TW~panic attack and harsh language.
"We can totally copy this guy."
"Definitely," Joe said with a laugh, passing the popcorn bowl to Brian.
"You don't even have to do any acting."
"For real! You're going to do all the work. Look at that actor playing Quirrell. He's doing it all."
"You just have to stand there and look pretty. Shouldn't be that difficult."
"I don't know where you're getting the idea that Voldemort's out here looking pretty under that turban dude."
"I'm sure you'll find a way," Brian said smoothly, before aggressively shoving popcorn into his mouth. He really needed to shut up.
"How are we even going to do this for the show? I see in the script that we have all these scenes together, but I don't think they're gonna be able to attach my face to the back of your head."
"If only I could be so lucky," Brian mumbled, handing the popcorn back to Joe. "And I don't know. Maybe they'll have me go on and you stand to the side or back of the stage with your mic on?"
Joe pursed his lips. "Maybe. Or maybe they'll wrap us in a bedsheet?"
Brian laughed. "A bed sheet?"
"Yeah, or a blanket. They stuff us both into a big piece of fabric back to back to something."
"Hmm. That definitely would be funnier."
"It would . . ." Joe jumped to his feet. "Here, stand up."
Brian obeyed, raising an eyebrow at Joe. "Why?" He asked nervously.
"We're gonna test it out."
"What?" Brian watched in complete disbelief as Joe pulled his black comforter off of his bed.
"Is this good? Or should I get something lighter? Eh fuck it, let's try this. Turn around."
"Are you for real?" Brian laughed as Joe approached him.
"Yes you dork. Now spin." Brian obeyed, flushing horrifically as Joe reached around him and draped the blanket over his chest. "Okay, try to hold it up while I get in." Brian flushed awkwardly as he felt Joe press his back against his own, struggling to wrap the blanket around himself. "I'm dumb, we need something to keep the blanket closed around us."
"I can't move my head," Brian said with a smirk.
"I appreciate you sitting still." Joe said with a laugh as he dropped the blanket and stepped out of it. "I gotta get a pin or something. Then we can rehearse for real."
"And here I was thinking we were just going to watch a movie." Brian looked around Joe's room, spotting his red fleece blanket. "I have an idea. You got a small pillow?" Joe nodded, reaching under his bed and throwing it to him. Brian examined it in in his hands, before grabbing the red blanket. He wrapped it around the pillow, before placing it on top of his. He took the rest of the blanket material and wrapped it around his head.
"That's amazing." Joe said, laughing. He pulled out his phone, zooming in on Brian as he spun around in a circle.
"Oh god, did you record that?"
"Hold up..." Joe mumbled, typing a caption. "Check Snapchat."
Brian bit his lip nervously, pulling out his phone. Going straight to his feed, he clicked on Joe's story. It was a video of him spinning around in the fake turban, and then Joe zooming in on Quirrell on the tv. For captions, he put 'spot the difference' and 'just HP the musical things.' Brian ran a hand through his hair. "You um, you have a lot of people from school on Snapchat?"
"Hmm?" Joe looked back at him, confused. "Uhh I guess. Why? Is the video embarrassing for you? I can take it down."
"No! No that's typical me," Brian said, sitting back down on Joe's bed. "I'm fine with that video. But like, won't people give you crap if they see a video of us hanging out?"
Joe shrugged. "I don't know. Who cares if they do? You're my friend."
Brian bit back a smile. Joe wasn't totally embarrassed by him? Score. "Thanks my guy."
Joe rolled his eyes. "Thank you for what? Treating you like a human being?" He stood up, placing the blanket on the bed. "I'm gonna run downstairs and find something to tie the ends of the sheet. Be ready to rehearse for real when I get back Rosenthal."
xXx
An hour passed of them rehearsing, joking around in their "cloak." Sorcerers Stone was almost over; they were finally at the part where Voldemort came out of the back of Quirrell's head.
"Ooh our scene is on!" Brian exclaimed. "We gotta watch it."
"Can we run this verse one more time?" Joe asked nervously. "Sorry I just want to make sure I got it down."
