Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

February has never had anything good to offer you.

Valentine's Day was always a big whoop. Your friends were all happy and swell, receiving love letters, chocolates, and the likes. While you... Well, you're you.

It wasn't like you were a loser or anything; you weren't that bad! You just never managed to get past your awkward teen phase, per se; you're already in your early 20s and you've had plenty of experiences impossible to count with all ten fingers, yet you're still the same putz that you were in your high school days.

So, here you were, serving as an extra wheel wherever you went. Because people just had to mingle with each other whenever you entered the room. And then came another bummer of the month—the hit show 'Welcome Home' was recently taken off the air, announced on television five days ago.

Your little brother had been sulky about it. It was his favorite show after all. Even after a few days had passed, he's still down in the dumps about it. You understood his sadness over the matter. It wouldn't be great to hear that your favorite show had been discontinued, much less for a child.

Thank the stars that you made good use of the camcorder you had years ago. You milked the devil out of that thing, recording everything you saw. So you had dozens of VHS tapes stashed underneath your bed. And what do you know? You had at least nine episodes of Welcome Home taped! (You worked up quite a sweat since you needed to watch every single one of the cassettes because none of them had a label.)

You weren't sure if any of them were recorded fully, though. You only watched about 3 minutes of each tape before deciding that they were good to go.

Oh well, it's better than nothing.

"Hey! Hey, dork!" You called out from your room, holding 5 of the tapes on your left hand while the right had 4 of them.

"Get your stinky butt up here!" You yelled once more before eventually getting a response.

"Stop!" You heard him whine. It's a miracle he didn't snap at you. His temper's easy to run short when he's sad about something.

"Do you wanna watch Welcome Home?" You asked. That seemed to be the real deal for the dew drop as he came running upstairs.

"It's back on air!?" He's frantic and out of breath, his hopes up the roof and his excitement clear as day.

"... No," You drawled, before quickly adding on, "But I've got tapes of some of the older episodes!" You held up the cassettes in your hand

He was practically beaming, bouncing on his feet as he tried to reach for the treasure in your hands, "give, give, give!"

You chuckled at his impatience, holding up the records away from his reach, "you can't touch yet! You'll ruin 'em with your dirty hands. Go wash them up first!"

When he did rush downstairs to do as told, you went back inside your room to load in an episode with the cassette player. The first few seconds of the video started to play, but the screen's a bit static, so you tried to fix it by plugging and unplugging the TV until it got back to normal.

"Back!" Your little brother exclaimed, bursting inside your room and grabbing a pillow from your bed to get himself comfy on the ground.

A soft smile made its way on your face, watching your little brother look so lively after spending a good chunk of the week being a downer.

You turned to the TV, deciding to watch with your brother until... The screen started to go rogue again.

"Uhm, let me fix that." You stood up from your spot, going behind the TV and slamming your fist on top of it with enough force. That usually gets the TV back to its optimal state.

You muttered under your breath when the screen remained static. The audio's becoming inaudible, and the video's going back and forth between skipping and cutting off to random parts. You unplug and plug in the wires, but still, it's a jumble of mess.

What in the world...? Sure, you only watched a short chunk of each tape to determine if the recording really was good to go, but you spent minutes checking!

This time, not even a second has gone by but the TV's already acting up! This was just bullhunky!

You looked towards your brother apologetically, sighing, "I'm sorry."

The little guy just stood up from the ground, his face visibly dejected, "It's fine." That was surprisingly mature of him. It only made you feel worse.

"I'll go play downstairs. Bye." And with that, he left your room and shut the door behind him.

Was it so hard for February to go just a little bit easy on you?

__________________________________

You couldn't sleep for the life of you. It's a Sunday too; you worked nine-to-five. You let out a heavy sigh of frustration, replaying that same mood-downer of a memory in your head.

To hell with that damn TV. Out of all the times it decided to go loony, it's when you were trying to cheer your little brother up. This was going to stick with you for a week or two.

Not if you did something about it.

Motivated by the determination to make your little brother happy, you pull yourself out of bed to grab the VHS tapes stacked on your nightstand. You were going to get these tapes to work, no matter what. No gosh darn day shift job was going to stop you.

You jammed one of the tapes inside the cassette player, your patience running thin as you waited for it to load in. When the recording began to play, you watched intently.

It started off without a problem. This time, though, you were going to watch the whole thing. Yes, every single one of these tapes will be finished, and you will make sure they're nothing short of 'okay'.

