Decans thought about his earlier encounter with Error. Fresh had been sticking by his side, but he couldn't stop the murderous glares that Error shot him. Error surely wouldn't go so far as to hurt him right? Because Decans only had one life, and he was not ready to lose it.
"--And the last two pairings are Decans and Error, and Fresh and Sugar." A shiver ran down Decans' spine. "Oh sorry, read that wrong, silly me." Decans breathed a sigh of relief. "Actually, Paperjam? You are with Sugar. Fresh you'll be okay by yourself." Oh jeez. Fresh didn't waste any time. He looked at Decans, his eyes full of worry. Fresh was like an open book now that his shades were broken.
"Deccy Dec you be all up careful, okay?" Fresh warned.
Decans nodded, responding, "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen."
Fresh growled, his lingo leaving his speech for a moment. "But how can you be sure?"
Decans didn't reply for a second. "J-Just... Trust me."
"I usually can... But broski– this isn't something I'm willing to play with." Fresh sighed. He tugs lightly on Decans' hand. "C'mon, maybe we can still ask the teach ta switch up the all up partners–"
"Fresh!" Fresh jumped, Decans had never seen him so worried before. "I... I'm scared too. No– I'm terrified. But this is something me and Error need to work out." Fresh didn't want to listen.
"B-But if he hurts you--"
"The projects start tomorrow. I'll see you then." Decans turned away from Fresh and began to walk home.
"Deccy wait! Don't..." Fresh trailed off. He had already gone around the corner.
-
-
-
"Okay, everyone! There has been a slight change of partnership. Decans, you'll be with Fresh and Error, you'll be with Sugar and Paperjam." Decans squinted. He looked to Fresh, but Fresh didn't meet his eye.
The rest of the day was tense. Anytime Fresh tried to strike up a conversation, he would either get snippy remarks or the silent treatment. By lunch time, everyone had begun to pick up on the tension between Decans and Fresh. They were usually stuck to each other like glue, but they were off today. And at that same time, Fresh decided he'd better say something.
"D-Deccy Dec, I'm sorry okay? I know you all up and swiggity said you'd had it covered, but... I think you're the bomb diggity, brotato chip. I-I don't want you to get hurt."
"L-Listen. Fresh, I feel the same way about you."
Fresh perked up. "T-Then you all up and understand why--"
"But I'd think you'd respect my wishes if you really liked me." Decans got up and left without another word, letting his harsh words sink in. Sugar and Paperjam, who happened to be sitting across the table both looked at each other. Paperjam wolfed down the rest of his food and stood up with his tray.
"Well, I think I'm going to brainstorm for my project. Wanna join me Sugar?" Paperjam used his head to gesture towards the door Decans exited out of.
Sugar blinked as if he had just noticed the situation. He hastily got up and frowned. "Y-Yeah, I'm coming." Sugar hesitated, wondering if he should really leave Fresh all alone, but he didn't have much of a choice when Paperjam pulled him out the doors.
.
.
.
"Well, would you look at that! Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes skipping school! This is what you call a once in a lifetime experience." Paperjam whispered. Sugar glared at him, and Paperjam quickly quieted.
"Shorry Jammy, we have to keep a closhe eye on Decansh." Sugar sighed.
Paperjam looked confused. He cocked his head and asked, "Why?"
"Becaushe of the fact that my two besht friendsh' friendship ish collapshing, Jammy. The ship is shinking." Sugar mumbled, getting a bit louder.
Paperjam took a deep breath. "W-What does that have to do with us?"
He shrunk back in fear as a twisted smile made its way up Sugar's face. "We've got the life jacketsh."
Paperjam looked away from his friend. "So what do we do?"
Sugar looked back in the direction Decans was going. "Well, we can't let Decansh out of our-" Sugar popped out of the bushes. "Where did he go?!"
.
.
.
Decans growled. Why had he been so stupid back there? How could he have said such a thing to Fresh?! Fresh wasn't able to deal with that kind of thing yet. And right after the death of his brother! Wow, Decans had really done it this time. Fresh just bared his soul to him and Decans just... Rejected him. Not even to the friend zone. Not even close.
"Ahh, this is all just so... so stupid!" Decans shouted to nobody in particular. He wanted to kick something but he could hurt himself in the process. Thinking of this, Decans let out another string of frustrated noises. He didn't even care about where he was going. Just as long as it was very far away from the school. But this... This was a bit too far. You'd think the rules would be a bit more flexible, you'd think that Decans would actually have to go inside the house for bad things to happen. But you'd be wrong. Oh, so, so wrong. But don't worry, the cracking noise was too soft to bother anyone.
-
-
-
"How far away do you think he is?" Paperjam mumbled. "We've been walking for hours..."
Sugar sighed, flipping his nonexistent hair. "It'sh been five minutesh. You're sho dramatic."
Paperjam laughed. "Oh, I'm dramatic?" Sugar nodded. "Yesh. You are. Sho very much."
"Come on now Sugar, let's be honest, between the two of us, you're more dramatic than I..."
Sugar stopped dead in his tracks. "...Am..."
"...Do you shtill have your mom'sh phone?"
"Yeah."
