#my best friend's best friend | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

icallhimjoey · 1 year

Note

Imagine this: Wesley makes a new friend and Joe is jealous of how close they are UNTIL he sees her for the first time. Suddenly, he can’t stop nagging Wesley about her.

ok so, i need everyone to understand that i do not know wesley or his mannerisms at all (obviously i do not know joe either, but we've established what my fictional joey's like) so i TRIED and it was AWKWARD for ALL SORT OF REASONS but i hope that you LIKE IT enjoy! (rewritten 16 nov 2023) Wordcount: 2.8K

Inevitable Sparks

part one - part two - part three - part four - part five The noise of a soft ringtone cut through the conversation and made Wesley stop talking mid-sentence.

"Sorry, I have to take this," Wesley said when he saw your name grace his phone screen.

Sat opposite him, Joe made a face.

"Um, you literally don't?" Joe jokingly frowned in frustrated confusion.

"Hey!" Wesley answered, far too chipper for Joe's liking. He hadn't been in the best mood. Conversation had been fine, but sort of serious. This different version of his best friend that he saved for someone else rubbed him wrong, just a little.

".... yea, I'm not doing anything, what's up?" Wesley turned away from Joe, his full attention with you now.

Joe flung up both arms and shook his head in bewilderment. Couldn't believe what he was hearing.

What did he mean, he wasn't doing anything?!

Going for lunch with his friend, hanging out at home, even taking him on trips around the globe - his best friend seemed to always be talking to his other friend.

This other person who seemed to be replacing Joe on that number one spot fairly quickly - too quickly, because you hadn't known each other long at all, Joe thought.

But anytime Joe would call Wesley, he either didn't answer, declined his call and sent him to voicemail, or he would answer but he'd say he wouldn't be able to talk long. Would ask for Joe to make it quick.

"You up for dinner tonight, mate?" "Sorry, I can't do tonight, I've already got plans," "Oh, is it with her again?"

The fact that he was out having lunch with him now almost felt miraculous.

It was silly. Everyone had friends that their other friends didn't know, didn't they?

But this was Joe's best friend. And he was his too. Wanted it to remain that way. Too many things were changing already, and keeping this the way it was, always had been, felt important. Grounding.

But then Wesley talked on the phone for over ten minutes and didn't even seem that bothered that it was incredibly rude to Joe.

After a lot of humming, yes-ing, and even some loud, loud laughs, Wesley hung up, turned back to Joe and pretended the call had never even happened.

"So, Tokyo, you said? How was that?" Wesley took another bite of his lunch, falling back into their previous conversation, leaving Joe to squint at him.

"Yea, no... Japan was amazing... what the- how do you even know her, again?"

Wesley looked up from his plate at his friend, for a second unsure who Joe was referencing.

Like Joe hadn't just listened to him talk to you for ages.

"Oh," the penny dropped. "Um, we went to school together, did a film- a thriller, together for a class, and then I ran into her randomly, what, two, three months ago?"

"Mmhm, school, huh?"

"She did awful storyboard drawings of a girl being punched once, and then we made her be the girl, and she accidentally got socked right in the eye! We didn't even use the footage," Wesley recounted a funny memory and chuckled lightly.

"Almost didn't recognise her without the bruised face, but she recognised me, so," he shrugged, took another bite.

"Oh, she did, yea?" Joe acted up his hatred in rivalry with you, and it tickled his friend, but he swiftly moved onto another topic and didn't mention you again.

Joe took Wesley with him to events for his job all the time. They seemed the perfect pair: the film maker (you know, the camera guy) and the actor.

Besides the hopeful networking Wesley maybe got to do, Joe was mostly happy to have a friend at these things; someone to ensure that he'd actually have fun and wouldn't just be a big ball of nerves throughout. Would say he was his PA if anyone asked. They never asked, it was always fine.

Sometimes, of course, there were moments when Wesley couldn't tag along, because of his own obligations.

Not a problem, there were plenty of other friends to ask to come to things with him.

It's just that... Wesley sometimes didn't have time for him because of you, and when he caught onto how annoyed Joe would get over it, he started mentioning your name loads. Just to fuck with him.

Like a couple of days later, hanging out at Wesley's place, spread out across the sofa, Joe and Wesley had the TV on in the background, but weren't really watching what was on.

"The absolute units of yachts they had over there," Joe scrolled through his phone gallery, looking for a picture to show his friend. "Just, ridiculous. No one needs a boat like that, really, do they?"

"You know who's got a yacht?" Wesley took a sip of his drink, eyes glued to his phone, before continuing, "Like, a sailing yacht?"

Joe turned his phone to show a picture he took in Newport Beach a couple weeks back.

Wesley peeled his eyes away from his own screen, looked at Joe's, and went, "Yea sort of like that one."

Joe tutted, immediately groaning, knowing Wesley was going to mention you again and it instantly made Wesley grin.

"Not her, she doesn't have a fucking yacht. Fuck, could you imagine? Someone our age with a massive sailing yacht?" Wesley said and let Joe visibly relax before continuing.

"Her dad does, though,"

"Okay," Joe slapped his knees as he got up from the sofa.

"At this point, is she even fucking real? What are you hiding from me?" Joe flung an arm about, slid his phone into his pocket and grabbed some shit from the coffee table he needed to throw out.

