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oddsandendsandthings · 1 year

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Tattered Puppets AU

The Welcome Home puppets were ripped to shreds and left to rot in the recording studio! And my OC Adrian who made his career in fixing up toys to resell buys the studio to expand his business and finds them. Wally sees the opportunity to save his friends and himself decides to convince the man by any means necessary.

Some horror elements, angst with a happy ending, and Wally/Male OC if you squint

You can read it here or find it on Ao3 here

He’d lost track of how long he’d been here. All this time in the dark had made time lose all meaning.

It was quiet. So so quiet. He couldn’t even hear their crying anymore.

All there was to fill the silence was the ever-swirling ringing of static echoing in his ears.

“Hello?” His voice echoes so quietly that he can barely hear it himself. “Helloooo?”

Tears drip from his cheeks when there is no reply.

“Beautiful dreamers, wake unto me… Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee..” If they’re all still sleeping, then he’ll sing them a lullaby to lure them to a pleasant dream. And when they wake, they can all laugh and play and sing together again.

Until then, he’ll watch over them. Just like he always has.

—-------------------------------

Today was going to be a great day! Adrian grinned as he clutched the last of the paperwork he needed to submit to get the keys to his new studio. Sure the place had been abandoned since the seventies and was supposedly haunted. But who cared about that when it came at a quarter of the price of anywhere else in a hundred miles!

“Are you sure you want to buy this place without even looking at it first?” His leasing agent Rachelle asked when he slid the paperwork across her desk and took a seat.

“I mean I saw the pictures you provided.” He shrugged casually and sat back. “And you were the one to refuse to take me to see it in person.”

“And I still refuse to step back in that place after the last guy I sent to survey the place turned in his camera and quit that day.” She says as she levels him with a wary look. “The last people I leased the building to also returned their keys in the first 24 hours. Shoot! This place hasn’t had a tenant last longer than 3 days before abandoning it again in the past 50 years! I just don’t want to deal with having to fill out more paperwork and save you from making a poor financial decision in the process.”

Adrian shrugs, completely unaffected. “I hear you, but I’m gonna do it anyways. I need a place big enough to house all my sewing supplies and still have room to work. And my tiny little apartment isn’t cutting it anymore! Plus I've been wanting to expand my business into a real location for a long time now.” He laughs and shrugs dramatically. “This place has triple the space I need for way less than the price of anywhere else! Which will mean more money in my pocket for my growing business! Maybe even enough to hire someone else to help out!”

“If you can find anyone as crazy as you.” She mutters under her breath and sighs as she looks through the paperwork. “Well, everything appears to be in order and the deposit you submitted last week did clear. So here are the keys to your new studio, Mr. Summerset.” She says and stands to shake his hands as he takes the keys. “Just don’t make me regret this.”

“Oh come on!” He laughs standing as he takes her hand. “Even if the place is haunted, I’m sure I can handle some wannabe Casper.”

“I hope you’re right,” She sighs as she flops back into her chair and reaches into her cabinet to pull out a flask. “For both our sakes.”

Adrian smiles brightly as he pulls up to his new studio. He was practically vibrating with excitement. He was finally onto the next step of his dream of turning his little hobby of fixing up toys into a real business! Sure the place looked more than a little shabby all boarded up like this. And who knows what the inside looks like through 50 years of neglect? But as long as there’s no angry drug addict living in here, he should be fine!

Just in case he does a quick walk around the building to look for any signs of a break-in. Surprisingly, there are no signs of forced entry which was a great sign of there being no crazy hobos! Hiking back to his car, he pulls out his prybar from the trunk he bought for just this special occasion.

Time to take down those boards and bring in the light! It would probably be another 72 hours for the electric company to turn back on the power for this place. And he did NOT have the extra dough for a generator to last him in the meantime. So he will do all the things he could do without electricity in this place in the meantime! And the first step to that was to onboard these windows. He cracked the crowbar into the gap between rotted plywood and the wall and pulled. With a sickening SHUNK, the board easily pulled away from the window like wet paper and fell to the ground.

“One down!” Adrian huffed as he haughtily swung his crowbar onto his shoulder and walked to the next window. “Nine to go! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!” He laughs as he repeats the process. “At this rate, I’ll have plenty of time to start on the inside before lunch!”

—---------------------------

Light. There was actual light streaming through the windows.

When was the last time he had seen the sun? He’d forgotten how warm it felt.

