-- SHOOT IT OUT [Josh/Bryce]

The beer was cheap and tasted foul but Joshua kept a stubbornly neutral expression as he drank it down. Twelve years old, he was shorter than all of the older boys who surrounded him, leaning against the playground equipment or spitting into the sand. One boy had the privilege of sitting on the only functional swing, the other broken and hanging limply from one half of its chains. Beside him, Dylan lit up a smoke and took a long drag before offering it to the youngest member of their gathering. Josh hesitated for a moment, uncertain. He'd never tried smoking before. Drinking, yes, but never cigarettes. The smoke smelled foul. With the eyes of the others on him, however, he lifted his chin in a defiant gesture and took it in his pale fingers. So do I just...? Seconds later he was coughing and spluttering, surprised at just how awful it felt as it travelled its path toward his lungs. He promptly handed the smoke back to its owner, the laughter of the gang assaulting his ears. Dylan seemed to take pity, though he was grinning. "You alright, kid?" Joshua nodded, determined not to show weakness as he rubbed his throat despite his eyes watering from the force of the cough. "F-Fine," he said, taking another drink from the beer can in hopes that it would soothe his throat. It still tasted like shit and it didn't do much good but a second sip followed the first. They all drank it, why shouldn't he? No smoking, though. That wasn't for him.

His phone rang and he jumped in surprise, having forgotten to turn off the ringer. He didn't like the guys to know when people were calling him, especially when (he noticed, as he took it from his pockets) it was his parents. He chewed the inside of his lip and decided not to answer. Dad's gonna be pissed at me. He acknowledged this with a pulse of fear, then smirked. The fuck do I care? "No one important." His words were cool and he acted nonchalant as he dropped the phone back into his pocket. He didn't need his parents checking on him, god. I'm almost thirteen. Soon he'd be a teenager. He didn't need a stupid curfew, didn't need to answer to every call they made. He remembered what his parents always told him ("Don't ignore the phone, Josh, we worry about you.") but why the hell did they worry? He'd said that he was going out with friends. He did plan to meet up with Devin later on so it wasn't like he had lied to them, he simply hadn't told the entire truth. What if they check? Suddenly he realised that if he didn't go and visit DJ like he'd said he would and somehow the word got back to his parents, he'd be in big trouble. He stayed another five minutes wallowing in doubt and then said, "I'd better get going." This attracted the attention of the guys he was closest to. "Why?" Josh shrugged. "Better things to do. I'll see you guys around." He noticed raised eyebrows and passed glances as he left but recieved no protest.

When he finally reached Devin's street, Joshua realised with surprise that his younger-by-two-years brother was already there. As Joshua neared, Bryce stepped forward and sneered contemptuously. "Sup, loser?" He shoved Devin hard off his skateboard and stood on it so that the other boy couldn't take it back. "Thought my brother was supposed to come around today? Looks like he ditched your dumb ass. Not that I blame him." Bryce talked tough for a ten year old, sneering and jeering the entire time. Joshua was close enough to hear and the words filled him with rage. I didn't ditch him! He realised, not without a pang of guilt, that he might have done if he thought he could get away with it. He'd already been hanging around Devin less and less due to the gang's constant presence in his life. He pushed that aside and yelled, "Hey! What are you doing here, Bryce? Go home." Joshua strode over importantly and punched his brother, hard. Bryce recoiled and snarled, an inhuman sound in his throat. "Fuck you, Josh! Want me to tell Mom and Dad you weren't here?" Joshua narrowed his gray eyes angrily. "Like you're supposed to be out. They trust me, you're not allowed to wander around the Hollow." Technically, neither was Josh. His parents had trusted him to walk to Devin's house because they were too busy to drive and he'd taken advantage of this by going in completely the opposite direction, downtown to the seedy little park.