"I'm not hiding anything!" Wesley argued, but couldn't help laugh at his friend accusatory tone.

"So why haven't I met her yet?" Joe collected the empty beer bottles from the table too, and made his way to grab two new ones.

"You wouldn't- I just... I don't think you'd get along, you know? You're very different people," Wesley lied, not sounding as confident as he would've liked, and Joe poked right through it.

"What are you on about, mate? I get along with everyone!"

Wesley sat up and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, contemplating if what he was about to say next was the right move to make.

"People love me." Joe definitely didn't believe that in his gut, Wesley knew. But he also understood that... yea, people kind of always did really like Joe.

"Yea, exactly... maybe that's the problem,"

Joe turned around, jaw dropped, but eyes showing nothing but absolute cheek.

"Oh?" suddenly, Joe was intrigued, but Wesley was quick to hold up his hand.

"No!"

"What was her name again?" Joe whipped his phone from his pocket, ready to look you up anywhere he could think to. Not being on any social media himself didn't have to stop him from googling yours for a quick look.

Mentioning you had bit Wesley in the ass, and he sighed in annoyance, knowing from the start this is exactly what it would eventually lead to.

How could it not have?

It was absolutely inevitable.

Joe was single, you were single, and hot but approachable. And also friendly, sweet, kind, fun. All the good shit.

Wesley was drawn to the same type of people. The amount of times he'd been hanging out with you and had thought to himself, wow Joe could've said that, or, Joe would've done the same thing, had really started stacking up.

So when you had a couple of friends over on a random Friday night, for drinks and chats with music playing in the background, you had also invited Wesley to mingle with this new group of people he suddenly was a part of.

Half way through the night, Joe'd facetimed him and Wesley had decided to answer this time.

"Joe," Wesley said upon seeing his friend's face fill out his phone screen.

He saw Joe's face go from utter shock and surprise, because Wesley never fucking answered his FaceTime calls, straight into a frown as his face get closer in the camera. He was obviously trying to figure out Wesley's surroundings.

"Where are you?"

Wesley grinned and switched the camera around to show your living room, aiming his camera to see out the window and Joe could see three people out on a balcony, smoking, drinking, chatting and laughing.

"Is that-"

Before Joe could get a proper look, Wesley had turned the camera back onto himself, hiding a grin as he took a sip from his beer.

"Wait, turn it back a second, I thought I saw something," Joe said, sounding so very earnest, but it just made Wesley laugh because he knew Joe just wanted to check again, see if one of them had been you.

"Why are you calling?" Wesley tried to shift the focus away from you.

"Just checking to see what you were doing," Joe feigned being incredibly bored, speaking through a dramatic sigh.

Joe could see his friend look over his phone for a second as someone asked him something. Then Wesley's eyes scanned his phone, and Joe was shocked when his friend muted himself so he couldn't hear what was going on.

Muted.

Shut Joe right out by muting the audio.

He saw Wesley talk to someone off screen, then look at Joe when leaning to show someone who didn't step into the camera's vision enough for Joe to see.

It was obvious he was showing Joe's face to someone in the room. To the person he was talking to about something Joe wasn't allowed to hear.

Fucking muted.

What the fuck.

Then Wesley laughed, raised his eyebrows questioningly in that same direction and then nodded before turning back to his phone and unmuting himself.

"You want to come over?"

Wesley texted your address, and about half an hour later, you were stood out on the balcony when you heard the buzzer go inside. You knocked on the window and interrupted Wesley's conversation with one of your other friends, gestured for him to open the door.

You'd seen Joe walk up to the building and knew it was him who'd rang your doorbell.

You knew what Joe looked like, it was almost impossible not to in the year of our Lord, Eddie Munson, 2022.

But you also remembered meeting him once on a night out when you'd just turned 19 and you'd been out with a bunch of people from uni. Wesley had brought Joe along, and you only remembered that he'd been goofy. Sort of didn't really fit in with the group, but was funny enough for people to enjoy and appreciate his presence.

You didn't know if you had actually spoken then, but a swift plow through countless now hidden Facebook photo albums showed you weren't in any photos together.

A shame, you thought, because Joe was handsome.

And Wesley had been a little bitch for weeks about having the two of you meet.

It's not like you hadn't been pushing for it. A little.

"Are you gatekeeping Joe?" you had asked him, more as a joke, but you did wonder. Wesley talked about Joe all the time like they were joined at the hip, but you had yet to meet him.

"Absolutely." Wesley had thrown a bag of nuts into your shopping cart.

You snorted. You had expected him to deny your accusation, to come up with a million different excuses, but instead Wesley jokingly confessed and you couldn't help the giggle that escaped you.

"What possibly for?"

"Joe's.... he's sort of... I don't know, you won't like him, I think. Joe's weird," Wesley'd scrunched his nose to really convince you.

"Wouldn't that make you weird by default?" you'd laughed, referencing the fact that they'd been friends for years.

"No, it's like... like, I don't know. He's just weird. Joe likes wallabees, you know those shoes?" Wesley had raised his eyebrows at you, making a point.

"Oh, ew," you'd grimaced.

"See? He's a weird fucker. Best to steer clear of him." Wesley'd concluded, and you had agreed to put it to rest, but you couldn't lie.

You'd seen pictures of Joe on red carpets looking sharp.

