Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. Sorry for not uploading last week. I honestly took a bit of a break after so much writing and figuring stuff out and I knew I needed it. But I'm back! This chapter is a little long because it's two stories in one. It can probably be read in two parts. It focuses on a parallel that involves Justin Morgan and being in the car with his grandparents, Charlie and Johanna. Needless to say, as the title suggests, there's bickering going on! That kind of thing takes place in the second half also, with his boyfriend, Sammy, and with Jordan's cousin, Eli. I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
Justin (First Half): 21
James: 42
Charlie and Johanna: 70
Justin: (Second Half): 25
Katie: 19
Eli: 34
Sammy: 32
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
As the lavender haired male continued leaning into where his son was sitting in the back of the vehicle and gave his shoulder an extra squeeze, he also gave me a look too. That look affirmed to me that he was glad that I was there for the ride also. James let out a wan exhalation of breath but showed off a smile even so, his other hand reaching to lightly pat Justin's chest while the first was still lingering on where the car seat belt would soon reside.
"Well… You have fun tonight, yeah? And maybe call me beforehand if you need picking up any later? Call me for anything. Anything at all." The lavender haired told the deep purple haired male. The younger male responded by smiling genuinely and nodding his head. Following this, James' smile stopped being so polite and changed to gentle, nodding his own head as he added. "Have fun though. That's the most important thing."
The deep purple haired male continued smiling nodding and in fact, I watched as it switched to a bit of a grin. That grin was more prominent and easy going when, after he patted his dad's hand briefly before he pulled away from him, he then reached to put his son's seatbelt on for him.
I for one thought it was rather fatherly and caring and really quite nice actually. However, the two people who were in the front of the car had a very different reaction. It was already rare enough for the both of them to be out and about together at night, let alone in the driver seat and the passenger seat! Johanna and Charlie Morgan were usually being chauffeured around.
Yet this time, they were the ones on taxi duty. And while the both of them watched from the rear view mirror as James said goodbye to his son before he was taken off by the two of them, one of them merely just raised their eyebrows while the other one openly scoffed. The plum hair coloured of the two very clearly scoffed and opened her mouth, not bothering to refrain from saying what she thought.
"Really? Really, James, we're not driving him all the way to Timbuktu!" she told her own son and as soon as the lavender haired father heard his name coming out of his mother's lips, his head snapped in the direction of where it was coming from. In addition to this, his head snapped and he listened. Needless to say, more came as expected and with an additional eyebrow raise like her husband was silently showing off. "Honestly. Fuss, fuss, fuss! There's no need to fuss over him like that. We certainly didn't raise you in that way."
From sitting next to Justin's seat in the back of one of Charlie and Johanna's many estate cars and with my own seatbelt over my chest, I could feel that same male holding his breath. He didn't look at his dad. He didn't look at his dad as he continued looking in the direction of his own mother. But he could sense that oncoming niggle of tension – as could I.
But thankfully, the lavender haired male didn't really react much at all other than staring for a few moments and then shaking his head, resuming looking at his eldest son instead. James checked that both of our seatbelts were over our chests. And then he murmured.
"It's not fussing. It's called being a parent. It's called being a dad." The only son of Charlie and Johanna responded to them and the dark lavender haired male's eyebrows had since fallen to their usual place on his face. He was pretending to look at his watch instead. Johanna continued looking rather unimpressed in the rear view mirror and it was most likely due to being spoken back to! That was something that she could never get her own son not to do, even as an adult. James ignored all reactions and comments apart from this and resumed – like he said – being a parent. He smiled a soft smile just for Justin. "Love you."
And with that, the lavender haired male pressed a light kiss to the top of Justin's shorter locks and then he finally pulled away for good. The eldest Morgan son only had time to mumble the words "you too" back in response to his parent's sincere words because Charlie airily (yet still impatiently) turned the vehicle key while it was in the ignition.
The lavender haired male was unable to resist rolling his eyes openly at this very plain and telling action from his father and Justin reacted with another grin from taking over his face. He glanced in a fashion that was almost a silent language between him and his dad. However, he still made a point of speaking back to him, not letting anybody hurry them up. Not even his own grandfather.
The deep purple haired male and I watched (and no doubt did Johanna and Charlie watch from the rear view mirror) as James stood on the driveway of his family home and with his arms beginning to fold over his chest for warmth.
He continued smiling at his son and even more so when he was asked of his own plans for the evening. He unfolded one of his arms from his chest to run a hand through his hair and then his eyes twinkled back.
"Oh, it's going to be some Jorgie and Johnny time for me for sure. I'll soak it up. They'll soon be as big as you." The lavender haired spoke to Justin and in response, the deep purple haired male let out fond chuckles as his dad didn't pass up the chance to be a little sentimental. He then occupied both of his hands fully with giving me a tickle. Meanwhile, James decided to poke his head in the car one more time and address his parents this time. "Thank you for doing this tonight for my boy. I appreciate it."
I was the one that rolled my eyes when both Johanna and Charlie were in sync there and then with the way that they both looked at each other in exaggerated disbelief, as if they didn't believe that their son was actually talking to them!
However, before they could react any further or Justin could catch on as I had and begin to frown himself, the dark lavender haired male turned around from being in the driver's seat to talk to his son as he leaned back out again.
Charlie waved a hand and let out some mumbling sort of noises as if at first he didn't know what to say. He finally found his voice and his tongue formed words, his fingers still waggling.
"Well… Not at all." He responded a little limply for him and I believed that the plum hair coloured woman was disappointed with this flat answer from her husband. She folded one leg over the other in the passenger seat and begun to play with a hem on her smart trousers in a bored fashion. Charlie then continued in his more animated style. "We really must be going though! Because you won't be thanking us for making him late."
The lavender haired male tilted his head on one side once more and allowed his arms to linger over his chest since they had fallen there once more. But soon enough, he nodded his head. Justin pressed his lips together in a polite close mouthed smile. And after not much time at all, James finally slammed his son's door shut for him for good.