Bryce shoved him, this time, and Joshua was forced to step back, though the force did not knock him over. Instead it caused the rest of the beer to slosh around in the can that he was, stupidly, still clutching. Dark blue eyes gleamed in triumph as they caught it. "You're drinking again! Dad said he'd kill you if he caught you again! I'm going to tell!" Joshua was alarmed by this, truly alarmed. He can't find out! He can't! He remembered the argument with his father well. The broken lock on the liquor cabinet, the bottle of liquor smashed on the floor, the pain of the injuries, the shaky promise that he'd never do it again. "No you won't or I'll tell them you were out here." He looked at his friend and offered a hand to help him up. "You'll back me up, won't you DJ?" He sure hoped that he would, even though Josh himself hadn't been the most reliable of friends lately. Bryce scowled, flipped them both the finger, stalked off. "Sorry about him." Joshua scoffed and rolled his eyes. His brother was so irritating. "I got lost on the way here," he lied smoothly. "Don't tell, yeah? My parents have finally started to trust me." The entire time he kept his words quiet and cool, his posture casual. Monkey see, monkey do. He tried his best to act like a hotshot because they'd like him better than way, wouldn't they? "Whaddya wanna do?" Though he tried not to admit it, he relished these hangouts with Devin. He never felt like the other, more gullible boy was judging him. Realising he'd need to get rid of the beer, Josh took another sip. "Want some?" It was losing its flavour for Josh. I'll just toss the rest in the bushes if he doesn't. Devin wouldn't care as much as the gang would, right?

Joshua nodded confidently and turned to smirk at his younger brother when Devin asserted the fact that he'd back him. He was confident, cocky when it came to the fact that Devin would do almost anything for him. He never really stopped to think of exactly how naive his friend was, how bad it was that he used him so readily. Every time the guilt started to eat away at him, he told himself that Devin didn't really mind when he was late. Hey, at least he showed up at all, right? "See, Bryce? Mom and Dad will believe Devin over you." His gray eyes glittered coldly as they locked onto the stormy dark blues of the younger boy. "I'm the favourite!" Bryce snapped. Joshua bristled, hating the fact that he thought it to be true. Bryce always had the upper hand when it came to an argument that involved their parents. "You're just the youngest." Bryce muttered something unintelligible and stalked off, apparently deciding that Devin's word would beat both of theirs. My parents never trust me. Why do they always take his side? It wasn't fair. He hadn't been the one that broke the glass table, it was Bryce, but just because Josh had been the one who'd yelled the loudest, who'd reacted with the most defiance, they took his brother's word over his. "You alright, Dev? He hurt you real bad or anything?" Though he did often take advantage of Devin's naive nature, the concern he felt was real. It didn't register in his expression or tone (he was still trying to come off as tough, unshakeable) but it was there.

Devin accepted his excuse almost immediately. It was almost too easy to trick the boy into believing anything he said. He was good at lying to people. He lied to his parents all the time and he lied to the few friends he had, too. He even lied to the gang, let them think that he was another kid from a shabby downtown apartment who left the house and wandered the streets because Daddy had hit Mommy again. He didn't want them to hate him for his nice car and his nice clothes, always trying to disguise brand names when he dressed nowadays. He shrugged at mention of Athena. "Whatever." It was kind of annoying that his kid sister had to play with them but he understood what it was like. His parents forced him to let five year old Annabel hang around him sometimes at home and there wasn't anything he could do to argue against it. If he argued, Donovan got mad, and Josh tried his best to avoid that. He snorted when Devin commented on the beer. "Course I drink it," he said importantly, like it was the best thing since sliced bread. "It's getting warm though." Using this as an excuse to why he didn't finish it, Josh tossed the can into the closest bush he could find just in time for Athena to coming bouncing out of the house like her merry self. He raised an eyebrow at Devin with a knowing, 'here we go' sort of look.

