A Very Smurfy Smurf

Weepy was distraught, as always. After all, there was so much in the world that he couldn't fix. There were animals being mistreated, children without parents, and poverty running amuck throughout the world. And he, a little Smurf, couldn't do a thing. It was too much for him to bare; he would collapse into a pile of tears.

Today, Weepy had spilled a cup of sugar Baker Smurf had asked him to borrow from Greedy Smurf for him. Weepy felt terrible. He could either bother Greedy Smurf again, or tell Baker Smurf he had failed. His resolve conflicted, his frustration exploded as an onrush of tears. Unable to concentrate on anything but his guilt, Weepy sat on Hefty's front step.

The brawny Smurf, complete with his heart tattoo, was accomplishing his second set of sit-ups for the day. The sound of Weepy's distress sank through the walls as easily as a rock in quicksand.

Hefty hated it when Weepy would cry, despite the fact that he did it all the time. He got up, and opened the door. A very distraught Weepy turned to look up at him. "Weepy, would you quit it? You're ruining my sets!" Handy yelled at him. This only caused Weepy to collapse into fiercer tears, since he felt guilty for causing trouble for Handy.

"Leave him alone, Hefty!" Smurfette said, looping a sympathetic arm around Weepy. Smurfette was always turned up when a Smurf was upset. "If you yell at him, he'll just become more upset!"

This never deterred Hefty. Out of all the Smurfs, even Grumpy Smurf, he alone was the most annoyed by Weepy's, well… weeping.

But he always let Weepy hang around longer than any of the other Smurf's, except for his friends Handy and Smurfette. There were often jokes about him and Handy being a couple, but the two friends knew that they were just friends, and that was that.

That wasn't that with Weepy… something that Handy was quite to point out to Hefty.

The two were working in Hefty's house, simply enjoying each other's company. Hefty was doing sit-ups, while Handy was working on a birdhouse for Smurfette. Suddenly, a cry rang out in the silence. It was Weepy, crying for some unforeseen reason.

Hefty stopped his crunches, and sighed. "That Smurfy Smurf… I'll go make him shut up." But as he rose, Handy stopped him.

"You know you always make it worse. Just let him cry it out and leave him be."

"I do NOT make it worse! I'm the only one who cares about Weepy!" Hefty stood, furious, his hands balled into little blue fists.

Handy stopped working on the birdhouse, and swiveled on his stool to face Hefty. He had a half smile, half smirk on his face.

"Oh really? Then what are Papa Smurf and Smurfette doing out there with Weepy right now? And if I'm not mistaken, I do believe I hear Nat." It was true. All three of these voices rang out loud from the same direction that Weepy's wails had come from. Slowly but surely, the same wails had begun to ebb. Hefty scowled, but sat back down.

"Coincidence." He muttered, as he began the sets again. His blue cheeks had tinges of pink in them that were not from the sit-ups.

"Coincidence? I Smurf not." Handy said, as he returned to working on the very Smurfy birdhouse. This comment was met with no response from Hefty.

Later that night, Hefty lay awake in bed, struck with yet another case of insomnia. Both Weepy and Smurfette had told him a number of times to tell Papa Smurf, but Hefty refused. He said that he had to act like a real Smurf and just Smurf through it. Hours passed by as he stared unfocused at his ceiling, watching the moonlight slowly change the shadows.

It seemed strange that a Smurf as active as he could be hit with insomnia, he thought. Perhaps I have too many thoughts running through my head, he thought. Perhaps I need someone in my bed.

"Whoa!" Hefty sat up suddenly. No, no, he thought. "That's not what I need," he said, "I need a walk." Hefty rolled out of bed, and was out the door.

It was a cool, but not cold night. The air hit him and revitalized him, straightening out his thoughts, and making him feel calmer in general.

"See, this is just what I needed. A little jaunt around the forest, and I'll be sleeping like Baby Smurf." Hefty commented.

Hefty wasn't ten steps out of the village when Puppy bounded over to him, and began whining.

"What's the matter, Puppy? It's the middle of the night, shouldn't you be sleeping?" He held his hand out for Puppy to lick, but the large dog ignored it. Puppy kept whining, trotting in the direction towards Gargamel's place, and running back to Hefty.

Hefty nodded. "I get it, Puppy. What's going on at Gargamel's? Why didn't you go get Papa Smurf?…" Hefty had begun walking noncommittally towards Gargamel's, wondering if he should go get Papa Smurf himself, when his heart suddenly froze.

On the ground lay Weepy's handkerchief.

"Oh my Smurf…" Hefty murmured as he picked up the handkerchief, and forgot all about going to get Papa Smurf. He felt a strange feeling burned in his gut, as his hands ran over that cloth, still damp from Weepy's nearly constant tears.

"…I'll kill him," Hefty's face glowed with rage, and he set off at a run for Gargamel's.

It seemed to take hours, but Hefty finally made it to Gargamel's. The place stank as bad as a privy. The feeling is Hefty's gut deepened as he looked at the soft suggestion of a fire in the window.

The little Smurf climbed the outside wall, and pulled himself onto the window ledge to look inside.

"…I'll finally have the Philosophers Stone, thanks to you, little Smurf. I must admit I've never met a Smurf as stupid as you, but it worked to my benefit, didn't it? I couldn't have done this with Papa Smurf…" Gargamel said, as he poured numerous different colored potions into a cauldron. His cat Azreal sat on the table guarding… Weepy, trapped by an upside down glass bowl!

