Disclaimer: I do not own Doug or it's characters.
Chapter 2,
"Alright Mr. Funnie, we will get your order right out for you." The kind cashier said and Doug thanked her. Then he went over to the table Roger sat down at.
"You know, Roger, I wanna say that I'm really glad that you were able to take time out of your busy schedule to help me out." Doug said and Roger gave Doug a tilted smile.
"You don't follow my career, do you Doug?" Roger asked and Doug blinked.
"I've seen a couple of the televised stuff." Doug said and Roger chuckled.
"Ok, here's the scoop. Remember earlier how I said that I was taking a break from my monster truck stuff?" Roger asked and Doug nodded.
"Yeah, well I wanted to try something a bit more daring. Riding my motorcycle and jumping over my truck. Then once I landed on the other side, I would ride a separate ramp down, around my truck, and back up to the door. I thought it would be more entertaining then driving into the room like I'm Elwood Blues." Roger said. Doug, being a fan of the Blues Brothers, giggles at Roger's reference. Roger blinked since this surprised him.
"I'm so glad you understood that. Most of the chicks I bring home think that I'm talking about colors." Roger said and Doug chuckled again, which made Roger very happy; for reasons he didn't understand or could explain.
"Please continue, Roger." Doug said. It had been soling since Doug had spoken to a friend whom he was comfortable with.
"Right. Well, I do the jump and I make it, fantastic. Then I go on the ramp. When I go around my truck, I suddenly notice that some of the measurements aren't correct. See this area, where one track goes under another, didn't have room. I bang my head on the wood, broke my neck, but my Harley keeps going. Dang thing crashed into that concrete barrier that protects the audience. So I'm back here until my ride is fixed and I get this dang thing off." Roger said. He lowered the collar of his jacket and Doug saw that, the white scarf he thought he saw earlier, was really a neck brace. Odd, Doug assumes that neck braces were more bulky then that.
"Dang Roger. How long do you have to wear that thing?" Doug asked and Roger popped his collar again.
"Let's see, what did the doc say? Um, six to eight weeks. But he recommends that I take a break from my job for about 3 months. Says he doesn't want to risk my neck breaking again, due to whiplash." Roger said and Doug paused. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be impressed by a wicked break; or if he was suppose to be sympathetic to the pain Roger felt/ is feeling now; or if he was suppose to be angry at the fact that Roger cannot return to work quickly; or grateful that Roger is alive.
"How do you feel about all that?" Doug asked and Roger shrugged.
"I guess I'm a little annoyed. I mean if that section was just a few inches apart then I never would have gotten hurt." Roger said.
"Yeah, that does suck." Doug agreed and Roger smiled.
"Yeah, but I'll tell you what, being back in this old town does make me feel nostalgic." Roger said and Doug blinked.
"What do you mean, Roger?" Doug asked.
"For example, this; the Honker Burger." Roger said, gesturing out to the restaurant.
"Yeah, so?" Doug said.
"Well, think about it Funnie. Over there is where I was standing when we first met." Roger said.
"Oh, yeah. It is, isn't it. I accidentally got ketchup on your suede boots." Doug said.
"I know, they were new too." Roger said.
"Heh, do you remember when you walked in wearing that cowboy hat." Doug asked.
"I wanted to scare you, because I saw you on that kid show." Roger recalled.
"Until I found out you were on the same show." Doug said and Roger laughed.
"I'm so glad we burned out tapes. Now that can be taken to our graves." Roger said and Doug smiled.
"Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead." Doug said and that sounded familiar to Roger.
"That almost sounds like my mom's Pretty Little Liar's show." Roger said and Doug blinked.
"It is." Doug admitted and Roger smiled.
"You a fan of the show, Doug my boy?" Roger asked and Doug shook his head.
"Not really. Judy is a fan of it. So if she is watching it, then I may watch an episode or two." Doug admitted and Roger nodded.
"You know what, I get it. I'm like that when my mother watches this show called The Closer." Roger said and Doug chuckled.
"I've heard of that show. Not sure how I feel about that Brenda chick though." Doug said.
"I know, I mean is she a good guy, is she a bad guy?" Roger said.
"I think she is suppose to be both. She just bends the rules in order to get the bad guy." Doug said.
"See that means that she is less of a good guy, and more of a vigilante. I think that's why I really like Nick Burkhardt." Roger said and Doug's eyes widened.
"Wait, the dude from Grimm?" Doug asked and Roger's smile grew.
"Yeah, exactly. You watch the show?" Roger asked and Doug stared at his former bully. He never saw Roger smile so big.
"I saw most of it, but I never finished it." Doug said.
"Do you remember what episode you were on?" Roger asked and Doug looked up as he tried to remember.
"I know I saw all of seasons 1, 2, and 3. I don't know if I finished season 4, but I know I started it." Doug said.
"Oh, dude, we so gotta have a marathon. I have the whole series at home. I even got the box set that looks like pages from Nick's books." Roger said.
"No way, that is so cool. Oh, uh, I would love to do a marathon, but I'm not sure if I would have the time for that. I have irregular hours. Most of the time I close and I am too tired to do stuff, or I open and I'd need to go to bed early." Doug said and Roger actually looked disappointed.
"Look, I know I wasn't exactly the nicest kid in school, but-"
"No, I'm serious, Roger." Doug interrupted.
"Well, it sounds like a brush off." Roger said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"There are two shifts I will traditionally get. An 8 to 4 shift, or a 2 to 9 shift. I actually prefer to close, but I don't make the schedule. When I open and I need to be there at 8, I need to start waking up at 7. Not so bad, but I know I need to wake up at 7, so I have trouble sleeping. I could go to bed at 10 and not be able to sleep until 2 in the morning." Doug explained and Roger paused.
