Chapter 4: can fancy be fun?

An: don't know how I'll deliver on my previous statement about slowing things down when I ended it like that but let's see what happens when the master of tangents tries to change the subject shall we?

"Fear?"

"Ok I've had enough stupidity for one day and I've had my fun. By staking buddy. By Marco, Star, Jackie." With that, Janna left the room and the remaining people were left to ponder what happened. Marco's father soon walked passed the opened door and greeted Janna on her way out before entering Star's room and asking when and how she entered. Star was still trying to process the morning's events. The oldest person in the room was drinking what was probably his tenth cup of coffee and Jackie was pondering how to further draw Marco out of his comfort zone. The oldest one spoke, "if you really want to take pleasure in watching him squirm under the pressure your influence holds you can't dive headfirst into chaos. *takes long drawn out sip* look where it got me."

"You read my mind"

"Yeah I have no control over that so I'm just gonna apologise in advance... somewhere out in the world, an instrument is suffering... I can hear it crying out to me... it's saying, 'kill me now I'm in the hands of an amateur who refuses to learn' I must end its misery"

"Is it by chance coming from the school?"

"Yes, how did you- oh. OH! oh..."

"Yeah..."

"Probably shouldn't have said that in front of her*points to Star*"

"Don't worry he actually does have potential just not with that instrument... I'll be back before his batteries leak in protest." The group watched him dissolve into blood leaving his cross behind and soon turned their attention to Mr Diaz, "are you going to tell me who that was?"

"Oh, right, dad, um. He's a... he... um... I think he said something about being a vampire but the only thing he's drunk since he got here was coffee so...He's old we know that much... a-and he's got wings... So-" Marco was cut off by his dad giving him a hug and saying, "my son finally met his guardian angel. Hold on let me go get my camera for when he comes back."

The winged man came back with the remnants of a keytar in his hands and a dejected look on his face "he dropped it once and it let itself shatter... there was nothing I could do..." he looked down at the broken pieces as if on the verge of tears. Marco's dad came back and immediately went to console him but mere millimetres away his head popped right back up and he said, "got us there for a second now didn't I?"

He immediacy punched himself in the head tearing it off and sending it flying into the wall. His hat slowly floated back down onto his shoulders and his body took a bow before pulling the hat up to show his head back in its place. Upon looking back to the blood stained wall they saw another figure begin to take form out of the blood almost identical to the first, except his pocket square was a giant flower and this one was dressed completely in blue, from hat to shoe.(couldn't resist) Marco was the first to speak up about this, "so we already met Fear this must be Sadness right?"

"Wrong! It's Sorrow..." the blue man said, drooping like a worm on a hook, only for his head to jerk up violently, "just kidding! I'm Joy. At your service." He bowed with a flourish. "Wait we still haven't gotten your name yet.*gestures original*"

"I don't have a name. My father has no face so he thought the least he could do to prepare me for the world was to leave me without a name, but since your addressing the rest with their personality I suppose Indifference is as good a name as any"

"But what do people call you back where you live?"

"Honestly I have more nicknames than I can remember to count I'd give you the list buut..."

"We have somewhere else to be, " said Jackie as she dragged Marco into his room and proceeded to undress then redress him despite rather loud protests. After a bit, she dragged him away leaving a room filled with awkward silence at the sight of Marco, dressed for an audience with the queen, and Jackie dragging him back to her place... Joy followed... The three remaining occupants of the room stood in relative silence until Indifference, as he introduced himself, pulled out a flask and poured rum into his coffee. Rafael took a picture and shouted, "Angie! I told you angels drink!" As he ran out of the room, "you owe me twenty grand!"

Half way to Jackie's house she stopped remembered their previous "meet my parents" moment and she decided to just... "here. meet me at this address in five minutes and try not to get mugged in that white suit. It'd be a shame to see it covered in blood" as she spoke she took a sticky note from the bottom of her skate board and handed it to him. Joy floated above his head and said, "I think she likes you."

"Yeah, w-well no shit!"

"...I liked you better when you didn't know." He then proceeded to float over to a tree and sat in the shade. Marco felt sympathy and walked over to him. "Look... I'm sorry... I didn't mean t-"

"Just kidding!" He then began laughing and doing cartwheels around Marco as he held his face down, pinching between his closed eyes before whispering, "why do I even bother"

"Better hurry or you'll be late, " he said cartwheels turning into flips until he resumed flying laughing about being a bird all the way to the restaurant. Upon their arrival, they met a stunningly dressed Jackie who quickly addressed them with, "where have you been? They're about to give our reservation to another couple."

