"THREE" Chapter Two
Title: "Three” Chapter 2/?
Author: Aiden4child
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 4,900
Disclaimer: The following is all my creation.
Warning: M/M situations, some violence, some language. There are also religious discussions. If you have problems with any of these, please do not read!
Summary: Follow the lives of three friends on their journey to find themselves.
A/N: Special thanks to http://zsenshi789z.livejournal.com/profile for writing Seraphin's flashback.
ALSO: Please check out "I Pity The Fool" By Molly Lewis, here:
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/songfu/03song1/molly_lewis-i_pity_the_song_fu.mp3 This song is halarious and i have adopted it as the themesong for "THREE". Hope you enjoy!
CH. TWO
January, 2009
Johnny had had secrets before, sure, but getting them out to someone had never seemed to lift as much weight from his shoulders as this one had. Seraphin’s reaction had ended up being better than he expected. Pretty much the only thing that could have made it better would have been Seraphin admitting some secret affection for Johnny as well, which Johnny had already accepted to be nothing more than fantasy.
He was on an unchangeable high, as if he were hooked up to a tube supplying him with a steady flow of chocolate. Or better yet, cheese. He popped in his ear phones and lay back on the deck, simply closing his eyes and enjoying the cool breeze. His fingers ran lightly over the decaying wood, taking in the texture of it and just enjoying the moment.
The current song ended and half way through the next one, “Holiday From Real”, an idea sparked and Johnny’s eyes shot open, a wide grin on his face. He pulled out his earphones and reached into his pocket, grabbing his cell phone. He held down the 4 key and waited through three rings for Seraphin to pick up.
“Hello?”
“Yo, don’t hang up. I’m gonna three-way Laurie. I have to talk to you guys about something.”
“Um, okay?”
Johnny switched over to an empty line and then held down the 8 key until it started ringing. He quickly switched back over, asked to see if Seraphin was still there, and then waited patiently for Laurie to pick up. Finally, after five or so rings, the call was answered.
“Yo, yo, yiggedy yo!”
“Laurie, Seraph’s on the line too. I wanted to talk to you guys about something.”
“Hey Seraph!”
“How’s it going?”
“Pretty good! Except for the fact that my cat is a slut and won’t stop rubbing her butt against me!”
“That sounds… fun.”
“Yea, not really. So what’s up?”
“I have an idea, actually. What do you guys think about… a road trip?”
February, 2009
“JOHNNY!”
Johnny stiffed as the shriek caught him off guard and he was suddenly holding Laurie’s full weight in her attempt to hug him with her whole body. He did his best to pat her on the back with one hand. “Hey. It’s… good to see you too.” He said, half frightened by his friend’s excitement. Before he could respond she jumped off of him and punched him in the arm. Johnny reached for his arm, not so much in pain, but in shock, as Laurie opened her mouth to speak.
“It’s about time you joined us! I’ve been telling you to for months now!”
“Well, this may come as a surprise, but my class that meets at the same time that you guys do, is usually not canceled.” He defended.
“Yea, yea. Come on.” Laurie grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him over to the small group of friends that she hung out with between classes. Most of them he knew, some of them he was even quite good friends with. She introduced him to two or three of them, and he seemed to fit in shockingly well. Then again, they were already friends with Laurie, so it probably wasn’t really that shocking at all.
The group went off into rapid conversation, picking up where they had apparently left off before Johnny had come to join them. Having no idea what they were discussing, it didn’t take long for him to zone out, day dream, if you will. It just felt so great to have things off his chest. Unfortunately, the initial matter still lingered.
The next thing Johnny knew Laura was hitting him on the arm and telling him that they needed to “sign up for classes together next semester. I need someone to stop people from randomly groping me.”
“Who randomly groped you?” Johnny asked, wondering more why he always came into conversations at such odd times, than about the question he’d just asked.
“Random people!”
“Why are random people randomly groping you?!”
“It’s her butt.”
Johnny turned, a strange expression plastered on his face, to look at the person in the group who had spoken.
“See! I told you! I could rule the world with this butt!”
“You should start with 50’s Gangster kid.” Another person in the group added.
