Chapter Text
Pezzy groaned softly as the feeling of waking up tugs at his consciousness.
But as he opened his eyes, he was met with nothing but darkness.
At first, he thought it was just the usual haze of a half-remembered dream still clinging to him, his eyes not quite adjusting to the dim morning light. But as he blinked once, twice, then a frantic third time, there was nothing. No faint lines of shadow, no glow from the curtains, no hazy shapes of his room.
Only black. A suffocating, endless black.
His chest tightened.
His hands shot up to his face, feeling for anything that might explain it. Maybe his hair had fallen over his eyes - no. Maybe the blanket - no. Maybe - no.
He dug his palms against his eyelids until spots of pain burst behind them, but still, nothing.
“Droid?” he rasped, voice high with the brittle edge of panic. “Grizzy? Puffer?” trembling fingers pressing against his cheeks, clawing at his own skin like he could rip whatever imaginary veil had been thrown over him off. “I… I can’t - I can’t see!”
The sound tore through the silence of the early hour, raw and desperate. Pezzy’s breathing grew shallow and ragged, chest heaving as he clutched at the sheets like they were the last thing keeping him tethered to the world. He called again, louder this time, a full-throated wail that didn’t care about waking anyone. “Guys! I can’t - I can’t see! I can’t see anything!”
He whimpered, curling in on himself on the bed, every sound around him magnified - the distant hum of the fan, the creak of the walls, the thudding of his own heartbeat in his ears.
Was he dying? Was this a stroke? Did he hit his head last night?
Nothing made sense as to why his vision had become a void of nothingness.
Then came the shuffle of feet.
A pair of heavy steps rushed toward his room and Pezzy turned instinctively toward the sound, heart leaping. “Who’s there? Who is that?” His voice cracked. “Is that you, Grizzy?”
A presence entered the room.
“Droid?” Pezzy tried again, anxiety spiking.
But no answer came. Just silence.
Well no, not silence - there was movement. Pezzy could hear the person in front of him making some kind of sound. A huff? A grunt? Some sort of choking sound like words were getting caught in their throat.
But Pezzy couldn’t tell. When he heard movement, the slight shifting inching closer as they reached out - slow and careful - Pezzy panicked. He shrank back, hands raised in defense like a wounded animal. “Don’t - don’t touch me, please! Tell me who you are! Say something! Say something!”
The air was still.
Pezzy scrambled further back on his bed, his back pushing against the wall as he waited for an answer other than heavy breathing or grunting.
Instead, the sound of whoever was standing in front of Pezzy footsteps began to fade down the hall as Pezzy assumed to be the other person leaving.
Pezzy let out a shaky breath. A sound in-between something like relief and fear.
-
“Guys! I can’t - I can’t see! I can’t see anything!”
The sound of Pezzy’s hysteric call brought Grizzy first.
He nearly tripped over himself as he burst into the room, his big frame filling the doorway. Relief and urgency mingled on his face as he rushed forward, hands out ready to grab Pezzy’s shoulders and still him.
“It’s okay - hey, hey, it’s me-” he began, but the words stuck in his throat. Nothing came out. No sound at all, not even a whisper. He tried again, lips moving fast, shaping words of comfort and calm - nothing. His heart lurched.
He could see Pezzy’s head whip toward him at the rustle of his steps, could see the blind fear etched across every sharp line of Pezzy’s face. Grizzy opened his mouth again, desperate to say something, anything - but when no sound came, Pezzy recoiled, confusion overtaking terror.
Grizzy’s chest ached. He tried again, louder this time, forcing his throat to work, but it was useless. A strangled noise - maybe the faintest rasp - escaped, and Pezzy flinched back like he’d been struck.
No. This wasn’t helping.
He looked down at his hands, like they might offer answers. They didn't. Pezzy had started to cry now - the tears streaking hot down his cheeks - curled up and shaking, hands gripping the sheets with white-knuckled terror.
Grizzy’s heart hammered as he stepped back, torn between wanting to hold Pezzy still and the fear of making it worse. He spun and bolted, praying under his breath that Pezzy wouldn’t move, wouldn’t try to move - wouldn’t trip and fall and break his neck or impale himself on some random object in his messy room.
He thundered down the short hall and into Droid’s room, nearly ripping the door off its hinges as he barged inside. The dim morning light from the window cast faint stripes on the bed where Droid lay half-wrapped in a blanket, limbs tangled, mouth slightly ajar in the middle of a dream.
“Droid!” His mouth worked soundlessly, his arms flailing wildly. He reached the bed in two strides and shook Droid’s shoulder with urgency.
“Whuh… Grizz?” he mumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Dude, what time is it…?”