The vehicle containing Justin, Johanna and I was driven off the drive of the Morgan Mansion by Charlie. We were off! And I had a little bit of a feeling that it was going to be a car ride that I was never going to forget. But first and foremost, I felt grateful to be along for the ride. The lavender haired male had seemingly always trusted me with watching over his children when it came to his parents.
And even though a good few of his children were most definitely adults at that point, like he said himself in so many words – you never stopped being a parent. You never stopped caring. No doubt did both Johanna and Charlie care about Justin very much for leaping at the request of driving him into town for the evening. But both of them went about is in equally unusual ways.
There and then and in that moment was one of them. As the deep purple haired male scooted around in his seat for a couple of moments before reaching into his back pocket for his mobile phone, while Charlie continued driving his vintage vehicle down the roads, Johanna addressed Justin and spoke to him through the rear view mirror.
He didn't realise that she was speaking to him at first but I half wondered if it was an act – an act of taking the mickey out of his grandparent's prior exaggerated actions.
"So why are we taking you here exactly tonight, Justin? Are you attending a soiree of some sort?" the plum hair coloured woman gestured and the deep purple haired male stopped his potential act of not looking up and glanced back at his grandmother just in time to catch her look him up and down from the front seat. She was obviously coming to conclusion that he wasn't, based on his more informal clothes.
Justin raised a silent eyebrow at the intense watchful eye of the older woman but responded to her nevertheless, pushing his new, shorter locks from his eyes. He gave her a polite enough smile. I could almost see Charlie's ears pricking up and listening too with curiosity (nosiness) while he drove.
"No, no, not exactly. A mate of mine is performing at the pub and I'm joining him! I reckon it's going to be loads of fun." The deep purple haired male replied and he leaned further back in his seat, his mobile phone in his right hand and his left one resting on the top of my head.
Together, we both could have sworn that we saw Johanna almost wincing somewhere along his sentences. But I believe that we both couldn't tell which word was displeasing the Southern woman so.
Nevertheless, before it could become clear to us at all, Charlie stopped very obviously listening in to the conversation and invited himself to join it.
He leaned so far forward in his own seat that he almost crashed his chest against the steering wheel! His somewhat beady dark green orbs flickered in between the road ahead and the rear view mirror, questioning his grandson also.
"A pub? You're performing in a pub? Good golly gosh, man, you've just embarked on your very own world tour! Why on earth would you go back to performing there?" Charlie interrogated and he couldn't hide the displeasure in his voice or from being decorated on his face either.
While Johanna nodded in agreement and raised another perfectly arched brow, I couldn't stop myself from looking up at the deep purple haired male. In response, I could feel the eldest Morgan son glancing at me very briefly but he didn't make much a point of it.
In fact, he didn't make much of a point to responding to his grandparents either. I understood that he felt a little deflated at this judgement from his grandfather in particular, usually accustomed to the fact that he was often openly proud of him.
Nevertheless, after a light furrowing of his brow and a small exhalation of his breath with his phone still lingering in his hand, he recovered composedly and quickly and replied to the both of them. But looked at Charlie most of all.
And as he searched for his eyes in the rear view mirror, he showed off a polite smile that was filled with finality even so. All he did was utter his previous words once more.
"It's going to be loads of fun." Justin affirmed and with that, he finally made a very obvious point and he allowed his mouth to drop from amiably smiling and he dropped his eyes also. He dropped his eyes to his phone and began typing on the screen, unlocking it.
Surprising me, his grandparents actually caught on to his demeanour but didn't scold him about it either. Not that Charlie really was the type to do that. But Johanna didn't do it either.
Instead, the plum haired and the dark lavender haired couple continued sitting in the front seats together while Charlie drove. The car was driven for a few moments in silence and as the minutes passed, Justin's hand slid further and further off my head. But I didn't mind. I knew that it wasn't done in the same manner as how he wordlessly told his father's parents how he felt about their judgement!
I wondered if the two of them in the fronts seats were thinking about it also but then again, I highly doubted it. Even so, after I observed Charlie driving a little while longer and I caught on to the way that Johanna had been silently shuffling in her seat – in between inspecting her own manicured nails.
I knew that I wasn't mistaken when I even caught her giving the deep purple haired male flickering eye motions from the rear view mirror while he continued scrolling on his phone. After a few more moments of driving and silence and the only sounds being the hum of the engine and the sounds from the radio also, Johanna cleared her throat as delicately as she could.
And then she spoke to Justin all over again. Instead of speaking to him in the rear view mirror, she actually turned around in her seat to face him.
"Tell us more about what's going on in your life, Justin. Gosh, it's been ages." Johanna chose her words carefully towards her eldest grandson and in response; he looked up straight away when it was clear that she was talking to him and only him. Admirably, he managed to keep his face rather composed at her making a scathing point. I believed that even Charlie pouted his mouth in disapproval, his own light dimple appearing. This didn't stop Johanna. Johanna continued, a glint in her eye that was trying to be friendly. "How is your… boyfriend? Is he still…?"
And that was the moment that Justin couldn't remain composed any longer.
Now, he wasn't the type to very explosively and undeniably lose it. But from the left of him and sitting in my own seat, I could visibly see and I could clearly feel the way that something within him change.
He began to feel a little hot and rightfully so. While holding his phone in his hand and no longer touching me, he tilted his head, a glint appearing in his own narrowed eyes. But his glint wasn't trying to be friendly. It was the sarcastic disbelief that his grandmother had actually gone there!
Justin showed off a smile. But it was a trying-not-to-be-irritated smile.
"Still a boy?" the deep purple haired finished for his grandmother the words that she was obviously insinuating and he let out a laugh that was no longer trying to suppress his disbelief. He was chuckling openly at the sheer audacity of it all. He continued speaking to Johanna faultlessly and in a very level voice. "Yeah, yeah he is and that's not changing any time soon. But he's fine. He's great. We're great. I really appreciate you taking an interest."
I couldn't stop myself from pulling a face when one of Justin's words was enunciated so heavily that the sarcasm was pretty much oozing from it. However, in between shuffling closer to Justin to show him support, I observed the way that not long at all after this interaction – and not long at all after Johanna looked at Charlie for support against Justin's rudeness – the dark purple haired male shook his head openly and continued looking disapproving.
