.Laughter and Love.

[bodie the almighty and awesome]

Our RP offically has its own fanfic. XP
So I'm writing a fanfic about how Brian and Emiko met. And stuff. <3
Yay. I do have Chapter Two, but not typed yet...

Chapter One
“It sucks to be broke and unemployed and turning 33… it sucks to be me!”

Emiko Sasaki stepped out of the taxi cab, trying to refrain from holding her nose, as not to offend the smelly driver. “Thanks,” she said simply, handing him the money that her trip from the airport had cost. The cabdriver was silent, and the car zoomed away. She waited a moment to make sure that he wasn’t coming back. He didn’t. Now that she was sure she was alone, the girl retched, and cried aloud, “BLECH!” Based on the way he smelled, she bet he hadn’t showered in a week. “Ugh. This city is GROSS.”

Emiko looked again at the piece of paper in her hand, the one that held the address of the place where she’d be living: Avenue Q. Her friend Suki had helped her research the place, and found an ad online stating there was an apartment for rent. The rent was cheap, the residents were friendly, and the superintendent was none other than the famous Gary Coleman. Emiko knew close to nothing about Gary’s history, but Suki had told her that he was extremely famous, and had been a child actor who made a lot of money, only to have his parents take all the money for themselves. Suki was much more knowledgeable about these kinds of things, and Emiko thought that if Suki thought Gary Coleman would be interesting to have as a superintendent, then, well, so did Emiko. The two girls were best friends, and for the millionth time Emiko wondered if she’d be able to get through her mission here without her friend. New York. Huh. What a strange place. It was nothing like the village in Japan she’d grown up in, that was for sure.

Emiko walked down the avenue, glancing around at the buildings and taking everything in as well as she could. THIS was the place she would soon call “home”? It didn’t look like much, but then again, neither did the street she had lived on in Japan, and her old street was absolutely the most wonderful place she’d ever been. She tried to convince herself Avenue Q would be the same. It appeared to be deserted now, which seemed fitting for this time of day. Everyone would be at work, most likely. Emiko swallowed nervously. She had a job to do, too, in this strange American city, “New York,” where everything was odd and foreign and awful. She shook her head to rid it of unwanted thoughts. No, if she had a mission here she had to learn to like the place. Her sensei wouldn’t have sent her here if she thought she couldn’t handle it. With renewed energy, she looked around once more. Now, if only she could find the superintendent…

Suddenly she noticed a man come out of one of the apartments, holding a trash bag. Why wasn’t he at work? wondered Emiko. He was probably unemployed, a stay-at-home dad or something, she answered herself. He had curly, dark brown hair, was a tad on the pudgy side, and she reasoned he was probably in his early to mid thirties. Grumbling, he poured the contents of the bag into a dumpster and started to make his way inside.

“You, mister, over there! Wait!” cried Emiko suddenly, startling the man, and herself, in the process.

The man turned his head. He mouthed, “Who, me?”

“Yes, you!”

He sighed good-naturedly and leaned on the trashcan with one arm. “What do you want, kid?”

“I… uh… well… I… are you Gary Coleman?” Emiko asked, deciding to get right to the point. Her eyesight wasn’t perfect, but she thought he was sort of cute, even from her view across the avenue. She knew it must sound stupid, but hey, she was no wiser if this man was Gary Coleman or if he’d been the queen of France in 1327. She blushed slightly upon seeing the smirk on his face. What was so funny about her question…?

“You don’t really know who Gary Coleman is, do you?” the man asked, still smirking.

“Of course I do,” Emiko said haughtily. The man’s smirk grew, if possible, wider. She looked at the ground, feeling extremely stupid. “Okay, I don’t know who Gary Coleman is, you happy now? My friend told me he was the superintendent here and he’s famous or something. Okay? Now will you please tell me what is so funny?”

“Sure, kid. Well, Gary Coleman was a child actor, but he played children even when he was an adult, because he was extremely short.” Emiko surveyed the man in front of her. He was actually pretty tall. “And also, Gary’s black, kid. Everyone knows that.” She looked him over for a minute. The man she was talking to was most definitely not African-American.

