Chapter Text
Walter inhaled deeply, it always amazed him, as weird and strange his home life seemed to have become.
School just looked and felt the same, as if nothing had ever changed, as if everything was just as boring and mundane as it had ever been. With teens believing their bad haircut was the worst thing to ever happen to anyone in the world.
Walter sighed deeply as he glanced at the open courtyard in front of him where all the students had their break, and then he yawned slightly.
"Not enough sleep?" Ms Janeth asked a little amused.
"I guess," Walter admitted.
"I heard those migraines had gotten a lot better though." Ms. Janeth commented. "They are not keeping you up at night are they?"
"No." Walter shook his head. "It's… Family issues. I suppose. Teen boys, you know."
"Well, I wouldn't know so erh." Janeth smiled a little apologetically. "I have been meaning to ask though, your skin it looks…. So good these days. Have you done something new?"
"huh?" Walter turned to her.
"Come, has your doctor wife been feeding you something good?" Janice asked. "I mean, I think most people our age wouldn't mind losing a few wrinkles. Come on, what are you doing differently?"
Walter halted. "Erh… Hehe… No alcohol?" he tried. "And eight glasses of water a day."
Janeth nodded. "Well, I guess the usual advice has survived so long for a reason. It's just us who don't want to follow them."
"Yes." Walter nodded. "Excuse me." he took a step away toward the window and saw his own reflection.
Walter lifted a hand, touching the area next to his eye where crow feet very naturally had appeared, and his hair still seemed pretty much dark gray all though… There was a thing Nomura had said not so long ago.
"Maybe you want to spend a bit more time in trollform Mr. Vanity."
Wide-eyed Walter looked at himself as his fingers rested on his face, and then slowly he stepped back. That's when he saw another reflection, of a figure sitting some paces behind him and Walter turned to true enough, at the other end of the courtyard there was Toby, sitting alone on a bench under one of the large trees, looking utterly dejected.
Walter blinked, that was unusual for Toby. Toby was always such a never-ending source of optimism, no matter how bad things seemed Toby would always find an upside and smile. He was honestly remarkable that way.
And so Walter walked over to the dejected teen, who was sighing deeply while holding his cheek and looking down.
Walter stopped in front of Toby, then tilted his head looking at the teen. "Everything all right?" he finally asked.
"Yeah… yeaaah." Toby muttered looking the other way.
Walter frowned slightly, then sat down next to Toby. "So I assume there's no reason you look like a hung cat."
Toby pouted, then looked up. "I'm going to be aloneforever."he suddenly complained.
Walter lifted an eyebrow. "Toby… You're sixteen. I think you still have time."
"No, you don't understand!" Toby exclaimed. "Nobody wants to be my Spring Fling! Cause I'm a loser."
Walter looked at Toby, and then he couldn't help it, he was amused looking away… Okay, so they were facing trolls, fighting a war, and had nearly died at least a dozen times around now. And thiswas Toby's big worry.
Toby noticed Walter's smirk and pouted looking incredibly annoyed.
Walter just smirked even more as he shook his head, then inhaled deeply as he looked at Toby. "So… Did you ask someone?" he asked.
"I askedeverygirl in school who's single." Toby pouted.
"Ah… I think I detected the issue." Walter had to admit.
Toby looked up. "What is it?" he asked. "What did I do wrong?"
Walter chuckled amused then pointed. "Look at Ms. Wang, over there." he pointed at where the young Mary Wang was standing around, texting on her phone as she so often would.
"Yeah." Toby nodded. "I see her."
"Imagine just for a second." Walter began. "That Mary had asked Jim for the Springfling, and Jim said no."
"Well… Jim only wants to go with Claire so that makes sense." Toby commented.
Walter held up a hand. "So Mary's first choice was Jim, and he said no… Then Mary asked Eli, and he said no. Then she asked Steve and he said no… And only then, after she had asked Jim, Eli, and Steve, and they all said no… Did she ask you."
"You mean I'm the fourth choice afterSteve?!"Toby exclaimed, then he looked up. "Oh… ooooooh." he asked. "I was the one who blew this wasn't I?"
Walter nodded.
"Oh maaaaan." Toby held his face. "And I already did the asking! It's too late to save it!"
Walter shrugged. "Perhaps… That all depends doesn't it?" he asked.
"What am I supposed to do?!" Toby asked. "No matter who I ask I'll come across as a total jerkward asking someone as my last pick!"
Walter smiled amused. "Toby might I ask… Who would be your first pick?" he asked.
"Well… erhm." Toby chewed his lip. "I mean erh."
"Oh, so there is someone," Walter observed.
"It's dumb." Toby pouted. "I just… Erhm." he twisted his fingers.
"What do you like about her?" Walter asked.
