Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Then maybe we shouldn't be together!" Karl shouts. It takes me by surprise, recently me and Karl have been having fights but I never thought that Karl felt that way.

"If that's what you want" I say, trying my best to keep my voice even before taking a step back. I turn fully grabbing my car keys and rushing out the door. Once outside I stand there, waiting for Karl to open the door, waiting for something that never comes. I stand there for 20 minutes begging in my mind for him to chase after me.  He doesn't, and he never will. 

That's the harsh truth, Karl will never run after me. Not like I would run after him.

I walk to my car in a daze. I cant even remember the drive home. When I get inside, George is there glaring at me. "What the fuck did you do to Karl" he spits out at me. His eyes boring into mine. 

He starts to yell, but his words don't mean anything to me.

'What did YOU do to Karl'

It's unfair really, that he blamed me instantly but I understand, at least a little. I am the more likely person, Karl wouldn't hurt me. Or I guess he would. I don't know, this whole night just feels like it's unreal. Dream walks in to George yelling at me, scolding me for making Karl cry. He tries to stop him but George is protective of his friends (what about me? Am I not his friend? I don't know)

Dream drags george out of the room, I can hear their heated whispers. Not mad at each other, never mad at each other. They love each other and would never intentionally hurt one another ( I thought that I had that with Karl. Does he even love me at all? Did he ever love me? I don't know.)

"We need to be there for both of them George, this is just a spat they'll get over it! Just like last time"

"Nick was definitely the one who started it though right! You agree with me don't you"

Silence, then a huff. I walk away.

Chapter Text

5 weeks later

I look up from the couch to George and Dream at the front door putting their coats on. "Where are you guys going?" I ask, trying to get George to look at me. (He doesn't)

"Well Kar- I mean someone had a rough night and we need to be there for him" dream says cautiously. "You can say his name, y'know" I look at dream, who flinches. "Yeah okay I'm sorry I just didn't know how you would feel-" dream starts. "Can we just go? Some people are feeling upset right now!" George snaps, pulling on dreams sleeve. Dream glares at George before waving bye. They walk out whispering to each other.

I bet George hopes I won't be here when he comes back. (I bet he wishes I wasn't here at all)

I hear their car pull out of the driveway, recently it has become a noise I am familiar with. Everyday they go to see Karl, everyday they leave me in a house too big, everyday they come home too late. I sigh and stand up walking over to the door and locking it. I sit back down on the couch pulling my knees up to my chest. What did I do to deserve being shunned? Walk away after ebung broken up with? That's fucking stupid. Nobody in our friend group responds to me anymore, some because they're busy, others because they also think I was the one at fault for our breakup.

Wiping my eyes I get up to grab some water from the fridge and I sit on the counter as I drink it. A knock on the door makes me jump causing me to knock over the water. I curse under my breath as I quickly clean up the spilt water. Dream and George must of forgotten something, they probably left their house key. I rush over to the door and open it, to someone I wasn't expecting.

"Punz!"

I open the door wider to let him in, and he strides in. "Hey man! I thought you were getting ready to move to California tomorrow for the company your dad gave you. What was it? Athid Records?"

Punz smiles and nods "I am actually, but I came with a proposal and lunch" he says sitting down at the table.

I raise my eyebrow at that but sit down across from him. He hands me a container, it's from my favorite sushi place down in Orlando. We eat and talk for a few moments, it's…. nice.

I haven't been able to have a normal conversation with someone in a while, so it's refreshing. When he's been quiet for a while I look back up at him to see him staring at me, studying my face.

"Have you ever been to California before?" He asks me. I nod and reply "I went a lot when I was younger it was fun. My family owns a property there, I loved that place."

"Well, something… happened at Athid Records. One of my big singers left and now one of my bands is falling apart." Punz tells me. I suck in a breath through my teeth, "that sucks man I'm so sorry" I say sympathetically. He nods and tilts his head, blue eyes looking into mine as if expecting something.

"You still take those singing lessons, right?"