Grizzy moved his mouth rapidly, gesturing wildly toward the hallway, towards Pezzy's room. His expression was frantic. His lips mouthed syllables in a torrent, but to Droid…
It was silent.
Droid stirred with a groggy grunt, blinking at him with bleary confusion. “Grizzy…?” His voice came out thick, slurred, like he’d swallowed gravel. He tried again. “Dude, everything okay?”
But the second the words left him, Droid froze.
He couldn’t hear his own voice. He couldn’t hear anything at all. His eyes widened, panic creeping in as he looked at Grizzy, whose frantic gestures only made it worse.
“What the hell…” Droid mumbled - or thought he mumbled. To Grizzy it sounded like his mouth was stuffed with cotton, his throat refusing to shape the sounds right.
His body froze, one hand instinctively going to his ears. They were still there. Still intact.
But Grizzy was already yanking him out of bed, tugging him into the hallway without pause. Droid stumbled behind him, barefoot and barely awake, but the urgency in Grizzy’s grip left no time for explanations. Barely able to focus past the sheer wrongness of not hearing himself.
By the time they reached Pezzy’s room, the look of the harsh, uneven sobbing figure hit Droid like a blow. Pezzy was curled halfway up against his headboard, hands trembling violently as he clutched at nothing, calling hoarsely into the void.
Grizzy shoved Droid forward, pointing wildly toward Pezzy, then made a speaking gesture with his hands. Droid hesitated, heart pounding. He didn’t even know if he could say anything that would make sense anymore.
But… Pezzy clearly needed him.
He stared at Pezzy with wide eyes, his chest rising and falling rapidly, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped closer. “Pezzy?” he called softly - or as softly as he could without the sound of his own voice reaching his ears.
The effect was instant.
Pezzy’s entire body sagged with relief, his hands reaching out blindly in the direction of the voice. “Thank god. Droid. Oh my god. I can’t - I can’t see. I don’t know what’s happening. I woke up and it was just… black. Everything’s gone.” Droid leaned in, catching Pezzy’s wrist, guiding his hand gently to his own shoulder. The touch helped ground him. Pezzy exhaled shakily and gripped Droid like a lifeline. “I heard someone earlier but they wouldn’t talk to me,” Pezzy whispered. “Were they trying to scare me? Was it Grizzy? Is he here? Is this a prank?”
Pezzy’s lips moved again. Droid could see words forming, but no sound reached him. Paranoia bit at him, sharp and cold. Everything felt off. Were they messing with him? Was this some elaborate prank to screw with his head?
Or maybe - maybe none of this was real, maybe it was just some twisted dream.
“This isn’t funny,” Droid muttered, the sound still not landing. He spoke louder, frustration bleeding in. “If this is some kind of prank, it’s not cool, man. Not cool.”
He saw Pezzy frown and Grizzy stepped forward, his expression tight with helplessness, but no sound left his lips. His hands shook as he gestured wildly, as if sheer desperation could make his silence legible. Then his eyes lit up, hands rushing for the phone in his pocket before he began to type something frantically.
“Is that Grizzy moving?” Pezzy tugged on the hem of Droid’s sleeve, “Grizzy? Why aren’t you saying anything? Please, I don’t know what’s going on-”
The chaos mounted until the door creaked open.
“Jesus Christ, can you guys quiet down? Some of us are trying to fucking sleep-”
Puffer’s gruff voice cut through the air like a lifeline. But it faltered the second he took in the room. The scene was thick with panic. Pezzy’s tear-streaked face twisted toward the sound instantly, eyes wide and distant with hope clawing at his features. Droid looked ready to break something, his shoulders heaving with wild tension. And Grizzy was a storm contained in flesh, mouth moving silently as he held up his phone with trembling hands.
Puffer’s gaze darted down, reading the hastily typed sentence through the cracked glow of the screen.
“What the hell?” Puffer said, blinking warily.
pezzy cant see i cant speak droid got something wrong with him 2 pls help
The weight of it settled hard in his chest. His frown deepened, but he nodded once. He didn’t think for a second Grizzy was joking - not with the way the room felt.
“Pezzy?” Puffer’s voice softened as he stepped closer, brushing past Droid with a steadying hand. But the second his palm connected with Droid’s shoilder, a violent current surged up his limb.
“Ghnk-!” Puffer hissed. The air pulsed. His hand went numb first, then the whole arm, as if his nerves had been severed. The rest of his body lagged behind, his nerves buzzing with a strange, electric ache. A strange, dull buzzing rang through his mind, his thoughts turned sluggish, his vision fogging for a second. The world dulled, sounds turning hollow, vision flickering around the edges. He staggered back, ripping his hand away as his body snapped back to itself, heart pounding painfully.
