart, I'm sure of that."

"Probably not," he agreed. "Maybe we should... change topics-? Talk about something else."

"I do have a few-"

He glanced back over at Julie's menagerie of supplies on the floor.

"- ... questions. Is it okay if I ask those?"

Poppy needed a bit of time to herself to calm her overactive mind. When she was finally calm enough to speak again, she was quick to jump at the opportunity to take the 'spotlight', so to speak, off of herself.

"Oh... Oh, of course, honey-! I'm so sorry, I-I.." She trailed off to allow herself a little laugh.

".. Look at me. It wasn't all that long ago that we were reassurin' you, and then here I go- makin' a mountain out of a molehill, again."

"Awake already or not, it was downright silly of me t'rush in here like there was some sort'a fire."

She paused, then, and Wally could tell by the look in her eyes that her own poor choice of words had threatened to rekindle the spark the panic.

"It's okay!" he hurried to say, attempting to take her mind off of anything anxiety-inducing. "I'm not upset!"

And he was being honest, really. He never minded a visit from Poppy- regardless of how overly fretful she could be.

Her timing just... could've been better. But that was okay!

Taking a moment to himself to sift through all of his foggy memories, Wally attempted to determine just where, exactly, would be a good place to begin his questioning.

It was hard, though. Harder than he'd expected it to be, anyway.

He couldn't remember too much of what had happened before he passed out, just the day prior. Of course, he remembered talking to Frank. And he remembered what the conversation had been about. He'd never seen Frank so upset like that, before, so he figured it was only natural that that would remain fresh on his mind.

... Well. Scratch that- what he'd meant was that he'd never seen Frank so upset in THAT kind of situation, before. He supposed he'd seen Frank be upset every day, but... that was a different kind of upset.

.... Wasn't it-?? He thought it was. There were different, varying levels of being upset, after all.

... Ugh. He didn't want to think about that, anymore. It was too confusing for him, at the moment.

Continuing his deep dive through his memories, Wally realized that the more he actively tried to remember, though, the more he caught himself forgetting. It was like... like swimming in deep water, he decided.

Which wasn't something he'd ever done, personally, but he'd read about it in many books. Most of them were about fairy tales and fantasy characters, desperately trying to reach something that was falling farther and farther into the murky depths. The more they tried to reach for it, the deeper it fell; just out of their reach.

It felt much like that, whenever he tried to dig up any specifics.

Of course, he could remember everybody gathering around him, and he could remember some snippets of conversations that he'd either had, or that he'd listened in on. Small things like that were still relatively fresh in his mind. He knew that they'd happened, at the very least.

The awful, ever-encompassing drowsiness had made everything.. different. It had made everything seem.. floaty, and fuzzy.

In spite of his gaps in memory, though, he could still recall, with perfect clarity, just how terrible being that tired had felt.

It made everything move in slow motion, almost. It made it hard to think- let alone remember what somebody had just said to him; and so maybe he shouldn't be so surprised that he couldn't call back every little thing about every second of his previous waking hours...

Shaking his head, Wally opened his mouth, fairly certain that he'd decided what he was going to open his line of questioning with, but... he wound up closing it, as a certain thought occurred to him.

... Had it all happened, just the day prior-?

.... How could he be so sure?

....

He couldn't.

"... Poppy," he began. "How... long have I been... asleep?"

"Oh!" Poppy smiled, her laugh light and breezy as he went on. "Not long at all, pumpkin! Just a couple'a hours! Six of 'em, if you wanted a precise answer."

Wally felt himself relax almost instantly.

"Oh... Oh, well, that's... good! .. Probably."

He didn't really know why he'd gone and gotten himself worked up over something so minor - so what if he had slept for longer than a day-? - but getting confirmation that he hadn't gone into some kind of minor coma was... comforting, all the same.

Though... he supposed that Home and Poppy's reactions to seeing him awake would have been MUCH more over the top, if that had been the case...

"It's a good start!" Poppy agreed. "Honestly, I'm a little shocked that you're UP, already! We expected you t'sleep through a whole night- not half of the day."

"I know you have a lotta' questions you wanna ask me, honey, but are you sure that you don't want t'lay down again, for a bit-? A little extra sleep could do you some good."