The episode currently playing was familiar to you. It was your brother's favorite, after all.

The show wasn't your cup of tea— Maybe you were just that much of a wet blanket, but some of the puppets gave you the creeps. Especially that yellow one with the blue pompadour. The way it spoke... It was just way too monotone for your taste. You heard he was a fan favorite too. He's the main character, so it shouldn't be that much of a surprise, but... You just couldn't understand the appeal.

Wally, was it? God, you remembered watching the pilot with your little brother and hearing him laugh for the first time. Who in the world laughs like that? And how was it not scaring off kids!? Maybe that's some sort of quirk people are into nowadays.

Then again, he's a puppet.

"Ha, ha, ha." His voice rang in your ears, and you couldn't help but shift uncomfortably in your spot. The episode was about painting the houses of each resident in the neighborhood. Which included 'Home', Wally's sentient house. As if Wally wasn't already bad enough.

The episode lasted for about half an hour, and your eyes were aching by the time it was over. The show was awfully bright, with all sorts of colors splayed throughout, especially neons. You sighed, taking out the tape and loading in another one.

Some episodes were animated, some weren't, and some were a mix of both.

You didn't like the animated version. While the characters looked more expressive and lively, something just tugged at your gut whenever Wally and Home appeared on screen.

It made it more... Blatant, the way Wally's always staring directly at the viewer.

"Hello, neighbor. Can you lend me a joke? Barnaby is not here today, and I need a new supply of paint from Howdy."

Wally spoke, and you couldn't help but avert your eyes from the screen. This puppet was just too much for you. You wanted to scold yourself for being so dramatic, but you just swore something was wrong whenever you came face to face with Wally.

So far, you've watched seven of the episodes. Fortunately, none of them were tweaking out unlike earlier asides from a few hiccups here and there. You hoped it would stay that way tomorrow. You load in the eighth tape, already desensitized to the show's creepy qualities at this point. Honestly, some episodes were actually amusing, and some scenes even caught your full attention. Your favorite segments were Poppy Partridge's, the big rainbow bird. Something about her voice just soothed you, a pleasant break from Wally's spine-chilling way of speaking.

The audio's unpleasantly crisp for the first few seconds as the tape started to play, causing you to wince. The words 'Paint with Wally' flash on screen, which indicated that the episode's going to be centered around him. Wonderful.

This was an animated episode, which added more to your discomfort. The colors were warm this time, so that was a plus. Something felt off, though; you didn't remember recording this.

"Hello, neighbor," The puppet greeted, his eyes fixed onto you. Yours were stuck to him too. You didn't know why.

You weren't captivated (not willingly, at least). Something's just telling you to look.

"How was your day? I hope it was good. Wonderful, even," The video was subtitled, but you could only pay attention to Wally's eyes.

His voice was ringing in your ears, almost like a whisper. That's weird, since he's speaking in full volume.

He picked up his palette, then he asked, "Do you know what kind of colors these are?" He nudged it towards the viewer. Towards you.

"Let me give you a clue. It's blue, yellow, and red." He tilted his head. "That's right, neighbor. These are primary colors. Wow, you might even be as smart as Frank. Haha."

Your eye twitched as he laughed.

Finally, he looked away from you. Oddly enough, it felt as if you could breathe again. You didn't even realize how compressed your chest felt until the puppet's eyes were no longer on you.

What in the hell?

You looked around for the remote until Wally spoke again: "I hope my laugh isn't bothering you. That would be an inconvenience."

... That was specific. You slowly sat back down, continuing to watch. You couldn't discern the reason, but you felt as if you had to finish this. You had to.

After all, it's why you got out of bed in the first place.

You watched each and every stroke of Wally's brush. One big red box.

"Can you guess what I'm painting, neighbor?" He stared. It's almost as if he's here with you in your room, expecting an answer. He waited, and as you predicted, he continued to speak as if you had given him an answer.

"You're close. Haha. Let me give you a clue." He looked away again, painting a roof on the red box. "Can you guess now?"

You shook your head.

"Okay. Here is another clue." He painted two windows this time, with black irises behind the borders of the window.

"... Home." You responded without a thought.

"That's right! Good job, neighbor." You almost felt... Proud of yourself.

His words were no longer registering your mind. You were just keeping your eyes on the screen. Something was compelling you to stay. Just stay.

"Neighbor."

Wally addressed you, catching your attention.

"Are you still listening?"

You felt inclined to answer back like earlier. You almost did, but you bit your tongue. Somehow, you were still here. Present. You could take that how you will.

