Chapter Text
Silent. It was so silent.
Floyd wasn't used to silence. His whole life had been loud ever since it began. After all, growing up, he had three brothers, then four once Branch came along, and babies are naturally loud. Then their teenage years rolled around, and Floyd was rapidly thrust into the spotlight of fame, sixteen years old and having not even a clue in the world of what was to come. No, instead he just kept his head down and listened to John Dory, because that's what good younger brothers do. Never question, never argue, never falter. Only perfect. Always perfect. Always loud. ๐๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ป๐บ.
Even when the band broke up and all the brothers went their separate ways, Floyd never got a moment of silence. It was one sound to the next, one song to the next, one concert to the next. In all honesty, he should've expected as much going into rock. That was all rock really was, just pure loud, wild, rebellious music. And even though it had definitely been one of the greatest choices of his life, he still craved that glorious silence. A quiet, tranquil life, back at home with his brothers and grandma, just existing in peace. But he knew deep down, that could never happen. Their whole family was built on noise. All they knew how to be was loud, abrasive, spiteful, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
Maybe that's why he was so calm now. Maybe that's why he felt like he was floating on a cloud, because for once in his life, it was truly silent.
Until the most loathsome person in the world made the irritating decision to break it.
"Floyd?" Creek's deep accent broke through his thoughts and shattered his tranquility to pieces.
Barely biting back a frustrated groan, Floyd opened his eyes to come face to face with the traitorous troll himself. The one who almost got his brother and the whole village killed. The one who still got to walk around consequence free like nothing ever happened. Floyd couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand him.
"Are you alright?" Creek asked, his face pulled into an expression that almost looked like concern, but Floyd knew better. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต, the voice in his brain that sounded suspiciously like Branch spoke, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"Yes, Creek. I'm fine." Floyd replied, trying to mask the bite in his voice as much as possible.
"Are you sure, love? You're sat under a tree with your eyes closed on a particularly sunny day."
And there it was. That nickname. ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ. He hated it. Of all the people to call him that, it just had to be Creek. Creek with his stupid irritating smirk, his stupid swept back hair, his stupid deep accent. Ugh, that accent always made Floyd's stomach tighten with disgust.
"Don't call me that," Floyd hissed. "I'm not your love."
Creek's eyes flashed with understanding, leaning back slightly. "Ah yes, of course. My apologies."
"Why are you even here?" Floyd sighed.
"Well, I noticed you were absent from Peppy's birthday celebration, so I thought I'd check how you were doing," Creek replied smoothly, taking a seat on the grass next to Floyd. "Is there a particular reason you're not there? Anything on your mind?"
Floyd scoffed, turning away from Creek's smothering gaze. "We're not friends, you don't need to check up on me."
Creek frowned. "I don't need to be your friend to wonder how you're doing. Especially after what-"
"Don't!" Floyd suddenly spat, even surprising himself with how harsh it came out. "Just...don't."
For a while, the silence returned, but it only lasted so long with Creek.
"Floyd...correct me if I'm wrong, but...do you have a problem with me?"
The way Creek asked the question wasn't even accusatory or angry, just genuinely curious. And yet, the audacity to even ask in the first place crawled under Floyd's skin and scratched deep in irritation. As if he had no clue as to why Floyd would be so standoffish around him. As if he didn't even remember what he did.
This last thought was what finally pushed Floyd over the edge, making him grit his teeth as he tightly gripped the grass in his fist. "You wanna know...if I have a problem with you?"
He didn't even give Creek the chance to answer before he interrupted, starting off on an angry tirade of rambling.
"Well yes, actually, I do. Oh, I wonder why that could be? Oh yes, maybe it's because you almost got my brother eaten!" Floyd didn't even realise he'd started yelling, but it's not like he was going to stop now. "And his friends! And ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ of pop village! All to save your own skin!"
He was standing now, towering over Creek for once, fists shaking with pure rage, his face full of anger, while Creek looked genuinely terrified.
"So you wanted to know why I hate you? It's because you are a selfish, horrible person! It's because you only care about yourself! And you might be able to hide that from everyone else, but I see right through you! You are scum!"
Creek tried to speak up again, voice trembling as he did. "Floyd-"
He was going too far, he knew that. But he couldn't stop, the only thing in control right now was pure, unadulterated hatred. Maybe that's why the most revolting sentence ever came spilling out like overflowing water.
"You should've just died."
He felt the regret wash over him almost as soon as it left his mouth. But what really solidified just how much he'd fucked up was the way Creek wilted under Floyd's gaze, his bottom lip wobbling, eyes shining with tears-
Oh fuck. Tears.
"Creek," Floyd swallowed nervously. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
He didn't even get a chance to finish before Creek was on his feet and running away, only leaving Floyd with a single sob until the silence returned once more.
But this time, the silence was suffocating. It just surrounded Floyd with his crushing mistake. With the shattering pain he'd just inflicted.
Biting his own lip roughly, Floyd groaned and sunk back down to his knees, back against the base of the tree. In his mind, there was just absolutely no way he could make it up to Creek now. What he'd said had been absolutely evil. He didn't even mean it. He didn't even want Creek dead. He just wanted him to leave him alone.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฉ? The voice in his head returned, this time with a voice he couldn't place.
"Shut up..." He muttered to himself, closing his eyes.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ.
"What lie?" He scoffed.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Floyd's body stiffened, that all too familiar cold pang spreading in his heart. "...I am healing."
