Chapter 1: I only talk to dogs because they don't understand me
Chapter Text
Jimmy looked at his laptop and hit the delete button for what had to be the 40th time that minute. Was the essay due in 2 weeks? Sure, but it had to be perfect. Everyone who read it said it was an A at the least, but Jimmy was still unsure. He had figured everyone would be close to done by the end of September, but September was almost over and he was struggling to find anyone who had even started.
“Jimmy. If you don’t stop working right now I think you’re gonna die.” Karl appeared behind him making him jump. Karl was an English major and just so happened to be Jimmy’s roommate.
He looked at the time, realizing that he had been making edits and looking over various projects for around 3 hours. Karl was not going to be happy with him.
“Genuinely, how are you alive? Come on. We are going to at least grab some coffee.” Karl scolded him.
“Just a couple more-“ his laptop slammed shut in front of him.
“Come on. Get up. I know you’re a workaholic and the rest of the world would know that, but I don’t think you’ve gone outside, like, ever.”
Jimmy groaned, but he knew this was a fight he wasn’t going to win.
☆———————☆
Karl practically bounced all the way to the coffee shop even though that place was practically his second home. It was his job, his hang out spot, his study spot, and on occasion where he left to get breakfast.
Jimmy and Karl had met at the start of the semester and had hit it off pretty well despite their differences. Karl was very social, friendly, and the king of procrastination whereas Jimmy was quiet and had every assignment done on time and then some.
He would say that the culture between English and Business majors was different, but he honestly hadn’t had time to get close to anyone from either. Except Karl that is. His parents had scolded him for making it to his junior year with minimal social interaction, so getting Karl as a roommate was a nice way to get them off his case.
The not nice thing was that Karl now forced him to go outside and interact with people.
☆———————☆
A small jingle sounded from a bell connected to the cafe's door.
Karl called out a greeting to the man behind the counter.
Jimmy looked around the building. The walls were covered with old movie posters and magazines. It had a dark, but very cozy atmosphere. There were shelves littered with old items from magic kits and dnd dice. Jimmy could understand why Karl liked it here so much. A sign was hung that read Desolation Drinks.
“You really can’t leave this place can you? The usual?” The man asked. Karl responded with a nod.
“And for your friend?” the man asked. He had black hair and a smile that made it seem like Jimmy had known the guy for years, not just a couple seconds. He saw a name tag pinned on his apron. Gerard. Jimmy felt like he had heard the name from Karl before when talking about his boss, but now he had a face to put with the name. Behind the counter were a bunch of pictures of a guy with red hair and another man who looked far too formal to be his friend.
By the time his eyes reached the board above the counter, Karl had rattled off a list of words in which Jimmy only understood the word “coffee”.
After arguing with the man behind the counter for a minute about why his drink shouldn’t be “on the house” (Karl lost), they made their way to grab their drinks and sit down.
Jimmy took one sip and- “This is probably the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Karl smirked at him, “Yeah, well, turns out when you drink exclusively Red Bull and water anything is gonna taste good.”
“Hey man I gotta keep my grades up somehow!”
“Your grades are at the ceiling. When someone was trying to raise the bar you pried it from their hands, got on their shoulders, and put it above everyone’s head. You don’t need Red Bulls anymore man.” Karl said with an amused raise of his eyebrow. Jimmy just huffed and continued drinking.
Suddenly the bell above the door rang again. He looked up to see a man with dirty blonde hair and a book with probably a hundred post-it notes stuck in it. Karl must have noticed him too because right after he received his drink Karl yelled over to him.
“Hey! Ryan!”
And with that the man was headed his way. Jimmy was not excited to say the least. All he had signed up for was a quick drink. Actually, he hadn’t signed up for anything. First he was forced to leave the dorm and now he had to talk to some random guy. Knowing Karl he was going to be a chatty guy too.
“Yo Karl! What’s up man?” The two of them started chatting. Jimmy quickly learned that his name was Ryan and he had met Karl in an English class. The rest he tuned out. They were talking about how annoying some book was. Jimmy only pretended he was paying attention.
