Hey you guys! I feel like such a hypocrite! I promised to update faster and I got much worse. :(

Thank you to all that reviewed… I'm so glad that you guys think that this story is cute!

Here's another update for y'all. :)

Disclaimer: LoTF was published in the early 50's. I'm pretty sure I wasn't alive then… So I don't own anything.

Song: Bulletproof Love (By: Pierce the Veil)

Veronica narrowed her eyes.

"Ten bucks says I can!"

"Yeah. Good luck with that." Jack snorted. There's no way he was going to lose this.

"Prepare to cry." Veronica smirked.

Exactly three hours before this, Jack had no idea that he was going to do later. He thought that he was, for once, going to have a normal day with his friends. His elbow and nose had finally healed, and the bruises on his face had just about faded. He was finally through with all of the torture that came with having his arm in a sling, thank God. But, since Jack Merridew is Jack Merridew and Jack Merridew always found himself in some kind of unusual situations, he should have realized that a normal day isn't quite possible.

Jack was minding his own business, trying to do his summer reading (Ralph had been bragging about he had already started his) when he had heard screaming come from under his bed. Jack jumped and screamed, throwing his book in the air. Why was there someone in his room!? He remembered with a sigh that the screaming was his phone. Roger was calling him. He could tell because Roger had set his ringtone to something about a Bride a few weeks back. He couldn't remember what it was called exactly, but since Jack didn't quite know how to change it back, he'd been having the shit scared out of him for the last two weeks.

"Roger, Jesus fucking Christ. You need to switch your ringtone back."

"You're just a pussy." Jack could hear that Roger was eating something. He heard crunching on the other end of the line.

"Roger?"

"What?"

"…Why'd you call me?"

"Oh. Right. Me and Veronica are hanging out later. You wanna come?"

"Sure! Should we invite The Happy Couple?"

There was a pause.

"Would we be able to stand it?"

The phase 'The happy couple' had gotten a little bit more sarcastic recently. You see, Ralph and Simon had been fighting. Well, Ralph and Simon's version of fighting. They would disagree about something that no one else surely gave a shit about, and they would argue about it over the course of a few days. Then they would make up, and then sooner or later they would find something else. Jack, as much as he hated himself for it, saw a glimmer of hope in this situation. It really wasn't his fault that Ralph was so damn charismatic. And nice. And funny. And…

Snap out of it Jack. He shook his head.

"I think so. They're in the middle of one of their fights again, so no more sappy stuff."

"Great." Jack was glad. Ralph and Simon's fights were both promising and hilarious. "Wait, what's it about this time?"

"Not sure, Simon said I 'wouldn't understand'," Roger said in an uncanny imitation of Simon's annoyingly angelic voice. Jack cackled.

"Invite them! I wanna know what it's about."

"Be at my place at five."

"Mmmkay."

Jack hung up and put his phone on vibrate only. He didn't feel like getting scared twice in one day.

When Jack arrived at Roger's house later, Veronica was already there, sitting on the sofa in his basement. Roger was sitting on the floor. They were blasting screamo music and looking at something online.

"Hey guys!" Jack attempted to yell above the music. Veronica, thankfully, heard him, and she turned around.

"Hey Jack!"

Jack smiled and jumped over the arm of the couch, landing on a cushion.

"What're you watching?" He asked.

"TV." Roger answered. He paused the show that he was previously watching and picked up his phone.

"They're coming soon." He said. Jack could've sworn that Roger sounded terrified, but he might've been mistaken.

"C'mon , Roj, they're not that bad," Veronica said.

"Roj?" Jack laughed. "Roger, you hate nicknames."

Roger coughed awkwardly. "Jack, what are you talking about?"

Jack narrowed his eyes. "You hate it when we call you anything but Roger."

"I don't really mind, Jack." Roger raised his eyebrows.

"Oh."

Veronica's face crumpled.

"Oh, you do hate it, don't you!?"

"It's terrible," Roger muttered.

"You told me you liked it!"

Roger laughed. It was short and sarcastic, like Roger himself. Afterwards there was a long period of awkward silence. Jack wished more than anything that Ralph and Simon would walk in.

And, as if they were waiting on cue (Which Jack wouldn't put past Simon for a second) the happy couple entered stage right.

"Ralph, we've been over this already. If I'm asleep, don't wake me up!"

"I didn't know that you would've hurt me!"

"You know that I'm violent if provoked!"

Roger snickered. Jack shuddered. The little noirette had had this fight with Jack a few years ago. Jack really wasn't at fault for the incident, if anyone thought enough about it. He kind of had to wake him up. After all, their choir concert was going to start in half an hour and Simon wasn't even dressed yet. Simon's mother had asked Jack if he could 'Be a dear and wake up Simon'. Jack was nice about it, too. He was just shaken his shoulder and said 'Simon, you have to wake up now!' He tried again a few seconds later, and Simon had woken up screaming, and he had hit Jack in the face. Later on, the shorter boy would've claimed that it was an accident, but Jack knew that he did it on purpose, no matter how much Simon denied it.

It seemed like Ralph had accidentally fallen into the same trap. He sat down next to Jack on the couch, holding his jaw and slowly opening and closing it to make sure that it was alright.

"What'd you do?"

"I tried to wake him up."

"You didn't remember the broken nose of '08, did you Ralph?"

"No, I didn't." Ralph laughed lightly. "I guess I should have."

