Archive of Our Own ^beta

Evenings in Home could be quiet.

Most everyone was in their houses before the sun went down, and you were no exception. There was some sort of urge that came over you when the sun began to dip past the horizon; something that made you sleepy, made you crave the softness of your sheets and lulled you into sleep. A tiredness that took you under just as the night seemed to go completely dark, and keep you there until the light of the sun came back.

But you couldn't fall asleep yet. You hadn't been called by everyone; or rather, you hadn't called everyone yet.

It was an odd sort of ritual that you hadn't experienced before moving into the neighbourhood. At the end of the day, as you got ready for bed, you'd be called by three or four (or more!) of your neighbours. Mostly the ones you hadn't seen or only briefly interacted with; and the two of you would spend a few minutes chatting about your days before eventually saying "good night" and hanging up. Wally was the exception on the "mostly" as he called you every night, even if you had spent the whole day together. He likely did the same with everyone. It was a very cute routine.

One you wanted to disrupt, just a tad. See, most times you were called by your neighbours, a receiver of their wonderful voices rather than an instigator of the literal game of "telephone". You and Wally had also spent a good portion of the day together, if in the company of Barnaby or Frank at points (but not together due to the fact that they held a near unhealthy rivalry constantly simmering on the stove)-- so there wasn't really a reason to call him other than the fact that you wanted to do it before he called you.

Well, that and... you did quite like his voice. And you wanted to tell him that you liked spending the day with him, and you hoped to do it tomorrow. Really the regular sorts of things you'd talk about otherwise. Just with you as the one putting yourself forward.

You held the phone in your lap, staring down at the dial as you lay tucked in your bed. The brass bottom of the device had sat so long on your legs that it was no longer cold, and the plastic was warm under the spots you had laid your fingers.

It wasn't exactly nervewracking, per say, to break the longstanding tradition and become a sender, not just a receiver-- you just realized you weren't quite aware of what Wally's number was. He had certainly told you before, hadn't he? As had all the neighbours? You were sure you had a note somewhere with everyone's on it... Shuffled away somewhere in your house, possibly between bigger slips of paper or crunched up at the bottom of the "everything" drawer in your kitchen.

You stared, and stared, and then finally blinked because your eyes had gotten dry. Oh, if you didn't do this quickly you'd lose your nerve; or perhaps Wally would even call you before you had the chance to turn a single number.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, you lifted the handset off the hook and put it to your ear. The low drone of the dial tone was a slight balm to your rising anxiety. Shutting your eyes, you furrowed your brows and hovered your hand over the actual dial. You've called him before. You knew his number. You just had to... ring it in.

Letting your muscle memory take over, you fit your finger in a number hole and drew it around; the chunky hiss of the dial spinning probably didn't sound nice to most people, but to you it was soothing. Something distinct yet familiar.

You drew the dial around a few more times, enough to have put a number in, and then waited. There was dead air for a moment before--

Brrr...

Brrr...

Brrr...

Click!

"... Hello?"

The voice of the neighbourhood's darling made its way to your ears. Over the phone his voice got a grainy sort of quality. You were happy the line wasn't busy the moment before, sure you would have lost your nerve if it was.

"Hey Wally." you said into the receiver, a small smile on your face that grew at his response.

"Oh, hello," he said your name, a pleased lilt threading through his tone, "you've called me. Good evening."

You giggled into your hand, shifting the receiver to hear him better.

"Yep! I wanted to do it before you did it yourself. Just as a-- well, so I could call you first, I guess."

You bit your lip at how lame you sounded. But Wally didn't seem to notice or mind.

"Ah. Swell." he said, and then fell silent. You waited a moment for him to keep speaking, but he didn't.

"Wally?"

"Yes?"

You rubbed at your neck with your fingers, pinching the skin between your index and thumb.

"Um, you aren't, ah, talking?"

"No." he said. You furrowed your brows, but he kept going.

"You called me."

You opened and closed your mouth, a tad lost.