In your opinion, he was allowed to be weird and like wallabees if he wore suits like the ones you'd seen him wear every other week, no problem.

When you saw Wesley walk him into your flat, the first thing you did was pan down to see what shoes he was wearing.

Sneakers.

Okay.

Good.

Sneakers were fine.

They didn't match his outfit, but, they were fine.

Wesley pointed at you, and you smiled and waved at him from outside. Joe did the same, small smile, small wave, and then you turned back to your friends, turning away from the window completely.

"Shit," you whispered, making two of your girlfriends turn to see who you had just waved at, and they chuckled when they saw Joe.

"Shit," Joe said softly under his breath upon seeing you, his hand still stuck up in his wave, even after you'd turned around and faced away from him.

"Okay, let's go," Wesley said, dragging his friend into the kitchen. "We've got to talk."

Whilst getting Joe a drink from the fridge, he sighed deeply.

"There's no way..." he started, handing Joe a beer bottle, but not letting go of it just yet. "You're obviously each other's type, so there's no way I'm going to be able to stop this," Wesley looked his friend in the eye sternly.

Joe was just about to object, but Wesley was quick to speak over him.

"But if you fuck this up," his grip on the bottle strengthened. "She won't want to be my friend anymore, and then I won't want to be yours." Wesley warned, finally letting go of Joe's drink.

"Mate, nothing's gonna happen," Joe reassured, obviously lying to himself and to his best friend, planting a heavy hand on his shoulder and making Wesley scoff loudly.

Who was Joe trying to fool here?

"All right, well, we'll see about that,"

"Hi!" you stepped into the kitchen, and very obviously walked in on them talking about you. Both heads turned towards you and you were met with four big, bulging eyes and silence. You stared at them for a second, eyes going from one to the other, until you cleared your throat loudly.

"Hi," Joe snapped out of it and smiled his warmest of smiles before reaching out a hand and bowing his head down slightly as he shook yours.

Sparks.

You smiled back and silently told yourself you'd been right all along.

Joe really was handsome.

And cute?

How could you describe him... handsomely cute?

Pretty.

Joe was pretty.

Yes, pretty felt right.

Wesley formally introduced you to each other, but you couldn't even hear what he was saying.

Inside your head you heard classical music playing- a full orchestra, loud with violins and flutes and harps. Several harps, very romantic.

You held onto each other hands for far too long for it to be normal, and Wesley's eyes darted back and forth between the two of you.

"That's um... that's a lot of prolonged eye-contact, guys," Wesley spoke, his voice slightly hesitant, like he knew he was intruding.

"Yea," you sighed, still not breaking eye contact.

"Yea," Joe agreed and his smile grew wider, almost impossibly so.

"Greaaat... yea, this isn't making me uncomfortable at all," Wesley sarcastically elongated his words.

"Yep. yep. Great, this is just great. Well, I trust you guys will let me know if you need anything," Wesley's voice sounded uncomfortably constricted as he took awkwardly big steps to tiptoe around you as he stepped out of the kitchen, leaving the two of you alone.

"I've um... I've heard a lot about you," you said, finally snapping out of it.

"I've heard a lot about you too," Joe replied before taking a swig from his beer.

From outside on the balcony, Wesley and your two girlfriends watched as you and Joe chatted, exchanging pleasantries with flushed faces, pursed smiled, and probably painful cheeks from suppressing your grins so much.

It was an adorable sight to behold, and it made Wesley chuckle a little.

"I am either going to have to write two best-man-speeches for their wedding, or I'm going to be the deciding factor in who gets the dog when they break up," Wesley said, making your friends laugh as he shook his head.

He wasn't joking though, and inhaled a sharp breath before taking a sip from his drink.

There was no other choice for him but to stand back and watch this unfold.

We'll see how this pans out, he thought.

We'll see.

-----

The Taglisted:

@ghostinthebackofyourhead @kiwisa @jasminearondottir @josephquinned @cancankiki @sidthedollface2 @dylanmunson @munsonsgirl71 @alana4610 @emmamooney @xomunson @sadbitchfangirl @thatonefan-girl @paola-carter @eddiemunsonfuxks @figmentofquinn @haylaansmi @thewondernanazombie @hellowhatthehellisgoingonhere @munsonmunster @kellysimagines @dirtyeddietini @mybffjoe @harrys-tittie @chaoticgood-munson @harringtonfan4 @sherrylyn628 @bdpst-massacre @xeddiesbattattsx @05secondsofsexgods @lovelyblueness @adoreyouusugar @nadixq @prozacandnicotine @munsonswhore86 @alwayslindie @thefemininemystiquee @hauntingbastille @eddie-joe-munson @ali-in-w0nderland - add yourself

#requested #my best friend's best friend #joe quinn #joseph quinn #joe quinn x reader #joseph quinn x reader #joe quinn fanfic #joseph quinn fanfic #joe x reader #joseph x reader #joe quinn fluff #joseph quinn fluff #fanfiction #fluff #Inevitable Sparks

452 notes · View notes

liquidstar · 6 months

Text

If my mom sees a significant amount of blood she gets lightheaded, and has fainted on some occasions. Once it happened when we were kids, I wasn't there to witness it but I heard the story from my dad. Basically my brothers, around 7 or 8 at the time, were playing outside while my mom was making their lunch, and she accidentally cut her finger. It wasn't anything serious, but it drew a fair bit of blood and she passed out. My dad saw this and rushed over, but he didn't really know what to do so he just sort of started slapping her to wake her up (not recommended, but he had no idea and panicked)

At that exact moment my brothers both came in from playing, and all they saw was our mom unconscious on the floor and our dad slapping her. So, like, without even saying a word to each other they both just INSTANTLY start whaling on him, like, full blown attack mode to defend our mom. Which obviously didn't help the situation, but she did wake up and everything was fine.