That afternoon consisted of everyone finding weird videos on YouTube for everyone to see, watching the newest season of How I Met You Mother on Netflix, and Roger and Veronica trying to convince everyone that screamo music was good. Apparently it took a lot of talent to be able to cream well. Jack, Ralph, and Simon all agreed to disagree at the end of the whole thing, especially after Veronica asked them to try singing the songs themselves. Simon absolutely refused, but Jack and Ralph agreed to try.

"I bet I can do it better than you." Jack challenged. Veronica smiled.

Veronica narrowed her eyes.

"Ten bucks says I can!"

"Yeah. Good luck with that." Jack snorted. There's no way he was going to lose this.

"Prepare to cry." Veronica smirked.

And that's how Veronica, Jack, and Ralph all got into a screaming competition. By the time it was over, Veronica didn't lie, the three of them had raw throats and tears in their eyes. Jack tried to speak but couldn't. Ralph didn't even want to try. They sat down on the sofa with regret and horror in their eyes.

"That was terrible." Veronica squeaked. Jack and Ralph nodded.

"Veronica totally won." Simon muttered. Jack, unable to protest because his voice was still gone, reached into his pocket and forked over ten dollars.

"That whole competition reminded me," Jack said a few minutes later. He sounded like he had sand in his throat. "Roger, you need to fix my ringtone."

"Fine, fine. Hand it here." Roger held out his hand and Jack dropped the phone in it. Roger and Veronika picked out a ringtone (although it took an awfully long time, which gave Jack cause to worry).

"No screamo?" Jack asked.

"None." Veronica said. "Scout's honor."

"You're not a girl scout, are you?" Jack asked, skeptical.

"Of course not."

Ralph and Simon figured that two fights in a week was enough and somehow managed to make up somewhere between when Roger showed them Black Veil Brides and when Veronica started to play Pierce the Veil. Everyone was incredibly relieved, since they all didn't think that they could handle it if they were mad for too long. After all, they had jumped from one argument (which they still wouldn't explain to anyone) to another without even apologizing. It was truly exhausting.

"If there's one thing we can definitely agree on," Simon said, eating some popcorn. "It's that you two are adorable together." He giggled and everyone nodded. Veronica beamed at them.

"Really?" She asked. No one had really commented that Roger had somehow found the one person that he could be around without being miserable. It seemed like a miracle. Ever since they had met, Roger had been- not nicer, his sarcasm was engraved into his DNA- but happier, something that would have taken the powers of God, Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy combined. And even then it was a little sketchy. Veronica somehow made it happen by herself. On those premises alone, Jack, Ralph, Samneric, and Simon were all pretty sure she was magic.

"Of course!" Simon smiled. His teeth gleamed. Everyone nodded again in agreement. Veronica looked like she was about ready to explode from pure joy. Jack found himself smiling at her facial expression.

There was a soft thud that came from outside.

"Did you guys hear that?" Simon asked.

"No..." Everyone else shook their heads. Big mistake. Whenever Simon said that he heard something, the little creep had heard something. It was some kind of power the kid had.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Sure enough, someone was knocking on the door to Roger's basement.

"Is it the twins?" Ralph asked.

"No, I didn't invite them…" Roger thought for a moment. His eyes widened in confusion and- quite possibly- fear.
"Hello?" He asked.

"Roger!" It was Roger's mother.

"Yes mum?" Roger asked, trying to make his voice sweet. The attempt crashed and burned. It sounded like Roger was twelve years old again and was experiencing voice cracks.

"Do you have people over? You know that you're grounded!"

Roger pointed to the door to his garage. Everyone, jaws dropped, made their way over.

"Roger!?" Jack hissed. "Why didn't you tell us you were grounded?"

Roger waved him off, opening the back door.

"Of course not, mum. I'm just watching some TV."

"Do I need to come down there?" She asked.

Jack, Ralph, Simon, and Veronica didn't hear anything after that, because Roger had already shoved them out the back door and had locked it.

Later that night, Jack found himself once gain trying to finish his goddamned summer reading homework. He had just gotten to the part in 'Wuthering Heights' where Catherine falls ill when he started hearing the beginning to a song come out of his pocket.

I breathe you in with smoke in the backyard lights,
We used to laugh until we choked into the wasted nights.
It was the best time of my life, but now I sleep alone,

Jack glared at his phone.

"Fuck you Roger, fuck you." He answered it.

"Hello?" A scratchy voice came from the other end. It was Ralph.

"Hey!" Jack answered. His voice didn't sound too bad, did it?

"Jack, is something wrong? You've seemed, I dunno, a little off lately."

Jack grimaced. He wished that he could tell Ralph exactly how he felt. Yes, I'm terrible. I feel so guilty. I think I love you. When I see you and Simon fighting, it gives me hope, and that makes me feel even worse.

"I'm just a little worried about you and Simon, is all."

"Jack, that can't be it."

"Jack?"

"Jack, is this about me?"

"Ummm..." Jack wanted to hang up. He wished he had never picked up the phone to begin with.

"Oh no, Jack. Is it really?"

"Yeah, yeah it is, and I'm sorry. Can you just not talk to Simon about it? I think he feels bad enough as is."

"Of course!" Ralph said. Of course. Back to his normal, loyal, positive mood.

"Thanks." Jack hung up.

Did you like it? Despite all of my screamo references, I really am not a fan. I do like 'Bulletproof Love' a whole lot though… (And 'Set the World on Fire' by BVB. But really, who can resist Andy Six's sexy voice?)

Comment, Review? :)