Whoa. Whoa.

"Are you asking me if I want to join your records?" I ask incredulously.

"Yes, I am actually"

"Punz, I can't just get up and leave for California!"

"But can't you? Nick listen to me, I've heard you sing. You could be big, especially with the reach my company has!" Punz exclaims.

Here's something only a few people know about me. I love to sing, even if it's just some song on the radio or on my phone. I've been singing since I was 5 along with playing violin and punz is right, Athid Records is big. They've had some highly known singers and bands.

My phone starts buzzing on the table and I ignore it for now. "So what would I be doing?" I ask hesitantly. Punz smiles and explains how one of his bands dismembered because the lead singer wanted to start a bakery. The drummer followed this singer and helps with the bakery now, and the keyboardist took a job in the production, only the lead guitarist remains of the band now. My job would be singing and rebuilding the band.

My phone keeps buzzing. I apologize to punz and turn it on to put it on mute. My finger accidentally clicks one of the notifications and I find myself looking at a picture of a party, a party with everyone in my friend group but me. They're at Karls apartment, the photo includes all of them laughing.

My eyes stay glued to the phone screen as punz continues to talk. The hurt and betrayal stings in my chest and I say something before really thinking about it.

“Yes” I say interrupting what Punz was saying. He brightens, and I look up at him shutting my phone off. “I’ll go” I tell him.

Chapter Text

Surprisingly it isn’t that hard to forget about the photo, and soon I'm laughing at Punz who's trying to catch patches. I scoop her up, and she curls into me. I remember when I first moved in with her, back when it was just me and dream in this house 4 years ago. George had gone to high school with us but he moved back to England for a 3 year college he had gotten invited to. We had also just met Karl, the three of us ran into each other in a bookstore when we were both trying to find a manga. I had a crush on him from the second we met so when he asked me out, I, the 17 year old simp I was, said yes. Dream liked Karl, said me and him would be cute together. Patches didn't like him as much, shying from him when he would come over.

I’m going to miss my little girl when I leave but I know Dream and George will take care of her, even if I'm the one who does most of the work for her right now. Dream would do anything for her, the water fountain in our kitchen is testimony to that. Punz huffes when he sees Patches' obvious favoritism towards me but settles down when she nuzzles into his hand. Unsurprisingly Punz has a bunch of moving boxes in his trunk and we use them to pack up my room. 

Our flight is late tonight at 1 in the morning, but it will take us three hours to get to the airport he bought the flights from. So we have to leave now, and that means packing up my stuff immediately. Once we shove the last of my stuff into a box I check the time. 8:45 at night, two hours after punz had shown up and an hour and a half after I had seen the picture. 

I open my contacts app, and my finger hovers over Dreams. I have to tell him I'm leaving. But I don't really want to. I click the call button with a grimace and wait. It rings, and rings again. 

Click.

"Dream hey! Listen I have something to tell-"

"The phone number you have called is not available, at the tone please record your message."

Beep.

Oh. oh.

He really just hung up on me. I click the red button ending the call on my end. The frown lining my face deepens, before it turns into a scowl. Fine, if he wants to be like that he can. But I'm leaving, whether he knows or not. I turn off my phone and shove it into my bag. 

I grab a piece of paper and a pen before writing out a note. I make sure it doesn't sound too angry before placing it on my bed. 

"Nick! We have to go now if we want to be on time!" Punz shouts from the living room.

"Coming!" I reply, before grabbing my bag and rushing out of the bedroom closing the door behind me. I give patches more food, and I make sure her water fountain is clean before grabbing my boxes and walking outside.

Once all of my boxes are in the car I look back up at the house I had been living in for 4 entire years. I had fallen in love in that house, and had my heart broken. I had broken my ankle falling down those front steps. I had broken that window in the front, and Dream had broken the front door.

I'm going to miss it… alot. But it's time to move on. So with a final goodbye to the house and a kiss blown to patches who sat watching in the window I got in the car and let Punz drive me to my future.