“Oh. Right.” Emiko’s face was red. How could she have been so stupid? Suki had shown her pictures of Gary Coleman, hadn’t she? Emiko guessed she just hadn’t been paying proper attention. That happened a lot to her. Normally the thing she’d missed was just the one that could save her in an awkward situation, i.e. knowing that this man was NOT Gary Coleman, no doubt about that.

Having proved himself to not be Gary, the man started on his way back inside to his apartment, turning his back to the girl. Emiko’s eyes narrowed. He seemed like he was trying hard to get out of talking to her. Either he was extremely antisocial, or he had something extremely important to do inside. Or maybe he just didn’t think he was needed, and wanted to get out of a pointless conversation. Well, getting out of talking to Emiko was not going to be something on the list of the things he’d done that day.

“Wait! Don’t leave yet!” Emiko called.

The man stopped, sighing again. “Yes?” He was starting to sound slightly annoyed, Emiko noted.

“Um, can you tell me where I can find Gary Coleman?”

“He lives in that building over there.” The man pointed at the one he meant. “Apartment 3A, which means third floor, first room on the left. Can’t miss it.” The man was on his doorstep, with the key in the lock. He turned it, it clicked, and he put his hand on the knob. One swift movement of his hand and the door creaked open…

“Wait! No, uh—”

“What is it, kid?” The man whirled around to face her, glaring wildly. “I’m busy! I’m not walking across the street with you to get Gary’s autograph, okay? I take it you’re capable of doing that by yourself?”

Emiko blinked, totally taken aback. “Gary’s autograph?”

“That’s what you’re looking for, isn’t it? Heard someone famous lives on Avenue Q, and just had to find out if it was true?”

“No! I’m looking for a place to stay for a while. I’m a… foreign exchange student sort of thing. My sensei—that means teacher,” she added, seeing the blank look on his face at the Japanese word, “—sent me on a mission here.”

The man said, with one foot inside now, “All the apartments are full, kid. Sorry. Plus, what are you, 15? You’re not old enough to be roughing it by yourself on Avenue Q just yet.”

“I’m 17,” said Emiko huffily, “and I’m going to be 18 in a month or so.” Outside, she was strong and impenetrable, but inside, her heart sank like a stone. All the apartments were full…? Now she’d have to start her search all over again, without Suki’s help this time. She was no good at that sort of thing without Suki there to help out. For the millionth-and-first time, Emiko thought about how much she was going to miss her friend. But then it hit her. What if the man had lied to dissuade her from living here?

But why would he do that? asked a voice in her mind, playing the devil’s advocate. Well, maybe he hates teenagers. He said I wasn’t old enough to live here. Or maybe… maybe he just made a mistake. That was probably the most likely, Emiko reasoned. Yes, he made a mistake. There WAS an apartment for rent, she assured herself. Suki had said there was, anyway, from her searches on the internet. And Emiko would trust Suki’s internet searches with her life. Glad to have the mysterious man figured out, she turned back to his apartment building to ask him one last thing.

He’d already disappeared inside. Drat.

On a whim, even though she knew that he would be absolutely no help, and it would be wiser to find Gary Coleman and ask him if there was an apartment available, she ran to the door and rang the bell. The man she’d been talking to a moment earlier opened it, more than a little annoyed. He groaned and scowled at the girl before him. She stood her ground.

“All right, kid, what is it this time? I do have stuff to do today, you know.”

“Uh, what’s your name?” she blurted, her voice coming out as an awkward squeak instead of the self-confident banter she’d planned. She realized how stupid it must have sounded as soon as the words left her lips, but a split-second earlier, knowing this man’s name had seemed essential to Emiko’s survival. He stared at her like she was insane. She blushed.

“I’m Brian. What’s it to you?”

“I was just wondering. I’m Emiko Sasaki,” she supplied, even though he hadn’t asked her name, and she doubted he really cared.