His brief moment of happiness was shattered at the realization of what this could mean.

Someone was coming.

—--------------------------------

The lock gave quite a fight from years of disuse. But eventually, the redheaded man was able to finally get it to relent and let him into the building. “Honey I’m home!” He couldn’t help but call into the empty building with a laugh.

The windows were so dusty he couldn’t get a good look inside while he was pulling off the plywood from the windows. But he was happy to see that, although very dusty and dirty, the entrance to the place was pretty usable. The floors and ceiling were intact and all the light fixtures still hung from their proper places. There was even a desk and chair still in here that looked to still be pretty sturdy! Bonus work surface!

He walked up to the desk to get a closer look. It still very much looked to be from the 70s, but it could still be of use for his purposes! There were still papers in it that would need to be cleaned out though. “Guess this place used to be a recording studio for a knock-off Sesame Street.” Adrian hummed as he looked at the desk calendar that listed off a recording schedule and various meetings. There was even a magazine ad for toys for the show and a copy of a kids' book of the characters

“Wonder if the place is haunted by the vengeful spirit of Elmo for straying on his turf!” He laughs and puts the book back on the table.

He walks into the studio proper and is greeted by a sight that sucks the previous levity out of him. It looked like someone had filmed a snuff film for puppets in here. Pieces of the smiling, child-friendly characters were scattered all over the place. On the stage proper was what he guessed was the main character of the show. Wacky? Wally? Something with a W! The roughly 3-foot-tall puppet was pinned to the giant red house by its hand almost like an Elvis puppet Jesus with his chest cut open. All of it was enough to give Hannibal Lecter some ideas.

“I guess the place was broken into after all.” He sighed and shook his head sadly as he carefully picked his way through the carnage. “Just by some sickos with nothing better to do than rip apart dolls instead of loot the place.” He carefully picks the head up of a blue dog puppet to inspect the damage a little closer. “None of you deserved that.”

He froze when something fuzzy brushed past his leg. Oh god, he hopes this place isn’t infested with rats. He looks to the ground and shrieks and he drops the plush head. A pink puppet arm was grabbing his leg. Not just draped on his leg. Actively gripping it as he flailed it around.

“What the fuck!” He shouts as he finally shakes it loose and flings it across the room.

“...-lp” A voice whispers so quietly he almost doesn’t hear it. In Adrian’s defense, he was much more preoccupied with the various other puppet limbs that seem to have also come to life and begun crawling towards him.

“Help.” He hears more clearly as he climbs the stage to get away from the puppets’ grasp. He turns to the sound only to come face to face with the pinned puppet. It’s looking at him now with black goo dripping from its eyes that look like tears. “Please… Help us.”

Adrian curls up tightly into a ball unable to cope with the horrifying sight. He feels his breathing quicken as he hears the limbs of the other puppets slap into the lip of the stage as they pull themselves up to continue their chase after him. He blacks out as soon as he feels another felt arm crawl its way up his back.

—------------------------------------

Wally watches as the redhead in front of him collapses from a panic attack. This human was stranger than the others who had come in the past. He was the first to show any kind of compassion towards his friends’ sorry state.

“Friends… please.” He coughs trying to speak louder than a whisper. “G-give him some space. We don’t want to scare off a new neighbor do we?”

He glanced at the crowbar that had fallen from the man’s grip. Even when he was clearly terrified of them, he hadn’t used it as a weapon against his friends. Maybe this one would actually listen and help them.

Time would tell in the end. If his guess was wrong, he would get rid of him the way he did the others.

—-----------------------------------

Adrian awoke with a loud gasp for air as he sprang bolt upright. Based on the dim lighting in here it was now closer to sundown than noon. He looked around himself and it seemed the puppet limbs had gone back to their original positions. Did he get heat stroke and imagine all that?

“Oh good. You’re awake.” A gravelly voice says, making him freeze and stare up at the puppet still pinned to the house prop. It was looking at him with a stare that made him feel like he was the one pinned in place. “You're not going to scream again, are you?”

“Please,” Adrian begs as he scrambled backward away from the strung-up puppet. “I-I don’t mean any harm! I’m just a starving artist in need of a place to work! You know artists, right??? I’m really just skin and bones so please don't eat me!”

“Ha ha ha ha!” The laugh was so distorted it felt like nails on a chalkboard. It immediately shut the ginger man up from his mad ravings to just stare wide-eyed at the puppet. “Now why would we eat you? You humans come up with the craziest of ideas. What’s your name, friend?”

