Title: When Pigs Fly

Author: Black_Wingedbird

Rating: G

Author's Note: Wow, haven't written one of these in a long time. Finally got my muses back. Good grief.

Lance looked at his watch, then to Wade and Joey. J.C. stood in front of the lunch table. "So you think they'll be here on time today?" Joey snorted and took a bite of apple. "When pigs can fly."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wind whipped past his body as the bright midday sun tanned his skin. Beside him, Justin was rollerblading with equal skill. They blew past people before anyone could recognize them. The sound of skates scraping the gritty sidewalk echoed through the busy streets.

"Come on Chris, you act like you've never done this before," Justin taunted as he pulled ahead of his older friend, shirt whipping in the wind behind him.

They skated across the street and onto the sidewalk again. "Justin, stop showing off," Chris replied as they passed another group of people. "You're not funny. No one really likes you."

They turned a corner and headed down a less populated street. "I'm not showing off. I'm trying to make it back to the stadium on time because we have a rehearsal to do."

"Well in that case we better haul it," Chris replied, speeding up. "Come on, I'll race ya!"

"Yeah right old fart," Justin laughed, the something short and dark caught his eye. "Chris, watch out-"

"Shit!" Chris yelped as his legs were taken out from under him. He fell face first onto the pavement, only an inch from the road. His knees screamed in pain but Chris forgot about it just as a garbage truck went barreling down the road, it's wheels only a couple inches from Chris's face.

"Chris!" Justin exclaimed, pulling Chris up off the curb. They watched briefly as the truck continued down the road at a rather fast speed. "Are you okay?" Justin asked a shell-shocked Chris.

Chris looked at Justin open-mouthed. "I almost died," he said quietly, turning to look down the empty road.

Justin looked his friend over and spotted two scraped knees. "Come on," Justin said, tugging gently on Chris's arm. "Let's go back and we'll get you a Band-Aid or something..."

Chris let himself be pulled, stumbling slightly as they stepped off the curb. Then he seemed to snap back to life and started struggling against Justin. "No, wait," he fought, turning to look where they had been standing. "What was that?" he wondered out loud, stepping back onto the sidewalk they had just been on.

"What was what? Come on Chris, we're gonna be late. Again."

Chris looked all around the sunny sidewalk until a noise caught his attention. Something was rattling a store's tin trashcan, causing the lid to jump until the whole thing finally fell over. Behind it, rooting through the scraps, was a dark brown, pot bellied pig.

Chris's eyes lit up. "A pig! How cool is this Justin? A real life pig in the middle of LA!"

Justin sighed but couldn't hide his interest for long. "Is it tame?" he asked, stepping next to Chris.

Chris kneeled down in front of the short animal. "I guess," he replied, holding out his hand for the pig to sniff.

The pig grunted and continued searching the garbage. It saw Chris's slender fingers with its amber colored eyes and took a step forward, stretching with its long brown snout to sniff the hand. After one smell, the pig snorted contentedly and continued its rummage, paying no mind to Justin and Chris.

Chris smiled and pet the pig's head. "What's pig like you doing in a place like this?" he asked. "You could get hurt."

Justin knew where this was going. "Chris, come on, we gotta go. Say goodbye to your pig."

"I guess he is my pig, isn't he?" Chris asked. "He just saved my life, now the least I could do is get him a real lunch." Chris grabbed a piece of cord from the pile of trash and tied a loop in one end.

"Chris, no, what are you doing?"

"Justin, I'm giving him lunch. You have to agree that I do at least owe him that."

"Chris, he's a pig. You don't 'owe' him jack."

"Justin, he saved my life! I was almost squished by that garbage tuck! I was almost freakin' roadkill!"

"Chris, no."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO!"

"Justin! I'm older, respect your elders. I can do what I want, and right now, me and my pig are going to lunch."

Justin watched as Chris slip the impromptu leash over the pig's fat head. He watched as Chris got up and began skating slowly, making sure that the pig could keep up. Justin sighed and followed.

~o0O0o~

Chris never was one to be shy. And he never told a lie. It's just that some things didn't happen to come up in a conversation. Particularly pot bellied pigs.

Chris marched up to the McDonald's counter, his pig trailing behind. The other customers gawked and whispered, but the pig couldn't be seen from the worker's point of view. Chris made his order like normal, and Justin shook his head to himself. They were gonna get busted big time for this.

Justin sighed and followed Chris outside.

~o0O0o~

"So pig, what am I going to name you? Wilbur? Babe? Fatty?"

"You can't name a pig fatty."

"Why not?"

"Because that'll hurt his feelings."

"Well he is. And what do you care?"

