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, Derpydash, and Jennifer the Dark (high-fives all around!). I love you guys! :D

I own nothing mentioned in this chapter or story. All characters, video games, and shows mentioned belong to their rightful creators.

Oh, one more thing, just because I feel like I should point this out for the hardcore Scott Pilgrim fans reading this: there is a scene in this chapter that will follow some of the comics, but in no way is it suppose to be exactly like the comics. So, please don't send me messages saying that it's incorrect, or "it didn't play out like that!"

Aside from that, read your eyes out, lovelies!

"God, I can't believe I'm actually doing this..." I sighed as I knocked on the door before me. I waited a good minute-in-a-half before I decided he wasn't home and turned to leave-

"Well, look who it is: Wallace Wells!" A voice behind me cheered. With another sigh, I turned around to greet the owner of the voice: "Hey, Michael,"

"And who do I owe this wonderful visit to?" He asked as I walked passed him and into his apartment.

"Scott Pilgrim," I answered, not in the mood to say anymore than that.

"Ha, I should've guessed," That stupid-ass grin found it's way on Michael's face again, "So, whacha wanna know?"

"I wanted to know about-"

"His favorite food?"

"Er, no. I wan-"

"His past?"

"What? No. I just wa-"

"He's sexual preference?"

"Would you shut the hell up?" I all but yelled at the insufferable man. "I wanted to know about video games, man! Video games!"

"Scott?"

"What?"

"Are you drunk?" My girlfriend's eyes widened a bit, and it pissed me off. Everything pissed me… She pissed me off, with her obsession with money and fame. Her constant need to be in the spotlight. The fact that she wanted our band to sign with a big-time label company and she was the only member who even wanted to! Not even Stephen Stills wanted to! And then she had the nerve to vote me and Stephen Stills out of the band!

"Natalie-"

"It's Envy, Scott. I told you like 30 times," The dark-ish pink-haired girl pointed out, frustration in her voice.

"Whatever, truth is: I like Natalie much better than Envy," I stated matter-of-factly. She frowned but said nothing in response. "Ya know something? I hate Envy Adams," I spat, as suddenly there was a clone of my girlfriend right beside her. It copied her as her frown grew into horrified, disgusted look. God, I hate alcohol…

"Well, excuse me for wanting to make a name for myself!"

"A name? What's wrong with your actual name?" I questioned, confused by her wants and needs.

"My old name went with the old me. I've changed, Scott. I'm no longer that dork from before," It was obvious she was trying to get me to see it the way she saw it, but I didn't want to. I couldn't.

"Why change? I loved the dorky you!" A small crowd began to form around us, noticing we were fighting, "I loved your anime figurine collection!" I spoke, a little louder than I needed to but I didn't care.

"Scott, be quiet," Natalie whispered, not enjoying the attention.

"No! I loved how you spent your Sundays watching those anime DVDs that you ordered off of Amazon," Again, I said it louder than I should have.

"Scott, shut up!" She hissed, now irritated by me.

"I even loved your secret yuri fetish!" Suddenly, the crowd around us began to talk: "What's 'yuri'?" "Is that that girl on girl stuff?" "It's from Japan, right?" "Is Envy gay or something?"

"Enough! Scott, I want you out of my life!" She yelled, pointing at the door at the other side of the room.

"And what makes you think I want to be in your life? You told me to get a haircut!" I shouted back at her, tossing my cup of beer into the crowd of unneeded observers.

"Get. Out. Now!" Natalie shrieked, almost popping a blood vessel.

"Fine!" I shouted as I stomped off towards the front door, "We're through, Envy Adams!"

"So, I guess that's all you really need to know to win the game," Michael passed the guidebook to me as he picked up his coffee. "Easy enough, right?"

"Ha, says the guy who played the game every weekend for the past year," I sighed as I thumbed through the thick book, "God, this book might as well be all 7 Harry Potter books in one."

"Naw, you should see 'The Official Pokémon Full Pokedéx Guide.'"

"The…what?"

"'The Official Po-"

"Just stop. I don't want to know," I massaged my temples as I drunk some of my espresso, "Anyway, after this we need to go and actually buy the game,"

"Well, technically, you need to buy a gaming system that'll play the game first," He drunk some more of his coffee.