Johnny turned to look at the person and then to Laurie, confusion evident on his face. “Who is 50’s Gangster kid?”
Laurie’s eyes rolled up in her head as she smiled and exhaled dreamily. “Only my latest fascination. He’s amazing!” she practically yelled, looking back down at Johnny. “He’s in my film class and he dresses just like a greaser from the 50’s. You’ve seen “Grease” right?”
Johnny’s expression turned suddenly stern. “I should punch you in the neck for asking me that…”
“How was I supposed to know?!”
“I have the freakin’ album standing up in my room!”
“Yea, well… whatever! Anyways, he’s basically a T-bird. Converses, blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and black leather jacket, with aviators and even fucking John Travolta hair! It’s amazing…”
“As awesome as that sounds, I’m not sure if it concerns me more that he wears the same thing every day, or that he has that many of the same items of clothing… But I will give him props for standing out!”
“Oh yea. He’s an actor, apparently. You should meet him!” Laurie’s face lit up at the thought. Johnny stared at her with a “Shut up! I’m not out yet, idiot!” look. Then, Laurie, still not getting it, put on a frown. “On second thought, you shouldn’t. He’s mine.”
Johnny remained silent, not seeming to have noticed that the rest of the group had already gone off on their own private rant. Apparently they had heard about 50’s Gangster kid more than enough for their own tastes. Laurie, however, was apparently in her own little world at the moment, because no matter how much Johnny looked around he couldn’t seem to find anything worth her staring at, and he was pretty sure she was starting to drool. Suddenly, as if someone had struck her, she snapped out of her daze and fished out her phone to look at the time.
“Ah! I have class! I need to go!”
“Good, cause I need to get home and do crap for English.”
The two of them got up and began gathering their things, while simultaneously saying goodbye to different people. They got everything they had and headed off in the same direction.
“I can’t believe you seriously asked me if I’ve seen “Grease”… I’m getting you a pink shirt for your birthday.”
“HATE!” Laurie exclaimed, way too loud for a conversation in which the participants were walking side by side. But it was true, she did hate pink shirts.
The next day Laurie came to school wearing a black shirt with pink writing that read “I hate pink shirts” just to prove her point.
********
“So, I’m thinking we’d go up to at least New York, cause I have relatives up there… maybe as far as Boston. I really wanna visit a friend I haven’t seen in a while.” Johnny rambled, explaining what he thought would be best for the road trip. Planning where they were going was kind of an important part of it. He traced the map with his finger as he spoke. “And then, that way… we can head over a little bit and hit Ohio on our way back. Finally get to meet my friend up there.” Johnny finally looked up to where Seraphin was sitting beside him. “How does that sound?”
Seraphin looked over the map for a second, contemplating the route they would take, trying to remember if he knew anyone near those areas. He looked up to meet Johnny’s eyes. “Sounds good to me.” Johnny’s face lit up a little at the assurance.
“Awesome!” He looked back down to the map and studied it again for a moment. “So… that should take us what? …a week and a half?”
April 2003
"Another week and a half? Alright...uhuh...yeah...'kay bye...I lo-"
Seraphin sighed and clicked the phone off. His mother had hung up before he could tell them he loved them. They had apparently met up with old college friends on their ski trip and had decided to stay a little longer. Of course his parents "trusted [him] absolutely" and knew that he'd be fine on his own… again... He glanced around the house sadly before plopping down on the leather couch and flipping on the HD television to see if anything good was on.
As an eighth grader, this should have been his dream come true: this huge house to himself, complete with money in the safe box and a winery downstairs (or what could be more accurately called the "Booze Wing"), should have been 'party central,' but Seraphin was far too familiar with the circumstances to find anything but...a deep ache...
A single tear trailed his cheek as George Costanza turned his life around by doing the opposite of his normal routines.
February 2009
“Seraph?” Johnny watched Seraphin as he stared at the map, the world around him seemingly meaningless. He had only seen him get like this once, but not for such a long time. “Seraphin?” Johnny reached out hesitantly and placed a hand on his shoulder. Seraphin jumped, accompanied by a sharp intake of breath, at the contact. He looked up at Johnny, as if realizing where he was for the first time. His breathing was a little faster and his face held an expression that Johnny didn’t recognize. He turned his head away, his face leaving Johnny’s line of vision, and remained silent.
