well, albert was… a tad painful to write
warnings: none? oh wait, meme-y albert
JOJO SIGHED AS HIS PHONE BUZZED FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME. He reluctantly took it from his pocket, scanning the screen to check the notifications. It didn’t surprise him that almost all of them were from his friend, Albert.
It was July 4th, and JoJo was unwillingly participating in a family celebration at his house. He’d rather be out partying with his own friends - if he was going to be honest, he just wanted to hang out with Al.
The two had promised each other that they would get together on the 4th, with Albert hinting that they’d go party-crashing at random places. It intrigued JoJo more than he wanted to admit.
JoJo opened one of the fifteen texts Albert had sent, reading over them. He sighed, rolling his eyes. Albert knew that an excessive use of emojis bothered JoJo, and he’d been sure to include several of them in his recent texts.
JoJo’s fingers flew across the screen as he typed his response to Albert’s texts.
> JoJo
I might not be able to get away tonight, sorry
> Albert
Aha, you finally responded.
Wait, why?
> JoJo
Family stuff… we’ve got a party going on
It was a minute or two before Albert responded with a series of crying-face emojis. JoJo’s eyes narrowed.
> JoJo
If you promise not to send too many emojis, I’ll try and get out of this.
> JoJo
This is the last time I let you do that
> JoJo
Where the hell did you get that emoji
> Albert
Meet me outside your house in ten minutes and I’ll tell you
JoJo bit his lip. Now another reason to go party-crashing with albert was added to the list: finding out where Albert had received a dab emoji.
> JoJo
Fine. No gimmicks.
> Albert
No guarantee 😁😁😉😉😏😏
“Okay, I’m here,” JoJo sighed, turning to face Albert, who was sitting cross-legged on the front lawn of JoJo’s house, plucking at the blades of grass.
“Good!” cheered Albert, glancing up at his friend. “Now, let’s go ruin some parties.” JoJo held up a palm.
“That’s not what I agreed to,” JoJo reminded him. “I only came out here because I want to know where on earth you got such an awful emoji.”
Albert grinned. “That’s what you get to find out as soon as you come with me,” he said. Seeing the look that JoJo gave him, Albert’s smile faded. “I’m sorry if I’m bugging you too much about this. You just… you did promise.”
Reluctantly, JoJo agreed. “I did,” he admitted. He pulled out his phone from one of his pockets and started to type, the faint sound meeting Albert’s ears.
“What’re you doing?” asked Albert, cautiously raising himself onto his feet. JoJo held the phone away from Albert, still typing. “Hey, come on! What’re you doing?”
The typing ceased and JoJo brandished his phone, showing it to Albert. “Telling my mom that I’ll be back before 10,” said JoJo. Albert looked first from JoJo’s phone to JoJo himself, his smile splitting his face.
“Awesome,” he whispered. He shoved a thin piece of paper into JoJo’s hand. “List of people from school who have parties tonight. Who’re we gonna hit first?”
“Where did you get this?” asked JoJo, his brows raised.
“I have sources,” Albert said. “They’re also the same sources I got that dab emoji from.” JoJo sighed.
“It’s never answers with you,” he said, shaking his head. “Now, how about we head to Tony Mills’ place? I heard he usually hosts some pretty big parties.”
Albert raised a fist, looking to receive a fist-bump. When JoJo didn’t provide, Albert let his arm drop. “Tony Mills? You’re definitely talking my language now,” he said, excitement pitching his voice up an octave.
JoJo shrugged. “I’m becoming more fluent as time passes,” he said. “Though trust me, I’m backing out of learning if I find out that your language requires frequent usage of emojis.”
Albert patted JoJo’s shoulder. “If you don’t want to use emojis, you can make up for it with a daily supplement of Fortnite dances,” he suggested.
JoJo’s eyes went wide with horror as he shook off Albert’s hand. “No,” he hissed. “Anything but that.”
Albert gave JoJo a mocking look of astonishment. “You mean… none of this?” He demonstrated with a slow version of what JoJo believed was called ‘hype’.
Hiding his little knowledge of the dances and their names behind an annoyed face, JoJo grunted. “None of that,” he confirmed, reaching out to wrap his arms around Albert’s shoulders from behind, preventing him from continuing. “None at all.”
Albert sighed, his head lolling back against JoJo’s chest. “Fine,” he said, his hands coming up to grab JoJo’s wrists. “But if we’re going to a Tony Mills party, you can expect a lot of those.” JoJo winced.
“We’re going,” he said. “And I am going to make sure neither of us get drunk.”
Albert slipped out from JoJo’s arms. “Where’s the fun in that?” He skipped along the sidewalk, heading towards his car - or, more accurately, his brother’s car.
“There’s plenty of fun,” JoJo called after Albert. “Like not landing in jail.”
“Jail’s fun!” Albert responded loudly. “You should try it some time!”
JoJo buried his head in his hands.