Suddenly he saw Karl getting up and saying something about how he needed to go to the bathroom.
“So…Jimmy right?” Ryan attempted to start a conversation with the little information he had , “I haven’t seen you around campus before.”
It seemed like he didn’t have much choice but to respond.
“Yeah… uh… I don’t go out a lot.” He tried to look down at his drink to make Ryan stop talking, but it felt like it had the opposite effect.
“Oh cool. My friends say I go out too much. I’ve been ignoring them, but I also have an assignment I’m way behind on, so they might be onto something. It’s like- I love plants, I really do, but why do we need business experience at a farmers market? That’s stupid. I grow the plants. I don’t sell them.”
“Business is actually pretty cool. It’s like… nevermind. You’re a plant major?” Ryan laughed at that.
“English major, botany minor. But think about it. Botany, it’s an untapped industry.” Jimmy got most things in life, especially if they were school related, but the more he talked to Ryan the more confused he felt. “… but that’s why plants are the future man. Sorry, was I rambling? You said you thought business was cool? Are you a business major?”
God this guy really didn’t stop talking.
“Um… yeah. So you’re… struggling with the farmers market?”
Something changed in Ryan’s eyes. Jimmy didn’t like the look of it.
“Wait. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, which if it is you can totally say no, no hard feelings, but could you help me with the selling part of the farmers market?” Ryan asked him.
Ryan actually seemed interested. While Jimmy felt like Ryan would end up water plants while he made an actual business plan it would be a good experience. Besides, Karl said it would be good for him to get out more.
“You know what, I’ll do it.” Ryan lit up at that. Jimmy looked around, “By the way, where’s Karl?”
Chapter 2: What if I don't care? That would be on track
Notes:
Chapter title is from Friendly Fields by Spilly Cave
Enjoy :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jimmy and Ryan had begun making their way towards the bathroom of Desolation Drinks in search of Karl when they heard a voice coming from what seemed to be a storage room.
“... and then he was like you aren’t even that hot anyway which first of all, wrong, but I was leaving then and I told him that, but this guy has the audacity to ask for the money he spent on dinner, so I left even faster and just for the hell of it I grabbed a wooden spoon on my way out…”
Jimmy followed the voice and spotted Karl talking very enthusiastically with his back turned, facing the guy who was behind the counter earlier. The man's attention was fully on Karl’s story with a cat in his arms that he was petting absentmindedly. Jimmy turns to Ryan,
“So that's where the spoon came from.” Jimmy quipped. The remark was way out of Jimmy’s usual comfort zone, but he decided that if he was going to be working with this guy he was at least going to try to be a little social with him.
Karl spun around, smiling sheepishly, “So turns out the route to the bathroom included a detour.” he giggled.
Suddenly, a notification went off and Ryan pulled out his phone.
“Oh shoot! Karl, our study group is meeting up now!”
Karl’s eyes widened as he realized that now they were both running late. The two of them began to rush out of the room, Jimmy and the man following.
Right before they reached the door though, Ryan turned around and ran back towards them.
“Oh before I forget, Jimmy, can I get your phone number?”
Jimmy stood there, processing what he had asked and before he even knew what he was doing, Jimmy put his number in Ryan's phone. As he finished and handed the phone back, he glanced at Karl who was raising his eyebrows and grinning.
“Ok great, I’ll text you later about the botany business I was telling you about, but now we really have to go. I’ll see you later!” Ryan rushed back to Karl and they continued on, but not before Ryan turned around once more to wave goodbye.
☆———————☆
Jimmy had returned to his seat to sit some more. Being somewhere else isn’t so bad, he realized. Besides, he had been caught up on his work for a while now. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
Karl
sooooooooooooo
you got his number
Jimmy
Yeah, but its just to help him with a project.
I’m not looking for any friends right now
I just need to know if I can actually handle business stuff in the real world
And what better way than this?
