Disclaimer-- I don't own the characters. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. No infringement is intended. No money is was or ever will be made from this.

Chapter 1

"Gary! Good, you're just in time. Fred over there," Chuck pointed to a well dressed, clearly drunk, portly gentleman, who sat at the end of bar, "has given me tickets to tonight's Bull's game and they're court side. Gary are you listening to me...?"

"Uh... huh..." Gary sluggishly shuffled past Chuck and slumped down in a vacant booth.

"Come on. Get dressed," Chuck enthusiastically said, "let's go. The Bulls vs The Knicks. It's going to be great!"

"Uh... huh..." He put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands. It had been a long day, strenuous day and he was finally done. Finally home.

"Let's go, Gary. Tip off is in an two hours. I want to watch practice and get lots of snacks, and don't forget about the beer." Chuck beamed.

"Uh... huh..." He needed to take a moment. Just for a moment.

"You aren't listening..." Chuck frowned.

"Uh huh..." Gary just needed to close his eyes just for a second.

"I just said you weren't listening and you agreed with me..."

"Uh huh..."

"I sold the bar to three aliens and a midget for Pam Anderson's Baywatch bathing suit..."

"Uh huh..." He was just so, tired. He could just take a nap here, just for fifteen minutes. Then he could go upstairs, take a shower, find something to light to eat, then go to sleep. Just a short nap.

"Gary?" He was beginning to get worried. Chuck leaned in and said in his ear. "Gary, get up..."

Chuck shook Gary's arm lightly, and got no response. Chuck leaned in closer and realized that Gary was snoring lightly. Gary Hobson, his best friend, recipient of tomorrow's newspaper was sound asleep.

"Is he okay?" One of their employees asked.

"Yeah. He's fine." Chuck answered. "Give me that menu."

He grabbed a napkin and a pen off the bar and wrote something on the napkin in big bold letters, taped it to the menu. Chuck went back to the booth where Gary slept and wedged the menu between the ketchup and the salt & pepper shakers.

The sign read-- "KILLJOY! DO NOT DISTURB!"

It took a lot of coaxing, with a bit of bribery to get to get these tickets. The game had been sold out for months. This was suppose to be the game that would make or break the Bulls season and he had tickets.

Chuck sighed. He only wanted to go to the game if Gary went with him. His best friend needed time just relax and enjoy himself, even if just for a few hours, away from the chaos that tomorrow's paper brought. And this was just the thing, but Chuck didn't have the heart to wake him.

But, it also took a lot of time and effort to get these tickets and Chuck didn't want them to go to waste. So he did the next best thing.

"Does anyone want to buy tickets to tonight's Bulls game?!" Chuck yelled over the roar of the dinner rush. That of course, almost started a near riot.

"Meow..." Thump!

Chuck picked up tomorrow's paper as the cat angrily hissed at him.

"Don't get your fur in a bunch," Chuck told the cat. "I'm not going to look at it."

Chuck kept his promise. Instead, he rolled the paper up and smacked Gary, who was still sleeping with his head down on the table.

"Owww. wha. Whatayadoin!!" Gary groggily mumbled as he shot up. He groaned while he stretched his tired and aching muscles. It also didn't help that he had fallen asleep in that position and now had a crick in his neck from it.

"Because of you I missed a triple double..." Chuck tossed the paper onto the table. The Bulls, of course had won the game, slaughtering the poor Knicks.

"Me? What are you talking about?" Gary's stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday morning.

"The tickets I got from Fred."

"Tickets?" Gary picked up the paper and began to scan the headlines.

"Yesterday's game."

"Yesterday's game?"

"The game we were suppose to go to. Remember you called around 4:30 and said you would go with me if I got tickets..."

"Oh, that game..."

"That game? That game is being hailed as the game of the season. Their calling it history. History ..."

Chuck continued to rant, but Gary wasn't listening. He was too engrossed in reading tomorrow's paper. From the headlines, it looked like it was going to be a long day. Gary looked down at his watch. He had to be across town by 7:45 to save a pedestrian from getting hit by a car. That gave him enough time to take a quick shower and a hopefully a cup of coffee before he had to rush out.

"... then he dunked on him. Broke the backboard and everything..."

"Chuck, I've got to go." Gary cut him off.

"Hey, I'm not done..."

TBC