Not a big fan of it but uh, yeah. There's a lot of things mentioned that do not get explained or explored at all. Feel free to ask questions though lol
Down Bay Diner
Prompt; No real prompt, just felt like giving you something relatively nice in Garvin’s past for once.
Characters; Thyme/Chowder, Pamela, Derrick, and Samuel. Garvin’s in it too but he doesn’t talk at all so…
Word Count; 1510.
TWs; I… Don’t think there actually are any? Maybe some hints at angst but… That’s about it, actually. I mean… Yeah. Messy writing and ending? Oops. Not used to writing Chowder POV haha. Tons of dialogue.
Notes; Did I give you their information and then immediately start writing this? Yes. Yes, I did. Happens anywhere from a year before Garvin joined the rebellion to months before he joined the rebellion.
*~*~*~*
Dodging puddles as they walked and pulling the hood of their jacket up more than it already was to help shield the slight drizzle still coming down after the storm, Thyme wished not for the first time that they’d quit working at the diner already. They had plenty of offers for different technology companies lining up already, given the programs they were in. They could technically quit at any time. Maybe then they wouldn’t be having to show up to work at 1:50 in the morning.
-
Stepping through the door of the diner and out of the rain, they pushed down their hood and did a quick glance around. Only to quickly find one of the reasons they hadn’t quit yet sitting in one of the booths, absolutely dead asleep. Garvin. The only guy that just about always showed up on Sundays during Pam and Derrick’s shift. Which, given how empty it was by the time he showed up, and how sparse it tended to be during the shift for those two anyways? They were kind of glad he showed up as consistently as he did. It meant the policy on throwing food away could be ignored.
-
When Thyme had first started working at Down Bay Diner and found out about the policy on throwing food out… They hadn’t expected them meddling with the cameras to really help anyone but themself. They hadn’t expected the ginger that came in during a shift they had with Pamela right as the cameras turned off, claiming to know just that. They hadn’t expected anything that had happened that night, to be completely honest. It’d been an odd night, to put it lightly.
-
Still, seeing Garvin at one of the booths now made them do a double take. It was almost 2 AM. Which meant that the cameras would be back on soon. And yet, there he was, head against the table and definitely not waking up any time soon.
-
The sound of a door swinging open and closed near the kitchen made them look away and towards the noise, where Pamela now stood at the counter, her cane in one hand. She smiled at them, “Oh, hey Chowder. Guess you’re next on the roster then, huh?”
-
Thyme nodded, slow, trying not to look at Garvin again or seem too confused. They did manage a grimace at the nickname. Why it stuck, they weren’t sure. It’d only happened once. “Yeah. Sammy and I both are…” They paused, just for a moment, trying to keep their voice from sounding too questioning, too off kilter. “It’s almost 2 o’clock, Pam.”
-
She sighed, eyes glancing towards Garvin like she knew what they were actually saying. It wouldn’t surprise them if she did. “Yeah… I was just about to wake him up. That’s why I came out here, actually…”
-
They looked over at Garvin then, eyes narrowed. Only for a second. Then, they were looking back at Pammy and starting to walk over to the counter. “How long has he been out for?”
-
“I’m not too sure… But he came in at around 11:30 and definitely wasn’t up too long after. Which, honestly, not too surprising. He looked like shit when he came in.” She paused, and concern clearly replaced the almost amused tone that had been present in her voice. “I don’t know… I think he might be getting sick or something.”
-
Thyme stopped at the counter, glancing back over their shoulder for a moment before looking at Pamela. “Well, I mean, it’s been raining on and off the past week, hasn’t it? That can’t be too helpful.”
-
Pammy grinned, slight and subtle, and turned slightly towards the kitchen as she spoke, voice raising as if to catch Derrick’s attention, “Yeah, I keep telling Ricky to knock it off.”
-
Not even a second later, dark blue hair was pushing through the kitchen door, and Derrick was glaring in fake annoyance at Pamela. “I already told you— Oh. Hey, Chowder. You and Sam next?”