Brian raised his eyebrows. “‘Emiko Sasaki,’ huh? What kind of name is that?”

Blushing even harder now, Emiko said softly, “It’s Japanese.”

“You don’t look Japanese, kid. And your English is too good. Trust me, my fiancée is Japanese. I KNOW Japanese.”

“I was born in America, but my dad worked for a Japanese company, and he named me after one of his Japanese clients who’d died a while back,” she began, sounding slightly bored with her own words, as if it was a speech she’d had to tell a million times before. “When I was two, my dad got promoted, so my family had to actually move to Japan. We lived in an American village, so everyone was American and we all spoke English. It’s like living in an American city, but in Japan. I don’t even remember the real America; Japan is my home.” She shrugged. “New York is really different from my village, though,” she added after a pause, sounding suddenly far less bored and even slightly scared. “Back home the village was small and everyone knew each other, but here there’s just too many people! Everything’s so busy and important. Everyone appears to have somewhere urgent they need to be at exactly the same moment as everyone else. And then the next moment, when you think no one could possibly have anywhere to be since everyone just did, a whole new group of people come and rush to be some place. It never ends. And eventually, that first group of people all have to go home, too. It makes me wish my plane had got in at two in the morning, so I could avoid all this.” She said all of this very fast, in a rush to get it out before she even knew what she was saying. Slightly out of breath, she looked up sadly, as if expecting sympathy for her words.

“That’s New York for you, yeah. A word of advice? Getting up at two AM to avoid all that won’t make any difference.” Brian smiled awkwardly and started to close the door on Emiko. Deep down, she didn’t blame him, and she probably would have done the same if he’d come to her door acting like this, but she really, really wanted to stay here and talk to him. If Brian closed the door, Emiko would have to go and find Gary, who might tell her there were no apartments for rent, and she would have to leave Avenue Q forever. As much as the place looked like a dump, she’d grown to like it in the past few minutes she’d basked in its glory. Plus, it was familiar—sort of familiar, anyway; a few minutes’ worth of familiar—and anywhere else would be brand-new, scary-new. Changes were always hard, especially on people whose personalities match Emiko’s.

“Wait, uh, please, could you, uh—”

Brian sighed. “What is it, Emiko?”

Stunned, Emiko squeaked, “Y-you can call me ‘Em’ if you want.” But Emiko was really pleasantly surprised he’d even remembered her name in the first place. Anything was fine, as long as he called her something. He could call her Emiko, Em, or Pile-of-Poop, but any name he chose to dub her showed that he cared, at least more than he appeared to care on the outside.

“That’s it?” he asked coldly.

“No, uh, I wanted to say bye before you went inside.”

“Oh. Okay. Bye then.”

“Bye,” said Emiko, and then, just as the door slammed shut again, she added quietly, “Brian,” even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. Brian. Nice name, she thought. Maybe if he had heard her, he would have kept talking…? Maybe her speaking his name aloud, remembering it and putting it to use, would make him put aside their differences and be her friend. But even as she thought this, she knew even if she had shouted “Bye, BRIAN!” to the heavens, she doubted he would have cared enough to listen. She remembered his name, and he remembered hers, but it was all a game to Brian, and in the morning, the girl who was Emiko, and her name, would both be forgotten to him. Even though she knew she would remember Brian for a lot longer. There was something special about that man, but she didn’t quite know what it was yet. Someday, Emiko made a mental note, even if I don’t end up living on Avenue Q, I’ve got to come back here and ask Brian if he remembers my name. Or if he does remember, I’ve got to ask him if he cares.

And the foreign exchange student waltzed away down Avenue Q to Gary Coleman’s apartment, unaware that Brian was watching the entire time. And whether he knew it or not, Brian would remember her name. And he cared. He was sort of sad he’d never see her again, but Avenue Q was not a place for a 16-year-old girl to live. Or had she’d said she was 17, or… 18…? Either way, she was too young, far too young, to be stranded here alone. After all, Brian was 32, and HE wasn’t even alone here. But then again, he was the sort who had never really grown up, still a child at heart. He’d miss that Emiko. Annoying as she was, she had a good heart.

