Or Something
By Mondie
Chapter Written: January 5, 2005
Chapter One: Snitey
Disclaimer: Newsies Disney's. Plot Mondie's. Pirates are discouraged.
The school, in all honesty, looked like a normal high school. There were green tiled floors that had been there since at least the 60s; a teacher with a severe bun and horn-rimmed glasses peering disapprovingly at the crowd of students in the hallway through the waved glass in her classroom door; a short kid wearing red pants and a plaid button-down shirt was being slammed into a locker by another student who looked to be about forty. A girl with blonde hair and a dark pink miniskirt was flouncing down the hallway on the arm of the boy who appeared to be the best football player, judging by his size, the fact he carried a football with him, and the way everyone kept calling, "Good game Friday!" to him.
But this school wasn't a normal high school. The band kids – obvious because of the instrument cases at their feet which wouldn't fit in their lockers – were chatting animatedly with the cheerleaders. A boy with pocket protectors was sitting on the bench at the far end of the hallway, deep in conversation with a boy with bloodshot eyes and frosted hair. A teacher emerged from a classroom to clap a reassuring hand on the shoulder of a girl studying outside his door with tears in her eyes. "Don't worry about this one, Sandra," he told her quietly, with a twinkle in his eye. "The extra credit this week is about History Channel specials, and I know that you watch those religiously." She suddenly beamed up at him as he continued, "And, as usual, the extra credit can make even a person who fails the test get an A."
The most unusual aspect of the school, however, was embodied by two boys, who were dancing down the hallway. Greetings were called at them from all sides, which they returned by jovial nods. They were too preoccupied with their singing, however, to actually say hello to anyone. The shorter of the two, the pale latino with black curls falling into his large, dark eyes, shouted loudly, "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me!"
His taller partner, whose entire visage seemed out of proportion due to the largest eyeteeth possibly allowed in a human face, turned a clumsy pirouette as he sang back, "He's just a poor boy, from a poor family!" He gestured to the kids on his side of the hallway, who all shouted gleefully, "Spare him his life from this monstrosity!"
The darker boy stood with his half of the hall at his back as he cooed, "Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?"
"Bismillah! NO! We will not let you go!"
"Let him go!"
"Bismillah! We will not let you go!"
"Let him go!"
They continued dancing down the hallway, leaping into the air like gazelles, the entire population of the hall grinning and singing along as they moved, a solid wave of song following them every step. Mush, who had found himself shouting along with the tall, big-teethed boy's side, couldn't help but laugh as they moved past him. His snort of laughter caught the attention of the tall boy, who stopped and looked at him, then grinned at Mush as he spun past him.
Mush didn't see the song and dance boys again until lunch, when they took the cafeteria by storm. Apparently the boys of Queen weren't the only singers in their repartee. The whole cafeteria seemed to have been waiting for this interlude to take place, and the students sitting at the table directly in front of the open double doors quickly moved their lunches from its surface, nearly shivering with anticipation. The two did not disappoint. The tall boy climbed up on the table top without hesitation, then fell on one knee. "I made it through the wilderness," he cooed, in an overly feminine voice. The girl sitting just below him yelled a catcall, while the boy sitting next to her shouted, "Sing it, Snitch!"
And sing it, Snitch did. "Somehow, I made it throu-ih-ough," he sang, somehow in a breathy shout.
The other half of his duo climbed up behind him and then sat on his propped knee. "Didn't know how lost I was, until I found you," the curly-haired boy sang, grinning wickedly into Snitch's face.
"Thanks, Itey," Snitch said coyly before putting up a tender hand and stroking Itey's side. "I was beat, incomplete," he sang.
Itey theatrically shivered from Snitch's touch. "I'd been had, I was sad and blue," he told Snitch mock-seriously. "But you made me feel, yeah you ma-a-a-ade me feel, shiny and new!" He threw back his head dramatically. "Ooh! Like a virgin, touched for the very first time!" The cafeteria air was, by this time, crackling with whistles and howls from all sides.
When Itey swooned nearly too far over, Snitch put out a protective hand and cradled his head while Itey remained dipped low. Snitch sang to him, "Like a vir-ir-ir-irgin, when your heart beats next to mine!"
Itey swung back upwards and climbed to his feet, pulling Snitch after him. Itey began to sashay the length of the table. "Gonna give you all my love, boy," he promised Snitch. "My fear is fading fa-ee-ast."
"Been saving it all for you, 'cuz only love can last," Snitch crooned back, and the girl from before gave another involuntary shriek.