"Oh, sorry?" you squeaked out. There was a pause, and then Wally laughed. Over the line it sounded even more choppy than normal, thanks to the low snaps and crackles that the call possessed. But it was the same sort of heavy, if tonally light, laughter.

"Don't you have... Something to say?" he asked, and you began to get it a little.

"Oh! You mean, because I called you, I should lead the talking?" you asked. He hummed in affirmation, and you scoffed awkwardly.

"Goodness, right. Gosh, I'm rotten at calling people aren't I?"

Wally hummed again.

"... You're doing fine." he replied warmly, and you felt the little knot in your chest unwind at that.

"Thank you." you mumbled, before taking a breath.

"Well, I was just calling because I wanted to say... That I had a really fun day today when I was with you. And I was hoping that maybe we could see each other tomorrow as well? On purpose?"

There was a pause as you assumed Wally was absorbing your words. You wondered where he was in Home right now; did he have more than one phone? Or was there just the one near his armchair? He was likely in his armchair, wasn't he? You imagined him with one leg crossed over the other, leaning to the side with an elbow braced on the plush arm, all done up in his pajamas and house coat. Slippers loosely dangling on his feet, maybe even with his eyemask stretched across his forehead-- fingers tangled in the twirly cord as he listened to you speak.

"I had fun too." he said, pausing for breath.

"I would like to… see you again.”

You wiggled happily, kicking your feet under the blanket as you held in a tiny squeal.

“Yay! Would you like me to come to you? Or the other way round? Or maybe we meet somewhere in the middle?”

Wally laughed again at your rapid fire questions, brief but not mocking.

“What do you want?”

You hummed, playing with the coiled line of the phone.

“I think I’d like to come over to Home tomorrow. We could do some drawing beside him, talk about what we plan to do.”

“Okay.” Wally said.

“Okay!” You replied.

“Okay.”

“Mmmkay.”

“… Okay.”

You giggled, and then the two of you sat there for a minute, just listening to each others breathing. You wondered if he was waiting for you to say your farewell first when he piped up again.

"Would you... Like me to sing to you?"

You sat up a little straighter against your pillows, tilting your head towards the handset. Intrigued.

"Oh? Really?" you asked.

"Yes. I've been practicing."

You nodded quickly, then made a little grimace as you quickly realized he couldn’t see you.

“Then yes, please.”

“Okay.”

“It’s a… New song that Julie showed me.”

New to him, likely not actually new, but you made yourself comfortable, squirming back into the pillows and clutching the receiver to your ear with both hands.

Imagine me and you, I do

I think about you day and night, it's only right

To think about the one you, love, and hold them tight

So happy together

You sighed and closed your eyes, swaying your head to his slow, uneven singing. There was the urge to hum along with him, perhaps to aid with a sort of tempo, but you were sure it would just get in the way of you hearing his voice, and so you held it in.

So happy togetherrrrr

So happy togetherrrrr

His voice cracked on the drawn out syllables, and your smile twitched each time, feeling endeared at how hard he was trying.

Wally sung through another verse before repeating the chorus, and then he fell silent. You kept your eyes shut, listening to your neighbour's quiet breathing on the other end.

"That was beautiful. Thank you." you murmured.

"Thank you." Wally parroted, before saying, "you're welcome."

You laughed sleepily, blinking heavily before that prickling urge to yawn overtook you.

"I should- mmm, let you go. Or I'll probably wake up to the handset hitting the floor."

"Okay." he said amicably, likely taking your words at face value rather than an exaggeration. You rubbed at one eye as you spoke.

"Goodnight Wally."

"Good night. I love you.”

You felt a little flutter in your chest at his words, a squeeze that spread warmth out from between your lungs to the tips of your toes.

“I love you too.” 

He hummed contentedly, and then you heard the click of the line going dead. Sighing you placed the handset back on the hook before yawning into your hand.

Setting the phone on your nightstand, you pulled the chain of your bedside lamp— with a click the room was swathed in darkness. Gathering up a pillow in your arms, you pulled the blanket up over your shoulders and imagined the pillow to be your shorter neighbour, cuddling it close as you fell asleep with a smile on your face.