Archive of Our Own ^beta

Easter. The time where everyone gets together to do one of the three things:

Celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Go Easter egg hunting.
Or sit in the bedroom of your abandoned house while chugging a Dr.Pepper and staring at a photo of your dead family.

And currently, Georgie was sitting in his bedroom of his abandoned house, chugging a Dr.Pepper and staring at a photo of his family.

The infection was over—which was a good thing. But back when the infection was alive, Georgie had a purpose.

He believed his sister was alive—despite what he saw in his own house. He gaslighted himself into believing that he was hallucinating—that it was his anxiety getting to him. Or even better, it was just some sick, twisted nightmare.

He was convinced the distorted pig in his nightmare was his sister. After that nightmare of forgetting what his sister looked like and turning infected had scared the shit out of him.

So he tried to convince himself it was fake. That he wasn’t forgetting what his sister looked like—that he remembered the color of her eyes and dress.

But every-time he tried to picture her before he went to bed, it was all just black and white. Georgie had forgot what his own sister looked like during the infection and he hated himself for it.

Which is why staring at the family photo in-front of him made him feel stupid. How could he not remember her hazel eyes or her red dress. Or the fact her favorite color was red. The walls of her side of the room were a dark red—she had a literal red plant in her room that he used to always complain about for whatever reason.

Georgie had tried to stop being such a miserable sack of nothing, he really did. But he couldn’t admit to wanting help—he didn’t think it was vulnerable to or anything, but his stomach always tied into knots and he felt like scratching at his throat until it tore into two parts and the second part dropped into his stomach and the first part hung bleeding from its spot every-time he tried to talk about therapy.

So, Georgie kept himself in the comfort of his rotten bed, the can of Dr.Pepper now finished and on the floor as Georgie held the picture frame in his hand.
——
“Cmon, Zee! We have to go easter egg hunting!!” Zuzy cheered, grabbing her sister by her hand and running around their backyard.

Zee and Zuzy had significantly grown happier since they managed to cure Zizzy. She wasn’t apart of the insolence and no survivor had shot her, so she was just missing a finger or two while being partially blind in her right eye.

Zizzy and Pony had been dating since they fought the infected soldiers in the military outpost, and after Zizzy was cured Pony made it his job to make Zizzy remember everything. The good, the bad, the funny, everything. And now their relationship lives on.

Mimi had invited Kona over and be happily accepted because he was being tracked by the military ever since they got their shit together and found out he was living on preserved land. Let’s just say they were NOT happy…

Giraffy’s gun shot wound healed thanks to the help of the TSP. Nobody in the safe place are on speaking terms with Willow—even after she redeemed herself, but they aren’t really enemies. The only people who didn’t like her were Georgie, Zizzy, and Pony. Zee and Zuzy hated on Willow in secret.
———

Everything seemed to have been going well, Mimi and Kona were chatting and catching up with each other, Giraffy was watering the plants outside, Zee and Zuzy were Easter egg hunting with a few friends from school, and Zizzy and Pony were sitting on lawn chairs, smiling and watching the children from a distance to make sure no danger was in their way of fun.

‘Wait—Friends from school? Then where’s Georgie?’ Pony thought, raising an eyebrow and looking among the group of children.

Zee, Zuzy, Marcus (nerd kid), and Joanna(sweetest girl you’ll ever meet btw)

“Hey, Zizzy? Have you seen Georgie at all today?” Pony asked, turning his head to face his girlfriend.

“Georgie…uhh…I saw him this morning, but he was leaving the safe place for some reason. I didn’t get the chance to ask where he was going.” Zizzy replied, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Shouldn’t we go look for him?”

“We can’t all just go and look for one person, that would put the kids we currently can see in danger.” Zizzy explained, crossing her arms.

“Then why don’t you stay here and I go looking for him?” Pony suggested.

“You go do that, come back when you find him, okay?” The zebra replied, kissing Pony on the cheek before turning her attention back to the children who were currently arguing about who got the last egg. Who knew turning your attention away from a group of teenagers for a minute could result in a wrestling match between Zee and Marcus with Zuzy cheering on Zee and Joanna screaming about how someone’s gonna get hurt.

“..Goodluck.”
“Thanks.”

