ticcidrowned oneshots

Chapter Eleven- The Pool

tw: references to death by drowning and a slight panic attack but it starts at "All he could really remember was cold." and ends at "His eyes finally opened." in case you wanted to skip it

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This was a terrible idea from the start.

It had started with Jeff because all bad ideas tend to.

Everyone was slumped over the living room, and nobody was really able to do anything because of the heat. The single fan they bought was sitting on their table, blowing the air at its highest setting on the couch.

Natalie and Toby were watching some documentary on her phone, slumped on their shitty couch, and Jeff was flung over in their chair, his black hair tied back into a ponytail as he played some mindless game on his phone. Then there was Ben, who sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, scrolling through whatever app seemed to satisfy his brain and showing the occasional meme or text post to Toby.

"Why don't we get our fuckin' AC fixed?" Jeff groaned, his phone falling onto his chest.

"If you wanna pay for it, feel free" Ben replied as he kept scrolling, before showing Toby some fucked up picture of a frog.

Jeff sighed, right before lighting up, "We should go to the pool!" He had a shitty grin on his face, made even more noticeable because of the scars on his face.

Natalie looked up, her eyes brightening, "I'm down as long as it's not fuckin boiling"

"Alright, let's get our shit!" Jeff laughed, heading upstairs presumably to his room, with Natalie getting up not long after to go to hers.

Toby sat up, then looked down at Ben with his eyebrows upturned, "Are you gonna stay here?" He asked.

"I don't know, I don't really want to ruin it for everyone by not going." Ben stood up.

"You won't ruin it by not going. If you're gonna stay then I won't go." Toby told him.

"It's okay, I know you like swimming. I'll go with you guys."

Toby bit his lip, "But I could still stay."

"It's fine. Let's get our stuff." Ben rushed. Walking away to go up to his room. He could tell that Toby was still standing there. But before he could really think about staying with Toby, Ben closed his door.

To say Ben wasn't a big fan of pools or any general body of water would be an understatement. He supposes it has something to do with getting drowned as a child, but maybe not.

But wasn't really time to think about that right then, Jeff and Natalie, and probably Toby now, were getting ready, and he didn't want to be the one to hold them back from going.

So Ben foraged around in his dresser drawer for something resembling swimming trunks, because why the hell would he own those?

He finally found a pair of gym shorts that he would be able to use and a t-shirt he didn't care much for. He exchanged the cotton shorts he had on for those and his current shirt for that one, tossing those into the laundry basket in the corner of his room.

He grabbed another pair of shorts that he found and another t-shirt into a backpack in his closet, just to change into in case he feels up to getting in the water.

He then flung himself on his bed, bouncing up a little when he made contact. He wasn't too sure how he would manage to do this at the pool, but he really didn't want to ruin Natalie, Jeff, and especially Toby's time.

Taking a deep breath, he sat back up, grabbed his backpack, shoved the book he was reading and his DS in there, with his phone in his front pocket, and brought himself to the living room where Natalie was sitting.