"Hey, Wallace!" I looked away to find that Julie was suddenly heading for our table. She grabbed a chair from another table near by and sat next to Michael, "Did you hear?"

"Did I hear what?" I asked. "I'm not a mind reader, Ju-"

"Wait! What did I not hear?" Michael questioned, wanting to know the latest information.

"Well, I just got word from this guy I know that-"

"Wait, hold on. What is this all about? I mean, does this have anything to do-" Julie interrupted me, as I did her before: "Shut up and listen. Then you'll know what it has to do with you," She hissed, but continued, "So, like I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I heard something huge from a friend. See, he went to this party, that I would have went to if it weren't for-"

"Just get to the point, Powers," Michael sighed, wanting to know only the juicy bits.

"Okay, fine. He went to this party that Envy Adams was having-"

"Wait…Toronto University singer Envy Adams?" Michael asked, almost spitting out his coffee.

"That's the one!" Julie smiled with triumph, as Michael's mouth fell open.

"H-How do you know her?" He almost seemed star struck.

"We're like best friends," She gloated, before she continued to gossip, "But anyway, the guy said that Envy and her boyfriend broke up!"

"What? No way! Who was he?" Michael was so into the conversation, he didn't notice his coffee getting cold.

"Dude, you're starting to sound gay," I spoke, rolling my eyes at him.

"What? Wallace, you-"

"Hey! Wait, Wallace, that's it?" Julie eyed me suspiciously.

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" I narrowed my eyes.

"That's your reaction to the news?" She tilted her head forward and her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose a bit.

"What news? Envy Adams broke up with her boyfriend?" She nodded, "I don't see the big deal. I've never even heard of the girl before."

"Oh… I see." Was the only response I got as Julie pushed her glasses back into place. She sighed, "Wallace, you're so out of the loop when it comes to pop culture."

"Well, if you want a reaction, then explain why you thought you would get one," I stated simple, before I picked up my espresso and finished it off.

"Well, she's a senior at Toronto University,"

"So?"

"And she's a singer in a band," She said as a small, devilish grin appeared on her face.

"Your point?" I questioned, irritated.

"And her previous boyfriend was…" The grin continued to grow in size.

"Who? Who?" Michael was practically shaking in his seat with anticipation.

"Scott Pilgrim." Her grin was in full-bloom when the name left her mouth.

"S-Scott? Stacey's Scott?" My eyes widened and, if it were possible, my jaw would have hit the ground.

"Holy shit!" Michael gasped, covering his mouth with his hands.

"See? That was the reaction I was looking for!" Julie clapped before she stood up and walked back behind the counter.

"W-Wait! Julie!" I was just about to run after her, but Michael grabbed my wrist:

"Dude, Wallace, if Scott was dating Envy and they broke up, he must be in a hell of a bad mood right now." He squeezed my wrist a little tighter, "You should go check on him."

"Scott home?" I asked Stacey as she let me into their house.

"Yeah, upstairs," I headed for the stairs when Stacey stopped me, "Wallace, do you know what's going on? He hasn't left his room-"

"Don't worry, Stacey. I got it."

"Scott?" I knocked on his bedroom door and waited for an answer, "Scott? Hey, open up. It's me, Wallace,"

"I know who it is," Scott scolded from inside his room.

"Then let me in," I said.

"No,"

"Why not?" I asked, "Come on-"

"No! Stay out," He yelled back.

"Fine..." I gave up with a sigh as I turned around and slide down against his door. "You know..." I stretched my legs out before me, starting at my black Converse, "I got dumped by this guy once-"

"I'm not gay, okay? Don't compare," His voice sounded like it was right behind the door.

"Well, for the sake of learning something, I'll say it was a girl, happy?" I growled a bit, tch kids these days.

"No." He replied.

"Well, whatever. Anyway, so we broke up and she really ripped apart my heart," I ran a hand through my hair, remembering the horrid moments of that old relationship, "She was, uh, cheating on me with a girl- er guy?"

"...just say it the way it was," Scott sighed.

"Okay, well apparently he got her pregnant," I went back to staring at my shoes, "He told me that he never really planned on dating me for has long as he did. Or rather, he never really planned on dating me at all."