Dear Dream and George

I'm sorry for leaving like this, it's not how I expected myself to go. I don't know when you'll find this letter or if you'll care.

I know Karl needs you guys and I'm happy he got that support. But I needed you too, I needed you so bad. Not expressing my feelings is my bad habit when it comes to things that hurt me a lot. And this time I suffered because of it. It's not your fault, you can't read minds.

But I'm leaving, and I'm most likely not coming back. Don't try to contact or find me please, at least not for a while. I need time to heal, and distance will help me with that.

Goodbye,

Nick 

Chapter Text

The drive to the airport was long, but me and Punz made it work. We talked about everything, learning things about each other that no one else knows.

"No way you actually did that", I laughed leaning forward in my seat clutching my ribs.

"I did! I did." Punz chuckles, "my hair looked burnt for like 2 months after that". I clutched the dashboard trying to steady myself after laughing so hard. "Punz! How did you catch your hair on fire after trying to make eggs! Why was your hair even close to the frying pan!" I cackled.

Punz shrugs, a smile on his face. I try to calm down, my breaths ragged. "I still think bleaching your friends' hair with cleaning bleach is worse" Punz exclaims, his eyes not leaving the road. I scoff, and lean back in my seat. "How was I supposed to know that hair bleach and cleaning bleach are different? They're both bleach"

Punz huffs amused. "Maybe that's why the kids mother said you're a bad influence and forbid you from seeing him again", Punz laughs.

"In my defense that mom was a bitch"

"Nick!"

° •●○•°

Arriving at the airport was pretty uneventful, Punz gave his keys to these guys that are bringing the car and our stuff to California. We went through security with ease, and our gate was right by a coffee shop. At 12:45 am we started boarding and we managed to get a row to ourselves.

I tell Punz about the house my family owns in California, and he was very impressed. My family is pretty rich, with my dad being the owner of a lot of newspapers and my mom being a lawyer. They set aside a small fortune for me, and that's how I can afford not to have a super steady job. Punz raises his eyebrows when I tell him I'm actually the one that pays for the house I stayed in with dream and george.

"Are they gonna be good? Like should you tell them they need to start paying?" He asks slightly concerned about them. I laugh and wave him off, "I wouldn't leave them to pay for a whole house by themselves so suddenly. I'll pay until they buy a new house, they were talking about moving in with Karl to a new house anyways." I say, watching Punz's face. His eyebrows furrowed, and his lips moved down into a frown.

I nudged Punz with my elbow across the seat. "What's got your face like that buddy" I laughed. "They talked about moving in with your ex boyfriend… in front of you?" He asked, the sourness on his face translating to his voice. I shrugged, and told him "it doesn't matter that much, plus it was really only George talking about it".

I grinned and slung my arm around punz, having to lean over because of the seat in between us. I pulled him in, his hip hitting the arm rest beside him. "Why? Are you concerned for me!" I teased, pulling off his hat with my free hand and tussling his hair. He groaned and smacked my hand, I pulled away laughing. He took his hat from where it fell onto the seat and shoved it back onto his head, grumbling about how annoying I was.

The intercom went on telling us to buckle our seat belts and push up the trays. They also reminded us to put our phones onto airplane mode. I, fortunately, put it on back at the house so I don't have to put it on now. Thankfully the flight was super late at night, so I just slept the whole time. Punz woke me up after we landed and we made it into the airport with no trouble. Which of course didn't last long.

"What do you mean your loft isn't going to be ready for another month?" I say blankly staring at Punz who has a sheepish smile on his face. I look back down to my phone, turning it off from where the Uber app is open.

He rubs the back of his neck and replies "Well I just got a text that the loft has to have some last minute repairs, so…. I can't live in it until it's ready".

I slide my hand down my face. "Fine you can stay with me, but only until the loft is ready" I sigh. He cheers and throws his arm around me before pulling me into a side hug. "Thanks man you're the best!" he exclaims.

