The Wildcard

The Sea Artist walked along the shore. It was a foggy morning, and from a distance they might've looked like a normal person. In one hand they held a compass, watching the needle as it moved ever so slightly with each step. Every now and then, they would stop, write something in a note book they carried in their other hand, and continued walking.

They made their way off the beach and onto the side walk. They started heading North as they scanned the area, looking for any signs that might indicate their current location.

Charlie and the Sea Artist began their walk to the seaside town. " What's your name anyway? My name is Charlie." He figured they'd be together for a little while so he might as well ask for their name.

"Can't... remember."

"Oh, I think were about to that town." The man pointed to a bunch of shops, restaurants, and booths in the distance. It looked like there was a ton to do. " Were you wanting to explore around here? I'm sure there's some cool shops we can take cool knickknacks from." Charlie dug his hands in his pockets. Unfortunately, he didn't have money on him but when does he ever? That wouldn't stop him from having fun.

“ I know! I don’t know how-” BANG! Charlie flinched at the noise coming from outside. He did not want to die in Dennis’ body. Well, he probably wouldn’t care if it weren’t for the question deep in his brain. Could Dennis even die? “OH, shit! I knew this would happen one day.” Charlie dashed towards the back as the door flung open.

Dee glanced up and continued to paint her nails. “ Have fun in hell boners.” She closed her eyes and held her arms open. Only to be disappointed when they found out the ‘attacker’ was just Frank.

“ You son of a bitch, Dennis! Where’s Chawl-,” He stopped when he saw Charlie (Dennis), “Oh, there you are. I thought that monster killed you and was after me.” He motioned towards Dennis (Charlie). “ It wouldn’t have been the first time that bitch tried to kill me in my sleep.”

“ Frank, I’m Charlie!” Charlie walked back over to the group and tried to explain, “ me and Dennis must’ve switched bodies. I don’t know, it might have been wizards or goblins, or wizard goblins.” He figured it had to be a curse of some kind. He couldn’t pin a certain event or anything he said that would’ve triggered something like this.

“Guys, can you stop? I’m really not in the mood for your bullshit this morning.” Dee blew on her nails to dry them off. This was just so childish to her. Like, were they genuinely trying to fool them? “ You two are such babies.” She had a point though. It would be impossible to convince any person that two people had switched bodies. She grabbed a few beers from the fridge and placed them on the bar.

Frank nodded his head as he agreed with Dee. “ Yeah, we have shit to do anyway.” Frank shrugged off the situation. In reality, he wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t off character for them to pull something dumb like this. Well, maybe a little strange for Dennis, but Dennis was a little strange. “ Chawlie, there are a few pipes in the basement that are busted and need to be duck taped. I also saw a few rats down there so you need to take care of them too.” He pointed to Charlie (Dennis), and motioned for him to go downstairs.

Charlie got the widest smile on his face when he realized the shit Dennis would have to go through. He would have to do all of his 'Charlie Work’ and basically live the day, or weeks, or months in his shoes. Dennis was his best friend but he could be a dick to him at times. Dennis obviously thought he’s better than Charlie. So maybe this was a blessing in disguise for him. Dennis could get a taste of his own medicine while Charlie banged chicks all day.

This was going to be fun.

Dennis jumps at the sound of gunshots outside, only to be relieved when it’s just Frank walking into the bar. He furrows his brows as Frank approaches him, not exactly liking how he was being referred to. If he were in his own body at that moment, the look on his face would portray utter offense to his words but with Charlie’s face, he can only look like a puppy dog who’s just been kicked.

“Monster?” Was that really how his ex father figure referred to him? Folding his arms over his chest, he glares at Frank, rolling his eyes at the comment about an attempted murder on his part. “Oh please, it only happened twice and I was a kid! All I did was hug his face with a pillow! I just wanted to see how long it would take for him to stop breathing is all.” He says in his defense as if his past actions were any sort of reasonable.

“Yes!” Dennis quickly agrees with Charlie, his expression shifting into a more frantic one. “He’s Charlie! You all heard that, right? I’m Dennis! We’re not messing with you guys.” The man tries, almost sounding as though he was pleading for them to believe him only for it to seemingly fall on deaf ears. God, this was so frustrating he could slap Mac and Dee both in the teeth– and he would when he got back into his own body! Somehow…

Things go from bad to worse when Frank informs ‘Charlie’ of his daily duties and his jaw drops at the mere thought of doing Charlie work.

