You Could Say It's Real

Friendly Banter

•Josh's POV•

I started up the Skype call with Simon, Vikk, JJ, and Ethan. It was 11pm, so we were all awake at this point. Harry had gone to the airport and since then, Simon's been a bit... distant. And it's only been seven hours... "Can you hear me?" Ethan shouted on purpose, I groaned and covered my ears.

"For fucks sake Ethan! No need to shout!" JJ yelled, completely throwing out whatever point he was trying to make. I saw Simon looking at his phone on the screen. He was smiling.

"Earth to Simon!" I said, Simon slowly peeled his eyes from his phone. He smiled and turned off his phone, carefully setting it on his desk. I rolled my eyes, knowing who he was texting. "Harry in Guernsey?"

"Yeah. He's at his house with his brother and sister. He's gonna record with them later this week."

"Of course you know what he's doing." Vikk said, a teasing smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Simon replied, a bit of sass serving as an edge to his voice. Ethan started to laugh so much that he was almost crying.

"We haven't even started and minor shots have already been fired!" Ethan said, still laughing.

"Nah mate. The shots haven't even begun." JJ said and shook his head. "That was just a bit of banter."

"True." I agreed as I finished making sure all of my recording was working. "Now are we ready to film?"

"Yep. 3... 2... 1..." Vikk began the countdown and we all clapped at the same time.

"Hey guys and welcome to death run! I am here with Simon, Vikk, JJ, and Ethan!" I said, I was almost always the one who came up with intros.

"Wait, who's death?" Simon asked as his character was jumping around. I saw his eyes quickly flick down at his phone, another smile crossed his face.

"I am!" Vikk proudly announced. I heard Simon's phone go off and his eyes flicked downwards again.

"Oi, you can't go thirty seconds without Harry texting you." Ethan said, a teasing smile crossing his face. I saw Simon roll his eyes and quickly type a reply. I smirked as I began to move my character through the traps. Vikk attempted to set them off, but failed to catch me.

"Simon, turn off your phone!" JJ said as Simon's phone rang yet again.

"At least I have someone texting me!" Simon replied with a laugh that silenced JJ.

"Oh shit!" I said with a laugh. We all burst into laughter, well, not JJ, he was sulking and angrily eating some leftover Nandos, even though he was recording face cam.

One hour later

"Thank you all for watching and goodbye!" I said, ending the video.

"Byeeee!" Vikk.

"See ya!" Simon.

"Later!" Ethan.

"Goodbye." JJ said, with his face very close to his mic which made his voice even deeper. I turned off my face cam and screen capture and made sure everything was how I needed it to be. "I'm hungry." JJ complained as he finished his leftovers.

"Then go downstairs and get some food." Vikk said, causing JJ to sigh.

"Fine. Bye Ethan." JJ said before leaving the Skype call. I laughed as I heard his footsteps rapidly going downstairs. I looked back at the screen, Simon was on his phone again, he'll be like this for the rest of the week. Oh well.

"I have to go record with Preston and Lachlan. Bye." Vikk said and he left too.

"And I want a snack. Bye guys." Ethan said with a thoughtful look on his face. He left the Skype call, now it was just Simon and I.

"So, how's Harry?"

"Good."

"You seem different, are you okay?"

"I just miss him, that's all."

"You know you're a terrible liar, right? I know there's something else. You're not just sad, you're nervous."

"Why would I be nervous?"

"How am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?"

"Fair point. But I'm fine, I promise."

"Alright, but if you want to tell me, you can."

"Oi, you're not my fuckin therapist."

"Okay... just saying."

"It was just banter." Simon said as we both broke into laughter. "Well, I'm gonna FaceTime Harry. See you in a couple hours when we both get food."

"True, see you then." I replied as Simon ended the call completely. I decided to edit some videos we recorded a couple days ago. It was only midnight, but I had gone to bed later than usual yesterday, so I could feel fatigue creeping up on me. I started editing, but my eyelids began to droop, and before Ethan could say "Oh Neil." I had fallen asleep.

Two hours later

There was a knock at my door, jolting me awake from my not-so-comfortable sleeping position. "What?" I grumbled, slightly irritated, loud noises and a sleepy Josh, not a good combination.

"I'm going shopping, need anything?" Vikk asked, I knew that he could tell that he had woken me up.

"Dr. Pepper."

"You just had a whole pack three days ago."

"How do you think I get my energy?"

"Alright. I'll get you a couple packs this time."

"Thanks Vikk."

"No problem!" Vikk replied and seconds later I heard him walk away. Probably seeing if JJ or Simon need anything. I walked over to my mini fridge and slowly opened it. There was one Dr. Pepper left. I took it out and opened it, the sound instantly putting a smile on my face. Before I could take a sip, my phone buzzed. It was from Simon.

Simon: Food time. You hungry?
Me: Alright! On my way
(Read 2:14am)

With the quick message sent, I placed my phone on my bed and walked downstairs, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I reached the kitchen and Simon already had all of the ingredients out. This was like our little tradition, we almost always cooked for each other at 2am. I also spotted what was left of a "Vikk Special" in the bin. I walked over to the ingredients for my meal for the two of us. "We're out of some ingredients for my meal, so we're making yours."

"Okay." I responded as Simon and I began to cook our 2am meal. "Hang on, I forgot something." I said before rushing upstairs to grab my can of Dr. Pepper.