I shove him away with my elbow and return to ordering a Uber with my phone, "I know" I say.

The Uber pulls up 5 minutes later, and Punz puts his suitcase in the back. Because my stuff isn't going to be here until Punz's car gets here I don't have anything except my backpack with some clothes for until I buy more, my wallet, my laptop and chargers, and my phone.

The drive to my new house is long, mostly because it's on the outskirts of the other side of L.A. The roads turn from concrete to rocks and eventually we pull up to the house. I had called my dad who technically owns the house and he said that he would put my name on the deed. So in a few hours the house will be completely mine.

Punz gapes when he sees the house, his eyes wide in shock. "Holy shit dude. I knew you were rich but I didn't know you were rich rich" he claims. I nod and grab his suitcase. He hadn't gotten it when he needed to because he was too busy gawking at my house.

I drag it up the driveway, and walk up the path to the door. The key to the house is inside a little gnome on the front porch, and I dust it off when I pick it up. Punz breaks out of his trance and jogs up to me. "Dude your house is like 5 stories high" he says pointing up. I scoff and reply "Actually it's only 4" while rolling my eyes. I push the door open after unlocking it.

The house is… well… dusty. Which is what I expected, after all we haven't used it in at least 5 years. The last time anyone was here was for my 15th birthday, which was a big event. My parents even convinced Dream's parents to let him come too.

That was right after Dream had become "friends" with george. George was a foreign exchange student who came from England. He came at the end of freshman year, and I had a few classes with him but we didn't talk. He didn't talk to anyone actually, he just sat in the corner taking notes.

In the beginning of sophomore year, we once again had a lot of classes together. This time though I wasn't going to let him sit in the corner and be alone all year. So I sat next to him, and started talking to him. It took all of the first semester but he warmed up to me. After we came back in second semester I started hinting that he should become friends with Dream. He was resistant but eventually gave in.

When I introduced them, Dream became a stuttering blushing mess. He pulled me aside after their meet up and reprimanded me for not telling him that George was the "hottest person to walk the earth". I just shrugged and grinned. From then on I pushed Dream and George together, and George started liking him back. They got together at the start of junior year. I proclaimed myself their cupid, and took credit every time someone complimented their relationship.

I'm glad they found each other, and even more glad I could help them. Even though being around them made me sick. George graduated a year early, and went off to his college in England. Dream and I moved in together the summer after junior year, because we were both accepted to an early college, so he and I finished off high school online and went to college classes at the university we moved close to.

Then I met Karl, he worked at a bookstore right by our house. Me and dream went in there to find a college book he needed and a manga book I wanted, and Karl helped us out. Eventually he asked me out, and I obviously said yes. George moved back to America after 6 months of bring in england, choosing to do his college online to be near dream and became a citizen.

Then 4 blissful years passed, and Karl grew close with both of them but especially George. And now here we are, with them still together and me across the country.

I look up at Punz who's marveling at the chandelier, and I can't help but feel like I'll be okay. It will take time, sure, but eventually I'll be happy.

I walk over to the washing room and grab two dusters. I throw one at Punz who catches out of reflex.

"Let's get to cleaning Punzo"

Chapter Text

Punz flops on the couch beside me groaning. I roll my eyes and log into my Netflix account onto the new TV. I curse under my breath when the password is incorrect. "Stupid fucking password. Why didn’t I write it down" I grumble. (Dream would have it written down).

"Cause you're an idiot." Punz replies unhelpfully. I throw a pillow at him in response before giving up on Netflix. I turn to the blonde next to me to find him sprawled out on the rest of the couch.

"Did you finish dusting the guest room? Because that shit was nasty"

Punz groans again tilting his head to look at me. "Yes I fucking dusted that big ass room, why the fuck was it so fucking crusty" he complains. (George would make me clean it for him).

"Because no one's been here for years!" I laugh. "The last time anyone was here was like 6 years ago."

