Chapter Text
With the temporary absence of Greasepit's local celebrity and his all time best bro, Darnell Fetzervalve found himself with a lot of free time on his hands. Time that most would kill to have, but not him. To him, it felt like he had condemned himself to a week of solitary antics, ones whose enjoyment would not be worth the burden without the presence of his very tall, very awesome, and very handsome...friend.
Darnell knew from a young age that he developed a bad habit of making poor decisions. There was a time in his adolescence that his so-called friends tricked him into setting off fireworks inside his parent's house. He was lucky enough to make it out of the kitchen having only lost his eyebrows; he had his Gran-Gran to thank for that. All those 'friends' of his did was set him up for stuff and bail right afterwards. Most of his friends growing up had a tendency of being undependable, manipulative, and overall jerks. It was because of this that he grew to be anxious around other people. That was, until he met Buddy thunderstruck. That, Darnell always thinks to himself, had to of been the best decision he's made in his life. Everything before that and even after never mattered to him, because Buddy was always there to brighten up his days.
“Oh, OH. And this one time Buddy drove the Rabble Rouser off a ramp and into Really-Old-Lady’s backyard garden. None of the flowers were hurt though, surprisingly.” Darnell tilted his head, scratching it pensively as he spoke between bites of hot wings. Dusk approached steadily within the Concho Bolo as sunlight dipped out of the windows and the indoor lighting suddenly felt brighter.
Muncie slumped down in front of Darnell after having picked up the last of the left over plates strewn about the place from previous patrons. She placed her chin on her palm and leaned into the table.
"Right, right. Then Really-Old-Lady came outside and you two helped her plant a new flower bed in the land Buddy ran over."
"Yeah! Wait, how did you know?"
"This is the fourth time you've told me the darn story, Darnell. Same with the Sword-fish sword fight you two had and Buddy's "allergic" reaction to eating celery."
"Hey! He could have easily come down with some weird mutant plant powers if I hadn't spun him around really-really fast to spit it out. Actually, that might have been cool, hm. But Buddy doesn’t need weird vegetable powers to be awesome, he just is awesome, you know?" A smile crept it's way onto Darnell's face as he imagined that grin that Buddy gave him every time he praised him. The confident grin, snaggletooth and all, that made Darnell's stomach flip every time and his chest tighten. He shook his head to get a hold of himself.
"That reminds me, have I told you about how ticklish Buddy is? Ha-ha, he gets real squirmy when you grab him by the ribs, oh, and especially in his armpits." He raised his hands in front of her and wiggled his fingers. Muncie felt somewhat exasperated at the amount of attention Darnell's been giving her ever since Buddy went on that trip to visit his folks. It's not like she didn't like talking to him, heck, he was her cousin's best bro. At least that’s what they like to call it. No, Darnell was a great friend. It was just...
"Muncie? Muncie. Hey, Muncie! You alright there? You look like you caught a whiff of some stink flowers or something. Man, I can practically smell it too now that I said it, Pee-yew."
"Just a bit tired, I guess. It's actually been awful calm around here since Buddy's been gone, can't say I don’t miss him and all the noise he brings with."
"Yeah...miss him..."
Darnell furrowed his brow and lowered his eyes to the half eaten wings in front of him. Buddy would have finished the wings and ordered more by now, he thought. He continued to wonder, what flavor wings they had in Grassflat city where Buddy had gone to. Were they as good as the Concho Bolo, maybe good enough to stay and not come back? He mentally cursed himself for worrying about it. His best bro could do whatever he wants, they don’t have to do everything together. And yet, they have, up until now. If only he hadn't been so anxious to meet Buddy's parents, they could be sitting together somewhere eating hot wings and laughing about how awful the racing scene in the town is. Darnell sighed deeply, and without thinking he opened his mouth.
"Do you think Buddy misses me...?" The question had surprised Muncie. She blunk a number of times with her mouth agape before gathering her composure.
"What? Of course he does, silly. Why wouldn't he?" Muncie had not noticed before, but Darnell was holding his arms up to his chest while his tail twitched all sorts of ways. She should of guessed where this was all coming from. It wasn't her business to go assuming things about Buddy and Darnell, but the way the two of them acted, you would have thought it was obvious to anyone else but them. She mentally shook her head trying to figure out how to approach the topic.