“Puffer? Is everything okay?” Pezzy’s voice wavered, fragile and begging.
Grizzy reached for Puffer, frantic and silent, while Droid twisted toward him, mouthing off angrily, his voice thick like his tongue was too big for his mouth. But the second he put distance between himself and Droid, it all stopped. He managed to catch himself before Grizzy could stabilize him. His arm tingled, then returned to normal. His brain cleared. The buzzing disappeared like a bad dream.
“What the fuck?” he gasped.
Pezzy was still calling his name.
Grizzy was inching closer, his eyes full of concern. Droid was gawking at Puffer now, hands half-raised, confused and suspicious. His mouth was moving rapidly - yelling - but there was no way for him to tell how loud or if anyone could even understand him.
Pezzy had turned his face toward where he last heard Puffer’s voice, lip trembling. “Puffer? Are you still there? Please talk to me again- I can’t- I can’t see -I can’t see, Puff, please-”
Puffer’s eyes widened. His brain itches, overwhelmed and sluggish. But he nods slowly. “I’m here Pezzy. But when I touched Droid- I don’t know. It felt like I was sinking. My whole arm went numb and my thoughts got all… wrong.”
Droid, still crouched by the bed, glances over his shoulder. He can’t hear any of this. Not Puffer’s muttering. Not Pezzy’s sobbing. Not even the dull buzz of Grizzy’s frantic footsteps. It’s like the world has been plunged underwater - deadened, still. The only sound is his own blood rushing in his ears and the slow, horror-laced rattle of his own breathing.
He turns back to Pezzy, who’s clutching a fist-full of his sleeve now, fingers digging hard into the fabric like it was the only thing tethering him to reality. Pezzy's lips are moving, his voice quivering. And it was beginning to frustrate Droid.
“W-What do you mean?” Pezzy asked quietly.
Behind him, Grizzy’s chest heaved as he tried to force sound from his throat. The silence felt like a gag, an invisible hand choking every word before it could form. He dragged his phone back up with shaking hands, thumb flying over the screen. He shoved it at Puffer again.
I think we all woke up like this.
Puffer sighs heavily while running a hand through his hair, “Grizzy says that we all must’ve all woke up like this.”
Droid stared back, brow furrowed. “What? I can't hear you.” His words were loud - too loud - as if he was guessing at his own volume.
He kept talking, not giving anyone the chance to speak.
“Stop acting like you can’t hear me,” Droid added sharply, anxiety sharpening his features. He gestured wildly, voice cracking with panic. “This is some messed-up dream, right? You guys are screwing with me. You have to be.”
“Droid-” Puffer started.
“Why would I joke about this? Why would any of us come up with such a cruel fucking trick? Can we figure out what is going on?!” Pezzy begged, though his own voice barely carried above a whisper. He turned blindly toward the commotion, despair sparking fresh tears. “What’s happening to us?”
The question sank like a stone in all their chests. None of them had an answer.
Puffer crouched at Pezzy’s bedside, keeping his voice low, even if Droid couldn’t hear it. “Calm down dude. We’re going to figure this out. Just breathe, okay? I need you to breathe.” He resisted the instinct to reach for Pezzy’s hand, the memory of that awful numbness still crawling like a warning through his veins. He wasn't willing to test out to see if Pezzy would have the same effect on him.
Grizzy crouched too, one hand hovering just over Pezzy’s wrist without daring to touch. He mouthed words desperately, his lips forming silent reassurances: It’s okay. I’m here. You’re not alone. But Pezzy couldn’t see them. The silence felt cruel.
Droid stood apart, pacing like a caged animal, hands raking through his hair. To him, the world was muted and every glance at the others only fueled the irritation clawing at his ribs.
Finally, Puffer pushed to his feet. “We need to stay calm,” he said firmly, glancing between the three. “We’ll figure it out, but panicking isn’t going to help.”
Puffer finally turns to Droid - as if he finally remembered the other was there.
“What?!” Droid snapped, loud enough that the sound made Pezzy flinch again. “Stop staring, Puffer! Are you gonna start talking finally? C’mon Puffer, spit it out!”
Puffer’s jaw tightened. He wanted to bark back, but Pezzy’s trembling hand reached toward his voice again, fragile and pleading. “Tell Droid. I can’t stand the sound of him yelling,” he whispered. “But please. Don’t let me be alone in the dark.”
Something twisted painfully in Puffer’s chest. He glanced at Grizzy, who was already typing furiously again, and at Droid, whose hysteria threatened to boil over into rage.
The house felt wrong. The air, the silence, the way their bodies betrayed them - it all felt like a trap.
A cruel dream.
Was there any waking up?