“No– no, no, no… me? Do Charlie work?” He scoffs in disbelief and then scoffs again, feeling utterly betrayed. He really was living out one of his worst nightmares. Dennis glances around frantically, feeling trapped. He wanted to get as far away from the bar as possible and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt as desperate as he had in that moment. Desperate enough to grab Mac by the arms and shake him around, staring into his eyes with the ferocity that could only burn through his gaze as if that would somehow convince Mac. Before he had been sure his own flesh and blood would believe him only to be sorely mistaken but Mac…Mac HAD to believe him. Maybe he just hadn’t tried hard enough before to convince him. He needed someone to believe him.

“Mac! Mac. Listen to me.” He starts, digging his nails into the other man’s arms. “It’s me– it’s Dennis. You have to believe me. A-Ask me anything!” He looks from Mac and to the others around the room, utter seriousness on his face. “I-I can prove it!”

Mac cringes at Charlie’s desperate attempts to get them to believe him; they were really taking this prank to another level, weren’t they? Why in the world would Charlie be so intent on convincing him that he was Dennis? What could he possibly gain from it? And for some reason, there’s a little voice in the back of his mind that’s considering if it’s actually the case. 

“Dennis.” Mac starts and Dennis feels a glimmer of hope rise in his chest for a brief moment only for it to crash and burn when Mac turns his head to look back at Charlie, in his body. “Can you tell Charlie to cool it already? We already know it’s a prank.” He rolls his eyes but honestly he just wants to change the subject because he may be a little freaked out at the thought of a Freaky Friday incident occurring and between Dennis and Charlie of all people. Why couldn’t HE switch bodies with Dennis? Mac wonders to himself. Surely, if a body switching incident had occurred, he and Dennis would be the ones swapping bodies or so he tells himself. Regardless, he chooses to stick by Dennis (Charlie’s) side, hoping it’s not the case.

Charlie (Dennis) looks absolutely mortified as his last hope makes his way over to that… imposter Dennis. “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” He says aloud, feeling utterly hopeless now. If Mac didn’t believe him then no one would. How in the world was he going to live with himself knowing Charlie got to experience a date with the large breasted weather woman instead of him? Even worse– in his body!

Frank walked to the back office to do some " Manager work." Charlie knew that meant Artimis snuck in sometime earlier and now they're fucking. And Dee had her smartphone leaning against a cup while she watched some Netflix show on it. They really did nothing they were supposed to in the bar. They didn't fix anything or do anything productive. But that was whatever at that point. Charlie was just happy he got to relax and not kill rats all day.

" Show me the trick you were wanting to show me." Charlie sat down and cracked open the beer. He immediately downed it, it burned a little worse than when he was in his own body. Thankfully, all his friends were alcoholics, so he didn't have to worry about subjecting Dennis' body to tons of it. However, he was a bit more hungry than usual. He figured Dennis was trying to lose weight previous to their switch. Actually, he was starving. " I'm kinda dying right now. Do you wanna go grab food or something?"

The Sea Artist walked along the shore. It was a foggy morning, and from a distance they might've looked like a normal person. In one hand they held a compass, watching the needle as it moved ever so slightly with each step. Every now and then, they would stop, write something in a note book they carried in their other hand, and continued walking.

They made their way off the beach and onto the side walk. They started heading North as they scanned the area, looking for any signs that might indicate their current location.

Charlie and the Sea Artist began their walk to the seaside town. " What's your name anyway? My name is Charlie." He figured they'd be together for a little while so he might as well ask for their name.

The Sea Artist walked along the shore. It was a foggy morning, and from a distance they might've looked like a normal person. In one hand they held a compass, watching the needle as it moved ever so slightly with each step. Every now and then, they would stop, write something in a note book they carried in their other hand, and continued walking.

He glanced around to see what direction he should go in. It was hard to tell considering the layer of fog blocking his view. However, he did manage to spot a person in the distance. " Hey!" He shouted to the unknown figure in the distance. He waved his arms around even though the person had obviously already spotted him. " I'm lost!"

