Falling Stars

Beat wasn't exactly sure when he had gotten used to Joshua hanging out in the group. It wasn't like they interacted; no, it was the exact opposite, and Beat was pretty content to keep it that way. Joshua didn't bother Beat if Beat didn't bother Joshua (not exactly the truth, but it didn't happen as often).

He didn't really hate the Prissy Boy like everyone thought he did. He just didn't like him. Joshua was an arrogant, borderline hypocritical, narcissistic son of a bitch who had, in Beat's eyes, forced his way into their happy little circle through Neku.

That's why Beat was so surprised when it happened. Of course, don't some of the best things in life happen by surprise?

"Oh, Daisukenojo—" Joshua had started to say playfully. He was currently sitting smack in the middle of the couch in the Bito living room. Joshua had been coming over to see Rhyme pretty often (Beat didn't know what she saw in him), so this was not an uncommon occurrence. Unfortunately for the two of them, Rhyme had gone out with Shiki and Eri to a movie about an hour and a half ago. Neku was also unavailable as he was on a class field trip (he was at a lock-in at some kind of art studio).

"Bwaaahhh!" Beat shouted, putting his hand over Joshua's mouth and giving him a glare. "You know you don't call me that."

Joshua's response was to do the most mature thing he could possibly do in this situation. Joshua licked Beat's hand.

This caused Beat to shout again and recoil. He wiped his hands off on his pants and gave Joshua an annoyed look.

"The hell, yo?" Beat muttered and started to wipe the rest of the Joshua germs onto Joshua's shirt.

"Beat, not on my shirt!" Joshua objected, attempting to push Beat away.

Of course, this didn't work because Beat was both physically stronger and too heavy for Joshua to push around.

"All right," Beat said, finally content with the state of his hand, "what was you sayin'?"

"I was saying that I was here because I had nothing better to do. Although, I'm imagining that a cow would make for better company than you right now," Joshua huffed. He was a little ticked off about what Beat had done.

"That ain't true!" Beat replied. "Cows ain't human. They can't talk to you or nothin'. 'Sides, we don't have cows here in Shibuya, so you couldn't talk to one in the first place."

At that, Joshua let out a sigh and got up, starting to walk away. Beat, seeing Joshua was bored, took pity on him.

"Hey, you can always hang with me, ya' know?" he said.

Joshua stopped walking and turned to look at him with an almost confused look on his face. It was "almost" confused because Beat was certain that Joshua never got confused. Joshua seemed to know everything.

"Beat, are you honestly offering me your company?" Joshua asked slowly.

"Of course. I just said so, didn't I?" Beat said.

"Well, this is a surprising plot twist," Joshua remarked, cocking his head to the side and giving Beat a scrutinizing look. "Very well, I will bless you with my presence. What do you want to do, Beat?"

"Well, I guess we can hang in my room or something…" Beat answered and suddenly wondered what he had gotten himself into. He didn't know enough about Joshua to know what he'd want to do. He normally seemed content with just bothering Neku.

Beat led Joshua to his room and opened the door for him.

"Prissies first, yo," Beat joked and moved out of the way for Joshua to enter.

"Why, thank you. Such a gentleman." Joshua smirked and walked in. Beat entered after him, closing the door behind the both of them.

Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all…

"Beat, what is that smell!?" Joshua demanded, pinching his nose and giving Beat a horrified look.

"Huh?" Beat paused and took a long sniff. He didn't smell anything. "What are you talking about?"

"It smells like the room of a stereotypical teenage boy," Joshua declared. "And it's a pigsty in here. When was the last time you cleaned your room? You need to clean this up, right now."

Beat just rolled his eyes and leaned against the door. "You ain't my mom."

"Oh no, I'm worse." Joshua turned and gave him a nasty glare.

Now, if Beat were any other poor chap, Joshua's glare would probably be scaring the crap out of that unlucky soul. It was chilling and spoke of the untold horrors that would befall you if you did not comply with what was being asked. Immediately.