Johnny watched him for a second longer before turning back and looking down at his hands, folded on the table. He was worried, no idea what had just happened or why. Whatever it was though, it had done something to Seraphin. He was never the quiet, depressed type. If he was sad he rarely even let it show. Johnny knew he had dealt with depression before, but as far as he knew that was only something of the past.
Johnny looked up when Seraphin’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
“I think we should say two weeks… just to be safe.”
Johnny watched him for a moment and then nodded, not sure if actually talking to him at the time was the best idea.
“Two weeks songs good…”
********
“I’m hungry.”
“There’s the surprise of the century.”
“Shut up. Let’s go to Mc-”
“McDonalds, fine, okay. Let’s go.”
“Yay!” Laurie exclaimed, clapping her hands and bouncing as if she were a five year old.
Johnny headed out to his car with Laurie in toe, slipped on his glasses, and unlocked the doors for both of them.
“How come you never wear your glasses except for when you drive.” Laurie asked as they got inside and buckled up.
“Eh… I don’t like wearing them. I only need them for reading far away, so as long as I sit near the front in my classes I’m good, and that’s the only other time I would need them. Besides, they don’t improve my face, so what’s the use?”
“Oh hush, you’re beautiful.”
“Aw, well thank you.” Johnny replied almost sarcastically.
“But you only say this because we’re friends.”
“Whatever, you are hot, Johnny Ballard, and that’s the truth.”
“I’ll do us both a favor and pretend I believe you.”
“Hush and take me to get my food before I smack you.”
“How come I always have to drive you to get your food?”
“Because you love me!” Laurie answered as she grabbed a hold of Johnny’s arm and leaned her head against his shoulder, and little kid’s smile playing on her face.
“Ah, how could I forget.”
“Drive, ho!”
Johnny put the car into reverse and backed out of Laurie’s yard. Straining his neck to make sure no traffic was coming, he pulled out into the road and headed for the nearest McDonalds. They cranked up the radio and sang along with the songs that came on as they made their way to the fast-food restaurant.
********
Johnny’s birthday had been on a Monday, A.K.A. everyone’s favorite day of the week, this year, so he was planning to more or less celebrate it the following Saturday. Though it would probably only be family, with the exception of Seraphin and Laurie.
“Hey, what’d you get Johnny for his birthday?” Laurie asked when Seraphin picked up the phone.
“Um, hi… I ordered him a shirt from online, why?”
“I just don’t know what to get him.”
“He’s been wanting a pair of yellow converse, why don’t you get him that?” Seraphin suggested.
“Yea, those things are like impossible to find. Believe me, I already tried.”
“Well, I mean, he said he didn’t really want anything except to just spend time with us, so I wouldn’t worry about it. But if you really feel the need, I’m sure just giving him some cash would more than suffice.”
“Why not a gift card?”
“Because cash is good for anything, not just one store, and getting someone a gift card is just another way to say ‘I had no idea what to get you, but I wanted to at least show you I put forth some effort’.”
“So… wouldn’t giving him cash mean I didn’t put forth effort, then?”
“Well yea, but we already know you’re lazy, and we still love you.”
“Awwwww!” Laurie squealed over the phone. Seraphin held his cell phone away quickly to escape a certain death via brain explosion. “You’re so sweet Seraph! If I didn’t think of you as a brother, and Johnny wasn’t madly in love with you, I would jump you right now.”
“Well, that would be some feat, considering you’d have to travel through the phone lines.” Seraphin stated.
“Guess I’ll have to start practicing then.” Laurie replied, the smile on her face evident in her voice.
********
Johnny scratched out the answers to his math homework fervently. He was a chapter behind and the work was due tomorrow, and the last thing he wanted to do on his birthday was spend the entire day doing school work. He jumped slightly as the dogs began to bark in the living room. He let out a sigh after the adrenaline rush ended.
“Hush!” he called as the dogs continued to bark. It was probably just someone passing by that got them started up. That’s usually what it was.
