Just A Dream

A

The day started normal enough.

Nobody could've predicted the complete meltdown that was coming in just five hours. When Danno woke up he DID have that this-is-going-to-be-a-bad-day-I-can-feel-it sort of feeling but he tried to ignore it... this was GOING to be a good day. It had to be. He got up, brushed his hair, ate breakfast, gave his dogs they're well-deserved head scritches, forgot to brush his teeth, wrestled his wallet off Riggy, remembered to brush his teeth (but still didn't), called Layha to say good morning, had to drag Riggy kicking and screaming out of his room, threatened to get him one of those backpack leashes if he didn't behave, FINALLY brushed his teeth, scrolled YouTube shorts for a bit, took a nap for half an hour and then

IT HAPPENED.

Danno had just been sitting on his bed eating a chocolate orange (PEAK snack by the way) while absentmindedly doodling when Joey appeared (*poof* no I'm kidding). Danno moved to hide the drawing since Joey seemed to hate the two toons even though he had never met them but he was too late. Joey got that 'okay I'm done' look on his face, sat down next to Danno, got back up, then started snapping at him about how "RiGgY aNd RoSeY aReN't ReAl" and all that junk while paceing in a circle to the side of Danno's bed. This was starting to annoy Danno to. No. End. And they both ended up nose-to-nose screaming about Danno's quote and quote "Imaginary" friends. Then... something just... I don't know, snapped? No wait, exploded is more like it and the screaming got louder. "YOU KNOW WHAT?? YOU KNOW WHAT??? I'VE GOT PROOF! PROOF THAT WILL PROVE TO YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT RIGGY AND ROSEY ARE REAL AND YOUR JUST A JERK FOR NOT BELEVING ME!" "OKAY" yelled Joey. "HIT ME! I'D LOOOVE TO SEE IT!" "ALRIGHT THEN!" Said Danno getting up from his bed. "I WILL!" He pushed some stuff off his desk grabbed his phone turned it on and pulled up this channel then without looking at the screen shoved it in Joey's face. He felt a little bad for that last part but he was REALLY pissed and a little overwhelmed. And being pissed off and overwhelmed? Yeah, that's not a great mix. "SEE!" He said triumphantly. "SEE! THERE! RIGHT THERE! IN EVERY THUMBNAIL! HE'S RIGHT THERE! YOU CAN'T DENY IT NOW!" Joey gave him a confused look. "There's... nothing IN the thumbnails Danny... all I can see is a bunch of spinning graph paper..." "what...?" said Danno confused. "No he's right there. He-" he flipped the phone around and-

oh

oh-no

nononononononononono

WHERE WAS HE!?

"I..." Said Danno shakily. "Why isn't he showing?? That camera could record him I saw it I... Maybe it glitched and I didn't notice..." his chest felt like it someone had tied a corset around it and it was restricting his breathing. He could see Joey talking to him but he couldn't hear him. His ears were ringing too much. He felt his vocal chords vibrate. Trying to say something he wouldn't be able to hear anyway. He felt numb. Why wasn't Riggy there!? The camera could DEFENTELY capture his 2D/3D form! He had seen it! So why wasn't he there!? Was the short just faulty? No... that wasn't it. He had edited that short yesterday and he had been there. Was Joey...

was Joey RIGHT?

Was Joey right about Riggy not being real!? WAS THIS WHOLE THING JUST SOMETHING HE MADE UP!? NOTHING MADE SENCE!!.

His legs felt shakey like he had just run a marathon (like he would ever be able to go outside long enough to do that) and his face felt hot. He felt Joey grab his shoulders. It was quite actually gentle but it still kinda broke him. And he started crying. Like uncontrollably. No. More then uncontrollably. Like collapsed on the floor, wailing his lungs out, sobbing louder then he probably ever had in his life. The carpet hurt but it also didn't. That made no sense. The lights were too bright, Joey was too loud and he was touching him too much. Everything was too loud now that he thought about it. Everything smelled. It was too much. Everything was TOO MUCH. At least the walls were very pretty. He could vaguely feel Joey taking his phone out his back pocket and heard the dial tone for someone's number. Then he heard Joey talking to someone hurriedly. But he couldn't make out the words.

Joey's P.O.V

When Joey woke up he didn't expect that by that afternoon he would be consoling his sobbing twin brother after showing him that his imaginary friend wasn't real. The whole thing was just... weird, honestly. Danny had obviously been having a few mental and visual problems ever since he had gotten his head smashed in by a shelf (in an art store of all places) including:

Reoccurring severe hallucinations.

Anxiety.

possible attachment issues.

even persistent delusions.

He had shoved his phone in Joey's face like it held the secrets of the universe but there had been nothing but spinning graph paper. Sure the editing had been really good but there had been nothing about that stupid doll he insisted was alive. When Joey had pointed this out Danny had kind of just... broken... like that dumb doll was the only thing holding him together. And he had kind of just curled up on the floor and cried. He'd only dealt with this kind of breakdown once before. It hadn't been pretty then and it wasn't any better now. Joey didn't know how to comfort him! He didn't even know how to calm him DOWN! So he decided to call the ONE person he knew WOULD be able to to do that. Layha. She had calmed the whirlwind of anxiety, bad jokes and energy drinks that was his brother. Joey had seen it! It felt a little wrong calling someone on Danny's phone while he was crying on the floor But Joey knew this was for his own good. He shakily went through Danny's contacts (he noticed that he was called 'Tractor Pusher' which pushed a stressed giggle out of him) until he found 'The Best Human Ever' "Yep" he thought. "That's definitely Layha" he clicked on her number and started shakily relaying what had happened. She stayed on the pjone with him as she drove to they're house until she was outside. By the time she got there Danny had calmed down but he had regressed into himself a lot. He wasn't talking or responding to anything. It was sad. The poor guy had already been through so much. He was curled on the floor clutching that stupid bunny doll to his chest like it was a lifeline.

...~ ✌️

hey. Uh so that was a lot. I'm sorry if the ending seemed abrupt because it kind of was... I changed the end of the chapter halfway through writing it so I didn't really know HOW to end it. Hope you enjoyed it anyway lol. -Sillys