Now our dad says that he's actually really glad they attacked him over what they thought was going on, because it means he raised good boys. And I still think that's true, they're very good boys.

#i think about this story sometimes like yeah I'm proud of them for that too actually. good job baby brothers #they're not babies anymore of course they're turning 20 next year which is crazy #but they're still the type of people who'd do something if they saw something of this sort happen for sure #respectful of women and everyone else too. they're good guys #I'm glad I ended up with them living in my house against my will for like 14 years #anyway i have no idea where i was for all this but my best guess is probably a friends house given the time period #i was always at my besties house lol #i hope she's doing well too actually. haven't spoken in forever...#bestie from greek elementary school... if you're out there... let's get muffins and fanta at the bakery across the street again someday 💜☮️

59K notes · View notes

haroldhighballjordan · 1 year

Text

sometimes I randomly think about the time a girl posted in this girls only Facebook group I’m in telling everyone how she broke up with her boyfriend and he lied saying that he lost the spare key she gave him, only to then break into her apartment when she wasn’t home and steal the cat they’d adopted while they were together, but then he denied having done this and she didn’t really have proof that he took the cat since he wouldn’t let her come into his place and look for it. And then another girl saw this post and knew her ex-boyfriend, and she was like “girl. I used to hook up with your mans back in xxxx and I still have his number. If you want, I’ll hit him up and get him to invite me back to his place and see if your cat’s there.” And the OP was like “bet.”

So this woman hit up homie dog, asked him out for drinks, went home with him, slept with him, and then woke up in the middle of the night and TOOK THE CAT. Like she had only said that she would confirm if the cat was there but then she took it upon herself to steal this woman’s cat back. Like she full on Trojan horsed this man and then hit up homegirl like “I got the goods. Where you wanna meet.” And then the two of them posted a photo of them together with the cat to the group.

And I just think women supporting women is so beautiful.

#the best part of all is that I also knew the ex boyfriend because he worked at this place my friend was the manager of #and I texted my friend like ‘yo have you heard about this cat situation’#and she was like ‘I swear to god if one more person asks me about this fucking cat’#it was the drama of the century #the whole city was up in arms over this cat

106K notes · View notes

skellydun · 8 months

Text

why is it when people ask me what i want as a gift i immediately become someone who enjoys nothing at all and has never wanted anything a day in their life.

#my birthday is a month away and my best friend and i #will be on our vacation in a treehouse and so she's trying to make it a Day and wants to have gifts there and im like uh #who am i ?#what do i like?#28 on the 09/18 baby

42K notes · View notes

laughingcatwrites · 5 months

Text

As a reminder that good exists out there, a coworker recently confessed to me that he found out his child is questioning their identity (kid's gender redacted for this post). The kid is keeping it from him, so he can't say anything to them or show that he knows, but he's doing his best to get mentally prepared and educated so that he'll be ready whenever his kid does feel comfortable enough come to him.

For context, this guy is a big, bulky middle aged dude who loves sports and typical outdoor "manly" activities. As his coworker and friend, I know he's a kind and sweet teddy bear of a person, but his kid probably views him as a stern, authoritarian figure, the way most teenagers view their parents. His family lives in a conservative area, so I'm sure between that, their dad's looks and interests, and the fact that their dad is a Figure of Authority, the kid is worried that they won't be accepted.

But you know what? When he found out about his kid, the first thing he did was reach out to his closest queer friend and ask for resources for parents of questioning children. His biggest fears are that his kid will be bullied or discriminated against and won't feel comfortable enough to be themself. His second action was to find himself a mentor in another parent who went the same situation (kid coming out in a conservative town). The other person is preparing him for some of the struggles his kid may face and the fights he may need to take on as a parent to make sure his kid is safe and treated well.

Something I want to emphasize for people focused on language as the primary method of allyship is that when we spoke, he used some outdated terms and thoughts about gender and sexuality. That does not make him bad. These were the terms and thinking used about questioning teenagers when he was growing up and he never needed to learn more current ones. But now that he does have that need, he's throwing himself in head first because that's his kid and he's darn well going to make sure that his kid feels welcomed and has a safe place to be themselves even if they never come out to him.

#I'm so proud and happy for my coworker and I've been trying to figure out how to let him know how amazing I think he is #what gets me the most is that he's keeping this super down low to avoid giving any hints to his kid #he has a lot of queer friends so he already is known as an ally but there's always a chance it will be different if it's family #and he took that chance and crumpled it up into a ball and slam dunked it into the garbage for three points #and decided that even if his kid wants to hide it from him for the rest of his life he will still do what he can to make their life better #pflag #parents doing their best #parenting win #good news #allyship

34K notes · View notes

theoldaeroplane · 7 months

Text

worried that thing you put in your art or writing or game or music is too self-indulgent, too self-referential, too niche for anyone but yourself? fear not! you can do whatever you want forever. and you should.