Beat wasn't just any other guy. He had fought through the Reaper's Game, lost his partner and sister, become a Reaper, fought innocent people, lost his sister again, and helped to defeat the Conductor of Shibuya. Joshua's glare did nothing to him.

Suddenly, a metaphorical light bulb went off in Beat's head. He had had an excellent idea.

"Anyway, Prissy, I wouldn't be standing on the ground if I was you. Last I saw, something was movin' down there," Beat chuckled.

At once, Joshua let out a very un-manly yelp and leapt onto Beat's bed.

"Hey, shoes off the bed!" Beat told the pale Prissy, grinning widely.

"Oh, so the fact that my shoes are on your bedsheets bothers you more than the current state of your room?" Joshua grumbled. He eyed the floor as if expecting it to grow a mouth and say he looked scrumptious.

"Now," Beat said, "get off my bed."

"No." Joshua scowled back at him. "Not until you clean your room."

"I thought that you wanted to hang with me, man. Not watch me clean my room." Beat frowned at Joshua.

"That was before I fully appreciated the current state of affairs," Joshua retorted. "Now get cleaning before I—You know what? Never mind. Here, how about I help you clean your room?"

"Wha—? You serious, Prissy?" Beat stared straight at the Composer of Shibuya.

"Unfortunately…" Joshua sighed as he flipped out his trusty cellphone.

Beat watched as a large clump of clothing levitated off of the ground and flew into a pile at his feet. There was a look of concentration on Joshua's face as he clicked away at the phone, causing the clothes to fold themselves at Beat's feet. Beat found himself compelled to walk over and see just what Joshua was clicking away at.

Before Beat could attempt this, however, he found that all of his discarded clothes were in a neat pile in front of him.

"There. Now, be a dear and put those in the nearest clothing hamper," Joshua ordered, already having hopped down to a bare patch of carpet. Beat huffed and picked up the pile of clothing. He took a few steps toward his door before stopping.

Beat narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to figure out a way to open it that wouldn't result in him dropping an article of clothing. He'd just try to pick it up and drop more if he did that. To his surprise, the door opened on its own and Beat looked back at Joshua sharply.

"Go on." Joshua shooed him out.

"'Aight, 'aight, I'm goin'," Beat grumbled, and then turned to Joshua with a serious look. "Jus' be careful of the closet. Last I checked, there was somethin' with tentacles in it."

Joshua just rolled his eyes and Beat walked out of the room. He had to tread carefully on the floor of the laundry room: his mom had just finished waxing it, so it was extremely slippery. He dumped his load into the hamper next to the washing machine and hurried back to his room.

When Beat had returned, Joshua had a few of his sports magazines stacked in one hand and was reaching for the door of his closet.

"Remember, Prissy, my closet has—" Beat said, starting to rush over to prevent Joshua from opening the door.

"Yes, yes, Beat. Tenta—" Joshua opened the door of Beat's closet, getting cut off as a giant squid landed on his face!

"What the—?!" Joshua stumbled backwards, dropping the magazines unceremoniously on the floor. He regained his balance just in time to prevent falling on his butt.

Beat quickly snatched up the squid and threw it under his bed before Joshua could identify that the squid was a stuffy, not real.

"Daisuke—Beat, what on Earth was that?" Joshua asked and gave him an incredulous look.

"I told you, yo. Tentacles in my closet." Beat muttered, kicking some of the fallen magazines into a haphazard pile.

"No, no, no." Joshua smirked suddenly, apparently over his initial shock. He started walking over to Beat's bed. "I want to see what attacked me."

Thinking quickly, Beat grabbed a sock out of his sock drawer and lobbed it at Joshua's head. It bounced off the back of Joshua's head and landed right behind his feet. Joshua stopped walking.

Slowly, Joshua turned around. Beat noticed that Joshua's eyebrows seemed to have risen all the way into his hairline.