Karl
sure
because having a social life is wayyyy less important than getting an A
i know
study group time
Ttyl
☆———————☆
Right as Jimmy was about to send another message to Karl, a small jingle from the door’s bell sounded. He turned his head to see who walked through the door, praying it wasn’t another one of Karl’s friends that he knew.
A man walked in (not one of Karl’s friends, thankfully), his face pale and his mouth set in a tight frown. He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he made his way to the counter.
The guy from earlier, Gerard, Jimmy reminded himself, had also turned to greet the man when a grin broke out on his face.
“You’re back early.” He walked around the counter and threw his arms around the man.
It was almost like magic what happened next. The man’s eyes had lit up with something that Jimmy couldn’t quite recognise and his entire demeanor had shifted from broody and mysterious to almost approachable? Happy? For once, Jimmy was at a loss of words in his own head.
“Well, I set new office hours for the next month, so now I get to come home a bit earlier now.” He wrapped his arms around Gerard now too, pulling him in closer and placed a kiss on top of his head.
And with that, Jimmy knew he needed to leave. His mind was racing, thinking everything and nothing at the same time. He grabbed his god-knows-what-Karl-had-ordered-him and phone and made his way out, but not before Gerard called out, “Bye Jimmy! Feel free to drop by whenever, it’d be lovely to see you again!”
Jimmy mustered a smile and waved back, then started to make his way back home.
☆———————☆
Jimmy opened his dorm room door and went over to the bed as quickly as his legs would take him. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the white ceiling.
And it was loud, so loud. But it wasn’t.
He wanted to be confused so badly. He didn’t want to understand why. Why his head felt full, but the rest of his body didn’t feel anything.
Karl wasn’t home. He was out with his study group and even if he wasn’t any more he would still probably go out with some of the guys. He had heard some of their names thrown out sometimes. Ludwig. Danny. Maybe he would be going out with a different guy. Whoever came up with the phrase there's plenty of fish in the sea, Karl took that to heart.
Jimmy wished he could say this was causing a realization, some reaction at least, but it was a cold hard truth that he had felt for a long time coming. He wanted that. He never had a casual friend like Karl, or a love interest. He had always told himself there was time for that later, but now it was hitting him. He was in “later”, and he wasn’t doing anything about it.
Then there was Ryan. He seemed nice and smart. And he was pretty. God he was pretty.
I can’t. I’ve hardly made a friend in years. How could I talk to Ryan? I know it’s just a project, but how can -
His train of thought was suddenly stopped by a ding from his phone.
Unknown Number
Hey! It’s Ryan from the coffee shop! When do you wanna meet up to work on the project? :)
Shit.
Notes:
Hey gang! Did you like that? Do you like pressing buttons? Well I have one for you to press! The kudos button! Woah! Jimmy is such a silly little guy!
Chapter 3: I only say this to affirm our time is short
Summary:
Guys…Can we pretend that this chapter is soooooo long and came out on time? Alright thanks. Now enjoy a really short chapter.
Notes:
Title from Say Yes to Life by Gang of Youths
Enjoy 😉
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jimmy takes a deep breath and looks at the door in front of him. Ryan said to show up at 10:30. They had planned to go to a greenhouse and look at plants together so Jimmy could get a grasp of what they were selling, and because as Ryan said “He was always down to look at some plants”.
He checks his phone.
10:31
He takes another breath before sucking it up and knocking on the door.
There was a loud shuffling sound behind the door for a few seconds before a frazzled looking Ryan opens the door.
“Oh my god hi! I’m so sorry, hold on!” Ryan fixed his shoe the best he could while still standing up.
He tripped and stumbled, falling forwards, “Oh shit!”
On instinct, Ryan attempted to grab onto Jimmy’s arm to prevent his fall. Out of his on instinct Jimmy flinched out of the way, causing Ryan to fall right past him and onto the ground infront of Jimmy’s feet.
“Crap— I’m so sorry,” Jimmy quickly reached his hand out for Ryan to grab, internally scolding himself for jumping out of the way. Ryan gave him a look that seemed like an attempt to brush off what had just happened, but he ended up just staring at him instead.