"Darnell. You and Buddy have been friends since sin was born. Heck, from what I've seen you're practically more than just best bros."
"You mean like best-BEST-bros?" Darnell added, feeling somewhat revitalized by her compliment. Muncie slapped her forehead. There had to be a better way of getting him to realize, right? She hoped.
"Well, not exactly. You see there's best bros, and then there's boyyy-" She elongated her pronunciation in an attempt to lead Darnell to the conclusion.
"Boyyy-scouts? Boyyy-bands? I guess we could try to get the band back together again, but what does that have to do with Buddy missing me or not?" Muncie comically slammed her face into one of the bussed plates. It was no use trying to lead a blind ferret to drink. She threw aside whatever long, tedious list of questions she had and just up and said it.
"Of course Buddy would miss you ya' ignoramus, its normal for boyfriends to miss each other when they're away." She had said it, and now because it had been said Darnell felt his eyes dart every which way, looking for some way out of her very direct accusation. Not because he had anything against it, he just felt vulnerable having one of his deepest secrets brought up so casually.
"What? No...Buddy? Psh, haha. I mean. We're just. It's not. You know, uhh" Darnell rubbed the back of his neck as more words stumbled out of his mouth. His belly rumbled from the situation, filled with an anxious sensation that threatened to empty his stomach. This wasn't the first time he's dealt with these crippling feelings that turned his knees to mush and warmed his ears. He's dealt with all of that already, even learned to handle himself around Buddy, but something about taking a step over the line that separates best bros from... well, you know, brings all those old feelings back to surface. Was he really that obvious with his feelings over Buddy that Muncie was able to find out? For a fleeting moment he hoped that Muncie was joking about the boyfriend thing.
She couldn't possibly know how he felt, let alone how Buddy did. But then he thought, what if she did? What if everyone else did? What if he had somehow compromised his position in town and with Buddy as his mechanic? Leave it to Darnell Fetzervalve to go and ruin something in town for once...rehhh! His head was a spiral of nervous questions and apprehensive thoughts. With the Concho Bolo as empty as it was, the old jukebox playing static in the background, Darnell was finding it difficult to find a way to answer Muncie while dealing with his panic attack.
"Fart nuggets..." he mumbled under his breath, "No, we're just friends... just, friends."
Over the span of the long silence, She noticed that a sense of resigned disappointment in his response. Weren't they dating, why would Darnell say no? Muncie had failed to realize the complicated circumstances that both of them were in. It was so easy for her as an outsider to watch and just believe things were so because that’s what they appeared like. In watching Darnell's restless fidgeting, Muncie made an attempt to back-step on what she said.
"What? Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Listen, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable about this all. You two just seemed so close. Too close, even for best bros." Muncie hated the fact that she failed to take her own advice to leave things be. And yet, she felt like there was something more that Darnell wasn't telling her. That she was right about everything from the start, but what could she do? As a last ditch effort of reconciliation she pulled out her phone and called her Uncle and Auntie in Grassflat city.
"Hey there, how're y'all doing, hope I didn’t wake anyone up. Nah, it's only about 6pm over here. Yeah, yeah, the weathers nice, listen, is Buddy there? Can you put him on the line?" Darnell immediately sat up in his seat once he realized what she was doing. It was their first meeting all over again. His throat suddenly felt dangerously dry and the walls around him almost appeared to be spinning.
"Muncie, no, you don’t have to-" before he knew it she had thrust the phone into his hands and stood up to carry plates back into the kitchen. She winked at him before entering the kitchen, making him let out a nervous squeak.
"Darnell? Hey, are you there or not man? Phew, it's been a wild past couple of days for me, I tell ya. You know they don’t even serve hot wings at the restaurant near my folks place? It’s gotta be one of the worst things to happen to these poor citizens, and mankind for that matter. A wingless city is no place for such an awesome racer as yours truly, no siree." Within seconds of hearing Buddy's sweet, colorful voice again, Darnell felt his shoulders un-tense and his headache eased up. He openly sighed in relief.