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Joey was not jealous. No, not at all. In fact, he was incredibly calm and collected.
Which, obviously, isn't at all what led to him from a half-finished roof of some building right at its builders feet.
Now, don't get him wrong, Joey wasn't stalking Jimmy. He just... Kept following him around and watching him. For four hours now.
But even if he was stalking the Codfather, it wasn't for some creepy reason, or something.
He just doesn't understand. Doesn't understand why so many people like him so much. Why do they spend so much time with him, when all he does is annoy them. Why does Xornoth spend so much time around him-...
Why does Xornoth spend so much time around him. Why do they come over to the Cod Empire so often, why do they leave so much corruption every time, why do they prefer talking to him instead of Joey-...
Joey is not jealous.
He really isn't.
...
Maybe a little bit.
But there's nothing wrong with a little bit of jealousy in a relationship, right? It's not like it's hurting anyone. Yet.
Alright, he's extremely jealous. But he has every right to be! And come on, he's not there to kill Jimmy. He did think about it, obviously, but he just wants answers, why Xornoth prefers seeing the Codfather, why are they constantly close to him while pushing Joey away, what is he doing wrong-..?
"Wha-... Joey?" Ah, right. He just hit his face on the wooden floor falling from roof. "Are you okay?"
He was not okay. He just broke his nose. He was also being picked up and placed on his feet by the fish he was stalking a few minutes ago.
"Are you okay?" He asked again placing his hands on the avian's shoulders. "My gosh-... Let me get you a regen potion, wait a sec..." He started searching through his chests.
Huh. What kind of reaction is this.
"Here! There ya go! Drink please." He forced the bottle into Joey's hands and looked at him in anticipation, constantly hunched over in the shrimp pose to look the avian in the eyes. Fucking tall people.
He drank the potion anyway. And he couldn't even complain about the taste. It was damn good, fucking swamp people with their brewing skills and good will. Disgusting. How dare they.
The potion even worked better than his own. The feeling of his nose popping back into place wasn't even uncomfortable.
"Does it hurt? Did everything heal properly?" the taller man asked while touching the man's nose with the tips of his fingers. How dare he be so gentle.
"It's fine! I'm fine." Joey steps back, forcing himself to act semi-civil.
"Are you sure though? It looked really painful..." He started gesturing in the air with his hands, probably wanting to grab the avian's shoulders again. At least the Codfather figured out that he did not want physical contact.
"Yes, yes, stop fucking-... Why do you care so much?!" he took another step back, his leopard skin cloak dramatically swishing behind him.
"Well, you just fell from the roof right on your face and broke your nose, of course i'm-... Actually, what are you even doing here?"
"I-... Needed some slime for leads." ah, yes. A perfect lie. It even made sense!
"Oh, let's go then!" the way Jimmy's eyes lit up when he got excited definietly wasn't cute. Joey definietly didn't think the way the fins on the sides of his head moved resembled a cat's ears movement. And even if, he definietly wasn't adorable.
|•|•|•|•|
"Okay, so how much do you want?"
They were walking through the Codland's slime farm, slowly getting closer and closer to the storage part of it.
"Uh-... A stack of slime balls should be enough."
"Okay, and what do you have to trade for it?"
"Oh." he did not bring anything with him. He didn't expect getting caught after all. "Well, for a stack of slime balls I can bring you a totem of undying. Or... Three stacks of jungle wood."
"Bring? Did you... Come here to trade and didn't bring anything with you..?"
"Oh, well, i-..." a flaw in his flawless lie. Impossible. "Uh, listen, the thing is-..."
"Well in that case, how about you make sure Xornoth stops coming here?"
"What?"
"Well, you two are together, yeah? So if you convince them to leave my empire alone i'll give you the slime. We can even make an arrangement for more slime and other things for you if you get them to stop harassing me-..."
Joey could feel his blood boiling. How dare this man complain about it, he's getting more of their attention than their goddamn boyfriend and he's still-...
"I can't."
"Huh?"
"Well-..." no, it wasn't a voice crack, you're imagining it. "We don't really talk-... Unless they are asking me to do stuff for them." stare into the wall until the fish boy looks away, stare into the wall until-...
"You don't talk? But... You are together, aren't you? Doesn't this mean you're... Close? I always assumed they're with you when they're not in any other of our empires..."
"We, uh... It's none of your business, Codboy!" the shriek was too loud, even for the avian's own standards, but he tried his best to not show it.
"Joey, are you-..."
"Fuck off!" he hissed at the taller blonde. "I don't even need your stupid slime!" He exclaimed while quickly walking away.
"Joey..? Joey!" his voice was getting more and more distant. Why is the slime farm so spacious?
"Stop ignoring me, you're not just-... Walking away like this!" Huh. The voice sounded much closer than before. Fuck.
He felt hands on his shoulders. They pushed him against the wall.
"Joey, I think we need to talk about it."
"Well I think you should mind your business! I just called off the trade, let me go!"
"Do they really only talk to you when they want something?"
"Let fucking go, you-... Creepy fish-boy!"
"Joey, listen-..."
"Fuck off! If you don't fuck off right this instant I am going to call this an attack and declare a war on you-..." he raised his head high while closing his eyes. No, he wasn't hiding tears. Of course he wasn't.
He just didn't understand. He's been watching the man for over four hours, he talked to him, he saw the others talk to him but he still has no idea what makes him so different from everyone else. What makes Joey see him differently from everyone else.
"Joey, are they just using you for their plans?"
Tears were slowly falling down his cheeks.
"O-of course not, you dumb fish, how even dare you suggest something like this-..." he was cut off by a hug.
He opened his mouth to say something. He wanted to scream. He wanted to go home and pet his cat.
He really wanted a hug.
"I-... Uh, i-... Shouldn't-..." he started, choking on his tears. The avian didn't even try to finish as Jimmy hugged him tighter.