Slowly, Wally shook his head.

"No... No, I'm.. pretty awake, now. Thank you, Poppy."

Not wanting to take up too much of his friend's time, he was quick to jump right back into his questioning session.

"You mentioned that everyone was... taking turns...? So... I'm guessing that it's.. your turn, right now. Right, Poppy?"

Poppy chuckled at that, but the sound was a tad bit on the... anxious side. Her eyes flitted around everywhere, landing on anywhere but Wally, himself.

"Aha- weeelll... The thing about thaaat isss.... It's...."

"... it's beeen... MY turn for.... every...... turn..."

She rushed to add onto that, though. "B-But, no, technically, it ISN'T my turn, right now. If they're able to, everybody likes t'take their turns in twos! S-So... So Frank and Julie are actually supposed t'be here, right now."

"They had t'run off to Howdy's for some art supplies, and they asked me, since I was already... here, if I could check in on you every few minutes until they came back!"

"'Every few minutes'?" Wally asked, incredulous. "Frank and Julie asked you to check in on me every few minutes?"

"Um."

Poppy's neck comedically shrunk itself inwards- her frill of feathers fanning out to accommodate for their sudden company.

"WELL. Theeyyyy... didn't actuallyyy...."

"... They didn't actually say that," Wally finished for her, now considerably less incredulous.

"N... No, they didn't actually... say that," Poppy confirmed.

Wally sighed. "Poppy... I'm so sorry that I made you worry, like that... You didn't have to spend so much of your time fretting over me."

Of course, fretting was what Poppy did best, and Wally knew very well that most, if not all, of her anxious behavior was well out of her control. He could practically predict her response before it even came, but.. still.

Out of his own control, or not, it didn't stop him from feeling a bit bad for contributing to Poppy's anxiety.

.. Or, rather, further contributing to it.

"Oh-!"

Poppy's neck sprang back up in a display that surely would've had Barnaby on the floor, if he'd been here at that moment.

"No-! No, hun, you have nothin' to apologize for. You know how I can get. You NEVER need t'be sorry for somethin' that I willingly did."

"Besides," she smiled, "checkin' in on you so often made me feel... well, it made me feel just the tiniest bit better, really. If I'd stayed home the whole time, why... ... Well, I don't really wanna think about that, t'be perfectly honest with you."

Poppy laughed her little comment off, and it made Wally glad that she could find some form of humor to it all. Anything that could take the weight of her daily stressors off of her chest was a good thing, in his book.

"Well... if you say so," Wally conceded. "I suppose it's okay, then."

Now with two questions down, he mentally crossed them off of his tally sheet.

That now left him one question remaining, but he'd... technically already gotten his answer, really. Not to mention that it had been one he'd easily discerned on his own, anyway.

Who else but Julie would leave behind such creative chaos?

Eddie could've been the culprit, maybe, but when he participated in arts and crafts, it was slightly more organized than... that.

Besides: the craftsmanship on the origami couldn't have been anyone other than Julie.

He supposed that if he was going to ask about the project, in the end, it would be a question of just what exactly it was, rather than why it was, since he had to admit, his curiosity had been piqued.

... Poppy might not know the answer to that, though. And, honestly, the entire reason as to why he even wanted to mention it was... because of Home.

.... Well! He.. supposed that he didn't really have any questions left, actually.

Huh. That all went by much faster than he figured it would. He should be pretty much caught up to speed, by now.

Gaze wandering idly around the room as he thought, Wally caught sight of the plate of muffins that Poppy had left on his dresser. Eyes widening a bit, he started as he realized that he HAD forgotten to ask about something.

"Oh!" he gasped. "Poppy, your muffins!"

"My muffins?" Poppy repeated, clearly not having expected that to be Wally's next question.

Fortunately, she was quick to catch on, as in the next second she cried: "Oh-!! My muffins!"

And with that, she turned around and swiftly crossed back over the battlefield so she could retrieve her, undoubtedly now cold, treats.

"Thank you, Wally, dear. I have NO idea how I forgot about my own muffins."

She paused.

"For a SECOND time!"

Shaking her head, she made her way back over to his side, and politely lowered the plate so that he could peruse her latest confections.