"Oh! A map?" He scanned it for a few seconds. Charlie sighed with relief. The good thing about maps is that they don't have too many words, which was a plus for Charlie. He understood that the spot where the person pointed was the location they were at. " Okay, so we are here?" He nodded as he tried to interpret where he should go. " Uh, I'm from Philly. Are we near there? You look like someone who would live in Philly." Charlie quickly caught himself and tried to clarify. " I mean, uh, that's not a bad thing. I uh-" He stopped talking before he said anything else. This person was perfect to get him back to Philadelphia and he didn't want to screw it up.

Unfortunately, the maps they had only showed the shore line and surrounding waters. They only ever charted the sea, but that didn't mean they couldn't find their way on land.

"I think North." He said unsure, "I never leave Philly so I normally don't have to worry about this. " Charlie could count the number of times he left Philly on one hand. Every time he left, something bad would happen.

Charlie walked into the bar more confused than ever. The universe pulled a 'Freaky Friday' and he and Dennis switched bodies. If he had a nickel for every time this had happened Charlie would have two nickels. Which isn't much much but it's weird that it's happened twice. " What the hell? Why am I you?" It was so weird seeing himself in front of him. Was he really that short?

" I woke up with Frank holding a gun up to my head saying 'Where's Chawlie, where's chawlie.' And I told him I was Charlie and then he thought I was- or you were trying to kill him. I got the fuck out of there obviously. But- oh! I also got that news lady's phone number on the way here." Charlie pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket that had her phone number on it. He examined the paper and slipped it back into his pocket.

" So, how are we going to get back into our own bodies?"

Well, it was tomorrow and the couch was still sitting in the goddamn living room blocking the kitchen entrance. He could physically feel his blood boiling as he bites back the urge to scream Mac’s name in order to wake him up. Something he knew he hated. A different idea comes to mind however and feels as though it’s a fair punishment for giving them bedbugs (or so he still assumes; he hadn’t actually seen any nor had he checked).

Dennis fills a bucket with ice cold water and makes his way into Mac’s room, throwing the water over the sleeping man and giving him a look as if upon seeing it he would know exactly what he did. Mac gasps in shock as he’s drenched in freezing water and jolts up in his bed immediately, looking around with confused wide eyes and breathing frantically. He was cold and wet and his first thought upon processing the fact that he’s awake is that Dennis is pissed about something. Upon getting a look at the perpetrator however, he would find that it was Charlie, wearing a very intense scowl.

“What... the HELL, Charlie???” Mac finally says, looking down at himself and his now soaked bed. He looks back up at the other man as if expecting an explanation. Dennis’ expression shifts into one of confusion; Mac hadn’t reacted the way he had anticipated at all and he didn’t like that. “Charlie?” Dennis says as if appalled by the very thought of being referred to as their friend. “What, are you still half asleep or something?” He says with a snarl.

“Uh, NO. Actually, Charlie-- I’m wide awake after that ice bath you just gave me.” Mac says with all of the passive aggressiveness that only Bossy Mac could generate. He flings the covers off of himself and quickly gets up, shoving Charlie out of his way as he heads to the bathroom to look for a towel. “Dude, leave. I’m not in the mood for your wildcard bullshit today, okay? Dennis wants me to get that couch out of the living room because he keeps saying it might have bed bugs. Personally, I think it’s bad ass.” He shrugs, finding a towel and beginning to dry himself off with it. 

“Well thanks to you, moron, we already HAVE bedbugs!” Dennis shouts and Mac glances at him nonchalantly, ruffling his own hair with the towel.

“We have bed bugs at the bar?”

“No, idiot, HERE. In the apartment. I woke up feeling like I haven't showered in a week!”

Mac gives his friend a once over and then he gives him a look as if the reason for that was obvious. “Yeah, man. Probably because you haven’t?” He retorts.

Dennis scoffs in disbelief at the way his friend is speaking to him, referring to him as Charlie and talking down to him like he’s a dirt grub. He steps into the bathroom full of rage; how could Mac possibly be so calm about facing his wrath!? There wasn’t so much as an apology leaving the man's lips. He’s just about to voice his thoughts when he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. It causes him to halt immediately and he stares at himself for a long moment as everything clicked. He felt gross and disgusting because he was gross and disgusting. Mac was talking to him like he was Dirt Grub because he was Dirt Grub.

