Chapter Text
Beep
Beep
Beep
Coiny groaned and rolled over, sleepily attempting to hit the snooze button on his alarm. He tried about five times before giving up, turning onto his stomach, and throwing his pillow over his ears in hopes of drowning out the noise. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it helped.
That was until someone ripped the pillow from his hands.
He groaned and rolled onto his back again just to see Pin, fully dressed and ready to go, standing over him. Impatience practically radiated off of her. He could hear her foot tapping against the floor boards of the house they were renovating together.
“Get up,” she snapped.
“But the bed is comfy~” Coiny said groggily, stretching his back until he heard several satisfying pops.
Pin chuckled. “I know, but we promised Fries we were going to help with his Grow-Tatoes today,” she said, going into his drawer and pulling out a pair of shorts and a shirt and throwing them at him. “So get up.”
Coiny sat up just as Pin closed the door to his room. He grabbed the shirt and shorts Pin had thrown at him and got dressed. He then walked into his bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
His hair was a mess, and he wore a tired expression. He picked up his hair brush and aggressively ran it through his yellowish-orange hair. Once he was done, he set it back down onto the counter.
He stared down at it for a second then looked back at the mirror and started posing. He made a few different poses, to really wake himself up, then grabbed his toothbrush, but some paste on in and get to work.
About ten minutes after Pin had come to get him, he was ready to go. He left his room and met her in the living room where she stood with her hands on her hips. She looked at him as he approached and let out a deep sigh.
“Took you long enough,” she said as she grabbed her shoulder bag and slung it over herself. Coiny sighed.
“Yeah, yeah, Pin. I know,” he said. Pin grabbed his wrist and dragged him out the front door and into the heart of Yoyle City.
The air was cool that morning, as it was in the middle of autumn. Coiny liked when I was this kind of temperature. Not too hot, not too cold.
When the got to the center of the city, or Yoyle Square as they called it, it was busy. Well, as busy as gets with the small amount of people that lived in the city. Pencil and the rest of Freesmart were walking on the other side of the street from Coiny and Pin and in the opposite direction.
Suddenly, Needle and Woody almost bumped into them.
“Sorry,” Needle said in her soft, high-pitched voice as she continued walking. Before there were completely out of earshot, however, Coiny overheard a passing comment from the tall girl about how Teardrop must be sleeping in, because she hadn’t seen the silent young woman all morning.
Coiny looked up as they were passing the tall and slim Yoyle Needy, spotting his old friend, Firey, suspended in a cage high above the street. He felt bad for Firey, he really did; but that was the price when you tried to steal Dream Island. Besides; if he tried to do anything, Coiny would end up stuck up there with him.
Pin noticed him looking and calmly put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look back at her. She then shifted her hand so that it was now grabbing his arm softly. She squeezed it softly and Coiny smiled.
——————————
Fries sighed angrily, leaning half of his body weight on his hoe. He was waiting for Coiny and Pin to stop by, as they had promised yesterday. Now that he was thinking about it, he wouldn’t actually be surprised if they didn’t show up at all. He knew the two of them liked messing with people.
Well, at least he had Gelatin. Wait, no that was worse.
“Watcha up to, buddy?!”
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Fries turned to face the boy, finally taking his weight off of the large garden tool and fully stood. An annoyed expression had already half-formed on his face. When he turned, he was met with Gelatin’s bright smile.
After a moment of awkward silence, Gelatin spoke again: “So, Fries. Watcha working on?”
Fries, realizing that he was probably not going to be left alone, decided to half-heartedly engage with the young boy.
“I’m growing my potatoes…” the older man said with a slightly annoyed tone.
“Nice!” Gelatin said. “Can I help?”
Fries stared at him for a second, pondering what to say, before replying with: “Sure. Fine. Whatever. Just stay out of my way.”
“Okie-dokie!” And without another word, he grabbed the watering can and went to the house behind the garden and started filling it with water.
“And STAY away from THAT area,” Fries added when Gelatin came back with a full watering can. He pointed over to a section of the garden where the potatoes were a bit weaker than the others. He had moved the weak ones there in hopes that they would thrive while not having their resources taken by the bigger plants. He called it “The Remus Zone.” He also took not of the fact that some of the plants in the center were doing surprisingly well. Better than they had been doing yesterday.
Strange…
Gelatin held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I won’t.” Fries sighed as he watched the boy leave.
Ah yes, Fries thought to himself. Water. The life-blood of all plants.
“Hello, Fries,” said a familiar voice from behind him. He turned, in slight surprise, to find Pin and Coiny.
“Oh, hello, you two,” Fries said in his usual, neutral, grumpy tone.
“Greetings, my bro,” Coiny said, trying to act cool, but failing miserably.
“You said you needed our help with the Grow-Tatoes?” Pin asked, tilting her head slightly.
“Yes, yes,” Fries mused as he open the gate to let the pair in. He led to an area where his stronger plants were thriving.
“I noticed earlier that they were running low on fertilizer, so I need you two to get some from the garage and-“
Suddenly the trio heard a deafening scream. They whirled around to see Gelatin dead center in the Remus Zone, holding Fries’ hoe in a death grip, staring in horror at something on the ground. Anger boiled in Fries’ chest and he stormed over to the young boy, about to berate him for doing the one thing he asked him not to do. That was, until he saw what Gelatin was see to staring at.
In a small hole that Gelatin had apparently dug, lay the body, of Teardrop. She looked cold and lifeless, unlike the TD they knew. Rigor Mortis appeared to have set in already; her limbs stiff, and unmoving. Her lips looked a bright cherry-red, standing out against her white skin. Soil had stained her clothing and seeped into her hair.
A silence befell the group as Coiny and Pin came up being the others to see what they were staring at. He heard Pin gasp. Coiny said nothing. Fries turned his attention back to Gelatin, who looked fully traumatized.
Fries calmly put a hand on the young boy’s shoulder as he eased to hoe from his hands. He then silently led him away, and out of the garden and their house they shared with Puffball. It wasn’t that far from the garden, just across the street, but the silence that had befallen them made the trip feel like forever.
When the got there, Fries eased Gelatin onto the chair on the front porch. He knew that Puffball was out with some of her friends at the moment, so she could be of any help.
“Just stay here,” Fries said surprisingly softly. He then turned, back and headed towards the garden.