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.
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