In spite of having been left to cool for some time, they still smelled quite delightful. Judging by the little blue dots that peppered their surfaces, Wally supposed that they were likely blueberry. The wrappers that they all sat in were lovely blues, pinks, and yellows- spring pastels, to welcome in the new season.

"I know they're not nearly AS fresh as they HAD been," Poppy apologized, "but you're welcome t'have one, if you'd like!"

Not wanting to be rude, Wally gratefully plucked a muffin with a blue wrapper from the batch. He was fairly partial to the color.

"Oh, thank you. They look wonderful, Poppy. As always."

Holding the pastry in his hands, he found himself pleasantly surprised as he realized it was still warm. His earlier assumptions had been proven wrong, it seems.

Although he knew that muffins were made for eating, he couldn't help but to feel perfectly content simply allowing the warmth to spread from his hands, down into the rest of his body. It was comforting, in a strange sort of way. Although he wasn't cold in the slightest, it was comforting.

He wasn't feeling very hungry, anyway. He was sure that Poppy wouldn't mind if he just... continued to stare at it. He rather enjoyed marveling her work.

"Of course, hun!" Poppy beamed. "What's the point of bakin' if you don't share with your neighbors, hm?"

"I hope that you don't mind my usin' your kitchen, though," she added as she pulled the plate back and out of his way.

"It was more convenient than runnin' back and forth from my place t'yours. I used my own ingredients, don't you worry! Everything's already mostly cleaned up, too."

Wally shook his head. "No, I don't mind at all. That's what the kitchen's for, right?"

Seeming a little bit relieved to hear that, Poppy smiled at him as she gingerly reached forward, towards his nightstand; the plate of muffins now finding themselves resting beside his glass of water.

"We'll see about gettin' a real meal in you, later, then. I know we're breakin' the rules, a little- dessert for lunch," she chuckled. "I just wanted t'make sure you got a chance t'have one before Barnaby cleaned me out."

"Well," she amended, "Barnaby and Julie. I swear, I don't know how those two never get bellyaches. Why, just last Halloween - oh, I'm sure you remember it, Wally - I watched Julie DUMP. the ENTIRE contents of her bag 'a candy. ALL INTO HER MOUTH."

"Wally, I don't even know if she CHEWED."

"She didn't," Wally confirmed.

He almost regretted speaking up, though, as he watched a terrible shudder run down Poppy's spine; her feathers fluffing out in response.

"Oh, and I don't even WANT t'think about how much sugar Barnaby eats on a daily basis. I worry about their health, Wally, I really do. I just don't know WHY they never seem to-"

Almost as abruptly as her rambling began, Poppy stopped, causing Wally to look up at her in confusion.

In one swift motion, she brought her wings up to her mouth- eyes widening in something akin to horror. In an instant, her attention was drawn entirely back to Wally, those same wings reaching out to cup his face, yet again.

Rather uncomfortably this time, he might add, but he didn't plan on mentioning that to her.

"Oh!" she cried. "Wally, darlin', I am SO sorry-!!"

Thoroughly caught off guard, Wally blinked up at her. He oftentimes struggled to keep up with her frantic thought processes, sure, but this was something else entirely. He hadn't been prepared for it, whatsoever.

Just a few seconds ago, he'd been pleasantly listening to her talk about anything and everything, and now, he wasn't sure if he could even utter a word, right now. Not with the vice-like grip she had on him.

Thankfully, he didn't have to put in that much effort into offering her a reply. The most that he could get out as a confused "Wha-?" before she went on, all on her own.

"I have been SO inconsiderate! I didn't even THINK about askin' you how well you slept! I didn't even stop t'ask you if you had any DREAMS-!"

"Wally, sweetheart, this was a WHOLE new EXPERIENCE for you, and I didn't even-"

Stopping herself from rambling any further, Poppy (mercifully) pulled her wings away as she took a step back. Reaching up cover her own face for a few moments, she sucked in a deep breath, and slowly lowered her arms back to her sides.

Wally wasn't really sure what she did all of that for, but he was hoping that it was an effort to calm herself down, and realize just how much she'd been jumping from topic to topic, lately.

He knew she'd been taking some classes with Sally to help her deal with some aspects of her anxiety, so maybe that's where she learned the odd behavior from-?