“I-it’s Adrian.” He stutters out not wanting to aggravate the demonic puppet. They may not want to eat him but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to hurt him. “I’ll do whatever you want! Just please let me go!”

Wally stared at the man in front of him for a long moment. His crowbar was still in his hands but he still didn’t use it in favor of just begging for his life. Maybe he could get this human to do what he wanted after all. He smiled to himself, the first genuine one he’d had in a long time. “Well, how can I deny a friend such a polite request? It’s a pleasure to meet you, Adrian. My name is Wally. And there actually is something you can do for me.”

Adrian nodded his head rapidly in agreement. He just needed this thing to let him go and then he could be free of this place! Sure he just lost a massive security deposit from leasing this place. But at least he’d still be alive!

Adrian gulped and flinched as a grey arm inched its way to him. “A-and how can I do that?”

“My friends and I have just gone to pieces.” Wally laughs humorlessly at him. “In exchange for your freedom, I want you to put us back together again.”

Adrian nervously looks at all the pieces of puppet scattered around the room. He was still terrified. Who wouldn’t be when face to face with real, living puppets? But, he remembered how sad it made him to see them in this state in the first place. And maybe if he fixed them up, they’d keep to their word of not killing him.

“I don’t really have anything on me to do that right now.” He started carefully as he stood back up on shaky legs. “And this place won’t have any power for a few days even if I brought my sewing machine with me.”

“Then take me with you,” Wally says evenly as he stared the human down. One last scare should have the man crumbling to his whims. “Show me you’re worthy of fixing them and once they’re all fixed we’ll let you go and you’ll never hear from us again. Or I could simply…” He reached into that blackness within his soul that terrified him and summoned it to the forefront. The world around them went dark around the two of them like a shrinking spotlight and the ground began to rumble violently under their feet.

“Ok! Ok! I’ll take you with me!! Just stop! Please!” Adrian shrieked as he inched closer and closer to the puppet to try and stay in the light. He clutched the crowbar in his hand tight to his chest more like a security blanket than a weapon.

The world immediately returned to the original brightness and Wally smiled brightly at him that would actually be kind of cute if he hadn’t been so terrifying 2 seconds earlier. “Perfect!”

Adrian carefully examined the nails holding the puppet in place. They looked like whoever had done this had used a nail gun to pin him. They were almost buried in the felt. “Is it going to hurt you to take these out?” He couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“I’m just a simple puppet made of felt and fluff. How could you possibly hurt me?” He says solemnly and for the first time breaks eye contact with the human to look at the floor. It was easier to bear the pain if he didn’t see it happen.

The man couldn’t help the sad ping that tore through his heart at that response. Even though the puppet could clearly end him in an instant, it still took a shocking amount of trust to allow him this close.

“Well… I would say you’re more than just a simple puppet.” He laughs nervously and looks away when the puppet’s gaze snaps back to him. “S-so it makes sense to ask, y’know?”

“They need to be taken out whether they’ll hurt or not,” Wally said instead of answering the human’s earnest question. “So just make it quick.” The redhead nodded in understanding and, as carefully as he could, slid the crowbar behind the puppet’s hand and pulled.

The hand pulled free easily and fell limply to Wally’s side. The puppet slowly held his hand in front of his face and flexed his fingers. He couldn’t even remember what it was like to be able to freely use his hand like this. It barely registered to him as the other hand quickly followed suit. Without his arms being forcibly held up, he couldn’t help but sink to his knees.

Adrian stood there helplessly as he watched the puppet sitting on the floor just staring at his own hands. He didn’t know what to say or do in a situation that was so clearly emotionally monumental for the tiny being. After a minute passed he couldn't help but utter “Uhhh…. you okay?” Nailed it.

Wally’s head snapped to the human after being reminded of his presence. Right. He needed to be a scary “demonic” monster to get the human to do what he needed him to. “You’d have a hard time standing too if you were nailed to a wall for.. glory knows how long.”

Adrian flinches at the sudden stare, but he has to continue if he wants to be out of there before dark. Judging by the fading light, it was sundown now and they’d be lucky to have another half an hour of daylight. “So how do you want me to do this? I don’t know if we have the time to gather all your… friends.”

It would probably take at least an hour to collect all the little parts and pieces of the shredded puppets and probably multiple trips in his tiny sedan to transport it all. And secretly, he didn’t want those puppet parts crawling all over him in his car.

Wally looks desperately around at his friends’ scattered parts. He didn’t want to leave them here. They had suffered so much for so long. How could he possibly leave them? But if he let the human go without him, he would never return. Nobody ever returned. He closed his eyes tightly and sighed. “Take me tonight, and we can return for the rest of them tomorrow.” He said finally turning back to the man.

“...Did-Did you need me to carry you?” He asked nervously not wanting to upset the puppet. When all the puppet did was stare, he backtracked. “I mean- Not that I’m not saying you’re weak or anything! You just- You said that you had a hard time standing! So I c-could help you!”

Wally laughed at the nervous man in front of him. He couldn’t help but find it funny how skittish the human was. “Yes. You can carry me.”

He hesitated for a second on grabbing the little yellow puppet. But he carefully scooped him up and gripped him similar to how you hold a sleepy toddler with the puppet's head propped up on his shoulder. “Alright, let’s head out.”

As the two walked towards the entrance of the building, Wally waved at his friends. “We’ll be back tomorrow, friends. Please… wait for me until then.”

—--------------------------

The car ride back was awkward as hell. Wally spent most of the drive staring out the window. Adrian couldn’t help but wonder if this was his first time seeing the outside world. All signs pointed to that being the case. He had no idea what to say in these situations.

Eventually, he made it back to his apartment complex and carried him up the stairs the same way he had back at the studio. He fumbled one-handedly with the keys and opened the door to his shitty one-bedroom flat.

“Welcome the Chez Adrien’s!” He couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly as he flipped on the light switch.

The place was just as messy as he’d left it with pieces of yarn, fabric, and thread all over the place. He placed Wally down on the ratty couch he’d gotten from a nearby thrift store and turned to walk into the kitchen.

“Before I do anything else, I need to eat! I haven’t had anything since breakfast this morning and man am I starving!” He was rambling and he knew it. It was just too awkward not to fill the silence! “Did you want anything?” He asked as he dug out some Chinese takeout from the fridge and popped it in the microwave.

“I’m a puppet.” Wally’s laughed incredulously. This human just kept throwing his expectations in terms of how he’d react to his presence. Sure the man was scared, but even then he showed a surprising amount of care and consideration despite that.

“Oh. Right. Yeah, that makes sense.” Adrian laughs nervously from his spot in the kitchen.

Wally takes the time to look around the cramped apartment. There’s a ton of fabric lying around all over the place. There's a table in the corner that he can see houses a sewing machine. So he wasn’t lying about saying he needed power for the machine.

Glancing back to the kitchen and seeing the human’s back was turned towards the microwave. Carefully, so as not to gain the redhead’s attention, he slid from the couch and walked over to the table to see what was on it. His eyes widened seeing the hollowed-out husk of a large stuffed brown dog.

“Huh? Where’d you go?” Adrian’s voice called making the puppet jump. He placed his plate on the coffee table and walked over to him. “It didn’t take you to start exploring, huh?”

“What is this?” Wally’s voice was eerily calm as he pointed at the seemingly mutilated stuffed toy.

The redhead followed his hand and blinked in confusion before a realization dawned on him. “Wha- Oh! Oooooh! It’s not what it looks like I swear!” He waves his hands in front of him as if to dispel the bad energy pouring off the puppet. “Th-this is actually my business I bought the studio for!” The energy starts to darken around the room as the lights flicker. “Let me explain! Let me explain!!”

“It better be good, Human.” The puppet says darkly.

“I’m fixing him!” He says panicked as he picks up the deflated brown dog toy. “This is Darby! His owner has had him for decades and her partner paid me to fix him up for her birthday!” The dark energy releases a little as the lights finally stop flickering. “So while yes, I did have to take him apart to be able to patch his missing sections of fur and completely resew him a new nose and replace one of his eyes-” He glanced over at where the puppet was staring at him he coughed. “All that is to say, I had to take him apart a little to make him better again. I was going to restuff him and sew him back together tonight if I hadn’t gotten…” He trailed off before he could finish that sentence. Best not to antagonize the pissed-off puppet any further.

Wally couldn’t help but blink in shock at the man. “You are by far the strangest man I have ever met.” He couldn’t help but laugh incredulously.