"Well." Toby glanced away. "She's… Funny. She's actually not afraid of joking around… She the total life of the party. That's so cool. I wish I could be that brave."
"Then… If that's what you really think. That's what you should tell her." Walter stated.
"But what if she says no?" Toby asked.
"Then at least you did what you could," Walter stated leaning forward. "It's true, you're not always going to get what you want. There is a chance she's just not interested but… If you don't take that chance. You're not going to know, are you?"
"No, I guess not." Toby had to admit. "You were lucky though, you just met your soul mate."
Walter smirked amused. "Turns out I was over two hundred years old before I actually met her."
Toby's eyes widened in realization.
"And… Toby." Walter began. "It's not like mine and Barbara's relationship hasn't been without any issues, we had things we had to work through too," he admitted. "But we wanted to make it work, so we made it work."
"Wow really?" Toby asked. "That's hard to imagine, you never even fight."
"We never fight whenyouare in the room." Walter corrected Toby.
"Oh." Toby realized.
"Meeting your perfect soul mate and then everything is just perfect, that's not how it works Toby." Walter smiled amused. "Youmakeit work. Because you think it's worth the afford. Did I like it when Barbara was studying 18 hours a day so she could pass out and continue studying the day after so all I saw of her was her sleeping? No of course not. If I had my way we would have spent more time together, but it wasn't about me at that time. It was what sheneeded to do. So I had patience and just made sure she ate well and got enough sleep. Even if it meant we didn't get to do a single thing together for two months.... And I can't even say I am that crazy about her long hours to this day. But it's not really about what I want, is it? My role is to make her happy too. We both had to make compromises in this partnership."
Wide-eyed Toby looked at Walter and nodded.
"So if you really think that girl is the one… You have to work for it. Just some." Walter stated
Toby nodded. "I see."
"And… Let her know she's a little more special than just being the same as everyone else to you." Walter suggested.
Toby nodded, looking like he was taking all of that in."Yeah… Yeah." he looked up at Walter. "Thank you." he smiled sincerely. "That actually helped… I feel better now." he looked up. "And… I think I wanna try." he smiled slightly.
Walter smiled at him too. "I'm glad I could help," he stated. "And… Toby. As old-fashioned as it sounds… I really think you should just be yourself. You are quite something you know."
"Njah, I know I'm not," Toby stated. "You guys are all so amazing. Claire is super smart, Jim is an actual hero, you're… Like a super genius and super cool fighter. Doctor S saves human lives.Blinky knows everything about any magic or creatures and Aaargh is so strong. I'm just… You know… Me."
Walter looked at Toby, then he couldn't help it, he shook his head as he smiled.
"It's not funny." Toby pouted.
"I'm sorry it's not that," Walter stated. "I just… You…" he tried. "If anyone had reason to be sad and angry over what life gave them. It probably should be you but… You never stopped smiling and never stopped pressing forward. No matter how unfair it seemed and that… I'm so glad you got to be part of our lives. We're all richer for it and… I'm quite sure there will be many more people who will be in need of your strength." he stated. "Don't sell yourself short. Toby. I think maybe you're the strongest of us, we may not look it, but we do rely on your spirit, especially Jim. Thank god he has you."
Wide-eyed Toby looked up at Walter then looked away. "Oh geesh, don't be like that," he stated, though he was smiling and Walter smirked as well.
Just then there was a scream and they both looked up.
Toby's eyes widened. "What was that?"
"I'll go look," Walter stated as he started to run toward the school building only for Toby to follow him because… Of course, he would.
Walter didn't even bother to tell him otherwise as they entered the building where the screaming continued and Steve was flailing around among the lockers, looking around with horrified eyes. "No… NO!" he shouted covering his face with his arms. "I'm sorry! NO!" he screamed. "Don't hit me I'm sorry!" he cried.
Walter skidded forward and grabbed Steve's shoulders. "Palchuk!" he exclaimed.
Only for Steve to scream into his face and cry.
"I'm-sorry-i'm-sorry-i'm-sorry!" Steve cried. "Please don't hit me!"
Walter frowned as Steve wriggled under his hands.
"Dude he's totally lost it." Toby gasped as he waved a hand in front of Steve's eyes that Steve clearly wasn't seeing.
Suddenly another scream sounded from deeper in the school, and then another.
Wide-eyed Walter looked up and so did Toby.
"I think there's trouble," Toby stated.
"Well obviously!" Walter exclaimed as a fourth scream sounded and they both looked up.
Walter inhaled as he let go of Steve who screamed and ran away.
"I think we need to find Jim and Clare." Toby then stated. "Like… Right now."
Walter nodded. "Keep an eye out for anything that looks strange. Like a mist, or an artifact, or… Whatever this might be."
Toby nodded, and then the two started to run.