#writing #art #music #games #things i have to remind myself of daily #anyway ive found those things you're worried about sharing are often the most powerful things you CAN share #i hope you write #<- i would like to replace that tag with something that is less conversational #it makes reblogs awkward #anyway good morning. i have so many things to do today but instead i am crafting a memorial to my partner's best friend in my fanfiction.

34K notes · View notes

davidtennantpussytulpa · 1 year

Text

#the best decision of my life was breaking up with my friend who was like this its truly the most brain dead shit 🙏🏻#tiktok #repost

55K notes · View notes

maxgicalgirl · 2 months

Text

Being a “Fun Fact !” kind of autistic is all fun and games until you get halfway through sharing an interesting tidbit and realize that it probably wasn’t appropriate to share in polite company and now you have to deal with the consequences :(

#autism #neurodivergent #adhd #fun facts #GOD I’m such an idiot #anyways now a 10 year old is out there looking up swear words online and it’s all my fault :(#I got so excited by the fact that I knew a fun fact #that I didn’t stop to think that maybe not everyone knows that fun fact for a reason :(#it’s like explaining how to successfully bury a body at a book club #or explaining the dangers of Scientology to your sister’s boyfriend the first time you meet him #or debating gay sex positions with your best friend in front of your mom #no matter how much I wish to be a beacon of knowledge in this world #sometimes there are things others just don’t want to know #and consciously that’s valid but the autism ? I does not care

8K notes · View notes

floccinaucinihilipilificationa · 6 months

Text

#good omens #´hello friends!! how are you!!#I hope you're doing well! ( ´ ▽ ` )#I have a big cough but otherwise I am good! It's nothign bad I am just very slimey #usually I am not a cough person I am not sure where this is coming from #most of the time I just get a stuffy nose #has my nose gotten stronger #but there are good news too I have already found a VERY good chestnut to put into my pocket this autumn!! its very small! (❁´▽`❁)#it's been a very warm autumn in Germany so far so it has not really felt like fall yet #but yesterday it was all rainy and stormy and I had two new books and it was the best day possible to have a slimey cough (:#and now I feel SO much autumn I am close to buying a set of window colors #I do not know what I would to with the window colors I just have this strong urge in me to buy a window color set #the last time I did a window color was at the birtday of a class mate I think she turned 9 and I made a deer #but for some reason we did this craft 5 minutes before we all had to leave so we had to carry our window color deer home wet #unfortunatly for the deer and me I fell down the stairs of her house and smeared the deer all over me and i screamed the entire drive home #which wasn't very long but it probably felt very long for the mother who had a screaming child covered in window color deer inside her car

12K notes · View notes

raayllum · 11 months

Text

i love it when characters are unfair, actually. i love it when they’re uncouth and cranky and hypocritical, i love it when they have cognitive dissonances, i love it when they make good and bad choices for the wrong reasons. i love when they’re short to anger and hard to understand. i love it when they’ve destroyed themselves for nothing but can’t even see either part of it yet. i love it when they’re messy and selfish and bad at communicating. i love it when they get convinced of their own ego and stuck in a feedback loop regarding their own warped paranoia. i love it when characters actively make their lives unknowingly harder for themselves. i love it when characters don’t know they’re in a story. i love it when characters are like real people

#text post #the dragon prince #the gang's all here #s4 is my best friend #tragedy enjoyer #morally ambiguous fam #viren #claudia #rayla #callum #runaan #tdp viren #tdp claudia #tdp harrow #tdp runaan #tdp rayla #tdp callum #king harrow

23K notes · View notes

alfheimr · 6 days

Text

mithrun 🌞

#dungeon meshi #mithrun #objectively an awkward pose but its not the point. i just wanted to draw his face and hair at that angle. the rest is small potatoes.#shoutout once again to clip studio paint asset ID 2031117 “liquid” brush which made it much easier for me to plan & line his hair <3 #“liquid” brush is my new best friend.

7K notes · View notes

icallhimjoey · 1 year

Note

I need more inevitable sparks omggg how can you leave it thereeeee

yes ok ok ok OK here you go (rewritten 19 nov 2023) Wordcount: 2.9K

Inevitable Sparks

part one - part two - part three - part four - part five

The silence in the room was deafening.

Like when you've gone to a concert and try to fall asleep in a silent bedroom afterwards with your ears ringing.

Wesley had slammed the door which had made you flinch, but you hadn't minded it, because it felt a little deserved. You could have just told Wesley the second you saw him that you had Joe over, but you hadn't. You'd tried to communicate it without using words which had backfired in the worst way possible.

You made painful, guilty eye contact with Joe as you stood in the doorway of your living room.

You didn't fully understand, though, if you were honest.

Were you doing something wrong?

Why did it feel like you were doing something wrong?

Guilt was a dirty emotion that could eat you from the inside out if you weren't careful, and you could feel it have a little nibble.

Neither of you knew what to say.

"I don't... I don't know what to do," you said, giving the bottle of wine Wesley had pressed into your hands a glance.

It was your favourite.

Joe's eyes panned from you, to the table, to the ladle he was still holding, to the shrimp that smelled and looked so good. Then he groaned as he squeezed his eyes shut for a second and dropped the ladle into the pan.

