And another chapter appears! Hopefully on time today, oh how I hope.

But, yeah, enjoy more adventures from Eddie.

#######

There was almost an unanimous groan of disapproval through out the store as the heavy metal came to an abrupt stop, a serious sounding news anchors voice rumbling through the airwaves. Not that Eddie could really hear the guy, the numerous complaints from customers easily out weighed the low stern voice coming from the speakers over head.

"Christ, really?"

"Ugh, c'mon already,"

"Dude, laaaame,"

"Seriously, who even cares?"

Eddie simply shook his head at the ruffled feathers of the customers as he went back to work, vaguely able to catch the occasional word from the news report as he stocked shelves. Something about a missing person?

Hell if he knew what that was referencing, he had to deal with more important shit anyway. Kage was still putting records out of order. If Eddie wasn't already pissed with Kage to begin with, this would have led to some annoyance. The man couldn't apparently put in enough effort to put things away alphabetically anymore.

'Whatever his damn dealer puts in his pot is too fuckin' strong or somethin', god damn.'

He scowled unhappily to himself as he pulled several ill placed records from the shelf, switching them around to their proper place. Eddie could already guess he would need to just take everything off this section of the shelving to just recatogorize it again.

'Damn it, Kage.'

His frustration was only briefly dulled as he felt a familiar buzz in his pocket. He spared his jacket pocket a cursory glance, Eddie resisted his urge to check his phone as he finished up what he could do with the shelf. The roadie simply made a mental note to come back to stocking after hours and fiddle with this particular big shelf. It needed to be cleaned up in a bad way.

For now, he had a text message to check. Eddie could easily guess who it was from by this point. His assumption was proven correct when he ducked into the break room.

'See you at 12', was Sasha's simple and to the point response to Eddie's question earlier that day.

####

"You sure your bosses aren't gonna flip out over you being late?"

"I'm very certain," He answered back, glancing over his sunglasses at the roadie next to him. "Truman was encouraging me to leave the office in the first place."

Eddie shifted a little in the grass, trying to get comfortable as he let his gaze drop to the sandwich in his grip. "Really?"

"Yes, really. It isn't that strange, Eddie."

"Pretty strange if you ask me, usually Oz cracks the whip on us for some shit,"

"The last time I saw your boss, he seemed very laid back,"

The roadie offered a simple shrug back as he glanced over at the German man. "Yeah, cause it was the end of the work day, Oz can be a real hardass if you get on his bad side,"

"I think that is true of most employers, Eddie,"

"Yeah, yeah," He waved his free hand back, moving to take a bite of his sandwich before speaking. "Yet yours is lettin' you stay out longer!"

Sasha just wrinkled his nose disapprovingly back at Eddie's bad table manners as he made a face. "Couldn't you have waited to say that after you finished eating?"

"Nope!"

"Ugh, you can be so disgusting at times," Sasha simply swatted Eddie, clearly unamused if anything. Eddie simply laughed, causing some sandwich debris to go everywhere much to the German man's disgust.

"Don't you dare speak to me until you finish eating," Sasha seemed intent on swatting Eddie again if the roadie opened his mouth before finishing his mouthful of food.

###

"Are you and the irritating fat guy still arguing?"

Oz's words jarred Eddie out of what he was doing, the roadie glanced up from the records he had in front of him only to find his boss staring at him intently back. "Well?"

"Uh, yeah. Is he tellin' people 'bout it?"

"No, he's just been sulking in the break room writing about ended friendships when you aren't here. So I put two and two together,"

"Oh- yeah, that makes sense," Eddie could already half picture any kind of song Kage would write. Considering the fact Kage wrote like a 12 year old on deviantart who just discovered emoticons, it would end up being an unintentionally hilarious song. "He hasn't been-"

"Yes, yes he has. I swear if he sings 'Friend is fiend with an r', one more time-"

Eddie held his palm up as he cut Oz off. "Breath, Oz. I'll- talk to him. Can't say it'll make it better, but I'll try,"

"Thank you,"

####

The pained whine of a guitar jarred the roadie from his slumber, as it did everyone else in the apartment building. Any lulled confusion over the sound was quickly solved by Kage's slurred singing.

"Friends aren't foreverrrr, they're like the cold beer of life, short and really fucking cold!" There was a pause as the guitar was strummed quickly, Kage's voice getting more emotionally charged as he continued. "Friends are fiends with an r! A lie, just like santa claaaaaaus, why would you lie like that? why?"