"Beat," He said.

"Yeah?" Beat replied.

"Why did you just throw your sock at me?" Joshua asked.

Thinking quickly again, Beat blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"I challenge the Composer of Shibuya to a sock fight!" Beat declared, hoping that Joshua would buy it.

If Beat had thought that Joshua's eyebrows were in his hairline before, they definitely were now. Joshua looked down at the discarded sock, then up at Beat. Then, more slowly than he had turned around, Joshua leaned down and picked up the sock, clicking a few buttons on his cellphone at the same time.

Then he smirked widely and tossed it into the air, where it seemed to hover ominously.

"Well, who am I to say no to a challenge? Even if it isn't the most traditional of sorts." Joshua clicked another button and a few more socks flew out of Beat's still open sock drawer.

Beat gave Joshua a wide grin and grabbed a few for his own arsenal. This was going to be a blast!

About thirty minutes later a very confused Raimu Bito cracked open the door to Beat's room. She was almost convinced that someone was being murdered, and since the sounds were from her brother's room… well, she was curious about it.

At first, she couldn't say anything, the sight was so strange.

Beat was straddling the back of a flailing Joshua. Joshua's hands were bound behind his back using Beat's squid plushie's tentacles. Joshua also happened to have a sock shoved into his mouth. Rhyme had never seen Beat's room as messy as it was right now.

Joshua's phone was right in front of his face, mocking him through his inability to use it at the moment when he needed it most.

"Give it up, Prissy! I win!" Beat ordered, laughing and pinning Joshua's shoulders to the ground.

Joshua spat out the sock and glared daggers at the offending article of clothing. He struggled for a few more seconds before figuring out how completely useless the endeavor was. "Fine."

"Umm…" Rhyme looked between the two of them as they both looked at her sharply. "What's going on…?"

"Raimu! Are you here to back me up against your Neanderthal of a brother?" Joshua looked up in hope, only to narrow his eyes dangerously. "Rhyme… put your phone away." He turned to back at Beat. "And you. Get off me."

Beat just ruffled Joshua's hair, releasing his shoulders. "Nah, I think I like you this way, Prissy."

Joshua rolled under Beat so that Beat was straddling his waist instead. Joshua then sat up and leaned in close to Beat, smirking widely.

"Why, Beat… I simply had no idea that you had such strong feelings about me…" Joshua teased.

"Bwaaahhh!" Beat shouted and fell backwards off of Joshua, scooting away frantically. "No way, man!"

Joshua started trying to loosen the tentacles around his wrists so that he could regain the use of his hands.

Beat, of course, had a better idea. He got up and nudged Joshua, making him fall onto his side with a grunt. Joshua looked up at Beat with a confused look. That look soon changed to a pleading one as it dawned on him what Beat was going to do.

Beat casually put his foot on Joshua's waist (he wasn't wearing his shoes, thank goodness) and kicked, rolling him around the room.

Rhyme, of course, still had her cellphone out and was still recording the entire thing.

"Dai—Beat! What are you doing?!" Joshua demanded, almost using Beat's real name. Thankfully for Joshua, he had realized that calling him by his given name would have resulted in the situation becoming much, much worse.

"What does it look like, Prissy?" Beat teased, thoroughly enjoying his revenge.

"It looks like you've mistaken me for a rolled up rug!" Joshua said, already planning several scenarios of revenge himself.

"Nah, man. I'm Rick Rollin' you." Beat grinned and chuckled at his own joke. Rhyme let out a giggle behind her cellphone and Beat flashed her a thumbs up.

"That was a terrible pun," Joshua muttered.

This treatment continued for thirty more seconds before Beat became bored and stopped, leaning down to untie Joshua from his bonds.

By this time, Rhyme's video had already been sent to Shiki and Eri. Rhyme herself had decided to leave the two boys to their own devices.

"I have half a mind to leave after that treatment," Joshua huffed and picked up his cellphone. He gave Beat a warning glare that suggested he not do that again. Beat just shrugged.