Itey found a break in the people sitting at the table, and climbed down from it. The next table eagerly cleared off their trays, too, as he clambered on top of it and turned to Snitch. "You're so fine, and you're mine!"
Snitch climbed down too, but instead of climbing up after Itey, instead prowled around the perimeter of Itey's new table, while the third table hurried to cleanse their tabletop as well. Mush, who was sitting at that table and trying to be invisible, thought it best to comply. Snitch climbed up, right in front of Mush, who tried to look up to see Snitch's funny facial expressions, but only succeeded in getting a front row seat to a pelvic thrust which sent the entire female cafeterial audience into screams. "Make me strong, yeah you make me bold. Oh, your love thawed out, yeah your love thawed out what was scared and cold…"
"Like a virgin, HEY!" Itey sang, throwing in a few Michael Jackson moves. "Touched for the very first time!"
"Like a vir-ir-ir-irgin," Snitch sang back, wiggling downwards until finally Mush could see his face again – and he was very surprised to find that Snitch was winking and laughing at him, almost as if this particular move was all for… Mush? As the two continued to sing, half-shouting and half-Marilyn Monroe-esque breathiness, Mush lost himself in thoughts of another boy… a boy who would have been dancing just for Mush. Blink. Back in New York. Feeling even more lost than these two clowns had professed to feel in the song, Mush wished with all of his heart that he could be back in his old high school – being tortured by the other kids for being who he was, sure, but at least with a best friend and boyfriend to back him up.
The show wasn't over yet, and Mush suddenly realized that Snitch had fallen to his back on the table just in front of Mush, and was twitching his body while sighing, breathing heavily, and apparently having an orgasm right there. The student body was in stitches, and Itey was trying unsuccessfully to sing over them. Unable to see these happy boys and their ridiculousness, though, Mush stood up and walked as quickly as his legs would take him out into the hallway, where he leaned against a locker and tried to keep his tears at bay. He missed Blink. He missed him a lot. This was the first time he had ever had to start in a school without Blink at his side. Their friendship, now spanning over a decade, meant that when he was without his blond counterpart, he felt somehow incomplete.
A sudden roar of clapping, catcalls and shouts informed Mush that the show was over. Sure enough, two seconds later, the two energetic boys sprang forth, hooting and hugging each other. Mush tried to become invisible again. He suddenly wished that the lockers were painted light blue, so that his linen shirt would blend in.
The taller boy with the huge teeth – Snitch – saw him and halted. "Hey, Ite, just a sec," he said, stopping his friend. "You okay?" he asked sympathetically.
"Fine," Mush answered shortly.
Snitch stared at him, then offered a crooked grin. "Come with us."
"What?" Itey protested. "Snitch, but…"
Snitch ignored him. "I heard a really nice singing voice in the hall this morning," he said, raising his eyebrows. "Might that have been you?"
Mush shrugged, still not fully wanting to engage in a terribly long conversation.
"C'mon then, we've been wanting to add someone to our act."
"We have?" Itey asked. A warning glance from Snitch shut him up. "Yeah, we have been. I forgot. We talked about it just last night."
Mush just stared down at his fingers.
"It'll be a good way to induct yourself into the mainstream of life here," Snitch said offhandedly, putting an arm around Mush's shoulders and pulling him along. Snitch was stronger than he looked, and somehow coaxed Mush's unbending legs to move forward.
"Maybe he won't want to be in our group," Itey said, glancing over at Mush with suspicion in his eyes. "C'mon, Snitch, you know how some new kids are."
Snitch rolled his eyes but stopped walking. Mush, still looking down at his fingernails, halted too. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Micah Meyers," Mush answered.
Snitch frowned. "We'll need to get him a nickname, Itey."
Mush shrugged to himself, as if quieting an inner voice that was struggling against him. "I'm called Mush back East by… my friend."
"That's better." Snitch nodded to himself, and Mush found that his approval of Blink's nickname made an even angrier welt across his heart. No one had ever called him Mush besides Blink before. He wasn't even sure why he had told Snitch the nickname, and instantly regretted it. "Good then. Mush, I'm Snitch, and that's Itey." Mush nodded, determined not to show his remorse for disclosing such a private thing as a pet name by a boyfriend, to be the name used to introduce him to the entirety of the school.
"You can just say Snitey, though, and then you've pretty much got your bases covered," Itey laughed. His laugh was somewhat hollow, and he was shooting suspicious glares at Mush when he thought that neither Mush nor Snitch were looking.
"You're up for this, right, Mush?" Snitch asked, grinning.
