[fic] River
Okay, so it isn't sundown and it took me an hour to write this (I wrote some on my paper, don't freak), and I don't celebrate Hanukkah persay, but I said there should be a Hanukkah ficathon. So I might as well try and make one. JoeTroh, a fic for you!
Title: "River"
Rating: PG, for drug mention and the f-word.
Pairing: I think I unintentionally wrote Joe/Andy. Weird...
Summary: On the first day back and the first day of Hanukkah, Joe gets a gift from the guys they've been hiding for quite a while.
Disclaimer: This is fake, hence the fiction part of "fan fiction".
First Day of Hanukkah
It had been one thing after another since tour ended. He was sure he had come back home and slept, and then rolled out of bed to only be wrapped up in one family get-together after another. There might have even been a trip to the Synagogue, but the day was getting hazier and hazier the later it got and his body was just about to press stop on him.
Being back home was almost more of a blessing than getting to see his family and friends again after so long. Being back home meant that he could just make his way quietly around the house, sleep wherever his body told him to, and eat whatever his mom made him take home from dinner.
With the ball-shaped doughnut of Sufganiyot goodness in hand, he lazily made his way out to the entryway where his main bag from tour sat - still not unpacked. He could afford to be lazy and leave it be until a few more hours more of sleep, but he was sure had left his toothbrush in it. His mother might have killed him for his breath alone that night, if he hadn’t remembered to smoke before going over.
Before he could rummage through his bag, Joe discovered someone had stuffed a present and a thin CD case on top of his clothes with a note that read ‘Hanukkah’. It was in Andy’s handwriting, which surprised him. So much so that he stuffed the Sufganiyot in his mouth and took out the DVD inside the case. He was back in the living room and putting the DVD on before he was again in the entryway, pulling out the package and grabbing his toothbrush. By the time he on able to unwrap the blue and silver paper, he could hear Pete’s voice in the living room. “Hey Joe.”
“Yeah, hey.” Added Patrick.
Andy seemed to be laughing softly at both of them. “Happy Hanukkah.”
Without opening the box in his hands, Joe wandered back to the living room to find Pete, Patrick and Andy sitting on the tour bus. Patrick was leaning on his guitar while Andy and Pete sat around him - a sleepy Hemmy keeping his master still.
“We had to do all this while you were ‘getting philosophical’ with Travis. So we hope this is a bit of a surprise.” Pete eyed Andy.
Andy only kept looking into the camera. “We know this time of year is kind of shitty for you, and your folks don’t really do all that much for Hanukkah, so this is our way of saying your thought of…” He smiled, looking a little embarrassed. “And we wish we were able to be there. End of tour and all.”
Pete pointed at the camera now, looking excited. “Okay, this is where you open your present-”
“He probably already has-” Patrick offered, getting a dirty look from Pete.
“Whatever, man. I’m running on a script here-” There was a nudge from Andy and Pete seemed to get himself back on track. “You open, Patrick sings. Which is pretty much another present in itself.”
The look Patrick threw at Pete made Joe laugh to himself. Sometimes Patrick’s insistence that he really wasn’t all that Pete made him out to be was endearing.
“Alright.” Patrick cleared his throat and made himself comfortable. “This is much better on piano, so don’t laugh.”
“Just play, Patrick.” Andy insisted with an almost inaudible laugh.
“It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees.
They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
But it don’t snow here, it stays pretty green.
I’m going to make a lot of money then I’m going to quit this crazy scene.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on…
I made my baby cry…”
As Pete instructed, Joe opened the box on his lap to find silver and blue tissue paper. Underneath it sat an already well worn scrapbook, looking as though it had been wrapped just the other night (and it probably had, he wagered). Pete’s horrible handwriting spelled out Joe’s name and the year of the tour on the corner of the green antique-stressed cover. Its cardboard base was cut in the middle so that it framed a group photo someone had taken during their stay in Uganda. He hadn’t even realized anyone was taking pictures of that night around the fire.
