A/N: Shool has had me busy, apologies. This was requested by @Yipyee, this chapter is real late, sorry again for that. Been having trouble with plots but I'm back on track. Expect the next chapter to be out, tomorrow at best. If you can't tell, weekends are when I'll be at my best production rate with my free time (especially at night), unless I'm busy on the weekend. Anyways, have fun reading! <3
This takes place during a show intermission, like the time between episodes that everyone gets to themselves. Usually everyone is only allowed to be with their teammates during an intermission, but most contestants ignore that rule.
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"Can someone remind me what the P.A.C.T in Death P.A.C.T stands for again?"
Tree groaned.
It was the middle of the night, he and some of the other preventers of death were struggling to sleep.
"I thought you were the one who came up with it." He grumbled, sitting up.
Bottle pouted.
"Well maybe, yeah, but after a while I kinda just.. forget things. That's normal!"
"I am pretty sure you said it was 'preventing and creating trust." Remote sat up, she didn't need sleep but she liked trying, especially with her teammates.
"Ohh, that makes sense." Bottled nodded.
Tree sighed.
"Hey, Tree. You've been pretty grumpy. What's wrong?" Black Hole spoke up.
"Oh, so someone's finally noticed."
Pie stirred, and woke up.
"Why's everyone up.." She rubbed her eyes.
Tree sighed, "Someone turn on a light.."
The light above their room flickered on, and hence a slight buzzing occurred.
"I haven't been feeling all that great, recently." Everyone looked at each other, before turning back to Tree.
"Huh? You look fine!"
Bottle smiled.
"Actually, for a tree, he doesn't look very well. Some of his leaves are falling off. More than usual." Remote pointed out.
"So thats what I suck up during my sleep." Black Hole muttered.
"Oh no, is Tree dying!?" Bottle gasped.
Pie shushed Bottle, "Calm down."
"TREE'S DYING!?" Pen jumped up, looking around.
Pie gently facepalmed.
"No.. don't think so." Pillow sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes.
By now, all of Death P.A.C.T should be up.
Liy rolled rover, snoring softly.
Or not, I guess.
"Remote, what's wrong with him?" Pen asked, panicked.
Remote blinked.
"It's not too big of a deal. It's just nature. Fall is coming, so his leaves are going to start changing colors and all fall off towards the end of it."
"So he's gonna be bald?" Pillow inquired.
Everyone stayed quiet.
Pie snickered, before everyone else in Death P.A.C.T, except for the sleeping Liy on her bed and unamused Tree, laughed out loud.
"I can almost imagine it! Tree.. no leaves, at all!"
Bottle laughed her glass off. (Yay, puns.)
Tree grumbled, and got up. He stomped away, out of the room, just away from them.
Black Hole and Pen seemed to come to their sense. They kinda realized they bullied their friend who wasn't going through something.. fun.
The two decided to go after Tree, in the cold and dark.
Tree had skittered away from the team housing, grumbling incoherent angry phrases to himself.
Tree sat upon a bench in a nearby park, which was conveniently placed next to a pond. He gazed upon the open waters, the moon shining brightly. A crescent moon, to be exact. (For context, the contestants are sent to a town built for specifically them for when the show isn't being hosted.)
He looked a bit lower, seeing his distorted reflection in the waters. His leaves were changing. There were some auburn and dull yellow shades peaking through, as well as some bare branches.
He felt insecure about them.
He looked a bit lower to his face.
He looked so tired.
He hadn't been getting sleep for the past couple of nights, thinking about his change.
Sure, it had happened to him once before, but he didn't expect it to happen in front of his friends.
"Treeee, are you out here?" Pen called out, running along with Black Hole, who flew higher up.
He floated downwards.
"Found him. Follow me." Black Hole lead Pen to the pond, and they saw him.
"Tree!!" Pen ran over and hugged the one on the bench.
Tree gasped in shock, before returning the hug quickly.
Black Hole hovered over, watching silently.
"I'm sorry we laughed at you, we probably should have helped you with your problem.."
Black Hole spoke up too.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I should know what it's like to be talked bad about because of your natural qualities." Black Hole shrank away a bit.
Tree smiled softly, "..Thanks guys."
Pen sat next to Tree, shivering a bit.
"It's colder than I thought it'd be.." He'd whisper.
Black Hole rested next to the bench, being sure not to suck his teammates or the bench up.
Tree wrapped an arm around Pen, in an attempt to keep him warm.
"Awh, if only I could be there too." Black Hole sighed.
The two chuckled, "Maybe Four can help us find a way to do something like that."
Pen snuggled into Tree, and Black Hole hummed.
Tree yawned after a couple of minutes.
"We should probably get back.." He whispered.
Pen nodded.
"Maybe the others have cooled down a bit, too."
Black Hole arose from his spot.
"Alrighty, let's go." Tree stood up, holding Pen's hand. The three made the journey back to their house, and stepped in.
Once they made it to the main room, everyone seemed to be asleep.
Except Liy.
She sat on her bed, messing around with stuff on her laptop.
"Oh, hey guys. I woke up and noticed you guys were gone and tried asking someone about it but uh, they were all asleep. You guys do anything fun?" She shut her laptop, and looked over.
Pen yawned, covering his mouth with a hand and stretching.
"Nah, just went out for some air." Black Hole stated.
"Oh, mmk." Liy nodded.
Tree walked over to his bed, and started to lay down. He had felt tired, but wasn't sure if he could sleep this night.
He stared at the wall blankly.
Pen followed after him, and lied down with him. He wrapped his hands around him, snuggling into his back. Tree tensed, but then started to relax and began to lean into the other a bit.
Liy watched silently, before shrugging and beginning to go back to her own business, opening up her laptop again.
Black Hole rested on the end of the bed, content that the others were comfortable.
Tree shut his eyes, and for the first time in a while, he began to dream.
After that night, Tree wouldn't ever struggle to sleep again.
1100 words, not including this.
Also like, I noticed this was supposed to take place during bfb so I wasn't sure if it should take place during an episode
or not, so I just went with this. Hope you didn't mind!