He blushes and clutches the doll to his chest. “It’s a legitimate business! I started with just fixing up dolls and toys I got for cheap in thrift stores and reselling them. After a while, a friend suggested I record myself doing it and suddenly it skyrocketed and I was flooded with requests for different restorations.” He looks down at the doll in his hands with a sappy smile. “It’s actually really nice to give these toys a new lease on life to bring joy to more people.”

If puppets could blush, Wally would have been bright red. This man was just adorable in the earnest joy of his craft. He almost felt bad for scaring the man into this. Maybe he could have just asked him to help them earnestly instead of using intimidation and it would still have ended with the same results. He shook his head to clear that thought. Humans couldn’t be trusted to always put their best foot forward. He and his friends are proof of that.

“Then it should be no issue to fix me and my friends quickly then.” He says instead of responding to the man’s adorable ramblings.

“It really shouldn’t!” He placates rapidly and places the toy back on the table. “Speaking of… Let me finish eating and then I can start sewing you back up.” He points back to the couch where his leftovers were rapidly cooling on the coffee table. Wally nods and the two sit back on the couch, though the puppet himself needed a hand to help him up.

The room was completely silent save for the sound of Adrian eating his two-day-old lo mein. This is more awkward than the car ride! He mourned silently as he took another bite. The puppet was just sitting there watching him eat! Usually, he’d put on the TV while he ate. But his mother taught him that it was rude to do that with guests.

“S o! ” He coughs when his voice cracks and blushes in embarrassment. “T-tell me about your friends.”

Wally just tilts his head and stares at him for a long moment. It was just fun watching this human squirm. “What do you want to know about?” He finally asks instead.

“Anything, honestly.” He scratches the back of his head nervously. “The only thing I really know is that you and your friends were part of some kind of TV show… I think.”

It stung worse than he thought that all of his and his friends’ hard work was so easily forgotten by the public. “... Well there’s Barnaby. He’s the head you picked up. He was also my best friend. He loved to tell jokes and gave the best hugs. And then there’s Julie. She was as bright as a rainbow and would do anything to put a smile on your face. It’s why she was never far behind Frank who was always a sourpuss. About the only thing that could put him in a good mood is his butterflies or getting a visit from Eddie. Eddie was our mailman but he was also our good friend. He’d always teach us a new craft or skill he learned on his journeys. You could always rely on him to be a good shoulder to lean on. He was just like Poppy in that sense. She was a lot like how I imagined a mom would be. Always there to help if you had a problem or were just in need of a treat! Though she was also a huge scaredy cat. One time Sally put on a performance of Chicken Little that had her cowering in the dressing room all day because she thought the sky was going to fall on her. Sally was always looking for new stories to perform for us. And of course, there’s Howdy! He always had what you would need both in the show and out! He was also just as funny as Barnaby when it came to telling jokes. We were all such good friends through it all.”

Adrian nervously gulped down the last bite of his food. Sure he was doing all this to fix his friends. But he talked as if they were dead. And what caused them to end up in the state that he’d found them in in the first place? But something told me nothing good would come of asking that. Instead, he said, "They sound like a lot of fun... You really care about them, don't you?"

“We’ve been through everything together. I’d do anything to make sure they’re safe.” The puppet said solemnly and turned his gaze towards the sewing machine table.

The redhead followed his gaze to the table then back at the sad puppet again. Well, he wasn’t gonna be rid of this nightmare unless he fulfilled his end of the bargain. He stood, empty plate forgotten, and rolled his shoulders. “Ready?” He asked with his hand outstretched for the puppet.

Wally looked back and forth between the man’s face and his offered hand. Now that the time had come to be fixed, he was nervous. If this human wanted to, he could destroy him the way the others had destroyed his friends. Even if he used his parlor trick on the man, he would still be stuck in this place without any way of getting back to his friends. Could he really go through with trusting him?

“Listen,” Adrian started and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve been through. But I’m sure it makes it hard to trust others. For what it’s worth: I can at least promise you that I’ll do my best not to intentionally hurt you.”

Wally stared at the man for another long moment looking for any reason to distrust the man. But he didn’t see a hint of malice in him. So hesitantly, he reached out and grabbed the offered hand with a smile. “I’ll hold you to that, neighbor.”

—---------------------------------------

6 Months Later:

“Hiya everyone! I know it’s been a while since I last updated but that’s because I have some exciting news I’m finally ready to share!” Adrian says cheerfully to the camera and waves for the camera person to follow him inside a brightly painted building.

