Far away, in Siberia, Russia. Right outside Gulag prison...
Alarms and search lights went off. Two men had escaped, and all the guards were on alert. It was impossible. But, not for these lucky ones.
Miles away from the prison, a manhole cover shifted open. One by one, two gruff, shady men came out of it in their prison outfits. They closed the manhole cover to the sewer and looked at the Gulag in the distance.
"Idiots." One of the men said, with a thick Russian accent. He scratched his beard.
"Now that we are out...we must avenge Constantine." The other said. "By getting revenge..."
"On Kermit?"
"No, you stupid!" The man pulled out the newspaper article from when The Muppets defeated Constantine in London. He pointed to Walter in the group picture, with his dirty fingernail. "On his little helper..."
The other man looked closer at Walter. "Why are we trying to defeat that little shrimp kid? And not Kermit?" The man shoved the newspaper away.
"Because! He's the whole reason Constantine's plans were foiled. Kermit would still be in the Gulag, if that Walter hadn't known of Constantine's plan. He's a smart kid...and a threat to Constantine. Which makes him our enemy. Constantine's request was for us to get rid of that Muppet kid, and we will do so."
"And why can't Constantine do it, himself?" His partner asked, crossing his arms. The man tugged him by his shirt collar.
"Because, fool. Constantine is now in heavily guarded lock up, for life. And we are loyal to him."
"Right..."
The man let go of him. "Now, let's go. I know someone who will get us what we need, so we can get to the city of...Los Angeles."
Friday. Walter thought to himself. It's here.
As calm as Walter looked to all his friends on the outside, he was freaking out within. He had spent all of last night picking out something nice to wear, but not too casual. He could hardly wait to see Lily.
But, Walter had noticed something else. He was getting a few stares from the people he had been lying to, for the past few days. He thought the obvious, that they may have known about Lily. But, there was no way. Walter had hidden it too well. He just had to get through today. And if the date goes well, maybe he'll start telling his friends about her.
At the end of the day, Walter knew he had to get home if he wanted to be ready for sure. He wanted to avoid the awkward lies though, so he decided to leave the theatre through the back.
When they were all dismissed, Walter snuck to the back door. He went, determined. But, he slowed down. As the boy was walking, he felt as though someone was watching him. Then, he for sure knew someone was watching him. Walter heard a familiar, heavy breathing. The boy stopped in his tracks, and turned around. Animal stood there, watching him.
Walter didn't know what to really say. The fellow Muppet was kind of just watching, and breathing. Actually, he always did that. But, Animal had funny senses. He was probably also suspicious of Walter.
"Hey, Animal." Walter said, nervously. "Is there something you-"
"LILY." Animal all of a sudden blurted out. Walter felt as though his stomach fell right through the floor. That's not possible. No, there was no way. Did Animal just say...? But, how...? Walter swallowed. He hoped Animal hadn't repeated her name in front of anyone else.
"How do you..." Walter could barely finish his sentence. But, Animal knew how to answer.
"You leave phone!" Animal responded. Walter played around with his smart phone in his sweater pocket. He must have left the screen on when he left it on the chair the other day. He looked at the time, he had to go. But, he couldn't leave yet. Not when he knew that Animal knew Lily's name.
"Animal..." Walter said, walking up to him. He looked directly at him, seriousness in his eyes. "You don't say word. Please...I'm not gonna tell anyone yet. I don't wanna jinx it..."
Animal continued to breath heavily, and tilted his head at Walter. He understood what he said, but he didn't understand why.
"Lily?" Animal repeated.
"No Lily." Walter instructed. "You don't say Lily."
"Don't say Lily?"
"Do not say Lily..."
Animal continued to look at Walter. He then broke his stare and nodded his head, grunting.
"Thank you, Animal. I promise it will all make sense, soon."
"What will make sense, soon?" Kermit said, walking towards the two. Animal whipped around, and his eyes went wide.
"NOTHING." Animal said, a bit too exaggerated. He looked back at Walter, and nodded. Walter just shook his head.
"Hey, Animal? The band is loading the truck, uh why don't you go help them?" Kermit advised, trying to get Animal to leave. Animal nodded, and left. Kermit looked at Walter for a second, until Walter broke their gaze. He lied and felt bad about it. He'd feel especially bad, doing so to Kermit.
Kermit cleared his throat "Walter, is there something...going on?" Walter swallowed the truth, trying to prevent it from coming out. Walter was just too honest, and good of a person. Not that this was a bad lie, he just really didn't want to tell anyone yet. He really likes Lily, and doesn't want to mess anything up.