Emiko sighed, looking up at the window where she supposed Brian’s apartment was located, and said, more to herself than him, “Bye, Brian-kun. I hope you find a job soon. Staying home alone all day and taking out the garbage can’t be fun.” Of course, she got no answer. There was no way he could have heard her from all the way inside. She turned and ran away.

Brian sighed softly to himself, from inside his apartment, watching her go from out of his window. He hoped she’d find a home, somewhere much nicer than Avenue Q, somewhere where she’d have a future, unlike him. “Bye, Em.”

And he almost thought he heard a giggle from her in reply. Brian blinked. But no, Emiko wouldn’t care if he’d screamed it in her ear. He was just a fat old coot to someone like her, who was young and spirited and full of life. He’d probably just imagined it.

Or had he? In reality, he had imagined her laughter, but the caring that came with it was genuine.

[bodie the almighty and awesome]

Chapter Two
“Well, I started at Avenue A, but so far everything’s out of my price range… oh, and look, a for rent sign!”

“You’re in luck, kid, there’s still one apartment for rent,” said the famous Gary Coleman, to Emiko’s great relief. She was so happy by this news that she even forgot to be annoyed—this marked the second person that day who insisted on calling her “kid.” For some reason, with Brian she hadn’t minded as much, since she’d thought it was kind of a cute nickname he’d called her because he liked her or something, but Gary calling her that was sort of annoying. It proved that anyone could call her “kid,” and it had nothing to do with how much they liked her. Which was indeed sort of annoying, to know that maybe Brian-kun didn’t like her. She blinked suddenly, shaking her head. Of COURSE he didn’t like her. She’d come to his door and been an annoying little brat! Why would he possibly LIKE her? He probably didn’t even remember her. She nodded inwardly, almost hoping she was wrong, but knowing inside she was right. Yes.

“…Emiko?”

“Oh, um, th-thanks, Mr. Coleman,” said Emiko, snapping back to reality and fidgeting aimlessly with her fingers under the table. Gary was looking at her oddly. She blushed. She was aware that she was talking to someone famous and she shouldn’t slip up, making her all the more likely to slip up, as she was now under self-imposed pressure.

“Some kid—about your age, I think—moved out a few days ago,” Gary Coleman said.

“Oh,” said Emiko, thinking she couldn’t possibly go wrong with something as simple as “oh.”

“The kid who moved outta here… his name was… hang on, I know this… Daryl? Denny? Davis? Oh, right!” He snapped his fingers happily. “It was DAVE. Anyways, Dave hadn’t been here too long when he left,” Gary went on. “A few weeks, at most. Guess he couldn’t handle us here on Avenue Q, yeah? We’re too just tough for ’im!” He laughed, and after a few seconds Emiko joined in rather nervously. What if SHE couldn’t handle Avenue Q either? “I doubt really anyone in my apartments would remember him. One day he was here. A few days later, just gone, like that.” Gary snapped again. “I never really knew him. Well, guess I’ll just have to get to know you instead, since you’ll be the one livin’ in his apartment now, hmm?”

“Yes,” squeaked Emiko. This was extremely awkward; making a good first impression on Gary Coleman hadn’t worked out at all. Deciding she probably couldn’t blow it any more than she already had, and feeling she had a right to know, she added, “I met this guy named Brian out on the avenue. He said there were no apartments for rent. He also said I was too young to live here, so I was wondering if he has something against teenagers or something or maybe he just made a mistake or he lied for some other reason or what—?” She rambled on and on self-consciously until she caught Gary’s eye. He held up his hand to silence her, his eyebrows raised suspiciously. She shut up in an instant.

“Look, kid, I said I never really knew Dave, right?” Gary grinned as Emiko nodded. “So, neither did any of the other people who live here. Brian probably forgot Dave’d ever come.” He shrugged. “He wasn’t tryin’ to lie to you or anything.”

