#also i wonder who that convenience store cashier could be hmmm

[stp-au-wthnig]

Well, This Happens Next, I Guess

Chapter 2: A Car Full Of Noise

Note: This was supposed to be fully silly but I kind of wrote an intro and ended up making it actually pretty heartfelt at times. It's still very slice-of-life though. Plus I wrote this with a headache so it might be a bit scuffed.

---

Hero was sitting by the window in his apartment while the Narrator was watching TV. The two had mutually decided it would be for the good of everyone in the apartment complex if they ended up as roommates.

The Narrator had spent much of His time reading or watching TV since arriving here. Hero suspected He was a bit bitter about the whole 'Wing leaving with Princess' thing...

Hero checked the fridge. There was barely anything left in there. Figures as much, the Narrator hadn't gotten any work done yet so they haven't earned any money.

The other apartments were better off because they had more stable careers going for them, at least. The Narrator decided to live up to His name and become a writer, but due to His current state of mind, He hasn't gotten any writing done yet. And now they've run out of food.

"Um... there's no food left. Don't you think you should, uh... do something about that?"

The Narrator didn't respond. Hero was about to head right over to Him when he heard knocking on the apartment door.

Hero opened the door. It was Stubborn, along with Hunted behind him.

"Hey. Uh... what do you want?" Hero asked.

"Hunted ate all the food in our fridge. Again. So we're going to WcDonald's. Figured we may as well invite everyone." Stubborn explained.

Hero didn't hesitate to accept. Things were pretty bad right now, so he was desperate. He offered for the Narrator to come along, but He refused.

---

Cold ended up as the driver. The rest of the Voices were seated in the conveniently spacious car.

"Are we there yet?" Contrarian would ask every now and then. There was no doubt he was deliberately doing it to try and annoy Cold.

"Is there any tape in this car? I think a certain someone's mouth could use some right now." Cheated grumbled.

"Ugh... thank god I'm sitting in here on an empty stomach..." Hero groaned as he started to feel queasy. He keeps forgetting he's prone to motion sickness.

"Being on an empty stomach is a bad thing. We need food to survive and thrive." Hunted notably looked uneasy about the whole situation.

"That reminds me. What are we going to do about him anyway? Aren't you not allowed to enter a restaurant without shoes?" Skeptic pointed out.

"Knowing him, he'll probably order a bunch to put in the freezer, so we actually just planned on going to the drive-thru and then heading over to the park to eat." Stubborn explained.

"How is he so small if he eats so much?" Opportunist asked, causing Hunted to lower his head in embarrassment.

"I'm not much bigger..." Broken whined as usual.

The conversation in the car continued until they reached the WcDonald's drive-thru. Now came the really chaotic part: ordering the food.

---

Everyone squeezed their heads against the windows to read the menu. Well, almost everyone. Smitten remained seated where he was.

"I don't really care much for fast food, but the milkshakes they do here are good, so order me one of those. Preferably chocolate."

Another easy order was Cheated, who just wanted a simple cheeseburger meal with cola.

Just as Stubborn predicted, Hunted ordered a LOT of food, as he wanted to store some of it in the freezer for later.

Opportunist decided to order something light. He wanted to be liked so he needed to watch his weight.

Paranoid also ordered something light because he didn't trust what the food could potentially do to his body.

Everyone else had comparatively simple orders, but Contrarian could not make up his mind and Skeptic took an infuriatingly long time to order anything.

"You, make up your mind. And you, just order something already!" Cheated snapped at Contrarian and Skeptic.

"I'm just trying to see which meal would be best for the situation. It's hard to determine when I've only been eating for a short time." Skeptic snapped back.

"Honestly, I just wanted to see how long it'd take for you guys to notice I've been unbuckling your seat belts as I ordered." Contrarian chuckled.

"You little shit..." Cheated grumbled, which ended up escalating into a loud and chaotic argument between all the voices, before they finally settled on their orders.

They ordered their food and pulled up to the window. After a while, they were given their food, and they all froze when they realised who was at the drive-thru window.

"You guys are assholes, you know that?" Princess snarked at them before bringing their orders in one by one.

---

After that awkward moment, Cold drove to the park and parked the car outside. They made it to a bench and put their food on the table.

Broken looked at his meal with sadness. They'd gotten his order wrong. Cheated's order was also wrong, but he was more angry about it.

After they ate their meals, Contrarian stood up.

"Last one to the lake has to throw the trash out!"

Naturally, Hunted won the race. The others forgot how fast he was. Broken made it there last but Skeptic and Hero offered to help with the trash.

After doing so, Hero eyed the convenience store. He wished he could buy some more food there. Skeptic sighed and dragged him in there with him.

---

"So He's been struggling to get writing done, huh?" Skeptic said after Hero explained.

"Yeah... all He's really felt up to doing is watching TV lately. It's... been worse ever since Wing and Princess arrived."

"Why do you even put up with Him? Especially after all He put us and them through..." Skeptic questioned.

"Well... He doesn't really have anyone." Hero explained. "And if anyone was to stay with Him, it should be someone who's been there alongside Him since the beginning. It just... feels like the right thing to do."

The previously bored-looking cashier looks at the two with intrigue, as if she feels something familiar in them, before being called out to let someone else take over for her.

---

"Thanks for helping me out." Hero said as they left the store and rejoined the others.

"Don't mention it. But you should really start taking care of yourself more." Skeptic warned him.

Cold directed them back to the car and they headed off.

As the rest of the car descended into chaos once again, Hero just stared out the window, reflecting on his conversation with Skeptic.

"Hero? It's unlike you to not get involved in their arguments." Cold pointed out from the driver's seat. "You're not getting carsick again, are you? I'd rather you open the window if you're going to..."

Hero snapped out of it and started speaking again. "No, no. I'm fine. I'm fine."

---

He made it back to his apartment and put the groceries in the fridge.

"Good news. We have food, thanks to Skeptic and..."

He then saw the Narrator asleep at His desk, having finally gotten some writing done.

Hero looked at the scene in front of him... and then he smiled. He put a blanket over Narrator's shoulders and closed the door.

This was the right thing to do. He just knew it. Eventually the others would understand.

Hero turned on the TV and watched mindlessly until he fell asleep.