"He seemed upset, didn't he?" Joe asked for confirmation, but he knew he was right.

He let a little noise escape his throat; a shallow, muted sort of chuckle, like he only just realised how bad of a friend he’d been.

You shrugged.

Wesley kind of did seem upset, but you felt like you were missing numbers in the equation. You didn't know Wesley like Joe knew Wesley and you hadn't learnt how to read all of him yet.

It was true that he'd walked in on an awkward situation, but was Wesley not the one that had brought you two together?

Had Wesley not introduced you to each other?

Why did you having dinner with Joe have to upset him?

"Fuck," Joe whispered, letting himself fall back into the chair. Joe's eyes scanned the space in front of him once more, and you knew he was calculating what his next move was going to be.

Please stay, you thought.

Joe could meet up with his friend later. After you had, you know, gotten to know each other better.

You could ignore the gnawing inside you for a couple of hours if you tried hard enough.

"Wesley wanted to hang out tonight because I'm leaving the country tomorrow," Joe explained, revealing that the gnawing inside him was probably a lot worse.

He had his head slumped to the side, his ear almost touching his shoulder and his stomach knotted hard with strange pulls of emotions he didn't want to untangle.

"And I was about to say we could, but then... you called."

Ah.

Puzzle pieces slotted together in your mind.

"Shrimp overload," you half explained the situation to yourself and half defended yourself, fighting your cause for needing Joe.

Joe nodded slowly before grimacing.

"Ugh, and I've not seen him in weeks." Joe scolded himself, and you almost felt worse for him than you did for Wesley.

"Wesley's going to be fine," you comforted, knowing it was true.

He would be.

Wesley was a good friend.

And Joe was too, he wasn't a bad friend - couldn't be a bad friend.

The look he gave you explained what Joe felt he needed to do; what motivation he felt that was about to pull him away from you. You inhaled sharply before giving him a small nod.

He could go.

You understood.

"I'm sorry," he apologised as he got up. "I'll call you tonight, all right?" Joe stepped around you and found his shoes where he'd left them and slipped them on.

Just before he was about to step out, he turned and looked at you, still stood there with that bottle of wine in your hands, looking a little lost.

You tried your best to hide all disappointment from your features, and you smiled at Joe, but it was too weak. Too faint. Joe detected it with ease in the slight upturn of your eyebrows and your big round eyes that punched emotion right into his gut.

He sighed defeatedly through his nose and pressed his lips together before taking a step closer to you, grabbing both your arms and pulling you in closer for a kiss to your forehead.

Without much thought, you let your arms find his back and you hugged him tight, pressing the lip of the wine bottle into his shirt.

It was a cute moment, and you could feel Joe inhale you as you did the same, but you hated that this press of his lips to your forehead was all the intimacy you were going to get that night.

You spent the rest of the evening sat at your table, staring at your phone, lazily picking shrimp from the pan and discarding their tails onto Joe's plate as you ate.

You were waiting for a text, or a call, from either Joe or from Wesley.

Surely, they'd talk and then immediately one of them would fill you in, right?

To fill the time you'd called another friend for some distraction, but you had only been able to half listen to them. They didn't know Wesley or Joe, and you didn't want to explain the whole story, so you just talked about random other things. Mostly about things going on in their life. Which was fine. It just wasn't what was on the forefront of your mind right now.

At 10PM you decided to go for a shower, and if Joe still hadn't called you afterwards, you were going to give him a ring.

You'd never showered faster.

You knew there was conditioner left in your hair still, but you had to go check your phone.

Nothing.

Joe still hadn't called, and the rejection you felt in your chest fueled enough adrenaline into your veins for you to call Joe yourself.

So, with dripping wet hair and a heart beating so heavily you could feel it in your throat, you stood naked in your bathroom and waited for the dial tone.

It rang twice, and then...

"Hey, this is Joe, leave a message and I'll try to get back to you,"

Voicemail?!

Joe had never sent you to voicemail before, and you feared maybe he'd gotten into a fight with Wesley.

Over you?

You hoped not.

What if he was still with him now?

You let your finger hover over Wesley's name in your contact list. Would Wesley also send you to voicemail if you called him?

Before you had the chance to find out, you received a text that drained all the colour from your face as you felt something inside your chest splinter.

"Maybe it's best if we stayed friends"

The way nausea hit your system immediately was of great concern to you, because your brain tried to rationalise it all just as quick as heavy emotions found you. Two voices inside of you, one trying to process information and the other trying to protect you at the same time.

Joe hadn't even kissed you.

Yes, he had, but only on your forehead and it was a little sad but also a little romantic.

To an outsider you would have been just friends all this time, anyway.

Friendship's an important building block in a relationship.

Maybe Joe didn't even like shrimp and you'd ruined it before anything had even really begun.

But that would mean Joe'd come over just for you, which somehow felt worse.

You weren't dating.

But you called each other almost every night and would listen to each other as you brushed your teeth.

Or exclusive, for that matter.

The little time Joe had was divided up between Wesley and you, and he hadn't even gotten to see Wesley at all that month - how was Joe going to also be talking to other girls? He couldn't be. For practical reasons alone, he couldn't be.

Nothing had happened.

Yet.

Nothing.

Had.

Happened.

So then, why were you crying?

You decided you wouldn't call Wesley. Whatever had happened in between Joe leaving your flat with soft lips that promised he would call and this text message he'd just sent had obviously something to do with Wesley.