“I guess that explains it,” said Emiko, feeling suddenly much happier. Brian-kun didn’t hate her after all! “So… so I get the apartment?”

“Yeah, sure, kid. But there’s something I gotta ask ya first.”

“Yes?”

“Why’d you decide to come live out here, of all places?”

“Oh.” Emiko stumbled to find the right words. “Well, I’m from Japan but I lived in an American village—long story—and my friend helped me find this place; she saw your ad on the internet and it was the only thing…” She paused, blushing, and turned away.

Now it was Gary’s turn to inquire politely, “Yes?”

“…it was the only place I could afford,” she said softly, still blushing furiously. “I’m here as a foreign exchange sort of thing. My sens—I mean, my teacher sent me on a mission in New York.”

“A mission, huh?” Gary seemed highly amused by this prospect. “You have an interesting teacher, who sends his students off to other countries on ‘missions.’ What school did you say you go to in Japan?”

Something inside Emiko seemed to freeze up with this last question. “Uh, I’m not exactly in school, you see.” She’d been dreading this. He’d wonder why she wasn’t in school, of course. And then she’d have to tell him what she really was, which was enough to make anyone recoil in fear and snatch back their offer at once—she’d never be able to live on Avenue Q if Gary found out…

“You’re not?” Gary frowned, pondering this for a moment. “How old are you, kid?”

“I’m almost 18,” she said, but quickly added when she saw the look on his face, “Yeah, I know I should be in high school or something, but I’m not because I’m a ninj—”

But Emiko was saved, cut off mid-word, because at that moment someone started hammering on the door with the force of an angry lion. “Gary?!” a voice outside the room called frantically.

Gary sighed. “What is it, Nicky? I’m busy.”

“It’s sorta important.”

“Make it fast then! Go on!”

“Um, you see, Brian and I were kicking around an empty beer bottle and it kind of ended up on Trekkie’s roof.”

Emiko gasped, but Gary didn’t seem too surprised. Apparently things like this happened a lot, at least here. He asked Nicky after a pause, “Who kicked it up there?”

“Brian,” said Nicky instantly.

“I see,” Gary mused.

Nicky’s word seemed good enough for Gary, but Emiko wasn’t so sure. She could normally tell when people were lying, and if she wasn’t mistaken, NICKY had been the one who’d kicked the beer bottle. He’d lied so Gary would get Brian in trouble instead. She could tell, from the way Nicky seemed far too eager to say Brian’s name, his voice far too firm. Emiko scowled. No one treated anyone—especially Brian—like this, at least not around her.

“Well, tell Brian I want a word with him,” Gary told Nicky.

“No, Gary, wait!” Emiko hissed, loud enough for Gary to get her message, but not loud enough for Nicky, who was still outside the room, to overhear. “I… I think Nicky lied to give Brian all the blame. I can tell these things, usually.”

“Really, can you, now?” said Gary, painstakingly loud enough for Nicky to hear. Emiko winced at the volume of his voice. “And how do you happen to have this extraordinary ability?”

Emiko almost cried out the reason, where she’d been trained and what she was, but she stopped herself just in time. “Some people are just born with it, I guess,” she said tactfully.

“I see,” Gary repeated. Emiko and Nicky each held their breath, awaiting the outcome of their predicament. Suddenly Gary said, “Ah, I bet Trekkie won’t care anyway. He spends every day inside on that computer of his; I doubt he’ll care about something as small as a beer bottle on the roof. Now, Nicky, why don’t you skedaddle, I’m talkin’ to someone, okay?”

“Okay,” said Nicky, sounding slightly dejected at being so openly dismissed, but relieved no one was going to have to climb onto Trekkie’s roof and collect the bottle. His voice faded and his footsteps walked away at a leisurely pace. Emiko heard the door to the building open, then close, signaling that Nicky had left her and Gary alone again.

Gary rolled his eyes. “That’s Nicky, one of your new neighbors.”

