Stressed Out

A Wander Over Yonder fanfiction

Rating: K+

Pairing: none/platonic

There was a problem.

Sylvia had rarely experienced it, but it was happening again right before her. She managed to avoid it for so long, but the wanderer fell victim to it every once in a while.

The problem was that it was quiet. Too quiet.

The confines of the orbble juice bubble seemed more tighter and restricting that day. Space was already quiet enough to begin with, but Wander's silence made it excruciatingly quiet. When this sort of thing happened, it either meant he was thinking hard about something or that he just had a stomachache or something.

Sylvia wondered what it could have been. For a moment, she tried to recall what they've done recently, but instead she felt it would be faster just to ask him directly.

"Hey, did you get any of that?" she asked.

For a moment, he didn't move, but the words she had spoken minutes before soon registered with him and he turned his head. "Oh...what?"

Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "I said we're going somewhere fun today. You know, to balance out all the places we go dealing with Hater."

She paused to gauge his reaction. Usually, he would be animated and instantly excited. Heck, he was even excited when going somewhere Hater was bullying. Instead, he simply turned his head back and rested it on his hand.

"Sounds like a plan." he said, flatly.

Sylvia leaned over and nudged him in the ribs. "I'll ruin the surprise and say it's a bouncy house planet full of balloon people."

Once again, she gauged him, and, once again, she thought he would have shot through the roof out of joy.

He didn't.

He just managed a small smile and a faint sound from his voice in affirmation.

Now, she was gaping. "Hey, are you o-?" she started, but looked up as something came into view, "Oh, there it is now!"

The planet came into view with vibrant colors and a glossy seal. The color was so intense that streams of the colors seemed to encircle the planet from the light being hit on it. It was glowing. Nothing was uninviting about it. Especially since it was a bouncy house covered planet.

Everything was made of the elastic, blown-up material. No one could possibly be sad for long in that place. And that's exactly what the inhabitants were like. They were very excited and looked forward to life every day.

Sylvia got next to Wander and couldn't help but look over to see if his expression had changed at all.

It hadn't.

The concern she had for him started to rise.

"Hey, try to let all your troubles go there and expel it by jumping until you explode from fun." She hoped what she was saying could reach him, but with that melancholy look he was giving, she wasn't so sure.

"I'll certainly try." he managed to say.

"Come on, buddy, I'll be right there with ya." Sylvia said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

This time, his head rose some and he smiled at her. Sylvia felt her heart sink as the bubble popped and Wander started off on his own.

That was the saddest smile she had ever seen in her entire life.

Walking along the "roads" herself and greeting the inhabitants there happily, Sylvia realized she had lost sight of Wander along the way. He had gone off too far ahead without her. She had been distracted, which was quite reasonable given the landscape. While she still remained very concerned for her friend, the people of the planet had a happiness that was infectious. It made her feel conflicted.

Dashing farther ahead, she looked for her friend's signature green hat in the crowds.

"Wander? Where'd you go, buddy?"

Luckily, she was tall and towered over the inhabitants. Despite this, she did not manage to spot him.

One of the inhabitants reached out to her after noticing her urgency. "You seem really tense. Have you had a go at any of the castle's yet? They'll make you feel better in no time!"

Sylvia looked down and greeted them with a nod. "Oh, I want to, trust me, but I'm actually looking for my friend so we can do that together."

The inhabitant grew a concerned look. "Oh, do you need help?"

She shook her head. "Nah, he's real easy to spot. Although, if a furry guy with a hat walks by here, can you let him know I'm looking for him?"

"Of course. Well, I hope you find him!"

After she shook the new acquaintance's hand, Sylvia was off again. She wondered why he had gone off alone. Of course, this was normal for him in many cases, but this time was different because of his behavior earlier. He seemed so sad. Sylvia didn't want to leave him alone for a second. She figured he went off by himself, but that didn't necessarily mean he wanted to be alone. She thought it was due to the fact that he didn't think things through sometimes and this melancholy demeanor was probably impairing his thought-process even more.