So fuck Wesley.

He could die.

And the next morning, when Wesley posted a story to Instragram of himself peering out the small window of a plane, he could die even more.

So what now?

Wesley was off with Joe on his work trip, and outwardly, you were a little sad. Inside, though, you were big sad, but you also knew how dating worked and these things just happened, didn't they?

Within the solitary space of your own home, you allowed yourself to really feel the big sad, and you forced yourself to sit with your emotions, because you knew that if you didn't, it would creep through and seep out in the most inconvenient of moments.

Like when you'd order a coffee and remembered how Joe thought you liked it with cow's milk, which you absolutely fucking didn't.

Or when you'd had a zoom meeting for work, and remembered how Joe had made you continuously laugh throughout the one that he missed and had gotten yelled at for because rescheduling almost seemed impossible.

Or even when you'd be out food shopping and would come across frozen bags of shrimp in the freezer section.

No.

It was best you let yourself cry for a while. That meant you could get over it faster, and be normal around Wesley when he got back, because after thinking it over a lot, you decided Wesley didn't actually need to die.

He was just a sad friend that got given a nice gesture - that was all.

So after two tear-filled days, when you received a text from Wesley with a silent video of him smoking outside of a restaurant somewhere late at night that panned to Joe and had him pull a stupid face when he noticed he was being filmed, you sent back that you hoped they were enjoying themselves. Because you did.

A few days later, just when you started thinking that maybe by now they might be back from their trip, you got a call from Wesley.

"Hey,"

"Got any plans for tonight?" Wesley didn't even say hi, but went straight for the important stuff.

He had missed you and wanted to hang out.

"I don't," you answered, because who would you be spending your time with these days if not with Joe or with Wesley?

"I was planning on decorating my place for Christmas," you added, peering over at your still empty Christmas tree.

"Are you sure? No other things planned? If I come over I won't walk in on, oh, I don't know, a romantic dinner date? There won't be another man in your flat?" Wesley teased.

It was a bad joke that you thought was meant to ease the uncomfortable thing you hadn't yet talked about.

"Ha, ha," you sarcastically commented, and you heard Wesley snigger.

You couldn't help but feel that Wesley's playful comments were a little misplaced, even if Wesley had meant well, but you were happy to hear his laughter anyway.

"I'll come help. You still have that bottle of wine?"

"Do you... do you know me at all?" you rolled your eyes and let Wesley hear it through your voice. It made him laugh.

"Okay, so I'll bring another bottle, what time do you want me over?"

And that was that.

Wesley was going to come over and bring wine and you were still friends even though Joe didn't want to kiss you anymore.

It was going to be fine.

When you opened the door for Wesley that evening and found his smiling, stupid, smug face holding up two bottles of your favourite wine, you couldn't help but smile back as you let him in.

"There's an empty spot there, still," you commented, stepping back from the Christmas tree as you gave it a once over whilst nursing your glass of wine.

"Yea, well, you're out of baubles," Wesley let himself fall onto your sofa before reaching for his glass, clearly done fidgeting with little wire hooks that kept tangling together.

"No I'm not," you said, pointing at the clear plastic storage tub that held all your Christmas things.

"I'm not letting you hang the glass ones down that low," Wesley said, using the excuse that he was afraid careless shins would knock them out.

You knew he just didn't want to get up again, but Wesley had helped plenty, so for now, the Christmas tree looked decorated enough and you plopped down on the sofa next to him.

All night, the chat between the two of you had been casual, almost like it had been before you'd ever even met Joe. Except Wesley kept nonchalantly mentioning Joe and kept trying to innocently poke fun a little, but you never bit. Instead you didn't react, sang along with a line from a Christmas song that was playing and after a while, Wesley noticed how you ignored every single mention of Joe, changed the subject skillfully, and at one point, even frowned a little. This wasn't the shy blushes, soft giggles and starry eyes he'd gotten used to from you at the mention of Joe.

"How is it... how's it going?" Wesley carefully asked once you were both seated and had proudly looked at your lit up Christmas tree for a moment.

You looked at him to gain how genuine the question was.

"With you and Joe?" Wesley clarified, and you gave him an unappreciative glare.

"Wesley, if you think you're being funny, stop."

"Huh?" Wesley seemed confused, which in turn made you confused, and you just looked at each other with furrowed brows for a second.

"Wait," you narrowed your eyes at Wesley. "Has Joe... has he not said?"

"What..." Wesley's face dropped. "What did he do?" and his voice sounded flat, absolutely anticipating the worst.

How could Joe not have said?

He'd gone after Wesley, obviously they had then talked, and Joe had decided to take Wesley with him half way across the world... that should have left him with plenty of time, opportunity and reason to let Wesley know of the text he'd sent you that night.

You scanned Wesley's face to find if maybe he was joking. But him being out of the loop seemed to add up. It explained all the jokes and comments he'd made throughout the evening. It even explained the video he'd sent you of him and Joe.

You reached for your phone and silently opened your messages, glancing over it at Wesley every couple of seconds to gage if his confusion held up.

Unfortunately, it did.

Upon reading the text, Wesley's timid confusion turned into full force fury. You practically saw someone light a match behind his eyes as he sat up straight and stared at your phone with an expression that read absolute outrage.

