Johnny overhears a conversations about himself. Ash has no chill. Nough said.
Johnny was currently up in the rigging of the theater, carefully positioned on a wooden beam high above the stage with one leg dangling down and his back resting against another beam. Why had he volunteered to do this again? Sure, he could do some basic repairs on his dad's old trunk in a pinch, but that did not translate into knowing how to fix a stage light. The bulb had been change and every part of it was checked to verify it was in good condition, so why wasn't the stupid thing working? Johnny groaned in frustration from his perch in the rafters and ran his hand down his face. He was too stubborn to leave the damaged light unfixed, so with a sigh, he reached towards the tool box he brought up with him and continued his attempts to make the light work. If he hadn't been so focused on his doomed mission to repair the broken machinery in front of him, he probably would have enjoyed being above the theater stage. Despite being in relatively plain sight, no one seemed to look up and notice him. This put him above conversing animals who had no idea he was there.
Johnny had already heard Mr. Moon tell Eddie about the renovation ideas he had for the stage, as the sheep rolled his eyes and tried to keep his friend from getting too carried away. "No! Buster, we can't install trapeze equipment in the theater!" The gorilla also heard Ms. Crawly talk cheerfully about her new boyfriend to an eager-to-listen Rosita as they ambled across the stage. And later, a heated debate between Gunter and Mike about whether or not Lady Gaga's songs qualified as 'real music'. Johnny chuckled as he heard an extremely offended Gunter viscously defend his idol from Mike's criticizing remarks. But by far, the most interesting conversation he heard happened when Ash and Meena made their way on stage to check the speakers.
"Really, Meena, I'm fine. I just... I don't know. I don't miss him anymore, but I still kinda miss being in a relationship. Ya' know?" Johnny's attention was immediately snatched away from the light fixture and focused on Ash's lament. Carefully, he leaned back so he could see his two friends. He saw them walk out and sit side-by-side on the stage with Ash getting out her guitar from its case and Meena untangling the cords used to for the speakers.
Meena was nodding along sympathetically to what Ash was saying. "Yeah! Well, no. I've never been in that situation, but I can understand why you'd feel that. It, um, it must be weird being on your own after being with someone for so long." Meena reassured then stopped for moment before continuing cautiously. "Are you seeing anyone now?"
"Nah! Not really interested in anyone. What about you?" Ash's self pitying tone faded away and turned into one of coy curiosity. "Any guy in your life?"
Johnny felt a moment of relief from hearing Ash's sad demeanor go back to normal, followed by intense curiosity about Meena's response. The elephant gave a nervous chuckle. "Heh, no."
"Kay... any girl?"
"Uh-uh"
The porcupine sighed. "Anyone at all?"
"Not really." Meena's answer sounded almost like an apology.
Ash practically groaned. "Oh come on, I've never heard you talk about a crush before. There's gotta be someone you're at least a little interested in!" The porcupine's persistence was only met with a sheepish smile and a shrug from Meena.
Ash sighed heavily, unsatisfied with her friend's lack of interesting responses. "What did you expect?" Meena giggled at Ash's reaction as she untangled the last of the cords. She got up to plug one in as she continued talking. "I spent all my time either here or at home. Besides you, I don't really spend time with many animals my age."
"There's Johnny." Ash stated matter-a-factly, much to the gorilla's surprise and relief. His grip on the beam tighten as he became the topic of conversation.
"Well, yeah. Beside you and Johnny." Meena quickly brushed off Ash's comment, hidden behind speaker equipment and her own ears. There was a lasting silence and Johnny shifted back to work on the light, assuming the conversation was over and that Ash was satisfied with Meena's response. He was wrong.
"Sooooo," He heard the porcupine drawl just as he was situated on the precarious wooden beam that probably wasn't meant to hold his weight. "What do you think of Johnny then?" The gorilla felt his face heat up as soon as the question was asked. He couldn't see the girls now, so he could imagine what their facial expressions were. "Don't give that look! If he's literally the only guy in your life right now, we're talking about him." Ash pushed. "So spill."