Luckily, her little exercise seemed to do the trick. Gradually, her feathers began to fall flat, again, and her posture visibly relaxed.

When she spoke up again, her voice was much more measured, and and much less panicked.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "Those should've been the first things I asked you once I made sure you were alright."

"I just got... got so sidetracked, what with you needin' some things answered, and then the muffins, and then-"

Realizing she was just about to do it again, she stopped herself, and took another deep breath.

And as for Wally, himself, he...

... he didn't really know what to say in response to all of that.

'How had he slept'?

Did he have any dreams'?

"... I," he tried to start, but the words failed him the moment he opened his mouth.

Staring back down at the muffin in his hands, he tried to think- to really think.

However, the more the seconds ticked by, the more it began to dawn on him that he'd... sort of been in the exact same boat as Poppy.

He'd still been registering everything when she heard Home's bangs and creaks and rushed in to check on him. From there, the both of them had been rather distracted with each other's company. There hadn't really been any time to focus on much else, had there-?

... Well. He had the time now, didn't he?

"You... You don't have to feel bad about that, Poppy. I-I didn't.. really stop to think about any of that, either."

How HAD he slept-? Maybe he should start there.

How did he like sleeping, so far?

.. Heee... didn't.... dislike it...?

To further clarify, he didn't dislike it when he woke up. He'd felt.. pretty good, all things considered. Though, however much of that was being cozy in bed, and however much of that was actually from sleeping, itself, he couldn't quite tell.

As for WHILE he was asleep, there wasn't really much that he could actively recall.

And that... was normal. You don't typically remember every single second of being asleep, right?

Right-?

... And... And, at least that dreadful dizziness from before had worn off. If he absolutely HAD to decide on one thing about the whole ordeal that he never wanted to experience again, that would be it.

But that would also make it the ONLY thing.

Was there...

... Was there supposed to be MORE, that he hadn't liked-?

Was he supposed to like ALL of it-?

".. Um..."

Maybe he had more questions left than he initially realized.

Feeling himself becoming more tense than he'd like, Wally tried to follow Poppy's previous example by taking a deep breath; holding it for a few seconds, and then letting it out.

There was no need to go and make everything more confusing than it already was. He was sure- no, positive that all of his questions had easy answers.

His friends slept every night, after all. They HAD to be experts on the subject, after all that practice.

Heck, he was sure that, at the very least, Frank was close to figuring out exactly why all of this was happening in the first place. They had a degree! (Whatever that was.)

Everything would be just fine. He just had to calm down, and.. reorganize his thoughts.

Remake his tally sheet.

Refuse to think about the very real possibility of him having to change up his daily schedules to make time for.. this version of sleeping.

Force himself to not think about any possible scenarios where he would have to go through that terrible, terrifying, confusing, sickening dizzy spell all over again-

"Wally?"

"I-I liked it-!" he stammered out in a rush.

The sound of Poppy's voice had felt like something akin to a little shake- a nudge, if you will. It somehow managed to cause the words he didn't realize he'd been holding back to begin their tumble right on out of him.

"I mean- sleeping! It felt.. nice. I slept. good."

Though he knew that he was being honest, his own words hardly sounded genuine.

And if he could tell that, then he was sure that Poppy could, too.

He couldn't think of a single good reason as to why he should go and worry her, all over again, though. Sure, he... really would appreciate the answers to all of these confusing new thoughts and inquiries, but..

... there was a time and place for everything, and now just wasn't either.

Maybe he should just focus on.. the second question that Poppy had asked him.

Maybe he should just... forget about everything else, for a little bit.

A small break couldn't hurt anything. Could it?

"It... It was something.. different," he continued. "Much different than how I'd always slept, before."

"I.. I-I never used to have dreams, either. At least.. I don't think I did."

Sparing a glance up at Poppy, he could see that he'd been right. While much calmer, than before, she met his gaze with nothing but concern in her eyes. He could tell that she probably wanted to verbalize that concern, but, for whatever reason, she didn't.

Acting as if she was picking up on his desire to move the conversation along, she responded with a: "So... You did have a dream, then? Was it a good one-?"

And, thankfully, he didn't need to overthink his answer.