"What the fuck?!"

"I figured he would have told you?" you shrugged your shoulders up high and kept them there.

"We-... what?! He sent that before we left?" Wesley grabbed your phone and held it closer to his face, double checking.

"We talked about you every single day!" he exclaimed loudly.

"You did?" to your own dismay, you heard how hopeful you sounded and cringed inwardly at yourself.

The two of you made eye contact, and Wesley's eyebrows knitted together in empathy.

"Well... no, wait... I talk about you all the time," Wesley thought back.

"Joe mostly just... listened, I guess... Jesus fucking Christ, I can't believe he sent that," Wesley groaned and squeezed his eyes shut tightly, the secondhand embarrassment almost too much for him to bear.

"You talked about me and Joe didn't think to maybe tell you that he wants us to just be friends?" you needed Wesley to clarify it for you, to say it out loud, because it seemed too bizarre to be true.

Wesley stared into the empty space in front of him, seemingly lost in thought and he ignored your question until he placed his glass of wine on the table and abruptly got up.

"I'm going to murder him." Wesley made his way to where he had left his shoes.

"Wesley," you pleaded.

"Will you help?" he slipped into his shoes, not bothering with the laces but simply tucking them into the sides.

"Wesley," you said again. "These things happen! It's fine! I cried for two days, and now I'm over it!" you tried to make yourself believe it as much as you tried to convince Wesley. But mentioning that you'd cried over Joe, only fueled the fire within Wesley more.

"Joe's a dead man." He took his coat from where he'd thrown it over the back of a chair and slung his arms into it. "Dead. Deceased. Perished. Gone."

"You're drunk, maybe, let's not-"

"I'll see you later."

"Wes!"

And whereas you thought he slammed your door loudly the last time he'd walked out, it seemed almost sensible compared to the slam you heard upon his leaving now. It nearly pulled the door from its hinges.

"Shit."

-----

The Taglisted:

#requested #part 4 #inevitable sparks #joe quinn #joseph quinn #joe quinn x reader #joseph quinn x reader #joe quinn x you #joseph quinn x you #joe quinn fanfic #joseph quinn fanfic #angst #fluff #fanfiction #my best friend's best friend

277 notes · View notes

inkskinned · 5 months

Text

in internet posts it is easy to cut them out of your life. they are hurting you! they aren't listening to you!

they held your hair back. they lent you lipstick. they held your hand at the train station and got you home safe. they rounded on your bully, got loud, said get fucked, spitting-mad in your defense.

they also cut the hair off again. told you that you should really think twice before wearing something like that. took you for granted. took your insecurities and threw them in your face again.

you know logically it should be easy. all the internet advice comments always read it will feel better. like an equation - if a person is rotten, you just remove them. you pull the tooth that's hurting.

but it was never a big flare-up moment. you don't live in a sitcom. they never tried to take your boyfriend or steal from your apartment. they showed up to birthdays and they wrote songs about you and bring you water without you asking. once you found out they carry an emergency inhaler for you, even though you haven't had an asthma attack in years - just in case.

where is the line? people fuck up. sometimes they fuck up badly. sometimes people have raw personalities, like a powerline, and being around them is dangerous. addicting. sometimes they can't help themselves, but you know they're trying. sometimes they are just rough-around-the-edges. sometimes they don't even realize how they sounded when they said that. sometimes it's just - you've both loved each other for so long now, the way this thing hurts goes back to the root.

and that's the fucked up part. you have pushed your fingers against the sweetheart of memory. things these days are electric, tense, harrowing. they didn't used to be. there were a lot of good days in there. sometimes you want to just close your eyes and say can this be over yet? do we still need to be fighting?

doing that would give up any chance you get of getting an apology, but you don't always know that you need an apology, you love them. once they flaked on your birthday party. once they told you to get over it, people are always dying. they also let you crash on their couch for a week after the breakup, handfeeding you when you were so sad you couldn't eat. they are also judgmental about everything, occasionally react to banal statements with an attitude that is weird and fiery. they also love you like a lighthouse sometimes, so strong they cut the storm like lightning.

but the problem is that you might be storm. you might be the thing that needs breaking. what if you are two forces who are desperately, horribly drawn to each other, shaped by the other person's passions, and both good for each other and bad in equal measure.

what if you're both just people, and you're no saint neither.

just cut them off! swallowing the saltwater, you catch yourself in the mirror. you've been shaking more than usual. there's an ache in you that is oblique, loud, impossible to soothe. is this what it looks like? when life is "easier"?

your mouth will always have a hole, is the thing, if you remove the tooth.

#spilled ink #warm up #writeblr #this is about someone specific but feel free to blorbo on main.#tbh this is familial for me so that is an element but it's also about childhood best friends #and probably about ur enemies to lovers blorbo #(but i want to specifically say if ur partner is like this. not necessarily a good partnership lol.)#(the dynamics at play in familial/friend relationships feel equally important and in some ways are HARDER to escape.#bc we can see that this is a potentially toxic romantic foundation.#but in family ? ...... it's toxic and it doesn't stop u from loving them. bc u always have.#and i think that makes it harder. by a lot. which is what this is referencing).#but genuinely and really truly forever feel free to tag ur potentially toxic enemies to lovers on this and all my poetry #here i'll do one for u - adora & catra :x

8K notes · View notes