Title: Happy Days
Author: witblogi
Pairings: BENJI AND JAMES Y'ALL
Rating: PG
Warnings: NONE? WHAT? JAMES DOESN'T EVEN SAY THE F-WORD??!! OH WAIT, THERE'S A COUGAR ALERT, AND APPARENTLY ALL CAPS WARNINGS :D
Summary: Benji loves Halloween, it's when he and James became non"friends".
Notes: For introject ! SURPRISE!! This is to make up for not getting the batgirl dress, sorry :( ilu anyway.


“No,” James’ face didn’t even distort in a negative way; instead he emotionlessly just declined. Benji didn’t believe it.

“ You’re joking! It’s Halloween!” He shouted gleefully, swinging his orange plastic jack-o-lantern bucket and making sure his greased hair was still in place in the crooked mirror beside the door, “ It’s how we first became friends!” He tugged on the collar of his leather jacket and smoothed his white t-shirt, blinking into over his shoulder to where James peered at him above the tops of his square framed glasses.

“ One, we aren’t friends. Two, no.” He didn’t even manage to keep eye contact through all six words; instead he strayed back to his readings, the flat tiny black print proving time again to be more interesting than Benji.

“ But it’s Halloween,” The fake Fonz stressed the name like it would make a difference. James turned his page in a loud disinterested manner, “ It’s the best holiday in the world!”

“ It isn’t a holiday.”

“ Sure it is! Everyone celebrates-“

“ It’s not a holiday, you don’t have the day off. Most of the world doesn’t celebrate it. It’s an invention of the American corporate machine churning out countless obesity inducing treats and pointless costumes to rob the parents of pasty white children living in Milwaukee believing in the magic of Halloween who then grow up and go to college and think it’s cool to keep padding the bottom line.” James turned another page. He didn’t even blink.

“ …I’m not from Milwaukee.” Benji set his bucket down carefully in front of James on the table.

“ It doesn’t matter.”

Benji frowned, turned, picked up his keys and left, shutting the door quietly behind him. James turned another page and paused. He blinked at the grinning monotoothed black on orange plastic bucket face before him, noting absently that Benji forgot his pumpkin. He then mused that his roommate would be back soon to collect it and began to mentally categorize all the reasons why Halloween was idiotic to spew forth at a moments notice.

The minutes ticked by, the felix the cat clock’s tail over the stove swung back and forth slowly, each pass like a swipe of sand paper against his brain until finally rubbed raw James threw down his book, grabbed the bucket and left.

He shrugged on his own leather coat ( brown, and not circa 1953) , pushing his keys into his pocket as he descended the stairs, orange grin swinging merrily in his grip. He knew Benji would have gone to the bar they’d been when he thought they became friends, so James started there. He didn’t really know or even care why he needed to deliver the bucket, only that if he didn’t he would never be able to concentrate again.

Sure enough when he entered the Blue Unicorn the costume party was in full swing but only one forlorn Happy Days member stood out in this happy hour. James slid through the crowd easily and took the seat next to Benji where he was not actually fiddiling with the label of a beer bottle but instead a bottle of classic coke. James rolled his eyes and slammed the bucket in front of his spacey roommate.

Benji looked up with glazed eyes and only thawed when he realized James was there and already signaling for a glass of bourbon.

“ You came!” he practically shouted with glee, just barely refraining from throwing his arms around his roommate. James shrugged and traded cash for booze.

“ Why?” Benji practically had stars in his eyes as James looked at him with distain. He had the faint fleeting and nauseating want to ruffle Benji’s hair and call him sport, but with the amount of crusty gel he usually used – not to mention the greaser proportions of it necessary to slick down Benji’s flame-like hair tonight– made James cringe and wipe his hand reflexively on his thigh.

Instead of answering James just chose to drink deeply from his glass and nod towards the bucket. Benji turned to it as if seeing it for the first time his eyes widened comically.

“ You brought me Jack?!” Benji’s voice was high and naïve in that way that made James want to cut open his cranium with a rusty kitchen knife and eat his own brains with a spoon just so he wouldn’t have to listen to his voice any more.

Benji’s hands wrapped covetously around the rounded bowl, it was practically sensuous it was so ridiculously over exaggerated. But Benji was sincere, his eyes still wide and that small creepy smile gracing his face when he thinks James actually has a heart. It’s the same look he gets when he watches the Grinch at Christmas and the singing Whos make the Grinch’s heart grow so big it breaks the measuring device, that one.

James contemplates death by Jerry Springer style folding chair beating as he swirls the liquid in his glass and Benji makes a small contented sign sound. James begins to think that a nail gun to each eardrum could do the trick too.

“ Why did you bring him?” James tries to ignore the fact that Benji thinks something made of melted down and dyed old milk jugs can possibly impregnate another orange container meant for carrying a dentist’s new summer home, and almost focuses on the question.

“ It was in the way,” he mumbled with a combo shrug that got him the unwanted attention of a cougar a few stools from his left. Avoiding her gaze he shifted slightly to the right and looked into Benji’s crinkled eyes and 1000 mega watt smile covering the rest of his face. James was unable to stop his cringe.

Benji’s smile lessened slowly into a smirk and he soon turned away and signaled for another coke.

“ Okay,” He whispered.
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