Be A Pest

Chapter 15

"Y/n...?", he came to me that evening while I was doing housework. "Yeah?", I turned around to see him frowning. "I don't want to go to sleep", he said worriedly. My heart sped up in panic. That was the thing I was fearing. "Well you don't have a choice", I said.

He stared at me with hope in his eyes. I sighed, "Wakko, you can't stay awake the whole night, it's bad for your brain". "No it's not", he said. "Listen, I can help you sleep if you want, but-". He shoock his head. "Wait a second", I remembered to ask, "What is the reason that you don't want to go to sleep?". "It...it's scary at night", he whimpered. "Scary?", I rolled my eyes, "Then there's no point in staying up, it won't help you".

"And what will?", he scowled. I shrugged my shoulders, "Don't know, but if anything really happens, I'll help you trough it. Deal?". For a few seconds, he hasitated, then finaly agreed, "Deal". That night, I went to sleep, hoping everything was going to be ok. However, I wasn't aware of what the night could do to some living beings, including him. Especially if he was sensitive. I didn't remind myself of this one fact that was utterly true.

Everything hits us at night.

I woke up to get myself a glass of water, because it was obviously too hot, when a thought striked me like lightning. How was he? Did I have to help? Had anything happened? I quickly went to the living room, impatient to find out. Sure enough, Wakko was awake, sitting on the couch with his head down. I went to sit next to him. For a while, all I could do was stare at him, not knowing what to do or say.

Suddenly, he looked up at me with wide eyes. Then he started whispering like he was talking in his sleep, "No...not again...I was getting better, please not again". "You need a hug?", I asked. He didn't reply. For the first time, he ignored me. Like I was his biggest fear. Well, after all that had happened... "I don't know...", I heard him say. I could actually sense how thorn he was. It felt like the worst pain someone could go trough.

"It's ok, you don't need to be afraid", I said, gently taking his hand. For a while, his eyes were fixed on me as though he was proccessing something, but then he simply let go of my hand and hugged me. I slowly lifted him up and sat him on my lap. It felt depressing to sit there and try to comfort him. I really wanted him to be unbothered by all of this. Yet I was willing to do it no matter how much he asked from me. It was worth trying.

"Is it true that nobody actually cares about me?", he asked out of the blue. I couldn't help but let out a small gasp after hearing that. It stung me to know he thought that. "I do Wakko, for instance", I said a little bit firmly. My jaw and teeth clenched at the thought of him feeling this way. There was for sure something more going on with him. "You do?", he asked me. "If anyone really does, I do", I hugged him a little tighter.

I love you, Wakko...I love you...

I so wanted to tell him that, but if I did, I'd make things worse, I'd hurt him, if I already hadn't. All I could do was hug him until I was sure he fell back asleep. But even after that, I didn't know if I had to stay there or not. So I sat on the couch a little longer before slowly laying him back down and going back to bed. Yet I couldn't fall asleep myself, thinking about everything that he'd told me.

To be honest, I didn't understand half of it, so I didn't know how to help. And it bothered me to hear all those thoughts he had. They sounded so stupid, it felt like I was only dreaming. I wished so much I was, but the point was...he was the one making stuff up. It made me real sad to listen to all those nonsenses about him being unlovable or whatever he was trying to tell me. I got so tired of thinking all of that, my mind finaly blacked out.

When I got up the next morning and went to make myself breakfast, I didn't see him anywhere around. Only after I finished eating did I go into the living room and saw him still sleeping on the couch. I didn't want to disturb him, so I went to do something by myself. I went back to the kitchen and started washing the dishees.