Title: Just a Year. Or Two.
Writer: Pochee
Rating: M
Summary: This is the somewhat epic story before the epic story. This story takes place before Ramona moved to Canada, before Scott got a real job, before Wallace started dating the other Scott, and before Julie became a bitch-wait...no, Julie was always a bitch, never mind. This is the less-awesome-than-the-actual-Scott-Pilgrim-comics tale about how our awe-inspiring, uncanny, oddball duo met; and why they share the same bed.
This chapter is dedicated to SydInTheAsylum, Mattasaurus14, JenniferTheDark, and Derpydash because their reviews made me smile. Thank you, guys! :)
I own nothing mentioned in this chapter or story (except the plot). All characters, video games, and shows mentioned belong to their rightful creators.
Have at it!
Chapter 2: Autumn and Video Games Part 1
Dinner was...awkward to say the least. Scott continued to apologize to me because Stacey continued to scold him about offending me. And every time I assured Stacey that I was not in the least bit offended. I mean, sure, I was caught off guard... But one apology is good enough.
"It's really okay, Stacey," I sighed as I sat down my fork on my plate. Geez, let it go...
"I know, I know, but Scott knows better." She hissed at him.
"Sorry..." He mumbled as a result.
"Anyway..." I went back to eating, "When you comin' over, Scott?"
"Eh, I-I don't know..." What looked like a blush covered his face as he turned away. It was cute…he was cute.
"In a couple days," Stacey stated firmly, obviously still mad at Scott.
"Oh, okay. Well, you're welcomed anytime!" I grinned at him as he turned back towards me.
"T-Thanks…"
"We'll probably bring some stuff over too-" Suddenly, a telephone ringing could be heard throughout the otherwise silent house. Stacey sat down her fork and pushed her seat away from the table, "I'll get it."
Once she had disappeared into the next room, I asked Scott if he was okay: "Hey, you feeling okay?"
"Y-Yeah…I'm fine." He began eating again.
"Well, I'm glad," I said more to myself than to him.
"Wallace?"
"Huh?" I looked up to meet a pair of inky black eyes.
"I am really sorry about what happened early," He honestly looked like he meant it, and the sad expression that decorated his features pained my heart.
"It's okay, really it is," I smiled at him as the sound of Stacey talking on the phone began to fill the room.
"Okay, but-"
"SCOTT! Mom's on the phone!" Stacey called from the other room. With a sighed Scott got up and walked into the room Stacey went in.
A couple of minutes later, Stacey came back only to get her plate: "I'm done eating, so I'm going to start clean up."
"Oh! Let me help!" I urged as I went to grab Scott's plate.
"Ha, it's okay. You're the guest, you're not suppose to clean," Stacey spoke as she grabbed Scott's plate from me. "Are you done?"
"Er, yeah. Here," I passed her my plate, "Thanks, Stacey."
"Anytime, Wallace, anytime~!" Stacey sung as she walked into the kitchen.
I let out a shaky sigh, as I thought about the conversion Scott and I were having before he left. What was he going to say?
"Okay but…I think you should know-"
"Hey, Wallace?" I turned towards the voice that called my name to find Stacey smiling weakly at me. "I truly am sorry that he doesn't remember you even a little," She looked in the direction of the room Scott was in, "I know how fond of him you are." She looked back at me, a sadden look painted on her face, "Maybe one day, he'll feel the same." Suddenly the room got extremely hot as I could feel my face heating up.
"What? H-How did you-" I started but stopped when Scott reentered the room.
"Because," A smile now played on Stacey's lips, "No one takes that much interest in something they don't like."
After that, I left the Pilgrim's home in a hurry, not wanting to talk or even think about what Stacey said. I decided a walk would be nice; maybe I could clear my mind. And it was times like these that I wish I didn't live right across the street… So, I took one last glance at the Pilgrim's house and headed for the park.
