A/N: This story is pure fiction. I DO NOT claim to know Jhonen Vasquez at all, this is simply an idea that some friends and I had. Kind of a 'what if' type situation, therefore, this is a 'what if' story.

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Chapter One

The Surprise

Devon sat in the passenger seat of her friend Nomi's car, looking out the window and tapping her nails on the armrest. They'd been driving for almost forty-five minutes and Nomi had yet to mention exactly why they were going where they were going.

"Ok. For the last time. WHERE ARE WE GOING?" asked Devon. Nomi continued going down the road as she began to blush. After a moments pause, she spoke.

"We are going to HotTopic," Nomi said quietly. Devon rolled her eyes.

"You've already said that," replied Devon, "but why are we going to HotTopic?"

"To see Raz."

"We see her all the time! Why are we really going?"

Nomi sighed. "We're going to a book signing," she replied exasperatedly.

"Oh. Who's the author?"

"Uh . . ." What ever Nomi said next was inaudible.

"Huh?" asked Devon.

"Jhonen. Vasquez."

Devon paused for a moment and thought about this. Part of her was angry with Nomi for dragging her out to the mall just so she could drool over the creator of Nomi's favorite comics and the cartoon show Invader ZIM. Another part of her was feeling quite apathetic. Devon had read one of the man's comic books, "I Feel Sick", and enjoyed it. In fact, Nomi and her other friend Raz gave her the nickname Devi, after the main character in the "I Feel Sick" comics. They said she looked like her because Devon was tall, thin, and liked to wear her long hair in pigtails. "And plus it just makes sense with your name and all," is what Nomi had said after pointing out all the similarities between Devon and the comic book character Devi.

"We're almost there," said Nomi, bringing Devi back to reality.

"Good," said Devi. Nomi smiled as she stepped on the gas. Within minutes, they'd reached Tri-County Mall, where the HotTopic store was. She drove around the crowded parking lot for several minutes, looking for a parking spot close to the entrance. "We'll never get a spot this close," said Devi as they passed the entrance door for the fifth time.

Irritably, Nomi quickly turned down an aisle way a found a parking spot that was empty, but it unfortunately was a good walk from the entrance. Devi got out of the car and tugged at her midriff, black tank top. She suddenly wished she'd worn shorts instead of the grey flare jeans she was wearing because it was an extremely hot July day.

"It's going to take forever to get up there!" whined Nomi, "We're already late!" Devi rolled her eyes again as Nomi took off running. Devi soon followed after her, wondering how Nomi was even able to run wearing her boots with the three-inch heels, and a short black leather skirt.

They reached the mall entrance a few minutes later, huffing and puffing heavily. "Hurry!" said an out of breath Nomi. She quickly pushed open the door and began to run past several stores. Devi took a deep breath and ran in after her, all the way until they got to the escalator.

It took a lot of strength to keep Nomi from running up the escalator stairs, but Devi was able to convince her to let the stairs do all the work.

"I am so excited! We're going to meet the amazing Jhonen Vasquez!" said Nomi as she continually fluffed her long and layered black hair and tugged at her purple three-fourths sleeved shirt. Devi laughed.

"Would you stop preening!" said Devi. Nomi blushed as the escalator reached the next floor and they stepped off of it. The very first store to the left was the HotTopic store. Surprisingly, the line of people didn't reach out that far past the store entrance, only about ten or twelve people stood in line (and every once and a while someone would leave the line, much to Nomi's delight).

Nomi ran to the store entrance and Devi reluctantly followed. When they got there, they peaked into the doorway and spotted their friend Raz, who was an employee there, and waved. Nomi started to get into line when a security guard caught up with her.

"I'm sorry girls, you're too late," said the guard. Nomi's jaw dropped to the floor.

"What do you mean we're too late!?" asked Nomi angrily. The guard simply pointed to a sign that simply read: STORE CLOSES AT 5:30 TODAY. Devi looked down at her watch. 5:02. Nomi quickly looked over and glanced Devi's watch as well. "We're not even late!"

"To be able to close at 5:30 we are not allowing anyone else to get in line for Mr. Vasquez's autograph," said the guard, "Sorry girls."

"Oh well," said Devi, as the security guard walked away, "Too bad. Let's go to the bookstore, I wanna see if any new books . . ." All of a sudden, Nomi grabbed Devi's arm and dragged her around the corner. "What the hell is wrong with you?" exclaimed Devi, rubbing her arm.

"Shhh!" said Nomi, as she turned towards the Staff Entrance to HotTopic. Devi, who assumed the worst, shook her head.

"No way!" said Devi, "Don't even think about it!"

"Think about what?" said Nomi absentmindedly. Just then the door slowly creaked open and Raz's head popped out.

"This is illegal!"

"No it's not!" said Nomi, as she walked over to the door.

"Yeah," said Raz, "It's not like your stealing something. You're just going in a different way!"

"Right!" said Nomi smiling deviously. She quickly walked through the door. Devi sighed as she reluctantly followed Nomi in.

"See! That wasn't so bad!" said Raz. Devi glared at her.

"That was SO wrong," said Devi. She turned to lecture Nomi, when she realized she was already in line to meet Jhonen Vasquez. Rolling her eyes, she dragged herself in line next to Nomi as Raz went back to work.

"We're in!" said Nomi as she clutched a JTHM comic, "I mean I can't believe . . ." Devi just nodded along as Nomi rambled on. As she continued to not listen to Nomi, Devi took in her surroundings. In the front of the line, amidst all the shelves of items the store carried, was a table with three different cardboard cut outs of Jhonen's comic characters sitting behind it. Jhonen himself was situated behind the table with is unnaturally red hair gelled up into spikes. Over a grey t-shirt he wore a long black leather jacket, and his slightly baggy black pants bunched up slightly around the top of his boots.

". . . .so talented!" finished Nomi breathlessly as the line moved forward, making them fourth in line to meet him. Devi leaned out of line to get a better look at his face. A slightly uncertain look shone through his eyes, which lay behind oval rimmed glasses. As Nomi began to ramble on once again about how wonderful Jhonen was, Devi watched as another obviously obsessed male fan stepped up to the table. Jhonen gave him a kind, and yet forced, smile as he reached for his Sharpie and asked for the boy's name.

Soon after the boy left, Nomi began to bounce slightly in place. "It's almost our turn!" squealed Nomi.

"Keep your pants on," said Devi as she rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that afternoon. About four giggling cheerleader type girls stepped up to the table, still giggling, and handed Jhonen their comics. As they continued to giggle, Jhonen gave them an even more forced smile as he began to sign their comics.

Nomi was looking absolutely disgusted. "Those girls are acting so immature!" she whispered to Devi.

Devi glared at Nomi. "DO NOT even get me started on acting immature!" she said.

And finally, their turn came.

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EVIL CLIFFHANGER!! YES! Hope y'all aren't angry at me for this, but perhaps it's better that I leave it like that. Maybe you'll come back to read some more, (Which I hope you do!). Pleez review and PLEASE don't call me a hellfan if you do. Thanx!