Chapter 22 Aftermath of Heartbreak

The next day, Larry buried his nose in a piece of paper. He wore a frown while reading what was on it, a frown caught between incredulous and contemplative. He didn't take his eyes away from it for a good long while, which Lemmy appreciated while standing right beside him. Larry turned the page and scanned over the rest of the story being told here, before turning back to look at Lemmy. Larry's brother could barely contain himself; he had his hands to his mouth as giggles came out, and he bounced up and down like he was on an invisible circus ball.

"Well?" Lemmy giggled, looking ready to break out into a dance. "What do you think? Does Moo Man live up to the hype?"

Larry snorted. "Well, considering that I wasn't hyping up Moo Man in the first place…" He paused. He looked back down at his brother's comic, struggling over how to state his thoughts. He had so many emotions regarding this thing, and honestly, none of them were what he expected at all. This comic made him feel things. Whether they were good things or bad things was still up for debate.

"Honestly, it's better than I expected."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Larry paused before rubbing his face. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually kind of like it." He picked the comic back up to get another glance at it, on some level doubting that he had been looking at Moo Man in the first place. "The art style is good, which I suppose is to be expected given your wish on Fortune's Comet." He looked back at Lemmy, who looked like he was going to enter a state of euphoria. "But the storytelling is also pretty good. I can't believe I'm saying this, but… Moo Man as a character is a pretty good one. I don't know if I would go so far as to call him 'compelling,' but… he's interesting. That's what I'm going to go with for right now; he's interesting."

"That's good enough for me!" Lemmy took a step closer. "Also, what did you think of the action scenes?"

"They were pretty good." Larry leaned forward. "I mean, they weren't my favorite action scenes, but that probably has to do with the fact that I read Titanium Man. That comic has the best action scenes in all of fiction, so nothing could really ever top it." He paused. "But for what they are… these action scenes are pretty good."

"Thank you." Lemmy took the comic back. "I'm really glad you like it; I put a lot of time and effort into this."

"That's what worries me." Larry paused before smiling. "Still though. Good job."

"Thanks." Lemmy looked back down at his comic. He flipped through the pages, studying them with an intense gaze. "I might need to edit some things to make the dialogue less clunky, but once I do that, I hope to get this thing professionally published." His eyes sparkled. "Wouldn't that be cool? People from all around the world would be able to read Moo Man and fall in love with the story! I bet they would even write wikis based on it and dress up as the characters at conventions!" He sighed, holding the comic to his heart as he looked up at the ceiling. "That would be the most amazing thing ever."

"Yeah, it would." Larry didn't know if Lemmy's comic would reach that point, but… hey, it never hurt to attempt to do that, right? With this thought in mind, he leaned back in his chair. He gave Lemmy a thumbs-up sign before grabbing the remote control from off the chair arm. As Lemmy left, he turned on the TV. The show he happened to turn on was one called Judge Judith. It wasn't a great show; heck, he could barely even consider it good. It more or less just involved a lot of drama in civil lawsuits, which was SO exciting… for people who liked boring things. Larry usually avoided this show, as the feeling of brain rot taking over his mind always became more noticeable whenever he tuned into this.

But he didn't avoid it this time. Hey, sometimes a guy needs a little brain rot. Sometimes, a crappy show that one could laugh at and make fun of was the perfect way to distract themselves from the troubles of life. And considering that Larry had troubles coming out of his ears…

Well, was his decision to watch the show really surprising? He leaned back in his seat, keeping his eyes glued to the screen. He couldn't help but chuckle at the lawsuit being talked about; apparently, there was this lady who was trying to get the biggest breast implants in the world. Forget the fact that the hospital had given her the biggest implants available to them; she wanted bigger, dammit! She wanted knockers so big that they looked unnatural, breasts so ginormous that they couldn't even be considered breasts anymore. She would stop at nothing until her chest was the size of a mountain!

… Yeah, the brain rot from this show was all too real. Larry didn't know whether he wanted to laugh at this or not. It was so over-the-top ridiculous that laughter seemed appropriate, but… this was so stupid! Oh man, Larry needed to turn his attention away from this horrible garbage before his head exploded. He started channel surfing but found nothing that interested him. Was there anything here? Just what could he focus on instead of the Judge Judith slop?

"Hey."

Larry turned toward the door, and his heart immediately sank. Oh great. The one person who he hadn't wanted to talk to. Was it too late to go back to the Judge Judith breast implant episode?

"What do you want, Wendy?"

Wendy frowned as she stepped into the room. "Well… not necessarily anything." She went over to the couch and took a seat, all while Larry held back a groan. "I mean, nothing is particularly wrong with me."

The urge to groan grew stronger. "Good. Then you have nothing to talk about with me."

When he said that, Wendy flashed Larry a glare. "Wow, heartless much?" She turned so that she was completely facing him. "Of course, there's something to talk about! Do you really think you can break up with Peppy and I don't want to talk about it?"

The tiniest traces of the groan Larry had been holding in escaped from his mouth. "Wendy…" Wendy looked like she was going to delve into a rant, so he decided to put a stop to that before she had the chance. "Wendy, you heard what Iggy told me! You were literally in the room when it happened! Why then would you take issue with this? There's no way for me to realistically stay in a relationship with anyone! That isn't a personal knock against Peppy; it's just the truth!" He felt like walking out of the room, but he stayed simply because of one single question he had. "Why are you so obsessed with me and Peppy being in a relationship anyway?"