“You alright man?” Mac asks moments before Dennis begins shrieking in sheer horror at his reflection, slapping his hands to his face

In short, he was unable to convince Mac that he was actually Dennis. In fact, Mac was sure Charlie was either hopped up on something different or trying to play a stupid prank on him and he wouldn’t hear any of it. He did find it odd that Dennis had decided to go to work without him though, so he could try to remember to say something about it when they got there. To his surprise, it didn’t look like Dennis had even taken the car and he finds his friends keys hanging by the door, further solidifying how odd this was. 

The look on Mac’s face tells Dennis all he needs to know about what the other man is thinking; he wants to drive his car and he simply couldn’t allow it. Dennis protests and when Mac repeatedly refuses him his keys to his precious Range Rover, he eventually lashes out, throwing a slap at his roomates face. Mac looks shocked at first but responds by lunging at who he still presumes to be Charlie and attempting to choke him. The spat goes on until Dennis eventually has to admit defeat when Mac has him in a headlock, threatening to knock him out if he doesn’t calm down. He would chalk the fact that Mac had overpowered him up to him being in Charlie’s body.

Begrudgingly, Dennis gives up and takes the passengers seat in his own car, feeling as though he’s living out one of his worst nightmares despite it only being 11:30 in the morning. 

Upon walking into the bar, they would find that only Dee was present, painting her fingernails at the bar. Dennis quickly makes his way over to her, desperate to have someone believe him. If anyone would, it would be his own twin sister, right? But before he can say anything, Mac manages a “Where’s Dennis?” just seconds before ‘Dennis’ walks into the bar.

"It was Charlie’s idea to take your car.” The man says quickly, throwing the keys at Charlie so to avoid getting snapped at again. “Also, I got rid of that couch like you asked.” He lies, planning on doing it later. In truth, he would probably forget but Dennis’ validation in the moment would be nice.

“Wait... you’re sleeping in the same bed as Frank now?” Dee asks, scrunching her nose in disgust at the thought of her brother sharing the same bed with a man who used to be their father figure.

Dennis (the one in Charlie’s body) barrels his way over to his actual body, looking himself in the face. Lord, Charlie was short. He was seeing the worst angle of himself and... and were his eyes really that close together? God, he was becoming self conscious all of a sudden. “Charlie? Charlie. We need to fix this. NOW.” He says urgently, planting his hands upon the others shoulders. Though, when the bit about getting Jackie Denardo's number is said, his desperation falters and all of a sudden he looks surprised and then the first smile he’s worn that morning stretches at his lips. “Seriously? The large breasted weather woman? That’s great! Now let’s find out how to turn back so I can finally bang her.” If that wasn’t all the more reason to want to change back, he didn’t know what was.

Dee glanced up and continued to paint her nails. " Have fun in hell boners." She closed her eyes and held her arms open. Only to be disappointed when they found out the 'attacker' was just Frank.

" You son of a bitch, Dennis! Where's Chawl-," He stopped when he saw Charlie (Dennis), "Oh, there you are. I thought that monster killed you and was after me." He motioned towards Dennis (Charlie). " It wouldn't have been the first time that bitch tried to kill me in my sleep."

" Frank, I'm Charlie!" Charlie walked back over to the group and tried to explain, " me and Dennis must've switched bodies. I don't know, it might have been wizards or goblins, or wizard goblins." He figured it had to be a curse of some kind. He couldn't pin a certain event or anything he said that would've triggered something like this.

"Guys, can you stop? I'm really not in the mood for your bullshit this morning." Dee blew on her nails to dry them off. This was just so childish to her. Like, were they genuinely trying to fool them? " You two are such babies." She had a point though. It would be impossible to convince any person that two people had switched bodies. She grabbed a few beers from the fridge and placed them on the bar.

Frank nodded his head as he agreed with Dee. " Yeah, we have shit to do anyway." Frank shrugged off the situation. In reality, he wasn't surprised. It wasn't off character for them to pull something dumb like this. Well, maybe a little strange for Dennis, but Dennis was a little strange. " Chawlie, there are a few pipes in the basement that are busted and need to be duck taped. I also saw a few rats down there so you need to take care of them too." He pointed to Charlie (Dennis), and motioned for him to go downstairs.

Charlie got the widest smile on his face when he realized the shit Dennis would have to go through. He would have to do all of his 'Charlie Work' and basically live the day, or weeks, or months in his shoes. Dennis was his best friend but he could be a dick to him at times. Dennis obviously thought he's better than Charlie. So maybe this was a blessing in disguise for him. Dennis could get a taste of his own medicine while Charlie banged chicks all day.

