Honestly, if I had to guess the plot of “Pine Point” purely based on @zeddyzi’s old art from 2021, I would say it’s about two guys meeting in a ghost town and just hanging out there and being chill.
[TW: Mentions of Suicide Thoughts, Suicide Idelations, Mentions of SH, Implications of SH, slight depiction of a mental breakdown]
August 24th. 10:05am.
Things are getting pretty hard now. Nil’s insomnia isn’t clearing up at all, and he keeps pushing Dimitri away, despite wanting to talk to him. But Nil honestly thinks he deserves it. He’s the one going to university after all. His thoughts keep repeating the same thing, and he hates it. His thoughts are only getting worse, telling him to do the same thing over and over... he even tried cutting yesterday.
It was more of an impulse, and it just a little cut because Dimitri stopped him before he really did it, but he still attempted. Nil honestly didn’t want to do it, but the knife looked a bit... sharper than usual. Even then, it was still just a little nick. And now it’s time for one of the last days at Marco’s Fresh Pizza. Like Nil even really cared anymore.
But as Nil started his first order, Marco entered the kitchen, a deep sigh escaping his lips. “Nil, why don’t you take a day off?”
“.. huh?”
“Dimitri told me you were going through a rough time, and honestly that would explain why you started showing up a bit late. Just take care of yourself for today, alright?”
... Damnit, Dimitri. Nil lets out a sound between a groan and a sigh, and he takes off his apron. “Thanks, Marco.” He obviously said this begrudgingly.
As Nil bikes back to Lost Lake, he hears the regular murmurs about him.
“God, there’s that kid again.” “He might as well been born there.”
... Who’s gonna protect him from this once Dimitri’s gone? Would he still care about it if he visits? Would he ever visit? Would he forget about him? For some reason, this fuels Nil’s anger and he pedals faster until he falls off the bike halfway to Lost Lake and he scrapes himself. He couldn’t care less before... now he kind of wishes the bruise killed him in a way.
Nil spends the rest of the day fishing by the lake. He manages to get little guys but throws them back into the water. He also locks eyes with a frog at one point, which was kind of cool until it hopped away. At least that guy has a life worth living for left. As the time the sun sets, hues of orange and pink colored the landscape, and Nil goes inside his tent and changes into his black tee. As he watches a deer pass by his tent, he feels something scrape against his toe. Something similar to... paper? Nil looks over and finds a piece of folded paper by his foot. He takes it into his hands and unfolds it.
It’s an old photograph. Not that old, but it looks like it was taken around a year ago. It’s around the time when Dimitri showed more of his hair and, in Nil’s opinion, looked more nerdy. Nil’s face is in front of the camera sticking his tongue out, along with flipping off whoever was taking the photo. Dimitri’s in the background, his braces still on at the time, laughing and holding an acoustic guitar. The sun is shining into what looks like a small garage, making the photograph look more vintage when it’s already a little yellow-ed. Nil was 15 in this picture. Dimitri was about to turn 17.
It was only a matter of time before Nil grips it in his hands tightly and violently rips it apart.
Soon, scatters of paper are all over the tent floor, a few little pieces on his sleeping bag, and Nil realizes what he just did. Instead of crying, he starts to hysterically laugh as the sun sets, screeching through the pain, giggling behind the tears.
Dimitri looks over to Nil as lunch rush begins. He’s been noticing Nil looking tired for a few days now, but he didn’t want to intervene, as his “oldest sibling” habits might kick in again. But Nil looks worse than he did back in 2 months ago. His hair’s messier, his eye bags are worse, and he looks a bit pale. Or maybe it’s just the lighting. But that doesn’t matter right now. Something in Dimitri snaps, and he walks over, shaking Nil’s shoulder gently. “Nil, you good?”
Nil’s eyes widen and he, letting his survival instincts get the better of him again, nearly punches Dimitri in the stomach. Dimitri steps back and slips but catches himself on the nearby counter. Nil realizes what he just did and lets his grip go from his fist and lets his fingers fall. Dimitri stares intently at Nil for a moment before standing up and walking over again, his expression and tone full of his usual concern.
“Dude, are you okay? Your eye bags look worse than they did in June. Maybe you should take your 15?”
For some reason, Nil looks past Dimitri’s concern and continues his pizza. “Yeah, I’m fine. I had a rough couple of nights.”
“Are you sure? Cause you’re free to stay at my place again if you want.”
Nil thinks about seeing Dimitri’s room. All packed up... every memory being stored away... sleeping in Dimitri’s bed one last time... never being able to have that comfort again... Dimitri leaving him forever... Nil’s eyes become a little watery, but he blinks it all back. He speaks in an angry tone.
“I’m fine, Dimitri. You don’t have to fucking worry about me.”
Dimitri’s starting to get a little annoyed. He shoves his hands in his hoodie pockets, and watches Nil carefully. “Is this about me leaving for uni?”
... Nil freezes. He expected Dimitri to guess it right away, but it was still a shocker somehow. He looks over his shoulder to face Dimitri one more time before turning his emotions off again and goes to stare back at the pizza, his voice full of defence and bitterness.
“No. Leave me alone, okay?”
... Dimitri feels like he’s at a loss. But he knows he can’t force Nil to explain what’s happening. He returns to his own order and speaks once more.
“Alright. But please tell me if you wanna talk about it. You can always talk to me... just call me.”
... Nil nearly considers it. He almost wants to turn to Dimitri, start crying, tell him to stay for just another week, tell him that he started thinking about dying because of this, and maybe get a hug.
... But he doesn’t. He just continues the day with angry tears filling his eyes. He really has been thinking about dying since that car nearly hit him, and he thinks Dimitri is sort of to blame.
... but what's the point of talking? He's leaving anyways.
(WRITER'S NOTE: Sorry for the lazy chapter! Honestly, part of me wants to skip to a later part of the story, but I think I'll skip the 23rd because I can't think of anyone super interesting to do for that day. But I hope you all enjoy the fanfic so far!)
