i've got the music in me

JOE: Not going to call you as I feel like that might stress you out more but I'm just checking in to see how you're doing and see if you're safe

JOE: I suspect I'd have heard otherwise if you weren't

JOE: Just checking you're okay after today mate

JOE: text me back when you're safe

JOE: actually no screw that

JOE: text me asap

Whilst he was sure they could rectify the karaoke issue at some point, that wasn’t really the important thing right now. As the others friend, Fred wanted to be open and honest with Joe, especially given the fact that Vera had told him just how serious their relationship had been at one point and the situation they had gotten into. There was a brief pause it almost seemed as Joe appeared to digest the information that was presented to him and then… well he came up with an inaccurate assumption. One it seemed that everyone appeared to make about Fred. It was somewhat frustrating but he couldn’t say he didn’t understand it. “Yes, we are sleeping together. No not friends with benefits. We’re dating. She’s my girlfriend.” He listed off, attempting to give the information across as clear as possible to stop any further confusion. “She’s not just another notch in my bedpost if that’s what you’re getting at, mate.”

Joe tried to process the information that Fred told him, but something about it didn’t want to go down easily. “You are in an actual monogamous relationship with someone?” he asked to clear up. “And that someone is Vera McKinnon.” Maybe he was coming around to the idea, but still knowing Fred’s history he was cautious of Vera getting hurt. “Does she know about your history with women?”

She let out squeals of joy as Joe spun her around, reaching to squeeze him once again for good measure once her feet returned to the ground. Willow snorted when he brought up how skipping straight to the singing would probably save him a whole lot more time in hindsight. “Hey well, maybe you’ll know for next time. Although given what you’ve said about Piper… we’re not hoping for a next time, yeah?” she laughed softly, hoping that this was the relationship he’d been waiting for. It seemed like he’d gotten really close in the past, so Willow wished nothing more than for Joe to finally find who he was meant to spend his life with. “You chose to play hard to get?” she all but gasped, her eyebrows migrating up to her hairline in surprise. “Fucking hell, Joe. I didn’t think you’d have it in you given how whipped you are for the lady,” she admitted with a laugh, definitely impressed with that fact. “I think you might’ve made the right move oddly enough,” Willow then added after thinking over the way his other attempts had affected Piper. “I’m drooling just thinking about them, so it’s an absolute yes from me.”

“I don’t want to jinx it but we’re not hoping for a next time, no,” he nodded. Maybe he was being foolish, but the romantic in him believed in love at first sight and ever since he’d seen Piper, he’d not been able to shake the feeling that she’d be in his life for a very long time. “I did. I genuinely can’t believe that I did that either,” Joe laughed softly in shock at himself. “You think it was the right thing to do? Okay, that gives me a little more confidence,” he exhaled a puff of air. “I’ve just got to wait on her text now. I guess this way I’ll really see if she does have strong feelings for me depending on how well she plans our date,” Joe commented, hoping it won’t take too long for her to send it as he knew he’d be checking his phone every 5 minutes until he received a text. “I’ll phone in an order now, anything else you want?”

“You do. I didn’t know you could sing like that,” she admitted, having been initially blown away by Joe’s vocal abilities. It just went to show that there was still plenty Piper was finding out about him. “Hey I never said I’d be easy to get through to,” she tried to joke, but she did feel bad about how hard she’d made it for him. “But really it was never about you as an individual, I promise, Joe. I’ve just really had bad luck in the past and was trying to protect myself,” she added, knowing she didn’t need to explain herself but feeling like she should in his case when he’d been nothing but kind and considerate throughout all of it. “Oh, okay that’s totally fine,” Piper nodded when he told her he was busy on the weekend. “Yeah, yeah I’ll have a look at my schedule on Monday and text you if I can do during the week and if not let’s do the Saturday then,” she offered up with a smile. “Sound good to you? I’ll make the plans this time.”

“Did my karaoke abilities not give it away?” he asked with a chuckle. Joe was looking forward to telling her about his secret alter ego even more now given this was her reaction to just him singing– he had a feeling she’d be absolutely blown away somehow. “You didn’t, I’ll give you that,” Joe replied. “I’ve heard. Well, Caleb told me very briefly about it when I asked him if I should give up,” he admitted. “I don’t know much more than you’ve had a rough past with men and I am really, truly sorry that they’ve hurt you. You didn’t deserve that,” Joe told her. He couldn’t fathom how anyone in their right mind would be able to mistreat a woman, let alone a woman like Piper, but it hurt him to think that she couldn’t trust anyone again because of how she’d been treated in the past. “That all sounds fantastic to me,” he grinned. “And I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

“No, you have not heard me sing. And why would you have? Unless you somehow snuck into my house when I’m in the shower, I’m not entirely surprised you haven’t heard me sing.” And wailing at a concert didn’t really count because for the most part people screamed rather than sang in his experience. “Yes, I am going to tell you but trust me, if I’d have known sooner I would have given you the heads up but I only found out today.” He answered, attempting to bring the others playful response down to a more muted tone. Fred wanted him to understand that he was at least being serious here. “Joe, the person I’ve been seeing, it’s Vera.”