This was going to be fun.

The Sea Artist walked along the shore. It was a foggy morning, and from a distance they might've looked like a normal person. In one hand they held a compass, watching the needle as it moved ever so slightly with each step. Every now and then, they would stop, write something in a note book they carried in their other hand, and continued walking.

He glanced around to see what direction he should go in. It was hard to tell considering the layer of fog blocking his view. However, he did manage to spot a person in the distance. " Hey!" He shouted to the unknown figure in the distance. He waved his arms around even though the person had obviously already spotted him. " I'm lost!"

"Oh! A map?" He scanned it for a few seconds. Charlie sighed with relief. The good thing about maps is that they don't have too many words, which was a plus for Charlie. He understood that the spot where the person pointed was the location they were at. " Okay, so we are here?" He nodded as he tried to interpret where he should go. " Uh, I'm from Philly. Are we near there? You look like someone who would live in Philly." Charlie quickly caught himself and tried to clarify. " I mean, uh, that's not a bad thing. I uh-" He stopped talking before he said anything else. This person was perfect to get him back to Philadelphia and he didn't want to screw it up.

The Sea Artist walked along the shore. It was a foggy morning, and from a distance they might've looked like a normal person. In one hand they held a compass, watching the needle as it moved ever so slightly with each step. Every now and then, they would stop, write something in a note book they carried in their other hand, and continued walking.

He glanced around to see what direction he should go in. It was hard to tell considering the layer of fog blocking his view. However, he did manage to spot a person in the distance. " Hey!" He shouted to the unknown figure in the distance. He waved his arms around even though the person had obviously already spotted him. " I'm lost!"

Charlie felt completely alone. He knew he had his friends but he felt a pit of emptiness in his heart. The man couldn’t read or write and practically had the mind of a third-grader, but this was one of the first times in his life he genuinely felt stupid. He knew it wasn’t his fault but he couldn’t help but to fell shame and guilt. “I thought it was true love.” His words were shaky. Charlie had never felt this much pain before. He didn’t want to feel this way but it was like a vacuum sucking all feeling from his heart. 

“ I told her I didn’t want her to do anything.” He took his hands from his face and stared at the floor. “I told her to stop. I just froze. I didn’t know what to do Dennis.” He felt numb but felt everything at the same time. It was exhausting. He shook his head as he remembered, “ She actually said yes to a date, and then I showed up at her apartment and she was drunk and-” He choked up and began sobbing again. It was all too fresh in his mind. 

Charlie actually had told Frank that night after he came home, but Frank wouldn’t hear it. He didn’t understand how Charlie didn’t want it. He was in love with this woman and turned down sex? It didn’t make sense to Frank. Which made Charlie feel even worse. Charlie considered Frank his dad. Well, he wanted Frank to be his dad. But hearing that from the man he looked up to most crushed him. 

Dennis couldn’t believe his ears. The Waitress had forced herself on him? Unsurprising, he figures. She didn’t seem to have boundaries when she was drunk nor did he believe she actually had feelings for Charlie, so that led him to believe she was only using him for sex. Still, Dennis is a little perplexed by the fact that Charlie obviously had a problem with it. He had always been obsessed with the woman afterall– for what reason escaped him completely, but it was still odd. 

“Charlie…” The brunette starts but quickly trails off, unsure of what to say.

He himself had been conditioned to believe that men couldn’t be raped or assaulted by women because they were supposed to like it. Frank made that much clear when Dennis admitted to him that he had slept with his middle school librarian at the age of 14. His, then father, had actually praised him for it and he felt proud of himself for a long time. It wasn’t until just recently, after ragging on his sister for accidentally sleeping with a minor, that he realized that maybe it wasn’t quite normal. He had internal struggle with himself as to whether or not he actually enjoyed the experience and had began to feel kind of dirty after realizing he had been taken advantage of by a grown adult as a child. Though he would never ever admit it bothered him; not unless it benefitted him in some way. And because of the fact that it secretly bothered him, he kind of understood how Charlie might have felt and for that reason, he was actually feeling…. some sort of…. sympathy for Charlie? Or was that empathy? 