Stacey knew… She probably knew from the beginning. I mean, god, no one asks about a person, unless they're dating, as much as I asked about Scott. And she happily told me everything; I mean she had to have known!
"Wallace Wells?" I turned around to find my black-haired, glasses-wearing, know-it-all friend: Michael Comeau.
"Heh, hey, Michael," I greeted him with a feeble wave.
"Dude, what the hell are you doing in the park at this time of night?" He questioned as he jogged to catch up with me.
"What? It's only 12:15?" I stated after checking my watch, "What are you doing here?"
"I just left a party and I have to go through the park to get home," He shrugged as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
We walked in silence for a bit; it wasn't that it was awkward or we had nothing to talk about, we just didn't need to talk. I could tell that it was hard for Michael not to go into some tantrum about someone new in town, but at the same time it was obvious that he knew that right now silence was the best option.
"Hey, Wallace?" Michael finally spoke up after about 10 minutes of quietness.
"Yeah?" I looked briefly at the shorter man out of the corner of my eye.
"Did you hear that Stacey's older brother is in town?" He mimicked me, glancing up at me before he gave me a toothy grin, "I hear he looks cute too,"
"Tch, shut up, Michael. I thought you were heading home?" I glared at him, stopping and turning to him.
"I am, why?" His obnoxious grin didn't waver as he too stopped walking to face me.
"Well, why are you still following me? We're almost back in town," I pointed out.
"Dude, Wallace, I live three blocks from you." He stated bluntly.
"Ha! Oh great!" I shouted with sarcasm, throwing my hands in the air as I turned away.
"Whatever," Michael walked passed me, hands still in his pockets, "I'm surprised you didn't ask me about him, seeing how I know everyone,"
I sighed as I looked behind me, "…fine. Wait up," Michael stopped walking and whipped around, that obnoxious grin on his face once more.
"Glad to hear it!" He smacked my back as I joined him on his journey home. "Thought I would have to walk home by myself,"
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, what do you know about him?"
A couple days later there was a knock on my door...one that sounded like it was trying to impersonate the Pokémon theme song. With a tired sigh, I pushed myself off the only chair in my apartment, and answered the door.
"Hi, Wallace~!" Stacey beamed as she and Scott barged into my apartment.
"Eh? Whoa, what's that?" I motioned towards the medium-sized blue cube-like object in Scott's hands, as I closed the front door.
"It's a gaming system, duh," Scott spoke as he sat it down in front of my TV stand. Then he dropped this duffle bag he had with him and began pulling wires and plugs out.
"Wait, what's going on?" I looked towards Stacey for an answer.
"Well, Scott's moving his stuff into your place in small segments," Stacey smiled as she turned to watch her brother plug wires into my power outlets.
"Some warning would have been nice..." I sighed, giving up and heading for my fridge, "Want anything to drink?"
"Oh, no. I'm actually about to leave," Stacey spoke up.
"Where are you going?" I questioned, popping open a can of beer.
"I'm meeting up with some friends," She shrugged as she moved closer to the door.
"Friends?" I arched an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, Wallace. They're girls," Stacey rolled her eyes as a smug smile formed on my lips. "Hee, later, Wallace." She waved as she opened the front door, "See ya tonight, Scott."
"Yeah, whatever..." Scott mumbled as he continued to set up his gaming system.
"So...Scott, who gave you permission to bring that thing over here?" I walked back over towards the TV area, smirking.
"One: this thing is a Game Cube, okay?" He asked irritated, "Two: I am staying here for the rest of the year, right? So why wouldn't I be able to?"
"Oh..." I sat down in the armchair and picked up a magazine of the floor, "Wait, are you going to play that now?"
"Duh," Scott plopped down on the floor and grabbed a controller out of his bag. "Gonna watch me?"
"Naw, I'm going to read this Playboy m-"
"I thought you were gay," Scott stated as he turned on the cubed gaming system.
"I am," I sighed as I turned my attention to the magazine.