And as Charlie looked disapproving, I soon enough realised that it wasn't down to any of the other drivers on the road. It was towards his wife. That became all the more obvious to me and eventually Justin too after he let out a sigh and went back to his phone. His dark lavender haired grandfather uttered to Johanna.
"Really! What kind of question is that? Will you leave the lad alone?" Charlie scoffed in exasperation and I tried to focus on being present instead of observing how he may have thought that his grandson was too good for certain gigs but drew a line at criticising his personal preference for partners. In fact, I almost found myself smirking at how unwilling James' father was to let this go! "Honestly, Johanna. 'Is he still a boy?' What exactly is your motive in asking that? Sometimes I do wonder, you know."
The deep purple haired male blinked his eyes so much that his eyelashes fluttered in between trying to focus on his phone screen once again. Justin blinked in surprise at being defended so heavily yet gracefully, and I could sense him soften, leaning back in his seat all over again.
The plum haired woman leaned back in her own seat and she actually remained quiet for a couple of moments! She looked horror struck even so, like she couldn't believe that she was being told off and by her husband no less. So when she finally spoke, she spoke and she muttered in quite a stubborn fashion. As well as this, she usually would have deemed her tone to be unladylike.
"I wasn't even going to say that…" she insisted and she decided to take another few moments of silence to run her fingers through her hair with those perfectly manicured nails of hers. She didn't speak once again until Charlie had driven them to some traffic lights and he was stalling with both of his hands on the steering wheel. Then when she decided to speak up all over again, she stopped slumping against her chair and arched her back. Her eyes darted to the rear view mirror all other. "But don't act like he hasn't had company with young ladies in the past. How is that no longer girlfriend of yours anyway? It's been ages also."
And upon hearing this, Justin couldn't keep as collected as he had done when coming up against other questions! The deep purple haired male's nose streaked with a blush and his ears that had been revealed by his new, shorter locks became a brilliant crimson colour.
I bit my lip and was surprised when Charlie didn't react quite so much at this and I decided that it was due to him not wanting to disagree with his wife a second time. He didn't want to push his luck too far.
While Johanna waited for a response to a question that she believed was perfectly valid, Justin's face continued reddening and it screwed up also. He almost dropped his phone as his fingers stiffened. Eventually he came out with a response. He came out with a response that was hurried yet telling. The eldest Morgan son refused to comment and made this known by saying exactly that.
To his surprise and my surprise also and possibly Charlie's too, Johanna compliantly replied.
"Fair enough." She spoke breezily and we all should have realised that that wasn't the end of that. As if it wasn't mortifying enough for Justin to hear that question and feel the gazes in the rear view mirror, his grandmother decided to turn around in her chair and face him all over as she continued. Johanna continued with another glint in her eye. That time it was out of having superior information, she believed. "Did you recall that I know her parents, Justin? I see them about quite a lot, in fact. I don't know them closely. I just know them. They're very nice, you know. Nice family. Successful. Good morals. Clean."
I could almost feel the groan that Justin was inwardly omitting from the side of me. Though he had stopped rubbing his eye and reached for his mobile phone all over, his face was still screwed up and it was red. My own eyes darted to Charlie and I was disappointed how he hadn't changed the subject. He was silently staring very hard at the traffic lights, waiting for them to change colour. But maybe that was telling in itself! Perhaps he secretly wanted the car journey to be over as quickly as Justin.
My attention flipped back to the deep purple haired male when he finally responded to his grandmother, letting out a weary sigh but shooting her a polite smile all the same. Anyone could tell that that was the last straw for him. His next words only proved this.
"Really? Well, that is fascinating." He burbled hurriedly and flatly but for some reason, Johanna hummed in agreement and turned back around to face the road. With a quick glance in my direction and pushing his clammy locks out of the front of his face, Justin exhaled all over again and addressed both of his grandparents that time. "If you don't mind though, I really need to concentrate on my phone now. Admin stuff. Please talk amongst yourselves though."
The deep purple haired male breezed his way through these words and after he stopped pushing his hair from his eyes and caught my gaze for a longer time that time, we both shared the disbelief and irritation and hilarity of it all.
Justin's eyes twitched as they threatened to roll in a very telling way. But thankfully, both of his grandparents caught on to the meaning of his words and actually respected them enough.
In fact, the dark lavender haired male that was Charlie nodded his head rather approvingly. And because the traffic light had finally switched from amber to green all over again, he was able to continue driving in his vehicle.
James' father spoke to Justin as he put his foot down, both hands still clutching the steering wheel.
"Yes. Yes, quite. Always working hard, aren't you?" Charlie simpered and the eldest Morgan son looked up from his phone briefly and smiled but he soon enough looked down again in case his grandfather forgot all about that being the end of their conversations.
But nevertheless, he did not. In quite the compliant way, after complimenting his eldest grandson, he focused on driving and putting his foot down a great deal. He was perhaps rewarding Justin's go-getting attitude by trying to get him to his special gig a little early.
Silence fell on the car all over again apart from the humming of the engine and the noises coming out of the radio. I even began to relax a few minutes after. Pressed up between the side of the deep purple haired male and his guitar cases, I began to feel quite calm.
The tension from before had subsided since Justin had asked for a bit of silence. In spite of the fact that Charlie was driving in the car quite speedily, I felt that things were going to go a lot smoother.
Evidently, other people in the car had other opinions. Evidently, other people in the car felt as though this wasn't the case at all. And because they thought such things, they had to voice their opinion!
Needless to say, this person was Johanna and with a light whack against Charlie's shoulder to reprimand him which caused Justin's eyes to widen, the plum haired woman scoffed.
"Oh, Charlie! Will you stop living out your boy racer fantasies? Really? That ship sailed when we were in university so it has definitely sailed now!" Johanna rolled her eyes at her husband and she leaned further forward in her seat, privately clutching her belly.
