Hi folks! It's been forever and day, I know. My muses have been on hiatus for awhile, only sharing bits and pieces…..And then thanks to the current world situation, my kids have been home since mid March. It's made any time to write anything- even if the muses cared to share- nearly non-existent.

And then...this! I shared a silly meme with I'maMePanda...and she started a round robin that turned into this hilarious dually written short for the Streetlight AU. A *huge* thanks to her, for jump starting my muses enough to get this written! 3

This takes place early in The Streetlight AU's timeline, a couple years after Sunscream (I'maMePanda's Streetlight short), but before all the other stories. Ezra's been in town about 8ish months at this point and Vin's only just arrived a month or two prior.

*.*.*.*

Ezra poked delicately at his sandwich and it oozed. How much mayonnaise had Buck layered on it, half the jar? Sharing a disgusted look with JD, Ezra couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer. "How exactly do you expect us to stomach sandwiches that are half mayonnaise? It's like something out of a horror film where the babysitter is revealed to be possessed."

JD's eyes lit up and he stared at Ezra, "Have you seen a movie like that?! I bet it'd be awesome! Mama and Daddy would never let me watch it...did your Ma let you? Buck, these sandwiches are kinda gross, I bet even Vin won't eat 'em, and Chris says he'll eat anything!"

Buck frowned, tossing the mayo lathered knife in the sink and staring out the window, watching Mama in the flower garden. Why was he stuck in here again?

"I'll eat it," Vin confirmed, returning from the bathroom and snagging a sandwich from the pile on the table.

This did not keep Vin from wiping a ton of mayo off on the edge of his plate, and JD pointed at it, saying, "He still had to wipe mayo off, he did, look at it! They're gross." With this final proclamation JD crossed his arms and settled back into his chair.

"Josiah now requires me to show him mah selections from the video store before viewing," Ezra's voice showed what he thought of that, even as he poked at the top of his sandwich in horrified fascination. "It's leaking out the top of the sandwich before Ah have even exerted any pressure on it. Not simply the edges, as one might expect, but through the literal top of the sandwich bread."

Buck rolled his eyes and went to grab his own sandwich off the plate. They weren't that bad, Ezra was just a particular little shit and JD liked to be contrary for its own sake. And Vin...well, he didn't rightly know about Vin yet. He liked him just fine, but the kid had only been in town a few months. Buck had to admit, even though it was weird as heck that his best friend kinda had a kid now, that he'd fit right in, becoming fast friends with JD and Ezra. And as JD had pointed out, the kid would eat anything. That was one point in his favor.

"Just eat, would you? Mama said I had to feed you, she didn't say I had to listen to ya complain." With that he bit into his sandwich and headed for the stairs, ignoring the mayo oozing onto his fingers.

"I ain't eating that!" JD yelped, shoving the plate halfway across the table. Groaning, Buck whirled back around to glare at his brother.

"Fine! We'll just see what Mama has to say about it!"

*.*.*.*

Maybe Buck should not have carried his own oozing mayonnaise sandwich outside when he went to complain to Mama that JD was the most annoying brother in the world and she should let him sell him and his little friends to the circus.

Or that they wouldn't eat their darn lunch. Same difference.

Only Mama was looking at the food in his hands with distaste, "I hate wasting the food, but frankly I don't blame the boys for not wanting those."

"Mama," he spluttered, a little hurt, but maybe not quite as surprised as he wanted to pretend.

Buck might have been thinking more about Cindy Peters than the sandwiches he'd been making, but he sure wasn't ever going to admit it.

"Sorry Sugar, but the boys are right. Throw them out."

Recovering quickly, a glint in his eye that Ruby had to fight not to grin at, Buck asked, "The boys?"

Tossing a clump of dirt at her oldest, she chuckled, "No. I'll make something when I come in. Just give me a few minutes to finish up here."

With a sigh, his sandwich was folding in half over his hand, Buck turned on his heel and headed back inside. A quick grin formed as he tossed his sandwich in the trash bin next to the back door, and as he stepped inside he called out, "Sorry guys, Mama said to throw you out."

"She did not!" JD yelped, rolling his eyes so hard they almost disappeared back into his head. Ezra merely snorted and continued to look at his sandwich as though it was some kind of fascinating and yet horrifying science project. Buck stepped forward, opening his mouth to repeat it when the new kid, who hardly knew him, shook his head real firmly.

"Nope, you're lying." Glaring at him in outrage, Buck shook his head.

"Think I know my mama better'n you, she said if you can't appreciate the lunch I made you can all go find your own somewhere else!" So what if he had been lying. He wasn't gonna let some pipsqueak call him on it.

"Ms. Ruby would never resort to such a melodramatic gesture without much better cause," shifting so he finally wasn't staring at his sandwich, Ezra pinned him with a look a little too similar to Mr. Sanchez's when he saw Buck out after he maybe should've been home. Of all the traits for him to pick up...still, he wasn't done yet.

But he didn't get much of a chance to continue, as again Vin butted in.

"Don't know your Mama bett'r'n you. J'st know yer lying." Vin stuffed the last bit of his sandwich in his mouth, Ezra making a gagging noise, before pushing his plate away.

"He is not wrong, Buck." Buck glared, not about to take cooking lessons from a 12 year old who swore he liked caviar.

JD looked from one friend to the other and then shot to his feet, "Buck?" he asked before his older brother could snap at them again.

Turning his glare from the two older brats- how did JD manage to find friends as obnoxious as he was- to JD, Buck grunted, "Yeah?"

"You're a jerkface."

With that, JD flung his sandwich square at Buck and booked it for the door way before the soggy mess had even managed to land in the middle of his brother's favorite Poison t-shirt. Both Vin and Ezra held very still, Ezra biting his lip, as Buck stared almost blankly at the sandwich as it stuck briefly, before falling to the floor with a wet plop.

"Bullseye!" Vin announced.