#dylan.001

In all the time he’d lived in Providence Peak he guessed he’d have spent at least a full year inside of Vinyl Countdown if he sat down and tallied up all the hours he’d ever spent rummaging through records or simply sitting on the counter bugging Aksel until she made him leave. It was a happy place, to put it simply, and one Jay tried to pay visits to as much as he possibly could; on that particular day he was on the hunt for a favorite record of his father’s— though he was having trouble remembering the band with enough clarity to give himself a good place to start. He was scrolling absently through his phone as he walked, trying to remember at least a line or two of a song so he could Google the lyrics when he felt himself colliding with someone and flushed deeply in an instant. Dark eyes shifted immediately as Jay shoved his phone into his pocket and smiled sheepishly, “I’m so sorry. I think I’m gonna need to take a class on the dangers of ‘distracted walking’ some time soon,” he joked with a nervous laugh, “You’re okay, I hope? I know I’m not exactly small. Were you going inside?”

In the years he’d called Providence Peak home Niko had developed a particular fondness for the fact that there seemed to be a community garden of some sort in every neighborhood he could find in town. Whenever he was feeling out of sorts or even when he wanted to do something with himself that allowed him to get out of his apartment, he’d make his way down to the community garden to tend to the plants. His mood hadn’t driven him there that particular day, thankfully-- only an urge to get some sun as best he could-- and with the weather getting a little warmer day by day he’d gotten it into his head to try planting a few new things in his section of the garden. He was halfway through planting a row of melons when he glanced up and saw Dylan approaching the entrance to the garden-- a smile breaking over his face immediately as he raised a hand to wipe sweat from his face and smeared soil across his cheek in the moment before he stood and hurried (as much as he could) to Dylan with all the energy of a puppy greeting someone familiar. “Dyl! Hey! What’s up? Are you hanging out for a while?”