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warnerswilsons · 5 months

Text

The More You Reassure, The Less I Trust

Fandom: Jackbox/You Don’t Know Jack

Word Count: 2,658

Hey, everyone! This is a fic I’ve been working on for about a month, and it is finally finished! I’ve cross posted it on AO3, so the link will be at the bottom.

Anyway, this is based on two prompts from @cosmophoriia’s angry love confessions prompt list. The two prompts being used are ‘Character A choosing to avoid Character B for a while after B goes out on a date, and is so confused on why A is avoiding them’ and “‘why do you care?’ ‘Because I’m in love with you!’” I immediately knew I wanted to write this fic with Schmitty and Cookie, so here it is!

Just a heads up: characters do get locked in a booth at one point.

Title is from “Against the Kitchen Floor” by Will Wood

Even on a Monday morning, the studio seemed to be bustling with energy, and this one was no exception. As everyone piled through the doors, they broke into conversation, catching up on major events from over the weekend. Cookie had arrived relatively early. After his let-down of a weekend, there wasn't anywhere else he would have wanted to be aside from at the studio with his fellow game hosts. Though, even as more people walked through the doors, something still felt off. Cookie's gaze shifted back and forth between the door and his phone, as if waiting for some sort of message. The Fibbage host started subconsciously tapping his foot as he glanced down at his phone one last time, before looking up and meeting the eyes of one of the interns. He failed to stop himself from jumping back slightly out of surprise.

"Uh, Mr. Masterson?" To Cookie, it didn't seem like the intern had picked up on his startled response. He let out a sigh, dusting himself off, ready to act like everything was going fine.

"What is it?" The bored, impatient tone that tinted his response wasn't entirely feigned. Cookie would've much rather been talking to someone else.

"Helen told me to tell you that you're, uh, needed in the booth. Something about a cameo or whatever?"

The intern's voice faded into the background as Cookie tried to discreetly glance over their shoulder and around the room. His eyes lit up as he noticed Schmitty walk though the door. He glanced back at the intern, who was still relaying the message, and quickly waved a hand at them.

"Yeah, yeah, hold that thought..."

"But-"

"Just, tell Helen I'll be up in 5, okay?"

"I guess I-" Cookie didn't even wait for the intern to finish before running off. He exchanged some quick greetings with co-workers as he continued to survey the room. He picked up his pace slightly upon spotting Schmitty once again, very briefly meeting his gaze. Almost immediately, Schmitty glanced away, much to Cookie's dismay. Though, he did manage to catch up to his fellow host before he could leave the room.

"Schmitty! Just the guy I wanted to see!"

"Cookie."

That wasn't the answer he was hoping for, but at least it was an upgrade from none at all.

"Nice to be back in the studio?"

"Oh, yeah sure."

Cue an unamused stare from Cookie.

"Really? You're not gonna give me anything else? Not even just a tidbit about how your weekend went?"

"You wouldn't want to hear about it. It was probably way more uneventful than yours." Schmitty let out a sigh, briefly averting Cookie's gaze. There was an edge to his tone of voice that couldn't quite be placed. "Yeah, you had that date, didn't you?! Bet you can't wait to share how that went."

"Well, actually I-"

"Save the story for another time, Cookie. I've got some things I've gotta take care of so..."

"I get it." Cookie tried his best to hide that he wasn't at least slightly disappointed. He was finally able to chat with his fellow host, and that was how it ended up. Cookie barley had enough time to add anything else, though, as Schmitty waved a silent goodbye as he headed towards the door. Once Schmitty had left, Cookie shook his head, and turned back to see the intern standing in the standing in the same spot from earlier.

"What the fuck are you still doing here?"

"I wanna know about your date."

"How did you-" Cookie stopped, still processing what the other had said. "Were you eavesdropping on us? Actually, I don't want to know." Cookie began to head towards the door, seeming far more stressed than he had minutes ago. "Tell Helen I'm heading up now."

*******************************************

Schmitty hadn't exactly meant to avoid Cookie for the weekend. In fact, he figured everything would be okay again on Monday. Unfortunately, when he and Cookie had locked eyes, he knew that it wasn't, and it was all because of that date. Of course, Schmitty was happy for his fellow host, but as he heard Cookie talk about how excited he was, the Quiplash host felt a pang of something else. Something like a mix of disappointment and jealousy. For the rest of the day, Schmitty didn't engage much with Cookie, aside from a goodbye as he left for the weekend. That feeling still remained for most of the weekend, but Schmity hoped it would go away soon. After all, heading back to the studio on Monday, and hosting a few games would definitely take his mind off of it, right?

