Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all, Joel thought as he saw the two men sitting at the bus-stop crying, hanging all over each other in laughter, even dropping half to the floor at times after another Hollyoaks resident had passed by. Their constant remarks, mostly indistinct for those living outside their 'flow', followed one another almost without any time to actually breathe. Although the sight of it was kind of hilarious, Joel felt a slight feel of panic lingering in the pit of his stomach. He could only imagine how 'not-amused' these two men would be when they'd sober up eventually. Maybe giving them that shroomed tea wasn't the most brilliant things to do as an act of revenge? But his thoughts where quickly swept away as an oncoming passenger – Rhys – made Brendan say something – or at least he tried – that made Walker fall to the floor on his knees, erupting in a cry, literally bucking with laughter, one hand bouncing up and down the other man's knee while the other one fisted the floor. "Whahahahaha, 'Jedward'! haha, Oh! I can't! that's just!…ghegheghehahahaWHAHAHA!, stop it! No seriously Brendan, stop it!" Joel could hear Walker cry out, while Brendan leaned backwards with his head against the glass back-wall of the bus-stop, chuckling away like a record that got stuck. Joel wasn't the only one who could hear the two men going at it like schoolgirls, as the volume of this whole display could probably be heard at the other side of town. It was like watching a rerun episode of Beavis and Butthead.
How did they even manage to get themselves to that bus-stop in the first place?, Joel wondered. And more importantly: 'why' would they go there?
Joel actually hadn't anticipated on Walker taking a cup of the drugged-up tea too, that was an unwanted but nevertheless welcome surprise. He had tried to stop him, but a "don't bother me and go stock-up or something, 'like a good boy'" had made Joel retain himself from stopping him from drinking the 'spiked' tea, turning around and walking away with the thought of a big 'fuck you then' following him down the stairs of ChezChez. He didn't want to be around anyway as that shit started to kick in, even if Walker would have stayed sober. The thought of a tripping Brendan Brady in combination with a confused Walker and him standing right in the middle would have definitely been the right ingredients for a bad-trip for the mustachioed man, and thát was something Joel didn't want to experience first-hand.
Walker had been here before, he had felt like this before, he knew 'exactly' what was going on here. But he also knew that it was too damn late to do anything about it. When Brendan suddenly started to move his glass of Malt back and forth in front of his face, looking at it with the fascination of a newborn, Walker himself started to experience everything as seemingly more 'bright' than usual. He also noticed how Brendan's pupils had suddenly grown to a size that just oozed 'drugs'. That was when Walker knew he was fucked. That little shit kid, he thought, as he started to see everything suddenly displaying streaks of color like a rundown watercolor-painting. It didn't take too long before his pelting thoughts drifted away flowing into an uncontrollable laughter at the sight of Brendan's glass-gazing fascination. "It is rather pretty, isn't it?" And the sound of these words – his own words nonetheless – made him almost fall of the barstool sniggering. Brendan had his mouth hanging open in a dopey and surprised way as he reacted – fairly delayed – to Walker's words by turning his gaze towards him. His face looked like he didn't seem to understand what the hell Walker had just said, but his response spoke otherwise. "Yeahhh… it does! It's FUCKING pretty! What the fuck is going on here Simon?" But again, when Brendan tried to look at Walker in a serious manner, and Walker tried to look back with an evenly serious straight face, both men just bursted into laughter again. Regaining himself just enough, Walker turned to Brendan. "I think – haha, 'I think!'…wow… – the hall…the hollu…the col… the ha….this holluci… I think the colors just gave us a boy" he finally managed to produce in a way as if stating the obvious. "hm" Brendan replied in a 'makes sense' kind of way. "Well, remind me to send the horses on his tail in a bit then, yeah?." Brendan wasn't even looking at Walker when he said that, as he was walking from behind the counter to the other side of the bar, joining Walker's view of the back wall filled with mirrors and bottles that just radiated every color of light possible. Walker knew deep down what was going on, but he had seen people resisting this drug and he also knew that resistance could produce a so-called 'bad-trip', so he decided to just go along for the ride. Well, he actually didn't really 'decide', 'deciding' would have asked for careful contemplating the whole ordeal with sober rationale. He was actually feeling quite amused by all this. It had been a very very long time since he had last 'done' this kind of thing, and he'd almost forgotten how beautiful everything could look in this particular state of mind. Looking at Brendan from the side, as the other man almost climbed on top of the bar with fascination – Simon had to admit that that back wall was well worthy of a trip on its own –, he saw Brendan just radiating colors and light as if haloed like a deity. He never thought Brendan could look even more beautiful than he already did. Clearly he had been wrong – or maybe not so 'clearly' at the moment, but whatever.