Silence fell upon us, and I guess the sharing stories method didn't work-

"...sorry, Wallace,"

"Huh? Why?" I chuckled at his unnecessary apology, "It wasn't your fault,"

"I know, but-"

"The game you were playing a couple days ago, you never told me the name," I quickly tried to change the subject, no longer comfortable with talking about my past boyfriends.

"Oh...um, Paper Mario?" Scott questioned, taking the bait.

"Yeah, was it..." I tried to recall the game Michael thought was the one Scott was playing, "Uh, The Thousand-Year Door, right?"

"Wh- how did you know?" I could almost see the shocked expression on Scott's face; eyes as big as the moon and his mouth dropped open.

"You told me I had some studying to do before you moved in," I shrugged at the thought, "So, I studied." Suddenly a clicking noise met my ears, and before I could register it to be the sound of a door opening, I found myself on my back as Scott stood over me.

"You...wanted to come in?" A small smile played on his face as he extended his hand to help me up. I took hold of it. Scott's hands were really soft, like...a baby's bottom?

...wait! No! What the hell? That's not what I meant. I need to get out more...

"So..." I scratched my neck awkwardly, looking around Scott's room. It was different from last time, I mean sure there were comics still scattered about the floor, but there were some black trash bags sitting in one of the corners of the room. "Scott, what's with the bags?"

"They're trash bags," He spoke quietly as he shut the door and walk back over to his bed.

"Trash bags...for food?" I questioned, looking for some sort of food laying around.

"Well, yeah, and for some other stuff," He flopped down on his bed and began staring at the ceiling.

"Oh..." I sat down on the same blue beanbag I had when I first came into his room.

I watched Scott concentrate on the ceiling for what felt like years, before I spoke up: "Scott, what's with you and that ceiling?"

"Huh?" Scott sat up so fast I thought he would get whiplash (oh that rhymed!).

"Ha, you've been staring at the ceiling since I came in," I laughed as I grabbed a random comic sitting nearby.

"Really? Sorry," Scott smiled at me, but it was obvious how he was really feeling; there were streams of tear stains glittering on his cheeks.

"Scott," I stood up and headed towards the bed, "Does someone need a hug?" He laughed lightly, as I held my arms out with a smile on my face.

"Dude, you're just like a chick," Scott joked as I held him in my arms.

"Whatever, you know you like it." I jeered, squeezing him tighter.

"So, then you're supposed to beat this red paper dragon!" Scott laughed even harder when he finished his sentence.

"Ha, a red paper dragon? Well, that's better than that turtle on steroids," I shrugged, flipping through the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door guidebook. You would never believe it, but Scott collects video game guidebooks. Although, he claims he never uses any of them.

"Haha, Bowser?" Scott continued to laugh, "That's a good one: 'that turtle on steroids'! I'll have to Young Neil!"

"Ha, young-who?" I chuckled, his laughing was contagious.

"He's Stephen Stills' roommate," He wiped away tears that formed at the edges of his eyes.

"Oh, okay."

Once our laughing died down, Scott's attention was drawn to the trash bags sitting in the corner of the room: "She gave me all these manga and figurines...I thought she would never change,"

"People change, things change, life changes, Scott," I spoke, having been there before.

"...but she told me she would never change...she said nothing between us would ever change-!" I grabbed hold of Scott and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Her stuff is in the bags, uh?" I whispered, not really looking for answer because I knew my assumption was correct. But Scott nodded nonetheless, and I hugged him tighter.

We stayed like that for a while, and honestly, I would have given anything to stay like that forever.

"Scott?"

"Yeah?" My shoulder muffled his answer.

"You hungry?"

"No, I-" Suddenly, a low rumbling noise met our ears.

"Really?" I laughed.

"Okay, maybe just a little," He sighed as he pushed himself out of my grip. I almost pulled him back, but I let him go. I mean, I had to.

"You wanna go to Sneaky Dee's?" A smile spread across his face, but it didn't fully bloom until I said: "The foods on me."

Yay! The third chapter's done! The next chapter is where the wonderful angst begins and more characters are introduced! :D

Thank you for reading, and remember to review because reviews make my day! :)