-Through The Playlist- Poly Dream Team (DreamNapFound) {CURRENTLY DISCONTINUED}

chapter 7: (there's no more) community gardens

community gardens by the scary jokes: the song title is relevant to the chapter but it will be referenced multiple times later on, plus it's a banger song from a banger band so you should give it a listen.

TW's: intrusive thoughts, trauma & a brief mention of suicide

"wil, they're animals, give them a break!" a soft voice giggled.

"i will not give them a fucking break, niki. they're devil monsters! probably partially gremlin! even more gremlin than tommy, if i do say so myself." wilbur chuckled back. "oh hey! god i'm glad it's you guys and not some random strangers."

"h-huh?" nick stuttered, sweating. he didn't know why he was so shaken up just because of wilbur's beanie.

"nick, you look... red? are you okay?" niki's quiet, tender voice asked. red.. the beanie was red, not blue. george flicked the side of nick's head and glanced at him, an apologetic yet loving look in his eyes. george was practically in heaven, but nick felt like he was the caveat to george being less pessimistic and being able to just be plain happy.

"fuck. i-" nick started. he looked at everyone staring at him. he was holding up the line for the ferris wheel and holding his boyfriends back.

"nick-..." clay went to grab nick's hand but nick pulled his hand away, too scared to dig a hole even deeper for himself. it was already bad enough that the three boyfriends were wearing matching shirts, but he realized he would only have one best friend left if they broke up, but even niki would probably take george and clay's side. 

"i need to go. this place- just enjoy the ride without me, i can't be here. i'll meet you guys at the exit." nick said, his confidence wavering up and down. "it was nice seeing you two," he smiled at the last part, looking at niki and wilbur. with that, nick weaved past the short-ish line and disappeared.

clay and george looked at each other as they sat down. 

"..."

"..."

"..."

"so... what are your guys's opinions on ant-" wilbur started. (read the room, dude)

"wil. this isn't the time." niki said shortly. she turned to clay and gog. "i'm sorry about that. what's wrong with nick?"

"he's definitely going though something painful... maybe trauma or bad memories? he's not usually like this," clay sighed.

no one talked the rest of the ride.

THIS IS HAPPENING SIMULTANEOUSLY WHILE THE OTHERS ARE ON THE FERRIS WHEEL

nick thought he was dying this time. (slick, i know.) he was sitting in a hidden garden near the brass gates of the community pavilion trying not to cry. he finally realized how many terrible things were happening at the same time. 

he would have to come out to everyone and probably lose some of his loved ones; one of his boyfriends probably thinks he's a burden; he couldn't even think of trying to make the relationship between the three more intimate because of his past trauma; and now it dawned upon him that his childhood best friend was most likely dead.

*bzzz bzzz*

great. just what he needed, another call from an inconspicuous fake 1-800 number. no one would ever suspect a robo-call being nick's ex. he begrudgingly grabbed the phone from the bench and picked up.

n: what?

?: where are you?

n: yeah, i agree. (mood lol)

?: why do you insist to make this harder for both of us? do you WANT me to hurt you more?

n: fucking hell..

?: excu-

n: what do you mean "more"? look, i've finally found my niche. i've finally found my people, and i don't need people like you reminding me of all the things i hate in this life. do you want me alive or do you want me hanging from the ceiling with rope burn on my neck?? either is fine with me at this point.

?: ...

n: i thought so.

nick hung up and choked back a sob. his head was reeling and felt fuzzy. all he could hear was static, like someone disconnected their electric guitar from the amp and just left. his head felt empty and incomplete. his head felt like... a bag of salt?

"eyy man!" a happy voice piped up.

"what the he-" nick looked up to see a guy around his age in a blue beanie and black collared button-up shirt. the guy's proud face smiled. nick immediately teared up.

"i- i thought you were dead! i didn't think i was ever gonna see you again," nick admitted. "where did you go for all those years? i would've visited..."

"i just sorta ran away. my grandma died last year and left me a bit of money so i decided to come back here and remembered how lovely these park grounds are. i actually work here now!"

"you do?" nick mused, now smiling like nothing bad had ever happened.

"yeah, i work as a part-time secretary at the new courthouse, the one over there." alex pointed to a regal building near the garden they were in. "my aunt was able to sweet talk the interviewer. but this place! this place is the real deal! to be fair, i am the groundskeeper so i have to like it here but you know. no one else tended to the grove so i volunteered. it's a good distraction from all the hearings and stuff."

nick just sat there trying to take everything in. alex didn't seem to notice nick was super overwhelmed so he just kept talking. 

"what about you? what happened while i was gone?" alex chided.

"uh. well i'm currently having an existential crisis but other than that i'm pretty good. found out i was bisexual. i might form a band and start releasing music sometime soon. and um, well i'm not gonna lie, before you threw that bag of salt at my head i was sort of freaking out. i was thinking about you. i thought you were dead, alex."

"well, i'm proud of you for finding your identity and trusting me enough to tell me, you seem like you'd be an awesome musician, and i'm sorry for making you think i was dead. i wasn't thinking of anyone else when i ran away," alex sighed.

"no! don't apologize, it's not your fault." both of them smiled and alex ruffled nick's hair. what a convenient time for george and clay to walk out the gates and see them.

"...nick." clay hissed.

woop woop jealous dre time