It became clear that Charlie's quick driving was beginning to make her feel nauseous but to tell you the truth, he was still driving below the speed limit! And the car ran in a naturally smooth way thank goodness.
While the deep purple haired male couldn't help but smirk slightly in between replying to emails on his phone – and I figured that this was down to gladness that someone else was on the receiving end of Johanna's blunt tongue – Charlie gave his wife quite the comical double take. Then soon enough after this, he pouted his bottom lip out, his moustache quivering as he simpered.
"Oh but pookie, I'm a reckless fellow at heart! Don't dampen my desires now. After all, it was my quick movements that sealed the deal between you and I." the dark lavender haired male puckered all the more as he uttered his words but there and then it was for a different reason.
And needless to say, it caused Justin's smirk to quickly fade and his nose to upturn as well. In addition to this, he also moved his bottom to scrabble in his other pocket to find his headphones and shove them in his ears! He felt that he didn't want to hear any of that sort of thing, though I believed that Charlie's comments were innocent enough.
Despite having my own nose crinkle along with Justin just in case, I couldn't help but watch and listen even so as Johanna blankly blinked and then retorted to her husband in a way that filled my belly with amusement. She had to be one of the most self-sufficient and best acting people that I had come across.
"The only thing that is being dampened is your memory, my darling. Someone else won my affections when we were in university together. Do you recall?" Johanna responded coolly and effortlessly all the same, heavily contrasting the whack that she laid out on Charlie's shoulder previously, she then reached out and very lightly poked him on the cheek.
However, the dark lavender haired male was still not impressed! It was clear to me that he wasn't going to enjoy the rest of their conversation either so probably should have quickly changed the subject. But of course he didn't do that.
Charlie being Charlie, he wanted to continue it and he wanted to be able to somehow bend it to his liking.
He turned his head to briefly plant a peck to Johanna's hand before she pulled her finger away from his cheek completely and in between driving even quicker along the road and causing Justin and I to share glances while his headphones remained fixed in his ear, he turned to look at her as much as he could. He simpered some more. His eyebrows quivered.
"That cannot be the case my love. We are each other's one and onlys. Do you recall? The dances? The romance?" the dark lavender haired male's eyelashes began to flutter with hope along with his moustache quivering at the sheer desperation that Johanna would soon go on to agree with him!
Even if it was just to make him happy, he wanted to hear the words. He wanted them to be on the same page. I felt as though Justin was missing out on quite a lot of things when Charlie comically but unintentionally continued glancing between the road and his wife as he waited for an answer.
I could have sworn for a split second then that Johanna was going to give her husband what he wanted. No doubt was she a fiercely independent woman who usually wouldn't have dreamed of such a thing but there was something in their baffling relationship – whether it was loyalty or the years on their side or something else entirely – that made her give in to him.
Nevertheless, before her own eyelashes could soften even the tiniest fraction or they could flutter, Charlie's glances in between the road and her didn't serve him well at all. As he was speeding down the road and trying to get their grandson to his gig on time, a fallen clump of tree lying in the road on that early spring Kanto evening seemingly came out of nowhere!
Along with an independent and a self-sufficient mind, Johanna also had a clear one. She reacted to the tree almost as soon as she saw it and after letting out a gasp while Charlie was thinking about leaning in to her rather than concentrating on the road, she managed to take hold of the steering wheel and serve the car out of the way!
The deep purple haired male's eyes widened even more and gasped quietly in reaction to the swerve while because I had been witnessing it all, my heart was in my throat! Johanna's seemed to be as well and she let out a weary yelp and a pant after she had managed to save the day and get Charlie on the right coarse as well as slowing down the speed of his vehicle.
But out of pure childish annoyance and wanting to be Johanna's one and only hero in their little fantasy as well as reality, his eyes widened – in a very dissimilar way to his grandson – and then he pouted once again, his moustache quivering all over again. As well as this, his eyebrows knotted together and danced on his face. He huffed.
"Really?! You could have ended everything for us there, Johanna! I may be fast moving but you have never known when to mind your own business!" the dark lavender haired male sneered and Justin very outwardly groaned upon hearing this past his headphones and he didn't care who else heard it. In between recovering from the very near crash, I bit my cheeks to hide my amusement but I did feel very sorry for him.
One person who wasn't felt sorry for was of course Charlie who didn't respond to his wife with a single ounce of gratitude. The more and more time that I spent with them both (which was very rare) made it so very obvious to me why James found Johanna and Charlie to be completely impossible.
The plum hair coloured woman fixed those locks of hers with her fingers and breathed out and then she narrowed her eyes at her husband. She stuck her nose in the air. Without missing a beat, Johanna spoke to Charlie and she looked at him with all the disbelief and disdain in the world. I knew that they had these kind of bickerings a million times before. But it was a far cry from anything that I had ever seen.
"Oh, Charlie!" Johanna exclaimed with impatience towards her husband and then she looked right at him while he refused to look at her, finally focusing on the road and the road alone. I tried not to notice how white his knuckles had become on the steering wheel. James' mother scoffed with disgust. "The only thing that I'm close to ending is our marriage!"
When a gasp sounded all throughout the car, at first I wasn't sure if it escaped from Charlie's mouth or my own. Turning briefly to look at Justin in between watching the scene in front as though it was a tennis match, I knew that it didn't come from him!
Despite the fact that I was certain that he had heard every word, he tried to ignore them for his headphones. But he still had a bit of a twitching frown that was taking over his forehead. This was no way to get him in the mood for a performance with one of his friends.
When I looked back the deep lavender haired male and his wife and it became clear that the gasp had come from him – or he just so happened to be letting out one there and then which I presumed was a second one. The moustachioed male forced his own eyes to narrow after looking at Johanna just once and his knuckles became all the whiter on the steering wheel of his vintage vehicle. He stuck his nose in the air and scoffed. His voice trembled. I couldn't tell if it was defiance or an oncoming tantrum.
"See if I care! It would be your loss, not mine. You won't find another Casanova like me anywhere!" the dark lavender haired male insisted and this was probably the last interaction that the deep purple haired male wanted to hear between his grandparents and this was only proven to me to be correct from the way that Justin's eyebrows were continuing to twitch – his eyelids too.