"Yeah, it was. I'm.. I'm pretty sure it was, anyway."

Having been awake for as long as he had, now, all of the specifics of the dream had faded quite a while ago. Most of the events that occurred in it weren't anything more than guesswork, at this point.

And that was okay. He didn't need to remember every single little detail in order to know that he had enjoyed it.

Wally smiled to himself as he idly turned the muffin around in his hands.

"I thought happy thoughts, before I fell asleep. They must've worked, because we were all in an orchard together."

"It was an apple orchard," he clarified. "And we were picking apples. I'm not sure why we were there, or why we were picking the apples, but... we were having fun."

It was very strange- having something so vivid, yet so distant, in your head. It felt just like any other memory he'd ever had, but.. it was like a flimsy memory. A fragile one.

If he hadn't somehow remembered waking up in his bed, he might've mistaken the dream for something that actually happened. Even now, as he felt the bits and pieces of the dream drift away, a large part of it still stuck with him.

Now that he was taking the time to actively give it some thought, he was pleasantly surprised to find just how... happy, the imaginary memory made him.

Maybe he should take the time to think about his dreams every time he wakes up?

... If he's ever going to sleep like this, again, that is.

"D'awww-!" Poppy cooed, dragging him away from his thoughts. "What a cute lil' dream, you had!!"

"And I'm sure that it made sleepin' at least a little bit less scary, too, didn't it-?"

He nodded. "Yeah... it sort of did."

She wasn't wrong, really. Even though it was like putting a bandaid on a hole in the wall, it was.. still a bandaid!

And besides, now that he'd actually gone through with the whole 'sleeping' thing, it... really wasn't as bad as he remembered initially thinking.

New things could be hard for him. Not every single time, but.. most times. He struggled with adapting to abrupt changes- and he struggled even worse when they were big changes.

If he hadn't had Poppy, Home, Julie, Frank, Barnaby- heck, everybody with him, then... things very likely would've been worse. A LOT worse.

He'd have to thank Julie, later, for getting everybody over to him as quickly as she did. She was a really good friend.

Pretending that he was gathering up all of his remaining anxiety, Wally took in one last deep breath, and slowly exhaled- effectively throwing it all to the wind. At least for the time being.

"Thank you, Poppy," he finally managed to say. "For everything. You've really helped me a lot."

Poppy was a really good friend, too.

Looking like she was on the verge of happy tears, Poppy leaned forward to wrap her wings around Wally in a gentle hug. (She had to be mindful of the muffin, after all.)

Gladly leaning into the embrace, Wally allowed the both of them to stay there for a bit. It was nice, not having to think about anything in particular.

He would've been perfectly content simply remaining there, too. Poppy's feathers were soft, and he always appreciated a good hug every now and then.

Unfortunately for them, they were interrupted - rather quickly, Wally might add - as a certain somebody's patience appeared to have run thin.

B A N G !

Startled, Poppy pulled away from the hug instantly- her heard turning this way and that as she attempted to locate the source of the sound.

"HUH?! WHAT- What was that-?!" she practically squawked, their happy little moment effectively ruined.

He couldn't really be upset about it, though. Home wasn't normally this patient, and so he honestly had to give it praise more than anything else.

Though, he was sure that Home knew interrupting them like that was bound to frighten the feathers off of Poppy. He had to take away some praise, for that.

"Ha.. ha.." Wally chuckled, though not at Poppy's reaction. "It's alright, Poppy. That was just Home."

"It's been waiting for me to mention Julie's mess, this whole time. It's not really happy about it, you see."

squeeeaaaaaaakkk ? creak, creak, rattle, squeak, CLANG !

Wally shook his head. "No, I didn't forget about you, Home. I know I promised to help you clean it up. We can do that right now, if you'd like."

Not waiting for a response from it, he reached over to set his muffin down, and threw back his covers as best as he could.

Poppy, while still clearly upset from the unwelcome scare, attempted to join in on the conversation in an effort to calm herself back down.

"O- Oh-! Oh, i-is... is that all..?" she asked, voice shaking. "Wh- Why- Why don't I help you two, then-?"

"M-More hands make the work lighter, a-after all!"

rattle, shuffle shuffle, creak, clink !