Always the type to be pleasant toward the relatives of his friends (you got in less trouble that way) Joshua cocked a crooked sort of half-smile in Athena's direction. "Hey 'thena." Her games did sound pretty stupid and childish, especially to someone who spent the majority of his free nights hanging around with college kids and drinking beer. They acted a lot older and more important than he did, he wanted to be like them. Still, he didn't dismiss them as such. Instead, his gray eyes glinted with a sort of mischief. "Hide and seek sounds great, Athena. I'll even be it first if you guys want." He shot a look at Devin and, when his sister wasn't paying attention, mouthed, 'Don't run.' He winked at his friend and then said importantly, "Alright I'll give you thirty seconds and I'll turn my back." He did so then, free to smirk as he set his plan into action. It was something he did a lot to Annabel when she tried to play with him in order to give himself some free time and space. "One, two, three..." After he was satisfied that Athena would be far enough away that she couldn't see what he was doing, he turned back to Devin and lifted an eyebrow. "See? Now we both get what we want. She'll get to hide and we can talk about our own stuff while we look for her." It wasn't like they were being too mean, right? Athena would think she was good at the game if they took their time and maybe it would make her happy or something. His real motivation was to talk to Devin. "So what's up, man?"

[y so manipulative o.o]

Band-aids were never something that sat well with Josh. His father was a doctor and so it was hard to avoid getting treatment for all the bumps and scrapes of childhood but he did not like wearing band-aids over his cuts. It made him feel weak and he usually ripped them off almost immediately. Donovan would scold him and remind him sternly that it would take twice as long healing that way but he never really listened. "Bryce is stupid. Don't listen to him." As the words passed his lips, Joshua was quite aware of the fact that he was lying through his teeth to Devin. There was a twinge of conscience in the back of his mind, a prickling guilt that he ignored as usual. He'd trust you with anything and you're lying to him. He lied to everyone, though, why would Devin be special? At least Josh considered him a friend. "He's mad that Mum and Dad don't let him wander around by himself." Joshua was proud and independent, his parents had recognised his responsibility and rewarded it. Bryce was... he was different. Whenever he was left to his own devices he seemed to get into things, to mess them up. A lot of the times Josh got blamed for it and that really bothered the oldest Dale child. Just because he'd been born two years before Bryce didn't mean that his little brother could do no wrong. "He better not tell." Bryce knew that Josh hadn't gotten lost. Josh could tell that his brother knew.

He nodded at Devin, Athena probably wriggling her way into some spot or another by now. Josh really did plan on looking for her, he wasn't so cruel that he'd abandon her in a hiding spot while they snuck off to do something else, he merely planned to take his time in doing so. He called out so that Athena knew he was coming to look for her before turning his full attention back on the conversation with Devin. "Where's the fun in cloud watching?" He glanced at the fluffy, shapeless masses in the sky as if they would somehow give him an answer. He could respect the fact that Devin wasn't into the same things that he was but he didn't get it when people said that they saw shapes in the clouds. They were masses of moisture in the air, they weren't rabbits and ducks or any other sorts of things. He refrained from saying this to avoid insulting Devin and instead remarked, "I think they're cumulus clouds." They were big and white and puffy. They did slightly resemble cotton fluff but that was the closest thing to a shape that he saw in them. He normally had a quick and confident stride, eager to get where he was going, but Joshua walked slowly as he spoke with Devin and glanced around for signs of movement. He'd been good at hiding seek when he was little and the runt of the class, but he'd hit puberty and gotten his growth spurt early. He was proud of that. There were still guys in his class taller than him but at least most of the girls were shorter now.