"Then why are you reading-"
"Playboy magazine doesn't just have women, Scott." A smirk spread across my face when I heard Scott mutter: "I knew that..."
"Sure you did,"
"Shut up, Wallace..." I laughed and began read the magazine, or more like flip through it. I mean, sure Playboy had some male models, but it wasn't nearly enough.
"Hey, Wallace, can I ask you a question?"
"You just did,"
"Oh…well, can I ask you another?"
"…just ask."
"Have you ever had a…girlfriend? Like at all?"
"Ugh, yeah…why?"
"Oh…j-just wondering…" Scott continued to smash button on his controller, thinking that he could fool me. It was obvious that he wasn't actually playing the game:
"Scott?"
"Yeah?" He answered his voice shaking a little.
"You know you're still on the start menu, right?" Scott's head jerked up in shock, as the words "START" flashed on the screen in big, white font.
"Uh, y-yeah, I knew that…" He trailed off as he hit the "start" button on the small controller. He had recently changed videos games, ending his 'journey' as a green hat wearing elf-like character.
I let a heavy sigh out, as I put down my magazine. It was clear Scott had something on his mind. "Scott?"
"…yeah?" This time, Scott really was focused on his game. I watched him played for a bit: his player was dressed in blue jean overalls with a long-sleeved red shirt. His player looked like an idiot wearing these white gloves and this tacky ass red hat that had a 'M' on it. His mustache didn't help either, much to my surprise.
"This game…makes no sense, Scott." I rubbed my temples frustrated.
"It's the mushrooms," Scott randomly blurted out moments later.
"…what? What the hell are you talkin-"
"The mushrooms are the bad guys. You have to jump on them to kill them," He explained with a monotone voice, not really caring to explain why the mushrooms were the 'bad guys' or why stomping on them kills them. Or why they look so grumpy...
Suddenly, the screen went black after Scott jumped into some weird ass green pipe sticking out of the ground. I was about it ask if he died, when out of nowhere an evil laugh was blurted out of the television. I swear I've seen a lot of weird stuff in my life, but when a red-haired turtle with spikes (that was probably on steroids) appeared on the screen: I had seen it all.
"Scott, what the fuck is thi-" I started, but was interrupted by Scott 'shhh-ing' me.
"Wait, I need to heard this," He explained, which I would normally understand and feel a bit guilty for my actions, but this was bullshit. There were fucking subtitles at the bottom of the screen. What made it worse though, was the fact that the turtle, dragon guy wasn't even speaking English! Or any other language for that matter…
After the green, red-haired thing finished growling and laughing at Scott's character, he must have pushed the pause button because "PAUSE" unexpectedly popped up on the screen. "What were you saying earlier?" Scott questioned as he turned around to face me.
"Uh…oh! What the hell is this game?" Scott's eyebrow twitched at my question. He huffed as his cheeks puffed out and he pouted a little before responding: "You don't know this game?"
"No," I shook my head, feeling slightly dumb when an honestly shocked look passed across Scott's face. But it only lasted for a brief moment, before his face returned to a cute little pout.
"Well, obviously you have some studying to do before I move in." And with that he picked himself off the ground. He brushed his pants off, before grabbing his homemade 'X-Men' jacket off the wall rack. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Wallace." He spoke as a genuine smile replaced his pout. He was about to go out the door, when he paused, "Wallace?"
"Yeah?" I answered, getting up to get another beer.
"Tomorrow…I…" When he trailed off for a second time that day, I turned to look at him. He was staring at the ground, looking depressed about something.
"Scott?" I called to him lightly. His head whipped in my direction, his face surprised again. "You okay?"
"Ha, yeah…never mind. I'll see ya tomorrow, Wallace," He smiled halfheartedly as he shut the door behind him.
"…yeah. See you tomorrow, cutie."
Honestly, this isn't my favorite chapter...actually, I hate it. But nevertheless, I'm not rewriting it.
Oh, and virtual high fives to anyone who knows what games Scott was playing! :)