"That's awfully nice of you," he said, getting himself unsteadily to his feet. "I'm sure Home will appreciate it."

Seeing him wobble, Poppy reached out a wing so that he could better steady himself. Wally accepted it gratefully, smiling up at his friend.

"Thank you. There's a broom and a dustpan downstairs. You probably saw them while you were in the kitchen."

"I-I probably did," Poppy admitted with a nervous giggle. "I just... um.... didn't... didn't commit it t'memory."

Wally's smile widened, then, in place of a laugh of his own.

"That's okay," he reassured. "I can show you where they are. We're probably going to need more than just those two things, anyway. There's glitter everywhere."

"Oh, and," he added once they were halfway across the room.

"I almost forgot to mention: Home said sorry."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You almost done, over there?" Barnaby called from his place on the bed.

"I'm practically fallin' asleep without 'ya."

"No, you're not," Wally playfully shot back.

He stared at himself in the mirror of his vanity, hands gently combing through his hair as he brushed out each and every knot he could find.

.. Or, well, attempted to brush out each and every knot he could find. It wasn't exactly a process that he was used to rushing, after all.

Rushing by his standards, anyway. Barnaby might not think that taking two hours to smooth his hair out was rather fast, but for Wally, it was the fastest that he'd ever worked, thank you very much.

In spite of all of the practice he'd had, now, since he adopted this into his nightly routine, he was struggling with making that number go any lower. All of the effort that went into maintaining his pompadour was likely to blame, sure, but he drew the line at rushing that process.

In fact, the whole reason as to why he was even brushing his hair flat was because of his signature hairstyle.

The more the weeks went on, the more and more Wally began to learn about the intricacies about sleeping.

And, apparently, one of the number one rules about sleeping had been making sure that you didn't pass out with a carefully crafted hairdo.

Falling to sleep with it styled up was one thing, but waking up to that mountain of knots was another.

And, contrary to popular belief, he was a busy guy. He had a lot to do in a day, and spending upwards to five hours on hair care had already been pushing it. He wasn't about to turn that five into a ten.

Wally hummed tunelessly to himself as he did a final check with his comb. Dragging it through his hair, he expected to be able to swiftly breeze through it all with next to no issues. He'd been so thorough- there was no way that he had anything left to untangle.

Unfortunately, his wishful thoughts just didn't want to become reality, today. Just when he'd reached the end of the section he'd been combing through, he hit a snag.

"Ow," he stated in a monotone.

Carefully pulling the comb back out, he attempted it again.

"Ow," he said again.

One more time.

"Ow."

Barnaby's snickers made him pause for a quick break.

"You sure 'yer doin' alright, over there, bud-? You want me t'give you a paw or two?"

"I'm alright," he reassured, more so hoping to convince himself, rather than Barnaby.

Reaching over for his spray bottle, Wally spritzed a bit of water along the section that was giving him a tough time before attempting it for the fourth, and hopefully, final time.

It.... still hurt! But, thankfully, he was able to comb through his hair without nearly as much trouble as before.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Wally turned his head from side to side so that he could get a good look in the mirror.

Not spotting anything out of order, he took that as his cue to turn away from his vanity, and make an active effort to not look at it again for the rest of the night. For Barnaby's sake, of course.

"Okay. I think I'm done, now."

"Finally," Barnaby said, pretending to roll his eyes. "Thought I lost 'ya, there, 'fer a while."

The big blue dog shook his head as Wally made his way over.

"I dunno if I'll ever get used t'seein' 'yer hair down like that, kid. Doesn't suit 'ya."

"I'm not a huge fan, myself," Wally admitted. However, he did stop for a moment to reach a hand up and dramatically flip some hair behind his shoulder.

"But I think I have to respectfully disagree on it not suiting me. It suits me when I'm sleepy, and I'm sleepy right now."

Barnaby paused to ponder that statement for a moment before ultimately shrugging.

"Can't argue with that! When 'yer right, 'yer right."

"Thank you," Wally smiled. "Now, please move over."

Not wanting to be an impolite house guest, Barnaby did as he was told- shuffling a little bit over on the too-small bed so that Wally could have some space for himself.