-
-
-
"Error, don't lie to me. Did you, or did you not?" CQ said as she held Error still. He was a pretty good actor when he wanted to be.
"I'm t-telling you, I-I didn't do it on purpose! H-He snuck up on me, and I r-reacted." Error sniffled. CQ looked Error in the eyes for a moment before sighing and letting him relax. She looked over to Fresh who was sitting next to Decans' bed, holding his hand gently. It was going to be hard to take him back home. CQ'd better start now.
She placed a light hand on Fresh's shoulder. He didn't react in the slightest. "C'mon Fresh, we need to--"
"I'm staying here." CQ blinked. She had known this would happen, but now that it was happening, she didn't know what to do.
"Listen, Honey," CQ kneeled next to Fresh and placed her hand on his. "I know this hurts. But Decans wouldn't want you to sit here and worry about him. He'd tell you to go do something and take care while he couldn't. Plus, you've been here for hours. It's time to go."
"You wouldn't say that if this was Geno." CQ flinched. "In fact, you would probably be happy that I seemed to care." Error looked up. Fresh could feel his gaze burning into his back. But the words had started, and they weren't going to stop anytime soon. "It's always been, 'Geno this, Error that,' Don't you think I noticed?" Fresh smiled in a sad kind of way. "But maybe you thought, 'The emotionless child doesn't care. He's fine.' and I was fine. But now I'm not, and I know that. The only time you looked at me other than to make me apologize to Error, or take Geno to the park or something, was when I was lying in a hospital bed with a life threatening fever." Fresh rambled on, not even sparing a single thought to flick away the tears landing on the sheets of the bed.
"Is that how it works?" Fresh questioned. "Do I have to be sick for you to pay attention to me?" Fresh heard a chuckle come from him, he didn't force it. This was just so... Funny all of a sudden. "And now, one of the only people-- Geno, is gone, and now the only person in the world--" Fresh sniffled, trying to catch his breath. His vision swam with tears as he forced another statement out of his mouth. Another empty question. "T-the on-only other person w-who actually cares is d-dying... And you-... You're t-telling me to just-- just-- leave?" Fresh broke down into a hysterical laughing fit and CQ stood up. She didn't say anything to Fresh. She whispered something like "Let's go," to Error, and they walked to the door. CQ paused for a moment. "I'll get you in the morning." Fresh didn't respond. Decans didn't stir.
-
-
-
A bit later into the night, a nurse by the name of Grace (I'll see if you guys can make the connection >:3) came and brought Fresh some food, kindness, and comforting words. She opened up the couch-bed for him and offered a nightlight. He politely declined, but she brought him one anyway. After he zoned out for about an hour, Fresh retired to the couch bed. He closed his eyes and opened them immediately after. He placed the simple nightlight into an outlet near the couch-bed and watched it turn on. There. Fresh closed his eyes for the final time, with a contented sigh sprinkled with worry. He drifted off instantly.
-
-
-
Darkness.
Fresh looked up to see Decans, sitting down with him in a sunlit flower patch, handing him a Flower Crown. He seemed proud. Fresh put it on and hastily made one out of lavender for Decans. Decans laughed and placed it on his head. A bit further in the flower patch, Paperjam and Sugar were pointing at random constellations and giving them different names. Constellations? But it was-- Fresh gazed at the sky, squinting, expecting to see the sun, but his eyes widened when he saw the sky. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He saw Decans trying to say something to him. Fresh couldn't hear him, his metaphorical ears were ringing. Darkness started to crawl in from the ends of the flower patch.
Fresh tried to pull Decans closer but pushed him instead. The darkness swallowed his best friend up without a second thought. After a few seconds, all the Fresh could see where the flowers under him, and the abandoned flower crown in front of him. He closed his eyes.
-
-
-
Fresh sat up without a sound. He saw movement somewhere in front of him, and his half-awake brain managed to say the thing that made the least sense at the moment. "...Decans...?" Fresh managed to scare Nurse Grace, who was changing the IV and checking Decans' vitals. "Oh, I'm afraid its just little old me, sweetheart." The nurse offered her usual way-older-than-you-think-I-am smile and stopped for a moment. "Ah yes! Your mom popped over and told me to tell you that she was going with Ms. Noko to court to finalize a divorce." The nurse grew dreamy-eyed for a second. "I remember my first divorce..."
Fresh tried not to laugh, as it could've been a touchy subject. "Your first divorce?"
Nurse Grace laughed as if it were more than a high-school crush. It sounded like one. "Believe it or not, I was quite the looker when I was younger." She teased.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Fresh giggled. Nurse Grace knew just how to cheer him up. Just like Decans. He tried not to think about it that way.
"Alright, it'll be our little secret." Nurse Grace pushed a finger to her lips and winked. She gathered some of the stuff she had brought into the room and pushed it on a cart to the door. "Your mom will be here in an hour. I put some food on the table there for you." She listed. And finally, with a smile, she added, "Make sure to rest a bit sweetheart." With a swish of her short hair, she was out of the room. Fresh sighed, silent for a moment. He looked to the table for his food. What? He smiled warmly. How did she get pancakes?
//2046 words. Bam. Also, same as always, don't be afraid to ask/tell me if you find something off or confusing. I'll try and clear it up! <3