“HUSH!” Johnny shouted, louder this time, while the dogs began to go a little crazy. He stood up and walked into the living room, yelling for the two dogs to “Shut up!” as he did.
“Johnny!” He stopped and turned his head at the sound of his mother’s voice. “Don’t say that!”
“Shut up isn’t bad, mom.” Johnny argued.
“Johnny, you know it is! It’s so mean!”
“Mom, they’re dogs! It’s not like they’d know the difference between me yelling ‘Shut up’ and ‘I love you’.” Johnny turned around quickly, the dogs’ barking quickly grating his nerves. The two small dogs were up on the back of the couch, barking at something on the other side of the window.
“Sadie! Haley! Down!” Johnny shouted, first pointing at the floor, then finally shooing them away when they didn’t move. He looked out the window, attempting to see who was outside, and as soon as he laid eyes on them his face lit up. Johnny pushed off the couch and bolted out the door, only slowing down long enough to close it behind him so the dogs wouldn’t get out.
He ran into a full hug with both Laurie and Seraphin at the same time, almost bouncing with excitement.
“You guys didn’t have to come!” Johnny exclaimed.
“Uh, it’s your birthday, ho. ‘Nuff said!” Laurie replied. “And it’s also near the end of February and really cold! Let’s go inside.”
The trio headed in and Johnny closed and locked the door behind them, something that was now habit for him.
“Who’s here?” His mom called from the kitchen.
“Seraphin and Laurie.” Johnny informed her.
“Oh, hey.” She shouted to Johnny’s friends. The two of them headed to the doorway of the kitchen, Laurie stopping there and waving hello, while Seraphin frolicked into the kitchen and began to hug Mrs. Ballard. “Hey Seraphin.” She replied as she reached up to hug him back, eventually just giving up on getting free when it became apparent that he wasn’t letting go anytime soon. Seraphin rocked a little, sighing as he hugged her. Johnny stopped in the doorway, behind Laurie, and just stared awkwardly.
“Dude… stop assaulting my mom.” As if on queue, Seraphin let go and headed back towards Johnny and Laurie. “We’ll be in my room, mom.” Johnny said as he turned and headed down the hall.
“Leave the door open!” she called back to him. He replied with a simple “Yes Ma’am.” And then sat back down in the chair he had previously been doing homework in. Laurie and Seraphin collapsed simultaneously onto his bed, a loud slashing noise created by the impact.
“Hey! You guys break my bed, and you’ll not only be getting me a new mattress thing, but you’ll be filling it back up too.” Laurie let out a laugh as Seraphin began to rock back and forth on the bed, creating wave-like movements. Johnny rolled his eyes and turned back to his homework
“So how’s your day been so far?” Laurie asked after she finally finished laughing.
“Good!” Johnny replied excitedly, turning around to face her. “I wore my party hat to school,” he pointed to the Curious George Birthday hat on his desk. “and my class bought me cupcakes! It was awesome…” he finished with a happy sigh.
“Ooh! Did you bring me one?” Laurie asked, her eyes growing wide.
“Well, there was only one left, and my mom’s staying away from sweets, so I was kinda saving it for my sister…”
“The sister who lent me her sweat pants?” Laurie asked, a disgusted look on her face. Johnny nodded as Seraphin posed a question. “Is that not a good thing?” Seraphin asked, in reference to Laurie’s tone, as he continued to rock back and forth. Laurie turned to look at him, her face a look of complete seriousness. “They were pink.” Seraphin chuckled and turned his head to stare back up at the ceiling.
“I thought you only hated pink shirts.” Johnny said sarcastically. “Pssh!” Laurie replied hastily. “The only pink thing I don’t hate is the singer. She’s kick ass!” Johnny gave her a death glare, shaking his head in the direction of the kitchen. Laurie quickly covered her mouth with her hand and all three friends froze, attempting to hear any indication that Johnny’s mother had heard Laurie’s choice of words. After a few seconds of dead silence, they consecutively let out withheld breaths and Seraphin went back to rocking again, this time moaning a little as he did.