“Nope, haven’t done that before,” Joe replied with a laugh. “I usually take people to my favourite karaoke spot in London when we become friends, that’s why I’m surprised. We clearly need to get on with organising that and soon, Freddie,” he added in explanation. Joe ran through his guesses as to who it was to see if he’d gotten it correct... and then Fred unveiled it. Vera. “Oh,” he simply said. There was only one Vera it could be, though he didn’t exactly want that to be the case. “So you two are... sleeping together?  A friends with benefits type of thing?” As he knew Fred wasn’t the type of person to be serious.

“You’ve got an incredible voice and great stage presence so I did, I promise I did,” Piper laughed softly in response. If it had been cringey and hard to watch then maybe even the sentiment of it all wouldn’t have outweighed that for her. At least you could count on an honest reply from her. “That was an atrociously poor choice of words on my part– sorry. Nobody wants to be told they were on probation,” she quickly tried to rectify her mistake when he’d pointed out how relieved he was to be free from that. “It was definitely a me thing, not a you thing. The dating pool is something I wasn’t sure I was going to dip my toe into for a long while but you kind of changed all of that and in a great way,” Piper smiled. “Yes it wouldn’t just be to make you happy– it’d be to make me happy too. You’ve done nothing but go out of your way to try and prove yourself to me and I have not made it easy on you. I think it’s about time the playing field is a little more even, no?” her smile growing. It’d be nice to have someone to put in the effort for romantically again, even if it was still a scary concept. “What does your weekend look like?” Piper then asked with a laugh.

“I do?” he asked, trying to wipe the smug and knowing grin from his face but it was just a little too difficult. “Well okay. I’m glad you enjoyed it– I think, at least,” Joe replied, about ninety percent sure she was being honest with him now. “Maybe you could have chosen better words?” he gave a short chuckle. “But to be honest, that’s how it’s felt so I mean... they were accurate at least?” Joe sighed at her next words, squeezing her hand. “I figured. You’ve been a tough nut to crack, Piper Wilkinson.” And of course it hadn’t just been about the challenge to him, though that in itself had been gratifying and now seemingly worthwhile– Joe had fallen for her the moment he saw her in Twilfitt and a part of him knew he was not going to stop until he had a chance for her to prove himself properly, and now he’d gotten it. Now the ball was in his court– did he play hard to get? Or just fall straight into her lap without her having to graft at least a tiny bit? “I’m actually babysitting this weekend so I’m afraid I won’t be able to do any plans as Avery will have my full attention,” he settled on. It was entirely a lie but he would now be spending the weekend with Avery to not make it a lie so Piper would be able to stew just a tiny bit. “The weekend after? Or during the week perhaps?”

“Shut up– no way!” Willow immediately shot up from her lounging position and threw herself at her best friend. “No way! No fucking way!” she began to holler, jumping up and down on her knees on the sofa for a moment before slapping Joe’s arms excitedly. “Joseph O’Reilly you are one step closer to getting your girl!” she beamed at him, knowing how much of a toll it was taking on him that Piper was the type to have her walls up so high. “Godric, it’s always the singing that gets them doesn’t it?” she then snorted as she let herself fall back on the sofa, her hand still on one of his shoulders as she gave it a supportive squeeze. “You get to choose takeout tonight– we need to celebrate the hell out of this!”

“Yep!” Joe shouted back, jumping up and down with Willow before lifting her up and spinning her round, placing her back down in the same position after one circle. “Nope. Should not have done that,” he said, sitting down immediately after, feeling the alcohol bubbling in his gut threatening to come up. He swallowed a couple of times before getting excited again. “Always the singing. I should really just start with that, right? Would save months of grafting if they’re not interested,” he joked. “I chose to play it hard to get though and I need you to like... tell me that was a good thing to do before I ring her up and ask her on a date tomorrow,” Joe told her as he slipped his shoes off and moved to face Willow on the couch. “Oh we gotta do that Jewish deli on the corner, right? Brisket and latkes sounds like a celebration to me.”

