2021 Onseshot Book!

Child!Brian + Child!Tim: My First Friend

(A/N): I do ship Brim, but shipping kids seems unsettling to me, so think of this as more of a platonic one-shot.

Warnings: Mentions of psychiatric hospitals, vomit, bodily insecurity, neglectful parenting and Marble Hornets spoilers.

Tim was sobbing, panting heavily as he sprinted through the dark forest of Rosswood Park.

He knew that he needed to try to calm down; that's what his mother always told him to do before leaving him at the mental hospital all on his own. He couldn't do much if he could barely think straight, after all.

Where am I? He asked himself. That's easy; I'm at Rosswood, like always.

Why am I here? He continued. I had a vision and got panicked. I probably started running because of that.

What-is that a hole?! He barely had time to process the question before his foot got caught in the small pothole that had been previously obscured by fallen leaves.

He cried out in pain as he felt his ankle twist with a sickening crack. He tried to soften his fall with his arms, but only succeeded in scraping up his hands and forearms.

He felt nauseated upon lifting his torso up with his now stinging hands, his eyes regretfully trained onto his right ankle, which was now twisted in the wrong direction.

The throbbing pain of his ankle coupled with the gruesome sight was too much for the preteen to handle. He turned his head and threw up anything left in his stomach from dinner, making a small puddle of grotesque diluted stomach acid and undigested food as his only company.

Tim started crying again in spite of himself. He was alone in the middle of the night in a forest, stuck in place because of a (likely) broken ankle. He knew that the nurses would find him eventually; they always did, but it could be very well at least a solid hour until he was found missing. They had locked his room when he started having another episode.

The brown haired boy laid his head back on the ground in resignation. He didn't have many options considering the fact that he wasn't entirely sure where in Rosswood Park he was and he didn't want to try walking with his damaged ankle.

He desperately wanted someone to find him. He wanted comfort. Tears continued to stream from his eyes knowing how unlikely of a chance that was.

He sighed, drifting off into an uncomfortable slumber.

***

"Hey. Heeeeeeeeey. Are you dead? You're breathing, so you're not dead, right?"

Tim forced his eyes open as he groaned, lifting himself up slightly to identify who was repeatedly poking his side with a twig.

Tim quickly concluded that he did not know the boy in front of him, despite them clearly being close in age. He had short caramel hair and alluringly grayish eyes that Tim couldn't quite pinpoint the color of.

"Uh..."

The boy grinned eagerly at him. "Oh! Right! I'm Brian! Nice to meet you!" The kid introduced brightly. "I'm happy you're not dead!"

"... Tim..." The shorter boy responded quietly. He didn't talk to many people due to the fact that he spent the majority of his days locked in his room, so as a result, he wasn't the most socially comfortable person.

The caramel haired boy giggled. "You don't talk a lot, do you? That's okay! I don't mind! You still seem nice!"

Brian knelt down, looking at Tim's leg analytically after realizing why Tim hadn't attempted to get up, his lip sticking out as he thought about what to do. "That looks bad... I'm not a Boy Scout, so I don't really know what to do about it, but laying with your face in the dirt probably isn't very comfortable."

Tim nodded in agreement.

"Hmm... oh!" Brian's face lit up. "I'll just help you up!"

"You don't have to do that..." Tim knew he wasn't the wasn't the lightest for his age. He was fairly self conscious of his weight and he really didn't want someone who was being so inexplicably nice to him to leave because of that.

Brian seemed confused by his response. "But don't you wanna get up?"

Tim looked back at the ground. "Well yeah, but-"

Brian wasted no time in pulling up Tim by his arm. Tim practically screamed was his weight shifted to his damaged ankle.

Brian panicked at Tim's sudden reaction to standing and quickly set Tim's arm over his shoulder, supporting the injured boy.

Tim seemed embarrassed. He looked away bashfully, ashamed by the noise that escaped him. "Th-thanks..."

"Mhm! Are your parents around? I'll help you to your car or something!"

Once again, Tim grew nervous. "I..."

Brian blinked owlishly, sensing the other's distress. "Or we can stay here for a while? I did escape my parents' hotel room after all! I can't let my handiwork go to waste!"

Tim nodded gratefully. "Yeah... that sounds better."

"Okay!"

Brian helped Tim over to a particularly large tree, skillfully avoiding the semi obscured holes in the ground as he navigated towards a particularly large tree.

Tim was relieved as he was helped onto the ground, his back resting against the tree's bark. "Thanks again..." Tim rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I know I'm not skinny..."

Brian seemed confused by the comment. "I don't care if you're skinny or not; you're my friend either way!"

Tim's head shot up, his coffee brown eyes widening in shock. "Friend?" He repeated hopefully.

Brian nodded enthusiastically. "From now on- we're best friends! You helped me with my boredom, so we're friends now!"

"I've never had... a friend before..."

Tim didn't realize that he'd said that out loud until Brian looked at him sadly.

"Never?" Brian asked, his voice growing quiet.

"Well... I never really had the chance..." Tim explained awkwardly.

Brian stood up decisively, making the shorter boy look up at him curiously.

"That's it! I can't allow that! I promise to be the best friend ever, Tim! And don't you forget that!"

Coffee brown eyes sparkled in awe of the boy's bold declaration. "You mean it?"

Brian's gaze softened as he gave Tim a warm smile. "Absolutely."

***

(Decades later...)

Tim stared in horror at the lifeless body of the hooded man, the adrenaline of his previous actions was beginning to wear off.

I have to know who this guy really was... He gingerly lifted the black ski mask from his face.

"N-no..." He covered his mouth, tears pooling in his eyes. "What have I done?"

(A/N): Believe it or not, I was intending for this to be a nice, fluffy AU of how Tim and Brian met. I didn't realize how subconsciously upset I was when I wrote this, and you can clearly see how that turned out. Oops.

But I hope you still enjoyed!

Until next time!

-Peridot