When asked about his own day, Joshua knew immediately that he was going to avoid the entire truth. He wouldn't tell Devin about going to hang out with the gang. The rest of the day, however, was fair game. "You probably wouldn't think so," he disagreed. "I worked on a project for class and then I played chess with my Dad for a bit." The project was in French, as a good deal of his schoolwork was. The prestigious private school focused on teaching the children in both languages officially recognised by the Canadian government. He liked it well enough, even if it caused whiplash sometimes. Chess had been fun. His father hadn't won this time like he usually did. Josh was quickly learning to recognize patterns and openings that he could use to his advantage, planning two or three moves ahead so that he could be ready for anything. It could be irritating to play with him sometimes because his turn took a while but that was fine by him. He practiced himself sometimes, too. "I dunno, I kinda feel like exploring. Like the forest or something, but Judith wouldn't let you, would she?" He rolled his eyes a little. Sometimes parents and guardians could be a pain. He would have been willing to sneak off but he didn't think Devin would. "What've you got?" He knew Devin played a lot of games but that wasn't Josh's thing, just as Devin's was not chess. They were different people and yet they still managed to get along pretty well. "Your sister really is good at this whole 'hiding' thing," he remarked.

The boy of twelve kept his head tilted toward the sky, though he was not looking for the shapes that Devin had been seeing earlier. Instead he was scrutinizing the cloud cover with a penetrating and analytic gaze. A lot of the knowledge he had wasn't very useful to him but he did enjoy sharing it with other people, so when Devin repeated the word he grinned a little. "Yeah, cumulus. They're the fluffy ones." They reminded him of marshmallows, too, and suddenly Joshua found himself wanting some of the sticky treats. He was really a sucker for anything sweet, anything to do with chocolate or candy. His parents disapproved of how much candy he liked to eat so he often bought it and hid it around his room so that they didn't know. "Cirrus are the wispy ones and stratus are the hazy kind." Then there were all the sub-species of cloud but he wasn't going to go off into a cloud-related spiel right now. They looked to be cumulus humilis right now and he only hoped they didn't start to form stormclouds. He couldn't remember his parents warning him about rain, though, so he guessed not. His parents often pestered him whenever he was about to go out like he was six years old again and they were trying to help him cross the road. Did they think he was dumb? Green meant go, red meant stop. Yellow was the in-between as far as he was concerned, the warning that the lights were about to change. He felt the same way when they warned him to wear a jacket when it was cold. Duh.

Joshua considered Devin with a thoughtful frown. "I find it fun. Dunno if you would." He had long since come to terms with the fact that he was opposite of Devin in many ways. He was ambitious, Devin was lazy. He was aggressive, Devin was docile. He was deceptive, Devin naive. It was strange that the two of them were best friends but after so many years of knowing him, he didn't question it. They went to different schools and came from different walks of life, too, but that hadn't stopped them from meeting one another. "Takes a while to learn all the different pieces and strategies but I could teach you how to play some time." It would be nice to play chess with someone who wasn't his Dad. He still wasn't sure how someone who liked video games and cloud watching would enjoy sitting and strategizing but hey, maybe he was wrong in his assumptions. He liked tennis, after all. He was getting better at that. He hated most other sports because he was bad at them. Josh didn't like being bad at things, made him feel inadequate. It was part of the reason video games frustrated him. "Really? Cool, I guess we could do that, then." He was a curious person. Some would call him nosy, but Joshua didn't listen to them. He liked to explore and to get into things, to learn as much as he could about his surroundings. Exploring was a form of gaining knowledge through experience rather than reading from a book. Anyone could look at a picture of a forest but going inside of that forest was much more enthralling, even for a bookworm like himself.

Board games were okay. He liked card games better (the guys had taught him how to play poker, which was really fun) but at least they were better than video games. "I like Clue," he said thoughtfully. It involved figuring things out and he was good at that. "D'you think your sister'll want to play, too? It's not as good with only two people." He liked guy time with his best friend but if Judith was forcing Devin to accommodate Athena then a board game between the three of them was not something he was opposed to. They still hadn't found her after a while of walking around and this surprised him. "Where d'you think she's gone?" Either they were really bad at searching, which was possible (especially considering their minimal effort) or she was just as good at hiding as she said she was. He did not consider the fact that she might have snuck inside to hide from the boys, seeing as he wasn't that kind of clever.