"Wander!" she called out some more, hoping that eventually he would be within earshot.

Why was this so hard? She was taller than every other creature on this planet, yet he continued to allude her.

"Where-" she froze, "...Ooh, that one looks cool..." As she stopped in her tracks, she took notice of a giant bouncy house that had her own color scheme on it and was one of the bigger houses. This intrigued her. It looked so welcoming and fun.

"Really cool...Did they know I was coming? Wait, no, I have to find Wander. I can always come back. It's not like this place is going anywhere."

She paused a moment in her thoughts. "Unless there's such a thing as a planet made of needles."

The house gave off the sounds of the people inside, bouncing around and yelling. This caught her attention.

"Oh wow, this one's the best! I think it's the bounciest house on the entire planet!"
"I don't want to leave, ever!"
"It's so fun!"

Sylvia started to sweat. None of this was helping her resolve. "I have to...find Wander."

"Whoa!"
"Amazing, I'm having so much fun!"

"Come on, Syl, you have to find Wander."

Then, a whole burst of laughter filled the entire castle that could probably be heard dimensions away. She gave in.

"OKAY, OKAY! But only for a literal second!" she yelled to herself as she hurriedly ran over to the house.

The doors she reached out to seemed especially glossy, making it even more appealing. "A literal second and then I'm off." she reminded herself. "Stupid...addictive...play things..."

She entered inside. The floor was even more slippery and slidey than outside. It was also a nice and cool temperature. Looking around, she noticed a bunch of rooms and no doors. This was probably to maximize where one could bounce without crashing into a wall. Then again, that seemed fun too.

There was a long hallway she continued to go down until she reached a wide open area that was the center of the house. It looked like a gigantic rubberized mansion.

"Honestly? I would live here."

Sylvia strode further into the big room. It was the embodiment of temptation and invitation.

There was only one problem: there was no one there. Where had all the people gone that she heard just a second ago?

"...Hello?" she called out, softly at first. By no means was it scary (it was a bouncy house, after all), but it was definitely unsettling. Did they all just up and leave? There were a lot of other houses, so maybe they moved on already.

"Wander...?" she tried. Remembering him caused her to feel a pang of guilt. He was still alone this whole time.

"I-I need to get back to him. Besides, I've been here way over a second."

She turned to leave but the room's atmosphere suddenly changed. A door suddenly covered her only exit. While this would be intimidating in other circumstances, Sylvia just rolled her eyes.

"It's a house made of balloon. This could probably be the most useless attempt at restraining someone I've ever witnessed." she scoffed.

That is, until she couldn't get past it.

"What the-?" She pushed on it at first, but it didn't move. It did not feel like elastic. It felt hardened, tough, and reinforced. Then, she tried lifting the gate from the bottom to push it up. That didn't work even when she tried pulling from all sides.

"What-? IT'S A BALLOON HOUSE AND I'M STUCK?" She mentally slapped herself.

"Well, duh! A balloon door wouldn't be very useful now, would it?" Sylvia heard a voice say, entering the room from the opposite end.

"Aaaand cue the bad guy."

Commander Peepers came forward. "Weren't expecting us, right?"

Another eye roll. "Well, yeah, that was kind of the point."

Peepers glared. "And yet, here you are! Caught off guard." He adjusted his helmet. "I'll have you know, Lord Hater wants this planet all to himself. It's one of the most stress relieving places in the entire universe."

"Yeah, I figured that was why." Sylvia mumbled to herself. She then looked at him and raised her fists, ready to fight him. "Can I just hurry up and beat you to a pulp so I can leave? I'm kinda busy."

Peepers ignored her threat. "I notice your orange friend isn't with you. Alone, are we?"

Crap.

"He's...busy too." She couldn't think of a lie fast enough. "Probably in the bathroom or something."

Peepers raised his arm. "Then, don't worry, this will be quick." The gesture signaled the other Watchdogs to appear. There was a ton of them.