The two started to look at each other, really look at one another.
For a second it was just Jimmy with his had reached out, and Ryan who hadn’t gotten up yet-
Just looking at each other.
“Yeah, sorry for falling. You’re fine, right?.” Ryan asked, snapping Jimmy back to the situation, a look of genuine concern in his eyes.
He didn’t know why, but the sudden show of compassion surprised Jimmy.
“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Thanks, man. Let’s head out?”
“Alright!”
Notes:
Consistent uploads y’all. I feel it. The man in the moon told me.
Chapter 4: Everything’ll be alright, it just takes some time
Summary:
Title from The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
Notes:
We were earllyyyy!!!! "But you posted the last chapter a month late with like 2 paragraphs". Shhhhhhh. No. Now look at this swinging watch and get veeeery sleepy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“…And here we are.” said Ryan pushing open the door to a small store. It had a lot of different kinds of plants, seeds, and general gardening supplies Jimmy didn’t go outside enough to know the name of.
It had only been a short walk from Ryan’s apartment and Jimmy had actually had a pretty good time talking with him, even after the awkwardness. Luckily, none of his roommates were there to see the fall. Apparently his roommates were either English majors or preparing for law school.
Turns out, Ryan was really into botany, more than any of his English work. Jimmy had enjoyed how passionate he was about it. The conversation had been fun and Jimmy was happy listening to what he had to say.
Jimmy took a second to look around. It was the kind of place that you could easily walk past if you weren’t looking for it, giving it a cozy feel Jimmy enjoyed. The walls were lined with plants going up to the ceiling with some set on the floor as well. To one corner was a small desk with a register, “name of store” read across the front of it. A man sat behind it, his focus completely directed towards the book in his hands. Scars ran across his face, long and wide, which Jimmy found a little unnerving.
“Ooh okay, look at this,” Ryan waved Jimmy over to where he was looking. He crouched down to pick up a twisty plant, “It’s a snake plant! This is literally you in plant form!”
Jimmy looked at him, a mixture of confusion and amusement on his face, “You think I’m a snake?”
“What? No, no, no ,no!” Ryan's face went red, “I meant like this plant you know? Like it’s just, it doesn’t need anything and it thrives, just like you.”
It was Jimmy's turn to go red and smiled sheepishly, “I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m thriving. I’m not exactly what someone would call a role model lifestyle wise.”
“Well you’re walking aren’t you?” Ryan chuckled at him. It was nice though. Jimmy didn’t make people laugh very often. To be honest, Jimmy didn’t talk to people very often, so that couldn’t have helped. Ryan was a good change of pace. Outgoing, but not enough that he made Jimmy uncomfortable, and the way that he talked about things was something he was willing to listen to too. One person could only spend so much time hearing about Karl’s love life. Ryan was just so-
“Jimmy, come look at this one!”
He followed Ryan as he went around the store pointing out plants that he recognized or just thought looked cool. By the time they were done Ryan had 3 different plants in his arms and was making his way to check out.
“Wait,” Jimmy grabbed his shoulder and turned him back, “I think I wanna get something too.”
Ryan laughed, “Don’t worry about it,” he gestured to the plants in his arm, “One of these is for you.”
Oh.
Jimmy just stared at him.
“Oh.”
“If you don’t want it I can put it back, but this thing practically takes care of itself…”
“No! I do… you don’t need to pay for it though, I have money.” Jimmy began to reach for his wallet and Ryan immediately gave him a slightly disapproving look. Jimmy stopped, realizing this wasn’t a battle he could win, so he accepted his fate and switched to bargaining instead. "If you get me the plant we’re getting coffee after this and I'm paying."
It seems to have worked as Ryan just shrugs his shoulders and continues making his way to the checkout counter.
Before Ryan even got too close to the counter, the man looked up and smiled. The scars along his face molded themselves around his smile and Jimmy found that it wasn’t all that scary.
“Just these then?” He placed them in a bag and handed them to Ryan.
Jimmy glanced down at the name tag that was pinned to his sweater.