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ?
"Shut up."
๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ?
"Shut. Up."
๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ?
"Shut up..!"
๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ?
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Floyd screamed.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ, ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฅ. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ. ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต? ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? ๐๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ?
Floyd sighed, burying his head in his knees. "Just leave me alone..."
๐'๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ. ๐๐ต'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ?
"Yeah..." He mumbled.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ.
"Yeah, I do.." Floyd sighed, eyes closing as he softly yawned.
The silence washed over him once again, completely bathing him in peace, letting him relax, and feel the solid coolness of it press up against his cheek-
๐๐ข๐ช๐ต...๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ-
๐๐ฐ.
๐๐ฐ...๐ฏ๐ฐ. ๐๐ฐ!
Floyd sat upright with a gasp, eyes shooting open to land upon those dreaded purple diamond walls.
"No! Not here again!" Floyd screamed, scrambling to his feet as he ran at the walls, pounding desperately against them. "Please! No! Let me go!"
Disembodied chuckles echoed around him, the sounds mocking and cruel, as if finding some sick amusement in his fear and misery.
Tears welling up in his eyes, Floyd screamed louder as his punching against the walls increased. "NO! PLEASE STOP! LET ME GO! I WANT TO GO HOME!"
The mocking laughter got louder. His sobs got louder. The hammering of his heart got louder.
"STOP IT!"
"Floyd?"
"NO!"
"Floyd..."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Floyd!"
He shot up again, gasping sobs wracking his entire body, barely able to make out the hands reaching toward him. No, they were taking him again, to use for talent, to drain of life, to empty of happiness-
He screamed, pushing the hands away, shuffling backwards until he was fully trapped against the tree, nowhere to go but back in captivity, back in hell-
"Floyd! Please, breathe. It's me, you're...you're safe."
A smooth, deep accent cut through the buzzing static in his brain.
Finally feeling the courage to open his eyes, Floyd looked up through tears to see Creek knelt in front of him, wearing a look of worry.
Worry. Creek was worried. About him.
...Even after what he said?
Branch's voice echoed in his head for a split second. ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ.
But not even an untrustworthy person would come back after what Floyd had said. He'd said the most horrible thing anyone could ever think of, and still here Creek was, wiping the tears from his face, shushing him soothingly, holding him close.
And that just made the tears come back harder, his whole body shaking with sobs.
"It's alright, love. I'm right here."
Floyd couldn't even bring himself to argue the nickname anymore. He just cried against Creek, against the one person he hated the most. Who was now the same person offering the most comfort to him, even when he didn't deserve it. Even when he'd hurt him.
"Why?"
"Hm?" Creek hummed against his shoulder. "Why what?"
"Why are you-" Floyd hiccupped. "Being so nice to me?"
"Because you're crying."
"B-But-" He sniffled. "I hurt you. I was horrible..."
"My compassion isn't conditional, Floyd. You're hurting, and you need someone to lean on. What you said has nothing to with that."
Floyd swallowed, cheeks warm with fresh tears. "And you don't...hate me?"
"Hate is a very strong, negative emotion," Creek replied. "I'm not even sure I'm capable of feeling it."
"So you don't?"
"No, love. Quite the opposite, actually." Creek finally pulled back to face Floyd, wearing that usual warm smile. It used to disgust Floyd. Now he's just disgusted with himself. He doesn't deserve a smile like that.
Floyd sighed, avoiding Creek's gaze. "I'm sorry..."
"Don't apologise right now," Creek whispered. "Focus on yourself."
"No, I'm not important right now, just-"
"Hey, don't say that," Creek frowned. "You're important."
"Ok, fine, but-"
"No, Floyd. I want to hear you say it."
Floyd blinked. "What?"
"Say it, please. Say you're important." Creek asked.
"Really? Now?"
"Yes. I need you to really mean it."
Floyd sighed, looking down. "Ok...I'm important."
"Come on, you can do better than that." Creek gently lifted Floyd's face up.
"I'm important..." He repeated.
"Again."
"I'm important."
"You are."
"Ok, can we stop this now? I feel stupid." Floyd groaned, his cheeks burning from embarrassment.
"Ok. I believe you now anyway." Creek smiled.
Floyd sighed, slowly pulling himself out of Creek's hold. "You're weird, you know that?"
"Well, yes. But what's wrong with weird?"
"Nothing, I guess, just..."
"Just what?"
"I can never figure you out. Or what your angle is." Floyd answered.
"I don't have an angle." Creek chuckled.
"You're sure?" Floyd asked.
๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"I'm sure." Creek smiled.
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต.
Maybe he should listen to the voice in his head. Maybe he should listen to Branch. Maybe he should be smarter than to befriend the village traitor.
But he's done with listening to his head. He's been done with it ever since his head convinced him to help these two innocent looking teenagers just looking to get famous, and it only led him to suffering. From now on, he's only listening to himself. In silence.
And if he wants Creek to join him in silence, then that's just their business. He imagines the former yoga instructor can teach him a lot about peace.
So, for now, he decides Creek will be useful to have around. Not because he enjoys his presence, absolutely not, no. He only needs him to feel better.
"Ok. Then...I guess you can stay." Floyd finally spoke again, and for the first time since they'd met, he finally gave Creek a genuine smile.
"Thank you, love."
"You still don't get to call me that."
"Ah, my apologies."
"It's ok."