Ok, here come the fics that all kinda burst out from "He Went Away". They ALL sequel it, its sort of a "choose your own adventure". I'm callin' em "sunburst fics" cause they all kinda bust out in different directions. Nootch. Without further adieu, J'Kitty Title: Scenario 1: The Best of Both Worlds Author: J'Kitty Fandom: Askewniverse Feedback: List people - on the list, Archive people - jabinkle@unity.ncsu.edu Pairing: Jay/Bob Rating: Totally PG... Except for maybe some language... Disclaimer: Kevin 0wns j00! Archive: Sure, drop me a mail, lemme know and all. Summary: Happy Jay/Happy Bob Ending Type: Sunburst Fic, from "He Went Away" Notes: Dante is indeed using some George Strait lyrics as his dialog, so sorry again for the country... but it's not a songfic this time, at least! When Jay awoke, his first coherent thought was that someone had stolen everything in his room, and then painted it pink. It was late morning, the sun was filtering in through a gauzy white curtain, and his walls were pink. Slowly, his brain supplied a few more details. This wasn't his bedroom, but the girl from the bar's. What was her name? Mona? Monique? Mary? M-something. She wasn't in the bed anymore, but the depression where she had slept was still warm. She hadn't been gone too long. He stretched and remembered a good evening. M was a nice girl, beautiful body, willing and sweet. But she was too thin for his tastes, what had he been thinking? And she was girly and soft. Nice enough qualities, he supposed. Just not his type. He liked larger, tougher girls. He sighed to himself. Who was he trying to fool? He wanted Bob. He'd been trying to prove to himself for the past four months that he didn't love Bob, and that their tryst had been a one-time thing, borne of boredom. But it wasn't. He loved Bob. Sighing, he slid from the bed and began searching for his pants. Bizarrely, they'd ended up under the bed, and it took several minutes to route them out. By that time, he could smell food coming from the kitchen area. He didn't think that another hour or two at this Mgirl's place would hurt anything. A nice meal, and then I'll head home to Bob. I've got a lot of explaining to do. It was a nice enough meal. Mgirl (who's name, he found out, was Katarine) was pleasant, and hopeful. He felt bad when he had to tell her goodbye. He didn't give her any details about himself. And he felt that it was somewhat better for her not to know of the "other woman" in his life. It probably wouldn't make her feel any better to be left for a 200 lb man in a trench coat who dealt. This thought alone made him grin as he boarded the bus and endured the ride home. It was quiet on the bus, for once, and he drifted into pleasant, Bob-filled daydreams. &&& Dante was worried. The Quick Stop itself was fine, as were Randal and the RST video, respectively. However, its resident stoners were definitely not. Bob had stopped by earlier to tell him that he was leaving, "indefinitely". Bob had looked tattered and sad, even though he was wearing his normal gear. Something had gone terribly wrong with Bob, and Dante was afraid he had no experience to fall back on. Bob didn't seem the type to know a lot of unrequited and forlorn love. So Dante, with doubts, but wanting to help someway, wrote down his number and handed it to Bob. Bob looked at him in confusion, and Dante could only say, "I know where you're coming from, it sounds like where I've been." And Bob had nodded and plodded down the street, away from the direction of his home. His former home, Dante corrected himself. When Randal came in, Dante was still troubled. He explained his theories about how some woman had trounced Bob's heart even as his own had been manhandled by the nefarious Caitlin. Randal rolled his eyes and said simply, "Jay hurt him." Dante's eyes nearly bugged out. "Those two? A couple? Never happen." Randal scoffed, "Yeah right. You don't try to get a guy to blow you that many times without meaning it. I mean, as a sign of hidden love, only watching hermaphroditic porn ranks higher." With that, Randal left. Dante sighed and settled back onto his counter, waiting. Then it hit him. "Did you say watching hermaphroditic porn!?" &&& Jay swung open the door with gusto, expecting to see Bob sleeping on the couch after his weekly Hughes-a-thon. It was a sacred ritual, not to be forgotten. But Bob wasn't on the couch. Jay shrugged, unworried. Bob had probably gone out to get more booze or more smoke. Not an un-Bob-like feat. He kicked off his boots, and hopped on the couch, scrabbling for the remote. The only thing on was the Real World. It was _always_ the only thing on during the day. Something was weird in the living room, though. It took him a few minutes, but he finally recognized the missing part. Bob's videos. They were gone from the top of the VCR. Bob would never let anyone borrow his videos, which meant that... Bob had taken them. Bob didn't trust VCRs