Did Dennis seriously feel bad for his friend? All he knew was that he didn’t enjoy seeing his friend sobbing pathetically about something out of his control and that, despite disliking The Waitress from the very start, he was now more disgusted with her than he had ever been. Any underlying neutrality in his mind of her person had quickly converted into anger. It was weird position for him to be in to say the least and what made him angrier was the fact that he had no control over the situation and that the damage was already done.

Kneeling at Charlie’s side, all he can really do is awkwardly place a hand on the younger mans back, hoping it could serve as some sort of assurance as he cried. For a moment, he stupidly entertains the idea of giving her a taste of her own medicine but quickly realizes that she would probably enjoy that– and rape is wrong, of course!

The shorter man grabbed Dennis by the arm to help himself get off the floor. Though Dennis did most of the work he did manage to get up and go to a barstool. He thought for a moment at his friend's offer, " I just want a beer..." Charlie decided. Sometimes when you're offered the world you just want what makes sense. Mostly in a situation such as this. He wanted things to be normal. Why did this have to happen? His eyes were glued to the countertop below. He felt a sense of shame and disgust with himself. It replayed over and over in his head.

When Dennis handed him the bottle he didn't hesitate to down the beverage. It calmed his nerves a bit despite already huffing paint and drinking tons of beer previously. " Why does this keep happening. Is it something I'm doing, Dennis?" He finally looked up at the older man. " Maybe I'm just some weak guy they can push around. I mean, even Dee..." He trailed off. Charlie couldn't help but to think about all the other times this had happened. But it noticeably hurts way more when it's someone you actually love. There was no way it was Charlie's fault but there was something inside telling him that it could be. His mind tried to rationalize it, why would something like this happen multiple times to him if it wasn't something he did?

charliereedsgoode​:

Charlie spotted Mercy walk out of the gas-station and his heart began to pound out of his chest. If Mercy found out, Charlie’s ass would be grass. As she entered the car Charlie held his breath. He noticed the look in her eye… she knew something was off. Oh, shit. 

But the car situation quickly slipped his mind when Mercy pulled the cat keychain from his pocket. “Holy shit!” he perked up, his face beamed. “This is the coolest thing ever.” Charlie sat there and admired it. It was now his best friend. A pocket sized pal. 

“Thank you!”  Charlie attached the cat-chain on his jean loop,”now he’ll be with us for the whole trip.” He sat back in the seat and sipped his water.

When Mercy stands firm on her decision, Dennis looks genuinely surprised that he’s unable to successfully convince her to ship his friend back to Philly via semi. Was she really picking Charlie over him? That wasn’t the case at all, of course, but Dennis had the tendency to perceive situations to be a little more dramatic than they actually were. His surprised expression quickly shifts into a neutral one but it’s not hard to decipher, especially to someone who knew him well, that he’s brooding about not getting his way already. 

Her attempts to remedy the situation don’t go unnoticed, though. He finds it absurd that she’s willing to pay for a practical stranger but if she was willing to make it to where Charlie wasn’t going to be following them around 24/7 then Dennis didn’t care as much. He knew she wasn’t hurting on money and that she wouldn’t be spending it if she knew she couldn’t but he still can’t help but mention what a waste it would be. 

“Fine.” He finally lets up, his stare not as intense as it was before. “I’m just saying, you could be spending that money on literally anything else.” He shakes his head, knowing Charlie joining them is a mistake. In fact, if things began to go south quickly, he might just make another attempt to get rid of Charlie himself. But if Mercy wanted to learn the hard way why letting Charlie come along was a bad idea, he’d let her. Just so that she could see that he was right and he could give her a more than satisfying I told you so. There also might be a small part of him that hopes that he’s wrong despite his pessimistic view of these turn of events. This was a trip he had gotten his hopes up for, afterall. He had to appreciate the fact that she hadn’t been the one to decide the trip was over because of Charlie. Things would be going much differently in that case

Feeling a little bit better about their situation now that Mercy had quelled a few of his anxieties about the leech that had tagged along with them, he cracks a smirk at her joke upon getting a glimpse of the cashier– a nerd for certain. Something tells him that he and Mercy are thinking the same thing and as she makes her way over to the counter with that confident swing to her hips, Dennis takes care to get a good look at her backside before turning his attention towards discreetly stuffing his pockets with as much as he could get away with. 