"You're the one who accepted the challenge, yo," Beat said and cracked his neck. "Come on, it was kinda fun."

"Define 'fun,' Beat. Also, I had no idea that the rules of your challenge allowed you to tie me up with a stuffed squid." Joshua gave Beat a disapproving look.

"Come on, man. You need to learn to live a little," Beat replied.

"First of all: I am not alive. Second of all: I fail to see how being bound with a squid quantifies as 'learning to live a little.'" Joshua gave Beat a raised eyebrow.

"Yo, that was a joke. You always look like you're… well…" Beat trailed off, trying to figure out the words for what he was trying to convey.

"Like what?" Joshua asked, curious now.

"Like you're lonely, I guess…" Beat rubbed the back of his neck and glanced up at the ceiling. "I mean, you always hang with Neku, and now a little with Rhyme too. But you always seem to end up fightin' with Neku 'bout something and then you end up here. Or you go off by yourself. Neku told me about how you're immortal 'n shit, so you're goin' to be 'round forever.

"I know that I ain't smart or nothin', but I think that's gotta be real lonely. We ain't gonna be here forever like you is. I've been thinking about it a bit, you know? I don't know too much 'bout being by myself like that. I've always had my little sis', my friends, hell, I got my parents too. You don't seem to have nobody but Mr. H and Neku. I guess you're friends with Rhyme now too, but tha's 'bout it. Shiki likes you well enough, but you don't hang with her often and Eri don't like you too much.

"I guess I'm just sayin' that I thought you might wanna hang with me, since everyone is busy, since that beats being by yourself."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Beat looked down at Joshua to see a completely stunned look on his face. Joshua looked almost vulnerable. Beat frowned at that.

Joshua wasn't vulnerable, ever. Beat started mulling over what he had said in an attempt to find out just what had shocked the Composer so much.

Then, all too quickly, Joshua's cool, arrogant, and superior mask slipped back on.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Daisukenojo." Joshua ignored Beat's protests about using his name and continued speaking. "I haven't been anywhere near lonely for a few centuries. After the first millennium of being the Composer, you forget what it feels like to be lonely. I mean, honestly, Beat, you act as if you're talking to just another human."

"But you is human," Beat remarked.

"No, Beat. I just look human right now. Obviously, you're a little late to catch that I look different in the UG. I don't look exactly like a human in my true form," Joshua explained.

"But that's just looks. Shiki looked like Eri in the Game, but she was still Shiki, right? That means that even if you look like the Kool-Aid man, you still human. You still Joshua, man," Beat replied, staring Joshua straight in the eyes.

There was that silence again. Usually, he couldn't get Joshua to shut up when the whole group was walking around Shibuya together. Joshua always had some kind of comment, off-hand or not, to make about something.

Shifting his weight between his feet, Beat tried to think of another thing to say.

Finally, at his wit's end, Beat muttered, "Do you wanna watch a movie or somethin'?"

"A movie?" Joshua asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah, I'm a big fan a' horror. Really gets your pulse rushin', yo." Beat replied, feeling a little better now that Joshua was talking again.

At Beat's words, Joshua feigned a wide-eyed, innocent look.

"Oh, dear Daisuky, are you coming on to me? Are you positive that you have no kind of sexual interest in me?" Joshua giggled and dodged Beat's attempt to punch him in the shoulder.

"Can you stop flirtin' with me, Prissy?" Beat grumbled, turning walk out of his room. Joshua just giggled again and followed him into the living room, where an average sized TV sat on a stand.

"Sorry, no can do. Perhaps you should ask a different favor. It simply wouldn't be fair to Neku if I didn't flirt with everyone."

"Okay, then don't ever call me "Daisuky" again," Beat gave Joshua a small glare, which only made Joshua smirk in amusement.

"Very well, I will cease to use my heartfelt nickname for you, but only on one condition." Joshua sat down on the couch and crossed one leg over the other.

