Part 1
It was a mild spring night when Joey found himself unable to fall asleep. When he had failed to head for the land of Nod for the third time, he sat up in the empty fish can he and his brothers shared as a bed and yawned heartily. The eldest yet shortest roach had heard a low buzzing that sounded completely out of place. Joey rubbed his eyes to glance at his brothers. Tall, skinny Marky who was lying in the middle of the bed, was dead to the world, snoring quietly with his mouth ajar. Joey wrinkled his nose when he caught a sniff of his younger brother's breath that Joey considered to be so bad even a skunk wouldn't kiss Marky. Dee Dee, the youngest brother, was smacking his gums in his sleep. Joey couldn't help grinning. Obviously, ever-hungry Dee Dee was dreaming of food once again, probably fresh from the fridge or even freshly cooked. Joey cocked his head slightly and listened closely. The buzzing sound had faded a bit. Maybe it had been just another insect on its way past Oggy's house. But nonetheless, Joey wanted to be sure who or what he might have to deal with. He crept out of the fish can bed and went through a bunch of pipes towards the garden. The further he went, the louder the buzzing became. Joey bristled with anger. Dealing with Oggy and Jack was a pain in the ass already. He didn't want to have another intruder in the garden. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him and noticed two very familiar shapes coming closer.
"What is it? Can't sleep, Joey?" Marky said when the brothers were gathered in the bend of an old drain pipe. It was rusty and cracked so they had to watch their step but at least it was dry.
"Someone's out there, buzzing around," Joey explained and turned to walk on. His brothers followed suit until they reached the moon-lit garden.
"Look around, boys!" Joey commanded. Marky went to the left side of the house. Dee Dee hesitated a moment before looking at the small vegetable patch next to the big fruit tree in the middle of the garden. Joey watched him going on hesitatingly.
"Scared of his own shadow... can you believe it," Joey chuckled. He felt an urge of temptation to sneak up on Dee Dee and say "Boo!" just for the look on his youngest brother's face. But there was the garden to check now, and the next opportunity to startle Dee Dee would come sooner or later. Joey went to check on the right side of the house. He pressed himself against the wall and peeked around the edge when he heard Dee Dee give out a shriek that made Joey's blood run cold. He ran towards the vegetable patch to see what had happened. A moment later, Marky stood next to him, panting, "What is it, kiddo? Are you okay?"
Dee Dee just pointed upwards at the tree. Again, the buzzing sound was heard. Except that it sounded more intense and somewhat irritated now. The roaches held their breath and waited, not sure what to do. All of a sudden, when the moon disappeared behind some shredded clouds, Joey pinched Marky's back.
"Ow!" the tall roach complained, rubbing his lower back where Joey had pinched him, "What was that for?"
"Go and find out who's up there."
"Why me?" Marky pouted.
"Because!" was all Joey would say, lifting his hand as if to slap his brother in addition.
"Okay, okay, I'm going," Marky said, shoving his hands into his pockets and wandering up the tree. By now, he had grown curious himself what all that excitement was about. Besides, trying to argue with Joey was like trying to argue with a brick wall.
When Marky had passed the first rows of branches, he noticed a bunch of figures flying around and taking pieces of bork and small leaves every now and then. Marky watched them, trying to make out details. When the moon appeared again, the tall roach could see that the figures were delicate insects with a tiny waist and black-striped lower bodies. As one of them approached him, Marky felt his knees tremble since the insect was quite adorable.
"Hi," he said, giving his most charming smile. The insect looked him up and down, hovering at his eye-level.
"Hello," it said in a sweet voice and smiled back, "And who might you be?"
"My name is Marky. Who are you?"
"I'm Dottie," the insect answered, "My tribe was chased away from our old place last night and came here to find a new home in the house across the street. Is this your place?" Marky nodded.
"My brothers and I live in the house over there," the roach explained, jerking his thumb at the house, "We heard you and your friends buzzing around out here and wanted to say hello."
"Well, hello then. Sorry, but we have our home to build now," Dottie said and turned away to join her folks when she noticed the way Marky still was staring at her admiringly.
"What are you staring at, Marky?" she asked, her voice carrying a snippy overtone now, "Never seen a hornet before?"
"Actually, no." Marky cast his eyes down and shrugged.
"I've seen bees and wasps before but you're the first hornet I meet," he explained, smiling again, "And it's my pleasure. Sorry I was staring, Dottie. You're very pretty." Dottie looked him up and down again, extending a delicate hand. Marky took it and gently kissed the back, making Dottie giggle.
"Thank you, Marky," she said,"It was my pleasure, too. But I really gotta go now. I hope we'll meet again soon." Slowly, she flew backwards to follow her folks, waving Marky good-bye. Marky ran a hand over his long curled antennas and waved back. Smiling, he spread his wings and went back to the ground.
"Well?" Joey asked as soon as Marky had landed, "What's all the racket about?"
"A tribe of hornets has come here," the tall roach said, "They're collecting stuff to build their new home at the house across the street."
"Hornets, eh?" A wicked smile crept across Joey's face when it dawned to him that these unexpected visitors might mean big trouble for Oggy. The eldest roach couldn't help sighing when he noticed the absent-minded smile on his brother's face, suggesting clearly that Marky had lost his heart once again, lock, stock and barrel.
Joey shook his head. It had been a long night, way too long for Joey's taste. There were things to do and places to go tomorrow, and Joey didn't want to fail things just because he was tired as a newt. Besides, the worst was yet to come. Whenever Marky had been fallen in love so far, he had turned out to be a lot more annoying than usual. Joey didn't intend to go through another time with Marky being fit for nothing. Forcefully, the eldest roach grabbed his brothers' arms to drag the pair back to bed.