Wendy seized up. She could barely move as Larry waited for her to answer. As he did, his annoyance grew a hundredfold. Whatever the answer was, he knew that it would cause her discomfort. And honestly, that was good. Extremely good; after all, most of this drama was because of her.

"I'm not going to let this go, Wendy, so you may as well answer the question."

Wendy squirmed a little bit in her seat, a sight that satisfied Larry. He didn't take his eyes off her as he waited for her to answer the damn question. She eventually hung her head.

"Peppy's my friend, Larry. I really like her, and I want her to be happy."

"Oh really?" Larry raised an eyebrow. "There's no other reason? There's no other reason whatsoever?"

Wendy bit her lip. A five-minute silence hung in the air before she decided to answer. "And… I guess I thought that if I was the one to get her together with a boy she liked, she would like me more. She would like me enough so that we could be friends for a long long time."

Larry frowned. "Well… congratulations. You inadvertently set up the most sucky scenario for your little brother in the process." He shifted his chair. "Did what I feel about this ever cross your mind? Did it ever occur to you that I was perfectly fine with me and Peppy just having a superhero partnership? Did you think even for a second that I would be devastated if something were to jeopardize something like that?"

Wendy started to cry. "I'm…" She wiped her face. "I'm sorry, Larry."

"You should be!"

"I am!" Wendy's tears grew more frequent. "I was being selfish! I was letting my own desires take up the number one priority. I shouldn't have done that. I should've known better." She whimpered. "I seriously should've known better."

Larry felt a twinge of sympathy for her. The anger and frustration she had caused him was still there, but at the very least, he didn't want to see her continue wallowing in pain.

"Well… just try not to do that next time, okay?" Larry leaned back in his chair. "I know that can be difficult sometimes, but please try not to give in."

"Of course, Larry." Wendy put her hand to her heart. "I promise I won't do it. I'll put in extra effort to make sure that doesn't happen." She somehow managed to smile. "I will do it for you. I will do it so that you and everyone else can live life in the happiest, most comfortable way possible."

Larry smiled. "Thanks, Wen." He hesitated, a silence filling the room. "Still though. I think my partnership with Peppy is officially over." He sighed, hanging his head as he did. "It's a shame too. We worked really well together."

Another silence filled the room, this one particularly heavy. Larry was just about to start wallowing in a bout of self-pity when Wendy said something.

"That's not necessarily true."

Larry blinked. He looked over at Wendy, unsure if he had heard what she said correctly. She gave him a reassuring look, supporting what Larry thought she said. Holding back a snort, he turned toward her.

"You're lying."

"Nope. Just because you and Peppy can't be a couple doesn't mean you still can't be partners."

Larry couldn't decide how he felt about these words, whether he wanted to laugh at her or gawk. "You're crazy! She probably hates me now! Why would she ever consider being my partner after everything that's happened?"

"Well… she might not necessarily hate you. I think if you were to talk with each other one-on-one and establish the boundaries of your relationship, then you two can reach an understanding that allows your partnership to continue." She smiled. "Communication is often the best thing to do in situations like this."

Even with that explanation, Larry didn't believe her. He wanted to believe her, but he just couldn't. That sounded like wishful, naive thinking. It sounded like Wendy had her head in the clouds, similar to how she had when she had been trying to get Larry and Peppy to go on dates with one another.

"Wendy…"

"Larry, trust me. I'm not right with everything, but I do know that exes can be friends. It's difficult, but they can still have a functioning friendship if they both put the effort into it. Besides, if Peppy understands that it's nothing personal against her, then I think things have a better chance of working out for the two of you. Know what I mean?"

Larry frowned. He knew exactly what she meant by that, but… well, he didn't know if Peppy would hear him out. Especially considering how he was starting to hate the fact that he had broken up with her through a text. In the past day since texting her, he had really been second-guessing his decision and regretting what he did. Especially so because he knew that Peppy was probably really torn up about it. Could he really approach her to talk about the boundaries of their relationship after he did something like that?

"I do. But Wendy, there's something you…"

He didn't get to finish, as Wendy's cell phone rang. She got it out and put it to her ear. "Hey, Lilac. What's going on?" Larry saw her eyes grow wide. "Wait, really? You're kidding me! You can't be serious!" Lilac said more on the other line, making Wendy's eyes grow even wider. "No. No! That…. There has to be some explanation." Larry started to grow worried as Wendy nodded. "Okay. Okay, well, thanks for telling me. I hope we find her." She hung up, looking as scared as Luigi in a haunted house. "Oh, this is bad!" She put her head in her hands. "This can't be happening. This can't be happening…"

"Wendy, what's wrong?"

Wendy could barely speak. "P… Peppy's missing." She turned to Larry. "Lilac says she tried calling her, but she isn't picking up her phone. She thinks some villains might have overpowered her on a superhero mission and are holding her hostage!"

Larry's own fear started to climb. "Oh, man." His breathing sped up. "Well… we don't know for certain that's the case? Maybe she's just doing something that requires her full concentration?"

"Maybe?" Wendy shook a little bit. "But still… oh, if something bad happened to her… I don't know if I could live with myself!"

"Me neither." Larry paused before getting out of his chair. "Which is why I'm going to go find her."