Meena murmured incoherently as she tried to think of something to say. Johnny quickly found himself straining to hear her soft voice, completely neglecting his original task. A part of his conscience nagged him for listening in on their private conversation and not telling them he was there. He reasoned that it wasn't eavesdropping since he had been there first and they just happened to be talking near where he already was. Besides, if they really wanted this conversation to be private, they shouldn't be having it on an open stage. Or at the very least, they should have looked around to make sure no one was within earshot.
"W-well, obviously I think he he's nice. He's our friend." Johnny could just barely make out Meena's flustered mumbles. "He's easier to talk to than most others. And, um, I don't know, really good at piano..."
The was a brief pause before Ash spoke up. "Would you go out with him?"
"What?!" Meena's response was shrill and made Johnny jump.
Ash, who evidently thought subtlety was for suckers, calmly repeated. "Would you go out him? Like, if he asked you out, would you say yes or what?" Johnny's hand was over his mouth as he sat in awe at how forward his small friend was. He could only imagine how red faced and flummoxed Meena was right now. She probably looked adorable.
"Wha- I- um- n-no!" Meena struggled to form any kind of coherent answer. "I-I mean, that would be weird! We're friends." She offered as an excuse.
"Right, weird." Ash sounded bored and completely unconvinced. "It's not like he's kissed you or anything." Johnny's heart stopped. She was referring to the mistletoe kiss right before their break for the holidays a couple of weeks ago. The consequences of which had pretty much been limited to Gunter telling everyone at the theater and now referring to the two of them as lovebirds. Johnny had found he didn't actually mind Gunter calling them that, but if Meena was ever within earshot, she'd find an excuse to leave the room and put distance between them. Johnny had just chalked that up to Meena being easily embarrassed at the time, but now he began to worry there was something more to it. Come to think of it, the shy elephant had never brought the topic up, almost as if it hadn't happened.
During the silence following Ash's comment, the cockney teen wondered for the first time if maybe Meena was really opposed to the idea of them as a couple. What if she wasn't embarrassed so much as disgusted whenever someone insinuated that they were more than friends? Maybe she never brought it up, not because she didn't know how to react, but because she wished it hadn't happen! Johnny's stomach slowly dropped lower and lower as his mind helpfully supplied numerous reasons why Meena wouldn't want anyone to think they were together.
He snapped out of it when he finally heard Meena give an uneasy laugh. "That was... that was just a joke." She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that rather than Ash.
The porcupine just huffed. “Uh-huh, sure, that’s it. Ya’ know you’d sound a lot more convincing if I didn’t catch you looking at him so often. Just saying-”
“Speakers are ready!” Meena”s words overlapped with Ash’s and were louder than they needed to be. “W-we should really get to testing them!”
With a sigh, Ash temporarily allowed the subject to be dropped as to test her guitar with the new speaker system. A few moments later, Johnny had one arm wrapped tightly around one of the wooden beams and the other around the tool box as to keep it and himself from falling. The theater vibrated due to the force of Ash's guitar playing. The gorilla only let his death grip on the beam loosen once he was sure she was done, once again impressed at how powerful her guitar warm ups were. There were a few minutes of peace before Ash continued her pestering of Meena about her opinion on Johnny.
"I don't know! What about you?" The elephant sounded desperate to divert attention any from herself.
"What about me?" Ash sounded confused as to why Meena would even ask. "Look, for all my complaining, I don't think I'm gonna be able to date anyone for a while. Besides, pretty boy isn't really my type." Johnny, who was once again fiddling with the stage-light in some effort to fix it, couldn't help but think Ash sounded a lot more convincing than Meena did. "I mean, the guy's hot and has a decent bed-name and all, but he's also a colossal dork."
"...what's a 'bed-name'?" The elephant asked hesitantly, as if unsure she would want to know.
"I never told you about that? It's a standard I came up with so I don't end up dating someone with dumb name like Melvin or Barney." Meena must of had the same puzzled expression on her face that Johnny currently had, considering Ash felt prompted to continue. "Okay, so basically, you gotta think about what someone's name sounds like in the moment. Like, could you imagine yourself saying 'Oh, Edwin!'?"
