wally's lament.

[ 22.5 ]

⫸——⫷

Wally blinked at the apple in his palm, allowing a bite to form in its crisp flesh. It made a popping sound as the bite vanished, seemingly into thin air.

After you visited Wally during your mail delivery, he finished his painting. It was indeed a still life of the apple that had been on the coffee table, and he was now eating that same apple.

A sensation of nervousness had consumed him. As he ate his apple, Wally soaked in the feeling, almost as if he enjoyed the fresh anxiety. As a matter of fact, he did not enjoy it at all, but he could not avoid it, not after the events that occurred in the past couple of days. It was mostly because of Home trying to trap you; he remembered feeling this same way when Home destroyed his relationship with Julie.

Not only had you captivated both Wally's heart and his curiosity, but now, you had cultivated fear within him. He was afraid that you hated him or found him repulsive after last night.

You coming over today was quite nice, even though you made him nervous. You did not blatantly appear afraid of him, but instead, you seemed understanding. And, not to mention: you had willingly entered his house, even after Home tried to trap you, which meant that you trusted Wally to save you again if Home pulled anything. That brought Wally great happiness; he would hate to disgust you after all the progress he had made to gain your favor, and he loved knowing that you trusted him.

But Wally still worried. He wondered if Home would try to make him kill you again, and if you would ever love him back now that you knew his secrets. He wondered whether you actually understood him — and if he actually understood you in return, because although he knew what you did, he did not know how you felt about all of it; perhaps you secretly enjoyed being a murderer.

Lastly, he wondered if he should tell you everything.

He could easily tell you everything, he was just afraid of how you would react. However, given the fact that you were not completely disgusted with Wally after last night, perhaps he should not be afraid to confess.

Clearly, Wally was infatuated. He himself was aware of the fact; he always had been. You consumed every corner of his mind. With everything he did, he found himself thinking of you. With every secret, he wondered how you would feel about hearing him admit to it.

All Wally truly wanted was to stare into your eyes. He blushed at the thought, his smile melting over his cheeks. He found himself blushing more and more with each passing day, simply because he was thinking more and more flustering thoughts.

When Wally finished his apple, he stood up and discarded the core, then cleaned up his painting supplies. He still needed to paint a second portrait of you to give you as a gift. However, he had plans with Barnaby tonight, so he could paint the portrait later.

⫸——⫷

That evening, as planned, Wally hung out with Barnaby. They visited Poppy, ate dinner, and walked around town, chatting about everything. Eventually, as was always bound to happen, you infiltrated Wally's thoughts, and he found himself zoning out mid-conversation. Currently, he and Barnaby were sitting on a picnic blanket in Barnaby's backyard, watching the clouds before the sun began to set. The air was cool, but both of them were dressed properly for the weather.

After a few moments, Barnaby asked, "So, you like Charlie, yeah?"

Wally's cheeks flushed, and his head swiveled from the sky to Barnaby's face. "What?"

Barnaby frowned slightly and looked at Wally, then he chuckled. "I didn't mean like that. I just meant, do you like having them around?"

"Oh. Haha. Yeah, I like Charlie." Wally had to remind himself not to call you by your real name; he had made it a habit to call you (Y/N) when he was around you, so he no longer thought of you as 'Charlie' at all.

"Do you like them like that?" Barnaby asked.

Wally took a deep breath, staring at Barnaby. For as long as Wally could remember, Barnaby had been his best friend. Of course, Barnaby did not know who Wally truly was, but that was just how it had to be. Barnaby knew everything else there was to know about Wally, so why should he not know about Wally being obsessed with you?

"Perhaps," Wally finally admitted.

"You're blushing," Barnaby teased.

"No, I'm not! It's just cold out."

"You two should go on a date. Go get a fancy dinner, stargaze, dance under the moonlight..."

Wally punched Barnaby's shoulder gently. "Stop it."

Barnaby chuckled, then paused for a moment. "Yeah, I like Charlie. They're cool. Down to hang out and have fun." He paused again. "Do you think they'll stick around for a while?"

Wally looked back up at the sky. The clouds had shifted while he was looking at Barnaby. At first, they just looked like a pile of fuzzy cotton balls, but then Wally began to see the shapes form: a dinosaur here, an apple there. Wally watched them, searching for your face, or your figure, or a heart.

"I don't know," Wally finally replied. "I hope so."

⫸——⫷