Hey... So, I know I told a few of you that I would be posting a few days ago, but life got in the way. So, as a huge thanks for keeping with me, I will be giving you three chapters tonight! And, some point this weekend I will be posting again, because the next few chapters are in review and should be ready soon! Anyway, Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and added as a favorite! It really meant a lot and I'm glad you all are enjoying this little story! That being said, on with the story!
Disclaimer: Nope. Still not mine.
Spoilers: None, but there may be references.
"I'm bored." He stated setting down the plate with his second piece of pizza only half eaten. Johnny smiled taking another bite of his fourth piece of pizza.
"You've told me." Johnny replied swallowing his bite. "What would you like to do to relieve your boredom?" He added with a smirk.
"Um... I don't know..." He glanced around the living room for inspiration. He was suddenly struck with the greatest idea. With all the childlike amusement he possessed at the moment, he began bouncing up and down on the couch. "We could build a fort. Yeah, it would be awesome and we could use pillows and blankets and the cushions and and..." His excitement at the prospect was getting the better of him. He looked over at Johnny who had the biggest smile he had ever seen the man wear on his face.
"Absolutely! "He shared in his excitement. "Here. Take these to the kitchen and I'm going to move the table and grab some pillows and blankets from upstairs." Johnny thrust the plates in his direction, already moving the table. He smiled up at Johnny, grabbing the plates and hurrying towards the kitchen. Depositing the plates next to the boxes on the counter, he didn't bother cleaning up the mess they made of the counter. He raced back into the living room just as Johnny was taking the stairs two at a time. He was surveying the room when a pile of assorted blankets and pillows was unceremoniously dumped at his feet. "I grabbed just about everything from upstairs." Johnny laughed as he, too, began surveying the room.
"I don't think everyone's going to take to kindly to you ransacking their rooms..."He told him as he spotted pillows from Briggs room, and blankets from Charlie and Paige's rooms, among others.
"I'll put them back before they get back and no one will know." Johnny laughed. "Unless, someone tells them."
Smirking he replied, "I won't tell. I don't have a death wish." He noticed one of Jakes pillows among the pile.
Shaking his head, Johnny grabbed a few pillows and motioned towards the now vacant area in front of the couches. "Let's get started." Smiling he grabbed a blanket and began helping Johnny construct their fort.
Stepping back to admire their hard work, they high-fived at the awesomeness they created. It was pretty elaborate; blankets were draping over the couches and stacks of pillows. There was even an entrance constructed so they didn't have to crawl under anything. "I think we've outdone ourselves." Johnny said as he moved towards the entrance.
"Yeah.." He breathed out in amazement. He followed Johnny to the entrance and Johnny ushered him in first. The inside was even more incredible. They could both sit comfortably next to each other and Johnny's head didn't even touch the top. "Let's take a picture, so the others can see it!" He shouted suddenly.
"Yeah, sure." Johnny responded exiting the fort while pulling out his phone from his pocket. "Oops."
"What?" He questioned crawling out of the fort. He glanced at Johnny who was typing on his phone furiously.
"I forgot to turn my phone off silent."
"Oh."
"Yeah. I have about 30 messages from Briggs, Charlie and Paige asking if we're still al-" He was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. "Speak of the devil." He laughed. "Hello. Yeah everything's fine. No. We ordered pizza. He hasn't said anything about it. No. Yeah. Do you want to talk to him?" At this he perked up as he was the only one here and maybe it was Briggs and he really wanted to talk to him. "Here." Johnny handed him the phone. He grabbed it eagerly.
"Hello." He smiled as Briggs spoke to him through the phone. He hadn't realized how much he actually missed him.
"What have you and Johnny been up to?"
"We ate pizza and..." He glanced at Johnny who shook his head. "And played in the living room."
"How are you feeling? Has your hand bothered you?" Once Briggs mentioned it, he noticed the small throbbing in his hand.