"I know you're listening now," His smile widened. You didn't even know that was still possible. You managed to break eye contact, even if it was slight. The subtitles were still there.

[Next, we will be painting Julie. Should we start with her hair?]

It wasn't lining up to what he was saying.

"Neighbor, it's rude to not look at someone in the eyes when they're speaking to you."

[Or maybe her head? Which do you think is better, neighbor?]

It's as if he's going off script.

"Please, pay attention."

[I think the head would do as well. What colors do you think we should mix to make pink?]

You snapped out of your stupor. Fuck this. You've had enough.

You moved away from your spot, frantically searching for the remote. It wasn't anywhere to be found. The ground felt too spacious. Everything was way too far apart from each other. The floor felt too big, but the walls felt tight around you. The ceiling was spinning, your head was spinning.

Where's the god damn remote?

"You're leaving already? How unfortunate."

[Let's start with a circle, and then we mix a new color. The yellow we have is too bright. How about we mix it with white?]

Shit, shit shit, shit.

"Jesus— fuck!" You cursed out. Everything was swaying right in front of your eyes. Your eyes. They were moving against your will. It hurts. It hurts, it's rolling to the back of your head, and to where the TV was.

"As you wish, then. Goodbye, neighbor."

You couldn't hold yourself up any longer. Everything was still spinning, even as your body had dropped to the ground. The floor was expanding, and the walls were closing in on you. Your chest felt tight. It hurt to breathe.

"I know you can hear me. Can you say 'goodbye' too?"

Your eye was twitching. It was twitching. Twitching inside your socket. You swallow air, desperate to fill your lungs.

"Oh, well. That's alright. I'll see you again, neighbor."

Your nails dug into the carpeted ground.

"I know I will."

Chapter Text

You woke up with a headache and a sore shoulder. The bed felt soft on your back, and it made you want to take a few extra hours of sleep.

Until something started to nag at you.

You didn't remember anything. Nothing at all. You didn't know where you were or who you were.

Your eyes shot open at that, immediately dragging yourself out of bed. You didn't even acknowledge how stiff your neck was; you just wanted out.

Out of what?

You scanned your surroundings, and nothing felt right. The walls were too bright, and the world outside your window looked wrong. Everything seemed... Unreal.

You couldn't remember anything, but you knew you didn't belong here. You weren't supposed to be here.

With frantic movements, you skittered downstairs, your breath heavy and your head pounding. This wasn't your home. You had no recollection of what life was like before today, but you knew this wasn't where you lived.

It was all just wrong.

You walked to the kitchen, seeing the plethora of cooking supplies hanging on the wall and dining utensils hidden away neatly in a cabinet. The walls had an array of childish designs and bright colors complementing each other. You then glanced at the living room from the open door, seeing the same pattern.

This house looked like the inside of a child's dollhouse. Just where the hell were you!?

You tried to get a better look at the world outside from the window beside the sink you were leaning at. It was so full of life and... Animated. So unlike what you knew, despite having no memory of what used to be.

You stared down at the sink, attempting to gather your thoughts. You couldn't even begin to describe how strange this was—in fact, strange was an understatement. You had every right to scream your head off and tear this whole place apart. Why the hell not when you woke up having no idea who you were, where you were, and what life you were living before today, if you even had a life at all?

A shaky breath made its way past your gritted teeth. You couldn't even remember how old you were. Fuck, how were you supposed to make it through the day when you didn't even know what to do with yourself!? How were you supposed to live and keep yourself alive? You couldn't remember sh*t! For all you know, you had a job and now you're late for work.

Your heart rate spiked up when you took another look out the window. A bunch of... Puppet, monster-looking creatures were walking towards your house. What the fuck! Were they going to hurt you? Kill you!? Were you going to die just like this? When you didn't even know if you had lived a life or if you'd made something of yourself yet?

You sat down on the floor, hugging your knees to your chest while you expected the worst.

You attempted to block out the knocks on your door by covering your ears. Your lips were pursed shut, and your eyes were closed tightly. Your heart might as well just crack through your ribs and run free with how wildly it was beating in your chest.

Maybe they'd leave if you kept quiet. It would make them think you weren't here—unless they saw you looking through the window... Then you're definitely toast.

"Neighbor? Neighbor, we know you're there!"

That... sounded less threatening than you expected, especially since it was coming from a monster. The voice sounded high-pitched and playful, and its words were in a sing-song tone.