Remus. That’s a cool name.
Ryan spun around after paying and fell in line with Jimmy, walking out.
“Drink time?” He asked.
All Jimmy could think of doing was nod.
☆———————☆
They arrived at Desolation Drinks after a short walk over. Ryan had held the door for him on the way in making some joke about chivalry not being dead as the bell rang over head. Jimmy chuckled and thanked him, walking inside.
He looked up to see the guy that he recognized as Karl’s boss working at the counter. Jimmy scanned the menu. Even though it was his second time here he still found the menu overwhelming, which Ryan seemed to pick up on.
“Do you want me to order for you?” he asked, an amused smile on his face.
Jimmy sheepishly blushed a little, “Yes please.”
The man behind the counter looked up, a look of recognition and a soft smile flashing across his face.
“Oh, hey guys, you’re Karl’s friends right? What can I get for you?”
Jimmy zoned out a little while Ryan was putting in their orders. He scanned the cafe to see what kind of crowd it had attracted in the middle of the afternoon. There was a mom and her young child, a couple of college students studying, and a couple other usual looking people.
In one corner though were two guys chatting, one with a notebook open. Their outfits were what someone would probably call “emo”, but Jimmy supposed he didn’t get out enough to make a correct judgment. Besides, they were all smiles as the one with the notebook would pitch something, the other would give a little nod of encouragement, and then whatever idea had been said was hastily scribbled down.
And they were holding hands. Right on top of the table. All Jimmy could do was look on, a new slight feeling of envy appearing at their willingness to just be themselves and how much warmer their hands probably were than Jimmy’s.
Suddenly Ryan popped up beside him, drinks in hand.
“Wait!” Jimmy realized, “I was gonna pay for those!”
Ryan shrugged, a smile on his face, “C’mon, You’re helping me with my project! It’s the least I could do.”
They lightheartedly bickered all the way to their seats. The guy with the notebook Jimmy had been looking at earlier gave Ryan a short wave which he returned. Of course he knew everyone.
Jimmy was about to ask who they were as Ryan started talking.
“Okay, so…”
☆———————☆
Jimmy fumbled around for a second, putting the key in the door with one hand, and holding the plant Ryan got him with the other.
The door swung open and instead of being met with an empty room he saw Karl, chair pointed at the door, an amused look on his face.
“Soooooo…Where have you been?”
Notes:
Did yall like it? They're so Pookie.
🥺🥺 <—- them
Chapter 5: There’s something so lonesome about you, so wholesome about you
Summary:
Title from From Eden by Hozier
Enjoy 😋😋😋
Notes:
Guess who’s back baby
Every time another chapter is posted it is a reminder that this is something I have put actual time into.
Scary.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jimmy stared at Karl, he knew he was blushing and he knew that Karl was not about to let him go without being told every last detail.
He smiled sheepishly, “I went out with Ryan to–”
“I knew it,” Karl grinned, “Honestly proud of you dude, I was kind of worried you wouldn't really interact with him much out of your little agreement.”
Jimmy sighed and dodged his way past Karl who tried to grab the plant in Jimmy’s arms. He set it down gently on his desk, trying not to spill what was left of his drink in the process.
“What’s with the plant? I thought you said you could never keep a plant alive.”
Jimmy shrugged, “One, this wasn’t a ‘out of little agreement’ meet.” He made air quotes with his fingers, “and as for the plant, I honestly don’t know, Ryan said it was basically impossible to kill so he just bought it for me.”
Jimmy instantly regretted mentioning the last detail when Karl’s grin grew larger than Jimmy thought was possible.
“He bought the plant for you? And you're not freaking out about it, man what happened to you?”
Karl stood up to get a better view of the plant, “I mean it’s a cute plant though, I’ve been wanting a little touch of life in here anyways.”