"It's fine. When are you coming home?" He tried to think about something other than the throbbing that was making its presence known after he had paid it attention.
"Well, about that..." He really didn't like the way this conversation was headed. "It's actually going to be a while..."
"Oh..." He really hoped Briggs couldn't hear the disappointment in his voice. He felt his shoulders drop at the admission.
"I'm sorry, Mikey. We'll try to make it home as soon as we can." He heard muffled words over the line and a shuffling of paper. "Okay, listen I have to go. Be good for Johnny okay?"
"Yeah. Okay. Bye." He mumbled handing the phone back to Johnny who took it.
"You're as bad as Charlie with this mother hening." Johnny laughed. "Yeah, okay. Talk to you later." He hung up the phone and opened the camera. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just-" He was not going to tell Johnny about how much he missed Briggs. "Did you take a picture?" He deflected.
Johnny looked at him curiously for a minute before looking back at the camera. "Yeah. I took a bunch." He replied a moment later. "How's the hand?" Johnny was looking at him expectantly.
"It's fine." He could feel the throbbing again. 'Why couldn't anyone just drop it, so I could push it from my mind.' He made the mistake of pulling his hand toward his chest. Johnny could tell he was lying. Johnny walked into the kitchen returning a minute later with the clear cup of horrible liquid. "I'm fine. Really." He tried to salvage the situation and get out of ingesting the medicine.
"It'll help." Johnny told him with a pointed look.
He held the gaze shortly before giving in, "Fine." He grabbed the cup and swallowed the liquid in one gulp. He really, really hated the taste of the medicine, even if it did make him feel better.
Johnny took the cup back and deposited on the counter next to the pizza boxes and plates. "Do you want to play in the fort?" He felt his face light up and he nodded. "Alright. Let's go."
They played various games where Johnny flew him around the living room and he couldn't help the squeals of laughter that escaped. He got to be the king of their fort and Johnny was his jester. It was after his last flight around the living room, that he started feeling tired. He had to suppress his yawns and the need to rub at his eyes. Johnny must have noticed because he began dismantling their fort. "Hey. What are you doing?" He asked around a yawn.
"It's time for bed." Johnny replied, not stopping in his actions.
"But, I'm not tired." He yawned.
"Well, I am." Johnny said around his own yawn. "I'm worn out. This is most playing I've done for quite a while." He laughed.
"Oh." 'Well if Johnny's tired, I guess I could go to sleep, too' "But, Briggs isn't back yet." 'Damn. He sounded like a lost puppy'
"Yeah, but Briggs said they'd be back late." He felt tears well in his eyes at Johnny's statement even though he already knew this. 'Stupid childish emotions taking over' "How about we clean up and then we can sit down here and wait for them?" He smiled at Johnny and even though in the back of his mind he knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake, he liked the gesture behind it. He began helping Johnny with tearing down their creation. While Johnny brought all the blankets and pillows back to their respected rooms, he sluggishly made his way to the kitchen picking up Stitch on the way. He felt his eyelids growing heavy as he leaned against the counter. He didn't remember Johnny coming back downstairs or him moving the coffee table back into place or cleaning up the kitchen. He barely recognized that he was being picked up and carried. He relaxed into the hold, clutching Stitch in one hand the fabric of Johnny's shirt in the other.
"You said we could wait up until Briggs got back." He mumbled sleepily into the fabric he was rested against.
"You did." He blearily gazed up to see Briggs holding him. He looked over to see Paige and Charlie standing beside a still sleeping Johnny on the couch. 'When did we get to the couch?' The last thing he remembered was standing in the kitchen. He sighed, snuggling into Briggs. He really did miss him, even though he really didn't understand why. He just knew he felt a sense of calm and safety. He felt his eyelids shut on their own accord as he was shifted in Briggs' hold. "Go to sleep, Mikey." He couldn't tell if he nodded or not before he succumbed to the nothingness of sleep.