"Of course," Brian responded, picking his script back up, which was difficult with the two of them wrapped in a blanket. "We can always rewind the movie."
"Deal," Joe responded happily. "Okay so, I think we're just supposed to keep walking in a circle for this part, right?"
"I think so. We can double check with Nick tomorrow. Wanna just go for it?"
Joe nodded, before remembering that Brian couldn't see his face because they were back to back. "Yeah, go ahead."
"Gotchu." Brian paused, double checking the lyrics before he started. "When I rule the world, I'll plant flowers..." The two started shuffling in a circle, trying not to trip each other.
"When I rule the world, I'll have, snakes!" Joe said, a little too excited.
"And Jane Austin nov—FUCK!" Brian exclaimed as he slipped on the blanket, the wrap pulling Joe down with him.
Brian landed on his back, the wind being knocked out of him. Joe attempted to twist so that he could catch himself, his hands finding Brian's shoulder and chest. Brian groaned in pain as Joe collapsed on top of him. "Why, Walker?" He coughed out.
Joe laughed, attempting to sit up but slipping on the thin sheet and falling back on Brian. "This is why we're practicing."
Brian laughed as Joe pushed himself back up. "Fair enough. Let's get our falls out now." He couldn't help but stare in disbelief at the fact that Joe was literally pressed against him.
Joe glanced down at him as he sat up. The younger boy looked back up at him nervously. Joe bit his lip as they made eye contact. Brian really was adorable. No not adorable; attractive. Really attractive. With his big brown eyes and gorgeous smile, his bangs half drooping over his right eye.
Fucking Lauren Lopez, why'd she have to go and point that out to him?
A moment passed of them staring before Joe finally managed to choke out, "You-you okay?"
"Y-yeah. Totally." Brian responded, still staring up at Joe and savoring the image of being so close to him.
"We, um, we should try to get out of this?" Joe asked. Why did he feel so flustered?
"Yeah, good idea." Brian responded, expecting Joe to move first, but he didn't, so they both remained on the floor, taking each other in.
The sound of the door opening made them both jerk, Joe rolling off of Brian as they both fought to find their way out of the blanket. Joe eventually managed to to tear the blanket off of his face. He looked up expecting to see his father; instead he was staring into the green eyes of his girlfriend.
"H-hey babe." Joe said in disbelief. "I thought you were going to that sale with Allison and Beth?"
"I was," Zoey responded, her voice soft and perky. She smiled at Joe as she leaned against the door frame. "But I was missing you."
"Aw," Joe smiled as he stumbled to his feet. "I missed you too baby." He kissed her cheek, which to his relief she accepted, smiling at him. Joe breathed out a sigh of relief. She seemed in a good mood. "We were just rehearsing," Joe added, gesturing to Brian, who was still sitting on the floor, having just wrestled the blanket off of his head.
Brian looked up at Zoey, who stared down at him coldly. Despite the fact that she was smiling, something about her stare made Brian feel uneasy. "Oh, is that what you were doing? I wasn't sure." Zoey responded, still not breaking eye contact with Brian.
"Yeah," Joe responded happily, oblivious to the stare down that Zoey was having with Brian. "You wanna listen to our duet for Glee club?"
"Hmm?" Zoey blinked, finally looking at Joe. "Uh, I could." She reached over, fiddling with the rim of Joe's tshirt. "Or we could have some us time?"
Joe bit his lip, his eyes immediately darting over to Brian, who looked extremely uncomfortable. He looked back at Zoey. "Maybe later? We were in the middle of rehearsing, can you maybe just chill for a little while until we finish up? And then afterwards I can take you to dinner?"
"I-I can get out of your hair," Brian stammered as he scampered to his feet.
"What?" Joe looked at Brian sadly as Brian walked over and grabbed his backpack off of Joe's bed. "No come on, stay awhile. We almost got through the whole song."