Still, you clamped your mouth shut, breathing heavily through your nose.

"Julie, maybe we should give them more time. They might be feeling homesick." A different voice spoke.

"Homesick? Why would their home be sick?"

"That's not what I mean—Oh! The point is, we should leave them alone for now."

Your breathing was calming down gradually as you listened to their conversation. They sounded normal enough. Maybe they weren't out for your blood after all...?

Still, you had to be cautious.

"Why?" 'Julie' whined, "They're our new neighbor, Frank! We should give them a proper greeting and a warm welcome! And if their home is feeling sick, then maybe we could help them."

"Yes, a proper greeting would be appropriate if they feel comfortable. It seems to me that they still need some time to themselves so they can get settled in their new home."

Slowly, you stood up from the ground, finally acknowledging how sore your whole body felt.

"You don't know that! We only knocked two times!" Julie argued with a pout on her face.

"Trust me, I know when someone isn't in the mood to..."

The door creaked open, and there, standing before them, was you.

"Good morning?" From what you could guess, 'Frank' was the one who greeted you while giving a look of concern, and then came along Julie who grabbed your hand and eagerly shook it.

"Hello! Gosh, it's so nice to finally meet you! All of us have been waiting for you since yesterday, y'know?" The way she spoke was fast-paced. You were having a hard time keeping up, and having a mild headache wasn't helping.

Hold on—waiting for you? They were waiting for you?

"You... have?" You almost surprised yourself by how hoarse and raspy your voice sounded. You hadn't heard yourself since this morning.

"Why, of course! Who wouldn't be excited about a new neighbor moving in?" Julie beamed, which creeped you out now that you're up close. Her mouth was so wide. Jesus Christ, what are they? Her hand felt soft too In a weird way. It's squishy and... cottony?

"Julie here had been restless about your arrival. I'm sure you can tell." Frank let out a chuckle while shaking his head. As if Julie wasn't odd enough already, he just had to come into view. But they seemed nice enough. Perhaps they could help you get out of here and figure out where you came from?

You swallowed, wincing at how dry your throat was. "Yeah. Uhm." You pulled your hand away from Julie's, laughing awkwardly so as not to set them off wrong.

"I'm... not actually from here."

A giggle interrupted you: "Well, yeah! You just moved in. Oh, oh! Can you tell us about where you lived?"

"Julie, that's a very personal question-"

You cut the weird, gray-elongated puppet off from scolding the horned pink creature.

"No, no, what I meant to say is... I don't belong here."

Silence followed as the two blinked at you. Frank let out an awkward cough. "Well, you do seem a bit out of place, but I assure you that we're happy to have you here. I apologize if we interrupted anything-"

"Wait, no—agh," you groaned as you pressed a hand to your forehead. "I'm not feeling excluded or anything. What I mean is that I'm not supposed to be here."

Julie raised an eyebrow, tilting her head. "You moved here by accident?"

You sighed heavily. You didn't have the time to explain. You didn't even know if you'd be able to explain. For crying out loud, how were they supposed to respond to the information that you woke up and that you didn't remember anything from yesterday, or what came before yesterday. You didn't even know how you got here. Hell, you didn't even know your name and if you had lived a life before all of this! And since that's the case, how could you tell that you weren't from here? And that you didn't belong here?

"Neighbor, are you alright?" Frank tilted his head to get a better look at your face. You looked... Well, Frank had never met anyone with the likes of you; for all he knew, this might be what you normally looked like.

"Wait..." Your head was starting to pound. God, the ache was going from mild to severe. "Uhm, please give me a moment."

Pinching the bridge of your nose between your fingers, you trudged back inside your living room, plopping down on the couch and slumping against it.

You left the door open, which you didn't care about at this point. Julie and Frank peaked in with worry on their faces.

"Frank, they look sick." Julie turned toward Frank, and there's that look in her eyes already.

"Julie, no. What they need is rest and some time alone."

"But what if they aren't able to take care of themselves right now? They look like they could barely move... If their problem gets worse, how are they gonna be able to look after themselves?"

Julie inched her face closer to Frank's, clasping her hands together near her chin to further emphasize her point and her pleading eyes. Frank just stared before checking up on you again and eventually letting out a sigh of defeat.

"Alright, alright. But if they look uncomfortable, even if they don't say so, we're leaving them alone, okay?"

"Yippie!" Julie exclaimed with a big ol' smile on her face, rushing inside your home in excitement. Frank followed after her with crossed arms and furrowed brows, shutting the door behind him.