"Something going on? Heh, no..." Walter responded, twiddling his thumbs. Kermit didn't take that as a truthful answer. How could he have? The boy had secret written all over his face. Kermit stepped forward.
"Whatever it is...I just want to make sure it doesn't end badly." Kermit said. Walter looked up and hesitated. The frog had him stuck in place. If he continued to lie, it would probably only concern Kermit more. But, he didn't have to be direct.
"It's nothing bad..." Walter said, giving him a more honest response. "It's nothing like that at all. I just...would rather not say, right now..." Kermit could tell that Walter was partially being honest. But, he still wouldn't admit anything. Kermit was definitely not one to push though. If Walter wanted to take his time to tell this, Kermit would respect that.
"Okay." Kermit said. "Go to whatever you have to do. And when you're ready to tell us, we'll be here."
Walter nodded, thankful for his leader's understanding. "Thanks, Kermit." And with that, Walter left through the back the door. Kermit made is way back to the stage. Though he left things on more simpler terms, his mind still raced on what Walter could possibly be hiding.
When he got to the stage, Kermit picked up his clipboard and sat on a tech box. A few remaining Muppets were on the stage as well. Miss Piggy was talking with Gonzo and Fozzie, and Scooter was giving some technical notes to Rowlf and the Electric Mayhem band .
As Kermit looked through his clipboard notes, Rowlf spoke up amongst them. "Hey, guys? Has anyone noticed that Walter has been acting funny?" Kermit tried not to intervene, forcing himself to continue looking at his notes.
Gonzo whipped around from his discussion with Fozzie and Piggy. "I have!"
"Yeah, me too!" Floyd agreed.
"Something's gone loose in that boy's brain." Dr. Teeth said. Kermit still looked at his notes, but spared a few glances at the others who agreed. Thankfully, it was only the band, Scooter, Piggy, Gonzo, Rowlf, and Fozzie. Unthankfully, they were the biggest gossips of the Muppets. Kermit hoped it would end there.
"I didn't notice anything." Fozzie said.
"Fozzie, you of all people should have noticed the most. Didn't he act weird at his apartment when you were there?" Gonzo asked, allowing all of them look at Fozzie. Kermit looked too, subtly.
"I thought that was being normal." The bear responded.
"The point is, something is going on..." Scooter said.
"What do you think it is?" Floyd said. "A family issue?"
"Nah, he would have told us." Dr. Teeth responded.
"Omg, is it not obvious?" Janice spoke up. They all looked towards her. "I mean, it's about time it happened. Walter is in fact a Y.H.S."
"Of course he's a Y.H.S.!" Miss Piggy agreed with the other female muppet. The guys all exchanged looks.
"What's a Y.H.S.?" Rowlf asked. Janice looked towards him.
"Y.H.S." She repeated. "Young. Handsome. Single." Miss Piggy nodded, but the guys were still confused. By this point, Kermit was paying a bit more attention.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Floyd asked.
Miss Piggy sighed, exasperated. "Are you all blind? It's so obvious!"
"Walter is in love with a girl!" Janice said, loudly. The guys all awed, and Kermit shot his gaze up from his clipboard.
"What?" Kermit said, putting his clipboard down. Miss Piggy looked towards her partner.
"Isn't it obvious, Kermie? No young boy acts that secretive, unless he's trying to hide a girl. He's probably with her, right now!"
"Wow, how could we not think of that?" Gonzo said.
"Probably because the only truthful love doves around here have been frog and pig." Dr. Teeth said.
"Okay, okay slow down guys." Kermit said, finally intervening. He walked towards them all. "We don't know that for sure. I mean how-"
"LILY!" Animal interupted loudly, startling all of them. They looked towards the crazy Muppet.
"What did ya say, Animal? Hard to hear when you're always-" Floyd was cut off when Animal repeated himself.
"LILY." He said a bit more calm. The Muppets stared at him blankly, for a second. Until Kermit stepped up.
"Animal, who's Lily?"
Animal shook his head, groaning. "Walter text Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily!" He had completely defied Walter's asking of him to not repeat Lily's name to anyone.
"...Is that who Walter-" Kermit was cut off again, by an excited Janice.
"Lily is like totally who Walter is seeing!" Janice said, excitedly.
"For sure it is!" Miss Piggy agreed, almost jumping up and down.
"But, why wouldn't he tell us?" Scooter said.
"Does it matter? Now we can tell him that we know." Gonzo advised.
"But-" Kermit tried to keep talking, but kept getting cut off.
