Joshua Goldstein- No More Heroes

"Are you gonna talk to me?" Ronnie asks.

"Hm?" Josh says, snapping out of his trance. He hadn't done any of the NGW press work that usually kept him so busy throughout the week so he went back to working shifts at the Rec Center with Ronnie. They're both wearing neon yellow t-shirts with the words 'CHAPERONE' in big black letters.

"Kaylee is worried about you. Adrien is worried about you.... Hell I'm worried about you." Ronnie says.

"I'll be fine." Josh says.

Josh looks back at what had him so transfixed. A small child wearing a cape and pretending to fly around the playground.

"You don't seem fine. You seem miserable. You've got everyone in NGW who isn't a prick tweeting about how bad they feel for you. That doesn't scream 'fine' to me. That sounds like there's a problem. Let's solve the problem. Start by talking to me. Your best friend. Josh, there's a rabid ferret attacking one of the children." Ronnie says when he realizes Josh isn't listening to him again.

"I'll call animal control." Josh says, only picking up on the last part of the conversation.

"Would you fucking snap out of it!?" Ronnie says, shoving his best friend hard. Josh shoves back. Suddenly in the middle of the playground behind the Rec Center the two grown men present to watch over the children messily tie up and start pushing each other back and forth. Ronnie eventually gets the upper hand and locks Josh in a side headlock, giving Josh a noogie.

"Agh! No! That....stop!" Josh says, annoyed. He's able to reach behind Ronnie and grab a hold of the elastic of his underwear and yank up hard. THis causes Ronnie to release the headlock and reach behind Josh and do the same to him. The two men have each other locked in a mutual wedgie and are not letting go.

"Let go of my underwear you skinny sunova bitch!" Ronnie says.

"You first you hairy bastard!" Josh counters.

"Alright...on 3...one...two..." Ronnie says before the both of them yank up harder and each release a rather unmanly noise.

"Fuck you! You didn't let go!" Ronnie says.

"Neither did you!" Josh says. Johnny very briefly considers maybe not filming anymore and intervening in this. Ronnie had asked him to film as he tried to get Josh to unburden himself a bit.

"No counting...on break....BREAK!" Josh says and the two of them shove each other away, an audible tearing noise being heard as they both step away, holding each others torn underwear.

"Oh God! Oh God it hurt so bad!" Josh says before tossing aside Ronnie's leopard print briefs. Ronnie is similarly hurt as he tosses aside the heart-covered boxers of Josh. The nearby children are giggling at the sight.

"I think...I think my gooch might be bleeding." Ronnie says.

"Your what?" Josh asks.

"I'm not going to explain this to you. There's kids around." Ronnie says.

"Uh-huh." is all Josh says in response.

"So, gonna maybe use some of those amazing wedgie skills in your match against Johnathan Drake?" Ronnie asks, trying to maybe get a little something out of Josh.

"I mean I'm gonna go out there and fight him. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll fluke out another win." Josh says.

"Oh cut that out. You've beaten Jack Tillman like four times or some shit. Management knows that and they also know Jack didn't belong in that match. You'll get your rematch." Ronnie says, putting a hand on Josh's shoulder.

"And hopefully I'll be able to attack him when he's already hurt or something like I did Caroline bexause that's the only way I can beat anyone." Josh says, looking down at the ground.

"Jesus. No. You need to stop this." Ronnie says.

'Everyone keeps saying that. Like me being in a cape and smiling matters. " Josh says.

"Because it does! The Jew Blazer means something, man! It may not mean anything to you right now but what you were doing resonated with people and for good reason!" Ronnie says.

"I fail to see any reason." Josh says.

"What's gonna happen, Josh? What are all of those kids you claimed to fight for gonna do when they see their hero has given up? Do you remember the first thing you said when you went solo? You said that if one little Jewish Kid saw you and was able to feel a little better about themselves then this was all worth it. How is that kid supposed to feel when you show up on tv talking about how big of a failure you are?" Ronnie asks. Josh seems briefly taken aback by this outburst from his friend. Josh seems to take a moment to think about it.

"Maybe those kids need to learn to be disappointed. It's not the worst thing in the world if they learn how to deal with that at an early age." Josh says.

There is a long and oppressive silence. Ronnie takes his hand off of Josh's shoulder.

"Maybe give me a shout when you figure out what happened to my best friend...because I seriously have no idea who I'm talking to right now." Ronnie says before walking away. Josh starts to say something but can't bring himself to come up with the right words. Ronnie leaves and Josh just stands there alone. He does his best to just shake it off and play cool, taking out his phone and looking at twitter for a bit before he is interrupted by a small tug on the bottom of his shirt. Josh turns around and sees the little boy from earlier, only now he doesn't have the cape on and he's offering it up to Josh. Josh kneels down to get on the kids level.

"What's this for?" Josh asks.

"You looked sad. I thought maybe you'd want to be a superhero and fly around. That's what makes me happy." The kid says.

"Nah...I'm okay for right now. Thanks though." Josh says with a smile.

"Are you sure?" The kid asks. There is a pause.

"Yeah. For now. Some other time, maybe. What's your name, kid?" Josh says, he takes the cape.

"Rusty." The boy says. Josh helps the kid put the cape back on, tying the string in a bow before patting him on the head.

"You weren't supposed to tell me your secret identity but don't worry, I'll be cool and not tell anyone you told me." Josh whispers. Rusty chuckles.

"I'm Super Rusty!" Rusty exclaims.

"That's more like it, now go make sure everyone in the playground is safe okay? They need a superhero." Josh says. Rusty nods happily and pretends to fly away. Josh stands and takes a deep breath as he watches him play, his smile gradually fading as he thinks to himself.

And then Johnny stopped recording.