He and Jimmy just stood there like that for a while wordlessly, staring at the plant in front of them. The green stripes of the leaves were a bright contrast to the monotonous color palette of Jimmy’s half of the dorm. He appreciated the little pop of color that Ryan was slowly starting to bring into his life. It wasn’t much, but to Jimmy, it honestly felt like he was beginning to open up to a new part of himself that he’d been ignoring for so long. Just talking to Ryan for a few days had left him surprisingly happier than usual. He wondered what years of knowing Ryan could do to him.
Karl broke the silence, “So are you going to tell me about everything or are we just going to stay staring at the plant a little longer?”
Jimmy smiled at him, “Yeah I’ll tell you.”
And so he did.
☆———————☆
Ryan opened the door to his apartment with the little bit of free hand he had left from the plants he was carrying. The bag that the plants had been given to him in was lost somewhere between getting coffee and giving Jimmy his plant, leaving Ryan with 3 plants and no good way of carrying them.
The second he got inside he put them on the nearest surface he could, letting out a slight breath.
One of his roommates, Matthew, yelled over from the couch he was sitting on, “Hey Ryan.”
“Hey Matthew”, he picked up the plants again, this time without feeling like he was going to drop them all. His roommate had already turned his focus back to the TV.
He kicked the door of his room open and set his plants down on his desk. It was a small room with a couple of posters and a small bed in the corner.
He turned to his record player, throwing on the first thing he grabbed and turning it on. He looked over at the neglected pile of homework he had set in the corner. Hanging out with Jimmy was better than doing all of his English homework anyway.
Jimmy.
Ryan still hadn’t really processed what had happened.
It was still the same slightly timid, socially awkward guy from before, but he seemed calmer and genuinely interested in what he had been saying. It was nice to be with someone who would actually listen. Whenever he added something to the conversation it was interesting. He would also say a sentence or so about something he was interested in before stopping and giving Ryan a look that seemed to say Can I keep going which was cute.
Cute?
Cute.
Of course, he would always nod because why wouldn’t he want to hear what Jimmy had to say?
He was forced out of his head by his door opening and his roommate Jake slapping a skateboard on the ground and skating into his room.
“Sooooo… where have you been?”
“Not-“ He remembered that he had given up on getting his roommate to stop skating in the house. Their landlord and downstairs neighbors probably hated them, but that wasn’t a problem yet. “I was out, and knowing you I should probably be asking you the same thing.”
He let out a slight chuckle “I was out too.” He smirked, reaching into his bag and taking out an empty spray paint can, throwing it onto Ryan’s lap.
“Dude, not again! You’re gonna get arrested for real next time.” He gave him a disapproving look, “Now get out, I have homework.”
He was completely disregarded as Jake moved further into the room, “Oooo! A new plant! I remember Trik getting me one of those. May or may not have killed it with spray paint. So, who’s the lucky plant purchaser?
“How do you even know I was there with anyone else?”
“Magic.” Jake shrugged, inspecting the plant.
“Just a guy I met through a mutual friend. He’s helping me with my business project. We went and grabbed some coffee after. It was chill.” Ryan shrugged, trying to silently will his roommate out of his room.
“So what’s the project? What did y’all get done?”
Ryan thought about it for a moment, “Uh… stuff. It was just a good time man. We were hanging out, I don’t know…”
Jake raised his eyebrow at Ryan for a moment before he dropped his skateboard back on the ground and skated out of his room.
“Don’t- oh nevermind…” Ryan let his voice fizzle out, leaving Ryan to sit alone with his plant and a fuzzy feeling inside he hadn't noticed till now.
Notes:
Awwwwww
Cutiesssssssss! Please leave comments 🥺🥺 or kudos 🥺🥺🥺🥺 I’m not picky
Btw Jake is Jake from subway surfers, so do with that what you will
Chapter 6: I’ve made a severe and continuous lapse in judgement…
Summary:
So… Mrbeast is evil now…
Whoops…
*cough*
We are so sorry and hope this makes up for everything we’ve done
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Jimmy gets hit by a car and fucking dies.
Harry Styles and Obama lock eyes and make out passionately (eyes open). And it was like the last piece of the puzzle clicked.
Notes:
*takes a bow*
Chapter Text
Then, Michelle Obama woke up.