Justin sighed. Were his skates actually shrinking? "Fine Chris, name THE pig what ever you want. But no one is going to let you keep it."

Chris watched with a sort of pride as the pig waddled along behind them. It's curly tail swished back and forth and its flat nose tested the air constantly. "I know, I'll name you Zoey. No, that sounds like Joey and then I'd get my ass beat. Hmm…what else could I name you?"

The pig snorted as it sniffed the ground. Justin watched dirt scatter when the pig exhaled. It was kinda cool. Kinda. "Why don't you call it Pop? It could be our new mascot or something."

Chris chuckled. "That's stupid."

They continued down the road.

Cars went by, and they passed people.

"Fine. His name is Pop."

"Thank you."

"Right."

~o0O0o~

"Guys, where have you been? You're like…forty-five minutes late! What is that?"

"This is Pop," Chris beamed. "He's our new mascot."

"Since when do we need a mascot?" Lance questioned. "No, it doesn't matter. Get your asses in there and rehearse. Wade is pissed."

Chris and Justin and Pop entered the building. Chris and Justin and maybe Pop were the only ones smiling.

"Cool pig!" Joey smiled, hobbling up to Chris. Putting his crutches under one arm, he knelt down and stroked the wiry hairs on the pig's back.

"His name is Pop," Chris smiled.

"Where did it come from?" J.C. asked, not smiling yet.

"He's mine. He saved my life!"

Now Wade was interested. "And how did he do that?"

"Me and Justin were skating along, and I tripped over this pig. If I had kept going onto the road, I would probably still be there now. Road kill."

Joey leaned down and whispered loudly in the pig's ear, "Why'd you save him?"

Chris kicked Joey playfully in his uninjured leg. "Shut up."

"And where is Pop staying?" J.C. asked. Chris opened his mouth and J.C. added, "Not on the bus."

"But J.C…"

"Busta was bad enough. This is a pig Chris. A PIG. A wild animal. And pigs smell."

"Pop doesn't stink," Chris argued.

"Oh come on J.C., let him keep the pig. He's a big boy now, he's responsible," Joey said, standing up and throwing an arm around Chris's shoulder.

"Guys, no. Come on now. Look at the size of it!"

"J.C…"

"NO."

~o0O0o~

J.C. smiled. Thank God. There was no pig. It was all a dream. No ugly pig on the bus. He spotted Chris sitting on the floor, planted in front of the PS2. "Hey Chris, guess what," J.C. laughed. "I had the weirdest dream."

Chris smiled and glanced at J.C. "What now?"

J.C. sat beside Chris and grabbed a control. "I dreamt you found a pot bellied pig. You wanted to keep it. Even named it Pop."

Chris laughed. "Where would I put a pig?"

"You wanted to keep it on the bus. Can you imagine that?" J.C. glanced at Chris.

Chris turned to J.C. with an unreadable look in his eyes. He leaned closer to J.C. until they were only an inch apart.

"Chris?" J.C. questioned, looking into Chris's eyes. Then Chris closed the gap, and kissed J.C., his tongue demanding entrance to J.C.'s mouth.

"AHHHHHHHH!" J.C. screamed, opening his eyes wide and finding himself face to face with the long, wet snout of Pop. J.C. screamed again and sat up, wiping the pig's slobber off his mouth. "CHRIS!!" J.C. ran to the bathroom.

Chris ran to the bathroom, followed by the others. "What?" he asked, watching with confusement as J.C. scrubbed his mouth with soap.

"You're damn pig just freakin french kissed me!" J.C. half-yelled. "SICK!"

Chris smiled as Pop trotted up to the others. "Well J.C., maybe despite you're demeanor, he likes you."

"That THING better not like me, and he better not do it again or I'm throwing his ass out!"

"Hey," Justin said. "I got an idea."

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"Shut up. No, listen. I know how we can get rid of it."

"How?" J.C. asked., drying off his face.

"We're not giving away Pop," Chris argued.

"Chris, come on. This is good, I promise. And besides, you already have Busta. If you want a pig, I'll get you one for Christmas. Deal?"

Chris raised an eyebrow and looked at Pop. He was kinda dirty and ugly. And fat. "Fine. What's the plan?"

~o0O0o~

(ding-dong)

"Who's that?" Lou Pearlman asked himself as he bounced down the many stairs. A fat hand reached out and opened the front door, revealing a short, dark brown pot bellied pig. Around it's neck was a sign that read, 'A pig for The Pig.'

Giggles rose out of the bushes a few feet away.

Lou glared at the 'joke' and then smiled. "Wow," he said rather loudly. "I didn't know that bacon I ordered would be THIS fresh!"

Lou smiled at the gasps and led the pig inside. He'd see who had the last laugh.

End

Email