Well, within 5 minutes of arriving to the studio, that sense of longing had only grown stronger. As soon as Schmitty brought up the date when talking to Cookie, he wished he hadn't. Why would he go and remind himself of the very thing he was trying to forget? Thankfully, he made an exit, as awkward as it was, and took some tome to refocus on the day ahead in the minutes he had before he had to be up at the recording booth. If all went according to plan, he could at least have a temporary distraction.

Unfortunately, a wrench had been thrown into that plan. For lo and behold, there was Cookie, in front of the booth, having a quick, yet conversation with Helen and one of the interns that was just too quiet to make out.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."

That got the other three in the room to turn to face Schmitty. Cookie immediately flinched, and he averted his gaze, turning back to Helen.

"See? I told you we shouldn't have done this today!"

"Hang on, what are we supposed to do today?" Schmitty crossed his arms as he slowly made his way into the room. As he did so, both Cookie and the intern glanced at Helen, silently asking her to explain.

"Well, you two are doing cameos for each other's games, so I thought we should do an extra rehearsal and sound check before then." Helen sighed as she went over the plan. "Didn't you get the email I sent about it?"

"Uh, nope. Must've missed that one." Schmitty shrugged, arms still crossed. Helen briefly glanced over at him before turning towards Cookie, seemingly picking up on the tension between them.

"It won't be ideal, but we can reschedule this for another-"

"Nonono! Doing this today sounds great!" Schmitty practically marched over to the booth, his previously quizzical expression becoming a strained smile. "Let's just make it quick." He didn't pick up on Cookie's quiet sigh of relief as the other host followed him in.

"So I guess we're doing this now!"

*******************************************

Unfortunately, the rehearsal took longer than everyone hoped it would. Helen had left to oversee something else, and left the intern to man the controls, much to the concern of the two hosts. On top of that, Schmitty's delivery was constantly coming across as aloof and had an extra edge in his tone that was rarely that present. By the end, Cookie was one run-through away from flat-out screaming at his friend about what exactly was going on.

"And I guess that's a wrap." The intern leaned into the mic as they stood up, grabbing something on the table.

"Oh, thank god!" Cookie and Schmitty uttered their reactions in almost perfect sync. This was immediately followed by an awkward stare. They just barely noticed the intern heading towards the door.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I need some water after that."

"Really." Schmitty raised an eyebrow as the intern rushed out of the room, leaving the door swinging for a bit. The Quiplash host took that as his cue to leave as well. "Well, I've gotta head out now, so-"

"Hang on." Cookie was now even more determined to get an answer from his fellow host. "What has been going on with you today?"

"Nothing's wrong, Cookie!" Schmitty put his hands up defensively, his expression contradicting his answer. "Now, I've got things I need to do, and places I-" He went to open the door of the recording booth, the knob doing nothing more than shaking in his grip. "Shit."

"Yeah right." Cookie scoffed, not yet processing the other's shift in demeanor. "You've been acting all weird ever since you got here today!" The Fibbage host froze as he finally noticed Schmitty aggressively shaking the doorknob. His eyes went wide. "Oh god. Don't tell me."

"Should've guessed when that intern didn't even open the damn door." Schmitty uttered the words just loud enough hear, not letting go of the doorknob.

"This can't be happening to me. Not again." Cookie clenched his fists as he took a deep breath and walked over to the other host. "Are you sure it's locked?" That got Schmitty to let go of the handle and turn to face the other.

"No, Cookie. I was just wiggling the doorknob that frantically as a practical joke." The Quiplash host narrowed his eyes before spinning back around and banging on the door. Cookie didn't join him just yet.

"Jeez, Schmitty! What is your problem with me today?"

"I already said I don't-"

"That's bullshit." Cookie frowned crossing his arms as Schmitty slowly began to face him once again. "While we're stuck in here, you might as well tell me what's actually going on."

"Why? This already seems like the perfect story to tell on your next date!"

Cookie paused, processing what Schmitty had just said. It was all starting to make sense now. "That's what this is all about? I thought you were excited for me!"

"Yeah, I was!" Kind of the truth. "More or less. But it felt weird hearing about it, and you seemed so happy, so I just decided to...get out of the way for the weekend." Schmitty took a breath before going on. "I didn't want to seem like an asshole about it, you know?"

"And you think that this isn't being an asshole about it?"

Silence.

"Yeah, that's fair." Schmitty leaned against the wall with a sigh. He had given up on getting someone to come to the door minutes ago. After a few seconds, Cookie walked over and joined him.

"You know you could've told me about this beforehand, right?"

"Pssh, yeah right!"

"I'm serious." The Fibbage host turned to face to other.