In the midst of them discussing what to do with Charlie, he had totally forgot about the fact that he had to pee so he quickly locates the restroom which as just as disgusting as one would expect to do his business. After washing his hands, because he’s a classy man, he takes to fixing his hair while he still has the chance to see his reflection in a mirror that isn’t the size of his fist. After a good five minutes of fiddling with the same strand of hair that just wouldn’t stay down, he decides that he’s wasted enough time and once he’s outside of the building with Mercy’s car in sight, he pulls out the bag of combos, Charlie’s snack, opens the bag and pops one into his mouth. 

Once to the car, he gets in the passenger seat, turning to look Charlie directly in the eyes as he eats two more of his combos. A power move. The look in his eyes alone were enough to tell that he was out to get under the other man’s skin just as he had done to him and the best way to do that without causing too much trouble, and his personal favorite way, was by being passive aggressive.

“Oh, did you want some?” The question is casual despite the firm look on his face; he’s pretending not to know that the combos were supposed to be Charlie’s. 

mercy puffs out a sigh, just happy that at least some of the tension had eased. they were taking this vacation for a reason, goddammit. they were going to relax. they were going to have a good time. they were going to enjoy themselves. they weren’t going to fight and there wasn’t going to be a single fucking thing that would keep them from having the time of their fucking lives. after hearing a familiar ‘thunk!’ as the tank was completely full, mercy moved to put the nozzle back in its place. it was then that she realized, as she looked down, there was… something on her otherwise immaculate shoes. and given the pristine red, black, and white of her jordans already stood out, the streak of whatever the fuck it was was even more evident.

“what the fuuuuuck,” she groaned as tipped her head back and ran a hand down the length of her face in frustration. she didn’t have the time to see if she could fix it, but it wasn’t like she didn’t have the cash to replace them. but it was the principle of the thing. and how the hell had it happened? when did it happen? she was always so particular, so careful. goddammit. whatever. everything was fine.

with a sigh she moved to make her way back over to the driver’s side door, opened it, and slid in.

and apparently, she’d managed to witness dennis being a bully to his friend in the backseat. it shouldn’t have surprised her, though. she knew the man well enough to know this was probably a regular thing for him. 

she just hoped she wasn’t going to have to play referee for these two for the rest of the fucking trip. again, she sighed, heavier this time, as she reached for her keys, then dug in her pockets looking for something in her most recent spoils that she’d taken from the gas station moments ago. another keychain. though she seemed a little disappointed once she had gotten a better look at it.

“oh. it says ‘i love tennis.’ not… not, uh.”

she cleared her throat and stuffed it back in her pocket.

“whatever. anyway. let’s go. and give the man his combos, dennis. please?”

mercy started the car, and once it was on, there was a very distinct ‘click-click-click’ sound that clearly had not been a problem before. the woman turned to look at charlie in the backseat, eyes narrowed.

“did you touch anything while i was gone? anything at all? and don’t lie to me, because i’ll know if you are.” her tone was icy cold, her voice very quiet. she might have normally been loud, but it was when she went quiet that you really needed to worry.

after she’d specifically asked him not to, he touched something. she just knew it. this car literally meant everything to her, and she wouldn’t stand to have someone fuck with it. but if it were an easy fix… she could probably forgive him. he was dennis’ friend, and if he was important to dennis, then he was important to her, too. and it wasn’t like charlie knew the story behind the nova. how was he supposed to know how special it was?

but after a moment, the car ceased its noise, and it all seemed fine. the air conditioning seemed a bit weaker than usual, but at least it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. and as much as she really wanted to pop the hood and make sure everything was okay she also didn’t want to leave the two of them alone in her car. there were drinks and snacks in here now, and the way they were acting didn’t bode well. if they spilled anything in the middle of her trying to fix whatever it was that was wrong she knew she’d lose her goddamn mind.

“it’s… it’s fine. everything is fine. just promise me you won’t touch anything else.”

mercy didn’t wait for an answer, she merely put her heart-shaped sunglasses back on and put the car in first so she could pull out of the parking lot and get back on the road, back out to the highway. she was silent, and it was evident she was trying to keep an even temper. she seemed to be easing back into a better mood when something–or rather, somebody–smacked into her car on the passenger’s side and cracked the windshield. immediately the woman stomped on the brakes with a scream, eyes wide with terror as the person rolled off the hood of her car and onto the road.

how? how had she not seen that? she was always such a good driver. she was trembling, panicking, and trying to find a way to breathe as she turned to look at dennis, then back at charlie to make sure they were okay. she put the car in park and got out to check the damage.