“He tried hard to help me, you know, he put me at ease,
and he loved me so naughty, made me weak in the knees.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I’m so hard to handle. I’m selfish and I’m sad,
now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I ever had.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh I wish I had a river…
I made my baby say goodbye…”
Opening it, he found more pictures from days that he was sure he should remember and other days he was glad to have had a reminder of. Tickets and quotes and scraps of anything duplicate-able were over every page. It was a gift made out of a lot of effort and time - and surely stressed out hours of hiding. He was amazed any of them could keep quiet about it, especially Pete.
“Its coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees.
They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on…”
The song died off and Joe made himself look away from the captured memories to catch Patrick looking a little lost as he eyed Pete. They all looked so tired. “Wait, why did we pick that song again? It’s kind of depressing…”
Pete might have flailed, but Joe wasn’t positive in the tour bus light. “It’s Joni Mitchell, dude! You were stoked-”
“It was the only song we could think of that kind of said someone wanted to get away from Christmas - and everything else for that matter.” Andy replied as he sat up and neared the camera. “Joseph, enjoy the book. We’ll see you in Chicago soon.”
As the screen started to go black, Pete could be heard yelling: “Happy Hanukkah!” in between a gruff: “How the fuck do you turn this thing off?”
When the TV screen went blue, Joe sighed and set the scrapbook aside on the couch to look around at the quiet room around him. On the mantle, he realized the candle he had lit half an hour ago, was almost out and flickering softly.
Turning off the TV, and switching off the lamp beside the couch, Joe found his way over to the fireplace with only the soft glow of the small menorah candle. It seemed to know he was coming, as it started to sputter and die - though probably from the rush of air he carried with him.
Joe watched as it started to turn blue, suddenly feeling the rush of the day and the tour hit him hard. The blue of the candle reminded him of how bruised his body felt. He was tired and worn out, and everyone and everything knew it - even the cheap little candle.
He hummed the last verse of Patrick’s song before blowing out the flame and going back to bed.
End.
Title: "River"
Rating: PG, for drug mention and the f-word.
Pairing: I think I unintentionally wrote Joe/Andy. Weird...
Summary: On the first day back and the first day of Hanukkah, Joe gets a gift from the guys they've been hiding for quite a while.
Disclaimer: This is fake, hence the fiction part of "fan fiction".
First Day of Hanukkah
It had been one thing after another since tour ended. He was sure he had come back home and slept, and then rolled out of bed to only be wrapped up in one family get-together after another. There might have even been a trip to the Synagogue, but the day was getting hazier and hazier the later it got and his body was just about to press stop on him.
Being back home was almost more of a blessing than getting to see his family and friends again after so long. Being back home meant that he could just make his way quietly around the house, sleep wherever his body told him to, and eat whatever his mom made him take home from dinner.
With the ball-shaped doughnut of Sufganiyot goodness in hand, he lazily made his way out to the entryway where his main bag from tour sat - still not unpacked. He could afford to be lazy and leave it be until a few more hours more of sleep, but he was sure had left his toothbrush in it. His mother might have killed him for his breath alone that night, if he hadn’t remembered to smoke before going over.
Before he could rummage through his bag, Joe discovered someone had stuffed a present and a thin CD case on top of his clothes with a note that read ‘Hanukkah’. It was in Andy’s handwriting, which surprised him. So much so that he stuffed the Sufganiyot in his mouth and took out the DVD inside the case. He was back in the living room and putting the DVD on before he was again in the entryway, pulling out the package and grabbing his toothbrush. By the time he on able to unwrap the blue and silver paper, he could hear Pete’s voice in the living room. “Hey Joe.”
“Yeah, hey.” Added Patrick.
Andy seemed to be laughing softly at both of them. “Happy Hanukkah.”