with his videos, so he didn't take them over to friend's houses to watch them. So Bob hadn't planned on coming back. Jay ran to the kitchen, nearly falling on the floor in his socks, and saw the note on the fridge. His heart sank before he had even read it. Yet its simple message said more than a volume. He sank to the floor, and cried. &&& Dante watched the world pass through the front windows of the Quick Stop. Seasons changed, day turned to night, good kid turned to street thug, and business men into urban dwellers. And he watched Jay. Jay went from a slim young man without a mission or care to a haggard figure that bore the cares of the world. His already-baggy clothing now seemed to swallow him. He rarely concluded a deal, and frankly, Dante found it amazing that he hadn't been evicted yet. Jay had stopped smoking, stopped eating, and stopped living. But what could he do? He tried to force the kid to eat occasionally, and Randal was always dragging him into the video store to help "finish off all this food, I'm so full." So where Jay and Silent Bob had once stood, protecting the Quick Stop, now stood Silent Jay. Because Jay never spoke anymore. Since Bob left, no one Dante had talked to had heard the boy utter a word. Instead, he rented Sixteen Candles from RST so often that Randal finally gave it to him, and listed it as lost. The one time they'd both headed to Jay's apartment, they were surprised. The place was immaculate. It looked like no one lived there at all. No dishes out, no food in the fridge, no drinks, no trace of anything. Even Jay's bedroom had been empty, save a bed. (Randal had later confessed that he thought Jay had been selling off his things to keep the apartment.) Everything that resembled a personal memento had been removed. Save Bob's bedroom. It hadn't been touched, except that it had obviously (and very frequently) been dusted. And there was a dent in the middle of the bed. When he and Randal had asked Jay to come with them to a party, he'd smiled at them sadly and shook his head no. Jay didn't do parties anymore. Jay didn't do a whole lot of anything anymore. &&& The tumultuous winter passed, and spring began again. Jay still appeared at the Quick Stop, and though he still didn't talk, or appear to be eating regularly, business began to pick up again. It was a wonder he could stay alive without muscle. However, when he caught Randal outside the RST with a hockey stick yelling at some kids harassing Jay, it didn't seem that unfeasible. Dante still opened (and usually closed) the store. Customers came, customers went, and life continued in its great circle. Then one day, the employee phone rang. "Quick Stop. Dante. Speak." "It's Bob." And he'd spent the better part of two hours on the phone with Bob. Randal had taken over the register (without complaint, for once). At first, conversation was light, questions of the well-being of Randal, amazement that the RST video remained in service, sympathy for the never-ending cycle of Dante's life. But finally, the question rose, "How's Jay?" Dante was silent. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. Finally, he replied, "He's great for a 100 pound bag of bones with no belongings left, who never talks or smiles." The line went dead. Dante cursed. Loudly. The remainder of the week was silent, no shoplifters, no break-ins, nothing but an occasional bicker with Randal to kill time. But one day, as Randal had dragged Jay into the store and began administering foodstuffs, the bell tinkled, and Silent Bob walked through the door. Jay was facing away, watching the store cat chase a spider with a sort of dead interest. And Bob's face went soft and sad, and he hugged Jay from behind. Jay began to struggle, but nearly immediately recognized the coffee stain on the right sleeve of the jacket holding him. He'd put that there! And when Jay tackled Bob, not one of the three other souls in the store could understand what he was saying, in fact, Jay himself probably couldn't. But keeping that many words pent up for so long had taken a toll on Jay. And at the end of a two minute tirade at breakneck speed, he slowed, and said clearly, "I love you. Don't leave me again." And the two went off home, happily snuggled together. And later, Dante would learn the whole story, first from Jay, and then again from Silent Bob. And he would learn what had caused it, and how both of them regretted it, and that they had some sort of undying love. And that Bob had some 'country' family down South where he'd stayed while he was gone. And that Jay had sold all of his mint condition Star Wars figurines to provide enough money for a private detective to search for Bob. But for right now, he was content. The bell tinkled merrily as Randal wrangled in, lugging the VCR. "Those two put me in a good mood. Let's watch a movie." The business was slow. Dante consented. "Whatcha got?" Randal grinned, "The Best of Both Worlds II".