I didn't know whether I was impressed or I was appalled by the way that Johanna could so quickly and seemingly so coldly come out with more words towards her husband. After letting out a brief mock laugh in response to his own words, she finally had come more words for him.
"Casanova? Casanova? That's rich! The only thing that you could pull is that blessed moustache of yours!" Johanna retorted and with a glint in her eye and the glory that they had come to yet another set of traffic lights so Charlie could look right at her washed over her. Her upper lip twitched and then she formed a smirk. She intended on continuing. "And even that thing wishes you'd zip your lip at least once! Besides-"
But a sound interrupted. A sound interrupted and erupted. It wasn't a very loud sound but it was such an obvious and mundane sound that it made everything else go silent.
At last – at very long last – Justin had grown sick of his grandparents bickering. And because of this, he had been forced to yank his headphones out of his ears. He had been forced up unclip his seatbelt from being over his chest. That was the noise that got everybody's attention, including the people in the front of the car.
Both Johanna and Charlie stopped bickering long enough for them to turn around to the back of the car and see Justin reaching for his guitar cases and attempting to scramble out of the car as it had come to a halt. He barely looked at them as he spoke. He gave them an awkward half wave. And that was that!
"Thanks a lot but I'll be walking from here on out. Thanks a lot. This was… Yeah." The eldest Morgan son purposely widened his eyes to convey everything and then he made a clicking noise with the side of his mouth. While both Charlie and Johanna blinked and didn't know whether to look at each other or not, the deep purple haired male let himself out of the car and I knew that I was to go with him. So I did exactly that. When we were both on the other side of the vehicle and had guitar case in hand, Justin uttered just one more thing. That time it was said with an eye roll rather than a widen. He stuck just his head back into the vehicle. "Jeez! I cannot be doing with any of this."
And with that, the deep purple haired slammed the car door with a very final noise and he streaked across the road with his guitar case then on his back and me following behind him. Justin was off and he was off to make his own kind of noise. And it was absolutely not the kind of one that his grandparent's had chosen to engage in right in front of him!
And it's funny really because that car ride and that adventure and that lesson on how not to end up was on my mind on one day a good few years on from that occasion. I managed to forget it when everything was actually going on but looking back, it makes me laugh!
For some reason, Justin seemed to be destined to be caught between a bickering pair. So I will crack on with that other story also.
The deep violet haired male didn't know where to look as Katie unbuckled her seatbelt on the driveway and from sitting next to him in the back of the car; she leaned forward into the front of the vehicle. But he took it in his stride. Eli took it in his stride and he merely shook his head and laughed to himself, trying to focus on giving me a very nice ear rub as I sat upon his lap.
Other laughs could be heard in the car and one of them was from the deep purple haired male who was in the front passenger seat. As the orange haired female craned towards him and tried to lean past him, in between his laugher erupting, he was trying to bat her hand away! Justin giggled. He was not doing a great job in dissuading her.
"Katie, stop! Katie, no! C'mon. You aren't being fair. You know it's Eli's choice this time." He tried to lightly push the eldest Ketchum daughter away and distract her from what he was doing but he was continuously not doing a great job at all. It was mostly because he was occupied with sharing a look with the deep violet haired male in the back of the car and playfully rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
The more that Justin tried to stop her, the more that it became a game! She had only been messing around to begin with – she had been messing around with Eli. But because the deep purple haired male had been the one to more thoroughly react, it became a game of trying to wrap him around her little finger.
She laughed along with the two other boys in the car and her face screwed up. She almost couldn't get words out in between her amusement. But she eventually managed to, balancing one hand on the compartment between the two seats and the other engaging in a finger war with the other male.
"Pleeeeeeease! Please. I know you'll give in. I'll just play one song. I'll just play one song and I promise we'll all like it." The orange haired female tried to playfully bargain and insist and when she caught my eye in the rear view mirror in between receiving a fabulous chin tickle from Eli, her amusement sparkled all the more.
As well as this, I could feel the deep violet haired male underneath me buckle and move and I believe that he was preparing to say that it was okay what Katie was doing. Eli was going to end up the one who inadvertently was persuaded and fell for the charms of the younger female.
However, before he could say anything or he could grin any further or he (thankfully) could move me off his lap in order to properly join in with the other two's antics, the deep purple haired male grabbed hold of Katie's hand in quite the firm grip for his skinny self and he even pretended to bite the end of it. But then he just gently held it, poking the end of her nose instead.
Justin gave her a firm look. But it was the kind of firm look that could be weakened within a second.
"No, Katie, stop it. Stop peer pressuring me." The deep purple haired male tried to continue his firm look by tilting his head and looking at her. Nevertheless, when she tilted her head back at him and she just looked at him with her eyes, he relented even though she had hardly done anything. He gave her hands back to her and made sure that she didn't lose balance. He then laughed some more and scrabbled for his own seatbelt when he looked in the side mirrors. Even though he relented, he unintentionally chose a tactic that would go on to work. "Quick, Sammy's coming! If we keep this up in front of him then he will never drive us anywhere."
There and then, Katie and I shared an extremely brief look in the rear view mirror. In other words – Sammy was coming and he would without hesitation side with the orange haired female and therefore Justin would lose.
It was the eldest Ketchum daughter's turn to shake her head fondly but even she backed down also. She couldn't deny herself that there was a possibility that their gang wouldn't end up at their destination at all thanks to their typical antics. So after that very brief look with me and a smile too, she seated herself back next to Eli and she shared a smile with him as well.
The deep purple haired male was leaning back in his seat and putting his seatbelt on after switching the song to a Katie specific one anyway when the dark brown haired male strode out of the house with everything that he needed and his hands in his pockets.
Justin tried to straighten out his smile for when he came along but he simply couldn't. They had only been left alone for a couple of minutes after his boyfriend had forgotten something and had to go back in to the house. But even so, everyone was ruffled and flushed and smirking! They couldn't be left alone for long at all by getting into mischief.