Punz groans again, shoving a pillow over his face and rolling onto his stomach. "Are you hungry? Because I'm fucking starving" I ask pushing myself up from the couch. Punz grunts in reply. "McDonald's it is" I say, opening door dash on my phone.

~●~

The next day I follow behind Punz as he leads me into the recording building. He points to doors as we pass them explaining who has that office and the band's for each of them. "-that's Hannah's office, you know her as the singer 'xx roses'. She's got a song writer named Sylvie, and she's close with the people next door! In that band it's Noah whose stage name is Foolish, badboyhalo, and skeppy! Bad will probably take you under his wing and show you the ropes so don't worry about that. Their band is called the 'reapers' and they have multiple songwriters but one in particular name Cara or we call her Puffy." Punz explains as we walk down the hall.

"And that brings us to this one" Punz says as he stops in front of a door. "This one is yours! And your bandmate. His name is Wilbur Soot, but we just call him Wil. He should be in there now! I'll let you get to know him and I'll be back in about an hour to check in. Try your best to be friendly with him, his first band is the one that fell apart so he might still be mad about that." Punz chuckles.

Great.

"Have fun~" he sings as he walks away before going into 'Foolishs' bands room.

I grit my teeth and slide my hand over the door knob. I'm really not excited about dealing with a man who's already in a bad mood but if I want to have a good start I need to suck it up and try. I knock and a voice says to come in.

I open the door and look around. It's pretty big for an office. It's got a living space and on my left I can see two doors leading to separate rooms. On my right is a door and a big window showing the inside of that room. It's your standard recording room with mics and instruments.

I turn my focus back in front of me and see my new band mate. He's scowling but he stands to greet me anyway. He's super tall, like 6'5, and he's got curly brown hair. He's wearing a long trench coat with a yellow shirt underneath. While the trench coat is a weird choice his style is pretty nice. And so is his face. I can see why people liked his band so much.

I step forward with what I hope is a charming smile and stick out my hand. "I'm Nick! It's nice to meet you". He eyes my hand before cautiously taking it in his own. "Wilbur…" he says before awkwardly taking his hand away. (From his accent I can tell he's british like george. I hate the way it makes me like him more). His scowl is gone now but his eyes are still cold. I give him a bigger smile before looking around the living space.

"Wow this place is pretty big." I exclaim walking over to a picture frame on the coffee table. Its a picture of Wilbur and some other people. A girl with pink short hair is in the corner, obviously being the one to take the photo. A bald man stands next to Wilbur with his arm on Wilburs shoulder. He has red and blue sunglasses and a big smile. A man towards the back also has pink hair but it's longer then the ladies is. A blond man is next to that guy, an exasperated but fond look on his face.

I walk away from the photo and continue looking around, frowning at the mini fridge with Gatorade and what looks like a bottle of sand? I don't know and I can't bring myself to care.

Wilbur watches me while I walk around, as if studying me. I stop in front of a board on the wall has a picture of a panda on it. "I love pandas!" I say. A silence settles after that and I feel a disappointment pool in my stomach.

"...I think I'll call you that" Wilbur says startling me. "Call me what?" I ask, turning to him. The cold look in his eyes melts.

"Pandas."

"I think I'm okay with that" I snicker. And he snorts.

Wilbur isn't so bad, I decide. I'm sure I can work with him. (It isn't because he reminds me of george)

Chapter Text

Yeah so uhm. Hi! It's been a while huh?

As I'm sure all of you know, one of the main characters turned out to be a really bad guy. I'm probably not going to write anymore chapters or anything. In fact I'm probably going to delete this fic along with my other one. If you want to use this idea go ahead, but I'm not going to continue it.

Writing this and planning it out was so fun for me and I'm so sad to see it go... maybe I'll rewrite it with different characters but I don't know. Thank you for your support and for reading this. I know my writing is below average, so thanks for sticking around.

I love all of you guys, and I hope you all have amazing lives. It was a honor and a privilege to be able to be apart of this Fandom. Don't forget to take care of yourselves and drink water.

Bye <3