“Dude, if you don’t stop getting so much enjoyment from my bed, I will be forced to ask you to remove yourself.” Johnny warned, to which Seraphin replied by rocking more wildly and moaning louder as he rubbed his hands over the bed sheets. Laurie laughed, holding onto her stomach, and then stopped suddenly.
“I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Johnny jumped up, grabbed her by the wrist, and began to pull her up. “GET OFF MY BED!” He shouted before dragging her frantically to the bathroom across the hall.
********
That night, after they left Johnny’s house, Seraphin drove to McDonalds at the request of “Queen Laurie”, as he had referred to her when she told him to take her there. “This is so exciting!” Laurie cheered as they pulled into the parking lot. “I’m so used to Johnny taking me, it’s neat to have you bringing me h- You just passed the drive through!” Seraphin slammed on breaks, not having really thought about, but figuring that it made sense, that Laurie had wanted to go through the drive through.
“Um… just…” Laurie looked around to see if there were any near by cars. It was after 11:00, so most people were gone. “You can just pull a U-turn this…” Laurie stopped speaking as Seraphin began to back the car up. It took her a second before she caught on and turned towards Seraphin with a questioning look. He smiled, already knowing her question.
“Are we going through backwards?”
“Yes!’ Seraphin answered happily, barely letting Laurie finish her question before he did. They got all the way through, ordered, paid for, and received their food, laughing the whole way, and then headed off towards Laurie’s house. They were fairly certain that the workers would remember them next time, if they didn’t already remember Laurie, do to her addiction to the place.
********
When Saturday rolled around Johnny had a small celebration with his family, getting cards and money here and there, and eating cake. Johnny had asked for dirt cake, as:
A: He wasn’t a giant fan of icing, and
B: Ground-up Oreos, layered with whipped cream and vanilla pudding, was freakin’ amazing!
Then, 5 o’clock hit and Seraphin and Laurie arrived to pick him up, claiming that they were letting him off chauffeur duty as part of his gift. They headed to “Frankie’s Fun Park” and bought tickets for two rounds of Laser Tag, courtesy Laurie. She handed the boys their tickets, saying “So don’t be expecting anything else, mmkay?”
They headed to the room, waiting for the previous group to finish, and then requesting to let just the three of them play, since no one else was waiting yet, and that was what they had hoped to do. They listened to the brief into, informing them of all the rules and regulations when playing, and then headed to get their vests. They were each a different team, Johnny grabbing blue, Seraphin getting red, and Laurie taking yellow. On each of their color coded vests there was a different “code name”. Johnny was “Hold the Pickles”, Seraphin got “Ferocious Marshmallow”, and Laurie ended up with “# 1 Target”, which gave the boys a good laugh, and then a threat from her in return.
They lined up outside the entrance to the Laser Tag Arena and waited as the countdown commenced to the next game. “Okay guys,” Johnny spoke up, all three of them staring straight ahead at the dark room which awaited them. “this is what Drama’s prepared us for…” Laurie and Seraphin nodded, then all three of them simultaneously let out a deep breath.
3…
2…
1…
“Let’s go…”
They all sprinted off into the room, splitting into different directions as the ten seconds before their guns were activated wasted away. As their guns and vests lit up they began to scout around cautiously, not one of them knowing where either of the others were.
Johnny stopped as a voice called out in the semi-silence: the quiet, high-speed music the only other sound in the arena.
“Well, well, well… Mr. Pickles… we meet again…” Johnny turned slowly to face his opponent, only feet away. “F.M.” he acknowledged. “It’s been a long time…”
“Not long enough!”
“Well then… I see no reason why we’re wasting time…”
“Neither do I!” The boys both lifted their guns and fired, their vests emitting an electronic blast-like noise at the same time. The looked down at their vests, and then back up to each other. Seraphin was the first to drop his gun, the latch on his vest catching so that it hung in the air. He cracked his fingers and then his neck and held up his fists. Johnny followed suit, dropping his gun and bringing up his fists, inhaling roughly in the process.