Pony stood up from his chair and walked to the front of the safe place, leaving and beginning his search for Georgie by asking nearby neighbors. This eventually led him to Georgie’s old house— the words “THE PIGGY RESIDENCE.” Faded onto the mailbox.

Pony sighed and walked to the front door, knocking on the sorry excuse for a door. (Which was really half door, half curtain because his house had been raided during the infection by survivors.)

“Georgie? Please tell me you’re in here!” Pony shouted before hesitantly deciding to open the “door” and walk inside. A disapproving groan came from upstairs and Pony sighed in relief.

“Georgie, come down here.” Pony walked over to the stairs and put his hands on his hips.

“Noo, I prefer to spend my Easter away from most people.” Georgie shouted.
“Am I most people?”
“…no. But that means you’re coming up here.”
“Fine.”

Pony walked upstairs and Georgie got out of his bed, standing in-front of the bedroom doorway.

“So, what do you want? I’m spending Easter with my family this year.” Georgie crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway.

“Your family? But Georgie, I thought the safe place was your family.” Pony raised an eyebrow, what the hell did he mean by “family?” He felt slightly hurt Georgie didn’t consider him family—but who else could he be referring to? Unless…

“My REAL family, idiot.” Georgie held the photo of his family up to Pony’s face. His Grandparents, Parents, his older sister and him were all smiling in the photo, doing something childish and silly.

“Georgie, feeling bad for yourself is no way to celebrate Easter—or any holiday for that matter.” Pony gently pushed the picture away from his glasses.

“I don’t feel bad for myself! I just…” Georgie trailed off, his words caught in a knot at the back of his throat. He had so much to say—he wanted to open up, to spill his entire life story during the infection onto Pony and be comforted like a sad dog. But it had felt like his throat was cut off and dropped into his stomach. He couldn’t say anything he actually wanted to say. But God, he needed to talk. To say something.

“Shut up, Pony. Just shut up.” Georgie mustered, practically forcing himself to communicate out of sudden fear his throat would throw itself up and say everything he wanted to.

Georgie clenched and unclenched his fist before sighing and walking into his room to put the photo down before coming back out and crossing his arms.

“Georgie? Are you alright?”

“Just fuckin’ peachy, Pony.” Georgie rolled his eyes, sarcasm spilling from his words.

“Georgie, I’m just worried. You’re not talking as much anymore and you spend more time mourning than enjoying what you have now.” Pony frowned.

“I can’t enjoy what I have now when I don’t have the only people who taught me how to enjoy, Pony!”

Georgie immediately wanted to tape his throat to the back of his head and tie his tongue into a knot. He shouldn’t have lashed out, he shouldn’t have been in this house, he shouldn’t even be mourning—he doesn’t even know what he should be doing.

The two shared an awkwardly stunning silence…if that makes any sense? Pony wasn’t surprised that Georgie lashed out—he had done so before, like in the Plant when he tried to kill Mr.P. What surprised Pony is what the younger boy had said.

Obviously, Parents and older siblings are supposed to teach each-other and the younger, but it was known that happiness just came from something you loved. Unless Georgie had loved his family so much he felt as if the only source of happiness came from his family. And now that they’re gone—happiness is non-existent.

“Come on.” Pony gestured, walking towards the stairs.
“What?”
“I said come on! We’re going somewhere.”
“Where?”

“Does Raisin canes sound good?” Pony offered.
“…yeah.”
“Then come on. We’re getting you food.”
——-
Pony got Georgie some food and they talked. Talked about school, work, carrot prices skyrocketing, it was basically just a guys day between Georgie and Pony.

…And they didn’t get home until 2AM.

Pony walked in with a sleeping Georgie slumped over his shoulder, yawning before Zizzy snapped her fingers in his face.

“Ack! Wha? Z-Zizzy! What are you doing up this late?!” Pony stammered.
“What are you doing up?! It’s 2AM and you JUST got back!” Zizzy scolded, taking the sleeping boy into her arms.

“Well….”
————
“YOU TOOK HIM TO A BAR?!”
“He didn’t get anything! We did karaoke night!”
“How was he even let in?”
“The kid has got eye bags of a 40 year old man, we convinced the guy at the front his mental age was his real age.”
“…I’m not gonna even ask how.”