"Ewww." Meena cringed. "Is that really something you think about?"
"Sure. Take your name for example. 'Ooh, Meena~.' See, it sounds better." Johnny's head was bend down with his thumb and forefinger pressed against his temple. He shook his head slightly and quietly chuckled. Why were they talking about this here? Literally anyone could walk out on stage right now. Like their boss. Or better yet, Rosita. She'd surely have something to say about their behavior.
Meena's sputtered out a laugh. "Gross! Okay, you can stop now."
There was a short silence before Ash started carefully. "...and as for Johnny's name..."
The porcupine snickered evilly before starting. "Oh, John-"
"Lalalalalala! I can't hear you!" Meena practically shouted over Ash, her voice riddled with laughter.
Their conversation quickly dissolved into Ash saying the name of every animal they both know in an overly dramatic, sexual voice with Meena trying to hush her in between giggle fits. Soon, their words fizzled out into bubbly laughter. Above them, Johnny had one arm wrapped a beam and his other hand clasped over his mouth as he silently wheezed, all former worries currently forgotten as he tried to quietly gasp for air. He almost wished someone else would show up just to see their reaction to the duo's antics.
Eventually, the girls tried to recollect themselves, hysterical howling dwindling into soft giggles. Once Johnny's breathing was mostly under control, he removed his hand from his mouth and tried to reposition himself a bit, still smiling at the absurdity of his two friends. Of course, once both his hands were occupied with supporting him, he hear Meena say. "And you went with someone named 'Lance'?" At the moment, that seemed like the funniest thing in the world to the gorilla and porcupine, both of whom burst out laughing again. Only this time, Johnny couldn't cover his mouth. Both girls jumped when he barked out a laugh and he heard Meena's horrified voice. "Johnny!?" Busted.
He couldn't see them and he was still shaking from mirth, so he decided it would be best to just climb down and face the music. He descended as carefully as his unsteady form would allow, stumbling a bit just before hitting the ground, and looked up to find a very amused Ash and a mortified Meena. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean- I was fixing- and you came out here-" The guilty gorilla could only get a few words out at a time as he tried to catch his breath and get up.
"How long have you been up there?" Ash all but cackled out before attempting to look sternly at him. "For shame! Don't you know better than to go spying on girls?"
"Don't talk on a bleeding open stage then!" Johnny managed to pant out doubles over with his hands on his knees. His apology was more to Meena than Ash. "'Sides, you would've done it too. 'Eck, you would've pulled out ya phone and recorded if ya heard someone talkin' about ya." He cocked an eyebrow at the porcupine as he said this.
"Well, yeah." Ash admitted coolly and she approached him. "But I've wouldn't have gotten caught." She smirked.
Johnny rolled his eyes and looked pass his shorter friend towards Meena, more worried about her reaction. The elephant was not looking at him, rather her panicked expression was facing downwards as her hands wrung her hoodie. Her eyes were shifting slightly back and forth as she was no doubt going over everything she had said in the gorilla's presence. "Um... I really am sorry." He spoke up to get her attention and gestured upward. "I, uh, I was fixin' a light and, um, yeah... sorry." He finished lamely, hand falling to scratch the back of his head nervously.
Meena's gaze flickered up to meet his, but she could only hold it for a moment before quickly looking back at the ground as a blush spreading across her face. "It's okay." She squeaked out, shifting uncomfortable and looking like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world. "I'm... gonna go tell Mr. Moon the speakers work." Meena glanced up to Ash as she dismissed herself and shuffled off, leaving the other two alone on stage.
Johnny winced a little as he watched her retreat backstage. That hadn't been the reaction he was hoping for. Beside him, he heard Ash huff out an annoyed sigh and saw she had also been looking at where Meena just left. The porcupine shook her head a little before turning to head back to her guitar, muttering under her breath. "Not interested in anyone my tail!"