The boys stared at each other for a moment, stern looks on their faces, then at the exact same moment shouted. “MORTAL KOMBAT!” They sprung towards each other, the hand to hand battle commencing. Johnny lunged forward with a fist, but was rejected by Seraphin’s forearm block. He threw another arm out, which Seraphin ducked under, and then delivered a front kick. Seraphin caught the kick under his arm, then grabbed Johnny by the front of his vest, holding on to his leg still, and swung him around into the padded wall behind him. He delivered a stage punch to the side of Johnny’s jaw, Johnny reacting as if he’d actually been hit.
The next punch that Seraphin threw connected with the wall as Johnny ducked and spun out of the way. He stood up quickly and kicked upwards, knocking the arm that Seraphin had just punched with out of the way, then dropping down to the ground and attempting to sweep Seraphin’s legs out from under him. Seraphin barely managed to jump over Johnny’s leg in time, and then dropped down low himself, sweeping Johnny’s legs out from under him as he stood back up.
Johnny hit the ground, catching himself with his elbows and hoping that his vest hadn’t gotten messed up in their “fight”. He was about to get back up when the end of Seraphin’s gun appeared in front of his face. Their gun’s and vests had just lit up again too. Johnny froze, laying back and raising his hands in surrender.
“Ah, but you see, Mr. Pickles, it is too late to surrender. Say your prayers.”
Johnny gulped in the face of “certain death” and waited for his vest to explode again. Then came the electronic blast and it took Johnny a second to realize that it wasn’t his vest that had been cut off. He looked up at Seraphin, who was looking around to find the person who had shot him. Johnny didn’t hesitate, grabbing his gun and aiming up, but before he could fire he was shot as well. Both boys looked in the same direction as Laurie’s voice rained down from the third level balcony.
“PWNED! Now who’s the target, Bitches?!” She cheered, her hands held high above her head. She stopped then, her eyes growing wide as both boys jetted off to the two entrances to the upper levels. “Oh crap!” Laurie turned and ran backwards, trying to think, as she ran, of how to escape her grave fate.
She stopped at a nearby bridge, peeking over the edge to search for either of her enemies, and spotted Johnny, or more precisely a blur of shaggy brown hair, go by below. She pulled away from the banister and looked around. She continued across the bridge, then stopped as she got to the end of it, spotting Seraphin come around a corner. She turned around and jetted back across the bridge just as he fired in her direction. She got across the bridge and was quick to get her back against a wall. She peered around the corner and, sure enough, Seraphin was marching across the bridge, gun firmly in hand. If she was lucky, he hadn’t seen her looking at him.
Laurie pulled her head back, took a deep breath, then turned and began to fire rapidly in Seraphin’s direction. Seraphin dropped back, getting as low as he could, and attempted to dodge Laurie’s shots, shooting back at her every chance he got. Laurie pulled back again, the turned just enough to stick her gun around the corner and shoot. Her vest suddenly went black and she looked down, almost in shock, then back up as her vest told her she had been shot by Johnny. Sure enough, there he was, holding his gun with a smile. He raised his gun to his lips then blew, the imaginary smoke scattering. Laurie scowled in his direction, then stepped back as Seraphin blew past her.
Johnny jumped back, not having expected Seraphin to be there, much less to shoot at him. He fell backwards, rolled back to his feet, stumbling a bit as he did, and then rounded the nearest corner. Seraphin followed in pursuit of him, getting around the corner just in time to see Johnny throw himself over one of the banister’s, holding on with his right hand just long enough to cascade down the wall. Seraphin suddenly became worried, not sure how far of a drop it was, and raced to the edge. He looked over and saw Johnny standing up from all fours, then looking up at him and smiling before running off.
“Freakin’ Spider Monkey!” Seraphin yelled over the banister, and then turned and headed the other way. He rounded the corner to see an out-of-breath Laurie aiming over another banister and firing, apparently at Johnny. Seraphin didn’t even stop, lifting his gun as he walked by, and firing once. It hit Laurie in the back and her vest shut off again. She turned around to look at Seraphin as he walked off. “Ugh! Ho!” She shouted in his direction, then moved to find a different place to snipe from before she was shot again.
The game ended with Johnny and Seraphin tied for first, and Laurie only one point behind them. They moved on to take a ride in the go-karts before coming back for their final game of Laser Tag. When they did come back, however, they made sure to get the same teams and code names. There was a score to be settled…