The deep purple haired male was trying to act casually by leaning his elbow against the side of the window and placing his index finger over his front lip and Eli was caringly fixing Katie's seatbelt for her when the door to the driver's seat opened and Sammy climbed inside. He didn't need to look at his boyfriend for barely one second.
"You must think I'm stupid. I could hear the two of you from inside the house!" the Alolan male told the deep purple haired male and straight away, Katie giggled from the back of the car and I did too. Justin merely widened his eyes with utter innocence. The two male's engaged in a peck on the lips to which Sammy then smirked after in response to his previously right observations. Then, in the process of turning around to click his seatbelt into the holder, he intended to address Katie. "He is such a bad liar. I swear I-"
And it was in the moment that Justin's expression quickly changed from baring his teeth into an innocent smile in preparation and it dawned on me whose lap that I was sitting on – and Katie stopped giggling and tried to supress them by pressing her lips together – that Sammy hadn't anticipated an extra passenger.
I was still taken aback by the way that the Alolan male didn't even bother to hide or change the words that then came tumbling out of his mouth!
"What is he doing here?" he questioned and he questioned to Justin most definitely even though he wasn't looking at him. And then after the orange haired female had a similarly innocent teeth baring smile to the deep purple haired male and I did too, Sammy breathed out and added some words. He added some words to make it seem like he was at least trying to be nice. "I thought that it was just-"
"It is just us. It is just me, you and Katie going to the cinema. Pikachu too. But Eli needs a lift to the museum across the street from there. I couldn't just leave him! Jordan already did. He cycled off without him. You know what he's like." The deep purple haired male rambled to his boyfriend but truthfully and he proved this when after Sammy hesitantly (and with an attitude) turned to face the younger male all over, he lightly reached his hand to rub his shoulder. Justin didn't tilt his head. He didn't want to come off false. "It will be just us, I promise!"
From continuing to sit on the lap from Eli and glancing at the scene that was unfolding between the two boyfriends, I could feel the deep violet haired male buckling underneath me all over again. I knew that he was potentially going to interrupt and say something – and knowing him, it would be something involving a joke about crashing their cinema trip after all!
Fortunately, Katie Ketchum had as much of a keen intuition as me and she caught on to this also. Caringly and sincerely as well even though she was trying to prevent something from happening, she absentmindedly smoothed down Eli's own seat belt.
In response, he smiled at her and allowed me to hop onto her lap instead. In the meantime, Sammy let out a sigh and gave the deep violet haired male in the back sceptical glances but he knew that it wouldn't be right to be too unreasonable.
Following this, a lengthy pause was the only sound until his head nodded just once. And very subtly.
"Fine. I'll be a taxi driver for us all today. We best get a jiggle on." Sammy responded in a tone of voice that was halfway between normal and a mutter and out of relief, Justin reached across and helped his boyfriend with his seatbelt also. And because the deep purple haired male was making an effort to be outwardly grateful, the Alolan male even made a point of looking in the rear view mirror and giving Eli wave. It was a stiff wave but a wave nonetheless. "Hello Eli."
Katie's eyes flicked to the right where Eli was sitting and I knew that Justin didn't like to look so he occupied himself with his nearing shoulder length locks. Surprisingly, the deep violet haired male responded anyway.
"Hello Sammy." The Unovan male responded pleasantly but with an extra level of lowness to his already deep voice and then following that – and following a bit of a mischievous twinkle creeping over his sunken eyes – he couldn't stop himself from reaching his hands to the back of the seat in front of him which just so happened to be the driver's seat. He managed not to smirk. "Are you sure you don't want me up front with you instead of your boyfriend? You and I always have such a blast."
After this and in response to what came next, Katie's own eyes were forced to look down at her lap just like Justin's were.
Sammy – like Eli – missed a single beat and then responded.
"No thank you." He uttered straight forwardly but still not impolitely and after checking his seatbelt as if his boyfriend couldn't be trusted to do a good enough job, he stuck his keys in the ignition and glanced in the rear view mirror to make sure the gate was open for them. Then Sammy found himself adding. "We really need to get going. I'll get us there in no time."
Nevertheless, before the Alolan male could turn the key in the ignition and we could all indeed get going, the deep violet haired male shuffled forward in his seat for the first time and opened his mouth all over again. Katie's hand absentmindedly went to his knee, out of habit wondering what else he was going to say!
Eli gave her a bit of a gentle glance to inform her that he wasn't messing around and the deep purple haired male's ears pricked up at the Unovan male addressed his boyfriend. He stopped him before he could begin driving the car by jiggling his seat from behind slightly.
"We must have music first before we can even think of setting off. And these two themselves decided that I'm the one who gets to pick." The deep violet haired male informed Sammy and his head tilted just a fraction but he didn't smile. Even he didn't want to come across as too condescending.
Even so, the Alolan male's eyelashes fluttered like his eyes were threatening to roll and then they properly did roll just once when he sensed Eli's thumbs gesturing, one to Katie right next to him and one to Justin in the seat in front of him but to the left.
The dark brown haired male missed a single beat again but in spite of the fact that he turned the key in the ignition and allowed the vehicle to hum away and he sighed, he looked in the rear view mirror and nodded to the Unovan male.
"Okay. Okay, you pick, Eli. What kind of crap do you want this time?" Sammy decided to get Eli back for his sarcastic comments and he glanced over to Justin to get a reaction from his boyfriend that he suspected would be the younger male joining in. He hoped that he liked to tease Jordan's cousin as much as he did. However, Justin merely only gave him a look and swivelled his ring innocently around on his finger.
It was Katie's turn not to know where to look and supress her giggles all over again as well as her glances left and right, wanting to watch every moment of the boy's interactions. Eli unclipped his seatbelt all over and poked his head in through where Justin and Sammy were in the front seats; inviting himself to tap on the screen and select the music he wanted.
It was when he got the artists name up that he finally responded to Sammy's question and he sucked the air in through his teeth, making a mock disapproving noise.