Who's idea was it anyway to go outside?, Walker suddenly heard himself think as the late morning sunshine made him squint like a blind-man. Was it mine? No, Brendan, definitely Brendan, he thought while remembering strolling down the stairs with the other man definitely walking in front of him. That stairs had been a journey that seemed like lasting a life-time as they had somehow both managed to come up with the 'great' idea to use the steps to play some Bach-music. It really seemed like a good idea at the time, Brendan taking steps up and down playing the right hand, while Walker played the left cords. Who came up with that? Hm… guess we both kind of did at the same time. Why were we outside again? Suddenly Walker knew exactly where they were going, and why they decided to go there. The bus-stop. Brendan had come up with a plan to show that little Fox-kid who he had been messing with, and somehow, somewhere, at some moment in time, going to the bus-stop had seemed like the perfect answer to everything. Why exactly, Walker couldn't remember, he had left those thoughts at ChezChez when they closed the door. He didn't worry that much about not remembering right now, those thoughts would still be there waiting for him when he got back. Going outside probably hadn't been one of the best ideas, especially not at this time of day when they were bound to run into people. But Walker realized he was trying to make that point clear to a tree, and of course that tree wouldn't be able to understand his concerns! So he tried the thicket of nettles instead, as he was sure they would at least agree. While Brendan was admiring his reflection in the Carter-Hay deli window-display, trying to make it clear that he would have to leave as there was already a Brendan Brady in this town, Walker squatted down in front of the nettles using serious hand-gestures to get his point across. The voice of Cheryl Brady startled him and he almost fell back on his butt. "What in gods-name are you doing, Walker?!" Cheryl stood there holding a bag of groceries, just watching the man with a raised eyebrow and a look of utter confusion painted on her face. Not sure how to answer this question – I mean, it was obvious what he was doing, right? – the thoughts of possible answers that would sound as 'normal' as possible flashed through his head. "Hey sister Brendan!" Good start, good start.. "I was just… um… well…" But a sudden panic came about him and he just blurted "Hey I can't help it that the sleep of the trees dawns at day!" Walker let out a big sigh of relief for being able to give such a 'normal' and 'sober' sounding answer so quickly. He was sure Brendan would have patted his shoulder if he had heard it! Where was Brendan anyway? But that question was already answered before Walker could turn around, as Cheryl had crossed the street and was now looking down at her brother who had clearly decided that the best way to get rid of Brendan Nr. 2 was to lay on the floor and look at the sky. Makes sense, Walker thought as he shrugged and frisked towards the confused Brady-sister. Walker could hear Cheryl speak, but the words just didn't seem to make any sense, so he just focused on Brendan instead. Standing at his head-side, Walker looked down at Brendan being up-side-down, and Brendan looked up at Walker seeing an upside-down Walker too. It didn't take long before both men started to chuckle, becoming a full blown laugh-aton within seconds. This was just too much. Cheryl had probably thought the same, as she walked away clearly shaking her head in disappointment. "The bus-stop," Walker reminded the upside-down Brendan, and he held out his hand. "The bus-stop," Brendan replied in a way that spoke of understanding and he grabbed the man's hand. It must have taken them about fifteen minutes to stop tripping on their joined hands, and another ten before they realized that Walker couldn't pull Brendan up that way and that he would have to stand on Brendan's foot-side instead, but finally they had managed to regain their trip 'to the bus-stop'.