Brian froze, looking back at Joe as he slid a sleeve of his backpack on. Zoey was clutching to Joe's arm, staring up at him with hate filled eyes. He ran a hand through his hair. The longer he stayed here, the more she was going to dangle Joe in front of him, and the last thing he needed was to bust out crying in front of her. "We can finish it tomorrow at rehearsal, yeah?" Brian responded, avoiding eye contact with Joe. He didn't want to have to walk past the two of them, but he knew it was his only way out. "Besides, I have a lot of homework; I was supposed to call Joey like an hour ago, so... yeah." Brian finished awkwardly, staring down at the floor as he walked past them. As he passed through the door, Zoey's shoulder slammed against his roughly, making him stutter in his steps.
"Wait, let me drive you home at least," Joe called out as Brian hustled down his stairs. He wrestled his arm out of Zoey's grip and chased after him. "I can't let you walk."
"All good," Brian called back, almost at the door. He needed out of this situation before he started having an anxiety attack. His arms were already trembling.
"Bri!" Joe managed to catch up with him at the bottom of the stairs, but Brian kept walking. He grabbed the handle to the front door, but Joe put his hand out to hold the door back from opening. "Hey, what's up? I don't want you to go."
Brian couldn't bring himself to look at Joe, his shaky hand struggling to keep its hold on the door handle. "Nothing up man, just seems like you got stuff to do—"
"Hey, I'm not kicking you out just because she showed up unexpectedly."
"No, I know you're not." Brian responded honestly. Joe was way too nice of a person to do that. But that didn't mean that he didn't still want Brian gone. There was no way he'd rather rehearse and watch Harry Potter with him when he had that beautiful girl trying to crawl into bed with him. "You should go spend time with your girlfriend. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Brian forced himself to look up at Joe and smile.
Joe smiled back, before staring down at the floor. "Can I at least drive you home?"
"Don't stress about it. I like walking." Brian said truthfully, knowing that he was going to have to walk all of this anxiety off.
Joe sighed, taking his hand off of the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." Brian smiled at him as he pulled the door open and stepped out. "Text me and let me know you make it home, yeah?" Joe added as he watched Brian walk away.
Brian raised a thumbs up in the air, not turning to look back at him.
Joe bit his lip as he closed the door. He couldn't help but feel like he'd let Brian down as a friend. Should he have stood up against Zoey more?
He turned and walked back up the stairs to find Zoey still waiting at the top. As he approached her, she walked into his bedroom.
"I was watching this movie with Brian." Joe told her as he gestured to the end credits of Sorcerer's Stone playing on his TV. "You wanna watch it? I know you've still never seen Harry P—"
"Are you an idiot?" Zoey snapped, slamming Joe's door shut.
Joe froze, staring at her. Her sweet demeanor from before was out like a light. "What do you—"
"I told you not to sing with him. I warned you how bad it would look."
Joe sighed. Not this stupid fight again. "Zoey, I don't think you're being very f—"
"I warned you, I asked you nicely, I fucking pleaded with you on how the entire school will think you're gay."
"We already dis—"
"But no, you're gonna be a moron and commit social suicide. Which hey, that's fine, as long as you don't drag me down with you. But then you're actually stupid enough to post on Snapchat that you're hanging out with him? That he's in your bedroom? You're just going to put that out there for everyone to see?"
"That's what you're upset about?" Joe asked in disbelief. "We were rehearsing, what's the big deal?"
Zoey scoffed. "Are you seriously that stupid? You really don't see what's wrong with that?"
"No, I don't see what's wrong. You were out with your friends, I was hanging out with one of mine. Why are you mad at me?"
"Why am I mad? Let me spell it out for you; that little freak is totally in love with you. Anybody with eyes can see it."
Joe resisted the urge to laugh. "That's absurd. You think Brian likes me?"
"I know he does because I'm not an idiot. I can tell by the way that that little homo looks at you—"
"Don't call him that." Joe responded firmly.
"I'll call that freak whatever I want to call him." Zoey responded as she walked over to him. "You know, sometimes you're so naive and stupid, I can't even look at you. Do you not see that he's trying to steal you from me?"
