Chapter Text
…
Ozo curled up, his knees to his chest, tears falling as he stared at his screen.
Even in Brandon’s last moments, he had thought of Ozo.
It was so incredibly painful to know even when Brandon was preparing to “ascend”, he thought of making that line for Ozo.
For him.
Brandon wrote heli-wars because he hoped that Ozo would see it.
Because he hoped Ozo would feel okay, even if he chose not to join him in ascension.
…
~~~
At the foot of his bed while trying to sleep, he heard it.
A classic Roblox chat noise from his powered off computer.
Ozo quickly shuffled over to power on his computer.
~~~
‘Brandon, is that u?’ Ozo asked, seeking the comfort of someone who knew was gone.
Another chat noise.
But Ozo couldn’t see the messages.
‘Brandon?’
‘Please.’
’Give me a sign.’
Behind Ozo, a sign block appeared, there was text that read ‘ozo! :)’
’BRANDON?’
‘I THOUGHT YOU GOT REALLY HURT’
The sign changed, Ozo assumed that maybe Brandon’s chat was funky, that didn’t matter, it was Brandon.
’I did, it’s okay though’
‘I made it :D’
Ozo paused, rereading what the sign messaged three times before sending anything.
‘???’
‘WHAT?’
‘WHERE THE HECK DID YOU ‘MAKE IT’ TO?’
The sign didn’t change.
‘BRANDON?’
…
The sun was barely peaking over the hillside, and Ozo could feel rage and frustration bubble over him, but that quickly burnt out into sobs, ugly loud sobs, whining that he muffled through his pillow.
…
~~~
“Hunnybunny? Are you okay?” Ozo’s mom creaked the door open, seeing Ozo flopped out on his bed and his computer open to Brandon’s Roblox game, “Babes, are you crying over this uh… ‘Ro-blocks’ again?”
”You wouldn’t get it, mom!”
”Is it called a roblux?”
”MOM! Go away!”
”…Okay, okay, come downstairs to eat soon though, babes”
”Ughhh okay, mom, go away now!”
…
~~~
Ozo glanced at his computer, wiping off his tears, sniffling slightly still.
The sign still hadn’t changed.
Whatever, he couldn’t focus on that. He had school, plans, and a life outside of Roblox. He didn’t need Brandon’s stupid sign!
Ozo grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs to eat something.
~~~
”Hey, Sweetie, I made you some toast and left the cream cheese on the lower shelves this time,” Ozo’s mother told Ozo while making more toast for her and his little brother.
”Okay, Mom, I’ll walk to school today,” Ozo answered, reaching for the cream cheese and a butterknife.
“Sounds good!”
~~~
Ozo bit into his bread, watching the trees sway gently outside, he pondered if maybe Brandon liked to watch the trees before.
Maybe Brandon watched the sunlight fall upon the autumn leaves, watching as sprouts grew just a bit too late, sprouts that would be gone in just a few months from the cold winter approaching.
Maybe Brandon made snow angels in the leaves, Ozo wondered if they got stuck in his brunette hair, that would be a pretty sight. Oranges, reds, yellows, all sprinkled into a warm brown.
The only reason Ozo really could picture how Brandon looked was because in one of their conversations, Ozo asked for Brandon to describe himself so he could make the two of them in one of his work in progress games.
…Ozo never did finish that game, he only finished those sprites for Brandon.
~~~
School was absolutely horrid, the entire day the teachers kept calling on Ozo when he didn’t know the answer, or if he did then the answer always needed someone to ‘add on to it a bit’, and in his last hour, his science teacher decided to do a surprise quiz worth 70% of this quarter’s grade.
Ozo stared out the window, it would’ve been more bearable if it didn’t feel so lonely. Him and the others started to fall out after Sparten pretended to be Brandon and Ozo got mad.
Couldn’t Sparten see it? They had both lost their friend, and instead of wanting to find Brandon, Sparten lied, deceived Ozo and the others, and now they all wanted him to forgive that liar? He couldn’t.
Not when it came to his best friend.
As Ozo walked back home, he watched the leaves fall, the leaves were a beautiful warm yellow, the yellow sunlight streaming onto the grass, the pastel yellow of the house on the other side of the road.
Brandon’s favorite color was yellow.
Ozo could live in the color now.
It was beautiful.
…
~~~
Ozo unlocked his house’s door, walking upstairs to his room. Ozo grabbed a bag of fruit snacks and went to his room.
His computer was on, the digital sign was visible from his doorway.
It… changed.
The sign changed.
‘Hi Ozo!’
Ozo rushed to type in chat, ‘who is this?’
The sign changed quickly, ‘Its me :D!’
’How do I know it’s you?’
‘I asked you to join me in heli-wars. The day before this all.’
Ozo went still, he realized that maybe he wasn’t still hung up on the mystery of Brandon. He couldn’t believe the possibility as his fingers slowly typed out the name, uncertain, like it was sacred.
’Brandon?’
’Hi Ozo :D’
…
~~~