"There is no need to talk about Justin like that." The deep violet haired male responded in a very solemn sort of voice and after he could visibly see the way that Justin scrunched his face up and blushed at his name being on the screen of his boyfriend's car and Sammy exhaled through his nostrils, Eli decided that he had teased him enough. The Unovan male gave Sammy a shoulder pat and took his seat all over again but only after he had uttered one more thing and held his hands up in a gentlemanly fashion. "You even can play songs that he wrote about you, if you want. I won't protest."
And while I sucked in my own cheeks at the expression on Justin's face that was like he minded very much what music had been chosen, Eli settled himself for good and he gave Katie a playful expression that was so very innocent that I didn't know how anyone could stay mad at him!
The Unovan male's sunken eyes twinkled and his teeth showed as he grinned. He strapped himself in with the belt all over and I decided to climb between the two of them in the back so I could be close to the both of them.
It was true that Sammy very much deadpanned at Eli's last words to him but he didn't react to him apart from that. He decided to settle on a song and be done with it. He made sure the volume was adequate. He put his hands on the steering wheel. He checked the rear view mirror, intending on reversing off the drive.
Justin breathed out. The deep purple haired male breathed out as he believed that the two other male's in the car were done bickering for good! He relaxed and he perked up and he did this so much in fact that he even turned around in his seat and spoke to Katie.
He rested his cheek against the back of the chair and addressed her and only her. Though no doubt his eyes wander to wander to Eli too at some points.
"So will I understand this film that we're seeing alright, lovely? Do I quickly need to read the book first?" he gently humoured her and he continued lulling against the material of his seat while his boyfriend closed the music tab and typed in the location to follow instead.
I could sense Eli's eyes switching between the both of them and they continued darting after Katie's own face softened with amusement and she reached to poke Justin on the dimple. She shook her head fondly but rolled her eyes at him too.
"No." she told him with a smirk and then she stopped rolling her eyes to look back at her best friend while he grinned in a charming manner at her. Her hand casually went to the top of my head and Eli finally got bored with watching and decided to look out of the rear window. "You've seen this movie probably a hundred times, Justin! It's just the director's cut."
I was the one to shake my head fondly while the two of them scrunched their noses up in almost a secret language between the two of them and the deep purple haired male uttered the words "ah, okay". Then he turned to face forward in his seat all over but he reached his hand behind him to give Katie's hand a squeeze.
There and then, like Sammy, I was glad that Eli was occupied with staring out of the rear window otherwise he would have definitely been tempted to grab it for himself to tease the Alolan male!
However, that gladness didn't last very long when the deep violet haired male turned around all over. But it wasn't out of my possible predication coming true, no. it was something else entirely.
You see, the Alolan male had stopped making sure he had his bearings right and was ready to actually reverse off the drive for good when Eli decided to pipe up to him something he had noticed when he had been staring out the window.
His hands returning to the back to Sammy's chair much to his dislike, he spoke calmly. He tried to advise him.
"There is no way that you're getting through that gate now, dude. The wind has very nearly blown it shut." Eli informed Sammy with continuous hands on the back of his chair and almost straight away, both Justin and Katie turned to peek also. The Alolan male looked in the rear view mirror. I took their word for it.
I could feel the deep purple haired male and the orange haired female giving each other glances of anticipation while Sammy didn't seem fazed at all. It was true that he was surveying the situation and it was true that the wind had indeed blown the gate of the household further shut. Regardless, the Alolan male eventually shrugged and he carelessly brushed his own long locks from his face.
"It's fine. I know what I'm doing." Sammy shrugged a second time and his hands went to 9 and 5 position on the steering wheel. I could very nearly sense Justin and Katie's lips quirking and their eyebrows moving up in the hope that he wasn't simply being stubborn.
There was a good chance that the dark brown haired male did know what he was doing. But nevertheless, someone expressed disagreement with this. And of course that someone was Eli.
"Are you sure about that?" the Unovan male responded without hesitation and it was Justin's turn to suck in his cheeks. But his was a reaction of trying not to interfere with something that was surely not going to go down well. Eli received the look that Sammy gave him in the rear view mirror. But because it was just a silent and a wordless look, the deep violet haired male gathered that he probably should be a little more tolerant. He sighed and tried again, leaning further in his seat and his seatbelt straining against him. "Do you want me to get out and push it open again?"
"I want you to get out and not get back in again." Sammy retaliated unfalteringly and that was the moment that Katie couldn't stop herself from letting out a snort, only a fraction disbelieved that it was quickly beginning to get so heated! And out of disbelief that she had reacted in that way, Justin slipped his hand away from holding hers. He was beginning to wish that his car seat would open up and eat him alive. Because Eli's eyes widened with confusion and innocence and his head tilted also, the Alolan male turned around in his seat to face him. His teeth were very much gritted. "I'm doing you a favour, man! And ever since you've got in my car you've just criticised me!"
I began to catch on to the fact that Eli's innocent and wide sunken orbs were not an act when he turned to look at Katie also but because the orange haired female was too busy trying not to smirk, she wasn't much help to him at all.
The Unovan male's innocent and round orbs switched to narrowing lightly at the accusations and his eyebrows began to dance on his face. As well as this, he bit on his bottom lip before sucking on it. And then he came out with it. He came out with words that were asking for trouble.
"Oh, just turn the other cheek, Sammy." Eli responded in a calm enough voice and he leaned back in his chair all over again and folded his arms all over his chest. Glancing at Eli and then to Katie and to Justin too – and then Sammy of course last of all – I got the feeling that surely that couldn't aggravate the Alolan male too much.
And I was correct. However, I didn't account for the fact that Eli would go on to do more things. It was true that he was an easy-going and non-confrontational man who was just happy to be a part of anything!
But it was plain to see that he and Justin's boyfriend had a bit of a rivalry going on. They could bicker like no other. They could piss each other off like no other.
And there and then, Eli very much pissed Sammy off by scrunching his eyes up just a little which – from Sammy's point of view – was an utter mock of him.
The Alolan male almost growled as he continued gritting his teeth! He gave Eli that same look right back to him while facing him. And then he retorted with words also.