“As many of you know I was approved for a business loan and would move forward with making Stitched Together a real place you could visit.” He excitedly bounces as he opens the doors wide open. “It hasn’t been easy, but I was able to find help in some new friends that really helped speed up the process!”

The portion of the studio that was once the dilapidated front desk had been converted into a cheery shop that any kid would dream of. The shelves were lined with toys and art kits. “This is our store where you can come and shop my stock of custom-made toys in person! We’ll also sell crafting supplies and craft kits. There’s also a rotating stock of limited edition plushes that you can only find here!” He says with a bright grin and takes a plush Barnaby doll off the shelf to wave at the camera.

He walks further in and turns to a counter off the side with a sign hanging overhead reading Hospital . “As the sign says, this is where you can come to drop off your plush friend for repairs!”

He rings the bell and Poppy walks out with a nervous smile on her beak. “We-Welcome to the Doll Hospital!” She nervously stammers out.

“This is Poppy!” Adrian smiles and dramatically waves his arm to present her. “She will be here to help you fill out the intake form and ensure your friend gets the best of care!” He fake-whispers to the camera, “She’s a little shy so please be nice!”

Poppy’s feathers ruffle in embarrassment. “You didn’t have to tell everyone that!”

“Sorry!” The redhead giggles and waves to Poppy as he walks to the adjacent counter where Howdy was wiping down the counter. “When you’re ready to check out, Howdy is your guy!”

Howdy waves and smiles. “I’m always here to help! And don’t be afraid to ask me any questions.”

Adrian’s face goes serious as he nods along. “He honestly knows more about what’s in stock than I do. Howdy! How many pottery kits do we have in stock?”

“We have 10 out on the floor and 20 in the storage in the back.” The large caterpillar states without batting an eye.

“See? Man’s a genius.” Adrian says proudly while the puppet rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment from the praise. He then turns and walks to the area off from the counter where they had set up several tables. Eddie, Frank, and Jullie were sat at one of those tables working on making friendship bracelets.

“This is our crafts area where you can work if you just can’t wait to get home to try out our craft kits.” Adrian introduces and goes to sit at the table with the puppets. “We’ll also have craft classes for people of all ages hosted by our teachers: Eddie, Frank, and Julie!” He points to each of them by name and they wave to the camera.

“I’m just soooo excited to meet you!” Julie smiles at the camera and waves excitedly. In doing so she sends the bracelet Frank had been tying to her wrist flying. “Ooops! Sorry, Frank!”

Frank huffs grumpily and walks to sweep up the beads. “Guess I’ll have to make the next one Julie-proof.”

“I think I could help you with that!” Eddie chimes in and starts to cut some long pieces of embroidery floss.

“You guys are meanies.” Julie pouts in a way that is still utterly adorable.

“We’ll leave them to it!” Adrian laughs and stands to walk through the double doors leading to the back.

The studio had another wall put in separating the studio from the very back of the warehouse. All that remained was the stage where they had set up some chairs for performances. Sally and Barnaby were on the stage chatting, likely about what to perform next.

“This place used to be a studio and we decided it would be a shame to throw out the stage. So instead we will host shows and dramatic story time for kids! Entry to shows will be free with any purchase in the store!”

“Our opening day performance will be a retelling of the age-old classic: Stone Soup!” Sally says brightly with a show of jazz hands.

“It’s going to rock .” Barnaby laughs as Sally groans in dismay at the pun. “Hey! Don’t take my rock puns for granite ! A good performer should keep their coal . Of quartz, you should already know that.”

“Stopstopstopstop.” Sally giggles helplessly behind her hands.

Adrian and the camera guy are laughing outright from all the puns. “As you can see, it’s going to be a rocking good time.” He laughs as Sally groans even louder.

The video cuts to everyone on the stage waving at the camera. Adrian glanced down to Wally where their hands were clasped. He was looking the happiest he'd ever seen him. It had been a long journey with a fair share of arguments and compromises, but they'd finally done it. He glances back at the camera to begin his closing remarks. “Our grand opening is this weekend and we hope you enjoyed the tour. If you live in downtown LA and hope to join us, you will find our store hours posted on our website! We hope to see you soon and thanks for watching!"

#welcome home #wally darling #this idea would not leave me alone #so I wrote a 5k+ fic about it #please read it!

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