"Well, what was I supposed to say, then?!" Schmitty pushed himself off of the wall, walking around the edges of the booth. "'I don't want you to go on that date, Cookie! I wish that you had decided to ask me out instead...'" Schmitty clasped a hand over his mouth as he felt his eyes begin to widen. Cookie had almost the same reaction. "Just...just forget I said anything. Once we get out of this booth, we can pretend like this whole thing never happened! It'll be fine!"

Cookie blinked a few times as he stared at his fellow host in disbelief. Based on Schmitty's reaction alone, there was no way that his remarks were merely sarcasm.

"What did you just say?"

"Uh, nothing! Absolutely nothing important that there's no need to think about!" Schmitty knew his attempts wouldn't make the other host forget what he had just let slip, but it was at least worth a shot.

"Well, it sure sounded like something." As expected, it was an unsuccessful shot. "You know, actually, I think admitting to hoping we'd go on a date is a pretty big something!"

"Look, it just kinda slipped out okay?" Schmitty hoped he didn't sound as shaky as that felt to say. He turned away from his fellow host, letting out a long sigh. "Can't you just forget I said that?"

"No!" Now it was Cookie's turn to start pacing around the booth. "This isn't exactly something I can just stop thinking about! Why do you want me to forget about it so badly?"

"Why the hell do you care?"

"Because I'm in love with you!"

Once again, there was silence. Schmitty had begun to turn back around, but froze as Cookie's answer hit his ears. After a few seconds, the only thing that could be heard was a quiet, strained laugh from the Quiplash host.

"You're fucking with me, aren't you?"

"What-?"

"Yeah, you're definitely fucking with me." Schmitty put his hand on a wall, taking a few steps. He didn't notice Cookie take a few steps closer. "What else would explain this? First, you had that date over the weekend, and then I accidentally confess my feelings to you, and now this! It's like you wanted to help me make an even bigger fool of myself!"

Cookie's gaze shifted between the other host and the floor. He wasn't sure what exactly to say but he knew that he'd have to be the one to break the silence. The Fibbage host reluctantly glanced over at the other.

"I, uh, actually cancelled my date."

"What?" Almost immediately, Schmitty whipped around, meeting Cookie's gaze. "Why?"

"It just didn't feel right. Like I would've been going out with the wrong person." That got a nod from the Quiplash host. "I tried to call and tell you, but you didn't pick up."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No, it's fine, Schmitty. I just wanted to spend that time with you."

For a few moments, it seemed like Schmitty was frozen in place, staring at Cookie, then he finally shook his head and blinked a few times. "You're being serious..."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know." The Quiplash host briefly glanced away, lightly tapping his feet in the ground. "I'm sorry. For...everything between Friday and right now."

"Well, I get it." Cookie stared straight ahead at the window. "And I'm sorry if I pushed you too much just then."

"Eh, I probably needed you to anyways." Schmitty shrugged, waving a hand in the air. "No hard feelings, okay?"

"Yeah. No hard feelings." Cookie smiled slightly as he echoed his fellow host. For a moment, the two of them just stayed there, not adding anything. Schmitty let out a sigh before fully breaking the silence

"So...what now?"

"I'm not sure..." Cookie trailed off, trying to think of a better answer to the question. "Maybe we could-"

Before the Fibbage host could continue, the door swung open. Helen stood in the doorway of the booth, staring at the two.

"What are you both still doing here? You've got games about to start!"

Cookie let out an awkward chuckle as he made his way out of the booth. "Sorry, Helen. We kinda forgot about that."

"To be fair, we did also get locked in." Schmitty quickly joined the others, letting the door close behind him. "So we're not entirely to blame."

Helen shook her head, pinching her nose between her fingers. "Remind me to have a talk with whoever was manning the booth for you." The producer began to head towards the room's exit. "You guys have five minutes until the games start, so hop to it." As Helen left the room, she received a chorus of affirmatives from the hosts. The two of them began to follow suit, when Schmitty stopped.

"So, uh, why don't we talk about this some more later? Maybe over lunch?"

"You know, that actually sounds great." Cookie nodded. Whatever tension had been in the air ten minutes ago had dissipated completely. "I hope you get some fun players to work with in the meantime!"

"Right back atcha!" Schmitty grinned, shooting the other host some finger guns as he made his way down the hall. "See you later, Cookie."

"See you then, Schmitty." Cookie returned the gesture with a short wave of the fingers, shaking his head and laughing slightly to himself. After a few seconds, he turned around, and continued on his way. It was beginning to feel like a fantastic start to the week.

Here’s the AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54756895

#jackbox #you don’t know jack #josh schmitty schmitstinstein #cookie masterson #schmookie #writer on tumblr #fanfic writer #writing #fanfiction #jackbox fanfiction

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