Joe couldn't help it; he laughed. "You are being ridiculous! You're paranoid!"
"Don't fucking laugh at me," Zoey responded, pushing Joe hard enough that he fell back onto his bed. "You're over here letting that freak follow you around like a lost puppy dog. I bet you like the attention, don't you? Lord knows your shallow, insecure ass needs it."
Joe was speechless. He'd never seen her so angry. He sat up nervously, worried she would push him again before he could get a word out. "Brian's just a friend. And even if he did like me, it wouldn't matter. You're my girlfriend." Joe responded softly. "Period. End of story. You know that."
"Yeah," Zoey laughed. "Not for long with the way you're acting. How am I supposed to be with you when I can't trust you?"
"Baby, you can trust me!" Joe stood up and reached out for her, but she pushed him back down to the bed. "Zoey, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for making you feel insecure. I would never leave you." Joe pleaded, his voice shaking. "I-I won't sing with him if that's what you want."
"See, there you go again! You make me out like I'm this controlling bitch who tells you what you can and can't do!" She ran her hands through her hair, before sitting down on the bed next to him. "I don't want to control you Joe, but honestly? Sometimes I feel like I have to. You're too dumb to see what that fucking homo is up to, and I'm tired of having to worry about whether or not you're going to get snatched up by him because you're so desperate for attention."
Joe nodded, trying to fight back tears as his eyes welled up. "Zoey, you're absolutely right. Please," he reached out for her, but she slapped his hand away. He couldn't help it, tears started falling from his eyes. "Please, I'll be better."
Zoey scoffed. "Yeah, I've heard that one before." She stood up, walking across the room before staring down at him.
"I won't sing with him, I won't hang out with him, I won't talk to him," Joe choked out, tears still running down his face. "I'll drop Glee club and the musical if need be. Whatever you want." He knew that nothing he was saying was enough. He felt like he was drowning; why, why hadn't he just respected that she didn't want him to sing with Brian in the first place?
Zoey rolled her eyes. "Why are you crying? Do you have any idea how pathetic you look right now?"
"Because I don't want to lose you!" Joe sobbed, his arms shaking. "I hate myself for hurting you."
For the first time in the entire conversation, Zoey smiled at him. "Good. You should." She turned and opened the door, walking out of his room without looking back.
"Wait!" Joe yelled, chasing her out the door. "Zoey, don't go." He needed to fix this; he didn't know what he'd do if she left angry at him.
"I don't want to be around you right now." She responded firmly, already at the door.
Joe ran after her as she walked out of his house. "Are-are you breaking up with me?" He asked, his body aching all over.
"How the fuck should I know?" She yelled over her shoulder, not looking back.
"Please, Zoey, let's talk about this," Joe begged as he ran after her, tripping over his feet and hitting the ground.
Zoey turned at the sound of his body slamming into the pavement. She locked eyes with Joe's tear filled ones. "Christ, pull yourself together Joe." She criticized, looking down at him in disgust.
"Please, I can't handle us fighting. I don't want us to fight."
"Then you shouldn't have disrespected me." Zoey responded coldly, staring down at him with pitiless eyes. "I don't want to be around you right now. Leave me alone."
With that she turned on her heel, walking to her car and driving off. Joe let out a sob as he watched her go. What was wrong with him? Why was he so horrible at treating his girlfriend well? He hugged himself. He felt like he was going to be sick; he couldn't stomach the idea of her truly leaving him. The anxiety was crawling over his body like a virus, consuming him. He couldn't handle this; he needed her. He needed her to come and hug him and tell him that everything was okay. He needed her to forgive him. To love him.
"Joseph?" Joe turned to see his father standing at the doorway. Joe ran a hand through his hair nervously; he knew what was coming. "Why on earth was she screaming at you like—"
"She didn't do anything wrong. It's all my fault." Joe responded, running back into the house, past his dad, up the stairs and into his bedroom. He could faintly hear his dad calling after him, but his brain couldn't register what he was saying. He slammed his bedroom door shut and locked it, falling to the ground as his body succumbed to his anxiety.