Hyacinths

Lesser of Leaps

 
  Alex stumbled out into the kitchen where Schlatt sat, reading the newspaper. He rubbed his stinging eyes.

  When Schlatt noticed him he perked up, "Finally awake there Quack? I was about to go check if you were dead."

  "Fuck off," he grumbled, flopping down in the chair next to Schlatt. He shielded his eyes from the blaring clock that read 4:09 PM.

  "How'd you sleep?" Schlatt asked, ignoring Alex's obvious mood. "You were asleep for at least twelve hours... If I have to go beat up that asshole, I will-"

  "Look, Schlatt, I appreciate it, but if there's anyone who wants to punch Wilbur, it's me." Alex sighed. "I just don't know what to do now. I'm deathly afraid of going back to the coffee shop, I can't find work anywhere else, and I'm graduating from college in a few months. I really don't know what I'll do with my life after that."

  After a moment of silence, Schlatt got up and handed a letter to Alex. "This is from a friend, Dream." (Alex inwardly scoffed. The Dream who hit on Wilbur immediately after he saw Wilbur's ex crying his guts out in his living room? That Dream?)

"He's...not the best person, but he's a good kid, about your age. Man, I sound like a parent." Schlatt rolled his eyes. "Dream's starting a new nation, the Dream SMP. He knows I'm obviously not gonna join his weird-ass land, so he gave me another invitation. A 'plus one', if you will." Schlatt picked up his bag. "Anyway, I gotta get dinner. ...You'll be alright on your own?"

  "Shut the fuck up, asshole, you don't have to baby me." Alex rolled his eyes.

  "Whore."

  "Motherfucker."

  "Dickwad!"

  "Asshat!"

  "Cunt!" Schlatt waved before he slammed the door.

  Alex stared at the door for a while longer, then opened the letter.

 
  Dear Schlatt,

  So, I know you haven't heard from me in a while, but there's a good reason for that. I'm... well, to put this bluntly, I'm starting an SMP. My own land, called the Dream SMP. I know, I know, egotistical, but it could be fun. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you'd come. If not, probably because you 'don't do weird-ass lands', you can give it to someone else. I only have a few months before I'm out of college, so why not start it with a bang? I hope to see you (or your friend) there.

  Sincerely, Dream Wastaken

  A smiley face was under the signature. As Alex turned the paper around, a yellow slip fell to the floor. He picked it up, which simply read 'Dream SMP'.

  Well, this was... certainly interesting. The thought of an SMP did sound intriguing, but there was a lot that Alex had to do before joining it. Graduate college, for one. For two... well, no, there wasn't really a lot to do actually.

  The idea sounded more interesting every time he thought about it. What if he did, actually,  join the SMP? What would happen then?

  Visions of laughing and talking with friends not known yet filled his head, building his own little place and happily living in it, trading and selling in the bustling community while all maintaining a place without Wilbur- ugh. Alex shook his head. Out of everything, he really didn't think about Wilbur right now.

  But still... an SMP. Alex had never joined an SMP before, and here was his chance, sitting right in front of him on the table. He picked it up again, staring at it, the simple handwriting taunting him. To go or to not to go- that was his problem.

  "HEY." Schlatt kicked open the door, carrying a brown paper bag. "I GOT BURGER KING!"

  Schlatt made his way over to the table and tossed the bag onto it. Alex immediately began fishing out his food.

  Once he opened his box of chicken nuggets and Schlatt had dug out his burger, Schlatt began talking.

  "Sooooo... If you don't mind me asking... What happened between you and Wilbur?" he asked, Alex's stomach tied into a knot. "Niki told me she didn't hear what you guys said, just saw you both calmly talking. Then both of you were crying and Wilbur walked out."

  Alex really didn't want to talk about this right now. But he really owed Schlatt an explanation. Schlatt had done a good job at holding his tongue up until now, but of course, he was gonna want to know eventually.

  "Well... turns out Wilbur not only lied about not having another partner before me, but he also has a fucking kid," Alex said before shoving a chicken nugget into his mouth. Trying his best to keep it short and sweet so he wouldn't start crying on his nuggets.

  Schlatt looked appalled, "That bastard!" Schlatt hissed, "Look, he didn't deserve you, okay? He's just a bastard who thinks he can do whatever he wants. Never trust English boys with far too much free time."

  Alex forced a small smile onto his face, "thanks Schlatt," he muttered. In all honesty, he didn't want Schlatt to talk about Wilbur as if he was some total asshole who never gave a shit about Alex in the first place. For all Alex knew, it was true, but he still couldn't bear to think of it like that.

  Alex shook the thought off.

  He didn't want to think about Wilbur. And right now he just wanted away from everything and everyone.

  Then, it hit him.

  Dream would have to make room for another in six months, because Alex was sure as hell coming to his weird-ass land. He smirked. And have Schlatt to thank for it.

__________

Word count-1026

We're sorry that this is two days late, my (me as in Void, not Fox) nephew decided to crawl into this world on Friday and I wasn't about to write fanfiction while he was being born
Even then this chapter was mainly written by Fox (I did some of it including the last bit of dialog between Schlatt and Quackity) instead of me so if the writing style seemed to change, that's why :)