You felt the weight of the couch shift slightly when Julie took a seat beside you. She pressed the back of her hand against your forehead, gasping at the warmth. "Gee, you're really warm!"

Frank grabbed a pillow placed on the loveseat and made his way to you and Julie.

You didn't know if this place was air conditioned, but you felt awfully chilly. You shivered a little bit from the cold temperature. That must have alerted Julie since she started to pull you into a hug, gently cradling your head.

Frank placed the pillow that he had grabbed by the foot of the couch, "Lay her head here, Julie."

Julie obliged with a nod, carefully laying you down and cushioning your head with the pillow. The casing was rough, so you felt a bit uncomfortable.

"Is it alright if I go upstairs to your bedroom to fetch a blanket?" Frank asked, to which you responded with a nod. You didn't really care. This wasn't your house; you just woke up here.

You could hear his footsteps descend upstairs, and then a warm, soft hand on your head. "Are you sleepy?" Julie asked as she gently carressed your forehead.

"Ngh..." You whimpered before gritting your teeth. The pain was getting worse. It felt like someone was bashing your head with the back of a hammer.

Soon enough, you couldn't keep yourself up anymore. You ended up succumbing to exhaustion.

__________________________________

You were drenched in sweat by the time you woke up, and there's a warm, wet cloth placed on top of your head. You were covered in a thick blanket, and the pillow underneath your head felt softer than it did earlier.

"Neighbor, you're awake!" You flinched from the sudden greeting from Julie, to which Frank scolded her for.

"I made tea for you. It's currently plain. I'm not aware of your preferences, after all." Frank shut the book he was reading, placing it on his lap. "If you'd like, I can add some sugar."

"Yeah, sugar makes everything a hundred times better!" Julie's behind the couch, leaning over it. She was looking down at you, so you could see just how big her smile is.

With best of your abilities, you tried to move your head around without feeling drowzy so you could observe your surroundings. Frank was sitting on the loveseat, the tea he had prepared for you placed on top of the mini table at the center of the living room.

With a grunt, you attempted to lift yourself up a bit, just enough so that you were sitting up slightly.

"Crap," You muttered under your breath, the wet cloth on your head drooping off slightly. The world was tilting...

Julie managed to catch the wet cloth as it dropped off your head. "You should lay down again; you don't look too good." Julie frowned sympathetically.

You hadn't noticed that Frank was already in front of you, nudging the cup of tea towards you.

"Drink up. This tea has herbal essence in it. It helps with fevers, assuming that's what you're currently dealing with."

With a shaky hand, you carefully took the cup from Frank, bringing it towards your lips and taking a sip. It's warm and not too bitter or strong on the throat. It was plain, though. You doubt that sugar would've helped.

"Thank you," You smiled. Frank nodded as a response, while Julie giggled and gave a pat to your head. They didn't seem so bad and creepy anymore despite your initial impression.

Your chest felt ten times lighter than it did this morning. You guessed that it was afternoon already.

You paused at the thought. How long did Frank and Julie stuck around for?

"I— uh, what time did you both come here?" Your voice was still hoarse and it honestly hurt to talk.

Frank gave it a thought before replying, "10AM. We were still having breakfast."

"What time is it right now?" You slowly lowered the tea from your mouth as you've downed half of it already.

"Oh, It's 3PM! It's on the clock right there!" Julie pointed at the clock hanging on the wall above. You immediately felt like hitting yourself on the head. Did you really just make them waste their time on you?

"Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to knock out cold for that long." You covered your face with your hands, the empty tea cup sitting on your lap.

"Why are you apologizing? You were sick so we took care of you!" Julie frowned with her hand still on your head.

That was such a simple way of explaining it. They weren't expecting for any compensation... Damn, that's supposed to be basic decency yet it felt out of the ordinary.

"Well... I'm uhm- thank you. Thank you so much..." You stammered, averting your eyes from the both of them.

"You're quite jittery. I suggest you take a moment to relax yourself and let the herbs kick in," Frank said as he stood beside you, his arms crossed with a book in his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! If you rest more, you'll get better quickly! And when you get better, I'm going to take you with me for an adventure! We'll play hopscotch all morning, and we'll come up with games together then I'll introduce you to the other neighbors! You should meet Poppy, she'd really like you, I think."

"Oh, Julie..."

As Julie rambled on and on with a giggle or two while Frank listened on against his will, you felt your head get lighter. You still felt like shit, but maybe you could actually make it through the day.