"How? When did they even meet?"
"We'll have to ask him!"
"But guys-"
"I wonder if she's nice?"
"She better be, because Walter is!"
"Here, I can call Walter!"
"GUYS!" Kermit yelled, getting all of their attention. Kermit took a breath, calming down. "Guys if Walter hasn't told us, he clearly doesn't want us to know yet."
"But, why Kermit?" Fozzie asked.
Kermit shrugged, a bit overwhelmed. "I don't know, Fozzie. I was just talking to Walter, and I told him I knew something was going on. He didn't tell me, but said he just wants to keep it quiet for now."
"But, this some juicy stuff!" Gonzo said. "I wanna ask Walter how long he's been with this girl. What was her name...? Lily?"
"I know, Gonzo. But, maybe Walter hasn't...been with her for long. Maybe they're not even seeing each other, maybe it just started. The point is, Walter clearly isn't comfortable yet. When he wants to tell us, he'll tell us."
The Muppets stayed quiet, not sure how to respond.
"I guess you're right frog." Dr. Teeth finally spoke. "Walter's just a kid, anyway. He'll tell us when he wants too."
"Thanks, Teeth." Kermit said. "I hope the same guys for the rest of you. No one tells this to Walter, okay?"
"Okay..." They all said in unison.
"Kermit?" Fozzie said.
"Yes, Fozzie?"
"You think he's with her, right now?" The bear asked. The frog pondered over it. But it was too obvious, like Piggy said.
"Yeah," Kermit smiled. "I think he is. Animal and I caught him trying to sneak off."
"Aw, that's so sweet!" Piggy said, happily. "I hope she's a nice girl."
"Me too." Gonzo agreed. "I think Walter deserves someone like that, after everything he's helped us through."
Kermit nodded. But, he wasn't entirely convinced.
"Okay guys, I have to go make a phone call. Kermit said, starting to leave. He turned back to look at his friends. "Guys, don't tell this to Walter. Okay?"
The others nodded and Kermit left. Gonzo looked at the others.
"That's gonna be pretty hard..."
Walter was in his apartment, looking at himself in the mirror. He tried not to dress too casual, or too formal. Right now, he was wearing a clean pure white button down shirt, with a navy tie. He put a nice formal black sweater over it and rolled up the sleeves to his elbows. He as well wore grey non-iron dress pants, with a black belt. Currently, he was fixing his hair.
"Work with me, little bugger." Walter said, shaping his hair. When he was finally happy with it, he stopped. Walter looked at the clock.
"Oh, I've gotta go!" Walter said. He grabbed his wallet, phone, and keys off the bed, and looked once more in the mirror. "Well, let's go." Walter ran out of his room, heading straight for the door. He looked towards the framed photo of his father, across the room.
"Wish me luck, dad." Walter said, closing the door behind him.
Unsurprisingly, Walter was nervous for tonight. He had it all planned out, from beginning to end. He was gonna take her to the Melody Bar and Grill for dinner, and then a nice evening walk through Michael Juliano Grand Park. It was beautiful there at sundown and night.
Walter was picking Lily up at her apartment. He wanted to go to her door and pick her up like a gentleman would, but Lily insisted on just meeting him in the lobby. Walter forgot how persistent and impatient Lily was while growing up. Never likes to waist time, unless it's for a good reason. So Walter was fine meeting her in her lobby, as long as she was too.
When he got there, he waited for her in her lobby and texted her.
Downstairs. :)
He waited, nervous. He really hoped this night would be planned out right. He used his camera phone mirror to make sure his hair was still nice.
"Don't worry, you've always had nice hair." Someone said. Walter looked up, and Lily was standing there. That was quick.
But boy, did she look great. She wore a tight black turtle neck, with a beige faux suede skirt. As well as cute black ankle boots, and a small grey shoulder purse thrown over her shoulder.
"Wow, you look..." Walter gazed at Lily's outfit. She was beautiful. Lily stood there, waiting for Walter to finish his sentence.
Say something! He thought to himself. "You look beautiful, Lily..." Walter finally said. In return, he received a flustered look from Lily, as she tried to hide the pure pink blush that appeared on her pale face.
"Thank you, Walter..." Lily responded. "You look amazing, too. I always thought you looked more grown up and handsome when you dress like that..."
Walter couldn't help but blush, too. Both of them were just prone to flushing red.
"Thanks, Lil." Walter smiled. "Come on, I have some great stuff planned." Walter held the apartment door open for Lily. She exited, and he followed behind.