"Couple?"

"Yes, this place is very old fashioned and won't let girls in without a date."

"Date?" the greater then cut in, "and I assume this sorry excuse for a proper man is your chaperone?"

"What?" They both said in unison "you're obviously not married and as you said this is an old fashioned restaurant you need someone to supervise you kids to make sure few if any indecent actions happen"

"So that means that...*still in unison they turn to Joy*"

"Yay! Tea party!" They were escorted to a table with a window overlooking the water hazard in a near by golf course, The closest thing they could get to something romantic. They'd have all ordered if not for Joy reminding them that one person had to order for the table. When the waiter came to speak to them Joy practically jumped out of his seat and said, "I'll have one of everything from the desserts except for the fruit cake, and anything containing mangoes or peaches as per my allergies." No going back now Joy had ordered and now he had to order for the table. "A well done Angus steak for Marco with a baked potato"

"Good choice" the waiter chimed in, "and for the lady, the lobster she's heard so much about with a side of Bouillabaisse soup"

"Excellent choice. I trust you'll be sharing your desserts."

"No. My cake. My pie." The waiter glared daggers at him until he flashed a bar of solid gold for all to see and quickly returned it to its place in his pocket. "Right away then sir" Marco quickly looked at him and said, "ok two questions first how did you get that much money?"

"Don't act so surprised you knew I was rich."

"..."

"..."

"Second question how did you know what we wanted if we just glanced at the menus? We never said what we think looks good?"

"You thought it. I read your mind"

*another intense stare*

"Just kidding" he quickly opened a black box they hadn't notice and pulled out a small square of sealed paper clearly entitled "British breakfast tea" and passed the box to the other two. Jackie quickly picked a "green tea" leaving Marco to decide as the others already filled their cups and added sugar. By the time Marco finally decided on a "vanilla chai tea" the desserts had arrived and Joy began to drool.

The waiter quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth for him. A fake smile plastered on his face. Jackie saw the desire in his eyes but also the restraint, as if he were waiting for permission. "You wanna start without us?"

"Could I? I think it's rude to start eating before everyone else has something. Just because I like having fun at the expense of others doesn't mean I'm down right cruel. Certainly not mean enough to eat while the rest of the table watches." He gazed memorised at the second round of pies and pastries filling little stands and trays making the table look like a little girl's ideal tea party. "Yeah dude, if you don't start clearing space we may not have room for our plates."

"I guess it's only fair..." he swiftly yet cleanly began eating all of the sweets he'd asked for, starting with biscuits and moving on to the cake. Never before had someone stuffed their face quite so elegantly as did the small blue man when he finished all the cookies they had to offer in five minutes, without getting a crum on his suit, I might add. By the time the other plates had arrived the couple was stuck in a state of morbid fascination.

How long had he been eating this quickly? And how did his clothes remain clean after the jelly filled doughnuts? By the time he got to his pies he stopped and said, "um... your... your food's getting cold." The two snapped out of their trance and the three looked down at the same time accidentally butting heads and gently rubbing themselves before breaking I into laughter. Soon enough Joy joined in and they were asked to leave for disturbing the peace.

Joy paid for the meal thanked them for the sweets and tipped in gold leaving the restaurant wondering what was wrong with him. The three ended up taking their food to go and found a nearby park to have a picnic where they watched Joy prank countless innocent passers-by and laugh at the occasional shout. The date went well until Jackie leaned on Marco and he froze. She proceeded to mess with his nervousness. Joy's comments not helping finally Marco embraced the chaos and lied down taking Jackie with him.

Though she landed on top of Marco he refused to be nervous. Joy eating his last pie as he watched the events unfold. "We should do this again sometime." He said with all the confidence he could muster. "Yeah... we definitely should." They closed their eyes and went in for a kiss only to notice that they weren't kissing lips. When they opened their eyes they saw Joy's smiling face. He burst into laughter rolling away as Marco chased him shouting, "I'll teach you to ruin the moment I lived my whole life to reach!" Followed by Jackie giggling to herself.

Afterword: I tried turning the story on its head how'd you like it? Oh, and if it helps I was listening to the Deadpool OST while I was writing this. Starting with "Calendar Girl" and ending with "Careless Whisper"... cause lag.