"What's that?" Beat asked, looking at Joshua carefully.

"Call me Joshua. Prissy is such a stereotype, really. If you want to mix it up a little, you have my express permission to call me any shortened version of my name."

Beat opened the cabinet under the television, which was filled up with a variety of DVD cases.

"All right, how 'bout Joshy?" Beat asked, selecting a few cases from the stacks.

"…Except that one." Joshua frowned at Beat. Beat just grinned back at him and walked over, holding a few of them.

"What about Yoshi?" Beat chuckled and plopped down on the couch next to Joshua.

"…That one is also off limits," Joshua grumbled and picked the top DVD case off of Beat's stack. "Infection? Now, what's this about…?"

Joshua flipped the cover to the other side and was startled to find that it starred a woman with green goo leaking out of her eyes. "How… attractive…"

"It's about a hospital that won't let this guy in 'cause they don't got enough room or something. The guy has some kinda mystery sickness and it starts spreadin'. It has a freaky twist endin'," Beat explained, showing Joshua another movie. "This one's called The Grudge. It's about this chick who comes back as a ghost and starts hauntin' people."

"Delightful," Joshua said sarcastically.

"If you don't want to watch an official movie, I found a translation of that Marble Hornets American YouTube show," Beat nudged Joshua lightly. "It's freaky as hell, yo. I haven't finished it myself."

"What's Marble Hornets about? It doesn't sound exactly... terrifying," Joshua said.

"It's about the Slenderman, man. Worse than any kind a' bug. Even those huge-ass hornets you hear 'bout on the news," Beat replied and let out a small shudder.

"Well, since it wouldn't be any fun to watch a movie you've already seen—you'd spoil it, no doubt—let's watch that Marble Hornets video of yours."

Beat chuckled and grabbed that case from the pile. "Your funeral. I bet you won't even last until Entry 23."

"I'm already dead, Beat. My funeral was a long time ago. What do you mean, Entry 23?" Joshua retorted.

"The movie's divided up into these entries. Some a' them are pretty short, others are longer. You'll see, Josh."

Right after Entry 46, both Joshua and Beat were lying on the floor. Beat was lying on his stomach and Joshua was using him as a pillow, lying perpendicular to him. Joshua also happened to be hiding half of his face behind a blanket that Rhyme had gotten for the two of them before returning to her room to do her homework.

Beat had gotten a call from his mother saying that both she and his father were going to be working late.

"Is the Operator a Demon?!" Joshua demanded, his already high pitched voice even higher than it usually was.

"Hell if I know!" Beat replied, pausing the video so the two of them could take a breather. "Wanna get some popcorn?"

Joshua looked up and suddenly noticed that all of the lights were off. Since it was late at night, the room was in complete darkness except for the light of the television.

"Very well, Beat. Get us popcorn," Joshua answered, not making any move to get off of Beat.

Beat got up anyway, causing Joshua to fall to the side. He looked toward the hallway, which was so dark that he couldn't make out the straight shot to the kitchen.

"What kind of popcorn do you want?" Beat asked and looked at Joshua, attempting to prolong his journey into the dark hallway, where he was sure that the Slenderman was waiting.

"The normal kind," Joshua replied unhelpfully.

Beat looked back to the hallway slowly. He hated hallways. Nothing good ever happened in them.

Ever.

"Are you scared, Beat?" Joshua teased, giggling quietly.

"No way! I ain't scared a' some tall-as-fuck beanstalk!" Beat declared. "Are you?"

"Me? Never," Joshua answered.

"You sure?"

"Of course I am."

"Positive?"

"Beat."

"Yeah?"

"Just turn on the lights."

Beat sighed silently before walking over to the light switch near the entrance to the hallway. He stared defiantly into the darkness before flicking it on.

Beat froze.

Joshua let out a very high pitched shriek before disappearing, presumably taking refuge in the UG.

