There's a Monster in my Backyard (A Dream SMP Oneshot)

There's a Monster in my Backyard

This is a fic written as part of a gift exchange with a Discord server I'm part of. This was for IridiumPhoenix on Ao3, and I'm posting it on here as well because I still want to use this account for writing.

There's not much to say besides I 'apologize' for how long it is.

(I'm not really sorry, though.)

WARNINGS: DEHUMANIZATION (TECHNICALLY) AND GRIEF.

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Happy reading! Tell me what you think!

~oOo~

The forest surrounding his town is Wilbur's place. It's where he practices and gets inspired, meets new animal friends and calms down from the stresses of school and family drama, as trivial as it may sound.

He's always liked nature, drawn to the colourful sunsets that painted his town in bright reds and purples. In the garden, different kinds of flowers had been planted in memory of his mom, who had passed away not long after Tommy was born (Though sometimes it felt like she was still in the air around him, clinging onto his shoulder and keeping his confidence up); anemones, pink camellias, white carnations, hydrangeas. When he walked to school and passed a deer family, he would always ask them how their day was going and wish them well.

And the forest, it was the place where all of this was apparent and brought to the surface, painting an image that only he bore witness to. Imagery was as much ingrained into nature as life was, two sides of a coin that never withered. This fact helped draw him to poetry and songwriting, hands now always dirty with metaphors and similes played beside melodies of golden stars and silver streams.

Wilbur always comes back to the forest for inspiration, though, even if his talent has gotten good enough that he doesn't really need to. The calmness of the place, the comfort of sitting beside the tree and feeling the bark against his back, it just wasn't matched. Like a glass of water to a thirsty man, it tasted like heaven, refreshing his muscles, bringing form words hidden in his heart he never knew were there.

"I'm not a man of substance and so I'll pretend,

To be a wanderer, wandering,

Leaving ascetic belongings in hostels and restaurant bins..."

Today wasn't really any different. There was an assignment of his overdue in school, and one of his friends hadn't texted him back for a full week now, and Tommy was just starting to curse all the time, despite Dad's attempts to stop it from becoming a fully integrated part of his vocabulary. Normal stresses, and there wasn't any reason to come here except to relax and get more excited for summer break, which was set to begin soon.

Wilbur closes his eyes and leans back against the tree, basking in the warmth on his face. "Burn out, don't fight it and try to move on,

It's been sixty weeks since I saw Vienna,

A bandage and a wide smile slapped across my face..."

When the song is done, he sighs, sitting back up.

His head knocks against something, jerking him backward, hand flying up to soothe the sharp burst of pain. From the last time he looked, he had been alone in this forest, and there was no way someone could've snuck up on him without him knowing.

Wilbur opens his eyes, set to interrogate whoever was there, only for his words to die down on him at the sight of blue eyes.

Bright, sky-blue eyes.

Unnaturally blue eyes.

The kid in front of him-because he is a kid, there's no doubt about that; is a good few years younger than him. The kid has copied his position, wide eyes staring back at him, mouth partially open. Pink hair, light like the cherry blossoms he sees online, curls wildly around his face, long and tangled beyond anything healthy. It looks greasy. A strand falls into his face as they stare at each other.