Impractical Jokers: [Joker]x[Joker] Collection

Now You're Just Making it Awkward! (Joe/Sal)

[BECAUSE I WANTED IN ON THE OH-SO CLICHE 'CHALLENGE/MAKE A MOVE' DYNAMIC, OKAY?!]

In a paired challenge, Joe and Sal had been at a loss as to what their endeavour was to entail. The second they'd come opposite the very regular Staten Island shopping mall with a very regular-looking Q and Murr grinning from ear to ear with their headphones in and the cameras at the ready, they'd known they were in for one hell of a ride.

Now, stood in the centre of the shopping mall, they await their orders.

"Sal. Joe. Are you ready?"

Joe shakes his arms, as if loosening tension in his body in preparation for a fight. "As ready as it gets, man."

"All right, one second then," comes Q's voice, thick and heady, and the presence of a smile in his tone does not go unnoticed by Sal. What he also notices is that, for a brief selection of seconds, there's a loss of connection. He wonders if Joe is experiencing the same thing too, looks over at him to see him innocently rocking back and forth on his heels, arms tucked behind his back as he waits. If he detects it, he certainly isn't showing it. Sal hopes he's being just as discreet with the smile his best friend's adorable behaviour provokes.

The reason for the pause is unknown to the two men, but Q and Murr are perfectly aware of what their plan is. Q can no longer stand by and listen to Sal whittle on and on about how differently he's seeing Joe these days, can't take another minute of his 'it's unrequited' bullshit, not when he doesn't know for certain that something couldn't happen. He's going to give his friend the push he needs, really put him in a position that allows him to extend on his own feelings; the orders will be brief, embarrassing, but by no means something he can't work with.

Connection returns with a quiet flurry of static before Murr chirps, "All right, we're ready! Walk over to the drug store just opposite."

The pair give each other a look before steeling themselves and trotting on over to the store. It's almost clinical; not in the sense of a hospital or a doctor's office, but with how stiff and uppity people are in there. It's serious business, health care, and both Jokers know that they're going to royally piss off some people the second they step foot in there.

"Now, I want you to hold hands."

Sal's brow immediately creases, a sharp comment caught between his teeth. Perhaps the only reason he doesn't say it is because he sees Joe's hand enter his peripheral vision; or perhaps it's because only Q knows about his feelings for the unsuspecting man and he doesn't want to voice anything indicative of his vulnerability when around everybody else. Slowly, the pair link hands and Sal is unable to meet the other's eyes, though he can feel that intoxicating blue boring holes into his skin.

"You see that little girl with her mom over there?" Q starts, grin in his tone obvious. "Beckon her over."

Both men cringe... but they don't want to lose. After all, there's only so much their friends can order, right? Only so much they can get away with in the face of the law? Miraculously, their hands seem to win her over; she comes skipping, looking up at their conjoined hands before staring curiously up at them. Her distracted mother is oblivious.

"All right, bend at the knees, both of you. And get this little girl to walk under your arms until her mother notices."

Sal feels laughter building up in his chest, chances a look at Joe's face to see him looking more cautious despite the fact that his knees are already bending. They convince her of 'limbo', have her running and laughing beneath their stretched arms, each time getting lower to the floor until she reduces herself to a crawl in order to keep playing. Curiously, her mother looks over... and then double takes when she sees her daughter with the two strangers.