Part 2
A few days passed until the hornets showed up again to collect more bork and leaves from the tree. As soon as he had heard the buzzing sound, Marky had been out to look for Dottie. His heart beat had quickened when he had seen her. He had picked a small blue flower and had flown up the tree to greet her. Much to his content, Dottie had been obviously happy to see him. She had blushed slightly when he had kissed the back of her hand again and had handed her the flower. The hornet and the cockroach had spent the afternoon sitting on a small branch, holding hands and talking until Dottie had to go and help building the hornet's new nest.
"When will I see you again?" Dottie had asked before she had left the branch.
"As soon as possible, my pretty hornet lady," Marky had answered. Dottie had hugged him, pecking him on the cheek. Marky had felt the butterflies in his stomach come alive when her lips had touched his face.
"What about my place next time?" she had suggested.
"Sounds great."Marky had smiled, pecking her on the cheek, too.
Again, a couple of days passed. Being busy planning a new prank for Oggy, Joey had almost forgotten that Marky had been doing nothing so far but slouching in bed with a vacant look in his eyes and a huge goofy grin on his face, his feet resting on Joey's part of the pillow. Thus, it was Dee Dee's turn to get involved in Joey's plans. This time, Joey was bent on making Oggy and the hornets meet. Joey couldn't wait to see the fat blue cat trying to hide from the hornets so they wouldn't sting him. Joey didn't have the slightest idea what a hornet stinger would do to Oggy. But he was sure it wouldn't be any good for the fat blue cat.
Just when Joey and Dee Dee turned to leave the vent, Marky who had spread his tall, skinny body across the fish can bed sat up, yawned heartily and said, "Hey, guys, can I come, too?" Joey froze to spot with his hands on his hips, turning his head so slowly Marky could almost hear the neck muscles creak.
"Not until you lazy bone take your feet off my part of the pillow! I don't want your germs on my face! And I thought you'd spend another day moping around like a limp dish rag," Joey answered frostily. Quickly, Marky got up and stepped towards Joey.
"Well," he said, rubbing his neck, "Just in case... if you meet Dottie... I don't want her to misunderstand your plan." Joey frowned, looking Marky up and down.
"You really like her?" he asked.
"Uh-hu. She's lovely." Marky nodded.
"She's quite pretty," Joey had to admit.
Part 3
When the night had come down, Marky's yearning for Dottie had grown so strong he crept out of the fish can bed and made his way through the house.
"Hold it!" Joey suddenly bellowed, stepping into Marky's path when the tall roach had reached the living room, "And where do you think you're going?!" Marky thought of making up an excuse at first. But then, noticing the meanest grin ever crossing Joey's face, the tall roach confessed, "Out..." He bit his lip, expecting his short-tempered brother's well-known fit of rage.
"Alright," Joey said instead, "Just go if you miss her so bad. That is... if you can pass, brother."
"And how exactly do you want to stop me?" Marky wondered.
"With THIS!" Joey gathered his strength to take a running start and jump onto Marky's chest, tipping the tall roach over. The sudden blow made Marky wheeze. Then, Joey shifted himself into a comfortable position on his younger brother's chest and rubbed his hands together as the mean grin returned to his face.
"Okay, okay, you got me," Marky said, "What now?"
"I declare you grounded, brother," Joey said, stabbing Marky's chest with his forefinger, "Now you tell me you'll stay home as long as I want you to."
"Not for the life of me!" Marky refused.
"Oh, really?" Joey's grin widened as he rubbed his hands together again, flexing his fingers every now and then.
"Really! And you can't make me!" Marky added forcefully before realizing that Joey really might take full advantage of having him pinned on the floor. Joey flexed his fingers one last time before he started tickling Marky's ribs vigorously. Within seconds, Marky went into the loudest laughing fit Joey had ever heard. No matter how hard Marky tried, he failed to free himself from Joey's grip and keep his brother from tickling each of his soft spots Joey knew like the back of his hand.
Joey tickled him mercilessly until he heard footsteps behind him and noticed Dee Dee aproaching. Another wicked grin crept across the purple face, setting a gleam into the mismatched eyes.
"What up?" the youngest roach asked.
"Gimme a hand here," Joey ordered, "Marky needs a little lesson."
"Sure, Joey." Dee Dee came closer and waited a moment to see what Joey wanted him to do. Joey stood up to kneel down next to Marky and point at Marky's belly, all in one swift movement. Dee Dee dropped on his knees and nodded his understanding. A second later, both roaches started tickling their brother. Feeling Joey's fingertips wander all over his ticklish ribcage as well as Dee Dee's fingertips wander all over his even more ticklish belly at the same time, did it for Marky in less than a minute. Gasping for air, he closed his eyes and raised both hands as a sign of submission. Joey frowned in disappointment but stopped tickling Marky's ribs nonetheless and nudged Dee Dee's shoulder to make him stop, too.
"Well?" Joey asked again, watching Marky catching his breath, "Anything you wanted to tell me, brother?"
"Okay, okay, I'll... I'll be good, Joey," Marky said between deep breathings. Joey and Dee Dee waited until he could breathe better. Then they dragged him to his feet and back to the vent, making a pit stop at the fridge to get a drink.
"Unfair!" Marky mumbled under his breath when the trio was back in the vent the roach brothers called home and he had made himself comfartable in the fish can bed.
"What was that?" Joey asked, giving him a stare and flexing his fingers again until his joints crackled quietly.
"N-nothing! J-just cleared my throat!" Marky quickly assured, pulling the blanket up to his chin and folding his arms protectively over his chest. Joey and Dee Dee couldn't help smiling. Then, since it had been a long day, Joey and Dee Dee slipped into the fish can bed as well.