"'Turn the other cheek'? Are you serious? You're the one with all the cheek. I swear I'm going to point you to the exit of this car and you better use it!" Sammy very nearly bellowed and at this point, Katie was beyond suppressing her giggles and her face was entirely screwed up and with squeaking noises erupting from her!
But greatly contrasting this, the deep purple haired male very nearly had his eyes shut and was curling up in his seat while the other two male's in the car were very much engaging with one and other.
From my point of view I could tell that the deep violet haired male hadn't really been listening to much of what he perceived as empty threats from the Alolan male at all. And because of this, as Sammy reached out and pointed a finger to indeed direct him to the nearest exit, Eli took this as a bit of a more intense threat!
Without thinking too much into it, his usually non-confrontational self, swiped the side of his finger against the dark brown haired male's one in a sworded motion. Then what occurred next was like looking at two mirror images.
Sammy just stared back at Eli in response. Eli in turn stared back at him. Justin wasn't looking at either of them. Katie seemed as though she was going to explode with amusement. I didn't know where to look. My eyes were darting back and forth like I was watching a tennis match!
It was anyone's guess who was going to react next and do the thing that was going to continue it all. I should have known that it was going to be Eli.
For some reason when he saw the whites of Sammy's eyes and his gaping mouth with was the opposite of his oncoming smirk, there was some part of him that from behind his eyes, he lit up. Whether it was because he couldn't believe that he could annoy someone so or something else entirely!
But either way, there was something in him that glinted the longer that he stared Justin's boyfriend down and despite the fact Sammy was the one to originally be pointing at anything at all, Eli began properly swiping his finger against the other male's in a very sword-like and duelling way!
The Alolan male inhaled a long and sharp breath and he wished that was all that he had time to do. Seeing as a fight had commenced, he couldn't help but engage in it. Soon enough, the two of them were swiping at each other with their fingers in a very childish but amusing way.
It was anyone's guess who was going to finally relent first. And in the same way, it was anyone's guess who was going to go on to say more things to wind the other up.
But there and then and in that moment, there was a sound that happened that put a stop to everything.
And just like it had been the last time that Justin had been in a car and in the middle of two bickering people, it was a seatbelt all over again. The deep purple haired male had stopped curling up. Justin stopped curling up and he had had enough!
With a flushed face from all of the antics but a bit of surprising amusement in his eye that it had actually come to this, he had clicked his seatbelt off of him and he had scrabbled to open the door.
As if by magic, there and then, Sammy and Eli were united. They were united by their reaction of their egoistical and their clashing and their glinting and their irritated expressions fading away and an innocence taking over instead. Their elongated fingers paused in mid-air but still were brushing against each other. Innocence took over as their heads turned to where Justin had climbed out of the vehicle for good!
Shakily but certainly, he shook his head. He gestured with his hands. He was done. He was utterly done.
"Jeez! I cannot be doing with any of this!" Justin exclaimed in an exasperated sort of way and then after his hands gestured to the both of the two male's, his hands moved to his hips. While Eli and Sammy just blinked and stared and before either of them could switch their digits to point the blame on one and other, the deep purple haired male pressed his lips together in disapproval, his dimple appearing, before he poked his head in the car for one person and one person only. Needless to say, that person was Katie. "We'll be walking from here on out, yeah, lovely?"
And needless to say, despite the fact that Katie had found it all very amusing to say the least, she didn't hesitate to scrabble and join her best friend Justin when he addressed her and she climbed out of the car also, nodding her head.
But she didn't exit the car immediately. She didn't exit the car until I had hopped onto her shoulder and she had patted the shoulders of both Sammy and Eli while they stared. She pressed her lips together in a similar way to the deep purple haired male, her own dimple appearing.
"Yeah. We can't be doing with any of this. And I think you two are the ones who are meant to be a married couple!" Katie exclaimed and with that, she didn't look back from hopping out of her side of the car and taking hold of Justin's hand when it was reached out to her and walking down the drive with him – away from Sammy and Eli!
However, I did indeed look back and as I looked back, I was filled with more amusement than ever before. Once again, those two guys were united by their reactions. They were united in their reactions of staring at one and other with widened eyes before they looked very disgusted indeed, as if the orange haired female had never been more wrong in her life!
Then, they folded their arms over their chests. That was as far as I remember. I headed off and I joined Justin and Katie, very much leaving those two stubborn boys behind.
And I guess that's just how some people are, isn't it? Whether they do it out of love or companionship or friendship or out of genuine disdain! Some people can't help themselves. But I couldn't help but feel like just like how it was for Johanna and Charlie – Eli and Sammy did it out of the complete opposite of dislike.
After all, why would someone bother putting that much effort into going back and forth with someone they didn't care about in the slightest? That was the thing about everyone in our group. We were all united.
Sometimes we were all united by absolute impatience for one and other! But most importantly, we were united by each other. We were united by what made every single person themselves.
And I knew that Sammy and Eli could at least agree that without their dynamics with the deep purple haired male, Justin wouldn't have ended up the person that they both loved. And the same went for Charlie and Johanna also. They both bickered in front of their grandson because it was just how they were and deep down they could always depend on one and other.
But maybe one day like Johanna and Charlie, Sammy and Eli would also admit that their dynamic with each other was an important one too. But there would be a long journey ahead before that time came. In fact, I'm still waiting!
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 So yeah, a lot to read but a lot of similarities there. Yes, poor Justin seems to be always caught in the middle of that kind of thing. And him being caught in the middle between Sammy and Eli will be an ongoing theme in his life - as well as something that I'll probably tackle a few times. I really enjoy how much of a parallel it is to Ash and James also! Their situations are more similar than first meets the eye. And that's one of the reasons that this chapter is coming first before the next lot over the next while. But that will become clear. It'll come clearer next week.
As for the first half of the chapter - that takes place before James and Charlie have a stronger relationship. The passing of Josie helps with that. Justin has a good one with Charlie anyway, but he doesn't see Johanna all that much. But more on all of that another time. Thanks again for reading and I will be back tomorrow with an update of To You Both, so see you then!
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :)