Chapter Text
It was a regular night for Sally in the neighborhood of Berkinsville, where she currently lives. Living in this house that is part of the neighborhood wasn't her thing before; she used to live in Osaka with her family. Nonetheless, it was the best decision her parents could make to settle her and her brother down for the sake of their futures, as Sally puts it. As Sally was about to set up her bed for the night, she was interrupted by gentle knocks on her window, which caught her attention. A bit startled, she went to the window to investigate who knocked on her room window. As she approached her glass window to see who was there, she caught a slight glimpse of a figure through the window. She opened her window slightly, only to be in sight of a young boy, similar to her age. It was Ned Pimpleberg, who is now struggling to cling to the outside sill.
“Oh, it’s just you.” Sally, relieved, assists Ned in getting inside her room, closes the room window leaving it unlocked, and then locks her eyes on Ned. All the while, he sets himself down by laying his back on Sally’s bedside, anxiously curling up by crossing his arms as he rubs his arm in a gentle manner, avoiding eye contact and direction with Sally. Knowing that Sally could be possibly annoyed by him coming to her house room window every night.
“Ned, why did you come here this late?” She questions, obviously tired, yet remains silently poised with him, sitting by his side. Ned doesn’t answer her, yet remains silent for a minute. Through the awkward silence between the two, Sally comes an inch closer beside him, yet tries to give him space to process as he is still curled up on her bed.
Sally got up off her bed, “I’ll get some snacks for you,” she said walking to the door until Ned slightly grasped onto Sally’s wrist, almost gently tugging her to his attention.
Ned grabbed Sally's wrist and pleaded, "Please stay...I just want to talk." Sally gave him her full attention as he let go of her wrist and lowered his head. It was pitiful for her to see him like this now and then, especially when he came to her house without her brother noticing. Sally was used to seeing him in this vulnerable state and she went to his side, gently hugging him to comfort him. Ned began to tear up and sniffle as they hugged. Sally rubbed his back, trying to calm him down, but he burst into more tears.
Sally asked him, "Did it happen again?" Ned responded by softly nodding his head and nudging her neck.
“It’s going to be alright Ned, you are with me now,” Sally said calmly, caressing his back.
Ned's tearful voice quivers as he murmurs onto her neck, "It's not fair... it's never fair." She feels his sobs shorten and tries to comfort him by rubbing his back gently, hoping to ease his pain. She understands how difficult it can be to cope with unfairness, and she's there for him, providing comfort and support.
“Ned, it’s going to be okay,” She says, tenderly touching his cheek by wiping his shedding tears away from his face. “You’re with me, okay?”
“I-it just him a-and his-” He agitated scuffs, crossing his arms, turning his head to the side, away from Sally's direction.
“Ned,” Sally said, gently placing her arm on his, trying to comfort him. “Remember, you're with me, not with them,” she continued, giving Ned a soft smile.
“I-its just that I don’t get it…”
Sally raised her brow, she was a bit muddled about what Ned said.
“I don’t get why my brother thrashes at me all the time, and how my father doesn’t do a single shit about it?!” Ned tightens his arms, grabbing his sleeve hoodie tightly. He began panting heavily, and more tears were shed from his eyes. Sally, realizing that Ned is about to break down, attempts to cling to him as she can til Ned calms down.
Sally lets go of him for a bit, “Feel better?” Her hands onto her lap, as Ned nods and groans.
It ended up an awkward silence between the both of them, Ned then relaxed his head down onto Sally’s shoulder. Sally didn’t mind it; she was comfortable showing his vulnerability towards her. She knew that Ned wasn’t well-liked by some people in this chaotic neighborhood, including some of the kids in school, especially her brother. Besides, he was notorious for bullying others. Why even give him a chance to anyone?
The more Sally interacted with Ned, the more she was able to see him for what he was.
A troubled kid, who was insecure, had a hard home life, and clearly couldn’t express emotions properly.
“I don’t get why family is so disruptive…” Ned mutters out in his frustration.
Sally consoles him by saying, “I can feel the same way.”
Ned asks, a bit confused about Sally’s response. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, my parents are grateful, but…” Sally becomes silent, having issues with her family as well.
“Do they also hurt you too?” Ned softly rests his hand on hers, in worry that she was also hurt the same way as him.
“No, no, no, not like that, it’s just…” She went quiet subsequently until she muttered, “It’s just that they don’t know what I want to strive for in life.” She moped.
“What about your brother? He seems to care about you. Does he also, y'know, respect your admiration?” He genuinely questioned, he wasn’t asking out of malice, he was doing it out of curiosity. After all, of being a kid and knowing that Sally is pretty close to her brother whom he bullied.
“Well, yeah, on the childish side with his fixation on sci-fi comics. Although, my parents seem to be more focused on me than my brother since I guess I have to be ready to sprout on becoming a ‘woman’, or whatever they spout on.” She continued. “I don’t mind the attention they give me and all, and I’m grateful for allowing me an opportunity to bring into this world. It’s just that they put their energy into pushing me into being successful.” She tiredly tirades, “I know our cases are different, and hard to relate to you in any way.”
Ned rubs his hands onto hers and comments, “At least you have people to count on, people that you could talk to that matter the most.”
They both of the two kids try to comfort each other by nestling with one another, trying to look at the starry midnight light outside the window.
Ned softly nudges to get Sally’s attention, “Hey Sally…”
“Hm?”
“I just want to say that I’ve had some feelings for you and-” Ned was shortly abruptly interrupted by knocking on Sally’s bedroom door.
“Hey Sis, I've lost one of my action figures, and I don’t know where I had it. Can I come inside your room to see if it is there?” Jeffery exclaims through the door.
“Shoot.” Sally softly blurts out that she needs to think fast about what to do with Ned. She couldn’t let him be found by her brother, let alone her family.
“Ned, you need to-”
“Hide? Yeah, I know.” He responded to Sally’s answer as she cut off her response. It’s constant at this point whenever Ned comes by Sally’s bedroom. Ned immediately gets himself off the bed and sneaks himself underneath it. Sally crouches down underneath her bed. Jeffery knocks on the door from the other side again.
“Sally, are you up!?” Jeffery calls on Sally again.
“Don’t worry I’m coming!” Sally hollered in response, trying to assist in hiding Ned, “Try to stay as quiet as you can when my brother comes in,” Sally whispered as she went back up to open the door to let her brother in to let him find his lost action figure. Sally opens the door, so she lets Jeffery into her room. Sally just hopes that he doesn’t go searching underneath her bed. He first looks in and out the drawers, then the closet, and onto the blankets and bed sheets. As Jeffery was almost about to give up, he wanted to check underneath the bed, Sally desperately hoped that he wouldn’t poke Ned, while Ned tried not to get caught by Jeffery. Just as Ned was almost caught, Jeffery caught something from his eye.
“Oh, there it is!” Jeffery exclaimed, he finally found his action figure lying there on the carpeted ground, full of Sally’s other things, leaving Ned relieved of being undetected by Jeffery. As Sally’s brother finally leaves her room, Sally closes and then locks her room door and exhales a sigh of relief, while Ned crawls out of Sally’s bed and brushes away the dust that was on him.
He goes by to open the window and climbs himself out of it, “I need to go.” he says disappointingly, wanting to stay with Sally longer.
“This late?” Sally asked worryingly.
Ned turned his head to the side and then looked back at Sally, “Yeah,” he sighed, he wanted to spend more time with her, he knew he had to come back to his broken home to fulfill his plans of conquering the world in his lab.
“You could stay here a little bit longer, until morning?” Sally asked earnestly for him to stay away from his already damaged environment. But he persists in needing to go home, fully knowing that neither his brother nor father would ever care if he was gone.
“Sorry Sal, I need to go but don’t worry, I’ll try to come back next time,” Ned said reassuringly towards Sally, nevertheless, Sally smiled at him.
“Just be safe okay? I care about you, and I just want to let you know that you can come to me whenever you want to.” She said as Ned climbed himself down away from Sally’s room window and from her house; to the darkness of the midnight sky while Sally closed her window shut. A little hurt that Ned couldn’t stay, yet worried for his home situation.
Ned walks onto the darkened streets of Berskinsville, trying to find his house at moderately cold midnight. Able to spot it from a distance away, he goes towards it, wishing he kept his distance from it, but instead, he keeps moving on. Instead of going to the front door of the house, he instead goes towards a secret entrance that is hidden in the backyard, he goes through the secret entrance that had led him to his laboratory. He wanted to go to his room, but he instead went to stay in his lab for a minute or longer, alone, for his thoughts. He goes onto his sleeping mat and wraps himself in a tattered blanket. Ned lay in bed, he couldn't help but ponder the question, "Is conquering worth it?" A question that had been on his mind since he first met Sally. At first, it all started with harmless teasing, but over time their relationship grew into a true friendship. Ned started to question whether his desire for world domination was worth destroying the meaningful connections he had formed with others. As he thought about his friendship with Sally, Ned realized that he had been missing out on the joys of human connection. The more time he spent with her, the more he began to appreciate the value of relationships and the importance of empathy. He covered himself in blankets and closed his eyes, feeling grateful for the opportunity to rest and reflect on his life. Despite Ned’s ambitions, Ned knew that he needed to set his plans for world domination aside and focus on what mattered. He made a mental note to reach out to Sally to strengthen their relationship even further. As he drifted off to sleep, he felt a renewed sense of purpose and a deep appreciation for the people in his life.