Neither of them paid any mind to the fact that Barnaby was halfway off of the bed, now, though. The fact that Wally's bed just wasn't made for a giant dog had never even occurred to them.

Getting comfortable on the mattress and snuggling up against Barnaby, Wally laid his head back on his pillow. His pillow that was actually just Barnaby.

His entire bed was basically Barnaby, now. There really had been no point in asking his friend to move over, but that was neither here nor there.

As was the ritual for their sleepovers, Wally had been about to open his mouth to wish Home a good night, and to ask it to turn the lights off. However, some poorly muffled chuckles from Barnaby's 'side' of the bed had him hesitating.

Looking over to his friend, Wally saw that he'd picked up Julie's gift, again, and was flipping through its pages.

He couldn't even be mad about it. It was a lovely gift.

"Barnaby. Again-?"

"Listen. These pictures are so good. 'Ya can't just leave it on 'yer nightstand and NOT expect me t'look through it every chance I get."

Sighing good-naturedly, Wally sat back up a little so that he could view the scrapbook with his friend.

Barnaby had already flipped through the book to find his favorite pages, of course. The lovingly handcrafted surprise consisted of dozens and dozens of photos of basically the same thing over and over again: Wally sleeping in Barnaby's arms, all taken just minutes after he'd fallen asleep for the first time.

Each picture was unique in its angle, blurriness, and lack of blurriness. Sometimes he was snuggled up with a stuffed animal that one of his friends had placed there. Sometimes there was no stuffed animal; only himself. And in at least three of them, Barnaby was holding up a peace sign just out of view.

And some of them weren't even him, at all.

Julie hadn't discriminated when taking the photos, and if you paged through the scrapbook far enough, you were sure to find at least one picture of each and every neighbor.

And they were usually bawling their eyes out.

Barnaby's favorite page, however, involved pictures of Sally and Eddie, back to back.

Apparently, at one point, they both had just laid themselves flat on the grass, face first, and.. stayed there, for a while.

Just... Just stayed there. Probably also bawling their eyes out, but you couldn't exactly tell from the pictures, alone.

One look was all Barnaby needed, however. If anybody ever needed a surefire way to make Barnaby burst out laughing, this was it.

"A KITTEN!" he exclaimed through his guffaws. "THEY... THEY CALLED YOU A KITTEN-!"

Feeling his cheeks flush, Wally took the opportunity to reach forward, and close the scrapbook. Barnaby hardly seemed to notice as he took it, and carefully tucked it beneath the bed for safekeeping.

Maybe now they could have ONE sleepover at his place without them having this interaction.

Maybe.

"I know, Barnaby," Wally said, gently patting his friend on the arm. "I know."

He then laid his head back down on Barnaby's shaking form, momentarily shifting and turning as he tried to make himself comfortable, again.

Whenever Barnaby had his laughing fits, like this, the only thing to do was to be patient, and wait it out, and so that's precisely what Wally did.

And, gradually, his patience was rewarded. Barnaby calmed down quicker than he'd expected him to- his laughs dying down into wheezes and coughs as he settled himself down. Soon, the room began to return to its prior quiet.

"A kitten," Barnaby chuckled under his breath. "Ahhhh, that was a good one..."

Pausing for a moment, Barnaby turned his head towards Wally, one brow raised.

".. Wait. Where'd 'ya put the-"

"Don't worry about it," Wally interrupted. "You can look at it again in the morning."

Barnaby deliberated that for a bit, but, ultimately, the promise of sleep seemed to be too tempting for him. Snuggling beside Wally, it wasn't long before the two friends were cozy and content on the poor, overtaxed bed.

And finally, Wally could continue with his nightly ritual.

"Goodnight, Home," he said. "We're ready for bed, now. Please turn the lights off when you're ready, too."

Seemingly having been waiting for Wally's word the entire time, the bedroom's lights dimmed before gently going out. The walls shifted and creaked momentarily- Home's own version of a tired yawn.

Despite not speaking Home's language, Barnaby seemed to at least understand the sentiment, as he let out a yawn of his own, shortly after.

"G'night, bud," he sleepily mumbled.

Scooching just a bit closer to Barnaby, Wally closed his eyes, and felt himself relax.

"Goodnight, Barnaby."