Suddenly feeling nervous again, Emiko asked cautiously, “Do I have a lot of new neighbors?” She shuddered inwardly. What if they didn’t like her? What if they were mean and stubborn and unreasonable—or what if they were perfectly friendly, but then they found out her secret and became suddenly afraid of her?

“Well, yeah, I s’pose you do,” said Gary. “Depends on what you’d call ‘a lot.’ You’ve already met Brian and Nicky, and let’s see… there’s also Christmas Eve, Rod, Trekkie, and Kate. So it’s not too many. I’ll introduce you to everyone later, when everyone’s back from work, okay?”

Emiko nodded slowly. “Okay. Sounds good.”

“Good.” Gary got up and walked across the room to a desk covered in clutter. He opened a drawer and rummaged around inside for a minute, then pulled out a very plain keyring. “Here’s your keys. Here, catch!” He threw them across the room, where they landed neatly in Emiko’s outstretched hand. “Good catch, kid!”

“Thanks.” Emiko smiled, pocketing the keyring, and got up to leave. When her hand was no more than an inch away from away the door, she hesitated. Aware that she was taking up Gary’s valuable time, she willed herself to just move her hand another inch and open the door. But she couldn’t. There was still something she needed to know. Gary was staring at her. Finally, as quickly as she could say it, Emiko blurted, “Mr. Coleman, do you think everyone’ll like me?”

“I dunno, kid,” said Gary solemnly. “I mean, universal popularity’s impossible to come by, but I think your neighbors are a pretty hospitable bunch. Take it from someone who knows”—he beamed widely, as if someone was about to take his photograph—“Gary Coleman!”

Emiko blinked. “Um, okay.” That smile was still on his face. It was extremely corny, if not even a little bit scary. “So, uh, where’s my apartment again?” He’d already told her which apartment was hers, but she pretended to forget in a desperate attempt to change the subject… and make Gary’s crazy grin go away.

Fortunately, his smile returned to normal at these words. “Your apartment’s that one, over there.” He took her over to the window and pointed at the one he meant. She nodded. “Just remember you’re right above Kate Monster, and you’ll be fine,” Gary suggested.

Emiko jumped, startled. “WHAT?!”

“What, what?” Gary replied.

Emiko opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it without a word, thinking better of what she had been going to say. She nodded again, hiding how she felt, not really trusting herself to say anything at all. Kate MONSTER? Had Gary just said Kate MONSTER? She couldn’t help being frightened at the sound of this Kate’s name. But, no, she was being stupid. It would be okay; Kate wouldn’t REALLY be a monster, she assured herself. “Monster” was just Kate’s last name, and after all, people can’t control their names. Almost everyone Emiko had met in America had gaped at her for having the name “Emiko Sasaki,” and Emiko was determined not to make Kate feel as awkward as she did when people questioned HER name. She decided not to think about it too much. Yes, it would be best if she just forgot about Kate’s last name. It wasn’t Kate Monster. It was KATE. Just Kate. Right?

“…Emiko?”

Emiko blinked, moving her outstretched hand an inch and wrenching open the door. “Bye, Mr. Coleman.”

“Call me Gary!” he cried, but she was already halfway down the hallway. After a few moments, Emiko had thrown open the door to the building as well. She ran to the house containing her—and Kate Monster’s; no it was just Kate’s—apartment, breathing heavily. She pulled the keyring Gary had given her out of her pocket and fit one key into the door’s lock. It opened with a satisfying click, and she ran once again, this time upstairs to the apartment that was hers. After unlocking her room’s door as well, she slammed the door shut behind her, still panting like she’d just run a marathon.

And then her entire disposition changed abruptly. As if in slow motion, she staggered into the room, surveying it like she was a detective looking for clues. It was shabby, plain, and in terrible condition, but it was enough. It was home. Feeling exhausted after her plane ride from Japan and her forced meetings with Brian and Gary, Emiko collapsed onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow and wishing she would never have to come out. And a few minutes later, even thought it was only three o’ clock in the afternoon, Emiko Sasaki fell into a light, restless sleep, after wondering once more what on earth she was getting herself into.