Though Sylvia was used to fighting them off, she might not have been as prepared as she wanted for this amount. There seemed more than usual. Maybe it was just the effects of the closed space she was in. Either way, it was ever so slightly overwhelming.

Regardless, she never lost her confidence. "Real quick." She couldn't back down from a chance to beat them up.

"Get her!"

The fight hadn't gone over as well as Sylvia had thought. Her punches were hard, but they sent the Watchdogs straight into the opposite end of the bouncy walls, causing them to ricochet back at her. She got more punches than she was giving with how many that were ricocheting back at her.

Eventually she fell back behind a fixture protruding up from the floor, imitating the look of a desk. She was covered in aches and pains.

She breathed heavily. "Crap, they actually did think this through. They aren't using guns since that'd pop the house, but they sure are abusing the use of their fists." She bit her lip. "Ow..."

Leaning back against the desk, she sighed. Suddenly, it felt like she deserved this after abandoning looking for Wander. How could she do that? They were closer than that and she knew better than that.

"I guess I'm not myself today either, buddy." she said to herself. Maybe she went to this planet more for her own self than for Wander's sake. She felt under pressure lately and wanted a getaway for once. However, her real feelings should have been discussed with Wander instead of it coming out like this. It just made her seem all the more selfish now.

She looked towards a rubber window near her after seeing something move by it from outside. It came back seconds later and it had the outline of the one she had been looking for all this time.

"Oh great, I'm hallucinating out of pain already."

"Well, gob, how do I get in here...?" she heard the muffled words come from the figure.

"Wander?" she tried, in an attempt to see if it was real.

"Sylvia, that you?!" he replied instantly. "How'd you get in there?"

Quickly, she raced to the window and rested her hands on it, seeing him a little better. "Wander! Wander, oh thank gob. I thought I was hallucinating."

She couldn't see him too clearly because of the color of the balloon material, but she could definitely make out his outlines.

"How'd you get in there?" he repeated, "I've been checking around this thing for 10 minutes and there's no way in! The front door was made of weird material that wouldn't let me get through."

His voice was pretty muffled from the thickness of the material on the window.

"What? Hey, try to get in, I'm being bombarded in here!"

Remembering that fact caused her to turn around and see the minions heading towards her in one giant group. That was slightly off-putting to know.

"We have to pop this building."

"What? But people live here, don't they? We can't just destroy their homes."

"Wander, they can inflate a new one."

"Still..."

The sound of the Watchdogs footsteps on the rubber came closer.

"Look, I'm sorry I left you alone. That was stupid and selfish of me. I should have shown you I cared more. I should have talked it out with you."

Wander suddenly got silent and still.

"I was just thinking of myself when I suggested we come here. I-I was just stressed from how much we've been doing lately, and I just-"

"Syl, it's okay."

"It was really stupid of me! I feel so bad."

"It's okay."

"Huh?"

He sounded emotional for the first time all day. Was he crying? He put his hands up on the window to match where Sylvia's currently were.

"I'll get you out, just wait."

"Wander, wait a sec-!" she called out, but had moved away too quickly around the corner.

Sylvia turned around again and was actually threatened with how close she let the lackeys get. She figured Wander needed some time, so she prepared herself to stall.

"Alright, butt-munchers, out of the way!" she threatened, balling her fists. Knowing that her best friend was there gave her more energy – the energy she needed right now.

She charged at the group of Watchdogs and held her fist out with all her strength, barreling right through them. Of course, they went flying, but the numbers started to add up and it started to work against them. She would hit one, that one would go flying and hit another one, and this continued on as she kept adding to the numbers. Soon enough, all of them were bouncing around, back and forth. It caused them to smack into each other, making many of them get knocked out. Some, more than once.

Peepers backed away. "How are you defeating us when there's nothing here?!"

"I'M RESOURCEFUL." she yelled.