Right there, standing in the middle of the kitchen, was a tall figure. It was dressed in a black suit. It had a pale head. It had no face.

It was staring straight at Beat.

Then, in an instant, Joshua was between Beat and the Slenderman. Joshua's cellphone was out and suddenly the Slenderman was floating and… giggling?

Joshua was scowling darkly and clicked a few more buttons. The pale face of the giggling Slenderman was quickly pulled off like a mask.

Or, more rationally, it was a mask.

A mask that Shiki Misaki was wearing.

"I'm really sorry, guys, but when Rhyme told Eri and me that you guys were watching Marble Hornets… I just couldn't resist. Especially since Eri and I had made this business suit a while back. It was too perfect."

With a loud 'humph,' Joshua dropped the now laughing Shiki and started walking down the hallway. Beat watched him go.

"Who let you in, Shiki?" Beat asked, confused as neither of his parents were home to do so. It was right then that he noticed that Mr. Mew was placed on one of the chairs around the dinner table.

"Rhyme did. We spent, like, ten minutes getting ready. It was so lucky that you guys had to pause the movie because you were scared!" Shiki giggled and picked herself off the ground.

"We weren't scared, yo. Men don't feel fear," Beat declared and thumped his chest lightly.

"Whatever." Shiki smiled and brushed her pants off. "Well, my work here is done. I'll be getting picked up by my parents soon."

"Wha—? But you jus' got here, didn't you?" Beat asked, cocking his head in confusion.

"Nope." Shiki shook her head, "I actually got here about an hour ago. Eri had some work she needed to catch up on after the movie and I didn't really have anything better to do. It's funny, neither of you noticed that I came in here."

At that moment, Joshua returned to the room, a satisfied look on his face.

"I'm not even going to ask…" Shiki muttered as she grabbed Mr. Mew off of one of the chair.

"What'd you do?" Beat asked instead.

"Oh, nothing for you to worry about, Beat. I was just having a conversation with Rhyme." Joshua giggled and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

Every brotherly instinct that Beat had went off at once. He found himself giving Joshua an extremely suspicious look.

"Dear, I didn't hurt her in any way, shape, or form. Was I really gone long enough to do something that dastardly?" Joshua rolled his eyes and sat on one of those chairs. "Beat, you were supposed to make us popcorn."

"Oh, yeah!" Beat said, dashing over to the cabinet and pulling out a bag. Turning back to Joshua, he added, "I'm watchin' you..." Beat put the bag into the microwave and dialed in the time.

Suddenly, Shiki's cellphone went off, blaring a popular pop song that Beat had heard a million times on the radio, but could never remember the name of.

"Oh, um, excuse me," Shiki said, and answered her cellphone. "Hello? Oh, hi, Mom. Yeah, I'll be right out."

"Your mom's here?" Rhyme asked as she walked into the kitchen. She wasn't wearing her signature beanie and her hair was rather disheveled. "I'll walk you out, okay?"

"Yeah, all right. See you later, Josh, Beat." Shiki gave the both of them winks before following Rhyme out the door.

"Well, this certainly was an interesting night…" Joshua remarked, turning to watch the popcorn bag expand in the microwave.

"It was a blast," Beat replied, grinning.

"I suppose you could say that. Say, did you ever put those dirty clothes of yours through the washing machine?" Joshua asked, looked in the direction of the laundry room.

"I haven't had the time, Josh." Beat sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "Does it matter?"

"Why, yes. It does. Come, Beat. Let's make your mother proud," Joshua replied and started walking, only to have his shoulder grabbed by Beat.

"You ain't allowed back there. Mom jus' waxed so you'll fall if you walk around back there." Beat explained.

Joshua regarded Beat for a second before asking.

"Would you catch me if I were to fall?"

The question had a strange ring to it, as if there was more to it than Joshua was letting on. Nevertheless, Beat's answer was as straightforward as ever.

"Of course I'd catch you."