Weepy was huddled in a ball, bawling for all he was worth.

"And then, I'll be back in the King's favor… my god! Do you ever shut up!" Gargamel turned around from the cauldron to address Weepy. Even Azreal looked surprised.

Weepy had stopped his hysterical crying, though he still hiccupped through his speech. "I can't, first I know I'm such a bother at Smurf village, and I don't help anyone. So I tried to come to that berry patch near here, to get the Sleep Berry for Hefty so he can sleep. Then Azreal showed up, but when she tried to catch me a thorn stuck in her foot. So when I tried to help her get it out, you captured me, and I know I'm not as good as Papa Smurf! What if I don't help you get back in favor with the King? I don't do anything right!" Weepy relapsed into hysterical tears.

"…You feel… sorry for me?" Gargamel said, shocked. No one ever had before. Azreal meowed, trying to let Gargamel know that the thorn was still in her paw.

Hefty was breathless. Weepy was in there because… because of him? Without thinking, Hefty punched a hole in the glass window. It cut up his arm and hand pretty badly, but he didn't care.

"What was that?" Gargamel snapped, whirling around to see Hefty climbing through his now broken window.

"That was a lot of money, you dirty little Smurf!" He snarled. "But you can pay for it with your body… now my potion will be twice as strong! Catch him, Azreal!"

Azreal jumped off the table, aiming for the sill. Hefty jumped a moment after Azreal, landing on her back midair. He then jumped again, slamming his body into the glass bowl. The bowl, with Weepy in it, slid to the edge of table, and fell.

"Weepy!" cried Hefty as he heard the glass smash. Without a second thought, Hefty jumped from the table down to the floor.

Weepy lay among the glass shards, bloody and unconscious. Or at least that's what Hefty hoped. He ran to the limp Smurf, and cradled his body in his arms.

"You damn Smurf!" Gargamel shrieked. "Not only did you lose the other Smurf, but you broke my best glass bowl! YOU WILL PAY! AZREAL! GET THEM!"

Azreal tore around the corner, and growled at Hefty. Hefty tightened his grip on Weepy, and ran straight for Azreal.

This was not what Azreal expected. As she tried to turn quickly to grab the pair of Smurf's, the thorn dug itself deeper into her paw. She cried out in pain.

"Azreal, you worthless feline! They're getting away!" Gargamel yelled as he tried to clumsily catch the Smurf's with his hands. But Hefty wasn't the most athletic Smurf in the village for nothing. He evaded Gargamel, and jumped on a stool, to the chair, and finally, back on the table. Escape scene.

Finally out of reach of Gargamel's tainted hands, Hefty carried the still unconscious Weepy back to the Smurf Village. He was finally sure that the Smurf was only unconscious, and not dead, not that Hefty could finally slow to a walk. He took this opportunity to study Weepy's face. Just like everyone else, yet… there was a sensitivity that wasn't there in any of the other Smurf's faces.

Hefty suddenly realized how deep some of the cuts were on Weepy's face and body. How close he had come to dying. He almost died, thought Hefty, and it was for you. Hefty was shocked to find that he was crying, little drops falling onto Weepy's face. His arms were staring to tire, but he didn't want to shift Weepy to his back. He wished Weepy would wake up so he could stop feeling so restless.

Almost on cue, Weepy's eyes slid open. "…Hefty? I thought I… and you… you're crying… I'm sorry…" Weepy started to cry as well.

"Don't cry, Weepy. You're not dead." Hefty said gruffly. Weepy continued to cry, although he did turn his head to muffle the noise.

Hefty leaned down and caught the other Smurf's face in his, giving his a soft kiss. "…I said, don't cry." Hefty said softy.

A slow smile spread across Weepy's face. "I, I thought I was alone… I didn't know…" Weepy began to cry again.

They had reached the surf village. "Shh," murmured Hefty to Weepy, "It's not yet sunrise. Don't Smurf up the other Smurfs."

"Oh… oh yeah, I would feel so bad…" His breath caught as he tried not to sob. Hefty could feel the Smurf's body shaking.

Hefty opened the door to his house, and set Weepy down on his bed. "Now, you can go to sleep there." Hefty said. "I can sleep on the floor." Hefty opened his closet to get his extra blanket. When he turned, Weepy was already under the covers, though his eyes were still wide open.

"Hefty? I'm scared." Weepy whimpered.

Hefty smiled as he tried to get comfortable on the floor. "Gargamel won't get you tonight, Weepy. Just go to sleep."

"Couldn't you… couldn't you…"

"What?"

"Couldn't you sleep up here too?" Weepy blurted. "Pl, please?" His voice began to crack again.

"It's ok, Weepy!" said Hefty. He rose, and slid into the bed next to Weepy. He felt sort of awkward, not knowing what he was supposed to do.

Weepy snuggled next to him, and put his arm over Hefty. Hefty felt Weepy sigh, finally relaxing a bit.

"Goodnight, Hefty… thanks…" Weeping murmured drowsily. Just as Hefty was about to ask how he could fall asleep so fast, Hefty felt his own body beginning to relax. He snuggled a little closer to Weepy, ignoring the slight blush on his face.

"Goodnight, Weepy. Sleep well."