“I’m sure they’re not.” Fred stated, feeling that was probably the truth. As they talked more though about the holiday and about serenading, the more Fred actually felt like this was a thing that Joe was encouraging. He had to wonder if he realised who it was Fred would be singing to, whether he’d be quite as emphatic in his rallying. “Well, I’d like to think that I am better than a screeching cat but I really don’t think you know what you’re letting yourself in for Joe. In fact, I know you don’t.” After the chat with Vera earlier on, Fred knew he would only feel guilt for carrying on the charade, even more so if he walked his friend into an awkward situation over all this. “You should probably be aware of who I’m going out with first before you make any rash decisions. I know you’ve been trying to deduce it for months.”

“Okay, maybe add some queer men in there too,” he added with a laugh. “Well how would I know, hm? Since I’ve never heard you sing. I’m actually super excited to see if I’ve unearthed a secret talent you’ve been harbouring all this time,” Joe tried to encourage. The man’s eyebrows rose with Fred’s next words. “Oh? So you’re finally going to tell me now that you’re singing to her? Man if I’d only known this was what it was going to take, I’d have tried this months ago.”

“I– wow, I’ve never been serenaded before,” she admitted, although she was sure that was something he could figure out on his own given the way she was frozen in place. Emotions of all sorts were washing over her as she tried to figure out which one she was really feeling in that moment. “This is so thoughtful, Joe. And for my birthday no less, I can’t imagine how much rehearsal and prep this needed,” Piper reached out to take his hands when she remembered how to move again, giving them a squeeze of appreciation. “Thank you, Joe. Thank you for putting all this time and effort in for me,” she smiled, her eyes a little glossy as it all really sunk in for her. Piper was still weary of giving her heart up to somebody else and she worried there wouldn’t be a day where she wouldn’t be, but after everything she’d heard about Joe and everything he’d done to show her his intentions, perhaps it was worth giving him a chance. It scared her to be making the jump but she could hear her best friend’s voice in her head telling her to try– telling her that she deserved to fall in love again. “All in?” she laughed softly, knowing that Joe was the type to work in extremes like that. “How about a proper date? I know we’ve been on a few but this will be like a real, honest, proper date where you’re not on some sort of weird dating probation of my own creation. I’m willing to give this– no, us – a genuine shot.”

“Something that needed to be swiftly rectified,” he told her, but it was easy to see given her reaction. It was sweet, seeing her have absolutely no idea what to do or expect next– and he hoped in time she’d become more comfortable with them as they would not be stopping if she let him further into her life. “All worth it to see your reaction,” Joe ensured. And it hadn’t taken anywhere near as much planning as Piper would expect given his connections just about everywhere, but that was something he could tell her about in the future. “It’s okay, Piper. I still actually can’t tell if you enjoyed it or not,” he finally let out a chuckle, trying to show her it was okay to feel weird about it if she wanted. Joe squeezed her hands back as he repeated himself. “All in,” he echoed. Maybe a little much, he thought, but it did really encapsulate how he felt. “Okay so I have been on a probation this whole time? It did feel a little like it,” he couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “But if you want to actually give us a genuine shot and you’re not just saying that to make me happy– I would love to go on a proper date with you, Piper.”

A snort left Fred. “Don’t you have enough groupies or am I just that special to you that you need my love?” Fred questioned, a smirk playing over his lips as he leaned in a little closer to Joe. “I always knew you had a soft spot for me.” He continued to tease. “I get that though. I mean, I still think it’s an excuse to sell anything even vaguely romantic at ten times the price but then I’ve never really minded too much.” It wasn’t as though he struggled for money at all, he was just more realistic than anything. At the comment about daring Fred, the male straightened up a little. “Probably. I’m not sure how romantic that would be coming from me.” Actually, he knew for a fact Vera would actually probably love it given she was actually quite the romantic at heart but he wasn’t exactly a professional singer. He was a shower singer most of the time. “It feels like any excuse for you to have fun at my expense right now, I hope you know that.” Fred added with a little laugh.

“All my groupies are women. I feel like I need a little diversity in there,” he told him. “You didn’t already know that? C’mon Fred, I’ve always got a soft spot for you,” Joe replied with a chuckle. “Of course you’d view it that way. These people make their livelihoods selling things to lovebirds. I don’t mind paying a little bit more for a heart shaped keyring once a year,” he countered. “Does it matter? It should be the thought that counts not the fact you sound like a screeching cat,” Joe said sincerely. “Oh yeah, I definitely know that. I will record it and cherish it forever.”