Without opening the box in his hands, Joe wandered back to the living room to find Pete, Patrick and Andy sitting on the tour bus. Patrick was leaning on his guitar while Andy and Pete sat around him - a sleepy Hemmy keeping his master still.
“We had to do all this while you were ‘getting philosophical’ with Travis. So we hope this is a bit of a surprise.” Pete eyed Andy.
Andy only kept looking into the camera. “We know this time of year is kind of shitty for you, and your folks don’t really do all that much for Hanukkah, so this is our way of saying your thought of…” He smiled, looking a little embarrassed. “And we wish we were able to be there. End of tour and all.”
Pete pointed at the camera now, looking excited. “Okay, this is where you open your present-”
“He probably already has-” Patrick offered, getting a dirty look from Pete.
“Whatever, man. I’m running on a script here-” There was a nudge from Andy and Pete seemed to get himself back on track. “You open, Patrick sings. Which is pretty much another present in itself.”
The look Patrick threw at Pete made Joe laugh to himself. Sometimes Patrick’s insistence that he really wasn’t all that Pete made him out to be was endearing.
“Alright.” Patrick cleared his throat and made himself comfortable. “This is much better on piano, so don’t laugh.”
“Just play, Patrick.” Andy insisted with an almost inaudible laugh.
“It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees.
They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
But it don’t snow here, it stays pretty green.
I’m going to make a lot of money then I’m going to quit this crazy scene.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on…
I made my baby cry…”
As Pete instructed, Joe opened the box on his lap to find silver and blue tissue paper. Underneath it sat an already well worn scrapbook, looking as though it had been wrapped just the other night (and it probably had, he wagered). Pete’s horrible handwriting spelled out Joe’s name and the year of the tour on the corner of the green antique-stressed cover. Its cardboard base was cut in the middle so that it framed a group photo someone had taken during their stay in Uganda. He hadn’t even realized anyone was taking pictures of that night around the fire.
“He tried hard to help me, you know, he put me at ease,
and he loved me so naughty, made me weak in the knees.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I’m so hard to handle. I’m selfish and I’m sad,
now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I ever had.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh I wish I had a river…
I made my baby say goodbye…”
Opening it, he found more pictures from days that he was sure he should remember and other days he was glad to have had a reminder of. Tickets and quotes and scraps of anything duplicate-able were over every page. It was a gift made out of a lot of effort and time - and surely stressed out hours of hiding. He was amazed any of them could keep quiet about it, especially Pete.
“Its coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees.
They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
I wish I had a river I could skate away on…”
The song died off and Joe made himself look away from the captured memories to catch Patrick looking a little lost as he eyed Pete. They all looked so tired. “Wait, why did we pick that song again? It’s kind of depressing…”
Pete might have flailed, but Joe wasn’t positive in the tour bus light. “It’s Joni Mitchell, dude! You were stoked-”
“It was the only song we could think of that kind of said someone wanted to get away from Christmas - and everything else for that matter.” Andy replied as he sat up and neared the camera. “Joseph, enjoy the book. We’ll see you in Chicago soon.”
As the screen started to go black, Pete could be heard yelling: “Happy Hanukkah!” in between a gruff: “How the fuck do you turn this thing off?”
When the TV screen went blue, Joe sighed and set the scrapbook aside on the couch to look around at the quiet room around him. On the mantle, he realized the candle he had lit half an hour ago, was almost out and flickering softly.
Turning off the TV, and switching off the lamp beside the couch, Joe found his way over to the fireplace with only the soft glow of the small menorah candle. It seemed to know he was coming, as it started to sputter and die - though probably from the rush of air he carried with him.
Joe watched as it started to turn blue, suddenly feeling the rush of the day and the tour hit him hard. The blue of the candle reminded him of how bruised his body felt. He was tired and worn out, and everyone and everything knew it - even the cheap little candle.
He hummed the last verse of Patrick’s song before blowing out the flame and going back to bed.
End.