Meet Me in the Garden (DSAF royal AU)

Chapter Three - Freesias

[tw: mentions of fire and neglect in the last half!]

Jack woke up to the feeling of someone tugging at his ear roughly, accompanied by a wet lapping at his face.

"Bro, get up!"

It was his little sister, Dee, kneeling at his bedside. Seeing her clown-like mask first thing in the morning wasn't exactly pleasant for Jack, especially after having a nightmare centered around the creepy bastards.

Jack let out a surprised yelp, which in turn caused a pressure he didn't notice previously to be lifted from his chest. After sitting up, he noticed his dog, Blackjack, standing on the edge of his bed. That would explain the wet feeling on his cheek.

Dee giggled, the sound a tad bit muffled from her mask.

"Mmm... 'morning, Dee." Jack yawned, reaching a hand out and roughing up his sister's ruby colored hair, making her laugh even harder. "Did Peter open up already?"

"No, he's been waiting for you to leave. But come on!" Dee tugged at Jack's sleeve in an attempt to get him out of bed, but it was futile, seeing as Jack was about 100 pounds heavier than his sister.

"Fine, fine, I'll get up," Jack groaned, patting his sister's hand to get her to stop. "Just let go of my shirt and I'll be down in a minute."

Dee let go, and trotted out of the room, Blackjack following suit.

After getting up out of bed, Jack changed into the white dress shirt, black vest, and black trousers he had picked up from the arm of his desk chair, and slid on his boots. He had packed everything he needed just after he returned home from the castle grounds the night before, so he didn't have to worry about spending forever on that.

The old, wooden stairs creaked under Jack's feet as he made his way downstairs to greet his brother, Peter.

The first floor was a tavern, ran by Peter. They made enough money to keep their house, in spite of the other taverns throughout Bakersfield. In fact, the people running the various taverns were all fairly close, sometimes even promoting the other's place.

Opening the door to the main area, Jack whistled at Peter in order to grab his attention.

"Ah, g'morning, Jack." Peter greeted, wiping down the wooden surface of the bar. "Sleep well?"

Jack shook his head, and took a seat at one of the barstools, dropping his bags behind it. "It's hard to sleep when you're so excited you'll explode."

Dee hopped up onto the stool beside Jack, and plopped her stuffed bear onto the bar. "Fredbear says that he'll give you good sleep tonight!"

The orange man couldn't help but stifle a laugh. No matter how many years pass, the fact that Dee named her stuffed bear after the town's local cryptid would always crack him up.

Just then, the bell hung above the tavern door rang, and in walked Steven, Peter's assistant.

"Hello! Hello, hello!" Steven greeted, shutting the door behind him. Jack noticed that the man's overuse of the word 'hello' had begun to rub off on Peter, and sometimes, he'd caught himself doing the same thing.

"Ah, hey Steven." Jack waved, leaning against the bar.

"Big day, huh?" Steven gestured to the bags at Jack's feet. "Must be exciting!"

"Yeah, I could barely get a wink of sleep last night." Jack stated, and yawned after, as if to emphasize how little rest he'd managed to get. "It's a huge thing, y'know!"

"Don't worry about it, Sport," Steven patted Jack on the back. "You'll do great! I bet Henry's garden will be weed free in just a few weeks."

"Yeah! You'll be so good that he'll start calling you the flower king!" Dee cheered, throwing her arms up enthusiastically. Peter took this as an invitation to scoop her up into his arms, making the small girl laugh loudly.