 Mercy’s annoyed sigh was something he heard far too often, but somehow scared him way more coming from her. He went silent and sifted through the abundance of stolen candy. 

click, click, click

God no. 

Charlie froze when Mercy looked back at him. He couldn’t breathe. He thought he was for sure dead. “ I-uh-I-,”  his Jesus freak friend Mac had always talked about miracles and this was the first time he encountered something like one. Apparently he didn’t cause any real harm to the car and it was fine. He sighed a breath of relief. He really thought he broke her precious car.   

He vowed to himself that he wasn’t going to touch anything else. From that point on, Charlie Kelly would not cause anymore problems. But his behavior was the least of their worries when Mercy did an oopsies and ran someone over. 

He gasped on impact but thankfully no harm was done to any of them. Well, except the person who was dead under Mercy’s car. Just as the tension breaks it just gets worse and worse. He was filled with panic as he could only pin their misfortune on one thing,“ It’s because we’re out of Philly isn’t it. She wouldn’t have ran over someone if we were in Philly-” Charlie hardly left Philly, and every time he did something had to go wrong. He stepped out of the car and began to pace around. 

punk gang

Charlie turned towards Dennis. He looked bad. Like bad. It was obvious he had been huffing various substances and his breath reeked of alcohol. Though the huffing and the drinking are typical hobbies of Charlie’s; he was just off. He slid down the side of the jukebox onto the floor. His head leaned back against the machine. 

His cheeks were stained with tears accompanied with dark circles under his eyes. Charlie was exhausted. He didn’t care at this point. At the same time, he didn’t know what he didn’t care about. Everything? That wasn’t true but this feeling was hard to pinpoint. 

However, his anger spiked greatly from Dennis’ comment about the state of the bar. “ Oh? Does it look rough, Dennis?” Charlie cocked his head to the side and glared at him. “Maybe you should clean up, and maybe you do something for goddamn once.” 

Charlie groggily got up and walked past the taller man. He yanked the glass Dennis was holding and threw it onto the floor. It shattered, which exactly was when Charlie did the same. He walked a few more steps until he physically couldn’t anymore. He fell to his knees with his face in his hands and immediately began sobbing. 

Dennis is visibly taken back by Charlie’s attitude, not having expected him to react so harshly to his question. Now that he was closer, he was actually getting an idea as to how bad of a state Charlie was truly in. His eyebrows scrunch together in concern as the man brushes past him before collapsing onto the floor of the bar and crying. Was this Charlie’s psychotic break? Had he huffed one too many cans of paint? Either way, Dennis didn’t know what the hell to do.

He’s quiet for a long moment, glancing around for someone, anyone to come in to help him deal with this situation. But not surprisingly, no one showed up. He brings his eyes back to Charlie, not exactly sure how to approach the situation but he wants to say something. This was just…unsettling.

“Uhh…Charlie? Buddy?” Dennis says almost as if he’s speaking to a child. He approaches Charlie, leaning in to awkwardly brush his hand across his back at an attempt to assure him in some way. 

Despite how utterly annoying Charlie could be, Dennis had always had a soft spot for him. He was the only one in the gang who would listen to him with naive wonder while he rambled on about how great cutting blue jeans into short shorts is. Everytime he thought he had Charlie figured out, the man would surprise him in some way and more often than not, he was the only one in the gang who could humble Dennis– who could remind him of where he came from with the genuinity that the rest of the gang lacked… and Dennis respected that in an odd way. And despite feeling as though Charlie was beneath him, he also kind of felt that, that could have been attributed to the fact that he liked having someone around who looked up to him. That’s the way Dennis perceived it anyway, attributing it to Charlie’s naivety and his own need to feel as though he had all of the answers.

“ I told her I didn’t want her to do anything.” He took his hands from his face and stared at the floor. “I told her to stop. I just froze. I didn’t know what to do Dennis.” He felt numb but felt everything at the same time. It was exhausting. He shook his head as he remembered, “ She actually said yes to a date, and then I showed up at her apartment and she was drunk and-” He choked up and began sobbing again. It was all too fresh in his mind.