"..Christ sake," Eddie could only grab one of his pillows and cover his face with it. The terrible drunken singing easily continuing as Kage seemingly found his mojo, "Whyy don't we pause? And look at our lies! Only to realize, friends are all a lie! Just like mom making good apple pie!"

Eddie groaned in frustration, wondering if he had to get up to do something about the singing. Feeling unmotivated to make himself part of the scene as Kage tortured his guitar further. Apparently that was enough for their neighbors. Proving that Eddie didn't need to do anything as he heard doors open, the tramping of feet and shouting. So much shouting.

Kage was in for a hell of a night, Eddie already knew that much. He almost wished he was drunk, it would have made falling asleep during this disaster much easier.

"Don't you DARE stifle my creativity, I don't come in breathing down your necks!" Somehow Kage's voice rang the loudest amongst the rabble as a scuffle ensued. The twang of a guitar, startled yelp and loud thump was enough to signify Kage was knocked on his ass.

"You guys suck!"

"Tell your deadjournal friends that and let the rest of us sleep!" Was screamed by one woman, several other people chiming in with their own assessment of the situation.

"Mybook it why don't you?"

"Just join a poetry group for gods sake!"

"Some people need sleep around here!"

Eddie just groaned, rolling out of bed to grab a water bottle from near his bed, uncapping it to take a swig. He regretted not putting whiskey in this when he had the chance.

He already knew work tomorrow was going to be oh so ugly.

###

Being right sucked, much more than Eddie really liked to think about.

"Fucks sake," He breathed lowly to himself as he stepped out of the Motor Forge's employee entrance. Eddie making a beeline for his car to avoid having to really talk to anyone. Kage had carried his scene from the night before over to work, needlessly to say it had been a disaster. The only good point of the day had been Oz losing his shit at Kage and kicking him out of the store for the afternoon.

He was just immensely happy to just be out of there. He patted his pockets for his keys, angrily mulling over what he'd do for lunch as a familiar voice cut through his musings. "Hey! Eddie, dude wait!"

"Oh, hey Mangus, sup?" He glanced up from his search, watching as the pot-bellied man hurried over towards him.

"I figured I'd ask if you wanna come to lunch with me today, considering all the strange drama with Kage," The handle bar mustache'd man easily offered back with a smile.

That smile was seemingly contagious as Eddie felt one rise to his lips as well. "Yeah, that'd be great actually,"

"C'mon, man. Lets go hit up Habitat Burger or something," Mangus offered Eddie's shoulder a friendly pat, the positive contact was enough to make the tension slowly start to vanish from the roadie. His delimma of having lunch on his own was solving itself apparently. He'd have lunch with Mangus and go bar crawling with Sasha later.

"That would be fuckin' great actually,"

####

"We get somethin' all established and you gotta have a conflict schedule about shit," He easily chuckled back at Sasha as the two walked together. The brisk weather hardly noticeable to Eddie as he dug his hands into his jacket pockets.

Sasha didn't seem very deterred by the roadie's teasing, simply sparring his friend a amused sort of glance. "Oh hush, you know I would have come if I could have,"

"Yeah, yeah," He waved his hand dismissively back, "You always say that kinda shit to butter me up,"

"Yes, because hurting your feelings is truly all that matters to me," Sasha said with a slight roll of his eyes, a smile curling at the corner of his lips. Eddie took that as a good sign as they walked together.

"Course it is, I know you dig me," He playfully popped the collar of his jacket, more making a show of that for the moment.

"Mhmm," Was Sasha's initial response, "Lets just pick a bar or we'll never get to drink,"

"Ooh, pushy, pushy," He said with an easy laugh. "How about that one?"

"The Wild Boar? Really?"

"C'mon, you asked me to pick a place!" Eddie said with a bark of laughter. He reaching out to grab onto Sasha's hand, lacing their fingers together as he tugged the smaller man towards the bar's entrance.

Sasha didn't get much of a chance to protest as the roadie dragged him into the bar. The noisy hustle and bustle a sharp distinction from the chilly quiet of the street outside of the bar. People were all along the bar, others clumped off to the side watching TV and the floor was full of people moving around. For a place called The Wild Boar, it was surprisingly classy and fashionable. A chalkboard spread across the length of the wall behind the bar, bottles of varying drinks settled under the board.

"This place is far from- boarish," The roadie tossed back as he and Sasha walked over towards the bar along the wall. Eddie's hand releasing Sasha's own as they walked further into the building. The two grabbing their own stools to settle down in front of the bar.

