Somewhere deep inside the Cleveland's villain hideout…

Wally and Kuki had been made to sit on chairs with their backs facing one another. Their hands had been tied behind them, then a large rope had been wrapped around their torsos, to tie them together.

They were the only present two in the room, and after an hour of struggling, they were both worn out. So they were both sat in an awkward silence.

"Hey Kooks?" Wally broke the silence.

"Hmm?" Kuki looked up and turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Remember our last mission?" He said with a smile.

"Oh yeah, those scary citizombies? Man, I never looked at my gran and grandpa the same way." Kuki giggled.

"Yeah, well. Do you remember anything about it?" He asked quietly.

"Not really." Kuki shrugged.

"I mean, any part when you…we were citizombies?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, nothing really. I was just talking to Numbuh 2 earlier today and…well…he said that we…" Wally murmured the last part, so quiet Kuki couldn't hear it.

"Sorry, I didn't get that?" She said.

Wally opened his mouth to repeat what he had just said, but Chad walked in.

"What are you two up to? Talking all lovey dovey no doubt." He mocked.

They both turned to look at Chad. Wally glared at him coldly.

"Love is for cruddy adults like you!" He spat. Kuki was silent.

"Get your age's right kid! I'm a teen!" Chad cackled. He went to throw a punch at Wally, who didn't flinch and just sat glaring back at Chad. Chad's hand stopped a few millimeters from Wally's jaw. He then crouched down to Wally's level.

"You're just as stubborn as you always used to be." Chad whispered. "It's brave at times, but, also pretty foolish when you're dealing with 'adults' like us."

With that, Chad walked out. Leaving Kuki and Wally alone in awkward silence once again.

"Did you mean that?" Kuki said under her breath after a few minutes.

"What?" Wally sighed, still really aggravated by Chad.

"The thing you said…about love?" She tried to hide that she was hurt by his statement, but her voice still wavered.

Wally thought for a moment, of course he didn't. But he couldn't let Kuki think that he'd gone totally soft over the last few months.

"Yeah." He shrugged, trying to act as if he didn't care.

"Oh." Kuki drooped her head, and looked at the floor.

Neither one of them talked for at least ten minutes, until Wally became extremely uncomfortable, feeling that Kuki was mad at him.

"So…uh…How's life with your family doing?" He stuttered.

"Dad's hardly in, Mushi's real argumentative and Mom's as manipulative as ever. So pretty normal." She smiled. Wally chuckled too. "What about yours?"

"Difficult." He stated.

"Why?" Kuki turned to him.

"I don't wanna' talk about it." Wally shook his head.

"Yeah you do." Kuki said. Wally turned to her, confused.

"No I don't." He replied.

"You do, otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up." Kuki said quietly. "What's wrong Wally, you can tell me…you know that."

She managed to find his hand behind her, she took it lightly and gave him a reassuring squeeze. He squeezed back.

"Well, my mom and dad were arguing non-stop since the day we got to Australia. Things just got worse and worse, dad left about a week ago and, mom just isn't the same. She won't eat, she won't sleep. I didn't want to come on the rescue mission to Villain HQ 'cause I was worried about her, and Joey." He told her.

Kuki listened intently.

"Since mom's been like that, I was the one who had to take charge. I had to look after her and Joey, and base all of that around missions."

Kuki sighed and used her thumb to stroke his hand.

"Now I understand why you've changed so much. You had to take charge and be the smart one."

"I haven't even told Tash about what's going on at home." Wally said quietly.

Kuki remained silent for a few seconds.

"Well then it's good that you've finally spoken to someone about it."

Wally silently agreed and they both stayed quiet. Happy that one another were there and they were not completely alone.

"You and Tash are really close huh?" Kuki finally asked.

"Yeah, we get along real well." Wally said with a smile. "For a girl, she's a real good friend, you know. Sure, she can be a little creepy at times with her sadistic thoughts and gothic clothes and music. But she's like my best friend…apart from you Kooks."

"I think she's real pretty." Kuki thought aloud.

"Really, I never really noticed. You know I don't see girls as pretty." Wally smirked.

Kuki giggled. "One thing that never changed then."

BANG! Wally and Kuki felt a tremour above them and heard shouting and battling.

"Sounds like the cavalrys arrived." Wally grinned, looking up.

A/N: Hmm, my chapters are getting shorter and shorter. Sorry about that. I'm suffering from a major case of writers block. I'll update soon, never fear.

~x~