Mush just shrugged again, though he was visibly warming to the idea. He always had liked to perform. And as much as he would like to sit around pining for Blink and being depressed, the fact was that Mush had never been able to stay down for very long. A slight smile silhouetted itself in his lips, a ghost of a grin, as he recalled how fun it would be to be the person instigating the morning sing-along in the hallways, or to be dancing upon tabletops.
Snitch saw his guarded smile, took it as a yes, and grinned. "Just so you know, Itey and I are dating. That doesn't weird you out, does it?"
Mush gave him a rather pointed look, with an amused smile. Snitch grinned at him again. "That's what I thought," he said softly. "This is gonna work out, kid. I promise."
This hotel room was the kind where flip-flops were worn in the shower, there were no mints on the pillows at night, the swimming pool just outside was overgrown with algae, and one slept with his face touching as little of the pillow as possible. A lone boy say in the middle of the double bed, trying to ignore the lumps and broken springs underneath him as he thumbed through a large red phone book. He was frowning.
Out loud, as much to drown out the humming from the overhead light as to keep himself company, he said in disdain, "How can there possibly be so many 'Meyers'es in one phone book?" Grimacing to himself, he wished he had taken more notice when Mush had told him the name of the aunt he was staying with. After quickly scanning the names and finding that none of them sounded familiar, he sighed as he reached over and grabbed the phone. Staring at it for a moment, he dropped it and rubbed his hands on his jeans, diving into his suitcase for some anti-bacterial spray. Saturating it well, he finally felt more at ease as he tapped the first number in.
Lyrics in the chapter: "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen, and "Like a Virgin," Madonna.
I played the fool today, and I just dream of vanishing into the crowd
Longing for home again, but home is a feeling I buried in you
I'm all right, I'm all right, it only hurts when I breathe
I can't ask for things to be still again
I can't ask if I could walk through the world in your eyes
Longing for home again, but home is a feeling I buried in you
I'm all right, I'm all right, it only hurts when I breathe
I'm all right, I'm all right, it only hurts when I breathe
My window through which nothing hides, and everything sings
'Cause I'm counting the signs, cursing the miles in between
Home is a feeling I buried in you
I'm all right, I'm all right, it only hurts when I breathe
-Melissa Etheridge, "Breathe"
Shoutouts!
Rumor Thanks! I like the cabbie too. Ahahaha. Especially his hat. Thanks for Review #1. Loves always to you, oh fabulous reviewer of all times!
Queen Kez the WickedIknew that if ANYONE liked the cabbie, it would –so- be you. XD We're so the best lovers of each others' random characters… wonder why that is… and what exactly that says about our personalities…. Oo! And I understand the needage for snackage, it happens at the most inopportune moments. Ah dear me! Thanks for the review, oh splendiferous Kez of the a!
Checkmate :) Thanks! And really, it's mostly just angst… and there's no real direction right now for the story… so … yeah. But thanks for the review hon!
Omni -COUNTER GLOMP-
Mush's Skittles As we all know, if I didn't have YOUR approval, I would be nowhere. Thanks for reading, Itts! I always love getting your reviews. :D
The Second Batgirl Uh… hey! I reviewed! I'd tell you right now but you girls aren't online for SOME reason (how am I supposed to RP without you two, huh??? Lol) And -counter-loves- for the nice review. Mad, mad hearts to you!
Studentnumber24601 Haha, well… there is that saying that incest is the best… YAY! I love the cabbie too. And he doesn't have a name because… I didn't want to label him. Or something deep and meaningful that isn't just a happy coincidence. :D And uh… I'll take your plot into consideration. You know, once I get Mush and Blink reunited in a cheesy Grease-esque fashion, which is undoubtedly what will happen. I –did- put Mush in a linen shirt! Which… is almost close to shirtless… uh… yeah. Erm… I promise more Blush is on the way, we just have to get them there first… (pleasedon'tkillme)
DreamlessMermaid Thanks! Haha, Mush and Blink are pretty much the only characters I make a point of writing about, so I'd hope by this time I had them at least SLIGHTLY down. LOL! Thanks for the review. :)
Gothic Author You … don't break my heart? Ahaha, I adore you so much and your reviews mean a LOT to me. love love love back!
Sita-Chan I MISS YOU SO MUCH. I heard we get you back tomorrow… er, today. This restores happiness in my soul because I have missed thee like Mush misses Blink. Tis true!! Thanks for the review! And I insist that you like Blush. It's… mandatory. So there. –clings and loves back-