-
Electing to ignore the loathsome nickname that was, for whatever reason, even plastered to his nametag, they nodded with a simple, “Yeah.”
-
“That’s an odd thing to have already said, Derrick. I don’t think I’ve heard you say that at all tonight until now.” Pamela’s tease came quickly, a bright grin on her face as the one in question glared yet again, already opening his mouth in retaliation.
-
And while the two started to bicker, Thyme took another glance towards where Garvin was still asleep in the booth and then took out their phone. It was just a bit worrying, if they were being honest. Usually, if he was asleep, then he’d wake up with the door opening. Or when the group started talking, if the door didn’t do it. He really wasn’t that deep of a sleeper. Just about anything could wake him up. Or, at least, they’d always thought that to be the case. Then again, if Pammy was right about him getting sick… It’d definitely make sense that he didn’t wake up this time around.
-
So they checked the time on their phone to make sure there was enough time, and then when they saw that there was— They opened their drive to find the program they were using to keep the cameras off. They’d set the time for the cameras to turn back on a bit later, just by a few hours. If anyone asked, they could always claim it was the weather.
-
It didn’t take long to find the program and shift the time the cameras would turn on back to the latest they were willing to shift it to. Which was 7:00 AM, because that was when the morning rush tended to start and though the diner was never all that busy, they’d still rather be careful. Still, the five hour difference seemed good enough to them. So they sighed, put away their phone with a final glance at the 1:58 sitting in the corner of the screen, and turned at the sound of the door opening.
-
“You guys will not believe the morning I have had so far—” Sam stopped where they were, the door closing behind him. They followed his eyes to Garvin still asleep in the booth and showing no signs of waking anytime soon. “Uhhh. You guys do know it’s like… Real close to two. Right?”
-
Thyme nodded, answering before anyone could try and race over to wake Garvin up. “Yeah. He’s fine. The cameras won’t be on until seven today.”
-
“Oh, alright then. Cool.” Samuel started walking again, eyes still on the ginger, brows furrowing. “Is he, like… Is he good?”
-
They heard a sigh behind the counter, and listened as Pamela answered, voice stilted, like she was voicing something they weren’t sure on or something she hoped wasn’t true. Given the nature of it, they guessed that it was the latter. “We think he might be getting sick. Not sure what else it could be.”
-
Sammy nodded, looking away and finally towards all of them instead. “Okay, well. I am not ever having him crash at my place again. So… I say Ricky gets to offer him a place to stay.”
-
Thyme hummed, pursing their lips. Samuel was the only one of them to ever actually have Garvin stay with them and had since refused to make the offer again. They weren’t sure why, if something had happened. Or, rather, what had happened. Because something must’ve, Sam wouldn’t have stopped offering if something hadn’t happened. That just wasn’t how he was. They had no ideas as to what possibly could have happened though. Especially since Sammy wouldn’t tell them what had happened. Still, it wasn’t really their place to pry.
-
Either way, Rick groaned before shaking his head and speaking in a tone that almost could’ve been amused if the situation was different. “Not happening, sorry everyone. I think my roommates would actually kill me if I started bringing some random guy in and told them that he didn’t have to help pay rent.”
-
Pamela still giggled despite the situation, likely trying to ease any of the leftover tension, “Right, okay, well- I want to get home and sleep, so Derrick and I should probably get going. Feel free to keep me updated about him but I will not be answering anything until I wake up again.”
-
Thyme nodded right as Sam pouted. “Aw, c’mon! I didn’t even get to share my story.”
-
Looking over at him, they grinned. “Uh, hello? I’ll still be here, you can tell me. Besides, you can still text it to them.”
-
Samuel huffed but smiled, amused sarcasm lining his words, “Fine, fine, I guess that’ll work.”
-
The other two laughed, just a bit, and then they were leaving. Finishing up whatever was left for them to do and leaving so they could home and sleep. Which was fair, given how they’d been working since 6:00 PM. In the meantime, Thyme let Sam tell his story as they started their own shift.
Summer 
Day Weather: 
Earthquake