"I guess you opened today?" Roger asked and Doug blinked.
"Yeah, actually. How did you know that?" Doug said, confused and Roger giggled.
"You were outside Mrs. Week's house after 2. So either you just got in, and your boss sent you right out, or you opened this morning. Besides you have some black junk on your hand. I doubt that happened in your sleep." Roger pointed out and Doug looked down at his hands.
"Oh, earlier my pen exploded in my pocket. I had to throw it away and I got the ink all over my hand. I was lucky that I had another pen in my bag. But I guess I left that at work." Doug said and Roger smiled.
"Ok, well that makes sense. I mean what is a writer if they don't have a pen and a notebook?" Roger asked.
"Well, I'm not really a writer, Roger. I've never been published or anything." Doug said and Roger kinda waved him off.
"I don't think that matters Funnie. One of my favorite childhood movies is Sister Act and Sister Act 2. Well in the second one, Deloris tells a student of hers to read a book. I forget the title, but she tells her student about the book. A fan writes his favorite author, asking for advise on how to be a writer. The author writes back to the fan, saying 'don't ask me how to be a writer, that if you wake up in the morning and the first thing you want to do is start writing, then you're a writer.' Deloris says this to her student and tells her if, when she wakes up and the first thing she wants to do is start singing, then she was meant to be a singer." Roger said and Doug thought about this for a second.
"What are you trying to say?" Doug asked.
"My point is that when you love something so much that it consumes your whole world and makes you feel whole, then that has got to mean something." Roger said and Doug thought about it and sighed.
"I haven't worked on anything for a while." Doug admitted.
"And do you feel like you're missing something? It could be because you haven't been writing." Roger said and Doug blushed. Could he really be so transparent?
"Well, maybe. But I'm not so sure about what you said though." Doug said and Roger rose an eyebrow at this.
"Ok, what are you trying to say." Roger said, repeating Doug's phrase.
"Well take addicts; they only feel whole when they give into their addiction." Doug pointed out and Roger leaned back into his seat.
"I'm still right though. They love something so much and it consumes their whole world. It does mean something. It means that they need help." Roger said and Doug blinked. Roger never did say that it was good or bad, he just said that it meant something.
"I can't really argue with that." Doug said and Roger sighed.
"Ok, ok, well if you don't write in your spare time, then what do you do?" Roger asked and Doug paused as he tried to remember.
"Well, sometimes I read stuff online. There is this one I visit everyday. It's a blog, but it's just so... I don't know." Doug said.
"Blog? Isn't that where people go online and vent about their lives not being perfect?" Roger asked and Doug hesitated.
"Depends on the blog. Some are like that. But this one is different." Doug said and Roger noticed the slightest blush, which tinted Doug's cheeks. Seeing that, Roger just had to know more about this blog thing.
"What's it about, then?" Roger asked and Doug let out a deep breath as he thought where to begin.
"It's complex in it's nature. It's vague, yet uncharacteristically personal. At times it's poetic and honest. I find it so incredibly unique. It's actually pretty addicting." Doug said.
"Wow, is it really?" Roger asked and Soug shrugged.
"Yeah, lots of people at work love it." Doug said.
"Ah, well maybe I should check it out something." Roger said and Doug smiled.
"Uh, well maybe I could write out the address for you the next time we meet." Doug said and Roger smirked.
"I could just give you my number. At least that way we could always text and meet up again." Roger said and Doug blushed.
"You really want to meet up again?" Doug asked and Roger nearly blushed.
"Hell yeah, Funnie. We got a Grimm marathon to plan." Roger said and Doug giggled.
"Ok, well, uh, what's your number?" Doug asked, pulling out his phone and Roger waved him off.
"Oh, forget that nonsense, here." Roger said, pulling Doug's phone out of his hand, then giving Doug his phone.
"Dang, ok. I didn't know that people still gave each other's phones to add contacts." Doug commented as he added his number to Roger's phone.
"Actually, I'm not sure if they do that anymore or not. But I guess I'm a bit old fashioned in some areas. Besides I trust that you're not gonna run away with it." Roger said and Doug smiled.
"Understood. Here's your phone back." Doug said, Roger took it and returned Doug's phone.
"Hey, I got an idea, come here Funnie." Roger said, though he didn't give Doug a second to react. Roger wrapper an arm around Doug and pulled Doug so close, so fast, that Doug almost fell into Roger's lap. The only reason he didn't was the fact that Doug put his hand on Roger's chest to steady himself. Doug looked up at Roger with the deepest blush on his face, but Roger was pulling up the camera on his phone.
"All-righty, smile." Roger said, and Doug turned towards the camera and smiled with all the joy he felt in his heart. Which normally doesn't mean much, but Doug couldn't help the way his heart raced. Roger presses his face against Doug's cheek, and Doug swooned slightly from the heat of Roger's body. The camera flashed and Roger moved away, leaving Doug to feel cold and confused.
"Order for Funnie." The woman said and Roger laughed and stood up.
"Man, oh man, got to love this place. A mountain of food and it's still under 30 minutes. I'll go grab it." Roger said and Doug took a deep breath to settle his nerves. He didn't understand what he was feeling, or why. It's true that he hasn't been that physically close to anyone in a while, so maybe that's what caused his heart to flutter. But he also hasn't seen Roger in forever, and he did miss him. Perhaps that's why his breathing grew heavy.
Still, would that explain the blush on his face, the trembling of his hands, and the absence of his thoughts? Doug didn't know what to think of this, but he also didn't have the time to think about it. Roger came back to the table with his arms loaded with food. Doug opened the doors for Roger and they walked to their bikes.