Before she landed a direct hit on the commander, the front door burst open with full force. It was so loud and sudden that Sylvia and Peepers fell forward right onto their faces.

As they both looked over to the freshly popped entrance, they saw Wander standing there in slight amazement.

"How's that for an exit?" he exclaimed.

Sylvia noticed in his hand was simply one of his own hairs he must have plucked. She couldn't believe it as she rushed over to him and saw it better.

"Did you really just pop this entire door open with a hair?"

He seemed proud of himself for thinking of it. "I'm resourceful too, I guess!"

She pulled his hat down over his face in a teasing manner and chuckled. "Whatever, just quit wandering off without me."

He adjusted his hat with a smile. "Okay~"

"You're just going to do it again, aren't you."

"Most likely, yes."

She sighed and turned to face Peepers. "Get out of here, got it? If you don't in 30 seconds, I'll pop this place and you'll all be suffocated." She stopped for a minute to process her own words.

"Wow, I just realized how much of a safety hazard this planet is."

They both looked once more at Peepers to make sure he got the message and then the left the building. Soon enough, their ship came and they retreated for now. Peepers seemed overwhelmingly perturbed and was most likely going to get punished, which meant it was a job well done to Sylvia.

She turned to her friend. "It's already evening. Are you about done with this place too?"

"Err, yeah..." he said, softly. However, he sat down and hugged his knees to his chest, meaning he wasn't actually done. "Um, Syl?"

She remained standing and looked down at him. "Yeah?"

"Do you think...do you think we'll always be together like this?"

That was...unusual. Even for Wander.

She cocked her head to the side in confusion of what he was asking. "Do you mean spatially or...?"

"I mean, will we always have adventures together, have fun together, and do stuff together...be friends forever?" he clarified.

That still didn't really help her confusion. Which led her to believe that she was more confused about where that was coming from.

"What's all this about? Is that what you've been thinking about all day?"

"Well, yeah, I mean!" Wander paused to find the right words. He had yet to look her in the eyes. "You were with Ryder for a long time, right? But that's changed now and you hardly see him, yet you were close friends." He sighed and buried his head in his arms. "I guess I'm just worried that'll happen again, except this time with you and me."

"You're worried I'll move on?"

He nodded. "I mean, I've been alone before. It's nothing new to me. So it's not scary, but I just..." He struggled to find the words. "I'd just miss you too much."

Sylvia decided to sit down next to him at that point. That was...a lot for him to be thinking about. No wonder he wasn't feeling that great. She felt sympathetic towards him as she put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing softly to try and console him.

"I feel like we're special."

He raised his head and looked over at her now. Sylvia noticed the partial tears that had formed in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Sure, I miss hanging out with Ryder sometimes. We were buddies, after all. But I feel like my change to you was for the best. You're...better for me, anyway."

His eyes widened, but he remained quiet to let her go on.

"I wouldn't worry about us drifting apart or never being friends. In fact, even if we did end up in different places at some point, I feel like we'd still be as close as we are now." She nudged him. "Maybe even closer."

He had a smile now and wiped his eyes, much to her relief. "Y'mean, like super best friends?"

"Of course!" she said, rising from her spot next to him. "So don't worry about that kind of stuff, okay? It's not like you."

She held her hand out to help him up, which he gladly accepted.

"You're right, you're right." he said, a relief coming over him as well.

"Ahh, those words are music to my ears. Want to say it again?" she joked.

"What, "you're right"?"

"Music, I tell you." she chimed, closing her eyes briefly to take it in jokingly. As she opened them, she saw the same old Wander again. His eyes were softer and no longer sad. The sparkle had returned to them.

"Wanna get out of here? I'm kind of hungry. Kicking Watchdogs around makes me hungry."

Wander nodded quickly, pulling out the orbble juice and making their getaway ride. "Ooh, same here! I guess popping things makes me hungry."

"Wander, a lot of things make you hungry."

"Oh, you're right..."

She laughed this time. "I could hear that phrase for ages and never get tired of it."