One thing was for sure, Brendan had been absolutely right! Going to the bus-stop had been one of the greatest ideas ever! Upon arrival, both men stood in front of the seat, first looking down at it, then looking at each other. As Brendan started to smile, Walker replied with a smirk that spoke of understanding. No need for words as they were now both living in the exact same world: total equality, absolute harmony. Brendan kneeled down on one knee like a courteous knight and hold out a hand that Walker accepted. With a little adjustment of balance Walker had managed to get up on top of the bench and was now reciprocating Brendan the favor by giving him a hand to join him. Well this was certainly a view of the town Walker hadn't enjoyed before, he was sure of that, and it made him wonder if he'd ever stood at this bus-stop before. He was sure he had, so why couldn't he remember this view? Looking down at the ground – from where he was standing seemingly an immense depth – a fear suddenly overwhelmed him. "B-b-b-Brendan, that ground could fall on us pretty hard! …maybe we should fly down instead?" Brendan looked at Walker and responded as only Brendan would. "So… cat in a litterbox hey? Bet ya I'm a bigger man at not being a dog than you?" And Walker watched as Brendan bend his knees and aimed himself to jump down. "No, Brendan, don't…" But it was already too late as Brendan had already hopped off the bench, standing there knees still bend and arms spread wide as if expecting more to come. But nothing more came, this was it, he was just standing on the ground again, and Walker realized the depth couldn't be that bad, so he also took the leap landing right next to the other man, both of them now regaining their posture, looking at each other shrugging their shoulders as if facing a mirror. "Well that was kinda disappointing" Brendan said as he observed the ground beneath his feet. Walker didn't have time to reply as he suddenly felt a sort of echo bouncing on the underside of his shoes. He could hear it too. It was getting louder, and the appearance of a shadow made him look up, staring right into the face of a person. Walker was certain he knew this person, but at this moment, he just couldn't quite put his finger on who it was.
Joel had been enjoying the whole entourage for a while now, even got himself a snack and some coffee in the meantime. Good idea or not, it was too late to do anything about it now anyway, so why not just enjoy the show for as long as it lasted. Before Nancy, Texas, Dodger, Dennis, and now Rhys had walked passed, the first person to have a close encounter with Bert and Ernie had been his own little chica Theresa.
It had been too late to warn her, and Joel really hadn't felt like walking up there and get her away. If Walker and Brendan had seen his face, their laughter might turn into rage, and there's nothing more dangerous than a raged man on drugs – well okay, maybe 'two' raged men on drugs would have been worse... He had moved in just a little closer to make sure nothing 'bad' happened, but he should have known Theresa would have been able to stand her own. As Walker had looked at her in utter confusion, as if recognizing her, but not remembering who she was, Brendan had started to talk. "Hey, little Foxy's little Minxy…" he had uttered in recognition "….ye know, I had one of those Barbie-puppet thingies once that looked like yers, maybe you know her? Related?" Theresa had been used to Brendan's useless snarks, but this was definitely new, seeing as he was asking her in all earnest without any sarcasm lurking underneath. Still, she hadn't found Brendan's remarks funny at all, not now, not ever. Walker clearly did as he was now bowed down as if almost peeing himself, his hands squeezed between his legs trying to withhold laughter, turning all red getting teary-eyed while spewing short bursts of air through his pressed lips. It hadn't taken Theresa long to spot Joel and leave the two men to play in their own world again.
Joel had explained to Theresa what was going on and not that long after, she ran off while smiling enthusiastically as if just having 'seen the light', as they say. "Wait here, I'll be right back!" she had yelled without turning around. Joel was still waiting, but when she finally suddenly returned, it had been well worth the wait. "Oh my god, that is just PERFECT Theresa!" he replied to seeing the package filled with colors she was holding in her hand.
Walker started to slowly blink his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings feeling confused as he realized where he was. The feel of someone's head leaning against his shoulder made him look to the side to see a still sleeping Brendan cozied up against him. Still confused as to what the hell he and Brendan were doing at the bus-stop at this time of day – or what they were doing there, period – Walker sat up right, making the other man wake from his snooze. As Brendan yawned and finally opened his eyes, Walker looked at him and Brendan just looked back with the same look of 'WTF' on his face. But Walker noticed that this wasn't the only thing Brendan had on his face. "Um….Brendan…" He carefully started, but before being able to go any further, Brendan looked at Walker's face and replied. "Yeah Walker….yeah I know…"
As Joel heard the door slam, he quickly positioned himself behind the bar to at least have a little distance between him and the oncoming execution. It had been worth it though. He grabbed a towel and started to polish a glass, restraining himself from looking up, trying to look like everything was just business as usual as he heard two pairs of footsteps climbing the stairs and walking towards the bar. "Um… Joel..?" he heard Walker say in an 'I'm not amused'-kinda way, as he saw a hand covered in colored ink throw a package of markers right underneath his nose. Slowly lifting his head towards the men on the other side of the bar, Joel had tried to look as serious as possible, but the sight of what he saw just made him burst into laughter. Not only did Brendan have a – rather poorly – painted smiley on his forehead and a rainbow on each side of his cheeks, but the sight of Walker's pink-heart covered face almost made him piss his pants.
"….we seriously need to talk, son."