"That was terrible, you're terrible and should be ashamed."

"Nope, no shame here."

"I can tell," Sasha blew a loose strand of hair out of his eyes. "You're incorrigible,"

"You're not any better," He quickly stuck his tongue out playfully back at Sasha. The German man simply snorted in response, lightly nudging Eddie's ankle with the toe of his shoe.

"I am much better,"

"Hardly, man,"

"In comparison to you, I am," The green skinned man rested his elbows on the smooth surface of the bar, leaning closer to the larger man. He resting his chin in his hands as he looked up at the taller man.

Eddie found himself laughing again, playfully waggling his brows back at the lanky man. "Not much of a comparison, babe,"

Sasha's smile took on an odd edge too it as he answered. "Still a sharp enough distinction if you ask me," He waved his hand, moving back and away from the roadie. "Enough of this, lets order something."

He shrugged in turn, turning his attention to the chalkboard wall in front of them. The menu of drinks and finger foods scrawled across it in varying colors of chalk. "Sure, might as well get a little fuckin' tipsy here,"

###

"Sasha! What up, man?" The roadie perked up happily as held the phone to his ear, smiling as he leaned back into his terribly old recliner. The beaten up chair creaking unhappily at the shifting weight as Eddie smiled to himself. He liked Sasha a lot, even if the German man liked playing dour, he was pretty fun when he got to relax. He actually got more of Eddie's jokes than the roadie expected. Eddie's eyes naturally roamed across the faded ceiling over head, taking in each divot, stain and faint cracks as he waited for Sasha's response.

"I might have to miss lunch for a few days. Something has come up at the office in Seattle, so I'll be out of town," Sasha's clipped tone was enough to make the roadie frown a little.

Eddie wilted slightly, trying to cover up some of his disappointment as he spoke. "Oh, seriously?"

Apparently it was clear to the other man, Sasha's clipped tone softening somewhat as he spoke. "Yes, I'm sorry about this. I was looking forward to having lunch with you, we can make it up later, yes?"

"Yeah, we can, you just owe me like, three cheeseburgers or something',"

"Really, Mr. Riggs, cheeseburgers?"

"Ey, what else am I supposed to charge you with? Twelve steaks?" Eddie waved his hand back, not caring if Sasha couldn't see it.

Sasha gave a fond sort of scoff as he replied. "Your prices are jumping around, I might have to change my mind if you can't settle on something solid,"

"Those are completely solid prices, Sasha, you know it."

"I know you are just trying to get a free meal out of me, Mr. Riggs,"

"Maybe I am, you certainly aren't offerin' your body to me, Sasha."

The awkward pause that followed made Eddie sigh a little, he realizing his mistake a bit too late as he wrinkled his nose in embarrassment. "Sorry, I forgot you're not comfortable with that kinda stuff,"

"No, no, it's okay. I'm, adjusting to those jokes,"

"Alright, just, uh, tell me if I cross any lines," Eddie worried his lip a little as he waited for Sasha to speak.

"I will," There was a pause before the German man kept on, "Right now, I just wanted to tell you I'll be out of town for awhile. I'll try to call you when I'm back. Right now the timeline on when I'll be back is a bit iffy."

"Right, yeah, makes sense," Not really, but Eddie didn't want to push too hard. He was guessing Sasha was bullshitting an excuse to leave town for awhile to get away from his ex. The whole situation was awkward as all hell far as Eddie could tell. He couldn't blame Sasha, he himself had done about the same thing when he broke up with Ophelia two years ago. He opted to sign onto an extremely long tour to set some space between him and everyone else.

"When I'm back, I'll buy you a few cheeseburgers, promise."

"Pinky promise?"

Sasha sounded a touch bemused at that as well as skeptical. "Pinky promise-really?"

Eddie had to laugh a little at Sasha's tone, "C'mon, go with it,"

"Alright, alright. Pinky promise," Eddie could just picture Sasha's irritated expression as he held his pinky out in the air, it was worthy of a low amused sound from the roadie.

"Good, I'll hold you to that pinky promise, Sasha,"

"I know you will, Eddie. You're the type to make another man promise something via pinky,"

"It's how I win the hearts of my many followers, everybody wants a piece of this," He had to laugh at how cheesy the whole sentence sounded, Sasha's own laugh joining Eddie's as the German man sounded genuinely happy since the break up.

"I'll see you soon, Eddie. Goodbye,"

"Bye, Sasha."

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And there we go, the end of chapter 17.